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Mulligans
General Mulligans
Here are some of the cards you might want to consider keeping in your starting hand.
Greetings everyone,
I wanted to write a brief article on resurrect priest, the archetype that players either love or hate with no in between. It is a deck that runs off the back of specific cards that summon minions that had died previously during the game. These particular cards include Mass Resurrection and Catrina Muerte, both of which are especially powerful in the late game. Unfortunately due to the current state of the past couple expansions (along with the nerf of Bad Luck Albatross) and the deck lacking extra firepower overall, it has really fallen off as a viable choice for ladder and tournaments alike. However, with the introduction of some new tools from the upcoming expansion “Madness at the Darkmoon Faire”, it is quite possible we could be seeing a return of this deck back to the meta and I’ll explain why.
One of the main catalysts that resurrect priest has currently is decks with a ton of card generation (i.e. Control Priest) and highlander decks, the evidence in win/lose rates reflect this case. The main problem this archetype deals with is the fact that it does not have tools to compete with those decks alike. It either gets out-valued from discover effects or walked around by the sheer power of some cards like Zephrys the Great. It simply crumbles at the hands of powerful effects and the moment this deck starts to fall behind during a match, it is all but over.
So what is it about “Madness at the Darkmoon Faire” that might address these issues and change the outlook for resurrect priest as a whole? Well, it comes in the form of some much needed tools, or in this case new cards. Some of the new cards include Insight, Palm Reading, Idol of Y'Shaarj, and Blood of G'huun. Insight helps draw a minion from your deck, with a high chance activating its corrupt effect and getting a mana discount for the drawn minion. Blood of G'huun is minion that is synergistic with what the deck is trying to accomplish and one that can easily snowball out of control. Idol of Y'Shaarj summons a 10/10 copy of minion in your deck with a chance of getting more than just one, summoning specific minions such as Archmage Vargoth, Catrina Muerte, and obviously Blood of G'huun. And last but most importantly Palm Reading, which not only discounts the cost of spells in your hand by 1 mana, but it can help you find either an answer to a threatening minion/board or additional copies of cards already in your deck such as Idol of Y'Shaarj and Mass Resurrection. When combining all the new additions together, you start to get an idea of how much more depth the new cards can provide to the deck as whole.
Looking ahead, it is hard to say whether this type of deck will make waves on ladder and or tournaments, let alone what the meta will look like after it settles down from the initial release. However, I do think with the new cards that the new expansion is adding to priest for resurrect shenanigans, not to mention the fact that this deck has a past history of being viable deck on ladder not too long ago, resurrect priest could have a real shot at being a strong archetype and viable deck on ladder again. Along with the already released but newer card Renew, a card with similar implications as Palm Reading for generating additional value, it is looking like we could quite literally see a resurrection of the archetype in the upcoming meta (no pun intended).
Ive played 6 games with it so far, 4-2. Its actually a lot of fun. Big brain moves most the time. If anything the big weaknesses it will face are rush decks. Can’t deal with pally that well if i dont have the right starting hand. This deck straight makes Warlocks hella mad. Had little problems so far outlasting them, but thats the thing. A misplay makes a favorable matchup kinda hard. Great deck tho I’ll definitely let you know how it shapes up after quite a few more games. Glad i dont have to feel bad about playing face hunter anymore
Any match-up against the majority of aggro decks definitely poses some difficulty with resurrect priest, especially when you do not have the tools to deal with threats in the early game. Paladin or specifically pure and libram decks, can also be difficult archetypes to face depending on their starting and or your starting hand. The deck however is really strong against control and or combo decks, including certain warlock variants , due to the “snowball effect” the deck can create with minions and or specific spells in the deck (i.e. Idol Of Y’Shaarj and Mass Resurrection). Let me know how the deck performs after some more testing for sure and don’t feel bad about playing face hunter, it is still a viable strategy on ladder. Good luck with your games and the grind on ranked.
I’m around 20 games now, started playing at Gold 10 now gold 7 with about 60% win rate. I actually came across a mirror match once and pulled ahead but won cuz of a deck out on both sides which was pretty funny. Only won cuz I was still at full health. So far it’s still paladins that I have no chance against most the time. It’s hard even with a good starting hand but still haven’t had one against pally. It’s almost unstoppable once you get around turn 6-8 depending on palm reading. I’ve also noticed that most decks don’t run enough board clear, warlocks seem to run only one copy of nether, the mirror only ran one plague and the second plague you have in this deck saved the game for me. Another thing I noticed is that mind control is actually very very helpful in some scenarios. I’ve gotten a couple off of discover and it really extends the advantage especially once you can resume on a key part of their deck to yours. Discovering soul mirror as a way to clear can back fire in some cases cuz it makes the res pool more diluted but can help in a pinch. So far having a lot of fun. Plan on streaming the deck this week at some point too I have that much fun. Play this deck for payback on all those cube locks Lolol (I was one of them too)
unfortunately, I’m not sure this deck will be able to hang with the meta as it is rn. There is a rogue deck that is an absolute counter with Flik, and on my deck tracker the win rate has already gone down 5% across the board with really bad matchups against Shaman, Mage, and Hunter at sub 50. As much as I want this deck to work, it isnt looking good rn. Still, lotta fun tho. Thank you!
No worries, it is all part of testing and or playing any deck on ladder, some decks work and some do not. I realize that evolve/totem shaman, spell mages, and of course Flik in rogue decks pose a ton of difficulty to the success of this deck. I myself have finally tried the deck out the other day and found this to be the case, even though I did finish my run to diamond 5 at a record of 11-5. I really appreciate you even trying out the deck-list in the first place and if you ever feel like continuing to play the archetype, do not be afraid to make changes and or include different cards into the deck to improve it. The deck-list was part of my initial brainstorming ideas for a resurrect priest deck and it was never meant to be end all be all of resurrect priest lists. As always though, good luck on your ladder grind and hopefully you can reach legend before the end of the month.
Why are you doing this to our beloved community? Why do you come up with another resurrect priest?
I know another res priest deck list is not entirely a favourite among the community at large, but I more or less wanted to shine some light on some of the new priest cards from Madness at the Darkmoon Faire. Honestly, whether anyone likes it or not, we have to take into account that res priest could become viable again, if not a strong deck for ranked and or tournaments. The deck list might not be the highest win rate version of it, since no one has completely tested as of yet. However, it does give everyone an idea of what the deck might look like when the new expansion releases. I mainly just wanted to write about the how the deck might make a return with the new cards. Posting the deck list was just for brainstorming purposes.
I see idol of y’shaarj and blood of g’huun seeing play in wild big priest. Maybe palm reading as well but will need testing to see if palm reading is impactful enough. Any reason why you dont run psychopomp?
The reason I do not currently have Psychopomp in the list is mainly for summoning synergies with Idol Of Y’Sharrj, Blood Of G’Huun, and Mass Resurrection. Obviously Psychopomp can be really effective against faster decks (and slower decks to an extent) along with having additional resurrection effects at low mana cost, but it also can affect the pool of minions that can be resurrected and or summoned negatively. For example in later turns of a match, when you go to play Mass Resurrection or even Idol Of Y’Shaarj, the last minion you want to do is summon a 3/1 body that does not really affect the board state or your opponents game plan, let alone a 10/10 copy of it. If you want your deck to be consistent in summoning minions that snowball your board state into one that your opponent cannot deal with, making sure you have minions that are powerful when summoned (especially as copies of it) is integral.
With that being said, it is really up to how the standard meta will shape up to be in the next couple of weeks. If you want to ensure the deck consistently summons minions that require the opposition to answer, then including Pyschopomp into the deck might not be ideal, especially in your pool of minions to resurrect. However, if you need extra resurrection value and or extra stats overall, then including 1 to 2 copies of Pyschopomp can be very useful, if not the difference between losing and winning a match. It just depends how resurrect priest performs through player testing when they include Pyschopomp and also when they do not include into their deck. Regardless, this version of the deck might not end up being definitive list for resurrect priest in standard, or even if resurrect priest is gonna be viable in standard ladder and or standard tournaments.