Dragon Priest Deck List Guide (March 2017, Standard) – Season 36

Dragon Priest has been around in some form or another since the release of Blackrock Mountain when many dragons and dragon synergies were added to the game. Mean Streets of Gadgetzan has added two powerful cards in Drakonid Operative and Dragonfire Potion to the deck. Our Dragon Priest deck list guide will teach you Mulligans, Play Strategy, Card Substitutions, and go over the Combos and Synergies of the deck.

This deck list is based off of Hotform‘s version of the deck.

Update – Dragon Priest March 2017, Season 36

This continues to be a solid list for the ladder. Dragon Priest is a great deck for climbing, and is fun and relatively easy to play.

Should I Purchase the Blackrock Mountain Adventure?

Dragon Priest still relies on two specific cards from the Blackround Mountain adventure: Twilight Whelp, and Blackwing Corruptor. Is this deck playable without them? I would tend to say it’s not, because Twilght Whelp is very important in the early game, while Blackwing Corruptor is a strong mid-game minion that helps gain tempo and in some cases leads to lethal. Unfortunately, while Twilight Whelp is in the third wing of the Adventure, Blackwing Corruptor is in the last.

Read more about the Standard Rotation Schedule

The problem is that as of this writing, Blackrock Mountain is rotating out of Standard soon. There are a fair amount of cards still being played in popular decks: Blackwing Corruptor, Drakonid Crusher, Emperor Thaurissan, Flamewaker, Imp Gang Boss, Quick Shot, and Twilight Whelp. This is not including cards that sometimes see play, such as Blackwing Technician, Dark Iron Skulker, Dragon Egg, Grim Patron, Lava Shock, Nefarian, Revenge, and Solemn Vigil.

Check out the full list of Blackrock Mountain Cards

It’s hard to determine value because it depends on your situation. If you’ve got money/gold burning a hole in your pocket, then I would say yes it’s worth it. If you plan to really play a lot of Hearthstone in the upcoming months, then again I would say yes you’ll get your moneys/gold worth. If you like the idea of Wild and could see yourself playing it in the future then it could also be worth it to you. If you don’t fall into one of those categories then it’s more difficult to recommend. Remember, you’ll also want Brann Bronzebeard (second wing of League of Explorers, but is somewhat replaceable) and Netherspite Historian (last wing of One Night in Karazhan and less replaceable).

Also, keep in mind that while Wild might not be super popular now, there could come a time in the future where the stars align and it picks up in popularity.

Dragon Priest Mulligan Guide and Strategy

Against aggressive decks you are looking for your early minions like Northshire Cleric, Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent. You can also keep spells like Shadow Word: Pain (especially good against Shaman), and Power Word: Shield if you have something to play it on. Against more midrange-y decks you can keep slightly higher drops like Kabal Talonpriest (you can keep this against aggro if you have an early drop) and Twilight Guardian (especially with a 1-2 drop that needs activation). Against control you can consider keeping heavier cards like Drakonid Operative that is one of the most powerful cards in these matchups.

Check out our List of the Best Standard Decks for Hearthstone Ladder

You are also looking for a good curve, if you have a 1, 2, and 3 drop (4-drop on coin) even if it’s slightly sub-optimal you’ll likely want to keep it.

Now the big key to mulliganing with Dragon Priest is sometimes keeping a larger dragon to activate some of your early minions (if you have an early game minion that needs to be activated). The best one to keep is Twilight Guardian when you are against an aggro deck, but a card like Azure Drake can also be kept because it will guarantee activating Twilight Whelp and Wyrmrest Agent.

Why not play Wrathion?

There was some initial excitement about Wrathion upon the reveal, but on average you are likely to only draw one card which makes that aspect kind of weak. This is compounded with Wrathion’s weaker stats and the fact that it isn’t a dragon. If you already have the card and really want to play it you could consider cutting an Azure Drake.

Dragon Priest Matchup Win Percentages

Here’s a look at how Dragon Priest stacks up against other decks in the meta. Thanks to Metastats for allowing us to provide these statistics!

Winrate stats are currently unavailable for this deck at the moment!

Dragon Priest Play Strategy

Dragon Priest is all about maintaining board control and eventually winning by punching your opponent’s face with Dragons. This is a very minion-centric deck, so you’ll need to know when to use your Hero Power to heal your minions (most of the time) and when to heal yourself. Always remember that playing a Taunt such as Twilight Guardian can effectively be a heal because it can reduce the damage heading towards your face. Due to Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, you now have a come back mechanic in Dragonfire Potion which can allow you to get back into the game while preserving the dragons on your board.

The early game for Dragon Priest revolves around trying to secure the board with relatively high health minions. These minions generally require the activation of dragons, so one of the main skills of Dragon Priest is managing your hand in a way that allows you to continually activate your minions. Twilight Whelp and Wyrmrest Agent are great at getting trades and grabbing board control. Power Word: Shield and Kabal Talonpriest can really help keep these minions alive, it’s huge to get an on curve Talonpriest while hitting a minion with the buff.

In the midgame you’ll be looking to maintain your board and start pushing damage with your strong midrange minions. A thing to be cautious about is the usage of Dragonfire Potion. You have to keep in mind which cards are dragons, cards like Wyrmrest Agent, Kabal Talonpriest, and Blackwing Corruptor are not dragons and will therefore take damage from the potion. The other potential issue with Dragonfire Potion is that it won’t damage your opponent’s dragon minions. A popular card like Azure Drake will take no damage and will continue to be a problem for Priest to deal with.

Against slower decks is where Netherspite Historian and Drakonid Operative really shine. You can grab a larger slower dragon from Netherspite in these cases that will continue to win the value game, while Drakonid Operative uses your opponent’s deck against them. Netherspite Historian is also decent against aggro because it has a fair amount of health and can get you an extra taunt like Twilight Guardian or even another Chillmaw if you think you will survive to play it.

Dragon Priest Card Substitutions

• Twilight Guardian: I wouldn’t play without this card, it’s pretty important for stabilizing against aggressive decks which are very popular right now.
• Chillmaw: Really strong taunt with the possibility of a clear afterwards. Book Wyrm is an option, or you could go more control heavy with Ysera or Ragnaros the Firelord.
• Dragonfire Potion: A very strong board clear, you could potentially live without one. I’d try Holy Nova or Excavated Evil.
• Brann Bronzebeard: Brann is particularly strong in Dragon Priest due to all the Battlecry minions. You can use a Blackwing Technician as a replacement.

Dragon Priest Combos and Synergies

Brann Bronzebeard and Drakonid Operative is a super powerful combo against slower decks. Blackwing Corruptor can be comboed as well, which can lead you to sneaky lethal opportunities so always keep an eye out for it. Netherspite Historian is also a great pairing with Brann.