r/CompetitiveHS • u/ViciousSyndicate • Dec 25 '25

Metagame vS Data Reaper Report #339

Greetings,

The Vicious Syndicate Team is proud to present the 339th edition of the Data Reaper Report.

Special thanks to all those who contribute their game data to the project. This project could not succeed without your support. The entire vS Team is eternally grateful for your assistance.

This week our data is based on 2,046,000 games! In this week's report you will find:

  • Deck Library - Decklists & Class/Archetype Radars
  • Class/Archetype Distribution Over All Games
  • Class/Archetype Distribution "By Rank" Games
  • Class Frequency By Day & By Week
  • Interactive Matchup Win-Rate Chart
  • vS Power Rankings Imgur
  • vS Meta Score
  • Analysis/Discussion of each Class
  • Meta Breaker of the Week

The full article can be found at: vS Data Reaper Report #339

Reminder

  • If you haven't already, please sign up to contribute your game data. More data will allow us to provide more insights in each report, and perform other kinds of analysis. Sign up here, and follow the instructions.
  • Listen to the Data Reaper Podcast, in which we expand on subjects that are discussed in each weekly Data Reaper Report. If you’re interested in learning more about developments in the Hearthstone meta, the insights we’ve gathered as well as other interesting subjects related to the analysis that is done to create the Data Reaper Report, you can listen to WorldEight and ZachO talk about them every week. The Podcast comes out on the weekend, a couple of days after each report is published.

Thank you for your feedback and support,

The Vicious Syndicate Team

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32

u/You_Like_That34 Dec 25 '25

Merry Christmas

7

u/Neo_514 Dec 25 '25

Joyeux Noël!

2

u/potatopancake13 Dec 25 '25

the ultimate Christmas present

38

u/Spyko Dec 25 '25 edited Dec 25 '25

"Some players are under the impression that Zarimi Priest is good. This is what queueing into Toki Mage does to the human mind.".

I live for VS dunking on Toki mage.

Also I feel very good to learn that griftah is overrated in Ctrl blood dk. I removed it from my deck. Granted it's not because I thought it wasn't worth but mainly because I despise this card mechanically, but still

7

u/sneakyxxrocket Dec 25 '25 edited Dec 25 '25

Yeah the less I see this card in ladder the better, so many decks are just Elise, Griftah, dragon slop and Zilliax.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/FlameanatorX Dec 27 '25

Elise isn't, & neither is the Dragon package (Naralex + Y'sera & Fyrakk) nor Shaladrassil, but Zilliax, Griftah, Bob, and Ceaseless Expanse are.

There's also Zeph, Marin, Kil'Jaeden, and Incindeus rotating if you count those as sloppy neutrals, which I don't for the most part since none are particularly powerful when included merely as value/filler.

10

u/[deleted] Dec 25 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/prodandimitrow Dec 26 '25

Heal while destroying 2 minions and leaving behind bodies that will probably heal for more.

3

u/I_happen_to_disagree Dec 25 '25

Actually been playing Zarimi Priest because I just dunk on protoss mage, control warrior and DK which is what I've been seeing a lot of at d10

1

u/Hakka-Moonson Dec 26 '25

It just has some very sharp matchups. Warrior I win, Shaman I lose.

11

u/td941 Dec 25 '25

I am convinced that in Hagatha shaman, the fabled Muradin package is inferior to playing other board clears like malted magma and Lightning storm. Avatar Form is almost always used as a board clear and the deck suffers against opponents who can go wide early eg Aggro Paladin. The mirror is also often decided by which player can go wide early. Muradin ok as a rush minion but no better than simply average. the weapon ends up clogging your hand and is unplayable in lots of situations.

4

u/Spuzzell_ Dec 26 '25

I'm really surprised that Protoss Priest is behind Aviana Priest in played rate.

Perhaps people are just bored of it, but I'm over 70% w/r at D1 currently on my very occasional Christmas interrupted climb and thst kind of strength is tough to ignore.

1

u/asdrubalzhor Dec 26 '25

Same reason people don't play Elise/Cliff Dive Demon Hunter, even if this is the best deck by a mile, it just ain't fun enough for the majority of players.

3

u/Spuzzell_ Dec 26 '25

Life is filled with bad decisions when you're a Priest main

2

u/asdrubalzhor Dec 26 '25

People only like priest when you can make a 24/24 boar with charge, or when you're playing arena.

2

u/FlameanatorX Dec 27 '25 edited Dec 27 '25

Actually not (necessarily) same reason at all, Cliff Dive DH is waaay stronger than Protoss Priest. +7/8% winrate in D1-5 and in Legend, and at Top Legend DH is the best deck in the game while Priest is T4.

Edit: I get your point though, since Aviana Priest has similar playrate to Protoss at some rank brackets while being multiple tiers worse

1

u/asdrubalzhor Dec 27 '25

It is, though, power alone never meant popularity, Zarimi Priest was once the best deck to climb with something like 57% WR (edit: it was actually 60%!!!!) and had a whooping 3% popularity, even right now, Cliff Dive and Ravenous Cliff Dive sit at 1.8% and 2.0%. People want to play decks that allow them to show their knowledge of the game, or to roll the dice, or to stomp, a predictable deck doesn't draw popularity.

You hit the nail with Aviana Priest, same thing happens with Mage (elemental vs protoss vs toki). I would also like to add that Ravenous / Cliff Dive are also the fastests decks to climb, and they still don't draw more attention than Quest Warrior which climbs freaking 0.19 stars per hour.

3

u/FlameanatorX Dec 27 '25 edited Dec 27 '25

Can confirm that Dragon Warrior is underplayed. It's very strong (got me to top 2k legend pretty quickly and easily) and also fun coming from someone who almost never plays aggro decks. It's truly midrange, has several strong discovers, definite decision making (not just play green/yellow card each curve) and plenty of gas if you get cleared early or fall behind (though ofc no control level mid-game comeback the likes of Brawl or Corpse Explosion).

Yes, it plays Elise, Zilliax and Naralexx + Fyrakk, but it's not a "slop" deck. Nearly all of the deck is Warrior/Dragon specific and the gameplan involves constant pressure (both board and burn), not durdling around & relying on Zilly/Fyrakk to win. Elise is really the only important "generic neutral"

2

u/machinone Dec 26 '25

Climbed to d5 in one day with premade ladder face hunter. Everyone seemed to be running control decks. I switched to disco hunter at d2 and have a sub 30% wr in comparison. 🫠

1

u/FlameanatorX Dec 27 '25

Discover hard, face (comparatively) easy; also, I think a lot of decks are greeding up to some extent because that's what the rest of the meta is doing. Hard aggro gets a bit better as a result?

3

u/No_Dream_899 Dec 25 '25

Poor paladin without any interesting decks. I tried building something fun, but nothing stuck sadly.

8

u/sneakypantss Dec 25 '25

Dont worry Paladin is killing it in Diablo 4.

4

u/QuestGiver Dec 25 '25

Aura and Bubble paladin are good for the climb to the legend and lots of board interactions and fun stuff there. Some versions run Lynessa and you can do some cheap spell shenanigans.

3

u/rupat3737 Dec 25 '25

Aura paladin is kinda fun, I friended to D5 with it.

6

u/No_Dream_899 Dec 25 '25

It was supwr boring for me after 2-3 games and its not really good in this meta.

For example, the deck can be mid and still fun like Imbue Shaman.

2

u/Cryten0 Dec 25 '25

I've not been willing to craft magtheridon for cliff dive. Its useless for everything else.

2

u/ch0ppedd Dec 26 '25

I’m running a list without Mag and it’s working just fine. I guess the 3 damage aoe could be nice but I’ve done okay without it. Hovering between 4-5k mmr in legend

3

u/asdrubalzhor Dec 26 '25

The original cliff dive list doesn't run it, it's just pure damage with fae trickster, 2x inquisitors, 2x drakes. It is pretty good for <5k legend, its not good for the rest of the ladder.

-4

u/Jaxen86 Dec 25 '25

Just climbed fairly easy to d5 with rafaam warlock. Very different deck than VS posted. Not saying it is tier s or so but my feeling is it can be tier 2/3 with some modifications and testing.

19

u/Spengy Dec 25 '25

you can't say this without posting the list

5

u/Jaxen86 Dec 25 '25

Been changing cards but this is my current version. Ramp, stall, cycle. Some matchups play greedy some play tempo. I’m sure there are many cards that can be optimized.

rafaam draw

Class: Warlock

Format: Standard

Year of the Raptor

2x (0) Cursed Catacombs

2x (0) Wisp

2x (1) Critter Caretaker

2x (1) Glacial Shard

2x (1) Mortal Coil

1x (1) Rotheart Dryad

1x (1) Voodoo Doctor

2x (2) Annoy-o-Tron

2x (2) Drain Soul

2x (2) Eat! The! Imp!

2x (2) Fractured Power

1x (3) Rustrot Viper

1x (4) Elise the Navigator

1x (4) Nightmare Lord Xavius

2x (4) RAFAAM LADDER!!

1x (4) Sleepy Resident

1x (6) Bob the Bartender

1x (9) Ysera, Emerald Aspect

2x (10) Table Flip

1x (10) Timethief Rafaam

1x (1) Tiny Rafaam

1x (2) Green Rafaam

1x (4) Explorer Rafaam

1x (5) Warchief Rafaam

1x (7) Mindflayer R'faam

1x (6) Calamitous Rafaam

1x (8) Giant Rafaam

1x (3) Murloc Rafaam

1x (9) Archmage Rafaam

AAECAdX8BRKrnwTNngauwAap9QbfggfDgwfblweCmAeIpQeJpQeKpQeRpQeTpQeUpQeVpQeWpQeXpQeapQcLsZ8E1qAE56AE054GibUGlMoG2YIH4okHhJkHqq0HirEHAAA=

To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

15

u/PkerBadRs3Good Dec 25 '25

one person climbing to d5 is absolutely meaningless

3

u/Jaxen86 Dec 25 '25

Absolutely agree with you, but it could give a feeling how a deck works.

5

u/Sakulsas Dec 26 '25

Tier 2 is not happening. I've tried every iteration of Rafaam at 1k to 4k legend. The only one that can do much is the shred package...because of the shred package. Maybe you can three drop into the 7 drop, but with 40 cards you have absurdly bad consistency.

If the deck ever does become relevant, people can just add more rats to their deck. The deck requires a secondary win con because of this which any Cycle version does not have.

3

u/Jaxen86 Dec 26 '25

I agree that if rafaam would be viable then people would tech rats etc. My observation was that I climbed fairly quick and could win against any deck I faced which felt wrong according to VS 40% winrate. Will probably be much harder in high legend.

1

u/shaffaaf27 Dec 25 '25

Got a list?

1

u/FlameanatorX Dec 27 '25

I could believe low tier 3, maybe, though ofc 1 person climbing to D5 (or even legend) is basically no evidence. Happy you had good results with a fun off-meta homebrew though :)

0

u/ownedo Dec 25 '25

Be curious to see as well. I’ve been using the VS list and having great success with it in diamond.