I have yet to jump back onto the ranked ladder (rank 5) and I am setting up to push for legend for the first time in the coming weeks. The Nerfs have come and I personally don't think Standard will be rocked that much, rather it will be a more even playing field - I hope. I have an idea of what decks will be in the way and will possibly be the decks to get to legend with, and wanted to share and also hear from other players who are making a run at it. Would love to hear predictions, strategies, deck building and crafting, and overall competitive goals for the remainder of the expansion.
The Meta "Defining" decks:
- Taunt Druid: If people think Guldan is a problem card, they are really going to hate Hadronox in the next few weeks. Taunt Druid is extremely powerful and its only and very tedious counter is to stuff another beast in their graveyard and pray Witching Hour hits the polymorphed minion. While the pre-nerf decks were a bit slow, I can definitely see this deck surging.
- Odd Rogue: Was already strong against Cubelock, and now has a prime chance to take the role of "best tempo deck" with Even Paladin (I assume) gone.
- Aggro Paladin: Losing Call to Arms may just kill the even archetype, but I would expect players to just take out Genn and rebuild the struts of Aggro Paladin, similar to that before Witchwood came out. Its still going to be a fiend.
- Odd Paladin: Its not as good as the Even counterpart, and may not even be the best Paladin option, but I can definitely see this deck making a home over a 50% WR.
- Murloc Paladin: Has not moved from the competitive spotlight since Un'Goro launched
- Aggro Mage: I seriously hate this deck, Kirin Tor Mage is nuts and the deck is stupid powerful. I lost a game on turn 4 last time I played against it, I haven't died that fast since Pirate Warrior was alive. However, a good player will not play Arcane Missiles on turn one, and I can see this as a foe going up to Legend.
- Even Shaman: Apparently this deck is popular? I have not played against it since rank 8 (no idea how), but I can see it winning at lower ranks.
- Spiteful Druid: This deck will spit the nerf right back at Blizzard. Putting Spiteful to 7 mana only gives your opponent another turn to hope they can hard remove a Tyrantus. The proper nerf should have changed the card text to "Reveal a spell from your deck; summon a minion with the same mana cost and remove the spell from your deck," and kept it at 6 mana. Ultimate Infestation is possibly the best spell ever printed, and Spiteful is definitely one of the best minions ever printed. This deck is going nowhere.
I'm kinda sensing the return of Skulking Geist because it hurts so many decks right now. I believe Control Priest/Quest Priest (possibly), Odd Pally, Odd Rogue may finally hit Tier 1 finally from the reasonable nerfs Warlock got. Spiteful Druid will probably be mid/upper Tier 2 delaying them a turn (that being if they don't hit Sprite) allows for some easier clears. There's already a Secret Aggro Paladin that's been doing quite well in Legend rank I believe it was around 59% win rate when I looked the other day.
I also hate losing to that Aggro Mage deck lol but yea it's pretty RNGesus and kinda fails when you have to deal with your opponents big minions. When you deal with their Aluneth they're screwed a lot of the time as well if you have a big board and dealt with their Explosive Runes (without taking much damage if any) they can't really race anymore.
Even Shaman is kinda weird I've seen it go off before with the version that runs Ghost Light Anglers into Gentle Megasaur. But yea most of their threats kinda come from stuff like Corpsetaker, Sea Giant, Al'Akir the Windlord and the ability to just reflood the board quite easily. Thankfully Bloodlust is an odd card otherwise that deck would be pretty scary. I think they run Hagatha the Witch which can get them Lust but yea they sorta run out of gas pretty quickly.
I don't know if Shudderwock is enough to pull that deck forward, but a control shaman is coming very soon with one or to solid early game options. Spell Hunter would be a fun deck to play competitively, and I love Big Spell Mage
I run Geist in a few of my control decks, its great against Naturalize, Power Word Shield, Cold Blood, Lost in the Jungle, and other annoying cards. Ill have to look into that Secret Paladin - do you have a deck code?
Currently I see a whole variety of decks, but the only one that has been played a lot is Tempo Mage, so sad that a deck with no brain attracts a lot of people
Control Priest is a solid choice right now, I reached legend with it last week and the deck only does better after the nerfs. It does take practice to pilot correctly though.
I've been playing only spell hunter and after the nerfs I gotta say, win rate has kind of fluctuated. The deck is still favored extremely against any type of paladin, odd rogue, and even shaman, but loses to the extreme output of aggro mage and the control decks. If the meta tends to lean more towards the control druid/priest and if spiteful maintains its power level then it'll drop, but as of now Spell Hunter is still very viable.
I also see zoo lock coming back, as the extreme crowding of competing aggro decks made zoo lock the outcast, it still has all of it's pieces and with no nerf hitting doomguard and the deck not running lackey's anyway it'll probably be tested for a bit
I run Geist in a few of my control decks, its great against Naturalize, Power Word Shield, Cold Blood, Lost in the Jungle, and other annoying cards. Ill have to look into that Secret Paladin - do you have a deck code?
Yea Geist is quite nice in this meta especially when you make Hadronox decks unable to work lol. No code for the secret pally but here is the hsreplay link: https://hsreplay.net/decks/u09VOZXxfEimyalGVjyWl/#tab=overview . Overview shows it doing pretty well with at least over 55% win rate.
I think spellhunter is pretty decent right now. It is favored against most aggressive decks and can even outvalue control-decks with their DK. The only bad matchup i see is against taunt-druid because the deck has a lot of armor gain and if they get their taunt-chain going its gg. recruit-warrior and quest-warrior are harder matchups but are winnable. The rest of the decks are mostly easily beaten by spell-hunter. I reached legend from rank 5 with a 76% winrate in less than 50 games. If i had won the games where bad rng decided my loss my winrate would be somewhat between 85-90%. So yeah... I think spell-hunter is really really good at the moment.
The deck has been changing a bit. The one with ghost light anglers has been replaced with a deck with a longer term game plan that uses elemental synergyies and plays cards like kalimos, grumble, fire elementals, and al akir. Sand binder helps with the lack of draw and consistently draws a late game threat. I'm on rank 3 with it, and I only haven't been climbing much because I've been playing around with quest priest and tess rogue at the rank, but even shaman is my fastest climbing deck.
The article also talks about spell hunter being really good, as well as token druid. I think these nerfs are excellent; I can't recall a set of nerfs reforming the meta so much before without destroying the previously oppressive decks. Many new decks have been able to come out to climb now. I hope that it's not the nerf hype and will dissapear when the meta settles, but that it stay this way for a while.
I only played a few games since the nerf but I think that taunt druid won't be that dominant; it's too easy to sneak a few beasts into their resurrection pool (like most/all cards with a polymorph effect, hex or that warrior taunt that summons 3 raptors for his opponent).
Im making my climb to legend with good old miracle rogue, and i can't seem to win against taunt druid. Also the nature of the combo, being so not interactive, is making the matchup stupidly favoured for druid. So the control and mirange decks get outvalued pretty hard... Also the deck is quite good against aggro decks (except burn mage). I think its a quite annoying deck. However all the other matchups seem balanced.
IMO, the solid aggro decks right now are : odd rogue, burm/tempo mage and even shaman. For control, even warlock seems to work quite well and taunt druid.
I know. I just wanted to ask LePatron why they didn't mention it in the OP.
Inb4 gratz for your success.
I thought about it, but I actually have not lost to a single Control Priest while climbing to rank 4. Perhaps players do not see the win conditions, personally I always include Alexstrasza, Velen, double Mind Blast, and one Gilded Gargoyle for a one turn kill on top of grinding the opponent out. I think the meta is too fast for Priest to retake the stage. I loved Raza because it allowed for me to keep ahead on tempo and answer, while absolutely obliterating control decks late game, but since then it has lost a lot of its power. What do you suggest for the archetype?
I've been playing only spell hunter and after the nerfs I gotta say, win rate has kind of fluctuated. The deck is still favored extremely against any type of paladin, odd rogue, and even shaman, but loses to the extreme output of aggro mage and the control decks. If the meta tends to lean more towards the control druid/priest and if spiteful maintains its power level then it'll drop, but as of now Spell Hunter is still very viable.
I also see zoo lock coming back, as the extreme crowding of competing aggro decks made zoo lock the outcast, it still has all of it's pieces and with no nerf hitting doomguard and the deck not running lackey's anyway it'll probably be tested for a bit
Definitely see a surge of Spell Hunter, which I think is awesome. Again I seriously hate Aggro Mage with a burning passion haha but Zoo is seeing success, Kobald Librarian is such a good card that getting a Keleseth on turn 2 is basically game over
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
- LePatron
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I have yet to jump back onto the ranked ladder (rank 5) and I am setting up to push for legend for the first time in the coming weeks. The Nerfs have come and I personally don't think Standard will be rocked that much, rather it will be a more even playing field - I hope. I have an idea of what decks will be in the way and will possibly be the decks to get to legend with, and wanted to share and also hear from other players who are making a run at it. Would love to hear predictions, strategies, deck building and crafting, and overall competitive goals for the remainder of the expansion.
The Meta "Defining" decks:
- Taunt Druid: If people think Guldan is a problem card, they are really going to hate Hadronox in the next few weeks. Taunt Druid is extremely powerful and its only and very tedious counter is to stuff another beast in their graveyard and pray Witching Hour hits the polymorphed minion. While the pre-nerf decks were a bit slow, I can definitely see this deck surging.
- Odd Rogue: Was already strong against Cubelock, and now has a prime chance to take the role of "best tempo deck" with Even Paladin (I assume) gone.
- Aggro Paladin: Losing Call to Arms may just kill the even archetype, but I would expect players to just take out Genn and rebuild the struts of Aggro Paladin, similar to that before Witchwood came out. Its still going to be a fiend.
- Odd Paladin: Its not as good as the Even counterpart, and may not even be the best Paladin option, but I can definitely see this deck making a home over a 50% WR.
- Murloc Paladin: Has not moved from the competitive spotlight since Un'Goro launched
- Aggro Mage: I seriously hate this deck, Kirin Tor Mage is nuts and the deck is stupid powerful. I lost a game on turn 4 last time I played against it, I haven't died that fast since Pirate Warrior was alive. However, a good player will not play Arcane Missiles on turn one, and I can see this as a foe going up to Legend.
- Even Shaman: Apparently this deck is popular? I have not played against it since rank 8 (no idea how), but I can see it winning at lower ranks.
- Spiteful Druid: This deck will spit the nerf right back at Blizzard. Putting Spiteful to 7 mana only gives your opponent another turn to hope they can hard remove a Tyrantus. The proper nerf should have changed the card text to "Reveal a spell from your deck; summon a minion with the same mana cost and remove the spell from your deck," and kept it at 6 mana. Ultimate Infestation is possibly the best spell ever printed, and Spiteful is definitely one of the best minions ever printed. This deck is going nowhere.
Let me know what you guys think!
- LePatron
solid analysis.
+
spell hunter, big spell mage, mind blast priest, cube/control lock, baku/quest warriors, shudderwock
lost of decks
I'm kinda sensing the return of Skulking Geist because it hurts so many decks right now. I believe Control Priest/Quest Priest (possibly), Odd Pally, Odd Rogue may finally hit Tier 1 finally from the reasonable nerfs Warlock got. Spiteful Druid will probably be mid/upper Tier 2 delaying them a turn (that being if they don't hit Sprite) allows for some easier clears. There's already a Secret Aggro Paladin that's been doing quite well in Legend rank I believe it was around 59% win rate when I looked the other day.
I also hate losing to that Aggro Mage deck lol but yea it's pretty RNGesus and kinda fails when you have to deal with your opponents big minions. When you deal with their Aluneth they're screwed a lot of the time as well if you have a big board and dealt with their Explosive Runes (without taking much damage if any) they can't really race anymore.
Even Shaman is kinda weird I've seen it go off before with the version that runs Ghost Light Anglers into Gentle Megasaur. But yea most of their threats kinda come from stuff like Corpsetaker, Sea Giant, Al'Akir the Windlord and the ability to just reflood the board quite easily. Thankfully Bloodlust is an odd card otherwise that deck would be pretty scary. I think they run Hagatha the Witch which can get them Lust but yea they sorta run out of gas pretty quickly.
I don't know if Shudderwock is enough to pull that deck forward, but a control shaman is coming very soon with one or to solid early game options. Spell Hunter would be a fun deck to play competitively, and I love Big Spell Mage
- LePatron
I run Geist in a few of my control decks, its great against Naturalize, Power Word Shield, Cold Blood, Lost in the Jungle, and other annoying cards. Ill have to look into that Secret Paladin - do you have a deck code?
- LePatron
Currently I see a whole variety of decks, but the only one that has been played a lot is Tempo Mage, so sad that a deck with no brain attracts a lot of people
Control Priest?
I´ve just melted the meta from rank 2 to leg with murloc paladin.
0 difficulty.
Control Priest is a solid choice right now, I reached legend with it last week and the deck only does better after the nerfs. It does take practice to pilot correctly though.
I've been playing only spell hunter and after the nerfs I gotta say, win rate has kind of fluctuated. The deck is still favored extremely against any type of paladin, odd rogue, and even shaman, but loses to the extreme output of aggro mage and the control decks. If the meta tends to lean more towards the control druid/priest and if spiteful maintains its power level then it'll drop, but as of now Spell Hunter is still very viable.
I also see zoo lock coming back, as the extreme crowding of competing aggro decks made zoo lock the outcast, it still has all of it's pieces and with no nerf hitting doomguard and the deck not running lackey's anyway it'll probably be tested for a bit
Weekly Card Design Competition 10.15
any ideas for post even pally nerf?
I think spellhunter is pretty decent right now. It is favored against most aggressive decks and can even outvalue control-decks with their DK. The only bad matchup i see is against taunt-druid because the deck has a lot of armor gain and if they get their taunt-chain going its gg. recruit-warrior and quest-warrior are harder matchups but are winnable. The rest of the decks are mostly easily beaten by spell-hunter. I reached legend from rank 5 with a 76% winrate in less than 50 games. If i had won the games where bad rng decided my loss my winrate would be somewhat between 85-90%. So yeah... I think spell-hunter is really really good at the moment.
Even shaman is actually very good even outside the lower ranks right now: https://articles.hsreplay.net/2018/05/23/meta-pulse-may-23rd-a-world-upside-down/
The deck has been changing a bit. The one with ghost light anglers has been replaced with a deck with a longer term game plan that uses elemental synergyies and plays cards like kalimos, grumble, fire elementals, and al akir. Sand binder helps with the lack of draw and consistently draws a late game threat. I'm on rank 3 with it, and I only haven't been climbing much because I've been playing around with quest priest and tess rogue at the rank, but even shaman is my fastest climbing deck.
The article also talks about spell hunter being really good, as well as token druid. I think these nerfs are excellent; I can't recall a set of nerfs reforming the meta so much before without destroying the previously oppressive decks. Many new decks have been able to come out to climb now. I hope that it's not the nerf hype and will dissapear when the meta settles, but that it stay this way for a while.
I only played a few games since the nerf but I think that taunt druid won't be that dominant; it's too easy to sneak a few beasts into their resurrection pool (like most/all cards with a polymorph effect, hex or that warrior taunt that summons 3 raptors for his opponent).
Im making my climb to legend with good old miracle rogue, and i can't seem to win against taunt druid. Also the nature of the combo, being so not interactive, is making the matchup stupidly favoured for druid. So the control and mirange decks get outvalued pretty hard... Also the deck is quite good against aggro decks (except burn mage). I think its a quite annoying deck. However all the other matchups seem balanced.
IMO, the solid aggro decks right now are : odd rogue, burm/tempo mage and even shaman. For control, even warlock seems to work quite well and taunt druid.
I thought about it, but I actually have not lost to a single Control Priest while climbing to rank 4. Perhaps players do not see the win conditions, personally I always include Alexstrasza, Velen, double Mind Blast, and one Gilded Gargoyle for a one turn kill on top of grinding the opponent out. I think the meta is too fast for Priest to retake the stage. I loved Raza because it allowed for me to keep ahead on tempo and answer, while absolutely obliterating control decks late game, but since then it has lost a lot of its power. What do you suggest for the archetype?
- LePatron
Definitely see a surge of Spell Hunter, which I think is awesome. Again I seriously hate Aggro Mage with a burning passion haha but Zoo is seeing success, Kobald Librarian is such a good card that getting a Keleseth on turn 2 is basically game over
- LePatron