Random rantings

Few things that crossed my mind:

1.
I think I am getting addicted to striding aurageyser dragon. combined with claret fetching a swordbreaker and putting it behind serva, and retiring david to aurageyser, gives you some of the most insane and best feel of hand size boost ever (think only 3 Peace with multiple Darling can compare). Specially if you get to stride first, puts you so far ahead at times, even with crappy hand, that you are set for the next 1-2 turns. Hell there are times I even consider striding it twice depending on opponents (against big final turns like Bad End Ogre, or retire clans and LJ) over doomed. Never regretted buying and keeping 4, specially when it was still $12.

2.
RP getting way too much support. Granted most are for either Altmile and Alfred, we still have the insane altmile stride, and I think good JK are printed because we might see something happen to Swordmy. Benon is a pretty strong early play for 1 CB, i can easily see it being tech in in budget royal lists along with Mirron. Alfred is basically RP's version of Ezel; screwing LJ like its nothing. but since most of Alfred's support ties to a grade 3, at least if this craze catches on we'll see a lot less of the "grade stuck at 2 and swordmy you to death". Bushi must have been smoking weed again...

3.
Think deletor will be pretty consistent after the comic booster. Now with ample ways to countercharge, and getting pluses off Alba and Elro, a potential unflip trigger, and a new alternate win in Eigorg (ain't easy), but at least opponent can't do shit against it cause if they refuse to fill the drop zone by guarding, they are gonna die to delete. And best thing none of this give a lick whether opponent is grade 3 or not, which gives deletor a strong identity of aggression over say Messiah.

4.
Aqua force support is arriving. Ripple support kind of makes me fearful if they print more grade 1 and grade 2 support, but the legion is in the right direction. Definitely brace for a new maelstrom (likely a breakride or more effects pre LB4 version), thavas stride will also likely be a big middle finger to tidal bore 3-4. Hell we likely see 1 tidal bore, 1 socrates, 4 lambros, and maybe 2 thavas. Hopefully it would help if they can gain a little more field for less, but that might be asking for too much.

5.
Rush period is finally over, and it has slowed down significantly enough for me to start writing on a consistent basis (hopefully). No promises.

Random Decklist: Troll Shadow

Grade 0: 17
1 Creeping dark goat
8 crit
4 cursed eye raven
4 heal

Grade 1: 13
3 Brenwen
3 Peaker
4 Nemain (PG) (non-foil)
2 Swordbreaker (only expensive RR)
1 Servemyu

Grade 2: 12
4 Serva
4 Grosne
4 Macha (LD non-foil)

Grade 3: 8
4 Manisa
2 Baddah Caar (9k)
2 Sharp Fang Witch

Grade 4:
4 Madew (comic booster R)
2 Efnysion (FC RR)
2 Diablo (non-foil)

This deck was inspired by Timmy power gamer. Its not as offensive as a claret based deck, but it has so much card advantage its not even funny.Between. Madew recycling a on call grade 3, macha, baddah and sharp fang fetching, you have many options. Peaker is there so that you don't get owned for riding one of the 9k. you can get big columns through Grosne and spamming ravens to call (which thins the deck making the legion turn high trigger density) and using sharp fang to call multiple ravens. Wads more, this deck is relatively cheap with only Swordbreaker costing a significant amount (rest of them have a cheaper alternative print).

Deck profile: Claret Sword Dragon deck

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.

 How to play G-SP like a boss

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

Card review and deck profile: Phantom Blaster Dragon (breakride)

Alright guys, this is going to be a hell of a long article, but I assure you that its going to be as informative as I can write. After the short teaser of a Phantom Blaster previewed, we finally get spoiled the full effect of the new SP GR: the return of Phantom Blaster Dragon (breakride)

http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Phantom_Blaster_Dragon_(Break_Ride)

[AUTO] Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Soul Blast (3)] When a «Shadow Paladin» rides this unit, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose your vanguard, and until end of turn, that unit gets [Power]+10000, and "[AUTO](VC):[Choose three of your rear-guards, and retire them] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw two cards, choose three cards from your damage zone, turn them face up, and until end of that battle, your opponent cannot call grade 1 or greater cards from hand to (GC).".
[AUTO]:[Choose one of your rear-guards, and retire it] When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one card with "Blaster" in its card name, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.


Looks like old PBD got similar treatment as dragonic overlord. This has quite a wall of text. Its actually not that confusing; it has effects that require some form of payment.

1) When you ride over this unit, and have 4 damage, you may SB3 to gain the breakride skill. This grants you 10k power to the new Vg and grants the next skill to the new VG. If you failed to pay the SB3 or not at LB4,  you will miss the effect entirely.

Do note that SP does not have reliable ways to SC atm, at least without costing hand. Our only viable options is to ride over with another G3, howl owl, painter, and fiercebau. Fiercebau can be a tad unreliable as new sp tends to flood the board with a lot of G1, but its still a possible option.

Also this clashes with some support people run, like bat, swordbreaker, darkheart and aurageyser, and will cost your Gust blaster 10k power, assuming you blast away the ride chain. Extra precaution should be taken if you do not run a starter that can go into the soul, as that leaves you with only 3 soul to work with (including PBD) when you breakride.

2)If you paid for the breakride, in addition to the power, PBD will grant the new VG the ability to pay 3 RG when it attacks. If paid, first you get to draw 2 cards, and then unflip 3, and finally gain the glory effect for that one attack. Note that you only get the glory effect FOR THE ATTACK you pay the retire cost, NOT the entire turn. So if you were planning to use it with RPBA or RFD, you won't be able to double dip the glory effect.

The draw 2 does help you break even the retire cost if you retire a Charon or David, and help you have more options available.

The unflip 3 is interesting, allowing you to spam more CB during the early phase of the game. First prominent thing is that

3) On ride you get to trade a RG in play for any 'blaster' unit to add to hand from deck. Again this lets you toolbox for whichever blaster you need, similar to Fullbau Brave. You can tutor for your next G3 to ride, search for any of the G1 and G2 from the ride chain, or just search a G3 for stride fodder. Only thing to really note about this is that it is time sensitive to when you ride it, so the fodder have to be already in play by then, so make sure you planned for it.

So, who he works well with?

Many people will want to try this with an restanding VG, but the gimmicks to pull it off is insane. For both abyss and Raging form need to retire 3 other revengers, and this pretty much leaves you without aboard, even on ideal board situations. So I feel this isn't such a good idea as too many things have to go right.

He is very interesting with dragruler though. The dragruler play from PBD will allow for a very scary turn where you activate dragruler a few times, and you will get a very scary VG column, anywhere between 31k to 41k and cannot be guarded by G1 or above.

However, the most obvious one is he is completely tailor-made for his crossride overlord deck. The on ride effect makes it easy to fetch a copy of the crossride, while the unflip 3 ensures you will have the CB for the persona on that turn.The breakride makes overlord into a 33k 2 crit and glory effect, a very scary proposition considering any 8k boost brings it to 41k, and owl + bat brings it to a whooping 46k without giving up the crossride. Also similar to DO, he has the exact same name as his predecessor, meaning Javelin can search for him, and overlord gains the crossride if ridden over him. One very cute interaction in this deck is the overlooked Phantom Bringer Demon. In the past this is way over costed, but now that Charon and David exist, you can effectively trade them for a copy of the G3, which does open up options. Being a blaster he also benefits off all the support from legend deck.

G0 18
1 Fullbau (FVG)
1 Phantom Bringer Demon
4 heal
4 howl owl (draw)
8 crit

G1 15
4 PG
4 True Charon
2 Claudas
1 Nightmare painter
4 blaster javelin

G2 9
4 Macha
1 blaster dark
4 Dorint

G3 8
3 PBD (breakride)
1 PBD
4 PBO

G4
2 Grim Recruiter
4 Phantom Blaster Diablo
2 Aurageyser Dragon

This is an old PBO deck with some upgrades from G-era. Winning image would be to end the game with a breakride PBO and persona blasting, gaining a 31k+ glory and 2 crit. Failing that, you still have crossride defense and a reasonably good trigger ratio left in deck. You will realize this deck is rather light on counterblast except for PBO, so if you want to spend counterblast early on blaster dark or macha, just spam away since breakride will unflip 3 for use.

Dorint is there more as a 12k attacker with occasional upside of unflip + 22k column, letting you pull off another gambit if you are at 5 damage and have 2cb unflipped. Therefore i picked it over masquerade, but if you prefer some early aggression you can probably fit masquerade instead of dorint.

Claudas has a different purpose as in the legend deck. He is more often used as a 9k booster when you are on PBO, but you can still use him behind dorint to make a 22k column and a unflip. I would want to fit more in, but since charon is more important to the strategy, and you do not really need the unflip, i had to cut down to just 2 claudas. You can swap the numbers between them if it is to your preference.

Nightmare lets you 'cheat' the crossride defense if you had to ride PBO first by putting the breakride into soul. Its undesirable to do so, but on the long term the defense does add up in card advantage as these days people never really plan to go against crossride defense. Only played one as its for worst cast scenarios, and can be easily fetched with grim recruiter simply hitting the VG, and providing a booster to VG at the same time. Also it is important to note that this and owl allows you to use aurageyser prior to breakride and still keep PBD in the soul, keeping the 13k defense.

Demon requires a little more explanation. Demon lets you fetch more copies of your persona. You can trade Charon for another copy of PBO, or units like painter or javelin who are taking up back row and needs to be replaced with other units. This thins the deck further thin out the deck for your gambit turn by removing another G3 from the deck.  The CB cost is already quite light in this deck, and since the breakride already unflips 3, you don't really have to save CB for the big turn. In a pinch you can retire a charon, and still make a 16k column with this unit and either G3s or a dorint.

I ran the ride chain because it synergies with BPD quite well. The G1 can fetch the G2 if ridden or search for the breakride if called as RG. 6k still makes reasonable columns with dorint and blaster dark, and if used as booster for macha you will still get the search, which is what is more important. Blaster dark can be used early if you get rushed, and 10k base is quite good defense against rush so that they find it hard to punish you for more guard as compared to G2 9k. You only really need 1 copy as there is almost no way to damage check it if you ride javelin, and if you missed the ride chain you can still ride any other G2.

The deck can be is a bit slower because of GB1, but you can sit on 10k blaster dark quite safely for a turn without getting overwhelmed. Furthermore your GB1 RG do not have any important effects on call, so they can be called early to pressure if needed.

Card Review: Soverign Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon (I mean, AURAKAISER Dragon) + Basic combos

Card Review: Soverign Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon (I mean, AURAKAISER Dragon) + Basic combos

Finally the full effect of the SP new stride is previewed. I am a tad sad the name is Aurageyser and not Aurakaiser, which would have been more badass. After all the hype about it, many people view this as a little as underwhelming, but I assure you, this is anything but disappoint. Lets get to the card breakdown.

http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Sovereign_Black_Dragon,_Aurageyser_Dragon

Stride (Released when both players' vanguards are grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down.
[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1) & Choose a card named "Sovereign Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon" from your G zone, a turn it face up & Choose two of your rear-guards, and retire them] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, reveal two cards from the top of your deck. This unit gets [Power]+5000 for each grade 1 or less card revealed with this effect until end of turn. Put the cards revealed with this effect into your hand

Firstly, Kanzaki is a super sacker to get 2 PG off the stride effect. Its not as strong as direct search as predicted by many, but this ability, which I will dub as "Pseudo drive check", is actually really unique without being broken, and fits G-SP's "G1 matters" theme. Also this pushes G-SP into a more defensive clan who can swarm the field and get back pluses to stay healthy with guarding, a rather big change to the more offensive play-style of revengers.

It might be quite confusing for non-SP players to understand how strong this effect actually is. Basically this unit trades 1CB + 1SB and 2 retire and a copy of itself to activate, meaning the max you can use its effect is twice per game. The main effect is the additional 2 "pseudo" drive checks granted by its effect: a net +2 to your hand. This is great for setting up for your guarding, and your big power play next turn either by breakride, striding, or even legion.

Ok about his "pseudo" drive checks. Many people have pointed out that its not impressive as it only gives power to Aurageyser, and any trigger revealed would be 'wasted'. It cannot be any further from the truth. If you checked a trigger, you would have added another 10k shield into your hand (unless draw trigger), and added another 5k to Aurageyser, making it more tempting for enemy to PG or just no guard. It also turns any G1 into a real trigger to Aurageyser, which on normal circumstance is worth nothing but a 5k shield. If we follow the standard grade composition in a deck being 16 triggers and 13 G1, we have upwards 22-26 G0 or G1 out of the remainder still left in the deck, almost nearly 50% chance on first stride to get at least 5k power. That makes this a 36k triple drive column, an almost PG or no guard.

*(Gentle reminder: this happens during declaring attack, so your opponent will know exactly how much power you are getting off the skill. It works in your favor either way, as you either bait out more of his guard or force damage through).

Another important, but often taken for granted is the retire cost. This proves to be extremely good against overlord by preventing them swinging at your intercepts, and LJ so they cannot lock out that column without gimmicks. It also helps fuel for legion, as it adds at least 4 cards to drop zone in 1 shot.

So based on all this, Aurageyser is a setup stride, very similar to grim recruiter, except it does not have to hit and is a lot harder to guard without a PG due to its variable power.

Combos (obvious ones)

Some of the simplest pluses for the various archetypes:

G-Era SP

0. Start turn with 2 hand; fodder/G3 and a G1/G2
1. Draw phase (+1 hand,3 hand)
2. Stride by dropping fodder or G3 (-1 hand, 2 hand)
3. Use Claret skill to superior call a swordbreaker, draw a card (+1 unit and hand, 3 hand)
4. Call another RG in swordbreaker column (-1 hand, 2 hand)
5. Swing into Enemy VG if column is 16k+ (swordbreaker is 8k booster because of Claret), else swing their intercept
6. Swing with Aurageyser, pay cost retire swordbreaker row (-2 unit, cost 1CB 1SB)
7. Aurageyser skill drive check, imagine you drive check 2 G2/G3, so no power added (+2 hand, 4 hand)
8. Proceed to normal triple drive of the stride unit. Much higher chance to check triggers due to removal or 2 non-triggers (+3 hand, 7 hand). Opponent proceeds to eat the attack or PG (-2 enemy hand) or drop 3+ cards to guard if he is dying and no PG

total profits: +5 hand (+1-1+1-1+2+3), -1 unit (+1-2) for the cost of 2CB 2SB, 1 Fodder and 1 unit in hand, 5 cards in drop zone (If legion next turn)

Adding 6 new cards to hand in 1 turn is no laughing matter, without accounting for draw triggers. You also just went through 7 cards in your deck, greatly increasing your next turn's trigger density. This also is not including any new cheese that might appear in GBT-03 that will further imbalance this equation further. (hint: new GB1 Nemain) 

(Edit: It has caught my attention that David exists. This changes the situation to similar as Charon, making the retire cost for Aurageyser VERY affordable.)

Legend Deck

0. Charon or a way to fetch it, fodder G3 or G1 (2 hand), Blaster dark diablo as VG
1. Draw (3 hand)
2. Stride Aurageyser, discard fodder (-1 hand, 2 hand)
3. Call charon (-1 hand, 1 hand)
4. Charon boost with starter, 5k guard
5. Aurageyser attack, retire charon (-1 RG)
6. Aurageyser skill drive check, imagine you drive check 2 G2/G3, so no power added (+2 hand, 3 hand)
7. Proceed to normal triple drive of the stride unit. Much higher chance to check triggers due to removal or 2 non-triggers (+3 hand, 6 hand). Opponent proceeds to eat the attack or PG (-2 enemy hand) or drop 3+ cards to guard if he is dying and no PG

Total profits: +4 hand (+1-1-1+2+3), -1 RG (charon), 1CB 1SB

In this scenario it is a insanely cheap setup for 5 new cards in hand, while only retiring charon (potential G3 filter), as well as instantly going to GB2 which allows cheap diablo strides next turn while maintaining a reasonable board. Add in Macha for for insane plus through calling trumpeter into claudas for a new 16k column.

Revengers

0. Start with fodder and mana in hand (2 hand)
1. Draw (3 hand)
2. Stride (2 hand)
3. Call mana, calling any G1 (shadow lancer to filter if G3 in hand, dark bond to CB and filter a G0 or Claudas (-1 hand)
4. Mana boost attack intercept or VG
5. Aurageyser attack, retire mana and called unit (-2 RG)
6. Aurageyser skill drive check, imagine you drive check 2 G2/G3, so no power added (+2 hand, 3 hand)
7. Proceed to normal triple drive of the stride unit. Much higher chance to check triggers due to removal or 2 non-triggers (+3 hand, 6 hand). Opponent proceeds to eat the attack or PG (-2 enemy hand) or drop 3+ cards to guard if he is dying and no PG
8. If called trumpeter and not retired, return to deck to be called again later.

Total profit: +4 hand (+1-1-1+2+3), costing 1-2 CB 1SB, 2 retire, Thin deck of 2-3 non-triggers (remove 8-9 cards out of deck), 4 cards in drop zone for legion.

This suits the revengers playstyle for setting up Abyss breakride turn. For a minimal cost you thin your deck, dig deeper to find an abyss, and add cards to hand to guard as required, granting a more devastating legion turn that drive check into lots of triggers to wreck them. Given the nature of how revengers call units for cheap, the retire does not really hurt them much. If Judgebau was behind the Vg this creates immense pressure to your opponent, as you threaten to dig up  to 2 swordbreakers for even more insane pluses, and setting up for a diablo gambit next turn.

Witches

Post legion turn:
0. Hand fodder, a morpher(G1 or G2) (2 hand)
1. Draw (3 hand)
2. Stride (2 hand)
3. Call morpher, change a RG (1 hand)
4. attack with column
5. Aurageyser attack, retire morpher and used unit (-2 RG)
6. Aurageyser skill drive check, imagine you drive check 2 G2/G3, so no power added (+2 hand, 3 hand)
7. Proceed to normal triple drive of the stride unit. Much higher chance to check triggers due to removal or 2 non-triggers (+3 hand, 6 hand). Opponent proceeds to eat the attack or PG (-2 enemy hand) or drop 3+ cards to guard if he is dying and no PG

Total profit: +4 hand (+1-1-1+3+2), CB1 and SB2, reload hand for next legion turn, retire already used on-call RG to be legion back (Melb or Setcurna), 4 cards in drop for next legion, force more 0s out of hand.

So summary:

• Aurageyser WILL find a home in pretty much every SP deck as a 2-4 off
• Converts RG (usually those that already gave pluses) for MORE pluses in hand.
• Do not fear its "pseudo check", a plus is still a plus!
• Sets up most kinds of finishers (Abyss or Diablo)
• Fits beautifully into the legend deck (1st stride), Charon makes it cheap, sets up Blaster Dark's GB2 for just 1CB and 1SB

Overall Verdict: 9/10 (will be everywhere in SP, and they will be EVERYWHERE)

card review: Sovereign Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon

card review: Sovereign Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon

http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Sovereign_Dragon,_Claret_Sword_Dragon

So we have the stride break unit for SP finally revealed in its full glory. And does not dissapoint. It is a straightforward +1 for 1 CB with a bonus 2k tagged onto the unit. The power bonus is deceptively powerful as hitting those perfect numbers are key to forcing more shields.

Possible Value targets:

• 8K + 2k = 10k booster, works with 11k or 12k attacker for 21k
• 7k + 2k + 12k attacker = 21k
• Eagle can make 21k column with 8k booster (tentative)
• Gururubau to make 11k attacker
• GB1 10k attacker hitting for 12k (tentative)
• 6k + 2k = 8k booster (prohibited books or Swordbreaker)
• 5k + 2k = 7k booster, boost most g2 to 16k (calling a 2nd starter or utility starter)
• Servemyu to become 12k VG booster (hit crossrides)
• Effect triggers like Howl owl for +3k and SC to fix columns (6k can still make 16k with 10k attacker, GB1 G1 or 10k vanilla), or new GB1 stand trigger (tentative)

Another thing worth noting is that his timing works really well with  Efnysian, You can still pay for Efnysian effect even if you have 0 RG by first using Claret Sword's effect, possibly a Swordbreaker for a +1 hand before retiring for the power gain. You could even use it to call a 6k G1 to boost for 8k, hitting the magic number of 41k, which is PG or no guard territory.

As for his GB2 effect, its a reminiscence of Halberd Revenger, Peredur minus the CB and Revengers restriction. However, it would not be possible to use Charon for a cheap 10k crit as Charon needs a 'blaster' VG, but given how easy it is to get cheap plus and no CB cost, it is relatively painless to employ. However you will likely not see this being used much due to the strength of currently known DDPBD and possibly speculated Aurakaiser Dragon, but in a pinch can be used to force shields or PG off opponent if you are unable to stride.

Possible roles with current pool:

• Swordbreaker and little penalty. and even to the extent of using this with Darkheart and Prohibited Books or Charon while you are on DDPBD to get 3 cheap fodder
• striding Dragruler Revenant lets you do some cheese with Claudas to find a Blaster Dark Revenger
• Judgebau with DDPBD if it suits your fancy. 
• Emergency attackers in a pinch and column fixing.
• Along with Macha and Badhabh Caar, swarming the field for cheap, ready for DDPBD, Aurakaiser Dragon or Efnysian retire cost, and thinning deck in the process.
• Potential good combination of this with Cormack legion to have an all round strong stride turns + universally strong legion that isn't picky about what it eats.

Rating: 9/10

Based on whats already spoiled, we can conclude Claret has a good plateau of toolbox to call,for cheap field flooding and fodder. A very strong ace unit for G-SP for gaining board presence and filtering, expect to see a lot of this once GBT-03 becomes available.