Universus Shigaraki 3 Standard Deck Tech

The new year brought the first of many changes to the Universus ccg, namely that decks in every constructed format have a minimum of 60 cards plus character. The next change doesn’t take place until the release of the Dark Tournament set, which takes the base My Hero Academia out of rotation for Standard. While there is still time to use the older cards, many players are already starting to build without those cards. That was my thought process when I converted my Order based deck to a new, standard-legal Evil deck. You can find the deck list on UVS Ultra.

While the original version was focused on trying to generate card advantage, this one forces your opponent to constantly make check and decide how many resources they want to waste. Of the 60 in the deck, 22 force the opponent to make a check. Shigaraki also forces a check, not to mention checks that will be made during the course of normal gameplay. While none of these are necessarily game-winning on their own, the cumulative effect of grinding resources can swing things in your favor.

This deck also runs a lot of effects that modify your opponents checks. Finding the perfect time to use them takes practice, and will vary from game to game. In general, imposing negative modifiers on checks for impactful attacks is the best play. This is especially true for League Handler. As as response, you can remove it to give a check on your opponent’s turn -X, where X is the number of checks they’ve made this turn. As long as Shigaraki is ready, you opponent is making 2 checks for every attack they play; once to play the attack, and the other when you use your character enhance.

The attacks included fit the theme of forcing checks and keeping resources tied up. Low Blow practically forces your opponent to block the attack. This is great if you have other attacks you want to play, since they have fewer resources to use defensively. Burning Combo is your opener, since it forces a check and may give itself and the next attack +2 speed. Double Palm Shatter is a good way to force some damage through and can disrupt your opponent’s hand to boot. Insidious Advance has check manipulation coupled with a damage buff, and may force the loss of 2 health.

This is the first version of the deck, and as such is still rough around the edges. Immediate changes I would suggest are swapping out any foundations you don’t use often for something with a low block. Shigaraki has only 19 health, so something like the standard Mirio strategy will give you problems. Also, since this essentially uses a slow mill effect, it actively improves decks like Endeavor. With all these issues in mind, I would suggest this as a more casual deck rather than a competitive one. Don’t write it off entirely though. You’d be surprised how many times an opponent gives up after making their 10th check in a turn. As a bonus, if you go second, you can give your opponent a -1 to a check for one of their first foundations. It’s not a nice thing to do, but is funny when it works out.