Welcome to the 355th edition of the Data Reaper Report!
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Quick Links
Class/Archetype Distribution | Class Frequency | Matchup Winrates | vS Power Rankings | vS Meta Score | Class Analysis & Decklists | Meta Breaker of the Week | How to Contribute | Credits
Number of Games
| Overall | 1,948,000 |
| Top 1K Legend | 64,000 |
| Legend (Excluding Top 1k) | 178,000 |
| Diamond 4 to 1 | 431,000 |
| Diamond 10 to 5 | 486,000 |
| Platinum | 305,000 |
| Bronze/Silver/Gold | 484,000 |
Class/Archetype Distribution
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All Ranks
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D1 to D4
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Legend
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Top 1K Legend
Class Frequency
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Weekly
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Daily
Class Frequency Discussion
The nerf to Void DH has obliterated the deck’s play rate and the Demon Hunter class is in the process of disappearing. What cannibalized Void DH are the three other popular classes from before the patch: Rogue, Shaman and Hunter.
Zee Shaman’s spike in play started before the patch, as we identified it as a meta breaking deck. It is now the second or third most popular deck in the format. Mug Shaman has declined to a more niche presence on ladder, but at top legend, it is surging upwards once again and rivaling Zee Shaman.
Rogue was the most popular class before the emergence of Void DH and it is the most popular class after it is gone. However, Shaman is overtaking it where ladder is most competitive (Top Legend, Upper Diamond).
Face Hunter seems to be the 3rd most influential deck in the format, as it stands.
Egg Death Knight has become more noticeable, especially at legend. Note that its rise in play began before the patch and continued onwards.
The decline of Void DH has led to the decline of Vipers, which may have contributed to a more tolerable environment for Quest Mage. Much like Egg DK, it is seeing more play at higher MMR’s.
The other classes do not exhibit any significant foothold on the field. Warlock and Priest, until proven otherwise, have consistently been the central focus of competitive delusions, so it is hard for us to take their play rates seriously. Past Diamond 5, players have given up on the rest.
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All Ranks
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D4 to Legend
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Legend
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Top 1K Legend
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Legend
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D1 to D4
vS Meta Score
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Top 1K Legend
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Legend
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D1 to D4
vS Power Rankings Discussion
Shaman
- While Zee Shaman is proving to be a powerful deck, Mug Shaman is overtaking it and looks like the best performing deck on ladder past Diamond 5. Mug Shaman is particularly dominant at top legend, where the format is more curated to the best performing decks.
- Why is Mug superior to Zee? Zee loses to nothing besides Mug, while Mug loses to nothing. So while Zee Shaman is dominant, Mug Shaman is unstoppable. This is why Mug Shaman is trending upwards at top legend, because it is the only good counter to Zee.
- We do want to note that a big reason why we keep seeing so many dominant decks this year, is because there are so few viable decks overall. When there are six good decks on ladder, it is less likely that a counter can be found to one of them. Years ago, we used to have over 20 competitive decks in a given format, which meant that we were more likely find a counter to something when it was needed. We had more options. We had more functional cards.
Rogue
- Two Rogue is okay. In the emerging field, it mostly goes even against the other good decks, so its win rate is naturally settling around the 50% mark. It is Tier 1 only when bad classes are around, such as Priest and Warlock.
Hunter
- Face Hunter stomps bad decks harder than Rogue does, but it also does not beat the other good decks, so it performs a bit better than Rogue.
Death Knight
- Egg Death Knight is a solid soft counter to Hunter and Rogue, but it struggles against Mug Shaman because of Hex, while Quest Mage is another difficult encounter. Egg DK performs better at higher levels of play because it loses to Warlock and Priest, two classes that decline at top legend. However, those Mug Shaman/Quest Mage matchups prevent it from being an elite top legend performer.
Mage
- The decline of Vipers helped Quest Mage a lot. It does not mind queueing into Mug Shaman or Two Rogue, and it counters Egg Death Knight. Face Hunter and Zee Shaman are the tough matchups.
Warrior
- Warrior is struggling to compete and has little appeal. The rise of Mug Shaman is becoming a big problem for both Warrior decks. Egg Death Knight counters Dragon Warrior and deems Egg Warrior redundant too.
Paladin
- Not a serious class past Platinum. Paladin decks are completely outmatched against the strongest decks.
Priest, Warlock, Druid, Demon Hunter
- Soothsayer Priest might not be terrible but it is generally looking bleak for these classes.
Class Analysis & Decklists
Death Knight | Demon Hunter | Druid | Hunter | Mage | Paladin | Priest | Rogue | Shaman | Warlock | Warrior
Watfin might be a good card in Two Rogue, so we suggest trying it out. Otherwise, we run two copies of Escape Artist. Viper is no longer needed.
A way to fit in both Slagclaw and Envoy in a Zee Shaman build without hurting their performance is to cut the weaker dragons and focus on Elementals to activate Slagclaw’s Kindred ability.
However, the list without Slagclaw is slightly stronger, as it is more flexible.
Mug Shaman has not changed. You can run double Hex if you are seeing a lot of Egg Death Knight.
Viper is dropped from the Agamaggan Face Hunter list. Raptor-Nest Nurse is making a return and looks decent.
Egg Death Knight has made further steps in its refinement by cutting Tower of Ghouls. The featured build looks optimal. There is an option to run the Pyro/Poison combo, but it is not necessary.
Watfin is clearly a good card for Quest Mage and should be considered a core inclusion.
Egg Warrior is experimenting with Crowd Control, which looks like a good card in the deck when enabled by Scramble for Gear.
Paladin is very weak past Diamond 5, with both its archetypes falling off once they encounter the strongest meta decks.
A specific list of Soothsayer Priest might be tolerable for ladder, but the class is generally in a weak position.
There are around six genuinely good decks on ladder. Mug Shaman does not lose to the five other decks, which means it is instantly overpowered. A very easy deck to climb ladder with at every level of play, especially when it is being underestimated.
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Contributors
Shite meta, and expected a better report after waiting so long 👎 feels recycled.
I agree that Mug Shaman is very strong, especially against Zee shaman.
I have reached Legend thanks to this deck, because it produces fast games.
Tips : Play map at turn 2 unless you really need tempo
Do you base your decks only on Top Legend? (which is completely irrelevant to me).
You say Warlock is bad but I saw Warshack climb to Legend with Demon Warlock (10x starbonus).