Priest has been one of the bottom classes after the Standard rotation in April, but Saviors of Uldum shows some real promise in turning the class’s fortunes around. There is support for OTK (High Priest Amet + Stonetusk Boar), there’s a new Quest (Activate the Obelisk), and there are two new board clears (Holy Ripple and Plague of Death). There is no obvious tier 1 deck in sight, but there are options to build several new archetypes, some of which may end up being successful.
In this article, I will focus on making the most out of the support Priest gets for its early game, and go for a Zoo Priest approach: no Quest, no fancy things, just get that board under control and win the game. This may not sound Priest-like, but the approach has been viable before. Before the Standard rotation, Priest was able to go for strong early plays with Northshire Cleric followed by Shadow Ascendant, but the latter rotated out of Standard format in April. With the recent buff to Extra Arms that made it one of the best buff spells in the game, all Priest needs is some solid early-game minions to take advantage of it and fight for the board right from the beginning.
Saviors of Uldum just might deliver these tools in the form of Grandmummy, Wretched Reclaimer, and Psychopomp. That is one powerful 2-3-4 curve: Grandmummy into Wretched Reclaimer can give you a 1/2, a 1/2 with Reborn, and a 4/4 on turn 3. This is a Zoo-like board!
Saviors of Uldum Zoo Priest could look something like this:
7,700
- 1Mecharoo2
- 2Serpent Egg2
- 3Nightmare Amalgam2
- 3SN1P-SN4P1
- 4Replicating Menace2
- 5Leeroy Jenkins1
- 5Wargear2
- 5Zilliax1
The new tools also provide Priest with some actual reach: Wretched Reclaimer together with Leeroy Jenkins is a 12-damage burst for eight mana. I’d still like to have my Mind Blast back, but I’ll take this new charge combo too.
The new early-game cards can also give new life to some old ones that have not had enough support. Dead Ringer has seen play in OTK decks as a draw tool, but it can work in a more aggressive build too. It’s a Mech by the way, and while that aspect of the card has not been used much, there is no reason it couldn’t be. SN1P-SN4P, Replicating Menace, and Wargear are available to buff up the little fellow should it survive.
Two cards that I really want to try out in a build like this are EVIL Conscripter and Serpent Egg. EVIL Conscripter has been the least used Lackey generator, but in a Zoo-style Priest deck it can provide an early body and additional resources when it dies. Serpent Egg is a new egg card from Saviors of Uldum that can work together with Wretched Reclaimer, Grandmummy, and Extra Arms. I’m not sure if those are enough ways to proc it, but it also provides some protection against area-of-effect damage, and the 3/4 minion upon death is a good one.
Psychopomp is almost always good tempo. Sure, it might sometimes resurrect a 1/1 token, but even that worst-case scenario is a 3/1 and a 1/1 with Reborn for four mana. Psychopomp looks especially interesting with Deathrattle minions, because then the minion will have both Deathrattle and Reborn, double-dipping heavily into death effects. Reborn alone does not stack, so you do not want to have a Reborn-heavy deck with Psychopomp, as then you will waste half of its effect value.
Another potential path with Psychopomp would be to go for Divine Shield minions, as they work great with Reborn too, but there are not a lot of good Divine Shield minions available to Priest. If you want to try a non-Mech approach, then that could still be a way to go. It would be a more midrange-oriented deck and slightly less Zoo style, but that does not mean it would be a bad approach either.
This alternative approach could look something like this:
Overall, it is an exciting time to play Priest. The class has only one way to go – up! – and Saviors of Uldum gives Priest several new tools. Whether this excitement will die down in the next week, I cannot say yet, but at the very least there are lots of things to try.
Old Guardian
Ville "Old Guardian" Kilkku is a writer and video creator focused on analytic, educational Hearthstone, and building innovative Standard format decks. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OldGuardian Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/old_guardian
I hope you’re wrong about this being the “successful” priest archetype. Not that your logic isn’t sound; its just that these deck lists just don’t look as much fun to play as Quest, Resurrect, Nomi , etc.
You see, fun is very subjective, a lot of players find Zoo playstyle very fun and doesn’t like to run those slow, Combo decks that Priest usually has.
I would actually like Priest to finally have a viable faster deck, the class deserves some break from all of the grindy Control and Combo decks 🙂
Played this quest aggro priest list from rank 3-1. Deck feels realy strong. I teched in eggs( warrior matchup good against brawl/warpath and topsy(mage matchup for their doomsayer, zoolock get rid of their carpet), https://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/aggro-quest-priest-rank-3-1/
Playing zoo priests fun. Trust me I’ve been trying and failing at it for ages