Hey there every one !
I finally wrote my article on hybrid decks.
Hybrid Decks
I/ What are they ? Generally, when you make a deck, you chose
one clan to play with. There are a lot of strategies you can use, especially in the most supported clans like Gold Paladin or Oracle Think Tank. But are you satisfied with this ? Do you think you've learnt everything there is to know about your favourite clan and how you can use it ? If you do think that, then
you're deeply mistaken.
Indeed, CFV doesn't limit you to using 1 clan only. you can use as many as you want, though the more there'll be in your deck, the more you risk facing problems (with triggers or with the abilities of your units).
In this article, I'll will tell you everything about hybrid decks that use
2 clans.II/ Because 1+1 ≠ 2 When you make 2 clans-deck, it is better to decide which clan will be your main and which one will be the support. If you make 50/50, you take a risk the odds won't always be in your favour, like with the pioneer ability of your starter.
Once you decided which clan would be your main, you must chose the one that will give it support. That's not something you can decide randomly. What you must wonder is
what can this second clan give to my main ? A very easy example is the Nova Grappler/Megacolony deck. It's one of the 2 best known hybrid decks because it was seen in an episode of the anime, the second being the MLB deck, but it's a little different so we'll come back on this one in a different section.
The Nova/Megacolony deck focuses on preventing your opponent's rearguards from standing with cards like Karma Queen, Lady Bomb or Hell Spider, while keeping cards face-up in your damage zone with the Nova Grappler units' skills to fuel the insects. In here, NG is the main clan, and Megacolony is the support. The insects use efficiently the counterblasts the grapplers cumulate with their skills. They are quite a good pair.
Another example is Kagero/OTT. This deck can be used either with a full soul (Tsukuyomi) or with a soulless strategy (Koko). The first uses more OTT cards than the latter, especially for the superior rides, and can let you use the Prediction style with cards like DOTE to put a lot of pressure on your opponent. The Koko version lets you draw easily while using your units' skills almost like in a pure deck. Both here allow you to get more defence, a thing that Kagero may sometimes lack, while staying strong on the offense.
As you can see, there is a lot to gain from uses 2 clans. But what are the downsides of the such decks ?
III/ When your deck trolls you Of course, everything isn't good in a mix deck. If it was, you'd see many more of these around. There are several things you must keep in mind when you.
First, the triggers. You won't be able to activate the effects of your triggers if you don't have a unit of the same clan as the trigger on the field. It can be either vg or rg. That's why you should play triggers from your main clan and avoid mixing them unless you have a good reason for that (when you play half/half for example and want to use a peculiar effect).
Then, you must be careful about skills that punish dual clanning. You won't be able to get your pioneers on the field if you ride a unit from another clan on them, Leaders won't be able to attack, some 11k vg will turn 9k.
Also, perfect guards can be a little tricky to use since they require you to discard a unit from the same clan to protect a unit from that clan. You should always play the PG from the clan of your main vg. (unless your main vg is from the support clan, which can happen. In that case, try to find an alternative for the PG, like special intercepts or g1 that become 10k shields).
Finally, some (a lot of) skills require a vg from the same clan. Because of that, not all units are playable in all decks, and you can mix all clans together.
For example, I tried mixing Shadow Paladin and Neo Nectar, but all useful units from either clan require a vg from the same clan, so the only units that could help in an hybrid deck were Gojo or Iron Tail clones, that both clan have, and who therefore wouldn't have been of any special use.
IV/Examples of Hybrid Decks and cards that you can play everywhere First, you must know there are cards that can be played with any clan. You must search for those cards as they'll be the easiest ones to add to your deck.
A few examples are the Pearl sisters from Bermuda Triangle, Karma Queen, Lady Bomb, and Hell Spider from Megacolony, or the Beast Tamers from Pale Moon.
I will now give you an example of a mixed deck and what I thought about when doing it. This is the Bermuda Triangle/Tachikaze deck some of you have already seen.
Grade 0 (17) :- 1 Bermuda Triangle Cadet, Weddel
- 4 Drive Quartet, Bubblin
- 2 Cooking Caspi
- 2 Comical Rainie
- 4 Drive Quartet, Shuplu
- 4 Drive Quartet, FlowsGrade 1 (14) :- 2 Mermaid Idol Felucca
- 3 Mermaid Idol Sedna
- 3 Mermaid Idol Elly
- 3 Pearl Sisters Pearl- 3 Raging Dragon SparksaurusGrade 2 (11) :- 3 Pearl Sisters Perla
- 4 Girls Rock, Rio- 4 Assault Dragon, BlightopsGrade 3 (8 ) :- 4 Top Idol Pacifica
- 1 Top Idol, Flores- 3 Savage King Now. Why mix Tachikaze with BT ? It's simple. Did you ever try playing with Bermudas ? Well, outside of Rivière, they don't have anything that hits very hard, so even though they can make quite the hand advantage, it's no use if you don't make your opponent use his.
That's why I added units from a clan known for its savagery. And as it is, the 3 tachikaze here are about the only ones that don't need a Tachikaze vg. King uses Pacifica's soulcharge to reach an easy 12, or 20 when boosted, and even 23 if I do it twice. Assault and raging make sure I don't lose cards in the process, and can also shuffle my deck in the process, so usefull if I sent a heal back with Pacifica.
On the mermaids side, I have Rio to draw, Perla to either put pressure or draw, and most of all to use in combo with rio. The deck doesn't use a lot of cb so I'll always have some for Blightops. Finally, if you're lucky enough to heal, you can even use Pacifica's Megablast as a finisher (don't expect it too much though, the deck isn't centered around using it and you clearly feel it when you play).
BUT ! This deck has its downsides too. The main one, as those who saw me play it could see x), is that you play against time. You both draw and soulcharge a lot, so deck out is never far. Keep that in mind if you intend to test it out.
V/ Final word ! As you could see, hybrid decks have a lot of potential. The challenge for you now is to manage to make the best out of them. I only told you about a few examples. There a lot of possibilities left for you to find for yourself.
Or how to hide the fact I still haven't played that many different decks myself :p
Well, I tried 5 different mix with different versions for them. I'm still looking for more