What was the key to success during SVO?
Post RAGE qualifier meta, I started trying Evo Rally Sword and Resonance Portal which I copied from ユーリ、ミル、and Spicies. Those 3 players are members of a Japanese professional team, au x detonation or in short DNG. I decided not to bring Dirt Rune because I felt that I couldn’t play the deck optimally. It turns out I did a lot better with Evo Rally Sword. Surprisingly, Evo Rally Sword had a very similar matchup spread with Flame and Glass Shadow which made it a good fit in my line up.
What are your training/practice methods? How did you get ready?
In the first month of the new expansion, I climbed the ladder until I reached Grandmaster with only Flame and Glass Shadow. Post RAGE qualifier meta, I played in ratings (2d0b ladder) mostly with Evo Rally Sword and Resonance Portal. I played Dirt Rune too in the ratings, but the results were not very good so I ended up not giving it a try anymore.
Aside from ladder and ratings, I also played in a BO9 leagues like SCL (Shadowverse Community League) and DSAL (Digitus Shadowverse Amateur League). BO9 league turned out to be very useful to get info about deck matchup spread. I also played a lot of BO1 series with REV teammates to test the matchups that I wasn’t really familiar with.
Did you study the strategies of any of the players specifically?
I read a guide written by TS member and Japanese Professional player, Rumoi, to get more insights about the deck that I wasn’t very familiar with. The Mono guide written by Essia helped me a lot to know the gameplay of the deck because I hadn’t played Mono at all in this expansion. The Dirt Rune guide written by the Japanese Professional player, Rumoi, helped me figure out their general game plan and pattern. Hence, it really helped me to know their lethal range in certain conditions.
Check out their guides here:
https://tempostorm.com/articles/RotG-Mono-Blood-Guide
https://note.com/ru_switch/n/nb8f6c49f45cb
What advice do you have for players who want to compete?
First thing you need to do and the most important step is to follow Zhiff on twitter. Zhiff posted a lot about the competitive environment in JCG, RAGE, SVO, SKO, STO, etc. Following Zhiff will help you know the meta environment in detail.
Second thing is you should find a friend or team to share your thoughts, scrim, or even consult on your playstyle. People had different opinions on the meta, but being competitive doesn’t mean you should be able to play all of the tier 1 decks. My suggestion for tournaments is just to bring decks that are the most comfortable for you.
What have been your favorite parts of the expansion?
The development of Resonance Portal with Bahamut. The decks are really fun to play, but also not easy to pilot. When I first played the deck I was actually surprised that this deck can invoc bahamut on turn 7 (which is faster than Control Forest).
What does this win mean to you and your team?
This is my 3rd SVO win, but this one had more of an impact compared to my previous win.This is because it was the only time I played so clean on stream. However, the thing that makes me very happy is that two members of DNG Shadowverse followed me on twitter!! (I am a huge fan of DNG Shadowverse by the way).
For the team, I think 3 REV members had topped SVO out of 6 SVOs which is very huge.
What lessons have you learned from the tournament?
During the Grand Finals vs. Hotaru, when I looked at my matchup sheet, I was actually thinking of banning Shadow over Blood.
I remembered during the swiss round, I met MS Glow who brought the same line up with Hotaru. Against Glow, I was banning Shadow and ended up losing 0-2. Having this loss, I double checked my matchup stats in ratings and I realized I did 50-50 against Shadow using Resonance Portal and Evo Rally Sword. In contrast, I decided to change my ban strategy and decided to ban Hotaru Blood. The change in ban actually helped me to get a 2-0 win against Hotaru in the grand final. From this, I learned that matchup sheets are just a tool to help banning, but I think ban priority is subjective to individual player performance.
What is your favorite card in this meta? Why?
Because “THIS IS MY DECISION”.
Were there any people who helped you get ready for SVO? Any additional shoutouts?
Shoutout to both of my teams, REV and RiV, who allowed me to play in their BO9 league.
Shoutout also to everyone who supported me in the top 8.
Do you create Shadowverse Content?
I sometimes stream Shadowverse on my Twitch channel.
What’s next for you?
I will do my best to qualify for SVO All-Star. I will also do my best to qualify for the SCL playoff round.
Anything you’d want to promote?
Follow both of my team accounts on twitter.
https://twitter.com/revelation_sv
Also vote for ミル during RAGE Winner Prediction event as he will be playing in the RAGE Grand Final.
Fun fact: I listened to this song when I figured out Octrice and Kagemitsu lethal during the semi final.
https://youtu.be/ZXUghzdq24A
Watch the Grand Finals of RGW here: