Initial Opinions: Lostorage LRIGs (WX15)

Originally, I was planning on writing something about Mel, but then had to rethink that. The main reason on why this blog was made was to help people learn and understand the common choices people make on Deck X, what the options they have are and so on. A Common Choice between Deck X shouldn't be set with only 1 set, so none of the Lostorage LRIGs have a set style of building yet. Before I can write about them, I have to wait until every deck of a LRIG that tops are carbon copies of each other before being able to write about them.

That being said, this will make me feel like a scrub that jumps onto popular opinion, so to make me not feel like shit, and to share my personal opinion on the new LRIGs, I decided to write this post about my initial opinions on each LRIG that was introduced with Lostorage! All of the new LRIGs look really interesting to play, so writing about them will hopefully be just as fun.

Ril

Ril looks extremely good. Like many other Red decks, Ril's cards focus purely on dealing as much damage as she possibly can. She does this extremely well, featuring straight up Triple Crush in the form of Odanobu. Aside from that, Bors being able to give any Rise SIGNI Double Crush helps further in pushing this damage. You have extremely solid choices as targets for this Double Crush too, namely in the form of Goku and Akechi. 

Aside from all this damage pushing, Ril's Coin Ability is extremely powerful and intriguing. Honest can force your opponent to reveal their entire hand and 3 cards of their choice from their ARTS deck. Looking at your opponent's hand only would have been considerably good, but looking at their ARTS they can defend themselves with is ridiculously powerful. This can help you know what kinds of ways your opponent has to defend themselves, which notifies you of whether you can kill your opponent or not. Of course, an easy way to make this not a problem for your opponent is by just revealing the most obvious and standard options, but unorthodox plays aren't exactly uncommon for WIXOSS, and seeing how many Servants your opponent has in their hand to know whether to Arc Destruct or not also works out. 

On top of that, Ril's ability to plus in order to get the Rise SIGNIs out as fast as possible isn't half-baked either. Her main LRIG, Memory of Truth gives you more cards, albeit at a random basis. Nohime is great in nullifying the cost of Rise, and Sanzo is a great tutor. With cards like this, getting Rise off isn't that hard of a deal, and considering how hard it is to get rid of a Level 4 Rise SIGNI due to their 15k base and cards like Alexand, one Rise will carry you long a considerably long way. 

Ril's Spells aren't half bad either. One Swing of the Divine Current is considerably good, especially if you combine it with cards such as Yellow Turban and Saizo. Ark of Fighting Spirit is the one really worth mentioning though, if you ask me. Banishing any SIGNI and searching a SIGNI, even with limitations, is really good. Plus, if you have a Rise SIGNI out, which is fairly easy, it's completely free. 

Finally, Ril has access to one of the best ARTS in the game, in the form of Finishing Touches on the Fire Dragon. For a measly cost of 2 Ener, this ARTS can field wipe while searching out a Rise SIGNI from your field. A field wipe for just 2 Ener is extremely powerful, and she does it while searching out something you need for later on is just as good. This card is Ril's Modern Boundary, just made a tenfold better.

Oh, it's also worth noting a couple rulings about Memory of Truth, I guess. First, with her Auto ability, if you check a top card and a Rise SIGNI comes out, you need to meet the Rise condition in order to play that SIGNI. Also, if you use Finishing Touches on the Fire Dragon while you have Memory of Truth on the field, the +3k power effect will come into effect immediately, and you will be able to banish whatever the base power of the Rise SIGNI was +3k. 

Sources: http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/wixoss/card/card_detail.php?card_no=WX15-001

http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/wixoss/card/card_detail.php?card_no=WX15-005

Oh, and also, am I the only one who thinks some of Ril's cards have too long names for their own good? Finishing Touches can be translated into "Flame Dragon Reincarnation", which is less of a mouthful.

Overall, Ril's damage input potential is extremely strong, and combining that with 15k walls and a great ability in the form of Honest, Ril currently looks like an extremely solid deck.

Mel

Mel is currently the most commonly used deck in the meta right now. I don't know if this is because she's extremely cute, or because she's that good, but considering that WX15 has been out for about a month now, it's likely the latter. Her cards utilize the skill "Accessory" to do all kinds of interesting things, from giving her SIGNIs immunities to Lancer. Where Mel really stands out, however, is how much utility she has. From drawing as many cards as she wants and gaining as much ener, and even spamming Lancer, Mel would be best described as something in between Anne and Midoriko. She isn't as defensive as Anne, but she isn't as offensive as Midoriko either. Rather, Mel's niche lies in having a variety of utility options, letting her be pretty flexible depending on the situation. Mel also has a boom switch in the form of Retribution, which turns her into a considerable threat. 

I've mentioned Mel's drawing power just earlier, but it is really potent. Mel has a millena of options when it comes to drawing. Namely, her LRIG, Martini, which provides amazing drawing potential, combined with her SIGNIs such as Masryu, Hoshigaki, Burger, Kurukin and Daihouika. With all this, you get virtually an unlimited amount of hand, enough to not run out unless you're playing against a Discard-Oriented Piruluk. On top of this hand, you get a bunch of ener, being Green and all, which lets you not worry about resources at all. 

On top of this utility, Mel has an incredible variety of ways to make SIGNIs immune to a bunch of effects, namely in the forms of Torochee and Fried Egg. Fried Egg is overall powerful, since being immune to a SIGNI limits your opponent's options of getting rid of your cards, and Torochee is quite possibly what chased APEX back into her shell. Finally, Steak makes a 15k wall that is immune to SIGNI effects, which at the same time has access to Lancer.

With all these immunity options, Mel does tilt more towards to the defensive side, but it certainly isn't like she lacks offence. Aside from Steak and Daihouika, which can already deal quite an amount of damage, you have access to Curry, who gets Lancer if you have it Accessorized. Lancer on an 8k base, possibly more if you decide to use Ketchu and the likes, is extremely potent and helps in pushing in damage, even from early on. Curry, Steak and Daihouika provides all the offence Mel will ever need. While all these, and most of Mel's cards in general require you to have an Accessory to be functional, it isn't that hard to get an Accessory between all the ener charges Mel can do, Martini and Common Destiny.

On top of all of this amazing resource gaining and utility, Mel's signature ability is arguably the most powerful one among all of them. Berserk is great. It virtually makes sure that you are unable to be finished off during that turn, blocking any form of ARTS, Spells and Action effects that can kill you, namely Retribution, Rekindling Effort, Exceed effects, and so on. Plus, on top of that, By making them attack all of your SIGNI, you can draw 3 while gaining 3 free ener. If you Grave Rush with Berserk, you just gained a net +3 with +2 ener. If you use it with Painful Separation from Loved Ones, you just banished 3 SIGNI while gaining 3 Life Cloth. Berserk is just plain powerful on it's own, being able to block any kind of lethal your opponent might put you on, and combining it with Martini's effect and various other cards, it makes a great effect. Sure, Berserk can be avoided if your opponent trashes all their SIGNI, which does kind of make Grave Rush useless and Painful Seperation not as explosive, but even that alone is a good feat.

Due to all this, Mel is a very solid deck with one of the best LR LRIGs that Lostorage gave us so far, as well as keeping benefits in Berserk and all the utility she has access to.

Nanashi

The first thing worth mentioning about Nanashi is that her SIGNIs look extremely cute.

The second thing worth mentioning about Nanashi is that her cards aren't exactly the best.

I mean, let's be real here. Nanashi is basically Myuu, but worse. She tries to do everything Myuu does, but does it worse. She relies on Virus to do anything, but has a significantly harder time setting up these Virus. Myuu at least can consistently set up Charms, leading to consistent field wipes. However, in Nanashi's case, setting Viruses up consistently isn't an easy feat to do, considering how limited her pool is. While compared to Charms, Viruses are permanent, most of Nanashi's minusing effects require you to remove Viruses from the field as a cost. That being said, Nanashi only had one wave support so far, so things to come could definitely make her better.

The biggest problem Nanashi has currently in my eyes is how underwhelming her late game is. Her early game isn't half bad, with cards such as Madcow helping in pushing early damage. Virus, while not easy to set, is permanent, making effects that require Viruses considerably consistent. Plus, Shoukokabi is decent and very cute. However, her late game SIGNIs aren't exactly solid. We have Oigona, who is your best poker, being able to give -10k to an infected SIGNI On-Play. This effect isn't the best, but it is definitely not bad. Nihokokabi, however, isn't exactly helpful in helping their offence. A -5k isn't exactly a lot, and even then it requires you to trash a Virus, by another effect of another card. This isn't exactly good, since only -5k, and only once per turn, probably isn't gonna help you kill anything. While setting a field Virus isn't halfway bad, That Four Another's skill sets enough Viruses for late game. This limits your offence to Oigona, who is still not the best and can only banish a limited number of SIGNI, and Daihouika, who every single other deck can use better.

Another thing about Nanashi is that her signature skill, Blind, is defensive more than anything. For a deck without any form of solid wall whatsoever, this isn't exactly ideal. Plus, Nanashi is more of an aggressive deck than anything, so this is extremely out of place. I can't imagine TakaraTomy elaborating more into Blind either, due to this reason. On top of that, Blind is easily played around by ARTS that kill SIGNI during your turn, such as Miasma, Ice Flame Shoot, and APEX.

Overall, Nanashi is severely lacking in any form of quality SIGNI, and everything about her currently is extremely mediocre, but this can change with future support.

Well, Nanashi isn't all bad. Her ARTS isn't half bad whatsoever. Bio Hazard is a great card that can salvage 2 cards from the drop to block your opponent's attacks for only 3 Ener. You can combine this with Oigona and Bluemold to do some interesting things. Aside from that, Fatal Punish is extremely powerful, acting as an easy field wipe. With the increase of 15k base SIGNI due to Lostorage, it isn't as powerful as it would have initially been, but it is still plenty strong and definitely worth. Unfortunately though, both Bio Hazard and Fatal Punish are generic, which means that Nanashi doesn't get to keep the niche over the other decks.

Aya

Aya looks extremely interesting. Aya focuses on using Traps as her main focus, which provides her extremely easy ways to defend herself. Her offence does mostly ride on Daihouika, but Eldora, who does the same, does pretty well as a deck, so Aya would be pretty good too. While Aya's defence options aren't as sure-fire win as setting a To'on in that Life Cloth, there is no possible way of manually removing the traps from field, unlike Life Cloth which is refreshable if your opponent tries hard enough. Aya isn't as good as she can be at the moment, but she definitely will be in a few sets, with more Traps and more offence.

Aya's biggest thing going for her is probably SLASH OUT. SLASH OUT looks like a great card. Not only does it have the THREE OUT effect, the trap effect is quite powerful as well. While you need to trash another trap from your field to activate it, banishing one SIGNI as a result, as a trap, is extremely powerful. SLASH OUT is one of Aya's best traps, as well as one of her best spells. While having a Life Burst may limit the deck itself's potential, it's high worth it with an effect like banishing one of your opponent's SIGNI in the middle of their attack.

Other things interesting about Aya's things is Honeytra. Triggering Honeytra with SLASH OUT or Doodle would give Aya some decent offence outside of Daihouika. Or, to do some interesting things, she could use Shpin to Freeze everything and catch her opponent off-guard. Or maybe you might do Trip Trap with Shpin to turn FREEZE THROUGH into a good finisher. The possibilities are endless, which is what really draws my attention to Aya. Plus, Nezukozo is really interesting. Not sure if I'd ever use her, but she is interesting.

Overall Insight

WX15 in general introduced some really solid new LRIGs, all of who look extremely intriguing. All of them, except Nanashi, are to an extent, good. Their concepts are solid, and the directions they can take it are vast. With a set like this, I'm personally expecting a lot from Lostorage. TakaraTomy did really well with the new LRIGs. Variety of decks is definitely something WIXOSS lacks, so this is a good change. Mel has already made many appearances in the meta so far, and a Ril or two pops up every now and then. While Aya has yet to top, I suspect she will very soon.

Overall, Lostorage LRIGs overall look solid and interesting, and have a lot of potential. I will personally be expecting a lot from them, especially in the case of Mama, who looks extremely interesting to play.