Cabal Shadow Priest

Cabal Shadow Priest is an epic priest minion card, inducted into the Legacy set, formerly from the Classic set.

Previous availability

 * Regular Cabal Shadow Priest could also be obtained as a first-time reward for first time reaching Platinum 10 and Diamond 10 in Ranked mode from April 1, 2020 to March 25, 2021 (or as a reward of Climbing the Ranks (6/10) and (8/10) achievements).

Strategy
Cabal Shadow Priest is a powerful control card. As well as providing a solid (if somewhat pricey) 4/5 body, it allows the Priest to take permanent control of an enemy minion, essentially a mini-Mind Control.

The key limitation of Cabal Shadow Priest is its attack requirement; only minions with 2 or less attack can be controlled. This generally limits the effect to smaller minions, although some such as Mana Tide Totem or Tundra Rhino can provide quite a bargain. Lazul's Scheme can be used to reduce a minion's attack low enough to steal. Very rarely, a similar effect can be achieved by playing a copy of Aldor Peacekeeper obtained via Thoughtsteal or Mind Vision, guaranteeing that the Shadow Priest steals one of the Paladin's minions; this can potentially include Tirion Fordring.

The value to the Shadow Priest's Battlecry lies not simply in removing an enemy minion, but in effectively granting the player a new minion as well. This makes it equivalent to a combined Destroy and Summon effect, essentially performing three actions: 1) Summon a 4/5 minion; 2) Remove an enemy minion with 2 or less attack; 3) Acquire a friendly minion with 2 or less attack. Because of this three-pronged approach, even when the minion stolen is small, Cabal Shadow Priest can be a very efficient play.

Needless to say, the Battlecry's target is of extreme importance. Valuable targets include Taunts, powerful effects like that of Nat Pagle or Flametongue Totem, and useful Deathrattles such as Loot Hoarder. It may be worth waiting several turns in order to play Cabal Shadow Priest at just the right moment, securing a valuable minion for the player while depriving the opponent of that same minion.

Scarlet Subjugator, Shrinkmeister or Pint-Size Potion can be used to allow the Shadow Priest to take control of higher attack minions, which will revert to their previous attack value at the end of the turn. Topsy Turvy, Twilight Acolyte, and Crazed Alchemist can also be used for this, albeit in a more permanent fashion.

Lore

 * ''The is a dark cult that is a sub-organization of the  and operates exclusively in . They are led by  and . The organization's members have holdings in the  and external ruins of  in  and in the  of Auchindoun.

Trivia

 * The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Blood of Gladiators" series, for the card Focused Will.
 * On closer inspection, the Cabal Shadow Priest can be seen wearing highly similar clothes to Northshire Cleric, as well as having black hair. Whether they are indeed the same person or even if they are simply from the same priestly order, this would bring a horrifying implication in regards to her flavor text.
 * In older patches, players were prevented from playing Cabal Shadowpriest altogether unless they had room for the stolen minion.
 * Interestingly, the card depicts a human, when there are none in the Outland cult.

Patch changes

 * Moved from Classic to Legacy set.
 * Unknown patch, approximately Patch 4.3.0.12266 (Early 2016): Battlecry behavior changed to allow activation with 6 minions already on board; targeted minion is now destroyed, consistent with other mind control effects.
 * Previously: Cabal Shadow Priest could not be cast with 6 minions already on board.


 * Is now a 4/5, up from a 3/4.
 * Previously: Battlecry: Take control of an enemy minion that has 2 or less Attack. [6 mana, 3 attack, 4 health, Epic]