I'll admit it, the distinction between Ladder and Tournaments decks is not super-clear to me. Only thread I found on the topic is this, which is from TGT times, so was wondering if something has changed since? And even if it hasn't changed much, maybe we could elaborate a bit more. Like, perhaps someone experienced could give guidance on how to spot the more tournament-y bits out of tournament decks, and adapt them to ladder (if that makes sense at all)?
Tech cards are typically tournament inclusions, other than that it depends on the format. For example you might not need well-rounded decks in a tournament, it may be better to focus on beating specific archetypes. If your Jade Druid beats everything except aggro, and you have another deck that only beats aggro, then you've got all cases covered if that's the tournament format.
It's also common with bans in tournaments, so you can exclude cards like Dirty Rat and instead just ban Rogue.
in tournaments: - you expect to find the same decks - way less players than in ladder mode, and you tech against those, which can be an advantage. - Conquest mode (bo3 or bo5), so you need to play good decks - You can expect who to play next round based on your stats (w-l ratio) - Also, with money, glory and whatever else on the line, people get to play mostly tier 1 decks (with the occasionally tier 2 just in case).
In ladder - you may find a wide variety of decks (before rank 5) - your deck's mmr decides towards the next match (and it's more random) - you only play 1 game against X opponent, before the next one - no money in the line, and after the 15-10-5 steps, you can relax a bit
- your deck's mmr decides towards the next match (and it's more random)
Thanks for the ton of great info! One small detail:
MMR is not used in ranked ladder matchmaking, except at Legend ranks. It is, however, used in Casual mode. It's a per-player MMR, not per-deck. Source.
Basically, a tournament deck is geared towards beating a specific sort of deck(s), be it type, archetype, or even a specific opponent's variant.
As such, while very good against that sort of deck(s), it might suck against a number of others, hence it's probably not the best to climb ladder with. Because, with a wider variety of decks to face, you want to be good enough against the largest possible subset of them. Or, at least, against those you face the most.
And if we look at a tournament deck, thinking of of using something like that in ladder, we should mostly check tech cards. Possibly adding them back, since there's no ban in ladder, and we might need a tech which was intentionally left out (like in the Dirty Rat/Rogue example). And/or (I guess) removing some, too, because there might be too much of "anti-X" tech for a ladder deck.
Basically, a tournament deck is geared towards beating a specific sort of deck(s), be it type, archetype, or even a specific opponent's variant.
As such, while very good against that sort of deck(s), it might suck against a number of others, hence it's probably not the best to climb ladder with. Because, with a wider variety of decks to face, you want to be good enough against the largest possible subset of them. Or, at least, against those you face the most.
And if we look at a tournament deck, thinking of of using something like that in ladder, we should mostly check tech cards. Possibly adding them back, since there's no ban in ladder, and we might need a tech which was intentionally left out (like in the Dirty Rat/Rogue example). And/or (I guess) removing some, too, because there might be too much of "anti-X" tech for a ladder deck.
Correct?
1.- Yes, correct. That's why you could see a lot of tech cards in decks that usually don't run them in ladder. 2.- Correct, and before rank 5 you'll probably find a wide variety of decks 3.- Correct. Tech cards are way more important in tournaments, knowing beforehand which decks will probably appear the most
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I'll admit it, the distinction between Ladder and Tournaments decks is not super-clear to me. Only thread I found on the topic is this, which is from TGT times, so was wondering if something has changed since? And even if it hasn't changed much, maybe we could elaborate a bit more. Like, perhaps someone experienced could give guidance on how to spot the more tournament-y bits out of tournament decks, and adapt them to ladder (if that makes sense at all)?
Thx!
Tech cards are typically tournament inclusions, other than that it depends on the format. For example you might not need well-rounded decks in a tournament, it may be better to focus on beating specific archetypes. If your Jade Druid beats everything except aggro, and you have another deck that only beats aggro, then you've got all cases covered if that's the tournament format.
It's also common with bans in tournaments, so you can exclude cards like Dirty Rat and instead just ban Rogue.
in tournaments:
- you expect to find the same decks
- way less players than in ladder mode, and you tech against those, which can be an advantage.
- Conquest mode (bo3 or bo5), so you need to play good decks
- You can expect who to play next round based on your stats (w-l ratio)
- Also, with money, glory and whatever else on the line, people get to play mostly tier 1 decks (with the occasionally tier 2 just in case).
In ladder
- you may find a wide variety of decks (before rank 5)
- your deck's mmr decides towards the next match (and it's more random)
- you only play 1 game against X opponent, before the next one
- no money in the line, and after the 15-10-5 steps, you can relax a bit
Hmm... ok, let me try to recap.
Basically, a tournament deck is geared towards beating a specific sort of deck(s), be it type, archetype, or even a specific opponent's variant.
As such, while very good against that sort of deck(s), it might suck against a number of others, hence it's probably not the best to climb ladder with. Because, with a wider variety of decks to face, you want to be good enough against the largest possible subset of them. Or, at least, against those you face the most.
And if we look at a tournament deck, thinking of of using something like that in ladder, we should mostly check tech cards. Possibly adding them back, since there's no ban in ladder, and we might need a tech which was intentionally left out (like in the Dirty Rat/Rogue example). And/or (I guess) removing some, too, because there might be too much of "anti-X" tech for a ladder deck.
Correct?
2.- Correct, and before rank 5 you'll probably find a wide variety of decks
3.- Correct. Tech cards are way more important in tournaments, knowing beforehand which decks will probably appear the most