Zerek's Back, Back Again
- Last updated Aug 24, 2018 (Boomsday)
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Wild
- 4 Minions
- 25 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Big Priest
- Crafting Cost: 9060
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 8/7/2018 (Boomsday)

- Echo_
- Registered User
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- 7
- 38
- 117
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Battle Tag:
Echo#11883
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
274
And again, and again, and again, and again. He never really leaves to be honest.
By utilizing a Big Priest shell, Zerek, Master Cloner is able to show how much he cares about you by never leaving your side.
How to Play
For those of you who normally play Wild, you are probably already familiar with Big Priest. For those who aren't, try your best to get to turn 6 through utilizing removal such as the Shadow Words and Spirit Lash. Once you get to turn 6, play Shadow Essence or Zerek, Master Cloner (doesn't really matter if he dies, you can always get him back later). Afterwards, use all the revive effects to bring back Zerek or Obsidian Statue and just overwhelm the opponent with either a swarm of 5/5s or 4/8 lifesteal taunts. If your swarm of undying 5/5s aren't able to finish off your opponent, Shadowreaper Anduin is there to help not only clean up the board but then also provide the last bit of damage with the help of all the cheap buffs.
Don't worry about throwing away buffs on Obsidian Statue or your Free From Amber minion because there is probably too much buffs and I should find a way to reduce that and get better early game.
Match ups
As you can probably tell, this deck struggles against aggressive decks, not really a surprise. That being said, this deck has a real easy time pulling wins out of it's ass after turn 6-7 so any slow deck is often an easy match up as they just can't deal with endless storm of Zereks and Obsidian Statue.
Mulligan Guide
Since I still don't really know what the defining archetypes for each deck is (and I don't think they are all decided yet, still day 2 of the expansion) so I'll just say what you want to mulligan for depending on the match up.
For aggro decks, try to find Shadow Word: Pain and Spirit Lash. These two cards are easily the safest ticket out of the early game.
For combo and control decks, pretty much hard mulligan for Zerek, Master Cloner or Shadow Essence. Shadow Visions are fine too since it lets you try finding said Shadow Essence.
Substitutes
Shadowreaper Anduin is mostly just icing on an already late game powerhouse. If you don't have him and don't want to make him, he can just be replaced by more removal such as Shadow Word: Death. If silence becomes a big thing (which I still don't think it will), Mass Dispel could also be a good replacement. Finally, if you want to be real greedy, Extra Arms is also pretty decent at being able to help keep Zerek alive for longer.
Vivid Nightmare is absurdly good in the deck, but it's still replaceable. Another copy of Extra Arms is good and Divine Spirit is also pretty decent.
Obsidian Statue is a card that is incredibly important just because it's strong in so many match ups, but if you don't have it, The Lich King, Deranged Doctor both do a decent job, albeit not as good of a job.
Psychic Scream is pretty good for securing wins against aggro, but originally I had a second copy of Power Word Shield. This does not do the same job whatsoever, but there isn't really another card that does what the scream does.
Shadow Visions and Zerek, Master Cloner are the only two non-common and rare cards you actually need for the deck. Shadow Visions simply provides way too much consistency for the deck that is very much needed and Zerek, Master Cloner is literally the reason why this deck exists, so no cuts for either of them, sorry.
Final Verdict
Here's where I normally say how good a deck is and how I feel it compares against most the meta. However, the meta hasn't really stabilized yet so I'll just talk about how it feels at the current rank I'm at (played it from 15-9 so far). The deck punishes the daylights out of control decks. To the point where I don't think I've actually lost a match to a control deck. As for combo decks, it typically depends on how fast they are able to pop off. Unfortunately, there is no way for priest to really interact with these types of decks. The one way we can interact is by getting Nozdormu off of Free From Amber, which is not a reliable way to win at all. I've still beaten combo decks by just rushing them down (and the aforementioned Nozdormu play), but it feels like a mixed matchup. Aggro match ups are easily the worst but atleast for me, I haven't been seeing that many aggressive ones. Odd Paladins are not that bad if you can get Spirit Lash but Odd rogues are literally the worst thing for the deck. This deck just flat out cannot beat a turn 3 Hench-Clan Thug because it becomes a 4/4 immediately, then by the first time we can properly deal with it, it has already dealt too much damage. That being said though, I still think this deck is pretty decent. I've mostly gone against slower decks and this deck excels at beating those. Not only that, but nobody knows how to deal with Zerek, Master Cloner and I find that hysterical. Overall, I'd recommend this deck in a heartbeat. It is without a doubt the most fun I've had in this game for ages. With all the zoo and other aggressive decks running amok, this deck hasn't really been doing that well unfortunately, so as of right now I'm working on making a deck that still utilizes Zerek to the extremes, but is more board focused.
So I made a list that is more focused on the board and is a midrange deck, here's a link to it.
I just want to thank everyone for all the attention this deck has received. Going to be honest, I thought this deck was just going to end up like my mill druid from Witchwood, not being ignored but never really taken off either. This deck blew that out of the water, reaching the front pages of not only the priest decks (which at the moment it's at the top of that) but then also making it on the front page for a bit (like 3 hours or so until it fell off, but still). It means a lot to me knowing that people would spend the time to try out a deck I made. Thanks for all the support!
I just discovered this deck 2 days ago. I have now a 6-2 ratio. Its surprising how many basicly lost games can be turned after turn 6 into a totally ridiculous dominating game. I just won against an Odd Paladin by just having endless amounts of Obsidian Statues...i almost felt a little ashamed since that card can be so op!
The 2 games i lost were like if i would be afk...i basicly just died on turn 5-6 without ever being able to play a card, just because i just got expensive minions or buffs in my hand and could do just nothing...feels bad man...
However... i like the deck, since it gives some room to make creative decisions and fun plays.
Yeah the deck struggles from typical Big priest issues, this being way too slow against most decks, but once you get off a Shadow Essence typically the game can be stabilized and swings heavily in your favor. To be honest, I'm surprised the deck has a good win ratio for you considering the state of the meta and in how I've kinda just left the deck to rot away seeing as how anything of this sort cannot be 'viable' in the meta.
That being said, I'm glad you are liking the deck and I hope you continue to do well with it!
Thx for the deck !! I dont have 2x vivid nightmare so i tried -1 vivid +1 lyra. Work like a charm. ^^
I'm glad you like it! I'll probably try to redo the deck in a bit to make it more functional in the given meta, but as of now I'm flooded with school stuff. I'm definitely a fan of the Dead Ringer and Gargoyles though.
Worst deck ever
The deck is pretty bad at the moment just because of the state of the meta. However, I don't think that it justifies it being a horrible deck simply because of that. This deck was made day 1 when everybody was playing a greedy shitfest decks and so I made this one to combat that. Sorry that you didn't enjoy the deck as much as I did when playing it.
ЭХО! Ты уебак, дека говноЮ в рот тебе ноги
Что я сделал с тобой? Извините, если я что-то сделал, но я буквально никогда не видел вас, прежде чем так жаль, если это было что-то плохое.
I've always enjoyed Big Priest and am psyched to see, what is so far, a viable addition to this archetype in standard. It suffers from the traditional Big Priest drawbacks (bad card draw can kill you before you even get a chance to play a card), but it's also easily the most fun version of the deck that I've ever played. Getting a Zerek engine going is just ridiculous! Like you said, a lot of players just don't have an answer - I've seen plenty of 'Oops' emotes after that 5/5 pops back in.
Thanks for the deck! I have enjoyed playing a few iterations of it, and I came back to your exact list with this subtle change:
-1 Obsidian Statue
+1 Wild Pyromancer
I have found that although the pyro adds another occasionally less than ideal minion to the roll for Shadow Essence, it can help dramatically against aggro and even if you pop out a 5/5 Pyro, this deck has no problem getting the control rolling by other means.
Fun deck, thanks again =D
That is actually a really good idea. I'll have to try it out again! I've always loved Wild Pyro in priest just because it's so good at just shutting down boards. I never really thought about putting one in since I'm so used to just using big minions and being a greedy snot head with it. Glad you enjoy the deck by the way!
I don't know about ranked, but I was having a lot of success in casual with this list, especially against the slower meta decks. Can also perform decently against aggro if you get lucky with early game removal. Fun stuff, thanks for the list!
look both fun and unplayable
i just want to play priest and i dont like mecha c'thun this is the second best choice?
Nope not at all lmao. I love this deck a lot, but this card and the words "second best" don't really mix. You can probably use a more dragon orientated combo list using Inner fire or Topsy Turvy for some success. I don't really see a lot of priests and have been playing around with other classes, so I can't really give that great advice, sorry.
Yeah I ended up noticing that when playing the deck, most of the time I'd rather have Obsidian Statue just because it has direct impact on board. However, the core of the deck is to be able to use both of them well and I feel taking out Zerek could possibly increase the winrate, would make the deck just a normal big priest and uninteresting. Glad you still are having tons of fun with the deck though!
live to turn 6 and win
Terrible deck! to slow and not have reponses to creatures.
I agree that the deck is too slow and there is not much we can really do to help that without changing the nature of the deck. However, I dont agree with the deck having no response to creatures. The only time my opponents are able to truly take control of the board is either with 4 attack minions, which priest has no removal for, or when it gets absolutely flooded and dont have enough removal spells. There pretty much all the priest spells that interact with the opponents board are in the deck, not sure what else I can put in to make it more proactive really.
Hey! Been having a lot of fun with this deck, Zerek is like the coolest guy ever. What do you think we'd add in a Wild version of the deck? The only card that comes to mind is Resurrect. What do you think?