[S12 Legend] Shadow/Fatigue Priest
- Last updated Jun 25, 2015 (Blackrock Launch)
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Wild
- 15 Minions
- 15 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 7260
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 3/26/2015 (Undertaker Nerf)
- user-13653231
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
236
Update 2 (BlackRockMountain): -Not the best meta for this deck. Have not gone past Rank 2 this season with Shadowpriest. With this exact version I have an exact 50% win rate over 24 games at Rank 4! So, if you dont mind that winrate above rank 5 and still wanne play for fun, give it a try!
- See the old (not updated) writeup from season 12 for further info on how the deck works!
Old S12 Writeup. Not updated for matchups like Grim Patron or Demon Zoo, TempoWaker Mage...
Update 1: - Added Mulligen.
- Swapped Velen's Chosen for Recombobulator at the moment. Prime targets are Antique Healbot, Cabal Shadow Priest and silenced Doomsayer
So I just got Legend (SEASON 12!) with this version of Fatigue/Shadowform Priest and therefore decided to make the list public.
The goal of this deck is, to play as defensive and conservative as possible, and simply outlast your opponent and in the end outvalue or even fatigue him, when you literally dealt with every single of his cards. Of course there are also games, where you overpower your opponent earlier with creatures and you are able to go on the offensive, but the genreal gameplan in every matchup remains a defensive, value oriented one! Shadowform is one of those cards thtas holds just insane and nearly endless value, when you are able to set it up correctly. In the past it was very tricky to make it happen, because you often lose alot of tempo setting it up, especially when your opponent manages to play on curve all the time himself. And not only that, you also lose your ability to heal, making you more vulnerable to all-in, race, or burst taktiks from your opponent. But GvG brought two important tools/cards, that can make up for the tempo and healthloss and bring you back into the game, where you can now begin to collect this insane Shadowform value every turn. Those cards are Antique Healbot and Lightbomb, as strong burstheals and boardwipes. In combination with all the other Priest removal and a big wall of Taunts, Shadowform/Fatigue Priest has now actually become viable on ladder!
The deck however is not easy to play. To be good with it you need alot of practice and experience, aswell as good understanding of the very precise gameplan you have in alot of matchups. Since Priest, and even more so this deck, is very responsive by nature, you need to make sure to have/use the correct answers for as many of your opponents threats and boardstates as possible. If you either can´t find them, or missplay by using the wrong removal/trade option, it will only get harder... But for me, this is also part of the beauty of playing it: From the start of you basically plan with your whole deck, aswell as your oppents whole deck and have to make sure your answers match his questions better/more efficient, than the other way around.
Writing a complete Matchups guide for all of the common matchups on ladder, is a bit too time comsuming for me, so unless this will get more attention, I will leave you for now with the decklist only, to experiment yourself with xD But I will answer questions below. (And by the way: there are some other Fatigue/Shadowform decks here on the forums that allready explain alot of the important stuff well, so you one can always compare with those ;) But having played alot of Shadowform Decks since GvG (and even long time before GvG), from my own experience this is the most consistent one I have played so far (also taking into account the meta I was/am facing)
Possible Techs: IMO most of the slots here are not interchangeable. If there is any room for tech, then I think Shadow Madness and Velen's Chosen are the first ones to look at. Sure, I tested alot of stuff, but most notably I had Kezan Mystic over Shadow Madness, when I was facing alot of Mages. Velen's Chosen at one point was substituted with Mind Control Tech, Wild Pyromancer or Shrinkmeister
Mulligen: (note: Mulligen is one of my weak spots in Hearthstone, so despite having experience with this deck, some choises might still be wrong. Down below I have listed the 6 cards I look the most for in order of general priority)
Face Hunter: Doomsayer, Holy Smite, Deathlord, SW:Pain, Healbot, Senjin
Midrange Hunter: Doomsayer, Holy Smite, Sw:Pain, Deathlord, Senjin, Belcher
Mech Mage: Doomsayer, SW:Pain, Deathlord, Holy Smite, Senjin, Belcher
Priest: Doomsayer, Deathlord, Senjin, Shadowform, Belcher, Thoughsteal
Combo Druid: Lightbomb, Doomsayer, Deathlord, Senjin, Belcher, SW:D
Control Warrior: SW:D, BGH, Thoughsteal, SW:P, Shadowform, Shadow Madness
Handlock: BGH, SW:D, Senjin, Lightbomb, Belcher, Thoughsteal
Zoolock: Doomsayer, Holy Smite, Deathlord, SW:Pain, Holy Nova, Senjin
Midrange/Control Pala: Doomsayer, SW:Pain, Deathlord, Senjin, Holy Nova, Belcher
Oil Rogue: Sw: Pain, Lightbomb, Senjin, Belcher, Deathlord, Holy Fire
Midrange/Control Shaman (not too sure, because was facing too few): Deathlord, Shadowform, Sw:Pain, Senjin, Holy Nova, Cabal Shadowpriest
Last but not least: As with alot all decks, you profit the most from it when you can find a sweetspot in the meta. So just throwing it out there: If all you face is Combodruid and (good) Handlocks you might wanne change Decks... In my case, when I started playing this early this season, I somehow wasn´t able to break through rank 4 on ladder and eventually started experimenting with other stuff. But just 2 days ago I picked it up again at Rank 5, and then powered through to Legend.
Played over 60 games with your Shadow/Fatigue deck in this season before the TGT release, topping out at Rank 7. I agree that the meta is not favorable for this deck, but it sure is fun when it works! Like most "boutique" decks, you need to make consistent, optimal plays to stand a chance against the onslaught of OP netdecks. As you climb, this becomes more and more difficult when your opponents carefully play around your board flips, as well as mitigating tempo swings from Shadow Words.
Still, this deck is a blast, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with when the Inspire mechanic goes live.
I've found that this deck is a bit harder to play this season, so I made a couple of tweaks that have been helping me quite a bit. I've swapped the Spellbreaker and Big Game Hunter for Mindblast and Prophet Velen. It doesn't sound like much, but if you save them both for the later game play, they can either score you the kill, or save you from a tricky spot. Prophet Velen combined with Shadowform is game changing.
So here's the version I'm running now.
Notable changes:
Definitely seems like a viable substitute. Especially because I keep getting the damn ooze from Resurrect. Also, most decks (other than druid) don't run any spells that deal exactly 4 direct targeted damage, so it's not as if the loss of that extra hit point will make a huge difference in trades. But that deathrattle could end up being disasterous against Patron Warrior.
Current deck stats: http://hearthstats.net/decks/shadowgrinder?locale=en
Never mulligan Lightbomb. Ever. And despite the deck name, it's totally fine to mulligan Shadowform. You don't want to go Shadowform until you've grinded away lots of their resources, anyway.
These are the changes I'm currently using:
After looking at some other decklists on here, I'm considering the following changes:
Agreed, I have lost a lot of games to Ysera. Vol'jin is the only way to deal with it without Mind Control.
Handlock is difficult because you often have tons of options for removal, and using the wrong one even once can cost you the game. Tips for Handlock with this deck:
As for Mech Mage...I haven't had any issues crushing them. As long as you draw a few taunts by turn 5, you should be fine.
Since you lose the ability to heal your face every turn, is there room for Lightwell in this deck? Also, Resurrect sounds like a blast in this deck. "2 Mana, Summon a random minion with taunt. Or a Doomsayer."
So I've been playing this deck all night long, it's extremely fun! Some quick notes:
this is a really fun deck to play.
Particularly playing voljin on turn 7 with shadow form active. Turns an opponents big card into dust.... I always get a chuckle from that move
Only changes i've made (because i don't have the cards), is NO: recom, doomsayer, or BGH. Instead i added 2 clerics and 2 divine spirit.
This is probably my single favourite deck I've found on this site. Its a joy to play and the experience is pretty much unique. I love going into every single game with the expectation that I can answer every single problem a deck throws at me. I normally don't post on much of anything; but I found this to be so exceptionally enjoyable that i had to give kudos to you nosebleed7.
Best of luck to anyone else climbing ladder with shadow priest shenanigans.
I've been experimenting with shadowform since i saw it for the first time, seems like it finally works for me. This archetype always needed a card like antique healbot and more heavy mass removal, now with lightbomb, AH and voljin it has it's shines.
I've added 2 coldlight oracles for the draw. Since this deck usually goes to fatigue, this is a win-win situation. There are of course matchups where you dont want to give your opponent more fuel (mech mage, face hunter etc.), but then you can just save it in hand until you gain game/tempo control or try to use it as a last line of defence and hope for topdeck. This is a core, top, most important change for me, until i did it i had lost like 2 ranks.
I also added Emperor Thaurisan, a sick card considering you keep a steady hand most of the time. Something like loatheb but better, especially if you manage to polay it on a taunted board. In worst case, your opponent wastes his turn to remove it.
Removed holy smite, one SW:P and one Cabal. All of them too situational if you ask me and you REALLY need some card draw engine.
Everything else unchanged, works great for me. Not a top consistent deck (i hang around rank 9/10), but super fun and finally something that makes good use of shadowform!
I've been playing this deck for a few days now. Very fun, but get's crushed if opponent plays Ysera. I'm going to try adding two Shrinkmeister to combo with Shadow Word: Pain and Cabal Shadow Priest.
Congratulations on this list ! It's a very fun deck. One of the funniest deck I ever played with mill rogue maybe. Every game look like a challenge but almost every game look like a game you can win. The only drawback (but I don't mind) is that games are longer than usual.
Anyway, did you think about Alexstraza ? There are a lot of games where your life become low or your opponent's life staying at 30 in the late game.
This deck needs Harrison Jones if you're facing a lot of warrior.
Curious if you're planning on adding any BRM cards (i.e. Emperor & Resurrect) to this?
I love the deck but I simply hate the deathlords. I switched the 2 for a wild pyro and a zombie chow, I' m having fun so far. I don' t feel experimented enough with it to play ranked though. So far no games lost against face hunters, druids or mech mages.
I have unfortunately had the Deathlords severely backfire on me early a few times. They are awful to use with Druids probably more so than any other class.
I've also had Hunters magically manage to always have a hunters mark or a wolf rider/kill command combo to pop them early too. Overall though I think they -usually- help more than they hinder.
Oh, Priests can be bad to use them on too, SW:P ruining days heh.
Thank you so much for this deck. I prefer priest over anything else just cause we are so the underdog. I just shoved a face hunter back into himself and that was sooooo satisfying. Thanks!
Sounds like someones just missing 3 cards :-)
The deck revolves around shadowform. To remove it would be basically making this a completely different type of deck and a different play style.