by Archon Firebat
Introduction
Freeze Priest is a combo Priest deck that I have been playing on stream a lot – I was able to achieve high Legend ranks in both June and July season of 2015. The list is a mix between Lightbomb and Mind Blast Priest decks. It doesn’t have very much midgame presence and instead focuses on controlling early board then immediately cycling towards the win condition and stalling out, much like Freeze Mage decks do. The exact decklist I want to talk about is the one I played during the July ladder season.
The deck isn’t quite as popular as many other Priest archetypes like Lightbomb or Control Priest, but it has seen some play from top Legend players and is really strong in the current meta.
I personally think that Freeze Priest is one of the best decks to answer aggressive decks. So if you hate Hunters, and you hate Zoolocks then you will love playing this deck!
Summary
Freeze Priest is a deck that targets specific matchups and has very different results depending on the matchup, but even still has a chance in every matchup because of all of the surprise burst. Early game removals, heals and AoE make the deck extremely strong against all forms of aggro (Warlock Zoo and Hunter), non-existent mid game presence can cause the deck to struggle against Midrange decks (Midrange Pally and Druid).
Strengths
- A lot of removal, both single target and AoE.
- 2x Holy Fire make you very hard to kill.
- Lots and lots of damage! (2x Mind Blast, 2x Holyfire, 2x Holy Nova, 1x Holy Smite, Alexstrasza, Prophet Velen).
- Wild Pyromancer allows you to have huge swing turns against aggressive and even midrange decks when setup correctly.
- Good matchups against many of the popular decks.
Weaknesses
- It is a reactive deck most often, so it is more draw dependant than a deck that is taking initiative
- Not running Taunts can make playing around the Druid Combo, or a Patron Combo impossible.
- Some decks can out heal your max damage potential
Card Choices
1x Silence
This card may seem like a weird choice, but it actually performs extremely well in the deck. Silence enables easier Wild Pyromancer triggers for some clutch 3-4 damage board wipe combos early against aggro, and also is a way to deal with Sylvanas, Highmane, or Huge Void Terrors because the deck only runs 1x Shadow Word Death. So Silence is a more flexible 2nd Shadow Word Death.
1x Holy Smite
With Prophet Velen and a Mind Blast, Holy Smite enables a 14 damage combo for 10 mana with NO Emperor Thaurissan effect which is an extremely powerful tool to have because sometimes you don’t draw the Emperor in time, so you have to set up lethals by Holy Firing the opponent's face to put them down into that 14 health range. Also, the card is extremely effective at dealing with early game aggression and serves as a proc for Wild Pyromancer. As strong and useful as this card is, Holy Smite is still only a 1 of because overall its uses are situational and generally low impact for the card slot, and in a deck that often draws all 30 cards it just wasn’t bringing high enough power level when I ran it as a two-of.
2x Power Word: Shield
Power Word: Shield is what makes Wild Pyromancer so good. This card is the best proc for Wild Pyro as it only costs 1 mana, heals the pyro, and cycles out. Because it costs so little mana and cycles it pretty much just makes your deck 28 cards which is ideal for a combo deck that’s trying to cycle towards a specific combination of cards. Other than cycling and comboing with WIld Pyromancer, Power Word: Shield also works very well with Lightbomb to preserve your own minion while destroying the opponent’s board.
2x Northshire Cleric
The standard Priest card draw engine. Although without Injured Blademaster this card’s value goes down a bit, Northshire Cleric is still an extremely powerful minion. On turn 1 against aggro it can just decide the game outright by being able to trade with most other 1 drops and then allowing you to heal it and cycle into your removal/board clears. And against control there is almost always an opening in the game to play it and heal a minion for a card. Just remember, you still get a card if you heal opponents minions and sometimes its worth it to find lethal or a Lightbomb/Shadow Word: Death.
2x Mind Blast
The finisher card. Mind Blast is not only a good way to kill your midrange/control opponent, but can also be used to proc Wild Pyromancer to wipe aggressive decks boards. But hitting people for 20 is just way more fun!
Bloodmage Thalnos
Solid cycle minion that also has the perk of spell power which with all of the direct damage spells can allow some sneaky lethals especially after Emperor Thaurissan. Example: Thalnos + Holy Fire + Mind Blast + Mind Blast = 18 Damage for 12 mana. Meaning if 2 parts of this combo get Emperor’d once then it’s possible to simply 18 someone without Velen, so just Alexstrasza them then go to town.
2x Loot Hoarder
Another cycle minion. Loot Hoarder is a two drop that actually contests most aggressive deck’s two drops which makes it a strong choice. So Loot Hoarder is able to cycle you into your Wild Pyromancer combo while also dealing with one of their minions. This is a much better choice than Novice Engineer because the 2 attack is what allows Loot Hoarder to be useful in the early stages of the game while 1 attack often trades with nothing. So, the value of being able to contest other minions is worth more than the instant draw which is slightly better late game.
2x Wild Pyromancer
One of the best tools at dealing with your opponent’s board. Many cards in this deck are low cost spells that can combo with Wild Pyro to destroy your opponent’s low curve minions. To really get enough value out of this card you have to save it and spells for key moments and really know when to burn everything down.
1x Shadow Word: Death
More removal cards! The deck is designed to constantly keep your opponent in check with removal. Although, 2x Shadow Word: Death got a bit clunky because it is a situational card, and you already have 2x Lightbomb to help deal with larger threats.
1x Velen’s Chosen
A utility card that can act in many ways. Velen’s Chosen can allow for early game trades and board control. It can act as a source of spell power for burst damage, but most importantly it can be used to seize board control by triggering Wild Pyromancer while keeping it alive to continue being able to play spells and deal area damage to the board.
2x Acolyte of Pain
Draw engine. Acolyte of Pain in most decks draws 1-2 cards but in this deck not only can you heal it draw more, but you can combo it with Wild Pyromancer to draw many, many cards, and you can even just buff it with Power Word: Shield, or Velen’s Chosen so that your opponent is forced to either have the silence to deal with it or let you draw upwards of 3-5 cards while trying to deal with the huge minion body.
2x Gnomish Inventor
Gnomish Inventor is another draw card that allows you to cycle through your deck and find all the combo pieces. With stats of 2/4 it can help dealing with the remains of early minions, while the manacost of 4 just makes the deck a bit smoother overall. Playing on curve isn't necessary as important for combo-ish decks like this, but it's still nice if you can!
2x Holy Nova
Board wipes are a must have for this deck. This deck gives away the board early by only using cycle minions in the early slots, but picks up value against decks that try to take board control by using cards like Holy Nova and Lightbomb. This card also combos very well with Northshire Cleric to get huge amounts of draw while attacking your opponent’s board and can be used as a good way to set up a cleaner Lightbomb/Wild Pyromancer clear.
Harrison Jones
A tech card. Harrison Jones is teched in right now because of two major effects the card has. The ability to slow down weapon classes and buy you more time to set-up the huge Freeze Priest burst turns, but also the ability to draw cards and get closer to the necessary combo pieces.
Loatheb
This card acts as a tech card for matchups like Patron Warrior, and Freeze Mage. But also, Loatheb can be used to not only set up your Emperor turns or Velen turns better, this card is also able to really lock your opponent out from doing anything besides developing the board so they are forced to walk right into your Lightbombs or big Wild Pyromancer turns.
2x Holy Fire
Damage, damage, damage! Holy Fire allows you to win games that you have no business winning by allowing you that little extra reach to set up race situations. And, the healing is quite handy against midrange/aggressive decks. After you deal with the bulk of the enemies minions with Lightbomb you are usually at low life total and they play 1, maybe 2 minions at a time because they just finished trying to zerg you down, so this card fits perfectly for stabilizing life and board to get ready for Mind Blast combos!
2x Lightbomb
The super board wipe. Lightbomb is going to allow you to slow down the game and thin out your opponent’s hand. The idea behind this card is to deal with the opponent's large board instantly so that when they try to reload playing one minion at a time you can utilize your single target removal to then make their turns all but wasted while you build up to big combos.
Emperor Thaurissan
The whole reason the deck works really is because of this card. Emperor Thaurissan allows your clunky removal to be used efficiently and actually gain tempo behind it. It allows for epic Wild Pyromancer plus Acolyte of Pain draw and board-clear turns. However, most importantly it allows you to play Prophet Velen and double Mind Blast your opponent for 20 points of damage in one turn.
Prophet Velen
The super Mind Blast dude. Prophet Velen is not just a 7/7 body that inflicts massive damage through taunt though. Velen is capable of allowing you to go all in if you are in a bad situation by just playing it down as a 7/7 body and if your opponent can’t deal with it they will die from almost any health total. Also, against aggressive decks Prophet Velen doubles your healing power so you are able to heal out of nasty spots.
Alexstrasza
The bringer of life and death. Alexstrasza is a strong card in this deck because it gives you the ability to have a late game play that doesn’t require too much setup, and it gives you 15 points of extra damage to add to the already insane damage the deck produces with 2x Holy Fire, and 2x Mind Blast. Often times you do not even need Prophet Velen to kill someone from 15 health.
Matchups
General Plan
All forms of druid are a bit tricky to deal with. This is mainly because the druid minions are large and resistant to lightbomb because they have more health than attack. So unlike most matchups, Freeze priest generally has a hard time taking back the board if the druid is allowed to develope a lot of minions. To combat this the best playstyle is to mulligan for early minions and develope the board as quickly as possible and try and get a quick Velen’s Blessing off. Don’t be afraid to play Wild Pyromancer as a 3/2 body to act as board presence in this matchup.
Mulligan Choices
Ramp
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Loot Hoarder | Wild Pyromancer | Acolyte of Pain
Okay: Velen’s Blessing | Power Word: Shield | Bloodmage Thalnos | Gnomish Inventor
Midrange
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Loot Hoarder | Wild Pyromancer | Acolyte of Pain
Okay: Velen’s Blessing | Power Word: Shield | Bloodmage Thalnos | Gnomish Inventor
General Plan
Hunter, in all of its common archetypes, is a favored matchup for Freeze Priest. The general plan is to use early cycle cards like Loot Hoarder and Northshire Cleric to draw towards and set up the first board clear. Which is usually a Wild Pyromancer or Holy Nova boardwipe. Then from that position the Hunter usually starts to fizzle out and it becomes easy to stabilize the board with Lightbombs, Holy Fires, and general removal and when the time is right Freeze Priest can turn around and kill the Hunter player in one turn with a big OTK combo.
Mulligan Choices
Face Hunter
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Wild Pyromancer | Holy Nova | Loot Hoarder
Okay: Silence | Power Word: Shield | Holy Smite | Bloodmage Thalnos
Midrange
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Wild Pyromancer | Holy Smite | Loot Hoarder
Okay: Bloodmage Thalnos | Power Word: Shield | Gnomish Inventor | Holy Nova
General Plan
Mage is generally quite favored for Freeze Priest. Freeze mage is actually one of the easiest matchups because they allow you to do all of your draw combos pressure free and you have answers if they Alexstrasza you because of 2x Holy Fire and Loatheb. Also, you have plenty of damage so you can pop the block out of hand twice without too much trouble, so board presence is no issue. Just make sure to save Shadow Word: Death for Alexstrasza/Archmage and don’t waste it on Emperor if you can avoid it. Against Tempo mage it is important to hold back cheap spells and try and set up a 3 damage board wipe with wild pyromancer. If you don’t have that, but you have Holy Nova early you can try to do a 1 damage wave with Wild Pyro on turn 4 then Holy Nova on 5. Tempo Mage fizzles out of steam fast so aggressively clearing is key.
Mulligan Choices
Tempo
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Wild Pyromancer | Loot Hoarder | Holy Smite
Okay: Power Word: Shield | Acolyte of Pain | Holy Nova | Bloodmage Thalnos
Freeze
Strong: Loot Hoarder | Acolyte of Pain | Gnomish Inventor | Loatheb
Okay: Wild Pyromancer | Northshire Cleric | Power Word: Shield | Bloodmage Thalnos
General Plan
Midrange Paladin can be a bit tricky, but Aggressive Paladin is a breeze. To beat Aggro Paladin simply mulligan for your cheap removal and remove, remove, remove. You should be able to keep your hand size low so divine favor is not an issue and you have plenty of removal and heals to naturally keep up. Against Midrange Paladin however the creatures are more annoying and most of the cards don’t go 1 for 1 against their deck, so you need to set-up for a Lightbomb or Wild Pyromancer and Holy Nova turn. So prioritize cycling over removing early and let the Midrange player build up then use your board wipes to huge value so you can stand a chance at wearing his hand down enough that your single target spells will be useful.
Mulligan Choices
Midrange
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Wild Pyromancer | Loot Hoarder | Acolyte of Pain
Okay: Power Word: Shield | Bloodmage Thalnos | Gnomish Inventor | Harrison Jones
Aggro
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Wild Pyromancer | Loot Hoarder | Holy Smite
Okay: Silence | Power Word: Shield | Holy Nova | Bloodmage Thalnos
General Plan
Priest mirrors are usually quite simple just don’t go full Northshire! Overall, the plan is to abuse the fact that Priest decks are generally slow and focus on drawing early game which will lead to the big board wipe combos when you need it and then get you towards the proper cards to get an Emperor down that decreases the costs of the combo cards that kill your opponent. Being able to land a Velen’s Blessing on a minion early is another strong way to take the game quick if your opponent doesn’t have a Shadow Word: Pain to deal with the minion. Snowballing board control while cycling will lead to some quick games.
Mulligan Choices
Freeze
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Wild Pyromancer | Loot Hoarder | Acolyte of Pain
Okay: Gnomish Inventor | Power Word: Shield | Velen’s Chosen | Silence
Control
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Wild Pyromancer | Loot Hoarder | Velen’s Chosen
Okay: Silence | Gnomish Inventor | Power Word: Shield | Acolyte of Pain
General Plan
Against Rogue all you’re looking to do early is to play your cheap minions and force the opponent to be as reactive as possible to the threats you present. The longer they have to use removal on your guys the longer time it takes for them to be able to set up lethal, and since almost all your creatures draws you card you are setting up your Prophet Velen-combo meanwhile! Watch out for Loatheb and Antique Healbot, especially Loatheb since it can punish you very hard for being greedy with Lightbomb as well as prevent you from pushing for the final lethal damage.
Mulligan Choices
Oil
Strong: Loot Hoarder | Acolyte of Pain | Harrison Jones
Okay: Loatheb | Gnomish Inventor
Tempo
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Wild Pyromancer | Loot Hoarder
Okay: Acolyte of Pain | Holy Smite | Harrison Jones
General Plan
The two types of Shaman that are going around at the moment are Midrange Shaman and Mech Shaman, you play against both these decks somewhat similar but they have their differences. Mech Shaman is much easier to outlast and they run out of cards quickly if you keep using your removal and board-clears aggressively. Against Midrange Shaman you can take things a bit slower and try to be more greedy with the removal and try to set up a good combo-turn instead. Holy Fire is an excellent stabiliser vs. Fire Elemental.
Mulligan Choices
Midrange
Strong: Loot Hoarder | Wild Pyromancer | Northshire Cleric
Okay: Gnomish Inventor | Acolyte of Pain
Mech
Strong: Northshire Cleric | Wild Pyromancer | Loot Hoarder
Okay: Velen’s Chosen | Holy Smite
General Plan
Almost every time you get paired up vs. a Warlock you’re happy. The two most popular Warlock decks; Zoo and Handlock are very favorable for Freeze Priest. Against Zoo you have a lot of early game minions that contest their board early and a bunch of board-clears later in the game, most of the time it’s just a game of survival until they tap low enough to die to your Mind Blasts. Against Handlock you just try to handle their threats one at a time and punish them with Lightbomb if they ever overcommit. Remember that you can take things very slow in this matchup and set up huge damage combos given enough time. One of the few ways you lose is if you put them in Molten Giant-range and then have them play a Healbot or two. Basically as long as you can keep them off playing their Moltens you have enough removal to handle the rest of the deck.
Mulligan Choices
Handlock
Strong: Loot Hoarder | Shadow Word: Death | Lightbomb
Okay: Silence | Acolyte of Pain | Bloodmage Thalnos
Zoo
Strong: Silence | Wild Pyromancer | Loot Hoarder
Okay: Velen’s Chosen | Gnomish Inventor | Power Word:Sheild
General Plan
Warrior is not great for this deck. The problem is that the deck is designed to set up lethals assuming your opponent is at 30 life or less, but Warrior can very easily go way past that and if so you are in big trouble. Therefore the way you have to go about beating Warriors is to be aggressive with your early minions and have them use their weapons to get to a low life total in the early game and then try to finish them off with your burn. If they ever get time to breathe they will start using their Shield Blocks and Armorsmiths and go out of range very quickly. Remember that it’s impossible to fatigue Patron if your opponent knows what they are doing because they can just set up a 30 damage lethal with Frothing and you got no way to interact with that.
Mulligan Choices
Control
Strong: Wild Pyromancer | Loot Hoarder | Harrison Jones
Okay: Loatheb | Gnomish Inventor
Patron
Strong: Loot Hoarder | Acolyte of Pain | Harrison Jones
Okay: Loatheb | Gnomish Inventor
I hope you all enjoyed this guide, it's a fun deck, but also pretty strong right now. The Grand Tournament is coming soon so a lot of stuff could happen, so let's just see how it will turn out!
You can follow me on Twitter & Twitch to keep up with me, my decks and all kinds of crazy stuff.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Archon_Firebat
