Welcome to the 357th 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 | 1,075,000 |
| Top 1K Legend | 32,000 |
| Legend (Excluding Top 1k) | 72,000 |
| Diamond 4 to 1 | 222,000 |
| Diamond 10 to 5 | 234,000 |
| Platinum | 178,000 |
| 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
The nerf to Spiderling does not seem to have dented Attack Druid’s popularity by a significant margin. We see a small decline at most ladder brackets, while its top legend presence has barely changed. The player base still highly favors the deck.
The Warrior class has flipped on its head, with Dragon Warrior becoming the dominant archetype, while Pirate Warrior takes a backseat.
Quest Priest’s presence has grown across ladder, while the floundering Control Priest has declined. Thief Priest retains a small presence.
Herald Rogue’s top legend play rate has significantly declined, though the deck is a bit more visible elsewhere on ladder.
Herald Warlock has attracted more interest following the patch, with its build becoming solidified.
Void Demon Hunter is attempting a small comeback to the format. Raza Demon Hunter, a deck built around shooting the opponent with Collapsing Star, the hero power you get from Soul Immolation, is attracting some top legend interest. The deck is making an appearance in the World Championships as well.
Another deck attempting a small comeback is Herald Shaman. Zee Shaman has declined, while Mug Shaman is barely noticeable.
We do not see much movement in Death Knight. The class is stagnant.
Quest Mage has collapsed with the nerf to The Forbidden Sequence. The class is fractured into multiple decks with low player interest.
Pure Paladin has declined and is barely seen even on the climb to legend.
Hunter is gone. Quest Hunter has disappeared. Face Hunter has previously gotten nuked. It seems there is nothing left for the class to play.
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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
Warrior
- The balance changes may have traded one overpowered class for another, with Warrior now looking like the clear best choice at all levels of play. It is particularly dominant at top legend.
- Dragon Warrior may be the dominant archetype between the two in terms of play rate, but Pirate Warrior remains extremely effective in this format. There is a good explanation for this.
- Dragon Warrior’s primary ladder counter is Priest, with both Quest and Thief performing well against the deck. Pirate Warrior performs far better in these matchups and is even favored against Quest Priest. It also outperforms Dragon Warrior against Warlock and Rogue. Those are three of the five most popular classes.
- Pirate Warrior loses the direct matchup against Dragon Warrior and is also significantly worse against Attack Druid, which is why Dragon Warrior is not an inferior choice. It depends on the balance between Warrior/Druid popularity and Warlock/Priest/Rogue popularity. The current field currently puts them close to each other.
Druid
- Attack Druid is still a strong deck, the best non-Warrior deck in the format, but it lost the top spot as it can no longer dominate Warrior in the direct matchup. The Dragon Warrior matchup is even and the Pirate Warrior matchup remains favored, but is less of a hard counter. We believe the player base’s preference of Dragon Warrior is highly influenced by their desire to perform better against Druid.
Priest
- Priest seems to have gained a serious competitive role in the format now, as it is the best counter to Dragon Warrior, with both Quest and Thief Priest performing well against the dominant archetype. We dare say that Thief Priest could be slightly underrated.
- It will be interesting to see whether Priest becomes stronger thanks to hype surrounding Dragon Warrior. Should Dragon Warrior further spike in play, we can see Quest and Thief Priest break into a positive win rate in the coming days. However, a further increase in Priest’s popularity may cause a Warrior shift back to pirates and a further rise in the Warlock population, which represent a debilitating matchup to Quest Priest due to Cursed Chains. The format can hurt Priest, if it chooses to target it.
Rogue
- Herald Rogue is having a rough time as it gets obliterated by Warrior, which is now the strongest class in the game. We have noticed more players are running the Stealth build in an attempt to stop the bleeding. While the Stealth build is better against Warrior, the matchup is still difficult.
- Ayaya Rogue is generally weak, but outperforms Herald Rogue at top legend. The Warrior matchup is not as bad and the deck is a bit more skill intensive. Still, we do not expect it to perform better than Tier 3.
Warlock
- Warlock’s story is a simple game of ‘Rock Paper Scissors’. It obliterates Priest. It gets obliterated by Warrior. Therefore, Warlock players want to see Priest rise in play and curb the dominance of Warrior. The rise of Quest Priest this week has undoubtedly improved Warlock’s competitive standing.
Demon Hunter
- Void Demon Hunter is okay, but cannot be top tier in the current climate, as it is unfavored against both Warrior and Priest. Its best matchup is Herald Warlock.
- Most players are struggling to make Raza Demon Hunter work on ladder. The deck exhibits the highest skill ceiling in the format and is showing gradual improvement in its performance, which could place it in Tier 3 at top legend. However, its current skill metrics do not come near many famous decks of the past. It does not seem to be remarkably unique in that regard. We will wait another week and see whether that changes.
Shaman
- We believe players are sleeping on Mug Shaman. The deck has potential to become one of the stronger decks in the current format, if given a chance. The reason is that it counters Quest Priest (thanks to Hex), performs well against Warrior, and does not lose to Warlock. The Druid matchup has become better following the Spiderling nerf, so it should not be as discouraging to face either.
- Zee Shaman, on the other hand, is clearly inferior to Mug, as it gets soundly beaten by both Quest Priest and Warrior. Not a good combo in the current field.
- Herald Shaman performs well against Priest, but its matchup spread is far worse than Mug, as it loses to both Warrior and Druid.
Death Knight
- Egg Death Knight is another potential Dragon Warrior counter. It is a similar deck to Quest Priest in its weaknesses and possesses a worse overall matchup spread on paper, with the caveat that most players are running the wrong build for it. It is not being corrected due to the archetype’s low profile, so we are not convinced it is actually worse than Quest Priest.
- Unholy Death Knight is not a bad deck, but when Warrior is so much better as an aggressive option, it is not surprising that its play rate is so low.
Mage
- Quest Mage may have died, but Burn Mage is showing signs of life with a novel build. Its main competitive call is to queue into Priest, Warlock and Rogue. It is not comfortable with the Druid and Warrior matchups, but they are only slightly unfavored, so the deck is surprisingly well positioned.
Paladin
- Current meta trends are very bad for Pure Paladin, as it loses to both Quest Priest and Herald Warlock. Past Diamond 5, it does not beat anything relevant.
Hunter
- Hunter is a dead class. The little data we have on the class is showing that its best deck has a win rate in the low 40’s.
Class Analysis & Decklists
Death Knight | Demon Hunter | Druid | Hunter | Mage | Paladin | Priest | Rogue | Shaman | Warlock | Warrior
Spiderling is still a good card in Attack Druid, so we do not recommend cutting it. The matchup differences between the two featured builds are very small, so it comes down to your preferences.
The Dragon Warrior list from last week looks clean. The Fire variant of Pirate Warrior is a viable alternative if you want to perform better against Rogue, Warlock and Priest.
Follow the Ghosts has improved its performance in Quest Priest, so we are including it. This might be because it performs better against Dragon Warrior compared to Pirate Warrior. The decline in Pirate Warrior numbers has also worsened the metrics of Devouring Plague.
A small tweak in Ayaya Rogue is to run Nightmare Fuel. The card has performed well in Herald Rogue, which is why players have started to experiment with it in Ayaya Rogue. It produces good results.
No changes to Warlock. The Herald Warlock build looks solidified.
Recent builds of Void Demon Hunter drop Broxigar to accommodate more removal. We are convinced on 28 cards here, but we have not found a great card to complete the deck. One option that is beginning to see a little bit of play is Hellraiser. Its initial small sample looks okay, so we are floating it. Otherwise, we would run Press the Advantage.
Raza Demon Hunter is relatively straightforward to build, but we cannot recommend it on ladder.
Herald Shaman is making a small comeback, with players seeking to counter Quest Priest with Hex.
Players are not experimenting with Death Knight these days, which we suspect is caused by both of its competitive decks struggling to attract players.
Burn Mage could be legit. A Code Violet build looks promising, running both a board blow out plan and a burn plan with Contraband Wands, Story of the Waygate and Tunneling Geomancer. This deck targets Warlock, Rogue and Priest.
Nothing is going on here.
Warrior is now the dominant class in the format, but its interaction with other classes could determine its next move. Dragon Warrior is currently the favored choice due its performance against Druid and Warrior, but it does cede ground to other classes in the process. It is worth noting that while Warrior is powerful, it is not as unstoppable as Attack Druid was before the patch. Priest represents a viable counter, while other options are underexplored (Mug Shaman, Egg Death Knight).
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