Priest is now the first 'overhauled' class we've seen, with several card adjustments, several classic/basic cards being rotated out and replaced with new classic/basic cards and a new 'redefined' role. Personally, I'm not too happy with the direction they took priest at first look with 0 face/burst potential to help them finish games. But, not everything seems terrible, so let's take a look at each new and changed card and see where priests stand.
As always, this is just my personal opinions and much like in the past, I could be completely wrong on some, many or all of these cards. :p
Adjusted Cards:
Power Word: Shield: ★★☆☆☆ This card is definitely worse than it used to be and IMO the only card that came out with a nerf. Is it unplayable? Not entirely. 0 cost cards always have potential. It's just not nearly as effective as it used to be and now requires some kind of synergy to warrant a spot (Gadgetzan Auctioneer or the new Sethekk Veilweaver for example).
Holy Smite: ★★★★☆ Holy Smite is incredible now. Sure, it can no longer go face, but it's 3 damage to a minion for 1 mana! This makes it on par or better than the best early game removal cards across all the classes. IMO, only Backstab and the new Eye Beam compares. It even beats out Frostbolt for pure removal value. Holy Smite is no longer a joke. On the contrary, it's quite good bordering on great.
Thoughtsteal: ★★★☆☆ 2 cards for 2? Yeah, that's damn good. It lacks the reliability of other card "draw" because you have no control over what you will get. Generally speaking though, this card is quite good that can easily make it's way into several priest decks.
Shadow Word: Death: ★★★★★ Yup, amazing removal at 2 mana for the most dangerous threats. This card was good at 3 mana. At 2? It's incredible. The only caveat is it is meta reliant. If the game is flooded with smaller minions, the card is less effective but more often than not, even against flood style opponents, it'll often find a value target.
Shadow Madness: ★★★☆☆ At 4 mana it was far too expensive and very rarely played (except for the memes). At 3 mana though, this card is a real threat. Often takes out 2 of your opponents minions and frequently steals powerful deathrattle effects. I'm rating it 3 star because this card is arguably the most meta dependent card but in a meta where it can thrive, this could easily be valued at 5 stars. (for instance, this card is almost dead vs Embiggen Druid).
Holy Nova: ★★★☆☆ What can I say? It's straight up better than Consecration (that doesn't hit face). Not that Consecration is amazing or anything anymore but getting the heal on top of that? It's just a solid aoe + aoe heal. It's always going to be a reliable option for when priests need some extra board clear for their control decks and will see play until an expansion introduces a more powerful alternative.
Temple Enforcer: ★★☆☆☆ This card is definitely a LOT better than it used to be, hands down. But before this change, it was complete trash. Now? While better, I feel that it's simply not impactful enough to warrant a deck slot. There's just better cards to fill the spot. That being said, you're almost never sad to see this being generated through other effects, such as Invoking Galakrond's hero power.
New Basic Cards!
Psychic Conjurer: ★★★★☆ Wow, this card is something else. 1 mana 1/1 card generator. It's just good. Really good. I've played with this card a bit and it's just stupidly good. This minion is going to see a lot of play.
Power Infusion: ★★★☆☆ Definitely a solid buff that may warrant a deck slot. It's a Blessing of Kings with redistributed stats and it can be argued that the extra health is more valuable than the attack. Again, you're almost never sad to see this card randomly generated.
New Classic Cards!
Scarlet Subjugator: ★★☆☆☆ A decent 1 drop. By itself I feel it's a bit lacking. It's a reasonable effect that does allow a favorable trade. Not terrible, not great. No, this card will likely see more play as a combo piece to enable other cards, such as Shadow Madness. The more support this card receives, the better it becomes. As it stands, it's fairly niche but still not bad.
Kul Tiran Chaplain: ★★★☆☆ A great 2 drop by all rights. Any sort of zoo to midrange priest can probably find a spot in their deck. It's pretty good. Not really a game changer but a solid minion nonetheless.
Shadow Word: Ruin: ★★★★☆ Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. It's Shadowreaper Anduin lite. It's fairly meta reliant but I'd argue that this only needs to remove ONE value target to be considered good. Just one. At one it's already much better than Assassinate. You remove more than that and it's just bonkers.
Natalie Seline: ★★★☆☆ I personally think this card is better than many reviewers I've seen give credit for. It's powerful removal attached to a minion! It bypasses 'cannot be targeted by spells/hero powers'. It becomes a serious threat in it's own right. There's lots of big minions being played currently (embiggen druid) and this card helps swing the board back in your favor. Again, it's not the best card in the world but I wouldn't write it off completely either.
AoO cards!
Imprisoned Homunculus: ★★★☆☆ A very good dormant minion. It's not the best dormant 1 drop we've seen *cough*Imprisoned Gan'arg*cough* but still quite good. Not sure where this fits in the upcoming meta but I suspect we'll see him around.
Reliquary of Souls + Reliquary Prime: ★★☆☆☆ I don't think it's all that great. Again, it's good but not great. The base form IMO is extremely lackluster. 1 mana 1/3 lifesteal. As a 'class' card, it'd be a common card and would never see play. So, that leaves us with the Prime, assuming you can get it into your deck early enough to be drawn into. The Prime version is a good card, no question. The problem with it is even with caveat that you can still cast spells and heal it with the hero power, it's still too easily dealt with by the VAST amount of non-targeted/minion based removal. Rotnest Drake, Brawl, Blackjack Stunner, even Priest's Shadow Word: Ruin are all easy removal tools. Aside from the fact that this guy has taunt, it does nothing when played. Druid is about the only class off the top of my head that would have a hard time dealing with this card and even then, throw enough bodies at it and eventually it goes down.
Renew: ★★★★★ I think this card is outstanding. I submit that even if it was just 1 mana, discover a spell, it would be a 4 star card, and this card has 3 healing tacked on to it. Expect to see this card a lot until it rotates out.
Dragonmaw Sentinel: ★☆☆☆☆ This card needs more support. A lot more. And it's meta dependent. With enough support in a fast meta, this could be a 3 star card. Right now though, especially with the rotation happening? We need more powerful dragons.
Sethekk Veilweaver: ★★★★☆ It's consistent spell generation. Lyra the Sunshard lite, and cheaper! Works on all targeted buffs and targeted removal. You can even prevent overflowing your hand by playing non-targeted spells that are generated. One major downside is the lack of Radiant Elemental, which Lyra had during her time in the light. That and that alone IMO keeps this from being a 5 star card.
Apotheosis: ★★★★☆ I think this card is somewhere between 3 and 4 star and I'm leaning towards 4 star. In a fast meta with lots of zoo/face decks (which let's be honest, are always there) this card cannot be ignored. It singlehandedly shuts them down. A face deck cannot expect to win if you buff even a simple 3/2 to a 5/5 lifesteal. Think of this card like Zilliax's magnetize, only it's not restricted to mechs.
Dragonmaw Overseer: ★★☆☆☆ It's...okay. I'm just not sure okay is good enough. If a priest zoo deck ever works, this card will find a home there. If not, you'll only see this as a randomly generated minion.
Psyche Split: ★★☆☆☆ A fine spell when it's randomly generated. But, unless there's some combo shenanigan potential eventually, this card won't see play beyond that.
Skeletal Dragon: ★★☆☆☆ 7 mana 4/9 taunt with a dragon tag. By today's standards, that's pretty weak. Sure, it'll get you a dragon but at 7 mana, that seems very slow. It's not sticky enough to effectively protect you in most circumstances, unlike the comparable reborn taunts available. I just don't think it'll be impactful enough.
Soul Mirror: ★★★★☆ I 'think' this card will be quite good, though I'm not as confident in this rating as I am with others. The way I see it, it's like a Lightbomb that only hits your opponent's minions, keeping yours intact as well as occasionally generating wounded minions for you. At 7 mana, can also be followed up with more removal (Breath of the Infinite) or with other cheap minions. I think it'll be very good.
Priest is just insane rn. Infinite minions w/ galakrond hero power (and we all know how broken build a beast was), loads of boardclears, potentially multiple prime minions via res and catrina and psychopomp and gk hp (winged guardian with lifesteal and evasive basically), a shitload of rez effects, more than enough silence, not to mention the fact that they completely lock down the board 9 games out of 10. Yh priest is pretty good rn.
I'm curious as to why you think it's the best Prime? I mean, just saying it's the best without offering any reasons to back it up is just shouting into the wind. My analysis explains quite thoroughly why I think it's quite mediocre, so I'm curious what you disagree with.
As for 'better' Primes, almost all of them are. IMO, for these cards to be considered, the base form has to be at least reasonable on it's own to warrant a deck slot, otherwise you're hoping your crap card lets you eventually draw into a good one. Reliquary of Souls is awful in it's base form. Arguably the worst. 1 mana 1/3 lifesteal is only really 'good' on Turn 1, and pretty bad in any other instance. Since there's only 1 in the deck, it's pretty unreliable to even try to mulligan for it. Compare to Astromancer Solarian, where a 2 mana 3/2 Spell Damage +1 is kinda always good, whether it's on Turn 2 or Turn 5. Same with Kargath Bladefist or Kanrethad Ebonlocke. They are powerful enough on their own to warrant a slot, and getting the Prime makes them that much better, but not required to be 'good enough'.
Sorry, I just don't want to play a mediocre 1 drop that might let me draw into a 'does nothing when played' 7 drop only to have it instantly removed. There's better cards.
I dunno if it's the best prime (I think all the primes are pretty good), but it gives priest one of the best one drops in the game. Especially when you consider all the early game, high tempo buffs priest gets now. But I think if you're not running significant buffs, or in some sort of silence priest deck or something then it's not really worth running.
In that context, though, I wouldn't say it's mediocre. 1/3s for 1 are just good.
Really enjoyed reading your reviews. I believe that Natale will see play too. Kill + Minion. Flikk sees play and Priest can live that longer than Rogue. Just poor vs token decks.
I dunno if it's the best prime (I think all the primes are pretty good), but it gives priest one of the best one drops in the game. Especially when you consider all the early game, high tempo buffs priest gets now. But I think if you're not running significant buffs, or in some sort of silence priest deck or something then it's not really worth running.
In that context, though, I wouldn't say it's mediocre. 1/3s for 1 are just good.
You make a good point. If some kind of Priest zoo takes hold, I think Reliquary could actually be pretty strong. Honestly it's the prime I'm having a hard time justifying. 7 mana 6/8 Taunt Lifesteal that can only be targeted by you is obviously strong, but 7 mana is a lot of investment for a minion that has no immediate impact.
I actually hope I'm wrong on this card. Priest is my favored class and I like it when they get powerful legendary cards. And God knows I've been wrong a lot in the past. lol
Honestly it's the prime I'm having a hard time justifying. 7 mana 6/8 Taunt Lifesteal that can only be targeted by you is obviously strong, but 7 mana is a lot of investment for a minion that has no immediate impact.
Well. It has taunt. I kinda wish it had some sort of deathrattle itself (ala Obsidian Statue) but I think in a deck that is trying to maintain board presence it can be good. Priest has so much targeted removal and removal that only destroys the opponent's side of the board now. And a lot of classes don't have easy ways to remove it without blowing an AoE wipe.
I'm not super sold on it either, but I think the initial form is pretty good.
I'm curious as to why you think it's the best Prime? I mean, just saying it's the best without offering any reasons to back it up is just shouting into the wind. My analysis explains quite thoroughly why I think it's quite mediocre, so I'm curious what you disagree with.
As for 'better' Primes, almost all of them are. IMO, for these cards to be considered, the base form has to be at least reasonable on it's own to warrant a deck slot, otherwise you're hoping your crap card lets you eventually draw into a good one. Reliquary of Souls is awful in it's base form. Arguably the worst. 1 mana 1/3 lifesteal is only really 'good' on Turn 1, and pretty bad in any other instance. Since there's only 1 in the deck, it's pretty unreliable to even try to mulligan for it. Compare to Astromancer Solarian, where a 2 mana 3/2 Spell Damage +1 is kinda always good, whether it's on Turn 2 or Turn 5. Same with Kargath Bladefist or Kanrethad Ebonlocke. They are powerful enough on their own to warrant a slot, and getting the Prime makes them that much better, but not required to be 'good enough'.
Sorry, I just don't want to play a mediocre 1 drop that might let me draw into a 'does nothing when played' 7 drop only to have it instantly removed. There's better cards.
Reliquary of Souls + Reliquary Prime is the best prime for sure. It is a win condition against every aggro deck. It is so strong that you can also consider it in wild Big Priest. This card is very very strong.
It is a bad card, like all prime card, for combo decks (because they reduce you changes to make the combo), for all other priest deck, it is auto include.
Psyche Split may be a surprise winner. In conjunction with Psychopomp you can raise a monster buff it and get a buffed copy. Also you can copy your opponent's whopper and then SWD it. If their minion had rush you can remove another threat.
I'm curious as to why you think it's the best Prime? I mean, just saying it's the best without offering any reasons to back it up is just shouting into the wind. My analysis explains quite thoroughly why I think it's quite mediocre, so I'm curious what you disagree with.
As for 'better' Primes, almost all of them are. IMO, for these cards to be considered, the base form has to be at least reasonable on it's own to warrant a deck slot, otherwise you're hoping your crap card lets you eventually draw into a good one. Reliquary of Souls is awful in it's base form. Arguably the worst. 1 mana 1/3 lifesteal is only really 'good' on Turn 1, and pretty bad in any other instance. Since there's only 1 in the deck, it's pretty unreliable to even try to mulligan for it. Compare to Astromancer Solarian, where a 2 mana 3/2 Spell Damage +1 is kinda always good, whether it's on Turn 2 or Turn 5. Same with Kargath Bladefist or Kanrethad Ebonlocke. They are powerful enough on their own to warrant a slot, and getting the Prime makes them that much better, but not required to be 'good enough'.
Sorry, I just don't want to play a mediocre 1 drop that might let me draw into a 'does nothing when played' 7 drop only to have it instantly removed. There's better cards.
Reliquary of Souls + Reliquary Prime is the best prime for sure. It is a win condition against every aggro deck. It is so strong that you can also consider it in wild Big Priest. This card is very very strong.
It is a bad card, like all prime card, for combo decks (because they reduce you changes to make the combo), for all other priest deck, it is auto include.
Can't agree with any of that. You're arguing it's good against aggro? When aggro decks try to end the game by turns 6 and 7, you're relying on a card that has to be played, killed and redrawn? I'll let that sink in for a bit while I move on to your next point.
Just about every single 7+ mana minion in the game that has no immediate effect is borderline unplayable. Yes, it has taunt, which is the only reason it isn't completely awful, but because it has no immediate impact, it's more susceptible to removal than other 7+ mana minions that have powerful battlecry and deathrattle effects. So no, not 'all cards have these issues' because the effects that make them powerful either already happened or will happen when it's killed.
The card might end up being pretty good, but not for the reasons you suggested here from what I can tell.
I'm not too happy with the direction they took priest at first look with 0 face/burst potential to help them finish games.
Right... Because they removed the gimmick OTKO with Divine Spirit. A combo exclusive to about 1 in 100 rank 25 games.
Priest had no burst potential in the meta since mind blast. So its not as if they suddenly removed it. The whole point of the change was to give them viable evergreen deck options, instead of having a core set that revolved entirely around a terrible combo.
Rating cards is not very insightful, a card can be super broken but still won't see much play if not supported by other cards and the meta. I would rather have people rate deck archetypes than individual cards.
Archetypes Priest has in the next expansion are Tempo, Resurrect, Highlander and Dragon Midrange. Tempo Priest and Dragon Midrange Priest are going to be super trash. Tempo Priest has no draw and Midrange Dragon Priest neither has good dragons (like Duskbreaker or Dr. OP) nor good support cards (like Alexstrasza's Champion or Twilight acolyte)
Highlander Priest should be legend viable but not much more. Problem is that Highlander can neither deal with hyper aggro that Hunter and Demon Hunter are going to be nor the extreme value generation that Mage and Rogue will be capable of. One bad turn and you are dead.
Resurrect Priest is going to be best Priest deck, which is very sad, same archetype at tier 2 at best for over 2 years, wtf. Cloning Gallery, Mass Hysteria and Zilliax rotating will hurt but rest of deck is pretty much the same. Soul Mirror can replace Gallery and Hysteria to some degree and probably Bone Wraith/Catrina/Renew can fill the remaining place depending on the meta.
My biggest issue with the Priest overhaul is that they won't allow Priest to draw cards while they force a zoo-style deck on them. Without draw Priest usually has to commit to buffing 1 or 2 minions and has almost no way of coming back if they lose the board. We saw it with aggro paladin deck: strong with draw (Divine Favor) and after DF was HoF'ed they went out of the meta. Midrange Priest with DS/IS was strong because Cleric + PW:S allowed a lot of draw (+DS/IF as a win con), so when they lost their minions in the early game they could just re-load.
As for Reliquary of Souls I think you are underestimating the value it brings. If you can play it on t1 and buff it on t2 aggro decks has to commit a lot of ressources to killing it because they can't ignore a lifesteal minion. As for the prime: I think Winged Guardian has shown how annoying high health minions are with shroud. The biggest issue with the Prime: Priest can't draw cards, so if it's in the bottom 10 of your deck it becomes irrelevant.
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Priest is now the first 'overhauled' class we've seen, with several card adjustments, several classic/basic cards being rotated out and replaced with new classic/basic cards and a new 'redefined' role. Personally, I'm not too happy with the direction they took priest at first look with 0 face/burst potential to help them finish games. But, not everything seems terrible, so let's take a look at each new and changed card and see where priests stand.
As always, this is just my personal opinions and much like in the past, I could be completely wrong on some, many or all of these cards. :p
Adjusted Cards:
Power Word: Shield: ★★☆☆☆ This card is definitely worse than it used to be and IMO the only card that came out with a nerf. Is it unplayable? Not entirely. 0 cost cards always have potential. It's just not nearly as effective as it used to be and now requires some kind of synergy to warrant a spot (Gadgetzan Auctioneer or the new Sethekk Veilweaver for example).
Holy Smite: ★★★★☆ Holy Smite is incredible now. Sure, it can no longer go face, but it's 3 damage to a minion for 1 mana! This makes it on par or better than the best early game removal cards across all the classes. IMO, only Backstab and the new Eye Beam compares. It even beats out Frostbolt for pure removal value. Holy Smite is no longer a joke. On the contrary, it's quite good bordering on great.
Thoughtsteal: ★★★☆☆ 2 cards for 2? Yeah, that's damn good. It lacks the reliability of other card "draw" because you have no control over what you will get. Generally speaking though, this card is quite good that can easily make it's way into several priest decks.
Shadow Word: Death: ★★★★★ Yup, amazing removal at 2 mana for the most dangerous threats. This card was good at 3 mana. At 2? It's incredible. The only caveat is it is meta reliant. If the game is flooded with smaller minions, the card is less effective but more often than not, even against flood style opponents, it'll often find a value target.
Shadow Madness: ★★★☆☆ At 4 mana it was far too expensive and very rarely played (except for the memes). At 3 mana though, this card is a real threat. Often takes out 2 of your opponents minions and frequently steals powerful deathrattle effects. I'm rating it 3 star because this card is arguably the most meta dependent card but in a meta where it can thrive, this could easily be valued at 5 stars. (for instance, this card is almost dead vs Embiggen Druid).
Holy Nova: ★★★☆☆ What can I say? It's straight up better than Consecration (that doesn't hit face). Not that Consecration is amazing or anything anymore but getting the heal on top of that? It's just a solid aoe + aoe heal. It's always going to be a reliable option for when priests need some extra board clear for their control decks and will see play until an expansion introduces a more powerful alternative.
Temple Enforcer: ★★☆☆☆ This card is definitely a LOT better than it used to be, hands down. But before this change, it was complete trash. Now? While better, I feel that it's simply not impactful enough to warrant a deck slot. There's just better cards to fill the spot. That being said, you're almost never sad to see this being generated through other effects, such as Invoking Galakrond's hero power.
New Basic Cards!
Psychic Conjurer: ★★★★☆ Wow, this card is something else. 1 mana 1/1 card generator. It's just good. Really good. I've played with this card a bit and it's just stupidly good. This minion is going to see a lot of play.
Power Infusion: ★★★☆☆ Definitely a solid buff that may warrant a deck slot. It's a Blessing of Kings with redistributed stats and it can be argued that the extra health is more valuable than the attack. Again, you're almost never sad to see this card randomly generated.
New Classic Cards!
Scarlet Subjugator: ★★☆☆☆ A decent 1 drop. By itself I feel it's a bit lacking. It's a reasonable effect that does allow a favorable trade. Not terrible, not great. No, this card will likely see more play as a combo piece to enable other cards, such as Shadow Madness. The more support this card receives, the better it becomes. As it stands, it's fairly niche but still not bad.
Kul Tiran Chaplain: ★★★☆☆ A great 2 drop by all rights. Any sort of zoo to midrange priest can probably find a spot in their deck. It's pretty good. Not really a game changer but a solid minion nonetheless.
Shadow Word: Ruin: ★★★★☆ Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. It's Shadowreaper Anduin lite. It's fairly meta reliant but I'd argue that this only needs to remove ONE value target to be considered good. Just one. At one it's already much better than Assassinate. You remove more than that and it's just bonkers.
Natalie Seline: ★★★☆☆ I personally think this card is better than many reviewers I've seen give credit for. It's powerful removal attached to a minion! It bypasses 'cannot be targeted by spells/hero powers'. It becomes a serious threat in it's own right. There's lots of big minions being played currently (embiggen druid) and this card helps swing the board back in your favor. Again, it's not the best card in the world but I wouldn't write it off completely either.
AoO cards!
Imprisoned Homunculus: ★★★☆☆ A very good dormant minion. It's not the best dormant 1 drop we've seen *cough*Imprisoned Gan'arg*cough* but still quite good. Not sure where this fits in the upcoming meta but I suspect we'll see him around.
Reliquary of Souls + Reliquary Prime: ★★☆☆☆ I don't think it's all that great. Again, it's good but not great. The base form IMO is extremely lackluster. 1 mana 1/3 lifesteal. As a 'class' card, it'd be a common card and would never see play. So, that leaves us with the Prime, assuming you can get it into your deck early enough to be drawn into. The Prime version is a good card, no question. The problem with it is even with caveat that you can still cast spells and heal it with the hero power, it's still too easily dealt with by the VAST amount of non-targeted/minion based removal. Rotnest Drake, Brawl, Blackjack Stunner, even Priest's Shadow Word: Ruin are all easy removal tools. Aside from the fact that this guy has taunt, it does nothing when played. Druid is about the only class off the top of my head that would have a hard time dealing with this card and even then, throw enough bodies at it and eventually it goes down.
Renew: ★★★★★ I think this card is outstanding. I submit that even if it was just 1 mana, discover a spell, it would be a 4 star card, and this card has 3 healing tacked on to it. Expect to see this card a lot until it rotates out.
Dragonmaw Sentinel: ★☆☆☆☆ This card needs more support. A lot more. And it's meta dependent. With enough support in a fast meta, this could be a 3 star card. Right now though, especially with the rotation happening? We need more powerful dragons.
Sethekk Veilweaver: ★★★★☆ It's consistent spell generation. Lyra the Sunshard lite, and cheaper! Works on all targeted buffs and targeted removal. You can even prevent overflowing your hand by playing non-targeted spells that are generated. One major downside is the lack of Radiant Elemental, which Lyra had during her time in the light. That and that alone IMO keeps this from being a 5 star card.
Apotheosis: ★★★★☆ I think this card is somewhere between 3 and 4 star and I'm leaning towards 4 star. In a fast meta with lots of zoo/face decks (which let's be honest, are always there) this card cannot be ignored. It singlehandedly shuts them down. A face deck cannot expect to win if you buff even a simple 3/2 to a 5/5 lifesteal. Think of this card like Zilliax's magnetize, only it's not restricted to mechs.
Dragonmaw Overseer: ★★☆☆☆ It's...okay. I'm just not sure okay is good enough. If a priest zoo deck ever works, this card will find a home there. If not, you'll only see this as a randomly generated minion.
Psyche Split: ★★☆☆☆ A fine spell when it's randomly generated. But, unless there's some combo shenanigan potential eventually, this card won't see play beyond that.
Skeletal Dragon: ★★☆☆☆ 7 mana 4/9 taunt with a dragon tag. By today's standards, that's pretty weak. Sure, it'll get you a dragon but at 7 mana, that seems very slow. It's not sticky enough to effectively protect you in most circumstances, unlike the comparable reborn taunts available. I just don't think it'll be impactful enough.
Soul Mirror: ★★★★☆ I 'think' this card will be quite good, though I'm not as confident in this rating as I am with others. The way I see it, it's like a Lightbomb that only hits your opponent's minions, keeping yours intact as well as occasionally generating wounded minions for you. At 7 mana, can also be followed up with more removal (Breath of the Infinite) or with other cheap minions. I think it'll be very good.
Yeah Psychic Conjurer is quite good. Reminds of the little fellow in my avatar :)
Do you want win with one card?
Reliquary of Souls + Reliquary Prime is the best prime.
Priest is just insane rn. Infinite minions w/ galakrond hero power (and we all know how broken build a beast was), loads of boardclears, potentially multiple prime minions via res and catrina and psychopomp and gk hp (winged guardian with lifesteal and evasive basically), a shitload of rez effects, more than enough silence, not to mention the fact that they completely lock down the board 9 games out of 10. Yh priest is pretty good rn.
I'm curious as to why you think it's the best Prime? I mean, just saying it's the best without offering any reasons to back it up is just shouting into the wind. My analysis explains quite thoroughly why I think it's quite mediocre, so I'm curious what you disagree with.
As for 'better' Primes, almost all of them are. IMO, for these cards to be considered, the base form has to be at least reasonable on it's own to warrant a deck slot, otherwise you're hoping your crap card lets you eventually draw into a good one. Reliquary of Souls is awful in it's base form. Arguably the worst. 1 mana 1/3 lifesteal is only really 'good' on Turn 1, and pretty bad in any other instance. Since there's only 1 in the deck, it's pretty unreliable to even try to mulligan for it. Compare to Astromancer Solarian, where a 2 mana 3/2 Spell Damage +1 is kinda always good, whether it's on Turn 2 or Turn 5. Same with Kargath Bladefist or Kanrethad Ebonlocke. They are powerful enough on their own to warrant a slot, and getting the Prime makes them that much better, but not required to be 'good enough'.
Sorry, I just don't want to play a mediocre 1 drop that might let me draw into a 'does nothing when played' 7 drop only to have it instantly removed. There's better cards.
I dunno if it's the best prime (I think all the primes are pretty good), but it gives priest one of the best one drops in the game. Especially when you consider all the early game, high tempo buffs priest gets now. But I think if you're not running significant buffs, or in some sort of silence priest deck or something then it's not really worth running.
In that context, though, I wouldn't say it's mediocre. 1/3s for 1 are just good.
I don't agree with people saying that priest got middle fingered. He will be able to make efficient ctrl decks
Really enjoyed reading your reviews. I believe that Natale will see play too. Kill + Minion. Flikk sees play and Priest can live that longer than Rogue. Just poor vs token decks.
You make a good point. If some kind of Priest zoo takes hold, I think Reliquary could actually be pretty strong. Honestly it's the prime I'm having a hard time justifying. 7 mana 6/8 Taunt Lifesteal that can only be targeted by you is obviously strong, but 7 mana is a lot of investment for a minion that has no immediate impact.
I actually hope I'm wrong on this card. Priest is my favored class and I like it when they get powerful legendary cards. And God knows I've been wrong a lot in the past. lol
Now when they reduced the cost of Thoughtsteal they have to or they must change the cost of Devour Mind from 5 mana to 4 or even 3!
Thoughtsteal: 5 star. Right now is the best card for priest.
Sorry for my broken english.
Well. It has taunt. I kinda wish it had some sort of deathrattle itself (ala Obsidian Statue) but I think in a deck that is trying to maintain board presence it can be good. Priest has so much targeted removal and removal that only destroys the opponent's side of the board now. And a lot of classes don't have easy ways to remove it without blowing an AoE wipe.
I'm not super sold on it either, but I think the initial form is pretty good.
Reliquary of Souls + Reliquary Prime is the best prime for sure. It is a win condition against every aggro deck. It is so strong that you can also consider it in wild Big Priest. This card is very very strong.
What is the point in saying " Rotnest Drake, Brawl, Blackjack Stunner, even Priest's Shadow Word: Ruin are all easy removal tools." All cards have these issues, Reliquary of Souls + Reliquary Prime is in any case broken.
It is a bad card, like all prime card, for combo decks (because they reduce you changes to make the combo), for all other priest deck, it is auto include.
Psyche Split may be a surprise winner. In conjunction with Psychopomp you can raise a monster buff it and get a buffed copy. Also you can copy your opponent's whopper and then SWD it. If their minion had rush you can remove another threat.
Dragonmaw Overseer and Skeltal Dragon Ratings are just a Joke i guess ?
Thoughtsteal for 2 Mana is ridiculous in the current meta.
Holy Nova for 4 Mana is superb, it’s simply the best 4 Mana AOE in the whole game.
Yeah Thoughtsteal is bonkers right now, this card has won me a few games of late.
Can't agree with any of that. You're arguing it's good against aggro? When aggro decks try to end the game by turns 6 and 7, you're relying on a card that has to be played, killed and redrawn? I'll let that sink in for a bit while I move on to your next point.
Just about every single 7+ mana minion in the game that has no immediate effect is borderline unplayable. Yes, it has taunt, which is the only reason it isn't completely awful, but because it has no immediate impact, it's more susceptible to removal than other 7+ mana minions that have powerful battlecry and deathrattle effects. So no, not 'all cards have these issues' because the effects that make them powerful either already happened or will happen when it's killed.
The card might end up being pretty good, but not for the reasons you suggested here from what I can tell.
Right... Because they removed the gimmick OTKO with Divine Spirit. A combo exclusive to about 1 in 100 rank 25 games.
Priest had no burst potential in the meta since mind blast. So its not as if they suddenly removed it. The whole point of the change was to give them viable evergreen deck options, instead of having a core set that revolved entirely around a terrible combo.
Rating cards is not very insightful, a card can be super broken but still won't see much play if not supported by other cards and the meta. I would rather have people rate deck archetypes than individual cards.
Archetypes Priest has in the next expansion are Tempo, Resurrect, Highlander and Dragon Midrange. Tempo Priest and Dragon Midrange Priest are going to be super trash. Tempo Priest has no draw and Midrange Dragon Priest neither has good dragons (like Duskbreaker or Dr. OP) nor good support cards (like Alexstrasza's Champion or Twilight acolyte)
Highlander Priest should be legend viable but not much more. Problem is that Highlander can neither deal with hyper aggro that Hunter and Demon Hunter are going to be nor the extreme value generation that Mage and Rogue will be capable of. One bad turn and you are dead.
Resurrect Priest is going to be best Priest deck, which is very sad, same archetype at tier 2 at best for over 2 years, wtf. Cloning Gallery, Mass Hysteria and Zilliax rotating will hurt but rest of deck is pretty much the same. Soul Mirror can replace Gallery and Hysteria to some degree and probably Bone Wraith/Catrina/Renew can fill the remaining place depending on the meta.
My biggest issue with the Priest overhaul is that they won't allow Priest to draw cards while they force a zoo-style deck on them. Without draw Priest usually has to commit to buffing 1 or 2 minions and has almost no way of coming back if they lose the board. We saw it with aggro paladin deck: strong with draw (Divine Favor) and after DF was HoF'ed they went out of the meta. Midrange Priest with DS/IS was strong because Cleric + PW:S allowed a lot of draw (+DS/IF as a win con), so when they lost their minions in the early game they could just re-load.
As for Reliquary of Souls I think you are underestimating the value it brings. If you can play it on t1 and buff it on t2 aggro decks has to commit a lot of ressources to killing it because they can't ignore a lifesteal minion. As for the prime: I think Winged Guardian has shown how annoying high health minions are with shroud. The biggest issue with the Prime: Priest can't draw cards, so if it's in the bottom 10 of your deck it becomes irrelevant.