Wow! HSReplay.net dropped a stats bomb this evening looking at the current winrates and popularity of Hearthstone's classes in the Standard meta and the results may or may not surprise you.
If you've been laddering at all in Standard this expansion, you've seen your fair share of Mages and Paladins so it should be little surprise that these classes are at the top, but did you know together they are responsible for 50% of decks played at Diamond to Legend? Of course, these stats aren't official and they only look at the higher-end of the ladder, but HSReplay has enough data to make a solid conclusion that these classes are doing too well so far in Forged in the Barrens.
We don't know what Blizzard is thinking about it yet, or if nerfs are even needed yet since it is still very early in the meta and solutions could still be discovered by players, but we do think this is a bit on the crazy side. Here is the breakdown of popularity and winrates on the Standard ladder for each class.
What do you think about Standard's ladder so far in Forged in the Barrens? Have you been on the Mage and Paladin hype train? Let us know your thoughts on the current meta in the comments below including cards you think could be potential nerf targets.
Quote From @HSReplayNet Yes, you read that right.
Over 50% of decks played since Forged in the Barrens' release have been Paladin or Mage.(Delta is in comparison to the week previous to FitB's release)
Looking to Join the Club?
Well, we'd be silly to not include lists to further increase the popularity of Mage and Paladin so here are up-to-date lists for all the fun flavors that are worth playing.
Secret Paladin
Libram Paladin
Libram Broom Paladin
No Minion Mage
Comments
Blizzard really f'ed up the Barrens release. Not only for the players, but more for themselves. The first two weaks of an expansion viewer counts are the highest. And all they see are bugs and and a unfun ladder experience. That way you can't gernerate new players or get players back.
They put the focus of Druid (except CA), Hunter, Shaman and Warrior on minion based midrange decks. But these types have zero chance right now. They can't keep up with the resources and powerlevel. In some turns Mages, Rogues and Priests can play and generate more cards, than the classes mentioned before do in the entire match.
Also we have to talk about Tickatus. Not that he is unfun to play against or burns my beautiful cards. No, but about his influence on the meta and what decks his existence discourages. He is also responsible for the current meta.
I agree with you regarding the major bait and switch with all these midrange decks. I was really excited about playing tempo/midrange decks, and have just been clobbered on ladder. But I don't think you can reasonably argue that Tickatus Warlock is responsible for the metagame.
For one, Warlock is no more than about 10% of the decks being played right now (as indicated by the chart in this article). For another, the stats on HSReplay indicate that it loses a lot to Hunter and Demon Hunter, but Paladin and Mage wreck those classes right now (at winrates around 70% for the former, and 60% for the latter).
I get why people hate Tickatus, and any metagame that's dominated by a card that can wipe out a third of your deck over the course of a game is certainly unfun if it's a top meta deck. But I don't think that's true today for Tickatus Warlock, and I think seeing the traditionally aggro and tempo classes regain traction on the ladder would naturally decrease its play rates.
They should hurry up with the nerfs, this isn't a healthy meta.
Not only it's not fun to play, it isn't even fun to watch! I loved watching Kibler and Regis playing their off-meta decks. But now I can't stand to watch them play against the same classes and their power turns over and over again anymore.
Completely agree.
I think something died inside me when Thijs (who usually plays off meta) play lunacy mage. Just couldn't watch the stream anymore.
I've played the No Minion Mage, but I left out C'Thun, the Shattered. It just seems counterintuitive for the deck. I've had Deck of Lunacy for some time and nowhere to use it. The deck is fun because of the randomness. It's really fun to play cards from other classes, especially one's I seldom play. It's honestly the most fun I've had in Hearthstone in years, so I will be sad to see Deck of Lunacy nerfed, but I don't think it is actually the problem, I think it might be one of the two cards from the new set Refreshing Spring Water.
I cant understand ppl that say random is fun. U literally arent playing a win con game. No startegy just trust on the gaming gods. How is that fun? U win not ur fault u lose not ur fault. Fun?
Thief Rogue (or Priest) decks can be a LOT of fun, but that's because the randomness is bounded. You have a core suite of tools that you need to end up integrating with your randomly generated ones. Even Lunacy Mage isn't entirely random, with the culling of the spell pool you've got a good idea of the cards you'll generate.
Your deck is shuffled, these games all have some randomness. Different strokes, I guess.
Random isn't fun when it's something like "randomly generate massive power swings" like the ones we see with Deck of Lunacy, but there are lots of way that random can be rewarding. I think the Discover mechanic is a good example of this - it gets to be skill testing by seeing how well you pick the right card for the situation at hand.
Other "heavily random" strategies include Miracle Priest and Burgle Rogue, both of which are decently popular (historically speaking). They satisfies the "Timmy/Tammy" player's desire for big, exciting turns, but it also gives you a chance to see what you can do with a pile of random cards (not all that unlike a Sealed or Draft game of MTG). Having to cobble together a strategy based on a handful of random cards can be very skill testing, and it's certainly a great way to add variety to your games.
Notably, those two archetypes tend to have lower average power levels for their random cards, and they don't get the major discounts associated with Deck of Lunacy. Those two factors are a big part of why the randomness of No Minion Mage today is so unfun.
That has always been the basis of Burgle Rogue (BR), which has been my own favourite archetype for years. There are several reasons why I think BR is a fundamentally better design than Lunacy Mage (LM), but by far the biggest one is simply that they always kept the power level of BR inside a 'Goldilocks zone' for casual decks: it has decent win rates for casual players, but never approached tier 1 where it would flood the meta with excessive RNG.
Becoming powerful enough to leave that Goldilocks zone is a dangerous business. Partly because any tier 1 deck will be hated by the community as a whole, and partly because the deck will now have a real impact on the legitimacy of competitive Hearthstone. Randomness in card draw is one thing, but a deck based entirely on RNG is quite another. OG Yogg was nerfed for this reason, and Deck of Lunacy has become a much bigger offender than he ever was.
So ultimately, LM is really bad for the game so long as it remains powerful. I agree that the randomness adds to the fun of playing it, but it is also the best reason why it should not be allowed near tier 1.
Sadly for Deck of Lunacy itself, I just don't think it can stay at 2 mana anymore. Turn 3 is just too early to be drawing into the transformed cards when the card pool is as good as it is now.
If they DO nerf Luna*cy, how do they? Doesn't matter if the mana cost is tacked +2 or 3. Reduce the discount on the generated spells? Make it mage only spells?
The deck for me is boring and too random. I honestly don't think the need for a nerf to that one silly card is necessary. I grow weary of mage class in general especially inside the Wild format.
They should make it to generate spells from whole pool, including WIld. This will dillute the pool with lotsa bad spells. And remains a very funny meme.
The deck of lunacy mage is a RNG feast ... in my last game I got two Survival of the Fittest, which for a no minion deck is ridicolous ...
The problem is NOT that it's random. The problem is that it's not random enough. The card pools are so small at the higher mana costs that you are guaranteed to get massive draw at 6, and you can expect Nagrand Slam and Survival of the Fittest pretty consistently if you started with the right spell costs originally.
If there were more spells in the pool that were less generally useful (while still being powerful in their intended classes), Lunacy would be much less problematic.
Well, yesterday I got Turn 2 Deck of Lunacy, turn 3 Skull of Gul'dan, turn 4 discounted Runic Carvings into Survival of the Fittest.
4 6/6 minions on turn 4.
And this nonsense woirks almost all the time.
I feel like I played against you this feels so familiar! It is rather absurd to be how often I see Coin -> Deck of Lunacy on turn 1. How do people always have it in their hand turn 1?!
If it makes you feel any better, I have never gotten Deck of Lunacy in my hand/mulligan. I drew it on turn three once and discovered a copy of it from Runed Orb on turn two once.
Serendipitous. Servers that shieat deck perfectly. N0t mad!
the "secret" paladin is actually the same than the libram paladin
Thanks, fixed!