THL Meta Reports: S8/5, Week 6!

Welcome back to rebobson and BitBeaker's take on the THL meta right now, read on to hear their thoughts on what people brought to another eventful week; what did the first full week post nerf have in store for us? Read on to find out!

Well, well, well… things certainly have shaken up a bit, and it’s about time! Of course, there are some disclaimers: Last week I asked, could Warlock go a 5th consecutive week where it rises in popularity? Short answer, yes. Two players in the entire League did not bring Warlock this week, and both those players play for the Bad Hombres, so, go figure. Priest remains the second most popular class despite the removal of Razakus Priest from the scene; the most common lineup appears to be Priest, Warlock, and 2 out of 3 of Druid, Mage and Paladin, with  60% of the League opting for this approach. Rogue has completely fallen out of favour, down a whopping 60ish% to 19% from two weeks ago at the height of Tempo Rogue. I believe this may be due to the rise in popularity of Zoo: Rogue possesses several archetypes (Quest, Kingsbane, Miracle) which fare very well against slower Warlocks, but get obliterated by Zoolock. So, even while bringing a lineup targeting slower decks, you are forced to ban out one of your possible best matchups, purely to avoid the horrible Zoo matchup. Which just begs the question, why bring Rogue? According to Ragnaros League, don’t. Meanwhile, Mage (79%) has rocketed up the charts, the removal of Patches as a dominant force allowing Tempo Mage to completely take over as the aggressive deck of choice, along with Murloc Paladin, which is looking solid at a 50% bring rate. Some of those might even be Control Paladins, a deck which is actually looking somewhat viable given a Warlock ban and no Razakus Priest to worry about. Druid players may be looking worriedly over their shoulders at this point, with Jade Druid and Aggro Druid having lost their most relevant matchups in Razakus Priest and Tempo Rogue, respectively, there is looking like less and less reason to bring the class. Even Spiteful Druid is simply an inferior version of Spiteful Priest, Malfurion is honestly looking pretty mediocre at this point in time. Meanwhile, in shit class watch, Shaman and Warrior both saw some experimentation, being brought 6 and 5 times respectively. 1 Shaman ​got a 3-2 win out of all of those, the rest all lost their matches. Still won’t be seeing much more of those, I don’t think. Hunter, however, is an interesting one: Spell Hunter has good winrates against many of the most popular decks in a competitive format, could Hunter actually see a rise in popularity before the season is out? This week’s showing, going 3-7, isn’t the best start, but only time will tell. Until next week!
-rebobson

Another week has passed, and this time it brought a new meta for us to enjoy. The balance patch introduced changes that impacted a number of decks that were prominent in the meta, most notably Razakus Priest, Tempo Rogue, and a good portion of the dominant aggressive archetypes. Tempo Rogue seems to be the biggest loser, as we’ve seen a decrease in play of 48%. The go to lineup is no longer R, Pr, Wlk with a flex spot but some combination of D, M, Pa, Pr, Wlk. The landscape of the league has shifted and become slightly more unpredictable; I’ve heard tell of strange decks about and you never can tell by a person’s class selections what archetypes they will be bringing. It is too easy under current conditions to get caught up in what we are used to seeing and come prepared for the wrong matchups. Druid is coming in with staples such as Jade and Aggro but there are some Quest and Spiteful Druids floating around out there too. Hunter seems to be mostly Face and Midrange. Mage is most frequently Secret, followed by Big Spell Mage. Exodia can sometimes be seen in more targeted lineups. Murlocs have taken up the banner once held by their non-fishy aggro counterparts. Anduin can still be seen carrying a pouch of dust, taming Dragons, and summoning 12/12 minions on turn 6, directing his anger at Team 5 directly at your face. Warlocks have taken over the top spot in the meta seeing play in 96% of lineups. With Cube, Control, and Zoo being all very powerful and effective decks, it can be difficult to predict what to play against and has therefore also remained the most banned class. Meanwhile, Thrall and Garrosh have been eagerly awaiting the balance changes, ready to make their move to the top, only to have their hopes and dreams crushed as the train once again left the station without them. Only this time they have company.
*Valeera approaches, with a single glistening tear slowly inching its way down her cheek*
“Heh, Greetings”

-BitBeaker