sipofsoma’s OTK Combo Priest Deck List Guide

The OTK Combo Priest has been floating around a bit recently. Firebat had some luck with it at a tournament, and now sipofsoma used his version to reach the legend ranks. The deck is strong because it has strong aoe against aggro, and it can burst down greedy control decks!

Thanks to sipofsoma on Reddit for allowing us to re-host his guide. If you would like to watch him play this deck check him out via his Battle.net (US) Tag here: Strayfnord#1361 or on twitch at: Strayfnord.

• Deck Stats
• Legend Rank Proof

(Note: Stats include all different iterations of this deck from the very first list I made when expansion first came out. It’s changed quite a bit.)

Some of you may remember me from this thread a year ago, after I climbed to legend using OTK Priest when Blackrock first came out. Well, I’ve done it again! This time with Embrace the Shadow, which I feel hasn’t gotten enough love yet this expansion. I’m hoping to change that a bit and breathe some life into Priest again. As you can see from my stats screenshot from this season, Priest represents a whopping 3% on ladder right now…by FAR the least-represented class.

This deck made climbing to rank 5 incredibly easy for me this season. It matches up really well against aggro with all of its healing and board clears, and once you start learning the deck more it’s actually a lot of fun to play. But I’ll just warn you now that it’s probably not the best deck for beginners. There are often many different lines of play each turn, and also the need to vary playstyle a bit based on matchups.

I’ll try to go into more detail in the comments with any questions you may have about it, but here’s the basics behind the deck:

Against Aggro

Zoolock is probably this deck’s best matchup in general other than Paladin (which I’m almost undefeated against). With both Warlock Zoo and Aggro Shaman, you really want to mulligan for your early minions and board clears (Auchenai Soulpriest/Circle of Healing/Wild Pyromancer/Holy Nova + Excavated Evil). You also need to figure out which AoEs are best for which situations, and when to hold off for another turn to get the most value (as long as the board isn’t too threatening). Don’t even worry about your combo pieces against aggro. You will probably be using Flash Heal and Mind Blast for Wild Pyromancer proc’ing, and you can drop Emperor Thaurissan anytime you want since combo isn’t important. I’ll often just drop Prophet Velen onto the board to increase hero power or use with Flash Heal to basically seal the game. Same with Embrace the Shadow…usually just want to use it with Circle of Healing/Flash Heal/hero power to clear the board when necessary. Auch/Circle is definitely MVP of the Shaman matchup, but be sure to use it wisely. Don’t waste it on a board that only poses a minor threat. If you can, maybe just throw an Acolyte of Pain/Loot Hoarder on board and heal yourself to let them value trade and fill their board a little more before clearing.

Against Control

Control matchups are also great matchups for this deck…as long as it’s not Warrior. Against anything but Warrior, you can just focus on cycling into your combo and taking it kinda slow. Wait until you have enough pieces in hand to guarantee 30+ single-turn damage before dropping Emperor Thaurissan on board. You will usually gather enough pieces long before they’re able to pose any kind of threat to you. Very simple matchups. Control Warrior, however, can be tricky. You’re basically on a clock from the very first turn to gather all the pieces you need before their armor gets outta control. Because of this, you will probably want to just go crazy with the cycle and not even worry about milling yourself sometimes using Wild Pyromancer/Northshire Cleric/Circle of Healing combos (it’s worth the risk to just hope you don’t burn the wrong cards). You will probably need the entire combo (40+ damage) when the time comes, so be sure not to drop Thaurissan too early. Until then, just try to get any damage into his face that you can. Try to lure him into clearing your minions with his weapon when possible. The benefit of this deck is that usually no one suspects you’re playing OTK Priest until it’s too late. If he clears your Justicar Trueheart with his Fiery War Axe because he still feels safe at 30hp then that’s great for you.

Against Tempo/Midrange

These are the worst matchups for this deck. As you can see from the stats sheet, I’ve gradually tweaked it over time to work a little better against Druid and Tempo Warrior since they were so difficult for me at first. Mage and Rogue are similar as well, and I’d say all 4 of these matchups can get pretty close to even once you’ve got a lot of experience with this deck. It’s a bit of a combination between your aggro and control approaches…you will want to cycle quickly when possible while also being aware of when you’ll need to use your board clears. Against Miracle Rogue, for example, you’ll want to be sure you’re able to clear stealth’d minions with 4 health when the time comes. So try to use more targeted removal when you’re able to (Auchenai Soulpriest + Flash Heal or Shadow Word: Death). Depending on how the game is shaping up, you can decide whether or not the combo is going to be required. Maybe you’ll only need a few pieces rather than the entire combo, and in that case feel free to drop Thaurissan earlier than usual just to help fight for the board or get some damage in.

If you’d like to add me on Bnet (US), my tag is strayfnord#1361. You’re welcome to spectate me anytime as well. I’m probably going to continue tweaking this deck as I start facing a different overall meta at legend ranks, but this is the exact list that got me from rank 4 to legend (with a 7-game winstreak to finally reach it at the end). Feel free to ask any questions. Enjoy!