Welcome to the 297th edition of the Data Reaper Report!
Contributing to the Data Reaper project through Hearthstone Deck Tracker or Firestone allows us to perform our analyses and to issue the weekly reports, so we want to wholeheartedly thank our contributors. Without the community’s contributions, there would be no project. Contributing data is very easy, so if you enjoy our content and would like to make sure it remains consistent and free – Sign up!
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 | 1,494,000 |
| Top 1K Legend | 83,000 |
| Legend (Excluding Top 1k) | 127,000 |
| Diamond 4 to 1 | 340,000 |
| Diamond 10 to 5 | 309,000 |
| Platinum | 221,000 |
| Bronze/Silver/Gold | 414,000 |
Class/Archetype Distribution
-
All Ranks
-
D1 to D4
-
Legend
-
Top 1K Legend
Class Frequency
-
Weekly
-
Daily
Class Frequency Discussion
We expect this to be the last week of the current format before possible shake ups and an expansion announcement next week. The current meta is largely settled, with play rates not changing much from last week. Top legend continues to be Rogue-centric, while the climb to legend is very diverse when you examine both class and archetype play rates.
There are only a few small trends that you may struggle to notice at a quick glance, so we’ll specify them.
Handbuff Paladin has declined at top legend. Excavate Rogue has also slightly declined in favor of more Gaslight Rogue at high MMR’s. Spell Mage, Nature Shaman and Boomkin Druid continue their declines from previous weeks.
Death Knight has risen in play across ladder. At top legend, interest in Shopper DH and Pain Warlock has picked up, two decks that have been slumbering despite strong performance levels in recent weeks.
-
All Ranks
-
D4 to Legend
-
Legend
-
Top 1K Legend
-
Legend
-
D1 to D4
vS Meta Score
-
Top 1K Legend
-
Legend
-
D1 to D4
vS Power Rankings Discussion
This is one of the most balanced formats we can remember. Both Handbuff Paladin and Insanity Warlock have been successfully curbed. The dramatic decline in Handbuff Paladin’s win rate lines up with its decline in play rate. At top legend, where players are better at countering the strongest strategies, no deck performs at a Tier 1 level. There are 25 decks with an ample sample size that sit within a 47-52% win rate range. The best decks outside of legend aren’t overbearing either. Balance wise, things are good.
It is a bit of a contrast to the play rate charts. Top legend is Rogue-centric, yet there are many competitively balanced options. On the climb to legend, a few strategies are clearly more efficient than others, but you see a larger variety of decks. Though the meta is diverse, there is clearly an underlying issue which we’ve discussed before, causing Rogue’s play rate to be so high at top legend. Players seeking a non-highlander late game strategy struggle to find options beyond Excavate Rogue. While Reno decks aren’t particularly strong, late game synergies are almost non-existent, making the highlander route the best path to compete in the late game for most classes.
We haven’t found many discoveries this week, but there are a few, impactful ones that are worth mentioning. The Evolve Shaman archetype centered on Wave of Nostaglia looks competitive and has some potential of further improvement. Boomkin Druid may have found a missing piece to help it compete better, which is why its win rate has shot up despite declining in play. Shopper DH is finally picking up interest again because it’s close to becoming the best thing to do at top legend, alongside Pain Warlock.
Class Analysis & Decklists
Death Knight | Demon Hunter | Druid | Hunter | Mage | Paladin | Priest | Rogue | Shaman | Warlock | Warrior
Gaslight Rogue has started to run Speaker Stompers to perform better in slower matchups, where mass removal can answer the deck’s giant turns. Although this does weaken the performance of Dig for Treasure, Stomper does improve the deck’s overall performance going into the later stages of the game.
The old Sludge Warlock doesn’t see much play, but is very competitive, though slightly inferior to Insanity Warlock due to its weaker late game. Pain Warlock has become the best performing deck at top legend by doing the same thing it’s done before.
The meta is becoming more and more greedy over time, so we’ve swapped out Armor Vendor for Slam in Reno Warrior.
Handbuff Paladin is still in a very good spot, though it isn’t as dominant as it was before. Nothing has changed about its build.
The greedy route remains the best approach for Reno Priest. Pain Warlock is strong, but still unpopular, so there is no need to switch to a mass removal build until its presence becomes significant.
Boomkin Druid looks much better if you add Perfect/Virus Zilliax. Of course it does! Why didn’t any of us think about this before? It’s an insane card to draw with Dorian, helping the Druid stabilize in its worst matchups. This doesn’t make Boomkin Druid some meta breaking deck, but it’s no longer a joke at high MMR’s.
Rainbow Death Knight is tuning its build to deal with slower matchups better. Main deck Fizzle. Dirty Rats. This is the Reno way.
Current meta developments are good for Spell Mage, as it struggles against the established top performing decks. If Pain Warlock can become more prominent, Spell Mage will find another decent matchup to queue into.
Players are slowly waking up to how good Shopper Demon Hunter is, with the Naga build doing great work at higher levels of play.
Nostalgia Evolve Shaman looks like a decent deck. The featured build was popularized by Jambre.
Camouflage Mount looks like a decent card in Secret Hunter, offering more vertical pressure that can put the opponent in a very difficult position when you’re backed by secrets.
The two sleepers in the format are decks that dominated the meta at some point during Whizbang before getting nerfed. Nerfed decks tend to be underplayed, but considering that every deck in this expansion has basically gotten nerfed, we might have reached a point where this doesn’t matter. Over the last couple of days, we’ve noticed both Pain Warlock and Shopper DH gaining some serious traction, so expect to see more of them going forward.
Preparing our weekly article requires a significant amount of time and effort from many individuals. We would like to wholeheartedly thank our current Patreons, whose generous donations help us fund computing and server costs.
vS Gold is our membership plan aimed to support our efforts towards improving our content and data analysis while receiving some bonuses and extra features.
Tier 3+ Patrons
Special thanks to Leo, Jed M, Drew M, Alan J, Zolstar, Sean H, Steve F, Andrew N, Alonso P, Je-ho, William H, 1RiceBowl1, Alex S, PeejTreon, Josh G, Amir, amenbrotep, Karhu, Christopher N, Lime, Kaushal, Joshua B, Jeff C, Scott L, Mark P, The Big Dawg, nburst, Jess M, Peter, Bob L, Charlah R, Chocobo, Chad K, Alex W, Ashton F, Swift, Logan, Fisherington, WorldEight, Jacob M, Timothy M, Darren J, Wyatt P, Kevin, Michael N, Noah E, Nezoomer, Dooshenbarf, mikey, Dooshenbarf, Aaelle, Michael S, Divock, BraveSurRobin, Daniel R, Clint D, Neil R, Keith W, Michael D, Hisham M, Milkman Dan, PapaPloKoon, Scott D, Jolagh, Howie, Kevin F, bruh, Laical, Jwaf, Nick M, and Ethan S for supporting us this month.
Here are all the people that participated in bringing you this edition of the vS Data Reaper Report:
Contributors
dead game