Priests and Attachments?

**brokenarrow x** · 03-25-2013, 08:04 PM

I haven’t come across any posts about decks centered on priests and attachments yet, so I decided to share this deck I’ve been tuning on the test server. This deck revolves around attachments and big allies.

Here are my considerations:
CONSIDERATIONS

ATTACHMENTS
Assumed Command

Thoughtful Investment

BOARD CONTROL
Tidal Wave

Devoted Lightbearer

Gunther, General of Balor

Knight of the Golden Dawn

UTILITY
Healing Touch

Focused Prayer

DRAW
Bad Santa

HERO
First off, our heroes, Zhanna

or Jericho Spellbane

. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Zhanna

is capable of surviving long into the mid-game, which is a complement to the deck since the deck is more of a mid-range to end-game type. With life recuperation, she will be able to survive early damage dealt by rush-burn decks, which dominate the early game. This is also complemented by Healing Touch

-both for life recuperation and to take out negative attachments.

Jericho

with his ability on the other hand, singe-handedly addresses negative attachments opponents may use. I the early game though, game play will be crucial for him since rush/rush burn decks will have the edge,

Hence, my choice would be Zhanna

.

BOARD (ALLY) CONTROL
Next, board control. We have Book of Curses

, Ice Storm

, and Tidal Wave

. Among these, Tidal Wave

is the best board control spell among the 3, since it readily addresses any threats (allies) on the board, whereas Ice Storm

and Book of Curses

, although readily playable in the early game remove and/or stall small allies on the board. Hence, I included 4 copies of tidal wave in the deck.

ALLIES
As I mentioned earlier, most of the allies in this deck would be, for the better part fatties. I still haven’t balanced the number of copies per ally in the deck and am still tweaking at the moment. Each ally has a specific function:

Jasmine Rosecult

Through my readings (and little experience, I have to say), Jasmine

is one of the best allies to have around. Her ability is also very useful since it stalls other allies and gains you tempo, and she is at 3/4, also is very good body to have at 3cc.

Devoted Lightbearer

At 2/4, this ally has quite a large body to survive most attacks by early game allies. Second, he reduces the cost of the deck’s other fatties Aeon

and Knight of Golden Dawn – and the ones listed below. The best thing about Devoted Lightbearer

is how he interacts with attachments. A single attachment gives him steadfast, and with the attachment Assumed Command, all other friendly allies with him on the battlefield also gain steadfast. Other than combat damage, I’d say that’s one less thing to worry about. Below are the allies who can be played a turn earlier with Devoted Lightbearer

on the battlefield.

Braxnorian Soldier

I’ve played against opponents with haste, and this can be a pain most of the time. Braxnorian Soldier

totally refutes this and is a good answer to portal deck. Also, he is immune to small allies who gain their strength in numbers to take down fatties. Kristoffer Wyld

, Priest of the Light, Puwen Bloodhelm

, Nightshade

, and all allies with health 3 or less, who are usually staple allies in rush decks cannot attack him.

Paladin of Unaxio

Immune to fire means being immune to burn, while being immune to ice damage means withstanding damage from Eladwen

’s ice ability. This ally also removes negative effects from friendly allies – a plus to Healing Touch

which is also one of the deck’s utility spells.

Raven Wildheart

Another good ally, Raven

’s ability to render opponents who she hits useless on the battlefield is also a good addition to the deck, I would say.

Elizabeth Winterborn

I’m still contemplating on whether or not to make her a part of the deck. She is and additional draw engine, however, one point of damage renders her ability useless, and, the +2 bonus would really be better if it were a bit higher.

Aeon Stormcaller

Regarded as one of the best allies for his enormous body, protector ability, and the capability to grant others a +1/+1, Aeon is just an auto-include in this deck. He protects other allies. As they say, works best with Earthen Protector

.

Earthen Protector

Best combo with Aeon Stormcaller

, and also resurrects allies who are killed while he is in play. Also a big body to deal with.

Knight of the Golden Dawn

Also another fatty, and goes very well with Zhanna

. Once it heals, Zhanna heals as well. This ally also gets a +1 attack for each attachment attached to it.

Gunther, General of Balor

One of the biggest allies in this deck, and also has steadfast. Like Devoted Lightbearer

, also works well with Assumed Command

. The +1/+1 temporary boost to all allies is also very huge; taken all friendly allies on the battlefield beside him will also be fatties.

ATTACHMENTS
Assumed Command

This attachment has been mentioned twice already in this article, and for good reason. It interacts so well with some allies that it grants them steadfast, which brings down removal to the basics, which is combat. And the fatter you allies are, the harder they are to kill.

A Legend Rises

A buffer that gives immunity to enemy attachments. Also very useful on AEON, since being protector, has to be targeted first (by opposing attachments), and yet ironically, cannot be because of the attachment.

Thoughtful Investment

I see this card as an accelerant, no more no less, and still am thinking of having it as part of the deck or not. I’ve some across some articles debating its usefulness, and have to yet see how it affects game play, newbie that I am LOL.

Forgiveness

This, compared to Thoughtful Investment

, which only grants an additional resource, has to be played, I’d say tactically. It can be used as a tutor to filter out a needed card that has been used as a resource. When I started playing this deck I began to take note of what cards I would sac as resources. For example, I’d use Tidal Wave

as my first resource, and later in the game when the need arose, I would use the extra copy of Forgiveness

I have in hand to pull it out and set up for board reset. Something to that extent.

Sacred Fire Walker

This is one of the best attachments for me. It deals extra 2 damage to the damage already dealt by the ally it is attached to.

Divine Connection

Divine Connection

allows you to cast other attachments more quickly be reducing casting cost by 1 and recycles these attachments when the allies they are attached to die.

Holy Shield

, Reinforced Armor and Inner Strength

Potential attachments that would help, strengthen and protect allies/hero.

UTILTIY SPELLS
Focused Prayer

Addresses unwanted weapons and armor.

Healing Touch

Life recuperation and negative attachment removal as discussed earlier.

Incense of Atonement

Deals 1 damage for every attachment summoned. Would have been sweet if it dealt damage to opposing allies as well.

1 Zhanna Mist

1 Gunther, General of Balor

2 Aeon Stormcaller

1 Earthen Protector

1 Braxnorian Soldier

2 knight of Golden Dawn
2 Paladin of Unaxio

3 Jasmine Rosecult

4 Devoted Lightbearer
2 Assumed Command

2 A Legend Rises

3 Divine Connection

4 Forgiveness

4 Sacred Firewalker
4 Tidal Wave

4 Bad Santa

2 Focused Prayer

2 Healing Touch

So there we have it. An attachment-based priest deck at 45 cards, still under construction. Hopefully I got the basics covered, and am hoping for suggestions and feedback.

**Warr Byrd** · 03-25-2013, 08:21 PM

Just looking at it, I'm going to say that it needs a lot of tuning. With as many 1x and 2x cards that you have, even if you can get back early sacrifices with Forgiveness

and return attachments to your deck with Divine Connection, you are not going to get the cards you want when you want them, especially with only 4x Bad Santa

for draw. You might want to think about which allies are your win condition allies and bumping their count up while removing the others, and again with the attachments. You might also want to consider Treasured Heirloom

for additional draw and attack power.

You also mentioned Aldon

at one point when I think you meant Aeon

.

**brokenarrow x** · 03-25-2013, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by Warr Byrd

Just looking at it, I'm going to say that it needs a lot of tuning. With as many 1x and 2x cards that you have, even if you can get back early sacrifices with Forgiveness

and return attachments to your deck with Divine Connection, you are not going to get the cards you want when you want them, especially with only 4x Bad Santa

for draw. You might want to think about which allies are your win condition allies and bumping their count up while removing the others, and again with the attachments. You might also want to consider Treasured Heirloom

for additional draw and attack power.

You also mentioned Aldon

at one point when I think you meant Aeon

.

Thanks for the correction there, yes I believe I mean Aeon

.

Also, that's the reason I stated the deck was still being tweaked. There are a lot of good new cards in Dark Prophecy that I've decided to have a build like this for now, I could filter the deck and make it more efficient. I used to play MTG (casually) and there were some decks that had 1-2 copies of the cards in them. I think that's what influenced me to build it this way. Then again, yes, changes will be made, since I'd like to make the deck better. Let's just say a blueprint. Thanks for the feedback though

**brokenarrow x** · 03-25-2013, 09:45 PM

After a some neuron bashing I came up with this set of allies:

4 devoted lightbearer
4 knight of golden dawn
1 Gunther, General of Balor

3 jasmine rosecult
2 aeon stormcaller
2 paladin of unaxio

Justifications:
-4 Lightbearers to ensure I could cast the fatties early, and paired with Assumed Command

would easily give steadfast to friendly allies.
-4 Knights as my finishers, their attack increases with attachments, specially with Sacred Firewalker
-2 Aeon

for protection
-2 Paladin for negative attachments and immunity to burn and freeze damage
-1 Guther, I may or may not remove him depending on how he will interact with the other allies

and the other cards still the same
2 Assumed Command

2 A Legend Rises

3 Divine Connection

4 Forgiveness

4 Sacred Firewalker
4 Tidal Wave

4 Bad Santa

2 Focused Prayer

2 Healing Touch

I'll be trying this out later in the test server. Again, any suggestions/feedback are welcome.

-Peace

**Jo3yb0i** · 03-25-2013, 10:28 PM

My only problem is the lack of early board presence. Also draw engines are very important. are 4 Bad santas enough? Why not add some treasured heirloom or TO...I can see most of your allies are focused on the end game... But what if its too late to come back from the rush? Just saying I would rather have two jasmines on the board rather than aeons. I'm just saying my suggestion...

Anywhooooo...

**Warr Byrd** · 03-25-2013, 10:50 PM

If brokenarrow wants to make an attachment focused Priest deck, he'll probably end up losing to strong rushes no matter what. Attachment decks just take too long to set up. However, I do agree that the ally focus should shift a little more towards the 3cc range and that more card draw is needed, and strongly suggest finding space for Treasured Heirloom

. That's +1 damage (+2 on KotGD) and card draw on death - hit harder and some recovery if there is loss, diminishes the loss.

I actually have an attachment based Priest deck, some similarities because there are just so many different possibilities, but pretty different still. I want to see what brokenarrow comes up with on his own without forcing him to something like mine.

**KennyPowders** · 03-25-2013, 10:58 PM

I've been mulling around a deck around this idea as well. Clearly that's the direction the dev's want us to take with it.

My deck is similar but slightly more traditional.

Zhanna

4 Armored Sandworm

4 Champion of Irum

4 Devoted Lightbearer

4 Knight of the Golden Dawn

4 Tidal Wave

4 Focused Prayer

4 Reinforced Armor

4 Sacred Fire Walker

4 Divine Connection

3 Assumed Command

4 Wizent's Staff

I love Sandworm

with this deck because each of the attachments work with him. And reinforced armor is sweet because with divine connection in play it only costs one resource and gives kotgd one extra attack plus gargoyle ability.

This deck definitely has issues with weenie rush. I've been working on a weenie attachment deck too but so far the results have been meh.