[Easy Rank 5] Tempo Dragon Priest
- Last updated Feb 9, 2017 (Gadgetzan)
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Wild
- 21 Minions
- 9 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Dragon Priest
- Crafting Cost: 1740
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 12/17/2016 (Gadgetzan)
- ZASE7
- Registered User
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- 5
- 16
- 26
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Battle Tag:
Zook#11101
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
227
*This deck was made in an earlier season, with a different meta. I've noticed that it doesn't fair well with current decks. Please consider using traditional Dragon Priest instead.*
On my journey to finding a faster priest deck, I seem to have hit the jackpot. This is dragon priest, but with a more consistent early game. The goal of the deck is to curve out with overstatted minions, keep board control, and gradually push for face damage. You will find that many games end before turn 10.
I'd also like to note that this is only my second time hitting rank 5, with the last time being 5 seasons ago. I'm actually surprised how easily I was able to rank up with this deck, with a win streak from ranks 11-8 that I just wasn't able to achieve with other decks in past seasons.
Mulligan
In your starting hand, aim for Northshire Cleric, Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent, Faerie Dragon, Blackwing Technician, and Kabal Talonpriest. Against Shaman, Warrior and Rogue, keep Holy Smite to deal with Small-Time Buccaneer as well as other early game drops. Keep Twilight Guardian if you can curve out well.
If you keep cards that need a dragon to activate their battlecries during the mulligan, make sure to keep a dragon so that you can actually use them. This is a general rule for dragon decks.
*Notice the amount of cards that are good to keep. A good starting hand should come often.
Why is (card) in the deck?
Wyrmrest Agent and Twilight Guardian - Overstatted taunts that help immensely against aggro decks. You'll usually want to only play these if you can activate their battlecries.
Holy Champion - IMO one of the most underappreciated cards. Allows the deck to push for face damage. This card can be preettty insane when used with Holy Nova, allowing it to gain more than 5 attack sometimes. It's also a good play on turn 6 to drop Holy Champion and heal something else.
Holy Nova - A boardclear that can be played earlier than Dragonfire Potion while still having synergy with Holy Champion and Northshire Cleric. The fact that it heals your own minions too helps to keep minions alive on your board. Against decks that you don't really need board clears for, like Renolock, sometimes it is good to just play Holy Nova just for the mass heal rather than to kill an opponent's minion.
Drakonid Operative - Easily one of the best cards in the new expansion. It's a 5 mana 5/6 with the potential to give you a card that's good for the current situation. Sometimes you'll find Ragnaros the Firelord and have lethal next turn; sometimes you'll pull an Acidic Swamp Ooze and destroy that upgraded 4/2 Fiery War Axe. It's also not a bad play on turn 5 if you don't have a dragon.
Faerie Dragon - A good hard-to-remove 2 drop that works well with Kabal Talonpriest.
Defender of Argus - Against aggro decks, it can save a lot of life. Against control decks, it's good for pushing face damage.
Why isn't (card) in the deck?
Blackwing Corruptor - You'll usually want to already have board control by turn 5, so the battlecry isn't as effective as it seems in this deck. 5 mana for a 5/4 body isn't ideal either.
Dragonfire Potion - It doesn't serve the purpose of the deck as well as Holy Nova can. Many of the minions you play - notably Blackwing Technician, Kabal Talonpriest and Holy Champion - get damaged by this card.
Thanks for looking at my deck. I will answer questions in the comments.
take one more word pain instead of faceless, one cheap minion instead of second rate and two drakongin sorcerer
I already have Black Rock and LOE completed, I do fine in casual with a few decks, I am saving for the rest of "one night", its the lovely golden hero level 20's with XYZ legend netdeck that ruin me in ranked. So it is either I need more luck or more years of play..........
Nice deck and quite easy to play. VS the meta decks it is good. Against hunter, it is a loss since it just lacks everything you need. Luckily hunter is not so present on ladder so easy rank still stands :D
I would suggest adding brann XD
What a lovely deck, I didn't try rank, but this deck is solid and funny to play with.
Playing for a couple of days and it's pretty well running on the ladder! I'm not a perfect Hearthstone player, but I have the feeling it's running not enough dragons. Does anyone have any thoughts?
10 dragons is plenty for Dragon Priest
Hi ZASE7! Love the deck, let's talk upgrades - what could be upgraded if you had the dust to spare?
Thanks for liking the deck!
I don't think there are any cards that would make the deck instantly better. There are cards that could be replaced depending on the meta, yes, but there are no cards that would be direct "upgrades" to the ones already in the deck.
I did try a Prophet Velen and Mind Blast in replacement of Northshire Cleric and Holy Champion. I found a bump in my winrate with it over a sample of 11 games (went 8-3 at rank 16 vs. 20-14 at rank 19). It helps in late game situations where the original deck plateau'd. With no dragons being replaced, it only slightly affects healing synergies but not dragon ones.
My next experiment will be to substitute the same two cards but for both of the Holy Champion's instead. The thinking being that card draw is more important than trying to find that perfect situation where you can use just 1 Holy Champion.
It is a great deck. Thank you :)
Any replacements for the black rock cards?
Sadly the deck just isn't good enough without Blackrock cards. They're just too key for the deck. There's no card like Twilight Whelp that gives great stats turn 1 without giving the opponent 4 health (Mistress of Mixtures) or being understatted. It's also a dragon.
I don't have BRM too.
Clearly difficult without them...
I don't even know what to pick to replace those cards :(
Only take +-1 week to save gold buy adventure. We need wing 3 so its take 1 mounth. After BRM get rotated next year you can disenchant the legend to get another legendary, i think it still worth it IMAO
Replacement for Wyrmrest agent and Holy champion?
Can i replace Book Wyrm and one of two Deathwing legendaries for them?
What about that historian who can discover a dragon if i have one in my hand?
I would try Netherspite Historian for Wyrmrest Agent. The two deathwings wouldn't be good enough, as they cost too much. You could try a finisher like Ragnaros the Firelord or value cards likeYsera.
You could try Hungry Dragon.
Small sample size but 3 plays, 3 wins. Can't complain. Upvoted for hope of an end to pirate meta.
Strangely enough, terrible against Hunter decks. But nice, low cost design all the same.