Killing Me ~ Fallen Dark Warrior [Post-CORE 1: D/D/D]

[Blake]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6ku2aWctCg

3 D/D/D Abyss Ragnarok
3 D/D Kepler
3 D/D Lilith
2 D/D/D Leonidas
2 D/D Cerberus
1 D/D Galilei
1 D/D Night Howling
3 Chicken Race
3 Covenant with the Hellgate
3 Covenant with the Swamp King
1 Book of Moon
1 Foolish Burial
1 One for One
1 Raigeki
3 Fiendish Chain
3 Threatening Roar
2 Solemn Scolding
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Covenant with the Valkyrie
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Vanity's Emptiness

[spoiler=What I said about D/D before]
D/D Monsters:

• Cerberus: Good level, good stats, mediocre/bad scale, "okay" effects... It's decent, I guess? I run 1 because its an extra Level 4 and its stats are goo... So what I said already. Not too much to say here, it's not meant to touch the ED as it's mostly for Xyzing. If you're desperate you can use it with Night Howling, but... 0-1 of.
• Lilith: The best card in the deck after D'Arc and Abyss Ragnarok. She helps you to maintain advantage, she can turn Foolish into a RotA, and she just allows you to combo out stronger. Her level is good, her ass is good, she's just amazing. Never run less than 2, but I highly recommend 3 of her with 0-1 Cerberus, as opposed to 2 Lilith and 1-2 Cerberus. She's just that good, and she's vital to comboing. 2 minimum, 3 preferable.
• Galilei: He's a cure protection card. I run 2 because his effect is good enough, he's a decent scale (Allows you to pend Level 4 for 2 turns), and he's still a "D/D". Plus, he can recover something you set as a scale. 1-2 of.
• Kepler: He's your Stratos and your best Pendulum Scale that isn't Ragnarok. All around good card, merits running One for One in order to get to it faster (and One for One is often the best way to get to it). 3-of.
• Night Howling: He's a Junk Synchron-style tuner. Except he doesn't negate what he revives. He just shrinks it, potentially burns you, and has bad stats... But! He has a good name, level, and effect. Making Alexander is enough to warrant running it, and it's a decent topdeck. 1-2 of, depends on how much you want Alex.
• Proud Chevalier: The P-Effect can let you Ragna Zero, but you don't R4 that often... He has a meh/bad scale, and he depends on being NSd. I guess you could tech 1 copy, mostly because you Fusion Summon like mad, anyways. Issue is that he's mostly outclassed by Lilith and Proud Ogre, though he does have the advantage over Lilith of being an extra "use" of her effect, and he doesn't lock you into D/Ds like Proud Ogre, but... you wanna NS Kepler/Lilith/Night Howling a lot of the time. I guess it's a cute 0-1 of. 
• Proud Ogre: The P-Effect lets you get over threats, especially thanks to D'Arc, but... OEPD isn't as good in here any more, and you don't want to Pendulum Summon very often. You run Pendulums that are good as monsters/have a good scale effect, not have decent in both regards. Honestly, this card was good because it let you PS/SS Odd-Eyes from the ED, and now that Odd-Eyes isn't as important... this guy's up shit creek. Not bad, not good, just there. 0-1 of.

D/D/D Monsters:

• Kaiser: This is the jankiest card I have ever seen, even more than the next one. In theory, it's a searchable OTK at the expense of your Covenants. On the other hand... You're giving up your Covenants for an extremely narrow victory condition that may dead draw. I guess you could tech one, but I honestly feel it's a 0-of.
• Pendragon: This card just doesn't make sense. Why are you running dragons in D/D that aren't OEPD, and even he's not worth it now. I just hate the new starter decks altogether, they're dumb... That said, I actually have tried to convince myself to run this. Unlike Kaiser, reviving this means its live, and, in theory, you can remove extra backrow by reviving it with Night Howling, shrinking it to 4 with Cerberus, then going into Alex, and having Temuj-... yeah, you see what I mean. It does cute things, but I don't think it does enough. I wouldn't be opposed to someone trying it out, I just haven't been able to justify potential dead draws. So, in my eyes, a 0-of, but feel free to try 1 if you like.
• Hell Armageddon: PFFT HAHAHAHA. This thing is just plain fucking overkill. It doesn't do anything especially awesome, aside from surviving Raigeki/Mirror Force, and takes too much effort to keep it in the gamestate. Just... not worth it for a 3K beater. 0-of.
• Abyss Ragnarok: HOWEVER, THIS GUY IS THE FUCKING KING. He's essentially a continuous spell that doesn't take a backrow slot, and instead can offer you Pendulum Summoning. And he can be summoned for a pair of fucking awesome effects. Sack a D/D, banish a monster. When summoned, revive a D/D/D... Which means he's a much stronger NS, albeit more costly, than either of the Prouds. And if you have/revive D'Arc with his P-Effect, you gain 1000 LP. Sure, you only do half damage, but it's raw advantage. Trying 3 because he's important to combos. 2-3 of.
• Leonidas: oh how the mighty have fallen. This guy used to be essential to the deck, undeniable 3-of, yet... now... He's kinda shit. I'm not cutting him lower just yet, but... D'Arc does the job so much better, and is much easier to get onto the board... At least he has a decent level/scale? And decent ATK? "Pick your number"-of.
• Temujin: Very strong card, despite his tiny body and mediocre level. His revive is so open ended, it's honestly stupid. Getting back any D/D(/D) is really strong, and makes fusing D'Arc into him lucrative instead of a downgrade. Especially if you have Ragnarok. His float is also nice, though not the most likely to go off. 2-3 of.
• D'Arc: THE QUEEN OF THE DECK! She gives you extra life while being a huge beatstick. Bigger than Trishula, in a vacuum. And she turns the downside of your Pendulums, which Leonidas had held at bay, into an upside. She does the same for Ragnarok, which is a pseudo-covenant. It's also hilarious to use Ring of Destruction and get a LP bonus instead of double burn. Everything about her is what the deck wanted in a second fusion. 3-of, no questions asked.
• Alexander: He's pretty okay. I wish he hadn't lost his battle effect, but he'll live. He allows you to make Xyz plays, set off Ragnarok, etc., and he's a decent size. Like Temujin, not too much to say. 1-2 of.
• Caesar: A bro that you won't summon as much as you would like to. He's amazing Fusion/Ragnarok fodder, which makes him a decent revival target, he has pretty okay stats, and he has a decently strong effect. 1-of.
• Tell: Cute. Really cute. Not necessarily good, but adorable. My main gripe is that he has lower ATK than Caesar, but you use him mainly to help game the opponent or set off Ragnarok/Temujin/etc. THE POWER OF A NAME! 0-1 of, depends on what else you put in the ED.

Supports:

• Covenant with the Hellgate: It's a once per turn RotA, though it does burn you for 1000. That alone is enough to sell it as a 3-of, despite the hard OPT.
• Covenant with the Swamp King: The actual best Covenant. Now that D'Arc exists and gives you a reason/means to use [Fusion Monster] + [X] = Temujin more effectively, this card is the one that makes your game, moreso than Hellgate. Don't get me wrong, Hellgate is fucking amazing, but I find myself needing this more than Hellgate nowadays. 3-of Post-CORE, for sure.
• Covenant with the Valkyrie: Another card that's not as strong as it once was. With less Vanity and more good stuff, this card just isn't as strong. It was definitely a 2-of before, but I've just not been liking it as much with the advents of D'Arc and the list. I also have less hand nowadays, so... 1-2 of, all the same.
• D/D Recruit: Just like Pendragon, I have tried and tried to convince myself this is worth it as a 1-of, if only for recovering Covenants. I have not succeeded. At all. Ever. I cannot endorse it in the least, as the theory of not having monsters with this deck while being alive... doesn't hold up. Just sounds like a dead draw. I would recommend it as a 0-of, but if you're feeling feisty, I guess you could try it?
• D/D/D Resource Management: This was one I thought was mediocre, but trying it in Tag Force SP made me see its value. So I tried it out a ways back in the deck, and... It's actually pretty decent. Being able to undo your scales/dodge removal/get back dead cards that aren't Lilith/D'Arc is fucking awesome. And you often only need 2 D/Ds, because you'll likely have the third/means to get the third combo piece you need. I'm just trying one because tight space is tight. 1-2 of.
• Lease Laundering: Um... You're... giving up your valuable covenants for a couple draws? I guess it can win games, or save them, but... meh. It's worse than Leonidas. Who is worse than D'Arc. Who is D/D's based god. I'd say 0-of.

[/color]
[spoiler=Retconned Combo]The main early combo:

• Start with Abyss Ragnarok, Kepler, Lilith (and, if possible, Cerberus). You can sub One for One + random monster over Kepler or Covenant with the Hellgate over any of them. You can also work with Lilith + ???? + Ragnarok + Swamp King, but... well, you get the general idea.
• Get Swamp King and Ragnarok (Scale) on board. NS/SS Kepler (if needed to do that or get to lilith) to do so.
• Fuse ??? [optimally Cerberus, leaving kepler on board] + Lilith into D'Arc. Ragnarok goes off, revives Lilith. You gain 1000 from Ragnarok/D'Arc.
• Lilith goes off, get ??? [pref Cerberus] back. You have a free D'Arc and perfect setup for the rest of the game.
• [OPTIONAL] Set Cerberus as a scale, make Kepler 4, and overlay Kepler + Lilith into Caesar.

The deck is about all sorts of combos like this, and it's always rolling advantage. Most of what you can get is a horde of beaters, but that's still free-ish. And you even gain advantage for that most times.[/spoiler]

Things that have changed/I'd like to mention:

1. D/D Cerberus/D/D Night Howling swap: Cerberus offers easier ability to R4, which is more valuable than I gave it credit for. MUCH more important now that D'Arc exists, and my last findings were fairly preliminary. I actually use Night Howling as a 4th kepler a lot of times, honestly.
2. D/D/D Resource Management: I'm not gonna say don't run it, but... It's felt a loooooooooot worse post-CORE, the more I test. I just either am too behind to use it or, much more commonly, too far ahead.
3. D/D/D Hell Armageddon: This card's a silly tech. I considered using it as a tech in the Numbers tourney for the sake of potential R8, if possible, but I opted not to run D/D/D. Beating Mirror Force is funny. Granted, I never set him as a scale, and he is only going to be summoned by revival, so... winmoar. Just adorable winmoar.
4. D/D/D Abyss Ragnarok: Actually very prone to being Normal Summoned, though reviving it is funnier.
5. Solemn Scolding: Actually awesome in the deck. Provided your opp doesn't MST it, it means that your "infinite" life points, as paid by D'Arc, mean something other than getting further from death. 
6. D/D Galilei: Just not as needed in refined post-CORE.
7. Chicken Race: DRAW POWER! If they draw, they're greedy and let you make use of the life D'Arc bestows upon you, much like Scolding. If they blow it up, they're chicken and you still got value in the form of both players taking 1000 and you drawing a card. If they MST it... you pay 1000 to draw one and eat an MST aimed at a covenant. It's just value all around, and it serves as pseudo-Threatening Roar early. Speaking of...
8. Threatening Roar: Moreso a reminder. This card keeps you away from death in those games where you need it. It keeps early lone keplers from being capitalized on, it keeps you alive until D'Arc can bring you back to life,
9. Extra Deck in general: With the 1 Night Howling, I only run 1 Alexander and 1 Chaos King. Both have uses, and Howling is recyclable, so no reason not to have one of each for usage. I could still runa secon Alex, given this logic, but I chose to tech a Master Key Beetle instead, just for extra protection of my covenants. However, I have yet to make it. Your best R4 is Caesar, due to being BFFs with D'Arc and Abyss Ragnarok. Trio of friendship! Other than that, S39L is important as an easier to make Armades and huge when needed. And Castel... need I explain? The types don't matter as much now that Night Howling's not used as much. For the fusons... Temujin is a nice option, but D'Arc's your main boss, and you'll make her more often. Timmy's there to extend/make combos after your first D'Arc, generally. Or to outplay Exciton. And you have tons of 7s, o the two good R7s are here. I guess I could tech Metal Flare, but...

If there's anything you'd like to knwo about the build, the way the deck plays, etc. feel absolutely free to ask, because I could gush about my favorite eck for a while!

 

More post-CORE to come, but I wouldn't like to spoil my two tourney decks~

 

Oh, I've also considered Leo for the ED. 7 + 3 = 10.

[Toffee.]

+3 Ancient Leaf

:kappa:

[Blake]

+3 Ancient Leaf

:Kappa:

if it was live t1, sure

 

but it's not so