Notes & Combos

Yes, you can in fact play B.E.S. with only 2 Structure Decks. One of the main things I wanted to achieve with the climb this time round was to make a list that fit this restriction since I was seeing this question come up with moderate frequency. I won't be discussing the gameplay basics so it won't be anywhere near as long as the last post lol, it'll mostly be Deck building theory.

First, god MoR and Appointer suck a**. You know that vibe when, let's say, a Fusion Deck is good, so """smart""" people start running garbage like Non-Fusion Area? Feels exactly like that, except I kept running into people running The Power of All Creation so Appointer hardly worked as intended in the first place. Worst part is there's literally no other way to avoid instant death to Lava/Sphere; PLEASE they have to go we can't keep living like this 😭

Next, I've expanded the Machina engine. Gearframe, alongside Unclaspare, has a short 1CC with the Skill to effectively get every name you could ever want into rotation. The other notable add is the pseudo-B.E.S. support Defense Perimeter, and both of these are searchable at once with Redeployment. Also, a neat trick is equipping Gearframe to Regulus; to either act as protection, or you can Special it to make for an easy target with either the Skill or Parade.

For B.E.S. cards, I find that playing 3 Zelos isn't really necessary anymore. The Skill makes accessing Derringer and thus Zelos/Parade trivial, plus the high offensive power we gained since the other Machines were added makes it less likely to need to activate it again. You could also consider cutting Boss Rush due to clashing with Gearframe, but realistically, you won't find it all the time, and not having either Boss Rush or Perimeter in rotation will shoot your going 1st followup pretty badly.

Also, it probably sounds like heresy coming from me, but we really don't need to play Tetran. It's bricky, and without B.E.S. Rush and the guaranteed Zelos or two, actually popping backrow is highly dependant on your hand and/or opponent's plays. Instead of worrying about that, I'm playing Armored Core. It's basically just a worse Blaster/MK-3, and functions the exact same. Extra name, without the extra brick.

The climb itself was extremely easy, the easiest it's ever been. I think I only lost ~5 Duels from Dlv. 5 all the way to MAX. Got winstreaks like 21, 10, 5 twice; gotta love playing late in the KC Cup, it's usually over quick and painlessly. Lack of most of the meta'll do that. Going 2nd 5 times in a row in DLv. 19 is also a certified funny moment.

Not too much more to touch on with the meta as it is right now. Hopefully the FTKs and Lava/Sphere get dealt with in a few days so I can go back to playing normal cards, as well as the absent Structure Deck lmao