PotL: How good is he?

Besides having the coolest card art in the game (in my opinion), Priest of the Light has an interesting effect and solid stats, with a relatively low cost. While these attributes and its rarity seem to make this card very good, I have never found myself in a situation where I've ever really done anything with PotL. At best, I get two out in a turn with an Aldon the Brave already in play, and hit next turn for good damage. My question is, have any of you ever maximized PotL's ability, or figured some sweet combo in which he is especially useful, or have any other useful tips about this awesome card?

In my opinion, its the best T3 card to cast if you are going first (Also can gain +1 hp even though you are on full hp and stall your opponent's hero ability, very crucial in critical games)...and combo with Aldon on T4, it can take down most of the 3CC allies, except Infernal Gargoyles.

Also a wonderful card for a rush deck. :)

He's good, only thing I don't like about him sometimes is his lower health than other 3 cc human allies, but that is the price you pay for his effect, which is awesome.

Also you mention him having the best artwork. He definitely does have one of the best now, but look up some matches from earlier versions of Shadow Era (you can find plenty on Youtube), and you will be shocked at what PoTL's artwork used to be. Probably one of the worst, if not the worst, in the game ever.

should be banned on going–first T3(>_<)

The strength of this card varies from opponent to opponent.

Decks that capitalize on getting their abilities off by a certain turn, in other words Lance, can be hurt extremely badly. Most heroes, however, can not only afford to wait a turn (if it makes them wait at all), but their abilities can easily kill PotL, such as Majiya and Zaladar.

Furthermore, decks such as Zaladar that commonly play Shadow Font are rarely disrupted by this card, as they can still use their ability, and especially in Zal's case, killing off the PotL's body is a non-issue.

All that being said, there IS a nifty trick or two with PotL. They don't happen that often, but it's cool when they do.

The first I'll mention is a fairly generic case, in which a PotL is killed with anything that would have also killed Jas/Aldon. In that specific case, you still got the SE loss and life gain from an ally when you would have otherwise gotten nothing. However, this game has so many ways to deal exactly 3 damage that this is a rare occurrence.

The second is if playing against Boris, you play one or more PotLs to reduce his SE to 2 (so he can't use his ability the next turn), then play Aeon the next turn so that he can't even kill PotL with the ability if he wanted to. Alternately, you could use Retreat and one potl to get the effect multiple times, although if it isn't already in play the resource cost is so high you might as well just play the 3cc ally and Aeon in the same turn.

Aggressively costed with 3 attack power means he's good in any rush deck (the 3 toughness is a drawback though, watch out for ways your opponent can finish him off without losing tempo. Eg. Opp plays puwen, you play PotL, opp plays aldon and the buffed puwen kills it. Amber's JD. Zaladar's Shadowfont)

The SE depleting ability and the 1 life is what really makes him shine in my opinion. Retreat + Potl, or multiple PotLs to stem your opponent's SE (can keep a lance on the backpedal down) Also, against mages, that lifegain can be a really big hurdle.

Personally I think POTL has to much a drastic effect making some heroes not playable at the highest level. Decks like baduruu,logan,victor are just too crippled by rush decks that run this. Multiple priests and it is pretty much gg. I actually think this creates too many easy wins which otherwise a player might be able to come back in.

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Originally Posted by Armoek

Personally I think POTL has to much a drastic effect making some heroes not playable at the highest level. Decks like baduruu,logan,victor are just too crippled by rush decks that run this.

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Hmm I never thought about it that way, interesting! I always thought it was more of baduruu, logan and victor lacking ways to retake board position (either via cards or via shadow ability) Heroes that don't have a shadow ability that helps them clear opposing board (either too costly or NA) will indeed be easily pushed out of the competition if their card pool does not afford them ways to come back from a lost board.

Can be surprisingly irritating, especially against heroes whose strategy hinges on them firing off their ability in the 3rd or 4th turn (eg: amber, Boris).

Needs to be played early or timed correctly to maximize his potential. Overall a rather balanced ally, IMO. I like this sort of 'thinking' unit which adds some strategy to the game. :)

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Originally Posted by SpeakerOfTruth

Hmm I never thought about it that way, interesting! I always thought it was more of baduruu, logan and victor lacking ways to retake board position (either via cards or via shadow ability) Heroes that don't have a shadow ability that helps them clear opposing board (either too costly or NA) will indeed be easily pushed out of the competition if their card pool does not afford them ways to come back from a lost board.

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You're essentially right. Baduruu is basically a burst damage ability, but the lack of decent bows in the current card pool make him too inconsistent. Victor is the same deal, but with his removal arrows. He may have more arrows than Baduruu has Soul Seekers, but SS triggers four times compared to vic's one. And Logan's current problem is that it's just too inefficient by comparison. Amber's ability gets more bang for your buck most of the time, and the human card pool (with Lily) is better suited for weapon-based warrior decks.

Point is, the reason these heroes aren't amazing has nothing to do with Priest of the Light. spending 3 resources to deny 1.3 of the opponent's isn't amazing enough to shut off entire heroes completely. Even Lance, whose entire strategy could be shut off for a turn, is able to recover perfectly fine and remains one of the better heroes to choose from.

I've been running a Nishaven Portal Blow-up deck that utilizes 4x PotL and have been running into several other mages who like to whip out a Dagger of Unmaking. This is where the fun begins. With a Portal out and at 6 resources (or at 9 resources to spend with Portal already out), you can launch a PotL at the Dagger to strike for at least 3 (4 if Aldon is out), then recast PotL, rinse, repeat, until DoU is nice and destroyed. This scenario sucks the shadow energy from the opposing hero while generating bonus life to yours while dealing a great amount of cheap damage. I <3 enemy DoU!

Priest also works super well vs Millstaller when timed right if you can manage to hold 3 or 4 in hand and time your priest deployment just right, this usually ends the game plan for that Wulven.

PotL is a fun card and can change the game in your favor! I've been favoring priest over Jasmine in most decks lately.

in fact, we have too little choices now. that's why we need expansions!

As Zaladar user...This card really piss me off with its -1 SE ability...
As I am ready to cast the electric bolt...
Then he comes out, and turn me off....forcing me using shadow font.... : (

I really really really hate this card. The protection bxxxx too! Stand there and block my bolts...: (

As a Moonstalker it's the card that hurts me the most. As in I'd rather have that my opponent plays Supernova or Fireball, than a PotL. I guess that mainly comes from the fact that I don't use Shadow Fonts, but really, it's the worst card for me to faceas that hero.

As Zhanna however, I really don't care. Play all the PotLs you like. Hell, I'll even retreat them for you, I don't mind.

What I'm saying is, it's heavily hero dependant. Thus most decks tend to run a combination of 3x Jasmine, 3x PotL these days, and play what's most effective.

I have given up it in most of my human deck.

I look at Priest of the Light more of a mid to late game card (sometimes turn four) since it usually can't survive very long due to his low health. Usually I would rather play a Jasmine than a Priest of the Light on turn three but he can be used on turn three if your a rushing deck and already have field advantage.

Good cards could be catorgized by are they auto includes or not. I mainly run Human Mage's so PotL are auto includes. When playing QM I like to run 3 of them and 3 Jasmine and depending what I'm going against I'll favor 1 over the other. When playing against Hero's with 3 SE abilitys he's pretty much useless cause unless you play 2 in a single turn or retreat and play again youre not going to slow your opponents hero down. I'd would just experiment around and see what works best for and what play style best suits your skill level and overall card pool(if you don't have 4 of each card yet).

Potl is best when you cast two of them in the same turn.

I hate him badly if casted correctly against my Majiya.
However if he is just one turn late, then he neither messes up my card drawing plan, nor my damage output plan, so I don't even care.

He's mostly very good if his controller is already putting pressure on his opponent, as the SE abilities of most heroes help them stabilize. If he's behind, there's much better cards for stabilizing than PotL - even the 1 extra health of Jasmine is a lot better than the -SE in most cases.