Hearthpwn

 i was about to craft Velen. So is Velen worth crafting?

Quote from Raskolnikow92 >>

Quote from Toymachine >>

Quote from Raskolnikow92 >>

Just pushed legend yesterday with velen with a 67% win rate, actually he is a key part and much stronger than lyra 

 What do you mean much stronger than Lyra? Why would you compare the two? 

 Velen + Mindblast after raza/anduin deals 20dmg and normally you have at least another card to push even more damage. So mostly you just one shot your opponent if you already dealt a little bit of damage. 

I'm comparing Velen to Lyra because you normally play 5 legendaries: Raza/Anduin, Kazakus, Velen and Lyra. 

 

I have no idea why anyone in their right mind would run Velen in Razakus but not Mind Blast.  Yes Velen on his own is an all star in Razakus but name a better card you're playing instead of Mind Blast.

Agreed. When multiple cards share synergies, that actually makes Priest stronger - so your Coin, Smite, and other cheap spells are more likely to be useful, whether you draw Lyra early, or manage to save them for end-game burst. This is the same reason these decks can run Wild Pyro...multiple paths to value. This makes you more flexible and more consistently able to produce strong results, even though the deck is highlander. 

I agree with you . I have had more success with the deck after removing Mind Blast.

I might also be new to the deck and not having that card in my deck makes it easier to pilot . Either way I am still winning more without it .

Quote from Toymachine>>

Quote from SchruteBucks>>

I have no idea why anyone in their right mind would run Velen in Razakus but not Mind Blast.  Yes Velen on his own is an all star in Razakus but name a better card you're playing instead of Mind Blast.

Because they want to win more.

Mind Blast is only good after you played Raza, Anduin DK and Velen - 3 one-offs in the deck - and by that time you pretty much won the game regardless of Mind Blast, till then it's a -1 card in hand, huge handicap. All the good players that I know of realize this and run Velen without Mind Blast (Amnesiasc being one of my favorites, over 65% win rate 80 games to top 50 Legend). 

It's just a bad card, win-more card in a situation where you pretty much already won, or useless crap that doesn't serve any purpose. Sure it might improve slightly win rate in mirror matchup, but damages 80% of other matches a lot.

I've watched the deck played with Velen in it and it seems to work just fine. Maybe you are playing it suboptimally. Watch someone who has a lot of experience with the deck and see if they are playing it differently than you.  Sometimes the plays with certain cards are not as straight forward as they seem.

Velen is a completely viable tech choice for Highlander Priest. It's not a waste of dust at all. Highlander priest is very skill-oriented. Not everyone can pilot it properly imo. But a buttload of top pros have gotton top 50 legend with highlander priest (using mainly the Velen version of that deck)

OP is nuts Velen is clutch in razakus

Quote from SchruteBucks >>

Velen is the strongest version of Razakus Priest.  I suspect you just aren't playing it optimally.  Let's be clear here - this is not a deck you can just pick up and start winning with right away.  It's difficult to play well most of the time, because you won't usually draw Kazakus on 4, Raza on 5, and Anduin on 8.  

In addition to the wombo combo burst from hand, sometimes Velen must be played on 7 just to contest the board; other times you need to drop it in 9 with Spirit Lash to heal back to full. 

I dusted my velen a couple years back even before standart, now regret that and maybe going to craft. It is not mandatory in raza priest though, i'm playing more deathrattle-oriented version and it is perfectly playable.

If you regret crafting Velen, you don't really like Priest.

And/or you're not trying hard enough.

You're not playing it right. I hit legend with Razakus priest yesterday on an 83% win-rate from rank 3. Played properly the deck absolutely crushes aggro. 100% WR vs Rogue, 80% WR vs Shaman, and 78% WR vs Pirate Warrior. Mages were also favorable at around 64%.

Most important distinction for me to realize was that with 0-cost HP, Velen, and MB in hand, you have 20 damage for 9 mana. Add another 8 if you happen to have Holy Smite. Lot of games I should have lost but won with that exact win condition.

PS: My WR vs Druids is highly unfavorable, as is my WR vs Hunters, so if you happen to be facing a ton of Jade or MR, play something else.

SQuote from RavenSunHP >>

If you regret crafting Velen, you don't really like Priest.

And/or you're not trying hard enough.

 

Quote from HigoChumbo >>

SQuote from RavenSunHP >>

If you regret crafting Velen, you don't really like Priest.

And/or you're not trying hard enough.

 

 I completely disagree. 

Priest is by far my favourite class  and I've never been fond of Velen since I never felt Velen played on the features that made the class great for me. To me the priest has always been about complex plays with highly versatile combo cards, not about just buffing your damage/healing and bursting the opponents face.

The pre-TGT decks with Auchenai, Light of the Naauru, Shrinkmeister, Cabal Shadowpriest, Shadow Madness etc remain for me the most fun decks I've ever toyed with with priest, to the point that all games felt different and the win condition relied on the creative combination of your lesser cards instead of just drawing the same cheesy win-condition game after game.

 

I might still craft Velen just to have the feeling of finally playing an actually oppressive priest deck after years of playing Hearthstone... but saying that "you don't like priest if you don't like Velen" is oversteping the line by a long stretch.

Velen is a great investment if you are a priest player, he is super strong in the current Razakus lists.

Quote from HigoChumbo >>

SQuote from RavenSunHP >>

If you regret crafting Velen, you don't really like Priest.

And/or you're not trying hard enough.

 

 but saying that "you don't like priest if you don't like Velen" is oversteping the line by a long stretch.

Now that I think about it combo Velen is not necessary for Velen variation, just having spirit lash, mind blast and holy smite is enough to make Velen worthwhile. Especially good with spirit lash for healing...

This thread is funny. I finally broke down and crafted Velen today, and am very happy with the choice. 

Regardless of what some people say, Highlander is not an easy deck to run, and it is far from auto pilot. Practice with it, and get better. Oh, and make sure you're running a good version. Some lists out there are better than others.

Edit: I just saw the op's deck list... Velen isn't even in it?? I'm confused. If you're running Velen and not running Mind Blast, you're doing it wrong, just FYI. The N'zoth package is strong, but I think your list has some issues.

Good. That's what you get for trying to play razakus priest