Before I get to the actual report I'll post my [janky] list so those who are just checking for lists can get that out of their system (I can in 2nd, conceded in the finals so I could go home).

Emek the Equalizer (Holy Priest)

4 Taste of Divinity
4 Searing Light
4 Horrify
4 Omens of Terror
3 Mist of Corrosion
4 Disperse Magic
3 Vampiric Tendrils

1 Wub's Cursed Hexblade
2 Wand of Prismatic Focus

4 Dark Archon Farrum
4 Dethvir the Malignant
4 Sivandra Darklust
4 Vanessa Fairgraves
1 Treebole

4 Undercity
4 Rise and Be Recognized
4 Call to Arms: Arathi Basin
2 Darkness Calling

Sideboard:

4 Talisman of the Horde
3 Owned
2 Tithe
1 Mist of Corrosion

I'll give everyone my comments about the list/format at the end of the report.

So I actually audibled to this deck from Savitir Skullsmasher - Deadliness.dec literally at midnight on Friday night. I was talking to my girlfriend (she plays also) trying to explain my thoughts on each deck. Eventually it got to the point that I said the rogue just didn't seem that strong, but I literally had no idea how the priest would do, but I would definitely have fun playing it. Nevermind that I didn't even have all the cards for the priest deck (I was short blind faith, 2 tastes, 3 treeboles), She said I may as well just play something fun and given it was the first "real" weekend of RQ's I agreed and tried to sleep since I had to drive over an hour to the event. So with literally 0 playtesting of the format and only whatever information has been presented on these boards I at least was set on what I was going to play.

As a quick aside an hour drive is not a big deal for RQ's or other "large" events. Things where I have a pretty solid hope that enough people will show up to host the event (not always the case as I found out when I went to a NACC qualifer and managed to be the only person who showed), but for battlegrounds it is a hassle to say the least to spend 2 or more hours driving on a Friday night. Central New Jersey unfortuately is not blessed with a WoW community or for any other game that I am aware of. If anyone knows of a place to play besides Mount Holly, West Berlin, and Denville I'd love to hear about it. Those places are great places to play and don't take this as a stab at them, it's just unfortunately a little far for me to make the drive consistently. /aside

So I get to the venue just before they planned to begin taking signups and there isn't really anyone there other than Brian Legrow (http://infogathering.com/ for those who didn't know), Mike McGee, and Brian Durkin. I had brought a few binders that I had planned on organizing so I could kill time after I scrounged for the cards I needed. Unfortunately the store couldn't help in that department other than 2 tastes. For a few minutes I considered going back to the rogue but I decided to stick with the priest since I fully anticipated getting squashed and going home early anyway.

We ended up starting late as we waiting for some other people to show up (rather than play a 4 person qualifier), at least they called ahead and let us know. We ended up with an 11 person event with things split 6 horde 5 alliance I believe.

Round 1 vs. Mike McGee playing Kuano Stonehoof (Arena grand melee druid)

I know McGee from playing at Ron's Comic World in Mount Holly. Everyone else may know him as a judge from various events including NACC and Realm Championships I believe. He was the only person I really knew other than seeing them a few times before and hearing their names. He's a nice guy and always cool to play against although inevitably my matches against him go nearly to time.

His list is pretty much what you'd expect. Lots of tauren that are hellbent on stepping on your face early and fast. I had considered a similar deck when I was debating my choices but the loss of twig and form of the serpent I felt were big enough losses to pass on the deck.

Game 1 (on the play ): McGee was forced to keep a relatively slow hand after mulliganing a horrific one and that played directly into my plans. Although he had me within 4 points of lethal this game on the back of cold forged hammer and the paladin/druid blessing making his dudes humongous undercity was my MVC and managed to heal 16 damage over the course of the game. Vanessa managed to generate a big advantage by trading with guys and then trading again as a ghoul. Eventually wand attacks + ghouls + a dark archon managed to take it home. He flipped this game but it really didn't matter since by the time I stabilized he couldn't quite finish me off.

Game 2 (on the draw): This game wasn't nearly as close despite him having a much better hand. His boarded in skumms turned down an undercity early on but I managed to quest into another and my boarded in extra removal managed to stifle any attempt he had at getting more than a solitary threat out. A few WOTF dudes later and I was able to throw 12 points of searing light at his dome to end it.

1-0 (2-0)

Someone else (not sure who) said it later in the day that Kuano seems great but in general if you are going to lose at 28 (or whatever his health is) you are going to also probably lose at 40 damage. From my experience on the day it seemed to be true but considering this is my only experience playing the format take that with a grain of salt. The deck feels underpowered (tauren I mean) but I am not sure if might was running celestial shard or any other burn. Without twig to allow for explosive amounts of damage it feels like you are just trying to curve out with warstompers but everything in the format seems to have ridiculous amounts of useful and flexible removal.

There was 1 match that did go to time I believe round 1.

Round 2: Steve Utter playing Gyro of the Ring

As I mentioned McGee was the only person I really knew but everyone I played against was very friendly and made everything a lot more fun. Steve was no exception and we talked a lot before, during, and after. I have to admit in my short time playing WoW (I started just as drums released and took a hiatus this past spring until fields) I have to say people who play this game are much more personable than other games I have played.

Steve's deck was essentially the blue version of the deck I switched out of. I think that given adam, weldon, and dimzer that the blue version is more powerful than the red one. Kazamon isn't really as invulnerable as he usually is and the other finisher options for horde aren't quite as impressive. That being said I wasn't happy sitting across from Gyro especially since I don't have the foggiest how this match should go. My plan was to try and keep his hand as empty as possible, and pray I drew lots of mists and hopefully get to sideboarding up a game.

Game 1 (on the draw): Of course things didn't quite go that way. We went back and forth a few times although he does have a hard time removing WOTF dudes (I never saw a slay the feeble or anything like that from him I think) weldon and adam smashing for 10 a turn and then double amnesty to keep me from racing ended me in short order after we reached the late game.

Game 2 (on the play): So down a game in come the talismans and the 4th mist (probably should be main decked I boarded it in a lot) I also brought in Owned! which ended up nailing weldon in this game. I managed to empty his hand a few times due to tendrils, and my flip (which nabbed an adam at one point the highlight of the day). Although he kept refilling off quests. Eventually I drew my 1 of treebole and when it stuck on the board  next to either a farrum or sivandra (I forgot which) with him at 22 damage I managed to steal this game a few turns later despite a few truncheons and thuds.

Game 3 (on the draw): Being on the draw again had me worried but it turned out not to matter. Steve had a subpar hand and I managed to hit quads of Vanessa. Turn 3, then turn 5, 6, 7 vanessa fairgraves are likely to make most decks fold. Tendrils didn't help his situation much and I managed to walk away with the match win.

2-0 (4-1)

Round 3: Brian Durkin playing Savitir Skullsmasher

Brian crushed me at my first real RQ a while ago when I was playing kil'zin control and he was playing jonas. From our bantering before the match it would seem this time around I had the advantageous matchup.

Game 1 (on the play): According to my notes I took 0 damage this game. I ended up smashing with some dudes that he couldn't remove, a combination of vanessa, ghoul tokens, and dark archon farrum. Eventually I threw 4 abilities at his head to end it. He had burned a detect traps on turn 5 or 6 I think naming allies trying to nab a dethvir. I showed him a hand full of searing light and other abilities I had been drawing into while I was dumping dudes onto the board. Managed to dodge a huge bullet there.

Game 2 (on the draw): This game stalled for a while since Brian used deadliness as a 4cc stone rain several times as well as thud! kidney shot to draw game out presumably to hit a stab in the dark or detect traps for the dethvir that he figured (correctly) that I was trying to get into play. Eventually he ran out of ways to keep me tapped down and dethvir came out to start turning sideways and a fiery finish from searing light for 12 ended it.

3-0 (6-1)

Round 4: Daniel Arnold playing Meganna the Stalker

Since we were only playing 4 rounds I was already assured a T4 slot but my opponent had to win to make it. Daniel managed to hit t1 shadow tactics all 3 games in this match, but strangely enough 0 surge of adrenaline. My luck was pretty good in this match as you'll see.

Game 1 (on the draw): He hits me with discard for a while, but then sticks a 5 point rupture on turn 5 I believe or somewhere in there. I am furiously digging for a mist or disperse since his hand is currently empty. Unfortunately he hits a ruthlessness and the mists I draw next turn does not really help at this point. I ran it out there hoping he might think he has to discard an ongoing ability or something or just savagely misplay but he is not a bad player so he obviously doesn't fall for it. A deathblow for a lot ends up officially winning him the game. I end up not using undercity at the end of his turn which bought me another turn (I was trying to do some math to figure out if I could chuck enough abilities at him to kill him). He ended up hitting me with a deathblow on my turn for 6 to take me out when I am one ability short of throwing enough at his head to kill him in response. Not activating undercity EOT helped me since he though I may be holding some kind of heal and if I had tapped out to use undercity he would've killed me immediately. I'd like to claim this was a great play on my part but it was more of me making the "right" play for the wrong reasons since I had assumed if he had the deathblow he would've killed me immediately since I couldn't think of any card that I could be bluffing.

Game 2 (on the play): This game was relatively uneventful except for the fact that I managed to hit quads again (why couldn't I have used the luck I had today to win the $300+ million lottery on Friday...or whatever ridiculous amount it was up to?) this time for dethvir. He stabbed one in the dark, he burgled one later on, but I managed to draw all 4 in the top 30 cards or so and rode them to victory.

Game 3 (on the draw): I was worried going into this game being on the draw since I saw a bonecracker game 2 that didn't show in game 1. My fears were realized when after a long stalemate (we must've both done literally nothing but cast discard go or other irrelevant plays for 7 or 8 turns) he landed a bonecracker and then started growing it to absurd proportions. He managed to get me to 16 with a bonecracker that would be at 7 counter the next turn. I was one resource shy of killing him immeditately with an alpha strike and by throwing abilities to searing light so I did what damage I could and hoped. He drew and it was not a deathblow, so he quested, nada and that was all there was. I managed to steal a win thanks to a combination of my good fortune and my opponent's bad luck.

4-0 (8-1)

Top 4:
The top 4 decks going into elimination rounds were:

1. Me - Horde Priest
2. Steve Utter - Alliance Rogue
3. Kim Caton - Alliance Priest (this version was solely based on searing light)
4. Charles McCray - Horde Druid aggro

Elimination Round 1: Charles McCray playing Kuano Stonehoof

Given my success against McGee earlier I was fairly confident going into this match. Although I am always leery playing against aggro since a good draw on their part and a bad one on yours means you get torn apart. Also he obviously had to win some games to get here.

Game 1:  Double tendrils pretty much lock this game up. I take a few hits from elder narando and let him commit guys to the board. I slow roll the tendrils to make sure each time it nails 2 cards (he quests on his turn) and obviously heals for a lot. Dethvir and team do their job and searing light cleans up. He did not flip this turn as I was able to dump a ton of damage with searing onto him.

Game 2: I was again confident going in an it almost came crashing down as he managed to hit an early alamo and again I went with the slow rolling tendrils play. Unfortunately for me he had celestial shard whereas McGee either did not or just never saw them. He got me up to 21 damage at one point but by that time I hit a mist for the shard when he had an empty hand and then undercity took over. I hovered around the 19-21 damage range for a while as he swung in with his hero thanks to pack tactics and me being forced to do other things rather than heal, but undercity eventually got me stable. He did not get to flip this game. Battle mage's baton was a threat but it didn't really make too much of a difference.

After that Steve defeated Kim and since we both get 10 points which is enough to qualify I had no problem conceding so that I can go home. Hadn't eaten since about 7 AM and I'm tired and hungry.

So overall I had a lot of fun and everyone that as there was really cool. I had not been to AU prior to this and it was a great place to play.

The format seems interesting although it is slow. My list seems to be as close to aggro as you can get. True aggro decks don't seem to ahve the reach or power that they do in other formats. That being said obviously Charles got 3 wins in the swiss so he had to be doing something right. Horde rogue seems to be inferior to the alliance version. According to players that are much better than me say that searing light is the best card in the format. I am not experienced enough to say it definitely is but I will say if it isn't it's 2nd place.

As to my actual list it came out the way it did since I could've sworn that I had a 2nd wub's and was going to play more if I could've gotten them on site. Wand is awesome but it is some bad against hardiness, that being said it is nice to be able to 1 shot weldon. I had more in the original list before I got the playset of tastes.

I am not completely sold on treebole. In my T4 match he drew a 2 for 1 but usually he was just a 5/5 body which is great (especially since you really only need to get around 15-18 damage on an opposing hero before searing light is a game ender) but I am not sure that he is the best option if that is all he is doing. If aggro is as weak as it seems then maybe something else deserves the slot.

The 4th mist may need to be MD since equipment is a huge problem. Battle mage's baton is an option I hadn't really considered beforehand, but it is sort of slow. In addition it's not an ability and I always would like to fit more of those in the list.

Omens could probably be cut since it isn't really that good except against tauren aggro (dorn mostly) and that's if they don't hit alamo or thunder bluff. It's most useful trait is denying people a draw step (sort of) after you empty their hand, or getting closer to making your flip hit something important. Possibly not enough to warrant the full set of them.

Steve Utter had brought up a valid point regarding the quests. Given the way the block is there are not a lot of really good quests and everyone's quest base will likely look exactly the same:

4 x relevant location (likely eye of the storm)
4 x a question of gluttony
4 x rise and be recognized
4 x the last barov

Maybe not exactly but pretty close. Darkness calling deserves an honorable mention.

He disagreed with the use of arathi basin citing it's 5 resource cost. The high cost did come into play against Charles (aggro druid) and against some of the rogues where I managed to just have enough resources to basin and not give up too much. However I feel it is a requirement in this deck (maybe not others) since you need something that will have a positive net on cards...well more than likely a positive net on cards anyway. Quests replacing themselves is great (a question of gluttony) but you really want to be getting multiple cards to fuel searing light. In retrospect I probably could've played the last barov but I am not sure that it was going to produce 2 cards often enough given the removal suite I am running. With that assumption in mind I went with darkness calling since it always dug 2 cards even if I only got to keep 1.

I was not positive about vanessa initially but she has earned her spot, and as to the other WOTF guys I would've liked a protector at some points and 6 on the back end is pretty solid since it takes a hit from weldon/adam/dimzer and survives but I am not sure you need it.

Like I said this RQ was all the testing I had done so these comments could be completely off base.

Props:
God for letting me get so damn lucky. I said it during the tournament, I don't think I've gotten 4 of a kind in ANY game poker, magic, anything. I managed it twice during the swiss and it won me both games. I could have possible won with only 3 but 4 makes it sound more impressive.
My girlfriend because shes awesome.
My best friend who was helping me get all my other stuff in order which lets me to play.
AU becuase place is cool
All those who played, everyone was really cool

Slops:
People who can't drive properly.

Thanks for reading.

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wingedweasel on MWS/Lackey
winged weasel on xbl

So after playing it, what changes would you make to make it more solid?

994554:

So after playing it, what changes would you make to make it more solid?

Well unfortunately I only really played against rogues. I think you'd have a hard time losing to aggro decks so really the concern is rogue (of varying kinds), warlock, mage. I have not seem successful warriors/paladins which is surprising but maybe I am not looking hard enough just yet.

Starting with the following list:

Emek the Equalizer (Holy Priest)

4 Taste of Divinity
4 Searing Light
4 Horrify
4 Omens of Terror
3 Mist of Corrosion
4 Disperse Magic
3 Vampiric Tendrils

1 Wub's Cursed Hexblade
2 Wand of Prismatic Focus

4 Dark Archon Farrum
4 Dethvir the Malignant
4 Sivandra Darklust
4 Vanessa Fairgraves
1 Treebole

4 Undercity
4 Rise and Be Recognized
4 Call to Arms: Arathi Basin
2 Darkness Calling

Sideboard:

4 Talisman of the Horde
3 Owned
2 Tithe
1 Mist of Corrosion

I would probably cut treebole for the 4th MD mist and maybe change darkness calling to the last barov. I'd like to say that the wands should be wub's (then you can more readily board munkin for equipment heavy matchups since wub's can just die as required).

Equipment gave me scares frequently so I'd like to fit munkin in there, and the change to more wub's would enable that.

Tithe is hilariously good when it works but often against aggro I wasn't really facing down more than 1 ally at a time and any removal spell would probably accomplish the same task. Against blue control decks you probably won't be able to steal anything relevant (weldon being the only great target) which gives you a way to then trade with dimzer if they damaged him but it will never get adam so I am not sure how relevant it will be. It does it's job well but it may be overkill I am not sure yet.

I'd love to fit a 4th tendrils and wub's main but I am not sure where to get the slots from. Blind faith may not be needed here. Searing light isn't the sole focal point of the deck right now although it is very important.

Really those few changes are all I can say with certainty right now, at least until I test more.

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wingedweasel on MWS/Lackey
winged weasel on xbl

I wish I had overheard you say you needed Wub's.  I had four extras on me.

Congrats on your performance; the deck certainly seemed powerful.  Sadly my Searing Lights were in the mail or I think I'd have played a Priest deck too.  (And it was me that said both that it's the best card in the format, and that if you lose at 28 health you lose at 40 with Kauno.)

How often did you play out the cards like Omens of Terror and Disperse Magic?  Were they in there just for Searing Light?  Also, was Talisman of the Horde enough to deal with your problems against equipment?

Again, congrats on your well-deserved finish!

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Site Owner, InfoGathering.com

I appreciate the offer, I'll have to speak up next time!

I ended up playing omens fairly frequently, however it was usually aimed at my opponent. There were not very many targets for the omens ally-wise. I killed a dorn once and I think that was about it. Throwing them at my opponent directly was the more effective plan just simply for the discard. The pseudo-versatility (off chance I may actually kill something) was what made me keep them in rather than going with other options but in retrospect they were mostly just instant speed discard. Although that was a useful purpose I am not sure if it is worth using the slot for.

Disperse would've been incredibly useful if I had drawn it against Daniel in game 1 since obviously 5 point ruptures end the game quickly. Other than that they usually got pitched to searing light since there were not very many relevant ongoing abilities in the matches I played. In round 1 against McGee I used it to blow up a blessing but I think that might have been the only time I used it all day. Given that you can turn them into incinerates I don't think you lose much by running them.

That being said my inclination is to leave them be but I tend to play things safer than I probably should.

Talismans definitely helped a lot, against the rogues you'll have to dance a little to not nuke your own searing light since everything there likely costs 2 (unless they are running shadow tactics like Daniel) but in all honesty I'd personally feel more comfortable if I had something other than mists to answer equipment in addition to the talismans. But that could be my own cautiousness and not a true requirement. I expected more armor-based decks to make an appearance but without those running around you are probably fine with just talismans and mists. All your dudes race amnestys or truncheons pretty effectively and you can randomly win with searing light. Blowing up even one equipment can buy you enough time to do that.

I hesitate to say that the talismans are enough since my opponents didn't see equipment heavy draws. but unless they do I think any 2 of talismans and/or mist should be able to handle it.

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wingedweasel on MWS/Lackey
winged weasel on xbl

Congrats on the performance. The deck looks solid and its a good thing that you got Qed early, because Rons and ATF are almost dead for the TCG. Rons will be scrounging to get the 4 people every week and ATF died after '08 NACCs. Ive started judging the TCG now and playing Minis competitively at ATF.

PS: A qualifier in PA starting late? That never happens. All i can say is EPIC FAIL. I dont even have to be at an event to know the 4 people that called and were late, they cant be on time for anything.

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1350297:

Congrats on the performance. The deck looks solid and its a good thing that you got Qed early, because Rons and ATF are almost dead for the TCG. Rons will be scrounging to get the 4 people every week and ATF died after '08 NACCs. Ive started judging the TCG now and playing Minis competitively at ATF.

PS: A qualifier in PA starting late? That never happens. All i can say is EPIC FAIL. I dont even have to be at an event to know the 4 people that called and were late, they cant be on time for anything.

I've only been to ATF for NACC Q's so I am not sure what their normal battleground scene is like, but I know Ron's was struggling and the combination of showing up a few times and I was the only or one of 2 people and the fact that I needed to do other things in the spring pushed me away from the game for a while. I had considered minis since it seemed to have a stronger following but I'm not sold yet.

That being said McGee made it sound like there was a group of 4 or 5 that was going to Ron's in addition to the other guys that normally showed before so I am only hope it's a revitalization and I'll try and make it down there in the future.

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wingedweasel on MWS/Lackey
winged weasel on xbl

The minis scene at ATF is slow right now. Football season makes that happen. But if you ever want to show up ill have a team for you to play.

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