Anyway, we've recently gotten back into Buddyfight (which we played during its first release).
The thing I dislike most about the game is its name more than anything actually.
It is, in my opinion, the worst mashed up name one could ever come up with for a card game.
It irks me just thinking about that because they could have come up with something much better and it would probably have a more positive response.
Putting aside from the fact that it is primarily designed as a cardgame directed at kids, a game is a game and there is no discrimination on that point from me because I love games in general.
The only thing that prevents me from playing a game is if the game is filled with lolis and almost fully naked girls because I obviously shouldn't and cannot afford to be caught playing those type of games and there is no lack of games in the world that I would have to end up in the state of having to play one of those.
I chose the Jackknife Gold Ritter deck to use because I like how it fundamentally changes the way the game is played and I like how there is a promo art of the Green Dragon Shield (that is not out yet).
While my deck is almost there, the below is the build I want to ultimately end up at (I am 2 cards away):
Buddy: Jackknife Dragon
4 Jackknife Dragon
4 Jackknife Burnenergy
4 Jackknife Thunderstorm
4 Jackknife "Berserker"
3 Jackknife Gold Ritter
4 Jackknife Braveheart
4 Jackknife Gift
4 Blue Dragon Shield
4 Green Dragon Shield
2 Flying Dragon Shield
2 White Dragon Shield
2 Gargantua Punisher
2 Calvary Academy
2 Dragonic Grimoire
2 Dragonic Charge
1 Dragoenergy
1 Day of the Dragon
1 Dragogenius
It took me awhile to understand how to build the Jackknife Gold Ritter deck because most references I looked at ran less Jackknife Berserker or Braveheart and they all seem happy with it.
The numbers are simple to understand once the reasoning behind them is established.
Firstly, the base Jackknife Dragon has to be maxed out so that the climbing can start.
Hence, 4 Jackknife dragon, 4 Jackknife Berserker and 4 Jacknife Braveheart is essential because everything starts from there.
At a 12 base count, the odds of it showing up in the starting hand is 82.6%.
At a 8 base count, the odds of it showing up drops to 66.9% which is essentially 1 less game per 10.
Jackknife Braveheart is easily replaced by Jackknife Burnenergy which turns into a net -0 on the gauge with 1 extra soul so every Jacknife Braveheart is equivalent to having an extra soul.
In addition, it can be used to search for Jackknife Gift to find Jackknife Gold Ritter which would be at an effective count of 11.
For what Braveheart does to the entire integrity of the deck, I cannot fathom how people reach any numbers less than the full 4 copies.
Jackknife Braveheart and Jackknife Burnenergy are the core enablers to the strategy which needs gauge and a specific life total to go off.
Gold Ritter is at a count of 3 to prevent games where all the ritters are in the gauge and therefore unusable. At that point, the game ends because this Jackknife build can only make one attack per turn since it neither runs any grade 1s nor does it run any equipment apart from Gold Ritter.
Other than the Blue and Green Shields I suppose the rest are all variable.
White Dragon Shield is to help against impacts and Flying Dragon Shield is to help against attacks that cannot be nullified.
I use Gargantua Punisher over Victory Slash because I want to close games with more certainty.
Dragonic Charge helps that and the building up to Gold Ritter.
Calvary Academy pushes Gold Ritter out of the 10k mark so that it is more protected than it would be otherwise and 10k is a sweet spot which most people can reach comfortably.
It moves out of a Drill Bunker range and also out of a natural Excalibur to force it to link rather than comes straight.
Playing it is no rocket science but it plays a little differently from a normal deck. You start by charging a spare Jackknife so that you can have one in the discard to use Jackknife Gift on. Otherwise, it will come down to whether or not you manage to burn any gauge with a Jackknife in it to use the gift. Gold Ritter itself needs 2 gauge so the gauge count is very important as you might need more gauge at times to get to Gold Ritter. If a Jackknife comes down to stay and it is not well protected, it might become very difficult to add enough soul to it on the following turn. It does not really work as a lone attacker because it does too little and there is only one attack because of how there only is Jackknife Dragons in the deck and no size 1s so Gold Ritter is really a priority.
All in all, it is a very interesting deck that warps the way the game is played. I look forward to using the alternate art Green Dragon Shields. =)
