vS Data Reaper Report #38 – Vicious Syndicate

Welcome to the 38th edition of the Data Reaper Report!

For your convenience, this report has been translated into the following languages: русский, 中文, and 한국어.

With the balance changes announced, we’ve prepared a shortened report that includes updated decklists, but no class section write ups. We will continue with this shortened format until the patch hits. We realize there is less interest at this time in internal class developments, though it’s still important to record and report the data. When the new patch releases, we will reset all matchup data and likely go on a short hiatus until we’ve gathered enough new post-patch data to generate a reliable report.

Our Data Reaper Project, including the Data Reaper Live (Beta) has 2,400 active contributors. Without them, this project would not be possible, so we’d like to thank all of our contributors for their help.

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Number of Games

Overall	67,000
Legend	1,200
Ranks 1-5	13,000
Ranks 6-10	20,000
Ranks 11-15	19,000

Class/Archetype Distribution

Class Frequency by Day

Class Frequency by Week

At least until the balance changes hit, we will continue to endure Shamanstone. The class’ numbers at ranks 1-5 are close to 40%, though this number relaxes a bit at legend rank, likely due to players switching to other classes once they’ve finished their climb. Aggro Shaman is more common at higher levels of play than Mid-Jade, and this correlates to their performance against the field: Mid-Jade is very strong, but Aggro is still king.

Behind Warrior, which is the clear #2 class that has a very stable ladder presence, sit the other 5 notable classes in Hearthstone. Warlock, Mage and Rogue become more common at higher levels of play, where Priest and Druid significantly decline. Druid struggles in a Meta dominated by Shamans and aggressive decks, while Priest has issues with some of the other common Meta decks. Pirate Warrior, Miracle Rogue and Reno Warlock give it a hard time.

Paladin and Hunter remain mostly absent from ladder, biding their time until the extremely oppressive early game of other classes slows down to the point where they can execute their own potential game plans. Will the changes be enough to see these classes reappear beyond the odd meme? Time will tell.

Note: legend win rates are currently applied to the legend table as well as the ranks 1-5 table. Due to the competitive nature of ladder at this point in the month, the ranks 1-5 table probably best exhibits the power levels of decks in the current Meta.

While the power levels of the Meta remains mostly the same, we’d like to focus on a few rather less prevalent archetypes that are currently piquing our curiosity and worth discussing.

Dragon Warrior has seen significant improvement in its performance levels, even hitting Tier 1 status at all ranks. The archetype is known to hit a wall at higher levels of play, where its numbers are less impressive, but we believe that it’s currently slightly underrated. The big advantage of Dragon Warrior is its matchups spread, which is very balanced. It doesn’t excel in particular matchups, but it also doesn’t have a glaring weakness either, compared to Pirate Warrior, which is a much more polarized deck. Pirate Warrior is likely a better tournament pick for this reason, but for a ladder climb, Dragon Warrior is also a decent choice, especially if you dislike the Rock/Paper/Scissors aspect of the current Meta. The archetype’s strength is also its weakness. Dragon Warrior heavily relies on hitting its curve. If it does, it can beat anything. If it doesn’t, it can lose to anything.

Is Aggro Rogue better than Miracle Rogue? Why yes, yes it is! The archetype has seen an improvement in its performance against the field which correlates with its more advanced refinement stage. It is still relatively experimental compared to other decks in the current Meta, so it definitely has some untapped potential which may translate into a further increase in its power level. While it is weaker against Reno decks, slower Shamans and Priest, its matchups against Aggro Shaman and Pirate Warrior are far better than Miracle Rogue’s. It also has a good matchup in the Rogue mirror, which is another reason why it has surpassed Miracle Rogue in the power rankings. Aggro Rogue has also established itself as a popular choice in tournaments. There are many aggressive, triple Patches line ups at the upcoming AM prelims that run Aggro Rogue over Miracle, looking to gain an edge in the Patches mirrors.

Speaking of aggressive triple Patches line ups, Tempo Mage has found its niche in the tournament scene often filling in as the 4^th deck in these line ups. One of the purposes of Tempo Mage is avoiding running Reno Mage or another slow deck in its place. This is aimed to dodge the threat of heavy anti-control line-ups that look to lock out Reno decks in a conquest format. In addition, Tempo Mage has good matchups against both Reno Warlock and Reno Mage, so it complements the triple Patches (Shaman, Warrior, Rogue) strategy very well, which can also give Miracle Rogue fits. Why are we explaining all of this to the ladder player? Because ladder play is a whole different story, where Tempo Mage is extremely weak due to its vulnerability to the fast Pirate openings as well as Shaman, which is the popular tournament ban. The deck might see resurgence after the balance changes hit, but until then, remain cautious when netdecking a list that did well in a tournament. Ladder is a different game.

Class Analysis & Decklists

Soon ™

Our Data Reaper Project, including the Data Reaper Live (Beta) has over 2,400 active contributors. Without them, this project would not be possible, so we’d like to thank all of our contributors for their help.

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