Deathlord Priest
Priest is the last class to be featured on Deck of the Week. The class is seen as somewhat weak at the moment, but there are a couple competitive decks still out there.
This deck was played by Chakki in the ongoing team tournament that is being hosted by Amaz and Team Archon. I call it Deathlord Priest because buffing this card to huge stats is central to its style of play.
The Basics
The premier buff spell that you want to cast on a Deathlord is Velen’s Chosen. This gives a minion +2/+4 and +1 spell damage, all for 3 mana. That can turn a lackluster 2/8 Deathlord into a mighty 4/12 monster with taunt. Other spells like Powerword: Shield or your hero power will keep him fighting and cause your opponent to scramble to kill this minion.
The other high health card this deck features is the Injured Blademaster. While he does automatically lose 4 health when played, if you are able to heal him up, that 7 health will be daunting.
Let Me Change Your Mind
This deck does feature some classic priest tricks as well, especially stealing your opponent’s minions. Shadow Madness will take an enemy minion with 3 or less attack and make it yours until the end of your turn. You can attack with it of course, but if it survives, your opponent gets it back. The real power of the spell is that any special effects that trigger, like card draw or deathrattles happen on your side of the board, not you opponent’s. For example, stealing an enemy Sludge Belcher and killing it while under Shadow Madness will spawn the 1/2 slime for you. Since that slime wasn’t under the spell effect, you keep it, even after the end of your turn.
The other mind control tech in this deck is the Cabal Shadow Priest. She will permanently steal an enemy minion with 2 or less attack. Since this is permanent though, unless the minion innately has charge, it will have to wait a turn to attack. Some good steals include a warrior’s Armorsmith, allowing the priest to build up armor, or a warlock’s Imp Gang Boss, which will spawn the imps for your side of the board. Don’t be afraid to play a Cabal Shadow Priest with no steal for tempo though.
Board Clears
There are several ways that you can clear your enemy’s board if you get behind. Holy Nova is great because it not only damages your enemy’s minions, but it heals yours at the same time. Lightbomb is also powerful in this deck because most of the minions you play have an attack value lower than their health. You can then safely cast Lightbomb to clear your opponent’s side of the board and only damage your own minions, leaving your board intact.
The other big board clear this deck has is the Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing combo. Normally, Circle of Healing heals every minion, friend or foe alike, for 4 health. With the Auchenai Soulpriest’s effect, this instead deals 4 damage to every minion on the board. The Auchenai Soulpriest’s effect also changes your hero power to deal 2 damage instead of healing. Just be careful not to kill your own minions by trying to heal them while she is up though.
Finishing the game with this deck requires that you maintain board control. One of its weaknesses is very little damage straight from your hand. So be sure that you are making smart trades and use your hero power to keep your minions healthy.
Since all nine Hearthstone classes have been covered in Deck of the Week now, I might spend some time talking about arena strategy or just make some decks that are fun to play, even if they don’t win. Hopefully a new expansion will be arriving soon to shake up the meta game a bit, allowing some new competitive decks to show up. What class would you like to see rise to the top? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @AGRitterific.
