Friday, September 27, 2013
With the release of EB06, Dazzling Divas, as well as the first booster sets that introduces the new Break Ride units for the English community. Many players that regards Bermuda Triangle as a "not competitive" clan jump right into the boat that I tutted to myself when their explanation as to "why" was simply because, the clan is now more imba and can guarantee them wins. Yes, a big facepalm from me indeed.
I have been playing with Bermuda Triangle since EB02 was out, deciding to go for the Raindear built since it can be considered competitive as well as powerful if played correctly. But like many others, since an better units have been introduced, I know that it is time for an upgrade.
After play testing a couple of decks, I noticed I had compatibility issues with the Labrador built. It just doesn't 'click' with me that well and I always got into a bout of misplays. Not sure how, not sure why...it just didn't work. After lots of tweaking and testing, Labrador still failed me and I went back to the drawing board. I looked through my collection of EB02 and EB06 cards and it then hit me; why not a build a deck that nobody uses and is still consistent and powerful enough to actually hit hard, and pressure hard.
And that is how I built my Aurora Star, Coral deck. Some says she's so good, while some says she's okay, but not great. But after building and lots of testing on some builds, I find she is more consistent than Labrador had been to me and more fun too. Now let the booing be heard and all, but I was even more surprised when someone mentioned my deck build was quite similar to one of those that topped in the open team tournament though I did noticed some difference but most likely, both of us had similar ideas.
Now without more procrastination, here's my deck list! Trigger line up can be...irritating, but it does confuses my opponent!
Grade 0: 17 units
- 1 x Angelic Star, Coral (First Vanguard)
- 1 x Heartful Ale, Fundy (Draw Trigger)
- 1 x Drive Quartet, Bubblin (Draw Trigger)
- 1 x PRISM-Miracle, Adria (Draw Trigger)
- 1 x Cooking Caspi (Draw Trigger)
- 2 x Gunslinger Star, Florida (Critical Trigger)
- 2 x Drive Quartet, Shuplu (Critical Trigger)
- 2 x Comical Rainie (Critical Trigger)
- 2 x PRISM-Miracle, Canary (Critical Trigger)
- 2 x Drive Quartet, Flows (Heal Trigger)
- 2 x PRISM-Miracle, Timor (Heal Trigger)
Grade 1: 15 units
- 4 x Fresh Star, Coral
- 3 x Mermaid Idol, Sedna
- 4 x Mermaid Idol, Elly
- 4 x Mirror Diva, Biscayne
Grade 2: 10 units
- 4 x Shiny Star, Coral
- 1 x Girls' Rock, Rio
- 3 x PRISM-Promise, Celtic
- 2 x PRISM-Image, Rosa
Grade 3: 8 units
- 4 x Aurora Star, Coral
- 3 x PRISM-Image. Vert
- 1 x Eternal Idol, Pacifica
As mentioned before, my Grade 0 line up can be irritating to read, since I have all the triggers available for Bermuda Triangle in the deck! Aside from the Stand Triggers that it. Stand triggers doesn't work too well in this deck sadly. My starting vanguard will be Angelic Star, Coral. She's a generic ride the G1 and search top 7 of the deck for a G2 or G3 Coral. So far she has been friendly with me but it doesn't really matter if I ride the G1 Coral or not. Reasons why will be explained later. I'm playing 4 Draws, 8 Criticals and 4 Heals. Now if you think there's too many different cards, go ahead and change them. I like them this way since I can play mind games with my opponents by making him think I play 12 criticals or 6 draws 6 crits etc etc.
Grade 1 are pretty simple. I was stuck at having 4 Ellys or 4 Sedna since I'm keeping Coral and Biscayne at 4. In the end, I decided that 4 Ellys are optimal and dropped a Sedna. The G1 Coral's ability is quite unique. As in, if I don't ride a G2 Coral and I have the G0 in the soul, I can look at the top 7 of the deck for the G2 Coral and ride it. I find this ability pretty neat to be honest. First, it does help me thin the deck a little, to give more chance of getting triggers. Second, it builds the soul. Third, my 8k or 9k vanguard suddenly became a 10k vanguard. 4th, it your G3 can now be 11k instead of 10k. Biscayne is another card that utilize the soul and increases your hand power. Soul blast one and look at top 7 for another Biscayne? Why not? I get myself another booster, 5k guard as well as thinned my deck for a higher trigger chance!
Two paragraphs back, I mentioned that the chain ride doesn't really matter to me. The G2 Coral's ability is the reason why. If I don't get to ride a G1 Coral previously, I'll move the G0 Coral to a rearguard circle, usually not as the same column as vanguard but on another location at the back. If I had a G2 Coral in hand, I'd ride that unit on my next turn, and move the G0 Coral to the front. The reasoning is simple; with G2 Coral as a vanguard, I can return one of the cards on the front row into my hand if her attack hits. This means that I essentially secured myself a 10k guard and cleared off the field for a better booster. Pretty neat eh? Rio can be used together with the G2 and G3 Coral, Pacifica and Vert though I mostly used her with G2 Coral and Vert to net myself the extra card in hand. Funny that I find that having one of her is actually more than enough. Celtic is another unit I combo with the grade 3s which I will later explain. Rosa is your 11k attacker but there is also an option of using 10k vanillas like Ligurian or Aqua if you find 8k units too easy a target.
Grade 3 units are a bit weird since you see that lone Pacifica there. Well, she's there for a good reason. I don't have a fourth Vert. Still, she seem to work fine and I usually use her as a rearguard. A great setup will be riding Vert first, followed by a break ride with Coral. But for this deck, break rides are is simply an option we have so you don't have to think "I must break ride Vert with Vert!"
Now on to my Celtic explanation, I usually have Celtic in the field, powering up the rearguards. Here's how; attack with Celtic first, boosted of course. Attack with G3 Coral and activate her limit break (counterblast 2, soul charge 1) now return Celtic to hand and soul blast a card, give power (that 4k) to another rearguard that have not attacked yet. Next, up, profit! I recommend having a 11k unit for the other rearguard with a 6k booster or a 10k unit with a 7k booster. This is to hit the 21k mark to force 11k vanguard guarding for more. If your opponent is a crossride, an 8k booster with 11k unit is much more recommended as it'll hit 23k easily. Of course in this case, I will have Celtic attacking the rearguard first instead of the Vanguard to clear away his potential interceptors. Because now Coral is now attacking for 23k if boosted with a G1 Coral, some opponents may simply use a perfect guard. If he does, any triggers automatically goes to the standing rearguard. Of course now that the rearguard is already 21k to 23k thanks to Celtic, hitting 2 triggers will boost that attack to 31k to 33k, which will forces your opponent to guard for 25k to block that attack. Now imagine doing a breakride earlier on and had passed another 4k to that other rearguard before activating Coral's skill...apart from 13k vanguards, 10k, 11k and 12k vanguards will need 30k to guard. That's a lot of cards used to guard or another perfect guard gone.
Now if you noticed. this focus more on Vanguard+Rearguard power up as well as drawing and deck thinning. Give it try and see how it goes!
