Druid was the most prevalent and powerful combo archetype in Hearthstone; at least, until very recently. With Wild Growth and Nourish up one mana, it’s looking like the class’ traditional spell-based archetype will lose a ton of its impact. This will undoubtedly leave a power vacuum near the top of the meta. Can Priest fill Malfurion’s boots as a reliable combo class with legs against aggro?
Dragon Control Priest couldn’t cope well with Druid’s combos and armor
One way Priest can capitalise on the lack of Druids is through the Dragon Control Priest archetype. This deck seeks to control the board with its powerful spells and Dragons, and finish the game with Mind Blasts on the back of Alexstrasza and Shadowreaper Anduin.
One of the deck’s biggest weaknesses was Druid’s threatening combos and massive armourgain. It’s very tricky to Mindblast your way through 72 armour, especially when they have lethal with Malygos next turn. With Druid out of the picture, Control Priest will likely have a far better spread of matchups. This should make for an excellent choice for people who want to play a Controlling deck that has a decent chance against any deck.
Clone Priest could do well against Druid
Clone Priest may not have such a good time from the loss of Druid. While Control Priest struggled to blast through Druid’s armor, Zerek Clone Priest has such a plethora of abilities to build repeated boards that Druid can’t deal with, as well as far more burst damage potential. Aside from the relatively even Malygos, Clone Priest was favoured versus virtually every Druid archetype. As such, it may lose out from the diminished state of the class.
But while it may not profit off Druid’s decline, it may do well from other changes and its consequences. Hunter is rising, and Clone priest does well against most Hunters. Kingsbane, a horrible matchup, is gone too. However, the deck has a lot to fear from the rise of Even Paladin to take Odd Paladin’s place.
OTK Topsy Turvy ‘APM’ Priest has scary potential, but many counters
Finally, there’s potential for yet another Priest archetype to gain prominence in the meta. So called ‘APM’ Priest is capable of pulling off ludicrous amounts of damage. In many ways, its similar to the infinite-damage Quest Mage of old. It’s naturally a strong counter to control decks, but struggles against certain combos and any deck that develops tempo quickly.
However, while Druids were relatively even matchups, and there is room for an interactive Control killer now Shudderwock and Kingsbane lost core cards, things may not look so good. As well as the potential rise of Spell and Midrange Hunters and Even Paladins, other Combo decks can often get the upper hand. Not least the other Priest decks mentioned. And above all, the terrifying skill ceiling on the deck will likely put people off, prevent it from ever being a truly meta-warping deck.
With what seems to be the death of Druid in the meta, it seems likely that Priest will be able to capitalize and find its way into a place of prominence. Will these decks stay in the meta or will others rise? Who knows but, one thing is clear. With Druid gone, we will start to see a lot of new decks tried out.
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via hearthstone.gamepedia.com.
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