Hearthpwn

Quote from Tehstool >>

I disagree. 

Herald Volazj is hard to analyze. You definitely get your value's worth if you hit just one card with some sort of effect otherwise it's meh at a 6/6 for 6. I actually think it's a decent card that might actually see some play.

Best case: you have Ragnaros, the firelord andYsera and board. You play Herald Volazj and then you'll get an extra strike and and an additional Dream card. Then the tokens will quite easily be removed. If your opponent isn't able to remove 2 1/1, then it's that the game was already won before. I really like Herald Volazj in a midrange Priest with Holy Champion, so you can make it a 11/1 or something like that, but it's still slow, needs a set-up, etc. The synergie with Sylvanas Windrunner is also great but does not justify alone to play Herald in your deck. 

Embrace the Shadow is good for what it's trying to do. It's trying to give priests some sort of combo tool or some way of dealing with the board better (Circle of Healing, etc.) I don't think it's terrible given the right deck. I don't know how good that deck is though.

No, Embrace the Shadow isn't good for what it's trying to do. The mana cost of the card is simply too high, it should have been a 0 or 1 mana spell. The effect is great, the card is terrible.

Forbidden Shaping is a good card. It allows you to have a minion on any turn you'd like. That's pretty good for priests who are usually just board control.

Yeah, I agree, Garlicnerd criticized it very well but i still think we have to give it a try.

Twilight Darkmender It's a good card if you need to heal yourself. It's kind of like what Reno Jackson does except you have a more consistent deck.

Yeah, the card is very good. I just deeply dislike Priest becoming C'thun Priest since it's very contrary to the soul of the Class, contrarily to C'thun Druid, for instance. 

Shifting Shade is good. It's ok against aggro, and it's good against control. Compared to Thoughtsteal which would be terrible against aggro. It's good.

The card will be OK. I never likedThoughtsteal much and I prefer this card.

Shadow Word: Horror It might not be good now, but when an aggro zoo deck with tons of small minions comes out you'll be glad you have it.

The saddest thing about that card, Priest being so underwhelmed, is that it could see plays. 

Darkshire Alchemist is a Chillwind Yeti + Flash Heal. I think it's a good card. A lot of these combination cards have been good in the past.

The card is OK. Probably the best priest got, finally, but still not that great. I mean, it's not like priest is running 20 Auchenai Soulpriest in one deck!

Power Word: Tentacles seems slightly overcosted compared to Velen's Chosen and other buff cards (like Blessing of Kings). Apart from maybe a combo deck or something this card isn't that great since it doesn't have the snowball effect Velen's has early on. I still think it might see some play. Because health buffs in priest have been notoriously good.

Slightly? 

Hooded Acolyte The statline alone makes it good. A 3/6 as a priest on turn 4 that you can heal is insane. Pair that up with its ability then a C'Thun deck is looking great. I expect priests to run C'Thun since it just fits their playstyle perfectly. Priests usually always go to the lategame and this just makes their lategame even better.

Still it's a C'Thun card, and if you really want to run a vanilla 3/6 for 4 in your deck, feel free to do so. That's maybe better than Chillwind Yeti in Priest but still not that great. Holy Champion is by far better than this card, trust me, I can't count the number of games I won just with a Wild Pyromancer+Circle/Nova combo. 

 This post is also an answer to the one below :)

Quote from Skiddo_Publiq >>

• Shifting Shade is a lot like Azure Drake and its on the 4 mana slot that is pretty good for priests. The card is a bit weak vs aggro but very strong vs slower matchups. 6.5/10 gets better the slower the meta gets.
• Herald Volazj seems a bit clunky but its not that bad. 5/10 gets better the slower the meta gets
• Shadow Word: Horror is too situational but if the meta ever becomes too fast you got a pretty good answer. too situational to rate.
• Embrace the Shadow i think you severely underestimate the card. With the meta slowing down priest gets a nice combo option. 2/10 fast meta 8-9/10 slow meta

• Twilight Darkmender is a pretty good C'Thun for the greedy style the deck needs, only downside is that it doesnt buff C'Thun and Hooded Acolyte isnt too bad either, the stats alone help priest, control the board. 7.5/10  6.5/10
• Forbidden Shaping is too random and thats rarely good but then again its flexible and thats almost always good.The best turns you might want to play this for the +% to get something good might not be your best action for your move if you need to answer the board or whatever. it can be quite a fun card though. 5/10

• Darkshire Alchemist would have been great if it was released the previous expansions but its a nice card if the meta ever get too fast. 4/10. but in a fast meta its 7/10
• Power Word: Tentacles is very bad. 3/10

This is my opinion on the priest cards based mostly on the fast tempo meta we have had until now + OP cards that are rotating and other nerfs. With things changing and becoming slower, priest cards will start to shine, old and new ones. If meta stays the same ...yes, priest cards arent great.

C'Thun cards in priest might make you feel a bit bad since they r for a specific deck and most priest cards r situational either way so it can feel quite chaotic and without a purpose or an idea behind the design of the cards and how to fit them all together

Hope i helped, giving you a more positive view of the cards. 

To be honest C'Thun priest makes more sense than C'Thun druid in the respect that there really weren't any druids who followed C'Thun. Well there was Fandral but he was corrupted by the Twilight's Hammer Clan and served under Ragnoros. Not to mention Fandral fought C'Thun's army in the war of the shifting sands. Also many of the cultists who where magic users either used elemental magic, frost magic or shadow magic, these all apply to the Mage, Shaman and Priest classes. But yet again this is an alternate history for the set.

Best case: you have Ragnaros, the firelord andYsera and board. You play Herald Volazj and then you'll get an extra strike and and an additional Dream card. Then the tokens will quite easily be removed. If your opponent isn't able to remove 2 1/1, then it's that the game was already won before. I really like Herald Volazj in a midrange Priest with Holy Champion, so you can make it a 11/1 or something like that, but it's still slow, needs a set-up, etc. The synergie with Sylvanas Windrunner is also great but does not justify alone to play Herald in your deck. 

Maybe that's not the deck you'd run Herald Volazj in. Maybe you'd want to run it in an N'Zoth the Corruptor deathrattle deck (that might contain Power Word: Tentacles). The cards don't have to build off of an existing archetype, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a "win more" card.

No, Embrace the Shadow isn't good for what it's trying to do. The mana cost of the card is simply too high, it should have been a 0 or 1 mana spell. The effect is great, the card is terrible.

Maybe the potency of the combo makes up for the mana cost. There are a ton of cards that it can work with. It could be added into a heal heavy priest deck (maybe with Hooded Acolyte) where the heals aren't just in there for the combo and actually have a purpose otherwise. It's underwhelming with your hero power, but it's actually really good with cards like the Darkshire Alchemist. In that case it would be a 4 mana yeti with a 3 mana deal 5 damage.

Yeah, I agree, Garlicnerd criticized it very well but i still think we have to give it a try. (Forbidden Shaping)

Yeah I think it's a really good card. It's pretty much good on any turn (except maybe 1 or 2), and there aren't many cards that can be lategame legendaries or around average mid game minions.

Yeah, the card is very good. I just deeply dislike Priest becoming C'thun Priest since it's very contrary to the soul of the Class, contrarily to C'thun Druid, for instance. (Twilight Darkmender)

Maybe Anduin dabbled too much with shadow magic?

The card will be OK. I never likedThoughtsteal much and I prefer this card. (Shifting Shade)

At least we can agree that at least it's not bad. Who knows, it could also go in that deathrattle deck.

The saddest thing about that card, Priest being so underwhelmed, is that it could see plays. (Shadow Word: Horror)

I kind of hope it doesn't since it's not that good against control matchups.

The card is OK. Probably the best priest got, finally, but still not that great. I mean, it's not like priest is running 20Auchenai Soulpriest in one deck! (Darkshire Alchemist)

Maybe you put it into that Embrace the Shadow deck I was talking about earlier. You don't have to use it exclusively for the damage potential either. It's good on its own.

Power Word: Tentacles seems slightly overcosted compared to Velen's Chosen and other buff cards (like Blessing of Kings).

---

 

 Slightly? 

Yeah slightly. You make it 4 mana and it's on par with kings, better in most cases because the attack isn't as important. If you make it any less then it's just too good.

Still it's a C'Thun card, and if you really want to run a vanilla 3/6 for 4 in your deck, feel free to do so. That's maybebetter than Chillwind Yeti in Priest but still not that great. Holy Champion is by far better than this card, trust me, I can't count the number of games I won just with a Wild Pyromancer+Circle/Nova combo. (Hooded Acolyte)

If you have a Holy Champion combo deck then Holy Champion is going to be better than pretty much anything else in that deck, but in a C'Thun deck it's the opposite. I was saying the body was already very good, and if you put it in a C'Thun deck then it's crazy. it's going to be pretty hard to remove it on turn 4 (or 3 with the coin). Without the proper removal it's almost guaranteed a 2 for 1 with the potential to snowball into more value and C'Thun buffs.

Quote from asteroidm >> 

 I agree with almost every card except Darkshire Alchemist.  It goes well into the same deck that Embrace the Shadow does.  Spot removal or spot heal and a respectable body attached.  It also leaves you to play your flash heals for damage instead of spot healing when you do face up with a nasty aggro deck.

Quote from Skiddo_Publiq >>

Quote from asteroidm >> 

 I agree with almost every card except Darkshire Alchemist.  It goes well into the same deck that Embrace the Shadow does.  Spot removal or spot heal and a respectable body attached.  It also leaves you to play your flash heals for damage instead of spot healing when you do face up with a nasty aggro deck.

 Aye aye, i was harsh on the card, its pretty good and not just about the combo with Embrace the Shadow potential (which i missed). Having a decent body with a super flex heal on the card is always handy. I raise it to 6.5/10 with obviously getting better rating if it finds a combo spot in a potential deck. 

Embrace the Shadow got even better in my eyes. 

Priest just needs for the meta to slow, and a good Emperor Thaurissan turn to make things smoother.

The only unplayable card priest got was Forbidden Shaping.

I think Darkshire and the two C'thun cards are pretty good. I agree that priest got boned, but I don't think unplayable is right. Darkshire is healbot 2.0 and the +1/2 is great for losing 3 healing. Priest already have okay healing so a bigger body is worth it. I don't agree with Priest being a bad C'thun deck. Many C'thun decks besides warrior will either die, or have no other way to drag out the game. Two strong bodies that heal 10 to face is crazy survival. The 3/6 card also has a really nice body, which priest was missing in the 4 drop spot.

Priest got really situational cards this time around. Nothing spectacular for sure and for those heavy control players like me who waited for some cool tools, well, tough luck. Embrace the shadow seems the more interesting card for me but we'll see. Generally speaking, im confident that priest will do fine against other classes, he just have to do it with mediocre cards and possibly not being able to play full control.

"Priest got exactly 0 playable cards"

Goes on to say Forbidden Shaping is playable.

Quote from pantaleonn >>

Priest got really situational cards this time around. Nothing spectacular for sure and for those heavy control players like me who waited for some cool tools, well, tough luck. Embrace the shadow seems the more interesting card for me but we'll see. Generally speaking, im confident that priest will do fine against other classes, he just have to do it with mediocre cards and possibly not being able to play full control.

Quote from EzRocky >>

The only unplayable card priest got was Forbidden Shaping.

I thought priest has it rather well, the only card that we'll miss is lightbomb. Those healing minions look fantastic, now all we need is a reliable taint (best i can come up with is fen creeper)l).. 

Just curious, anyone have any revised opinions now that they've had a chance to play with the cards?

Forbidden Shaping is working out nicely for me. The 8 drops are always awesome, and the 3 or 4 ones have managed to be acceptable.

Herald Volazj is also working out in my deck. I mainly use him to duplicate a single death rattle minion, getting not only the extra value from the deathrattle, but an extra revive when I play N'Zoth.

Darkshire Alchemist isn't working as nicely as I'd thought. It's an ok body, an ok heal, but don't find it to be terribly impactful. It may become better if/when more people start playing aggro decks, and less new card experiment stuff. Or maybe I just have poor luck or a poor assessment of it.

Shifting Shade should read 'Take the best card from your opponents deck'. It seems to, without fail, get me Tirion, Sylvannas, or something else sick. I don't actually even play the card in my deck, I just frequently pick it off Museum Curator.

If we're talking about Constructed/Ranked play, most of the cards Priest got are too costly or situational. Herald Volazj is terrible and will never see play in a serious deck because his effect doesn't really have that much punch- in the best case scenario, you get, what, an extra Ysera card and an extra Rag shot? Power Word: Tentacles is complete garbage. Darkshire Alchemist is too slow because you basically never have the space to play a 4/5 for 5 and still keep board, and it's even rarer you're healing a minion for 5. Hooded Acolyte will see some play in C'Thun decks until people realize a) it's realistically not going to get you more than one +1/+1 due to how fast most decks are running now and b) C'Thundecks in general are too slow moving forward. Shadow Word: Horror is complete garbage. Shifting Shade is a slightly faster Thoughtsteal that might see some play, but has a bad statline for the meta (Flood-style decks). Don't think I missed anything. Ultimately, our best hope for a non-Tier 4 deck is probably Dragon Priest or some type of tempo-style "Control" deck.

Shadoword Horror also deals with feral wolves and (basically) all totems that shaman can put on the board. Even better against aggro, and it's generally easy to play around it (trade your small minions into their big minions then sw: h to clear the remainder). works great against zoolock killing imp gang boss and voidwalker and imps and eggs but zoolock isn't gonna be too strong this update anyway

Quote from CasimirIII >>

If we're talking about Constructed/Ranked play, most of the cards Priest got are too costly or situational. Herald Volazj is terrible and will never see play in a serious deck because his effect doesn't really have that much punch- in the best case scenario, you get, what, an extra Ysera card and an extra Rag shot? Power Word: Tentacles is complete garbage. Darkshire Alchemist is too slow because you basically never have the space to play a 4/5 for 5 and still keep board, and it's even rarer you're healing a minion for 5. Hooded Acolyte will see some play in C'Thun decks until people realize a) it's realistically not going to get you more than one +1/+1 due to how fast most decks are running now and b) C'Thundecks in general are too slow moving forward. Shadow Word: Horror is complete garbage. Shifting Shade is a slightly faster Thoughtsteal that might see some play, but has a bad statline for the meta (Flood-style decks). Don't think I missed anything. Ultimately, our best hope for a non-Tier 4 deck is probably Dragon Priest or some type of tempo-style "Control" deck.

•  I disagree with your comment on Herald. It doesn't have to be a win more card. If N'Zoth, the Corruptor priest becomes a thing then it's actually really good.
• I agree on PW:T. It's no velen's chosen even though the power level of cards is going down a bit. I still hope some health buff priest deck uses it since health buffs are very good in priest decks.
• Darkshire Alchemist is actually really good. It's a better, more versatile Antique Healbot. It's been working for me so far. We have to remember that competitive priest decks have always been control, and that aggro can be a weakness. This just allows you to heal a substantial amount while also maintaining a big body that you can buff and heal. It can also target minions which makes it a decent tempo/value play against both control and aggro. In doing so you are still maintaining or gaining card advantage which is crucial for victory. It also works with Auchenai Soulpriest too which is very good card advantage and value if you can kill a minion with it.
• I agree and disagree. I agree that Hooded Acolyte is going to see play in C'Thun decks, but I disagree with your assessment. It's statline alone is good without the card text and the higher health is desirable for a card like this. Even if it only gets you +1/+1 then it's done its job and has likely given you a 2 for 1 in the process. I like the card a lot. I disagree that C'Thun decks will be too slow. It's not unrealistic to reach turn 10, and then it's even more realistic once you factor in cards like Twilight Darkmender (the Reno Jackson of priests) and Darkshire Alchemist (the more versatile Antique Healbot of priests). It's also really easy to get your C'Thun to 10 attack.
• I don't have an opinion on Shadow Word: Horror yet.
• I like Shifting Shade. It's almost like you are drawing a card. Against aggro it isn't as good, but you can't only play as if aggro is 100% of the meta. You still need value to win against control. This bridges the gap between Thoughtsteal and a Chillwind Yeti. It might not too much against aggro, but against control it's insane. It's like the new Azure Drake of priests. It could fit into that N'Zoth, the Corruptor deck I was talking about earlier too.

I've been using a good amount of the cards you just listed to some success. I feel like my decks need to be further tweaked, but I'm really liking the cards I'm using. Here is the deck that I really like. It's probably not what you expected.

Right now there is still a lot of unrefinement in some of the more aggressive decks- midrange/flood shaman is the big one, but there's some potential for divine shield flood paladin and more aggressive/stronger zoo decks. As soon as those decks hit the sweet spot of tempo, card advantage, and damage, much like Secret Paladin or Midrange Druid did back in the day (last week lol), a deck like the one you linked has basically zero chance of having >50% WR (nothing against you or the deck in particular but its just far too slow). What rank are you running this at?

As for the cards, I experimented with running Darkshire Alchemist in Control Priest and found that a) I would very rarely need to heal for 5. If I did, it was usually to heal up Injured Blademaster but this would require it to stick on the board on turn 3/4. I would much rather Blademaster + Flash Heal turn 4 than Blademaster + Circle into Darkshire Alchemist next turn. I could never get the Aulchenai/Darkshire synergy off because it's a nine mana combo and Aulchenai almost never sticks. It's nice to pair Flash Heal and Chillwind Yeti into one card but it's just too bulky cost-wise.

Quote from CasimirIII>>

Right now there is still a lot of unrefinement in some of the more aggressive decks- midrange/flood shaman is the big one, but there's some potential for divine shield flood paladin and more aggressive/stronger zoo decks. As soon as those decks hit the sweet spot of tempo, card advantage, and damage, much like Secret Paladin or Midrange Druid did back in the day (last week lol), a deck like the one you linked has basically zero chance of having >50% WR (nothing against you or the deck in particular but its just far too slow). What rank are you running this at?

No offense taken. Your criticism is constructive sothere's no reason for me to get upset at it. They can refine their decks, but I can't refine mine? My deck is as unrefined as it gets. I made the decklist you are looking at right now before the expansion came out. I haven't had much time to play, but I went from 20 to like 12 or something while only losing a few times. I will take into consideration about how slow the deck is when making changes since that is definitely a concern of mine. The healing cards like Darkshire Alchemist and Twilight Darkmender helps considerably in that department though.

As for the cards, I experimented with running Darkshire Alchemist in Control Priest and found that a) I would very rarely need to heal for 5. If I did, it was usually to heal up Injured Blademaster but this would require it to stick on the board on turn 3/4. I would much rather Blademaster + Flash Heal turn 4 than Blademaster + Circle into Darkshire Alchemist next turn. I could never get the Aulchenai/Darkshire synergy off because it's a nine mana combo and Aulchenai almost never sticks. It's nice to pair Flash Heal and Chillwind Yeti into one card but it's just too bulky cost-wise.

 Have been running this control-style deck as well as a dragon tempo deck. 

The dragon deck preys on slow decks that can't regain board after they lose it, the control style deck is very proactive and usually looks to stick Blademaster/C'Thun minions early, with burst healing/big taunts.

Quote from Tehstool >

•  I disagree with your comment on Herald. It doesn't have to be a win more card. If N'Zoth, the Corruptor priest becomes a thing then it's actually really good.