The Return of Anduin Wrynn
It's been quite a while since we've seen Priest being played to any rate of success in Hearthstone at all levels of play. Only the bravest of souls were taking it to tournaments (basically no one) and you couldn't go an hour without seeing a thread on the internets talking about how terrible the class was an how it was all Ben Brode's fault. (<3 Ben)
Then Purify happened and we were all thankful for this blessing Blizzard bestowed upon us. The pools of tears were endless and we waded through in hopes that the holy light would save us when it happened; People discovered Priest of the Feast is preeeettyyyy good and Onyx Bishop has a place at least for now.
If you're the slightly bit interested in Priest, you must see the revelation that is Resurrect Priest. Now, will this be the start of Anduin making his comeback or will we not even consider this gimmick a couple of weeks down the line?
How Resurrect Priest Works
Resurrecting your minions as Priest has been around since the Blackrock Mountain days thanks to the Resurrect spell, although the card was seldom used within Constructed play. The most notable deck that used the spell in the past was Kolento's Miracle Priest.
Thanks to this beauty and the lovable Injured Blademaster, you can get into some pretty crazy stuff!
The Resurrection Gang
You will be bringing back minions from the dead! All the targets in your deck are mid to late game minions so that RNG won't screw us over but that won't matter, we're going to try to get these cards used after Injured Blademaster dies.
- Resurrect - Only two mana, what a deal! Playable early on after your Blademaster has been slain or in combination with another card later into the game thanks to the low cost.
- Onyx Bishop - The guaranteed 3/4 body that brings a friend along with it. A great way to get some board presence after your first Blademaster has been slain.
The Darkness of Heals
We've got a few options for heals in the deck and thanks to Auchenai Soulpriest.
- Flash Heal - Heals up those Blademasters easily on the cheap or can take out beefy minions. Also useful on yourself if you've received large injuries but try to heal yourself back through other means first.
- Circle of Healing - Full heal the board in a pinch or decimate everything, it just depends on what you need.
- Priest of the Feast - Heal yourself from some of that damage you took earlier while healing/buffing up friendlies or annoying your opponent.
Clearing the Board
- The famous Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing combo is here to save the day.
- Excavated Evil is an awesome backup which deals less damage overall at the cost of an extra mana but is better than Holy Nova at clear and should get rid of any aggro minions with ease.
Resurrect Priest w/ N'Zoth & Barnes
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Minion (14) |
Ability (16)
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Resurrect Priest w/ Forbidden Shaping & Thoughtsteal
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Minion (9) |
Ability (21)
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But, but i thought the mere existence of Purify meant that the class will never be playable. That that one card destroyed priests forever, that Purify was about to bring down Hearthstone as a game!
At least, that's what all the Hearthstone celebrities were telling me in 15 minute long rants, is that not gonna happen?
Yea, and now also Barnes + Purify combo is possible. Maybe we will see, at some point, that Purify in fact is a great card ! Also, if Priest rises on ladder it will be a lot worse than current aggro meta. Because now you lose to enemy minions in first 6 turns, but after Priest's rise you will lose in 20 turns being humiliated by stealing the stuff from you and your face beaten with your own minions !))
Well... Mhm...
If one hearthstone pro says something about a card, 90 more make videos saying the same thing over and over, and the whole population of hearthstone players follow
The reason Resurrection and Onyx Bishop work so well is because the minion Barnes pulls is 1/1. So, you get a threat like Sylvanas Windrunner or Ysera that your opponent "must" remove, which loads them into the pool of returnable creatures and you bring back the full size version mulitple times throughout the game. It becomes more than your opponent can deal with.
You sir just won the internet.
here you droped this /s
On the WoW wiki Anduin is regarded as king not prince
Priest top tier again?
I'm not sure how to respond to this post, but here it goes. Return of Anduin with what tools exactly? Resurrect? Really? I cant stress this enough but I wholeheartedly disagree and heres why. Currently, there are no minions worth to resurrect like a belcher or even better a deathlord that can actually sustain you because as a priest you absolutely need this kind of value. Blade master although has resurrect value, cant sustain you. If someday blizzard decides to release high value taunt minions like the above, then resurrect could be, maybe, just barely viable.
Board control is out of the question currently for priest. Super expensive spells with minimal effect. It just sucks, plain and simple. "The famous Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing combo is here to save the day." Seriously, the worst board clear in the game. Any deck that relies on it, is junk. You have 30 cards in your deck, they should count. Huge blow in the quality of the deck whith such situational cards.
All in all, resurrect is just for fun in my opinion. Not at all competitive, not right now at least. Not by a long shot.
Priest of the Feast is actually the card that made the class non-terrible again.
The resurrect package is just a new approach to the class, that may or may not be better than control and dragon priest.
On a side note, Sludge Belcher would be a terrible card to run with resurrect, because of leaving the 1/2 behind.
Im not sold on the hype behind priest of the feast. It's a good card but I wouldn't go nearly as far to say that it made priest better. For my playstyle it made no difference whatsoever.
I agree about the belcher that's why I said death lord would be even better.
No purify here? :)
My prediction is that Priest will return with the release of the next Karazhan wing/Purify introduction.
Spoilers for WoW: Legion about Anduin and Varian:
@Fluxflashor Anduin is king of stormwind now btw. Varian is dead.
Priest is still the most popular class on hearthpwn (the pie chart)
Contrary to others' comments, I'd say that priest is in a better shape with the new cards. Onyx Bishop is an incredible card to regain the tempo priest never has. The priest of the feast is obviously a strong card. Excellent stats, good effect. The Eyelance's deck should include a Yogg because he has so many spells and because Yogg...