Obligatory random song

Disclaimer: all images here are hotlinked from the shadowverse.gamepress site and shamelessly captioned by me in a poor attempt at comedy. All credits to them and the original artists.

This article aims to take a closer look at Midrange Shadow and its qualities, along with its relations to the rest of the meta, as well as theories to combat its dominance.

What.

It’s no secret that Midrange Shadow is the best deck in the game, anyone saying otherwise is in denial. The deck is not only over-represented on ladder with huge popularity, its success (60% win rate) is also absolutely massive in spite of this play rate. Furthermore, it’s also a complete powerhouse in terms of tournament play. In the last NGE tournament, 7/8 participants in the top 8 brought the deck, with the last one opted for the Aggro variant instead. On top of this, its inherent lower curve means that it bricks a lot less often than its biggest competitor, Storm Ramp Dragon (2nd best deck in the game). A deck that’s strong, fast, popular, consistent across all fields, Shadowverse is truly living up to its name.

Why.

For some context, let’s look back at the end of RoB meta. Midrange Shadow was a deck, but it was overshadowed (heh) by Nepthys as a value option and its Aggro variant as a more tempo-oriented option. The only thing the deck had to offer was the capacity to play Mordecai and Cerberus in the same deck. That wasn’t good enough, so the archetype was relegated to relative obscurity.

Best card in the class for a while

Obviously, the Tempest of the God expansion changed that. However, unlike Dragon, a craft carried by Zell and Sybil, Midrange Shadow has many more support options that can run independent of each other. Prince Catacomb, Immortal Thane, Demonlord Eachtar, Orthrus, Zombie Party, Little Soulsquahser, and even Death’s Ledger in some cases all serve to bolster the archetype. That said, all but two (three if you count the amulet) of the aforementioned cards work perfectly in Aggro Shadow, which was a stronger deck pre-expansion. With the advent of Ramp Dragon, one would expect a faster deck that punishes bricking better would be the better deck in the meta. This is not the case. It is true that in fact, Aggro Shadow is better against Dragon in general, who in turn covers a significant portion of the player base. So what gives?

How.

It’s a two-pronged issue. The prevalence of options and the meta itself is at work here. Let’s quantify this by comparing the difference between the two builds of Aggro Shadow and Midrange Shadow. Both are very successful archtype on the ladder right now, and both ran the core of Skull Beast — Shadow Reaper — Prince Catacombs — Orthrus — Cerberus — Eachtar curve. Aggro Shadow, in turn, runs more early game options such as Skeleton Fighter, Lyrial, and more copies of Phantom Howl. The deck very rarely bricks since almost every single card is a minion. Midrange Shadow, on the other hand, runs Immortal Thane, Soul Conversion, Death’s Breath, and Zombie Party (along with some other changes depending on the build).

Zombies and skeletons too

The most notable difference there is the trade of early minions for more spells. That’s to be expected, since it’s a naturally slower and more value-oriented deck. The key point to take away from it however, is that these spells, except for Soul Conversion, are all both proactive and reactive. Not only do they stop incoming aggression, they also build your board at the same time. They’re almost never bad cards to have in your hand. Compare that to iconic spells of other classes such as Sylvan Justice, Insight, Themis’ Decree, Hungering Horde, you can easily see where I’m going with here. The only card that’s comparable would be Swordcraft’s Alwida’s Command, the backbone of the class right next to Albert. Spells that are both proactive and reactive are extremely powerful, and these give Midrange Shadow the sort of options to which its Aggro variation has no access.

Arrived

To further compound this issue, if we were to take a look at the list I’ve made before, even the followers that Shadow have received this expansion follow the same pattern. Both Demonlord Eachtar and Orthrus fulfil the definition, the former being something so ridiculous that could overtake a Daria board by himself, the latter is a 4-drop which fills a gap that Shadow always sorely wanted. None of these effects are evolved ones, unlike say Zell. Ouroboros is also a card that follows this pattern, but he’s an 8-drop in a much slower and less consistent deck. Midrange Shadow destroys everything because it has no dead cards in most normal circumstances, something only Midrange Swordcraft can boast. On top of this, Midrange Shadow stomps on Aggro Shadow itself, along with pretty much every other aggressive decks (and also Forest). Incidentally, these decks are the ones which are supposed to keep Ramp Dragon in check, a feat now impossible due to the match up spread. Further investigations into the numbers reveal the fact that Aegis Haven can tech in Forbidden Ritual to combat Aggro Shadow, but Midrange Shadow holds no such weakness. It destroys every Haven just from pure tempo and the insanity that is Eachtar. To put it into perspective: Shaggro vs. Aegis is a 47% matchup. Midrange Shadow vs. Aegis is a 60% matchup, regardless of who goes first.

60%

No you didn’t read that wrong.

So what is Midrange Shadow’s weakness? A deck that can stop its aggression and has better top decks than it. It’s really is that simple. It’s the exact way the deck edged out its aggressive version. The problem arises when Shadow’s top decks are comparable to an actual control class.

Well

What now? You may ask.

I have suggestions, but not the definitive answer (mostly because I don’t have the vials to try these). As far as the numbers are concerned, Midrange Shadow does have a weakness in Storm Ramp Dragon, incidentally the 2nd best deck in the game and the 2nd most popular tournament deck. The deck has enough defensive capabilities to stop Shadow’s early curve, and has burst potential to close out drawn out games, giving the opponent less of an opportunity to swing with Eachtar turns. The deck’s healing capabilities also serve to excuse otherwise shoddy early game, something Aggro Shadow punishes (a 54% matchup instead of 47%). In fact, Ramp Dragon in general is predictably punished the same way, having horrible matchups against Aggro Blood, Aggro Sword, and OTK Elf.

Always meta

We’ve arrived at the point in the meta where it’s Midrange Shadow > Aggro Shadow/Blood/OTK Roach> Storm Ramp Dragon > Midrange Shadow. The problem with this model is that these decks have positive matchups against almost anything else in the meta. Rune is a joke on the ladder. Faster Sword decks crumbles against Shadow and slower ones folds to Dragon. WolfBolt crumbles against the pressure (like they always had to be fair). Aegis is slow and predictable that barely hangs on due to its good matchup against Aggro Shadow only (not against Aggro Blood). The only way to break this rigged Rock Paper Scissor situation is to find a deck that beats two of the elements, even if it suffers against the remaining unnamed mediocre field.

Our saviour?

There’re a few candidates to break into the spotlight. Unlike most other decks, Blood Vengeance (the list with Soul Dealer) and Storm Haven (possibly Dark Jeanne) becomes more refined every day. While Sword and Forest stagnates, these two decks still have room for consideration. Both of them aren’t very good against Midrange Shadow, but if this matchup could be improved, or the deck itself could be teched into beating the other Aggro decks in the meta, they could become force of their own. Haven especially has tools to halt shadow generation, powering down Eachtars and Deaths’ Breath massively. The aforementioned Forbidden Ritual destroys, or rather banishes, Catacomb boards. It’s also possible to increase hostility in the meta by going with the tried-and-true Storm Ramp Dragon, but that deck costs an arm and a leg, and only serves to reinforce the paradigm.

Obligatory Forte

Conclusion

Unfortunately this is the end of the road. No deck is uncounterable, but the way the matchup spread works out, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed. Maybe it’s time for Satan Sun to make a return. Perhaps it’s the dawn of the Tyrant. Could there be a list in Isabella’s massive libraries that has the answer? At this point we’re not only dealing with an extremely strong deck, but one that adapts itself. A nerf is in question, but that’s outside of the scope of what I’m trying to do here. In general, this is more of an attempt to spark some creativity in dealing with this force in an organic way. It may be possible that there’s simply no answer, and developer intervention is required. Until that is a near possibility, try your best.