All these sources seem to provide slightly different builds and tier score for decks.
Which source do you think is most reliable?
I heard HSR is live data, Tempostorm focuses on the legend rank while VS is across all ranks.
Tempostorm is salt
Vs is data
HS replay is data
I will take data over salt.
HSR is the most up to date, but it needs to be put in context to understand it best.
Tempostorm does opinion-based evaluation written by high-performing players.
ViciousSyndicate uses player data but puts it in context via data analysis and the staff’s write up of what they find in the data.
Ultimately, the choice as to which one is “more reliable” depends on what you want to know. Personally, I find VS’s mix of hard data and context to be best, but I can see how more experienced players can get as much info out of HSReplay, or how Legend players might find Tempostorm’s analysis more relevant to their experience.
VS and HSReplay are both data-based, while Tempostorm is primarily opinion-based.
HSReplay has more live data from what I’ve seen, and there are a lot of different ways for you to look at that data and compare the performance of cards within individual decks. But a lot of the data from the upper leagues is only available if you pay for premium.
VS tends to put out fewer reports: once per week generally, but they tend to wait for at least a week’s worth of data after a balance patch or expansion before they put out a report on the new situation. While there’s less you can do directly with their data, the reports tend to provide a much more thorough explanation of what what they see and their analysis. And, I believe, their rankings are generally supposed to be closer to what the devs have internally.
Tempostorm, as others have said, is based on opinions from highly ranked players.
Personally, I’ve used VS the most. HSR can be good for additional information or during periods when there’s just been a change in the game so VS is still waiting to put together enough for a full report. I don’t have premium with HSR, so that does limit what I can do with them.
Tempostorm is purely opinion-based.
HSR has the largest data set, but their methods of sorting that data are kinda weird at times and can cause decks to appear stronger/weaker than they are if they’re too similar to other decks of that class. Their mulligan and card winrate data is excellent though and overall they’re the easier quick-reference source.
VS is the most comprehensive from an analysis standpoint and they use methods of collecting their data to remove sample bias in a manner that HSR does not. They have fewer games in their set, but Zach is extremely good at what he does.
Did you ever hear about Big Priest and Quest Mage in Wild?
Last year Tempostorm rated both Tier 1 in the RoS meta, the community wound up to outrage. Blizzard continued to say that Big Priest was a bad performer, but the community listened to Tempostorm more than Blizzard.
VS released a report later, rated Big Priest Tier 3, Quest Mage Tier 2; saying the meta was too hostile to both.
How about Quest Hunter in Standard DoD?
Middle of Tier 2 in Tempostorm in February, VS said it was the best deck in the game. Blizzard released data, and it was Top 5 every day.
Additionally to their better track record on meta analysis and predictions, VS deck lists are curated by performance, oftentimes including unpopular cards or excluding popular cards that the community has a wrong bias for or against.
Why restrict yourself to only one of them? Use them all!