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| This one's for you friend |
Tachikaze, and more specifically Ancient Dragon was the first deck I had fully built in real life after reading Tachi's post and discussing ideas with him online. While I did move away from the clan after ADs fell out of relevancy, I would still play games casually with the deck and with V Series coming around I had always hoped a reboot would give the archetype another moment in the spotlight. And here we are, six years from that point, with new cards promoting the aggressive playstyle of the past.
During its initial release, Ancient Dragons focused on the main playstyle of Tachikaze, balancing between units which would retire other units as the cost for powerful effects, and units that, when retired, made up for losing them on the field. With the introduction of Iguanogorg and cards like it such as Tyrannobite, the deck excelled compared to other variations within the clan since the trade-off for killing one of your own units became much better than its predecessors. Combine this with the stronger abilities cards were given to abuse retiring units, and you had a deck that could output a lot of pressure fairly quickly to claim wins.
However, about midway into G the deck fell. It lost tempo after their rush turns were weakened by more opposing decks obtaining stronger early options and couldn't keep up with the opponent beyond that. In addition, they were well under-supported in favor of Gaia. From there it became dormant, though its introduction was still noted as a transition period where the clan began meeting its true potential. Fast forward to now and they have been revived with a new series of cards, the "True Ancient Dragons," which focus on the same early pressure as before but now adopted into the V Series with a reliance on front triggers. Checking fronts enable these units to get an extra critical to apply more pressure on the opponent, making your turns unsafe for them at any point, even more so the later the game goes on since you filter normal units out of your deck, becoming more likely to pull fronts. While they are a solid budget option in standard, I would like to discuss in this post how they also mesh with the Ancient Dragons of the past in premium, boosting their capabilities to allow them to return once again to moderate relevancy.
However, about midway into G the deck fell. It lost tempo after their rush turns were weakened by more opposing decks obtaining stronger early options and couldn't keep up with the opponent beyond that. In addition, they were well under-supported in favor of Gaia. From there it became dormant, though its introduction was still noted as a transition period where the clan began meeting its true potential. Fast forward to now and they have been revived with a new series of cards, the "True Ancient Dragons," which focus on the same early pressure as before but now adopted into the V Series with a reliance on front triggers. Checking fronts enable these units to get an extra critical to apply more pressure on the opponent, making your turns unsafe for them at any point, even more so the later the game goes on since you filter normal units out of your deck, becoming more likely to pull fronts. While they are a solid budget option in standard, I would like to discuss in this post how they also mesh with the Ancient Dragons of the past in premium, boosting their capabilities to allow them to return once again to moderate relevancy.
Grade 0
Ancient Dragons have a few forerunner options but for modern day I would only choose Pterakid. It can still be used to dig through the deck and enable plays at various stages in the game depending on when you find it beneficial to do so. Since we'll be focusing on utilizing the True Ancient Dragons, most previous starters aren't worth it since they rely on other grade 3s that will clog up deck space, or simply won't provide enough advantage to be useful. You can also run one of the V Series starters instead, which is safer since the utility you get is guaranteed and you may prefer adding to your hand early over calling another rear guard.
As for triggers, for the sake of the True Ancient Dragons, you should opt to run 8-12 Fronts to consistently get the True Ancient Dragon crit buff. There are three different Front triggers that you currently use for maximum aggression, but as always you can make space in your Grade 1 lineup by running the draw PG, Archbird. Draws and Heals in general are also fine options especially as other decks have a variety of ways to apply pressure as well, but you can play fairly aggressive with your trigger line-up and find success. Dinodile could be considered since the deck does use a bit of counterblast, but I find the higher stats of the new triggers more important, and Crits regardless of their skills aren't necessary when a front acts as one for majority of your deck anyways. You could run some as a surprise factor if you wanted to, and some skills or stats are beneficial, such as Paraslauncher for the high shield value, or Argenwerfer as stride fodder to save on True Ancient Dragons. As an additional rogue trigger option, Coelamagnum can provide a quick buff to your rears and can be useful in drive checks especially alongside your fronts.
As for triggers, for the sake of the True Ancient Dragons, you should opt to run 8-12 Fronts to consistently get the True Ancient Dragon crit buff. There are three different Front triggers that you currently use for maximum aggression, but as always you can make space in your Grade 1 lineup by running the draw PG, Archbird. Draws and Heals in general are also fine options especially as other decks have a variety of ways to apply pressure as well, but you can play fairly aggressive with your trigger line-up and find success. Dinodile could be considered since the deck does use a bit of counterblast, but I find the higher stats of the new triggers more important, and Crits regardless of their skills aren't necessary when a front acts as one for majority of your deck anyways. You could run some as a surprise factor if you wanted to, and some skills or stats are beneficial, such as Paraslauncher for the high shield value, or Argenwerfer as stride fodder to save on True Ancient Dragons. As an additional rogue trigger option, Coelamagnum can provide a quick buff to your rears and can be useful in drive checks especially alongside your fronts.
Grade 1
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| Can't keep a dino down |
You can run some other non-AD options as well to add some variety with either equip gauge or additional utility. Sonic Noa is great since it adds to early pressure and also generates gauge for use with the main strides. Laceraterex and Bluesprint also gain gauge quickly and allow you to utilize their gauge after they've been retired. You could also consider the old Prism Bird for striding if you need to. I find that other options are either a bit weaker or slower to use for the deck, but you can dig around if you want to try more alternatives.
Grade 2
For the grade 2 line-up I suggest prioritizing both True AD options, and then considering what you want as the third option or techs for yourselves, though I will highlight my favorite additions from testing. Aloneros and Heftystyraco are search and beater options respectively. Aloneros should be maxed out since aside from Pterafeed it's the main way to filter the deck, and Hefty should be ran at 3-4 since its skill helps worry less about which units you have to consider protecting. For your last options, in the AD section there are Tyrannobite and Hylaeon Pike as grade 2 Iguanogorg clones, and Dinocrowd as a simple beater and early retire enabler. For non-AD options, the only non-budget recommendation of Sweeper is still very good and is an alternate win-con by itself if you get to second stride or set it up early with equip gauge via your other choices. However, Smilodon is also good for gauge ramping and Regiodon is a grade 2 Bluesprint clone if you want. Megarex and Dilophopyro can be used to dig through your deck for more pieces, and the former in particular is another early retire enabler.
For the grade 2 line-up I suggest prioritizing both True AD options, and then considering what you want as the third option or techs for yourselves, though I will highlight my favorite additions from testing. Aloneros and Heftystyraco are search and beater options respectively. Aloneros should be maxed out since aside from Pterafeed it's the main way to filter the deck, and Hefty should be ran at 3-4 since its skill helps worry less about which units you have to consider protecting. For your last options, in the AD section there are Tyrannobite and Hylaeon Pike as grade 2 Iguanogorg clones, and Dinocrowd as a simple beater and early retire enabler. For non-AD options, the only non-budget recommendation of Sweeper is still very good and is an alternate win-con by itself if you get to second stride or set it up early with equip gauge via your other choices. However, Smilodon is also good for gauge ramping and Regiodon is a grade 2 Bluesprint clone if you want. Megarex and Dilophopyro can be used to dig through your deck for more pieces, and the former in particular is another early retire enabler.
Grade 3
You should really only run Bladromeus and Barreltops here since the other AD options are too slow or underpowered, and you want to have a True Ancient Dragon on VG early for the crit pressure and name to enable your other AD skills. Bladromeus is a great ride target going first as you can further fill out your board and take out an opponent's rear in the process for free. Barreltops is good anytime since it is a draw in addition to the Accel marker, which will usually be Accel 2 unless you are going to commit to your early push with Accel 1. If you do really want another grade 3, you could try Opticalcerato as a Smilodon clone to grab equip gauge, or if you are itching to use an old AD grade 3, then I can only recommend Spinocommando to get additional draws with the limit break alongside the accel marker of your other cards as a defensive play.
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| Bigger (numbers) are better |
Grade 4
For the main strides, I suggest 4 Nebiros and 1-2 Gyangchuraptor. While AD has some units that can be retired freely to make up for the cost of engorge or retiring in general, using equip gauge is more convenient as your rears do not really rely on having them to become threatening. Using Nebiros allows us to have six opportunities to pull fronts and push beyond our early turns, and as we flip them we can fall back on Gyangchuraptor as needed to close out the game. Nebiros retiring cards like Iguanogorg means that they can be called over units if we did swing with some rears before hand so that they can also receive triggers and add to our attack options. Aside from these two we can get pretty liberal with the G-Zone as most Tachi strides are fairly cheap. Dogma is another restander though a bit more costly if used. Gaia Devastate can be used against lock and is a stride that gains crit pressure itself. Gaia Dynast is another option to multiattack with rearguards and also applies a nice buff as well if you have the counterblast to use it.
Among the Ancient Dragons, Pearly Titan also gains a crit for more pressure if you can meet the requirement which isn't too hard to do as base stats have gotten higher. Burn Geryon is not as good since the unit it retires goes to hand instead of returning to the field for multi-attacking. It can let you reuse on-place abilities or protect units but I find that I would prefer striding into something else far more often.
For G-Guards, Bullish Primer is good for turns when you've emptied your board and is also free to use aside from the GB1 restriction. Blockade Ganga gets shield fairly easily as well and is another way to get rears into your hand by intercepting with what you choose to target for the skill. Dymorphalanx is is a simple 20k shield to use as you need to. And there are the various Cray Elementals to wrap up this section if you want to. I'd choose between Colburn, Dizmel, and/or Scryew since they provide various protection options that can be used earlier and more freely in comparison to Ganga or Primer.
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| Beneficial gluttony is just seasoning |
Among the Ancient Dragons, Pearly Titan also gains a crit for more pressure if you can meet the requirement which isn't too hard to do as base stats have gotten higher. Burn Geryon is not as good since the unit it retires goes to hand instead of returning to the field for multi-attacking. It can let you reuse on-place abilities or protect units but I find that I would prefer striding into something else far more often.
For G-Guards, Bullish Primer is good for turns when you've emptied your board and is also free to use aside from the GB1 restriction. Blockade Ganga gets shield fairly easily as well and is another way to get rears into your hand by intercepting with what you choose to target for the skill. Dymorphalanx is is a simple 20k shield to use as you need to. And there are the various Cray Elementals to wrap up this section if you want to. I'd choose between Colburn, Dizmel, and/or Scryew since they provide various protection options that can be used earlier and more freely in comparison to Ganga or Primer.
Example Decklist:
Grade 0:
1x Dragon Egg (V)
4x Pack Dragon, Tinyrex (V)
4x Herbivorous Dragon, Brutosaurus (V)
4x Archbird (V)
4x Savage Shaman (V)
Grade 1:
4x True Ancient Dragon, Pterafeed
4x Sonic Noa (V)
3x Ancient Dragon, Iguanogorg
Grade 0:
1x Dragon Egg (V)
4x Pack Dragon, Tinyrex (V)
4x Herbivorous Dragon, Brutosaurus (V)
4x Archbird (V)
4x Savage Shaman (V)
Grade 1:
4x True Ancient Dragon, Pterafeed
4x Sonic Noa (V)
3x Ancient Dragon, Iguanogorg
3x Ancient Dragon, Nodotank
Grade 2:
4x True Ancient Dragon, Aloneros
2x Ancient Dragon, Hylaeon Pike
2x Ancient Dragon, Tyrannobite
Grade 2:
4x True Ancient Dragon, Aloneros
2x Ancient Dragon, Hylaeon Pike
2x Ancient Dragon, Tyrannobite
3x True Ancient Dragon, Heftystyraco
Grade 3:
4x True Ancient Dragon, Bladromeus
4x True Ancient Dragon, Barreltops
Grade 3:
4x True Ancient Dragon, Bladromeus
4x True Ancient Dragon, Barreltops
Grade 4 (Strides):
4x Unrivaled Ruler, Gluttony Nebiros
2x New Destruction Emperor, Gaia Devastate
2x Great Emperor Dragon, Gaia Dynast
1x Super Ancient Dragon, Pearly Titan
2x Destruction Tyrant, Gyangchuraptor
Grade 4 (G Guardians):
1x Barrage Giant Cannon, Boorish Primer
1x Barrage Giant Cannon, Boorish Primer
1x Cliff Authority Retainer, Blockade Ganga
1x Iron-armoured Chancellor, Dymorphalanx
1x Mixed Element, Colburn
1x Dark Element Dizmel
Price: $50-80
Effectiveness: 8/10. You can get aggressive really early and abuse your lead from there. Waiting it out to use the strides is also fine, though you then have to manage your resources and more specifically your board fairly well.
Competitiveness: 6.5/10. A lot of decks in premium are playable and very versatile, so while it does apply pressure quickly it can also run out of steam depending on the flow of the game. The pressure helps since you get some advantage from draws and superior calls to maintain hand decently enough while your aggression weakens the opponent's counter options early. On the other hand it's not going to build as many resources later on as other decks, and with Nebiros wiping a portion of the board especially on the first stride, at that point you should try to keep the game from dragging much longer since your opponent will have a greater chance to turn things around.
Competitiveness: 6.5/10. A lot of decks in premium are playable and very versatile, so while it does apply pressure quickly it can also run out of steam depending on the flow of the game. The pressure helps since you get some advantage from draws and superior calls to maintain hand decently enough while your aggression weakens the opponent's counter options early. On the other hand it's not going to build as many resources later on as other decks, and with Nebiros wiping a portion of the board especially on the first stride, at that point you should try to keep the game from dragging much longer since your opponent will have a greater chance to turn things around.
Final Words: I am very happy that Ancient Dragons are back. Though it may not be the exact way I used to play you can still get a lot of mileage out of the various ways you can build the deck, and the early plays are a blast from the past (double entendre intended) that I hope will continue to stick around for a while. As a Tachi deck with low rarities this is a pretty good budget deck to try out if you have been interested in the clan and wanted to move beyond standard. You can also break this down and have it work fine as a budget standard deck as well.
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| He's a winner in my book |
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