Hello! Since it has been awhile since BT06 is out, and BT07 is coming out already, before we say goodbye to the 06 meta or whatever you like to call it, i would like to make a review and a discussion of one of my favorite clans, Granblue. =D
Granblue is my first deck since i started vanguard when BT03 just came out, and being a yugioh player before converting to Vanguard, calling rear guards from the drop zone or graveyard just seemed so sick, lol, and i just coincidentally started reading one piece back then so pirates really attracted me o.0
Well anyways, lets start with the pros of this clan..
- Able to call units from dropzone to help intercept or attack, which also alternatively means conserving handsize to fill up rearguard circles at the cost of counter blasts.
- Has many superior rides that are very easy to pull off, with nightkid in the deck, its very easy to throw any of the spirit away for deadly swordmaster or spirit exceed :O!
- Cheaper than the meta game decks ( yet imo as strong!! ^^)
But every clan has its bad parts :( lets discuss about its cons
- Their units are comparably weaker in terms of power compared to the other clans, for e.g., necroshaman from bt02 has 8k power at grade 3 which is pathetically low, though i don't think anyone is clever enough to play him now with cocytus.
- Their deck theme suggests a more defensive play for calling defense from the drop zone and conserving handsize for guards, but their trigger line up is absolute offense, 8 criticals of which both have good uses, one for soul charge for busskirk or Deadly Nightmare and Deadly spirit to come back, and one for superior ride, and they have stand too, though i would prefer draw and of course the standard 4 heals..
Difficulties in playing this deck? Timing and counterblast conservation. There are many players out there which i believe most of us have seen before just spam their counter blast in the early stages of the game and not caring about the late stages of the game. Failure to kill your opponent in these turns of spamming counterblasts without thinking will lead to a big disadvantage in the late game ( actually this applies to every deck ). Also, we must consider who to call from the rearguard, whether to call a offensive unit like thanatos or to call a defensive unit like a intercept. This is important because it might cause you a defeat, or you might just win by having that extra unit to attack, so planning and foresight is quite important.
Another problem with this deck ( though its not seen anymore) is decking yourself out. It is not commonly seen for BT06 builds with cocytus and thanatos to deck out anymore as actually you simply just cannot mill your deck as fast as the old version of the deck, however, the old version of the deck mills itself way too fast that sometimes you will just kill yourself in the process. Lets take a look at why the older versions of the deck always deck out.
1. Ruin Shade ( pretty good card imo, reaches 11k base for a rearguard =D ) mill 2 cards to plus 2k power. So with your draw, and busskirk's soul charge if you play him, and with twin drive, you are burning 6 cards a turn from your deck.
2. Evil Shade ( 10k boost ) Mill 2 cards to let this 6k boost turn into 10k for vanguard. Usually you will have a vanguard, boosted by this, and ruin shades in the last meta game, so you are burning 7 cards including draw and twin drive!
However, reaching this level of granblue play where you are milling that fast is also good as you are going for a offensive approach, trying to kill your opponent before you deck out, which most of the time will happen because you are simply too offensive in your playstyle. However, the cards mentioned above are not very oftenly seen anymore as there are other subsitutes for those cards. The examples listed above are just some tips for new players who do not recognise or know about the old granblue meta, in case they just suddenly pop out in your face!
So, now i would like to talk about what you should throw into the graveyard with captain nightkid's effect. First of all, always use captain nightkid's effect on your second turn if possible with a damage. Counter blast it and if you can, ride your unflipper or call it and unflip that damage. Top 10 cards, choose 1 and drop it while soul charging, this is a very imba effect as you are doing selective milling, unlike guiding zombie, which forces u to randomly mill 3 cards, and given the luck i have, i usually mill away the cards i need to stop me from misgrading or i will mill 3 triggers away :O. Doing selective milling means you can choose what to mill, for example, Deadly spirit and deadly nightmare should be priority to be milled, because they can be revived from the drop zone by their own effects, and they can be used for superior ride so you can call them for the superior ride!
If you do not check any of those Deadlys, look at your hand. If you have a cocytus, throw a thanatos or a card you want to be your rearguard. Do not guard till you have 4 damage so you can use cocytus's counterblast and limit break for extra offensive power. Then, call the unit you milled into the grave, so its a free unit that you want.
Well, i guess there is nothing else i can really write about here except for a decklist, so do stay tuned for a decklist coming up for granblue =D
Signing off - Vanillamilk
