Set 13 Win a Box Report and Granblue Analysis indepth
Here is a report for my locals set 13 win a box.
If you would rather listen/watch this report, copy the link here: http://youtu.be/WeiBqgyQ_Us
I played Granblue post set 13.
With the release of set 13, the diversity of clans that were running around was very healthy. There wasn't 1 clan that over powered the tournament and was very enjoyable overall. (Plus, who wants to keep playing against the same deck over and over and over again right?)
Match 1: VS Sean – Ramiel Reverse
My first match up was against a really good friend of mine. It was a bit disappointing to start of the win a box by going off against my friend wasn't the best thing in the world not that I wanted to avoid playing him, but rather I would like to play him in later rounds, but what can you do?
The two matches I had against him could have tipped either way. It didn't help in my favour that I didn't ride into Nightmist at all, but still. They were very good matches.
Both of us were keeping the other at bay fairly well. I manage to sustain a full field while Sean held onto hand really well. The biggest factor that I found out after the match was one turn where I drove checked a crit and he had 5 cards in hand and he guarded for a two break. My mentality at the time was that I need to get the double trigger or else I couldn't push him to five damage. IF had played it safe and stacked it on my rearguard, I would have gotten the two crit on him since during that turn he had 3 Zeracials and 2 5k shields in hand.
The grind was close, but I fell short by 1 card. It pretty much went the same was as game 1, but I ran out of hand. It was pretty bad that I drove checked into a Nightmist the turn I rode into Cocytus “Reverse”. If I had the breakride, I would have been solid considering that Thanatos and Banshee were in the drop. The one turn 26k would have helped me out so much and would have had a game 3.
(Love you Sean-chwan. <3)
Match 2: VS Denzel – Jewel Knights
So having a first game loss, I had to play with the lower members of the tournament. I was paired up against a new player, who was borrowing a deck for this tournament. It was really unfortunate for him since he didn't know how the deck works, and some mechanics of the game were foreign to him like “restrain”. I also had to swoop in and stop his illegal plays.
So this match was played out really slow. I had to explain every move I made, which made turns last a few minutes longer than normal. Also, significantly Denzel had guarded as many attacks as he could in the beginning, even to using a perfect guard incorrectly on my grade 2 Vanguard. I had to stop so many of his illegal plays, and it also bugged me that he didn't know that his 12k attackers were 12k attackers. I guarded properly when needed to, but he had no idea that his units were getting power. He did know about Solome's limit break at least, but not his especial counter blast. I ended up winning by consistent breakrides and his lack of hand due to his improper guarding.
This was basically the same thing as game 1. I had to prevent so many illegal plays as well. One significant thing that grinded my gears was that he rode Palamedes over his Solome thinking he would get a 3k boost. I didn't let him take that back because we were in tournament.
Sorry guys, if you play me in tournament and you misplay, I am not gonna let you take back moves. A card laid is a card played.
Match 3: VS Summer – Genesis
I came into this match thinking that I had a little bit of an advantage considering Summer had borrowed this deck. I played him earlier and he didn't play the deck to it's fullest extent, but as the score shows I lost this round.
This match started off in my favour. I had break ride set, although Thanatos and Banshee were not in the drop zone. I pounded him out and Summer had an addiction to soul charging (which most people who play Genesis, or any soul charging clan for that matter, tend to get), and forced him to 5 cards left in deck. I ended up guarding for 2, and he topped the two triggers which cost me the match.
This round I started off strong right out of the gate. My turn two was the best turn I've had with this version of the deck so far. Basically, I rode into Ruin Shade turn two. I cracked Nightkid's ability to drop Banshee from the top 10. I then proceeded to attack Summer with Ruin Shade, I then used her ability. The two units I milled were Thanatos AND Samurai Spirit. That set up was the best thing I could have done! I also drew into all 3 of my LOSS Nightmist (wow that acronym...) as well so once I hit 4 damage, I had 3 turns with a 26k line that would superior call a grade 2 (which happens to be Ghostship) once it hits, giving me another card to guard with.
The grind game was real. I game everything my all this round because I needed the win in order for a chance to top. I kept him off the best I could, I didn't throw away any cards that I needed, trigger counted, everything I could have done. The final turn was so clutch, that I hated myself for letting it happen. Summer had Fortuna as a Vanguard. He also had 4 cards left in deck, 2 of them were triggers. None were draw triggers. Fortuna could only use her ability 2 times, meaning that the triggers had to be at minimum pass the first card he checked, or he would lose to deck out. I guarded for two like a dunce. His one line was a 7k lead with a heal trigger boosting. After my guard for 2 triggers, I had 1 more 5k shield. He checks the first card. Of all the triggers he could have checked, it was a stand trigger. The moment that hit my heart just dropped to the floor. My goodness, to think that a stand trigger would have saved him in his time of need. I had to hope for the last trigger of the deck to be at the bottom, but as luck would have it the next card was a crit, sealing my fate. I was sitting at 5 and 3 heal triggers were already in play. I had no out to that and therefore lost the game.
(Summer-kohai! Senpai notices you naow. And also, this was Sean-chwans deck. I technically lost to him twice lul)
Match 4: VS Matt – Liberators
So knowing that I lost my opportunity to top this win a box, I started to feel a little salty not going to lie. So I went into this next match with huge desire to win. I wasn't anyones friend (hahaha...) and didn't take any BS from spectators or my opponent. This guy I played against likes to make conversation and talk a lot during games, so I ended up giving him the cold shoulder (sorry brah). Oh and a note, he was the first “meta” deck I ran into this tournament.
So this game, I was “in da zone” (haha Kuruko no Basket references) and just focused on the game. I had this guy shut down by turn 5, since my hand then was consistently above five cards and had breakride available to me twice. It was over pretty quickly.
Now this wasn't very kind of me. I had stopped talking to the guy, only to announce effects were going off and to intimidate him a little (although he is a bit dense and that I couldn't get his attention very easily). Let's just say, by the end of the round, my hand had 15 cards in it. He managed to get breakride off twice, but I got mine off 3 times, with Thanatos and Banshee being my targets. Plus, I hit all 5 of my draw triggers which just shot me so far ahead.
Yeah. I wasn't anyone's friend during that time.
So my overall score I had was 2-2 so the deck I played performed well, although I did get a poor match up.
4 Rough Seas Banshee (Critical)
1 Samurai Spirit (Critical)
1 Ghoul Cannonball (Critical)
3 Gunshot of Sorrow, Nightflare (Draw)
2 Hook Wielding Zombie (Draw)
2 Rick the Ghostie (Heal)
3 Lord of Seven Seas Nightmist
3 Ice Prison Hades Emperor, Cocytus “Reverse”
1 Witch Doctor of the Abyss, Negromari
So here I go and discuss my choices for the deck. This part is going to be very lengthy and I congratulate everyone who made it this far.
So to start off, my forerunner of the deck is my Avatar: Captain Nighkid. I know that a majority of people who play Granblue have been opting to choose Peter the Ghostie. Now, I can understand why people would choose Peter over Nightkid considering you drop 2 cards instead of Nighkid's 1, AND you draw a card off of that, but if you really think about it, Nighkid just out classes Peter. Nightkid had so much versatility that it's just strange to see any other forerunner. Nightkid first of all, looks at the top TEN cards of your deck! Using theoretical numbers, the earliest turn you use him is your turn 2 where you have 1 damage. Assuming you didn't get a draw trigger, the cards left in deck is 43 cards. 10 cards out of 43, that's almost 1/5 of the deck you get to look at. Not only that, you specifically select 1 card to drop which beats out Peter's random milling of 2 cards, where if you mill triggers you just get really salty. Another point to make is that, Nightkid doesn't alway need his skill to go off. There are times where I open Chappie, or Ruin Shade or whatnot and don't necessarily need to drop a card. So I can push him up and have him in the front lines being boosted OR I can sac him for a Samurai Spirit to make a line and free up a circle for a different unit without having to waste cards.
The other two forerunners that are available to us are the grade 3 searcher and Guiding Zombie. I'm just going to write off Guiding Zombie, because outside of a Basskikr based deck, he does not have a place. My reasoning as to why the grade 3 searcher for Granblue isn't so “good”, as people have been also saying, is that why would I check the top 5 for a grade 3 that I would easily draw into than check the top 10 to fuel my toolbox? And not only that, the fact that I can wiff the search is a minus one. Nightkid has a 100% chance of a drop, and now that we have Nightmist and Cocytus “Reverse” (more so the first one than the latter) every unit is revivable and there are so many targets that do so well in the drop zone.
For my trigger line, I only have one thing to focus on, but I will mention the proper use of Rough Seas Banshee as a booster before you soul charge and draw. By using her as a booster first, you don't get a 1 for 1, but rather a plus 1 on the next turn. Also, the 5 draw triggers are very good because if you mill draw triggers, you remove more of the chances of decking out. If you are down to the last 3 cards of the deck, and you now 1 of them is a draw trigger, you basically have a 1 in 3 chance of winning or losing.
Now, the 1 stand trigger in the line up. Originally I wanted to play 3 stands. Because pre set 13, I had a 6 crit, 3 draw, 3 stand, 4 heal line up. And with the older cards, this worked out pretty well and could hold it's ground against most decks in the format. With the newer cards however, that stand trigger isn't much needed as crits and draws are way too important in terms of offense and defence. I am playing 1 Steerman not so much as a stand trigger, but rather as a free unit to superior call. The presence of Steerman in my deck just gives the deck so much more to work with. Generally, the circle behind the Vanguard is unoccupied during turns 3-5. And breakriding Nightmist over Nightmist is the best thing you can do. Calling 3 units is not so bad, considering you keep 1 that you can sac later.
My grade 1 line up is pretty standard. 4 of Romario and Jinn is a must in Granblue because a) the 8k booster is so important since no other grade 1 can facilitate the drop zone, and b) Jinn puts cards you can revive into drop zone, giving you a plus 1 in drop. The 2 Samurai is also nice. In all seriousness, you just need the 1, but having 2 gives you more chances of dropping him. I originally wanted to play Deadly Nightmare for the option of soulblasting over counter blasting, but I decided against it for two reasons. 1, I hardly counter blast in this deck, so I will generally have counterblasts to spare. 2, I reserved the soul for Sea Strolling Banshee and Dancing Cutlass.
My decision to run the two and two each, was inspired by Gold Bunnies, which is always my favourite variant of Gold Paladins. The idea was to have 2 Dindraine and two Silver Witch to use up the useless soul and ensure the plus one draw went off. The idea is the same is here, but considering that units in the soul do so much better in the drop zone anyways, the release of SSB (haha Super Smash Brothers) was a godsent by Bushiroad. This Banshee is my new Waifu guys. Hahaha!
This grade 2 line I have is also pretty uniform when it comes to most Granblue, the one thing I don't run is Petro, the damage unflipper that Granblue have. In all honesty, I would be playing the chef, but considering that this deck seldom uses its counterblasts, I didn't need to put him in. Once Nightsnow from the Fighters Colletion drops in English, I would definitely put him in over Commodore Blueblood. The regular Captain Nighmist is in there as well for the same reason as Samurai. It also is really good if my opponent leaves grade 3's on my field. I can just sac them for a free 5k shield. It's totally worth the power drop if I can use them to intercept.
Now, Ghost Ship is something I need to go in depth with. First thing to know is that this unit has an 11k body and has restraint, much like the Nova Grapplers Brutal (Genecide) Jack. In order to remove restraint, you would need to revive a Granblue unit from the Drop Zone. When I originally started playing this game, I had played with Ghost Ship. I was running both of the self reviving grade 1 at 2 a piece and also a Deadly Spirit as well (I had a bad thing with Nightmist at the time. It took a while for me to learn his worth in the deck). So having the Ghost Ship was really nice considering when set 6 came out in Engish, 10k Vanguards were still a thing. But as the game grew, Ghost Ship was scrutinized and people opt out of using it. There was also a big debate as to how we remove his restraint. People had been going around saying that the Ship needed to be on the board before you revived anything and that he couldn't unrestraint himself if it were to be revived. But now the game has evolved, and one word in effects has become very important to the game. And that word is “other”. Ghost Ship's ability reads that “one of YOUR Granblue units must be placed on Rearguard from the Drop Zone”. If the word “other” was present in that sentence then Ghost Ship wouldn't even be considered to be put in the deck. But since it isn't, being able to revive and attack with him is just way too good. That's why on breakride, calling Thanatos and Banshee is just way to strong if the Ship is in the drop zone.
My grade 3 line up was an emotional battle for me to decide upon, but I ended up with what I have now. I planned to have access to crossriding by putting the original Cocytus in the deck at 2. I also was going to play 2 of the Skeleton World Knights to get a superior ride if I had opened a Chappie and was going second. But as the rest of the deck fell in place, I couldn't fit him in. There were times when playing this deck I wished I had crossride available to me, but I just couldn't fit it in. The regular Cocytus and Nightmist do not work together, and if I had to play the original Cocytus, I would have to play Nightmist at 2, which is very very bad. Nightmist at 3-4 is just way to good in the deck. Nightmist, along side SSB, was a godsent from Bushiroad to all the Granblue players. The fact that on breakride you can call 2 units AND they each gain 5000 power is so strong. It also balances themselves out by sacing the two units called, but if I called Thanatos and Banshee, that just balances themselves out AND it's a small counter to Link Joker, giving them no targets to lock. Lord of Seven Seas Nightmist is by far the best, if not one of the best breakride units in the game.
Cocytus “Reverse” I am not afraid to admit it. He is a piece of junk. Cocytus was the worst idea for a unit to get a crossride, and I'm not mincing words here. If anything, Basskirk should have received the crossride, at least Basskirk would have been the only unit in this version of the deck that would counterblast (much like Pacifica). Coctyus versus his Reverse counterpart, it's so much better. Coctyus original can swing 15k by himself while underlimit break, and with Steermans and Dragon Spirits in the deck, he always hit magic numbers. The fact you can use his ability to either call an attacking unit or revive his personal booster was just way to strong. The fact he can swing 21 in rearguard to 26 in Vanguard made Cocytus the best unit pre set 13. Reverse on the other hand, sure he can call a single unit anytime he is in the Vanguard circle, and that unit gets 3k (which would make the 10k especial intercept sorta playable), but the huge thing that makes him so bad is the fact you mill 3 cards. It's already hard enough that Ruin Shade has to mill 2 to hit 11k, but 3? It's honestly not very good. When playing with Reverse, you honestly can only mill with him if you absolutely need to. To compare to another Reverse unit with a similar skill, Luquier Reverse does this skill so much better than him. The only difference that make Luquier so much stronger than Cocytus, is that fact Luquier does not mill. Not only that, Luquier has a better time crossriding than Cocytus becasuse the soul charge is so easy to do. Bushiroad should have also released a “White Hare of Inaba Clone” if they wanted to make sure people would play Cocytus for the crossride, but alas. Until Fighters Collection 2014 drops in English, I am stuck with this piece of garbage.
The last two grade 3's that I have to discuss are the Witch Doctor and Death Seeker, Thanatos. I added the Witch Doctor for two reasons. 1, since I hardly counterblast in the deck, I might as well put him in for a free unit. Second, I had an SP version of him so why the heck not? The Witch Doctor, while being an 8k grade 3 seems like a poor choice to have because the threat of riding him is very very real, but if I have this guys on rearguard, I can fix my field for the pretty small price of 2 counterblasts. If in need a row to be made, I can call him and bring back a Romario giving me a 16k line. If I call him in front of a Romario and my other side is lacking in units, I can call another attacking unit as well (Ghost Ship here would be great). Also, generally your opponent will disregard the Witch Doctor on your board since it's 8k only. That's really good for you considering you play the grade 2 version of Nightmist and that you can switch a dead body on the field (hahaha... dead body on the field...) for an intercepter. It's really good to have this option. Witch Doctor is worth a try folks.
Thanatos, as I have been raving on in the entirety of this whole report/deck discussion, is the heart and soul of this deck, my first mate so to speak. Thanatos is basically a Nightmare Doll Alice. This unit provides a huge amount of pressure and the best thing about it, I actually WANT my Thanatos in the drop zone (noooo don't attack mah Alrice-chwan...). I keep bringing this up, but breaking riding to superior call Thanatos and SSB not only gives you a free card, but you have a 26k line that your opponent has to deal with. And more than likely, this card will either eat up your opponent's hand OR you can get a free shield. So the fact that Nightmist sacs those two units at the end of the turn, doesn't really affect you at all. Breakriding is the heart and soul of the deck, and it's biggest win condition. For those of you who haven't tried out Thanatos you should really try it out. Thanatos is the reason why I started playing Vanguard to begin with, so it's my number 1 card to play for a reason (so cool that it comes in SP!).
Now I have the deck discussed thoroughly, I am gonna talk about other popular units that I didn't include (if I haven't already spoken about them) and why I didn't add them. I will list them in order:
Dragon Corrode, Corrupt Dragon
Dragon Undead, Skull Dragon
Dragon Undead, Malefic Dragon/Master Swordsman, Nightstorm
King of Demonic Seas Basskirk (indepth)
Spirit Exceed/Deadly Swordmaster/Monster Frank
Right off the bat, we have Evil Shade. Now, a lot of people I find have been including this card in the deck because of his 10k boost. I did not include this guy simply because there already is too much milling involved with this clan. Sure milling gets you to your toolbox faster, but milling random cards is never a good thing. This isn't like Yugioh and Lightsworns where you can just mill your entire deck and win. Milling should be kept to a minimum, and it should be very selective. That's why cards like Chappie the Ghostie and Captain Nightkid are just way too good to have in your deck.
Skeleton Colossus I've only included in this list to discuss this card in general. The Cocytus “ride chain” as people incorrectly refer it to is by all means really subpar. The fact that this isn't even a ride chain and more of a superior ride correction is just way to conditional. With pre set 13 cards, if anyone was considering superior riding Cocytus at all, you should't run Colossus. Skeleton World Knight by himself, and at 2 was very good to have since you generally would run Cocytus at 3-4 during his prime. Colossus just never makes the cut, unless you run a massive milling deck. It's good for a deck where you want a high risk for a high reward, but when you're in a tournament, this card really is not good for you to have.
Next on this list, the elusive promo King Seahorse. Now, this Aermo clone I had considered when planning for the release of set 13. I liked it for the fact that you can filter out useless grade 3's in hand, but after playing around with it, it's good to keep grade 3's in hand as odd as it sounds. Plus, the draw power in Granblue increased dramatically, so yeah.
Now, this next unit is highly debated over. Dragon Corrode, Corrupt Dragon is Granblue's version of a 9k based, 12k attacker grade 2 unit. When it was introduced, I thought it was amazing! 12K attackers were running around in all the meta decks since set 5 and the fact my clan was getting one got me excited. But I thought about it. It only gets it's 3k boost when it's revived from the drop zone. Not only that, it loses that boost after your turn is over. With what we have now, it's not all that worth it running in your deck. My reason being, you have other units you would rather superior call with breakride and Cocytus Reverse. Arguable, you can use this instead of Ghost Ship. But, my counterargument is that Ghost Ship has an 11k body. I chose defence over offence in this case. In reality, I think the choice here is preference.
This next card has been a favourite of mine since I ran him in all my variants of Granblue pre set 13. The Redundancy Dragon, as Crimson from TeamRevival affectinately calls it, or Undead Dragon, Skull Dragon has been considered to be the “Palamedes” of Granblue. The good thing about this guys is that he swings for 13k by himself, the condition being that your Vanguard is a Granblue unit. Also, he can be revived for a pretty small cost, having a grade 1 Granblue unit on board and 1 counterblast. He is ballanced off by the fact that he goes to the drop zone at the end of the turn. I did consider him in my original draft of the deck. He got replaced by the Witch Doctor in the end, but he can easily be switched out for him. Remember, reason two why I run the Witch Doctor was because I had an SP of him.
Undead Dragon, Malefic Dragon and Master Swordsman, Nightstorm are really good units in Granblue. They both do the same thing as rearguard, swing for 12k which is really nice considering that there wasn't a grade 2 that can do that. Malefic has an extra ability where if the opponents Vanguard has 12k or more, he would swing 20k by himself. This was nice when everyone was running crossrides. It's not so lovely nowadays because people prefer breakride over crossride, but it also goes off if my opponent gets a damage trigger too. If I had the room to put two of either one in my deck, I wouldn't hesitate to. But since my grade 3 line up is so tight as it is, I decided not to use them. If you want to use these guys instead of Thantos and Witch Doctor, I don't see the harm in it.
The last two cards on this list are Basskirk and the three superior ride cards Spirit Exceed, Deadly Swordmaster and Monster Frank. Exceed and Swordmaster are clearly out of the deck because a) I don't run enough Samurai and Knight Spirits for Exceed and b) I don't run any of the Deadly card. Monster Frank however, he can be used just by counterblasting 3. Now, this is actually not that bad of an idea. But Nightsnow does this so much better. Nightsnow needs to counterblast 2 and soulblast 2. The soulblast is usefull because you get trapped units and put them in dropzone. The counterblast 2 is pretty hefty, but I would rather counterblast 2 than 3 anyday. Frank though helps prevent grade stuck where Nightsnow needs a grade 3 in Vanguard circle in order to superior ride. Superior riding from drop zone is a very powerful thing for Granblue and it's exclusive to the clan, but right now the units are just too cost heavy to pull off. Once Nightsnow comes out however, this will change.
Basskirk I have mentioned should have gotten the crossride instead of Cocytus and compared it to Pacifica. My reason being is that, both Basskirk and Pacifica have megablasts that have a really impacting effect on the game that if it goes off, you should be winning. With Pacifica getting a crossride, and the units supporting her, she can abuse soulblasting effects and has a stellar limit break effect as well. If Basskirk had a crossride, I would imagine that the effect would be a counterblast 3, and a superior call 2 units like Nightmist, but insead of getting power and being sact at the end of the turn, they would be able to remain on board. Also, there should be units (preferrably grade 2) that can facilitate the drop zone by swapping cards in drop for cards in deck, much like how Angel Feather have it for their hand and damage zone. This is wishful thinking, but since Granblue has the worst grade 2 line up in the entire game in terms of units that actually facilitate the main gimmic, if Bushiroad released one unit like that, Granblue would be a top contender. All of this with consideration that Granblue has the strongest gimmic in the entire game, it just has the worst support.
Well this has been my report for set 13. Thank you for taking the time for reading, and please subscribe to my YouTube channel as well!
http://www.youtube.com/cvctvchannel
Stand up to the occasion my fellow Vanguards!
