10/23/2026 Meta Scope #1: Shadows Nerf & NIKKE Tier List
Welcome to the very first edition of the Impacter's Meta Scope!
What better way to start off then with a newly restricted Site nerf for the recently dominant Shadow Army list, as well as the addition of the NIKKE Precious Booster set. Thanks for stopping by!
Meta Synopsis
The Shadow Army site restriction is a lot less exciting than it sounds, and unfortunately our team predicts minor impact for the performance of the deck. For fans of NIKKE however, we've got a couple great options with Cinderella or Modernia settling in that definitely have potential at making an appearance for the next regionals.
Click in the tier list to view breakdowns and decklists
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Purple Shadow Army
12c Defensive Ramp, Trash recursion, Snipe impact
S-Tier
Overview
Monarch’s Domain was restricted to 2 and frankly it’s a negligible nerf. This deck can dig enough that finding 1 per game is reasonable, and you really only need the 1 to enable 12c Jinwoo to double buff your board.
We’re projecting this deck not moving from the top spots and being able to easily adjust the list to still successfully execute its original gameplan of just consistently protecting life while chipping at your opponent, and reaching one of the best current end boards in the game with 5+ attacks all with 4k BP, with 5k snipe impact, null impact, and unblockable by 4k+.
Yellow EVA remains as a top deck in the meta with the best all-around cards at its disposal and it’s not ridiculous to say that it sets the power cap of the meta. Generally this deck doesn’t have many bad matchups and lots of really good ones, but it does open up holes if you can find ways past SR Rei.
4c Midrange, Snipe Impact, See opponent’s hand and life
S-Tier
Overview
Sakamoto is the newest of the top decks, but it's showing its power plenty in tournament. The deck has a really nice matchup chart favored against anything that can’t quell its aggression.
This build sports a really high cap being able to push aggression insanely quick with numerous high value effects that cheat cards or give card advantage. This hybrid combo mixing Sakamoto raid with Heisuke raid can finish the game just as aggressively as it can start with.
Kenshin gets the major benefit in this meta of being one of Shadow Army’s hardest matchups if not the hardest by neutralizing a lot of what they want by disrupting board, not sending things to sideline, and the lack of Raids make it hard for Shadow Army to get value out of their triggers.
Kenshin generally has good matchups just by being able to play really fast, but struggles into some of the higher tier decks that can just raid aggressively and/or generate a lot of value on the counter.
Red EVA is likely the highest capped deck in this tier. Despite having decent matchups and huge pop off potential, it can struggle with consistency especially compared to the top decks and can just generally lose out in a lot of matchups if it can’t get its pieces and loop its combos.
Saito gets a solid spot of being able to consistently play a simple gameplan of strong midrange pressure into snipe impact. 4c Saito gives this deck the edge against Shadows, but generally Saito is getting relatively lower powered than its midrange counterparts and wants to race them before it gets outvalued.
Toshiro is benefiting largely in this meta with a board spam centric build combined with its all-powerful board disruption effects. This list is able to build into solid pressure starting from mid-game with a wide board, disable problematic cards, and close out games by continuing this pressure with a slew of ways to make holes in your opponent’s front line.
Chainsaw Man has very solid power level builds with really great card draw and its trio of good raids that allow it to generally out-value many decks and make up for its slightly longer setup turns. It however really struggles into matchups that can match its value and just continue their gameplan, and this deck doesn’t have many ways to cheat wins in these matchups.
Cinderella joins the meta in the deep end with what we expect to have some potential showings at the next regional. Cinderella sports a consistent way to build her engine in removal, and some really powerful combos that can spam 4ks quickly. Capping the deck off with Cinderella herself providing protection, impact, hard removal, and a 5k body.
The deck can be a little slow to pressure mid-game, despite spamming 4ks, which causes some matchup difficulties with Shadows, but generally this build is able to generate plenty of value in other matchups to make up for its pacing.
Reze has the ability for some great all around pressure with early Damage 2 swings, BP reduction, late game impacts and extra removal. Her problem lies in her gimmick in that she typically picks between dumping her hand or thinning her board to enable her pressure, and generally this leads to end games where she gets gassed out and stabilized against.
The biggest issue though is the matchup vs Shadows where they can block your Damage 2 swings, refill board, and just out resource you.
Eren has a high cap and ability to pop off, but its main gameplan is really just reliant on high rolling your triggers and making sure you can ramp. Its matchup versus Shadows is good, but also high rolling for 8+ rounds is a daunting task.
Sakamoto Store hits you real fast and draws plenty. This list has plenty of power despite not running the Snipe Impact, and has lots of room for variability to each playstyle including room for Shin raids at that top end. Really only lacking ways to close games outside of its constant pressure, you’re really just banking on the 1 raid Impact or Lu double attack.
4c Combo Midrange, Play from top deck, Pushback, Raid heavy
A--Tier
Overview
Beatrice is really a setup deck but with aggressive payoff that’s actually worth. 3c raid is an amazing disruption effect that you can play flexibly around, 4c Beatrice raid is great for pressure, and both raids are great at closing out games. However, the deck can be pretty susceptible to removal because it typically wants as many pieces on board as possible to raid on, as well as having its setup pieces such as Forbidden Library or 2c Beatrice.
Soei plays many great closers in its gameplan between 4c Soei raid and both Rimuru raids that you can get some nasty end game situations if you have your opponent low on health. It can be a little inconsistent if you can’t hit your early game mills to enable your draws or if you want to raid Soei mid game and can’t activate his main.
Spear is still strong with its engine getting online, and even now just supplementing it with 5c Mari raid from the restrictions in play. Its main problem is the meta being fast and Spear being slow to set up. With lots of top decks favoring chumps in the front line (entire Top 3), the force block raid is also way less impactful than before. It’s just too easy to rush down Spear and disrupt whatever they can get online.
Chihiro is just as strong as ever being able to aggressively make holes in your opponent’s front line and beat them down, however it struggles all the same with gassing out. With the defensive power of the meta being higher, it’s a bit easier for decks to stabilize vs Chihiro and wait him out.
Historia has some really good feeling end game offense board state once you can get the engine online and it’s not bad at swinging 4ks with its early game units, but struggles defensively with its only 4k bodies being raids and just consistency with hitting your thresholds on time.
4c Midrange Combo, Event based, Sideline recursion, BP buffs
B+-Tier
Overview
Yuna still has plenty of gas to play in the meta, being able to see your whole deck is just too good. Its main problem is its only way to interact with your opponent’s board is Kirito and that can be quite costly being 2 cards for 1 + 2 AP in a space where flooding the board is the prevalent winning strategy.
WILLE is reliant on putting the pedal to the metal, and you are gonna seem unstoppable… whenever you can hit it. This deck is just too inconsistent to hit its winning strategy every game and it doesn't really have room or the capability to veer off of it.
This deck has some great top end pieces, especially in theory versus Shadows it can sideline many low BP units and prevent them from blocking. It’s just too reliant on raids to get its good effects and will generally just get rushed down before it can apply real pressure on the opponent.
A really solid aggro midrange deck sporting only cards for its raid targets, and some really nice combos for Snipe Impact or even just basic 4k pressure being able to reduce BP on your opponent’s board. Though it’s another deck that is really reliant on raids to cap out, and sometimes you either don’t see them or they just get snuffed out and you gas out.
Likely one of the best specialist decks on the list. Kusiru in theory has a lot of really strong combos, variability in its gameplan, and ways to recur, however it can be really resource intensive with using AP and difficult to upkeep a board whilst performing your stronger combos.
Mainly a really good anti-shadows pick, Byakuya has lots of removal for chump bodies but is really gonna struggle against those 4k spammers like Yellow EVA. Stay tuned for vol 3…
5c Combo Midrange, Event based, Sideline recursion, Extra removal
B+-Tier
Overview
Modernia gets some really good support with the 3c Marian allowing you to easily remove 4k bodies with Modernia raid. The rest of the deck follows a pretty straightforward gameplan of playing on tempo, swinging 4ks, and raiding without slowing down too much.
Jeju is seeing some life as a counterpick in this meta being able to play a 3k Impact early and get a lot of pressure with 2x attack and chump removal. Its major problem is keeping cards in hand in order to refill board and use your effects, and there’s potential with Japanese Hunter variants that may help with that.
5c Midrange, 0c Buffing, Sideline recursion, Extra removal
B+-Tier
Overview
This deck saw better success on release in Japan, but we’re basically seeing a lower power level version of Shadow Army. Rem is able to recur 0c Subarus from sideline many times, but doesn’t have great ways to be able to buff it so it can do more than just block or just be raided on.
4c Midrange, Restand, BP Reduction, Sideline recursion, Cheat bodies
B+-Tier
Overview
Progressive in theory has a lot of great pieces to pressure your opponent and close out with abilities to disable blocking, restand damage 2 or unblockable by 2k attacks, but the deck is just really reliant on Asuna raid to do a lot of the heavy work mid-late game.
Todo is the pure essence of a counterpick specialist or simply put anti-meta deck in the entire game. It plays a lot of disruption and damage 2 pressure, but it can lack consistency as well as sort of just ignored by decks that love to block.
Iai White Purity Style is a versatile deck that can absolutely steal games. 2c Chihiro enables a lot of early pressure and late game versatility, and Chihiro raid has numerous avenues for chipping and finding ways to go for game.
Bigger issues encompassing the playstyle is that it often is win or lose for game. Sometimes you may not know what your top deck mill is, or you have to Datenseki to go for game when they have 2-3 life, or they have a 3k null impact that is hard to go around. It’s a tough gameplan for an 8+ round tournament.
Inuyasha has potential as an aggro deck to go fast and hit your perfect line, however it’s really dependent on that and pretty narrow to hit. Without Inuyasha curve into Kagome raid into Inuyasha raid, it really doesn’t do enough outside of just swinging a lot until you run out of cards (and swings).
Kikoru is very simply an aggro deck that can go wide really fast, but suffers similar issues to other decks where that’s all it really can do, and it’s stuck with its main engine being on its only finisher. So maybe you want to draw more cards or buff your units with 4c raid, however you risk it dying and now you’re left without the only Impact in the deck.
Demon Castle has a great payoff with 5c Jinwoo raid that basically becomes a force block Impact and summons a 4k unblockable by 4k to swing again. It’s just really susceptible to being rushed down by the many aggro or midrange decks in the meta.
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