Premium Watch: Circle Shift! Astral Plane

Avast lads and ladettes, its me its your best friend its Canyousayg, and you’re reading the Canyousayblog, where we learn how to be a better cardfighter.

Today, we will be going over a deck concept for Genesis, based on the new Trial deck: Nitta Shinemon, as well as including some cards from the latest set VBT07 Infinideity Cradle.







Giant Deity of Distant World Valkerion.

70000 Power, Grade 5, Does Drive Checks from the rear guard, and has those big numbers you really love seeing.







Its already been proven viable in Standard, but what about Premium Standard? What can we do to make it playable in Premium if we want to play it in Premium?



70000 Power, Grade 5, Does Drive Checks from the rear guard, and has those big numbers you really love seeing.

Wait, Drive Checks? Rear Guard?



Oh man, that means that it works perfectly with Stand Triggers!

If Valkerion drive checks a Stand trigger, it allows you to restand itself during the battle phase, giving you even more chances to open those triggers and more attacks to win!

This is the concept behind the genesis Premium Standard deck: Circle Shift

To open the Astral Plane, Call out a Valkerion, and potentially open Stand Triggers to restand Valkerion during the battle phase.

To achieve this, we must first focus on assembling the parts to open Astral Plane, as well as be able to draw into Valkerion.

Take a look at our example decklist.

Every single card in the deck either 1) Gains Force Markers 2) Is a Astral poet to open the Astral Plane 3) Is Valkyrion 4) Draws cards or filters cards to get your parts/Valkyrion or 5) Is a Stand/Heal Trigger 6) Multiple of the above.

Lets go through some of the card choices.

The first priority of the deck is to be able to build up those Force gift, and build them up fast. To do this, the deck wants to play Mutsuki to be able to start getting Force Markers as soon as possible, as well as Uranus to get two force markers on ride.

Mutsuki is an amazing ride when you are fighting against a deck that wants to fight at grade 2 to get first stride against you. Every time you ride her, you can counterblast 1 and soul blast 1 to draw a card and gain a force marker on V. In the Grade 2 game, this instantly gets you a card, already valuable, but also makes your Vanguard 20k power, making it almost impossible to guard your vanguard attack with a single card. With one or two rides, this will be enough pressure to turn the tides against a deck that likes to stay at grade 2 such as Plants or perhaps some playstyles of Luardo, making them give up that valuable first stride.

Diana is also played, which converts counterblast and soul blast to a force marker when the attack she boosts hits a vanguard. Place her as a boosting unit in the early game to get in hits, speeding up the rate you can assemble your 5 force markers. However, later in the game, when your Vanguard is a Astral poet, you have already reached the point where attacks become less likely to be guarded, or players starting to stride, making her countercharge ability less relevant to the game.

One of the best plays is to place her behind the Vanguard, giving Vanguard enough power to push through attacks easily, enabling her to go off and give your vanguard a force, making further attacks go through even easier!

The downside to this is that once you reach 5 gift markers and ride your Uranus, the circle behind Vanguard becomes an Astral Plane, retiring any units that were previously there. This may seem bad, but keep in mind that this is the point where you have already reached massive power on your V, so you dont need to be using abilities to give V any more force or boost, as well as having achieved Astral Plane, the goal to which calling a Diana early would have been for.

The decklist does play 4 Uranus and only 1 Astraios Dragon, and there is a reason for this. Not only does Astraios Dragon clash with Mutsuki, Atlas, and Diana for Counterblast, but until you open the astral plane, its second skill also does nothing. Contrast this with Uranus that not only uses only Soul Blast, but can also be activated from the rear guard, giving you more force markers if you draw into multiple copies, instead of having to rely on counterblast to achieve the necessary five force. If you ride Astraios Dragon, your number of force markers comes close to Counterblast + Number of Ride, using your CB with Astraios, Diana, Mutsuki, and Atlas to build Force, requiring you to have 4 damage to have built enough force by turn 3 to open the astral plane. Not easily achieved.



However, by simply riding Uranus, that number becomes Number of Ride + Number of Uranus in Hand + 1 (from Ride) + Counterblast, allowing you to access Astral Plane from as few as 3 counterblast or less.

Most of the cards used to gain force markers are activated during the ride phase or main phase, as you want to be able to open the astral plane the turn you ride up against a grade 2 opponent, or the turn that you would be first striding, and as such, cards such as Paltenos, Pluto that give force markers during battle phase when your vanguard is a astral poet are not played, as they are too slow for the pace of Premium Standard.

Our next priority is to call Valkerion. Valkerion itself is played at 4 copies, but I have also included the search card Deputize Bear.

Of course, searching Valkerion is not the only way to get one into hand. Cards such as Prometheus allow deck manipulation to draw into the parts you want. Cards such as Ulixes and Atlas both draw you cards, giving you options to move through your deck to draw into Valkerion.

Ulixes is uniquely positioned in that its able to move into the soul at the end of battle, denying the opponent from attacking it to reduce attackers, and forcing attacks upon your V, where you are able to use that counterblast to get force markers.

One of the cards used to filter is Astraia of Vast Sky. Astraia allows you to draw one and return one card from your hand to the deck, either loading your deck full of triggers or just helping filter through the deck for that Valkerion.

She also has a second skill, but we will be coming to that in a little while.

Standing Valkerion

Our next goal of the deck is to be able to attack with Valkerion.

The concept can seem simple: When Valkerion drive checks a Tahro Stand trigger, it allows it to stand itself, giving you another opportunity to do a twin/triple/quintet drive.

However, its important to keep an eye on your deck when activating Valkerion to give itself extra drive checks, as too many drive checks can end your deck much faster than expected.



Another key combo to remember is that of use with Tahro. When Tahro is soul blasted, with GB1 you can place it at the bottom of your deck to stand one of your rear guards. This works well to restand a valkerion that has already attacked.

But how will you soul blast it out if all of your soul blast is being used during main phase?

Astraia of Vast Sky's second ability comes in hnady here. Not only does she help draw through your deck to search parts, but once you have GB1, she can, during the end of an attack she booseted, soul blast two cards to return to the hand. This makes her a rear guard with soul blast on demand, so you can restand that Valkerion when you want it to!

Amaruda Aphross.

We now move onto our G Zone.

While the deck often does not intend to win off of a stride, having them for utility is very important. Dont feel like you absolutely must stride every turn to fight.

Its important to remember that when you stride, you lose the cont effect that allows you to open the astral plane, shutting you off from being able to call Valkerion, as well as from being able to use cards such as Atlas to be able to gain extra force markers on V.

With this in mind, the main stride this deck goes into is Amaruda Aphross.

Amaruda Aphross has three abilities. The first one is Revelation when placed on V, which can help you filter through your deck faster.

The second skill is your main ability. By counterblasting one and turning a G zone face up, give one of your rear guards +10k power and 1 critical. Then, if you have 4 or less soul, draw two and soul charge 5.

The third skill is when she attacks, by soul blasting 15 cards, stand one or your rear guards and shut down sentinels for one turn.

The second skill is the main use of Amaruda in this deck. While Genesis decks may come across as having difficulty going through the soul so fast early in the game, being a deck that focuses on soul charging and soul blasting large numbers in the later game, Uranus is an exception to this rule. By using Uranus, you soul blast two cards to gain a force marker on V on your ride.

This means that even if you had G0, G1, G2 in your soul without being able to soul blast for Mutsuki at all, even if you used up one Ulixes to draw cards, you would still have 5 cards in soul before using Uranus. After Uranus, you would have at maximum 3 cards, instantly setting up Amaruda's draw effect. Even if you did have a massive number of cards in soul, by calling Uranus you are able to soul blast them out to get down to the small number needed to gain card draw off of Amaruda.

One of the more interesting tricks with Amaruda is using her to Damage lock the opponent. While the deck has many effects to gain force markers on V, and almost every game you would want to be placing force 1, by riding Uranus, getting Force 2 on the side, then using his own ability to give vanguard a Force 2, you can get two Force 2 markers in a single turn. Combine this with Amaruda Aphross and you can make a rear guard with 3 criticals and high power that can be restand with Tahro pretty easily.



Even if it seems completely different from your decks main plan, never dismiss Force 2 or giving Force markers to rear guard as a potential option and route of play! You may be able to imagine victory down that path!

Other than Amaruda Aphross, you will notice I have chosen to play 8 G Guardians. This is because with the less you stride and less variety of cards you are likely to stride, its important to accomodate for that by increasing G Guardians, cards that are very likely to be played in your games, and thus are worth your effort put into increasing options for G guardian plays.

While the deck does play powerful cards such as Agnos, Ultima, let it be known that you are highly unlikely to bring out these in the majority of games, so be comfortable leaving them out of your own decklists.

Game plan:

The general game plan for the deck is to aim to open the astral plane, call Valkerion, and win with it.

As the deck has Atlas and Mutsuki to convert counterblast into Force markers, dont be afraid to take damage, taking just enough damage to access your fifth force marker.

Also, because of Mutsuki's early game prowess, try to Grade 2 game the opponent for a few turns. You dont have very powerful strides to rush into, but the opponent does. The deck can play a grade 2 game to force the opponent into staying off of grade 3 and striding for a few turns, then ride up into Uranus, Call Valkerion, and go in for the kill.

Unlike other decks that want to be getting that first stride, Valkerion doesnt need to stride to win.

Though, dont be too hasty as there are many things that can catch you off guard potentially ruining your plan.

One of the most important things to remember is that Valkerion, despite getting drive checks and being 70000 power, is still considered a rear guard, and with it, the potential to be retired by Narukami and Kagero's G Guardians. Be sure to try to work through the opponents retiring G Guards before using Valkerion, or use Valkerion to bait out that G Guard! One of these decks weakness is that although they have retiring G Guardians, they dont usually have access to high sheild value, and dont have a lot of cards in hand to be able to throw against your Uranus at 63000 power.

Thanks to your high power from Force gifts, the longer the game goes on for, the faster your vanguards power and Valkerion reach the point of being almost unguardable except by null guards. Because of this, its important to hit the opponent fast and hard in the early game to drive damage, so that they have little to no opportunity to no guard your Valkerion.

While Amaruda giving critical and power to a rear guard while drawing you cards is pretty powerful, it is unfortunately not as powerful as strides such as Morfessa, Katrina, Bustered, or some of the cards other clans got. This makes your striding game slightly weaker compared to the other clans, meaning that if the opponent takes advantage of this and rides up to grade 3 instead of playing around for first stride for a few turns, you will not only be force to ride up to grade 3 without enough Force to open the astral plane, locking you into striding Amaruda and setting up for the next turn, without a powerful ability to end the opponent.

Potential cards to consider in the deck:



Pluto of Deliberation

a RR from the VBT07 set that allows you to, at the end of battle it attacked a vanguard, by souling itself in and counterblasting one, to give one unit 10k power and give another force marker to V if it is a astral poet.

While it may seem good in giving power to the other column, do remember that if you stride, your Vanguard loses the Astral Poet unit type, making the force marker gain more difficult to achieve.



White Wall Sorcerer, Vegiba

Vegiba is an interesting grade 1 unit that, when called to guardian and for cb1, if your vanguard is an astral poet, to gain 10k shield, as well as give your Vanguard a force gift. Unlike Pluto, this card can be used regardless if you stride or not, and in the early game can function as more effective copies of your heal trigger for that thick 20k guard value. While using them in early game does reduce the number of force markers on your V, its a great card to consider to improve the early game without giving up later game potential if you think you can build up force markers fast enough without counterblast.

Heavenly Wind Sorcerer, Burnet

Burnet has two skills. First, if your Astral Plane has a unit, this unit gains 5k power to be able to hit on its own against opponent vanguards

Second, by soul blasting 3, you can give your Valkerion the ability to attack all of the opponents front row rear guards in a single battle! This instantly clears the opponents board, which is very impactful against decks such as Gold Paladin Ezel, one of the more dominant decks of the current metagame.

Even if they guard their front row units, if you restand Valkerion, Valkerion will attack all front row in its second and third attacks too!

Ambrosial Snake.

Ambrosial Snake is a card from the Trial deck Nitta Shinemon, a grade 1 with the activated ability to soul blast 5 to create a force marker and place it on Vanguard.

This soul blast 5 does directly conflict with Uranus, but do remember your Amaruda Aphross soul charges 5, a large number that may be hard to soul blast out again to go back down to 4 or less soul. Ambrosial Snake handles that effectively, setting up your second Amaruda Aphross.

Light Element Honoly

A very important card in the current metagame, especially against Ezel and Neo Nectar, but dont be so sure it will win you the game against them, as both decks easily work around honoly by instead focusing on power or card advantage.

Saturn of Right Time

Saturn is a card that, when your Astral Poet is placed on Vanguard, you can discard a card and rest itself to give a force to Vanguard. An interesting card as it is another card that gives access to Force markers and opening that Astral Plane, but doesnt conflict cost with any unit! This gives you one more option to build your force markers, even in a situation where you are constrained for counterblast or Soul costs.

Being able to be called down early to attack and bolster your grade 2 game is just an added bonus.

Text Decklist

FV: Pan of New Style

G5:

4 Giant Deity of Distant World, Valkerion

G3:

4 Gleaming Lord, Uranus

1 Quaking Heavenly Dragon, Astraios Dragon

G2:

4 Battle Maiden, Mutsuki

4 Prometheus of Dancing Lights

4 Strong Bow of the Starry Night, Ulixes

G1

4 Atlas of Heavenly Sphere

3 Diana of Moonlight

3 Astraia of Vast Sky

2 Deputize Bear

G0:

4 Tablet Angel

4 Goddess of Sound Sleep Tahro

4 Goddess of Self-sacrifice, Kushinada

4 Witch of Big Pots, Laurier

G Units

1 Progenitor Dragon of Total Purity, Agnos

3 Complete Beauty, Amaruda Aphross

1 Beast-Slayer Military Deity, Tyr

1 Zeroth Dragon of Zenith Peak, Ultima

1 Air Element, Sebreeze

G Guardian

1 Ultimate Regalia of Affection, Eir

1 Goddess of Twill, Tagwoot

1 Witch Queen of Accomplishment, Laurier

1 Air Element, Ractome

1 Goddess of Seven Colors, Iris

1 Dark Element, Dizmel

1 Metal Element, Scryew

1 Sky-dome Battle Maiden, Hanasatsuki

Conclusion

Valkerion is big, powerful, and a real spectacle to pull off, and extremely fun to watch! Perfect for the main character of the new season. Be sure to pick up a copy of the Trial Deck Nitta Shinemon to get most of the cards for this deck, and be sure to try out this deck against your friends in Premium Standard!

Dont be consumed by the image, Rewrite the image!



thats all for today folks, see you next time on the CanYouSayBlog.