Weekly Metagame breakdown

Today's preview card is going to be Thunder Clap, which makes me sad because we've already seen it. I'll skip my review of the preview and just start breaking down the metagame from this weekend. First up are this week's results. The first number after each hero is the amount of top 4's and the second number is top 8's.

This week:

Grennan 14-20
Sen'Zir 10-11
Gorebelly 6-9
Elendril 4-7
Dizdemona 3-7
Litori 2-2
Omedus 1-2
Varanis 1-2
Radak 1-1
Ta'Zo 1-1

And here are the new totals

Grennan 36-48
Sen'Zir 22-31
Elendril 16-22
Gorebelly 13-18
Dizdemona 10-20
Omedus 3-6
Varanis 3-4
Litori 3-4
Radak 2-3
Ta'Zo 2-2
Graccus 1-1
Thangal 1-1
Warrax 0-1

First let's take a look at just this week's results. Grennan remains out in front. He didn't quite dominate like he did last week, but he still posted more top 8's and top 4's than any other hero. One thing worth noting this week is that the majority of Grennan decks are migrating to the aggro side. This makes a lot of the bad matchups for the control deck much better. I played Aggro Shaman this past weekend, and went 3-0 vs. Dizzy control, beat Gorebelly in a not close at all match, and lost my one match vs. Sen'Zir. That match went to three games and all were very close. I was one damage short of killing him in Game 1 because of my own play mistake earlier in the game. One thing worth noting for any Lazy Peons out there, my decklist ran only 2 rares (2 copies of Chain Lightning), so Aggro Shaman is also a great choice for that format.

Sen'Zir has firmly asserted himself as the No. 2 deck in the game right now. His execellent matchups vs. the control decks are working in his favor. The sudden slip of Elendril will also help this deck. That is probably its least favorite matchup. It's still pretty close but not having it will mean more wins for Sen'Zir. I' a little torn as to where to classify this deck. Based on numbers it's still closer to the decks behind it than the deck ahead of it so for now, I'll leave it as the top of Tier 2.

For the first time, Elendril falls out of the top 3 in weekly results, supplanted this week by Gorebelly. Gorebelly is picking up more steam every week as he climbs the charts. If Elendril continues to fade this will be another deck that gets helped immensely, although I have seen several decklists that are being tuned to essentially set up a wall around their hero before they win and the rush decks can actually have a bit of a problem getting through all the Demo Shouts and Defensive Stances. I expect to see Gorebelly continue to do well over the next few weeks until Dark Portal becomes legal. Unfortunately, for some of Gorebelly's more vocal supporters, I'm going to continue to classify this as a Tier 2 deck on the rise. When I talk about a deck being Tier 1, Tier 2, etc., it has nothing to do with personal preference or the power of the deck. It has only to do with the numbers being put up and Gorebelly just isn't up there with Grennan right now, so he stays Tier 2.

Elendril had a quiet week. People might finally be moving away from the most consistent deck in the game. Given the abundance of Searing Totems running around, I think many Elendril players were just tired of their bad matchup with Shamans and are looking for decks that match up better with it than Elendril. Now that we have a better idea of what can beat the Shamans people are starting to play those decks with more frequency moving away from Elendril. Elendril will remain a Tier 2 deck, but it is definitely on the decline right now.

Dizdemona got off to a slow start but she's getting a little more consistent. She had another solid week, but the escalating numbers of Sen'Zir players combined with the movement of Shaman decks to aggro may pose some problems for the Warlock. But she will remain a solid choice for the next few weeks. Another solid, steady week keep her in Tier 2 and holding steady.

As for Tier 3, Litori took a couple of spots this week and Omedus and Varanis both made more than one top 8. Maybe this is the start of big things for the frost Mage. I think Varanis is pretty good because of the Horde Mages ability to play either aggro or control within the same deck, and Omedus' flip ability is brutal vs. Shaman and Hunter decks that empty their hands all the time. I hear dealing 7 for a flip is pretty good.

The biggest news this week is the continued rise of Gorebelly and the sudden decline of Elendril. There is only one Regionals scheduled for this weekend due to the Sneak Previews. Remember Dark Portal doesn't become legal until the last weekend in April so there will still be three weeks of Regionals events with just Heroes of Azeroth. I think most people will just take decks that are doing well now as there isn't much room left in one set for further innovation, but I'm really looking forward to that first few weeks of May when the metagame really gets blown up. It will be the first time in the life of this game that we have seen any real innovation in deckbuilding and I can't wait.