I’m a Shadow user, and probably forever will be as far as I’m concerned. I’ve kept a single character since AA, starting as Shadow, as well as WoM, my first character being a max level Shadow wizard.
Shadow is awesome; It looks cool, sounds cool, and feels awesome to use. Better yet, the stats on the thing are really good than what I had thought before. It’s basically above average in speed, damage, and everything else. I’m fine to work without a gimmick because of how good Shadow is as a base magic 
. Light was my second pick in AA, but I’m straying away from it. It also looks and feels awesome, but…
I have several issues and worries about choosing it, which also involve Shadow. I love them both so much, but I had to go with the former. Sorry, Light 
. This brings me to talk about things I don’t feel bright about Shadow (And light, but I’ll be talking about Shadow. They’re both the same Magic mechanically); this nagging dread keeps growing and I just have to address it or i’ll go insane.
Shadow as a base magic is very nice, but there are a couple of things that I have issues with. Will it actually combo with another magic, or are you going to be using your other magics forever for favorable combos? I can’t figure out how magic could be used in any sort of combo, because everything just seems so much better. My main next few magics I want to have under my belt is Ice and Lunar, for a stun-lock combo, but where does Shadow come in all this? 
I also don’t think Shadow is inherently good for PvP, even though I know there are some people who do well with Shadow. I feel like you’ll be mechanically focused on your movement and placement in battle than the mechanics of your magic, while as you’ll know how to weave around an element like Earth, or Fire into your favor. It’s difficult to match other magics with there concrete style of fighting, adding on to their gimmick. Lightning, Ash, Magma, and Iron are just a few examples of magics that dominate Shadow. 
Between a Blast, it just depends on Clashing, or actually hitting your shots. Shadow comes with good damage, but so do the others, as well as there valuable tick damage. I don’t think about explosions, because honestly I have tried to see how I could out-trade somebody with an explosion or placed explosion. It’s hard, I have to focus on constantly evading and missing the chance to fire back because of how aggressive the enemy is, while my magic is mediocre against PvP. 
And what the hell am I suppose to use primarily for my spells? I use literally everything except for Pillar because it feels and looks awkward to use. My blasts consist of double shots and my explosions are either a triple shot self or a double shot placed. I work on Casting Speed because that all I can think that will work. It’s engraved in my head that whoever casts first wins. It’s becoming a habit that whenever someone has the jump on me, I already consider myself dead, or at least, losing the battle.
am i just bad at pvp
I LOVE Shadow, I really do, but it hurts to see me and my little boy being torn apart. 
