4
Ninja
3
Shade
4
Chimera
4
Valkyria
4
Mummy
4 Soul Blast
4 Tower Shield
4 Fly
4 Manna
4 Permission
3 Reincarnation
4 Wind of Hope
4 Wizard's Eye
The other night I was browsing the
Culdcept DS card list in search of something different to base a deck on. As you may know, creatures in the Saturn, PS1, and DS games have no Territory Abilities, so coming up with something different can be a challenge. You tend to end up with either a Neutralize approach or a Support strategy. I like both of those a lot, but I'm also kind of tired of playing them. I wanted something
really different.
My thought was to find a spell card unique to Culdcept DS and focus a deck on that, but after looking through the spell list several times, I just wasn't feeling inspired, so I turned to the item cards and came across something unique to Culdcept DS that I somehow have overlooked since the game came out in 2008...
Soul Blast (R) Scroll
G:40
Scroll Attack: ST=30 / Steals G=(User's lap number x40G) from opposing Cepter
I'm familiar with this scroll. It's not terribly strong and it doesn't have a cool recycle-to-hand ability like Culdcept Saga's Soul Ray does, so I pretty much dismissed it. Also, its second ability seems kind of weak... or is it? I thought the G theft ability was based on the
enemy Cepter's lap count, which would be not all that great. Except it's not! It's based on
your lap count. You have control over how quickly you lap... you can speed it up via some creative spell use. A lot.
Dirk Dorkelson's Culdcept Saga Hall of Fame deck
Lap Dancer immediately came to mind. There's a whole bunch of stuff in Lap Dancer that isn't in Culdcept DS, but the overall idea is exactly what I was aiming for. So, I took what lap-based cards DS
does have, and Laptacular practically built itself from there.
Laptacular has two key concepts:
1) Lap as quickly as possible, above all else. Cast Permission at every opportunity, run like the wind with Fly the rest of the time. Whatever it takes.
2) Use Reincarnation, Wind of Hope, and Wizard's Eye to draw the lap-fast cards that much quicker. Wizard's Eye, you ask? Yep... it pays you to get a preview of your upcoming cards. If Permission and/or Fly are coming soon, use Wind of Hope. If they're not, use Reincarnation. It helps a lot that Reincarnation on the DS replaces your
entire hand - Reincarnation itself included! You will scream through your deck, guaranteed.
Everything else flows from those concepts:
Chimera grows very strong, very quickly. Smash enemies at will. Take and keep Fire lands. Forever. I had 9 (yes, 9!) Chimeras on the map in this deck's first test, all of them on Fire lands, and all but two of them at 100ST.
Manna just rains G. Laugh hysterically if they hit you with Reform.
Mummy becomes incredibly valuable - dead. Don't even defend him. Park him next to high-ST enemies and dare them to kill him. It's a lose-lose scenario for them - pay you the toll, or let the game pay you BIG for killing him.
And, of course, Soul Blast. You have 11 Attacks First Bandits on steroids with this scroll. Seriously. You're stealing a decent amount of G even by lap 3, which will happen
very quickly. I exhausted my enemy 3 times in this deck's first test, and my last theft was 440G. For comparison, Bandit+Flame Lord is a mere 180G theft and costs more.
This deck will work miracles on any map where you can get back to the castle quickly. On a very small linear map (like
Roka), replace Permission with Holy Word X.
I appreciate your comments and suggestions! Thanks in advance.
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