Update Deck: Link Joker (Messiah)

... "Lock"...

So now we start the week of control deck!(Just kidding, I'm still having residual side effects from the last week of rush...). I was looking through my stuff and found that I had a nearly complete Messiah deck sitting in my box.

Which inspired me to write this post. And I was also reminded to do so by a commenter, so yeah.

Messiahs are great. The strong defensive capabilities already inherent with Link Jokers, along with the ability to be on the offensive, it gives you the best of both worlds. Sure, CBD has Chaos Universe available to them so that they have a stronger control, but that doesn't mean Messiahs are overshadowed. It's also pretty funny, since Messiahs counter Chaos... lol...

And since Chaos is a thing, Messiahs have been sitting in the backseat and slowly getting cheaper... Slowly... At least the Amnesty reprint brought it from $100 to $12... at least... And we have a TD available to us, so yay.

Grade 3

If only her skill was

as good as her art...

3-4 Alter Egos, depending on how you want to go with your build. Probably the best GB2 in the game. Lots of draws. And draws are best kind of advantage, increasing your already solid defense.

From here, you have options. A lot of options.

The most popular is Freezeray Dragon, which shuts down the offensive rushes of a lot of decks when used right (note that offensive decks are destroying the meta). He's $12, but he's definitely worth it.

Neutron Star Lady Gunner's another popular pick, as it has been for awhile.

Less popular picks include Stellar Maker, who can act as a proxy Amnesty, and Accretion Disk, who gives out some nice Lock pressure for essentially no cost.

If you can afford Amnesty or Flageolets, Drill Monk of the Fierce Foot is great as well. Locking 2 of your own rearguards for one of your opponents rearguards seems a bit overcosted, but it makes setting up Amnesty and Flageolets really easy.

Now onto Vacuum Collapse. At first she looks like a really good card, but then you notice that she only stops herself from being locked by effects. Meaning, she still can be locked by costs... But she is really nice if you're gonna build around Trans-else Messiah.

Grade 4

Not really a Star-vader

Amnesty, Exelics, Flageolets. If you can afford any amounts of these three cards, please do so. They
are amazing and make the deck work so much smoother. The optimal amount you'd want to run is somewhere along the lines of 2 Amnesty, 1 Exelics, and 4 Flageolets. But alas, money.

Big Crunch is money too. Like, $25 for one copy... B-b-but he's so good! Try to get 2 of this bad boy, but don't stress yourself getting him.

Trans-else Messiah's really good if you build the rest of the deck with him in mind.

Judgement Messiah's your classic on-hit stride.

Maximum Seal Dragon's an option, but Blizza's easier to get to higher power with. Speaking of Blizza, she enables Alter Ego's GB2 so you can start your drawing shenanigans earlier.

Sebreeze, as always.

Demon Maxwell and Destiny Guardian are sorta eh, but what else do we have? Scryew can be run at pretty high amounts in this deck, due to the sheer amount of draw power you get off of Alter Ego,  Heavy-material, etc.

Grade 2

Arrestor Messiah is the best Grade 2 in Link Joker. Ever. He's an easy backrow lock for ZERO COST outside of himself and has 11k power on-call and can solo Vanguards. Don't even talk about the synergy with Amnesty and Flageolets.

And because of all this he's $10, so no deal.

Outside of that, the best Grade 2 for Messiahs has to be Gravity Well. Self-locking for your Self-locking shenanigans. And she's a cheap rare, not an expensive double rare.

Duskblade for locks. Easy locks. Every turn.

Some Heavymaterial for more draw power, and tech-in an Awakening Messiah or two if you'd like.

Grade 1

Sacrifice Messiah. Darkmetal Chameleon. You're never going to run out of Counterblast. Ever.

Then Perfect Guards and Stride Fodders.

Oh wait. Destiny Dealer's $8. Ha. Hahaha.

Outside of the stuff above, the only thing I would recommend is Turndown Dragon for maximum defense.

Grade 0

Neon Messiah's probably the best choice for a starter. You want to stride as much as possible. He also searches out Alter Ego so you can ride him later after Freezeray becomes a hindrance. You can use Spawn of the Spiral Nebula if you want some more lock power.

Go full crit so you don't deck out. If you want, you can use Superstring Theory but don't run any other draws.

Also, any Blink Messiahs will serve you great.

                                                                                                        

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 Neon Messiah

16x Triggers of Choice

Grade 1:

4x PG of Choice

4x Dark Metal Chameleon/Destiny Dealer

4x Sacrifice Messiah

2x Star-vader, Turndown Dragon

Grade 2:

4x Lady Battler of the Gravity Well

4x Sunset Edge, Duskblade

2x Heavymaterial Dragon

1x Awakening Messiah

Grade 3:

4x Alter Ego Messiah

2x Star-vader, Freezeray Dragon

2x Lady Gunner of the Neutron Star

Grade 4:

4x Genesis Dragon, Judgement Messiah

0-4x Genesis Dragon, Flageolets Messiah

0-2x Genesis Dragon, Amnesty Messiah

1x Snow Element Blizza

1x Rain Element, Madew

4x Death Star-vader, Demon Maxwell

                                                                                                        

Effectiveness: 8/10

Price: $55-120

Competitive: Yes

Final Words: Pretty damn cheap and pretty damn worth for a pretty much fully built competitive deck. In the right hands, this deck can do wonders. Shuts off the multi-attack shenanigans that are plaguing the meta right now, so it's a great anti-meta pick at the moment.

Anyhow, see you in the next one!

-Robot