Meta Pulse April 18th - Our First Shifts

We are upon Day 6 of The Witchwood expansion and we've seen the settling of the meta begin with Paladin and Warlock. Now we're seeing players reacting to this with some powerful counters.

Power Rankings


Here's a look at the class power ranking right now.

powerrankings-7


Paladin and Warlock are maintaining their dominance, but the win rates have come down a little bit. This is because of the rise of the Druid decks and solidifying Druid in the top tier. Since our last pulse, Hunter has continued to drop everyday and is very close to the bottom tier with Shaman.

What's Everyone Playing?


Here are the rankings according to the class popularity.


class_popularity-5

This is where we are seeing a reaction to the first established meta with Paladin and Warlock. Druid and Rogue have seen a tick up with various decks holding it's own against some of the top Paladin and Warlock decks. The novelty of Shaman is officially gone as it slides to the bottom with Warrior.

Top 5 Class Decks


Let's dive into some of the decks. Here are the Top 5 performing decks in various classes with at least 1000 games in Rank 10 to Legend in the last day:

### Even Paladin
# Class: Paladin
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Raven
#
# 2x (2) Vicious Scalehide
# 2x (2) Knife Juggler
# 2x (2) Dire Wolf Alpha
# 2x (2) Drygulch Jailor
# 2x (2) Stubborn Gastropod
# 1x (2) Equality
# 1x (4) Consecration
# 2x (4) Truesilver Champion
# 2x (4) Call to Arms
# 2x (4) Saronite Chain Gang
# 1x (4) Spellbreaker
# 2x (4) Blessing of Kings
# 2x (4) Lightfused Stegodon
# 1x (6) Genn Greymane
# 1x (6) Sunkeeper Tarim
# 2x (6) Crystal Lion
# 1x (8) Silver Sword
# 2x (10) Sea Giant
#
AAECAZ8FBtwD8gX0BbnBAuHwAs30AgzTAc8GrwfZB7EI5sIC2ccCm8sC+NICieYCt+cC9uwCAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
# Find the deck on https://hsreplay.net/decks/BEVTOINl6xad47nNMtP6Vg/
### Spiteful Druid
# Class: Druid
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Raven
#
# 2x (1) Fire Fly
# 2x (1) Glacial Shard
# 1x (1) Dire Mole
# 1x (2) Prince Keleseth
# 1x (3) Vicious Fledgling
# 2x (3) Tar Creeper
# 2x (3) Mind Control Tech
# 2x (3) Crypt Lord
# 2x (3) Greedy Sprite
# 2x (4) Saronite Chain Gang
# 2x (4) Spellbreaker
# 1x (5) Leeroy Jenkins
# 2x (5) Fungalmancer
# 1x (5) Cobalt Scalebane
# 2x (6) Spiteful Summoner
# 1x (7) Malfurion the Pestilent
# 1x (8) Grand Archivist
# 1x (8) The Lich King
# 2x (10) Ultimate Infestation
#
AAECAZICCK8En8ICyssCws4CmdMCnOICi+UC0OcCC94F8gWXwQLrwgLKwwKbywKHzgKR0ALR4QL55gLX6wIA
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
# Find the deck on https://hsreplay.net/decks/okONpuKv0VSizfcpJTtOEh/
### Quest Rogue
# Class: Rogue
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Raven
#
# 2x (0) Preparation
# 2x (0) Shadowstep
# 2x (1) Wax Elemental
# 1x (1) The Caverns Below
# 2x (1) Stonetusk Boar
# 2x (1) Southsea Deckhand
# 2x (1) Glacial Shard
# 1x (2) Sap
# 2x (2) Novice Engineer
# 2x (2) Youthful Brewmaster
# 2x (2) Vicious Scalehide
# 2x (3) Mimic Pod
# 1x (3) Zola the Gorgon
# 2x (3) Fan of Knives
# 1x (3) Sonya Shadowdancer
# 2x (4) Elven Minstrel
# 2x (6) Vanish
#
AAECAaIHBM0DhsICz+ECw+oCDcQBnALtAp8DiAWbBdQFhgmXwQL8wQLH0wLb4wL27AIA
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
# Find the deck on https://hsreplay.net/decks/ENOSOp1djS6YSFYX0scNQb/
### Taunt Druid
# Class: Druid
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Raven
#
# 2x (1) Lesser Jasper Spellstone
# 2x (1) Naturalize
# 2x (2) Wrath
# 2x (2) Wild Growth
# 2x (3) Witching Hour
# 1x (3) Ferocious Howl
# 1x (3) Tar Creeper
# 2x (4) Ironwood Golem
# 2x (4) Swipe
# 2x (4) Oaken Summons
# 2x (4) Branching Paths
# 2x (5) Carnivorous Cube
# 2x (5) Nourish
# 2x (8) Primordial Drake
# 1x (8) The Lich King
# 1x (9) Master Oakheart
# 1x (9) Hadronox
# 1x (9) Dragonhatcher
#
AAECAZICBsrDAsLOAq/TAvHqAt3rAr/yAgxAX+kBxAbkCMnHApTSApjSAp7SAovhAoTmAo3wAgA=
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
# Find the deck on https://hsreplay.net/decks/xN43nW7Gpkn6SnxiEorFlc/
### Tempo Rogue
# Class: Rogue
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Raven
#
# 2x (0) Backstab
# 2x (0) Shadowstep
# 2x (1) Cold Blood
# 2x (1) Fire Fly
# 2x (1) Argent Squire
# 1x (2) Prince Keleseth
# 2x (3) Hench-Clan Thug
# 2x (3) SI:7 Agent
# 1x (3) Edwin VanCleef
# 2x (3) Tar Creeper
# 2x (4) Elven Minstrel
# 2x (4) Saronite Chain Gang
# 2x (4) Spellbreaker
# 2x (5) Fungalmancer
# 2x (5) Vilespine Slayer
# 1x (5) Leeroy Jenkins
# 1x (8) The Lich King
#
AAECAaIHBLICrwTCzgKc4gINtAGMAu0C8gX1Bd0IgcIC68ICysMCm8sC0eEC2+MCpu8CAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
# Find the deck on https://hsreplay.net/decks/3khxvtHgI4eZPqGL6tRQGh/

Even Paladin (61.3%): We see quite a few variations of Even Paladin doing well, but this is the top one right now with the Sea Giants providing swing turns in the mirror matchup.

Spiteful Druid (60.7%): This version of the deck is slightly different than some of the more popular ones. The Dire Mole helps out against the Odd/Even Paladins which are tough matchups for this deck. Vicious Fledgling is a flex swap that can give you a big swing against some of the slower decks. We've seen Fungalmancer being a very common addition to many of the Spiteful Druids to create better trades and solidify any small leads going into the powerful Spiteful Summoner turns.

Quest Rogue (59.7%): It's good too see this deck back and it's having some huge success right now because of how good of a counter it is against Cubelock and the rising Taunt Druid. The new Vicious Scalehide gives the deck another card that can proactively gain advantages the turn it's played, and also it gives this deck more overall turns with the additional healing it provides with the lifesteal.

Taunt Druid (59.2%): This is the hot deck right now and has shot up the ranks the last 2 days. The synergy between Hadronox, Naturalize, Witching Hour and Carnivorous Cube creates enormous value with the multiple resurrections of all the taunt minions that only a few decks can match. The ramp mixed with value plays from Master Oakheart and Dragonhatcher give this deck versatility against both aggro and control decks.

Tempo Rogue (58.5%): This deck has a lot of success right now because of how it does against Taunt Druid and against other Rogue decks. It struggles against a number of popular Paladin and Warlock decks so this appearance here at the top may not very last long.

Check out the full list of tops decks HERE.



ARCHETYPE MATCHUPS AND POPULARITY


We're starting to see specific archetypes and their counters emerging. Here are the archetype matchup win rates across the board.

archetypematrix-2

Here's a look at how popular some of the top archetypes are.

popularitychart

For a full view of all the archetypes, click HERE.


The first week of The Witchwood has been a fun ride and we're starting to see our first established The Witchwood meta and the first counter to it.

Try some of these decks out and let us know on Twitter how you do with them!