The Meta Report #15

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Don’t Kick My Robot here to share with you this week’s Meta Report! Dreamhack Bucharest has had a clear and profound impact on the Meta this week. Many of the classes who saw significant play at the event saw similarly increased play on the ladder. Is Hunter finally gone for good? Or is this merely the lull before the storm? Read on and find out!

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. Often, the strongest decks will also be the most frequently played, but sometimes not. That’s just part of how the Meta works.

Druid is back on top of the Meta, largely due to Gaara’s success with Ramp Druid at Dreamhack Bucharest. The inclusion of Starfall and a menagerie of taunts allows Druid to compete with the Hunter menace. Ramp Druid nearly always has a third taunt to play after the Hunter has exhausted both their Hunter’s Marks. Druid Midrange has also seen a resurgence due to its potency against Hunter Aggro.

Druid may be the new King, but Hunter hasn’t gone far. Hunter Midrange is still arguably the strongest deck in the game and sees substantial play in tournaments. For instance, the EU vs CN Grand Finals saw seven of eight players packing Hunter as one of their classes. We’ve reached the point on the ladder, however, where more people are playing decks to beat Hunter or to beat the decks that beat Hunter. Ironically, this does mean Hunter Aggro has seen a rise in play since it fairs well against Hunter Midrange. Many people chose to play Hunter Aggro to race down the ladder this season to hit Legendary.

The popularity of Hunter has made Rogue a premiere class on the ladder. Both Miracle and Tempo Rogue have a strong match-up against Hunter Midrange. Miracle Rogue in particular has seen significantly more play. Whether it’s the match-ups or the allure of Malygos, Spellpower Miracle Rogue has been a go-to deck for many top players in both tournaments and the ladder. Miracle Rogue has always had a strong following due to its unique style of play, and it seems that following is only growing larger.

Warlock will likely always be one of the more popular classes on the ladder due to how cheap Warlock Aggro is to build and the potency of Life Tap. Warlock Aggro remains the deck of choice for new players wishing to quickly grind ranks and is powerful enough to see play in the hands of some of the top players at times. Handlock sees very little play on the ladder currently due to its incredibly poor Hunter match-up, however, this may change if the popularity of Druid and Rogue continues to outstrip Hunter.

Warrior Control is one of the more consistent decks in the game and sports one of the best match-ups against Hunter Aggro. It’s versatile enough to compete with the other hefty midrange and Control decks and sports the tools to take down Hunter Midrange. Recent variations have included Azure Drake, Loot Hoarder, and Cleave to improve the deck’s ability to trade and cycle. While popular with many top players, Warrior is too expensive or slow for some players and sees less play on the ladder than its success may otherwise indicate.

Shaman has also been suppressed of late by Hunter. Shaman, however, does not have as dismal a match-up versus Hunter as Handlock and has a stronger match-up against many of the other midrange and Control decks. Shaman made a scene at Dreamhack Bucharest and its ladder play has increased.

 

Aggressive Mage decks have been a popular counter to Hunter. Mage sports a fast clock and premium removal, allowing it to deal with Hunter’s threats and keep the game short. The deck is very tempo oriented and can be out paced by more controlling decks such as Druid and Warrior. While Mage still isn’t the class it once was, the rise of Hunter gave it some new life.

 

Priest remains powerful, slow, and narrow. While many of its cards are above curve for their effects, those effects are very specific and may not be useful against all opponents. Priest is still a fine tournament deck, but can be a challenging choice for the ladder.

 

Paladin remains at the bottom of our list. Other Control decks are more consistent than Paladin Control and other Aggro decks are more resilient than Paladin Aggro. Paladin has some incredibly powerful cards, but they unfortunately lack the synergy to dent today’s ladder Meta. Perhaps the new card Avenge from Curse of Naxxramas will give Paladin Aggro the tools it needs to dominate the ladder.

Deck of the Week

This week’s Deck of the Week; Angry Watcher Druid. This deck is a throwback to the original watcher druids with a bit of a twist. You can use your ancient watchers a little more aggressively posing as a two mana yeti who is a little slow to start. The deck is a little more aggressive than most druid decks which lets you race the fast decks like hunter, but is also resilient enough to hold a strong mid to late game. Lastly, the extra silences help you against any big issues you might run into such as a houndmastered Highmane or even a Tirion Fordring. Here is our current decklist designed by [DKMR]Atlanta: