Fanatics Strength and Stealth Tank Comeback -- The Nod Top 50 in September

Every month, I analyze the decks of the Top 50 Nod and GDI players in Rivals. This is the September 2019 issue for Nod. Go here for the GDI version.

• Please find the raw data here, incl. a full list of the decks including nicknames
• Average deck level went up by +0.1 to 14.0
• Average deck composition is 2.1 infantry (+/-0), 2.5 vehicles (+0.4), 1.1 air (-0.3) and 0.2 (-0.2) tech units. In the chart below, you can see how often decks have which unit type in the deck. As you can see, the typical deck has 2 Infantry units, 3 vehicles and 1 Air unit.

Now to the main data, the unit frequency table. How to read the table below:

• "Frequency" is the share of Decks that run this unit or commander. First, the frequency in % over last months is shown. Then, a bar chart visualizes the June frequency, and a +/- number shows the change to the previous month. Lastly, there is a small line chart that shows the trend over the last 4 months.
• "Δ vs average winrate" is how the winrate decks utilizing this unit/commander deviates from the average (e.g. Inferno decks had a 6% higher winrate compared to the average)
• "Δ vs average levels" is how the levels of decks utilizing this unit/commander deviate from average (e.g. decks utilizing the Inferno are 0.3 levels higher than the average)

Observations

• Fanatic usage is up to 26ppt, and their winrate is 5 points above the average. Expect to see even more decks with Fanatics (usually built around Scorpion Tank or Giga).
• Laser Troopers usage is up +18ppt, and Scavengers down by -20ppt. A direct consequence of the recent Scavenger nerf.
• Stealth Tank is up +14ppr and Chem Buggy +8ppt
• The average deck cost decreased to an all-time low of 54 Tiberium per Unit, driven by lower popularity of tech (Avatar -4ppt) and gains from Militant, Laser, Wheel
• Seth usage increased by +10 ppt, taking 6ppt from Jade and 4ppt from Oxanna
• Venom and Banshee usage dropped after their nerf by -4ppt and -8ppt. Their winrates are a bit lower than the average, so we might see further reduction (players take time to adjust to balance and meta, partly because it takes time to level up other units)
• There's 2 Rock Worm decks, including a pretty strong one from Benven2, who plays Militant, Laser - Drones, Venom, Phantom - Rockworm - Oxanna with a 87% winrate and a L14.8 deck.

"Statistical Decks"

• If we take a deck that fields units with higher winrates, we get Fanatic, Scavenger - Wheels, Giga, Stealth Tank - Phantom (ignoring very low sample size Inferno and Kane). This is not far from what some strong players play, if we flip Stealth Tank for Bikes,
• High-level decks are more likely to contain Chem Troopers, Scorpion Tank, Giga Cannon, Venoms and Avatar.

Levels and Winrate

Obviously, it's easier to get a high winrate with high levels. The below chart illustrates the two variables. The trend line shows the "average impact" of levels on winrate. The winrate is shown as "X games per 1 loss". AliciaDestiny e.g. has 32 wins per loss. And Alarak has 5.3 wins per loss, which is impressive for L12.5.

Click here for the GDI version of this analysis.