Introduction

(l33t paint skillz I know)

Just testing out new deck ideas. I wanted to build an aggro-ish priest deck with mind blast. Why mind blast you say? 4 mana pyroblast ez money son! Granted it does take up two cards but if played properly, the 10 damage finisher can be your endgame so you don't have to deal with tough fatties or big drop legendaries. This also leaves more room for early-game and mid-range cards.

Disclaimer: I haven't tried out this specific deck a lot but I have played with different components of the deck ( certain card sets/combos) so I hope my reasoning works with this deck.

Explanation of Cards

Northshire Cleric MIA?

As you can see from the mana curve, the deck is very early focused. I feel its about half aggro, half mid-range. Given the popularity of aggro on the ladder, I have not included the typical Northshire Cleric for card draw. As a minion, it is simply too weak and spending 2 mana for a card early on leaves the board too vulnerable.

Card Draw

However, most other decks run some form of card draw e.g. Arcane Intellect, Acolyte of Pain, Wrath, Ancient of Lore, Fan of Knives, etc. Thus to keep up, I have included two PW: Shields. This helps buff minions to trade and draws a card. Thoughtsteal, however, is a priest staple that I have decided to include one of. Against aggro decks, it draws aggro/rush cards. Given the early strength of this deck, having some more cheap-mana aggro cards is not bad because in the aggro-aggro matchup, the person who rushes harder and fills the board first usually wins. Against mid-range decks, it draws mid-range cards/minions. This is not too bad because it keeps the mid-range strength going. You will have mid-range minions on board before them (explained below) and so thoughtsteal can help replenish the minions that have been lost/traded. Against control decks, it can help draw board control cards or late game cards. Since there is very little late game in the deck besides SW: Death, a little more can help draw out the battle to put the opponent into mindblast range.

Mechs!

Here is the first strength of the deck. Similar with other GvG decks, this one is also mech/rushy. Mechwarper and Tinkertown are two great cards to get mid-range ish minions on board earlier. 3/4 Spider tanks for 2 mana, 4/4 Tinkertown for 3 mana + spare part, 4/5 Yeti for 3 mana + spare part. Mana efficiency and value is what the mechs bring to the deck.

Priest Shenanigans

As a Priest player, stealing is always fun in any deck. The classic Shrinkmeister+Cabal combo is still there. However Shrinkmeister also helps with SW: Pain to kill bigger minions. Or when trading minions, shrinkmiester also reduces damage taken by your minions. This flexibility led me to include two pain and two shrinkmeister. Shadowmadness is cool but atm I'm not sure the 4 mana cost is low enough for aggro-ish deck. Basically the priest cards here are to help control the board while mech build it up.

Weaknesses

As mentioned before, late-game/high cost minions are a weakness to this deck. The 4 or 5 health minions on this deck gets beaten by the bigger minions that have 4/5 attack and 5/6+ health. Basically they can easily 1 for 2 on cards. The deck just runs out of steam late game.  There are also no taunts in the deck.

However, there are a few answers in the deck. I believe zombie chow + other cards give a great early/ mid game against aggro from zoolock or hunter. With a stronger board, taunts aren't as important. Taunt is possible from spare parts and also with priest you have heal from hero power and holy fire. With respect to bigger enemy minions, Velen's chosen is a great way to boost a small minion to mid-range or mid-range to big fatty. SW: Death and Shrinkmeister+SW: Pain are possible answers too.  Spare parts can also help increase damage. I have not tried lightbomb a lot but I have included one as a kind of last resort against big minions/ big enemy board. One holy nova has also been included to help clear token/small rush minions. Hopefully you can get enough damage to use the mindblasts, ending the game without playing the typical late game style of low hero health and big minions.

Play Tips

Just a few things to keep in mind, mulligan for early drops such as zombie, mechwarper. Get rid of any high cost cards or combo cards for example mindblast, tinker, cabal. Also get rid of thoughsteal as that is used later in game. I would also recommend getting rid of pw: shield as you are really looking for drops. SW: Pain maybe be kept to immediately respond to an important early drop from the enemy such as mechwarper since you want to keep the tempo and board control.

Also don't mindblast pointlessly even if you have extramana. Its the ace in the hole surprise for 10 damage. Playing one early one will alert enemies you will have one later and they will play safer. You want them to feel safe at 18 health against 2 minions on board. Then you swing face, maybe Velen's chosen and mindcrush them into oblivion.

Conclusion

That's about it. Thanks for reading and I appreciate any advice or thought on the matter. As mentioned I haven't played this deck a lot so its a bit of theory + playing with some of the cards.