The New Decks of SBT02 "A Collection of Steel Blades and Metal Bodies

    So this is a surprise, we get three weeks of no real news and then BAM! THREE NEW DECKS IN 3 DAYS! HERE'S EXCELBLADE! HERE'S DDT KATANA, HERES DRAGMETAL! Jesus guys, calm down. Next week you`ll be spoiling us S-UB03. So anyway, a new set of attributes are coming out and everyone's just like "Oh hey cooool". So I wanted to explain the three of them as a fun little thing as people seem to love when I talk about them. So not to hold you guys waiting.

Hereee we go!!

Excelblade/Bladedancer

All properties go to Freedomduo

     Excelblade is the brand new attribute of Katana World along with Electrodeity and the new DDT Katana deck. These guys are based around the heart and soul of the samurai, not striking until the time is right. This deck is super item dependent, but the payoff and good damage it can do now is pretty nice. The main card THIS TIME is the item (named after the anime character) Excelblade Godslash, KANESADA, which for 1 life gives you a 10/1/6 on an item which is Nice, but then it gets even better where all <<Bladedancer>> (Including itself) cannot be rest by card effects, and this card cannot be destroyed or returned to hand. So only thing that can stop this is Godpunks, and that's because Godpunks are a degenerate archetype but I digress. This also has Counterattack so when someone attacks this alone, you can kill any small fry. Excellent item, search able by the attributes searcher, and its "Restriction" of not being able to call to the center is not even an issue as most Katana decks are open world to begin with. Meaning at THIS STAGE of the decks life, only knowing about 5-6 cards, we know a good direction of the deck for a basis to play, and theirs a ton of things the deck can get in order to make it more viable in opposition of the Lost World oppression going on right now on BFA. Their main monster, KUROGANE destroys a monster on each turn and deals 2 damage while also gaining you two damage If your weapon is in Stand. NEO will gauge 1 and draw 1 for you on each of its double attacks when your weapon is IN Stand. and SUZU is your searcher for any of your monsters, item or the impact which we will get to. and she gains DA and Pene if you have your item....This time it doesn't ask for stand BUT IT WOULD IF SHE COULD! So onto the impact which is actually pretty darn neat. 

     Pinnacle of Iai, "Godspeed" is only usable when you ate attacked and your <<Excelblade>> is in [Stand] position. For 1 gauge and 1 life. You can nullify the attack. Then nullify the abilities of the cards attacking and destroy all cards in the attack. THEN If a card was destroyed, deal 3 damage. Easy to cast, Easy to use, search able by Suzu and basically a great counter when combined with KUROGANE. Deal 2 with KUROGANE then deal 3 with this guy. 5 damage in one turn when you haven't even attacked yet, is a very good amount and unlike other Counter Finals, this one does not need you to jump through hoops to get to use it, you just play your deck as you always play it and theirs no issue. I would see an issue is this was the only shield in the deck, but since modern buddyfight design overextends on what a deck needs. Their probably gonna get a shield. All in all, Excelblade is gonna turn out to be a fun deck to play in the coming months and hopefully budget friendly with only 1 RRR and 1 RR as we know of. If you are looking towards the path of the Samurai, choose Excelblade as your deck.

Deity Dragon Tribe (Katana)

     So this is a surprise to an extent. We knew Garba being usable in all worlds made it something of a gimmick that was going to be explored, but it was gonna happen sooner or later. Instead of the Drum Method of being curbstomped into other worlds, the other worlds are being built around him, but instead of an Astrodragon Garga or a Linkdragon Garga...he goes with Ninja`s. So again the Ninja deck goes for a more aggressive approach for combat with a backup discard engine for Ninja Arts spells to keep your opponent at bay. Also Naruto references. So let's get on to understanding this new deck and why I actually find it kinda fun to mess around with. 

     Gargantua Wind Demon Dragon is the big G-EVO for the deck His ability allows him to basically use the most underused mechanic in buddyfight to date. The TOKEN MECHANIC FROM BT02! I KNOW! I FORGOT THEY DID THAT ALSO! This one makes 6/2/6 Dragod Size 0 monsters at Counter Speed and allows you to make a second one if you have a G-EVO Card in soul. I did not say by USING G-EVO, I said a G-EVO in soul, so you can call JUST THIS and put a copy of himself or OG Garga into soul and then BOOM! Tokens. Also like shown in the anime, they can be called over monsters, so in case you need to do it in a defensive measure, there you go. They were also given a ton of discard to draw outlets. Their item discards a <<Ninja Arts>> to block an attack plus boost the power and crit of all monsters on your field for Wind Demon plays. They have a card that takes ALL Copies of itself out of the deck, so basically a +3, which you can then use to discard or use as gauge fodder. They also got a Shiden Clone on a set with monster and item protection, and a Flarefang clone that procs on discard to draw. It is simple in the game play but oddly fun in execution. It isn't just Dragon World degeneracy in a new flag. You have to decide when to discard and when to call to proc effects and keep the engine going. I had a good time playing on BFA with these guys for a bit and I hope people enjoy them too.


**Begins Writing this part Friday Morning**
Oh hey, a video showing off Dragmetal, I wonder how they play?

**Its a Control and Burn deck**
.
.
.

TCGBuzz Jacob and I looking at the new cards

Dragmetal

     OH MY GOD, A CONTROL DECK FOCUSED ON TAKING OVER YOUR OPPONENT'S AREAS! I INSTANTLY LOVE IT AND WILL PLAY IT ON BFA TILL THEY STOP GETTING SUPPORT! I think people know by now that I am more of a control player in Buddyfight, see as how I play burn decks focused on effect destruction and crippling my opponent. So this is just bliss to me. They just got revealed today (as of the writing of this part of the blog) and they are focused specifically on controlling the board and gaining advantage.
     Their main mechanic of Dragmetal is "Oppression", where for 1 gauge, you can put these guys on your opponent's left and right OPEN areas and they are then considered "OPPRESSED" areas. I will put some of the bullet points of Oppressed areas below, but for the sake of this blog, an oppressed area is basically an extra area where your monsters can go. You take over your opponent's left and right so you can put Size 0`s in your own left and right zone (And they are gonna get a Size 0, don't you worry) and have about 5-6 attacks of low damage, but mostly to bother the center and destroy cards on the left and right to be able to take over. Their main monster is the bad boy up there Lostknight: Nero Lance, who during your turn, can "Oppress" an opponent's area for one gauge. Then at the end of your turn, if this card was in an Oppressed area, you deal 2 damage to your opponent. Quick burn against your opponent and other Dragmetals, like his original form Argento Lance, gives you a DEL Effect when oppressing an area, so it gives advantage and burn. Rosso is going to be your center shield, becoming a Size 1 5/3/5 that can for free return a monster from your opponent's field to their hand. Use that to pop a free soul or just bounce something out of an area that needs Oppression. Giallo Mace to power bump your entire field by +3/+3 to make your Nero`s hit 8K, your Rosso`s hit 8K, and the eventually size 0`s hit something at all. The two spells revealed, Seiji Kido Defense and Cho-Tokyo Gambit are also interesting. Seiji Defense prevents your Dragmetal monster from being destroyed FOR THE ENTIRE TURN, while also being a nifty drop zone pick up spell. Cho-Tokyo Gambit though returns all monsters to hand like...the original Gambit, but also if you want gives you a gauge and 2 draws if you control both of your opponent's areas. Good draw, good defense, good protection all around, and we haven't even seen all the cards yet, but I already love the concept of the deck and their designs. The inorganic feel of the guys gives off a mechanical vibe, but their organic-like bodies suggest otherwise. Sort of a mix of the unknown animalistic designs known in chess, with more monstrous aesthetics. Its an interesting design and concept. We know for now that Dragmetal is going to have 1 RRR and 2 RR as of now, but in time I can see them getting more R`s and C`s to make the deck more budget friendly. I might actually buy this deck when it comes out if I get the chance. It isn't some super evil antagonist deck, and the cards are powerful but not too powerful besides the control for right now. I cannot wait to play these guys in BFA...however I don't think theirs card moving in BFA for across the field so testing these guys may be a little awkward at first, but I WILL GET THROUGH IT IN ORDER TO DEAL THE BURN!!!!
     If you think this deck appeals to the Oppressor in you, I recommend picking up the Dragmetal deck!

In Dragmetal..I mean Conclusion

     Dragmetal is awesome, Excelblade is cool, and DDT Katana is now boring to me after seeing such a cool deck like Dragmetal. I do have a feeling though Bushiroad has the right idea making a second attribute with the main 3 worlds their supporting in order to create diversity. No matter how many times they can put Dragon World in a set, people are going to get tired of too many options for one deck and so having options on what to play, even if its the same world helps spice up the variety of decks shown throughout the season and will bring a lot new decks to life throughout the first Ace season. I do have a theory though in a sense that in S-BT03, they're going to add a new Ancient World attribute that opposes Linkdragon Order, as Dragmetal in a sense opposes Astrodragons. Its a good guy vs bad guy situation and I feel it makes sense to give Ancient World a second attribute to use for the season, seeing how SBT03 support is going to split SDW support into Astrodragons and Dragmetal now. It's just a small theory and I am probably correct, but it doesn't hurt for small speculation as long as you aren't shoving it down someones throat. So I hope you guys enjoy this small look at my next set of spending mistakes and I hope you do not do the same thing as I will do. 

(P.S NOTE BEFORE THE OPPRESS BULLET NOTES, A Small image of a Size 0 Dragmetal has appeared online, however it's so small that it is untranslatable at the moment, but I will now take my correctness and dance because I WAS RIGHT!)

The unofficial Bullet list of rulings regarding Oppession (9/22/18)

• Your opponent cannot call a monster to an Oppressed area
• An Oppressed area counts as an area on your field and not your opponents.
• You can have a maximum of 5 monsters on your field if you Oppress two of your opponent's circles (3 Size 1's and 2 Size 0`s)
• Your opponent must destroy the monster in the Oppressed area in order to return the area back to their possession (the method of doing it is irrelevant though, as long as you get that area open legally)

Droids - Don't do Droids, M'kay.

     Hello everyone, and welcome back to basically the mediocre corner where I show you the vast and unparalleled domains of Hero Worlds bajillion decks. There are twelve archetypes according to Buddyfight Wikia, and that is way more then needed, and those are just speaking of archetypes, theirs also all the attributes Hero World has gotten over the years, if you thought of it, it's probably in Hero World somewhere. So because I am burned out from all the decks I had to review, let's look at something simple, something small, some random Hero World archetype Bushi put into a set and was immediately forgotten about! Sterdroids!

The Dangers of Sterdroid abuse
     Droids were an archetype of cards from D-BT04: Shine!! Super we wasted a lot of that set. From the Black Dragon support I did not ask for to the Trap deck that Bushi keeps forgetting to give their key monster a powercreep, Droids took a small slot in the massive Hero jumble of that set, along with all the Zetta support, and all the other Hero World decks under the sun. Focusing on being unaffected by card effects and focusing on vanilla beatdown with a good burn engine, Droids were seen as a nice budget deck to play while all the big boys played Zetta until the loop was cancelled and then was dropped faster then Bushiroads quality control department. In the almost two years since their release, Droids have gotten a total of 5 cards to their name and this means we can talk about the entire archetype in full detail, explain their core mechanic and game play, and see why Bushiroad possibly forgot about them and focused on the twelve other Brave Machine decks Hero World has to deal with.

Four Droids are all it takes to be a droid abuser

    Gigadroid Biggest is the main guy of the bunch, a 6/2/6 Brave Machine with a 2 gauge [Call Cost] and [Ride] cost. When you [Ride] into him, he puts one of your opponents gauge into the drop zone, and the true special perk of all Droids is that they cannot be destroyed by card effects. So when you ride into this guy, you got a pretty decent vanilla body that cant be destroyed that easily. Heck even newer Transforms and Rides have issue with card destruction like Cosmoman and Battle Buildings since they do not have destruction immunity. It's a good thing to have on, and for the time the 6/2/6 was seen a a nice vanilla statline, but the times have caught up and he needs some crutches to keep him going. Throwing in the Deity Trio into this guy`s soul helps a lot and is required to give this guy a wallop. He is still the main ride of the Droid deck...since he is the only one, and doing this turn 1 does help a bit since unless their deck is one of the newer decks that can generate gauge like its nothing, taking a gauge before they even started is something that was pretty powerful at the time. Run at 4, but remember to stack the deck with Saibird, Tigerthrust, Slashark can help a lot. Extends the life support on this sorry hunk of a droid.

      Gigadroid Gigantes is another Size 3, this time with a 7/3/6 in stats with a two gauge [Call Cost]. His main ability is that on your turn, you can pay a gauge and check top 5. If theirs three or more Brave Machine MONSTERS revealed, you deal 2 damage, however if five were revealed, you deal 5 damage. This guy is your main damage engine, check your top cards every turn and pray for a burn damage because Hero World can generate so much gauge that it does not really matter. You always have two or more Brave Machine monsters somewhere in your deck, and so getting three should be easy on most turns to trigger the two burn damage. With never support, this guy just has better consistency on getting the two burn then the five burn, but his three crit swing is good enough pressure also. All in all a decent beater of a machine. He also has the cannot be destroyed by effects, but it doesn't matter to say each time since all of them have this immunity. It helps when it swings for damage so they have to put up a shield or get hit hard. Run 4 for optimal plays and burn tactics.

     Megadroid Huge is their first size 0 of the deck, with a 2/1/1 base line. He cannot be destroyed by card effects, but when he enters the field, you can look at the top two cards of your deck and just put what you don't want on bottom, and what you do want on top. You use him to set up Gigantes plays, since it basically sets up two of the three cards needed for the burn. Plus since it is free to call, it does not tap into your resources like the other two, allowing for a nice beater once you use Gigantes and Biggest to get through there defenses. All in all, decent card and since you want to run droids, run 4.







Megadroid Larger is the newest size 0 with the same stats as huge, but with a slightly better ability! When he is called, you can put two "Droid" monsters from your drop zone on top of your deck. You would obviously be saying "Isn't this basically Huge?", and yes you would say that, however, the main difference is in two ways. He GUARANTEES the top cards being Brave Machine monsters, but at the cost of needing a drop zone filled with Droids to work. Even first turn that would be hard unless your two gauge to call Gigantes or ride into Biggest are both Droid monsters. So in a sense while Huge can be used in the early game, this gives you more advantage but you need to wait a turn to apply his effect. Still works simply for Gigantes plays, or if you need to get a card lost from drop zone and can draw it back with a draw spell. So again, run this at 4, to increase Brave Machines in deck, increase Gigantes`s burn potential, and because what else are you going to use?


Why is effect destruction not enough?
   
     So you are wondering why a Hero World deck focused on a mix of burn and aggro with all the support Hero World has, isn't topping everything you saw back in the day? Well it is very simple my friend. Unexpected accidents. See, the DDD Metagame wasn't as well received as it should be, with many decks topping due to their higher power with supposedly no downside or a variant born from the community outshining intended builds. Executioners were so powerful since they had such good synergy and all you had to do was run 70 cards. Neodragon Zwei was big since it had big Neodragons and the monster spells to make the engine work. Plus Style of Justice was just around the corner and OH BOY! That was definitely a form of oppression if I ever saw it. So it did not help Droids case to become something fully playable. Since they relied entirely on the luck of the top deck, they still had a bit of error on their side to not get the burn damage off and without a good consistent engine, the deck does not have the horsepower to apply the burn or the damage to make up for it when Plan A fails. OH and remember the Zetta loop accident.....yeah DDD had a weird Metagame. So what do you think should be needed for the deck to succeed. Well honestly something to make it stand out from the rest, a good beater with an effect that doesn't rely totally on luck and helps overall game image. It also would just be a good Ride or Size 0 because you WANT to proc Gigantes (whether you like it or not) to just kill them faster before they can set them their ridiculous 20 crit field...or Lost World. SO from Kota1908 (Cause no one from the TCGBuzz Discord sent in any Droids)

     So let us go over this guy. An evolution of biggest with a nicer, more up to date base line with an actual ability, unlike most of the Droids which cannot do jack. You get a +2 for 1 gauge and a top deck, top deck guarantees a 1 on top for Gigantes, combined with something like Huge or Larger to filter more to get a more consistent two burn damage off before going into the vanilla attacks makes him a nice option to have, plus giving him Double Attack, Penetrate, a +1/+1 in stats from the other Gigadroids put into soul really puts in the work to make a defense for the guy.


I got a lot planned

     So as we wrap-up this little thing, let me just say that Bushiroad really needs to just boost everything in Hero World for the love of Gao. They have made Hero World so massive, that it has basically a deck for everyone in terms of aesthetic or playstyle, that it would be fun to see everyone play the world. Theirs budget friendly decks, competitive decks, decks based on childhood properties, decks based on kancolle. Hero World can be a very friendly world for players to join into without the stigma placed on Dragon World since it has so many decks to choose from. Maybe Buddychronicle may fix that issue with good Hero World cards, but more then likely the Hero World cards there will be for the bigger boys like Gao.Hero, Darkheroes, Zetta, etc. We'll have to see.

     I have two more episodes already in progress, one is just started which is the shorter one, and another one which has taken months to write due to how much I need to talk about in it, so expect that one in a month or two depending on how my schedule comes up. I might want to do one more smaller archetype to fill the void as the two I am working on now are bigger projects that require more then two weeks at a time for them. So even I have no idea what I am doing next, so it may surprise you a bit. I thank everyone for reading and to leave a comment is always appreciated! Circulate the links if you enjoy and as always


                                                           Pet your Ranma`s.

SEND HIM ALL THE LOVE!!!