We, the community, love you. We really don’t say it enough. You have a thankless and loveless job. Yeah, it may feel like a toxic relationship given that we never seem happy and are always nagging you to tweak this or fix that. Can we get some buffs over here or some nerfs over there? But in reality, this may be the best meta we have ever had in terms of balance. THE BEST EVER (See above). And of course, there could be more fine tuning and such, but really you have done a tremendous job lately. (Except whoever let Divmob out the door, fuck that person, that division is so OP, can we get some more nerfs already? Does ST even do anything or are they just in it for the free DLCs?)
Playoff Updates - those listed below have clinched playoffs positions. Those with * are guaranteed #1 seed in their group. These results are unofficial, and nothing is confirmed until Protoss says so.
Division 1
Group A - tmanplays
Group B - griffon_65* & Hippie
Group D - stardekk*
Division 2
Group B - Kotch*
Group D - stardekk*
Division 4
Group C - theHellene*
Group D - barkas85* & Vladik
I LOVE WARNO DISCOURSE, whether it is qualitatively wrong or quantitatively correct. Is 2nd pnz still broken? Is it fair to have forward deploy in a reservist division? Why can’t you upvet the NG in 24th US? Will someone please fix the TOR?
Regardless of the discourse, one technique that seems to be lacking by many members of the community is deck adjustments. Yes, there is an optimal way for decks to be built for ranked play to be effective versus all opponents but more importantly, TUNE YOUR DECK FOR YOUR NEXT SDL MATCHUP. The number of times I have seen tank heavy divisions load up on 250+ point heavy tanks and eschew cheaper options, or bring more AA, or bring more infantry, blows my mind. (I'm looking at you 1. Armoured Division!)
Linked is the most up to date metagame data. Yes, you need a Gmail account to access this link but after that you can manipulate, check my work, and come up with your own conclusions. Or make cool charts like CoreAccretion does.
Some interesting data to ponder as the season reaches its halfway point:
2. Panzergrenadier & 31-ya Tank. Div. are your best divisions versus other heavy divisions
16DE Pantserdivisie is a whopping 8-1 versus Infantry Divisions
Airborne Divisions have the highest overall win rate at 57%
AB vs Tank is 66% in AB’s favor
AB vs Infantry is 55% in AB’s favor
T-72 Divisions are only winning at a 49% rate (special tab in the Metagame)
Leopard Divisions are only winning at a 48% rate (special tab in the Metagame)
1 Canada, 2nd Infantry (UK) and 9th US do not need to be banned. They have a combined record of 5-17 and yet rank 3rd, 11th, and 29th most banned respectively.
Sequoia is still the person to beat as they sit in first place. Their picks of tmanplays & theHellene have paid huge dividends. But fear not other competitors, MOST of Sequoia’s picks have played all their games. They are ALMOST out of opportunities to get points. That means that Mike/Chips, FM14, Woodtick69, Stahlbrecher, and Grand Potato all have a chance to seize glory, and most importantly some SDL merchandise.
This week’s Ranked GOTW comes from “ThePreyingWolf.” I was going to do a huge write up, but their own recollection of the game was so perfect, I would be remiss not to include it:
The game was against myself playing 1 Tankova against "SPAM noob (RUS)" playing 303 Tankova on Black Forest. The 303 deck was very unconventional in that it leaned extremely heavily into the tank spam, bringing more than 80 tanks! The volume of fire of 303 Tankova's armored fighting vehicles, coupled with aggressive and plentiful ATGM carriers, forced 1 Tankova back early on. 303 battered 1 Tankova for the better part of 30 minutes, ticking up to over a 700 point lead. 1 Tankova, however, was able to preserve most of their T-72 tanks and slowly push back. Both players utilized smoke heavily in the last quarter of the game. 1 Tankova used it to contest Fedor and 303 Tankova used it to move its tanks and remaining fire support to point blank range and retake Boris and mount a desperate counterattack into Fedor. Finally, in the final six minutes of the game, 1 Tankova maintained a tenuous foothold in Anna and achieved a breakthrough in Fedor, then drove full bore to Elena, taking it as time was running out. Sitting on a -6 tick, 303 Tankova surrendered, unable to stop 1 Tankova from seizing the lead in the last four minutes of the game. 1 Tankova claimed more than 90% of 303 Tankova's tanks and more than 40 armored fighting vehicles.
If you have an interesting ranked game of Warno that you would like to share, now is your chance! Please send your replays and a short description to Warno.Dispatch@gmail.com to be considered for this space each week.
Congratulations are in order for Mix & Tortique for winning the WARYES Defcon2 2025 Tournament! Freedom Dream Team - rumors have abounded that Woeisme and Tmanplays may have joined forces to create the most red, white, and blue 2v2 team ever. Until next time, start practicing with some Airborne Divisions, the tank meta is so 50% these days. We are about 2 weeks away from the group stage/regular season coming to its finish so every win counts!