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Shadowverse |OT| Anime Hearthstone now on Steam

Kumubou

Member
I might just hang onto the gold for later then. I was pretty good at hearthstone's arena.

I liquified skullfane and mytril golem and will keep the rest. Almost built the rest of the deck, but now I just gotta find a way to get more vials without liquifying anything else.

Nah, I don't particularly care for cosmetics.
Be aware that the gold gained ramps up much more slowly -- it's impossible to be gold positive in Take Two as even going 5-0 nets only 150 gold (and a pack and some vials). That's not bad, but no one is nice enough to play that mode forever without ever losing. That and there's a new expansion coming and Take Two only awards Standard packs (although they may switch that up for the expansion for a bit as part of an event).
 

Lumination

'enry 'ollins
Be aware that the gold gained ramps up much more slowly -- it's impossible to be gold positive in Take Two as even going 5-0 nets only 150 gold (and a pack and some vials). That's not bad, but no one is nice enough to play that mode forever without ever losing. That and there's a new expansion coming and Take Two only awards Standard packs (although they may switch that up for the expansion for a bit as part of an event).
? My last two 5-0s were 280g and a pack, no dust.
 

Kumubou

Member
? My last two 5-0s were 280g and a pack, no dust.
Did they change it recently? I never remember getting that much gold, even when going 5-0.

It's also possible that I'm an idiot and my information is completely wrong (as I haven't played that mode in a few weeks).
 

Lumination

'enry 'ollins
Did they change it recently? I never remember getting that much gold, even when going 5-0.

It's also possible that I'm an idiot and my information is completely wrong (as I haven't played that mode in a few weeks).
My 4-1s were about 120-130g and a pack, so that's pretty much a 30g pack. Assuming you can finish a quest as well and you can get at least 1 free pack a day.
 

4Tran

Member
Swordcraft is way easier in Take Two. I got a pretty bad deck with just a few 1 and 2 drops and I still went 4-1. Hell, it could have been 5-0 if that last deck was just a bit weaker. I was one turn from lethal and sitting at 14 health with just a Polyphonic Roar on the opponent's board.

It's one of dirt cheap decks that can be built for like 5k Vials - it only has silvers and bronze cards and 3 gold Alvida's which are perfectly skippable at D or C.

https://shadowverse.gamepress.gg/deck/royal-banner-swordcraft-gamepress
I think that it's a consequence of a relative thin meta for budget decks. There aren't a whole lot of viable archetypes without access to the more expensive cards so players are going to stick with what's effective. I switched to Shadowcraft for a mission and immediately started losing again because it's just a much weaker deck when you're missing key cards.

Oh, and I'd like to add that using the Hearthstone type "Win 4 games with X faction" are sort of BS. It's not so bad at the lower ranks, but I can imagine how painful it can be when people are running really good decks while you're struggling with something subpar to eke out those wins.
 

Nikodemos

Member
Oh, and I'd like to add that using the Hearthstone type "Win 4 games with X faction" are sort of BS. It's not so bad at the lower ranks, but I can imagine how painful it can be when people are running really good decks while you're struggling with something subpar to eke out those wins.
Yeah, Duelyst's "Play X games as faction Y" are much better. Even if you get your ass beat you still gain stuff.
 

4Tran

Member
I tried running a Rune Spellboost deck without Dimension Shift, and boy is it rough going. It's a fun deck, but either I'm playing it wrong or it's really hard to get the combos working. I think that one big problem is the Summon Snows I was running. They're so clunky without adding much value. Switching to a Forest deck, and it's a world of difference. Ancient Elf + Liza make Runecraft cry!
 
I think that it's a consequence of a relative thin meta for budget decks. There aren't a whole lot of viable archetypes without access to the more expensive cards so players are going to stick with what's effective. I switched to Shadowcraft for a mission and immediately started losing again because it's just a much weaker deck when you're missing key cards.

Oh, and I'd like to add that using the Hearthstone type "Win 4 games with X faction" are sort of BS. It's not so bad at the lower ranks, but I can imagine how painful it can be when people are running really good decks while you're struggling with something subpar to eke out those wins.

Actually there's quite a lot of stuff than can be used up to A0
Forest Tempo (all you need is 2-3 Cynthias and some Roaches)
Purgatory Forest (budget version only needs 3PtP and 3 Altered Fates + 1 Will of Forest)
Hybrid Forest (2 Cynthhias, 2 PtP, 3 Altered + 0-1 Will + Roaches)
Garuda Heaven (3 Garudas +0-2 Themis)
Blood aggro (3x Vania, 3x Vampiric Fortress)
Purgatory Rune (3x PTP, 3x AF, 3 xLevi)
Spellboost Rune(3x Dimension Shift, 3x Levi)

And with Heaven you can put tier1 class deck using 2 Seraphs, 3 Elanas and 3 Themis

Only ones I feel are hopeless are Shadow without 3 Cerberuses and Dragon without multiple Fortes
 

Szadek

Member
I tried running a Rune Spellboost deck without Dimension Shift, and boy is it rough going. It's a fun deck, but either I'm playing it wrong or it's really hard to get the combos working. I think that one big problem is the Summon Snows I was running. They're so clunky without adding much value. Switching to a Forest deck, and it's a world of difference. Ancient Elf + Liza make Runecraft cry!
Dimension Shift is your win condition. There isn't much point playing the deck without it.
 

4Tran

Member
Actually there's quite a lot of stuff than can be used up to A0
Forest Tempo (all you need is 2-3 Cynthias and some Roaches)
Purgatory Forest (budget version only needs 3PtP and 3 Altered Fates + 1 Will of Forest)
Hybrid Forest (2 Cynthhias, 2 PtP, 3 Altered + 0-1 Will + Roaches)
Garuda Heaven (3 Garudas +0-2 Themis)
Blood aggro (3x Vania, 3x Vampiric Fortress)
Purgatory Rune (3x PTP, 3x AF, 3 xLevi)
Spellboost Rune(3x Dimension Shift, 3x Levi)

And with Heaven you can put tier1 class deck using 2 Seraphs, 3 Elanas and 3 Themis

Only ones I feel are hopeless are Shadow without 3 Cerberuses and Dragon without multiple Fortes
I guess that's not too bad, but looking for 4 wins can still be rough.

Dimension Shift is your win condition. There isn't much point playing the deck without it.
Sadly, I figured as much. I still want to try out Runecraft though, so I may build up a Earth Rite deck.
 
So I just built a "budget" control blood deck ("budget" because it's still expensive as hell), and it is insanely gratifying. Playing Bloody Mary and 2 Razory Claws on turn 9 for an instant 10 face damage is amazing. And Azazel to makes both player's hp be 10 goes well with the combo. Now, surviving that long with blood is pretty hard/lucky but it can be done. Definitely am going to need to finish getting the rest of the legendaries and golds for this deck though, since I only have 1 or 2 of each of the many it needs.

But getting gold and packs has definitely slowed down quite a bit. Hopefully there is a good deal for when the new expansion comes out. For the people that were playing when the DE expansion hit, was there any promos for free cards? I heard that they made the arena give the expansion packs for a while, but was there anything else? Like a crystal deal or free packs?
 

4Tran

Member
Yeah! I made it to C0! That Forestcraft Tempo deck is a lot of fun to play and it's extremely powerful as well. I really should get another Cynthia to fill it out, but the placeholder Verdant Steward has been putting in work. I do wonder whether I should be using Elf Prophetess instead.

On a slightly different note, I can tell that Urd is a really powerful card, but I'm not sure how to use her. Is she supposed to just be used on Last Word cards?

You could try Rune Purgatory - as additional bonus you can reuse 6 golds for Forest PtP.
I'm not sure if I'm going to like that playstyle, and it's not as if I can test it out without a Path to Purgatory of my own.

But getting gold and packs has definitely slowed down quite a bit. Hopefully there is a good deal for when the new expansion comes out. For the people that were playing when the DE expansion hit, was there any promos for free cards? I heard that they made the arena give the expansion packs for a while, but was there anything else? Like a crystal deal or free packs?
It really does feel like Shadowverse gives you a flood of cards at the beginning, and then that flood slows down pretty quick. I've only been playing for a few days, and it's already a lot slower than before. It seems a lot less generous than Duelyst where you can earn enough in a couple of months to get the most expensive deck out there. Maybe Shadowverse can steal an idea for the next expansion and make the whole thing available for a single lump sum.
 

gngf123

Member
On a slightly different note, I can tell that Urd is a really powerful card, but I'm not sure how to use her. Is she supposed to just be used on Last Word cards?
.

Urd is especially great because she is so flexible. Last words cards are one way of playing her, and is why you normally see her in shadow decks, but you can also use her to:

- Bounce an enemy, so you remove their evolve, or any buffs
- Bounce your own storm follower. Storm will activate again so you can get 2 hits.

I'm sure there are other uses too, but those are the best ones.

Still, I mostly just use her for Mordecai duplicating nonsense. It's fun.
 

4Tran

Member
It feels great to stomp a Sword Banner deck with a Dragon deck, and then turn around and stomp a Dragon deck with a Sword deck. Oddly, that Sword deck was running Angelic Barrage and it was pretty useless against all those big dragons.

Urd is especially great because she is so flexible. Last words cards are one way of playing her, and is why you normally see her in shadow decks, but you can also use her to:

- Bounce an enemy, so you remove their evolve, or any buffs
- Bounce your own storm follower. Storm will activate again so you can get 2 hits.

I'm sure there are other uses too, but those are the best ones.

Still, I mostly just use her for Mordecai duplicating nonsense. It's fun.
Does she work with Fanfare as well? I seem to recall trying to resummon a Garuda and it didn't seem to do anything.
 

gngf123

Member
It feels great to stomp a Sword Banner deck with a Dragon deck, and then turn around and stomp a Dragon deck with a Sword deck. Oddly, that Sword deck was running Angelic Barrage and it was pretty useless against all those big dragons.


Does she work with Fanfare as well? I seem to recall trying to resummon a Garuda and it didn't seem to do anything.

Unfortunately, fanfare effects only trigger when play points are used to play it, not summoning effects like Urd.
 

MrDoctor

Member
But getting gold and packs has definitely slowed down quite a bit. Hopefully there is a good deal for when the new expansion comes out. For the people that were playing when the DE expansion hit, was there any promos for free cards? I heard that they made the arena give the expansion packs for a while, but was there anything else? Like a crystal deal or free packs?
they gave everyone 10 free packs of the expansion when it came out. we also got neutral legendaries after server maintenance and such in the early months.
 

KuroNeeko

Member
Currently in Trials for A0.

I could probably breeze through it with Elana's, but I want to do it with Control Vampire. Went 1-2 the first attempt. Sitting at 1-0 now!

Yeah! I made it to C0!

Congrats, mayne!

On a slightly different note, I can tell that Urd is a really powerful card, but I'm not sure how to use her. Is she supposed to just be used on Last Word cards?

Urd is typically used with either a Storm minion (for burst damage), or a high-impact Last Word minion like Modecai. You can also use it do de-evo your opponent's minions.

It really does feel like Shadowverse gives you a flood of cards at the beginning, and then that flood slows down pretty quick. I've only been playing for a few days, and it's already a lot slower than before.

I feel like Shadowverse is friendly for casual to mid-casual players. You can typically get about 100 rupees / day for completing quests and about 30 on average for the login.

Combined with quest packs, login packs, BP rewards, and take two tickets, you can definitely build a collection over time.

Problem is the increasing cost to "buy" into certain classes: needing three AE and Tia's for Elf; three-ish Queen Vampires / BMs for Vampire. I wanted to play Control Necro, but needed to craft three Cerbs and LotFs for a total of almost 20000 dust. Gross. (Not going to bother though looking at the Necro cards coming in the new set.)
 

4Tran

Member
I'm trying to get the "Win 5 games of X class" achievements, and it's been very different depending on the class. With Dragons, Swords, and Forests, it was a complete breeze. With Blood and Haven, it was still fairly easy, but with Runes and Shadows, it's been a complete slog. Bad decks in these factions really, really suck.

EDIT: I take that back, it's the Shadows deck that was truly painful. The Runes Earth Rite deck actually wins quite a bit, it just took some getting used to. However, the games take so damned long that I don't think that I'd want to play it very often.

Urd is typically used with either a Storm minion (for burst damage), or a high-impact Last Word minion like Modecai. You can also use it do de-evo your opponent's minions.
Gotcha. I'm going to have to find a deck to try her out in.

I feel like Shadowverse is friendly for casual to mid-casual players. You can typically get about 100 rupees / day for completing quests and about 30 on average for the login.

Combined with quest packs, login packs, BP rewards, and take two tickets, you can definitely build a collection over time.

Problem is the increasing cost to "buy" into certain classes: needing three AE and Tia's for Elf; three-ish Queen Vampires / BMs for Vampire. I wanted to play Control Necro, but needed to craft three Cerbs and LotFs for a total of almost 20000 dust. Gross. (Not going to bother though looking at the Necro cards coming in the new set.)
Yeah, it's quite a difference coming from Duelyst. While the more expensive Duelyst decks will have more legendaries than most Shadowverse decks, Duelyst legendaries are way easier to acquire. They drop a lot more frequently (I believe it's 1 in every 5-6 packs) and they're a lot easier to craft (less than 3 legendaries and 9 epics). In Shadowverse, unless you're lucky to pick up exactly the legendary you need, I don't even know how long it'd take.
 

KuroNeeko

Member
I can't really venture a guess. ↑ 

I've only made on purchase: 600 gems for 600 yen, but I was SUPER lucky enough to get five legendaries that fit my style of play (three Queen Vampires, two Bloody Marys).

Just cleared my qualifier matches for A0. Took me three tries and it was all Banner Royal and Elanas...I gave up trying to do it with Control Vampire and did it with Sunshine Bishop. Final boss was Elana Bishop, but I squeaked through with Satan's Servant → Dis's Damnation.

Guess I have to play try-hard lists now.
 

4Tran

Member
I can't really venture a guess. ↑ 

I've only made on purchase: 600 gems for 600 yen, but I was SUPER lucky enough to get five legendaries that fit my style of play (three Queen Vampires, two Bloody Marys).
I can't compare the two games directly because I've been playing Duelyst for several months, but the difference in legendaries between the two is massive. In Shadowverse, I have just 7 legendaries, two of them being trash: Skullfane and Beast Dominator. In Duelyst, not counting the special reward Legendaries and the ones from the latest expansion, I have around 80. And that's after disenchanting a bunch as well.

Just cleared my qualifier matches for A0. Took me three tries and it was all Banner Royal and Elanas...I gave up trying to do it with Control Vampire and did it with Sunshine Bishop. Final boss was Elana Bishop, but I squeaked through with Satan's Servant → Dis's Damnation.

Guess I have to play try-hard lists now.
I thought that there was more diversity at the top. I'm in C right now, and I'm seeing all sorts of stuff still. I even saw a Shadow player still running Goliaths!
 

4Tran

Member
Taking the advice about Urd into account, I've dropped her into my Sword and Garuda decks. Being able to bounce all of those Storm followers can only lead to good things.

Going first in T2 always sucks.

It sucks more when your opponent has three Beastcall Arias within six turns.
About the only decks where I like going first are super aggro decks with strong turn 1 plays (aka. Quickblader) and Dragoncraft so I can get to overflow sooner. Any other time, the extra card, the extra evolve, and being allowed to evolve sooner are huge advantages. And even with Banner Sword decks, it stinks to not be able to play a Floral Fencer on turn 4 because you can't evolve her yet.
 

kiunchbb

www.dictionary.com
Aggro deck is really fun at low rank right now, everyone are playing Seraph or Dimension shift. It is like a all you can eat buffet.
 

Lumination

'enry 'ollins
Going first in T2 always sucks.

It sucks more when your opponent has three Beastcall Arias within six turns.
This is why I will always draft Dragoncraft if possible. Siegfried is such a good tempo play that it makes up the extra evo that 2P gets.
 

Luigi87

Member
This is why I will always draft Dragoncraft if possible. Siegfried is such a good tempo play that it makes up the extra evo that 2P gets.

Sad thing is I was Dragon, but I drafted no Siegfried =(

I only went 3/5, but it was my best T2 run (not to mention four of the matches I went first anyhow, lol)

Edit: Also was first time trying Dragon. Was a pretty fun craft. (also tempted to spend gold on leader Forte, just because <_<)

Edit 2: Just hit C3. Making my way ever closer to B.
 

4Tran

Member
Aggro deck is really fun at low rank right now, everyone are playing Seraph or Dimension shift. It is like a all you can eat buffet.
But why? Banner Sword is crazy strong right now for a really cheap deck - you don't even need any Gold or Legendaries in it!

I can agree in general though, as I'm seeing a lot of slower decks out there. I played a whole bunch of Unranked matches with Aggro Blood and Shadow decks and they're performing way better than expected. Especially the Shadow one; I tweaked it a bit, but I still don't think that it's a very good deck. The funny thing is that I'm using it mostly so that I can try Urd out, but I have yet to actually play her! Still, it's incredibly fun to drop an opponent to 4 Health with two Rabbit Necromancers on the board.

EDIT: I believe that I just taught an Elana player to always trade in his Holy Falcon for an opponent's Rabbit Necromancer. He went for the value play trying to get both my Rabbit Necromancer and Hell's Unleasher for his Death Sentence, but I popped my Necromancer with a Soul Conversion, and that was pretty much game. That Necromancer ended up doing 8 damage to face!
 

Mr Nash

square pies = communism
Just started playing this and was taken aback by how many free cards the game gives new players. Also, there are a lot of different ones too. I'm gonna have to read up a bit on decks and what sort of stuff people do. Got one card called "Dimension Shift" but will I be in many situations where I'll have 18 points to use it? =O
 
Going first in T2 always sucks.

It sucks more when your opponent has three Beastcall Arias within six turns.

I think about this like it's tenis match - you are supposed to win the ones where you go second - but to really win you have to break them on their serve ;)
 

4Tran

Member
Just started playing this and was taken aback by how many free cards the game gives new players. Also, there are a lot of different ones too. I'm gonna have to read up a bit on decks and what sort of stuff people do. Got one card called "Dimension Shift" but will I be in many situations where I'll have 18 points to use it? =O
Dimension Shift is a Spellboost card - a card that gains advantage whenever another spell is played. In the case of this card, it gets cheaper to cast whenever it's spellboosted, so you can get it to a castable price, or even really cheap. It's best used in a control-ish deck that runs a lot of spells, so the ideal situation is to drop a big follower, play Dimension Shift and attack, play another Dimension Shift, and close out the game. It's one of the staple Runecraft archetypes out there. The problem is that it means that you're going to have to have the Dimension Shift (or two) in your hand for the entire match while you wait for it to get cheaper and cheaper. I wouldn't consider it a very easy deck to play.
 

gngf123

Member
Just started playing this and was taken aback by how many free cards the game gives new players. Also, there are a lot of different ones too. I'm gonna have to read up a bit on decks and what sort of stuff people do. Got one card called "Dimension Shift" but will I be in many situations where I'll have 18 points to use it? =O

DS's cost is reduced every time you play a spell, and every time you use a card with a spellboost effect. Decks built around it can often get it to 2-4pp around turn 8/9.

It's a good card, and DShift rune is a very popular deck. It loses out to most of the meta though, except for Haven which is one of the most one sided matchups in the game.
 

Blade25

Member
I seem to have a lot of trouble against Dshift in B1. There are times where I have won, and the times I did I imagine my opponent not getting the correct draws.

I have 8K gold saved up for the upcoming expansion Rage of Bahamut. It's so tempting to splurge all my gold to get some more Darkness Evolved cards, but I have to stay patient. Just 9 more days!

I don't see how people grind 100000 points on the ladder board monthly. I feel like I barely have enough time to do my dailies let alone play in ranked mode.
 

4Tran

Member
I seem to have a lot of trouble against Dshift in B1. There are times where I have won, and the times I did I imagine my opponent not getting the correct draws.
Aggro decks crap on Dimension Shift from high places. This is especially true of Banner Sword because you don't have to care if your followers get removed. I think that losing to Dimension Shift just feels worse than to other decks so you just remember them more. Running into them with an Earth Rite deck really does suck though.
 

gngf123

Member
Dshift is pretty predictable. You know they are going to start with Insight, start Sorcery Caching when they have something good, and at some point summon Merlin. If you attack a lot they will start using Fiery Embrace and Fire chain on your cards, and Summon Iceform when they want to control you just before getting D-Shift.

As Haven the only hope I really have is to not play followers, and then they can't target anything with their removal cards. Eventually I can attempt to Seraph my way out and hope DS isn't lethal yet.

Other classes can play more aggressively. With Forest you can build a board and attack for big damage, before using Liza to protect it from spell damage. Then hopefully Roach damage from hand would be enough.

With Banner you can flood the board early and then use powered up storm cards once you've lost your board.
 

kiunchbb

www.dictionary.com
But why? Banner Sword is crazy strong right now for a really cheap deck - you don't even need any Gold or Legendaries in it!

I can agree in general though, as I'm seeing a lot of slower decks out there. I played a whole bunch of Unranked matches with Aggro Blood and Shadow decks and they're performing way better than expected. Especially the Shadow one; I tweaked it a bit, but I still don't think that it's a very good deck. The funny thing is that I'm using it mostly so that I can try Urd out, but I have yet to actually play her! Still, it's incredibly fun to drop an opponent to 4 Health with two Rabbit Necromancers on the board.

Lately there had been a lot of people crying for nerf on late game instant win decks like seraph and dimesion, I guess that got a lot of attention. Those decks always get the highest ranking in gamepress site too.
 

gngf123

Member
Lately there had been a lot of people crying for nerf on late game instant win decks like seraph and dimesion, I guess that got a lot of attention. Those decks always get the highest ranking in gamepress site too.

DShift has always been popular, but it has almost always been one of the lowest ranked decks at higher ranks because its win percentage against anything not Haven is so bad.

People calling for it to be nerfed were doing so more because losing to it feels like your opponent is basically playing by themselves, not because it is especially powerful.
 

4Tran

Member
Dshift is pretty predictable. You know they are going to start with Insight, start Sorcery Caching when they have something good, and at some point summon Merlin. If you attack a lot they will start using Fiery Embrace and Fire chain on your cards, and Summon Iceform when they want to control you just before getting D-Shift.

As Haven the only hope I really have is to not play followers, and then they can't target anything with their removal cards. Eventually I can attempt to Seraph my way out and hope DS isn't lethal yet.
Garuda Haven should dominate Dimension Shift as well. And it's hilarious seeing my opponent desperately use up Wind Blasts on a 1/1 Forest Bat or Fairy.

Sword will be even worse because most Sword followers are going to survive an Angelic Barrage and Floral Fencer can create a big board all by herself. There's also nothing that a Dimension Shift deck can do against all of Sword's storm followers - my deck runs 12 of them and just a couple will do 6-7 damage from out of hand if you have a Banner on the board.

DShift has always been popular, but it has almost always been one of the lowest ranked decks at higher ranks because it's win percentage against anything not Haven is so bad.

People calling for it to be nerfed were doing so more because losing to it feels like your opponent is basically playing by themselves, not because it is especially powerful.
Yeah, it's the non-interactive nature of the deck, and how much it sucks to lose to it that draws the attention, not so much how powerful it is. The thing that I don't like about it is that it severely limits the design space for other control decks, but that's a matter of game design than it is balance. Duelyst had a very similar card with a similar problem, and the developers changed it so that instead of getting another whole turn, and being able to chain free turns, your general (leaders in Duelyst are units on the board) gets to move and attack again.
 

Szadek

Member
Well that's random.
I just learned they sell real card sleeves with Shadowverse art, lol
They even have figures:
FIGURE-002749.jpg
Ok, it's form Rage of Bahamut, but same character and same developers.
 

Luigi87

Member
They even have figures:

Ok, it's form Rage of Bahamut, but same character and same developers.

That I did know. I almost bought the twin-tailed Olivia back in 2014 when I was visiting Japan during their Summer WonFes, but hesitated and missed out, lol

also some regrets of skipping Forte this year


In game related news, 300 crystals for $2.99 deal going on right now until the end of the year.
 

gngf123

Member
Garuda Haven should dominate Dimension Shift as well. And it's hilarious seeing my opponent desperately use up Wind Blasts on a 1/1 Forest Bat or Fairy.

Yeah, Garuda/Storm haven is good against DShift, but the much more common Elana/Seraph matchup is ridiculously in DShift's favour.

That said, I have beaten my last 2 DShift opponents with the "do nothing but amulets, spells, and suicide" strategy. So that's good.

So funny to think about all their useless Wind Blasts and Fiery Embraces, or seeing them do 0 damage 4 cost fire chains.
 

4Tran

Member
It seems to be a lot easier to play this time of day than it was before the maintenance. I was taking on a bunch of Swordcraft players who didn't seem to know how to play their decks. One played Front Lines on both turn 1 and 2, and the other went face instead of trading with my bats. My Blood aggro deck isn't complete yet and it shouldn't be as good as a Swordcraft deck anyways, but I seem to keep winning with it.

Yeah, Garuda/Storm haven is good against DShift, but the much more common Elana/Seraph matchup is ridiculously in DShift's favour.

That said, I have beaten my last 2 DShift opponents with the "do nothing but amulets, spells, and suicide" strategy. So that's good.

So funny to think about all their useless Wind Blasts and Fiery Embraces, or seeing them do 0 damage 4 cost fire chains.
I give them plenty of targets - it's fun to see them use two Magic Missiles to finish off a Skull Beast. I keep facing them, but it's been a really long time since one of my aggro decks have lost to a Dimension Shift deck - the Earth Rite decks have been a lot scarier.
 

gngf123

Member
The thing is though - even if it seems a waste of value, giving them targets just means they have something they can use their targeted spells on, which helps them gain spellboost.

That's fine with a storm deck because you can do damage from hand and finish them off that way, but for decks without that all you are doing is making it easier for them to get turn 8 lethal DShift. Elana/Seraph is one such deck.
 

4Tran

Member
The thing is though - even if it seems a waste of value, giving them targets just means they have something they can use their targeted spells on, which helps them gain spellboost.

That's fine with a storm deck because you can do damage from hand and finish them off that way, but for decks without that all you are doing is making it easier for them to get turn 8 lethal DShift. Elana/Seraph is one such deck.
Run Mainyu - that card's pretty much designed to screw over Spellboost decks. I played one yesterday that my opponent couldn't do anything against all game. He even played an Angelic Barrage just for me to evolve it the next turn.

Speaking of bad matchups, the worst common matchup I've encountered has to be aggro Shadow against a Haven deck. Shadow requires things to die so that they get shadows and trigger Last Words. But a lot of (all?) Haven decks will run 3x Blackened Scripture and 3x Priest of the Cudgel, thereby screwing you out of both. It's almost an auto-loss.
 

gngf123

Member
Some decks drop a Cudgel to make room for Sledgehammer exorcist, which allows them to take on big midgame bodies that are really common, like Ancient Elf.

I personally run 2 of both. I also like how Sledgehammer allows me to drop a Monastic if I use evolve on turn 5.

That matchup is probably the only matchup to be more one sided than E/S Haven vs DShift though. Pretty sure the winrates in the weekly meta analysis agree with that.

I've also never seen an Elana/Seraph Haven with Mainyu. Normally that's Garuda only. Might give that a try though.
 

4Tran

Member
Some decks drop a Cudgel to make room for Sledgehammer exorcist, which allows them to take on big midgame bodies that are really common, like Ancient Elf.

I personally run 2 of both.
I can see running both, but Cudgel seems like a way stronger card 90% of the time, and you can play Dance of Death to take out anything it can't handle. Then again, I don't have Elana's Prayer so I don't know how important it is to have an extra body.

That matchup is probably the only matchup to be more one sided than E/S Haven vs DShift though. Pretty sure the winrates in the weekly meta analysis agree with that.
Haven is popular enough on the ladder that it makes the Shadow deck bascially unplayable there. It's too bad, since even though it's not a great deck, it's still fun to play it now and again in Unranked. It's not too bad though since I can still cycle between Bat Blood, Banner Sword, Tempo Forest, and Garuda Haven on ladder. Sadly, I don't think my Ramp Dragon deck can compete any more, but if I can get a few more Levis I'll add a weird Earth Rite Rune deck to the roster.

Speaking of Levi, is it just me, or is the card crazy undercosted? It's just 3 mana to do 7 damage to a follower from an empty board. I don't think there's anything wrong with the evolve effect, but he either shouldn't be a 2/2 and evolve for the full bonus, or he should cost a lot more than 2 mana. He's probably the best card in the entire game (or just outright broken).

I've also never seen an Elana/Seraph Haven with Mainyu. Normally that's Garuda only. Might give that a try though.
I don't know if it's really worthwhile against other matchups, so I guess it depends on how often you see Spellboost Runecraft or how much you hate losing to it!
 
So we have Christmas sale:


300 crystals for 3$
add 1200 for 21$

and we have enough to buy 3 preconstructed decks (first time is 500, next one for same deck is 750)

So far spoiled decks are:

Forest - Ancient Elf (new art), Tia, Rhino, Liza, Robin Hood, Cynthia, Selwyn (2 great legendaries, 3 great golds)

Shadowcraft - Cerberus( alt), Lord of Flies, Ceridwen, Mordecai, Foul Tempest, Phantom Howl, Death Breath (2 great legendaries, 3-4 good golds)

Heavencraft - Moon and Yeanne (alt) , Holy Sentinel, Kaguya, Garuda, Incandescent Dragon, Themis ( only 1 good legend and 2-3 golds)

Dragoncraft - Forte (alt), Fafnir, Genesis, Orb Dragon, Neptune, Wyvern Cavalier, Shapeshifting mage (only 1 good legend and 2 golds)

Swordcraft - Otohime (alt), Aurelia, White Paladin, Latham, Alwida, Frontguard General, Dragonewt Charlotte ( 2 great Legends and 2 good gold)


Personally I'm taking forest and shadow and if they put good legends maybe blood.
 

Lumination

'enry 'ollins
Sucks that ramp dragon pretty much got nothing in RoB. That 5 mana draw, heal, and ramp card doesn't really count because it's not great. Everything is discard-based, which means that I'd have to craft some Dracomancer's Rites...

I've been doing better vs the neverending horde of Elana Havens in ranked. I've actually started to hold Execution in my starting hand and eat the tempo loss to kill Elana. I usually gain the tempo back when they are forced to play a bunch of "vanilla" Healing Angels and Rabbit Healers. I also now always trade my dudes in a way to dodge turn 4 evo Cuckgel even if it means giving up a free trade and that's been working wonders.
 

4Tran

Member
Yeah! I made it into B0! I was mostly playing Bat Blood, and while it's not as good as Banner Sword, it still got me 7 wins in a row. I've been playing this deck so much, and have been so successful with it that it's now the highest for Ranked Match wins.

Still, I put up Banner Sword for the trials and easily won against Spellboost Rune and Elana Haven. That deck is just crazy powerful! What's the meta like in B-Rank?

Onto the preconstructed decks, if I hadn't pledged to not spend any money on this game, I'd probably go for the Haven and the Forest decks. They will almost entirely complete my Garuda Haven and Tempo Forest decks (or at least give some major punch to the latter). I'd assume that the Rune deck will have Merlin and Levi otherwise there wouldn't be much point to them, and I'm pretty sure that the Blood deck will have Queen Vampire and Vania.
 
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