Hearthpwn

Agreed.

I think I see WHY they chose to allocate his stats the way they did.  Kidnapper is a minion + sap.  Sap costs 2 mana.  2 mana is the equivalent of 4 stat points.  So they took a 6/6 for 6 mana and then subtracted 4 stat points away, resulting in a 5/3 for 6.  But at 6 mana, playing something that can be killed by a 2 mana 3/2 is definitely NOT value...even if you DID potentially gain a tempo advantage via the sap component.

Would he be more valuable if his stats were flipped?  ie. 3/5 for 6.  Meh, probably still too weak.  I think he'd need to be at LEAST a 4/5 or a 5/4 to even be considered, and even then he doesn't trade especially well to fit into a 6 slot.

What would you suggest the change be?

We don't have all the information yet on what exactly will be available, so it's difficult to say for sure.  As many have pointed out already, there are certainly some things in Naxx that have the potential to improve the current state of the priest.  They are getting, arguably, the best 3 drop in the game, they have a number of ways to deal with death rattle minions, and some of those ways result in stealing the death rattle effect.  

However, you also have to look realistically at some of the current flaws and assess how these new additions / new benefits will actually play out.  For example:

1. Priest tends to be slower, especially in the early game, then other classes.  This can cause problems against fast decks like Zoo, Shockadin, Fast Druid, etc.  Will the addition of a solid three drop help this?  On it's own, I don't think it will hurt, but I don't know that it will push the priest into "fast" mode.  But perhaps will some more of the new cards and some creativity it will.  Mass Dispel also comes into play here.  As much as the effect of this will be useful in Naxx, it will also be a HUGE tempo loss - that's your entire turn 4 gone.

2. Priests are plagued by their inability to remove 4 attack creatures.  Nothing is really changing here.  In fact, there new "awesome" minion sadly has 4 hp...with is perfect Yeti fodder.

3. Priests tend to struggle with consistency due to the combo nature of many of their plays (ie. Injured Blademaster + Circle or Auchenai + Circle).  No real visible change in this department yet either.  In fact, the new minion adds another "combo" type component.  But perhaps combined with some of the new cards this new card will allow the priest to move away from some of that RNG.

I am sure there are more things that could be looked at, but I think with just the few that I mentioned that Priest is likely to improve, but not become a powerhouse.  I imagine more people will try it out - but without solutions to the above problems I think priest is destined to remain a lower tier class for constructed.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention about the warrior match (also good for any match vs an Alex user), it's very important to save your Ice Barriers until AFTER your opponent uses Alex on you.  This will keep you out of that lethal charge range much longer.

Quote from Rev3e »

I have no problem with shamans...I have more problem with Control warrior and also Handlock..

Spyte had some great advice for facing Control Warriors, and since employing this advice I've had a pretty good win rate against them.  Basically, your goal is to fatigue them.  DO NOT USE you Arcane Intellect, and make them draw as many cards as possible.  If they put down an Acolyte of Pain - ping it to make them draw more cards.  They can build up all the armor they want and still die to fatigue in the end.

Quote from Xzirez »

i mulligan for early removal and burn my hand to not get cold lighted but even when i think im gonna win at 24 hp turn 9 they top deck cold light and kill me in 1 turn theres no way i can play around 20 damagr top decks and that seems to be this decks way of winning. Freeze mage is also a direct counter to miracle but i dont have any problem with them anymore after knowing how to play against them, but i did lose a lot when they first became popular so im figuring it has to be something im doing wrong it cant be that much of a counter that theres nothing i can do??

I don't play a lot of miracle - so maybe there's someone who does that has more experience playing against this deck from that perspective.  All I know is that I almost never lose to miracle.  The only time I do is when I get a horrible opening hand and they get a quick tempo going.

I've been playing Backspace's Aggro Mill Rogue quite a bit.  As irons182 pointed out, it's a direct counter to Miracle - and generally destroys them, unless Miracle gets a god hand.  Unfortunately, Backspace's rogue has some inherent weaknesses though too.  It aims to win quickly in the early game.  The longer you can delay that from happening the more likely it will run out of steam.  It doesn't have a TON of card draw, so you are also reliant upon your the first half of your deck or so - if you don't get the right draws, you likely lose.  And finally, large taunts can wreck this deck.  A single taunt can be sapped - but multiple taunts tend to cause much more of a problem.

The two decks I struggle the most against are Zoo (which annihilates this) and taunt heavy Ramp Druid. 

Quote from Rev3e »

Thank you...and why keep Alex vs shaman? I would like to know reason...

Shaman tends to be one of your more dangerous opponents because of their burst potential.  For this reason, you really don't want this to match to go on too long...or they are likely to burn you down before you even get to your finishers.  Keeping Alex in your opening hand is a way to hedge towards finishing them by turn 10 or 11.  It's a bit risky, since you are essentially holding onto a card that you won't play until turn 9.  But in my experience, not doing this is often riskier against a Shaman.

In my experience it depends a bit on what you are facing...

Against fast rush decks you can't afford to hold on to Mountain Giants, since you will likely be using too many cards to ever play them.  Molten Giants are more likely to find there way down, but if you don't survive long enough for them to make a difference it's pretty moot to get them out there.  For this reason, I aim for secrets and removal ASAP against these decks.  Ice Block, Ice Barrier, Frost Bolt, Frost Nova, are all good options.

Against Zoo, or "swarm" type decks, I go for similar things, but I put an even higher priority on Frost Nova and Cone of Cold.  These two can help you stall them long enough to get to your AoE clears.

Against slower Control decks getting Giants isn't bad at all.  Even getting card draw + giants can be good.  That said, I still usually put a higher priority on getting my Ice Block in my hand.  I feel much safer once that's there.  Vaporize is nice against slower paced match ups where they are playing large creatures.

My philosophy has been, get the survival pieces in my hand and the rest will take care of itself.

Oh, and one more note that I picked up from Spyte - keeping Alex in your opening hand against a shaman isn't a bad idea either.

I actually switch out my drakes for yetis whenever I seem to be running into a lot of shaman with my Handlock.  Obviously they aren't AS good, but it's better than spending 4 mana on something that gets insta-killed for 1 mana.

This is a really interesting idea.  As a big fan of Shadow Priest in WoW I was a little disappointed to discover how weak they are in Hearthstone.  Then again, Priest as a whole isn't in the greatest place ATM.  So for this reason I would LOVE to see some innovative changes take place.

Gaining 3 armor OR 4 health doesn't seem OP to me at all.  After all, one of the greatest weaknesses of Shadowform is that you can no longer heal.  Any time I see a priest switch to Shadowform I celebrate, because now I know I can just zerg them down without having to worry about them coming back via heals.  

That said, I'm not sure 3 armor is going to be enough to truly make this viable.  I feel like the whole concept of Shadowform would be WAY better if you could turn it on and off.  That would allow for some damage output, but also spot heals as needed.  Just like in WoW.  Of course, you then have to consider how to make this possible.  There are a few ways I can think of...

1. The Priest Hero ability simply gets changed to "Deal 2 damage OR Heal Hp".  This could take place similar to the druid "option" cards like Wrath, or it could be set to damage enemies and heal friends automatically.  I put this option first because obviously this is WAY too OP and not at all realistic.  

2. There could be multiple cards - one to go into shadowform, and 1 to come out of it.  This option is FAR more realistic, but seems a little weak.  That's an extra card slot you have to give up.  The only way I see this as being viable would be if there were additional benefits to using these specific cards.  (ie.  "Your Hero Power becomes 'Deal 2 damage'.  You gain 'x' amount of shadowarmor".  "Your Hero Power becomes 'Heal 2hp'.  You gain 'x' amount of hp.")  Still not a great tempo play...(unless it made your hero power free that turn)...but with the right "addon" I think it could be SOMEWHAT helpful.  Again, it seems a little harsh to give up 2 to 4 card slots for this though.

3. The Shadowform cards could work like druid choice cards (ie. Wrath).  When you play it you could have the option to enter or exit shadowform.  This would eliminate the ability to boost your attack to 3 though (unless that was also an option)...but it has the benefit of allowing you to only need to run 2 cards instead of a potential 4.  This seems pretty reasonable.  However, my favorite idea is...

4. The Shadowform card puts you into shadowform AND summons a 0 mana card that takes you out of shadowform.  So you can choose to stay in shadowform, or if needed, you can play the 0 mana card and go back to normal.  This would reduce the cards needed to 1 - which would be a HUGE help to the Priest decklist.  As for the boosting your damage up to 3...maybe there could be a different card that empowers shadowform AND your base heals.

Quote from honj90 »

Play miracle, it's a T1 deck that has a favorable matchup against druid. Or shaman.

 

Does Miracle actually have a favorable matchup against the new Roar Druid though?

"Rag still procs his 8 damage while frozen".  Well, he IS made of Molten Rock and Fire --- so keeping him frozen at all is pretty impressive.

Last season I chose to rank up solely with my priest - which at times was pure hell, and at others extremely rewarding.  During the experience I adjusted things around almost daily.  Partially because I feel like priest isn't currently in a great "jack-of-all-trades" position.  There are some things you wish you had against aggro, and other things you wish you had against control decks.

The deck you've built has a lot of the common "nuts and bolts" you see in a typical priest deck - so that's good.  There are a few choices you've made that I would probably change, but again, it has a lot to do with what you are facing an how things are working.  With that said though, here are a couple of things that I would probably exchange:

1.  Faerie Dragon - I LOVE this card.  It is a huge pain in the butt for your opponent to remove without running a minion into it.  Unfortunately, it's biggest strength (that it can't be targeted by spells or hero abilities) is its greatest weakness in a Priest Deck.  You can't Power Word: Shield it, or Heal it.  For this reason, I feel like there are better options to place here.  As LovelyMagick suggested, Wild Pyromancer is a great option.  It's very helpful against swarm/aggro decks and usually eats up the opponents attention until he removes it.  Some people run 2, but I think 1 is fine.  Running an ooze in today's meta can be good too if you're seeing a lot of rogues, warriors, hunters, or paladins.  (Also, with you choice to run Sunfurys and a Spellbreaker having an Ancient Watcher here instead of an ooze when the meta doesn't call for it can be good.)

2. Circle of Healing - Again, like was already mentioned, having 2 of these can be huge.  It has so much synergy with the rest of the deck, and is a MASSIVE help against Zoo decks.

3. Holy Smite / Shadow Word: Pain - I generally opt for a combination of 2 of these, instead of 3 like you have.  This is completely personal preference...and which 2 I run usually depends on what I am up against.  That said, 3 isn't terrible, but if you were looking to run something else you could drop something here.

4.  Sylvanas - I really like having her in my priest deck.  She is an annoying card that your opponent has to respond to before doing anything else.  She also can act as an MC when combined with Shadow Word: Death - which can steal you a concealed auctioneer and ruin a rogues day.  Plus I feel she's a bit better than Rag in this meta because everyone an their dog runs a BGH.  But having both would be good too.

5. Spellbreaker - Unlike LovelyMagick, I actually like having a silence in my deck to deal with an opponents Sylvanas, etc.  So my vote is to keep this.  

Finally, if you are seeing a lot of aggro decks, switching up your Yetis for Senjins can be helpful.

Great questions.  As others have suggested, I think it strongly depends upon who you are against.  Are you against a fast aggro deck or a slow control deck?  From my experience, this really dictates what you do in each situation.

Against an aggro deck I prefer to limit my life tapping to a minimum.  More cards generally isn't going to save you in this scenario - and you likely aren't going to be able to wait for a turn 4 mountain giant.  So in this case, if I had an Ancient Watcher in my hand and a potential way to taunt it, silence it, or Shadow Flame it, I would probably throw it out there.

Against a control deck you usually don't have this kind of rushed feeling, so I would want to hold onto it and hope for a turn 4 Mountain Giant.

Of course, if you're against a rogue, Watchers are pretty horrible thanks to sap - unless you can Shadow Flame it. 

Quote from deadsosoon »

Quote from Fortheundercity »

You've clearly put a lot of time into your channel there, which is admirable.

I must say though, without commentary, you're going to lose MANY viewers that you would have had otherwise :(

Okay I will re do them with commentary <3

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