The Comprehensive Descent of Dragons Preview

Whispers of EVIL

Decent card, but would have been stronger in another class, such as Rogue. Being a 0-mana spell, it can be useful for Pyromancer or even Gadgetzan Auctioneer, but Priest doesn’t utilize lackeys very well. We can see it being played in a heavy cycle shell, like Nomi Priest in the past, but struggle to justify it anywhere else.

Score: 2

Disciple of Galakrond

Very high-value 1-drop. This minion would have been broken in other classes but is allowed in Priest because its Galakrond battlecry is the slowest one and doesn’t affect the board. If you’re playing Galakrond in Priest, you’re playing this card, no question.

Score: 3

Grave Rune

This card is all about combo potential, and one enticing interaction is its synergy with Wretched Reclaimer to immediately produce 3 copies of a minion on the board. Once you bring mana discounts into the mix, which Priest now has access to in spades, things could get spicy. Watch out for Grave Rune to potentially give us flashbacks of Carnivorous Cube.

Score: 3

Breath of the Infinite

There have been a couple of symmetrical 2 damage AOE’s for 3 mana, and they were constructed material (Volcanic Potion, Demonfire). Breath of the Infinite has the bonus of becoming asymmetrical, affecting only your opponent’s minions, with dragon synergy. That is a very powerful upgrade. A card that is good enough in its floor, and incredible in its ceiling, simply can’t be bad.

Score: 3

Chronobreaker

The bizarro version of Duskbreaker. Chronobreaker activates upon its death, rather than its entrance to the board. This makes a massive difference. The fact that it doesn’t have taunt, makes it easier to ignore and play around for the opponent. It’s simply too slow and clumsy to be effective, even when we take its asymmetrical effect into account.

Score: 1

Time Rip

Assassinate + Invoke at no extra cost. This is a very good deal for Priest. Time Rip is also a non-conditional removal, which allows Priest to drop situational removal such as Shadow Word: Death. Once again, if you play Galakrond, you run this card without a second thought.

Score: 3

Envoy of Lazul

A solid value 2-drop that is very reminiscent of Curious Glimmeroot. The issue of Envoy is whether it can find a deck to be played in. Priest highly values synergy in every one of its minions, but this card is unlikely to offer that. If we were certain that Priest would have a tempo-focused deck such as Spiteful Priest, we’d give Envoy a higher score.

Score: 2

Fate Weaver

Pretty ridiculous payoff card for Galakrond decks and has synergy with its hero power. In fact, Fate Weaver might be a stronger payoff card for Galakrond Priest than Galakrond himself. Being able to run two copies of a stronger and cheaper Emperor Thaurissan could lead to some serious shenanigans in the late game.

Score: 3

Mindflayer Kaahrj

This legendary is the ultimate tempo 3-drop, and acts as a delayed Faceless Manipulator. It’s a good on-curve play even if your opponent has a small minion on the board, and it scales very hard into the late game, where Kaahrj becomes very annoying and dangerous. The only issue with Kaahrj is that it’s a good all-around card, but one that doesn’t necessarily push Priest’s own game plan, which is something that the class highly values. Might end up as a filler card for its sheer standalone power.

Score: 3

Murozond the Infinite

This card looks nuts until you realize it does not repeat battlecries. It only cast spells, and summons minions that were played by the opponent. This makes it a lot weaker and awkward to use in practice. There will be turns where playing Murozond would do nothing, or backfire against you. Cool design, questionable power level, and unlikely to be game winning. For an 8-mana legendary, that doesn’t inspire us with confidence.

Score: 2

Galakrond, the Unspeakable

Priest’s Galakrond is the weakest in terms of tempo and early board control, but the strongest in terms of value. This means that the longer the game goes, the more powerful Galakrond the Unspeakable becomes since the infinite resource of minions from its hero power can eventually overwhelm opponents. In addition, Team 5 has made up for Priest’s weakness by giving it strong Invoke class cards that don’t carry a stat or mana cost penalty. Most importantly, Priest has Fate Weaver, which might be the most enticing payoff for a Galakrond archetype since it can be considered a build-around card by itself. A 4-mana Emperor Thaurissan is no joke.

Score: 3

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Final Thoughts

Descent of Dragons Set Rank: 6^th

Overall Power Ranking: 5^th

Priest’s set has a few hits and misses. We suspect that we rate it higher than others who might think that Priest got fleeced in this expansion. The difference may come down to subtlety. There are several Priest cards, including the cornerstone Galakrond, that look to have a questionable or an unclear role, so they’re written off.

We believe that at least some of these cards will end up proving to have hidden strength. Priest’s Galakrond is seen as an attrition-focused card due to the value that can be generated from its infinite hero power. Attrition of this kind is usually not favorably evaluated for a good reason: there is no clear win condition here.

What’s important to remember is the addition of Fate Weaver. This card could end up being the real MVP, and enabler of combos that you’d not expect from the “grindy” Galakrond.

In addition, Priest still has the exquisite Combo Priest to fall back on. It may not have received direct support in this expansion, but it may find a tempo card such as Khaarj worthy of consideration.

Overall, we don’t expect to see Priest dominate, but it will be out there, scheming to blow you out in one turn. Watch out.