It should come as no surprise to anyone playing competitive Hearthstone right now that Shaman is the king of the meta.
What might surprise you, however, is the fact that Shaman has a 30 percent usage rate, according to Vicious Syndicate, one of the top Hearthstone statistics websites. This means 30 percent of the decks being used in Standard Hearthstone right now belong to the Shaman class. If you’re sick of seeing Thrall’s face, then your only option right now is to stop playing Standard.
The information gathered by Vicious Syndicate’s system shows the frequency of each class being played over the past three months. The first thing you’ll notice when looking at the graph is the massive spike in Shaman play between Oct. 8 and 23. During this time period, Shaman jumped from a 20 percent usage rate to a 30 percent rate, eclipsing every other class in the game.
This sudden leap in usage began on the same day that 23 cards from Hearthstone’s past were reintroduced to the Standard format. And the two cards that Shaman gained had a much more powerful impact than any of the cards added to the other classes. The spell Evolve and the creature Thing From Below both played a huge role in skyrocketing Shaman’s power level into the stratosphere.
Specifically, the card Evolve reintroduced the powerful Evolve Shaman archetype, but it also added an unnecessary boost in power to a variety of already-established Shaman decks. It’s equally problematic that no other class had a similar power spike thanks to the cards it gained through the event.
The next most-played deck in the game is Rogue with a play rate of 15 percent. This means Rogue shows up literally half as often as Shaman. Priest comes in behind Rogue at 11 percent, while every other class in the game has a play rate under 10 percent.
Blizzard will likely reveal information about the new Hearthstone expansion at BlizzCon, but it’ll still probably be a while before it’s released. In the meantime, Blizzard might try to do something to address Shaman’s presence and power before the next expansion.
