Welcome to the 318th edition of the Data Reaper Report! This is the first report for ‘Into the Emerald Dream’.
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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 | 1,310,000 |
| Top 1K Legend | 110,000 |
| Legend (Excluding Top 1k) | 393,000 |
| Diamond 4 to 1 | 128,000 |
| Diamond 10 to 5 | 182,000 |
| Platinum | 156,000 |
| Bronze/Silver/Gold | 341,000 |
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
Reminder: The graphs in the report are screenshots. You can see all the data, hover over graphs for more information, and select additional bracket filters, in the original tableau files on the website. Clicking on the screenshots in the report, or navigating through the website toolbar, gets you there.
Class Frequency Discussion
While initially starting out as a middling class at launch, Hunter is gaining a lot of momentum at all levels of play. An aggressive Zerg deck with an egg package, which we call Zegg Hunter, is rapidly growing in popularity and becoming one of the most prominent decks on the climb to legend. At top legend, Discover Hunter is drastically more popular than it is elsewhere. Imbue Hunter is one of the most popular Imbue decks, likely driven by its strong matchup against the day 1 sensation that was Armor Demon Hunter.
Death Knight has had a successful first week, with the Leech package proving to be meta defining in its strategies. Blood-Ctrl Death Knight is a prominent archetype across ladder, while Starship Death Knight is also noticeable. There is even a bit of Menagerie Death Knight. All three archetype run builds similar or identical to the ones we floated in our theorycrafting article.
Warlock has gone through a massive turnaround. Initially, the class was on the fringes of the format, which you can still notice at lower rank brackets. A few days later, Location Warlock took off in dramatic fashion at top legend, becoming the second most popular deck there. Wallow Warlock decks have never picked up steam, likely due to the popularity of Death Knight and Demon Hunter.
Shaman is another late bloomer that has taken over top legend ladder, behind the discovery of Murmur Shaman. The deck wins with crazy blowout turns, with Murmur and Parrot Sanctuary acting as its enablers. Its access to Hex has established it as a strong counter to Armor Demon Hunter. Terran Shaman sees very modest play, with a defensive build that runs Paraglide. Imbue Shaman never took off.
Armor Demon Hunter was the expansion’s day 1 winner. The deck defined early discoveries and trends, with finite damage-based win conditions quickly falling off, as they could not beat the armor stacking potential of this archetype. However, multiple counters to the deck have emerged since day 1, causing the deck to stagnate and then decline across ladder. At top legend, its play rate is sinking quickly, trending to a number that is under 5%.
Rogue’s experimentation has quickly settled into Protoss Rogue, with some variation in the archetype. The deck initially utilized Shaladrassil with Sandbox Scoundrel, but this interaction has been removed in a hotfix patch, which caused the archetype to re-evaluate its direction. As always, Rogue is more popular at higher MMR’s.
We expected Mage to have the most compelling Imbue archetype. That did come to pass, with Imbue Mage looking like the most popular Imbue strategy. The archetype has seen experimentation with many variants, the most popular being a Protoss hybrid angle. However, Imbue Mage completely disappears at top legend, where players opt for the pure Protoss Mage deck without the Imbue package. That is concerning for Imbue Mage fans, as top legend players usually know better what is working, and what is not working, especially on the first week of the expansion.
It might be a very disappointing week for Priest mains, with both Imbue and Aviana Priest not gaining much traction. Faster Priest decks see little play: Protoss, Zealot and Zarimi.
Warrior has had a slow start, with various Ysondre/Tortolla builds not stamping their mark on the format. The class is gaining a little bit of momentum behind the emergence of Food Fight Warrior, an archetype built around cheating out and resurrecting Briarspawn Drakes. Terran Warrior sees a little bit of play.
It is not looking good for Druid. Imbue Druid is disappearing from the higher end of ladder, while Dungar Druid is the only other noticeable archetype in the class that sees some play.
A similar story is seen in Paladin, though Paladin does not even have another option beyond the fading Imbue archetype.
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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
Hunter
- The current format is the slowest Standard format in Hearthstone’s history in terms of average game length. Zegg Hunter is the only aggressive deck in the format that sees significant play, but that does not stop it from looking busted as hell. A win rate exceeding 60% at Diamond ranks, even on the first week of the expansion (with all the janky decks), is objectively broken. This is the deck you pick to have the easiest climb to legend you can ever experience. The deck drops off at top legend due to the increased popularity of Warlock, which is its hardest counter. Death Knight can also answer it effectively, so it is not an unstoppable deck that you cannot target, but most classes do not have the means to deal with the sticky boards it can develop with eggs, Amphibian’s Spirit and Terrorscale Stalker. They simply get ran over.
- At top legend, Discover Hunter takes over. To be precise, Discover Hunter is elite everywhere on ladder, but becomes better than Zegg Hunter at higher levels of play, due its more resilient matchup spread and higher skill ceiling (Zegg Hunter is a very simple deck to pick up and play). Only Warlock is a clear unfavorable for Discover Hunter.
- There has been a lot of talk about Imbue Hunter, but the deck is clearly bad. It does counter Armor DH and Murmur Shaman, but it loses to almost everything else. There is no competitive justification for its existence in the current format.
Death Knight
- Blood-Ctrl Death Knight is a solid deck. It is one of the only counters to Zegg Hunter. Armor DH is a tough matchup, but DH’s recent decline has been beneficial. What is less beneficial is the stunning success of Location Warlock, which is an oppressive matchup. It is tough to be better than Tier 2 in this format when Warlock utterly demolishes you.
- Even though Starship Death Knight is not as popular as Blood-Ctrl, it is clearly the superior deck at top legend. The main factor is the matchup against Location Warlock, which becomes increasingly common at higher MMR’s, as you have seen earlier. Starship DK is able to counterpunch Warlock’s pressure with a massive starship swing, giving it a far better chance, while Blood-Ctrl DK is more of a sitting duck. At lower rank brackets, Blood-Ctrl and Starship are evenly matched.
- We do not expect Menagerie Death Knight to survive in a settled format, as it is a mediocre-to-weak aggressive deck.
Warlock
- Location Warlock, much like Zegg Hunter, is a deck that appears to be unfathomably broken. We consider it to be more powerful than Zegg Hunter. It is almost as easy to climb to legend with, but it is (by far) the strongest deck at top legend too. It also hard counters Zegg Hunter.
- Nothing hard counters Location Warlock. There are a few soft counters that go 55-45, such as Murmur Shaman, Armor DH and Starship DK, but the deck is generally comfortable going up against any opponent and having a good chance at winning. Seaside Giant is simply insane post-rotation, with both Tier 1 decks at top legend built around abusing it. It is no coincidence.
Shaman
- There is a lot of hype surrounding Murmur Shaman at top legend, but the deck does not perform as well as it is perceived to. Its matchup spread does not look bad, but its dominant Armor DH matchup is in decline. It does well against Location Warlock too, but this is where the list of its winning matchups against popular meta decks end. Hunter is the biggest problem. Discover and Zegg Hunter are difficult to deal with and both have been on the rise. Its skill ceiling is also not as high as it is perceived, looking just slightly above average and comparable with Discover Hunter. However, we are concerned with its gameplay experience. If it ever becomes both popular and powerful as a result of big Hunter nerfs, the format could be in trouble. Hopefully, when Hunter nerfs do come, they are paired with a significant adjustment to Murmur.
- The Terran faction has been somewhat forgotten, with most of the focus on Zerg and Protoss, but it is not because it is lacking power. Most players are likely unaware how good Terran Shaman still is, despite being nerfed in patch 32.0. The archetype just needed to figure out its new, tweaked late game. It is up there as one of the stronger decks in the format when refined. It is effective against Armor DH (because of Hex) and the two dominant Hunter decks, while having no terrible matchups. It remains difficult to counter.
- Imbue Shaman is one of the worst Imbue decks, which feels like an accomplishment.
Demon Hunter
- Armor Demon Hunter looked like the best deck in the game in the first few hours of the expansion. We can still see how good it is throughout most of ladder, where the meta is not as advanced. However, the archetype has been on a steady decline in its performance across ladder, falling into Tier 3 at top legend. This was not even a steady decline. By day 3, we knew it was headed to Tier 3 at higher levels of play. Multiple counters have emerged and developed into top meta decks, leading to Armor DH facing an increasingly hostile field. Shaman is a problem. Hunter is a problem. Rogue is a problem. The deck hard counters Death Knight and Mage, does well into Warlock, but struggles into almost everything else. It will likely be gone tomorrow. But, it should be remembered as a Snake Warlock rather than a Galakrond Shaman. It will be gone because of its play experience, rather than its power.
Rogue
- Protoss Rogue has managed to carve out a decent spot in the format. This is the most skill intensive deck in the format, admittedly a format that is not filled with those kinds of decks. What is impressive about it is that it is continuing to improve, even though the loss of the Scoundrel/Shaladrassil interaction was a big blow on paper to its late game. Shaladrassil was one of its best cards, but Protoss Rogue brushed it off and is closer to hitting Tier 1 at top legend than it is to decline to Tier 3 based on current trends. Warlock and Death Knight are hard, but other matchups look comfortable.
Mage
- Imbue Mage is the most powerful Imbue deck, but that still does not get the archetype out of Tier 4 jail at top legend. In a settled format, the deck does not have a competitive place whatsoever. This is not about Armor DH alone. The deck is littered with oppressive matchups that feel impossible to deal with. Hunter and Warlock, the two best classes, feel utterly hopeless for Imbue Mage.
- There is a reason top legend players have dropped the Imbue package. When not shackled by this package of cards, Protoss Mage looks more competitive. It is still not a great deck and we do not believe Mage has a real competitive place at higher MMR’s. Demon Hunter and Hunter remain massive problems, but at least the Warlock matchup is significantly improved. The class’ popularity is driven by the player base’s desire to pilot it due to its attractive playstyle.
Priest
- Imbue Priest is the biggest dud. The worst Imbue deck of them all. What a disappointment. But we are not ready to write this deck off, because Team 5 will likely buff this archetype until it becomes competitive. It is far too attractive to let it rot. The concept of a good deck is there. We need more power from the Imbue cards and we need Starcraft decks to get nerfed. If that does not work, a reworked hero power can make a big difference.
- Thankfully for Priest, it does have its own Starcraft deck for the moment. Protoss Priest is very strong across most of ladder, except at top legend. Top legend is where there are a lot of Warlocks, and this matchup is absolutely miserable (close to 20-80).
- Some things never change. Aggressive Priest decks, based on their low sample, are strong. Both Zealot and Zarimi Priest appear to be Tier 1 performers (likely Tier 2 at top legend). It is our job to say it. It is your right to ignore it.
Warrior
- Food Fight Warrior is a strong deck across most of ladder, but its low skill ceiling causes it to fall to Tier 4 at higher levels of play. Better players are able to play around its predictable turns better.
- Respect the Terrans. Terran Warrior is even better than Terran Shaman! It also has a flexible build that is not even fully refined. Its good matchup against Location Warlock is one of its most notable assets.
- Ysondre Warrior decks are not good, but a nerf to the rest of the format could elevate these decks to a competitive place. It is one of the weak archetypes that looks a bit more hopeful than others.
Druid
- Imbue Druid is horrible. Dungar Druid is a cheesy deck that looked strong when it initially emerged, until Zegg Hunter took over. This is a 15/85 matchup that caused it to nosedive to Tier 3/4.
Paladin
- Imbue Paladin has flopped, like all the other Imbue decks. Menagerie Paladin might be decent, but there is little interest in it. We are aware of experiments with Shaladrassil and Ursol (this interaction was changed after a small patch), but this has only picked up a little after the database for this report closed. A strong deck has not appeared out of this combo yet.
Class Analysis & Decklists
Death Knight | Demon Hunter | Druid | Hunter | Mage | Paladin | Priest | Rogue | Shaman | Warlock | Warrior
The popular build of Zegg Hunter looks extremely powerful. There is no card that looks like a liability, so we did not change anything.
Discover Hunter looks powerful by running one new card: Xavius. A new Zilliax combination appears to do well in the archetype (Ticking/Power).
Imbue Hunter does not perform well, but we still featured it since it is one of the “better” Imbue decks. Brewmasters are helpful since they allow us to use Plush more than once to stall the game before killing the opponent. You can also bounce Sing-Along Buddy or an Imbue card for maximum Plush buffing.
Our theorycrafting lists for Death Knight ended up being very close to the final products.
Dreadhound Handler performs better in Blood-Ctrl Death Knight than Grotesque Runeblade. Toysnatching Geist is picked over Rite of Atrocity, as it is a nice activator for Shaladrassil and gives us more chances to find Hideous Husk, the most powerful card in the deck.
The only change in Starship Death Knight is running Kil’jaeden over one copy of Rite of Atrocity. Kil’jaeden is only relevant in the Death Knight mirror, but worth about 10% in the matchup.
Menagerie Death Knight is playable, but not as good as the other two.
Wallow is useless specifically against Demon Hunter and Death Knight, as they stack too much effective life for the damage-based win condition to matter. Instead, Location Warlock is focused on maximizing its threat density with Scrapbooking Student. Corpsicle is a good source of burn in slow matchups. Hellfire is an alternative option if you want to beat Zegg Hunter harder.
Wish Upon the Stars is a very powerful card in Murmur Shaman, looking superior to Frosty Décor as a Hagatha target alongside Nebula. Bob is a second Ysera, giving you the option to refresh 3 mana on the Murmur turn while occasionally acting as a freeze. Malted Magma is better than Lightning Storm. Hex makes the Armor DH matchup hilariously easy.
Paraglide is insanely good in Terran Shaman, possibly the very best card in the deck. We are not convinced by Kil’jaeden, but it does provide Death Knight insurance. Hex is mandatory if you run into a good amount of Armor DH. It is also useful against Seaside Giants. Griftah looks weak.
Armor Demon Hunter has found greater success by running at least two AOE spells. Infiltrate and Immolation Aura are the best ones, though Wyvern’s Slumber is close. Kil’jaeden is for the mirror, because it is hard to OTK with Ceaseless/Exodar in this matchup.
The interaction between Sandbox Scoundrel and Shaladrassil was bug fixed, so Protoss Rogue needed to scramble to adjust its build over the last few days. It did so with surprising effectiveness. Harbinger of the Blighted performs very well, as does Blink. Spacerock Collector is less impressive. Metal Detector and Dig for Treasure do not perform well at all.
Protoss Mage performs best when it is not dragged down by what appears to be a pointless Imbue package. A pure Protoss build is the way to go. Brewmasters can be used with Colossus, Sleet Skaters or even Bob. We are not sure about the need for Warp Gate.
The best Imbue Mage deck that is not Protoss-adjacent is the Raylla build from our TC article. But it is an Imbue deck, so it is not good.
Protoss Priest has two options. It can hard target Armor DH with 4 silence effects, or it can chill out with Scale Replica and Illusory Greenwing. K’ure looks like a good card in the deck. Catch of the Day is better than Overzealous Healer because it is stronger off Fishing Rod, but the difference is small.
Zealot Priest is the strongest Priest deck, built around pure aggression. Zarimi Priest initially looked weak, but a recent iteration is beginning to show up and display great promise. The Naralex combo is good. Repackage helps us reset the game and stall to get there.
Shaladrassil and Jim Raynor are good cards in Food Fight Warrior because they offer the deck a back up plan in case the Briarspawn Drake route was not enough. Captain’s Log and Heavy Plate are useless. Brawl is mandatory in every Warrior deck.
There are two promising ‘variants’ in Terran Warrior. The Food Fight build performs better against Armor DH. Cutting Food Fight for Tortollan Traveler improves other matchups. It is possible that Tortolla is still a good card in non-Food Fight builds, but we cannot tell. Sleep Under the Stars is mandatory alongside Shaladrassil, as well as double Brawl.
The main discovery in Dungar Druid that we have found is that Perfect/Haywire Zilliax is a great option in this deck, one that replaces Perfect/Virus. Zilliax is the only Whizbang minion in the deck, so it does not interfere with other Dungar targets.
Menagerie Paladin is not terrible, but it has unsurprisingly gained little traction and interest. Imbue Paladin looks cooked.
The Starcraft mini-set has proven to be difficult to balance, as it is far stronger than all the other sets in this format, leading to a meta largely dictated by its factions. A balance patch will likely be more heavy handed in its attempts to curb it, as well as other power and play experience outliers. With some buffs, the meta should be drastically different, so it feels a little silly to pick a Meta Breaker for this report.
You have limited time to abuse the hell out of two, unbelievably broken decks.
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