Introduction

Set 11’s release is right around the corner and I feel like talking about some of the stuff that’s in the set. So let’s talk about Amon shall we?

For those who don’t know Amon is a subclan of Dark Irregulars (DI for short) who’s primary gimmick is gaining power based on the amount of cards in your soul. So like all DI decks he likes to gather up a fat stack of soul to gain benefits off of, power being the primary one.

I have to admit Amon is probably my favorite archetype/subclan of DI. Aesthetically DIs are supposed to be the dark underbelly of Vanguard so the idea of a demon cult built around this dude is cool. And in terms of the actual game Amon is how I got into DI as a clan. A friend of mine was sold me a playset of Gilles de Rais for cheap that happened to have the beginnings of a Amon deck attached to it. So it really pains me to say that Amon is probably the weakest archetype of DI right now (Nightmareland is not real we’re not even gonna bother with that).

The Support

So G-BT11 has been out in Japan for a while now and will hit the states in just a little bit. Let’s take a look at some of the cards that have come out for Amon shall we?

Amon’s Red Eye Forneus: Well he looks impressive. So this guy is a really big beatstick who will sometimes retire a lot of stuff and gain a crit. It is very medium. The 20 soul threshold for the extra retire and critical is doable first stride, where it would be most impactful, but takes a bit of effort to get to. If you don’t soul charge quickly in the early game you can fall short of the magic number. Without hitting that 20 soul mark you’re just trading rear guards, and getting a vanilla beatstick. If you do hit the 20 mark this card makes decent pressure. You can clear away a decent chunk of the board, and at +20k its usually PG or take the crit. It can alleviate some pressure and steal games with the crit. It does its job okay but overall I think most decks can handle it. Beyond first stride you’re probably better off with Gilles or Scharhrot who have guard restricts on top of their power and of course Bredamouth (Bledermaus?) who can restand.

Amon’s Eye, Agares: I actually think this card is fairly strong. His first skill allows you to pump up rather large columns, that could push past the 36k G-guard threshold. Combined with Bredamouth you can actually get pretty good pressure going. His stride skill allows you to double your soul when you stride an Amon unit. This makes Forneus’ 20k threshold easier to obtain and can just give you a massive influx of soul to build for later finishers. Unfortunately the strengths of this card are marred by Amon as a deck being rather weak (we’ll get to that). While this card is certainly strong for Amon, Amon overall being weak turns this into a medium card.

Odioth Thunder/Hateful Cyclone: I am lumping these two together cause they run off the same principle. They both soul charge, become 5ks, and then gain 5k for every 5 soul. These cards ultimately follow Amon’s theme of just gaining power based on cards in your soul. They do fill a niche of being powerful early aggro units that can also build soul. In the later game the massive power, combined with Bredamouth can just end games. Though since they are one and done cards they do ultimately become vanillas. These cards are fine, they soul charge early which is good and can make power for aggro.

Amon’s Hardwall Baphstea: This card is not worth it. Some DI decks don’t even play 4 Sentinels anymore because Avarice can be pulled out of your soul making her semi-searchable. Especially with Agares mass soul charging you can likely cut at least 1 Avarice to make room for other techs, like Enigmatic Assassin. So being a quint wall means you’re getting an inconsistent guard, more CB costs, and milling your deck even faster. Her second skill sounds good, until you realize her CC is a net zero and her recycle is outclassed by Bredamouth who can put ALL your triggers back. She also SC which means you could end up just shoving back one of the things you just took out. Card is bad, the second skill looks tempting but Bredamouth puts back triggers better while also being a finisher, and Amon has no real draw engine to get back the 3 normal units. Just play Avarice, or even Flag Breaker if you want real CC power.

What Makes Amon Weak?

So now that we’ve covered the dedicated Amon support let’s get into the meat of this discussion. Why do I consider Amon weak?

#1 Poor Resource Management

In terms of Amon’s dedicated support, the only thing Amon’s really good at is getting a lot of soul quickly and power buffs. Beyond that the archetype doesn’t really have anything in the way of card draw or counter charging. There’s Fate Collector but the trade off of a one off draw vs consistent soul charging and power from Barmaid Grace is not really a worthwhile trade, hell old Amon lists that topped ran as many as 3 Barmaids. Then your other option is Fools Palm who is a mulligan and not a real plus. As for counter charging Baphesta is the only card, and she is not a true CC either because she counter blasts.

So if Amon’s dedicated support can’t help his sustainability we would have to look beyond his own cards and expand into DI as a whole. So what generic DI cards can take care of the problems Amon has?

There’s draw triggers of course, Bredamouth gives the deck some measure of recycling so you can stave off deckout. It can certainly help with Amon’s 3 card hand syndrome, but may not be enough overall given how aggressive the meta is currently. What else can draw?

Wertiger Yeager arguably the best G1 in the clan right now, does almost everything you would want a DI card. Monochrome of Nightmareland is another very useful tool who can help with CB management. Looks decent right? These two cards should be able to handle some of Amon’s deficiencies. Unfortunately this leads into problem #2.

#2 Poor Interaction with Generic Cards

This is arguably a problem with subclans/archetypes in general (who knows maybe we’ll talk about it some other day) but for now let’s focus on Amon specifically.

So I listed a couple of attractive looking options for Amon to shore up his vulnerabilities so what’s the problem with it?

First let’s talk about Yeager. Card is awesome, one of skills lets you just draw a card for putting him in soul with a skill/cost. He can also pull himself out of soul, soul charge to replace/activate darkness, AND he’s a stride fodder.

Unfortunately Amon’s priorities conflict with his usage. With the combination of Agares and Forneus first stride, you want to be building up your soul early. I find that usually I’ll want at least 8 soul within riding Agares to have a good shot of getting to 20 for Forneus. There is of course Hell’s Draw and Hell’s Deal for free SCing, as well as Hateful Cyclone/Odioth Thunder. But the most consistent one is likely coming from Barmaid Grace. Of course if the vast majority of your SC happens in the early game that means you have less CBs to work with. So if you end up getting Yeager off Grace then odds are you don’t have another CB to get the draw off. First stride you need at least 2 CB 1 for Agares and 1 for Forneus, possibly 3 to get to Forneus’ 20 soul with Grace. So even during Agares’ turbo, where Yeager is most likely to show up, you don’t have the CBs to spare most times even. Even if you use another stride the only free ones are all on hits, which is extremely undesirable when you can just play a stride that doesn’t need to hit.

Then there’s the matter of space. I personally would prefer having both Cyclone and Deal to turbo as much soul as possible, since that’s how the support is telling me to operate Amon. Even if I can cut some I still want PGs so there’s no room there. That leaves me choosing between the Scharhrot Fodder and Yeager. So his first and most impactful skill is already awkward due to Amon not having the resources to spare for the draw, but how about Yeager as a stride fodder? Unfortunately you need 2 cards with the Darkness ability for him to function as fodder. Let’s count the amount of Darkness cards Amon might feasibly run. Avarice (who you want in your hand), Yeager himself (kinda conflicts if you need him in both hand and soul), Assassin (you can run maybe 2? odds are it’s not there when you need it). Yeah that’s not happening, not easily anyways. None of this is to say he’s unrunnable, just that the interaction is awkward at best.

So how about dat Monochrome? It’s a great skill he soul charges, counter charges, and draws a replacement card. Unfortunately its also GB1 when its too late to matter. Best case scenario you managed to get him first stride so you can alleviate the large amount of CB costs. Unfortunately, and this relates to problem #3, because Amon can lose hand so quickly it’s very likely you will have to drop Monochrome to guard if you had him.

#3 Heavier Rear Guard Reliance

So despite many of Amon’s rears being one and done Amon has to care a decent amount about them sticking around. Agares’ power buff works best if you can maintain a good field to use it. Similarly you may opt to use Amon’s Talon, Marchocias first stride to make buffed up columns instead of going for Forneus. So since the deck lacks consistent draw power, wants to drop cards early to turbo soul, AND needs them to stick around, you end up either burning your hand guarding/replacing cards or having bad turns because you don’t have any rears to take advantage of all the power gains you can spread around.

Conclusion

It hurts to say because I like the aesthetic so much, but Amon is a confusing mess right now. His new support is focused primarily on you turbo charging your soul, and the gaining power for having lots and lots of soul. However the demands of his aggressive turbo charge playstyle means Amon can burn out quickly and many decks have the tools to just deal with him once he blows his load first stride or even before that. Since he has no real draw power or superior call, its easy to cut off his aggro by just attacking his rears, which also denies CB that he desperately needs for charging. Trying to make the deck more sustainable ultimately just turns it into a weaker version of other archetypes since Amon lacks Sullivan’s super shield and Glanzend’s amazing end of turn skill. Its a shame cause I’d love to play the deck more, but as of now I don’t feel the incentive to outside of occasional shits and giggles games.

That’s it for this post. As always I hope y’all enjoyed. Comments/Criticism are always welcome just be civil with it.