Another week after the nerfs, which has proven that they DID have an impact. A lot of people said that Boggspine Knuckles nerf is pointless, that it won’t change anything, that it’s the worst nerf in the history… but as it turned out, Shaman has taken a huge hit both in win rate and popularity. And I mean HUGE – it dropped down from T1 all the way down to T3. Yep, that’s right. I’ve played against two Evolve Shamans over the last ~50 games. It’s still more popular at lower ranks, but that’s always how it goes – low ranks are slower to adapt, since players there don’t follow the meta trends as much. Also, it’s not like Shaman class is gone completely – Aggro Shaman is quite good, but it’s nothing like the pre-nerf Evolve Shaman.
Rogue, on the other hand, didn’t feel the nerf that much. It was great, it’s still great. In fact, most of the builds are exactly the same as pre-nerf, even playing 4 mana Edwin VanCleef like nothing happened. Some builds switched him out for e.g. SI:7 Agent or Coerce, but for the most part you can play pre-nerf decks and it will still be T1.
However, the biggest winner of the patch was clearly Zoo Warlock. The deck hasn’t seen much play earlier this expansion even though it already showed some signs of promise thanks to the new cards (Wicked Whispers, Wriggling Horror, Man'ari Mosher) – it was held back by other decks. First by Demon Hunter (which got nerfed mid-December) and then Shaman (which was just recently hit). Right now it’s good, maybe it’s even the best deck in the game.
Overall, the meta is quite balanced right now. While not every class is in a great spot (Druid and Priest seem to be the two weakest ones), each one has at least a single T3 deck, so it’s playable. Most of the classes have at least one, but often a couple of T1-T2 decks and none of them seems to stand out too much (as in, there are no 2-3 decks that dominate the meta). I quite like it, to be honest, they did a really nice job with balancing, I just wish they’ve reacted a bit sooner so we didn’t have to play against 30% Shamans for a few weeks.
Of course, the meta is most likely going to change once again soon, after more cards get released. Some info about the upcoming mini-set has leaked and some people asked me about it, but I try to post leaks (unless they come straight from Blizzard – like if they release a trailer too early, then it’s official in my book). I can’t confirm whether it’s correct or not, but we should get some more info about mini-set very soon. Can’t wait for that! If you’re curious, you should be able to google it yourself – but such leaks take away from the actual reveal IMO.
Below, you will find a full list of the Legend decks from last week, sorted by the highest placement.
If you want to see all of the current top meta decks, go to our Hearthstone Meta Tier List post!
If you’re looking for the best Wild Format decks, check out our Wild Meta Tier List!
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