Deck Dissection (after so long...) : Attack of the Ginseng

Hey hey hey!!! Haven't been seeing you guys for so long, I wonder how many of you has gave up on my blog (LOL!) since I haven't been posting for almost half a year... Work and my life has indeed took the most out of my time, and for a period of time I was really demotivated to play Vanguard, thus my long hiatus in posting.  But after so long, I joined a shop-level tournament back at my LGS, and actually got 2nd place (despite haven't been playing for so long), hence it burns my passion to write back up XD !

So without further delay, let's start the deck dissection for the deck that I used today, which I called it 'Attack of the Ginseng'!

Grade 0
Devil in Shadow x1 (FV)
Dark Knight of Nightmare Land x4 (Critical)
House of Amon, Cruel Hand x2 (Critical)
House of Amon, Psychic Waitress x2 (Draw)
Hysteric Shirley x4 (Draw)
House of Amon, Hell's Trick x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Jet Black Poet, Amon x4
House of Amon, Vlad Specula x4
House of Amon, Hell's Deal x4
Yellow Bolt x2

Grade 2
House of Amon, Hell's Draw x4
House of Amon, Lon Shinrin x4
Gwyn the Ripper x3

Grade 3
Demon World Marquis, Amon x4
Demon Marquis, Amon 'Reverse' x4

Yes, what I meant by the 'Attack of the Ginseng' is actually an Amon-based Dark Irregulars deck. This is my 2nd attempt in using a DI deck in tournaments (IIRC, the last time I used it was when BT-03 for Japanese just came out, and never used any DI deck again in tourneys). When I first saw the spoiler for Amon R, the first thought that came to my mind is 'Sweet! Extra Critical!' (sorry, I'm a big fan of built-in Critical increases XD), and without a second thought, I straight away hunted for the materials and started building it.

Up to this point, my deck isn't actually complete, since the older Amons are quite some relic now (they're damn hard to find, no joke). Hence, I borrowed some cards from my friend that owns a DI deck, and built this deck from there. This tourney proved as a very good testbed for the deck. Now, here's a rough explanation on how this deck works and the logic behind my card choices.

Grade 0
The G0 I'm using as the starter is the now-famous G3 searcher. The reason why I used Devil in Shadow is because he can help to search out any G3 in case you're stuck at G2, or to search out Amon R for the 13k defence. Also, DiS can fuel up your Soul, as well as serving as a Lock target for Amon R.

The triggers for me is set at 6-6-4, because Amon R has a built-in Crit increase skill, hence I focus more of gaining hand advantage. The above 2 triggers are in because they help a lot in terms of feeding Amon, whereby  Dark Knight can increase power to create magic number lines, and Shirley is basically a SC2.

Grade 1

Hell's Deal is actually one of the key cards for the deck. This is because she can SC2 upon entering play when you have a Vanguard with the 'Amon' name (which almost 90% of my non-trigger units has it), which helps a lot for Soul fueling, and being a 7000 power booster, she's definitely a 4-off considering her utility and decent stats.

Here we revisit an old staple in DI decks, none other than Amon in basic form. Sporting 6000 power, he doesn't seem to look good at the first glance. However, his true potential shines when you have 6 Soul on your turn. Poet Amon turns into a decent 9000-power attacker or booster, and to hit 6 Soul is not a problem for the Soul-hungry DI decks. 4-off as well for me because Poet Amon can also create 21k magic lines, which I'll explain later.

4 pieces of Vlad Specula is staple. You can also use March Rabbit, just that I prefer Vlad as he looks cooler and easier to find since he's newly released. Oh, and having the 'Amon' name gives him extra benefit when you wanna play out Hell's Deal to start Soulcharging. the 2x Yellow Bolt is just a tech card. Being able to SC on turn 1 is quite good, and he is also a good Lock target for Amon R.

Grade 2

Hell's Draw, the G2 equivalent of Hell's Deal. I don't think this need more explanation, lol.

Another old staple, Gwyn the Ripper. Basically he is my countermeasure against pesky backrow boosters and annoying frontrow units like Silent Tom, Especial Interceptors, 12k attackers and more. This deck doesn't use a lot of CB, that's why having him as a 3-off sounds quite okay when you need to push in the damage by getting rid of their Interceptors.

Bearing the name of 'Amon', Lon Shirin is the equivalent of the 12k attackers when your Vanguard has a certain name on the card. The mainstay attacker in our deck, he can create the magic number of 21k in RG due to the combo with Poet Amon providing a 9000-power boost. If paired with other boosters, he can take down almost any non 10k-power rear guards by either forcing a 15k shield to guard or totally getting rid of that unit. While he loses his skill in the Vanguard circle, he is able to activate the skills of the Hell Sisters. No need to say more, automatic 4-off in the deck.

Grade 3

Enter the main star of the deck, Amon himself. Those that played DI during the release of BT-03 already know what kind of havoc he can wreck. His attack gradually becomes deadlier as more Soul is fueled for him. And he also has a very handy CB1 skill to retire your opponent's units, by sending one of your guys into the Soul. This might cause a -1 on your field, but it sets up for the next stage, and your opponent gets a -1 as well, so I think it's actually a fair trade. Just one thing to remind you all, he is only a 10000-power unit, so careful when he is attacked by 20k magic number lines.

But, when Amon takes his 'Ginseng' form, it's a totally different story already. Amon R is the crossride of Amon, which comes together with a scary skill topping up his +2000 crossride bonus. For a measly cost of Locking one of your RG, Amon R gains the power boosting skill from his Demon form, and an extra Critical if you have 6 or more Soul when you use the skill.

The key to use the skill is your Soulcharging. Although DI is famous for being Soul hungry, this build actually wants you to limit your Soulcharging. Depending on what unit your're facing (11k, 10k, or 13k), you should just SC until you hit the number to force a 15k shield for a one-to-pass. This can ensure that you won't deck out fast, while also preventing you to further SC in precious trigger units. Trust me, when you continuing to ram your opponent's VG with a 21k/23k monstrosity without a booster, things are damn bad for the receiving end (it happened to almost all my opponent's today).

Alright, to wrap up things you just need to 'Charge smart, and Play smart' for this deck. This deck is very easy to pilot, and highly-recommended for beginners because budget-wise, the deck is not that expensive, you just need to be patient to hunt for the older cards. 

that's all for me today, hopefully I'll have the motivation going on to post newer stuffs. I know I'm very lagged behind in terms of information, but I'll try to come up with content whenever I'm free. Alright, this is Homura signing off for now. Bye! 

Deck Dissection: Bladewing Amon

Hey there guys. As promised, today I shall be posting a decklist for the new post BT-07 Dark Irregulars. Seriously, when I try to come up with a decklist, I'm really pushing my brain because I'm really spoiled with choices here. Thinking of partnering which unit with which is really hard. In the end, I decided to go with a Bladewing Reggie-based deck, with Hell Marquis, Amon as his partner unit.

The reason why I chose Bladewing Reggie is because of his unique skills. Playing Dark Lord of the Abyss is just like playing the Amon-based decks like the old times, so Reggie definitely gives me something new to look at. Plus, I like Criticals, hah! The only problem with Reggie is he needs 15 soul as soon as possible to make him good, so my choices of cards here will be very crucial. Anyway, here's an untested prototype for you guys to look at, and maybe you guys can try it out once it's released.

Grade 0
Greedy Hand x1 (FV)
Hysteric Shirley x4 (Draw)
Mad Hatter of the Nightmareland x2 (Draw)
Dark Knight of the Nightmareland x4 (Critical)
Blitz Ritter x2 (Critical)
Cursed Doctor x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Alluring Succubus x4
Jet Black Poet, Amon x4
March Rabbit of the Nightmareland x3
Demon Bike of the Demonic Hour x4

Grade 2
Emblem Master x3
Free Traveler x2
Werewolf Sieger x3
Dark Soul Conductor x3

Grade 3
Hell Marquis, Amon x3
Bladewing Reggie x4

From the first looks of the deck, it might look like some mashed up build of DI. Pardon me for that, but when I thought about this build, it's really hard for me to decide what cards to be included and how many copies of each. But well, I did mention that this is a prototype, so it's up to you whether you want to follow my build or your own. Once I can acquire the cards myself, I'll be testing and modifying the deck also. Now let's have a look at the choices:

Grade 0

Greedy Hand is our starter Vanguard here. People might ask why I don;t use Vermillion Gatekeeper instead because I can SC an extra card if I ride Alluring Succubus on top of it. Yes, it's true. But the reason why I wanted to use Greedy Hand is because of his free call skill, as well as his targeted SC. Though I might have 1 less Soul when using him, but mitigating the risk of accidentally SC-ing a trigger is worth that 1 Soul. Besides, the targeted SC is justified from the inclusion of Demon Bike of the Demonic Hour.

Dark Irregulars seriously need these more than Stands

And since this deck is designed to deal damage fast and hard, the introduction of the 2nd Critical Trigger for DI is utmostly welcomed. Furthermore, Dark Knight of the Nightmareland has the skill of Margal, which allows you to hit magic numbers for the final push. The final set-up will be 6 Critical,  6 Draw and 4 Heal to provide you with both improvements is offense and defense.

Grade 1

Alluring Succubus instead of her sister because we need the speed

I was thinking of using Succubus of Courtship because it can continuously SC if my attack hits the Vanguard, and can act as a pressuring unit to force your opponent to guard. But considering the requirements of Reggie, I opted to use Alluring Succubus instead because she allows you to SC immediately. Demon Bike is your Vanguard's personal booster. The more of it in your Soul, the better it gets. However, even if you only managed to SC two of them in your Soul, the remaining two can boost for a whopping 10k each!

Absurdly high power counts with a very affordable cost

To better deal with 13k Vanguard, I've opted to use a full set of Jet Black Poet, Amon. This is because Amon's requirement for his power boost is so easy, and having a 9k booster/attacker at all times is always welcomed. Together with Demon Bike of the Demonic Hour, this lineup ensures that you will not have 'power shortage'.

Grade 2
This is where you Soulcharging will mostly come from. Emblem Master serves the same function as Succubus of Courtship, whereby you force your opponent to make choices, whether he wants to let you have more Soul, or spend cards in his hand to guard. Either way is an advantage on your side. Free Traveler provides you with a CIP targeted Soulcharge to help set up Demon Bike faster, as well as getting rid of extra G3 which will not help if you trigger them during Drive Check.

More Soul! More!

Werewolf Sieger is in because he has 10k power, which is able to punch through the majority of cards out there. Although Aspiring Demon, Amon is also good for his 11k power on your turn, but when you're in the defensive, he's only 8k, and 8k is not a good number. Since its release in BT-05, Dark Soul Conductor has become a staple card in almost all DI variants. Being able to SC2 when used as a Guardian is definitely an advantage for a Soul-hungry clan like DI.

Grade 3

Here's the main star, Bladewing Reggie. Despite needing 15 or more Soul to trigger his +2 Critical, he himself can perform a targeted Soulcharge of 3 the moment he hits in. Together with all the other Soul acceleration cards in the deck, hitting 15 can be as fast as your turn 4 or 5. When boosted by Demon Bike, he can hit magic numbers ranging from 16-22k, depending on how many of the Bikes you have charged into Soul. One thing I need to mention though is his defense. One word - BAD. Being a 10k invites yourself to a lot of 20k raping during defense, so have to be careful when picking your Rear Guards' attack targets: sometimes you might have to whack your opponent's Rear Guards as well.

Hell Marquis, Amon is your inital G3 before preparations for Reggie is ready. Since he has built in power increment, meaning that you can pressurize your opponent while building up Soul for Reggie, as well, as providing some board control (plus Soul feeding) with his Counterblast skill. Again the same as Reggie, play smart because you're 10k, not 11k, 12k or 13k.

So here you go, a prototype of the Bladewing Reggie deck. Truthfully without testing, I wonder how far this deck can go. But the offensive capabilities of the deck is already there, from the looks of the cards in the deck. Try it out when you guys can and let me know how is it performing, whether they are anything needed to improve the deck, or even what should be take out. Here's a quote for DI players out there: "Hit hard on your turn, pray hard on your opponent's turn"

That's all guys!

Defining the Metagame: Dark Irregulars

Hello from Homura, and today it is a good day to feel evil, mwahahahahaha!!!!

Ahem, pardon me for that. Alright, as the title says it, I'll be discussing about the forever Soul-hungry clan of Vanguard, Dark Irregulars. DI hasn't been getting much love since its debut in BT-03, with only a few cards from BT-05 available for them (nobody even use those cards, maybe except the Draw Trigger or Devil Child).

In BT-07, DI gets a massive boost, with Limit Breaker now available for them, and certain units that brings their thirst for power to the next level. I would say with the additional cards from BT-07, DI can have more variety when it comes to deckbuilding, compared to the last time where only Hell Marquis, Amon and Stil Vampir are the main choices to build decks. Not forget to mention the forever hated 8 Stand Triggers build. So before I delve into more details, let's have a recap of Dark Irregulars in their entirety.

Dark Irregulars, when they first came out, is designed to have 'quantity of Soul' in mind, where they will unlock a lot of skills which require you to have a certain number of Soul. Also, because of that, the majority of their units are also geared for that purpose, which is to fill up your Soul. They also have 2 different Megablast units, which emphasizes more in the 'number of Soul matters' theme. After almost a year, they're finally back with an even bigger appetite for Souls. Let's have a look at what the new DI have installed for us (Warning: Long Post Ahead!!!)

The Dark Lord of Abyss

This is the first Limit Breaker of Dark Irregulars. Boasting a printed 11k power (the drawback is negligible if you're playing a pure clan), he is the successor of Hell Marquis Amon. The only difference about him and Amon is Amon consistently gets the +1k per Soul when you're at the offensive, whereas Dark Lord only get it as a LB skill. Comparing this with Amon, Dark Lord tends to gain the upper hand because he has 11k power when you're defending. No doubt that Amon can hit super high numbers like 30k++, but his awful stats makes him a easy target for 20k line rape.

Usually, when you're hitting for more that 20k, your opponent will usually say 'No Guard' or just null guard it. When boosted by Devil Child (6k unit that becomes a 10k booster when you have 6 or more soul), Dark Lord will achieve the same desired effect with his 21k attack. Whether you want to be more aggro with Amon, or have a bit of breathing space when defending with Dark Lord, it's really up to your preferences.

Bladewing Reggie

Now this is something interesting. Bladewing Reggie is a 10k G3 with a pair of very interesting skills. The first skill is when you have 15 or more Dark Irregulars in your Soul, Reggie gains +2 Critical permanently. This brings him to the rank of the highest damage unit in the game on its own (without any outside support), with a grand total of 3 Critical when you attack. This is another 'No Guard' or Null Guard attack to your opponent.

Reggie's second skill is when he CIP as the Vanguard, you can target one of your Dark Irregular unit, then search your deck for up to 3 of the same card and Soulcharge them. This skill presents 3 different situations to you, where each of them is some sort of advantage for your side. Firstly, you can thin your deck by removing up to three non-trigger cards, which is very good to increase your chances to hit a trigger. Secondly, it speeds up the clock for hitting 15 soul by three turns. And finally, this skill powers up a cycle of cards known as the 'Demonic Hour' units, which I'll be mentioning next. The only concern on using this skill is the potential danger to deckout even faster, so use with care. Reggie embodies the extreme of the offence of DI, so power-hungry players can give him a shot.

The 'Demonic Hour' Cycle

Actually 'Demonic Hour' is my own translation because the Kanji of the names written on the cards actually means 'the time where demons roam', hence I called them the 'Demonic Hour' cycle. This cycle consists of a G1, G2 and a G3 that shares the same skill:

CONT [V / R]: During your turn, for each (Card Name) in your Soul, this unit gets +2000 power.

If you see, they combo perfectly with Reggie, because Reggie can perform a targeted Soulcharge. You might not use the Devil Tank of the Demonic Hour (G3) or the Underworld Carriage of the Demonic Hour (G2) because they are just vanillas that can hit hard. Let's save some slots for better cards here shall we? But the case is different when it comes to the G1, Demon Bike of the Demonic Hour. It's a 6k unit, but when you have at least 2 of them in Soul, the bike instantly transforms into a 10k monstrosity. Things are even better when you have 3, where you can boost for 12k every turn. Just beware of Kagero (everybody hates Kagero).

Besides those stated above, BT-07 also gives us a few very good Soulchargers, which is better than the inital ones given to us. Some of the notable ones are stated below.

Free Traveler

For a mere cost of CB1, you can perform a targeted SC on a G2 or below DI unit when he comes into play. Best used with the 'Demonic Hour' cycle. Though his downside is his 8k power (not a good number).

Emblem Master

He is the upgraded version of Blue Dust. As a trade off for losing a Personal Booster (Nightmare Baby), Emblem Master can SC3 instead of SC1 when his attack hits the Vanguard, just by paying CB1. Generally a good unit that is compatible with all DI cards out there.

Yellow Bolt

This is the SC version of Dragon Monk Gojo and friends. By resting this unit, you can SC1. Though not good in the later stages of the game, where you're trading off a booster for an extra Soul, he's quite good when you're going first. Personally I would not play more than 2 of him in any deck (or maybe exclude him at all).

Succubus of Courtship

IMO, this is a better version of Alluring Succubus. Alluring Succubus' SC skill is when she CIP, which means if you miss it, you can't do it anymore. This new Succubus improves this ability by changing the SC timing into 'when a attack boosted by her hits the Vanguard', while retaining the same stats as Alluring Succubus. Definitely an auto include for me.

Greedy Hand

The new starter for DI. Greedy Hand has a Superior Call skill, which gives you a +1 upon riding to G1. And he also can perform a G2 or lower targeted SC by paying CB1 and sending him to Soul. I think from now onward he'll definitely replace Vermilion Gatekeeper because of his targeted SC. Even if you don't use the skill, he's still a free booster for you.

Trigger Units

I'm definitely excited when the new Triggers for DI are revealed. In BT-07, DI gets a new cycle of Triggers (one of each type). Seeing that DI now has 12 Stand Triggers doesn't make me happy, but with DI having access to 8 Criticals and 8 Draws is definitely making me very happy! As we all know, DI have a big problem when it comes to hand card management, because you're throwing a lot of cards to maintain your offense, leaving you with nothing much to guard with. This is remedied by having more Draw Triggers available. 

Another thing is DI can make power lines so easily, they should have more Criticals because most of the time, your opponent won't guard a super high power attack. With another Critical Trigger available for them, DI finally can achieve a setup of 6 Criticals and 6 Draws, speeding up the clock to hit 6 damage and having more cards to defend.

Usually I'll post up a decklist during the end of this column, but I seriously don't want to make this post any longer. If time allows me to do so, you'll be able to see a decklist for DI tomorrow (still thinking whether I should post the Dark Lord build or the Reggie build).

Anyway, with the new cards coming in soon, DI can be a tourney-worthy deck if you build it properly. Why? Because from what I can see, Dark Zone decks are spoiled with choices, so choosing the correct card can be a little bit tricky. Compared with the other clans in BT-07, I would say DI is the closest behind Great Nature in the ranking chart of the booster's clans (Great Nature is just too versatile and their synergy is just that good). If compared to the other established clans out there? DI definitely stand a chance, except when facing 13k Vanguards where they might have a slight problem when defending (I wouldn't say attacking because DI's offense is just that good). 

So, it's time to start brainstorming! Until next time, I'm also off for my own brainstorming session, wheeee~~!!