Blazing Dominion is less than a month away, and while we haven’t heard about the second wave of the TCG-Exclusive GMX, there’s still tons of tools for both new and existing strategies set to debut! This is a fairly impactful set, with its support for Kewl Tune seeing that deck possess the second-highest meta share in the OCG, at time of writing. Beyond that, however, there’s a variety of decks newly uplifted from cards in the set, specifically for Power Patrons, and their associated strategies. Not only does BLZD position them as pieces for archetypes like Elfnote, Artmage, & DOOM-Z, but also as their own archetype in of itself. With all that being said, I wanted to take some time to dive deep into some of the tools decks can expect to include following the set’s release, especially regarding its generic staples and brand-new strategies. Let’s dive in!
Card names are not final
First things first, Blazing Dominion is chock full of cards which can see play in almost any deck. As for cards already proven to be good, let’s take a pair of Traps: Solemn Report & Dominus Spark. Spark sees play in the OCG’s current best deck, Mitsurugi, at 2-3 copies; that deck gets by on purely the strength of DARK monsters, so Spark has essentially no opportunity cost. Going second, it’s basically removal that gambles on the fact your opponent won’t have an extender locked-up in hand, and with the way the format’s gone with a high density of non-engine, that’s often the case. One card whose fate is unclear, however, is End of the World Ruler—this is the card that separates the TCG & OCG versions of Mitsurugi, and why the snakes are seeing less play here in the states, at present. Could it be imported in BLZD? Entirely possible, but our version of Mitsurugi is getting Solemn Report, as well. For decks willing to play a sufficient density of Traps, specifically ones you want to actually Set, Report is among the best Counter Traps ever printed…but that’s a tall order. The game has gotten rather fast, so the only time most decks Set their Traps are if you’re going first with Infinite Impermanence, or a Dominus you don’t need. The only exception is Maliss, but even then they only play ~3 total in-archetype Traps at most.
So, why are people so excited about Solemn Report? Put simply, it’s a Solemn variant that’s more flexible going second. Space in the Side Deck feels tighter than ever, and when you’re leveraging a Solemn Judgment as a card in your Side that only comes in going first, that’s 2-3 slots you’ll never touch when on the draw; Report does something similar, but has uses when you aren’t setting up, especially in strategies with searchable Traps like Dracotail & Branded.
On the topic of flexible cards, the other big piece of the puzzle post-BLZD is Fidraulis Harmonia. If you play a sufficient quantity of Synchro Monsters, including at least one you’re fine sending to the GY, this is basically a better Bystial; that opportunity cost is negligible in Synchro-reliant strategies like Kewl Tune, obviously, but would you believe it’s also seeing play in Mitsurugi? Elfnote? Yes, all three of the top decks play Harmonia in triplicate, and even decks on the cusp of meta are greedily staring at it, looking to see if they could dedicate a full third of their Extra Deck to a fairly-unsearchable handtrap. It’s just that good. Notably, in Mitsurugi they have Herald of the Arc Light legal, so it’s way better in Japan compared to the TCG…but don’t let that distract you from the countless other decks benefitting massively from the Dragon.
Onto archetypes, and we have the new Power Patrons, which take the weird enablers from the newest batch of lore and string them together into a cohesive strategy. Well, cohesive might be a tad generous, but thanks to Medius the Pure they have an enabler that’s accessible by no less than a dozen cards. So, what does this deck do? From a start of Medius, you can Summon Power Patron Shadow Beast Nervedo, and go into Artmage Non-Finito, allowing you to set an Artmage Trap for interaction, and Special Power Patron Shadow Machine Zegredo. That Links into Cross-Sheep, getting you the Power Patron Portal, and from there you can line into Artmage combos, or stop before Cross-Sheep and go through a Pendulum Line. Every single of the new Power Patrons has a ton of text, and at least one way to recoup value, so it’s rare to find yourself bereft of something you can do in a given turn. Pure Power Patron has gotten several Top16 placements, and so far, two Top8s, all of which included the previously-printed Pendulum Treasure, a card well-worth picking up in advance!
The next archetype seeing its first cards in Blazing Dominion is Clown Crew, whose names we know early thanks to some hastily-showcased artwork for their boss, Clown Crew Biancaviso. While the deck is extremely cool, perhaps funnier is the reason for this early rollout: His name, per the original Japanese, is ‘Clown Clan Whiteface’, and Konami of America was keen not to have that repeated ad infinitum.
The deck itself is the first ever to have cards of every single ‘color’, in terms of their Supertype. While the Pendulum & Link are coming out in a future set, we will be getting their Ritual, Synchro, Fusion, & Xyz in BLZD, and they’re an amazing cast of characters! Each has the ability to, when Tributed, either accrue some kind of advantage or shuffle cards of a similar Supertype back into the Deck/Extra Deck, meaning you can tailor your answers to opposing decks. Facing Mitsurugi? Clown Crew Flair stops their core value loop before it even begins. Playing into a Kewl Tune pilot foolish enough to try and interrupt you with a Quick Synchro? Clown Crew Meteor equalizes the board state!
While the crew itself has some strict limitations, namely that the effects of Monsters Specialed from the Deck/Extra Deck cannot activate their effects on the field, there’s a number of ways to get around this via effects in the hand & GY. Rest assured, you’ll have a stacked hand, as Biancaviso is usually drawing 2+ cards per turn, on top of other engines in the list; this allows for small packages like Duality, much in the same way Runick used it, to give your Biancaviso a chance to dodge targeted negation by porting out into Hecahands Dandalos, who also arrives in BLZD.
While I think Clown Crew does need its full range of Supertypes to top in the TCG, as the Link being missing is a fairly egregious blind spot in a meta where both Sky Striker & Maliss are real decks, it can absolutely take down a locals with just the first wave. Its flexibility, both in terms of what it can deal with, and what it enables via its generic extra Normal Summon, is profound. We’ve seen everything from Stun Clown Crew, to a small Destiny Hero package to turbo out the classic Destiny Hero Plasma, and more. It’s worth getting hyped, and getting familiar with their paths of play, because soon enough you’ll be dreading the resolution of a Concours de Cuisine (Culinary Confrontation).
Back to generics for a second, and it’s time to talk about Lahamu the Messenger of Sacred Scripture. This is a generic Link-2 DARK Fairy, and is a Darklord in all but name, although its applications in the OCG thus far have been varied. Lahamu’s big allure is the fact that you can place on the bottom of your Deck any number of monsters in your hand in the End Phase, and draw the same number; this is unassuming, but gives you a chance to put back errant Mulcharmies that no longer have an activation window, or other matchup-dependent handtraps which won’t come up. Extra copies of Ash or Ghost Belle you open can also go back, and because all these cards are placed on the bottom, the chance of redrawing the very same names is low, even at 3 total copies. Beyond even that, however, Lahamu also has a Quick Normal Summon in the Main Phase, for a Level 5+ DARK monster, and allows it to come through without Tributing. This is good for Darklords, sure, but can also make for some nasty surprises via a card like Mind on Air…which is seeing play to prevent monster effects that require you reveal them in the hand to activate. Nasty.
Finally, I wanted to shine a spotlight on the Fairy Tail series, which finally becomes an archetype in BLZD. This is more of a flavorful strategy, and not something uber-competitive, but alongside the new Charmer cards and potentially the might of Spenta, the Magistus Sealer, it could show promise. The Fairy Tails ‘imagine’ opposing monsters as a card which does not exist, Fairy Tail Prince, and provide opponents with negative effects or Super Polymerization-style interaction while they have a Prince onboard. From just a Fairy Tail - Luna, you can end on three bounces, a quick Fusion, and even some negation by way of Fairy Tail Ball. I’ve had a soft spot for this odd assemblage of cards released during the ARC-V era, and the fact they’ve somehow become a cohesive deck thanks to Fairy Tail - Wickat is a small miracle indeed; the real home for these is likely Genesys, where they’re likely unpointed, and can pay out their points for the currently-banned Fairy Tail - Snow, something you can’t currently play in the TCG. Now that we know Genesys is making its way over to the OCG, there’s a chance some sets 9+ months down the line could have cards designed with the format in mind, but to be honest Fairy Tail is exactly the kind of thing it’s already looking for. Something something Cinderella story.
With all that being said, this wraps up the first look at Blazing Dominion’s generic & new archetypes! Once we have a better idea of the new GMX cards, in late April, I’ll definitely be revisiting those, as well as the cards released in the set for Resonator/Red Dragon Archfiend, Predaplant, and plenty more. While the set isn’t looking broken, it’s looking to have an impact, which is exactly what you want to see as a player!
Which generic card in BLZD are you excited to slot into your decks? Do you think Power Patron has what it takes to top in the TCG? How would you have renamed ‘Clown Crew’? Let me know in the comments below!
