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Thoughts on Midrange Priest Cards, Past & Present

I've been kinda nervous about posting this because I don't usually feel like I'm the best authority on HS designs, but I posted this as a comment on HStopdecks and my friends said they liked what I said and told me I should put it here.

The post was on Iksar's most recent AMA where he talked about the predominant gameplay philosophy for HS moving forward being something that slow control decks wouldn't survive in, and the line that caught my attention was:

“On the other hand, if you’re hoping for significantly longer Hearthstone games, that’s not going to happen. Fast-paced action with a fair share of board battles is the target state for the game.”

I read this line and my first thought was: "So the people screaming for Priest to be removed are actually getting their wish."

I was only half exaggerating. I absolutely see where all this is coming from: Galakrond/Sethekk Veilweaver/Random Nonsense Priest was one of the most mind-numbingly boring decks I’ve EVER played against. Yet if this is the direction Team 5 wants for the game (fast, board-based decks where even slower strategies have proactive win conditions), based on the power level of cards made to support midrange and tempo-based priest decks in the past, I very seriously believe that unless something changes, Priest will be left in the dust permanently. The last seriously viable midrange priest deck was Spiteful Priest, which saw meta play back in K&C and some fringe play in Rastakhans (possibly so fringe that I was the only one who managed to climb to Rank 5 with it, the first time I’ve ever done so). Its power in K&C was based on incredibly powerful resource and “answer/threat” minions like Duskbreaker and Drakonid Operative. These both had the “holding a dragon” condition, but they were aggressively costed and could come down on curve. Ever since then I’ve hoped for the return of a proactive, board-based Priest midrange decks and done what I could to use what was released to hit that objective. Yet it feels increasingly like Team 5 is scared of letting Priest have that level of power again. Here’s my thoughts on some of the midrange-style cards priest has gotten since then (these are the ones I remember fighting for when they were revealed, hoping they’d be good, and being disappointed):

Natalie Seline

Why is she an 8-drop? She’s the epitome of midrange minion: answer an opponent’s threat and provide your own at the same time. Yet being stuck so incredibly high on the curve makes her far worse as a single-target removal, no matter her power. Other unconditional removal minions fell almost exclusively around the 6-mana point: Vilespine Slayer (combo would typically mean a 1-mana investment increase), Kel’idan the Breaker, Flik Skyshiv, SI:7 Assassin (its cost reduction ability makes it more squishy, but the deckbuilding restriction helps offset that). If Natalie Seline followed the same formula and was a 6-mana 6/1 instead of 8, I believe she would be far more used and far more powerful.

Aeon Reaver

Of course, Priest DID get a 6-mana removal minion, and yet it also only saw fringe play. But pay attention to the differences between it and Natalie Seline. A single-target lightbomb is a powerful effect, yes, but it is nowhere near as consistent as unconditional destruction. Aeon Reaver’s design and its effect’s power level is more along the lines of Lilypad Lurker, yet Lurker boasts Drakonid Operative-level stats and mana cost, while Reaver was made a 6-mana 4/4. Why? Why not make it a 5-cost? Why not give it better stats? It was so close to being good but these small differences caused an enormous discrepancy in viability.

Chronobreaker

I can almost guarantee Team 5 wanted to recapture some of the power of Duskbreaker while also not making it as meta defining as the original. I got into a huge fight with various people when it released arguing how Duskbreaker was a multi-archetype allstar, while Chrono was solidly a midrange tool. Yet while its effect was powerful, a deathrattle board clear that lacked taunt was utterly inconsequential, especially with such a pitiful statline. It could have been given taunt, it could have been more aggressively statted so opponents would feel more pressure to kill it and have to choose whether to (a choice dynamic midrange loves), but because it was such a weak, ignorable 5-cost minion, Chronobreaker was left in the dust.

Cleric of Scales

My only real quarrel with this card was that it should have been a 1/2. Discovering from deck instead of generating cards was fine, but as Cleric of An’She has since shown, it’s fine to more aggressively stat spell-drawing one drops that have an activation condition.

Twilight Deceptor

This one makes me more angry because, with United in Stormwind, Team 5 spent far more time investing in tempo and board-based priest decks, yet still there’s a huge discrepancy between the power of the stuff they gave priest vs cards they gave other classes that do similar things in the SAME SET. Were it in any other class, Twilight Deceptor’s activation condition would probably not be that difficult to achieve, but in priest, asking that they deal damage to someone is a fairly significant ask. Now let’s look at other classes’ minions that do the same thing: the ones that come to mind are Knight of Anointment and Harbor Scamp. Neither of the ones that come to mind are as well-statted as deceptor, but the stats are not the point here. Card draw is possibly the most powerful thing you can do in HS, and Deceptor once again falls behind, and Paladin and Warrior were given minions that do it without ANY condition, let alone one that is difficult to fulfill on curve like Deceptor. In a board-based priest deck you would hope that Twilight Deceptor would be a powerful turn 2 play, but unless you want to be playing River Crocolisk, it’s nowhere near as powerful as you’d hope.

I do believe that HS devs want Priest to have board-based and even aggro/tempo options, yet consistently they have failed to deliver powerful enough tools for those shells. The ones I listed above are ones that I thought were/are NEARLY there, but just miss the mark. There have been so many others that are much worse. Does anyone even remember Zarek, Master Cloner? Or Lady in White? I understand Team 5 wanting to pull away from infinite generation Bore You to Death control gameplay, but unless they actually give priest tools for more aggressive archetypes that can compete with other classes, Priest wont be able to rise to the occasion. There have been some new ones that give me hope for the class. Xyrella, Serena Bloodfeather, Void Shard, Brittlebone Destroyer, Darkbishop Benedictus, and most importantly:

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Seek Guidance

Seek Guidance is my favorite card from Stormwind. It has a lot of midrange potential because it asks you to curve out, something midrange decks historically love to do with cards that both threaten the board and answer an opponent's play. But it also provides a powerful *proactive* strategy for Control Priest, and opens up patterns of play that are fun and complex. Do you defend against the opponent, or do you advance your own gameplan? Do you have a midrange tool that can do both? how many reactive things do you stick in if you’re in a slower matchup where you need to finish the questline as soon as possible? it’s the EXACT kind of play pattern and deckbuilding dynamic Iksar and the team seem to be promoting and I’m here for it, but I worry it won’t ever be as good as it could be unless there’s more competitively-powered tools for priest.

We need a critical mass of powerful midrange cards to fulfill what appears to be Team 5's vision of proactive priest decks going forward, and I dont think we’re there yet. Shadow Priest got a lot of love in Stormwind and I'm happy to see it reaching high legend finishes, but (correct me if I'm wrong, please) those shells go FULL aggro/face strategy as opposed to midrange. I really hope the mini-set and the last expansion of Year of the Gryphon have the midrange support we need, because Midrange Priest was THE deck that made me realize how fun this game is, and I get sad whenever people scream how much they hate the class and want it to be deleted because it feels like I’m the only one who believes Priest can and should be a lot different than it is now.

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Okay, rant over. Sorry again if this is really rambly or doesn't make much sense, I just always have these thoughts about priest whenever Discourse starts about class balance and whether Priest should be removed, and I wanted to do what I could to come to its aid.

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Edit: While writing the Twilight Deceptor section I highlighted Knight of Anointment and Harbor Scamp as being what Deceptor should have been. I failed to note that ALSO IN THE SAME SET is Fel Gorger which puts all three of them to shame. I don't think Deceptor should be that good especially considering Raise Dead is a shadow spell (and if Deceptor became unconditional draw I would highly expect a corresponding nerf to Raise Dead), but good heavens the disparity in power between different classes' Minions-that-draw-specific-types-of-cards is stunning

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