[VG][Aqua Force] Retires and Draws Ahoy! [Glory Maelstrom, Savas]

[[F.A] Galleon]

Before I begin, I guess I would need to add a little 'disclaimer' here, Although Transcendent of Storms, Savas is the Main Grade 3 Vanguard.
Aqua Force is a deck that is based around the Synergy between the Vanguard and all 5 Rear-guards, so every card, and how they are used is important for the function of the deck.
Another thing to note that this will be more of a 'deck profile' than anything else and I welcome any questions about the deck if it hasn't been answered in my 'analysis'.

General Strategy:
This deck was constructed with one goal in mind. To reap the highest amount of advantage possible during the turn you first perform Stride, usually Tidal-bore Dragon, unleash Generation Break, and immediately swing the game in your favour with all the card advantage generated in that single turn, allowing you to defend yourself when your opponent uses their Stride and immediately retaliate with Lambros the following turn which usually seals the game for you.

As such, You'll generally want a slower start and ramp up the offensive the turn you Stride, don't be afraid to empty your hand the turn you Stride Tidal-bore Dragon.

Grade 0: 17
SVG: Bubble Edge Dracokid.
[AUTO]:Forerunner (When a unit of the same clan rides this unit, you may call this unit to (RC))
[ACT](RC):[Put this unit into your soul] If you have an «Aqua Force» vanguard, choose one of your «Aqua Force», and until end of turn, that unit gets "[AUTO](VC/RC): When this unit attacks a vanguard, if it is the fourth battle of that turn or more, draw a card." .

Bubble Edge Dracokid, one of the less popular starters in the G-era Aqua Force Decks. Most people like to use Andrei as it's a 'fourth-attack on a stick,' and it has many interesting synergies with cards like Blue Storm Marine General, Ianis.

Why Bubble Edge? With the advent of G-BT02, many new ways to achieve high amounts of battles each turn has been released and Lambros adds the icing to the cake. This allows Bubble Edge to achieve a 'solid' +1 or a +2 (With Lambros). Bubble edge will usually be used the turn you Stride Tidal-bore Dragon, given to a Rear-guard that can attack twice in order to gain 2 cards from his effect.

Triggers: 16
Blue Storm Marine General, Despina x4 (Critical)
Supersonic Sailor x4 (Critical)
Battle Siren, Marika x4 (Draw)
Medical Officer of Rainbow Elixer x4  (Heal)

A quite standard line-up of 8 Criticals, 4 Draws and 4 Heals line-up our Grade 0s.
Every single trigger, except for the Heal has been specifically chosen due to their effects rather than personal preference.
It should be noted that due to the draw-power of the deck, Draw triggers are not actually needed for the deck to function, but rather are taken due to it's amazing effect.
Criticals are chosen and stands are ignored as Aqua Force shines when your opponent is forced to guard your attacks, either  out of fear of criticals or being at 5 damage. Forcing your opponent to guard makes them unable to get damage triggers which can and most likely will blunt your attacks. Stands also shine when your opponent is forced to guard, but without criticals, your opponent will likely be at 5 damage slower or simply not guard at all as there is no fear of 2-4 damage in one attack, which is much less effective.

Despina, Sometimes, your opponent just seems to be too tenacious, both of you are stuck at 5 damage. Then it is time for you to end the game with a Glory Maelstrom Ride followed by a Despina called behind it for an 'Unguardable' attack. Despina and Glory Maelstrom only prevents cards from being called from the hand, so be warned, If your opponent has 2 Interceptors when Glory attacks, your opponent can guard with 10K with requires you to get a trigger to bypass it. Battle Siren, Marika can alleviate this issue and make Glory Maelstrom completely unguardable unless your opponent has Interceptors with 10K Shields each or their VG has an ability that reduces your power.

Supersonic Sailor is as a pre cautionary measure. Although this deck uses few counterblasts, it never hurts to be prepared in case you really require that counterblast.

Battle Siren Marika. A power boost is used to force extra guards or win a game. With units like Tidal Assault and effects like Lambros, Marika's effect is effectively doubled making it very powerful to force more guards out of your opponent, which is why Marika is usually considered a staple in Aqua Force decks and this deck is no different.

Grade 1: 13
Emerald Shield, Paschal x4 (Sentinel)
Kelpie Rider, Nicky x3
Battle Siren, Sutashia x3
Flashlight Signal Penguin Soldier x3

Emerald Shield, Paschal, with the advent of G-Units and their high power, Sentinels are pretty much essential to your survival and 4 Sentinels is effectively a staple in every deck. Paschal is used over Platon, as the unfilp is not needed in this deck and sometimes it's very important to protect important rear-guards like Tidal Assault.

Kelpie Rider, Nicky, As this deck is focused on constantly Striding, Nicky helps to fuel Strides without spending extra cards. It's ability to add Savas to your hand is also very important, as Savas is the best Grade 3 you can ride while you're using Strides over and over, the Retire is much more impactful than you may first think.

Battle Siren, Sutashia, Easily the most tenacious enabler of four battles in a turn as it usually cannot be attacked. She also allows you to fulfil ridiculous amounts of battles like 8-9. She is usually used to sweep up Interceptors which are usually 9K. Place her behind your Vanguard to give her extra protection from clans like Kagero and Narukami who can retire the backrow if the unit in the front is retired. This also allows her to perform her duty without interfering with cards like Couple Dagger Sailor. Usually your VG is a G-unit so you might not need to boost it. However, if you don't see yourself striding as often or against Link Joker, place her on the sides to avoid getting her caught in the 'infamous' Link Joker 'Triangle Lock', allowing you to attack their Grade 2s alongside your Vanguard despite being locked. Sutashia is easily one of the more valuable cards in this deck, as she also assists in the act of drawing multiple cards with Bubble Edge.

Flashlight Signal Penguin Soldier, Not using your soul, which is also a resource is such a waste. Penguin provides a Substantial 1 stage boost to an attack while providing a +1.

Grade 2: 11
Tidal Assault x4
Magnum Assault x2
Couple Dagger Sailor x3
Sabre Flow Sailor x2

Tidal Assault, easily one of the most recognizable Aqua Force rear-guards. Ever since it's Debut in BT13, he has been finding its way into most AqF Decks and this time, it's no different. He provides the fourth battle capability, and force a substantial amount of guards if he is able to hit both times. With the advent of Lambros. Tidal Assault just got way more dangerous. With another Fourth battle enabler on the field, Tidal Assault can first take out a Rear-guard, and save his restand ability. When stood with Lambros, He can now attack twice with 19K and 14K Power each, without any other boost. Which makes him deplete many of your opponent's cards. Tidal Assault also serves an important purpose, with a booster behind him. He can punish players who choose to not ride to Grade 3 to avoid your G-units, as Grade 2 vanguards are usually 9K, same as Tidal. Which allows Tidal to attack a VG twice if there is no triggers.

Magnum Assault, a Spyros with a Generation Break and boosted requirement. Magnum quickly proves it's usefulness as it gains +2K after standing, giving it an important 11K power, allowing him to attack Vanguards with no further boost, which usually makes him slightly more dangerous Tidal Assault if you have the Counterblast and Generation Break and Boost. Overall, Magnum Assault does the things Tidal Assault does but slightly better, however, he is unable to be used during the Pre-stride phase which is why he is ran at less copies than Tidal.

Couple Dagger Sailor, a Basil with a Counterblast requirement, but hitting for 11K instead, once again, an important threshold. Being one of the only 2 main users of Counterblast of this deck, the other being Magnum. The cost of Couple Dagger is usually easily paid. making Couple Dagger very effective at her job, that is being a tenacious fourth battle enabler.

Sabre Flow Sailor, a draw 2 if you attacked a Vanguard with it on the fourth or more battle. Helps avoid Narukami and Kagero's Front-row retire tricks. Heavily useful for the turn you Stride for that massive handsize increase.

Grade 3: 9
Transcendent of Storms, Savas x4
Blue Wave Dragon, Tetra-Drive Dragon x3
Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom x2

Savas is your main Grade 3, the one you want to ride most of the time. Don't look down on that free retire, it can add up quickly and might just save your life. The GB(2) is mildly useful, but it is unfortunately mostly useless as Lambros would have defeated your opponent or you've lost already.
Important: Savas's Retire ability is activated when your attack for the fourth time, no matter if it is your Vanguard or Rear-guard.

Tetra-Drive is added as a Back-up ride due to it's good synergy with Critical Triggers and Sabre Flow Sailor if you choose to use it's Limit Break. It is also highly useful to quickly pressure opponents who stayed at a Grade 2 to avoid your Savas-Stride strategy.

Glory Maelstrom, despite being at the title is ran at a lower amount than Tetra-drive as it is a strictly worse thing to ride than the other 2. It's sole role is to act as an alternate finisher with Despina.

With all that being said, Savas is still the main Grade 3 and the other 2 is usually called as Rear-guards or discarded as Stride filler.

G-Deck : 8
Marine General of Heavenly Scale, Tidal-bore Dragon. x3
Marine General of Heaven and Earth, Lambros. x4
Snow Element Blizza x1

Tidal-bore is your staple first stride, you'll usually stride it first unless your opponent is about to lose and the stand (Without 10K Power!) from Lambros will finish him off, other situations where you wouldn't stride Tidal-bore first is if Bubble Edge Dracokid would draw you 3 cards with the help of Lambros. However, to accomplish that you require 3 battles, followed by the fourth battle by Magnum/Tidal Assault, and standing the Assault with Lambros's attack to allow you to draw 3 cards.

Do not be afraid to Stride Tidal-bore on-top of Savas even if you only have 3 battles. Allow Tidal-bore to be the third battle. Which pressures your opponent to guard it even more, because not only will you be able to draw a card, You can call a Rear-guard from your hand afterwards which will activate Savas, triggering a retire on-top of that.

Lambros is the staple game-ending powerhouse of Aqua Force, one of the main reasons Aqua Force is so powerful currently. Standing two units and giving them +10K each and having a 26K Unboosted attack forces a large amount of guards. Not including the fact that Aqua Force rear-guards usually thrive at forcing out mere 5K Guards per attack. It may only be 5K, but it still takes a card to guard it. Which causes Lambros to be one of the strongest opponent resource depleting cards in the game.

Snow Element, Blizza exists as you most likely wouldn't Stride Tidal-bore 4 times. and if miraculously your opponent survives two turns of Lambros, which is accomplished by damage triggers blunting the attacks. You can Stride Blizza and end the game with a massive vanguard attack. As when you attack with Blizza, you usually have 5-6 face-up G-units after activating it's ability, giving it a huge +25K or +30K power.

[Ibuki Kouji]

why don't you use Strikehead dragon.

[Cherry]

Jesus, the lengthy detail in this. <3

I like Bubble Edge here and I'm glad I wasn't the only one with the idea of using it in Neo Aquas. I think you could cut back on Tetra Drive's number though, if only to bump up Nicky's to get more of your Grade 1s going for your field setups and more Stride fuel.

How come you don't play Resist units if Link Joker is sort of problematic, though?

why don't you use Strikehead dragon.

Why would he?

[[F.A] Galleon]

First of all, the reasoning is... Strikehead Dragon isn't in CFA.

Having more Grade 3s synergizes well with Couple Dagger Sailor, and with units like Sutashia. The combination of those two means Your field is usually just full of unboosted attacks except for one column, so Grade 3s being 11K is important. And Replacing Tetra with Kelpie will mean you have the same amount of 'Stride MAterials', but Less attacker, and an extra booster that isn't going to boost much. But despite that, it's a pretty reasonable change as sometimes I do have way too much Grade 3s. It might be selective Bias, but 9 Grade 3 just seems to work more consistently for me.

As for the Link Joker match-up, unfortunately I haven't fought any.

Well let's just go over the points about not having Orthia.
First things first, no matter what you do, Aqua Force will have an innate disadvantage over Link Joker due to each clan's mechanics.
2. Orthia is usually placed behind a Rear-guard as a booster, as you know, that is the least commonly locked spot as it is not part of the Triangle Lock, making Orthia's Resist almost pointless, putting Orthia in that position also Blocks Sutashia which will be great when placed there.
3. Orthia's Effect is sort-of Subpar, as it gives the boosted unit Tidal Assault, but yet that unit cannot be boosted as Orthia had to boost to give the skill. That Soul blast cost also interferes with Penguin. With such great important units like Nicky and Sutashia I just don't see myself investing space for Orthia. She is only great in a turn where you use Lambros, but if you're locked anyway that's not going to happen.


Now, a long paragraph about fighting Link Joker.
This deck is based on the strategy where you play it slow ((Very few rear-guards from Grades 1-2)) and immediately kick it into Overdrive the turn you ride Grade 3. Going second is no doubt an advantage. As Link Joker is also on the Slow side, you can actually switch up your strategy and go for the fast Rush game. Link Joker's Locks happen when they can Break Ride or Legion. So instead of going for Tidal-bore, you can go for an all-out rush strategy and stride Lambros immediately instead and try to completely deplete the Link Joker player's Resources. If you don't feel comfortable using Lambros and want Tidal-bore, Try a field Where you have just used Bubble Edge (Sending him to the soul) and your VG's Booster being empty (As Bubble Edge would be there usually) and Sabre flow Sailor. This would cause both your VG Booster and One of the front row to be empty, severely hampering the Link Joker's  lock and potentially allowing you (You'll need very specific rear-guards but it's possible) to use Lambros and end the game the following turn as the cards you drawn should help you survive easily.

#TheDetailNeverEnds

[Cherry]

The detail. <3

This deck would likely be better if Aqua Force got a Resist Grade 2 that didn't require Legion, I understand your reasons for not using the Grade 1. Still, zerging Link Joker works so long as you have everything ready by the time you decide on that burst. ... I hope that strategy works by the time they get their own Strides though.

You have the classic Perfect Guards to stop The X from hitting your other open Grade 2 that's still live after Sailor Flow leaves. Even though that still brings two retires, lots of Penguins and sheer advantage can ignore that.

I like this deck a lot, save the Grade 3s. But you addressed that.