[SF] Heavy control Zhanna (347 rating)

[chamthabo]

I always like to play control deck. My first hero is Lance, and then Serena, and then Garth, and currently Zhanna. Now, I decide to move to another hero and want to share this deck I am currently using, probably the best deck I have ever made on my own .

SF brings a lot of awesome tools to priest card pool. I firstly started by putting every cards I like all together. It surprisingly gave me very good result. I have been tinkering it for sometime until it's stable and fit into current meta.

Zhanna Mist

***Allies (18)***
4x Jasmine Rosecult
3x Braxnorian Soldier
2x Aeon Stormcaller
3x Fleet-footed Messenger
3x Elizabeth Winterborn
3x Devoted Knight

***Abilities (19)***
3x Healing Touch
4x Tidal Wave
4x Focused Prayer
1x Resurrection
1x Forgiveness
3x Banish
3x Zail's Hymn

***Items (2)***
2x Glass Chalice of Knowing

***Armors (2)***
2x The King's Pride

***Weapons (4)***
4x Wizent's Staff

TOTAL: 45 cards + Hero

*** update 1 : replace all Raven with Braxnorian Soldier (thank you, ipoop245) ***

I know what you all are going to say. Everyone always has bad attitude toward deck with more than 40 cards, me too. I actually don't have any good reason why I still keep it big like this, apart from good QM result it always give me. This deck has no exciting concept like most other decks in this forum have, its ultimate goal is simply to control board which is what priest can do the best.

This deck brought me to 330 rating last season, and currently 347, a lot more than what I initially expected, and I don't exactly know why.
Anyway, these are the role of each cards in this deck that I think make it successful.

--Jasmine Rosecult--
Best ally for control deck, so 4x.

--Elizabeth Winterborn--
Secondary draw engine, but primary in some match up that you need your heal to survive. Don't play her on T4 if you think you are going to use TW next turn, play Wizent Staff instead. Putting her on your empty board and using Banish or Zail's hymn on one of your opponent's few allies is a pretty strong move.

--Devoted Knight--
I am always a fan of Night Owl as a rogue player. DK is a priest version of him. Play him on T3 if you have TW in your hand. Good ally to put on board after TW to bait all control cards your opponent has before playing another allies next turn.

--Fleet-footed Messenger--
I think he is the most important ally in this deck. In this deck, you rely a lot on Zail's hymn and Banish to control the flow of game, I always keep at least one of them in my hand. FFM help you to get those cards when you don't have them. FFM + KP is awesome as always. This guy is also Zaladar killer. He has some health to help him survive Zal damage and Zal player sometime ignores him because of his low attack. He is also the worst target for MC. Coupled with KP, he can kill many allies that is nowadays popular among Zal players (RK, FC) and quickly regain board in one turn.

--Zail's Hymn--
New priest control card. I choose it over Retreat because it give your opponent no card advantage and allies with haste/on summon ability are now so common. I usually use it when I want to play a control card and an ally in the same turn but resource constraint prevent me from using Banish. It is, however, a risky move versus Human because it seems like they always pack some ALR in their deck. So I usually prepare Banish or TW in case they use it. Be careful when you use it on a dangerous ally with steadfast (Buffed Twilight Warden, Kiros) because it can be removed without sending that ally to its owner's deck. Auto sac versus Tala.

--Glass Chalice of Knowing--
Another draw engine, an emergency one. I usually choose not to use it when I already have my main draw engine. But it really shine in curtain situation such as when your main draw engine get destroyed really fast and you don't have another one yet, or you don't get your main draw engines in your opening hand and you get them too late. After a few use you usually get any draw engine you desperately need. It's very strong versus class that have good ID (priest, rogue) because it helps keeping your draw uninterrupted. You can also use it when you need a very mission-critical cards like TW and KP.

--Forgiveness--
This card is so good I wonder why every priest players don't use it. Aeon and KP are obvious target to retrieve but almost every cards can be a good target for it depending on what hero you are facing. Here are some examples.
Zaladar - Healing touch, FFM
Tala, Elementalis - Banish
Any warrior - Jasmine, HT
Or any card that you get more than 2 copies of it in your opening hand.

--Resurrection--
Just to surprise those fucking Praxix running around.

Thank you for reading! I hope you find this deck fun to play.

[4Ak]

...looks like a very solid build, however you say that "SF brings a lot of awesome tools to priest card pool" while your deck only has a total of 5 SF cards, just sayin, you know ))))

[SaviorReborn]

...looks like a very solid build, however you say that "SF brings a lot of awesome tools to priest card pool" while your deck only has a total of 5 SF cards, just sayin, you know ))))

Wrong math bro, 8 SF cards in total)

[Gondorian]

...looks like a very solid build, however you say that "SF brings a lot of awesome tools to priest card pool" while your deck only has a total of 5 SF cards, just sayin, you know ))))

I counted 8 (3 Devoted Knight, 3 Zail's Hymn, 2 Glass Chalice).

[ipoop245]

I suggest trying Brax Soldier , he's gold in the current hasty meta . If i were you , i would cut down the number of Raven , despite being very good in DP , not many decks in the current meta depend on swarming the field with non hasted allies anymore , so Raven has lost a bit of her value

[chamthabo]

I suggest trying Brax Soldier , he's gold in the current hasty meta . If i were you , i would cut down the number of Raven , despite being very good in DP , not many decks in the current meta depend on swarming the field with non hasted allies anymore , so Raven has lost a bit of her value

I've never thought about that! Thanks for your suggestion.

[4Ak]

I counted 8 (3 Devoted Knight, 3 Zail's Hymn, 2 Glass Chalice).

...lol, yes, my bad xD

[akratch]

I suggest trying Brax Soldier , he's gold in the current hasty meta . If i were you , i would cut down the number of Raven , despite being very good in DP , not many decks in the current meta depend on swarming the field with non hasted allies anymore , so Raven has lost a bit of her value

This. Seems solid. I have found success with zhanna decks > 40 cards in the past. The priest pool is varied and strong enough to draw the right cards even with a larger deck.

[Shadow Blink]

I will be definitely check that deck in tomorrow pop up

[samu313]

What are best and worse match-up with this build? Anyway, I really like this deck, good job