Welcome back to my corner where we will no longer talk about my World Championships performance! I want to focus on moving forward and looking ahead to Darkmoon Faire Los Angeles in January. In case you missed the announcement, the format for this tournament is not going to be Limited like years past, but instead Core like worlds, except with the Dungeon Deck cards.

From the Dungeon Deck comes quite a few powerful cards but none more powerful than [Edwin VanCleef] as everyone who has read the forums probably has heard someone complain about before. I'll admit, I'm still not a huge fan of [Edwin VanCleef], but he is starting to grow on me. He's no [Adam Eternum] like some people have called him, but he's definitely a good card nonetheless. On his own [Edwin VanCleef] is a four drop that can hold tempo long enough to slam a [Dulvar, Hand of the Light] or [Mazu'kon], but with the help of his daughter, [Vanessa VanCleef], Edwin may be on of the most powerful cards in the Core format. With the help of undoubtedly one of the best cards in the format, [Devout Aurastone Hammer], “cheating” some of these giant threats into play becomes even more powerful.

I've been busy with finishing finals for school lately, but I've been able to read Sean Batt's most recent article on the Alliance Priest archetype. If you haven't I recommend you read it because his point is pretty straightforward and is what many writers and players have been saying for months now. “Why play blue when I could just play red?” Honestly, Sean's right, players have been right, but they continue to try and play Alliance decks when the cards are not there. Therefore, with the help of [Devout Aurastone Hammer] and the best allies in the format from the Horde side my dad and I set off to build a deck.

He played in a Battleground tournament a couple of weeks ago with his own take on one of these Hordestone (as I like to call them) decks. I believed that Shaman was the best version simply based off of the results at worlds but my dad loves [Parexia, Herald of the Shadows] more than most people. This lead him to the Priest side of the spectrum to make sure he could trigger Parexia's Empower ability, and to this decklist after a few revisions:

Hero: [Suncaller Haruh]

Allies: 41

3 [Alethia Brightsong]

1 [Ka'tali Stonetusk]

4 [Jex'ali]

3 [Obsidian Drudge]

4 [Edwin VanCleef]

3 [Gispax the Mixologist]

3 [Vanessa VanCleef]

3 [Suarfang the Younger, Kor'kron Warlord]

1 [Kraxos Chizzlecoin]

4 [Parexia, Herald of the Shadows]

4 [Mazu'kon]

4 [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen]

2 [Thrall, Warchief of the Horde]

2 [Al'akir the Windlord]

Abilities: 4

4 [Oppress]

Equipment: 8

4 [Devout Aurastone Hammer]

4 [Discerning Eye of the Beast]

Locations: 3

3 [Kor'kron Vanguard]

Quests: 4

4 [Seeds of Their Demise]

It took more work than I expected to get a list I like but this is where my dad and I are. The key difference between this and your standard build of a Hordestone deck is the backup plan to beatdown. Generally, when a Hordestone deck doesn't draw its [Devout Aurastone Hammer] it fizzles and collapses in upon itself. Like many combo decks of Classic, Hordestone decks revolve around drawing a certain cheap cost card very early on in the game to do its unfair thing. With the introduction of [Edwin VanCleef] and [Vanessa VanCleef] into these decks they gain a backup plan to just curve out like normal decks.

Unlike [Etched Dragonbone Girdle] decks, which mess around drawing cards while not advancing their board, the Hordestone decks with Edwin and Vanessa can advance their board on each turn. The main plan of this deck is to obviously play [Devout Aurastone Hammer] on turn 2, and then follow it up with a Stash effect on turn 3 with a [Parexia, Herald of the Shadows] and [Suarfang the Younger, Kor'kron Warlord]. However, this is not always how the deck plays out. From our playtesting the Hordestone decks are able to play a five cost ally on turn 3 approximately 50% of the time if not disrupted by the opponent. Therefore, we determined that it was essential to add somewhat of a curve out backup plan to the deck.

Turn 3 [Jex'ali] into turn 4 [Edwin VanCleef], while not exciting, is definitely a viable game plan against opposing Hordestone decks, plate control decks, and various random decks. These “standard” plans of playing out cards based on their cost will not work against the likes of Hunter Aggro and [Grand Crusader] however as you will likely need to adapt to their hand when you lack a [Devout Aurastone Hammer]. [Edwin VanCleef] and [Vanessa VanCleef] help to fill out the curve in an aggressive and reactive fashion respectably. I'm not a fan of decks that rely so heavily on one card, and therefore like the combination of Edwin and Vanessa to pick up the slack.

Edwin is a fine threat on his own, but as I've said before, one that shines with the help of Vanessa. I'd be willing to go as far to say that [Edwin VanCleef] probably should not be played in any decks without [Vanessa VanCleef]. This doesn't mean that Edwin is bad by any stretch, because he's already getting many of my decks from Worlds to play cards like [Withering Decay], [Bottled Spite], and [Ripple] to deal with his token army. He on his own warps the way decks are built, but his daughter outright destroys people, causing an absurd number of two for ones every game they join forces.

Against Aggro Hunter, your game plan depends on what your opponent's deck looks like. The Alliance decks are almost always going to be playing [Aspect of the Wild] and therefore like [Grand Crusader] killing their ability means everything. More than just killing their ability, you need to have a plan when you get to the late game against these aggressive decks. Against Aggro Hunter that lacks card advantage but has giant threats, you need to eliminate their hand. Crushing the opportunity for reinforcements is often overlooked, but if you can keep the Hunter deck locked on four resources you will seldom have to face down a giant [Avatar of the Wild]. [Parexia, Herald of the Shadows] is not excellent in draft while behind, but against Hunter it gives you a shot because it eliminates two more threats lingering in the Hunter player's hand and then trades for an in play [Tesla]. The ability to discard the opponent's hand is in exchange to the healing that the deck would get if it were Shaman. While this matchup is not as favorable for the Priest Hordestone as Shaman “Hordestone,” it is still winnable when you don't draw [Devout Aurastone Hammer], which should definitely be a criterion to play a deck.

[Grand Crusader], the big bully of the room, is a deck you need to have a plan against no matter what. This deck matches up fairly well against [Grand Crusader] because of [Oppress]. [Oppress], like [Ancestral Purge], does exactly what it needs to. First of all it is cost efficient, it costs less than the [Grand Crusader], and while not absurdly important for this deck because the lack of low cost allies, is important around turn four in combination with an [Devout Aurastone Hammer]. Secondly, it has a secondary effect of minimizing the opponent's hand size. If [Grand Crusader] didn't exist, this deck would likely play [Orkahn of Orgrimmar] and some number of [Power Word: Barrier]s, but since we don't live in that world, paying two resources to two for one our opponent seems good enough for me. The other key thing this deck has going for it is the flip in tight pinches against an army of [Dagax the Butcher]s. One of the easiest ways to lose after destroying a copy of [Grand Crusader] is to [Bottled Light] combined with [Dagax the Butcher].

[Suncaller Haruh]'s flip is surprisingly good against a large majority of decks in this format for different reasons. Against [Grand Crusader] and Aggro Hunter who are going to try and kill you with ferocious allies treated as [Magma Spike]s to the face, it trades straight up for a [Dagax the Butcher] or [Tesla] attack. Against something like Paladin Control, Death Knight Control, or another Hordestone deck, it forces the opponent to trade [Mazu'kon]s and [Suarfang the Younger, Kor'kron Warlord]s out of fear of losing the race.

As you can tell, this is not my first choice of deck to play because of how reliant it is so early on a card. From my play experience with the deck you mulligan 99 to 100 percent of hands without [Devout Aurastone Hammer]. The other problem I have with the deck is on the draw, [Etched Dragonbone Girdle] decks can set up to destroy your hammer before you accelerate any party members out. Turn 2 Girdle, turn 3 [Obsidian Drudge] can spell disaster for the match unless the opponent chooses to get greedy and waits for you to try and add an heirloom counter too the hammer. If I were to play a version of this deck I think I would still play a Shaman list similar to what Brad Watson played at Worlds because of how powerful the ability to heal is right now. Most decks cannot deal with people with 45 health and an aggressive deck consisting of three cost 5/5s that [Shock and Soothe] when they enter play like [Zudzo, Herald of the Elements], but they can beat a turn 3 [Parexia, Herald of the Shadows] if their key cards aren't discarded.

Let me know your thoughts on the deck. It is quite possible my dad and I overlooked a card like [Divine Fury] for a position in the deck, or perhaps something even more outlandish. I haven't seen a Priest Hordestone deck with [Baron Ashbury] and [Chakra] but I guess it could be something to test out in this deck.

-Corey Burkhart