This week the article has been a bit delayed. I didn't realize that you needed Resource Credits to post. Nevertheless, before reading ahead, if you missed the previous installment of this series it can be found here:
@desertfox-gu/cliff-dweller-series-intro
I kind of enjoy sitting here, sipping my mid-week glass of wine, mining the cliff face for gold and diamonds. It serves as sort of a meditation for me, where one can reflect on the events of the weekend that has passed. Decks are sub-optimal, players are trying out new things, and the win ratio goes back up to something resembling adequacy.
As you can probably deduce, it was not a good weekend performance, in fact it was the worst I have had in recent memory. The preceding three weeks I managed 9, 10 and 9 wins respectively, which is poor for many but actually solid enough for me. I even managed keep my spot in Mythic, but this week it was a dismal 5 wins and relegation down into the metal leagues. So much for a blog about improving every week!
So the question is, where did it all go wrong? Was it poor gameplay, has the meta shifted, was the deck incorrect? Truthfully, I think it was "all of the above".
This week I actually managed to pick up Neferu, who I have been eyeing for a long time with the goal of creating a BWD deck. So obviously I tried to force this relatively expensive card into the lineup.
The Barricades are there to slow down any Aggro archetypes including the ever threatening Relic War. Ideally they should be replaced by a pair of Pyramid Wardens, I have tried Bronze Gates but the extra mana cost is just too slow.
Semut and Neferu were added at the cost of a second Ragnarok and Curse of Greed.
This section will be expanding over time with more meaningful statistics as we collect more data. But as a starting point, we can take a look at the win rates against certain archetypes.
In an overall dismal performance, the only favorable matchup was against control deception (Ignoring Aggro Nature since there was only 1 match).
Surprisingly we got away with a 50% win rate against Relic War. This is not a good matchup for Heirloom because they usually don't have many targets to aim at and cards like Savage Strike, Auric Rush and Bar Fight can easily remove your low HP cards. I would like to think this was down to raw talent and skill, but in reality, the opponent probably had a really bad draw.
The Heirloom mirror match is a coin toss for whoever gets a better draw, it really reminds me of Zerg vs Zerg in SC2. Zombie is near impossible to deal with as Heirloom. That being said, the sample size is too small for most of the other matchups to draw any conclusions.
If I had to try and summarize what went wrong this week, it comes down to 2 points:
| Archetype | Matches | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Heirloom Death | 2 | 50% |
| Zombie Death | 2 | 0% |
| Midrange Deception | 1 | 0% |
| Control Deception | 3 | 67% |
| Aggro Light | 2 | 0% |
| Control Magic | 2 | 0% |
| Aggro Nature | 1 | 100% |
| Aggro War | 4 | 50% |
In the future, I will be trying to keep a running tally of the above and I will be adding win rates for going 1st/2nd. If there are any other metrics you would find interesting, please let me know in the comments.
I wasn't expecting much this week with only 1 each of the epic and rare MJ packs. A minor high roll with an epic card in a rare pack but otherwise very underwhelming. These cards won't be hitting the market immediately, there is an imminent balance patch which I would like to gamble on. On top of that, I think there may be better to trading opportunities in the not too distant future.
This upcoming weekend, I think I will be returning to basics. I will most likely drop Neferu and Semut, and look to include the second copies of Ragnarok and Curse of Greed. Bifurcating Curse is another option I will consider as it can often buy you an extra turn or two.
That just about wraps it up for this week, I look forward to running into you out there on the cliff face!
