Hearthpwn

In the current meta i think this could be a pretty good fit, but with some of the new mean streets of gadgetzan cards.  I'm experimenting around with it a bit atm...do you have any thoughts on this?

I feel like a priest with a powerful early game could have favorable rates against slower jade decks AND against the faster aggressive pirate decks.  What do you think?

I really like your guide - it's nicely written.

I've been playing around with decks like these all night (so not super long), so here are my disorganized thoughts on goofy priest decks. There are basically 4 major Priest synergies:

Resurrection + high-value minions (optional Barnes cheese)

Divine Spirit + Inner Fire (optional Lightspawn, high-HP minions)

Silence/Purify + bad text minions (Ancient Watcher, Eerie Statue, optional barnes cheese again)

Healing effects like Northshire, +2 attack things, etc., also combined with Auchenai effect

This is way too many things to try to do in one deck, obviously, and also Priest decks have to spend a good number of card slots on removal and draw. So, what do we want to include? For fun, lets say we want to go with both silence (for the purify memes) and resurrect (for the value swing turns).

So, the must-include list is 16 cards: 

• 2 ancient watcher
• 2 eerie statue
• 2 purify
• 2 silence
• 2 PW:S (always)
• 2 resurrect
• 2 onyx bishop
• 2 sunfury protector

Then, we need board control, so absolute minimum (I am starting to like shadow madness better for anti-aggro than SW:P), 6 cards:

• 2 shadow madness
• 2+ SW:D/Entomb
• 2+ EE/holy nova

defender of argus and SW:P are optional here, but I'm not crazy about either.

Then card draw - being lazy and say purify/PW:S/northshire cleric get us there, but experience leads me to believe this isn't always enough, 2 cards:

• 2 northshire cleric

So that's 24 cards, we have 6 flex spots (probably need more draw). We also need a way to finish out games.

I started writing a paragraph about how I dislike Barnes due to my experiences playing him in resurrect priest, but I realized that that deck has higher value minions in general, and this deck will generally have a more diluted death pool, so I actually think he makes a lot of sense - the upside (getting a statue that you then purify) is really high, and the downside isn't that bad when you will probably be playing low-hp minions anyway.

I think there are then a few directions you can go - high value/control, like rag/sylvanas/bog creeper, or... divine spirit/inner fire? Alternatively, you can throw in more silences, or more board control, or more card draw.

I'm currently really enjoying having a lightspawn, 2 divine spirits, and 1 inner fire. It seems to be about the appropriate level of synergy.

 

Questions I have about your list:

1. lightwell seems dubious, especially without inner fire
2. forbidden shaping is sometimes really nice, but I always feel bad playing it outside of turns 6/8 anyway
3. It seems like you have an excess of silence and a lack of draw, are those ever issues?
4. I don't have faceless shambler, and am not about to craft it :(

You should make decks. You make deck-making make sense.

Terrible deck

appreciate the feedback

 

Swapped 1 Forbidden Shaping for Barnes , allowing for a better curve into late game. If you Silence its generated 1/1, you have the potential to get a 4 mana 10/11 with Eerie Statue or can even get a lucky draw with Sylvanas Windrunner (which would not require a silence, of course)

I threw in Wailing Soul and Icehowl

if i were you, id drop Icehowl for Barnes due to the fact you can silence the summoned 1/1 to make it a normal statted minion.

the benefit is that you can actually get lucky and get a Sylvanas Windrunner or either Ancient Watcher / Eerie Statue

Good call

I've been trying to find a use for Icehowl and this deck is as close as I've gotten so far. Silencing it allows it to attack heroes and most people ignore it due to its initial inability to attack heroes and high health. But I agree, Barnes works better

Played with a Midrange Hunter against this deck. I got totally wrecked! 

Seems like you wouldnt want to play resurrect in the same deck that has silence targets. What happens when you rez an ancient watcher or an eerie statue? 

theyre back to their initial form, unsilenced. which typically isnt that big of a deal if you plan accordingly with your silences.

I managed to get 5 7/7's in 9 turns and attacked with every one of them

Just curious why Moat lurker isn't included for easy removal, since you can silence it no problem

ive been toying with the idea of using it but seeing its a 6 cost for a removal, as well as forcing you to spend a silence ability seems to be a fairly expensive removal. Not saying its not viable though, id have to try it out

granted the additional potential to use it on Sylvanas Windrunner makes it tempting

Not only is Shambler cheaper, but it also allows you to copy unsilenced minions and provide a taunt wall.

my only concern with that recommendation is that sometimes youre in need of a taunt and using Faceless Manipulator in its place ends up forcing you to need an additional silence source.