Hearthhead's Midweek Meta Review #3 - Dr. Boom's Last Stand

Hearthstone Publié 10/03/2016 à 11:14 par Odinn

Why Do You Care About A Meta Report?

Relative frequency at a given rank range is fairly easy to identify. If any player plays 100 games, even though it’s not inherently statistically significant, it’s easy to discover what classes or archetypes are most popular. Moreover…

Where the meta is in its cycle is useful information to have. The relative prevalence of aggro, midrange, or control tells you a lot about what is - and will be - on the rise, versus on the decline.

Presuming that your goal is to improve your rank in constructed, meta reports help you make efficient use of your time - the only variable in Hearthstone that you have 100% control over. Knowing what decks have emerged or are popular, even if the meta can’t be 100% tracked or nailed down at a statistically significant level, can help you do more with whatever time you do have to play competitively.

the number of gamesMidweek Meta Review #3 - Dr. Boom's Last Standlast week’s review

Five top meta decks, including explanations and guides.

At least one anti-meta deck.

An approximate class ‘power ranking’ given the state of the meta.

Midrange Meta

Frequency of appearance.

Ease of play.

Prevalence of (meaningful) counters.

Consistency in winning a variety of matchups.

Aggro decks typically punish traditional Midrange decks, but that assumes that they can ignore the need to trade. Using Secret Paladin as an example, very few Aggro decks can safely push face damage when the Secret Paladin player is setting up powerful swing turns by playing s. Almost all Midrange decks include tools that stop Aggro win conditions, like or taunt minions.

The general prevalence of Freeze Mage has dictated the pace of the meta substantially in recent memory. Since the deck only consistently loses to Warrior, and to a lesser degree to Midrange Druid, it suppresses many of the other, more board-driven decks.

Contemporary Control decks often cannot achieve the level of board control required to stall the game into their own win condition territory against Midrange decks, since so many of the minions are ‘sticky’ (have Deathrattles, Divine Shields, etc.).

Very few decks outside of Freeze Mage are running multiple or true board clear spells, which allows board-driven decks like Patron Warrior or Zoo Warlock to flourish.

Rankings

Make sure to check out the actual deck pages for information on overall strategy, mulligans, and tech choices!

1.

The throne once again belongs to Midrange Druid. As a reminder, Druid was the overwhelming MVP of the Americas Winter Preliminary, where it finished with a positive win ratio against all other classes tournament wide. Druid is one of the only classes in the game that frequently pulls out wins even against its natural counters (specifically, Tempo Mage and Zoo Warlock). If you’re seeing predominantly basically anything else, Midrange Druid is a safe bet.

2.

Despite his protests to the contrary, who he is may very well be some of your business. and company continue to be nigh-unstoppable in the right circumstances, and merely really good if the mulligan, draw, and curve turn out sub-optimal. A lot of decks are particularly targeting Secret Paladin on ladder right now, but in practice, the deck is still extraordinarily effective as long as you aren’t seeing an overwhelming majority of Freeze Mage.

3.

Zoo has found a solid footing as a reliable deck that contests the board against almost all other Midrange styles while simultaneously challenging Control decks to answer its trade-up and burst potential. Much akin to the Secret Paladin, Zoo is at its best when you are seeing little-to-no Freeze Mage, and preys especially well on Druids.

4.

Patron Warrior, or “How To Beat Classes That Can’t Wipe The Board”, stays steady in the meta as it suffers against heavy Control decks, but wins more than it loses against almost everything else. The unique and flexible toolkit that Patron brings can generally cycle through to the cards it needs to either play from behind efficiently or start applying pressure as early as turn 6, which gives it a lot of power in a meta that sees so little pure Control in play.

5.

Ah, old faithful. Freeze Mage is an infrequent pick for early season climbs, since games can be so slow, but its mere existence is the lynchpin that ties the current meta together. It’s not a tremendously easy deck to pilot, but its enormously favourable matchups against basically everything that isn’t a Warrior makes it an auto-include on this report until we see some much-needed card changes arrive with Standard.

Not hitting Warriors or a lot of consecutive Midrange Druids? Run Freeze Mage, win, profit.

Anti-Meta Decks

We continue to recommend Aggro Druid as an off-meta pick. Aggro Druid gives up some of the dominance that Midrange Druid can assert over decks like Freeze Mage or Murloc Paladin, as well as opens itself up to some vulnerability to Priest, in exchange for much closer matchups against Midrange’s classical weaknesses in Tempo Mage and Zoo Warlock. Aggro Druid also beats Midrange Druid on average.

With positive win ratios against the top three meta decks and no immensely weak matchups (arguably Priest), Aggro Druid can make a slow climb in the current meta.

While Priest can struggle against Midrange Druid, since they are often unable to do the necessary combination of clear the board, heal themselves, and put up Taunts to protect themselves all at the right time, Control Priest does have the tools to compete in the current meta. You will almost assuredly lose to all Murloc Paladins, since their ability to wait you out and build up an almost impossible to survive burst turn is better than your own, but Priest has good matchups against most other decks.

Reno Warlock can also pose problems, and Freeze Mage is not a favoured matchup (but is certainly winnable). In most other cases - particularly against popular Midrange decks like Secret Paladin, Tempo Mage, Zoo, or Patron - Priest has the answers to eke out victories in a majority of cases.

General Class RankingsFavourable:

Druid

Paladin

Warrior

Mage

Neutral:

Warlock

Shaman

Priest

Unfavourable:

Rogue

Hunter

That’s it for Midweek Meta Review #3! Let us know what you’d like to see in future updates, especially as we prepare to dig into an all-new expansion and Standard in the coming months.