Quest Reno N’Zoth Priest

Hey guys and welcome to my guide.

I always liked playing Reno Decks because of the versatility. You potentially have many tools in your box. Often the question is wether you get them in time. Nevertheless creating and trying those decks is a fun thing to do and you will rarely find to identical lists.

Un’Goro came with some nice additions, especially with the new quest Awaken the Makers that offers you a second pumped up Reno Jackson in form of Amara, Warden of Hope. The general strategy of this deck is to survive by clearing off early aggression and then outlasting and beating your opponent in a value game. See it this way: if everything goes as planned your opponent has to do about 100 damage to your face

Now let’s discuss the card choices.

The quest is one of this deck’s key cards. It gives us a “second improved life” and sets our life total to 40 by at the same time dropping a big taunt in form of Amara, Warden of Hope . To get her we have to play 7 minions with Deathrattle beforehand. So it’s not the fastest quest to complete, but it’s definitely worth it… We only have to survive long enough. That’s why I put many anti-aggro cards, Removal, AOE and taunts in the deck. If possible, try to complete the Quest and play Amara at the same turn. By doing that her effect can’t be negetated by Dirty Rat.

Crystalline Oracle is a value 1-Drop. It has just a small body, but helps us with finishing the quest. It also gives us a card from our opponent’s deck generating value. Getting a second N'Zoth the Corruptor is definitely the dream.

Northshire Cleric  is our draw engine and can also be used against aggro decks. The 1/3 body can potentially take out 2 pirates. In a control match-up don’t slam her on the board early! Rather wait for a situation to get the draw value.

Another new key card of this deck. 1-of-Decks generally suffer from (as the name says…) having just one copy of every card. Shadow Visions changes things. In this deck its card text actually says “pay 2 Mana to discover a removal spell that fits best for the current situation”. Priest’s weakness in General is having great but very situational removal. This card helps you out. Need a second Entomb against Control/Handbuff Paladin? Now Tirion Fordring and Wickerflame Burnbristle are yours… Or you need another big AOE? Now you get it. Just keep in mind which spells have already been drawn and how many spells are still in your deck in order to evaluate how likely it is to get what you want.

Shadow Word: Pain is a nice removal tool to stop early aggression. Also it works well against value cards like Water Elemental, Priest of the Feast or Sludge Belcher.

Dirty Rat often is not supposed to be played on curve. Its purpose rather is to cancel your opponents strategy / win condition – or at least make it harder to achieve. Getting a Kazakus, Reno Jackson or N'Zoth, The Corruptor is devastating in a mirror match. If you’re up against a big board with AOE in hand (especially Lightbomb…) you can make the AOE more effective by pulling another minion into his doom. Against Quest Rogue you can hope to pull out a 2 / 3 times played minion and kill it. Sometimes Dirty Rat will be a cheap taunt without a downside. Overall it’s very versatile, but also a “high-risk and high-reward” card tat requires some experience to be played correctly.

Doomsayer is either a great way to clean the board early against aggressive decks or later on it also works as a “+7 health”. It can be played behind our big sticky taunts like Dirty Rat or Sludge Belcher to highten the Chance of his effect to go off.

Loot Hoarder supports the quest, has an alright body to trade and draws us a card. Pretty nice.

Unstable Ghoul also synergizes with the quest and is one of the best ways to clean of early aggression. I really like it in this deck.

Shadow Word: Death is our cheap “Big Guy” removal. Say good bye to Dr. Boom or Sylvanas Windrunner while playing a medium-sized minion yourself. Seems good.

Dark Cultist has a great body and also helps us with finishing the Quest. If you’re able to get value from his Deathrattle you can create big taunts. A 2/9 Tortollan Shellraiser ain’t that bad.

Deathlord helps with the quest and is another big road block for your opponent. 8 Health are a lot on turn 2 or 3 and need to be dealt with. His Deathrattle might be a downside in many match-ups. But that’s not always the case, because the summoned cards Battlecry won’t be triggered ( I look at you, N'Zoth, The Corruptor. A Defender of Argus is neat too. Like Dirty Rat you can also trigger Deathlord‘s effect by suiciding him before playing an AOE.

Mirage Caller helps with the quest by duplicating a minion. Best targets for this effect are Sylvanas Windrunner and Cairne Bloodhoof. But the other deathrattle minions are fine as well. Getting one more card from your opponent’s deck is pretty good against other control-decks. Duplicating Unstable Ghoul sets up a Volcanic Potion.

One of the greatest and most versatile cards ever created. Kazakus can give you AOE, single target removal, board presence, card draw, freeze… What more can you want? To maximize the efficiency you need to think ahead, how the game might pan out and what would be helpful. That requires some experience. In general the 5 Mana spell is alright, but according to the state of the game 1 or 10 Mana spells can be better (1 Mana for tempo, 10 Mana for pure value). Often summoning your defeated minions is great and helps with fullfilling the quest.

Piloted Shredder is definitely one of the best 4-drops ever made. A solide body that sustains board presence and helps us with finishing the quest. He might even summon another Deathrattle minion. Also a great target for Mirage Caller. Definitely a must-have.

Shifting Shade is mainly in this list to help with fullfilling the quest, filling the 4-drop spot and for gaining value from outside of your deck. Not as good as Piloted Shredder, but alright.

Spiritsinger Umbra… somehow i expected a bigger impact of this card. Sure, getting Sylvanas Windrunner‘s or Cairne Bloodhoof‘s effect triggered immediately is very powerful, but this also costs 10 Mana and rarely happens to work… On the other hand your opponent has to respond to this card asap. If he can’t, you might gain a lot of extra value. A combination with N'Zoth, The Corruptor is quite sweet… 🙂

Tortollan Shellraiser supports Awaken the Makers with a solid body and effect. 

Excavated Evil is our weakest but cheapest AOE. But I feel like relying on turn 6 to clear the board often is too late. Giving this spell to our opponent doesn’t harm us so much because we run several minions with high health. I decided to run this instead of Holy Nova because of that 1 extra damage. Especially good against Murloc Shaman Boards with Murloc Warleader on it.

I really like Onyx Bishop in this deck. His body is weak for the cost, but its effect creates board presence and often helps with fullfilling the quest. If played on curve you sometimes can direct what minion you want to be summoned, e.g. Crystalline Oracle for value or Deathlord to save your life total.

Raza the Chained helps us with sustaining board presence. Reducing the cost of our Hero Power to 0 allows us to play minions on curve while at the same time keeping the excisting board healthy and alive. We also can heal ourselves up to survive until Amara, Warden of Hope‘s arrival.

Sludge Belcher is a staple in every N’Zoth-Deck. Good body, good effect, works well with the Quest. Period.

Dragonfire Potion and Lightbomb are two of the most powerful AOE’s in Hearthstone. The first one kills every medium threat (well, except for dragons) whereas latter doesn’t care about the size. Both work well against Quest Rogue… if you’re still alive somehow on turn 6… Lightbomb works well against Jade decks. Definitely worth being copied by Shadow Visions in this match-up.

Entomb is a great single target removal. Quite expensive and slow, but strips your opponent of his power while adding it to yours. If you think about it, Tirion Fordring also helps with the quest… Sounds mean, right? Yes it is.

Cairne Bloodhoof is one of the two premium deathrattle minions in this deck. Great if combined with Mirage Caller or Spiritsinger Umbra. On its own this card is quite slow, but secures board control if not Hexed or Polymorphed. Also adds one more deathrattle to the quest.

“We’re gonna be rich.” I don’t know how often this sentence made aggro players conceide. I only know that it’s not enough. 😀 The reason to play a whole new deck archetype because his effect gives you a second life. After setting your health up to 40 with Amara, Warden of Hope Reno also heals you to 40. So if you have the choice between both play Amara first for an extra heal by Reno later on.

Sylvanas Windrunner is the second prime target for Mirage Caller and Spiritsinger Umbra. A very powerful effect on a good body. Works well with your AOE and Shadow Word: Death , if you are able to isolate one big threat of your opponent.

Dr. Boom… everyone knows him. One of the most powerful 7-drops in the game already by himself. But on top of it he also gives us two Boom Bots with Deathrattle. Which means you get two bodies for your Quest in just one card. That’s great. On the other Hand, the Boom Bots also weaken your N’Zoth-turn. Well, I guess we can’t have it all…

My favourite of them Old Gods. He is the biggest win condition in this deck by generating a large board of Deathrattle minions in one turn. It will be hard for our opponent to clear everything off, because most minions leave something behind. So just make sure that enough of your value cards have already died. You can also utilize N'Zoth, The Corruptor to fulfill your Quest if you’re in dire need of a big heal.

As I already said: Creating a Reno deck is a very unique experience. So I want to encourage you: If you think there are cards or combos you want to try out, just do it. I think there will never be a definitive list. And if you can surprise your opponent with innovative and unpredictable techs, your chances of winning will go up.

A great value card that helps a lot against other control decks. Expanding your deck by 5 cards is a big deal, especially against Control Warrior. It also helps in fatigue match-ups by expanding your deck. If I have something else to play and am not under that much pressure, I often keep her in hand to combo her with Shadow Visions for extra value. I would swap her with Onyx Bishop.

I know… there is not much synergy with this deck. Good combinations are Coin, Shadow Visions, both Shadow Words and a small or medium Kazakus Potion. But it is similar to Spiritsinger Umbra: Lyra is a must-remove target. Otherwise things can get out of control quickly. It’s definitely a lot of fun with her in the deck, but it’s not that consistent. She can replace Onyx Bishop or Raza the Chained

I didn’t try Loatheb in this deck yet, but I will. A great card against spell-heavy decks to delay your opponents burst plan or stop Quest Rogue from playing their Crystal Core. Stopping a Brawl and securing your board is good too. Combined with a good body it should be a great addition to this deck.

Rag is a great late-game threat that needs to be answered. Would be the dream if you could copy it with Mirage Caller for 16 burst damage in 1 turn.

Priest of the Feast has a great body with a good effect. It might not have the same impact as in Miracle Priest, but a heal for 3 or 6 is not bad. It can take the spot of Spiritsinger Umbra.

Explosive Sheep can replace Unstable Ghoul as early AOE. It is just worse when being revived by N’Zoth.

Museum Curator provides value by exploring a deathrattle minion. It helps with the quest, but is pretty weak on turn two against aggro. Against control a second Sylvanas Windrunner sounds quite good though… This card can replace Mirage Caller.

Potion of Madness is great against early aggression. In the best case you take out 2 minions and stop your opponent’s board from snowballing. In the worst case you draw it in the late game and can’t use it at all. Unfortunately Jaraxxus’ Infernals are a little bit too big… It’s a replacement for Unstable Ghoul or Dirty Rat.

Holy Nova can substitute Excavated Evil. Smaller AOE with an additional heal.

Gluttonous Ooze does well against Warrior, Hunter, Paladin and Jaraxxus. Can take the place of Mirage Caller or Deathlord.

A bouncer like Youthful Brewmaster or Ancient Brewmaster. We could bounce cheap deathrattle minions in order to fullfill the quest faster. But the main targets definitely are N'Zoth the Corruptor, Amara, Warden of Hope and Reno Jackson. They have great Battlecries, especially N’Zoth. If you are able to pull this off your opponent will need a way to clean off 2 massive boards that also leave something behind (Cairne, Shredder, Belcher). This should secure a victory. A con to a bouncer is that it always needs a card to play along with it. I’m not sure about it, but I’ll give that a try.

Last but not least, Kel'Thuzad is very mean if played on a decent board. I lost a few times against it because I couldn’t remove it instantly. Also synergizes well with the quest. But again, a situational card for 8 Mana.