The Meta Report #9

 

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To Aggro, or not to aggro? That’s the dilemma, the question that every player must ask themselves. As strong as aggressive strategies can be there’s always a way to counter them provided you’ve have the right options. Keep track of the current meta so that you can adapt and never give up, never surrender!

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 still running rampant among the ladder in pretty much every form. Aggro and Zoo seem to have become the “go-to” decks in ranked right now and Handlock isn’t far behind. Despite still being a bad matchup against some Aggro decks, you can win out of nowhere with double taunt giants on turn 6 or 7, while your opponent has no choice but to make it easier for you to play them. Aggro Warlock focuses on gaining tempo and mana/card advantage through strong, easy to cast minions. A board with 3-4 minions in favor of the Warlock by turn 4 is not uncommon with this deck. This is an extremely solid option to rank up in the ladder at the moment, their only unfavorable matchups are against control decks with a lot of removal like Shaman or Handlock. And even then, if they don’t draw into specific cards (mainly, their prime removals), they’re pretty much dead, while everything in your deck is good for you to keep board control and tempo advantage.

Warrior in its Control archetype has been the first option against aggro decks. They utilize their hero power which allows you to live much longer, it has a LOT of cheap removals and early Anti-Aggro cards, like Cleave and Armorsmith. A lot of Warrior Control decks are also running Wild Pyromancers which is a good idea due to its synergy with Frothing Berserker and Acolyte of Pain. Meanwhile, Warrior Aggro is pretty much dead. We feel like Warlock Aggro is simply the better choice in this case, they have pretty similar roles when it comes to gameplay. If you’re looking for a deck that’s capable of climbing the ladder slowly but steadily, Warrior Control is the deck for you.

Hunter is still showing up, this time even more. They’re okay against Warlock Aggro due to the fact that they can race it or play as the controller with Explosive Trap and Unleash the Hounds if necessary. Their ability to put the opponent on a “clock” is VERY strong and it works great against other Aggro decks and catches super late game Control decks off guard when they don’t have an immediate answer to your threats. Their main weaknesses are Warrior Control and Watcher Druid due to their amount of answers and cards used to mitigate damage (taunts and armor). Fast paced matches and good matchups all around make Hunter an amazing choice to rank up in the ladder.

Druid is still a VERY strong class, but has retired from the top3 ever since Aggro decks decided to stampede across the ladder. People simply decided to play Aggro decks to move down the ladder faster. Most Druids right now are either playing Watcher Druid, which is okay against Aggro decks or Token Druid which seems to be doing better at the moment. The old standard Midrange Druid has lost a lot of flavor since it was a great deck against other midrange decks, but it lacks the defensive potential of its watcher variant as well as the aggressive power of tokens. Overall, it’s still a solid choice to rank up.

Rogue is slowly gaining more and more flavor due to the rise of Aggro decks. Rogues were always efficient at dealing with them due to cheap removals like Backstab, which allows them to keep the tempo going in their favor. They have a pretty fair matchup against other classes like Warrior Control and Hunter as long as they can keep the pressure on their opponent. Both Standard and Miracle Rogue are being played right now and they’re pretty good in a lot of matchups. They both do well against aggressive strategies and late-game control decks. Standard rogue is more consistent and Miracle rogue is more powerful.

Shaman is still not seeing a lot of play on the ladder right now, not even close to how much it was prior to the last meta shift (which happened almost one month ago). While they can be pretty good against aggressive decks and Handlock/Warrior Control, they’re not as good against Aggro Hunter. This is due to the fact that they’re a late game focused class with zero healing or armor capabilities. They need to be careful against Warrior Control; Warriors started using Brawl and Baron Geddon, which helps them immensely, turning the matchup from almost unwinnable into an even game. Shaman is still pretty strong and it’s just a matter of time until they adapt to the new overaggressive meta.

Mage doesn’t have much to write home about. It might be in a better spot in the recent meta, but it’s still being heavily underplayed. Aggro Mage seems to be its most popular archetype as its premium removals allows the Mage to swing tempo in their favor. It can be pretty good against other tempo decks as well as some control too; nothing seals the deal like a four mana Fireball. Frost Mage is nowhere to be found right now. They’re unable to deal with most Aggro decks without Frost Nova + Doomsayer combo and even that’s not guaranteed, the opponent still has one turn to answer. Since Tinkmaster got nerfed, expect to see polymorph on the rise.

Priest hasn’t changed in a while. It’s still pretty rare in the lower ranks and its archetype remains pretty much the same. The only innovations have been through Thoughtsteal + Mountain Giant and Ancient Watcher + Silence combos, which can be quite strong (the ancient watcher can even be compared to a Innervate + Chillwind Yeti turn 2)! They’re also pretty fond of Crazed Alchemist, since it has an amazing synergy with Priest’s shadow spells. Unfortunately for the Priest, most of their cards don’t have a lot of value by themselves, which makes it hard for the class to deal with the insane amount of pressure that Aggro decks can put on them in the first few turns. You can have a chance if you start off with one of the amazing combos in your deck, like Circle of Healing + Auchenai Soulpriest or Wild Pyromancer + Power Word: Shield.

Paladin is a sad panda right now. While it had a lot of potential against midrange decks in the last meta, right now it struggles to deal with the insane aggressive power of other meta decks. It doesn’t have any early game answers to Aggro decks except for Equality + Wild Pyromancer combo which tends to be a rather unimpressive play against a multitude of 1 and 2 mana minions. The reason for this is that the opponent can easily redevelop their board on the next turn and the Paladin is left with fewer answers. Its aggro archtype falls short of other Aggro decks as well, which is one of the reasons why they’re not being played that much.

DECK OF THE WEEK: Handlock

A personal favorite of ours, this deck is extremely solid due to the synergy of a lot of its cards with Warlock’s hero power. Turn 4 Mountain Giant can finish the game if not properly answered; even when your opponent can deal with it, he’ll still need a lot of hard removal for the other huge minions you have. Jaraxxus is so much fun in this deck, just try to play your Molten Giants before you play him or they’ll be stuck in your hand forever!

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