G Legend Deck 1: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” Review

Pick up cards from G-LD01 The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” on Big Orbit Cards: G-LD01 The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” singles

Shadow Paladin have come into the G series with a bang. Along with the upcoming main booster set (G-BT03 Sovereign Star Dragon) we also get a new type of Trial Deck named the Legend Deck. It is believed that it’s named as such because nearly all the cards in it are old characters from Shadow Paladin, such as Blaster Dark, Phantom Blaster Dragon or Nemain. This is also backed up with it being called “Ren Suzugamori” who was a big part of the original series in the anime. Ren being on the cover may also indicate that he will be coming back into the anime as a major character and that we may get other Legend Decks for other characters such as Kai and Aichi.

This Legend Deck is made to be a more competitive version of a Trial Deck, and seeing as the Trial Decks are getting a lot more powerful, that’s saying a lot. This deck focuses a lot on the Blaster sub-clan, but not so much that it’s completely useless at making other decks – a lot of these cards can work in other decks and will even work with the new Shadow Paladin cards coming out in G-BT03.

Inside the Deck

Blaster Dark “Diablo” is thought of as the main Grade 3 of the deck with his Generation Break 2 and Break Stride abilities. This is the first card to have a Break Stride ability that only works with a specific card, this card being Dark Dragon, Phantom Blaster “Diablo”. This could be to represent the old Ride Chain between these two characters, but it proves to be a slight problem with Phantom Blaster “Diablo”, as he needs two face-up cards in the G zone to activate his ability. Luckily, Phantom Blaster “Diablo” has a G Persona Blast, but for the first turn striding you may prefer to stride something else, preferably Dark Knight, Grim Recruiter or Dark Knight, Efnysien (who comes out on the same day in Fighter’s Collection 2015).

When you do stride Phantom Blaster “Diablo”, you can reap some benefits even if you do decide to stride him on the first turn. When Blaster Dark “Diablo” uses his Break Stride ability, if it is Phantom Blaster “Diablo” who strides over him, you can choose an opponents rear-guard and retire it, which recalls Blaster Dark’s old retiring ability. Along with that, his Generation Break 2 makes every card +3 Grade when paying for a stride with “Blaster” in it’s name, meaning that you can use a Grade 0 to pay for the cost of the stride.

Phantom Blaster “Diablo” himself is a very powerful G unit. If you Counter Blast 1 and G Persona Blast then you can gain an extra 10k power and +1 crit; you also gain the ability to retire three of your own units when attacking in exchange for forcing your opponent to either retire two of their own rear-guards or else lose the ability to guard from their hand until the end of the battle. This being specifically your skill means if your opponent has any cards with resist, or if they have Stamp Sea Otter in their rear-guard circles, then those cards can’t be retired by this skill. If your opponent can’t retire enough, owing to resist, or by not having enough rear-guards, then that means they can’t fulfil their part of the cost with the result that they won’t be able to guard from hand. This is particularly strong against certain Murakumo decks and if you are against another Shadow Paladin deck.

Although Blaster Dark is very well known throughout the series, he’s always had loyal and hardy followers. Two of the characters that have appeared in many decks with Blaster Dark are Dorint and Claudas, who both get new versions in this deck. Intense Fighting Knight, Dorint and Hard Fighting Knight, Claudas now not only work with Blaster Dark but also with each other. Dorint is now a Grade 2 with a Generation Break 1 who gains +2000 when you have a Grade 3 Vanguard with “Blaster” in its name, and can Counter Charge one if he’s being boosted by Claudas. The great thing about this is that he doesn’t have to hit, he just has to attack the Vanguard for the Counter Charge to happen. With Phantom Blaster, however, it’s likely that you will be retiring Claudas or Dorint with his skill, so try to use this as much as you can while they both remain together. Claudas also has a Generation Break 1 which also needs a Grade 3 “Blaster” Vanguard to get +2000 power, and if he’s boosting Dorint he gets another +2000. Together, this will make a column of 22k power and a free Counter Charge.

Outlaw Shield, Mac Lir takes advantage of the Shadow Paladin strategy of retiring their own units. If you have one or fewer rear-guards in the back row, he gains 10k shield when he intercepts, which is great against cards that won’t allow you to guard from hand with certain grades. The down side is that he only has 8000 power, but he’s mostly a defensive unit so this shouldn’t cause too much trouble.

Alternatively, if you decide you want to cut down on the number of rear-guards being sacrificed, then this deck provides Pitch Black Sage, Charon whose second effect allows him to count as two units when he’s being retired. This, along with him being  able to reveal a Grade 3 from hand to search for a Grade 3 with “Blaster Dark” in its name, makes him a win-win card when placing him on a rear-guard circle, unlike other cards with a similar Grade 3 searching ability.

Along with Charon, Fullbau Brave also allows you to search for a Grade 3 with “Blaster” in its name and add it to your hand. This is a Generation Break 1, so you’re only going to be able to use it if you are already Grade 3. This is still useful if you rode a card other than Blaster Dark, or you just want more cards in your hand to be able to activate stride.

Young Skull Witch, Nemain is a Perfect Guard which is slightly different to the new Perfect Guard G cards, mixing her old drawing abilities with the Perfect Guard ability. If you guard with her, and there is another version of her in the drop zone, you can draw a card and then discard one. Being able to see what card you get first before you discard helps to choose which card you want to discard. If you wanted to, you could discard the new card you drew. As she has “Witch” in her name we finally get a Perfect Guard for Shadow Paladin Witches, but because Witches don’t need to Counter Blast many cards with “Witch” in their name and they don’t often retire their own units, a lot of people may wish to use Karma Collector, the new Perfect Guard G coming out in G-BT03.

Luckily we get a few cards that can fill up the rear-guard circles with Grade 1s ready to be sacrificed. Dark Night Maiden, Macha calls a Grade 1 from the deck if you Counter Blast 1 while she’s being boosted and she’s attacking a Vanguard. Dark Great Mage, Badhabh Caar has a similar ability, though he doesn’t need to be boosted but his attack has to hit. One other benefit to Badhabh Caar is that he can also call Grade 0s, meaning you could use him in Witch decks to bring out Witch of Goats, Medb or Witch of Black Pigeons, Goewin. The last superior caller is Darkheart Trumpeter. Her ability activates when she is placed on the rear-guard circle and requires you to have a Vanguard with “Blaster” in it’s name, but she also allows you to call a Grade 1 or less by paying one Counter Blast.

Owing to the the retiring abilities of Shadow Paladin cards, they have decided to break away from the rainbow triggers that they would normally put in a Trial Deck and instead have given us four extra critical triggers in place of the stand triggers.

All-in-all this is a great deck to get your hands on. It has power and consistency with the bonus of being able to use a lot of these cards in other decks. I would highly recommend picking this up, especially with the bonus of getting a promo of Dark Knight, Grim Recruiter to help fill up your G zone.

Pick up cards from G-LD01 The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” on Big Orbit Cards: G-LD01 The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” singles