Chapter 2 of Galakrond’s Awakening went out. It didn’t have as much impact on the meta as the first one. In fact, we’ve seen a continuation of trend started in Week 1 – Embiggen Druid was getting more and more popular. At the time I’m writing this, it’s the most popular deck at higher ranks. And, of course, it has a really solid win rate. As you can imagine, this post will be packed with those.
That said, it’s not the only Druid deck that got better. Lately, after Rising Winds has launched this week, Quest Druid has gained some popularity and win rate, although it’s still not even close to the Embiggen version. Skyvateer is seeing some play in Rogue, although players have very different opinions about it – some like it, others say that its worse than other options. Certainly not a gamebreaking card. Fiendish Servant is good in Zoo Warlock (both regular & Galakrond version), and Zoo is a solid Tier 2 deck. One of the Zoo’s main advantages is a good matchup vs Embiggen Druid, something to keep in mind in case you keep running into them. Cards like Arcane Amplifier, The Fist of Ra-Den or Cleric of Scales are also strong and have seen some experimentation, but just haven’t found the right deck yet.
We expect meta to keep evolving until after the final chapter launches in 9 days. Then, if Embiggen Druid will still dominate the meta, I imagine that Blizzard might consider doing something about it and nerfing it. Wouldn’t hold my hopes to see any balance updates in the upcoming 2 weeks, though.
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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not really surprised to see embiggen druid on top. and because of this, resurrect priest has risen & proven to be a really good counter for the big druid minions.
what makes it so perfect as counter is because both priest and druid start very slow.
I had a match with embiggen druid using quest priest where the 1st 6 turns does absolutely nothing but ending turns. (beside gaining armor)
Embiggen Druid beats rez priest almost everytime ezzz. Rez priest cant deal with the insane ramp and stats. Its better at dealing with wide boards. Although, if they spam the rez pool with the deathrattle destroy a minion they have a chance of winning. But IMo right now embigggen druid only counter is galakrond warlock or zoo
According to HSreplay statistics, decks that have upper hand (slight or big) against Embiggen druid are:
-token druid
-highlander dragon hunter
-holy wrath paladin
-murloc paladin
-pure paladin
-mech paladin
-res priest
-murloc shaman
-zoo
-galakrond zoo
HS replay is a great resource but it’t stats are slightly biased my its playerbase who dont represent all the players
I know they are and that the stats aren’t always correct. They often take into account unoptimized decks etc. Embiggen druid itself was already a formidable deck before Galakrond’s awakening, despite HSreplay showing it as below 50% winrate. However a close look showed that it’s best performing decks (but with low sample size) were around 55% winrate.
However, based on my personal experience, those counter decks are quite correct. To beat Embiggen druid, you have to either rush them down with super aggresive decks (murlocs, mechs, zoo, pure paladin), play heavy control decks with tons of removal (res priest) or play combo deck with fast draw and stalling options (holy wrath). There are other counters as well, but I won’t spoil my secret anti-meta weapon 🙂
Of course, if druid hits 2 out of his 3 main cards in the mulligan (Embiggen, Breath or Strength), druid can win against anything, regardless how unfavourite it is. This is one of the biggest reasons for druid hate: it’s too linear and mostly depends on the mulligan.
Highlander Hunter nearly always beats embiggen druid now