Back in early April, Hearthstone introduced players to its latest expansion, The Rise of Shadows. With the arrival of the new expansion, new cards were introduced while others were moved to the Hall of Fame.
The movement of certain cards resulted in Odd and Even decks being taken out of the rotation. Rise of Shadows also came with new features like Minions, Schemes, and Twinspell. Schemes are spells that become stronger the longer they stay in a player’s hand.
With these various changes, there was the expectation that these new cards would shake up the meta. While that did happen, experience has shown that eventually the meta settles. There is no assurance, however, that the meta ends up being balanced.
Since the entry of Rise of Shadows, it appears that Rogue has started to become the go-to for many players. Initially it was the Warrior, but these trends have since gone down. As of this writing, data at Vicious Syndicate reveal that Rogue made up of around 25% of the decks. In fact Rogue has started to increase since experiencing a small drop in early April.
This has been confirmed by a number of different sources. The Game Haus, for example, said that at Tier One, the best deck by far in the current meta is the Tempo Rogue. This is a Tempo-focused Aggros Rogue deck type that makes good use of an efficient tempo play through a wide range of low-cost spells along with efficient removal. The popularity of the Tempo Rogue deck is due to its excellent burst potential and a strong early to mid game. At Rank 6 and above, 30% of the decks on the ladder were Rogue.
Indeed, the Rogue deck has been so popular that during the Hearthstone Qualifier #25, half of the decks played were rogue.
All winning #Specialist lineups through qualifier #25. There’s some diversity but still around 50% rogue. pic.twitter.com/khfRlQuchD
— Steve Lubitz (@WickedGood) May 12, 2019
Thus, a number of players are already looking into what cards should be nerfed that would result in balancing the Rogue-based decks. One card that players hope will get the treatment is EVIL Miscreant. As a 3 Mana 1/5 card, it is clear that EVIL Miscreant is a card that is difficult to remove. For some players, the nerfing isn’t about weakening the Rogue deck. Rather, it is to make sure that the other deck types get a chance.The three least used deck types as of right now are Priest, Warlock, and Paladin.
The question now is, when will Blizzard decide to act on this?
