It's been awhile since the last post. Well, has been a bit busy but I managed to find some time to do an unboxing video for Ange Vierge. Let me give a short intro for Ange Vierge - it's a card game similar to Weiss Schwarz (I say similar but not entirely the same) and is based around bishoujo characters. Yes, all girls. No speck of male presence in this TCG ever. The game play can be found at SkiethのTCG. They even have a promotion anime by Production I.G which is quite impressive and of course they have more in their channel.
Interested? The animation itself is quite good that you think you're looking at a PV for a new anime next season and not a promo for a TCG. They have 3 boosters out currently if I am not mistaken and I only stumble upon this TCG a couple of days ago and decided to try it out with their trial deck with a couple of friends. So while I don't actually have a video of us playing, please make do with simply the trial deck unboxing!
Box Opening: Ange Vierge Trial Deck (AS-01)
A couple of months back, a new skill, Legion, was announced together with the new Trial Decks for Narukami and Royal Paladin. There is still not much info though. But if you are interested to see a glimpse of what Legion is all about, you can still view the preview info below (skip to 38:20 if you just want to hear about Legion)
As mentioned, there wasn't much info on Legion except it is when your Vanguard and another "mate" rearguard is in the field and they gain a certain effect. The cards will also have combined artwork. Their attack power are also combined, making attacks go up to 20k, but only during attack and not defend. Other than these few info, there wasn't much info yet.
Now imagine Legion mixed in with Break Rides. Yeah...I believe we may have some fun time ahead of us. So far from the revealed cards, the Legion units does not have Limit Break but this could possibly be combined to add in more abilities. Bushiroad may even decide to have Limit Break Legion units in the near future, who knows.
As for the many possibilities of Legion, I'm already assuming that Bushiroad may expand Legion to use 3 units in the future, but this may most likely be geared towards main clans like Royal Paladin and Narukami, leaving smaller clans in the dust yet again.
As mentioned, there wasn't much info on Legion except it is when your Vanguard and another "mate" rearguard is in the field and they gain a certain effect. The cards will also have combined artwork. Their attack power are also combined, making attacks go up to 20k, but only during attack and not defend. Other than these few info, there wasn't much info yet.
Now imagine Legion mixed in with Break Rides. Yeah...I believe we may have some fun time ahead of us. So far from the revealed cards, the Legion units does not have Limit Break but this could possibly be combined to add in more abilities. Bushiroad may even decide to have Limit Break Legion units in the near future, who knows.
As for the many possibilities of Legion, I'm already assuming that Bushiroad may expand Legion to use 3 units in the future, but this may most likely be geared towards main clans like Royal Paladin and Narukami, leaving smaller clans in the dust yet again.
Random Rant: Legion
A new TCG will be releasing in April 25th 2014 titled Level NEO. It's a joint venture between Movic and Ensky who are the TCG makers of Prism Connect and Precious Memories. The new TCG will be making used of anime characters as used in Precious Memories and Prism Connect as well as other TCGs like Weiss Schwarz and Sieg Krone.
So far, Level NEO has announce 4 series, Garden of Sinners: Gospel in the Future, Wake Up Girls!, World Conquest Zvezda Plot and The Irregular at Magic High School which will air in April. All series announced are famous series and may attract players to the TCG.
The trial decks for Garden of Sinners: Gospel in the Future, Wake Up Girls! and World Conquest Zvezda Plot are set to be released in April 25 at about 535jpy each according to webstore Amiami. Most likely just for the first release as according to their road map in the rule book, the trial deck will cost 1200jpy each with booster pack cost 330jpy. They have stated on the release dates of the boosters with 23rd May for Garden of Sinners, 27th June for Wake Up Girls and 25th July for World Conquest Zvezda Plot. No dates for The Irregular at Magic High School but it is stated in the road map as releasing in Summer.
I am looking forward to this new TCG. It has this similar feeling to Vanguard and Weiss Schwarz. Personally, it does look like it has lots of potential. As for the game play itself, I have yet to see it and I am in the middle of struggling in translating the rule book (my Japanese ain't that good). Probably someone else would have it translated weeks ago by the time I finish.
Level NEO official website
Level NEO twitter
Level NEO rule book
Level NEO Tutorial (English)
Random Rant: A new TCG - Level NEO
Finally booster set 12 have been released and it is that time again! Yes, more video unboxing...is what I would love to say but because I did something crazy for this set, I went ahead and got myself a whole carton of it. Yes, 16 boxes. So instead of capturing a video of me ripping up 480 packs of boosters, I've decided to simply take a video of one, and take photos of the rest. Okay, I know, I know, I mentioned in the video I'll be taking shots of me ripping up 3 boxes of boosters at 24 frames per second, but one booster takes about 5 minutes open. But as there are quite a lot of packs for me to rip up to see their contents, I've decided that quite a number of people enjoy the the final product more than the process.
Now for you viewing pleasure, here's the video and pictures as promised!
Now for you viewing pleasure, here's the video and pictures as promised!
Box Opening: Cardfight Vanguard Booster 12
"Look Ron, if you want this relationship to work, lose that mask or it's over!" "But...I am...the night!"
The dark Marquis have have revived himself to be more powerful at the cost of having a bad choice for his latest image change that made him look more of a dried tree/decomposing cockroach(?). But don't let that old twig fool you, his limit break is indeed powerful that butting heads with him unprepared may cost you that win.
So what makes Amon Reverse powerful? Well, technically, nothing much. His limit break ability is somewhat a carbon copy of the original Amon, with just that extra critical in the midst. This actually makes Amon a big hitter along with that huge pressure on the centre line. Sadly, the draw back like most Dark Irregulars deck have is its overall slow setup. But if a player is skilled enough to actually set up his field, he'll be pretty much at a point of advantage.
There are a few variations of Amon Reverse decks that I'll be putting in but most of the cards will remain the same with slight changes
| Staple Amon Grade 0: 17 units
Grade 1: 15 units
Grade 2: 11 units
Grade 3: 7 units
|
Power Amon Grade 0: 17 units
Grade 1: 14 units
Grade 2: 11 units
Grade 3: 7 units
|
| Burst Amon Grade 0: 17 units
Grade 1: 15 units
Grade 2: 11 units
Grade 3: 7 units
|
|
Here's a quick description for the three decks:
Staple Amon: I call this "Staple" as almost ALL Amon decks that I've come across plays this very same build, although mine have its trigger tweaked a little by reducing the crits and increasing the draws.
Power Amon: This decks simply replaces the normal G3 Amons for the Break Ride option. The deck will still work although some units that requires an Amon vanguard will fail for a short time which is pretty much negligible actually.
Burst Amon: One of my favourite build. As Amon decks tend not to use counterblasts at all, which I find a waste of good resources. Bloody Calf and Gwynn are good tech cards to screw up your opponent's field. This deck requires some skill to play but it's overall effects are devastating.
Three different builds. I just give them simple deck names just because I'm lazy. All three decks uses the same Starter and Triggers. They all play 5 Draws, 7 Criticals and 4 Heals along with Devil in Shadow as your staple G3 searcher. I find the new starter, "Amon's Follower, Fate Collector" is not that great of a starter as it simply let you draw a card and I rather increase my chances of not getting grade stuck in addition to using Devil in Shadow to filter out my G3s.
For the Grade 1s, the Staple and Power decks have the same line up. Hell's Deal soul charges two cards. Geenlin is your generic 10k attacker. Poet Amon is your 9k booster and Vlad is the perfect guard. These units are stays much the same in most Amon decks. For the Burst build, Bloody calf is your go to gal to retire your opponent's boosters and make them rage. Some decks may play Dimension Creeper, so you may want to give it a double take.
Like the Grade 1, both Staple and Power builds have the same line up. Ron Geenlin is that 12k attacker, with Hell's Draw your soul charger. Psycho Glaive is my personal favourite as it both gains power and adds one to the soul. For the Burst build, Glaive was replaced with Gwynn to stomp out your opponent's G2 and below.
My Grade 3s varies on all 3 decks. While the Staple decks usually goes with both Amon types, the Power type replaces the original Amon for the break ride option. This pretty much screams "perfect guard all my attacks or lose!". The Burst build however is more flexible. While Amon Reverse remains at 4, the other options of using Dantarian or normal Amon depends on the player. Both works but it up to the player's level of comfort on which unit to use.
Deck Analysis: Dark Irregulars (The Яeversed Marquis)
The invasion of Earth and Cray has begun. Are you the Invader? Or are you the Defender? Bushiroad has announced the upcoming Team League 2014 Invasion. A fight between Void and the defenders of Cray to determine the fate of the world. The winners will decide if the world to be conquered or saved and the fight begins in April, ending in July.
A single team consists of 3 members and must decide if they are a Cray Defenders or Void Invaders and each member's decks must use a different clan. The Defenders are restricted from using any "Reverse" units or Link Joker whilst the Invaders must have at least 3 "Reverse" units in their deck or use Link Joker. For the Invaders, this means that only one player can play Link Joker, while the other two will play "Reverse" units OR all three plays "Reverse".
One thing that irks me a little was how that no distinctions made between Defenders or Invaders. To be honest, they should limit the entry for both sides and have both sides of the team duke it out though I believe Bushiroad is simply too lazy to do this or things will be messy later on.
Tournament format will be the same as all previous Cardfight!! Vanguard tournaments, mainly double elimination before top 8 and single elimination after top 8. It will be best out of one round where wins and losses are calculated by the whole team. Those who participate will get a PR card that have yet to be announced and a badge depending whether you're a Defender or Invader.
I am all psyched up for the tournament and have decided on what team to play for but I am still deciding which clan to play. Well, we shall see how it goes. What about you? Are you a Defender or Invader? And what clan will you be participating with?
Random Rants: Vanguard Team League 2014
I'll be presenting two different decks for the Ildona build that is effective with both offence and defence. Let's start off with the upgrade of the previous deck profile shall we?
Grade 0: 17 units
Grade 1: 14 units
Grade 2: 11 units
Grade 3: 8 units
|
Grade 0: 17 units
Grade 1: 14 units
Grade 2: 11 units
Grade 3: 8 units
|
A total facelift! And this deck has proven its worth even against decks that loves retiring like Kagero and Narukami. Grade 0 has some changes to its trigger line-up as well, namely, I reduced the number of Draw triggers to 2 and increased the Critical trigger count to 10. The result - big damages very early, mid and late game! 12 critical are okay, but it will end up a waste later in the game. The reason for this trigger line up is that with draw triggers, it'll be a psychological effect on the opponent thinking that you're playing with 8 crits 4 draws. Also, it is less painful to throw down a draw trigger as a booster than a critical trigger if there is such a need. Another reason why the reduce in draw triggers is due to effects of Caar, Mordred, Macha and Nemain which nets you both hand and field presence. A new starter in the pack thanks to Open Qualifiers 2013 introducing our G3 searcher, Creeping Dark Goat. He's the best starter for this deck.
With Fullbau out of the way as the starting vanguard, we have now more options for out Grade 1s as we can now abandon Blaster Javelin for better units. I've took out Arianrhod for Buranbau Revenger. This unit works best with Ildona since his ability is makes Ildona a quick 26k attacker during his limit break. Painful? Sure is. Add a break-ride to the picture for 36k attack? Yes please!
Not much changes for my Grade 2s except that Blaster Dark has fully become a spirit. This deck is now more offensive with more 10k attackers which also serves as a great defender when you ride your G2. With 12k attackers being the norm, hitting 19k is easy these days and so by having a 10k vanguard at turn 2, you can easily guard away that attack.
Grade 3s have more changes as well. Our star, Ildona, will be maxed out of course. Caar is maxed out at 4 as well as he always nets you a +1 and is good as Ildona's sacrifice. If you don't like Caar since you're afraid of decking out too quickly or find his ability too random, you may consider playing Mordred Phantom or mix up both. If you read through the lists. You notice that the cards needed to update this deck can be found in the Trial Deck which is more than enough for this build!
This deck can be considered a cheap "budget" deck if you decide not to use Mordred as Mordred is a Trial Deck exclusive card and one trial deck only have a single copy of him. Both deck works great even against top tiered deck, with the exception of Link Joker of course.
Deck Analysis: Extending his forbidden reach even furthur, The Origin Mage
As mentioned in my previous box opening video, I'll be getting 4 more boxes. And guess what, I sure did. As promised, here's part 2 of Daybreak Illusion box opening!
Box 1 & 2
Box 3 & 4
Box Opening: Weiss Schwarz Daybreak Illusion part 2!
Time for yet, another update! Another deck profile for Daybreak Illusion featuring Akari. This deck uses 3 colours so it may need some skill to utilize the deck well. It was planned to use all 4 colours but sadly, that ended up in a flop. Powerful as it may be, but if it is not consistent it spells trouble.
So this deck focuses on Red, Yellow and Green. Most Akari based decks are Red and Blue, or Red, Blue and Green, making it 2 to 3 coloured deck. Take note that what I meant by multicolour is that colours mainly used from LV1 onwards. Even if a deck have 4 colours for LV0 but focus mainly on 2 colours for LV1 onwards, it is still considered a 2 coloured deck, to me anyways.
Now that we get that in the clear, here's the awaited deck recipe! There are two lists here. Not much differences between them, just a slight difference in the LV2, LV3 and climaxes.
Level 0:
Level 3: Climax
|
Level 0:
Level 3: Climax
|
Well, the decks looks a bit...awkward. It is supposed to be a deck focusing more on Akari, but after looking through the cards, I that there are too much cards that self inflict damage on the Red side of things and has too little power. Even her G1 encore card, Akari, Girl of Destiny, seems good at first, but still loses out on raw power against Calculative Ginka. But awkwardness aside, the cards in the deck complements each other on both combo, power and deck thinning.
This deck have 8 cards in total that can be sent to the memory and both of them are from Level 0. Takoyaki Ginka and Sleeping Akari. Tako-Ginka is your attacker, since she can hit 3000 by herself when she attacks and she also have a chance (key word, chance) to go to memory when reversed, since you need to check a Tarot card from the top deck. Chances of getting her to memory are high, since 42 cards in the deck are Tarot cards but the remaining 8 are climaxes. Sleeping Akari is your suicider, killing off your opponent's level 0s and herself. She is particularly useful in this deck as she goes to the memory by paying 1 stock when she is placed to the waiting room from stage. Kansai Ginka is your global 500 boost while Flushed Cheeks Luna is your power attacker. At the right situation, she hit more than 6500. Such power...
I play only 10 cards for my Level 1, which honestly, is more than enough. Calculative Ginka is your 7000 power attacker and a discard-encore. I noticed she tends to stay in the field for a long long time during most of my matches because of her high attack and defence. Taiyou Hinata is your Level 1 suicider, killing all the LV1 and below with her. She is one scary card to call out at LV1 as you're killing away your opponent attackers easily. Hinata is also needed to be used for LV3 Akari's climax combo, so she must be placed in the deck. Kind smile Luna is your everyday 1500 power counter.
Depending on which deck I play with, I'll have 9 to 12 LV2s. Father's Child Ginka is a must play card in my opinion, as she is one of those LV2 that not only hits 9500 by herself but she can go more than 11k, easily hitting LV3s. Rookie Ginka is also another must play counter card as she can counter for up to 3500 power. Rookie Luna is too good not to use, seeing that she is a 1000 global booster. She is also a decent attacker if you already have 2 of her at the back. Rookie Akari is a change card as well as damage adder. Her ability to change to LV3 Akari is dependant on having the climax card in hand. While seems bad at first, her change ability also inflicts a damage to your opponent (which can be cancelled sadly) but it still forces your opponent to think twice before attacking her.
LV3 Akari can be considered "broken" once you get her combo out. She's a healer, a potentially 14k defender by herself (depending on the number of marker she have). Hit big and defend big? Why not? LV3 Ginka is another card that locks down the opponent. Her climax combo prevents your opponent from getting an encore, effectively locking away the opponent's field if, especially good when your opponent does not have enough cards to call out.
For my choice of climaxes, Opened Fate deals in 2 additional soul when trigger checked. This card is also used for Rookie Akari's change ability. Clessidra is your salvager as well as LV3 Akari's climax combo. Bloodstained Future is a soul and burn card and can be comboed with LV3 Ginka.
Deck Analysis: Daybreak Illusion (The Bright Sun)
First post of the year!! And a happy new year to all. It's been about two weeks since my last post but with work getting too much into the way that I had to hold on a bit on writing a new post and deck building. Remaining time I had went to playing WS and Vangard on the weekends.
About a month ago, I got myself 4 boxes of Daybreak Illusion and mentioned about building a deck profile. I didn't actively build a deck until about a week ago, where I finally had the time to sit down and start building. While I did originally build after the box opening, I feel those are a bit weak and only tweaked them again later. Of course deck building is one thing; I've tested the deck to ensure it works as I would like it to. So far, it works well and pressure hard too 80% of the time.
This deck focuses on two tarot cards, The Moon, represented by Tsukuyomi Luna and Temperance, which is represented by Shirokane Ginka. An odd combo as they don't often appear together in the anime. This deck focus solely on high powered attacks and defence and a little bit on deck thinning. Now here's the awaited list!
Update: List has been updated since I managed to get more cards to improve the deck.
Level 0:
- 3 x Ginka, Loves Takoyaki
- 3 x Ginka, Girl of Destiny
- 4 x Ginka, Open-Hearted Girl from Kansai
- 4 x Luna, Flushed Cheeks
Level 1:
- 2 x Ginka, Deploy Order
- 4 x Ginka, Calculated
- 2 x Luna, Kind Smile
- 3 x Luna, Unexpectedly Enthralled
Level 2:
- 2 x Ginka, Rookie Member
- 2 x Ginka, Father's Child
- 3 x Luna, Rookie Member
- 4 x Luna, Girl of Destiny
Level 3:
Climax:
This deck requires some setup from Level 0 onwards to get its engine going. It is still possible to be able to skip the setup at Level 0 and do it at Level 1. The setup I'm talking about? Getting at least two memory by level 1 and getting 3 memory before level 3. Reasons for this? Well, most of the attackers in this deck requires cards in the memory to gain lots of boost. I'll explain that in a moment.
Level 0 is where most of the key memory goers are. Takoyaki Ginka and Destiny Ginka serves to stock up your memory. If you can get all of them to the memory, it serves as a plus too. Tako-Ginka is a free memory card. As soon as it gets reverse, just reveal the top card and check to see if it's a tarot card. If tarot, put it to memory. Detiny Ginka is slightly more pricy. You need to pay a stock, drop a card from hand. The plus side? You get to replace that dead card in hand for something better and Ginka will then head to the memory. Kansai Ginka is your global 500 power booster. Flushed Luna is another attacker. She is useful in a sense that if you have 4 cards in the field and you called her out, she can hit for 5500, even 6500 at the right condition. Even Level 1s will flee from her.
My Level 1s are the attackers as well as defenders in early and mid game. Their only downfall - when you have no cards in memory, their attacking power is quite low. The two cards that have this ability are Calculated Ginka and Deploy Order Ginka. Both of these cards gains 1500 power when they have the minimum number of cards in memory. Deploy Order Ginka requires 2 memories while Calculated Ginka requires at least 1. Kind Luna is your usual counter card while Enthralled Luna is another big attacker where she gains 500 power for each tarot card you have in the field.
The fun begins at Level 2. Rookie Ginka is another counter for the deck so it's self explanatory. Father's Child Ginka is another big attacker. Like the Level 1 Ginkas in the deck, she need to have cards in the memory in order to gain 2000 power, which in her case, she needs 2. Rookie Luna is definitely the best booster in the deck. She is a global 1000 boost, meaning having 2 of her at the back stage ensures all your attackers gets additional 2k boost. Destiny Girl Luna is your healer. As the Level 3s of the deck is unable to heal, this card is really important as she allows you to heal a single point of damage. In WS, one damage may be a fine line between winning and losing. She's a climax combo and her ability seems a little costly at first, but thinking back, this deck don't requires much stock and the Climax card for her ability add in another stock for you in the first place.
For Level 3s, I play 3 Temperance Ginka. Usually by level 3, you'll have at least 3 cards in memory, which will activate her ability of getting a permanent 1500 power extra, making her 11k by herself. Her second ability is also great if you need cards but wouldn't want to clock to draw as it is the same effect since you would draw two cards and discard one. What I love about this card is her 3rd ability where when you play her climax combo, she gets an additional 6000 power and your opponent's encore abilities (including the rule induced encore) is sealed. In the right condition, she will be a 20k attacker, bigger than most cards out there. Destroying their main attacking force won't be much of a problem of course. My other grade 3 is Moon Luna. Her first ability is to give encore ability to other tarot cards in the field. Her second ability is similar to brainstorm, where calling her will allow you to look at the top few cards and keep one in hand, discarding the rest. Really great to look for those climax cards, an attacker or even a counter that you may need later in the game.
Climax comprises of Shine from Amaryllis Flower, a climax combo for Destiny Girl Luna. The climax card gives one soul to all your characters and you search one green card in the waiting room and place it to stock as well as a 2 soul trigger. The other Climax card is Bloodstained future, climax combo for Temperance Ginka. This card is a standard one soul one burn card as well as a 1k + 1 soul when played.
As mentioned, this deck mostly power based. Having grade 1s in the field that have up to 9000 attacking and defending power messes up with your opponent's play style and of course some will start play conservatively. I had players that refuses to do a front attack just because I'm 9k and the cards that are attacking are level 2, where they complain having short of 500 power sometimes. This is a good thing as you tend to receive less or no damage at all, allowing you to survive longer.
Deck Analysis: Daybreak Illusion (Temperance under the Moon)
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.
Random Rants: Be gone! Your units are locked!
He glows in gold. Much more golden than the Gold Paladins!
BT10 has been out for a couple of days. Previously, I talked about a Grateful Catapult. But after a couple of reading (look at the bottom paragraph of my Grateful Catapult build), and more testing, I find that playing 10 grade 3s for a Bad End Dudley deck spells bad end, for you as the user.
The number one reason why Grateful Catapult deck can run 10 grade 3s is due to its 11k base, meaning he has slightly more defensive power so you're immune to a lone 10k attacks and easily defend against 15k attacks. I know there are many 11k and 12k attackers out there, but it is easier to defend even if you have 2 less G1 or G2 to defend with.
For Dudley Emperor in the other hand, he can be hit with a vanilla 10k and needs 10k guard for a 15k attack. He excels offensively and does not have a good defence. But I've tweaked the deck and found a good balance of both.
Grade 0: 17 units
- 1 x Mecha Trainer (First Vanguard)
- 4 x Cheerful Lynx (Draw Trigger)
- 4 x Sonic Breaker (Critical Trigger)
- 4 x Silence Joker (Critical Trigger)
- 4 x Cheer Girl, Tiara (Heal Trigger)
- 4 x Wonder Boy
- 4 x Reckless Express
- 4 x Cheer Girl, Marilyn (Perfect Guard)
- 2 x Commander, Garry Gannon
- 4 x Dudley Mason
- 4 x Highspeed, Brakki
- 3 x Fierce Leader, Zachary
- 3 x Bad End Dragger
- 3 x Demonic Lord, Dudley Emperor
- 2 x Juggernaut Maximum
The units remain similar to the Catapult build, except that I play more Marilyn and Zachary. With break-rides going up everywhere, it is now mandatory to play 4 Marilyn as your vanguard will be only 10k if you failed the final turn. Zachary is your pressure rearguard to help draw out for Dudley Emperor, much like Garry Gannon's ability to drop a useless card for something else. His on hit ability frequently forces your opponent to guard as they don't what you to gain hand advantage during the break ride.
While some will say it's best to play 17/13/10/10 for Spike Brothers, I find that that deck ratio is best for Catapult but in Dudley Emperor, this causes consistency issue and find the classic 17/14/11/8 is still valid. So far this deck works great and I get to pull off the break-ride 8 times out of 10 games.
Update: Another grade line up will be 17/13/11/9, taking out your choice of a grade 1 and adding in a 4th Bad End Dragger.
Deck Analysis: Touchdown!! Bad End Dudley
Walking about like the boss he is.
With BT10 being released in 3 days, I can finally get my hands on more Spike Brothers units that the booster have to offer. Of course like MANY others Spike Brothers players out there, we are quite disappointed with Bushiroad as they STILL REFUSE TO RELEASE MORE TRIGGERS FOR SPIKE BROTHERS! WHERE ARE THOSE DRAW TRIGGERS!!?
My title says it all. I'll be talking about the most overlooked card for Spike Brothers in BT10, Grateful Catapult. He's the alternative of Dudley Emperor where Dudley is a +0 while Catapult nets a +1. For both units, there's pros and cons.
Dudley Emperor is a good unit where he gets to be a 21k attacker when boosted by Wonder Boy due to his +3k when boosted ability and also charges up the soul for Reckless Express, Brakki and Juggernaut Maximum soulblasts and is also more consistent as you can soul charge any Spike Brothers unit. Problem is, he's only 10k and while he gives out more attacks, you use up 2 cards from hand to put into the soul, giving up your defences for more attacks if you don't have spare Grade 3s to use as soul fodder.
Grateful Catapult one the other hand, is a 11k unit that is a persona blast. For a counterblast of 2 and discarding a copy of itself from your hand to call up 2 units, you effectively net yourself a +1. You throw away an unneeded G3 and call out 2 cards. Sadly, he loses out 2 things, the +3k ability that Dudley have and stocking up the soul and also, you will need an extra copy of him in hand if you want to use his ability. So for a better defence, you loses out in power. It'll be great if instead of discarding away the persona blast by having the persona be put in soul instead.
So you've decided to stay on and try out Grateful Catapult? Great! Now here's a decklist you can try out that works quite well for me.
Grade 0: 17 units
- 1 x Mecha Trainer (First Vanguard)
- 4 x Cheerful Lynx (Draw Trigger)
- 4 x Sonic Breaker (Critical Trigger)
- 4 x Silence Joker (Critical Trigger)
- 4 x Cheer Girl, Tiara (Heal Trigger)
- 4 x Wonder Boy
- 4 x Reckless Express
- 3 x Cheer Girl, Marilyn (Perfect Guard)
- 2 x Commander, Garry Gannon
- 4 x Dudley Mason
- 4 x Highspeed, Brakki
- 2 x Fierce Leader, Zachary
- 4 x Bad End Dragger
- 4 x Grateful Catapult
- 2 x Juggernaut Maximum
A big difference from my previous Spike Brothers deck profile eh? Of course the changes are not without reason.
For my Grade 0, standard Spike Brothers triggers and starter. I did consider removing a set of crits for stands, but it didn't trigger out as how I'd want it to. Also, nothing beats Mecha Trainer.
There's a bit of change for my Grade 1. Previously, I had Medical Manager in the set but I ditched him for Garry Gannon. He's your typical Aermo clone. For a persona blast deck as well as break ride deck, he's key in to filtering out your extra Bad End Draggers for those Grateful Catapults you need. I usually will put him behind Bad End Dragger. Behind Grateful Catapult though, he's only 17k max. Can't really hit cross rides for 15k 2 pass but when you think about it, most crossrides these days are usually late game so your opponent will most likely be only 11k until he hit 4 or 5 damage for that crossride or cross-break-ride but when you deal your damage with Bad End and Catapult, your opponent most likely have hit 6 damage already.
More changes for Grade 2 will obviously be the lack of Panzer Gale and Field Driller. I've added in the new Dudley in the block, Dudley Mason and invited in Zachary into the team. While Field Driller was good previously, he's now not as godly as he used to be due to the increased in 12k attackers post BT10. So in order to net that 1 draw, you will get hit left and right which makes it not worth the risk. Panzer is okay and still viable in the deck, but Zachary's drawing skills give you more advantages during the break ride. Think about it, your units will be returning to the bottom of the deck thanks to Bad End Dragger. I'd rather use Zachary to help me get another card so I could prepare myself in case my rush down failed. Mason is a must have as he charges up your soul as well as pressure the opponent to guarding to prevent him from calling out another unit for more attacks.
I bet you're assuming I must be crazy in playing 10 Grade 3s in this deck but hear me out. It's actually a good idea to play 10. 4 Bad End Draggers so that you ride him early and 4 Grateful Catapult so you can get 2 copies of him in hand easily for the break ride and persona blast. Juggernaut Maximum is what you want to search for during the break ride as he can hit 26k by himself. Since your opponent would not actually be a crossride, the chances of him being 10/11k only is high. As mentioned, most decks these days plays break-rides or cross-break-rides so they won't be 13k when they have 3 damage.
Now this is how I tend to play, since one way or another, this happen more frequently than I hoped but, it's a good way to pressure the opponent. Not sure why Brakki rarely comes out when I break ride.
1. Break ride with BED+Catapult (3 souls in total, as in G1, G2, G3)
2. Attack with Zachary boosted by Reckless (for 26k). At this point, I almost always hit and draw a card since they always bet on a trigger. (2 souls left)
3. Attack with Mason boosted by Reckless (for 26k). Opponent will either guard or risk taking it. If he takes it, I'd call out Juggernaut Maximum and attack for another 26k. (2 souls left)
4. Attack with Vanguard (for 27k) boosted by Garry Gannon. Persona Blast for 2 Juggernaut Maximum
5. Assuming no triggers, attack with both Juggernauts for 26k. (0 souls left)
One tip to take note of is that if you do have Reckless and Brakki on the side, on the first round of attacks, I recommend to soul blast to hit big but do not soul blast for Juggernauts to conserve soul, unless of course you have 4 souls already.
This attack formation usually cost my opponent 105k to 135k total shields. Of course the actual amount may be lesser if you break ride when your opponent is at 3 damage but at 5, that's the amount he needs in order to guard against everything.
Hope you enjoy this deck profile. I recommend trying out this deck. If you still don't like Grateful Catapult, I'd suggest using the same deck profile, and change Grateful for Dudley. I've tested out both types and it works much like a charm. Until next time!
Deck Analysis: Set! Hut! Catapult ready! Fire!! (Spike Brothers, Grateful Catapult version)
It's been a while since my last post but it's finally time for the box opening of Daybreak Illusion, also known as Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou. First video with just me, and I think I made some lame remarks in there that I wish I can hide in a hole somewhere. Yeah, I'm not much of a camera person. Anyways, I introduced the video wrongly, only to realized it was wrong later at the end (I read it as Genei wo Tsukuru Taiyou, so sue me). Now enough of this embarrassing rant and on to the videos!! There's four parts so do enjoy! I'll be doing a deck profile for this series soon (how soon? Not so sure).
Box Opening: Weiss Schwarz Daybreak Illusion
So GREE, a mobile app company from Japan, have decided to join the TCG world and thus released their first TCG called Sieg Krone. They had promoted the TCG lots of times in many card shops as well as ads, hyping Sieg Krone up and hoping to make it a big game. It also doubles as a "mobile game" as well since you can create your own card from your phone using their list of pre-loaded artworks or your own ones and put one (only one) in play. Okay, this sounds good and all but...with all the hype from GREE Japan, I was a little disappointed after that with some of the flaws of the TCG mechanics.
Now, I'm no game developer like a friend of mine, but as someone who have played loads of card games in the past, I was a little surprised by how a game company actually managed to make a potentially good TCG, bad. Okay, before I go on to the bad side of things, let me have a quick run down on how the game works. You can get in-depth how to from the following wiki but I'm going to just give a basic idea how the game goes.
Game Requirements
You require a deck of 50 cards of up to 4 copies of a card in a deck. You win when you deal 5 damages to the opponent or your opponent is unable to "Charge" during his "Charge Phase".
Type of cards
There's 2 types of cards, character cards and skill cards. Character comes in 3 colors; red, blue and green. Skill card does not have a color.
Game Start
So you start by drawing 5 cards and no redraws are allowed. The first player charges 3 cards to the charge zone. This is called a "Charge Phase" where the player will place 3 cards into the "Action Area". Subsequent turns, both players will charge 4 cards at the start of their turn. The action area is where resources are placed. You use it to draw cards at the beginning of the turn and as resources to pay for costs of the cards so you need to make sure you have enough cards both in had and the "Action Area".
Main Phase
You can do multiple things during your main phase - call Characters, use Skills, Evolution and Awake (refer to the wiki for more info). There's an area in the playmat called the "Base Area" where you call out your character cards. You can call out as many as you like as long as you can pay the cost.
Battle Phase
You attack your opponent with your character cards. The battle phase will take a couple of times to get use to. You basically try to kill off your opponent's characters cards to 0BP. If you have more BP than your opponent, you win. While it is not mentioned in the wiki, you may need to declare which characters battle with which characters. As mentioned, the battle phase will take some time to get used to.
Damage Step
Whoever loses the battle will take damage by revealing 2 cards from the top of their deck, choose one of them to be sent to the Damage Area while the remaining card is called up to the Base Area at no cost. During this time, some cards have skills that can be used when called up this way. If the card is a skill card, add that to hand instead.
That's the basic idea on how it is played. Of course there are other things to consider but I am simply putting up the basics. Now on to the ugly...
First, there's no limits on how many character cards can be at the base area at any one time. Duel Masters have a similar concept, where there's no limits to how much monsters can be summon at a time as long as you can pay the cost. But unlike Duel Masters, Sieg Krone does not have the concept of "Summoning Sickness" where a character can't be use for battle during the turn it is called. So the bad thing about having too many character in a side is that the match loses its balance quickly. Sure you only take one damage at during each battle but if you have an army of 3 while the opponent have an army of 10, and you can't attack or defend, the game will become one sided very quickly. After playing Sieg Krone with a few other players that tried it out, and all of us came to the same conclusion after a couple of games - there need to be a limit on how many characters can be placed in the Base Area. We currently agree that the best limitation would be 4 which balances the game very well.
Secondly. there's no healing in the game. There's no heal mechanism like Vanguard, Duel Monsters, Colossus Order or like other TCG. The idea of having a healing or recovery mechanism will be an additional plus to the game, granting players who is about to lose that giant leap of faith hoping for a heal to trigger up or cancelling that damage which was taken during the turn. Of course this kind of card will need to be restricted up to 4 per deck.
Lastly, they may need to revamp their battle system. While I do personally think it's okay now, but it is very very confusing as it is. I think having a "one on one" type of battle would be a better idea, while keeping the "Assist Character" and Skill cards.
So yeah, this is my two cents for Sieg Krone. While I believe it has a potential to be a good TCG, the way the game play is set now is too much luck dependent, much more than Vanguard or Weiss Schwarz to be honest. The designs of the cards are great, but sadly, the design of the game really needs a revamp.
