Welcome to Budget Deck Breakdown, the series that spotlights decks that do new and interesting things, all with cards that any player should have access to. Today's deck utilizes a payoff for a Rogue archetype that never really materialized, but that doesn't stop us from having fun with it. Let's talk about Stab 'n Stow Rogue.
Every Day I'm Shuffling
Shuffle Rogue is the red-headed stepchild of Rogue build arounds. Not as powerful as Weapon Rogue, not as fast as Stealth Rogue, not as fun as Thief Rogue. It also never had more than a few tools in Standard at any one time, which made it exceptionally difficult to build a deck devoted to it. Stowaway is one of the best payoffs for the archetype, as a way to draw some of those cards that you'd shuffled in, but even they were not enough to make that sort of strategy work. Well were they named Stowaway, for we did stow them away in our collections where they gathered dust. Forever and ever, Amen.
Madness at the Darkmoon Faire's Ticket Master gave Stowaway an acceptable partner for shuffle shenanigans. The deck we're spotlighting today looks to take full advantage of Casts When Drawn spells and Stowaway, using their card draw to generate tempo. This strategy fits well into an aggressive Rogue list that likes to cheat mana and draw cards.
Key Cards
The key card in this deck is Stowaway, but by itself, it's only a 5 Mana 4/4. There are plenty of 5-Drops way better than that (Recurring Villain comes to mind), so we also run Ticket Master and Portal Keeper so Stowaway has things to draw. With their spells shuffled into our deck, Stowaway becomes a potent tempo play by summoning free minions and drawing extra cards to replace the spells that cast when drawn.
Our other key cards care about Weapons; specifically, having a big Weapon to generate free tempo and cheap card draw then smashing our opponent's face in with said big Weapon. Self-Sharpening Sword is a Weapon that can buff itself just by swinging; we also have Vulpera Toxinblade and Nitroboost Poison to give it more Attack for the aforementioned smashing of the face. Dread Corsair and Cutting Class cost less when we have a big Weapon, and are great for tempo or digging through our deck for more threats (like our shuffled-in spells).
Mulligan and Gameplay Tips
The main thing Stab 'n Stow Rogue wants to see in its opening hand is Self-Sharpening Sword. The earlier we get the Sword out, the earlier we can cast a cheap Cutting Class to dig into our deck and find our Stowaways and other shuffle cards. Swindle is also good early and plays well with Foxy Fraud. Ticket Master is also a nice keep since we can profit from its death with an on-curve Stowaway.
Against aggro we want to find early minions like Spymistress, Sneaky Delinquent, and Foxy Fraud. Backstab is often a must-have in this matchup. Southsea Deckhand can also be nice.
Against control, we want to find Self-Sharpening Sword and Nitroboost Poison to start dealing real damage as soon as possible. Draw (like Swindle and Cutting Class) is also good, and it's much more appealing in a slower matchup to keep Portal Keeper to make sure Stowaway has something to draw.
This deck plays aggressively and is all about dealing a lot of damage. The Weapon package is designed to go face as often as is feasible, while the Shuffle package helps us cheat tempo to summon additional threats to kill our opponent with.
Nitroboost Poison is sublime when Corrupted, so using The Coin to get out an early 2 or 3-Drop is a doubly good idea when we have it in hand. Making aggressive use of our early turns is the best way to keep our opponent from getting comfortable and puts us in the position to turn the corner once we start drawing our Casts When Drawn spells.
Card Replacements for the Rich and Famous
Stowaway plays nicely with Shadow of Death. If you're worried about the loss of tempo that comes with playing Shadow of Death, Preparation can help alleviate that. Preparation also plays well with the other spells in our deck. We unfortunately don't have time to think about improving the Weapon package in this deck because we're too busy using Stowaway to draw Waxadred candles. C'Thun, the Shattered is also pretty fun, but they're much more suited to a deck that wants to play a (very very) long game.
Togwaggle's Scheme is another card to add if you want more things for Stowaway to draw. It does disrupt the free tempo our other shufflers provide, so you may want to go a bit more value-centric if you add it in with cards like Dragon's Hoard and Pharaoh Cat. Stowaway still works great with it, they just don't excel like they do when every card they can draw is free tempo.
Stab 'n Stow Rogue is a great home for a handful of cards whose archetype never truly materialized, and it's a fitting sendoff for a card that didn't get its time to shine. Join me in bidding a heartfelt farewell to our beloved Stowaway before they shuffle off this Standard coil.
Are there any overlooked cards you wish had seen more play during their time in Standard? What are your favorite archetypes that never had enough support? Share your thoughts (and eulogies) in the comments!
Comments
I played a bunch of this shuffle rogue stuff at the start of Darkmoon. The archetype seems this close (makes finger gesture with the index and thumb 3/8" apart). Ticket master as a deathrattle and not a battle cry kinda hurts. I did, however, get the Shekzara achievement, so I got that going for me, which is nice.
Maybe Stowaway can come back in Core. He'd be pretty nice with Mankrik.
Very comedic article, and it's a good time to try wacky decks like this before the next season begins on Monday.