Hello everybody, and welcome to SO IMBA!
Where we learn how to be a better cardfighter.
I am your host Rauzes, and today, we discuss the Maiden of Venus Trap deck at a highly advanced level.
I am back to blogging after a long hiatus simply because I have ideas to share about this game, and there seems to be a lack of blogs in english discussing actual advanced level vanguard to the level I want, so I decided to fill in the gap.
I know Maiden of Venus Trap Reverse is old old card from 14, but the deck seems to be performing suprisingly well, despite similarities to the Luqier Reverse deck.
So, the decklist is as follows:
4 Maiden of Venus Trap Reverse
1 Maiden of Venus Trap Muse
4 White Rose Musketeer Alberto (Damage Unflipper)
4 Maiden of Cherry Bloom
4 Hey Yo Pineapple
4 Maiden of Blossom Rain (Null)
4 Maiden of Cherry Stone
3 Tulip Musketeer Mina (Damage taker)
4 Lady of Sunlit Forest (Rest Discard 1 Draw 1)
8 Critical, 4 Stand, 4 Heal
FV: Brocollini Musketeer Kirah.
So, first matters first.
Why so only 5 G3?
Why no Master Wisteria??
Why no 8 Crit 4 Draw???
Simple answer to the first one. You have no intention of riding anything other than Maiden of Venus Trap reverse.
Why bother? If your deck is centered around one card with the other G3 being supplemental or backup, you dont actually need that many G3s in your deck. In fact, a grand total of 5-6 should be just fine. The reason you need 8 in break ride dependant decks is that you want to actually get break ride off. which you need the breakride itself, a G3, as well as another to trigger it by turn 7-8 (So the turn after you ride G3).
However, if you ride one unit and intend on sitting on that unit for the rest of the game, what do you need so many G3 for?
The math has been done, and the difference between 8 G3 and 5G3, especially with a G3 searcher as FV, is close to a 6% difference in the ability to ride to G3 on time.
Contrast this to the much more than 6% of games where having a hand clogged full of G3s you are waiting on Null guards to throw to. If you dont have breakride dependant decks, OR a deck of two alternative G3s that function independantly well (IE Gauntlet Buster + Descendant), or another proper reason to run so many G3s(Crossride, Tyrannolegend, blah blah), Dont.
The playstyle of venus reverse means that you need to sit on limit break for several turns in a row, farming each turn for only one or two cards, and using that additional power pump to make the maximum of your locked card to maintain attacking prescence.
Locking too many cards cuts your attack prescence to make your turn not matter, and locking too little means you dont get to milk the advantage engine that is Venus Reverse for all she is worth.
As for Venus Muse, well, we needed a G3 11k attacker for backup ride, which works well with the damage taker that is Musketeer Mina.
Breakrides do nothing with Musketeer Mina, so Venus Muse it was. Potential advantage, but most importantly being 11k. If you draw Venus Reverse, you always ride over it because of the massive card power jump.
So, Master Wisteria.
Basically, Master Wisteria is terrible.
Not that its effect is bad, its just too easy to counter and work around.
Did I mention how its got atrocious synergy with Venus Reverse?
Someone said its got good synergy?
How?
With master Wisteria, its effect makes it terribly limiting in exactly what you want to call.
First off, when you break ride, choose two of your rear guards, and call to RG from your deck cards with the same name.
yeah, sure, break ride +2. Right?
WRONG.
Master Wisteria is terribly limiting especially for a deck who wants to farm advantage and roll to victory with 18 cards in hand.
When you break ride, what do you copy?
Two G1s?
So you have one G1 behind wisteria, and one in the corner.
So you get one for the other corner... and One in the front, which then you either have to replace and lose advantage or suffer with a bad power line on one end.
Two G2s?
First off congratulations in having 2 G2s survive a turn without being punished like mad by the opponent.
Second off, where do they go?
Behind the G2s? So they sit there for one turn in the corner unable to boost, twiddling their thumbs.
Good job. You attack for a so-so power line in the center and weak on the sides. Next turn, to set up for your next attack, you HAVE to intercept with both those units.
You traded 2-3 cards of attacking power and a G3 for 10k worth of shield and 10k power on your vanguard.
Great job. Terrible trade off. If those G2 were 9k, the opponent throws their 9ks to intercept and they might be stuck there attacking nothing. At best they were pineapples. At best.
Oh and next turn you have to have boosts for them.
G1 and G2.
The most ideal wisteria call, a G1 and G2 gets you one more boost and fills up the other line.
So why is this bad?
First off, you had to set it up.
you have to have 1-2 backrow units to boost, and one G2 to copy, AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR TURN.
The weakness here is that at the beginning of your turn. This means you had one turn with some G2s out, a G1 behind one of them or your vanguard, and Wisteria out.
Wisteria who is a break ride.
Break rides completely telegraph exactly what their limit breaks do.
So, you have told your opponent with wisteria out that you want to start your turn with 4-5 damage, only one front row G2/G3, and one G1 in the back.
And expect them to walk right into it.
IF you were at 3, they attack RGs. Keep you off limit break
IF you were at 4-5, they attack RG ruthlessly. You are either forced to leave both of them to die, making wisteria only get a G1, OR guard for them, shredding your hand away.
Wisteria is interesting on paper, but the practical applications severely limit its ability to be utilised well.
Oh, and Maiden Reverse Synergy?
Maiden Reverse wants to lock one to get 1 Unit.
So, assuming ideal Wisteria ride, you get one G2, one G1.
So you have 4 RG units on your field.
One in corner, one behind V or in corner, and both frontrows filled.
Asking to limit break here is getting only one unit for one lock. You go from EXACTLY two units (difficult as detailed above) to a field of 4 units 1 locked, or full field at the end of turn.
And if you had THREE units at the start of your turn? Your venus reverse can do nothing without burning your own advantage by killing of RG.
Basically this. Wisteria into Venus is only good if you have exactly two units at the start of your turn, WANT to give up offensive ability to make advantage, yet are trying to burst-push with break ride power. So, rarely.
So why not drop break ride all together and go all in on the Venus Reverse plan?
The card choices here all reflect this
The Alberto, being damage unflippers, means that if it contacts, unflipping one damage can be converted into +1 Card advantage via Maiden Reverse.
Mina being a damage taker is to start the advantage farming early, the second you ride to G3. If you ride to G3 and are at 3 damage with Mina in hand, you can lock 1 or 2 and farm advantage early on, starting your Neo Nectary snowball to victory.
Lady of Sunlit forest
Here is a card choice. Originally it was any 7k to make power lines with Maiden of Cherry Bloom/Alberto, but the ability to rest and card filter is quite powerful.
First off, you can discard excess G3s(IE: All of them after the first Reverse) to draw actual guard cards, which is useful before you build up 7-8 cards in hand.
Card filtering can also be good in mid game where drawing that attacker you need is helpful.
By dedicating this card slot to Lady of Sunlit Forest, you increase your G3 stability by being able to amp up the draw power early game. One activation of Sunlit Forest rivals *getting* a draw trigger early on if you are thinking of drawing G3s. Two activations means you are two draw triggers.
Beware, however, that overusing this card will result in decking out, as youre going long game with additional draw and call from deck.
Lock Target.
Maiden of Venus Reverse loves Sunlit forest. You discard excess G3s, fill up your hand with blocky blocks, and then lock for more units.
Repeat for one or two turns and you will have built up quite a defensive hand because of your filtering and discarding 0 Shield G3s, as well as not having to call units from your hand.
Why no 8 Crit 4 Draw?
Short Answer is because a player is not terrible.
Defaulting to 8 Crit 4 Draw is a bad habit.
Yes, it is a beginner friendly trigger balance, and yes its highly reccomended for beginners, but now that youre here reading this article it means youre more than a silly beginner and you can play more trigger balances than 8 Crit 4 Draw, yes?
Every trigger balance, especially in higher level play, requires justification.
WHY?
Why are you running this, not anything else?
4 Heals -> Damage takers, determination to go Long game, and advantage off of venus reverse by healing flipped damage.
4 Stand -> Advantage farming. While draw triggers get you one card + 5k power and 5k shield, stand triggers while used correctly mean 5k power, a 5k shield off the opponent by attacking again, and a 10k shield in the hand.
The additional RG kill represents potential saved CA when they cannot replace the lost unit
The reason you pick stand over draw is that you have every intention of the game going long, and thus drive checking more than 6-7 times of damage check.
Therefore, if the game goes long, that extra 5k in shield in hand will matter more because you will be hitting more stand triggers (worth 4 cards on attack, 1 on defense) in your drive checks than draw triggers in damage checks (worth 3 cards on attack, 2 on defense)
If youre running 8 crit 4 draw, you plan on having less than 6-7 drive checks. Thats 3rd turn of G3 when going first, and 2nd turn of G3 when going second. IF your deck is doing that, fine.
If not, then reconsider your trigger base.
Stands also good in situations where corner is locked and you have already attacked with the weak no boost unit.
8 Critical.
Being NeoNectar means you lack burst, and push power. This is supplanted by the 8 critical triggers.
The extra crit means you can utilize the critical when they are at 4 to gain advantage over the opponent, when the opponent at 2-3 damage means you up the threat level of your RG and start burning RG, or better, the opponent takes a hit they could have easily blocked, leaving you open to attack more and target their vanguard for card burning at a later turn.
The extra crit in an advantage farming deck is there to actually deal damage, by using only one RG to attack with 2 crit, when the other RG and the vanguard went at RG, it leaves the opponent very open to misplaying and eating damage or blocking unnecessarily.
Usually, with this trigger balance, the attack pattern is:
Early turns
RG hit RG, the V hit V
If opponent has no RG, RG go at V, V take boost go at V
If opponent has 2 RG: V take boost go at RG, RG take down RG if not crit. If crit, go at V for 3 damage. Burn Stand effect.
When at G3
If all opponents RGs are 11k: Pineapple + boost at RG, V at V, then RG at V if criticals permit, or at RG if not. Stand pineapple to attack at RG, the power pump from stand trigger goes on the other RG (BECAUSE YOURE NOT A TERRIBAD PLAYER WHO PUMPS THE UNIT THEY STAND IN EARLY GAME)
If Opponents RG are 9k: Save your pineapples. 9k (with or without boost) go at RG, V go at other RG if without/locked boost, and other line is 9k+7k / 11k+6-7k. RG at RG will probally be blocked, so standing means that 9k swings again at their 9k RG, burning 5k intercept or 5k from their hand. You do not really care which.
Using stand trigger with lady of Sunlit Forest(when not locking)
Assuming the opponent is 11k vanguard, plop a 9k unit in front of her. Rest and filter hand. Vanguard going first is acceptable here because your stand trigger can stand lady of forest, allowing a 16/21k attack with the stood unit.
End game:
Enemy at 5 damage, you at anywhere from 5 to A billion cards in hand.
11k Pineapple with boost against V, V to V, RG with boost to V
Lock corner, call pineapple in front of locked unit, 16k go.
Calling and Locking with Venus Reverse
As detailed above, Venus Reverse wants to start locking and farming as soon as possible. the damage takers certainly help to an extent with this, as it is not uncommon to be at 2 damage, throw down 2 damage takers, and start the farm as soon as turn 5(So go first, ride to G3 first turn)
Always, always, when calling, consider power lines. Since locked units come back at the end of turn, you have to consider this when calling.
If you locked a corner Mina (6k), you shouldnt call a 9k in front of her(unless youre going first, opponent is 9k, youre calling out a Alberto, exceptions etc)
Instead, choose to call out a 7k in the other corner, etc.
When building your field in the earliest turns, keep in mind the +5k power can make things like Mina or Sunlit Forest into 11k/12k swingers, which are great for that turn, but can drop back next turn to boost. When the units are called, consider calling them to an empty column and swing, and then move next turn to boost.
Since your vanguard doesnt need very much to farm advantage when attacking, you can ideally always lock the RG behind vanguard(ideally a sunlit forest, or Mina). When the unit behind V is locked, you can swing at a G2 rear guard, forcing them to throw 10k to protect a 5k. +1 Card advantage over opponent! Alternatively you +1 card by killing the RG. Either way, until the opponent goes to 4, the boost behind your vanguard is ideal lock fodder.
Making the +5k matter.
"The higher the power, the more likely it is to be no guarded" is as myth as they come.
Its closer to "If you can make a units power higher than a certain point decided by the number of cards in their hand, it will not be guarded"
IE: If your opponent is at 3 cards in hand or 30 cards in hand, what they can and cannot block, and what they will and will not block are very different.
So, by whittling the opponents defenses down to a certain point by bullying rear guards, a 21k line (Call the 9k in front of 7k, and maybe add trigger power) is more than enough to rip through their defences earlier in the game and carry through a damage(or two thanks to crit triggers), while straight bash V strategies that are commonplace would mean you should guard this attack most of the time.
Additonally, by using the 5k power, you can actually farm out more cards from their guarding.
a 16k line, 16k V line, and 16k line are very different from a 21k line, 16k line, 11k line.
Why?
To block the first attack (assuming 0 Triggers), you require 10k, 10k, 10k.
To block the second attack you need 15k, 10k, 5k.
How is this different?
The latter is 5k +10k, 10k, and 5k.
IE: Minimum 4 cards
While the 10k blocks represent 3 cards.
Farm advantage through the smallest of tricks such as this, and surely you shall snowball the opponent in card advantage the Neo Nectar way.
Thats all for today folks. Class Dismiss.
