Hearthpwn

NOTE: For now it's Rank 5! I barely have time to play and matches are very long, will update if I manage to make it to Legend. EDIT: Seems like I will stay here, barely playing at all and I don't plan to try hard.

 

Hey guys!

I felt like playing Priest this season and I really tried to avoid Dragon Priest since it's too boring and straight forward (not that I'm one to talk since I played some curve decks before) so I decided to make a Reno Priest. After trying to both modify other people's lists and make my own, with dragons and without, with N'Zoth and without, I ended up making my own list with all of it in Wild.

The list basically tore trough ranks from day one. I played less than 8 games a day cos they are kind of long and I don't have that much time lately as before, so I only reached Rank 5 for now but facing only pure meta decks and keeping near 0.7 win rate (67.7%) without trouble.

Not a single negative matchup except 0-3 Anyfin Paladin. Everything else is positive and the deck destroys the meta. For now 22-8 vs Pirate Warrior that is 31.2% of all decks I'm facing. It is abnormally hard to lose vs them even if you don't get Reno at all, while still being 5-1 vs Jade Druid, 4-1 vs Renolock, 7-4 vs Reno Mage etc. As far as I'm concerned this is the closest thing to hard meta counter that I've played since Mid Hunter early WotOG. Here is the tracker (right click and "open in new tab" to see zoomed in):

With N'Zoth and Ysera in it, it's almost impossible to lose vs other Reno decks. It should've been 5-0 vs Renolock but the opponent got lucky beyond human understanding and Mage is a bit harder but still strong 7-4 for now despite some of my mistakes. Jade Druid also doesn't seem to have a real chance, even tho on paper infinite value the deck dies much sooner due to the tempo dragons have and the problem with Sylvanas, with the addition of Wild exclusive Lightbomb that can clear all his Jade minions no matter how big.

 

Card Choices

This is the part to explain why I didn't use some cards that are commonly used and why I did use some that aren't or that are without other cards that combo with them.

Why to use:

• Raza the Chained - Without Justicar, Shadowform, inspire minions like Paletress? Because it's excellent on it's own. Vs aggro, it's just a strong body that trades well for relatively decent cost while healing 2 per turn starting from that very turn which is very important vs aggro. Vs control decks since the matches are longer, even tho less valuable than vs aggro, it still heals easy 10+ per game when using hero power that you couldn't if it costed 2 mana. Justicar is just too much of a tempo loss to pay 6 mana for something that opponents remove for 0.3 (1 charge of Claws) to 1 mana (Bolt, Minion, 1 charge of Win Axe). Vs control you pretty much never need that much heal anyways and you'll often found yourself even dropping Reno for tempo. Warrior for example is a different story since it can go over 30 hp and uses Shield Slams, yet benefits from lower HP for Revenge while still being able to have 50 hp cos of armor. In Priest? Not as great as people think at first.
• Second-Rate Bruiser - Excellent vs aggro and priests and you don't care that it's not so good vs other control decks - cos you beat them anyways.
• Potion of Madness - How do you think I had 22-8 vs Face Warrior? The card is broken versus those decks, and if I could kick out Shadow Word: Pain for 2nd copy of this I would, but this is Reno deck. I also explained later in the guide how to properly use it and why is it so OP even vs control, let alone for obvious reasons vs aggro.
• Sylvanas Windrunner - We all know this card is barely seeing any play lately and rightfully so, since it's straight out bad in the meta. Either Reno decks have good removals and small to no board, or aggro doesn't care and would literally kill you if you just drop Sylvanas vs them while sending you "Thank You" emote for overpaying for a 5/5 that doesn't do anything, not even a taunt. For any deck it's bad really... well except if you are playing in Wild control with N'Zoth! Here only Aggro Shamans, didn't see a single Jade Shaman in ~100 matches so that means no Hex. I obliterate aggro anyways vs which Sylvanas is bad so I don't care that much, yet it's always good vs any form of control or jade druid - particularly cos of N'Zoth.
• Ysera - I kept her at 1st cos I like the card and cos I needed a Dragon since this Reno deck has only one-offs, it needed more activators. Ended up being the card that wins many control matchups alone. I am sure it's partially responsible for farming other Reno decks. It is slow and bad vs aggro naturally but not that you lose to aggro anyways.
• Dark Cultist - In Wild it's just better than Kabal Talonpriest. Both cos you are not classic Dragon Priest with loads of 1-2 drops so it's often better to have Cultist to buff something the turn after when you actually have another minion on board than right away with battlecry like with Talonpriest, you save Brann for other cards anyways in this Reno deck so you won't benefit from that either + it's literally double value once revived from N'Zoth, which is always more than welcome in slower matchups, while you win vs aggro usually anywyas. Overall straight out better choice.

Why not to use?

• Entomb - Bad vs aggro, good vs control that you win against anyways. Just didn't see the point. If I had negative wr vs Reno decks or control in general I would put this for sure since it's a good card, but literally 50% of ladder (check tracker) is aggro and I win vs control, so Entomb was just a bad (not good enough) choice. It's a great card on paper tho and if you somehow struggle vs control consider it but again - I personally don't so it would only ruin aggro matchups.
• Dirty Rat - Very similar reason to Entomb, it's not particularly good vs aggro, especially if you don't use Mind Control Tech as well yet you win vs other Reno and control decks without it anyways, so why bother and use space in deck with it. It's a good card in general tho and same as for Entomb - if you somehow manage to lose vs other Reno decks it might be a good choice.
• Justicar Trueheart - Read the reason above of why Raza without it. It's just too big tempo loss vs aggro and heals too slow vs them, yet vs control you often literally drop Reno on curve for tempo, that's how much you don't need heal. So it didn't make any sense at all even tho nice on paper.
• Mind Control Tech - Even tho Reno/Control you still have dragons and good board presence, with Lighbomb as an extra in Wild to clear the board it didn't make much sense to use MCT and especially cos I don't use Rat either.
• Kabal Courier - This is found in most Reno decks, I just didn't find it good enough personally and similar like with many other cards - I beat control anyways without any problem and vs aggro it's just a bad, tempo losing card.
• Kabal Songstealer - I tested this at first instead of Raza, but vs both control and aggro this proved worse. It's the best silence in game atm and it's a good card, if you miss Raza this should be the replacement, but heal mattered more vs aggro yet vs control matches are so long that Raza again outvalues this since it heals for 10+ hp easy + it's not situational card, you can always drop in on curve no matter the situation, and for Songstealer you either have a crappy/medicore 5/5 for 5 mana or need to wait for the right moment to silence, which is -1 card for some time unlike curve Raza.
• Kabal Talonpriest - Read why to use Dark Cultist in paragraph above!

 

Matchups Guide

Face/Pirate Warrior (21-8) -  This is one of the easiest matchups due to insane amount of anti-aggro tools such as Potion of Madness, Mistress of Mixtures, Deathlord, Doomsayer, Ooze etc. In mullligan part of the guide I will write what to keep vs these matchups but it's generally very easy to defend early and you have incomparably more value so there is no possibility for them to outvalue you. Just play very defensively, remove everything you can non stop, don't be greedy with Brann, just drop it as a "taunt", don't be too greedy with Ooze either, better destroy 3/1 weapon and have 3/2 on board to trade asap than to just use hero power and wait for Arcanite Reaper. Don't be greedy with Reno, often drop it on turn 6 even if it heals "only" 10-20 hp, no need to seek some 25+ hp value. 

Face/Aggro/Pirate Shaman (10-5) - Very similar to Pirate Warrior, if possible would be nice to use Potion of Madness on his Thalnos so you can draw a card from it but again - don't ever be greedy vs face decks just go for maximum defense asap, you will outvalue them with ease later in the game if you survive 1st 5-6 turns which you will easily do with all the anti-aggro cards we use. I will write in mulligan part of the guide what to keep specifically but generally the matchup is very straight forward and plays the same like vs any other aggro. 

Dragon and Reno Priests (7-5) - Other Reno Priests (saw 2 only tho) might be the problem cos they usually use Entomb (which is a mistake, explained it earlier). Entomb is great vs one deck tho - mirror matchup. There are very few Reno Priests in my experience and it was absolutely not worth using Entomb just cos of it so even if you do lose it's OK. These games will be decided tho by who used better Kazakus and N'Zoth. That you can read in more detailes later in the guide where I explain how to use those cards specifically. Do not drop cards just like that in this matchup, do not draw unless you have more cards than your opponent! These matches end with fatigue almost always since neither have enough dmg and both have more than enough heal, so game can be decided literally on turn 2 if you draw too much with Cleric. I usually never even play Cleric at all, just like Power Word: Shield. Azure Drake is too good vs Priest tho (both cos it's 4 attack and cos it's a dragon resistant to Dragonfire Potion) but even that you might keep in hand so you don't draw too much if you see it will go to fatigue. Be a bit greedier in these matchups and seek for value - which is the only thing that will win you this game. Dragon Priests are more common matchups and they are also easier ones. You just have more value and they aren't fast enough to rush you. They can win tho cos of double Drakonid and double Historian, especially if used with Brann since they can pull off some crazy things from your own deck (like Ysera, lost to one Dragon Priest cos of that). Generally this is pretty straight forward and you should be a bit greedier than vs aggro, yet not too greedy to die cos of it, seek value but also tempo!

Reno Mage (8-4) - This is quite similar to Reno Priest or Reno Warlock, it's a control matchup where you need to outvalue your opponent to win. This means smart use of Kazakus, preferably with Brann, not drawing too much since this usually goes to fatigue and being a bit greedier in general than vs aggro/midrange decks. However, you rarely want to play Reno as tempo here which can happen sometimes in control matchups and you do not want to be too greedy with it. Reno Mages often run Alexstrasza, even Pyroblast and such. They can burst you down almost like Freeze Mage, so you wanna use Reno smart and try to calculate if the opponent could have lethal even when you are on like 15 hp. Sometimes you even want to drop something that you wouldn't otherwise just to bait out his burst dmg (Roaring Torch, Fireball) like Sylvanas on empty board etc. Do not be afraid to play her also into Polymorph, cos once poly is gone Mage does not have a way to deal with Ysera efficiently and Ysera can win you this matchup alone. Either by simply giving you too many cards or by baiting too much removal which is never good trade for opponent since it has 12 hp. So be happy if he spends Polymorph on Sylvanas (that you normally wouldn't want).

Miracle Rogue (5-2) - I've faced more Rogues that I thought I would since they suck in Wild. Well they don't really suck but meta is just worse for them than in Standard and they do not benefit much/at all from any wild cards. Anyways, This matchup were fairly easy and Wild made it much easier thanks to good taunts and Lighbomb, that is another way to completely remove even Concealed board. Do not be greedy vs Rogue ever and feel free to drop Reno even when you are at 15-20 hp with consideration of what he can have in hand. Rogues have insane burst potential with Leeroy, Coldblood, Evis etc. Overall you just outvalue them by far and win when they are out of resources. You do not have to be greedy, no need to seek some immense value out of Kazakus or Brann, no need to wait for extremely low hp before using Reno etc. You will outvalue Rogue by default if you manage to survive, try to stay out of burst range and play defensively, early game is similar to vs aggro and mulligan is almost the same!

Jade Druid (5-1) - I wonder how this one won... should've been 6-0. On paper Jade Druid has infinite value... well I ended up destroying them with more cards in hand, more minions on board and more cards in deck every match. Absolutely outvalue them and smart use of Lighbomb is the key here. Sylvanas also make them regret not conceding earlier and N'Zoth is there just to repeat the situation. Be greedy vs Jade Druid and wait for value of Lightbomb, wait for the value of Sylvanas (drop her when he already has some big jade you'd steal, so he can't deal with her and skip giving you the minion) and don't throw Death on 5/5, kill say 8/8 instead. Also don't wait too long for Dragonfire cos it won't do much if his minions are over 5/5. In Wild with Sylvanas, N'Zoth and Lightbomb it seems like very favorable matchup unlike Standard variant. 

Reno Warlock (4-1) - Be greedy as it gets, pick 2x 10 cost spells with Kazakus is possible with Brann, preferably choose the effect to deal 8 dmg for potential burst once he drops Jaraxxus. Play N'Zoth only after his Kazakus spell is out to avoid getting your board turned to sheep and unlike with the other control matchups (especially mirror and Reno Mage) here you can draw more freely. You want to generallly avoid drawing cards vs other cos you win by fatigue always but here since Warlock taps like there is no tomorrow (if they are bad players, which they usually are from my experience) it's OK to draw some cards from Cleric, Shield, and of course Drake. I didn't have any problem with Renolock really and especially not if they run OTK combo since you have tons of taunts, 2 of which get revived by N'Zoth and 1 of which makes another taunt. You just outvalue them by default no matter how greedy list they run.

Anyfin Paladin (0-3) - Concede and save time, literally. There is no possibility to win no matter what since you don't have Entomb on his murloc and even if you do in Wild they use Old-Murk Eye. Even if you pick 10 armor spell from Kazakus you still lost. Just concede. Good thing is that I saw 3 of them in ~100 matches, basically non-existent. 

Hunters (3-0) - Hunter in 2017 LUL

 

Mulligan

Mullligan here is quite complex cos whole deck consists of one-offs and mulligan is different with each deck you face and it depends on the rest of the cards in your hand what you will keep. So note that there can't be exact mulligan guide that is 100% correct all the time. Combinations of cards are in insanely large numbers cos everything in the deck is one-off and cards to keep are heavily dependent on each other! I will try to cover the most cases tho or some default ones... or at least cover what you might keep.

Without Coin:

• Northshire Cleric - You can keep this always tho you don't have to vs Priest
• Mistress of Mixtures - Can often keep, must keep vs aggro and no need vs Renolock since you will just end up healing him for 4
• Potion of Madness - Keep only vs aggro (Shaman/Warrior)
• Twilight Whelp - Keep if you have a dragon that cost 5 or less, might even keep if you end up replacing other 2 cards since there is good chance to draw a dragon tho vs aggro I wouldn't take my chances - better to mulligan heavily for Ooze, Doomsayer, Mistress, Potion, Deathlord etc
• Acidic Swamp Ooze - Keep always vs Shaman and Warrior no matter what!
• Doomsayer - Keep vs aggro always pretty much and can keep vs control as well tho it might be 1st thing to go depending on other cards in hand
• Wyrmrest Agent - Keep if you have a dragon and turn 1 vs aggro, keep vs rest even without turn 1, but Dragon in hand is a must
• Deathlord - Keep vs Warrior always no matter what, but do not keep vs Shaman unless you have turn 1 or/and 2 already
• Power Word: Shield - Can keep if you have OK turn 1-2 already, especially Cleric that is a bit harder to kill
• Shadow Word: Pain - People keep this always, vs aggro especially which is wrong. The best thing that will happen is that you pay 2 mana and 1 card to kill 1-2 mana and 1 card, it does not save you from anything, it is potentially tempo loss card. Only keep vs aggro if you have turn 1 at least, but to keep it alone? It just takes space for other necessities such as Doomsayer, Ooze, Mistress, Cleric, Deathlord etc
• Twilight Guardian - can keep if you have Whelp or Agent as an activator and nice turn 4, of course never keep otherwise
• Twilight Drake - same as Guardian tho you can keep this more often vs Priests even if you don't have Whelp and Agent
• Netherspite Historian - Almost never vs aggro, unless you have Whelp AND Twilight Guardian for example both, but you can and should keep vs slower decks if you have any dragon (except Ysera that you never keep ofc)
• Kazakus - Keep vs aggro if you have turn 1 or/and 2, it can be life saving card (and usually is) but it's in vain if you missed turns 1-3
• Raza the Chained - I kept this always vs any control so I can start getting value from it as soon as turn 5, it's too expensive card to keep vs aggro tho
• Second-Rate Bruiser - If you have turn 1-2 already you might keep this vs aggro

With Coin: 

No point in saying specific cards with Coin cos mulligan is pretty much the same. Just follow common sense with coin, for example if you have 2x 2 drop and 1x 3 drop, you can keep them all cos you can coin one card on turn 1, if you didn't have the coin you might've wanted to swap that one 2 drop and the 3 drop (say Dark Cultist for example) for 2 new cards, hopefully one of which would be 1 drop. So mulligan with Coin is similar but can be a bit different tho there is no rule here and you should figure it on the go. Just didn't make much sense to make it for every specific card cos again, it's not static even for turns without Coin cos keeping each card depends on other cards in your hand!

 

How To Use Specific Cards

This is the part to explain how to use certain cards that I've seen people making mistakes with or that might be unclear to newer/less experienced players.

• Brann Bronzebeard - Combo with Kazakus is primary use, can also go for Operative and Historian! Vs aggro you can often drop it as a 2/4 taunt without any problem at all, you do not need value vs aggro - you need not to die! Do not be greedy with Bran and just drop it as a taunt vs Face decks! Will update some special use cases soon!
• Kazakus - Vs Aggro always choose 5 or sometimes even 1 cost spell, vs Control always 10 cost spell, preferably with Brann. Don't be too greedy tho, especially if opponent dropped his Kazakus without Brann as well, also see what else you have in hand. Cos sometimes it's better to go for 1 spell than to go for 0 when opponent uses Dirty Rat. But again, that only if he used his Kazakus without Brann too. This is the card that wins all control matchups on it's own if used properly. Versus aggro you want always either 1 cost spell or 5 cost spell, literally never 10 cost. People usually avoid choosing 1 cost spell but that's a mistake, it's excellent vs aggro and it can clear whole board if picked correctly (with some small luck of course). To choose 1 of 5 cost vs aggro depends on what else you have in hand and what turn it is. If it's turn 4 and opponent has minions with more than 2 health, you might wanna pick 5 cost spell and search for AoE, however if you have say Twilight Drake in hand as well and opponent doesn't have too big minions on board you can still choose 1 cost even there, since 2 dmg aoe can be just fine with for example Drake played on same turn 5. If it's turn 5 you can just pick 1 cost spell so you can play it that very same turn. Vs Control you always want to pick 10 cost spell and preferably with Brann Bronzebeard. Never go for draw in control matchups cos they last to fatigue and avoid adding health to your minions unless you also picked the effect to revive. I will add more details and specific use cases of Kazakus when I have time, it can be quite complex cos each choice affects the other.
• Reno Jackson - Vs Aggro it's obvious, play it asap not to die. Vs Control you can sometimes drop it for tempo as crazy as it sounds. Depending on your health you heal with hero power and control decks rarely have much burst, so it's absolutely fine to drop Reno sometimes if you have no other option at all and you don't see your health dropping soon.
• N'Zoth, the Corruptor - Play this as a last resort vs other Control and be sure that he doesn't have AoE, especially not from Kazakus! Do not play it into his "turn all minions into sheep". It's often better to wait tilll fatigue or something than to play it and lose. Try to bait that AoE sooner if possible!
• Potion of Madness - This is one of the best designed cards ever in my opinion and if used properly it can be match winning card. Of course vs aggro you use it when you can kill 2 of the opponents minions. For example opponent has 2/1 Deckhand and 1/1 Patches, it's OK to take Patches and kill his Deckhand. Vs Control this card should be used on Brann only! It can and often will win you the match if you steal Brann and drop Drakonid, Historian or MVP Kazakus. Be sure to trade even "unfavorably" that Brann same turn so you don't return it to your opponent at the end, if so it's better to just kill off Brann (unless opponent already used both Dirty Rat and his Kazakus, then it's even fine, better to use his Brann's effect than to kill it with something else).
• Second-Rate Bruiser - You do not have to wait for this to cost 3 mana, especially not vs other control decks! You often just go for it and it's fine. If it's 3 mana vs aggro which usually happens all the better!

 

Replacements

What to replace if you miss certain cards. More you ask more replacements I'll try to think of, suggestions are also welcome! Note that you don't have to replace a card with same mana cost at all, it just happened to be the case with my recommendations but you might as well use instead of Raza say Dirty Rat or something.

• Raza the Chained - I'd just go for Kabal Songstealer
• Ysera - Nefarian does the job also fine, a big Dragon to serve as activator until the very late game that also refills your hand like Ysera. Not as good but kind of close, especially since Standard came out with BGH nerf.
• Lightbomb - Some other AoE, preferably Holy Nova since you even reno/control deck have dragons and good board presence, also even tho vs Aggro you don't mind putting in his deck Excavated Evil they will lose far before they get the chance to draw it and you often play to fatigue vs other control decks so it's also not that nice giving them a card to go la turn later into fatigue.
• Dark Cultist - If you miss this Wild card just for Kabal Talonpriest which is quite similar to it if you believe you need to be better vs aggro, or pick Piloted Shredder (again Wild card tho, but can be used in many decks so it might be worth your dust more in general) if you have more problems with control since it has double value with N'Zoth later yet doesn't completely ruin other matchups as well.

 

NOTE: Guide is close to be finished completely but I'm still working on it on the go. More you ask and recommend more I will improve it! If you saw any mistakes with grammar or the points in the guide I'd love to see your feedback so I can fix it! Might add FAQ section with questions you asked if there is more questions, for now Guide is not getting much attention but that's fine, hope it helps those of you who read it!

 

Good luck and let the light burn them!