Hearthpwn

Hey there everyone!

I am a 16x Legend Player with 2x Top 100 finishes who goes by the battletag WingsOfWax or WingsOfWaxIII on other social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Twitch, and YouTube).

Don't forget to +1 if you enjoyed the guide/decklist. A lot of time and effort went into these and it's a free and easy way to say thank you.

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Introduction to my YouTube Channel:

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Currently I will be starting up a series of guides to help newer or budget players develop decks that can be purchased for under 2,000 Dust each (also Requires Naxxramas Unlocked) and compete with the current Meta enough to help you achieve your goal of High Ranks or even Legend.

As of right now, these are the guides I have available:

Burst Rogue (1480 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/263019-burst-rogue-legend-grinder-race-hunters

Budget Oil Rogue (1900 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/263606-budget-oil-legend-grinder-guide-videos

Budget Zad + Combo Druid (1900 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/267369-budget-zad-combo-legendary-druid-guide

Budget Zoolock Warlock (1340 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/267487-budget-zoolock-aggro-legend-grinder-guide

Budget Control Priest (1400 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/270038-budget-control-priest-legend-grinder-guide

Budget Hybrid Hunter (1080 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/270052-budget-hybrid-hunter-legend-grinders-guide

Budget Aggro Paladin (1820 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/270278-budget-aggro-paladin-aggrodin-legend-grinder

Budget Mech Shaman (1580 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/270317-budget-mech-shaman-legend-grinder-guide

Budget SMOrc Warrior (920 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/271749-budget-smorc-warrior-legend-grinder-guide

Budget Mech Mage (1360 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/272893-budget-mech-mage-legend-grinder-guide

Budget Tempo Mage (1200 Dust) - http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/272918-budget-tempo-mage-legend-grinder-guide

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Along with this deck list, I have wrote up a small guide to help any new players understand how to choose Mulligans/Opening-Hands, Play-style, and adapting to your current Meta.

Here is a "Rough" Guide to help you on your quest to Ranking Up/Legend

Mulligans/Opening Hand Keepers:

Vs Warriors - Zombie Chow, 1x Power Word: Shield, Shadow Word: Pain, 2x Wild Pyromancer, 2x Dark Cultist, 2x Shade of Naxxramas, 1x Injured Blademaster, 1x Velen's Chosen. (Keep Circle of Healing If Injured Blademaster = Yes)

Vs Mages - Zombie Chow, Holy Smite, Shadow Word: Pain, 2x Wild Pyromancer, 2x Dark Cultist, 2x Shade of Naxxramas, 2x Injured Blademaster, 1x Velen's Chosen, 1x Auchenai Soulpriest. (Keep Circle of Healing If Injured Blademaster or Auchenai Soulpriest = Yes)

Vs Druid - Zombie Chow, Shadow Word: Pain, 2x Wild Pyromancer, 2x Dark Cultist, 2x Shade of Naxxramas, 2x Injured Blademaster, 1x Velen's Chosen, 1xThoughtsteal, 1x Auchenai Soulpriest. (Keep Circle of Healing If Injured Blademaster = Yes)

Vs Paladin - Zombie Chow, 1x Northshire Cleric, Holy Smite, Shadow Word: Pain, 2x Wild Pyromancer, 2x Dark Cultist, 2x Shade of Naxxramas, 2x Injured Blademaster, 1x Velen's Chosen, 1x Auchenai Soulpriest. (Keep Circle of Healing If Injured Blademaster or Auchenai Soulpriest = Yes)

Vs Hunter - Zombie Chow, 1x Northshire Cleric, Holy Smite, Shadow Word: Pain, 2x Wild Pyromancer, 2x Dark Cultist, 2x Shade of Naxxramas, 2x Injured Blademaster, 1x Velen's Chosen. (Keep Circle of Healing If Injured Blademaster = Yes)

Vs Shaman - Zombie Chow, Holy Smite, Shadow Word: Pain, 2x Wild Pyromancer, 2x Dark Cultist, 2x Shade of Naxxramas, 2x Injured Blademaster, 1x Velen's Chosen, 1x Auchenai Soulpriest. (Keep Circle of Healing If Injured Blademaster or Auchenai Soulpriest = Yes)

Vs Warlock -
Opp Kept 2 cards or more (Aggro)? 
Zombie Chow, 1x Northshire Cleric, Holy Smite, Shadow Word: Pain, 2x Wild Pyromancer, 2x Dark Cultist, 2x Shade of Naxxramas, 2x Injured Blademaster, 1x Velen's Chosen, 1x Auchenai Soulpriest, 1x Holy Nova. (Keep Circle of Healing If Injured Blademaster or Auchenai Soulpriest = Yes)

Opp Kept 1 card or less (Control)?
Zombie Chow, 2x Wild Pyromancer, 2x Dark Cultist, 1x Shadow Word: Death, 2x Shade of Naxxramas, 2x Injured Blademaster, 1x Velen's Chosen, 1x Auchenai Soulpriest. (Keep Circle of Healing If Injured Blademaster or Auchenai Soulpriest = Yes)

Vs Rogue - Zombie Chow, Shadow Word: Pain, 2x Wild Pyromancer, 2x Dark Cultist, 2x Shade of Naxxramas, 2x Injured Blademaster, 1x Auchenai Soulpriest, Loatheb. (Keep Circle of Healing If Injured Blademaster or Auchenai Soulpriest = Yes)

Vs Priest - Zombie Chow, 1x Northshire Cleric, Shadow Word: Pain, 2x Wild Pyromancer, 2x Dark Cultist, 2x Shade of Naxxramas, 2x Injured Blademaster, 2xThoughtsteal, 1x Velen's Chosen, 1x Auchenai Soulpriest, Loatheb. (Keep Circle of Healing If Injured Blademaster = Yes)

Play-Style:

Priest is designed usually to combat aggressive and midrange decks, but will struggle against opposing control and combo decks. 

Vs Warriors -

Control Warrior: This is one of your toughest matchups, by far. Try to deny your opponent value from Acolyte of Pain if possible. Play your minions on curve to test your opponents weapons. Shade of Naxxramas and Thoughtsteal are your two best tools in this matchup. Try to save Lightbomb for at least 1x Bomb (7+ mana minion) and at least 1 other minion. Using Holy Nova in this matchup as a mass heal is pretty common. Save your Shadow Word: Death's for Alexstraza, Dr. Boom, Sylvanas, Grommash, or Ragnaros. 

Patron Warrior: Try to test your opponents weapons with early minions. Save 1x Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing for the first combo wave and Lightbomb for the 2nd combo wave (or vise-versa). Eventually you should either run them out of combo pieces or be able to push for damage enough to pressure them into using pieces too soon. Try to save Shadow Word: Death for Frothling Beserkers and Emperor Thaurissan. More often than not, your win conditions will be some combination of Shade of Naxxramas, Light of the Naaru (Light Warden), and Loatheb. Velen's Chosen + Holy Nova clears 1 combo as well in a pinch (typically their second combo wave). 

Vs Mages - 

Tempo Mage: Nullify your opponents board state however you can. Flamewaker and Mana Wyrm tend to be their most troublesome cards, so try to have answers for them. Zombie Chow, Northshire Cleric and Wild Pyromancers are your are for Mirror Entity duty (unless you have Z-Chow on T1). Try to save Lightbomb for overwhelming board states or out of control bomb minions (like Dr. Boom or Sylvanas). If given the opportunity to get an Injured Blademaster + Circle without Mirror Entity complications, go for it because he will become your beat stick to trade for opponents minions. Otherwise, try to save Circle of Healing for Auchenai Soulpriest in order to board clear at a critical point. 

Freeze Mage: Try to be as aggressive as possible. Hold Loatheb until you develop a board position of 2+ minions or need to deny your opponent from casting spells on the following turn (they're about to burn you out). Hold Light of the Naarus and Holy Novas until after Alextrasza has come down. Save Shadow Word: Death for Alexstraza, Emperor Thaurissan, or Archmage Antonidas. Shadow Word: Pain only for Doom Sayer. If Circle of Healing prevents at least one large toughness minion from dying to a board clear, cast it.

Vs Druid - Thoughtsteal is your best card in this matchup, as 80% of a Combo or Taunt Druid deck is insane. Injured Blademaster + Circle of Healing is the best combo you can have against a Druid, it's too early and too durable for them to kill early, so it will become your beat stick. Usually there are better targets for Shadow Word: Death than Ancient of Lore, so try not to use on Lores, save for Dr. Boom, Sylvanas, Emperor Thaurissan, or Ragnaros. 

Vs Paladin -

Aggro: Majority of the Paladins lately have been Aggro Paladins, which this deck seems to have a great matchup against. Between the Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing, Wild Pyromancer + Spells, Holy Nova, and Lightbomb you should have enough sweepers to keep their board clear. Shadow Word: Death will most likely be used on a Blessing of Kings target or honestly, any value you can get from Death. Try to keep your hand as empty as possible to ensure denying your opponent supreme value from their Divine Favor. 

Midrange/Control: Between all the board clears, this matchup shouldn't be too bad. One issue with this deck is we have no clear answer for Tirion, however everything else in their deck should be answered with ease. Shadow Word: Death targets include Sylvanas, Dr. Boom, and Tirion. If this deck becomes more popular, I'd consider adding in a Mind Control or Acidic Swamp Ooze to handle Tirion a little easier. 

Vs Hunter - I find this to be one of the better matchups. Establishing an early board presence is key to winning this matchup and with the help of Zombie Chow and Wild Pyromancer things become easier. Shade of Naxxramas and Injured Blademaster become your win conditions typically. Try to prevent as much damage as possible without wasting spells. Something to note, you can afford to take a little damage, just try not to fall below 15 life.

Vs Shaman - Whenever I face a Shaman, I prepare for Mech Shaman that way even if it's control you still have a decent matchup (Priest is favored vs Control Shaman). Having early minions and removal is key to beating any Mech Shaman to prevent Whirling Zap-o-Matic's from destroying your face. Wild Pyromancer is typically worth a Double Whirlwind in this matchup to clean up the board. If you are playing against Control Shaman, don't go for the Injured Blademaster + Circle of Healing combo unless you are certain there aren't any Hex's to blow you out. 

Vs Warlock -

Aggro: You typically are favored in this matchup since Priest is designed to destroy aggro decks. You have a lot of sweepers, so time them well and get at least 3 cards of value for your board clear. The only big issue card I usually find is Nerubian Egg, mostly because it can be annoying to clear. Try to save Circle of Healing for Auchenai Soulpriest for the ultimate board clear, unless you have the opportunty to go for a T3 Injured Blademaster + Circle combo (or have 2x Circles in hand). 

Control: This is another extremely difficult matchup. There are not enough big minion removal spells to deal with the # of big minions in your opponents deck. Try to save Lightbomb for a 2x Giant board state or Auchenai + 2x Circle for a similar board state. I find Thoughtsteal to be extremely useful in this matchup so try to cast it as soon as you run out of minions to cast or are looking for an answer to a difficult threat. 

Vs Rogue - Another tough matchup, but not nearly as bad as the Handlock matchup. Try to develop a board presence, but do not overextend more than 2 minions at a time. You can't afford to be blown out by weapon buff + Bladeflurry. Try to hold Circle of Healing + Auchenai Soulpriest to get back a board position that you've started to fall behind on (try to get at least 3 minions from your opponent). Shadow Word: Death targets include Loatheb, Emperor Thaurissan, and an Oil target.  

Vs Priest - Try to control the board best you can. Shade of Naxxramas should come down by T4 to prevent Holy Nova value, then should remain in stealth until you are close to killing your opponent or are in need of dealing with a large minion on your opponents table. NEVER GO FULL NORTHSHIRE (have 2x Northshire on board) because your opponent will abuse this and mill/fatigue you. Try to hold a board position of 2-3 minions but do not extend more than this unless you can play around Lightbomb and Auchenai + Circle combo. 

Adapting to your Meta:

More Warriors, Rogues, Hunters, and Paladins (Weapons) in your meta? -1 Light of the Naaru +1 Acidic Swamp Ooze

More aggro decks in your meta? -1 Light of the Naaru +1 Zombie Chow

More Handlocks in your meta? Take a break from playing Priest, best advice I can give. Priest strives against an Aggro Meta, but has a tough time against a Control Meta. 

Make other changes as you see fit or if you just have the urge to try something new.

Card Choices:

Shade of Naxxramas - This is a minion that can show benefits in a priest shell. Having a minion that continually grows every turn means we have a minion that gives us options: a large win condition (if stealth-ed for a long period of time) or a beat stick that keeps killing minions and getting healed. I have also found odd uses from Shade such as: Velen's Chosen target (while in stealth) to create a spell power, a Power Word: Shield target to prevent from being board cleared, and a stealth minion that can acquire a deathrattle buff from Dark Cultist. 

Light of the Naaru - I try to save this card for two purposes, healing an Injured Blademaster or using it in combination to an Auchenai Soulpriest to burn a minion for 3 damage. However you can find a lot of different uses out of this card and the value it creates. At the end of the day, the Light Warden this spell produces needs to be dealt with immediately otherwise your opponent can be easily facing down a ton of damage or a quick Circle of Healing + Holy Nova combo heal burst/surprise damage. 

Here is Video: 


FAQ:

Q - 2k Dust and Naxx? That seems like an expensive "budget."
A - These guides are intended for people looking to spend some Dust/Gold and have the ability to acquire at least the bare essential Adventure Mode, Naxxramas. Budget is much different than F2P, which is why I don't label my decks and guides as F2P to cause confusion. Budget means you are willing to spend a little, where as F2P means ...well....Free.

Q - Budget Not a Problem?
A - I suggest this list: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/270042-control-priest

Interested in learning more? Feel free to stop by my stream, in which I play a variety of decks and try to help educate players on making better decisions and improving their game play. Here's to hoping this deck/guide is in some way beneficial to your Grinding Experience!

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Don't forget to +1 if you enjoyed the guide/decklist.

Thank you for checking out this deck and I hope it works well for you,

-Wings