Study Guide: Murakumo

Photo by rawritzrichii, not to be reposted elsewhere without the original photographer's express permission.

If there is a lockdown deck in Cardfight, Murakumo is it. As the successors to the Nubatama ninjas, Murakumo plays similarly; the clan's specialties are denying the opponent advantages, canceling their skills and forcing them to make bad moves, and this is why they remain so relevant in a game that is largely based around jousting across the field with the vanguard. The vanguard line is the only line that cannot be predicted in a typical game, it is where all surprises originate from, and Murakumo is determined to stop it from making those surprises happen.

BT05: Awakening of Twin Blades brings the deck its basic setup, with Stealth Beast Evil Ferret as the clan's base 5000 first vanguard. In addition to outriding from the soul, Ferret's skill is to put itself on the bottom of the deck and then call a Murakumo unit from your hand to the field. In the end phase, that unit will then return to the hand. This doesn't sound like much at first since it returns your net advantage to 0, but the skill is most powerful when taking the second turn--Ferret can superior call a grade 2 or 3 unit while you are at grade 1, allowing for a better offensive. This plays into the clan's enforced stand trigger. BT05 only gives Murakumo one heal, one draw, one critical and one stand trigger, so it's best to always have something to attack with prior to the vanguard attack in case of a stand check. More than this though, Ferret gives early access to Stealth Dragon Cursed Breath's skill for a combo play.

Cursed Breath is a base 8000 grade 2, so while he's wholly reliant on a base 8000 booster to form even a 16000 power line, his skill is very complementary to his low power. When Cursed Breath's attack hits the vanguard, he can look at up to five cards from the top of the deck for the grade 3 Covert Demonic Dragon Mandala Lord, add it to the hand, and then place the remaining cards on the bottom of the deck. As with Tsukuyomi, you can use these kinds of skills to gradually build up a stack of triggers on the bottom of the deck and then draw-drive into them, while also bringing added grade security to the table and getting you back the +1 that you lost when Evil Ferret went to the bottom of the deck. Since the skill is on-hit, it can be repeated multiple times throughout the game to build up that stack much faster than Tsukuyomi can, having an 8-10 card stack after two attacks and 12-15 after three. Cursed Breath's power is also equal to the highest possible base power for a grade 1, which helps push for a strong offensive when taking the second turn.

Another way to exploit Ferret's skill is with the grades 1 and 2 units Stealth Beast Million Rat and Stealth Fiend Midnight Crow. Rat and Crow are base 6000 and base 8000 units that can counterblast 1 when they are called or ridden to superior call a copy of themselves from the deck, then place it at the bottom of the deck. Even if your hand has a lot trigger units in it and not a very good offense, these cards let you dip right into the deck and pull that offensive out of your hat, and when you do have that offense ready you get to conserve it for more important stages of the game, attacking without dedicating your hand. This keeps the field open for other units later on while controlling what targets retire-based clans like Kagerou or Narukami have access to. And when you superior call a Rat, you can counterblast again to superior call another with that Rat's skill, filling your entire back line with just one call and a counterblast 2. The tricky part of these skills is that they force the deck to be shuffled after they search for the copy unit, which interrupts the stack that you began building with Cursed Breath on the previous turn, but this is not necessarily a bad thing because now Evil Ferret's 10000 shield is no longer at the bottom of the deck and when you draw into him you will have 10000 more shield than most opponents prepare for. Like Blade Seed Squire, Murakumo decks have a very subtle defensive advantage that have small but still significant differences in play from their contemporaries.

Stealth Dragon, Turbulent Edge is the grade 1 equivalent to Cursed Breath, but as a base 6000 unit is hard to recommend because his attack will hit so rarely and because Murakumo does not yet have a Valkyrie Laurel copy to form 18000 power lines with. Instead you should consider Stealth Beast Leaf Raccoon to fill out your grade 1 slots along with the base 8000 Shijimamaru. Raccoon is a base 6000 unit like Turbulent Edge, but when he boosts a Murakumo vanguard and you have more cards in hand than the opponent, the vanguard gets +4000 extra power for a 10000-power boost overall. With Million Rat and Cursed Breath playing into keeping your hand size high, Raccoon is like an advanced Milk that make an 18-21000 power line very quickly and easily. His skill sees a lot of support from cards which add to or conserve the hand, and cards which decrease the opponent's; while Murakumo does not have a whole lot for the latter, it does have Stealth Beast White Mane, a base 9000 grade 2 that can unflip 1 damage when his attack hits the vanguard. In other words, a Murakumo print of Electromagnetic Lifeform, creating a rift in card advantage by drawing the opponent's defense out to keep you from unflipping. On increasing the hand, Caped Stealth Rogue Shanaou also plays for the hit-and-run side of things like Midnight Crow, by returning to the hand when his attack hits. Shanaou's base 8000 is difficult to recommend however, because the deck already has so many of those running around at grade 2 and there are more coming out of future sets.

The clan's boss card on-release is the very Mandala Lord that Turbulent Edge and Cursed Breath have been searching for. Mandala comes with an 11000 base and brings into play the first of many lock skills. When the opponent attacks Mandala Lord, you can counterblast 1 and persona blast a copy of him to decrease the power of the attacking unit by -10000 power. The key behind the persona blast is that it effectively lets you run one more 10000-shield unit for each non-vanguard copy of Mandala Lord in your deck than normal, without having to actually give up the grade security that is this strategy entails for other decks (in fact, Cursed Breath increases the security by giving you extra chances to add Mandala Lord to your hand.) This plays back into the extra shield that Evil Ferret puts into your deck; Evil Ferret and your three Mandala Lords together total 40000 extra shield that you can access, giving defensive play tremendous weight and letting you guard for two triggers or pull off no-pass plays very late in a match. These Mandala Lord copies that would otherwise become dead weight and be relegated to paying perfect defense costs can leave any attacking column with less than 21000 power one intercept away from needing two triggers to pass.

Supplementary to the Covert Demonic Dragon is the Stealth Field, Kurama Lord. Kurama Lord is a base 10000 grade 3, and the clan megablaster; each turn he soulcharges 1 and unflips one damage for the reuse of counterblast, and when his attack hits in either the vanguard or rearguard circles he can counterblast 5 and soulblast 8 to stand all of your units, including himself. This is a direct repurposing of Mr. Invincible for Murakumo, and Murakumo runs into a lot of the same difficulties. The clan is lacking in soul support, Evil Ferret has no way to return to the soul, and there are no soulcharging units other than Kurama Lord himself, which makes the megablast slow and cumbersome to both build off and activate. So while you'll likely never see the +2 from his megablast's extra twin drive, you can make full use of his unflipping abilities, getting more use out of Million Rat or Midnight Crow, and dedicating the minimum amount of hand to the field necessary until you can stall into Mandala Lord.

The Murakumo clan prides itself on guerrilla tactics and interrupting the opponent's strategy, two elements that Extra Booster 1 and Booster Set 9 will expand on greatly. However, at their international release they are missing elements definitive of the clan's original vision; March will see us revisiting this clan to discuss that vision and how they were designed to fit within the greater framework of Nubatama.

Study Guide: Neo Nectar

Photo by rawritzrichii, not to be reposted elsewhere without the original photographer's express permission.

Neo Nectar has gained a reputation as the go-to budget clan of Cardfight's pro scene, being extremely competitive but with their rarities stopping at RR. Based out of the nation of Zoo, the clan's bioroids are responsible for most of Cray's food production, and is overseen by Zoo's nature deities. Their play style reflects this agrarian focus. Neo Nectar's primary characteristic is "seeding" units across the field by "planting" another in the deck or drop zone; you give up one card to turn it into two.

Effectively the secret clan of BT05: Awakening of Twin Blades, they were an unexpected addition that was kept quiet until very near to release. One of the unfortunate consequences of this is that Neo Nectar cannot modify its triggers out of the box, as the clan's basic four heal, four draw, four critical, four stand triggers are all just barely squeezed into the set. This can be somewhat restraining, but as with the BT04-era Shadow Paladins, when deckbuilding for Neo Nectar one should build to capitalize on this variety as a strength rather than a weakness.

The clan's first vanguard from BT05 is also one of their most successful, Shield Seed Squire. Like Wingal Brave this is a base 5000 FVG that outrides from the soul when ridden over with a unit of the same clan, but Shield Seed is based on his potential as an attacker rather than a booster. When Shield Seed's attack hits the vanguard, you can plant him on top of your deck to search your deck for the grade 1 Blade Seed Squire, and then call that unit at rest. While being at rest means that you won't be able to utilize your new Blade Seed right away, this is an important skill because it preserves the +1 that you got from Shield Seed's outride, and it gives it to you in the more preservable form of Blade Seed and his higher 7000 base, which is immune to Gattling Claw or Saishin tactics. Shield Seed's skill encourages early game attacks to get a damage lead, and it is also one way to capitalize on Watering Elf, the deck's stand trigger; if your superior call of Blade Seed is to the front row, then you can apply the stand that you checked to him to get three attacks out of the first turn, putting pressure on the opponent. While this does leave Blade Seed exposed for the opponent's attack, this also lets you use him a distraction since their focus will be momentarily shifted to eliminating a rearguard when you already have a damage lead, mitigating their chance to even that damage out. Furthermore, since Shield Seed is shuffled back into the deck in this way, you've effectively replaced the 5000 shield in the deck that a copy of Blade Seed provides with the 10000 of Shield Seed, so if you draw Shield Seed you'll then have 5000 more shield than the opponent can usually expect in a given game. The early game aggression, stable field and surprise defense that Shield Seed affords makes him one of the best first vanguards of all time.

Blade Seed Squire has his own skill. When his attack hits the vanguard, you can plant Blade Seed into the deck just as you did for Shield Seed, to superior call the grade 2 Knight of Verdure, Gene at rest. This isn't as amazing as Shield Seed's skill, especially since you're likely to have a grade 2 vanguard when you try to attack with Blade Seed, but if you did get that stand trigger from before you'll have a base 9000 grade 2 with intercept out on the field while still at grade 1. As with the Shield to Blade transition, Verdure comes with 2000 power more than the unit you changed him out for, and he provides a defensive boost. More importantly, Verdure has a take of his own on this type of gardening skill, planting himself when his attack hits the vanguard to superior call the grade 3 Knight of Harvest Gene at rest.

Offensive and defensively, Harvest is not the improvement that the previously calls were, with no shield and just 10000 power, but his on-hit is how you finally sow what you began at the start of the game with Shield Seed. When Harvest's attack hits, he can return to the deck to superior call two copies of Verdure at rest. This means that you've gained 5000 shield over just having the first Verdure on the field, a new attacker, and a +1 for a total +2, all starting with humble little Shield Seed. The problem with these skills is that it's cumbersome to make Blade Seed's go off once you hit grade 2 or later, and each unit takes up a fair amount of deckspace even running them at the minimum 1-2-1 (reading from grades 1 up to 3.) They also restrict what you can call since, while the skills do not explicitly demand open rearguard circles to call to, doing so is the only real way to maintain your increases in advantage. The minimum described previously also runs the risk of the damage check, as damage checking any of these units endangers the strategy, but running more than that means potentially missing out on copies of Neo Nectar's other important units. One effective way to handle this is to only run Shield Seed and Blade Seed Squires without either of the two Genes, guaranteeing a consistent +1 per game and 7000 power booster to better set up your field.

In terms of grade 1s other than Blade Seed, Caramel Popcorn and Lily Knight of the Valley both stand out. Popcorn is a base 7000 unit that can counterblast 1 in the main phase to gain +1000 power, a Neo Nectar Oasis Girl. Popcorn's skill is essential because it can form 18000 power rearguard lines easily for wailing on crossrides, and repeating her skill can make a 20-21000 power vanguard line, which can become a key point of aggression toward the end of a game. Even though Neo Nectar lacks the ability to unflip damage easily, the deck is very low on counterblast, with only four or so units in the basic deck having access to the mechanic. That leaves a lot of room for Popcorn.

Lily Knight meanwhile is a base 6000 unit that gives an additional +4000 power when he boosts an Iris Knight. Unlike other Wingals, Lily Knight's boost target is actually the clan's base 10000 grade 2, which makes for a very versatile setup. As with Blaster Dark and Doranbau, even a single copy of Lily Knight can see occasional use as a temporary remedy against grade 2 gradelock, and in the rearguard additional copies will make for an easy base 20000 setup to wreck havoc on Alfred and company, while also being valuable for facing down crossrides like The End and Blaster Overlord. While base 6000 grade 1s are normally difficult to recommend in crossride dominant formats, for Neo Nectar they are a little more practical because of the supporting grade 3, Frontline Valkyrie Laurel; Laurel is the original Gigantech Charger, a base 10000 grade 3 that gains +2000 power when she attacks a vanguard. This means that with even a base 6000 power booster, you'll have an 18000 power line, as well as a unit that can form 20000 power lines with Corolla Dragon. Base 20000 is very easy for Neo Nectar to come by, and is arguably one of the defining characteristics of their basic deck.

Of their grade 2s, Hey Yo Pineapple and Glass Beads Dragon stand out the most. Hey Yo is a base 8000 unit that gains +3000 power when he attacks if you have four or more Neo Nectar vanguards and rearguards, counting himself. This goes hand in hand with the clan's theme of spreading rearguards out frequently and early, the skill only actually requires two other rearguards to be called, and without actually being a base 11000 unit Hey Yo still forms anticrossride lines easily. Blade Seed is his natural, nearly-free partner, tying back to the Shield Seed strategy. Glass Beads is the basic Maiden of Libra that we've been seeing since BT01, able to counterblast 2 when his attack hits to draw one card for a +1 overall. Glass' impact is dampened somewhat by coming out in the very set in which crossrides are introduced, but there are ways to cope with this; making the most of the enforced stand triggers, Watering Elf can move to the soul to give +3000 power to one Neo Nectar rearguard, in our case Glass to make a base 12000 unit that will easily break 18000 and pay you back the card that you just gave up to empower him. More pointedly, Glass is excellent for pressuring the opponent's rearguards, as there are none that currently breach 11000 base power, so you can build a -1 to the opponent and +1 to yourself with Glass while using the other lines to hit crossride units.

All the units that we've discussed thus far bring us to the clan's primary grade 3, Maiden of Trailing Rose. Rose is a base 11000 unit in any circle, which is key to the BT05-on format. And when her attack hits a vanguard, Rose can counterblast 1 and persona blast a copy of herself to look at up to five cards from the top of the deck and call up to two Neo Nectar among them. That's (-1 +2) for a +1 overall, but this assumes that your rearguard circles are empty. While her full potential will not be realized until BT08, the skill as it is now is good mainly for its sheer utility at any point in the game. If you haven't been able to set up a strong field and the opponent has a damage lead as a result, you can persona blast to fill those empty circles and counterattack without committing anything to the field from your hand, possibly taking the lead in the process. Because the skill doesn't require empty rearguard circles however, it still holds a use beyond the early game if you're willing to take the -1. The most straightforward way to use that is to call an entire new column, but you can also do with just replacing the front row. Stand triggers are favored here, since you could attack with all of your rearguard lines first to make the opponent use up their hand defending their rearguards, then persona blast with Trailing Rose on the third attack to call two new units to the front row. Any stand triggers that you check go to the boosting units then, because the power that was applied to them can then be boosted onto the units superior called through the persona blast. This makes it even more unfortunate that triggers cannot be customized for Neo Nectar on-release, as six to eight stand triggers would actually favor their play style. Of course, you can try to attack with the rearguards unboosted and then bring out the persona blast to make use of the still-standing boosting units, but these initial attacks will be greatly weakened.

One of Trailing Rose's more interesting characteristics is that depending on the opponent, she can draw a heavy defense from the onset of the game rather than behaving as described above. Only needing a single counterblast to work with helps her case immensely, as the opponent is constantly threatened by the possibility of Valkyrie Laurel, Hey Yo Pineapple or Iris Knight coming out from the deck. Defending every turn like this wears the opponent out more quickly, which makes Trailing Rose's persona blast all the more threatening. The result is that the opponent's plays are paralyzed; they can choose not to defend and give you additional attacks to work with, or they can defend and quickly lose their stamina to Neo Nectar's heavy field presence.

Next time that we revisit this clan, I will discuss the additions from BT08: Blue Storm Armada, the upgrades to Trailing Rose and the new Arboros strategy that the set will introduce.

Seven pros use this clan.

News: VGE-TD03 & 04, VGE-BT05 Announced

Over the weekend Bushiroad unveiled the upcoming English releases of trial decks 3 and 4, for the Nova Grappler and Oracle Think Tank clans. Theirs is the most celebrated release yet to come out of 2013, as these decks were once a point of contention for many cardfighters who felt that the clans' focal TDs were being passed over in favor of limit break. Set for global distribution on January 23, 2013, each deck features exclusive cards that have already embedded themselves in specific Japanese builds across the sea.

 

Gold Rutile of VGE-TD03: Golden Mechanical Soldier is noted primarily for his ability to unflip damage in the vanguard circle, unflipping one damage with every successful rearguard attack landed. This combos well with Super Electromagnetic Being, Storm, who innately unflips one damage when his own attack hits, allowing up to two cards to be turned face-up per attack; that ties back to Rutile's other skill, which stands a rearguard for a counterblast 2. So in some setups, Rutile can create a four-attack combo while losing no counterblast in a turn.

The TD is additionally noted for its Oasis Girl exclusive, who can repeat her counterblast 1 up to five times to gain +1000 power again and again, comboing with the aforementioned damage unflip skills, as well as other Nova Grappler unflippers like Claydoll Mechanic or Hungry Dumpty to create consistent lines of 20-25000 power.

VGE-TD04: Maiden Princess of the Cherry Blossoms has two similarly noted cards, Goddess of Flower Divination Sakuya and Dark Cat. Sakuya returns all OraThin cards on the field to her fighter's hand when ridden, allowing the reuse of on-call skills and the free rearrangement of the field. The Goddess also continuously gains +4000 power on her fighter's turn if there are four or more cards in hand, making for an easy 21000+ vanguard line while also turning any draw trigger into an artificial +9000. Dark Cat is a more rearguard-oriented card, which lets all fighters draw one card when it's called. This advantage can quickly snowball for the turn player even in spite of how it contributes to the opponent's hand. Both traditional OraThin and Tsukuyomi fighters have something to invest in, as TD04 is a viable starting point for any new player, and its exclusives are valued for their ability to shave cards from the deck to reach a Godhawk-Tsukuyomi built stack of triggers.

The deck also includes four alternate artwork Lozenge Magus heal triggers, both as a First VaNguard for those cardfighters who prefer a traditional OraThin build over Tsukuyomi or CoCo, and as a starting point for other Think Tank decks.


Alongside these Bushiroad also confirmed VGE-BT05: Awakening of Twin Blades for a February 23, 2013 release. The set is praised for its introduction of a new Blaster-oriented play style for the Royal Paladins and a concentrated vanguard Dragonic Overlord deck to Kageoru, while giving the Shadow Paladins further definition. However, these same qualities have been faced with criticism for bringing about the crossride mechanics that now pervade the Japanese scene, using 13000-power vanguard defense as bunker tactics against assault, while also rendering most 6000-power boosting units heavily mollified. How crossride will interact with the currently-omnipresent limit break mechanics and Gold Paladin dominance in the EN scene is a highly anticipated topic. The set remains a controversial part of Cardfight's history, having come in to interrupt a competitive scene that at the time was regarded as the most balanced format since BT01.

Aside from these, BT05 will also bring the English scene the original Neo Nectar cards, a new clan focused on growing one's field like a garden while also being the cheapest competitive deck available. The new ninja clan Murakumo will see its proper introduction here, despite originally debuting in EB01 of the Japanese scene.