Match-Ups and Cards to look out for
For this guide, I combined ‘Match-ups and Cards to look out for’ because both work together in figuring out win conditions. I can’t exactly say that a match-up is generally favorable or not but I can show the conditions for the deck to be favorable or not against other decks. It is important to plan out your turns ahead of time especially before Natur Al’machinus and big board turns to prevent from running out of time or play into your opponents trap.
vs Control Forest
It is generally unfavorable due to Gaia’s instant board clear on t7 including other cards that can stall even further such as Aria’s Whirlwind and Phantasmal Fairy Dragon but you always try to make your board as annoying to clear as possible especially early game while if possible snowballing to lethal before the Gaia turn. Either they run out of removals or they top deck their way to victory.
vs Sword (in general)
Sword is so much different than 4 expansions ago. Before, stat lines are fair but now they can just instantly make big boards. They have a lot of cards that can swing the tempo such as Kagemitsu, Pecorine and Courtly Dance on enhance but you can easily play around make a bigger board than their damage thresholds. There are also a few Sword players that runs Valse or Zeus. There are also a lot of variants of Aggressive and Ambush Sword decks that appear from time to time to kill you below the curve but as long as your are able to heal and neutralize with big wards, their aggro will immediately be vanquished.
vs Spellboost Rune
Spellboost Rune is generally unfavorable as long as either SB rune saves their instant removal such as Fiery Embrace, Mystic Absortion, Kyoka’s UB or they can swarm the board as early as t5. After that, it becomes a game of Attrition if you can threat SB rune for lethal and they do not have instant removals, they are forced to trade. Observe how your opponent react to your board and plan accordingly to it. There will come to a point where either decks will run out of playable followers and win by chip damage.
vs Natura Rune
This match-up is generally favorable if you can snowball early game, or play around their key cards by preventing them to OTK. Riley and Viridia Magna are 6 defense followers thus play ward followers with 6+ atk so that they won’t get the full value of Clash of Heroes or Viridia Magna. If they are saving an evolution point for OTK, 8+ atk wards are needed for you to play around Riley. If you still don’t have lethal, you need to keep on warding and play around their OTK until they run out of Rileys. (Then they triple Kyaru…)
It’s possible! Before you know it, you’ll get to tell the tale like @Styx_SV
vs Natura-Machina* Dragon
Natura-Machina* Dragon match-up is a race against time. The first one to either generate a large enough corrosion while at the same time neutralizing your board or overwhelmed with Haven’s big board will win. They have a lot of varied removals besides Natur Al’machinus and those these cards shown above. Be sure to play around them.
vs Evolve Dragon
Another Dragon match-up, another race against time. Same concept. Make big board or die to Zeus. You can’t play around Cursed Furor’s random instant removal but you can always try to play around Shipsbane Plesiosaurus’ leader effect and Goblin Warpack in terms of maximizing board presence by optimizing follower stats. Odd numbers for Plesiosaurus’ leader effect (3,5,7 def) and intervals of 3(+1) for Goblin Warpack (4,7,10 def)
vs Shadow (in general)
Shadowcraft is starting to become banecraft especially the addition of Jackshovel Gravedigger who can snipe any follower due to Shuten-Doji or Friends Forever although expect shadow to clear only 2 big followers per turn leaving 2 behind while those who run Hades is another race against time.
vs Avarice Blood (aka Aggro Burn Blood)
In Shadowverse everyone knows the Golden Rule… Face is the Place
But against this deck you must NEVER HIT FACE not to BM but to play around Lucius, Vampire Slayer. If you hit face, Lucius will just destroy the follower that hit face with his unfair evolve skill. Aim for OTK. The match-up becomes a grind fest especially if the blood player techs Azazel and evolves for his leader effect. This match-up is another war on attrition. You are a control deck. If you can sustain their burn damage over time there will come to a point where the blood player runs out of steam or is able to deal 15+ damage in 1 turn for a surprise lethal.
To be honest, I learned not to hit face on @mororin1’s stream when AV blood was very popular in ladder. His deck was Evo Sword and he was able to successfully grind them out with heals and board presence. I also realized that it does not apply only to Evo Sword but it can also apply to other decks as well. I recommend to watch his streams especially those who want to learn and climb with Sword :))
vs Machina-Natura* Blood
This match-up may end up in 2 ways. Either your are not able to clear the left over machina followers and end up getting Mono lethal’d early or it becomes another war of attrition. (with a special spice of lethal puzzles because of Neun). If players can’t clear due to absence of either Nerea, Technolord accel, or Io’s UB, they will definitely use Neun on the turn. As long as you have Vice, any Neun board can be easily neutralized.
vs Artifact Portal
This match-up depends whether the Portal player can snowball early with the help of Absolute Modesty and can maximize the use of Augmentation either for clearing the big board pre-t9 or having a huge tempo swing before the big board turn. There are a few players who plays Displacer Bot which is annoying when used with Barrier Artifact. Vertex Colony on t9 can possibly clear all followers if the board is not big enough. If the game drags on, Aegis will be very reliable to block all ping damage from Modesty’s leader effect.
vs Belphomet Portal
Similar to control forest, this match-up is unfavorable when dragged on especially after the Belphomet turn. If you are not able to find lethal before or during a Belphomet turn, there will be a Magna Giant that is waiting for your demise. Some players use Karula in-between turns to stop any attempt regaining tempo. At the end of the curve, there will be Omniscient Kaisers that will attempt to finish you.
vs Machina-Natura-Elana Haven Mirror
It will end up either 2 ways. Either one of you was not able to deal the opposing board and die or it becomes a war on attrition. Don’t take your draws for granted!
Page 1 – Introduction
Page 2 – Deck Recipe and Key Cards
Page 3 – How/When to make big boards?
Page 4 – ***Anime Spoiler Alert*** (Read page 3 first)
Page 5 – What/When should I fuse? Other Questions
Page 6 – Mulligan and Playstyle
Page 8 – Conclusion, Author’s Notes
Beako's Shadowverse Blog 