Are Priest and Warrior Dead Now? The Best Decks of the Worst Classes

It is a deck that unironically plays Sir Finley Mrrgglton because it wants to get rid of the Warrior Hero power so badly. Not badly enough to mulligan for Sir Finley, though. It’s more like a last-ditch effort to get something better in the mid-game when you have mana to spare. At the start of the game, you want to play cards with a bigger impact as you do not have time to armor up anyway.

Building up your minions with Anima Extractor, Imbued Axe, and Rokara is the core win condition of the deck. Honorable mention to Hawkstrider Rancher, who is starting to appear in board-based decks. It is not as strong as the key Warrior cards, but it is proving to be a solid addition to Hearthstone.

There may be some ways to improve this deck, too. The synergy between Weapons Expert and Imbued Axe is strained, at best. Whereas Weapons Expert smoothly curves into Outrider's Axe in slower Warrior decks, it is a rather unimpressive play from a more aggressive Enrage Warrior. Whirling Combatant is another under-performer. Its anti-synergy with Hawkstrider Rancher is a burden in the current design. Enrage Warrior is already a perfectly playable deck, and it has the potential to become better still.

The Future of Priest and Warrior?

Warrior’s future looks brighter than Priest’s. Enrage Warrior is a perfectly capable deck that could become a top-tier deck with a minor buff, or perhaps even through refinement. Of course, this may not be satisfactory for a traditional Warrior player, which usually means a control deck aficionado.

BanditKeith’s take on Warrior reminds me of vanilla Control Warrior in some ways. It has defensive tools, and then also some offensive power. Of course, all the offensive power comes in the form of Charge, as it cannot get anything to stick on the board. Cairne Bloodhoof is no longer an option. Perhaps there is a way to refine this concept, or for Blizzard to help it out a little. I would be happier seeing that than seeing the return of From the Depths mana cheating, although I recognize how important mana cheating is as a winning strategy in the game nowadays.

Priest is in a more dire position. The Renathal nerf hurt Control Priest decks a lot. On the other hand, buffing them back up is a little scary, too. We got a glimpse of what that could look like at the World Championship. Bless Priest is the same one-trick pony day in and day out. That’s not very exciting. Undead Priest is just barely viable at the moment, and it is a new archetype. There just does not seem to be much room for refinement in the deck. Blizzard could buff it, of course. Then we’re in the same dilemma as with Warrior. Priest players are typically connoisseurs of slow, control gameplay. Their best deck is an aggressive deck. It is not an easy position for Blizzard to solve.

It is likely that both Priest and Warrior need some buffs to shine in March of the Lich King. The easiest candidates for minor buffs are Enrage Warrior and Undead Priest, but neither of them represents the traditional gameplay for the classes. Bringing back slower archetypes is more difficult and requires more intricate knowledge of the meta to both succeed and not slow things down too much. Both classes have a chance, but they may require a subtle swing of the balancing knife to shine. In the meanwhile, this article has showcased the current status of the classes and hopefully pointed out some potential directions for your own experimentation with them. The world, and the Hearthstone meta, are not set in stone.