Just Another Meta Monday
Welcome back to Meta Monday! Last week's OTA's goal was to shake up the meta game, but realistically, it evened out the meta slightly with a little shake-up.
Pillar One: Clog
As an archetype, Clog has gotten a lot of useful tools in the last few months and when the meta game is right for it Clog produces results. Hela is still a popular deck even after the OTA meaning clog has gained more popularity. While it has a bad destroy matchup it can usually counter any other deck because of its consistent ability to disrupt board space and control where the opponent is playing its cards.
Here are two versions:
Clog 1
Clog 2
These are the two you are more likely to see on the ladder going forward because they have the most straightforward play patterns, however, because they have been around for a while they have slightly less cube equity than running a more nonconventional version.
This clog bounce version performs well in the mirror because it runs Annihilus and Sersi, unlike its clog counterparts.
Clog Bounce
Whatever the option, Clog is in a good spot at the moment and is taking up around 8-9% of the meta game depending on how you split the data.
Pillar Two: Move
With several move cards released this season, it's great that Move has found its way into the metagame. However, this pillar has changed very little since last week and pretty much is the same as before but because the meta has evened out it is slightly less of the meta game at around 6-7%
Here are three versions:
Move
Move Bounce
Move Clog
As I mentioned last week - “all three use the same idea of moving cards to create more power. However, they all have some slightly different ways of attacking the meta. The pure move one aims to get priority and move cards around while keeping their cards safe with Cosmo and Alioth. The move bounce deck is trying to bounce the move cards and enablers back to your hand to create ever larger cards and win two lanes by spreading that power with The Living Tribunal. The last deck aims to clog the opponent and use cards like Dagger and Cannonball as finishers. All three are viable and attack in different ways so if you are a fan of the move you have multiple options to be viable in the current format.”
Pillar Three: Arishem and Hela
Both of these decks are in an awkward spot because depending on where you are in the post-infinite or pre-infinite rankings the rates of these decks drastically change. For example, if you are not infinite at the moment Hela is almost 10-11% of the meta game while Arishem is only around 2-3%. But if you are post-infinite those numbers even out to both decks being about 5-6% of the meta game depending on your post-infinite ranking. While Arishem was not touched during this last OTA and he is staying pretty steady as a meta-game contender, Hela was the target of a nerf. This Nerf lowered her play rate from the percentage it was at last week however it changed very little of her overall stats and she still is running around especially before you reach infinite and even in conquest she is a heavy percentage.
Arishem 1
Hela 1
Again, this is a lot of the same and these decks haven’t changed from the last week.
Pillar Four: Destroy
With Clog being one of the most popular decks in the format and Destroy being one of the oldest and most consistent options, Destroy has risen in percentage. Destroy can negate most of what Clog is trying to accomplish while actively taking advantage of the extra cards Clog is sending over. Also, Destroy is naturally able to go over the top of Hela with most draws. However, both Shang-Chi and Shadow King are running around in the non-top meta decks and in Clog decks so it's important to look out for those cards that can flip a winnable matchup easily.
Destroy
Special Considerations
This is not a tier list of the possible best decks in the format and mainly discusses the 4 main archetypes that exist in the format from a popularity standpoint, typically though these two things coincide and the most popular decks are the best decks. This week though, that isn't the case. All of the decks above have some decent stats but are nowhere near the best decks (they still are good) in the format they just happen to be the most popular and what you will run into most of the time when playing on the ladder. So what is doing better but less popular? Well, Bounce, Surfer, Darkhawk, and Affliction are all doing very well but are considerably less popular from a metric standpoint.
Bounce
Surfer
Darkhawk
Affliction
If you are not interested in playing one of the popular decks these are all doing well in the current meta game.
Meta Health
With the latest OTA, the meta game was not shaken up but it is a lot more enjoyable experience with a bunch of viable options. The meta is not as wide open as some of us would like it to be because there are still a few decks with close to 10% play rates but for the most part there are options for anyone who wants to play the deck they want to play. Also, we are getting to a point where there might be some small changes to the meta game but several archetypes remain consistent for multiple weeks. For example, Zoo has been a viable strategy with good starts for close to 2 months now and has relatively little change. This is also true for Surfer, Destroy, and the Darkhawk deck. That all points to a healthy meta game that even when it changes slightly can have the same decks and archetypes be successful. There are still several feel-bad decks out there but they are less present than last week.
Wait did we just say this meta was healthy? Well from a stat standpoint, there are a lot of decks in the format that are doing well so technically by the definition set in the first Meta Monday the meta is pretty healthy. Now is it enjoyable? That is a completely different question and one that is completely subjective to the player. For me, I don’t enjoy this meta all that much and have played less than I usually do this last week. But, I know some players that love the current meta and have been playing a lot.
What do you think of the current meta game? Have you been playing a deck for longer than a month and it still feels viable?