Welcome to the 301st edition of the Data Reaper Report!
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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 | 1,383,000 |
| Top 1K Legend | 67,000 |
| Legend (Excluding Top 1k) | 258,000 |
| Diamond 4 to 1 | 229,000 |
| Diamond 10 to 5 | 291,000 |
| Platinum | 201,000 |
| Bronze/Silver/Gold | 337,000 |
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
Druid’s popularity has not been negatively affected by balance changes to Hydration Station, Chia Drake, and Concierge. In fact, the class has risen in play. What’s different is the composition. Dragon and Reno Druid have surged in play, while Concierge Druid has declined.
Death Knight has been infused with enthusiasm following buffs to Buttons, Razzle-Dazzler, and Natural Talent. Rainbow Death Knight has embraced this package, turning it into a Rainbow deck of both rune choices and spell schools. Meanwhile, experimentations with Frost Death Knights centered on Marrow Manipulator and Horn of Winter are also attempting a Razzle-Dazzler/Buttons package.
The decline of Concierge Druid has led to a spike in Insanity Warlock. Without its biggest counter’s overbearing presence, Insanity Warlock has become increasingly popular at top legend. Pain Warlock is visible, but modestly popular.
There’s a lot going on in Shaman, with the class splintered into many different strategies. Pirate Shaman sees little play these days, likely due to the change in Ticking Zilliax. Evolve Shaman has continued to develop, but its popularity has declined too. Rainbow Shaman centered on Razzle-Dazzler is trying to establish itself. Elemental Shaman has fallen off due to the Lamplighter nerf. Reno Shaman sees a bit of play.
Rogue has drastically declined, with Excavate Rogue taking a hit in play, while Elemental Rogue has completely disappeared. At top legend, a new iteration of Sonya Rogue has been brewing, one that utilizes Tidepool Pupil to chain infinite Sonya turns with Breakdance. Gaslight Rogue can also be found utilizing the same concept of infinite Sonya.
Priest is tentatively awakening. Zarimi Priest is a bit more noticeable, while Overheal Priest is gaining some traction at top legend. Reno Priest is found at lower rank brackets, but disappears at high MMR.
The nerfs to Hydration Station and Inventor Boom have had a big negative impact on Warrior, which has drastically declined across ladder. Warrior is still fairly popular throughout most of ladder, but sees little play at top legend. Reno Warrior is now the most popular archetype in the class, by far. Control Warrior, which was entirely focused on resurrecting Zilliax, has disappeared. Odyn Warrior is being experimented with again, seeing that there’s no Zilliax in the way.
Little changes in Paladin, with Showdown and Handbuff still looking like the main choices in the class. Showdown Paladin has taken a step back following the Ticking Zilliax rework. Handbuff Paladin looks relatively unaffected by the patch.
Elemental Mage is slowly declining across ladder following the Lamplighter nerf. Spell Mage is the only Mage deck that can be found at top legend, but its play rate is steady and modest everywhere.
Interest in Demon Hunter continues to be low, with Pirate Demon Hunter looking like the only deck that attracts some attention. Interest in Hunter is non-existent.
Besides Buttons, Razzle-Dazzler and Natural Talent, none of the other buffed cards have seen any movement.
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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 toD4
vS Power Rankings Discussion
Druid
- Dragon Druid is a top 3 best performing deck at every rank bracket. However, we are not concerned with it developing into the meta tyrant it looked like during the last month of Whizbang. Current trends suggest its win rate will be relaxing, especially at higher levels of play. Adjusting to the Hydration Station nerf has been quick and easy, so we suspect other decks will catch up to it through their own processes of refinement. It also has a few counters that are very effective against it: Pain Warlock, Zarimi Priest and Pirate DH. Its late game is strong, but not to the extent that other late game strategies cannot exist alongside it.
- Concierge Druid has been drastically toned down, exhibiting a reasonable win rate on a far lower play rate. It seems that the balance changes to Concierge and Chia Drake have been successful at addressing its power level issues without killing the deck off completely.
- Reno Druid’s popularity might be the result of being the best Reno deck, but that doesn’t say much since most Reno decks look weak in general. It’s hard for us to recommend playing it over Dragon Druid for competitive reasons. It has its upsides, but the cons outweigh it by some distance in this format.
Death Knight
- Rainbow Death Knight looks like a strong deck across ladder, with a very well-rounded matchup spread. Its biggest issue is Druid. Rainbow Death Knight struggles against all Druid archetypes. It also starts to struggle at top legend against the “skill intensive” decks in the format, such as Overheal Priest and Sonya Rogue. Considering its build looks relatively clean and refined, we don’t anticipate it improving much further internally. If Druid dips at any point though, it could become a more dominant deck.
- Frost Death Knight looks a bit weaker, but has more room to grow. Its refinement process isn’t over. It shows more promise in the difficult Druid matchups. We anticipate it will prove to be just as good of a deck as Rainbow Death Knight.
- Plague Death Knight is not good. Nothing new there.
Warlock
- Insanity Warlock is a powerful deck in the current meta thanks to the decline of Concierge Druid. There aren’t many other counters to the deck. You’re looking at Handbuff Paladin and a well piloted Overheal Priest at top legend that can give it consistent problems. Its safe matchup spread is the main reason why it’s become increasingly popular. We suspect it is more likely to maintain its current performance level, especially at higher levels of play, compared to Dragon Druid.
- Pain Warlock is the best counter to Druid in the format, so we expect it to have a role going forward. However, the rest of its matchup spread isn’t great, so it is reliant on a large Druid population to maintain its current performance level.
- Wheel Warlock has consistently looked terrible since the “Agency Patch” mid-way through Whizbang. This week is the first time that the archetype, based on its low sample size, looks close to a competitive level. It’s not there yet, but we can now see this archetype returning at some point in the future.
Shaman
- Shaman is a strong class with a great variety of viable decks. However, we don’t expect any Shaman deck to take off and become dominant, as they all consistently struggle against Death Knight and Insanity Warlock.
- Pirate Shaman’s performance has declined, as it was very reliant on Ticking Zilliax to snowball. Still, there’s no indication that the archetype will fall off in its performance further. It’s only a question of whether it will maintain an audience.
- Evolve Shaman has overtaken Pirate Shaman because the Ticking Zilliax change did not impact it as negatively. It’s a strong deck with great matchups into Druid, but Death Knight keeps it well in check.
- The recently emerging Rainbow Shaman is looking very promising, despite only beginning its process of refinement. We’ll have to see how it settles down with a higher play rate, but there’s a strong case that the Evolve package is not doing as much work in the absence of Virus Zilliax. Meanwhile, without Virus Zilliax dominating the format, there’s a lot more room to explore Razzle-Dazzler and a burst package with Horn of the Windlord.
- Reno Shaman is a little better than it looks, as the archetype’s card choices are relatively sub-optimal compared to more established decks. Still, we don’t expect more than a Tier 3 performance level.
- Elemental Shaman is dying out and we don’t expect it to stick around. Nature Shaman’s play rate is too low to provide even an estimation of how good (or bad) it is.
Rogue
- Sonya Rogue is a historically unique deck that we have not encountered in years. This is a deck that completely blows up all internal skill metrics in our possession. To give you an idea of how skill-intensive it is, if we apply its diamond matchups to the top legend field, its win rate would be ~39.5%. Instead, its win rate is ~51.5%. It gains a ~12% win rate in the average matchup at higher levels of play, which is completely absurd and nearly unprecedented. Unless you’re at the upper echelon of ladder, you should have no clue how to play it well. It is Tier 4 at legend. It is worse than Lynessa Paladin at lower Diamond ranks. This is the reincarnation of Garrote Rogue. There is no other example of a deck with a skill differential this high.
- Considering that most top legend players don’t know how to play it well enough yet, its win rate is expected to rise further. We would not be surprised if it became the best deck at top legend within days. We would not be surprised if it completely dominated the more narrow, top 100 ladder. The only case against it is that it is very vulnerable to Cult Neophyte and Speaker Stomper, so we might see the field aggressively targeting it in this manner. If targeting it does not prove to be extremely effective, it is guaranteed to become a Tier 1 deck at top legend.
- Gaslight Rogue is a worse version of Sonya Rogue. Its matchup spread is worse, while not possessing the same level of skill ceiling. We expect it to be cannibalized by Sonya Rogue.
- Excavate Rogue has completely collapsed. The Ticking Zilliax nerf made the module useless in Rogue. Some adjustments might help the deck become more bearable, but we don’t think it can be better than bearable.
Priest
- Overheal Priest is the second most skill intensive deck in the format, with an impressive 4% skill differential between its diamond and top legend matchups. This is comparable with decks such as Nature Shaman, but obviously not as absurd as the aliens that are Sonya or Garrote Rogue. It is a strong counter to Death Knights and Warlocks with further room for improvement through refinement. We believe it will prove to be the best Priest deck at higher levels of play.
- Zarimi Priest is a very strong ladder climber thanks to its excellent matchups into Druid. However, it falls off at higher levels of play due to the increasing popularity of Warlock. Both Insanity and Pain Warlock represent hard counters.
- Reno Priest is absolutely terrible. Some players will persist regardless. We see your struggle.
Warrior
- Warrior looks unplayable. The class’ current play rate is simply a mirage, which may collapse. Reno Warrior may hold on to a smaller play rate, much like Reno Priest, just because Reno decks tend to be drastically more popular than their win rate can justify. We do sense that players at lower rank brackets are currently refusing to accept that the deck is terrible. We’ll see how further along they are in the stages of grief next week. Odyn Warrior needs a dramatic turnaround to justify its existence too.
Paladin
- Showdown Paladin has predictably declined in its performance level, though maintains competitive viability. The nerf to Ticking Zilliax hurt it in two ways. Not only was it the best card in the deck, but Showdown Paladin thrived against other decks that ran Ticking Zilliax too.
- It’s business as usual for Handbuff Paladin. It’s a strong deck throughout ladder, including top legend, despite the decline of Concierge Druid. It is an effective counter to Insanity Warlock, a deck that doesn’t have many other answers. It also seems to give Sonya Rogue some issues, especially when it runs Cult Neophyte. Its matchup spread is stable, with its known weakness being faster decks that outpace it and snowball the board hard.
Mage
- Elemental Mage looks done competitively. Its win rate is falling across ladder. It might only be able to survive at lower MMR brackets. Spell Mage is depressingly weak. Mage has no other alternatives.
Demon Hunter
- Pirate Demon Hunter is doing surprisingly well. You would think it would suffer the same blow as Pirate Shaman did due to the nerf of Ticking Zilliax, but the archetype has managed to reinvent itself with a successful introduction of the Tourist package, after previously struggling to do so. The deck does need an audience, which we’re not sure it will be able to attract. It’s a strong counter to Druid, but has major problems with Death Knight and Shaman. It’s a bit polarizing, so if players are looking to counter Druid, they may find other options more appealing.
Hunter
- To the shock of the entire Hearthstone community, buffing Ranger Gilly to 5 mana has not led to the creation of a competitive Hunter deck. We should probably try harder next time.
Class Analysis & Decklists
Death Knight | Demon Hunter | Druid | Hunter | Mage | Paladin | Priest | Rogue | Shaman | Warlock | Warrior
The adjustment to the Hydration Station nerf in Dragon Druid is straightforward. We switch to a Perfect/Twin Zilliax and run Sleep Under the Stars. It’s close, but Take to the Skies misses out, sitting just outside the best 30 cards we can run in the deck.
Reno Druid seems to benefit from running a few extra defensive techs, while slightly downsizing the dragon package.
Concierge Druid is no longer a dominant deck. The same 28 cards look core, while Malfurion’s Gift, Innervate and Frost Lotus Seedling are options to round things out.
Razzle-Dazzler is now a solid build-around card for the class, making an instant impact in Rainbow Death Knight. Theo popularized the featured build, which looks relatively clean. The worst card in the deck is Frost Strike, mostly because we would rather find Corpsicle with Buttons. If a new promising card pops up for the deck, Frost Strike would likely be the cut.
The buffs to Buttons, Natural Talent and Razzle-Dazzler is also encouraging players to explore a FFU build in Frost Death Knight. This idea, popularized by Jambre, makes the correct assumption that Reska is a more valuable card than Frostwyrm’s Fury, while leveraging it further with Brittlebone Buccaneer. We did make a small adjustment to the deck, with Cabaret Headliner not proving to be worthwhile. We replaced it with Hardcore Cultist, which helps Marrow Manipulator.
29 cards in Pain Warlock look relatively settled. Both Symphony of Sins and Party Planner Vona are equally bad, pick what you prefer. There is room to add Neophyte and Stomper to this deck, but it doesn’t make much sense unless you run into a horde of Sonya Rogues at top legend.
A Tourist package in Insanity Warlock is being experimented with. It’s very close in power to the established build, when it previously looked largely inferior. We believe the reason for the gap shrinking is not the freeze package itself, but the addition of Dreadhound Handler.
Wheel Warlock has looked more playable following the patch. It’s still not great, but a Wheel return in the future now looks feasible.
Evolve Shaman is still a strong deck that has developed further with iterations running Runic Totemcarver. However, the Evolve package itself has proven to be unimpressive in a format that does not value Wave of Nostalgia as a responsive tool to a Virus Zilliax.
This has sparked a revisitation of Razzle-Dazzler and Rainbow Shaman. The archetype now looks very promising, despite not being anywhere close to a state of full refinement. Our quest to seek the perfect 30 has landed us on the featured build, though more data is required to come to definitive conclusions on how it should be built. Hagatha might be the game changer for the archetype, with Jive proving to be a powerful draw even without Conductivity. Cabaret Headliner is just not consistent. The burst package with Horn of the Windlord is good enough by itself. Thrall’s Gift looks weak.
Pirate Shaman has taken a blow with Ticking Zilliax reworked, but the deck still functions well by improving its finishing potential through the Horn package and Bloodlust from Thrall’s Gift.
The Lamplighter nerf means that Elemental Shaman can’t utilize Saloon Brewmaster very well.
Reno Shaman is okay when it’s refined. We don’t like overly reactive lists. A proactive Razzle-Dazzler direction currently looks more promising.
The format is very hostile to Excavate Rogue. A Perfect/Twin or Perfect/Haywire Zilliax seem like the best choices after the Ticking rework. Yogg-Saron is needed for survival.
Sonya Rogue is likely to take over the top legend field. This deck’s win condition is not easy to understand just by looking at the decklist. The concept is that Sonya/Pupil/Breakdance allows us to replay Sonya to infinity, locking out the opponent or outright killing them with duplicated potions or amulets. You must watch the deck in action to understand how to play it. In terms of decision making, it’s one of the most complex decks we’ve ever seen in the game’s history.
Gaslight Rogue is a weaker version of Sonya Rogue. The argument for it is the ability to play infinite Giants, but it’s not necessary in practice. We recommend running Sonya Rogue.
Zarimi Priest hasn’t changed its build. What’s interesting is that the Tourist package is the weaker part of the deck, but we haven’t found an alternative direction that looks like an upgrade.
On the other hand, adding Chillin’ Vol’jin just to run Birdwatching in Overheal Priest seems to take the deck up another level. Tidepool Pupil is another addition to the deck’s consistency (and lethality with Hedanis).
Reno Priest is awful. We worked on the deck, but regardless of how you build it, results are unlikely to be good.
Warrior is in total collapse.
Reno Warrior needs to drop Hydration Station and pivot to a different direction. An ETC package with Incindius looks strong, but the archetype is still in a very bad state. We’re featuring its strongest form.
The disappearance of Unkilliax has encouraged players to test Odyn Warrior. We’re far from convinced about its competitive viability, but we can say that Fizzle is mandatory, while Ignis looks bad. It’s a big upgrade.
Little has changed for Paladin. Showdown Paladin has gotten worse because of the change to Ticking Zilliax. Lynessa Paladin is still horrendous. Handbuff Paladin is your best bet. It can also be geared to beat Sonya Rogue at top legend, with the addition of Cult Neophyte.
Unfortunately, the Lamplighter nerf has weakened Elemental Mage. We’ve had to cut Saloon Brewmaster from the deck, as it’s awkward with a 4-mana LampLighter.
Spell Mage hasn’t changed. Its struggles haven’t changed either.
Pirate Demon Hunter has now fully embraced a Tourist package, with the Ticking Zilliax nerf encouraging the deck to possess more off-board burst with Acupuncture. Not much else is going on with the class.
Hunter is cooked. The buff to Gilly has done nothing to elevate its competitive viability. We don’t think it had a semblance of a chance with just a single buff to an already terrible card that we never want to draw.
Perils in Paradise continues to look relatively balanced, with a decent variety of viable decks. Nothing truly stands out above the rest, at least when it comes to choosing a deck to climb to legend with. There are plenty of options here, so you can pick what you like best and feel comfortable with it. We think Insanity Warlock is the best safe pick, as its matchup spread is very solid. You will rarely run into an unfavorable matchup.
When it comes to higher levels of play, Sonya Rogue is a threat to become uniquely dominant. It’s mostly a question of whether there are enough players who can pilot it to an adequate level! As of today, we would still place Garrote Rogue as the most skill intensive deck in the history of the game based on our internal metrics, but Sonya is a close second.
If you do want to pick it up, we recommend checking out streams of high level players that pilot it. Don’t expect perfection though, they are probably going to misplay and throw games with it regularly.
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Contributors
