The Meta Report #41

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THE META REPORT #41

Check out this week’s rankings to the right and a discussion of the meta below. Keep in mind that DKMR’s weekly meta rankings are about which classes and archetypes are played the most, not about which are the strongest. Most of the time, the strongest decks will also be the most frequently played, but that’s not always the case. That’s just part of how the Meta works.

A GRIM UNDERTAKING

Hunter has held the top meta ranking for weeks on end, but it’s a certain insidious ghoul who has been pulling the strings. The much maligned Undertaker has been the fulcrum of the meta since soon after its release in Curse of Naxxramas. It’s the fuel that kept Hunter going after the Starving Buzzard nerf, the card that continued Zoo’s evolution, and the catalyst for Priest’s surge in popularity. Powerful class-only minions such as Webspinner and Dark Cultist make the powerful 1-drop particularly potent in those classes. Haunted Creeper gave other classes the affordable, value two drop to play alongside Undertaker in other classes such as Warlock and Shaman.

In many ways, beating Hunter and conquering the current meta revolves around beating Undertaker. While this may seem like a steep task, answering a Hunter’s turn 1 Undertaker or turn 2 Undertaker, Coin, deathrattle minion is frequently enough to secure a victory. Some classes inherently possess better answers than others. Warrior has Fiery War Axe – one of the cleanest and most efficient ways of dealing with Undertaker. Fiery War Axe is one of the only 2 mana or less cards which can kill a three health Undertaker the turn you play it. Warrior’s other early answers, like Cleave and Cruel Taskmaster, require a little assistance to defeat an early Undertaker start. Shaman has perhaps the most answers with Rockbiter Weapon, Lightning Bolt, and to some extent, Earth Shock. Priest often deals with an Undertaker in the mid game with Dark Cultist or Auchenai Soulpriest and recovers with its hero power. It’s no
surprise to see the classes with strong answers to Undertaker rise to the top of the meta rankings.

Zombie Chow is an interesting neutral answer to Undertaker and is largely responsible for Druid’s small rise in the rankings this week. Zombie Chow gives control decks a reasonable early turn minion that frequently trades two-for-one with aggressive decks. Control decks aren’t worried about the detrimental deathrattle either as those decks aren’t looking to burst down their opponent’s early. Druid Ramp utilizing Zombie Chow has gained popularity on ladder recently due to its use by popular streamers and its favorable Hunter match-up. A turn 1 Zombie Chow backed up by a turn 2 Innervated Keeper of the Grove is devastating to Hunter.

As players adapt to Hunter and Undertaker with cards like Zombie Chow, the meta will continue to shift and bring more new and interesting decks to the limelight.

Deck of the week:

We will be looking at a strong Warrior deck used by Sjow on the ladder to take #1 Legend. It consists of the core Warrior cards with some strong tech cards added in for the current meta. The deck’s specialty is to crush Hunters, and we will now take a look at its cards and gameplan.