#this does not actually cover everything i wanted to cover in the Big Marin Meta

[marinsawakening]

The part where Marin tries to wake the Wind Fish is probably my favourite part in the entirety of Link's Awakening for how effectively it plays into the overarching themes and message of the story, utilizing Marin's character.

Marin tries to wake the Wind Fish because she believes this might make her wish come true. This is not interpretation, this is text. Earlier in the game, Marin states directly: "They say the 'Balled of the Wind Fish' is a song of awakening. I wonder, if the Wind Fish wakes up, will he make my wish come true?"* We also know what she wished for because of this piece of dialogue during the beach scene: "If I was a sea gull, I would fly as far as I could! I would fly to far away places and sing for many people! ...If I wish to the Wind Fish, I wonder if my dream will come true..." Although Marin refuses to tell us what her wish to the Wind Fish was, this piece of dialogue also makes that abundantly clear. Marin believes that waking the Wind Fish will allow her to fly to many places and sing to many people, like a seagull.

And she is not wrong! If you get the secret ending (obtained by not dying during the game), you see a vision of Marin change into a seagull after the Wind Fish wakes. Marin's attempt at waking the Wind Fish and her repeated assertions that waking the Wind Fish might grant her wish is, in part, clever foreshadowing for this secret ending. This is clearly part of its function.

But another, arguably more important aspect of Marin's attempt to wake the Wind Fish is that it serves as a kind of dramatic irony for the player, regardless of whether they know about the secret ending or have even finished the game: at the point of the game where Marin tries to wake the Wind Fish, you, the player, have already had Koholint's Big Secret revealed to you. Marin, on the other hand, is entirely ignorant. We know that waking the Wind Fish would make Koholint vanish, but Marin doesn't.

An isolated, surface-level reading of the situation is as follows: Marin, in her naiveté, is attempting to accomplish something that would doom her. This reading is, to a certain degree, understandable: Koholint's transient nature, and its inevitable end, is certainly sad. We can wonder whether Marin, knowing the full extent of the consequences, would have still wanted to wake the Wind Fish. That was her home, after all, and while she would like to explore the great wide somewhere, she might have been less eager to if she understood that this is only possible if her home did not exist anymore.

But ultimately, this reading is shallow and does not engage with the explicit themes present all throughout Link's Awakening. While Koholint's inevitable end is sad, yes, it is also ultimately not a tragedy. The Nightmares in the world have the aim of controlling the dream and, to accomplish it, are prolonging it unnaturally. The only people who ever protest your quest to wake the Wind Fish are those same monsters, the obvious bad guys of the story. In the end, after the Wind Fish has woken up and Koholint has vanished, we leave on a shot of Link watching the Wind Fish fly off, smiling. It is the nature of dreams to end: all throughout the game, this is made abundantly clear, spelled out in the Wind Fish's final speech, and crucially: this is not a bad thing. The bad thing is forcibly prolonging a dream, clinging to it and refusing to move past it, as the Nightmares were doing.

Engaging with the game's themes, the cynical reading holds no water. Koholint's end is no doom; its doom would be existence in perpetuity, especially if ruled by the Nightmares, as would be inevitable (they are the ones keeping the Wind Fish asleep, after all). By attempting to wake the Wind Fish, Marin is not dooming herself. In addition to all of the above, again: there is an ending where she does have her wish come true, if the Wind Fish wakes. She was correct.

So what, then, is the purpose behind this scene? If not the dramatic irony of unwittingly working towards your own doom, what does it want us to take from it?

Marin is an interesting character on Koholint. While its other residents routinely and consistently fail to comprehend even the general idea of a world beyond this island (as shown by dialogue such as "Dude! You're asking me when we started to live on this island? What do you mean by 'when?' Whoa! The concept just makes my head hurt!" by the children in Mabe Village), Marin asks questions. She's restless, as evidenced by her frequent visits to the beach, her need to know about the world beyond Koholint, and, of course, her attempt to wake the Wind Fish. Why is Marin capable of these questions, whereas most of the other residents are at best unconcerned with the outside world or, at worst, incapable of even thinking about it?

It is up to interpretation, but I posit: for the same reason the Owl is. More or less, anyway.

The Owl is perhaps the strangest part of the dream, not just more aware than the other residents, but more aware than you, as well. It acts as your guide, purposefully so; it references being 'instructed' to help you ("I was instructed to give you directions... Your next goal is north, in Goponga Swamp!!"). The reason for this becomes clear during the ending sequence, where the Owl reveals: "As part of the Wind Fish's spirit, I am the guardian of his dream world." The Owl has a much more direct connection to the Wind Fish than the other residents, which makes sense; as the dream world's guardian, it would have to be aware of its nature and its mechanics in a way none of the other residents would be.

'As part of the Wind Fish's spirit' is interesting; the most literal way to interpret this is the literal one, where the Owl is a part of the Wind Fish's spirit in a way most everyone else on the island isn't. This is supported by the mural you find in the ancient ruins that tells you Koholint's secret, which depicts the Owl immediately alongside the Wind Fish.

But it is important to note that all of Koholint is a part of the Wind Fish; its dream, if nothing else. While the Owl obviously has a different role and greater connection to the Wind Fish than the other residents, it is not unfair to assume Koholint's residents all reflect parts of the Wind Fish, as dreams often reflect parts of ourselves, as well.

The Wind Fish is being forced into a slumber for much longer than is natural by the Nightmares. Repeatedly, the Owl references the Wind Fish growing restless as you get closer and closer to waking it. Before entering the seventh dungeon, the Owl states, directly: "Go! The Wind Fish grows restless!" Upon exiting the seventh dungeon, you can find Marin on the bridge, after having attempted to wake the Wind Fish.

I say the reason Marin tried to wake the Wind Fish, as a matter of fact, the reason she wanted to leave Koholint at all, is a reflection of the Wind Fish's desires to do the same. Her role in the dream is to reflect the Wind Fish's restlessness; or perhaps, that's a fancy way of saying that this is one of her main thematic purposes in the game.

Marin is Koholint's personification. Not necessarily in-universe, but for the purposes of gameplay. It is harder for the average player to get attached to the whole of an island than it is to get attached to a singular girl, who is opinionated and likeable, with a strong personality and hopes and dreams. Without Marin, Koholint's inevitable fading would have much less emotional impact, as Marin shows us that Koholint's residents are people, and provides a microcosm of the island as a whole for us to get attached to. Marin is, effectively, Koholint's representative to the player.

As such, Marin mirrors Koholint in many ways: sweet but mischievous, a bit weird but lovingly so; her name is literally 'Marin', meaning 'marine' in at least French and probably Spanish (I don't speak Spanish and only a little bit of French) and it's one letter off in English as well. When Marin tells you not to forget her at the end of the game, this is connected to the Wind Fish's declaration at the very end, that Koholint will now only exist in memory. This demand to remember her not just meant to be taken literally; it's also meant to be taken as a declaration by the game to remember Koholint.

As such: Marin's restlessness are intended to be reflective of both Koholint and the Wind Fish. Her desire to leave the island and fly away is the Wind Fish's, and therefore, Koholint's, as Koholint is a part of the Wind Fish. The purpose of having Marin try to wake the Wind Fish is to signal to the player that the island wants to wake up; the island's representative made an attempt, and the Nightmares' monsters punished her for it. She needs you to help rescue her, like you need to rescue the island.

Having Marin attempt to wake the Wind Fish is one of the strongest moments of writing in Link's Awakening, showcasing the story's themes and overarching message in an interesting way that adds a lot of character to Marin as well and I'm very, very normal about it.

*All quoted dialogue in this post is taken from the Link's Awakening DX script on gamefaqs, which I would truly love to hyperlink in this sentence but Tumblr is refusing to let me, so it can be found here: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gbc/197769-the-legend-of-zelda-links-awakening-dx/faqs/38914.

[kisaragizan]

Ultimate Storm (Aqua Force) + Thoughts

Hey everyone, Zane Kisaragi here once more! I’m doing a deck profile of my Aqua Force deck that I know was long overdue from December when I finally completed my Blue Wave deck with Set 9 stuff. The reason for the delay is because I’ve been going back and forth between my two favorite builds of the clan and ultimately I ended up picking one over the other due to various new cards, how it does vs the current meta, and overall how accessible it is to me. However, recently I’ve been taking a closer look at my real life deck and decided to revisit a build I made a year ago and further improve upon it (especially after I dropped it without updating it), which is the build now.

Deck Name: Ultimate Storm Deck Description: So for those who don’t already know, I originally had a deck profile called “Divine Storm” which basically took various elements of other Aqua Force builds, offensively and defensively, mixing them into one to give more flexibility and versatility across many different match ups. I’ll go through what I’m playing in real life and then what I’m playing online (because there are cards that I’m playing that have not been released so think of that segment as an “alternative cards choice) followed by why I dropped Blue Waves as a whole (for now), followed by my thoughts of Vanguard now and where my hopes of Aqua Force are towards.

Grade 3s

x4 Blue Wave Dragon, Anger-boil Dragon: The dragon himself. His GB2 is one of the most aggressive abilities that any of Aqua Force’s Grade 3s can have to a point that it can rival stride. Because my G-zone favors this card, he is technically my “ideal ride”, however even if I don’t ride him, I have a very strong back up.

x3 One Who Surpasses the Storm, Thavas: Favorite card, my avatar even. I sincerely hope that he gets a new Grade 3 edition of himself that helps out the entire clan. Other than that, there isn’t much to talk about this version sadly: I don’t really use his GB2 and although his retire does help, his ultimate form does cover the “control” part of the deck. Although, he is beneficial to have in the vanguard circle if you’re going into Lambros especially with Melania and Adelaide in the fray. However I always have my lucky SP Art in any/every Aqua Force deck.

Grade 2s

x4 Tidal Assault: Yes, for those who are familiar to my situation, I finally got myself a fourth Tidal Assault. The reason being is that: he was super cheap and the new print looked super shiny. I really shouldn’t have to explain what Tidal does for the clan outside of being the staple of any Aqua Force deck.

x4 Battle Siren, Adelaide: Thavas’ personal Grade 2 waifu. She is useful for one turn but she’s worth it especially in the control match up when you stride into Commander Thavas. 11k by herself and swinging twice from either front or back (if used with Commander), makes her super strong.

x4 Couple Dagger Sailor: Couple Dagger is one of my favorite grade 2s from the past because she allowed my decks to have an aggressive nature outside of Tidal. I feel as though if a deck is too generation break heavy it loses to Grade 2 or even Grade 1 gaming (namely 7cs Rush Grade 1 Rush), even in Aqua Force since your only way of evening the odds is by relying on Tidal. In addition, she doesn’t require a booster and even protects herself for later. Both reasons why I dropped Magnum Assault from my deck (although I might try him again at 1 or 2 later, not sure yet.)

Grade 1s

x4 Kelpie Rider, Nicky: Again, I finally managed to get myself my last 2 fodders just before I got my Commanders and Wailings. I still use him for my deck thin strats (especially if I want to ride the SP Thavas and/or have a hand full of triggers or need field). At times I do feel like playing less of Nicky so I can play more Grade 1s that will help but because Striding is needed, I prefer not to run into a situation that I can’t stride because I didn’t have Nicky at 4.

x4 Perfect Guards: I’m missing 3 Plato’s so zzz. Outside of that, you can get away without playing the counter charge PG because most of your strides cost next to nothing and a big power play will only require 3 CB at most. Not to mention, Supersonic Sailor is also here.

x3 Battle Siren, Melania: Thavas’ personal Grade 1. On Wave 3, CB1 if you have Thavas Vanguard to give herself 5k and a draw. She’s one of the best grade 1s to have because she can switch her roles from booster to attacker and she’s able to keep herself on the board majority of times. I even was playing her in Blue Waves because I found that Melania does more on a Commander and Lambros turn than Seagull Soldier did overall.

x3 Battle Siren, Stacia: I was often going back between 2 Stacia/4 Melania and 3/3 but at times I felt 2 wasn’t enough so I played 3 to help assist with Tetra-boil turns, Wailing turns, and even Lambros if my field was set up correctly. I might play her to 2 for a tech of something since I notice my soul builds up high and the only thing that soul blasts would be Adelaide.

Starter & Triggers

Bubble Edge Dracokid: I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: The best starter in all of Aqua Force. Rewards for being aggressive early, especially if you’re missing a grade 3 (to ride or to stride with). I should go further to explain that, Andrei is good but all of my grade 2 targets already restand and my only other available targets are Melania and Grade 3s. With Melania being a triple counter blast and calling a grade 3 is probably for emergency field presence. I have attempted to try Milotis (Wave 3, Soul Charge it when a Thavas VG attacks, call a Thavas from deck and at the end of turn add that Thavas to hand). However, I feel drawing 1-2 cards early as possible will be more beneficial to me than adding a Grade 3 since those cards could be heals, units, and even grade 3s themselves for stride fodder. 

x4 Blue Wave Soldier, Brutal Trooper: One of the 3 best criticals in the clan. You can shuffle it back into deck just to increase your critting and optimally, used with Tetra-boil will allow you to draw an entire wall of defense.

x4 Supersonic Sailor: Since I’m severely lacking the Countercharge PG, this is my main way of counter charging. Very rarely I use this but because of how often this deck draws, you’ll draw into it and you can shuffle back Brutal Trooper to maintain critical triggers that you can check.

x4 Battle Siren, Malika: Draw Triggers. I’m not huge fan of them especially since I have Petros, Melania draws, Bubble Edge draws, Brutal Trooper draws, essentially this whole deck is just “drawing”. The reason I have them is because originally I noticed I wasn’t drawing into something. Whether it be stride, or PG, or heals, units: I just ended up drawing into what I really needed. Chalk it up to RNG, I figured I’d try draws and eventually they started helping me get those missing cards. I’m still a bit skeptical about them because drive checking them when I need a critical is the absolute worst feeling, so I might just play 2 and throw in my Petros, but for now, draws are staying until I feel I’ve worked my way out of them.

x4 Heal Triggers: Heals are heals, they don’t really do anything for now. I still play Carolina but I also appreciate the Blue Storm, Kitchen Sailor aka “The Chef” and Ice Flow Angel. There is a new heal trigger with an effect coming out, which I’ll explain in the online portion.

Generation Zone

x4 Storm Dominator, Commander Thavas: Holy god yes, I finally got 4 one of them being an SP. (Yes, I got an SP pack but it’s a complicated funny story which I’ll explain later). One of the best strides in Aqua Force because of his versatility against Link Joker, Aqua Force’s greatest match up. Currently the best first stride too because enabling GB2 for Anger-boil and Thavas name for units like Adelaide and Melania to go off. I will say it actually feels good to have all 4. Originally the original deck profile was to make this card as strong as a Lambros turn since I felt Lambros in the meta that the deck was up against, was not a safe stride to go into.

x4 Blue Wave Marshal Dragon, Tetra-boil Dragon: Like I said before with Anger-boil, my G-zone is geared and favored to ride Anger because of Tetra-boil. While he does lose 1 Drive Check, he is able to restand when a rear attacks on the fourth battle. Paired with Brutal Trooper and you can honestly make back so much advantage if you’re unable to finish them there. I generally only stride into this for Brutal Trooper but he is a safer finisher to go into compared to Lambros especially given the meta. Speaking of.

x2 Marine General of Heavenly Silk, Lambros: I still have my two thanks to one of my closest friends. Lambros still retains his glory as being one of the solid finishers for Aqua Force especially since he’s free. However, back then and even now, Lambros faces a lot of “disruptions” especially from Gears, Kagero, Link Joker, Narukami, Granblue, and even Angel Feather. Especially with G-Guarding, I feel Lambros has a lost a lot of his value to be the “sole finisher” of the clan but he is still pretty powerful when the time comes.

x2 Storm of Lament, Wailing Thavas: Saving the best for last, the newest stride of Aqua Force that I got December. I’ve been so excited to get him because everything about him is just super amazing: from the art, the name, the lore I gave for him (because he’s missing one), and especially his ability. His GB2 is CB1 on Wave 3 or more, he gets 5k per rear-guard attack and opponent cannot call Grade 1s to the guardian circle. Already right here is super good: at the bare minimum, 36k with a grade 1 restriction. Lastly, his GB3 is when he attacks for every rear-guard attack, your opponent retires one of their units. I’d argue to say this is probably this is one of the most devastating strides in the entire game right now, even more than Phantom Diablo because you’re forcing your opponent to drop a lot of hand due to grade 1 restriction, they have to call back all of the units that were retired and in addition to the previous attacks that they had to deal with before, honestly a complete game changer. I play 2 because there have been times when I played 1 and I needed a second Wailing to seal the deal because they obtained a perfect guard after I had already used my initial one, plus the G-zone is pretty flexible to warrant 2. This is a pretty safe stride to go into because regardless if the attack gets disrupted, it’s still counted as another +5k, even attacks that whiff or go at a rear guard. I have had the pleasure of breaking a GC wall of defense with Wailing + triple triggers all to vanguard. Even in the face of clans with recycle Perfect Guards, Wailing just does not care and the aftermath of it is pretty messy. I’ll rant more about how glorious Wailing is later.

x2 Guard Leader of Sky and Water, Flotia: Wave 1st or 2nd, she gains +5k Shield. She’s okie, not the best, maybe the worst but I have ranted about how she can screw with attack patterns especially on restanding vanguards. Outside of that, she’s used as a means to accelerate my G-zone so I can go into my GB2 stuff faster.

x2 Blue Storm Deterrence Dragon, Ice Barrier Dragon: On Wave 1st or 4th+, he gains +10k Shield. This one is a little bit better than what Flotia is, still wondering why it wasn’t Wave 3 or more but I mean I guess their mentality is that on Wave 3 just Perfect Guard.

Online Deck/Alternatives

So, this won’t be like my regular Alternatives segment since I have played the deck online via Cardfight Area, and I am able to use some of the newer cards (albeit only like 2-3 new cards). Other than there, these are cards I don’t have in the deck but would prefer to use or offer as a suggested tech/swap.

Grade 3s

Jockey of the Great Sea, Skyros: This would replace Thavas, me personally I’d keep 1 Thavas just because of Stride Fodder situation. Skyros is a key importance of the deck because it gives the deck a solid match up against direct control on the opposing turns. In addition, his on placement skill gives you the ability to grab a G3 meaning you have the ability to stride later and removing dead checks from the deck (and alternatively, switch your Vanguard). As for the exact number, 3-4 works best because I feel you should always have something that can be searched a low amount vs something you want to see very often since its better to have and not need to than to need and not have. Originally, the Divine Storm deck had a fatal weakness which was staying on Skyros for too long because most of your support is Thavas and since Wailing was not released at the time, having only 2 Commanders made Skyros a very dead vanguard in terms of being a finisher. Now with 2 extra Wailing Thavas, you can effectively make use of your Thavas units like Melania and Adelaide a lot better while on Skyros or even Anger-boil, provided you stride into a Thavas vanguard.

Grade 2s

Magnum Assault: While I have expressed that I no longer like Magnum Assault as a staple because his requirements being both slow and dependent on booster, he is still forcing at minimum 15k shield (10k and 5k provided w/ a 7k booster), is generic, and reusable. So with that, you can replace Couple Dagger or Adelaide with him but I’ve been trying him at 2 by cutting one of each and seems okay.

Grade 1s

Light Signals Penguin Soldier: So as I said before, the deck doesn’t really soul blast a lot, so you can actually play this at 1 or even the countercharge 2 Jellyfish in place of one Stacia.

Dispatch Mission Seagull Soldier: Same as the previous one, but I like playing Seagull at 2 personally but you can still find room for one if you want to tech him in. That and, the power up does help Tidal/Adelaide/Couple Dagger but otherwise the units hit on their own especially Adelaide and Couple Dagger.

Triggers

x4 Kelpie Rider, Petros: Petros is Thavas’ personal critical that gives +5k to Thavas vanguard and 1 draw by soul charging it. Hm, you can easily replace either criticals or even the draws with Petros. In Supersonic Sailor’s case: You don’t need the unflip since you have your perfect guards but better safe than sorry. For Brutal Trooper: there’s only 1 pair of Tetra-boil so being able to use Brutal to plus is only going to happen once at the most. Lastly draws, because well, Petros is basically a 10k draw trigger, which ideally would be better to replace the draws but can’t say for certain as all of these triggers are equally important.

x4 Officer Cadet, Ioanes: This is the new heal trigger that is released in the fighters collection that has a skill when used to call forth it’s corresponding Generation Guard. It’s skill is to draw after pitching a grade 1 or less from your hand. It’s decent but there aren’t too many grade 1s or grade 0s at that, that I’d be willing to drop for this effect. Better than nothing I suppose.

Generation Zone

Air Element, Sebreeze: I’d take out one Tetra-boil for Sebreeze because having all of your generation break units (especially Melania and Stacia) to be used against a 9k is very powerful. Accelerates your Generation Zone, and again you don’t really counterblast too often so this would be a powerful investment, if not, your second stride will push for game. As an after thought, unless you played Thavas in a high amount, Melania and Adelaide won’t be of use but Tidal and Stacia still helps.

Blue Vortex Marshal Dragon, Last Twister Dragon: For those who do not know what this unit is, this is the Generation Break 8 for Aqua Force. You’d replace this with your last Tetra-boil. Last Twister Dragon can come off as very underwhelming and I agree because for starters: Aqua Force should never last to Generation Break 8, the G-zone has a plethora of finishers that striding into this is very unlikely. However, it is possible to stride into this with some G-guarding and of course going into your persona strides. For 1 CB, it gets on Wave 2nd - 4th, when your unit attacks it gets +5k and at the end of the battle, you check top 4 cards call it and if it has Wave both VG and called unit get +5k. For a “final stride” compared to other clans, yeah very underwhelming. The idea of this stride is basically to use it when your field is lacking. All you need is to have your rear guard get to Wave 2 and you can start building your board back up even stronger than before. I’ve had people come up to me saying it’s worthless because there’s no good Wave targets (outside of Melania/Foivos/Anger-boil) however that’s only a “bonus”. It’s a “throw everything you have” type of card. I have been fortunate enough to stride into it twice and have won both games because my field was severely lacking in both cases but I still managed to pull through. This card also conflicts with key units like Tidal/Adelaide/Foivos because they have to be called to the same rear as the attacked unit making their restands wasted (although you can just call them last, like calling Adelaide as the final card). It’s still something awesome to stride into if you get the chance, if you don’t like it, you can always add in this card.

Marine General of Heavenly Silk, Aristotle: Originally a pretty decent card because you could snipe 2 if you were on Thavas or even kill important units. However, because only does GB1, I feel its slow because I like to be able to have GB2 ready so I can go into GB3 by second stride especially with Wailing Thavas. Comparatively, I’d easily choose the Generation Break 8 over Aristotle because again, it’s a cool card to stride into and if you have next to nothing in terms of field, you get back a field, +5k, and hopefully end the game. 

Guard Leader of Sky and Water, Ioanes: This is the new G-Guard that was revealed to Aqua Force. On Generation Break 1, Counterblast 1 and flip up a G-Guard in your G-zone, choose any number of rears and they get resist and cannot be attacked and the shield gains +5k for each unit chosen. Already: best G-guard in the clan. Only downside is that it is Generation Break 1 but it’s super good. It deals with the “Wave 3″ vulnerability that our previous g-guards failed to cover and it protects our units. I’d play this over one Flotia but you only need 1 because ideally you only G-guard 3 times a game, so this can easily flip up a g-guard that won’t be used if a heal gets damage checked. (I have used all four heals at one point or another) However, I suppose you can play 2 but I see no point.

Metal Element, Scryew: Originally one of my favorite g-guards because free +10k for one discard. I dropped it initially because I just wasn’t using it enough and even then I went to play 3 G-guards. I feel Scyrew is good outside of the other 2 G-Guards that I originally played, Scyrew still has value. Dizmel has been replaced by Ioanes and Agleam has been replaced by Ioanes heal trigger. Scyrew still has some value because the Ice Barrier G-Guard, although free, has very stiff conditions, so I’d replace one for Scyrew.

Why I dropped Blue Waves?

I personally do love Blue Waves because Tetra-drive is my favorite dragon and ultimately it’s a very sturdy deck: you plus a lot, you don’t have to commit too much or too hard, and it hits all of the right numbers and it can have maximum flexible while at its peak on Tetra-boil, in addition it has really good early game. I can play it for what it’s supposed to do but at specific moments the deck is very stiff and above all else, I feel Thavas does more, is faster, and more flexible.

I feel the deck itself is powerful but a bit gimmicky because of it’s dependency of Tetra-boil. Don’t misunderstand, I have nothing against Tetra-boil, I think it’s a fantastic card, however, I feel the deck is forcing me to play into it otherwise I end up losing out of many of its advantages and flexibility especially with key cards.

For my starter, I don’t play Bubble Edge in Blue Wave because my only chances of triggering the double draw is with the following

Two Tidal Assaults

Commander Thavas play w/ 1 Tidal Assault

Foivos on Lambros

Tidal on Tetra-boil w/ Anger-boil heart.

Instead I play Officer Cadet Andrey because it allows me to justify running non-enablers like Blue Wave Marine General, Damia or High Tide, Sabreflow Sailor, etc. They can become restanders on their own if the situation arises. In addition, one of my good friends whom is also my teammate showed me Foivos/Andrey interaction which is pretty good. Andrey helps especially on Wailing and/or Lambros turns.

However, even with all of that, I felt Blue Waves weren’t doing enough for me until I strode into Tetra-boil, to which there are times where I felt I should be pushing for game via Wailing. Whereas in Thavas, I’m constantly attacking from all fronts, drawing from Melania and Petros, and even retiring while also having some coverage due to resist of Melania or Skyros. Though undeniable, Thavas technically has a underwhelming early game, but its why I also played Couple Dagger Sailor to give myself the extra advantage. And of course if I rode Tetra-drive, the feeling was not too good. Damia is a Blue Wave ride target but she herself doesn’t really do a whole lot outside of fixing numbers especially for Tetra-boil, Tidal, herself, or Stacia. Again, I did try Melania in Blue Waves which worked in the benefit that I strode Thavas (which was always my first stride) but she remained as a booster if I went into Tetra-boil.

All in all, Blue Waves are a very strong deck if you’re playing “Blue Wave” (striding Tetra-boil) but if you aren’t then it starts showing its stiffness. While you can get away with not using Lambros because it has gone down in terms of value and Tetra-boil is on-par if not stronger than Lambros, I feel this is an issue when it comes to Wailing since again Wailing is a whole different stride with a different type of pressure/objective. Compared to the Thavas deck or even Anger/Skyros or Anger/Thavas, you can stride into anything without much difficulty and do more because Tetra-boil and Lambros are on par, whomever your vanguard is, whomever you stride will have the roughly the same effect. Although I say I dropped them, it’s moreso that Thavas has taken priority because I enjoy his style of play.

Vanguard Thoughts

So my thoughts of Vanguard as of now. Nothing much really, just waiting until I see something of interest or for new Aqua Force support. Regarding Set 9, I felt it was a good set ”economically” because of the reprints of various expensive cards but outside of that, the set was very lackluster and bad. Like outside of Wailing, I don’t think any of the cards from the set outside of Janka see any play whatsoever. There was no Blue Storm support after hyping Maelstrom stride, there was no good Blue Wave support (not that it needed it), only a few good Thavas cards like Nikitas, Janka, and Stand Trigger got to shine. The Quintet Wall was unnecessary. The G-Guard was okay, could’ve been better but whatever. I feel a lot of stuff went wrong for Aqua Force in that set because even though Wailing and reprints were worth, I feel many of the clans issues were not answered. 

Personally I think Aqua Force needs a whole revamp of better units or better ways of attacking instead of Tidal clones because although they are good, they’re very susceptible to disruptions. I honestly expected Last Twister Dragon to be “give the board 5k and they get double attack & back row swings”. I also expected an alternative Thavas with a skill that gives unit a skill such as backrow swing or restand upon stride, but perhaps maybe in the future. Also another yet minor issue is that our G-zone is very Persona Flip based which I don’t mind that it is because of the Ioanes G-Guard but having to G-Assist away 2 of the same cards is not very pleasant but it’s whatever I suppose. Lastly I have noticed that Bushiroad has been giving clans the ability to stride for free or providing fodder for various conditions, while this game is driven to “Stride to Survive” I do have hopes in Aqua Force getting one in which doing so will mean we would have more space to play other Grade 1s like Seagull. I wouldn’t mind recyclable PGs under various conditions either but they’re okie but I do believe we should have better rears with Wave keyword that enable easier attacking (backrow swings) or units similar to Melania at the very least, is a top priority.

As for me personally, I’m still in the situation of “no regular locals to play at”. I did go once for the Trinity Dragon Box Tournament and uh got 3rd in the pack fights but I won with my Blue Wave vs Luard and Silver Thorns (both ended in Wailing). I also played with friends when I went to NY to get my box of Set 9 and they were pretty fun games. Honestly, I ended up not getting a box because my card was not working at the time and while I did buy a Single Wailing, my other friend (whom is also AQ main) bought the SGR Wailing in front of me and when he bought the box I intended to buy (but couldn’t), he  ended up getting the Aqua Force SP pack but after he gave it to me, hence why I call my SP G3 Thavas the lucky Thavas. I still play online via teams and etc but I recently decided to try and host a tournament with a box prize at the end, so I’m hoping to see how that goes. Other than that, not much has changed. New vanguard stuff such as Domination and Kagero had me revisit this deck since I don’t wanna deal with Dominate, although Kagero is also been getting some very good support so seeing them back in action is interesting. Also initially, I played Blue Wave more because of the early game due to Grade 1 Rush 7cs being a troublesome deck (especially for Thavas but not so much for Limit Breaking and early aggro). However, since they have slowed down due to hits and I did drop Magnum for Couple, I imagine I could use Thavas again. In addition since Blue Waves did suffer from lack of retire for things like Angel Feather, I initially thought by having Wailing, it pretty much had an answer for everything. Like I said before, Wailing Thavas is quite possibly one of the best strides for Aqua Force, on Phantom Diablo tier because it does a lot for so little requirements and is quite honestly one of the greatest things to happen to Aqua Force in a long time.

Other than that, I do play and try out other decks and clans. Some I have in real life but again I mostly play these online for fun if I don’t feel like playing Aqua Force.

Shadow Paladin: Namely Diablo but I have been playing with Luard especially Diablo/Luard and even tried out Diablo/Raging. I have mixed feelings about the trending Luard decks with Folda and 10k Grade 2s but I had to try them out and they’re pretty okay. I do prioritize Diablo though most of the time especially Spectral.

Granblue: I have Nightrose in real life since I started to take a liking to her play style. Retiring, multi-attacking, resourcing, and power columns. Especially with the addition of Negrosonger and Dragut.

Kagero: I originally bought the Legend deck when it dropped and have fiddled with it but I’m especially interested in the new Blademaster because I like how Kagero is making a comeback without Overlord that and Taiten is super fun.

Link Joker: Mostly Chaos Breaker and Messiahs separately. I love Chaos’ art and Universe is just the icing on the cake. Messiahs have a fun play style of picking which to lock and unlock and of course I have a thing for critical vanguards.

Angel Feather: I love Rescue as a mechanic of drive checking before battle. It’s a fun and interesting deck I’ll have to say, plus doing the power pump on the opponents turn is funny at times.

Royal Paladin: Namely for Exceed. I’ve tried Brave and I don’t really like it because I feel I have to force myself into it by dropping and guarding early intensively (since I like to take damage and establish my counter blast) and I’m not a fan of Sanctuary Guard.

Alternatively, I would like try out Genesis and Bermuda Triangle (especially after the Bermuda stuff is revealed but only as online decks). Also I have thought about doing deck discussions of these clans so if anyone wants me to do so, so that it isn’t just Aqua Force 24/7, I’d be happy to do so~

Sorry for the long dragged out post but I had fun doing this. It was awesome and I’m finally glad that I got to post up that deck profile. For more information regarding the tournament I mentioned: Please copy the following link to your browser: http://cardfight-wiki.ru/areafor/index.php/topic,3143.0.html (I’m not sure why tumblr won’t let you click the link correctly but better to copy and paste than no link.) Once more, thank you all for reading. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please ask or contact me through that link (via forums), or message me on Skype (liltroy614) or on Discord (Ultimate «Kisaragi»#6223).

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 53, The Krund Issue

City News:

Broken News—(by demmalition1)

Sitting in a small roadside diner, nice place with a retro 2020’s vibe called “Hindsight”. Throwback places are never really accurate, I can spot at least three memorabilia from the 1990’s in there, but no one else is giving a shit so why should I?  Food’s good though, plate of warm soy-shrimp with soy-noodles and real garlic, plate of real bruschetta, and some wine to wash it down. You’d think they’d have soy-burgers and beer, but I’m not complaining.

Seating’s good and the waitress is flirting with me trying to get those extra few percentage points on her tip, probably to cover for this month’s rent based on how hard she’s pushing it. I ignore her and flip through the AR news feeds trying to catch up on what I missed after finishing my last report. Seems like most of the debris fell into the ocean harmlessly, one or two pieces on the outskirts of Japan, and a few scattered pieces on the UCAS/Tir Tairngire border. Hopefully nothing to worry about, but I’m still on guard for anyone asking me if I’ve heard the good word of our Lord and Savior <prog.Monads.exe>.

Anyways, I’m getting off track here, let’s flip through the minor news here... Oh yeah...

Corporate News shill Meta RyRy has been kidnapped live on air!  That’s right folks, the persona of poison and corporate deceit has been deposed from his throne of lies in front of several thousand viewers. So far public reaction has been one of sadness and shock tempered by a solemn resignation of “it was bound to happen sooner or later”. I’m fairly certain a large percentage of active viewing participants were simply corp execs looking at their egregiously narcissistic ads or sniping other corps with insults, and are more dismayed at the loss of a soapbox than of the person reading off their corp scripts. Sure, some of this might’ve been useful or for the public good, but can you take a man seriously when he says that there’s no public health risk from the satellite debris or that a manastorm isn’t brewing until it’s too late?  Can you trust the man who constantly gave “the finger” to us at the SSN (including me personally on one occasion) or others who tried to help the SINless?

Frankly, I’m glad to see him go, he spread corp propaganda right up to the night of the “Concert Freefall” wherein the Seattle Metroplex marketplace lost a combined ¥200 billion in value overnight. That’s right, the shadow war between Horizon and Saeder-Krupp in which various other corps banded together finally came to a head. A joint concert held by both sides to promote unity was actually a cover for their more duplicitous actions involving multiple runner teams, industrial sabotage, and an all-out assault on both Horizon Media and SK-Aerospace. In its wake thousands will lose their jobs, even many executives at the top are not safe, as I hear the Corporate Court is taking action and reshuffling their decks as I write this. Expect to see many “Will Oppress Masses For Food” signs out in the streets in the following weeks.

So where does this leave us?  A corporate shill and his corporate lies have disappeared from the face of the Metroplex. Can’t say I’ll miss the propaganda, but the show did have a certain unabashed bravado in its brazenness, it was very entrancing and at times even humorous. The corps are hurting badly, but they will recover like they usually do. The SINless will continue to suffer in the short term until Governor Dzhugashvili’s progressive legislation gets passed.

But that’s that, there’s nothing to go back to. No system to salvage and the events that occurred over the past week are sure to galvanize many people in the coming months. Already there are fissures in the underground that are creeping to the surface, a new cracked and fragmented society awaits us in this brave new world of the damned.

All About Krund Yuste Alfonso!

Footage has recently leaked (See exclusive video HERE!) of the attack on gubernatorial candidate Krund Yuste Alfonso that occurred a few months ago at the Aztechnology Emerald City Fitness gym. I’m sure you all remember the incident! Krund Alfonso was running for mayor when a naked British troll accosted him in the shower room. At the time, Krund Alfonso insisted to the SSN (See Issue 36), that this was no attack at all, but a simple mix-up with an over-eager fan. But the video footage reveals that Krund Alfonso was downplaying what was clearly an attack. Although the footage we have does not give a clear look at the British troll nor the reported homeless dwarf, what we are seeing is a clear assault by an unknown assailant. The assailant wrestled with the candidate and then fled.

This video raises many questions that all of the citizens of the Metroplex should be asking. If Aztech, one of the most security and militarily powerful Megacorps can’t keep its execs safe in the most vulnerable of moments—naked in the gym—can any corp exec be safe? Is any gym safe from intrusion? Krund Alfonso, a kind and conscientious figure, clearly lied about the assault in order to protect Aztechnology’s reputation in light of their shamefully inadequate security. But why was Krund Alfonso really assaulted? And does this assault have anything to do with the fact that Krund Alfonso is currently missing and has been since the revelation that he was an Arislen clone? Where is Krund Alfonso now? Is it true the Horizon might know the answer and they are hiding that information from the rest of us? Why would they do that? What do they have to hide? The corps have been trying to distract the public from the disturbing implications of this news by bringing up other so-called stories that mostly consist of trying to attack their favorite scape goats: SINless runners, the heroes of the streets. Don’t fall for that! Keep your eyes on the prize! Speaking of prizes…

The video also revealed quite a few other things to the Seattle masses. One of the major things it revealed is that Krund Alfonso, ex UCAS marine, still cuts a dashing figure. People on the streets have said that he is the most physically fit ex-gubernatorial figure in decades, and everyone is talking about Krund Alfonso. Looks like there is a bit of a fashion war going on between two powerful forces over Krund Alfonso’s body. Sources tell me that both Spinrad Industries’s fashion division and up-and-coming fashion designer Arzu Kaprol want Krund Alfonso to model their fashions for the upcoming season. And why wouldn’t they? Krund Alfonso has become this season’s It-Boy. He is fit, he is polite, he cares about the SINless, he is a sex symbol, he is a mysterious Arislen clone…and more importantly, he is missing! Where is he? Was he kidnapped? After so many missing execs, is he another one?

People of Seattle, the corporations are clearly unsafe, not only to the SINless and the UCAS citizens, but also to their own citizens! Let your voices be heard! Tell Governor Dzhugashvili to pressure the Megacorps for more transparency. Let’s find out what the truth is! And let’s find out where Krund Alfonso has gone!

Keep your eyes open for Seattle’s own Troll and send in tips!

 Entertainment News

SpiceBOT Concert

Last week the SpiceBOT reunion concert co-sponsored by Saeder-Krupp and Horizon was a huge, if odd success. Tens of thousands of people crowded downtown to see the wildly popular band perform all their hits. The Metroplex was transformed into a SpiceWorld. In the Virtual, the Saeder-Krupp band concert was broadcast by Horizon Media. Except, halfway through the concert, Horizon’s media feeds failed, leaving people frustrated throughout the world. Saeder-Krupp’s new Media subsidiary heroically saved the day and was able to finish broadcasting the show for the grateful viewers. Good job SK! We all want to zig-ah-zig-ah.

 Features:

Once More 13--(by Breach)

War is a complicated thing, and the more recent the war, the harder it is to break down, especially in the space I have here at SSN. JackPoint compiled a 26-page dossier on the event and it still doesn’t cover everything, but the fallout of this one is big enough that I think we all need to understand it, even as removed as we are from the battleground here in Seattle.

The official declarations came in early 2072, though tensions had been building long before - Aztlan has ever been an expansionist empire, and has been long-stymied to the north by the mutual defense agreement between the CAS and PCC, so south it has looked, swallowing up the nations of Central America until it became once again stymied in South America by the Awakened State of Amazonia; the combined power of Hualpa and Sirrug was enough to curb even the mighty Aztechnology - for a time.

I’m going to leave out most of the details - get your hands on JackPoint’s Storm Front data file if you want those - but to give a broad overview, the war was between not just two nations, but two megacorporations as well; Aztlan and Aztechnology are virtually inseparable, the welfare of one being intrinsically tied to the other, but Amazonia had Corporate aid as well, from Aztechnology’s decade-long PR rival, Horizon.

The war was an actual war, have no doubt of that, but it was not fought solely in the jungles and streets of South America; it was fought also on the global stage, in the hearts and minds of the world.

Horizon won early victories, casting Aztlan as the villains and sullying the good press Aztechnology usually enjoys with the masses, leading to painful UN sanctions that still affect us all to this day (ever wonder why the price of soycaf went up? This is why.) But in the end, Aztechnology’s PR branch won out, because when you can trumpet the defeat of a Great Dragon, it’s pretty easy to get the people on your side.

The fact that Horizon couldn’t find any real evidence and had to trump up their charges instead - and that AZ could prove that - didn’t hurt either.

Sirrug. The Destroyer. A dragon so powerful he almost single-handedly crippled the Aztlan military and turned what might have been a brief border-conflict into an all-out guerrilla war - and the first Great Dragon since the alleged death of Feuerschwinge to be felled by metahumanity (perhaps the actual first, if some of the whispers I hear in the shadows are true.)

Sure, there were some border changes (the Free City of Bogota is no longer quite so free, Aztlan enjoys a few hundred kilometres more of Amazonian jungle, and Aztlan Texas belongs to the Pueblos now, giving Aztlan only one northern neighbour instead of two), but Sirrug’s the major fallout of the war, the big takeaway - the Great Dragons might actually be killable. Now, there’s debate over whether Sirrug is actually dead - his body was never retrieved - but he has not been seen since, and was at the very least severely wounded.

Aztlan may possess the technology to rival the Great Dragons themselves, and that’s going to have lasting effect on the world.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Gang News:

There Has Never Been a Story of More Woe, Than This of JuL33T and her MEO

Tragedy! No one was able to get ahold of MEO and the worst has happened. Ancient Street Sam JuL33T, it turns out hadn’t died, but had taken a dose of Slab, insiders tell me that she has secretly married Chula MEO and used the Slab to fake her death and get out the gang life and set up a new happy-ever-after with MEO somewhere else. But MEO never got the message. He went to see her body, resplendent in her armor, chromed up cyber and katanas. There, holding her hand, MEO took the dose of Seven-7 he bought from you-know-who. He died immediately. But according to my insider, it wasn’t much longer after that JuL33T’s Slap wore off. Seeing MEO slain, she took her own life with the katana she was never without.

This tragedy could have been avoided. We need to stop the gang hostility in Puyallup.

 Corp News:

Horizon Kidnapping Technomancers

It seems that Horizon is at it again! Sources report that the Megacorp had been holding some Technomancers prisoner in the Metroplex biodome. These Technomancers were able to escape from their harrowing ordeal and make it to safety. Sources say that Horizon, in a fit of corruptions, bad sportsmanship, and the way they are prone to coverups, have been trying to deflect attention away from their unethical and illegal behavior onto some shadowrunners who, last I heard, were visiting family in Europe. Don’t let Horizon deflect! Demand to know if they are continuing their abuse of Technomancers!

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

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