Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, like most competitive card games, has a constantly evolving meta of what the best decks are. From the magical Spell Runecraft deck to the intimidating Puppetry Portalcraft deck, Shadowverse: WB boasts a wide range of card classes that have dramatically different playstyles.
There’s something for everyone, with relatively low-cost, easy-to-play Swordcraft decks amongst the meta, as well as more challenging decks to experiment with, such as Artifact Portalcraft and Dragoncraft Aggro. To help you decide which decks to try building and climbing up the ranked ladder with, here’s our Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond tier list.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond tier list
| Tier: | Name: |
|---|---|
| S | Roach Forestcraft, Swordcraft Midrange, Spellboost Runecraft |
| A | Ward Havencraft, Abysscraft Aggro, Artifact Portalcraft |
| B | Ramp Dragoncraft, Puppetry Portalcraft, Earth Rite Runecraft, Dragoncraft Aggro, Departed Abysscraft |
| C | Control Havencraft, Amulet Havencraft, Storm Havencraft |
When it comes to selecting a deck to try and build in Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, Swordcraft and Dragoncraft decks are recommended for beginners as they’re relatively straight-forward to play, allowing you to draw cards, mindlessly attack, and still perform well. They’re also – in some instances – more free-to-play friendly as opposed to decks of other class types.
You’ll notice in the Battle Tutorials available in the game that these types of decks have lower difficulties compared to the likes of Forestcraft, Abysscraft, Portalcraft, and Runecraft decks. These decks are a little more complex, but it all depends on exactly what you’re doing with these decks; a deck featuring Amulets and Shadows is bound to be more complex to learn than a Swordcraft deck, but anyone can pick them up after enough battles and experience with Shadowverse’s varying card classes.
That said, the Battle Tutorials found in Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond will introduce you to each type of deck and explain exactly how to play it. The decks you ultimately build will bear similarities to these beginner decks, but might feature more powerful cards – or less – depending on what you have available to you.
Either way, these tutorials – if you’re new to Shadowverse Worlds Beyond – are not just great for learning to play different decks and seeing how each class works, but also great for identifying which decks you have the most fun using.
Thanks Shadowverse.gg for helping inform this tier list, and Shadowverse: World Beyond’s deck portal for the below deck lists. Note that these deck lists are merely guidelines for what type of cards should be in your deck; experiment as you see fit!
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond S-Tier decks
S-Tier decks are the bread and butter of Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, dominating the ranked meta. That said, some of these decks can be quite costly to build, especially if you’re new to the game. You can, however, experiment with which cards you use in your deck until you finally get your hands on better ones from card packs or have enough resources to craft the cards you require.
The S-Tier Roach Forestcraft deck uses a bunch of low-cost follower cards, known as Fairies, with the Rush ability and Combos to overwhelm opponents. This deck relies on playing multiple cards in a single turn so you can activate your combos, and using the likes of Fairy Convocation or Lambert Cairn to give you plenty of Fairy cards to help with activating these combos (and generally overwhelming your opponent).
For example, a single-cost follower card – May Journey Elf – can deal three damage to an enemy follower if her combo (which is three) is activated. To activate this combo, you must play two cards in a single turn and then play May following them. On the other hand, Killer Rhinoceroach can have their damage output boosted by combos; if you have a combo ongoing (let’s say you’ve placed down four cards already), and you then place Killer Rhinoceroach, the card will receive +4 to its damage output. Can’t complain about that! Activating combos can be devastating over time, with Roach Forestcraft able to deal consistent, repeat damage as well as buffing your allies if luck is on your side.
The Spellboost Runecraft deck relies on you using Spellboosts to strengthen your cards before then destroying opponents. Essentially, certain spell cards and select followers with the Spellboost ability, such as Dazzling Knight or William Mysterian Student, will improve the strength of your deck and your main offensive cards, or may provide other benefits. Spellboosting can reduce the Play Points needed by the cards (such as Demonic Call), transform cards such as Homework Time into entirely new cards (which then allow you to Spellboost your deck again and draw more cards), or may result in boosted damage output when it comes to cards like Stormy Blast.
On top of this, a Spell Runecraft deck can also make use of Earth Sigils, turning it into an Earth Rite Spell Runecraft deck which is that bit more formidable. Various cards, such as Melvie Adoring Witch or Witch’s New Brew, will allow you to collect these on the field, and you can then use them to activate Earth Rite abilities that some cards possess. For example, Pascale’s Dance (which requires a whopping 10 Earth Sigils to activate its Earth Rite ability) allows you to double the attack and defense of all allied followers on the field, which can make a huge difference to your battle. This type of deck is very fun to play, and can result in some great damage outputs when played successfully.
Swordcraft decks are straight-forward to build and play with, but can be quite slow if they rely on high-cost followers. Swordcraft Midrange decks, or the Officer Swordcraft deck (which plays a little differently), find a middle ground when it comes to follower costs and can be played quite quickly if luck is on your side. You’ll use the likes of Amelia Silver Captain and Albert Levin Stormsaber as your most valuable cards – with Albert able to attack twice and Amelia drawing followers and providing Barrier to followers when Super-Evolved – as well as your buffed Knight followers. Swordcraft Midrange decks are not only good for beginners in Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, but reign superior in S-Tier of this tier list too.
Officer Swordcraft is not an S-Tier deck, but it similarly requires you to use the likes of Officer follower cards, such as Knights, to quickly overwhelm and chip away at your opponent’s health. As one of the weaker decks available, it isn’t hard to build and get going with, and it’s super straight-forward to play. As you unlock better cards, you can then modify this deck to feature better and rarer cards, forcing your Swordcraft deck to really pack a punch. You can even eventually build it into a Swordcraft Midrange deck.
It’s also worth noting that an Officer Swordcraft deck is a good place to start if you’re a newcomer to Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond. You can claim the beginner version of this deck – as well as other beginner versions of S-Tier decks such as Pixie Forestcraft and Spell Runecraft – for free at the beginning of the game too. You’ll need to have some luck when opening card packs, or spend resources on creating cards, to transform these beginner decks into something much more powerful, though.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond A-Tier decks
A-Tier decks in Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond remain very strong when it comes to climbing the ranked ladder, but can be outshone by some of the S-Tier decks mentioned above. That said, these decks are still very viable.
Ward Havencraft is a relatively simple but strong deck to try playing with, relying on Wards and using followers to buff allies, protect your Leader, and destroy the opponent’s followers. The opponent cannot attack anything but Warded followers (unless there are no Wards on the field), and if you’re able to use and evolve specific cards – such as Wilbert Desolate Paladin or Divine Guard – you can quickly fill your field with Wards and protected followers. Then, using offensive cards such as Pact of the Beast Princess or Grimnir Heavenly Gale, you can attempt to clear the opponent’s field and quickly turn the tide of a match. It’s good fun!
As is usually the case with Aggro decks, Abysscraft Aggro is about wearing down your opponent from the get-go, and dealing as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. Abysscraft decks can be trickier to play for newcomers, so it might be worth considering one of the other A-Tier decks – such as Ward Havencraft – while you’re starting out.
Either way, an Abysscraft Aggro deck doesn’t have to be expensive to build, and uses cards such as Aragavy Eternal Hunter, Reaper’s Deathslash, and Beryl Nightmare Incarnate to quickly take down enemy followers and the enemy Leader (with Beryl notably restoring the defense of your own Leader too). You’ll also, of course, use Ghosts, Skeletons, and Bat cards to fill your field and chip away at your opponent, with cards such as Aryll Moonstruck Vampire providing the Storm ability to Bats, so you can quickly damage your opponent with them.
The Artifact Portalcraft deck is another one of the more complex decks to get to grips with – alongside Abysscraft decks – in Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, as it makes use of Artifact cards. These cards must be fused together to make even more powerful Artifacts – including the Masterwork Artifact which deals five damage to all enemy followers while restoring five defense to your leader – to use in battle. Your artifacts can also be used to attack (i.e. Ominous Artifact B will deal three damage to the enemy leader after each turn), but take note of their abilities and how the evolution of your follower cards may buff them.
For example, super-evolving Ralmia Sonic Boom with multiple fused Artifacts on the field will give all allied Artifacts +1/+1. Meanwhile, Alouette Doomwright Ward will provide your hand with two Artifacts, and upon evolving, she can summon a copy of any Artifact follower in your hand that costs five play points or less. This helps our efforts to build the Masterwork Artifact while benefitting from the attack power of the Striker Artifact or the defense-restoring abilities of Ominous Artifact A.
As you can no doubt tell, this deck is complex and if you can’t get your hands on the specific Artifacts you need, you are likely to struggle to turn the tides of a battle, but when it works, it works very well.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond B-Tier decks
B-Tier decks in Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond are, of course, less powerful than S-Tier and A-Tier decks, and some of them require a lot more thinking and planning. These decks are still effective and fun, but lack that extra bit of oomph to make them stand out amongst the meta.
Puppetry Portalcraft is a B-Tier deck that relies on controlling Puppet follower cards – such as Lovestruck Puppeteer and Puppet Lancer/Enhanced Puppet – to summon multiple Puppets to attack your opponent’s followers and keep their field empty. These cards can often attack upon entering the field thanks to the Rush ability, though they often only survive for one turn at a time so you need to decide carefully when to use them, and who to use them against. You’ll also use the powerful abilities of Amulets as part of this deck to keep drawing more Puppet cards to take down your opponent with, and use cards like Zwei Symphonic Heart to protect your remaining followers with Ward.
The Departed Abysscraft deck consumes Shadows (think of these as akin to Spellboosts or Earth Sigils, but slightly different) to power Necromancy and Reanimate abilities, which then allow us to use follower cards with the Departed trait, such as Ghost and Skeleton. Shadows are gathered by playing spells, or whenever our own follower cards are destroyed by the opponent, and can then be spent on using the abilities of your cards that require Shadows.
For example, Mukan Shadowcrypt Ward provides Bane to any departed follower cards that are on the field and can consume eight Shadows to evolve. Upon evolving, Mukan brings a Ghost card onto the field, who’ll then benefit from his Bane ability. You can then use this on top of Amulet cards like Shadowcrypt Memorial, which allows you to summon two more Ghost cards upon destroying the card. What’s so good about Bane? Well, this allows the Ghost cards with Bane active to destroy any enemy follower card on the field, even if the Ghost’s attack is a single point of damage.
On top of that, like Puppet cards, it’s worth noting that Departed cards such as Ghost and Skeleton will only live for one turn (so you’ll likely want to use them whenever they are on the field), and this deck can be quite costly to build.
The Ramp Dragoncraft deck is one of many meta decks that you can try out during the game’s Battle Tutorials, slowly ramping up in damage as the game progresses. It utilises cards with the Overflow ability – which allows cards to have specific effects if you have at least seven play points – to draw the likes of Whitefrost Whisper and Majestic Megalorca (who has the Rush ability) so you can chip away at your opponents followers.
You’ll also utilise powerful cards, like Odin Twilit Fate, that can use the Storm ability. This ability – like Rush – allows your cards to attack as soon as they enter the field. Other Legendary cards to use are Olivia Heroic Dark Angel, who can draw cards and recover play points, as well as restoring your Leader’s defense, and more notably Fennie Prismatic Phoenix, who halves the cost of all cards in your deck, allowing you to make use of Overflow more easily.
Dragoncraft Aggro decks, like Ramp Dragoncraft decks, feature followers with the Storm abilities and more notably, Intimidation abilities. Followers with Intimidation – such as Eyfa Windrider and Forte Blackwing Dragon – are protected from being attacked while Storm allows them to attack your opponent as soon as these cards enter the field. That said, the clue is in the name: this deck is that bit more aggressive than the Ramp Dragoncraft deck, and while both are good, you might see more success with an Aggro deck; it can be more costly to build though.
You’ll use the Storm and Intimidation follower abilities, and can use Vigilant Detective (whose ability allows them to use Detective’s Lens to remove Ward from an enemy follower), and offensive cards such as Divine Thunder, Draconic Berserker, and Fledgling Dragonslayer to quickly destroy the opponents field of cards and reduce their Leader’s defense. This deck is strong from the early-game onwards and can quickly conclude battles, unless your opponent is well prepared.
The Spellboost Runecraft deck – and the slightly altered version, the Earth Rite Spellboost Runecraft deck – are both S-Tier in this list because of their versatility and ability to overwhelm opponents. While we think the Earth Rite Spellboost Runecraft deck is among the best, the Earth Rite Runecraft deck is a little underbaked and leaves more to be desired.
This Runecraft deck focuses on using Earth Sigils to activate Earth Rite abilities, and while it does use some Spellboosting, this is not a core component of the deck. This is where Earth Rite Runecraft falters a bit, as we’re ultimately left with less options than what a Earth Rite Spellboost Runecraft deck provides. Cards that will use your Earth Sigils include Sagelight Teachings, which can deal four damage to all enemy followers using its Earth Rite ability, and Edelweiss Sagelight Ward, whose Earth Rite ability allows them to evolve, which then lets them deal four damage to a random enemy follower and recover two play points.
I also recommend taking along Pascale’s Dance if you fancy trying something slightly different. It’s not in the above deck list and can be highly situational, requiring 10 Earth Sigils to activate, but it is capable of doubling the attack and defense of all followers on the field if you manage to activate it. This can make a big difference to the battle.
On top of that, cards like Lilanthim Anathema of Edacity and Kuon Fivefold Master can pack a real punch later in the game if you have them set up. Lilith, upon super-evolving, can destroy two enemy followers and summon another copy of herself upon being discarded. Meanwhile, Kuon can summon Shikigami cards with Rush, so they can attack upon entering the field, which is aided by Odin Twilit Fate and his Storm ability.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond C-Tier decks
Unfortunately, Havencraft decks have largely fallen into C-Tier during the current Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond meta (aside from the B-Tier Ward Havencraft deck). This is due to how limited these decks can feel, even more so than B-Tier decks, when it comes to taking on opponents in battle.
These C-Tier decks can be good fun to play with, but when it comes to playing ranked games or battling other players, you might often find yourself at a loss. These decks are more complex to play but entirely viable, though they are likely to be outperformed by S- and A-Tier decks. By all means experiment with them though; perhaps you’ll discover a combination of cards that makes these decks more successful for you.
The Havencraft Control deck largely relies on Amulet cards, though it does feature the Storm and Ward abilities throughout the deck too. A lot of the deck’s Amulet cards feature Countdowns that will be reduced by one each turn you take; once they reach zero, they’re destroyed, but upon this happening, these cards often have unique effects.
Take eight-cost Lapis Shining Seraph for example, whose Crest allows her to revive herself infinitely. Once Lapis is destroyed and her Crest’s Countdown of two concludes, another Lapis is brought onto the field with the Storm ability (which then allows her to attack right away). On the other hand, there’s single-point follower cards such as Serene Sanctuary that allow you to draw two more cards upon the card being destroyed (as a result of a Countdown) and you’ll also use cards with the Ward ability – such as Jeanna Saintly Knight, Grimnir Heavenly Gale, or Salefa Guardian of Water – which prevents the enemy from attacking your other followers, while they can dish out damage (or in Salefa’s instance, restore defense points to your Leader).
All in all, Havencraft Control is a fun deck to play if you can get to grips with it, but there’s a lot of costly Legendary cards to collect for it. If you want to play around with amulets and the effects that they have, I recommend trying an Amulet Havencraft deck or the below Storm Havencraft deck first as they are slightly less costly to build; the latter contain eight/nine Legendary cards as opposed to the 15 Legendary cards that Havencraft Control requires.
The Storm Havencraft deck, which is our second C-Tier Havencraft deck, relies on the Storm abilities of its followers to quickly wipe out opposing cards. Early on, it uses cards such as Pact of the Beast Princess, Avian Statue and Winged Statue to summon Falcons and Tigers, which are follower cards with the Storm or Rush ability who can attack right away. The deck also uses cards capable of outright destroying opponents, such as Dose of Holiness (who simultaneously restores one defense to your Leader). Most notably, the Featherfall card can deal three damage to all enemy followers while summoning a Falcon, so this particular deck is dead-set on clearing the opponent’s field.
Later into the game, you’ll utilise cards you’re already familiar with from the Control Havencraft and Amulet Havencraft decks – such as Odin Twilit Fate, Lapis Shining Seraph, and Jeanne Saintly Knight – to continue wiping out enemy cards. Odin lets you banish an enemy card and attack immediately with Storm, Lapis – after her Countdown of two – will summon another copy of herself with Storm, and Jeanne will deal six damage to all enemy followers while providing allied followers with +2/+4. She also has a Ward, aiding your other follower cards survivability.
As mentioned, Havencraft decks – without Wards – are currently suffering in the meta, but that isn’t stopping people from trying to make good use of them. Experiment away and perhaps you’ll find a combination of cards abominable enough to take down the likes of the Earth Rite Spellboost Runecraft deck or Roach Forestcraft deck.
For more on Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, take a look at our Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond codes page to redeem some in-game freebies.