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Tank 'n Spank

  • Last updated Jul 5, 2014 (Live Patch 5506)
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Wild

  • 20 Minions
  • 10 Spells
  • Deck Type: Ranked Deck
  • Deck Archetype: Unknown
  • Crafting Cost: 1620
  • Dust Needed: Loading Collection
  • Created: 6/27/2014 (Live Patch 5506)
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  • Battle Tag:

    Omoru#1436

  • Region:

    US

  • Total Deck Rating

    104

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This is a minion-based midrange priest deck I've played up to legend this season. It focuses on getting board control early, and keeping it with the help of buffs, high health minions, and healing.

The deck uses a few unusual cards that warrant some explanation:

Temple Enforcer is outstanding in this deck because you will almost always have something to buff with his effect. He can nearly live up to the power of his twin brother the Fire Elemental.

Boulderfist Ogre is probably not essential to the deck, but his great stats and immunity to things like BGH make him a great choice.

Stranglethorn Tiger is the trump card of the entire deck, and I'm surprised it hasn't been used in priest decks before. It's stats are already decent without the effect, and stealth guarantees it as a target for buffs or healing. A turn 5 Stranglethorn Tiger into Temple Enforcer puts a tremendous amount of stats onto the board. Even without buffs, it's a perfect yeti-killer.

General Playstyle:

The main goal of the deck is to get minions out and have them stick. With that in mind, your goal should be to play minions on curve and trade efficiently until turn 5 or 6 when you can play your biggest threats, then focus on keeping your minions as healthy as possible. Holy Nova as a healing spell is a fairly common occurrence with this deck, given the kind of minions you are likely to have out.You have a few board clear options against aggro decks: Holy Nova, Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing, and Wild Pyromancer combos with cards like Power Word: Shield and Holy Smite.

Barring perfect answers to your early threats, your buffs and healing will quickly snowball into a massive board and a win.

Specific Matchups:

Miracle Rogue:
Play on curve and hope they don't have early answers. Rogues won't usually expect a ton of pressure from a priest, so you can easily win by having too many minions for them to deal with. The tiger is a nightmare for rogues, and you'll often be in a dominating position by the time they can get an auctioneer out. I think this matchup is slightly favored for the priest.

Zoolock:
Wild Pyromancer combos and Aucenai + Circle will help you survive until turn 5/6 when you can claim board control with your huge minions. Mostly try to slow them down until you can board clear and take control. >70% winrate.

Handlock:
Cry and pray for a zoo next time. <20% winrate.

Druid:
Play on curve and you can usually deal with their innervate shenanigans. Something like Wild Pyromancer + Sunfury Protector can take care of an early yeti, and druids will often waste an early turn without a play, allowing you to get some board presence. Stranglethorn Tiger turn 5 can help you start the snowball if you don't have board control at that point. ~60% winrate.

Shockadin:
Equality will wreck you, so it's best if you can bait it out early. Your board clears should mostly keep you safe, but it's tough to get enough power to win. Mostly hope for them to draw at most one Equality and one Divine Favor. Similar problems against control paladins. ~40% winrate.
Control Warrior:
If they have early answers to your big minions you will run into problems keeping up with their card draw. Other priest decks have a more favorable matchup against warriors. ~50% winrate.
Hunter:
Turn 1 cleric is a monster  against most hunters. You can usually get board control early and keep it for most of the game. Generally try to stay at 3 minions against Unleash the Hounds, until you can flood the board with huge taunts for the win. >70% winrate.

Freeze Mage:
The missing Thoughtsteals and heavy focus on minions make this deck a bit worse than other priest decks, but you can still do alright. Try to avoid losing too much to Doomsayer, and the rest of their board clears won't do much. Save all of your healing cards for after Alexstrasza. Take advantage of pyromancer + cleric combos to draw out your deck for Shadow Word: Death and any healing you can find. ~50% winrate.

About Turn 1 Northshire Cleric

I've always been an advocate of using Northshire Cleric one turn 1 for early board pressure. With this deck, however, I am leaning towards saving it for later in the game in a lot of matchups (particularly heavy control matchups). Control pally or warrior, and possibly shaman as well, will often be able to remove all of your big minions and leave you with an empty hand. A well timed cleric combined with Holy Nova or Circle of Healing can often net you multiple cards and give you what you need to keep up the pressure.

 

Possible Card Substitutions

Boulderfist Ogre works well in this deck, but could be swapped for another big minion like Cairne Bloodhoof or Sylvanas Windrunner. Ragnaros the Firelord might also be an option, but it gives value to BGH in a deck which would otherwise have no targets. Cabal Shadow Priest could be swapped similarly.

The one-of Chillwind Yeti and Sen'jin Shieldmasta could be swapped for each other or for other 4-drops.

In my experience a single Shadow Word: Death is the perfect amount for this deck, as most minions short of giants can be killed easily (and often with little health cost) by your big minions. A second one could be added depending on the meta, though I think the deck will still lose to Handlock most of the time.

I've considered adding a single Shadow Word: Pain, primarily as a counter to Doomsayer. This minion-heavy deck is weaker than most priests against freeze mage, so it is definitely worth considering.

If you want a fun twist on the deck, try subbing in 2 Divine Spirits and 1 or 2 Crazed Alchemist for some hilarious finishers. Even without the full combo, Divine Spirit can be good on its own for the health buff, and Crazed Alchemist is sometimes useful (especially against cards like Mana Tide Totem and Doomsayer.