This is only a theorycraft section. No I'm not looking to solve the meta before the patch even hits. Yes I know we have to play on the actual meta for a couple days to figure out what's good and what's bad but hey, prediction non-sense is always fun.
I think Questlock is now kinda too slow now, I think it'll be like Tickatus Warlock last expansion but a bit better. Just a deck that obliterates any form of control it might find but it's just slow enough to not be an actual good good deck. It's better cause it's overall more solid but it still has the same niche pretty much.
Shaman should be ok. Quest is slower and Flame is more expensive but with Warlock getting hammered it probably stays relevant. It still shits on aggro with 2 mana flame and control has a hard time dealing with double spells.
With mage idk. The 2 good match-ups for quest (quest shaman and questlock) got nerfed but it's now slighty better against Quest DH and Shadow Priest so it might stay like an ok tier 2 deck. We'll have to see if with the meta slowing down HP Mage is good enough. I mean maybe with a fire spell engine to draw cards and clear boards it can work. Wildfire at 1 feels really good and Mortresh at 8 feels like an actual finisher (Specially with Alex on 9 on top). We'll have to see but I'm excited for a Mage with minions.
Taunt Aggro Druid will be the best deck in the game. It has like 2 unfavored match-ups and 1 bad one. The bad one is Quest Shaman which I think is still great against it cause flame. One of the slightly unfavored ones is Handlock and that deck should go down in playrate by a lot. The other kinda bad match-up is Fel DH but that deck has a lot of bad match-ups so I don't think it'll bother Druid too much. We'll probably see a rise in control decks with Warlock getting nerfed so it makes life for Aggro Druid harded but that also means Mage gets better so it's a vicious circle.
Paladin is happy. Both Handbuff and Secrets are really solid decks and they got left untouched. Unless Paladin is busted it gets heavily disrespected but both decks have very good winrates at all levels.
Hopefully Quest Rogue gets better. I mean it should.Quest Rogue is happy to see all those nerfs. It still has a bad match-up against Aggro Druid but everything else looks like it'll be at least at 50% now. It's also favored against all Paladins, Quest Priest and Garrote Rogue which might rise now so that's good. This one is more of a personal preference cause I'm a sucker for Rogue.
Beast Hunter still sucks, not really worth building that when you can just kill your opponent on turn 5 by going face. Quest Hunter tho... The unfavorables got nerfed and it has 50% at least against everything but Paladin. It's not going to be the tyrant everyone feared pre-expansion but it looks like it could become a meta player now.
Aggro Priest is still a better Face Hunter but it can't blow opponents out the game with Illucia anymore, but it still looks like the best aggro deck still. Quest Priest look fine. With less Warlock it probably go a little bit more defensive and get better match-ups against aggro but and it's currently an ok decks anyways.
Warrior is honesly just a blank for me. No clue if all those buffs are good enough. I mean they are well received but I don't think the issue was Pirates not having enough health. You just need too many pirates to complete the quest so it makes it slow and while the final reward is technically infinite resource and damage generation it still feels like it gets beaten by everything else tbh.
Quest DH is still ok but it doesn't get the busted Brute early turns. Fel DH gets better probably.
The same boring face hunter will be dominating the meta until it rotates. Everything else either starts weak or gets nerfed hard, while SMorc remains untouched.
Well, with Questlock and Quest Shaman being slowed down a lot (and these being the best matchups for Quest Mage), I can really see control decks (Priest, Warrior) making a comeback with the intention of farming aggro. Although frankly I don't think they can do the job better than Jace Demon Hunter, who I expect to be temporarily tier 1 tomorrow
Aggro Midrange Pala (with Spell Immunity dudes) will be completely unstoppable, I was already having a quite relaxed time on my grind to Top 5000 Legendary, with the only problematic matchup being Questlock (obviously) and sometimes Aggro Priest, which are both now severely crippled.
Hell, I might even be able to remove Mutanus from my List now, unless everyone relys on playing Quest Mage now, in which case Mutanus is even more efficient in that matchup. xD
edit/ Yea I forgot about Greybough Druid, but that one is surprisingly fast running out of Gas and eventually fairly easy to defeat, especially when they don't draw Greybough, it's just Game Over.
On the contrary I find Anaconda Druid way more annoying and disgusting, they forgot to nerf Celestial Alignment, which is just a infuriating card to deal with.
I'm expecting Quest Shaman to be the new top dog in standard meta. I'm not saying his nerfs are insignificant, but I believe he will still dominate the aggro matchups, and when the popularity of Warlock declines, his overall situation should be even better.
After Blizzard's truly genius balance patch, I predict that all classes will be perfectly represented equally and everyone will have an exact 50% win rate with their deck. Legend rank will become completely empty, as no deck will be able to actively climb ranks anymore. Every win will follow with a loss right after.
The ideal scenario. All things perfectly balanced.
This is only a theorycraft section. No I'm not looking to solve the meta before the patch even hits. Yes I know we have to play on the actual meta for a couple days to figure out what's good and what's bad but hey, prediction non-sense is always fun.
I think Questlock is now kinda too slow now, I think it'll be like Tickatus Warlock last expansion but a bit better. Just a deck that obliterates any form of control it might find but it's just slow enough to not be an actual good good deck. It's better cause it's overall more solid but it still has the same niche pretty much.
Shaman should be ok. Quest is slower and Flame is more expensive but with Warlock getting hammered it probably stays relevant. It still shits on aggro with 2 mana flame and control has a hard time dealing with double spells.
With mage idk. The 2 good match-ups for quest (quest shaman and questlock) got nerfed but it's now slighty better against Quest DH and Shadow Priest so it might stay like an ok tier 2 deck. We'll have to see if with the meta slowing down HP Mage is good enough. I mean maybe with a fire spell engine to draw cards and clear boards it can work. Wildfire at 1 feels really good and Mortresh at 8 feels like an actual finisher (Specially with Alex on 9 on top). We'll have to see but I'm excited for a Mage with minions.
Taunt Aggro Druid will be the best deck in the game. It has like 2 unfavored match-ups and 1 bad one. The bad one is Quest Shaman which I think is still great against it cause flame. One of the slightly unfavored ones is Handlock and that deck should go down in playrate by a lot. The other kinda bad match-up is Fel DH but that deck has a lot of bad match-ups so I don't think it'll bother Druid too much. We'll probably see a rise in control decks with Warlock getting nerfed so it makes life for Aggro Druid harded but that also means Mage gets better so it's a vicious circle.
Paladin is happy. Both Handbuff and Secrets are really solid decks and they got left untouched. Unless Paladin is busted it gets heavily disrespected but both decks have very good winrates at all levels.
Hopefully Quest Rogue gets better. I mean it should.Quest Rogue is happy to see all those nerfs. It still has a bad match-up against Aggro Druid but everything else looks like it'll be at least at 50% now. It's also favored against all Paladins, Quest Priest and Garrote Rogue which might rise now so that's good. This one is more of a personal preference cause I'm a sucker for Rogue.
Beast Hunter still sucks, not really worth building that when you can just kill your opponent on turn 5 by going face. Quest Hunter tho... The unfavorables got nerfed and it has 50% at least against everything but Paladin. It's not going to be the tyrant everyone feared pre-expansion but it looks like it could become a meta player now.
Aggro Priest is still a better Face Hunter but it can't blow opponents out the game with Illucia anymore, but it still looks like the best aggro deck still. Quest Priest look fine. With less Warlock it probably go a little bit more defensive and get better match-ups against aggro but and it's currently an ok decks anyways.
Warrior is honesly just a blank for me. No clue if all those buffs are good enough. I mean they are well received but I don't think the issue was
Pirates not having enough health. You just need too many pirates to complete the quest so it makes it slow and while the final reward is technically infinite resource and damage generation it still feels like it gets beaten by everything else tbh.
Quest DH is still ok but it doesn't get the busted Brute early turns. Fel DH gets better probably.
Well, in Wild Odd Questline Hunter and Questline Pirate run supreme.
Dependable loan sharks since 1960. We sink our teeth into every deal we make.
The same boring face hunter will be dominating the meta until it rotates. Everything else either starts weak or gets nerfed hard, while SMorc remains untouched.
Well, with Questlock and Quest Shaman being slowed down a lot (and these being the best matchups for Quest Mage), I can really see control decks (Priest, Warrior) making a comeback with the intention of farming aggro. Although frankly I don't think they can do the job better than Jace Demon Hunter, who I expect to be temporarily tier 1 tomorrow
That one is easy.
Aggro Midrange Pala (with Spell Immunity dudes) will be completely unstoppable, I was already having a quite relaxed time on my grind to Top 5000 Legendary, with the only problematic matchup being Questlock (obviously) and sometimes Aggro Priest, which are both now severely crippled.
Hell, I might even be able to remove Mutanus from my List now, unless everyone relys on playing Quest Mage now, in which case Mutanus is even more efficient in that matchup. xD
edit/ Yea I forgot about Greybough Druid, but that one is surprisingly fast running out of Gas and eventually fairly easy to defeat, especially when they don't draw Greybough, it's just Game Over.
On the contrary I find Anaconda Druid way more annoying and disgusting, they forgot to nerf Celestial Alignment, which is just a infuriating card to deal with.
I'm expecting Quest Shaman to be the new top dog in standard meta. I'm not saying his nerfs are insignificant, but I believe he will still dominate the aggro matchups, and when the popularity of Warlock declines, his overall situation should be even better.
Garote rogue will dominate.
After Blizzard's truly genius balance patch, I predict that all classes will be perfectly represented equally and everyone will have an exact 50% win rate with their deck. Legend rank will become completely empty, as no deck will be able to actively climb ranks anymore. Every win will follow with a loss right after.
The ideal scenario. All things perfectly balanced.
As it was foretold.
Fire Mage becomes most hated deck because the gameplay is EXACTLY like Quest Mage, only without the Quest.
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