It wasn’t easy, but after a week of testing different Buster Blader builds, I’ve fallen on one that’s awesome.
Designing to solve issues
Going into this build, I asked myself questions for what I needed to get done. I wanted to solve some of the frustration both Kyle’s build and my archetype test build found with this support.
I set out to solve:
- How to summon Buster Blader and Buster Blader the Destruction Swordsman
- How to search for Buster Whelp
- How to summon Buster Dragon with generic material
- How to set up Buster Dragon and Buster Blader the Dragon Destroyer on turn 1 consistently
- What to do when none of that works
So yeah, lots of stuff. The outcome was fun, here’s the deck.
Monsters (25)
3 Buster Blader
3 Buster Blader the Destruction Swordmaster
2 Dragonpit Magician
2 Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon
1 Oafdragon Magician
1 Performapal Monkeyboard
2 Stargazer Magician
1 Performapal Skullcrobat Joker
1 Timegazer Magician
1 Nobledragon Magician
3 Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsmaster
2 Destruction Sword – Dragon Buster Blade
1 Jet Synchron
1 Tuning Magician
1 Performapal Trump Witch
Spells (15)
1 Allure of Darkness
2 Sacred Sword of the Seven Stars
2 Where Arf Thou?
3 Pendulum Call
2 Terraforming
1 Foolish Burial
2 Destruction Swordmaster Fusion
1 Starlight Junktion
1 Sky Iris
Traps (0)
Extra Deck (15)
1 Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon
2 Buster Blader the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman
1 Beelze King of Diabolic Dragons
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
2 Buster Dragon
1 Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon
1 Blackrose Dragon
1 Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon
1 Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon
1 Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon
1 Number 11: Big Eye
1 Ebon Illusion Magician
Here’s a video
How to summon Buster Blader and Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordsmaster
The Destruction Swordmaster needs to be on the field or in the graveyard for it to matter, so the deck has to have a way to discard it or summon it from the hand.
The Magician pendulum monsters, with Pendulum Call and Sacred Sword of the Seven Stars work to summon the Buster Blader’s if you have them, or get rid of them. 3 and 3 of each swordsman ensures that you can banish or discard them anytime they’re making a hand weak, and at the same time not worry that you’ll never see one again.
How to search for Buster Whelp
I didn’t really work this one out. Since I always want to normal summon it, I figured including one for one would conflict with that desire, so it’s not included.
I decided to go with Where Arf Thou? for search power, and Allure of Darkness and Sacred Sword for draw power. I also bet on there being enough deck thinning to increase the chance of drawing Whelp. In my other build and Kyle’s, we were using A Hero Lives to summon Prisma to make it a Buster Blader. I figure taking 2000 LP of damage isn’t that bad of bad deal.
Where Arf Thou? works with Tuning Magician, Jet Synchron, and Dragon Buster. These level one tuners can all special summon themselves to the field under various conditions.
Thinking about it now, I’m not entirely sure I need Buster Whelp. Well, I can at least entertain the idea of not running it. There might be some way I can work in a Junk Synchron and a Synchro Fusionist to search for the fusion spell. Or I could use King of the Swamp and Polymerization if I want to give up on snatching opponent’s monsters with the Buster fusion spell.
How to summon Buster Dragon with generic material
This deck has a bunch of level seven monsters. It has a bunch of level one tuners and an open normal summon. Having so many Buster Bladers you can open with one, draw into one, search for one, or get rid of one in the expectation that another one is around the corner.
Buster Dragon is really easy to summon, but also very pointless if you don’t have a Buster Blader. Even then, ending with 2 Pendulum Scales, a Buster Blader, and a Buster Dragon is very unsafe. Logically, the play should end with a Beelze or something. But if Buster Blader and Buster Dragon are on the field for more than a turn, the deck can start to feel like it has an over abundance of fun options.
How to set up Buster Dragon and Buster Blader the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman
Opening a Buster Whelp or the fusion spell usually means you can set up the combo just because of the insane number of Buster Bladers you can draw into or open with. A lot of plays end with a fusion spell set face-down, a Buster Blader and Buster Dragon.
I thought I could build this deck and then explain how it works, but it gets relatively complex when you open with a hand that requires decision making.
Inconsistencies
Field Spells
I’m running a Sky Iris because it can destroy the Perfomapal pendulum monsters that get stuck in the pendulum zones. It also searches Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon in case it needs to be used as fusion or synchro material.
Synchronized junction is in here for when I have Terraforming and don’t need Sky Iris. There aren’t many times this happens, but this can tribute Nobledragon Magician and summon Jet Synchron. Since the Magician is searchable by Pendulum Call.
Performapal Monsters
I feel like they do more harm than good. Performapal Skullcrobat Joker can’t be used to summon Buster Blader. It also takes up the normal summon. It’s great at fixing hands and setting up some of the deck’s combos, but it’s not a part of any of those combos.
Perfomapal Monkey Board is less useful because everytime I have it, I forget it becomes a 4 scale when it’s paired with a non-Performapal scale. It’s only purpose is to get Joker, and I already think that’s not entirely worth it. But, this is what you get when you build a deck with low pendulum knowledge and with an archetype that’s difficult haha.
Performapal Trump Witch should be Performapal Trump Magician. It would make like so much easier. It’s here as a secondary target for Mokey Board and it helps the fusion combo along in case you can’t get to the fusion spell.
Now I’m done
I can safely say I’ve had my fun with the new Buster Blader support. Fun note, I’d never played with any of the magician pendulum monsters before. My introduction to the pendulum mechanic was through Dinomists. Dinomists are fairly restrictive, but these magicians are quite useful and provide a lot of flexibility. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Perhaps I’ll write an article on it!
If you’ve tested or are running the new BB support, what did you do differently? What have you found amazing/annoying? I’d love to hear about your experiences down in the comments, or you can reach out to me on twitter @mattcarterwa.
[…] But the time investment doesn’t stop there. Pendulums are even further complicated by archetype restrictions. Pendulum monsters don’t mix well with older decks because some older archetypes are pretty inclusive (same for some Pendulum themes) – they are very selective about what they mix with. Pendulum Monsters have scales and some have restrictions about what you can/cannot summon with them. Even if the scales work for your build, you still have to worry about type, attribute, and the kind of support that the Pendulum Theme comes with and if its speed will be compatible with your deck. […]