Deck Dissection: The Witch Sisters

Hey there and this is Homura here with a post that can be referred by both Japanese and English Vanguard players out there. After almost a year has passed, Oracle Think Tank players finally can rejoice because from now on, they wouldn't need to be stuck playing the Tsukuyomi / Amaterasu build already.

BT-07 has decided to give OTT something new (albeit not in the form of Persona Blast or Limit Break) in the form of very nice looking girls from Scarlet Witch, Coco's family. These new cards are specifically designed to boost Coco based decks' playability, and of course to provide an alternative to players rather than spending so much to complete the Tsukuyomi / Amaterasu build (there's a lot of RRs and RRRs inside the deck, I'll let you do the math for the deck's cost yourself).

Without further ado, let's have a look at a rough list on how a Coco deck will look like post BT-07:

Grade 0
Little Witch, Lulu x1 (FV)
Battle Sister Ginger x4 (Critical)
Psychic Bird x4 (Critical)
Dream Eater x4 (Draw)
Lozenge Magus x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Oracle Guardian Gemini x3
Watcher of the Truth x4
Battle Sister Chocolat x3
Luck Bird x2
Dark Cat x2

Grade 2
Oracle Guardian Wiseman x4
Battle Sister Mocha x3
Security Guardian x2
Maiden of Libra x2

Grade 3
Scarlet Witch, Coco x4
Sky Witch, Nana x3
Omniscience Madonna x1

From a glance of it, this deck performs like any normal OTT deck, with their decent drawing power, but added with a slightly better offensive power. All the Witches introduced to us in this set are not really necessary except for Lulu, as the rest are more like 'tech' cards. Here's a breakdown and analysis of the selection of cards.

Grade 0
We finally have a proper starter for this deck, which is Little Witch Lulu. Although we have to add in another card to fit in Lulu, but the advantage that Lulu generates is so good that she must be inside the deck. Take a look at Lulu's skills:

AUTO [Soul]: When a Grade 3 or Higher <Oracle Think Tank> is placed on the Vanguard circle, you may call this card to a Rear Guard circle.

AUTO: [Choose two <Oracle Think Tank> in your Soul and send them to the Drop Zone] When this unit is placed on a Rear Guard circle from the Soul, if you have a <Oracle Think Tank> Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card.

Lulu can't be Superior Called when you ride a G1. But she can be called out when you ride a G3. Both skills will combo very well together when you ride Coco, and will also allow you to draw another card without paying any extra cost. Here's how it works:

- Let's assume you didn't remove any Soul up to this point. So by the time you ride Coco, you'll have 3 Soul (Lulu, G1 and G2).

- Normally Coco's skill can't be used now, but since you're the active player, you can choose to reorder the resolutions of each skills. When Coco is rode, both her skill and Lulu's first skill triggers. You choose to resolve Lulu's skill first, putting Coco's skill into standby. Lulu is Superior Called out to a RG circle.

- Then, Lulu's second skill triggers, putting the skill into standby again. You choose to resolve Lulu's skill first, again. Send 2 Soul to the Drop Zone, and draw 1. Now, only Coco's skill is left at standby.

- At this point, the check timing for Coco's skill comes, since you now have 1 Soul or less, you can CB2 to draw 2 cards! In the end, you've netted yourself 3 cards and a free unit, and Coco now is always 13k when it's your turn since you have no Soul!

As for the triggers, since Coco, plus some other cards in the deck can provide you with drawing abilities, we now focus more on the beatdown element, by using 8 Criticals, 4 Draws and 4 Heals.

Grade 1
The majority of the units in the G1 lineup are used to support Coco by ensuring you'll always have 0 Soul. The key cards here are Watcher of the Truths and Luck Bird.

Watcher can SB1 to give himself a 3k boost, making him a 9k attacker which can punch through most Rear Guards, while reducing your Soul. As for Luck Bird, you can SB2 upon CIP to draw 1, that's a double advantage where you can net a free card and reduce your Soul. The downside is that Luck Bird is only a 5k unit, so it doesn't help a lot when boosting.

Good, but too situational. Need to find space for her...

I choose to use Dark Cat over Emerald Witch Lala because Lala can only use her skill when you have no Soul, means if you call her out when your Soul is not empty, she's just a vanilla. Even though Dark Cat gives your opponent a card as well, but to be able to net a card instantly is still better than cycling a card conditionally. As usual, Battle Sister Chocolat is at 3.

Grade 2
We have Wiseman here at 4 to provide a bit more punch during Grade 2, as well as better defense. Battle Sister Mocha is chosen over Battle Sister Glaze because Mocha's condition to gain the additional +3k is easier (getting 4 cards in hand is easier than having 0 Soul). Security Guardian is included to boost up our defense level because the highest power of our units are only 10k, hence we need more defense support to cover up for the lack of natural defense (for example, 11k and 13k Vanguards).

Personally I prefer Mocha, but it's really up to you

Overall, OTT Rear Guards are slightly lacking in power, and we couldn't use Battle Maiden, Tagitsuhime because she requires Soul to power up and this deck doesn't want Soul. The same goes to Oracle Guardian Red-Eye. Silent Tom might be a viable choice because of his skill, but having to many 8ks will result to insufficient defense to protect the Rear Guards, but if you insist to try out Silent Tom, you can actually replace Security Guardian to make space. In the end, I chose to use Maiden of Libra. Libra is 9k, meaning that she can defend better when being attacked, and she can help you to gain hand advantage, while at the same time acting as a lightning rod to force your opponent to make choices.

Grade 3

Enter the main card of the deck, Scarlet Witch Coco. I guess I don't need to further elaborate what can Coco do. She's at maximum copies because you WANT to ride here (that's what the deck is made for, right?). Try to manage you Soul properly, and make every single copy of Coco count when you ride her over and over again.

As a secondary beater, Coco's sister, Sky Witch, Nana enters the picture.When you can't find Coco but you have 0 Soul, Nana is as equally good as her, just that you don't get to draw any cards. When you have 0 Soul, Nana gets +3k when she's the Vanguard, and +1k if she's a Rear Guard. This can provide chances to break magic numbers when partnered with the appropriate boosters.

Purely a 'tech' choice, use it or not is up to you

The lone Omniscience Madonna is actually a 'tech' card, allowing you to Twin Drive as well as card cycling upon the hit of her attack. This can slightly help you to fish out the important cards needed during that moment (such as Coco or null guards). Feel free to replace her with cards that you deem fit better in the deck.

All and all, Coco decks are really simple and strong decks to play, because it adds in the element of offense in OTT which usually focuses more on hand advantage and control. Just try it out for once at least, and get the feel of the 'fiercer' part of the girls. Let me know how the deck performs for you. As for English players, you can also build the deck, just that you don't have Lulu, Nana and Lala, which you can just easily replaced by other cards like Silent Tom and Oracle Guardian Apollon.

That's all for now, until next time, where I'll discuss about the recent banning of Barcgal as the starter Vanguard, and how would it impact the English environment.