Personally I'd go -1 Volatile Elemental, -1 Stonehill Defender and +1 Crystalline Oracle , +1 Blazecaller.
Volatile Elemental has never impressed me and Stonehill seems mediocre in priest (though I've never tested it). It does give you two (relatively) high health minions for the combo, so I get why it's in there.
the Binding Healing/Potion split is also interesting. Seems like it could be good, especially since your deck is taunt heavy so you're not as dependent on an early potion swing against aggro decks.
Not sure whether Lightspawn is any good. I've never tested it so don't have a strong opinion on it.
Personally I'd go -1 Volatile Elemental, -1 Stonehill Defender and +1 Crystalline Oracle , +1 Blazecaller.
Volatile Elemental has never impressed me and Stonehill seems mediocre in priest (though I've never tested it). It does give you two (relatively) high health minions for the combo, so I get why it's in there.
the Binding Healing/Potion split is also interesting. Seems like it could be good, especially since your deck is taunt heavy so you're not as dependent on an early potion swing against aggro decks.
Not sure whether Lightspawn is any good. I've never tested it so don't have a strong opinion on it.
Volatile Elemental sure is a candidate to cut, but I don't think it would be for another Oracle. And another Blazecaller really isn't needed as you can get him from Kalimos pretty easily, if needed. One copy really does the job in my opinion. I wouldn't cut Stonehill either at this point, as I really think the card perfoms well in the deck.
The split does really well for me. I am not reliant on getting the potion, but obviously don't mind getting it at the start either. This deck is a quite quick one with lots of snowball potential. The Binding Heal helps out to make my OTKs more consistent, as it heals my Lightspawn and also enables more draws through Cleric, while it can also fuel Lyra.
As I encounter lots of Jade decks, I think a Priest player has to play a Combo variant to ensure that the game doesn't last too long. And in that regard, I really believe I got something going with this deck. With "pure" combo builds, I faced the problem that these decks were too reliant on getting the Combo out. This deck has more routes than only the combo one with Kalimos, Blazecaller and Mana Geode. Moreover, I had the problem that I either was missing Inner Fire or Divine Spirit at times. That problem is a non-issue in this deck, because of Lightspawn. Divine Spirit alone is enough with that card, which turns out to be crucial for my games. With Talonpriest, PW: Shield, Lyra and Divine Spirit, the minion snowballs hard.
Shadow Visions allows you to go for OTKs that actually "were not even there in the first place". I play a small number of spells that don't buff my minions (I don't run any Shadow Words), so Visions will basically always get you a buff spell into your hand. On turn 6 or 7, you can easily gamble on getting all needed buffs when you got one minion with 4+ health (let's say Kalimos or Lightspawn in the best case) as Visions and Radiant Elemental ensure you that you will get the needed Divine Spirits.
Don't believe me? Albeit I played on lower ranks, I still managed to climb from 17 to 9 without breaking a sweat so far. When I lost, it was due to a big misplay on my part or my opponent playing a deck that totally countered mine coincidentally in almost all cases, like a Secret Mage that ran Spellbender and Counterspell two each.
Additionally, this deck benefits from the fact that the prevalent decks barely play spot removal. If that fact should change or more very controllish builds with tons of removal should appear, I would suggest using Elise the Trailblazer (I sadly don't own that card).
Tbh I didn't put much thought into the Blazecaller/Crystalline suggestion. Only that if you removed Volatile you might need another early elemental in Crystalline plus my brain likes symmetrical things.
Seems like it has a lot of potential. I think I will give it a shot when I'm done with Wild this month. I really do like that it runs more bodies (plus bodies that discover other bodies) than Silence Priest so that there's a greater chance of something sticking for the combo. Not sure if it's better than jamming the combo into Dragon Priest. Dragons have higher health and stronger abilities but then again also a higher curve.
Not sure if it's better than jamming the combo into Dragon Priest. Dragons have higher health and stronger abilities but then again also a higher curve.
Thanks for your profound replies - just what you said. I asked this myself a couple of times and I really am not sure if Dragon is better or not. The lower curve gives me the feel that it is a little quicker, which can be crucial against Jade decks for example. So, there is that. On the other hand, if you compare Drakonid Agent and Kalimos, the Drakonid is better, but then again Kalimos can give you potential infinite value or Lyra andandand...
I would appreciate some ideas for a Volatile Elemental replacement. It isn't bad at all, but also not perfect for this deck...
I reached rank 8 with this deck now, but have to say that Pirate Warrior is a terrible matchup. I tried Golakka Crawler for Volatile Elemental, but that isn't enough...
How vital is Blazecaller? I don't actually have that card and I'm missing one Mana Geode, but otherwise I have everything else to try this deck. Any good replacement suggestions?
Hello guys,
this is an Elemental Combo Priest deck which I believe you will have fun playing with - give it a try! For more info, check the deck page:
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/861690-ranked-combo-elemental-priest-won-8-of-9-games-so
Cool deck.
Personally I'd go -1 Volatile Elemental, -1 Stonehill Defender and +1 Crystalline Oracle , +1 Blazecaller.
Volatile Elemental has never impressed me and Stonehill seems mediocre in priest (though I've never tested it). It does give you two (relatively) high health minions for the combo, so I get why it's in there.
the Binding Healing/Potion split is also interesting. Seems like it could be good, especially since your deck is taunt heavy so you're not as dependent on an early potion swing against aggro decks.
Not sure whether Lightspawn is any good. I've never tested it so don't have a strong opinion on it.
The split does really well for me. I am not reliant on getting the potion, but obviously don't mind getting it at the start either. This deck is a quite quick one with lots of snowball potential. The Binding Heal helps out to make my OTKs more consistent, as it heals my Lightspawn and also enables more draws through Cleric, while it can also fuel Lyra.
As I encounter lots of Jade decks, I think a Priest player has to play a Combo variant to ensure that the game doesn't last too long. And in that regard, I really believe I got something going with this deck. With "pure" combo builds, I faced the problem that these decks were too reliant on getting the Combo out. This deck has more routes than only the combo one with Kalimos, Blazecaller and Mana Geode. Moreover, I had the problem that I either was missing Inner Fire or Divine Spirit at times. That problem is a non-issue in this deck, because of Lightspawn. Divine Spirit alone is enough with that card, which turns out to be crucial for my games. With Talonpriest, PW: Shield, Lyra and Divine Spirit, the minion snowballs hard.
Shadow Visions allows you to go for OTKs that actually "were not even there in the first place". I play a small number of spells that don't buff my minions (I don't run any Shadow Words), so Visions will basically always get you a buff spell into your hand. On turn 6 or 7, you can easily gamble on getting all needed buffs when you got one minion with 4+ health (let's say Kalimos or Lightspawn in the best case) as Visions and Radiant Elemental ensure you that you will get the needed Divine Spirits.
Don't believe me? Albeit I played on lower ranks, I still managed to climb from 17 to 9 without breaking a sweat so far. When I lost, it was due to a big misplay on my part or my opponent playing a deck that totally countered mine coincidentally in almost all cases, like a Secret Mage that ran Spellbender and Counterspell two each.
Additionally, this deck benefits from the fact that the prevalent decks barely play spot removal. If that fact should change or more very controllish builds with tons of removal should appear, I would suggest using Elise the Trailblazer (I sadly don't own that card).
Tbh I didn't put much thought into the Blazecaller/Crystalline suggestion. Only that if you removed Volatile you might need another early elemental in Crystalline plus my brain likes symmetrical things.
Seems like it has a lot of potential. I think I will give it a shot when I'm done with Wild this month. I really do like that it runs more bodies (plus bodies that discover other bodies) than Silence Priest so that there's a greater chance of something sticking for the combo. Not sure if it's better than jamming the combo into Dragon Priest. Dragons have higher health and stronger abilities but then again also a higher curve.
I reached rank 8 with this deck now, but have to say that Pirate Warrior is a terrible matchup. I tried Golakka Crawler for Volatile Elemental, but that isn't enough...
How vital is Blazecaller? I don't actually have that card and I'm missing one Mana Geode, but otherwise I have everything else to try this deck. Any good replacement suggestions?