Luquier Venus and More Zelma
This is the 'perfect game' and the idea winning image for Silver Thorns if you're main is Luquier Venus, and also why the Ana/Maricica/Zelma trio is incredibly scary, especially if you go first. In fact, this game's Zelma use is so perfect, if there's ever going to be a textbook on Silver Thorns, this will be a very good textbook example.
Too busy to spend 3 minutes?
CB1 for 2 attacks at 0:28
Cross riding by Ana/Maricica + Zelma at 0:58
Do keep in mind what happened in the video is almost like Exodia happening, and players that knows how Silver Thorn functions can reduce the amount of damage done to them (see bottom of this article), so do not expect this to happening every game. Most of your real games will be more similar to the Zelma example video, and not as fast and smooth as this one. But just always remember how you can dance with Zelma if you are given the opportunity.
A few things to take away from this for Silver Thorn players:
1.) Going first is very advantageous for Silver Thorns due to your insane on-hit pressure and exploit.
2.) It's beneficial to keep Emil around for boosting for as long as possible if you have Venus, because the spot Emil takes is the same as an open spot for Venus. This means once you clear your front row by intercepting, counting the Emil spot, you're guaranteeing at least +3 off Venus's skill, more if you leave more booster spots open.
3.) Always remember when there's a 7k exposed on your opponent's side, CB1 can result in 2 attacks. Abuse it and exploit it when you can.
4.) Maricica and Ana can help you cross ride if you have Zelma properly setup. Take advantage of it.
A few things to take home from this for players playing AGAINST Silver Thorns:
1.) Avoid exposing a 7k if you can (in this video's case he can't)
2.) Guarding Maricica and Ana is a very smart move. VERY. An opponent that knows what he's doing will rain pain on you if you let one of those hit unless you sack triggers.
3.) DO NOT give your opponent his damage for his Ana/Maricica/Zelma shenanigans unless you are ready for it, just like LB4 and break rides. If his Damed Leo didn't give me that 1 damage (at 0:50), I could not have rained pain upon him nor could I make such quick work out of him.
Froliz can I ask you a question?
ReplyDeleteCan I use irina in a venus deck? I mean, having only emil as your only method on getting the units that you want into the soul is kind of unreliable seeing that it goes into the soul for soulcharging. I know that emil can be called back via venus' LB, but emil still has a chance to whiff
so what I'm asking is, can I use irina as a backup soulcharger? thank you
oh err yeah, almost forgot. how many normal luquier do you recommend in the venus deck? In my luquier reverse deck, I use 3 reverse, 3 eva and 2 tamer luquier. can that work in a venus deck? (of course the reverse would be replaced by venus)
DeleteIt's because tamer luquier is just so darned expensive...
You definitely can use Irina, but honestly you won't really need her that often. If you think about it, each Emil usage is already ~3 Irina usage. How often do you need your Ionela and Irina to happen when Emil still wasn't a thing? Keep in mind Venus not only calls Emil out, she also SC2 herself. The probability of Emil seeing nothing worthy of soul charging is very, very low. You also have the option to use Zelma to reuse Emil if you are desperate, since Venus can easily make up that -1. Also, since unlike BT12 ST where your CBs are almost entirely dedicated to calling from soul, with BT15 support about half of your CBs will go to Ana and Maricica. Personally I still run 1 Irina, and that's about how often I feel I need her. And keep in mind even if you run Irina, you may not need a lot of her; Zelma can easily reuse Irina when you need to.
DeleteAs for Luquier, I highly recommand 3 Luquiers if you are aiming for cross riding with the BT15 support. 2 isn't consistent enough, and 4 is by far too much. Eva could work with BT15 support, but her issue lies in not having Silver Thorn name, which is a huge factor going against her. It means Zelma can't swap her out, which means that you can't restand her with Zelma, AND once she's a RG on the field, that's a dead column stuck there that you cannot manupulate, which is pretty crippling for Pale Moon where you need your field to be fluid. It also means you can't soul charge her with anything, reducing Emil's hit chance quite a bit, and that even when she's in your soul, you can't call her out with Ana and Maricica. If you have tried playing the recent Machining deck with Cyclomatooth, running Eva in Silver Thorns is similar to that; the break ride effect is super powerful, but otherwise reduces your deck's flow and consistency.
If it's budget that's concerning you, you can easily just run however many Luquiers that you have, and fill in the rest with Venus and Reverse. I have not tested the deck with 0 Luquier though, but I can tell you that at 2 Luquier, cross riding wouldn't be as consistent as you would like it to be. Ultimately, you can try running Eva yourself in a Venus build and see how you feel about it. It's just from my experience, Eva doesn't mesh too well with Venus and other Silver Thorn suport.
I sew. Thanks for the reply. I really like how you break things down to the smallest detail.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Oh yeah. Would using stands be good in venus? I was thinking of using 4 skyhigh walkers as an unflipper for venus' LB
And I also think that a restanded lion is scary
So the lineup would be like. 5 crits 4 stands 3 draws and 4 heals.. Is that good?
You're welcome, I'm glad you're feeling I'm being helpful and not just blasting people with walls of texts.
ReplyDeleteStands, believe it or not, actually works fairly well with Silver Thorns. The only issue is that Silver Thorn's Lions are not like Great Nature's RGs. They're not always big, meaning you only have a very small window of opportunity to make the as scary as you'd like them to be. Also, stands work better with Reverse because of that +5k power boost.
The last issue with stand is if you are running Eva, stands are essentially useless triggers in your break ride turn if you are playing Eva properly. This is why crit is still usually better for Silver Thorns.
As with SkyHigh, he's usable in a Venus deck. His issue though lies in 1.) There is currently no reliable way to get him nor SC him unless you do some gimmick like Dancing Princess, and 2.) He's a 4k booster, and doesn't power up the Lions because he isn't a Silver Thorn, making your columns pretty bad, and 3.) with Emil and Venus's SC2, you actually can deck out quite easily, so it's hard to abuse SkyHigh for an extended period of turns.
Lastly, I personally don't like rainbow triggers. They can work, sure, but they're also inconsistent and forces you to play with a rigid attack pattern just so you don't drive check a dead trigger.
I see. Well so much for that idea then. I guess it would make the deck even more inconsistent. Oh well then
DeleteThanks again.