Welcome to the 313th edition of the Data Reaper Report! This report reflects the Heroes of Starcraft format following the Shaffar ban.
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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 | 948,000 |
Top 1K Legend | 74,000 |
Legend (Excluding Top 1k) | 346,000 |
Diamond 4 to 1 | 131,000 |
Diamond 10 to 5 | 101,000 |
Platinum | 102,000 |
Bronze/Silver/Gold | 194,000 |
Class/Archetype Distribution
Class Frequency
Class Frequency Discussion
Zerg Death Knight has been the most talked about strategy, especially in the first few days of the mini-set. It is the most popular deck in the format, with a play rate exceeding 20% across multiple rank brackets. However, since the 3rd day of the mini-set, it’s been in decline. The archetype is split between several rune combinations, but most of them are very similar to each other, only differing by a few key cards.
Terran Shaman’s presence has grown over time, becoming the most popular deck at top legend, on course to eclipse Zerg Death Knight at other rank brackets. The archetype has gone through multiple iterations, but is in the process of splitting into two distinct variants. An aggressive build resembling Swarm Shaman is common at Diamond and Platinum ranks, while a more defensive Fizzle/Triangulate build is taking over higher levels of play. Judging by the last few days, Terran Shaman’s play rate is nearing 40% at top legend, which can only be described as an explosion.
Dungar Druid has stuck through the mini-set without many changes, but a new Hero Power Druid deck is emerging, centered on the synergy between Artanis and Groovy Cat. This deck is quickly growing and may eclipse Dungar Druid’s play rate at higher levels of play.
With Cycle Rogue collapsing following the nerf to Ethereal Oracle, Weapon Rogue has emerged as the class’ most prominent strategy, utilized as a brutal counter to Zerg DK. Protoss Rogue experimentation can be observed, but the archetype is not gaining much traction.
Following the Shaffar ban, Hunter went from the most popular class in the game for the first 6 hours of the mini-set, into a fractured and fringe competitor. That could be changing, as Discover Hunter has awakened at top legend, running a new Location/Seaside Giants build. Grunter Hunter is also showing signs of growing in popularity, tipped as a strong counter to the dominant Terran Shaman.
Terran Warrior is consistently popular across all levels of play. This is the evolution of Hydration Station Control Warrior, adding a Terran package, which usually ignores Thor and Yamato Cannon.
Protoss Priest looks popular, but its decline at top legend is concerning and suggests it may not be doing too well. The rest of the class is composed of Reno Priest and a bunch of aggressive decks with minimal play rates (Zarimi, Pain, Overheal).
Protoss Mage behaves very similarly to Protoss Priest, a strategy that clearly draws interest from the player base but dips at higher levels of play. Elemental Mage sees little play.
Location Warlock has quietly been discovered, establishing a modest play rate across ladder, potentially ending Warlock’s status as a dead class.
Lynessa Paladin has fallen off due to the Ethereal Oracle nerf. Handbuff Paladin has drastically declined too, with players looking to experiment with the new stuff. However, Terran Paladin sees little play compared to Terran Shaman or Warrior.
Demon Hunter already looks dead on the first week. Not much is going on here with the Zerg faction.
vS Meta Score
vS Power Rankings Discussion
Shaman
- Terran Shaman looks busted, with a nearly perfect matchup spread. Terran Warrior initially looked like a good counter to Shaman, but the emergence of the late-game-oriented Fizzle build is turning this matchup into a closer, tense affair at higher levels of play. Only Grunter Hunter seems capable of consistently beating Shaman. We expect Shaman to dominate the format, unless a balance intervention occurs.
- The faster Siege Terran Shaman build is generally stronger outside of top legend. The Fizzle Terran Shaman build has been stronger at top legend, partly due to a more favorable field. Since Warrior is declining, both variants may end up performing at a similar level at higher levels of play. Nevertheless, Fizzle Terran Shaman is favored by high legend players due to its attractive playstyle and its more balanced matchup spread. It is more difficult to counter.
Death Knight
- Zerg Death Knight initially warped the format in a way that greatly discouraged other strategies from fighting for board. It is so dominant in its ability to win board through buffed Zerglings and Banelings, while scaling incredibly well into the late game, that it forced opponents to play a different game. Its two main counters, Dungar Druid and Weapon Rogue, represent the two different ways to attack it. One develops a massive board in one turn before Infestors come online, while the other ignores the board and smacks the Death Knight in the head.
- Starved of good matchups and getting increasingly targeted, hostility to Zerg DK may rise further, to the point it’s likely to end up in Tier 3 at higher levels of play. The best decks either counter it, or go 50/50 against it.
Druid
- Dungar Druid looks extremely strong in the current meta, a product of the new decks’ influence. Dungar Druid blows out Zerg DK with Dungar, while Terran Shaman isn’t fast enough to consistently rush down the Druid. Moreover, Death Knight and Shaman have greatly discouraged aggressive decks from seeing play, as they struggle to win board against them. This gives Dungar Druid free reign to do as it pleases without getting punished by board-centric aggressive decks. When it comes to the late game, only Terran Warrior and Discover Hunter have the ability to consistently outlast Dungar Druid.
- Hero Power Druid imitates Weapon Rogue by punching opponents in the face, which translates to a good matchup against Zerg DK. It is also similarly weak to taunts, so it tends to struggle against Terran decks, as well as Alien Encounters. This is clearly a competitive deck, but we wouldn’t call it a meta breaker.
Rogue
- Weapon Rogue is the hardest counter in the game to Zerg DK, unless the Death Knight is specifically teched to beat it. This is enough to push its performance to an elite level. However, the only other competitive deck that Weapon Rogue beats is Location Warlock. The deck seems to struggle against other top meta contenders, which makes us wonder how good it would be if Zerg DK continued to decline, along with the terrible Protoss decks it seems to farm.
- Protoss Rogue looks terrible, but its refined form is likely higher up in Tier 4 than it currently is (it may climb to a 45%-46% win rate). It’s the best Protoss deck that actually runs Protoss minions. Unfortunately, the only thing this means is that the Protoss faction is horrendously underpowered.
Hunter
- Discover Hunter looks solid. Shaman and Warlock look like the harder matchups, but they’re not too bad. The deck is generally well-rounded and has a decent chance in every matchup.
- Grunter Hunter is becoming increasingly powerful over time, a product of Shaman’s continued ascendance in play rate. Grunter Hunter demolishes Shaman like no other deck can, which is enough to lift its performance to an elite status. The rest of its matchup spread is not particularly special. It may end up becoming the best performer at top legend, considering it is starting to queue into the Shaman matchup constantly at higher levels of play.
Warrior
- Terran Warrior’s matchup spread looks like one of a top tier deck, but the large presence of Zerg DK is choking it, as this matchup is far too oppressive. With Shaman gaining percentages against Warrior through the incorporation of Fizzle, while Grunter Hunter is rising to counter Shaman and hurt Warrior through collateral damage, the format is expected to become increasingly difficult. Terran Warrior should experience a drop off in its performance over the next week, even if we assume a continued decline in Zerg DK.
Priest
- Protoss Priest is very, very bad. The only thing it does well is beat Terran Warrior through the value of Motherships. It is miles off any other matchup.
- The Priest decks that see too little play to include in the table are the good ones. Reno Priest could be a Tier 3 performer thanks to its good matchup against Zerg DK, with Elise acting as this matchup’s Dungar. Aggressive Priest decks running a Zealot package look very promising. Zarimi Priest is estimated to be a Tier 1 performer across ladder and we’re seeing signs of it establishing some presence in the format, even if it’s relatively small.
Mage
- Protoss Mage is almost as bad as Protoss Priest. As it stands, we’ve seen nothing in its development that suggests a refined build could get out of Tier 4 territory.
- Elemental Mage is a strong counter to Dungar Druid and Weapon Rogue, but we don’t think any of its merits will cause more players to pick up an old, tribal deck. Players are far more likely to continue to try and make Protoss Mage work.
Warlock
- Location Warlock looks good, at a similar level to Discover Hunter. Its matchup spread is very balanced and well-rounded, with 50-50 matchups against Zerg DK, Terran Shaman and Terran Warrior. Dungar Druid and Weapon Rogue, the same pairing that targets Zerg DK, are the opponents that give Warlock the most grief.
Paladin
- Paladin is competitively irrelevant. Terran Paladin is completely outclassed by Shaman. Handbuff Paladin is falling off, not able to handle the emerging new decks in the format. Lynessa Paladin is done without Oracle.
Demon Hunter
- Demon Hunter does not exist.
Class Analysis & Decklists
Death Knight | Demon Hunter | Druid | Hunter | Mage | Paladin | Priest | Rogue | Shaman | Warlock | Warrior
Terran Shaman has emerged as the most dominant strategy in the format. The archetype is in the process of splitting into two distinct playstyles.
The first is the more aggressive build, which takes the Swarm Shaman shell and slaps the Terran faction on top of it. This deck is all about overwhelming the opponent with pressure and finishing them off with Battlecruisers, Siege Tanks or Bloodlust.
The second is the Fizzle build, which is a lot more defensive in nature. Its goal is to copy a high value hand that contains Triangulate, then shuffling more Snapshots with Triangulate. This is an infinite value state because every time we open a Snapshot, we add another Triangulate to our hand.
The first build is vulnerable to Terran Warrior, due to its finite resources, as well as Warlock’s ability to outpace it. The second build forces Warrior and Warlock into closer matchups, at the cost of losing some percentages in matchups where the Shaman benefits from pressuring early (such as Zerg DK and Rogue). The Fizzle build is far more popular at top legend, while the Siege build is more common at lower rank brackets.
Though there is some perception that Zerg Death Knight was easy to build and refine, in practice, the archetype has a wide variety of builds, many of them significantly better than others. Yelling Yodeler is the card many builds don’t run to their detriment. It is core to the deck and drastically improves it.
There are two approaches that are clearly stronger than all others. Ultimately, they are just four cards different. The Frost build with Horn of Winter is the best all-around one, as Horn allows us to cheat out Infestor/Growl plays earlier. The Rainbow build runs Airlock Breach and Quartzite Crusher to target the Weapon Rogue matchup. This matchup goes from 25-75 to 60-40 with the switch of these cards, so it is dramatically better if you’re encountering that matchup often, but Breach/Crusher are useless cards in other matchups, especially the Zerg DK mirror.
In the current format, the Frost build is superior as Weapon Rogue isn’t too popular. Only in top legend, does it become a closer call (but we would still run Frost).
Hero Power Druid is the emerging new deck in the class, centered on the synergy between Artanis’ hero power and Groovy Cat. A single Groovy Cat essentially buffs Artanis’ hero power four times, which can produce a lot of damage, especially when complemented by charging Zealots, Sing-Along Buddy, and Popular Pixie.
The deck wants to run as many soft removal effects as it can to bypass taunts. Mind Control Tech is core to the deck, as is Bob. Astral Phaser can also help us bypass taunts.
Dungar Druid doesn’t need to change anything it’s doing. There is a lot of variation in builds, mostly surrounding five slots. We like Lifebinder’s Gift and Crystal Cluster the most because they provide the greatest consistency in accelerating us to a Dungar. Some players have experimented with the Protoss package you can find in Hero Power Druid. It’s okay, but nothing special in this deck.
Besides splitting hairs on whether ‘Oh, Manager!’ or Tentacle Grip is the better card, there’s not much to do when refining Weapon Rogue.
Protoss Rogue is the strongest “real” Protoss deck out there, but it’s still a Tier 4 deck even if we’re assuming everyone plays its best and most refined build, which is the one featured below. It has a relatively elaborate win condition centered on Sonya/Scoundrel/Artist, meant to copy multiple Archons and OTK the opponent.
Discover Hunter has reinvented itself as a Zerg/Location deck with Seaside Giants. The late game infinite loop with Fizzle still exists, helping it contest other infinite Fizzle decks. But most of the time, Hydralisks can just nuke opponents with more damage than they can handle. This deck is very versatile, capable of building strong boards, dealing off-board damage, pressuring early or going late. Its matchup spread, as a result, is very balanced.
Grunter Hunter is emerging as a top meta contender due to its ability to hard counter Terran Shaman. Food Fight and Catch of the Day seem important when several format contenders can feasibly sit back and not offer us Grunt targets.
Zerg Hunter looks like a mediocre aggressive deck. It’s hard to see it gaining traction. Zerg Death Knight is more effective at controlling the board.
Terran Warrior is a strong deck that’s mostly limited by its terrible matchup against Zerg Death Knight. One adjustment that can improve the matchup is cutting Hostile Invaders, while replacing them with two copies of Brawl. Invader is getting cut already, as it is quite useless in the current format, but two Brawls are not yet common. That sounds like an incredible statement, but board decks are not popular, while the dominant board deck (Zerg DK) will usually develop stats that Invader can’t deal with, but Brawl can.
Bob and Mind Control Tech are very strong in the current meta. Inventor Boom is mandatory (resurrects Battlecruiser and Zilliax). Zola is very important because it allows us to chain Fizzle for infinite value. A big mistake players make is not running Zola, or running her inside a pointless ETC.
Protoss Priest looks terrible. The best way to build it seems to be a minion-light approach with a lot of tutors, making it easy for us to copy Sentries and Motherships. Rest in Peace is the most underplayed card in this archetype. We would run two copies of it without a second thought. Repackage is the most important removal card in Priest currently, as it cleanly deals with Zerg DK boards.
Reno Priest could be a fringe competitive deck, as it beats Zerg Death Knight the same way Dungar Druid does, by blowing it out in one turn through Elise. Just make sure to run Repackage.
Priest has several aggressive decks that looks strong, albeit with a low sample size. The common denominator is the same Zealot package, with Hallucination used to copy a Zealot summoned by Chrono Boost.
Zarimi Priest is likely to be the strongest one.
Protoss Mage doesn’t look good. We’ve cleaned up two lists that are likely to be the best you can find. The faster variant runs Mantle Shaper and tries to pressure early, using Colossus as a finisher. The slower variant goes all-in on scaling up Colossus damage, especially with Fizzle.
Elemental Mage wants to run Lamplighters again because it’s a way to close out the game against Zerg DK after it has taken over the board.
The availability of four different locations has propelled Location Warlock to find success with Seaside Giants. Summoner Darkmarrow gives us access to both Horizon’s Edge and Soul Searching, with the latter offering us more late game value. Bob is powerful in the current meta. Loken is core to the deck. Domino Effect is currently better than Table Flip, for a similar reason Brawl is better than Hostile Invader. This deck also doesn’t life tap as much in the early game, which is why Dark Alley Pact and Endgame aren’t the best fits.
Terran Paladin is nowhere near the level of Terran Shaman or even Terran Warrior. Handbuff Paladin has fallen off. Lynessa Paladin has disappeared due to the loss of Ethereal Oracle.
We got nothing. If you insist on the class, run Attack Demon Hunter and don’t bother with any Zerg cards. Paraglide replaces Oracle.
Terran Shaman is clearly the strongest strategy in the game and may completely take over ladder this week. The only deck that seems capable of stopping it is Grunter Hunter, but we’re not sure about Grunter Hunter’s wider appeal, as it has never been particularly popular, even when it was good.
Balance changes are likely coming next week, so we’ll see what happens then. The mini-set has been received well, so whether Team 5 choose to ride the wave into rotation, or significantly adjust things, remains to be seen.
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