Alcuev’s Un’Goro Legend Kazakus Control Priest Deck List Guide (April 2017, Season 37)

Highlander or singleton decks might not be dead yet, Alcuev used this Kazakus Priest list to get to legend and kindly allowed us to re-host their guide.

Be sure to check them out on Twitch!

Intro

I loved playing Reno Mage and Reno Priest in MSoG and wanted to find a singleton list that works without Reno. After lots of experimenting to find a good list, I climbed from Rank 5 to Legend with 67.2% win rate with this decklist. I played Golakka Crawler until I reached Rank 1 which was crawling with Murloc Paladins, then subbed in Hungry Crab to great effect.

• Legend Proof

Stats

Deck Guide

Why This Deck?

• It’s really fun.
• Crushes Warriors, Hunters, and Mages
• Can be flexibly teched against the meta
• Every game has unique decisions
• High skill ceiling to pilot – I learn something new every game
• Nobody knows how to play against it

Gameplan

Survive the early game through strategic mulligans for tech cards and board clears, heal up mid-game to get out of burn range from aggro decks or mages, then dominate late game with value from Medivh, Kazakus, Shadowform, and Un’goro Packs while efficiently removing opposing threats.

Key Synergies

I’m not going to go in-depth on each individual card choice, rather I will highlight the key interactions & synergies that justify my core list since many of the cards are weak in a vacuum.

Medivh + Big Spells, Kazakus

Arguably the main reason to run this particular build. My big spell package includes Free From Amber (I’ve been really impressed with this card), Mind Control, Kazakus Potion, Holy Fire, Dragonfire Potion, and misc smaller spells. This synergy can outvalue almost any non-Medivh deck late game, and Paladin / Warrior don’t have enough board clears to beat multiple Medivh triggers + Kazakus Potion.

Raza + Shadowform, Beardo, Auchenai

Provides extra value and reach for long games, while also individually being strong mid-game bodies to hold board. People don’t expect reach from priest, so sometimes I can cheese opponents for 6+ burn in one turn from multiple hero powers.

Cheap Spells + Pyro, Priest of the Feast, Beardo

These synergies are the essential reason that this deck is so good against aggro decks and mages. They can set up versatile board clears and heal you out of burn range. The cheap spells are Silence, Potion of Madness, PW:S, SW:P, and Shadow Visions. If you’re having trouble vs aggro and need more cheap spells, Circle of Healing can also help and is another board clear with Auchenai.

Shadow Visions + Elise, Shadowform

I had ~50% win rate before adding Shadow Visions and Elise. They are key to the deck’s success IMO. Shadow Visions is not only an extremely flexible answer in a deck like this, it can also be used to win long games by grabbing an extra Un’goro pack or Shadowform #2 for games that go to fatigue. These value engines allow me to run tech cards like Silence, Hungry Crab, and Greater Healing Potion and still win grindy control match-ups.

Card Draw + Legendaries, Singletons

Northshire Cleric, Loot Hoarder and Acolyte are necessary to dig you to the strong legendary cards and singleton tech cards. You don’t really need to draw cards for value because the deck is so greedy, but you need lots of options to exploit your synergies.

Tech Cards

• Dirty Rat: Slows down Rogue and Warrior quests, can pull strong battlecries like Stonehill Defender, The Curator, and Alexstraza.
• Hungry Crab / Golakka Crawler: Hungry Crab significantly improved my results against Murloc Paladin, which is otherwise a really tough matchup. I think Crab is the better tech right now since Murloc Paladin is so dominant at the higher ranks and the deck is already good vs Pirates. I’m hesitant to run both but it could be right.
• Tar Creeper: Slows down aggro and blocks popular weapons.
• Gluttonous Ooze: I’ve been really happy with Ooze because it both slows down aggro and is also useful against Tirion, Sulfuras, and Medivh.
• Greater Healing Potion: Key to beating Hunters and Mages who otherwise can kill through burn (Holy Fire serves a similar purpose).
• Cabal Shadow Priest: This is maybe replaceable but it’s sooo good vs Taunt Warriors and Hunters, and is a great follow-up to board clears when your opponent is trying to get back on the board.
• Bog Creeper: Taunt is really good right now, and it’s the best big taunt minion for Priest.

Notable Exclusions

• Lyra the Sunshard: Could be good, but I never tried it because I don’t have enough dust. I do think that the deck already has enough value with Medivh that this is not necessary.
• Circle of Healing: Really high synergy with the current build and probably tied for best 31st card with Golakka Crawler, but I just didn’t know what to cut. I currently run Silence instead as a way to deal with deathrattles, taunts, and Warleaders. Maybe you can fit both.
• Holy Smite: I used to run as early removal, but I was already beating all the aggro decks and this was the weakest of the cheap spell package.
• Bloodmage Thalnos: This could be better than loot hoarder, but I like the 2 power more than the spell damage. I couldn’t fit both.
• Crystalline Oracle: The random card is usually not good in this deck because it relies on so many specific synergies.
• Radiant Elemental: Not as good in my experience as the pyro or loot hoarder as 2-drops, and just doesn’t do enough. This deck needs value and flexibility more than tempo from mana reduction.
• Doomsayer: Really bad with Kazakus rez and no notable synergies with the other cards in the deck.
• Curious Glimmerroot, Kabal Courier, Kabal Talonpriest: These are all reasonable inclusions over Ooze or Beardo as 3-drops, but I just settled on those two for this meta. These are all definitely worth trying.
• Thoughtsteal: This deck doesn’t usually need extra value cards, and it’s not very flexible or powerful unlike the other value cards in the deck.
• Kabal Songstealer: I used to run this and I think it’s quite good, but Elise and Raza are far more key to the deck and I didn’t want another 5 mana 5/5.
• The Curator + Primordial Drake: This would have to replace the Medivh package and would be a significantly different deck. I have not tried it yet.

Mulligan Guide & Matchup Tips

Paladin

One of the hardest matchups but easiest mulligans, since you just mulligan to beat Murlocs. You will often beat non-murloc midrange since it’s slow and you have stronger late game. You want any cheap spell (SWP=MVP), Hungry Crab, Northshire, Pyro, Kazakus, and Dragonfire. Though expensive, Dragonfire and Kazakus are essential to clear Gentle Megasaur and Murloc Warleader boards. You can’t beat Murlocs without early Hungry Crab or multiple board clears including Kazakus. Be wary of Divine Favor and if your opponent starts dumping their hand, you need to also. The only exception is to save SWP for Warleader. An early dirty rat can be strong, but make sure you have silence or SWP for Warleader.

Against Midrange, play for value (eg 10 mana Kazakus potions, greedy Shadow Visions), don’t play Dirty Rat too early, and save removal and MC for the legendaries (Sunkeeper Tarim, Tirion Fordring, and Ragnaros, Lightlord). In a pinch remember you can silence your own minions that have been Aldored or Tarimed. Steal their Acolytes for insane value!

Rogue

Mulligan hard for early game minions, Dirty Rat, Kazakus, and Dragonfire Potion. You can beat Quest Rogue by applying early pressure, disrupting their quest with Dirty Rat, landing a tempo 5-mana Kazakus potion, or clearing board with Dragonfire and winning the value game. I’d say the matchup is a coin-flip, or slightly favored if you tech Golakka Crawler and draw it early.

You pretty much just lose to Miracle, but if you get both Kazakus and SWD early you can eliminate their big threats (Arcane Giant and Edwin VanCleef) and maybe grind them out.

Warrior

Mulligan assuming Pirate Warrior. You want any cards costing 2 or less to stop early aggression and hold board. Ooze and Tar Creeper are also reasonable keeps, but only if you have another early drop. As usual, if you can hold off early aggression you should be able to win.

Against Taunt Quest, you usually have enough time to draw what you need to win regardless of the mulligan. Medivh and Kazakus 10-mana potion put enough on the board at once to push through board clears and Sulfuras, and Cabal Shadow Priest is insane value. Save MC for Primordial Drake and Silence/SWP for Acolytes/Direhorns.

Druid, Hunter

Wild Pyro and Potion of Madness just win these matchups, so mulligan hard for those. If you survive early board flood you will likely win, as your life gain will wall out their reach.

Mage

This is the weirdest mulligan. You want to keep Dirty Rat, Greater Healing Potion, Priest of the Feast, and Kazakus (for 7 armor potion). These decks almost always want to win using multi-turn burn setups, and have a hard time beating heavy life gain. Aggressively clear small minions so they don’t get extra face damage. Hold rat for turn 8 to block the Alexstrasza setup and keep Ooze for Medivh, the Guardian. If you play it right, they can’t play enough burn to win and you can beat them down with Medivh or even win in fatigue.

Priest, Shaman

I’m honestly not sure how to mulligan for these matchups because they are so rare. My intuition says keep Northshire, Acolyte, Silence (for opposing Northshires, Acolytes, and the 0/3 totems) and Kazakus, and Pyro against Shamans.

Warlock

I never played any Warlocks but I imagine this deck would be weak against Zoo, so that’s lucky! I would mull for Pyro and Kazakus for board clears. Not sure what else due to inexperience.

The Future

This deck has so much opportunity. It performed well for me, but it’s also very unrefined and can adapt flexibly to the meta. Other popular decks like Murloc Paladin, Quest Rogue, Pirate Warrior, and Midrange Hunter don’t feel like they have a lot of room to be optimized further, but there are so many tech choices and packages for Kazakus Priest, it’s really hard to say what’s best. Alternate builds with Curator and dragons are probably also strong, for instance. I didn’t play a single mirror match on ladder, but hopefully some of you are inspired to experiment with Kazakus Priest and optimize it further.