Thursday, December 19, 2013
Hype is in for BT12 as the new clan, Link Joker, will get support along with its Trial Deck. I consider Link Joker a "broken clan", as they gravely disrupts your field by locking up your units. In the case you have no idea what "lock" means, it is when a rearguard unit that is face up is turn faced down. A unit that is locked is not able to boost, intercept, use its skill or be retired by calling another unit above it. You can only unlock your unit at the end of your turn.
Some considered lock as a combination of Narukami, Kagero and Megacolony since Narukami and Kagero retires your unit while Megacolony prevents your units from standing. But unlike Link Joker, units retired by Narukami and Kegero can be replaced, same goes for stunned units by Megacolony.
I personally find Link Joker more annoying since locked units can't do anything but it isn't as disruptive as Naru, Kage and Mega, unless of course you're facing Chaos Break Dragon. With Narukami and Kagero's retiring effect, you'll need to call out units to boost or attack but at the same time, you lose precious guards if you really need them. Megacolony's stun allows you to retire that unit to replace it with a standing unit or let you attack albeit lower power. Link Joker? You may need some endurance to guard against their attacks.
Almost all Link Joker decks will aim to lock your units to gain their pluses. The infamous V-lock is the most common type of locking mechanism where your opponent will lock both your front rearguards and your vanguard's booster, which makes the lock looks 'V' shaped. What makes the lock scary is not just the lock itself; is that there units in Link Joker than gains power whenever a unit got locked. A good example will be units like Demonic Claw Star-vader, Lanthanum and Furious Claw Star-vader, Niobium which can both hit for 28k if they are in the same column.
There are some ways where you can counter yourself from getting locked - one would be rushing Link Jokers hard, while the other is playing slightly conservatively. There are still pros and cons for these two methods. Rushing will use up your hands quickly and if your opponent decides to drag the game, you're quite screwed. On the other hand, if your opponent unable to counter your rush, the game is 90% as good as yours. Playing conservatively on the other hand, may weaken your attacks but it does helps you conserve your hand as and when needed but playing conservatively does not mean dragging the game too long.
Now, there's a method that is not commonly used that I call half-rush. Throughout my plays against Link Jokers, I find that they are typically weak against Grade 2 rushes. What I generally do is to attack twice on turn 2 forcing my opponent to take the damages or guard against it. Formation is best with a front rearguard with booster and vanguard with booster. Once it's their turn to attack, guard their attack, even if it is one to pass. A bit risky, but it is a risk you may have to take in order to win. So far, I managed to survive against Link Joker this way where throughout my matches, I only have a single column of rearguard while the other column is all empty. Most players will also try to aim your only attacking rearguard thinking your hand does not have enough attackers, and that is what you want them to think. Once one side got locked, you have another row to play with.
Notable clans that actually excel against Link Joker are a few. They are Narukami, Kagero and Spike Brothers. Narukami and Kagero are obviously due to their high powered retiring as for Spike Brothers, they rush and return to the decks too much that Link Joker have little to no chance to lock. Decks that requires field presence such as Gold Paladin, Nova Grapplers and Granblue may have some troubles.
One thing not to do when going against Link Joker is to drag the game. Semi-rush is a good method so far and don't be too afraid of getting yourself "locked". Most of the Link Joker's lock ability depends too much on the breakride in order for it to work and if your opponent is unable to breakride, chances of you winning increases. Link Joker may be a strong clan but so far, I have yet to see them topping tournaments frequently.
