I should probably try to bring this blog back for 2024 Sort of fell off updating once my initial queue ran out Guess I'll have to rework a bunch of deck lists to account for the new deck size

My Olbaria collection grows

(Yes each of those pockets has at least 9 in them)

Going to be updating my Rorowa deck today

Can hopefully test it tonight and share my list for anyone who might be interested

I know I haven't updated this blog recently, but oh my god

A miracle has occurred I was hoping I could pull an FFR of the new Rorowa, since he's possibly my favorite deck in Standard right now and I want to have at least one high rarity for all versions of him But I will absolutely take the SEC Ezel instead The question now is if I use this in Standard or Premium. If Standard, then it's definitely going in the ride deck But for Premium, I already have a V-era IMG Ezel, so maybe I should put the two high rarity ones together?

V-Premium Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile

Taking a short break from overDress this week, here's one of my V-Premium decks. Altmile was the first deck I actually used to play back in G-era, so I was hyped when I found out he was coming to V. I've been playing this version of the deck for a while now, so I'm pretty happy with it.

Deck Log Code: MFJQ

Grade 3 -x4 Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile -x1 Blue Sky Knight, Altmile Grade 2 -x1 Explode Jewel Knight, Laile -x3 Knight of Chivalry, Rabol -x2 Diaconnect Dragon -x3 Counteroffensive Knight, Suleiman -x2 Starlight Violinist -x1 Hopesong Angel -x4 Absolute Blade Knight, Livarot -x1 Knight of Determination, Lamorak Grade 1 -x3 Charging Knight, Morvidus -x4 Flourishing Knight, Edith -x4 Laurel Knight, Sicilus Grade 0 -x1 Shining Knight, Millius (Starting Vanguard) -x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona (Critical Trigger) -x4 Future Knight, Llew (Critical Trigger) -x4 Flash Shield, Iseult (Draw Trigger/Sentinel) -x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine (Heal Trigger) 1 Quick Shield, 5 Imaginary Gift Force II Markers Now I know what you're thinking... Am I sure there are enough grade 2s? No, there's never enough grade 2s. Jokes aside, this deck plays seventeen grade 2s and you'll probably see most, if not all of them. Altmile has always been very grade 2 centric, and Veemium is even more so. Your preferred grade 1 ride target is Sicilus. Morvidus is an okay choice if you have to since riding on top of her lets you draw a card, but you definitely don't want to have to ride Edith. You might have noticed this deck only runs five grade 3 units. That's because you always want to ride Aerial Divine Knight, Blue Sky Knight is only here as a last resort and for the Altmile name. Thankfully, Sicilus helps by letting you check the top five of your deck for a grade 3 when placed on vanguard or rearguard. Edith also helps search out a grade 3 when she's placed on rearguard. For a soulblast, she checks the top seven for an Altmile and calls it to the same column she's in. Then after she boosts, the Altmile she was boosting goes to soul to help enable ADK's skill. If you don't want the called Altmile to go to soul, but instead to hand, that's where Suleiman comes in. Suleiman isn't the only viable grade 2 ride option, but it is the one you want to see. When ridden, he allows you to check the top seven once again and call an Altmile that you find. From there you use Suleiman's other skill to soulblast one and return the Altmile to your hand for later use. ADK is the intended boss unit for the deck. As long as all your damage is face-down, Aerial Divine Knight gives all your grade 2 units 10k power and 5k shield, and if there's another Altmile in your soul, your grade 2s also gain a critical. His other skill helps to fill your board by calling one from both deck and drop, meaning you can recycle some of your more useful grade 2s. Because of ADK's continuous skill, ideally all your rearguards will be grade 2 units. To give the deck some boosters, Starlight Violinist comes in handy. Violinist gives boost and the ability to intercept from the back row to all your grade 2 units when all your damage is face-down. If you're on ADK like you should be, you should have minimum 40k columns, with as many as three crit per unit depending on how many markers you have placed. The remaining grade 2 units are to help you get your damage face-down or to get more cards in soul. Laile gives you a soulcharge and puts two units from drop back into deck. Diaconnect soulcharges when placed in a column with another unit. Rabol, Hopesong, and Livarot all counterblast to search units. Finally Lamorak lets you counterblast as many times as you are able and he gains 10k power for each one. In an ideal situation, your first grade 3 turn should be three attacks that are all at least two damage if they hit. Your vanguard should be a 33k swing, and your rearguards at least 40k if not bigger. Unlike my other lists so far, I don't really have any suggestions for changes you could make. There's a promo that allows for countercharge if you need it, but in all my testing, I never even got to use it. You're able to throw in so many one-ofs because of search skills that if there's a particular grade 2 you want to try out, you can probably make the space for it.

Remember, these deck lists are for fun and not necessarily optimized. If you have another card that you think would make a better fit, then go for it and test it out.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a message!

This is already way too expensive for what used to be the worst Lyrical deck and it’s not even done

I still need so much of the new stuff

Oops, the queue runs out tonight, guess I better refill it with new stuff

I was planning to do a list for Wilista at some point, but uh

She got a bit pricy and now I can’t afford to finish my deck anymore

Oops, the queue runs out tonight, guess I better refill it with new stuff

I was planning to do a list for Wilista at some point, but uh

She got a bit pricy and now I can’t afford to finish my deck anymore

For One's Precious Thing, Rorowa post DBT-10

I may not have built any new decks for DBT-02 through 04, but when reveals for DBT-05 started, I just knew I had to build Rorowa. At the time he was another cheap deck, being considered one of the weaker new bosses introduced in the set. But here we are now and he's gotten some pretty good new cards. Not to mention, he's about to get even more support in DBT-11, which I'll have to share an updated list for once I decide how I want to adjust my ratios for new cards. Unfortunately, because of newer support, Rorowa isn't necessarily super budget anymore, at least with this particular build, but there are definitely changes that could help make it more affordable.

Deck Log Code: MA02 Ride Deck: -x1 For One's Precious Thing, Rorowa -x1 The World 3000 Years Later, Rorowa -x1 Awakening from Slumber, Rorowa -x1 Bioroid Youth, Rorowa Main Deck: Grade 3 -x3 For One's Precious Thing, Rorowa -x3 Undoubting Flame Sword, Radylina -x3 Resolute Pair of Eyes (Order) Grade 2 -x4 Dragritter Girl of Flame Blossoms, Radylina -x3 Prodpollen Rafilous Grade 1 -x4 Burrow Mushrooms -x4 Signpost Fairy -x4 Custodial Dragon -x2 Stepping Calyx, Salvia Grade 0 -x1 Source Dragon Deity of Blessings, Blessfavor (Over Trigger) -x4 Serene Maiden, Lena (Draw Trigger) -x4 Soul Repose Pixy, Petronella (Heal Trigger) -x4 Aspiring Maiden, Alana (Critical Trigger) -x3 Frenzied Heiress (Front Trigger) Tokens: -x1 Momokke token -x5 Plant token

For anyone reading this that might be new to the game, or even if you're a veteran that missed out on V-era and overDress so far, then tokens are something you might not have seen before. Rorowa wasn't the first deck in D to utilize tokens, that would be Orfist, but it was the first one for Stoicheia. He brought back the Plant tokens introduced during V-era and uses them to fill the board for various abilities. Because of the ride line skills, Rorowa can easily have a full field by grade 2, with riding the grade 2 on top of the 1 allowing you to call two plant tokens as long as you retire a rearguard. Since riding the grade 1 on top of the 0 lets you call a plant to back row center, this skill is practically guaranteed to activate. Once you get to grade 3, you can soulblast a card once per turn to call three more plants if you wanted, and when you are being attacked, Rorowa can retire his own plant tokens to gain 5k power per retire for the duration of that battle. The ability to flood your board with plants, rather than units from hand, is pretty important since you're going to retiring a good number of them every turn if the deck decides to cooperate. Thankfully, Prodpollen Rafilous, Salvia, and Burrow Mushrooms can all help you get more plant tokens after you've already used up Rorowa's call. Prodpollen calls two plants when placed for the cost of a counterblast, making her a good choice for your grade 2 turn if you want to rush your opponent. Salvia requires you be on grade 3, but calls a plant for no cost when placed, helping you build a column or get you more boosters. And finally Burrow Mushrooms, which is technically a card for a different deck but can be played in basically any Stoicheia deck, goes to soul to give you two more plant tokens. In Burrow Mushrooms's case, you can't get the full effect since you won't be on a Granfia vanguard, but the rest of the skill that can be used is more than powerful enough for our purposes. Aside from token callers, your most important rearguard unit is the grade 2 Radylina. For the cost of a counterblast, she lets you call a Momokke token to the field, and if you place it in the same column as her, it can attack from the back row. Funnily enough, a lot of the time, you want to give the power from triggers to your Momokke. Why? Because Radylina can add Momokke's power to her own for a single soulblast. Meaning if your Momokke was somehow 50k, then Radylina could be 60k or 70k. Speaking of Momokke, this token is the reason you're going to be retiring so much. Once per turn, Momokke can retire as many of your own units as you like and gains 5k power for each. Typically you'll want to retire at least three units, preferably plants or Signpost Fairy, to make Momokke as large as possible. Signpost Fairy helps with this because of it's ability to give a grade 1 or less unit an extra 10k power when retired by one of your skills, as long as your vanguard is a Glitter. Since you should always be on Rorowa, who is a Glitter, Signpost Fairy will always trigger when retired by Momokke, and conveniently Momokke is also the one you want to have the 10k. Another card that helps buff your Momokke and other back row tokens is Resolute Pair of Eyes. This set order can only be played if you have a Rorowa vanguard by counterblasting and retiring a rearguard, most likely a plant. When it's placed, you can search for a Radylina and add her to your hand, meaning you can now grab either the grade 2 or 3 depending on what you need in hand. In addition, as long as it's in the order zone, all your back row tokens gain 5k power. You want to try to play as many of this order as you can manage so your tokens can boost for higher numbers.

Having grade 3 Radylina also be searchable helps with the number of attacks you get for potential kill turns. Your Radylina should normally be the final attack on most turns, but grade 3 Radylina has an auto skill that activates when she's in your hand. By retiring both your Momokke and your attacking Radylina, she can call herself during the battle phase and gain the power of the retired Momokke. This can make for some really funny interactions if you just so happened to check the over trigger that turn. And even if you didn't, that's still likely to be three large attacks, forcing a lot of cards out of your opponent's hand if it doesn't outright end the game. Plus she calls Momokke back at the beginning of your next main phase in case the game keeps going, letting you keep your four attacks a turn. A few possible alternative choices for the deck would include: -Blue Artillery Dragon, Inlet Pulse Dragon Let's get this out of the way. Don't play this card. It's stupidly overpriced and there's no reason to run it in this deck. Yes you can get four attacks and that procs the skill to send it to soul and draw, but you don't need it. Burrow Mushrooms already gives you soul and if you're using your tokens well, your hand size will be fine. I only mention this card because it's for sure going to show up on lists other people make. Inlet Pulse just isn't worth your money for a card where you can't even get the full effect. -Full Blown Dragon A card I previously played in this deck, before the release of Burrow Mushrooms. The main reason to play this card would be if you're still having a soul problem or if you want to guarantee you'll have tokens to use defensively during your opponent's turn. Could potentially remove Salvia and one copy of Signpost Fairy if you desperately want to run this card. -Prolific Orange This is another card that's technically intended for Granfia, but there's no vanguard restriction, so Rorowa can also make use of it. This grade 3 order is potentially a replacement for Prodpollen if you can't afford her. The skill is effectively the same, just counterblast one for two plants. The main drawback would be having to wait until grade 3, when you usually want to be playing Resolute Pair of Eyes, and the fact that there's no shield value as an order. -Ranran Orangerine I don't recommend using this card as an alternative unless there's just no other better options you have access to. While you can get the one plant token for free on place, it essentially becomes useless after that since the second skill requires a Granfia vanguard. -Blooming Petal, Caryophyllus Not especially useful anymore. This card had its uses up until DBT-08, but your soul is unlikely to be low enough to activate this skill unless you're either playing very aggressively or the game has gone on a very long time. Could potentially replace Salvia if you really needed it. -To The Shining Stage! Mainly to help you recycle your Radylina since she's likely to be a target for bullying, but can technically call anything from drop as long as it's the same grade as your vanguard or lower. Soulblasting a Burrow Mushroom and calling it essentially refunds the cost if you send to soul for plants immediately. -Prized Trident Counterblasts shouldn't be much of an issue in this deck, but this card is a decent option for turns when you'll get five attacks since it can then send itself to soul and countercharge one. Normally you can only get four attacks consistently, but Radylina's grade 3 does open up the option for five attacks.

-Knight of Nostalgia, Marco This is basically the card that Signpost Fairy ended up replacing for my list. He gives 5k power to a grade 1 or less when placed. I wouldn't replace Signpost Fairy with this, but they could be played together.

-Adhesive Thread Mutant, Actiasticky Not a fan of this unit personally, but certainly much cheaper than Inlet Pulse if you just desperately want that draw. Retiring two and counterblasting one is a bit steep for the skill to activate, but it could be worse. -Trigger Line Up I personally like rainbow triggers for this build, but you could definitely change things to fit your preference. If I had to cut any trigger, it would be the fronts. The extra 5k shield is nice, but maybe you prefer more crit or more draw. As the everything bagel of over triggers, I recommend sticking with Blessfavor unless you just can't afford it. Olbaria isn't ideal, but it's a perfectly functional replacement. As of writing this, Festival for 2023 isn't out yet, but either of the Cray Elemental introduced there could also work. Valnout is the better option if you want to re-stand your Radylina or Momokke. Idosfaro is better if you want to retrieve units from drop and give a critical to a rearguard. Rorowa will be back again soon with DBT-11 on the horizon. How much will he change? Not sure yet, but I guess we'll see soon.

Remember, these deck lists are for fun and not necessarily optimized. If you have another card that you think would make a better fit, then go for it and test it out.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a message!

I guess today’s card reveals more or less confirm no new Baromagnes grade 3 in DBT-12 u-u I will continue to wait for my boy to get nice things. Can we get a new Eugene though please?

Heavy Artillery of Dust Storm, Eugene post DBT-09

Budget friendly here we come. It’s my boy, Eugene. AKA maybe the worst boss card from DBT-01? But that was over two years ago. Eugene himself might not be the best by himself, but his rearguards more than make up for what he lacks. Why is this post DBT-09 instead of DBT-10? Because I haven’t decided if I’m going to add any of the newer cards yet. Needs more testing. The triggers here are a bit messy, but I’ll finally have all effect triggers eventually. They’ll be listed a bit differently from normal since I don’t want to list a bunch of one-of placeholders.

Deck Log Code: GEKN Ride Deck: -x1 Heavy Artillery of Dust Storm, Eugene -x1 Cataclysmic Bullet of Dust Storm, Randor -x1 Gunning of Dust Storm, Nigel -x1 Double Gun of Dust Storm, Bart Main Deck:     Grade 3 -x3 Heavy Artillery of Dust Storm, Eugene -x4 Hunting Gatling of Dust Storm, Firas -x3 Best Harvest (Order)     Grade 2 -x4 Twin Bullet of Dust Storm, Travis -x4 Strong Fortress Dragon, Gibrabrachio     Grade 1 -x4 Assault Bullet of Dust Storm, Oswald -x4 Strong Sharp Dragon, Geizfort -x4 Twin Buckler Dragon     Grade 0 -x3 Draw Trigger -x4 Critical Trigger -x4 Front Trigger -x4 Heal Trigger -x1 Dragon Deity King of Resurgence, Dragveda (Over Trigger) Eugene gets overlooked a lot. Since he wasn’t very good when he came out, most people tend to forget about him, and that’s probably only going to be even more true now that Gandeeva exists. But Gandeeva is expensive. And thankfully, Eugene mostly isn’t. There’s really only one card that breaks the 10USD threshhold, and that’s the over trigger. If you used base rarity for everything and stuck to vanilla triggers and Olbaria, you could put Eugene together for around 35USD as of writing this. That’s including the special perfect guards as well, so you could drop that about 12USD or so if you run one of the start deck ones. Heck, you could even get frame rares or holos for a lot of these units and it would barely change the cost at all. The main goal for Eugene is to retire rearguards. Somewhat expected for Dragon Empire. His second skill is mainly useless unless you’re in desperate need of units on the field. The main skill you’ll want to be using every turn, assuming the other player lets you, is his first skill. You rest two of your own units to retire an enemy rearguard, then he gains 10k power. That skill might have been a deal-breaker way back in DBT-01, but as early as DBT-02 he already had a card that could use that to its advantage. Gibrabrachio can stand itself and gain 5k power as long as your opponent only has one rearguard when battle starts. Even if you don’t rest it with Eugene’s skill, you can soulblast one and rest it to retire one, so it can get the re-stand and power anyway. Geizfort works similarly and is one of your preferred rest targets. Once per turn, when an enemy rearguard is retired, it can stand and gain 2k power. Since the skill that rested them in the first place retired a unit, they would stand right away and essentially be 10k boosters. The newest card I’ve added to the deck is Firas. He helps you search out Best Harvest when he’s placed, and he’s another preferred rest target. Despite being a grade 3, usually you actually want Firas in your back row. When an opponent’s rearguard is retired, as long as you soulblast one, he can stand and gain boost until end of turn.Since ideally you’re retiring something every turn, he’s consistently a 13k booster. Your final unit capable of retiring is Travis. He’s not the cheapest since he sees play in other decks as well, but he makes things so much more consistent. Once a turn when an enemy rearguard is retired, you can counterblast to soulcharge and retire another unit, then he gains 10k power. And your last grade 1 is Oswald. It’s not too often that I’ve actually gotten to a situation where I can use Oswald, but his skill is just too good not to have. Your opponent has to have no rearguards, but with all your other units working together, it’s 100% possible to clear them all out before the battle phase. As long as he’s boosting Eugene and the opponent is also on grade 3, he lets you counterblast one and discard a card to re-stand Eugene with one drive and one critical. In situations where this is possible, you want to attack with Eugene first to maximize how dangerous your front row rearguards can be. Oswald is also why you can get away with having Olbaria instead of Dragveda. Best Harvest is the only order this build runs for now. What is does is simple enough. When you play it, just choose a vanguard and give it a continuous skill that lets you draw a card whenever an opposing rearguard is retired. If their board is full and you retire everything while this is active, that’s five new cards in hand. The only excuse for not including this would be because it’s only gotten more expensive over time. As of writing this though, it’s only around 3USD, so still budget friendly. A few possible alternative choices for the deck would include: -Spiritual King of Determination, Olbaria     Technically any of the over triggers with the same skill would also work. Dragveda is not cheap, and until it gets reprinted as much as Gallmageheld has, it’s not going to be cheap. Thankfully, Eugene doesn’t care as much about which over trigger you use, they’re both effective. Sure Dragveda gives you the opportunity to re-stand the vanguard,but since Oswald is also here Olbaria giving 100mil power to two units instead of just one is also plenty effective. -Fierce Bullet of Dust Storm, Nawfal     I guess Randor needed a friend that also had a not normal name. This promo card is still a bit on the pricey side at over 3USD, but if you happen to have him and want to use him, then go for it. His main use would be recycling units you might want to call by putting them on top of deck as long as you’ve retired something that turn. Downside is he can only select cards that are normal units and not sentinels. -Howitzer of Dust Storm, Dustin     This card used to be played in this deck before the addition of Firas. You have to put a hand card into soul, but he lets you draw one and then retires a grade 2 rearguard. His second skill gives him 2k for every open rearguard circle on your opponent’s field for that battle for the cost of a soulblast. -Inscribing Bullet of Dust Storm, Baxter     This guy is weird, but the art is nice. I can’t imagine his continuous skill ever being of much use since it requires your opponent to attack it from a column other than the one he’s in. Especially since it just prevents him from being hit. His other skill is the interesting one. Baxter on his own can’t retire any units, but when a rearguard in the same column as him is retired, he gives 5k power to himself and the vanguard. If the column was previously full and you retired the whole thing, then Baxter gives himself and your vanguard 10k power just because he’s on the board.     I wouldn’t run more than two or three copies, but this is a DBT-10 card I’ve considered making space for. -Scarlet Flame Bow of Demolition     This would be in addition to Best Harvest, not a replacement. Remember how Baxter benefits from retired rearguards in the same column as him? Well this order, for the cost of a counterblast, chooses a column and retires the enemy units in it. Since this order chooses a column, instead of a unit like most of the other retire skills in the deck, this can get around units that say they can’t be chosen.    If I can find the space, this is another card from DBT-10 I’d like to test in this deck. Sadly Eugene often gets written off as a bad deck just because he wasn’t great at initial release. Thankfully for budget players, this means that most of his cards are extremely affordable, and the powerful rearguard skills more than make up for what the vanguard might lack. He might not be winning any major tournaments any time soon, but Eugene is still a really fun deck that manages to pull out a victory sometimes. Remember, these deck lists are for fun and not necessarily optimized. If you have another card that you think would make a better fit, then go for it and test it out. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a message!

Master of Gravity, Baromagnes post DBT-10

It’s time for the deck I chose back when overDress first got started. Specifically the turbo variant of Baromagnes. I know that turbo isn’t for everyone, but it’s the version of the deck that has served me well. This is very much not a budget friendly build. Since I’ve been playing this deck since DBT-01 first came out, I’ve been updating it as each new set comes out, so there’s some cards here that have become VERY pricey over time.

Deck Log Code: C0AJ Ride Deck: -x1 Master of Gravity, Baromagnes -x1 Electro Spartan -x1 Flaming Pony -x1 Uncanny Burning Main Deck:     Grade 3 -x3 Master of Gravity, Baromagnes -x3 Phantasma Magician, Curtis -x3 Magnereversal Breaker (Order)     Grade 2 -x2 Azul Wild Flame, Frenadio -x3 Lilac Lasher -x2 Cutting Sword Dance, Qiehgra -x4 Selfish Engraver     Grade 1 -x3 Direful Doll, Amandine -x3 Brainwash Swirler -x4 Recusal Hate Dragon     Grade 0 -x4 Direful Doll, Alexandra (Heal Trigger) -x4 Rouse Wildmaster, Riley (Draw Trigger) -x4 Stem Deviate Dragon (Critical Trigger) -x1 Hades Dragon Deity of Resentment, Gallmageheld (Over Trigger) -x3 Flinty Slasher (Critical Trigger) Now technically, this is a deck that could very easily be built on budget. Most of the expensive cards could be replaced with cheaper ones, and while it might not function quite as well, it could still get you where you want to be. Baromagnes himself can usually be found for around 1USD as of writing. His skill is actually three skills that activate based on the number of cards in soul. You’re basically guaranteed to get the first skill by first grade 3 turn, just counterblast to draw a card when he attacks. Ideally you want to be at ten, or even fifteen if you can manage, cards in soul by that first grade 3 turn so he can gain 10k power and a critical. The fifteen cards are important because it clears both players’ boards of rearguards by sending them to soul, but then Baromagnes gets to call two new units from soul and give them 10k, allowing him to get five attacks each turn after hitting that magic number. As far as units that help you get to fifteen soul, that’s the majority of the remainder. Curtis came out alongside Baromagnes in the debut set of overDress, and he’s still one of the best options for getting soulcharges. The main skill that matters here is his ability to soulcharge two on place as long as your vanguard is Master of Gravity, Baromagnes. With another card in this list, he can get three soulcharges instead. His second skill is less important, but if you can afford it and didn’t manage to persona ride or want to push for game, you can counterblast two to make your front row bigger by 5k. Selfish Engraver is another card that’s been here from the start. While the number in the deck occasionally changes, her ability to send herself to soul and countercharge once you have ten in soul is very good since the deck only uses counterblasts. She also has the power to soulcharge one when her attack hits, but it’s unlikely to happen often. You may have noticed that there’s something odd about the ride line. There’s a weird horse where Deep Soniker is supposed to be. That would be because with Amandine’s skill, Flaming Pony can get you more soulcharge. By putting it in the ride line, you can guarantee it will be in soul, where it needs to be for the skill to activate. By binding this unit, you can soulcharge two, or preferably with Amandine active, you instead soulcharge three. Then there’s Brainwash Swirler. He’s the expensive one. As of writing this, base rarity Brainwash from his original set or the reprints are going for around 27USD per copy. When placed, he lets you soulcharge one, and then if your vanguard is at least grade 3, he gains 5k power for every card soulcharged after he was placed. With the amount of soulcharging Baromagnes can do, he gets very large numbers. Some might argue that there should be four copies here, but I’ve only ever run the three and never had issues. Magnereversal Breaker is the only order in this particular build. It’s a common, so it’s thankfully easy to get. As long as your vanguard is Baromagnes, you can counterblast to soulcharge 3 and if there are at least ten cards in soul, your front row gets 5k power. This 5k isn’t applied to specific units because it’s a continuous given to the vanguard for turn. Qiehgra normally isn’t much help in building soul, but he still has his own specific use. He has two skills depending on the number of cards in soul. The skill activates when he’s placed and at seven or more cards in soul you counterblast and discard to choose a card from soul to add to hand, then soulcharge one to replace what you took. The main targets for this skill are usually a perfect guard, copy of the vanguard, or the overtrigger. Just depends on what you need. His second skill activates when there are thirteen or more in soul and gives 5k power to the front row. Amandine is one of the most important units in the deck. She’s nowhere near as expensive as Brainwash, but at around 5USD per copy, might still be a bit much for someone who can only afford to go budget. She’s essentially a better Deep Soniker, and is the reason that card isn’t played here anymore. Her most important skill for the functionality of this deck is her ability to increase all soulcharges for the turn by one for the cost of a counterblast. That means Curtis is charging three, Magnereversal is charging four, etc. Her other skill gives her 10k power during your turn when there are ten or more cards in soul. Lilac Lasher and Frenadio are your main targets to call off Baromagnes’s skill. Lasher is a very funny card, to be honest. He’s a grade 2 with a base power of 2k. So why is he even here you might wonder. When called by Baromagnes’s skill, he becomes a 12k, if you persona rode, that’s 22k. Then he gets 2k power for every card in soul. If you’re at the minimum fifteen for the vanguard, that’s an additional 30k for a possible 52k power. That’s not even accounting for possible triggers or a soul higher than fifteen. You typically only want to call one unless pushing for game. He would be paired with... Frenadio is a card that I initially thought didn’t have much use. You basically want at least one if not all of your copies to be in soul before your fifteen in soul turns. The main reason I decided to try him out was to have him protect Lilac Lasher. Because of the numbers Lasher can reach, he often gets bullied by the opponent, but Frenadio can help minimize that. When he attacks, you send another of your rearguards to soul and one of your opponent’s. If your opponent doesn’t have any rearguards, which they shouldn’t due to the vanguard’s skill, he gains 10k power. He can’t get as large as Lilac Lasher, but that’s still a minimum of 30k or 40k depending on whether or not you activated persona ride that turn. At that point, if your opponent is still in the game, at least you have your Lasher safe in soul instead of in the drop. A few possible alternative choices for the deck would include: -Crimson Igspeller     This unit is one I played when it came out in DBT-02. The only skill you’d care about most of the time is the first one that lets you soulcharge one any time it attacks a vanguard. Combined with Amandine, you could soulcharge two for each attack. The second skill could give your vanguard 10k extra power, but he has to remove himself from the soul to do it, and you usually don’t want your soul to go down if you can help it. -Pandemonium Tactics     Before Magnereversal Breaker came out in DBT-07, I begrudgingly ran this order card. It’s thankfully much cheaper nowadays than it was when I got my copies. The main reason you would want this order instead is because Amandine would let you soulcharge five instead of the four you get with Magnereversal. The downside is that you can’t use any of the other abilities listed on the card because this is Baromagnes and not Bruce with his Final Rush. -Supernatural Extraction     Another order that I tried out when it released and can still work depending on your preferred playstyle. Costs a counterblast and a discard, but it lets you soulcharge three, or four with Amandine, and then if there are ten or more cards in soul, you can add a card from soul to hand. -Crawl, you “Insects”!     Yet another possible order. This seems to be a trend. This one costs a counterblast to use and only lets you soulcharge one, but it lets you give 10k power to a unit for every five cards in soul. Then you can draw a card if there are ten or more in soul. If you were to wait until you have the fifteen for all vanguard skills, this order basically just lets you pick someone to get 30k bigger. -Brothers’ Soul     Okay, last order, I promise. Brothers’ Soul was technically an order intended for Bruce, but it’s grade 1, meaning you can soulcharge two for free as soon as you ride once. Amandine can make this a soulcharge three if she’s active. -Depletion Sabbia     Another card I used to run, but got cut because I just never got to use her. After your Baromagnes attacks, you counterblast two and retire her, then select ten cards from your soul to keep there, everything else gets put back in deck. The cost for the skill is pretty high, but she isn’t restricted to returning normal units to deck, meaning if your soul is full of triggers, well now your deck is instead. -Deep Soniker     If Amandine happens to be out of your price range, then the original grade 1 for the ride deck can be a serviceable alternative. You lose the ability to increase your soulcharges, but you keep the additional 10k power for having ten or more in soul. -Steam Battler, Gungnram     Not a budget option, but is more affordable than Brainwash Swirler. You would only want it for the soulcharge skill. -Desire Devil, Gouman     Now what is a Greedon card doing here? Well funnily enough the skill that matters here is not restricted to Greedon. When this unit is put into soul from rearguard by your vanguard’s ability, for a counterblast, he forces your opponent to use two or more cards at the same time when guarding. This was more important when the card came out since Baromagnes can get such large numbers now, but this is definitely still a fun option if you have the space. -Violet Blue Illusory Butterfly, Huanju     This unit that is hilariously misprinted as a Forest Dragon for the race is possibly my favorite budget alternative to Brainwash Swirler. She unfortunately doesn’t get to soulcharge for free, but she does soulcharge a lot more.  If you have five or more units when she’s placed, you can counterblast one to soulcharge three. Four if you have Amandine. Then if there are ten or more cards in your soul, give your vanguard 5k. -Freeze Breeze     I’m personally not a fan of this unit since the attack it boosts is required to hit, but she can get you a soulcharge, and two hand cards if you pay her cost of a counterblast. -Perfect Guard     While I 100% recommend Recusal Hate Dragon, Repelled Malice Dragon, or even Steam Maiden, Arlim if you have her, perfect guards that can guard without discarding if your hand is too small can sometimes be pricey. If you can’t afford any of these three for whatever reason, then any of the other perfect guard sentinels can get the job done. On the other hand, if you have too much money and don’t know what to do with it, well first give me some, but also you could definitely run Elementaria Sanctitude. -Trigger Line Up     You could mess around with the number of crits and draws, but I wouldn’t recommend reducing the draws. Since so much of the deck winds up in the soul, draws are important to make sure you can actually get the cards you need in your hand. If you wanted to run more draws, you could potentially cut one or two crits to make space, especially since this deck wants Gallmageheld. Since over triggers for Dark States have been printed so many times, they’re very affordable if you don’t care about them looking fancy. You want to have the nation specific over trigger because it will make Baromagnes a three critical minimum every turn after you hit ten cards in soul if you manage to get it off a drive check. You could also try cutting two or three crits to make room for some fronts if you want to have a chance of making your calls from Baromagnes ever bigger.     While the effect triggers (except heals) are generally preferred for the higher shield, or in the case of Stem Deviate the going to soul can make a difference, if you can’t afford them then normal vanilla triggers will work just fine.     Technically you can run any of the effect heals if you want. I personally don’t like them because the shield value increase is too situational, but they’re always there if you find yourself playing against a lot of decks with the same gimmicks that the heals help with. This ended up way longer than I intended, and I feel like I keep just keep going and going and going... But I have to stop somewhere. Remember, these deck lists are for fun and not necessarily optimized. If you have another card that you think would make a better fit, then go for it and test it out. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a message!

I might have mentioned that working around Kasen Kanesada’s skill was weird. Well Hachisuka Kotetsu’s skill is just as odd. Like with Kasen, I’m not super confident about this list, and there’s almost definitely a better way to build him, but sometimes there’s only so much you can do with a skill as underwhelming as this one. If nothing else, if you can get him to work for you, it would be very funny.

Deck Log Code: 8R68 Ride Deck: -x1 Hachisuka Kotetsu Kiwame -x1 Hachisuka Kotetsu Toku -x1 Hachisuka Kotetsu Sentou -x1 Hachisuka Kotetsu Main Deck:     Grade 3 -x3 Hachisuka Kotetsu Kiwame -x4 Hotarumaru -x3 Taroutachi -x3 Jiroutachi     Grade 2 -x2 Higekiri -x2 Hizamaru -x3 Nagasone Kotetsu -x3 Akashi Kuniyuki     Grade 1 -x4 Hakusanyoshimitsu -x3 Aizen Kunitoshi     Grade 0 -x4 Gotou Toushirou (Critical Trigger) -x4 Yagen Toushirou (Heal Trigger) -x3 Atsushi Toushirou (Critical Trigger) -x4 Hakata Toushirou (Draw Trigger) -x1 Hachisuka Kotetsu Shinken Hissatsu (Over Trigger)

Maybe it’s because of his vanity or hubris for his distaste for forgeries, but Hachisuka has maybe the worst vanguard skill of the five Touken Ranbu lines. That doesn’t mean you can’t make a functioning deck, but it’s definitely going to be weird. The only skill that Hachisuka has (not the only one that’s worth using, he literally only has one skill) is a continuous skill that gives his back row boost if you have five rearguards. That’s it. Which makes building around your vanguard either very easy or very difficult. Though this does let us run a lot of grade 2 and grade 3 without having to worry as much about having some grade 1 for the back row. Taroutachi and Jiroutachi are both grade 3 units that gain 10k power when their counterpart is on the board. They’re pretty straightforward, just make sure at least one of each of them is on rearguard and you get the boost. Then you can either use them to attack or take advantage of the given boost when your field is full for big columns. Higekiri and Hizamaru are similar, but they’re grade 2 and have to be in the front for the full effect. If you have both, then placing them in the front row while Taroutachi and Jiroutachi boost is a good option. Nagasone is just here because he benefits from the vanguard having Kotetsu in the name. He’s essentially always a 15k grade 2 since his skill is active on both players’ turns. The three units that could easily be replaced with something else are Hotarumaru, Akashi Kuniyuki, and Aizen Kunitoshi. Hotarumaru goes up by 5k or 10k when placed depending on whether or not the other player is grade 3 yet, and can return himself to hand with a counterblast if retired by your opponent. Akashi and Aizen are both to benefit from and to support Hotarumaru. By sending himself to soul and using a counterblast, Aizen can return an Ootachi or Tachi to hand when he boosts an Ootachi. This allows you to retrieve your Hotarumaru and play him again the next turn to get the 10k power. Akashi gets 5k power when Aizen is on the field and gains 5k shield when Hotarumaru is on the field. Basically this deck says get big number and doesn’t do much else. You could definitely mess around with other options if you want to retire rearguards or try out some other cards that have atypical skills. A few possible alternative choices for this deck would include: -Mikazuki Munechika     Here he is hanging out in the alternatives section again. He’s expensive, but if you have him already, there isn’t really any reason you couldn’t run him at three or four copies. As long as you have three damage, he automatically boosts himself by 5k when he attacks, and at five damage the re-stand is always nice. -Oodenta Mitsuyo     Speaking of weird cards, Oodenta is certainly an interesting one. If you persona rode that turn, when his attack hits any unit (it doesn’t have to be the vanguard), you can counterblast one to heal a damage. The number of damage your opponent has doesn’t matter, you just get to heal one. This card isn’t good for most decks since they tend to have a specific game plan, but Hachisuka can afford to run it since all his wants is a full board with big number. -Juzumaru Tsunetsugu, Tonbokiri, and Kokindenjunotachi    If you saw the Kasen Kanesada list, then you might remember these guys. Tonbokiri and Kokindenjunotachi are to let you play around the rest required in Juzumaru’s cost. Rather than giving any unit power, it makes your opponent 5k weaker. The ability to re-stand the board when persona riding is less important, but nice if Tonbokiri and Kokindenjunotachi aren’t on the field. -Shokudaikiri Mitsutada     You would mainly run him for the ability to give your front row an extra 5k. The removal skill could potentially be relevant if there’s an annoying front row rearguard and you can spare the soul. -Taikogane Sadamune     His skill isn’t really crucial, but it can net you an extra card. If you’re grade 3 and then place him, for a counterblast you call up to two units and draw a card if you called two. -Izuminokami Kanesada and Horikawa Kunihiro     If you play one of these, you might as well play them both. Both of them have a skill that gives them 5k power and both get benefits for being in the same column. Izuminokami gets the 5k as long as he’s boosted, but if Horikawa is the one boosting, then the other player has to guard with two or more cards at the same time. Horikawa gets to draw a card as long as he boosts an Uchigatana, but if he boosts Izuminokami, then he also gets the 5k. The cost can be a bit heavy with a counterblast, soulblast, and discard for the full effects, but if you run either of these cards, might as well run both. -Kogarasumaru     Like Oodenta, this card is a bit of a weird one. As long as he’s in the front row, if you check your Over Trigger, you put it into your hand instead of removing it from the game. This is extremely situational and unlikely to happen more than a handful of times, but if any deck could find space for this weird card, it’s this weird deck. -Nihongou    Not much to say about this dude. He’s a 13k base grade 3 that gets an extra 10k power as long as he was the first attack for the turn. -Otegine     Another grade 3, attacks an entire column if you need to get rid of back row units. -Suishinshi Masahide and Minamoto Kiyomaro     These are some of the only units that can call from the deck, and they only search out each other. A decent option if you consistently struggle to fill your board. -Sanchoumou, Kuwanagou, or Buzengo     Your standard resource management units. If you need more counterblasts or soulblasts, these are the guys to try. -Kogitsunemaru     He can only attack if his power is higher than 13k. This is not a good skill. He’s a 13k base grade 2 though, so he can boost or attack if you can get his power higher. -Sohayanotsurugi     He has an on-hit that lets you search for a copy of your vanguard, basically a persona ride searcher. He costs a counterblast and discard, and he’s unlikely to be allowed to hit, but you could always try him out. -Urashima Kotetsu     Despite being searchable as part of the rideline, I decided it was better to cut this boy entirely and save yourself a counterblast. He’s basically a 10k booster as long as there’s another unit in front of him. The only reason to re-add him would be for the Kotetsu name, but you’re already always going to have a Kotetsu because of your vanguard. -Doudanuki Masakuni, Azuki Nagamitsu, Nansen Ichimonji, and Matsuigou     A bunch of common grade 2 units that gain power. Doudanuki can gain 10k for a counterblast if you’re grade 3. Azuki gains 5k and prevents intercepts for a counterblast. Nansen gains 5k on place if you soulblast. Matsuigou gains 5k during your turn as long as your opponent has 3 or more damage. Varying usability, but all very similar. Up to player preference if you want to try any of them. -Chiyoganemaru, Chiganemaru, and Chattanakiri     These three benefit from the others being present. Chiyoganemaru calls a Chiganemaru from drop when placed from hand. Chiganemaru does the same for Chiyoganemaru. Chattanakiri gives 5k to a unit and lets you countercharge one if it was one of these other two units. That was a lot of alternative options, but since this deck’s winning image is so vague, you can do basically anything you want with it and just hope for the best. Remember, these deck lists are for fun and not necessarily optimized. If you have another card that you think would make a better fit, then go for it and test it out. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a message! With that we’ve reached the end of the five ride lines introduced in Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- 2021. Lists for the 2023 set will come along eventually, but for a while it’ll be something else.

It’s Yamanbagiri time, the sword that I picked first when I started playing the actual Touken Ranbu game. He didn’t even have a Kiwame yet back then. Of the five Touken Ranbu lists I’m sharing, this is the only one that is not budget friendly. I built him and have been playing the deck since the set released, so it’s had much more play-testing than the others, but it also has the most expensive cards because I either pulled them, got them when they were cheaper, or they were gifted to me. Plus I wanted to show off with more or less the actual rarities I run. The alternatives for this list will be more about budget friendly options than cards that might work better for certain players.

Deck Log Code: KU3W Ride Deck: -x1 Yamanbagiri Kunihiro Kiwame -x1 Yamanbagiri Kunihiro Toku -x1 Yamanbagiri Kunihiro Sentou -x1 Yamanbagiri Kunihiro Main Deck:     Grade 3 -x3 Yamanbagiri Kunihiro Kiwame -x1 Gratias Gradale (Regalis Piece)     Grade 2 -x3 Mikazuki Munechika -x3 Onimaru Kunitsuna -x3 Tsurumaru Kuninaga -x4 Yamanbagiri Chougi -x3 Sanchoumou -x3 Kuwanagou     Grade 1 -x3 Kenshin Kagemitsu -x4 Hakusanyoshimitsu     Grade 0 -x1 Hirano Toushirou (Draw Trigger) -x4 Gotou Toushirou (Critical Trigger) -x1 Maeda Toushirou (Draw Trigger) -x4 Mouri Toushirou (Heal Trigger) -x4 Atsushi Toushirou (Critical Trigger) -x1 Hakata Toushirou (Draw Trigger) -x1 Yamanbagiri Kunihiro Shinken Hissatsu (Over Trigger) I’m sure most people don’t currently have an opinion on this ride line since Touken Ranbu isn’t terribly relevant to the meta right now, but when he came out, Yamanbagiri was basically considered the best choice of the five available. The main reason being because he could get four to five attacks per turn very easily. The second reason being that he gains a critical when you persona ride, and his grade 2 in the line searches for a copy of the persona ride when you go up to 3. Aside from gaining a critical when persona riding, Yamanbagiri’s main skill allows you to call a new rearguard from hand to an open circle when he attacks. This costs either a counterblast or a soulblast of a copy of your vanguard, but it allows you to draw a card before calling. You can also choose not to call if you don’t have any good choices. You may be wondering what good calling a unit to an open circle during the battle phase is. Obviously your front row is probably already full, so how are you getting more than three attacks? Well that’s where the rearguards come in. One of the most important units for opening up your front row during battle is Yamanbagiri Chougi. What he allows you to do, is soulblast to give him 5k and the ability to move to the back row at the end of that battle as long as you have no other units in the same column as him. Typically what you want to do is put him in a column by himself, call your new unit in front of him, and then use that new unit to intercept during your opponent’s turn. Your other option for opening a front row circle is Onimaru Kunitsuna. For a counterblast and a soulblast, he gains 5k and a critical, then sends himself to the bottom of your deck. You do have to be on grade 3 to use this skill, but you wouldn’t need to use him before then anyway. He’s also a decent candidate for placing in front of Chougi during battle since he will send himself away with his skill. Tsurumaru Kuninaga doesn’t open any circles, but what he does do is just as useful. Unfortunately he doesn’t gain any attack, but when the battle where he attacked ends, you can counterblast and soulblast to have him and the unit in the back row behind him exchange their positions. That means now the unit that was previously in the back gets their chance to attack. This is part of why the deck runs so few boosters. The man, the myth, the legend that is Mikazuki Munechika finally gets to be in the deck list proper this time. If you’ve read my posts about the other Touken Ranbu lists so far, you know why he’s here. In a deck that already gets four or five attacks every turn, how could I pass up the opportunity to potentially get seven attacks with Mikazuki’s ability to re-stand? You might need five damage to use him to full effect, but if your board is set up properly and you happen to have the over trigger in hand, then the game might as well be over. Sanchoumou and Kuwanagou are both here once again for resource management. Kuwanagou tends to be better early on, especially if you can get more than one, since your opponent will have a smaller hand and more likely to let his attacks hit. Sanchoumou is another reason this deck really only plays one unit as a booster, since you want to persona ride every turn, you can just toss him in the back row for your countercharges. The reason Kenshin Kagemitsu is even here is mostly because he sends himself to soul and draws you a card. The 2k power to a unit may as well not be there since it’s never going to be enough of a difference for it to affect shield needed to guard. Since Mikazuki is already here and he costs big money at the time of writing this, might as well also include Gratias Gradale. This is the only card in the deck that isn’t from the Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- 2021 set. It’s also another expensive card, but you’ll see why it’s here. Since Yamanbagiri gains a critical when you persona ride, you obviously want to maximize the number of times you get to persona ride. Since Gratias Gradale activates persona ride without needing a copy of your vanguard, you could persona ride four times, as opposed to the usual three, if the game actually manages to run that long. These more budget options will make the deck less deadly, but they’re certainly more affordable and should still work just fine: -Shokudaikiri Mitsutada     He essentially took Mikazuki’s spot in every list before this one, so it’s only fitting that he would be a more budget friendly option in this deck. Shokudaikiri is a card I initially wanted to run in my build, but I just couldn’t find the space. You would mainly be taking advantage of his skill to boost your front row by 5k. His second skill is an option if you can afford it, but the soulblasts are better saved for multi-attacks. -Kuwanagou     What’s that? He’s already on the list? Yes well, we need a budget friendly alternative to Gratias Gradale, and before that card came out, I ran a fourth copy of Kuwanagou. -Sanchoumou     Yes, like with Kuwanagou, he’s already on the list. But he’s another option for a card that could be upped to four copies if you don’t have Gratias Gradale. -Buzengou     Not really a budget alternative, just a possible choice to replace Kuwanagou if you want the soul and +5k to a unit. It depends on player preference and how much soul your turns are eating through. -Trigger Lineup     Unlike the other lists so far, I wouldn’t recommend changing the ratios here much. You could opt for seven crit and four draw instead, but I can’t recommend changing it any more than that. The criticals and extra draw are too important and fronts are basically useless since your front row isn’t going to be consistent if you’re playing the deck correctly. Remember, these deck lists are for fun and not necessarily optimized. If you have another card that you think would make a better fit, then go for it and test it out. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a message! Next time will bring an end to the Touken Ranbu deck lists for a while as Hachisuka Kotetsu is the last.

Everybody knows the prettier your card’s foiling, the stronger it is, of course

Coming in for part 3 of the Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- 2021 lists is everyone’s favorite gun-toting sword man, Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki. This deck is one that I don’t have IRL, but a friend at locals has a version of the deck that I’ve played against, so I wanted to try my hand at putting something together. There’s definitely a lot of things you could change, but I’ll list those suggestions below like usual.

Deck Log Code: 452J Ride Deck: -x1 Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki Kiwame -x1 Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki Toku -x1 Mutsunokami Yohiyuki Sentou -x1 Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki Main Deck:     Grade 3 -x3 Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki Kiwame -x3 Otegine     Grade 2 -x4 Shokudaikiri Mitsutada -x4 Nankaitarouchouson -x3 Sanchoumou -x2 Kuwanagou     Grade 1 -x4 Hakusanyoshimitsu -x4 Hizen Tadahiro     Grade 0 -x3 Shinano Toushirou -x2 Hirano Toushirou (Draw Trigger) -x4 Gotou Toushirou (Critical Trigger) -x2 Maeda Toushirou (Draw Trigger) -x4 Yagen Toushirou (Heal Trigger) -x3 Atsushi Toushirou (Critical Trigger) -x1 Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki Shinken Hissatsu (Over Trigger) Now what does this funky gun man do? In a lot of ways, Mutsunokami is what Eugene from DBT-01 could have been. The main focus of this deck is retiring your opponent’s back row so your vanguard can gain power. Unlike Eugene, most of this retiring happens during the battle phase as opposed to the main phase. Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki Kiwame himself has the ability to retire one back row rear guard when he attacks and he gains 5k power for each open back row circle. In addition, he also has a continuous +2k on both players’ turns if the opponent back row is empty. To help empty that back row, and potentially front row once the back is empty, he has a few rearguards that can also retire units. Shokudaikiri is here once again, more for his second skill rather than his first this time. While the ability to counterblast to give 5k to the front could potentially be the difference in shield needed to win the game, what we’re interested in is his ability to soulblast one to retire a front row rearguard when his attack hits a vanguard. Mutsunokami might want open back row, but sometimes it’s just as important to get rid of pesky interceptors if you can afford the cost. The on-hit can also potentially add pressure if there’s a rearguard the opponent just doesn’t want to lose. Hizen Tadahiro is another unit that can retire. Specifically, if you’ve already retired a back row unit and the attack he boosted hit, then you can choose to retire a rearguard in front or back row. This once again makes it risky for the opponent to let your attacks hit since they could lose an important rearguard. Shinano is another unit you’ll want to be boosting. His 5k base power isn’t great, but he’s another rearguard that can retire when the attack he boosted hits. The cost of a counterblast might not be ideal, but sending himself to soul as part of his cost helps to prevent you from running out of soulblasts. Plus he can retire front or back row units, which is nice. Nankaitarouchouson doesn’t technically retire any units on his own, but he does benefit from your other units doing it. If you’ve retired a back row rearguard, which you should be doing every turn unless the other player just isn’t placing any, when he attacks you can soulblast to gain 5k and draw a card then discard one. Even if you don’t manage to retire, he can still choose one of the two effects depending on what you need. Otegine is another unit that doesn’t technically retire, but importantly, as long as your vanguard is grade 3 or greater, he battles an entire column, which can open up the back row if the other player doesn’t guard their back row unit. Sanchoumou and Kuwanagou are here once again to help with resource management, and in the case of Kuwanagou, add more on-hit skills. Sanchoumou is just a free countercharge if you persona rode this turn, and Kuwanagou can countercharge one or soulcharge two if his attack hits a vanguard. A few possible alternative choices for the deck would include: -Mikazuki Munechika     What do you know, Mikazuki is here in the recommended alternatives section yet again! As I’ve said before, he’s just a very powerful rearguard. His skill is essentially free until you hit five damage, and then he gets to re-stand. Who doesn’t love the ability to get more than three attacks? He’s still not included in this particular list because of the price of the card, but if you have him, you could easily remove Nankaitarouchouson or Shokudaikiri to make space. -Sengo Muramasa     You’d probably have to make some pretty significant changes to the list, like also adding Tonbokiri, Kokindenjunotachi, or Jizo Yukihira, but Sengo is also a unit with the ability to retire. The two main downsides are that he has to rest two of your rearguards to use the skill and your opponent gets to pick what is retired, so it won’t necessarily be what you need to get rid of. I don’t reccommend him highly, but he is an option if you don’t mind changing things quite a bit or losing chances to retire. -Buzengou     I chose Kuwanagou because of his ability to choose between countercharge or soulcharge, but if you find soul is just that much of an issue, Buzengou is the better option. His act skill just moves him to the soul to give 5k to a unit, so it doesn’t really matter where you place him since he’ll be gone anyway and you can just play a better unit afterwards. -Samidaregou     Essentially the same as Shinano, except he’s a grade 2. I didn’t include him because there are already so many grade 2 and 3 rearguards, but you could replace Shinano or Nankaitarouchouson if you wanted. Since his skill is basically identical to Shinano’s it will mean losing a potential intercept when he goes to soul. -Trigger Lineup     I’ll be honest, Hirano and Maeda only only both here because I didn’t want to split the brothers up, you can use any four draw triggers you want if you decide to go with draws. Aside from the vanguard, most of your units don’t get very large numbers, so you could opt for fronts. It might be a bit awkward, but I personally would reduce draws by one and crits by two so three fronts could get squeezed in. Could even go with rainbow triggers and have four crit, four front, and three draw. It’s ultimately up to player preference. Remember, these deck lists are for fun and not necessarily optimized. If you have another card that you think would make a better fit, then go for it and test it out. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a message! This upcoming Tuesday I’ll be sharing the list for the deck I built when the set released, Yamanbagiri Kunihiro.

It’s time for part two of Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- 2021 deck lists. Electric boogaloo at your own discretion. I’ll be honest up front that I’m not super confident in this list. In theory it should function, but this deck centers around a mechanic that can pretty easily bite the player in the butt if they don’t get their pieces. Mostly I wish I could have found space for at least one good booster, but oh well. Without further ado, Kasen Kanesada Kiwame, the first of four ride lines from the booster set.

Deck Log Code: Q8LU Ride Deck: -x1 Kasen Kanesada Kiwame -x1 Kasen Kanesada Toku -x1 Kasen Kanesada Sentou -x1 Kasen Kanesada Main Deck:     Grade 3 -x3 Kasen Kanesada Kiwame -x4 Tonbokiri     Grade 2 -x3 Juzumaru Tsunetsugu -x3 Shokudaikiri Mitsutada -x3 Sanchoumou -x3 Kokindenjunotachi -x4 Jizou Yukihira -x3 Buzengou     Grade 1 -x4 Hakusanyoshimitsu     Grade 0 -x4 Gotou Toushirou (Critical Trigger) -x3 Akita Toushirou (Front Trigger) -x4 Yagen Toushirou (Heal Trigger) -x4 Atsushi Toushirou (Critical Trigger) -x1 Kasen Kanesada Shinken Hissatsu (Over Trigger) So as I mentioned above, Kasen’s main mechanic is probably the one of all the Touken Ranbu lines that I’m the least comfortable with. The fact that Kasen has a continuous skill that forces your opponent to to call two or more guardians when his power is 30k or greater has the potential to be great for pressure since it means perfect guards (outside of Elementaria Sanctitude) still require another card to be discarded. This can be deadly if they’re down to a single perfect guard with no other cards in hand since it essentially means they can’t call it to guard. However, that brings us to the main downside... Kasen’s Act skill requires that you rest rearguards in order for him to gain power. He gains 5k for each rearguard rested by this ability. And while this goes well with his continuous skill, if you’ve bricked and didn’t happen to get units that can re-stand, you essentially either only get one or two attacks that turn or your vanguard doesn’t get to do anything outside of the twin drive. The main units I’ve selected to try to get around this limitation are Tonbokiri, Kokindenjunotachi, and Jizou Yukihira. Tonbokiri, thankfully, is able to re-stand himself once per turn when he’s rested as part of a cost. Not only that, but the re-stand has no cost of its own. Kokindenjunotachi’s ability to re-stand does have a cost of a single counterblast, but he’s not limited to only himself and also gives 5k to the unit that was stood. It is still only once per turn, but that’s hopefully more than enough since at worst you’d only need to rest four units to break the 30k threshold on Kasen. Jizou Yukihira doesn’t actually have the ability to restand, but since this particular build doesn’t run any boosters, he’s actually a pretty good fit for the back row. When rested by a cost, he’s able to give 5k to any unit on the board. This potentially gives you the ability to either rest fewer units by giving the power to the Vanguard or make one of your rearguards a bigger threat. There is technically one other unit that can help to re-stand the board and also make your swings harder to stop. Juzumaru Tsunetsugu can give -5k to an opposing unit at the cost of a counterblast and resting two units. That may seem like a hefty cost, but if you happened to persona ride that turn, all of your rearguards get to stand. The remaining units are essentially for resource management or small power gain. Shokudaikiri can give an extra 5k to your front row (and snipe one of the opponent’s front row rearguards if you can afford the cost), Sanchoumou can countercharge if you persona rode, and Buzengou puts himself into soul to give 5k to a unit. Working all together, this will hopefully give the best possible chance to get a board that requires minimal loss to the number of attacks every turn. A few possible alternative choices for the deck would include: -Mikazuki Munechika     I’ve mentioned him before and he’ll probably show up in all of these Touken Ranbu lists. The most important skill is usually his ability to re-stand mid-battle if you have five damage, so he’s not super important until the game is already almost over, but he can potentially be the multi-attack you need to end the game. The main reason he’s not on the list? Once again it’s the price of the card. If you already have him and would like to use him, you could either replace Shokudaikiri or change the ratios of a few other units. -Kuwanagou     While I prefer Kuwanagou for most decks due to the on-hit pressure, I ultimately went with Buzengou instead since he could be rested and then sent to soul to free up a rearguard circle. If counterblasts end up being more of an issue than soulblasts though, Kuwanagou is the better choice despite less consistently being able to get the countercharge. Plus, if you’re fine on counterblasts, you have the option to soulcharge instead. The only other main difference is that you’ll be losing the 5k boost to a unit. -Kikkou Sadamune     Since this deck doesn’t run any boosters, another possible card you might not mind leaving in your back row is Kikkou Sadamune. At first his skill to remain rested if you choose seems odd, but if you do, he can give 10k to any of your units at the beginning of your main phase. Meaning before you’ve even done anything, Kasen could be at 23k, or already at 33k if you persona rode. I wouldn’t run him at very high numbers since he can’t do anything else, reducing Jizou and Tonbokiri by one each may be enough to squeeze a couple in. -Trigger Lineup     This was tough to decide on, honestly, and I’m still not sure whether draws or fronts are the better choice. Touken Ranbu tends to struggle with hand-size since it almost exclusively calls from hand, so naturally you would want to run draws. But draws have a smaller shield value. Fronts on the other hand will boost your entire front row and have the standard 15k shield. But if you didn’t have a way to re-stand your front row, then the front is wasted. There’s always the option to run rainbow triggers, but I decided against this since I felt the pressure of extra criticals is more important. It’s just up to what you’re more comfortable with. Remember, these deck lists are for fun and not necessarily optimized. If you have another card that you think would make a better fit, then go for it and test it out. I ended up writing a lot more about this deck than I expected, but I hope everything makes sense. It was unfortunately written off as one of the weaker decks when the set released, so I’m hoping if/when we get Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- 2023 he can redeem himself a bit. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a message! Next time I’ll be talking about Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki.

There’s no word on an official English release of Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- 2023 yet, but I’m hyped anyway, so I wanted to kick things off with a deck list for all the ride lines from Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- 2021. Here we have Kashuu Kiyomitsu, the ride line from the trial deck.

Deck Log Code: C1D6 Ride Deck: -x1 Kashuu Kiyomitsu Kiwame -x1 Kashuu Kiyomitsu Toku -x1 Kashuu Kiyomitsu Sentou -x1 Kashuu Kiyomitsu Main Deck:     Grade 3 -x3 Kashuu Kiyomitsu Kiwame -x3 Ishikirimaru     Grade 2 -x3 Shokudaikiri Mitsutada -x2 Ookurikara -x3 Kuwanagou -x4 Yamatonokami Yasusada -x3 Heshikiri Hasebe     Grade 1 -x3 Hyuuga Masamune -x4 Hakusanyoshimitsu -x2 Fudou Yukimitsu     Grade 0 -x3 Gotou Toushirou (Critical Trigger) -x4 Atsushi Toushirou (Critical Trigger) -x4 Hakata Toushirou (Draw Trigger) -x4 Gokotai (Heal Trigger) -x1 Kashuu Kiyomitsu Shinken Hissatsu (Over Trigger) Of the five ride lines, Kashuu Kiyomitsu is probably the easiest deck for players new to Touken Ranbu to build, if only because most of his pieces are available in the trial deck. Kashuu himself mainly checks the top of the deck to try to guarantee triggers or specific draws, and the ride line skill also allows you to search out his main support unit, Yamatonokami. A few units benefit from having all damage face-down, which Yamatonokami can help achieve by counterblasting as many times as you like to gain 10k power each time as long as Kashuu Kiyomitsu Kiwame is your vanguard. Most of the other support units also either let you manipulate the top of the deck or just help get your damage face-down. A few possible alternative choices for the deck would include: -Mikazuki Munechika     Potentially one of the most powerful rearguards currently available in Touken Ranbu. He has three possible abilities depending on how much damage who’ve taken, with five damage giving him the ability to restand for multi-attacks. The main reason I didn’t include him was because of how expensive the card can be, but if you happen to have him, he could take Shokudaikiri’s slot. -Front Triggers     Touken Ranbu can have trouble with shield value at times. While I chose draws to increase the chances of getting needed pieces, if you find that getting the units you need isn’t an issue, then swapping them out with Midare Toushirou or Akita Toushirou for the extra shield value is the better choice. -Sanchoumou     This particular card isn’t a great fit for this deck, but it could have its utility. If you find yourself consistently able to persona ride, but also with no damage to use for skills, then Sanchoumou’s your man. He’s more consistent than Kuwanagou since the only requirement is that you persona ride, but the reason I chose Kuwanagou was instead for his potential to soul charge. It’s up to you which you prefer, it largely depends on how you use your resources. -Ookurikara     The main unit I would consider entirely optional for this deck is Ookurikara. He can hit big numbers as long as he’s not boosted, but he was mainly only added to have another counterblasting unit. If you wanted to remove him, you could increase Heshikiri Hasebe, Hyuuga Masamune, or Fudou Yukimitsu to make up the difference.     Alternatively, if you really like this unit, while I wouldn’t recommend it, you could reduce Yamatonokami by one copy to increase the chances of getting him. Remember, these deck lists are for fun and not necessarily optimized. If you have another card that you think would make a better fit, then go for it and test it out. And with that, we’ve pretty much reached the end of what I have to say on this particular deck. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a message! Next time I’ll start covering the ride lines from the set proper with Kasen Kanesada.