Deck Check: Revengers (Shadow Paladins)
BT12 - Binding Force of the Black Rings marked the debut of the highly awaited new clan of Link Joker ( along with their "locking" mechanic) and the Яeverse support for Narukami, Pale Moon, and Dark Irregulars, that also came with it in this set. Along these also, is the more anticipated return and upgraded support for Shadow Paladins: the Revengers archetype. They made their debut weeks before set 12's release when TD10 and TD11 was released, and they set to mark their territory in the meta with their optimal boss card, "Revenger, Raging Form Dragon" (RFD). So without any further a do, let us begin:
It is very generic and is a must to run four (4) copies of the Revengers Breakride, "Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom" and the deck's boss card, "Revenger, Raging Form Dragon" (RFD). You need to maximize the number of copies of RFD in your deck in order to have a higher chance of drawing in to it and be able to activate its limit break. Also, the same reason goes for Mordred Phantom. Running four (4) copies of him is very essential to the deck and in some sense,a trivial aspect for the deck to work properly.
For the grade 2's, four (4) of "Blaster Dark Revenger" and "Nullity Revenger, Masquerade", and three (3) copies of "Dark Cloak Revenger, Tartu" are run by me. There aren't really other grade 2 units for revengers which prove to be better than these. Albeit some players opt to run Rugos (10k Vanilla) instead of Tartu, mainly because this deck can sometimes be counter-blast heavy, and Rugos aids in diminishing that and provide a solid 10k body. But why should you run Tartu? In contrast to Rugos, Rugos does not help you in 'shaping' up your field. He only provides a beatdown power, WHICH is only 1k more than Tartu. Tartu on the other hand, aids you in shaping and forming up the structure of your playing field. She can get any grade 1 or lower "Revenger" unit from your deck and place it on the same column as hers. "But for the cost of two (2) counterblasts, is it worth it?" The answer to that question will only depend on what you are going to call. You don't use her skill too often or when you have nothing good to call on. But the efficient aspect I see to this is when you choose to superior call a "Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint", and in the following turns assuming Tartu gets retired or intercepted, when you call and replace her with "Blaster Dark Revenger", you basically got your superior call (i.e. Dorint) for the cost of only one (1) counterblast.
On to the grade 1's: four copies (4) "Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint" and "Dark Revenger, Mac Lir" (PG) are run along with three the (3) copies of the the grade 1 revenger 10k attacker, "Transient Revenger, Masquerade" and two (2) "Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter". Also, the last of the normal units for this deck is the second copy of our starting vanguard, "Frontline Revenger, Claudas". Four (4) copies of the Perfect guard (Mac Lir) and Blaster Dark's tandem, Dorint is highly recommended for this deck, simply because the former is relevantly needed to stop the onslaught of the high numbers of attack power that vanguards can unleash out in this breakride format (especially noted of this is Link Joker) and the latter is going to be your generic grade 1 booster on your field (and also unflips damage with Blaster Dark). For Masquerade, in contrast as to most of the clans who bring four (4) copies of the same kind as him, three (3) copies of him is just the most that you can bring in this build. This is because the last two (2) slots available is left for Dark Bond Trumpeter. Dark bond trumpeter is mainly used as a fodder for Raging Form's skill and is also Claudas' retriever. She gets you your second copy of Claudas for the cost of one (1) counterblast.
If any of you know the 2013's Fighter's Climax National Champion of Japan (Open Division), Lee Innyeng who won using the Shadow Paladin clan, you might've noticed that this is EXACTLY the same lineup and build as his; true. But this deck (of mine) is only different in the trigger line-up. As you can see, I'm running nine (9) Critical Triggers. Yes. NINE Critical Triggers. To some of you, you wouldn't really react as much to this, while others may (and most like will) scrutinize this. The standard trigger line-up for Revengers has always been 8 Crits, 4 Draws, and 4 Heals. However, this is too predictable already and as such I decided to take it up a notch and increase the possibilities of my vanguard checking in to a critical. This was mainly done for the purpose of surprise and is not recommended (by me) to be run for consistency purposes.
Complete Deck List:
Grade 0 (18) :
2x Frontline Revenger, Claudas (not shown in the picture above)
1x Grim Reaper
4x Grim Revenger
4x Revenger, Air Raid Dragon
3x Freezing Revenger
4x Healing Revenger
Grade 1 (13) :
4x Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
4x Dark Revenger Mac Lir3x Transient Revenger, Masquerade
2x Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter
Grade 2 (11) :
4x Blaster Dark Revenger
4x Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
3x Dark Cloak Revenger, Tartu
Grade 3 (8) :
4x Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom
4x Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
Overall, the Revengers have proven to be a very resilient deck in the japanese meta by staying in it for more than 6 months already and has produced many victors in such time. It has also began to create ripples on the waves of the american meta. As of now, it is yet in its early stages of experimentation and creative innovation. But it is yet to face its true challenge in two months time when VGE - BT13 Catastrophic Outbreak is released and along with it is the optimal boss card of the only clan which can par up to it (Link Joker), "Star Vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon".
