[MatLK] Meta Predictions: Class Power Rankings

Multiplayer Discussion
#1

Every card has been revealed.

It’s Power Ranking Speculation Time. :index_pointing_at_the_viewer:

:scream: :nerd_face: :poop: :face_with_monocle: :woozy_face: :grimacing: :triumph: :star_struck: :saluting_face: :saluting_face: :saluting_face:

Which Classes do you think will be strong (1) to weak(11)?

:classical_building: I’ll post Vicious Syndicate’s Power Rankings once they publish it. :classical_building:
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Overall Power Ranking (How strong are the class’ prospects based on the entire standard card pool?)

  1. __________.
  2. __________.
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  11. __________.

My List / Predictions:

  1. Druid. (Strong)

The new cards support what Renathal Guff Druid is already doing as one of the strongest decks. I think atleast something in the deck will get nerfed by week 1-2.

I don’t think Aggro Druid cares about Undead Synergy at all. If Aggro Druid is good it’s probably mainly existing because people want to farm the greedy Ramp Druids.

  1. Priest. (Strong)

I think vanilla Boon Priest with 0 new cards will get nerfed by week 3.

I think any kind of Aggro/Deathrattle Priest will probably be close to good, but still fail. Everyone has 40 Health and +9 Deckslots for: Mass Polymorph, Shard of the Naaru, Starfish, or Primordial Wave.

  1. Rogue. (Strong)

I think Miracle Rogue with Concoctions and Sinstone/Draka will be one of the best decks. I don’t think Blizzard will touch Miracle Rogue with nerfs either.

Renathal Thief Rogue will probably still be strong.

I think Garrote Rogue can be back at high strength again. Main concern is Boon Priest and Miracle Rogue pressuring it OnBoard too quickly.

I think Deathrattle Rogue will be too weak.

  1. Demon Hunter. (Probably Strong)

Relic Demon Hunter is probably still strong without many new cards.

I don’t think a Card_Generation Miracle Demon Hunter is going to be very strong yet because it’s too OnBoard.

I think a Lady S’theno OTK Demon Hunter might work, but probably doesn’t have enough Mana Storage/Discounts yet to be really good.

  1. Mage. (Probably Strong or Decent)

Skeleton Mage or Big Spell Mage will probably be playable. If Deathrattle Decks like Priest end up being strong, then 40 Health Big Spell Mage will probably farm them.

Arcane Mage probably doesn’t have enough card draw to work.

  1. Hunter. (Probably Strong or Decent)

Quest Hunter got a huge boost. Ricochet Shot combos with Urchin Spines to counter Big Minions that normally counter the deck. Conjured Arrow is wanted by the deck regardless of the Manathirst existing.

Renathal Beast Hunter is probably still decent.

  1. Warlock. (Probably Strong or Decent)

Run 0 new cards and play Curse Imp Warlock or Imp Zoo Warlock. I think Warlock will farm the bad decks, but get farmed by the strongest decks.

The new Warlock set looks like it has a lot of cool stuff in it, but I’m too stupid too see what can be pulled together into an actual deck with the current card pool. I feel like Relic Demon Hunter would just be flinging out cards and murdering it.

  1. Warrior. (Either Strong or Trash, not mid-tier)

Control Warrior is hopeless.

Enrage Warrior could be one of the best decks or fail completely. I’m expecting more towards fail, because it looks clunky. Enrage Warrior was given a bigger cap for what it can do if the opponent is afk until turn 5. I think if the opponent is actually doing stuff it will mess up the Warrior too much and Warrior will fail. Current Enrage Warrior is less interuptable because it’s more of a basic Zoo Deck that just draws the Buff Axe.

  1. Paladin. (Probably Unplayable)

Paladins new cards are fine from a standalone card power level. Renathal exists though. Renathal Druid, Rogue, Priest, or Mage will probably bully Paladin out of the Meta.

  1. Death Knight. (Probably Unplayable)

As standalone cards, Death Knights cards are fine and pretty balanced.

Problem 1: Because the Cards are fine and balanced instead of Overpowered, the small card pool won’t allow the Class to be good.

Giant Problem 2: Death Knight isn’t Hyper-Aggro or Hyper-Combo and the Class doesn’t have a braindead Hero Card like every other Class has. I think this will be huge even for Combo’ish Frost Death Knights because Frost Mage is super reliant on it’s Hero Card and currently every Aggro Deck that isn’t Hyper-Aggro Aggro-Druid runs a braindead Hero Card (Kurtrus is in Aggro DH, Rokara is in Enrage Warrior, Tamsin is in Imp Zoo)

  1. Shaman. (Unplayable)

Shaman has already been sucking since Snowfall Guardian was deleted. This new Shaman set might be the weakest set I’ve seen for any Class in 2 years.

I have combo-lover bias. :person_shrugging: Decks I’m trying week 1:

  1. Rogue: Garrote Rogue. Concoction Miracle Rogue.
  2. Priest: Boon Priest with Svalna/Lyra.
  3. Demon Hunter: Setheno OTK Demon Hunter. Miracle Demon Hunter.
  4. Warlock: Quest Warlock.
  5. Druid: Armor Druid.
  6. Mage: Arcane Mage. Quest Mage.
7 Likes
#2

A great, well thought out post. I appreciate it.
Im not much of a theory craft kinda guy but I do know you like to delve I to these things. I sure hope priest sucks …dont care about the rest.

1 Like
#3

I think much of what is strong now will remain strong. That is to say, Naga Priest and Bless Priest won’t disappear, nor will Beast Hunter or Imp Warlock.

The question is: What decks that are currently good are getting good support for their current good deck?

I believe aggro druid is getting great support. I suspect Aggro Druid gets massive hate coming out of the expansion. Probably the #1 deck.

I just don’t see how Naga Priest / Bless Priest, Aggro Druid, and Curse Imp Warlock don’t remain the top decks. Beast Hunter should also remain in the Tier 1-2 area. We may very well see Quest Hunter come back as well because of the arcane support.

Ramp Druid might also pick up a faster OTK with the armor free minion BS.

New decks that might emerge as a threat:

Aggro Shaman (the new 1 drop with the new 2 mana spell can result in 4 3/2’s on board on turn 2…just saying.) And the new 3 mana guy supports that aggro early game, and Rotgill looks like a nightmare waiting to be complained about.

Quest Paladin (WHAT!!??!?) This is my sleeper deck prediction. Not #1, but I think it might actually be meta viable now.

Mage and Warrior aren’t getting anything spectacular to make their current decks way better, so they just remain where they are. Nothing new comes out of these classes imo.

DK isn’t as good as everyone thinks - but Denathrius still remains annoying.

Overall, I think the powerhouse of this expansion ends up being Aggro Druid. The 1 drop is just amazing, and now they can do full board resurrects and get a minion Bloodlust. Everyone is going to hate it and will call for nerfs when they get smashed for like 40 damage on turn 5 lol.

1 Like
#4

It would be unhealthy for the meta if imp warlock, naga priest, and aggro druid were erased from play. They’re the only aggressive decks left in the format. Everything else is either relic demon hunter or renathal minion piles + denathrius of some sort. The aggressive decks keep the greed levels in check, and you don’t want to remove that safety valve. Otherwise what happens is the class or classes with the best greed piles that have the strongest late game take over completely.

I don’t know about you, but an all-druid meta doesn’t sound very fun to me. With guff and his army of rusher minions, along with the brann + denathrius combo, Malfurion is king in the late game. No other class can out-greed that. Once you get past a certain mana point in the game it becomes impossible to hold a board against a druid. So keeping the fast decks around is a necessity. Otherwise you just end up with ramp druidstone.

2 Likes
#5

Mech pally might be another one. The new aggro cards which are mostly attack buffs, and pretty much any aggro deck can appreciate the burst/reach. The mech package has some shields and discover to help pally get a board to stick and buff.

#6

I hink warlock may be a sleeper.
They already have insane early game with the imp package with lots of draw lots of tempo early. Wouldnt surprise me if imp/curse lock mutated into imp/discard/undead lists with denathrius up top with rafaam but keeping the list low cost and synergistic between imps/discard.

1 Like
#7

I appreciate your honesty.

I am really confused though. You mentioned Vicious Syndicate, but your takes contradict a lot of what they’ve been talking about in the past few weeks.

Please don’t wait, go to their website now and look at the last few reports (they skimp on details on the absolute latest one since there’s been almost no change in the meta, so you need to read the previous one).

1 Like
#8

I think that if DK isn’t good, then this expansion fails.
Can’t see Team 5 allowing that.
But, who knows? Maybe they are just that incompetent.

2 Likes
#9

If DK isn’t good they’ll just buff it as they have with so many other things. The design is clearly meant to be impactful but not overwhelming.

1 Like
#10

I can see them being pretty gunshy after what happened when DH came out, which makes me wonder if DK is going to fall a bit too hard in the other direction.

At least it’s an interesting design for a class; they printed some blatantly broken looking cards, but they are all locked behind some very strict deck building. Better then just “lets give them a card that draws 3 cards with net cost of -4.”

2 Likes
#11

DK doesn’t have to be powerful at all, you can’t assume that just based on how DH was brought out. It probably is just a money sink at the moment, or that is how it looks, though you could dust all of the legendaries from the mini-set and it’s still reasonable if all you wanted was dust.

1 Like
#12

Obviously i haven’t given this as much thought as you, but i think druid and hunter will be S+, the two classes i personally would absolutely hate to be S+. Druid got even more mana cheat, and spell hunter is returning.

Priest will just be as annoying as always.

Can’t see concoctions making miracle rogue strong - it’s 3 mana, it’s super slow, you don’t play concoctions on your pop off turn. There will be a low B tier concoction deck and that’s it. But I’m also sure community will come up with some midrange Rogue deck that includes these new cards.

DK for sure will be S tier if denathrius remains untouched. All dk decks the first month of the expansion will be 40 card lists with brann + sire D or that new 16 dmg legendary as primary wincon. And getting hit by brann + patchwerk will induce levels of rage we’ve never seen before.

Enrage warrior got card draw - but that’s the only deck warrior has. Sad.

I’m most curious to see how my fave deck, silver hand paladin, will turn out. We got cards that kinda support it, but they’re not really strong.

Anyway, forums will be overfilled with QQ about druid, hunter and DK.

1 Like
#13

The priest cards don’t impress me at all. The whole list of new cards only has one single archetype, and it’s all in on the undead theme. The problem is that while the new cards are synergistic, they lack a focus or direction. How are you supposed to kill your opponent with them? The minions are decent at early tempo but nothing special, and in fact the spells are better cards than the minions. The whole archetype is tied to undead, and most undead aren’t worth building a deck around. Are we supposed to summon a bunch of shadowed spirits and then land mine the enemy dead with xyrella the devout? We all know that’ll never fly. Is invincible supposed to be the win con? Cause that’s a slow as heck 8 mana card. Are we supposed to build a zoo deck and just go all in on 1 2 and 3 drops? Unlike naga priest the undead archetype doesn’t buff minions to the sky by turn 5, and its minions can easily be slowed down with board presence that a zoo approach can be run out of gas.

My take on the priest cards is they’re quite bad. Haunting nightmare is a 3 mana 6/6 at face value, but the second half of the body is delayed and doesn’t come down for a turn or two. If it hits an expensive card it may not come down at an impactful moment. The 2 drop is just a bloodfen raptor that copies a card when it dies, and the 1 drop is a zombie chow that doesn’t heal the opponent. None of that is great tempo in this era of hearthstone. And bonecaller is a slow 4 mana 2/4 that the opponent can ignore the turn it comes down, so your deathrattle res is likely to be delayed. And finally the legendaries…look garbage. The 5 mana is a vastly worse imp king rafaam…it only works on bodies that died the previous turn and doesn’t even buff anything. And the 6 drop is slow as heck value. Both are nearly unplayable.

The whole priest set is just an inferior imp warlock or beast hunter. Honestly I’m expecting naga priest to be the go to archetype. Because ramp druid is going to be super strong, and there’s no way any type of slow priest deck can contest druids late game.

5 Likes
#14

I’ve already got a wild deck theory crafted and I think it will be strong!

#15

lol Warlock got insane Support for the Curses.

Shallow Grave and Devourer of Souls are awesome with Lady Darkvein. Maybe Curse of Agony could see play again.

1 Like
#16

I tend to agree. The only thing I could see saving priest is if the meta becomes super combo heavy and stealing and discounting your opponents finishers actually works as an endgame strategy for an aggro midrange deck. But it doesn’t seem likely (tho I haven’t paid close attention to the reveals).

#17
  1. Druid (ramp and token)
  2. Priest (naga/bless)
  3. Hunter (quest)
  4. DK (all 3 but specially unholy)
  5. Rogue (miracle and thief)
  6. Warlock
  7. DH
  8. Mage
  9. Shaman
  10. Paladin
  11. Warrior
1 Like
#18

Here is my ranking :

Death knight aside, hunter spell may be the best deck. It might destroy mostly everything but hyper aggro .

Because hunter spell will be the second best deck, Warrior will be meta. But even spellbreaker warrior, might not be good enough against hunter. Because warrior can not win against tavish spamming 5 companions every turn.

Rogue warlock, mage will have fun and decent deck, that aren’t crazy op but can win, providing the opponent doesn’t play one of the strongest class

Shaman will probably have an hyper aggro deck, that will smash mostly everybody that doesn’t run starfish and/or similar tech.

Dh will still be good thanks to relic.

Paladin will have an aggro deck, but it won’t be great and it won’t be quest. Quest is too slow for aggro, lack draw engine, and sacrificing your whole deck to get a couple of 3/3 every turn after turn 5 isn’t gonna cut it in this meta.
otherwise they ll have a slow control deck that will remain mostly similar to what they have now.

Rogue is going to be good with the potions.

Druid will still have a strong aggro deck and a strong late game deck. Both very polarized and auto-winning or losing depending on matchup.

Priest might be… the best deck if it can outpace Hunter. There will still be Naga priest, Undead priest could be better or merge with it.

DK will be the absolute best class, because its a jack of all trade, master of all : can build very resiliently and controlly if needed, or very swarmy and agressive . As such, I expect DK players to quickly adapt to the meta and find a deck to rule them all.

So here is my ranking

1- Death knight
2-Hunter (spell)
3- Priest (Bless/ Undead)
4- Druid
5- Rogue
6- Warrior
7- DH
8- Mage
9- Warlock
10- Shaman
11- Paladin

3 Likes
#19

pretty good bets. When has hunter ever not been good?

#20

The 5 mana also revives the minions that died on the turn you play this card. I think it is a very good card. Fill board with dr stuff and then trade if needed and play the 5 drop.

Its a sleeper that has a ton of potential with combos as well.
Drop your combo on board for 10 mana. Next turn revive for 5 and you got 5 mana to finish.
Its a very strong card.