It seems to me that Priest has a lot of the pieces it needs to make Zerek, Master Cloner good - cards like Vivid Nightmare give you two copies with active deathrattles, Radiant Elemental lets you combo with spells more effectively, and Priest has various other spell synergies (Lyra the Sunshard and Dragon Soul being the most interesting) that make running buffs a good idea.
Despite all that, Zerek doesn't see any play. So, what would it take? More "cloning" buffs? A tweak on the deathrattle trigger (e.g. make the deathrattle activate from any spell rather than only friendly, or make it activate based on any friendly spell rather than a targeted spell)? He seems like a very cool card that fits into a lot of the themes Priest has picked up over the last several expansions, so I'd love to see him work.
I think the issue is that you need more resources (i.e. cards and mana) to make his deathrattle trigger which is not for free. Additionally, that makes him less reliable since if you do not have him and the spells in hand, he is a 5/5 vanilla (even worse than Pit Fighter Edit: he is 6 mana, so I should have compared him to Boulderfist Ogre ). And if he dies, you have all these small spells that are not giving you the value they were planned for.
I think activating the deathrattle by any spell would help since then he has to be killed by AoE or minions. Or maybe give him a clone for each spell you cast on him.
Comparing to other decks, It seems that even if the next expansion will bring something to make Zerek playable — he is just 5/5 body, that resummon and needs a lot of resources and has no win condition. How much Zereks you can do in 1 turn? 2-3 Zereks? Meanwhile, other classes can OTK, control, buff, destroy minions etc.
I think he can be seen in some future decks as a good addition to some archetype, but total Zerek-oriented deck won't exist
When you can get the Zerek train rolling, it is hard to beat. I faced it one time where my opponent got 2 Zereks and then was able to constantly keep reviving them and it was impossible to keep up(I think i was playing big Spell Mage).
It's never going to be meta if that is what you are asking. Barring a way to cheat him out anyways. He suffers from the same problem that Dragon Soul does. Both are capable of snowballing and winning games, but they will never be reliable enough to be win conditions you can count on and yet despite that inconsistency, you still have to build your deck around them to make em work. It's just not going to happen bro.
I actually like Zerek a lot, got him from my card packs and will definitely try to build a deck around him. When I play the Priest Whizbang deck, I often manage to get Zerek to stick (the trick is not to play him too soon and to buff him with something immediatelly (preferably Vivid Nightmare)). The issue, as a couple other players already stated, isn't Zerek himself but lack of early game support to get that train rolling. I like SlydE's suggestions, if the deck got something like Barnes that guaranteed to pull a 1/1 Zerek for you to immediately buff, it would be a very strong deck. Moreover, buffs like Power Overwhelming have amazing synergy with this card since his deathrattle completely negates their downside.
What we need, IMO, is a way to cheat him out earlier. Playing him as a vanilla card is too slow. I do think it's a viable archetype that will gain steam in the next expansion or two. I think it's currently in the same state Burgle Rogue was until recently. It's missing 1-2 core support cards that will probably come soon. I also think it's for that very same reason that Priest feels like the weakest class right now (because the archetype isn't complete), Rogue was in the same exact spot during Witchwood.
Zerek himself is absurdly strong against control. Day one I made a deck based around him and he absolutely just shits on slow decks. Issue is that he himself is rather slow and priest as a whole isn't in a good spot. If a deck pops up that can not die early and still have enough buffs (like 5-8 is the magic number I'm pretty sure), he's going to be really strong. Until then though he's just in a rough spot.
That being said, I have made two decks for him in the past for him, one of which is a big priest list that sucks in the current meta game and the other being a dragon one, which I still have decent success with but it still struggles. I have them uploaded here if you want to check them out (sorry for the shameless plug).
It seems to me that Priest has a lot of the pieces it needs to make Zerek, Master Cloner good - cards like Vivid Nightmare give you two copies with active deathrattles, Radiant Elemental lets you combo with spells more effectively, and Priest has various other spell synergies (Lyra the Sunshard and Dragon Soul being the most interesting) that make running buffs a good idea.
Despite all that, Zerek doesn't see any play. So, what would it take? More "cloning" buffs? A tweak on the deathrattle trigger (e.g. make the deathrattle activate from any spell rather than only friendly, or make it activate based on any friendly spell rather than a targeted spell)? He seems like a very cool card that fits into a lot of the themes Priest has picked up over the last several expansions, so I'd love to see him work.
I think the issue is that you need more resources (i.e. cards and mana) to make his deathrattle trigger which is not for free. Additionally, that makes him less reliable since if you do not have him and the spells in hand, he is a 5/5 vanilla (even worse than Pit Fighter Edit: he is 6 mana, so I should have compared him to Boulderfist Ogre ). And if he dies, you have all these small spells that are not giving you the value they were planned for.
I think activating the deathrattle by any spell would help since then he has to be killed by AoE or minions. Or maybe give him a clone for each spell you cast on him.
It needs a LOT! If it ever gets that much, it will completely break other deathrattle cards.
Borrowing from other classes and Wild, Barnes, Power Overwhelming, Shadowflame, Play Dead, Explorer's Hat, Ancestral Spirit and Reincarnate could all set up some decent plays, but I still don't think it would be enough.
The problem is that you need another buff every time to get value of the deathrattle, and it is slow and vulnerable to silence no matter what you do.
The most powerful he can be is as 400 dust for a good epic (after you stop buying boomsday packs ofc.)
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Comparing to other decks, It seems that even if the next expansion will bring something to make Zerek playable — he is just 5/5 body, that resummon and needs a lot of resources and has no win condition. How much Zereks you can do in 1 turn? 2-3 Zereks? Meanwhile, other classes can OTK, control, buff, destroy minions etc.
I think he can be seen in some future decks as a good addition to some archetype, but total Zerek-oriented deck won't exist
When you can get the Zerek train rolling, it is hard to beat. I faced it one time where my opponent got 2 Zereks and then was able to constantly keep reviving them and it was impossible to keep up(I think i was playing big Spell Mage).
Only time i have ever seen him on ladder.
I think you need reasons to run buffs that aren't Zerek.
It's never going to be meta if that is what you are asking. Barring a way to cheat him out anyways. He suffers from the same problem that Dragon Soul does. Both are capable of snowballing and winning games, but they will never be reliable enough to be win conditions you can count on and yet despite that inconsistency, you still have to build your deck around them to make em work. It's just not going to happen bro.
Probably a 0-mana or 1-mana spell that reads, "Give a minion "Cannot be targeted." Or just...you know....actually good stats.
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I actually like Zerek a lot, got him from my card packs and will definitely try to build a deck around him. When I play the Priest Whizbang deck, I often manage to get Zerek to stick (the trick is not to play him too soon and to buff him with something immediatelly (preferably Vivid Nightmare)). The issue, as a couple other players already stated, isn't Zerek himself but lack of early game support to get that train rolling. I like SlydE's suggestions, if the deck got something like Barnes that guaranteed to pull a 1/1 Zerek for you to immediately buff, it would be a very strong deck. Moreover, buffs like Power Overwhelming have amazing synergy with this card since his deathrattle completely negates their downside.
What we need, IMO, is a way to cheat him out earlier. Playing him as a vanilla card is too slow. I do think it's a viable archetype that will gain steam in the next expansion or two. I think it's currently in the same state Burgle Rogue was until recently. It's missing 1-2 core support cards that will probably come soon. I also think it's for that very same reason that Priest feels like the weakest class right now (because the archetype isn't complete), Rogue was in the same exact spot during Witchwood.
If you gave it “can’t be targeted” you wouldn’t be able to add any more buffs to it
Zerek himself is absurdly strong against control. Day one I made a deck based around him and he absolutely just shits on slow decks. Issue is that he himself is rather slow and priest as a whole isn't in a good spot. If a deck pops up that can not die early and still have enough buffs (like 5-8 is the magic number I'm pretty sure), he's going to be really strong. Until then though he's just in a rough spot.
That being said, I have made two decks for him in the past for him, one of which is a big priest list that sucks in the current meta game and the other being a dragon one, which I still have decent success with but it still struggles. I have them uploaded here if you want to check them out (sorry for the shameless plug).
I don't have something witty about this deck, I just like it because Malygos is fun.
It only needs one buff to be resummoned. Besides, that wouldn't prevent you from using other buffs first.
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