Looking for a way to remedy the intentional grade locking done by people against g-era decks. Its not against the rules, but its against fun for some and I'd rather everyone do what they want and lose, then one side playing vanillas the whole game. So I suggest this house rule to let people at least play their rearguard effects with a minor penalty. It ain't perfect and there is likely room for abuse, but if used responsibly, it does help everyone to at least have their fun. Important and often asked parts are highlighted
like so.
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Stride Burst
At the
beginning of your stride step, if your VG was a
grade 3 since the start of the turn, and your opponent
did not ride a grade 3 last turn, and their
VG was not a grade 3 since the start of their turn, you may
ask your opponent to
choose and reveal a card in hand. Do the following based on what is revealed. Either way you
cannot use Stride Burst again for the rest of the game.
<If opponent reveals a grade 3> If your opponent is a
grade 2, your opponent now
RIDE the grade 3, and
may then draw
up to 1 card. You choose 1 card in your hand and
remove it from game. Effects that take place when the grade 3 is placed on <VC> are
negated. Resume game as normal afterwards.
<If opponent does not reveal a grade 3> you choose 2 face-down cards in your G-zone, choose to cards in your hand, and remove from game those chosen cards. You may then perform a stride this turn
as though your opponent's VG was a grade 3. Resume game as normal afterwards.
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FAQ
Things to note:
1) Only works if opponent has intentionally been holding back riding even though he has drawn a grade 3 that can be ridden. Opponent needs to
-start their turn as a non-grade 3
-did not ride that turn
-you were a grade 3 since your turn start (meaning you ride to grade 3 on your last turn)
-this also means opponent had the opportunity to ride to grade 3 and stride first, but opponent forgo it
-he reveals a card in hand when you ASK for it (not force upon them!, be polite even if annoyed)
-he choose one to reveal, and based on card revealed apply either 1st or 2nd effect.
-everything that happens is a G
ame State Effect, and is by no means affected by any other card effect in play, hand, drop, or bind zone. Things waiting to resolve will only begin to resolve once the whole process is done.
2) You take a minus to do this, but at least your g-break units aren't vanilla anymore and you get at least 1 break-stride skill off your grade 3 (if its that unit).
3) You can choose not to activate Stride Burst (Not mandatory) when conditions are met, so opponent can't force you to perform it unless you want to.
4) you opponent can choose to reveal ANY card (even if he has a grade 3, opponent can choose to reveal another card, should they wish so)
5) You don't have access to your stride break GB2 unless you stride a persona flip, cross-stride or Blizza. But you will activate all your other GB1 units.
6) The penalty is exactly the same as G-assisting. Reason why this has to be implemented is there are times you are forcing the opponent to ride a sub-par unit that's terrible to ride first. So instead of assisting to hit your ride, you are paying the 'assist' to enable all your g-break, which is quite a fair trade off considering you are smashing them for your stride numbers while they are grade 2. If opponent does not want to ride that grade 3, opponent can reveal something else, and proceed with next effect instead.
7) Why negate the on ride effect for opponent? Because they could have done so on their own turn, but chose not to, so I don't think they deserve to get their effects on your own turn (might result in some rule complications so this stop-gaps MOST, but not all of them). They are already getting up to a draw for the minus the ride will cost them, as well as you having to minus one.
8) For 2nd effect, only the player who initiates Stride Burst takes the G-assist penalty because most GB1 effects are balanced out as mid-late game effects, which can and will easily take over the game after 1-2 rounds. Hence the penalty is there to reduce the complete blowout (imagine staring down aurageyser and 2x 21k RG columns without paying assist cost. The grade lock deck will just roll over and die because they intentionally do so to prevent that from happening in the first place! This gives them at least a fighting chance by letting the cost weaken your defenses, granting a window to fight back).
9) This allows
BOTH players to have some consent on how the game flow will become (you and the opponent). I don't want this to be something you force other party to comply to just because you want to play your way. If we do that we are no different from the person intentionally grade-locking. This is the better middle ground I can find so that everyone gets to play with the cards they consciously put into their deck.
10) This does not affect legion at all. Reason being is legion are still mostly related to their corresponding sub clans, and some of them (jewel knight, revengers, seekers, liberators) have some of the most crazy early game plays due to some of the mates plus their sub-clan attackers. Also another note is most legion bosses are not vanilla when not in legion. Many have some effect or power gain through their non-legion effect (although some like mega flare are made easier by being in legion), and therefore don't have the same problem as G-era grade 3 who do not even have an effect to work with.
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What do you guys think? do leave your comments on opinions regarding how to minimize the fun lost due to grade locking!
