[EN] I look towards tomorrow! Into the beyond!
Introduction
Hello! I am yamero_cat (@dEMOn_dayz on X/Twitter), a casual player of Ultraman card game. I apologize for writing in English, in is a Japanese website. I seek your assistance to use Google translation to translate to Japanese language (or your preferred language). I am afraid that some meaning may be lost in translation, and I apologize in advance.
I love Ultraman Dyna, and Ultraman Decker is a close second. As Ultraman Dyna does not have any cards outside of the starter deck, I decided to focus on making a Decker deck! I want to thank all the friendly people on X (formerly known as Twitter) for sharing their deck recipes with me, and sharing information with me!
Notable Deck Recipes on X/Twitter
By @cardbrunchkithi
One of the first few deck recipes I saw with Decker/Trigger. It is split quite evenly, with 28 Decker cards and 22 Trigger cards. It was from this deck recipe that I realized that it may be good to avoid cards with no effects as much as possible.
By @Ken_UCG
This deck recipe surprised me as there was no level 3 Ultraman Trigger (Multi-type), and no Ultraman Trigger scene card. It made me realize that maybe I should not force myself to use Ultraman Trigger so much.
By @Kenn913
This deck recipe looked really good to me, and I wanted to use it. I wanted to see if level 3 Trigger Power-TYPE <Ultra Dual Sword> was better than using level 3 Trigger Speed-TYPE <Ultra Dual Sword> .
By @wntjdghltk
I was intrigued by there being 8 level 1 cards only, but I understood why it was done. After all, a SINGLE level 3 character is stronger, with RRR Decker’s ability.
Original Deck Recipe
As RRR Decker seems to affect Ultraman Trigger cards, I decided to include Trigger as the second Ultra. After all, there is not really enough Decker cards to form a solely Decker deck at the moment.
Trigger cards (13 cards) Level 1: 4 cards, Level 2: 4 cards, Level 3: 4 cards, Scene: 1 card
Some problems I faced:
Not getting the correct levels for each character. I would end up with level 2 and 3 cards for Trigger in my hand, but no level 1 cards. Meanwhile, my Decker would have level 1 and 2 cards, but no level 3 cards. It was difficult to level up consistently each turn, and I could not get TRIPLE stacked cards in time for Decker RRR ability to activate.
Decker scene card was not used to its full potential. Many times, when I activate the card’s ability, half the characters on my field are Ultraman Trigger, which meant that the scene card was only 50% effective. I would prefer to use the effect when I have more Ultraman Decker on the field.
The deck felt slower than decks that only used 1 Ultra Hero. For example, I had difficulty against a pure Tiga deck that was able to consistently level up all characters each turn. The consistency amazed me. Meanwhile, I was struggling to get RRR Decker out, along with another TRIPLE stacked Ultra hero. I lost to the pure Tiga deck every time.
Analyzing The Cards
Level 1
Most important card among the level 1 Decker and Trigger cards. A staple to draw the necessary character cards to level up.
While facing an ARMED-type opponent is a gamble, the 9000BP at DOUBLE stack is useful when the card is affected by RRR Decker.
These are basic cards with no ability, or DOUBLE stack BP. They cannot benefit from RRR Decker’s ability, but will make a decent base for leveling up.
Level 2
This card has good BP, being 11000BP at DOUBLE stack. This card can benefit from RRR Decker’s ability. The swap ability can be used to try and compete for lead, and can be versatile in switching around your characters to increase the number of won battles. I feel that I do not have experience to use it to its full potential yet.
Similar to the RR Decker card, this card has good BP, being 11000BP at DOUBLE stack. This card can also benefit from RRR Decker’s ability. The ability to remove scene card of round 3 or lower is very useful, especially in later turns. However, this ability is only activated when DOUBLE stacked, which means you will hesitate to play it too early, or as SINGLE stack.
Despite having no abilities, they competitive BP stats. They can also benefit well from RRR Decker’s ability. There is not much to say for these cards.
While these card has lower BP at SINGLE and DOUBLE stack, they have the potential to TRIPLE stack. If the SINGLE stack card was facing the appropriate TYPE opponent, and combined with RRR Decker’s ability, they can easily be TRIPLE stacked without needing to level up. But the chance of facing the correct TYPE opponent is not guaranteed, so it is a gamble.
Level 3
This card has relatively low BP compared to other level 3 Ultra heroes. Furthermore, the ability can only activate when this card is TRIPLE stacked. While the goal of Decker deck is to get TRIPLE stacks as soon as possible, it may not always be the case. When this card ends up being DOUBLE stacked, you cannot use its ability, and it is only at 13000BP. Of course, allowing you to +1000BP to both adjacent characters is great, just as long as there are characters on both sides!
This card has high SINGLE stack BP and average TRIPLE BP. Unfortunately, it has no abilities either. Putting any copies of this card in the deck cannot seem to be justified. The level 3 Trigger Speed-TYPE <Ultra Dual Sword> card has better BP stats. While Decker’s level 3 cards only hit 13000BP when RRR Decker’s ability is activated, Trigger’s level 3 Speed-TYPE will be 14000BP. I would rather use Trigger’s level 3 than this Decker card.
The strong ability of this card lets you pick up one card out of five, and it can be an Ultra hero, a Kaiju, a Scene card. There is no restriction, making this a good search ability. However, take note that this is only achieved at TRIPLE stack. Another downside for this card is the low BP, even at TRIPLE stacked. 16000BP makes this card lose out to many TRIPLE stacked level 3 cards.
While the ability is slightly weaker that the level 3 Ultraman Decker <Dolnade Breaker> card, its ability can be used at both DOUBLE and TRIPLE stack, which is easier. Furthermore, it has 17000BP at TRIPLE stack, making it more durable than the Decker <Dolnade Breaker> card. Between the two, I would prefer this Trigger card.
Similar to the level 3 Ultraman Decker <Realiut Wave> card of having no abilities, this card is a weaker choice in terms of BP at SINGLE and TRIPLE stack. This card does have a higher 14000BP at DOUBLE stack, making it a more preferred candidate to play SINGLE stacked and combine with RRR Decker’s ability.
Scene cards
Decker’s scene card that gives all Decker character cards +1000BP. It can only be used from turn 4 onwards, which is quite late, and you need to discard a card. If you do not maintain hand size by that turn, you may not be able to pay the cost to activate the ability. Also, the effectiveness of this card depends on how many Decker cards are in play. There was a match where I had 3 Trigger and 1 Decker, which made this card’s effect seem not worth activating.
Trigger’s scene card can be played at turn 3, allowing us to draw more cards to find the cards we need. A rather straightforward ability which is always welcomed.
The Main Star of the Show
The most important card in this deck, you need at least 1 copy in your hand as soon as possible. The effect can be activated in both DOUBLE and TRIPLE stack, which is great. Furthermore, it is one of the few level 3 Ultra heroes that has 18000BP! Lastly, the effect applies to both Ultraman Decker and Ultraman Trigger, making Trigger the perfect Ultra to join the deck. With this card’s ability, I am not afraid to put more level 3 cards in my deck.
As this card makes all SINGLE stack Decker and Trigger cards increase by 1 BP, I compared the cards with the highest BP in DOUBLE stack for each level. These cards have the most benefit from RRR Decker’s ability.
Level 1s: While the R-rarity level 1 Decker and Trigger cards can hit 7000BP using RRR Decker’s ability, this particular card can go to 9000BP, allowing it to even defeat a SINGLE stack level 3 character. Unfortunately, most of the level 1 Trigger cards do not have DOUBLE stack.
Level 2s: The level 2s of Decker and Trigger are actually identical in BP stats. Both the R-rarity and the vanilla (no ability) cards are 11000BP at DOUBLE stack, higher than their other level 2 card which reaches 10000BP only.
Level 3s: Among all the Decker and Trigger level 3 cards, this card has the highest DOUBLE stack BP, with 14000BP. This card will be useful in the late game when both players are desperately playing SINGLE stack cards with no ability to level up, when used together with RRR Decker.
Deck Variations
While planning my deck, I realized that I had 3 possible paths to choose from.
Balanced deck
Trigger-focused deck
Decker-focused deck
Please note that these are just examples, and I have not fully tested each deck extensively to confirm that they are guaranteed wins. Please take the information with a pinch of salt.
Deck 1: Balanced
This is the most common way to build the deck, where the ratio of Decker cards and Trigger cards are almost 50/50. The aim is to benefit from RRR Decker’s ability, while also utilizing the draw power of Trigger cards to ensure we can get TRIPLE stacks fast. The aim is to get at least one TRIPLE stack on the field, along with RRR Decker. As much as possible, we want to avoid playing a level 2 card, and only playing a level 3 card when RRR Decker ability is activated. Ultraman Decker <Dolnade Breaker> and the Decker scene card can help try to win the game with up to +2000BP for Decker cards.
There are many variations online, such as removing the vanilla level 1 Trigger cards, or adjusting the number of scene cards. I tried reducing the scene cards to Decker: 2 Trigger: 3 so that I have less chance of drawing a scene card when I do not want them. There is no “correct answer” to the build, and luck also does play a factor during games.
My issue with this deck is that I am constantly looking for the right cards to level up both Decker and Trigger. It may be due to my bad luck, but I would always have trouble finding the right cards I need to get my cards on the field to TRIPLE stack. It can be challenging to draw to the correct level of the specific Ultra hero that you need. However, I think that this is a concern for most decks that have 2 Ultra heroes, so it may be an issue of my luck.
Deck 2: Trigger-focused
While Decker is the main card of the deck, when I compare the level 3s of Decker and Trigger, I feel that the level 3 Trigger cards are better in many ways. So what if the deck is focused on Trigger, and while Decker plays a support role? The main objective is to hit TRIPLE stack Trigger cards as fast as possible, using the level 1 cards to search for your necessary Trigger cards. As the TRIPLE stacked level 3 Trigger cards have relatively low BP, it relies greatly on Power-TYPE <Ultra Dual Sword> Trigger to give some boosts. The RRR Decker can also help with its 18000BP.
There is also the unfortunate case where many level 1 Trigger cards have no ability and no DOUBLE stack BP, making them unable to benefit from RRR Decker’s ability. They are mainly just for leveling up, but can end up wasting your draw in the late game if you are unlucky.
Deck 3: Decker-focused
This is my personal choice, only because I wanted my deck to be Decker-focused. I realized that the level 3 Decker cards (excluding RRR Decker), may have difficulty challenging other level 3 Ultra heroes, and would rely heavily on the scene card or the ability of <Dolnade Breaker> to increase BP. Also, at DOUBLE stack, their BP are not very high either. This means, I would ideally want my Decker cards to hit TRIPLE stack while on the field to fully maximize their potential. I realized that decks with only 1 Ultra hero (such as a pure Tiga deck) are able to hit TRIPLE stacks more consistently than decks with 2 Ultra heroes. Thus, I wanted to put as many Decker cards in the deck as possible, to increase my chances of achieving TRIPLE stacks. The downside of removing the Trigger cards is that card search/draw power is greatly reduced, which can lead to running out of cards in the late game.
This would leave me with not a lot of space for a second Ultra hero, which I would still pick Trigger due to theme, and because RRR Decker’s ability can apply to Trigger. As such, I put in the R-rarity and RR-rarity Trigger cards to support my Decker cards for level 1 and level 2. For level 3, I initially wanted to put 4 copies of the R-rarity Trigger. However, reaching TRIPLE stack for Trigger was quite unlikely, and I did not want to take my chances. I also feel that it might be almost the end of the game when I can use Trigger’s search ability, so the card did not seem too effective in this deck recipe. Instead, I decided to use the level 3 Speed-TYPE <Ultra Dual Sword> as it has higher BP when TRIPLE stacked, and it get benefit more from RRR Decker’s ability if I needed to play the card as SINGLE stack compared to R-rarity level 3 Trigger.
Conclusion
While Decker/Trigger decks are not as popular as decks like Tiga/Blazar due to being weaker, I still enjoy using it as I want to play decks of characters I love. And while some variations of the deck may be stronger or more effective, I will stick to my Decker-focused deck for now, to channel my love for the character and improve my skills!
I want to thank you for reading till the end, and I appreciate everyone who share their deck recipes and insights to Decker/Trigger decks! Let us hope the Decker and Trigger get more cards in future, to make the deck a more formidable opponent!