Is This the New Meta? Lost City of Un'Goro After the First Balance Patch

The Quest buff patch has dramatically improved the win rates of the Lost City of Un'Goro Quest decks! But there is a catch. And it's a rather big one. The starting point was low, the lowest ever seen in the game. Quest Rogue's entire win rate was around 20%, which was the equivalent of the old vanilla Freeze Mage vs Control Warrior matchup, often quoted as one of the worst matchups in history. Now, imagine that you had that to face this kind of uphill battle every game. While the patch provided an unprecedent jump in win rate for many of the Quest decks (including Rogue), it doesn't matter when the end result is still within the 30-40% range.

So yes, the Quest decks are still bad. Quest Paladin still beats slow decks and loses to aggro, but it has a new contender even within its own class that is taking its place. Quest Warrior is sort-of playable, just like before, but it has already lost its place to non-Quest Control Warrior decks. Quest Spell Mage is not good enough to climb, but you can play it for fun. Quest Warlock is now slightly more playable, but it is still not a great climbing deck, not to mention that better Warlock alternatives exist. None of the other Quest decks improved enough to spend time on them.

However, the nerfs had a clear effect on the meta. Menagerie decks are almost gone. Loh Druid is dead. Murmur is less than an echo. What we have instead is a bunch of old ideas that grab a card or two from the new expansion. It is a strange place to be in. In some ways, the new expansion hardly exists: no core ideas from it are part of the experience, other than a slowly decreasing number of Quest Paladins that are still very common at lower ranks. But it is not exactly the same either, especially at higher ranks. The old decks are a little different. We're replaying the past, but a little different.

Let's take a look at what the ladder looks like in more detail.

Death Knight

Blood Starship Death Knight has taken over as the top Death Knight. It was already rising before the balance patch, and the while both Menagerie and Starship were hit by the patch, Starship made it out in a better shape.

Menagerie Death Knight also remains playable, and there is this idea of bringing Elise into it that seems somewhat useful.

You can also play Menagerie Death Knight with the old cards, that's fine.

Demon Hunter

The nerf to Ball Hog has not slowed down Demon Hunter, and Aggro Demon Hunter remains a premium aggro deck on the ladder. Its main counters are Starship Death Knight and Control Warrior.

Players have attempted to test Quest Demon Hunter, which got a bit stronger after the patch, but it's still in the unplayable territory (~40%).

Druid

Druid lost Loh, the Living Legend and token approaches have proven utterly unviable. Druid does have one avenue left to pursue with Spell Damage and Owlonius and it seems good enough to climb the ladder. It has some major weaknesses against Hunter, Paladin, and Warrior, but it is also quite good against Agamaggan Warlock, which may be an important matchup in the future.

Hunter

Beast Hunter has become one of the best decks on the ladder. It was a steady mid-tier performer before the patch, and the nerfs to a wide variety of its competitors have propelled it to success. It has several excellent matchups, but its weaknesses against Aggro Demon Hunter and Agamaggan Warlock cause some concern. It is strong, but not invulnerable.

Hunter also has another fairly good deck in Handbuff Hunter, but interest in it has been low. Its highs are not as high as Beast Hunter's, but it also does not have major weaknesses, so if the meta becomes hostile to Beast Hunter, this can be a great alternative to fall back on.

Mage

Mage has some interesting things going on with three candidates for a ladder archetype.

The top Mage deck is a new variant of Elemental Mage. The deck is pretty straightforward, but it pushes and pushes until it gets the win. Simple and cheap, with just one Legendary and two Epics. If I wanted to climb the ladder with Mage, this would be my pick.

If I wanted to just have fun with Mage and potentially climb some ranks while at it, I would have more options. Protoss Mage is an old archetype that does not use any new cards, but it is now living its best life after the patch. A living testament to the weakness of Un'Goro, perhaps.

Finally, you can also play Quest Spell Mage. The list has improved a little since day one, and we're talking about a 50% win rate deck now. Still, it is one of the few available Quest experiences on the ladder.

Paladin

New winds are slowly starting to blow for Paladin. While the most popular Paladin deck on the ladder is still Quest Paladin, and the deck has undeniable strengths against any slower decks, its vulnerability to aggression is well-known by now. The best Paladin deck on the ladder makes good use of this weakness. It is Aggro Paladin.

If you still wish to play with Murlocs, this is the style you want to go for. It's still heavy Murlocs for the win.

Priest

Priest has three viable ladder decks. Despite the nerfs Wilted Priest (also called Bandage Priest) remains a strong ladder contender. Wilted Shadow only lost one attack, after all. Menagerie Priest was hit slightly harder, but not hard enough to make it unviable. However, the balance changes opened up just enough space for a Protoss Priest to slip through and become popular. The deck was attempted already on the first day on Un'Goro, but it was unable to succeed then. Now, it is a fine contender.

Priest is perhaps missing that one absolute peak contender right now, although Bandage Priest can be intimidating in the right hands.

Rogue

Like many other classes, Rogue has returned to the Protoss in search of success. So far, it looks promising.

Cycle Rogue is also still a thing, and it has started running Incindius again in the post-patch meta.

Shaman

Shaman is struggling. Murmur was just finding its ground in high Legend before the patch, and it was destroyed right away. There are some attempts to make the Quest work, but the results are few and far between for now.

Warlock

Warlock is perhaps the most interesting class after the patch. The rise of Agamaggan Warlock has been swift, and the deck is now competing for the top spot on the ladder. Warrior is its weakest matchup by far (thanks to Armor gain), but other than that, it looks very strong.

There has also been renewed interest in Quest Warlock, like in other Quest decks, and Quest Warlock looks like it may have some potential now after the buff.

Warrior

Warrior has fully moved back to Chemical Spill and Mechs. Some decks still run the Quest on the side, but it is no longer the main win condition of the deck. When the best play in many matchups is to mulligan it away, maybe there's no reason to run it in the first place.

The Best Decks in the Post-Patch Meta

The meta looks a lot different than it did before the patch. However, it is not the Quest decks that have risen, even though they got the biggest increase in their win rate. Quests are still mostly unplayable. Instead, what we have now are win conditions from the past with some new cards mixed in.

All the decks mentioned in this article, roughly in order of their performance at higher ranks after 48h, currently look like this:

1. Agamaggan Warlock
2. Beast Hunter
3. Aggro Demon Hunter
4. Aggro Paladin
5. Mech Warrior
6. Bandage OTK Priest (Wilted Priest)
7. Handbuff Hunter
8. Blood Starship Death Knight
9. Protoss Rogue
10. Cycle Rogue
11. Elemental Mage
12. Protoss Priest
13. Quest Murloc Paladin
14. Menagerie Priest
15. Spell Damage Druid
16. Menagerie Death Knight
17. Quest Warlock
18. Protoss Mage
19. Quest Spell Mage
20. Quest Shaman