Techfight Theoryguard:Nitpicking Techs for 

OTT & Pale Moon

This short post is just going to point out some cards I've been using lately. The tech cards will benefit Oracle Think Tank and Pale Moon.

- Subclan Crits -

Battle Sister, Muffin, and also Silver Thorn Assistant, Dixie, have a different effect ruling to the usual "If you have X, you may pay the cost". These cards instead let you return the card outright, then check for the required Vanguard. if they do not find that vanguard, they activate as much of the effect as possible; i.e., in this instance, they shuffle the deck. Handy for Silver Thorn and Battle Sister, right?

Well, how about considering using them in other builds across the clans? Magus, Susanoo, Harri and more can benefit in interesting and minute ways from critical stacking in this way.

Naturally, calling Muffin or Dixie straight from hand just to send them back to deck is a pure minus, but there are situations you can work around this, and turn matches in your favour- this wouldn't be the nitpicky-est of tech cards if it wasnt applicable in 95% of your games.

In most OTT builds (RIP OTT, I'll wait for you to get the attention you deserve), you will bully through your deck, drawing and drive checking. With very little deck replenishment available, Muffin may actually be a solution for that last turn when you have a few cards left in deck, and its all or nothing- send back a few Muffin, and you've literally stacked your deck with crits- you've a good chance of seeing them, and you won't deck out. 

Muffin is also nice because her effect might also let OTT decks tech in one of the Battle Sister stride when she's available- sure, the stride herself will be vanilla, but the critical's deck stacking, mass countercharging and slight power gain are nothing to sneeze at, especially considering there is room in the Oracle stride deck. Boy, is there room.

Dixie works in a similar way in Harri or Pure Magia builds, only you're not going to be dropping her often from hand. Instead, you can filter her through the random soulcharges, and turn those unnecessary Cat in High Boots later game calls (not as fun when there's no 5k sweetener) into a crit back to deck, before you activate Milward or Mephisto. 

It's all too easy to be a little overzealous with the Peryton and Cutie Paratroopers in the early to mid game, and deck out is a very real problem if you're not paying complete attention (it happens.) Dixie is forgiving of that.

-Personal Tech-

I might just have not seen many Nightmare Doll decks, so I'm unsure how creative or original this tech is, but Madcap Marionette is an interesting and useful card for Dolls, I find. On call it adds a card from hand to soul. This kind of minus for a specific soulcharge is mostly terrible in most other Pale Moon builds, but in Dolls, it has some nice synergy.

Firstly, he's a Workeroid, making him a friend of Beatrix. Secondly, he's completely optional. Thirdly, 6k isn't terrible in Dolls because he can be placed behind an active Jumping Jill or an Alice and hit for normal numbers.

In Dolls, I find that random soulcharging is never what you want. You want a Ginny in Soul, and Alice in soul, Catherine on VG, and an Alice in Hand or on RG. That's all. Catherine on Ride will give you one of those soulcharges, and Ginny is best ridden or even if you call her she'll swap with an Alice or Soulcharge herself. Beatrix herself can stack your soul if they're on RG, but by the time you stride, it's a little late for set up in Dolls.

Sometimes, things can go wrong. Consistency is shaky in Dolls, and sometimes, you're grateful for Madcap. He's a friend. Also, the drop from hand is fine because you shouldn't really be guarding early game anyway. You want the damage to counterstrike.

That concludes my little list of techs. What cards do you like to use?

- mawile

Scarlet Starlets: The Red Witches of Oracle Think Tank

A decklist and theory guide

When it comes to aging well, CoCo could school Loreal. 

Grade 0 - 17

Little Witch, LuLu x1

Nebula Witch, NoNo (Stand) x4

Psychic Bird (Critical) x4

Vanilla Critical x4

Lozenge Magus (Heal) x4

Grade 1 - 14

Emerald Witch, LaLa x2

Divne Sword, Ame-No-Murakumo (Stride Fodder) x4

Arbitrator, Ame-No-Sagiri (PGG) x4

8k Vanilla x4

Grade 2 - 11

Silent Tom x4

Promise Daughter x4

10k Vanilla x3

Grade 3 - 8

Scarlet Witch, CoCo x4

Rose Red Witch, CuCu x4

Grade 4 - 8

Floral Witch Master, MiMi x4

Rain Elemental, Madew x1

Soaring Auspicious Beast, Kirin x1

Sword Deity of the Thunderbreak, Takemikazuchi x2

Let's dive in.

Grade 0 Summary

Everything here is fairly orthodox- crits, LuLu for a draw upon hitting Grade 3, but one card will stand out.

NoNo apparently said "no no" to school, with those spelling errors in her flavor text.

A STAND trigger? In MY Oracle Think Tank?

Call me a heathen, but as we all know, cards with the Witch name help our super handy new stride, and while ideally,you're NOT going to want to send a 10k guard, it can be worth it for the pressure it puts your opponent under. 

Also, her effect is handy for loosing stray cards in soul- want to send more triggers back to deck? Want to make that soul lower so you can reride more Rose and Scarlet Witches to draw more? Want to do all this WHILE also drawing? NoNo's your gal! Hitting her as a trigger works, too, since with the lower handcount your opponent should have, restanding will chip away at that hand- plus, once you get them to 5 damage, Crits will become sadly moot.

Grade 1 Summary

8k Vanillas for Tom, check. PGG to unflip for near constant Scarlet and Rose abuse, check. Ame-no-Murakumo for reliable stride fodder, check. Emerald Witch, LuLu....uh.

That awkward moment when you pick up the fugly-ass wand and style it out because all the cool witches are watching.

Emerald Witch, LaLa. RRR for reasons unknown to anybody. If you can get her, she's a nice addition for MiMi fodder. You'll never use her effect, though. You just don't need to. Ever. Call her only in desperation.

Grade 2 Summary

Yep, four Silent Toms. Unoriginal, I know, but he's still as good as ever, and with Mimi's potential for hand eating, he makes your opponent dance even more to the tune of his....gun. Also, he'll attract all the Rearguard hate, so be sure to stockpile him.

Finger-blasting fun with Tom. Say that 5 times fast. Congratulations, you're now my friend.

Promise Daughter is a test unit for now- she's vastly superior to Tankman Mode Beamcannon, her G-Protege, in terms of effect, viability, and even art - sorry, I'm not into mechas.

But, testing will show how likely this deck is to deck-out, even with Lozenges. If it draws too easy, then Tankman will be the way to go. If not, Promise Daughter will turn that extra hand into easy 21k columns aimed wherever you damn well please. Personally, I like to make my opponent pay extra guard to keep those key Rearguards, and with MiMi and Tom keeping their hand low, Promise may well be a retire unit.

10k vanillas offer early guard against rush, simple. Also, not many other options.

Grade 3 Summary

Scarlet Witch, CoCo is handy as always- the 3 card draw on turn three in tandem with Little Witch, LuLu is extremely handy, and challenges those hoping to Grade 2 stall to out draw her. Then, she's eligible for Madew, which is a handy first stride if you don't have enough witches in hand/want your fodder back immediately.

This whole event is really fun until one of those bunnies lands on your head. Then it's all "lawsuits this" and "lawsuits that".

" [AUTO]:[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on (VC) or (RC), if you have a vanguard with "Witch" in its card name, and the number of cards in your soul is one or less, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw two cards, choose a card from your hand, and discard it. "

Handy, huh? 11k to sit on for lategame, and easy selective draw for 1CB. Calling extra copies of her can be problematic, since you may want to discard her for MiMi, but honestly, she's great support. Super handy, and in tandem with CoCo, gives you that hand you crave, digging for the fodder you want and the Toms you want to crush with.

Grade 4 Summary

Soaring may find itself out of a place soon, depending on how well Madew performs. MiMi at 4 is near staple- you may not pull her off that many times, but she DOES drive the deck, and striding her as often as possible is a definite plus. If in desperation, Thunder Deity makes a nice addition to your hand, should you need it.

We've all had that day where we forget to put on pants and levitate in midair. Let's all just not look, okay?

MiMi drives the deck. Her effect is potent pressure, forcing damage early game, and forcing a loss in advantage late game. Nobody likes to discard cards. Ever. Not without them doing something first, or the process being worthwhile. It gives your opponent a painful dilemma- ditch the Grade 3s without guarding potential, and give up stride fodder/PG fodder/future game options, or discard Grade 1s and 2s, future Rearguard options?

Add Tom into the mix and things get worse. Will they ditch grade 0's, needing the other units for Tom's attack, losing a potential 20k guard from hand?

Worst case scenario here, you're down 1 card, and they're down their previous turn's drive check.

When dealing damage, MiMi thankfully ignores trigger effects, pushing the opponent closer to defeat, heightening Tom and Promise's pressuring capabilities. They either discard those cards to avoid the damage, or take the damage and spend cards to guard further damage.

In short, the deck looks to be pretty fun. Testing will show how well it works, but for now, let's just admire the Red Witches.

mawile x

What will "Oracle" bring to Oracle Think Tank?

A desperate OTT fan's pleas for...something we hope you'll really like.

"Oracle" activates when you have 5 or more cards in hand. Simple, effective. But where will this lead? If you read any Oracle thread, or article on the Wiki, there's the usual cries for OTT to get...something of substance.

Now, I could go into detail about how OTT is no longer the only deck to draw- it's also not even the deck that can really draw the most- but that's a whole other article entirely, and they're points I've rehashed so often, over and over with friends that play the game, that even I'm sick of hearing them.

One thing that we can agree on, however, is that OTT needs some kind of presence. An offensive one. They need to take off the kid gloves. Silent Tom isn't really enough anymore- he's a crazy unit, but 8 spaces (at least) to use him isn't healthy. Luckily, however, my crackpot theory is that we might be getting some more options very soon.

My theory is simple: Oracle would be redundant if it counted your 5 card hand, and then let you draw more. We can already draw. What we might get, instead, however, is more units like Rigid Crane. Offensive units.

That's right. Offense. Crane gains power, and the ability (on-hit) to mitigate costs next turn. This is good. It's not wonderful, but it's a step in the right direction. 

To summarize, I'm just stating the obvious, really. But let's hope  by the time GB-05 comes around, Oracle Think Tank can get itself going again a little bit.

- mawile  x

One Card Review: 

Goddess of the Treasured Mirror, Ohirume

Oracle Think Tank, Grade 3

Firstly, may I preface this review by telling you what a fan I am of the Oracle Think Tank clan. I've suffered in the trenches, back in the days when Amaterasu carried the clan, Coco threatened to steal focus, and Tsukiyomi just went ahead and stole it.

These days, with the advent of G-Set 1, Oracles have finally been given some much needed support (although still, not quite enough), and it makes you wonder: How is CEO Amaterasu doing?

In answer to that question, she's doing okay, but not great. It pains me to say it, but while Ohirume gives Amaterasu most of the toys she needs (a 11000 Power body, a soul charging mechanic and the slightest chance of an (essentially) free couple of draws) these toys are inherently flawed.

The soul charge isn't all that helpful anymore, as it's main usage is clearly to set you up for the Amaterasu MegaBlast, but it doesn't make a lot of difference. By the time you're able to set up the 5 draws, you'll most likely be approaching deckout. Think about it, with the 2 Trigger Checks per turn (3 if you're striding- hell, 5 cards taken from the deck if you're striding Takemikazuchi) and the 3 Soulcharges from Amaterasu and Ohirume, and you're draining resources, pushing you to Legion more...and for what? A situational Megablast? Soul cards that are either outclassed by Susanoo, or cards that the deck simply has no room for (Euryale)?

Another aspect to consider is the starter. Imperial Shrine Guard, Hahiki supports the soul, uses up one of the counterblasts you have an abundance of, and lets you dig a little into your deck for a card, while Little Witch, LuLu sets up Legion, also gives you a card, and forgives the awkward moments when you have to ride a perfect guard, by removing it from your soul, allowing it to become part of the deck when you Legion. Lulu is usually the better choice, so you don't have to drop too many cards in hand early game simply to Legion, but she resets you at 0 soul, so if you're intent on using that megablast, or have some kind of turbo hand refresh strategy that relies on the soul count - Faithful Angel and Oracle Guardian, Blue Eye.

The Unflip is nice, but annoyingly, Oracles find themselves with a drought of generic counterblasting units. Stellar Magus and Diviner, Kuroikazuchi can net you some cards in hand, and with Ohirume's support they can work for longer than you'd anticipate. The Unflip is nice here. As for choosing between Stellar and Diviner, I personally find Diviner to be more reliable, since as long as he's boosted, he's gonna give you that card, long as you get at least one stride in early.

Another aspect that hurts Ohirume is simply a matter of timing. The Stride Step is before the Main Phase, meaning, that you  miss the chance to perform Legion, or you miss out on the Scry Amaterasu gives you. Missing the Legion essentially pushes you back two turns away from getting that Scry, as due to timing again, Amaterasu will not give you that check during the turn you Legion, as you missed the moment. As the check is relatively important for being forewarned (Crits for Silent Tom, useful cards to be drawn with Stellar/Diviner), this hurts the deck.

The 11000 Body, however, is good. Coupled with the +4k boost Amaterasu gains so easily, it makes the Legion hit naturally for 25k, and then hit harder for 32-33k when boosted by a standard 7k/8k booster. As 32k forces at least 25k guard (and when boosted by that Little Cutie, that's a 25k guard on Crossrides), Ohirume &Amaterasu hit pretty hard, and will force Perfect Guards, or will eat your opponent's hand. And this is before the ladies hand off to Silent Tom, who will really put your opponent in a tight spot.

So, to summarize, the Pros and Cons of Ohirume:

Pros
1. 11k defence is staple
2. 25k-33k power, basically for free, is very welcome
3. The unflip in tandem with Stellar/Diviner is fine
4. The odd occasion the draw effect actually works is nice

Cons

1. Soulcharging leads to no real advantage

2. Stride timing hurts the deck, and there's not a great deal that can be done about that

3. Apart from Silent Tom, the deck has no other real pressure- you just have to outlast them

4. The other many occasions where Ohirume's drawing skill falls flat leaves her effectively Vanilla

Final Verdict:

2.8/5

By no means a terrible card, but also, not quite a stellar one.

Compared and contrasted with Amon's Leader, Astaroth, it's clear that Ohirume could have been better.