Paladin is once again wearing an underrated robe.
This isn’t as dramatic as the Quest Warrior situation but something to keep in mind when it comes to Questlines helping players at lower ranks screw up less. It is a Tier 1 deck at Diamond 5 and below, but Tier 3 at top legend. There’s a clear regression in the deck’s performance across the board but also big disparity in its standing at different rank brackets. Quest Hunter continues to shine where the meta isn’t very developed but starts to struggle once you climb further on ladder and hit a larger percentage of Demon Hunters and Druids. Outside of top legend, Mech Mage performs better. Naga Mage is also the deck with the 2nd highest skill ceiling in the format, following Boar Priest. We will note that its matchup spread in the event of a Drek’Thar nerf is very promising since it mostly struggles to Aggro DH and Quest Hunter, both of which are big Drek abusers. Not when Demon Hunters are so prevalent and oppressive. Naga Mage is another deck that’s clearly getting better, and we think has a bright future, but is it a great deck in the current format? Not yet. It’s still very strong in the late game where it can consistently frustrate Control Warriors, but the Aggro DH matchup ranges from terrible to bad depending on your build. Ramp Druid has hit Tier 2 in some rank brackets, which is something we expected to see based on its refinement. It cannot realistically stop Demon Hunter in the current environment. Control Warrior’s decline at top legend this week is purely psychological, as its win rate has not fallen at all, but it’s not a deck that can hit a 20% play rate without being severely punished. Nothing else is quite as effective, and there are too many strong Warrior counters for the deck to become popular enough to put a real dent on DH’s win rate. The problem is that only Control Warrior can answer Aggro DH. Expect continued Demon Hunter dominance until outside intervention is made. Things look a little better compared to last week, with a few decks from different classes making some improvements in their performance through refinement, but the bottom line is that Aggro DH is still much stronger than any other option in the format, and there is no sign of the meta being able to self-correct. Interest in Shaman and Rogue continues to be very low. To avoid confusion with Abyssal Curse Warlock, which is an entirely different curse deck, we’ve called them “Agony Warlock” and “Abyssal Warlock”. Following Monsanto’s success and Meati’s #1 legend peak, a new Curse of Agony Warlock has emerged. Quest Priest is an ongoing coping mechanism. There’s nothing else remotely interesting happening with this class. At some point, Boar Priest’s play rate was on a trajectory to hit 10% at this bracket, yet things quickly fizzled out and the deck has now settled on a 5% play rate. The rise of Boar Priest at top legend has been quickly brought to a halt. On the other hand, Holy and Dragon Paladin are experiencing a decline after failing to become compelling ladder choices due to the greater success of Control Warrior. Paladin is picking up some steam, with both Mech and Handbuff Paladin rising in prominence. While Quest Hunter continues to be very popular throughout ladder, we’re noticing a sharp decline in its numbers at top legend, caused by the increasingly difficult matchup with Demon Hunter and the higher prevalence of Druid. Mech Mage is stagnating, with a small decline in play. Naga Mage is picking up more play with the Wildfire variant becoming the dominant choice at all levels of play. The Celestial Alignment build is more popular at top legend since it wins Druid mirrors and farms Boar Priests. Ramp Druid acts as the primary counter to Control Warrior. Ramp Druid development is trickling down ladder, but the deck has hit its plateau at higher levels of play where it is the 3rd most popular deck. Meanwhile, Quest Warrior is declining across the board. There are multiple counters that are pretty difficult for Warrior to deal with, making the deck ‘feel’ worse since you’re very reliant on hitting the popular matchup to get results.
In fact, the deck has declined at top legend, where Demon Hunter is most prevalent. But the higher you climb ladder, the narrower the meta gets and the more obvious the problem becomes.Ĭontrol Warrior is the only consistent counter to Aggro DH, and yet it’s not rising in popularity. At lower ends of ladder, Demon Hunter is extremely underplayed, which gives the false notion of a deck that’s not entirely overbearing. The deck is rising at all levels of play and exceeds a 30% play rate at top legend. The format is degenerating due to the dominance of Aggro Demon Hunter.
0 kommentar(er)
