Sunday, March 31, 2013
Clan Spotlight Series #1: A Dark, Irregular Hole in the Ground!
Dark Irregulars. They are a unique clan that focuses on dog-piling the soul with outrageous numbers of cards, and then using that number to deal veritable waves of damage to their foes. These decks have seen a number of different forms and identities throughout the meta, but they are always a strong contender for the throne. Today I'm going to take us through the 3 most popular deck forms (lists included) and chat about strengths and weaknesses for a bit, so that you may also enjoy the wonder that is a DI deck.Do note, we will only be discussing pure DI decks. So the popular Hybrid Deck of Amon + Blazing Flare will get no love until I do a Hybrid Deck Spotlight.
Deck Profile 1: Amon
Deck Style: Soulcharge for Maximum Power/Retire Enemy Units
Deck Description: The whole point of this deck is Amon. He is one of very few Vanguards in this game that can hit consistent numbers of 25,000 and above without any form of trigger or booster. When played correctly, Amon will wreck your opponent. The goal here is to play only cards with no Counterblast Requirement, or very little counterblast requirements, and use them all for Amon's ability. Once he clears 30,000 per strike, most people will stop guarding him unless they can use a perfect guard, so stack up those crits and be ready to win.
Deck List
.:: Grade 0's ::.
1x Vermillion Gatekeeper [Starting Vanguard]
4x Cheshire Cat of Nightmareland [Heal Trigger]
4x Dark Knight of Nightmareland [Critical Trigger]
4x Blitzritter [Critical Trigger]
4x Hysteric Shirley [Draw Trigger]
.:: Grade 1's ::.
4x Doreen the Thruster
4x Alluring Succubus
3x Poet of Darkness, Amon
4x March Rabbit of Nightmareland
.:: Grade 2's ::.
3x Emblem Master
4x Dark Soul Conductor
4x Decadent Succubus
.:: Grade 3's ::.
4x Demon World Marquis, Amon
4x Evil Eye Basilisk
Playstyle
Critical Heaven. Do note I chose Vermillion Gatekeeper to use, because he stays in soul and attributes to Amon's power without having to spend a counterblast. The general style is to plant a few Doreen on the Backrow, and to soulcharge at least 1 card every turn. Doreen gains +3000 for the rest of the turn anytime a card enters the soul before you start attacking, so Amon's Effect will trigger this, as will Hysteric Shirley, which puts two cards in the soul for a whopping +6000 to all your Doreens. This ability is exceptionally devastating early game, when you can start clearing 20,000 rows when they have a grade 1 or two vanguard. Decadent Succubus NEEDS to be your Grade 2 Vanguard, so you can make use of her effect and get 9+ soul by turn two. Also remember that each time Amon Soulcharges with his effect, the opponent loses a Rearguard. This can easily cause their field to dwindle to nothing, and make guarding easy on you. I recommend all 4 perfect guards, because Amon is only a 10K on defense, and you may very well need it. Also, note I've included Emblem Master. He does use a counterblast, but Soulcharging 3 makes Amon very powerful very fast, and so the trade off is worth it.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When Amon has 17 Soul beneath him, you want to stop charging. You can and WILL deck out if your opponent manages to perfect guard Amon for four complete turns. Besides, after 17 cards are in the soul, Amon is a 27,000 on his own, and even when a weak Doreen boosts for 6,000, he is 33,000, which is a magic number on crossrides, let alone everybody else.
Deck Profile 2: No Life King
With one build down, let's move to the second build which has gained popularity: No Life King.
Deck Style: Spend Zero Damage for Final Turn!! Attacks.
Deck Description: Spend Zero Damage. That is the name of this game. The deck soulcharges far less than other DI decks, because it only needs 8 in soul to function. That being said, it's lineup in very weird. Like most DI decks, the focus is on offense, and so we'll be using a lot of criticals to force the opponent to expend their guard early. No Life King's effect is the game clincher here, and we want them grasping for cards by turn 5, so we can end them.
Deck List
.:: Grade 0's ::.
1x Vermillion Gatekeeper [Starting Vanguard]
4x Cheshire Cat of Nightmareland [Heal Trigger]
4x Dark Knight of Nightmareland [Critical Trigger]
4x Blitzritter [Critical Trigger]
4x Hysteric Shirley [Draw Trigger]
.:: Grade 1's ::.
4x Doreen the Thruster
3x Poet of Darkness, Amon
4x Alluring Succubus
4x March Rabbit of Nightmareland
.:: Grade 2's ::.
4x Blue Dust
4x Flirtatious Succubus
3x Demon of Aspiration, Amon
.:: Grade 3's ::.
4x No Life King, Death Anchor
3x Evil Eye Bassilisk
1x Dark Lord of Abyss
Playstyle
Here we have a deadly dangerous deck, and Dark Irregular's first FINAL TURN!! The best part about it? You final turn as often as you want with this deck. As you can see, there is exactly one card in the entire deck that uses a counterblast...and that is Dark Lord of the Abyss, who you ride only when you can't dare to use No Life King any longer, and need to still push for game. Otherwise, you will ALWAYS have 5 damage available and unflipped. Here's how it works. Just like Amon, Doreen's provide the power. the two Succubi you will play will provide the main-phase soulcharges to power them, and when you hit grade 3, No Life soulcharges every turn, guaranteeing a 9K booster every turn. If you can't get your Doreens, I've included Grade 1 Amon, who will always be a 9K booster once you hit 6 soul (turn 2). Tech in Blue Dust in case you can't get any draw triggers or anything to the soul, and by the time you ride Grade 3, you should already have all the soul you need. So stop soulcharging IMMEDIATELY. Trust me, you'll go through your deck way too fast otherwise. Carefully negotiate yourself to five damage, guarding against criticals and such, letting through the little attacks that mean nothing. Once at five damage, start guarding everything. No Life King's effect will put five face up damage into the soul, and give him 10,000 and a Crit. Just to be safe, the deck is loaded with 8 criticals to supplement this (if it goes through) or to give them to your Rearguards (who should all but hitting rows of 20-21K every turn). The opponent can't guard everything, but be aware that five cards gets shaved off your deck every turn that you do this. So if you include drive checks, drawing, and soulcharging, you lose 9 cards every turn. 3 Final Turn!! attacks will see you damn close to decking out. So use them sparing. If you run out of Final Turns to attempt, try and ride Dark Lord. He is still an 11, so your guarding will be the same, but he can make use of your now outrageous soul (15-22 cards thick) with his CB2 limit break. You could also substitute him for Amon, who uses 0 counterblast, but I like the ease of guarding. And that's it. Go No Life, Final Turn!!
Deck Profile 3: Blade Wing Reijy
This is by far my favorite Dark Irregular Deck, but it takes a lot of awareness to play correctly.
Deck Style: Get 15 Soul, push for Game
Deck Description: Reijy focuses on gaining 15 soul. With the right opening hand, this can be accomplished on turn 3 or 4, which means Reijy can hit for 3 Damage every turn. Your opponent will definitely waste all their time guarding this guy, so feel free to wreak havoc on his field with all your other units.
Deck List
.:: Grade 0's ::.
1x Greedy Hand [Starting Vanguard]
4x Cheshire Cat of Nightmareland [Heal Trigger]
4x Dark Queen of Nightmareland [Stand Trigger]
4x Hungry Egg of Nightmareland [Stand Trigger]
4x Hysteric Shirley [Draw Trigger]
.:: Grade 1's ::.
4x Demon Bike of the Witching Hour
3x Courting Succubus
4x Alluring Succubus
4x March Rabbit of Nightmareland
.:: Grade 2's ::.
4x Dark Soul Conductor
4x Decadent Succubus
3x Emblem Master
.:: Grade 3's ::.
4x Blade Wing Reijy
2x Demon Marquis, Amon
2x Dark Lord of Abyss
Playstyle
No criticals. Reijy will do all of that for you. His passive crit will fighten the enemy into their wet pants, so play the deck right and you shouldn't need them. Rule of thumb here relies on one question: How badly does this deck need Limit Break? If the answer is "It needs it" then stop at 3 Damage and only attack rearguards until you have 15 soul. If they don't, proceed to push for game as often as you'd like. But since Reijy deals three damage per swing, you can kill an opponent after only giving them three or four damage. Why give them more than that? The deck works as follows. On your opening turn, ride your grade 1 (any one will do, but its best if it isn't the Demon Bike), and move Greedy Hand away from the vanguard. You need that booster slot open. Even if you can attack, don't call any more units that turn.This deck fails or succeeds based on TURN 2, and it relies on you playing a lot of your hand. Turn 2, you ride Decadent Succubus. Play everything you can. Put a Demon bike behind the vanguard, play out any grade 2's you have to attack, and play an draw triggers in your hand. Decadent will soul charge 1 card for each of these you called, so you can easily attain 4 soul from that alone, more if you called cards like Alluring Succubus that soul charge on their own. Put your draw triggers into the soul for +2 soul apiece. At the end of turn two, your soul should be between 9-11 cards if you did everything correctly (an Emblem Master may need to score a hit to ensure this). Turn three, ride Reijy. Target that bike and put all three copies into the soul. Reijjy now has a 12K booster. Put Greedy hand back into the soul, and Reijy is primed for battle. Then you simply drive the enemy to 3 damage, and Reijy swings for game every turn. The opponent WILL guard your first three turns of battle, while you whittle down their rearguards with your own. If ONLY reijy attacks the vanguard, they'll understand that either he hits them, or they will never get the limitbreak/CB they need to keep playing. They will psyche themselves out and let Reijy hit. Then they will pray for a heal trigger, while you pray for stands. Stand a unit and give it plus five, two if you can manage, and if they don't heal, you just won. Personally, I like to let them put me at four or five damage by now, just to limit any heals from going off. Super fun to play, trust me.
And that's really it. There are other fringe builds of Dark Irregulars, but these are the three that are up to snuff and tournament playable. Remember that aside from No Life's start of turn charge, all soulcharge abilities are by choice. You can always say "I choose not to soulcharge." So don't soulcharge until you deck out and you'll be just fine. I do have to say that this is one of the most fun clans to play, next to Angel Feathers and maybe Pale Moon, just because they do this weird soulcharging. So be really ready to dive in with one of my favorite clans, because it is awesome, and you'll never regret it.
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