[Blog] VEB14 Neo Nectar: Standard Ines Tomato

VEB14 The Next Stage Neo Nectar Part 3/6

Est 15 Min read

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Welcome back to our series of articles going over the Neo Nectar clan and the updates from VEB14 The Next Stage.

This series will be covering the clan playstyle and strengths as a whole, assessing all of the new and relevant cards, covering multiple decks over several formats, playstyle, combos, optional card choices, match ups and in depth playing and goals for each deck.

Whether you are a seasoned Vanguard player or have just started with the VTD12 Ahsha Trial Deck, I hope you can find a deck and understanding to fit your needs. We hope these articles can help you form an idea of what cards to try to find and buy.

For Part 1 of the series: Playstyle and Arsenal, click here.

For Part 2 of the series: Standard Ahsha, click here.

Today, we will be going over another build for Standard Neo Nectar, one less focused on the VR Dream Spinning Ranunculus Ahsha, and instead built around the RRR card Cornflower Flower Maiden Ines.



We will quickly cover recommended deck build, Core Deck Concept and differences from the Ahsha Deck, Sentinel Selection, Gameplay, Force 1 and 2 selection, and finally some weaknesses of the deck and how to accommodate them.

Be sure to learn up about this Neo Nectar option as well, so you are not caught off guard in a match up!

Deck Build and Playstyle

Lets start with our recommended deck build to use with the Ines Tomato deck

For those whom want a text version to quickly look up cards:

4 Cornflower Flower Maiden Ines 4 Exploding Tomato 2 Ranunculus Flower Maiden Ahsha 4 Osmanthus Maiden Anelma 4 Pansy Musketeer Sylvia 3 Blossoming Maiden Cela 4 Maiden of Sweet Berry 4 Valkyrie of Reclaimation Padmini 2 Fruits Basket Elf 2 Budding Maiden, Diane 8 Critical 4 Maiden of Blossom Rain (4 sentinel) 4 Heal 1 FV

Core Concept: Advantage Across the Board

As you can see, this deck has a lot more emphasis on card advantage rather than high power, choosing to forgot the Ahsha Flower Fairy Token mechanic in favor of Advantage gaining Ines, and converting plant tokens into card advantage through Exploding Tomato.

Ines is the primary card of the deck, but that does not mean she is only for riding. Ines has the same effect both on Vanguard as well as rear guard, and thus is equally effective whichever column you ride or call her to. While her first effect is the one that will be granting the most card advantage in a maximum of +2, her power up effect is the one that most of the deck is built around.

By gaining 5k power for every unit superior called, this includes plant tokens and units called from the deck, she becomes a very sizable attacker every turn.



Because she functions well in any column, Ines can be an attacker, booster with Anelma, or your main V. Use this well to protect her in the back row, should you want a high powered booster.

The second key component of the deck is Exploding Tomato. Not only does Exploding tomato work well with Ines in that he himself can explode into two plant tokens, granting all Ines on the board +10k that turn, Exploding Tomato is one of the few cards in the Neo Nectar arsenal that can convert your field advantage into card advantage, covering the Neo Nectar clan weakness of having difficulty in converting cards on field into cards in hand.

Do note the combination of Cela and Tomato which allows you to counterblast one to draw one while gaining 10k power.

This concept of gaining advantage on your field and your hand, or advantage across the board, is what the deck is based around.

In our Grade 3 slot we are playing Ahsha, which allows us to access another unit with the same name as Vanguard to turn on Anelma, but just as importantly Ahsha has synergy with both Ines and Tomato. Not only does she provide just enough food for Tomato, she gives two triggers to Ines to gain power. While it is a welcome upside, Ranunculus Flower Maiden Ahsha is played more so in this deck as utility and synergy part than building around the Flower Fairy Token.

Do note that Anelma, with her allowing any unit to boost, allows you to access high powered boosting units in the form of cards such as Ahsha, Cela, and Anelma.

While playing the deck, you want to be pushing early with the help of plant tokens, then following up with the high power of Tomato, Ines, and Ahsha. Unlike the Ahsha deck which will be based more on getting ahead in the early game and following up with high powered attacks, Ines Tomato can grind in the mid game and gather its cards and parts and construct its win without any triggers.

Do note that in our Grade 1 slot we are playing two copies of Diane and two copies of Fruits Basket Elf. Fruits Basket Elf does eat soul, but allows one card to provide two triggers to Ines’s power pump ability, all while becoming food for Exploding Tomato. If you supeiror call a Fruits Basket off an ability while Tomato is on board, you can easily convert that into a draw one.

With Diane, not only does she improve your Ahsha Flower Fairy Token turn plays, but she also grants your Vanguard power regardless of what it is. If you ride Ines, one Diane activation is equivalent to one superior call. While its does not seem as synergistic, the end result is that Diane is often a better card to call than another unit that retires itself to call a token.

In the deck, you may notice that between Ines and Anelma, that soul cost may seem heavy. This is not as true as the Ahsha deck, as while both decks are playing the same amount of soul cost and soul charge, the Ines deck is aiming to superior call from the deck, not just from hand. This means that there is more chances to see your Maiden of Sweet Berry and superior call her, thus getting that soul charge. In the Ahsha deck, you need to draw her and have a condition where you want to call her in order to get that soul charge. This results in the Ines deck having much more chances to supply additional soul.

Option cards

Next we will discuss some more options for your own build

Fruits Basket Elf

Fruits Basket Elf is played in our deck to not only provide plant tokens for Exploding Tomato, but also to provide extra superior call count for Ines. If you wish to increase the count of Fruits Basket Elf, be sure to drop either Padmini or Diane. Do note that increasing the count would also result in increased soul usage, meaning soul may run out earlier.

Corolla Dragon

Corolla Dragon is a very cute dragon with the skill to gain 3k for every unit superior called. By playing Corolla Dragon in your deck you can have more columns that respond to superior calls and gain power, further improving on your power output.

Maiden of Fine Yell

Maiden of Fine Yell is another card you will want to consider. By CB1 and retiring herself, you can look at the top 3 cards and superior call two. This two superior call does trigger the effect of Ines twice, as well as dig further to find your components, but the same CB cost can be used for Cela, whom also triggers Ines twice for power pumping while working with Tomato.



Blowball Squire

Blowball Squire is an interesting card. Although a 6000 power Grade 1, when placed on R, if you have no plant tokens, you can superior call two plant tokens. This card would be in the same slot as Fruits Basket Elf and Fully Tangerine, using the grade 1 slot to chain your superior calls further.

Due to its limitation in activation, specifically requiring you to have no plant tokens, combined with the fact that the Ines deck does not retire its own units, other than plant tokens, Blowball Squire itself is a conditional call two plants, significantly worse than an ACT to call two plants of Fruits Basket Elf.

Fully Tangerine

Fully Tangerine is another option for the Grade one slot, also replacing Fruits Basket Elf and Diane. By retiring herself she can call one plant token and give it 5k power. This does similar effect to Fruits basket elf but does not cost soul blast. Use this if you find yourself having far too much soul usage.

White Lily Musketeer Cecilia

Now this example deck plays Ranunculus Flower Maiden Ahsha in order to secure both the Anelma condition as well as provide high powered rear guards, all together with calling plant tokens, replacing Ahsha with Cecilia to improve finishing potential is another option. While Cecilia will have a hard time filling the condition for Anelma to give everyone boost, the 10k power pump as well as three activation of Ines will certainly be welcome when trying to push for game.

Advantages over Ahsha Deck

The Ines deck has multiple differences from the Ahsha deck, but the most prominent one is the lack of reliance on the Flower Fairy Token mechanic.

This leaves the deck not at risk of being controlled easily by way of controlling the token, as well as being more lenient in what it can and cannot call. Additionally, as Flower Fairy Tokens require effects to give Vanguard additional power to be made most use of, the Ines deck can circumvent this issue by ignoring having to play such effects at all.

Given the superior call as well as card draw and flow of cards in the Ines deck compared to Ahsha deck, having units retired will feel less impactful on your strategy, as you will easily be able to build them back up.

Sentinel Selection: Blossom Rain vs Mylis

Just as we have gone over in Part 2, we will be quickly discussing how we chose our sentinel for the Ines deck.

First, we pick our sentinel. The Ines deck is better at accumulating hand, quality field, and ample draw. Hence, with a draw trigger perfect guard sentinel, we have better options to guard longer into the late game. As the deck does not require you to rush to victory, you will be prioritizing proper damage progression rather than effective guard, giving you just as much counterblast you want each turn rather than targeting the weakest columns to block.

These factors push you more towards playing perfect guard sentinels in the form of Blossom Rain.

Next, we go over our trigger lineup. Unlike the Ahsha deck whom is entirely dependant on Critical triggers for impact, the Ines deck has a much more patient, flexible, and stable approach to the game. Hence, You do in fact want the Four draw triggers in your deck. If anything, considering adding on to this to increase to 6 draw triggers would also be a valid option, as the deck does not rely on opening critical triggers to win, rather preferring to use trigger power as they come to gain incremental advantage.

These two together point us towards a trigger lineup of 6-8 Critical, as well as 4-6 Draw Triggers alongside our Heal Triggers.

Gameplay

In true Neo Nectar style, the Ines deck would be looking to set up early and utilize plant tokens in the early game to gain advantage and tempo, as well as start pushing in damage before you go to grade 3 and hit with very large numbers.

Do notice our Grade 2 lineup of Sylvia, Anelma, and Cela. This will guarantee plant token calling on Turn 2, allowing you to always secure the key 15k Vanguard column to push in damage. With this lineup we are able to set up early and get plant tokens flowing from early on into the game. This lineup also allows Sylvia and Celas to come down even if there is no cost, as they can either use cost later in the game or activate without cost.

Once you get to Grade 3, you want to either ride into Tomato first to gain card advantage and start pushing, and transition into Ines later if your opponents damage is low and you want to build up force markers, or go straight into Ines to use multiple superior calls to gain power. Don’t underestimate the impact of riding a tomato, drawing one, and swinging in with a big number.

One of the nice plays in the deck is to have a Tomato on rear guard, and Ines on Vanguard. Use tomato to eat two tokens from the backrow, draw one. Attack with Tomato, then explode it to call back those two plant tokens, further giving Ines more power. Notice this can be done with only two columns, leaving the last column be flexible to do anything else you want it to.

Throughout the game you want to be maintaining similar power level across all columns. All of your Grade 3 units have self pumping abilities, and all the grade 2s can be used as high powered booster units. Cela functions double duty as both a resilient attack as well as a 15k boost, perfect size for any 13k Grade 3. Utilize Force 1 well to power up your weaker columns.



Force 1 VS Force 2

The choice between Force 1 and Force 2 is a difficult one to make, and choosing the wrong one will give you either not enough power to finish the game, or not enough damage to drive the opponent to their last stretch. Generally, on the first few turns both force gifts work equally as well. This is due to both Ines and Tomato gaining moderate amounts of power with extreme ease, hence either going with Force 1 onto a rear guard, Force 1 onto the Vanguard, Force 2 on the Vanguard and Force 2 on the rear guard are equally as efficient.

One of the points to consider when choosing Force 1 vs 2 is if the opponent has retire or removal options. The reasoning behind this is in that you want to know if you are able to maintain a high powered unit boosting on your field with Anelma. Opponents with retire options will be able to snipe the high powered unit or the Anelma potentially shutting down your strategy, but if your opponent has no such option, leaving an Ines in the backrow to boost one of your columns may prove to be utterly devastating for the opponent, as you are able to combine high power with two critical via Force 2.

Do remember that with Ines and Tomato, you will need to feed them plant tokens or superior calls in order to keep their power high. Factor this in to your game plan if you are going Force 2.

However, against opponents with retire options, you know your power output will be limited by this, as you will not be able to maintain power columns. Thus, going force 1 to help this will benefit you greatly.

As this deck likes to spread its power out across multiple columns, Force 1 will help balancing out your power columns. In situations where you will not be able to set up power columns as fast, Force 1 may be the better choice to help you push damage.

Weaknesses and Accommodating for Weaknesses

One of the weaknesses of the Ines deck is only the one card benefiting from superior calling. This makes the deck heavily reliant on Ines for the power pump, and as such, may make the deck weaker to retire based decks that can easily remove a rear guard Ines.

While making up for this weakness, placing Force 1 on rear guards is nowhere near as effective as placing a Force 1 onto a Vanguard in the Ahsha deck. Hence, your comparative power output will be lower.

As the Ines deck is a deck with a longer term game plan and the advantage generation to maintain itself through several turns to make it to the mid and late game, you are able to fight off aggressive clans with the flow of card advantage into your hand. However, because you lack burst and lack a finisher, other decks whom are just as good at grinding or gaining card advantage will be able to outlast you in the advantage fight.

Similarly, as your deck is not built to be as fast as the Ahsha deck, your opponent has more opportunity to defend and stabilize against you, forcing you to play the back and forth game that Ahsha wants to avoid.

Conclusion

Today, we went over one of the alternate builds available to Standard Neo Nectar, Ines Tomato, based around the new RRR card Cornflower Flower Maiden Ines. Unlike the Ahsha deck, the Ines deck has more lines of play and a fair bit more flexibility in gameplay and strategy. However, the trade-off for that is the difference in maximum power output over multiple turns.

We have discussed deck build, alternate card choices for your own deck, thinking about choosing sentinels, Gameplay plan and considerations, choosing between Force 1 and 2, and the weaknesses of the deck and how to outplay them.

Will you pick the sheer power of Ahsha? Or choose instead the flexibility and advantage based playstyle of Ines? Go with the new strategy of the new Flower Fairy Tokens? Or maximize your manipulation of Plant tokens instead?

Thank you for joining us on Part 3/6 of our VEB14 Neo Nectar discussion!



Do join us back on Monday, when we enter part 4/6 of our VEB14 Neo Nectar discussion, going over Premium Standard and the myriad options available to the deck there.