u/Touhou_Fuhai

Made this post to shout-out Colette and her wonderfully bizarre holy guns. Two pistols is "normal enough" as Holy Gunner. Then she upgrades to some kind of Sacred Light Machine Gun as Barrage Exorcist, and adds an extra bullpup (bullets stored at the very back behind the trigger) something on her back as Holy Exorcist. I like to think they're all holy water-cooled.

Colette's also a leading member of what I'd call the "bad marksman" subset of cards. These were jokey characters like Crimsonbow Archer, Daisybow Archer, or Kel back in Classic, who dealt random or spread damage because they couldn't aim straight for the life of them. They could hit a skilled assassin in Ambush but purely by accident!

Several years ago Cygames held an art exhibit for its games at the Ueno Royal Museum. Photos from that exhibit can be seen here. One of the most interesting products of the event was a series of magnets showing art of their characters as classic paintings; these can be seen here on the event's website, alongside a variety of other goods. I've tried my hand at interpreting some of them for context/fun:

Arisa as Ophelia (John Everett Millais, 1851) - Arisa stares up in self-reflection while lying in the water amidst flowers and rich green river grass. Is she regretting her clumsiness and inability, or considering the sorrows of her long journey? The original painting depicts Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet after falling from a tree branch while collecting wildflowers, shortly before drowning. Such a mishap certainly fits Arisa's character (tumbling as she did in Naterra) though the elf is clearly a better swimmer.

Shakespeare in general was a strong influence on fairy mythology and thus Forestcraft, with both Oberon and Titania from his A Midsummer's Night Dream featured as cards.

Pecorine as The Milkmaid (Johannes Vermeer, 1658) - Pecorine pouring milk in a domestic scene while greedily eying onigiri piled upon the table. The paintings of the Dutch Masters are famous for their rich depictions of food, with still-lifes of the era often depicting nothing but food. Fitting material for a gourmand like Pecorine, who flips the original milkmaid's serious expression into one of unabashed excitement.

Pecorine is a noble princess but comes across more like the hearty hungry peasants of Pieter Bruegel's paintings. A link, perhaps, to the ways she lives between high class and low class in her story.

Lyria as Girl with a Pearl Earring (Johannes Vermeer, 1665) - Lyria looks kindly at the viewer, framed against a black background. Another adaptation of Vermeer, this piece is defined by its stark focus on its subject and the subject's focus on the one looking at her. An air of exoticism and mystery surrounds "Girl With A Pearl Earring" which Lyria channels well. It reads as an invitation to adventure: where you'll go is unknown, as dark as the background of the painting, but through it all Lyria will be there with you.

Dark Angel Olivia as Mona Lisa (Leonardo Da Vinci, early 1500s) - Olivia stands in full view against a light green sky, her arms folded confidently on her sword. One of the oldest and most renowned paintings for one of Cygames' oldest and most renowned characters. The Mona Lisa's elegance and repose fits the noble bearing of the Dark Angel, as does the contrast of heavy darkness on her dress against the pensive lightness of her face. Mona Lisa is often compared to both the Virgin Mary and the redeemed prostitute Mary Magdalene, and the extremes of sin, divinity, and redemption likewise follow Olivia.

Special Week as the horse Marengo and Napoleon Crossing the Alps (Jacques Louis-David, 1801) - Special Week adorned with a red cape/sash, ascending a tall mountain while looking happily at the viewer. A powerfully funny choice; there are only so many famous paintings with prominent horses. Still, a spirit of ambition and irrepressible resolve seems to possess both Special Week and Napoleon. A striving for victory against all odds and all obstacles: defeated and exiled to a proverbial Elba, a hardworking Umamusume would simply swim back to the mainland and try again.

Argente is shouting in some of the match titles but I don't think Lumiore can hear her.

One of the easier dungeon sets IMO but that does let you tackle it with a greater variety of decks. I wonder what features they'll add next?

Shadowverse has covered a dizzying array of settings over the years, from the gothic apocalypse of Vellsar to the cyberpunk future of Togh Keyoh to the luxuriant afterlife of Ametsuchi. The identity and feel of its classes, though, has always felt resonant with the core of fantasy. In particular for me, the root of modern fantasy in LOTR.

Some links are obvious: Dragon from the mighty yet lazy Smaug, Forest from the deft Legolas, Swordcraft from the nobility of Aragorn. Others are a surprisingly apt match: the Army of the Dead for Abyss, who appear as fearsome undead but overcome their regrets to fight for the side of Good, or (Second Age) Sauron for Haven, who took on a beautiful form to trick humanity into the worship of Evil. Erasmus in OG Shadowverse was also a nearly direct homage to Gandalf visually, and off-hand I suspect Kururu/Krulle is an ironic Quenya pun on "Curu-" for "skill" with how her lack of skills defined her earlier life.

SV is an anime card game at the end of the day, but much of the art and mood does harken back to the classics. It's a unique point of the game and I'd say one of its best ones.

Art Credits:

• Legolas by safeier
• Aragorn by 神蛇セト
• Gandalf Undertree by John Howe
• Smaug by Katarzyna Kmiecik
• King of the Dead by Jan Pospisil
• Sauron in the Temple of Melkor by Elana Kukanova
• Saruman by Sandrine Gestin