Monday, August 27, 2012

Calm Before the Storm: Incoming Thunder!

Hey there guys. Homura is back for another installment of 'Calm Before the Storm', where I'll talk about the upcoming cards from the new expansions and give you guys an idea on how can we play around with these cards. Today I'll be talking about one of the clans that is quite anticipated by most players - Narukami.

A lot of players were very happy when they see Narukami was listed in the featured clans for BT-08. Because Narukami was absent from BT-07 despite being a clans used by a main character in the anime. This time, Narukami brings us a totally different style of play, as well as some utility cards previously available in other clans, and now finally owned by Narukami as well. As a Narukami player myself, I was quite excited when they started revealing the cards as well. However, after I saw the previews, my anticipation instantly dropped from bad to worse. I wouldn't say the new Narukami cards suck, but it really doesn't impact the clan too much, and truthfully speaking the initial cards given to them are way better than the new ones. Why do I say so? Let's have a look at the new previews:

Demon Sealing Divine Dragon, Dangari


The new Limit Breaker for Narukami, and the 2nd 11k unit for Narukami as well. From the first looks, we might feel happy that Narukami can finally field eight copies of 11k units, however, I think that Dangari is actually a liability in the deck. Let's have a look at Dangari's skills:

[ACT](V)(LB4): [CB1, select a card bound by this unit's skill to the bottom of your deck] Retire one of your opponent's RG. This skill can only be used once per turn.
[CONT](V/R): When your Bind Zone does not have cards bound by this unit's skill, this unit gets -2000 POW. 
[AUTO]When this unit comes into play in (V), bind the top 2 cards of your deck. 

Yes, Narukami gets another unit that is able to retire an opposing unit. But look carefully, this unit has a lot of drawbacks. Firstly, you have two bullets (cards bound by this unit's skill) to be used, but in truth, you can actually use one. Because after you used both the bullets, Dangari instantly turns into a 9k weakling thanks to its CONT skill. And remember Dangari's LB is an ACT skill, so you have to endure a torrent of attacks by your opponent before you can do anything.

Also, tying into its CONT skill, Dangari can't be played as a RG because you won't have cards bound by it when it is played as an RG, hence the power penalty kicks in. Oh, you might think that you can just reride a new Dangari on top of the previous one, then you can get another two bullets to be used. But, you're going to make the unused bullets useless sitting in the Bind Zone. What happens if the bound cards are Triggers? You should know the answer.

Thirdly, Dangari can only retire front row units, and only once per turn. Yes you might be able to retire a crucial Interceptor that might block your attack, but isn't Dragonic Kaiser Vermilion does a better job than Dangari? And Vermilion doesn't get power penalties unless you mix clans.

In short, my personal opinion is Dangari is only a tech card in Narukami decks. I would prefer Vermilion or even Rumblegun Dragon as my main Vanguard compared to him, as the latter two can consistently pressurize your opponent without much drawbacks.

Sealed Knight of the Thunderfang Demon Lance


The 3rd 10k Grade 2 for Narukami. Like Dangari, this unit also has some drawbacks tied to his bonuses. Let's see what are they:

[CONT](V/R): This unit has RESTRAINT.
[ACT](V/R): [CB1] If you have a <Narukami> Vanguard, this unit loses RESTRAINT for the turn.
[AUTO](V/R): When this unit attacks and if you have a <Narukami> Vanguard, this unit gets +2000 POW for that battle.

Good, a 12k attacker that can make us possible to form 20k lines even in G2. But is it really that good? This unit has RESTRAINT, and the cost to release his Restraint is to pay CB1. In a clan that already consuming heavy dosages of Counterblasts, do you think you'll have extra to pay for his restraint release cost? For me, I don't think so. You have Demonic Dragon Berserker, Garuda to reopen your flipped damage, but how often will your opponent to let Garuda's attack hit?

Sealed Knight of the Thunderflash Demon Blade


The second 8k Grade 1 for Narukami, and a very terrible one. And again, his skills:

[CONT](R): This unit gets -4000 POW.
 [AUTO](V/R): When this unit attacks and if you have a <Narukami> Vanguard, this unit gets +2000 POW for that battle.

Awful, totally awful. Having eight 8k boosters is good, but having one that has a permanent -4k power booster is bad. Unless he's in the V circle, don't even think about calling this card as a booster or even an attacker. The CONT skill totally cancels off the AUTO's advantage. He will never make the cut in my decks.

Sealing Priest, Koukou


The new starter available for Narukami, and again, another really subpar one. Skills please:

[AUTO]: When you ride a <Narukami> on top of this card, you may call this card to (R).
[ACT](R): [SB1]: Choose one of your <Narukami> unit's CONT skill. For that turn, it loses the skill.
Hmm... A unit that can rectify the problems of the aforementioned 3 cards. But do you really want a 3k unit on field? You can at most, make a 15k line out of it, and 15k doesn't really that threatening nowadays. Also, although Koukou's skill can cancel off the power penalties and restraints of the new units, but do you have that many Soul topay for the cost? Assuming you Ride until G3 with Koukou as your Starter, you'll only have 2 Soul to pay for the skill twice, and remember, Narukami don't have a good Soulcharge mechanic unless you're playing Riot General, Gyras.

The conclusion about these first four cards is they hardly can go to any deck other than a deck that can consistently abuse Koukou's SB skill, which the only one I can think of is Gyras. Other Narukami builds like Vermilion or Rumblegun won't have slots to accommodate these cards as those build were already CB heavy. Still I won't give up on them that easily, just that I need to squeeze my brain more to think of some funny combo to mash these fellas up XD

New cards aside, Narukami now also gets a pair of clones, which I think is something they really needed most: Limit Break acceleration. Guys, meet the brothers Dragon Monk, Kinkaku and Dragon Monk, Ginkaku.


When I say LB acceleration, you guys should know what am I trying to say here. Yes, these two units are the most anticipated 'Master of Pain' clones. Kinkaku is a 8k G2, while Ginkaku is a 6k G1 that shares the same skill: CB1, put the top card of our deck into the Damage Zone, and shuffle one card from your Damage Zone back into your deck at the end of your turn.

Finally, Vermilion builds can threaten your opponent faster and you now have a way to shuffle back Triggers in your Damage Zone back to your deck. While Ginkaku has doubts because of him being only a 6k booster, but Kinkaku is definitely going into my deck despite him being a 8k unit only.

The last preview of this article is another new G3 for Narukami - Celestial Maiden of Dark Arts, Carri. Carri is something like the Djinn series from the TD, but with a slightly different taste. Unlike the Djinns, Carri can attack Rear Guards, but in order for her to gain the power bonus, you must have more RG than your opponent when Carri attacks.


The power bonus that Carri receives is +3k when in VG, or +1k when is RG, so it means that she can make 23k and 19k lines maximum with boosts from Red River Dragoon and Photon Bomber Wyvern while in VG. Not a bad card I would say, just that you need to play with Stand Triggers to maximize her potential.

So here's my review of the new Narukami cards. Sorry to say that I'm not that fond of them for the moment (maybe I just haven't found a way to make them useful yet). At the meantime, I'll just stick to my Rumblegun and Vermilion build. My personal opinions aside, what do you guys think about these new units? Let me know your comments and do share out your thoughts if you think you have a way to make these cards really viable in the current environment. Until then, I shall excuse myself for now.
 


 
 
 

11 comments:

  1. ...I'm okay with most of them, except maybe magical sword.
    But I feel a little bothered, by the fact that the amount is lesser than what I originally thought (lesser than the GP in BT07 I mean...)

    Although I won't be too surprised if Danagri has crossride (lore says he's still sealed) and if there's a booster that concentrates more on Naru in the future.

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  2. I still want a Vermillion Crossride because that'd be bonkers and amazing.

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  3. Yeah.I totally I agree with you on all the cards mentioned.What were they even thinking? Seriouly, any Narukami player would've been excited to try out the new cards.Howver,after looking at the effects, you'd probably be thinking' OMG! you've gotta be kidding me!'. But still,as a Narukami player myself, i would still give them shot.
    Aside from that,I think Kai from the anime is gonna use the new grade 3 as a temporary thriumph card, just like his amber dragon series of units. Well so Narukami players would have to wait for the next set and hopefully all would be fine for Narukami. Thanks.

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  4. At first , I agree with you about Dangari . but when i tried to use it in Rumblegun deck , it became good but not deadly . about g3 line up , I use 4 rumblegun , 2 Dangari ( must not be run more than 2 ) , and 2/3 g3 . The favorite thing i love from dangari is the bind effect , it permanently reduce the count by 2... if you accidentally bind trigger , you can just return it and retire 1 your opponent front-row RG . The pressure from Rumblegun is too crazy when I announce how many g3 I use in this deck ( usually 9 ) . The opponent suddenly scared to put they boost and attacked without boost LOL . Usually at that time , I cross ride Dangari to reduce my deck count and retire their front row . Until this far this deck only lose 2 times . 4 Match against DOTE and 1 Lose , 3 more win . 2 Match against MLB , 2 win . 2 Match against PBO , still 2 win . 2 match against SDD , 1 lose . 3 Match against DKV , 3 win . All of them because they vanguard usually left standing alone on the field or with 1 RG . That my results of testing so far ( Proxying the Dangari of course ). I am not gonna object about your opinions but my opinion is this card is good but not deadly ...

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    1. Wow... seems like your deck works quite good for you. Mind sharing abit of the deck with me, as I also have a Rumblegun deck and still trying to make it better.

      Regarding Dangari, I would actually like to agree with you, being the fact that its good not deadly, just that Dangari is a 9k when it's in the RG circle bothers me alot, if not I'll be using 4x Dangari and 4x DKV for a full 11k lineup (seems greedy isn't it?)

      Well, according to the lore, Dangari's full potential was not unlocked yet, so let's keep our fingers crossed for a Crossride, and hopefully in the future Narukami cards will be slightly better

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    2. Spectral ( the guy from before )August 30, 2012 at 7:14 PM

      about my line up :

      g3 :
      4x Rumblegun
      2x Dangari
      2x Breakthrough
      1x g3 that cb 1 +3000 when attacking

      g2 :
      4x Vanilla
      4x Hex Cannon Wyvern
      2x Thunderfang

      g1 :
      4x Vanilla
      4x Null ( 3 is too few for me )
      4x Helen
      2x Random g1 ( I use the booster that return to hand when hit )

      g0 :
      8x crit
      4x Draw
      4x Heal
      1x Spark Kid Dragoon ( Starting to think this is the best starter for Narukami for now )

      If you somehow can perfect it , could you post the decklist ? :3
      Hoping there is a more boost for Narukami in BT-08 ...

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  5. How would you know which card is a trigger that was binded by dangari? Shouldn't those cards be binded face down?

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    1. If the binded card is your card , you can see it but if the binded card is opponent card you can't...

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    2. Well, the player who activates the skill would know. Its the opponent that does not know the cards. Nothing to stop you from checking what the bound cards are.

      I am also interested in regards to the deck buildup of dangari and rumble dragon. It'll be on the sidelines until the English cards comes out.

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  6. Heh, so i posted this on your Rumble Gun Post, but i'd find its better if i do it here anyways now that i've caught up with your Blog. But in BT08 some new cards are gonna come out which i think will make the Rumble Gun Dragon more secure, or at least i think so. Well, this is why im here to ask you about these new cards which in my theory may help. These cards are Dragon Monk, Kinkaku (Grade 2) and Dragon Monk, Ginkaku (Grade 1). Both of these cards have the same effect:

    Obviously Kinkaku and Genkaku are meant to speed up Limit Break in 3 damage. But, do you think its a good idea to use these cards as damage re-placers. For example, if youre at 2 or 3 damage on your grade 2 ride, and one of that damage is a grade 3. And the use Kinkaku or Genkaku to add a damage, and then take any damage back (in this case the grade 3) at the end phase to secure some ammo for Rumble Gun. On grade 3 ride, ride Rumble Gun and thanks to this action you will have about 6 to 5 grade 3 in deck. And then Ride Vermillion after you've destroyed back row rearguards?

    So im asking, what do you think on this theory of mine? Would you recommend using Kinkaku and Genkaku this way? Or do think adding the Dragon Monk brothers switches Rumble Gun to a plan B/2nd Ride option and Vermillion being first.

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    1. Using Kinkaku and Ginkaku as damage replacers is definitely a good idea, by doing that you can shuffle back used Counterblasts, Triggers in Damage Zone as well as Grade 3s back to the deck. It's definitely a profit.

      This theory has been proven in a few of my friends' decks that uses these kind of units. And I'm also very anticipated to try them out in Narukami.

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