WOTOG Standard Deck Guide: Avant-Garde Dragon Priest

We are already a couple days into the Whispers of the Old Godsexpansion, and the meta-game is already taking form. C’Thundecks are everywhere, and if you are like me, then you’ve been trying to craft a deck that is tailor made to defeat these annoying ticking-time-bomb-like decks. That’s why I’ve come up with this new age Dragon deck; it is a midrange archetype that has a much more powerful end game than its previous iterations.

Mulligan
Always look for the usual suspects. Cards like the Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent, Museum Curator, and Blackwing Technician are all strong openers against any archetype. If one of those cards is already in hand, then looking for a Twilight Guardian, Shadow Word: Horror, or Brann Bronzebeard is also acceptable.

Gameplay
As it’s a midrange deck, the best way to play it is on curve. Midrange decks are some of the easiest to play because the choice of cards is completely contingent on the amount of mana available; usually resulting in only 1-2 choices in a given a hand. The difference between success and failure at higher levels is the user’s knowledge of the meta-game and thinking 2-3 turns ahead. Like previous dragon decks, this has the same skeletal structure. It has a strong early game with cards like Twilight Whelp andWyrmrest Agent that transition into an even stronger mid-game with cards like Twilight Guardian and Blackwing Corruptor. Where this deck deviates from previous models is in the late game. Thanks to the new Deathwing Dragonlord, dragon based decks have just gained an insanely powerful late game tool that allows it stack up against control-heavy archetypes.

New Cards/Key Cards:

Deathwing Dragonlord:

Mine as well start with the most powerful card in the deck. A 12/12 body for 10-mana is good by itself; pulling out Dragons fo-free? Now that’s just crazy! Even if it’s is used to only pull out one Dragon, it’s worth its value, just make sure it’s not a dragon that has an important battlecry. Personally, I’ve been using this card as the primary tool to pull out Ysera. One of the biggest drawbacks to previous Dragon decks was that late game cards like Ysera, were too slow, and by the time they could be played, the game was usually already lost. The Dragonlord changes all of that thanks to its stout body and insane deathrattle effect. Essentially, if you’re playing a dragon deck, then you should have a Deathwing Dragonlord; it helps solidify the late game, while also making other cards around it stronger.

Shadow Word: Horror:

This is one of the best additions that WOTOG brought to the Priest class. Not only is it an amazing anti-aggro card, it allows the elimination of Shadow Word: Pain, which could only target one minion. Having two of these in a deck is probably overkill, but at least one is necessary to combat super aggressive decks.

 

 

Entomb: 

There is not a better card out there for dealing with C’Thun. It completely takes away the card from the opponent while also ruining several other cards. Any card that interacts with C’Thun will now benefit you because their C’thun is in your possession. Do not frivolously waste this card on any minion; Entomb MUST be used on C’Thun. If it is successfully pulled off, the match is all but won and the opponent is now left cuckolding in the  corner, as you take advantage of their most prized possession.

 

Additional Notes
Eventually, there will be a myriad of ways to defeat C’Thun, but as of now, this is the best I could come up with. Cards like Deathwing Dragonlord and Shadow Word: Horror have taken the Dragon Priest archetype to whole new level. This should be a solid deck for months to come, as it largest weakness is its inherent dependency on what it draws. If you have any questions or suggestions, make sure to leave them below!