Class Tier List - July 2016 Standard Ranked - Hearthstone Meta Report - Top Decks

It's another new season of Hearthstone, so it's time to revisit our Class Tier List and figure out who's on top in Standard. As always, I welcome discussion in the comments if you have some thoughts on my rankings. Warrior is still king and Druid has made a substantial climb, but all in all a little bit of shuffling has still left us with the same top dogs. Have things gotten stale? Honestly, I think we're in a pretty healthy meta right now.

In this video I also touch on some lessons learned from last season's attempt at climbing to legend. Enjoy!

Top Tier: Warrior, Warlock, Shaman
Mid Tier: Hunter, Druid, Mage, Rogue
Lo Tier: Priest, Paladin

Class Tier List - July 2016 Standard Ranked - Hearthstone Meta Report - Top Decks
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I have been an avid lifelong gamer and enjoy sharing my experiences with viewers like you. I primarily focus on relatively even keeled Lets Plays of strategically oriented games, although if it's fun I'll give it a shot. You will also find other content on my channel regarding how gaming sometimes bleeds into my day job or real life. Thanks for watching and sticking around, and feel free to leave any feedback in the comments or via PM.

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Closed Caption:

hey everybody Asher here and it's
another month it's time for another
listing of class rankings and
hearthstone
now you may tell yourself or ask
yourself have things gotten a little bit
stagnant in the heart so meta game i've
heard a few people complain that they
only run into one of three classes the
whole time but my argument that i'm
going to put forward today is at least
that things are not necessarily stagnant
in fact I think things are pretty
healthy
there are just a few classes that are
definitely on the outside looking in
so we'll get there in just a minute but
to start leading towards that . you may
have seen on this channel have done a
series for let's get that stupid card
back and how did I end up finishing at
the end of the month it is a grand total
of four
no need for ceremonies drum roll here
rank for was where I ended up peaking I
did not make it up to five and there are
three little lesson to take away that
hopefully will help you all out as you
all pursue climbing legend or maybe
you've already climbed legend you can
leave your thoughts in the comments on
that as well
first being that quite frankly I didn't
have enough time I was and there's two
reasons for that one is work-related
life related everything else like that
and the other thing was that I wasn't
using my time very effectively when i
was playing that's because of second
mistake i made which is not anticipating
a shift in the meta in the middle of the
month if you remember some of the
earlier on videos climbing although we
have to rank 5 was fairly easy peasy if
only because i was running temple war
and eviscerating zoo warlocks and agro
shaman and mid-range shaman that were
added
everywhere my only bad matchup was
mid-range hunter well
by the middle of the month a lot of
people figure out all figured out
finally that made a range hunter is
really good against warrior not just
tempo warrior but control warrior as
well so what you got was me suddenly
facing so much of a bad matchup and once
you get to rank five people who are
piloting the decks your good against are
significantly better than before
I wasn't using my time what limited time
I had efficiently
playing up-tempo Ward is regular old
temple warrior and that's why the third
mistake is that I probably could have
shifted to another deck maybe Dragon
Warrior which has slightly worse matchup
vs ooh and shaman which I wasn't killing
into very much anyway and I wouldn't
have done better versus the hunter
matchup or maybe try some other decks
entirely which is something that we're
going to talk about today because if we
look at the class rankings one thing i
want to talk about something that
vicious syndicates put out some good
numbers in terms of games that have been
played all the time and what you get
from analyzing that data someone read it
that really good job this is talking
about the cycle of Beats or in other
words it's not just that there's one
dominant deck right now there is a class
that I've had at the top of my to-do
list beginning that class hasn't moved
but when we talk about the cycle beats
all i say is that is you have this nice
diagram here to demonstrate to you is
that everybody has a weakness in some
way shape or form i heard anecdotal
evidence from plenty people saying hey
was last season a little bit harder to
climb that maybe people are used to it i
guess a lot of people have done the
legend climb the past where there was a
domino deck something like secret
palette in something like Undertaker
priest or hunter
we're literally nobody could stop you
that isn't really the metagame right now
so that's why i said maybe things are a
little healthier than where people go
but the the cycles fairly simple
you have water which is strong but is
weak to Hunter and Hunter which will be
warrior but tends to lose two shamans
ooh and shamans ooh which is strong
there tends to lose to warrior
and I mean that's not this is not like a
total manifold everything gospel but it
is something worth keeping in mind that
every class every day no matter how
opiate may feel does have some bad
matchups so if you're going to be
climbing this season we're trying to
scratch your way up for playing terms
you may want to ask yourself if you're
going to bring a class if you're going
to bring something like that do you want
to do something that's within the cycle
or do you want to take something that's
kind of outside of the cycle something
like cathedral at something like rena
warlock and maybe work from there
so let's go ahead and get to the class
tears we're going to start with number
one on the list which is warrior and
warrior the deck that I featured today
is draggin water which is starting to
become one of the more common themes
that goes into here now there was a big
uptick of consuming warrior and control
warrior on the ladder but Dragon Warrior
finally after people rumbling about it
for a month exploded onto the scene and
this is pretty much the list that you
see what it looks a lot like a mid-range
token druid here and it does there are a
few variants there's some that run
certainly there's some that run the
sauce first made just for that early zoo
interaction and Dragon Warrior is
definitely interesting a place that
there's not i wouldn't say there's too
much to discuss about warrior I think
for this expansion water is pretty much
cemented itself at the top there's
always an advantage inherit that you can
have just by having a class that people
don't necessarily know what - Mulligan
for and then of course that fire when X
is always going to be in the first
opening draw so second on the list
though i have actually decided to maybe
a little bit controversial e to move
around and if i can just click the right
thank you to move around the rankings a
little bit we have in this position
warlock I've bumped up warlock to second
place here
and the reason for that is twofold one
is that zoo
while not very strong in a warrior ,
donated meta when everybody else is
tends to be trying to do things that
counter at warrior zoo ends up being
really freaking strong against the rest
of the field and zoo is one of those
decks that can definitely steal some
games something that a sum of the ward x
can't say because they don't have enough
burst but zoo is very good but the
reason that really bump me up from this
is a Reno warlock some of the list are
finally getting I guess you say more
refined and a lot of the Reno list are
very strong against the rest of the
field as well so if there's a deck
architect to look out for this month
that may be making more of a resurgent
popular and come back
it's probably going to be a Reno lock
maybe even specifically c'thun rena lock
yeah that's so that's a lot of
architecture throwing the one but i do
think it is something that's going to
see an uptick
but just because shop has been knocked
down to number three words that I was
not expecting to stay at the beginning
of this expansion doesn't mean things
are bad it's still 21 it's still topped
here and it's still a cut above the rest
what may be the most interesting
development and sean is at the aggro
list and the mid-range list have started
to intervene a little bit so while there
a gross Smith face more shaman still has
a place in the metagame and i personally
think it's the stronger deck because
sometimes it will just get bored states
that your opponent can't deal with what
you're starting to see people develop
with mid-range shaman is a lot of
starting to play al'akir the wind Lord a
little more and that's an interesting
choice
I mean there's a lot there's a lot of
justification for allah khair still a
good in Game closer especially if you
can save your rockbiter anything like
that
he's divine shield and charged so he can
immediately deal with the board he can
deal a damaged very versatile card
the one downside and this is just my
opinion is that he's a wicker Doomhammer
and a lot of shamans are actually
starting to put away the doom hammers
and just bring in Alec here instead now
that's an interesting development but
when you have the top of the mat of
essentially being warriors and then
shamans on there it's a very weapon
class dominated that game right now so
people are playing a lot of counters to
that it's very interesting that warrior
strength is actually bringing shaman
down
not necessarily because warriors of good
matchup for shaman it's not even though
control shaman which is just I've seen
bits of it come up more i'm curious to
see if anyone finally makes a list that
sticks with the public because crush on
I ran into a few of them
I did pretty well with tempo warrior but
it's it's working out there someone's
trying to make it work but for mid-range
since you don't have that burst surprise
factor in your deck necessarily with
Doomhammer you can't always in your
games faster and so I think to that
extent it is at least a rung below zoo
for the time being invested rung below
warlock so moving on from the top tier
to the middle tier here at the very top
of that middle tier is mid-range hunter
or specifically hunter I know
technically I'm throwing some of the
deck types out here but hunter is really
dominated by mid range hunter
you see a few people making the softride
work will revisit this off here a little
bit later down the line but mid-range
hunter and call the loan is pretty much
what's holding this class up but it has
such a good matchup with pretty much all
the warrior decks
except for pirate warrior which kind of
out speed it that often times mid-range
hunter is really really good and
explosive trap is actually pretty
effective against zoo
so you often have cases where if there's
a zoo dominated met at the mid-range
hunter can adjust and make it work from
there so hunter is in a fantastic spot
right now much to my chagrin from
playing tip a warrior last season and as
a result because it does counteract a
lot of warriors whether it's beating
down control warrior before they can get
established out tempering temple warrior
I
Hunter is healthy right now without just
being a mindless chachi's style face
hunter
next on the list them for entirely
different reasons for being up here in
the mid here is Drew it now truth since
some of the cards got nerve specifically
the combo or some of the other staple
class cards
there's been a lot of people
experimenting trying to make things
stick you have a lot of young based
token decks which are fun and very
interesting even whispers of the old
gods making it work
ties had a pretty good run with the
Beast through it recently but I still
think the most stable druid list and the
one featuring here is consumed through
it and the reason I say stable is
because it's not a hard deck it's not
something that just gonna blow everybody
out of the water now the way there's not
like a lot of sweet play potential if
you play your stuff on curve you ramp
where you can you get your c'thun out
the issue is that and this is an issue
for Drew and this is an issue for
everyone that's facing it they're so
busy gearing up for warrior matchup zoo
matchups even hunter matchups too . or
shaman matchups is that Jude kinda gets
to sneak in there cathedral ends up
having good not spectacular but good
matchups with are pretty much across the
board versus the other classes that kind
of dominate the metagame so druid in
that sense kind of gets a boost from
that to a point i'd say Katherine dude
is in a good spot it like i said it's
not going to be something more like you
get a ridiculous win percentage and the
games can get a little slow but at the
end of the day if it's all about
climbing in that win right but then drew
it is stable and further the middle
ground of the middle tier
I think stables fine on the other hand
you have a class coming up next that is
entirely unstable to a point and that
would be made now there's two sides to
the mage coin here
one we have fries made with people are
still trying to make it work and
especially because we're in control
warrior dominated that game right now
freeze mage is not work but if there's
some people that are really good with
freeze mage and they've always been good
and they're much better players than me
and they swear by
that's fine i'm just saying that the
more dominant or representative and
probably better list is tempo mage now
temple mage was a deck that I thought he
was a prime for a comeback last time it
wasn't wrong a lot more people are
running at whether it's list from the
age of service or otherwise
but when i say is a deck that is less
stable is because it relies on two huge
huge random factors one the strength of
the pain from the flame Waker
in other words you cast a spell it deals
two extra damage and then secondly
throwing all those spells out there and
then relying on the odds are on to save
you from your game sometimes you don't
need the place the office around
sometimes you have to pray to the old
guard and hope for the best but I do
think the tempo deck is our tempo mage
is a good deck
I do think that as a result of freeze
mage not being so good and tempo not
always being consistent
I i have to put it lower than drew it
and it's just it's not it's not that
it's bad middle tier doesn't mean bad it
just means not as strong as maybe some
of the other options if you're looking
for consistency
next on the list is that class that I am
well we can start talking about the top
here now let's start with row which I do
keep up in the middle tier although it's
at the bottom of the middle here and
that is largely based on miracle rogue
which is still perform very well in
tournaments and I pretty much any pro
that I've heard or read talking about
Merrick Road says it's not great for
lateral and I can see why whether it's
stressful miss or just some of the match
up some of the cheese and tilting as you
go into but it's a very good tournament
deck but the other issue is that you
have other types of road that are trying
to emerge and they're just falling flat
on their face I so a pretty big surge
around the middle of last month in the
bathroom
and that's kind of faded by the wayside
why is that because and it's the same
reason that I had concerns about putting
design and my pre whispers of the old
God top 10 was off by itself is a very
very good card but it is a slow card and
the death rattle means that you can
bring back are not necessarily
impressive
and if you play a 10 man dominion that
does nothing on the board
that's pretty much a free turn now if
you can fit a taught in there what are
your options for rogue you have
abomination
so that means your other death rattles
are going to die or you have invested
tour in which quite frankly is just not
a very good card it's a good taunt if
you want to have something to keep the
board a little more stable and the soft
comes out but that's not a great reason
to it doesn't really strengthen the deck
otherwise or fit very everywhere else so
miracle roads what's holding this up a
miracle rogue is still good at least in
terms but in terms of learning anything
rogue is rogue is still feeling the
blade flurry different it's going to
until the next set of cards gets
announced and then we're back to the
loads here we know who's going to belong
here
priest is no longer the dumpster though
yay
here's the thing with priests and palate
and their strongest archetypes for this
expansion their most consistent
archetypes for this expansion have and
this is arguable for powder but we'll
get there
arnas off decks and while there is
concern priest which is okay
doesn't have a lot of the top factors
are very good at consistent to
straight-up activation like druid
and then you have the záva dissolve
control which we have an example of a
deck here which once again it does a lot
of things that control decks want to do
and priest is always head because of
into a really good matchups with warrior
the problem is just that priest because
it has pretty empty turns 1 through 4
and really relies on getting doomsayers
out or getting that organized circle
combo it gets run over by the rest of
the field
so while you can try and sneak a priest
in there it's just once again that also
village chosen really hurts
and then we finally get to paladin and
this is an interesting list because
paladin could bounce back but I'm not
entirely convinced about can it be
consistent enough so right now it's
sitting in the basement
the soft palate in which was once touted
by tempo storm is being tier one until
people realize your beatings out the
exxon turn 10 has kind of fallen by the
wayside
I thought maybe some many agri palette
index would make good
turns out that they're just words ooo DX
so they have the same matchup zoo decks
pretty much except they lose a little
bit easier
what's the next palette and experiment
here bringing back the old mysterious
challenger for secret peloton
now if you notice this list and this is
pretty consistent with a lot of secret
patent list
we're not running a billion secrets
anymore revenge is a very powerful
secret that is no longer in standard
so what we get instead is a lot of other
interlocking pieces this play as much
more like a mid-range deck mysterious
Challenger is not your huge power turn
and I guess that's where I get to a
little bit of the trouble of this deck
is that maybe sometimes you can combo
things like a dragon egg and steward of
dark shower and get all that fun stuff
out here but at the end of the day
secret paladin is definitely a lot
tougher to play then your old style of
current going your golden curve get out
your shield of many bots muster for
battle and when
I think just with standard and
everything like this palette is just
been gutted to a point and it's going to
take some time to get back
so let's recap here for just a second we
have a new season upon us we have our
top tier our mid tier and are out here
and there hasn't been too much movement
there's been some interesting shifting
back and forth and certainly there's
plenty of debate by all means it
wouldn't be a tier list if you weren't
yelling at me in the comments about how
wrong I am but I have the top tier
warrior warlock and shaman mid-tier
hunter druid mage than robe and in the
uh oh dear priest and then paladin
so a little bit of movement all around
but i think the most important thing to
think of is if you're going to be
climbing this season and there's a big
difference between getting to rank 5 and
being able to just speed climb up there
are stars per hour
really does matter but when you want to
get some consistent wins at the end of
the season
I think the worst advice that I got
going into trying to do a series climb
for the first time the walls take one
deck and stick with it
I think you need to have at least two
decks that you go to a two or three and
think Dex that do very different things
so if you have a deck that kind of
slices down some of the agar stuff but
you're struggling in some of the control
matchups maybe you want to take
something else and that's where i'm
thinking that if there's a deck to watch
for this month it's Reno luck
a lot of people expect through the a
mulligan for zoo when you get a Reno
luck with it is a very difficult deck to
pilot as i can personally attest you
there's a lot of choices you have to
make it easy to make the wrong choice
but if you make the right choice you can
kind of navigate any kind of match up
and if you're trying to climb those less
stories about the bonus stars
sometimes you just need a deck that's a
Swiss Army knife and then Reno Jackson
your big bailout
so that's it for now this is a sure
thanks for watching thanks for listening
my product on feel free to leave your
thoughts in the comments tell me what
else you might be wondering about with
the upcoming season for a hearthstone
standard
and we'll do this again soon take care