Unlocking the New World: Taking Showdown Decks Beyond the Box

With just a week before Set 16: New World Genesis, a new entry point arrives - the new Showdown Decks. These decks are the perfect entry point for new players, and a great way for existing players to try out new classes! Additionally, these decks introduce the Super Evolution Point - we'll have an article on this soon!

Let's meet our new contenders, in the Showdown.

Forestcraft

In the Forest corner, we have and her and tokens.

The Forest Showdown deck focuses around enabling aggressive combo plays with cards like and , turning your Pixie tokens into high damage threats. We have a guide on the deck for the BP14/BP15 format, but be sure to refine your deck with the upcoming cards from BP16: New World Genesis!

High-Priority Upgrades

• : As the third iteration of Aria, enables early generation, while sporting a very powerful On Evolve and On Super-Evolve effect - notably providing her buff to existing Pixie token followers on your board and in your EX area with her On Super-Evolve effect.

• : While the set 6 version of Amataz is provided in the Showdown deck, his BP15 iteration, on evolve, provides a valuable source of removal in order to help stabilize your midgame, provided you have the EX area set up sufficiently.

• : Consistency with the early Pixie generation was often a pain point for Pixie Forest, and Good Fairy of the Pond is another strong way to generate two Fairies for 1 play point. She also has an aggressive stat line, often prompting an early response from your opponent.

• : Piercye offers Pixie Forestcraft a way to interact with wide boards, and she can often fix your curve - tutoring into if you need additional removal early, if you need the damage, or any other curve filler that would help you advance your gameplan.

Low-Priority Upgrades

• : Intertwined Resolve, once a staple for Pixie Forest, is now a situational upgrade for the Showdown deck. The card offers 2 Fairies for 1 play point, and gets much stronger once Aria's effect is active alongside .

• : As another retrain from Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, comes with a relatively solid on evolve effect. The primary drawback behind running her is the lack of evolve deck space, as Pixie Forest has a very tight evolve deck.

Swordcraft

Next up, we have - wait is that Nahtnaught? And Bunny & Baron? What are you three doing together?

Wasteland Sword is an aggressive midrange deck, and since its release in BP11, it has been a mainstay. offers a unique soft removal method. Additionally, her spell, , can pull any of the existing Wasteland followers, which helps tie the deck together!

High-Priority Upgrades

• : Celia is a Sword staple, as she offers immediate tempo on turn 1 going second through her on evolve effect. She also occasionally offers Storm on her second evolved form, but you do need to pay an additional 3 play points for that.

• : While the original shares the same statline as Flashstep Quickblader, the new Quickblader's on evolve effect offers a 1 damage ping for 2 fewer play points and 1 less attack and defense. The flexibility he offers ensures that he is a mainstay in any aggressive Sword deck.

Low-Priority Upgrades

• : Wasteland Sword thrives on flexibility, and Nagi Hisakawa provides that - removal if your opponent has a large target, a small amount of damage to help you get closer to ending the game, and cycling a card as needed. While not a staple, she is a strong tech choice depending on the metagame.

• and : Neither one of these cards can be mentioned without the other. Supersonic Breakthrough helps tutor out both versions of Ralmia, as is one of your primary sources of damage. And offers a potential source of board-wide removal, albeit with the condition of filling your board with followers. Overall a relatively niche inclusion, but a potential surprise for your opponent!

Runecraft

Oh, of course those two are playing with the dirt again. Ceridwen? Faust? Can you two explain yours- ah. Riley. I see.

Earth Rite Rune is a resource-intensive archetype, focusing on Stack management in order to grind out your opponent. offers a large source of recursion for the deck, and enables consistency, tutoring out two Earth Sigil amulets.

High-Priority Upgrades

• : While the deck comes with 1 copy, an additional copy of Ancient Alchemist is important - outside of and , the deck can struggle to close out games. Notably, Ancient Alchemist is extremely effective when summoned by .

Low-Priority Upgrades

• : As a new addition to Earth Rite, Lilanthim offers herself as a very sticky follower to deal with. As long as you have any Stacks, she summons herself if she is evolved. She also utilizes the new Super-Evolution mechanic in order to add two to a Stack on your field and destroy two enemy followers.

• : Magical Augmentation is a very Stack hungry card, but highly play-point efficient. If the 4 damage meets the thresholds of the meta, I would suggest one or two copies.

• and : Earth Rite is a very toolbox-like deck. Given that can tutor out two Earth Rite amulets, additional copies of both Red-Hot Ritual and Summoning Drills can be run depending on the speed of the meta.

Dragoncraft

What's that? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's... Filene and her dragons. At least they're not coming to destroy the place like last time.

While the Showdown Dragon deck is focused heavily on ramping into big followers, the upgraded deck is colloquially referred to as 7-Cost Dragon due to needing to run such a high density of 7 or higher cost Dragoncraft followers. The upgraded deck focuses almost entirely on cycling rapidly to find and resolve in order to swing the game back in your favor.

High-Priority Upgrades

• : As the primary win condition of 7-Cost, Burnite is an essential upgrade to the Showdown deck - she can come down for as little as 5 play points, she deals 7 damage to your opponent when evolved, and her Super-Evolve effect gives your leader +5, helping you stabilize. Overall, she perfectly embodies 7-Cost's gameplan: providing stabilization while helping you close out with heavy burst.

• : Since 7-Cost often has to discard cards in order to activate key effects, Draconic Call is one of the few ways that you generate hand advantage - it adds up to 2 cards that cost 7 or more, and for 2 play points, it is necessary for 7-Cost to function.

• : Celestial Dragoon maintains your hand size by letting you to draw a card when you discard a card. She also evolves in order to grab a card that costs 7 or more, which simply adds to the consistency of the deck.

• : Zahar, Stormwave Dragoon is an important card for 7-Cost despite not being a card you often play - he is one of the deck's best discard targets, as he adds a card that costs 7 or more from the top 2 cards of your deck when discarded. Seeing him early ensures that you maintain a strong hand.

• : Discarding cards in 7-Cost doesn't only serve to advance your Burnite condition, it actually serves to activate Dracomancer's Rites - one of the strongest payoffs for discarding cards in the game. If you draw one early, that is almost assuredly 2 damage per turn, adding a strong amount of inevitability.

Low-Priority Upgrades

• : While 7-Cost relies extremely heavily on and to finish the game, any additional reach is helpful. Dark Dragoon Forte offers 7 damage for 6 play points (or 5 and an evo point), and with Aura, she is very difficult to interact with.

• : Marion, Ravishing Dragonewt offers both cycle and, once you get at least 4 cards that cost 7 or more, he can to deal 4 damage to an enemy follower - a very helpful source of cycle and removal all in a 2 play point package.

• and : Depending on how aggressive the meta is, Gilnelise, Ravenous Craving and Apollo, Heaven's Envoy are worth considering. Gilnelise provides a strong amount of healing once your leader's is below 10, and Apollo is valuable if you need to respond to wide boards that have followers with 2 or less.

Abysscraft

Just because they're Departed doesn't mean they aren't allowed to show up to the Showdown!

Departed Abyss revolves around burying cards until your Necrocharge effects are active, notably and , or even . Then, you control the board with and his token, . Once you're set up, the deck provides the inevitable value needed to outlast your opponent.

High-Priority Upgrades

• : Gremory is one of the fastest Necrocharge enablers: She advances your Necrocharge by 3 for 2 play points, and for one more play point, she advances it by another 1, all while providing a well-statted 2/3 follower with Ward.

• : A follower burying itself seems like a downside, but Gold Rush Ghost provides plenty of upsides to counter it. Given that is both a Wasteland and Departed follower, it has a number of very powerful synergies, including being summoned via , Linkstaff Necromancer's On Evolve effect, or Mukan, Shadowcrypt Ward's On Evolve effects.

• : As the primary Super-Evolve target run in Departed Abyss, Mukan offers access to a 3 cost or less Departed follower from your cemetery through his On Evolve effect. His Super-Evolve summons another Departed follower that costs 3 or less, granting the new follower Assail to help with standing threats. Your strongest targets are for adaptability, for removal, or for damage if you have Necrocharge (20) active.

• : As Departed lacks both board-wide removal and significant burst damage, one copy of Odile, Black Swan covers both, along with being one of your stronger cards off of .

• : Adaptability only helps Departed Abyss, and Cerberus, Hellfire Unleashed cements herself as a very versatile piece of the puzzle. Her tokens, and , provide you with a small amount of healing and damage while also advancing your Necrocharge.

Low-Priority Upgrades

• : Despite not being able to attack, Arcus, Spirited Manager offers a lot in a 2 play point package: You can at the cost of burying a follower, and pick one of three very useful options. Arcus being a 5/5 is also extremely difficult to remove while dealing with other threats on your board, ensuring high value if he survives.

• : While is a good card, Linkstaff Necromancer serves as a viable alternative to him - she buries one card on her Fanfare, and her On Evolve effect is identical to Mukan. Depending on how much space you have left in your evolve deck, she can fit in very well.

Havencraft

Oh, don't mind the Amulets that have been placed around, I'm sure that's just Alexiel being cautious.

Amulet Haven is a combo-control deck that utilizes Amulets to smooth out your curve, utilizing board control tools such as in order to achieve a strong lategame push with and Zelgenea's Advanced form.

High-Priority Upgrades

• : Lapis, Shining Seraph acts as the core engine for the Prayer Counter mechanic, accelerating to summon a follower earlier, to tutor out two cards from your deck and give your leader +10, and boosting the value of . Once you stabilize, this engine is terrifying to play against and can survive almost anything thrown at it.

• : As setting up is extremely important, Serene Sanctuary directly tutors her (and ).

• : Angelic Prism Priestess provides further consistency, digging for amulets on her Fanfare and cheating them into play On Evolve - both of which simply help Amulet Haven.

• : While his base form is unassuming, Rodeo's Evolved form is very swingy - his On Evolve and On Super-Evolve effects can pull powerful targets like , , and directly from your deck.

Low-Priority Upgrades

• : Depending on how much space you have left in your evolve deck, Eidolon of Madness can serve as an easy 2 play point follower that turns into an amulet and banishes an enemy follower on evolve.

• : While the ability of Darkhaven Grace is difficult to activate in a relatively low follower count deck, it remains a solid 4 play point Luminary amulet that offers unconditional removal on Fanfare. It is situationally a very strong target off of , and can be a potential target for .

Conclusion

While the Showdown decks provide a strong base for new and veteran players alike, be mindful of how existing cards and the upcoming BP16: New World Genesis set can strengthen them!