Hearthpwn

I do not blame you for playing casual with this deck or being skeptical of it, i am employing some uncommon choices. That was a good idea. I tanked my rank personally because i don't care to get to legend this season :P It is also a great spot for testing vs. aggro.

I would like to first share some insight on how to play Power Word: Glory effectively. =D

Firstly, i think it is always a good card to keep in your opening hand. It is pretty versatile. Then, do not play it until you have taken at least 4 damage. Until then hero power is good enough. It is the best idea to play it on their more valuable minion that wont easily die, who you would prefer not attack you also.  If you have no minions then they will either not use the minion or heal you! Play it on a friendly minion only if it will survive longer or they have no board, or if you have a minion, you can use it on the minion you want them to trade and they may suicide it, healing you for at least 4 regardless. Usually enemy minions are the best target. It takes some experience using the card to identify the best targets and times to use it.

I enjoyed the games you played, the first one made me lol. You got drawn a terrible hand except for mind vision, but managed to grab such a perfect rogue card for the synergy. Of course it was lucky you were matched against this rogue, but very fun to watch. Deathrattles for n'zoth and coins for healing, perfect!

Liked how you talked through your plays as well as your opponents to analyze the possibilities of each situation. Some choices can be uncertain. For this sort of deck it definitely helps others get a grasp on the strategy and card interactions. Awesome job!

I want to comment on Power Word: Glory from the second game. I think it is important to shed light on using it optimally.

- I think you used it too early on the Acidic Swamp Ooze. Ideally you don't want to use it until you have taken at least 4 damage, so that the first heal is not redundant. If you think about it, it really gets less value if you are at full health. You can just hero power a turn or two unless they are doing some crazy shit like a ramp druid.

-I may not have played the second one on the second minion right away, because the first already heals 1 more damage than the ooze could deal. It actually meant that together those two minions could only deal 1 damage to you with only one copy cast. It made you over-heal a lot and it was not the best value from it, but at least it still healed you a lot, that is good for 1 mana regardless! The longer you save it, though, the better opportunities you will find to use it and swing the game more.

About the Shadow Word: Horror drop afterwards, first of all i think that is a good example of how it can be valuable. Holy Nova would have only killed the ooze and healed you for two, leaving two minions. Shadow Word: Horror was able to clear two. Either way it was good that one minion with Power Word: Glory was left alive. That's another reason why i wouldn't use both so quickly though, it died shortly after and didn't do too much. You could have even saved it to play with Priest of the Feast which is also fantastic.

They second game was really fun to watch. I like Mind Vision with rogues because Tomb Pillager has great synergy with n'zoth and priest of the feast. As you also discovered, multiple Sylvanas Windrunner is bonkers! GGWP.

The final game was also some very nice gameplay, lots of situations that showcase how you can use these cards. The tuskar did get hit for 2 =P Typical shaman rng. Then of course that 1/1 sylvanas though! Overall good plays, even though that shaman was kind of weird. I haven't seen a list with that card yet and ill have to go check that out now.

I don't like Auchenai Soulpriest in this type of deck for a couple reasons. One is that i like Priest of the Feast and the sustainability it brings, allowing you to stand more of a chance as the game progresses to kind of make up for some shitty early-games.I shouldn't have to mention that these cards do no belong in the same deck.

Second, if you start playing Resurrect and Onyx Bishop having played a soulpriest, you then have the chance of that minion being brought back rather than something that can allow you to heal or control the board further. Don't get me wrong, you can use soulpriest to combo healing effects to remove minions, but eventually you will need to heal yourself. If you can't control when this minion is on the board at points throughout the game, i just don't like that. In this deck i decided to be very selective of the minions i included.

I had one of these in the deck originally, but decided against it afterwards. Pyromancer involves casting your spells as a trigger. Not only do you have very situational spells and some expensive spells, but you really want to be using with Priest of the Feast or to get their own individual value, rather than burning them just for some aoe that isn't guaranteed to work anyway. It is also a cheap minion which, when used for this purpose, means you will be trying to obtain and play that over the other cards that would support your long term goal with the deck. 

Additionally, in order to execute this deck's strategy effectively, minions must be chosen based on their impact on resurrection above all else. Using your resurrections and receiving Wild Pyromancer because you used it earlier to try and halt some small aggro minions just blows. Then you can not cast spells if you do not want to deal more damage either. It takes away from control of your graveyard as well as of triggering damage on your own board and itself again. In my opinion it makes the entire rest of this "resurrection priest" archetype completely pointless. Not to mention, the more it kills itself, the higher the chance of it happening again becomes. Not ideal!

The best strategy i have formulated is to make it top priority to get one Injured Blademaster on board (and dead) by turn 3 or 4. From here, the game gets much easier because you can confidently know that this is the only minion that died in this case if you have a Resurrect in hand, and proceed to get value

If you are able to repeatedly resurrect Injured Blademaster, it means he will have died many more times than other minions, and it is most probable you will get another each time, which is very good. This is the core strategy, however it will be modified depending on what opposing decks you encounter or suspect. 

V.S. Aggro

Your goal while battling an aggro deck will be trying to make as much damage irrelevant as possible. You will benefit from strategic use of Power Word: Glory in just about every game. Make use of holy smite if you have one early, but try to choose the best target, every spell is very important. If you don't need it consider saving it for when you draw an Azure Drake.

Priest of the Feast will be very useful assuming you will be taking a lot of damage. You don't need to panic, you need only try to draw one and plan to string as many spells as possible with them to reset your health. Don't be afraid to play it turn 4 though, it's a good body to trade and if it dies you could Resurrect, Barnes one if lucky, or use the second.

Excavated Evil is your main board clear. Near the end of the game you can always expect them to return them to you. Try not to use them hastily. You are capable of a lot of healing if you play your cards right, so let them build up their board so you destroy as many of his minions as possible with one card. Azure Drake can make it 4 damage, but that will also destroy it. With the exception of a 1/1 drake. Shadow Word: Horror is a tech card which i am preferring over Holy Nova because it is cheaper and it disregards health. Sometimes 2 damage can kill everything and sometimes you kill one or two and leave 3. It can work the same way with this, only it is based on attack. It is very convenient that it just kills them and they do not take damage to trigger effects.

Early game, use mind visions to see what they are holding before they play it and perhaps get something useful. After turn 4 or 5 try to save them for bonus healing. Try not to play azure drakes hastily, unless you have 2 in your hand. Try to keep one to activate Chillmaw unless you don't have a choice and the spell damage or card draw is required. 

Using resurrect, when you eventually play a minion try to play one that is very valuable so they want to remove it right away, then resurrect  it because it is the only one in the graveyard. If you have two resurrections available, you can easily get two of that minion with 100% certainty of what it is.

V.S. Control

Play more conservatively. Consider what cards may be the largest obstacles in their deck. Try to save Entombs for that one crucial target. Start playing Injured Blademaster as soon as possible and ideally abuse Resurrect and Onyx Bishop to the fullest extent, encouraging them to burn removal so you can play n'zoth confidently late game.

Be aware that you don't need to play cards just because you can. Play reactively and try not to squander any spells. The less that happens early game means the more you can draw cards and plan. If you draw Thoughtsteal early it will probably be a great idea to play that.

I may expand this to be more specific regarding classes and archetypes. Need some more data first.

Mind Vision - Cheap spells and will allow more consistent PotF healing. The card you get may or not be good, but you only spend 1 mana for another card option and a glimpse as what they are holding before they play it. 

Holy Smite - This is a very nice heal for 1 mana. This can reverse some damage and help avoid defeat. The low cost means it is also great in combination with Priest of the Feast.

Power Word: Glory - Can throw off your opponent somewhat and force a change of plans on them if played on an enemy minion. Cheap source of healing with theoretically no cap, but the minion won't usually last too long.

Power Word: Shield - Can increase survivability of a minion you don't want to die, or to trade more with it. Also a cycle card.

Resurrect - Very cheap way to take advantage of powerful minions. Play a 3-mana 4/3 one turn, summon a 2-mana 4/7 the next! (example). 

Shadow Word: Pain - Good for some early game or low-attack strong-effect threats.

Shadow Word: Death - Takes care of those pesky high-attack minions. You can also kill your own sylvanas to steal a minion if that's valuable to you.

Thoughtsteal - A source of some more card options. You can also know the cards you get are not in your opponents hand, if that means anything at the time. Better v.s. control i think.

Priest of the Feast - One of the new priest cards, and it is fabulous. The body trades well and poses a huge threat with the healing effect. You don't have to try very hard to trigger it, and it can really set your opponent back.

Azure Drake - Spell damage, card draw, and a dragon. Your standard every day classic value. The spell damage can work well in combination with the aoe spells as well as holy smite which i have added back in. Even if barnes or a resurrection summon it back, you still have the spell damage.

Excavated Evil - The most powerful board clear you have access to in this deck. Use it wisely. Expect the opponent to return the favor from time to time. This can be good for use however, as we can simply resurrect minions and they can't. You can also re-use it again.

Shadow Word: Horror - I am preferring over Holy Nova because it is cheaper and it disregards health. Sometimes 2 damage can kill everything and sometimes you kill one or two and leave 3. It can work the same way with this, only it is based on attack. It is very convenient that it just kills them and they do not take damage to trigger effects.

Onyx Bishop - Another new priest card, this minion has reasonable stats on it's own and it will bring with it one of your other valuable minions. Twice.

Entomb - The best single-target removal. Choose the target very carefully.

Injured Blademaster - A key card in this deck, you want it to die. Seriously, if it dies first and then you can resurrect it, it makes it the most likely product of your resurrections most often. Summoning back to back to back blademasters is brutal!

Cairne Bloodhoof - Very valuable, the deathrattle is strong and if copied or resurrected it can overwhelm, and then N'zoth.

Barnes - This is a very fun card and quite valuable in this deck. As the minion choices are already quite specific, it is very likely you will get a good result. Even if you get a 1/1 blademaster, the event of it dying still adds it to your graveyard another time. It can modify the results of resurrections later in the game. I love it.

Sylvanas Windrunner - One of the best legendaries in the game, and if you don't have it you should! Any more than one copy of this put in play is $$$$.

N'Zoth, the Corruptor - End game in a neat little package. If all else fails, unleash all your deathrattles. On the flip side, use it to put that final nail in the C'zoffin.

Chillmaw - This deathrattle minion will synergize better and can also serve as a board clear if you have a drake in hand. With this deck it is possible to resurrect a chillmaw more than with only n'zoth. Taunt is very effective as well.

Suspecting Aggro

NO COIN - Most ideal at top

Power Word: Glory
Holy Smite
Shadow Word: Pain
Mind Vision
Injured Blademaster
Priest of the Feast

COIN - In addition to above

Priest of the Feast
Resurrect
Excavated Evil
shadow word death
Shadow Word: Horror
Azure Drake

Suspecting Control

NO COIN - Most ideal at top

Power Word: Glory
Mind Vision
Thoughtsteal
Injured Blademaster

COIN - the above plus:

Priest of the Feast
Injured Blademaster
Resurrect
Barnes
Azure Drake
Shadow Word: Death

Possible that i will later add class specific tips

Power Word: Glory - Another cheap spell that can keep you alive or stall early, maybe flash heal, but it's not the same at all. I recommend you craft this card as it is actually really important to the strategy. 

Cairne Bloodhoof - Twilight Summoner

N'Zoth, the Corruptor - This card is also very powerful and contributes a lot to winning some longer games. If you want to try something else:

Soggoth the Slitherer
Ragnaros the Firelord
Ysera
Chromaggus
Confessor Paletress
Kodorider
Scaled Nightmare
Hogger, Doom of Elwynn
Hogger
The Skeleton Knight
Moat Lurker

Sylvanas Windrunner - Consider crafting asap. Otherwise i would either choose another strong deathrattle (maybe Twilight Summoner) or perhaps not play n'zoth, but then you have to change a lot and it will not be the same.

Barnes - Faceless Manipulator? But you need Karazhan to play this deck so you should have it.

If you have any other questions about replacements do let me know in the comments and i can add them to this list after.

-2 Flash Heal
-2 Polluted Hoarder
-1 Ragnaros the Firelord
-1 Entomb
-1 Shadow Word: Pain
-1 Holy Nova

+2 Azure Drake
+2 Mind Vision
+2 Holy Smite
+1 Chillmaw
+1 Shadow Word: Horror

Chillmaw - Ragnaros is cool but the damage is not reliable. This deathrattle minion will synergize better and can also serve as a board clear if you have a drake in hand. With this deck it is possible to resurrect a chillmaw more than with only n'zoth. Taunt is very effective as well.

Azure Drake - Spell damage, card draw, and a dragon. Your standard every day classic value. The spell damage can work well in combination with the aoe spells as well as holy smite which i have added back in. Shifting shade and polluted hoarder both weren't functional enough in the end. Battlecry card draw is better, and even if barnes or a resurrection summon it back, you still have the spell damage.

Holy Smite - Damage seems to be much better than healing early game; healing on it's own really does nothing for tempo, so that's out. Holy smite can clear some minor minions and you can do more damage if you happen to have a drake in play.

Mind Vision - For these i removed the entomb and SW:P. I often found myself having to use entomb for shitty minions just to stay alive, or having one or both SW:P when they don't have any applicable minions. Now, these will not remove anything, but they are cheap spells and will allow more consistent PotF healing. The card you get may or not be good, but you only spend 1 mana for another card option and a glimpse as what they are holding before they play it. 

SW:H - Sykomyke suggested this card to me and i had been also considering it. I think it is a good idea to experiment with one of these rather than a third 5-mana damage spell. It has the advantage of costing 1 less and ignoring health completely. Probably the largest reason i am going to start playing one is, as others have reported, zoolocks were basically 100% lose. This seems like the card with the most potential to change that, even if only a little.  Also, chillmaw is now in this deck to that is a conditional third  (or more) excavated evil.

This priest couldn't do a damn thing with this Injured Blademaster because of Power Word: Glory

YOU GET A SYLVANAS! AND YOU GET A SYLVANAS! EVERYBODY GETS SYLVANAS!




You wanted to attack me with that doomguard? Cute.


Chill, maw brother