Laboratory Priest – SoU – TheoryCraft

A new take on Priest from the new SoU Expansion

This deck takes a (presumably) novel approach to the new reborn mechanic, and uses the new feature to build an unending test lab of value with which to out-value your opponents.

The mechanics of this deck are the following:

Survive and Multiply: Test Subject + Embalming Ritual + Vivid Nightmare + Power Word: Replicate

Buff Value: Inner Fire + Power Word: Shield + Extra Arms + Archmage Vargoth 

Reclaim Value: Wretched Reclaimer + Penance

Card Generation: Northshire Cleric + Dead Ringer + Power Word: Shield

Win Condition: Stonetusk Boar OR Leeroy Jenkins OR Zerek, Master Cloner

To Survive and Multiply:

I built this deck for one reason. I love Test Subject. Since the buff to Extra Arms, it has seemed that Test Subject has been on the version of breaking through as a major Hearthstone threat. As an example, a beautiful curve play today is – Turn 1: Test Subject, Turn 2: Extra Arms. Turn 3: Vivid Nightmare. When this play works, you get 4/5 in stats, plus 2 x Extra Arms, 2 x Vivid Nightmare AND 3 x More Arms.

UNFORTUNATELY, this combo is prone to disruption. Any class that can deal with an early test subject will eliminate this threat before it begins. Also a silence before turn 3 kills this combo as well. Finally, there can be a problem of getting your spells ‘stuck’ on the test subject, unable to unleash them to buff other minions.

Saviors of Uldum helps solve these problems in two ways. First, the new priest spell Embalming Ritual helps your Test Subject stay alive, while costing you nothing besides one mana. If your Test Subject dies early, you recover Embalming Ritual and Test Subject with 1 health. However, silence still kills the combo if not multiplied yet. Enter Wretched Reclaimer. Wretched Reclaimer can act in one of two ways. First, he can revive a silenced Test Subject to start your combo again. Second, he can unlock trapped spells from your Test Subject to help you reuse your value spells in better places.

Therefore, the early and mid-games are ideally spent multiplying spells and test subjects. Between your Power Word: Shield and Dead Ringer, hopefully you have a Test Subject by turn 4 or 5. Depending on how aggressive the playstyle becomes, the deck may need to be modified to improve early game removal and card generation…

Win Conditions

The win conditions come in a few ways.

Stonetusk Boar :

People are really excited about the OTK High Priest Amet + Stonetusk Boar combo. Maybe this works out, and this deck offers the possibility of this + Inner Fire (not as a OTK, but a high-value play).  Instead, I like this combo synergy: Stonetusk Boar + Power Word: Replicate + Vivid Nightmare (11 damage, 9 mana), OR Stonetusk Boar + Extra Arms + Extra Arms  + More Arms + Vivid Nightmare (14 damage, 10 mana).

Leeroy works similarly: Leeroy Jenkins + Embalming Ritual + Penance OR Wretched Reclaimer  (12 damage, 8/9 mana)

Zerek, Master Cloner is your alternate win condition, focusing against control decks. From your test subject multiplier, you should have access to Power Word: Replicate, Vivid Nightmare , Extra Arms , Power Word: Shield, and Embalming Ritual to help you multiply and grow your Zerek, Master Cloner, denying the control warrior from ever emptying the board.

In the end, this deck may be too slow to work. Time will tell. But when it works, it will be crazy fun. Enjoy!