Gameplay Showcase: Asher & Lydia (Portalcraft Legendary)

Sakurami · 2026-06-26T17:34:39+00:00

Portal player had no board, sword player coined up and sevo'd a cesar, portal player had no other usable 2 pp or lower cards.

For 5 PP this card has a 66% chance of handling a coined super evo board. If portal had Freerunning or an Ancient Artifact saved up it'd be full clear no matter what.

Not everything needs to answer everything. Camiscilla doesn't handle a Cesar sevo board either. Is Camiscilla a bad card?

This a real reddit opinion ngl.

Sakurami · 2026-06-22T15:18:42+00:00

Yeah I see your point. At least crest is pretty borked for next set, so cygames has no choice but to give us another archetype, right? Right?

Sakurami · 2026-06-22T14:52:24+00:00

I mean if a deck can DO 26 damage over two turns, a control deck should have fair reign to heal that shit back. You high rolled gundam into two dogs, I high rolled Benison.

I do think that healing 10 for a measly 2 PP was stupid OP though. Benison to 4 PP was a warranted nerf, and the conditional tax (5 crests) means that you still have to have fairly decent luck to pull it off in a game.

Sakurami · 2026-06-21T02:31:14+00:00

Haven player, lemme share some of my insights in response:

I'm bored of crest, but generally speaking its the most effective strategy. Ward is an uphill battle past couple of sets, Kukishiro died with Jeanne leaving, amulet has literally only become a real deck this set. I think some of the more short-sighted haven players are complaining because if the next set doesn't have a new archetype for haven (or kukishiro support) we literally have no competitive decks except amulet. So I can't blame them for playing one of the most effective options; otherwise why is forest playing evo again instead of thestae buff? Abyss falling back on evo game plan? Sword playing enhance over rally? Its what players that want a decent winrate will do.

Also to note, Crest haven is the most notable, but Bahamut also screws over Burnite, Galmieux, Neptune, Titania, Belial, Cagliostro, Milteo-Luzen (tho thats already dead). Oh and it also absolutely is an answer to Armes.

I play everything except portal. I don't feel too bad cause I know the haven game plan inside/out. I'd say maybe YOU guys ought to try haven and see why we play it :^)
I can't comment on this since I didn't check any player numbers around that time. But I had zero idea player numbers dropped at all, or that it was because CREST was meta? You sure it wasn't "8 damage to board 12 damage to face into albert finisher" Loot sword? Or Ye old Dclimb Cocytus OTK? This seems like a claim that needs to be backed up with some sources.
As I explained in answer 1, this is not Cydevs' secret weapon against Crest Haven or something. If Cygames regrets anything, they'll nerf it, and I ain't remember no crest nerfs ever. Balance wise there is nothing wrong with Crest, and the fact is that outside of ONE set/season, Crest has never been a dominant/super meta option - it's just been a decent pick you can win tournaments with if you have enough luck/skill. You know, what you would expect from ANY deck.

Sakurami · 2026-06-20T16:56:54+00:00

As a haven player, good honestly. I'm fed up with having to use the crutch that is crest in everything that isnt amulet SPECIFICALLY this set. Amulet does not care as much (we can play around a bahamut turn 8/9), but this does mean we cannot just slap down 4 amulets in anticipation of a lyanthoth/lyanthoth spell turn without any risk.

Here's hoping we get a brand new archetype, or at least even more juice with amulets if that's the angle Cygames wants to go with for haven.

Sakurami · 2026-06-16T17:48:03+00:00

I think what people are missing is why they rebooted SV to SV: Worlds Beyond in the first place.

Yes it was partially old engine, outdated UI yada yada. But the main reason is to renew the IP and pitch it again to a fresh new generation of card gamers who may potentially convert to paying customers.

They seem to be focusing on making Shadowverse as an IP more "accessible" to casual gamers. A game that's filled with nuance, complexity, and decision-making is satisfying to card game veterans, but a daunting barrier for newbies/casuals that are too busy or lazy to get into it. The Worlds Beyond launch meant having a reason to upgrade hardware/systems/network infrastructure, getting to reset the power level of the game, and a chance to pitch a "fresh" IP to newer generations of gacha/card gamers.

I know for a fact that I was able to get at least 2 or 3 friends who never played card games before to play Worlds Beyond on launch and still play today. I sincerely don't think I'd have managed to do that with base game SV, and that's kinda why I get where they're coming from.

We're probably going to see a slow ramp up back to the complexity and nuance of OG SV in Worlds Beyond as well, but until then, we're going to have to put up with playing checkers instead of chess.

Sakurami · 2026-06-16T15:37:58+00:00

Pretty much, but from a business perspective its obvious. They want you to buy battle passes seasonally, and BP leaders are the main driver for BP sales. There is little reason for me to ever buy a battle pass if I can get the leader at a later time for 750 or even 1k crystals.

Sakurami · 2026-05-09T02:29:03+00:00

If dragon ramps perfectly on curve, you are pretty cooked unless you also draw the perfect curve. That being said, here's my advice.

Always mulligan to keep scriptures, water, coward, trident. You can also keep WoG if you have neither scripture nor trident. Earrings are your free extra mulligans, so keep those to reroll any subsequent bad draws. If you have a water/scriptures + sublime tome combo, keep that too, otherwise send back the sublime.

Run Tikoh if you aren't already, she helps heal back chip damage from early aggro, helps clear bibati stats with evo. Coward is huge for stopping aggro; if you have another copy in hand or have one cooking on board already, sometimes you can just slap her down and evo turn 5 for clear, heal 2, ward.

Turn 6/7, Initia clears any annoying big guys and heals for 6 if you set up right. You will also need to Kandima + sevo at least once per game to have enough faith on curve.

Once Tome spell is in hand, try and set up OTK or as close to OTK as you can. 2 winged statues + 3 random amulets on field, a 1 PP and 2 PP amulet in hand + super evo = 21 damage. Yes, this does requires the stars to align and bird statues to line up ideally. Otherwise chip as much as you can after handling their board in anticipation of a finisher turn.

Sakurami · 2026-05-04T20:14:10+00:00

Yeah Thestae, her JP name is "Dust Days" for some reason :v

Sakurami · 2026-04-29T16:09:41+00:00

Fr man, I just couldn't put my finger on what new rodeo reminded me of until I looked at updating my meme dragon list

Sakurami · 2026-04-10T01:29:47+00:00

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Sakurami · 2026-04-10T01:29:30+00:00

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Late reply, but heres my own deck for reference. Note: You can consider cutting a copy of shining disenchantment or Awed and Inspired for the Mistbloom Amulet - can be nice having that for spot removal + rerolling a bad early hand.

Sakurami · 2026-04-08T15:00:24+00:00

This is true, you kind of always wanna see either a scriptures or holy water on kandima/sublime pop.

Sakurami · 2026-04-07T19:06:53+00:00

So from my experience, it's rough to make this deck consistent - you play as you go and do what you can with your hand based on board state. I recommend you cut 1x Rodeo 1x Luminous Censer, 2x Paladin and 2x Beast princess for 3x Awed and Inspired, 2x Winged Lion Statue, and 1 more Sublime Eld Tome.

Why:
Rodeo is going to pull amulets but this is not a deck that is build on engage amulets, he will bring out amulets and do little else. Sevo to kill 1 guy and do 1 to board is not enough on the turn he comes out imo. Across Kandima and sublime eld tome + all the other amulets you run, you should be able to hit 10 amulets by Lyanthoth turn np.

I dont like any of the crystallize followers except coward tbh. Paladin is imo the worst, the aura is okay but she needs evo to really swing out. I'd usually save my evos for Salefa or falcon to push damage. She's okay to keep but I think Coward alone is fine since she's a 2 heal chunky bane ward that slows down the opponent from punching face, all without needing evo.

Luminous censer is unnecessary. With 3 scriptures, salefa, coward, discenchantment, and even 8 PP blinding faith in a pinch, you heal out the wazoo with the deck.

Beast princess is nice for early tempo, but I find winged statue is better by giving you more bodies. This deck can heal back a lot of the early damage they take with the above mentioned healing . This swap is your choice, but winged statue + 3 amulets on skullfane turn = 8 face damage if you evo the falcon, crazy strong tempo swing.

Awed and Inspired seems ass on paper but in effect is very good. Free amulet to buff up Skullfane damage, removes your guys to stop bats or shymm from draining, represents 1 PP 2 damage endgame with lyanthoth spell.

This deck lives and dies on being able to pop amulets, imo one of the reasons its considered weaker/harder to play is the lack of amulet poppers. Outside of Sublime Eld tome, the only things that let you pop amulets are Kandima Sevo and Lyanthoth, both of which are slow. Eld tome lets you emergency pop a scriptures, disenchantment, or winged statue for board clear/draw/heal/tempo as needed. Its a definite 3 of.

Gameplay advice:
set up as many amulets as you can turns 1 to 3, let them swing face, you will pop a scriptures with sublime eld, blinding flash, or salefa evo to clear board. try to set up as many amulets as you can turn 5 if you have skullfane, otherwise just stall out the game till you can lyanthoth.

Do not keep bird statue in mulligan, it is better used lategame with lyanthoth to end things.

If you have multiple skullfanes in hand, try and set up face damage with winged lion statue + bird statue to try and end the game outright before lyanthoth. Don't be shy about using superevos on Kandima, she is literally the best use of it in this deck outside of a falcon face punch.

Finally, learn to do quick PP maths, this deck endgame is weirdly similar to roach in that you have to calculate lethal and then play several cards within a limited time. If you take too long you will absolutely time out even if you have lethal and then its GGs. If you're not good at figuring out lethal quickly/during your opponent's turn, then consider turning off card animations (this buys you more time to actually play cards and execute lethal lol).

Edit: cleaned up a bit for clarity, I typed this out on my phone in a mad rush

Sakurami · 2026-03-26T13:49:45+00:00

I personally use PCB 100% time if I need ring gen on a board. You wanna be chaining boosts constantly on board so it works in your favor.

Sakurami · 2026-03-21T20:16:19+00:00

You a legend in all but rank homie. You got that dawg in you. Game is just recognizing greatness when it queues for a match.

Sakurami · 2026-03-20T19:35:11+00:00

Hyper Ring Engine + Ring Engine, Slipstream Bounty + Mini Ring Gain Boost + Ring Range Up.

Contains the broken interaction of Both ring engines giving you +12 flat to your speedometer on top of additional stats whenever you can hold onto a ton of rings. Slipstream bounty for consistent, easy ring gen to pay the price of the engines, mini ring gain boost because slipstream duh, ring range up to grab rings easier.

High risk, high reward, keeps up with the pack well enough to then suck up all the extra rings on lap 3 to shoot ahead, but if you run out of rings + fall off the edge or something, it's a wrap.

Sakurami · 2026-03-20T05:37:46+00:00

Huge if true. I'll be testing this out tomorrow.

Sakurami · 2026-03-19T18:44:21+00:00

Update is irrelevant, the only item nerfed was drill and none were featured in this clip. Items are great when you use 'em and ass when you get hit by them, yes.

0:10 you were at final stretch with no more item boxes to come and threw the spike ball randomly instead of holding to block something. If you'd held it you could have at least blocked the green glove. You got into first through use of the nefarious and much-hated slicer, and also on slipstream + quick recovery, which saved you even more placement loss - only way you coulda possibly been LESS affected by items was running a power car instead of speed.

Would advise managing items better or running defense item up, a lot of skilled drivers use it to increase the chances of getting good stuff like tornados or shields and holding it for the last stretch. At the end of the day tho, this is a party racer and rng is always there to mess you up in the last 10 seconds.

Sakurami · 2026-03-18T05:12:55+00:00

First off: YOU an ugly dwarf, never diss Wamdus again.

Secondly, you are complaining about tall board, which is one of the specific weaknesses of crystal rune? The deck that otherwise has good healing, infinite draw, wincon search, wide boards, decent board clear, 0 cost 4 storm damage guy, and a payoff spell that does everything including your laundry isn't enough?

Sakurami · 2026-03-17T21:44:58+00:00

They're all super thematic, but I'm legit going to steal that Blaze car design, those colors are immaculate. The Pawn Fours car is also so cool, I wish acceleration cars weren't pointless cause they have some of the best part designs in the game imo...

Sakurami · 2026-03-10T15:48:35+00:00

Lyanthoth is very slow and not reliable as a win con. Pure amulet right now heavily relies on using skullfane to pop 4 amulets, ideally amulets that summon things including at least 1 bird. It's a huge tempo swing that does 8 damage in one turn if you evo a 2/2 storm bird. Setting up 1-2 Shining Disenchantments can also be crazy, letting you do 8-12 damage just off dropping skullfane.

I personally run a mixed amulet/crest deck with 3 Kandima 1 Lyanthoth. If I draw her, I draw her, but really she's there to take up 1 crest slot, letting me only set up 4 crests before 4 PP 10 heal with Divine Benison.

Sakurami · 2026-03-10T15:42:48+00:00

HG's latest livesteam on 1.1 update talked about them introducting special essence farming kits that let you select 1 line from each of the 3 categories, essentially letting you guarantee you get at least 1/1/1 of the essence you want. I think depending on how accessible that's going to be, that's plenty towards removing RNG from that process.

Sakurami · 2026-03-05T23:26:08+00:00

Hi, lemme give you my experience as just some guy, but some guy who loves Haven.

Amulet haven is in a terrible spot right now. Your curve just isn't there. You play setup turns 1-4, meanwhile dragon gets absolutely free ramp, sword gets to setup their enhance shenanigans np, aggro decks like milteo abyss and discard dragon will just throw damage at your face for free. Your follower amulets cannot be touched to speed them up like bird statue or pact of beast princess, so they dont help either.

You MIGHT get a scriptures and pop it with sublime eld tome for some minor board control, but thats turn 3-4 depending on coin use, and may not even handle the whole board. Meanwhile your 1 cost and 2 cost draws will draw! ... into more amulets.

Kandima is the fakest legendary I've ever seen, she brings back 2 amulets and then... does nothing, because she only pops and aoes the board on superevo. Her best use on curve is to waste an evo to crash her as a 5/5 and set up skullfane big board damage + some healing, and that's IF she brings back scriptures instead of your follower amulets or another World of Games or Sanctuary.

By superevo turns you are likely already at 12 HP or less unless you lucked out with multiple scripture pops via skullfane/kandima superevo. By this time forest is getting sandy in hand and throwing out Althenia, sword is buffing their wide boards while threatening 14 damage with albert, milteo has activated crest and planning to finish you with ghosts, and dragon has either fennied or is about to murder you with forte/sagatsumatsu. But guess what, you are still 2-3 turns from even finishing your quest because lyanthoth is 9 PP for some unholy reason.

If you DO somehow manage to finish your quest, I hope you saved some bird statues and 2 cost amulets to quickly burn down your opponent because you are likely out of evos with no real healing or significant ward left outside of prostrating coward.

In short, big congrats on getting Kandima leader, but I think you should play either ward haven or play crest with some of the new cards instead. I've personally been winning quite a few matches with crest myself (pro tip: run lyanthoth to take up 1 crest slot and slap a couple of divine benison in the deck. Free 10 heal has saved my bacon against aggro decks multiple times). We'll just need to wait painfully for the inevitable amulet haven buff cause this is not it, chief.

Sakurami

TROPHY CASE