Gold, gold, gold. It feels like Deja Vu. At the time of writing I have gotten to this position twice and had horrendous draws. Its almost as if something is trying to keep me down... many of you will be familiar with the frustration.
This week we had the balance patch being tested on the PTR and it looks decent from a Heirloom Death perspective. Aggro Light and Nature have since been nerfed which gives us a chance to reach that magical 6 mana without taking crippling damage. Nevertheless, pre-patch we managed 11 wins this week and I actually managed to rank up during the weekend ranked event.
The Deck
No changes from the previous week. I wanted to give it another run because I believe it can do well.
Statistics
Much better this week with positive win rates against all but nature. Thank goodness they have been given a nerf. Interestingly we were plagued by going 2nd two thirds of the time which probably cost us a few wins. Deception was also absent which is a deck Heirloom can struggle against.
Week 2 Statistics
Archetype Results
| Archetype | Matches | Win Rate | Going 1st | Going 2nd |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heirloom Death | 2 | 50% | 50% | - |
| Zombie Death | 1 | 0% | - | 0% |
| Control Death | 1 | 100% | 100% | - |
| Aggro Light | 3 | 67% | 100% | 50% |
| Midrange Light | 2 | 50% | - | 50% |
| Aggro Magic | 1 | 100% | 100% | - |
| Aggro Nature | 2 | 50% | 100% | 0% |
| Midrange Nature | 1 | 0% | - | 0% |
| Control Nature | 2 | 100% | - | 100% |
| Aggro War | 2 | 50% | - | 50% |
| Midrange War | 1 | 100% | - | 100% |
Starting Position Results
| Going 1st | Going 2nd | |
|---|---|---|
| Count | 6 | 12 |
| Wins | 5 | 6 |
| Win Rate | 83% | 50% |
Running Statistics
Our running results exclude those from Week 1 because the starting positions were not recorded. Nature really seems to be a thorn in our side. The Heirloom creatures are just not strong enough to remove the large health, low mana Nature creatures before they can regenerate, and you are heavily dependent on card draw for removal (Ragnarok, Curse of Greed, Blight Bomb).
Archetype Results
| Archetype | Matches | Win Rate | Going 1st | Going 2nd |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heirloom Death | 2 | 50% | 50% | - |
| Zombie Death | 5 | 40% | 0% | 50% |
| Control Death | 1 | 100% | 100% | - |
| Order Deception | 1 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Aggro Light | 4 | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| Midrange Light | 2 | 50% | - | 50% |
| Aggro Magic | 1 | 100% | 100% | - |
| Aggro Nature | 5 | 40% | 67% | 0% |
| Midrange Nature | 1 | 0% | - | 0% |
| Regen Nature | 1 | 0% | - | 100% |
| Control Nature | 3 | 67% | - | 67% |
| Aggro War | 9 | 56% | 80% | 25% |
| Midrange War | 1 | 100% | - | 100% |
Starting Position Results
| Going 1st | Going 2nd | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratio | 44% | 56% |
| Win Rate | 63% | 40% |
Rewards
I am actually happy with the rewards this week. I started picking up Amazons here and there because I thought that they may be addressed in the upcoming set of balance patches. A gold, two shadows plus one or two staple Death cards which I will forge when I have enough of them.
Looking Forward
We need to start planning for the future. The balance team have explicitly mentioned the Heirloom archetype as one that will be put through its paces in the balance arena. As I mentioned above, Amazons were on my radar as something which could be improved in the near future but we will have to wait and see. It would also be great to see some Midrange War get back into the meta as well.
If you have any interesting thoughts on where the meta may end up, let me know in the comments.
That wraps it up for this week, I look forward to running into you out there on the cliff face!
In Previous Episodes...
If you missed the previous installment of this series it can be found here: