The Meta Report #3

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It’s safe to assume that by now, the meta is stable and everyone has a good idea of what it dictates as strong or weak. That’s what is so interesting and dynamic about the meta; even when nothing happens, it adapts by itself, based on what people are currently playing today and how that was affected by what was played yesterday. And now that open beta has been around for a while, we’re beginning to see its effect on the meta. More aggro decks showing up; they are a “budget” competitive option for those that have started playing recently. But will it become a trend once again?

Here are team DKMR’s class-specific standings, from top to bottom. Keep in mind, even though some classes might rank a little lower, that doesn’t mean they’re bad, it just means that the upper rank classes have more options and fewer bad matchups in general. The classes are balanced and it’s possible to win with almsot anything right now, except for Priests, they’re the only ones that’ll struggle.

Druid is still king, even though his throne has never been so contested. It’s only natural that people adapt against its strategies, but so far they remain an extremely solid class, in part due to their versatility. This basically helps them dealing with the natural variance on card games and makes it even harder to attempt a direct counter to their strategies. They’ve become fast friends with Chillwind Yeti, since it’s the biggest creature you’ll get for cheap, sometimes even using Innervate to play it turn 1 (with The Coin) or turn 2, which is something not every class can deal with right now.

Shaman is doing a great job at ruining Druid’s parties. Some players are even starting to use cards like Lava Burst, since it’s a direct removal that doubles as finisher. Plus, it deals five damage on turn 3, which can counter Innervate shenanigans and the like. Against aggro in general, you had better hope you draw at least one Feral Spirit or you’ll have to depend on your Stoneclaw Totem, which is not ideal. It’s still a bit early to say for sure, but they do have a chance to dethrone Druid from first place.

Paladin shares some of Druid’s benefits, especially their versatility. They can be very strong at control, especially when you consider Equality plays on huge boards. Too bad their hard removals almost always costs more than one card (Equality + Consecrate or Wild Pyromancer, Aldor Peacekeeper + Stampeding Kodo). However, their aggro variant can also be devastating, proving that Hunters are not the only ones that can kill you on turn 5, and that not every Paladin deck needs to be expensive.

Warrior has recently gained a lot of popularity, as our previous predictions about Warrior Aggro were confirmed. It’s a solid deck that has some insane burst damage potential, but we don’t think it’s as good as Hunter or Paladin aggro. It is very easy to run out of steam and often you’ll lose the game if your opponent manages to stabilize. However, Warrior control is still solid, partly due to the value of their removals (Shield Slam and Execute for 1 mana) and they’ll probably remain a good choice for a while, even if they have a hard time against Shaman.

Warlock is losing flavor on its control form, since it’s a bad matchup against other aggro decks, but the new Battle Rattle Warlock offers them a midrange-ish alternative, something rather new to the class. It’s still too early to evaluate how they’ll fare in the meta, but we believe it can be a good option. We’ll probably see more of them in the near future. Aggro warlocks are also showing up a lot more, especially the MurLock decks with their crazy synergy between minions, that can snowball the game in their favor pretty quickly.

Hunter is once again as strong and popular as it was back when Unleash The Hounds was buffed, since it’s extremely efficient, while being very cheap and easy to play. They still have the same weaknesses of every aggro deck though, namely taunt minions, but they have adapted to it by using cards like Kill Command, which offers the superfast aggro a very important “reach” that it desperately needs in situations that call for it. So far, they’ve only showed up in their aggro archetype, but we still think they have potential for more.

Mage has seen better days, but people are starting to come up with interesting tempo-oriented decks, using high damage spells in board control to keep the game in your favor. And it’s actually quite good against Druids! This has resulted in an increase of Mage players, and we think that’s a good plan, it’s probably how Mage was supposed to be played from the start, as a control or midrange-oriented class. It’s definitely a good thing that we won’t see any more “turn 8″ Mages around, but we still think freezing spells should be reworked, especially Cone of Cold.

Rogue has also seen an increase in flavor, especially Miracle Rogue. It makes sense, especially considering that the meta is no longer all about aggro decks, which gives the rogue player the time to prepare his strategy accordingly. Pressure Rogue is also seeing more play, as people are starting to adapt to the changes and learning to play against Druids and Shamans with it. They’re definitely very strong, but so far they remain as one of the least used classes on ranked play. Maybe this will change soon?

Priest isn’t really exceeding expectations like we first predicted it would, even though it’s definitely at its best right now. We think that the issue with this class is that it has way too much RNG-oriented cards, and when that’s not the case, it’s all about limited utilities or buffs that can be silenced. Sure, it’s awesome to be able to remove or control ANY card with 3 or less attack, but those quickly becomes dead cards when your opponent doesn’t have anything in that range and you can’t do anything about it. Maybe they should rework some of the Priest’s cards. While they’re certainly are a fun class to play with, so far they do underperform in competitive play, primarily due to their “RNG-ish” nature.

Due to the open beta, we can expect to see more aggro decks showing up in ranked. If they’re giving you a hard time, you’ll have to adapt. Here are some suggested anti-aggro neutral cards:

Senjin Shieldmasta: Try using this guy if you’re struggling against aggro decks, especially Warrior and Hunter. He has much more value than Chillwind Yeti against an aggro deck, and even when your opponent is playing midrange or control, losing one attack for taunt isn’t a huge loss.

Wild Pyromancer: This guy, when played correctly, can really give you an edge over aggro decks. Don’t be surprised if your MurLock opponent Soulfires it right away, he’s that detrimental to him. Try not to play him unless you have an immediate follow-up, though. Has a pretty sweet combo on turn 2 with The Coin + any 1 mana cost spell.

Elven Archer: Most hyper-aggressive minions have only 1 health (Wolfrider, Bluegill Warrior, Leper Gnome, Abusive Sergeant). Even though you can’t use the archer to prevent the damage, you can capitalize a little card advantage on it, since it’s basically a 2 for 1 against any of those.

Sunfury Protector/Defender of Argus: Even if you don’t run any huge minion to give taunt to, like Ancient Watcher, forcing your opponent to make trades when he obviously doesn’t want to is always helpful. Against a hyper-aggressive deck, I’d favor Sunfury over Argus. They have the same stats, and she’s much faster.

DKMR’s Deck of the Week: Kolento’s Rogue