Budget Deck: Murakumo (Magastu)

Jeez the market is so incredibly inflated right now. Made it difficult for me to find something cheap I want to write about.

I googled 'ninja" and this was the first result...

Murakumo has always been one of the cheaper clans in the game. Pair that with a subclan that has gotten very little support over the years, and we have an incredibly cheap deck, Magastu. Now, Magastu is, in my opinion, severely underrated. They have a possible strong early game, calling units from the deck on-ride. They have a Legion to give an entire formation a boost, and enables boost on them. They have access to the Murakumo G-Zone, which is… pretty good.

Let’s look at the finishers of the deck. Homura Raider is a restanding VG, and it’s cost is easy to fulfill considering the deck hardly uses CB, and you can clone Lake Diver or use Hiden Scroll to clone the units you need. The card is only $5, too. Shibarakku Buster can call a unit and give it a drive check, which isn’t at all bad considering its low cost, which also involves returning a unit to the deck, which is good. Shibarakku is only about $14, and doesn’t need to persona flip, so its price is manageable. You'll probably want as many of these as you can reasonably afford, and the rest of the G-Zone doesn't really matter too much. Yasuie Tenma can provide insane final turns at 5 damage, letting you clone anything that doesn’t hit for a CB. It is also, of course, expensive as hell.

The legion has incredible finishing power, easily getting 31k columns throughout the entire board. Dual Weapon can be the final push at 5 damage, and Lake Diver can fill and empty back row.

One thing Magastu does have going for it is incredible finishing power. Paired with the strong early game with the Ride Chain, the deck can be a force to fear.

I’ve been saying only good things, but I’m not going to lie. The deck has a ton of weaknesses. If the Ride Chain fails, they lose out on any advantage they could’ve gained there. Ride Chains can’t really be considered reliable, and consistency is important. The legion’s boost only works when you legion, so you can’t call units with Storm’s skill before using it, which can lead to weaker formations. They have a less-than-stellar G2 lineup, and the best Murakumo G-Unit(s) are expensive, which sucks for budget players.

Let’s go back to the less-than-stellar G2 lineup. Of course, 4 of the Ride Chain piece is necessary. Dual Weapon is strong, but is easy for the opponent to play around, and you have to retire it to call a unit that leaves at the end of the turn. For the final G2, you have multiple choices. Midnight Crow can work, filling up a formation or enabling Homura Raider, but is kinda weak and CB heavy. Runestar is GB locked and has to be boosted, but has the advantage of putting the unit back into your hand and being stronger than Midnight Crow. Fujino isn’t necessary at all, because the deck doesn’t use CB enough for the CC to be very useful and the card is difficult to build a formation around. The 10k vanilla is an option too, I guess.

I love Lake Diver so much. Filling up the backrow for a CB and/or enabling Homura Raider is honestly amazing. It’s not a Magastu unit, so it may not be the best choice on a Legion turn, but is an awesome card. Literally the only bad thing about it is that it’s GB locked, but it would honestly be broken if it weren’t. If a couple Lake Diver end up in the drop zone, you can always recycle them with Legion. Your G1 lineup is pretty generic, with 4 Lake Diver, 4 Magastu Breath, 4 Perfect Guard, and 2 Stride Fodder.

Hiden Scroll is definitely a 4 of in the deck. If you are missing some Magastu units for your final turn, you can easily fill up the board. And of course, it’s also a Homura Raider enabler. Because of that, the recommended trigger formation is 8 Crit 4 Stand 4 Heal. None of the other Stand Triggers are really worth running, and I don't see a point in running Draw triggers in the deck. I guess if you are trying to build a more rush-based deck, you could do 12 Crit 4 Stand. Enabling GB2 faster and G-Guards for extra defense (which this deck desperately needs) makes it difficult for me to justify not using Heals.

Overall, the deck is really fun and cool to surprise people with. It’s a bit outdated, honestly, but isn’t a bad choice. The deck isn’t at all autopilot, and you need to pay attention to what hits the damage zone and when/what to finish with. Hopefully it will get support in the future, although Bushi seems to care about Dueling Dragons and Yasuie more.

 

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 Stealth Dragon, Magastu Wind

16x Triggers of Choice (4x Stealth Dragon, Hiden Scroll)

Grade 1:

4x Perfect Guard of Choice

4x Stealth Dragon, Magastu Breath

4x Stealth Fiend, Lake Diver

2x Gateway Stealth Rouge, Ataka

Grade 2:

4x Stealth Dragon, Magastu Gale

4x Stealth Dragon, Dual Weapon

3x Stealth Fiend, Midnight Crow

Grade 3:

4x Covert Demonic Dragon, Magastu Typhoon

4x Covert Demonic Dragon, Magastu Storm

Grade 4:

2-4x Ambush Demon Stealth Dragon, Homura Raider

1x Ambush Demon Stealth Dragon, Shibarakku Buster

2x Ambush Demon Stealth Dragon, Onibibu Raider

1-2x Ambush Demon Stealth Rouge, Kagamijishi

0-1x Ambush Demon Stealth Fiend, Ushimitsu Train

1x Snow Element, Blizza

1x Rain Element, Madew

3x Ambush Demon Stealth Fiend, Hougen Wing

2x Ambush Demon Stealth Rouge, Shishiyuzuki

 

Effectiveness: 6/10

Price: $45-50

Competitive: Maybe…?

Final Words: The deck, which can get incredible power columns, multi-attacks, and plenty of good finishing options, is inconsistent and takes a skilled pilot. Cheap due to its demand being low, it has access to any generic Murakumo G-Units that will be released in the future, also, which I’m optimistic about. The deck would do much better with consistency fixes like maybe an Oddy clone, but this is what works best for me.

See you soon,
JamesTheFenrirFanboi