Barrel's [Kagero - Control]

Barrel here and I present to you my "Kagero Tech". I wouldn't call this my "main" deck - actually I don't even know if I have a "main" deck or not - but this has been the most consistent deck in terms of victories and usage.




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Grade 0:
1x Lizard Soldier, Conroe

"Magical Arrest [the field]!"

1x Red Gem Carbuncle (Draw)
1x Dragon Dancer, Monica (Draw)
1x Blue Ray Dracokid (Critical)
1x Embodiment of Spear, Tahr (Critical)
2x Lizard Runner Nafd (Stand)
3x Flame Seed Salamander (Stand)
3x Lizard Soldier, Ganlu (Stand)
4x Dragon Monk, Gojo (Heal)

Grade 1:
1x Magical Police Quilt
3x Flame of Hope, Aermo
3x Wyvern Strike, Jarran
3x Dragon Monk, Gojo
4x Embodiment of Armor, Bahr


Grade 2:
1x Bellicosity Dragon
1x Cross Shot, Garp
2x Dragon Knight, Nehalem
2x Highspeed, Brakki
2x Berserk Dragon
3x Wyvern Strike, Tejas

Grade 3:
2x Dragon Monk Goku
2x Wyvern Strike Plajuri
4x Dragonic Overlord

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Alright, an explanation is required. In fact, a lot of explanation are required. A few questions that popped up in your mind after seeing this might be:

Where are the Sentinels (Perfect Guards)?
Why is there a Dimensional Police unit?
What's with these card ratios?

First of all, this may what most people consider a "budget" deck, thus explaining the lack of Sentinels. This deck isn't a final product, as time goes on and I acquire more cards I'll make some changes to the deck.

Now about Magical (Girl) Police Quilt, it's there to act as an aesthetic Aermo. Basically I want something nice to look at. Similarly, that's also why I have 1 Garp and 2 Nehalems. Each Nehalem has different artwork.

Okay, time for what most people ask about, Trigger Ratio.
There were a few factors that resulted in this.
1. I lacked 12 critical triggers.
2. I have no Sentinels so I thought to myself "How am I going to deal with decks that ran Sentinels?"
3. I had a desire to mess with my friends.

The idea is to keep the opponent in the dark. Make the opposing player try to guess the trigger line-up. Originally I had only 1 Critical Trigger in my deck. It worked for the first few matches but my opponents quickly figured out I only had 1 Critical Trigger and began "No Guarding" my Vanguard attacks. So back to the idea about keeping the opponent guessing.
NOTE: This is all based on my own theories.
People generally assume a player runs a complete set of a given trigger. Some general trigger ratios are [12 Critical, 4 Heal] or [8 Critical, 4 Draw, 4 Heal]. So if people assume players normally run a set of triggers, just seeing my two different Critical Triggers may cause people to assume I run at least 8 Critical Triggers.

Now for why the deck is focusing on Stand Triggers. Like I mentioned, I lack 12 Critical Triggers for Kagero. The benefit of Stand Triggers for my deck is that it helps when the opponent uses a Sentinel against a Vanguard attack. A Rear Guard Dragonic Overlord that used its Counterblast for the turn makes the situation even better.

Time for the basic strategy.
Devastating the opponent's field while maintaining a defensive hand.
That's pretty much the general idea, although what to do and how to use the cards is a little more tricky and varies depending on the situation.

Grade 1: Recycling

There is always hope for a victory.
Never underestimate.

Aermo (or Quilt) is key. In most cases, they make or break the game. With the absence of Sentinels, I need a way to get rid of unwanted Grade 3's. I aim for at least one Aermo behind the Vanguard and with Conroe, that is never a problem. Having 2 supporting Aermos is ideal because the opponent will need to guard against more attacks if he or she doesn't want Aermo to potentially improve my hand. I don't worry about drawing into my triggers, they will be used for guarding attacks - which is part of the deck.

As for the remaining booster slot, it varies on the situation: Jarran to go with a Tejas or Bahr for a "power" column. Once you have your supporting units positioned and if your opponent has no way of dealing with the backrow, be free to use Aermo's skill to discard Grade 1's for either better guards or replacement attackers.




Grade 2: Preliminary Pressure

Bellicosity Dragon, Highspeed Brakki, and  Wyvern Strike, Tejas are all dangerous cards to leave out on the field. Your opponent may want to focus on removing these nuisances early. This is good, you don't want to be taking too much damage early game. With all the new cards out right now, constantly defending against 3-stage attacks is nearly impossible. If you do let the Rear Guards get hit make sure you have replacements at your disposal.

Nehalem and Garp are there for your general 10k offense which when boosted can hit for 16k-18k.
Berserk Dragon, use its skill only when there is something that needs to be gone. Counterblasts should generally be saved for your Grade 3's.

Those who are not prepared will
fall to the Wyvern Strike Force.

Escaping their line of fire is futile.

Grade 3: Burn Everything to the Ground

Try to be as offensive with your attacks as you can. Aim for the Vanguard; force out guards by going after important Rear Guard units. Either Dragonic Overlord or Dragon Monk Goku as a Vanguard is fine. Overlord provides a decent defense if the opponent can't reach 21k or has an un-boosted Rear Guard. Goku, though susceptible to easy numbers can force your opponent to use up their resources. Pretty simple, Drive Check a Grade 3, retire a booster; if the attack hits, use Aermo to ditch the checked Grade 3 and draw a potential guard.

As for Plajuri... basically I don't have any more copies of Goku and I lack any other decent Grade 3 Kagero Rear Guard units. Plajuri isn't so bad. If you happen to have 2 unflipped damage left, you can use his skill to reach 20k-22k when boosted. If you happen to use his skill twice, you have an 18k un-boosted unit. Oh and don't forget about those Stand Triggers in your deck. Although with all these good points, I usually trade him away with Aermo's skill anyways.

You can hide but you can't run!

The Eternal Flame shall eliminate
 all inferior beings!

Additional Tips:

Remember you want to be able keep a solid defense while forcing your opponent to use up cards.
- Don't use Brakki willy-nilly. Yes, he can go up by 5k but that's the cost of loosing a card that can be used to intercept or take one of your opponent's attacks. Use him when you're going for game.
- Use Tejas to attack your opponent's back row only if they don't have  a better card to replace it with.
- Also about Tejas, if you can ride a Grade 2 other than Tejas (even Brakki is fine) do so. Save the Tejas in your hand for next turn, because if your opponent sees that you have it on the field, he or she will simply place a booster on the other column. NOTE: Depending on your opponent's deck, you may want to get rid of any Forerunner (Retreating Vanguard) as soon as possible.

*This will go into more detail about a Rear Guard Dragonic Overlord's skill.
- This applies if your opponent has a full front row and at least one the Rear Guards is a Grade 3. If Overlord's attack hits and is able to stand again, do not use him to attack the other Rear Guard right away. Leave Overlord standing and have your Vanguard attack the opposing the Vanguard. The reason? Because there are Stand Triggers. You want to be able to stand the booster behind your Skill-activated Overlord. Now what to do. If you can attack for game then do so, otherwise, you have the same pumped up Overlord (maybe pumped up more from the trigger) attacking the other Rear Guard. Your opponent will be running short of cards in the process.

Overall this deck is pretty easy to use. Just like any other deck, the difficulties are anticipating triggers and adapting to the play style of your opponent.