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Soul Saver Dragon
- #BT02/004EN
Date Reviewed:
Feb. 19, 2013
[AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of that battle. [AUTO]:[Soul-Blast 5] When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to three of your rear-guards, and those units get [Power]+5000 until end of turn.
Ratings
Summary
Rating: 4.67
Ratings are based
on a 1 to 5 scale.
1 being the worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.
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Elliot
"Gale" Gaylord
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Today's card is none other than the United Sanctuary's Guardian Deity,
Soul Saver Dragon! Overwhelmingly strong for her time,
she served as Aichi Sendou's ace unit for a fair share
of the first season, and even to this day she hasn't
lost her charm.
First things first - Soul Saver Dragon has a personal searcher in the
form of Pongal, who trades itself for her at the cost of
a single Counterblast. Pongal itself is also easily
accessible, being a Grade 1 and High-Beast for the sake
of skills like Akane and Alfred. This leads to Soul
Saver being an incredibly reliable Grade 3, even if it
had no noteworthy skills. However...
Soul Saver Dragon gains 3000 power when attacking the Vanguard,
allowing her to pressure any 11K or lower Vanguard
through strength along using an 8K or higher boost. If
that wasn't enough, a Soul Blast of 5 on ride activates
Soul Saver Dragon's Holy Charging Roar, distributing
5000 power to 1, 2, or even 3 rear-guard Royal Paladins
for an entire turn, making for a potent finisher. As a
clan lacking in Soul Charge abilities, this is going to
be a one-shot skill for the Royal Paladins, and you have
to know how to make it count!
After a combination of Pongal, Margal, or even Sharon get the soul in
order, you'll want to set up a situation in which you
can power up three units on the outside lines, ignoring
the already intimidating center that's liable to meet a
Perfect Guard in the first place. Thankfully, this only
requires you to maintain a single unit on the front row.
Wait until your opponent's damage and hand creep closer
to the breaking point, then lower the boom with an
intimidating swing that will take no less than 6 cards,
perhaps even 7 or 8 depending on triggers, to fully
defend.
If I had to pick out a fault, it would be that Soul Saver doesn't play
too nicely with the soon to be prominent Majesty Lord
Blaster deck, but that's a bit of a stretch. It's simply
an amazing card, and even as power levels grow over
time, I wouldn't expect Soul Saver to lose relevance as
long as her support remains in-tact. 5/5
|
CrazyCat
Team's YouTube Channel |
Soul Saver Dragon
Rating: 4.5/5
One of the most iconic cards of the Royal Paladin clan,
Soul Saver Dragon is the closest thing they have to a
“Final Turn” card. Her (yes, it’s a she) skills both
play a key role in determining her usefulness to the
deck, so I’ll look at them individually.
First, we’ll start with the skill that says when she
attacks a Vanguard she gets 3,000 Power for that battle.
This may not seem like much, but it can be the
difference between a 10,000 Power Guard and a 15,000
Power Guard and, if you build your field correctly, it
very well should be. If you boost her with a 7,000 Power
unit, such as Pongal, then she is attacking for 20,000,
which draws 15,000 Guard from a 10,000 Power Vanguard.
If you put Little Sage Marron behind her, then she is
attacking for 21,000 Power, which forces the same amount
of guard from an 11,000 Power Vanguard. Keep in mind
that these guard amounts are only for a 1-trigger to
pass, and generally the opponent will be putting down
5,000 more guard in order to make it a 2-trigger pass.
Royal Paladins also have access to Toypugal, who becomes
a 9,000 power booster if you have 2 or more Grade 3s on
the field, which lets Soul Saver hit that 21,000 mark
more consistently.
Her second skill is the most iconic one. When you ride
her, you may Soul Blast 5 cards, and give 3 separate
Rear Guards 5,000 power for that turn. That forces
15,000 more shield, minimum, out of the opponent for
that turn. During late game, such a tall order can be
very difficult to fulfill, and can often win you the
game, especially if you’ve established your columns
correctly. Usually, the ideal column setup are columns
that attack for 16,000 | 21,000 | 16,000, from left to
right on the field. In Royal Paladins, due to the
existence of Palamedes and Bors, the ideal (and not
uncommon) field is 21,000 | 21,000 | 16,000, or even 3
columns of 21,000. With Soul Saver’s skill, that turns
into a potential 26,000 | 26,000 | 26,000. You’ve all
played the game; do you think you could guard all of
that in the late game?
The biggest inhibiting factor about her amazing skill,
though, is the setup it requires. Royal Paladins don’t
soul charge all too often in their competitive build,
and some people might just look at the steep cost of
this card and decide not to play it. However, let’s look
at what it actually costs you. There are 2 viable
starters for Royal Paladins at the moment: Drangal and
Wingal Brave. Drangal doesn’t leave to soul when you
ride it, and Wingal Brave returns to the soul for the
cost of his skill. Now, factor in the Grade 1 and Grade
2 rides you would do before being able to ride Soul
Saver Dragon, and that’s 3 soul already. Considering
Soul Saver is a Final Turn card, you will likely (and it
is recommended to do so) ride another Grade 3, such as
King of Knights Alfred, to sit on for most of the game.
Riding Soul Saver over it later just adds that Grade 3
to your soul count, bringing us up to 4. Needing only 1
soul charge makes her skill a lot more economic. The
infamous draw trigger Margal, who gives 3000 Power to a
unit by soul charging itself, can easily add that last
soul. Pongal has a cost of soul charging itself and
counterblasting 1 in order to search a Soul Saver Dragon
from your deck. Not only does it fulfill the soul
requirement for the card, but it ensures you can ride it
the very next turn!
With all of these factors, it’s easy to see why Soul
Saver is such a powerful and iconic card for her clan,
and has kept her place as one of the most powerful cards
in the game. |
TehNACHO |
Soul Saver Dragon is and will probably remain to be
one of the most powerful Royal Paladin units in
existence. On ride, her skill will (Ignoring Perfect
Guards) force out up to 15K more guard out of the
opponent on top of what powerful units like Palamedes or
her own attack can force out. To put it short, her skill
is one to be feared for the outright power behind it.
With the loss of Barcgal from the competitive scene,
Soul Saver Dragon’s Soul-Blast 5 is a slightly
inflexible cost for one to reach without at least a bit
of effort beforehand, as has rendered her near unusable
as a turn 3 rush card*. Because of so, builds using Soul
Saver Dragon have generally adopted a playstyle of using
the dragon for a big finisher. With almost all starters
not named Brugal, and reriding over another Grade 3, one
generally can expect to need to Soulcharge 1 last card
to complete that Soul-Blast 5 cost. Luckily though, this
is something extremely easy to remedy when given the
time to collect your units. Trigger units Margal and
Sharon both have the ability to soulcharge themselves to
grant 3000 power to another Royal Paladin unit, and
Pongal can soulcharge itself for one Counter-Blast to
search out Soul Saver Dragon, doubling up on setting up
for Soul Saver’s powerful skill. Ideally, very few
matches will pass without access to Soul Saver’s
powerful skill.
As a finisher, Soul Saver Dragon does a marvelous job. 3
units suddenly bursting up 5000 power is not a laughing
matter, especially for those on the receiving end.
However with this, I need to remind one grim truth about
finishers. Amazing as they may be some times, they
aren’t nearly as powerful as they appear if their deck
isn’t one that’s capable of following through the
midgame.
Well it’s a good thing that doesn’t apply here then. The
Royal Paladins are a more than capable clan to collect
themselves for a midgame fight, and due to the lack of
other Soul-Blasters in Royal Paladins, means that Soul
Saver will rarely if ever impede the rest of the deck’s
performance, only adding even more strength to the Royal
Paladin’s already quite powerful forces.
Overall, Soul Saver Dragon is a rather good card that’s
nothing short of spectacular. A powerful finisher on top
of very little required set up on top of a powerful
decktype only shows for the highest of marks. Even
considering its absence for much of a match until the
late game rolls around, Soul Saver Dragon gets a
well-earned 4.5/5 from me.
*A rather interesting but surprising not well-known
trick is that the Tsukuyomi line, at least grades 0-2,
won’t impede much if any of the other Royal Paladin’s
performance. Considering the Half Moon Goddess’ skill, a
deck that utilizes this crafty combination still more
than has access to the scary powerful turn 3 Soul Saver
Dragon rushdown.
|
Redsmas |
Soul Saver Dragon
United Sanctuary's guardian dragon. When the skies are
covered in darkness it will decent destroying the dark
clouds bringing light back to the sanctuary. Its light
is as warm as the sun, that heals the wounds of
warriors, and stirs feelings of courage in those who
began to give into despair. Its is said to being almost
on the level of a god.
Here we have one of my favorite grade 3 royal paladins.
The first thing about this card is that with an 8k
booster it can be 21k attacker, which is a very
favorable consistent attack range.
Its second ability is not very easy to set up in normal
royal paladin decks. But a lot of people use the Galahad
ride chain in order to fill the soul, although that its
not necessary. This is become of a few other units.
First of these is "High Dog Breeder, Akane" now at first
you don't realise how this helps fill the soul, but with
the second card "Pongal" it is. Akane can call Pongal
from deck, then Pongal can add itself to soul in order
to add Soul Saver Dragon from deck to hand.
This amazing play gets you 1 card in the soul closer to
Soul Saver's ability.
Another unit that can be useful is "Margal". Margal is a
draw trigger that can be put in the soul in order to
give a unit +3k power and it is a High Beast so Akane
can call it from deck.
And as seen in the anime the character "Daigo" uses a
secondary grade
3 unit with Soul Saver. And that is "White Dragon
Knight, Pendragon".
Pendragon's LB allows you to ride another grade 3
without loss of card advantage. This is an easy way to
get an extra card in the soul, but while him still being
a powerful unit on his own with a 5k boost when you ride
him.
Overall between having a starting vanguard that doesn't
move out of the soul, pongal and another other grade 3
unit you can easily fill the requirements for Soul
Saver's powerful skill.
Its art is beautiful. Great use of very few colours,
dark and light tones on everything while the dragon
itself shows a brilliance that does itself justice.
I give the unit 4.5/5
For art it gets a big 5/5
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