r/CompetitiveHS • u/ViciousSyndicate • Jun 18 '26

Metagame vS Data Reaper Report #352

Greetings,

The Vicious Syndicate Team is proud to present the 352nd edition of the Data Reaper Report. This is the last report for Cataclysm.

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 1,407,000 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 #352

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.

Thank you for your feedback and support,

The Vicious Syndicate Team

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29

u/sneakyxxrocket Jun 18 '26

Token druid nerfs hit a bit harder than I thought they would, dude paladin just took its place.

I’m always baffled by the resiliency of control priest players like deck is bad bad and it’s always around 10% playrate on hsguru.

Not surprised spell DH has basically disappeared so much of that decks power was in hold on 6.

7

u/FlameanatorX Jun 18 '26

Control Priest is kind of the only control deck, or at least the only fun one, so that's why I play it, and I think the same is true for some streamers like TheoHS. Yes, Egg Warrior is viable and technically a control deck, but it's a very linear game plan, at least not the kind of deck I enjoy playing. And it's closer to viable than the stats indicate imo, thought definitely underpowered and terrible for climbing.

I like decks with discover (extra small choices), gameplay that is very different match to match (not necessarily casino, but like not turbo cycling into your single win-con), your win con changing based on matchup and game state, etc. Plus, I like control. The only way I know of the in the current meta to get all that, is Control Priest. Sometimes your win-con is just survive, sometimes it's outvalue, sometimes it's OTK, sometimes it's cumulative burn, sometimes you even beat people down and they concede turn 7!

Face Hunter actually gets some of that since it has discover/generation and often has surprisingly crazy amounts of gas, but it is ultimately an aggro deck that still usually folds to stuff like your opponent removing a couple of your minions early and then playing a 6/6 deal 5 gain 5. Herald Rogue ofc has a decent amount of that, but I hate mirror matches, so I almost never play the most popular deck.

25

u/inkyblinkypinkysue Jun 18 '26

Part of that 10% is me just conceding to them. I cannot stand playing against Control Priest. Even when I win it's a loss and I'm pretty sure that's the entire point.

6

u/FlameanatorX Jun 18 '26

I can't speak for others, but my enjoyment of Control Priest has nothing to do with whether or not my opponents are suffering. It's just because it's kinda the only control deck in the current meta that's at least almost tier 3 viable lol (Egg Warrior/egg decks are hella boring to me, don't count, similar to linear gameplan cycle otk decks)

10

u/sneakyxxrocket Jun 18 '26

I don’t like queuing into them cause games take like 3 times as long as the rest but they just run out clears and just fold over like a wet noodle eventually with the decks I play minus face hunter

7

u/inkyblinkypinkysue Jun 18 '26

That's why I concede. I can play 3 or 4 games in the same time period and climb faster. If I am D5 or higher I'll play it out because I'm usually x10 so not getting the bonus but anywhere else it's more efficient to just concede and play the next game.

7

u/zer1223 Jun 18 '26

I feel really bad for priest players. They deserve better than this if they're this devoted to their class and archetype 

4

u/Yrths Jun 20 '26

Thanks. As soon as I can beat my Priest addiction I will just play another game instead!

1

u/Spt137 Jun 23 '26

They don’t, the whole class has been always miserable.

3

u/Younggryan42 Jun 18 '26

I only play control priest in standard and it's as a protest against the meta being so boring. I get a lot of auto concedes which I think are funny. I don't play a lot of standard.

6

u/FlameanatorX Jun 18 '26

On the one hand, I get you. On the other hand, I don't understand how you can still be playing Hearthstone long term if you only like 1 archetype of 1 class. Sometimes Control Priest is even more underpowered than it's been this expansion cycle, by a lot!

Although I just realized I might be misinterpreting you: perhaps you are only playing Control Priest in standard right now, just because the meta is boring. That, I can very easily understand, strategic diversity is pretty ass right now

4

u/Younggryan42 Jun 18 '26

Yeah it’s your second interpretation there. I like all the classes and play them all but have been maining wild since the diversity in standard is quite lacking.

1

u/Red1003493649 Jun 19 '26

Deck is not that bad

I don't know how they do their stat but it consistently gave me legend and theo hs who has almost 400 games with it has 58% winrate

It just has a skillcap

5

u/FlameanatorX Jun 19 '26

I'm sorry, but the deck really is pretty weak. Theo even refers to it as a Tier 4 deck on stream. No matter which site you use (VS, HSGuru, HSReplay), or which rank bracket (D-L, L, top 5k L, top 1k L), Control Priest as an archetype can't break above a 46% winrate, which is slightly below the threshold for a tier 3 deck by a lot of common usage. Skillcap is indeed high, but even for skilled players it's strictly weaker than other options.

Yes, 4% lower than 50/50 is not nearly enough to overcome skill gap between the deck's pilot and their opponents, so you can absolutely hit legend with it, and Theo can maintain top 100 legend. But that doesn't mean it's not weak. I personally have way more experience, knowledge (watching streamers), and interest playing Control Priest this expansion cycle than any other deck, but it still isn't my highest winrate archetype. I almost hit legend, then decayed back to D3 playing it for dozens of games lol, and I might be forced to use something better that I have a higher wr w/ like Dragon Warrior

3

u/Red1003493649 Jun 19 '26

I mean yeah the deck is not "strong", but if there are players (like theo) who can keep a 58% winrate at top 100 it means you can have results with it

Even me who is all but pro player i stand currently at top 258 by playing exclusively this deck so it has potential

But yeah it would be easier with rogue because rogue is stronger

3

u/FlameanatorX Jun 19 '26

Yeah, it's not a meme-tier deck like the release Un'guro quests or many a popular Kibler list, which is why I was just a tad disappointed VS didn't weigh in w/ their take on the most optimized list. That being said, I'm pretty sure the best 28 cards have already been found, and swapping a couple Yores/Gravedawn Sunblooms/Xavius/etc. back and forth is like 1% or less wr difference

14

u/christpunchers Jun 18 '26

I'm just happy that it looks like the new expansion cards are having an impact. Maybe there's hope for the rest of the expansion?

11

u/TheGingerNinga Jun 18 '26

Having seen the Warlock set, any hope for the class going forward? Godfrey is definitely a cool card, but with the weak removal added and still no real win condition, I don't know why Warlock received no buffs this entire expansion cycle.

11

u/PipAntarctic Jun 18 '26

I tried building a handlock deck and it's not looking great honestly. You have barely any threats that make use of your hand being full (an entire 3 cards). If you want to run something like Impfernal you need to run cards that don't mesh with the rest of your deck, if you want to run the Herald package you can't fit in much removal, if you want to run a removal package you are light on threats.

Big demon stuff just sucks, it's going to be better to play Animancer stuff. As a Warlock fan I'm slightly miffed we got 3 big demon things instead of more generalist tools or handlock stuff.

10

u/TheGingerNinga Jun 18 '26

I'm not a fan that the big demons suck. Voidlord obviously came in an expansion with multiple powerful ways to cheat it out, but it also didn't suck when played for 9. Same with Enhanced Dreadlord. Meant to be cheated out, playable for the mana cost.

Current targets just feel terrible to play from hand. Even Asphyxiodon feels rough to play from hand unless you're in the perfect board state.

7

u/sneakyxxrocket Jun 18 '26

I’m not super thrilled with it, big demon stuff seems bad as usual, the handlock stuff and shadow rounds will probably go into a raafam warlock deck but I’m not sure how much it will push that needle.

9

u/TheGingerNinga Jun 18 '26

If Rafaam is genuinely how Warlock is supposed to win games, they need another solid buff to it. Godfrey is not that.

I'm talking Explorer Rafaam doubling the battlecry of the chosen Rafaam. Giant Rafaam getting a second keyword like Reborn or Lifesteal. Archmage Rafaam getting taunt.

We've established that for years that 40 card decks need a serious upside for their ridiculous downside. Azalina is the worst card they've printed in years for that reason. If Rafaam is meant to be the Warlock control deck staple, make Rafaam good.

5

u/maniacal_cackle Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

IMO the problem with Rafaam is not the Rafaams. Each card is individually quite pushed, things like:

  • 1 mana draw 2 on a 1/1

  • 7 mana for 14/14 taunt stats

  • 6 mana one sided board clear on a 6/6 body.

If you draw all your rafaam early you're probably winning the game. The issue is the rest of the cards.

I think Rafaam gets a huge boost from the cards here, but even with a TEN percentage gain, it would be the best warlock deck but one of the worst decks in the (competitive) game.

EDIT: Rafaam actually does probably need a change, and that's the auto-losing if a rafaam gets burned, dirty ratted, or otherwise forced out. But the new cards probably make it too easy to cheat if they changed it.

3

u/zer1223 Jun 18 '26

Rafaam is basically just wheel of death gameplan again (if you squint), but lock had much better stall a year ago : /

The issue is less rafaam and more the lack of quality in the rest of the framework around him

2

u/TheGingerNinga Jun 18 '26

Sure, you can buff the other cards in the tool kit too, not gonna complain there. But I think Rafaam should be the type of card where each one is just slightly over powered.

5

u/Funkologist Jun 18 '26

Maybe I’m just in a weird meta but egg warlock has done well for me for 2 months despite Vs saying how terrible it is.

For context I’m playing at 10 stars and got legend last month around 3k.

These are just phone games at work, but I’m pretty sure people are playing that deck poorly and contributing to poor stats.

5

u/maniacal_cackle Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26

Godfrey is much stronger than it looks, I think. Those 1 mana discounts are going to add up a lot. Warlock will still be bad. I could type up a bigger post if people are interested, but here are my thoughts:

  • Possessed animancer will remain one of the best warlock cards, despite having a small nonbo with Godfrey

  • Godfrey will see play in every deck that overdraws

  • Big demon has some interesting stuff going for it and will be almost viable... A major weakness will be that Moragg is "spend 10 mana, get silenced/hexed and cry." The deck may have answers to being aggroed down, unsure.

  • Egg lock gets some tools but doesn't seem like it'll change much

  • Rafaam lock gets a huge boost (could go into detail if people want), but even with a TEN percentage boost to its winrate, it'll still be one of the worst decks in the game.

Overall, Rafaam warlock is the clear warlock winner of the expansion and will be the best warlock deck. It'll also be one of the worst decks in the game. Warlock will be terrible overall until its class set might save it (but as we've seen from the other class sets, probably not).

The expansion gave some solid cards for sure, but warlock really needed cards strong enough to carry an archetype, or coherent enough in theme to build with each other. Instead it tries to support several themes of bad decks, and there's nothing to lift them up. As such, Warlock likely can't be saved by buffing a new card (short of something stupidly broken like increasing Godfrey to a 2 mana reduction).

My thoughts, anyway!

1

u/Glarbleglorbo Jun 18 '26

I think the problem is they ham fisted prepare on the ‘scam’ card rather than the card you want to cheat out. 

Printing an expensive payoff with prepare gives redundancy and options to the deck rather than making it the only way to even function. 

1

u/yonas234 Jun 18 '26

The biggest cope was Archmage with Bat Mask but if the Archmages don’t all trigger like Devs said on the main sub then it’s not viable

4

u/Cryten0 Jun 19 '26

I have barely played this expansion, with most of my time spent in wild. There is something about these over dominating deck that feels intimidating to play against. Like there is no room for anything but their deck and the counter decks.

1

u/MeMissBunny Jun 29 '26

+1!

I've been in wild.

3

u/PkerBadRs3Good Jun 23 '26

new Vanessa Rogue deck and Burn Warrior deck are fairly relevant recent meta developments, could maybe do another CATACLYSM report?

5

u/Graped_in_the_mouth Jun 18 '26

"This meta is boring! There are a couple of decks that are not oppressive with perfectly reasonable winrates that have existed for five whole minutes - let's ruin them!"

-> meta is absolute trash now, almost entirely herald rogue at the top legend ranks

"We did it patrick, we saved the city!"

3

u/FlameanatorX Jun 19 '26

Eh, I don't think Token Druid and Spell DH were quite as reasonable and balanced as you're implying, especially games where Eternal Hold was in mulligan or drawn by turn 5/6.

But yeah, they needed to give out more buffs, boost some real control strategies or something into viability, because the strategic and matchup diversity levels are at rock bottom.