The Weaknesses of Shaddolls - by Baneful
August 28, 2014

 

Like Artifacts, and Qlipoths in the upcoming New Challengers set, Shaddolls have been hyped to be tier 0 and overpowered.  Two months ago, it seemed that way.  They had lots of ways to generate resources.  But now, as they are being playtested more, more weaknesses are arising.

 

Shaddolls have WAY too many weaknesses to be tier 0.

 

Even in tier 1, they will face some competition, I bet.

 

Seven Weaknesses

1. If you run 2 of each Shaddoll, eventually your deck will run out of steam in 5 or so turns.  Your deck won't be equipped for longer duels because you won't have any more Shaddolls to pull from the deck.  If you decide to run 3 of each Shaddoll, then you might draw an opening hand full of monsters.

 

2. Shaddolls will have a difficult time winning if they don't draw Shaddoll Fusion early enough. Shaddoll Fusion is a +3 in card advantage.  Aside from that, the deck doesn't plus very much.  10% of duels, the player will draw/search Shaddoll Fusion late or not at all.  That's enough to endager its competitive chances.

3. Shaddolls brick (have a clogged hand) if they draw numerous Shaddoll Fusions, but the opponent avoids playing XYZ's.  Some decks will need to use XYZ's to survive, so Shaddolls have the advantage on them, but if a deck can stay strong without needing to Synchro or XYZ, Shaddolls will have a very very difficult time.  Though its also very possible to XYZ/Synchro summon a monster and then get rid of it before the next turn.

4. Flip effect monsters are slow.  In an era full of ignition effects and on-summon effects, you have to set monsters down and wait a turn.  These Shaddoll cards would've been insanely broken years ago, but are routine today.

5. Most of the time, Sinister Shadow Games is 1-for-1 that doesn't really heavily affect the duel.  It does fill your graveyard and it does flip your monster face-up (the latter of which is inevitable anyway). It is chainable.  But it never really has the impact you expect it to.  While it is insanely versatile, often times, the player will be forced to use it as a way to compensate for brick hands and the like.

6. People aren't using much basic monster removal anymore. Winda is less significant as a result. Before, it was seen as incredibly tough to get over.  Silent Honor ARK, The Monarchs Storm Forth, battle and numerous other methods make it really easy to get rid of.

 

7. Shaddolls are really easily sided against.  Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror destroys their entire deck, unless they side 3 MST's and are fortunate enough to draw them.  Activating Royal Command on them can also devastate them.  Perhaps this weakness will be gone once Shaddolls fade into obscurity and people stop siding against them.

 

But overall, these are 7 deadly weaknesses that ensure that the deck won't dominate the entire meta.  Will Shaddolls still be competitive?  Probably.  Are they a victim of hype?  Yes!

 

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