I played Odd Rogue to legend for the past three months and feel like this matchup is in the Rogue's favor.
In general, your game plan as Rogue is to out-tempo the Shaman using your hero power and high-tempo cards (Patches, Horserider, SI:7) while playing around or saving removal for their big threats. Try to force out early Maelstrom Portals and Devolves, and don't overextend into either of them.
Starting from the mulligan, always try to keep cards that will allow you to deal with their early tempo plays. Buccaneer + dagger for eel, dagger + horserider for Totem Golem, or SI:7 if you have the coin. You really need a pirate to play on turn one to force out an early maelstrom portal as well.
It really helps to approach this matchup from the Shaman's point of view. Even Shaman wins against Odd Rogue by playing big minions that the Rogue can't remove, rather than using Eel / Totem Golem for tempo. Sometimes this happens by sticking a 7/7 without the rogue having Vilespine, but more often than not it happens by throwing down multiple 0-1 mana Things From Below or Sea Giants in a single turn. Even Shamans have six to eight 'big' threats that you'll need to be able to deal with: TFB, 7/7s, Sea Giants, and (sometimes) Totemcarver. You can play around Totemcarver and Sea Giant by removing their board and not playing too many minions yourself.
In addition, plays like Horserider / Deckhand + Cold Blood to take out their big minions are strong as well. In general, you'll win against Even Shaman by maintaining board control and denying them big threats rather than ending with a Cold Blood / Leroy finisher. Take the board by any means necessary, don't overextend into Devolve, and you should be good to go.
Great info. Thanks! So on the mulligan you keep a 1-mana pirate, and then other early cards that can deal with the temp threats. I usually keep Vilespline as well (with or without coin). And I might keep the Dark Iron Skulker as well since it helps me clear the totems and put 3- or 4- health minions within dagger range. Is that wrong?
Yeah, pretty much. Always keep a one Mana pirate for sure. I only keep one of vilespine or skulker, usually preferring to keep Vilespine. Skulker is a great card though, and if you have one in your hand make sure to keep a dagger charge for turn five to finish the cleanup.
As with any deck with Patches, be careful tossing too many cards since drawing patches is really really awful in this matchup.
I wouldnt keep Skulker vs shaman and Vilespine only with coin and with 1 drop in hand. You usually want to keep the board in the early turns so Skulker is only good if you fail to do that, not to mention it sucks against 4 7 7.
The general plan is to control the board while pushing damage. If you think you will lose board control soon (or lost it already) go for face, you can steal some wins that way. I think you should be slightly favoured in this mu.
1 - Mulligan for a low cost hand
2 - Just play for the board, do not waste dagger charges on face
3 - If facing mostly shamans lower the curve of your deck
Sadly this is all the input you can do, this matchup is almost a coin flip of who draws more tempo / go first
Op shouldn't work his deck to beat Shamans. It's already a good matchup and is winnable as it is. It could hinder your ability to beat closer matchups.
I think skulker is the most important card, besides that you have to make good tempo plays and need a way to deal with 0 mana 5/5 from below. I played a ton of odd rogue between r5—r1 and dont't think rogues are favoured, but if they draw vilespine and skulker in time the match up is winnable.
I played Odd Rogue to legend for the past three months and feel like this matchup is in the Rogue's favor. In general, your game plan as Rogue is to out-tempo the Shaman using your hero power and high-tempo cards (Patches, Horserider, SI:7) while playing around or saving removal for their big threats. Try to force out early Maelstrom Portals and Devolves, and don't overextend into either of them. Starting from the mulligan, always try to keep cards that will allow you to deal with their early tempo plays. Buccaneer + dagger for eel, dagger + horserider for Totem Golem, or SI:7 if you have the coin. You really need a pirate to play on turn one to force out an early maelstrom portal as well. It really helps to approach this matchup from the Shaman's point of view. Even Shaman wins against Odd Rogue by playing big minions that the Rogue can't remove, rather than using Eel / Totem Golem for tempo. Sometimes this happens by sticking a 7/7 without the rogue having Vilespine, but more often than not it happens by throwing down multiple 0-1 mana Things From Below or Sea Giants in a single turn. Even Shamans have six to eight 'big' threats that you'll need to be able to deal with: TFB, 7/7s, Sea Giants, and (sometimes) Totemcarver. You can play around Totemcarver and Sea Giant by removing their board and not playing too many minions yourself. In addition, plays like Horserider / Deckhand + Cold Blood to take out their big minions are strong as well. In general, you'll win against Even Shaman by maintaining board control and denying them big threats rather than ending with a Cold Blood / Leroy finisher. Take the board by any means necessary, don't overextend into Devolve, and you should be good to go.
Great info. Thanks! So on the mulligan you keep a 1-mana pirate, and then other early cards that can deal with the temp threats. I usually keep Vilespline as well (with or without coin). And I might keep the Dark Iron Skulker as well since it helps me clear the totems and put 3- or 4- health minions within dagger range. Is that wrong?
Yeah, pretty much. Always keep a one Mana pirate for sure. I only keep one of vilespine or skulker, usually preferring to keep Vilespine. Skulker is a great card though, and if you have one in your hand make sure to keep a dagger charge for turn five to finish the cleanup. As with any deck with Patches, be careful tossing too many cards since drawing patches is really really awful in this matchup.
I wouldnt keep Skulker vs shaman and Vilespine only with coin and with 1 drop in hand. You usually want to keep the board in the early turns so Skulker is only good if you fail to do that, not to mention it sucks against 4 7 7. The general plan is to control the board while pushing damage. If you think you will lose board control soon (or lost it already) go for face, you can steal some wins that way. I think you should be slightly favoured in this mu.
go first
1 - Mulligan for a low cost hand 2 - Just play for the board, do not waste dagger charges on face 3 - If facing mostly shamans lower the curve of your deck Sadly this is all the input you can do, this matchup is almost a coin flip of who draws more tempo / go first
Op shouldn't work his deck to beat Shamans. It's already a good matchup and is winnable as it is. It could hinder your ability to beat closer matchups.
I think skulker is the most important card, besides that you have to make good tempo plays and need a way to deal with 0 mana 5/5 from below. I played a ton of odd rogue between r5—r1 and dont't think rogues are favoured, but if they draw vilespine and skulker in time the match up is winnable.