Notes & Combos

Here's my pure crystron build lol. Not going to say too much as people are familiar with this deck already, however I'll explain key differences between my build and what's standard, as well as offer my thoughts.

So the first thing you may wonder: why tidal? Tidal is honestly a worse sulfefnir, so i definitely made sure to max out on my 5s before even considering tidal. However, this deck pretty much cannot be optimally played without side engine (due to lack of starting consistency), so I had to play something.

I did not like millennium engine as I prefer midrange/control playstyle over combo-oriented gameplay, and that engine, although very powerful and brickless, gets hit hard by maxx, droll, and, to a lesser extent, nib. It is also a fairly large engine requiring 5-8 slots to play, and I wanted to maintain non engine space. Horus is effectively worse millennium but with better grind; speedroid was okay but still plays into the mentioned handtraps, albeit to a lesser degree (and has a brick)

On the contrary, Tidal has a lot of weaknesses for sure; for starters, some may say that tidal is a brick as it isn't a one card starter, and a worse foolish burial. However, i must disagree, as, in the world of handtraps, no crystron 1cc is getting you anywhere most of the time, and more often than not you'll have something to pitch anyways, and "worse" foolish burial is actually an upside as you want to get most crystrons into the GY. It also is unaffected by droll, nib, maxx, good ash bait, and has the benefit of recursivity to help followup otk. The main disadvantage I see: it doesn't bolster the ceiling of your endboard like the other engines do, but it makes up for this by offering a stronger floor and maintaining the deck's resilience. This also means I don't have to play maxx c cope cards called by and crossout and maximise winrate going second through handtraps.

Now some other choices: turtle is worth in pure build. i honestly don't even think a single non 5 opener (except citree) is a brick as you can pass on tristaros + 3-4 non engines, which is honestly gameplay i quite enjoy. it makes 3+ card combos more playable, especially going second. Impulse also won me more games than it lost, and the lock wasn't a big deal, as it almost always resolves and works as a 6th draw (also high impact). Black rose is pretty op, as you can make 7s before getting locked and this deck lacks breaking capabilities; vermilion also helps in this and is more versatile.