Dragon-Spell Priest [Control]
- Last updated Jun 4, 2017 (Un'Goro Launch)
- Edit
- |
Wild
- 19 Minions
- 11 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Combo Priest
- Crafting Cost: 8020
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 5/31/2017 (Un'Goro Launch)
- Dr_Horus
- Registered User
-
- 26
- 98
- 401
-
Battle Tag:
Horus#1359
-
Region:
US
-
Total Deck Rating
310
*Last Edit : added more side board options, and corrected a few typos *
*Disclaimer: This is my First Guide Ever. My noobism at guide redaction may be manifest*
*Disclaimer 2 : English is my second language. Thanks for your understanding *
Do you fancy control-play style?
Like getting tons of value out of your cards?
Don't mind longer game with decisive late play?
Then this deck is for you!
It can qualify as both a ''Lyra Combo Priest'' & a ''Dragon Priest'' archetype, combining the two to make this effective powerful hybrid.
Keep it Jiggy every(1) ..! ^^
Here's a (Skyrim) Dragon-Priest image for reference, and right under you'll find a guide:
Thank you very much guys for the interest shown. You really caught me off guard as I never thought I’d make the front page, but here I am! Sorry the guide came ‘late’ : I’m only human and was surprised to see the amount of upvotes my decklist got overnight. Also, as someone (bitterly) commented, this deck list is very similar to some other lists published on this site – which isn’t surprising considering we all play with the same pool of limited cards – but wanted to put it out there that I had no clue about those decklists; This was my humble take on this beloved Dragon-Priest archetype. Now that this is said, here’s your guide, and side board options, followed by common Q&A :
This decklist rewards your ability to quickly read your opponent archetype and adjust accordingly. It isn't an easy straight forward game plan. This deck is about owning the late game and knowing how to play around fatigue - if needed. Luckily for you, this deck also have a few tools to help you read your opponent deck : Playing 2 to 4 Drakonid Operative and a Curious Glimmerroot may improve your odds ..!
Playing against Aggro (Hunter/Pirate Warrior/ Token Druid): How to ...
When playing against aggressive deck, don’t be scare to lose a little HP early on, as you’ll stabilize later with your Priest of the Feast, and it’s also good Mindgames to play with your opponent, letting them think they have the lead – but it is part of our plan – we are in control, really. Trade effectively, keep board clean so there’s no buff option and steal those deathrattle minions (Value!)
Always keep Northshire Cleric, Potion of Madness, Radiant Elemental, Shadow Word: Pain, Wild Pyromancer and Shadow Visions to fetch what you need.
Quest-Rogue’s an different case, of aggression as your Shadow Word: Pain and Potion of Madness won’t be effective if – or once - the quest is completed – so it is mandatory to pull most, if not all, of those cards that will otherwise be corpses in your hand. Shadow Visions and Radiant Elemental are the most effective way to do so, as you may fetch copies after copies of cost-discounted spells.
Playing against Control (Paladin, Mirror Match Up, Quest Warrior):
When playing against other slower deck, I feel like this is where this list tends to shine the most, as discovering more and more value will give your tremendous edge over your opponent resources, along with playing some of their cards thanks to Drakonid Operative.
2 things to keep in mind : To be patient and mindful of your hand size.
Control Paladin is probably our weakess matchup, as we have little room to play around cards like Primordial Drake. This is when Ysera cheap generated spells come so handy. That, or discovering Spikeridged Steed, Tirion Fordring or Ragnaros, Lightlord from a Drakonid.
Quest Warrior often poses no problem and are even helpful as they may use Dirty Rat to free your hand from Ysera, Lyra the Sunshard or Burgly Bully. You just have to keep in mind that once their quest is over, you’ll always want as many renewable minions on board as you can : do not over or under commit to the board at that point and you should be fine.
Mage are notorious for stealing victory right under your nose. Make it your duty to flip the table and discover what you need out of their deck. They'll eventually run out of answers to our value-minions and won't even have enough burst for their final blow..!
Side board options :
You may want to substitute Curious Glimmerroot, or 1 Priest of the Feast in favor of a current meta tech Card : Hungry Crab, Golakka Crawler, Gluttonous Ooze or Eater of Secrets. I have a personal strong preference for that Ice Block destroyer ..!
Options that may also be consider include getting a 2nd copie : Burgly Bully, Shadow Word: Death, Dragonfire Potion or Primordial Drake – or a Gadgetzan Auctioneer but note that I never experimented with the Miracle version. Some also mentioned using Kabal Talonpriest and I would also suggest Shadow Madness to steal slightly more and bigger minions.
Questions that were asked often & assorted answers :
I don't have Ysera, what should I use?
You may want to substitute for another Dragon. Some were suggesting Alexstrasza, but I’m still not sure … Sometimes Lyra will give you all you need to finish the game as if you were playing some Burn Priest, sometimes it feels more like a silence/OTK final blow – its all about how well can you adapt. A 2nd Primordial Drake could be interesting. Other cheaper options could revolve around smaller dragon, to increase consistency and early dominance: Faerie Dragon.
I don't have Elise, what should I use? :
Replacing Elise is possibly the easiest, as I'm mostly playing her out of personal preferences. You can put a 2nd Burgly Bully to keep the value-combo gimmick going with Lyra, or get yourself an extra SW:D, or Dragonfire Potion. Kabal Talonpriest and Shadow Madness can also be useful.
I don't have Netherspite Historian and Priest of the Feast …?
They are both from Karazhan, which was a pretty enjoyable adventure that included many powerful common cards. These 2 cards, so 4 in the decklist, are pretty central to our core mechanic ... I strongly suggest saving up some gold and buy it : What’s the price of Karazhan anyway? 4x 700g, or 20$
Hand too full : how to play around ?
This is the trickiest aspect of this deck, and I had a hard time finding clear answers or tips to help out ... Think of the match as a game of chess: You must sacrifice some resources to end up on top. Be strategic when using your removals and AoE to maximise effectiveness. I feel like this is one of the most unforgiving archetype : misplay once and it may cost you the game. And that’s what I meant in introduction when I mentioned ‘’the late game decisive plays’’. Practice makes perfect?
If you are having too much trouble with Burgly Bully and your hand is getting clogged with coins, you may want to try a Miracle approach, using Gadgetzan Auctioneer instead, but that's a completely different deck.
Hope this may help.
Let me know how it goes for you, I'll try to answer all of your questions. :)
It all comes down to what matchup annoys you the most? Having trouble against Pirate, Golakka's your savior - issues against pesky mages : munch on those secrets before giving the final blow. On one hand, Golakka will be usefull agaisnt both Quest Rogue and Pirate Warrior, on the other Eater of Secrets works well for both Paladin & Mage secrets. Before I had enough dust to craft Elise myself, I was using Shadow Madness since it is way more versatile and out of the usual tool box - the choice is yours.
I still remember how everyone were saying that Priest is going to be on a bad spot in Standart after Ungoro. Thank you and to all other people that are proving how wrong these predictions were :)
Really glad you like! Drakonid Operative is way too OP for Priest to be gone before its rotate out of std :P As for the wrong predictions, that all we - as a community - are good for ..! Everyone, I included, said Paladin was death because of The Last Kaleidosaur reveal, and none suspected the real Murloc nightmare we'd be having ^^
looks great on paper - but how do i win with this? currently 0-7 facing one quest rogue, one pirate warrior and 5 hunters at rank 10 (if the next two matches are mages, then this seems to be a very accurate depiction of the current meta)
and burgly bully has been a dead card in every single game... no heal, no taunt, no battlecry = no use when you are already loosing your board (which you always do against hunter). i guess i will have to substitute this with a more useful card...
My experience - running the similar variant of this deck - is Burgly Bully excels in control situations and particularly against the mirror match.
Hey there, to be fair, PW, Hunters and Quest Rogue are possibly the toughest matchups, but same goes for most decks : Aggro are hard to counter when they draw godly and you don't ; nearly impossible to adjust and stabilize within 4-5 turns, yes. This deck isn't an aggressive early burst, but it excels at the attrition game, as you'll discover more resources and that your opponent runs out of answers for - Burgly being one of our many turn 5 options, along with the Drakonids, Elise or even Lyra - if nothing other to play. You are right, Burgly has no taunt, nor battlecry, just a steady effect of cycling coins (highlighting ''just'' as this deck is ''just'' based on combo :P ), but isn't part of the core mechanic of this deck, just an extra enabler. As some others have suggested, you may want to sub for A) Auctioneer B) Kabal Talonpriest C) An extra of any single copy in the list (SW:D, DP) or bonus, D) I did some experiment with Shadow Madness and it went surprisingly great, as I had a little more reach, over Potion of Madness and an overall greater element of surprise. Hope this may help, let me know what you think. :)
I LIKE THE DECK gj man
Thanks man, I appreciate this :D
(Here's the only ''HS + Thumbs up'' related image that google provides ^^)
Its just a 1:1 Copy of existing Decks out there guy, saw exactly this Deck with Burgly Bully in Dragon Priest weeeeeks ago and poeple actually testing Lyra with him in any kind o Priest Decks, even in Reno Pries
So, nothing special guy, rly not, the whole Deck
I disagree. The version you're talking about doesn't run all the board clear that this version runs. This version is considerably stronger against aggro, and the other version is tuned for anti-control. Two wholly different decks, in terms of how they're teched out. This one is even kitted for fatigue, which the other is not.
'' You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake (...) '' ^^
Very nice deck (6-2 now rang 15 to 14), but I don't have Lyra, I trade it for a second Primordial Drake and the Burgly Bully by a Gluttonous Ooze.
Sounds like good alternatives indeed! It was a hard concession not to include weapon removal as I was thinking to only encounter Warrior's arsenal and because the list was already so tight ... But seeing lately so many Atiesh is making me reconsider. I have no doubt on the usefulness of that second Primordial Drake though - this card's so goooooood!
I had to put in two eater of secrets because secret mage is such a pain. Now i just never get matched against them.
What can i replace Burgly Bully with?
Hey there! 2 fellow Hearthpwners suggested Gadgetzan Auctioneer for a miracle twist, someone else suggested Kabal Talonpriest, but you could also want to include a second copy of Shadow Word: Death, Dragonfire Potion or any decent tech card, like listed in the side board options within the guide. Hope this help, and let know how it goes for you.
I took a second Dragonfire Potion. It s better than a second copy of Shadow Word: Pain or Shadow Word: Death. Those are just to inefficient because they are single target removal. The second Dragonfire Potion is better because it gives you the ability to clean the board + it synergies well with dragons. In my opinion 2x Dragonfire Potion is pretty good because of 1) Quest rogue 2) it gives you the opportunity to clear the board more frequently against ago decks, which gives u often the upper hand from one moment to another. it also works for control decks but there you just need give it the highest value possible to get to your goal. winning
thanks for the deck , I'm enjoying it. with my journey with this deck i will make some changes, for example Eater of Secrets , which is pretty good against the secret mages or the paladins.
Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like you had figure out a solid plan ! I just played against a quest rogue -- in casual mode, with an unusual decklist, but still quest rogue :P -- with only a single copy of Dragonfire Potion and it worked just fine. I don't know if this link will work, but I think you can view replay here. And as for mages, they are notorious for stealing victories but I try to give them a good payback as I'm stealing (discovering) their Ice Block. ^^