Posts from Shadowverse

Well, I got stuck on A0. First, they nerfed the cockroach, and then a new pack appeared on the horizon, so I decided to forget about it all and just play unranked.

Thanks for the congratulations...

In February, I also only logged in for quests and occasionally the arena. With periodic ranked quests (there was a period of about ten days where I got ranked wins every day), I hit aa1 using Darya (which I considered the best competitive deck I had) and bounced up and down between 1 and 0, again on quests. Other than quests, I didn't play ranked.
But toward the end of February, I decided to really go all-in on Dragon; I played a bunch of ramp and Sahu variations first in unranked (I wasn't about to go into ranked with a deck that has a 47% win rate...), and then I gathered some resolve and wanted to hit Master by the end of March before the add-on (so I could brag/be happy later that I got it with the weakest craft in the toughest meta for it... XD), plus finally get the Adept flair, which I had given up on out of desperation for Dragon in the RoB meta. In short, I found some motivation, regained interest in the game, and reaped the rewards.

Here is what I played, if anyone is interested. Neutral craft mom)) I thought it would take around 70k vials, but only 50+...
Before that, I played Storm Ramp with Forts and Genesises, without Odins and Sahus, but it was unstable. Win streaks of 7 alternated with loss streaks of 8; if the enemy placed something wrong or my draws were off, it was ggwp.

I honestly copied Dragoon from some streamer, and he won me more than a dozen games. Thanks to Bellringers (which I also copied, although I tried playing them before and they seemed like trash to me, but now I've grasped their essence), same-turn fervors, and the bulkiness of the deck, cards accumulate in hand easily, and Dragoon deals a lot of damage. The simplest and most beautiful combo—animated Bahamut + Dragoon—is mostly a one-shot if the dragon isn't removed; zero chance to defend. Sometimes just finishing them off was enough. Maybe three times over more than three hundred games I had to throw Dragoon not as a finisher, but simply out of desperation, and once I managed to win in such a situation. But otherwise, I wouldn't say he's dead weight—he's one of the win conditions.
Satan was slightly disappointing. Ramping up and playing him 4 turns early is nice, of course, but there were times when I had no Odins or Bahamuts and could only play Santa, and I'd lose because he draws his own single cards while I've lost tempo and need a draw for Bahamut, Odin, or even a Salamander. And suddenly—I'd call the top-tier among his cards not the Riders or Astaroth, but the Servants of Darkness for one simple reason: you can play two for 5 mana each, or playing just one is enough to force out the opponent's Bahamut/Odin/Themis/any other removals. And then another one on the next turn) Or play him with fervor, or with a mount; basically, there are options. But most often it's just a concede from the enemy after you've traded Bahamuts and everything else.
As for Olivia, she's absolutely unnecessary; sometimes I had two evos even on turn ten.

It was easiest against Aggro Shadow, Control Vamp, Control Sword, Guardian Heaven, non-cockroach Forest, and Graze Rune. Well, you get it—decks without particularly unplayable combo-wombos and not the most common ones.
I lost to Nephthys sometimes, but overall it was surprisingly okay; card draw is good and Odins dropped when needed, or I'd ramp to ten quickly and crush them.
Same against Seraph, only easier—his followers aren't as broken; you banish the statue and then destroy him with powerful units.
The hardest were:
- De-shift (obviously), but surprisingly not a free loss. I won about 40-45% of games against it by evolving Lucifers onto an empty board, not playing unnecessary followers, etc. Here, of course, the main factor is how well his same-turn draws go.
- Storm Priest (yes, yes, 2016 style)—not easy to play against burst when you can't affect the amulets until they hatch, plus insane value from Beastcall Aria and an evo Tiger to the face if I failed to remove it immediately.
- Albert craft: a pure 50%—if the hand is playable and Sahu-solution arrives, you win; if not, unlucky. Special thanks for the same-turn stats—a 5-7 idiot on turn five (yes, more problematic on turn five than nine) going to the face; only a Dragon Warrior can kill it in one go, even Sahu-solution requires either Blazing Breath or an evo Sahu and loses 5 HP from that trade.

I only lost to Aggro Vamp when my hand was clogged with late-game and I had nothing to play; Darya is easily handled even with three Daryas if you have Sahu-solution and she doesn't get all her face-draws and Blade Mages immediately; other dragons are a crystal clear 50-50, whether it's aggro (Ziga counters many in the deck, Fortune isn't always removable or hideable) or brother-tramp, storm or neutral—doesn't matter.

Overall, the feeling from the deck is very pleasant. There's almost always an answer to everything and a chance to win, and no homosexual mechanics (though aggro lords would disagree and point at Sahu); overall I'd say I played with a win rate over fifty and had almost no super-difficult matchups.
That's the system...

no one will read this(

I read it. Since control is on the horizon, I'm curious about what control decks are and how to have fun with them. Although Forest control will likely differ from Dragon control, Forest can't ramp or reduce the cost of cards. :(
But I like aggro more because everything happens quickly, and you don't have to sit for five rounds waiting for something playable to come into your hand, and for ten rounds to topdeck.

I actually "liked" aggro when I played before Rise of the Necromancer at low ranks; however, it was an aggro dragon, and you need to think a little, even though it wasn't always a top-tier deck. But two negative aspects eventually completely ruined the enjoyment of this archetype on any class: it's boring and brain-dead, and you also feel like a very pathetic worm when a mid-range or control opponent defeats your minions and sits at 10+ health with a board, while you have no cards left; at that point, you can only concede.

Overall, the feeling from the deck is very pleasant. There is almost always an answer to everything, and the chances of winning are high.

I think this is true for all control decks. The higher the rank, the more often I encounter them, and the more often I experience the second frustration mentioned above. I believe they are stronger than any aggro garbage if they are built properly to counter it, and they have the highest potential for victory, and they are also more interesting to play. Therefore, they can and should be used.

Since control is looming on the horizon, I'm curious to know what control decks are and how to have fun with them. Although forest control will certainly be different from dragon control, forest cannot ramp and reduce the cost of cards.

Well, that's how you have fun. You control the board for value until you get your win condition (in "your" case, a forest creature) or you simply start to dominate. Although ramp does speed up games nicely and gives you a chance to respond effectively (a salamander for 6 against an evolved floral - SIX MANA VERSUS FOUR, I PLAYED IT FOR VALUE), and when I do quests in unranked on Guardian Heaven or control vampire or control knight, I just fall asleep :(

I feel even greater frustration when I have a huge number of cards in my hand, each costing 8+ mana, while my opponent has a full board and has already dealt 19 damage to me.

The simplest and most effective – an animated Bahamut + Dragoon – usually results in a one-shot kill if the dragon isn't buffed, leaving the opponent with no chance to defend. Sometimes, just finishing them off was enough. Out of the hundreds of games I've played, maybe three times I had to throw the Dragoon in not for the finishing blow, but out of desperation, and once I even managed to win in that situation. But most of the time, I wouldn't say it's a dead weight – it's one of the winning conditions.

But why not Genesis? It deals the same amount of damage, but it doesn't discard your cards.

Because it clears all the trash off the battlefield so Bahamut can strike, plus it deals damage to the enemy. And you don't need to play it with a lethal strategy. I'm talking about one-shotting an enemy for full or near-full HP.

*Checked the deck. Three Odins, three Lucians, three Bahamuts. Remembered that during all this time, only those damn Gabriels and one Lucian dropped from neutral creatures, felt sad, and went back to my low-elo games.*

I'm thinking about the control forest again. I now see Rosie as the main win condition, even more so than Bolt. Her spells deal less damage, but they can't be countered by Roland's amulet and are less affected by strength tests. Plus, you can't get rid of the Warden, the Roach, you can add the new Beetle, and so on, and so forth. The Elf Queen is more of a supporting card; you might even be better off with a Fairy Beast. The Cloak will work very well with Rosie. You can just have fun with one Bacchante, Odin for the Seraphs, and then Fairy Generators with Wardog as a backup (I'm really looking forward to that Butler who lowers his own price). I think many will replace Dance of Death with Execution, given the number of new, trendy amulets. The Flower doesn't inspire confidence in me.
There are already too many units, but this is just a theory for now.
Anomaly doesn't inspire confidence in me. Ideally, you should first get the Cloak, then lure out all the Bacchantes and other collective destroyers, then the Anomaly, a couple of Butlers, a Forest Dragon, and then finish it off with Lisa. Then the Anomaly might have a chance to survive until the next round. No, that's not working. It's easier to block it with Spikes and then use the guy with Storm as a finisher.

*Looked at the deck. Three Odins, three Lucians, three Bahamuts. Remembered that during all this time, only those damn Gabriels and one Lucian dropped from neutral creatures, felt sad, and went back to my low-elo games.*

I crafted the Odins and Lucians...

This game hates me. So, I decided to play as a Priestess today, and things just went downhill: Control-Vampires, Bahamut-Dragons, just regular Fortress-Dragons, D-Shift-Witches, Mud-Witches... Well, I somehow managed to get 3 wins, and I was one quest away from the fourth, but I thought, "Forget it," and decided to try for the fourth win with Fortress. I mean, I should be able to easily one-shot those kinds of control decks. I sat down to play Fortress, and I got two Sword decks in a row, an Aggro-Blood deck, and an Aggro-Shadow deck. WHERE WERE THEY ALL WHEN I WAS PLAYING PRIESTESS? GO TO HELL, YOU DAMN CYBERPUNKS.

Hallelujah, after opening a million Darkness packs, my prayers have finally been answered.

Thinking of splurging before the expansion pack comes out?

Yeah, I literally bought two boosters: one Darkness, one Bahamut. I didn't get anything good from the Bahamut one, but I finally got a Seraph from the Darkness one.

WHERE WERE YOU ALL WHEN I WAS GRINDING ON THE PRIEST, GO TO HELL, YOU DAMN SAIGAMES.

Similar problem, when I switch between Vampire, Knight, and Rune (when everything gets on my nerves). I'm tired of it; now I don't even always bother to collect the daily reward. I've completely forgotten about the mini-quests.