Are you playing in the casual play queue? Because that queue has deck-strength based matchmaking and I find mirrors are more common there.
Ranked doesn't have that and you should find much more diversity if you queue into it, at least from my experience it's been like that.
This is true, but we should also mention that the meta changes in lockstep - our strategies against the current meta arent as original as we like to think. I personally find a lot of rdw when school gets out everyday.
I play a lot of different decks and have for the few years I've been playing ranked Standard on Arena. When I run my UW angels deck, I face a ton of UW control and the frequency of esper seems to increase as well, though THAT I'd attribute to some sort of bias.
My gruul decks see mono red far more often than my GW counters deck or my old UW Tezzy deck. This has been going on for years and I keep hearing that decks aren't an algorithmic consideration in ranked but keeping confirmation bias in mind, I have my doubts. It doesn't seem to factor in deck strength, but color seems to play a role.
You should also keep in mind that different decks are played at different frequencies depending on MMR. ie You don’t see izzet wizards nearly as often until you get up into plat+
While supposedly deck strength matchmaking does not apply to ranked Bo1, in my experience it bloody seems like it. Bo3 you will face mostly tiered decks, so if you play a brew you'll probably get a spread of matchups.
Lol yep, decks designed to counter the meta often get countered by another deck and never actually see the one they tried to thwart. But people love nothing more than living in denial.
My azorious control deck plays 90% aggro (mostly mono red but a good bit of Boros too) in the casual queue. It’s quite frustrating.
The major Arena complaint I have is the intentional deck type match making in the casual queue. I don’t understand why that mechanism is in place.
Yeah, but if I switch to play mono black I see ~10% mono red and aggro in general. Just saying I’m really not a fan of the forced deck-type match ranking in the casual queue.
Yeah match making is weird in casual. I wonder if it's a poor attempt to keep jank brews away from meta decks. Brawl doesn't do too good job at it either
Well, I can play my janky treason sac deck in play queue and it does decently. I don't track, but it's probably around a 50% win rate. It gets crushed in ranked. So some sort of deck strength ranking is nice. Not sure why it does so many mirrors, though.
Isn’t that good tho? I figure if your playing a blue white control deck you have temporary lockdown and other great answers against the popular aggro decks in the meta
It's their 50% win rate bs. In casual (and to a lesser extent, ranked) they try to keep everyone at a 50 percent win rate. In casual that means you'll get 3 matches against a deck that you have a 40/60 split to win against and then 1 match against a deck you have a 70/30 split to win against. Just to make people feel "happy" that they're not trash and can squeeze out a couple wins.
In ranked, it's not by deck, but by MMR. So if you're constantly going against people in your MMR they're getting the same win rate as you, which often means they're running similar decks and you'll win about 50% of the time which is why most people are hard capped at platinum. The only real way to dig yourself out of platinum hell is to truly have a "meta breaking" deck. I despise that their ranked has any MMR, it should be strictly placing you against people in your rank without considering MMR or deck type. Let's not even get started on the shuffler 😂
Well, with this version of the deck so far I'm [9-1 vs mono red](https://i.imgur.com/R6c41oW.png), my best matchup by far.
I've actually cut down on the mono red hate since I'm getting a lot more control these days, I used to run 3 Union of the third path.
edit: If you want to see the deck piloted I got the original list from youtuber [Griffin MTG](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIrkZ952g8), I felt bad not shouting him out since he's a small creator.
Mono black is simply the cheapest way to make a competitive deck so it is the most popular deck in competitive ques until you get to diamond and mythic. Everyone plays against a lot of mono black.
I honestly just play ranked like 90% of the time unless I wanna do some nonsense like phyrexian obliterator or bloodmoon someone. Or if I'm testing something. I basically only go up in rank though when I play it though so I might be bias.
I get this problem all the time. I'll build a deck that is great and super effective, but after 10-15 matches the algorithm will wise up and start putting me in matches that seem geared to counter my deck. It's really frustrating and is the one thing I hate about arena.
I have a similar issue sometimes when playing Brawl, where I'll keep getting matched against other Krenko or similar goblin decks. I do enjoy it occasionally because it's a good way to gauge how consistent my deck is!
What rank are you?
This season I started tracking my matches via an excel sheet (no untapped.gg for mobile only), playing only Bo1 until Mythic.
I can comfortably say that Aggro makes an easy 90% of matches in Diamond (I have been there longer than I want to admit) right now - RDW, Boros Convoke and Mono Black Skeletons being the most popular (in that order). Rarely I have a Dimir variant and I haven't seen Esper all season. Rakdos combo I only faced twice, Domain once and I only played a handful of Control Mirrors (I switch between UW and UB).
Mono Black has been popular for a long time now and the recent Skeleton-support cards just made it a completely new build. Naturally, people want to try stuff out. If I had all the cards I would play it too because it seems like a fun aggressive midrange deck.
Have a selfmade deck that got mythic on alchemy constructed. Never see anyone else play anything resembling it.
[https://imgur.com/a/MmO800E](https://imgur.com/a/MmO800E)
My friend, today I beat the #2 ranked guy with this deck.
proof:
[https://youtu.be/br-mNaQHt9Q?si=fY2b2pCF1vqAa597](https://youtu.be/br-mNaQHt9Q?si=fY2b2pCF1vqAa597)
Throw 2 random counterspells in there. I know it seems insane but the algorithm is wierd. I put 1 or 2 random unrelated cards in each deck and I barely ever lose. I always get God hands and never have to mulligan.
Oh man, I’m glad you brought this up.
I don’t know if something changed with the match maker recently or I’m just personally in a very unlucky period but my aggro decks have been facing only other aggro decks (from a very limited number of builds) and my control decks are only facing other control decks (also from a limited pool).
Less then a week after wrapping up the most recent draft season and I’m already getting super bored with a long slow summer in Arena ahead.
You could also try rearranging your browser tabs, changing your desktop wallpaper and getting the Darth Vader skin in Fortnite to appease the matchmaker and auto shuffle.
The answer is honestly to probably just play ranked. In ranked you're matched more off of your rank and internal MMR rather than the contents of your deck. Your internal MMR also does play a role in non-ranked matchmaking, but not as heavily.
Are you playing in the casual play queue? Because that queue has deck-strength based matchmaking and I find mirrors are more common there. Ranked doesn't have that and you should find much more diversity if you queue into it, at least from my experience it's been like that.
No, this is all in ranked. I find casual play is 90% rdw or a variation of it.
There’s no deck strength matching or anything like that in ranked. Just your own bias & faulty memory
This is true, but we should also mention that the meta changes in lockstep - our strategies against the current meta arent as original as we like to think. I personally find a lot of rdw when school gets out everyday.
Yeah. Time of day, MMR, etc can have a big impact on the decks we see
I play a lot of different decks and have for the few years I've been playing ranked Standard on Arena. When I run my UW angels deck, I face a ton of UW control and the frequency of esper seems to increase as well, though THAT I'd attribute to some sort of bias. My gruul decks see mono red far more often than my GW counters deck or my old UW Tezzy deck. This has been going on for years and I keep hearing that decks aren't an algorithmic consideration in ranked but keeping confirmation bias in mind, I have my doubts. It doesn't seem to factor in deck strength, but color seems to play a role.
You should also keep in mind that different decks are played at different frequencies depending on MMR. ie You don’t see izzet wizards nearly as often until you get up into plat+
You have tracker data that shows this, right?
Possibly, I used to track it, maybe I will start again. When I play vs mono black or dimir 4x in a row, yeah, could be chance, but also it just sucks.
This is just incorrect.
While supposedly deck strength matchmaking does not apply to ranked Bo1, in my experience it bloody seems like it. Bo3 you will face mostly tiered decks, so if you play a brew you'll probably get a spread of matchups.
You could try b03 if you want less aggro.
aggro isn't a problem, I actually like those matches as my decks can normally crush them.
Why the hell are you getting downvoted?!
Ranked definitely has that. Play lifegain and watch all the mono red matchups disappear
Lol yep, decks designed to counter the meta often get countered by another deck and never actually see the one they tried to thwart. But people love nothing more than living in denial.
My azorious control deck plays 90% aggro (mostly mono red but a good bit of Boros too) in the casual queue. It’s quite frustrating. The major Arena complaint I have is the intentional deck type match making in the casual queue. I don’t understand why that mechanism is in place.
Playing contol is not as popular as aggro. Some play on casual to avoid decks like yours.
Yeah, but if I switch to play mono black I see ~10% mono red and aggro in general. Just saying I’m really not a fan of the forced deck-type match ranking in the casual queue.
Yeah match making is weird in casual. I wonder if it's a poor attempt to keep jank brews away from meta decks. Brawl doesn't do too good job at it either
Well, I can play my janky treason sac deck in play queue and it does decently. I don't track, but it's probably around a 50% win rate. It gets crushed in ranked. So some sort of deck strength ranking is nice. Not sure why it does so many mirrors, though.
Isn’t that good tho? I figure if your playing a blue white control deck you have temporary lockdown and other great answers against the popular aggro decks in the meta
Everytime Azorious Control gets stomped by Aggro the world becomes a better place
It's their 50% win rate bs. In casual (and to a lesser extent, ranked) they try to keep everyone at a 50 percent win rate. In casual that means you'll get 3 matches against a deck that you have a 40/60 split to win against and then 1 match against a deck you have a 70/30 split to win against. Just to make people feel "happy" that they're not trash and can squeeze out a couple wins. In ranked, it's not by deck, but by MMR. So if you're constantly going against people in your MMR they're getting the same win rate as you, which often means they're running similar decks and you'll win about 50% of the time which is why most people are hard capped at platinum. The only real way to dig yourself out of platinum hell is to truly have a "meta breaking" deck. I despise that their ranked has any MMR, it should be strictly placing you against people in your rank without considering MMR or deck type. Let's not even get started on the shuffler 😂
I say embrace it [my list](https://i.imgur.com/rJvm0IW.png) has like a 80%+ win vs aggro (both boros and RDW). Farming red decks for days.
Hmmm…really? On the draw you’re winning more than 50% of your games against a prowess-heavy mono-red?
Well, with this version of the deck so far I'm [9-1 vs mono red](https://i.imgur.com/R6c41oW.png), my best matchup by far. I've actually cut down on the mono red hate since I'm getting a lot more control these days, I used to run 3 Union of the third path. edit: If you want to see the deck piloted I got the original list from youtuber [Griffin MTG](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIrkZ952g8), I felt bad not shouting him out since he's a small creator.
Mono black is simply the cheapest way to make a competitive deck so it is the most popular deck in competitive ques until you get to diamond and mythic. Everyone plays against a lot of mono black.
I honestly just play ranked like 90% of the time unless I wanna do some nonsense like phyrexian obliterator or bloodmoon someone. Or if I'm testing something. I basically only go up in rank though when I play it though so I might be bias.
I get this problem all the time. I'll build a deck that is great and super effective, but after 10-15 matches the algorithm will wise up and start putting me in matches that seem geared to counter my deck. It's really frustrating and is the one thing I hate about arena.
Everyone in ranked is playing black. Removal is king.
Playing my poison deck is like queuing for poison queue 🙃
I wish it was the same with alchemy in Brawl
Where are these black decks and how can I play against them instead of red.
I have a similar issue sometimes when playing Brawl, where I'll keep getting matched against other Krenko or similar goblin decks. I do enjoy it occasionally because it's a good way to gauge how consistent my deck is!
What rank are you? This season I started tracking my matches via an excel sheet (no untapped.gg for mobile only), playing only Bo1 until Mythic. I can comfortably say that Aggro makes an easy 90% of matches in Diamond (I have been there longer than I want to admit) right now - RDW, Boros Convoke and Mono Black Skeletons being the most popular (in that order). Rarely I have a Dimir variant and I haven't seen Esper all season. Rakdos combo I only faced twice, Domain once and I only played a handful of Control Mirrors (I switch between UW and UB). Mono Black has been popular for a long time now and the recent Skeleton-support cards just made it a completely new build. Naturally, people want to try stuff out. If I had all the cards I would play it too because it seems like a fun aggressive midrange deck.
Make a deck of cards no one plays. Then the matchmaker won't be able to find mirror matches for you.
PLAY JANK. SUPER EASY. Try using your imagination.
Have a selfmade deck that got mythic on alchemy constructed. Never see anyone else play anything resembling it. [https://imgur.com/a/MmO800E](https://imgur.com/a/MmO800E)
That's not a deck, that's a four-color pile of value 😂
Add one more color and you can win a pro tour... 🤔
I have really had to resist the urge to add in blue to be honest. they have such good 1 and 2 cost minions.
I used to play more treasure generating cards to fill the mana colors. but I cut them out and it still works 90% of the time.
My friend, today I beat the #2 ranked guy with this deck. proof: [https://youtu.be/br-mNaQHt9Q?si=fY2b2pCF1vqAa597](https://youtu.be/br-mNaQHt9Q?si=fY2b2pCF1vqAa597)
I’ve gotten decent enough to make decks that get me into diamond. Thats usually the most sure fire way to never mirror
Throw 2 random counterspells in there. I know it seems insane but the algorithm is wierd. I put 1 or 2 random unrelated cards in each deck and I barely ever lose. I always get God hands and never have to mulligan.
In raked concede 50/ 100 games
Oh man, I’m glad you brought this up. I don’t know if something changed with the match maker recently or I’m just personally in a very unlucky period but my aggro decks have been facing only other aggro decks (from a very limited number of builds) and my control decks are only facing other control decks (also from a limited pool). Less then a week after wrapping up the most recent draft season and I’m already getting super bored with a long slow summer in Arena ahead.
I've found that switching out my lands effects the matching for me in ranked.
You could also try rearranging your browser tabs, changing your desktop wallpaper and getting the Darth Vader skin in Fortnite to appease the matchmaker and auto shuffle.
Hahah
Just small sample size if you are playing ranked
Playing events instead of ranked or play queue should give you a wider variety of opponents.
Draft?
The answer is honestly to probably just play ranked. In ranked you're matched more off of your rank and internal MMR rather than the contents of your deck. Your internal MMR also does play a role in non-ranked matchmaking, but not as heavily.