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Tempo Rogue is a Tempo-focused Aggro Rogue deck type. It heavily revolves around making efficient tempo plays using Rogue's wide variety of low-cost spells, efficient removal and burst damage to snowball a board advantage and quickly finish off the opponent. The deck's focal power changed wildly through the Standard cycle, but the core gameplay remains the same.

History[]

The first version of Tempo Rogue can be traced back to Goblins vs. Gnomes, utilizing weapon buffs like Goblins vs GnomesTinker's Sharpsword Oil for a powerful 2-mana LegacyBlade Flurry to deal double the face damage and clear the board in one turn and finishing off the opponent with Charge minions like LegacyLeeroy Jenkins powered up with LegacyCold Blood. This version of Rogue was often referred to as Oil Rogue.

With the release of Knights of the Frozen Throne, Tempo Rogue decks used Knights of the Frozen ThronePrince Keleseth to single-handedly push the game heavily in their favor with cheap, buffed minions. This version of Tempo Rogue was widely used in the Year of the Mammoth. This version of Tempo Rogue was also known as Keleseth Rogue.

With Year of the Raven, most Tempo Rogue decks transitioned to using The WitchwoodBaku the Mooneater for LegacyPoisoned Daggers, which was extremely effective early in the game. Despite the deck restrictions imposed, many of the staple tempo cards like The WitchwoodHench-Clan Thug and Journey to Un'GoroVilespine Slayer were usable. This variant was known as Odd Rogue.

Despite losing both Baku and Keleseth in the Year of the Dragon, Tempo Rogue still lives on, thanks to cards like Rise of ShadowsVendetta and Rise of ShadowsUnderbelly Fence creating cheap and effective tempo swings and Rise of ShadowsWaggle Pick as an activator for 0-cost Dread Corsairs, which can all be pulled with Rastakhan's RumbleRaiding Party. The deck makes liberal use of Return to hand effects as re-activators for LegacySI:7 Agent, Rise of ShadowsEVIL Miscreant, LegacyLeeroy Jenkins, or Rise of ShadowsHeistbaron Togwaggle. Some versions of Tempo Rogue use a Highlander version of the deck for Saviors of UldumZephrys the Great following Saviors of Uldum. Descent of Dragons created Galakrond Rogue, using Descent of DragonsGalakrond, the Nightmare and its Invoke cards for copious Lackey generation and easy combo activators, and even enabled an OTK using Rastakhan's RumbleSpirit of the Shark, Descent of DragonsUmbral Skulker, and Knights of the Frozen ThroneSpectral Pillager.

In the Year of the Phoenix, the new Rogue cards introduced in Ashes of Outland added more variety to Tempo Rogue decks. Secret Rogue uses Ashes of OutlandAmbush and Ashes of OutlandBlackjack Stunner for tempo, Ashes of OutlandDirty Tricks for card draw, and Ashes of OutlandShadowjeweler Hanar as a mid-game backup plan to utterly confuse the opponent into a losing position. The Stealth Rogue package uses early-game Stealth minions Ashes of OutlandSpymistress and Ashes of OutlandAkama with Ashes of OutlandAshtongue Slayer as a potent burst damage or removal tool. Some decks combine both Stealth and Secrets into one deck.

Common cards[]

The following cards are usually in the deck.

Core cards[]

The following cards are played in most or all versions of the deck:

Backstab
Shadowstep
Secret Passage
Wand Thief
Efficient Octo-bot
Foxy Fraud
Swindle
Tenwu of the Red Smoke
Field Contact
SI:7 Agent
Jandice Barov

Secret Rogue[]

Blackjack Stunner
Ambush
Bamboozle
Dirty Tricks
Shadowjeweler Hanar
Sparkjoy Cheat

Optional cards[]

The following cards are played more than occasionally, but not always:

Preparation
Deadly Poison
Guardian Augmerchant
Pen Flinger
Swashburglar
Cult Neophyte
Plagiarize
Shenanigans
Overconfident Orc
Mankrik
Shroud of Concealment
Kazakus, Golem Shaper

Card not found

Sprint
Alexstrasza the Life-Binder

Wild cards[]

Wild iconThis section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.

Wild cards that fit well into this deck type:

Dire Mole
Fire Fly
Hallucination
Patches the Pirate
Pharaoh Cat
Eviscerate
Prince Keleseth
Sap
Ship's Cannon
Undercity Valiant
Blink Fox
Edwin VanCleef
EVIL Miscreant
Hench-Clan Thug
Questing Adventurer
Shaku, the Collector
Sonya Shadowdancer
SN1P-SN4P
Elven Minstrel
Fal'dorei Strider
Piloted Shredder
Jeeves
Saronite Chain Gang
Spirit of the Shark
Tinker's Sharpsword Oil
Waggle Pick
Leeroy Jenkins
Loatheb
Myra's Unstable Element
Vilespine Slayer
Zilliax
Flik Skyshiv
Vanish
Dr
Ragnaros the Firelord
The Lich King
Baku the Mooneater

Galakrond Rogue[]

Wild iconThis section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.
Praise Galakrond!
Seal Fate
Devoted Maniac
Umbral Skulker
Shield of Galakrond
Heistbaron Togwaggle
Kronx Dragonhoof
Galakrond, the Nightmare
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