Holy Priest Arena Example
- Last updated May 3, 2014 (Live Patch 5170)
Wild
- 21 Minions
- 9 Spells
- Deck Type: Arena
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 2840
- Created: 5/3/2014 (Live Patch 5170)
- donnie330216
- Registered User
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- 11
- 27
- 38
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Battle Tag:
Voltarin#1377
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
394
Random arena build using cards from RNG drafter from the site. Giving players a chance for banter with me so they can have a chance to peer into my mind's eye to see exactly why it is I do the things I do in this game which catapults me into the higher ranks every season so that they may get there themselves in turn becoming better Hearthstone players.
Bio of myself:
I started playing Magic:The Gathering in Alpha when it was first released all the way back in 1992 in junior high school so 22 years ago. As one of the games first successors till present day I haven't slowed down since. Excelling at both draft and constructed play and have a history of winning thousands of tournaments. I have noticed that Hearthstone incorporates a vast majority of the same play mechanics (even fixing some of Magic:The Gathering's short comings with the biggest one being (mana screw). Coming into this game new I was an instant success much to the respect that if you was a decent MTG player (because it is so much in similarity) that you are almost naturally going to be an unfathomably good Hearthstone player straight out of the gate already way out classing the rest of the competition that are also new to the scene much like yourself. With all colorless mana,less of a card selection and minions being able to target anything that you want basically makes the game even less complex than MTG and the additions of 10 extra life plus class avatar abilities (much like Magic:The Gathering addition of Vanguard cards) hardly compensates the switch in conclusion is much easier to play than its predecessor in my own and probably most other experienced players opinions.
As stated earlier though I am now giving back to the gaming community by offering my ideas and personal opinions on anything the community would like to know such as substitutions, deck lists,deck techs, (whether it be arena drafting, constructed, (my own personal constructed decks that I currently use today) or even just friendly random discussions on topics to overall better the Hearthstone community & potentially the game itself. My goal is to get anyone that stumbles upon this page & takes the effort to actually go through and give it a read to be rewarded a much higher gaming level than ever before that they may otherwise not known to be conceivably possible to them. I don't like how the current meta is evolving here with great lack of imagination the vast majority deck copiers and so I am striving people to push the envelope and break the meta by always being able to craft something a cut above it so no real meta exists (other than the few sign of the time decks that are always expected to pop up out of the blue as you'll have that in any great card game and as a player have no real control over?), Blizzard Entertainment does though so that is what nerfing is for. "LOL"
It is much like the saying goes "Give a man that is starving a fish & he eats for a day,but if you teach that same man to fish he eats for a lifetime. (Meaning that if you copy everyone else's decks yes you will win a better majority of your games,but don't expand your own mind and explore your own playing ability & full realized potential that is possible beyond your comfort zone and become able to decipher why certain decks are good? Why that certain card is played in only a certain class or archetype?Why the meta is what is today & what it has manifested from and so forth? Players who have went out on their own that are making their own decks now are much ahead of you because they have realized this and though trial and error no matter how numerous the defeats was still relentless in their struggle & possessed the inner courage & dared to take the risk to do so in the first place. (Which is the key element to breaking the meta is simply always asking yourself "WHY"? There for I am going to fix that best I can if only being one person. (Huge task I know right)? ,but I am up for the challenge as I recently got a good amount of free time from my job as of recent and having already written several deck articles for you all to take examples from that have previously given me success in this game and giving me a chance to give back to you all. I am going to at least attempt this great feat (Whether it makes me feel like I am Atlas or not)? I will at least give it my most valiant of efforts as I owe you all said efforts with this my chance in being given this opportunity to pay it all back for a very satisfying & gracious yet humble 20+ years or so of entertainment and be able to at least ante up (Magic:The Gathering pun totally intended)"LOL"
Last of all the reason I chose to do this is because my love for our gaming community as it has become a big part in my life growing up & has made me more intelligent, gave me a better understanding/perspective of things by increasing my analytical thinking skills that I use in every day life that serve me well even to this day,saved me from numerous hours of boredom because it was storming outside. numerous cash prizes with state,regional and even national wide events in turn gifting a small amount of fame to me in the MTG community & most important of all countless new online and in-person friends that I know still to this day dating back to 20+ years ago that I would have never otherwise known if it weren't from gaming giving me some of the most memorable moments of my life.
I hope you all found this read to be inspirational and very informative. Hopefully you will go check out my new to meta unorthodox decks and if you don't understand why I did something I did and it isn't explained in the deck tech to please ask me so I can elaborate for you as I love feedback and will always take time out of my day to help other players in becoming better players. If you feel like I have done a good job feel free to follow me on here to get my current posts and like my deck techs if you could so others may also get to see too and word of mouth will spread via this site to further us all in thinking outside of the box and if not destroying the meta at least making the options so diverse with so many new ideas that it doesn't feel like the meta exists. That is my goal (and the majority of all of my decks do presently as they will in the future reflect exactly that) along with helping everyone that I can along the way.
So who all that is starving in this Hearthstone gaming community is ready to follow me down to the docks & learn how to fish to rock the meta best we can?!
If so I urge you to subscribe/follow me as I am going to be highly active in deck techs in the upcoming months that stay current in competition with full explanations.
Battle tag = Voltarin#1377
"Slay the Meta"! {}/,'/',[];;;;;;;;;;;;;;>
"Best of luck to you all in season 2 & may the vast majority of you make Legend ranking through hard work,self revelations & much dedication"
~Donnie E. Smith III
I recommend this deck to all and with some changes or preferences of your own.
smoth deck, wish I would draft something like this
I have some opinions on some of the picks you made. The picks are:
12. You picked Holy Smite over Frostwolf Warlord. He is just a good creature and Holy Smite isn't that great of a card.
15. Don't pick Divine Spirit, you don't even have creatures that do well with it (high hp taunt), especially at the point you pick it. Shieldmasta is better than either of them, and the Ghoul is still better than Divine Spirit.
16. I personally would have picked the Booty Bay Bodyguard over the Knight, just because for 1 more mana he is much more stat-efficient. But I think the pick is okay overall.
19. I don't like taking Lightspawn over Shieldmasta or the Lord of the Arena. Granted he is a strong creature but he gets shut down a lot easier than either of those two and taunt is a more valuable stat, especially in the arena. I would have picked Shieldmasta over the other two or the Lord over the Lightspawn at least.
22. Stormwind Knight or the Stormpike Commando are both way better than Holy Smite. I understand it's for 3 or 4 more mana depending on which one you pick, but both of them do the exact same thing as Holy Smite but give you a creature as well.
27. Ancient Brewmaster is just better than Smite. Especially when you have Charge creatures.
30. Azure Drake is just better than Imp Master. Stronger creature, gives you spellpower (I'm surprised you don't value that highly with 3 Holy Smites), and replaces itself.
First off let me just say these are excellent in-depth questions that I love answering with other players so thank you for the opportunity to get to banter with the community and reasoning as to why I picked what I did. :)
Pick 12) Holy Smite over Frostwolf Warlord the truth here is that either pick is acceptable and I had nothing in the form of direct damage before that pick. Looking at it in hind-sight little did I know that they was going to give me this card to throw at my face 2 more times or I for sure would have gone with your choice over mine (especially knowing that I would have been able to get hold of not just one,but 2 Imp Master,but since it was so early there was really no way of telling? So in hind-sight a very much earned "touche' " ,but unfair to me as you get to see all my picks in hind-sight,but still as said "well played" for being able to point out literally the one and (only) mistake draft choice in the entire deck so "Kudos to you my friend"! :)
Pick 15) Divine Spirit over Sen'jin Shieldmasta both cards are very good here as you are wrong in my pick because I had 6 minions in previous picks that would make great use of Divine Spirit pick that I chose. Those being Violet Teacher,Gurubashi Berserker, a stolen divine shielded up 6/6 or better Blood Knight,an Imp Master to make a possible of 10 minions for you that will combo well off of your 2 copies of Cult Master to gain you the advantage in any control aspect match-up. The Beast so that they will almost never get that bonus Finkle Einhorn making them really work hard for it sacrificing = value for it in cards or board if they want it bad enough. and lastly the pick before it the almighty Boulderfist Ogre. Your pick is good as well as it is a 5 toughness on the back-side with the Sen'jin Shieldmasta,but my pick is more versatile especially with still half of the deck left to draft knowing if I get that all powerful Inner Fire that they are doomed right then and there and will win any race (O.T.K) style in draft. Not even counting that though my previous picks justify my choice over your suggestion and it is just a bonus should I be so lucky to ever see it come up in my draft.
Pick 16) I didn't choose the Booty Bay Bodyguard because 2 reasons 1) because 4 is not the key toughness you want to choose to heal a creature with & not mention weakens you against your mirror in that it is now just a target for Shadow Word: Death. 2) because you are a Priest and can heal yourself plus your spells heal you as well and you don't need taunt as much to stay alive on your toes like other classes do. Now lets get into the reason I chose to take the Stormwind Knight 1) simply because the mana curve needed more 4 drops over yet another 5 drop in the deck so that's a big reason on its own and 2) In one of your harder match-ups whom is able to go long-term with you toe-to-toe all game a.k.a Thrall (The Shaman ). A good majority of the time more often than not the entire match will come down to being able to break through one of those annoying Stoneclaw Totem he summons when he gets lucky to get in for lethal. If you have a charge minion you will be able to accomplish this task to get in there and do your thing and win the game. However if you do not have the ability to do so you simply become blocked while your Shaman opponent tears you a new one. So I simply picked this as my other reason to improve you shaman match-ups since so you at least have a chance rather than an auto-loss.
Pick 19) I chose Lightspawn because it significantly lowered my mana curve allowing me to do more each turn and because it rewards me for my hero power. I also chose it because it combos off really well with my Divine Spirit I previously picked making me not need Inner Fire as badly anymore to execute the otk combo and having a really strong card draw engine in Imp Master or Violet Teacher + Cult Master to sift through my deck fast to get me said combo it becomes an easy choice to warrant the combo pick. So in conclusion all being good picks neither one is as strong as the Lightspawn choice and you already know how I feel about taunt creatures in Priest decks.
Pick 22) Although both very strong picks for the deck at this point (which I totally agree with) I just opted for the 2nd Holy Smite card simply to compliment the other one in the deck so I wouldn't be forced to be over-run at the start by some vicious aggro deck if I failed to draft a Holy Nova and also so my turn 1 draft pick of Violet Teacher became more potent so shes not totally useless ya know? Lastly because once again it lowered my curve which always allows more heal up possible which I need because of no taunt creatures. "See how you balance it"? none or very little taunt amount of taunt minions just means a lower curve and still plays at tournament level just fine? Moving on.
Pick 27) My Shadow Word: Pain pick? You have got to be joking me,right? How often have you played Priest before to even say such a thing? this card is the cornerstone pick of any Priest. Draft pick#1 over ANYTHING. (for future reference if you see this card take it over anything there is unless you already have at least 2 of them in your deck and it is in competition with another card that completes a massive combo for your deck that warrants it. (I am not trying to belittle you as I would never do that to another player but I am trying to teach you a strong lesson in Priest which is to almost never ever pick anything over that card that you come across and the severity of not picking it as its the most useful card there is in your arsenal of removal). That goes double for if you already have a Violet Teacher in your deck which rewards you for casting the already broken card.
Pick 30) A very simple last pick for me as to why I chose the Imp Master over the Azure Drake. While the Azure Drake being a very strong last card pick with the card draw and the power to increase +1 spell damage for those extra powerful x3 Holy Smite you possess. I chose what I did because even more so than being able to increase its spell damage being the king class of control of all classes the Priest wants to draw as many cards as they can? Having already drafted the first turn pick of Violet Teacher and the other previous Imp Master on pick 10 wouldn't it make more sense rather than just draw 1 and be done with it (like some rebound girlfriend you met out at the local tavern). Wouldn't it make more sense to having a field full of 1/1 minions & then with that board dropping down your Cult Master netting you a card for each minion you can possibly kill off while effectively in-turn killing your opponents minions off in the process? Wouldn't making that happen and refilling your entire hand and killing theirs off make them just want to instantly blow their avatar up as a response to that tempo game ending combo?? I would think so personally which is my reason for picking it as having 3 outs to project that combo is vastly more effective than just a one an done with the Azure Drake (even if you do have 3 Holy Smite simply because you will have used them and not been able to save them the majority of the time because you had to kill their turn 2 Knife Juggler or Acidic Swamp Ooze you are sure to be seeing since you don't pack a weapon as a Priest.
Again thank you very much for allowing me the opportunity to let you all take a step into my mind to aid you in your drafting skills so that you may improve as players as a whole and not just in constructed. Hopefully reading this has been very informative (for those who get it) and have something you can all take with you into your next arena scene when you are drafting as a Priest class. I have recently been selected/picked up as a free-lance writer for intermediate players that want to make the jump into legendary rankings this season 2. If you wish to support me or just love the knowledge and in-depth skill level I provide for you all and would like to see more of my deck techs you may find me at Link Removed: http://hearthable.com/library/voltarin-warlock-deck/
So to,Witster again thank you again for the opportunity to bestow my knowledge to you all as I love a good banter and to all of you out there reading this response please check out my site if you wish to support me so I can continue to give you this helpful information to make you the best players you all can be.
"Have a Legendary Season 2"!
~Donnie :)
"I would like to take this time to thank everyone for voting this the best all time Priest arena analysis guide. I will be streaming soon here myself and instead of just building decks for you all to crush people on ladder & will be on the grind as well so look out for me in all 3 realms. (Sniper no sniping) Anyhow please follow my new twitch channel I just made as I will be playing all of the decks you see me create on here to give you a hands on understanding of how to win with them to the best of their capabilities"
Please follow me here: http://www.twitch.tv/epicvoltarin/profile
Sincerely
~Donnie