Control Priest Forged in the Barrens Theorycraft

This Priest deck is primarily focused on the value game, surviving the early rushes of aggro with plenty of healing and clears like Condemn and Holy Nova. Going into midgame there is a lot of great healing taunts this expansion, Death's Head Cultist and Lightshower Elemental add increased durability and provide more stall to keep you alive longer. Speaking of healing, Raise Dead I feel is fantastic in this deck, the self damage enables your healing triggers in the control matchup, as well as providing you with the minions you want, mainly powerful Deathrattles and big Dragons.

You’ll notice C'thun, the Shattered is also in this deck, as he gives great extra board clears and perhaps most crucially, provides a genuine win condition (something Priest sorely lacks). However the C’thun pieces also serve another purpose, as in any potential burn Warlock matchups the Warlock may burn your C’thun cards. In cases like this, its better they burn the pieces and not your more valuable cards like Ysera the Dreamer or a Raise Dead. It might not work every time, but its better than nothing.

Tech cards are present, Mindrender Illucia for the OTK DH’s (and who is also just a great card to have in general) and even the inclusion of The Nameless One. Whilst many might think of him as too slow, the amount of Libram support for Paladin makes him crucial in that matchup, as well as having good utility across the board in multiple situations. Xyrella is an auto include for obvious reasons, her Battlecry is too good to not use, and she pairs great with the Neutral Deathrattles and extensive healing etc. The epitome of a staple card for Priest 🙂

For control spells, of course Soul Mirror is in here, as well as Shadow Word: Death, Shadow Word: Ruin and Hysteria to deal with big minions. There is only one copy of Thrive in the Shadows in this deck, as I felt two was a little greedy, so I subbed one out for a Devouring Plague (which gives a bit more anti aggro and healing).

You may be wondering why Apotheosis is not in this deck, and truth be told I grappled with this for a while, but with all the new healing Deathrattle minions, I thought it was a little awkward to play. In my experience, you rarely got to use it on your own minions, as they did not stick for long. If its any consolation, cards like Palm Reading and Renew may discover it for you in a pinch! 

Once the late game arrives, you are looking for Ysera the Dreamer the value machine, and Alexstrasza the Life-Binder to refill your hand with powerful cards, and do some burst healing/damage respectively. To compliment the small Dragon package I have added two Draconic Studies, every Priest player knows this card is great, so I won’t focus too long on it. It discounts your Dragons, and gives you more fuel, it’s brilliant. I’ll mention C'thun, the Shattered here as he also provides that late game wincon value. 

And that’s the deck, as this is a Theorycraft, I can’t say for SURE what the meta will be. But this deck feels like a good baseline for Priest to start off with. I’d appreciate any feedback though, and I’m open to suggestions for improvement and refinement! 🙂