Welcome to the 342nd 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 | 1,918,000 |
| Top 1K Legend | 60,000 |
| Legend (Excluding Top 1k) | 581,000 |
| Diamond 4 to 1 | 447,000 |
| Diamond 10 to 5 | 382,000 |
| Platinum | 192,000 |
| Bronze/Silver/Gold | 256,000 |
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
Enthusiasm for the new Imbue Elise Rogue is still high at most portions of ladder, but top legend is beginning to behave differently. In addition to an overall decline in Elise Rogue, we are seeing more players (around a 35-40%) dropping the Imbue package and going back to the original vanilla builds from before the mini-set. At other rank brackets, non-Imbue Elise Rogues only make up about 5%-10% of builds.
Blood-Ctrl Death Knight has slightly declined across ladder, with a new UUB variant emerging that runs Assimilating Blight and Shadows of Yesterday. Frost Death Knight has faded away.
Discover Hunter has surged at top legend, more than doubling its numbers over the last week. The class remains relatively unpopular at other rank brackets.
Broxigar Demon Hunter has slightly risen in play. Both Blob and Blobless builds are seeing experimentation. Elise is finding its way to the Blob variant. The Blobless build of Cliff Dive DH is also making a return.
Dragon Warrior has significantly declined in play. This deck gained much interest following the launch of the mini-set, but the increasing Blobbing might be discouraging players from piloting it. Control Warrior has slightly risen in play.
Azshara Druid’s presence has not changed much, but it is seeing internal changes, with a Blob build taking over the archetype. Blob.
Aura Paladin’s numbers are stable at most rank brackets, but there is a significant decline at top legend.
Mage remains popular at low MMR brackets and unpopular at high MMR brackets. This is a pattern often seen in fun, but weak classes.
Egg Warlock has not gained any traction after its success last week. At low MMR brackets, this is not surprising because it is an old deck. At top legend, the rise of Discover Hunter (an oppressive matchup) might be a discouraging factor.
Shaman and Priest are uneventful. We cannot identify any interesting trends over here.
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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
Rogue
- The improvement in performance at top legend for Elise Rogue is largely due to the increased percentage of non-Imbue builds in the archetype. There is no indication that Imbue Elise Rogue is a particularly high skill cap deck. It does not stand out compared to other Rogue decks. We are also not seeing a significant improvement in its performance over time. Refinement for the Imbue package is unlikely to occur and may keep the archetype a persistent underperformer, as the fun aspect is a major factor to the Imbue package’s popularity. This is a design win, as players are willing to sacrifice win rate to play the deck, and/or the deck is perceived to be more powerful than it is.
- An Elise Rogue without the Imbue package is estimated to perform at a Tier 2 level. If players mostly care about winning, as they often do at top legend, they are more likely to shift to this older build.
- Cycle Rogue has improved its performance across ladder thanks to the decline of Dragon Warrior (one of its worst matchups) and Blood-Ctrl Death Knight. The meta has generally become more favorable to the deck, with Druid and Hunter looking like more comfortable matchups to deal with.
- Protoss Rogue is also doing well. Its top legend standing has improved thanks to its strong matchup against the rising Discover Hunter.
Death Knight
- Blood-Ctrl Death Knight has weakened due to the decline of decks it performs well against, such as Dragon Warrior. Meanwhile, unfavored matchups such as Demon Hunter and Control Warrior are rising in play. The deck should remain competitive and strong. The UUB build is perfectly viable and provides a competitive alternative to the BBU build.
- Herenn Death Knight remains strong at lower MMR brackets but runs into trouble when it faces more Demon Hunters, as well as better players.
Hunter
- Discover Hunter’s return to top legend prominence is a result of its strong matchups against both Demon Hunter decks, as well as the decline of Dragon Warrior. Besides Warrior and Protoss Rogue, not much else can answer the deck effectively, which puts it in a similar position to its early expansion days. It has a well rounded matchup spread with no hard counters and an attractive playstyle.
Demon Hunter
- Broxigar Demon Hunter is spiking in its performance thanks to its refinement, which has yet to complete, as new discoveries continue to raise the deck by another level. While the deck has some effective answers, which leads us to believe it is not a major balancing concern, it is undoubtedly elite.
- Cliff Dive Demon Hunter continues to perform at an absurd level on the climb to legend. The deck does fall off at higher levels of play, though it remains one of the best decks at top legend.
- Both these archetypes have established Blob and Blobless variants and there is no “always correct” approach. A major factor is the popularity of Demon Hunter at your rank. The more Demon Hunters with Broxigar you meet, the weaker Felhunter is. Blob tends to be strongest outside of top legend, while Blobless becomes more competitive with Blob at top legend.
Warrior
- Dragon Warrior is a strong deck that is not remotely overpowered. It should remain in a decent spot in the meta. If it is too popular, it will get targeted. If it is not too popular, good matchups for it will rise in play.
- Control Warrior has some brutal counters, but what keeps it competitive and performing at a decent level are good matchups into Rogue, Demon Hunter, Hunter and Death Knight. That is a large chunk of the format.
Druid
- Azshara Druid is doing fine at most portions of ladder, with the Blob build looking like a success. However, the deck has suffered a steep decline in its performance at top legend, driven by an increasingly hostile field. One example is that Druid loses to non-Imbue Elise Rogues, which become more prevalent. The Discover Hunter matchup also worsens, indicating some ceiling on its skill trajectory.
Paladin
- Aura Paladin is experiencing a similar top legend decline. It is well established that the deck worsens at higher levels of play. Though Acceleration Aura helped alleviate this issue to some degree, it still performs worse against stronger players, as well as more optimal Elise Rogue builds. Outside of top legend, the deck remains extremely powerful and only second to Cliff Dive DH at most rank brackets.
Mage
- No major changes for Mage, with Protoss Mage not looking terrible, but not great either.
Warlock
- The rise of Discover Hunter at top legend has crippled Egg Warlock’s performance, which has nosedived from Tier 1 to Tier 3 within a week. The deck is still great for the climb to legend, but is not attractive due to being old.
Shaman
- Hagatha Shaman’s game plan has stopped being uniquely powerful after the mini-set. It is a good deck for the climb to legend, as are many others, while suffering at higher levels of play from worsening matchups and a limited skill ceiling.
Priest
- Protoss Priest’s competitive standing is held up by the large population of Elise Rogue, as well as decent matchups against Warrior. However, the shift to “good” Elise Rogue builds at top legend, as well as the decline of Dragon Warrior, is causing some decline in Protoss Priest’s performance.
Class Analysis & Decklists
Death Knight | Demon Hunter | Druid | Hunter | Mage | Paladin | Priest | Rogue | Shaman | Warlock | Warrior
After evaluating all card choices for a second time in Elise Rogue with this week’s database, we have reached the same conclusions we did last week. The best performing build skips the Imbue package, and for the Imbue package to perform better, it needs to be minimalized.
A new UUB build for Blood-Ctrl Death Knight has emerged that provides a competitive alternative to the established UBB build.
Initially, this build was running Army of the Dead and did not look great. However, once Army of the Dead was replaced by Shadows of Yesterday, the deck shot up in its performance. Going UUB means the deck is more proactive in fighting for board and pressuring the opponent but loses some defensive capabilities.
Discover Hunter is being rediscovered by players as elite option in the evolving format at higher levels of play. Nothing groundbreaking has changed in its builds. More Eliseless builds are running Precise Shot recently.
Turns out that the next step in Broxigar Demon Hunter’s evolution was adding Elise, of course. The featured build looks extremely powerful.
The Blobless, lethality version of Cliff Dive Demon Hunter is coming back too. For both Broxigar and Cliff Dive DH, the general rule of thumb is that cutting the Blob/Felhunter package is better in Demon Hunter mirrors, as Broxigar counters Felhunter due to the portal demons polluting the resurrection pool.
If you encounter a lot of Dragon Warriors or other decks that put stats in play, then Blob/Felhunter is superior, but if Demon Hunters are prevalent, skipping Felhunter is a legitimate option.
Eternal Toil looks good in Dragon Warrior, when given a chance. We have not a found reason to alter last week’s builds in the class.
Azshara Druid is adding back the Blob package, which is not a huge surprise considering how good Blob is in the current meta.
Crafter’s Aura and Cardboard Golem remain the best options for the last slots in Aura Paladin, over Tankgineer/Cubicle.
Mage is completely stagnant and out of ideas, while rotation does not bode well for it either.
Egg Warlock had a rough week at top legend due to the surge of Discover Hunter. The deck continues to perform well where Hunter is not popular.
Hagatha Shaman is still a good deck on the climb to legend but gets gradually weaker as it encounters more Blobs.
Anduin looks bored.
Broxigar DH continues to elevate its performance, turning into an elite deck across ladder. The Elise/Blob build looks extremely powerful and accessible to players at all levels, especially when the mirror is not a common matchup. At top legend, there is a serious choice between the two variants, as Broxigar counters Felhunter.
Discover Hunter is becoming increasingly dominant at higher levels of play. With Elise Rogue stuck on an underperforming package, players have gravitated to Hunter for their fix of a well-rounded deck with no hard counters.
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Contributors
