New Season Begins! What’s the Early Meta Looking Like?

The long-awaited Infinity Evolved card pack is finally here! Shadowverse players eager for the fresh meta have already dived into Ranked Matches. Of course, I’m one of them. After the evening update, I kept delightedly testing out my new decks until the next morning. In this post, I’d like to share my early impressions of the new rank match meta.

Since I ended the previous season in Diamond, I started off this one in Ruby. With everyone testing the waters, I ran into a wide variety of decks. Some of the most common archetypes included Ward Havencraft, Artifact Portalcraft, Aggro & Midrange Abysscraft, PP Boost Dragon, and Midrange Swordcraft. Meanwhile, Spellboost Runecraft that didn’t receive notable upgrades this time and Roach Forestcraft that would have a hard time against Ward Havencraft seemed to be rare on Day 1. Among all the decks I faced, the one that felt especially powerful—and that I believe has serious potential in the evolving meta—is Abysscraft. In the previous format, Abysscraft lacked solid early- and mid-game cards and stable power to produce enough damage to beat opponents unless you could draw more than 2 Cerberuses. But with the new support cards introduced in the latest card pack, the class has been massively strengthened. I built a slightly slower midrange version and took it into ranked matches to test out Abysscraft’s potential.

Key Cards for Midrange Abysscraft

Ghastly Soiree

This spell is a cornerstone of Midrange Abysscraft’s early- to mid-game plan. From this single card, you generate three crucial followers that support the deck’s overall strategy. Whether you draw Ghastly Soiree in your mulligan can dramatically affect how smoothly your deck functions.

• The 0-cost Skeleton helps you maintain tempo in the early game and is essential to effectively use Charon later on.
• The 1-cost Ghost pairs well with Mukann—a card that hasn’t gotten much attention until now—to remove enemy followers. You can also use it with Vuella to shift into an aggressive move depending on your matchup.
• And the Rotting Zombie is perhaps the most impactful. Even when played on Turn 3 after a Turn 2 Ghastly Soiree, it can effectively reclaim board tempo—unless you’re facing a pure aggro deck.

With today’s Abysscraft decks having high-cost follower options like Cerberus, Olivia, Ginsetsu, and Medusa, a single spell that smooths both your Turn 2 and Turn 3 while also fueling your future turns is absolutely vital.

Vuella

Simple yet highly powerful. Vuella has excellent stats and Rush, allowing you to remove enemy 2/2s from the board as early as Turn 3. Her ability to buff herself and super-evolved followers adds another layer of versatility. For instance, if you evolve a Mummy with Storm and buff it using Vuella, you can generate 7 damage for just 5 play points—while also clearing an enemy follower with Vuella’s Rush.

Considering her ability, leaving Vuella on the board is highly risky for your opponent and they have to use their PP and cards to remove Vuella. Simply, she’s a card with no particular downsides.

Charon

Charon is a powerful mid-game stabilizer for the new Abysscraft. Her Fanfare reanimates two followers with Ward. Using Charon on Turn 4 or 5 and evolving her or one of the reanimated followers can create good board pressure against your opponent.

Anyone who’s played against Zirconia and Luminous Magus(Swordcraft) or Anne & Grea(Runecraft) would know just how annoying wide boards with Ward can be in the mid-game. 

One additional benefit: Charon stabilizes Necromancy for later turns. Previously, spending Necromancy on Mukann’s auto-evolve effect could leave you short on shadows in your cemetery for Cerberus or Mummy. But with Charon, those resource issues are eased.Her Crest effect upon super-evolving is nice, but I found that holding onto super-evolve points for Cerberus or other cards in the later-game is usually the better play. That said, Charon’s baseline value is already incredibly high even without super-evolve.

Midrange or Aggro?

While I personally found Midrange Abysscraft powerful and satisfying to play, the most popular version in the current ranked matches right now appears to be Aggro Abysscraft. In fact, I’ve heard that the current #1 player on the MP rankings is using an Aggro Abysscraft. I got completely steamrolled by Excella and Vuella during testing my Abysscraft deck. Aggro Abysscraft might struggle against Ward Havencraft, but it can easily overwhelm slower decks like Midrange Royal, Spellboost Runecraft, or PP Boost Dragon. And games end quickly whether you win or lose when you use this archetype, which is efficient to rake MP points

That’s it for Abysscraft  impressions so far. Next time, maybe I’ll be writing about Portalcraft or Havencraft! Thanks for reading!