Hearthpwn

THIS is what happens, explaining why people see this phenomenon over and over:

Deck X (enemy deck you can't beat much, e.g. Murloc Shaman) is popular in rank n

You lose to it a couple of times, you are now rank n + 1.

You lose to it a couple more times, you are now rank n + 2.

You decide to tech against it.

Deck X is not popular in rank n +2. You now face decks who are in rank n + 2. You may or may not be good against them. You do not see that old deck because they are popular at A DIFFERENT RANK. Also, because they are doing well at that rank, they are moving to rank n - 1, and then n - 2. You do not see Deck X at your rank n + 2. You do not see Deck X at n + 1. You also don't see Deck X at rank n, where you were before, because they are now ahead of you.

You face a bunch of different decks, who you are not teched against. You adjust your deck to face them, and then move on to rank n - 1, and perhaps to n - 2. You then see a bunch of those decks again, and then come here and complain because you see a bunch of that deck again once you removed the tech cards.

It is NOT a feature of matchmaking designed to screw YOU (Blizzard doesn't care), it is the meta at a micro level with a shifting balance over time. Anything else is just natural statistical variation within ranks.

There is NO conspiracy. Get over yourself. Play to beat whatever you're facing, and you'll rank up if you pilot the deck well.

Quote from og0 >>

Ah another one of these threads claiming matchmaker bias (against you and in favor of your opponent because reasons).

From https://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/matchmaking-works-tyrandespecial-promotions-max-mccall-yong-woo/

(the bold is my emphasis)

MAX MCCALL DISCUSSES HOW MATCHMAKING WORKS

I saw this post last week, but didn’t have time to respond to it. I’ll do that now: when you go into a game, the only variable that affects who your opponent will be is your skill rating.

Matchmaking works as follows:

We use a formula to assess player skill. After every game, the formula looks at if you won or lost and uses your current rating, your opponent’s rating, and your rating history to generate your new rating. We call this rating MMR for short. In casual and at Legend rank, we pair players with similar MMRs. In Ranked below legend, we pair people with similar star ranks instead of similar MMRs. Your rating is the only input that the matchmaker receives. It doesn’t know what deck you’re playing, what deck you just played with or against, or anything else, except for your rating.

When you press ‘play’ you enter a queue for your chosen game mode. The matchmaker looks at your MMR and compares it to the MMR of everyone else in the queue. If it finds someone else with the same MMR as you, it pairs you into a game. If it doesn’t, it will wait a few seconds and look again. The second time, it doesn’t look just for someone with your MMR; it will also look for someone with an MMR that’s almost the same as yours. If it still doesn’t find a match, it waits another few seconds and looks again. The bound for what MMRs are considered a good match keep widening the longer you’re in the queue; this is to ensure that you don’t have to wait too long to play. Usually a match is found so quickly that the widening bounds never really matter. After the game, your rating is updated, and the process is repeated the next time you queue up.

I realize some won't accept this and are convinced the game is rigged.  I'll listen if an analysis of 100K+ matchups by a statistics collection site by unbiased competent people show there is statistically significant matchup bias.  

For the record I fell out with Blizzard during WoW days and told them I'd never give them money ever again (I haven't).  So I wouldn't consider myself part of their fanbase :)

 this is great of you to find and share this quote.  I really appreciate it. Its nice to know how matchmaking is determined. I still feel bummed not being able to use the Hungry Crab tech vs Murloc Shaman, and it still feels weird that as soon as I switch the card out, I get a Murloc Shaman. Maybe the quote above is all they use for matchmaking, or, they dont want to reveal all their secrets cuz then people would abuse the system in their favor! 

Whatever the reason, thx for contributing. This is why I made the post to start with. Thx again!