The Meta Report #48

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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.

Warrior: Warrior Control has solidified itself as one of the most consistent decks in the post-GvG meta. While it still is unfavored against Zoo and Druid, those match-ups are not quite as weak as they used to be. It is also one of the stronger decks against popular builds of Mage and Paladin. Shieldmaiden in particular has given the deck a powerful tool to survive against aggressive decks and out-grind other control decks.

Warlock: Warlock continues to be a ladder staple, largely due to the variety of decks which can be run within the class. Handlock and Zoo remain the most competitive Warlock archetypes. While Zoo likely lost more than it gained from GvG due to the nerf to Soulfire, it is still an incredibly strong deck. Many players have even played a version of Zoo running Imp-plosion and Sea Giant to top ladder rank spots. Handlock likely gained the most from Antique Healbot. Healbot allows Handlock to Lifetap more liberally and bait opponent’s into overcommitting.

Paladin: Paladin got a massive boost from GvG. Cards like Muster for Battle, Shielded Minibot, and Quartermaster have propelled the deck into the premier ranks of ladder play. The class has even claimed Rank 1 Legend on the EU ladder and performed exceptionally in the Kinguin Charity Tournament. Be wary of Silver Hand Recruits while facing Paladin. Note how your opponent prioritizes the use of their hero power to catch any hints of an incoming Quartermaster. Don’t be surprised if some opponents experiment with more aggressive versions of the class.

Mage: Mech Mage was another deck to come out of the Kinguin Charity Tournament. Strifecro created an incredibly consistent build, sacrificing spell count for a nearly perfect minion curve. Mechwarper is shaping up to be one of the sets strongest cards. Expect it to make an impact in more decks than just Mage in the future. Goblin Blastmage pushes the Mech archetype over the top for the Mage class.

Druid: Druid remains mostly similar to its pre-GvG incarnations. “Fast” Druid is still the go-to build in order to counter Warrior and Priest. While the deck is a tournament staple, it sees only some play on the ladder. In order to combat aggressive archetypes, some builds have gravitated toward Haunted Creepers and Violet Teachers for ladder play. Don’t be surprised to run into Ramp variants of Druid still either. Tree of Life serves as a potentially potent reset switch in slower builds.

Hunter: Hunter remains an aggressive class. Much like Druid, no truly new variants of the deck have arisen. Most successful Hunter builds are incredibly similar to pre-GvG builds except for the adoption of individual cards such as Clockwork Gnome and Glaivezooka. It’s likely only a matter of time, however, before we see a new Hunter variant.

Shaman: While not an especially popular ladder deck, Shaman has seen some experimentation. Many players have tried aggressive builds centered around Whirling Zap-o-Matic and Powermace. Powermace is even proving to be a solid removal spell even outside of mech based strategies. Neptulon has also proved himself worthy of consideration by any Shaman player looking for value. While seemingly a Murloc tribal card, his “army-in-a-can” battlecry allows even a non-tribal Shaman to come back from precarious board states.

Priest: The Priest hype has died down some, and the class finds itself at a somewhat precarious crossroads. While powerful against many decks, it lost meaningful percentage points in crucial match-ups. It’s no longer able to grind-out the new and improved Warrior as consistently as it once could. Aggressive strategies such as Zoo and Hunter have diminished in popularity due to the rise of Warrior. Unfortunately for Priest, Druid has mostly supplanted Zoo and Hunter as the go-to aggressive deck due to its amazing Warrior match-up. However, Priest still has an incredibly powerful toolbox and will surely find a consistent build.

Rogue: Rogue has struggled to find a place in a meta where Warriors play Shieldmaiden and Handlock is often more popular than Zoo. GvG did give Rogue many high impact tempo cards, however, such as Tinker’s Sharpsword Oil and Trade Prince Gallywix. Much like Priest, Rogue has the tools to succeed. It’s just a matter of when.

Deck of the Week – Mid-Range Paladin

Paladin has proved itself to be one of the most dominant strategies in both tournament and ladder play. This list was used by IHEARTHU team member Powder to not only earn second place in the Kinguin Charity Tournament, but to hold Rank 1 Legend on EU for nearly a week. While cards like Tinkmaster Overspark and Bolvar Fordragon may seem underwhelming at first, they shine in Paladin’s aggressive mid-range token strategy. Check out more strategy for this deck here on IHearthU!