Let's start:
Mechanic - Paralyze
Paralyze got buffed considerably from in the original. All units that "prevented restanding" in the original game now "paralyze", which was a term already used to describe the effect, due to the anime. Paralyze makes the unit unable to move circles (even through card effects like Wheel Assault) in addition to being unable to stand during the stand phase or through card effects/stand triggers and also forces the card to rest.Starters
Larva Mutant, GiraffaThe first thing we'll take note of is how few cards are actually different in Megacolony. Ignoring how Paralyze functions differently, only a few cards have any text changes. I'll cover those in a bit more depth. For this, it's the same thing you're used to seeing with Blaus, Ambers, and the Blaster chain, all of which have been out for a while. If you ride the grade 1 over it, you get to grab the grade 2. The difference is that Giraffa as a grade 2 VG is objectively better than any of the other grade 2 Vanguards. I'll cover that more when I get to him.
Rating 4/5
Machining Worker Ant
Machining Worker Ant surprised me. I figured it would have had some other change in effect and not just be a vanilla starter if you miss your Stag Beetle. Given how many grade 3s we can run, how Stag Beetle functions in ZERO, and the other weaknesses involved with this card, it's actually far worse in ZERO than it was in the original (and it was already pretty bad in the original). Hopefully more comboing mechanisms will be released later, but it's doubtful.
Rating 1.5/5
Megacolony Battler C
Battler C got buffed in that it's the same effect (Move to soul, Paralyze any RG on VG hit that it boosted) but now it doesn't cost a counterblast, which is honestly great. The big problem with early Megacolony (and one of the reasons why it splashed Mr. Invincible so often) was how counterblast intensive it was. This has gone a long way to fix those issues in conjunction with the buff on Master Beetle. All in all, a great card.
Rating 4/5
Grade 1s
Karma QueenDidn't get buffed. Was too expensive then. It's definitely too expensive now.
Rating 1.5/5
Machining Hornet
On call, becomes 10k for a turn if you have a Machining Soul. Due to how much worse Stag Beetle functions in this game, I'm not certain there's room for this.
Rating 2/5
Machining Mosquito
On call, soul charge 1. Amazing card outside of Machining due to Master Fraude's ability to soul blast 3 and to draw on hit (even rear guards!). I think Fraude is going to be in every deck and there is space to fit it (at max) in all builds other than Giraffa where it becomes the one-of tech.
Rating 4.5/5
Megacolony Battler B
When an attack hits a VG that it boosted, counterblast one to paralyze a RG. I don't think I need to explain that this card is a staple in any deck. It goes behind the Vanguard, typically, so its 6k base is rarely punished. There is a case that you run 3 of this and 2 of your tech since you're best off with just one behind the Vanguard, but if you want consistency (or fear retirement) there's no harm in having 4, in my opinion.
Rating 5/5
Paralyze Madonna
Rating PG/5
Pest Professor, Mad Fly
On hit that it boosts, discard and draw. A decent tech for your tech slot (for non-Giraffa builds), but I'd caution against it, since you're drawing, soul charging, and with this, filtering. You could potentially be at risk for deck out if running draws.
Rating 3/5
Phantom Black
Rating Vanilla/5
Pupa Mutant, Giraffa
The grade 1 for the ride chain. Can also be used to grab a grade 3 Giraffa from deck by discarding a grade 3. Secondary skill is lackluster, primary skill is great.
Rating 4/5
Stealth Millipede
[UPDATE] Since writing the original article, I have since learned that force-rest DOES occur from Paralyze. That increases Stealth Millipede's viability somewhat. However, in comparison to Battler B who hits comparable numbers with most of your Vanguard picks, I just don't see the point in choosing this as an option.
Rating 2.5/5
Toxic Soldier
Nullifies intercepts when it attacks? Forces out nulls and deals damage and lets you keep Paralyzed front row units in place with main phase stuns? Yes please.
Rating 5/5
Grade 2s
Bloody HerculesRating Vanilla/10
Elite Mutant, Giraffa
Giraffa has a powerful on-hit skill and has a nice 10k butt to wall with. Now that I've learned that Paralysis forces a rest, they either have to go first and use their starter, have an ACT starter, or you can paralyze said starter. Thus, in the MLB match-up, if you go first, you can stun Wingal Brave before they have an opportunity to use it irrespective of what they choose to do. All-in-all, an amazing card dampened by having a non-viable grade 3 attached to it.
5/5
Ironcutter Beetle
Imagine if the entire viability of your boss card required this card to be on the field. Well, that's the case. The goal of the Giraffa deck is to pop backrows, hope the opponent can't call boosters, hope the opponent doesn't have 12ks, and force the VG to swing into the 12k. If not, hopefully after popping the backrow a couple of time, the idea is to sit on an 11k butt with beefier RGs so they can't hit them. Since we're living in a meta of 12k attacking RGs and are going into an even more dense meta of 12k attacking RGs (oh, and front-row retirement) this card's viability is cut deeply. Still, definitely not a bad card in that your opponent needs specific outs to handle it to overcome your strategy. Too many decks have the outs, though.
Rating 3.5/5
Lady Bomb
Still too expensive.
1.5/5
Machining Armor Beetle
Because the Machining core build is weaker, you're left with using this in the Fraude build. But, you can transfer your -1 to Paralyze into a +1 with Fraude, effectively negating its cost for a free Paralyze. It's great for stunning grade 1/3 front row RGs as they appear and amazing in conjunction with Toxics on late turns if you stun front row interceptors and bypass them with Toxics to ping/finish. I would personally hold onto Armor Beetles for late game to do just this. Decks that call to open (RC) like Golds feel pretty bad about this card as well. This was a staple 4-of promo in the base game and I don't see too much different here.
Rating 4.5/5
Machining Mantis
With lackluster support, it's hard to justify Mantis in the current metagame. I also think there's not enough grade 2 space to make it work. It's not a bad card, but it doesn't have the pieces to work currently, in my opinion.
Rating 2/5
Tail Joe
[UPDATE] Now that I've learned that Paralyze forces a rest, Tail Joe is somewhat more viable. The only issue is that you want it to attack and clear the front row and Master Beetle needs to be attacking a Vanguard for your most reliable Paralyze to occur. Grade 2 space isn't super tight, so if you want the chance at 11k go for it. I'm not the biggest fan of something that can be cleared with 8k vanillas, however.
Rating 2.5/5
Toxic Trooper
Yes please on an interceptor that can hit crossrides with your forerunner.
Rating 5/5
Transmutated Thief, Steal Spider
With only Vesper as a mechanism to secure board (outside of Machining, which is hurting in other ways) this card has limited capacity to secure its card draw. Still, if you're opting to run Machining, this isn't a bad filler tech and makes for a solid grade 2 ride.
Rating 1.5/5
Water Gang
Great, like all Libra clones. Only, now we have waaaay more counterblasts to mess around with, making a use of Water Gang perfectly acceptable. Between Toxic Trooper, Giraffa, and Ironcutter, there isn't much space in that build, but this works great in a Master Beetle deck with Trooper.
Rating 4/5
Grade 3s
Bewitching Officer, Lady Butterfly
Not much to say. 12k vs. VG attacker.
Rating 2.5/5
Death Warden Ant Lion
Soul charges each turn. Great VG to partner with RG Fraudes for card advantage. Hits 12k unboosted and hits the magic number of 18k with a Battler B booster. The Megablast is actually very easy to pull off as well, and makes for a devastating turn where you don't attack with VG when using it and use double Toxic swings to try and end/force PGs, then they are crippled the following turn. Soul requirement can even be met on the turn you ride to grade 3 with little issue.
Rating 4/5
Evil Armor General, Giraffa
It's sad to see a card that seems really bad but actually isn't that bad still be really bad because it's set 2 strong in set, what, 9? If there weren't a slew of competing 12k interceptors and it could play like "Good Card Kagero", sniping back rows and walling with an 11k butt, it would have been a great card in a great deck. But it was simply printed waaaaay too late for this to be the case. It's not even close to viable in the current card pool. It's sad, really. All that potential, wasted.
Rating 1/5
Hell Spider
If this card was just 3k on-attack, it would be fine. But it's 3k if the whole enemy board is rested. Sadly, it's too easy to play around. Hitting crossrides with no boost would have changed the scope of this card's viability entirely. Now it's just meh.
Rating 1.5/5
Machining Stag Beetle
Due to no longer retaining Twin-Drive!!, you'd think getting extra cards would be more helpful, but sadly, they just aren't due to the restrictions on said cards. You have to effectively neg calling out your starter and using Armor Beetle to shove it back in makes the whole process a wash. Then, if you ride again (which you'll want to do to avoid being on a 10k vanilla vanguard) you go -1 and gained, effectively, nothing for your troubles. Fraude utilizes the soul in a far more efficient way and doesn't have the advantage come in at rest. It's just too old of a card in too restricted an archetype to really be useful. When the next wave hits, that may change, however.
Rating 1.5/5
Martial Arts Mutant, Master Beetle
[UPDATE] I used to hate Master Beetle for being CB3. It's now CB1. Wew lad is that a buff. On swing at VG, LB4, CB1, stun 2. Now that I've learned that Paralyze forces the cards to rest, Master Beetle is insanely undercosted and is, honestly, an even more crazy card than I thought.
Rating 5/5
Master Fraude
On-hit, SB3, draw 1. Amazing, amazing card. Also gains 3k when boosted, so it hits 19k with Battler Bs on VG circle (doubling up on the on-hit pressure). You can even use Battler C in the same row and hit a VG to stun and draw, even if you were one soul shy. All-in-all, a great card.
Rating 4.5/5
Violent Vesper
Gigantech Charger clone. Great to use as a heal. On call, call top card is generically useful. It had extra usage with Giraffa, but Giraffa is just too many sets behind to care.
Rating 4/5
Decklists
I'm opting not to make a Giraffa or Machining decklist as they're both less budget and inferior to the budget list.Beetle/Fraude
Starter - Battler C
4 PGs
4 Toxic Soldier
3 Battler B
2 Mosquito
4 Water Gang
4 Toxic Trooper
4 Machining Armor Beetle
1 Bloody Hercules
4 Master Beetle (HEAL)
4 Fraude (DRAW)
3 Vesper (DRAW)
2 Ant Lion (DRAW)
Ride preference: Beetle > Ant Lion > Fraude > Vesper
This deck is the best overall deck, so far as I can tell. You have Beetle as the preferred ride and heal trigger. Either you heal or you ride your boss (or you missed a 4-of all game in a deck that draws cards a lot which is super unlikely). Whenever you see Beetle, you should hopefully be pretty happy about it. The primary tactic is to clear the front row interceptors with on-hit pressure (Water Gang, Fraude) and swing with on-hit pressure from your Vanguard (Battler B) and, if useful, using Beetle's skill to double-stun. This deck plays a lot like OTT (with 8 Toms), only with combo play and disruption. I imagine that even if Megacolony ends up being bad (I'm not sure how it will perform, but it definitely wants to reach end game for its wincon), it will still be immensely fun to play.
Budget Colony
Starter - Battler C
4 PGs (If you don't have 4 PGs yet, then increase Battler B and Mosquito until you have 13 grade 1s)
4 Toxic Solider
3 Battler B
2 Mosquito
4 Toxic Trooper
4 Machining Armor Beetle
X Water Gang (However many you can squeeze in)
X Bloody Hercules (Whatever is left over)
4 Fraude (Draw)
4 Vesper (Heal)
4 Ant Lion (Draw)
1 Tech Choice (Butterfly Officer isn't a bad call, but it doesn't really matter)
This plays identically to the above list, only Ant Lion is the preferred ride and you want to keep Fraudes out as much as possible on RC. Place cards in the deck as best as you can until you reach the non-budget deck. Considering the non-budget deck is 4 RRRs, 8 RRs, it's honestly not super hard to get the main deck completed, given that you get 2 of the PGs for free.
