0. Five-second answer
Pack 9, Revenants of Azvaldt, opened at 17:00 JST on August 27, 2026. Roughly five hours later, ranked did not look like a settled metagame. It looked like a launch-day tasting booth.
In one short personal sample, Witch was everywhere. Elf was never seen. Nightmare, Nemesis, and Bishop felt endangered. Yet current guide sites still rate Elf and Nemesis highly, while another site keeps Pirate Royal among the top candidates. Power level and encounter rate are not the same thing.
For Aggro Nightmare, the temporary migration was welcome: fewer annoying Pirate Royal opponents, more Test Subject Witch opponents that could be pressured before their late-game engine fully developed. Thank you for opening the laboratory.
1. Five hours is not “the meta”
This needs to be said first. Five hours after release is far too early to declare that one class rules the format or another is dead.
The disagreement between guide sites on the same day proves the point. GameWith lists Combo Elf, Test Subject Witch, and Artifact Nemesis in Tier 1. Game8’s current navigation highlights Pirate Royal, Combo Elf, Aggro Nightmare, and Test Subject Witch as leading choices.
That is what launch day actually looks like.
Tier list: “Elf is strong.”
Ranked queue: “Where is Elf?”
Player: “Cryptid?”
A five-hour sample is not a final answer. It is, however, excellent evidence of what people want to try first.
2. The ranked zoo: Witch is packed, Elf is a cryptid
In the short queue sample, Witch appeared disproportionately often. Elf appeared zero times. Nightmare, Nemesis, and Bishop were also rare.
That does not prove those classes are weak. GameWith currently gives Combo Elf and Artifact Nemesis Tier 1 status. The gap itself is the interesting part.
Tier = an estimate of deck strength.
Encounter rate = what humans are actually queuing at that moment.
On launch day, population is distorted by collections, free decks, aesthetics, difficulty, and plain “I want to play the new thing” energy. A powerful deck can remain rare if it is annoying to pilot. A deck that is easy to assemble and immediately satisfying attracts a crowd.
3. The free-deck funnel helps create the Witch population
Pack 9 launched with a campaign that lets players who have completed the tutorial choose one of two free decks. GameWith rates the Witch option S and describes it as a useful base for Test Subject Witch with broad-value cards. The Nemesis option is rated A and is more Highlander-like and unusual.
That is a strong explanation for the early population split.
The launch-day path is simple:
Receive free deck
→ upgrade it a little
→ it is already the hot topic
→ queue ranked
Free packs and other launch rewards reinforce the effect. In a game where rebuilding a collection is expensive, the cheapest path is often to take the slide the game already placed in front of you.
Nemesis may be powerful, but Artifact-type tracking and Highlander improvisation are waiting on the other side. Witch has a researcher old guy who simply hires more Test Subjects. Humanity chooses the lab.
4. The researcher old guy and his Test Subjects are good before the payoff
《心酔の研究者》 summons two 《没入の実験体》 on Fanfare. At Enhance 8 it summons three instead and gives them Ward. On evolve, it can give one Test Subject Bane.
《没入の実験体》 itself costs 2 and is a 2/2 with Rush from the start. One correction matters here: an earlier joke called it a turn-one 2/2 Rush, but under normal play it costs 2, so it is not naturally played on turn one. The accurate point is that it contests the board very early.
If five other Test Subjects have already entered play during the match, the next one gains +3/+3 on entry. From the sixth onward, that means a 5/5 Rush body.
Many scaling decks say:
“Be weak early. Invest. Survive. Become strong later.”
This one says:
The investment piece is already a 2/2 Rush.
Keep investing and it becomes 5/5 Rush.
After Sephy’s Crest, the first one each turn can gain Storm.
The research is hazardous before the project is even finished.
5. Why “lion + researcher old guy” is fun even without memorizing every name
Sometimes the visual nickname is enough.
Lion-looking thing!
Researcher old guy!
Test Subject!
Another Test Subject!
Why is it 5/5 now?!
“Lion” in this article is only the conversation’s visual nickname; the exact official card name was not verified, so no false identification is made.
The appeal of Test Subject Witch is not only its high-skill ceiling. Its baseline game plan is readable: fight for board, increase the Test Subject count, let later copies become larger, and eventually use 《万術の咎人・セフィー》 to turn the first Test Subject each turn into a Storm threat.
So even an explanation at the level of:
Luffy: “Researcher old guy!”
Researcher: “I summon two Test Subjects.”
Luffy: “AWESOME!”
can produce a functioning launch-day game plan.
While Artifact Nemesis starts an audit about which types have appeared, the researcher simply adds two more employees. Strong workplace.
6. The “Pirate Royal died” theory was withdrawn on day one
Pirate Royal suddenly stopped appearing in the personal queue, so the obvious hypothesis was: “Did Witch kill it?”
The live X search snapshot supplied by the user pointed the other way. It contained multiple 12-win-streak reports for Pirate Royal, a 10–6 report, and even a report of 3–0 against Sephy Witch. At the same time, one player went from “Pirate Royal is the strongest” to “Pirate Royal is not that strong” within a short span, while another joked that the deck became stronger after removing the pirates.
That is not death.
The list is unsettled. The population has not caught up. Everyone is a researcher because it is launch day.
Game8 also continues to surface Pirate Royal among the leading candidates. “I did not encounter it” therefore cannot be translated into “it is weak.”
The most launch-day data point of all is:
“Pirate Royal is the strongest.”
↓ one hour later
“Pirate Royal is not that strong.”
Humanity can rewrite a tier list several times in five hours.
7. Aggro Nightmare says, “Thanks for the laboratory”
For Aggro Nightmare, the temporary population shift is favorable.
In the immediately preceding testing, Pirate Royal was uncomfortable because it could clear small boards while setting up future leader damage through its flags. When that opponent becomes rarer and Test Subject Witch becomes common, the queue changes.
Witch can recover the board and scale, but Aggro Nightmare starts attacking the leader before that engine is complete. In the current short snapshot:
Researcher old guy builds the laboratory
→ Aggro Nightmare attacks before the building inspection is finished
《ガロダートVSゼット》, nicknamed “VS-kun,” remains individually powerful. In the observed temporary list it is only a one-of, so drawing it in the opening hand has led to keeping it. That is a local deck-and-meta decision, not a universal “always keep VS” rule.
8. Harsh crafting makes the first deck choice feel like a life decision
For a new or returning player, the real threat may be less “Tier 1” and more how hard it is to rebuild.
Crafting costs are 50 Red Ether for Bronze, 90 for Silver, 750 for Gold, and 3,500 for Legendary. Unlike the previous game, liquefying is basically limited to surplus copies. You cannot simply destroy every unused card from another class and convert the collection into one new deck.
Three Legendaries from zero cost 10,500 Ether.
If someone builds a weak first deck because it looks cool and then gets flattened by Test Subject Witch three times in a row, the menu can start to look like:
A. Study the matchup
B. Grind Ether
C. Uninstall
That is why the quality of a free launch deck is more than a nice bonus. It can shape whether the first few hours feel playable at all.
9. WELCOME is an “only I see the fancy version” illusion
Welcome Cards are special versions with Ace’s stamp. Their cost, stats, and abilities are identical to the normal card.
The official rules explicitly say that opponents and spectators cannot tell that a Welcome Card is being used. Welcome Cards also cannot be crafted or liquefied.
So your own screen can create the impression:
“Am I the only person using WELCOME cards?”
The opponent may be using them too. You simply cannot see the distinction.
You: “WELCOME!!!!”
Opponent: “That is a normal card.”
The game is not publicly branding you with a beginner sticker. Feel free to burn down the laboratory.
10. Skin inequality: Aura versus Diawl going “mogyu”
The collection gap is not limited to cards. Leader skins can make it visible too.
Nightmare has an Aura skin that was distributed through the Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End collaboration login bonus. It is immediately recognizable and expressive. A player who starts now cannot obtain it through that already-ended login route.
The default Nightmare leader is Diawl / ディアロジアーレ. The official profile calls it a monster passed down in a fog-covered city, the “Miasmic Demon King.” Its CV field is literally “-”.
So the comparison becomes:
Other player: Aura.
F2P latecomer: monster.
Voice actor: none listed.
Emote as heard by the player: “mogyu.”
“Mogyu” is not an official line; it is a player joke about how the monster sounds. The fact that the official CV field really is “-” makes the joke far too powerful.
11. F2P declaration: no spending, but human language would be nice
The conclusion is simple.
No spending.
Crafting can be painful. Aura can look enviable. The policy still does not change.
The demand is modest:
Please speak a human language.
If Aura appears, envy is allowed. The default side still queues Diawl and goes “mogyu.” Winning solves most aesthetic problems.
The F2P Aggro Nightmare philosophy is now complete:
Not enough cards.
Not enough skins.
Not enough human speech.
More than enough face damage.
12. Five-hour conclusion: watch population flow, not only Tier
The most interesting part of these first five hours was not “what is strongest?” but what people are actually choosing.
Guide sites rate Elf and Nemesis highly. They barely appeared in the observed queue. Pirate Royal looked absent in matches, while X contained strong streak reports. Witch had a favorable free-deck funnel and a clear, satisfying Test Subject engine, so it flooded the queue.
In a short launch-day window, the practical environment is created by:
theoretical power × affordability × readability × novelty × population
If Aggro Nightmare is winning now, the explanation may not simply be “it is Tier 1.” It may be that the queue is currently full of exactly the opponents it wants to see.
That can change tomorrow.
A correct answer at hour five can become history at hour twenty-four. That instability is the best part of a new set.
13. Separating fact, observation, and jokes
- Verified facts: Pack 9 launched at 17:00 JST on Aug. 27; players can choose one of two free decks; the relevant Test Subject card texts; WELCOME visibility rules; crafting costs; Diawl’s official profile and CV “-”; Aura’s former login-bonus route.
- Personal observation: Witch was extremely common in the roughly five-hour queue sample, Elf was not encountered, and Nightmare/Nemesis/Bishop were rare.
- Community observation: The supplied X search showed Pirate Royal streak reports and rapidly changing opinions. This is anecdotal evidence, not a usage-rate survey.
- Jokes: “researcher old guy,” “lion,” “burn the laboratory,” “cryptid,” and “mogyu.”
- Do not do this: reuse small-sample or older simulator numbers as current Pirate Royal matchup rates or global class usage.
- Official Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond site
https://shadowverse-wb.com/ja/ - Official Welcome Card Pack notice
https://shadowverse-wb.com/ja/news/detail/?id=01KPWJ7HAM9GK6ZNY3W11XDBWD - Official Help: Welcome Cards
https://shadowverse-wb.com/ja/help?tab=tab0 - Official characters: Diawl
https://shadowverse-wb.com/ja/character/ - GameWith: Pack 9 free-deck campaign
https://gamewith.jp/shadowverse-wb/569950 - GameWith: Rotation tier list
https://gamewith.jp/shadowverse-wb/497197 - Game8: Nightmare skins
https://game8.jp/shadowverse-beyond/698263 - Game8: crafting and liquefying
https://game8.jp/shadowverse-beyond/695924 - Game8: 心酔の研究者
https://game8.jp/shadowverse-beyond/811732 - Game8: 没入の実験体
https://game8.jp/shadowverse-beyond/811036 - GameWith: 万術の咎人・セフィー
https://gamewith.jp/shadowverse-wb/573312 - Community snapshot: user-provided live X search for “海賊ロイヤル,” approximately five hours after launch on Aug. 27, 2026. Win-streak and matchup posts are treated only as anecdotal evidence.
