We are still quite early in the life of this new Shadowverse game, but most classes seem to have found their strides in this limited environment. Here are some widely shared opinions about the metagame:
- Portalcraft's flexibility makes the class incredible. When the pilot knows which Artifacts to fuse, this deck is such a powerhouse in the mid to late game portion of a match.
- 10104120 is starting to appear here and there, showing the gap in between each synergy is closer than one might think, or we wouldn't need an alternate 10-cost win condition. The card started in Runecraft, but is now used more widely as a counter to Havencraft or mirror matches with both players cancelling each other.
- Aggressive strategies are solid, but rely on the opponent not packing the right tools to defend against it. Now that we identified the counter cards, these strategies tend to be niche or sort of a gamble. Overall, Swordcraft and Dragoncraft are posting better results with their midrange builds, although the Face Dragoncraft deck is a menace when left unchecked.
- Abysscraft needs to find more win conditions, the class struggles to close matches and is ranked last by most players.
Apart for a few classes still trying to find their edge, such as Havencraft, it seems that most have reached the point where only flexible or tech cards are up in the air. Depending on your play style and popular opponents, the last five cards of a deck will diverge. Apart from that, it feels pretty clear all classes are playable, but those with the best legendary cards, or multiple great ones, seem to have a bit of an advantage. Indeed, if we ranked the best cards in the game, I'm sure the likes of 10174120 or 10134110 would be near the top of the rankings, while 10174130 or 10134310 would also be listed.
It is only the first expansion, and the game appears to be quite successful so far. Then, if your favorite class isn't doing so well for now, we are only at the start of a long journey. For now, there is only so much we can do with the cards available. I'm sure a few twists can still happen, but for the most part, it looks like it is grinding with a comfort pick time.
Happy Tier List Everyone!
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| S Tier | 🔵 Portalcraft Hybrid |
| A Tier | 🟣 Runecraft Cocytus |
| A Tier | 🟢 Forestcraft Fairy |
| A Tier | 🔵 Portalcraft Puppets |
| A Tier | 🟠 Swordcraft Midrange |
| B Tier | 🟤 Dragoncraft Ramp |
| B Tier | 🟡 Havencraft Amulet Control |
| B Tier | 🟤 Dragoncraft Aggro |
| C Tier | 🔴 Abysscraft Departed Control |
- S Tier: Decks with a dominant strategy. Typically, they will force the opponent to adapt their play patterns. It can be due to a fantastic flexibility allowing them to play all sorts of matchups, or fantastic raw power the other decks have to adapt against.
- A Tier: Decks with a well-rounded synergy, both able to pressure the opposing leader with damage or turn a threatening board around. Plus, they don't have glaring weaknesses, on top of the ability to adapt to popular matchups if need be.
- B Tier: Solid performers but lacking either some flexibility, or the ability to force the opponent into a reactive position once it is time to go for lethal. Typically, these decks will have a great core strategy, but might not adapt well if the game does not go according to plan.
- C Tier: Decks with limited potential or flexibility at the moment. These decks are either not suited to answer the popular decks well, or are limited to one gimmick for the majority of a match.
S Tier
Hybrid Portalcraft
If you build the right spaceships with this deck, you will never have a bad mid-game, no matter your opponent. Indeed, the 5-cost Artifacts complement each other perfectly, allowing you to deal with the board or impact either leader's health.
The only thing to be very careful about is to not let your opponent build a large board of followers with more than three health, unless you can fuse two 90073130, pushing the limit back to six. If you managed to do so, your big cards will take over the match once you reach 8 play points.
Indeed, both 10174130 or 10174120 will require an immediate answer from your opponent. Plus, each is able to deal damage to the opposing leader directly, putting them on a clock even if they manage to remove them during their turn.
Possible changes
Current builds are geared towards controlling the board, hence the two copies of 10173210. You could also include more cards generating Fuse material if you felt like there were not enough to consistently get your 5-cost Artifacts ready on time.
A Tier
Spellboost Runecraft
The game is slowing down as time passes. Control decks are being refined, while 10104120 makes an appearance in multiple builds. Yet, none does it better than Runecraft, thanks to 10134310 allowing to immediately draw and play cards from the Apocalypse deck. If you can wrestle the board in your favor early, or keep it in check until you reach 10 play points, Runecraft likely is the hardest class to stop in the late game.
Unfortunately, this deck is extremely demanding in terms of legendary cards, running 9 to 11 of such cards depending on where you look. Then, unless you put some money into the game, or targeted Runecraft exclusively with your Vials, Runecraft can be a difficult class to play at the highest level.
Possible changes
10032120 is a strong card, and definitely one you should run until you can afford the 10104120 build. Other cards to consider if you are on a budget are 10131310 and 10131110.
Fairy Forescraft
Fore some reason, Forestcraft is quite an unplayed class although it is held in high respect by most people. Sure, the class isn't very flexible, as you build most of your game plan around 10113140. In the last great performing lists, we can see there aren't other win conditions. Instead, the deck focused on keeping their opponent at bay with three copies of 10113130 and 10113120.
It might be a win, as it makes Forestcraft quite an affordable class to play, with only four legendary cards in the build, two of them being the neutral 10104110. With the metagame slowing down now that Havencraft found a list and other classes use 10104120, Forestcraft's combo playstyle might be well-suited for this environment.
Possible changes
If you agree 10113140 should be the center of your strategy, then, there isn't so many changes available except for cards you wouldn't own. I am a big fan of 10112130 so more copies wouldn't hurt, while 10011210 or 10011130 are decent defensive tools.
Puppets Portalcraft
Not as flexible as the Hybrid Portalcraft deck, the Puppet synergy can be considered the best control deck in the game at the moment. Indeed, there are so many ways to deal with opposite followers in this deck, don't expect to have something stick to the board as the opponent.
There is one difference with the likes of Havencraft or Abysscraft though: the ability to pressure the opponent back. Indeed, while the other control strategies tend to focus on exhausting their opponent out of cards, Puppets play defense early on mostly because the finishers are high cost cards. 10174120 is the Portalcraft superstar, and typically the card you keep your extra play point when going second, so you can play it back to back. 10173130 is the other card able to deal up to 10 damage to close the match.
Early on, Puppets suffered from the comparison with the Hybrid deck. Yet, the deck now appears as a more flexible option in terms of deckbuilding, especially when it comes to keeping our defenses high. The other Portalcraft might be the best deck in the game due to its flexibility, it doesn't have room to run 10104110 for example.
Possible changes
10104120 is an extra finishing touch for hard fought battles, but clearly a flexible inclusion. Same for the neutral cards you see two copies of in the deck. Feel free to adapt the balance based on your popular opponents.
Swordcraft Midrange
Since the midrange build emerged, Swordcraft has become a very difficult opponent to go against. Indeed, the deck might not pack the same early pressure, it still requires you to handle the board in case 10123130 would show up. If you manage to do so, you will embark on a battle of mid-sized follower, each more annoying to deal with than the last. Don't break, or you'll suddenly be in range of 10124110.
Arguably, the deck's weak point is to deal with an opponent able to wrestle the board in their favor. Yet, Swordcraft found a great balance in that department too, with multiple cheap cards contributing - 10121150, 10103110 or 10123120 - while 10123110 downright swings the board in your favor.
The other classes adapting to the aggro build manages to stop it, but the class showed it was able to adapt as well, keeping itself in the conversation for strong competitive picks.
Possible changes
10021130 is a fine replacement if you would be looking for a finisher. Same for 10121120 in the buffing category. Without 10124120 or 10104110, you might lack some draw, so consider 10001120 then.
B Tier
Ramp Dragoncraft
The metagame is slowing down as control deck managed to refine their build. Compared to week one, you should face more of Havencraft, while some top tier classes - Runecraft, Portalcraft, Swordcraft - also improved their defenses in their polished builds.
In that context, a deck able to ramp and drop huge dragons while the opponent is a couple of play points behind naturally has a lot of upsides. Dragoncraft Ramp still has a few holes, such has a weak early game, limiting its overall performance, but the metagame is going in the right direction for the class to do well.
Possible changes
10144120 is often preferred to 10102110 in the top ranks, while 10042110 gets cut due to its AoE not being available early on. Depending on your popular opponents, feel free to test your optimal balance in terms of early defenses.
The more defensive the metagame gets, and the more copies of 10143110 you want. Some run 10104120 but it feels a bit overkill in the deck. Indeed, you typically won't need it if you find your ramp, while the card will rarely have time to hit the board if you don't.
Control Havencraft
It took a bit to find the right balance, but Havencraft is slowly gaining momentum as the lists get refined. Plus, although the deck lacks the flexibility of the best classes, I feel like Havencraft does not suffer that much from being inflexible in its gameplay. In the end, clearing the board and staying high on health is your win condition most of the time, as the opponent runs out of gas eventually. Well, until 10104120 becomes too popular, as the card has been spotted as an alternate win con in a few decks, while becoming a staple for Runecraft.
There are both greedy and aggressive decks at the moment. Depending on which ones emerge as the most popular, Havencraft could be a great or a terrible pick.
Possible changes
10161140 is a strong cheap follower early on if you needed a replacement. Yet, the class is already struggling compared to most, so running Havencraft on a budget feels like a daunting task.
Face Dragoncraft
I feel like this Dragoncraft Aggro deck benefits a lot from the class still being regarded as a ramp-first strategy. Then, whenever the opponent mulligans for the other deck and suddenly has to deal with our onslaught of direct damage, they are quick to be overwhelmed. Plus, 20 health only is very simple to burn with the likes of 10144120.
Depending on your group and popular opponent, this deck could rank much higher. Yet, I feel like Face Dragoncraft mostly capitalizes on people not making the right decisions against it. Indeed, whenever I see this deck against an opponent who decides to focus on keeping their defenses high, such as Swordcraft with plenty of Wards, or a Runecraft with three copies of 10132310 it suddenly looks much less impressive.
Possible changes
This is already a budget build, and 10144120 is the deck's finisher. Then, It is hard to recommend budget swaps. Rather, you can make a few adjustments when it comes to removal cards, depending on which decks you want to target.
C Tier
Departed Abysscraft
I shamelessly stole this list from a player playing in the Master rank, Diamond group and was shocked to see only one copy of 10153130. I guess it is too difficult to reach the Necromancy (8) requirement and there are other targets worthy of our evolve. Apart from that peculiar choice, the deck packs the common tools Abysscraft relies on.
Last week, Abysscraft was already considered the worst class in the game, and the direction of the metagame probably won't help. Indeed, even if the aggressive decks exist and represent a good match-up, midrange and control opponent are all packing some sort of health gain, on top of alternate win condition for long contested battles.
Possible changes
There aren't many lists to look at for Abysscraft in the higher ranks, so it is difficult to recommend specific changes. Plus, the deck is widely considered the worst in the game, so playing it on a budget probably represent a very risky bet.
