Like any game, Shadow Era has plenty of long names for cards and effects that people like to abbreviate. Below is a list of commonly used terms and initials to help new players acclimate into the community.
These are in alphabetical order courtesy of GondorianDotCom. If you want to find something specific, please use Ctrl+F.
1.5: The version number for the iconic final update to Call of the Crystals before the game's first physical print run. This patch was developed and tested by GondorianDotCom, Mojumbo, Razcrux, Anurak, and DnDFreaK, with consultation toward the end from NachyoChez. This time is generally referred to as the most balanced Shadow Era's ever been, with a fairly wide meta and foggy, indefinite tier list.
A1: Alliance One, a group of players currently led by Wtzky.
AA1: Acolytes of Alliance One, a secondary guild created by A1 for use as a recruitment pool once A1 became full, the goal being to train newer players and talent seek while the main A1 focuses on competition. Ironically, many AA1 members have gained credibility in their own right including Jacqui, who made the top four of Worlds 2012.
Achilles' Lance: A Lance Shadowstalker variant christened by DnDFreaK that uses Anklebreaker alongside Jasmine and Raven for a large suite of options to control the board with on the fifth turn, preferably after playing Ill-Gotten Gains the turn before.
Aeon: Aeon Stormcaller, a unique human ally.
Aldon: Aldon the Brave, a unique human ally.
AoA: Armor of Ages, a warrior and elemental armor.
Arrows: Refers to Poison Arrows and Flaming Arrows, both hunter attachments. In the early days these cards were functionally the same but have since been modified.
ASF: A player group created under the ETC banner (see below) and run by Ahmet476
Batman: See SK.
BB: Banebow, a shadow hunter hero.
BDB: Beetle Demon Bow, a hunter weapon.
BE: Berserker's Edge, a warrior weapon. A bit infamous for an old bug that gave the weapon +2 power instead of +1 for killing with Logan's ability.
BF: Blood Frenzy, a warrior attachment. BF is a bit infamous for being the best draw engine in the game circa 1.29. It was changed to 3cc in 1.5, meaning that it no longer interacted with Jeweler's Dream. The warrior card pool became less synergistic, but fix many balance problems with the class.
BM: Brutal Minotaur, a shadow ally.
Bounce: A game term for when a card is returned to a player's hand.
Boweh, The: Formerly known as DnDFreaK, Boweh.blogspot.com and accompanying youtube channel DaBoweh are suppliers of Shadow Era strategy.
BS: Bad Santa, a neutral ability. Key card in the Santa Bomb technique (see below).
Burn: Any source of direct damage, whether this be Lightning Strike, Supernova, Smite, or Plasma Behemoth.
Bella: Belladonna, a shadow ally.
Cantrip: A card that immediately lets you draw one card to replace itself in the hand when played. This includes Belladonna, Cobraskin Wraps, Here Be Monsters, Campfire Stories, Reconaissance, etc. Cards like Shadow Knight or Tome of Knowledge can do similar things, but technically aren't considered cantrips.
CC: Casting Cost or Card Cost. This refers to the cost required to play a card. For example, Shriek of Vengeance is a 1cc shadow ability and Aeon Stormcaller is a 6cc human ally. This format is also used for cards with shadow energy ability costs. For example, Eladwen Frostmire has a 4se ability and Wizent's Staff has a 1se ability.
Clock, the: Used to refer to the amount of turns a given player has before they lose. When one opponent is whittling away another's life by two points a turn and they have ten life, for example, this would be referred to as a 'five turn clock'.
CotC: Call of the Crystals, the official name for Shadow Era's base set.
Constructed: A type of gameplay in which each player brings their own pre-constructed deck of cards, as opposed to building a deck during the event.
CP: Careful Planning, a hunter ability. Also refers to Captured Prey, a wulven ability.
Crown: An unofficial event series run by BlueJet24.
DA: Destroy Arms, the name of Focused Prayer before 1.5
DC: Darkclaw, a wulven hero most commonly associated with Hidden Machine (see below).
Death Race: A technique in which players go straight for the opposing hero instead of fighting for board position or disrupting enemy strategy. In essence, the players are 'racing' to see who dies first.
DMT: Death Mage Thaddeus, a unique shadow ally.
DR: Dimension Ripper, an elemental and warrior weapon. Also called D Ripper. Key card in Stripper decks (see below).
DP: Dark Prophecies. The second set and first expansion for Shadow Era.
Draft: A type of limited event in which players pick a card from a pack and pass the rest, eventually finishing with a pool of cards from which a deck can be built.
DT: Death Trap, a hunter trap. Also refers to the game's Design Team, below.
Design Team: Group of community members working together to create and balance the game. Original members are
Mistah Boweh, Mojumbo, Razcrux, Anurak, and GondorianDotCom. Current team is Mojumbo, GondorianDotCom, Soothslyr, Anurak, NachyoChez, Seth, and OrangeHatGuy.
DoU: Dagger of Unmaking, a rogue and mage weapon.
DwW: Darkwood Wraith, a shadow ally.
E2E: Enlisted to Endure, a player group currently led by N3rd4Chr1st.
EA: Evil Ascendant, a shadow item and counterpart to Good Ascendant.
EP: Earthen Protector, a unique human ally.
ETC: Shadow Era ETC, a player group formed by GondorianDotCom and currently led by Steve99.
FB: Fireball, a mage ability. Also Feedback, an elemental ability.
FeedBomb: Coin termed by community member BlanketEffect, this is an expansion on the Santa Bomb technique (see below) in which Feedback is used in part to chain together multiple Bad Santas, often resulting in the draw of additional Feedbacks.
FP: Focused Prayer, a priest ability. before 1.5, the card was named Destroy Arms but was changed to reflect the card's ability to destroy much more than arms.
FS: Fire Snake, a shadow ally. The butt of many jokes, originally during a time that many players were crying nerf, N3rd4Chr1st posted a thread calling to nerf firesnake, stating that the 1/2 for 1 is overpowered, which it is generally considered not to be. Since then, Fire Snake being OP is one of the more often repeated inside jokes of the community, and threads with joke lists where Fire Snake plays a key role tend to crop up from time to time.
GA: Good Ascendant, a human item and counterpart to Evil Ascendant.
GM: Ghostmaker, a priest and elemental weapon. Key card in Zhannax (see below).
Gauntlet: A TJ event in which players have to fight a series of Team Juggernauts members in best of three games, with a large prize at the end. So far, the top record is held by Wtzky who lost 1-2 in the final round.
Gravebella: A deck archetype created by Killtrend. The deck relies around Gravebone being able to use the ability of Belladonna over and over to grind out advantage. The deck also uses Portal to maximize this. While Portal no longer interacts with Gravebone, since the ally needs to be played from hand to be hasted, the deck itself still survives thanks to Killtrend's perseverance.
HBM: Here be Monsters, a shadow ability.
Hidden Machine: A deck archetype in which a player shields themselves from damage for a series of turns in a row. These decks often run little to no allies, preferring to win with weapons, burn, or some other effect while the opponent sits idle. Darkclaw is the most well-known for this, but was changed in 1.5 and is less viable than before. Darkclaw Hidden Machine christened by CodeDomination, but popularized (at least in part) by Drakkon. The current version uses Millstalker instead and tends to win more by the opponent running out of deck than by weapon damage as was the custom of the original.
Hyper-Amber: A deck archetype christened by Raphael Majere that utilizes Amber Rain and a suite of small, aggressive allies to beat down and control the board at the same time.
IG: Infernal Gargoyle, a shadow ally. Also called Stoneskin, which was the original name for the card. Stoneskin became a keyword ability with the effect of Infernal Gargoyle's text, but eventually the keyword was abandoned completely and Stoneskin no longer appears anywhere in the game.
IGG: Ill-Gotten Gains, a rogue item.
ITF: Into the Forest, a hunter attachment.
JD: Jeweler's Dream, a warrior and wulven weapon.
Jas: Jasmine Rosecult, a human ally, also known as Jasmine. The art on the card was once considered so questionable by Apple that it had to be 'toned down' for Shadow Era to release on the app store.
JerryPlague: A deck archetype christened by Jerry that uses Jericho and Plague, as well as other resource destruction, to prevent the opponent from playing their key cards while you attack with a host of small allies. As of 1.5, however, Plague was changed drastically to prevent a player from being reset to 0-1 resources, making the deck much less viable than it used to be.
Jet: Acid Jet, a shadow ability. Also can refer to BlueJet24, a community member.
KP: The King's Pride, a warrior and priest armor. Also called TKP. More than coincidentally, KP is also the initials of the game's original creator, Kyle Poole.
Kris: Kristoffer Wyld, a human ally.
Lamb Slam: Another of BlanketEffect's terms, this one is when you use the card Sacrificial Lamb with an ally that was otherwise useless, such as one with a Crippling Blow attached or that would die from a damage-over-time effect the next turn regardless.
Lazy Wolf: See Hidden Machine.
Limited: A type of gameplay in which players build a deck at the event as opposed to bringing a pre-constructed deck of cards.
LS: Lightning Strike, a mage ability.
Le4gue: An official event series run by GondorianDotCom.
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