One Card Review:

Amon's Claw, Marchocias

Dark Irregulars, Grade 4

                                 It is said Amon has many fixers with overwhelming power.

The Amon Subclan is getting some more support,but "Overwhelming"? That's for us to decide. The full link to Marchocias is here, but we're going to also go through it line by line, and see how useful it will be.

So, to begin, we can discuss the current state of Dark Irregulars, and then the "Amon" archtype as a whole. Not exactly high tier, but certainly playable. There's a certain level of risk involved with that much soulcharging (with only 1 card even having an effect while in the soul, and that effect is to soulcharge more) - Dark Irregulars have a problem with sinking their resources into the dead pit that is the soul. Hey, we can't all be Genesis, with practically everything in the soul doing something about it, so let's hope G-Set 3 gives DI some choice.

We understand that we want to keep cards in our soul, and the amount we have directly dictates which effects our units will have, but that doesn't make it suck less when you have to stick Perfect Guards in there, or potential Stride Fodder, into a place where it's currently impossible to get them back. With the advent of cards like Psychic of Ash, Hadar, and Echo of Nemesis, the Legion format allowed those pesky triggers to be freed from the greedy clutches of the soul, and ready to be sent back to deck to "Seek the Mate". In the Amon archtype, however, once you're in the soul, no one can hear you scream.

And what a soul that'll be- with the Amon deck, you'll be soulcharging left, right and center- and be sure to say goodbye to anything you soulcharge. In exhange, however, you'll have an exceedingly strong Vanguard in Astaroth and Amon, with paltry soul of 10 cards (which is incredibly easy to accumulate in Amon) you'll be sitting pretty at 31k, double crit. Another 10? 41k, triple crit. Another 10? You crazy. Honestly, reach 20, and only go further if you want to feed Izaya and Doreen. 

Astaroth and Amon will eat up your opponents Perfect Guards fairly quickly, it's a given. If people still used limit breaks, you could lock them out of them by keeping yourself at triple crit, and keeping them on three damage. Like we used to do with Blade Wing Reijy. Remember him? Still, no one's using limit break right now anyway, at least not until the Grade 1 enablers come out for each clan, and even then, only if it's like...Prism Promise Labrador good. 

So that's your Vanguard well and truly kitted out, but what about your rear-guards? Well, if you're a DI player, then you'll know how good Doreen the Thruster can be. Izaya, Psychic of Dust, is a grade 2 clone of her that only works when you're in legion. The pair of them can stand to gain +12k just through using Amon and Astaroth's combined effects. They hit hard. But on a personal level, I really hope the new DI support does something about the clan's reliance on Doreen. Because, I've never been able to get a copy of her, and lots of people are missing out, since she's so hard to find (and obviously out of print by now). 

So, your Vanguard is pumping out crits like no ones business (and surely you're running 12 crits of your own, as a DI player it's required that you hate everyone) and your rearguards are hitting for crazy numbers, too- what's Marchocias adding to this? Uh, more power.

That might not seem required at this point, but Marchocias as a stride rewards you for the soul you have, rather than making you pump more in to boost those rear guards. 

[ACT](VC)[1/Turn]:[Counter Blast (1)] If you have a card in your heart with "Amon" in its card name, choose two of your rear-guards with "Amon" in its card name, and those units and this unit get [Power]+3000 for every five cards in your soul until end of turn.

So, taking the dream number of 20 soul from earlier, Marchocias will give itself and 2 of your rear guards +12k. Sure, it doesn't have all the crits Astaroth will have, but you've got a triple drive check to find those, and to refresh your hand, too. Marchocias seems like it will work well in the mid- to late-game, giving a smaller boost mid game (should be compared to Demagogue, who may give an easier boost since you'll still be soulcharging then), and a larger boost towards the end of the game, where you'll be finding it harder to boost your rearguards with the rampart retiring/dangers of over soulcharging.

So, to summarize:

Pros:

1. Lessens the push for more soulcharging when you've already reached the prime point to stop

2. Pure power boost to rear columns adds pressure, which you can capitalize upon by running units with on-hit effects

3. Simple, powerful effect that will cost your opponent several cards to guard for a single counterblast, you're hitting for 38k alone on 20 soul, 45k when boosted, and 57k if you decide to add one of the bonuses to your booster. But that's not advised.

Cons

1. You will need to decide between Astaroth's crit factory and the sheer power of the field. Usually field wins this over, but other times the threat of crits can scare the opponent into over-guarding

2. Early to Mid-Game, this stride will not be helping you much, where Demagogue will become the answer

3. Not a flaw with the card, per se- DI runs the risk of soulcharging its stride fodder, meaning that it may be harder to stride in this deck compared to others

Final Verdict: 

3.8/5

A simple and effective card. Doesn't fix the problems of the deck, but tries to alleviate the awkward stage in the end-game where you must choose whether to disadvantage yourself by soulcharging simply to feed the rear guards for one turn, or suffer weaker lines. Now, just stride this. Simple!