VBT05 Standard Budget Builds: Holy Disaster Hengist

Dzien Dobry Panie i Panowie, its me its your best friend its Canyousayg, and welcome back to the blog where we learn how to be a better cardfighter.

Today, we are going over another budget build from VBT05 Aerial Steed Liberation for Royal Paladin, based around Royal Paladin's newest finisher: Knight of Severity Hengist.

Since most clans second wave of support, many clans have been getting more options for deck building without using the main VR units, opening up further options for players, and more variety in our vanguard fights. Not every deck is locked into a single build, keeping players on their toes when they fight against a mixed build or one away from the obvious build. Great for a second deck to build or perhaps to refine in your experience to take people off guard at a big tournament, these alternate builds are increasing in number and, with powerful support for themes, increasing in stability and power.

Today, we will be building around Knight of Severity Hengist.

Royal Paladin, until VBT05, had very limited options for finishers to end the game, mostly fighting with the abundance of early game presence and , especially compared to other decks, overwhelming consistency, having to rely on Excalupate The Blaster or Soul Saver Dragon to drive the finish. With VBT05, they have gotten another new option for decks finisher.

Hengist is the new finisher in Royal Paladin from VBT05 Aerial Steed Liberation, and has the skill on Vanguard circle: When he attacks, Soul blast two grade 3 cards to superior call as many units as you wish from your hand, giving each 10k power, and a guard restrict that attacks must be guarded with two or more cards for the rest of the turn when you call two or more units.

After paying the cost, ideally you would be calling new units to the frontrow during the battle phase to get more attacks and, if you can afford it, booster units to give them more power. The 10k power will get you through most triggers and the 2 card guard restrict for three whole attacks with force gifts (including Hengist's own attack) will be able to get the opponent to throw many cards away, even if they guard with perfect guards. With a grand total of 5 attacks of high power on force markers, this a devastating blow that is sure to bring games to a close for either fighter.

While it is a powerful finisher effect, it also is hard to pull off, requiring two grade 3 units in the soul, which usually would mean riding twice over grade 3. Royal Paladin has no way of sending specific cards to soul... right?



Holy Disaster Dragon

Holy Disaster Dragon is a PR card from one of the earlier PR packs. A grade 3 without Force, it has the skill that on attack, you can place one card from your hand to soul to give Holy Disaster Dragon 10k additional power for that attack, making it an extremely efficient attacker for driving damage. However, the skill that makes it most appealing is how you can send a grade 3 to soul for Hengist.

On top of that, if you have two Holy Disaster Dragon and enough cost, you can ride Hengist, call two holy disaster dragon, attack with them first to send the two grade 3 units to soul, before using Hengist to soul blast the grade 3s out, activating his powerful finisher effect in the same turn you ride to g3.

Holy Disaster Dragon is the one card that can speed up Hengist, but it also requires a large number of grade 3 units, in order to feed the grade 3s to soul.

This deck we will be going over today is built around getting Grade 3 units to soul, either by having enough grade 3s to be sent to soul with Holy Disaster Dragon, or having enough Grade 3s to re-ride, or a combination of both.

This is done both by having enough grade 3s in the deck composition, while also focusing on card draw in order to get to them.

As the deck requires a large number of grade 3 units, I play 3 or more types of grade 3 units.

The support grade 3 I have picked is the new grade 3 unit Powerful Sage Bairon. Bairon has two skills:

His first skill on V/R gives him 3k power every time another rear guard comes into play. While not a stellar effect, this effect does go well with Hengist, as if you call Bairon with Hengist, he will gain power for every other unit that was called!

His second skill is where he really shines.

On a rear guard circle, if you have more damage than the opponent, you can soul blast one and discard one to draw 2 cards. This is a direct +1 card advantage and filters through your deck faster.

Therefore, his second skill serves to provide both card advantage and find you your grade 3s for re-ride and holy disaster faster. Being able to throw away Grade 3 units to draw into cards with shield value in a pinch helps as well!

As the deck has a large number of grade 3s it plans on putting in the front row, the grade 2 lineup is built to have come into play abilities and not rely on keeping them around, instead putting them to intercept or to draw cards, so they can be effectively used to guard before calling g3 units into the same circle.

Additionally, as we have a large number of grade 3 units, we want to avoid spending cards and guard value in hand to be called as boosting units, so High Dog Trainer Akane is played in order to provide units into the backrow. Royal Paladin needs to be able to maintain their field in a retire heavy meta, and Akane is one of the key parts in doing so.

Our second grade 2 is Loading Angel. While one soul that is not a grade 2 may not be as relevant, the alternate finisher of Soul Saver Dragon is still played in one build, where it becomes incredibly important in the matchup.

In the grade 1 slot, we have the Pongals necessary for the use of Akane. Keep in mind that while Pongals may soul charge randomly, soulcharging in a grade 3 is one step closer, and one turn closer to using Hengist to Victory.

Our second grade 1 card is Little Sage Maron, whom displays a surprisingly large amount of synergy with the deck.

While previous Royal Paladin decks would play both Little Sage Maron and Knight Squire Allen, Maron shines exceptionally well in this deck.

First, if you call Maron with another unit in the same column via Hengist, Maron will be able to activate his skill to give you one card drawn, solidifying defenses or finding the parts needed to set up the next Hengist attack.

Second, Maron's skill only requires another unit to come into the play in the same column as him the moment it is placed, not requiring a maron to be on the field while the effect exits standby. Therefore, if you call over Maron with Hengist's skill, you can still counterblast one to draw a card, as a rear guard came into play the same column as Maron.

Lastly, as Marons skill can be activated multiple times in one game, as long as there is counterblast, this gives you the chance to use Maron multiple times over the course of the game over multiple turns.

The Sage of Time

Our final card in the deck is a very unique card pick: The Sage of Guidance Zenon.

Zenon is a card from the VMB01 Psyqualia Strife, a card that lets you check the top card of your deck, and if its the same grade as your vanguard, to ride it as stand. Used in the anime to break the lock of Zanbaku, this card requires you to get lucky and open a grade 3 from the top of the deck. This inconsistency and Royal Paladins tendency to run 8 grade 3s or less (especially in builds playing Excalupate The Blaster, as they need space for the grade 4) lead to almost nobody playing this card, as the only upside would be occasionally getting lucky and getting an extra force marker. Zenon has since faded into obscurity.

However, the goal of this deck is different from other Royal Paladin styles, as well as the build, leading to Zenon actually being one of the interesting options to play.

First, as your rate of grade 3 units is far higher than other decks, you have a higher success rate.

Second, as your successful re-ride gets another grade 3 into soul, it puts you one step closer to pulling off the Hengist skill

Third, as not every grade 3 in the deck has force, you do not necessarily get an extra force with a successful re ride. Therefore, although you can indeed sneak out extra force gift faster than when your opponent expects them, riding a Holy Disaster Dragon and not getting that extra force is not a loss, you should see is a +/- 0 Force gifts. That being said, of course that extra force gift early would definately be welcome.

Finally, we have your synergy with Hengist. If you call Zenon off of Hengists skill from your hand, Zenon's skill will still activate, allowing you to check the top card of your deck to Superior ride. Even if you ride another unit over Hengist after using its skill, the guard restrict is still active throughout the turn, forcing the opponent to guard with two or more cards!

Keep in mind that if you attack with Hengist, superior call Zenon, which makes you superior ride another grade 3 as Stand (and get a surprise Force gift to throw your opponents calculations off guard!), the timing in the battle is still during the 'on attack' timing, meaning it is before your opponent guards, and before your drive checks. As the unit attacking has disappeared, you do not get a twin drive, but your vanguard is still standing and is ready to attack and get that twin drive again.

Of course, the dream situation is to attack with both rear guards, then use Hengist to call multiple units and a Zenon during your battle phase, which superior rides another Hengist; giving you two more rear guard attacks before using Hengist a second time in a single turn, but that is the dream situation and not one that will happen often.

Deckbuild:

This is the first build, primarily using the 3 key grade 3 units: Bairon, Holy Disaster Dragon, and Knight of Severity Hengist.







This is a second build, one that incorporates using Soul Saver Dragon as another finisher option for the deck, giving the deck a wider range of strategy. Do notice how your Holy Disaster Dragon and Bairon have been cut down in number in order to compensate, reducing how streamlined the deck is but giving it the option to go force II and push hard early.

This is the third variant of the deck, the lowest cost option. Instead of using Draw Null guards, the budget option of playing Grade 1 Null guards by cutting Zenons is made to make it easier to access financially.

Other cards not played:



Palamedes.

Palamedes is a card that provides soul charge, but random soul charge with his effect, not being a great choice when you are trying to specifically soul charge certain cards.

Also, as Hengist would ideally be calling new units into your front row, Palamedes already there before Hengist attacks would not be around anymore to gain 10k from the two soul blast, and a Palamedes called off of Hengist would not gain power as it was not around when the soul blast happened.

Dream Painter + Knight Squire Allen.

Dream Painter may allow you to pinpoint place cards from your drop zone into your soul, but it also requires a certain amount of cards to superior call it to activate his effect, usually seen is Knight Squire Allen. While Knight Squire allen is a similar option to Little Sage Maron, for the above mentioned reasons we have picked Maron, namely its better synergy with the set up and use of hengist skill.

As for Dream Painter, it is very important to note that he can only place to soul a Grade 2 or Below, meaning he cannot place grade 3s to soul, even if called from an effect.

Tentless Feather Dragon

Tenteless Feather Dragon is a grade 3 unit with force, with a V/R Skill of on placed, you may call 2 units from your hand to the same column, and if you called two units, draw 1. Tentless Feather may be a star in Limited Fight, but draw is already provided in this deck with both Loading Angel, Maron, and Bairon, leading Tentless Feather to be put to the sidelines in favor of our other draw options.

Field Feather Dragon

Field Feather Dragon is an extremely, interesting card from VBT05. On Rear guard, for the cost of counterblast 1 and soul blast 3, you can draw as many cards as you have open rear guard circles, and then call that many from your hand. This, in terms of card advantage, is staggering, giving you up to 4 cards more for the low cost of cb1 and sb3, but only if you are against retire based clans who have cleared your field, or in games you have not yet deployed out a field.

In this deck, although I have chosen not to play it this time, Field Feather Dragon is a viable option, as in the early game when you have not yet filled your field, you can get 3-4 cards drawn off of its effect, and once you have filled your field, its perfect fodder to send to soul with Holy Disaster Dragon.

Force I vs Force II

As with any force deck, the choice between the two force options is important. In this deck, both Force are viable, with different benefits and drawbacks.

Force I works extremely well with multiple attacks when placed on rear guard, which this deck is based around, as well as makes up for the low power line of the vanguard, helping you drive in damage easier.

On the other hand, Force II is also very viable given Hengists skill to give guard restrict, and reducing the number of attacks you need to go through to win. Additionally, as Bairon requires you to be at MORE damage than the opponent, not equal, if you have Force II, you can keep the opponent at 4 damage while you go to 5 damage, giving Bairon a chance to use his draw skill every turn!

The choice for Force I vs Force II should come with every game, adapting to the situation you feel either is needed more.

Conclusion

That brings us to the end of the discussion on the Holy Disaster - Hengist deck, a deck around pulling off Royal Paladins new finisher consistently. I hope this serves as a good starting block for you to try out the budget deck options and see an even wider variety of fights in Vanguard!