The Meta Report #6
Once more into the breach! This week, Aggro is still on the rise, and players have been given a choice: Either give in to the aggressive tides and go with the flow or stand your ground and try to control your way through the swarms. There’s no right answer, it’s all up to you. Regardless of your choice, never fear, DKMR is here to help you identify your threats and plan accordingly.
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 is King, especially with those devilish Murlocs. They might seem weak at first, but through their synergy they can get VERY strong, and if the opponent doesn’t draw into some serious early removal, it’s game over. Handlock, however, has lost a bit of flavor in the current meta, probably due to the increase in Aggro decks in general. It’s still a solid option against midrange/control, but when beasts and murlocs come for them, their only chance is to mulligan for a Sunfury Protector and an Ancient Watcher. And even then, they might just die before playing any giant. Watch out for Aggro Warlock as well, they are showing up everywhere! The main advantage Warlock has on the ladder is you never know what type of Warlock you’re going to get!
Druid has also resorted to Aggro as well, through its token archetype, which focus on abusing some card synergies like Imp Master/Violet Teacher + Power of the Wild/Savage Roar to burst down the opponent with a 4/2 army of tokens. This deck opens up a lot of possibilities, maybe even cards like Cult Master or Frostwolf Warlord could have a place in them. Watcher Druid is seeing some play as well, since it’s not susceptible to Aggro and has a considerably strong mid/late game through cards like Chillwind Yeti and Druid of the Claw. In an Aggro meta game that we are seeing, this puts Druid in a really good spot.
Warrior is also still around, either armoring up or hitting you in the face whenever they get the chance. Its control archetype is much more played than its Aggro counterpart, partly due to its sheer strength against both Aggro and control decks. He’s pretty much the only class that can stay at effective 30 health or more against Aggro decks on turn 3-4 (through armor effects). Cards like Armorsmith, Whirlwind and Cleave are really strong against the Aggro matchup, especially against those pesky Murlocs. On the other hand, Aggro Warrior has lost a bit of flavor due to the increase of other super aggressive decks, which tend to be faster than the Warrior, forcing him to play reactively, a state which Aggro warrior isn’t really comfortable with.
Hunter has gained some flavor this time around, since they’re a pretty good matchup against most Aggro decks while being a super Aggro deck himself. It’s very fun to play as well, the fear of Unleash the Hounds will force your opponent into a very cautious stance, trying to play the least amount of minions as possible, which is great for you. Cards like Bluegill Warrior and Arcane Shot are losing ground to other efficient removal, like Hunter’s Mark or Deadly Shot, which will help a LOT dealing with taunts, the bane of your existence. And they’ll show up, even against Aggro decks, through Defender of Argus. Not much can be said about other archetypes, but we still think they have potential.
Mage has returned, in the form of Aggro and midrange tempo-oriented decks. In its Aggro form, it looks pretty similar to its old version before the patch, except now it’s relying more on creatures than it ever did. And the midrange tempo-oriented Mage, as it was recently popularized, is a very cheap deck that can overwhelm your opponent early on. Look out for effective use of premium removals like Fireball and Frostbolt, while keeping your board presence going with minions like Water Elemental and Mana Wyrm. There’s also late game control decks around, but those are rare and tend to have a hard time dealing with the new Aggro meta.
Shaman has lost a bit of flavor and continues to fall down the ranks, which is not a big surprise since most meta shamans don’t have the necessary amount of taunt and early minions to deal with a lot of Aggro decks (specifically Hunter). That doesn’t mean they’re weak though, they’re the lords of burst damage through Windfury and Flametongue Totem/Rockbiter Weapon, and we believe they’ll adapt to the meta soon enough. For now, they’ll definitely need their Lightning Storm, and even Forked Lightning could be a possibility (no more than a 1 of, though). Maybe decks revolving around cards like Bloodlust might see more play in this meta? It’s still too early to be sure, but we’ll definitely see more from this class soon enough.
Rogue is still sticking to the shadows, either preparing their solitaire game or applying huge amounts of early-midgame pressure on the opponent. Pressure Rogue might gain some flavor in the next weeks (or even days), since they’re a pretty good option against aggressive decks, being reactive and proactive at the same time through cards like Backstab and SI:7 Agent. They’re still no slouch in the control matchup, even though they’re not really favored most of the time. However, Miracle Rogue is still very strong, praying upon Druid and Warrior Control and their only bad matchups are against Hunter. Look out for this deck in tournaments!
Paladin like Priest has lost most of their flavor. Control Paladin is now starting to use giants, which gives them a very impactful minion, that can either apply a lot of pressure or become a win condition on its own. They’re also using more heals, since they’re going from mid-lategame to super lategame, and it can be tough to pull off against Aggro decks in general. They rely very heavily on equality and if you don’t see it on time, you will run into trouble. Aggro Paladin has its pros against other Aggro, due to the fact that it can easily play board control and come out ahead due to divine shield and blessing of might setups against tougher targets, the only chance you may have to win against a late game deck would be pulling a Devine Favor.
Priest is still in a lot of trouble; their only real option is a mid to lategame-centered class and as such can have a tougher time dealing with earlygame threats. Basically, they’ll need Wild Pyromancer or Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing if they want to stabilize and even if they do, sometimes it can be a little too late. Turn 4 you’re already in Leeroy Jenkins + Power Overwhelming range and it’s too late. We feel like they’re going to struggle a bit more in this new meta, unless you make an anti-Aggro Priest deck, but that could be dangerous since it can make you too vulnerable against other midrange-control decks, they rely too much on combos.
Deck of the Week: DKMR Token Druid
Remember when we said that Druid still had something going for them? This is it. As aggro as a Druid can get (without having to use cards like Mark of Nature, yuck), this deck is a blast to play. Run a couple cheap spells like Power of the Wild and Moonfire/Claw to help you generate tokens with Violet Teacher (by the way, the token comes into play BEFORE Power of the Wild’s buffing effect, so keep that in mind), then go for the kill with you 1/1 army, just don’t forget to Savage Roar first!
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