Hey guys! It is I, Fireflyer, and today I want to go over something a little specific that has a lot of general information to go with it and that is the new quest spell, Awaken the Makers. If you have no clue about the new expansion and quest spells well don’t worry, the first thing I’ll go over is all the information we’ve received so far about the new expansion and quests. After that, we’ll have a quick discussion about the Priest quest specifically and how I plan to make best use of it. Lastly, we’ll go over a giant list of Standard Deathrattle minions (this relates to the quest itself) and decide which will be the best to use when constructing a deck specifically around this quest. Ok let’s jump into it!
What is a Quest?
For those that haven’t heard about the new Un’Goro expansion coming in early April, there is a new type of “Spell” called “Quests” that each class will get in Un’Goro. Each class will have its own quest, it is a legendary even though it’s a spell, and it doesn’t count towards the regular legendary minion for each class that comes with each expansion so in Un’Goro each class will be getting TWO legendaries, one minion and one quest. All of the quests will cost 1 mana and at the start of the game it will be in your opening hand before you mulligan. This is not an extra card, so it WILL take the spot of a card in your opening hand every game but it also gives you the option to mulligan it if you really want to. An example of maybe why you would: You’re playing a control deck and you’re up against aggro, you have your quest and two 8-mana or higher cards in your hand and you want something faster to keep the aggro away. You may consider dropping the quest and just not focusing on the quest in order to get a better starting hand.
Each quest has a “Quest:” section and a “Reward:” section. Once the quest is completed, you will receive your reward which is a legendary minion. For example, the Priest quest Awaken the Makers has a quest to “Summon 7 Deathrattle Minions”. Not too complicated but also not too easy to complete unless your deck is very focused on the quest. But that’s because the reward is pretty insane. If you complete the quest you receive Amara, Warden of Hope, which is a 5 mana 8/8 Taunt with Battlecry: Set your hero’s Health to 40. CRAZY!
So that’s all we know about quests. I’m eager to see how different the other classes are. I’m not sure if they’ll all be kind of the same, like people predicting the Shaman quest will be “Summon 7 Elemental minions”, but I hope there’s a good variety that will really create some fun class-specific quest decks.
Priest Quest: Awaken the Makers
So as I mentioned above, the Priest quest is Awaken the Makers and with how strong the quests are I just don’t believe that there won’t be some sort of deck for every class quest. When the information on this was released I was instantly hooked because I’ve been playing a bit of N’Zoth Deathrattle decks recently and I think that this quest is EASILY achievable. First I want to point out a few things.
Awaken the Makers requires you to “Summon” deathrattle minions. This isn’t the same as playing a card from your hand which is “Playing” a minion, you can trigger this effect in a few interesting ways but since the quest is a Priest only quest, let’s focus on just the ways a Priest can trigger this without playing a card.
- Resurrection: The two cards Resurrect and Onyx Bishop both summon a friendly minion that died this game and that will trigger the Priest quest. Resurrect is easy to put into the deck because if you only have Deathrattle minions then you will always summon one to trigger the quest. Onyx Bishop is only at a disadvantage because once you’ve played one, the second one or a Resurrect after it dies has a small chance of bringing it back which will not trigger the quest. I would say that Resurrect probably has a guaranteed spot because of how cheap the mana cost is and the guarantee that it will always be a Deathrattle minion but Onyx Bishop would not have a spot in my version however if you enjoy the resurrection-style cards and think he fits well with the curve I still think he could find a place in some version of this deck.
- Barnes: Barnes summons a copy of a random minion from your deck which will trigger the Priest quest if they are a Deathrattle minion. I love using Barnes in N’Zoth, the corruptor decks so he will probably go in my version but just like I mentioned with Onyx Bishop the more non-Deathrattle minions you have, the more risk you run into with Resurrect and Barnes accidentally not summoning a Deathrattle. My biggest annoyance is when Barnes wants to summon a copy of N’Zoth, the Corruptor, haha. I will probably run him but that’s also because I plan to not run the Onyx Bishops.
- N’Zoth: N’Zoth, the corruptor will summon all of the Deathrattle minions that previously died that game which will pretty much complete the quest if you haven’t already. Now the thing with N’zoth, the corruptor I would say is that you shouldn’t be running him to trigger your quest. By turn 10 you should have already gotten it completed but he just compliments the quest so well that it’s hard not to run him. I do have a slower Deathrattle deck in mind that may use him to trigger your quest but I think the best version involves small cheap minions that finish the quest quickly rather than a control deck that uses 3-4 strong Deathrattles and then revives them with N’zoth, the corruptor which finishes the quest. Both options are viable though, and I’ll go into more detail about that below.
- Moat Lurker: The last interesting summon mechanic is from Moat Lurker which is part of Karazhan. The best part about this minion is that it has Deathrattle which will trigger the quest but also, if you happen to use it on your own Deathrattle minion such as Mistress of Mixtures, you’ll get another “summon” when Moat Lurker dies and brings her back into play. It’s 6 mana and requires it to die so I’m not sure how effective it will actually be but it’s just something to bring up and keep in mind. Like I was saying about the two different versions of this deck, Moat Lurker would definitely go into the slower control version with less Deathrattles so you can abuse those really strong Deathrattle effects with his ability. Think about using Moat Lurker on Cairne Bloodhoof to get a 4/5, and then getting Cairne Bloodhoof back when Moat Lurker dies for another 4/5 that becomes another 4/5. It has interesting possibilities so just keep it in the back of your head while you’re deckbuilding.
Other than those four effects, the only way to complete the quest is to play Deathrattle minions in your deck so let’s take a quick minute to check out what we have to choose from.
Deathrattle List
Before we get started in this giant list let’s go over some things first.
I am just going to look at the cards that will be in Standard once Un’Goro is released. I’m sorry Wild players, there are a lot more Deathrattle options to pick from so if you’re wanting to make a Wild version of the deck then check out this list but keep in mind you’re missing a ton of great stuff like Sludge Belcher or Piloted Shredder or Haunted Creeper that you could be running instead so make sure you look at all of the Deathrattles in Wild.
I will be going over EVERY single Deathrattle available in the four sets that will be in Standard (minus Un’Goro obviously) which includes Classic, Whispers of the Old Gods, One Night in Karazhan and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. Good ones, bad ones, we’re going to review them all and see the potential for them in the deck. I will go in order of expansion and at the very end I’ll have a little bit of a “tier” list of what I think would work best in the deck and which ones you should not even bother looking at.
Classic
Leper Gnome: A basic minion with a small ability. The only reason I would consider Leper Gnome is if we try to run a lot of small minions with low mana cost to quickly finish the quest but I think there are better options for 1-mana Deathrattle minions.
Bloodmage Thalnos: This card is like Azure Drake to me in that I think he fits great in every deck that uses some sort of spells for board wipe. He’s pretty much a free card draw if you just want to cycle your deck and get a free quest trigger because of it. The other thing I like about Bloodmage Thalnos is that he’s not necessary. For people who like to play for free or have just started up and don’t have the legendaries yet, he’s totally replaceable since he’s not really necessary in any deck, he’s just a really good filler. If you have him, run him, but if you don’t it’s not the end of the world.
Loot Hoarder: One of my personal favorite Deathrattle minions because he’s just a free card draw that replaces himself but also gives you a quest trigger. Card draw is really important for Priest especially since our deck isn’t using Power Word: Shield and Northshire Cleric. This allows us to get quest triggers while we draw cards into the control cards we need. Great filler card since it replaces itself with the card draw.
Harvest Golem: I love any Deathrattle effects that give you another minion because with N’zoth, the corruptor you end up getting 4 minions for the price of one. I would say that Harvest Golem is in third place under Cairne Bloodhoof and Infested Tauren for those type of effects so if you already have those two in your deck and you need more minion generation, then I’d consider this card, but usually the other two are good enough.
Abomination: The Deathrattle effect is too much of a double edged sword to really be effective in this style of deck. The only time I considered ever putting Abomination in an N’Zoth deck was when aggro was the popular meta and a Taunt with a board wiping Deathrattle was a decent option. In the end I still didn’t run him but the fact that he’s a Deathrattle minion with Taunt is really important for the N’Zoth, the corruptor trigger because it gives you a last defense wall if you’re about to die.
Cairne Bloodhoof: One of the best Deathrattle effects to abuse. Whether it’s Barnes or Resurrect, if we can get this card even once into play for free somehow, we get so much value out of the card. A 4/5 is a really big size for a creature when it comes to removal and almost always forces your opponent to waste things in order to prevent it from just beating them down. It’s a legendary so it’s expensive to craft but if you enjoy Deathrattle effects and N’Zoth, the corruptor decks, you’ll definitely want this guy to play around with.
The Beast: A huge minion with a drawback Deathrattle. Probably not what we want in a Deathrattle abusing deck but if we wanted to go aggressive he could be an option. Probably won’t use him because of the drawback though.
Whispers of the Old Gods
Tentacle of N’Zoth: Even in an aggressive fast version of this deck I don’t think this card has a spot. Unless the meta is still something like Pirates where a lot of the minions have low health, this card is just not that great. Just don’t use this card.
Zealous Initiate: This would be perfect in the fast version of the deck where we want to drop minions super fast and get Amara out as quickly as possible. It’s a 1 mana minion and it can trade early in order to buff things like Runic Egg or another minion to keep trading and keeping the field clear for Amara. I would rate this the best 1 mana drop for the super fast deck.
Spawn of N’Zoth: This card doesn’t give us much control in the late game and is also not fast enough to be considered for the “fast” version of the deck that needs 1 and 2 mana cost minions. It’s not bad when N’zoth, the corruptor comes into play since it’ll buff all your other stuff but there are better Deathrattle options for the most part.
Polluted Hoarder: A bigger Loot Hoarder but the mana cost always keeps me away from using them. Four mana is just too much for one card draw and it eats up your whole turn to do it. If the deck is really aching for card draw I might consider putting it in but I think the Loot Hoarders will be enough.
Corrupted Healbot: Another minion with a drawback trigger like The Beast which would be good if we wanted a fast aggressive deck that wants to try and end early but if we’re going for control with n’zoth, the corruptor we’re just going to end up giving that health back twice. Probably not going to run.
Infested Tauren: One of my favorite Deathrattle effects for N’zoth, the corruptor decks because it’s a Taunt minion that eats up an attack, makes a 2/2 minion that you can poke with, and then comes back later to Taunt again and drop another guy when he dies. It’s just so much effectiveness from one minion if you can abuse that Deathrattle trigger. Great against aggro because of the taunt and great against control since it takes two things to kill it each time. I almost always use this card in my N’Zoth decks.
Twilight Summoner: This was used in old N’zoth, the corruptor decks but I haven’t seen it in many of the newer versions. Getting a 5/5 is nice but in the current meta it’s just too slow to really be that effective since the 1/1 doesn’t really hurt and will mostly require a whole turn just to get itself killed to become the 5/5. I’ve tried it before but I just feel it’s way too slow so I stay away from it for the time being.
Shifting Shade: The only Priest Deathrattle card in Standard right now and it’s a great one. It’s decently big to either trade or beat down with and then gives you a free card from your opponent’s deck when it dies. Free card advantage and usually the cards are pretty good since people aren’t using bad cards in their decks.
Deathwing, Dragonlord: There is literally no reason for us to run this card but I had to put it on the list since technically it is a Deathrattle card. It’s way too slow and the Deathrattle effect does nothing for us so there is NO place for this in the deck.
One Night in Karazhan
Runic Egg: I would consider this for the “super fast” version that wants to drop as many Deathrattles as fast as possible. It’s one of the only few usable 1 mana minions since that deck would need pretty much any of the good ones to be effective and in the rare chance that Zealous Initiate can trigger on to it, it can replace itself in your hand with a card draw.
Moat Lurker: I mentioned early in the article about this card and I still think it could have a weird spot in the deck maybe as just a single to mess around with. I like the idea of getting multiple triggers like Cairne Bloodhoof to get a free 4/5 minion while also getting 2 more quest triggers. The only problem is that I feel like it’s too slow to be effective, but that won’t stop me from giving it a shot the first few attempts with the deck.
Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
Mistress of Mixtures: Probably usable for the fast version of the deck but the Deathrattle isn’t something we can abuse so it’s not really that great for N’zoth, the corruptor style decks. If the meta stays in an aggro mood though, these will still be used in most control decks because of how great they can prevent aggro from overtaking you in the first few turns.
Weasel Tunneler: A 1 mana minion with an ability that doesn’t matter but could maybe fit in the fast version of the deck. I wouldn’t use it in any other Deathrattle style deck but if we’re trying to get the quest done as fast as possible, pretty much any minion without a downside that is 1 or 2 mana will go in.
Backstreet Leper: A bigger Leper Gnome but the mana cost is just like spawn of n’zoth, just slow enough to where it’s not usable in the fast version and the Deathrattle effect isn’t a big use for a slow control version either. I would not run this.
Sergeant Sally: A weird board wipe effect if we could pump it up but our deck doesn’t really do that. I wouldn’t use this since it doesn’t really fit with control or aggro and isn’t a big target for N’zoth, the corruptor.
Bomb Squad: A decent control style card that can work as removal while also giving us a Deathrattle quest trigger but just the fear of Barnes putting one into play or N’zoth, the corruptor bringing one or two back from the dead to put us in lethal is enough for me not to run them. That 5 damage is a lot and even one Barnes trigger can ruin a game.
Deck Idea: Fireflyer’s Quest
With Un’Goro still not released yet it’s hard to say what the deck will actually be once all of the rest of the cards are revealed but for the time being, we can try to come up with a good idea or shell of how to get the quest working in the best way possible, and then swap out a few cards if anything really interesting comes out in Un’Goro, mostly new Deathrattle minions but we also have to look out for interesting summon effects like Barnes. For now, I wanted to come up with an idea of how to be the most effective when “questing” and I came up with TWO conclusions:
- Aggro: Do the quest as fast as possible. I think this is the least effective way to quest because it requires you to play a LOT of very small Deathrattle minions that don’t have many powerful effects, just so you can cast Amara on Turn 5 or Turn 6. The benefit is that on Turn 5 you’re playing an 8/8 Taunt and putting yourself to 40 life but the downside is that it will take up your entire hand to do so and most control decks will be able to wipe your small minions and then kill your Amara, leaving you at 40 life with nothing left over. It could make for a fun “Aggro” style of Deathrattle if you’re into that sort of thing. Turn 1 Mistress of Mixtures, Turn 2, Loot Hoarder, Turn 3 Runic Egg, Zealous Initiate, Leper Gnome, Turn 4 Bloodmage Thalnos and Loot Hoarder and now you have your quest completed.
- Control: Finish the quest around Turn 7-8 when you’ve taken a lot of damage and then set yourself back up to 40 life, sort of like a Reno Jackson effect. This version seems much more viable because it also resembles a deck that was around a little while ago called N’Zoth Priest. Basically you use early game control spells and powerful Deathrattle minions to slowly work your way through the quest and finish it really late in the game when you need to reset your health and give yourself a giant taunt minion.
I’ve played N’Zoth Priest before and I thoroughly enjoyed playing that deck, and I think this is what will bring that deck back into full swing. I could already feel the power when you control your opponent until Turn 10 and then drop N’Zoth, the corruptor for a full board of cool Deathrattle minions but now that we have our own Reno Jackson in the form of our 40 health Amara, I think this deck could seriously be deadly.
This is the decklist I came up with, loosely based on my old N’Zoth Priest build.
I had to make a few changes by taking out things that will no longer be around in Standard like Entomb or Sylvanas Windrunner (big hit there) and replacing Excavated Evil with Dragonfire Potion even though we aren’t Dragon Priest, because it’s the only good board wipe. What you have left is basically what will be left of N’Zoth Priest when the Standard rotation happens and we lose all our lovely League of Explorers stuff, but we’ll gain a ton of new things in Un’Goro that we don’t even know about yet.
Due to the cuts the decklist is very short but I wanted to keep it that way because I predict a LOT of things will be added with the new Un’Goro expansion. This “skeleton” of 20 cards should work pretty well as the basis for the new deck and all we’ll have to do is fit in any good Deathrattles or Priest spells that come out in the new expansion. Since priest only has ONE Deathrattle currently, I’m assuming that they will get some new ones because of their new quest and there are always new Deathrattle minions being added with expansion. Un’Goro will be the first expansion of the year so it will be the biggest one of the year, like Whispers of the Old Gods was. In Mean Streets of Gadgetzan we only got 5 Deathrattles, including a legendary one, but in Whispers of the Old Gods we got 9 Deathrattles, also including one legendary, so we can expect around 7-9 more with Un’Goro and I’m SURE at least one or two of them will be good enough to go in.
Conclusion
Well there you go! I hope you’re as excited as I am for the new quest cards and I hope this deck helped you get some sort of idea on how to make your Priest deck once those quests get released in early April. I’m sure with the release of more cards, this decklist will change dramatically so keep an eye out for those reveals and get hyped for the new expansion. I’m definitely hyped already, I can’t wait to see more of the quests and start coming up with deck ideas to mess with.
As always you can follow me on Twitter @HS_Fireflyer to keep up with my Arena screenshots and also my Twitch schedule will be posted up soon. I will come back to streaming with lots of energy to grind some Arena, especially with all the new Arena changes, so come hang out with me on Twitch at Twitch.tv/ItsFireflyer and hang out for some Arena antics.
Leave me some comments below! Are you excited for the new expansion? How do you feel about quests? Do you think you’ll play N’Zoth Priest?
Keep an eye out for my Best of Reddit Clips coming out in 2 weeks and I will see you then!
