Hey, thanks for all the views and +1 Ratings on this deck, i'm working on a more detailed Machup guide and it should be ready soon.

 

Hi! I'm Kazzy, i play mostly priest and i made it to legend last season with this particular deck. Most of people think priest is a bottom tier class right now, however, i disagree. Priest is sometimes inconsistent, mostly because of it's reactive cards, but it is a viable class and i find it pretty strong in this patron/hunter meta.

Feel free to ask anything related to this deck and the priest class in general, i'll try to answer ASAP

In this guide i'll try to explain the general mulligan for each class and also what goes on in my head when i'm playing this deck, enjoy!

First of all, let's start with the

General mulligan

 

Hunter (75/25): It's a easy matchup, control the board and heal yourself out of lethal range, i'd say 12 health is safe on a empty board. Wild Pyromancer is king in this matchup, Northshire Cleric is queen.Keep Northshire Cleric, Wild Pyromancer, Shadow Word: Pain, Injured Blademaster, Shrinkmeister

 

Paladin (60/40): Paladins with a fast starting hand can go out of control really quickly, You must take some good value out of Wild Pyromancer. The good thing about this matchup is that paladins don't have burst . The bad thing is that you don't run Mind Control for his Tirion Fordring and you have only one Shadow Word: Death. Keep Northshire Cleric, Wild Pyromancer, Power Word: Shield, Shadow Madness,Injured Blademaster,Shadow Word: Pain

 

Shaman (65/35): You are favored against both midrange/mech versions of shaman. Take good value out of Holy Nova and Auchenai Soulpriest combo. Keep Northshire Cleric, Shadow Word: Pain, Wild Pyromancer, Injured Blademaster, Auchenai Soulpriest, Holy Nova

 

Rogue (20/80): Now that's what i call a bad matchup. At least Oil Rogue is not as popular as it used to be. They can burst you really easily and clear your board with cheap spells while developing sticky minions. Keep minions, you have to go all in. Northshire Cleric, Injured Blademaster, Auchenai Soulpriest, Sludge Belcher

 

Warlock *Zoo (75/250 *Handlock (35/65): As a priest, you can't afford to mulligan for handlock, so mulligan for zoo/demonzoo. If he's playing zoo, that's a favored matchup. The best target for Cabal Shadow Priest is Nerubian Egg. Try to save Wild Pyromancer for when he plays his first Implosion.  Remember to play arround 9 burst damage from his Power Overwhelming +Doomguard. Keep Northshire Cleric, Wild Pyromancer, Auchenai Soulpriest, Injured Blademaster

 

Mage(60/40): Mulligan for tempo mage or mech mage. Play arround his burst damage. If the opponent is playing freeze mage, you are very unfavoured. In that case save both Light of the Naaru [/card] for when he plays his Alextrasza. Keep [card]Shadow Madness, Northshire Cleric,Shadow Word: Pain, Shrinkmeister, Injured Blademaster, Wild Pyromancer

 

Warrior (70/30): Control warrior has always been a good matchup for priest, it isn't such a awesome matchup for this deck because of the lack of Mind Control. It's still a good matchup. Against Patron Warrior the key to win is Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing combo and Sludge Belcher to protect yourself from a crazy  Frothing Berserker OTK turn. Keep Thoughtsteal, Shadow Word: Death, Sludge Belcher, Auchenai Soulpriest, Injured Blademaster, Sylvanas Windrunner (if you have the coin)

 

Druid (50/50): Druid is a weird matchup, a turn 3 Injured Blademaster and Shrinkmeister + Cabal Shadow Priest combo are most of the time game winning plays. Play for the tempo but try to not overextend too much or you will get punished by Sylvanas Windrunner. Sometimes a Injured Blademaster + Heal is better than playing Sludge Belcher on turn 5, the belcher protects you from Force of Nature +Savage Roar at the end of the game. Keep Northshire Cleric, Wild Pyromancer, Power Word: Shield, Injured Blademaster, Circle of Healing. If you already have a good hand, it's safe to keep Shadow Word: Death

 

Priest (-): Wins the player who has more card advantage and a good Sylvanas Windrunner value. Keep Power Word: Shield, Thoughtsteal, Northshire Cleric, Injured Blademaster, Sylvanas Windrunner. And also never, i mean NEVER go full Northshire Cleric in a mirror match. You will fatigue too soon and the opponent will find a way to mill you.

 

*If you have Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing combo you can keep it no matter what, but don't be too greedy, if you take too much damage the combo won't be enough

Important Combos 

- Wild Pyromancer + Light of the Naaru + Circle of Healing [/card](a really cool lethal combo, [card]lightwarden can be really dangerous)

- Wild Pyromancer + Power Word: Shield

-Wild Pyromancer + The Coin

- Wild Pyromancer +Northshire Cleric + Spell + Circle of Healing

- Shrinkmeister + Shadow Word: Pain

- Shrinkmeister + Shadow Madness (this combo is great when used on the opponent's Sylvanas Windrunner)

- Shrinkmeister + Cabal Shadow Priest

- Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing(classic)

- Auchenai Soulpriest + Light of the Naaru (you can do some really nice plays with this, you can answer a Ancient of Lore or a Shieldmaiden for example)

- Auchenai Soulpriest + Vol'jin (Auchenai Soulpriest must be already on board and you will need 7 mana to play Vol'jin and Hero Power)

- Vol'jin + Holy Nova

- Sylvanas Windrunner + Shadow Word: Death

- Injured Blademaster + Circle of Healing or Light of the Naaru

 

FAQ

Q: Why no Mind Control?

A: Well, don't get me wrong, Mind Control is a really good card in some situations, but 10 mana is way too much to spend on a situacional card in this aggro meta. Also, we're playing a Shrinkmeister + Cabal Shadow Priest deck, that 8 mana combo kinda works as a Mind Control and most of the games  are going to be decided before turn 10.

 

Q: Why no Dark Cultist? 

A: The main reason is he can't trade with Piloted Shredder. Dark Cultist is a really great card, but he's not very needed in this deck and we already have Injured Blademaster.

 

Q: Why no Emperor Thaurissan? 

A: We are not running Mind Control or Holy Fire. Emperor Thaurissan would be good in a deck with Holy Fire because when you cast this spell you don't have mana to play anything on the same turn. You could do some tricky double Holy Fire turns with Emperor Thaurissan, but not in this deck. We're already playing too many 6 drops and we don't have a lot of expensive cards... so Emperor Thaurissan is just a 5/5 for 6 minion.

  

Tech Cards

If you are facing a lot of rogues, warriors, paladins and hunters, feel free to cut one Shadow Word: Pain for one Acidic Swamp Ooze or Harrison Jones.

 

Change log

- 1x Shadow Word: Pain / + 1x Zombie Chow
Too much tempo mage. One Zombie Chow helps to proc theirMirror Entity and also heals you for 5hp. He also trades well with Mad Scientist and improves the aggro matchups in general.