Spectral Duke Liberators

Hello everyone, Ascriptmaster here with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. This week, we will be covering my Spectral Duke Dragon deck, which focuses on the use of Liberator, Star Rain Trumpeter to quickly fill the field for Spectral Duke's Limit Break without using up Counterblast. A video showcasing the deck can be found here.

Grade 0
[LEAD] Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer
4 Armament Liberator, Gwydion
4 Elixir Liberator
4 Liberator of Hope, Epona
4 Strike Liberator

Grade 1
4 Halo Liberator, Mark
4 Scout of Darkness, Vortimer
3 Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth
2 Black Mane Witch
2 Throw Blade Knight, Maleagant

Grade 2
4 Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer
4 Liberator, Star Rain Trumpeter
3 Blaster Blade Liberator

Grade 3
4 Spectral Duke Dragon
3 Dignified Gold Dragon

The deck leads with the Vortimer Ride Chain to gain access to Spectral Duke Dragon more efficiently, potentially giving it the 11,000 defense line and also unleashing a flurry of superior calls to quickly fill the field. Aiding the superior calls is Star Rain Trumpeter, which gives an extra superior call if a Blaster Blade Liberator is already in the Drop Zone. Black Mane Witch also serves as a tech option, as it can trade in weaker units for potentially stronger ones, but also can sacrifice a Blaster Blade Liberator to grant immediate access to Star Rain's abilities.

Besides the obvious use of a small Liberator engine in a Spectral Duke Dragon, the tech options chosen for this deck are Black Mane Witch and Throw Blade Knight, Maleagant. Black Mane Witch's main function is to trade out unneeded units and try for better ones. It also can sacrifice a Blaster Blade Liberator to set up for a Star Rain Trumpeter play quickly if none are present in the Drop Zone. Maleagant, on the other hand, has the powerful ability to Soulblast 2 to turn 2 damage face up, allowing Spectral Duke Dragon to use its Limit Break a third time in the game. A player will generally have 2 Soul by the time they ride Spectral Duke Dragon, although it might be undesirable if the player is forced to Soulblast Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer, causing Spectral Duke Dragon to lose its 11,000 defenses, although if the entire Ride Chain has been completed, this will not be the case.

The rest of the deck consists of high-power units meant to force further guard from the opponent. Dignified Gold Dragon stands at 12,000 power when attacking as a Rearguard, and Gareth boosts for considerable power. Of course, the deck's offensive power is hampered by the fact that Blaster Blade Liberator cannot activate its skills with Spectral Duke as Vanguard, filling all the Grade 2 slots with 9,000 power attackers that struggle to hit most Vanguards without a Gareth or Vortimer boosting, especially crossrides.

Omniscience Regalia, Minerva

Hey everyone Natsu back for an article, I apologize for this one being a little late but I got sick that Thursday afternoon and just haven't been able to shake off whatever I have quite yet.  Anyways this week we're going to be looking at Mineva, Misaki's final season 3 ace and her second crossride.

Grade 0

Battle Maiden, Amenohoka
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Battle Maiden, Kukurihime x4
Cyber Tiger x4
Large Pot Witch, Laurie x4
Lemon Witch, Limonccino x4

So for this deck due to Genesis' massive soul charging and deck out being a thing we run 12 crit and 4 heals.  I would run draws since I'm a big fan of 8 crit 4 draw but with massive soul charging and deck out being a thing I feel that 12 crit is the way to go for this deck.  As for our start we then run Amenohokari who on boost for a grade 3 lets you soulcharge 1.  Therefore once we reach grade 3 this allows for a consistent +1 to our soul.

Grade 1

Apple Witch, Cider x3

Goddess of Union, Juno x3
Witch of Frogs, Melissa x3
Witch of Oranges, Valencia x2
Goddess of Self-Sacrifice, Kushinada x2 (Perfect Guard)
Goddess of the Shield, Aegis x2 (Quintet Wall)

For our grade 1 lineup we have loads of variety we run 3 Apple Witch Cider who when you guard with her if your Vanguard is a Regalia (which all of your grade 3s are) EVERYTHING you guard with for that battle goes to your soul.  This can allow you to fill your soul with key units that we'll be discussing later and also combos well with another card that will be discussed later.  We then run 3 Juno who is our Regalia 10k attacker as well as 3 Melissa who when soulblasted if you counterblast 1 you may call her to RG so she's a good ride as well as a nice card to guard with when using Cider.  Then we run 2 Valencia who when soul blasted will allow you to soulcharge 2 cards keeping your soul nice and full so you don't have to worry about you ever running out of soul.  Then this is where it gets slightly unorthodox, we run TWO perfect guards and then two of a newer concept which is known as Quintet Wall.  Quintet wall which was introduced in this set is a sentinel mechanic that if you call it to the guardian circle from YOUR HAND you can counterblast 1 and then take the top 5 cards of your deck and guard with all of them (provided they're of the same clan of course).  Now while this may sound risky and not good there's one key unit to remember, Apple Witch Cider.  If you get a Cider with your Quintet Wall or just add Cider along to your guard you go +6 MINIMUM to your soul AND you guard the opponent's attack, which is pretty good.  Of course we only run 2 since deck out is still a thing that can happen.

Grade 2

Goddess of Trees, Jupiter x4
Grape Witch, Grappa x3
Witch of Birds, Chammomile x3

For our grade 2s we run 4 Jupiter who is the Regalia 12k attack and then 3 Grappa who is a Valencia and 3 Chammomile who is a Melissa.  This allows for more soul shenanigans and can once again allow Minerva to set herself up again for next turn and let us go plus on our opponent for extra attacks.

Grade 3

Omniscience Regalia, Minerva x4
Regalia of Wisdom, Angelica x4

Lastly we run just 4 Minerva and 4 Angelica for our grade 3 lineup.  Angelica is a breakride who when attacking soulcharges for an extra 1k power and then her breakride skill is by soulblasting 3 on ride you can draw 2 cards which isn't too bad.  However the main boss of this deck (and arguably clan) is Minerva.  She's a crossride of Angelica so she has that 13k defense (and due to Genesis soul charging shenanigans you could in theory skip crossriding all together).  After she's done attacking you can counterblast 1, discard 3, and soulblast 3 to stand her and give her 5k power.  While she does have a heftier cost than Descendant who's skill is almost identical there are 2 key differences.  The first being that she gains power which late game is usually better since your opponent will usually just be at 5 damage anyways so the crit is usually just more an insult to injury.  The second key difference between the two units is, Minerva can go off hit or not hit so if your opponent is one of those players who likes to keep themselves at 4 damage to allow some wiggle room in the late game from a big vanguard attack, you'll still be able to get that extra attack in.

Overall this is a rather fun deck although it does lack the heavy retire that Eradicators have however the deck can go plus a lot more easily than Eradicators with Chammomile and Melissa.  This in my opinion is the best type of genesis deck out there at the current moment, and definitely a good choice if you want to go with this clan although it can be difficult to master since players not used to decks like genesis or dark irregulars may find themselves getting close to or actually decking out in games.