Hearthpwn

This is a Priest deck designed to (hopefully) be competitive in the current Meta, taking a lot of cues from the popular Warrior Control decks and simply modifying them to fit the Priest’s somewhat off-beat playstyle, resulting in a deck which is both powerful and flexible.

The cards you love to see in your hand when facing off against a control-oriented class Injured Blade Master, Circle of Healing, and Northshire Cleric. Together, those three cards can net you an insane early game advantage, providing your opponent with an early 4/7 that they have to deal with before they can accomplish much of anything else, while also forcing them to handle the 1/3 that draws you cards every time they fail to completely kill your Blade Master. By the time they finally manage to clear your minions, you’ll typically have drawn a new threat for them to deal with like an Auchenai Soulpriest, Azure Drake, a second Injured Blade Master, etc., or you’ll have made them use some of their removal so they won’t have it when you start playing the real threats waiting at the high end of your mana curve.

Against aggro, you’ll want a very different opening hand. While IBM and Northshire can still do work in these matchups, they’re typically too slow to keep you alive until you can make it to your end game. Instead, the cards you’re looking for are Wild Pyromancer, Holy Smite, or – if you can manage it – Auchenai + Circle of Healing. Wild Pyro has the potential to obliterate an aggro-player’s board before they have the chance to buff their minions and make it nigh impossible to stabilize, while Auchenai + Circle can turn the game around even if they do manage to buff those minions, turning what looked like it would be a crushing defeat into a potential victory.

With your constant healing, tough minions, and early board clears, it should often be more than possible to survive until the mid-/late-game, and it is there that this deck really shines. With all the threats available to you in the early- and mid-game, your opponent will have to use a considerable amount of removal if they want even the barest semblance of control, and with each removal card they’re forced to use, your late-game simply becomes more and more potent. The dream with this deck is to two-shot your opponent, similar to the way Control Warrior does it, except that instead of using Grommash + Taskmaster to finish off the opponent after Alexstraza weakens them, this deck uses Mindblast.

While Mindblasts are typically bad cards (and you’ll really hate it if you draw both of them in your opening hand), they are also incredibly lethal when combined with other cards. Essentially, your spending 4 mana for a Pyroblast with the only arguable drawback being that it’ll cost you two cards to play. The reason this drawback is only arguable is because it provides some additional flexibility to your finisher: Play a spell damage minion and suddenly your opponent is down 12 health instead. Or use Velen to turn the first one into a 2 mana Pyroblast and save the second for next turn, after they spend this one removing Velen. Or simply toss it out there in order to proc your Pyromancer for an extra bit of board control.

The other late-game cards present in this deck – Baron Geddon and Ragnaros – are mostly there to provide your opponent with a problem: deal with this minion or it will end up killing you, while also helping to further secure board control and getting in a bit of extra damage to make finishing off your opponent that much easier.

This deck is still in need of some work, as it hasn’t gotten quite enough play-testing as of yet to gather all the information necessary about its strengths/weaknesses. Still, it can take players who underestimate Priest’s true killing potential by surprise, making the deck very fun to play around with.

Missing Cards?

Shadow Word: ____: The Shadow Words were removed from this deck because they are what create the infamous “Priest Blind-spot”, those pesky 4 attack minions which are “impossible” for a Priest to remove. In their place, we have a Big Game Hunter, which is more than capable of killing most of the cards you would want to use Death on anyway, while providing a reasonable 4/2 drop in matchups where such cards see little play (meaning that it doesn’t spend most of the game as a completely unusable card vs. Zoo and Miracle).

The only matchup this seems to really hurt is Druid, since most of the high-end Druid minions have 5 Attack, but this deck has yet to see enough play against Ramp Druid to determine whether or not its strong early-game is a match for that specific deck’s accelerated late-game.

Holy Nova: Replaced with Abominations for a few reasons. In aggro matchups, there is little difference between the two cards, since most aggro decks can’t afford to run silences which would only slow them down, and the two damage to yourself is an acceptable price to pay in exchange for removing a sizeable portion of your opponent’s board, not to mention that it is negated entirely by your hero power. Against control, your opponent will typically be inclined to use removal on the Abomination to minimize the damage it does to them, once again helping to secure your late-game drops.

 

Builder’s Note:

I find it rather disappointing that Priest is so underrepresented in the current meta (read: not within a hundred miles of it), since it’s been my favorite class since the first day I started playing. It’s one of the most fun and flexible classes in the entire game, and it would be awesome if the class could start building up a reputation as completely viable option for climbing ladder and winning games more than 50% of the time. It’s time that Priest finally started earning some respect in the Hearthstone community. By the Light!

 

 

Edit:

Mulligans

Druid: A potentially challenging matchup, but certainly winnable. You'll want to be looking for your Injured Blade Master + Circle of Healing as early as possible so that you can keep up with the Druid's Innervates. If you take a second to compare, a Druid's turn 2 Yeti essentially gives them 9 stats on turn 2, whereas IBM combined with Circle (and perhaps even the coin) gets you 11 stats around the same time frame, allowing Priest to actually be one of the few classes that can match a Druid's early-game potency.

Hunter: Not a terribly difficult matchup for the most part, but it can be problematic if the Hunter manages to get their 4/9 Snapjaw with Taunt out. You'll want to mulligan for either Wild Pyro + Low-Cost Spells or Auchenai + Circle, as both give you immediate answers to the inevitable Unleash the Hounds. Besides that, you'll really want your other low-cost minions such as Northshire and Earthen Ring so that they can trigger any traps your opponent plays with minimal losses. Also, Northshires in particular tend to eat charges from Eaglehorn Bows, so it's pretty easy to just play one out early, draw one card, and save yourself 3 damage - which as a class that can heal, makes it that much more difficult for the Hunter to kill you.

Mage: I have not faced many of these guys, but against Aggro Mage, Pyro along with low-cost spells and Auchenai are very powerful early, easily wiping the Mage's board and allowing you to maintain control over it for the remainder of the game.

Paladin: Wild Pyro is especially useful against aggro Paladin, since they'll typically try to use divine shields in order to make up for their minions' general frailty and Pyro burns through shields quite easily.

Priest: Injured Blade Master + Circle of Healing. Whoever gets one out first will have a massive advantage over their opponent, since they'll have to sink at least two or three cards into trying to deal with it. Besides that, just try not to overextend into your opponent's Auchenai +Circle and you shouldn't run into too many problems.

Rogue: Against Miracle Rogue, the best tactic seems to be to try and kill them as quickly as possible while keeping a high health total. I've tried waiting for them to play their Concealed Gadgetzan so I can Auchenai + Circle to instantly eliminate it, but it seems to be far too slow, allowing the Rogue to hold onto their cards without feeling any pressure to use them on your board instead of your face. I'd recommend just trying to fill your opening hand with early threats: Wild Pyro, Earthen Ring, Injured Blade Master, and try to get the Rogue within range of a few Mind Blasts or Holy Fire so they don't even get the chance to pull off their combo.

Shaman: A really easy matchup most of the time, the reason being that so many opening hands give you a huge advantage versus a Shaman. IBM + Circle will force them into using a Hex or losing a lot of cards trying to kill it. Wild Pyro + Spells (especially Power Word: Shield to keep him out of Axe range) can wipe their board and set them way behind. Auchenai + Circle can wipe their board at pretty much any point in the game, since Shamans rarely play anything with >5 attack. Just keep their board clear and their options limited and the game is as good as won. (Also, just for fun, if your opponent gets a Healing Totem, you have a Northshire, and you can clear the rest of their board, it's always amusing to just tap their totem with your cleric for free cards at the end of your opponent's turns.)

Warlock: Difficult this matchup is. I'd recommend you mulligan for Zoo most of the time, as you'll need to counter their plays as soon as possible if that is the deck they're playing, while against Handlock you'll have a few turns to breath before the problems start.

  Zoo: You'll want either Pyro + Spells or Auchenai + Circle, as Zoo's minions are its biggest strength. If you can wipe their board - or at least come very close - without spending too many cards, then it'll be pretty easy to just answer their threats while maintaining a high enough health total that it becomes increasingly difficult for the Warlock to burst you down. The only minions you'll have difficulty dealing with in a Zoo deck are Doomgaurd and a buffed Blood Knight, both of which die to the recently-added Shadow Word: Death, so you'll want to draw that by turn 5, but but that's still secondary to wiping their board before they can zerg you down.

  Handlock: This matchup can range from fairly challenging to ridiculously easy. The reason being that both you and your opponent are working towards a common goal: getting them down to about 10 health. The only real problems you'll face on the way to that goal are Giants and Drakes, which can be a bit of a pain. Just try to get in as many hits as possible during the early game, forcing your opponent to use cards to respond (thus increasing the cost of their Mountain Giants) or take enough damage that killing them with spells is a trivial matter. Any low-cost minion capable of dealing damage is a friend of yours, as is Shadow Word: Death.

Warrior: Against Control Warrior, there's about a 50% chance for both you and your opponent. The fact is that these decks use such a similar strategy that it's about as much of a mirror as if you were playing against another Priest. Try to use Circle of Healing with an Auchenai or IBM to gain an early advantage and do enough damage to them early on with your minions that if they run Alexstraza, then they're really tempted to use its effect on themselves rather than on you. Also, Wild Pyro is terrible in this matchup; it's essentially like saying to your opponent "Here, have a Whirlwind on me!" and can often just end up giving them cards + armor + damage + a bunch of targets for Execute. If you do play your Pyro, try to just trade him away before you cast any spells. Also, it's minor, but be sure to account for the fact that IBM's battlecry does in fact trigger Frothing Berserker's effect. Just something to watch out for.

 

Replacements:

Despite the fact that my edits conflict slightly with some of my earlier statements, I'm going to keep them there, as I still think some of the points stand, and the changes I've made have mostly been to improve matchups against Aggro and Midrange decks like Zoo and Druid (respectively).

-2 Thoughtsteal, +2 Senjin

Much as I love Thoughtsteal - and I still think that it's an amazing card in control matchups, it just wasn't giving the deck survivability against Zoo early-game and Miracle Rogue finishers. So, I switched them out with a card that does: the Shieldmasta. He makes for a solid 4-drop to help protect your face and give you the time you need to make it into the late-game.

- Ragnaros, + Earthen Ring Farseer

I was going to write about how Rag is good but unreliable, how he'd often removed as soon as he's played, about how part of this deck's goal was to remove as much uncertainty from the Priest's deck as possible, but ultimately, this change is simply a matter of preference. I wanted to make this deck more survivable early on, so Rag has been cut. He shall be missed... and  immediately added back in if I ever find myself up against a bunch of control decks.

-1 Big Game Hunter, +1 Shadow Word: Death

So... that happened. The main problem was that I thought over what exactly my Big Game Hunter was hunting in the first place: Ragnaros, Baron Geddon, Alexstraza, Giants, Flametongued Fire Ellementals, and Ramp Druids who accidentally pushed "+5" Attack instead of "+5 Health and Taunt". And while it's quite useful in all of those cases, they aren't quite common enough to make his effect that valuable. Meanwhile, Shadow Word: Death hits everything BGH does, but also: Doomguards, Vanilla Fire Elemental, Real Ancients of War (and of Lore), Argus-buffed Twilight Drakes/Ancient Watchers/Yetis/etc. Basically, despite the fact that the card can potentially sit dead in your hand for a few turns before you can use it, I feel that it has enough targets that it's worth putting in one.

-1 Abomination, +1 Holy Nova

Abomination has been doing a lot of good work for me. It is possibly my pick for one of the most underrated cards in the entire game after having played him for a little while. But I've replaced one of them with a Holy Nova for the time being. Sometimes, the 4/4 body is great. Others, you really just want his Deathrattle, the sooner the better. This change is to allow for both options and, as an added bonus, Holy Nova has synergy with Northshire Cleric, Thalnos, Azure Drake, and Wild Pyro (well, and Velen, but I typically find that if I have Velen on my board and five mana to play with, my opponent is probably about to lose regardless), indirectly increasing the value and effectiveness of all those cards.

Additional, potential substitutions

These are cards I'd consider adding to the deck to specifically strengthen certain matchups:

The Black Knight: Has a lot of potential versus Druid, and potentially Handlock as well, giving you a Yeti while, for just two extra mana, destroying one of your opponent's many giant taunters.

Big Game Hunter: Very strong against Handlock, helping you to survive until your opponents willingly allow themselves to be whittled down to 10 health, at which point it's all too easy to kill them with just two little Mind Blasts.

Ragnaros: In Control vs Control, Rag really shines, nuking your opponent's minions and health and forcing them to respond. This card has been labeled one of the best legendaries in the game since beta, and rightfully so.

Nozdormu: Super-special-secret tech versus Miracle rogues. If they've wasted their Saps on your decoy threats like Geddon and Velen, then they'll suddenly find themselves on a clock to complete their miracles before the card-drawing animation eats up their entire turn. It's absolutely essential! (But seriously, I just got him from a pack recently, and I refuse to disenchant him because, if I do that... seriously, I'm never willingly going to craft this guy, it was the only way he was going to make it into my collection. :P)

 

Also, I'll post a link to the deck's Hearthstat page (hopefully I'll get the website to stay up long enough that it'll let me apply the changes I've made before I get a dozen Unresponsive Script reports). I really wish I had more games on record so that statistics were a bit more significant, and I look to get that info in there whenever I can.

http://hearthstats.net/decks/nameless-one/public_show?locale=en