Introduction

What a life, less than a month ago Priest was utterly unplayable, literally the worst class in the game. But since Naxxramas Release, not only priest cards became stronger due to the fact they became less situational, the class also got a whole bunch of new tools to use.

Some of those cards were discussed in the previous articles, but I would like to emphasis here: zombie-chow and dark-cultist gave priest a new life. No more priest has to suffer with clunky early game and unstable games full of situational cards in its hand.

Now, yes I did get to legend playing only priest, and as much as I would like to say that it was a walk in the park given the fact my deck of choice is extremely strong against the 3 most played deck classes in the meta (Warlock Zoo, Midrange Hunter and Control Warrior), it was the second hardest Legend I ever had. Took me 2 days and around 9 hours of gameplay to get from ranks 5 to legend, while every other season I went from ranks 5 to legend within less than 50 games.

The reason behind that is the positive RNG on some decks, mostly Hunter Midrange, being too good. My deck is made to be strong against Hunter Midrange, but sadly the positive RNG they have can sometimes ruin the match for me. That is a balance problem and by no means directed to my deck of choice, which I am going to present you now.

The Deck

I bumped by a lot of Priest decks thru the last 2 weeks, and most of them did not made me happy. Those were full of bad cards such as undertaker, baron-rivendare and so on. I wanted to make a deck that was just “good” – no gimmicky interactions, no unstable plays, priest can not play like that anymore, it didn’t work before and it wont work now.

So, I updated my Week 3 list and posted to you guys about a week ago, and that “updated” list was my starting point, I even posted the “updated version” on the article after it was published, and the final list looked a lot like the one I posted there, so those of you who got to read it got a big heads up on what was coming.

Zombie Chow was the obvious addition, the reason I did not put it right away in the deck list I posted was that I had to test it to be sure, and boy it was good! Then, after a lot of thinking I came to the conclusion the meta game required the addition of weapon breakers, and while I wanted too much to add dual acidic-swamp-ooze to the deck, harrison-jones was just better due to the fact it also gives you card advantage.

The deck has good matchup against the most played decks in the meta, it completely destroys Zoo in over 80% of the matches, it has around 65% chances of winning against any Midrange Hunter or Control Warrior, has even chances against Paladin Control, and is generally good against any tempo/aggro deck. This priest deck also gets completely destroyed by Handlock, but Handlock is not being played in the current meta. So as of today, you are safe to play this.

Deck Breakdown

Now let us talk a little about this deck, card by card:

circle-of-healing circle-of-healing

A situational card, indeed, but the number of good interactions with priest cards is so big that you simply can not ever take this guy out of your deck: you can use it to draw a lot of cards with northshire-cleric, you can use it to wipe out the whole board with auchenai-soulpriest, or you can simply use it to heal back all your minions after you made some favorable trades.

holy-smite holy-smite

The best non-situational early game removal Priest has access to, different from shadow-word-pain (which is not only more situational, it also costs more mana and can not be used to damage face), which makes it a better option.

power-word-shield power-word-shield

A cycle card that gives you advantage, not only it draws you a card it also sets up for favorable trades.

northshire-cleric northshire-cleric

An all-star priest card, it is only a 1/3 but poses a big threat on the board and will sometimes even make your opponent waste a hard removal just to get rid of it. Its ability is obvious, draws you cards whenever you heal your minions, usually in control match ups you’ll keep this guy in your hand until the moment you can abuse it.

zombie-chow zombie-chow

Our newest addition, strong early game, which was extremely needed, and potential for good late game interactions with auchenai-soulpriest suiciding into a free mind-blast.

wild-pyromancer wild-pyromancer

Another all-star tool for priests, its interactions with both the board, priest cards, priest heals and even the possibility of entering a drawing spree with northshire-cleric and circle-of-healing makes it so this amazing guy is auto-included in any competitive priest deck.

shadow-word-death shadow-word-death

Another situational removal, but since we can not afford to play control without late-game removals, this card is still a must in the deck. But hey, at least we could manage to reduce it to a 1-of! This card also interacts with sylvanas-windrunner working as a pseudo mind-control for opposing big threats on empty board.

thoughtsteal thoughtsteal

A fun way of getting card advantage that does not take away cards from your own deck. This card is huge mostly because of Control Matchups, which will end up going into the fatigue and being able to play with extra cards without reducing the total number of cards in your deck is huge.

dark-cultist dark-cultist

Another great early-game addition to the deck. Not much to talk about this guy that hasn’t been talked before, its ability is very strong but not even necessary in order to make it a good card, its body is already reliable enough, but whenever you can make it so this guy’s Deathrattle works, it’s just pure value.

auchenai-soulpriest auchenai-soulpriest

Yet, another all-star card in priest decks, this guy is simply too good. Makes it so your hero power becomes a 2-damage free spell, and so your harmless zero mana circle-of-healing becomes one of the strongest board-wipe spells in the game.

holy-nova holy-nova

A board wipe spell that will also sometimes be used to heal up your minions and/or generate value with northshire-cleric, a very useful card in priest decks.

harrison-jones harrison-jones

A meta choice,. Put in place of the second sludge-belcher, this guy has been wrecking games thru the past days.

loatheb loatheb

There is no midrange or Control deck without Loatheb currently. The card is too good and game breaking to be left out of any deck.

sludge-belcher sludge-belcher

Not a very strong taunter, but reliable enough to protect your minions while you stabilize some sort of board presence.

holy-fire holy-fire

An over costed removal, but a needed one. Can also be used on the face to rush enemies, or simply to emergency-heal yourself.

cabal-shadow-priest cabal-shadow-priest

Arguably the strongest 6-drop in the game currently. This girl went from a 0 or 1 of in most priest decks to automatic 2-of in every single one of them since Naxxramas came out, this is by far my favorite card in Priest, and I would not play this deck without 2 of those.

sylvanas-windrunner sylvanas-windrunner

Of all the 6-drop legends, Sylvanas is the one with most interactions with priest: Yet another card to make your opponent do bad plays, interacts well with shadow-word-death, and has a reliable body that justifies it being played in any matchup.

ragnaros-the-firelord ragnaros-the-firelord

A big, strong, and necessary finisher. Sometimes priest will not be able to finish games and close gaps, this guy comes in and allows you to keep playing defensively while still going offensive at the end of every turn. I would also not play priest without this card.

Mulligans & Matchups

Alright, this was the first part of this article, which I get to show you guys the deck and explain why every card is there. Next I will be coming with the Matchup Analysis and how you should mulligan and play those games, so continue reading on below!

(The mulligans and matchups require membership – so definitely consider signing up and join our community. Hearthstone Players is the only site that compensate contributors like me – so please considering support the site and its contributors!)

Match Ups and Mulligans – Part 1: Zoo, Control Warrior and Midrange Hunters

Match Ups and Mulligans – Part 2: Paladin Control, Druid, Miracle Rogue, Mirror and Rush/Tempo Decks

Match Ups and Mulligans – Part 3: Secret Mage, Handlock and General Play Tips

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