Stancifka's Dragon Priest
- Last updated Nov 11, 2017 (Marin's Treasure)
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Wild
- 18 Minions
- 12 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Dragon Priest
- Crafting Cost: 2320
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 11/11/2017 (Marin's Treasure)
- StanCifka
- Pro Player
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Hey guys! I am back with another deck guide, this time we will take a closer look on Dragon Priest! We have seen some iterations of this deck in the pack, but I really like how it looks nowadays, as there is a hidden combo package inside that just fits in very well.
And as a cherry on top, no legendaries are in the deck, and that is not for budged reasons. This deck is simply not interested in them, so anyone can craft it and play it in its full strength.
Just a side note before you guys go crazy about it, I am definitely not trying to take full credit for creating this deck out of thin air. I just tweaked it so it runs like a well-oiled machine, and wrote this deck guide so you guys can have fun with it as well.
You are playing a fair game with your opponent, gaining some value with Northshire Cleric and Netherspite Historian and controlling the board with Tar Creeper and some removal. And suddenly you realise that you managed to stick a high toughness minion on the board, and your opponent has only 30 lives so it’s time to kill him with your combo package!
Northshire Cleric and Power Word: Shield are cards that I like to keep basically every time, and Radiant Elemental is also good no matter what.
Golakka Crawler is good against any class that could potentially run the Patches the Pirate package. Against those decks Shadow Word: Pain, Tar Creeper and Potion of Madness are solid keep as well. Twilight Drake is amazing against Priest because he has a very hard time getting rid of it, so in this matchup I keep him. Netherspite Historian is a keep against control, even if you don’t have the dragon.
You never want to keep the combo pieces though, so mulligan all those Inner Fire and Divine Spirit, and also Shadow Visions is a clear mulligan.
Dragons
There are 6 dragons in this deck which serve as a high end and your win condition. All three of them, Twilight Drake, Cobalt Scalebane and Drakonid Operative are very good cards on their own, so you are not paying much for extra synergies. Netherspite Historian then provides a ton of additional value, even more then you guys think. With cards like these you are 4 times more likely to get a class minion over neutral minions as your choice, and since Drakonid Operative is the only Priest dragon in existence, you have 66 % or so to get him, which is just insane as he really is one of the greatest dragons out there. The fact that Dragonfire Potion works as one side destruction spells with this deck is just a cherry on top.
Combo
This is the second big part of the deck, but a really good thing about this is the fact that none of your combo pieces are bad cards on their own, and instead they more or less act as a support card before you decide it’s time to kill your opponent. Your opponent needs to count on it from the very beginning, and if he doesn’t suspect anything or can’t deal with your high toughness minion even if he wanted to, he can die from nowhere. Let’s just say you managed to stick a 6 toughness minion on the board, and it’s your turn with full crystals again.
- Power Word: Shield
- Divine Spirit
- Divine Spirit
- Inner Fire
- Hit the face with 32/32 minion
- Emote Well played (optional)
So in theory you can win even on turn 4 with turn2 Radiant Elemental and turn3 Tar Creeper, but that obviously doesn’t really happen in the game. However, thanks to big Twilight Drake you can just win on turn 5 or 6 often enough if uncontested.
The key card here is Shadow Visions which helps you to bring all of these combo pieces together, as getting double Divine Spirit would be much harder without it. This is also a reason why there are so many 1-of spells in the deck, as they make your Shadow Visions more consistent in the midgame when you already drew some of them. There are just two more points I would like to add to this:
- You are not trying to combo out as fast as you can. Just keep playing the fair game while collecting criticall mass of resources, and when you realise you have it all, just go for it.
- All these cards work quite well even out of the combo. Have a solid Twilight Drake in play? Double it’s health with Divine Spirit and fully take control of the board. Some random 10/3 minion beating you down? Shrink it with Inner Fire. Could use extra attack on Tar Creeper? Inner Fire should help you in this spot as well. You also don’t need to go with OTK combo every time, for example against Druid you can just create a 12/12 minion which has literally no answer versus huge beast like that.
As mentioned in the beginning, deck is surprisingly cheap, so there should be very little “budged” questions regarding this build. However, there are some cards you can change numbers of depending on your metagame call.
Lyra the Sunhard is a possible addition if you want to add a legendary to the deck. She is very solid in very slow matchups where she generates a lot of value, but she is mediocre versus faster opponents.
Dragonfire Potion can be both added or removed from the deck, shining against minion heavy decks that need to go wide on the board. For these matchups you can add another Shadow Word: Pain, although I really like running just one
Book Wyrm is another dragon that I considered running, but I think 6 of them is the perfect number, and I am happy with this constellation so far.
You can always cut Golakka Crawler or Potion of Madness, and if you are adding Book Wyrm to the mix you can replace Cobalt Scalebane for him.
That’s it for today! As always, thanks for reading, and if you like these guides just let me know in any way, all the feedback is appreciated!
Cheers
StanCifka
Drakonid is one of the best 5 Drops for Dragon decks and u should also have Dragonfire Potion since it´s the best AoE for Priest
2 dmg AOE just doesn't cut it on turn 5 and Drakonid OP is a must in this deck. I don't think you should play this deck without them, removing them decreases its strength significantly.
that drakonid operative is a freaking rare whats wrong with you? geez
Guys, I knew already that the cards in the original list were better than those I mentioned, no need to confirm that. Had merely asked how much worse the replacements would have been, to understand if the resulting deck was even remotely viable. I don't main priest and mostly use it for quests, you know. And since Stancifka himself says in the guide that "Dragonfire Potion can be [...] removed" and "Book Wyrm is another dragon that I considered running", the question didn't seem so foolish.
BTW today I got the daily to play 50 Priest cards, so I gave my version a go, and went 6-1. Not so bad, huh?
Now specifically @Dustex: the operative is 100 dust but the potion is 400, so 500 total. Don't know about you, but since I don't spend hundreds of dollars/euros every 4 months, resources are limited here. And I prefer to either save my dust for next expansion or use it to craft a tier 1 deck, not a bottom of tier 3 one, thank you very much.
I think it's fine without Dragonfire Potion, I've seen Kibler play this deck without aoe and I've tried it myself too, it turns out alright. But Drakonid Operative is still recommended tho, since it's a really strong body on turn 5 as well as getting one more card.
No need to craft Dragonfire Potion for this one :)
Stan , would love to see a new youtube vid on this deck . Ty :)
Me hungry, you yummy! (swipe swipe)
Me too, how can I replace it I have all the other cards
That affects a lot of synergy, unfortunately. There is really no card which can fill the 2-drop gap having such a trade and card draw/discover value. It may be worth crafting golden versions for 400 dust each if you have not finished Karazhan. Not sure if regular versions are available for crafting now, I'd advise checking it as well.
Stan i really love Dragon Priest and don't understand why here no comments) (sorry for my english)
Just posted the guide itself, so probably that's why :) Love to hear that, good luck with the deck!