Hearthpwn

#update

Don't play hearthstone a lot anymore, did try my old deck out again for a few games this month and i went from rank 21 to rank 13 with only one loss so i think the deck is still strong. I replaced Black knight with Voljin. Will play some more (maybe till rank 5) and see if other changes are needed but so far so good. 

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Hello all, this season I set my mind on reaching legendary, I had some time to spent and really wanted to get there for once. I started with a shaman deck but that didn't work out, I noticed how good priest decks could be in ranked and went with priest.

In the beginning I played with trumpriest, but it wasn't working perfect for me. I decided to make a mix between death rattle priest and control priest, it really worked out for me. Here are my winrates from rank 5 to legend. Against some classes I played less than 5 games, these results are far from significant and should not be interpreted as usefull. 

Class	Win/loss ratio	Winrate	prevalance
Hunter	12 wins / 8 loss	60%	28.5%
Shaman	8 wins / 2 loss	80%	14.3%
Priest	8 wins  / 1 loss	89%	12.8%
Warrior	6 wins / 2 loss	75%	11.4%
Zoolock	4 wins / 3 loss	57%	10%
Handlock	2 wins / 2 loss	50%	5.7%
rogue	3 wins / 1 loss	75%	5.7%
Druid	1 wins / 2 loss	33%	4.2%
Mage	1 win / 2 loss	33%	4.2%
Paladin	2 wins	100%	3.5%
Total	47 wins / 25 loss	65%

 I want to note that the first 20 games i had a 45% winrate, after that I got better with the deck. The last 50 games I had a 76% winrate. ( the last 30 games I had a 80% winrate, there is still noticeable improvement).

This deck is supposed to be a combination that can handle other priests/handlock/control warrior but can also handle hunter/zoo. I feel that with this deck none of my matches are instant wins or losses.

Circle of Healing is your AOE healing and damage spell. It can help you heal damaged minions including injured blademaster, draw cards with Northshire Cleric and deal massive AOE damage with auchenai soulpriest. 

Power Word: Shield cycles the deck, this is needed especially in control match ups when you want to find the right cards. It can often buff early game minions like zombie chow and undertaker. It can also be used to heal a minion when you have Auchenai Soulpriest on the board. 

Northshire Cleric is the card draw engine of this deck. It combo's great with circle of healing and injured blademaster. You can also heal enemy minions for card draw before you kill them. Watch out you cant use cleric card draw and auchenai soulpriest. Look out you don't draw to many cards especially against other priests. 

Undertaker is in the deck, because it combo's good with all the death rattle cards. If you combo it with one death rattle it is already worth it. Early game it can deliver insane value. Late game it can still be good (8 mana --> undertaker --> zombie chow --> sludge belcher)

Zombie Chow is great for early board control/combo with undertaker and combo with auchenai soulpriest.

Loot Hoarder kills things with 2 hp, draws a card and combo's with undertaker

Dark Cultist combo with undertaker, good 3/4 minion heals up other minions when killed (even with auchenai on board).

Injured Blademaster + circle + heal can get really good value. It also combo's good with cleric.

Shadow Word: Death, good against control decks but also against doomguards. Can combo with sylvanas for a random mind control. Only use one because of the ammount of hunters and zoo players out there. It also not as useful against priest that doesn't run much 5+ hp minions.

Thoughtsteal: Only use one, because of the tempo loss it causes against hunter/zoo decks. Card draw is already sufficient.

Auchenai Soulpriest: Combo with circle, great hero power, zombie chow good, nice 3/5 minion. Can also hurt sylvanas for mind control combo.

Defender of Argus, complicated to explain. It is great to furhter establish your board control. It is also good to make greedy plays. For instance turn 9 ysera against zoo followed up by a defender of argus to get a 5/13 taunt. There are also alot of early game minions in the deck. It isn't too hard to combo defender of Argus with two minions most of the times.

Holy Nova Another AOE spell, works creat with Northshire cleric and injured blade master. Best used when you have minions on the board that are damaged. It can give board control if you already had a bit of board presence. Since you already have AOE with circle of healing, one nova is enough.

Sludge Belcher Beefy taunt minion, guides you trough the mid game, triggers undertaker, protects fragile units or damaged units. 

Cabal Shadow Priest Insane value against shaman, great value against zoo/hunter. In most match ups you can steal a minion with it, if you can it gives you great value.

Sylvanas Windrunner Combo with shadow word: death for a random mind control, best played when opponent has board control or at least some units on the board.

The Black Knight Great against all the sludge belchers out there, also really good against druids and handlocks.

YseraGreat against other priests/control warrior, when you draw it can be the finishing blow for zoo. Also great to taunt up with defender of argus.

Mind Control Great against late game control decks, only run one because they are really bad in the early game especially against hunters.

Mulligan and play style against all classes

Hunter: The most common class in the current meta.

Different hunters?

Most common is what I call face hunter, it only uses snake trap as secret. Strategies below also apply to more midgame oriented hunters with explosive traps/silvana highmane. It doesn't apply to control hunter like pyromaniac secrets from Sparks. I didn't encounter any control hunters after rank 10.

Mulligan: for Auchenai Soulpriest, Circle of Healing, Injured Blademaster, Zombie Chow, Undertaker , Loot hoarder, Dark cultist.

Cards you don't want: all 5+ cards, Shadow Word: Death, Defender of Argus, Northshire Cleric and Power Word: Shield. 

Playstyle: 

General: Your HP is holy, don't sacrifice it for anything. Trump always says that cards are more important than HP, in this match-up this is not the case. You want to get board control and prevent damage. Never play greedy. Be careful one mistake usually means you lose. 

Turn 1 - turn 3 You can play Undertaker + Zombie Chow, Undertaker + Loot hoarder or Undertaker, coin Dark Cultist. Other ways are coin Injured Blademaster + circle. If you only have one of the above play them anyway this includes playing Northshire and Undertaker without combo. They will: always play something worst case undertaker + webspinner/leper gnome into mad scientist into bow. Best case scenario creeper on turn 2 bow/animal on turn 3. Watch out for: snake trap, try to play around it but don't be to greedy, watch your hp! Hunters mark, if PWS spread it on 2 minions, fight for the board!

Turn 4 - turn 6 Clear the board with Auchenai + circle, Holy Nova to get board control, play Sludge Belcher to stall the game and play Cabal Shadow Priest to steal mad scientist/webspinner/etc and get more board control. When you have a good ammount of board control you can slowly look at card draw (thoughsteal) Cleric + circle. They will: Houndmaster on beast, Unleash the hounds + hunter mark, start using Hero Power always. Using cultmaster after snake trap activated. Playing alot of small stuff, when behind playing kill command on your big minions to reclaim the board. Watch out for: them drawing alot of cards with snake trap, getting board control, getting you below 15hp. 

Turn 6 + Usually the game is decided by now, if you are above 15 hp with board control play the game out keep reinforcing the board and keep killing their stuff until nothing is left and you can kill them. Never forget your hp and keep healing yourself. If you are below this HP and not have board control their are a few things that can still save you: Auchenai + circle / holy nova Sludge + minion. They will: keep using Hero Power and try to finish you with Kill comands, bow/board damage. If midgame: use things like Loatheb/Savanna Highmane to get more board control. Watch out for: Low HP, a hunter with bow and a kill command and beast does 10 damage + damage on board. Loatheb can be played make sure you can deal with him.

Shaman

Different Shamans?

Yes, alot of different play styles. Miracle shaman/sea giant shaman/standard/bloodlust. The styles differ but the general strategy is deny board control.

Mulligan: Undertaker, Zombie Chow, circle, Auchenai, Northshire Cleric, Dark cultist, Injured Blademaster is oke but watch out for lightning/rockbiter. Loot hoarder is oke to but quite often get's earthshocked.  Cleric is okay but not great here.

Cards you don't want: 5+ mana cards (including holy nova), shadow word: death, Power Word: Shield (better to get a minion), thoughtsteal (better later on).

Playstyle

General: Shamans are the best at getting board control, even there hero power creates board control. Never let a shaman get a good board. Try to get board control with value. Once you get the board keep reinforcing it the shaman has alot of problems to reclaim the board. You can slowly out value him when you manage to get the board.

 Turn 1-3 you can play Undertaker + Zombie Chow, Undertaker + Loot hoarder or Undertaker, coin Dark Cultist. Other ways are coin Injured Blademaster + circle. Dark cultist is especially good against shaman because of its 4 health, it is a good stand alone card against shaman. They will: usually play nothing turn 1 except removal if you played something, turn 2 they will play minion or totem. Watch out for flame tongue totem from her on out sometimes they coin out a unbound elemental and follow up turn 3 with feral spirit. Watch out for: Shaman early removal, they can lightning/rockbiter your blademaster and earthshock undertaker/loot hoarder. Don't go for face but always minions!

Turn 4-6 Hopefully shaman doesn't have board or you are in for a tough time. Time to either expand your board by beefing up/healing minions, placing sludge Belchers and stealing flametongue totems. Also if you have a good board you can thoughtsteal to get some quality shaman cards like fire elemental/hex/etc. If shaman has board try to reclaim with auchenai + circle or Cabal Shadow Priest. Also circle of healing and cleric/ nova and cleric can deliver insane value. They will: Reinforce there board with flametongue, defender of argus (real bad). Try to get board control with removal (lightning storm), feral spirit, fire elemental. They can come back with doom hammer. If boardcontrol is there use mana tide totem to further increase winning positition. Watch out for: Flametongue guarded by taunt, fire elemental turn 6, doomhammer + rockbiter, sea giants, blood lust.  

Turn 6+ Most of the time matches against shamans take at least 10 turns, usually more than 12. Try to let them waste Hex on sludge belcher or the last one on sylvannas so that you can play Ysera. Keep mind control for fire elemental or higher. Use black knight on sludge belcher or high taunts. Try to kill the opponents minions without losing your own, use you hero power alot to heal your board back up. They will: Play fire elementals/doomhammer/alakir/sylvannas, almost always use a totem. Watch out for: Bloodlust finisher, alakir +rockbiter/flametongue finisher, fire elemental that kill 3hp minions. 

*there will be more*