Here's the gist of how 2 play artifact:

1. Play deck cards to stall the match and generate Artifact fodder into your hand.

2. Combine Artifact fodder in your hand in different ways, to generate various Artifact tools of varying ability and usefulness.

3. Play cards that summon copies of the Artifact tools in your hand onto the field, so that you can make use of them while keeping the originals in your hand to combine into the Artifact ace boss: Masterwork Artifact Ω, in the endgame.

Strongly consider playing Ralmia on turn 8 which will summon copies of up to 3 different Artifact tools, creating an instant army.

4. If you haven't been able to win teh match yet from just the Artifact tools + cards in your deck, combine the artifact tools in your hand to make Masterwork Artifact Ω, on turn 10.

Masterwork Artifact Ω has 10 attack, storm, ward, and bane. He also cannot be targeted, does 5 damage to all enemy followers upon summon, and heals 5 health to you. Figure out what to do with him yourself.

5. ??????????

6. Cry because u Won teh game (or because you weren't able to beat down your opponent with a 10 attack ace monster, and then your oppenent blew up ur Ω with a 1 cost bat with bane the following turn).

Here we'll explain what each of the artifact cards are, since knowing what teh cards do might increase your odds of winning. You would do well to memorize and be able to recall at a moments notice what each of them does.



These cards are the starter Artifacts that will be added to your hand when you play some of the cards in your deck. The red one is called Ambition. The blue one is called Remembrance.

They are 1 cost Amulet-type cards that have no ability and can't actually even be played on the field. They have the card trait "Artifact."

When combined with at least 1 other Artifact card, these fodder cards to turn into what I like to call a "Tier 1" Artifact, which is when the Artifacts start becoming useful and can actually be played.

Fusing Artifact cards is a lot like fusing cards in original shadowverse. Hover over the card, and click the fusion button on the info panel that shows up.

Note that you can only fuse these Tier 0 cards with each other, as their requirement for fusion material are cards that are "Artifact-trait & Amulet-type;" themselves being the only cards in the whole game that meet both those requirements. All the other Artifact cards are "Follower" type.

All other Artifact cards do not have this Amulet-type restriction for fusion material, so once you move beyond Tier 0, you're free to start fusing any Artifact card with any other Artifact.



This is when the Artifacts start to become useful and are actually playable on the field, though, you generally want to avoid playing them right away, if possible, and keep them in your hand to combine into further tiers of artifact (don't worry, there are cards that can clone them onto the field so you can make use of them without having to play them).

Tier 1 Artifacts are 3 cost Follower type cards with the Artifact trait.

Striker Artifact is created by fusing an Ambition with any other Artifact.
Striker is a 3 cost Follower with 5 attack and Rush, which is an excellent value for such a card.
Just remember: Ambition is Red->Attack->Striker.

Fortifier Artifact is created by fusing a Remembrance with any other Artifact.
Fortifier is a 3 cost Follower with 5 defense and Ward. Not as good a value, since there are lots of cards that can destroy a follower regardless of it's defense, but having cheap ward available is nice.
Just remember: Remembrance is Blue->Defense->Fortifier

These Tier 1 Artifacts are very handy to keep around for when you might need a low 3 cost, 5 atk beat-stick with rush, or a good value meat shield, respectively.

The economy works out so that in a single match, you'll probably have enough extra Artifact resources to be able to craft at least 1-2 extra of these to be able to play on the field, so, while you should generally hoard the Artifacts in your hand to craft into the Ultimate Artifact, don't be afraid to throw one of these Tier 1 ones out there if you really need one, and seriously have absolutely nothing else in your hand to play.



The Artifacts start becoming fancier, with different abilities.

Fusing Tier 1 Artifact with materials totaling certain different card cost will turn them into respective Tier 2 Artifact.

Tier 2 Artifacts are 5 cost, Follower-type cards with Artifact cart trait. Their recipes are the same regardless of which Tier 1 base, Striker or Fortifier, you use.

Ominous Artifact α (Alpha) is a 5 cost follower that heals your leader for 3 health at the end of each of your turn it is on the field.
Alpha is created by fusing a Tier 1 Artifact with one or more material with total cost equal to 1.
Since you can only use Artifacts as fusion material for other Artifacts, the most cost effective material to use to make Alpha is a single Tier 0 fodder Artifact of either kind.

Ominous Artifact β (Beta) is a 5 cost follower that deals 3 damage to the enemy leader at the end of each of your turns it is on the field.
Beta is created by fusing a Tier 1 Artifact with one or more material with total cost equal to 2.
The most cost effective material to use to make Beta are two Tier 0 fodder Artifacts of any combination (there is no single Artifact card with a cost of 2).

Note that the materials for Beta take up the most hand space of all the Tier 2 Artifacts, since the only materials suitable to craft it are two Tier 0 fodder at once; there are literally no other combination of Artifact card in the whole game that will add up to 2-cost, so it is worth considering fusing for this Artifact first, since hand size becomes limited later in the match, making this Artifact slightly more troublesome to create compared to the others.

Ominous Artifact γ (Gamma) is a 5 cost follower that deals 3 damage to all enemy followers at the end of each of your turns it is on the field.
Gamma is created by fusing a Tier 1 Artifact with one or more material with total cost of 3 or more.
The most cost effective material to use to make Gamma is any Tier 1 artifact, which can be easily created on the fly by combining two Tier 0 fodder material. Don't waste 3 fodder when 2 combined is just as fine.

You'll generally want to work towards having one each of the Tier 2 Artifact cards in your hand to be able to craft the Ultimate Artifact in the endgame.

When thinking about which Tier 2 Artifact to work towards first, consider what the urgency is for each of their unique abilities in the match you're currently in. Consider if you'll need healing, leader damage, or mob wipe when deciding which ones to build and in which order.



This is what you've been working towards this whole game.

Masterwork Artifact Ω (Omega) is a 10 cost Follower-type card with Artifact trait.

Omega has 10 attack and defense, Storm, Bane, Ward, and Aura (can't be selected as a target by enemy abilities). Omega will also do 5 damage to all enemy followers on the field and heal you for 5 health upon summon.

Omega is created by Fusing an Alpha with a Beta and Gamma as material.

Note that only Alpha can be used as the fusion base. Beta and Gamma don't have a fusion button on their info panels. You don't have to fuse all the materials into Alpha at once, you can fuse them one at a time if you choose (for when you need to make room in your hand, for example), but note that you can only fuse to an individual card once per turn.

Also, note that it is possible to fuse inappropriate materials into Alpha, such as duplicate Beta and Gamma cards. Doing so will cause those cards to be eaten without anything in return.

The total cost to create an Omega from scratch is 11 Tier 0 fodder cards. This can be useful to keep in mind when trying to gauge how far you are from being able to craft Omega.

If Omega doesn't win the game for you, nothing will.

That being said, Omega isn't an invincible card. It is susceptible to bane, as well as non-targeting destruction, like with Divine Thunder, which doesn't target but rather destroys whatever "random" card has the highest attack. Also, Omega can simply just be beaten down with plain old follower attacks, though it will bane anything that isn't super evolved in return.

As is always with Shadowverse, it's best to finish a match as soon as you can, and if you've reached the point where you're summoning an Omega, that time is now.

This is my cheap and dirty f2p Artifact deck. Notice how it only has 2 legendaries?

I see these whiny n00b reviews and comments talkin' 'bout how you need 10-12inch legendary in ur deck 2 win; b*tch plz, my 2legendary poverty deck already been laying the smackdown in arena over and over again.

Disclosure: This deck isn't at all optimized; it's a poverty deck made from the only cards that I managed to pull, thus being the only cards that I can play, but it already consistently wins in PVP and fo-reals doesn't actually need additional legendaries to do so.


Elise - is a body on the field, providing early pressure, and generates an Artifact on death. 2nd/3rd most cost-effective way to generate Artifact Cardz.

Artifact Recharge - the most cost effective way to generate Artifacts. 1 cost for 2 Artifacts. 'nuff said.

Leah - draws a card upon death, plus has ward, mitigating damage while you get your Artifacts running. Also consider evolving her for an additional card draw. She's one of the few sources of draw-power available to Portalcraft, plus, who could ever resist the kawaii ding-dong ding-dong?


Electric Whip Lass - puts an Artifact in ur hand on fanfare. While not the most cost effective way to generate artifacts, she is a good value card overall, being only 2 cost for 4 power (1 attack + 3 defense).

(pretty much any card that can generate an artifact is going to be mandatory in this deck; there aren't so many of them that we can pick and choose which ones we want or not. That being said, if we did want to start dumping some cards in this deck to slot in others, Whip Lass is a strong contender to get cut)

Ironheart Hunter -puts an Artifact in ur hand on fanfare. Decent 3 damage nuke on evolve.

Stream of Life - puts an Artifact in ur hand and is a cheap 3 damage nuke.

Seraphic Tidings - Leah and Seraphic Tidings are pretty much the only draw-power cardz that Portalcrap currently has access to, and thus are mandatory in any Buttholedraft deck where you don't want to run out of cards in ur hand. Consider replacing this card with Eudie for a more expensive bling-bling deck.

Kitty Cannoneer - puts an Artifact in ur hand on fanfare and has 3 attack with Rush. For when you urgently need to hit something but don't have any evolution points.

Medical Grade Assassin - What do you want? I ran out of Artifact archetype cards to put into the deck. Seriously though, this bronze-rarity card gives you a 1 cost 3/3 puppet with rush, and then buffs that puppet with bane on summon. Just think of it as a bargain-basement 4 total-cost insta-bane deployment system, and then Assassin kinda just sticks around after the bane is used up, being a 2/2 presence on the field.

Miriam the Resolute - gives you 4 Artifacts for 3 cost (and 1 evolution point). Second most efficient way of generating Artifacts if you use an evolution point, 3rd most efficient if you don't. If i had more copies of her I would def' slot them into this deck, fo-sho.

Rukina - puts 2 Artifacts in your hand on summon, and when evolved, summons a 5 attack with Rush beatstick (Striker Artifact). Since the Striker artifact is summoned to the field, it can't be used as fusion material in your hand, but hey, a friendly 5 damage beatstick with Rush is always welcome. 10 total rush attack damage for only 5 cost + 1 evolution point, very much worth.

Bullet from Beyond - Nukes any targetable enemy, and puts 2 artifacts in your hand. Save this puppy for the big chonky enemies (unless you really, reaaally need the addtional fodder Artifact materials).

Alouette - One of the few cards that will clone an Artifact from your hand onto the field. Try to think about which artifact might be most useful in the moment, and then play Alouette and evolve her to get that Artifact for free. Artifact cloned must be 5 cost or less. Tier 0 fodder artifacts cannot be cloned.

Note that the Artifact you choose to be cloned doesn't necessarily have to be a 5 cost Tier 2 Artifact. Sometimes, a 3 cost Tier 1 artifact can be the best option. Don't be afraid to consider all the options, except for the 1 cost Tier 0 fodder Artifacts, they can't be cloned/summoned.

Doomwright Resurgence - One of the few cards that will clone Artifacts from your hand onto the field. Clones 2 separate Artifacts, of at most 5 cost each (except Tier 0 fodder Artifacts), temporarily onto the field.

Note that the only valid Artifacts that can be cloned by this card are any Tier 1 or Tier 2 Artifacts (Tier 0 are not playable, and Omega cost 10 and thus is too expensive for this card).

Also note that you must have least two separate valid Artifact cards to be able to play this card at all. If you have only 1 valid Artifact card in your hand, the card will be unplayable until you fuse enough Artifacts such that you have at least 2 valid ones in your hand.

Also, you can't pick the same Artifact card twice to clone. You must choose two separate cards. They can be the same kind of Artifact, they just have to be 2 individual cards.

Artifacts cloned onto the field by this card will disappear after the opponents turn; this is indicated by the cracking and shattering around the edges on their card image on the field, so make use of them while you have them.

A couple of 3 cost Tier 1 Striker Artifacts are serious contenders for this card, as they have Rush and can attack as soon as summoned without having to waste an evolution point on a temporary card. Make sure to consider all your options.

Ancient Cannon - Permanent Amulet that does 2 non-targeting damage to a random enemy follower every time you fuse cards, plus gives you a fodder Artifact on summon. Since you're going to be doing a lot of fusing with this archetype, you can get a lot of good mileage out of this card played early. 5 cost is pretty expensive, so if there are any enemies on the field, make sure you have cards handy to fuse, as it will likely be the only big card you can play that turn.

Avoid playing more than 1 of these, as having too many permanent fixtures on your field will block Ralmia's 3 summons later on.

Actually, including only 1 Cannon in your deck is fine if you got something better, like an extra Alouette or Miriam. The only reason I have 2x Cannon in my deck is because that's what I pulled. If you do swap out Cannon, try to swap it with a different Artifact fodder generating card, as having too few in your deck will stall your Fusion.

Ralmia - The only Legendary card in this deck. She makes an instant army by cloning up to 3 different Artifacts of 5 cost or less (except for Tier 0 fodder) upon summon. Additionally, when you super-evolve her, she gives +1/+1 to all Artifacts on the field, buffing your new Artifact army.

Note that unlike Doomwright Resurgence, you don't actually need to have 3 separate Artifact cards to be able to play her, though if you don't have 3 different ones, her fanfare ability will be somewhat wasted as only the ones you are able to choose will be cloned.

Her biggest downside is that she has only 2/2 damage/defense, making her rather a rather weak hitter. Still though, instantly summoning 3 different 5 cost Artifact cards is a value of 15 play points in a single turn, and can be game winning in of itself, and she can be played on turn 8 for 8 play points, two whole turns before you are able to summon an Omega, which costs 10 play points.

The best card to keep and mulligan for at the start is Ancient Cannon. Sure, it cost 5 play points, but by the time you get to the point where can play it, you hand should be bursting with Tier 0 Artifact fodder ready to start fusing, and it'd be a waste if you didn't already have an Ancient Cannon to take advantage of all that fusing by then.

Other good cards to keep on mulligan are all the cards that cost 2, or less, as they can be played early and often.

Avoid drawing extra cards too much early on. Clogging your hand with excess non-fodder playables will cockblock the cards that add 2x fodder at a time to your hand, causing that fodder to be wasted before you can even start fusing to clear up the space. Save most of the draw-power cards for when you already have a good amount of fodder that can be fused for space, or after you've spent some Artifacts and need to replenish a now empty hand (ie, after you fuse and throw down Omega).

Try to aim for being able to craft at least 1 each of the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Artifact cards by the time Ralmia is ready to rock on turn 8.

For further guidance on how to play the deck, see the Teh Introduction to this guide.

It's best to hang onto the lowest tier of Artifact cards that you can manage for as long as possible (ie. until you need to make space in your hand for additional cards).

Having the lower tier of Artifact cards readily available in your hand gives you the option to fuse them into higher tiers at any time, allowing you to choose which tools you want to fuse in order to suit the situation. Artifact's flexibility is probably it's biggest strength. Remember: there is no way to "un-fuse" artifacts.

Also, certain cards have effects that trigger when you fuse. So just having the ability to fuse a bunch of times in hand can be useful in of itself.

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Congatulation! You are Artifact Expert!