Friday, January 4, 2013

Royal Paladin - Beatdown

And I bring you all my original creation: a Royal Paladin beatdown deck using Solitary Knight, Gancelot!

What?  No!  Don't stop reading!  I'm not crazy!

I swear this deck works!  It seemed to work LESS in my head actually.  Upon testing on Cardfight Capital though, this deck seems to fare quite well against both English meta decks AND Japanese meta decks (and it beats the living hell out of everything else).

CAN'T WAIT to complete the deck with all its pieces.

EDIT:  I congratulate these brave knights, for they have proven themselves worthy!  To me, and to a good number of people at various locals.  This deck isn't just a joke anymore lol.

I wonder if I can troll people more by taking out Elaine and putting in Margal...(not like my main goal here is winning consistently or past my midgame).


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He's a lot more awesome than you all think he is!
(Ok, maybe not A LOT, but he's got his uses.)
Grade 0
1x Wingal Brave (needs a G3 searcher lol)
4x Bringer of Good Luck, Epona (Critical)
4x Alabaster Owl (Critical)
4x Future Knight, Llew (Critical)
4x Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine (Heal)

Grade 1
4x Toypugal
4x Little Sage, Marron
2x Lake Maiden, Lien
4x Flash Shield, Iseult

Grade 2
4x Blaster Blade
3x Swordsman of the Blaze, Palamedes

Grade 3
4x Solitary Knight, Gancelot
4x Swordsman of the Explosive Flames, Palamedes
2x Twin Shine Swordsman, Marhaus
1x Knight of Conviction, Bors
1x Holy Disaster Dragon
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Now, time to attempt to redeem any credibility I lost by running Gancelot.

First off, a word about the starting vanguard.  It's better than trumpeter, but don't expect it to do much work.  Do expect to have to replace it with another booster.  Actually, in case of Bluegal, go ahead and use him as an attacker in early game!

Criticals work for this deck.  Don't know if stands do.  They might.  If you're too poor for 4x Llew or like draw triggers, fill in the last 4 trigger spots with Margal (Draw) instead.  His skill works well with Gancelot.

Does this deck benefit A LOT from heals?  Depends how you play it.  Either way, just run heals.  Don't be a hipster.
The ultimate defense and the ultimate offense.
Marron is your typical 8k booster.  He works with all the attackers in this deck to some extent.
Toypugal works because of the very high number of grade 3s that this deck uses.
Lien helps with consistency in early game.  She's also a 7k booster, compatible with most of this deck's attackers.
Iseult is a perfect guard.  Gancelot has terrible defensive stats and grade 3s will be left in hand very often for this deck.  YOU NEED ISEULT.  If you really are poor, get 2 and run 4 of Lien.

Soul Guiding Elf did not work.  Her counterblast skill wasn't needed as much as Lien's cycling.  And when it was needed, it threw off the counterblast balance.

There are only 7 grade 2s.  I'm not insane.
The rationale is that Gancelot can search for Blaster Blade, meaning he functions as a pseudo grade 2 of sorts.  It's not perfect though, since his skill activates AFTER ride phase.  Simply put, if you drive check into it at grade 1, you can't use his skill and ride that same Blaster Blade next turn (but this rarely happens, trust me).
G2 Palamedes is the emergency backup ride.  Riding him is better than nothing.  Plus, his card art is sexy.  He works VERY well in this deck due to the amount of grade 3s.  He's also a 20k column with Toypugal.
Grade 2 Palamedes gets a special mention for having really sexy card art.
Grade 3 Palamedes speaks for himself.  He's just too awesome.

WHOA, 12 grade 3s?  You may be asking, "Is she nuts?"
Nope, I don't run Brigitte or Tristan.  They don't work in this deck.  Really, they don't.
G3 Palamedes is our MVP here.  His skill may as well not have a condition EVER in this deck.  He makes columns with all the boosters, and when I say COLUMNS, I mean 3 stage columns.  (Barring Lien for 11k vanguards and Marron for Majesty Lord Blaster, and do we really need to talk about crossrides here?)
Marhaus is here because we ran out of Palamedes.
Bors is more of a tech.  Gancelot and Blaster Blade use counterblasts in 2s, so there's 1 left for Bors.  Feel free to swap him out for Marhaus or Holy Disaster Dragon.  I run him because I like his art.
Holy Disaster Dragon is also a tech of sorts.  He makes 3 stage rows WITH ANYTHING, AGAINST EVERYTHING.  His cost is a solid -1 though.  This is lessened if you are discarding a grade 3 that you couldn't guard with anyways though.  That happens a lot in this deck.  If you like him, take out a Bors or Marhaus for another, and if you don't, run another Bors or Marhaus.
Gancelot is mainly used as the "engine" that makes this deck work.  But I use him as vanguard too, because I'm rather fond of the card.

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Winning Image: Imagine this...your field full of 3 stage columns...your opponent struggling to guard your attacks......yeah, that's what this deck does.  And it does it consistently, because half this deck is column making units (the other half is triggers, perfect guards, and Blaster Blade).

There isn't TOO MUCH to say for strategy.  Keep it simple, make good columns, make your opponent lose cards and gain damage.

This deck isn't heavy on counterblasts or reliant on any limit breaks so guarding early is fine.  That does mean you'll be healing less often, but that's a given.

Oh, don't be afraid to minus a bit to fix your field.  If you have to ride another grade 3, discard for a crucial Holy Disaster Dragon attack, replace the starter, or drop a bit of guard for the rears, just do it.


His card lore makes him seem so lonely...
OH, almost forgot.  If you're like me and you enjoy actually USING Gancelot as more than an engine, some rules of thumb:

-2 counterblasts at a time.  Don't flip 4 unless you KNOW they don't have a perfect guard in hand.

-If you had the fortune of going 1st, and their grade 2 vanguard is 9k, (if you're using Wingal Brave) ride Gancelot, make 19k and hit them for 3 stages.  They're guarding a 3 stage vanguard attack early, or they're take 2-3 damage (if they're at 2 damage, they might take the latter choice).

-Ride him early, use him, and ride a 10k over him, or ride him over a 10k for final turn.

-Margals work well with him if you don't have 4x Llew.

-At worst, he's a rear guard attacker to fulfill a Palamedes or Toypugal requirement, or Holy Disaster / perfect guard fodder.


I really love using this deck and I have to say that it's AMAZINGLY FUN.
Note: If your opponent has a crossride at 13k, just 3 stage their rears occasionally to annoy them.

EDIT: Gancelot is flipping awesome.  Don't hate.  He's like the 100x cheaper MLB with some drawbacks (no really, MLB is $25, trial deck Gancelot is $0.25).  Literally, they work on a similar strategy and are probably live by turn 3.

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Deck Cost: $110 + $80 for Iseult (cut that down by $20 for each Iseult you don't run)

I got a lot of mines for less/trades/pulls so my deck cost was quite different, but that should be the average.

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