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In every card game, there are certain decks with very divided opinions about them. Some love them, believing they are top tier material. Others don't want to hear about it, claiming the deck isn't that good. Typically, those decks have a high skill ceiling, and understanding specific key points is what separates the believers from the rest.
For yet another set, Forestcraft Fairy is that deck in Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, able to completely dominate an opponent unable to mount any sort of offense until 10113140 comes in for the kill. However, it can also be that deck playing 90011110 every turn without getting anything serious done. Yes, Forestcraft Fairy requires certain cards to show up in time, on top of an experienced pilot to sequence cards and trigger the Combo mechanic.
When both ingredients mix, Forestcraft Roach Combo can make a serious claim at being the best deck in the game, especially in Heirs of the Omen.
In this new set, most of the top classes are playing a damage centric game plan, aimed at targeting the opposing leader first and foremost. In this context, Forestcraft is one of the fastest decks to be able to reach 20 damage, typically around turn seven or eight. However, matches have also become more intricate to navigate, since we can't simply clear the opponent's board until it is time for 10113140.
Now, every match is a race against the clock.
How to Play the Forestcraft Fairy Deck
There are three key steps to playing Forestcraft at a good level. To reach a great level, you will need to include some timing elements into the mix, building sequences of turns rather than playing each turn separately:
- Keep your opponent's board empty to protect your health, especially with Heirs of the Omen raising the direct damage potential of multiple classes.
That's the easy part with 10012110, 10212310, 10012310 or 10113130 available. Evolve 10113120 or 10113110 if you have to.
Forestcraft's main weakness is the lack of healing or ward followers, so damage can quickly add up if we fall behind on the board. Plus, whenever your opponent fails to develop a new threat, we can use that turn to draw or play support cards for our future combo. - Every turn, count and anticipate how big you can get 10113140 to figure whether you should trade to buy more time or can start pushing damage to prepare for the kill.
Keep in mind, we have three copies of that card, plus a multitude of ways to bounce it back to our hand with 10113210 or 10112130. Then, don't refrain from playing one in the mid-game to cash in some damage or remove an opposing threat if nothing else is available. - Make sure you never run out of cards in hand, as it is the way to ensure we can complete steps 1 and 2. This deck has plenty of draws with 10213310, 10113210 or 10113120. If needed, you can also evolve 10113110.
If you have too many in hand and risk overdrawing, fuse with 10213310 or simply drop some 1-cost followers your opponent has to deal with.
Two cards I like to work towards are 10113120 and 10113130, as they each represent a key step in this deck's development.
10113120 comes down on turn five, draws two cards, and typically clears the board if we evolve it. When 10113120 is in hand, we can be a little more lenient with our opponent's board. For example, we can develop 10113210 or 10312120 for value, even if it means leaving a small follower on the board, and tanking a few damages as a result.
Typically, playing 10113120 will represent the moment we switch our focus to our combo a lot more, count damage every turn, and start to plan which turn we want to go off.
Also, it is a good time to worry if we are missing some key pieces for our combo. In that scenario, plan to draw a bit more aggressively, so your window of opportunity does not close.
10113130 is the strongest support to 10113140 successfully ending the game. It represents a free card to play, and we can use the 4 damage to remove eventual Ward followers on the way.
Just like 10113120 acts as a key step in our development, discounting 10113130 is another indicator of our progress towards our combo turn. In case 10113130 would not show up early enough, then make sure you find time to create a few 90011310 through 10312120 and 10112210.
Last, let's talk about 10113140 winning the game.
In the current metagame, we will have to deal a lot of damage, as many classes have access to healing mechanics. Swordcraft has 90021320, Runecraft 10132310, Havencraft 10162210 plus 10362110, Dragoncraft 10243110 and Portalcraft 90074210. Just count on your opponent healing at some point in the match.
Then, unless you managed to really dominate the board and deal from 8 to 10 damage through the course of the match, we might have to plan to deal 18 to 20 damage at once. Typically, getting our opponent to 16 is a good number, and they might not feel the need to heal back up.
To reach 18, we have to play 7 cards before 10113140 and 10112130 come down, requiring a full hand. When that hand is filled with 10113130 and 90011310, it isn't a problem to do with 7 or 8 play points.
Otherwise, turn nine is a good goal, as we can play four 1-cost cards, plus three 0-cost, leaving us with five play points for 10113140 and 10112130.
That would actually deal 19 damage if 10112130 removes an opposing follower while Super-Evolved.
Without 10112130, we can use 10113210. Now, we have to keep six energy to play 10113140 twice, but can use our Super-Evolve on it for three extra damage.
Then, we need to play 6 cards to deal 7 damage with the first, and 8 with the second 10113140, 18 total with the extra 3.
The math to know which combo to pick is quite simple : 10113210 on the board deals one more damage than 10112130 thanks to our Super-Evolve being spent on 10113140, but requires one more play-point.
Forestcraft Fairy Deck Tips and Strategies
Manage your board
We have multiple ways to bounce cards back to our hand. However, it is quite unfortunate when we end up with five 90011110 on the board and can't play as a result. Especially if the opponent is high on health and decides to not play any followers to make sure we are stuck.
Trading the board early will help us build our lead, but also avoid those future unfortunate situations.
This is particularly critical with lists not running any buffs. Without 10111110 or 10213110, leaving our board doesn't represent a huge threat for our opponent. Granted, they don't know it, but in case they wouldn't give us an opportunity to sacrifice our followers to make room, we have to keep in mind Forestcraft combo needs space to function.
After a bit with this deck, I have stopped to look for the perfect time to engage 10112210, as I often hurt myself playing with four instead of five spots because of it. Now, I tend to use it more aggressively, cashing in the damage whenever one of my followers has a good trade, or can deal one more damage to my opponent because of it.
Every match is a race
When you make it as simple as possible, you play this deck to beat the opponent before they beat you, which is essentially a race. However, this isn't a normal one with two people running side to side. Rather, it is a Mario Kart type of race, with items you throw at your opponents, and traps everywhere on the road.
Heirs of the Omen gave several classes the ability to join that race, raising the direct damage potential of Portalcraft, Havencraft, Dragoncraft and Swordcraft in particular.
Typically, these new decks focused on direct damage don't pack too many Ward followers, but they can keep their health very high. As such, it is important to understand from the very early turns that everything we do has to be translated into real damage.
If we use a card to deal one damage, but the opponent heals back for free, we basically spent a card for nothing, while it could have represented one more real damage with 10113140 later on.
However, if that card served as a distraction, and saved our leader from tanking damage, granting us an extra turn to mount our combo, this was a great investment.
It is all about reaching the finish line before our opponent, no matter if we do because we are faster, or we slowed them down at the right time.
Do it for the damage
A combo deck is one with a very specific goal. Typically, these decks aren't as flexible as their counterparts, but excel at the areas they invested into. Forestcraft is a master at dealing damage out of nowhere.
Then, we need to look at every action through the prism of "This will translate into damage eventually". Removing an enemy follower protects our board or health, so we can focus on the opposing leader rather than ourselves. Drawing a card advances us towards our combo, or gives us more cards to boost 10113140. Playing 10113130 for tempo should net us 4 damage, or prevent incoming damage we can't accept. Otherwise, it is best kept in hand to contribute to our combo turn later on.
When we have a very specific goal in mind, all our actions need to be connected to that goal.
Budget and Possible Inclusions
It is difficult to make a budget deck out of a build with no legendary cards already, so let's focus on possible inclusions instead :
- One copy of 10204110 or 10114110 can represent a good way to push some damage late in a match without investing a lot of cards. 10104110 fits a similar theme, but geared towards a support mindset. If the expensive card would be unplayable, just fuse it with 10213310.
- 10214110 is great to generate Fairies for the entire match, while her Evolve is also convenient at times. She was replaced with the new 10312120, but could prove better if you value her evolve.
- 10311310 is another draw to add to the deck if you can routinely trigger its Combo. I like it more than 10012110 but one more play-point is a bummer. Play it if you see many targets at 4 defenses.
- 10212120 is a solid 2-cost to play early for tempo, or to have two 1-cost to add to your combo later on.
Closing Words
Forestcraft is the cheapest classes to play at the moment in terms of Vials required, with no legendary card required. Yet, because it represents a much bigger challenge to play well, the Fairy synergy tends to not see that much play.
Hopefully, this guide gave you a better perspective of that deck, and maybe a bit of encouragement to try it out. It will be difficult at first, but I believe it is a very strong deck once in experienced hands.
