Farewell to the Dragon Army - 73.5% winrate
- Last updated Apr 1, 2017 (Aggro Downfall)
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Wild
- 22 Minions
- 8 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Dragon Priest
- Crafting Cost: 4800
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 3/27/2017 (Aggro Downfall)
- farqtheorc
- Registered User
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Total Deck Rating
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I am Farq The Orc and this deck just shot me to legend with 73.5% winrate (decktracker stats) from rank 5 to legend over 49 games. It is finely tuned against the pirates meta - it eats pirate decks for breakfast (67% winrate) and if you're like me and love dragon decks, please read on and I will explain why 1 or 2 cards make all the difference.
Turn 3 Inner Fire win vs Pirate Warrior @ rank 4. :-)
Firstly, to tackle a criticism - many people claim dragon decks are boring and that "curvestone" decks take no skill to play. Of course, dragon priest is a midrange deck where you aim to play an overstatted minion each turn. Compared to reno or miracle decks, sure, there is less skill involved in playing the deck, but I will answer this criticism by saying: You win with dragon priest firstly in the deck tuning, secondly in the mulligan and thirdly by knowing exactly when to stop trading minions and go face. So, focus your skill and thinking into those areas ;)
Perhaps more so than other decks, dragon priest needs to be finely tuned to the meta, and 1 or 2 card choices can make all the difference between floating at rank 5 and getting to legend.
So! To address the meta, which is basically pirate warrior, shaman, reno decks and jades, our dragon priest needs to A) answer early threats B) be able to push hard in the mid game (around turns 5-7), C) get value in the long game and D) beat jade druid. Let's look at each one of these attributes.
Inner Fire can LevelUp! your minions to trade smartly or threaten lethal.
A) Answer early threats. We are running a "full package" of early answers including 2 Shadow Word: Pain and an Acidic Swamp Ooze. There are also 2 Blackwing Technician. Why? Having a good 3 drop is *insanely* important for dragon priest, and with five 3-drops we are maximizing the chance of getting one. There is also a Defender of Argus to block arcanite reapers. This good early game start gives us a 67% winrate vs pirate warrior.
B) Push hard in the mid game. I was looking for a versatile win condition in one card and started using Inner Fire. It can also gain mid game tempo by turning a Twilight Guardian into a 6/6 (or a 9/9 with Kabal Talonpriest) for trading up into a bigger minion. Combined with Drakonid Operative (which we all know is OP) we have an extremely strong mid game. There is also Defender of Argus to allow 3/5's and 3/6's to take out an opponent's Azure Drake, or for Drakonid to neatly snipe opponent's drakonid in the mirror.
C) Get value in the long game. Pretty much all dragon decks run Brann Bronzebeard and try to combo with Netherspite Historian and Drakonid Operative later in the game (rather than early) to get extra value. This deck also has ---> Ysera. Why? Can't you get Ysera off a Netherspite? Sure, you can, but not always. Ysera is a long game win condition, a form of card draw, a dragon trigger and a supreme target for Inner Fire (a 12/12, anyone? Nom Nom Nom). So we include Ysera in this deck - golden, of course ;)
D) Beating Jade Druid. Beating Jade druid requires recognising their playstyle and key cards and using the strategy "trade early - then switch and go face". For the early game you want to get a 1-drop, 2-drop, 3-drop and 4-drop on curve. When they drop the 3/6 taunt, use shadow word pain or Book Wyrm, heal up your minions and from that point onwards GO FACE. If you play a long game the jades will eventually kill you, so ignore the jades from about 5/5 onwards, play small taunts, and push face. Note that Shadow word:pain and death counter some of their key cards (fandrall, ancients, etc).
Nice discovers - Tirion and Anyfin ;)
To address all these strategies, we dropped some cards that might seem counter intuitive, and I'll explain why.
Minus one Northshire Cleric. Why? Having 2 clerics in your hand at the start of the game will often mean you lose. You need to curve out with strong 2, 3 and 4 drops. Having 1 Northshire Cleric for the mid game is fine, in fact you should mulligan it away anyway. Another consideration is that the exact 2 classes where you "always" play cleric on turn 1 (vs hunter and vs paladin) are not played at the moment.
No Azure Drakes. What?? Are you crazy? Well, yes, and... no. Azure Drake is a great card, but not for this deck. We are so used to including it that we don't question why. The card draw is nice, but the body is weak and we only run 1 spell that benefits from spell damage. Other than the dragon tag the card is pretty useless for us. Plus we have Drakonid for "card draw". If you didn't try dropping the drakes - do it. You won't miss them.
No DragonFire potion? Wait, but didn't Pavel and Thijs both run it? True, they did, but it's one of those cards that just tends to sit in your hand. Versus pirate warrior Dragonfire Potion comes too late and versus jades it wont help when they get to 7/7's and 8/8's. Plus a 6 mana card is clunky, at most you can play another 4 mana card on the same turn. Besides, midrange decks dont have time to play this on turn 6 - that's when you should just ignore the other minions, taunt up and go face.
No Ragnaros? It's popular in some lists for Ragnaros the Firelord at the moment. But why? Ragnaros is useless if your opponent goes wide on the board, and if you have Drakonid Operative and one other card in your hand, would you rather Ysera or Ragnaros? Ysera as a single card has won me so many games on the road to legend - don't understimate her power, or how difficult she is to remove if your opponent doesn't have a poly or a hex.
Cutting the cards mentioned above shot my winrate from below 60% to over 73%.
Swapping Dragonfire Potion for an Ooze greatly improved the pirate warrior matchup.
WIN CONDITIONS
1. Overwhelm the board with midrange minions. This is your main strategy. Multiple minions wth 6 health are hard to remove. Try to keep out of AOE range of your opponent, don't overplay into Twisting Nether, and get value by healing and trading your minions multiple times (use defender of argus and holy nova to "trade up")
2. Steal something your opponent won't expect. Drakonid Operative is an insanely OP card not just because it's a "pit fighter, draw a card" but because it can open up new win conditions your opponent won't expect. If you can steal a Dirty Rat and pull their Kazakus (did this) - you win. If you can steal a Leeroy and Power Overwhelm (did this too), you win. Be creative! And *think* about the card choices from the discover before you take one, especially if you have 2 discovers from brann.
3. Use Inner Fire (bonus with Kabal Talonpriest). This card will win you so many games. Because you are playing defensively stat'ed minions, it's easy to turn a 3/6 into a 6/6, trade with a 4/4, and heal it up. Alternatively you can surprise an opponent in the lategame (no-one will suspect "burst" from a priest in this manner)
4. Ysera. Simply fight like hell through the midgame until your opponent and you are essentially top decking and fighting a grindy sort of game. Lure out hex or poly if you can, and then drop Ysera. If your opponent can't answer her, she can win the game for you single-handedly.
MULLIGAN GUIDE
Mulligan hard for a good minion-only starting curve, for example 1-2-3 or 2-3-4 (with the coin: 1-3-3 or 2-2-3 or 2-4-4 or 2-3-5). When you have Twilight Whelp / Wyrmrest Agent (or Blackwing Technician with the coin), keep any dragon as a trigger (even if it's Ysera).
If you need a dragon trigger, keep the whelp and / or the agent and throw away everything else.
Throw back all spells (keep Shadow Word: Pain versus shaman) and throw back Northshire Cleric (unless your also have Power Word: Shield - or if your opponent is hunter or paladin).
Versus pirate warrior you want Acidic Swamp Ooze, Shadow Word: Pain, any of your 1- or 2- drops (else a 3 drop with coin) and Northshire Cleric is especially good if going first (counters all pirate warrior openings, else forces them to coin into war axe on turn 1, losing crucial early game tempo).
In the mirror match or versus slower decks (like reno, freeze mage) you can keep Drakonid Operative (or Netherspite Historian, which can often get you an operative).
Remember, you *must* mulligan hard for a good start and you *must* be able to trigger your dragon cards.
PLAY GUIDE
Versus agro decks you want to contest the board early and focus on removing their minions quickly before you can outvalue them and taunt up in the mid / late game. Coin out Wyrmrest Agent or Blackwing Technician if you can. Play out all your early minions even if you don't have triggers.
Versus control decks the strategy is the opposite - you want to play out a good curve using your dragon trigger cards, save the coin for Twilight Guardian or Drakonid Operative, push face damage and either make them waste premium removal on your mid game minions or just flat out kill them before they can outvalue you in the late game. If it gets to the late game, you have Brann Bronzebeard and discovers for value, or just Ysera.
Please watch these fantastic showcase videos below to see these strategies in action (throw them a like if you find the videos useful.)
Showcase video by Kadak (reno lock)
- Kadak coins an operative to apply strong midgame pressure (key to beating reno)
- When Sylvanas comes down he plays out 2 netherspites to refill his hand
- Choosing +damage cards from discover eventually won him the game
Showcase video by KiwiiNbacon (mirror match and rogue)
- Kiwiinbacon uses Inner Fire to make a turn four 7/7 in the mirror match :-)
- Drawing his opponent's SW:D allowed him to play Operative first, snowballing to a win
- In the second game he forces his rogue opponent to play Leeroy to remove a 2/6
- He goes wide in the midgame, playing 2 blackwing techs instead of bigger minions
Showcase video by Furo (pirate warrior, shaman and warlock)
Showcase video by Kristophesaurus (mirror, 2 shamans, 2 warriors, 2 druids)
Join me in wishing "Farewell" to the dragon army - we likely won't see another dragon deck this strong in Standard before 2018, so if you're going for legend right now in the last month of Year of the Kraken, I hope my list and my commentary helps you, good luck, thanks for reading my guide - and may your oppponents be burned in dragonfire!!
HALL OF FAME (players who reached legend rank with this deck):
orch#2491 (EU) - Neltharion#22837 - Furybolt#21447 (EU) - sensei6#2330 (EU) Laeviathan#2282
PS. my name is pronounced like "fark". PPS. the cost to craft this deck in gold is 18,800 dust.
This deck gets shit on by Reno Lock, as in pretty much useless.
Reno lock is about having enough midgame minions to threaten lethal before they can wipe the board and start playing Kazzakus end game spells. Just pressure them early and stay just out of rang of AOE (buff your important minions with Talonpriest). Inner Fire can give you the "burst" to win. You should easily get 50/50 from this matchup - and farm your wins off the other classes.
Praise the sun this deck will be dead soon. :D
30 game, lost vs every warrior, mage and druid, and almost all my game was vs pirate warrior, maybe i am bad, but my win rate is 40%
Doesnt seem like you're playing the deck properly if others can have a 67% winrate vs pirate warrior.
Just went on a 7-0 win streak with this deck, only reason I'm stopping is because I have A level revision to do.
Replaced the 2nd twilight guardian with a Senjin Sheildmaster since I didn't really want to craft a grand tournament card before they rotate out; worked really well, I could probably replace it with something more aggressive but it makes for a nice backup when they draw double hex ;)
Jade Druids have no idea what to do when you throw a 9/9 Wyrmrest Agent at them. So much fun. Thanks for the deck!
Hey guys!
I decided to try out this crazy stuff with inner fire so I gave it a try. I have not meet many pirate warriors sadly so I recorded game versus a renowarlock explaining how should you basically play this matchup so I think it might be useful for some of you :)
Tbh the start is kinda funny, I needed to cut some scenes where I did not say things that I wanted and the start is kindaaa.. eeh, you will see it yourself :D Although I think the matchup will be useful for not so experienced guys :)
Hope you can enjoy that and see you guys! :)
Thank you for watching! If you liked the video you should consider subscribing to my channel as well! Keeps me going =)
This deck is a gimmick of a regular dragon priest deck. Look somewhere else.
Doesnt sound like you even tried it, nor read the guide fully.
same dragon priest and it gets +170 jesus...
Yep exactly the same deck as listed on any Hearthstone website months ago with 2 changes: minus Pint-Size Potion and Dragonfire Potion, plus Inner Fire and Ysera. Bad changes imo for the current aggro meta.
Maybe you didnt read the guide where I said 1 or 2 cards make all the difference. Also note Azure Drakes were dropped.
Your opponent will always play around auto-includes like drake,potion, and rag. Great idea to play surprise cards like inner fire. Made the last days of dragons great.
only animals play priest
This deck is nice. It 's good against almost kind of aggros, also mid range and renomage. I 'm playing diffirent types of priest, one very similar to this deck.
At the other side, not underestimate it, but it isnt good vs renolock and especially rogue.
So i dont count much about the winrate, just choose what type of deck to suitable at the moment. By my opinion, no deck is perfect, just implement the strength and restrict the weakness.
Reach legend 2 lastest season, each with 3+ diffirent decks.
Renolock and Rogue are 50/50 matchups, but they are actually matchups that require more skill. I guess I was lucky to get 3-0 vs renlock and 4-1 vs miracle rogue (between ranks 5-1) so it's still possible to beat them
according to me, WR against pirate warrior is more than 75%. Also high WR against aggro shaman, jade druid, paladin & hunter.
but against combo renolock & rogue, its lack of lethal ability cause problem. Just because the feature of cards choice, not about the skill. Anyway, there is possible to beat any1, but it 's much harder if they play careful enough, without their mistake.
Ah, see it, u said regardless of NA. Or playstyle of renolock & rogue there 're a bit diffirent.
Also, one other prob is Nzoth deathrattle matchups, the operative is still op but his "discover" ability not so good (ex. draw Nzoth, bloodmage or aya is unprofit). And without of AoE, there must take turns to gain positive board again.
Anyway, overall WR is above 50% if play this deck carefully and prepare for most situation against each class.
I tried this arrangement before. It is utterly helpless against Renolock.
If you have video of actually winning against a Renolock I'll be happy to see it and admit I'm wrong. It seems there is absolutely nothing you can do apart from flooding the board as fast as possible and just praying they don't have MC tech on time and they don't have AOE on time and they don't have Reno on time and they don't have Jaraxxus on time and so on.
Yea the video of the guy Kadak winning is vs a TERRIBLE renolock who made many misplays, rank almost 9k legend which is the same as about a rank 15+ deck since it is hard to fall that far (most of friend's list ends up in top 2k every season). If the renolock hadn't made so many misplays, he wins that pretty simply. Now I had a super greedy version with no wyrmrest that beat renolock and jades but was too slow for aggro. I do think this list is interesting, and could work however, you just have to be patient.