GDI Top 50 in January 2020: Razorback at "just" 36%

Every month (exception December 2019), I analyze the decks of the Top 50 Nod and GDI players in Rivals. This is the January 2020 issue for GDI. You can find the Nod variant here.

You can find the raw data here, including a full list of the decks including nicknames. The Average deck level went down by -0.1 to 13.8, possibly related to the new unit (Razorback) and more Tech units.

In the chart above, you can see how deck composition by unit type changed from October through November to January. For examp,e we see that the nmber of decks that just use a single vehicle more than doubled (growth of orange segment in the vehicle column). We also see that Tech decks became more widespread over time, with now 44% of all decks containing at least one Tech 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 frequency this month. A trend line illustrates the change over time, and the ppt change compared to previous month is given as a number at the end.
• "Δ vs average winrate" is how the winrate decks utilizing this unit/commander deviates from the average (e.g. Orca Bomber decks had a 7 percentage points 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. Mammoth decks had -0.4 lower levels compared to the average)

More used compared to November:

• Razorback made an unsurprising jump by +22 ppt to 36%. It's a great unit, widely considered overpowered and (partly for that reason) sees use in a broad range of decks. The "meta" combination with Mohawk makes up 10 of the 18 Razorback decks.
• Jumpjet Troopers usage went up from 16% to 28%. It was buffed a bit, and in decks that otherwise are heavy on infantry and air finds use as a fast counter to Bikes, Slingshots and Pitbulls.
• Solomon is at a record-high 20%, up from 8%. It's cost decrease means that the base-kill strategy has become even more popular.
• Pitbull usage went up by 12 points and hit a record high since the nerf in July 2019. In 12 decks it's the sole vehicle unit.
• Sandstorm has found more friends, doubling from 10% to 20%. 

Less used compared to November:

• Strongarm went down by -12%. On the one hand, Liang users might have seen less reason to switch to Solomon. On the other hand, Strongarm doesn't feel great against Shade and Razorback/Mohawk decks (whereas Liang can at least block).
• War Dogs usage went down from 38% to 28%. More decks want to open infantry as they want to go into Air early. 
• MG, MLRS, Sniper, Orca Bomber and APC usage all went down by 8 percentage points. With MLRS, I find it a bit surprising, considering how strong the Razorback deck with MLRS is (Noid Hex had immense success with it in December). Sniper and MG are the least surprising, mostly due to Razorback (but also Nod playing more air, incl. Venom). Orca Bomber decline is also a bit surprising considering it's strength, demonstrated by top players.

Other observations:

• Curiously, Talon usage didn't go up, even though it's considered to be one of the best options in the Shade / Razorback meta
• Orca Bomber and Sniper seem to be favored especially by high-skill players with lower level decks that appreciate these units' ability to take out higher levelled stuff as hard counters.
• It's surprising to me that Slingshot even went down a bit. Yes, it's no clear solution to shade, but combined with Missiles still gives you decent play against Shade/Venom. And it's a staple in many Razorback meta decks. Plus, generally useful in an air meta, especially as Orca Bomber even went down.
• Only 4 decks utilize the "sniper deck" core of Missile, Sniper, Dog, Pitbull. To these, according to 13lade, you can add nearly any 2 additional units. And as we'll see next, such decks are very viable.
• It might be surprising that the Razorback, widely considered as overpowered, is played in "just" 36% of decks. On the one hand, it's not as overpowered compared to the Nod Shade. On the other hand, it's still a relatively new unit, so many players don't have it at a high level, yet. 

Standout players

• AgentShadow climbed to #1 with the by far lowest level deck, averaging at 11.9 (the next lowest decks field 12.9). His deck choice is built around the "sniper deck" core (see above), to which he adds Hammerhead and Orca Bomber, giving him hard-hitting, hard-countering outs when being outlevelled.
• VictorBansemer has the second lowest deck and combines it with an impressive 75% winrate. His choice is a low-cost Solomon deck with Rifle, Missile, Jumpjets, Pitbull, Talon and Orca.
• Silas and srpss show strong winrates with their L13.1 decks. Silas with a classic Razorback deck and srpss also chosing the Orca Bomber.
• Bikerush, AliciaDestiny and Benven2 deserve mentioning for their winrates above 90%.

Playing Volume and Deck Diversity

• The Korean player ??ECH and Silas have the highest playing volume this month so far, with each having more than 700 GDI wins
• On average, the Top 50 players had 277 GDI wins so far in the January season
• 15 players played basically just one GDI deck (88%-99% of their GDI wins being with the "primary" deck with most games, which is the decks we look at in this analysis)
• 14 players had less than a third of their GDI wins with their "primary" deck, i.e. switch around a lot. Most extreme is Substancegiron, who played just 17% of his GDI wins with the "primary" deck.

Jump to the Nod variant here.