THL Meta Reports: S8/5, Week 7!

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!

It's official: Rogue is now so bad that the prospect of actually having to play the class led to #SubGate. Only 8 players brought the previously dominant class, and one of those wasn't really actually brought; of the 7 players who actually played it, only 2 of them actually recorded a win. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Interestingly, the nerfs have actually resulted in a meta with less class diversity than we had before: the divine quartet of Mage, Paladin, Priest, Warlock accounting for 84.5% of all League play. This is a pretty fair reflection on the state of Standard Ladder at the moment, with the rock-paper-scissors game of Secret Mage, Dude/Murloc Paladin, and Control/Cube Warlock, and the odd middle child of Spiteful/Combo Priest, all accounted for. Truly, it is an exciting time for Hearthstone. Meanwhile, Spell Hunter occasionally pops its head up, recording its customary win-rate of slightly-below-50%. Druid's appearance rate continues to slide ever further towards obscurity, its lack of any kind of meaningul archetype meaning there really isn't much reason to bring the class right now. As usual, Shaman and Warrior picked up a single win between both classes; kudos to the lunatics who continue to try and make them work. The way things are looking, I'm going to be hard pressed to think of anything to say next time. Until next week!

​-rebobson

The final week of the regular season has concluded and the new meta is taking shape. M, Pa, Pr, Wlk has risen as the new best lineup, but that hasn’t stopped others from experimenting. There are absolutely a few notable stats to be shared this week; interesting developments in the League meta that I wish we could see play out over a few more weeks of regular season play. Warrior was banned by one player who was not facing a Warrior lineup. This suggest Garrosh strikes fear in to the hearts of Team TRYHARD as this is not the first time it has happened. Every player who brought Shaman won their match. Does this suggest that Shaman is actually a good class for a tournament meta now, or does it just catch people off guard? The majority of players who were allowed to play Warlock lost their match. That’s a whopping 60% of players who actually got to play Gul’Dan that couldn’t pull through; perhaps running Warlock is actually a liability now. The data suggests that some players in the league may actually be teching their lineup to handle Warlocks a bit more efficiently than before, running at least one counter deck to ensure victory. 62% of players who banned Paladin won their matches. Paladin is a force to be reckoned with in the new meta, and the ability for the class to sweep is a cause for concern if you have to face it down. Hunter is continuing to see a rise in popularity due to the strength of Barnes in Spell Hunter, and Mage is still doing well. Running both of these classes together could be problematic as teching in Eater of Secrets can cause serious problems for both decks. That could be a cause for 70% of players running both of these classes together losing their match. Although to be fair, one of those players actually had their Hunter banned. Valeera has settled in at the train station along with Garrosh but Thrall is itching to find his way off the platform. He may even pass Malfurion on the way out. Congratulations to all of the teams who made playoffs and to everyone else, thanks for hanging out and we look forward to seeing you on a team again next season!

-BitBeaker