The Meta Report #46

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Here’s Team IHEARTHU’s weekly Meta ranking. Keep in mind, it’s 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.

Hunter: To no one’s surprise, Hunter is still the most popular deck on the ladder. Both brutally aggressive and mid-range builds are fairly popular. Be sure to note cards like Wolfrider, Explosive Trap, or Sludge Belcher in order to identify which build your opponent is using. The big question is will Hunter still be top dog with the release of Goblins vs. Gnomes. Metaltooth Leaper promises to be an incredibly potent minion in a Hunter mech deck while Steamwheedle Sniper may enable a Hunter control archetype. Less than one week before we find out how Hearthstone’s first expansion shakes up the meta!

Warlock: Zoo continues to be one of the game’s go-to ladder decks, particularly at the beginning and end of a season where players are aiming to rank up fast. GvG offers several powerful early game minions which may benefit Zoo. Mechwarper and Clockwork Gnome look to be particularly deadly in a mech based Zoo deck. Perhaps the biggest news is the nerf to Soulfire making it cost 1 mana. While still an incredibly powerful card, it can no longer be played in tandem with a turn 4 Mountain Giant in Handlock or with Zoo’s turn 2 plays to establish board control. Expect significant alterations to both Handlock and Zoo after GvG. Fel Reaver could potentially increase Handlock’s early threat density. Mal’ganis could be enough to legitimize a Demonlock deck and Darkbomb may prove to a popular and versatile removal spell.

Rogue: Rogue saw the most innovation this week with SuperJJ102 taking Malygos Rogue to the top Legend spots on EU and NA. While similar to previous incarnations of the deck, he chose to drop Edwin VanCleef for an Ironbeak Owl. Ironbeak Owl can serve as a third way to get around opponents’ taunts, but more importantly can answer an early Undertaker. Rogue gets some of the most powerful mech class cards in GvG with Iron Sensei and Goblin Auto-Barber. Both cards could make for a powerful mech-based, tempo Rogue deck. Spare Parts will also make Gadgetzan Auctioneer even more powerful. We wouldn’t immediately discount the card despite its forthcoming nerf.

Priest: Both Control and Deathrattle Priest continue to see reasonable play due to their good match-ups. GvG seems to offer some incredibly powerful cards for the class as well. Vol’jin is arguably the strongest class Legendary. While his Battlecry can be situational, he will often provide as much or more value than a Fire Elemental for less mana. Alongside other minions, he can also answer incredibly powerful minions such as Ragnaros and Ysera while progressing your board. Shrinkmeister is one of the most hyped class commons, and for good reason. It puts good stats on the board for a 2 mana minion and enables beneficial trades in a similar way to Abusive Sergeant. To top it all off, the card enables a greater range of Cabal Shadow Priest and Shadow Madness targets.

Warrior: Warrior continues to see play almost exclusively as a control archetype on ladder. GvG, however, could shake this up with powerful cards like Warbot, Iron Juggernaut, and Screwjank Clanker. Iron Juggernaut in particular is receiving a lot of hype for its potential to be a Pyroblast with a body. Control Warrior receives some impressive tools as well with Crush and Shieldmaiden. While Shieldmaiden seems underwhelming at first, it could easily end up being exactly the card Control Warrior needs against aggressive archetypes like Zoo. While considerably more mana intensive than current removal options Execute and Shield Slam, Crush offers Warrior unconditional removal. Expect Crush to make a showing as a one-of in many Control Warrior builds.

Druid: Current builds of Druid on the ladder tend to favor “Fast” or “Combo” variants, running either Wild Growths or Echoing Ooozes. Grove Tender could add a substantial amount of consistency to Wild Growth builds, serving as Wild Growth copies three and four, putting an early body down against aggro, and providing card draw in the late game. With Druid of the Claw becoming a beast, Druid of the Fang could serve as an incredibly powerful turn 5 threat. However, Druid will likely need a few more beasts to consistently procDruid of the Fang’s Battlecry. Malorne could be one such beast. The new Druid Legendary serves as a powerful recurable threat in control match-ups and has many players brewing up new strategies. Druid’s most interesting GvG card is Tree of Life. Expect heavy ramp Druid decks to play this where they once played Healing Touch. The card could even inspire a Druid based Miracle deck revolving around Alexstrasza and Force of Nature/Savage Roar with Tree of Life as the pre-combo reset switch. Even with all these powerful new cards, Mech-Bear-Cat could easily be a sleeper for best Druid card in the set with above average stats and an ability which screams value.

Shaman: So Shaman Murlocs anyone? It appears Blizzard has chosen Shaman as the sole harbinger of the Murloc race. Both the Shaman Murloc cards in GvG look to be quite powerful and have the possibility of propelling the archetype into competitive play. Whirling Zap-o-matic and Dunemaul Shaman could enable a very aggressive Windfury Shaman deck as well. Current Shaman decks have adopted Zombie Chow, and tend to be angling to counter the present aggressive meta.

Mage: Mage sees intermittent play on ladder and appears to have one of the weakest pools of class cards in GvG. Snowchugger and Goblin Blastmage appear to be Mage’s strongest cards from GvG. Snowchugger trades well against aggro and can completely shut down weapon classes. Goblin Blastmage can be situational, but provides significant value alongside a mech.

Paladin: Paladin remains at the bottom of the ladder, but has several exciting cards coming in GvG. As mentioned last week, Muster for Battle and Coghammer are powerful additions to the class and could enable interesting mid-range builds. Seal of Light and Shielded Minibot provide the class much needed answers to aggressive strategies and will likely see a fair amount of play in control and mid-range strategies. Quartermaster is particularly interesting due to its ability to supercharge Paladin’s often weak hero power. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact deck he would be a part of, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see him make a splash in the competitive environment at some point.

Deck of the Week – Malygos Rogue
Malygos Rogue has made a splash recently with SuperJJ102 achieving rank 1 Legend on both NA and EU with the deck. As mentioned previously, the most interesting change in his build is the inclusion of Ironbeak Owl over Edwin VanCleef. Ironbeak Owl is significantly stronger against aggressive decks and Undertaker in particular. Its inclusion seems like a wise choice given the meta’s current hyper aggression. Also note the use of two copies of Fan of Knives for similar reasons.