Priest is far from the strongest class, but compared to how it was before the Year of the Mammoth, it’s been a remarkable success story. However, Priest is about to lose those same cards that brought it to the highest tiers of both tournament and ladder play. Can Priest survive the upcoming rotation?
Un’goro: Priest, the Visionary
Un’goro was a massive turning point for Priest. After languishing in the dumpster for a long time, its Un’goro cards blew the class’ power level up massively. While it received a number of good-to-middling cards with the likes of Curious Glimmerroot, Lyra, Free from Amber, and Binding Heal, the true power came in two key cards.
First was Radiant Elemental. Arguably the best spell-synergy minion since pre-nerf Mana Wyrm, a competitive statline with a ridiculous effect, it single-handedly bolstered Priest’s early-game, enabled countless combos, and supercharged all sorts of Priest spells (Power Word Shield anyone?)
Meanwhile, Shadow Visions is arguably the single strongest tutor card ever printed. It provides the consistency to back up Priest’s situational spells, seeing play in almost every non-spiteful Priest deck ever. The choice to find more copies of the cards you’re already building around is a huge part of what makes Priest so powerful right now.
Without these two cards, every Priest deck will take a massive hit. More early-game help and consistency tools may be necessary to keep it competitive.
Knights of the Frozen Throne: Anduin the King
Knights of the Frozen Throne was the first expansion ever where Priest truly became Tier One. The expansion was surprisingly beneficial for priest, with almost all of the class cards seeing competitive play. Only Acolyte of Agony and Devour Mind failed to find much of a home.
But while nearly all the cards were powerful, some were especially so. Shadowreaper Anduin is arguably the strongest Death Knight Hero, and his constantly refreshing hero power has been a terror both with and without Raza to back it up. Meanwhile, Shadow Essence and Eternal Servitude helped Resurrection-focused Priests dominate in both Standard and Wild.
Without Shadowreaper Anduin or resurrection packages, Priest will need more staying power in the late-game – especially considering that they can’t even fall back on Archbishop Benedictus.
Kobolds and Catacombs: Breaking and Screaming
Can any card be so irrefutably Priesty as Psychic Scream? With a single, efficiently costed card, Priest can delete your board completely, often wrecking your deck with terrible minions, leaving you powerless as your face gets pummeled by Mind Blasts. Though, as potent as this card is, it wasn’t even the only ludicrously potent AOE Priest got. Duskbreaker is disgustingly efficient, and the best reason to run Dragons in your Priest deck since Drakonid Operative. The fact that it came alongside Twilight Acolyte was an exceedingly effective bonus
Without these powerful AOEs, Priests will need a lot more ways to clear the board. While Mass Hysteria can fill the gap somewhat, it alone won’t be enough to keep Controlling Priests viable – especially without Shadowreaper Anduin or Shadow Visions to back it up.
Beyond that, the loss of Gilded Gargoyle, Twilight’s Call and Diamond Spellstone will be the nail in the coffin of all manner of Priest combo decks that also relied on these AOEs.
Back to the Dumpster?
It’s not looking good for Priest. The ongoing weakness of its classic set will continue to be a problem. More than anything, there just may not be a compelling reason to play Priest. Control’s win condition’s gone, Resurrect’s win condition’s gone, APM’s win condition’s gone. Even Spiteful Priest doesn’t have Spiteful anymore.
Hopefully, Priest gets another Un’goro style expansion, and we get to see more of those annoyingly powerful Priest cards we love to hate.
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via hearthstone.gamepedia.com.
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other TGH writers along with Alex.