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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Fighter's Collection 2014 - Dragons of Fire and Lightning!

  Tuesday, April 15, 2014    

Dragon Empire has always harbored at least one or two tournament winning decks at any given time, evidently proving that dragons have had a big influence on Cardfight's metagame. In today's article, we're going to take a look at some of the new support for Narukami and Kagero!


Eradicators were recently shifted out as Narukami's main archetype in Season 4 in order to introduce Brawlers to the game. However, that's not to say they reigned for quite a while, shifting the metagame with cards like Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant and Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon.

[ACT](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (3)-card with "Eradicator" in its card name] Retire all of each fighter's rear-guards. [CONT](VC):During your turn, this unit gets [Power]+2000 for each fighter's open (RC). [CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)
The last Eradicator boss used by Naoki in the anime was Eradicator, Tempest Bolt Dragon, which emphasized the mass retiring that Narukami was capable of doing. Tempest Bolt Dragon was simply a field nuke, as his Limit Break allowed him to retire all rear-guards on the field, including your own. He also gained +2000 power for each open circle on the field, so he truly promoted a conservative playstyle.

One of the main problems with Tempest Bolt, aside from it costing a whopping three counterblasts to use, was that it really didn't synergize with any of the three Narukami Break Rides that existed at the time. Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon and Eradicator, Ignition Dragon came with redundant retiring while Eradicator, Electric Shaper Dragon worked better with units that didn't retire the whole field. This made deck building with Tempest Bolt awkward, to say the least. Dragonic Descendant was always a good addition to any Narukami deck, but in the Japanese game it was restricted to two copies.

[ACT](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (2) & Choose three cards with "Eradicator" in its card name from your hand, and discard them] Retire all of each fighter's rear-guards, and if you retired three or more units with this effect, this unit gets [Critical]+2 until end of turn. [AUTO](VC):During your main phase, when an opponent's rear-guard is put into the drop zone, this unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of turn.
Bushiroad's way of dealing with this was to simply print another unit that functioned like Tempest Bolt Dragon, so any grade 3 you drew would create that field nuking effect you were aiming for in the deck. Eradicator, Twin Thunder Dragon does all that you wanted it to, along with a bit more. Twin Thunder's Limit Break is really costly, as you have to discard three Eradicator units and counterblast two. As a result, all rear-guards on the field are retired, and if you retired at least three units, Twin Thunder gains an extra two criticals. Additionally, each time an opponent's rear-guard is retired, Twin Thunder gains +3000 power. Assuming you have an empty field and your opponent has a full field, you can invest three cards to blow up their whole field, which then gives Twin Thunder +15000 power and two extra criticals.

The factor that makes this card better than Tempest Bolt is that he only costs two counterblasts to use, meaning you can use his skill more than once per game. You still need to consider the discard cost though, but this shouldn't be a problem, as you conserve almost everything in your hand. However, Tempest Bolt is arguably stronger at times due to his passive skill. Tempest Bolt always gains +2000 for each empty circle, meaning if you're sitting on either of your bosses with nothing else, Tempest Bolt is a lot more useful. This would suggest that getting to Tempest Bolt first and using Twin Thunder as the finisher might be a good strategy.

The next issue to deal with is finding the ideal support units for the deck. Considering the nature of your boss units, you're going to be dealing with a near empty field more than half the time. This leads to big contradictions, since a lot of Eradicators like to stay on the field when you do your retiring, and a lot of Eradicators like to do one for one retires, which become redundant in the big picture. Therefore, previously powerful units like Eradicator, Lorentz Force Dragon and Homing Eradicator, Rochishin are out of the question. Obviously power attackers are very useful in a deck like this, since you want to create columns in a flash that can force some kind of shield out, but most of the signature support units aren't good in this deck. Regardless, I decided to attempt crafting a list myself.

Twin Raging Thunder!
17 / 14 / 11 / 8

1 Spiritual Sphere Eradicator, Nata
1 Eradicator, Dragon Mage [Draw]
4 Eradicator, Blue Gem Carbuncle [Draw]
3 Sacred Spear Eradicator, Pollux [Critical]
4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle [Critical]
4 Worm Toxin Eradicator, Seiobo [Heal]

4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
4 Certain Kill Eradicator, Ouei
4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
2 Rising Phoenix

4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
4 Supreme Army Eradicator, Zuitan
3 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-Ou

4 Eradicator, Tempest Bolt Dragon
2 Eradicator, Twin Thunder Dragon
2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant

As I mentioned earlier, Twin Thunder is only really good in the late game, as Tempest Bolt Dragon's passive skill makes it an amazing unit to sit on in the early game. Despite this, we can't really discredit Twin Thunder, as it's a very powerful card. Even at two copies, we're still likely to draw into one as the game progresses, so no worries. If it doesn't show up enough, splitting the two at three and three might be a better option.

[AUTO](RC):[Put this unit into your soul] When your grade 3 «Narukami» is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards in the front row, and retire it.
Certain Kill Eradicator, Ouei is actually a really interesting card in my the context of this build. When you ride a grade 3 while Ouei's on the field, you can slide Ouei into the soul to retire a front row unit. It's a one for one trade, but its purpose is to hit the field on your second turn to provide temporary boost to something, then get rid of it when you get to your grade 3. This cleans up your field for when you're ready to nuke the field. As for the grade 2 that you might have called to be boosted, you can just give it up as an intercept to make the most out of it. Unfortunately, Ouei loses strength in the late game, when you should always have a field nuke available. However, it still exists as a 7000 booster for your 9000 units. 

Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-Ou fills the same role as Ouei in this deck. While these one for one retires can be redundant with your grade 3's, they're still ideal to go for on the off turns, forcing your opponent to commit more in order to deal damage.

Spiritual Sphere Eradicator, Naha is a bit of an undershadowed starting vanguard in Eradicators, but I feel it shines in this build specifically. You can slide Naha into the soul so that during that turn, your vanguard gains +3000 power each time you retire a unit. If you're retiring five units with your boss unit, then Tempest Bolt will reach 46000 power and Twin Thunder will reach 41000, which then demands a perfect guard or a huge investment. Outside of Naha, there's hardly any other viable starting vanguard to use in this deck.

I think that most of us can appreciate Eradicator's run through the metagame. One very important thing to remember when playing this deck is its interactions with Link Joker. Since locked units cannot be retired, Link Joker becomes the only deck to over-commit versus in this deck. By over-commiting, you force out early guard and cause them to retaliate by locking. When your units get locked, that's when you blow up the field, causing your opponent to begin an uphill battle to catch up to you! Since you were able to commit early, your opponent is also in a worse position in regards to damage, making the rest of the match a lot easier.

Moving on from Narukami, Kagero received a new Break Ride in this Fighter's Collection. Before now, they only had two Break Rides: Dragonic Overlord and Dauntless Drive Dragon. Both of these focused on putting major damage pressure on your vanguard by allowing it to stand itself, but the new Break Ride breathes new air into an older archetype and style of winning: Seal Dragons!

[AUTO] Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):When a «Kagerō» rides this unit, choose your vanguard, that unit gets [Power]+10000 until end of turn, and choose up to two of your opponent's rear-guards, retire them, and your opponent looks at four cards from the top of his or her deck, searches for up to two grade 2 cards, calls them to separate (RC), and shuffles his or her deck. [AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks, if the number of rear-guards you have is more than your opponent's, this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of that battle.
Hellfire Seal Dragon, Weathercloth is just what Seal Dragons needed, due to its ability to mass retire. When you Break Ride over Weathercloth, the new unit gains +10000 power during that turn, and you get to retire two units of your choice. This seems really good, but there's also a catch. Your opponent can look at the top four cards of their deck, and call two grade 2 units from those four cards.

Now of course, there are plenty of workarounds. By retiring units in the back row, you're making their new grade 2's fit into awkward places, such as behind the vanguard or behind another grade 2 or grade 3. This takes field control to a very powerful level, but let's take a moment to look at the rest of the Seal Dragons for a moment.

Exchanging units on the field for grade 2's off the top of your opponent's deck is the entire gimmick behind Seal Dragons. Seal Dragon, Terrycloth and Seal Dragon, Corduroy can perform the same type of retire, except for a counterblast, and you only retire one. All of those mass retires contribute to the primary functions of the Seal Dragon boss units, and the results are quite powerful.

[AUTO](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets [Power]+5000 for each of your opponent's grade 2 rear-guard until end of that battle. If the number of your opponent's grade 2 rear-guards is two or greater, this unit gets [Critical]+1 until end of that battle. [ACT](VC):[Counter Blast (1)] Choose one of your locked cards, and unlock it. [CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)
First off, we have Seal Dragon, Georgette. Georgette was actually printed as part of the anti-lock campaign. It has a activate skill which at the cost of a counterblast, you can unlock a unit. This is actually pretty cute, since it automatically gives you a better matchup versus Link Joker, which is certainly running rampant right now. However, its main purpose comes from its Limit Break. When Georgette attacks, it gains +5000 power for each grade 2 your opponent controls, and if they have at least two, Georgette gains an extra critical. 

Your opponent will usually have two grade 2's in their front row anyway, making this skill easy to use, but if you can get your opponent to call units off of your retires, then it becomes even easier for you. The only problem is that it's easy enough to play around this card's Limit Break, since for one, you can choose not to call any grade 2's off the retires, and two, you can substitute grade 2's in the front row for grade 1 power attackers and grade 3 units.

Does that make Georgette a weaker card? I wouldn't say so. If they choose not to call grade 2's, then that makes life easier for you, since you turned your cheap retires into genuine card advantage, which accomplishes your mission. Your vanguard loses a lot of damage pressure, but you can win the grind game in this fashion, considering all of the gains in card advantage you can get.

Alternatively, you can use Hellfire Seal Dragon, Blockade Inferno. Blockade Inferno sacrifices damage pressure for a hypothetical "blockade" for your opponent's grade 2 units. Blockade Inferno's Limit Break lets you counterblast two to retire all grade 2 units your opponent controls, along with giving himself +10000 power during that turn. This means when you use Weathercloth, Terrycloth, or Corduroy, it doesn't matter if your opponent grabs a grade 2 or not, because it'll just get sucked into the drop zone with the rest of the grade 2's on the board.

Now, what boss unit you use is entirely up to you. However, I feel that Weathercloth is the perfect pair for both of them, and gives Seal Dragons to make a return to the tournament scene, which I don't mind at all. Alternatively, there are other bosses that you could mesh with Weathercloth, but I don't think they work as well with Blockade Inferno or Georgette. Reason being, the two Seal Dragon bosses make your opponent think twice before calling their units, an effect that can't really be created by any other Kagero boss. With that aside, onto the sample decklist:

The Hellfire Rekindles!
18 / 14 / 11 / 8


Notes: if Blockade Inferno doesn't appeal to you, take him out for Georgette, then swap Hunger Hell Dragon for Flame Star Seal Dragon Knight, and then swap Grom out for Calamity Tower Wyvern. Flame Star is important for Georgette, since it keeps their grade 2's on the board for your Limit Break.

That's all we have for now! Seal Dragons have been one of my favorite decks from back then, and I'm really excited to get the opportunity to use them again with Weathercloth. I'm also really interested in the playstyle of the new Eradicator deck. Feel free to leave feedback down below, and stay tuned, as the next article will surely emerge from the shadows quite soon!

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