Dragonflight Priest guide - March 2016

How to win more games playing Blizzard's Dragon-fuelled Priest deck.

Guide by John Bedford Contributor

Published on March 21, 2016

For a week or so now we've been bringing you guides to the new deck lists introduced with Blizzard's Deck Recipe feature. Next up on our list is Dragonflight Priest, a rather sub-optimal version of the classic archetype for our money, but not the worst starting point you could choose if you want to explore the Dragon Priest format.

If you're just getting to grips with this sort of deck, we've got a strategic overview to get you up to speed with the basics nice and quickly, followed by a look at the Mulligan process. Lastly, we'll walk you through all of the most vital card combos and synergies found in this Dragon-powered deck. Have fun!

Dragonfire Priest deck list and strategy overview

The early-game should be pretty self-explanatory here, as you have bags of Dragon synergies to play with right from the start. With that said, it's sometimes necessary to play off-curve a little here, and hold back your Twilight Whelp on Turn 1 in order to feed cards like Wyrmrest Agent and Twilight Guardian later. A little patience can go a long way here.

If you can keep hold of the board with these early synergies , you'll find yourself with a pretty strong board in the mid-game, thanks to cards like Blackwing Corruptor and Azure Drake. Things slow down a little in the final stages of the match, although Chillmaw can put up a solid defensive wall, and you'll need to get lucky with your draws from Nefarian and Ysera to get over the finishing line. Try the more traditional version of Dragon Priest if you're struggling here.

Dragonfire Priest Mulligan guide

It's vital to plan for the first few turns when playing Dragonfire Priest, and that all starts of course with the Mulligan phase. Consider the impact of the Dragon synergies available, decide if you're likely to heal on the second turn, and build a robust opening gambit that won't leave you wasting Mana.

Keeping the above in mind, here's a Hero-by-Hero look at Mulliganing for this deck.

Druid: Blackwing Technician, Harvest Golem, Northshire Cleric, Power Word: Shield, Twilight Drake, Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent

Hunter: Blackwing Technician, Harvest Golem, Northshire Cleric, Power Word: Shield, Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent

Mage: Blackwing Technician, Harvest Golem, Northshire Cleric, Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent

Paladin: Blackwing Technician, Harvest Golem, Northshire Cleric, Power Word: Shield, Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent

Priest: Blackwing Technician, Harvest Golem, Northshire Cleric, Power Word: Shield, Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent

Rogue: Blackwing Technician, Harvest Golem, Northshire Cleric, Power Word: Shield, Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent

Shaman: Blackwing Technician, Harvest Golem, Northshire Cleric, Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent

Warlock: Blackwing Technician, Harvest Golem, Northshire Cleric, Power Word: Shield, Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent

Warrior: Blackwing Technician, Harvest Golem, Northshire Cleric, Power Word: Shield, Twilight Guardian, Twilight Drake, Wyrmrest Agent

Dragonfire Priest combos and synergies

If you're completely new to the concept of Dragon Priest, take a look through our tear-down of all the most important combos and synergies involved.

- If you have another Dragon in your hand at the same time you play Blackwing Corruptor onto the board, you'll be able to direct a bonus three points of damage towards a minion - ideally - or to the opponent's Health pool.

- For Chillmaw's Deathrattle detonation to go off successfully, you must have a Dragon in your hand when it's killed. It is possible, of course, to bluff this and force your opponent to play sub-optimally during their turn!

- Twilight Guardian, Twilight Whelp, Wymrest Agent and Blackwing Technician also need a Dragon in-hand if those bonus stats are to be achieved. Don't wait too long to get these bonus effects, however. Depending on your opponent, it can be more important to get some kind of presence on the board.

- It's not a combo as such, but applying Power Word: Shield to your Northshire Cleric can give your opponent serious problems in the early game. Best played when you feel confident you'll only have a chance to heal on the next turn anyway.

- If you have a few minions out on the board alongside Northshire Cleric, and you can lightly damage them all before casting it, Holy Nova can give you an incredible amount of card draw. Do your sums once, then twice if you have this kind of play at your disposal.

- Azure Drake boosts up all of the spell damage available to you, whether in the form of area-of-effect damage like Holy Nova, or the direct and targeted damage of Holy Fire.

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