[ECG] Deck Check: The Immortal Stands Again!

[ECG] Deck Check: The Immortal Stands Again!

  Wednesday, June 11, 2014    byak

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All the way back from the beginning in Booster Set 1, Asura Kaiser finally returns to the metagame with an appropriately flashy deck!

Extra Booster 8 did more than give support to the old Blaukluger ride chain, as it also managed to give Asura Kaiser some pretty powerful support. Asura Kaiser more or less represented the essence of the old Nova Grappler playstyle, where his grade 3 drive check skill would give new life to your board.

Immortal, Asura Kaiser also takes advantage of drive checking grade 3's, but in a much more powerful way! Once you hit Limit Break, whenever the Immortal drive checks a grade 3, you can counterblast two and discard two to stand himself and another rear-guard you control, and then the Immortal gains +10000 power! On top of that, he is also technically a Cross Ride of his former self, so if you have the original Asura Kaiser in your soul, he gains Cross Ride defense.

Unfortunately, you can only use the Immortal's Limit Break once per turn, but it still is a very powerful skill to be aware of. The +10000 power is a huge spike that makes him really difficult to guard the second time around, and standing that extra unit can come in handy sometimes as well, as you can create another attack or stand the Immortal's booster. The Immortal may not as guaranteed as other self-standing vanguards like Revenger, Raging Form Dragon, but it certainly hits hard, considering all of the other support that Nova Grappler has at their disposal.

The Immortal Stands Again!
17 / 13 / 8 / 12

1 Evolving Reincarnation, Miraioh
4 Red Lighting [Critical]
1 Fighting Battleship, Prometheus [Critical]
1 Schones Wetter [Critical]
3 The Gong [Draw]
3 Schnee Regen [Draw]
4 Regenbogen [Heal]

4 Blau Dunkelheit
4 Bear Down Samurai
4 Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
1 Energy Charger

4 Daredevil Samurai
4 Street Bouncer

4 Mond Blaukluger
4 Asura Kaiser
4 Immortal, Asura Kaiser

As you might have guessed, this deck also manages to take advantage of Blau's new Break Ride, Mond Blaukluger. As a refresher, when you Break Ride over Mond Blaukluger, each time your vanguard attacks that turn, you can counterblast one to stand all of your other rear-guards! Since the Immortal can attack more than once per turn, like Galaxy Blaukluger, it can trigger Mond Blaukluger more than once per turn, giving you eight attacks at your disposal! Not to mention that, due to the Immortal's +10000 power, he ends up swinging for 31000 total with a booster on the second time around. Of course, you still have to hope to drive check a grade 3 unit, so in this deck, we're playing twelve. Regardless, with the massive power spikes that the Immortal can hit, it is without question that the Mond Break Ride turns with him are insane.

My third grade 3 of choice for the deck is the original Asura Kaiser. It might not provide the burst that Mont and Immortal provide, but it gives you a better early game and an alternative strategy, since it's really easy to drive check grade 3's to use Asura Kaiser's skill. Plus, transitioning from Asura Kaiser to his Immortal form gives you Cross Ride defense, making you a lot more resistant going into the late game. Asura Kaiser also carrying an 11000 power base is a good thing to have as well, making him a reliable beater as a rear-guard.

If you don't like Asura Kaiser and simply want to guarantee yourself with more burst, I strongly recommend playing Beast Deity, Ethics Buster over him. He's not as strong as Mond, since he only stands your front row where Mont stands your whole field, but in terms of getting to a unit that can work well with the Immortal, he could be a lot better than the original Asura Kaiser.

Now, while the whole grade 3 combo in this deck is already very flashy and effective, there's another really big reason to use this combo, and use this deck.

The Immortal didn't step into the ring alone! Meet Daredevil Samurai and Bear Down Samurai, a new pair of grade 2 and grade 1 for Nova Grappler! They share the same skill, and their unique skill lets them hit really hard.

During the battle phase, each time your Nova Grappler stands and you have an Asura vanguard, Daredevil and Bear Down gain +3000 power! Their power boosts stack too, so you can stand multiple times to give them thousands and thousands of power. Now, when you combine them with Mond Blaukluger, you can probably see where this is going.

Let's say for example you have a field with Daredevil Samurai and Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout on your left column, Mond Blaukluger and Energy Charger on your center column, and Asura Kaiser with Bear Down Samurai on your right column. During this turn, you Break Ride with Immortal, Asura Kaiser. You then swing with both of your columns for 16000 and 18000, then swing with your vanguard. Mond's skill comes into play at this moment, standing all of your rear-guards. As a result, Daredevil and Bear Down gain +15000 power.

You reach your drive check, and at your opponent's dismay, you drive check your grade 3. You use Immortal's skill to discard, counterblast, and stand itself  for another attack(it can't stand anything else, but you still resolve the skill as much as possible). The Immortal's standing also give Daredevil and Bear Down an additional +3000 power.

Now it's time for your rear-guards to swing again. Daredevil goes in for a whopping 34000 power and Asura Kaiser backed by Bear Down swings for 36000 power. You swing with the Immortal again for 36000 power and stand all of your rear-guards, giving them another +15000 power.

Unfortunately the Immortal can't use his skill again, but it shouldn't worry you too much, because now Daredevil swings for a grand total of 49000 power and Asura swings for a grand total of 51000 power, if your opponent is still even in the game at this point.

Keep in mind, this is only with two Samurais, and the deck gets to play a total of eight of them. Things really start to get ridiculous when you hold onto three or four, making it almost impossible for your opponent to survive.

Of course... There are always downsides to this strategy. The Immortal heavily relies on your drive check, and missing the grade 3 can set you back really far. If you miss the grade 3 on your drive check turn, your opponent will probably focus the Samurai units so you can't capitalize on them later in the game, since the Immortal's Limit Break can technically give them all +6000 power by itself.

The deck can also have some trouble guarding. Four Shout and four Street Bouncer are used to dig through your deck, but if your hand gets clogged with grade 3's as a result, your chances of using the Immortal are drastically reduced and you have a lot of dead cards in your hand that you can't guard with, making it easy for your opponent to close the game on you.

Also, the deck can have a really bad late game, since the build is oriented heavily towards the "mid game" of Mond Blaukluger. You need to try as hard as you can to win the game on the Mond turn, or you'll have trouble finding another opportunity to do so. Thankfully, the Immortal is still a really strong unit if you still have the counterblast for him, but you have trouble racking up advantage outside of the six draw triggers in the deck.

If you want to play this deck as safely as possible (which is honestly the best way to play it), play a very low commitment game early on. Never call your Samurais early in matchups where they can be easily sniped, since they're extremely important towards the decks win condition. Honestly, early on the only units you should be calling are Street Bouncers and Shouts, since they filter through your deck. Even if you don't apply much damage, you can threat small pokes by just attacking with Mond, and if you don't have valuable units in the front, your opponent has no choice but to attack you, bringing you closer to your Limit Break.

In conclusion, Asura actually feels like a really unique deck to play. Its Break Ride turn is one of the most satisfying things to pull off in Vanguard, and it can steal some games if everything goes well. The deck requires absolute care though, because if you extend in the wrong direction your opponent can capitalize and make it even harder to combo. Regardless, practice makes perfect in this deck, and I highly recommend trying out your own builds as well.