Top Buddyfight Decks from 2014-2020 (Part 1)

Hey everyone, I was just reminiscing on the history of competitive Buddyfight as a whole and how the game has evolved over the years. So in this post I would like to talk about the decks that took the game by storm and dominated, some of these formats were the most skill-intensive formats while some were just Tier 0 formats that was about who had the better hand. So now let's take a look.

2014

Thunder Knights no doubt was the strongest deck in the game at that point in time, due to the fact that Dragon World had access to the best negates in the game which were Blue Dragon Shield and Green Dragon Shield to give them insane defence and advantage. Being a great beatdown deck with the help of Fahne for the extra critical pressure along with the ability to give your stuff move added a huge amount of offensive pressure, not to mention the combination of Dragobond and moving to the center. Dragoarcher was another card that was too good for it's time in the game, letting you +1 draw for free if you called it with another Thunder Knight on the board. Moreover, access to the best impact in the game at the time, Gargantua Punisher just pushed the deck over the edge. While cards like Inferno Armor Dragon helped you to clear and control the board. 

2015

The game started to catch on here in Singapore as it started to grow in popularity as it was the more 'skilful' game in comparison to Vanguard at that point in time as it was a breath of fresh air. However, in came the cancer of Impacts that kill you easily, stopping the fun of the game because there were no answers at that point in time. Kaizerion came and dominated the game for a long time, simply due to the fact that they had access to the best impact in the game in the form of Brave Energy Full Drive, as well as Hyper Energy. Moreover, there were little to no answers to Kaizerion except casting a Nemesis Thunder to destroy the Kaizerion before it could put cards into it's soul. Yes imagine playing the game with essentially 5 health, 2 if you are going second because a Kaizerion would swing at face and you'll be at 7 leaving you with 2 Health to work with before you get slapped in the face with a Full Drive. 

2016 (First 3/4)

Oh for the love of the game, 2016-2017 was one of the best years for competitive Buddyfight. There were so many good decks that it was actually fun. As you can see, the meta were all the decks in the above picture from the first half to the second half. Fifth Omni was the old reliable control deck with Drum and Doble as well as the amazing offensive potential the deck had. Whereas Aster was the Tank of the format with many tools to control and pressure other decks with it's unkillable Jack. Shadow Shades were the inherent counter to Drum, Aster and Pillars as it could out-tank both decks with it's crazy amount of soul generation as well as field control and extra attacks with Impact Joe. Azi was here and there because of it's access to the 8 damage Giga Howling Crusher, with the 6-crit sword and a buddy Pissaro on board, as well as the ability to instantly clear Shadow Shades and Jacknife Asters with a single swing as it negated the Soulguard of the monster for the turn. 72 Pillars became a thing for the longest time with the printing of Teacher Asmodai because it simply provided so much advantage with the ability to bounce their own stuff for more enter field effect procs and the ability to destroy 2 cards on your opponents board. Not to mention the combination with Saturday Night Devil Fever for the extra bombing and attacks. Simply the most skilled deck of the format. Then came Oberon, with the introduction of Red Arthur, the deck had an offensive option in Arthur and Oberon for board control to stop every deck in the format. Truly a cancer in itself. 

2016 (Last 1/4)

Well the times of the skilled format took a backseat with the release of Dragon Zwei, however it took the Japanese players awhile before they discovered just how strong the deck could be when it is mixed with Size 3 Neodragons. With the introduction of the 20 life the deck inherently was such a strong tank deck, not to mention the ability to call 2 size 3 monsters on board and Diemenzion EX having 2 soul was soul crushing for any deck because it was simply too difficult to clear as well as survive the offensive onslaught by the deck. The dominance of Zwei lasted a good full 1 year, which was insane with the longevity of the deck. The only other deck to last that long was Dimension Dragons but that is a story for another time. Before Worlds of 2016 in came the new release of Zetta Loop which involved Guilty Wave. With the ability to impact call as many time in one turn and Guilty Wave returning to hand after every attack, it created a loop with infinite attacks as long as you had the gauge to sustain Guilty Wave, moreover your Zetta would stack criticals based on the amount of impact calls you made during the turn. Yes Guilty Wave was immediately errata'd following it's short cancer stint in the game and at Worlds. 

2017 (The Springfest of Tier 0)

Yes it was a Tier 0 format dominated by Executioners. Eventhough it was a Tier 0 format it was considered one of the most skilled formats simply due to the fact that the mirror was extremely hard to pilot. Having access to Hell Gate was one of the most important factors in the game as the Executioner player had the ability to toolbox any card in their drop every turn, leading to many different path of plays depending on the board state. Many a times, games would go to deckout and usually the more skilled player would know how to control their resources as well as their deck to prevent a deckout. The deck simply had access to almost everything the game had to offer from control to card draw and a recycle-able negate. Moreover a card to call monsters from the drop that could be retrieved at the start of their turn. Simply a deck that was dominant and rewarded skill. If you would like to get better at the game I would recommend picking up an executioner deck from the 2017 format and playing mirror games with your friends. It countered everything in the format including the ever resilient Zwei with Cougar to farm the extra advantage every turn. 

Thats all for today folks. Let me know if you would like me to go into details about the decks.

Curse Mark

Hey everyone! Sorry for not keeping this blog updated as I was away with National Service commitments and there wasn't much going on in the game of Buddyfight due to the pandemic that has swept the world off it's feet. I have been following the game on the Japanese aspect and their meta during this period as well and the meta has went one full circle into Lost World being the 'End all be all' win-con. This has actually made the game less fun for players like myself who prefer skill games over simply just going first and going into Lost World and winning there and then. 

The meta has shifted to the point of being able to Turbo Lost World out and sustain from there. Thus when you are building decks in the future with Glory Valiant you should have a few things in mind such as, how sustainable or useful are your main deck cards once you are in Lost World and can your main deck survive a Lost World turn by your opponent? With all these in mind, having access to powerful generic cards are more important than ever.

So now let's take a look at a deck that will be top-tier meta once Glory Valiant releases, Curse Dragons! Well the deck was once considered gimmicky but with the new cards they got, it has become a threat and also a budget option for newer players as the deck does not play Lost World. Let's take a look at a list that won one of the Japan Local's. 

First off, let's take a look at the new additions! 

The new Geil's effect lets you search for a Curse Dragon Set from your deck or drop, yes that includes the new Set Impact! More on that later. The reason why this effect is strong is due to the fact that it makes your deck extremely consistent and it lets you play less copies of your Curse Dragon Set spells without being punished for it. A consistency card which is strong and much needed. Moreover, at the start of your opponent's turn if they have a card under their flag you gain 3 life and if there are 8 cards you draw a card! 3 Life is very crucial because it represents one attack. With this in mind, your Buddyblock becomes that much better.

Curse Grip is a new removal spell that is extremely strong once the conditions are met. By destroying your Curse Dragon monster you can destroy a card on your opponent's field, if there are 6 cards under your opponent's flag you can place it under their flag instead. This is a very potent effect as it removes a huge amount of threats without soul on the field if they do not have Grace of the Sun Deity to protect. 

Curse Count is the new impact, which reduces all damage dealt to you by 1 if a Curse Dragon Monster is on your field. Moreover at the end of your turn you place the top 2 cards of your opponent's deck under their flag speeding up the process as well.

Sentence of Curse is your primary win condition of the deck as usual, letting you win when your opponent starts their turn with 14 cards under their flag as this card will trigger and place the 15th copy for the win under their flag.

Weaknesses

Some weaknesses of the deck still remains which are Loyalty as it slows down your plays by a huge margin. However, with this knowledge in mind you are extremely favoured against any deck that does not have access to Loyalty. You will have to be wary of how much you want to extend your plays based on the situation. As for myself I would never play around Loyalty in any situation as you are usually behind if they use a Loyalty on you, so might as well squeeze as much advantage you can get before it happens. 

Another weakness of the deck as some might say is simply pure aggression, thats why it is paramount that you farm as much advantage and gain as much life as possible during both player's turn with your Geils, and your Curse Field. This is where your Buddyblock's and Loyalty will come in to cushion and survive. Surviving for one extra turn is more than enough to win you the game because a 2 turn clock is enough to hit the 15 card limit.

Decks such as Time Dragons and Drop effects like Brawlzeus and Vanity will also stop you from winning as they can simply remove your set spell on the field. Do take note, this is usually an impossible matchup, however Godpunks will not be that prevalent in the meta because it is not that strong even with the new boost.

Final Thoughts

Use the above list as reference only, as it is a Best of 1 format do take note of it. I would add 2 Loyalty, 3 Buddyblock and 2 Grace of the Sun into the deck. Do experiment and change the ratios accordingly as well. Curse Grip should be added to slow down certain aggressive combinations as well. This is a very strong deck that has the potential to be the best deck, the 'High-Roll' potential is there as well as long as you open with Overturn Abygale you pretty much win the match right there and then as well. It takes a huge amount of skill to pilot defensive strategies such as Curse Dragons because it goes against the norm of how a Buddyfight Game is played. Your goal is to always survive and timing that BuddyBlock is the key success factor to winning the game.