Can i play this deck unupgraded, too?
If you are referring to the RoL/Hope/Fractal deck, the Photons
have to be upgraded to Ray of Lights for it to work. Definitely upgrade the Lobotomizers to Electrocutors for cost savings and Golden Dragons to Light Dragons for damage. The pillars, Fractals, and Hopes don't have to be upgraded but it speeds up the deck. So save those for last. Some people actually prefer keeping the unupgraded Hopes instead of the upgraded ones.
And what the hell is shard of gratitude???
Shards can be won by playing against the Top50. You can also win them playing FGs but it is very rare. The shards you win from the Top50 have to be upgraded for 1500 electrum to be any use. Greens are Gratitude, Blues are Divinity, and Yellows are Readiness.
You can also obtain an upped shard for every $5 you donate through the link in-game. $10 gets you 2 and so on...
As for the deck, I like unionruler's variation (mine is a little different from his)
5lj 6qq 6rn 6rn 6rn 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jq 7jq 7k2 7k4 7k4 7k4 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 80e 80e 80e 80i 80i 80i 80i 80i
The Quantum Tower pays for the shards and helps against Decay. And 3 Electrocutors make sure I get one early against FGs like Osiris, Paradox, Dream Catcher, and others.