The meta analysis team interview series

When it comes to playing Hearthstone, THL is an entirely different beast compared to ladder. There’s an added layer of preparation to matchups, giving THL more depth than what you’ll ever find on ladder. Consider lineup construction—there’s a lot to take into account. What classes/decks/archetypes does the opponent like? What does the ladder meta look like? What are the top performing decks? What decks have you played the most lately? There are so many questions and only four options to bring at the end of the day.
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The Meta Analysis Team wanted to look into how THL constructs its lineups given these questions, so we queried some of the league’s players across the community to learn about their approaches to lineup strategies. 

Here are some of the methods they told us:

“My philosophy is to stick to the decks I'm comfortable with” [...] “I believe in my skills and my ability to play the matchups,” Copa says. His advice rings true: comfort picks are always a safe route to go with. You avoid overthinking about your opponent’s choices. You’re familiar with your matchups and as long as you trust yourself (and believe in the heart of the cards), you can win against anything.

YoDaddy, meanwhile, left us with a very wise haiku:

“bring good decks don't bring 
bad decks [...] we tried to target
[...] and we got high rolled”

The best decks are considered the best for a reason. They don’t have clear counters, allowing you to have a strong matchup spread. If you don’t believe us, take it from YoDaddy—he learned the poetic way.

OTZaixia suggests, “Try to bring a lineup that's good into a hypothetical target deck, but the decks should be good decks that can win if the target isn't brought.” If you are aiming to counter your opponent, it’s better to commit to a soft counter so that your lineup doesn’t crumble if you miss your target. No one can look into the future; you aren’t Runi, Time Explorer after all.

​Targeting is much more involved than some of the other strategies players have told us so far. OTZaixia recommends a simpler approach so you are not punished for a misread, but this mixed tactic still requires more preparation and research to execute flawlessly. Be ready to scour the scouting page to learn your opponent’s tendencies, and remember that this is only a guess at the end of the day. If it works, then you’re in a great spot. If not, then you could be on thin ice.

Aharmlessdog takes a similar line to countering, while still playing it safe. “I really only counter in Legacy, and try to target one specific deck.” He then follows with an example: “[...] last week [my opponent] went 1-0 in legacy with Druid. This week I brought a Warlock that was designed to counter Druid”. The prevailing strategy is to lean into counters when possible, but not to make it your whole game plan. SchmoopieDady also shares the sentiment:  “I try to bring 'good stuff' that does well generally into what I think they will bring. If I have zero read on my opponent, I just bring ‘good decks’ ". Having a fallback in case you can’t get a read is important. There is no “one size fits all” strategy that works every week.

When asked if they looked into other teams' lineups when creating their own, most of our interviewees said that they don’t really pay attention to what other players and teams are doing. SchmoopieDady, however, gave us some compelling insights. “I'll scout other teams like F2L to see what approach they deem is the best. Usually they have a coherent strategy behind the decks they bring, [...] They don't always get it right but more often than not they indicate what the better decks will be.” THL is always going to be filled with trends. If you can get ahead of the rest and identify the trend first, then you stand to give yourself the upper hand and be the trendsetter.
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What have we learned? Lineup preparation comes in all shapes and sizes. You can do your research on your opponent, or stick to what you know best (or even do something in between!). Regardless of the approach, what matters is your confidence in your lineup. How you reach that confidence is entirely up to you, as long as you’re having fun while doing it. After all, while we are all here to win, THL is meant to first and foremost be fun.