Silver Thorn FC2015

Stable 1

Day 816435872365483798375982345,
still no sign of Pale Moon support.

For the list of Silver Thorn card effects, click here

FVG:

• Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Emil *1

Triggers *16: (5 Crit/5 Stand/2 Draw/4 Heal)

• Skyhigh Walker (Stand) *1
• Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Serge (Stand) *4
• Poison Juggler (Critical) *1
• Silver Thorn Barking Dragon (Critical) *4
• Silver Thorn Marionette, Natasha (Draw) *2
• Silver Thorn Juggler, Nadia (Heal) *4

Grade 1 *14:

• Silver Thorn Assistant, Irina *3
• Silver Thorn Assistant, Zelma *4
• Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Ana *3
• Silver Thorn Hypnos, Lydia *4

Grade 2 *11:

• Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Maricica *4
• Silver Thorn Rising Dragon *4
• Silver Thorn Upright Lion *3

Grade 3 *8:

• Silver Thorn Dragon Empress, Venus Luquier *4
• Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier "Яeverse" *1
• Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier *3

G-zone *8:

• Silver Thorn Dragon Master, Mystique Luquier *4
• Miracle of Luna Square,Clifford *2
• Rain Element, Madew *2

   So this is my current build with Silver Thorns with FC2015 support. As you can see, largely due to the lack of support, the core of the deck still looks largely the same; the main difference is the proportions of some cards and having access to an actual legit G-zone.

   The trigger lineup is there to attempt to maximize archetype for ECB without compromising into running a full-fledged rainbow trigger lineup. In all honesty, I still prefer not running draws here because Silver Thorns are... well, Silver Thorns, so feel free to go for a fill 6/6 Stand/Crit split or a more crit-focused build because momentum is very important.

I wish you were Silver Thorn, I really do.
Hey, why don't you change jobs...

   Just keep in mind that for every card that's not of the Silver Thorn sub clan, you are risking Luquier Venus not being able to pull off her skill because as I've mentioned before, due to early CB usage in the deck, in most cases we are looking at needing 2/2 damage to be Silver Thorn rather than the typical 2/4 or 2/5. To just give you an idea what the difference is between running 8-non-Silver-Thorn card and only running 2-non-Silver-Thorn card using this handy tool here, at 8 non-Silver-Thorn cards, the probability of getting 2 out of 2 ECB-able damage is about 69.7% (meaning almost 1/3 fail rate), while getting 2 out of 2 damage to be ECB-able with only running 2-non-Silver-Thorn cards is about 91.9% (meaning less than 1/10 fail rate). If you feel you can live with slightly less consistency and go for 6 crit/6 stand, 8 crit/4 stand, or even 8 stand/4 crit, the chance of getting 2/2 damage to be ECB-able with running 4-non-Silver-Thorn cards is about 84.2%. And due to Silver Thorns still needing that momentum to win games, when you need to vomit a field with Luquier Venus but cannot due to whatever reason, it can easily cost you the game.


   Some people will immediately notice that I not only dropped all Breathing Dragons, but also 1 copy of Ana compared to the Legion era build, as well as dropping 1 Rising Dragon for 1 Upright Lion. This is due to the fact that we now actually have late game plays, we can shift some power and pressure off the early game and put it into the mid/late game. I will explain my choice in detail below:

I wonder why Bushit decided
to give PM a bishi.

   The drop of 1 Ana, one of our most important staples since the introduction of Zelma in BT15, is largely due to 2 reasons. The first reason is that we now have access to Clifford as a on-hit stride unit that can also trigger a Zelma full column re-stand, meaning we no longer need to rely completely on Ana to apply on-hit pressure for our vanguard column as the G-zone is basically 100% guaranteed to be there unless you G-assist. The other reason is that Silver Thorn is not only one of the few decks
that can take advantage of the sit-on-G2 game, but also that their late game compared to most decks in the S5 standards is still incredibly weak; while Mystique Luquier is an incredible card, Pale Moon currently not having access to their stride enabler hurts the consistency in which the deck can stride,
or otherwise it may take a minus to stride. If the game drags on too much after you are sitting on G3, chances are Silver Thorn decks will lose control of the momentum, and eventually the game in the long run fairly quickly as trading direct advantage for momentum is not sustainable. So ideally when we are sitting on G2, we could be sitting on a Maricica who applies the same pressure, or when we get into the late game, ideally we want our opponents to be at a spot where it's just not safe to let any vanguard attacks through, with or without Ana.


   Then there is also how there is now 3 Irinas with a maxed-out Upright Lions. This is due to the fact that she has fox ears our late game is now officially defined largely on 2 cards: Upright Lion and Mystique Luquier. Mystique Luquier works the best with Upright Lions as it doesn't just keep quality columns going, but also larger columns with the lions. Lions coming directly out of the soul with Mystique Luquier will need the aid of a Zelma to reach the next stage since he does not power up when the card itself is called from the soul.

Yay! She's back!

   This is where Irina comes in: to increase the consistency of getting Lions and Zelmas by the mid-late game. The slightly increased consistency in getting Zelmas by turn 2 is just a small bonus, but there is also the slight reduction in the reliance on our only loli Emil; Mystique Luquier herself, unlike Luquier Venus, is a flat break-even and does not plus. This means that if we rely completely on Emil to gather the soul we need, we are always suffering that -1 which we may or may not be able to recover through Luquier Venus due to Luquier Venus not being our only late game play now. If the usage of Emil can be avoided, then she will act as a warm body for you to trade for quality columns. There is also the fact that you can easily combo Irina with Zelma and Mystique Luquier to get another shot at getting an attacker when you need it - you simply superior call both animal ears Irina and Zelma with Mystique Luquier, resolve Irina first, and then resolve Zelma to swap Irina for whatever you may find.


   I've gone ahead and uploaded a video of a game I had with this build. I kinda sacked a 2-Zelma play on my 2nd turn, but it still captures the core and heart of what Mystique Luquier brings to the table (I literally gave no breathing room for my opponent with my endless flurry of quality attacks each turn, and I couldn't have done it without Mystique Luquier). You will also notice that when I mulligan, I am actively mulliganing for an early game play.