Jackknife and his Newfound Power

          Hello Buddyfighters!  Today we are bringing you an article on the new jackknife based neodragons that have received a massive power buff with the new cards in Climax Set:  Dragon Fighters.  Jackknife has been a popular monster since his debut but has rarely been a meta deck with the exception of when Jackknife Aster became the best tier one deck in the game.  With receiving several buffs since Triple D started with Star Dragoner Jackknife, Jackknife Future Gazer, and now Full Liberate Jackknife, the aggressive playstyle of that has been hard to pull of in SDW is now becoming a possibility.  Other cards such as Dragon Force and Dragon Force Style of Justice are also huge buffs to the deck and make an offensive based Jackknife deck in Star Dragon World more than a possibility.

          To make the offensive Jack based deck a reality instead of a dream from Star Dragon Worlds usual control based methods a couple of things were needed.  The first thing that was needed was an item card that was extremely aggressive and could maximize the combination power of cards like Dragoner's Beat and Dragonarms Logisticker.  This became a reality with the introduction of Dragon Force in D-Set Three:  Annihilate Great Demonic Dragon.  Before this the only real way to make these cards have good combos was with Twin Star Jack & Fang which only worked well in the Jackknife Bonds deck.  The second thing the deck needed was a way to deliver high damage output consistently to make it a strong rush deck that doesn't deplete its resources after making a big push.  This problem was solved between the addition of Dragon Force, Jackknife Galactical Punisher and Full Liberate Jackknife having 2-3 attacks a turn.  The addition of these powerful cards in the last half year have turned SDW from a full control and tempo deck to one that can play from one extreme to the next depending on how it is built and which cards it focuses on the most.

          Starting off with the most important monsters in the deck we have 4 forms of Jackknife one could potentially use in the deck to maximize its efficiency.

          Starting up with the card that sets up the main strategy of the deck we have Star Dragoner, Jackknife,  Star Dragoner, Jackknife is a size 2 monster that has 5000/3/5000 (attack power/critical/defense) and 2 abilities.  His first ability is what makes him the setup of the deck and states that when this card enters the field that the player may look at the top three cards of the deck and choose one of them to go into Star Dragoner's soul while the other two are sent to the drop zone and his second  ability is Soulguard.  The first ability of Star Dragoner Jackknife is very important because it sets up your drop zone with <Dragonarms> and other monsters to allow for plays with cards later in the game. 

          The second form that a player may want to use is Future Gazer, Jackknife who is great for mid to late game and applies pressure as well as an answer to wall decks.  Future Gazer has the base stats of 5000/2/4000 making him the weakest Jack but his 3 abilities make up for it and his call cost is better than star dragoner's.  While Star Dragoner doesn't get his base one soul until after he has entered the field (for the call cost of 1 gauge) and his ability has gone off Future Gazer has a call cost of [pay 1 gauge & put a monster from your drop zone into this card's soul] meaning that Future Gazer enters the field with a soul preventing counter destruction from ruining a push play involving this card.  Future Gazer has two keyword abilities on it which are Move and Soulguard.  Future Gazer has the third ability of when the player has 4 or more monsters in the drop zone both his attack power and defense power increase by 2000 and when there are 8 or more monsters in the drop zone he gains the keyword Penetrate.

          The Third From of Jackknife the player will want to play is the newest form known as Full Liberate Jackknife.  Full Liberate is the main jackknife as he has a simple call cost which prevents him from dying to a single counter removal card which is; pay 1 gauge & put the top card of the deck into this card's soul and has the stats of 6000/2/5000.  This allows Full Liberate to have a soul which is useful for three main reasons.  the first reason is the card will not die to cards such as Gale Destruction, Liberate Shoot, and Death Grip clones.  The second reason  and third reasons are to fuel his two abilities which are Soulguard and an ability where the player may remove one soul from Full Liberate to stand the card and the ability activates once per turn.  This ability is the reason Full Liberate Jackknife can have 2-3 attacks between the use of its ability and Dragonarms Radiant Alma's ability.  The combination of having a good setup and this card allows for scarily good attack formations that could end your opponent in as little as one turn.  Full Liberate Jackknife is the best card that aggressive star dragon could have gotten in the most recent set and is what allows the deck to do as well as it does.

          The final form of Jack the deck uses is quite a simple card and none other than Jackknife Galactical Punisher which is the deck's impact monster!  The monster has the stats of 10000/3/5000 and a call cost of; pay 3 gauge & put this card on top of a <neodragon> monster.  It also has 4 abilities including Soulguard and Penetrate.  The third ability is that when it enters the field you may put one card from the drop zone into its soul and its last ability is that its damage cannot be reduced!  The card is primarily a finisher and helps a lot with damage output.  The card does its job efficiently and when combed with J-arms Galaxion makes for a fantastic finisher by not having reducible or nullifiable attacks and damage. 

          Now that the main card(s) of the deck has gone over lets go over the support cards which consist of size 1 <Neodragon> monsters and <Dragonarms> cards.  The main size one <Neodragon> cards tend to have one main ability/purpose and the Dragonarms always provide some beneficial effect to the neodragon that they are in the soul of so going over these cards will go by quickly. 



          For the <Dragonarms> the main ones that you will play are J Ignitor, J Galaxion, Radiant Alma, Logisticker, Slowing, and Siltfighter.  These are the main Dragonarms the deck will use because they increase the decks overall damage output, consistency, and allow for big push plays.  Also because of the fact that these are <Dragonarms> and are usually just used to fuel the soul of your Jacks we won't be going over the stats of the card as they are not that relevant.  J Ignitor increases the critical of any Jackknife it is in by one and J Galaxion does the same thing except it has the additional ability of having any impact monster with jackknife in the name that this card is in the soul of having unnulifiable attacks (prevents Galactic Punisher from having its attack nullified in the deck).  The purpose of Slowing and Siltfighter is to increase the gauge accel of the deck through different means (definitely can get away with one or the other but both allows for lots of ridiculous set up and plays).  Radiant Alma is there to allow for powerful push plays and maximize damage output by adding an extra attack and then setting up for an impact monster finish.  Having these 5 <Dragonarms> in the deck allows for high damage output and consistent plays which help the deck achieve its goal at a relatively quick speed.  Logisticker is there for the same purpose as Radiant Alma but works on items allowing cards like Dragon Force to shine against decks that don't have closed centers.  All the <Dragonarms> monsters provide the proper support for the deck and help complete the deck's goal in their own unique way. 

          There are 2 or 3 size one <Neodragon> monsters that you really need to play to make the deck efficient.  The first one is a size one from the most recent set Dragon Fighters called Star Dragoner, Astrobeacon.  This size one has the stats of 3000/2/1000 and the ability of putting a card from the hand into the soul of a neodragon when the player enters the battle phase to draw one card and Soulguard.  This ability is extremely useful in the deck as it helps filter any dead cards in the hand ( <Dragonarms> ) and fuel the soul of your Jackknife monsters at a quicker rate.  The next size one that is vital for the deck is Star Dragoner, Luminous Blue.  This size one starts off with the measly stats of 1000/2/1000 but has three great abilities.  The first ability is that this powerful card has is that it gains 1000 attack power and defense power for every soul in the card(s) that are on your field allowing Luminous Blue to reach high stats quite quickly.  His second ability is his most important which also helps fuel the soul of your Jackknife monsters as quickly as possible is that when he attacks he places one monster from the drop zone into the soul of a <Neodragon> on the field (helps speed up the deck a lot!).  His third and final ability is Soulguard.  The last monster that players may or may not use do to it being less useful in the long run compared to the other size ones is V Gradation Quantum Ruler.  Housing 4000/1/1000 stats he is usually there to clear the boards of the opponent's field and for his on call ability "Stardust Brave" which states that when he enters the field if there is another <Neodragon> with soul then the player may place the top card of their deck into the gauge and draw.  This ability is once per turn so due to low critical and a once per turn ability Quantum ruler has become a weaker card in the deck than the other 2 size ones. 

          Now that all the monsters have been covered it is time to wrap up the in depth analysis with the spell line up and the item line up.  The spell lineup for the deck is quite simple so let's cover that first.  Just like any other deck you will want to run your main nullifiers which are Earth Barrier and Proto Barrier since they provide free benefits for using the card (Earth Barrier giving a life and Proto Barrier giving a gauge).  A main spell card in the deck is Star Jack Repair which you may only cast if you have a <Neodragon> with Jackknife in the name on the field.  This spell allows you to put the top card of your deck into the gauge and then put a card from the drop zone into the soul of a <Neodragon> on your field.  The next spell card that is very important to the deck is Dragoner's Beat which can only be used if the player has a <Neodragon> with Jackknife in its name as their buddy and has the cast cost of 1 gauge.  This card allows the player to either add an item from the deck to their hand at the additional cost of 1 life or give their item 2000 power and a critical which helps when combed with the original Dragon Force that Star Dragon World has to increase damage output.  The last two spells the deck should play are liberate shoot which destroys size 2 or less monsters at counter speed if you have a neodragon with 2 or less soul and fate information which has a cast cost of 1 gauge and allows the player to add one size 2 or less monster or item from the deck to the hand from the top 3 cards of the deck after revealing them.  These spells help keep the deck safe during the opponent's turn while providing consistency to the deck.

          The items are easy to go over as they both require a monster with jackknife to be on the field to equip and are quite simple.  Starting off with the original Dragon Force the card has a 2 gauge Equip Cost and may only be equipped if the player has 6 or less life and has a monster with Jackknife in its name on the field.  The item cannot have its abilities nullified and cannot be destroyed and has the ability Quadruple Attack meaning the item can attack 4 times in one turn.  this item is great against open center based decks and decks with low defense as it has amazing potential for push plays but doesn't help the same way that Style of Justice does.  The second and main item of the deck is Dragon Force Style of Justice which may only be equipped if the player has a monster with Jackknife in its name and has two or more soul on your field.  This item just like the other Dragon Force cannot have its abilities nullified and cannot be destroyed.  The real reason this card is amazing is in its ability that during the battle phase (both yours and your opponent's) your opponent's monsters cannot Move and all monsters on their field have their abilities nullified.  Being able to prevent your opponent from doing anything during the battle phase is huge and allows you to push and control the flow of the game however you want making the deck that much more powerful.  Between these two items the deck can take whatever stance it needs to gain an advantageous position and attempt to win the game.

          Now that the deck has been defined it is important to explain the main cards of the deck and the deck's goal.  If you happen to watch the anime then you would know that Tasuku is a player who likes to play very aggressively and usually finishes the game off with his impact monster after sending a barrage of attacks.  Before these cards were made it was very unlikely this style of play could do well in Star Dragon World instead of the usual control boards consisting of Jackknife Aster and another monster while filling the soul of Aster with dragonarms to deal with any situation that may arise.  Now the deck's main field would more likely look similar to a field such as;  having one of the two dragon forces equipped, having a full liberate jackknife on the sides while using radiant alma's skill to ensure jack can attack 3 times by itself, and a size one with two critical to ensure maximum damage output.  Fields such as this show how the deck is able to function on a competitive level and ensure that deck can also play in a aggressive/rush style that prioritizes damage instead of
field and hand control.