Current tournament standings for Ripple Rush are as follows:
Tournament Game Winrate: 22W - 4L (84.62%)
Match Winrate: 11W - 0L (100%)
Rounds Swept (2W 0L) - 7 out of 11 (63.64%)
Tournament Standings:
1st Place - 3 Times
2nd Place - 0 Times
3rd Place - 0 Times
4th Place - 0 Times
Non-Tops - 0 Times
6-0 Wins: 3 games out of 26 (11.54%)
Turn 2 Wins (One-turn kills): 1 game out of 26 (3.85%)
I've always had a 70% winrate with it online, but I feel like it just does better without the Area shuffler giving me 3 crits in my opening hand post-mulligan. I feel like this might be legitimately the strongest deck in Vanguard, with only a few weaknesses to lesser played decks. I feel that if Eradicators surge in popularity next set and if they opt to forego break riding to nuke my field with Gauntlet Buster, I might be in a bit of trouble. If they wait to break ride, then I have a stupidly high chance of killing them before they get the chance to do anything. Turn 3 control decks (like Dark Band if people would ever use it, lawl) can counteract the deck pretty well, but nobody uses them. This is one of the few rush decks not countered by Stern. So far, I haven't faced anything too far outside the meta to actually pseudo-counter this deck, which is adding to its winrate significantly. I've beaten Chaos Breaker Dragon 6 out of 6 times, because they kept riding Infinite Zero first, then either dying, or having to discard their Chaos Breaker with a null guard to stay alive, and being unable to break ride. All-in-all, my previous testing is coinciding with my current testing. This deck is most likely Tier 0. If more people play it, it might even top a major event. There is a middling amount of technical skill and a few risk vs. rewards decisions this deck can force you to make (like deciding between one Genovious drive check for a win vs. hitting 2 triggers), but for the most part, the deck is easy to play and easy to master.
Could you elaborate upon the deck and playstyle? (I'm assuming it's the Ripple Rush from your Ripple Rush 2.0 post a long time ago.) I tried that deck out on CFA when I first saw it some time ago and the 10 or so games I played went fairly poorly, and considering your praise of it I don't quite understand why. Since it seems promising from what you've said, I'd like to find out what is up to maybe use it at my locals.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to you posting some more decks in the future. (Which seems to have not happened in a very long time.) I am a big fan of the budget and/or "fun" decks you've posted in the past.
The deck is extremely powerful because it isn't played like a standard deck. You get stronger mulligan options, more consistent field set-ups, and the consistency of the deck shoots through the roof because it isn't focused on simply riding up.
DeleteAs an example, if I have a 1, 1, 2, 2, 0 hand, I don't have to mull a 1, 2, and a 0 to try and hit my grade 3. I can keep all but the trigger, and hopefully get another 1 or 2 (although a 3 isn't bad either). This allows me to have a completely full field on turn 2 most games, even if I have to call triggers to boost (which doesn't really impede the deck with Twin-Strike and Genovious being able to hit 16k+ with it).
The grade 1 in the ride chain can be used to fish for the grade 2 or grade 3. This gives us decent consistency in hitting a 3 without having to increase our 3 count that much. Additionally, if you ride the wrong grade 2, you can still check top 7 for the correct grade 2. Used in Conjunction with Turtle, I can potentially get a +1 and still hit my ride chain fully.
The real power behind the deck lies on its turn 2 ability to rack up damage. No, really, look at this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alp5Cphxi3E&feature=youtu.be
I've had my opponent perfect guard my Vanguard, and I've still OTK'd them. ~_~ It's kind of nuts.
The biggest things to keep in mind are that you have no real reason to fear calling crit triggers to the field as boosters or attackers if you're lacking them early game from a bad hand.
You have no reason to take early damage since literally the only use of counterblasts you have is Genovios' ability, which is far from the focus of the deck. We don't arbitrarily rush our damage count up, and the Theos and ride chain help to ease early guarding with their vanilla level defense.
It's really easy to play the deck wrong, now that I think about it. In theory, it sounds as simple as calling your Accelerated Commands, putting the +Power on Tidal Assault, and hitting criticals for the win. In practice maybe it's not that simple. ~_~ Still, this deck's consistency and power has led it to these incredibly strong results. My online playtesting also hovered right around a 70~% winrate, so I'm taking these tournament results with a grain of salt. Still, over 25 tournament matches is a pretty decent sample size to work with, and this deck is in competition for a tier 0 spot in my opinion.
Hey tim, I'm interested in this deck but even after testing it a few times, I still fail miserably with it. What if I miss the g1 of the ride chain? Does this not make the deck rush much worse and also cant ride consistently at the same time?
ReplyDeleteIf you miss the chain, you still get a 4k booster. Keep in mind that you don't have to mulligan excess grade 1's and 2's to hit the grade 3, and triggers are viable calls to make numbers earlier in the match to secure a strong rush if you get bogged down with them. The odds of hitting the grade 1 are pretty solid anyway, and even if you miss it, it's not a big deal. You focus on the likelihood of having a solid field turn 2 over riding consistency, which is significantly easier with the skewed ratios.
DeleteHi, I have a modified Japanese Ripple Rush deck which I used for the first time in a tournament last weekend. Result was win 2 lost 2, but the manner of the wins were deeply satisfying for a budget deck such as this.
ReplyDeleteGame 1: win 2 - 0
Opponent was using an Eradicator deck. Didn't mulligan and was showing off his perfect draw to his friend. Turn 1, rode the G1 ride chain, pulled off 2 hits. Turn 2 pulled out the G2 ride chain, got a twin brave and tidal, boosted accordingly. Brave guarded, pavroth hit, brave stand again, hit, tidal hit, tidal hit again, game over. I think he was still in shock when we started the second game. Which was even worse, for him He started first. My turn 1, rode the G1 ride chain, missed G2. Turn 2, he came out blazing, but I guarded for no hits. Rode the turtle, superior call a grade 1 (forgot that I could look for G2), called Twin Brave, Tidal, and booster. Checked a crit, passed to Tidal, game over 6 - 0. Fastest game ever!
Game 2: lost 0 - 2
Came up against a Shadow Paladin deck. Bad draws, no crits on drive checks, lost.
Game 3: won 2 - 1
Against a Genesis legion deck. Lost the first game due to bad draws. Won 2nd game. Won 3rd game when opponent decked out. What's amazing was that I never rode to G3, and was only drive checking 1 card each turn, while he was getting 2. Constant pressure with twin brave, pavroth, and tidal kept his hand size between 1 to 3 cards all turns.
Game 4: lost 0 - 2
Against a Sing Saver legion deck. Again, luck of the draw and drive checks not on my side.
Overall, a satisfying result, placed 6th out of 12. The ideal play is to have Pavroth and Tidal to apply constant pressure, but even if you don't ride Pavroth, it's still doable if you draw and drive check the right cards. As you probably realise by now, my deck was modified to counter legion decks, so I only ride to G3 if they are not playing a legion deck. Most legion support cards require the vanguard to be in legion before their skill activates, so this deck shuts those down. It's infuriating for them, you can tell. They just keep reminding me that I have a grade 3, so why not ride it. Yeah, right :)
As for the modifications, I replaced both perfect guards with a G1 and G2 brave shooters. I replaced 2 accelerated commands with 2 space pits (5k dope at the cost of a soul blast). Replaced 1 G3 with another twin brave, and replaced both nicolas with the seal. Cheap trolly deck, with 16 crits, 17 G1, 13 G2, and 3 G3s.
I'm probably just being cheap but does RR really need it's perfect guards to be viable? If not, what alternatives can you recommend?
ReplyDeleteThe SB1, +5k's in set 17 are good. Other than that, I'd say you want nulls regardless, and nothing else fits until then. They really are that useful.
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