vS Data Reaper Report #325

June 6, 2025

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Welcome to the 325th 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 666,000
Top 1K Legend 41,000
Legend (Excluding Top 1k) 131,000
Diamond 4 to 1 57,000
Diamond 10 to 5 83,000
Platinum 75,000
Bronze/Silver/Gold 279,000

Class/Archetype Distribution

Class Frequency

Class Frequency Discussion

Cycle Rogue has risen across ladder, but a particularly big spike in play is seen at top legend, where the archetype nears a 20% play rate. Pirate Rogue has only slightly crept up, while other Rogue decks have disappeared.

Starship DK has doubled its numbers over the last week, taking over as the most popular deck in the class. Menagerie DK peaks at Diamond ranks, where it was shown to be at its strongest. Blood-Ctrl Death Knight has become relatively fringe, while a small presence of Handbuff DK persists.

Top legend has seen a big spike in Spell Damage Druid, which has become one of the most popular decks at higher levels of play. Meanwhile, Imbue Druid has declined across ladder. Some Aviana Druid hype has trickled down to lower rank brackets, but its presence has not increased at top legend. Starship Druid has faded away, despite its recent success, in favor of Spell Damage Druid.

Imbue Paladin has declined. Although the deck remains the most popular choice outside of legends ranks, it is now non-existent at top legend. Interestingly, Drunk Paladin is attempting a comeback at higher levels of play, gaining further traction on a daily basis. The build remains mostly the same, save for the loss of Ursol and Shaladrassil at its top end.

Demon Hunter has risen in play and dramatically diversified. Starship DH has gained a lot of traction this week, eclipsing Cliff Dive DH at most ladder brackets. It is also experimenting with Endbringer Umbra, the pre-released legendary that came out with the announcement of The Lost City of Un’Goro. Aggro DH has become slightly more noticeable too, with an alternative build popping up.

Menagerie Priest has risen in play on the climb to legend, but declined at top legend. This is the only Priest deck worth noting, with Imbue variants of Protoss and Control Priest fading.

Protoss Mage has declined at all levels of play, but remains visible with a persistent population of players.

Interest in Warlock has declined, with Wallow Warlock hype dying out and Starship Warlock not holding attention.

Umbra has sparked experimentation with Mech Warrior, but Control Warrior is the only archetype that sees any play at top legend.

Murmur Shaman and Starship Hunter have declined, while interest in Asteroid Shaman and Handbuff Hunter has not picked up.

Matchup Win Rates Header

Power Rankings Header

vS Meta Score

vS Power Rankings Discussion

Rogue

  • Pirate Rogue has gone through a significant decline in its performance, though remains elite across ladder. Other decks have been catching up to it, while it has stood relatively still in terms of refinement. The rise of Cycle Rogue (its biggest counter)  and the decline of easy prey (such as Protoss Mage) are also factors in its decline.
  • Cycle Rogue’s win rate at top legend has also relaxed. There are several decks that can beat it, including a hard counter (Menagerie Priest), so it is far from unstoppable, but what is clear is that it is highly attractive to top legend players. This remains a difficult deck to play that players at lower rank brackets do not perform nearly as well with.

Death Knight

  • Starship DK has gone through a normal decline in its performance that is tied to the field catching up to it in terms of deck optimization. The decline of Protoss Mage has also been offset by the rise of other counter matchups, such as Starship DH.
  • Blood-Ctrl DK is noticeably weaker but competitive, especially with its more proactive build. It is more vulnerable to late game lethality and hard loses the matchup against Starship Death Knight
  • Menagerie DK remains an elite ladder climber, but declines at top legend due to weaker matchups against slower decks (Starship DK), which are more prevalent at higher levels of play, as well as a lower skill ceiling.
  • There might be little interest in Handbuff DK, but the remains strong and competitive across ladder. Perhaps, its weaker matchup against Imbue Paladin is why it has not gained more traction (playing this deck into Equality possibly feels bad enough to avoid).

Druid

  • Spell-Damage Druid looks very strong, even at lower rank brackets where players may not be as proficient with it. Its matchup spread, especially at top legend, looks extremely attractive. It only has slightly unfavorable matchups into the two popular Rogue decks, while beating nearly everything else.
  • Imbue Druid has drastically declined in its performance across ladder, matching the play rate decline we have seen earlier. Many of the decks rising in play represent uncomfortable matchups (Pirate/Cycle Rogue, Starship DK, Menagerie Priest). It also no scope for improvement through internal means.
  • Aviana Druid remains terrible. Starship Druid did decline in its performance before fading away, but its win rate is likely still competitive, just not nearly as good as Spell Damage Druid.

Paladin

  • Drunk Paladin is back and looks extremely powerful at top legend, where it is the best performing deck, by far. We do want to note that the deck is very different from what it was before. It is much more reliant on finding specific matchups to see success. In the current meta, it is a hard counter to Spell Damage Druid, while also beating both Rogue decks. Essentially, it beats the current darlings of top legend ladder.
  • On the other hand, Drunk Paladin now gets harder countered by control decks with mass removal and strong defensive tools, as it no longer has access to the late game duo of Ursol and Shaladrassil. Its slower early game, as a result of the nerf to Flickerbot, also means a fast paced deck such as Menagerie Priest can rush it down. The deck should spike in its popularity over the next week, but effective answers exist that could push the format in the direction of slower, defensive decks.
  • While the discrepancy across rank brackets of Imbue Paladin’s performance is partly due to a changing field, it is also the deck with the lowest skill ceiling in the format. Elite at Diamond ranks and below. Unplayable at top legend. The matchup against Cycle Rogue, the deck with the highest skill ceiling in the format, goes from close to 50-50 at Diamond ranks, to 70-30 in favor of the Rogue at top legend.

Demon Hunter

  • Cliff Dive DH is unfavored against Cycle Rogue and gets hard countered by Spell Damage Druid, which is why we see a drastic decline in its performance at top legend. Elsewhere, the decline in performance is softer.
  • In contrast, Aggro DH does well against Rogue, so it looks like the best DH deck at top legend, even though it barely sees play there. It also has further room for improvement through refinement because its emerging variant is superior. It could become a Tier 1 deck across ladder.
  • Starship DH does well against Death Knight, Mage and Imbue Paladin, which are popular throughout most of ladder, but it is weak against Rogue and Druid, so it sinks at top legend.

Priest

  • Menagerie Priest has elevated in its performance and become the best performing deck on ladder, only surpassed by top legend Drunk Paladin. This is the hardest counter in the game to Cycle Rogue, which explains why it has become so much stronger at top legend despite its decline in popularity there. It also performs well against the emerging Drunk Paladin, which could become more important. But much like every deck in the format, there are ways to beat it. Defensive decks with removal do consistently well against it.

Mage

  • Protoss Mage is further declining in its performance with the rest of the field optimizing and becoming more hostile to it. It only does well against decks that give it a lot of time to reach its late game. Most of the successful and popular decks in the format do not provide Mage with that leisure.

Warlock

  • Wallow Warlock is too weak to be competitive, while Starship Warlock has only remained strong enough at top legend thanks to its good Death Knight matchups and going 50-50 with Rogue. Protoss Mage may have declined, but Spell Damage Druid is even more difficult to deal with. There is some encouragement from the fact Starship Warlock performs well against both Drunk Paladin and Menagerie Priest.

Warrior

  • Warrior has a competitive role in the format. Terran Warrior does well at lower ranks before falling off at higher levels of play. At top legend, the unique field is encouraging for Control Warrior, as it performs well against both Cycle Rogue and its hardest counter (Menagerie Priest). Its good matchup against Drunk Paladin means Warrior’s win rate is gradually rising every day. The Mech Warrior experiments are not panning out.

Shaman

  • Murmur Shaman has collapsed at top legend due to its poor matchups against Rogue and Druid. Asteroid Shaman gets utterly destroyed by these classes, which means Shaman has lost any hope of being competitive on ladder considering current trends.

Hunter

  • Handbuff Hunter looks okay, but it is likely not strong enough to garner a significant number of players considering there are better options available and its playstyle is unattractive. Starship Hunter has disappeared because it is terrible.

Class Analysis & Decklists

Death Knight | Demon Hunter | Druid | Hunter | Mage | Paladin | Priest | Rogue | Shaman | Warlock | Warrior

 

Data Reaper Report - Rogue

Both Rogue archetypes appear refined. Zilliax looks like a good card in Pirate Rogue. You can cut Backstab for Sailboat Captain if you want to be greedier. Living Flame performs well in Cycle Rogue.

The Foamrender build has taken over Blood-Ctrl Death Knight. If Drunk Paladin blows up, there might be a reason to run Gnomelia. For this report’s database, the card still looked weak.

The defensive variant of Starship Death Knight is the best one for the current format due to the rising popularity of Cycle Rogue and possibly Drunk Paladin.

Data Reaper Report - Druid

We are happy with the Druid lists we settled on last week. Spell-Damage Druid does not need Burndown. Imbue Druid likes both Fyrakk and Malorne.

Data Reaper Report - Paladin

Drunk Paladin has made its return and looks extremely powerful in the current format, though the loss of Ursol/Shaladrassil means it is much easier to counter with defensive decks. The deck should be running two copies of Vicious Slitherspear. It is very good.

Umbra is a strong card in Starship Demon Hunter, replacing a Dimensional Core. Mixologists have also started showing up in the archetype.

Aggro Demon Hunter is seeing great success through a more minion-dense build with a larger pain package. We are tempted to run two copies of Infernal Stapler, though the second copy might be a lot weaker than the first.

Data Reaper Report - Priest

Menagerie Priest looks settled. Hot Coals can be considered a viable alternative to Kaldorei Priestess.

Data Reaper Report - Mage

Protoss Mage has long been solved and changes in the format are not significantly affecting its optimal build.

Data Reaper Report - Warlock

The two Wallow Warlock variants are equally weak. Starship Warlock is your best bet for success with the class.

Data Reaper Report - Warrior

Control Warrior looks better thanks to the rise of “scam decks” with a finite amount of threats and damage. Terran Warrior is also competitive, though it is not as favored amongst players.

Data Reaper Report - Shaman

There is an argument that Murloc Growfin clogs your hand in Asteroid Shaman, but after evaluating a bigger sample of the card, it simply looks good. Murmur Shaman seems to have found its best build last week. Zilliax is a must have.

Data Reaper Report - Hunter

Hunter has stagnated. The class is competitive through Handbuff Hunter, but there is very little interest in the archetype.



Drunk Paladin is back. Rather than looking like an utterly dominant deck, it now seems like a perfect answer to the rise of Rogue and Spell-Damage Druid at higher levels of play. Its weakness to slower and more defensive decks means its impact on the format could be welcomed in the short term.

Menagerie Priest looks like the strongest choice on the climb to legend thanks to its early game prowess, while its dominant matchup against Cycle Rogue keeps it relevant at higher levels of play. Turns out that having the fattest 1-drops in the format and a way to cheat them out is an advantage! However, much like Drunk Paladin, Menagerie Priest is vulnerable to defensive minded decks.

With a balance patch likely coming soon and a new expansion just around the corner, the format is in a reasonable place. The next patch should not be as big as the previous one.

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EndofDaysTzachilookitzjoe

2 Comments

  2. FYI… There seems to be significant issues with viewing the decks. I have tried multiple browsers and all of them are encountering issues.

    Reply

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