[V-PREMIUM] UPDATED Luard Deck Profile - Defensive Strategy

Hi everyone, and welcome back to another article on V-Premium Luard. Owing to the recent BRO 2021 tournament, I would like to pen down a defensive strategy of playing the deck which is more effective in the current metagame environment.

First, a quick look at the decklist (do compare with the previous decklist on the old article as well Weakness Is A Sin: [V-PREMIUM] Luard Deck Profile and Strategy (weakness-is-a-sin.blogspot.com):

Deck Code [6BZG] deck | Deck Log (bushiroad.com)

• Triggers: 20k-shield heal triggers are run in this deck instead of heal guardians due to the increased defensive utility of 20k-shield cards in a deck with lower-than-usual numbers of 5k-shield cards (aka grade 2s). Furthermore, they tie in very well with the 10k-shield intercepts provided by Sage of Risk, Decremps to assert a 30k-guard in total.
• In terms of the early-game defensive purposes of heal guardians, hardcore rush decks are also rarely seen in the top tier meta due to their typical low levels of consistency, which further diminishes the usefulness of heal guardians.
• It is also not crucial to use the damage-giving ability of heal guardians as Dragheart, Luard's Force marker-generating engine does not require counterblast, and opponents often suffer more when they damage deny a Luard player to zero damage, since Luard is by nature a slow deck.
• No multi-attack generating grade 1s: Abyss Router and Apocalypse Bat are not seen in this decklist as the focus is no longer on attack count, but rather on defensive recovery and power output. The usage of Abyss Router or Apocalypse Bat frequently results in minuses in terms of shield power, hand size, or hand quality, assuming their inconsistent requirements are even met in the first place.
• Increased number of Abyssal Owl: for more card draws. Increased filtering power greatly enhances the probability of having multiple Perfect Guards in hand to survive the opponent's onslaught.
• Increased number of Strict Order Knight, Lluails: for higher power output, without sacrificing potential defensive advantage

Now, let's go over some of the strategic updates for this deck, using the above decklist.

No More Damage-Denying

In the previous article, it was mentioned that if a Luard player goes second, he should completely damage-deny (aka give zero damage to) his opponent in order to increase the chances of survival to reach the insane second grade 3 turn. However, this strategy is now increasingly ineffective due to the ability of heal guardians to provide the first damage. Pushing for damage aggressively in the early game could instead enhance the lethality of your subsequent grade 3 turns, while not losing out on your potential early game drive checks.

First Grade 3 Turn

Your goal for this turn is to set up Sage of Risk, Decremps on the field, while maintaining one open counterblast for next turn as well as drawing cards wherever able. The two 10k-intercepts enabled by Sage of Risk, Decremps should be fully utilised every turn in order to maximise the free 20k-shield defense for each turn. It remains extremely crucial to maintain one open counterblast (by counter-charging with Black Sage, Charon whenever necessary) as Dragdriver, Luard does require one open counterblast to generate massive field advantage for your subsequent grade 3 turns.

The most defensive first grade 3 turn field you could end up on, with two card draws and two 10k-shield intercepts for next turn. Attack order would be 15k RG, followed by 28k VG, followed by 23k RG to ensure that attacks still hit after one damage trigger or one heal guardian was used by your opponent.

The minimal field that you could end up on if you only have one damage. Although there are no card draws, Charon allows you to regenerate the only open damage that you have, while still providing the two 10k-shield intercepts for next turn. Attack order would be 18k RG, followed by 23k VG, followed by 21k RG to ensure that attacks still hit after one damage trigger or one heal guardian was used by your opponent.

Subsequent Grade 3 Turns

Your goal for these turns is to push damage with high-power high-crit attacks, while gaining and not compromising on defensive advantage. This can be done by utilising Lluails and Abyssal Owl, either from the deck, hand, or drop zone in conjunction with Dragwizard, Morfessa's effect. Importantly, at the end of the attack pattern, you still have two 10k-shield intercepts in the front row for surviving the opponent's offensive push.

You may begin your battle phase with this field, having already regenerated the counterblast and soul from Charon's and Nightmare Painter's effects during the main phase. Attack order would be 40k 2 crit Morfessa unboosted, and activate the effect to call Abyssal Owl from the drop zone, soulblasting 1 to draw 1 card. This is followed by Lluails boosted with 40k 2 crit, then the 46k VG, and finally the Abyssal Owl boosted lane with 46k 2 crit before triggers.

You will then end your turn with this formation, fulfilling the two key conditions of (1) having at least one open counterblast and (2) having two 10k-shield intercepts in the front row. Drawing cards from Abyssal Owl is of course an absolute defensive bonus.

Conclusion

This short update article highlights the importance of increasing shield power and deck filtering speed, while not compromising on offensive output in today's V-Premium metagame environment. Similar capabilities are exemplified in other tier 1 meta decks such as Bermuda Triangle Prism and Granblue Nightrose. It is my hope that with the upcoming V-Clan Collection support waves, more decks will be able to approach these power levels for a more interesting and balanced format overall.