[Blog] VEB14 Neo Nectar: Premium Plants

VEB14 The Next Stage Neo Nectar Part 4/6

Est 45 Min read

Hallo lads and ladettes, its me its your best friend, its CanYouSayG, and youre reading the CanYouSayBlog, where we learn how to be a better cardfighter.

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.

For Part 3 of the series: Standard Ines, click here.

Today we will be diving into the Premium Standard deck for Neo Nectar, Plants. This deck is built around the RRR Neo Nectar stride from VSS01 Premium Collection 2019, Green Katrina. I myself have won multiple shop qualifiers, one regional, topped others regionals, and Top 16’d Worlds with this deck last season, and I hope to be able to share my experience and thought processes for deck building with you today.

For an in depth discussion on playing, building, match ups, force selection, and approach to guard amount, click here for the VEB10 Premium Plants article.

Most of our discussion today will be based primarily on the newer additions to the deck, options available for building, deck design thought process, and later on about balancing the offense and defense of the deck to your required amounts, and gameplay and match up considerations. So in order to get the full range of knowledge required to take the plant deck to its full potential, be sure to read our previous articles, as the deck itself is the same deck, with newer additions. Hence, previous points are still very much used in the deck with new updates.

Deck Building

Cornflower Flower Maiden Ines

Cornflower Flower Maiden Ines is undeniably the most impactful card to premium standard from VEB14, completely revolutionizing the Neo Nectar deck. Ines has two skills: First is on placed on V/R, at the cost of CB1 and SB1, you can look at the top 5 cards of the deck to superior call one of them. Then, if you have another unit with the same name as that unit, you can draw 1.



Her second skill is what pushes her over the edge. On V/R, whenever another rear guard is place due to an ability, she gains 5k power. This is the powerful ability that allows her to be both an offensive powerhouse, as well as the defensive option the deck wants to see.

When you superior call Ines and other units off of Green Katrina, Ines will react to this and gain 5k for each other unit called at the same time, easily pushing her to 15k or 20k extra power, other effects nonwithstanding.

One important point to note is that she will also react to the Plant token calling skill of Green Katrina. If the opponent leaves you with Ines on rear guard at the start of the turn, you can use Green Katrina to call any number of plant tokens, and each of those called, or called above another plant token, will give Ines a further 5k power, pumping up your initial two attack’s power value even further.

Her defensive potential is also present, allowing you to utilize G Guardians to superior call units during the opponents turn to gain defensive power, and then if those units call other units such as plant tokens, Ines will gain a further 5k power. This gives you access to 23k to 28k defensive power without any triggers, granting you the options needed to survive against finisher turns of decks such as Gold Paladin, Neo Nectar, or Luard.

While previously Neo Nectar had limited defensive options, being limited to primairly Lilga and Arboros Dragon, Ines provides a lot more potential in the defense without sacrificing any offensive capability of the deck.

Of note, Ines does not create any plant tokens herself, meaning that in order to accommodate, as well as complement Ines’ ability, you have to play an increased number of plant token creators, as you still want to be going into that first stride turn with 4-5 plants to do your ideal plays, or build your deck to function better with 2-3 plant plays instead of focusing too hard on the 4-5 plant plays, as you will on average have less plants on board when you stride on top of Ines as compared to Trailing Rose.

Multi-Attack Package

Now, one of the formerly key aspects of the Neo Nectar Plant deck was the access to multi attack in the form of Maiden of Gladiolus, pushing the number of attacks you can perform in one turn from 5 to 6 attacks, enough to knock out the opponents hand. Many builds until now have been built around this concept of superior calling Maiden of Gladiolus together with an attacker such as Martina, Fruits Assort, of Kaivant, in order to deal enough attacks to make the opponent drop their hand.

This multi-attack package is also one of the potential weaknesses opponents would be able to manipulate and play around in four ways: Firstly requiring one counterblast to utilize well, secondly requiring a large number of plant tokens to pull off at maximum fire power, thirdly how the gladiolus column itself would be small and easy to guard, and lastly how Maiden of Gladiolus is the weakest link in any deck.

First is the requiring of counterblast to utilize. This gives the opponent an option of turning off your multi attack by not giving you any open damage. This tactic will most prominently be used by decks that employ the strategy of trying one turn kill you such as granblue, dark irregulars, or great nature. A playstyle with over reliance on the multi attack or lack of skill in piloting the deck without this multi attack may be the weakness that is taken advantage against.

Do note that of these decks, Granblue and Great Nature are just as capable to go the orthodox route and fight you head on.

Second would be the requiring of a large number plant tokens to pull off at high firepower. While a formation of Kaivant/Fruits Assort and Gladiolus on rear guards with all plant tokens in the backrow is high firepower, this requires at least a four plant play to begin, while also not allowing for those backrow circles to be utilized for other calls such as Water Pot, Rebecca, Lilga, etc.

While this can be mitigated by utilizing Martina as your attacker, you still have the same issue of not having enough power output to be a highly effective attack, with most attacks being only one card to guard for the opponent.

Another point to remember is how poor the multi attack goes with Lilga. Not only does counterblast cost overlap, but by returning Lilgas to your hand you limit the number of boosting units on the board. This creates a situation where you give number of Lilga called by Katrina for high fire power, or give up booster units for one of your attacks in the name of getting more Lilga to your hand.

Thirdly the potential weakness of the multi attack package is how Gladiolus is easily guarded. Even with a Plant token boosting for 15k power, the total power is 24k power. This sets the power line comfortably at 15k to guard, or only one card to guard the attack. While my previous builds have always overcome this issue by playing Rebecca to bump this column to 20k to guard, requiring a g guardian or two cards to guard while retaining card advantage at the end of turn, without giving this column a force marker or extra power from abilities, it creates a situation where you potentially spend one counterblast to an inefficient field just to get 15k of shield out of the opponents hand.

Of course this is not to say there are not a lot of situations where this is very worth, but this is the third point of potential weakness of the multi attack package that experienced players will aim to counter.



The final potential weakness of the multi-attack package is how Maiden of Gladiolus is always the weakest link of the deck. The other options for multi attack package: Martina, Kaivant, Fruits Assort Dragon, all have their uses in the deck should they not be used to multi attack. Martina is a key player in the 3 critical pressure you will be employing against some counterblast greedy decks by just superior calling her off of Green Katrina. Kaivant being a grade 2 not only provides you with the intercept option and lead into Antero play, but also provides early game aggression. Fruits assort plays a role not only as a backup ride target but also a great ride and call target when you go to G3 first, allowing a massive power push alongside Force markers. Exploding Tomato is sometimes played as a set up part for Gladiolus to improve on your 2-3 Plant plays but also allows you to tactically increase the number of plants on board, giving you access to 3-4 plant plays when you would otherwise only have 1-2. Irminsur makes 25k columns on turn 2 requiring the opponent to spend up G Guardian cost early or be hit hard all while providing card draw in early AND late game.

While the other parts of the package are welcome additions to the deck otherwise, Gladiolus poses very little benefit to the game plan outside of her multi attack potential. She is the only Grade 2 card you don’t want to see in your opening hand, she is the only 9k Grade 2 which make you prey to needing 5k extra guard to protect yourself if you ride her, and if you have her before you attack with Katrina on the stride turn, you are capped at a 3 plant play due to having the other front row used by the unit you are multi-attacking with, limiting your defensive options severely. Gladiolus is the weakest link in all deck builds she is in, but her ability to provide multi attack is second to none.

Due to these points, when building your deck, you have to consider how easily your deck will fall prey to the weaknesses of the Multi attack package, as well as how well your deck can take advantage of it, as well as if you are willing to drop the package as a whole.

Sentinels

In VEB14, Neo Nectar obtained a third sentinel option for the Plant deck alongside Lilga and Blossom Rain, in the form of Mylis. Mylis does take up one sentinel slot, but in doing so allows you to use your critical trigger slots as higher valued shields. While the choice is indeed present to pick one and go all in on them, I would recommend you instead consider your main deck build, and use Mylis to fill in the remaining number of sentinels in your deck.

Previously, Neo Nectar decks would be able to access Lilga through search of Green Katrina, and hence could get away with playing leaner and more streamlined decks of only 3 or 2 Lilga. This would have the downside of not playing your maximum four sentinels. Similarly, some players instead opted to choose to drop all copies of Lilga, and instead play Maiden of Blossom Rain in quantities such as 3-4 to have a more beginner friendly piloting experience, with other decks choosing to play no sentinels at all (myself at Worlds included). However, in these decks as well, the number of sentinels would not reach its maximum.

Hence, by introducing Mylis, we can improve the total shield value of the deck by simply replacing our critical trigger slots with Mylis after we have chosen what kind of deck we want to build.

Perfect Guard Package

One of the big considerations for the deck build we need to take into account is the metagame itself. Will we be facing many decks with absurdly high numbers? Or will be facing many decks that will be trying to attack for smaller numbers multiple times? Will the opponents be using sentinel restrict and therefore point us towards prioritizing cards that increase hand such as Rebecca, Water Pot, Irminsur, or will they be more succeptible to perfect guards and therefore point us in the direction of playing Lilga? Or do you want a bit more defensive capabilities against decks that will be dealing you many attacks but are susceptible to damage triggers by playing Maiden of Blossom Rain?

Be sure to think about these points when choosing whether or not to play null guards in your deck, and if you do, which one you will play.

Ranunculus Flower Maiden Ahsha

We all know Ranunculus Flower Maiden Ahsha and her abilities. While not as cost effective or powerful as her Dream Spinning Ranunculus form, Flower Maiden Ahsha’s timing of her ability as well as being able to perform on both V and R lend her to be a highly impactful card across all formats, premium standard non withstanding.

On placed on V/R, she can giver herself +10k power and call two plant tokens at the cost of CB1. Additionally, on Vanguard, she can create an Ahsha Flower Fairy Token by retiring three rear guards.

Previously, any unit that called plant tokens would only call one additional body to the board, meaning that you got exactly one 15k boosting plant when the unit came into play. Ahsha, by calling two plant tokens, can create a situation where she can provide boost across the board on multiple columns when called to R or ride to V. Of note, this is one of the few ways that you can play Gladiolus accessing multi-attack alongside Lilga bouncing perfect guards to your hand. This skill of calling two plant tokens also allows a similar power output to Maiden of Trailing Rose, whom also calls two plant tokens when ride to V. Combined with the stride into Katrina, this provides you with three plant tokens for your first stride, ideally giving you access to the 4-5 plant plays you need to secure your win.

Combined with Maiden of Gladiolus, the power output of the Ahsha Multi Attack after being called by Katrina is: 38k -> 24k -> 38k, totaling up to 75k shield value required to guard the attacks BEFORE force and triggers are applied.

This superior calling of two tokens also allows her to combo with Ines, to give Ines a total of 15k power when called off of a G Guardian such as Rain Breath Dragon.

As a first ride, Ahsha also has good synergy with Force 1 and 2 both on Vanguard circle, as you can gain 10k power from Ahsha’s own ability, secure a boosting unit to put her at 28k power + Force, and that power/critical will convey directly to a rear guard in the form of her Flower Fairy Token. However, the Plant deck benefits greatly from placing Force 1 or 2 on the rear guard columns, which make riding Ahsha and placing Force 1/2 on the Vanguard circle less of an ideal play, especially if you can see the game going on for more turns beyond the turn you ride up.

Drawbacks to utilizing Ahsha

Playing Ranunculus Flower Maiden Ahsha does have its drawbacks, however, and they are important to take into consideration when playing her.

Her glaring weakness is requiring counterblast to use. Most opponents will already be wary of giving you counterblast to use in order to dodge the power push of Irminsur or Multi attack of Gladiolus, hence you may not have as much counterblast as you wish when riding Ahsha, constraining your moves.

This weakness also puts you in danger of being blocked out of your higher plant number plays. This is because in the early game, if you are unable to produce 3-4 plant tokens, no counterblast means you are only getting one plant token off of Katrina, potentially capping you at 2-3 plants when going into your first stride. With only 2-3 plant plays and no counterblast, this weak first stride is going to be enough for your opponent to rebuild and counter attack, potentially ending the game for the opponent.

Drawbacks to the Flower Fairy Token Mechanic

Another downside to using Ahsha is her Flower Fairy Token mechanic. Not only have we mentioned earlier that this mechanic does not go well with the plant deck which wants to be placing force markers on rear guard, but the Flower Fairy Tokens themselves are also a poor match for Katrina. While their threat level is significantly lower than in Standard, and therefore more likely to survive until the next turn, the interaction between them and boosting units is what throws them off.

Katrina can create plant tokens and make them 15k boost units, and two of them together make a 30k column. Ahsha Flower Fairy Tokens, because they will be attacking before your Vanguard attacks, will attack for 28k power, with or without boost. Both of these attacks are exactly 20k power to guard, making the Ahsha Flower Fairy Token column exactly as efficient on attack as two plant tokens, but one to two plants weaker for your superior call.

Additionally to this, as Flower Fairy Tokens cost three rear guards to create, and the Neo Nectar deck will be wanting to retire Plant tokens for this, you end up riding to G3 first, retiring many of your plants to create a Flower Fairy Token, but at the cost of a significantly weakened stride turn. After retiring so many plant tokens, how easy will your deck be able to reconstruct a field of 4-5 plants to do your ideal first stride pushes, especially if Katrina is only providing 1-2 of them?

The third downside to using Flower Fairy Tokens is that they require an Ahsha vanguard to work. Therefore, if you re-ride to Ines or Trailing Rose, Ahsha flower fairy tokens become vanilla 13k power attackers that do not count to Katrinas superior call, making them at best a 28k power column together with a plant token, exactly the amount of power output as two plant tokens instead.

For this reason, you will see myself playing Maiden of Trailing Rose for her ability to build the plant token number up without any cost and being impervious to damage control, over the more versatile but costly Ahsha. However, its important to consider how much cost is available to you in the metagame before choosing which you will play, as both of these cards do fill similar roles. As mentioned before, while I do rate the cost and value of one counterblast higher than Ahsha’s role, environments, player playstyle and metagames are different across the globe, and so you should choose which one is for you.

Pure Maiden Ferine





Pure Maiden Ferine is one of our new plant token creators in G2. Ferine does require you to have a G3 or greater vanguard, thus being slower than other plant token creators such as Anelma, Sylvia, and Arboros Timber, but she does ccome with an additional 5k bonus power to your vanguard, especially relevant when you are playing with G Guardians whom will be calling Ferine on your opponents turn.

Additionally, while it may not seem as direct, against certain clans without very high powered g guardian options, Ferine allows you to be more lenient when using up the circle behind Vanguard for utility, as while 28k power is easily within G Guardian range, packing in two Ferine into the mix to call plant tokens will make your Vanguard 38k and beyond, making it much harder to guard with a single G Guardian.

Also Ferine is very cute



Gaim Dragon

Fruits Assort Dragon is another option in your Grade 3 slot that has seemingly lost a lot of its power to Ines due to Ines having more potential power when called off of Green Katrina, but don’t forget Gaim dragon’s ability is continuous and at no cost and without abilities to trigger it. This allows him to gain a significant amount of power and push from as early as turn three, as well as when called off of Gladiolus for the multi attack. This makes it significantly more potent against decks such as Dark Irregulars.

Maiden of Water Pot







Maiden of Water Pot is the classic Thai tech. When another unit is usperior called from the deck, if your Vanguard is “Maiden of”, she can place herself into soul to counter charge 1, return a normal unit to your deck, and draw one.

Maiden of Water pot is very useful in combating counter blast denial strategies as she allows you to open your counterblast while mounting an offensive. As Katrina calls simultaneously, she can be called to the backrow, use her ability, then have another unit call a plant token in the circle she was in. All this while maintaining defense in the form of card draw.

Lily of the Valley musketeer Rebecca

In a similar vein to Maiden of Water Pot, Rebecca fills a role of being able to convert field advantage into hand advantage, granting you additional shield value to guard with the next turn. As an added bonus she smooths over all your power lines in the early game as well as makes the Maiden of Gladiolus multi Attack much more potent by requiring one extra card be used to guard the multi attack chain.

Blooming Maiden Cela

Cela is one of the harder to stomach cards in the deck, Cela is a very interesting option for players, and not for only one of her effects. Her first effect to gain power is incredibly useful in order to create 20k power columns, which improve your early game by hitting through triggers, allowing you to force the opponent to ride to g3 first securing your own stride first. This power column is further backed up by her anti retire effect, giving decks which play utility retire no option of dealing with this unit other than to attack into a 15k grade 2 when they would often like to be attacking your Vanguard. This additional 5k also keeps her alive against Gyze decks, which will not gain power from trigger checks, making sure you can mount an offense without spending too many resources replacing these attackers.

Her plant token creation skill is not only a great help on V and on R, but is not restricted to once per turn allowing you to create fields of plant tokens without using any hand. Just ride into Cela and counterblast all day to replace your field if they attack into it. This is especially useful in a matchup where you will be fighting at G2 for first stride or to buy time to find key G Guardian combo pieces, such as in the mirror or against Luard and Dark Irregulars.

Blooming Maiden Cela is played to supplant the plant token production when you are riding into Ines, as well as improve your early game potential.

Osmanthus Maiden Anelma

Anelma is another option for your Grade 2, but most of the time serves as just extra copies of Irminsur in the early game, as the counter blast to draw is what you are after. For superior calling plant tokens, you want to prioritize something more cost efficient such as Cela, or something without cost at all such as Arboros Dragon and Sylvia.

Once you get to the late game however, as Anelma herself does not provide much power, she ends up being just a similar card to Irminsul for card draw, or just CB1SB1 to draw 1 card, not very cost effective compared to Lilga searching up 3-4 null guards for CB1 or Rebecca gaining you that hand for SB1, or Water Pot drawing you a card for the absolute inverse of that cost.

Storm Element Cycloned.

Everyone knows Cycloned. Turn it face up with Katrina and your first stride grants 5k additional power to all of your plant tokens on your stride turn.

If this is not errata’d before release or changed in some way, Neo Nectar will definitely be hit in some way in the next banlist. Heres hoping we get something nice in Premium Collection 2020!

Thinking About Offense and Building for Defense

While we have covered this topic before, and very similar thought process goes into the deck even with its new parts, its improtant to cover again.

The key point in building your deck is to think about both your offensive capabilities as well as your defensive needs. The key point in playing the plant deck is thinking about how you are able to win that turn you stride, or more importantly if you are not able to. While many may say that Plants is a no think pure offense deck, the absolute gap between good players winning events with the deck compared to less experienced players whom scrub out of the swiss rounds is very apparent. Open your mind to the possibilities so you may grasp them.

When building your deck, you need to identify how much you actually need to win, and not dedicate more deck space to winning when you should be dedicating deck space to not losing. This balance in between high power and multi attacks as well as card search, card draw, bouncing units from the board, or gaining defensive power is critical to building a lean and smooth running deck. In a tournament you only win or lose, there is no extra points for winning big with a huge combo and there is no bonus for losing with a bad hand. Balance between required offense and defense is what is needed.

Yes, Plants are an aggressive tempo deck, but just as importantly as how you attack is how you don’t die. Hence, desired balance is important when building, as well as identifying what plays you want to go for is important in playing. Getting a clear read on being able to kill will allow you to dedicate the resources and do the appropriate play to aim for the win that turn, where as if you are unable to win that turn, you will not have enough cards in hand to survive to claim your victory the next turn.

In a competitive game, there is only one shot at winning the game or securing the win. Should you miss it by going too early or too late, your opponent can take advantage of this and end the match on top. If you cannot execute that turn, think about how to build your defense to survive to the next turn and plan your win, instead of mindlessly swinging at the opponents face.

Deck Builds



Today I will be showing you some of my recommended deck builds, for you to choose which style suits you the best. Be sure to try out all of them and the options they do and do not include, in order to pick the build that suits your own playstyle the best. Do remember the points we have learned in the new card discussion when making changes to suit your playstyle.

You will notice I am maintaining a total of 10+ Grade 3 + Padmini Stride Fodder in all of my decks in order to comfortably ride into G3 and stride that turn.

Another common card you will see in multiple of my deck builds is Mirkka. Mirkka here serves as additional copies of Maiden of Sweet Berry most of the time, but don’t forget her utility we have learned in Part 1, that that can make or break some of your G2 fighting games.

You will also notice my GZone not having changed since VEB10. Do refer to the previous articles and previous Premium Plants articles for more in depth discussion about some of the utility cards and their uses in poor matchups.

Do note how for the above mentioned reasons in our Ahsha discussion, I have chosen not to play Ahsha in any of my builds, something many players will disagree with, so if you wish to play Ahsha and try it out, you can tweak the G3 lineups for any of the decks as you see fit.

Deck Build 1







This build combines both the multi attack potential of Gladiolus with the defensive capabilities of Lilga. However do beware that the reduced plant production can prove difficult for you to handle if you are not versed in the 2-4 plant plays.

Deck Build 2

Here we have another option to play multi attack, this time taking our attackers in the G3 slot, and increasing the number of Grade 3 units to 10 by adding in Martina. This build has significantly better multi attack potential, and can sneak in a neat trick by using Anelma to fill in booster slots for two columns, perfect if you have abundant counterblast.

This build also plays Kaivant to help push in the early game.

Deck Build 3

Next we have a build that forgoes both the perfect guard and multi attack options and instead opts to play the G2 game very hard, pushing with kaivants and Timbers early in order to finish with a high powered Ines strike. Notice our trigger lineup containing 4 copies of Mylis.

Deck Build 4

Our Fourth deckbuild is the deck I plan to use myself this season. While giving up the multi attack package, there is more emphasis on counterblast management and Ines G Guardian plays, as well as ample plant token production to supplant Ines’s lack thereof.

Gameplay

When you are playing Premium Plants, you want to be considering both your own offense as well as how the opponent will react in order to set up the situation you want to be in when you stride. Of course the goal is to have 4-5 plants when you stride in order to access your best plays and your most options for plays, and your play should reflect this, prioritizing the number of plant tokens on board to get to this number when you stride, as well as maintaining both the ride target and stride cost in your hand/g assist.

When playing Premium Plants, keep in mind some opponents will be aiming to zero damage game you, giving you no counterblast to work with. This also means that every attacker you place down will be attacked by the opponent, losing you more and more cards. Play around this by prioritizing cards such as Sylvia and Sweet Berry that create plant tokens, and stack high power so the opponent has to guard with and lose more cards. Note how this has been accounted for in the deck build that can both utilize much counterblast as well as no counterblast well, but it should also be accounted for in your playing.

Plant Behind the Vanguard

One of the key points in playing Plants that will or will not win you the game is whether or not you place down a plant token behind Vanguard. Not only is it important in the early game, but its 15k boost once you get to the striding phase of the game is not to be looked down upon.

In the early game, this creates a power line where your Vanguard is hitting for 15k each turn, precisely enough so that the only option to guard it with one card is to use up a 20k shield heal trigger. Not only do multiple decks not use this type of trigger in full, it also eats into the opponents G Guard cost for later into the game.

In the stride game, without its boost, for example if you call a unit over the plant token, your Vangaurd becomes 28k power, easily within the range of being G Guarded.

Many a player would underestimate the value of having just a meager 5k boost behind the vanguard, instead placing something such as Happy Lucky in that circle, leading to their Vanguard being easily guarded and their plant plays when striding a lot weaker.

When you stride and attack with katrina, what you call into the circles both front and back o f the side columns matter a lot as they are the units that will be attacking. However the circle behind the vanguard is purely a utility circle, at the cost of the boosting power. This circle can be used for cards such as Irminsur, Rebecca, Water Pot, Lilga, and other utility options.

If you have only 4 plants and make a 4 plant play without a plant behind Vanguard, you are calling 4 units to side columns leaving one circle inefficient, but if you are doing the same with 3 plants in the sides and 1 behind the vanguard, you are using all of your circles efficiently, opening up more options.

When playing Plants, its important to try to read how the opponent is aiming to take this vanguard attack. If they are going to no guard the attack and still no guard it if its power becomes 28k power, then you can give up the circle behind Vanguard to call a utility unit, but if the opponent is aiming to guard it with a G Guard, be sure to keep that plant boosting.

Early Game Power Push

Combined with a plant token boosting your Vanguard, the early game power push is an important point in playing. If you are planning to give the opponent damage, you must be strategic in attacking, as well as try to account for damage trigger in ideally two of the three columns you have. This would be the 20k column you want to construct.

Because the opponent needs to take damage in order to get a damage trigger, you can plan for only two of your attack columns to hit through damage triggers. Additionally if your third column is attacking only for 10k and would be intercepted, you can factor that into the equation as well by attacking with the small power into the intercept, then with your Vanguard. Then if the opponent got a damage trigger they still would have to guard the last attack or take damage.

You want to be attacking with all three columns every turn not only to get the offensive but to get the opponent to start throwing cards to guard. In the early game the opponent has less time to get their hand assembled and therefore will have less quality and less selection of what to and they can guard with. This creates a situation where they will be discarding larger amounts of guard that they need to, just because they do not have enough hand to have the choice to guard effectively.

When attacking, factor in how the opponent must guard. What I usually recommend when you are attacking with all columns, always aim for the 10k to guard and 15k to guard line. With 10k this makes it so its 20k to guard when you have a trigger, again highlighting how this requires two cards or a g guardian to block, at the same time being tempting for the opponent to no guard an attack and open damage triggers. The 15k guard line is so the opponent has to still guard through one trigger, and if you open a trigger it again creates a situation where the opponent must guard with two or more cards in the early game, allowing you to push in damage easier.

1 Plant Plays 2 Plant Play 3 Plant Play 4 Plant 5



When you are striding into Katrina, you will create one plant token on first stride and 3-4 plant tokens on the second stride. This gives you access to more plant tokens, but you want to be able to master all possible plays with any number of plant tokens you have. What this means is that you want to learn all possible combinations of superior calls from your deck when you have 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 plants, as well as the situations where you want to use them.

Even when you have 5 plants on board, sometimes the ideal play would to only use 4 of them to call in the side columns, and maintain the plant boosting the vanguard.

Sometimes, you have 5 plants on board, but want three Lilga in your hand, so you have to do a play with only two plants to superior call.

Other times, you want to deliberately call a reduced number of units from your deck, in order to conserve ammunition for the following turns.



Yet other days, you fight kagero, and you don’t have plants to call off of you just have ash.

For any of these reasons, you want to have a good idea of how your deck flows when you have a limited number of plants to superior call off of, so you are able to make the ideal play when things are not always going your way. We will share a few of these plays and combos to do in Part 6 of this series, but its important to explore your options, especially the options for 3 plant plays, which are some of the more important ones to learn.

Additionally, as mentioned before, when you ride Ines, you will have access to less plant tokens on board when you go for your stride turn. This in turn makes building according to your 2-3 plant plays far more important going forwards if you use Ines.

Matchup Considerations

Next we will be going over some of the common and difficult match ups, as well as some considerations to keep in mind when playing them.

VS Dark Irregulars

Against Dark Irregulars you want to be aiming to be aggressive very early, and push in as much damage as you can. Dark Irregulars have a comparatively weaker early game than Plants, and as such will be looking to go to G3 first, get their protect marker, and survive until they can combo you.

Reading if you are or are not able to beat the dark irregulars player on first stride is going to be the key to winning this matchup, as it allows you the option of grabbing Lilgas to defend against their combo turn, where as going all in and trying to win when they have enough to survive will result in them easily being able to overcome your defense made up of high value shield.

Do note that the less cards the DI player has, the less options they have to soul charge. If they are pushed enough, there is a chance that they are unable to soul charge as much off of Gastille, and attack in with only 20k-25k power pump to their columns.

If the Dark Irregulars player is going for a lot of soul charge early, be aware of their No Life King Death Anchor re riding back into a grade 2 in order to keep you from striding.

VS Altmile

Altmile is one deck that is going to take a lot of people by surprise, as the deck has not been used in great popularity before this. However, with both the new Trial deck and the new booter pack providing the deck with a lot of new options, many players may take to bringing this deck to tournaments.

Point number one is the same point as fighting standard Altmile, and that is to hit hard and hit fast. Don’t be afraid of giving them counterblast because they will not be able to use it efficiently, instead having to overstretch themsleves to spend it all in one turn to access their full abilities, but be careful of giving too much once they can stride. You want to give them lots of CB so they go to high damage in the early game, then once they go to striding, limit their CB so they can only attack a limited amount of times with Saint of Twin Sword

The second point would be to use Lilga vicariously. Unlike other guard restrict effects, Fides does not work against perfect guards, allowing you to bypass one attack from Fides’s multi attack with one Lilga. A very good deal when you're getting three lilga at once for the cost of coutnerblast one. Additionally, Saint of Twin Sword will be giving all the units called by abilities power for each face up G Zone, you want to be using perfect guards to stop those high powered attacks, especially after second stride.

VS Luard

Luard may be getting 15k power and two critical for each attack with Morfessa, but that can easily be slowed down between damage triggers and Ines gaining defensive power. A lot of Luard’s power lines are reliant on morfessa’s power and guard restrict to be threatening and cut a way to victory. Use this against them by using G Guardian combos with Ines to grant her 10k-20k defensive power, shutting down many of Luard’s power lines in the late game.

The issue is the early game with Luard. If both players stall and fight at G2, and the Luard player can draw into Nemain, Neo Nectar will likely lose unless they can draw a constant supply of Irminsul, or for some reason the Luard player is bad at Vanguard and cannot draw G3 for multiple turns. Both decks are willing to and are very powerful at G2 to fight for first stride. Build with Cela in order to compensate for this, and be confident in your triggers. While Luard has to play stand triggers and lowered powered triggers, lowering the defensive trigger potential and guard value of the deck, you are running 16 high powered triggers, each ready to throw their fat shield value at any of the Luard deck’s small early game attacks.

VS Plants

The Mirror match has many factors determining it. First would be opening with a plant behind Vanguard, allowing for early power push. Second would be drawing Irminsul. I would recommend not playing around Irminsul in the early game and instead aiming to race damage, as not only would the opponent be willing to ride up to G3 first, Irminsul is a card that will be used against you once there is cost for it, be it coming from the hand or deck, not something that you stave off in the early game and forget about.

One tactic you can take in the early game is to rush to g3 and ride Ines. This requires the opponent to absolutely have G3 and stride in hand, which they may not, but also having to ride into Trailing Rose/Ahsha in order to secure that 5 plant play to be anyhow effective against the Ines defensive power. This also forces them into an aggressive position and potentially giving up their Lilga defensive options. Should they fail and ride into Ines Martina or any other option, be sure to punish this with a solid defense and high number of plant play. Because you want to ride into G3 Ines first, you can take it slow and deny damage to deny access to Lilga, and follow up later with Force 2, or you can keep your damage low in the early game and no guard many of their first stride attacks.

In the early game, when both players are G2, the key power line is to make each attack be guarded for at least 10k guard. 5k guard and the attack will be intercepted, while 10k guard means they have to throw key G1 pieces or multiple G2. Many of the plant decks do not play a large number of G1 10k shield units, instead playing Lilga and stride fodder Padmini, allowing you to capitalize on this by poking them where they cannot guard.

Of note, Arboros Dragon Timber is one of the cards played for the mirror match. Do not underestimate constructing a 20k column between a powered plant token and a 10k unit, as this allows you to attack through one trigger every turn, even if it means giving up a 10k intercept.



VS Isabelle

Isabelle is a deck that can and will draw a lot of cards when you allow them to. They have two finishers: Zoa with Rhino, as well as just hitting you with many very big high powered attacks. You must be prepared for both.

One of the plays you need to look out for is the Isabelle deck’s G Guardian combo calling down Marimarten, which will destroy one whole column. Counter this by playing out a field of all 5 plant token, so you can at least go for a 3 plant play.

Because the Isabelle deck can play up to 8 copies of a G2 11k unit and ride into it, fighting in early game is very difficult, as your 15k power center column can easily be guarded with 15k shield. Counteract this over two turns of G2 gaming by first calling down Rebecca, giving power to the plant token behind V, making a 20k column, then retiring the plant token and bouncing rebecca to your hand. The next turn, call down Rebecca again this time behind V, making an 18k power column. Don’t play Rebecca because you don’t like early mid and late game utility while being one of the two only options to gain extra hand without using up counterblast when called off of Katrina while simultaneously helping fix the weakest link of the deck in Maiden of Gladiolus multi attack turn? Well then you’re out of options for fighting this 11k G2 ride.

VS Cocyutus

Cocyutus is one of Neo Nectar’s worst matchups. Cocyutus is not only a protect deck, but it can grab extra field and draw for the cost of counterblast, which plants are more than willing to give. Because of their high number of shield value, Force 2 plays often lack enough power to win.

Additionally, Cocyutus knows it is a slow deck against an aggressive deck that will give it ample counterblast. Most games you will be walking right into a Megiddo with multiple skull dragons for the finish, while the opponent will spend early game swinging at rear guards and happily enjoying the option of counterblast starving you.

VS Tsukuyomi

Against tsukuyomi, you will be aiming to keep your damage low In order to tank the opponent’s Ichikishima + Silent Tom turn, ideally staying at 2 damage or less for most of the game. You also want to be fetching a perfect guard to your hand in order to block the ichikishima attack itself. Finally, the one option you have against a silent tom attack is Quick Shield, which can bypass guard restrict. As Silent Tom + 8k Boost is only 17k power, enough for a 5k guard, between intercepts and Quick shield, you should be able to stave off the Ichi-Tom turn without taking 2 or more damage without critical.



One of the key plays if you are going first is to ride skip when at G0, and allow the opponent to ride up to G1 first. This allows you to get your quick shield while being able to emulate going second with your attack.

VS Gredora

Gredora is one of the supposedly difficult matchups for Plants yet is simultaneously one of the easiest matchups to do what you need to win. First off, Gredora is not only unpopular but she as a deck has a terrible matchup against multiple of the top decks, allowing it to be picked off early in the rounds. Secondly, Gredora herself does not have a protect marker.

When going against Gredora you want to be aggressive early, and push the opponent to ride up to G3 first. This is the key turn you need to set up your win.

When they ride to G3, they will lock down one whole column from having new units called into it. To counteract this, you want to have a full field of units before the opponent rides their Gredora, ideally with at least 3 plant tokens in the back row. Let them lock down one column, and protect the unit inside of it. Ride up to G3, give Force 1 to the rear guard column that isnt blocked, and call either plant tokens, or a high powered attacker such as Kaivant or Fruits Assort Dragon to this column.

Swing with your blocked rear guard column first. This attack with either be two plant tokens of 15k + 15k creating a 20k to guard column ideally, but can also be a 10k + 15k 15k to guard column.

Attack with your other column with Force, then attack with Vanguard. Maintain your booster behind Vanguard as Gredora deck has no access to high shield G Guardians, forcing them to use protect or perfect guards against you, then superior call into the last column with force a high power attacker.

Because the opponent has to take damage early, has already been on the receiving end of your offense early, and now needs to somehow receive 4 high powered attacks against a 12 critical aggro deck without any advantage gain whatsoever until this point in the game, the opponent will likely be at a dying state. Though their next stride will be able to block your decks mechanic by preventing superior call, as long as you ride, stride and swing at V the next turn, they will often lose.

The next weakness of Gredora is how the deck needs to use hand to search up Gredora herself, further weakening the defense of the deck.

Overlord is a powerful deck, but Plants is undoubtedly one of its more difficult matchups. Overlord itself is good in the early game due to targeted retire and sheer power if they ride up to G3 first, as well as willingness to rush and flood the board. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can stave off Blaze of Dumjit on first stride by calling many units to the board as the Overlord deck will be willing to counter attack you hard. Overlord deck will also be burning your plant tokens in the early game, preventing you from going into 4-5 plant plays in the first stride.

To fight Overlord is quite simple: Aim to No Guard their Dumjit turn to prevent the restand, and use your perfect guards against their Overlord the X turn. Plan to have 3-4 plant plays every turn, and don’t be greedy in the early game calling down Happy Luckys just to activate Irminsul. You don’t need to rush to win either. In fact if you leave the opponent with plenty of hand, they either will discard themsleves to access The X greedily or go into Zeigenburg or Dumjit, both of which can easily be death with if it is their second stride. Zeigenburg by leaving plenty of units out after your stride turn, and stave off Dumjit by just guarding it. Save your G Guardians and Perfect guards for the X turn if possible.

Conclusion

Thank you for joining us on Part 4/6 of our VEB14 Neo Nectar discussion! Today we have discussed in depth the new additions and considerations for the VEB14 Premium Standard Plant deck, discussed deck building philosophy and mindset, gone over sentinel selection, and showed multiple builds the deck.

We then discussed gameplay and advanced playing of the deck, building on the knowledge and lessons from the VEB10 Plant update, discussed the importance of the plant token behind the Vanguard, how to construct your field in the early game, and went over several of the 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 plant plays and their application. Finally, we went over multiple decks that you will be facing off against in the Premium Standard metagame.

We hope our discussion today will allow you to have a better understanding of how to play and play against the Plants deck in Premium Standard. Yet even more changes are to come when we get our Premium Collection card for 2020! We hope to see you at a BCS with this deck soon!

Tomorrow we will be going over Part 5/6 of our VEB14 Neo Nectar discussion, this time covering the top deck of the format: Ahsha in Limited Fight.

Thats all for today folks. Join us back tomorroow evening right here on the CanYouSayBlog, where we learn how to be a better cardfighter.