Is there a way in standard that we can make High Priest of Penance more useful?
Standard forum
Posted on Jan. 30, 2013, 2:14 a.m. by Gatecrashed
Well, I got to thinking about the whole Boros Reckoner infinte life combo, and realized you might be able to do something similar with High Priest of Penance . Make him indestructible with Boros Charm , Frontline Medic , or Rootborn Defenses , then he can be hit with as many points of damage as possible. And when hit with those points, he will destroy their field, so what would be the best thing to be able to separately deal multiple points of damage to him? I really can't think of much that would work, and this really isn't something you can search on the gatherer, so here's to hoping that somebody can figure out where to take the "combo" from there.
atreyujames says... #3
this makes it incredibly hard to do a ton of damage to him
sorry i accidentally posted only part of my response
January 30, 2013 2:34 a.m.
Gatecrashed says... #4
Yeah I know that, that's my problem right now, I really can't think of anything that would work to be able to do that, but you never know there might be something that somebody knows, that just might make High Priest of Penance broken. :D
January 30, 2013 2:37 a.m.
If he could block multiple creatures at once, I believe he would trigger for each hit.
Though making that possible would be beyond fringe-playable.
He's already very powerful in Standard. He just sits as a blocker and then either sucks a kill-spell out of your opponent's hand or gets you ahead on card advantage through his ability.
IMHO, Tragic Slip may become a card again if this guy gets big. It's easily the best answer to him.
January 30, 2013 2:38 a.m.
GriffinRider says... #6
I'm intrigued.
You could make him indestructible with Avacyn, Angel of Hope and attack with him lots, or just use something like Scalding Devil and ping him lots, depending on your mana.
You could also attack with High Priest of Penance , Frontline Medic and Bomber Corps each turn to make the High Priest indestructible and hit him with Bomber Corps .
Also, what is the infinite life combo with Boros Reckoner ?
January 30, 2013 2:40 a.m.
Gatecrashed says... #7
@ Griffin Rider it's kind of similar to this, make him indestructible, give him lifelink, and then just get him dealt damage, so his ability triggers and then you just keep picking him self as a target over and over again, and he's indestructible, so he can't die, and with lifelink you can get to whatever life you want :D
January 30, 2013 2:49 a.m.
Bigburlybill says... #8
I'm actually making a deck that would focus on this. You can abuse him in a number of ways. If you run exalted, the +1/+1 stays on him until end of turn. Use Olivia Voldaren to ping him, etc. Then you've got some neat interactions. lol
January 30, 2013 3:17 a.m.
Chaosfission says... #9
He's a human, so Mayor of Avabruck Flip pumps him, making not all damage lethal. You could go from there.
January 30, 2013 3:31 a.m.
Bigburlybill says... #10
The best way to abuse him though is to buff him and ping, but at the same time you can't have a deck focused on that entirely. It wouldn't be very consistent. The best option is to throw him in a build that naturally buffs him, and work from there.
January 30, 2013 3:39 a.m.
High Priest of Penance , Mayor of Avabruck Flip , Izzet Staticaster . Gogo 5C Humans!
....
January 30, 2013 4:12 a.m.
gheridarigaaz says... #12
Wild Defiance and burn... because we all want a way for red to be able to deal with noncreature nonartifact bonuses
January 30, 2013 5:05 a.m.
If they don't have an exile or -x/-x spell, he's going to be consistently clearing the board or preventing attacks. Like less offensive and more control-y version of Lotleth Troll .
January 30, 2013 8:24 a.m.
Fleetfiend says... #14
He would be fun in a Stuffy Doll type deck I think.
January 30, 2013 8:44 a.m.
schmelonater says... #15
You COULD equip him with Ring of Xathrid so you can regen him and make him bigger. He can be both an offensive and defensive threat.
January 30, 2013 1:08 p.m.
Yeah, I think regen is the way to go. Ring of Xathrid is a good option, so is Skeletal Grimace , especially if you're also using Ethereal Armor in your deck.
Example:
January 30, 2013 1:15 p.m.
schmelonater says... #17
Also, soulbind the shit out of him...it's pretty scary when you play a priest and he becomes a 5/5 that very turn
February 5, 2013 4:25 p.m.
One of my friends uses exalted with Staff of Nin to make him survive and have kill spell on a stick.
February 5, 2013 8:09 p.m.
Undying Evil is an option for recursion that also gives him a +1/+1 counter. As a 2/2 he can eat 1 damage pings easily.
Vigilante Justice could ping him for 1 damage every time a human enters the battlefield. When he comes back from undying you could ping him using his own trigger.
February 6, 2013 7:40 p.m.
incredibruhahaha says... #21
However, would the +3/+3 in Wild Defiance resolve before ping/damage? Auto answer: Yes, since it triggers right after the High Priest of Penance is declared as the objective of said damage. Correct?
March 23, 2013 3:49 p.m.
incredibruhahaha says... #22
Also, (sorry for double-posting): I think what the OP wants is the priest on a deck that's, you know, counting on winning the game at some point. Whatever the combo you pull off with the High Priest of Penance , the best case scenario consists on the opponents' field emptying. Just saying, since the OP mentions the Boros Reckoner combo, and that one is a finisher by itself.
Mainly when decks with little permanents come to mind, those will be casting Cool Story Bro at all this.
March 23, 2013 4:34 p.m.
gheridarigaaz says... #23
... Revenge of the Hunted only just came to mind... good seeing as it kills a fair few creatures then destroys anything else you might come across too
March 23, 2013 5:03 p.m.
incredibruhahaha says... #25
Come on, there has to be a red card that makes 1 point of damage to target creature repeatedly...
March 24, 2013 5:15 a.m.
Chandra, the Firebrand + High Priest of Penance + anything that raises its toughness = "Destroy target nonland permanent each turn while ticking up on Chandra".
March 24, 2013 3:56 p.m.
Divine Favor would be a cheap way to make him a 2/4.
Probably wouldn't want to use Ethereal Armor because whatever he blocks will likely be killed before it can deal damage to him.
March 25, 2013 10:21 a.m.
Turn 2 High Priest of Penance
Turn 3 Divine Favor
on Priest, then Pillar of Flame
?
Turn 4 Chandra, the Firebrand
, ping Priest
March 25, 2013 10:24 a.m.
I'm liking the Acorn Catapult and Ring of Xathrid combo, the catapult is a lot cheaper than Staff of Nin plus it gives you squirrels. Who doesn't want squirrels? Just reserve 3 mana per turn to regenerate and ping the priest, he'll get angry, blow up a creature, enchantment, planeswalker(at least I think so), or artifact. if he gets killed, just regenerate him, eventually he'll be pretty big and pretty scary. Then you get to attack with your squirrel army and priest commander who by now looks like the Hulk.
May 31, 2013 4:30 a.m.
@ vbcnxm_
Acorn Catapult is not in Standard. The idea of a cheaper "ping" is good, but the OP want's ways to make him better in Standard.
May 31, 2013 9:17 a.m.
@ 4649matt
Something to add to that.. if you have Thrull Parasite on the board, you could remove the +1/+1 counter and give him back the Undying ability, allowing for some more fun.
(As I recall, Undying triggers as long as there is no +1/+1 counter on the creature)
May 31, 2013 10:30 a.m.
Gift of Orzhova or Mask of Avacyn + Staff of Nin is the best way to abuse this cookie. pretty hard to get separate triggers of damage on him, but you can consistently blow up their board with Gift of Orzhova slapped on him. gives you life back for swinging, and then you can still ping him to blow shit up
May 31, 2013 3:20 p.m.
ofcourse Wild Defiance puts him out of burn range for removal
May 31, 2013 3:21 p.m.
Maybe dude, I tried this out for a minute, maybe with some tweaks you'll enjoy it. Skeletal Grimace + High Priest is fantastic but any aura works.BaRoN cAn quirk
June 3, 2013 8:39 p.m.
There are 3 ways right now in standard to abuse the high priest
the other hold up cards are
or anything that give high priest a +1+1 counter like Burst of Strength or Undying Evil
once you put the 2 pieces together you have the answer to abuse high priest. I like a R/W/B deck with hold the gates and like 8 gates. Has enough answers and tricks to pull off high priest nasty ness. Lightning Prowess on a High Priest of Penance equals tap priest kill a permanent
June 10, 2013 10:08 p.m.
If your looking for a board wipe, maybe Armed / Dangerous . Just the dangerous side of course.
June 16, 2013 10:39 a.m.
I decided to make a deck that uses Acorn Catapult and several other cards which boost toughness, threw in the priest and viola, once a turn non-land destruction, saved my ass more than once. Now only if there was a card that could repeatedly untap the catapult...
atreyujames says... #2
the problem is that if he is dealt any amount of damage all at once, his ability only triggers once. he would have to be dealt a single amount of damage repetitively.
January 30, 2013 2:32 a.m.