I'm an avid Hearthstone player and have been so for years, spending hundreds of dollars on card packs, pre-ordering all the expansions - you name it. Yet lately it's grown a bit stale for me; with extreme focus on RNG, net decks ruling the meta and the developers pushing hard for games being dictated by straight forward on-curve tempo.
Introducing Shadowverse
Available on Google Play, iTunes & Steam
Yes, it has a somewhat obscene amount of waifus. And it's definitely easy to spot the heavy inspiration from both Hearthstone and MTG. Yet it's the latter that has me so intrigued by this game - it's almost a perfect mix of my two favorite TCG's!
From hearthstone you get things such as:
- Stealth (Ambush)
- Being able to dictate where damage goes
- Gaining mana per turn
- Playable characters with different traits (hero powers are replaced by a passive modifier/trait)
- Limited board space (5 instead of 7)
- Arena (different concept called 'Take Two')
- Battlecries (Fanfare) and Deathrattles (Last Words)
- Artifacts/weapons (Amulets)
- More control over tempo
- No fatigue - death when deck is empty
- Separating charge into two categories - Rush (can attack minions only) and Storm (minions and face)
- Evolve points (I'll get more into this later)
- Board space being shared by minions and Amulets
- More than one card resource - depending on which character you play
For those of you who don't know, in HS the second player gets a card called 'The Coin' which is a one-time use spell that temporarily gives you one extra mana point. It's meant to weigh up the tempo loss from going second. Additionally you gain an extra card during the mulligan phase (4 instead of 3).
In Shadowverse, both players mulligan for 3 cards, and the second player then draws two cards instead of one on their first turn. The players then get their respective Evolve points, 2 for the first player and 3 for the person who goes second.
What is an Evolve point, you ask?
Evolving allows you to change any minion (follower) into a stronger version of itself, with the following effects:
- (Always) Gains +2/+2
- (Always) Gains Rush, AKA the ability to attack enemy minions
- (Sometimes) Plays an on-evolve effect unique to that card
You always have to take your opponents remaining Evolve points into consideration - as control over the tempo can shift back and forth swiftly at times - and try to think several turns ahead in your game-plan to ensure you are the one who has board control when both players are out of points.
Evolve points do NOT regenerate unless triggered by a card (so far I only know of one high-cost legendary that does this) so you have to use this resource extremely wisely.
So why should I give this game a try, when I am already invested in INSERT-TCG-HERE?
- They are surprisingly generous to F2P players, giving out card packs left and right and allowing a strong starting collection (advice: check out re-rolling)
- There is a single player 'story' that introduces you somewhat well to the game, meaning you don't need to get wrecked on ladder instantly unless you swing that way. Also rewards you with some core cards for all decks.
- You can still, most likely, continue playing your preferred playstyle - such as ramp, control, SMOrc, zoo etc.
- Who doesn't like variation?
