I decided to play in my first ever Buddyfight
tournament. Now, I play Buddyfight all the time, but it's always my
decks vs. my decks, fighting baddies online (which I stopped, because
TCO can't "hide" the cards I set for Hades Fall and Secret Formation),
and fighting what are at best modified trial decks.
As some of you might know, I've actually judged more Buddyfight events than I've played. ~_~
That being said, after shaking down the Bushiroad booth at GenCon for
four copies of Oborogenbu (I don't usually abuse my connections, but
making a mandatory-to-play card an exclusive promo is kind of dumb), I
decided that I wanted to play Katana World for the day. Katana World is
easily my favorite World, despite Dungeon World being significantly
stronger.
The tournament showing was pretty weak. Only 39 for Vanguard on Friday
and only 13 for Buddyfight on Saturday. After getting the ever-living
**** sacked out of me in Vanguard on Friday, I came to the Buddyfight
tournament with absolutely no expectations of winning, considering 1:
People from out of state who are hardcore Buddyfighters showed up and 2:
This was literally my first ever Buddyfight tournament. To my great
surprise, there was only one Dungeon World player, and they dropped
after they lost in round 3, even though they had a solid chance to get
second/third place. The prize support was a deckbox (manga-styled
artwork, front is Gao and Drum attacking, back is chibi-Drum eating
pudding, Kawaii as ****), mat (set 3 mat), and sleeves (Black/Gold World
sleeves for Magic, Danger, and Dragon). Top 6 all got the same prize.
Decklist:
Flag - Katana World
Buddy - Blood Knife, Kimensai
Weapons - 3x Five Heavenly Swords, Onimaru (Switched to from Munechika
before the tournament. With a plentiful amount of lifegain in the game,
my win condition is no longer swing with 2-3 things with penetrate and
counter their attack negate for the win.)
Impacts -
4x Secret Sword, Lethal Formation
2x Secret Sword, Star Crusher (I took out Moon Fang. I left it in my
side deck, but the only impacts I ever see anymore are non-counterable,
or are used early, like Ancient World's or another Secret Formation.
Proved too unreliable for use.)
Spells (Defense) -
4x Demon Way, Oborogenbu (prioritized this over Art of Body Replacement to stop link attacks with an open center.)
3x Ninja Arts, Snake Gaze (Easily the best double-attack counter in the
game. Generic enough to be useful against everything. Can stop Dungeon
World shenanigans, and shuts down Seiger for an entire turn.)
2x Art of Body Replacement
Spells (Sets)
4x Art of Explosive Hades Fall
4x Return to the Underworld
Spells (Other)
2x Demon Way, Sakurafubuki (I won an entire game with this card on turn
1, since I stopped a Seiger from existing because of it.)
2x Clear Serenity
1x Demon Way, Geppakugiri (I abused this card greatly against Seiger,
since I ran an extra copy in my sideboard for that match-up)
Size 1's
4x Blood Knife, Kimensai (I love this card.)
4x Evil in Heart, Yamigitsune (Obvious engine that makes everything work)
3x Steel Wall, Beheading Crab (Steel Wall, lel)
2x Undefeatable Setsujishi (This card won me more games through shenanigans than I thought possible)
Size 2's
4x Tempest, Garo-Oh (Sadly, this guy didn't shine for me that much. He's still strong, and paid for himself with Setsujishi.)
Size 3's
2x Wanderer, the Gold (Never once used this card, since I fought nothing
but Dragon World and Ancient World. Well, I did use it against Ancient
with Art of Explosive Hades Fall, but more about that down below.)
Sideboard:
3x Aftermath, Gagaku (This is how I chose to fight Seiger)
2x Art of Body Replacement (Swap in against Seiger, since Oboro is strictly worse if the opponent's deck doesn't Link Attack)
1x Five Heavenly Swords, Onimaru (Left this in if I wanted to swap for it to have 4 weapons, didn't end up using it.)
1x Demon Way, Geppakugiri (Teched in against Seiger)
1x Secret Sword, Moon Fang (Didn't end up using this.)
1x Clear Serenity (Setsujishi fixed my gauge incredibly well, I never needed to have a third Serenity)
1x Art of Item Blasting (I fought Dragon World, but one build was
Beistand focused, and the other one was Thunder Knights without many
equips. Didn't end up using it.)
I never bought any EB1, so I never bothered to get Half-Kills. Too much
of a direct hate card, anyway. It feels cheesy putting them in against
Seiger between rounds.
Round 1 - Vs. Ancient World (Seiger) - 2W 0L
Game 1 was exhausting. It grinded out until the 6th or 7th turn before I
finally got a set-up. Ended up getting Lethal Formation out with 3
gauge. He swings in and puts me to 1. I swing in with Kimensai and
another unit in a Link Attack against his center unit which had Lifelink
1 (Seiger died uneventfully without evolving before that). He had 3
life, so this was going to kill him. He countered it with Dragonlution,
which I Secret Formationed for game.
Game 2 I teched in my Gagaku's, Arts, and took out a size 3 for it. I
ended up drawing two Hades Falls and my now one size 3, and was
facepalming. I still used Hades Fall, choosing size 2, and hilariously,
he had no seiger. I blew up his size 2, and swung in for game on turn
3. His deck just fizzled really hard. Hades Fall on a lifelink unit
hurts quite a bit.
Round 2 vs. Dragon World (Jackknife) 2W 1L
Game 1 drags out terribly. He ends up having a non-opened center and no
defensive cards. If I top deck into any creature, I can bring back
Kimensai and kill him, since he had 2 life. Draw was an Oborogenbu.
Charged it and drew a Sakurafubuki (I had 2 life left). If I had held
onto the Oborogenbu, then charged the Sakurafubuki, my top card was a
Beheading Crab, so I could have won by waiting a turn, since my opponent
had no size 1's. Oh well, I had no way of knowing that.
Game 2. I thought really hard about teching cards in, but decide not
to. I start off with a Hades Fall -> Setsujishi -> Buddy call a
Kimensai -> Swing with Kimensai for 2, move him to gauge to have
enough for Lethal Formation. He cast a spell on his turn, which I
countered, bringing him down to 5. I won after another two turns. It
was a pretty clean win. Setsujishi into Lethal Formation secured about 3
victories for me over the course of the day, due to me also being able
to use Hades Fall on turn 1.
Game 3 I played it the way I love playing Katana World. He had an open
center. I link attacked with everything for 5 crit (Setsu, Crab, Yami).
He had 5 life. He Green Dragon Shields, but I Sakurafubuki for game.
(Semi-Finals) Round 3 vs. Ancient World (Seiger) 2W 1L
Game 1 he went first. Normally, I like going second, but he chained off
Creation, Legend, Rise and Fall, and set Dragonverse all on his first
turn, along with playing Seiger. It was unfortunate that I had Serenity
and two Lethal Formations. I set them on my first turn, then he never
needed to cast a spell ever again. He only used ACT monsters after
that. I got him to no soul on second form, but I wasn't able to secure
victory.
Game 2, I teched in everything I teched in before. Again, I drew into
Hades Fall and my one size 3, since I teched out my second copy again.
All of my "meh". I set one and play a Return to the Underworld. He
notices that I don't proc it on Seiger's first form and gets a really
worried look on his face. He, knowing that I run size 3's, decided to
destroy my Hades Fall over my Return to the Underworld. After seeing my
Tempest Garo-Oh in soul, he was just like, "wat". Return to the
Underworld won me the game, just like it's supposed to. I was still in a
good position to win this game, regardless. I drew into another Hades
Fall, abusing Setsujishi for free plusses from it later. Snake Gazed
the guy two turns in a row, so his Seiger was literally doing nothing
for those two turns.
Game 3, I didn't tech in the second grade 3 to hit it. I mean, odds are
low that I draw it, right? Right. I don't see it. I set Hades Fall,
choosing my 3. He never sees Seiger this entire game. Can't complain,
since I end up winning for it.
(Finals) Round 4 vs. Dragon World (Thunder Knights) 2W 0L
Game 1 I should have lost. It went down to the wire at the very end. I
had 2 life left, and he had no creatures out. I stopped his weapon
attack that was going to win the game for him, but he had Thunder
Formation and 4 gauge. I had a Snake Gaze in hand, and could account
for one monster attack. He top decks two 2 critical creatures. I was
thinking to myself, "Well, I'm ****ed." He swings his first creature
into my Yamigitsune. I blink. It registers that he just messed up, and
I immediately respond by playing Snake Gaze on his other creature. He
asks how much life I have left. I say, "1." He begins facepalming. I
swing for game next turn.
Game 2 was a good game for me. I did my Hades Fall -> Kimensai ->
Setsujishi -> Lethal Formation Wombo combo, since I went first. I
secured too large of an advantage and snowballed the game pretty hard,
winning the tournament. My penetrate was nullifying his advantages. He
kept misplaying by using cards that specified that you need an open
center to use, and not using them before battle phase started/while he
was moving his creatures to center.
He was the only one smart enough to cast a defensive spell when I had
out a Lethal Formationed when I had 2 gauge during my battlephase (and
used Setsujishi to move Kimensai to the gauge after that so he couldn't
cast on his turn). I wasn't super worried about him stopping one
attack, though.
All-in-all, I noticed a few things.
1. I'm the only person with a common buddy. Everyone else had BR Jackknife, Thunder Drum, or Seiger that I played.
2. Everyone kept misplaying. I didn't really mess anything up, so I
was able to secure large advantages over my opponents that way.
3. Seiger seems inconsistent. That pay 2 gauge to get Seiger promo
seems like it might be the juice they need to make the deck function. I
haven't bothered to build the deck, so this was my first time
encountering it. It wasn't that difficult to tackle, even without
half-kills.
Not too much else to report, other than, "I had a blast" and that a
bunch of people at my locals are playing now, so hopefully I can keep
entering more than yearly tournaments.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Ashlei "R", Timmy Style
I don't often post meta or hyped decks because this game isn't hard and they tend to build themselves. Except that grade 1 line up for Minerva, that's all over the place.
That aside, I feel like Ashlei "R" is something that can be optimized outside of the normal way to run it. It's not as starkly opposed to the way the meta functions as Dragruler is, so these are only minor changes.
Grade 0 (17):
1x Desire Jewel Knight, Heloise (Starting Vanguard)
4x Blazing Jewel Knight, Rachelle (Critical)
2-4x Jewel Knight, Noble Stinger (Critical)
4x Jewel Knight, Opt Harpist (Stand)
0-2x Jewel Knight, Glitmy (Stand)
4x Jewel Knight, Hilmy (Heal)
Grade 1 (14):
4x Jewel Knight, Prizmy
3x Stinging Jewel Knight, Shellie
3x Security Jewel Knight, Alwain
2x Flashing Jewel Knight, Iseult (PG)
2x Summoning Jewel Knight, Gloria (QW)
Grade 2 (11):
4x Banding Jewel Knight, Miranda
4x Fellowship Jewel Knight, Tracie
3x Linking Jewel Knight, Tilda
Grade 3 (8):
4x Broken Heart Jewel Knight, Ashlei “Яeverse”
4x Pure Heart Jewel Knight, Ashlei
So, my first comment is that this deck is numbers. The magical kind of numbers that are numerous and numbery. You have 16/19 of your grade 2+ units that swing for 11k or more as RG. That's kind of really great. Additionally, if you get excess grade 3's in your drop zone, you have Alwain to give your rear guard Ashlei 5k power per usage.
Now, let us pause for a moment and consider, why is Ordain Owl so overpowered? Is it because it's a bird? Maybe. Is it because the target of the power boost is a restander? Yes. Using this concept with stand triggers and rear guard Ashleis, we can come up with a reasonable assumption that stand triggers on a RG that can restand and swing for 21k unboosted is probably pretty sweet. As an avid Tri-Stinger Overlord enthusiast, I can assure you that it's extremely powerful.
So, that's cool and all Tim, but why are we running a split of quintet walls and null guards? There are many good reasons for this. Jewel Knights are an extremely low counterblast deck. Tilda can only trigger on grade 3 ride (and she has a tendency to die quickly) and Ashley "R" can only counterblast once per turn. This means that speaking from a resource standpoint, Quintet Walls are simply too good not to use. They also give us an added facet of loading up our drop zone with some potential grade 3's which we can use to abuse with our RG Ashlei (since our Vanguard Ashlei always has the threat of triggers and criticals). We can also fill up that Drop Zone with our remaining Prizmys and null guards. With only incremental amounts of card advantage and cycling that can't even really be used if you have a full field, and the ability to shove those grade 3's back on the bottom of our deck, decking out isn't a major scare. I can't find a single good reason not to run quintet walls in this deck, until Legion might reach the point where it's no longer safe to guard with quints.
All in all, I feel like this version performs better than the standard 8 crit/4 draw/4 heal version that doesn't run quints.
That aside, I feel like Ashlei "R" is something that can be optimized outside of the normal way to run it. It's not as starkly opposed to the way the meta functions as Dragruler is, so these are only minor changes.
Grade 0 (17):
1x Desire Jewel Knight, Heloise (Starting Vanguard)
4x Blazing Jewel Knight, Rachelle (Critical)
2-4x Jewel Knight, Noble Stinger (Critical)
4x Jewel Knight, Opt Harpist (Stand)
0-2x Jewel Knight, Glitmy (Stand)
4x Jewel Knight, Hilmy (Heal)
Grade 1 (14):
4x Jewel Knight, Prizmy
3x Stinging Jewel Knight, Shellie
3x Security Jewel Knight, Alwain
2x Flashing Jewel Knight, Iseult (PG)
2x Summoning Jewel Knight, Gloria (QW)
Grade 2 (11):
4x Banding Jewel Knight, Miranda
4x Fellowship Jewel Knight, Tracie
3x Linking Jewel Knight, Tilda
Grade 3 (8):
4x Broken Heart Jewel Knight, Ashlei “Яeverse”
4x Pure Heart Jewel Knight, Ashlei
So, my first comment is that this deck is numbers. The magical kind of numbers that are numerous and numbery. You have 16/19 of your grade 2+ units that swing for 11k or more as RG. That's kind of really great. Additionally, if you get excess grade 3's in your drop zone, you have Alwain to give your rear guard Ashlei 5k power per usage.
Now, let us pause for a moment and consider, why is Ordain Owl so overpowered? Is it because it's a bird? Maybe. Is it because the target of the power boost is a restander? Yes. Using this concept with stand triggers and rear guard Ashleis, we can come up with a reasonable assumption that stand triggers on a RG that can restand and swing for 21k unboosted is probably pretty sweet. As an avid Tri-Stinger Overlord enthusiast, I can assure you that it's extremely powerful.
So, that's cool and all Tim, but why are we running a split of quintet walls and null guards? There are many good reasons for this. Jewel Knights are an extremely low counterblast deck. Tilda can only trigger on grade 3 ride (and she has a tendency to die quickly) and Ashley "R" can only counterblast once per turn. This means that speaking from a resource standpoint, Quintet Walls are simply too good not to use. They also give us an added facet of loading up our drop zone with some potential grade 3's which we can use to abuse with our RG Ashlei (since our Vanguard Ashlei always has the threat of triggers and criticals). We can also fill up that Drop Zone with our remaining Prizmys and null guards. With only incremental amounts of card advantage and cycling that can't even really be used if you have a full field, and the ability to shove those grade 3's back on the bottom of our deck, decking out isn't a major scare. I can't find a single good reason not to run quintet walls in this deck, until Legion might reach the point where it's no longer safe to guard with quints.
All in all, I feel like this version performs better than the standard 8 crit/4 draw/4 heal version that doesn't run quints.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
I Fail Luck for Life
Playing Lock on Victory Hard Mode.
Finally unlock set 5.
Try out MLB because why not? Only have 1 of him, though.
Enter game against Sharlene. Get gradelocked at 1 for two turns.
Spam Liens to fish for grade 2's, keep damage checking them. Damaged two Blaster Darks. This is important for later.
My deck is a weird thingy with all of my SP's, because I don't have the MLB's I want for the deck yet, so yolo.
I have two copies of Holy Disaster Dragon, which is discard a Royal Paladin, he gains 5k for the attack. This is also important.
My opponent attacks, I block everything, using up every card but Blaster Blade. They hit a double draw trigger.
My turn. My field:
Blaster Blade|Soul Saver Dragon|Holy Disaster Dragon
Elaine|Wingal Brave|Lien
I drew the heal and called it (lel), because I know I'm not blocking everything again.
They have 6 cards in hand, all 5k shields.
I attack with Blaster Blade, they guard for 5k.
I attack with Soul Saver. They guard with 3 units. At this point, ANY drive check in the game will win the game for me other than a very particular one. Two Blaster Darks. I had two left in my 23 card deck. I check both.
I attack with Holy Disaster Dragon, unable to discard a Royal Paladin for the effect, and they guard it with the remaining two cards in their hand.
Thanks for giving me that sixth damage heal into a guaranteed win for that turn. But my Master Ball just missed.
Odds of this happening with 23 cards in deck, and two Blaster Darks in deck: 0.4% Yay!
Finally unlock set 5.
Try out MLB because why not? Only have 1 of him, though.
Enter game against Sharlene. Get gradelocked at 1 for two turns.
Spam Liens to fish for grade 2's, keep damage checking them. Damaged two Blaster Darks. This is important for later.
My deck is a weird thingy with all of my SP's, because I don't have the MLB's I want for the deck yet, so yolo.
I have two copies of Holy Disaster Dragon, which is discard a Royal Paladin, he gains 5k for the attack. This is also important.
My opponent attacks, I block everything, using up every card but Blaster Blade. They hit a double draw trigger.
My turn. My field:
Blaster Blade|Soul Saver Dragon|Holy Disaster Dragon
Elaine|Wingal Brave|Lien
I drew the heal and called it (lel), because I know I'm not blocking everything again.
They have 6 cards in hand, all 5k shields.
I attack with Blaster Blade, they guard for 5k.
I attack with Soul Saver. They guard with 3 units. At this point, ANY drive check in the game will win the game for me other than a very particular one. Two Blaster Darks. I had two left in my 23 card deck. I check both.
I attack with Holy Disaster Dragon, unable to discard a Royal Paladin for the effect, and they guard it with the remaining two cards in their hand.
Thanks for giving me that sixth damage heal into a guaranteed win for that turn. But my Master Ball just missed.
Odds of this happening with 23 cards in deck, and two Blaster Darks in deck: 0.4% Yay!
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Ripple Rush Statitistics
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.
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.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Much Tourmanet, Such Win, Very Wow
I've been having a blast going to two local tournaments and spending my weekends playing card games. It's been pretty great. I've been getting sacked, gradelocked, and what have you, so I decided this weekend that I felt like winning. Naturally, I play the deck I feel is the most competitive in the current meta to choose for this task: Ripple Rush.
Ripple Rush has a list on here, but for those unfamiliar with how it works, it uses the Ripple Ride chain for Pavroth's on-hit effect (if you land the chain), Sotirio's top 7 search for a grade 2/3 when you ride it on the starter, Sotirio's top 7 search for Pavroth if you ride the wrong grade 2 over him, Turtle's top card check for a grade 1 or 2 to superior call (which can be used as VG over Sotirio for a plus 1 and still hitting the chain), and passing crits to Tidal Assault for a multi-crit restanding rear guard. That's the gist of it.
I played on Saturday with Ripple Rush. I won two games on the first turn attacking. One game I went Tidal -> Same Tidal -> VG attack (nulled) crit -> Tidal w/ Crit -> Tidal w/ Crit. It was dirty. If my VG had hit, my other Tidal would have stood at 7k power, though, and swung again. I ended the night 6-1, and opted to get 5 packs of Gatecrash with my prizes. Didn't pull anything spectacular, but it felt good to get some prize support. I feel like Ripple Rush is cheesy and try-hardy, so I avoid using it. But winning cards feels nice, so I might stop having all of these reservations about playing it.
Sunday's tournament I played Ripple Rush again. I was determined to win since I haven't won at Midwest (lost in the final round the week before this one, somehow went from undefeated to like 7th place and got no packs). I end up going 8-2 for the day, winning every round, and netting 6 packs of prize support or 18 bucks. I opt to use that money for the wife and I to enter the Weiss Schwartz tournament, having never played it before. I beat the two veterans in the 8 man tourney, and lose to the other trial deck. Lawl. I get 5 packs and pull one RR out of it. So meh. Decided on a whim to get two more packs, and I pull a 100~ dollar SP Cait Sith Silica and another copy of that RR. I won card game forever, I guess.
Then I also traded my 4 extra Binoculus and Monoculas Tigers for a Naruto deck. I decided that now that it's dead I'm going to get in on it. Got an Earth/Wind Hyuga/Mind Power/Lawl1stHogakeFTW deck. Got to play it once before my wife was beating me up to head back home since the in-laws were watching the kids. I had a lot of fun playing the Naruto game and want to play it some more. Looking forward to a few games of WS and Naruto in the near future.
Planning on going in on Kill la Kill for Nudist Beach.dek with purple nipples everywhere. Hell yeah!
Ripple Rush has a list on here, but for those unfamiliar with how it works, it uses the Ripple Ride chain for Pavroth's on-hit effect (if you land the chain), Sotirio's top 7 search for a grade 2/3 when you ride it on the starter, Sotirio's top 7 search for Pavroth if you ride the wrong grade 2 over him, Turtle's top card check for a grade 1 or 2 to superior call (which can be used as VG over Sotirio for a plus 1 and still hitting the chain), and passing crits to Tidal Assault for a multi-crit restanding rear guard. That's the gist of it.
I played on Saturday with Ripple Rush. I won two games on the first turn attacking. One game I went Tidal -> Same Tidal -> VG attack (nulled) crit -> Tidal w/ Crit -> Tidal w/ Crit. It was dirty. If my VG had hit, my other Tidal would have stood at 7k power, though, and swung again. I ended the night 6-1, and opted to get 5 packs of Gatecrash with my prizes. Didn't pull anything spectacular, but it felt good to get some prize support. I feel like Ripple Rush is cheesy and try-hardy, so I avoid using it. But winning cards feels nice, so I might stop having all of these reservations about playing it.
Sunday's tournament I played Ripple Rush again. I was determined to win since I haven't won at Midwest (lost in the final round the week before this one, somehow went from undefeated to like 7th place and got no packs). I end up going 8-2 for the day, winning every round, and netting 6 packs of prize support or 18 bucks. I opt to use that money for the wife and I to enter the Weiss Schwartz tournament, having never played it before. I beat the two veterans in the 8 man tourney, and lose to the other trial deck. Lawl. I get 5 packs and pull one RR out of it. So meh. Decided on a whim to get two more packs, and I pull a 100~ dollar SP Cait Sith Silica and another copy of that RR. I won card game forever, I guess.
Then I also traded my 4 extra Binoculus and Monoculas Tigers for a Naruto deck. I decided that now that it's dead I'm going to get in on it. Got an Earth/Wind Hyuga/Mind Power/Lawl1stHogakeFTW deck. Got to play it once before my wife was beating me up to head back home since the in-laws were watching the kids. I had a lot of fun playing the Naruto game and want to play it some more. Looking forward to a few games of WS and Naruto in the near future.
Planning on going in on Kill la Kill for Nudist Beach.dek with purple nipples everywhere. Hell yeah!
Monday, April 21, 2014
Kagero and Glendios - 21k On-Hit Retire Because I Can
Decklist:
Starter - World Line Dragon (Link Joker)
12 Link Joker Critical Triggers
4 Link Joker Heal Triggers
Grade 1's
4x Taboo Star-Vader, Rubidium (Link Joker)
3x Star-Vader, Ruin Magician (Link Joker)
3x Heatnail Salamander (Kagero)
2x Barrier Star-Vader, Promethium (Link Joker)
Grade 2's
4x Star-Vader, Magnet Hollow (Link Joker)
4x Star-Vader, Colony Maker (Link Joker)
1x Unrivaled Star-Vader, Radon (Link Joker)
Grade 3's
4x Star-Vader, Omega Glendios (Link Joker)
4x Dragonic Overlord "The Яe-birth" (Kagero)
4x Dauntless Dominate Dragon "Reverse" (Kagero)
Playtesting has been disgusting. The deck is just... overpowered. Heatnail is mostly a gag-tech. With any of my reverse units, it makes a 21k on-hit retire row to add insult to injury. Naturally, with no Cold Deaths or Infinite Zeroes, the purpose of the deck is to vanilla beat your opponent to death. 12 crits to supplement it. 6 sentinels, stupid easy 21k+ rows, extremely consistent riding, negating an entire row's attacks every turn you call a Reverse unit, and plussing like mad off of Ruin Magician. All with a lulzy on-hit retire 21k row tech choice.
It's pretty dumb. Not going to lie.
15-0 in testing so far. ~_~ Might make a video. Might let Glendios die in a corner. Haven't decided.
Starter - World Line Dragon (Link Joker)
12 Link Joker Critical Triggers
4 Link Joker Heal Triggers
Grade 1's
4x Taboo Star-Vader, Rubidium (Link Joker)
3x Star-Vader, Ruin Magician (Link Joker)
3x Heatnail Salamander (Kagero)
2x Barrier Star-Vader, Promethium (Link Joker)
Grade 2's
4x Star-Vader, Magnet Hollow (Link Joker)
4x Star-Vader, Colony Maker (Link Joker)
1x Unrivaled Star-Vader, Radon (Link Joker)
Grade 3's
4x Star-Vader, Omega Glendios (Link Joker)
4x Dragonic Overlord "The Яe-birth" (Kagero)
4x Dauntless Dominate Dragon "Reverse" (Kagero)
Playtesting has been disgusting. The deck is just... overpowered. Heatnail is mostly a gag-tech. With any of my reverse units, it makes a 21k on-hit retire row to add insult to injury. Naturally, with no Cold Deaths or Infinite Zeroes, the purpose of the deck is to vanilla beat your opponent to death. 12 crits to supplement it. 6 sentinels, stupid easy 21k+ rows, extremely consistent riding, negating an entire row's attacks every turn you call a Reverse unit, and plussing like mad off of Ruin Magician. All with a lulzy on-hit retire 21k row tech choice.
It's pretty dumb. Not going to lie.
15-0 in testing so far. ~_~ Might make a video. Might let Glendios die in a corner. Haven't decided.
Legion and the State of Vanguard - My Thoughts
We've entered a new season. We have a new mechanic. Obligatory cries of "overpowered" and "I'm going to quit!" everywhere. People judging the mechanic before thinking about it, trying it out, or extensively testing it, well, this is the norm for our community.
This reminds me of the release of the break ride mechanic in season 3 and the limit break mechanic in season 2 (of which the ending season 1 decks were still superior to literally all of the season 2 decks, so the community was wrong in this regard). Each iteration had an outcry with it that made the community rise up in anger over the power creep. Season 1 exclusive decks, barring crossride DOtE, haven't been viable in ages. Season 2 exclusive decks couldn't hold a candle to set 12+ power creep, and struggled against sets 10 and 11. Legion has given us a viable alternative to break riding and the Link Joker/Restander dominated meta while making a huge fix to the poor natural balance of the game.
Here's where I'm going to start off. I am extremely happy with Legion as a mechanic. Is it a toxic amount of power? Sure. They've essentially made every vanguard Amon with a second ability. That's pretty damn strong, I'm not going to lie to you. But it's a healthy amount of power, currently. If these units didn't have this much power, the only units we'd even remotely care about that have been released would be Brawler, Bigbang Knuckle Dragon (Attacks all front row units for 2 counterblasts, essentially balances out Vermillion's skill with the current 1 counterblast for a +1 solidified in set 14) and Brawler, Wild Rush Dragon, who gets 10k and a crit if he checks himself or his mate.
People will argue that the Dimension Police unit negging perfect guards would be up there, but without the large base power of the Legion, it won't be strong enough to make a major impact compared to the already superior Echo of Nemesis, which can have a Doreen boost essentially making the attack unblockable.
So, the power is a necessity to give these cards weaker effects in comparison to the extremely undercosted units of the past 3 sets to make them playable. Let's discuss the other two facets of Legion. Returning triggers to the deck, and the grade 3 requirements for Legioning in the first place.
How much does returning triggers to the deck actually help? Well, not that much. Unless you legion multiple times in a match, the actual impact will be small on your trigger checking likelihood. This is due partly from damage checked triggers being unrecoverable without healing/being Angel Feathers. The other part of it is that you just aren't likely to have 4 triggers in the drop zone to legion. Typically, you'll be tossing 2-3 triggers and 1-2 non-triggers back into the deck. You're only increasing your odds to hit a trigger by roughly 3-4% on average per drive check, and 5-7% on Twin-Drive!!. It'll make a difference over a large number of playtests, but it's not significant enough to make an impact on most games. It's handy, but by no means the end of the world in terms of brokenness or consistency. CEO Amaterasu's ability increases the odds of hitting a trigger on a twin-drive by 15%, for comparison. That's twice as much.
The final thing I want to discuss is the Legioning mechanic's requirement of a grade 3 Vanguard and why I feel that this is one of the best things that's happened for the game. I don't know if Bushiroad has noticed, but in this game going first is extremely advantageous. Most players will inherently pick up on it, others need to be told outright.
Here's a list of advantages to going first:
No passing a 7k Vanguard + 5k starter boost with a 10k shield if you land a ride chain/ride a vanilla.
12k beaters forcing 10k unboosted from your opponent. They also don't get negated by a single damage trigger while unboosted. And if they're boosted, even if your opponent is grade 2, it's still 15k shield. (I would like 12k beaters to be errata'd to require a grade 3, like they were originally, but it's too late for that).
You get the first damage, so you get to have only one check (first damage check) where a heal can't go live. The player going second can't heal on first drive check or first damage check. Add more to that list if they call a second rear guard or hit a critical trigger.
You get Twin-Drive!! first unless your opponent superior rides, which always cost more than simply riding to grade 3 to negate their own advantages. This plays into the next one.
First player has the first opportunity to break ride. The first opportunity to crossride. The first opportunity to ride to grade 4.
You always have one more card than your opponent, save the end of their turn. But, you immediately draw after their turn ends, and they can't utilize any of the cards in their hand as a resource, barring some extremely outlying examples. So there isn't an instance where them overtaking you in card advantage actually has an impact until you catch right back up and have the lead until it no longer matters again. Let's compare:
Starting out, 5-5
Go first, 6-5.
Opponent's turn, 6-6, attack, 6-7.
Your second turn, 7-7
Attack, 8-7
Their second turn, 8-8
Attack, 8-9
Your third turn, 9-9
Attack, 11-9
Their fourth turn, 11-10 (they now have the permanent card deficit)
Their attack, 11-12 (they gain it back in twin-drive, but don't get to use it at all before...)
Your fifth turn, 12-12 (you have as many cards as them before attacking that you have full, main phase access to)
Attack, 14-12 (Now you're way ahead)
Their turn, 14-13 (They're sitting a card behind that they can actually play)
They attack, 14-15 (They pass you just long enough for you to overtake them again where the situation of them having the card lead still doesn't matter because you draw before they can use any of their new cards)
As you can see, going first allows you to field more units. You simply have more cards to play during your main phase. It gives you ease of early guarding. Total advantage over early healing. You get your Twin-Drive!! a turn sooner, giving you an extra potential trigger over the opponent. Your rear guards are harder for them to guard. You can fend off their rear guards more easily with your higher base-power units in comparison to their lower base power units on defense. You gain the "one-card" advantage in late game, post turn 4. You have the raw unit power, healing, and drive checking advantages early.
The advantages to going first are simply overwhelming in comparison to the advantages of going second, which is a 2% less chance to be gradelocked, and access to cards that require an opponent to have grade 2+ units a turn earlier (Pellinore). Yay?
Legion forces the individual who goes first to wait a full turn before Legioning. This means player 2 has dibs on Legioning first. While I don't think this is the do-all, end-all for rebalancing this game's poorly balanced turn system, it is definitely a start. One that I look forward to.
This reminds me of the release of the break ride mechanic in season 3 and the limit break mechanic in season 2 (of which the ending season 1 decks were still superior to literally all of the season 2 decks, so the community was wrong in this regard). Each iteration had an outcry with it that made the community rise up in anger over the power creep. Season 1 exclusive decks, barring crossride DOtE, haven't been viable in ages. Season 2 exclusive decks couldn't hold a candle to set 12+ power creep, and struggled against sets 10 and 11. Legion has given us a viable alternative to break riding and the Link Joker/Restander dominated meta while making a huge fix to the poor natural balance of the game.
Here's where I'm going to start off. I am extremely happy with Legion as a mechanic. Is it a toxic amount of power? Sure. They've essentially made every vanguard Amon with a second ability. That's pretty damn strong, I'm not going to lie to you. But it's a healthy amount of power, currently. If these units didn't have this much power, the only units we'd even remotely care about that have been released would be Brawler, Bigbang Knuckle Dragon (Attacks all front row units for 2 counterblasts, essentially balances out Vermillion's skill with the current 1 counterblast for a +1 solidified in set 14) and Brawler, Wild Rush Dragon, who gets 10k and a crit if he checks himself or his mate.
People will argue that the Dimension Police unit negging perfect guards would be up there, but without the large base power of the Legion, it won't be strong enough to make a major impact compared to the already superior Echo of Nemesis, which can have a Doreen boost essentially making the attack unblockable.
So, the power is a necessity to give these cards weaker effects in comparison to the extremely undercosted units of the past 3 sets to make them playable. Let's discuss the other two facets of Legion. Returning triggers to the deck, and the grade 3 requirements for Legioning in the first place.
How much does returning triggers to the deck actually help? Well, not that much. Unless you legion multiple times in a match, the actual impact will be small on your trigger checking likelihood. This is due partly from damage checked triggers being unrecoverable without healing/being Angel Feathers. The other part of it is that you just aren't likely to have 4 triggers in the drop zone to legion. Typically, you'll be tossing 2-3 triggers and 1-2 non-triggers back into the deck. You're only increasing your odds to hit a trigger by roughly 3-4% on average per drive check, and 5-7% on Twin-Drive!!. It'll make a difference over a large number of playtests, but it's not significant enough to make an impact on most games. It's handy, but by no means the end of the world in terms of brokenness or consistency. CEO Amaterasu's ability increases the odds of hitting a trigger on a twin-drive by 15%, for comparison. That's twice as much.
The final thing I want to discuss is the Legioning mechanic's requirement of a grade 3 Vanguard and why I feel that this is one of the best things that's happened for the game. I don't know if Bushiroad has noticed, but in this game going first is extremely advantageous. Most players will inherently pick up on it, others need to be told outright.
Here's a list of advantages to going first:
No passing a 7k Vanguard + 5k starter boost with a 10k shield if you land a ride chain/ride a vanilla.
12k beaters forcing 10k unboosted from your opponent. They also don't get negated by a single damage trigger while unboosted. And if they're boosted, even if your opponent is grade 2, it's still 15k shield. (I would like 12k beaters to be errata'd to require a grade 3, like they were originally, but it's too late for that).
You get the first damage, so you get to have only one check (first damage check) where a heal can't go live. The player going second can't heal on first drive check or first damage check. Add more to that list if they call a second rear guard or hit a critical trigger.
You get Twin-Drive!! first unless your opponent superior rides, which always cost more than simply riding to grade 3 to negate their own advantages. This plays into the next one.
First player has the first opportunity to break ride. The first opportunity to crossride. The first opportunity to ride to grade 4.
You always have one more card than your opponent, save the end of their turn. But, you immediately draw after their turn ends, and they can't utilize any of the cards in their hand as a resource, barring some extremely outlying examples. So there isn't an instance where them overtaking you in card advantage actually has an impact until you catch right back up and have the lead until it no longer matters again. Let's compare:
Starting out, 5-5
Go first, 6-5.
Opponent's turn, 6-6, attack, 6-7.
Your second turn, 7-7
Attack, 8-7
Their second turn, 8-8
Attack, 8-9
Your third turn, 9-9
Attack, 11-9
Their fourth turn, 11-10 (they now have the permanent card deficit)
Their attack, 11-12 (they gain it back in twin-drive, but don't get to use it at all before...)
Your fifth turn, 12-12 (you have as many cards as them before attacking that you have full, main phase access to)
Attack, 14-12 (Now you're way ahead)
Their turn, 14-13 (They're sitting a card behind that they can actually play)
They attack, 14-15 (They pass you just long enough for you to overtake them again where the situation of them having the card lead still doesn't matter because you draw before they can use any of their new cards)
As you can see, going first allows you to field more units. You simply have more cards to play during your main phase. It gives you ease of early guarding. Total advantage over early healing. You get your Twin-Drive!! a turn sooner, giving you an extra potential trigger over the opponent. Your rear guards are harder for them to guard. You can fend off their rear guards more easily with your higher base-power units in comparison to their lower base power units on defense. You gain the "one-card" advantage in late game, post turn 4. You have the raw unit power, healing, and drive checking advantages early.
The advantages to going first are simply overwhelming in comparison to the advantages of going second, which is a 2% less chance to be gradelocked, and access to cards that require an opponent to have grade 2+ units a turn earlier (Pellinore). Yay?
Legion forces the individual who goes first to wait a full turn before Legioning. This means player 2 has dibs on Legioning first. While I don't think this is the do-all, end-all for rebalancing this game's poorly balanced turn system, it is definitely a start. One that I look forward to.
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