Snowball Priest
- Last updated Feb 15, 2018 (Patches Nerf)
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Wild
- 22 Minions
- 7 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Aggro Priest
- Crafting Cost: 5300
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 8/11/2017 (Frozen Throne)
- abubillito
- Registered User
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- 5
- 27
- 45
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
N/A
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Total Deck Rating
178
I updated the deck with some K&C cards. As always, suggestions are appreciated.
This deck is not Tier 1 or 2, just one that'll help you climb the ladder a bit near rank 15 or lower, and can be really good if things turn out properly. It's meant as a solid, fun, casual deck rather than one for reaching legend. Have fun with it!
This is an aggressive priest deck that focuses on a few "at the end of your turn" synergies to create a powerful early game threat with minions that buff each others. It has also got a significant late-game tool, Shadowreaper Anduin, that can help you survive and finish off low health enemies.
Gameplay Footage:
Here's a video with a few pretty decent matches so you can see how the deck works, and a replay posted in the comment section by _barat_ :)
https://hsreplay.net/replay/72vhcSPktqJWHaCQRi9i7d
The Game Stages:
Mulligan:
The best cards to mulligan for, as a turn 1 drop is Northshire Cleric. You'll also want to get some 2 or 3-drops, such as Fallen Sun Cleric or Shadow Ascendant. Shadow Word: Pain and Happy Ghoul are both very good cards to keep if you are encountering many aggressive decks.
Needless to mention always replace your expensive drops, such as Shadowreaper Anduin and Cobalt Scalebane, but also Mind Blast, which you are in no rush to play, as it only serves for applying pressure or reseting your Void Form Hero Power in the late game.
Early Game:
In turn 1, the best possible drop is Northshire Cleric. It has good stats and can be a good defense against early threats, and it's unlikely it'll die by turn 2, in which you can buff it. If you don't draw it though, you can play Acherus Veteran if your opponent has not played any minions and is not a Mage, Druid or Priest (which have easy removal with their hero powers), or wait until turn 2 to drop the Radiant Elemental or another 2-drop.
In the following turns you'll want to play Shadow Ascendant and Master Swordsmith, together with Drakkari Enchanter and Mirage Caller to maximize their value, and focus on keeping them alive by buffing them with Power Word: Shield, Fallen Sun Cleric or Kabal Talonpriest.
As mentioned previously, Shadow Word: Pain and Happy Ghoul are your only defenses against early threats, so you'll want to create a more threatening board than your opponent in order to win the early game.
Mid Game:
There are two possible scenarios in which you can find yourself upon reaching turn 5 or 6. If you have been able to keep the threat on board during the early turns, you'll have a lot of very powerful minions, that even powerful removal tools like Flamestrike can't kill. In that case you have probably won already, Each turn you'll deal more and more damage, and your minions will become harder to deal with.
However, you can also be in a less favorable position, in which your opponent has been able to deal with your minions, and you have little or no board presence. In that case you'll have to keep yourself alive by playing small minions, drawing cards and healing yourself with your hero power until you reach turn 8 and can drop Shadowreaper Anduin.
Your best tools to keep up the pressure in the mid game are Cobalt Scalebanes, which use the same synergies as Master Swordsmith and Shadow Ascendant, and are very good to buff your minions, aside from being a strong body on board. Prince Valanar can also protect you and help reach the late stages of the game.
Late Game:
If you happen to reach the late game, there is only one card that can help you win the game, and that is the so-mentioned Shadowreaper Anduin. Upon playing him, you'll destroy all "big" minions of your opponent if there are any, and your own, if you don't mind the sacrifice. He'll also grant you 5 armor, which can be essential or just useful for survival.
The hero power can finish off the remaining minions, and then start hitting your opponent's face. Unlike other aggressive decks, you can benefit from drawing cheap minions or spells, as they reset your hero power. The two copies of Mind Blast deal a significant 10 damage in total, and can deal 16 damage in a single turn if alternated with your hero power.
Overall this is an aggro deck, and you won't want to reach the late turns of the game, but if you do you have Shadowreaper Anduin to scratch off those points of damage you weren't able to deal during the early turns, or destroy your opponent's threats and begin flooding the board with minions again.
Card Changes:
This is a list of some of the changes that can be made depending on the different decks you're facing, your own playstyle, or if you happen not to have some of the cards, especially the epics or legendaries:
-1 Prince Valanar, +1 Defender of Argus
-1 Prince Valanar, +1 Acolyte of Agony
-1 Unidentified Elixir, +1 Acolyte of Agony
-1 Mind Blast, +1 Herald Volazj
-1 Shadowreaper Anduin, +1 Herald Volazj
-1 Fire Fly, +1 Hungry Crab
-1 Kabal Talonpriest, +1 Shadow Word: Pain
-1 Young Priestess, +1 Acherus Veteran
I will update this section with suggestions from the comments section, as I can't try all different possibilities and don't have all the cards myself.
Change log:
15-02-18:
-1 Acolyte of Agony, -1 Golakka Crawler, +2 Unidentified Elixir
-2 Fallen Sun Cleric, +2 Shrieking Shroom
-1 Young Priestess, -1 Radiant Elemental, +2 Fire Fly
13-08-17:
-1 Shadow Word: Pain, +1 Happy Ghoul
-2 Acherus Veteran, +2 Young Priestess
12-08-17:
-1 Acolyte of Agony, +1 Prince Valanar
Mana geode > radiant elemental. Need 1 shadow word: death. Defender of Argus > Prince. Needs more sticky minions
Love the concept it's a really fun idea, but I can't get it to work. Only had time for a couple of games this morning though. I'll try some of the suggested changes later today.
If you have lost the board - press concede
I have no Shadowreaper Anduin so i guess there is no need to use Mind Blast? any replacements for them ?
Depending on the decks you're facing, you can try adding more aggresive cards such as acherus veteran if you're facing few aggresive decks, or shadow word: pain/holy nova/gluttonous ooze if your opponents are being more aggresive.
i think i've made a better variant of this deck, and i'll post it when i have the time to make write-up and video explanation for the deck. the one im using currently cuts the more questionable cards like acolyte of agony, young priestess, and other cards like fallen sun cleric in favor of more consistent more empty board friendly options, alongside adding in silences.
currently, this variant shown here is pretty much useless at around rank 10, but the variant im running is climbing steadily to rank 5 with about a 60% winrate.
This is a really fun deck to play when it all comes together. It's not super consistent as it does depend on getting the right cards, but I have found it to be really fun to play.
Most of my opponents have not encountered this deck before, and so don't really know what to expect. I get a lot of "Well Played" emotes with this deck.
I just won vs Sindragosa with this deck on 1st try :D
I was trying a similar deck once I hit rank 5 for a bit of fun. It's actually not too bad and I managed to get to rank 4 with it. Don’t really agree with a few of the card choices in this list. The main reasons I was losing was from my opponents getting taunts up. Acolyte of agony, valanar and the happy ghouls never did anything for me because I would always be on full health as I was the aggro deck. Replaced them with mass dispel, the black knight and 2 crazed alchemists. Mass dispel helped a lot against druids and paladins especially. If the opponent played doomsayer that was just an instant loss so the alchemists are really important imo. They also give you extra damage to win with the drakkari enchanter.
Also took out the sun clerics for a holy nova and moroes. I didn't think they were that good and holy nova is really strong against other aggro decks.
Deck is fun and works in lower ranks as the video shows but it usually fails and falls short vs smarter opponents/better decks. All I am saying is I would not go out of my way to craft a single card here but if you were unlucky enough to get these in your packs it's 3-5 games of a good time on your climb. It got me from rank 8 to 10 but the struggle gets real beyond that.
Yeah I just specified that in the introduction, it's not a legend deck just a fun, casual, but not bad one that can sometimes turn out really good.
I believe you meant it got you from rank 10 to 8 tho.
At least - its easy budget 60_coins_deck if you dont have any another Priest decks )
When it does work it is fun. And I did have a very lucky streak with it going between those ranks. Just throwing down my overall 2c on it. My fun was ruined when I started running into exodia mages... fking hate that deck more than any druid deck lol.
I'm having a lot of fun with this deck, the only change I made is: -2 Mind Blast + 2 Holy Nova
Nova is really helpful with mid-game clears and healing up all your minions once some health has been stacked on them.
I added a video with some games as requested, and linked the replay posted by _barat_ in the comment section, hope it's useful. Enjoy!
I'd rather replace it with another acolyte of agony, maybe shadow word: pain, but the stegodon is a pretty weak card.
I think he ment Tortollan Shellraiser
Oh that makes sense xD. You could put him in then, yes.
I replaced him by Moroes, but there are few more ideas:
Violet Teacher - gives you another token while you cast a spell (but not that many spells in deck) ... good thing is that Violet Apprentice can be buffed just after you finish a turn. Plus Teacher is outside Flamestrike range.
Spawn of N'Zoth - actually pretty insane value if it dies with lot of minions on board (not so unusual with this deck) ... plus if other minions has 5+ hp it prevents/helps with Flamestrike (minions which survived will be still outside ping range) :)
Harvest Golem - needs some effort from opponent to leave you without any token ... you keep a token even after Flamestrike
Grimestreet Smuggler - since most of your minions are pretty weak this can help :) after +1 buff it's outside Flamestrike range
Demolisher - might be nice in most cases if it'll be buffed fast ...
It's only a theory since I've only played like 15 games with this deck and now I'll use Moroes in 20-30 games before any changes ...
I'm also thinking that Radiant Elemental might not be that useful, but I wasn't checking for any other 2-drop ... maybe Acidic Swamp Ooze, Crazed Alchemist (kills Doomsayer, can give burst damage using high HP minion), Friendly Bartender may help with survivality before Mind Blast -> Hero power combo ...
Casual is pretty fun but it seems to struggle at ladder. I'm currently trying few changes, with 1 circle of healing, two holy novas, second radiant elemental, extra pain and one shadow word of death for large removal. What I took out were happy ghouls, gollaka crawler, acolyte of agony and mind blasts. I think it's more solid now.