Basic Priest Deck

[positiv2 950]

Where would you put Lightspawns in this? Or would you consider putting them in?

I would remove 2 Crocolisks and one Grizzly for 1 Ooze and 2 Lightspawns. I would also remove Divine Spirit and add a second Shadow Word Death, but that's up to personal preference I guess.

[nexalacer 2]

Are there any plans to update this deck's replacements for LoE and ToG?

I made the following changes:

Squirming Tentacle instead of Ironfur Grizzly;

Darkshire Alchemist instead of Darkscale Healer; and

 Shifting Shade instead of Gnomish Inventor.

I'm considering swapping Holy Nova out for Excavated Evil, but as this is a bit more of a minion-based deck, I'm not sure if it's a good idea. Does anyone have any thoughts on other LoE or ToG cards that might be good for this deck?

[positiv2 950]

6 hours ago, nexalacer said:

Are there any plans to update this deck's replacements for LoE and ToG?

I made the following changes:

Squirming Tentacle instead of Ironfur Grizzly;

Darkshire Alchemist instead of Darkscale Healer; and

 Shifting Shade instead of Gnomish Inventor.

I'm considering swapping Holy Nova out for Excavated Evil, but as this is a bit more of a minion-based deck, I'm not sure if it's a good idea. Does anyone have any thoughts on other LoE or ToG cards that might be good for this deck?

You can include Museum Curators in place of Voodoo Doctor and Holy Smite. Huge Toads in place of River Crocolisks.

There are way too many improvements for ToG to list them.

[nexalacer 2]

1 minute ago, positiv2 said:

You can include Museum Curators in place of Voodoo Doctor and Holy Smite. Huge Toads in place of River Crocolisks.

There are way too many improvements for ToG to list them.

Is Huge Toad better than Flame Juggler? I thought the extra health may be good for Priestly heals.

[positiv2 950]

1 minute ago, nexalacer said:

Is Huge Toad better than Flame Juggler? I thought the extra health may be good for Priestly heals.

Flame Juggler is s good addition as well. You might want to remove Squirming Tentacles as well to make room for both of those cards.

[Guest SomeNoob]

I think I went 3-13 (In casuals ffs) with this deck, and I'm pretty sure it's not because I'm really bad. Every match (unless I get lucky), I get spells or cards that are basically only used for their battlecry etc, and I can't put anything out to counter any of the minions the enemy has (other than an occasional lucky pull of holy smite or Holy Nova), and even when I do have holy nova it's literally the only thing this deck has to counter aggro decks (If I remember correctly, aggro decks are the ones that have a ton of minions on board and just rush your hero). There's also not nearly enough taunt to not get *edited* by those aggro decks, so what gives? What is this deck supposed to accomplish if you don't get lucky?

Edited June 30, 2016 by positiv2

[positiv2 950]

1 hour ago, Guest SomeNoob said:

I think I went 3-13 (In casuals ffs) with this deck, and I'm pretty sure it's not because I'm really bad. Every match (unless I get lucky), I get spells or cards that are basically only used for their battlecry etc, and I can't put anything out to counter any of the minions the enemy has (other than an occasional lucky pull of holy smite or Holy Nova), and even when I do have holy nova it's literally the only thing this deck has to counter aggro decks (If I remember correctly, aggro decks are the ones that have a ton of minions on board and just rush your hero). There's also not nearly enough taunt to not get *edited* by those aggro decks, so what gives? What is this deck supposed to accomplish if you don't get lucky?

Could you please upload some games with this deck? This way we will be able to tell what you are doing wrong and we will help you increase your winrate with this deck.

[Guest SomeRandomNoob]

Well, my winrate increased to around 10-5 after using another basic deck I found online, but nah, not gonna upload, too much trouble. 

This deck just didn't work for me I guess. 

[KKCD 0]

This deck has worked wonders for me, I initially built it for a daily quest but I have started playing priest much more now. Thanks so much!

1. I replaced the 2x Boulderfist Ogre for 2x Temple Enforcer in my deck, so is there any room for Inner Fire? Temple Enforcer and Power Word: Shield buff the minion's health, and Inner Fire could transfer this buff to the minion's attack as well.
2. What cards should I be playing early in the game (turns 1, 2 & 3) in order to establish board presence? Sometimes I have to play my Northshire Cleric just to clear an opponent's 1/1 minions, in order to keep board presence.

Thanks again!

Edited October 24, 2016 by KKCD
Formatting.

[Allegro 40]

11 hours ago, KKCD said:

This deck has worked wonders for me, I initially built it for a daily quest but I have started playing priest much more now. Thanks so much!

1. I replaced the 2x Boulderfist Ogre for 2x Temple Enforcer in my deck, so is there any room for Inner Fire? Temple Enforcer and Power Word: Shield buff the minion's health, and Inner Fire could transfer this buff to the minion's attack as well.
2. What cards should I be playing early in the game (turns 1, 2 & 3) in order to establish board presence? Sometimes I have to play my Northshire Cleric just to clear an opponent's 1/1 minions, in order to keep board presence.

Thanks again!

1) Inner Fire is a tricky card, and taking space in your deck to match up with PWS probably isnt worth the space. Inner Fire works best when pumping minions that start with low attack but high defense, or paired with Divine Spirit. Even then, its a difficult combo to pull off consistently.  

2. Sometimes you have to play Northshire Cleric early, especially against aggro. Your best start may be round one: Cleric and round 2: attack to take out a minion, then heal it to get a card. If you're running into problems with Aggro overwhelming you early, you may want to add some more 1 cost minions, like Argent Squire or Goldshire Footman.   Against slower decks, you just want to get your small minions on the board, then use them to trade and heal them up. 

Priest decks generally play slowly. They teach you patience and to collect resources for later turns. Many times you'll spend the early game holding off attacks and healing, knowing that turn 5 you'll clear the board with Holy Nova or Excavated Evil. Late game, Priests can be really annoying for opponents because it will seem like you have an answer for everything they play. I've had a number of opponents give up after they play their big minion on turn 10 (like Deathwing) only to have it Entombed or PWDed, or worse, Mind Controlled. 

[Valks 2,373]

On 10/24/2016 at 7:57 AM, KKCD said:

This deck has worked wonders for me, I initially built it for a daily quest but I have started playing priest much more now. Thanks so much!

Looks like your questions have been answered, but I'm glad to see that you're doing well with the deck! Good job!

[MadDictator 1]

Right now you guys list a lot of improvement cards for in case people have certain adventures. It would be nice to see improvements that can be crafted, even tho you guys disagree with doing so ;)

One recommendation: Holy Champion for Chillwind Yeti :)

[Valks 2,373]

On 11/2/2016 at 11:28 PM, MadDictator said:

Right now you guys list a lot of improvement cards for in case people have certain adventures. It would be nice to see improvements that can be crafted, even tho you guys disagree with doing so ;)

One recommendation: Holy Champion for Chillwind Yeti :)

The deck is centred around being a basic deck, though, so crafting Holy Champion to fill the role of Yeti basically isn't worth it. You're not going to fit her into your next Priest deck, so she's just wasted dust. If you're using a basic deck in the first place, you probably want to be as efficient as possible. 

[Guest Feelin' Fine]

Sorry, but trying this deck out now and it's woefully bad compared to how it played a year or so ago.  Every other deck type has better clears and better mana efficient minions.  As soon as you get control of the board, you're minions are wiped and they put out two or three of their own and its over.  Priest has no way to clear the board like a shaman or hunter or any other hero once they are behind.  The holy nova isn't enough for its cost, it should be a 4 dmg/heal spell considering when you can finally play it most minions aren't 2 health minions, more like 4+.  The priestess+circle of healing is a one trick pony and hurts you more then the opponent.  We have no traps or secrets, it just isn't even close, it's sad really.  I wish they'd give priest more love.  I really do, I like the control playstyle.  But unless your opponent is dumb or you get a really good initial draw/mulligan it's curtains.

[Valks 2,373]

On 17.11.2016 at 10:22 AM, Guest Feelin' Fine said:

I wish they'd give priest more love.  I really do, I like the control playstyle.  But unless your opponent is dumb or you get a really good initial draw/mulligan it's curtains.

The issue is, as a basic deck, Priest sucks. You only gain momentum and power when you can draw from very powerful neutral cards and then add to them with the Priest array (Dragon Priest is a very good example). Regardless of class, Dragon decks generally can perform well because they have an extremely strong basis to work with. Dragon Priest goes down the super control route and just walls enemies away with big taunts, removal etc.

Pain/Death are pretty strong removal tools too.

[positiv2 950]

I remember when basic priest was the scariest basic deck, together with basic mage. The amount of removal and the power of Mind Control (and that was after the nerf) )was just a bit too much to handle. Sadly, times have changed and one now faces full budget decks at rank 25, instead of ranks around 15. This brings back memories of players reaching legend with basic decks.

[Guest Guest Barnes?]

You're hurting for 4 drops - What do you think of Barnes in the deck? 

Or are you more focused on trying to get off a good hero power on T4, rather than advance the board?

[positiv2 950]

14 minutes ago, Guest Guest Barnes? said:

You're hurting for 4 drops - What do you think of Barnes in the deck? 

Or are you more focused on trying to get off a good hero power on T4, rather than advance the board?

I would prefer Priest of the Feast over Barnes as you have no good deathrattle or ability minions in the deck and the extra heal, even if rare, comes in handy.

[Smorod 33]

Can I include Shadowreaper Anduin in this basic deck (presumably replacing Stormwind Champion)? I understand that the deck is built around the healing capabilities, but it has other sources of healing, and the updated hero power seems powerful enough on its own to be a late game changer.

I have replaced Voodoo Doctor with Squashling already. Maybe replacing 2 x Ironfur Grizzly with 2 x Earthen Ring Farseer will give enough healing options from cards so that I can do without the Lesser Heal hero power after round 8?

[positiv2 950]

On 11/30/2018 at 9:05 AM, Smorod said:

Can I include Shadowreaper Anduin in this basic deck (presumably replacing Stormwind Champion)? I understand that the deck is built around the healing capabilities, but it has other sources of healing, and the updated hero power seems powerful enough on its own to be a late game changer.

I have replaced Voodoo Doctor with Squashling already. Maybe replacing 2 x Ironfur Grizzly with 2 x Earthen Ring Farseer will give enough healing options from cards so that I can do without the Lesser Heal hero power after round 8?

Sounds about right. Shadowreaper Anduin would be, in my opinion, worth the swap even without these changes to keep healing synergy present in the deck.

[Guest mars]

What to substitute for Northshire Cleric? Is this deck useless without it?

[Smorod 33]

On 8/14/2020 at 1:07 PM, Guest mars said:

What to substitute for Northshire Cleric? Is this deck useless without it?

The removal of both Northshire Cleric and Divine Spirit from the Basic set, as well as the nerfing of Power Word: Shield are clearly hurting this deck badly. I think I would replace 2x Northshire Cleric with 2x Psychic Conjurer, as it also gives you both board presence and a card in your hand, although its overall value doesn't compare. Divine Spirit would be replaced with a second copy of Shadow Word: Death as its cost got reduced and the opponent's minions tend to get bigger these days too.

As a side note, I'm not sure I would keep Power Word: Shield. The new version is only good in decks where casting spells triggers an effect (think Gadgetzan Auctioneer), which isn't the case of this deck. You may want to drop that cheap spell in favor of more minions with 3+ health (either Razorfen Hunter or a second copy of Gnomish Inventor) so that you can maximize the use of your Hero Power.

[positiv2 950]

The deck has now been updated; thanks for bringing this to our attention.