Black Witches Stable 1

Stable Build 1

Everyone's favorite loli witch, Lir
and witch hats are still awesome

(White Witches would be Genesis Witches)
If you want to see the previous version, click here

For all decks labeled as:
stable - working as intended.
test - still under tuning and some things may or may not work as intended.

*Note: Working as intended != finished build, it just means deck functions as planned and is overall consistent

FVG:
Witch of Banquets, Lir *1

 Trigger: (6 stand/6 crit/4 heal)
 Black Cat Witch, Milkre (Heal) *4
Black Crow Witch, Eine (Critical) *4
Witch of Goats, Medb (Stand) *4
Revenger, Air Raid Dragon (Critical) *2
Revenger, Waking Angel (Stand) *2

 Grade 1: (*14)
Barrier Witch, Grainne (QW) *2
Revenger of Darkness, Mac Lir (PG) *2
Ruin Witch, Scathach *2
Witch of Precious Stones, Dana *4
Witch of Pursuit, Sekuana *4

 Grade 2: (*11)
Witch of Attraction, Adora *3 (juggling between proportion of this and Skull Witch, Nemain)
Inspection Witch, Deirdre *4
Witch of Reality, Femme *4

 Grade 3: (*8)
Cultus Witch, Rias *4
Witch of Enchantment, Fianna *4

I was wrong about her :(
she's MVP.

   So this build ended up working significantly better than the previous ones; Sekuana literally makes all the difference. My initial thought was focusing on control, which proved itself to be extremely inconsistent and prone to your opponent's maneuvers. Now that I realized the control aspect is just a method for the power reduction so you can attack aggressively; the control part is a bonus, but the main focus should be on the power reduction, which is significantly more consistent and reliable (as long as you're not shooting for -25k or -30k, -5k~15k is fairly consistent)

Adora, our only pressure unit

   Adora is the G0 generator for the drop zone. When boosted by a 7k booster, she requires 10k shield to be guarded (unless against cross ride bodies, but those are rare today). So there can be 3 scenarios: 1.) your opponent guards with a single G0 and now has a G0 in their drop zone for Deirdre and Dana to use, 2.) they guard with 2 5k shields or a PG (which is not worth it btw, since even if you take the hit and then simply call over the G0 that's still only a -1 and not a -2), or 3.) they take the hit and have 1 - (2/3)^5 = ~86.83% chance having one of their RGs transformed into a G0.

   Even when they only have a FVG on the field as target, I'd usually still use the effect to call over the FVG even if the total G0 count doesn't go up. The reason behind that is 1.) you kill their FVG, who is usually important for most decks and 2.) you popped a G0 in the drop zone for your Deirdre and Dana to use. 

   As why certain cards are ran at their amount, here's a break down:

• 4 Fianna because she's your best first ride, and her 2nd effect is good
• 4 Rias because she's an awesome finisher or a boss to put your opponent straight to 5 damage, and she's our only other boss
• 4 Femme because she's the best G2 the deck has, and the more you have the more you can plus off Fianna's 2nd effect
• 4 Deirdre because she's the 2nd best G2, offering control and soul blast that aids Legion
• 3 Adora because she's a great G0 generator, but her window of relevance is small (she's irrelevant as soon as your opponent hits 4 damage)
• 4 Sekuana because she's Fianna's only win condition, and is a pseudo +5k to all columns. She's very important
• Total of 4 Sentinels because they're mandatory at this era
• 4 Dana because she's the other best G1, and helps out the deck's gimmick
• 2 Scathach because this deck runs off stands, and she forms 16k columns with Sekuana. She's also this deck's other best G1

   So overall, the main focus is pretty much to mildly control your opponent and setting up for your win condition (the power reduction) while swapping out priority targets and messing up power columns. There are two approaches to the power reduction. If you have enough resources (since all power drop takes a -1 in cost), you can drop a power-drop earlier and directly put your opponent straight into their late game, forcing them to guard everything that comes afterwards. The other is obvious, where you try to wrap a game up and seal the deal with a power-reduction when they're at high damage.

See something like this? Yeah... no
Kill it before it lays eggs.

   The tricky part is knowing what to target and swap out. Key units with annoying abilities are obvious. The
harder part comes in the rest, and really comes down to the situation. One way is to swap out boosters so your opponent will be less likely to call over them and thus keeping a higher G0 concentration for your Rias play that'd hurt them greatly later. another approach is to swap out an entire column, forcing them to swing for 10k max with that column, or call over it to suffer actual minuses all while putting G0s in the drop zone for you to use Deirdre and Dana. Swapping out the interceptor is another obvious one when you are ready to pop a power drop and push for game, but it's not always the right choice. There will be times where if you swap out their interceptor, your unboosted attacker (often 9 or 10k) will be unable to hit anything other than the G0 you gave them, which is counter-intuitive (and this happens quite often due to the nature of the deck if you are not careful). You will want to avoid creating that scenario yourself at all costs.


   So that concludes the first stable build. Again, don't be afraid to disagree with me and do your own thing and discover your own stuff. If you have any questions, comments, or just want to say 'hai' just let me know lol

Been Busy

My expression and (almost) reaction towards the
amount of stuff I'm dealing with IRL atm

   I've been pretty busy with stuff IRL, so wasn't able to play much and test decks as much, and hence no updates. Silver Thorn is fairly consistent, and that recipe I have now is pretty much as good as Silver Thorns will be right now until further support. 

   Witch testing has been tough because they just rely too much on your opponent and overall just sucks pretty hard due to that. Arianrhod basically feels like a trap since Witches lacks power so much that the little bit of consistency Arianrhod adds doesn't really help a whole lot; the only 2 win conditions Black Witches really have, is finishing the game with Rias or Sekuana. So I've dropped Arianrhod completely in favor for much more Sekuana for the kill potential since the deck lacks heavily in that department. I've also been suspecting that the witch starter Lir is also a trap since the deck works horribly with Stand triggers outside of the turns you reduce your opponent's power; you don't really benefit from swinging at RGs because more often than not there's nothing good to swing at. Swinging at G0s is counter-intuitive to the deck's gimmick, and killing RGs does the same since no target to transform = gimmick can't work = gg. Lir is also extremely slow, as having to wait until your VG is in Legion and having to land a hit on the VG to work gives her an extremely small window of opportunity to work and makes her ridiculously easy to take out/retire before she can be used. Overall though, adding more Sekuana helps quite a bit, and I think it's the right direction the testing is heading towards. 

   Other than that, I'm really interested and looking forward to in Ancient Dragons since they got a brutal Legion and legion mate. Along with Dinocrowd, Nightarmor, this gives them additional attacks and 21k columns similar to a Luquier Reverse onto Eva break ride turn every turn for as cheap as CB1, or even potentially free if Nightarmor lands his hit. There's also the card interactions and fiend dancing through all the eating and even calling units over other units when reviving to achieve very aggressive multiple attacks. Magmaarmor also provides as a good finisher if you can get a total of 2 copies of any combination of Dinocrowd or Nightarmor, as these can achieve as much 14k attacks as you have soul and CBs by eating each other, making this a extremely devastating finishing play for when your opponent is at 5 damage since they need to guard every single attack to stay alive. The best part? This deck will be dirt cheap, and by dirt cheap I actually do mean dirt cheap because one of the Legion bosses is of R rarity, and for that reason there's no way I'm not building this deck. I also love to explore wombo combos like those seen in Silver Thorn, and this deck definitely have that potential to provide as much combos to the level of Silver Thorns, if not more. 

   So that's all for now. I don't know when the next update will be (really depends on my real life), or what it'd be about. I do know though that I'd look into and dig into Ancient Dragons in search for wombo combos and Falcos. Or about the new Pale Moon Legion if it turns out to be a Silver Thorn (which I'm very doubtful based off the image. No sign of and loops or strands of silver thorn anywhere on her, especially her head, and she just looks like a Beast Tamer to me. Probably to extend what Bunny Queen started and reviving the old beast tamer twins). It'll be revealed on July 31, 2014 though, so we'd find out by next week.

Black Witches Prototype 2

Test Build 2

mai waifu
SP Fianna and Femme

(White Witches would be Genesis Witches)
If you want to see the previous version, click here

For all decks labeled as:
stable - working as intended.
test - still under tuning and some things may or may not work as intended.

FVG:
Witch of Banquets, Lir *1

 Trigger: (6 stand/6 crit/4 heal)
 Black Cat Witch, Milkre (Heal) *4
Black Crow Witch, Eine (Critical) *4
Witch of Goats, Medb (Stand) *4
Revenger, Air Raid Dragon (Critical) *2
Revenger, Waking Angel (Stand) *2

 Grade 1: (*14)
Barrier Witch, Grainne (QW) *2
Revenger of Darkness, Mac Lir (PG) *2
Ruin Witch, Scathach *2
Witch of Precious Stones, Dana *3
Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod *3
Witch of Pursuit, Sekuana *2

 Grade 2: (*11)
Comet Witch, Serva *2 (will probably be replacing with Witch of Attraction, Adora once she's out)
Inspection Witch, Deirdre *4
Witch of Reality, Femme *4
Skull Witch, Nemain *1

 Grade 3: (*8)
Cultus Witch, Rias *4
Witch of Enchantment, Fianna *4

This is me when my SP Fianna arrived to pair with my SP Femme

   Black Witches prototype version 2. So it's been running smoother for me, and I'm sure it's due to me getting and seeking SP Fianna as mate for my SP Femme, because ever since I got my SP legion pair it's been running smoother, probably because I've gotten a bit more used to the cards and the deck's gimmicks as a whole.



   I'm starting to believe this deck to be one of  those more complex decks where the proportions are balanced on the edge of a knife for it to work rather than just going 4x of whatever you think is important and going for "max consistency", because most things are situational enough that you don't really need nor want to go for that highest consistency. For example, while sticking G0s all over your opponent's face is the whole point of the deck and the base conditions for this deck's gimmick, Dana and Deirdre do not always have the option to sheep your opponent based off their plays. However, even if you run a bit less Dana and Deirdre, your opponent will still play carefully and be expecting them, so the hidden advantage of discouraging your opponent to guard with G0s still applies even if you run less Dana and Deidre.

   I'm actually not a big fan of running everything at 2-of/3-of (actually I like 3-of, but not too much for 2-of), but everything other than Fianna and Famme are situational at best and heavily dependent on what's going on. 4 Arianrhod? Er, you don't really need that many. 4 Sekuana? Hell no, as she has a pretty hefty condition to meet to even work. 4 Dana? Maybe, still a situational card though. 4 Scathach? I wish I have the space. More than 1~2 Nemain? Yeah try riding or drawing into multiple copies of her and you'd know why I only run 1. But these are reasons why you're not really seeing things at 4 copies; there are almost no card that's completely independent off your opponent besides the 7+3, 9+3, and 10k vanilla. Even Fianna is still dependent off your opponent to some extent.

   I ended up throwing Sekuana back in because I don't always get Rias or have the luxury to wait another turn to ride into her, and being able to pressure for a turn even if it's a little early ain't bad; the sooner they hit their 4th damage, the sooner they are forced to guard your VG attacks (and guarding Legion attacks is fairly expansive). Fianna also completely lacks fire power, to the point where I noticed this is one of her major weaknesses, so that's what Sekuana is for. I mean, she lacks firepower so much that she almost swings like the old school non-legion VGs. Sekuana also is another RG eater that works nicely with the triggers Lir calls out. Another thing that makes her nice is that on the turn she uses her effect, she swings like a 11k attacker if you happen to be missing one, and she synergizes well with stands for obvious reasons.

   I also tested Adora. She's not bad, but still not the magic pill that'd suddenly make black witches top tier. Adora is decent because she is a 9k attacker, meaning when boosted by a 7k booster, she requires a 10k shield to guard if you plan to guard her attack with 1 card. This means in order to guard Adora effectively, you need to guard with G0 cards, opening your opponent up for Dana and Deirdre to mess with their columns, set up your gimmicks, and generating the cost for you to perform Legion. However, if they don't guard her, they take 1 damage and you get to do what Rias does for half the cost, with the side effect of thinning their decks of triggers. So what Adora does is essentially create a lose-lose situation for your opponent. Also similar to any on-hit units, a checked stand trigger for this kind of unit can often mess up their plans, even though she's only 9k. I'd say she's a very valuable asset for the deck, just unfortunately still not strong enough to carry the deck to a top tier position because she still doesn't change the fact that this deck's performance is still heavily influenced and dependent by your opponent's deck, skill, hand, and maneuvers. She does make it better though, and I look forward for her official release (which I think was just released recently, with her being the 2nd most expansive PR card from Cardfight Pack Vol.14).

   Witches are definitely fun though. And moe. And remember, don't be afraid to leave comments or disagree with me. Never take anyone's words for granted or without question, and a pinch of salt to go with it often makes it both more tasty and healthy.

Legion Duo

Stable 1

For all decks labeled as:
stable - working as intended.
test - still under tuning and some things may or may not work as intended.


Grade 3 *8:
Duo, Fall in Heart Victoria *4
Duo True Sister, Meer *2
Duo Temptation, Reit *2

Grade 2 *12:
Duo, Fall in Heart Quincy *4
Duo Mini Heart, Rhone *4
Duo Kelpie Jockey, Syr Darya *3

Grade 1 *13:
PR♥ISM-Duo, Aria *4 (PG)
Duo Beast Ear, Loulou *4
Duo Afternoon Tea, Parana *3
Duo Pretty Horn, Ural *2

Grade 0 *1:
Duo Lovers' Singer, Darling *1

Triggers *16: (8 Crit/4 Draw/4 Heal)
Duo Tropical Healer, Mejelda (Heal) *4
Duo Lamplight Melody, Tigris (Draw) *2
Duo Morning Charm, Liffey (Draw) *2
Duo Gran Pasturn, Syanon (Critical) *4
Duo Pride Crown, Madeira (Critical) *4

FVG:
Duo Lovers' Singer, Darling *1


   I guess this is kind of a random post lol. But I like the deck, and I think it works fairly well (not perfect, but pretty well), so I'm just posting it because I'm stuck on the witches and can't find anything to go further with them right now for the lols. Why did I build the deck? Because I like the PG too much that I had to build it Duos have fun, interesting, and engaging mechanics that also revolves a lot of combo and rewards good play pretty well. Anyways, let's get to the deck.

   So, as the title suggests, this is a Legion focused Duo deck. Since Duo (and Bermuda as a whole) only received 1 Legion boss, this deck('s G3s) is still half stuck in the LB4 era. However, Victoria is a fairly good Legion. She may not be the best, but she is good enough to carry her own weight. She swings for very high numbers for free (something that's fairly valuable for Bermudas), and her 'cloning' capabilities gives her huge combo and toolbox potential, as well as incredible ability to adapt to the situation. Basically, as long as you can perform Legion, you can duplicate anything you have at your disposal based off the situation. Missing an attacker? Clone one. Have Rhone and want to apply more on-hit pressure as well as clone more? Clone one. Want to prep 2 PGs? Clone one. Want to push for big numbers with Loulou? Clone one. Need more 10k shields? Clone one. Hack, if you are bored, even if you just want to Legion for the sake of Legion or shuffle back a bunch of triggers, you can even clone herself (if you have a 2nd copy).

   What makes her cloning ability even better is the fact that she does it on Legion, so you can shuffle back the thing you want to clone, essentially kinda looping yourself over and over again especially if you use soul blasting units like Pretty Horn. For example, say you have 2 Darlings. You guard with one. Now you can call the other Darling, perform Legion, shuffle back and search for the Darling you just shuffled back. This is also why I run 2 Darlings (one as FVG, one as tech); she makes this deck very tanky as it's very easy to always maintain having 10k shields in hand. Just that 1 extra copy of Darling gives this deck so much more utility and flexibility as well as tankyness, she's well worth the spot (and I would even argue that this 1 card spot is the most cost efficient spot spent for the deck). Darling also still has that great FVG utility (bounce back Loulous to re-call for 3 21k+ columns), and is completely reusable, and completely searchable, allowing you juggle the 2 copies of her in your deck and guard or use the ability as you please. She also makes an awesome early game Rhone target.

   Victoria guaranteeing a bounce also allows you to go more aggressive early game and call down units you normally wouldn't, as you won't be committing to that field. Call down a PG to boost? That's fine, as you can bounce it back and clone one later. Call a Loulou as a temporary 9k attacker? That's fine as well, as you can bounce it back and clone one later, and enjoy Loulou's powerful skill the more you have her.

   Rhone is also a very important unit in this deck. She amplifies the amount of cloning the deck does and provides precious on-hit pressure, and can snowball your advantage if she lands a hit.

   Loulou is the powerhouse of the deck for RGs. She can be used as a temporary 9k attacker. Behind Syr Darya, she creates 21k columns. When you call 2 Loulous, she creats 21k columns behind any 10k+ attackers, like any of the G3s or Parana. So say you have 12k attacker, Victoria, and a 11k attacker in your front row. Call down 2 Loulous in the order of behind 11k attacker first, and then behind the 12k attacker, you just formed yourself a 21/28/22 field. The deck's extremely high cloning proficiency also makes Loulou very easy to use as well as very easy to setup.

   Ural is also very good, especially for a Legion based deck due to her soul blasting cost. She allows for easier way to get 4 cards in drop zone, and she cleans out your soul for more Legion looping with her cost, all while also providing a +1 on the spot. I didn't run Peace because I still find Peace's 6k to hurt too much in general, and she doesn't synergize well with Rhone. When you still want and need advantage, you won't have enough CBs to bounce her and draw (typically on your 2nd turn). And she forming 15k column with Rhone definitely doesn't help at all. Ural shall take the job of direct drawing, and she gets the draw right away rather than relying on something else to do it for her.

   I also didn't use Chicora because she is just too hard to use and too inconsistent. Parana on the other hand is surprisingly good in this deck, and very very good at that. A cloned Parana serves both as an attacker and a booster, and she provides early game attacking.

   Meer is a good ride to settle on if you miss Victoria early on. She's just an awesome break ride overall and her full field bounce is also pretty awesome. Reit, while a re-stander, is more often used for her 2nd ability of bouncing units back to hand.

   Oh and lastly, I'm only running 4 draws because I love those 4 different art. If I actually want to go serious and wreck faces for this deck, I'd run 12 crits lol. So feel free to change the draws to crits as this deck has immense synergy with crits. High power, strong pressure and momentum all make this deck work exceptionally well with crits.

   Overall, this is a very aggressive deck, and can snowball in advantage. This deck swings for high numbers fairly easily and consistently, and can very easily throw out 3 attacks per turn since early turns, all while still having Bermuda's trait of not needing to commit to a bad field due to bouncing, as well as a decent advantage engine and search engine to make it a bulky and tanky deck as well as remain fluid and adapt to the situation. It also has many combos to punishes misplay greatly as well as reward good planning, prediction, and good plays greatly, giving it a decently high skill cap and making it very fun to play.