I've always considered rogue decks my specialty, but until Morningtide, "rogue deck" meant a deck using cards or strategies not widely adopted.  This is a different kind of rogue deck, but then being different and going your own way is what being rogue is all about.

BMoor,

I just love the idea of screwing my opponent out of victory and using sneaky tactics to snag the win. So I decided to give rogues a go.

The purpose of this deck is pretty rogue-ish: to get out as many rogue creatures that my opponent can't block as possible, then using their Prowl abilities to my advantage, all the while using cards to sift through my deck for the cards that I could best apply to the situation (Arcanis, the Omnipotent, Distant Melody, Thieves' fortune, etc) and using creature removal and cards with discard abilities to prevent my opponent from coming up with any kind of defense (Noggin Whack, Pulling Teeth, Violet Pall, Earwig Squad, ect.)

Land:

12 Island

13 Swamp

Creature:

1 Infiltrator il-Kor

3 Prickly Boggart

4 Latchkey Faerie

1 Trespasser il-Vec

1 Moonglove Winnower

1 Moonglove Changeling

1 Arcanis the Ominpotent

2 Mothdust Changeling

3 Stinkdrinker Bandit

1 Earwig Squad

2 Merrow Witsniper

Other Spell:

1 Pulling Teeth

2 Distant Melody

2 Morsel Theft

1 Declaration of Naught

1 Logic Knot

1 Warren Weirding

2 Thieve's Fortune

2 Violet Pall

1 Noggin Whack

1 Herbal Poultice

1 Cryptic Command

I found when playing this deck, that I usually either stomp my opponents into the ground, or I lose... miserably and humiliatingly. In other words, the deck is inconsistent. It mainly has problems with decks that move at a faster pace, or decks that can block my Latchkeys and Prickly Boggarts. One type of deck that I've particularly had problems with in the past have been elves. Between the mana acceleration and cards like Elvish Promenade, it overloads my rogues. Also, most of my rogues are X/1 which is really a problem with decks with a lot of burn spells.

Arcanis, the Omnipotent has always been one of my favorites, so I'd really like to keep him in the fray. But, if he can can go if he has to.

Also, I'd appreciate if it would stay standard.

Thanks,

Bean

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So, your main problems are: faster decks, decks that can block flyers or fear creatures, Elves, and burn spells.  Let's see what we can do there.

 

The key to a successful Rogue deck is that the strategy is highly dependant on your Rogues getting through unblocked.  Just look at the Prowl mechanic, as well as Rogue tribal cards Oona's Blackguard, Stinkdrinker Bandit, and Auntie's Snitch.  All of these cards get better when you're pressing your offense, and so the Rogue deck is at its best when its creatures are attacking, and not being blocked, turn after turn.  For this reason, this deck really needs to be more aggressive than it currently is.  By turn three at the latest you should be able to swing unblocked with at least one Rogue.

 

Merrow Witsniper and Mothdust Changeling are an acknowledgement of this necessity, but sadly they don't satisfy it.  It's been a long time since a 1/1 for one was useful in an attacking or blocking capacity without an evasive ability, and more often than not Mothdust Changeling's ability will tap down a creature that would've been better on offense than the Changeling itself.  Take them out, and replace them with Looter il-Kor.  Flying and fear may be decently easy to find blockers for, but shadow is next to unblockable, and its deck-filtering ability will be valuable as well.

 

This lets you take out the painfully slow Infiltrator il-Kor and the pretender Tresspasser il-Vec, and teh extra draw power means you can remove Arcanis the Omnipotent (awesome as he is, this is not the deck he belongs in),  In their place, try a Rogue even harder to block and easier to cast than the Looter, Shadowmoor's Inkfathom Infiltrator.  Can't block and is UNBLOCKABLE-- it says it right on the card.  That should have no trouble at all turning on Prowl and Stinkdrinker Bandit.

 

Finally, you really should find room for Oona's Blackguard.  Not only does her +1/+1 counter ability help solve your 1-toughness problem, but the discard effect works so well with what you're trying to accomplish with Noggin Whack and Pulling Teeth.  I'd say Moonglove Winnower could come out for her, and maybe Declaration of Naught and Cryptic Command as well.  Declaration of Naught is too narrow of a counterspell and vulnerable to enchantment removal to boot, and Cryptic Command's mana cost is too prohibitive in a two-color deck.

 

Next is Violet Pall.  Five mana is just too slow, even if it does kill a creature and give you a token.  In an aggresive deck, you don't want to wait until turn five for a 1/1, and you don't really need your opponent's creatures to die outright, you just need to outrace them.  Try Pestermite instead.  It also gives you a flying body while tapping down a potential blocker, thus eliminating it long enough for you to turn the game in your favor.

 

And finally, take out Herbal Poultice.  It's completely useless.  Replace it with any of the cards I've suggested today, or even somethign else of your own choosing, just get it out of there.  If you need creatures with higher toughness, you could replace it with Sygg, River Cutthroat.  If you want more Prowl, replace it with Auntie's Snitch.  If you want a fun, splashy effect, replace it with Memory Plunder.  If you want more defense against Elves, replace it with Dunerider Outlaw or Wanderbrine Rootcutters.  If you just wanted it for the sake of having an artifact, replace it with Cloak and Dagger.  Heck, you've got enough discard that you could replace it with Dream Salvage.  Just please replace it.

 

That should be everything you need to make your opponents feel the sinister strike of your creatures.  I'll leave you to your dirty deeds.

 

Good luck!

 

~BMoor