Hearthstone Global Games 2018 week 1 decks and statistics

Hearthstone Global Games 2018 is a tournament of 48 national teams that spans over several weeks and culminates in 8-team finals at Blizzcon in November 2018.

In this post, I take a look at the decks and statistics of the tournament.

Results

The first part of Global Games is a six-round Swiss tournament into a top-16 cut. The matches are played in a best of five format with a unique pick-ban method where each team submits a deck for each of the nine classes and subsequent blind picks and bans determine which classes will see play (ban – pick+pick – ban+ban – pick+pick – ban – pick).

Then, the teams blind pick the order they play the classes to determine the final matchups.

The tournament was broadcasted on Twitch (some matches were played offstream):

Tournament brackets: https://battlefy.com/hearthstone-global-games-2018/hearthstone-global-games-2018/5b3ccaa722962f03ce590019/info?infoTab=details

Week 1 decks: https://imgur.com/a/RIr1aaB

Archetypes

In a tournament like this where each team has to bring each class, each class is obviously equally popular before picks and bans. We can look into classes in more detail through two lenses: which archetypes were brought, and how picks and bans turned out for each class.

Druid consisted of four archetypes: Malygos Druid (29), Token Druid (12), Taunt Druid (6), and Big Druid (1). Malygos Druid was the most popular first-ban target (15). Overall, Druid was played 21 times and banned 27 times.

Hunter saw a fair bit of variety. The newer Deathrattle Hunter builds (with Devilsaur Eggs) were the most popular (27), but there were also some Recruit Hunters (13), Spell Hunters (5), and Secret Hunters (3). Hunter was played 22 times and banned 26 times. Notable, the less common Hunter archetypes received plenty of bans – four of the five Spell Hunters and all three Secret Hunters were banned.

Paladin was a one-archetype show. Every single one of the 48 Paladins was an Odd Paladin. Paladin was played 23 times and banned 25 times. Despite the relatively high ban count, Odd Paladin was the second-most popular final pick at 11 – an archetype shunned by several teams.

Priest was mainly dominated by Mind Blast Priest (43), but there were also some appearances of Quest Priest (3), Combo Priest (1), and Murloc Priest (1). Priest was played 26 times and banned 22 times. Quest Priest was never banned and both Combo Priest and Murloc Priest ended up banned. Priest bans took place mostly in ban phases two and three in roughly equal proportions.

Warrior was almost a Taunt Warrior show (46), but France’s Fatigue Warrior and China’s Odd Control Warrior brought some variety to the class. Both of them ended up banned, though, so we got to see 26 Taunt Warriors played while 20 of them were banned alongside the two other archetypes for a total of 22 Warrior bans.

Shaman consisted of two archetypes: Shudderwock Shaman (43) and Even Shaman (5). 27 Shaman decks saw play (25 Shudderwock and 2 Even) whereas 21 were banned. Shudderwock Shaman was the second-most popular first-ban target with 12 of them banned straight away. It was also the most popular first pick at 17.

Rogue had three archetypes present on the first week: Miracle Rogue (26), Odd Rogue (18), and Quest Rogue (4). Rogue was played 28 times and banned 20 times.

Mage came to the tournament with four archetypes: Big Spell Mage (29), Tempo Mage (17), Murloc Mage (1), and Leyline Mage (1). Mage was played 33 times and banned 15 times. Big Spell Mage had the questionable honor of being the most popular final pick (12) – in other words, teams did not want to pick it and the opponent did not want to ban it.

Warlock consisted of three archetypes: Even Warlock (28), Cubelock (13), and Zoolock (7). Warlock ate the first ban only once (Even Warlock), but it was picked in the first pick phase 22 times. Overall, Warlock was played 34 times and banned 14 times.

The ban game was all over the place. Druid was the most banned class, and Malygos Druid had the honor of being the most banned popular archetype – 11 Malygos Druids saw play and 18 were banned. Hunter followed up as close second, yet more than half of the Deathrattle Hunters made it through the pick-and-ban phase. Paladin rounded up the top-three most banned classes, but it was also commonly left for the final pick.

Mage and Warlock saw a lot of play, but for opposite reasons: Mage was often left for the final pick, whereas Warlock was not quite important enough for the first ban, but was a very common first pick instead.

Usually, when a new format is introduced, the meta begins a cycle of convergence and attempts to exploit that convergence. Right now, many classes have a dominant archetype that could in theory be targeted, but this particular format with its pre-determined blind pick matchups may make any attempts to exploit weaknesses impossible. If that is the case, the only evolution of the meta will be a better consensus of the archetypes with the fewest vulnerabilities and a more straightforward ban strategy.

All archetypes by class:

Warlock

  • 28 Even Warlocks
  • 13 Cubelocks
  • 7 Zoolocks

Rogue

  • 26 Miracle Rogues
  • 18 Odd Rogues
  • 4 Quest Rogues

Paladin

  • 48 Odd Paladins

Druid

  • 29 Malygos Druids
  • 12 Token Druids
  • 6 Taunt Druids
  • 1 Big Druid

Mage

  • 29 Big Spell Mages
  • 17 Tempo Mages
  • 1 Murloc Mage
  • 1 Leyline Mage

Priest

  • 43 Mind Blast Priests
  • 3 Quest Priests
  • 1 Combo Priest
  • 1 Murloc Priest

Hunter

  • 27 Deathrattle Hunters
  • 13 Recruit Hunters
  • 5 Spell Hunters
  • 3 Secret Hunters

Warrior

  • 46 Taunt Warriors
  • 1 Odd Control Warrior
  • 1 Fatigue Warrior

Shaman

  • 43 Shudderwock Shamans
  • 5 Even Shamans

Picks and Bans details

Picks overall:

  • 26 Taunt Warriors
  • 25 Shudderwock Shamans
  • 23 Odd Paladins
  • 23 Mind Blast Priests
  • 20 Big Spell Mages
  • 18 Even Warlocks
  • 15 Deathrattle Hunters
  • 15 Miracle Rogues
  • 12 Tempo Mages
  • 11 Malygos Druids
  • 11 Odd Rogues
  • 10 Cubelocks
  • 7 Token Druids
  • 6 Recruit Hunters
  • 6 Zoolocks
  • 3 Quest Priests
  • 3 Taunt Druid
  • 2 Even Shamans
  • 2 Quest Rogue
  • 1 Leyline Mage
  • 1 Spell Hunter

Bans overall:

  • 25 Odd Paladins
  • 20 Mind Blast Priests
  • 20 Taunt Warriors
  • 18 Shudderwock Shamans
  • 18 Malygos Druids
  • 12 Deathrattle Hunters
  • 11 Miracle Rogues
  • 10 Even Warlocks
  • 9 Big Spell Mages
  • 7 Odd Rogues
  • 7 Recruit Hunters
  • 5 Tempo Mages
  • 5 Token Druids
  • 4 Spell Hunters
  • 3 Cubelocks
  • 3 Even Shamans
  • 3 Taunt Druids
  • 3 Secret Hunters
  • 2 Quest Rogues
  • 1 Fatigue Warrior
  • 1 Zoolock
  • 1 Murloc Mage
  • 1 Combo Priest
  • 1 Murloc Priest
  • 1 Odd Control Warrior
  • 1 Big Druid

Ban 1:

  • 15 Malygos Druids
  • 12 Shudderwock Shamans
  • 4 Taunt Warriors
  • 3 Token Druids
  • 2 Miracle Rogues
  • 2 Deathrattle Hunters
  • 2 Recruit Hunters
  • 2 Quest Rogues
  • 1 Even Shaman
  • 1 Big Spell Mage
  • 1 Taunt Druid
  • 1 Fatigue Warrior
  • 1 Even Warlock
  • 1 Odd Paladin

Pick phase 1 (two picks):

  • 17 Shudderwock Shamans
  • 14 Even Warlocks
  • 9 Taunt Warriors
  • 8 Malygos Druids
  • 7 Cubelocks
  • 7 Token Druids
  • 7 Deathrattle Hunter
  • 6 Mind Blast Priest
  • 5 Miracle Rogues
  • 4 Odd Paladins
  • 4 Recruit Hunter
  • 2 Taunt Druids
  • 2 Odd Rogues
  • 1 Quest Rogue
  • 1 Tempo Mage
  • 1 Big Spell Mage
  • 1 Zoolock

Ban phase 2 (two bans):

  • 13 Odd Paladins
  • 12 Mind Blast Priests
  • 10 Taunt Warriors
  • 8 Deathrattle Hunters
  • 8 Even Warlock
  • 6 Miracle Rogue
  • 5 Big Spell Mages
  • 5 Odd Rogues
  • 4 Recruit Hunter
  • 4 Tempo Mages
  • 4 Shudderwock Shamans
  • 3 Cubelocks
  • 3 Malygos Druids
  • 2 Spell Hunters
  • 2 Taunt Druids
  • 1 Odd Control Warrior
  • 1 Zoolock
  • 1 Token Druid
  • 1 Combo Priest
  • 1 Murloc Mage
  • 1 Secret Hunter
  • 1 Big Druid

Pick phase 2 (two picks):

  • 12 Taunt Warriors
  • 12 Mind Blast Priests
  • 10 Tempo Mages
  • 8 Odd Paladins
  • 7 Odd Rogues
  • 7 Big Spell Mages
  • 7 Deathrattle Hunters
  • 6 Shudderwock Shamans
  • 6 Miracle Rogues
  • 4 Zoolocks
  • 3 Cubelocks
  • 3 Even Warlocks
  • 3 Malygos Druids
  • 3 Quest Priest
  • 2 Recruit Hunters
  • 1 Leyline Mage
  • 1 Taunt Druid
  • 1 Even Shaman

Ban phase 3 (one ban):

  • 11 Odd Paladins
  • 8 Mind Blast Priests
  • 6 Taunt Warriors
  • 3 Miracle Rogues
  • 3 Big Spell Mages
  • 2 Even Shamans
  • 2 Deathrattle Hunters
  • 2 Spell Hunters
  • 2 Shudderwock Shamans
  • 2 Secret Hunters
  • 2 Odd Rogues
  • 1 Even Warlock
  • 1 Token Druid
  • 1 Recruit Hunter
  • 1 Tempo Mage
  • 1 Murloc Priest

Pick phase 3 (whatever is left):

  • 12 Big Spell Mages
  • 11 Odd Paladins
  • 5 Taunt Warriors
  • 5 Mind Blast Priests
  • 4 Miracle Rogues
  • 2 Shudderwock Shamans
  • 2 Odd Rogues
  • 1 Deathrattle Hunter
  • 1 Tempo Mage
  • 1 Even Warlock
  • 1 Quest Rogue
  • 1 Zoolock
  • 1 Even Shaman
  • 1 Spell Hunter