Blizzard's Dean Ayala shared winrate data from the past few days on decks from the highest-ranked players in the game - the top 1%.
In addition to winrate data, Dean also shared some additional information on where the meta is at and mentioned it is possible we could see some card changes.
- Aggro Shaman is performing very well but has a small sample size. It was the highest winrate deck on 55.9%.
- Embiggen Druid has a high population but is just above average in performance.
- Dean, jokingly, says it may make more sense to call Embiggen Druid "Strength in Numbers Druid" due to that card's power level in the deck.
- The decks from Ranks 10-15 are very different than the highest level of play. (See below)
- There are no current plans for balance changes. They will revisit this in a few weeks.
- Wild may see some recent card changes get restored to their former glory on the next set rotation.
The Current Top Winrates
| 3 - Legend | 10 - 15 |
|---|---|
| Combo Priest | Mech Paladin |
| Galakrond Warrior | Face Hunter |
| Dragon Hunter | Token Druid |
| Mech Paladin | Embiggen Druid |
| Quest Druid | Highlander Hunter |
Quote From Dean Ayala Hey everyone! I spent some time today going through community feedback and interntal statistics for the Standard metagame. Wanted to share some thoughts on where we are now and where we might be headed in the near future.
Still seeing healthy fluctuation in terms of deck power levels every day. Here are some metrics for the best decks over the last four days. Data represents top 1% of players, which is approximately Rank 3 to Legend.
Feb 8
- Quest Hunter – 55.0%
- Aggro Warrior – 54.5%
- Galakrond Warrior – 54.0%
- Highlander Hunter – 53.7%
- Mech Paladin – 52.9%
Feb 9
- Quest Hunter – 54.2%
- Galakrond Warrior – 54.0%
- Highlander Hunter – 53.9%
- Rezz Priest – 53.6%
- Galakrond Rogue – 53.0%
Feb 10
- Galakrond Warrior – 55.0%
- Mech Paladin – 53.7%
- Rezz Priest – 53.3%
- Quest Hunter – 53.1%
- Highlander Hunter – 52.9%
Feb 11
- Combo Priest – 55.4%
- Galakrond Warrior – 54.3%
- Dragon Hunter – 54.1%
- Mech Paladin – 53.9%
- Quest Druid – 53.7%
Other Notes:
Aggro Shaman is performing very well, though the game sample sizes aren’t quite high enough to be able to say for sure. On 2/10, it was actually the highest win-rate deck at 55.9%. The deck has fluctuated between around 15th all the way to 1st so we imagine it’s true power level in the current meta lies somewhere in between.
Embiggen Druid continues to have a high population despite performing just above average. As far as individual card power goes, it might make more sense to start calling this deck ‘Strength in Numbers Druid’ .
The meta for lower rank players looks quite a bit different in roughly the same time period.
Here are the current top 5 decks for Ranks 10-15.
- Mech Paladin
- Face Hunter
- Token Druid
- Embiggen Druid
- Highlander Hunter
It’s normal for metas to look differently at different levels of play, but over time we usually see a trickle down effect from the higher level of play. That is to say that the meta above will probably look closer to the top 1% meta today given enough time.
We don’t have any plans for changes on the immediate horizon, but we plan to circle back in a few weeks to see if there are any changes we want to make as a result of Galakrond’s Awakening cards or changes that might be necessary looking forward into the next expansion.
For Battlegrounds, we have a change for Floating Watcher that is planned to go out tomorrow and a larger scale update planned in the near future.
For Wild, we’re looking at some of the nerfs we made to cards that rotate into Wild with the next expansion and seeing if we want to revert any of them. Will have more updates on that soon ™. Good luck and have fun!
Comments
I like the details on the meta.
But anyways.. Arena? no info, really? We can guess that mid-expansion event is coming, but that's it. Arena feels so neglected atm, just sad to see.
Mech-Pally? Really? Haven't played much Standard past weeks but never encountered one them. Only the usual Embiggen-Druids and Highlander-Hunter-Netdecks.
The Rise of Mech Paladin actually came as a counter to all those Embiggen Druids running around as it has a favoyrable matchup against them. Saying "Haven't played much Standard past weeks" and still using your experience as viable suggests you may not realize how fast meta changes sometimes.
My sample size from last six games at rank 7:
Embiggen Druid: 100%
All of this synchs with my ladder experience @ R5, except Galakrond Warrior. Although, it is actually fairly well positioned against the Hunters and Paladins. So maybe that explains it. I'm thankful Dean has been doing this.
Pretty interesting to see that Mech Paladin started seeing a rise in winrates before shotbot got released. Wondering if this was caused by people trying to get in some practice with the archetype before it would get a 'buff'.
I think it's just well placed in the meta. Meta is either highlander, galakrond, or aggro and they don't have good answers to a nutty mech paladin opening and their wide or tall board building. I also think it has an inflated winrate due to the low skill cap though. It's much easier to pilot near max efficiently than even some of the more straightforward decks in the meta, even at the top 1% of players.
It’s great to see this level of detail! Also, I’ve been enjoying the meta over the past few weeks and agree that it’s doing well on it’s own. There is plenty of variety, nothing is horribly dominant, and new surprises turn up regularly.
i thought ive never see the day
shaman is being played at top ranks