Building Overseer Savryn

People always ask how I build my decks- and to answer: well, I will guide you through my process of building a deck!

Tonight I am working on a scourge deck. I picked the hero “Overseer Savryn”. Scourge are a new faction in the card game, introduced with set 12: Icecrown. Savryn has a few deckbuilding rules:
“You can only include alliance and horde cards, rogue cards, rogue combat talents, neutral cards, and scourge cards. You can't include cards with other reputations or other text restrictions.”
Immediately, this tells us that we can’t put anything in this deck that says “assassination hero required” or anything like that. We CAN, however include cards with “combat hero required” or rogue equipment. I always wanted a deck that can run Kel’thuzad AND the Lich King, so let’s see if Savryn is eligible. Kel’thuzad can be used by rogues, and since Savryn is a scourge hero, we can put the Lich King in this deck. A rogue + master hero combination can become VERY nasty.
I want to make this a budget deck as much as possible, so I am only going to include 2x KT and 2x LK (Kel’thuzad and Lich King, respectively: from now on I will refer to them by their nicknames “KT” and “LK”). The nice thing about wowtcgvault.com is that I can do a search for allies of both factions, and filter them by rogues, so let’s do that. I get a return of around 120 cards.
Allies

“Eyeball” Jones is one of my favorites, but for now let’s keep him on deck (no pun intended). “Batter Brains Mcgillicutty” is a great card that should get some inclusion in this deck- so I will throw him in. If he needs to get the boot, I’ll give him the boot. One card that we can add for ability removal is Shadala. Woodsie leafsong is also a great addition for ability/equipment removal, and is a strong ally for cost 4. Better yet… why don’t we look for allies with just “stealth”? This will make the deck much more of a pain if anyone has protectors. I have a return of 20 cards, which is nicer to analyze.

Angelista can be a royal pain to any melee class- so I will put her in. Wyndarr Shadefist is also a strong ally with stealth, so in they go. Malefic Necromancer is a nice card, but I would sideboard it at best. I also added Uruka the Cutthroat. Looking at my allies, I have 6 different cards in that pool. If I can use rogue equipment, I will want to limit my equipment use to around 9-12 if I am going ally heavy. I will want 18 quests for draw power, so that leaves me with 33 cards remaining. If we split that between abilities, that gives me 15 cards to use as allies. I’m not too thrilled with that number, so let’s bump it up to around 21 allies. 21/6= 3.5, so I can include 3 of each (18), then add 3 more. Here is where you can add Malefc Necromancer, or +1 of 3 more cards. I will choose to add +1 to [Shadala, Woodsie Leafsong, and Angelista].



Abilties

I wanted to harass the opponent with this deck, getting rid of opposing cards as often as possible. To do this, I want rogue abilities such as Carnage. But lets look at the combo cards, shall we? Maybe we can make something of combo cards without focusing all the work on the hero’s ability to attack. A search return gives me 40-60 cards to look at, oh joy. We want to play cheap (costs), because rogues play cheap and dirty. “On the Brink” reads “Ongoing: When attached ally becomes exhausted, destroy it”. This is exactly the effect this deck is looking for, so let’s add this card. We’re running 4/6 allies being rogue.. so I am a bit ancy with “bloody slaughter”.
“Eviscerate” is a nice finishing move, so let’s consider it. “Pilfer” is a nasty card, and one of my favorites for a rogue. It causes the opponent to discard his hand, count how many cards he discarded, the draw a new hand the size of the old. For each card discarded, I deal 1 melee damage (I think melee) to him. I restrict this card in raids, but I figure we should add it. “Lesson of the Shadow” is nice, so I would consider it for the sideboard. Since I like to play for fun, I am going to throw Burgle into the side deck, too. Burgle lets you steal everything of your opponents, except for his resources. Remember that you can only attack with allies that have been in their controller’s party since the start of their most recent turn. If they were, whail away!!
Next, let’s have a look at “combat hero required” talents, since we can use them. “Close Quarters Combat” should never be used in a raid, because you cannot do that to the boss (declared by the extended rules). So, throw that baby in the side board- it is a great end game card that can slow the hell out of the opponent if you have board advantage. I am skipping over “adrenaline rush” because it is an older card, and costs too much to really play effectively. “Slay the Feeble” is nice ally removal, and I will throw in Deathblow too- as another finisher. I now have 6 different abilities, if we include 3 of each that is 18 cards. Let’s do that. Let’s throw in kick on the sideboard too.
With LK, KT, allies and abilities, I am at 43 cards. We have 17 cards to go to. Looks like I will have to skimp on equipment here and go with quests. “Junkboxes Needed” is a start. “The Ring of Blood: The Warmaul Champion” will help us to cycle combo cards into the graveyard. We can also rely on “Proving Grounds”. Since cycling is around, let’s add “Death’s Gaze”. At 4 of each, that is 16 quests. One card to go! For the heck of it, let’s add +1 to an ability. I’ll add +1 to Pilfer.
There you go! A 60 card deck. Let’s see how it does in testing when I can try it out, and see where we can add some improvements.