u/Tough-Basket-6248

(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.]

I can probably make the deck. Might as well try it for fun. Win or lose, I'm ready for what's ahead!

So, I had this game, a winning game.

Well, I could easily win if I just go face and end turn for 7 damage. It's the fastest way to end the game and in a sense it respects the opponent. (Assuming he doesn't concede, it's like he's allowing me to end the game and gain glory.)

However, should I have perhaps played Scarlet? The reason being: if I played Scarlet, then the opponent would have info on my hand, know that the outcome would remain the same regardless, and could accept the stuff with peace. (And assuming the opponent decides to check on replays, the Scarlet will basically tell them that anything that went wrong had went wrong in earlier turns.)

Well, in the game, I immediately picked one option and did it fast. But I was wondering if perhaps the best way to... kinda put down a guy respectfully... is to reveal your hand.

Option 1: Don't reveal my hand. Just go face and end turn. (There's perhaps peace for them in not knowing what I have. Ignorance is bliss sorta thing.)

Option 2: Reveal my hand, play Scarlet. Go face. (There is perhaps peace for them in knowing what I have.)

I don't think it matters too much (either is, I think, respectful as long as there's no delay or bm emote). It's just that I'm curious and I wonder which one would possibly give the opponent more peace. Revealing or not revealing what I have.

(Note: If I have Oguri though, I'll just play Oguri and deal the emotional damage. Just because.)

(Alternatively, let's say this is a best of 3. Which play could deal most mental damage so that the opponent tilts and play poorly the next match? Lol.)

Finally got to craft Dirt Rune. Thanks to 10500 vials compensation. Milteo had to be nerfed for me to be able to build Dirt. Thank you, Milteo.

Bibati got nerfed, I'm 'rich' in vials. It just so happens that this set I didnt get any rune legendaries... And... At 21k vials... That's... 6 legendaries...!

Well, I had enjoyed playing dirt rune back in the days. (I think it was set 4?) Evolve Dirt Rune was fun in the meta back then, but... This set, I heard Rune is weak? And, whenever I fight against Rune, while Lilanthim seems interesting, it never really felt like too much of a threat?

I personally like Rune as a class, there's usually interesting stuff there (crystal, spellboost, and if only Lhynkal works...) But... I feel like if I just spend 21k vials immediately it's kind of a waste? (The better option is probably to just play around with Sword with new Gildaria. Or to save the vials for next set.) But at the same time, vials exist to be spent, and idk if I can resist the temptation of spending them.

So, please, convince me not to make Rune.

So, I got bored, I got 7k vials, decided to craft 2 Burnite and finally give this deck a shot. And... This deck is more fun to play than I had imagined!

I've been having this itch to play an explosive deck (generally, high damage when highroll) to the point I went to unlimited to play Orchis. Lol. And... It's a delightful surprise that kungfu guy's deck is what I would categorize as explosive.

Highroll with the ramp, storm cards for face damage. Or just burn with sloth, burnite, and ernzt for damage (this deck, taken from shadowverse wins, even uses shark! Lol!).

I was skeptical at first, but I must now say that... Kungfu's 4000 years of history sure is impressive. I'm now a believer and I'm considering using kungfu for weekend tourney.

Artifact feels good to run. I wish we have this in rotation (even if at least for half a set). Combining old artifact and new artifact together just feels great! Getting beta or alpha by fusing with the 1 cost new artifact from freerunning feels great!

Liking unlimited so far~

So, I just remembered that unlimited exist. Kinda like fast-paced gameplay or explosive turn better. Preference. So here I am.

Come join unlimited and face my roach lol.

Just found it a bit funny that... Amulet Haven doesn't finish quests well. Justice for Haven plz, give amulet quest! Lol.