u/Tough-Basket-6248

My first impression: If Kukishiro and Sephie can brick despite having Lyria, then I don't see why 1 spell tutor will help Cutthroat.

My impression after playing: Surprisingly, the 1 cost tutor helps. Worst case scenario, you can even Imari Sevo to get the spell I believe. So... 5 cards to get the deck going. And on the off chance that you don't get cutthroat, you can still win. (It's not like Crest Haven where it's sorta auto lose if you don't draw Marwynn.)

My experience: The deck is forgiving and rather flexible so far. I've played like 10 matches and had only lost once against Midrange Abyss. And that's because my hand was too expensive in the end. At 10pp, I could only play one card at a time cause I ran out of low cost cards. I kinda misplayed here and there but it's not as punishing as some other decks.

What surprised me was that... If you draw Cutthroat, you basically hit the jackpot. It's different with, say, Thestae, where you draw her and gotta combo and wait a few turns. With Cutthroat, you draw him, you get a bane which can remove a big follower, then get an evo right on the turn he's played. And from there, the evo accumulates, and Sandalfon happens.

Cutthroat becoming 1 drop means that you can actually kinda control when to sevo. On 8pp, you can play Cutthroat and Aizeden (I had thought the 1pp buff was drunk, but I was wrong. Same thing with the draw thing. Turns out this was great!)

It's a flexible deck as: on early you can push, on mid you can flood the board and check the opponent, and on late you can have finishers. Not to mention, the deck seems to have a good amount of draws, a good amount of heals, and a good amount of wards. Really, as of right now, the only way that I can see the deck be beat is to be faster than Portal, or to pray that Portal doesn't draw Cutthroat. (Maybe Amulet Haven might have an edge? But idk.)

That spell, the 3pp clear the board spell, is... I don't even know... That spell + Sandalfon feels illegal lol. The opponent could have idk 5 10/10 wards and Sandalfon + that spell will pierce through.

Feels better to run than normal midrange or evo portal (in terms of fun). When you get Cutthroat on first evo point, assuming you can take advantage of the effect and keep evolving, you're getting Sandal soon enough (2 evo + 2 evo + 2 evo). From there, any 4pp (GnJ, highlander) with Cutthroat evo could sorta clear the board and Sandalfon could hit for 10. (Sometimes, before 10pp, you just clear a big follower with Cutthroat and just Sandal for 10.)

10ish matches, I only didn't draw Cutthroat once. Maybe I was lucky? Or maybe this deck is consistent enough... No clue.

Surprisingly fun. No clue whether this deck will be strong or tier 1 (meta is still new after all), but so far it's good. Easily got to Epic and I'm not even that good of a player.

Did I say Aggro Abyss? I meant Sword. Thank you, Cygames. Legit did not expect to get anything from the 14 free packs.

Ceres is coming out as a leader. I want her but I can't buy battlepass. I decided to cope by drawing her. I can't play her as a leader, but at least I can sortof draw her. Coping 101.

No, I don't know whether Asher is the right play here. Yes, I'm having fun playing Artifact Portal so far lol.

(Deck taken from Zhiff's week 2 meta video.)

So, I had dropped to around 1550 playing Crystal Rune. I just find it difficult to play in this meta. (I believe I piloted it good enough, but find myself getting CD too late or having issues trying to board control.) Anyway, I was watching Zhiff's video and... was surprised to see spellboost. Probably weaker than Crystal? But I decided to give it a shot.

My expectation was to somehow get a deck that does OTK. At first, I figured the gameplan was to boost Ladica till 20, but... I was honestly surprised. Even without Ladica 20, I can still win the game. When I played this deck, so far, Ginger is the mvp it turned out. And it played like a hybrid between the board slam spellboost and the combo deck spellboost (basically right there in the middle).

Most games I win by slamming the board. (If I'm lucky, three times with 3 Gingers.) Ginger's rush is pretty useful, and when combined with Ara I get to regain control of the board. It reminds me of the slam board spellboost gameplay where I just put big stats on the board and hand check my opponent. For other slower games, or when I draw Ladica early, Ladica 20 is viable. The best part? The spell can be saved. Yes. I'm so used to playing Rulenye Valnerik, I thought the spell was only for a specific card, but no. Ladica's spell is for everyone. So if I have Ladica 20, face a wall of ward, but need the AoE 5, I can get it and keep the 2x att spell. Neat stuff!

The early is pretty weak, but interesting enough the chip healing from a few cards can help. The decision making is also pretty interesting: figure which card to discard with metamorphosis, whether to play 0pp followers before or during Ginger turn, whether to evo or sevo Tico, whether to go for Ladica 20 or board flood or just Ladica to face (for 6pp she hurts; it's bit funny when I hit Dragon with Ladica before they even storm me lol, storm initiative goes to me).

I'm having fun with it. If you have the cards, give it a try!

Context: Enemy has 1 CD Spell in hand. Also has a CD at least (Rune had played two 1pp draw 2 followers.)

Somehow, when it comes to Dragon vs Rune matchup, I consider it to be more of a luck battle compared to mirror matches. Probably because CD's spell is basically a dice throw.

Anyway, for this matchup, I feel somewhat proud that I managed to get into this scenario. (Some other games, I misplayed and went too slow, allowing them to 3 CD + spell me.) The scenario is nice: health advantage, lethal range, low-ish CD faith (12 at most, instead of 20).

Somehow, to me, this game is finished, even without knowing the result. I did the right play, the right decision to get me into this spot. All the stuff that I could control, I had managed. And now it's just luck.

Feels good.

(Screenshots: My luck triumphing over opponent's skill with that Zooey topdeck.)

So, personally, I'm never a fan of mirror matches to begin with (not just Dragon, any class for that matter, aside from Portal). The only class I'm comfortable playing mirror, because I'm confident with my skill, is just Portal, with Puppet and Egg. But aside from that, I just... seem to suck at mirror matches?

Sure, I get the idea that... If two same decks meet, then really it all boils down to luck (who has the turn advantage, who draws the better cards, etc.). But the problem is that... When I play mirror Forest, or mirror Dragon, or even mirror Haven, I always consistently find myself playing at a disadvantage, like I'm always cornered. Where my only out is to rely on some crazy luck (as shown in screenshots: Not only I was lucky to topdeck Zooey, I was lucky opponent didn't have another Ernzt to heal or have a Zooey to play.)

I hate to admit it, but... If I mind myself consistently at those tough spots, even though it's supposed to be luck-based ish, aren't I playing the game wrong...? (Like, if a coin is 50/50, but it always lands on one side consistently, then surely it's rigged? And in this case, rigged by skill issue?)

So, any tips on how to approach mirror matches? Doesn't have to be Dragon, could be any other classes.

Edit: Thanks, everyone, for the replies! I think I got a few things from your answers!

• At the end of the day, a mirror match is a certain matchup, and knowing match up tricks helps. (It seems that in the case of Dragon, there's stuff where you have advantage if you manage to storm first. Which makes sense, because you'll kill the opponent faster.)
• Generally, make plays that the opponent hates. E.g.: If as Dragon you hit them first, they can hit you back, but you'll kill them first at that rate so they'll hate it (and probably play something else instead).
• Luck is still a factor. (Who goes first or second, the ramp cards you draw, etc.) But definitely try to avoid misplays. I think the reason why I got into disadvantageous positions often with mirror is because I don't know the matchup and make misplays.

I'm going to do my best with mirror matches!

If I have a nickel for every time Sandal uses aimbot this set... I would have two nickels. Which isn't much, but it's weird that it happened twice two days in a row.

Context: I was 1 win 1 loss at the match thing before getting to grandmaster (need 2 wins out of 3). And I sure want to keep that diamond group so my profile will look cool. Things look bleak in the last match as I face a mirror match up (and I just suck). But Sandal, with his aimbot, carried me to victory.

My luck triumphs over the opponent's skill once again.

For context: My opponent played his Althenia only after he forced me to play Althenia. Guy knew his match up and played the game nicely. Because of that, I was put in a rough spot.

Enter Sandalfon. Assuming that the damage is spread evenly, there is a good chance that Sandal will kill a follower or two. Or, assuming it's not spread evenly, Sandal could kill me. Good play, I'd say. To which, Sandal did neither. The followers weren't dead, and neither was I.

During the match, I was fixated on the 5pp spell, and there was 66% that I would get Tia, would get the storm, and would win the game (5+4+3+Sevo= 15). The chance seemed to be in my favor, I took it, and I got Tia. I won. I only knew after seeing the replay that I actually have a surefire lethal by going Krulle Sevo clear into Sandal for 18. I completely missed it. Lol.

My opponent was the better player. But it seems that my luck triumphs over his skill today.

I GOT GALMIEUX!! YEAHHHHHHHHHH.

Good bye kungfu guy, you no longer have a harem in this lineup. My waifu lineup (cat being exception) is finally complete!!

I shall become dragon main (at least for this set), as promised.

(Forest deck taken from SVLabo, Sword deck taken from ShadowverseWins.)

I've been trying out lots of decks ever since this new set came out, and, win streak wise, I have most success with Forest and Sword (Funny enough, both streaks ended at 8 wins). At first, I wanted to share my experience with Forest (cause I have more fun with it), but I figured I'm just going to compare Forest with Sword because I saw a post asking which one is 'better'.

Essentially, at its core, both decks are essentially the same: they flood the board, they go face. One with pixies, one with officers. They both have storm finishers too. Also, from my experience, they're both strong decks. (Disclaimer: Still early week in set, who knows how meta will change in the future.)

I believe that these two decks are different in basically three things: strength, difficulty, and fun.

Q: Which deck is stronger?

A: Sword. Simply because I don't think Sword has any clear weakness. Unless I missed any matchup, generally Sword always has a chance to win. Meanwhile, when I played Forest, I just lost when I met Haven (they have lots of heals, Zoe for board clear, lots of sevo). Forest, imo, has a clear weakness while Sword don't. (Though, at the same time, Forest has strengths to it that makes it different from Sword, which I'll get into later.)

Q: Which deck is more difficult?

A: Forest. But there and then when I say difficult, it's not like it's Roach level of difficulty. It's just that, to me, Sword deck is a pretty autopilot deck. Every turn, it seems that there's always a clear best play, and you just gotta play it.

Q: Which deck is more fun?

A: If we define fun as having more interesting decision making, Forest. Again, Sword is autopilot imo. Forest meanwhile, there are uncertainties and reads that make the decision more interesting. E.g.: The 5pp summon 2 2 cost follower is random, figuring out whether it's worth it risk playing it is fun. Also, there are some situations where you need to figure out when best to attack with ambush followers. Do you attack now? Or let it stay so you can buff them next turn at the risk of enemy possibly clearing it? Also, for the evo, do you save it for Althenia, or do you use it for the 5pp lego? There's just more decisions to be made. When you make the right decision and the luck is aligned, the game can end way faster than Sword. One game, I won against Dragon on t5 lol. (If you hate Dragon, I'm quite sure Forest basically 'counters' dragon, or just a favorable matchup.)

As to which deck is better overall, it's like... watching a movie I guess. If you want an action movie without deep plot, watch John Wick, it's enjoyable. That's sword. If you want an action movie with (relative) deeper plot, watch Mission Impossible, it's also enjoyable. At the end of the day, it's preference~

Thanks for reading!

Edit: Someone in the comments pointed out that Sword loses to Haven. To which, I checked my Sword matches and... I missed that matchup. No experience on how good Sword fares against Haven, but I suppose it'll have the same problem as Forest. Sorry for the miss.

Deck taken from shadowversewins.

Dragon ended my streak, to which I'm not sure if I should be thankful or not. Anyway, that's enough Shadowverse for today.

So, preparing for new set, I decided to take a look at what Infinity Evolved has. Decided to make a tier list to check which important cards are going to disappear from rotation. (The fourth and fifth tier aren't organized inside the tier.)

Good news: If Crest Haven sticks around, at least there won't be benison. (Unless...)

Well, anyway, I decided to share this so that hopefully people have an easier time knowing which card we'll lose based on importance. (Disclaimer: my tier list could be biased though.)

I've stopped praying. But Kandima never gave up, so I didn't either. As tempting as it was to play one of those 1pp amulet out of desperation, I knew better not to show any weakness to my opponent. Lyanthoth showed up at bottom 10 too. What a game.

I won though somehow. Lol.

Thank you Shadowverse. I'll use the rupies to finally pull galmieux. I feel bad to receive these, but I was born with the inability to refuse gifts. Let's go!

I woke up today and decided to make this meme idk why. Made by editing and redrawing two pages from Medaka Box. I spent 3h to make this.

[Brick? It's just. The same as always.]