Monday, October 29, 2012

Circus Of Horrors

Today I will be covering a clan with more tricks and stunts than you can imagine I am of course referring to the Pale Moon Circus.  In this article I'm going to discuss choices, strategies, and my experience with this amazing clan.  Starting off this article I will say that this deck is not for the casual player however there are versions of it that can be used for that particular type of player.  Pale Moon requires a precise setup to make its plays devastating and if that setup is planned poorly the deck will suffer.  Many questions are asked about this clan and how it works and the answer is simple all you need to do is have the right balance of soul and field.  How does one achieve that?  There are a good variety of cards for the clan that allow a player to build their soul but these choices are the most important when constructing the deck.  You will be faced with choices such as precision soul charging which of course has a cost and free randomized soul charging which does not.  What you need to keep in mind is free is not always better in fact being able to choose the cards you soul charge is far more effective and keeps important cards in your deck where they belong.  Field setup is the other half of the equation where soul charging and it go hand and hand.  An example of this is the tamer series of crimson and turquoise which rely on having a crimson in soul.  Before set 7 the deck did not have precision soul charging and suffered because of it not being able to get the right cards in soul for its combos.  The point I am making here is that its better to precisely add cards to soul over a random pick from a card like skull juggler who is in fact a key card but is there for utility as a card that can soul charge and is a 7k booster which isn't terrible for hitting magic numbers.

Now we enter the field segment of this article and the beaters that this deck has are pretty vicious.  Starting our lineup we have midnight invader which is your typical clone of any other grade 3 vanilla.  Hold that thought i'm aware i just called it a vanilla but in essence it is due to the simplicity of the effect and that it has to attack the vanguard to get it.  So on to the next question why is this card good?  Well like any other clone of this card if you stick an 8k behind him he hits 20k on a vanguard and 18k on a rear not bad at all.  However Pale Moon does us one better with a turquoise beast tamer behind him he can hit 21k which is a key number against 11k vanguards so in short this guy alone can trample over your opponents with ease making him a solid choice for the deck.  Our next main beater of the deck is crimson beast tamer a card that was good from the start and even better now with precision soul charging added to the mix.  An 8k unit that swings for 11k is pretty nasty but if you stick a turquoise behind her she becomes a 20k column which is devastating since most grade 2 columns on hit 16k-18k.  This row in particular is important for targeting important rear guards on your opponents field making them over commit guarding to stop its assault on their precious key card.  examples of those cards would be emblem master, libra clones etc.  Basically and 8k or 9k with a dangerous effect will be a great target for the tamer duo to knock out since it will cause them to have to pitch a minimum of 15k shield to stop it.  Vanguards are also a good target of course especially 10k vanguards since it will cause them to commit 15k shield as well to stop the swing so late game this row can hurt especially alongside your 21k midnight invader.

Were coming to the mid point of our discussion which is combos and tricks.  Before that though lets cover another card key to this role and that card is purple trapezist.  Before set 7 pale moon was a straight beatdown deck with combos only made possible by hitting an opposing unit which caused the deck to be easily stopped by simply guarding those units.  The release of this monstrosity is all it took to make the deck hit the competitive scene due to its ability to loop combos and fully utilize the soul.  The other card that makes this card amazing is none other than the girl who crossed the gap which is the clans best choice for a starting vanguard.  Counterblast 1 to swap itself for a card in soul.  Purple trapezist is an awesome choice for that cards effect allowing you to swap in a useless card for a better one and also is great to set up a row that hits a magic number.  Like I said before soul is power in this deck and without the right soul the deck wont work.  So to setup these combos I would suggest using dancing princess of the night sky to precisely soul charge the cards needed.  Counter blasting 1 for a precise soul charge isn't much to guarantee you have what you need to make your opponent suffer.  So now that you are aware of the engine that the deck uses and how to utilize if to its fullest we can move on to the last part which is Grade 3 and essentially choosing the variant of deck to use.

So now we come to the fork in the road which is what deck to choose.  Lets look at our options you have 3 of them which are...

-Luquier (Aggressive and controlling Beatdown with alot of combos)
-Sarah (Grade 3 checker abuses alice has potential to attack 6x)
-Robert (cheap build for the casual player easy to use)

So there are the 3 options available to us in order of effectiveness and competitiveness.  Luquier recently placed 2nd in the Manchester World Championship Qualifier.  Luquier is for those who dare to challenge their skill level and if skilled enough are rewarded with combos and rows that tear into an opponents vanguard with ease.  Sarah isn't quite as effective but is still a fan favorite due to its ability to possible attack a bunch of times and abuse nightmare doll alice which is still a favorite card to pale moon fans and some don't want to play without it.  The issue with Sarah is consistency since it requires you to have a grade 3 on the field and then to drive check another when most likely your running 8 total leaving 6 in deck if something hasn't already happened to them. Last is Robert who really is just a mention for those who wanna play casual of lack the money to afford the good stuff.

In closing this clan is simply amazing and given you take the time to learn it properly you will love it.  My experiences with the deck have been nothing less than great.  The deck building and options are kind of annoying since in this deck its really easy to throw the deck off track but once you find the balance and get past the learning curve its a powerful choice in any tournament setting at this time.  So what are you waiting for get out there and try it.  Right now the deck ill estimate to cost anywhere from 150+ for the competitive variants and robert will cost next to nothing minus the price of perfect guards.  I hope you all enjoyed the article and best of luck in your endeavors with the clan.  Ill post below my list that has been doing very well for me so enjoy.










Luquier Tamer Beat

Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer Luquier x3
Midnight Invader x4

Barking Cerberus x4
Crimson Beast Tamer x4
Dancing Princess Of The Night Sky x4

Skull juggler x3
Hades Hypnotist x4
Turquoise Beast Tamer x4
Purple Trapezist x3

Dynamite Juggler (crit) x4
Poison Juggler (Crit) x4
Rainbow Magician (Draw) x4
Popcorn Boy (Heal) x4
The Girl Who Crossed The Gap (Starter) x1



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