This month I decided to try ranking up with Dragon Priest in Wild. I did fairly well up to around Rank 11. Then I got savagely pushed back to 13.
I came to the conclusion that Dragon Priest is NOT competitive in Wild past rank 12.
I switched to Control Priest, and I even crafted N'Zoth, since it is so good in Wild. (I have a decent collection and some dust to spare, but not a lot.) I found a deck that seemed good for the meta. However, I still cannot breach Rank 11 after trying for two days. The games are long and exhausting.
I am beginning to understand people's criticism of the class. Its most powerful cards are either situational or rely on combos. Despite the dust cost of my deck, it's doing worse than my C'thun Druid deck in Standard on my f2p account.
What is a deck to get me past 12 in Wild? Sometimes the meta here is tempo-based, sometimes it is value-based. I can tech for either, but not both. I am running a death-rattle centered deck that is a variation of this one: http://torneoshearthstone.com/builder/mazo/5ujobfyvwt7rkx
The deck is teched against Secret Paladin in particular, but I've tweaked it a bit like adding in Ragnaros to help in value matches and a Flash Heal for agro.
First: out with cabal: it was useful in 2014 and 15, but the last 2 expansions had around 0 strong/useful 2 attack or less minions that are worth stealing.
Second: Out with Eater of Secrets. Priest is one of these classes that really don't need to play him. I rather proc all his secrets and then kill off the 9/8 Mysterious challenger with SW:D.
@ToyMachine: Priest doesn't destroy everything. It is just too inconsistent with its early game and removal. It is destroyed by Mill Rogue. I don't see it outright dominating against the common decks like Value Mage, Anyfin Paladin, Mid-Range Hunter, Secret Paladin, and I'd say it's unfavorable against Mage and Anyfin. Today I played against the same Deathlord Buff Priest twice in a row. I lost the first game and then won the second based on the early game.
@FirePalyHSplayer: I will try Eater of Secret -> Shredder. There are so many paladins, mages, and hunters, though. Even eating one secret is just a huge tempo swing.
@HenryBukowski: Nope, the deck still sucks. I just played 5 games at level 12 Wild. I went 1-4.
Control Priest: win
Dragon Priest: loss
Handlock: loss
N'Zoth Paladin: loss
Tempo Mage with Arcane Giants and Medivh: loss
The first control priest did not have an optimized deck. The game in which I lost to the Dragon Priest was somewhat close - perhaps if I had played differently I could have won, although it is unlikely. The other three losses weren't even close. I got stomped on.
Verdict: Holy Nova is not a good enough board clear for a deck that has such little early game. Without Injured Kvaldirs, Circle of Healing does not have enough value to take up so much space. The deck is too weak to have both weaklings Acolyte of Pain and Northshire Cleric.
5 games isn't really enough to determine the viability of any deck. My current Priest N'Zoth deck really stocks up on Deathrattle minions, includes Baron Rivendare, sometimes includes Barnes, and usually includes Reno Jackson. Yes, no one really expects Reno in a Priest deck but there are so many strong deathrattle minions and other useful cards in Wild that I don't find the one of each card limitation to be much of a problem. I mean, go ahead and include one Piloted Shredder and one Shifting Shade. And consider adding the deathrattle minions that draw you a card when they die. Tends to be more reliable card draw than Northshire Cleric in this type of deck. I've even occasionally added Herald Volazj and found that even if you copy one decent deathrattle minion he was worth playing. Normally Herald is trash but not in this type of deck.
Good luck and may your next 5 games go 4-1.
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Dependable loan sharks since 1960. We sink our teeth into every deal we make.
If meta is bad for N'zoth Priest, it's good for Midrange Hunter. Try Midrange Hunter or wait until others play Midrange Hunter and then go hunt them with N'zoth Priest.
Okay, I decided to really focus on deathrattles, and came up with the deck below: "Death Metal Priest". After testing it in casual, I took it to Wild where I zoomed from 13 to 11, when I stopped for the night.
I favor a more active playstyle where I can play on curve, so this deck is better for me. The sticky minions compensate for all the deck slots devoted to removal and assure both targets for Velens and survivors from board clears, including my own Excavated Evils. Athough N'Zoth is more likely to summon junk, he will always fill the board, which wasn't my experience before.
That deck looks great. My intuition had been telling me to try Doomsayers as way to smooth over Priest's problems with board control, so thanks for the "validation". I also like Alchemist instead of Soulpriest.
Once I hit a wall with my current deck, I will switch to this one.
Here's my N'Zoth Hell Priest deck, i'm at rank 7 in Wild by playing only with it but i have to say that i didn't play very much this season. The only bad matchup is Mage (Freeze and Tempo if your opponent draws perfectly and you are unlucky), instead against the other decks the win% is more or less good.
Realized that I zoomed through level 12 because of the new winning streak rule. Ugh.
Only played 4 games with Death Metal Priest today (because I had another class quest), ending at level 10:
Loss vs. Freeze Mage: Full board frozen four turns in a row, Thaurissen, Alexstrazsa, yada, yada. Not sure how any Priest can beat Freeze Mage unless with C'thun/Darkmenders.
Loss vs. Mid-Range Hunter: Had him down to 9 then he stabilized with Sludge Belcher and Freezing Trap.
Win vs. Face Hunter: Pretty easy. Got my Undertaker up to a 6/5 at the end.
Win vs. Anyfin Paladin w/ Secrets: He used secrets instead of usual control stuff, so maybe not an optimized deck.
Realized that I zoomed through level 12 because of the new winning streak rule. Ugh.
Only played 4 games with Death Metal Priest today (because I had another class quest), ending at level 10:
Loss vs. Freeze Mage: Full board frozen four turns in a row, Thaurissen, Alexstrazsa, yada, yada. Not sure how any Priest can beat Freeze Mage unless with C'thun/Darkmenders.
priest of the feast is actually really good vs them. if you know its freeze, save pw:s and CoH and heal right back to 30, most of the time they wont expect you to heal that high and will have used some of their burn already
I played some games with this deck last night around rank 13 (I had lost ranks trying to complete some dumb quests).
This deck did not perform well. I played 3 secret paladins, and lost to each one. I lost to egg druid on turn 5. I lost to a tempo mage when deathguard procced Antonidas and I didn't have removal. I lost to a druid when deathguard procced Thaursissen. I did win two games: against tempo mage and hunter.
This deck has the same problem that many other priest decks have: it has a weak and inconsistent early game. 2x Doomsayer, 2x PW: Pain, 2x Deathguard, and 2x Museum Curator are very shaky control in the early game and do not do enough to stop snowballing decks. Deathguard can outright lose you games. The only way to counter Secret Paladin is to maintain constant board presence and have the correct removal in hand when secrets proc. I ate a 4-bulb Christmas tree one time, but that didn't matter since Eater promptly became a 1/8 and was my only minion against paladin's full board. Eater of Secrets is not a good counter to Secret Paladin - Lightbomb is, but you also need something on the board to proc Noble Sacrifice.
Right now I'm sticking to my Death Metal Priest deck because it has an early-game curve with sticky minions: Undertaker/Haunted Creeper/Velen's or Dark Cultist/Shredder. (Changed Excavate Evils for Holy Novas.) I just don't know how to counter Secret Paladin's curve without a curve of my own. My win rate is not great, but it is >50% overall. Unfortunately, It feels like fast is the better way to ladder on Wild since everybody has such high value.
This month I decided to try ranking up with Dragon Priest in Wild. I did fairly well up to around Rank 11. Then I got savagely pushed back to 13.
I came to the conclusion that Dragon Priest is NOT competitive in Wild past rank 12.
I switched to Control Priest, and I even crafted N'Zoth, since it is so good in Wild. (I have a decent collection and some dust to spare, but not a lot.) I found a deck that seemed good for the meta. However, I still cannot breach Rank 11 after trying for two days. The games are long and exhausting.
I am beginning to understand people's criticism of the class. Its most powerful cards are either situational or rely on combos. Despite the dust cost of my deck, it's doing worse than my C'thun Druid deck in Standard on my f2p account.
What is a deck to get me past 12 in Wild? Sometimes the meta here is tempo-based, sometimes it is value-based. I can tech for either, but not both. I am running a death-rattle centered deck that is a variation of this one: http://torneoshearthstone.com/builder/mazo/5ujobfyvwt7rkx
The deck is teched against Secret Paladin in particular, but I've tweaked it a bit like adding in Ragnaros to help in value matches and a Flash Heal for agro.
First: out with cabal: it was useful in 2014 and 15, but the last 2 expansions had around 0 strong/useful 2 attack or less minions that are worth stealing.
Second: Out with Eater of Secrets. Priest is one of these classes that really don't need to play him. I rather proc all his secrets and then kill off the 9/8 Mysterious challenger with SW:D.
mind uploading your deck dawg
Out Eater of Secrets. That card is better against Freeze Mage than Secret Paladin. Instead of him put some sticky minions like Schredders
Moving into https://outof.cards/members/firepaladinhs/decks
Here is my decklist as of this morning:
@ToyMachine: Priest doesn't destroy everything. It is just too inconsistent with its early game and removal. It is destroyed by Mill Rogue. I don't see it outright dominating against the common decks like Value Mage, Anyfin Paladin, Mid-Range Hunter, Secret Paladin, and I'd say it's unfavorable against Mage and Anyfin. Today I played against the same Deathlord Buff Priest twice in a row. I lost the first game and then won the second based on the early game.
@FirePalyHSplayer: I will try Eater of Secret -> Shredder. There are so many paladins, mages, and hunters, though. Even eating one secret is just a huge tempo swing.
@HenryBukowski: Thank you very much! I will give your changes a try. I do think Excavated Evil is better than Holy Nova in this meta, but we'll see.
@HenryBukowski: Nope, the deck still sucks. I just played 5 games at level 12 Wild. I went 1-4.
Control Priest: win
Dragon Priest: loss
Handlock: loss
N'Zoth Paladin: loss
Tempo Mage with Arcane Giants and Medivh: loss
The first control priest did not have an optimized deck. The game in which I lost to the Dragon Priest was somewhat close - perhaps if I had played differently I could have won, although it is unlikely. The other three losses weren't even close. I got stomped on.
Verdict: Holy Nova is not a good enough board clear for a deck that has such little early game. Without Injured Kvaldirs, Circle of Healing does not have enough value to take up so much space. The deck is too weak to have both weaklings Acolyte of Pain and Northshire Cleric.
5 games isn't really enough to determine the viability of any deck. My current Priest N'Zoth deck really stocks up on Deathrattle minions, includes Baron Rivendare, sometimes includes Barnes, and usually includes Reno Jackson. Yes, no one really expects Reno in a Priest deck but there are so many strong deathrattle minions and other useful cards in Wild that I don't find the one of each card limitation to be much of a problem. I mean, go ahead and include one Piloted Shredder and one Shifting Shade. And consider adding the deathrattle minions that draw you a card when they die. Tends to be more reliable card draw than Northshire Cleric in this type of deck. I've even occasionally added Herald Volazj and found that even if you copy one decent deathrattle minion he was worth playing. Normally Herald is trash but not in this type of deck.
Good luck and may your next 5 games go 4-1.
Dependable loan sharks since 1960. We sink our teeth into every deal we make.
If meta is bad for N'zoth Priest, it's good for Midrange Hunter. Try Midrange Hunter or wait until others play Midrange Hunter and then go hunt them with N'zoth Priest.
Legendaries crafted so far: Dr. Boom, Kazakus, Lord Jaraxxus, Sylvanas Windrunner, Fire Plume's Heart, Mal'Ganis, Bloodreaver Gul'dan, Baku the Mooneater, Genn Greymane, Aya Blackpaw, Patches the Pirate, Leeroy Jenkins, Zilliax, Raid the Docks and ancharr
I just would like to say i very much enjoy reading this thoughtful and civilised deckbuilding discussion. Hope there would be more of those
Okay, I decided to really focus on deathrattles, and came up with the deck below: "Death Metal Priest". After testing it in casual, I took it to Wild where I zoomed from 13 to 11, when I stopped for the night.
I favor a more active playstyle where I can play on curve, so this deck is better for me. The sticky minions compensate for all the deck slots devoted to removal and assure both targets for Velens and survivors from board clears, including my own Excavated Evils. Athough N'Zoth is more likely to summon junk, he will always fill the board, which wasn't my experience before.
Hi my Priests friends!
I share my Zoth Priest that take me to Rank 5
That deck looks great. My intuition had been telling me to try Doomsayers as way to smooth over Priest's problems with board control, so thanks for the "validation". I also like Alchemist instead of Soulpriest.
Once I hit a wall with my current deck, I will switch to this one.
Here's my N'Zoth Hell Priest deck, i'm at rank 7 in Wild by playing only with it but i have to say that i didn't play very much this season. The only bad matchup is Mage (Freeze and Tempo if your opponent draws perfectly and you are unlucky), instead against the other decks the win% is more or less good.
Peace, love and good weed. Even just tons of good weed can be enough, thanks!
Realized that I zoomed through level 12 because of the new winning streak rule. Ugh.
Only played 4 games with Death Metal Priest today (because I had another class quest), ending at level 10:
Loss vs. Freeze Mage: Full board frozen four turns in a row, Thaurissen, Alexstrazsa, yada, yada. Not sure how any Priest can beat Freeze Mage unless with C'thun/Darkmenders.
Loss vs. Mid-Range Hunter: Had him down to 9 then he stabilized with Sludge Belcher and Freezing Trap.
Win vs. Face Hunter: Pretty easy. Got my Undertaker up to a 6/5 at the end.
Win vs. Anyfin Paladin w/ Secrets: He used secrets instead of usual control stuff, so maybe not an optimized deck.
play aggro and hit face then you will get legend
@Ehronatha: with my N'Zoth's Hell deck i reached rank 5 in wild easily, maybe you could give it a try!
If you need info and suggestion don't esitate to ask, the Hpwn community wil try to help you!
Peace, love and good weed. Even just tons of good weed can be enough, thanks!