Notes & Combos

[Small World network map in comments because it keeps showing up as invalid URL here]

Shoutout to the chad Numeron player X X I L who came up with that brilliant page for visualizing Small World bridges!

Yet another new approach to Mekk-Knight Crusadia:

SMALL WORLD LEGACY :D

This is my first time using Small World, so please let me know if there's anything I can do better. It's a work in progress. I know Fenrir is a good bridge in this list, but I'm trying to avoid playing Kash and other gross cards.

It's a pretty high-power format with too much consistency everywhere you look. Moreover, the meta is really diverse; I think I faced 25% Purrely, 25% Lab, 25% Stun, and 25% everything else. I really thought blind second OTK Crusadia would have a pretty easy time in Purrely format, but this is not Tear 0 at all. I wasted a lot of time deranking from M3 to M5 trying to Kaiju and Equimax bonk. Too often, you just don't draw the correct out for the matchup and auto-scoop because opponent decks are really unforgiving and will almost always full combo with no disruption. Also, even Purrely isn't an easy OTK as they have Sleepy Memory and often set up Assembled Nightingale.

So, at least for the moment, I'm not a fan of the heavy Kaiju strategy with its far too narrow win condition. It just doesn't solve enough gamestates to win consistently. For a deck like Crusadia that relies so heavily on non-engine outs, unlike, say, Sky Striker, you have to just gamble on opening the right handtrap, hope your backrow removal cards aren't wasted, etc. Because of deck diversity, I think the unfavorable hands just tank your win-rate far too much to be worth it right now.

So I thought I'd try to just go first instead, try to win going first more often, and lean on the natural blind second proclivity of Crusadia and Mekks to achieve a better overall win-rate than just going second. I initially edited my April World Legacy Survivor list (because the GY isn't as reliable + Bystials are around) and played a 43-card list with Pot of Desires. It wasn't bad at all, but there wasn't room for enough counterplay options, and I often wished I'd opened a HT instead of Pot.

After getting annihilated by Mathmech using Small World to search a Kaiju, I decided to explore the infamous monster searcher spell recently adopted by Floo players. I don't think SW is particularly useful in pure Crusadia, but Girsu is definitely one of those cards that warrants SW. Like with Mathmech, the Mekks' Light/Dark attributes also work well with HTs like Veiler and Nibiru. With Girsu as my Cheesecular, my usual Kaiju, Jizukiru, has even more value given its Light Machine profile. In fact, Jizukiru is one of the most important bridges in this deck lol. And of course, the Mekks can bridge into the classic Crusadia opener with my boi Maximus and go into good ol' Equimax bonk. Mekks and Crusadias actually play REALLY well together with Small World. SMALL WORLD LEGACY FTW!

I feel pretty dumb not having exploited these synergies earlier. I guess I was just too intimidated by SW and bridging and all that. The deck feels more consistent, cohesive, and flexible: I am no longer burdened by having to play 6 Kaijus for the Equimax bonk; I can search the Kaiju on demand or fish out a starter or special summon with an otherwise dead card like a Veiler drawn on turn 2 or a Maxx C vs Floo.

It's the same strategy as the WL Survivor deck, just retooled. Go first, try to turbo Lib with either Crusadia + WL Succession or Girsu—or go into Morning Star and set up WL Secret. If none of that's available, Astram + Power and hopefully the rest of the cards I bricked with were handtraps. SW can turn the (non-Draco) Crusadia + Succession opener into a set Secret with Indigo in GY and I:P under Lib for a bounce or 2. Check the SW network map.

I unfortunately had to drop the chad trap Crusadia Vanguard for Crusadia Power. The format is too quick and high-power; opening Vanguard when I lost the coin toss was almost always an automatic L because of lost hand value. Power protects the Crusadia link climb or even helps Astram survive a turn so that the cavalry (Purple Nightfall) can return on Turn 3 to follow up and close out the game. It's more flexible as it has value going second, but it does reduce the ceiling of the first turn board compared to the Vanguard -> Reclusia pop play.

I still prefer World Crown to World Chalice/World Armor here because of the Crusadia line. Anyway, as aforementioned, the Crusadia line kind of makes up for the extra body granted by the Lib->World Armor line. Just not a fan of opening Chalice or Armor in a Crusadia hand, for instance.

I need to keep working on this list. SW has opened a lot of doors, but it's not a silver bullet. The board still dies to Lightning Storm/Duster and cannot do anything about GY effects. Girsu dies to Imperm all the time, whereas you're not as worried about that going second because of the special summon Mekks. I hope Ariseheart meta doesn't kill this list; I do enjoy playing this way instead of just spamming board breakers lmao.