February 25th - New York Buddyfight Tourney

    Yesterday there was a multi-box tournament for the new set:  Dragon Fighters.  The tournament had 25 players participating and had Divine Guardians player Christopher Colon came out on top with an undefeated record.  Chris had to overcome various decks that have been tough to deal with for any player and proved his skill.  He used the aggressive power and strong combos the deck has to come out on top.  Deck breakdown and winning deck are down below.

Main Deck

Sideboard

Executioner's blade!

Hello buddyfighters! First off, Buddyformula would like to thank Panos Xanthopolous from Greece for providing us with this article! This article is an analytical review of the power of the Executioners deck and the reasons for its current place in the tiers. To begin with, this deck starts with 8 life and 4 gauge. Normally starting with lower life in a very aggressive meta should be a huge detriment to the viability of the deck. However, this deck managed to triumph over decks like the Zetta loop and even Neo Dragon Zwei and claimed the world championship in 2016. 

The deck revolves around this set spell, an extremely solid card that gives you 1 extra gauge per turn by sending the top 2 cards of your deck to the drop zone.A huge plus for the deck, since many of its effects rely on getting a specific number of cards in the drop zone. Not only that but it can also, for 3 gauge, get ANY executioner card you want back to your hand from the drop and also drawing you a card if you have 15 or more cards in the drop. This provides immense versatility and toolboxing as you can fetch any card that you need for specific situations. 

        

So, what makes the deck strong? Truth be told, Tempest Jailer Helle Cougar is a card that can make any deck viable. When you also consider the fact that the deck's main shield cant be nullified when you have 15 or more cards in the drop zone, which is a very simple task for this deck and at the same time gives you 2 gauge, and burns your opponent for 1 you can already see the humble beginnings of greatness. Add to that a counter card destroyer for 1 gauge, a size 0 that desouls cards on attack, a size 2 that destroys spells or items just by milling 3 cards, as well as quite possibly the best impact monster in the game, you can be sure the deck is going places.

            

In my opinion, the deck is supposed to be played as a mix of a grind and as an aggressive deck. You have tools to do both, so why not? With this deck, flexibility is the name of the game. The main damage dealers are the impact monster and the weapon, a great 4 crit vanilla that forces your opponent to use his shields there, meaning you can most of the times resolve helle cougars attacks. On one hand, you can easily otk an opponent with an impact monster or a Master of the Searing Executioners Gagalgarios. On the other hand, many decks just flip over and die the moment you use the effect of Hazel Emperor Jailer, Alking especially if you have an Inferno Rule as backup to go with him.

           

Consistency is in my opinion the greatest quality you are looking for in a competitive deck. Well, if that’s what you are searching for then you should look no further. Chaotic Hunt Jailer, Soku as well as Damians decision and Demon way Akeshigure make sure you never run out of cards. Access to 2 different searchers for the set spell (Sword Edge Jailer, Zagulus and Headslay Jailer, Brujeria) means you will get it in your opening hand as often as 80%-90% of the time.

This deck, just like Aster, has to be tailored to different metas accordingly. The win percentage against specific decks can be completely different even with changing 2-3 cards in a 65-70 card deck. The reason is, most of the cards you run can be reclaimed from the dropzone by Gate Of Verdict, Judgement and Demon Way, Jigokuezu . That means during games 2 and 3 you are MUCH stronger than your opponent. He has to draw into his side deck, while you can just mill it and then reclaim it, increasing your chances of using it exponentially.  For example, you can main deck 2 copies of Violent Jailer, Dogaragan if you expect to see lots of 72 Pillars players, and you will see a copy at least ½ games. That doesn’t happen with any other deck.

Don’t be afraid to play cards that are situational in this deck. That way, you have in your deck answers to every possible situation, and by turn 2-3 you will probably have one of them in your drop zone. Dont forget, this deck is always made to be more than 60 cards. This means that the chances of you drawing into any specific card is much less than with a regular deck. Plus, you can (and should) be maindecking damage control as a way to get rid of all the excess set spells and monsters that can be clogging up your hand.

Lastly, this deck is pretty hard to play perfectly. Gauge management is extremely important, deckbuilding is extremely important, knowing when to go for face and when to change to a grind play style makes or breaks many of your matches. The deck is neither cheap nor expensive, though it has jumped in price with the inclusion of the must-have 4 off that is Death Transfiguration Dragon , Paradise Lost. Still, with less than 200$ you should have a 100% complete Executioners deck, ready to trample all opposition. The deck has pretty much no tough matchups, except shadow shades. And its an investment that will last. Its core mechanic is so strong that even if the decks gets outdated, any future support will be able to make it jump into tier 1 again. 

Here is a sample decklist for you guys to refer!

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12th February BushiCafe tournament

The tournament held by Bushicafe Singapore on 12th Feb has been concluded and the winner was ZiYin Loh using his GaiGranders! The tournament had 18 participants with Excecutioners being the most prevalent deck! however, ZiYin was able to come out victorious with Gaigranders thanks to their insane rush potential to one turn kill their opponents. Decklist and world breakdown are below!

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signing off Avengingknight~

Why is Fifth Omni Still a Meta Deck After Such a Long Time?

Hey guys, today's article will be based on one of my all time favorite deck, "Fifth Omni" from "Dragon World" 😝😝😝!!!

For starters, "Fifth Omni" has been around ever since the release of HBT03-Assault of the Omni Lords (October 15, 2015). It has gone through tons of transformation, leaving us with many different variant that works in their own ways. Sadly, in this article I'll only be able to cover one of the many variants (let me know if any of you would like to see more "Fifth Omni" variants by contacting me or other guys).

Even though "Fifth Omni" has many variants, all of them share a same characteristic, where most of the cards only activates their ability by having the user taking damage. Other than normally taking damage by battle, these abilities can be exploited further by playing more cards that are able to deal damage to yourself. Do take note that paying life and taking damage are 2 different things, thus paying life will not be able to trigger Fifth Omni's ability.

Without further ado, lets get into the deck list I'm using as of now,

Flag: Dragon World

Buddy: Fifth Omni Cavalry Dragon, Merak "SD"

Size 3

x4 Fifth Omni Super Cavalry Dragon, Hellfire Sword Doble

x3 Fifth Omni Super Cavalry Dragon, Aurora Spiral Alliot

x2 Fifth Omni Super Cavalry Dragon, Magical Deity Blade Mizaru

Size 2

x3 Fifth Omni Dragon Lord, Drum

x4 Fifth Omni Cavalry Dragon, Merak "SD" (Buddy)

Size 0

x1 INV Seventh Omni Earth Lord, Twilight Count

x3 Mera Blade Dragon "SD"

Spell

x4 Blue Dragon Shield

x4 Green Dragon Shield

x4 Dragowisdom, Knowledge of the Fifth Omni

x3 Dragodesperate

x3 Dragoguts!

x3 Dragon Spell, Hiding Bomber

Item

x4 Fifth Omni Dragon Sword, Emperor Fang

x2 Sun Fist, Balguard

Impact

x3 Gargantua Punisher!!

Starting off with the "Boss" monsters of the deck,

These are the cards that makes the deck shine, with self-damaging cards you can trigger all of their fantastic abilities.

First off, "Hellfire Sword Doble" allows you to "steal" one of your opponent's gauge every time you take damage (once per turn only~~). If you start with this card and are able to deal yourself damage during your turn AND opponent's turn, your opponent basically start the game with 0 gauge. This ability hurts many decks in the current meta as most of the monster now require gauge to be called. "Hell Fire Sword Doble" is a big monster with double attack and annoying ability, one of the best card Fifth Omni has. Max out at 4 copies, nothing much to say here, you always want to draw this in your starting hand.

Second, "Aurora Spiral Alliot" gains "Penetrate" and you get 2 life every time you takes damage (once per turn as well~). I usually only play this card in the late game due to its 2 gauge call cost (this deck has a number of spell that requires gauge to be cast, so play it smart!). His ability to gain 2 life works well with the deck due to all the self-damaging cards playing a role in depleting yourself to 0 life (something you definitely do not want to do). The "Penetrate" ability is just painful towards decks that plays close center. A great finisher as well as a great source for healing. 3 copies only as having this clog in your hand is not a great idea.

Third, "Magical Deity Blade Mizaru" allows you to draw a card every time you takes damage (once again, its once per turn). I drop this thing out as early as possible against decks that doesn't rely much on gauge, or dropping it in mid-late game when both players are running out of resource to gain back some hand size (it's scary for your opponent when you are using "Fifth Omni" and holding a big hand thanks to all the good counters in this deck). 2 copies only, as I hardly run out of hand size and it's easier to end the game with other "Boss" monsters in the deck

Fourth, "Drum" being the main reason why this deck is still alive and healthy after about 2 years from the first release. Although his ability can only be triggered when you are at 6 life or less, it's super devastating to spam his ability to perform board clear during opponent's attack phase. It has been helping me winning in so many games. Words just can't describe my feeling towards it after spending almost 2 years together. Only 3 copies for now, as you really only need it in the late game, having too many of this in early game is not a good idea.

Next, we have the "Supporter" for the deck,

One more reason why "Fifth Omni" is still viable right now is thanks to "Merak "SD"", it is essentially a size 0 with size 1 stats. Furthermore it has a "Counter" ability where you take 1 damage and give an "Armordragon" on the field "Penetrate" and 1k attack and 1k defense (once per turn :D). It can help you to deal with wall decks and self-damage without using any cards from hand. Best buddy material in "Fifth Omni", a must at 4 in main deck.

"Twilight Count" is here due to its effect to heal 1 when you take any form of damage to make sure that you offset the life you spend when using any self-damaging ability. The 1 damage is a bonus to help to push for lethal. Can only play 1 copy in this deck due to the "Omni Lord" text.

Although "Mera Blade Dragon "SD"" is a "Sun Dragon", it works very well in this deck. The 1 gauge you get from his ability helps you to set up resource for your spells or any "Boss" monster in the deck. The 1 life helps you to get out from the danger zone effectively. 3 copies only as his ability can only be triggered once per turn.

For the spells that I run at 4 each,



"Blue Dragon Shield" and "Green Dragon Shield" are probably one of the best "negate" in Buddyfight, maxing out at 4 each are very self-explanatory. As long as you have a open center, It can protect yourself or your monster and gaining extra resource.

"Dragowisdom" is also maxed out at 4 mainly because it can self-damage, get a gauge and dig for more cards. Being a spell with "Fifth Omni" in the name only adds value of it as "Magical Deity Blade Mizaru" and "Aurora Spiral Alliot" requires you to have a "Fifth Omni" card in the drop zone to be called.

Next up, the spells that I run at 3 each,



I only run them at 3 each as they are only good are certain timing in the game and you do not want to see them too often at those timings when they are not very useful.

"Dragodesperate" is probably one of the best spell "Dragon World" has with the ability to rest an item or a size 2 or lower monster on opponent field. Combining this spell with "Drum" is the same as stopping 2 attacks or maybe more with just 1 card. The value from this play is just insanely good but other than that, its just a ok-ish card.

"Dragoguts!" is one of your life savior when you are low in health. Being a "Counter", it can help you to stay alive when opponent cast an impact to finish you off. Do take note that you can't activate Drum's ability if you cast this when you are on 5 life or higher as you have to resolve the spell's ability before Drum's ability to take off. (Fun Fact: Do you know that when you will lose if you cast this when you are on 1 life? Resolution Check is performed after paying the Cast Cost, therefore after casting "Dragoguts!" when you are at 1 life, your life would be at 0 and you will lose the game immediately)

Next up, the choices of item in the deck,



"Emperor Fang" at 4 each, due to it being able to offset the damage taken from all your self-damaging cards. As well a big bonus from having "Fifth Omni" in the name, to cater the requirements to cast "Dragowisdom" and call "Magical Deity Blade Mizaru" & "Aurora Spiral Alliot". Being at 3 critical also increases the value even more.

The reason I play "Balguard" is to be able to fight better against decks that can destroy your item easily (Legend Hero's Alking, 72 Pillars' Teacherdai, etc.) as well as against wall decks due to its 6k attack power. Only at 2 copies to make space for other cards in the deck.

Next up, the card that has been with me ever since the first booster set of Buddyfight,



3 copies of the most consistent impact from "Dragon World", this card has won me countless games ever since the first release of this card, it just wouldn't feel right if I don't include this in my favorite deck.

Few recommendations for side deck,



Sharpness Field, works well against "Magic World" namely "72 Pillars" by stopping their shenanigans.

Double Loss, against decks that has many monster with 1 soul, namely most of the "Dragon World" decks, "Legend World", etc.

Shinestorm, against decks that stacks tons of soul in the center position, namely for "Shadow Shades", "Dragon Chief Emperor", etc.

Barbed Wire, against any decks that has threatening items, namely "Dragon Force", "Hero World", etc.

As there are too many other cards that can be considered to be played in the main deck, I am not doing a "Maybe board" section. For more enquiries or comments, contact us via our Buddy Formula FB Page.

Thanks for taking your time reading this long post!!! I hoped to get positive feedback from you guys soon :D

by
Yuan Qi, They (09/02/2017)

The strike of Neo Dragon Zwei

Greetings buddyfighters, Today's article is gonna be an in depth analysis about the deck known as Neo Dragon Zwei. For newer readers, Dragon Zwei is a special flag that allows you to start at 20 life but with only 4 hand card at the start of the game. Unlike its predecessor Dragon Ein, This flag only allows the use of monster cards with the dragon attribute. However there are a few exceptions such as Omnilords and Emblem of the Omnilords which by-pass the flag restrictions. The ability to command any dragon monster in the deck allows for some variety of different decks to be born, However, one particular build has stood out from the rest. That deck is what we call as Neo Dragon Zwei. The deck consists mainly of size 3 Neodragons along with Dragoarms that help support them to make the deck possible. The 20 life also allows the deck to play as little as 3 shielding cards and still be able to win due to the amount of offense the Neodragons offer.

Lets start of with analyzing the key size cards in the deck.



Transcend Dragon Emperor, Ewigkeit is the key card to get the deck going. For 2 gauge, you get a 8/2/6 wall that allows you to call a monster from the top 3 cards of your deck for a simple cost of 2 life which the deck can easily mitigate due to its 20 life. This ability is guaranteed to succeed as you only run monsters in this deck. This card helps you to not only get field presence, but it also helps you tank two attacks from your opponent. This is one the cards that is ideal for a turn one play. The 3 mill also allows you to set up your drop zone for future big plays.

the card is



The Law, Gairaplus is a simple to use card. It is the most ideal turn one play you can ask for. Its ability to tutor for any dragoarm is key in setting up for your big plays later on. Its 7k def also helps to buy you one or two turns sometimes in order to compensate for the low shield count in the deck. Futhur down the article, I will talk about which dragoarms you should tutor for using this card's ability.

Now we move on to the first main offense of the deck



The Over EX, Dimension is one of the three main cards in the deck that allows you to go for the push. Its ability to get 3 dragoarms into the soul provides outs to almost any situation. Its ability to gain double attack and penetrate can be the key to winning as this deck can do alot of attacks in one turn thanks to Transcend Dragon Ewigkeit calling additional units such as EX Dimension himself sometimes. Combine this with a dragoarm that gives him an extra critical, you could possibly win in one turn.

Now for the newest addition to the deck



This card is the new power house Zwei has obtained from DBT04 - Shine Super Sun Dragon. Its ability to gain an extra critical and to destroy the center monster helps the deck push really hard in one turn. If you call this using Ewigkeit's skill, you get a total of 8 damage on board. If you choose to run the dragoarms know as Elgar Cannon, you can pump this card's critical to 4! Its second ability to reduce any damage you take by one plays a very important role as you run very little shields. This allows you to survive games that you would have normally lost especially against decks like dungeon world or danger world which do over 15 damage in one turn. Overall this card has made the deck even more deadlier than it was before.

Lastly is your finisher



Zenislator, Rain the Vertex is one of the most powerful card in this deck. Its ability to destroy a monster when it attacks when you have six or more dragons in your dropzone allows you to control the board while at the same time push for game. It also has double attack which means you are going to be clearing two monster for free using this card.  you can attack your opponent directly the entire turn knowing that you have this in your hand to clear his monsters. It has a hefty 3 gauge cost but there are many ways to gain gauge in this deck and even reduce the cost of the cards. Also to note is that the cost is to put him on top of a monster. So you will be able to gain all the abilities of any dragonarms that was in the soul of the card you placed this on top of.

That sums up all of the offense of the deck. Next up we will move on to the draw engine of the deck that gives it the consistency.



First up we have the main draw power of the deck, Retainer of the Demonic Dragon, Destructor. A size 0 that compliments the deck well by giving the ability to draw 2 cards from the deck for the cost of 2 life. Can be called using Ewigkiet's skill when you do not have enough gauge to call other units. An optimal play that can be done is first calling Destructor and then calling Balle Soliel over him.

The next draw power we have is



Rising Flare offers more than just draw power for his low cost of just one gauge. He provides destruction against any size 2 or greater unit and help mill your dragoarms to the dropzone to help set up for some major plays. You can even use him just to draw 1 card and mill 3 even though you dont destroy anything,

Next we have the support troops of the deck.

     

Star Rememant is what gives the potential for an one turn kill. The ability to reduce all gauge of Neo dragons by one makes almost the entire deck cost only 1 gauge. Having him and Ewigkiet is the most ideal situation a Zwei player can ask for. By making everything cost one less gauge you are able to call out your impact monster and end the game without the need to use so many gauge adding cards.

King Gorai is just an utility card in the deck. It gives you 2 extra gauges when you are in a pinch and it makes alot of difference in this deck when you have additional gauge. The other option you have is death wizard, which give you 2 gauge for one life.

Glacies is also another utility card that will come clutch occasionally. The defense is not really needed in this deck due to its massive life advantage and insane push. You can run this if you really fear decks such as dungeon world which can do massive damage in one turn.

Eliminator Jerkline is a very useful card in the deck. It can put any Dragonarm from your dropzone into the soul of a neo dragon and that can help you bail out from situations most of the times. It could get you the additional crits or the gauge that you might have lacked. or it can simply be used to re-activate Balle Soliel's ability.

Last but not least! We have reached the dragonarms of the deck.

   

These four are the core of the deck. Pisca Pisca is arguably the best dragonarms in this deck due its ability to give a free gauge whenever it enters the soul of a size 3 neo dragon. By simply calling EX Dimension you can get upto 3 gauge if you choose to put 3 of these inside the soul. The perfect start to a game is putting this inside using The Law's skill as you will always be having a steady supply of gauge throughout the game as long as Pisca Pisca is in your dropzone. Do note that you cant get a gauge from it when you crossnize into a Neo dragon that was called using Ewigkiet's skill as that card will become a size 0.

Elgar Cannon is the card that makes one turn kills even more possible. Its ability to give extra crits can really change the outcome. With this card in soul Balle Soliel becomes a 4 crit double attacker. Call an impact monster on top of him and you get a total of 14 damage in one turn while destroying all their monsters.

Sonic Blasts exists for the sole purpose of destroying the one card that shuts this entire deck down. That card is Fairy King Oberon with the ability to nullify all monster abilities. Without this card, the deck has no outs to Oberon and that is not a sign of a well balanced deck, A good deck should never loose to a single card. Oberon does not nullify abilities in the soul, So all you have to do is get Sonic Blast in the soul and you are good to go. It sometimes also helps against decks like Dungeon and Fifth Omnis that rely quite heavily on their field presence to win. you can just destroy their weapon using sonic blast and clear their monsters using your own to gain control over the game easily.

lastly, Comatter is a dragoarms that gives penetrate and it being a size 0 makes it easy to crossnize. By having this you do not have to remove an extra soul from EX dimension to gain your penetrate. That allows you to tank one more hit during your opponent's turn.  Its a simple but effective card in this deck.

 With that i have covered almost everything about Neo Dragon Zwei and how they work. I will not be posting a decklist as the deck build really depends on what the player prefers. But most of the cards i have stated above are a must in the deck. The deck is very straight forward and even a new player can master it very quickly. The 20 life allows you to do some wrong plays and not have such a heavy consequence hence you can still win with it even if you are not a very experienced player. Cost wise its not a budget deck so it might be a little heavy on the wallet for some.But it will definitely be worth the effort to get this deck as it offers great value in return. I hope you liked this article and do comment down if you want to see any article in particular!

Singing off Avengingknight.