The full set of cards dropping into the game with United in Stormwind has been revealed! As we always do here, it is time to review these new cards, this article focusing on how Priest is likely to perform in the new meta.
- You can see all the new cards in our United in Stormwind expansion guide.
- Our deckbuilder will let you theorycraft your own decks using new cards before the expansion arrives.
- You can simulate pack openings in our United in Stormwind Pack Opening simulator.
Keep in mind that this is an early look at the class before we've been able to play with the new cards, so while we try to be as accurate as possible in our predictions of what is to come, no one can perfectly predict the Hearthstone meta.
Priest Deck Themes in United in Stormwind
Shadows consume you!
With the release of United in Stormwind, Shadow Priest is given a huge push! Now, this archetype isn't really new, considering Priest already had cards like Shadowform or Mind Blast, and it even received some support through others like Shadowbomber, or Spawn of Shadows, but by no means was it ever anywhere near viable.
Players have tried and tried again to put a deck together, that has a bigger emphasis on the more sinister aspects of the class' identity, like stealing one's thoughts and corrupting the minds, but it never really quite worked out. The archetype was always missing something that gave its parts a certain cohesion, something that pulled it all together.
... And that something has finally come in the form of the Shadow Spell School! This new card tribe, that was introduced in Forged in the Barrens, and has now been built upon in this Expansion, might give Shadow Priest the tools necessary to become a fully fleshed out archetype.
So, let's have a look at the new cards!
Darkbishop Benedictus
Come to the Dark Side!
We'll start off with the most stand-out card for Priest this Expansion: Darkbishop Benedictus. A legendary card, that allows players to harness the power of the dark as Shadow Priests.
Since its reveal, people have compared this card to Genn Greymane and Baku the Mooneater, two insanely strong Hero Power altering cards that had to rotate out early because of their extreme presence and power level in the then-standard Meta. Now, Darkbishop Benedictus probably won't have as much of a presence, since it's a card bound to one class' specific archetype, but what about its viability?
Well, one thing that stands in its favor, is its consistency through the Start of Game effect, which deals with Shadow Priest's biggest problem: getting into Shadowform in the first place. Before Darkbishop, you had to go through the hassle of actually drawing your Shadowform and then waste 3 mana just to cast it, which is simply way too slow for any aggressive deck. But now, you'll start with it right away, allowing you to immediately impact the board and gain tempo through your superior Hero Power.
Which brings us to the next point: early removal. Up until a couple of weeks ago, Priests had good ways to come back into the game, especially through Blademaster Samuro and Apotheosis. But, ever since this combo was nerfed, Priests have to rely more on their early removal, which is quite lacking at the moment, considering it only consists of Holy Smite, Devouring Plague and maybe Condemn (Rank 1). However, the Hero Power that Darkbishop provides might just solve that problem. It's cheap, good enough to ping/finish off smaller minions, and most importantly, always there.
Another point worth mentioning are the spells available to the archetype that Darkbishop pushes for. If you take a quick glance at the most common Priest spells, you'll see that a good chunk of them can be included in a Shadow Priest deck.
The most notable are:
- Raise Dead
- Thrive in the Shadows
- Shadow Word: Death
- Insight
- Palm Reading
- Devouring Plague
- Shadow Word: Ruin
- Hysteria
- Auspicious Spirits
- Soul Mirror
So we have consistency, cheap removal, and good spells available, but what are the downsides to Darkbishop Benedictus? The biggest one would probably be the loss of a lot of healing and defense (indirectly) due to the deck building restriction. Not only will you lose out on cards like Renew, Desperate Prayer, or even Flash Heal to restore your health as Shadow Priest, you also won't have access to Lesser Heal. This will leave you more vulnerable to face damage, and may cost you the game if your opponent manages to out-tempo you.
Oh yeah, also he's a vanilla 5 mana 5/6 after the game starts. But hey, still better than a 9 mana Patches.
Voidtouched Attendant & Psyfiend
It hurts so good!
Next up, we have what might end up become the bread and butter of Shadow Priest decks: Voidtouched Attendant and Psyfiend.
While your Hero Power should be good at taking out small minions and doing damage over time, these two little fellas on the other hand can provide your deck with huge bursts of damage and finishing power. Given that both of these cards have a pretty low mana cost, they have a very high combo potential, especially when paired with cost reduction, like Palm Reading or Nazmani Bloodweaver.
And, of course, they can also be played outside of Uncle Ben's Shadow Priest! For example, imagine playing Psyfiend in a kind of Rally! Priest, where you have access to cards like Apotheosis and Gift of Luminance. Or Voidtouched Attendant in Wild with everyone's favorite Death Knight!
Another aspect of these two, that shouldn't be overlooked, are their good vanilla stats. A 1 mana 1/3, and a 3 mana 3/4 should be good on-curve plays if your going for tempo. Especially Voidtouched Attendant, which could get away with being played on curve, since there are not that many 1 mana spells around, that could deal with it immediately. Given that it's effect influences ALL damage sources, it could help softening your opponent up with early chip damage so you can finish them of easier with the second copy.
But, something that you have to keep in mind when playing Voidtouched Attendant and Psyfiend, is that their effects are symmetrical and Hero only. As mentioned before, Shadow Priest doesn't have as much healing as your usual Priest, meaning that you'll have to be careful when you play these cards. Play Voidtouched Attendant too early, and your opponent might get in some serious damage. Play Psyfiend too late, and you won't have enough health left to pop off with your combo.
However, maybe you could use this symmetrical effect to your advantage, with cards like Flesh Giant or Brittlebone Destroyer.
Twilight Deceptor
Deceptively simple, insanely fun shadowy.
Another supporter for Shadow spells that Priest got from this Expansion is Twilight Deceptor .
This card has a simple, yet quite strong effect: do x, draw y. And since it specifically tutors for Shadow spells, you can build your deck around that, making sure you will always draw something useful. The condition for that is quite easy to fulfill:
- You can use your Hero Power you received from Darkbishop Benedictus;
- Trigger the effects of Psyfiend orShadowcloth Needle;
- Play Raise Dead;
- Or simply attack with your minions!
There isn't really a downside to this card, outside of maybe other Priest decks having a harder time damaging their opponents, which makes this harder to activate.
Shadowcloth Needle
You'll feel a little sting... all of you.
Last, and maybe (?) least, we have Shadowcloth Needle for Priest's Shadow supporters.
This weapon is pretty cheap, and it also synergizes quite nicely with Voidtouched Attendant, which essentially doubles this cards face damage.
What sucks about Shadowcloth Needle though is that the AoE itself is very weak, and needs additional help in order to get triggered. The cheapest way of triggering it, without any reduction, would be through Raise Dead. But even then, you'd have to pay 2 mana and 3 health for a 1 damage AoE. To put this in perspective, Holy Ripple, a card that has not seen any play, was also a 2 mana 1 damage AoE, but it actually gave you life.
The only redeeming quality this effect has, is that it can be triggered multiple times, which might help you stand a chance against Token/board-swarming decks, that haven't buffed their minions yet.
Seek Guidance
Time to step out of the shadows.
Let's have a look at the Quest.
At first glance, the Questline seems very straight forward: play Curvestone. You use the cards in the first step to generate some resources and draw a bit, then you stall during the second step so you can complete the third step with your late game bombs. And after that's done, you get a reward that's literally game winning! Does that sound good?
Well...
If you've been keeping up with our Questing in Stormwind series, you should know by now that this card is extremely slow. If the numbers work out, this game plan will take you around 15 turns to complete. Even if you have god-like draws, with cards like Primordial Protector or Lorekeeper Polkelt, you're still looking at a 10 turn game where you have to play slow, suboptimal cards just to be able to finish the Quest.
Probably the only way this could ever work out would be through some cheesy High Abbess Alura strategy.
Void Shard & Shard of the Naaru
Carefull, sharp edges.
Now, these shards look a lot more promising than that Quest reward!
Void Shard fits right into the new Shadow Priest, because not only can it deal face damage, it also provides some much needed healing. Though 4 damage for 4 mana is not exactly great, and may limit its use in combos, it should still be a decent enough option for slower Shadow decks. Outside of those, however, Void Shard might struggle a bit with seeing play, due to its suboptimal cost.
Shard of the Naaru on the other hand probably won't have that problem. This card seems insanely good! Silence effects have always been quite useful, but what's really the kicker is the Tradeable keyword. It allows you to use this for card draw as often as you'd like! If you compare this to Mass Dispel, a card that's been used as tech because of it's silence and cycle, you can effectively pay the same amount of mana, but draw two more cards!
Oh, and the best thing: you can get it from Wandmaker!
Call of the Grave
This call goes out to all the Children of the Grave!
Speaking of Wandmaker, here is a less exciting 1 mana card it can generate!
The effect seems pretty interesting, but, since the current standard Deathrattle pool isn't really great at the moment, the outcome will be more often than not be rather mediocre. There are some nice bombs that you can get, like Plagued Protodrake, Cairne Bloodhoof, or something more situational like Taelan Fordring and Lightshower Elemental, but there's also quite some underwhelming cards to straight up duds, like Mailbox Dancer and Darkspear Berserker that screw with Call of the Grave's consistency.
Elekk Mount
And here's Priest's 10th card!
Don't know what to say about this one really...
Yes, it's similar to Spikeridged Steed, which used to be a great card, but it's no longer 2017 and big vanilla stat-sticks are not gonna cut it anymore. Also, neither do Priests have Paladin's reliable minion generation to have a guaranteed buff target, nor do they have real tools to take advantage of big minions, like Divine Spirit or Inner Fire.
It's gonna be alright when you generate it or if you're drafting it in Arena, but that's about it.
Neutral Card - Pandaren Importer
I'd give an arm for that idol!
Lastly, let's have a little look at a card that I think will be seeing a lot of play in the future: Pandaren Importer.
It's effect seems pretty fascinating, because not only can it compensate for your deck's weaknesses, like Shadow Priest's healing, it can also tutor for specific cards outside the game! For example, you could build your deck in such a way, that Pandaren Importer has a specific set of tech cards in its selection, making it more flexible.
I could also imagine this being a good addition to Reno decks, since you can narrow down the selection of specific cards even further, due to the singleton rule.
Theorycrafting Priest in United in Stormwind
Here are a couple of community-created decks featuring some of Priest's new Stormwind cards. They each focus on their own side of Priesting in Stormwind, Shadow and Quest. Use these as-is or as a base for your own creation which I encourage you to add to the site in our deckbuilder and give it a share in the comments below.
Closing Thoughts on Priest in Forged in the Barrens
Although I think that Priest has received some interesting tools, I'm not too sure about their viability in constructed considering the current state of the class. Priest's defensive capabilities got hit quite hard by the last round of nerfs, which lead to them plummeting into low tier territory. Not really a great starting off point for an archetype that has even less healing.
It's gonna be tough, but I wouldn't say it's impossible for Priest to pull through. The 2 damage ping from Darkbishop Benedictus's Hero Power is really solid removal, Voidtouched Attendant and Psyfiend got some serious potential, and Pandaren Importer might be a key card in making up for the deck's weaknesses.
As for the Quest, I'm not convinced. Priest can't really afford to just sit there and wait it out. Again, their healing was taken down a couple of notches by the nerfs to Renew and Apotheosis, so their defense is quite lacking at the moment. If they want to make this Quest work, they need to find a way to somehow cheese it.
On a more personal note: I'm absolutely ready for joining the dark side! The Shadow stuff looks like a lot of fun to me. I've always liked it when Priest made use of their health as a resource instead of just, you know, healing up a bunch. Sacrificing a part of you in exchange for the power of shadow magic to destroy your opponent... sounds good to me!
What do you think about Priest in United in Stormwind? Let us know in the comments below!
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Comments
Call of the Grave is certainly not a flashy spell, and does come with some problems of its own. But I think people are really underestimating what this card can do.
There's 36 deathrattles in standard, and there's about 8 bad/situational ones. That means its about 22% of the time you'll get 1 bad option out of 3. Most of the good deathrattles are around 4-6 mana. In other words, if you play this on 7 (6 if it gets discounted) you're very likely to get a decent deathrattle trigger. Even if you dont get the trigger, you're spending 1 mana to get an option at a later point in the game. That's still entirely reasonable.
Also, the shadow spell tag shouldn't be ignored neither. With Shadowcloth Needle and Psyfiend, its possible to deal a good deal of damage out with Voidtouched Attendant. All you need are cheap shadow spells and this is a cheap shadowspell.
Friendly reminder that Grand Archivist exist , meaning you could use it to finish your quest , play 3 coins that you already got from Licensed Adventurer or Gilded Gargoyle play Xyrella and end your turn for an OTK (Of course this would require that you run 0 spells in your deck)
The quest doesn't have to work in every single match-up for it to be valuable. In pocket metas, maybe you tech it in to give a more consistent win condition in long control mirrors. A massively armored Control Warrior won't die to C'Thun, but will obviously die to the Shard.
Priest is my least played class in ranked.
The only Priest deck I really liked was Dragon Priest because it was some kind of "Midrange Priest".
Darkbishop Benedictus will be the only legendary in this set I will craft 100% because it will enable a "Midrange Priest" (or even a "Aggro Priest") again.
I need all the legendary cards this set for the soul reason of getting diamond Benedictus as a reward! I don’t care if Shadow Priest ends up being good or not, I just want it! I don’t remember who said it in what interview, but I swear they promised more future Shadow Priest support not long after Mind Blast went Hall of Fame. And FINALLY they delivered something that could maybe make a viable Shadow Priest deck beyond Shadowreaper Anduin. I have been hyped since the reveal of this card! Kind of hope they explore other “class specs” in the future with similar cards.