1.29 Jericho - "Swiss Army Priest"

[BlanketEffect]

This is a tuned and refined version after much testing and analysis.

Jericho Spellbane

4x Puwen
3x Tainted Oracle
3x Raven
3x Aeon

4x Healing Touch
4x Tidal Wave
2x Ice Storm
3x Smite
4x Focused Prayer (Destroy Arms)
2x Shrine of Negatia (Misplaced)
3x Curse

4x Wizent's Staff
2x King's Pride

[BlanketEffect]

Puwen is solely for early board presence. The deck dawdled too much until turns 3-4 before adding him in, and no better card that's playable on turn 2 presented itself. Plus, later on, he's a cheap source of damage, especially late game with a KP in play.

Tainted Oracle is a secondary source of unilateral card draw. Because of opponents' tendency to use incapacitating effects on Oracle, this keeps your Aeon and Raven safe. (Ironic, considering that it is only really these effects they need fear, and opponents will be using them on the weakest allies in your deck.) So, either it gains you a 2:1 or even 3:1 card draw advantage, or it is a 2/2 that takes a Captured Prey for the team and let's Raven stomp face afterwards. Either is a favorable setup. (See later post about why TO is usually a better turn 4 play than Wizent's Staff.)

Raven and Aeon are the closers. Once you're up to 7-8 resources and can control everything as it comes onto the board, they'll seal the deal for you.

Healing Touch is absolutely necessary to combat death-racing mages. For some of your matchups, it's an autosac.

Tidal Wave probably won't be needed four times, but you need the 4x to ensure you'll always have one when you do need it. It's also great fun to use it when you've got an Oracle on the board - especially one that has been disabled.

Ice Storm is super useful against weenie rushes and death-racing, as it only costs (3) to play. It kills any presentation of Krist, Brigette, Blake, Firesnake, Hellsteed, Dark Flayer, Carniboar, and/or Spark, which you will OFTEN face by your third turn. Also, in being so cheap, it can be coupled with Smite to clear the board of both weenies and a fatty.

Smite is such an underused card to which Priests have access. For cost (3), you get a means of killing an ally, or just smacking the enemy hero so you don't spend a turn with 3 unused resources left on your table. Against a death-racer, they provide that small boost in damage output that will be useful when the endgame comes and life totals are close. Plus, it goes well with a smack from Wizent's Staff to kill most 3-drops. Direct damage is the single thing of which Priests are not composed. Smite is a very efficient card to fill that hole for them.

Destroy Arms goes without saying. This is a Priest control deck, and you want to have control over every aspect of the board, including items. Against non-item decks, such as a standard Eladwen turn&burn, they're good autosacs. Very important to take out Bazaars.

Misplaced seems like too much with four Destroy Arms already in the deck, but can be used, not only for more control over your opponent's board, but also to bounce your Wizent's Staff if it's worn down and about to expire without its replacement already in hand.

Curse is necessary because this deck develops slowly, and early Krist, Puwen, and other weenie damage can add up quickly. It also helps to mitigate those 1-attack allies' ability to swarm and wear down your weapons and armor. This will also help your Puwens live longer if you can get Curse on the board early.

Wizent's Staff is pretty much an auto-include in any Priest deck worth playing above rank 200. No need for explanation. It's worth noting, however, that using its ability EVERY turn is not always advisable. You have a very niche hero ability, but when it's useful, it's very useful; but, it takes 4 SE to use it, so pay attention before you use all your SE for the staff.

King's Pride is such a game closer around turns 8-10. You've got control of the board by then, and should have good card draw and card advantage in place. KP gives your late game allies the extra punch you need to bring the game to a close quickly, rather than give them extra time for them to reestablish a foothold on the board. And, of course, it prevents up to 10 damage!

It's 42 cards (including Jericho); but; it's still very consistent, and has enough drawing power to function well without having to cut to 40 even.

All in all it's not an impulsive deck, and will take some playing and practicing with it to get a feel for its flow and control. Once you are familiar with its tendencies, you should roll over most opponents. Just don't get hasty, this deck isn't for the imprudent. It is at worst a 50/50 matchup with any deck around, but specifically:

It absolutely dominates: Warriors, Hunters, Wulven (see game vs DC "Nothernames"), and non-Eladwen Mages, where items and hero attachments are very important for the opponents' win conditions.

Its biggest problem is against Eladwen, because it only has Healing Touch to outrun Eladwen's early burn. Eladwen uses very few (or no) items, so Destroy Arms and Misplaced are somewhat useless draws. His other method of healing, the secondary effect of his hero ability, is of no use against most Eladwen builds, as they don't use any attachments (except MAYBE Gas/Flames) you just can't draw/play enough Healing Touch to outrun the t6-7 kills Eladwen often achieves. You can control everything on the board, but burn isn't "on the board", so you're a little weak against that one thing.

All things considered, I'd rate this deck as a solid T1.5, and in the right hands, a tier 1 deck. Try it out, it's fun to play decks that win that aren't Eladwen, Logan, or Dark Claw.

[Junk Style]

Very nice deck, and of course i got a few questions.

Tainted oracle i fully understand but your other 3 ally choices left me with some questions.

Sandworm is noticeably missing from the deck. What made you pick that over aeon? Also, why raven? What led you to pick her over other allies, be they strong or weenie? For example no jasmine. Honestly my first thought when i looked at this was that marshland sentinel might work well with this deck. It is also interesting to see a 4 lone puwens, and it makes sense considering your reasoning.

The other question that is almost always asked is jericho vs Zhanna.

P.S. Pretty sure Puwen is a man, not a woman .

[Highzac]

nice deck! I like it... Don't see too many Jerichos.

I have the same questions as the post above...I feel like sandworm is almost a must nowadays, especially with so many Logans and Elads restlessly running around...

[BlanketEffect]

So, for the question of the allies:

Why not Sandworm? One answer: attack power 2. He's just too easy for an opponent to ignore while he beats you to death. Late game, KP will still not allow him to kill a PB in one swing, whereas Aeon and Raven both can. Sandworm is also very vanilla. He's hard to kill, I get that. But that's all he is. He doesn't do much to the landscape of the board.

Aeon and Raven are gamechangers, through an through. If I Tidal Wave and the get a Raven on the board, your retaking of the board becomes what you can do to deal with Raven before you can start working on your allies. With Sandworm the reality for my opponent is, "oh well, my Plasma Behemoth lives through two of his attacks and still deals 7 damage to the hero per turn." whereas Raven lives through it and neutralizes 3 points of damage.

I could ramble on and on, but it's late. Suffice it to say that I chose Raven and Aeon because they help the deck to win. Sandworm doesn't. Don't worry about Logan. You have 4 Destroy Arms and 2 Misplaced; you'll be okay. Just play smart. Never ever let a Warrior keep BF on. That should be 100% your SE purpose when facing Logan. Keep his draw shut down and establish your own, via Staff, you'll rape Logan.

Happy new year!

[Dentist Jed]

My deck is very very similar, with Erica and Sandworm instead of Aeon and Raven. Been having good results with them recently.

[BlanketEffect]

I see where Erika and Sandworm are really useful to you against Logan, but I don't see how they give much against any other heroes. Erika dies to pretty much everything that isn't a physical attack, and as I said above, Sandworm is just so easy for opponents to ignore.

[BlanketEffect]

For reference, look up my game vs player Sophnet for illustration of why Sandworm isn't a necessity, even against Logan.

[Dentist Jed]

Admittedly Erika has poor health and dies easily against mages. I can live with that. Against anyone else, Jericho can remove any answers and Sandworm can wear down the weapons.

Eladwen usually plays Retreat and DoU. Erika suffers to burn, but Sandworm shines if game lasts that long.

Warriors only have CB and Retreat. No permanent answers, just choose when to attack.


Not saying my monster choices are better, just better suited to my play style I guess.

[Algork]

For reference, look up my game vs player Sophnet for illustration of why Sandworm isn't a necessity, even against Logan.

All i see in this match is a bad draw/build for the Logan player. He drew no weapon until 7 se and didn't play Berserker's edge.