Twilight Mender
A 3 mana 3/4 that generates two spells sounds good on paper. The purpose of Twilight Mender seems to support a Quest Priest deck, as it is a single minion that generates two potential ticks for the quest, Holy and Shadow.
However, both spell schools have a very high variance of outcomes, so there is no guarantee that the spells generated will be favorable quest progressors. It is enough for one of the spells to be bad for Mender to not be worth it, as we are paying 3 mana for a Spider Tank to get them.
Our suspicion is that Quest Priest will not rely on this card to complete its quest and that there are cards that perform its role more effectively and consistently. For other Control Priest decks, the availability of the Imbue package makes other resource generators unnecessary.
Score: 1
Gravedawn Sunbloom
Drawing 2 cards for 4 mana is obviously terrible, but for 2 mana, this is a strong effect. Therefore, Sunbloom needs to be consistently active to be a playable constructed card. We think that Priest has the appropriate tools to make sure it is always in discounted form when we need it. Beyond a package of Holy spells, an Imbue package is likely to find us a Holy spell that can set up Sunbloom the next turn.
Priest is a class that does not currently have excellent card draw, so the addition of Sunbloom is important. Not only is it essential in a Quest Priest deck for quest progression, it also further digs into our deck to find the other spells we need to complete it. For other late-game-oriented Priest decks going forward, it should become an important glue card to enhance their consistency.
Simple, effective design.
Score: 3
Story of Amara
We should remind ourselves that Druid, a class with ramp, had a 10-mana Titan that could heal to full, while developing stats in play and having other useful abilities. It also had Tree of Life, a 9-mana spell that healed all friendly characters to full. It never saw serious competitive play.
Story of Amara does set up our health to 40, but it does nothing else. Cards that do nothing beyond healing are usually terrible, as they do not impact the board or help us gain resources. This is true for far cheaper cards, so the issue is magnified further when we are talking about a spell that costs 10 mana.
The problem is that Story of Amara does not do much if we are being overwhelmed. If the opponent is threatening us, Story can buy us a turn, but it does not clear the board or prevent our opponent from hitting our face again. In faster matchups, this card is almost always dead in our hand, as most games should be decided before turn 10. In slower matchups, this card does very little, as late game matchups are determined by card advantage far more often than life gain.
Score: 1
Glade Ecologist
A 1-drop that generates a Holy spell of low quality. Purifying Vines (the generated card) would be unplayable if it were a collectible card. The main upside of Ecologist is that it is an early game body that generates us a free card and can be resurrected with Resuscitate.
Is it a good early game body? A 1 mana 2/1 is bad. The Holy spell is not given to us on a battlecry, so we need to wait for our 1-drop to die before we get it. It seems that Ecologist is meant to offer subtle Quest Priest support, as a cheap Holy spell can help progression, but we are spending 2 mana for a single tick, which is not even that amazing.
Ecologist does have good synergy with Wild Pyromancer and can help us structure an early game defensive shell for a Control Priest deck that runs Resuscitate. We think this could be a strong path for Ecologist to see competitive play. This 1-drop is obviously unplayable in any faster Priest deck, considering the class has access to the best 1-drops in the format.
Score: 2
Gravedawn Voidbulb
Summoning a random 4-drop is worth 3 mana, while giving it taunt is worth about half a mana. At its baseline, Voidbulb is barely passable and not good enough for constructed.
But Kindred repeats the effect. We now summon two random 4-drops with taunt. That is a lot of stats for 4 mana, on top of having two sizable taunt bodies to stabilize with.
When looking at the Shadow spell pool in the Priest class, it is of shockingly low quality. There are not many spells over there that we would be happy to play in a constructed deck, especially in a Quest Priest deck that looks for unconditionally strong effects it can proactively play regardless of the opponent’s board state.
Voidbulb instantly becomes the second-best Shadow spell in a theoretical Quest Priest deck (after the amazing Nightshade Tea). For other Priest decks, it may not be as much of a slam dunk, but it is a strong stabilizer. If Quest Priest does become competitive, it will be playing Voidbuld.
Score: 2
Wilted Shadow
This minion looks extremely expensive for what it is supposed to do. A 7 mana 7/7 lifesteal that does nothing when it is played, Wilted Shadow looks like a sitting duck for any kind of removal effect that the opponent may have.
Of course, we could heal an enemy minion, or even heal their face, for Wilted Shadow to make an instant, stabilizing impact, but that requires us to spend more mana on a healing effect.
We do not think Wilted Shadow is a minion we ever want to play in a normal Priest deck, but it could become a centerpiece for a new OTK Priest deck. The key to its competitive place is resurrection effects. For Standard, we are talking about the cheap and conveniently available Rest in Peace.
We play Wilted Shadow. It dies. We then play two copies of Rest in Peace to summon two Wilted Shadows. We proceed to heal our opponent’s face with 0-mana Bandages that we accumulated from Careless Crafter. Each bandage deals 11 net damage to our opponent (heal for 3 but then take 14 damage). Three bandages mean our opponent is dead from 30. This combo does more damage to the opponent per Bandage if they have armor to punch through.
Considering how desperate Priest is for a reliable late game finisher, we suspect this will be a source of great interest and experimentation. To the kitchen, we say.
Score: 3
Resuscitate
Resuscitate does not seem real at first glance. Resummoning three minions with a total cost of 6 mana, while giving all of them Reborn, seems incredibly strong for 5 mana. The rate is good because it requires us to draw and play minions of these specific costs, while resurrect effects also require us to have a curve of minions that is “resurrect-friendly” to leverage. We are discouraged from playing many battlecry minions with undersized bodies. Preferably, we want minions with strong stats and/or static effects.
The good news is that Priest has incredible early game minions. Overzealous Healer does have some anti-synergy with Resuscitate, but the class is perfectly positioned to leverage the spell to its full potential.
Specifically, Resuscitate sounds incredible in Menagerie Priest, building a sticky board with reborn minions that makes it incredibly difficult for the opponent to deny the Priest from landing Menagerie Jug. In Protoss Priest, it can resurrect Sentry and Void Ray, both are powerful outcomes.
We believe this spell is deck warping to the point Priest may opt to an early game minion package even in more defensive mind decks, for the purpose of taking advantage of the swing potential Resuscitate offers.
This card is the definition of meta defining.
Score: 4
Gladesong Siren
This minion’s condition might be difficult to consistently pull off but comes with a big reward. Gladesong Siren is a sizable lifesteal minion with a baseline cost that makes it unplayable. Yet, if we play a Holy spell and a Shadow spell on the same turn, it gets discounted to 1 mana. A 1 mana Gladesong Siren is crazy good.
If we think about best case scenarios, this minion can end games against aggressive decks. A Holy Smite and a Nightshade Tea can summon Siren as early as turn 3. Of course, pulling this off seems difficult as Priest is not blessed with a wide plethora of cheap, constructed-worthy spells and we need to draw three specific cards to execute the play.
However, we do think that a well-balanced list with a reasonable package of both spell schools can pull off turn 5 Sirens with reasonable consistency. Thrive in the Shadows, for example, can help us find a Holy spell and execute the play more consistently in the mid game. The Imbue package can also find us a missing piece for a Siren play.
While Siren is clearly intended to help Quest Priest stabilize, we do not think it will be limited to this archetype alone. Any late game strategy in the class will be interested in making Siren work, because it is a clear win condition in faster matchups.
Score: 3
Archaios
This legendary may put Menagerie Priest over the top. A 1/6 is very difficult to kill on turn 3, while its ability snowballs hard if left alone. Buffing our early game minions to 6 health sounds like a way to ensure they cannot be removed by turn 5, when we land Menagerie Jug and end the game.
Any turn 1-2 minions become extra scary if left alone and are followed up by Archaios. The only situation where Archaios is not scary on curve, is if Priest has no minions in play. But in the case of an aggressive Priest deck with the fattest 1-drops in the format, developing early is trivial.
There is little counterplay to Archaois too, as it can instantly buff minions once it is played. The opponent can potentially injure Archaois and try to turn it into a debuff effect later, but the Priest can then sack off Archaois with a trade and proceed.
Archaois also sounds scary as a 3-drop summoned by Resuscitate. It all seems very annoying to deal with. If we are not playing a deck with elite removal tools, we will have trouble keeping the Priest off the board. This legendary is a modern-day High Priest Amet.
Score: 4
Reach Equilibrium
This quest seems relatively difficult to support, as it requires a good balance of Holy and Shadow spells. Those spells also need to be cheap, or highly independent of the game state. The class has a lot of removal spells that are poor fits for a deck that looks to progress the quest steadily and consistently. An Imbue package could help fill the gaps here, especially when it comes to card advantage.
We cannot expect the quest to be done quickly. This is certainly one of the slower ones in the set, as we need to spend mana on 10 spells to complete it, which should cost well over 15 mana. This may take us past turns 7-8, considering we cannot progress the quest while completely ignoring what the opponent is doing. We will need to develop minions too.
This quest is unique as it has partial rewards, but these minions are hardly worth playing. Only the final reward becomes truly powerful, but even then, does it win the game?
It is a single minion with a lot of stats and value built into it, but in a late game matchup against a deck that possesses removal, it can be dealt with it. We can further leverage the minion through copy effects, or a card like Umbra, but that requires further support and time.
Considering the work required, Sol’etos, Cycle’s Rebirth (the combined minion) is not impressive.
Score: 1
Final Thoughts
The Lost City of Un’Goro Set Rank: 3rd
Overall Power Ranking: 5th
The disappointment over Control Priest’s aspirations in the Emerald Dream has kept us composed when evaluating the class’s prospects in Un’Goro. But we cannot ignore that Priest is receiving powerful tools that fit late game strategies well. It even received a clear OTK finisher that seems realistic and not too difficult to execute.
We will start with the quest first. We do not believe this will be where Priest’s hopes will lie. Sol’etos requires a lot of work to compile yet does not represent a game ending threat to defensive minded opponents. Even with further support through Umbra and copy effects, it seems unrealistic to expect it to do much against the turtles of the format, while the quest requires too much time to be relevant against faster opponents.
We would however keep an eye on Wilted Shadow. We could execute an OTK that costs 6 mana through a couple of Rest in Peace copies and all the free Bandages we can hold in our hand. This can kill the most resilient, armor stacking decks in the format.
This potential win condition is receiving extra card draw, stabilizing plays and the powerhouse that is Resuscitate. We believe this resurrection spell is Priest’s strongest card in the set, one that will warp every Priest strategy to build around it. It is particularly powerful in more proactive Priest decks.
Speaking of proactivity, Menagerie Priest looks terrifying with the prospect of Resuscitate. Its early game is already extremely powerful, so how are opponents supposed to prevent Menagerie Jugs from connecting on the sticky boards that Resuscitate produces? The spell should also offer a massive power boost to Protoss Priest.
Priest looks guaranteed to be competitive through its aggressive, Menagerie archetype. But we are daring to dream, once again, of a late-game oriented Priest deck with a successful win condition. Are we there yet?
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