EDIT: I've added a Jericho version.
I love running unique decks that don't quite fit the current meta, and I'm really excited about this one. A viable resource destruction deck! I'm also nervous putting my deck out there, because I certainly wouldn't want to play against it.
The key here is that Devoted Knight will replenish the resource you lose from casting Plague. Between this replenishment, and Zahanna's ability to recover health, you don't loose nearly as much momentum using Plague as before.
I'd love your suggestions on improving this deck!
Zahanna PLAGUE
42 Cards + Hero
Hero [1]
Zahanna Mist
Allies [21]
4 Twilight Opportunist
3 Champion of Irum
4 Devoted Knight
4 Elizabeth Winterborn
1 Fleetfooted Messenger
1 Armored Sandworm
2 Aeon Stormchaser
1 Viska, The Scarlet Blade
1 Eriss Fateweaver
1 Nathanias, People's Champion
Abilities [16]
4 Tidal Wave
3 Focused Prayer
4 Plague
1 Resurrection
1 Banish
1 Mass Purification
2 Zail's Hymn
Items [4]
4 Wizent's Staff
The point of this deck is not to keep your opponent at 2 resources the entire game - instead, you end up limiting their resources so they can't play powerful cards (Mind control, Supernova, Soul Seeker, 6CC ally) while also making their sacrifice decisions impossibly difficult!
Some things I find important for this deck:
1) This deck does not rely on resource destruction to win, it just happens to be pretty good at it, so if you get a bad draw, you can still play the standard late-game focused priest deck.
2) Sacrifice a card every turn, despite having 4 Devoted Knights in your deck. You'll use those "bonus" resources from Devoted Knight for Plague.
3) Wait to cast Plague until your opponent has at least 4 resources - It removes 2 resources at a time, but will not shrink their resource pool below 2 resources.
4) Late game Plagues are almost more effective than early game plagues. Your opponent may settle on 6 resources by mid-game, and by then you should have amassed 9 or 10 resources with devoted knight and constant sacrificing. Play two plagues back to back, or even on the same turn, and now they have 2 resources and you have 8! It's a huge advantage and their hand is full of cards they can't play. This means you don't need to worry if you don't get Devoted Knights/Plagues in your first hand - just use your low cost allies, Tidal Wave, and Zahanna's ability to survive to the late game, then punish their resources hard.
6) Removing resources is essentially also forcing discards in your opponent. As you remove resources from your opponent, they need to sacrifice more cards than normal, so you really hurt their draw. Playing 4 Plagues in one game means they'd have to sacrifice an additional 8 cards than their typical game if they wanted to keep up - that's a big change in play style that gives you the advantage.
7) The biggest challenge to this plague deck are people with powerful 2 and 3CC allies - ie Elemntals with Super Focus attached, Tala Pureheart, or Ythan Redthorn. But, in general, everyone struggles when their resources are limited. Mass Purification/Eriss will remove power-up attachments, and Zail's Hymn, Tidal Wave, and Banish deal with Pureheart and Redthron. By the late game you'll have the clear advantage. On the other hand, heroes like Baduruu and Gravebone have abilities that allow them to cast cards that cost more than their current resources. I don't find this to be an issue against this deck, however, because Tidal Wave takes care of Gravebone and Focused Prayer takes care a Baduruu.
Jericho PLAGUE
Jericho time! Same Plague cleverness + a fun Zail's Hymn "Banish" loop.
Hero [1]
Jericho Spellbane
Allies [17]
4 Devoted Knight
4 Elizabeth Winterborn
2 Tainted Oracle
2 Mystic of the Vale
2 Aeon Stormchaser
1 Viska, The Scarlet Blade
1 Eriss Fateweaver
1 Nathanias, People's Champion
Abilities [21]
4 Tidal Wave
3 Focused Prayer
4 Plague
1 Resurrection
4 Zail's Hymn
3 Lingering Essence
2 Embers of the Just
Items [2]
2 Wizent's Staff
Some Jericho specific notes:
Mystic of the Vale + Zails Hymn = Endless Banish loop! I like to keep Zail's Hymn on an opposing ally until they cast a second ally. Remove Zail's Hymn from the first ally with Mystic of the Vale's ability - that ally is banished back into their deck and ZH is placed in your hand. Then re-cast that same Zail's Hymn on the new ally! Now you can endlessly banish your opponent's allies while keeping new ones from attacking. This works for Zahanna/Threbin as well.
With Jericho, I use Embers of the Just on the crippled allies in the meantime for 4 damage to the hero and + 3 health.
Lingering Essence keeps Jericho rolling It gives him great shadow energy momentum and health recovery. Paired with Embers of the Just you can kill a 5 HP enemy while gaining 3 hero health and 1 shadow energy. Very strong. There are no 2CC allies in this deck so it should be easy to cast. The health recovery helps negate fireballs and weapon damage (and is demoralizing to your opponent ). Feel free to add a fourth LE to the deck, because you can target and remove LE to gain three HP + 1SE in a pinch and just cast another LE.
Plague and Devoted Knight work the same way in this deck as with Zahanna PLAGUE deck
Cast resurrection after Nathania's is killed His ability summons another ally into play when he is cast, as long as the next card in your deck is an ally. Resurrection after Nathanias is killed lets you play him a second time and also ensures there's an ally behind him to summon.
The draw is different from ZahannaInstead of 4 Liz 4 Wizent's, I split Wizent's into 2 Wizent's and 2 Tained Oracles. Jericho benefits from the meat shield of TO and you'll save your SE on Embers of the Just/Lingering Essence.
Suggestions welcome!
EDIT: See EverKnight's reply on this page for a Threbin Plague deck
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