The deck obviously has vulnerabilities. While it has massive healing capability, it is weak against massive burst decks like Malygos druid and freeze mage. My experience is that it manages very well against control warrior, and also most tempo decks IF I can draw into circle of shadows, otherwise it will struggle.
Btw, what is the rule of thumb on acceptable losses? I feel like replacing Excavated Evil with either another Auctioneer or something crazy like Icehowl.
Herald Volasj doesn't seem great. You can't hit Velen the turn you play it, or rag. Hitting Gadgetzan could be too much draw pretty easily. Every other target is a whiff.
Silence and purify only draw you could probably cut them completely, you still have a lot of cheap spells.
I think Entomb would be good.
Actually, I think it needs more draw too. Loot Hoarders, and Thanes maybe? This deck runs crazy fast and if you don't hit your Auctioneer your gone gas pretty hard.
At first glance, I would say that Herald Volazj is too slow. You don't have enough threats to run a control opponent out of removal, meaning none of them will stick. What about Wild Pyromancer instead of him? Another card to consider would be Mass Dispel. It's actually pretty good right now due to all the shaman on the ladder and you can't have enough cycle.
Another interesting deck concept. However, I tried different forms of OTK / Miracle Priest, and it doesn't work, why? Priest can't do Combo decks well compared to Druid/Rogue/Paladin/Warrior is because the class lacks of efficient card draw mechanics... Blizzard literally has this class relying too much on PWS, Cleric, Acolyte, and other Deathrattle minions... They are either unreliable or inefficient.
Yeah, Herald Volazj is often locked in hand, but he has won games once in a while, though often he is just played as removal bait or tempo. The idea is a lategame turn with a cheap (free) arcane giant along with the herald, and silencing the token back to 8/8. He has also created insane tempo swings if the opponent left up a priest of the feast or an auctioneer. The deck originated from a purify experiment, but I added silence instead, to have the curved Barnes/Herald as an option.
I used to run a single Entomb, and I should probably find a way to fit it back in, to deal with key cards like Tirion, Sylvanas and C'Thun.
Btw I considered many of the usual cards like soulpriest, loot hoarder and pyromancer, but I found them sort of weak when playing resurrect+Barnes. I guess the miracle approach requires innervate or prep to be able to perform really well.
Mass dispel could be an option, it should perform well against tempo mage, secret hunter, midrange shaman and most N'zoth variants. And can deal with taunt for potential lethal, as well as just be cycled for the draw.
You are right about Velen, he was intended as an extra means of burst, as well as a great target for Barnes, either with or without silencing the token. However, he is the only 7-drop at the moment, and is probably the best 7-drop for priest in standard, combo or not. Essentially like a flamewaker or Fandral, it forces a response from the opponent. You could say the same about confessor, but I would usually wait with her until I could get the inspire at least once, and also she is more vulnerable.
@DontFeedTheEmu: I forgot to comment on the winrate. Last month I was trapped around rank 10-14 with this, depending on what I encountered. As stated, this deck is weak to tempo unless the embrace the circle combo is drawn, which is why I subbed in excavated evil. But results aside, this deck can be incredibly fun to play.
I have a question and a quirky idea. The question is where is our miracle lord and saviour Thaurissan?
The idea is putting in the corrupted healbots. I don't know if they react with embrace the shadow, but if they do that could be cool. Since miracle is basically an otk deck, healbots can be used to clear opponents big boys and buy yourself some time to gather the puzzle pieces, and in conjuction With shadow word death and embrace the shadow to deal 8 damage and if it loves, 6 more to the facw.e.
Edit: sorry for the last few words, my browser's bugged out, doesn't let me delete.
Yes, the Corrupted heal bot healing effect reacts to the embrace/auchenai effect. It really is a fun little card, since in a n'zoth setting I don't strictly care about getting the absolute most value out of my minions since I can bring them back later. Classes that typically have damage-removal effects like druid, rogue or shaman can really struggle with it when paired with something like a darkshire alchemist to play keep-away with the deathrattle while you smash their board. It really is a win-win, because even if it's instantly removed it's one less removal for your big rattles like cairne, sylvanas or even dragonlord (I run it for giggles) and usually health total isn't especially important in the early stages of control matchups.
Corrupted Healbot certainly is an option I did not consider, thanks to both of you. Regarding Thaurissan, I usually don't do OTK, instead using flash heal for removal or carddraw, or ofc to survive against tempo. Btw I tried Azure drake for consistency, but found it sort of weak since the spell damage is more or less useless without the usual priest aoe. Maybe I could cut back on some of the cheap spells for a more midrangey approach.
I'll make an update later once I tried out some of the changes, and post it here as well.
Fun fact, yesterday I dropped back to rank 20 with this, no stars. Either it's 100% flawed, or it simply doesn't work in low ranks where many people spam yeti's and ogres. I'll also try climbing some ladder to test it out at higher ranks, where it's actually high-tier decks and solid opponents.
One more proposition. Mind Blast. Thaurissan for discount, and when you gather the puzzle pieces, Velen + Embrace the shadow + Flash heal + Flash heal + Mind Blast. You can even put Shadowbomber or Spawn of shadows. Damn, i wish i had Velen to try it out.
Unfortunately, if it's not working on lower ranks, it won't work on higher either.
But i'm having trouble fitting everything in, it lacks minions perhaps. Maybe, like mage, shadow word pain can be removed for loot hoarder or such. On the other hand, cleric with shield can yield you at least a few cards.
Looks like i'll have to craft Velen. As for standard, i don't know, maybe holy novas instead of lightbombs?
I guess it has been tried before. But the truth is, I really enjoy playing this deck, as it has some sweet swing mechanics.
Anyway, lots of cheap spells for fuelling Priest of the Feast, Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Arcane Giant. The token minions from Barnes and Herald Volazj can be silenced to regain full stats. Standard early game with Injured Blademaster and Resurrect.
The deck obviously has vulnerabilities. While it has massive healing capability, it is weak against massive burst decks like Malygos druid and freeze mage. My experience is that it manages very well against control warrior, and also most tempo decks IF I can draw into circle of shadows, otherwise it will struggle.
Btw, what is the rule of thumb on acceptable losses? I feel like replacing Excavated Evil with either another Auctioneer or something crazy like Icehowl.
This has a positive win rate?
Herald Volasj doesn't seem great. You can't hit Velen the turn you play it, or rag. Hitting Gadgetzan could be too much draw pretty easily. Every other target is a whiff.
Silence and purify only draw you could probably cut them completely, you still have a lot of cheap spells.
I think Entomb would be good.
Actually, I think it needs more draw too. Loot Hoarders, and Thanes maybe? This deck runs crazy fast and if you don't hit your Auctioneer your gone gas pretty hard.
At first glance, I would say that Herald Volazj is too slow. You don't have enough threats to run a control opponent out of removal, meaning none of them will stick. What about Wild Pyromancer instead of him? Another card to consider would be Mass Dispel. It's actually pretty good right now due to all the shaman on the ladder and you can't have enough cycle.
Also, does Prophet Velen provide enough value for you? I only see 4 cards that really synergize with it: the Flash Heals and Holy Smites. Have you thought about swapping those out for the Divine Spirit/Inner Fire package?
Another interesting deck concept. However, I tried different forms of OTK / Miracle Priest, and it doesn't work, why? Priest can't do Combo decks well compared to Druid/Rogue/Paladin/Warrior is because the class lacks of efficient card draw mechanics... Blizzard literally has this class relying too much on PWS, Cleric, Acolyte, and other Deathrattle minions... They are either unreliable or inefficient.
Yeah, Herald Volazj is often locked in hand, but he has won games once in a while, though often he is just played as removal bait or tempo. The idea is a lategame turn with a cheap (free) arcane giant along with the herald, and silencing the token back to 8/8. He has also created insane tempo swings if the opponent left up a priest of the feast or an auctioneer. The deck originated from a purify experiment, but I added silence instead, to have the curved Barnes/Herald as an option.
I used to run a single Entomb, and I should probably find a way to fit it back in, to deal with key cards like Tirion, Sylvanas and C'Thun.
Btw I considered many of the usual cards like soulpriest, loot hoarder and pyromancer, but I found them sort of weak when playing resurrect+Barnes. I guess the miracle approach requires innervate or prep to be able to perform really well.
Mass dispel could be an option, it should perform well against tempo mage, secret hunter, midrange shaman and most N'zoth variants. And can deal with taunt for potential lethal, as well as just be cycled for the draw.
You are right about Velen, he was intended as an extra means of burst, as well as a great target for Barnes, either with or without silencing the token. However, he is the only 7-drop at the moment, and is probably the best 7-drop for priest in standard, combo or not. Essentially like a flamewaker or Fandral, it forces a response from the opponent. You could say the same about confessor, but I would usually wait with her until I could get the inspire at least once, and also she is more vulnerable.
@DontFeedTheEmu: I forgot to comment on the winrate. Last month I was trapped around rank 10-14 with this, depending on what I encountered. As stated, this deck is weak to tempo unless the embrace the circle combo is drawn, which is why I subbed in excavated evil. But results aside, this deck can be incredibly fun to play.
I have a question and a quirky idea. The question is where is our miracle lord and saviour Thaurissan?
The idea is putting in the corrupted healbots. I don't know if they react with embrace the shadow, but if they do that could be cool. Since miracle is basically an otk deck, healbots can be used to clear opponents big boys and buy yourself some time to gather the puzzle pieces, and in conjuction With shadow word death and embrace the shadow to deal 8 damage and if it loves, 6 more to the facw.e.
Edit: sorry for the last few words, my browser's bugged out, doesn't let me delete.
Yes, the Corrupted heal bot healing effect reacts to the embrace/auchenai effect. It really is a fun little card, since in a n'zoth setting I don't strictly care about getting the absolute most value out of my minions since I can bring them back later. Classes that typically have damage-removal effects like druid, rogue or shaman can really struggle with it when paired with something like a darkshire alchemist to play keep-away with the deathrattle while you smash their board. It really is a win-win, because even if it's instantly removed it's one less removal for your big rattles like cairne, sylvanas or even dragonlord (I run it for giggles) and usually health total isn't especially important in the early stages of control matchups.
Corrupted Healbot certainly is an option I did not consider, thanks to both of you. Regarding Thaurissan, I usually don't do OTK, instead using flash heal for removal or carddraw, or ofc to survive against tempo. Btw I tried Azure drake for consistency, but found it sort of weak since the spell damage is more or less useless without the usual priest aoe. Maybe I could cut back on some of the cheap spells for a more midrangey approach.
I'll make an update later once I tried out some of the changes, and post it here as well.
Fun fact, yesterday I dropped back to rank 20 with this, no stars. Either it's 100% flawed, or it simply doesn't work in low ranks where many people spam yeti's and ogres. I'll also try climbing some ladder to test it out at higher ranks, where it's actually high-tier decks and solid opponents.
One more proposition. Mind Blast. Thaurissan for discount, and when you gather the puzzle pieces, Velen + Embrace the shadow + Flash heal + Flash heal + Mind Blast. You can even put Shadowbomber or Spawn of shadows. Damn, i wish i had Velen to try it out.
Unfortunately, if it's not working on lower ranks, it won't work on higher either.
oh I see I didn't think of silencing the giants.
One other thing I would suggest is you seem to have two decks smoothed together.
A silence Giants Harold Volasj combo deck, and an OTK Velen shadow form deck, maybe try just focusing on one concept.
Yeah, i think OTK might be more viable, especially in Wild with Lightbomb.
Something like this
But i'm having trouble fitting everything in, it lacks minions perhaps. Maybe, like mage, shadow word pain can be removed for loot hoarder or such. On the other hand, cleric with shield can yield you at least a few cards.
Looks like i'll have to craft Velen. As for standard, i don't know, maybe holy novas instead of lightbombs?