If you are reading this, please stop sending me Blue Priest deck lists. Stop it. Seriously.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful because I'm truly thankful for every email I get. Last week, I received 19 deck lists from 18 players. Of those 19 lists, 12 were Blue Priest lists. Was someone giving away copies of [Chakra] and [Leap of Faith] and I didn't hear about it?

I've tried to make Blue Priest viable by going the [Bottled Mind]/[Mekkatorque, King of the Gnomes] route but I wasn't successful (though check out Mike Rosenberg's list for a more successful version). Many of the lists I received were sporting the combo of [Power Word: Vitality] and [Faithseer Jasmina], which is honestly pretty cool when you can pull it off on turn 2. You're getting a 2/5 Ally that gets bigger with every card you play and can only be killed by fatal damage. But what happens when you get the combo on turn 6 or better yet, what happens when all you have is [Faithseer Jasmina] on turn 2 and no Power Word? When the combo works, it works well (save for the Warlock match) and it certainly propels you on the right path for victory. Sometimes it ended games for me but sometimes my combo was dealt with (a side-effect of all the nasty ability hate going around) and I was left holding a hand of 0-cost attachments that didn't help me win the game.

And don't get me started on [Hadrack the Devoted]. Sure, you can pump his health and he'll be difficult to deal with, right? Yes but in a format where a card like [Edwin VanCleef] is legal, don't you want your four drops to be good on their own and not require other cards to make them work optimally? Isn't [Breathstone-Infused Longbow] or [Devout Aurastone Hammer] and a turn 4 [Mazu'kon] just a better two card combo? The only time I'd want to even play a two card combo in a format as fast as Core is if the combo is going to put me so far ahead of my opponent that it'd be a cinch to win the game. With that in mind, here's this week's email (with apologies to Robert, Dan and a few others who recommended the combo to me-it's nice but Vuoripeikko actually sent me an entire list to gaze at).

Hey, Vuoripeikko here again! Thought on submitting another deck idea based on a combo that I saw / heard online only few days ago. The dungeon treasures were published and [Baron Ashbury] seems like a top-notch board cleaner, only downside being that he doesn't exactly kill anything... unless you have a [Chakra] on table. I've got no interesting / witty things to say, but take a look at this rough (yet again) deck list.

Hero: [Tilly Fiddlelight]

Allies: 27
4 [Magni, the Mountain King]
4 [Baron Ashbury]
4 [Burly Berta]
3 [Shanla, Herald of Faith]
3 [Faenis the Tranquil]
4 [Apprentice Teep]
3 [Terina Calin]
2 [Bolvar, Highlord of Fordragon Hold]

Abilities: 14
4 [Chakra]
4 [Leap of Faith]
2 [Dispel Magic]
4 [Psychic Screech]

Equipment: 10
2 [Twilight Hammer]
4 [Tattered Dreadmist Mask]
4 [Discerning Eye of the Beast]

Locations: 4
4 [Fordragon Hold]

Quests: 4
4 [The Ichor of Undeath]

- Vuoripeikko (FOR LORDAERON)

The issue that other Blue Priests list had that I tested in the past was that they were essentially mid-range decks. They had some early drops, but the decks were mostly about building momentum into turn 4 or 5 and winning from there. While that's certainly a viable strategy, for a class to do that effectively, they must have some sort of board wipe. DKs could do it (any disease and [Outbreak]), Warlocks can do it ([Felblaze], and Rogues can do it all night long ([Fan of Knives], [Carnage], or [Poison Bomb]. Priests, however, could not. Enter [Baron Ashbury].

As Vuoripeikko points out, [Baron Ashbury] doesn't actually do anything by himself other than severely damage opposing allies. He brings them within one health of dying but he just can't seem to finish the job, at least without [Chakra]. [Chakra] is a card that I really wanted to like and the good Baron finally gave me a reason to. Ditto for [Leap of Faith]. Not only does [Leap of Faith] protect your guys from destruction, it now can act at an instant speed board wipe when blinking out [Baron Ashbury].

I tested out Vuoripeikko's list online and by and large it was pretty good. [Tilly Fiddlelight]'s flip is pretty amazing when couple with [Chakra], giving each of your allies Mend 2. The allies are all pretty sound and really the only issue I had with the deck was the inclusion of [Tattered Dreadmist Mask] and [Discerning Eye of the Beast]. While [Tattered Dreadmist Mask] (and the rest of the Heirloom armors that require 3 counters) are all powerful, they are nigh impossible to get operational in the current Core format.

[Twilight's Hammer], while insanely powerful, seemed a bit slow tends to only help when you're already in a commanding board position. Sure sometimes you'll be able to steal a big ally and come from behind, but it wasn't happening enough times that I'd actually want to keep the Hammer in the deck.

The only other card that I really took issue with was [Bolvar, Highlord of Fordragon Hold]. I know the allure of including this ally in the deck is high when you're packing the [Fordragon Hold] location but I can tell you for a fact that [Dulvar, Hand of the Light] is a better 5-drop than Bolvar. Sure [Dulvar, Hand of the Light] doesn't accelerate your resources like Bolvar can, but Dulvar is harder to deal with (even though Bolvar is Untargetable) and he represents a much bigger threat; he's going to cause a 10 point life swing vs. Bolvar only causing 5 (6 is if you've got his location).

So I went back to the drawing board, removed some part and tucked in some new cards to try out. The final list that I decided on was this:

Hero: [Tilly Fiddlelight]

Allies: 32
4 [Edwin VanCleef]
2 [Shanla, Herald of Faith]
4 [Terina Calin]
3 [Dulvar, Hand of the Light]
4 [Magni, the Mountain King]
4 [Baron Ashbury]
4 [Burly Berta]
3 [Faenis the Tranquil]
4 [Apprentice Teep]

Abilities: 15
3 [Dispel Magic]
2 [Psychic Screech]
4 [Leap of Faith]
4 [Chakra]
2 [Twist of Faith]

Equipment: 7
3 [Tattered Dreadmist Mask]
4 [Devout Aurastone Hammer]

Locations: 4
4 [Fordragon Hold]

Quests: 3
3 [The Ichor of Undeath]

Yeah so maybe you heard of [Edwin VanCleef] and maybe you jumped on the band wagon early. If you didn't secure your copies of him for his initial presale price of $16 dollars, you're not alone and that's got a lot of people very pissed off. I emailed a very well respected and high volume WoWTCG card seller who stated that he was “getting 2 to 3 copies of him per case” so I'd expect Edwin to fetch a high price tag moving forward. Love him or hate him, he's a strong card and this isn't a Budget column so I'm adding in four copies of him; he's a powerhouse in almost every deck list that I can think of so if you see any copies, I'd say pick him up.

You will notice that I did not add in [Edwin VanCleef]'s daughter [Vanessa VanCleef]. She's no Edwin and while being able to cheat her into play when dad dies is nice, there are much better five drops to include in your deck (see [Dulvar, Hand of the Light] and [Mind Twist]).

Other than adding [Edwin VanCleef] and [Dulvar, Hand of the Light], I left the ally suite largely the same. I upped the count on [Terina Calin] simply because unless you're playing a suicide aggro list, you can't afford to not pack Equipment hate in current Core. Thanks to the rise in popularity of [Devout Aurastone Hammer] powering out turn 3 [Edwin VanCleef]s and turn 4 [Mazu'kon]s, every deck has to pack an efficient answer to equipment. Sure you could always play [Obsidian Drudge] but he costs three and doesn't do anything till he dies while the card that you're actually worried about comes down on turn 2. Do I like including [Tattered Dreadmist Mask]s in my deck when I could use better Stash cards like [Jerrak Krandle]? No, but sometimes you need an equipment on turn 1 or 2 so that [Terina Calin] can do her thing. If you have a more efficient means of equipment removal, please let me know because I'm all ears.

I increased the amount of [Dispel Magic]s in the list which may seem odd, given my self-professed love of [Oppress]. In this particular list, my two drops consist of [Burly Berta] or [Devout Aurastone Hammer] and little else. If I happen to lose the dice roll against either an [Aspect of the Wild] Hunter build or a [Grand Crusader] Paladin, spending my third turn removing an ability puts me so far behind that I can't possibly win. I often needed the instant speed of [Dispel Magic] and it served me well in testing.

I also included [Twist of Faith] over [Twilight's Hammer]. While they have different effects, I was often times sacrificing a token to the Hammer to steal opposing [Mazu'kon]s or [King Genn Greymane]s. Why not cut some of the cost off Hammer and just play [Twist of Faith]?

There are a lot of somewhat subtle interactions in the deck. [Chakra] really does become the lynchpin that the deck centers around. [Chakra] not only allows your allies to hit harder but also makes your Mend effects heal more (see your hero flip and new Alliance superstar, [Faenis the Tranquil].

Going back to my initial statement, please stop sending me Blue Priests lists. I've really learned to love the class and I'm not one whose opinions are easily changed. Thank you to the 12 folks who sent me lists. Unfortunately, I didn't use your particular builds but that doesn't mean they're bad; just different. Maybe you can use a little bit of what I've written to improve your lists because I've certainly gotten a lot of good ideas from what you've written. Thank you for the great ideas.

For the readers at home with a deck list they'd like me to look at, drop me an email to aquestionofgluttony@gmail.com and I'll be happy to help if I can.

-Sean