[Blog] VEB14 Neo Nectar: Limited Ahsha

VEB14 The Next Stage Neo Nectar Part 5/6

Est 15 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.

For Part 4 of the series: Premium Plants, click here.

Today, we will be discussing the Limited Fight Ahsha deck. With the new Trial deck and new main Vanguard unit the deck: Ranunculus Flower Maiden Ahsha, as well as some powerful support in the TD and RRR slots such as Blossoming Maiden Cela and Osmanthus Maiden Anelma, Ahsha has solidified herself as a top tier Limited Fight deck, and notably so one that can harness both Force 1 and Force 2 incredibly well, further increasing her flexibility.

Limited fight is a popular format in Japan and is a format played in WGP. Given its comparatively controlled power level, significantly slower shift in meta game, and ease of access, several other countries and communities have started to show interest into the format and been trying it out. Any deck in Limited fight is very cheap to build, given how there are no expensive VRs or RRRs cards, and the lack of commonly played cards makes players have to get creative to build their decks, another factor that makes the format popular among its fans.

Differences from Standard

While most decks do not have access to their main mechanic in the form of their VR, the Ahsha deck does have access to Ranunculus Flower Maiden Ahsha, which grants them access to this mechanic and the various support cards it has. However, because you have to be playing without Dream Spinning Ranunculus, you have to build around not being always able to ride into Ahsha, as well as acccount for the differences in skill that these two cards have.

First, as you do not need to save as much soul for Dream Spinning’s ability, the usage of soul can be a lot more lenient, opening up the deck to power cards such as Maiden of Blue Lace, as well as more frequent and lenient use of Anelma.

Second, Ranunculus Flower Maiden Ahsha does not gain power or critical on her own. While this is the build around mechanic in the standard Ahsha deck, in Limited fight you do not have the. Therefore, your power on Vanguard is lower, and the deck as a whole cannot rely on extra critical on your Vanguard and Flower Fairy Tokens. Because of this you must either build Force 2 and be able to provide extra power to Vanguard, or to go Force 1 and be more willing to go into the longer game, increasing the value of burst power finishers, as well as smaller amounts of incremental advantage.

Finally, you don’t have Padmini in Limited Fight. While it would not be as impactful in the Neo Nectar deck due to Maiden of Sweet Berry being just as potent a ride target, the drop in consistency of being able to draw into Ahsha, as well as the decreased number of Grade 3s that can create your Flower Fairy Token necessitate you play either less Grade 3s, or a Grade 3 that will transition well into Ahsha.

These three points are the main differences Limited Fight Ahsha has from the Standard Ahsha deck. Compared to other decks, Ahsha plays very similarly to her standard equivalent, another point that keeps her on top of the meta.

Deck Build

Here we have an example deck build for Limited Fight Ahsha. We play Ahsha alongside Exploding Tomato, as well as complement Ahsha’s lack of power by playing Taniya, Diane, and Ferine in order to grant our Vanguard additional power.



Note how we play Blue Lace, a card that usually is not played in Standard, but due to its ability to produce multiple plant tokens over several turns and effectiveness as a booster, it is played. Due to the reduced amount of soul consumption we can play Blue Lace.

Ahsha

Ranunculus Flower Maiden Ahsha is the main vanguard of the deck. However to supply her with 3 or more units every turn to create her Flower Fairy Token, we have to play cards that produce more than just one plant token, namely Cela and Blue Lace. Her +10k power ability is very potent, and it is what encourages re-ride. This additional 10k power is only for one turn, hence we have to play support cards to maintain her power high in order to use Force 2, as well as overwhlem the opponent when we play Force 1.

Exploding Tomato

Exploding Tomato is played her next to Ahsha in order to be both a back up ride as well as create extra bodies for Ahsha to retire. At the end of battle by retiring itself he can create two plant tokens, perfect set up for the next turn to create more Flower Fairy Tokens.

Exploding Tomato’s utility as a back up ride comes in both his power and his card draw. Not only does he help you draw into Ahsha, but this extra power allows you to go both Force 1 and 2 and set up future turns.

One of the interesting plays I find in the deck is to ride Tomato first to draw cards before shifting into Ahsha, so you have one extra Force marker to use for the Ahsha turn, especially prevalent in the Force 1 play where your first ride will be 33k power enough to drive some damage, but your second ride will be 43k power over two columns, which will severely devastate your opponent.

Spiritual Tree Sage Irminsul

You may notice I am not playing Irminsul in Limited fight, despite stating how powerful it is a card at any stage of the game as well as one of the covers to Neo Nectar’s weaknesses. This is because there is no good set up for Irminsul. Unlike other builds that play Sweet Berry and Sylvia which create plants at no cost, Limited Fight does not have this. Instead G2 counterblast is competed for between Cela and Anelma, which usually creates a situation on T2 where you have not enough plants, not enough counterblast, or no irminsul to draw with. Because Ferine calls plant tokens one turn too slow for Irminsul to be the powerhouse it needs to be, we have dropped Irminsul and replaced it with plant calling cards.

Supporting Ahsha’s Power

In Limited Fight, because of the decreased amount of mass retire and pinpoint backrow retire, cards such as Taniya and Blue Lace gain a lot more utility. This allows us to play larger numbers of Taniya to provide a constant power pump to Ahsha.

In our Grade 2 slot we are playing Ferine. In Standard and Premium the second turn is a lot more impactful, limiting use of Ferine. However, in Limited Fight where card power is significantly lower, games can go longer which encourage cards with weaker early game but higher payoff late game such as Ferine to be played.

As games can get grindier, playing Powerise Elixir as our finisher in this deck is what we have chosen to go with. Similarly to Antero in standard, the massive power pump over two or three columns in one turn is what you will be aiming to use for the win. Similarly, as it is your finisher and does not serve any purpose until then, Powerise can be played as a 1-of.

Force 1 vs Force 2

Unlike most other decks in Limited Fight, the Ahsha deck can take advantage of both Force 1 as well as Force 2. Use this to your advantage to swing the game in your favor when you need it to.

The core point in deciding to go for Force 1 or Force 2 is the number of Force you will expect to be able to get, as well as how much power you are able to supply your vanguard. Unlike Dream Spinning Ahsha, you will not be getting 10k power for free every turn, and as such, you have to be able to get about 23k power to 33k power off of your effects on Ahsha every turn to create powerful columns when you go Force 2.



When you are going Force 1, you will not be able to deal as much damage early, but be able to finish the opponent off more effectively. Force 1 reduces the amount you need to dedicate to the board as you dont need to be calling Ferine, Taniya, Diane, or using Powerise Elixir as much on turns where you are pushing damage. In turn, a Force 1 choice also lets you aim and time your finisher far more easily.

Dont be afraid to take Force 1, as once you get to the second force marker, the power on two columns or more easily reaches overwhelming numbers, sometimes putting in more damage than one Force 2 attack hitting and the rest being guarded.

So the answer to whether to take Force 1 or Force 2 is Both.

Matchup Considerations in Limited Fight

VS Jaggyshot Thunderbreak

Jaggyshot Thunderbreak can remove your Flower Fairy Token every turn, so dont count on getting two of them out. Do remember that to remove your backrow, they need to remove something in the front row before using Thunderbreak, so you can just fill your front row up with Plant tokens boosted by Anelma in order to protect your Taniya. All of their front row mass retire is in the battle phase. Thunderbreak’s skill allows you to choose which rear guard to move to the front row. Give them plants.

VS Altmile

Not much to say in this matchup except ignore the rear guards and aim to go against their face. Altmile in Limited fight has better power output on their Vanguard, but lower on their rear guards, usually capping out at 20k due to there being no Aerial Altmile to give the rear guards power. Do note that in order to use Livarot well, the Altmile player needs two circles empty to take full advantage of Livarot. Circumvent this by attacking into the Vanguard and playing a high power game.

Similarly to standard, you want to be giving them no counterblast or a lot of counterblast, never only 1 per turn in order to limit how much advantage gain the opponent has access to over the course of the game.

VS Chronojet

Chronojet in Limited fight is very mediocre, due to its lack of stride options. However, do not underestimate Stroboscope Dragon, as they will use Stroboscope every turn to snipe your Ahsha Flower Fairy Token. Unfortunately the Ahsha deck does not have multiple attacks to deal with this. Hence you should use your last non Flower Fairy Token column to bully the retire options Gear Chronicle has, as they are forced into protecting them.

VS Kujikirikongou

One of the worst matchups for Ahsha, given both Nubatama’s protect marker as well as their bounce and discard mechanic allowing them to get a 2-for-1 advantage gain over you. When they bounce one of your token units, that unit will disappear before you have to discard a card from your hand, making you lose both the token and a card in hand.

Because you can choose what rear guard to return to your hand, always pick a unit and not a token to bounce. This at least mitigates the amount of advantage lost as you feed tokens to Ahsha.

Do keep the circle behind your Ahsha Flower Fairy Tokens empty, because the Nubatama player may be aiming to get a massive advantage swing by bouncing both the Flower Fairy Token and the unit behind it with Kabukikongou



VS Valkerion

Valkerion deck will be quick to rack up those Force markers, and be hitting you for very high numbers. However, do take advantage of how Valkerion deck does not have good card advantage, nor does it have any retire. This means that your Ahsha Flower Fairy Tokens are relatively safe compared to other matchups. While the Valkerion deck can put out high fire power over their Vanguard and their Astral Plane, you can push out just as high numbers over three columns!

Conclusion

Thank you for joining us on Part 5/6 of our VEB14 Neo Nectar discussion! Today we have discussed briefly regarding one of the powerhouse decks of Limited Fight in the new metagame: Ahsha. While its mechanic may be similar to Standard Ahsha, the approach to deck building is very different.

We have discussed both deck building, game play, force selection, as well as gone over some of the popular decks in Limited Fight and how to combat these decks.

Be sure to give it a try with your friend if you’re building on a budget, want to try out something new, or want to dominate the big Limited tournament you have coming up!

Tomorrow we will be going over Part 6/6 of our VEB14 Neo Nectar discussion, where we cover combos and plays for all formats.

Thats all for today. Thank you for tuning into the CanYouSayBlog, where we learn how to be a better cardfighter.