[VG] [Royal Paladin] A More Salome Deck

[shirii]

Hello dear friends of mine! I'm here to ask for some advice on this Jewel Knight deck, focusing on Salome because while Ashlei <<R>> is better, I love Salome too much and attachment, personal enjoyment and how pretty Salome is (I wonder if I could get hair like that?) so, here we go?

Grade 0's: (x17)
Dreaming Jewel Knight, Tiffany x1 (Starting Vanguard) ~ Considering running two, not tried yet.
8 Jewel Knight Critical Triggers
4 Jewel Knight Heal Triggers (Don't judge me, I'm lazy.)
4 Margal (Not sure if this is worth it. Might switch to JK Draw's, but with another unit ((that's only there as I had no clue WHAT to put)) it can fuel the soul.)

Grade 1's: (x14)
Flashing Jewel Knight, Iseult x4 (Standard Perfect Guard.) ~ Considering running the G variant, but dislike the lack of Jewel Knights. Can stop a Swordmy/Sabalmy combo thing in my experience. Might run 1/3, 2/2, open to suggestions.

Heat Wind Jewel Knight, Cymbeline x3 ~ I like this card, but with Swordmy and Salome's fetching skills, I didn't feel a need to run 4. Due to his 3 other Jewel knight requirement, I find myself fetching Sabalmy more. Also, due to him resting, its not as useful as say an Ashlei deck.

Jewel Knight, Sabalmy x3 ~ Limit Break enabler! Also a 7k booster, providing my rearguards with a nice 16k provided its a Grade 2 and a Grade 1. Only 3 thanks to Salome and Swordmy. ((Swordmy MVP. Did I mention you can fetch 2 units for 3 CB? Salome Swordmy, ship them and love them. Please don't actually, I value my sanity.))

Stinging Jewel Knight, Sherry ~ Jewel Knight, 7k booster, 10k beatstick. Why they made her require 3 other Jewel Knights I will never know.

Grade 2's: (x11)
Jewel Knight, Swordmy x4 ~ The MVP of this deck. Too useful. Want to Limit Break? Get a Sabalmy! Need to get more attacks in? Fetch a Sherry! Want to give any unit a stupidly good 10000 power, resulting in the possibility of a very angry 32000 Salome attack? Fetch yourself a Cymbeline today! Yes it's true get any god forsaken Grade 1 (Or lower, if you for some reason want a 5k boost) you want under the sun for the low price of 1 Especial Counterblast! Very good.

Fellowship Jewel Knight, Tracie x4 ~ 12k beatstick. Literally beat them into the ground. Again why she's a 3 other Jewel Knight requirement (not the hardest to meet, but still pretty annoying vs a Kagero deck) we'll never know.

Pure Wind Jewel Knight, Kymbelinus x3 ~ Hello 15000 intercept! Why am I running you? I really don't know. Maybe because Salome can summon a 15000 point shield, but really you are here to take space up. Please don't be too offended. I didn't want to run Sybill because Swordmy is Sybill but just better. Tilda... whats a Tilda? Another worse Swordmy? Alright. I've considered and tried Blaster Blade, who took up a bit too much Counterblast for my liking, Starlight Violinist to get a Swordmy out, Knight of Twin Sword for a Swordmy... I can't really find anything. I am very open to suggestions.

Grade 3's: (x8)

Pureheart Jewel Knight, Ashlei x4 ~ Hello Break Ride! How I wish you superior called a unit for CB 1 or for free. Yes, for free, give me a free G2 or lower Jewel Knight so I can get a Swordmy and another unit for 1 Counter Blast. It's fair because no power increase. In all seriousness, the game plan for this girl is to sit on her 11k defense (which has come in handy!) and Stride on her as well, prepping up for a Salome turn. 32000 Salome attack! 3 critical! How do they guard? It's simple they don't unless you were dumb and went in when they had a Perfect Guard or a giant hand that even the man with the world's largest pen is jealous of.

Leading Jewel Knight, Salome x4 ~ It's my beautiful Salome. A mini Majesty Lord Blaster! How I really wish you were the whole time. It would be fair if you ask me! Have 4 Jewel Knights, get rewarded with 12000 and an extra critical. They could attack rearguards, retire them with retire skills. Why, Bushiroad? Why have you forsaken us. In all seriousness (again) we plan to use this as our finishing move! We rally our troops with a Break Ride into a CounterBlast two and superior call our Swordmy, who superior calls a Cymbeline behind Salome and she charges in at a frightening 32000 power! It's genius, truly, I tell you. I'm very modest.

Grade 4's/G-Zone: (x8)

Divine Sacred Dragon, Saint Blow Dragon x4: Burn the cards like we burn the witches! Unleash high powered and devastating attacks that'll win you the game or just burn through their hand as you wait to strike with Salome. It even saves Counterblasts, allowing you a much better shot at getting 4 Jewel Knights for Salome and Swordmy shenanigans.

Vague Sacred Knight, Gablade x3: Get yourself a Swordmy or a 15000 shield for just playing this damn game and hitting once. It is literally counterblast 1, summon two units, or summon a G2 that can have 15000 shield. I like this card.

Flash Flame Divine Knight, Samuli x1: Got a full field? Check! Opponents at four damage? Check! They don't have enough shield to guard all 3 attacks, meaning they have to take one of your attacks! Samuli rides into battle on a pegasus, the long lost brother of Gancelot (head-canon). If you ask me forcefully inflicting a damage is completely dumb, and thankfully it isn't Vortex Dragonewt level dumb. It's just a bit silly to play perfectly well and then lose becuase they just forced you to take one damage AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN GET TO USE YOUR TRIGGERS EFFECTS COUGH COUGH DRAGONEWT COUGH. But my saltiness aside, this damn card can win games. Super strong card!

The Game Plan:

We gradually ride up to Ashlei, calling units to bolster our rearguards and gradually wearing down our opponents cards. We play it safe, keeping cards in our hands and thinking about who to attack. Think every move through! This isn't a super technical deck, yes, but you can't afford to make major misplays. Call your Sabalmy too early and you just got it retired and forced yourself to take 4 damage just to use two fancy skills.

The main way we build up to our winning image is by sitting on Ashlei. We positively HAVE to sit on this card. It provides us with 11k defense, which is a major increase from just 10k. Sure, many decks are building to hit 11k's anyway - but if they just call a Grade 1 Unit with 6000 Power and a Grade 2 with 9000 power you throw away 10000 shield every turn just to stop that. It's better to play it safe. Not as amazing as 13000 defense, yes, but still important. The Break Ride itself also sets you up rather nicely for Salome's game end. She ain't a restander, but my god she can get the job done.

"B-But Alexis! I don't want to sit on a vanilla Vanguard all game! I don't have any pressure!" You cry out, unable to run away from your Shadow Paladin deck.

"But, you silly reader, you have the wonders of Stride! Stride a Gablade! Now if they don't guard you get two free units. That's a whole column! Stride a Saint Blow! If they're bad at this game, they were not expecting this and are scared out of their mind. If they are good at this game, they were expecting this and are scared out of their mind. Win-Win!"

Our winning image is to ride ourselves onto Salome, using her Especial Counterblast to superior call a Swordmy or a Cymbeline. Or any other card we might need, but we usually call a Swordmy. Cymbeline is when you don't have space for a Swordmy, or you don't have any Swordmy's left (this is tragic, run legion at once and recycle him back in).

I tried to make this a bit more engaging to read rather than just listing the cards and saying "r8 muh deck 8/8 no h8 m8 pls r8 m8 xX_McSwagginDoucherNozzle_Xx"

I hope you enjoyed reading and I hope to join you all for very serious discussion and light hearted debauchery.

[shirii]

Posting a few adjustments after a game and some thoughts.

I'll be dropping a Cymbeline, he's just not pulling through. 3 down to 2.

I'll also be taking out a Sabalmy. Who needs 3, as long as one isn't damage checked I've got it no matter what when I should need it. Still not sure about this one!

or i ride one but we don't talk about that.

Also I need to add Prizme's. I'm considering dropping my Sherry's to 2 and picking myself up 4 Prizme's. Or perhaps a 3/3 Sherry, Prizme? What do you guys think?



So, in conclusion;

CONFIRMED CHANGES;
Jewel Knight, Sabalmy x3 - x2
Heat Wind Jewel Knight, Cymbeline x3 - x2

SPECULATED CHANGES;
Stinging Jewel Knight, Sherry x4 - x3 or x2
Jewel Knight, Prizme  x0- x3 or x4.

I will not be editing the main post YET as I have not fully put these changes into effect, due to me not sure if I should go through with them/ put what in it's place. But I DO want some Prizme's.

[Crystalia]

My thoughts on this. In my opinion, although not a Jewel Knight, Starlight Violinist is extremely useful in 'Pure' Jewel Knight deck builds, as it allows you to get a Swordmy, and get a G1 with Swordmy. It is also the best ride in the deck, particularly if you run Heloise.

I'd also say run Heloise, as Heloise not only fixes your numbers, and allows your G2 VG to swing fine at a G3 VG if you choose to stay at G2, but also boosting Salome hits for 20k, meaning if you ride Salome first, when your opponent is at G2, they need 20k shield to be able to 2 pass your 2 crit Salome.

Also, about your Tilda bit, i personally find 1 Tilda to work quite well (if you run Violinist), as if you have only 1 CB open, you can superior call Tilda to get out a RG next turn, or make your opp go after her (Tilda best attack magnet).

I'd also run 12 Crit in Salome, but that is preference based. If you don't go 12 crit, run the JK draw trigs over the Margals in my opinion, helps with not checking a non JK as first/second damage. Likewise I wouldn't necessarily run Ashlei due to her being 'slow' but it probably won't make a difference the majority of the game, and that 40k-ish 3C Salome column can steal games.

With your G1 choices, you have options. I personally like Cymelinus at 4, and then dropping them either all at one turn for huge columns (combined with Samuil, Jiron or Saint Blow), which can be devastating. I also like Sherry at 2-4 as she is very useful early game, and helps a lot. Sabalmy at 2 is fine as unless you ride 1 and Damage 1 (it happens sometimes :/) you will still be fine getting one out.

I'd also run 1 Jiron over 1 Gablade as the majority of the time you will not want to Gablade 3 times, and the extra stage that Jiron provides can tip the game in your favour.

TL;DR: + 3 Starlight Violinist (very good card for mostly pure Jewel Knight), + 1 Tilda (attack magnet plus delayed Swordmy from Violinist), + 1 Jiron, then you can alter your G1 lineup as you want, although I prefer 3+ Cymbelines and Sherries. Hoped this helped though, just my thoughts on Salome decks. Oh yes, and run 12 Crit if you want, helps hurt your opponent a lot and RP can use them well.

[shirii]

My thoughts on this. In my opinion, although not a Jewel Knight, Starlight Violinist is extremely useful in 'Pure' Jewel Knight deck builds, as it allows you to get a Swordmy, and get a G1 with Swordmy. It is also the best ride in the deck, particularly if you run Heloise.

I'd also say run Heloise, as Heloise not only fixes your numbers, and allows your G2 VG to swing fine at a G3 VG if you choose to stay at G2, but also boosting Salome hits for 20k, meaning if you ride Salome first, when your opponent is at G2, they need 20k shield to be able to 2 pass your 2 crit Salome.

Also, about your Tilda bit, i personally find 1 Tilda to work quite well (if you run Violinist), as if you have only 1 CB open, you can superior call Tilda to get out a RG next turn, or make your opp go after her (Tilda best attack magnet).

I'd also run 12 Crit in Salome, but that is preference based. If you don't go 12 crit, run the JK draw trigs over the Margals in my opinion, helps with not checking a non JK as first/second damage. Likewise I wouldn't necessarily run Ashlei due to her being 'slow' but it probably won't make a difference the majority of the game, and that 40k-ish 3C Salome column can steal games.

With your G1 choices, you have options. I personally like Cymelinus at 4, and then dropping them either all at one turn for huge columns (combined with Samuil, Jiron or Saint Blow), which can be devastating. I also like Sherry at 2-4 as she is very useful early game, and helps a lot. Sabalmy at 2 is fine as unless you ride 1 and Damage 1 (it happens sometimes :/) you will still be fine getting one out.

I'd also run 1 Jiron over 1 Gablade as the majority of the time you will not want to Gablade 3 times, and the extra stage that Jiron provides can tip the game in your favour.

TL;DR: + 3 Starlight Violinist (very good card for mostly pure Jewel Knight), + 1 Tilda (attack magnet plus delayed Swordmy from Violinist), + 1 Jiron, then you can alter your G1 lineup as you want, although I prefer 3+ Cymbelines and Sherries. Hoped this helped though, just my thoughts on Salome decks. Oh yes, and run 12 Crit if you want, helps hurt your opponent a lot and RP can use them well.

Yes, thank you, this helped very much! I'll be sure to give Heloise a shot, she is quite fun. I used her in my Ashlei <<R>> deck, was quite fun swinging for 21k with both normal Ashlei and Ashlei R if you got the crossride.

As for the Tilda tid bit  (oh my god im so lame ._.) I'd love her so much more if her skill counted when it was G3 or greater or when your G3 unit returned to the Vanguard circle after striding. She is quite the attack magnet though, so I can see where you're coming from. Starlight Violinist, perhaps I was too quick to judge. If I run Margal, it can fuel the soul and Starlight can counterblast it, but even if I ran Jewel Draws it would be fine I'm sure. CB 2, Soul Blast 1 for two units is actually very fun to play with. 12 Crit, I'm all for it. I'm sure they won't like a 5 Crit Salome ramming them. Salome is bae.

I'll experiment with your ideas! Ashlei is mainly there for the nice Break Ride game finisher, and the 11k defense which is something that I found my Cecilia deck punished with. Feelsbd. Plus Neo Nectars exist, from my experience they hit the 30k or 35k mark a lot of the time. So its either 25000 to guard or 20000 to guard depending on 1000 power difference. It's kept me alive and won me games!

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I will give them all a fair trial and get back to you soon. Unable to playtest at the moment. Thank you!