Neutral Runecraft

Wizardess of Oz by Mushimaro

Neutral Runecraft is a new archetype that was created with the Wonderland Dreams expansion. The main theme of the expansion is in pushing Neutralcraft, where you are encouraged to build decks using primarily Neutral cards. In the past, this has been a terrible idea because class cards tend to be stronger than neutral cards. Not only that, but class cards tend to offer better synergies than neutrals. This has changed in WLD, as there are now a lot of new cards that have synergy with other Neutral cards. Other than that, the primary driving force of Neutralcraft is in the legendary Alice, who gives a +1/+1 buff to all friendly Neutral followers on the board and in your hand. Buffs have always been strong, but one weakness of them is that they require you to have a board. Alice changes that since she is the first instance of Shadowverse adding a handbuff mechanic.

For Neutral Runecraft, the deck primarily plays like an aggressive Midrange one. Neutralcraft decks were incredibly oppressive for the 1st month of the Wonderland Dreams meta, so a huge round of nerfs happened after that. The main nerf for Neutral was in Goblin Leader, who had its cost increased from 3 to 4. Luckily for Rune, Goblin Leader was one of the less important cards in the deck, so it easily adapted to the changes. The deck’s defining feature is in its ability to refresh its hand when it runs low on cards, and that it contains one of the best Storm followers in the game, Falise. Aggressive decks tend to be very all-in, but Neutral Rune is not as the deck actually has a decent amount of card draw. There are a lot of ways to build the deck, so the core skeleton of cards is actually quite small.

Core cards

3 Lyrial, Celestial Archer
3 Actress Feria
3 Witch of Sweets
3 Angel of the Word
3 Alice, Wonderland Explorer
2 Dance of Death
3 Falise, Leonardian Mage
2 Wizardess of Oz

Lyrial, Celestial Archer – A 2 cost neutral 2/2 who deals 1 damage to any enemy as an evolve effect. One of the strongest neutral 2 drops in the game, she is an easy auto include in this type of deck.

Actress Feria – 2 cost neutral 2/2 who gives all friendly Neutral followers on board a +1/+1 buff when she evolves. A new card from WLD and a very strong one. If you have any kind of board going into your evolution turns, Feria evolve is one of the strongest plays possible.

Witch of Sweets – 2 cost Runecraft 2/2 who draws a card as a Fanfare if the number of Neutral cards in hand is greater than or equal to the number of Runecraft cards in hand. She is a an amazing 2 drop if you can proc her effect. A fully statted 2 drop who draws a card is incredible.

Angel of the Word – A 3 cost neutral 2/2 who deals 1 damage to an enemy as a Fanfare. Nothing fancy here, a great 3 drop who has synergy with Lyrial during the evolution turns. Also is great depending on the meta. If people are playing lots of tokens or 1 health minions, Angel of the Word really shines.

Alice, Wonderland Explorer – A 4 cost 3/4 who buffs all allied Neutral followers on the board and in hand by +1/+1. The main centerpiece of this deck and all other Neutralcraft decks. The buff is no joke, and she is the deal Turn 4 play for this deck especially if going 1st.

Dance of Death – A pretty standard removal spell for any aggressive deck. I have 2 as the core because 3 is too clunky at times.

Falise, Leonardian Mage – A 5 cost Rune 3/6 who deals x damage to an enemy follower as a Fanfare, where x is the number of Neutral cards in hand. On evolve, she also gains Storm but only +1/+1. On top of that, she has an Enhance effect for 7, which makes her automatically evolve. Falise is definitely the main reason to play Neutral Rune. Basically Rune’s version of Albert. But in some ways, she is better because she is a much higher tempo play. Being able to potentially kill an enemy follower and play a follower simultaneously with one card is the definition of positive tempo. She does have less attack than Albert, but has the similar 7 evolved health which is very difficult for many decks to deal with.

Wizardess of Oz – One of the coolest cards introduced in Wonderland Dreams. Aggressive decks tend to have a problem with running out of steam during the mid to late game, and Oz is one of the best answers to that. She can potentially draw 5 cards, but the timing of when to play her is important since her Last Words effect is a negative one. Has amazing synergy with any burn spells you choose to run in your deck. I have 2 as the core, but many people run her as a 3 of.

Deck construction

I don’t really want to go into detail over the Supplemental cards, because there are waaaaay too many. So instead, I would rather just write about the different ways to build the deck, and certain card combinations that work well.

First up is the spell selection. Because this is a Neutralcraft deck, we actually have to limit the number of Runecraft spells we run. Piercing Rune would normally be a no brainer for an aggressive deck, but in my opinion it can definitely be cut in Neutral Rune. Generally only worth running if you feel you need more comeback cards during the evolution turns. Kaleidoscopic Glow is a fantastic card, but should only be played if there is a problematic 2 drop that needs to be teched against in the meta(like Tove in the 1st month of Wonderland). Mutagenic Bolt is fantastic, and gets even stronger depending on the meta that you’re seeing. It is better if people are playing decks that go wide(like Shadow or Blood), and if people are playing followers that have limited ways to interact with them like Beauty and the Beast and Hero of Antiquity. Then there is Demonic Strike, which is normally a terrible spell but is usable here because of Oz.

Before the nerfs, there were two main ways to build Neutral rune. One way was to go all in as an aggro deck, cutting out Oz entirely and running around 75% Neutral cards with a bunch of burn. The other way was to slow the deck down a bit and play it with Oz so that it could refill if you ran out of steam. After the nerf to Goblin Leader, going full neutral aggro is no longer viable, so the deck has to slow down and run some comeback cards.

The primary comeback card is Wizardess of Oz, who allows you to refill your hand in the mid to late game when you start to run out of cards. Also enables wacky tempo plays since you can play big removal spells for 1 play point. But even with the Neutral Oz hybrid, there are multiple ways to build this deck.

Another big consideration is in the actual ratio of Neutral to Runecraft cards. For Neutralcraft decks, you should typically aim for at least 60% of the deck to be Neutrals to get the most value out of Alice. It is even more important in this deck since Witch of Sweets and Falise greatly benefit from having more Neutrals than Rune cards in hand. Very aggressive versions of Neutral Rune should definitely be running Goblins, and maybe even Wise Mermen. The 3 drop slot is highly contested and has a bunch of options. Rapunzel is the best statted 3 drop, but she has a downside and does not work too well in this deck since there is a lack of cheap rush/storm followers. Grimnir is the best statted 3 drop with no downside, and Gourmet Emperor Khaiza can be considered to ensure that you always have Neutrals in hand. Goblin Mage is also great, as she cycles a card and also guarantees a Turn 5 play. Goblinbreaker Teena can be considered as a second 4 drop if you want to tune the deck to be more anti-aggro. She is also the only true anti-Neutral card in the game, so if those decks are popular she gets even better.

Timeworn Mage Levi is definitely one of the strongest Runecraft cards ever printed. But surprisingly, there is merit to not running him in Neutral Rune. The issue is that in this deck, most of your evolves will be used on Actress Feria and Falise. Running Levi also increases the chance that certain Neutral Rune synergy cards like Witch of Sweets do not get their fanfare value.

Then there is the choice of whether or not to run Hector. Hector is a 5 cost 4/4 Ward who deals 3 damage to an enemy if you have at least 3 Neutral cards in hand. He is an incredible card for his flexibility since he can be used offensively and defensively. Ward is always relevant too. However, the 3 Neutral card requirement is actually quite difficult to consistently activate. Even if you maximize the amount of Neutral cards in the deck, you typically run out of cards quite fast due to the fast, aggressive nature of Neutralcraft decks. If you get a very good start, you might not even have 3 cards in your hand by the time Turn 5 rolls around. If you choose to run Hector, then you should definitely run additional cycle cards like Goblin Mage or a card like Gourmet Emperor Khaiza who adds a Neutral to your hand.

Aggressive Neutral Oz Rune
Shadowverse portal decklist
GameAI link

This variant was popularized by SuGu, who was able to win JCG Open 3rd Season Vol. 4 with this deck in his lineup. As you can see, it is as aggressive as can be, running 5 one drops. It is a little unusual for an aggressive deck to be running 9 five drops, so to ensure that Hector will always get value, Goblin Mage is also run to provide additional cycle. The inclusion of 3 Hectors also means that Levi is not run in this deck, since it is important to always have enough Neutrals to activate his effect.

Midrange Neutral Oz Rune
Shadowverse portal decklist

My take on Neutral Rune. I will admit that I made the deck this way because I absolutely hate Goblins and refuse to run them in any deck I make, even the aggressive ones. In any case, aggressive Neutral Rune is noticeably weaker when going 2nd and can get run over by faster decks like Aggro Blood and Aggro Sword. So this deck tries to fix that problem by running board swinging cards like Teena, Piercing Rune, and Levi. Hector is cut since the ratio of Neutral to Rune cards is lower than usual here, making his effect difficult to consistently activate. This deck can be easily tweaked to include Hector by removing the Piercing Runes, and then running Khaiza in place of Grimnir or replacing Levi with Unica.

There is also another variant of the deck that I have seen which is very different than what is described here. It still runs the same core cards that I listed but instead runs a much higher curve with the Sahaquiel/Lucifer/Israfil defensive package. Sometimes it has Gilgamesh and Zeus for additional Sahaquiel synergy, who can also act as Storm finishers alongside Falise. This variant of the deck also runs Hector, and since there are so many Neutrals, Oz is cut for consistency. To ensure that the deck draws enough cards and has enough in hand for Hector activations, it runs 3 copies of Mysterian Grimoire instead. Since this card has extreme negative synergy with spells, the deck will either run no spells at all or just Dance of Death as its only spell. In my opinion, this deck is extremely suboptimal as it is basically a weaker version of Sahaquiel Ramp Dragon. But it can be worth playing if you like the style but do not want to actually play Dragon.

Anyway, that is Neutral Rune. It is a really cool deck that was kind of ignored in the 1st month of Wonderland because Neutral Blood completely overshadowed it. But now that the nerfs have happened, this deck is really starting to become more popular because its one of the few Neutralcraft decks that still functions well without Goblin Leader.

Burn Earth Rite Runecraft

Isabelle by TEDDY, for Comptiq March 2017

I have already written about Earth Rite Runecraft in an older post on this blog, but I feel like it needs an update because that variant of Earth Rune has basically been powercrept out of the game. The style of the deck has also shifted from a value/grindy one revolving around Guardian Golems to a more aggressive playstyle revolving around burn damage. This began in Tempest of the Gods, where Earth Rune got a lot of support in the form of cards that either were aggressively statted or had effects that translated into direct damage. However, it was not enough to make Earth Rune a real player in the meta. But this all changed in Wonderland Dreams. This expansion gave Earth Rune even more support, and it is finally enough to make this archetype a real part of the meta. Not only that, but it is the first time where an Earth Rite based deck is stronger than the spell based Rune decks in the competitive meta. The primary support that Earth Rune got in Wonderland Dreams was in even more burn in the form of Master Mage Levi, and more importantly, greater draw consistency with Witch’s Cauldron and Wizardess of Oz. This was an issue that has plagued Earth Rune ever since the beginning of Shadowverse, and it is great that it has finally been addressed.

The crazy thing is that even though Earth Rune is now burn focused, it can actually still be played as a control deck. But even as a control deck, the old playstyle of building the Guardian Golem wall is obsolete. I will go over what I feel to be the core cards here.

Core cards

3 Scrap Iron Smelter
3 Witch’s Cauldron
3 Timeworn Mage Levi
3 Dwarf Alchemist
3 Magic Illusionist
2 Kaleidoscopic Glow
3 Red-Hot Ritual
2 Piercing Rune
2 Wizardess of Oz
3 Master Mage Levi

Scrap Iron Smelter – Staple of all Earth Rite decks since DE, it’s a 1pp sigil that gives you a defensive 0/2 Ward.

Witch’s Cauldron – 1pp sigil that draws a card as a Last Words effect. An AMAZING new addition from Wonderland Dreams. This card is not flashy but it’s a huge power boost to the deck. Basically Earth Rune’s version of Insight and superior to Teachings of Creation in almost every way. Will probably be a 3x autoinclude in all Earth Rune decks moving forward

Timeworn Mage Levi – One of the best 2 drops in the game. Pretty much autoinclude in all Rune decks, and is extra important here because he can be used as an efficient way to catch up on the board during the evolution turns if you’re behind. But he can also be used to generate 3 points of burn if you want to play aggressive.

Dwarf Alchemist – 2pp 2/2 who adds a 1pp Earth Sigil to your hand, but has a special evolve effect of drawing a random Earth Rite card from your deck and putting it into your hand, at the cost of only gaining +1/+1 on evolve. An incredible card that is very flexible. Can be played on curve to contest the board, and can be played during the evolution turns to search for resources if your hand is bad.

Magic Illusionist – 2pp 2/2 who resummons himself as a Last Words effect if you have an Earth Sigil available. One of the new additions from Tempest of the Gods that made this deck more aggressive. Acts as a sticky follower so that you always have something on the board that can go face. Is a key card to winning certain matchups like Dragon.

Kaleidoscopic Glow – Even though this is not a spellboost deck, Kaleidoscopic Glow is still super strong since it bounces a 1-2pp card while drawing you a card. It is one of the most important cards to mulligan for if you are going 2nd against an aggressive deck. It even has extra flexibility for Earth Rune decks since you can also use it on your own Earth Sigil generators to recycle them. This card is one of the main reasons why Runecraft as a class does not mind going 2nd as much as other classes. I have 2 as the core, but a lot of people run 3 because the card is just that good. The only time this card is ever dead is against Dragon.

Red-Hot Ritual – A 2 cost Earth Sigil that deals 2 damage to an enemy follower. Solid card, and another very important card to mulligan for if you are going 2nd against an aggressive deck.

Piercing Rune – A 4pp spell that deals 2 damage to an enemy follower and 2 damage to the opponent’s face, but gets reduced to 2 cost if you evolve a follower while its in your hand. This card actually got nerfed during RoB, as it used to get reduced to 1 cost on evolve. But even the nerfed version is quite strong and worth running. A great board swinging card during the evolution turns. One of the main reasons it is seeing more play in Wonderland Dreams is because of the synergy with Wizardess of Oz, as playing her essentially allows you to use the pre-nerf version of Piercing Rune. I have 2 as the core, but many people run 3.

Wizardess of Oz – A 5 cost 4/5 who draws cards until you have 5 in hand, and then changes the cost of all spells to 1. But as a Last Words effect, she banishes all spells in your hand at the start of your turn. An INCREDIBLE new card from Wonderland Dreams, she does so much for this deck. Since Earth Rune is now aggressive, it tends to run out of cards around Turns 6-7, so Oz is a great way to refill your hand during those turns. She also allows you to make some crazy plays like playing Oz into double Dance of Death on Turn 7. She is so good that she can be slotted into almost every Runecraft deck. But is extra important here since she gives Earth Rune more draw consistency. Magic Girl Melvie was run in the Tempest version of Burn Rune, and Oz is superior to her in almost every way. I have 2 as the core, but many people run 3.

Master Mage Levi – A 6 cost 4/4 who deals 3 damage to an enemy as a Fanfare, but deals 3 damage to all enemies instead if you have an Earth Sigil available. Amazing card who is also very flavorful since old Levi evolves into a 4/4. The 3 damage AoE is incredibly crucial in many matchups like against Shadow, Sword, and Blood. The best part is that even without the Earth Rite effect, young Levi is still very playable since the 3 damage that he does can be directed anywhere, even face.

So that is a total of 27-30 cards that can be considered to be the core of Burn Earth Rite Rune. The last remaining cards are chosen depending on which type of Earth Rite build you want, on a spectrum of full aggro to slightly defensive.

Supplemental cards

Mage of Nightfall – A 3 cost 3/2 follower who gains +1/+1 and Ambush as an Earth Rite effect. Was once considered to be core in the Tempest version of Burn Earth Rune, but is now a tech card. She represents a source of guaranteed 4 damage, but unfortunately against many aggressive decks you will be forced to use her to trade. So she should only be playable in the hyper aggressive versions of Earth Rune. She is also significantly stronger in certain matchups, particularly against Dragon and DShift Rune.

Witchbolt – A 3 cost spell that deals 4 damage to an enemy follower, and also draws a card if you have an evolved follower in play. Is mainly worth considering if you are playing a slower build or want to tech against a certain strong early game card(like pre-nerf Tove and Goblin Leader).

Rite of Exorcism – A 3 cost spell that destroys an enemy follower that costs 3pp or less, and can also be Enhanced for 5, where it just destroys any enemy follower or amulet instead. Similar to Witchbolt, can be worth teching in if there is a problematic early game follower you are seeing a lot. Is also one of the cleanest answers against a big Ancient Elf.

Price of Magic – This card is actually bad, but can be worth playing depending on what you are seeing in the meta. Is great against Shadow and Dragon, and Haven if Snow White is being run. Is also the cleanest answer to an enemy Magic Illusionist in the mirror match.

Gingerbread House – A 3 cost Earth Sigil generator that deals 2 damage to an enemy follower as a Fanfare, and also heals your face for 2. This card can be worth teching in if you are seeing a lot of aggro, as any healing is welcome especially when you can also kill an enemy follower in the early game.

Timeless Witch – A 4 cost 3/4 who makes it so that you cannot take any damage until she leaves the area. An amazing defensive card that can be worth teching in if the meta is right for her. Is especially strong if people are not playing Dance of Death. As a defensive card, she shares the same pp cost as Veteran Alchemist, but is vastly superior in the Burn style of Earth Rune because she does not use an Earth Sigil.

Halo Golem – A 4 cost 4/3 who deals 3 damage to an enemy as an Earth Rite effect. One of the defining cards of Burn Earth Rune, but is surprisingly not core because of the many ways to build the deck. He is aggressively statted, and the 3 damage can go anywhere, even face. If you want to play an aggressive Burn Earth Rune, you should definitely include at least 2 copies of this guy. In the slower builds, he can be swapped out for other cards.

Illusionist – A 5 cost 4/4 who summons your highest costed follower that has died this game and gives it rush, and then banishes it at the start of your next turn. A decent choice for a more midrange build of Earth Rune. The main resurrection targets you would want to hit are Professor of Taboos or Gilgamesh.

Professor of Taboos – 6 cost 3/5 who has a passive effect of summoning a 2/2 Zombie for you every time an enemy follower dies. On top of that, he also has an ongoing end of turn effect, where he will kill a random enemy follower if you have an Earth Sigil available. One of the most unique and flavorful Shadowverse cards ever printed. He is an auto-include in the slower midrange and control versions of Earth Rune, but can be cut in the aggressive variants. He can also be teched in depending on what the meta is. In a token meta where everyone is going wide with smaller followers, he is weak, but in midrange metas where people tend to play 1-2 followers a turn, he is great.

Calamitous Curse – A 6 cost spell that banishes all enemy followers who have 2 health or less, and raises the threshold to 5 health or less if an Earth Sigil is available. One of the strongest board clear spells in the game. Is a bit of a slow card though, so is only worth running in the control variants of Earth Rune.

Mutagenic Bolt – A 6 cost spell that transforms all enemy followers into Flame Rats, who are 1/1s that deal 1 damage to both followers at the start of your opponent’s turn. An incredible spell and great tech against untargettable threats like Hero of Antiquity, Spawn of the Abyss, and Beauty and the Beast. Is also a great way to punish aggressive decks for going wide on the board in the late game. The face damage is super relevant, so this should be at least 2 copies in aggressive variants of Burn Rune.

Twin Guardians – A 7 cost spell that summons 2 3/3 Ward Guardian Golems, and gives +1/+1 to all Guardian Golems if you have an Earth Sigil available. Honestly, this spell is terrible, but the only reason it is worth teching in is because of its synergy with Wizardess of Oz. T6 Oz into Twin Guardians is a gigantic power play that many decks have no real answer to.

Goblin Mage – A 3 cost 2/2 Neutral follower who draws a follower that costs 2 or less from your deck and puts it into your hand. A slightly understatted source of draw, but is very good in Burn Earth Rune because all of your 2 drops are impactful.

Angel of the Word – A 3 cost 2/2 Neutral follower who deals 1 damage to an enemy as a Fanfare. Nothing flashy here, this card is solid and gains extra value in metas where people are playing lots of 1 health followers.

Grimnir, War Cyclone – A 3 cost 2/3 Neutral follower with Ward who can be Enhanced for 10, where he deals 4 damage to all enemy followers. Has optimal stats for a 3 drops and Ward which makes him a solid card for this deck if you really need something on 3. The Enhance effect is very clutch too, though noticeably worse in this deck because of the nerfs.

Demonic Strike – A 4 cost spell that deals 3 damage to an enemy. This spell is honestly terrible, but is worth a consideration because of its synergy with Wizardess of Oz. Should only be run in the hyper aggressive variants of Burn Rune as a 2 of.

Dance of Death – A 5 cost spell that destroys an enemy follower while also dealing 2 damage to the enemy leader. A great offensive removal spell that has started to see less play in recent metas because of its high cost. But has great usage in Rune because of its synergy with Oz. Should mainly be played in the aggressive or midrange versions of the deck, and only as a 2 of.

Variants

One thing that I did not mention earlier is in the spell selection for Wizardess of Oz. Oz is one of the most well designed cards ever printed, because she encourages you to run high cost spells. But at the same time, she has negative synergy with them if she gets removed. So you have to make some careful decisions with deckbuilding, and the timing of when to play her is important since you can potentially lose a lot of value. The most common spell set I see is 3 Piercing Runes, followed by whatever combination of Dance of Death/Demonic Strike/Mutagenic Bolt fits the deck best.

So now I want to go over the different ways to build the deck. Here is an example of the most aggressive variant of this deck.

Aggro Burn Earth Rune
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As you can see, it runs 3 copies each of Mage of Nightfall and Halo Golem and also contains all of the relevant burn spells like Demonic Strike, Dance of Death, and Mutagenic Bolt. This kind of deck is stronger if you are seeing a lot of Dragon, Haven, and DShift Rune, but weaker against face decks. However, Earth Rune in general is weak against Dragon and Haven, so I would have to recommend against playing this type of deck if those two classes are top of the meta.

Midrange Burn Earth Rune
Shadowverse portal decklist
GameAI link

This midrange build of the deck was popularized by Masa who was able to reach Grandmaster with it in the 1st month of Wonderland Dreams where Alice decks were running around everywhere. You can see that some of the aggressive cards were cut for Professor of Taboos, who can provide a giant Turn 6 tempo swing. Goblin Mage is also run over Mage of Nightfall as a less aggressive body that cycles a card. One pitfall of aggressive Burn Rune is that it is much weaker going 2nd, and the midrange build addresses this as the deck is less all-in. It also runs 3 copies of Kaleidoscopic Glow, so that along with Levi, Red-Hot Ritual, and Piercing Rune means that there are lots of ways to swing back the board state on Turn 4 going 2nd. RHR and Glow are amazing answers to an enemy 2 drop on curve when going 2nd as well.

Control Burn Earth Rune
Shadowverse portal decklist

This list was taken from iseestars, who streamed himself climbing Master ladder with an amazing winrate using this deck. Price of Magic can be subbed for Gingerbread House if you are seeing much more Blood/Sword than Dragon/Shadow. More of the aggressive cards are cut for Calamitous Curse and Timeless Witch. The playstyle of this deck is quite different than the previous two, as the main win condition is to repeatedly clear the opponent’s board until there is nothing left to fight you. This deck still has a decent amount of burn though. It has a better matchup against super aggressive decks like Face Sword, Bat Aggro Blood, and Midrange Shadow, but a much worse matchup against Dragon, Haven, and DShift Rune.

This post ended up much longer than I expected. I am really happy to see Earth Rune in a good spot. It is one of my favorite decks and it is great for it to finally be meta.