Elliot
"Gale" Gaylord |
The week ends with Stern Blaukluger, who serves as
the driving force behind one of the most popular Nova
Grappler decks to date. Sitting at the end of a ride
chain, one can expect it to have 11000 base power in
most cases. Although, offensively speaking, it tends to
not matter even if it has 10000 - and offense is most
definitely Stern's specialty.
When this unit hits the opposing Vanguard, 2
Counterblasts and 2 Nova Grapplers dropped from the hand
allows its entire column (!!) to stand for another
attack. You lose "Twin Drive!!" in the process, but any
triggers thrown to Stern from the previous attack are
going to carry over, making its attack more or less just
as difficult to stop as it was the first time, if not
more so depending on how luck smiles on the opponent's
damage checks. This ability exerts a significant amount
of pressure on the opponent the moment Stern comes into
play, demanding they block his attack for fear of losing
the game on the spot.
Take things to the next level by having irritating
rear-guards like Magician Girl, Kirara attack opposing
rear-guards. The opponent will be in for some painful
decisions. Don't worry about Counterblasts, either -
Toolkit Boy was made specifically so the deck doesn't
have to miss a beat. Clay-doll Mechanic and Hungry
Dumpty from the days of old can also serve the deck
well, and let's not forget the Death Army duo to cash in
an any extra Drive Checks!
The deck calls for a very specific setup and has no
special ways to assemble it, though, so consider Stern
Blaukluger more of a high-risk, high-reward card that
won't exactly be breaking the game anytime soon. 3/5
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TehNACHO |
Stern Blaukluger is
probably the strongest of the second generation Ride
Chains and for very good reasons.
To start, second
generation Ride Chains all follow the same general
rules. When their Grade 1 form rides over their Grade 0
form, you can search out the Grade 2 form from your
deck. All Grade 3 forms also have a skill that involves
2 Counter-Blasts and hitting the opponent’s Vanguard,
giving them all far better midgame strength than quite a
few other Vanguards.
Stern here has a
more cost efficient form of this skill compared to Ride
Chains like the Amber Dragons or Blasters, as Stern
wouldn’t have to pay his costs until after he hits. To
compare, we can essentially line this up to Dragonic
Overlord the End, another powerful restanding unit with
a similar cost. In fact, their playstyles are almost
identical when comparing the 2 cards in a vacuum.
That said, pressure
is key. If you haven’t read the Dragonic Overlord the
End review, I suggest you check it and Majesty Lord
Blaster out to get a better feel for this sort of
playstyle. To sum up though, every turn when Stern
attacks (boosted), the opponent who’s hopefully smart
enough not to risk playing around its skill will drop
15K shield or a Perfect Guard - always at least 2 cards
- to set up a 2 to pass.
Because players generally +3 every turn in the
form of their draw and Twin Drive, this essentially
means you can stagnate their entire game from that point
on into only a +1 turn per turn, putting an extreme
limit on their offensive capability and/or their
capacity to guard (which is pushed around even further
the more Stern swings at the opponent). Because average
shielding in the deck – ignoring Perfect Guards – is
about 5K per card, a match that drags on too long can
end up putting the opponent in a sort of deficit in
terms of shielding in their hand.
Let’s just assume
Stern is never able to hit because the opponent always
guards it out. What this means basically is that the
opponent is
basically giving up 2/3rds of the card advantage
they normally generate, indirectly meaning you gain an
extra +2 every turn Stern attacks. On top of this, the
more the opponent guards for such heavy amounts during
the midgame – when many decks haven’t gotten the chance
to build up their resources as well – the fewer options
they can leave themselves later on down the road. Drive
Check a Critical Trigger and the opponent is forced to
pick their own poison, where they have to use even more
shielding on top of whatever they chucked at Stern, or
they just have to accept that 2 damage and get thrown
into their late game, a lose-lose situation for the
opponent they just can’t get back from usually, only
reinforced by Stern constantly draining their hand out.
While all this talk
about pressure is good, you generally need some sort of
good skill in order to set up this pressure, and here’s
where Stern shines. When Stern hits, for 2
Counter-Blasts and 2 cards in hand, you can restand it
and its booster for another attack and another Drive
Check. The greatest part of this skill is how you
basically don’t have to set it up at all. Just by having
2 Counter-Blast open which shouldn’t even be a problem
if the deck is built correctly, and because the Twin
Drive actually sets up the secondary cost of the skill
for you, the skill is almost always open to you for
basically no effort at all in order to continuously
drain their resources. When Stern is able to hit though,
can often be a
huge turning point in the match. Generally speaking,
when Stern gets through means that the opponent has
almost no options to be able to guard it out.
This means that with the added fact that triggers
exist, you can often swing for the same power or even
bigger than before that the opponent just cannot be able
to block, absolutely wrecking them for damage. If Stern
pulls a Critical Trigger at any point, that’s basically
looking at a huge spike of 3-4 damage, basically
slamming the opponent into the late game where the
opponent’s resources are only going to rushed even
further having to deal with not letting Rear-Guards deal
that 6th damage – if they’re even still in
the game at that point.
Overall, Stern
Blaukluger is basically a
deadly card.
Causing other decks to basically crash from having to
put up with guarding away at Stern constantly, and
absolutely ruining them when Stern gets through, the
card’s power is in no way to be underestimated. From me,
Stern deserves an extremely worthwhile 5/5 as a card.
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