Hearthpwn

Don't automatically say "well-played" at game's end. Do it when it's warranted. If your opponent just got steamrolled, losing 30-0 on turn 4, saying "well-played" is disingenuous and generally infuriating. Say it if you mean it. That includes mid-game as well -- when the opponent pulls off a fancy board clear, regardless if the game is nearing its end, offer a "well-played" when it was indeed well-played.

Loving this deck!

Swapped Thalnos for Alexstraza, who has been very valuable in winning games with this deck. With so much board control, I often don't end up doing much face damage. Alex turns up the heat, and since I usually have a 2-3 minions on board (to their none), game is usually over by turn 10.

I do think having Alex or another late-game fattie is a good addition to this deck.

The real puzzler here is: how did our hero obtain those warrior cards? I'm having a hard time solving that one.

IIRC the devs have a clear line that they don't cross. They will not create cards that disadvantage your opponent. You can't destroy one of their mana crystals (only your own) or discard a card from their hand (only your own). 

The Priest mechanic is primarily a steal, not a reveal. You can certainly deduce some archetypes from a steal ("oh, a Murloc deck"). But it is not the same as "look at your opponent's cards." In fact, perhaps Mind Vision is misnamed, as its WoW equivalent is a passive reveal; you can't control your target's actions.

A mechanic that exposes opponent cards is a system of disadvantaging your opponent, without receiving any other advantage. You don't get copies of the cards, as with Priest mechanics. 

If the devs decide to start adding these kinds of "debuff" mechanics — ways of removing opponents' powers — the entire game will change. Not that it would be entirely a bad thing, just a different game. And there would be a lot of fun debuffs, that's for sure.

The most fun cards in the priest's arsenal are, for me, Cabal Shadow Priest and Shadow Madness. They may not be competitive at high level, but that's not what you're after. So I'd definitely add in Shadow Madness. And if you're into that kind of thing, Mind Control Tech would be right up your alley also.

Why sir, those cards are EPIC. Reminds me of the good old days... Lion Horn of Stormwind, anyone?

Faceless is a 5-drop, but I almost never play it on turn 5. There usually isn't something big enough to warrant its use. So curve-wise, it fits more in turn 7 or 8 or later. I run it in most of my decks and love it.

My real 5-drops in the priest deck are Holy Nova and Venture Co.

Hi folks -

I'd like input from more experienced players on this deck. I've won nearly every game I played with it, shooting from 25 to 16 in a couple of evenings of casual play. It was inspired by an arena draft that was by far the most fun I've had playing HS since I started playing. The key cards — Cabal Shadow Priest, Shadow Madness, and Auchenai Soulpriest — make for a lot of surprises for my enemies. I picked up Prophet Velen in a pack the other day, and used it to build this deck around. 

It plays differently every time I use it. I haven't felt the need for taunts, which is unusual given my normally defensive/control playstyle. This isn't really a rush deck, but it puts out a lot of threat, so to speak, making taunts out of a lot of these cards.

I can't even tell you what problems I'm experiencing, because I haven't had any. Looking at it now, the only card that maybe isn't pulling its weight is Emperor Cobra, but its presence is also a threat, which, when timed right, can prevent a fatty from dropping.

So... what would you change? Is there a potential synergy I'm missing out on? Or any other improvement you can see here?

Randomness is part of the fun. Pain is part of the fun too.

Skill is at least partially about reducing the influence of randomness in your outcomes. You can’t remove it though. I wouldn’t want to anyway.

Does anyone have any actual suggestions about the deck? I mean, other than the usual wrangling about PTW and FTP, how solid is this deck? Can it be further cheapened? I'm just starting out, and want to track viable budget decks across classes, ideally (if unrealistically) focusing on rares & epics that are class-neutral.

Arena drafting is best when cards don't rely too much on combos to be effective. In this case, the card is 100% worthless without the support of a silencer or other neat trick (Void Terror, Shadowflame, etc). Hard to imagine drafting this unless two conditions are met:

1 - You've already drafted cards that synergize well with it, and
2 - The other options when drafting the Watcher are worse (ohai Wisp)

Warlock rush deck :)

Card value calculations!

At the moment (I change my mind a lot!) I'm finding them all pretty cool. The variety is impressive...even between superficially similar talents like warrior and priest, each of which has situational advantages.

The only one I'm not thrilled about yet is the warlock talent. The WoW warlock could afford to life tap because of the number of self-heals and drains available. In HS, the warlock is a bit too self-damaging for my taste, without enough recovery power. (I'm including the whole play style now, not just life tap. Too many forced discards!) If he had a few more options to steal health from his minions, for example, I'd be happier with the balance.

You will need removal options, of which you currently have none. Your opponents will have them. Silence, charge, controllable battlecry damage or freezes, etc. you are likely to lose control of the board with this deck, and not survive long enough to make it to your trump card. 

Also, relying on GH as your only late-game win condition is asking a lot. How many late-game opponents will have 4 or more cards at turn 10?

I'd like to see more early- and mid-game aggression in this deck. A bunch of minions giving +attack buffs. Charge minions. Offer your opponents other high-priority targets to keep your healers alive!