Legend Deck Highlight: Zetalot’s Reno Shadow Dragon Priest

Zetalot is one of the most accomplished Priest player on the Hearthstone ladder and his ability to consistently hit Legend with the class even when the odds are against the favor of his favorite class is quite uncanny. He plays the class almost exclusively and plays several hundred games each season on stream. Today we will take a look at one of his latest creations, Reno Priest deck that combines the use of Shadowform and Dragons. Dragon Priest is one of the more reliable counters to aggressive decks if you have a good curve and Reno decks have the burst heal necessary to come back from low HP and turn the tables in your favor. He tried to put together both of these archetypes and also threw in a copy of Shadowform to get a high tempo hero power instead of the otherwise passive hero power Priest has access to.

The deck is designed to beat aggressive decks very consistently and you also have a decent amount of lategame to beat control decks. The deck was piloted by him to Legend ranks this month and he had a positive winrate against every meta deck in the game right now. Let’s break down the card choices in the deck and go over mulligans and matchups today, so you can try out the deck yourself on ladder.

Card Choices

Holy Smite: A simple and cheap removal that costs just 1 mana to take out small enemy minions. With so many 1 and 2 HP minions in the game right now, Holy Smite is quite valuable in the current meta and it is one of the cheapest Priest removals in the game.

Northshire Cleric: With a ton of aggressive decks running 1 HP minions, Northshire Cleric is very valuable in the current meta because you are able to take out tokens and then heal up your Cleric to draw cards. Even on its own, it is a high value minion that demands removal if your opponent does not want you to draw cards.

Power Word: Shield: One of the few sources of consistent card draw for Priest for just 1 mana. It is a great card for getting value out of your minions by keeping them alive and also cycling it for a mana.

Twilight Whelp: A cheap dragon with a great statline if you are able to trigger its battlecry. It can deal with aggressive decks quite handily and in slower games you can hold onto the card to trigger all Dragon related effects that require you to have a Dragon in your hand.

Shadow Word: Pain: A cheap and efficient removal for taking out low attack minions for just 2 mana. There are plenty of targets for the spell in the current meta and it is a very valuable Priest removal that can get a lot of work done.

Wyrmrest Agent: A very powerful Dragon synergy card that can shut down aggressive decks in the early turns very easily thanks to its high HP and Taunt ability. Buffing him up can help you get a lot of value against aggro decks and keep your health pool at a stable level.

Kabal Talonpriest: A very powerful 3 drop that can help you buff up one of your minions and help you get multiple trades off your minions and get more value out of them. Even without its Battlecry effect it is a decent minion with a 3/4 stat line that can go 2 for 1 in a lot of cases against fast decks.

Shadow Word: Death: A great single target removal for big minions that take out beefy minions for just 3 mana. The cheap mana cost makes it a worthy addition in pretty much any Priest deck in the meta.

Shadowform: Priest is known to be a very reactive class and sometimes you spend turns doing nothing with your hero power. Shadowform on the other hand, is a very powerful and proactive hero power that can snowball games if you constantly get value out of it. One of the tradeoffs is that you will lose your healing ability of your hero power, but in return you will be able to have a more proactive playstyle. Since Dragon Priest is a very tempo heavy deck, having a hero power that supports it goes a long way.

Greater Healing Potion: Since we run Shadowform in the deck you will not be able to heal yourself with your hero power once you play the card. Greater Healing Potion allows the player to get a lot of burst healing for just 4 mana and it can help you turn around sketchy situations very efficiently.

Drakonid Operative: It is the first card of its kind, being able to discover cards from your opponent’s deck is not something we have ever seen before in any of the past releases and it’s good to see such new styles of card draw based upon the Discover mechanic. While the card can feel slightly oppressive because even though it has such a powerful effect, it does not have any kind of drawback when it comes to its raw stats – it is great in the  deck and allows you to get access to your opponent’s cards and also information about your opponent’s deck. Unlike most other discover cards you have absolutely no drawback at all which makes this a really good card to run in any dragon themed Priest deck.

Excavated Evil: While the card does have its drawbacks and it can hurt your own minions, it is still a very reliable AoE that can clear our minions that have 3 HP or less. Since most of the minions in this deck have more than 3 HP, it is not a deal breaker as the upside of being able to make comebacks against aggressive decks is what makes this card extremely valuable.

Holy Nova: It is one of the most reliable forms of AoE and has been featured in mostPriest decks in history, being able to wipe out small minions while also healing all friendly characters makes Holy Nova a great pick in the deck. You will be able to get extra trades or evade opponent’s AoE spells by keeping your minions healthy while also allowing you to dominate on your board presence quite handily.

Kabal Songstealer: It is mostly a card meant to counter buffs and deathratles and serves as an anti-control card. It is one of the first silence cards to have released ever since the mechanic was nerfed as a whole, there seems to be this trend of having better stats for respective mana costs compared to previous releases and Kabal Songstealer is no different either. You have absolutely no drawback in stats and it’s a great card if you want board presence as well.

Raza The Chained: Since the release of Hearthstone, Raza is definitely the top contender for being the best Priest legendary till date. The effect requires you to run a highlander deck but the value that he provides in return is just exemplary and you will be able to get great value through your free hero power. Whether it is your basic hero power or Shadowform you want to use for free, Raza can help you provide plenty of tempo advantage that allows you to continue playing cards on curve, while also squeezing in your hero power.

Dragonfire Potion: One of the most powerful AoE spells in the game right now, it has the ability to wipe out massive boards. I would recommend adding the card even in non-Dragon decks, but the added benefit of having so many Dragons in this deck makes the card all the more worthwhile. It is a very mana efficient way to make a comeback in the midgame and it has helped me win games quite consistently.

Entomb: One of the lesser used cards in the current meta, but since the deck extends games a lot you do not want to get blown out by control decks. Being able to shut down high value lategame minions or threats that can snowball your opponent to victory makes Entomb a great card to run in this otherwise aggressive meta.

Acidic Swamp Ooze: With so many weapon heavy decks floating around in the meta it , the most efficient answer to weapons is definitely good old Acidic Swamp Ooze to clear out a threatening weapon. Initially it was just Pirate Warrior that was popular but the rise of Aggro Shaman in the meta makes weapon removal all the more essential for not only avoiding face damage but to also preserve your minions and get more value out of them.

Doomsayer:  A card that was a niche pick in decks like Freeze Mage changed a lot in terms of value over time and it is one of the most popular picks to beat aggressive meta decks. It sometimes sees play even in Mid Range decks as well all over the meta. With so much aggression in the meta, Doomsayer is one of the best ways to deal with early game spam and if nothing else you get at least 7 extra HP most of the time even if your Doomsayer gets killed. Do not get too greedy with the Doomsayer value because even on turn 2, it is not guaranteed that you will be able to get its effect off going  by how aggressive some decks can get.

Netherspite Historian: A lot of people undervalue Discover effects and claim people should just run the cards they want to draw through the discover effects in the deck directly instead of including Discover effects. However, the ability to find cards based on your needs, even though it is random is what makes these cards good. And there is no better example of that than Netherpsite Historian. The flexibility that it offers is a lot more valuable than simply running a Dragon you would want in the deck. You can find cheap dragons to smooth out your curve if you have a dead hand or simply play it with Brann Bronzebeard against control decks to outvalue your opponent. Netherspite Historian is a great card when it comes to finding answers or cards to play and there are plenty of times when it can bail you out of sticky situations.

Blackwing Technician: It is a solid 3 drop that is very good against aggressive decks and can provide a ton of value when it comes to trading off aggressive minions and keeping your health pool safe. Even if you do not manage to trigger the battlecry you will be able to get a 2/4 for 3 mana which is fair enough in the early game to control aggressive decks.

Brann Bronzebeard: With a substantial amount of powerful battlecries that this deck has access to, it is an absolute necessity to include Brann in the deck to capitalize on the powerful effects the Dragon synergy cards tend to have. Ever since the launch of Blackrock Mountain, pretty much most Dragon themed cards have powerful battlecry effects and the deck has over a dozen Battlecry minions that you can squeeze even more value out of. One of the tips I’d like to offer the readers when playing very slow decks is to save your Netherspite Historian and your Brann Bronzebeard and play both the cards in one turn to get immense value against slow decks.

Twilight Drake: It is a solid neutral 4 drop that does not rely on other Dragons to trigger its effect and it has the ability to trade well against aggressive decks very well thanks to the potentially high health pool you can generate for the minion if you have a lot of cards in your hand. Since you not aggressively play on curve like other Dragon Priest decks, you have a lot of cards saved up in your hand often and Twilight Drake can benefit from that quite easily.

Twilight Guardian: It is a very powerful Neutral Dragon that you definitely want to include if you want to play Dragon decks. Twilight Guardian is one of the best anti-aggro taunts you will find in the game when its condition is met and being able to buff his health up with your cards can put off enemy minions from hitting your face for quite a while!

Kazakus: It is the most powerful Kabal card and offers a ton of value for people playing Reno decks, whether it is Priest, Mage or Warlock. Being able to create custom spells is a very unique effect and more often than not you will be able to make very high tempo spells or clutch removal spells that have the potential to bail you out of any situation.

Azure Drake: A classic minion that sees play in most meta decks and it is being moved out into the Hall of Fame in the recent future once the next rotation happens. Azure Drake is mostly used for the cycle and spell damage in the decks it is used but the Dragon tag also helps us out in this case as well and adds another feather to our deck. While he does not have the best stats for a 5 drop, the sheer value that the card offers is enough to warrant its inclusion in the deck.

Blackwing Corruptor: One of the most powerful Dragon synergy cards that serves as a very high tempo tool. It is great for getting back the board or to simply apply pressure on your opponent in the mid game when he’s getting low on health.

Book Wyrm:  Despite the high mana cost, Book Wyrm is a very valuable card that . Book Wyrm is one of the more recent additions to Dragon decks that came out in One Night in Karazhan and even though a lot of people thought he is a slow card, Book Wyrm broke into the spotlight and has been seeing a ton of play in Dragon decks.

Reno Jackson: One of the most loved legendaries in the game, which can bring you back from low HP to full health instantly if you build your deck with singleton inclusions only. Since we have only one copy of Shadowform unlike a lot of other Shadow Reno decks you have nothing to worry about except for the occasional Entomb that might add a second copy of a card to your deck. He is a very powerful comeback card and can turn around games in an instant.

Ysera: It used to be a pseudo class legendary for Priest in the early days of Hearthstone but times have changed a lot and the card went out of favor with the meta being faster than ever. The card makes a comeback due to a lack of silence in the current meta and it is really hard to remove a Ysera due to how resilient the stats are. If your Ysera sticks around you are going to win on the back of the card quite easily.

Mulligan

Against Aggro

• Wyrmrest Agent
• Doomsayer
• Acidic Swamp Ooze (if opponent’s deck has weapons)
• Northshire Cleric
• Twilight Whelp
• Shadow Word: Pain
• Kabal Talonpriest
• Reno Jackson

Against Control

• Wyrmrest Agent
• Twilight Whelp
• Shadowform
• Kabal Talonpriest
• Raza the Chained

Matchups

Favorable matchups

• Pirate Warrior
• Tempo Mage
• Aggro Shaman (Jade/Pirate)
• Pirate Rogue

 

Unfavorable matchups

• Renolock (Combo)
• Miracle Rogue
• Mid-Range Jade Shaman
• Jade Druid

Even Matchups

• Renolock (non-Combo variant)
• Reno Mage

Conclusion

Hope you enjoy the deck and if you have any inputs on the decklist, be sure to leave a comment below! The deck has been doing quite well for me on ladder and I’ve managed to climb till Rank 3 with it so far in less than 50 ladder games from the season reset. It is extremely fun to play and beats most meta decks very consistently.

---