Dragon Priest
Overview: Like Dragon Priest in the past, it's reliant on board control with high health minions. The deck is focused on getting presence early. Only 9 cards are above 4 mana and only 4 cards are above 5 mana. There are 9 spells and 7 Dragons. The biggest strength with the deck is all the Discovers. This deck has so much value yet only 4 cards are above 5 mana. Winning late game is not a problem usually, surviving the early game to take advantage of this strength is the main task. Biggest weakness is getting swarmed. All the big comeback cards are expensive. Holy Nova is cheapest at 5 mana, and it's not a guaranteed board wipe.
Meta Overview:
The deck fares best against Greedy decks, Control Decks, Mages, Priests and Hunters.
The deck is worse when against flood/token decks and Quest Rogue.
Tech Cards:
Hungry Crab, Elise and Lyra are the main flex cards.
Other options to consider: Doomsayers, Wild Pyromancers, Golakka Crawler, Tar Creepers.
Teching out Elise/Lyra is fine if all your facing is aggro/token decks. You can't make much use of them in those matches. They are the "fun" cards though, which is the main reason I made this deck.
Card Overview:
Dragons: 7 Dragons is about the bare minimum we can get away with. Ideally you want 8. Nethersprite gives you 2 more that are match-focused. Dragons are big bodies and/or have important battlecries. We lost our taunts which means we need to rely on other non-dragon cards for our early game now.
Spells: Shadow Visions has given us the flexibility to beef up our early minions in lieu of a bunch of tech cards. Now you don't need to pollute your list with very expensive spells (2x Dragonfire/Nova/Death). If you need an extra Dragonfire/Nova/Death then we rely on a little RNG to help us get it. In most cases it'll be better than 50/50 chance to get the spell you need assuming you've drawn a few spells before using Shadow Visions.
-----------
Hungry Crab: Tech Card because I was facing tons of murloc paladins. I would tech in what you need based on what you're facing. A 2nd Potion of Madness is a good option for most other matchups. I found Potion to not work great against Murloc Paladins because Warleaders will put all murlocs out of Potion range. I am testing Doomsayers/Pyros/Golakka Crawlers as well.
Potion of Madness: Just a great card early on, having 2 isn't terrible, but I found it to sometimes be dead against murlocs. If you can draw it before they warleader or get divine shields then it's still great.
Radiant Elemental: Insane overpowered 2 drop for Priests. They lost Wyrmwrest Agent, but this card practically has taunt itself. It's insane how good this card is. Any non-freeze mage deck most likely runs Sorc Apprentice, this card is the same effect for the same mana but has better stats (2/3 is better than 3/2) AND it's an elemental (not relevant in this deck). I know it'll be a good game when I see Radiant Elemental AND Power Word Shield in my opener. You can play both for 2 mana and have a 2/5 on board. (PW:S will be free). I've even had 1 instance of having 2 PW:S in my opener, allowing me a 2/7 on turn 1 (with coin).. and draw 2 cards. Crazy! I love this card and it's never really dead. You can try to combo it later with Lyra or to squeeze out some extra spells for board control.
Shadow Visions: Very Flexible, allows priest to take less of their shitty spells in lieu of good minions. Can't run this deck without this card.
Shadow Word Pain: With so much token/aggro I just think you need 2.
Kabal Talonpriest: Their best 3 drop. Makes your minions even bigger for more dominant board control, but a 3/4 by itself is still good.
Shadow Word Death: Kinda rare to need more than 1.
Priest of the Feast: This card wrecks Mages & Aggro if you can get it to stick, and even buff it with PW:S or Talonpriest. It's your main way to get back in the game after surviving early game. Can easily bump your health into safety while simultaneously getting board (Priest of the Feast + Pain/Death/Potion/Nova) all great combos.
Twilight Drake: It's the best cheap dragon so it needs to be here. Even if it's only a 4/5 (yeti), it's still a Dragon that enables your other Dragons. Sometimes you hold it to activate your Drakonids (when not facing aggro).
Drakonid Operative: It's the best card in the deck. Huge body, great affect, it's the main reason this deck can work. You use enemy cards against them. Tons of fun and tons of value!
Elise Trailblazer: I added this card in lieu of 2nd Book Wyrm mainly for the fun factor. She's also 1 mana cheaper, but hinders dragon synergy and lacks that Book Wyrm battlecry. With Shadow Visions you can just get insane value from multiple Un'Goro packs. Unfortunately it's mostly dead against aggressive decks. I am trying out some tech cards in its place right now, but now the deck is less fun. Will probably add her back. She is usually the reason I can win against Taunt Warriors. Un'Goro packs get you lots of fodder to put on board for their hero power.
Holy Nova: Sometimes you just need an AoE on turn 5. It's certainly weak when compared to Dragonfire but it's often necessary.
Lyra the Sunshard: Similar to Radiant Elemental, Lyra is basically a taunt minion. She will never be left up. Against aggro you can just play her on 5 to soak damage, you'll most likely never get a chance to get spell value from her but the trades she soaks up can be worth it to allow you to Dragonfire next turn. Against any slower/control deck she can generate insane value and just make games unloseable. You only need 1 or 2 spells to start the value train. You can turn your PW:S into a Free from Amber which becomes something huge, or get a Greater Healing or Binding Heal or get a Divine Spirit/Inner Fire lethal out of nowhere. Just stupid shit can happen. If you face too much aggro then she can be flexed out, but the fun factor lowers again. I would take Elise out before Lyra simply because Lyra has potential to get you spells immediately that can save a game.
Book Wyrm: Just good. Having 2 wouldn't be terrible. It is expensive though and sometimes you can't use the battlecry, which is why I only have 1.
Dragonfire Potion: Best Clear obviously. Only 1 copy with hopes to SV a 2nd or 3rd if necessary. Having 2 copies means riskier starting hands. Early game is too important to have 6 mana spells clogging up your hand.
Primordial Drake: Best late game dragon imo. Taunt + Holy Nova effect, just a great way to seal a game. Getting to turn 8 can sometimes be difficult but the board control this offers is too good, plus we need the dragon activators.
Mulligans:
I'm looking for in my opener ordered by priority:
- TechCard
- Northshire Cleric (Keep PW:S with Cleric)
- Radiant Elemental (Keep PW:S with Radiant Elemental)
- Potion of Madness
- Nethersprite
- Talonpriest
I'm tossing:
- All Spells (except Potion & sometimes PW:S)
- All minions above 3 mana (unless I need a Dragon for Nethersprite, or I know it's a slow game and get away with being greedy)
Questionable (not sure if correct):
- Shadow Word Pain: I normally toss this but I'm not sure how correct that is. It's a 1 for 1 spell which just sucks whereas Potion of Madness is normally a 2 for 1 spell with more of an upside (1 mana, can get deathrattle effects).
- I will toss PW:S if I don't have a cleric or Radiant to combo with. It's pretty useless on a Nethersprite and putting it back in deck means I can combo with Priest of the Feast or Lyra later on
- I will toss Nethersprite if it's an aggressive deck in hopes of getting Cleric/Radiant/Potion. Nethersprites need expensive Dragons to activate and rarely get you anything that can be played early, and the 1/3 body is pretty weak.
Matchups:
Quest Rogue: Just a bad match. You need to hope they draw bad. Not a good feeling playing against Quest Rogue. The idea is to flood board ASAP with everything you can and do as much damage as possible. Try to get multiple Dragonfire potions. Vanish will wreck you but not much you can do to play around it. I hate playing against them.
Miracle Rogue: It can be favorable, large bodies gives Rogue a hard time, their best removal is Vilespines and Sap (only have 1). If you can get a Vilespine or Eviscerate from Drakonids then you should do ok. Hope to get multiple threats established so that Vilespines don't wreck you. Try to get multiple Shadow Word Deaths for the Giants & Edwin. If you get a board to stick then you can win, if nothing sticks it'll be hard once Giants are played. Biggest wildcard is Hallucinations which might give them an RNG win out of nowhere. (Had 1 get Dragonfire fml)
Token Druid: Can usually win but need a little luck. If they draw perfect then it's impossible. Consider keeping Holy Nova for turn 5 after they Living Mana. Potion of Madness is really good. Need to limit their board presence as much as possible. Eliminate everything. Always expect them to have buff cards & Savage Roar. You're not safe until turn 8 when you can drop Primordial then they usually concede.
Jade/Ramp Druid: Same strat for Jade & Ramp, get board and you win. They lost Mulch so they can't remove your 6 health minions too easily. Just spam board, not much they can do. Only way you lose is if you draw bad. Expect every Druid to be Token Druid, never be greedy.
Murloc Paladin (Aggressive): Tough match because Tarim negates your high health minions, Warleader puts murlocs out of Potion Range, Gentle Megasaur gives everything Divine Shields that screw your AoE. This is why I tech'd in Hungry Crab. Eliminate as much as possible. Tarim or Tirion from Drakonids can help stabilize. Tarim helps counter Spikeridged Steed. Getting Shadow Word Pain & Dragonfires from SV is good. If you get to turn 8 the Primordials can usually stabilize, then you heal with Priest of the Feast.
Mid-Murloc Paladin: A little easier than the aggressive version, but still tough if they draw all their early murlocs. Once past the early game, beware of Spikeridged Steed, it normally creates a 4 or 5 attack minion which is tough to deal with. Probably want more Shadow Word Deaths from SV to counter Tirion/Rag/Spikeridged. Dragonfire can work but won't always clear due to high health on Spikeridge/Tirion/Tarim/Rag. Tarim from Drakonids is great to counter all that stuff.
Burn/Medivh Mage: Should be a free win but sometimes you don't draw Priest of the Feast. This deck feasts on Mages. You have so many ways to beat them. Get Ice Block from Drakonid and it's game over. Save Priest of the Feast for late game with a few spells and you counter their burst. Your minions take too much firepower to remove so they remain pressured. I love this match. Losses usually come when they play 2x Mana Wyrm turn 1 and I gotta use a Shadow Word Death on one of them turn 3... sometimes they just god draw. This deck has many more minions than Freeze Mage so definitely focus on getting your early game removal.
Keep a Pain for this match. Potion is useless here.
Freeze Mage: Favorable because you have Priest of the Feast. Save Pain/Book Wyrm for Doomsayers. Should be a free win but you can lose if you don't draw Priest of the Feast in time. Getting Ice Block from Drakonid is a win.
Silence Priest: The key to this match is to keep all opponent minions as low health as possible. There are a ton of 4 attack minions (Plant/Watcher). You can't deal with 4 attack minions efficiently. If they get their combo early then you hopefully have a Death ready for it. Silence will wreck your Twilight Drakes. Prioritize lowering minion health over outright clearing. For example: I had a Twilight Drake & Nethersprite and opponent had a 4/3 humongous plant and a 3/8 Priest of the Feast. I put both my minions into the Priest of the feast to make him a 3/3. I could have cleared the plant but was trying to counter his combo. I've won all matches against Silence priest using this strat.
Hunter: Potion just wrecks them. This deck does really well against Hunter. If they play Ratpack or Grandmother you can steal the deathrattle. Be wary of Houndmaster creating 4 attack minions. Save Priest to heal up after or while stabilizing.
Token Shaman: Can be tough. Most Shaman are the token version. Tokens with Bloodlust can wreck you before you even get to turn 5/6. Holding Nova might be ok here. Potion doesn't work well due to totems unable to attack. Flametounge also wrecks Potion.
Consider keeping Pain for this match. If you can stabilize turn 5/6 then follow up with Primordian on 8 you should win.
Warlock: Fairly similar to the other token decks except they lack the insane punch that Bloodlust / Savage Roar / Warleaders grant, so in theory this match is much more favorable. I have only played a few Warlocks and am 2-1 or something. Too small of a sample size.
Pirate Warrior: Not seeing much but Pain is good to counter most of their shit. Potion can clear out the early 1/1s. Not having Golakka Crawler hurts. Priest of the Feast can keep you in the game and Primordial on 8 can seal it. Draw/luck dependent. Consider taking extra Pains from SV.
Taunt Warrior: Pain & Book Wyrm just wrecks them. They have so many 2 & 3 attack minions. If they complete quest then rely on Lyra/Elise to generate extra value to counter their value machine. It can be a tricky match if they Dirty Rat a Drakonid/Lyra/Elise or if you get RNG screwed by their Hero Power or Brawl.
Conclusion: Deck is super fun when you can generate tons of value from Lyra/Elise. You often have too many cards and could never play them all. The deck needs to survive the early turns and is a 50/50 against most aggro/flood decks. Definitely a very enjoyable deck when you can get past turn 5. I'm sure there is a variation of this deck that can be very competitive, but it probably means losing some of the fun cards.