Dragonic Descendant analysis and guide

By Ahmes004

“The will to pursue true strength, that is the lineage of proud dragons.”

Dragonic Descendant is reborn in the crucible of 2020!

In Vbt05, we were introduced to the retrains of the Eradicators, and amongst them were Supreme Army Commander, Zuitan and Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon. However, it would only be until Vbt12 (7 main boosters later), that more Eradicators would join the ranks. Both old and new faces are introduced and at the helm stands the returning fan-favourite, Dragonic Descendant!

In the lore, he commands the Eradicators with ease, and wields one of the “Swords of Apocalypse”. The spiritual successor of Dragonic Overlord in the beginning of the Link Joker season. In today’s metagame, we will see if this leader still stands up to scrutiny in the Standard format.

Card overview:

The ACT skill is a once per turn spot removal on the front row, and allows you to drag forward one back-row guard to any open front row RC. This is a vast improvement from the past Narukami cards in Standard’s history, since we can now move units without any form of restriction. Giving Descendant this spot removal might seem questionable, but I appreciate it.

As for the AUTO skill, it is a re-fashion of Descendant’s speciality: to rise again after an attack fails. Being a once per turn skill, you can only do it once and so no spamming of the skill can occur in gameplay. Furthermore, there is no net loss in hand advantage in the usage of this card, as you:

1. Perform Twin Drive (+2 to hand)

2. Discard one should the attack fail (-1 from hand), and lose 1 drive check.

3. Perform Drive Check for the second attack (+1 to hand)

As seen above, the net hand advantage is still +2, the norm for every Grade 3 attack. This makes it clear that the point of the restand is strictly for damage pushing and increasing the probability that Descendant's attack connects to its target. However, keep in mind that no power is gained, so guarding is no major issue to your opponent should they have a healthy hand size.

By itself, the card is good, and seems almost like a refashioned Detonix Drill Dragon. The 2 skills alone seem rather decent. However, its true “explosive” nature lies in its CONT ability.

Eradicators:

CONT: When you would ride this card, if you have an "Eradicator" vanguard, this card gains all of that unit's abilities as it is placed until the end of this turn.

Due to the nature of the first skill, any Descendant based deck will need to carry a high number of Eradicators. Here are some Eradicators that synergise with Descendant.

Before we continue, I would like to address the angered lightning dragon emperor in the room. It is possible to chain a Dragonic Descendant into a Dragonic Descendant. By doing this, all of your ACT and AUTO skills gain a +1 usage, since they are individually 1/Turn. As a result, you would be able to kill off 2 rear-guards and restand twice, should both attacks be blocked.

Why does this matter? Well, it does not mean a lot if the opponent is at a small damage count. However, at 4-5 damage, this being a Turn 4 play is rather devastating, given that you would also have other attackers in the form of your front row rear-guards. It's not the strongest combination out there, but it is certainly plausible, and would see play. Now, onto other Eradicators.

other Synergy cards:

Rising Phoenix is a must play in all of Narukami. The ability to gain a free 11k booster (or just a free 8K to the board) when a unit is bound, does benefit your side greatly in terms of card advantage.

Desert Gunner, Gaiban is also valuable in a Descendant deck. In general, Gaiban is good in all restanding VG decks, such as Detonix. In a time when there are more Protect metagame decks, the sentinel restrict skill is painful for many of those top dog decks.

Nusuku’s skill: [AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, look at five cards from the top of your deck, reveal up to one card with "Eradicator" in its card name from among them and put it into your hand, shuffle your deck, and if you put a card into your hand, discard a card from your hand.

Okay, this one is tricky. A shared slot for both Mighty Bolt Dragoon and Interrupting Eradicator, Nusuku. The deck needs a constant stream of G3s and this is where both cards shine. However, both have their variations. Nusuku is able to add ANY Eradicator from the top 5; however, he is a vanilla RG after that. On the contrary, Mighty Bolt can only search for G3s from the top 5, but will still be valuable as a 13K booster. Both are worthy options and it is truly up to your budget and playstyle to determine who receives the slot.

For those of you who could afford GBD, I strongly recommend you to also invest in Supreme Army Eradicator, Zuitan. He has brilliant synergy with Gauntlet Buster, threatening as a beatstick, raising GBD’s power, and even an end-of-turn draw. How neat is that?

Note to the readers: While Cho-Ou is a worthy Eradicator to play, he consumes too much CB and does not offer anything “amazing” to Descendant to include a mention in this list. For the sake of time, we will exclude him from the list. Do also keep in mind that he is restricted to 2 copies per deck at the time of writing. However, should he fit your strategy, do feel free to play him.

Sample Decklists:

Playstyle and strategy:

The style of the deck, as seen from the lists, varies.

With GBD, you aim to close the game by your second G3 ride, with the specific need of GBD into Descendant. It works a lot like an “OTK” deck since on that Descendant ride turn, you have the potential to close the game there and then. Threaten your opponent with board destruction and heavy criticals, leaving many of your attacks potentially lethal. Move fast, and aim to ensure that with every turn, your opponent’s ability to counteract is weakened. Rush if you foresee that he cannot react to it well, otherwise playing more conservatively is fine.

With Descendant the essence of the game shifts. Since Descendant’s skill relies more on how the opponent reacts to an attack, there is a psychological twist to the game. Since your opponent rationally has only 2 options:

1. Take the first Descendant attack.

2. Guard all Descendant attacks (2-3 times)

Thus, trigger selection also contributes. Utilization of Front triggers would mean that Descendant would attack first. While Critical triggers would mean that Descendant would be the second last unit to declare an attack because one last RG would remain to attack with. This way you can pass triggers and Gaiban buffs to the remaining RG. Think carefully and attack in such a way that the opponent either can't read your plays or is unable to stop your plays any further.

Phoenix is your main method of gathering boards so ensure that you mulligan to get the highest RATIONAL number of them, then discard them for costs to set them up in the drop while getting your correct pieces (for instance, Mighty Bolt could bring you a G3). However, for riding up purposes, please keep a G2 and G3 in hand. It would be bad if you get grade stuck.

In both cases, Eradicators are armed with a healthy amount of removal, so any forms of rushes/board building can be easily punished. Remember, Narukami (at least the Eradicators and Detonixes) does not generate advantage as much, but pluses when it minuses your opponent in terms of sheer net advantage. Control is thus a key part of the deck.

Ride The...Who?

I feel that it is important to place this in a separate section from the main part, since your selection of ride targets is of utmost importance. Specifically, I am referring to your G2 and G3s.

When riding G2, Spark Raze is the usual target, since he can help you set up some good draw tempo and improve consistency. However, in the case that you encounter early game aggression, Plasmacatapult or Suhail would be preferred, as they offer you spot removal. In addition, Plasmacatapult also helps you draw a card.

G3s however, is where it gets complicated. On one hand, riding Thunderous Beat/GBD helps set up crit pressure for your next 2 turns and also increases your reach when using Descendant after that. However, you would lose access to your G2 skills (in the case that it is valuable to your situation), as well as the inability to have access to Descendant’s restand on Turn 3. This matters when you need an attack to connect. On the other hand, riding Descendant would allow you to enjoy continuous access to your G2 skills,both the restand and the easy spot removal of Descendant. However, you would lack the kill-power with the innate criticals of the other G3 eradicators to close the games more effectively.

Ultimately, the decision rests on you. Be aware of your opponent and make informed/realistic projections of what they would do, and select your ride targets based on that. Given that Eradicators have a healthy amount of search, filter, and draw, you having your options available to begin with is not an issue.

Weaknesses:

It is no secret that the deck loses out when the opponent does not have any front-row rear guards. This is a common problem, especially when MLB, Nightrose, Scharhot, and Bigbelly all exist in this meta. If you face this situation commonly, consider cards such as ThunderBreak Dragon, Vibro Crusher Dragon, or Bolt Capture Dragon so that you will still be able to remove units from the back row.

Another weakness is obviously Descendant himself. As his main skill goes online should an attack be blocked, this means that the opponent can choose to simply take that 1-damage attack and….the end, the show ends. Descendant can gain criticals with GBD or Thunderous Beat, but that is of little significance as it requires a 2-turn set up. Due to the nature of decks existing in 2020, there may not be a next turn for you. This weakness also applies if you ride Descendant first, as you do not have much/ any explosive damage plays.

The on place skill also only works for a turn so a constant re-ride of G3s, including Descendants, is key.

Additional Notes:

Did you know that Descendant’s first skill is a reference to him being a descendant of those that have come before him? Now that you know this flavorful yet useless piece of information, sleep well tonight.

Conclusion:

The deck leaves much to be desired, but brings with it much to be enjoyed. While this deck is by no means cheap, it is relatively affordable, and for its price range is still fun. The deck can still perform against any decks that have any resemblance of a board, as the Eradicators seek to mow down all who stand in their way. If you were a fan of Narukami back in 2013 like me, this is a must pick up as Bushiroad has someone recaptured the flavour and experience of the deck down to the smallest details.

Acknowledgements and dedication:

I would like to take the time to quickly thank the Axis Team once again for facilitating and assisting me in the creation of this article, through their suggestions, reviews, and support.

This article is dedicated to my younger brother, a former Dragonic Descendant user back in 2013. Hope you are doing well, my friend.

WRITTEN BY Ahmes004

EDITED BY Commander Jaime

GRAPHICS BY ZeoW