Thursday, October 11, 2012

Deck Dissection: Raptor Series, Deploy!

Hey guys, Homura here with an apology before anything else for not updating my blog for so long... Work has been taking away most of my time, as well as preparations for the just ended Weiss Schwarz WGP 2012. But anyway, I'm finally back with more stuff installed for you guys.

Recently, Tachikaze caught my eye again when BT-08 introduces more support for them. I'm always a fan of power-based and straightforward decks. Sometimes the more simpler the deck is, the better you can pilot them. And once the booster was on sale, I quickly got myself playsets of all the new Tachikaze cards for a very good deal.

The new cards really offers a very unique playstyle, albeit staying within the core of Tachikaze: Retiring your own units to generate bigger advantage. One of the more interesting ones was of course Tachikaze's first ever chain ride, the Raptor Series. Below is the deck that I'm currently playing, and having a lot of fun with.

Grade 0
Military Dragon, Raptor Soldier x1 (FV)
Dragon Bird, Fire Pteryx x2 (Critical)
Black Cannon Tiger x4 (Critical)
Ironclad Dragon, Steelsaurus x4 (Heal)
Cannon Fire Dragon, Sledge Ankylo x4 (Draw)
Herbivore Dragon, Brutesaurus x2 (Draw)

Grade 1
Military Dragon, Raptor Sergeant x4
Sonic Noa x4
Archbird x3
Winged Dragon, Beam Ptera x4

Grade 2
Military Dragon, Raptor Captain x4
Ravenous Dragon, Megarex x3
Winged Dragon, Slashptera x4

Grade 3
Military Dragon, Raptor Colonel x4
Savage Warchief x3

This deck features Tachikaze's first ever 11k Vanguard, and also further defines the clan's 'Survival of the Fittest' philosophy. From the looks of it, the decks looks like a very simple beatdown deck. However, the potential of the deck lies in the beatdown capability itself. This clan boasts the highest power output out of any other clan out there without any complicated set-ups (Dark Lord of Abyss for example). Let's see how this deck came into life.

Grade 0

Raptor Soldier is the starter for this deck. Like the newer 4k starters, Raptor Soldier allows you to search your top 7 cards of your deck for Raptor Captain or Raptor Colonel when Raptor Sergeant was ridden on top of it. Otherwise, you'll get a free unit through its Superior Call skill.

As for the triggers, I chose to go with 6-6-4 as you'll definitely need the draws to bolster your hand size due to you needing to 'eat' your own units to unlock your Vanguard's skill. Among the triggers, Black Cannon Tiger serves as a recyclable Critical, whereas Sledge Ankylo is a Margal clone which allows you to push for the magic number required.

Grade 1

The next chain of the series is Raptor Sergeant. Sergeant is a 7k unit, which will become an 8k when you have Soldier in your Soul while he's the Vanguard. Also, by being part of the chain ride, Sergeant also has a skill which will be triggered when Captain is ridden on top of it.


The next main star here is Winged Dragon, Beamptera. Beamptera is also a 7k unit that has a very interesting ability. When this unit is retired during the Battle Phase (yes, during the BATTLE PHASE), you get to choose a Tachikaze unit and give it a +3000 power boost for the turn. This card can form a very devastating, and usually game ending combo which I'll be describing later.

As for the rest, 4x Sonic Noa is standard, and 3 Archbirds in the deck is because I'm still yet to find my 4th one, lol.

Grade 2

Raptor Captain is the second stage of the chain. Similar to Sergeant, Captain gains an innate +1000 when Sergeant is in the Soul and while Captain is in the Vanguard circle. Another skill of Captain is where the chain ride's advantage lies. When Captain in ridden over Sergeant, and you have Soldier in your Soul, you may search your deck for a Raptor Sergeant and Superior Call it into a RG circle. By continuing the chain, you get to net a free unit, a very big advantage as it provides you with a decent 7k booster, and free fodder for your skills.


Winged Dragon, Slashptera is the G2 counterpart of Beamptera. Usually, these two are called in pairs to fully utilize the advantage of this deck. Together, they also form a 16k attack line, which is able to force a 10k shield to any Vanguard in the game barring 13k units. As like Beamptera, you'll need to run 4 in this deck. Ravenous Dragon, Megarex is pretty self-explanatory here.

Grade 3

Finally, the pinnacle of the ride chain, Raptor Colonel. Again similar to the previous Grades, Colonel can become a 11k Vanguard as long as Raptor Captain is in your Soul. Also, when Colonel is ridden over Captain, you can Superior Call another Captain from your deck, netting you yet again another free unit, as long as the chain is not broken.

Colonel also has a very devastating, game-ending Limit Break. When attacking, you may pay the cost of CB 1 and retiring 2 of your Tachikaze units, and Colonel will get a power bonus equal to the retired units' base POW (Something like Blonde Ezel, but you have to kill 2 to gain the bonus). By activating this skill, Colonel can become a superpowered monstrosity, forcing at least 25k worth of shield unless your opponent has a null guard in hand.


The other G3 that I opted to use is Savage Warchief. Some might say that Ravenous Dragon, Gigarex is better is this deck thanks to the bonus it gets from units that are retired. However, without any retiring going on during your mid-game, Gigarex will just be a 10k vanilla. Compared to it, Savage Warchief is also quite a 'vanilla' unit while alone, but at least he can hit 20k when boosted by Sonic Noa, unlike Gigarex, which only can hit the same amount when there is at least 2 instances of retiring going on.

And now, the combo of the deck. Remember the skills of the two new Winged Dragons? Yes. When you decided to launch a strong attack, your field should always have both Beamptera and Slashptera in 1 line. Attack with them first, forcing some guard out or damage, then activate Colonel's LB targeting both the Winged Dragons. Colonel should be able to break the 35k mark when you do so, and most likely your opponent's hand will get slashed to almost nothing is left.

Then, both the Winged Dragons' skills activate, allowing you to add a total of 6000 power to one (or two) Tachikaze units. Add all the bonuses to the 3rd attacker, and you're able to hit for at least 23-26k (excluding any Drive Check bonuses) for your 3rd attack. By then, your opponent should've depleted their hand or have sustained critical damage. Rinse and repeat during your next turn if its necessary.

Here you go, the current Raptor Series Tachikaze deck I having fun with right now. This deck is awesomely cheap to build, and its power is something that you should not underestimate easily. It might not be a top tier deck now, but who knows? At least I know that I'm trying to make it tourney-worthy. Until then, have fun unleashing your prehistoric rage on those that oppose the might of the Dino Dragons!

10 comments:

  1. Hey Homura, just wondering, why don't you run the Brachio series?

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    Replies
    1. Because I don't like the fact that they replaces themselves with different units, which means I need to play multiple copies of them, which will in the end, limit the numbers of my other more useful cards.

      Also, they are lacking severely in power and you can't really pose a threat with them and these units also stray away from my purpose of the deck - hit as hard as you can.

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  2. I get what you mean, but I sort of want to incorporate Dark Rex into my build somehow..

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  3. ...I admit, I was kinda surprised by this build when it doesn't have Brachio-series or Sparksaurus in case you don't want to waste a booster (plus retiring a Ptera and give rear more power, but eh, this is also good. Although I'm more of a Dark Rex user.

    Between a Dark Rex build and a Raptor build, which would you prefer more?

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  4. hey homura,how about using blightops-shieldon and skyptera g1? for hand advantages defense?

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  5. or better and wasting hand card way is having the pteras and blast and sparksaurus then bind dark rex and power to sonic noa them retire ptera by your own without raptor's effect then give it all to at the back then blast saurus attack boosted by sparksaurus then raptor colonel attack using it's skill to the blast and sparksaurus then if doesn't hit use dark rex's superior ride then boosted by sonic noa then it's a final turn

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  6. oh I forgot the power should be to raptor from dark rex

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  7. those two should be used together

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  8. well I forgot when ptera's timing should be then pteras attack first

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  9. anyway I'm indonesian

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