Drive Rulers are back with a vengeance, with Berserker leading the charge. At the moment, the deck is most likely nestled comfortably in the highest competitve tier of the meta. It has fantastic offence, an impactful CNT lineup, is easy to pilot and most importantly does not suffer from the same amount of consistency issues native to its original playstyle and design.
While this can be construed as a positive, considering the dominance of hand decks over the last 3 sets, it has had a minor warping effect on the overall health of the metagame, in a similar fashion to that of Embrace of Eons and Lucifer the Lightbringer back during set 3. In essence, the majority of other competitve decks occupying the top ranks are all utilising the same defensive tools native to ATLAS, limiting th effectiveness of any archetypes that cannot run a X-blue colour combination. But before we explore this narrative thread, lets jump into the basic building blocks for Value Berserker.
The Decklist
The decklist at hand should not be considered the end all be all of deckbuilding. Rather it should serve more so as a guiding template, indicating what aspects of the archetype can be altered based on your personal style. For example, the reason I opted for Space Lancelot over Exosuit Gashadokuro was because I favour board control. As a result, since it is not among the recommended card inclusions, reviewed in the section below, there is comfortable room for experimentation.
Astoundinly the level limit of 120 fits the deckbuilding process for the archetype like a glove, only requiring the player to run a single level reducing CNT unit, Oni of the Tatari, which does not have a real down side to it. This may suggest that the ruler is a tad overtuned given its consistent ability to drive multiple cards per turn.
Card Inclusions
The list of cards relevant to the Berserker ruler, I believe, is quite straightforward. Utmost and foremost there is Darumageddon and Sakuya-Hime, Kami of Blossoms for the simple reason that they drive more cards, with the effect being attached to a decently statted body.
In a similar vein, Youmaoh Oni-Mask Avenger is also included because of his ability to drive an additional card. Granted this latter inclusion might raise an eyebrow or two considering the stats are a downgrade from the base ruler’s 5 ATK and 4 STK. However, the card’s ability to deny checked CNT activation on top of acting as a mini-shield, by virtue of the Gear-Up mechanic, shift the argument for its inclusion heavily in the card’s favour.
Of course, cards like Schrodinger – the Cat out of the Box and Arcane Innovator are fantastic defensive inclusions. The former still fulfilling its role as the deck’s 17th unofficial CNT and the latter recycling AND shuffling actual CNTs back to the deck.
Speaking of CNTs, Space King Arthur ft. Andriano, Star Dragon Ragnarok and Cosmic Efreet all make the cut and could be considered somewhat mandatory for an optimal competitive list, considering their stat lines, CNT effects and on drive abilities.
Graduating from the Units and onto the Events, to no one’s surprise we have Thousand Year Sakura making yet another appearance, as a generic staple in most drive decks, and the Yomajin Front legend from Set 4 ‘The Tale of the First Dawn‘ which is another absolutely phenomenal card regardless of how it sees play; CNT or Drive. Last but certainly not least we have the new event ‘Send Forth the Vanguard‘, which arguably can be construed as one of, if not The defining card for the deck arising out of set 5. Owing to the fact that it can be searched by Exo-Armor Trooper “Yuhi” and can potentially be played at instant speed, it is easy to see how the archetype has reached new competitive heights.
Final Thoughts
It is genuinely nice to witness Drive Rulers being a part of the highest competitive tier, after their dominance largely faded away into obscurity during set 3 and beyond, with the odd exception here and there. It is a great opportunity to compile all your biggest and baddest Units together ‘Morikawa Style’, albeit in a functioning deck. Yet, I can certainly understand the unpleasant aftertaste left in the wake of Berserker’s relevant dominance in recent tournaments. Even partially constructed lists, with only a fraction of set 5 support, were able to place within the top 3 consistently. However, the deck is certainly not invincible and has a vaierty of competitve peers that can stand shoulder to shoulder with it, in a competitve environment.
Yet, when one reviews the length and breadth of its rivals, there is one common thread that connects the majority of them. Namely, the utilisation of the key ATLAS defensive tools. Of course, Berserker’s aggression is not the principle reason of their general use but it is the causal link for colour migration of some lists, like Genesis and Shadowshades. In essence, though the ‘root cause‘ for this imbalance is the power level of the cards themselves, Berserker compounds their necessity by being the ‘driving force‘. In theory this warping effect might be shortlived as other factions are given generic defensive tools of their own in future sets.
Disclaimer
All commentary at hand refers to the English format of the game. As such the only data in relation to deck viability taken into consideration is that resulting from the ENG tournament and local scenes. This is due to the fact that Japan has a variety of powerful cards that allow certain archetypes to remain viable or exceed their English counterparts. This disclaimer applies to the entirety of Set 5 related articles published henceforth.
gunnolfbjorn 