Most accurate deck tier list?

Multiplayer Discussion
1

I hear different things from different people and different websites. Which is the most accurate source for deck tier lists and winrates?

2

Vicious Syndicate does the most work to remove selection bias from their data and to date has always been the closest representation when given the chance to be compared with Blizzard’s own data. That said, it’s also a week old when it comes out, though once a meta has begun to settle you can use it to project forward or plan your own builds relatively well.

If you want to know what people are playing right now, HSReplay is quite good. You can catch newer builds on here somewhat ahead of the curve sometimes, though their winrates tend to be inflated a bit and since they seperate every individual build you wind up with a wide variety of suboptimal options displayed.

Overall technical accuracy - VS
Up-to-date newer happenings - HSReplay

12 Likes
3

Just to add to Wardrum’s assessment (which I agree with) I’d like to make a note on game modes.

With Standard I would take the tier lists from Vs (due to their historic closeness to Blizzard’s data when Blizzard has shared) with some degree of reliability. You might disagree with the analysis some; however, I would put some stock in the raw numbers being a good representation.

Now for Wild… treat the tier lists as an educated guess. Is Big Priest better than Big Rogue (top tier 2 vs. tier 4)? Yes and the tier list shows that as a certain as the winrate gap is so large. Now is Even Shaman better than Odd Paladin? Maybe… while Odd Paladin is higher on the tier list (bottom tier 1, top tier 1) the amount of data and the fact it is collected over a longer timeframe (1 month usually) makes it a lot more prone to old data issues and the lower data sample to greater data quality issues.

4 Likes
4

Hsreplay premium lol. If you willing to pay for it.

5

I like using the meta snapshot because it seems like it’s just pure speculation and I love the idea of people being so confident in themselves they don’t look at any data.

6

Cut out a single cheeseburger each month and it’s suddenly in the budget :+1:

2 Likes
7

I don’t care about cheesy burgers, but those 5 bucks would be 5-6 chocolate bars over here.

Never! :chocolate_bar::chocolate_bar::chocolate_bar::chocolate_bar::chocolate_bar:

In all honesty, paying 5 bucks a month to a 3. party freemium website, while the game itself can be accessed F2P , might make sense for pros or die-hard “rank 100 legend and up” players, but for a Joe Schmoe (like me)? I’d rather save the 60 bucks for one prepurchase package.

Well, suum cuique.

2 Likes
8

Or you can do what most pros do, build your own deck.

In fact I think tiered decks lose their power the moment the deck is published. Just look at Token Druid, still S-Tier on paper but I haven’t seen one at high rank. Everybody teched against the deck.

Don’t netdeck, build meta-breaker one.

9

Some truth here for certain. Once a deck gains a certain amount of popularity to become focused on it immediately loses some power by default as the deck starts facing a more hostile environment.

With that said I’ll disagree with Pupu to an extent. Only build your own deck if you want to. You’ll stumble more times than you’ll run but the satisfaction of getting the deck right is a ton… probably why I play so much HS and MtG:A. Even with meta decks I enjoy (or usually more like off-meta) the best thing in these games, to me, is when you build a deck from scratch and it works.

10

I noticed none of these sites have any version of plot twist warlock in their rankings. That’s kinda disappointing because I made my own version and have been winning more with that than any other archetype I’ve played in the past. I thought it was doing well but I guess I should prepare myself for a lot of losses at high ranks lol

11

I’m liking vS less and less as time goes on. If you’re playing their list, your opponent knows every card you have in your deck. The other problem is they will highlight a list from someone who hit high legend. That list probably has some very specific card choices for the meta they are facing. It doesn’t help me at rank 5 to legend.

I prefer hsreplay and I did pay for the membership but I don’t think it’s necessary for most players. What I like about it is you can look at a type of deck and see the different cards people are using and you can tailor your deck to your pocket meta.

2 Likes
12

That’s pretty much how I look at it. Especially the “VS recommended” decks that didn’t even come from a specific user are often just an amalgam of that deck’s popular variants or just the most popular one at the moment. If I’m looking to plunk around with a certain deck that I haven’t done before I’ll usually check HSR and find the highest winrate with a somewhat lower playrate and see why it’s doing as well as it is compared to the more popular lists. Even if I don’t necessarily USE that list, it gives me a good jumping point and provides added perspective on what does/doesn’t make the deck tick.

If I’m curious about picking a deck up, I go look at HSR. If I want an accurate report of how one thing stacked up against another last week, its VS.

13

VS says Nomi and shadow step are not good cards in tempo rogue but they also say warrior is the best counter to tempo rogue. Nomi with double shadow step and Myra’s are the best strategy against warrior. Something doesn’t add up here. You’re already running Myra’s so three cards is a good trade off to beat warriors and shadow step is great with Leeroy too.

14

I also like nomi and shadow step in rogue.
In the end I think a deck has to win the mirror to become 1. Like there is lots of decks and 1 deck ends up on top. Then the decks that are able to win the mirror will be the best decks. Nomi does nothing for the mirror,its a bad card there. Maybe that’s the philosophy behind claiming nomi is bad for rogue. The stats probably can back it up but the stats from replay net are not that big of a sample seize in the end,when you would only count legend players.

15

Agreed. I’m trying Harrison right now.

16

People get way to caught up in tier deck list almost any popular deck can be OP when played correctly. Nomi Priest has gotten R1 Legend and its known as a meme tier deck.

17

This is actually a very good point.

Tier lists, to an extent, are a good display for how well the average player of a certain rank will be able to do with a given deck. If you’re on the upper end of that player skill curve, that can change drastically. Obviously there are some decks that simply won’t be good for climbing in a certain meta nomatter who pilots it, but with things like Kibler taking Elemental Mage to legend previously and [I forget who] taking BSM to #1 Legend back when everyone was calling it a terrible deck, you can’t look at a tier list and tie that exact winrate to every single person who plays it.

This works both ways though, and someone who can’t move an inch on the ladder with a Tier 1 deck might be in the middle of a hostile pocket meta, but more likely needs to re-examine how well they’re actually playing the deck. “I picked this deck and should have an automatic 53% winrate” is NOT how it works.

2 Likes
18

I am not seeing so many Warriors. Kripparian’s latest video on the meta commented their numbers are dropping because of the Hunters.

I went from 9 to 5 this week with only one loss after I switched to Rogue. I opened Togwaggle rather than Nomi, so I took out the second Rat for Scheme to do the Leeroy Wand combo instead.

Togwaggle into Crown for double Hooktusk scheme (10) was a pretty good highlight for me.