The Meta Report #22

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The Meta has started to stabilize as we make our way into the second half of the season. With Rdu winning DreamHack convincingly with Freeze Mage, we will start to see people trying to play this deck more on the ladder; it is a very strong deck in tournaments and will continue to be. Read this week’s report to see what has changed and see where your favorite class ranks up on the Meta Report!

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.

Druid is at top this week. Seems like atleast every other game we play on ladder, we’re running into a Druid. It’s a good all around class and doesn’t have many bad matchups. The old Druid deck used to struggle a lot against handlock, but now with the help of cards like Argent Commander, it’s a fairly even matchup. There isn’t much Token Druid going around, most of the decks are mid-range which includes Wild Growth. This deck also does fairly well against Miracle Rogue which makes this deck a true contender to the meta.

Miracle Rogue comes in second. This will be one of the most used decks for a while, atleast until key cards in the deck, such as Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Preperation, get nerfed. If you draw the cards in the correct order, there are very few decks that can keep up and stand a chance. There are few hard counters known for this deck which makes it an extremely reliable deck with a high win percentage. In the last couple seasons, most of the top ranked players used this deck to get there, which by itself proves that this deck is one of the strongest out there.

Warlock comes in at third. Handlock isn’t as popular as it has been in the last couple weeks but it’s definately still a deck to watch out for. There also have been a decent amount of Zoo decks poping up on the ladder. Warlock is known to have one of the most, if not the most, powerful hero power in the game. The new Warlock card coming along with the installment of Naxxramas is going to be a fun one and we’re sure we are going to see a new Warlock deck built around it.

There has still been a handful of Shaman going around which puts it at number four this week on the Meta Report. Hunter still isn’t as popular as it used to be, but it is starting to come back slightly. We expect Shaman to drop in popularity and Hunter to see incraesed play in the near future. Shaman is a very versitile class that has an advantage against Druid and can do well against Aggro decks,with the help of cheap 1 mana cost cards and AOEs such as Lightning storm. A strong overall class.

Paladin has been seeing quite a bit of play lately. Both Aggro and Mid range have been active on the ladder and tournament scene. Usually when playing against paladin it is best to mulligan against it as if it’s always aggresive unless you know otherwise. ErA has created a new Paladin deck that has been going around a decent amount. Hosty, a team member of DKMR, has been climbing with this deck with a good amount of success.

After Rdu 3-0d Amaz in the finals of Dreamhack with his Freeze Mage, this deck has been seeing more action. It is a very hit or miss deck, without the help of certain cards with freeze effects or Alexstraza it can be nearly impossible to win. Like Miracle Rogue, if you draw the right cards in the right order it can be an extremely strong deck. Games often last longer than other classes aswell, making this class a very long class to climb with. Aggro Mage has also been popping up a decent amount.

Hunter seems to be making a small comeback on the ladder. Despite the pretty big nerf on Unleash the Hounds, players still realize that it is a strong class. One of the big problems with this class though is that it struggles big against Druid which has been seeing a lot of play lately. It has a solid matchup against Warlock, Shaman, and Rogue which makes it a class to consider playing. This being said though, we look at Hunter as more of a tournament deck than a ladder deck.

Warrior hasn’t been being played much lately. This deck was looked at as a very powerful deck a couple seasons ago, but with Druid as Miracle Rogue being as popular as they are, this deck has a hard time. In our oppinion, to have a successful Warrior deck on the ladder, it needs to be leaning more towards the aggro approach with cards such as Arcanite Reaper. This card does an excellent job cleaning up Druids 5 health creatures and also can be used as a 5 mana Pyroblast against Rogue.

Not much to be said about this class. Priest lacks good class cards which makes it the least played class in the game. It’s hero power scales really well compared to others, but the lack of good class specific cards are essential for a good deck. Despite this being said, if you draw the right combination of circle of healing combo’s (Auchenai Soulpriest or Injured Blademaster) it can definately hold it’s own. The class is just too gimmicky to be played at a high level but a small majority of players do make it work.

Deck of the Week:

Midrange Hunter made a splash recently at Dreamhack Summer with Reynad making it to top 4 with a hunter deck featuring Oasis Snapjaw and Stranglethorn Tiger. We at DKMR are giving Tempo Storm a nod this week when we cover our take on their adaptation of Lifecoach’s midrange hunter deck. This deck is extremely good at punishing decks for playing minions with the Unleash the Hounds and Starving Buzzard combo, especially with Hunters Mark. Another key to winning with this deck is the Savannah Highmane because it’s so powerful and hard to remove, it cripples most decks. Midrange hunter is traditionally weak to decks that don’t play a lot of minions because the unleash combo is it’s biggest strength. Sap is another card that is very strong against midrange hunter because of how vulnerable the Savannah Highmane is to it, but this version tries to work around that by using the stealthed Stranglethorn Tiger.