A tragic beginning
Saturday, July 1st. I was on my way to the launch event for Shadowverse Evolve, a starter deck tournament in the middle of the city. I wasn't completely sure what to expect. Would there be a huge turnout, or would the game be dead on arrival?
The answer to this question seemed to answer itself when I walked up the stairs and was greeted by a barren store with only two other people playing card games. I stepped up to the counter and asked to sign up for the tournament. There was still another 30 minutes to go, so there was still some kind of hope, right?
No. Three people, including me. We couldn't even run the tournament, because there was a 4 player minimum... Though fortunately, we managed to convince a complete random to sign up.
Despite the extremely disappointing turnout, I think we still had fun playing with the starter decks. I got a participation pack and pulled an Ultimate Otohime, in hindsight, a precursor to the twists of life that were yet to come. I ended the day with the purchase of my first booster box, and called it a day.
Considering the first event's turnout, I was feeling a little bummed. Maybe the game really was dead on arrival in Australia, but even so, I decided to check out the other release event at Double Kill Games, which clashed with another event at Games Corner, in Parramatta. This time, I was not disappointed.
We had 12 players attend the event, a significant increase from the previous event. The two players I had met the previous day had opted to go to Games Corner, which had 13 people attend. That meant there were at least 25 people playing Shadowverse Evolve in Australia!
All of a sudden, the hype was back!
I played the Starter Deck tournament and won the event, receiving three booster packs. Crazily enough, I pulled yet another Ultimate Otohime, an insane feat that I would have imagined impossible, at least with my usual luck. It's probably something like a 0.00001% chance. I was hoping not to be struck by lightning on the way back home. But honestly, I was just stoked and optimistic about what was to come.
Two weeks later, we have 5 stores supporting Shadowverse Evolve here and a growing community. The stock is regularly selling out, with cases of product being cleaned out in under 24 hours from arrival. The game is popping off.
(The turnout to the Shadowverse Demo Caravan at Alliance Games was massive! Nearly 30 people were there.)
But why is the game doing so well? And why should you play it too?
If you're on Shadowverse Master, you probably already play Shadowverse.
You're here for the beautiful artwork, the anime aesthetic and the exciting gameplay. Shadowverse Evolve has all of that and more, now in physical form. If you haven't played card games before, there's really something different about playing card games in real life. A large factor is the social element of playing card games in a local community. You're all there because you enjoy the game, so it's easy to make friends and chat with people simply by default. The small talk and light banter is something that can only be experienced in real life, as opposed to spamming the Usagi leader three times before lethalling with 1pp Grimnirs and Alices.
There's also something unique about the way you can see people's reactions as the game progresses. It's not an aspect that's present in the digital version. As an example, I highrolled someone with a turn 2 oracle into turn 3 double oracle. Instead of just me being happy about an almost guaranteed win, you could see the exasperation on his face and the people around us shaking their heads at the disgusting lucksack that opened triple Oracle.
The other part which I really enjoy is the collecting aspect and the existence of a secondary market. Whether it's buying/selling cards, or trading, I find it to be an engaging and surprisingly fun experience that simply doesn't exist in the digital version of the game. It's really interesting to see the movements in the market and the people trying to make a killing via speculation (whether or not they are right is a story for another day). And lastly, the hype and dopamine rush when opening packs is on another level, especially when you watch people open a box in real life and the joy on people's faces when they crack open cards worth a few hundred dollars in a single go.
A breath of fresh air
It looks like Shadowverse. It feels like Shadowverse. But it's not Shadowverse. It's Shadowverse Evolve, baby.
It's clearly Shadowverse and yet it feels completely fresh, like you're playing a new game altogether... As I said earlier, the aesthetics are everything you know and love about Shadowverse, but it's a reimagining of the game with the power level somewhere around the middle of Shadowverse's 29 card expansions. The biggest changes are the inclusion of quick effects, which allows your opponent to interact on your turns and the addition of the Engaged and Reserved mechanics. The main difference is followers shift from reserved to engaged whenever they attack, and that your opponent typically cannot attack your follower unless it is in the engaged position. This creates some complex game states and additional considerations not present in the digital game.
Even though Goblin is a 2/2, it doesn't actually feel out of place at all. Neither does the fact that Latham, a 2-cost 3/3 vanilla follower, is apparently good enough to see play in constructed. But perhaps more importantly, is the namesake of Shadowverse Evolve, the evolution mechanic itself. In this game, you have to carefully build a deck of 10 evolve followers. During the game, you can use play points to shift a follower from their original form into their evolved form instead. Unlike the digital card game, many followers have different play point costs to evolve. Some may cost zero, while others (like Quickblader), require three play points in order to evolve. The game is clever with how they've tried to balance first vs second as well. The player going second has three evolution points (the player going first has none), where one evolution point can be used per turn in order to reduce the play point required by one. This means that you can evolve Floral Fencer on turn 3 going second, while your opponent can only evolve their Floral Fencer on turn 4 going first.
It's complex enough that veteran TCG players can appreciate the subtleties, while it's simple enough that new players can enjoy the game right out of the box. It's enjoyable for all types of players, no matter how casual or hardcore you are.
The game is relatively cheap, unless you want to play Dragon
For various reasons, Dragoncraft is the most expensive class in the game right now. But that doesn't mean the game is expensive. Quite a few of the classes in the game can be built without Lucifer or Bellringer Angel, which are the main chase cards of the set. For example, Swordcraft is a very cheap class that runs neither of the previously mentioned cards and is fairly competitive with the rest of the meta. In fact, for most classes, you only really need to secure 1 set of Legendaries (and their evolutions) to build a competitive deck.
It's also the case that many cards in the first set retain their value and usefulness going into future sets. Cards like Bellringer, Merlin and Ancient Elves start off as staples in set 1, but remain that way going over a year into the future. As such, you could actually consider your purchase an investment into the game, not to mention the fun you get to have and the tournaments you could enter in the meantime.
Speaking of which, the tournaments!
Of course, your mileage may vary depending on the area, but if there's tournaments nearby, you can get some really cool promo cards. At the time of writing this article, I picked up two copies of Foil Dragon Warrior from my locals. They look sick!
Aside from that, tournaments are a great way to meet new people and experience some light competition, all while earning packs and exclusive promo cards. Not to mention there's going to be some major tournaments soon, including the chance of going to the world championship and receiving a free trip to Japan.
(20 players in the first constructed locals at Chromatic Games in Sydney)
So what are you waiting for?
It's got Bma's thumbs up! If it's good enough for him, maybe it's also good enough for you?
Play Shadowverse Evolve today! It's a lot of fun!
