El Melvino is back once again, this time bringing you the latest up to date information on things! (Extremely vague, I know and not so up to date anymore xD.) Like promised, this week shall focus on Amon the deck. What this means is that I’ll just give you a sort of decklist and explain some things while I do that. So without further ado, let me go through some of the must have cards in the deck!

Note: This was being written while Amon support was not announced, so please, do me a favour and read before saying this is outdated. I will be doing an updated version very soon.

Grade 3:

Demon World Marquis, Amon

Amon! Yes, this is the bad boy to start everything. He is the spiciest things in the world. Soft control? Check. Subtle power up? Check. Yes, this boy is so spicy that playing 4 of him is a must.

Amon’s Leader, Astaroth

Astaroth is the next spicy boy that we must play four of. He is literally the man that is needed to continue any sort of relevancy in the G-Era. Since he is the legion for Amon, he is will make those Amon swings that much more relevant. Basically, if you know or are pretty sure your opponent does not have any PG’s, use him to effectively minus your opponent to kingdom come. Pair this with the forerunner that I will talk about later, and you have a scary column that your opponent will just hate you for. The only con I can think of is the fact that his soul charge ability is mandatory…

Grade 2:

Doppel Vampir

Honestly, you can tech almost any grade 2’s that you want. I generally recommend Doppel Vampir, not because he is the most amazing shit ever, but because he is a decent rearguard that your opponent may have trouble guarding against. Essentially, he is a stronger version of the formerly dreaded rearguard, Silent Tom. The only reason why I say he is decent is because he is GB1 and needs to trigger his Darkness keyword. However, the latter is not much of cost until near the end of your game. (You are playing on your own, what opponent? They are doing things? I didn’t notice.)

Amon’s Follower, Hell’s Draw

Another card that I do recommend is the Amon’s Follower, Hell’s Draw. You don’t need to play this at 4, but it can be useful for the early turns. Near the end though, it is not that great, so it’s honestly up to you.

Amon’s Follower, Ron Geenlin and Squallmaker Vampir

Other cards I do recommend as well are Amon’s Follower, Ron Geenlin for the 12k attack or Squallmaker Vampir for that +5k attack and soul charge. The latter is not a must use ability, but it can help. I generally use Geenlin at 4 and Squall at 2.

so Izaya…

Where is Psychic of Dust, Izaya? What? You want me to tell you to play this card? You can. I won’t stop you. It is a decent card, but I rather guard restrict with my rearguards and still swing big instead of swinging big with huge vanilla beaters. Plus, with the inclusion of Amon’s Follower, Ron Geenlin, it can easily keep up with grade 1/2 rush, where Izaya relies on grade 3 to grade 3 interaction to be of any use. To each their own, but I avoid this boy since he is just as vanilla as Doppel pretty much. How you may ask? Well consider the following: you swing for high powered columns with Izaya on each side, forcing your opponent to MAYBE guard 3 big attacks. Now that is great and all, but I find that only works when the opponent is at 5 damage or if you play stands. Now, I would think running stands in an Amon deck removes some of the lethalness that is attributed to your Vanguard and rears (in that criticals are much scarier overall). Now imagine two Doppel Vampir’s on either side. Sure, the overall attack value is smaller, but imagine criticals and no 0’s. That is painful considering Doreen is most likely boosting at least 1 of them. That is terrifying in my opinion as generally, that base column becomes a minimum of 32k a turn. In that case, having it deal two damage is overall the more terrifying prospect, in which they’ll most likely have to drop their hand to guard it.

Grade 1:

Doreen the Thruster

The main card that I say play 4 or bust would be Doreen. This card. Where to even start? This card is just really good. It does have the downside of not being able to use its ability except during your main phase, but that doesn’t stop the card from being a monster on its own or paired up with another rearguard. Basically, play this card behind another rear to avoid losing it to an attack. Against control, focus your power onto the vanguard, but we’ll go over the different ways to play against other different decks.

Amon’s Follower, Hell’s Deal

Another card that I personally like to play 4 of is the one and only Amon’s Follower, Hell’s Deal. This is the grade 1 version of Hell’s Draw, which means that I don’t lose extra rearguard pressure to soul charge, which is really nice. You can play this at 3 though since it is a good ability, but it isn’t as necessary as one might think.

Dimension Creeper

Dimension Creeper. This card is the ultimate first ride. I play 4. It literally is just, yes. Yum. *Incoherent babbling*

Perfect Guards

As for the PG’s, you have honestly 2 options. The first one, which is what I recommend is Flag Breaker. Counter-charging is lovely, especially in this deck. ESPECIALLY IN THIS DECK. ESPECIALLY IN THIS DECK! Did you get the message?(Insert name here when can.) Basically, this card is the more consistent PG in that it costs you a bit of soul, but then let’s you live. So fair trade off? This is dependent primarily on play style and I prefer the first more inconsistent one, then the one that costs me power and potentially lethal turns. (I know, minus 3k should never be so relevant, but I find that it is…) To each their own, however, and if the second one treats you better, then you better play that second one.

Grade 0:

Amon’s Follower, Barmaid Grace

The barmaid. She is bae, play her at 1 and don’t let her die, or else your turns shall suffer greatly in the game that you are playing. I could justify playing two of her, but not on the field at the same time. One counter blast in this deck is a lot and as such, you want her to be used once per turn and no more. The exception to this rule is if you are pushing for game and don’t care to think about any other turns beyond the one currently being done.

As for triggers, let me just go over that in the misconceptions area.

But before that….

Grade 4:

Abominable One, Gilles de Rais

Gilles de rais. Play 4 or please don’t consider this deck. You won’t go very far unless you are lucky or are just an extreme edgelord, which in that case go play Shadow Paladin.

Mask of Demonic Frenzy, Ericrius

Ericrius. Play 1 or 2, really up to you. He’s a good first stride, but even better in this deck than in others.

One Steeped in Sin, Scharhrot

Steeped in Sin. Play 2 because field nuking is sometimes needed in this deck. Not often, but he’s a card you won’t be sad having when the time comes.

MISCONCEPTIONS:

So here is where I will go over some of the major misconceptions about the deck and what should go into it.

Amon’s Follower, Grausam

First off, the triggers. You can play vanilla triggers, this is actually fine. Yes, the abilities are nice to have, but generally, the skills are irrelevant. The only one that is of almost any relevancy as a skill would be Amon’s Follower, Grausam, so if you want to get something extra and slightly mandatory, that would be the crit to get. Any of the others are just nice to have. Hysteric Shirley is nice, but generally, you do indeed enjoy some forms of defence, which you do lose dropping triggers onto the board just for them to go into the soul.

The second misconception is more of an obvious statement/observation. This deck is perceived to have counterblast issues. That is NOT the case. No, what this deck has is limited counterblasts, attributed to the fact of its time. The only time you should ever have trouble with counterblasts is if you use your skills like a freaking derp. I get that Amon is a lot of fun to use, but he is not a skill you want to achieve all the freaking time. On top of that, the two strides you’ll be using pretty much only would be Ericrius and Gilles de rais (gui de rae) for those of you that don’t speak French, don’t use counterblasts so that does not contribute to any issues. (As a French speaker, that pronunciation (Gills de Raius) irks me so hard, you would think I am an angry French man.) And as for other grade 4’s, you barely go into them. They are there for specific situations only and that is if you are put in a position where you need to use them, otherwise, you are wasting your time going into a vanilla strength-up stride, that either costs hand, or a counterblast. Essentially, most turns you’re using 1 counterblast, which will pile up, eventually. But if you get heals, or if you get flag breaker, well, you kind of mitigated an eventual problem.

The last misconception is based only on specific playstyles I have seen. Rule number 1 with the deck. Guard freaking early. You at 2 damage? Stay there for as long as you freaking can. That still means trigger barmaid during your grade 2 turn. But it means don’t be McDerpidityDerpDerp and use her and then Amon and the crit and then complain that you have no counterblasts to use barmaid any longer. Of course, you can’t! Efficiency with this deck is key and any less would tell me that you deserve to lose by that point. I like to think of this deck like Altmile decks that use lots of counterblasts, oh wait, all of them. Don’t be a derp, know which skills will make sense using and which will cost you the game because of your foolishness.

Decklists:

Grade 4: (16)

4x Gilles de butt hurt

2x Amon stride that you will almost never go into.

2x Ericrius (because this is the first stride and really good with barmaid)

2x Steeped in Sin man (good board wipe and can force no guards because of sheer power which is lovely.

2x Power boi. Yeah, he won’t see the light of day…

2x First G-Guard

2x Second G-Guard (This card… yeah, D-Robos, you ain’t got nothing on us DI’s. We will resist our Vanguard too, cause that’s totally relevant against you. But in all seriousness, this card can resist any number of targets, shutting down Links (even Deletors), and Guard break, which is D-Robos signature thing other than beating the ever living shit out of people with Justice SMASH!

Grade 3: (8)

4x Amon

4x Astaroth

Grade 2: (12)

4x Doppel Vampir

2x Squall

2-3x Hell’s Draw (Consistent early soul charge is great especially against rush decks as Amon loves to mess them up.)

4x Geenlin

Grade 1: (12)

4x Hell’s Deal

4x Doreen

4x Flag Breaker or the darkness pg

Grade 0: (17)

x1-2 Barmaid Bae (Can play more, up to you.)

x4 Critical trigger (Amon)

x4 Critical (Any, although if you can get the Nightmareland crit, do it).

x4 Draw (The one that soul charges is great if you can get it.

x4 Heal Trigger

On that note, as you can see, the darkness PG can only be used more efficiently, if there are cards to support it in the deck, however doing so, reduces other targets, so to each their own. Whereas, Flag Breaker helps with your countercharging issues that you may be having if you over committed the turn before.

Regardless, this is what I feel about the deck. I haven’t had counterblast issues and have managed rush very well simply because you have a hand, so guard attacks dammit. Oh, and auto crits are lovely, just saying. Hope you enjoyed this and if you disagree with me, that is completely fine! State your opinion! There is never only one way to play the deck! If you love Izaya and want to play him, by all means, do it! He is a great card, but generally just as vanilla as Doppel Vampir so to each their own! Oh and if you feel this post is messier than the last, probably is. Just saying.

Next time, I shall discuss another deck I really love: Machinings! Because I don’t like it when my opponent plays the game. See you soon!