Eightfold Retributions and Omens and Heirs, Part 1

Welcome to the Eightfold Abyss, Convict

Azvaldt is a penitentiary for some of the most dangerous criminals out there, composed of layers that resemble the layout of Inferno from The Divine Comedy. Cards related to Azvaldt all have the Condemned trait, and each class has cycles of cards composed of a Convict and their allies, a Warden, and an Enforcer. In their respective classes, the Convict faction tends to have a specific theme within that class, while the Warden and Enforcer tend to push toward another theme (with possible overlap). As a bit of lore trivia, each Convict and their respective Enforcer share a complex relationship muddled by a past conflict that placed them on opposing sides before ending up in Azvaldt.

Since we get both BP19 and BP20 at the same time, decklists for this article will focus on decks that largely use the themes from BP19, but may include cards from BP20 that result in a slight improvement. If a large portion of cards from BP20 are used for the deck in question, it will be mentioned in the part 2 article.

Forestcraft

Condemned Forest

Magachiyo, Barbed Convict and her gang (Budding Initiate, Leafshade Assassin, and Verdant Lieutenant) call back to the roots of Forestcraft and work with the Combo mechanic. Magachiyo, when evolved, is a powerful Storm card that removes an enemy follower when a combo condition is met, while her Super-Evolve allows you to grant storm to your entire team of Condemned followers (this makes her a strong generic card in Forest decks). Magachiyo's son, Wimael, Redolent Enforcer, whose resilience is represented in his Last Words effect that brings him back to the field. While in the lore his aim is to punish his mother for breaking the traditions of the Verdant Ring, he actually ends up playing quite well with the rest of the Condemned Forest lineup as a setup finisher. He's fairly difficult to remove and he can combine with Warden of Balms to repeatedly perform his Fanfare and/or do a "double hit" by granting him Storm with Magachiyo's Super-Evolve after he revives from his own Last Words.

Puppetry Forest

This set also contains a small Puppetry theme. Zwei, Symphonic Heart is a slightly more Puppet-hungry improvement over her 3pp iteration in terms of generating Victoria for fewer play points as well as having a better payoff once 3 puppetry cards are in the Cemetery. Synchronous Hearts allows you to search out either Orchis and Zwei at a solid rate while generating Puppets to feed their effects. Rogue Puppeteer adds more Puppet generators in the deck at a relatively low cost while also helping accelerate the Cemetery condition for the deck. Puppet Workout adds more forms of Assail into the deck, which helps shore up some of the issues it's always had with dealing with multiple reserved followers.

Swordcraft

Condemned Sword

Barbaros, Briny Convict, as a pirate, iterates upon the Loot mechanic, introducing a new Loot token in Dread Pirate's Flag while offering a discount on Loot Tokens. When evolved, she offers payoffs for playing Loot, including a refund that helps keep making plays. Storm-Wracked First Mate and his evolution search for a specific Condemned-Thief follower. Tidal Gunner is generally this deck's finisher, converting Flags into even more damage. This deck will be upgraded in BP20 as well, so stay tuned for the next article on what a Loot sword deck will look like.

Barbaros was taught to value freedom and honor, but she believed her father's honorable principles were depriving her of her freedom, so she mutinied against her old man. The former pirate captain has now been transformed into Radiel, Valorous Enforcer, who plays well with a full board and a full EX area. Unfortunately, his cost and the requirements for his effects make it currently difficult to fit him into a consistent strategy.

Aggro / Token Sword

That's not the end of the line for our crew though, as they also make a great splash in Aggro strategies, given that Condemned-Thief followers are all very efficiently-costed and all represent a huge amount of damage from Barbaros if left alive. Gildaria, Anathema of Peace also makes an appearance in this Aggro deck, as she offers extra bodies on the board, and, when evolved, offers a board clear and extra face damage to help keep up the pressure.

Runecraft

Condemned Rune

Sephie, Depraved Convict is a sociopathic doctor who has no qualms about human experimentation to deepen her understanding of medicine, with an ostensible goal of treating her ailing sister. She and her followers use the Fuse mechanic to effectively "transform" followers into Chimera Test Subject. Once enough Condemned followers are in the cemetery, these test subjects become stronger. Her sister, who has become Simael, Cleansing Enforcer, plays to a Mage theme as a finisher that encourages you to play a good mix of Mage spells and followers, which will be further explored in the BP20-focused article. Condemned Rune is a powerful tempo deck that looks to fill the cemetery with Condemned Followers and push for big boards and chip damage with Sephie's Super-Evolve as a finisher.

Condemned/Vincent Rune

The card selection and discard effects inherent to the Condemned cards, especially Volunteer Test Subject also enable Vincent, the Peacekeeper (Evolved) to be played alongside Sephie as an even more powerful finisher, at the cost of early game speed and consistency.

An explanation of Fusion:

Fusion is a mechanic that gives you additional payoff to a card by "fusing" another card into it before it is played. To Fuse a card, it must start in your hand, and be able to move to the EX area. Part of a Fusion effect will be a cost to discard cards from hand or bury cards from your EX area that meet a particular condition, and this part of the cost will correspond to fusion counters placed on the card after fusing. These fusion counters are the record of the fusion card cost being paid, and used at a later time to get extra effects for paying an extra cost.

Machina Rune

Kyrzael, Killshot Enforcer and Cutthroat, Discord Convict, a pair of brothers competing to inherit a mega-corporation, were broken up, since both were from the Portal class. Kyrzael, known originally for being a Machina card, was put into Runecraft along with Warden of the Trigger to fit in better with the Machina Rune theme. They give the deck an alternative midgame plan to Belphomet and his tentacles, as well as a solid turn 2 curve filler.

Dragoncraft

Condemned Dragon

Antemaria, Huntress Convict and Drazael, Ravening Enforcer (or rather, her pre-Enforcer incarnation) were the brawns and brains, respectively, of a gang of bandits. The theme of Condemned Dragon followers is to go into the EX area on Last Words to be used as resources for Antemaria, Drazael, and Scorched-Earth Tyrant, all of which go into a midrange shell that can play both offense and defense.

Other Dragon Decks

Marine also gets a few notable support cards, two of which I'm featuring here in the form of Seasoned Merman and Call of the Megalorca. They are both very efficient board presence tools that fit well into the existing Marine shells.

Masamune, One-Eyed Dragon is a powerful new card for Draconic Duelists, giving another Storm follower to pick up Aftershock buffs or deliver much-needed reach for the deck, or a reasonably strong early game follower to help control and swarm the board.

Abyss

Since Abyss was originally two classes, we get two pairs of Convicts and Wardens in abyss.

Condemned Necromancer Abyss

Istyndet, Soul Convict and his sister, Myroel, Death Enforcer, weave a tangled web. The former is an omnicidal necromancer looking to harvest souls to strengthen the latter, who granted him his abilities in the first place and disapproves of his current methods. This twist of fate is reflected in their mechanical synergy in a reanimation-based deck. Genomuel, Wyrm Enforcer (lore below) is the 5-cost Condemned follower of choice for Myroel's reanimation effect. Abyssal Colonel is the offensive card of choice in this deck, as when paired with the kill-and-reanimate effect on Istyndet, you get to effectively attack twice with this Storm follower, and double dip on its Last Words effects.

Sanguine Abyss

Garodeth, Insurgent Convict is a recklessly violent rebel fighting against a demonic nobility, taught to fight by the man who would become Genomuel. The former's faction fits into a Sanguine deck, while the latter plays to a control theme. Garodeth, Insurgent Convict (Evolved) adds more Storm damage to this deck, keying off of taking damage 4 times in one turn. Vicious Blitzer, Raging Commander, and Steamrolling Tank all add more ways to get self-pings, and the latter two can convert those pings to board control and healing. Howling Scream is a modal self-ping card that gives access to a cheap starter or can be two pings in one card. Prison of Pain also gives two instances of stored self-pings. All of these allow the Sanguine deck to play for even more damage from hand than before.

Handless Abyss

Somehow, despite having two full cycles worth of Condemned followers, Abyss found room for Handless support. Zeronua, Demon Dominator is a very strong Paracelise, Demon of Greed enabler, both searching and even allowing you to play her at reduced cost for greater board presence. Howling Scream has self-ping modes, but it also has the ability to be played for 0 to do nothing, which helps get hand size down to 1 or 0.

Haven

Condemned Haven

Erralde, Troth Convict is a mob boss, paranoid to the extent that he believed himself betrayed by his own, well, enforcer, who would become Uneriel, Winged Enforcer. Erralde's theme is end-of-turn effects, which is also reflected in his underlings: Follower of the Precepts, Agent of the Commandments,and Executor of the Oath. Erralde arguably plays a lot better with Crests next set, so stay tuned for the BP 20 article for an Erralde-themed deck.

Amulet Haven

Meanwhile, Uneriel gives Amulet Haven a much-needed multiple-amulet payoff that comes down earlier than Godsworn Alexiel. Luminescent Gem also helps the deck build and rebuild its Amulet boards much faster. These options create a more proactive Amulet Haven that gets earlier access to healing and board wipes than before.

Neutral

Cutthroat

Cutthroat, Discord Convict introduces a new payoff for playing decks that follow the harsh restriction of consisting almost entirely of singleton cards, often called Highlander, after the movie's motto of "There Can Be Only One". The downside is you can only play one copy of each card that is not Cutthroat in both the main and evo decks, while the payoff is Cutthroat, the bonus effects on Blackrust Underling, Smeltwork Bodyguard (Evolved), and Ironforged Right Hand, and Zerael, Regent of Rebirth and his Advanced form. Since these cards get bonus effects at fairly low costs and Cutthroat comes with an extremely powerful damaging Super-Evolve effect, these decks tend to lean in the aggressive direction. These decklists would take up a lot of space, so I'll link a sample one in 5 of the 6 classes (Rune would practically rather play Sephie anyway for aggression):

• Forestcraft

• Swordcraft

• Dragoncraft

• Abysscraft

• Havencraft

Azvaldt itself is represented as a neutral amulet that allows you to look at top 4 for a Condemned card to add to hand. This amulet can also be popped at will, although if done so on turn 8 or later, you'll draw a card.

Warden of Recurrence enables some interesting things, one of which is an infinite loop in Forest. It's pretty niche, but let's just say it involves Garuel, Seraphic Leo and King Elephant and I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out how it works.

Eudie, Maiden Reborn is the first instance of a card that gets stronger after you've spent your Super-Evolution Point. We'll see more usage of this template in BP20, but this is a useful pattern to keep in mind when building decks and planning out your turns.

A (Prison?) Break

These are some of the cards and deck themes to look out for in BP19: Eightfold Retributions, covering the prison Azvaldt, its inmates, and its enforcement arm. We'll take a short breather here, and when we return (in the next article on this combined set), we'll go over the next installment of another of Shadowverse's most iconic characters, the Omens, this time, with Heirs.