The additional card set for Ultimate Colosseum is just around the corner for Shadowverse. Usually, the meta gets shaken up by the extra cards released in these small expansions. New decks appear and current archetypes get more support. We finally know all the cards that we’re getting in this set, so its time to see who came out on top and who got unplayable garbage. Each class is getting one gold and one legendary rare card. In addition, there will be one gold neutral card. Let’s jump into it!
Neutral
Princess Knight is a 3/2 that tutors for any fanfare card. At face, this seems like a great generic tutor, but it has incredible potential. In Unlimited, this tutors for Lord Atomy, a very powerful Shadow card that can end games very early. With this card, you could potentially play Lord Atomy as early as turn 3! In Rotation, it grabs every single Union Burst card, then has the upside of enabling them further by evolving. I could definitely see Evolution Sword or Blood abusing this card. The 1 play point recovery seems out of place, but I suppose it’s meant to support PP Portal, who does not have a Union Burst follower.
Runecraft
Dirt rune has been dead for a long time in Rotation. Forbidden Darkmage could change this though. The Crystallize ability is excellent. It stonewalls one-hit kills and can be maintained as long as you keep playing Earth Sigils. On top of that, it draws you cards! The actual creature is an excellent finisher, with the potential to one-shot opponents with ease in the late game and leave behind a huge body. Overall excellent support for dirt rune.
Mirror of Truth adds to the dirt rune support, giving Rune its own version of Pull the Strings that has the upside of giving you a Veridic Ritual, one of the best cheap spells in the game. On top of that, it doubles as an Earth Sigil. This could be just what dirt rune needs to compete in the current meta.
Swordcraft
Luxblade Arriet is clear Evolution Sword support, no doubt about that. At one evolution, she’s fine on rate. At 3 or more, she starts getting insane. The 3 point discount is great, the healing helps you stabilize, and the card draw is incredible in the late game. Overall fantastic support for the deck.
Courtly Dance is a bit tricky, but I think it’s worth trying. It tutors for Leod and Quickblader and also is fantastic in the late game. However, it does require you to have plenty of targets for the spell in the deck that don’t rely on fanfare effects. Sword doesn’t have this issue a lot, so I could see it seeing play.
Bloodcraft
Finally, the finisher Bloodcraft has been begging for in Rotation. Permafrost Behemoth has a great Crystallize effect that functions as a better Blood Pact and closes the game with 10 face damage that also removes a follower. At 9 pp, it is a bit slow, but this alone could be enough to push self-damage Bloodcraft into the meta (or at least make it tier 2).
Io is just a great Union Burst follower. The Union Burst mechanic seemed underwhelming on the release of Ultimate Colosseum, but players have since warmed up to it. 2/2 Drain with an evo board wipe is a good tool for control Blood, so expect to see this card in ranked.
Forestcraft
Well, this is Amataz support, to say the least. It’s a 1 pp follower that you can turn into a huge ward follower. This seems like an easy inclusion in the deck.
Greenbrier Elf is, in contrast, Greenwood Guardian support. It gives some added consistency to the deck along with a mediocre leader effect. Will it be meta? Probably not. Will it see play as a tier support card? Absolutely.
Dragoncraft
Darkprison Dragon seems a bit mediocre to me. It’s a 3/2 ambusher that can get Storm for the cost of a play point orb. Dragon’s whole theme is ramping, so they usually have some to spare, but it seems like a harsh cost to pay for a bit more damage. It could see play in an aggressive build, but outside of that I don’t think it’s that good.
Raremetal Dragon has great durability and is excellent in any midrange deck… is what I would say if Spellboost Rune weren’t the deck to beat. It dies to so much removal, like Fiery Embrace, or rune’s small pings. Ivory Sword Dance and Blackened Scripture also make this card look like a joke. This card isn’t worth a slot in any deck anytime soon.
Portalcraft
In Shadowverse Ultimate Colosseum, Vertex Colony is pretty decent artifact support for Portal. The deck fell out of favor in Ultimate Colosseum, with its mechanics feeling power crept and slow. The Crystallize is excellent early game, and it acts as a finishing boardwipe late game, coupling with Absolute Modesty and Artifact Duplicator. It’s worth trying at the very least.
Ameth is great PP recovery support. It’s card draw that helps protect your followers and yourself. My only complaint is that it doesn’t have Union Burst. It still puzzles me why Cygames would give every class the mechanic except Portalcraft. Either way, expect to see people try it in PP portal at the very least.
Havencraft
Goddess feels underwhelming at best. There aren’t enough good targets for it to get at the moment, and it doesn’t fit into any existing archetypes in Rotation. I expect for it to see little play.
Manifest Devotion has some crazy combo potential. I’m definitely interested to see how players can break this one by duplicating some amulets. Just be careful not to board-lock yourself in the process.
Shadowcraft
New Arcus seems pretty good. The Crystallize seems extremely good and near impossible to interact with. The follower itself is also hard to deal with too. However, I don’t know if it’s good enough to make the cut in the current meta Shadowcraft deck.
Grudge Knight is alright and provides good value, but like Arcus, it might have trouble finding a home in Rotation. The healing is solid and the enhance is nice, but otherwise it’s just a Happy Pig clone.
Conclusion
Overall, all of the classes got solid, or at the very least interesting, cards in Shadowverse Ultimate Colosseum. The biggest winners at this point seem to be Sword, Rune, and Blood, who all got excellent tools for their Tier 2 and 3 decks. What do you think of the new cards? Are there any you plan on trying? Let us know down in the comments!
