Breaking Tide

[Kafan]

I feared the day I would have to name this deck. And so "Considering Defenses, A Breath of Air 18", becomes "Breaking Tide", at least for the moment.

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Creatures (2 Radiance, 13 Water, 2 Gravity, 9 Lightning, 3 Ice, 3 Wind, 32 Total):
1 x Skyscout, the Humble --- [cost 2 Wind]
3 x Imperial Blue --- [cost 8 Water]
2 x Riptide Reef --- [cost 4 Water]
2 x Ghost Jellyfish --- [cost 3 Gravity]
1 x Shinanigan --- [cost 3 Lightning]
3 x Hakkar, The Spiteful --- [cost 3 Ice]
3 x Kilijoa --- [cost 4 Water]
2 x Aquila Superior --- [cost 4 Lightning]
2 x Skyhunter Elisia --- [cost 4 Lightning]
3 x Kafan Tara --- [cost 5 Water]
2 x Parkour L --- [cost 2 Water]
2 x Slim Jackson --- [cost 3 Wind]
2 x Jet Paradox --- [cost 6 Lightning]
2 x Regain Dalia --- [cost 4 Radiance]
2 x Swift Peregrine --- [cost 2 Lightning]

Spells (2 Water, 4 Wind, 6 Total):
1 x Air Cannon --- [cost 2 Wind]
3 x Full Sail --- [cost 3 Wind]
2 x Slipstream --- [cost 1 Water]

Runes (2 Water, 2 Total):
2 x Stealth Matrix --- [cost 2 Water]

Cost info:
1 : WW
2 : CC WW WW LL
3 : CC CC CI II GG L
4 : RR WW WW WL LL L
5 : WW W
6 : LL
7 :
8 : WW W

Average cost = 3.65

Creatures / Spells / Runes: 32/6/2

2 Radiance, 7 Wind, 3 Ice, 17 Water, 2 Gravity, 0 Earth, 0 Fire, 9 Lightning

Blockers: 7.5000005% (3/40).
Accelerators: 5.0% (2/40).
Damage 2: 5.0% (2/40).
Responcers: 2.5% (1/40).
Unblockables: 10.0% (4/40).

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This deck is generally focused not on tearing down the enemy field, but on pushing through it, and either disrupting or ignoring it enough to push a sudden victory through. With design points like Jet Paradox, Full Sail to speed victory along, as well as Imperial Blue, Hakkar the Spiteful, and Shinanigan to disable blockers or get dangerous creatures out of the way for a few more turns, this deck is reasonably well equipped to bypass or stir up the enemy's preparations and then slip through for a critical strike or two.

The two primary groups in this deck are the Attackers, and the Support & Disruption. The Attackers are twofold (almost any of the support groups can take an offensive role.) However in the primary sense, they are the likes of Jet Paradox, Aquila Superior, and Skyhunter Elisia, who are all heavy-hitters which also tend to provide some form of innate self-support, be it Aquila and Jet's untap or Elisia's troublesome power up. These cards provide the ability to take out many threats or make direct attacks, while at the same time discouraging or punishing offensive actions on the part of the opponent. Their primary ability, however, to defend themselves after striking, is the most valuable in this case. They require more effort to take out, and are able to strike with less risk in many situations where you can't afford retaliation. This allows you to limit the smaller portions of an opponent's field without fear of their beefier attackers, leaving them with a lower offensive speed without sacrificing as much of your own, and at the same time, with proper support, these attackers allow for swift, powerful precision strikes, especially on the wings of a Full Sail.

The other side of this deck is the Support, a large number of midsized creatures and a few smaller spells that work to keep your field healthy and to keep the opponent's plans unsteady. This portion of the deck takes several forms.

The first form, a continuation of the evasive striking of the primary attackers, comes from Kafan Tara, and in more complex or restricted circumstances, Slipstream. They allow the swarm that composes the other half of the attackers to attack in multiple waves, something otherwise likely to be crippled by a ready opponent, and help to maintain your stamina and prevent your opponent from gaining the upper hand with a only few well placed taps or removals.

The second form of the support, just as critical to the endeavor, and without which, the deck's offense could not function, is that of Imperial Blue, Hakkar the Spiteful, Air Cannon, and Stealth Matrix. These cards provide openings: either pushing out the opponents blockers, or delaying or disrupting their offensive capabilities by pushing off those two nasty looking [Damage 2] attackers for one more turn. The deck's offense uses the holes created by this support network to deal the critical strikes that bring the oppponent to their knees.

The final support network is a small number of creatures to run interference: to disrupt the opponent's plans, and to undo their gains. Riptide Reef and Ghost Jellyfish add to the disruptive effects of the Bouncers by working to choke off the opponent. Limiting their resources or disrupting things and forcing them to rethink calculated plans. These are cards that may not be critical to the deck's mission, but which nonetheless help by slowing down the opponent, and saving the Bouncers a little bit of work when it comes time to delay the onslaught long enough to defeat the source.

In this vein, the deck also has Kilijoa, providing a bit of extra deterrent, as well as interfering with aggression, and retaliating directly (not to mention allowing a Parkour->Kilijoa->Kafan->Blue CR chain), and Regain Dahlia, taking the opposite, but no less disruptive approach to defense: undoing what the opponent thought they had already dealt with, and forcing them to either repeat their effort and set back their plans, or to account for it, and spend even longer preparing.

This deck is particularly weak to any deck that has a significant capacity to choke off it's field. Its evasiveness protects it against normal threats, but anything that can consistently remove its creatures despite this, perhaps by tapping directly, perhaps by attacking untapped, or even just straight up destruction or the likes of Typhoon Wyvern is capable of crippling its buildup. Even temporary bounce, if consistent can cripple this deck's offense by crippling growth and wasting resources on recovery because of the low amount of acceleration employed to give the deck its speed. Additionally, if growth has been stunted, bounce or destruction can be horrific due to the lack of [Born Ready], and the common need to attack in strong waves due to the nature of the hole-piercing that the offensive support provides. It is also obviously vulnerable to tempoburn that slows its growth rate.

It is however, equivalently strong against decks that focus on reducing field through direct attacks in part, and blockers as backup with minimal tap effects, as it will be able to punch holes in the defensive wall, and then strike without retaliation. If it can last to around 8 or so tempo without losing significant ground, it often has the capacity to press a rapid or powerful assault through many moderate defenses.

I wrote this post in part to find out how exactly my deck's structure is flawed or can be improved. Having done so, I am reminded to look into alternatives for Parkour L and Ghost Jellyfish, as well as considering what I can do to streamline acceleration. I need to reconsider Stealth Matrix's place in my deck, considering how rarely I draw it, and how it balances out. This may come as an increase in count for a while, and perhaps eventually complete removal or just nothing at all. I am also reminded, as I have had some whim to for a month or two, to try an Ice or Gravity variant, instead of Lightning, just to see how different styles would suit me personally. It is also possible that I may need to rebalance or remove Skyhunter Elisia, as it is not as useful as it once seemed to be, in my recent memory.

Though I am likely to take them slowly, I am open to suggestions.

[Syrius]

My suggestion is Descence Wing as the t4 Lightning striker. With 3 Kafan Tara, 2 Slipstreams and 3 Full Sail, I just can't NOT suggest it.
Consider this: how can Aquila Superior appreciate your singing if she already has headphones playing the exact same song?
No metaphor/analogy against Skyhunter Elisia. EDIT: Just that it's vulnerable to ping kill and Sables.

[Kafan]

I really like the thought of Descense Wing, but honestly, even with 3 Kafan Tara, 2 Slipstream, and 3 Full Sail, I can't quite justify it given the amount of time I actually have the Kafan Tara status on the field. That said, I don't mind testing, so I'll sub it in for Skyhunter Elisia for a bit. Got any particular suggestions for ping kill that might work for me?

And see, the trick is, with Aquila Superior, her headphones mean I don't need the boombox set up every time to keep her safe, and the trick with Sables Duress, beyond the untenable cost for a deck with no other fire, is that I would be sacrificing the power of my entire group 2 Attacker set. I can't afford to give that up, considering how often they bring me the win. And really? Come on. You want me to burn Myself? I'm only 3000 power, you know. What would be left of my life, if I did that?

~creates the next iteration for testing~ "On Herons' Wings 19"