Gold Paladin - Garmore (personal variant)

Another of my own decklists.  A more recent one, compared to my Lawkeeper deck.  Has proven itself efficient while remaining well rounded.

I jumped on the gold paladin bandwagon...finally.  Why?
-Bunnies are cute.
-Sagramore is cute.
-Gold Paladins have nice art.
-I was inspired by the image of the gold paladin Gancelot (before his skill was released, mind you; after seeing THAT, I decided that I'd never run more than 1 of him, EVER).


---  ---  ---

Isn't he just adorable?

Grade 0
1x Spring Breeze Messenger
4x Silent Punisher (Critical)
4x Flame of Victory, Aermo (Critical)
2x Speeder Hound (Draw)
2x Falcon Knight of the Azure (Draw)
4x Elixir Sommelier (Heal)

Grade 1
2x Listener of Truth, Dindrane
4x Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth
3x Blade Feather Valkyrie
2x Charjgal
2x Sleygal Dagger
1x Halo Shield, Mark

Grade 2
3x Lop Ear Shooter
4x Knight of Superior Skills, Beaumains
4x Flash Edge Valkyrie

Grade 3
1x White Hare in the Moon's Shadow, Pellinore
3x Great Silver Wolf, Garmore
4x Battlefield Storm, Sagramore
---  ---  ---

According to his own lore,
Spring Breeze Messengers die a lot.

I suppose I really have to explain this odd build......
Or someone's going to think I'm nuts.

A lot of this deck had to do with putting in units that I liked the design of.  Which made it a prerequisite that all 4 bunnies had to be in it.  Not running Ezel means the starter can be Spring Breeze Messenger instead of Kyrph.  2x Dindrane works very well with Garmore (both of which I liked).  3x Lop Ear Shooter is common in Gold Paladin these days and wasn't a problem to run.  1x Pellinore is actually more of an issue.  It's pretty much there for card art (and the off chance that I get to ride it). 

Once again, critical triggers became the norm.  I tried the deck with stands.  Not sure I like it.  (But Greeting Drummer and Fortune Bell are really cute.) 

Elixir Sommelier may look a bit odd, but nonetheless, he is a heal trigger.  So it shall be in the deck.


The grade 1 lineup is a good mix of things that work in conjunction with other units in the deck.  The amount of perfect guards is due to my unwillingness to spend money on them.  (Actually, if I had more perfect guards, Blade Feather would have to go.  And that means Flash Edge becomes less important.  And that means I can't run either of them for their nice card art.)

I suppose it's some form of consolation that MOST of my random 'top 3 of the deck' calls are 7-8k boosters, bunnies, or great attackers.

In this deck, they really do work. Especially Blade Feather.

 

Flash Edge and Blade Feather Valkyrie are both fine units on their own, but in the same column, they seem to prompt many opponents to attack a rear guard Flash Edge only for me to fill in the spot with Sagramore next turn.  In any case, Flash Edge doubles as another +1 when called from the deck while Blade Feather is a 7k booster compatible with Sagramore and all the grade 2s.



Between him and Ezel,
your average Gold Paladin vanguard...
has way too much hair.
 

Garmore is a great unit.  He makes up for his own ride minus, and has the choice of calling his own personal 11k booster, Dindrane (to +1), Lop Ear (to fill the field), Flash Edge (to fill the field without losing a card in hand), or even a booster for another unit.  He also has great card art with well placed foiling (UNLIKE EZEL'S FOILING...or lack of).

Pellinore is there just to be there (he's not very useful in this deck, but he does have his uses...if that makes sense).

Sagramore is underrated.  Sagramore has won me games.  Many games.  There have been instances where dropping 20k in one turn to protect a rear guard Sagramore has proven to be worth every card dropped.  In builds using Ezel, counterblasts don't come so easily, but since this build does not use Mr. Freeloader, Sagramore becomes very useful.

And that makes my deck!  It's not as competitive as your standard Garmore-bunny build, but it's a lot of fun to play, and thus, it accomplishes its only goal.  (Not that it doesn't win games......it actually does some things better than a standard build.)

---  ---  ---

Winning Image: Perfectly scaled fields win games.  This deck makes scaling fields easy.  All the units are pretty easy to arrange.  Awkward fields are rare.

Helpful Tips:



The battlefield is indeed, ever changing.

 

Mindless +1s aren't always good.  While Spring Breeze is more consistent and useful, Lop Ear should only be used when there isn't anything good in hand, and Flash Edge / Blade Feather should only be used in the event that field presence is really needed.  Garmore's skill doesn't always have to call a bunny.  Charjgal is a valid target, as is a booster for another unit.
Flash Edge Valkyries in front of Blade Feather get attacked A LOT.  This isn't always a bad thing.  It probably absorbs a 2 stage attack and makes room for Sagramore (who can use the same booster if your opponent has a 10k vanguard).  Or at least, I've noticed that this happens VERY often.

Sagramore isn't always run in 4s (in fact, almost never is he run in 4s).  Although this is more personal preference on my part, I've found that it helps me draw into him very often.  With more of them, you can often afford to send him to the drop zone when he is attacked (he also gets attacked a lot).  Oh and 3 stage Sagramore columns win games.  In theory, 4x Sagramore seems excessive.  In practice, it's a great rear guard and never seems to be dead in hand.

Note: Non-budget/4 perfect guard variation will not be provided here as it changes key parts of the deck.  This is my "fun" deck and I just felt like sharing it.  Feel free to ask about how I think any of the cards in it work in other decks though.

Fun fact: The artist for Dindrane is also the same artist that did Gancelot, Nemain, Libra, Armaros, and others.
Man, that's a lot of the nice looking units...... http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Category:萩谷薫

---  ---  ---

Deck Cost (for me): $65 (I pull from packs a lot.)