Today Cygames announced Steel Rebellion, which is Shadowverse’s 12th expansion. With only a few weeks left in the Altersphere meta, the majority of the crafts are likely to see a big change in identity soon. Here is a wishlist of things it would be nice to see in Steel Rebillion.
Neutral Cards
Aside from Prince of Cocytus (Which more or less has been the single defining card of Altersphere), neutral cards didn’t make much of a splash in Altersphere. With a few commonly used neutral cards rotating out of the Chronogenesis set, it would be nice to see a few more cards that can boost draw power. It would also be nice to see some neutral cards that aren’t only useful in Take Two. A card similar to Fall from Grace would also be welcome, especially if Lishenna gets out of control in the next set. Tech cards that can deal with amulets are always welcome, and this is the only one that doesn’t destroy them.
A neutral card that somehow interacts with leader effects would be welcome. Leader effects weren’t too devastating during this set, but the last few metas have shown that one slightly overturned effect can lead to a bad time for everyone else. A neutral legendary that negates these effects would make the game more balanced, increase the value of tech cards, and lead to more creative deckbuilding. Finally, most crafts still need some form of protection against massive amounts of damage. Haven and Portal are the only crafts with truly viable options.
Forestcraft
Forestcraft seems to be heading in two different directions: Aggro and Korwa. Cygames should ensure that this set allows both of those playstyles are viable in the new set. There is a severe lack of aggro decks in rotation right now, and Forest is only a few pieces away from having a complete aggro package. Even the loss of Rayne, Elf Smith shouldn’t impact aggro Forest too much if a few good tools are printed. Aggro is needed more than ever to pressure Mysteria Rune and Lishenna portal. Without a strong counter, we could see another midrange-dominated meta. Of course, Cygames needs to handle this with care, because aggro Forest could easily take over the game again with just one or two overtuned cards.
More Korwa support would be appreciated as well, just because it is such a unique card to build a deck around. Forest just needs one or two more good cards that buff and another card that has an effect when buffed to be truly viable. Things look good for Korwa Forest because no key pieces of the current deck skeleton are rotating out. With a little care, Forest can once again help players climb in the rotation ladders.
Swordcraft
Swordcraft could be heading in a lot of directions, and I would like to see the craft continue to be flexible from a deckbuilding perspective. Despite have many variants, Midrange Swordcraft always seems to be viable. It would be nice if the craft obtained another aggro tool or two to distinguish the craft from other midrange decks. Overall Sword is in a good place, and hopefully, this new set won’t overtune or malnourish the craft. The loss of Frontline Cavalier sort of hurts, but I am confident that midrange Sword will survive just fine.
One interesting Sword archetype that has started to rise is based around the many ambush tools that the craft currently has. No ambush tools are rotating out, so if the archetype gets some support in the form of cards that buff Leod or even a tutor, things can get out of hand pretty fast. Still, the deck is fun to play with and it would give Sword even more diversity than it already has.
Runecraft
With Runecraft, this set is less about what I want and more about what I don’t want. The craft doesn’t need any more mana reduction cards, because it leads to a suffocating midgame for Rune’s opponents if it opens with even a couple key Mysteria cards. Even after losing Bertrand and Mysterian Knowledge, Mysteria will likely still be solid in the new set, so it would be nice to see Runecraft gain another archetype to build around.
Earth Sigil is one direction for the craft to go, and a few of the newer cards seem to indicate that that is the direction that the deck will go. If the deck receives more spellboost tools, hopefully, they are creative, and not a simple cost down or damage up mechanic.
Dragoncraft
I know that I am mentioning that a lot of decks could use some aggro tools, but it is mostly due to the crazy amount of midrange decks that have popped up over the course of the last year. Dragoncraft has had tons of ramp support as of late, with the most recent coming from the mini-expansion. If ramp is pushed too hard, the deck could run away with being an uncontested deck until nerfs hit.
Seeing some early-game Dragoncraft cards that don’t give play points could be a nice change of pace for the deck. Maybe some sort of disdain-based aggro cards? Just please don’t give us yet another big storm finisher, we could all use a break from that.
Shadowcraft
Shadowcraft needs new life. While it has been consistently viable over the last few sets, all of these have been midrange decks. I’d like to see reanimate make a return (As long as it doesn’t get as bad as it was when Zeus was a thing). Cygames has been sprinkling in reanimate cards but hasn’t gone all in backing the archetype. Will Steel Rebellion finally change that?
One of my favorite archetypes is Nephthys, so it would be nice to see her make a return. At the moment, Shadow doesn’t have the tools needed for a control deck, and there hasn’t been any indication that this is the direction that the deck is going.
Bloodcraft
The hand buff archetype is so close to being good. Just give Blood a little more support in that area, please. The deck could use some card tools that will draw cards, something that Bloodcraft has basically been lacking since rotation started. Bloodcraft seems to rely on luck more than any craft since it doesn’t have the ability to draw at will or tutor key cards. Would this be a good time for Belphegor to make a return?
Speaking of Belphegor, it was nice to see more vengeance support in Altersphere. I’m not sure if Vengeance and hand buff will compliment each other, but if they don’t, it would be nice for Blood to have a few options that aren’t built around Darkfeast Bat.
Havencraft
Elysian Saint-Hares is so close to creating a remarkable archetype for Havencraft. Cygames has to be careful though because the bunnies would be a broken card in just about every other craft. Instead of going all in the archetype, Cygames should just give the deck maybe one more 1-drop and some kind of card that can tutor them. Any more would be overkill (What I suggested might already be a bit too much).
Starforged Legends rotated out in December, and with the rotation of Chronogenesis, Haven is at risk of losing its identity. Three commonly used amulets will be rotating out, meaning that Cygames needs to give the craft quite a few, or Havencraft will look like any other Midrange/Control decks. With new amulets, cards like Garuda and Tutankhamun could find relevancy in Steel Rebellion.
Portalcraft
Portalcraft players just need to hope that the craft can get some decent support. Just about everything that the craft is known for is rotating out, leaving a vacuum that only Lishenna and Maisha can fill (At least it seems that way). Even those decks are going to need new control tools in order to keep the deck relevant.
A massive batch of new artifacts would be appreciated, but it might not be enough. Portal is tough to predict, and the craft will either be awful or incredible. Maybe it’s time for the craft to invest in Silva again. Another thing that Cygames could do is give the craft some tools that grant the craft evolution points. The only craft that relies on evolution as much as Portal does is Forest, and the lack of evolution points is what is holding cards like Maisha and Sylvia back from their full potential. There are a lot of directions that Portal can go, and I look forward to seeing what happens to the craft.
Closing Thoughts
I’m optimistic about the future of Shadowverse. A lot of crafts are going in great directions. I am concerned about Dragon and Rune getting out of hand, and I am even more worried about Portal’s livelihood. Still, unique playstyles in Forest, Haven, and Sword give us a lot to look forward to.
