Dubious Purchase
Drawing 3 cards for 4 mana can be considered a serviceable card in a class with access to Preparation. But the built in Deadly Shot as a combo requirement makes Dubious Purchase genuinely strong. Not many forms of card draw impact the opponent’s board, so whenever you see such a card, then you should pay attention.
The timing is also appropriate, as Rogue is in desperate need of card draw for strategies that don’t incorporate the Excavate package. Dubious Purchase might clog our hand in Excavate Rogue, so we don’t see a great fit there, but this card will likely be a staple for any other Rogue deck with late game aspirations.
Score: 3
Twisted Pack
This is probably the best “pack” in the mini-set, one that would have excited us more if not for the nerf to Gaslight Gatekeeper. Pack/Gatekeeper would have been an incredibly powerful play for Gaslight Rogue, one that significantly accelerates its game plan and makes the archetype less reliant on weaker forms of generation.
Instead, Twisted Pack mostly looks like a serviceable card in a Cutlass Rogue deck, as it’s a good extender of Spectral Cutlass’ durability. Hand space issues make it unlikely to be useful in Excavate Rogue, which already generates a ton of value.
In the future, Twisted Pack has a good chance of seeing play, as it adds cards from other classes to your hand. It’s possible that cards like Wildpaw Gnoll will be printed, making Twisted Pack a strong enabler for them.
Score: 2
Dust Bunny
A 3-mana 3/2 body is weak, but it does generate us two cheap cards. 1-mana cards are valuable to Rogue because of their ability to easily activate combo cards. The question is more about the quality of generation that Dust Bunny offers.
Coins are amazing. Rock is quite good. Banana and Knife are terrible. Knife is essentially a 1-mana hero power, while Banana is a very bad card if you don’t have a board. This means that Dust Bunny will give us at least one good card 75% of the time.
Is that good enough to see play? A Gaslight Rogue would have likely played this, but once again, the pre-emptive nerf to Gatekeeper sours this idea. Excavate Rogue should have no interest in this minion. Wishing Well Rogue would play Dust Bunny if it ever re-appeared. Future Miracle Rogue decks could be interested in it too.
Score: 2
Final Thoughts: The Gaslight Gatekeeper nerf makes these cards less exciting than they could have been, but Dubious Purchase is a very important addition to the class that might open up space for non-Excavate strategies to shine.
