Hearthpwn

Current Cards

Circle of Healing - This card should be thoughtfully played. You will have to use it for board control, and sometimes you need to use it to keep your minions out of range of specific cards. It will also be one of your biggest draw mechanics when combined with Northshire Cleric.


Inner Fire - The bread of this deck, and one of your biggest win conditions. Determining when to play this is highly dependent on your opponent and your draw.


Power Word: Shield - Very standard, but can be used to line up some combos in this deck.


Lightwarden - Most of the time this will eat up that removal you don't want used on other priority cards. However, in many cases this can and will get out of control.


Northshire Cleric - Another creature to eat up a removal or silence, but usually you'll save this like you would use a Divine Favor or Starving Buzzard in combination with Holy Nova or Circle of Healing.


Shieldbearer - Definitely one of my favorite of the cards. It can eat up early weapons, clear those early aggro creatures when paired with Inner Fire, and protect your more valuable creatures.


Divine Spirit - The butter of this deck, and your next biggest win condition. Occasionally you'll have to play this defensively, but preferably you should save it for your Inner Fire combo.


Lightwell - Great drop to soak up 5 damage, keep your creatures alive that you have increased the health on, and is devastating against some heroes with no removal or silence. Ideally it is best to get these out early.

 

 

Dark Cultist - A strong very strong 3 drop, and helps with increasing damage on Inner Fire. It will leave you with a 3/4 Auchenai Soulpriest after clearing the board preventing its easy 1 health clear.

 

 

Deathlord - Arguably the strongest 3 drop in the game now. It provides huge board control, and can stop the aggressive decks in their tracks. It makes a great Inner Fire target, but it will extend the game a little bit. It does offer some gambling mechanics, and will give you early game losses especially if they draw Ragnaros the Firelord with its deathrattle.

 

Injured Blademaster - Solid drop with Circle of Healing, and one of your heavy removal soak cards.

 

 

Mass Dispel - A replacement for Shadow Madness, and these two cards can be swapped if you're running into some crazy Naxxramas decks. Just a basic cycle card, and adds that silence in.


Auchenai Soulpriest - When things get out of control, or you know the opponent is aggressive hold onto this card for that Circle of Healing board clear pairing. It can be counter-productive if Lightwell is on the field. It has some great combos with Dark Cultist and Nerubian Egg, so keep that in mid when you combo.


Lightspawn - One of your biggest combos, and should always be played when the mana is available. If you're unsure of their removal throw fodder on the field first, but hold this card in high priority.


Holy Nova - Just rounds the deck off nice when you finally get a nice board mid-late game. Never keep it in your opening hand unless you don't have at least one or two creatures to place out against aggressive decks.

 

Stampeding Kodo - Almost required in the current meta. Can be a game winner against the Deathlord bandwagon, and gives you a nice tempo swap.

 

Cabal Shadow Priest - Just like Shadow Madness this is a required card. It is often times ignored, can turn a game around, or add to your lead.


Cards to Consider

 

Shadow Word: Death - If you are running into lots of Druids, consider removing Holy Nova or Cabal Shadow Priest for one.

 

Nat Pagle - Supplies significant draw, a great for taking early removal, and Inner Fire target.

 

Gurubashi Berserker - Provides a nice 5 drop for tempo, and combos really well with Divine Spirit. Thanks to Kytherae for the suggestion.

 

Acidic Swamp Ooze - Good replacement if you're continuously running to Warriors, Rogues and Hunters. Might be used more often with the increasing amount of mid-range warriors, and obnoxious hunters.

 

Doomsayer - It will eat up removal, and offers some great board clear and a tempo swap. If it gets silenced it will become a great sleeper card for your Divine Spirit and Inner Fire combo. Can be combined with Nerubian Egg for some shenanigans.

 

 

Naxxramas Replacements

 

Nerubian Egg - The deck was in need of some silence targets with the removal of Mana Addict and Acolyte of Pain. The only real activator is the board clear combo with Auchenai Soulpriest and Circle of Healing, but it provides a huge tempo swap. It was removed to put in Dark Cultist, but may find its way back in.

 

Maexxna - Possible if we move toward a more late game oriented deck, we'll see how Naxxramas goes.

 

Zombie Chow - Not viable with the deck in its current state.

 

Echoing Ooze - Testing soon.

 

 

Removed Cards These cards were part of this deck pre-Naxx, and were replaced.

 

Mana Addict - Was removed for Nerubian Egg. Tempo swap is extremely powerful in this meta, and it counters board clear very well.

 

Thoughtsteal - Removed for 1 Auchenai Soulpriest and 1x Stampeding Kodo. Thoughtsteal gained some power in this meta, but didn't offer any required strengths to this deck.

 

Acolyte of Pain - Removed for 2x Deathlord. Card draw has never been a huge issue with this deck, and Deathlord offers some stronger board control, and makes it easy to make use of Northshire Cleric.

 

Shadow Madness - Removed for 1x Mass Dispel. Shadow Madness held a great niche in this deck, and offered some amazing finishers. I often switch these two back and forth, but found the silence and draw benefit this deck much more with the changes. Feel free to swap as you run into different decks.

 

Engulf and Replenish

This strategy dares faith and is not for the faint of heart consists of overwhelming the board early on with strong 1-3 drops, and to save a Northshire Cleric to pull off a big draw(in combination with Holy Nova or Circle of Healing) to obtain your Divine Spirits and Inner Fires. Typically this works very well against aggressive decks, and some mid-range decks. However, if you encounter slow/control decks this strategy becomes slightly obsolete. Unless you have some heavy health on your minions, so be sure to keep them healed.

 

Strengths

• It will give you absolute board control and allow you to make the trades which are most beneficial for you.
• It allows you to get to your combos much faster, and end the game as quick as you would like.

Weaknesses

• It can be devastating when an early board wipe hits. It will put you behind on cards, and often too far to make a comeback.
• It may put you in a position where you have to use your Inner Fires a bit too early to keep control, and put you in situations where you can trick yourself into overthinking your next move.

This is my preferred strategy, unless there is no alternate plan available if the strategy backfires. Alternate plans are to allow you to reclaim your value in cards, and bring you back into the game.

 

Alternates

• Having at least 1 piece of your 2 card combo of Auchenai Soulpriest and Circle of Healing. This card combo will definitely re-secure your driver seat position, especially if you drew a Lightspawn or Cabal Shadow Priest to follow up.
• You should be in possession of a Lightwell, and possibly an Inner Fire as a precaution before attempting this strategy. Sometimes there will be surprise cards (early cards from Innervate, King Mukla, and others of the sort), and this combo will allow you to deal with surprises.

Basic Examples

• Turn 1 Shieldbearer, followed by a Lightwell, with Inner Fire or Power Word: Shield as follow up to clear any minions dropped. This will slowly wear down your opponent, and lead to strong mid-game victories.
• Using The Coin and getting a nice early curve going with 2x Lightwell, and leading into Lightspawn and Divine Spirit victories.

 

Slow and Explosive

The second and more common strategy is great against the slower, more board clear oriented, and the face only decks. Typically you will not have more than 2 creatures out at time to avoid board clear spells, unless you're extremely far ahead or have nothing else to play. This is often a strategy you will use when you get your Divine Spirits and Inner Fires earlier than expected. You will come to find that this is the most rewarding way to play this deck, but requires a substantial amount of thought to play correctly. The basic idea of this deck is to invest into your minions, but not so much that they draw the attention of silences and removal. The goal is to make your cards seem just peaceful enough for the opponent to ignore them, and leave you with an opportunity for lethal.

 

This strategy does have its share of risk, but if played correctly and you draw out the clears and removal with less important cards most games will end in a victory.

 

Basics

• You must understand what you need and what cards can get it for you. Set up a priority list of what you require for the win condition.
• It is all about distracting your opponent with cards that are a high threat to him, but low value to your strategy. It is important to realize what cards you can have soak removal, so that the others can win the game for you.
• Save your buff cards for combinations or as a decoy to turn the attention away from your higher priority creatures. If you invest too much into one creature it will draw that removal you've been trying to avoid.
• Try to keep at least 1 creature on the field at all times.

Strengths

• When you are aiming for lethal, it will often come as a complete surprise to your opponent due to the high damage this deck is capable of doing in one turn. 
• With the increasing amount of classes using board clear now you don't have to worry about investing too much into a board. The little of amount of creatures you will be playing will have health higher than most board clears.

Weaknesses

• It is very weak against hard removal, and silence can be devastating if not drawn out before.
• It typically does not offer any contingencies if you get in bad positions, and often there will be games that will be lost if you lose your Lightspawns or cards that have been invested into.

Some Examples

• Playing a card that seems like it may not have an impact on the game can be just as strong of a play. So you want to Divine Spirit your Lightspawn, but need to draw that silence out. Put your Lightwarden out and heal everything. As he is clearing that 7-2 Lightwarden your Lightspawn gets off with collateral damage at best. Heal it up and slam 10-20 damage into the face.

You will find that setting your priority cards right will often distract the opponent from what will happen the coming turns. Sometimes getting that quick burst of damage is enough to put them on the defensive, but always make sure you can follow it up.

 

Reckless and Calculated

Ran into that annoying Rogue that clears your cards every turn? Found that druid which plays a taunt every turn? This may be the strategy to beat them. Unfortunately, Priest is a very lacking class to play, and this deck like most of them are very weak against decks with unreal amounts of hand damage. I cannot guarantee you will win against every Rogue/Druid/Mage, but hopefully we're going to see some changes soon. This strategy is not necessarily a strategy but more a Play Style. I will recommend some deck changes if you run into too many Rogues as they are the most problematic. Typically this strategy will try to soak as much hand damage from Rogues, Druids, and Mages as possible, so that in mid-late game your few larger creatures will go unharmed. This is more about sacrifice than winning, and is commonly a coin flip based on draw.

 

The reason why these 3 classes are here is because of their hero powers(Druid's Shapeshift, Rogue's Dagger, and Mage's Fireblast), their low cost board clear spells, and their high damage combos. If you don't beat them by turn 8-9 you will find yourself in a hard spot, and this goes for most decks that aren't those 3 classes.

This idea of this strategy is to draw out as much hand clear as you can, getting as much damage in as possible, and preventing opponent's card draw. You may need to replace some cards, so see the card section for more info. You will have to play smart, and play the odds. Understand the chances and likelihood of cards in the opponent's hand, and mulligans other classes will do when they face priests.

 

Basics

• Like the other strategies you have to prioritize cards, and know which one to sacrifice to the Druid's Wrath, Rogue's Eviscerate, or Mage's Frostbolt.
• Use your buff cards liberally, but keep in mind of your win conditions and watch out for Sap. Remember that Druids and Rogues will take damage when they clear your minions with their Hero Power.
• Gamble, you will gamble a lot going against these classes, so sometimes risking a 1/3 high priority card early on and hoping they don't have a removal is the best play.
• Save your Lightspawn, Holy Fire or Cabal Shadow Priest, Injured Blademaster for setting up lethal, or drawing out their big clears like Fireball or Sap.
• You may need to play slow and hope for a good turn where you can double Divine Spirit your Lightspawns.

Examples

• As you play a card consider what your next play will be. If you turn one play your Northshire Cleric, understand your draw will be low, and hope you have a follow up play after she gets removed. Turn 2 you would play your Lightwell or Shieldbearer and another drop. Always staying at least one minion ahead of their hand damage. Where on turn 3 you can either heal, play Power Word: Shield, or 3 drop with good synergy.

As comes with the name, you will be very reckless in your play style, but every move you make should take their next play into consideration whether it is their removal or big creature play. You will definitely 50/50 against these 3 classes, but don't worry about their draws as not every game they will start with both Wraths or Frostbolts in hand.

 

Let me know if you have found a better way to beat these decks with this priest deck.