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“Hero Clad in White” [Aqua Force] & Tournament Report

So I’m going to cap off this gigantic Aqua Force segment until new discussions or rants decide to make their way on my page. The saying goes “save the best for last”, as such I’m going to talk about not only my all time favorite but the overall best Aqua Force deck: Thavas! Originally I was going to do two deck profiles but I decided against it since I’ll list the cards as “Alternative Cards” within the profile itself. But let’s talk about our hero Thavas and his support!

x4 Supreme Ruler of the Storm, Thavas: Introducing the newest form of Thavas, originally called “Champion of Storm, Thavas”. When your G Unit Strides, Thavas can call up to one card from hand and he chooses a rear-guard and that rear gains resist, in addition if that unit has Wave; it gets the ability to attack from the back row. In addition, Thavas has a rear-guard Generation Break 2 ability that causes him to re-stand, once per turn, on either Wave 1 or 4 at the cost of a counterblast if he attacks anything. This effect alone changed everything in Thavas, giving unit’s the resist ability makes a huge difference in the clan because it means our rear-guards aren’t targets to disrupt our plays. We no longer have to fear Denial Griffin, Heteroround, or even Nightrose’s Cannoneer combo with Negrolily. In addition to having more ways of attacking which, once more, was something I’ve desperately wanted to see more of considering a clan that specializes in hitting a specific number of battles but only had a very specific way of attacking that could be exploited by various clans. Not only do we have security, we also have versatility during our plays. This Thavas also benefits being able to played in other Aqua Force decks, giving synergy to the plays. Thavas truly lives up to his name as the one who surpasses the storms.

x3 One Who Surpasses the Storms, Thavas: Of course we can’t forget about the original Thavas; On Stride, on the fourth attack: choosing three of the opponents’ rears and they retire one of those units and a Generation Break 2 whom prevents Grade 0 guarding and gets Critical+1. We still play him because the deck really wants to have Thavas as the Vanguard and if you can’t ride Supreme Thavas, you can always ride this Thavas and gain some element of control. Skyros and other Grade 3s, regardless if good or not, don’t really have a place here because as stated: you benefit from having Thavas in the Vanguard circle as much as possible now.

x4 Battle Siren, Adelaide: Adelaide, Thavas’ Glimmer-breath clone, is still in the deck because she’s our other re-standing rear along with Tidal Assault. However, her benefit is that she keeps her power and will always hit a number. Adelaide combined with Supreme Thavas to gain resist makes her a bulky rear-guard to guard on our power plays. However, she does not have “Wave” so that is something to keep in mind when giving her the benefits of Supreme Thavas’ heartbeat. Although, people might still prefer Magnum Assault because he’s always active compared to Adelaide being a one time skill but I think requiring a booster is unnecessary. Kelpie Rider, Nikitas can also work because he has Wave and swapping rear-guards is also handy but I find Adelaide’s appeal being a stand-alone double attacker more worthwhile in the long run. (Alternatives: Magnum Assault | Kelpie Rider, Nikitas)

x4 Battle Siren, Shipra: Shipra is the newest Grade 2 to join Thavas’ forces. Her first skill gives her a permanent 2k, becoming an 11k at all times, and Resist if Thavas is in the Vanguard. Her second skill is if she attacks on Wave 2 through 4: you can counterblast one to draw a card and gains +3k until the end of the battle if you have a Thavas Vanguard. Shipra is one of the benefits to having Thavas at all times in the Vanguard circle. She’s another Melania who will hit a number regardless if you use her skill or not. Because she has Wave, she’s also a good target to use Supreme Thavas’ skill to give her the ability to attack from back-row. In addition, being able to draw cards is always a good benefit since your field will be more durable without having to constantly replace units.

x4 Tidal Assault: Of course we cannot forget Tidal Assault who also shines brilliantly with Resist. Again, Tidal shaves off a lot of counterblast that this deck does and works exceptionally late game but can be beneficial in the early game while your later re-standers: Adelaide and Thavas takes care of the rest. There is an alternative in Nectarios, it will require using Nikitas over Adelaide thus transforming this Thavas build into the “Wave” style, however, while testing it proved good being able to call unit’s from the top of deck and conserve on counterblast, the number of attacks was felt limiting and had some complications in attacking order to reap benefits. I personally think Tidal and Adelaide do better by having flexibility in attack pattern and order.

x4 Kelpie Rider, Nikki: Standard Stride Fodder. Not much really to cover here.

x4 Ocean Keeper, Plato: Ocean Keeper is the best perfect in this deck especially since Blue Wave and Blue Storm have their better preferred perfect guards. Thavas also counterblasts a lot between his rear-guard skill, your G-Units, and other rear-guard units. So having as much counterblast at your disposal will give you more benefits and obviously more attacks.

x3 Battle Siren, Melania: Melania has always been Thavas’ best unit in my opinion because she had multiple roles as a booster and an attacker as well as being a resist unit. She’s still good here fulfilling those roles with her skill: getting +5k and drawing one on Wave 3 or higher if Thavas is your vanguard, for a counterblast one.

x3 Battle Siren, Orthia: Orthia was one of my favorite grade 1s to have back in the initial G-Support for Aqua Force. Her skill being resist and for a counter blast 1 and soul blast 1, she can stand the unit that she boosted. The skill is costly but the rewards are pretty good, especially if the unit she boosts has both the power and the ability to stand without her. She returns in the deck because Thavas now has ways to abuse the power gained to pressure the opponent and can easily be enough to finish the game. You can also play Battle Siren, Stacia but because your Wave units can attack from the back row and for 11k, she doesn’t have as much as a place here. I have also seen Battle Siren, Cloris being played which she is also good but I feel she’s not good for the control match up. There’s also a new Grade 1 for Thavas: Dragonrider, Dinos which is able to emulate control since Supreme Thavas doesn’t retire. While Dinos does have resist, it only retires when he boosts on Waves 1 or 4: which can complicate the attacking pattern, plus while he does retire, Orthia’s ability to stand the boosted unit is a lot better for closing the game than retiring one. (Alternatives: Battle Siren, Stacia | Battle Siren, Cloris | Dragonrider, Dinos | Dispatch Mission Seagull Soldier)

Kelpie Rider, Mitros: Mitros is one of the two preferred starters for Thavas. His skill is when the Thavas vanguard attacks on Wave 3: he soul charges himself to superior call a Thavas from the deck and said Thavas returns to the hand at the end of the turn. Originally I thought Mitros was gimmicky because it did limit the attacking pattern but with Supreme Thavas having a rear-guard skill, you can get extra attack in addition while also having a really reliable unit on the field (and soon to hand) as well as stride security for the next turn. The other starter that ties with Mitros is Bubble Edge because he’s able to draw 2 almost at any point during stride with only needing one re-standing rear guard. I chose to go with Mitros because it allows me to keep my aggression and while Bubble Edge does draw two, your other rears draw as well but those draws may not secure the ability to stride nor give you a decent initial push like Mitros does by calling a Thavas. Both are good and are up to preference. (Alternative: Bubble Edge Dracokid)

x4 Kelpie Rider, Petros: Petros is Thavas’ personal critical. One of the two critical triggers you should be running if playing Thavas. Helps build soul, gives vanguard +5k and can be used as a booster for other rears.

x4 Supersonic Sailor: Supersonic is the other critical trigger you should be running especially since Thavas does counter blast a lot and needs every bit of counter charging.

x4 Battle Siren, Mallika: Draw triggers are good to have because even though Thavas draws a lot, the extra cards help out especially since this fuels soul and lets Tidal hit numbers. However, you can go 6 Critical 6 Draw and play the Blue Wave Mallika clone, but I feel both criticals are important and that the deck does draw enough without reaching deck out territory.

x4 Blue Wave Engineer, Refit Sailor: Another heal that counter charges by binding a heal drop zone at the cost of paying the G-Guardian. Currently best heal in the clan.

x4 Storm Dominator, Commander Thavas: The original stride fusion of Thavas, giving back row attack and +5k to the same unit. Originally the first stride of the clan and the sole out to Link Joker. I would say play four for budget because Commander did get a reprint back in Set 9′s Divine Dragon Caper as a Rare. However, as far as whether or not it’s optimal to play four or not is really dependent on play style and even what the match ups will be (specifically Link Joker). I haven’t really needed to stride into Commander because of Supreme Thavas and the numerous resist units but that can easily change.

x2 Marine General of Heavenly Silk, Lambros: Lambros was the deck’s finisher for a long time: on fourth battle choose two rears and stand them and they get +10k if you have 2 or more face up cards in the G zone. Lambros and Commander’s place in the deck intertwine with each other; You can play 2 Lambros 4 Commander or 4 Lambros 2 Commander and either one is perfectly fine since there’s not an exact way to play. For a more: finish heavy deck: you can easily play 4 Lambros especially if you got the money to buy it. As I said above, it really comes down to whichever you prefer, your accessibility, and even your match ups since I believe these two are an important piece of Aqua Force one as a free finisher and the other as a solid out to Link Joker. However, because of the following stride and even Supreme Thavas, Lambros is a lot safer than before especially considering he’s free and if you’re unable to do anything else, Lambros can easily seal the deal.

x2 Marshal General of Wave Honor, Alexandros: The newest G-Unit for Aqua Force, Alexandros activates on Wave 2nd or 3rd only: at the end of the battle that he attacks, you may counterblast 1 and flip one face down card in your G zone face up; to stand two units and they gain +5k for each card face up in the G zone. Alexandros is universal to Aqua Force but I think he shines the best in Thavas as a first stride and as a deadly finisher. Alexandros is why I believe Tidal, Adelaide, and Orthia are the better rears because you can constantly attack your opponent with the massive power ups especially if the rears have Resist. Alexandros is two things Thavas desperately needed wrapped in one: a generic flipping unit and an multi-range stride. He can be used as a first stride doing more than Commander, thus making Commander a utility stride for multiple back row attacking. In addition, he’s as strong as Lambros and can get even stronger so now Lambros can be either a finisher or a mid-range stride as can Alexandros until he can kill. Additionally, because he can used in multiple stages of the game: he is very safe to go into, regardless whatever your field is looking like with the only concern being how much counterblast you have to maximize your attacks. The ability to flip anything also makes the G-zone flexible since again, Aqua Force was full of persona unit’s so there was little room for extra cards that can be used for specific situations. He’s truly amazing that even just having one is fine. You could even play three but I think you’re fine at 2 especially for budget spending.

x2 Storm of Lament, Wailing Thavas: It wouldn’t be a Thavas deck without the other form: on GB2 Wave 3 or higher, he gains +5k for each rear-guard attack this turn and prevents grade one cards from guarding while on GB3 when he attacks, he retires one of the opposing rears for each rear-guard attack this turn. Wailing Thavas is another finisher in this deck because he is a straight shot of massive power that seals away perfect guards and also retires the opponent’s rears. Before, Wailing was the “safe” finisher because of how situational Lambros would be in the face of control but with Alexandros and even with Supreme Thavas, Wailing can now return to being the situational niche finisher. Truth be told, you can really just play one and have an open space for the following card and/or it’s alternative.

x1 Zeroth Dragon of Distant Seas, Megiddo: If you’re not a fan of Megiddo because of it’s high risk, please just replace this for the alternative Sebreeze. Megiddo is here as an option because you are able to pull it off and you are able to give one of your rear-guards resist. CB2 on placement: superior call from hand or drop zone up to 5 unit’s and they gain +5k and the ability to swap positions after each attack. Megiddo has weaknesses in the face of disruption and to be honest, at that point, Alexandros would easily overpower your opponent more than Megiddo. I’d only consider this if you really have nothing but considering majority of the deck does have resist, the chances of your board not being good to really use is very low. I prefer Sebreeze because stalling on grade 2, whether intentional or because of lack of a grade 3, still happens and for CB2 you can overpower your opponent and even gain benefits from the rears such as drawing off of Melania and Shipra, Mitros can call a Thavas too and secure stride for the next turn. Plus if you don’t use Sebreeze, you can just flip up Sebreeze for Alexandros. Again, you can also find space for Megiddo by removing one of the two Wailing Thavas, if you don’t feel you’ll go into him too often. If you do play Nectarios and the “Wave” variant, I do recommend playing the Generation Break 8, Last Twister Dragon. (Alternatives: Air Element, Sebreeze | Blue Swirl Marshal Dragon, Last Twister Dragon. Either of these cards can also be placed by removing one Storm of Lament, Wailing Thavas.)

x1 Guard Leader of Sky and Water, Ihoannes: Ihoannes is still a pretty solid G-Guard because it protects your board and can be a huge shield buffer in any wave. Flipping a face down G-Guardian also helps contribute to Alexandros’ power especially one that you probably won’t use. Originally I had 2 but I found myself wanting to use this G-Guard just simply to accelerate the G-zone while the others two were better used in their specified attacks.

x2 Blue Wave Armor General, Galfilia: The newest G-Guardian for Aqua Force whom which current stands as being the best G-Guardian for the clan; Gaining 5000 shield on 2nd and 3rd Waves and while she’s face up, by paying one soul blast, you can flip her face down to use her again to either counter charge 1 or unlock a unit which is handy for any locks that Link Joker manages to get on you, especially Chaos’ hand-lock.

x2 Blue Storm Deterrence Dragon, Ice Barrier Dragon: Standard 25000 shield on 1st Wave and any Wave on 4th or more. After thinking about it more: I used to use one but I found that I preferred to have two especially attacks are getting stronger later. If I don’t end up using one, then it becomes fodder for Ihoannes. To be honest, the G-Guardians are so flexible, that I could say the numbers of these G-guards are up to preference but I do recommend Galfilia at 2.

Deck Conclusion

As it stands, Thavas is currently the best Aqua Force deck in this format and my preferred deck aka the main. While all three decks were well supported via Maelstrom and Blue Waves; Thavas only needing three cards, came out the best because of how flexible and powerful he is even in the face of control. His plays can be described as comfortable and rewarding being able to adapt a lot easier in whatever he’s facing as opposed to the other two Aqua Force archetypes. Originally around Set 9, between Blue Waves and Thavas, I had trouble deciding which deck I wanted to use and which one I thought was better. Blue Waves had a vastly superior early game (and still does) and had a safe stride in Tetra-boil, to sit at any stage of the game because of how powerful and resourceful it was: building up your hand while also creating another wave of attacks on top of two vanguard swings. Thavas had a better match up in the control meta because of Skyros, Resist, and even Commander Thavas’ back row attacking while also being able to control (both field and guarding) due to Wailing Thavas. Again, it took three cards for Thavas to not only have a similarly yet better stride options than Blue Wave but also a stronger deck in the meta, which overall it brings me joy because regardless if Thavas was going to be meta or not, I did want Thavas to get some solid support overall that would’ve helped him rival the other Aqua Force decks as he’s always had previously with Blue Waves. Though, I originally started to play more of Thavas over Blue Wave’s during Set 11′s introduction because while I was in an online team event known as Starfight Team League, I felt more comfortable using Thavas fighting against just about everything especially during Set 11. Resist helped vs Dominate and Kagero’s Blaze and even against other control decks like Link Joker, while also retiring and restricting guard from rear-guard reliant decks such as Royals, Golds, and especially Shadow Paladins (with Esras & Luard). I did play Blue Wave during the event as well but after a couple of games I just decided Thavas was significantly better for the match ups. I confidently felt that if Thavas’ design could be expanded upon more, especially after seeing Blue Waves and Maelstrom’s designs getting revamped: that Thavas would be a threat to be reckoned with being able to maximize his “jack of all trades” status and having a plan for each and every situation, especially having multiple ways of attacking to where you only really need two circles since Thavas enables back-row attacks. The thing I do like about it is that, you do have the option to go for either aggression via multi-attacks or more resources by drawing off of Shipra and/or Melania especially on the first stride. The only issue again, I can think of is just really the excessive counterblasts like most of Aqua Force now, but you do have ways to recover it and even have “free” plays in Lambros or Commander, hence why I don’t like Megiddo in any Aqua Force build to be honest. Lastly, I did want to mention that I entered a tournament on Saturday with Thavas, exact build (but not the exact G-zone because I feel this is up to preference but I went for the more optimal path, if that should be a hint), and I won first place 10-2 as a showing of how reliable this deck is. My match ups were as follows:

Dark Irregulars - Darkness: 2-0. I guarded Gilles via hoarding a G-Guardian and my opponent decked out game one and game two I went into Alexandros on second stride and checked criticals on high powered rears.

Aqua Force - Thavas: 2-1. All three games played similarly but had different endings. All three games I stayed on grade 1 and rear-guard hated my opponent’s rush. In Games 1 & 2, I rode Alexandros and I ended the fight with my win, Game 1. Game 2, my opponent got a damage draw trigger on fourth damage and was able to live and had checked a critical to a Thavas he called with Mitros on his own Alexandros and I lost. However, Game 3: my opponent didn’t have a Grade 3 and I strode into Sebreeze and made him drop his hand and put him to five. He lived but was still stuck on G2 and I guarded and won from there.

Link Joker - Chaos: 2-0. Again I stayed on Grade 1 for a turn both times to make sure I wasn’t going to get my front row locked with Chaos Universe. Game 1 my opponent strode into Glueball and locked one of my rears because the rest had Resist. I guarded everything even after them checking two critical triggers and took game one. Game 2: my opponent dropped three Generation Guards on my Vanguard and had went into Deluge and locked my Adelaide in the front-row. So I went into Alexandros and used Galfilia to unlock to which they didn’t use Crisis’ effect to retire (because the action of turning a locked card face up is “unlock” even without it saying “unlock”, which is fair because it’d completely invalidate Chaos in my opinion.) and I called Tidal to rear, in front of Orthia, and had him and my back row unit attack for Alexandros to power both unit’s.

Tachikaze - Gaia: 2-0. Both games, myself and my opponent grade one gamed for a bit until my opponent grade 2 rushed me by riding Gigant-flame (11k G2 that can only attack VG if VG is Gaia or if they controlled an Engorged unit) and had rear-hated me. I rode my Grade 3 after G-assisting for the original Thavas and while they was at four, I double triggered their two to pass with a critical. Game 2, my opponent stayed on Grade 2 so I, again, had to G-assist for original Thavas and retorted with Sebreeze. Following which, I got one Thavas from Mitros and the other from drive checking but I had my defenses ready. My opponent went into Gaia Dynast and I took a majority of the attacks and G-Guarded into Ihoannes. I finally strode into Alexandros for game with +15k rear guards.

Neo Nectar - Ahsha: 2-1. Game 1 again we did some grade 1 gaming but I had to G-Assist yet again and got the original Thavas once more, felt like he missed being on the Vanguard circle. The retire and rear-guard hating helped out against Ahsha but I ended up double healing. My opponent strode and I took til 5 and ended up dropping my two g-guardians to further power Alexandros for the following turn which won me the game. Game 2, I had all of my grades and the right Thavas but my opponent did not and I had Sebreezed but was not able to close the game. My opponent did a final push with Lieta + Katarina and Thuria to have +80k columns and while I was at four, and with guard only to stop one completely via two heals: I decided to risk no criticals and a sixth heal but they checked two criticals. Game 3, I decided to rush down my opponent as quick as possible opening up with two Tidal Assaults and I dropped a heal to guard my opponents’ Vanguard swing. So on my first stride, I went into Alexandros, naturally, and I decided to go for a huge commitment because my opponents’ hand was very low and I knew they had Perfect Guard in hand. I made a 21k column with OG Thavas/Nicky + Draw trigger and had Melania in the back boosting Mitros. I had 4 other attacks after Vanguard was perfect guarded and my opponent added a Grade 3 from the Perfect Skill to hand and my opponent hadn’t checked a damage trigger on the fifth damage and I won the game on that turn along with winning the tournament first place.

To be honest, the details of the fights are short because I am having trouble recalling every bit of detail from units I called, my hand, how I guarded: partly because I was exhausted after the tournament and that the tournament happened two days ago (Saturday, December 9th). So please forgive me for that as I did try to remember as much detail as I could. However, it was a lot of fun since I don’t really enter too many tournaments since I’m usually the one hosting them online but I enjoyed it overall because I was excited to see how far I could go with Thavas since it’s usually rare that I’m overwhelming confident in playing competitively since a lot can happen to determine the game such as bad hands, not enough rears, can’t stride, no triggers, too much triggers, etc. But winning that just made me ever so more confident in Thavas’ as a deck, even when I had to G-Assist and was still able to make the plays and win. The tournament played with Set 13 and the very next day, Zoo Booster got updated into the game, which I can say: atleast in the Megacolony match up, Thavas is still very good with only needing two circles since Gredora locks out an entire column. I haven’t played into Neo Nectar nor Great Nature yet so, I can’t really have an input on those except the longer the game lasts the stronger Alexandros, which as you can tell from the tournament report is what it comes down to. Not saying that Alexandros is the only stride you go into because there were times that I could’ve went into Lambros or Wailing to finish it but it felt safer for me to use Alexandros. I was hoping to face Kagero at least to get an understanding of that match up though I think it’s even because The Destiny does retire resist and Overlord can grind with Purge drive checking 4-5 cards while also dealing damage and having strong rears, but the faster you push (especially with Thavas giving resist to stop Denial Griffin but not Defeat Flare), the closer you are to ending the game in your favor, although a surprise Drachma can catch you off guard and screw you over even if they don’t kill with it. I wasn’t really going to upload this but because I’m busy in the next few weeks and especially after winning the tournament and promising to talk about Thavas, I did decide to do this. The only delay is just making the banners and images.

Conclusion

Again I want to thank everyone whose taken the time not only to read this profile but any of my deck profiles. I do want to try and improve my content and even do more deck profiles and more discussions but between hosting tournaments, roleplays, gaming, and real life obligations: it’s kind of hard for me to think of something to discuss since I prefer typing a lot and pouring my thoughts. Most of my discussions are usually private with close friends or on an ongoing topic with a group so that makes it even less for me to post discussions on here. There won’t be any more Aqua Force support so this will be the last of my Aqua Force deck profiles until next wave of support, no pun intended. I will however do a deck discussion on another clan of interest that I consider my “secondary main” but I do want to wait and see what the clan will get in Set 14 (there’s your only hint). I probably might do an end of the year wrap up of 2017: good things to come out of this year, things I should improve on, so on and so forth. But I’ll think about it before I do, depending on how personal it’ll get. See you all later!

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