Dragon Highlander Priest (Season 45)

Hello everyone, my name is Filric and I want to give you a first take of how I think the Hearthstone Standard environment is going to transform after the release of the newest set “Kobolds and Catacombs”. I can’t wait to test all the new mechanics and use them to improve my collection and deckbuilding process, so I think that some feedback and critics about those decklists will be useful. Without further ado, let’s begin the analysis with the king of the hill himself: Razakus Priest. 

Priest is looking awfully good right now in the meta, with the Highlander, Big Reanimator, Inner Fire Combo versions performing well on the ladder, and the new Dragon-synergic class cards seem really good, suggesting also a comeback of the Dragon Priest archetype for the 2018. I fear the frequency of how Highlander Priest will increase in the future, because this deck will remain Tier 1 until “Mean Streets of Gadgetzan” rotates out, and with it Kazakus and Raza the Chained, so you must prepare yourself to face it.

Personally, I often tried to beat this deck on ladder, but it is a really hard and frustrating task, and I am not going to lie to you, I am a fairly new player to this game (I started on April 2017 with “Journey To Un’Goro” release on the way) so I am not able to analyze properly all the matchups yet; also, this is not a budget deck, so I won’t recommend it to new players, unless they have the dust to craft Kazakus, Raza and Shadowreaper Anduin. What I want to do is instead trying to merge the new cards into the existing decklist, and see if it is a viable option or it’s too greedy or clunky.

The main goal of the deck is to assemble the combo Raza + DK Anduin, when this happens you will be able to deal 2 damage for free everytime you play a card, but you have to rely on cheap mana cost cards and in a singleton deck style for this to work, and this may not seem much of an issue on a first look but you have to play this particular deck with care, getting the right cards at the right time, cycling fast enough towards your combo while defending yourself against your opponent. Razakus Priest will gain Psychic Scream, one of the best AoE effects printed in the game so far, and Duskbreaker itself suggests me that some kind of Dragon-synergy cards can be added to further improve the power of the deck itself. Feel free to customize your deck in a different way, if the Dragon version doesn’t suit your playstyle, but do not forget what is your goal (Raza + DK + cheap cards) and how you will accomplish it.

According to the gameplan previously explained, this is my first attempt to design a small Dragon package within this deck: Netherspire Historian , Duskbreaker , Twilight Drake , Drakonid Operative , Book Wyrm and Alexstraza. I chose these 6 cards because they can offer great value through midgame, removal and top-end finisher. Psychic Scream fits into the deck naturally as a powerful board clear, Zola the Gorgon can offer great value getting another copy of a Dragon or a key minion, and Dragon Soul  can start creating dragons in the midgame.