Budget Deck: Royal Paladin (Altmile)

When you realized you never have written about Altmile. Ever.

And I'm gonna fix that issue now.

BAMF

I never really liked Altmile. Mostly because I didn't like Shion as a character, but also because his Stride Bonus was a bit underwhelming. +5000 Power to two units isn't bad(it's actually pretty damn good), but it's not much compared to the hard plus that other Stride Bonuses provide. But after awhile he's gotten some nice support and bathed in the other generic support that Royal Paladin has gotten. And after playing the deck for awhile he started to grow on me.

But I hate Brave. I cannot justify a mechanic that gives you bonuses only when you are in a losing position. I can't. Especially when all of the brave skills are rendered useless the moment you triple drive check. Yes, there are some good Brave cards but I can't bring myself to build solely around the mechanic. I just can't.

So, as a note, I'm not building this Altmile deck around Brave. I'll be taking the good brave stuff, like Suleiman and Selim, and putting it together with generic Royal Paladin support, like Benon. It's gonna be great. And cheap.

Grade 3

4 Altmile is obvious. Outside of that, there's a lot of options.

I personally like playing an Alfred as my backup, so that I have access to Holy Squire. If you can get him and his mate, Alfred Exiv is best, but OG Alfred works just fine.

... okay I guess you could run Alfred Early if you love Burasta Bureudo enough.

Outside of that, I guess Fulgenius is cool for toolboxing G2s. Garmore's another option for calling out boosters(although Selim fixes that problem nowadays).

Brightness Dragon and Toulouse are other options for unlocking outside of Alfred.

Sing Saver's cool if you have the money, I guess, but I wouldn't recommend it even so.

Grade 2

C-C-C-Counter!

Benon is best Grade 2 in Royals. Run at 3-4 always. He can get Mirron out for easy +2 or call out Powercharge to activate Brave easier for the few Brave cards you are running(mostly Stride units).

Two sides of the same coin: Suleiman and Twin Sword. Suleiman's a wash/-1, while Twin Sword is a wash/+1, so Suleiman is the obvious choice right? Well, not always. Suleiman doesn't need a boost and can hit vanguards solo while Brave is on. He also has Brave so it gets support from Hopesong Angel and Fides if you decide to run them. Both are good and I'd try to make room for both.

Starlight Violinist and Hopesong Angel for #datearlygame, although Hopesong is only good if you run a good amount of brave. Violinist into Benon's super good, although Violinist does eat up Mirron's needed soul.

Blaster Blade or Blaster Blade Seeker if you're running Alfred Exiv or Sing Saver. And Llew is a possibility if you're doing so.

Escort Eagle is another good Hopesong target. Resist is great, too.

Brede and Fragment are there if you want to play an older Altmile variant.

Grade 1

PGs and Stride Fodders, obviously.

Mirron and Powercharge, your two Benon targets. As explained above, Mirron gets you easy plus and Powercharge gets you easy Brave. I'd personally run a mix of both.

Selim's a godsend to Altmile decks. Having a toolboxable Grade 1 when you need him is so great. Makes Fides and Clotenus a lot better.

Richard if you like his art better than Mirron.

Grade 0

You have two options here: Millius and Stitus. Millius toolboxes Grade 2s, and by extension Selim, while Stitus can bounce one of your units to hand while in Brave. I prefer Millius, since it's a wash. Stitus shines more in full-brave decks.

12 Crit. 4 Heal. I highly recommend this. You're playing very aggro with this deck, so you want to max out on those crits. The crits have saved me so many times. Margal's ok, too, and gets you a little bit of needed draw power. Can also fill up soul for Mirron/Violinist and fix columns if needed.

Grade 4

Saint Blow Dragon's price got chopped down to, like, $6 or so. Great.

Clotenus is amazing and can get you a solid board, but does require some catering to work.

2-4 Holy Squire Dragon for use with Alfred.

Fides is a nice first stride and can flip a Clotenus as cost for his skill. But don't use any more than 2.

Gablade, Jirron, Samuil. The Royal Paladin budget trinity.

Saltmile and Transcending Altmile are great if you can afford them. Transcending especially, since he can flip copies of Clotenus and make more attacks easily.

Laserguard Dragon and Andragius are the only G guardians we have at the moment, so make do. There's also Cray Elemental G guards if you have any.

Febreeze is pretty much mandatory and a must-run if you have the money to get one.

                                                                                                        

Decklist: 

NOTE: This is only an example decklist and should only be used as a base. I recommended that you create your own decklist through your own testing. I found this decklist to fit me, but it is up to you to find a decklist that fits you.

Grade 0:

1x Shining Knight, Millius
16x Triggers of Choice

Grade 1:

4x Perfect Guard of Choice
3x Laurel Knight, Sicilus
3x Headwind Knight, Selim
0-4x Hidden Sage, Mirron
0-4x Knight of Powercharge

Grade 2:

3x Knight of Twin Sword
3-4x Counterattack Knight, Suleiman
3-4x Salvation Sage, Benon
0-2x Starlight Violinist

Grade 3:

4x Blue Sky Knight, Altmile
4x King of Knights, Alfred/Knight of Persistence, Fulgenius

Grade 4:

4x Divine Knight of the Rainbow Brocade, Clotenus
4x Holy Dragon, Saint-blow Dragon/Great Sage of Contradiction, Jirron
2x Transmigration Dragon, Holy Squire Dragon(If Running Alfred)
2x Blazing Sword, Fides/Shrouded Divine Knight, Gablade/Snow Element, Blizza
3x Holy Dragon, Laserguard Dragon
1x Vivid Sacred Staff, Andragius
                                                                                                        

Effectiveness: 7/10

Price: $40-80

Competitive: Yes

Final Words: Really fun deck that's gonna get better and better as Royal Paladin continues to get support. The straightup aggro is really good and it's so easy to build up boards with all of the Grade 2 Toolboxing you have available to you and Selim. A bit less autopilot than other Royal variants, but that just contributes to the enjoyment.

Anyhow, see you in the next one!

-Robot