Notes & Combos
Blind Second Striker paves my way to Master V!
Hello!
This season sees the introduction of a highly anticipated meta contender: Vanquish Soul and the K9 deck/engine. Known for their high octane combos, resource economy, turn 0 plays, innate resilience to handtraps, and impregnable recursion, the deck has immediately hit Tier One status. So, how can Sky Striker adjust?
I opt'd to approach the meta with a style of Striker that I was unfamiliar with: Blind Second Striker (and even more unfamiliarly, with the Mulcharmy cards)! I am aware of Songs of the Dominators, which is a really cool adjustment!
Here is a brief overview on choices:
Overview:
Sky Striker Engine: Is standard for the most part. To maintain a forty-card deck for consistency and likelihood for high impact cards, I chose not to run Afterburners, Jamming Waves, and other Striker cards despite their power level. If you are going to test out my list, you can consider one of the two aforementioned since they are really cool forms of removal! Regarding the extra deck, I found that I wanted 3:2 Zero/Kagari than 2:3, as it is just such a powerful piece for this deck: providing non-target destructions and searching/recursion.
Boardbreakers: To be brief, Ultimate Slayer is still strong due to the prevalence of more monster-oriented boards (K9, VS, Yummy, etc.), forcing backrow interaction, and Garura drawing. I consider it superior to Super Polymerization personally as VS does not have reliable targets (besides the Axon fusion, which is too specific). Raigeki, Duster, and Storm can clear several cards at once, becoming high impact removal. Book of Eclipse is a new tech that decks are using for VSK9, as it shuts down their quick play spells and clogs their zones if not negated by Ash. From my games, Evenly Matched is really solid! It hinders recursion with face-down banishing, and is an amazing finisher after baiting negations.
Mulcharmy: I effectively run seven Mulcharmy cards (Purulia, Fuwalos, and Maxx "C") to deter opponents into making half boards while punishing them with the draw power they provide. I understand the cons of adding them, though, which is that they are often dead draws in Turn 2, and are nullified by Ash, CBTG, and Crossout.
Alternatives: I completely forgot Upstart Goblin when playing the deck! It is still a very strong card to acquire resources. Lightning Storm and Red Reboot offer even more backrow disruption, but I do not acquire enough UR.