Enough putting this off.
Tetsu: Today, we will be having a scrimmage with Hitsue High.
Ren: It's been a long time since I've seen Kai.
Tetsu: Do you know of him, Touya? Hitsue High's Kai Toshiki is among the highest class of cardfighters, rivaling Ren.
Asaka: Tetsu! Master Ren is leagues stronger.
Suiko: Oh, it seems they're here already.
Miwa Taishi: Thanks very much! Or rather, sorry to keep you waiting.
Izaki Yuuta: Oh? That's a new face.
Kai Toshiki: Ren, is this one of your new guys?
Ren: That's right. I brought him here to make his debut today.
Morikawa: Last time I lost because my horoscope was poor, but today you'll face my fantastic self with my fortune in perfect form!
Izaki: ...I sure haven't heard that in a while. That kind of talk.
Miwa: Hey, hey...Hm? What is it, Kai?
Kai: This one's mine.
Tetsu: Hah. For Kai to be so direct...Just like Ren, he must sense something in Touya.
Kai: Let's go.
Miwa: Ohhhh. This should be FUN.
VS Kai Toshiki
Kagerou 1
Kai: Show me your power!
The great Kai Toshiki then proceeds to
end his turn, gradelocked. I reset for something more challenging.
That's better.
We open on the only Little Sage Marron in the deck. In any other ride chain, missing the grade 1 would be a cause for grief; in Sanctuary of Light it's fine, because Planet Lancer is a 7k booster.
First turn critical trigger gives us a damage lead stretch to work with. I think I've never mentioned this in the entire history of my website, but the player that goes second has always had a slight technical advantage based on the fact that the flow of damage-dealing favors them. This is in turn balanced out by the player who goes first reaching grade 3 first, and while they don't have a natural lead in card advantage, the earlier twin drive does get them a greater opportunity for two coinciding triggers to have a positive effect on their match. (They do
not in fact get more drive checks than the opponent, as the player that goes first can't attack on their first turn.)
Kai fails his Red Pulse Dracokid's top 5 check, putting us both off to an uneven start. It's not so surprising; on average Shizuku clones of this type only have a ~30% chance of success, even presuming there are 8 grade 3s remaining in the deck. Still better than a Fullbau ride chain though.
I block his vanilla swing with a 10k, and Kai recoups his lost advantage with a draw trigger. These small plays are building up to something bigger, though. Going into my grade 2 turn, I can consider the possibility of putting Kai to limit break already.
Sure enough, Kai doesn't muster any defense on my turn, putting us at 0-4.
Kai: Ride the Vanguard! Burn everything in this world to ashes, flames of the apocalypse; Dragonic Overlord!
The neutral game is over. Right now, we have a secure lead, and Kai needs to take it back if he's to overturn that. Surprisingly, he doesn't use Gattling Claw to kill Planet Lancer, even though it would slightly stretch his advantage lead. (He has a one-card lead from that draw trigger + my earlier guard, taking a card away from both of us would make it worse.)
A draw trigger damage check turns what I intended to be a two-pass on his vanguard into a no-pass. Kai checks a Burning Horn and Wyvern Guard Barri, then turns his in-play Burning Horn on my rearguard. I decide to drop the 10k to keep it live, since he's at 4 already.
Ashlei snags that Barri right back out with her attack. Our drive checks are lackluster; two perfect guards. But Claudine puts Kai to 5.
Kai doesn't have an End to ride, and I don't have a second frontrow for him to justify going into a CB3, so this next turn becomes a repeat of the last.
We continue to exchange for another turn. But when I drive check Planetal, that seals it...
Touya: That's right. This is something only I can do! Break ride!
Planetal's on-ride skill can bring out
any Sanctuary of Light unit; I superior call a copy of itself to get Toypugal live, as I already have a Little Storm and Determinator in hand. As I mentioned last time, one of the reasons Toypugal works so well in this deck is that it's functionally another copy of Storm, making the exact same numbers and fitting seamlessly into the math for SoL attackers. Battle Song Angel does the same thing in the post-G format, but goes from 7k to 9k rather than 6.
Touya: Break past the boundaries...Limit Break!
The final columns are 21-30-23. It's not as big as a perfect setup Zerachiel (27-36-27) or Nebula (37-30-37) but none of those decks have the same modular design or net-plus superior call skills. There's simply a very low failure rate in Sanctuary of Light, because Little Storm and Toypugal are functionally interchangeable, as are Determinator, Claudine, and Palamedes--just not with the exact same boosters.
Kai one-passes us with two 5ks and a 10, and...
Heal.
The End.
Kai: And that's the game...
750 VP for beating Kai, 50 for limit breaking, 100 for break riding, 100 for breaking 30k in one attack, and a Flame of Promise Aermo for our trouble.
Kai: Hah...Not bad.
Ren: What do you think, Kai? Our new one's great, right?
Asaka: Don't tell me, he really beat
the Kai Toshiki...I don't believe it.
Suiko: He's even more interesting than I thought. I can't take my eyes off him now.
Tetsu: He's still in training. Once we return, we'll resume practice immediately.
Ren: Well, it's my turn next. Who will be my opponent?
Morikawa: Hahaha! The great Morikawa's up next!
Izaki: Stop it already.
Suiko: This scrimmage is getting exciting. We were right to come here.
Unusually, we have two main missions available now. The first is with Yuri in the park...
And the second is with Kamui at Fukuhara.
Part 4: Kamui (06/08/2017)
