Priest of the Blood Rite - Is it Good?
Standard forum
Posted on July 18, 2015, 3:21 p.m. by JTetris11
So I opened up 2 Priest of the Blood Rite in my fat pack and I'm not sure what to think about it. Like being honest the card seems busted. What do you all think about this in standard? I mainly play casual standard so I think this will be absolutely sweet.
From what I know about the format (not much), 2 bodies for 5 mana is pretty good especially with 7 total power and toughness. The demon even has flying. So its definitely a good bomb. The 2 life isn't that big of a deal, but in the right shell, you could destroy the priest yourself, or sacrifice it to fuel something. So its pretty decent I think.
July 18, 2015 3:25 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #4
This is what I made of the priest. Tribute to Liliana (Origins) Involves discarding/sacking/recurring and sometimes copying him. Just for an idea.
July 18, 2015 3:39 p.m.
ouroborobelisk says... #5
Priest of the Blood Rite is going right into my Aristocrats Huntmaster Humans deck! Yeah baby! (Not Standard so ... yeah, my bad)
July 18, 2015 4:06 p.m. Edited.
I typed up something earlier but got the thropters for the longest time when I tried to post it. I copied it so I could paste it when I came back and now that the site is working it's no longer saved under copy lol.
Anyways, long story short, devotion and constellation are getting a revamp before they rotate. On paper, black devotion looks solid. If it's able to compete with the strong decks in the current meta then some number of Priest of the Blood Rite will be apart of the 60. Just probably not a full 4 because Gray Merchant of Asphodel is also a five drop.
When I came across this thread earlier I had just gotten done putting a new deck rough draft together. Because I feel like mardu has a bunch of cool stuff and I'm always tinkering with it even though I play abzan, I had started working on a midrange/controlish deck that takes advantage of the fact that Alesha, Who Smiles at Death can bring back Priest of the Blood Rite with her ability.
And just now, something I hadn't really thought much about earlier is this would even fit into Abzan right on curve behind Siege Rhino. I imagine there will be quite a few games where going Sylvan Caryatid, Siege Rhino, Priest of the Blood Rite on your first 4 turns will just be game over. Some decks won't be able to handle 11 power spread out over 3 creatures that early in the game and it's gonna be tough even for the ones that can.
July 18, 2015 10:41 p.m.
JaceArveduin says... #7
Priest of the Blood Rite + Mirror Mockery
Now you have the most hilarious of shenanigans, go forth and win!
July 19, 2015 12:30 a.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #8
That's not a half bad idea either, toss in a sac engine to go along with it and you're golden.
July 19, 2015 12:45 a.m.
I think it's good; though, if you're worried about the Priest bleeding you out for two each turn, you can always drop a Fleshbag Marauder to solve that problem.
July 20, 2015 12:57 a.m.
wonder_llama says... #10
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is very fun with this card. I play some kitchen table standard, which I assume is similar to OP's "casual standard", and alesha, Priest of the Blood Rite and Butcher of the Horde make for some pretty fun games! Bring back Priest of the Blood Rite with Alesha, Who Smiles at Death's ability and sac it to Butcher of the Horde. A 5/5 flying demon for 2 mana is always fun :)
July 20, 2015 8:29 a.m.
veritates1 says... #11
I opened the priest in a draft and it was amazing. Playing blue/black and bouncing him around, or bringing him out of the graveyard to create more demons was quite effective. Most people were very excited about the 2 life each turn, but really, no one is blocking the Priest of the Blood Rite when you swing with it. They all wanted me to lose 2 life every round, and they were fine losing the 2 life to his attack. Or leave him back to chump block.
In a casual game I'm definitely putting him in with some red or blue (or red AND blue) to copy and exile him all day long.
July 21, 2015 8:45 a.m.
Wow thanks for all the feedback everyone. All I meant by "casual standard" was kitchen table fun decks instead of like pro tour decks (i.e. Abzan Midrange, U/B Control, G/R devotion etc.)
July 21, 2015 10:54 a.m.
BlastercoolWeird says... #13
of note I like how your opponent is really dis-incentivized to block the priest itself because it eliminates the card's only drawback AND puts it in the graveyard for Whip of Erebos or other reanimation nonsense.
July 21, 2015 8:37 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #14
The priest is overall an amazing card that can be exploited in numerous ways. I can see it being almost as popular as Deathmist in the sense that it will always be coming back in some fashion be it flicker effects, bounce, sac & return or copying effects. It may as well be unblockable and hexproof. It will be interesting to see different ideas unfold over time. Not sure if it will make it into modern but Standard and EDH may be the formats it finds a home in.
July 21, 2015 9:10 p.m.
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #15
The token is nice as it doesn't die to Languish and can block Stormbreath Dragon and live. The priest himself can be removed via any exploit creature or sac engine, but the 2 life isn't much when you're swinging 5 in the air. Cost isn't bad in a mono-black, Mardu Control, or Abzan Midrange build. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx can help cast it and leave mana open to cast an exploiter. I think it's good as a 2-of in a black based deck, fits with all the black removal and hand disruption so you can get the demon through for damage.
July 22, 2015 3:08 p.m.
And if you're willing to put up with the 2 life loss each turn, it might be fun to enchant Priest of the Blood Rite with Mirror Mockery.
Just keep attacking with the priest each turn to make new demons, and if the priest dies, then no more 2 life loss each turn. :-)
July 25, 2015 5:43 p.m.
Mono-Black Standard this is my take on using the Priest of the Blood Rite as the five spot bomb. Ways of managing the upkeep are to cast Languish, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Whip of Erebos, or any of the removal spells if desired.
July 25, 2015 11:24 p.m.
allthingsMTG says... #18
Sidisi whip seems like the perfect deck for this guy, mill him with sidisi or wayfinder then whip him back for a 5/5 that stays in play
Epochalyptik says... #2
What do you mean by "casual Standard"?
July 18, 2015 3:25 p.m.