Introduction
TLDR summary at the end in red
I competed for top 100 in score for both season 26 and 27. It was also the time during which the game transitioned from 2.89 to 2.90.
True to form, I collected some data along the way which I would like to share with you!
I will also go into some in depth analysis of the meta and try to pinpoint where improvements can be made to better this awesome game of ours.
2.89 and 2.90 meta data
Here is are lists of heroes that I faced in QM whilst I had a rating of 310-330 in both the 2.89 and 2.90 versions of the game.
The number next to each hero represents the number of times I faced this particular hero.
2.90 Meta Description
Clearly the top 3 meta heroes were Aramia, Lance and Threbin.
The Aramia decks were predominantly fire based that capitalised on the synergy between Flameforged Gauntlets, Fireball, Supernova and Cinderborn. Index's Pyramia proved to be the most popular and effective.
The Lance decks were predominantly attachment based and featured cards like Confluence of Fate, Backstab, Silent Strike, Treasured Heirloom, A Lengend Rises, Zailen Crusader, Irina and Zealous Mystic. You can discover more by having a look at FDL's and VincePrinceKing's version.
The Threbin decks were all Templar based which worked very well with Scriptures of the Righteous and Rod of Smiting. Most builds were very similar to Ragosonos' build but some also included other cards like Bad Santa, Road Less Travelled, Retreat, Zail's Hymn, Robes of Mending and King's Pride.
The next layer of heroes that were popular were: Amber, Baduruu, Jericho, Serena, Moonstalker and Zhanna.
The Amber decks were typical beatdown decks similar to Preybird's build but some did experiment with the Templar theme.
The Baduruu decks were either Vince's Bobcat build or Otto's Ravager build with Vince's being the more popular as its draw power kept up better with the meta's draw power.
The Jericho decks, like Lance, also made good use of the Confluence of Fate buff. The decks were either solo or semi solo like in Egatemi's build.
The Serena decks were standard Cutlass based ones as per Bob Ross's build and being able to steal key cards like Fireball and Tidal Wave was a nice bonus.
The Moonstalker decks were a mix between Undead and Wulven. The undead version proved to be more resilient since Bloodpack Shaman was too vulnerable to Threbin's arcane damage. Kylt's Undead Moonstalker was very effective but other builds did also well with the inclusion of Tomestone Beacon.
Whilst the Zhanna decks were either haste based or control based. Some even made use of Confluence of Fate as in Wizard's deck. But overall, control proved to be more effective since it was able to heal more against Aramia.
Did the buffs from 2.90 increase hero diversity?
In short, the buffs from 2.90 did not increase hero diversity. In fact, one could argue that the 2.90 buffs had the opposite effect and decreased hero diversity!
For those who are not familiar with the 2.90 changes... click here to find out more.
When you look at the stats from 2.89 to 2.90, we can calculate the percentage of the total meta that the top heroes represent:
As you can see... there was a decrease in hero diversity in the top 2-13 range when the game went into the 2.90 version of the game.
Furthermore, 70% of the meta was represented by human heroes which was up from 55% in 2.89.
These two observations alone proves to a certain degree... that the 2.90 buffs decreased hero diversity.
Why did the Human heroes dominate the meta?
I believe that there are two main reasons for this phenomenon:
Confluence of Fate (cof) favours humans
Humans cards have more synergy with cof and therefore they were able to benefit from the cof buff more so than their Shadow counterparts.
Humans have access to Zailen Crusader which accelerates the amount of card draw you can extract from cof.
Humans have better attachments overall compared to Shadow and therefore these human attachments are more likely to played alongside cof. For example... A Legend Rises > A Legend Falls and Rogue attachments > Wulven or Elementalis attachments.
Thus the cof buff in turn encouraged more human heroes to appear onto the meta scene. Lance and Jericho are the two best examples.
Sindarok Apprentice is untouchable
Sindarok's 2 arcane damage upon combat entry meant that both Karash and Krygon could not attack Sindarok else they would simply die upon combat entry before they could even attack.
The popularity of Templar Threbin therefore made both Karash and Krygon less effective on the battlefield.
And this really hurt Shadow heroes who depended on these allies... noticeably Banebow, Elementalis, Majiya and Zaladar. All 4 of these heroes had a decrease in usage when the game transitioned into 2.90 as a result.
TLDR Summary or Conclusion
The main 3 meta decks in 2.90 were Fire Aramia, Attachment Lance and Templar Threbin.
The 2.90 meta had less hero diversity compared to 2.89 and it also favoured human heroes allowing them to dominate 70% of the meta as opposed to 55% in 2.89.
If the intention of the 2.90 buffs was to increase hero diversity ... then this plan has sadly failed since they have had the opposite effect.
Since is the case, one must deduce that the 2.90 buffs may have been too strong. A nerf may be appropriate with Confluence of Fate and Sindarok Apprentice being the top 2 cards in question.
On a positive note, the 2.90 meta had a great balance of rush, midrange and control decks which made it both enjoyable and challenging to play. This was more so in comparison to the 2.89 meta which was dominated by rush and midrange.
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