Hearthpwn

Firstly, in the interest of full disclosure let me say that I did not make a legend run with this deck. However, I am confident that had I continued to tweak the deck and fiddle with it it could maintain a legend climb with a better than average win-rate. Aggro archetype is definitely not the priest forte. Why? Because the class generally has poor draw mechanics among all the classes. Sooo … to compensate for this weakness I built a combo deck in an aggro shell. This means that using Divine Spirit + Inner Fire as a basis I built a deck that skirts around the meta's current common removals. You will see this later.

 

I used the deck in this form and one earlier form to climb from rank 13 to rank 7

 

The Mulligan

 

The only cards you keep irregardless of the matchup are the Northshire Clericand theRadiant Elemental. The temptation to keep Crystalline Oracle is a result of its being played in control priests in the past. This makes Shadow essence a little worse and just gets killed against pirate package and Firefly starts by opponents (As people pointed out in the comments). If you have the coin you can get away with keeping Kabal Talonpriest but I would still not keep the oracle in the hopes of turn two buffing it.

 

The Game Plan

 

Play the first 3 or four turns with mana efficiency trying to bait out early removal or play around it if you can. Making 4+ health guys with low attack takes precedence over removing enemy minions (except doomsayer of course).

 

Turn 4-6 you are trying to keep the board and accumulate combo pieces either through drawing them off the clerics or with Shadow Visions. Also, a well timed Bittertyde Hydra will either stick to the board or bait the removal after a combo (if you don't have lethal)

 

 

Turn 7 is the telling turn and I often found myself playing Shadow Visions (for either missing piece)+Divine Spirit+Divine Spirit+Inner Fire for lethal. In the rare case where I had to play a combo piece to preserve board I would play Shadow Essence to get a 5/5 to draw the heat of the opponents next turn and then chip away at the enemy health with my other minions for the next turn or two for lethal.

 

Substitutions

 

If you are seeing a lot of the pirate package You should definitely find a spot to put in Golakka Crawlers … Someone in the comments mentioned replacing the Crystalline Oracles and that makes a lot of sense.

 

One substitution that I like is taking out Arcane Anomoly and Shadow Essence for the Cairne Bloodhoof + Bonemare combo. However this may make your odd number earlier turns off-curve (the majority of your minions are even mana cost so turn 3 and 5 are potentially under-whelming or inefficient).

 

Deck Weaknesses

 

If you lose board you lose the game. This can save you time on a ladder climb. You can potentially Shadow Essence and get a worse Bittertyde Hydra but this is a small statitistical risk (if you replace the essence with Cairne that isn't a problem). Cobalt Scalebane is worth a spot somewhere perhaps but has anti-synergy with Lightspawn.

 

Deck Strengths

 

There is power in the anti-meta surprise. If the opponent expects the usual turn 1 pass and turn 2 heal face priest he may mulligan away Doomsayer, Backstab, or something equally anti-aggro. This works out well for this particular deck.

 

The strongest opener chain is Northshire Cleric+Shadow Ascendant+Kabal Talonpriest+Tortollan Shellraiser. This is a winning chain. The precise counter to this opening is what? The problem is that this is a “God draw” and is just luck. BUT it exists.

 

Archetype Notes

 

This archetype might actually be a better Tier if it had a few better support cards. Another 1 drop with 1/3 stats would be broken. Perhaps cards that buff minions with higher defense than attack for a small amount. As of now I would call it a Tier 3 or 4 deck with potential and it certainly can be fun for the builder and rage-enducing for an opponent at times if they never get into the game.

 

If you have a question post it in the comments