Budget Deck: Murakumo (Magatsu Shadowstich)

At the beginning of stride era, before The Genius Strategy, Yasuie lists would actually use the Magastu ride chain quite often. Providing the deck with an early game has always been something we strive for in vanguard. After The Genius Strategy, essentially every list dropped Magastu in favor of the Shadowstich support. And since then, Magastu has been practically nonexistent as a deck. Instead, I worked out a build that didn't use the Magastu legion, but used Shadowstich support. And it works.

The point of using ride chains are for access to a strong early game, provided by the non-GB locked pluses the chains give you on-ride. The second strength to using them is having access to their G3's VG skill, also which isn't GB locked. It's also very good to have the 8k and 10k number, because it helps combat rush and it's harder for the opponent to land early damage. As long as rush is even somewhat prominent in the meta, ride chains have a use. 

Now that I've covered ride chains as a whole, lets cover the Magatsu one specifically. It provides strong early game rush, duplicating the G2 and G3 twice when you ride them. Aside from gives you the generic 8k, 10k, and 11k ride chain numbers, it gets a search when you ride over the G0 with the G1. Pretty simple. 

Now, this is good for Shadowstich. Theoretically, if we can get 3-4 early damage in, it'll make the Shadowstich units much more effective late game, because the opponent will have to guard more attacks. In doing so, you'll get more effects off. Giving an early game to a deck that thrives off of it is dangerous. Combining the strengths of both of these decks is the purpose of Magatsu Shadowstich. 

So, let's see what our deck is going to look like. For G3s, we have Trials Yasuie along with Magastu Storm. Trials is great because it can clone any rear or itself from the VG permanently, which gives you flexibility when creating formations with him. His hand filtering is a small plus, and can clear extra ride chain pieces out or idealise hands. I like four of each, Storm because you want a higher chance of ride chain consistency, and 4 Trials because Murakumo cloning shenanigans makes it hard to justify running less. You'll be calling his with Dual Weapon and Hiden Scroll more often than one would expect. 

Bloom but not Bloom

For G2, along with our ride chain parts, 4 Dual Weapon is a necessity. Dual Weapon is honestly great. As we mentioned earlier, we want to push for as much damage as possible early game. With Dual Weapon, we can then build formations with some that attack from the backrow via your strides late game, and start poking for constant pressure and make the opponent drop a lot of hand. Striding Kagamijishi and cloning Dual Weapon with Hiden Scroll can make for a dangerous multiattack formation, and Dual Weapon is really reliable for anytime you would want to finish. Ikyuu is there for more potentially lethal combo formations, and can hit over 11k easily.

With 4 PGs and 4 Magatsu Breath, along with some stride fodders, we don't really have much room for anything else. The two best units to fit in these slots would either be Lake Diver or Tanba. Lake Diver can't do anything early game, and can make it difficult to make backrow-attacking formations late game. It's pretty hard to work with usually, but filling up the backrow for 1CB can't be underestimated. It can be potentially strong. Tanba, on the other hand, is nice. Recycling units and getting power to turn himself into a magic number is exactly what you want on a booster. Your main recycle target will probably be Dual Weapon, but it's easily spammable. On another note, I recommend picking up the Shadowstich PG if possible. Now that Battle Sisters are prominent in the meta and Still Water exists, prepping the hand with PGs helps prepare for their kill turns.

Triggers can be flexible enough, but I recommend 8 Crit and 4 Stand. The only stand really worth running is Hidden Scroll, just because essentially free formation-building is perfect for setting up combos. Drench Serpent can do some neat things, but you don't really need her much and ends up being a hindrance most of the time anyways. If you can get your hands on the Yasuie Crit, that's great, but I'll ignore it mostly for budget purposes.

The deck is extremely flexible, yet methodical. Rush as much as possible early, benefit late game. Murakumo has a pretty diverse G Zone, and it's pretty easy to make some sort of formation to do things. I'm aware that sounds incredibly vague, but it's pretty easy to get the hang of.

So, moving onto the decklist.
                                                                      

Decklist:

NOTE: This is only an example decklist and should only be used as a base. I recommend 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, Magatsu Wind
4x Stealth Dragon, Hiden Scroll
4x Heal
8x Critical

Grade 1:
4x Perfect Guard
4x Stealth Dragon, Magatsu Breath
4x Stealth Rouge of Concealment, Tanba
2x Gateway Stealth Rouge, Ataka

Grade 2:
4x Stealth Dragon, Magatsu Gale
4x Stealth Dragon, Dual Weapon
3x Stealth Rouge of Envy, Ikyuu

Grade 3:
4x Covert Demonic Dragon, Magatsu Storm
4x Stealth Rouge of the Trial, Yasuie

Grade 4:
2x Ambush Demon Stealth Dragon, Homura Raider

2x Ambush Demon Stealth Rouge, Yasuie Tenma

1x Ambush Demon Stealth Dragon, Shibarakku Buster (Optional)

1x Ambush Demon Stealth Dragon, Onibibu Radar
2x Ambush Demon Stealth Rouge, Kagamijishi
1x Rain Element, Madew
1x Snow Element, Valancher
1x Air Elemntal, Sebreeze (Optional)
2x Ambush Demon Stealth Fiend, Hougen Wing
2x Ambush Demon Stealth Rouge, Shishiyuzuki
1x Ambush Demon Stealth Rouge, Shirahagino

                                                                      

Price: $50-70

Effectiveness: 6/10

Competitive: Not really...

Final Words: Ride chains are too unreliable for me to consider this to be even remotely competitive. When the ride chain does fail, it's just watered-down Shadowstich. Shadowstich itself couldn't keep up with powercreep, but will hopefully be back with their support they're getting in Set 13. Yasuie Tenma is only $9 right now, and Murakumo is relatively cheap right now. It could be a good investment, and serves as a fun casual deck for now.