Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Toronto Top 8 Oni Assassin Deck List

Hi guys! I'm back from Toronto regionals. It was a fun time. I lost a few gym battles but that's fine. It was fun and people enjoyed my gym battle format. I wanted to share my deck list and sideboard before I rework it with all the new New World Chaos support so let's hop to it!

The flag is not legitimate just fyi

Obviously you have to run Katana World to play Oni Assassins. The flag is custom made. It's not normally able to be foil. Fiend of Gaze, Ayo is buddy because he's free to call and free set up. Pretty straightforward reasons. I know people run Red Lady Oni, Kureha as buddy and I don't blame them. It's fine if you buddy her but I like free call monsters as buddy. It's personal preference.

Max rarity is so beautiful

Size 0:

Size 1:

Size 2:

Size 3:

Item:

Spells:

Impact:

The deck heirs more on the set 1 cards in terms of game play and cards since New World Chaos just release. I didn't receive all my cards yet for New World Chaos and I wasn't a huge fan of most of the support from set 3 for Oni Assassins. The weapon I liked the most that I had available to me was Dark Arms, Soaring Blade since there are still a healthy amount of monsters that can die by effects.

The concept of the deck is simple but it's execution requires expertise. It's more about controlling the opponent's board and having a good toolbox of one ofs for almost any situation and sideboard out the ones that don't help with the match up. Ideally, you want to stop the opponent's plans to set up their perfect board before it happens. This means that you have to be pretty good at predicting what cards people are running in decks and plan accordingly.

The newest card in the deck was Witching Hour Oni, Kid Ibuki "Gedomaru" since I was able to snag those before the trip. They were useful a couple times but didn't make a big impact. I feel that that's more on me for putting them in last minute and I feel they can be better than I used them for. Usually, I have my deck ironed out for the last week or two and just play it until it feels natural. I literally put those Ibukis and play tested it in my deck the night before.


Sideboard:

So I'll break down why I chose each card for sideboard:

CHAOS Ox-Head Horse-Face for soul reliant decks but aren't necessarily souls in monsters such as Black Dragons with Death Count ~Requiem~ and Plague's book, Scholarly Tome of Death, Aneotomy.

Chess Break was for Invitation to Death Grounds and Sunken Seabed Ruins. The former just literally stops by deck and the latter is annoying when trying to inflict effect damage and even if I destroy it, the opponent can just revive it for 1 life during their main phase so putting it to the bottom of the deck is a nice alternative.

Demon Way, Sakurafubuki was sided as a general toolbox against decks with strong spells. I had to real target in particular.

The Secret Sword cards fall under the same general category as Demon Way, Sakurafubuki. There's so many dragons in this game that it can stop a lot of decks. My personal favorite deck to stop with it is Prism Dragons since the opponent has to pay the call cost (usually 2-3 gauge) and then it's nullified. This makes it hard for them to recover that 3 gauge without sitting on something in the mean time.

If you have any questions about the deck, feel free to leave them in the comments.
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Thursday, March 22, 2018

New World Chaos Katana World Set Review

Now that all the cards are released about New World Chaos and it's going to come out tomorrow, I figured it would be a great time to review the Katana World cards of this set. This set is definitely has its fair share of the good, the bad and the ugly.

There are a few Katana World reprints in this set and even more reprints in the overall set. I won't be reviewing the reprints since it should be obvious by now what decks would need them and how they're used. Without further ado, let's jump right in! 


SPs:

I love this SP's art.

We're starting with the new Ibuki SP. It's on enter ability can be flexible for both offensive and defensive purposes and it doesn't have to enter by ambush. In fact, it doesn't have any additional ability that goes off when it enters by ambush which ultimately is fine. 

When it enters during your main phase, it will probably be used offensively and if it enters during the opponent's turn, it'll be defensively. I think it's better offensively considering it has Double Attack for just one gauge.

This should help against Prism Dragons and breaking down Athora. This won't help too much with Battz since the size 3 has infinite power and the size 2 has 13,000 power which would reduce him down to 7,000 and he can still hit Ibuki and Geargod might as well laugh at -6000 to his power. Although, reducing Geargod's defense could have its uses.

The Overkill is great. By discarding 1 card from hand during your opponent's turn, you can put 3 cards from your deck face down into his soul so it's a +2 in advantage. This gives you the ability to properly set up a counter to whatever would work against your opponent. I can't tell if I like this one's Overkill or the Oni-Devouring Oni, Kid Ibuki "Arabone" Overkill more. My only gripe with Arabone is there's a lot of cards that can overlap their "can't be destroyed by card effects" ability to other cards to protect key monsters that would be otherwise susceptible.


Secret Rares:

Can't touch this
5 World Build Masters (5WBM) finally comes out for english in this set! In case anyone didn't know, there was a set released in Japanese called 5 World Build Masters about 6 months ago (from writing this) that had some good cards for Katana World but Bushiroad decided to not announce when it would come in english. It's finally being released within this set.

I've been waiting too long for this card. It's a great Ninja Arts recovery card from drop for just one gauge. Need extra gauge with Clear Serenity? Need a certain monster from the drop? Grab Fuuton, Sweeping Whirlwind. Need a size 2 or greater monster from deck? Grab Searchlight. It's a cheap card with good, standard ninja stats that is very flexible.

Talk about strong headwinds
This card is pretty lack luster. I see where they're going with the card. Nullify an attack to you and you can either bounce a size 1 or less monster on your opponent's field or save a monster on your field to replay during your turn.

Currently, there's not a lot of threatening size 1 or less especially with CHAOS and Thunder Empire being so hard hitting with Size 3s. Sure you can bounce a size 2 or 3 monster that may have had it's size reduced by a card effect but they're not too prevalent at the moment.

Most Katana World decks are closed center (besides Blade Beasts usually) so almost no deck has a real use for this other than the occasional death/shadow dive deck. Kinda weird that out of all the 5WBM cards, they would print this as a Secret Rare.


Triple Rares:

Boy his flavor text is just... bad

This Kid Ibuki is also from 5WBM and it has its flexible uses. When it enters the field, you can return any card on the field back to the owner's hand. The obvious use for this is to bounce cards on the field that can't be destroyed by card effects (like GearGod or Batzz) but if you want to save a card on your field to replay as well, the option is there. It's [Act] ability lets you easily set it up without having to waste House of Assassins, Oni Convoy or it lets you be more aggressive by calling him out with Oni Castle of Contraptions. 

My only issue with the card is it's 2 gauge to call which isn't bad but it doesn't have Double Attack like many Kid Ibukis. Sure it has 3 critical instead of 2 but that isn't better than Double Attack to me. Then again, the bounce could be seen as a form of double attack but I digress. It's not a great card but it's not bad at all. At least you can bounce Death Count ~Requiem~.

Double Rares:

Don't get too triggered ;)

I'm more excited for this card's counter ability than it's "ambush" ability. The counter ability is a nice way to take back control of the field from the massive board spam that Chaos can do these days. It helps push for game as well. You can attack with your current field, call out a Kid Ibuki or a 2 size which could call out a size 1 and attack with them after destroying monsters on the field. It ultimately sacrifices the flexibility of Underhanded Means, Sneak Attack to board wipe the monsters on the field.

The only decks I can think of that the second effect would be great for is Black Dragons or Prism Dragons but they have items and monsters that help protect their set spells from destruction. Otherwise, it would be the occasional rogue deck that has 1 set spell it would use and in which case, I would rather use Grudge Fiend, Hannya.

Falcon Paaawwwwch!

Next is my main main Ziun from back in season 2. His abilities are a mix of First Omni Beast Lord, Ziun and INV Kage Ziun. His abilities are similar to the former with having the stats of the later. What's nice is the gauge cost to increase his power and give penetrate isn't once per turn so his attack can go up really high if you need them to and you have the gauge. You could also use First Omni Beast Messenger, Goishi Goma to reduce his call cost to a mere life. 

Overall, this card isn't great at all. Sure it will obviously fit in a size 3/0 Skull Warrior rush deck and use Boy Transformation, Yamigitsune on him to deal 7 damage overall but that's about it. It's nice to see Omni Lords get new cards though.

Rares:
Chaos Brand Dimensional Sword
I wonder if Chaos would ever use this weapon

Next is the first of two new Oni Assassin Weapons. Both weapons in this set support more of a closed center Oni Assassin deck by allowing the weapons to attack through center. This card is great in its soul removing flexibility. It can remove a soul out of ANY card on the field after it battles and you gain a gauge. 

This could be for removing a soul on your field to continue ambushing, or soul sapping your opponent's monsters, or you could keep soul removing Death Count ~Requiem~ to slow down Black Dragons. It probably won't stop them completely but it may give you another couple turns to try to win.


 Evil Ocular Arts, Yamigitsune
Eye'm watching you~
Moving on, we finally have a new Yamigitsune form and a good one at that! For a measly life, you can call any size 1 or less Skull Warrior monster by paying their call cost. For all intents and purposes, it's essentially a better Snake Princess, Setsuna. 

The problem with Setsuna was the gauge cost you always would have to pay to call anything a long with having the pay the call cost of whatever you're calling and her stats are pretty bad. Yamigitsune has better power and critical and doesn't die at the end of the turn. Plus, you can use Return to the Underworld to call this Yamigitsune without paying the life and then call a size 1. Setsuna would require a gauge from Return to the Underworld, and then another gauge to call a size 1 a long with the call cost. It helps reduce the gauge cost.

The only minor downside is that the ability is named once per turn but ultimately that's fine if it means a better resurrection ability and stat monster. 

I would probably run it as a 3 of. I wouldn't make it buddy since if you're at 1 life, you can't call this and it'll be a dead card. It's overall a welcomed monster in the Size 1/3 Skull Warrior build.

Hairpin Blade, Hoozuki
Where has this card been all my life?
This card has been away from my grasp for far too long. Not only is this card going to be obviously really good in Oni Assassins but with how it's worded, it'll be a perfect weapon for Skull Warriors. This works because it's worded as "When a monster enters your field from the drop zone" instead of "When a monster enters your field by Ambush". 

 Onis can plus off it easier because they can be called from drop during either player's turn but Skull Warriors can get consistent draw and have a viable weapon with a closed center. I do give kudos to Bushiroad for trying to make one card viable in more than one deck in this case.
Hundred Mechs General, CHAOS Gishingyuki
Could we put more stamped icons on a card?
Speaking of cards being viable for more than one deck, we have the return of the Hundred Demon Generals in their Chaosified forms. In this case, we're talking about Gishingyuki. This is a solid beat stick card for several decks. The most notable two are Hudred Demons and the Size 1/3 Skull Warrior build but it can also work in Water since Heavenly Vengeance, Full-equip Kannon is a size 3 Skull Warrior.

He does have one less critical than his original form but that's fine. This card has given Skull Warriors an answer to high defense decks. They struggle with big walls like Athora and their 9k/10/k defense. 

It's named ability is a better version of his original form's [Act] ability. Since it's counter, you can push for game by calling over a self-destructing Skull Warrior or sacrifice a Skull Warrior on the side and call him to the center to cover yourself. Then, you can use Hairpin Blade, Hoozuki to draw a card!
Commons:
CHAOS Lament Oni
I wonder what his non-chaosified version is
Starting with the commons, we have this... uh... Oni. Ok not going to lie. The commons are a little rough. This isn't a great card because it's such a niche ability. I suppose in the random pinch situation that you don't have gauge, don't have Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki and need to destroy a size 2 or greater, this is your man. I guess if the meta ever goes back to size 2s and 3s that can be destroyed by card effects, this guy is an option. Man it feels weird just trying to justify a situation where he's useful.

 CHAOS Unzen
Whatever he's smoking must be pretty dank

Moving on to another not so great card. I don't have much to say to justify using this card. It's a size 3 so he's useless with Heavenly Vengeance, Full-equip Kannon since he'll still size rule out. His abilities are lack luster for every deck he's viable in. Ninjas run size 1s, Chaos has much better options and they don't need shadow dive and like I mentioned before, he doesn't fit in the preferred Water build. It's a passable card.
Godspeed Sword Draw, Mikazuki Munechika
Omae wa mou shindeiru

Even though this card is a common, it's a good card. It top decks a card for soul to help with getting Japenese Blades in the drop. I can use the soul for Hiding Oni in my deck and it gains you back some resources when it moves to the center. A pretty solid card for Blade Beast in general. Plus when you cast Sword Skill, Zanteisettetsu, he gets destroyed but remains on the field so it's a free life and gauge. I wish it had penetrate or double attack but this one is a more defensive Mikazuki Munechika.
Ninja Arts, Vapor Crow
Unzen's "blazing" a path with his vapor crow
And finally is this nice spell. The damage reduction is ok but I like the size 3 bounce effect more. In Water, you can return Heavenly Vengeance, Full-equip Kannon if he's going to be destroyed. The nice thing to note is that against Chaos, you can bounce any card in their line up and it'll be fun to bounce any form of Azi Dahaka which will force your opponent to spend gauge and send monster to the drop to recall him.


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And that's about it from this set. Let me know if you have any thoughts on the cards. I will be at Toronto this coming weekend so feel free to say hi and I have Katana World Gym Badges to anyone who wants to fight me for one. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed!
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Saturday, February 17, 2018

Driven to Disorder Katana World Set Review


Hey Everyone! Long time no see. 

Welcome to my first Katana World set review. I will talk about the Katana World cards coming out in the newest set and predict and see if my predictions are true. In this case, it's the climax booster "Driven to Disorder". I figured this would be a good way for me analyze a whole set of Katana World cards at once. I think it'll help players figure out what cards are viable options for their Katana World deck building. 

I've heard that starting from Driven to Disorder and on, Bushiroad will start releasing sets comprising of every world so you can expect these to come out on a pretty regular basis. Do keep in mind that I will be talking about cards in regards to being played ONLY with the Katana World flag. This means I won't talk much about a card in regards to an attribute flag (like The Chaos, Thunder Empire, Guardians, Executioners, etc.). Some cards may be good for those flags (and I'll even say so) but I won't go in too depth about it.

So without further ado, let's jump into it. I will go from high rarity to low rarity and in alphabetical order.

Triple Rares:

Seriously. Why is Giant Tanuki and his evolved form in Katana World?
Starting off with an irrelevant card for Katana World. Giant Tanuki's "true" form is real solid for Guardians and Executioners a like since he procs his own effects but has no real place for any Katana World deck. Ninjas want to be aggressive as hell (see what I did there?) with size 1 rush , Skull Warriors are trying to figure out their purpose in this meta, Water has no place for this card and neither do Blade Beasts or Oni Assassins. Overall pretty passable for Katana World but don't get me wrong, it's a welcomed card for Guardians and Executioners.


*Om nom nom*

Now this is a card I can work with in Oni Assassins. This set's Oni Assassin cards seem to be more on being aggressive with cards having Penetrate and Double Attack in this set. It feel like it falls short on that task compared to other aggro decks out right now and I still think the countering and out maneuvering ability of Onis is still the better play style.

Regardless, this is still a solid card for Onis. 3 critical penetrate at 10k can help break through walls but the on-enter ability and Overkill are amazing. It has move so it can work with the Oni weapons that can't attack through a closed center which is nice since we don't have Hairpin Blade, Hoozuki in English yet.

The on-enter ability lets you search your deck and take literally any card in your deck and put it face down into the soul. This really helps Oni decks be more consistent with getting the specific Oni/Spell sideboard card out of the deck that really needs to be played against their match up and get it prepped either offensively or defensively. I'm thinking this may replace the impact Dark Skill, Eerie Wailings but I'll have to play test that and see. I still like the impact.

Keep in mind that the on-enter ability is a named ability once per turn so you can't activate it multiple times with you keep calling Arabone Ibuki.

The overkill is a little expensive but I think it's better than the "Shuten Demonic Deity" Kid Ibuki overkill. At least "Arabone" Ibuki nullifies the ability of the card (not just monster) you want to destroy. So if you're struggling with an item or spell, you can kiss it goodbye. The one downside I have with it is you can only use the Overkill during your opponent's turn so you can't use it for a more aggro push.

Double Rares:

Tonight, we strike!
This card is nice. Like, real nice. It replaces Watchful Eyes in my opinion. Not that I thought Watchful Eyes was a great card but I felt Bushiroad was twisting our arm to run it when Overturn! Thunder Empire was released. I'm not a huge fan of cards that give only life gain. It doesn't do anything for your the Oni's win condition. Gaining 2 life and a gauge also isn't great either.

Ibuki's Encouragement on the other hand helps keep your aggro push going for game by calling Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki, Body of Dark Arms, Kid Ibuki and the like with the first ability without losing hand advantage. The first ability isn't once per turn either so if you draw into another one, you can keep the aggro train going.

The second ability set up by replenishing gauge and hand which is always welcomed and does a lot more than just giving you 3 life...

Looks like Kureha has some competition.
At first, I was hesitant on how good this card was but after a little bit of brain storming. It's a welcomed card in Onis. It helps prep attacks with the gauge gain and even though the call cost is from hand, it's optional (up to one) and honestly, sometimes, you do have a card in hand you really want face down on the field but you might not have House of Assassins, Oni Convoy available to accomplish this.

At least putting the card face down into her soul from hand lets you know what you'll get with you ambush (instead of from top of deck) and sets you up easily for Hiding Oni and Underhanded Means, Sneak Attack. 

You can combine this card with Kureha to help absorb attacks. By putting Kureha in Bridge Princess' soul from the call cost, when Bridge Princess dies, call Kureha. Use Kureha's ability to regrab Bridge Princess and put her back in Kureha's soul. Then, when Kureha dies, call Bridge Princess back to gain 2 more gauge and prep her with a real card. It's a nice way to try to mitigate the multiple attacks many decks like Thunder Empire and Chaos can do in a turn.

At its core , it's a beat stick, preparation and resource gain card which is always welcomed in Onis.


Mikazukimaru grew up so fast.
Shifting away from Oni Assassins and over to Ninjas for a moment. This card took me a little while to warm up to. Ninjas have been predominately fixed on cards related to Tsukikage, Byakuya and Gojinmaru variants so I'm usually skeptical and have to think about the interaction of said card when it's not a direct version of the ninja bothers.

This one gets my mark of approval and I think will be apart of the aggressive Ninja deck that's predominant right now with Overturn Ninja, Tsukikage. After you attack with 3 ninjas, use Overturn to call a couple more Tsukikage/Byakuya monsters, you can counter call this and put them all in this card's soul for a 3 crit swing.

I think Byakuya "Shiroyasha Mode" and Nanomachine Ninja, Tsukikage "SD" will be used to some degree with Mangetsumaru to give him shadow dive and boost up his attack/defense.

The only thing I don't like about him is the counterattack. The counterattack would've been much nicer before Batzz, Athora and GearGod became a thing but no card is perfect so I'll take what I can get. At least it helps clear weaker monsters. Plus, with Hades Flame Style, Art of Fire Manipulation coming out as a participation price at Bushiroad Spring Fest 2018, it'll help reactivate counterattack and keep him on the field or re-stand him and push for game.


Rares

I wonder if there's a Blade Beast for this sword.
Moving on, we're looking at the new Blade Beast/Japanese Blade weapon. Sure it's a little expensive with 2 gauge but you can recoup that cost and get double attack by playing spells on your turn (like Clear Serenity) and your opponent's turn (like Sword Skill, Zanteisettetsu or Ninja Arts, Snake Gaze). Sure you can't do anything with the double attack on your opponent's turn but that's not the point.

Also, starting with this card, Batzz Stone, Thunder Emperor's Augite can legitimately be used in Katana World. With this sword being the only Thunder Empire/Katana World weapon though, I don't think I'll be using Batzz Stone in Blade Beasts.

I do think this card has some possible use in aggro Ninja decks though. After you attack with your full field using Overturn Ninja, Tsukikage, you can call Mangetsumaru off to the side, attack with this sword and still attack with Mangetsumaru. Then, Mangetsumaru has move to cover you during your opponent's turn.

I think someone needs to brush her teeth.
Hopping right back over to Onis, we have another... err... lovely lady.

I think she'll be a nice 1 of tech for the main deck that you can always take out during the second game if the opponent doesn't have set spells or a lot of low level monsters. There's a lot of set spells coming out right now for various archetypes and most of them aren't safe from destruction.

Couple that with most size 1 and less aren't safe from destruction effects and I feel like she can destroy two cards on your opponent's field.  She still has 2 crit as well which is nice for trying to push for game.


This card's flavor text speaks to me on a spiritual level.
This card is pretty lackluster for Katana World. Especially since it's a Ninja but Ninjas just want to make a full field of size 1s and push damage. He doesn't accomplish anything related to that. I suppose in theory, he could work for Blade Beasts since they're an open center deck but I don't see it worth it. Maybe as a side board card.

For Thunder Empire though, I think this card will be really annoying since it keeps Batzz a live from attacks and just makes your attacks against Thunder Empire lose a critical. Man, screw this card for Thunder Empire lol. Ultimately, it may be more of a side board card for Thunder Empire since they just want to search for the ace cards (Batzz and Item) and push for game.


Mi casa es su casa.
This was the card that made me realize that Bushiroad is releasing Oni Assassin cards to try to make Oni Assassins more aggressive. Unfortunately, it falls short in that part. The 2000 power is pretty much irrelevant and pointless and there's no resource regain from countering and removing a soul from your cards. I'd rather just run Ibuki's Encouragement with Oni Convoy.

I know not every Oni Assassin set spell can be amazing but I feel like Bushiroad missed their mark on making a legitimate aggro Oni Assassin deck in this set. Oh well. I still like the current play style that Onis excel at.

Teamwork makes the dream work! :D
On one hand, I love new secret swords that are relevant to messing with Dragon World but on the other hand, why does Thunder Empire need a freaking Secret Sword? At least it's more effective in a control Ninja deck that uses Secret Sword, Lethal Formation. Before people start to wonder, yes, you do gain the 3 gauge if this is in the soul of Super Lethal Formation as well since it's regarded as "Secret Sword, Lethal Formation" on the field.

I hope this is obvious but the other thing to note about this card is it can be counter casted from hand in Katana World even if it's not in a Secret Sword, Lethal Formation. Sure, you won't gain the 3 gauge but at least it means this card isn't going to always be a dead card in hand.

Also, quick FYI, reducing damage to zero does not count as nullifying an attack. Wording people. It's important.

We each weave our own fate.
Another Guardians/Executioners Katana World card and once again, I don't see much use for it in Katana World. The current meta has many items that can't be destroyed and some set spells that can't be destroyed or they can be recovered easily if destroyed (like Sunken Seabed Ruins). I feel that Chess Break does a better job at removing set spells and if worse comes to worse, you reduce critical during battle instead.

Sure if you open up with this on an opening turn to bounce back items/spells, it may be useful but that's the thing. They go back to the opponent's hand... where he can reequip or recast on his turn.

At best, I think this may be a side board card for Guardians/Executioners. Not much for Katana World let alone ninjas. At least you could always cast it from the soul of Shinobi Scrolls.


Don't worry. Your death will come soon enough.
A new under-the-soul spell card huh? I gotta say, I still find this concept pretty cool for Onis even after all this time. I don't see this card being a main board card. Onis already have extremely low defense and I feel this won't stop anything. Sure, it may be useful against Prism Dragons but that's about it. I think it's more of a side board card if anything and probably as a 1 of tech in the side board. Ibuki's various forms have good attack stats to deal with walls which doesn't really justify using this.

The unfortunate thing about this card is that it doesn't affect items so it can't be used against transform/ride/station cards in Hero World.


I hate spiders
This card is pretty lackluster. Compared to other options Onis have, he doesn't bring anything special to the table. Double attack penetrate with 1 crit is pretty weak and his ambush critical gain doesn't really add anything special. I guess technically it lets penetrate go through if your facing The Chaos and they have Sunken Seabed Ruins on the field. This is the card that makes me think Bushiroad is trying to make Oni Assassins more aggressive but failing miserably at it.

As a side comment, what is with the on-enter, gain double attack ability? Why not just give straight double attack and say if it enters the field via ambush, give it a critical?


Commons:

No! Not Kimensai. What has the Chaos done to you my friend?!
This card makes me question why Bushiroad makes certain kinds of cards. It's literally useless in Skull Warriors as a size 3 and there's much, much better options for The Chaos that they won't even consider using this card. I know not every card can be amazing but come on Bushiroad. This was clearly a filler card for the set. 

Sure you may get that one fringe game where you can kill someone with the one swing of 4 critical penetrate but that doesn't justify anything about this card.

In summary, a pretty useless card for any deck... and yet I will want a play set of foils because the art is cool.

That's an... interesting card name Bushiroad
Many people may skip this card for preference of using Dusk Fiend, Yagyo which is understandable. 

However, I see this card having utility uses in Katana World (and possibly The Chaos) against Plague and Black Dragon Requiem decks that makes me see it as a sideboard card. Since this removes souls from any card on the field, you can prolong the win condition of those decks by removing souls from Scholarly Tome of Death, Aneotomy or Death Count ~Requiem~.

To a lesser extent, you could use this remove souls out of your own cards to proc ambush but I think there's better options than this card for that.


No. It's not that kind of hot box
A new item for Onis that is... pretty lack luster to be honest. The 1000 attack is pretty pointless. It's ultimately a resource/sustain weapon that's once per turn which doesn't help. I feel that there's better options for Oni Assassin weapons than this though. Out of all the Oni Assassin Weapons we've seen in both English and Japanese, I think this is the worst one.


Who is this queen the flavor text speaks of?
I'm not really digging this card. It's a weak 1000/1/1000 that takes a card from your hand if you want. Sure it has soulguard so it can take 2 hits before dying but so what at 1000 defense?

I don't find the 1 damage once per turn via ambushes to be special or impactful. It doesn't work if they have Athora on the field. It doesn't help you control the state of the board with a measly 1000 attack and you can't push for game with 1 critical.

The only counter argument I see is that the Cube and set spell I talk about above helps boost his attack to compensate and make him a beat stick but like I said, both of those cards are pretty bad and combining all 3 of these said cards doesn't achieve anything more than other combination of better, standalone cards.


Goemon is on the hunt for a better form of himself.
Last but not least is the search card I never thought Ninjas would receive. This card has a couple nice uses and it doesn't require and gauge in its cast cost!

If you're looking for your core size 1 ninjas, you can use this to grab Yumi Ninja, Suiha and then use Suiha to grab what you need.

The other option is to grab a form of Gojinmaru, the Tsukikage/Byakuya impact monster or the new Top-Rank Ninja, Mangetsumaru.

Keep in mind that you can always use Secret Scroll to search for this card and Shinobi Scrolls to draw before casting this. It's a nice searcher. A+ material.

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And just like that, I'm done! Keep in mind I purposefully didn't review Fuuton, Sweeping Whirlwind because it's not official if it's a promo in the set as of me writing this review. If you want a quick summary of what I think of the card, it's a definitely a necessary 3-4 of in any Ninja build.

So what do you think? Are you hyped for the new support? Do you like this idea of me reviewing sets before they come out? Let me know in the comments!
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Tuesday, July 25, 2017

The Strategy Behind Spell Nullifies

This article is something I've been wanting to do for a while. It's something that I feel hasn't been really touched upon in Buddyfight. I'd like to get around to monster nullifies as well but for this article, it will be on spell nullifies.

When I talk about spell nullifies, I'm taking about the ones that are 2 gauge/life and nullify an opponent's spell. Such examples are Demon Way, Sakurafubuki, ...Or So the Dream I had Went, Breathen Gard and Abra Cadabra! and there's a couple in Star Dragon World but you get my point. There's also Secret Sword, Star Crusher, and Runaway Female Ninja, Yukishiro but for the sake of consistency, we'll be focusing on the former spell nulls.
What are you willing
 to sacrifice for victory?

People tend to over look or forget about these cards for good reason. Two life or gauge is quite a bit as a cast cost. Especially to just stop your opponent from playing a card and that's it. No gauge or life regain, no draw after the nullify. Nothing. Why is that?

Well, anyone who has even played a game or two of Buddyfight will notice that this game isn't designed for players to counter every move your opponent makes or have cards to counter every feasible possibility. The main world that is meant to have this design and philosophy is Katana World.

The design of Buddyfight from the get-go is one where you can call your own powerful monsters to battle your opponent's monsters and whoever has the stronger monsters win. It's honestly the best way to sell a game and people psychologically prefer to increase their own power to beat someone instead of bringing others down. It brings games to a satisfying climax.

That's probably why spell nullifies in this game aren't thought of too much when players design their decks. Coupled with the fact that the spell nullifies are 2 life/gauge, people would rather spend that on other monsters, spells, items or impacts to bring them out ahead and I can't blame them.

So why? Why play spell nullifies?

The simple answer is the phrase "A stitch in time saves nine".

Of course in this situation, we're not talking about fabric ripping and sewing it before it gets worse. We're talking about Buddyfight. In this case, some spell cards in this game are so powerful for decks to function or work, that nullifying them and sacrificing immediate life/gauge now will save you hassle to victory later.
I wish my dreams were half this exciting

This doesn't mean put 4 of the appropriate world nullify into every deck and start nullifying the first spells that your opponent plays. Some cards are more important than others and it can takes practice to know when to play spell nullifies.

There's several situations that can justify a spell nullify being played:
  • The card you want to nullify would stop you from winning the game
  • The card being nullified's cast cost is expensive.
  • The card you want to nullify is how the engine of the opponent's deck starts.
  • Your opponent's spell would slow down or stop your own deck's engine from going off

In some situations, nullifying a spell can be because of several bullets at the same time. Let's break down each of these situations down one by one.

Bullet 1:

The first bullet is mainly in regards to shield spells during attacks. This is probably the most common use of spell nullifies and is easily recognizable when you should do this. If your opponent has 6 life and you have a spare 2 gauge/life for your spell nullify, you can do a link attack with your monsters/item to do 6 critical or more at once at your opponent to bait out a shield spell. Then, nullify the shield and win the game. Since the counter chain in this game only goes up to two, your opponent can't play another card even if they wanted to and you win the game.

EDIT: Since the beginning of the Buddyfight Ace season, the rules have been changed where multiple spell chains can now occur during an attack declaration. This bullet is still valid. It's just the last sentence in the paragraph above isn't true anymore. 

Bullet 2:

The second bullet is the toughest to distinguish in games for players. Remember that when a spell is nullified, your opponent must pay the cast cost before you can nullify their spell. In Buddyfight, usually the more expensive a card's cast cost is, the more worth while it is when it activates successfully. It ups your opponent's risk of resource loss if the spell is nullified but if it's successful, they get a bigger pay out. So at what cast cost would it be worth it to nullify a spell outside of battle?
You have the power.
Do you know how to use it wisely?

If your opponent has to expend just as much resources if not more than the nullify, chances are that it's good to nullify. Remember that you are playing a card to nullify and your opponent is playing a spell card to that's a 1 for 1 wash. It now comes down to what you and your opponent are willing to lose together and who can come out ahead more by the loss. Keep in mind that gauge and life are pretty much interchangeable.

Let's look at a good example first and then one bad example of nullifying a spell. We'll work with Demon Way, Sakurafubuki in my Skull Warrior deck since it's more relatable dealing with life instead of gauge. I was playing against a Jackknife Drum deck.  My friend played Sky Dragon Divinity to draw two cards. In this situation, I nullified the spell to slow down his draw engine and limit his options. Later on in the game, he mentioned that he didn't have a whole lot of options and I eventually won.  I was able to get one, maybe two more cards out of him with Companion Katana of Magatsu, Yamigitsune and I won.

In this situation, the draw spell would've kept his draw engine going but we both took -1 card loss and -1 in overall resource loss (1 gauge and 1 life for 2 life). Without more options, he didn't have a way to sustain his board or have defenses for my Skull Warriors to deal damage to him.

So now a bad example with Sakurafubuki.  I was facing a Demongodol deck and my opponent played Raging Chained Strikes on a monster with 2 critical to give it double attack. I also had no monsters on the field and no nullifies in hand. In this situation, it would've put me at a disadvantage to nullify the spell because at the end of the turn, the outcome would've been the same whether I nullified the spell or not. I would be minus 4 life but by not nullifying the spell, I could charge and draw out the Sakurafubuki because my life was at 2 which made it a dead card.

This comes to my last point about the second bullet. Spell nullifies don't need to be played and sometimes they are useless in the current situation of a match and it's OKAY to charge them away. Spell nullifies don't always come to you in the best moment.  Don't try to make it work if it just hurts you more in the long run.
Alakazam!

Bullet 3:

The third bullet relies on knowing what cards are crucial for your opponent's deck to get to their optimal game state. This requires some prior knowledge on how certain decks run. Some cards that are free to play would be good to nullify in certain decks.

One example of this would be Hyper Energy in a Card Burn deck. Since you know that Card Burn requires 4 gauge for it's ability to go off, nullifying Hyper Energy can really stunt your opponent's deck from going off.

Another example that also incorporates bullet two is Great Fate Frozen Stars. Nullifying it alone makes it a wash no matter what spell nullify you play but couple it with the fact that it is the engine of the deck is just icing on the cake.


Bullet 4:

This one does have some relation to the Great Fate Frozen Stars example above but the easiest example would be Skull Warriors, and Demon Way, Sakurafubuki. Shields normally stop the Skull Warrior engine of wanting to rip your opponent's hand out so nullifying shield spells are more crucial for them to do their job. Especially since Skull Warriors plus even harder after nullifying the spell and making your opponent's cards in hand essentially "nullified" by making them discard them.

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So that's pretty much it. I hope it may enlighten people to try spell nullifies in their deck. The 2 gauge spell nullifies are harder to work with in decks because gauge is used so much to call monsters, cast spells, etc. Hero World probably has the easiest time using a spell nullify that uses gauge since they have Hyper Energy. It is feasible with Legend World since they have Darkness Rune and The Hard Working Fairies as well but it's not as much gauge accel. Not to toot my own horn but the best spell nullify is probably Demon Way, Sakurafubuki. Life isn't used much in this game for cost requirements and this leaves your gauge alone to call all your normal monsters onto the field but this does make Sakurafubuki a dead card when you only have 2 life or less.

Crushing hopes and dreams one spell nullify at a time

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