The Meta Report #13

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With Naxxramas about to hit the Hearthstone world, we at DKMR expect some HUGE changes in the meta during the first few weeks of its arrival. The meta seems rather stable at the moment, with Warlock and Hunter reigning supreme over all (about 80% of the entire meta playing the same classes). INSANITY!!!

Here’s Team DKMR’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 times, the strongest decks will also be the most frequently played, but that’s part of how the meta works.

Warlock seems to be unstoppable, the one class that everyone plays with huge success against almost all of other decks. Zoo is currently the deck to beat, if your deck can’t handle it you might as well just play something else. Amazing minion value at the start of the game, Life Tap ensures that you’re topdecking 2 cards instead of one. Handlock is also around, but it’s losing flavor. Even though it’s reasonably good against most Aggro decks (provided you mulligan accordingly). As far as the meta is concerned it doesn’t even compare to its Aggro counterpart, at least in terms of efficiency. Watchout for Murlock decks too, they are starting to see some more play.

Hunter is the second contester in the current meta. By far the most brutal Aggro deck, sometimes there’s simply nothing you can do against it. The class is in a really good spot right now, better than ever now that Midrange Hunter has made it into an established archetype. This just makes it that much harder to mulligan against Hunters. Aggro Hunter has seen its own innovations, either becoming less rush-focused with cards like Freezing Trap or even more aggressive with cards like Stonetusk Boar; this increases your synergy with Kill Command and Starving Buzzard. Meanwhile, Midrange Hunter is doing great against pretty much all other Control decks. Look out for Zoo and Rogue if you are playing Midrange Hunter.

Druid is still strong, one of the classes that can legitimately defeat the dominant Aggro decks in the current meta. Its big value minions can withstand pressure making this deck tough to beat. Turn 5 Ancient of War or even Ragnaros is not out of the question with this deck. You also have Watcher Druid, a more defensive-midrange approach to the class that’s also great against most aggressive decks. Normally, their biggest creature is an Ancient of Lore, but some players have been tinkering with big finishers in order to improve the deck’s control matchup. You also have Token Druid which is the least seen variation at the moment, but can still dominate; especially against slower decks, while having an okay matchup versus other Aggro decks.

Warrior fell a bit out of flavor, but don’t count them out yet. Despite not having a great matchup against Zoo warlock, at least not without some adaptations, its clearly strong against Aggro Hunter and other rush decks that you’ll spot every now and then. However, the recent rise of Midrange Hunters is a threat that remains unanswered. Warriors will need to start to use more silence effects, to have a better chance against threats like Savannah Highmane. It’s still unclear how Warriors will approach this without undermining their other matchups. For now, the class (at least in its control archetype) remains a solid pick for ranked play.

Rogue has seen a lot more play lately, it established itself as the counter to Zoo Warlock due to its insane tempo advantage through removals and minion effects in the early game. Tempo Rogue is by far the most played archetype at the moment, even in lower ranks. Now that most other decks have to worry about being able to survive other aggressive decks, rogue’s bad matchups have toned down a bit. Rogue is one of the few classes that has a favorable matchup against midrange hunter. Miracle Rogue is in good shape but not seen as much on the ladder these days, their main counter being Aggro Hunter.

Shaman has one of the best decks out there, unfortunately it’s worst matchup is against Hunter and therefor not seeing as much play. It doesn’t have any terrible matchups (in fact, it actually has great matchups against most of the Control decks like Handlock and Warrior Control), but because of the threat of Hunter, you need to be careful when playing this in the ladder. Like Mage used to be before the latest nerfs, Hunters are their new arch nemesis and they’re all over the place. Not having a reliable way to heal up is really bad in this matchup and by the beginning of the game most Shamans can’t do anything but answer their threats and before you know it, most of their damage has been done.

Priest has seen reasonably more play than the other 2 classes at the bottom tier in the current meta. You can make it work against Aggro decks, which are pretty dominant at the moment, but not without hurting a lot its Control matchups. And it works the other way around as well, as a class the Priest remains somewhat inconsistent. Anything out of an “okay hand” can be abysmal, or even an autoloss. It’s no wonder that cards like Wild Pyromancer and Crazed Alchemist are so popular in Priest, and we believe they’ll continue to be relevant even after the new cards come out. We have seen a new deck popping up “Dragon Priest”, watch out for shadowform!

Mage is in a similar spot, alongside Priests. They have amazing class cards and are very strong against pretty much any minions your opponent can play, but they can be way too reactive at times. Their lack of minion synergy means that almost all of your threats are going to be vanilla creatures like Harvest Golem and Argent Commander and unlike Warlock. Hopefully some of the newer cards help Mage reclaim their throne in the meta!

Paladin feels lost in the current meta. It’s definitely doable, but almost all other decks can fulfill its same role, except better. Granted, they can be HUGE when it comes to super late game with all their healing abilities and cheap removal, but right now you need to be consistent right from the start. Warlocks and Hunters won’t wait until you can develop your huge board presence and card advantages, they’ll kill you from the early game and that’s where Paladin is lacking so much. Aggro Paladin is doable as well, but other classes have much more consistent Aggro options for ranked play. They’re the one class that really needs a miracle; we do not recommend playing this class on the ladder.

Deck of the Week: Ramp Druid

Big legendaries are quite strong and this deck aims to take full advantage of those, through ramp cards like Wild Growth and even Nourish. Even if you don’t have any legendaries to play anytime soon, being one or even two mana ahead of your opponent is huge, as it often means that unless they curve out nicely every turn, they’ll have a very hard time dealing with all your big threats earlier in the game. This gives you an insane tempo advantage. Turn 3 Cairne Bloodhoof or even Ancient of War? Good luck dealing with that.