First off I am making this thread because I couldn't find another discussing thoughtfully discussing what the meta will look like after the balance patch we are getting. I will personally be focusing on deck archetypes that are not considered top tier at the moment.
The class I see poised rise up the most in the meta game is Shaman. In my opinion, mid range/elemental Shaman had one of the easiest win conditions against jade druid while possessing the ability to deal with spreading plague quite effectively. The aggro decks that could run this archetype over if the shaman drew poorly early also got nerfed. The Murloc Warleader nerf is the big one here. Your board clears are now more effective against murloc paladin which in my opinion was the biggest obstacle for most shaman decks in the meta.
Now this next one may surprise you since Fiery War Axe got nerfed, but Quest warrior is still a pretty strong deck in my opinion. Since the expansion hit I've had roughly a 60% win rate with it because it plays rather well against jade druid with Skulking Geist and Dead Man's Hand (to cycle extra removal) added in, and does well versus minion aggro.
Hunter should also be more relevant. This has more to do with Fiery War Axe, Innervate and Murloc Warleader than Spreading Plague. Hunter could not compete with the aggro packages associated with those cards, and now that they are going down in power level I think Hunter has a chance to do well.
The last archetype I see improving in win rate is Freeze/Control mage (including quest). Simply put, you get an average of 1 to 2 more turns to do your thing. All you want is extra time to amass your combo, or whittle down an opponent. Will mage be the dominate class in the meta again? No, but they will have a chance of carving out a nice spot for itself again.
So what are your guys' thoughts on what rather low tier archetypes or classes will rise up after the balance changes?
Rogue. Mill rogue specifically. Mill rogue was already doing pretty well, now with aggro taking a hit, and presumably priest ecoming godlike, mill should wipe anyone playing slower decks. Including quest mage. Miracle will also get stronger.
Dead man's hand warrior should also be better. Maybe shaman too, but idk. If everyone is play control deck, they usually clear shaman stuff.
Jade Druid will stay a top dog. Priest will see an uptick in play, as will Exodia Mage which counters both Priest and Jade. Hunter will be t2, Murloc Paladin t2, but still best Paladin list.
Miracle Rogue and Mid hunter will see the biggest upticks in usage. Both big priest and Raza Priest are going to be a bit better too. Those extra few turns against jade druid are going to be pretty big.
Big Priest (if the meta is full of Highlander), Jade Druid, Highlander Priest will be Tier 1. Tier 2 will be Pirate Warrior, Control Warlock, Midrange Paladin, Midrange shaman and Control Mage. Rogue may be high tier 3 or low Tier 2, not sure, Rogue is in a very weird place.
Rogue. Mill rogue specifically. Mill rogue was already doing pretty well, now with aggro taking a hit, and presumably priest becoming godlike, mill should wipe anyone playing slower decks. Including quest mage. Miracle will also get stronger.
Yeah if the meta goes full control Mill will definitely see a higher win rate. I don't see Miracle improving much from its current state. All of the strong control decks can counter your win conditions unless you get the perfect game and they are unlucky.
And to the people saying "Jade Druid will still Tier 1". Yes, we all know this. The changes only hurt their tempo by a turn 1 or 2 which is not big for that deck. The point is to discuss what could rise up to a solid position with all the other changes. The Fiery War Axe and Murloc Warleader changes in my opinion are huge because pirates and murlocs limited a lot more of the meta than Jade Druid did pre-nerf. This may allow for some classes to rise and contest the meta in ways previous not thought possible.
jade elemental or just elemental shaman won't rise a bit. trust me, playing a kalimos with 3 damage AoE to their beefy jades will only scratch them. blazecaller could be a good card, before the jades become 6/6s and bigger. no, op, without the appropriate card draws, elemental shaman can't beat jade.
I've tried it many times and this is the conclusion i;ve come to. in my deck the jades were the MVP, but spamming them w/o any form of acceleration was difficult.
inb4 it was easier to counter aggro decks than jade. yo ujust have to make the deck a bit more anti-aggro (with taunts, heals, devolve and AoEs and voila)
Yup! Aggro got weaker, so I think Secret Mage will be the new Jade killer. Or at least one of the better options... Also think a crazy Control Paladin has a chance to move up!
Lol. After playing 70% matches against druid in the past few days, I can safely predict that these two tweaks will have little affect on those decks. But with druid's best competition also getting nerfed, I see Druid being even more pervasive than before, WTG Blizzard.
Lol. After playing 70% matches against druid in the past few days, I can safely predict that these two tweaks will have little affect on those decks. But with druid's best competition also getting nerfed, I see Druid being even more pervasive than before, WTG Blizzard.
No more turn 1 fledgling, no more innervate infestation, no ridiculous gadget chains (in druid), no more early turn recovery against token shaman, no more aggro decks to punish silence priest and secret mage, less pirate warrior to punish slower aggro, fewer aggro decks in general to prevent greedier decks that pace with jade, etc. This changes a lot more than you think.
Lol. After playing 70% matches against druid in the past few days, I can safely predict that these two tweaks will have little affect on those decks. But with druid's best competition also getting nerfed, I see Druid being even more pervasive than before, WTG Blizzard.
No more turn 1 fledgling, no more innervate infestation, no ridiculous gadget chains (in druid), no more early turn recovery against token shaman, no more aggro decks to punish silence priest and secret mage, less pirate warrior to punish slower aggro, fewer aggro decks in general to prevent greedier decks that pace with jade, etc. This changes a lot more than you think.
I never lose to these things. I lose to Druid being able to empty their hand playing jades/ramps ans then just kill me, create board presence and refill hand all at the same time on turn 10.
Tempo Elemental Rogue seems good. I'm already streaking up the ladder with it. It's got around 50/50 with jade and is favorable against many other decks in the meta, and with PW and aggro Paladin taking a hit it will get that much better.
Jade Druid will still be on top. Highlander priest nearby.
Aggro nerf will bring more midrange/tempo decks into play. This will probably make hunter and zoolock somewhat playable again. Secret Mage might start seeing play.
Greedier versions of control warlock will see play, as Big Priest too.
Quest Mage is obviously expected to see play, but I think aggro/midrange/tempo will push it out of the meta.
Lol. After playing 70% matches against druid in the past few days, I can safely predict that these two tweaks will have little affect on those decks. But with druid's best competition also getting nerfed, I see Druid being even more pervasive than before, WTG Blizzard.
No more turn 1 fledgling, no more innervate infestation, no ridiculous gadget chains (in druid), no more early turn recovery against token shaman, no more aggro decks to punish silence priest and secret mage, less pirate warrior to punish slower aggro, fewer aggro decks in general to prevent greedier decks that pace with jade, etc. This changes a lot more than you think.
I never lose to these things. I lose to Druid being able to empty their hand playing jades/ramps ans then just kill me, create board presence and refill hand all at the same time on turn 10.
Well, I only ever seem to lose to them when they do that well before turn 10. Otherwise, I'm way ahead on board because my opponent had a slow opening. You also missed the part about a number of jade druid counters becoming stronger (although admittedly some are getting weaker too).
First off I am making this thread because I couldn't find another discussing thoughtfully discussing what the meta will look like after the balance patch we are getting. I will personally be focusing on deck archetypes that are not considered top tier at the moment.
The class I see poised rise up the most in the meta game is Shaman. In my opinion, mid range/elemental Shaman had one of the easiest win conditions against jade druid while possessing the ability to deal with spreading plague quite effectively. The aggro decks that could run this archetype over if the shaman drew poorly early also got nerfed. The Murloc Warleader nerf is the big one here. Your board clears are now more effective against murloc paladin which in my opinion was the biggest obstacle for most shaman decks in the meta.
Now this next one may surprise you since Fiery War Axe got nerfed, but Quest warrior is still a pretty strong deck in my opinion. Since the expansion hit I've had roughly a 60% win rate with it because it plays rather well against jade druid with Skulking Geist and Dead Man's Hand (to cycle extra removal) added in, and does well versus minion aggro.
Hunter should also be more relevant. This has more to do with Fiery War Axe, Innervate and Murloc Warleader than Spreading Plague. Hunter could not compete with the aggro packages associated with those cards, and now that they are going down in power level I think Hunter has a chance to do well.
The last archetype I see improving in win rate is Freeze/Control mage (including quest). Simply put, you get an average of 1 to 2 more turns to do your thing. All you want is extra time to amass your combo, or whittle down an opponent. Will mage be the dominate class in the meta again? No, but they will have a chance of carving out a nice spot for itself again.
So what are your guys' thoughts on what rather low tier archetypes or classes will rise up after the balance changes?
Rogue. Mill rogue specifically. Mill rogue was already doing pretty well, now with aggro taking a hit, and presumably priest ecoming godlike, mill should wipe anyone playing slower decks. Including quest mage. Miracle will also get stronger.
Dead man's hand warrior should also be better. Maybe shaman too, but idk. If everyone is play control deck, they usually clear shaman stuff.
Jade Druid will stay a top dog. Priest will see an uptick in play, as will Exodia Mage which counters both Priest and Jade. Hunter will be t2, Murloc Paladin t2, but still best Paladin list.
Miracle Rogue and Mid hunter will see the biggest upticks in usage. Both big priest and Raza Priest are going to be a bit better too. Those extra few turns against jade druid are going to be pretty big.
Jade druid tier S+ his counters got nerfed while druid got a slight nerf.
Jade druid and highlander priest.
I don't know jack... but my money is on Big Priest (or, as someone calls it, Eternal Priest) as top dog.
Big Priest (if the meta is full of Highlander), Jade Druid, Highlander Priest will be Tier 1. Tier 2 will be Pirate Warrior, Control Warlock, Midrange Paladin, Midrange shaman and Control Mage. Rogue may be high tier 3 or low Tier 2, not sure, Rogue is in a very weird place.
Mage. Control / Secret mage will be played more.
jade elemental or just elemental shaman won't rise a bit. trust me, playing a kalimos with 3 damage AoE to their beefy jades will only scratch them. blazecaller could be a good card, before the jades become 6/6s and bigger. no, op, without the appropriate card draws, elemental shaman can't beat jade.
I've tried it many times and this is the conclusion i;ve come to. in my deck the jades were the MVP, but spamming them w/o any form of acceleration was difficult.
inb4 it was easier to counter aggro decks than jade. yo ujust have to make the deck a bit more anti-aggro (with taunts, heals, devolve and AoEs and voila)
Jade Druid and Highlander Priest will be the only two decks worth of tier 1. Jade Druid is still broken.
My bet (and hope) is on Miracle Rogue since its worst matchups are aggro decks and those have been nerfed.
Lol. After playing 70% matches against druid in the past few days, I can safely predict that these two tweaks will have little affect on those decks. But with druid's best competition also getting nerfed, I see Druid being even more pervasive than before, WTG Blizzard.
Tempo Elemental Rogue seems good. I'm already streaking up the ladder with it. It's got around 50/50 with jade and is favorable against many other decks in the meta, and with PW and aggro Paladin taking a hit it will get that much better.
Jade Druid will still be on top. Highlander priest nearby.
Aggro nerf will bring more midrange/tempo decks into play. This will probably make hunter and zoolock somewhat playable again. Secret Mage might start seeing play.
Greedier versions of control warlock will see play, as Big Priest too.
Quest Mage is obviously expected to see play, but I think aggro/midrange/tempo will push it out of the meta.
Control/Elemental mage should see more play now.