The metagame

Two kinds of games. Player games are finished online, friendly, private and tournament matches between people. Simulated games are bot-versus-bot games on published decks, played on our own machines with the same rules engine as the game. The Combined view counts a simulated game as 0.25 of a player game; Players and Simulated show each on its own. Practice games against a bot are not counted as player games.

Share and trend. Which pairings get simulated is decided by our scheduler, not by players, so simulated games say nothing about popularity. Share of play therefore uses player games only. Where there are none, we show the share of published decks instead and say so; its trend is how many decks were created in the last 14 days against the 14 before.

Rating. The win rate a record can defend: the lower end of a 95% confidence interval, so a long record counts for more than a lucky streak. Draws count as half a win.

Small samples are hidden, not rounded. An archetype shows a rate from 30 games, a pairing from 12, a deck rating from 15, a card win rate from 30. On-play and on-draw need 15 games each way. A dash means not enough games. Simulated on-play, on-draw and mulligan figures also need the simulator to pass its calibration check, and say why when they are hidden.

Archetypes are read from the list. Nobody writes their plan on the tin, so the label comes from the 50 cards: the colour pair, then a role. Ramp: 6+ cards that add souls or discount gear. Control: 7+ that remove, sweep or stun Pals. Combo: 14+ that search the deck or recur from the graveyard. Aggro: an average cost of 3.9 or less. Anything else is Midrange. It is a heuristic, and it can disagree with what a deck's author calls it.

Length is turns per player, not counting the opponent's. Simulated bots never concede or run out the clock, so a simulated “how it wins” can only split damage from decking. Simulated win rates are against the decks we schedule, which favours well-known decks.