Friday, May 11, 2012

Defining the Metagame: Narukami

Hello there, this is Homura signing in again after a week's hiatus (had been quite busy lately, and a bit lazy to post, heh!). Since the release of BT-06, a lot of players started to branch out into the three new clans, namely Gold Paladins, Angel Feather and Narukami. Why? As usual, new stuff attracts people.

Among the three new clans, I myself started Gold Paladins as first, however I found out that besides having super big amounts of power during your turn, basically it's just a beatdown deck. Being a Kagero player for the past year makes me very uncomfortable when there's no way to retire my opponent's units. Hence, I traded away my GP stuff to get myself a Narukami deck.

In the end I still chose dragons... (bloody dragon fetish XD)

Frankly speaking, being a main clan in the new anime arc, I somehow expecting Narukami to be a very competitive deck at the beginning like it's predecessor, Kagero. However, it didn't turned out as I expected.

Alright, let's shorten the scope, and just compare it with Angel Feather and Gold Paladin. AF already have a few playstyles to tinker around with, and Gold Paladins is coming out with another ride chain in the next Extra Booster, whereas Narukami does not have much cards to tinker around with.

In short, after some playtesting and online research that I've done, there's only one way at the moment to play Narukami as stable as possible, which is using their ace card, Dragonic Kaiser Vermilion. With its 11k base power and quite a decent (decent, not broken) Limit Break skill, it packs both offensive and defensive capabilities that makes it one of the best Vanguards for Narukami. What about the other Grade 3s? Thunder Break Dragon, which also has an automatic +5k Limit Break skill, poses as one of the competitors for the VG slot. With the addition of its CIP retire skill, it really tempt us to use both of them in our deck. But, the problem is TBD is only a 10k, and it does nothing while as an RG (at least Vermilion is still a 11k beater).

As for rear guard choices, I personally suggest using Breakthrough Dragon or Djinn of the Lightning Flash. These two units has a passive power increase skill that does not require any cost to activate. With a 8k boost behind, these two can wreck serious havoc with 20k attacks. There's also the Vajra Thunder God Indra, but that's a totally different (more towards casual) deck we're talking about.

 Cost-free power increase, who doesn't like it. I prefer Breakthrough Dragon, just because it's a dragon lol!

Narukami also brings us two very useful units that gives a power increase for a very easily met requirement. Enter the Cursed Cannon Wyvern and the Photon Bomber Wyvern.


Cursed Cannon Wyvern is a 8k G2 Wing Dragon. While 8k doesn't look like a good number, it can turn itself to a fearsome 11k attacker on your turn when your opponent has three or more damage. For a super aggressive deck like this, how hard is it to deal three damage? Photon Bomber Wyvern also share the same requirement to boost it's quality. Once met, it turns itself from a 6k boost to an 'ugly' 10k booster for your Vanguard. 21k every turn with Vermilion? or 25k with Thunder Break? Sounds tasty...

All and all, the rest of the cards for Narukami are mostly clones of Kagero, and you'll be able to know what to pick for your deck as some of them are really staples. For your references, here my current Narukami decklist (this is geared to my own playstyle, so feel free to rip it apart!).

Grade 0
Lizard Soldier Saishin x1
Yellow Gem Carbuncle (Critical) x4
Djinn of the Poison Mind (Critical) x4
Demonic Dragon Nymph, Seioubou (Heal) x4
Old Dragon Mage (Draw) x4

Grade 1
Red River Dragoon x4
Wyvern Guard Garudo x3
Lightning of Hope, Helena x2
Photon Bomber Wyvern x3
Desert Gunner Raien x2

Grade 2
Thunderstorm Dragoon x4
Demonic Dragon Berserker, Carla x3
Dragonic Deathscythe x2
Cursed Cannon Wyvern x2

Grade 3
Dragonic Kaiser Vermilion x4
Breakthrough Dragon x2
Djinn of the Lightning Flash x2

Basically this deck only focuses in one thing, SMASH THE VANGUARD!!! With 3 lines of 20k attacks, your opponent will be spending more cards to guard, and if your opponent is foolish enough to overextend, just sweep them away with Vermilion's Limit Break. Test it out, and let me know how it performs, I'll really need inputs from all of you guys out there. How will it change the metagame? Definitely not for now while 13k Vanguards are still running around. But Narukami can still be a tier 1.5 deck at the moment. So let's wait what Bushiroad has installed for us in future sets.

Until next time, this is Homura signing out.





10 comments:

  1. Im going to be making a sole Thunder Break/Djinn deck

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  2. Hello there Ghost. Thunder Break/Djinn combo is actually quite good for Narukami as these cards can be obtained just by purchasing the Trial Deck.

    The only thing that I feel insecure about this combo is it's weak in terms of defense. Compared to Kaiser Vermilion that has 11k base power, both Thunder Break and Djinn only has 10k base power, making them easy targets for 20k lines (which almost every clan can do it now).

    Still do let me know how your deck is going for you ^^ Maybe I should try one too... ^^

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    Replies
    1. Hello Homura, I'm just looking for some advice. Is it okay that I'll change the djinn for TBD and Lightning of Hope, Helena for Rai-Rai? TBD and Rai-Rai is a pretty sweet combo. What do you think? If I am overlooking something very wrong but very obvious please don't be disgusted by my stupidity.

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  3. Why not run the Thunder Break Dragon and Dragon Dancer RaiRai combo, that results in 21k worth of damage, in your rear guard slots? That would seem like a wise move if you couldn't get to your djinn.

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    Replies
    1. Well, first of all, I don't think you can always get both cards onto your hand at the same time. Secondly, players will keep targeting TBD more often when RaiRai (behind TBD) is also on the stage. Lastly, do you have enough Soul to keep spamming TBD skills?

      Those are some issues you have to take in consideration, and I believe that's the reason why Homura chose Djinn over TBD - RaiRai combo instead.

      Delete
    2. Yes, Aki is correct. I chose Djinn instead of the Thunderbreak - RaiRai combo because of these few reasons:

      Firstly, look at the name of the combo. It won't work without the other, and I prefer units that can do things by themselves without relying on too much help.

      Secondly, you won't have that much Soul to use, and once you ran out of Soul and you haven't hit Limit Break, Thunderbreak will have this big sign written 'Please Rape Me With 20k' on top of its head. Also, RaiRai behind anything else other than Thunderbreak is just a 6k vanilla.

      Thirdly, each and every G3 I have here can get a power increase by itself under an easy condition. Djinn himself can solo anything except 13k Vanguards, hence why he's in the deck.

      Hope that answers your doubts why Thunderbreak and RaiRai is omitted from my deck.

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  4. "How will it change the metagame? Definitely not for now while 13k Vanguards are still running around. But Narukami can still be a tier 1.5 deck at the moment."
    Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "The Blood" says hi.

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  5. Hi....Have you thought about running dreadcharge dragon and plasmabite dragon?

    I play narukami, and im running those units in my deck and it just won me the local tournament yesterday

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi....Have you thought about running dreadcharge dragon and plasmabite dragon?

    I play narukami, and im running those units in my deck and it just won me the local tournament yesterday

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    Replies
    1. me too, using Narukami...
      but i'm still a newbie, so can you give me some advice? and please no DKV (My Budget won't Allow Me)...
      planning to change into Eradicator Archetype, is it alright for me to change it?

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