What I learned at 4000+ MMR
So, I had set ranked play aside for a while, not bothering with it after the latest patch update and assuming that at Rank 16, I was content with my ranked play experience for the season. At that point I was seeing a lot of diversity in decks, and I knew for certain that I had probably maximized my enjoyment in that venue, because there would be nothing but meta and netdecks above me.
But, in the last 7 days I decided to move back over there from casual play, because the netdecks and metas had invaded casual just the same way I had anticipated they would in Ranks 17-20. I couldn't have been more wrong, I don't think. Here are some observations about my experience upon reaching Rank 20.
1. Monsters aren't as prevalent as people would have you believe. Are there Monster decks? Yes. Are they pretty much standard construction? Yes. Are they successful? Meh. I would tell you that Monsters are appearing about 33% of the time for me at 4000k+ MMR. Bran discard decks are at about 40%, which I found surprising. Very few of those are Queensguard. A smattering of Radovid/Baron (less than I would have thought) and Dorf decks are out there, but the big two are still Monsters and Bran. The last Reveal Decks died at Rank 19.
2. The 40 card decks have disappeared. And I couldn't be happier about it. In and around Rank 16-17, I was bombarded with people playing all sorts of crap with 35-40 cards, and I have no idea why or how they got there. But they're long gone above Rank 17, and I prefer the predictability. In a meta where all 4 golds need to come out, and in some cases 5 for Discard Skellige, the 35-40 card decks just can't win.
3. Deck disruption is a thing. I don't know if it's good or bad for the game. My deck causes me to be biased about the matter, so I won't speculate. But cards like Regis: HV, and to a lesser extent Avallach, really seem to frustrate people. There's very few NG decks at this point, but Treason/Sweers seem to play the same way when encountered.
4. Rank play might slow down after the patch. The fall of Caeleno Harpy is going to really cause people to re-evaluate the meta, and while there will be people who build decks based on what streamers do and say, I think you will see an uptick in the Rank 19-20 guys who are moving to casual to protect themselves, at least for a week. If you are playing non-monsters, and Bran escapes any kind of nerfing, you might be able to take advantage of the lack of Monsters/Weather for a few days.
5. Triss Butterfly is mysteriously absent in top tier decks. For a while, she was in every swarm deck I saw. But once I hit Rank 18, she quietly exited. It could be that Monster players just aren't drawing her against me, but I'm finding a lot of Caretaker/Spirit/Coranthir/Imerlith as opposed to Triss.
6. I still run into players who want to play out every card in their hand after you're out. Why does this still happen? You're Rank 19, Level 50, and you're still looking for overkill? Just stop people. Like, I realize that if you are above Level 50, you're probably spending too much time playing the Open Beta anyway, but even your time has to be more valuable than wasting it playing out cards when you've already won.
7. The leaderboard is messed up. Or I did something wrong. Or both. As an XBox player, I can only see my position among XBox players, and not cross platform. In some ways it's cool, seeing your name and going, "I'm 38th in the world". But I know I'm not, because I can't see the rankings for PC or PS4 players. I've checked my settings and have no idea if there is a way to change it.
I don't know if I'll reach Rank 21 or not. I'd like to, naturally, but that last couple hundred MMR seems a world away. CDPR has done a good job of not penalizing high rank players in OB (far less than CB) but I've been back and forth around 4250 now for a day or two, even with a 60% win rate.
I know a lot of people have posted frustrations with the diversity/mood/tempo of the game, and while I understand that the current repetition is stagnating some people's enjoyment, I'm still finding the game enjoyable at this point, though like many others, I'm more excited for Campaign play than anything else, including new cards, at this point.
So, I had set ranked play aside for a while, not bothering with it after the latest patch update and assuming that at Rank 16, I was content with my ranked play experience for the season. At that point I was seeing a lot of diversity in decks, and I knew for certain that I had probably maximized my enjoyment in that venue, because there would be nothing but meta and netdecks above me.
But, in the last 7 days I decided to move back over there from casual play, because the netdecks and metas had invaded casual just the same way I had anticipated they would in Ranks 17-20. I couldn't have been more wrong, I don't think. Here are some observations about my experience upon reaching Rank 20.
1. Monsters aren't as prevalent as people would have you believe. Are there Monster decks? Yes. Are they pretty much standard construction? Yes. Are they successful? Meh. I would tell you that Monsters are appearing about 33% of the time for me at 4000k+ MMR. Bran discard decks are at about 40%, which I found surprising. Very few of those are Queensguard. A smattering of Radovid/Baron (less than I would have thought) and Dorf decks are out there, but the big two are still Monsters and Bran. The last Reveal Decks died at Rank 19.
2. The 40 card decks have disappeared. And I couldn't be happier about it. In and around Rank 16-17, I was bombarded with people playing all sorts of crap with 35-40 cards, and I have no idea why or how they got there. But they're long gone above Rank 17, and I prefer the predictability. In a meta where all 4 golds need to come out, and in some cases 5 for Discard Skellige, the 35-40 card decks just can't win.
3. Deck disruption is a thing. I don't know if it's good or bad for the game. My deck causes me to be biased about the matter, so I won't speculate. But cards like Regis: HV, and to a lesser extent Avallach, really seem to frustrate people. There's very few NG decks at this point, but Treason/Sweers seem to play the same way when encountered.
4. Rank play might slow down after the patch. The fall of Caeleno Harpy is going to really cause people to re-evaluate the meta, and while there will be people who build decks based on what streamers do and say, I think you will see an uptick in the Rank 19-20 guys who are moving to casual to protect themselves, at least for a week. If you are playing non-monsters, and Bran escapes any kind of nerfing, you might be able to take advantage of the lack of Monsters/Weather for a few days.
5. Triss Butterfly is mysteriously absent in top tier decks. For a while, she was in every swarm deck I saw. But once I hit Rank 18, she quietly exited. It could be that Monster players just aren't drawing her against me, but I'm finding a lot of Caretaker/Spirit/Coranthir/Imerlith as opposed to Triss.
6. I still run into players who want to play out every card in their hand after you're out. Why does this still happen? You're Rank 19, Level 50, and you're still looking for overkill? Just stop people. Like, I realize that if you are above Level 50, you're probably spending too much time playing the Open Beta anyway, but even your time has to be more valuable than wasting it playing out cards when you've already won.
7. The leaderboard is messed up. Or I did something wrong. Or both. As an XBox player, I can only see my position among XBox players, and not cross platform. In some ways it's cool, seeing your name and going, "I'm 38th in the world". But I know I'm not, because I can't see the rankings for PC or PS4 players. I've checked my settings and have no idea if there is a way to change it.
I don't know if I'll reach Rank 21 or not. I'd like to, naturally, but that last couple hundred MMR seems a world away. CDPR has done a good job of not penalizing high rank players in OB (far less than CB) but I've been back and forth around 4250 now for a day or two, even with a 60% win rate.
I know a lot of people have posted frustrations with the diversity/mood/tempo of the game, and while I understand that the current repetition is stagnating some people's enjoyment, I'm still finding the game enjoyable at this point, though like many others, I'm more excited for Campaign play than anything else, including new cards, at this point.
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