[ECG] Deck Check: Leo-pald's School of Hard Knocks!

[ECG] Deck Check: Leo-pald's School of Hard Knocks!

  Wednesday, May 21, 2014    byak

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Following the resurgence of decks thanks to the powers of Reverse, Great Nature hit the field with an new and explosive Break Ride combo!

Great Nature had always sort of been in the dark following their first substantial release all the way back in Booster Set 7, and even after their additional boost in Booster Set 9. One of the problems was that, even though the deck had the ability to pump their rear-guards to very high numbers, their vanguard column was extremely weak, on top of the fact that all of their vanguards had 10000 bases. As such, Bushiroad targeted them for an even stronger wave of support.

The first step was giving them a brand new powerful boss unit. School Punisher, Leo-pald "Reverse" joins the invaders and embraces Great Nature's traditional winning image. Like almost all Reverse units, the new Leo-pald is a Cross Ride of the original School Hunter, Leo-pald, but Great Nature's new Break Ride is so important that it outweighs the cherished 13000 defense. We'll go over the Break Ride in just a second, though.

Leo-pald "Reverse"'s Limit Break is pretty powerful, yet a bit complex. By locking a Great Nature unit, you can give two of your other rear-guards +4000 power during the turn, and at the end of the turn, they retire. However, Leo-pald "Reverse" also gives them a skill that lets them resurrect when they're retired at the end of the turn. It's a bit difficult to wrap your head around, since Leo-pald "Reverse" basically kills your units then lets them come back, but this exists in order to trigger many of Great Nature's skills involving the retiring of units (think Coiling Duckbill, for example).

The two important components of this skill are that one, the skill doesn't cost any counterblast to use, and two, it can be used more than once per turn. At most, you can lock your whole back row to give your front row rear-guards +12000 power for the turn, making each one force out at least 15000 shield on attack in most cases. The fact that this skill doesn't cost any counterblast is amazing though, since as long as your field is full, you can reap Leo-pald "Reverse"'s benefits as often as you want.

Bushiroad also managed to give them a Break Ride that, while powerful, also is unique to Great Nature themselves. Honorary Professor, Chatnoir fit this role in a slightly complex way. When you ride over Chatnoir, along with the usual +10000 power, your vanguard gains an additional skill. Whenever your rear-guard attacks, you can choose any one of your Great Nature rear-guards and give it +4000 power. Additionally, the unit is retired at the end of the turn and you draw a card. At the very least, your columns will be swinging with an additional +4000 power and you'll draw two cards in exchange for your front row rear-guards, but in combination with Leo-pald "Reverse", you basically hop on the card advantage train.

Imagine Break Riding with Leopald "Reverse" over Chatnoir. You then lock your whole back row to give your front row rear-guards +12000 power. The battle phase commences and your rear-guards gain +4000 more power thanks to Chatnoir. Your net total ends up being around +16000 or more, with Leopald "Reverse" boasting 21000 power himself. In addition to this, both of your front row units are retired at the end of the turn. You then draw a card and bring them back. Evidently, the burst coming from these two units is huge.

Leopald's School of Hard Knocks!
17 / 15 / 11 / 7

1 Acorn Master
2 Triangle Cobra [Critical]
3 Alarm Chicken [Stand]
3 Eraser Alpaca [Stand]
4 Ruler Chameleon [Critical]
4 Dictionary Goat [Heal]

4 Cable Sheep
4 Tank Mouse
4 Coiling Duckbill
3 Stamp Sea Otter

4 Binoculus Tiger
4 Compass Lion
3 Lamp Camel

4 Honorary Professor, Chatnoir
3 School Punisher, Leo-pald "Reverse"

A bizarre and noticeable feature of this deck is the split between stand and critical triggers in this deck. I am normally not a fan of using both stands and criticals because of the fact that they promote completely different playstyles, but stands have increased power in this deck, especially with Chatnoir. If you manage to check a stand trigger during the turn you use Chatnoir, when that rear-guard attacks again, it applies Chatnoir's skill again, and it'll actually net you an additional card in your end phase! Not to mention standing a unit that has an additional +12000 power or more can be very devastating, especially in the late game. Criticals only make those +12000 power units even scarier.

If I were to name an MVP of this deck, it'd probably be Tank Mouse. He's more of a lesser known Great Nature, but Leo-pald "Reverse" drags him right into the spotlight. By resting Tank Mouse, you can apply the +4000 power steroid to another Great Nature and it dies in the end phase. Previously Tank Mouse was undesirable due to the fact that he wouldn't contribute during all stages of the turn. However, it's much different now. If you have a back row full of Tank Mouse, you can essentially use all three of them to apply steroids, and then lock them away to make up for the lack of combat potential.

Thanks to Tank Mouse, you can apply up to an additional +12000 power before you give the usual +8000 or +12000 power to your front row, making them even scarier. The only downside is that Tank Mouse isn't very useful early on, and only when you have Leo-pald "Reverse". This is magnified due to the fact that he only has 6000 power, which prevents him from making good columns with the 9000 power units in this deck. Despite all this, Tank Mouse helps out in the end, improving your late game tremendously.

Another thing I appreciate about this deck is how streamlined the grade 2 lineup is. Compass Lion is impressive for being a 11000 static unit, making him a tank when it comes to combat. You have to retire a unit every turn with him though, but once you transition to your boss units, it's easy to mesh this cost with your bosses, making the cost almost non-existent. Binoculus Tiger also helps by applying another +4000 steroid when he attacks. He synergizes with stand triggers as well, and just generally makes your pushes even stronger.

Lamp Camel is the source of advantage pressure in this deck, and like most units, he becomes even scarier as the game progresses. Lamp Camel is a member of the line of clones that, when they hit, let you draw a card at the cost of two counterblasts. Almost none of your other Great Nature units cost counterblasts, letting you devote all of them to Lamp Camel. A 21000 Lamp Camel is extremely annoying too, and it basically forces an additional card for you.

Stamp Sea Otter is a very unique card for Great Nature to possess, and it really helps them survive in the metagame. As long as you have a Great Nature vanguard, Stamp Sea Otter cannot be retired by card effects. This gives him protection to various cards coming from Kagero, Narukami, and even Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon. If you lock Stamp Sea Otter, when he unlocks himself, Chaos Breaker can still trigger his effect, but Otter won't die (the Link Joker player still draws, however). Evidently, this deck has the hardest time against Chaos Breaker Dragon, but Stamp Sea Otter helps against this since he basically creates an invincible back row.

Stamp Sea Otter also works as Compass Lion's partner, as Compass Lion can always shift his retiring effect to Otter and he'll survive. Binoculus Tiger can also apply his steroids to Otter without losing him at the end of turn as well.

I chose Acorn Master to be my starting vanguard of choice due to the importance of getting your grade 3's, but if you don't like Acorn Master, there are always alternatives:

Telescope Rabbit functions as a Tank Mouse, except he costs a counterblast to use. You basically get him every single game, unless he's retired, but I personally feel the counterblast cost is a bit too much, and that Lamp Camel loses effectiveness when he's thrown into the equation. Despite this, he's still not a bad unit to go with. Blackboard Parrot is the other alternative. By sliding Parrot into the soul, you give any Great Nature a skill that draws you a card when it dies in the end phase. It exchanges itself for a single card, basically, but it also is a 5000 booster when you don't want to use it, which is always decent.

I personally think Great Nature is a heavily underrated deck in this metagame. The deck can create huge numbers while amassing heavy card advantage, plus it actually has counter to retire skills. Obviously without the Chatnoir and Leo-pald "Reverse" combo, you're heavily set back. But when you do manage to get it, however, it's almost impossible to lose your lead.

The deck also suffers from a very poor early game. Stands are a heavily late game based type of trigger, and you don't have any units besides Otter and Ruler Chameleon to contain your steroids without your boss units, so there are a bit of issues there. Aim to set up Otter and Compass Lion early, since riding a Compass Lion is one of the best grade 2 rides in the game. Your opponent essentially needs to reach 16000 on their turn 2 or 3 to force out 10000 shield, and at that point you can mount a counterattack to pummel down their field!

However, the most important thing to remember is that you want to be in the late game more than the early. Don't commit early on, because by the time you're ready to Break Ride, you might not have all the pieces to accelerate yourself. If you play by this rule, you should be very successful with this deck. With that said, thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more Deck Checks!