D-BT02A: Four Dimensions brought with it two new flags of such sickeningly unparalleled consistency that the game simply was not prepared to manage it. Guardians and Executioners get top notch filtering, drawing, searching, and a cancerous amount of free resources.
For Executioners, which have high gauge costs and low base life, the consistency seems like it should be a fair trade-off. For Guardians, however, they only start with -1 gauge and +2 life. Then, they got a vastly superior, completely free combination of a vanilla weapon and Rune Staff that doesn't have to rest to get gauge. Yeah, about those "gauge problems" they were supposed to be having... RIP.
To make matters worse, the Guardian's gate spell is stupid. It lets you get ANY Guardians monster in your deck for only its [Call Cost] if you have no monsters on the field or cards in your drop zone. Essentially, if they open well, they get to just fish their deck for a free card draw, their busted ass boss card that is Fahne with Soulguard on roids, or their size 1 Double Attacker that gives free life. Or, if they need a counter card from their deck like Angel Frill to wreck your soul, well, they can get that too.
So, what can we do to stop this nonsense? Well, not a whole lot I'm afraid. There are currently 3 types of cards that will stop Gate of Pardon, -Forgiveness-, but first, let's establish how Gate works.
Gate has two effects that its user can choose from. Both are "You may only use this ability once per turn." effects. Upon declaration of the ability, they must select which ability they are using. If they are using the life gaining effect, they must also target which 3 cards they are sending back.
At this point, you get your counter timing. If there was a card with counter (RIP Bucket Arm Dragon) that removed from play or sent cards in the drop zone back to the deck, if you responded by using that effect on one of their targeted cards, they would not gain the life. But, this is a moot point when no cards exist currently that do this.
Okay, so we want to stop the other effect, then. What are our options? We really only have one, and that's to make a card enter their drop zone in response to them activating Gate of Pardon, -Forgiveness-. We can do this in one of three ways.
1. We can mill cards from their deck at counter speed.
Example - Gale Destruction
Gale Destruction will destroy a size 2 or less monster on the opponent's field and mill the top 2 cards of their deck. We don't have a valid target for the monster effect, but we can still cast it to force them to mill 2. When Pardon tries to resolve, it will fizzle because it will fail its check for having no cards in the drop zone.
2. We can destroy Gate of Pardon, -Forgiveness- at counter speed.
Example - Soaring Dragon Spirits
Soaring Dragon Spirits will destroy a size 1 or less and a set spell on the field. If you destroy Gate in response to its effect, when the effect tries to resolve, it will see a card in its drop zone and fizzle. Keep in mind that Soaring Dragon Spirits targets a size 1 or less and it doesn't specify on the opponent's field for the size 1 or less check, so if you have a size 0 or 1 monster, you will have to target it. Choosing no target is only allowed in Buddyfight if no target exists.
3. We can destroy their equipped item if one exists.
Example - Dragons All Staked in
If the Guardians player has an item equipped, you may also destroy that item in response to Pardon's effect to cause Pardon to fizzle. This is the most preferable way to go about it if available, due to Pardon being unable to be removed by the Guardians player. They won't be able to play a second Gate that turn since their current Gate never left. Since Gate's effects are not named once per turn effects, if you blow up Gate and they play a new one, they can just use those. So item destruction is very solid against Guardians for the short-term.
There are plenty of cards that destroy anything at counter speed for higher costs. Caliburn can blow up the Gate as well. There are numerous options to make things work out in your favor. In some cases it might be worth waiting out their Gate for them to call Angelus and using Caliburn in response to Angelus' on-entry effect to negate the card draw, blow up their monster and Pardon, and have them still shuffle a card from hand back into deck. LeHeroes OP.
Obviously, forcing discards at counter speed, effect nullification at counter speed, and numerous other mechanics that simply don't exist yet/are impractical to make work currently will all have more ways to interact with Guardians. By time these are released though, I'm certain the power level of the game will catch up and Guardians won't be as big of a problem.
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Azi Turbo
I don't typically make lists for meta decks on my blog, but I love using this list to get two 6 crit swings in a single turn, so I'm going to post the latest version of Azi Turbo that I've been using.
Buddy - Dragon Knight, Cagliostro
Flag - Dragon Ein
Spells
4x Hundred Demons Sorcery, Rineryusho
4x Blue Dragon Shield
4x Dragon Emperor Legend
4x Dragon Throne
3x Divine Dragon Creation
3x Black Dragon Shield
2x Sky Dragon Divinity
1x Green Dragon Shield
Items
4x Demonic Demise Sword, Aqulta Gwaneff
Monsters
4x Demonic Demise Dragon, Azi Dahaka
4x Yearner of Extinction, Azi Dahaka
4x Dragon Knight, Pisaro
4x Twin Demon Dragon, Zahhak
4x Dragon Knight, Cagliostro
1x Seventh Omni Earth Lord, Count Dawn
Sideboard
3x Barbed Wire
3x Dragon Flame Cascade
2x Wicked Lord Dragon Sword, Aqulta Gwaneff
1x Black Dragon Shield
1x Sky Dragon Divinity
A few things to note about this list. As a turbo list, it is specifically designed to get Azi out turn 1 in the vast majority of games. We have 12 combo pieces that we need (Throne and both Azis). We have a whopping 21 cards that draw more cards or directly search for the pieces. At 33/50 cards, this comprises 2/3 of our deck. All of these cards are dedicated to turboing Azi Dahaka on to the board.
We don't have this insane consistency just for giggles, either. We're more ambitious than that. We also want to get out Azi #2. And maybe Azi #3. The ability to swing with so many high-threat cards really makes the deck pack a punch, and getting out these cards through a combination of ways is really important to making the deck work as a whole.
Let's discuss the new additions. Sky Dragon Divinity is a new draw 2 spell that can put cards back into the deck. This is very useful for us because we can play it and Divine Dragon Creation in the same turn to hit our early set-up. While there is a chance for it to be a dead card later in the game, it still offers us the invaluable asset of placing Aqulta Gwaneffs not just back into our deck, but at the bottom of our deck, which is exactly where we want them. Dragon Flame Cascade is the only iffy card many people would consider a poor choice for running. However, this is in consideration of the current metagame. Superheroines are played frequently and topping a bunch, and Pillars, though small in number, consistently top due to their natural ability to easily proc their abilities that require multiple cards on the field. Cascade shuts down both of these decks, and does nifty things in a few other match-ups. Everything else is pretty easy to understand. Of the remaining 17 cards, 8 are Dragon Shields. One is a revivable sack-bot. Rineryusho and Aqulta Gwaneff are the remaining cards, and are the keys to the combo plays this deck seeks to accomplish.
Buddy - Dragon Knight, Cagliostro
Flag - Dragon Ein
Spells
4x Hundred Demons Sorcery, Rineryusho
4x Blue Dragon Shield
4x Dragon Emperor Legend
4x Dragon Throne
3x Divine Dragon Creation
3x Black Dragon Shield
2x Sky Dragon Divinity
1x Green Dragon Shield
Items
4x Demonic Demise Sword, Aqulta Gwaneff
Monsters
4x Demonic Demise Dragon, Azi Dahaka
4x Yearner of Extinction, Azi Dahaka
4x Dragon Knight, Pisaro
4x Twin Demon Dragon, Zahhak
4x Dragon Knight, Cagliostro
1x Seventh Omni Earth Lord, Count Dawn
Sideboard
3x Barbed Wire
3x Dragon Flame Cascade
2x Wicked Lord Dragon Sword, Aqulta Gwaneff
1x Black Dragon Shield
1x Sky Dragon Divinity
A few things to note about this list. As a turbo list, it is specifically designed to get Azi out turn 1 in the vast majority of games. We have 12 combo pieces that we need (Throne and both Azis). We have a whopping 21 cards that draw more cards or directly search for the pieces. At 33/50 cards, this comprises 2/3 of our deck. All of these cards are dedicated to turboing Azi Dahaka on to the board.
We don't have this insane consistency just for giggles, either. We're more ambitious than that. We also want to get out Azi #2. And maybe Azi #3. The ability to swing with so many high-threat cards really makes the deck pack a punch, and getting out these cards through a combination of ways is really important to making the deck work as a whole.
Let's discuss the new additions. Sky Dragon Divinity is a new draw 2 spell that can put cards back into the deck. This is very useful for us because we can play it and Divine Dragon Creation in the same turn to hit our early set-up. While there is a chance for it to be a dead card later in the game, it still offers us the invaluable asset of placing Aqulta Gwaneffs not just back into our deck, but at the bottom of our deck, which is exactly where we want them. Dragon Flame Cascade is the only iffy card many people would consider a poor choice for running. However, this is in consideration of the current metagame. Superheroines are played frequently and topping a bunch, and Pillars, though small in number, consistently top due to their natural ability to easily proc their abilities that require multiple cards on the field. Cascade shuts down both of these decks, and does nifty things in a few other match-ups. Everything else is pretty easy to understand. Of the remaining 17 cards, 8 are Dragon Shields. One is a revivable sack-bot. Rineryusho and Aqulta Gwaneff are the remaining cards, and are the keys to the combo plays this deck seeks to accomplish.
Skull Warriors - Anti-Meta Variant
The goal for this deck is to create a variation of Skull Warriors that has favorable match-ups to many common meta decks by utilizing powerful counter cards while consistently filtering through your deck to reach all of cards you need for your setup.
Buddy - Undying, Benishojo
Flag - Katana World
Items
4x Ninja Blade, Chirizakura
Spells
4x Return to the Underworld
4x Clear Serenity
3x Ninja Arts, Half-Kill
3x Ninja Arts, Snake Gaze
3x Demon Way, Arakuyou
2x Demon Way, Jugonrensa
2x Water Technique, Minawagakushi
2x Art of Item Blasting
2x Ninja Arts, Mat Flipping Technique
Monsters
4x Undying, Benishojo
4x Electron Ninja, Shiden
4x Demon Kid, Hiunmaru
4x Godly-speed, Natsubame
3x Yamigitsune "White Fire Shigaisoshi"
2x Diversion Torublemaker, Bakemujina
Sideboard
3x Barbed Wire
3x Leaping Ninja, Sarutobi
1x Ninja Arts, Snake Gaze
1x Ninja Arts, Mat Flip Technique
1x Water Technique, Minawagakushi
1x Ninja Arts, Half-Kill
This deck plays much like any other standard size 1 Skull Warriors variant. It has a few cool tricks, though. It runs the Ninja Arts engine that Katana Omni is known for. This engine is loaded with counter cards that give you an edge in particular mach-ups. If you draw a card that's not as useful for your current match-up, then you filter it out with Shiden or your charge and draw and get different cards in the process. When it comes time for game 2, you side in the counter cards that are favorable for the match-up and side out the cards that don't do as much work, giving you a deck specifically tuned to counter any common meta deck pre-Guardians. This engine has a major issue, however. It loses to some pretty non-meta decks. For example, it can't handle size 1 Shadow Dive rush, as Minawagakushi and Snake Gaze are the only outs I have to stop an attack. Conversely, put this deck against Aster, 5th Omnis, Dragon Ein, or Sun Dragons, and watch it outperform them consistently with specifically tuned counter-cards and a solid board state, advantage engine, and pressure. The remaining spells are all directly for advantage and help you reach your set-up with extreme consistency.
As for the grade 1 line-ups, as I mentioned in my video, I don't run Snake Princess, Setsuna because the card is suboptimal when compared to Benishojo. Shiden is there to filter out excess cards. Due to not toolboxing with Sabifukuro or Art of Explosive Hades Fall, I run four of each of the targets I want to bring back. Hiunmaru and Natsubame give resources when brought back and are your primary targets to revive. Benishojo brings himself back whenever you need that. You can convert a Clear Serenity into a board with the right drop zone. Impact Yamigitsune gives us added offensive pressure and enables 6 attacks in a single turn. Bakemujina is a body with move that costs no gauge and doesn't retire itself. It's useful to have in many situations, due to the low shield value of our cards in general.
This build was much stronger on release, but with the powerhouse of Divine Guardians entering the metagame, and them having essentially none of the conventional meta weaknesses, this build has fallen out of favor. Superheroines also have a similar advantage, and they have remained popular, topping a few events recently. It also loses to a few powerful dark horse decks, like Control Pillars, which was a very good meta call in the previous format. These are all things to keep in mind when deciding whether or not you want to build this variant, or stick with a more traditional Skulls build. This is a build that performs better the further into a tournament it goes on average, and would be more likely to top at a national event than a locals. For these reasons, I find it very interesting and fun to play with.
Buddy - Undying, Benishojo
Flag - Katana World
Items
4x Ninja Blade, Chirizakura
Spells
4x Return to the Underworld
4x Clear Serenity
3x Ninja Arts, Half-Kill
3x Ninja Arts, Snake Gaze
3x Demon Way, Arakuyou
2x Demon Way, Jugonrensa
2x Water Technique, Minawagakushi
2x Art of Item Blasting
2x Ninja Arts, Mat Flipping Technique
Monsters
4x Undying, Benishojo
4x Electron Ninja, Shiden
4x Demon Kid, Hiunmaru
4x Godly-speed, Natsubame
3x Yamigitsune "White Fire Shigaisoshi"
2x Diversion Torublemaker, Bakemujina
Sideboard
3x Barbed Wire
3x Leaping Ninja, Sarutobi
1x Ninja Arts, Snake Gaze
1x Ninja Arts, Mat Flip Technique
1x Water Technique, Minawagakushi
1x Ninja Arts, Half-Kill
This deck plays much like any other standard size 1 Skull Warriors variant. It has a few cool tricks, though. It runs the Ninja Arts engine that Katana Omni is known for. This engine is loaded with counter cards that give you an edge in particular mach-ups. If you draw a card that's not as useful for your current match-up, then you filter it out with Shiden or your charge and draw and get different cards in the process. When it comes time for game 2, you side in the counter cards that are favorable for the match-up and side out the cards that don't do as much work, giving you a deck specifically tuned to counter any common meta deck pre-Guardians. This engine has a major issue, however. It loses to some pretty non-meta decks. For example, it can't handle size 1 Shadow Dive rush, as Minawagakushi and Snake Gaze are the only outs I have to stop an attack. Conversely, put this deck against Aster, 5th Omnis, Dragon Ein, or Sun Dragons, and watch it outperform them consistently with specifically tuned counter-cards and a solid board state, advantage engine, and pressure. The remaining spells are all directly for advantage and help you reach your set-up with extreme consistency.
As for the grade 1 line-ups, as I mentioned in my video, I don't run Snake Princess, Setsuna because the card is suboptimal when compared to Benishojo. Shiden is there to filter out excess cards. Due to not toolboxing with Sabifukuro or Art of Explosive Hades Fall, I run four of each of the targets I want to bring back. Hiunmaru and Natsubame give resources when brought back and are your primary targets to revive. Benishojo brings himself back whenever you need that. You can convert a Clear Serenity into a board with the right drop zone. Impact Yamigitsune gives us added offensive pressure and enables 6 attacks in a single turn. Bakemujina is a body with move that costs no gauge and doesn't retire itself. It's useful to have in many situations, due to the low shield value of our cards in general.
This build was much stronger on release, but with the powerhouse of Divine Guardians entering the metagame, and them having essentially none of the conventional meta weaknesses, this build has fallen out of favor. Superheroines also have a similar advantage, and they have remained popular, topping a few events recently. It also loses to a few powerful dark horse decks, like Control Pillars, which was a very good meta call in the previous format. These are all things to keep in mind when deciding whether or not you want to build this variant, or stick with a more traditional Skulls build. This is a build that performs better the further into a tournament it goes on average, and would be more likely to top at a national event than a locals. For these reasons, I find it very interesting and fun to play with.
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