Information and FAQ for newbies

Index:
1. What is Shadowverse?
2. Classes
3. Game modes
3.1 Solo
3.2 Multi
3.2.1 Formats: Rotation and Unlimited
3.3 Arena
Formats: Rotation and Unlimited
4. Rerolling
4.1 How to reroll
4.2 Leader cards ("gacha" leaders)
5. How to get rupies
6. Game help and FAQ



1.	What is Shadowverse?
(Copied from Wikipedia) Shadowverse is a free-to-play digital collectible card video game developed and published by Cygames. It was released for iOS and Android devices in June 2016, and by July was already the most popular mobile collectible card game in Japan. Mac and Windows versions were released in October 2016. This game began its overseas promotions since 2017, and there are three major versions by regions - Japanese, International (incl. English, Korean, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish), Simplified Chinese (released by NetEase in China in October 2017).



2.	Classes
There are currently 8 classes in the game, 7 of them from the beginning of the game and another (Portalcraft/Nemesis) introduced later in December 2017. The following classes' descriptions are copied from the official site. There are some archetypes in each class that may be quite different to its main one, but these should be good enough to have an idea of how each class is played. They are as follow (format English/Japanese name):

Forestcraft/Elf:
Forestcraft strategies use bands of fairies in battle.
In the beginning of a match, play cards that fill your hand with Fairies (1-play point 1/1 follower cards). In the middle of a match, play two Fairies to meet the requirements of more powerful cards. This lets you turn the momentum of a match in your favor.

Swordcraft/Royal:
Many loyal followers, including commanders and officers, stand at the ready of a Swordcraft leader. This class's strategy is based around these followers. There are cards that can summon multiple officers at once, and commanders that strengthen those officers.

Runecraft/Witch:
Runecraft uses the power of spells against opponents. Their Spellboost cards in particular become cheaper and stronger in numbers.
During the beginning of a match, use spells to damage enemy followers and bring your own followers into play. Keep spellboosting cards until they become strong enough to destroy enemy followers.

Dragoncraft/Dragon:
Dragoncraft uses lots of play points to unleash towering followers that can crush their enemies.
Stall the opponent in the beginning of the match while collecting play points. From the middle of the match onward, use the accumulated play points to play powerful dragons and dominate the battlefield.

Shadowcraft/Necromancer:
The Shadowcraft class harnesses shadows to utilize the power of Necromancy.
At the beginning of a match, play followers, spells, and amulets that give you more shadows. When many Shadowcraft followers are destroyed, they put zombies and skeletons into play.
In the middle of the match, use the shadows you've saved up to activate Necromancy effects.

Bloodcraft/Vampire:
The strategies used in Bloodcraft center around lowering your leader's defense in order to activate powerful effects. This is balanced out by the ability to restore defense by draining it from your enemies.
When a Bloodcraft leader has 10 defense or less, Vengeance takes effect, strengthening many other cards.

Havencraft/Bishop:
The main strategy of Havencraft is to play Countdown amulets which summon followers a few turns after they're played. This gives you the power to overwhelm the opponent by the middle of a match.
In the beginning of the match, play amulets and followers that grow stronger during the opponent's turn. In the middle of the match, the amulets' Countdown numbers drop to zero, summoning formidable followers and effects at no additional costs.

Portalcraft/Nemesis:
Portalcraft shifts reality with potent strategies.
One such strategy is based on utilizing cards with the Artifact trait (token cards produced from other cards during a battle).
Skillfully manipulate the match by combining cards that add Artifacts to your deck and cards that draw them into your hand.



3. Game Modes
3.1 Solo
The single player content of the game. There is a Story Mode and a Practice Mode.
Advancing on the Story Mode will give you rupies, vials and Take Two tickets as rewards. You can also unlock basic class cards like "Priest of the Cudgel", card sleeves and the Nexus leader for Portalcraft.
Practice Mode have some achievements attached to it that gives you rupees for defeating the Elite difficulties.

3.2 Multi
There are 3 modes: Unranked, Ranked and Private.
Unranked games won't affect your ranking in the ladder.
Ranked games will give you point for each victory that will make you go up the ladder and gain rupies, vials and tickets as rewards. There is also a monthly ranked reward progress that give exclusive sleeves and emblems each month. You can see your progress in the Mission menu on the main screen in the Ranking Reward tab.
Private mode lets you create or join a room to play with someone else or join as an spectator . You can choose the format, make it best of 1, 3 or 5 games, Take Two (draft mode) games or Reverse Take Two (draft mode where you pick the cards for your opponent). There are no rewards for this mode except for some one time only achievements.

3.2.1 Formats: Rotation and Unlimited
There are currently two formats for all the Multi modes: Rotation and Unlimited. The former only allows deck with cards from the basic set and the last 5 expansions. The later allows cards from all the sets, and has a list of banned and limited (only one copy allowed) cards.

Rotation sets:
* Basic
* Rise of Bahamut (rotating out on March 28th)
* Tempest of the Gods
* Wonderland Dreams
* Starforged Legends
* Chronogenesis
* Dawnbreak Nightedge (release on March 28th, will replace ROB in Rotation)

Ban List:
(no cards banned so far)

Limited list:
* Blood Wolf
* Mysterian Knowledge
* Aria, Guiding Fairy

3.3 Arena
There are currently 2 modes in this section: Take Two and Grand Prix.
* Take Two is the draft mode of this game. To enter you have to use a Take Two ticket or pay 150 rupies or crystals (premium currency). You are given 3 random classes to choose one from. After that you are offered 2 pair of cards you have to choose. Repeat the previous step until you have 30 cards and then proceed to play 5 games with the deck you just built. At the end of the round you are given rewards: 0 wins give you 1 random ticket from the last 5 expansions, 5 wins can give you up 1-2 pack tickets, 200-250 rupies and maybe some vials. If you can average 3 wins each round, it can be a good idea to pay Take Two entrances instead of buying packs.
* The Grand Prix is an online tournament mode held over three stages in the Arena. In this mode, choose or create a deck to play against other players in a fixed number of matches. During each stage of the tournament, you will be able to play a number of rounds daily to qualify or advance to the next stage—all three stages each have different conditions for advancing.



4.	Rerolling
Upon completing the tutorial, you are given 10 pack tickets of the last 5 expansions each for a total of 50. The average of legendary (highest rarity) cards you should get is 5, so you should aim for that number or higher with at least 3 of them being relevant in the meta of the format you wish to play. You can check what cards are worth looking for on the respective section of this guide. Other thing to look for, if you are really into cosmetics, are "leader cards". More information about them in the respective section.


4.1	How to reroll
To reroll, simply clear the app data to reset your account. For iOS users, this involves deleting and re-installing the app. Android users can just clear the app cache by going to Settings>Apps>Storage. For Steam Users: outside of making an entirely new steam account, there is currently no way to re-roll a steam account. Rerolling on your phone or an emulator and then linking the account to your Steam one is the recommended way.
Once the account is reset, skip the three tutorial levels to claim your card pack tickets again. Take screenshots of you legendary cards and post them on the general for advice if you should keep that account. Repeat until good cards have been obtained.


4.2 Leader cards ("gacha" leaders)
Since Starforged Legends, packs have some really rare "leader cards" (0.03% chance of a card from a pack being a certain leader card). These cards feature alternate art and come with a leader, an emblem and card sleeves when you draw them from card packs.
These cards are treated as the same cards from the original card set and only three copies of all kinds can be built into a single deck. They provide no in-game advantages, only bragging rights.
- Alternate art cards are treated as the same cards from the original set. You can check the original card set in the card details screen.
- Alternate art cards that come with leaders cannot be crafted from vials.
- Seer's globes can be used on alternate art cards to animate them.

So far these are the Leader Cards:

Starforged Legends:
* Daria, Dimensional Witch (Runecraft/Witch)
* Aldos, Imperial Dragoon (Dragoncraft/Dragon)

Chronogenesis:
* Albert, Levin Saber (Swordcraft/Royal)
* Cerberus (Shadowcraft/Necromancer)
* Exella, Dark General (Bloodcraft/Vampire)

Dawnbreak Nightedge
* Aria, Guiding Fairy (Forestcraft/Elf)
* Ramina, Al-Mi'raj Moon (Havencraft/Bishop)

Brigade of the Sky
* Spinaria of the Enigmas

Omen of the Ten
* Cassiopeia
* ???

5. How to obtain rupies
Rupees are the main currency in the game. You can use them to buy packs, alternative leaders and enter the Arena mode.
You can obtain them by the following ways:
- daily login bonus
- completing the three daily missions (you get new ones 21 hours after completing each)
- completing achievements, the more important are the following:
* defeating the AI on Practice Mode (Elite 1 and Elite 2 difficulties; you get 200 rupies for defeating each once
* playing private matches with 20 different players (no concedes); 100 rupies each
* leveling up each class (you get 200 rupies for reaching levels 110, 120, 130 and 140 with each class)
- accumulating points by playing Ranked Mode each month
- rewards from completing Arena mode rounds
– events



6.	Game help and FAQ
The official page with the explication of each menu in the game, and also game terminology:
https://shadowverse.com/help/

Official FAQ on the following page:
https://shadowverse.com/faq/