Tommy J’s Cheap Heroic Zinaar Priest

Tommy J generously allowed us to host his decks and guides using (mostly) Basic cards to take down The League of Explorers Heroic bosses. Be sure to check out his YouTube Channel.

This fight was actually a really fun start to the adventure, as it introduces the new discovery mechanic in an interesting way. While there is a degree of RNG to the fight in that the cards his hero power gives you can limit what you’re able to do, this fight makes having a basic deck almost a non-issue as you can literally get any card from discovery. Just be careful about which card you pick out of the three – just because one card is super strong right now in the meta or is a Legendary doesn’t mean it’s the best for you in this situation! Take the time to think about how helpful each one will be to you, and whether or not you’ll actually be able to play it!

So the strat for this fight was essentially just try and maintain board control as best you can, and if you can do that until you catch up on mana the hard part is over! Just a tip – even if you have something planned out for a turn, use the discovery card his hero power gives you, since there’s a possibility you’ll get something even better. The things I found hardest in this fight were Dunemaul Shamans coming out early before you have really anything on the board,

Mulligan

Ideally you want a 1 cost 2/1 card that you can drop on your first turn, just incase Zinaar drops a Whirling Zap-o-matic. Shadow Word: Pain is an alternative. Aside from that you just want to try and get cards you can drop around turns 2-5, just in case you don’t get anything good from Discoveries.

Card Additions

Just like any Priest deck that takes buffs, Inner Fire is incredible and can make even the most difficult heroic bosses trivial with a bit of luck. Extra Silences would also work well (Mass Dispel, Ironbeak Owl, etc), as there are multiple Battlecry/Deathrattle/Effect minions that without their buff are no where near as scary. Lightbomb is also another good pickup, as there are a fair few high attack minions. Velen's Chosen is another card that could really swing the tide of battle for you. Summoning Stone is a great pickup, since every time you use a wish you’ll get a free Target Dummy!

Cards to Remove

While it can be a magnet for removal, the Grimscale Oracle is a pretty damn terrible card overall, and with only a few other murlocs in the deck isn’t worth taking if you have something better. Another one is the Northshire Cleric – unless you plan on buffing it, it can’t really kill a whole lot of stuff (pretty much just those 2/1 Snakes and Leper Gnome) and since there are a ton of sources of 3+ damage available to the boss through its minions and spells, it will likely die before it can provide you with any card draw.