Premium Budget Deck: Aqua Force (Ripple Cycloned)

Considering Cyclone was the cover card for Premium Collection 2020, it only seems fitting that we make some sort of post on it. We're gonna be nostalgia tripping tho. 

I'm sure some of you remember Odysseus, the broken rare that made Ripples top tier, allowing it to take the World Championship in 2015. But, as all good things must come to an end, Odysseus was soon thereafter semi-limited which crippled the deck severely, and it fell out of the meta pretty hard. 

The deck didn't age especially well, either. Bushi eventually gave Aqua players Odysseus back at 4 during V-Era. With the stride ruling change, the opponent can force the G2 game to end by simply riding up. In addition, using Odysseus after riding up to legion using Miltiades during the main phase is... mediocre. Compared to the powerhouse strides that we have nowadays, the Ripple legion is not a valid playstyle.

Don't get the wrong, though, Odysseus is still broken, providing you with an unparalleled G2 game. Calling big beatstick vanillas to rear with extra on-hit pressure from Pavroth is strong. The Cyclone package gives the deck actual scaling into late-game and access to a first stride Valeos that stops damage triggers. 

It's also worth noting that if you open your 1 Zazan and an Odysseus you do some cheeky stuff and probably autowin?

But let's get into it. 

Deck Spotlight: Triple Engine Aqua Force Degeneracy

Kudos to Alchemist Pants for the name.

So behind Gear Chronicle, Aqua Force stands as one of my most favorite clans and I finally started to go back to rebuilding them.

I was just strolling through some Japanese Aqua Force decklists to see trends in decklists and whatnot and happened upon a very... odd decklist that contained Ripples, Blue Waves, and Thavas all in one deck.

At first I thought the idea was horrendous and janky, but when I got to playtesting it it was... actually very very good.

Of course, it's a Japan list so it's janky, so I made a few edits of my own and this is the list I came up with(with budget choices, of course).

Deck Spotlight: Ripple Overdrive (Ripple Rush)

Ripples are just great. They really are. The deck I started out on this blog with too. Remember when Odysseus was at 4?

Ah, good times.

Sebreeze and Oddy nerfs have really taken a toll on the Ripple strategy, but they still are fun as hell and still strong. They're also my favorite rush deck of the bunch, being the only one that's non-linear and has methods of plussing, through Sea-Turtle and multi-attacking and whatnot.

Budget Deck: Aqua Force (Ripples)

      Hey guys. My name's Robot Victor Chang. I'm a new writer here on Budgetfight Vanguard and I'm happy to be here.

Hello!