Nod Top 50 November -- Dutch players have seen enough Bikes for a lifetime

Every month, I analyze the decks of the Top 50 Nod and GDI players in Rivals. This is the November 2019 issue for Nod. You can find the GDI variant here.

• Please find the raw data here, incl. a full list of the decks including nicknames
• Average deck level went up by +0.1 to 14.2
• Average deck composition and it's change since October can be seen in the chart below. How to read this: E.g. the big grey area in "Tech" shows that the vast majority of units had no Tech units in Oct/Nov. The Orange and Yellow areas in "Air" show that most decks have 1 or 2 air units. The small green sliver on top shows that some decks have 3 air units, which in October wasn't the case (hence the left "Oct" column has no green). 

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. Fanatic decks had a 3% 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 Marauders are 0.3 levels lower than the average)

Units with most usage gain:

• Giga Cannon +10 percentage points
• Inferno +8
• Phantom +6
• Chem Buggy +6
• Oxanna +6

Units with most usage drop:

• Marauders -8
• Stealth Tank -8
• Fanatic -6
• Seth -6

Observations

• The 3 players not playing Bikes are all Dutch (NaturalSky, Midnight.Nation and Suzaku). According to NaturalSky, this is because "Dutch players have seen enough bikes for a lifetime"
• The change in frequencies was smaller than with GDI, which makes sense as GDI had a new unit
• Despite so many people voicing concerns with "Jade ckm deck is overpowered", usage of this deck didn't grow. This might be driven by multiple factors: First, Razorback decks are strong against it. Second, people adjusted their decks and became better at playing against Jade. Third, even successful Jade players want a change (e.g. I switched to playing more Inferno for this reason). Still, there's 9 decks of this type in the top 50.
• Inferno/Phantom became more popular, 6 players now play it.
• Seth's -6 points shift to Oxanna reflects that fewer people play classic Aggro decks (there's only one classic 2-2-2 with Venom/Banshee left). Giga and Inferno are more often played with Oxanna.
• Marauder decks becoming less popular might be driven by a general growth in T2 anti-infantry in the recent months. First Snipers and Chems becoming more widespread, now Razorback. 
• Chem Buggy previously was mostly played in Marauder decks, now 6 of the 10 Chem Buggy decks don't have marauders. They are e.g. part of 3 Giga decks, and 2 Tech decks.
• Overall, the deck diversity seems very high. "Oldschool" 2-3-1 Aggro, 2-2-2 Aggro are still present with good winrates. Jade ckm, Marauder/Chuggy, Inferno/Phantom all represent popular options. Commander diversity is high. Some Tech decks are around. The Nod aggro has many variants with Fanatics vs Militants, Wheels vs Chem Buggy vs Venom. Air play is viable. Suzaku shows even Kane and no Bikes are viable.

Player highlights

• AliciaDestiny continues to be the standout Nod player with a 97% winrate on 210 games -- read our latest interview with her
• Cbpowerhouse sports an impressive 76% winrate on a L12.4 deck. He plays Fanatic Aggro (Oxanna - Laser, Fanatic  Wheel, Bike, Tank - Banshee)
• Bikerushownz shows his skill and the viability of Alicia's "Infernom" (Oxanna - Fanatic - Wheels, Bikes, Scorpion Tank - Phantom, Inferno) deck with a 89% winrate with L12.9.
• LiquidTiberium has a 81% winrate on 166 games with just L13.1. He plays Seth - Militant, Laser - Bike, Chuggy, Stealth Tank - Banshee
• paflagon 2, the best player from Turkey has "just" 50% winrate, but is on #18 with an L12.1 deck. Anyone who played him can testify that he's a standout player. Techniques he applies to beat decks with much higher levels include pop capping and base kills with Seth and Marauders. I can highly recommend to watch his replays in the app.
• KlarJK isn't just a standout player in RTL, but also in ranked/ladder. He shows that the good old Nod 2-3-1 aggro (Seth - Militant, Laser - Wheel, Bike, Scorpion Tank - Banshee) stays viable.

Thoughts on Bikes

• Bike usage dropped minimally from 98% to 94%. But they are still ubiquitous
• They also beat Pitbulls and Tanks for cost in the right circumstances
• That's why many say Bikes are overpowered and should be nerfed
• I disagree! I think Bikes are so ubiquitous more because of their versatility and necessity than being "overpowered"
• It's very hard to play without Bikes due to units such as Talon, Venom and Droneswarm, as Nod doesn't have good cheap anti air outside of Laser Troopers (slow) and Bikes
• Another aspect is that nerfing Bikes would make Tech even stronger, as Tech decks often rely on light air plus cheap infantry to stall for time
• Also, I think that claims that Bikes beat Pitbulls and Tanks are overstated. Yes, in very capable hands and with enough space, they do. But it's far from easy, and capable Tank and Pitbull players, making use of terrain, raider and blocking, can often beat Bikes for cost. Once 2 Pitbulls are stacked, it's hard for Bikes to be efficient if they don't get the perfect angle and timing. This observation might be subjective as I'm not one of the very top players in terms of skill.

Go to the Nod Top 50 analysis for November 2019