Weekly Legends: Un’goro OTK Priest!

Introduction

And we are BACK! After a long (loooong) hiatus it is time to finally dive back into Hearthstone and get exploring the wild world of Un’goro. I have played just about every single class over the past few days, and while I did well with a lot of different builds, the one that has been far and away the best is the OTK Priest deck J4ckiechan took an insane run in the high ranks. The list seems rather weak at first glance, but the more you play it the more you realize how insanely powerful it can be. I played the deck from 11 to 3 in just a few hours and there is no reason why I couldn’t take it to legend. Not only is it good against most of the decks on the current ladder, but it also has a huge advantage in being very, very consistent. In fact, it may be the most consistent combo deck I have ever played.

Those of you who have been with me for a long time know how much I love combo Priest. Velen is the only Priest build I have ever taken to legend, and this follows that trend. Your goal here is to control the early board for a turn or two, and then turn that push into a Divine Spirit/Inner Fire combo for massive amounts of damage. Those two cards have been around since the dawn of beta, and they have almost always been too janky or too slow to actually see any serious play. However, Un’goro has brought the archetype a ton of new tools, and all of them come together in a beautifully seamless way.

Key Cards

Northshire Cleric

You need to draw with this deck. A lot. There are several ways to do that, but the best is with Northshire Cleric. The 1/3 is not a card you want to try to get small value out of here. Yes, there are times where you can draw a single card, but most often you are looking for the go-big, draw-half-the-deck kind of swings. It is not hard to assemble damage in this build, and that means you don’t need that many cards to string your finishing combo together. The best way to make use of Cleric is by either putting her down and healing on a board where she is tough to kill, or going off with Circle of Healing. Playing Wild Pyromancer into a spell into circle is one of the best ways to get value with the 1/3, and it a play you should make quite often.

Card draw is often more important than tempo. While you go need to have board control for this deck to work (none of your minions have charge) you absolutely will not get anywhere without a big hand. So much so, that using Northshire Cleric to heal both your opponent’s minions as well as your own is often the right play during the early turns of the game. There have been countless times where I have traded poorly to set up gigantic heals, netting five or six cards at once. That can feel odd when you’re doing it, but remember that your card draw is what is going to carry the day. Unless there is something that absolutely needs to die, you do not want to miss a chance to dig deep into your deck.

Inner Fire/Divine Spirit

Ah, one of the oldest combos in the book. Both Inner Fire and Divine Spirit are inherently weak on their own, but they are fantastic together. Most games with this deck you are going to use spirit on a six or more health minion (thanks to things like Power Word: Shield and Kabal Talonpriest) and then spirit again before playing Inner Fire to create a 20 to 40 attack beast that just ends the game. When setting this up for lethal always try to evenly spread your health buffs. Committing things like Kabal Talonpriest or double Power Word: Shield onto one body can tip your opponent off to and allow them to answer you before you’re ready. However, if you have two or three things with six health, they all represent lethal with the combo.

Also know that you do not have to wait on these two spells. The rotation has brought a lot of changes to Hearthstone, and one of the biggest is the lack of hard removal. Most of the popular decks, from Pirate Warrior to Quest Rogue to Aggro Druid and Midrange Hunter, have no way to kill a big early minion. There have been many games where I have won by simply making a 16/16 or 24/24 and just going face. Yes, that may have not been the kill right away, but there is very little most classes can do about that body. Something as simple as a coined Radiant Elemental/Power Word: Shield into turn two Divine Spirit/Inner Fire gives you a two mana 10/10 with charge. And tell me, what is Pirate going to do about that?

Radiant Elemental

What’s better than a 3/2 Sorcerer’s Apprentice? How about a 2/3 Sorcerer’s Apprentice? Radiant Elemental is an insane card that allows you to go off in so many ways. One thing you will notice about the deck is that the curve is very low. In fact, Shadow Word: Death is the only spell that costs three or more. That means when you play the 2/3 every spell in your hand is going to be one or zero mana. For that reason, when you have the elemental in hand (or when you’re planning to play it) you should always see the discount it is going to give and then analyze the ways you can make use of the discount. This is not a card you just want to play because you can. You always want to try to capitalize on the ability right away.

I will often tempo this card out early if I have the opportunity to do so. Most decks have no way to take down a 2/3 (especially if it gets Power Word: Shield) on an empty board and if this lives a turn you can do some extremely powerful swing and draw plays out of nowhere. For example, using Shadow Visions to get and cast a Shadow Word: Pain on your opponent’s two drop, or playing Northshire Cleric and buffing it with double shield. That then builds into your turn three of Kabal Talonpriest or Injured Blademaster. Those small tempo shifts allow you to hold the board, and taking advantage of the elemental is one of the best ways to make them happen.

Wild Pyromancer

I bring up Wild Pyromancer, not so much for what it does, but for how good it is against the current meta. Yes, getting one damage to your own board is very good at setting up Northshire Cleric, but it also amazing against Pirate, Hunter, Aggro Druid, Rogue and Zoo. Power Word: Shield and Kabal Talonpriest really allow the two drop to burn everything in its path, and that is often game winning. In fact, it is so good against the decks listed above that I would say it acts as your win condition anytime you’re facing aggro. Do not just play this to get minimal value. Like with Cleric, you really want to go big with the pyro. Saving up a few small spells and then unloading on a board after your opponent has committed numerous resources is one of the best ways to end games. Though they might not concede on the spot, that type of tempo is usually too much to handle. Much like Radiant Elemental, pyro is a card that you always want to carefully think about before running it out. Unless you just need a body, it should always be accompanied by a few well thought out spells.

Shadow Visions

The card that makes the entire deck possible, Shadow Visions is just bonkers. And I mean b-o-n-k-e-r-s. As many card players know, tutoring (the fancy MTG word for being able to go through your deck and find any card you want) is always incredibly strong. Sometimes it is good for value, but most of the time the reason it is so strong is because of combo. This deck is a toolbox where you craft your different spells in a way that allows you to quickly win the game. When you can find just about any spell you need at any time, then things get really crazy. Sometimes you want removal, sometimes you want to combo off, and sometimes you just need an extra Power Word: Shield. Versatility is always important, and this card just oozes it.

I have used this card to win games with Divine Spirit, Inner Fire, Shadow Word: Death, Shadow Word: Pain, and even Potion of Madness. Just about every spell in this list has value in the right situation, and even when you don’t get the exact things you want you can still make use out of what you do find. That gets even better when you have things like Wild Pyromancer or Radiant Elemental on the board. Also note that visions gives you a copy of a spell from your deck. That means you can do things like get triple Divine Spirit (which really helps you take down decks that go above 30) or multiple Shadow Word: Pains against decks with small minions.

Matchups

The five decks I have seen the most on the early ladder.

Pirate Warrior

For some reason I’ll just never be able to understand, Pirate Warrior continues to be the most popular deck at the high ranks. That is very annoying from a deckbuilder standpoint, but it is pretty good news from this deck’s standpoint. We are quite favored in this one for a couple of reasons. One, our early minions do a good job of challenging pirate. Something like a turn one Northshire Cleric instantly shuts down any N’zoth’s First Mate/Patches the Pirate shenanigans, while a coined out Radiant Elemental/Power Word: Shield has more health than they want to deal with. Your goal is to play one thing with enough health to stick, and then try your best to use that body to control the board until you can kill your opponent in one go.

Do not be afraid to build a big minion quickly. Pirate plays in such a way where they aren’t going to take the time to trade into the board. As a result, turning a 1/6 into a 6/6 instantly puts you in control and can even give you pressure to flip the script on them. If you can go bigger than that, even better. The other win condition you have in this one is Priest of the Feast. In fact, all you have to do is go off with the 3/6 once and you should be able to climb out of your opponent’s range. When you have priest in hand you should simply try and play it down with a Power Word: Shield or combine it with Radiant Elemental to go crazy.

Zoo

Zoo is not an easy game. Warlock’s new cards are quite strong, and both the midrange and discard variants can pack on pressure out of nowhere. The way you win this game is by out tempoing your opponent with big minions or Wild Pyromancer. You need to use your bodies to control the board because if you don’t get out ahead of your opponent you are going to get absolutely run over. However, if you do manage to get ahead you should be able to cruise. This whole game is extremely tempo oriented. Zoo’s only real way to take back tempo is Soulfire, so once they lose the board they are going to have a lot of problems getting it back. From there, you just need to control your opponent’s minions until you draw your combo.

This is another match where getting a big minion can also help you push to a quick victory. Without Power Overwhelming, Soulfire is the only real way Zoo can trade up. They can no longer can climb to gigantic heights, and something like an early 8/8 forces them to answer you. If you ever get an opening to buff an early minion you should take it. Even if you need to use that minion to trade for a few turns, that should give you enough time to set up your finishers. Just know this is one of the games where you don’t need to go big to win. The new Zoo only has so many threats and if you can wear them down turn after turn you should be able to simply win the game through normal means. Things like Injured Blademaster and Priest of the Feast do a great job of eating multiple things for the price of one.

Taunt Warrior

I am not sure what to make of this matchup. If you were to ask me, I would say it is one of the most difficult. However, my win rate would disagree. I think the most important thing to know when facing Warrior is to understand that they only have four sources of hard removal. Those are the two Executes and Shield Slams, but they are usually only going to have two or three in any one game. Not only that, but most Warriors aren’t going to commit to killing things like a 1/6 Northshire Cleric, which leaves them open to death a lot of the time. Know this and do your best to buff up your more unassuming minions. Things like Injured Blademaster usually eat removal, but smaller bodies will generally be ignored. You are only going to have one chance to go off, and you need to take it.

You spend this game assembling your combo while making sure that your opponent doesn’t put annoying taunts in your way. Shadow Word: Death and Shadow Word: Pain are both very strong in this game because they allow you to clear the way before putting up lethal. One important interaction is using one of your Inner Fires on a four health taunt to allow you to Shadow Word: Death it. That is one of the cleanest ways to answer things like The Curator.

One of your most important cards of this game is Potion of Madness because it helps you steal both Bloodhoof Brave and Alley Armorsmith. This interaction doesn’t come up too often, but it is a great way to get lethal. Stealing an armorsmith and then buffing it twice with Divine Spirit into Inner Fire will get you a lot of wins.

Midrange Hunter

A deck that I believe will get stronger through the weeks, Midrange Hunter is the real deal. However, they are another deck that does not matchup well against us. The new Hunter has a lot of power but they also depend on being able to curve out. If you disrupt that curve they are going to have a really bad time. Just like when playing Zoo, having one strong minion or big threat that you can use to trade is going to allow to pace the game in the way you want. For games where your opponent gets out ahead of you, Wild Pyromancer is your best tool. The 3/2 just obliterates a ton of Hunter’s current openings, especially when paired with a Power Word: Shield or Shadow Word: Pain. Note that this is a matchup where Potion of Madness does a ton of work as well. Do your best to save it for Rat Pack or Kindly Grandmother if possible.

Once again, this is a game where big minions go very far. The new Hunters only form of removal is either Kill Command or a timely poison adapt. Most versions are currently running a combination of Bittertide Hydra and Savannah Highmane as their top end, which means you can easily go over their head before they get to those minions. The 8/8 on five is perhaps the thing you need to worry about the most because if you don’t have an answer it will quickly kill you. I would treat this matchup as a four turn game where you either need to be setting up lethal or have full control of the board by five. Do what you can to keep pace with your opponent and be very careful to not fall behind.

Quest Rogue

The early public enemy number one, Quest Rogue cannot keep up with our deck. Unless they get a god draw where they both achieve and play the quest on turn four, there is very little they are going to be able to do against your openings. You are a deck that is just about unstoppable when your opponent lets you have a few early turns to develop, and that is exactly what Rogue does. In this game you and your opponent are both going to spend time setting up combos, but you reliably go off just a little bit faster. Even if you don’t have the full burst you can leverage things like Injured Blademaster and Kabal Talonpriest to really get some hits in and make your opponent take some poor routes. Rogue mostly wants to just race to The Caverns Below, but that won’t happen if they think they’re in trouble. Also note that the quest Rogue does not run Sap. This means you can freely set up your combo (such as putting a Power Word: Shield and Divine Spirit on a Northshire Cleric) without having all the pieces together. Plays like that are a great way to make sure something sticks around.

Mulligan Guide

When mulliganing you want to almost always throw back your combo pieces and try to keep all of the early game you can find. Northshire Cleric and Radiant Elemental are your two must keeps, but you should keep Potion of Madness, Wild Pyromancer and Shadow Word: Pain against any aggro deck that needs early board. Pyro and Cleric also make a good keep if you have a shield or Circle of Healing to go along with them.

Power Word: Shield should be kept with any minion and, as mentioned, you always want Circle of Healing if you have either a Northshire Cleric opening or an Injured Blademaster. Shadow Visions is very strong alongside any opening minions, and you want Acolyte of Pain and Kabal Talonpriest with a curve or the coin.

Conclusion

Un-goddamn-goro. I am just having so much fun it is unreal. There are so many cool decks and fun things to try out that I am having an absolute blast. Out of every deck I’ve tried, this is by far the strongest. Not only do you have some insane consistency for a strong combo deck, but it also matches up really well against the field. I cannot wait to get deeper and deeper into the different lists in the coming weeks, but this is a good place to start. Hope you are having as much fun as I am. Until next time, may you always attack for 30.

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