Alight guys this time is a very, VERY straightforward deck profile. We will be talking about new deck built with the heartbreak unit for shadow: Claret Sword Dragon. But first, watch the link below to understand why its awesome.
That power. Much hand. Such field. So Spam. Very strong.
You will realize Kanzaki is laying the smack-down with mostly G1 units. You will also realize that claret lets you toolbox for needed G1. And you will make good RG columns literally every turn you are striding. Now imagine the second stride is Diablo instead of aurageyser, and the sheer amount of cost to guard those turns. That is pretty much what we are going to do with this deck:
G0: 19
3 new sharp knight, David (FVG)
4 healing revenger
12 crit (all revenger)
G1: 14
4 night sky eagle
4 knight of yearning, Branwen
1 Black sage, Charron
4 karma collector (PGG)
1 black-winged swordbreaker
G2: 10
4 comet witch serva
1 skull witch Nemain
1 smother knight, Giva
2 fiercebau
2 fighting spirit revenger, Macart
G3: 7
4 claret sword dragon
3 ambitious spirit revenger, Cormack
G4: 8
2 aurageyser dragon
4 Phantom Blaster Dragon Diablo
1 Grim recruiter
1 elsyion
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Disclaimer: This deck very much Auto-pilots itself very well. All you need to do is set up 21k RG columns and let the crits from triggers and Vg column do the rest. And you will still have the hand to guard properly. Crazy but true.
2nd Disclaimer: This list looks like a bloody mess, but its not. I gave most of these things reasonable considerations before I made and test out this list. The numbers can be a tad funny but they are there for a reason. I will go to the choice breakdown in a bit.
Winning Image:
Run opponent out of cards through sheer brute force. With pluses left right and center, you can easily take a beating when required, and dish them every turn through sheer RG columns and VG crit pressure. You will literally have crits every turn on the VG column (claret, diablo, Kormac) and this will run your opponent dry of guard really fast, or kill them outright if they failed to guard at 3 damage and you flip a crit.
THEM BIRDS!!!
Beware the birds; they gonna rain on your enemies' parade!
Eagle pulls its weight in this deck. He comes in and make columns, and then gets retired later to fuel effects once his effect wears off. Its no slouch as an attacker as well, being one of the only G1 capable of hitting even crossrides with Claret +2k alone. Would love to run more than 4 of these if possible. Try not to ride them if at all possible, even if you have to ride a PG!
CRITS FOR MANY TURNS
You get a crit, he get a crit, they get a crit, everyone gets crits!
Nothing as threatening as the idea of you dying if you don't guard at 4 damage. Or even 3 if you get crit trigger. The deck's VG column is crits every day, forcing opponent's to act on it or risk dying, and this indirectly translate to triggers going to side columns and making it even more taxing to them. At the rate people add cards to hand through drive checks and drawing, something has to give after 2-3 turns, and when it does, boy will it hurt.
Draws many cards,without even trying.
You are going to see this combo happen, Regularly and A LOT
The way SP cycle through units for hand advantage allows you to commit to the field, thin your deck and still maintain good hand size. Imagine the following scenario:
Your turn starts with 3 CB, and 2 soul.
Stride Aurageyser on top of Claret, fetch a swordbreaker
SB for swordbreaker draw a card (+1 hand)
Call Nemain/Giva to cycle through cards (drop 1, +2 hand, overall +1)
Make another column with 21k.
Swing with Nemain/Giva + 8k sword breaker (11k)
Swing with aurageyser and add 2+3 cards to hand (+5 hand), triggers to side
swing with last column, usually 26-31k.
You just cycled through 9 cards in your deck, for 3CB and 2SB, and a discard, easily digging for more gas to go off the next turn with diablo. Opponent needs to guard a 11k, a 26K+triple drive, and another 21-31k column. This easily cost him 2-3 damage or force 5-6 cards out of his hand to guard. Its absolutely smashing your opponent's face, and you will be smiling while doing it.
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Card Explanation:
G0:
12 crit 4 heals: Standard procedure. You can make room for a single cursed eye raven, but I found in testing that if you fail to kill the other person, the chance of decking is actually real. Hence why I didn't run howl owl for the souls, but trust me, you won'r need more than 2 souls for this list. You are not gonna stride aura twice, neither do you use trumpeter. Just 1 lonely swordbreaker to cash in cheap card advantage off claret and aurageyser to turn the deck on autopilot.
3 David: No jokes here. Run AT LEAST 3 of these, you won't regret it. It just makes the deck so trivial. Aurageyser? Pay with just your starter. Diablo? Just claret a 2nd and pay again. Not striding and want claret to smash? Pay with one for the cheapest 21k 2 crit possible. It is also a 10k shield if really needed, which increases the overall density of shields in hand, though I would really not want to guard with this unless I have to. The fact that its not a good booster is countered by the way the deck makes it a 7k booster through claret's +2k, and you can either boost the Vg or fiercebau otherwise.
G1:
4 Night sky eagle: seriously run 4 of these. They are very good at beefing up RG columns. They make 11k attackers, make 21k with basically any 10k+ in front, It even makes 16k with Giva or david. And with all the crits rolling from the VG, they are gonna guard it like mad, making these 21k columns, especially with crits, really punishing to their resources to guard.
4 Branwen: The standard stride fodder. Makes sure you hit claret in timely fashion, and is fodder for striding otherwise.
4 Karma collector: your countercharge PG. With how fast you plow through your deck, you are almost guaranteed to see at least 1 unflip off them. Maintaining Claret's breakstride effect and Diablo or Aurageyser cost 2 CB per turn, so this gives it a little help to ensure there is a 3rd time.
1 Charon: No it is not a typo, I am playing a 8k vanilla. Due to the presence of nemain in the deck, I have one of this to make the column boost to 11k. Also calling it with claret, although not desirable, is still a 10k booster for a turn. If not to your taste you can consider running Bolfri instead as a potential 10k attacker.
1 Swordbreaker: Yes only 1. Its for cases when you really need it. And honestly with the lack of soul, you do not ever want to call it more than once from deck. The 1st soul is strictly reserved for Aurageyser, so this is the give some use to the remaining soul. She still can make columns with 10k attackers for 16k, or even make 11k columns with david before you retire them both to Diablo. You can drop the Charon for another, but I feel it is overkill just to increase the odds of seeing one go off. You do not need this to go off to make this deck work: it good to have but you won't die without it.
G2:
4 Serva: Why 10k vanilla? Because it is awesome with eagle. That and since you want to stride first before your opponent, you will have to sit on G2 for at least a round. This gives you one of the safest G2 to sit on, as well as making 21k columns with eagle. If you manage to draw multiples you can call them as pokers, and they are not as easily punished as most 9k G2. This really helps to shore up the weak start most GB dependent decks have.
2 Macart: These are here for just 1 purpose: Kormac at the VERY end of the game when you are going to deck out. They are basically vanillas that are not as good as vanillas, but you have to play them to access the backup plan. So just the minimal amount is fine, it is also fine to ride this if you cant find a 10k to ride since you are going to SB it out anyway.
2 fiercebau: They are here mainly as unflip pressure, They edge out a little over shadow lancer cause with eagles (again!) you can make a 22k column if eagle is the only backrow left. They don't actually have to countercharge, as if that attack got 2-3 cards off the opponent, its already worth it. If you need the unflip, you might have to be cautious and swing RG VG RG with fiercebau being last, and retiring 1st RG column and VG booster.
1 Giva & 1 Nemain: This is personal preference, but the main turn you want to use the draw 2 is when you are trying to set up. Giva is a little more easier to make columns with as a 7k, but nemain gives you cards when you need them the most. So pick your choice; I opted to run just 1 of each because even if I dump all my CB on the VG, the option is still good to have.
G3:
4 Claret: The main G3 you want to sit on and milk for all it's worth. Do note that the 2k power is deceptively useful. Eagles can hit crossrides, 10k attacker becomes 12k, swordbreaker can boost nemain to hit 11k. Also post aurageyser, you can use his GB2 to pressure crits every turn if you find yourself in a situation where you cannot or do not want to stride, so just cause you are striding does not mean there is no crit pressure, making them drop at least 2 cards a turn for the VG.
3 Kormac: This is your alternative ride. He is strictly there as a legion option, again also with crit pressure. He is also not picky on what he eats, so you can feed him used swordbreaker or eagles. the 23k legion attack also lets you pull a 31k with charon, if the oppotunity presents itself.
G4:
2 Aurageyser: This is your set-up stride. 90% of the time you are going to stride this first to set up for the rest of the game. fuels your hand and gives you options to either diablo next turn or claret to pressure. I don't run another pair because I forgone SC effects for more pressure, as owls just make you deck out faster.
4 Diablo: This is the pressure maker. Mid game you basically cripple your opponent with this. It cost minimal 4 cards (2 RG and 2 for PG) to guard this, and mercy on your foes if they don't have a pg. He can win you the game form 3 damage easily, and paying for him is as simple as David + used units. Between this, claret and kormac, you are gonna pressure them crits every single turn.
2 Others: The last 2 strides are for toolboxing. I am not a fan of recruiter as you already toolbox very well, and I always stride aura first. However, there are times this is better, however uncommon. Elsyion is another pressure unit, and can get scary columns if boosted by at least a 6k booster (41k), which is nearly unguardable outside of PG early. You can even run a 2nd pair of aurageysers, although it is not advised. Others consider Blizza or Atmos, but its really up to you.
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What I did not play and why:
Blaster Dark Diablo and CO.
Blaster Dark Diablo: Lets come to some consensus; Diablo is not very good without his stride. So he is only relevant on turns where you stride PBDD, which is pretty much only twice if you want to use the effect. People argue that you can ride this over claret before striding to gain access to the retire, but it just cost you 2 hand ( riding Diablo and another card to stride over since you will be at GB2) and I'd rather use claret to toolbox and thin the deck, fill some columns and push for game. It is true that Diablo lets PBDD kill off a RG so he cannot pay for the guard restriction and die, but that is not the reason he is in this deck. He is here to pretty much bleed your opponent of cards, with the random upside of killing him if his hand is incapable of guarding, or your opponent forget it exists and did not have 2 RG up.
So I'll finalize it here again: this is
NOT a PBDD deck that intends to cheese the guard restriction, this is a Claret deck aiming to overpower your opponent every turn while toolboxing and maintaining hand size. If you want a deck that fully utilize PBDD as a win condition, revengers with its blasters control is the better deck for it; this deck only have PBDD as pseudo retire to make him throw out resources to not die.
Dorint/Claudas: Regarding his other suppport, they specifically need a 'blaster' VG to function. As much as I love dorint/claudas 22k + unflip, we cannot get it consistently functioning UNLESS we stride PBDD without using its effect just for the blaster name. If the plan is to do that I suggest just playing the legend deck.
Charon/Darkheart: We already running David as retire fodder, so charon is just a glorified david who can search for Diablo, which we are not running. Darkheart clashes with our soul requirements, which is reserved for swordbreaker and aurageyser. It also requires a blaster again, making it situational to a PBDD turn. The deck slots for G1 is already tight as it is, and hard to run darkheart without running owls in this deck, which I will get to shortly.
Howl owl: This card is good, but after much testing, I feel I can actually live without the draw. Mostly because this greatly accelerated my decking speed. With strides and deck thinning, the danger of decking is quite real if you cannot kill your opponent. Also I really hate drive checking this on a PBDD turn instead of a crit, or revealing this off aurageyser. At least if you reveal a 10k shield it is worth it for aurageyser, but revealing owl is just a bad feel. I have also minimized my soul consumption in this deck to just 2, so I won't be missing this much.
Dark night maiden, Macha: A lot of you will ask why not play her. The reason is simply the lack of CB to spare. You are running pretty much 2 CB per turn just to keep on striding, which means you have about 0-1 CB to spare for her effect if you going for 2nd PBDD. Also note that she cannot search for David directly, which is a pain since you want to retire him for effects to dumb down the cost.
Demon World Castle, ToteWitchita: Many already expressed dislike for this, but I am gonna say it here to make it clear: He is just mediocre in this deck for what he does. He contest for soul, he only push for 26k with eagle (claret can go to 31k), and with your first 3 strides likely to be aura>PBDDx2, you will not use his effect much. He offers at least a call if opponent grade lock themselves, but then I rather have Cormack bust them open due to having +3k to make 19-21k VG column, and still provide the legion option which this deck sorely needs.
Revengers support: This is not the deck to play them as they require specific units to sacrifice or need a revenger VG. The exception case is Cormack as he isn't picky about his food and is a strong unit overall, although his mate is absolutely useless in here unless you want to call a trigger.
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Possible Considerations
Barbelith: The SP 12k attacker should have been in the booster instead of a promo. He does make make columns without much help, and is a low maintenance but good attacker overall. I would consider swapping out giva/nemain if they under-perform, as even though I like the option of filtering 2 cards, I could not afford the CB most of the time.
Servemyu: This is another promo that can be considered. A 10k VG booster is decent as a 1 of, probably in place of a the 8K vanilla. This becomes very relevant when you using Claret's GB2, as 31k 2 crit for little investment is no slouch. I would only run 1 though, as you can easily fetch it as required, and eagles and 8k vanilla off claret can be 10k boosters in a pinch and still work on RG columns. This is also good with Cormack to make a 33k 2 crit column.
Bolfri: Could be used instead of 8K vanilla. He can be called in by Claret to make a 12k attacker, and makes 21k column with eagle by itself, 16k with swordbreaker.. I like him, but only as an emergency attacker that can be fetched as required, and a booster that can transition into an attacker as required. Probably run the most 1-2.
Cursed eye raven: This can be swap in to replace a crit. The merits of it is that its a recyclable trigger, but even as just 1 copy I seem to always drive check it when i need it, so I stayed with 12 crits, but it is an interesting choice to feed claret or diablo with.
Witch of Comets, Manisa: Now this is a very contradictory choice, but it has proven to work reasonably well late game when you are decking out. The 10k base does not matter at that point of the game, as its kill or be killed at that point you have to legion this to prevent deck out. The advantage of replacing Cormack with her is 1)cheaper option, 2)She cost you less deck space so you can run other G2 with effects instead of Macart, and we are already 10k base G2 so the mate barely cost you deck space. In a pinch she is functionally a 12k attacker, but most of the time she is stride fodder or your legion on final few turns. Give her a try as she does not disappoint, but be prepared to get a lot of people's attention.
