Hey guys, Homura is back with yet another deck dissection for you all as per request from one of my readers, this time featuring the new Extra Booster for Oracle Think Tanks: Celestial Valkyries. EB-05 is a joint release with EB-04 Infinite Phantom Legion, which is the Nova Grappler Extra Pack, and this extra booster features a lot of reprints of staples fro m the older sets, as well as the 'Battle Sister' archetype featuring OTT's first ever LB unit.
When Vanguard is still in its early days, Battle Sisters are occasionally featured in every booster, which at least one new card in the majority of the sets. At that point of time, Battle Sisters only played a supportive role, and there's no main unit for this archetype. Hence, this set is welcomed by a lot of players, especially existing OTT players that are yearning for a LB unit for the clan. Without further ado, I'll post up my take on the Battle Sister deck and how it is played.
Grade 0
Battle Sister, Eclair x1 (FV)
Battle Sister, Ginger x4 (Critical)
Psychic Bird x3 (Critical)
Battle Sister, Tiramisu x4 (Draw)
Dream Eater x1 (Draw)
Battle Sister, Chai x4 (Heal)
Grade 1
Oracle Guardian, Gemini x4
Battle Sister, Chocolat x4
Battle Sister, Cocoa x3
Dark Cat x4
Grade 2
Battle Sister, Tart x4
Battle Sister, Maccaron x4
Battle Sister, Mocha x3
Grade 3
Battle Sister, Fromage x4
Battle Sister, Souffle x3
A quite simple and straightforward deck I would say, just smash face with a bunch of cute and angry nuns. This archetype is the most aggressive build of OTT decks. Without much combat tricks, this deck just aims to hit hard, VERY HARD. Moving on to the choices of cards:
Grade 0
For the starter slot, I chose Eclair as the starter instead of the new Battle Sister, Waffle. The reason behind this choice is because I don't want to stuck grade and also I will want Fromage to be in my hand. Eclair allows you to fish the top five cards of your deck for a OTT Grade 3 by paying CB1. This gives you a chance to get the G3 you want and at the same time can also filter out 1 shieldless card out from your deck, assuming your fishing is successful. But if you prefer calling out a free unit, Waffle can be a good choice. So it's really up to the user's preference.
The trigger lineup is my favorite beatdown trigger lineup, which is 7-5-4. Almost everything here are Battle Sisters except for Psychic Bird and Dream Eater, because the bird is good on itself thanks to its self replacing skill. Since Battle Sisters like drawing cards as well, the more the merrier isn't it?
Grade 1
4x 8k vanilla and 4x Battle Sister, Chocolat is so standard that I don't even wanna talk about it, lol. Dark Cat's usage here is also quite self explanatory: a 7k booster with an CIP draw 1 card skill, why not? Now, we have a long time absentee from most Oracle decks, and now she's finally back in action. Enter Battle Sister, Cocoa.
During the early days of Vanguard, Cocoa was almost an auto include in all OTT decks thanks to her 'forecasting' ability. And the same reason is why she's finally making a comeback in this 'Battle Sister' deck. Battle Sisters is an aggressive deck, and Cocoa's skill to allow us to potentially pre-determine the trigger location is very valuable. This skill can also be used as a feint, whereby you can leave a blank card on top, causing your opponent to believe that the card most likely is a trigger, and proceed to overguard. Quite a neat skill in a 'neat' body huh?
Grade 2
The Grade 2 Battle Sisters will be the mainstay beaters of the deck. Each and every Battle Sister in the G2 lineup is either high in raw power, or possess a skill to power themselves up. Battle Sister, Tart is the new G2 10k vanilla for OTT, with an added advantage for being a Battle Sister (which means she synergizes with the overall deck strategy). Finally we can throw Wiseman away for a cuter girl, heh!
Following the lineup is Battle Sister, Mocha and Battle Sister, Maccarone. I don't need to explain much about Mocha, since she's already quite a mainstay card. A potential 11k beater with an easy condition to fulfill, and also a Battle Sister, why not?
Battle Sister, Maccarone is the Battle Sister customized beater. Basically she's a clone of units which needs a Vanguard with [Insert Name Here] in the name to gain a +3000 power up, in this case it'll be a Battle Sister Vanguard. a 12k beater by herself, you can easily form multiple 20k lines in this deck.
Grade 3
To fill up the G3 slot we have 2 different types of Battle Sisters. First up of course, is the main card of the deck: Battle Sister, Fromage. Fromage is the first ever Limit Breaker for OTT and for a LB debutante, I would say that she's quite decent, and fills in the role of beatdown very good.
Fromage is a 10k unit, but can become a 14k monstrosity when you have four or more Battle Sister RGs on your turn. Her condition was fairly easy to fulfill, considering that you have a total of 38 cards which has 'Battle Sister' in their names. Together with the same condition, you can unlock her Limit Break as well. Fromage's LB is an ACT skill, which allows you to CB3 and draw two cards. This allows you to add more hand cards, churn out more units to fight, and this skill also synergizes very well with Cocoa's forecasting skill.
Filling up the other G3 slot is Battle Sister, Souffle. Souffle is a 10k unit that gains a +2000 power when boosted by an OTT unit. Comboing with Gemini, you can have 20k lines easily. Even though you can't field Gemini because of Fromage, she can still hit for quite hard with any given booster. The most important thing? She's a Battle Sister too!
Alright, here's my analysis of the Battle Sister deck. Frankly, I liked this deck a lot because it's a beatdown deck (I'm a beatdown fan), and the deck can also gain you card advantage while maintaining its beatdown potential (unlike Tsukuyomi and CEO builds, whereby sometimes you have to forgo the overall offensiveness of the deck bacause of the drawing power). Too bad I'm slanting more towards Nova Grappler now, if not I'll definitely give this deck a try. So for you guys out there, do try it out and let me know how it feels to smash face with angry chicks!
Showing posts with label Oracle Think Tank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oracle Think Tank. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The Parallel Vision: Moon and Sun for VGE
Hey there, it's me again for another edition of 'The Parallel Vision'. In today's edition, I'll be talking about one of the format's defining deck, and the deck that most players of the English environment is anticipating for - Moon and Sun.
What is 'Moon and Sun'? This deck is actually an Oracle Think Tank deck that has become the most dominant deck for the Japanese format before the advent of Persona Blasters. And thanks to the release of BT-03 for the EN community, you guys can finally experience one of the most interesting and skill-based decks of all times. Guys, meet the star of the deck:
Before I put up a decklist, let me describe how this deck is played. Basically, this deck is your CEO Amaterasu deck of BT-01, but with a lot of upgrades. With the Tsukuyomi series accessible for us, not only OTT's drawing power is improved, but their overall offensive and defensive capabilities as well thanks to Full Moon's 11k power. Now, let's have a look at the list:
Grade 0
Godhawk, Ichibyoshi x1 (FV)
Psychic Bird x4 (Critical)
Oracle Guardian Nike x2 (Critical)
Miracle Kid x3 (Draw)
Dream Eater x3 (Draw)
Lozenge Magus x4 (Heal)
Grade 1
Goddess of the Crescent Moon, Tsukuyomi x4
Oracle Guardian Gemini x4
Battle Sister, Chocolat x4
Battle Sister, Vanilla x2
Grade 2
Goddess of the Half Moon, Tsukuyomi x4
Oracle Guardian Red-Eye x3
Silent Tom x2
Oracle Guardian Wiseman x3
Grade 3
Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi x4
CEO Amaterasu x3
You see, there's actually not much changes from the older builds, just that now, you've got better options. Your deck starts performing when you hit the 6th Soul, which will unlock several skills of your units. Now let's take a tour of how this deck works.
Grade 0
Without a doubt, Ichibyoshi is the starter for this deck. Ichibyoshi does not have the Superior Call skill like most other starters, but it allows you to check the top five cards of your deck, and if you found a Crescent Moon among the five, you can Superior Ride it, and skip your Normal Ride Phase. This skill not only allows you to gain a free Ride, but also can potentially remove up to five non-triggers from your deck, thus increasing the odds of your triggers to hit during checks.
Although Tsukuyomi increases the draw power of your deck, you still need sufficient draw to maintain your hand sizes, hence the 6 Critical, 6 Draw trigger lineup. Psychic Bird is a good card to help you bump your Soul to 6, plus it nets you a card.
Grade 1
At G1 we have Crescent Moon Tsukuyomi. She's a 7k unit, and shares the same skill as Ichibyoshi (to search for Half Moon of course). 4x of Gemini is standard, and 4x of null guard is viable for OTT because you'll most likely have extra cards to spare for the null's cost.
Battle Sister, Vanilla is an interesting choice. At normal times, she's a 6k unit. But when your Soul hits 6, she becomes a 10k Shield thanks to her skill. Very good for that time when you're 5k-10k shield short to guard.
Grade 2
Another successful ride will bring your Crescent Moon into her G2 form, Goddess of the Half Moon, Tsukuyomi. Half Moon is a 9k unit, which is a decent number (able to hit any VG with a boost, and sometimes soloing RGs). She also shares the same skill as her G1 form, where upon success, you can complete the chain by riding into Full Moon Tsukuyomi.
Her second skill is the key skill. Upon appearing in the VG circle, if your Soul has both Ichibyoshi and Crescent Moon, you may Soulcharge 2. By doing so, it instantly bumps your Soul count to 5, just one short from unlocking your units' skills. But bear in mind, if the chain ride fails at any point, the Soulcharge doesn't happen.
Another new unit that we'll add in the deck is Oracle Guardian Red-Eye. Red-Eye is a clone of Blue Dust from the Dark Irregulars clan. Upon a successful attack, you may SC1 if your VG is an OTT unit (duh!). It is also good to bump in the 6th Soul and its stats also makes it a good Rear Guard.
Silent Toms and Wisemans are there to fill up the aggro role with their power and skills. If you intend to play more defensively, you can include in Security Guardian (Special Interceptor) for the extra defense.
Grade 3
At the pinnacle of the Ride Chain is the Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi. Full Moon is the first OTT unit with a printed 11k power. However, the downside is, if you don't have Ichibyoshi, Crescent Moon, and Half Moon in your soul, she's only a 9k.
Barring her penalty aside, she has a very good skill to back her up. Upon having 6 Soul, you may activate her skill by paying CB2. If you paid the cost, you can draw 2 cards from your deck, and then Soulcharge one card from your hand. This is good filtering tactic for you to dish out useless cards like Draw Triggers or redundant G3s.
To play around with Full Moon's power deduction penalty, we have Amaterasu to back her up. As a VG, Amaterasu can SC every turn and allows you to check the top card of your deck. If you're lucky, you may be able to charge in the missing Tsukuyomi components, and reride into Full Moon for her maximum benefit. Otherwise, you can still dictate triggers with Amaterasu's skill. Her +4k power boost when you have 4 or more cards in your hand is also good enough to punch through any VG in the game with a boost.
So what do you think? In the JP format, this is OTTs best deck ever before new cards for Coco are introduced. As for the EN environment, I think this deck will definitely make an impact in the metagame. There's actually a trick to play this deck, but that trick is for me to know, and for you to find out ^_^
Have fun with this deck guys, and this is Homura signing off!
What is 'Moon and Sun'? This deck is actually an Oracle Think Tank deck that has become the most dominant deck for the Japanese format before the advent of Persona Blasters. And thanks to the release of BT-03 for the EN community, you guys can finally experience one of the most interesting and skill-based decks of all times. Guys, meet the star of the deck:
Before I put up a decklist, let me describe how this deck is played. Basically, this deck is your CEO Amaterasu deck of BT-01, but with a lot of upgrades. With the Tsukuyomi series accessible for us, not only OTT's drawing power is improved, but their overall offensive and defensive capabilities as well thanks to Full Moon's 11k power. Now, let's have a look at the list:
Grade 0
Godhawk, Ichibyoshi x1 (FV)
Psychic Bird x4 (Critical)
Oracle Guardian Nike x2 (Critical)
Miracle Kid x3 (Draw)
Dream Eater x3 (Draw)
Lozenge Magus x4 (Heal)
Grade 1
Goddess of the Crescent Moon, Tsukuyomi x4
Oracle Guardian Gemini x4
Battle Sister, Chocolat x4
Battle Sister, Vanilla x2
Grade 2
Goddess of the Half Moon, Tsukuyomi x4
Oracle Guardian Red-Eye x3
Silent Tom x2
Oracle Guardian Wiseman x3
Grade 3
Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi x4
CEO Amaterasu x3
You see, there's actually not much changes from the older builds, just that now, you've got better options. Your deck starts performing when you hit the 6th Soul, which will unlock several skills of your units. Now let's take a tour of how this deck works.
Grade 0
Without a doubt, Ichibyoshi is the starter for this deck. Ichibyoshi does not have the Superior Call skill like most other starters, but it allows you to check the top five cards of your deck, and if you found a Crescent Moon among the five, you can Superior Ride it, and skip your Normal Ride Phase. This skill not only allows you to gain a free Ride, but also can potentially remove up to five non-triggers from your deck, thus increasing the odds of your triggers to hit during checks.
Although Tsukuyomi increases the draw power of your deck, you still need sufficient draw to maintain your hand sizes, hence the 6 Critical, 6 Draw trigger lineup. Psychic Bird is a good card to help you bump your Soul to 6, plus it nets you a card.
Grade 1
At G1 we have Crescent Moon Tsukuyomi. She's a 7k unit, and shares the same skill as Ichibyoshi (to search for Half Moon of course). 4x of Gemini is standard, and 4x of null guard is viable for OTT because you'll most likely have extra cards to spare for the null's cost.
Battle Sister, Vanilla is an interesting choice. At normal times, she's a 6k unit. But when your Soul hits 6, she becomes a 10k Shield thanks to her skill. Very good for that time when you're 5k-10k shield short to guard.
Grade 2
Another successful ride will bring your Crescent Moon into her G2 form, Goddess of the Half Moon, Tsukuyomi. Half Moon is a 9k unit, which is a decent number (able to hit any VG with a boost, and sometimes soloing RGs). She also shares the same skill as her G1 form, where upon success, you can complete the chain by riding into Full Moon Tsukuyomi.
Her second skill is the key skill. Upon appearing in the VG circle, if your Soul has both Ichibyoshi and Crescent Moon, you may Soulcharge 2. By doing so, it instantly bumps your Soul count to 5, just one short from unlocking your units' skills. But bear in mind, if the chain ride fails at any point, the Soulcharge doesn't happen.
Another new unit that we'll add in the deck is Oracle Guardian Red-Eye. Red-Eye is a clone of Blue Dust from the Dark Irregulars clan. Upon a successful attack, you may SC1 if your VG is an OTT unit (duh!). It is also good to bump in the 6th Soul and its stats also makes it a good Rear Guard.
Silent Toms and Wisemans are there to fill up the aggro role with their power and skills. If you intend to play more defensively, you can include in Security Guardian (Special Interceptor) for the extra defense.
Grade 3
At the pinnacle of the Ride Chain is the Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi. Full Moon is the first OTT unit with a printed 11k power. However, the downside is, if you don't have Ichibyoshi, Crescent Moon, and Half Moon in your soul, she's only a 9k.
Barring her penalty aside, she has a very good skill to back her up. Upon having 6 Soul, you may activate her skill by paying CB2. If you paid the cost, you can draw 2 cards from your deck, and then Soulcharge one card from your hand. This is good filtering tactic for you to dish out useless cards like Draw Triggers or redundant G3s.
To play around with Full Moon's power deduction penalty, we have Amaterasu to back her up. As a VG, Amaterasu can SC every turn and allows you to check the top card of your deck. If you're lucky, you may be able to charge in the missing Tsukuyomi components, and reride into Full Moon for her maximum benefit. Otherwise, you can still dictate triggers with Amaterasu's skill. Her +4k power boost when you have 4 or more cards in your hand is also good enough to punch through any VG in the game with a boost.
So what do you think? In the JP format, this is OTTs best deck ever before new cards for Coco are introduced. As for the EN environment, I think this deck will definitely make an impact in the metagame. There's actually a trick to play this deck, but that trick is for me to know, and for you to find out ^_^
Have fun with this deck guys, and this is Homura signing off!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
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.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Defining the Metagame: Oracle Think Tank
First up, I should apologize for not catering more to readers that don't play the 'mainstream' clans (SP , RP, GP, Kagero). Because there's nothing new came up so far, hence the lack of posts. But since Oracle Think Tank has some boost during next set, I think it's about time for me to do a brief analysis on the clan that once used to be a dominating clan, and how will it fare in the new metagame.
Prior to BT-07, Oracles did receive much boost due to the emergence of Shadow Paladins, and Persona Blast units. Hence, they can only use whatever that is provided to them up to the current moment. In other words, the only (or mainly) Oracle deck that you can see in tourneys is the Tsukuyomi-Amaterasu build. And frankly speaking, that's the only stable build for Oracles that can at least provide some results in tournaments.
The only tournament-quality deck since BT-03...
Close to a year after, Oracles finally get some love again. People might think that they can finally upgrade their Tsukuyomi-Amaterasu decks to a better level, but the truth is despite being the best deck that Oracles can offer, they don't get much stuff that will improve the deck. Instead, BT-07's Oracle cards focuses more on an archetype that we've long forgotten since the release of Tsukuyomi. Behold our long forgotten heroine: Scarlet Witch Coco.
Yes. This time, Bushiroad decides to make the return of Oracles a special one. People do play Coco based decks during the old days, but since the Goddess of the Moon arrives, Coco was just being put aside to collect dust, and even being on the verge of being sold off. But now, It's time for you Oracle players to dig out your Coco, and start coming out with a new deck cos' she's back, better than before!
In BT-07, there'll be a few cards that specialize in supporting Coco builds. Those cards may seem normal in other decks, but when put into a Coco deck, their potential instantly shines. Why? Because they need the Vanguard to be 'Soulless' for their skills to work, and there's none other than Coco to do it!
Since we're at it, let's do some recap. Scarlet Witch Coco is a 10k G3 that has a CIP skill. If your soul is 1 or less, by paying a CB of 2, you get to draw 2 cards. And also, if you don't have any Soul, she get's a +3k boost when attacking. Older players should know how to utilize Coco to its full potential by pairing her with cards like Truth Watcher (SB1, +3k when attacking) and Luck Bird (CIP, SB2 and draw a card). With the boost of Oracle Guardian Gemini, she can force loads of shields even when attacking a 11k Vanguard.
With the addition of the new cards, Coco builds are becoming an even better deck that focuses on beatdown with a slight boost in hand advantage. The first card that I'm gonna show here is Sky Witch, Nana. Nana is a G3 with 10k base power and 2 very interesting skills that compliment nobody else except Coco.
As long as you have no Soul, Nana gets +1k when she's in a Rear Guard circle, or +3k if she's the Vanguard, only during your turn. No matter what is her position, the cost-free power up that she gains is very good, since you now will have more ways to remove Soul. Verdict? An absolute beatstick.
The second card that I'll be talking about is Little Witch, Lulu. Lulu is the new starter for Coco based decks. With a base power of 5k, she's quite a standard booster. but the interesting thing is, she can be Superior Called from the soul when a G3 Oracle unit appears at the Vanguard Circle. She also has another skill, whereby you can drop 2 Oracle units from your Soul, and draw one when she CIP as a Rear Guard.
If the rulings are correct, you ride Coco, activate Lulu's skill due to player priority, Superior Call Lulu, then activate her 2nd skill, drop 2 soul and draw 1. Then, Coco's check timing activates. Since you have less than 1 Soul, you can CB 2 and draw 2. Which means you drew 3 and get a free unit just by CB2! Instant profit!
These are the only new cards released so far, I wonder whether there's more or not. But regardless, Oracle beatdown decks are finally coming back (maybe I should play it with 12 Criticals just for the lols!). We'll see how will Coco decks perform again in the new meta with the given cards. I can't guarantee it'll surpass Tsukuyomi-Amaterasu builds for sure, but at least I think Coco can really become a competitor for being the mainstay deck of Oracle Think Tank in the near future. I can't provide you a decklist at the moment because I scare there might be more cards coming out for them. Once the set is released, or the full spoilers out, I'll try to come up with one in the Deck Dissection column.
That's all for today, and start brainstorming!
As long as you have no Soul, Nana gets +1k when she's in a Rear Guard circle, or +3k if she's the Vanguard, only during your turn. No matter what is her position, the cost-free power up that she gains is very good, since you now will have more ways to remove Soul. Verdict? An absolute beatstick.
The second card that I'll be talking about is Little Witch, Lulu. Lulu is the new starter for Coco based decks. With a base power of 5k, she's quite a standard booster. but the interesting thing is, she can be Superior Called from the soul when a G3 Oracle unit appears at the Vanguard Circle. She also has another skill, whereby you can drop 2 Oracle units from your Soul, and draw one when she CIP as a Rear Guard.
If the rulings are correct, you ride Coco, activate Lulu's skill due to player priority, Superior Call Lulu, then activate her 2nd skill, drop 2 soul and draw 1. Then, Coco's check timing activates. Since you have less than 1 Soul, you can CB 2 and draw 2. Which means you drew 3 and get a free unit just by CB2! Instant profit!
These are the only new cards released so far, I wonder whether there's more or not. But regardless, Oracle beatdown decks are finally coming back (maybe I should play it with 12 Criticals just for the lols!). We'll see how will Coco decks perform again in the new meta with the given cards. I can't guarantee it'll surpass Tsukuyomi-Amaterasu builds for sure, but at least I think Coco can really become a competitor for being the mainstay deck of Oracle Think Tank in the near future. I can't provide you a decklist at the moment because I scare there might be more cards coming out for them. Once the set is released, or the full spoilers out, I'll try to come up with one in the Deck Dissection column.
That's all for today, and start brainstorming!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Calm Before The Storm: Choose Your Avatar Pt.4
Hey guys, Homura here. It has been a few days of delay in posting, and apparently one of my friends already asking me to write something. As the release of BT-06 is approaching soon, 'Choose Your Avatar' won't appear that frequent, as I have to make space for new info and new columns to come in.
Nevertheless, I'll still write about this if all of you do request for something to be written-up. And now, this article will be talking about one of the decks that used to dominate the entire Japanese VG meta alongside Kagero and Royal Paladins before the appearance of Shadow Paladins took them out of the picture- Oracle Think Tanks.
Oracle Think Tanks
Oracle Think Tank, or OTT in short, made its debut in BT-01 as a fully supported clan, and has received support when each set is released, with the exception of BT-04, where the set has zero OTT cards inside. From what I can see in the Malaysian VG environment, OTT seems to be one of the more favored clan to start by players due to the vast amount of female characters in the clan (typical, right?), but whether or not they started OTT solely for this reason only or not, OTT is still a stable and decent clan to play with.
In game, OTT represents the aspect of 'Manipulation'. As you see from other card games, resource management (which in this case, hand cards) is quite important. OTT excels in this aspect as they have lots of cards tat allow them to draw, and not to mention their trademark, Draw Triggers.
Besides drawing cards, OTT also excels in deck manipulation. Their ace card CEO Amaterasu, allows the player to soulcharge 1, and check the top card of their deck. They may either choose to leave it on top, or put it below. This is a good ability as it allows the player to anticipate triggers accurately. Also, by soulcharging, it helps in pumping Amaterasu's Megablast, which allows them to draw 5 cards upon a successful attack. Battle Sister Cocoa, a 6k power Grade 1, has the same deck-checking ability as Amaterasu, making it one of the staple cards during that time.
Nevertheless, I'll still write about this if all of you do request for something to be written-up. And now, this article will be talking about one of the decks that used to dominate the entire Japanese VG meta alongside Kagero and Royal Paladins before the appearance of Shadow Paladins took them out of the picture- Oracle Think Tanks.
Oracle Think Tanks
Oracle Think Tank, or OTT in short, made its debut in BT-01 as a fully supported clan, and has received support when each set is released, with the exception of BT-04, where the set has zero OTT cards inside. From what I can see in the Malaysian VG environment, OTT seems to be one of the more favored clan to start by players due to the vast amount of female characters in the clan (typical, right?), but whether or not they started OTT solely for this reason only or not, OTT is still a stable and decent clan to play with.
In game, OTT represents the aspect of 'Manipulation'. As you see from other card games, resource management (which in this case, hand cards) is quite important. OTT excels in this aspect as they have lots of cards tat allow them to draw, and not to mention their trademark, Draw Triggers.
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When BT-02 is released, Scarlet Witch Coco is introduced as an alternate playstyle of OTT. A Coco-oriented deck requires the player to have zero Soul, which contradicts the purpose of Amaterasu. So in return to compensate the lack of the deck-checking ability, Coco gives the player more draws for having less Soul, as well as something OTT is really lacking-Power.
Then, BT-03 brings OTT to it's pinnacle by providing player with the Tsukuyomi series. Each form of the ride-chain, starting from Godhawk Ichibyoshi, allows the player to check the top 5 cards of their deck. If the corresponding higher Grade unit is among those 5, you can superior ride it, then send all the other cards to the bottom of the deck. This deck combines all the advantages of the previous 2 builds together, whereby the Grade 3 Tsukuyomi is a 11k beatstick, topped with the ability to draw 2 and SC 1 unneeded card from hand, to fuel up the Soul count for other units that uses Soul.
With the super compatibility of both Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu, OTT instantly becomes a force to be reckoned with, due to its consistent and stable performances in tourneys. Building an OTT deck does not require much problem, because just by choosing to use both Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu, the deck pool instantly shrinks, only remain the most suitable cards that will work with the deck, for instance:
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| White Hare of Inaba: SC one OTT when comes into play, nice card to feed the 6th soul, or to soul in the missing Tsukuyomi part. |
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| Battle Maiden Tagitsuhime: A 12k beater if you have 6 or more OTT in soul. Not a problem. |
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| Psychic Bird: A Critical Trigger that draws a card. Nice to fill in the 6th soul, and replaces itself. |
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| Oracle Guardian Red-Eye: Not really necessary, but good to serve as an attacker and a soulcharger. |
The conclusion for now is, although OTT is no longer a dominating deck, but it is still stable enough to pose as a threat for other decks. If the opponent is really careless while facing OTT, they will sure pay for it.Overall, here's my review of OTT:
Pros: Stable / Consistent
Cons: Quite expensive to build due to the female artworks / No longer a metagame deck / Subtle tricks are hard to learn
Rating: 3.5/5
There's a confirmed news that BT-07 will have OTT cards in it, so we'll have to wait until then to see how OTT will evolve once more. Will OTT be able to shift the tides of the current meta? We can only wait. Until next time, stay tuned for more articles! This is Homura, signing out.
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