Aggro/Bless Priest (FiAV Theorycraft)
- Last updated Dec 8, 2021 (Fractured in Alterac Valley)
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Wild
- 15 Minions
- 15 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Aggro Priest
- Crafting Cost: 5640
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 11/28/2021 (Deadmines)
- BirdBat
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Total Deck Rating
80
Huge thanks to languagehacker for the idea and the first draft of his aggro/bless priest from his Discord server, but after a lot of playing around with it I've changed it up quite a bit
Recent Changes
+2 Psyche Split
Subtractions
I just don't think Irondeep Trogg is going to be a very good card. It procs "after" the spell, not "whenever", and against minion based decks it's even worse (could be very wrong for this subtraction if the meta is still quest/spell heavy and Irondeep Trogg ends up being similarly as powerful as an early game Peasant)
Seems like Irondeep Trogg is just really strong in this meta, locking out most opponents if played on turn 1 and followed up with a buff. I've won quite a few games by just continuously buffing a trogg as much and as fast as possible
Stormpike Aid Station is a solid card for the deck but I think it just barely isn't good enough to warrant 2 copies. I feel like its value will come through a little too late and if they clear your turn 1/2 you can't play it on 3 without wasting one of its procs. I could be wrong and maybe it's still worth it, so we'll have to wait to see how it feels to play
It is most definitely worth running 2 copies. The value it provides is insane and allows you to quickly build unbeatable boards if you had even a decent start. Even if the turn you play it you had just lost your board, so long as you have at least 2 minions to drop the following turn it's still really good value and sets up for Bless the turn after that
Crimson Clergy / Gift of the Naaru
I dropped the Crimson Clergy because it was the worst performing 1 drop by far, and only really had synergy with Gift of the Naaru, which I also had to drop because of the fact that it heals the enemies face for 3 and in as an aggressive deck that's just too much of a liability. Especially since it normally won't even be able to draw you a card until later on because you need to have dealt at least 4 damage to their face already, (which is hard in tempo matchups), have a minion at 5 hp or more that's also been damaged for 4 or more already, or have taken 4 damage to your own face which most likely means you lost tempo and the game anyway. Plus, with the addition of 2 more 3 drops and 2 more 5 drops, the loss of draw is mostly offset by the overall higher cost draws of the deck, and Sethekk Veilweaver can still generate plenty of value so you're rarely completely out of steam
Additions
I think Shadow Word: Devour is a really good card in this deck. Let's say it's turn 4 and the board has 5 minions total, (2 on your side and 3 on the opponents, not uncommon in an aggro or midrange matchup), and one of your minions is a Frazzled Freshman; you can Shadow Word: Devour + Bless it to create a 10/10 minion for only 4 total mana, and maybe even killing off some of their minions if they had any tokens, or if you were able to set any of their HPs to 1 using your other minion. Also, it being at only 1 mana synergies really well with Sethekk Veilweaver
However, for as good as it has been for me in tempo matchups it's equally pretty bad when facing quest/control decks that run few or almost no minions, and with the subtraction of Gift of the Naaru to heal all of your own guys back up, I think running just 1 copy is better. (That being said- if you find yourself facing mostly aggro/midrange, you could easily swap in another copy instead of a Psyche Split, since that card is much harder to land if the board is being heavily contested)
This card was a very necessary addition in my opinion. The deck was really lacking 3 drops in order to consistently get a strong early game Rally! or Drek'Thar, and it's also just a very solid tempo card. At absolute worst it's a 3 mana 2/2 which is obviously terrible, but much more often it's at least a 3 mana 4/4, 2 hp of which has to be removed, but can be buffed to make that removal more difficult, like if a Stormpike Aid Station is already active, and or you can get a good Shadow Word: Devour on it
After many games of the deck, basically any time my Sethekk Veilweaver generated a Psyche Split it would solo win me the game. The deck really needed a consistent mid-game power move other than Drek'Thar and there's nothing more satisfying than dropping a Psyche Split on the big minion you were buffing up the first 3/4 turns. It even has other fringe uses like copying a rush minion from your opponent in order to get through their taunt minion, but most often it's just an excellent amount of value in the form of a lot of stats for the cost, and really helps close out games
General
For mulligan you want to look for Drek'Thar > Frazzled Freshman > Irondeep Trogg > Voidtouched Attendant > Bless > Power Word: Feast > Kul Tiran Chaplain (roughly kept with that order of priority in mind)
I have high hopes for this deck, I think it has a lot of potential to snowball/combo out of control very early on to beat the established quest decks and incoming control decks. Just imagine Drek'Thar pulling a Injured Blademaster and a Sethekk Veilweaver as early as turn 3 with The Coin, creating a basically unbeatable board and allowing for the Shadow Word: Devour + Bless combo the following turn (generating 2 additional Priest spells for free)
My high hopes were mostly correct. It's a good deck that really shines when you learn exactly when/what minion to buff in order to play around all of the different classes' removal. However, it's actually been better for me against aggro/midrange decks because they typically lack hard removal, and you're able to snowball so much harder or just win on the spot with a good Drek'Thar or Rally!, which unfortunately some control decks are still able to deal with (ex: Paladin and Warrior have Lord Barov, Warlock has Soul Rend)
**Feel free to leave any suggestions or questions and I'll respond
This deck is insane! Turn 1 Trogg, Turn 2 Bless you win. Replaced the Voidtouched Attendant with Lominous Geode because i dont have them, works pretty good too.
Luminous Geode isn't a bad replacement, I tried it out at first but cut it after realizing that a 2 mana 1/4 isn't as sticky as I thought, and if you try to heal something at full HP it doesn't actually proc the +2 attack, (the way that Lightsteed still gives +2 HP), making Geode a lot worse than I originally thought. Especially with the removal of Gift of the Naaru (which I explained above).
Also, the deck really wants at least 6 one drops in order to have good odds at turn 1 minion into turn 2 buff, and Voidtouched Attendant is extremely strong for an aggro deck. But if 800 dust is out of the question then I'd suggest another 1 drop like Crimson Clergy, even though it's also not that great without Gift of the Naaru (but with your hero power, Renew and Power Word: Feast, can still easily get up to 3 or 4 attack sometimes!)
You might want to reconsider your position on the Trogg now that the expansion is out :)
Absolutely, been liking it a lot, same with Stormpike Aid Station