The Comprehensive The Great Dark Beyond Preview

 

Data Reaper Report - Priest

Divine Star

Divine Star is a Priest Common Holy Spell for 2 Mana and has text - Deal 3 damage to a minion. Give a random minion in your hand +3 Health.

It’s hard for us to justify the existence of this card in any Priest deck, mostly because it is comparable with a twice as expensive Holy Smite with a bonus effect that we don’t believe merits the extra cost. A 3-health buff on a single minion in our hand could matter at some point, but it requires the Priest deck to be relatively proactive in its minion development. Otherwise, this health buff comes online at a timing where its value is diminished.

An early-game, minion removal spell doesn’t usually fit proactive decks. This is historically accurate. Slower decks will just take Holy Smite because having the cheaper option is a more reliable way for them to get ahead.

Score: 1

Lightspeed

Lightspeed is a Priest Common Holy Spell for 2 Mana and has text - Give a minion +1/+2 and Rush. Repeatable this turn.

It’s a bit difficult for us to appreciate rush-related buffs, as our mind keeps drifting to Animated Broomstick and how insane the card was in comparison. Lightspeed does have potential to buff multiple minions in a single turn, but it costs much more mana to do so. For it to be effective on a larger scale, there’s a need to leverage discounted minions, such as Thirsty Drifter.

We don’t think Lightspeed is good enough as a single target buff. 1/2 in stats is worth 1-mana on a buff, so giving rush to a single minion for 1 extra mana should feel bad. The one saving grace is its synergy with K’ure, which could be a powerful combo. If Lightspeed does see play, we suspect it’ll be thanks to the legendary.

Score: 2

Shield of Askara

Shield of Askara is a Priest Common Draenei Minion for 6 Mana with 4 Attack, 8 Health and has text - Taunt Divine Shield Lifesteal

This taunt has a lot of stats and keywords packed into it, making it a potentially powerful stabilizer. The vanilla test is passed here with flying colors, as divine shield and lifesteal are essentially added to a 6-mana body with no real stat penalty. 8-health is a lot. The divine shield is very annoying, but the lifesteal means that attempting to trade into Shield of Askara means healing your opponent to full. Turn 6 is the sweet spot when the most aggressive decks are about to end the game, so it comes down early enough to make an impact in these matchups. It’s also very good with Elise in Reno Priest.

What’s more is that Shield of Askara is a game ending follow-up to Askara herself. Nothing is getting through a doubled-up Shield of Askara on turn 6. The card is admittedly slow, and the consistency of this curve does come into question, but if a Draenei-centric Priest can find a place in the format, Shield of Askara will make an impact.

Score: 2

Overzealous Healer

Overzealous Healer is a Priest Rare Draenei Minion for 1 Mana with 3 Attack, 3 Health and has text - Deathrattle: Restore 6 Health to the enemy hero. Spellburst: Silence this minion.

There will be a lot of comparisons with Zombie Chow here, but Overzealous Healer is significantly better. 3-attack means it trades favorably with any other 1-drop in the game, as 1/3’s are very common.

Of course, its downside means it doesn’t fit in every aggressive deck, as it’s required to have cheap spells that can consistently silence it to avoid healing the opponent. Its spellburst also makes it awkward with buffs, unless we’re talking about some Purifying Power meme-ry.

Still, we believe that this is the kind of 1-drop the class will build around to make work. It’s an auto-inclusion in every defensive Priest deck, where the drawback doesn’t matter, while faster Priest decks that run a decent package of cheap spells could also be interested.

Early game board control is one of the most important aspects in the game. In terms of controlling the board, Overzealous Healer is one of the strongest 1-drops ever printed.

Score: 4

Orbital Halo

Orbital Halo is a Priest Rare Holy Spell for 2 Mana and has text - Give a minion +2/+1 and Divine Shield. Costs (0) if you played an adjacent card this turn.

To best evaluate Orbital Halo, we need to consider its strength at its baseline cost, as well as how easy we expect to trigger its adjacency. A 2/1 divine shield buff for 2 mana can be considered okay: borderline constructed worthy. 2/3 buffs for 2 mana have seen play in the past. Orbital Halo is similar, as it can deal the same amount of damage, while giving us good trading opportunities.

A 1-mana spell that gives a minion divine shield would be unplayable, so we consider the divine shield to be worth less than 1 mana, or roughly 1-2 stat points.

Adjacency is a condition that is easier to activate in a deck with a lower curve. The cheaper our cards are, the more likely we’re able to manipulate our hand, or sequence multiple cards in the same turn. A cheaper deck usually means an aggressive one.

If we look at a recent example, Zarimi Priest should be all over this card. It’s likely trivial to play Orbital Halo for 0-mana in an aggressive deck that quickly spits out minions and tries to snowball. A buffable target likely also exists on the board for the buff to land and the divine shield makes the board more resilient to board clears.

We do think the spell is only suitable for fast-paced, aggressive decks, so it should see play if Priest has a competitive one.

Score: 3

Anchorite

Anchorite is a Priest Rare Draenei Minion for 3 Mana with 2 Attack, 4 Health and has text - Whenever another minion is Overhealed, give it that much extra Health.

This effect could be very desirable in an Overheal Priest deck, if the archetype was not completely obliterated by the recent nerf to Injured Hauler. Priest doesn’t have an Inner Fire type of finisher that can leverage high health totals into burst damage either. Crazed Alchemist might be reaching.

Anchorite is a weak minion at its baseline that costs a decent amount of mana, making it difficult for us to chain with heal effects on the same turn, especially when it requires us to have other minions in play. When we compare it to a card such as a pre-nerf Injured Hauler, the impact doesn’t seem comparable. Best case scenario, it helps us put our board out of reach for damage-based removal with Funnel Cake or Fan Club, so we’re not convinced the card helps Overheal Priest return to playability. We also think the card is too situational to include in a purely aggressive Priest deck.

Score: 2

Gravity Lapse

Gravity Lapse is a Priest Epic Spell for 0 Mana and has text - Set EVERY minion's Attack and Health to the lower of the two.

This is a very interesting spell, with a potentially drastic effect on some boards, yet it costs 0-mana. 0-mana spells with potential impact tend to make the cut, though we recognize that Gravity Lapse has big flaws as a standalone card. It doesn’t remove minions by itself, so it needs to be paired with “something” to be useful. That “something” can be a minion trade, or a removal card (single target or AOE). Pairing another card with Gravity Lapse isn’t hard, considering it costs no mana, but it does impact our own board, so fits a more passive deck rather than a proactive one.

We suspect that Gravity Lapse is one of those cards that can sit dormant for months, until the right synergy is figured out. With the current card pool, we’re not convinced about an instant hit, but it seems inevitably constructed worthy.

Score: 2

Mystified To’cha

Mystified To'cha is a Priest Epic Minion for 4 Mana with 4 Attack, 2 Health and has text - Battlecry: If the combined Health of both heroes is exactly 42, set your hero's Health to 42.

One of the weirdest cards in recent memory, Mystified To’cha has an incredible, game-winning effect, but one that relies on an extremely specific condition to activate. A health total of exactly 42 for both players seems difficult to accomplish on paper, especially when the opponent can play around it to some degree.

Assuming we’re playing a Control Priest deck, which is the only archetype that could accommodate this card, To’cha is a daunting win condition in faster matchups, yet the more we think about it, the more interesting it gets.

The opponent could play around it to some degree, but Priest does have multiple ways of manipulating its own health. It’s not that the opponent can simply avoid putting Priest at 12 while it’s at full life. If Priest starts running other heal effects, other breakpoints become full heal triggers. If the opponent keeps the Priest above 12 life, Priest could use its own minions to damage the enemy hero and reach 42. It could damage itself too, with Nightshade Tea looking like a tasty option for hitting breakpoints consistently.

If the card becomes competitive, it will become extremely annoying to play around. We recognize it’s not good in slower matchups, but the potential single card win condition against an entire spectrum of decks seems too good to not heavily experiment with.

Score: (4)2

K’ure, the Light Beyond

K'ure, the Light Beyond is a Priest Legendary Minion for 3 Mana with 3 Attack, 3 Health and has text - Spellburst: Summon a random 3-Cost minion. (Holy spells don't remove this Spellburst.)

When it comes to Holy spells, K’ure is an absolutely cracked Violet Teacher. Summoning random 3-drops with every spell can enable a powerful swing turn. It works particularly well with Lightspeed, which can give rush to the summoned minions, as well as Orbital Halo, which can be cast for free in some circumstances.

Raylla is a recent, similar card to K’ure, that costs 4 mana. We believe a 3-mana Raylla would have been insane, so the only question is whether the restriction to Holy spells prevents K’ure from making a big impact in Priest.

Most Holy spells are defensive in nature, but in addition to Lightspeed and Orbital Halo, Power Word: Synchronize allows us to pocket another copy of K’ure for next turn. We believe this package is feasible in a deck such as Zarimi Priest, or another aggressive deck down the road.

Score: 3

Askara

Askara is a Priest Legendary Draenei Minion for 5 Mana with 4 Attack, 5 Health and has text - Battlecry: The next Draenei you play summons a copy of itself.

Askara is realistically as good as her play with Shield of Askara is going to be. As a 5 mana 4/5, she must enable a big swing, ideally as soon as possible. The good news is that the effect carries over across turns, so there’s no need to have Shield of Askara ready for an immediate follow up. We only need to be mindful not to waste the effect on a cheap Draenei, such as Overzealous Healer or Troubled Mechanic.

While Askara doesn’t encourage us to run a big package of Draenei, another possible use for her would be in a heavier Draenei deck with Velen and Ace Wayfinder. We can theoretically repeatedly copy and summon Velen, making big boards to wear down the opponent.

We think the synergy between Askara and Shield of Askara is promising enough in faster matchups that it’s worth considering, but she does feel a bit niche with the current pool of Draenei available.

Score: 2

Final Thoughts

The Great Dark Beyond Set Rank: 7th

Overall Power Ranking:  11th

We don’t think this set is what the doctor ordered for Priest. The class is currently struggling to find relevance after the deletion of Overheal Priest through the nerf to Injured Hauler. Zarimi Priest has long stagnated, while Control Priest decks are devoid of a competitive late game plan.

Control Priest does get a boost in survival thanks to Overzealous Healer contesting early game board control, while it has received some stabilization options, including the intriguing To’cha. For it to become competitive, it needs to figure out what to do in the late game. Kil’jaeden could help its attrition plan, but the card is available to all classes, so we’re not sure it’s a net positive for control mirrors.

Perhaps, Priest’s best late game card is Ceaseless Expanse, as the class has very strong tutors and copy effects that can leverage it to an oppressive degree. We believe this is the most promising angle for a Control Priest or Reno Priest deck. However, we must remember that currently, slower Priest decks are miles away from being competitive, so it needs to be a remarkable turnaround.

Meanwhile, Zarimi Priest may have received a small package of useful cards, but we’re not convinced it will revive the tired archetype. Draenei Priest could emerge with an aggressive game plan, but we’re suspicious of its ability to close out games.

Priest is probably the class we have the most question marks for. We wouldn’t be surprised if none of its directions gains traction, which is why we’ve put it at the bottom of the table. Thankfully, Priest is a particularly hard class to figure out, so we’ll see what Anduin manages to cook up to defy expectations.

1 Comment

  1. So Yrel can’t give the Libram of Judgment, 7 mana weapon? Then text on this card is misleading and deceptive.

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