Budget Silence Priest Deck List Guide (Rise of Shadows)

Our Budget Silence Priest deck list guide for the the Rise of Shadows expansion will teach you how to play this Silence Priest list. This guide includes Mulligans, Gameplay Strategy, Card Substitutions, and Combos/Synergies!

Introduction to Budget Silence Priest

Silence Priest had a short time in the spotlight following the release of Journey to Un’Goro, but fell into obscurity shortly thereafter. While it hasn’t seen competitive use in a couple years, Rise of Shadows brings with it a bunch of new tools to work with. The basic strategy is to play overstatted minions with negative effects (such as “can’t attack”) and silence them to gain an advantage on board.

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Rise of Shadows Update

While Silence Priest lost a lot of powerful tools to the Year of the Dragon Standard rotation (most notably Shadow Visions and Humongous Razorleaf) it did receive several budget-friendly new tools in Rise of Shadows. These include: Dalaran Librarian, Arcane Watcher, Hench-Clan Shadequill, Faceless Rager and Unsleeping Soul.

Budget Silence Priest Mulligan Guide

Always Keep: Northshire Cleric, Ancient Watcher, Power Word: Shield

Northshire Cleric is the only turn-1 play in the deck, and it trades well with just about everything (bar Flame Imp) leading into turn-2. Considering four cards in the deck can silence by turn 3, Ancient Watcher is great to keep to play on turn-2. Power Word: Shield is a versatile card that can be played to buff your board, draw, or activate Wild Pyromancer.

Keep Conditionally: Silence, Dalaran Librarian, Wild Pyromancer, Arcane Watcher, Unsleeping Soul, Faceless Rager

Silence and Dalaran Librarian activate your overstatted minions, so if you have something to target with them than they’re good to keep. Similarly, Unsleeping Soul should be kept if you can curve into it or if you have Ancient Watcher and The Coin. Arcane Watcher is good if you have things to play before it, or if you have a way to activate it and The Coin. Wild Pyromancer should always be kept if you expect your opponent to be aggro. Faceless Rager is a strong keep if you already have Ancient or Arcane Watcher.

Budget Silence Priest Play Strategy

Like any Divine Spirit/Inner Fire Priest deck, this deck’s plan is to eventually get out a minion with large enough health that using Inner Fire on it will be enough to swing for lethal. Until that point, this deck plays and silences overstatted minions (with crippling drawbacks) to fight for board and get the opponent’s life within range of the combo. If you get going immediately it’s typically better to start attacking your opponent’s Hero right away as your minions will outdamage most early boards by a large margin.

Ancient Watcher and Arcane Watcher are your main silence targets. Neither of these minions is very useful until they are silenced, but once they are they become huge early threats. Hench-Clan Shadequill makes a good silence target if you have the silence card to spare, but it is not a priority because it can attack regardless. Faceless Rager benefits from all the cards even if they aren’t silenced.

Dalaran Librarian can silence multiple minions, but it’s almost always right to silence just one if you would otherwise miss an attack. You want to have your opponent struggling to keep up with the damage you’re doing, and if you hold back Dalaran Librarian to maximize its value you give your opponent more time to grab momentum.

Witchwood Grizzly becomes a very sturdy threat once silenced, boasting a ridiculous 12 health, but keep in mind when you silence it you also remove Taunt.

Ideally you would wait until you can finish the game to use your Inner Fire/Divine Spirit combo, but sometimes you just want to go for it if you think your opponent would take control of the game otherwise. A huge 12/12 (or bigger!) threat is too much for some decks to respond to, and can put your opponent on a short clock. Consider how easy it would be for your opponent to remove this minion, and how devastating it would be to your game plan if they did, but don’t be afraid to do invest the combo if it’s your best option.

Wild Pyromancer is a very important tool against Token Druid and other aggro decks with wide boards. The longer you can keep Wild Pyromancer alive, the harder time your opponent will have catching up to you on board. If you’re up against a deck like these, try to hold back spells to play alongside Wild Pyromancer, and feel free to use combo pieces if you have no better option.

Future Card Replacements for Budget Silence Priest

The best part of building Silence Priest is the deck doesn’t really play any Epics or Legendaries. There are some other builds that include a few, but they tend to reduce the deck’s winrate.

• Archmage Vargoth and Mind Blast/Extra Arms – Vargoth has many applications in Priest, especially outside of the Silence deck. However, when played carefully, it can be handy here too. He can be used to get extra value out of Power Word: Shield and Extra Arms, or for big burst damage with Mind Blast. The deck doesn’t have room for everything though, and this means you probably have to cut Divine Spirit/Inner Fire.
• Leeroy Jenkins – If you want to include something surprising, Leeroy is a pretty safe craft. Even if you end up regretting adding him to the list and cut him later, you will find other uses for him eventually. Leeroy gives you an additional way close the game out.
• Auchenai Soulpriest – As the meta becomes more refined and aggro inevitably takes over, this will become more of a staple. Auchenai Soulpriest not only turns your Circle of Healing into an amazing board clear, but it also allows you to turn the downside of Hench-Clan Shadequill into an advantage.
• Topsy Turvy – Upon release, players started switching to Topsy Turvy over Inner Fire mostly because of Skulking Geist. With Skulking Geist gone, you can still include Topsy Turvy to increase the odds of drawing something that will combo out with Divine Spirit, or if you value the 0-mana cost. It’s probably not worth it, Inner Fire can be used to make a minion more threatening without compromising its health, and this deck isn’t reliant enough on the Inner Fire combo to justify cluttering the deck with additional “copies” for consistency.
• Forbidden Words – A versatile removal spell, add a copy or two if you think the deck needs it.
• Defender of Argus and/or Sunfury Protector – These minions can be a good way to get value out of your big minions whether or not they’ve been silenced, and a good way to protect against aggro without sacrificing too much against control. The deck already has plenty of ways to make use of your big minions, so only add these if you’re struggling against aggro.