Magiclown Troupe Presents ~ Staves of the Stars! [YCMCS Clownseraph + report; Post-YCMCS Clownblade Seraph]

[Blake]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Act 3 of our Post-CORE Performance! We hope the theatrics of our animal and wizard companion kept you entertained, because it's time for the main event! Our clowns have enlisted the help of some strong men, some reptiles, including one of the last performers, and a pair of prop-like angels! And this performance is quite... unique, I assure you! The show must go on, so let's go!
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgthcjvK7jM

3 Heroic Champion - Assault Halberd
3 Performage Damajuggler
3 Performage Hatricker
3 Performage Tricklown
3 Star Seraph Scepter
3 Star Seraph Sovereignty
2 Kagetokage
1 Performapal Whip Snake
2 Forbidden Lance
1 Book of Moon
1 Foolish Burial
1 Raigeki
1 Soul Charge
1 Wonder Wand
3 Call of the Haunted
3 Fiendish Chain
3 Mind Crush
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Vanity's Emptiness
 
2 Performage Trapeze Magician
1 Bujinki Amaterasu
1 Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer
1 Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon
1 Evilswarm Ouroboros
1 Gagaga Cowboy
1 King of the Feral Imps
1 Lavalval Chain
1 Number 103: Ragna Zero
1 Number 10: Illumiknight
1 Stellarknight Constellar Diamond
1 Stellarknight Delteros
1 Tellarknight Ptolemaus
1 Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh
 
3 Maxx "C"
2 Effect Veiler
3 MST
2 Wrongful Arrest
3 Shadow Imprisoning Mirror
2 Mistake
 
To start off, I actually made this deck as Empowered Entermage/Performage at the start. Nai and I were trying to think of a good way to use the clowns, considering they had a very strong 3-card core, but we weren't sure where to take them. Empowered was the first way, but it was... less than satisfactory, motly because of the sheer mediocrity of the field spell, evne with synergy with Damajuggler/Tricklown.
 
It evolved to a weaker version of this as a gimmick for the Numbers Tournament. 3 Kagetokage, 6 Seraph, 9 clowns, 2 Monk, backrow. I tested it against Marco a lot, and found a few problems with it; It needed more support for Rank 4, for one, and Monk wasn't working out, at all.
 
The more I tested it, I realized it wasn't fit for the Numbers Tourney, as I lacked some vital Rank 4s for the Seraph Engine to be truly efficient. So, I scrapped the idea of running this in Numbers, but shifted it to the front burner for the YCMCS. I felt like the Performage engine had a lot of power to offer, though I was unsure of how much. I figured I'd be getting decent or better testing for a reasonable pet deck, so I went forward.
 
I tried to add Dynatherium, but Tellars exisst so I decided that was a big no. Instead, I added Heroic Challenger - Assault Halberd to the deck and took out a Kagetokage for a P-Pal Whip Snake at the last minute, because Out-Snake OP. Also because it's an NSable, searchable monster with a decent effect.
 
I also looked for some potential 11th hour techs, and decided to try out Wonder Wand; It gives me beaters for a short while, if needed, works well with an SS'd Hat, and it synergizes with both Damajuggler and Tricklown. I am very glad I did.
 
It... even with more testing, I never could have imagined this deck would perform so well. At all. I'll report before I go any further.
 
[spoiler=YCMCS Report]Sorry for a lack of fleshed out info, never expected to do so well. I started keeping notes in R4, so I apologize for lacking areas ^^;
 
Round 1: Vs. Hex Maniac Zauls (Shaddoll)
G1: Clowns put in defensive/push work, and I believe I had a T1 Wonder Wand/Tricklown to find backrow and the like. Despite some misplays (like fiendishing wrong and not making Constellar Diamond, though this may have saved me), I made advantage with Seraphs, and they led to eventually winning the game. Mind Crush set him just a wee bit behind, considering it made a Mathman dump Squa+Core to get back Shaddoll Fusion.
G2: There was a DC, so we had to restart, though it was quite early. Misplays again (I booked a dragon that had been on the board for a turn, like a derp. I had SIM, at least), and one of them led to irrepairable gamestate, so I took the loss. Zauls was definitely in the better position, though I wouldn't have counted myself out at the time I admitted defeat.
G3: Mind Crush was the big winner here, but Stellarknight Constellar Diamond and, I believe, SIM both put in a lot of work.
 
1-0
 
This is the match where I really played my worst. After this, I realized a lot of misplays and greatly improved how I played for the rest of the tournament, and thank God I did.
 
Round 2: Vs. Gardener Progenitor (Sylvan)
G1: I managed to overcome him after he got some advantage on the board in the form of Hermitree/Mt. Sylvania and, iirc, recycling Charity with Sagequoia. Backrow held him off, then a Seraph turn lead to Lavalval Chain + Delteros, iirc, and then he had nothing but Sylvania/marshalleaf in hand, so I made a MP2 Stellarknight Constellar Diamond. He drew a Peaskeeper, used Mount to stack another Marshal and surrenedered.
G2: This one's fuzzy, but I believe that he opened deadish and I had the few answers I needed to go ham, then a Bujinki Amaterasu + Trapeze Magician play on turn 3 or 5 allowed me to wipe out the 61-6600~ LP he had out. I forget how much, but I remember it was in the 6K.
 
2-0
 
Round 3: Vs. Rival Koko (Fire Fist)
G1: I start a bit on the ropes due to Fiendish and Vanity's, iirc, which stopped an important scepter. However, backrow keeps me in the game. I draw Wonder Wand while I have a live Hatricker, so I SS hat, sack it for Wand to draw 2, and I find my second Scepter. I recover with a Delteros, draw into Call, and call into Scepter the next turn earns a scoop.
G2: She let me go first ad opened dead (3 Maxx, 1 Hawk, 1 Soul Charge, idr her sixth draw), and I opened Damajuggler + Scepter + Kage and 2 backrow (1 was CotH). Summon Juggler, acti Kage, meet Maxx. Set 2 and pass. She sets Hawk and passes. NS Scepter, activate it, get Maxx'd, just add Sovereignty. Overlay into Ouroboros, kill her set monster (Hawk) and draw as it floats, detach Scepter and hit Soul Charge in her hand. She takes her turn, I answer her play with either fiendish or bth. I end phase call, she scoops.
 
3-0
 
Round 4: Vs. Furisode Wildflame (Yosenju)
G1: They drew nothing but s/t until a lone Tsujik after I had beat down a fair amount. While they had 3 Secret Technique, I baited two of them out then beat over the Shinchu L they got off of Tsujik/Divine Wind. Shinchu probably cost them the game, considering it made Assault Halberd live. Mind Crush hit Tusjik for the win as they dead drew Dimensional Fissure.
G2: Pretty much a repeat of G1, but without Divine Wind ever resolvng and Kama 2 instead of Tsujik. They did emptiness in response to Call in order to get advantage after my double swinging assault halberd would die (Trapeze, and I should have sided it out, though it did help a lot). Mind Crush again won the game, as I sniped the lone monster and they were left with nothing.
 
Final score in Swiss: 4-0
 
Semi-Final: Vs Gardener Progenitor (Sylvan)
G1: I stopped his Lonefire early and OTKd him the next turn.
G2: He first turn Felgranded and I lost because I only had a hat, a chair, and a kage to work with. Not much else to say.
G3: Negation and crap all around, and I opened the same three monsters. Diamond forced him to play around it, if only for a turn, but that was enough for me to find a damajuggler and OTK.
 
Final: vs. Challenger Koko (Fire Fist)
G1: I bricked and got assraped by leopard/spirit
G2 I bricked, made a small misplay, and got assraped by leopard/spirit
 
I'm happy to report that I went 4-0 in Swiss, and I came in 2nd place! Sure, I lost, but I’m fine with it, especially considering my final opponent. I know it's just a small online tournament, but I feel like I did get some worthwhile testing out of this, if only for a few matchups and the kinks it showed me.[/spoiler]
Between this tournament and some extra testing and research, I learned of some combos I missed and ratios to change.
 
Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades compliments Tricklown wonderfully. Each time Tricklown revives itself and burns me, I also get a free Thousand Blades. However, I'm unsure if I'll run it in the end... Strong as it is, it's a terribly dead draw, even with the Kage/Halberd support. However, note that this card doesn’t win you the game most times. It allows you to float a lot, but it doesn’t directly win games, more often than not.
 
Nefarious Archfiend Eater of Nefariousness is another card to come to my attention, but I'm not too sure of it. It's not as dead in the hand as Thousand Blades, due to SSing itself if you control a Performage, but that just make it an alternate hat with a worse name and type. Arguably, a worst effect, though its revive can synergize with Tricklown. It's popular in the OCG, but unless the list steps in come July, Seraphclowns can actually happen here. And I don't think it's incredibly worth it when all but 7 cards in your deck and a couple in your ED don't synergize with it. About that...
 
Jigabyte has the same SS-from-the-hand clause as Archfiend Eater, but it is also a Reptile. However, its latter effect… not as worth it. Definitely seems like a good choice in OCG Performage, due to the need for more help with lower Seraph count, but not in the prospective TCG.
 
Performages Hatricker, Tricklown, Damajuggler, and Trapeze Magician were in their numbers for testing's sake. I ran 3-3-3 and 2 just to find out what was really needed. What I found is that... 
 
Hatricker is awesome. 3-of, easily. The most live mage, and very helpful all around. The anti-burn is especially nice for getting free tricklown revives.
 
Tricklown is a very good card, but I doubt 3-of. It's strong, but multiple copies means vanilla cards lying around, and that's no good. And it's not hard to get one out, so yeah, probably 2.
 
Damajuggler... is a very cute card, and the Kuriboh effect comes in handy more than expected, but it's also the most dead. Despite Ring and cowboy existing, I've not resolved its burn punishment once (NOTE: Pre-Round 4). It just kinda sits there at time, and I just wish I had a faster way to get it into the bin. I actually was going to drop it to 2; And I did. But that’s a post-YCMCS thing.
 
Trapeze Magician is brutal if you can get 2 copies of him out, because that's 10K damage on board. He also floats if the opp kills him, and can serve as removal when you feel safe. Considering that Tricklown is basically a "Cir" and this guy is the "Dante", you can see the implications. He also keeps all damage that's 2500 or lower from hitting you, so free Tricklowns. However... 2 ED slots is a lot, so not sure if it's worth it when you have a 7 card engine to use it with. This one I'm not solid on a move for, but with Norden being YCMCS legal for the next tournament and destined for the TCG, and the fact that Lavalval Chain does a lot here, I may have to drop it to 1. I could cut Ragnazero as well, but I don't want to abandon things that did me well, especially when it's good in a lot of more niche situations.
 
A final note about the mages is that they really aren't the main part of the deck. Instead, the Seraphs turned out to be the stars of the show... who get a ton of benefits from the synergies with the clowns. Stick and Chair really get along well, and the synergies are strong. Being able to field clown can change the tides, be it blocking a FF-Bear's direct hit or just keeping a monster on board for 1K. Did me lots of good, as did using Scepter as a generic "pls make 3mR4 w/me."
 
Lavalval Chain... I can't say enough. It's fucking amazing in here, more than the usual. Not more than Infernity, but that's a huge boot to fill.
 
Stellarknight Constellar Diamond was a card I didn't think to include, then realized I could include her, Zenmaioh, and Ptolemaus at the last minute. While I never summoned Zenmaioh (NOTE: Pre-Round 4), I did ue Ptolemaus to make her a lot in external testing (be it 2-mat or 3+detach), and Diamond herself was shining bright when she did see play.
 
Number 10: Illumiknight came up in testing, but never came up in the tourney (NOTE: Pre-Round 4), which is a shame. He has cool things to add, like dumping a juggler to find a hat or dumping a trick, but... I think he's getting cut after this, despite the cute plays. Ama, Ouroboros, Delteros, or Ptolemaus are generally better.
 
Forbidden Lance was just due to expecting more responsive backrow than anything. It did me pretty well, though MST got sided in a lot, obviously.
 
As for the side... Basic stuff, little bit of anti-Shaddoll, and 2-2 of Wrongful Arrest and Mistake to test the two out and get a feel for where and when to use which. Not much else to say, as I'm really not the best at siding... I just went mostly generic, and it did me well.
 
Well... I'm glad I did so well, and the deck performed and operated in a much better manner than I expected. I'm... proud to do so well, especially with a deck I'm attempting to pioneer. I think that this deck, though my list is very unrefined, could be a top deck come CORE, provided that the Seraph Engine is in one piece after July 1st.
 
Thank you for your time, if you're reading this. I'm a bit humbled that I did so well, and I just wanted to give back a little, considering this deck is brand new. It’s been gaining popularity all around since I came up with the idea, as did others. I’m… just glad to be one of the pioneers, given that I really did just discover this on my own and I’ve been testing the fuck out of it for a while.
 
Without further ado, my post-YCMCS build, with side testing and future availability factored in.
 
[spoiler=Post-YCMCS Seraphclown]
3 Heroic Champion - Assault Halberd
3 Performage Damajuggler
3 Performage Hatricker
3 Star Seraph Scepter
3 Star Seraph Sovereignty

2 Kagetokage
2 Performage Tricklown

1 Heroic Champion – Thousand Blades

1 Performapal Whip Snake
3 Instant Fusion
2 Wonder Wand
1 Book of Moon
1 Foolish Burial
1 Raigeki
3 Call of the Haunted
3 Fiendish Chain
3 Mind Crush
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Vanity's Emptiness
 
2 Elder Entity Norden
2 Lavalval Chain
1 Abyss Dweller
1 Bujinki Amaterasu
1 Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer
1 Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon
1 Diamond Dire Wolf
1 Evilswarm Exciton Knight
1 Evilswarm Ouroboros
1 King of the Feral Imps
1 Performage Trapeze Magician
1 Stellarknight Constellar Diamond
1 Stellarknight Delteros
 
I dropped clown to 2 because you don’t want to see too many copies of it, but you still want to see 1 copy, for sure.
 
On the other hand, I had dropped Juggler to 2… but with Noden, I want to see as many of it as possible, though moreso in the grave. That said, it’s more ‘traps’ in the hand and it’s great Lavalval fodder. Plus, makes Amaterasu more live. Kagetokage #3 could go in this slot, though, and I may test that.
 
I feel like I may want to drop Trapeze to 1, because I never really feel like I need more than 1 to do the job. But… I feel like, at least in theory, two is better, given the Dante-like implications and the ability to clear dead board space. Still testing Dire Wolf over it, as both have a similar field-clearing niche.
 
Wonder Wand has been dead an entire 1 time, and that was because I opened Chair + 3 backrow + Wand. I still won that game, thanks to Wand. Amaterasu also makes Wand better.
 
Ring of Destruction just wasn’t getting the value I needed so it took the fall for juggler 3.
 
Norden + Seraphs is fucking BROKEN. Just saying. Who cares if your stick can’t search, you recur a pop 1 draw 1. $$$$$. Great with Clown/CotH, either.
 
Ptolemaus/Zenmaioh was cute, but… had to go. It won games, but not enough to warrant the ED space, considering the occasional ‘man I wish I could nuke’ moments. Not worth 2 ED slots. May add Ptolemaus back for 2-mat Diamond, as that did win me a game.
 
Cowboy left because it’s helped me game maybe once. This is just not a cowboy deck.
 
No dweller because I’m not scared of Dolls/BA, but I may be now that I shifted away from the OG build. That said, I’ll come to see. I realize it’s also helpful in the mirror, but 103 can really help at random moments or against Yosen, potentially. May put Dweller in with more testing, but I’ve just yet to see the need.
 
Illumiknight was adorable and more common than Zenmaioh, but not as common.
 
Deck has a ton of Norden/Seraph combos, even a 4-card combo with variable cards (other than IF + Chair) to spit out 2 Lavalval + 3 Mat made with Stick. All sorts of things.
 
I got to see a lot of value as I tested in the YCMCS and beyond, and I’m glad I did. And I’m proud to say that I pioneered this deck, if only in my own little corner of the world. Sure, others did the same, but… like I said, I came to this on my own, and I’m really glad that I got to try out a deck and do well with it, as well as learn where it needed refinement. So thank you, genuinely.[/spoiler]

[ihop]

Firstly, Diamond Dire Wolf is amazing and I wouldn't cut it for the life of me. When you're playing Norden it's so easy to just get a spare 2-mat rank 4 out, even just to deal with random lone backrow that you're scared of, as well as being a slightly better out to floodgates like Macro (well, mainly Macro), as only one material gets banished. 

 

Second, I think 3 Kagetokage is really good. It makes sure you have a solid play T1 since you can instantly Chain or whatever else, as well as allowing you to put pressure on with Feral Imp which I think is a great card. It's also really good at getting things you can't do much with in hand (Thousand Blades and the 2 grave clowns, mainly) into the grave or under an Xyz, which is always good.

 

Third, have you considered Tsukoyomi over the Whip Snake? It's a really good Djinn out since even if it's Trished it's guaranteed to be live next turn and they probably can't do loads since they'll only have 3 cards after their draw phase, as well as being an out to Vanity's Fiend, which is a big problem, as well as smaller things like Unicore, all the Shaddoll Fusions and making it really easy for Assault Halberd to get its effect off. It also has added value since if you open it plus Hatricker you have not only a Djinn out but a way to make Trapeze, plus you can Wonder Wand it and stuff like that. Obviously it has some big downsides, the main one being it's ass when you're going first, but I still think it's better than the Snake because it does its role better than the Snake while having other advantages, and only being bad in certain situations.

 

Finally I have to say I'm seriously impressed at this and the fact that you've built this from scratch. I had serious doubts when you pm'ed me the decklist but I was amazed at how convincingly you beat Zauls in games 1 and 3 of the matches, and having tried it myself it's definitely good. I hope you've got something out of the YCMCS, at any rate.

[Blake]

Firstly, Diamond Dire Wolf is amazing and I wouldn't cut it for the life of me. When you're playing Norden it's so easy to just get a spare 2-mat rank 4 out, even just to deal with random lone backrow that you're scared of, as well as being a slightly better out to floodgates like Macro (well, mainly Macro), as only one material gets banished. 

 

Second, I think 3 Kagetokage is really good. It makes sure you have a solid play T1 since you can instantly Chain or whatever else, as well as allowing you to put pressure on with Feral Imp which I think is a great card. It's also really good at getting things you can't do much with in hand (Thousand Blades and the 2 grave clowns, mainly) into the grave or under an Xyz, which is always good.

 

Third, have you considered Tsukoyomi over the Whip Snake? It's a really good Djinn out since even if it's Trished it's guaranteed to be live next turn and they probably can't do loads since they'll only have 3 cards after their draw phase, as well as being an out to Vanity's Fiend, which is a big problem, as well as smaller things like Unicore, all the Shaddoll Fusions and making it really easy for Assault Halberd to get its effect off. It also has added value since if you open it plus Hatricker you have not only a Djinn out but a way to make Trapeze, plus you can Wonder Wand it and stuff like that. Obviously it has some big downsides, the main one being it's ass when you're going first, but I still think it's better than the Snake because it does its role better than the Snake while having other advantages, and only being bad in certain situations.

 

Finally I have to say I'm seriously impressed at this and the fact that you've built this from scratch. I had serious doubts when you pm'ed me the decklist but I was amazed at how convincingly you beat Zauls in games 1 and 3 of the matches, and having tried it myself it's definitely good. I hope you've got something out of the YCMCS, at any rate.

The only thing is that when I want to clear field space, I often want to use Trapeze instead. I use Dire Wolf some, but it hasn't been my favorite. Lone backrow sniping is fun, though.

 

I like three Kage, I just run a whip snake because I dislike not having anything but Kages to grab off of King Feral. It makes it feel... weaker. I keep going between Snake and Kage.

 

If I had room for Tsukuyomi, I'd test it, but where? Snake is a Kagetokage slot, so just don't know where to fit it. Maybe over a fiendish...

 

I thought I was playing a fun deck with some unfair combos. Instead, I found a great deck that needed refinement. It really caught me by surprise that first match, as well. I thought I was done for, but it pulled through. As did Mind Crush.

[ihop]

I think Snake's a lot more comparable to Tsukoyomi than Kage. Sure, they're both searchable by King Feral Imp but honestly searching Snake seems really underwhelming because it's just a normal summon of a monster with a relatively good effect and relatively good stats. I feel like if all you want to search is Snake there's always a better rank 4 to make than Feral Imp. I don't think there's anything wrong with having only 2 Feral Imp targets since they deck hardly revolves round it. I think it's important to have either Snake or Tsuk in there and I think if you have to cut a Fiendish to make room for anything it'd be Kage.

[Spinny]

Atleast snake is a djinn releaser out in alot of cases. Especially with Sibylla and stuff running around it can surprise you how good a "NS and run something over" is.

[DuelSpectre]

Well, Tsukoyomi does the same thing but does a lot more, as ihop stated.

 

-1 Snake

-1 Juggler (Found 2 to be an optimal number)

-1 Fiendish Chain (Three Fiendish seems excessive)

-1 Thousand Blades (I decided to cut him out)

 

+3 Hoban (Cause why not? You can stack with Chain if it comes down to it.)

+1 Tsukuyomi

 

------------------------------

 

-1 Bottomless Trap Hole

+1 Ring of Destruction (I actually feel like Ring of Destruction does better in this sort of deck, and if Ring has a bigger trigger area than Bottomless)

[Blake]

Well, Tsukoyomi does the same thing but does a lot more, as ihop stated.

 

-1 Snake

-1 Juggler (Found 2 to be an optimal number)

-1 Fiendish Chain (Three Fiendish seems excessive)

-1 Thousand Blades (I decided to cut him out)

 

+3 Hoban (Cause why not? You can stack with Chain if it comes down to it.)

+1 Tsukuyomi

 

------------------------------

 

-1 Bottomless Trap Hole

+1 Ring of Destruction (I actually feel like Ring of Destruction does better in this sort of deck, and if Ring has a bigger trigger area than Bottomless)

Why would you cut Thousand Blades? That's a terrible move. It gives the deck a ton of floating power ala BA. It's not so much a gamewinner as a card that keeps you in the game and can sometimes lead to a win.

 

I like 3 Juggler. I have argued it with myself, but I like 3, because more Amaterasu is more OTKing. Also makes me feel safer against decks like Yosenju.

 

Upstart sounds like a bad idea in a deck that deals out between 8-9K damage for its OTKs, generally.

 

ring of destruction doesn't do enough to real decks. BTH at least helps more than Ring.

[ihop]

Ring sucks, ffs

[Blake]

Ring sucks, ffs

like, yeah, it beat progenitor for me G1... but it's too late against too many things.

 

I'd play warning over Ring any day tbh

[DuelSpectre]

Valid points. Shows how I know nothing about Clowns, and that should stfu before I make myself look stupid...oh wait, I already did.