The Goddess descends once more, and Minerva graces us all with her presence.
Restand? Check.
Power? Check.
Scrying? Wait, what?
Atop the usual power bonuses from having a Regalia (it was formerly Angelica-specific) and restanding, Minerva gets a new scrying ability, as per the old Genesis feels. At the cost of [Soul Blast (1)], you get to look at the top card of the deck and choose to put it into your soul or on top of the deck. Kind of screams Solis Lacrima from Lyrical.
Powerful ability and the threat of restanding looms over your opponents. Beat them silly with Omniscience (and 3 drive checks)!
Slotting herself into the soul while opening up opportunities for your other units to come out from the soul (Chamomile), Angelica is crucial for Minerva's power. By putting herself into the soul after attacking, she allows Minerva's Regalia in soul effect to trigger without needing to Persona Ride, and she also makes it so that Minerva's [Counter Blast (1)] cost is paid for.
Angelica essentially pays for her own skill cost of [Soul Blast (1)] so she is really cheap and powerful to include in the deck!
Chamomile is honestly a no-brainer to include in this.
As a multi-attack enabler for Minerva as well as literally being a part of the rideline, Chamomile serves as one of the key cards in making the Minerva deck work. With Minerva's ability, she becomes a 15000 power attacker, hitting MLB even with base.
Chamomile allows Minerva to setup 5 or more attack turns and generates a lot of pressure on the enemy especially if there is Persona Ride.
Combo this with Drilling Angel to quickly recycle the cards over and over again!
A new face yet old, Maelstrom returns as an Encounter card.
His ability allows you to pick an Aqua Force card or a Tear Dragon from your soul to give it the ability to restand after the first battle and to put it into your soul at the end of the turn.
Yes, we all see the obvious Inlet Pulse splash in here.
His other ability is costless, provided he's attacking a Vanguard on the fourth or more battle, to draw a card and retire an opponent's rear guard. Not much change since his old ability, very strong pluses, multi-attacks as well as field presence. Undeniably one of the stronger Encounter decks.
The most important restander, Tidal Assault restands himself on the 2nd attack if Maelstrom has not attacked. The combo with Maelstrom allows you to attack 4 times and more with just Tidal Assault and another card that has been called out through Maelstrom's ability.
1st Attack: Maelstrom's first ability's target, will attack and restand
2nd Attack: Tidal Assault, who will restand (you may use his first ability to give Maelstrom +5000 power at the cost of one Soul Blast)
3rd Attack: Tidal Assault again (you may use his first ability to give Maelstrom +5000 power at the cost of one Soul Blast)
4th Attack: Maelstrom
5th Attack: Maelstrom's first ability's target (with triggers this time)
Very simple bread and butter!
Wheel Assault comes back in D series!
One of the best swappers, Wheel Assault creates a lot of possible field positions as you can place your attackers in all possible slots.
At the cost of one Soul Blast, Wheel Assault can swap the positions of 2 units on the field after boosting, as long as you have a Maelstrom Vanguard.
You can field units like Marine General of the Restless Tides, Algos and Shoreline Rays Dragon (units that are multi-attack conditions but they do not have their own swapping ability). Wheel Assault, Tidal Assault and Maelstrom's ability allows for very smart plays! Do make sure you're counting your attacks right!
Luquier joins the Encounter horde!
Her ability once again allows her allies to come out from her soul. They all gain +5000 power.
Her second ability allows your rearguards to enter your soul at the end of the turn! Rinse and repeat and prevent them from being retired or targeted.
As with most of the Encounter cards, they are very simple and straightforward. It takes their old gimmick and turns it into D-Standard relevant.
What's a powerful rearguard she can use?
Rising Dragon replaces itself in the soul and also allows you to draw a card if it's called onto the rearguard circle. It also gains 10000 power if you called 2 units from the soul, and an additional 10000 power when you have 4 units called from the soul.
The main offense of Luquier decks, you want him in the soul as soon as you can.
Rising Dragon can go into the soul with Luquier's effect so you can keep recycling him!
You can play this from the soul???
Reckless soul charging, let's go! With the order, you get to target a rearguard, after it attacks it will go into the soul and call out a rearguard that only has Pale Moon in its clan. This creates multi-attack possibilities!
Silver Thorns being able to make multi-attacks is very synonymous of the Pale Moon attack style, and this doubles down on it by allowing your units to attack at least 4 times. With powerful rearguards that gain abilities when they get called out of the soul, Silver Thorns are a deck to watch out for!
Brandt Gate has gotten 3 new ride lines in 3 boosters (6, 7, and 8).
Arkhite focuses on Research orders as well but also the Monster-named cards.
Arkhite's first ability allows you to buff your Monsters as long as there's a duplicate copy of them in the Order Zone (through Arkhite's own Research order).
Arkhite's second ability allows her to put a rearguard with monster in its name into the Order Zone if the Order Zone has 3 or more Research cards when she attacks. She also gets to call a monster from the top 7 cards of her deck, allowing for 4 attacks!
Opening up the field and creating many attack opportunities are basically Arkhite's battle style!
Weibiros works with both Eva and Arkhite. Weibiros allows you to [Soul Blast (2)] to draw a card.
Weibiros also gains +5000 Power when there are 3 or more Research orders.
13000 Power booster, card draw? Yes.
Very simple, very straightforward card. Gets to 23000 Power with Arkhite's ability, so it's even better!
Goukatera allows Arkhite to gain field advantage. At the cost of [Counter Blast (1)], Goukatera allows you to retire one monster on your opponent's field that has grade equal to or less than the number of Research Orders in your Order Zone.
Goukatera also gains +5000 Power when it attacks if there are 3 or more Research Orders.
A powerful attacker, Arkhite turns this monster into a 28000 Power attacker unboosted! With Weibiros it can go up to 41000!
Torrent Energy Research allows you to fill up your drop zone and order zone with Monster cards. When played, it scrys the top 5 cards, allowing you to add 1 Monster to your order zone and 1 Monster to the drop.
When you rest Torrent Energy Research, it allows you to put the Monster card that you tossed into the drop zone into the order zone, quickly creating more options for Arkhite to return back to the deck.
Being Arkhite's main order card, the synergy as a Research order is impeccable!