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Today's article includes exclusive interviews with the world champion, Daniel Yanto, and Bellabuu, the runner-up, brought to you by ShintoSenpai, who was kind enough to let us publish it on Shadowverse Evolve Master. Bma also interviewed Justin Mao, the 3rd place finisher, and has published a deck profile with Ryan K, the 4th place Worlds finalist!
Daniel Yanto - SVE World Champion
For the people at home, who do not yet know you, can you give us a quick introduction?
Hello guys, I’m Daniel Yanto, the First Champion Shadowverse Evolve English and I’m from Indonesia. I have been playing both Shadowverse Evolve and the Mobile CCG since their first release and I really love Shadowverse a lot!!!
Also, I just want to announce to the world that I’m an Aqua crew, a dedicated fan of Aqua Minato from Hololive LOL.
What deck did you bring to worlds?
I brought a Discard Dragoncraft deck for BOTH Regionals and World Championship. This is the deck that helped me to get the title First World Champion!
Discard Dragon
CP01
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Daniel Yanto
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1st
So what made you bring this deck?
At first, I intended to bring Uma Musume deck which focuses on milling the deck and turbo out the ‘7 cm ahead’ card. It was the best deck which could handle and answer any situation. But after a whole month of training, it just never felt right and I wasn’t confident in playing it, even though it’s a very strong deck. At the last minute before going to Japan, I decided to test the Discard Dragon deck as it had always performed well for me. And this deck was full of “nakama power” since many cards were obtained from my friends XD. Also since I was originally a Dragoncraft user since its release, I could pilot the deck naturally and confidently, since I know the deck like the back of my hand, and how to play against its various matchups well. I know many people said that Discard Dragon is very strong against Uma but weak against Sword. And Uma is very strong against everything but Dragon and Forest.
However, I knew that if I can overcome the Sword matchup, then I would not have a problem in this tournament. And I did just that at Worlds, by playing more creatively instead of following the normal standard lines of play, I was able to mess up my opponent’s game plans and tempo.
Going into this tournament with this deck, was there anything that you were afraid of?
SWORDCRAFT. The mortal enemy of all Discard Dragoncraft players everywhere. I took a full week of training just to handle and play around Swordcraft players and it bore fruit. I met Sword twice and the matches went exactly how I wanted. I could answer them very smoothly as I knew how to counter their standard lines of play.
I was also aware that some rogue decks might show up in the World Championship, but I was quite confident that Dragon could handle them.
How was the event for you?
It was really fun! I could play, discuss, and see many creative plays and decks with many other players from all around the world! It really got my blood pumping!
It seems like you are very interested in playing against strong players. Is there anyone whom you wished you would have played against at Worlds, but sadly didn't get the chance to challenge?
I think everyone who qualified for Worlds is quite strong, sadly, I could not have played with everyone due to the way the tournament is structured. At the very least, I would have liked to play against all the champions from the different regions.
Also, I want to have a rematch against Mao again (who got 3rd at World)
I only lost to him in the World bracket due to my hand bricking LOL
I want to fight him seriously with the same deck at full strength, no bricking, at another World Championship if I can.
Oh also you Senpai HAHA I wanted to play and meet you Worlds since watching your first videos about SVE but it was unfortunately when I got the info you didn’t qualify :”([
Shinto's note: PS: Sorry I didn’t make it. But it's an honour to know you want to challenge me <3]
Is there anything you would want Cygames or Bushiroad to improve on?
I guess adding some new formats to World would be very appreciated. Also giving out better prizes would help players be more engaged with the Weekly Tournaments and the Championship. Like, give more alternate art cards instead of just stamping the cards, as players know that there are a lot of alternate art cards on the Mobile Shadowverse.
Well with that said, congrats again, and I hope to see you at Worlds next year as well. Do you have anything to say to your supporters/fans?
Thank you for all the support that you guys could give me, it really encouraged me to reach even higher! I couldn’t be here without your support, especially my family, friends, and my local store who are always there whenever I feel down and help me up again and help me train and tutor me until the middle of the night LOL. Feel really blessed and appreciate it very much.
I hope Shadowverse Evolve does not just stop here and you guys could get more and more hype with each release! And I always remember these words that helped keep me motivated till the end and hope they can help you too.
“Believe in yourself and enjoy the game! Lose or win, you are a champion in yourself! Good Luck & Have Fun!”
Thank you and see you all!
BellaBuu(1st Runner-Up)
For the people at home, who do not yet know you, can you give us a quick introduction?
Heya, I’m Isabelle (or BellaBuu), and I’m the only female player that qualified for Shadowverse worlds!
What deck did you bring to worlds?
I was running a Forest Rose Queen control build that I brewed up myself!
Rose Queen Forest
CP01
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BellaBuu
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2nd
So why did you decide to bring this deck?
So no matter what for this event I felt as if I was required to play Forestcraft, but the big decision was to either play the boring Silver Bolt rush build that is better in theory or to play the deck I was ultimately more comfortable with in Rose Queen control! Aside from probably having the most experience on that deck period, I wanted to bring a beautiful max rarity deck to celebrate the amazing cards Forest had to offer, while still being one of the best decks in the game!
You said in the interview that it is a self-brewed deck. From the decklist I see, you were playing Noble Fairy, a card that most of the Silver Bolt Forest had since dropped. Why did you play this card?
Noble Fairy was the best removal option in the late game, as most decks can’t compete with a turn 8 being Rose Queen, Thorn Burst, Noble Fairy.
You go rose queen, get 5 mana, use a 2 mana thorn burst or some other 2 drop card, then noble fairy.
Setting up a ward, a removal spell or face damage, as well as a means of killing the opponent on the next turn was the all-star play.
Going into this tournament with this deck, was there anything that you were afraid of?
Obviously, everybody is afraid of bad hands, thankfully the deck I was playing tends to be really consistent, running a ton of early games and only needing to see a singular big card in the whole match! The other thing I feared was ironically playing against Silver Bolt Forest, as it can go faster than me sooner! I only had to play against it once and thankfully took the win!
How was the event for you?
I had a lovely time at the event! It was really overwhelming at first as it was my first time out of the country and I only had a week ahead of time to plan the whole trip, but once I sat down for my first game I felt right at home! As for players, I didn’t have a single negative interaction throughout the event, which I was kind of pleasantly surprised by!
Is there anything you would want Cygames or Bushiroad to improve on?
I took 2nd place at the largest tournament for the game I played and have very little to show for it, 8th and 2nd got virtually the same exact prize support and the prizing between 1st and 2nd was well over $10,000, that’s absolutely ridiculous.
Well with that said, congrats again, and I hope to see you at Worlds next year as well. Do you have anything to say to your supporters/fans?
The Seattle TCG community has been a lovely group to be a part of, and being able to play the game several times a week is such a joy! I hope this game continues to do okay and we continue to get support.
Justin Mao (2nd Runner-Up)
Can you introduce yourself and give one interesting fact about you?
My name is Justin Mao. I've been playing TCGs for over 17 years. Got 3rd in SVE Worlds 2023 and it’s my best achievement so far out of all the TCGs I have played. Was a big fan of Shadowverse Digital Game from the start, but ended up quitting in 2021 because I forgot my account password.
What deck did you bring and why did you bring it?
I brought Pure Umamusume to Worlds. The main reason is I believe it’s the most stable and powerful deck in the format.
Umamusume
CP01
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Justin Mao
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3rd
Going into the tournament, was there anything that you were afraid of?
Yes, I was afraid of the forest match up. Because I rank Uma, Dragon and Sword as the top decks, I put cards in to counter them. However, those cards become dead draws against Forest.
How was the event for you overall?
Overall, it went quite well for myself. I think the event was well organized, considering it’s the first Worlds. Both my deck and I did well and my prediction of the format was correct. The only unfortunate thing was I didn’t get a chance to play any streamed matches. I was the first place after Swiss and was sitting at table 1 most of the time, so I thought I would be able to play at least 1 streamed game.
Is there anything you would want Cygames or Bushiroad to improve on?
First thing is definitely about the game itself. The game needs to be bo3. At least for national-level tournaments and the World Championship. Second thing I wanted to mention say was to improve the competitive format but I saw that Bushiroad already intends to for [2024]. The last thing is surrounding product delivery. Boosters and promos need to arrive on time more often.
Do you have anything to say to your supporters/ Fans?
I want to thank the Aussie community for all the testing and suggestions during the tournament.
