The Rank 5-1 Meta

Hello everyone. As usual, I see a lot of complaining that people in the pre-Pro-Rank ranks play nothing but tryhard meta decks. As I've taken the last couple seasons off and fallen to Rank 5, I thought I would do an experiment to see just what the meta is really like and how many meta decks I played against, so we could have some hard data as to whether this idea is reflected in reality or not. Here's what I faced:

Rank 5: White Frost Wild Hunt, Rage of the Sea Rain, Blaze of Glory Warriors, Imperial Formation Soldiers (full soldiers, not Renfri), Nature's Gift Symbiosis

Rank 4: Ursine Ritual Golden Nekker Iris + Olgierd homebrew, Inspired Zeal Mutagenerator Engine Slam with Siege, Imprisonment Renfri, Fruits of Ysgith Thrive, Lined Pockets Mastermind + Bincy homebrew, Uprising Witchers, Mobilization Reavers, Carapace Vampires

Rank 3: Enslave 6 Tactics, Precision Strike Simlas Control, Toussaintois Hospitality, Precision Strike Full Elves, Blaze of Glory Warriors, Blood Money Bounty, Inspired Zeal Commando Renfri, Pincer Maneuver Travelling Priestess, Shieldwall Alumni

Rank 2: Overwhelming Hunger Deathwish, Imposter Masquerade Ball, Rage of the Sea Rain, Off the Books Bounty Helveed Bincy homebrew, White Frost Wild Hunt

Rank 1: Imprisonment Masquerade Ball, Blood Scent Renfri Vampires, Double Cross Renfri, Toussaintois Hospitality, Enslave 6 Tactics, Imprisonment Masquerade Ball, Imprisonment Masquerade Ball

By faction – MO: 6, NG: 11, NR: 6, SK: 5, ST: 3, SY: 3. Clearly, the idea that these ranks are full of Nilfgaard is backed up by data. But is it meta Nilfgaard?

The most popular deck was Imprisonment Ball with 3 games (plus one game of Ball with Imposter), then Blaze of Glory, Enslave 6, and Wild Hunt, each of which I faced twice. I faced 4 Renfri decks in 34 games. If "meta" is defined as a deck which sees play in competitive tournaments, I faced 4 meta decks – two Wild Hunt, one Imprisonment Renfri, and one Mobilization Reavers. This rises to 5 if you count Double Cross Renfri as a meta deck with an off-meta leader, and 6 if you count Overwhelming Hunger Deathwish. I faced 31 decks that were coherent, "known" archetypes and 3 decks that were so unusual I had to classify them as homebrews.

All in all, it was a fun climb, with plenty of variety, and I would have to strongly disagree with anyone who says these ranks are full of Renfri players and meta decks. Small sample size, your mileage may vary, but I experienced the exact opposite.