A competitive deck is, as the name states, meant to be able to compete and perform well in tournaments. It is true that the different series are by no meaning equal in power and viability, so take these decks as the cream of the crop for the specific series in question, because even the best deck of one set may not be a match for a semi-good deck from another.

The Deck

WS Decks link: Engulfing Despair

Quick stats:

Colors : 23 green / 27 blue

: 23 green / 27 blue Level 0 = 18 characters

Level 1 = 14 characters

Level 2 = 2 characters

Level 3 = 8 characters

Events = 0

Cards with triggers (excluding CX cards) = 10

Level 0



4x Ni-Class Destroyer

When played, you may replace the top card of your opponent’s stock with a card in their WR.

When this attacks, give +1000 power for the turn to one of your other <Fleet in the Deep Sea> characters.



2x Anchorage Ogre in the Deep Sea

+500 power to your other character in the middle slot of center stage.

BRAINSTORM: Pay 1 / rest her / flip 4. For each CX revealed, search your deck for up to 1 <Fleet in the Deep Sea> character.



4x Southern Battle Princess in the Deep Sea

Global +500 to all characters.

When she’s played, if the top card of your deck is an <Fleet in the Deep Sea> character, put it in your hand and drop 1 card from your hand to WR – otherwise put the revealed card back on top.



4x Light Cruiser Ogre in the Deep Sea

On play, put the top card of your deck to WR: if it’s a CX, put her to stock.

When she’s frontal attacked, you may put her to WR and put 1 “Final Mode, Light Cruiser Ogre in the Deep Sea” on her slot from your hand.



4x Christmas, Northern Princess in the Deep Sea

Level 0 clock suicider.

SHIFT: level 0.

Level 1



4x Northern Princess in the Deep Sea

CX COMBO w/ Sink!: When the CX is played, if she’s in your front row, put up to one of your opponent’s level 0 or lower characters into their WR, and reveal the top card of your deck: if it’s a level 0 or lower character, put it in your hand – otherwise put the card back on top.



3x Aircraft Carrier Ogre in the Deep Sea

When she’s played, you can drop a card from your hand to WR: if you do, look at up to 4 cards from the top of your deck, take 1 <Fleet in the Deep Sea> character into your hand and put the rest into WR.



4x Final Mode, Light Cruiser Ogre in the Deep Sea

She gets +500 power for each of your other <Fleet in the Deep Sea> characters.

When she’s reversed in battle, you can’t use any ENCORE effects for that turn.



3x Nu-class Light Aircraft Carrier

BACKUP 1000, level 1: Drop this to WR.

When you use the BACKUP, if you have an <Fleet in the Deep Sea> character, give an additional +1000 power to your character in battle.

Level 2



2x Isolated Island Ogre in the Deep Sea

Global +1000 to all <Fleet in the Deep Sea> characters.

You can also rest her and pay 2 stock to search your deck for an <Fleet in the Deep Sea> character.

Level 3



4x Final Mode, Northern Princess in the Deep Sea

EXPERIENCE: If all the cards in your level zone are <Fleet in the Deep Sea> characters, she has +1500 power.

During the turn she was played, when she reverses an opponent, you may pay 1 to clock-shoot that character.



2x Battleship Hydro Ogre in the Deep Sea

If you have 2 or less CXs in your WR, she gets -1 level in hand.

During your opponent’s turn, she gets +500 power for each of your other <Fleet in the Deep Sea> characters

Heal on play.



2x Air Defense Princess in the Deep Sea

If she’s on your center stage but no in the middle slot, she has -4000 power.

If she’s in the middle slot, she has -2000 power for each reversed character on your center stage AND / OR each empty slot on your center stage.

When she’s played, look at up to 3 cards from the top of your deck, take 1 card into your hand and put the rest in WR.

CX COMBO w/ Hehehe… Does it hurt?: When her battle opponent becomes reversed, you can pay 3 stock and put the CX from the climax zone in WR to stand her.

Climax



4x Sink!

1k1soul, BAR trigger.



4x Hehehe… Does it hurt?

1k1soul, PANTS trigger.

Analysis

I absolutely love the art on these cards – but that’s not the only thing about this deck that’s absolutely gorgeous! The consistency with which you’re able to get the best characters in your hand at the best time is mind-blowing and I can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen a deck with such care-free early game. It has its fair share of unexpected outcomes, but even when those happen, they’re usually still in your favor.

Level 0

Level 0 is a bit more on the heavy side with 18 characters because, as you’ll see later on, that benefits the level 1 CX combo. To start off with supports, we have Southern Battle Princess in full numbers: her global +500 is just a cherry on top of her top check & hand filter effect. It’s a way to drop climaxes early on that’s just as useful through out the whole game. This deck relies heavily on hand filters and drop/discard effects because while your chances of getting a CX stuck in stock are lower due to running 4 GOLD BARS (unless you’re really unlucky and constantly blind-stock climaxes), you still don’t want those to stack up in your hand. The other level 0 support is a plussing brainstorm that also gives your other character in the middle slot +500 power: those are often run at 3 or even 4 copies, but because you have so many other great utilities to search and increase your hand size, it’s really not necessary to include it in such numbers. While testing the deck, I mostly used the brainstorm not because I needed to search but because I had to pay out a CX from stock anyway.

The attacking level 0 line-up consists of 3 characters, all at 4 copies, starting with Ni-class Destroyer: it essentially lets you put climaxes into your opponent’s stock in early game, which will inconvenience them even more if they don’t have a way of paying them out. It also lets you give one of your other characters +1000 power when it attacks – that’s a great help because you’re not running any beaters at level 0 (though there are some options, but I’ll discuss those at the end as always). Then there’s the promo clock-suicider so you can get rid of any pesky level 0s with encore, but by far the most interesting level 0 card is Light Cruiser Ogre: boasting 2.5k power, you have to put the top card of your deck to WR when she’s played and if that card is a CX; she goes to stock – a rather fitting penalty for her awesome pseudo-change effect. When she’s frontal attacked, you can put her in WR and put a Final Mode, Light Cruiser Ogre from your hand into the spot she was on.

Level 1

Now let me remind you, Final Mode, Light Cruiser Ogre is a 1/0 5k character that gets +500 power for each of your other characters (with the downside that once she is reversed, you can’t encore any characters for the rest of that turn). If you have 1 other back-row support out when you change into the 1/0 Final Mode, Light Cruiser Ogre, she has 6k – which is a big deal for level 0. I’ve even had situations where I had two global assists in the back and 3 level 0s on center stage, making her 8k once she’s changed in.

This mechanic gives a sort of uncertainty to the game and puts extra pressure on the opponent: can they attack the level 0 or do you have the 1/0 ready in hand? They’ll be forced to choose between side-attacking the level 0 or hitting it head on and risking the 1/0 coming out early. Personally, if I had to play against this deck, I’d try to read into my opponent as much as possible to see whether or not they have the 1/0 in hand. If you happen to play a lot of beaters at level 0 and are sure the 2.5k won’t be able to reverse you on their turn, then maybe side attacking makes sense, but you end up in a suspense waiting game either way.

Even outside of early play, the 1/0 Final Mode, Light Cruiser Ogre is a force to be reckoned with as it easily stays at 8k on both offense and defense. The rest of this deck’s level 1 game mainly supports her, like the Northern Princess CX combo: when the CX is played, if she’s on center stage, you can put one of your opponent’s level 0s into their WR (getting rid of things like possible assists) and if the top card of your deck is a level 0, it goes straight to your hand – meaning that if you’re lucky, you can even get a +3 to your hand in one single turn with 3 of Northern Princess. That is in part why there are so many level 0s in the deck.

As you don’t want the 1/0 Final Mode, Light Cruiser Ogre to get reversed at all if possible, there are 3 copies of the 1/0 backup that will always give +2000 power since all of your characters are <Fleet in the Deep Sea>. To wrap up level 1 and keep going with the hand filters, there’s also Aircraft Carrier Ogre with the standard “drop 1 / flip 4 / 1 character to hand” effect.

Level 2

The only level 2 characters are the global +1000 supports that also let you search your deck for an <Fleet in the Deep Sea> character if you rest them and pay 2 stock. Usually, I’d play the first one and use it to search out the second one, then continue to search for my level 3 setup.

Level 3

At level 3 we have 4 of the Final Mode, Northern Princess with the on-play clock-shoot: she’ll also constantly be at 11.5k power since the character in your level zone will always all be <Fleet in the Deep Sea>. If she’s backed by both level 2 supports, she has 13.5k power, making her a solid finisher. There’s also two of the early play Battleship Hydro Ogre which heals on play and gets +500 power for each of your other <Fleet in the Deep Sea> characters during your opponent’s turn (which yields 11.5k with a full field or 13.5k with a full field and both level 2 supports. The deck usually refreshes right after reaching level 2 so you can use the level 2 support to search her out as well and then play her right away as long as you have 2 or less climaxes in stock.

The last remaining character is also the last CX combo: Air Defense Princess. She has quite a hefty amount of text so let me quickly run over her effects once again:

If she’s on your center stage but not in the middle slot, she get -4000 power

If she’s in the middle slot, she gets -2000 power for each other reversed character and/or empty slot on your center stage.

These two are the blatantly necessary repercussions for her having 13k base power. It’s the other two effects that are actually in your favor:

On play, she lets you look at up to 3 cards from your deck, put 1 into your hand and the rest in your WR – doesn’t have to be a character, so this can also be used as a last resort to grab her CX .

And finally the CX combo: when she reverses a character, you can pay 3 stock and put the CX into the WR to re-stand her.

Why are there only 2 copies of this if it’s a finisher CX combo?

Because it isn’t really necessary to have more of her. The deck makes it easy enough to search for whatever character you need & you shouldn’t ever want to play more than 1 of her on stage because the combo requires you to remove her CX to the WR as part of the re-stand cost, meaning that even if you’re able to reverse something with her in the middle AND with her not in the middle on the same turn by playing 2 of her simultaneously, you’d still only get to re-stand 1 of them.

Would it ever make sense to attack with her not in the middle slot?

Yes. If your opponent knows what combo you’re playing, they’re naturally gonna try to wall their middle slot so you won’t be able to reverse it. However, in the middle slot, with both level 2 assists and the CX boost, Air Defense Princess has 16k power while the usual defensive type level 3 (something around 9.5k with +500 power for each of their other characters) would reach about 14.5k, presuming they had 2 level assists in the back. So ensuring that their middle slot isn’t reversed will take some effort, either by careful field planning or relying on a counter. Especially if playing in a haste, they might unintentionally end up leaving weaker characters on the sides.

But even if they’re totally unaware of what you have in store, it’s not uncommon to still have weaker characters out at level 3. So if you’re sure you’ll have enough power to reverse something on the sides even if they use a counter, then by all means, go for it and execute the combo that way.

Climaxes

4 gold bars and 4 pants: a very climax-inclined trigger line-up that takes some getting used to if you’re not used to playing play either of the two. As I already pointed out, the bars generally lower your chances of getting a climax stuck in stock, but in turn, you’re more likely to get a flood of climaxes in your hand. It’s something you have to manage when playing this deck: rely on level the level 0s and level 1s with drop effects to get rid of excessive CX cards as soon as possible. What you can’t drop, play – the deck in general runs rather aggressively in trying to soul-rush your opponent into the ground from level 1 onwards.

On the bright side, it is really unlikely that you’ll ever find yourself without a CX you need to pull off either the level 1 combo or the level 3 re-stand.

Important stuff to keep in mind when playing:

All characters are <Fleet in the Deep Sea>

Think well ahead about your level 3 setup, especially the re-stand combo

Be prepared to move climaxes around constantly. Even with all the drop utilities, you’ll still eventually play a game where the CXs will end up everywhere else except in the deck – but hey, it happens. No damn deck is perfect 100% of the time.

With 14 level 1 characters, losing the ability to encore anything for the whole turn if your Final Mode, Light Cruiser Ogre is reversed isn’t really that big of a deal, but you should still try to prevent it as much as possible by utilising the backups.

All in all, it’s a strong deck mainly because it has the resources to be consistent and overwhelm the opponent with numbers if nothing else. The Light Cruiser Ogre mechanic is interesting and the level 1 game is reliable, but the level 3 setup can get wobbly if the opponent manages to counter your re-stand combo with a strong enough wall – still, it is nothing to scowl at either.

Possible changes & other card options

The Abyssal Fleet is just one extra booster so naturally, the card pool is limited – but as someone who’s made a Yami waifu deck from just the Darkness 2nd booster, I ain’t gonna complain.

I’ve mentioned that there are options to run level 0 beaters if wanted, so let’s look at that first:

Ne-class Heavy Cruiser – a simple 4k beater that can’t side attack and will screw you over a little once it’s reversed. I personally dislike beaters that directly benefit your opponent if they manage to reverse them and luckily, this build works much better by running level 0 utilities instead of beaters.

Ha-class Destroyer – since hand size isn’t a problem with this deck, especially not early on, I can see this one actually working out, especially because it also gains +1 level to dodge suiciders. Still, if it happens that you’re CX flushed from the start and need to drop down a couple Souther War Princess to get rid of those CXs in your hand, this beater easily loses its functionality.

So-class Submarine – 4k and can’t be reversed by suiciders if she’s the only character you have. I’m kinda conflicted about this one because part of me wants to run 3 in the build, but part of me prefers to set up back-rows and rely on the Light Cruiser Oni gamble as soon as possible. In the end, I decided for the later option simply because while this card is extremely nice to have on your first turn, its purpose drifts away right after.

Another level 0 that can help you out with power is Wo-class Aircraft Carrier, but both of the current level 0 back-rows already do a great job of boosting power and getting you characters in hand, so there’s no reason you’d need this one.

EDIT: Since the Christmas promo is god-pack exclusive (one per carton) and therefore expensive as hell, feel free to improvise with these other level 0s. The promo doesn’t have much late game function anyway so replacing it with anything more reasonably priced really doesn’t hurt the game play at all. Go and save your money for when Konosuba comes out in EN … or don’t, I won’t tell you what to do 😉

For the rest of Abyssal level 1s, it seems like gaining power one way or the other is the main theme, but it’s not done in the most conventional ways. There are cards that gain +X power on play, but they either depend on your opponent’s field or give that power-up to one of your other characters instead of themselves, which can be tricky at times.

Ultimately, if you don’t like the mechanic of Light Cruiser Oni, you can replace the level 0 with some of the above-mentioned beaters while running Armored Aircraft Carrier Princess in the Deep Sea instead of the level 1. It does cost 1 stock but it also has hand-encore (which is why playing it alongside the level 1 Light Cruiser Ogre wouldn’t make much sense).

There are other character synergies as well, but they aren’t as effective:

Port Princess in the Deep Sea (1/0) & Berserker Mode, Port Princess in the Deep Sea (2/1)

The level 1 is a beater, but not required since you already have more than enough power and the last thing you want is something that might not even be able to attack. As for the level 2: it gets early play if Seaport Princess is in your level zone, but is weak enough to be easily reversed by level 1 characters. Its CX combo runs a BAR trigger and adds to your hand, but the current level 1 combo generates way more advantage by messing with your opponent’s field setup while also possibly increasing your hand size on the side, so I’m much more in favor of that one.

The level 1 is a beater, but not required since you already have more than enough power and the last thing you want is something that might not even be able to attack. As for the level 2: it gets early play if Seaport Princess is in your level zone, but is weak enough to be easily reversed by level 1 characters. Its CX combo runs a BAR trigger and adds to your hand, but the current level 1 combo generates way more advantage by messing with your opponent’s field setup while also possibly increasing your hand size on the side, so I’m much more in favor of that one. Midway Princess in the Deep Sea (1/0) & Final Mode, Midway Princess in the Deep Sea (2/1)

A hot mess of effects, that’s what this level 1 is. It feels more like a back-row character, but then again it really doesn’t, except for that fact that it kinda does and … never mind. I definitely wouldn’t run it, but in a build without the level 1 Light Cruiser Oni, I would consider this level 2 because of its interesting encore that lets your drop any green card (and conveniently, the BAR triggers are all green). The encore itself plays a bit into her other ability, but while the +4000 boost on a 7k character is always nice, your main goal with this deck is to not get completely field wiped by your opponent so you’ll rarely get to have only one remaining character.

Speaking of level 2, there’s another interesting assist option – Airfield Princess in the Deep Sea. It’s a frontal +1500 assist with a CX combo that lets you take a character from your clock to hand (so basically also a healer). However, I believe the current 2/1 global +1000 assist to be a more reliable and useful option. At level 2, you have to start preparing your end game, and the rest / pay 2 deck search executes that better than this CX combo ever could.

While running 2 copies of the early play level 3, the deck doesn’t include any anti-change tools itself, but it totally could: the options are a 2/1 anti-change backup or a 2/1 clock-suicider bomb (which I personally prefer.)