Hearthstone: Fishing Priest Deck Guide - Turn Your Minions into Tanks!

The new Hearthstone set, The Lost City of Un'Goro, was released just a few days ago, on July 8th, and already changed the meta completely. In fact, nearly all decks seeing play in the meta right now play cards from this new set. The list that has been standing out the most in the meta is Fishing Priest, which has a 64.9% win rate according to HSReplay on July 11th, 2025.

In today's article, we'll show you its main cards, win condition, and how you should mulligan with it. Check it out!

This deck could easily be called a Menagerie list, considering its main game plan is also swarming the board, and Menagerie Jug is also one of its main cards. It directly affects whether you win or lose as well. However, Fishing Priest was named after Trusty Fishing Rod, a Hunter card!

The only reason we can play Hunter cards in this Priest list is Chillin' Vol'jin's Tourist effect. This list only plays a few of them, but they are all quite straightforward and go really well with the main goal: putting more minions in play. Workhorse and Fishing Rod itself are great ways to do that, for instance.

After swarming your board with minions, Fishing Priest includes many ways to make it unbeatable. Let's go through its main cards!

We already know Hunter cards are excellent ways to make your board larger. However, Priest minions are also quite good at this. Brain Masseuse and Spirit of the Kaldorei, for instance, are cheap and sturdy, so they're great in combat.

Furthermore, your main tool to swarm the board is not Trusty Fishing Rod, even though this list was named after it. Instead, you'll use your Imbued Hero Power.

Some minions with Imbue, such as Lunarwing Messenger and Bitterbloom Knight, Imbue your Hero Power. In Priest's case, this will be your new Imbued Hero Power: Choose a playable Priest minion or spell to add to your hand. It costs 1 less, but is Temporary.

Whenever you Imbue it, these cards will cost 1 less, so it will just be a matter of time until you get a minion or spell that costs 3 or 4 less. You can get many impactful cards with this Hero Power, such as healing spells or burn, so it is one of the most important strategies in this list.

As you'll use this resource a lot as you play, Papercraft Angel is even more valuable. It is essential, in fact!

Finally, here are two cards that are a bit more expensive, but will also give you a lot of minions.

With all of these tools, you'll easily be able to put many minions in play quite fast and won't even have to spend much mana to do it either. However, to make this deck work, these minions can't be vulnerable or weak, damage-wise. So, this list also plays a few buffs, like Ship's Chirurgeon and Shadow Ascendant, which are quite cheap and, as turns go on, will buff many minions.

Furthermore, this list plays two of the best AoE buffs in the game: Archaios and Menagerie Jug. Archaios is a legendary minion from the new set, The Lost City of Un'Goro, and has already stolen the spotlight in this list! With this card in play, when all your minions attack, their health will be set to Archaios' health, which is already quite decent from the start. If you buff it, it will become even better!

As for Menagerie Jug, it is definitely a classic. It is also quite famous for the role it plays in decks like these, which swarm the board with minions. This card can give your entire board up to +9/+9 (in total).

So, in a matter of one or two turns, your cards will have 6 health and become a lot sturdier. Then, round after round, they'll survive on the board and get Menagerie Jug's +3/+3 buffs.

Logically, the cards that make your board nearly immortal, such as Archaios and Menagerie Jug, are critical.

However, the entire deck matters. Take a look at the match below, for instance: with my cheap minions, Trusty Fishing Rod, and my Imbued Hero Power, I built an unbeatable board on turn four. And notice how Ship's Chirurgeon also gave them a lot of health:

This early game pressure was perfect because then I was able to deal damage to the enemy hero in the first few rounds. However, my opponent managed to remove my minions before I could buff them, and I could only finally beat them because I filled my board again and buffed them with Menagerie Jug. That's what made me win.

You will also need to know exactly when to put more minions in play and when to buff them.

You shouldn't focus on buffing your minions straight away because first you need to put them in play and Imbue your Hero Power. So, I highly recommend you look for Brain Masseuse or Ship's Chirurgeon for the first few turns.

For the next rounds, a combo with Lunarwing Messenger (or Bitterbloom Knight) and Papercraft Angel is also interesting. This way, you'll get a lot of value from your Hero Power.

If you want to keep a buff early on, focus on cheaper options, such as Ship's Chirurgeon, Shadow Ascendant, and Orbital Halo. By the way, you can even cast Orbital Halo for free.

Archaios and Menagerie Jug are definitely at the center of this list, but they're more expensive, and you'll need to put a lot of minions on the board before you even consider playing them. I don't recommend keeping them early on.

Finally, if you already have something to play on turns 1 and 2, you can keep Trusty Fishing Rod, as it is one of your best cards for turn 3.

Fishing Priest is so dominant right now that you can just use the same game plan for all matchups. Of course, you can look for lifesteal minions (like Lunarwing Messenger and Spirit of the Kaldorei) and trade a few others when you're against aggro decks, but stay away from them if you're against slow lists.

Overall, you should try to dominate the match by stacking power on your side of the board and then buffing your minions regardless of the matchup.

Fishing Priest is simple to pilot and has a great win rate. I'm sure you'll have fun and most likely climb lots of ranks with it!

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!