Card Choices

1x Embrace the Shadow: Only one, because although it can generate great value and be a useful combo, we don’t really want two of these ever sitting in our hand. The idea with this is to use it either with Darkshire Alchemist or CoH. With the Alchemist we can remove something with 5 health and drop a healthy 4/5 for 7 mana, and with CoH we can clear early aggression or play any card besides C’thun as a follow-up (Ideally, clear the board and slam down a Twin Emperor). We also have 2x Auchenai, so 3 different instances of the effect should be more than enough

2x Beckoner of Evil: What seems to be the most efficient C’thun buff for the buck. A 2/3 body on turn 2 helps to smooth out the otherwise terrible Priest two-drop slot, and is cheap enough to drop with Brann. It’ll mostly serve to contest the board early, hopefully snagging us a trade, and get C’thun to 10 before we drop Vek’lor

2x Wild Pyromancer: Though we’re a little light on spells, all we need is for Pyromancer to help us clear opposing tokens and, in ideal circumstances, ping the entire board with a follow-up CoH + Cleric OR, even better, CoH + Hooded Acolyte to get our C’thun a quick spike in power. Three power on our 2-drop will also help us contest the board early on against bigger opposing minions or start the clock that C’thun finishes

2x Shadow Word: Death: The meta will have a lot of big creatures. I think this is pretty universally assumed. SW:D will help us generate tempo swings and resolve opposing beef. With Sylvanas being much more valuable in a large-creature meta in her own right, we also have the ability to do the usual SW:D + Sylvanas 9 mana Mind Control if we need to

Brann Bronzebeard: 10 heal with Darkshire Alchemist (or 10 damage with EtS or Auchenai), +4/+4 with Beckoner, a third 4/6 taunt with Vek’lor and, if we can somehow pull it off, double C’thun damage. Brann also has the great side-effect of being an efficient body, so if you desperately need something on deck by turn 3 it can help stave off early pressure

2x Injured Blademaster: A non-bo with Brann, but otherwise terribly efficient for the cost. Control Priests have played it since the beginning, and the ability to pull out a 4/7 on t2 with Coin and CoH, or t3 with CoH can go a long way towards clearing the board and generating tempo. Even without a heal, a 4/3 for 3 is less likely to be easily cleared now that Knife Juggler isn’t able to trade up, Darkbomb is gone, and Flamecannon is kaput. I took this (and Twilight Elder) over Disciple of C’thun because their higher health is a more effective use with our hero power

2x Twilight Elder: Speaking of, although the Elder is (sadly) likely to only generate +1/+1 for C’thun, the 3/4 body is likely to kill at least one minion, and ideally kill one and trade with a second. Again, no Shredder means we’re a lot less worried about 4 damage, and if Hunters start using that Infested Wolf, well… 3/4 wins. Really, if Elder somehow goes unanswered and nets us +3/+3 on C’thun that’s just gravy

2x Auchenai Soulpriest: We want a body, not necessarily just the effect. The usual Auchenai plays are in the deck, but we now have the potentially excellent curve of Blademaster/Elder > Auchenai > Alchemist (or the fantasyland play of an unanswered Brann > Auchenai > Alchemist!) that can generate a lot of heat for the opponent. Later in the game 6 mana lets us drop a body and potentially bring a minion low enough for another creature to trade, and if left unanswered we can start cleaning up minions or pressuring the opponent’s face

2x Hooded Acolyte: Not only a very well-statted body for 4 mana (just like Frost Elemental), but the potential for upwards +4/+4 to C’thun is excellent. Unlike Holy Champion, Acolyte backloads the buffs; it’s easy enough to remove a minion with 5 health before it can ever swing, but having to remove a 6 health minion that’s already done its damage is much more threatening. Combos with just about everything Priest does, and I’m thinking will be an all-star for Priest C’thun

1x Holy Nova: Only one to help us clear tokens, turn trades into kills, and combo with Acolyte. Aggro is likely going to be less pushed this time around, and with EtS + CoH able to drop from t2 onward, we’re less pressured in the early game to get that wipe. The healing is more important than the damage, which is why this is run over Excavated Evil

2x Darkshire Alchemist: The Priest Swiss Army Knife for the foreseeable future. Yeti + Flash Heal is very potent, and it fills a big gap in Priest’s curve. Without Antique Healbot, Priest is the only class with big minion-based heals. This is being run over Darkmender primarily because of its ability to target unconditional heals at our minions, our face, and not be dead in our hand if we have an Auchenai on deck. With Brann, pushing 10 heal or damage is possible, and a 2/4, 4/5, and 10 damage is possible for 10 mana with EtS; something to think about

1x Entomb: Little leery about just 1x, but because it’s dead against Frost Mage and the list is tight as it is, we’ll have to make due. Ideally we’re snagging an opposing Vek’lor, Old God, or just maintaining tempo by unconditionally removing powerful creatures like Savannah Highmane. Added benefit, like Doomcaller, of putting another card in our deck when we pair up against a control warrior (if they still push to fatigue)

Sylvanas Windrunner: Although she lost some steam recently due to how fast and sticky the meta got, Sylvanas should come into her own with decks trying to play big minions. She can make an opposing Vek’lor play awkward, and most importantly she not only makes Druids think twice about their Dark Arrakoas, but also can prevent opposing C’thuns from dropping. The situation is this: you think the opponent is about to drop C’thun or some other huge critter, play Sylvanas as a “C’thun-Loatheb.” Because of C’thun’s random damage, once it resolves (and you’re alive) you’re likely to be able to snag their Old God when it kills Sylvanas

Twin Emperor Vek’lor: Maybe the second coming of Dr. Boom, maybe not. But getting C’thun to 10 by turn 7 hasn’t proven to be very difficult in any of my test hands, and two 4/6 taunts can give us the protection we need to push damage at the opponent and draw out removal before we drop C’thun. It’s also perfectly costed to combo with Brann on t10 and develop a whopping 2/4 + THREE 4/6 taunts on an empty board

1x Doomcaller: +2/+2 is cool, but what we’re really looking for here is getting C’thun back after we’ve played it. A second C’thun should make sure we have enough steam to finish off a control deck. Ideally once we drop C’thun against any other deck the game should be decided either way, but for the grindier matchups it’s not only a big body but also insurance. Fairly positive this doesn’t give us two C’thuns with Brann, but wouldn’t that be swell?

C’thun: A centerpiece, maybe, but it shouldn’t be regarded as our “finisher.” Instead, if we think of every buff to it as potentially another card of our opponent’s removed, we can drain resources while maintaining powerful boards through heals on our high-health minions. C’thun is there to create inevitability against most decks, and should be dropped the second it can generate the advantage we want, not when we can get it to an arbitrarily high number. Against control it can be used as a finisher and held until it can seal the deal, giving us strong potential in fatigue (though it shouldn’t get to that point).