Angel Feather
- Brampton Booster
- Sep 21, 2012
- Comment
Woah there! This is a REALLY outdated post. For more current and accurate articles visit my main page.
Royal Paladins are a pushover. I mean, come on, they got taken away by some dark fog. and now in its place, there are those horribly inconsistent Gold Paladins. Surely you expect more from the United Sanctuary, but the Oracle Think Tanks seem to have scurried away. And because there is STILL a war raging between nations you need to send in nurses to fight. That isn’t in the job description! Oh well, It’s not really that bad. At least the units getting hurt can mend themselves!
Unique Mechanic:
One ability that separates Angel feathers from the rest is the ability to HEAL, increasing your damage advantage. But Angel Feather’s real specialty is using cards the damage zone as another holding space. This actually makes it very close to Granblues (Who use the drop zone as their space), and they share a lot of traits. They work on areas not available to other clans, and can ‘store’ units for later use. Angel Feathers incorporate the core mechanic of changing a card in your hand with a card in the damage zone. Your opponent can only bring cards in your deck to your Damage Zone, and therefore they increase your hand when you damage something. And when you consider the fact that the swapped cards are unflipped, using Counterblasts multiple times is a pretty nifty bonus.
Set 7 gives them the consistency that Set 6 lacked. Although they are still slightly unsupported, they now have consistent power and damage swapping, that the intro set lacked. This power came with a trade off by lowering a HEAL effect of the AF.
Opinion
Healing is great, but not easy even in an Angel Feather deck. While the mechanic is great, the damage zone just doesn’t have the sheer size of the deck(for Royal Paladin’s) or even a good buildup like the drop zone(Granblue) dropping it’s versatility. But unlike those two resources the cost to use it is much lower and makes them very good to create something from virtually nothing. Angel Feathers are a fun deck to use as you can try to tech in other cards similar to teching something in Nova Grapplers(Or just annoy them with healing). Although it doesn’t unflip as much, AF don’t CB often so they have the room.
| Structure | |
|---|---|
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|
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| Resources | ||
|---|---|---|
| Deck | Hand | Drop |
| A slow crawling deck with a strange lack of [DRAW]. However, this actually lets Angel Feathers survive longer then most endgame decks giving the upper hand. | While it is average on size, guarding is quite easy as you can add back your damage checked triggers and perfect guards. And speaking of perfect guards, you can reasonably suspect to use 3-4 a game. | Unfortunately, as great as doctors are they still can’t bring a dead person back to life. |
| Field | Damage | Soul |
| Mediocre. Other then an Ergodiel vanguard, they don’t exert pressure. A good Rearguard addition would be pulse wave to hit 20k. | Your medical toolbox. However you don’t have the large arsenal that other decks have. So you need to make sure you know when to switch out cards. | Nurses and Doctors have no soul. They walk around with blood bags and tell you it’s going to be all right as they mercilessly inject needles through your epidermis. |
| Game stages | ||
|---|---|---|
| Built as Black, Early Game; Designed for Black, Endgame | ||
| Entropy | ||
| -1 | -2 | -2 |
| Opening | Middle game | End game |
| Unlike other endgame designed decks, Angel feathers are good at the beginning due to let more damage through then normal, since they can HEAL all that damage as well as sealing off the opponent’s HEALS, as well as building an early toolbox. | You don’t excel in any particular are at this place. If your getting some bad draws, then trade it in for guard Material. Perfect guards might be hiding there, but only take it when you need it. Once you move here you need to pull your opponent up as well and then move to your endgame. | At this stage you should fair the upper hand with a consistent 10k boost and a possible 20k line. Also, if you HEAL you can effectively bring yourself to the middle game keeping the opponent on the edge. And at this point it is very easy to push them over. It makes them slightly risky, but it’s worth it. |
| Pressure | Resistance |
|---|---|
| Weak in Rearguard, which few options for pressure. To be fair, Armaros is a nice addition to pull some guards so make sure to add some in. Ergodiel is a great pressuring vanguard, and since there aren’t that many options you should stick this in as well. Shamsiel also delivers, but you need to separate the two builds. | I don’t know how Nurse’s get their combat training but they are much better on the defense. They can pull triggers you get in the damage zone to guard and return their heals, as well as pulling out perfect guards. |
Trigger Ratio
Angel Feathers should go toward 4 Heals, 6 Stands, 4 Criticals, and 2 draws. You will need fewer draws since you can retrieve better stuff from the damage zone, while the stands are for constant pressure and Criticals for damage pressure. A normal set is also sufficient.
Staples & Cost
Every staple you need is found in BT06 – Breaker of Limits.
Angel Feathers are moderately expensive due to demand, but expect it to drop off.
BT06
BT06 brought Angel Feathers, and although it was weak and inconsistent, it can become a powerful wall. AF was completely defensive, with multiple healing options. Later sets brought more consistency and power, but the deck to use at this time was the Ergodiel line + Nociels with staples to boot.
Cosmo Healer, Ergodiel plays exactly on all of Angel Feathers mechanics and playstyles. Firstly, its Persona Blast. With a cost of CB2 and a drop of the same unit when it hits, you can heal one damage. Healing damage is great and it almost always goes through once. And if it doesn’t, your opponent will be draining guard from the pressure of the effect. Combined with returning HEAL it gives an extra 2 damage buffer over the default 6. His cost also plays to AF’s strengths. Not only can you swap out that one flipped card (since you can heal the counterblasted card) with AF’s effects, you can also swap an Ergodiel that was resting in the damage zone. That basically means you have a free HEAL every game, and that’s why it takes so long to kill them. Ergodiel is also super easy to get, whether it be Miracle Feather Nurse’s top7 search or swapping it when you damage it. Finally, Ergodiel sports 11k, a great addition to the already fortified defenses. Everything Ergodiel does improves AF playstyle and Winning Image.
What Ergodiel perfects is what the ride chain flaws on. Ergodiel is a consistent player(even at 10k), but if you do the math you’ll get a perfect ride a bit more then 1/3 of your games. And unlike other ride chains, you don’t get any advantage from it. The plus by adding a GR2/3 is countered by riding the grade 1, and you still get the -3 soul. The switching is nice but at the early stage you won’t be unflipping, you get a 0 net advantage, and sometimes there isn’t anything useful in there at all. Most other chains like Spectral Duke and Riviere give a plus 1 in some way, and it offsets the difficulty in performing a perfect ride. If you fail the first ride (which happens in 50% of all games) you left with a shoddy 4k booster that you’ll eventually get rid. They didn’t even get the power right, although if boosting each other they hit for 16k, individually it wastes some numbers. (Hitting 17k very often). If you aren’t picky about needing an11k defense and need a bit more space for your AF deck it won’t hurt to remove the chain itself, leaving Ergodiel by itself.
In Set 6, the Nociels are the best way of using your damage zone. So it helps to put in as many as you can. Note the small changes in the conditions you need for each unit. The Grade 2 is the best with an on call activation, the grade 1 is used a complete turn before you actually need to use the card. The Grade 0 Nociel while a waste of a STAND can make up for it by swapping up with a defending unit. And Stands are very good in a deck without much pressure. Stands are similar to criticals, but while criticals aim to pull everything early, stands are in it for the game.
Circular Saw Kiriel‘s weapon doesn’t pack quite the punch. In short, its calling ability is situational. You need to choose an unflipped damage zone, so either you rode it too early or rode it after Ergodiel hits (And that means we lose the ability and 11k as well). Calling from the damage may seem cool, but it is a very small resource. Cocutus brings things from the drop zone, a resources that grows infinitely. Garmore skips the uncertainty and brings things straight from the deck, making it very reliable. Most of the time, you either need to waste several cards to set up for a Kiriel calling whatever, or you have nothing really good to bring out. But while this card’s ability isn’t up to par, it serves as a very nice back-up if we fail Ergodiel, and can resort to a 20k+ beatstick. The 5000 from the Limit Break might be just what you need for that final push.
Say hello to the absolute hardest Megablast unit to pull off: Mobile Ward, Feather Palace. Unlike other Megablasters, you must use his effect in Vanguard, and you must connect with the opposing vanguard. That is seriously hard, compared to other Megablasters like CEO Admaterasu or Mr.Invincible that can activate from a VG/RG to VG/RG attack. To get off the effect, you must be able building up anywhere from 3-5 soul and that is a long time to wait. You must also have a full field(and that’s hard if you plan to also survive a long time) to use it optimally. Is it worth it? Well, in my definition of a Megablast ability, no. It has the great advantage of resetting your game to the middle stage(since hitting with it would probably heal 2-3), but it really doesn’t help you get that final push. The soul is also not used in Angel Feathers, so that makes amazingly more difficult then it could be.
So in short, the Ergodiel build is the better choice when you first start with Angel Feathers.
BT07
New cards can remove the Ergodiel line for more power and consistency, but with a trade off on defense and healing. This puts AFs middle game up while slightly lowering the endgame ability. Still this is a great improvement for AF, even if it is two cards that was added.
Chief Nurse, Shamsiel is the other side of Ergodiel, a consistent powerhouse that allows AF to play stronger. The Limit Break is a great addition to AF’s gambit play; taking more damage to heal it later. Not only that, it makes the damage zone a lot more useful as a resource by swapping cards with each attack, although it means you can’t use it offensively that turn. The swapping just so happens to be a little bit like unflipping damage, so it is even easier to use counterblasts. With this said Armaros makes a perfect pair, and even cards from other clans can use the counterblast. Her second skill kicks right when her first skill activates and already you can she the huge synergy she has among the Angel Feathers. The 2000 boost may not seem like much, but it it promotes Burst Shot and Thousand Ray to the ranks of Clutch Rifle Angel to let her hit 20k and over. The +2000 skill is the same found in the Pegasus so it is good combination. 10k is not a very big problem either, as her own effect can increase her defenses for the opponent’s attack. Everyone is so used to 11k and 10k units, but when you allow the first attack through Shamsiel jumps up to 12000 and suddenly a 16k attack can be easily guarded and even stopped if the damage was also a trigger. It seems like Shamsiel covers all of Angel Feather’s strengths and weaknesses into one unit.
The other units that appear in Set 7 aren’t a beautifully synergistic as Shamsiel, but they all have fair abilities. The starting vanguard, Hope Child Turiel is the best starter for any Angel Feather deck which does not main Ergodiel and its ride-chain. The other two cards, Dotoroid Mecharos and Dotoroid Micross both increase the resources available in the damage zone. However, these units are only useful for a Shamsiel build if you happen to like it. Placing them in, the units give Shamsiel even more to work with earlier then people might suspect (especially when they start attacking rearguards when they don’t want the opponent to have 4 damage).
The Phoenix, Calamity Flame and the Pegasuses made their debut in BT06, but they didn’t become really useful until this set. Sure, one behind the other can reach 21k with one swap, but that needs a Nociel and you don’t have that consistency. With Shamsiel, leading with her gives 21k columns really easily. By itself, Calamity and Pegasus form a good defensive line as they gain power when they are damaged, and while it does not speed up damage it sets a good pace that you should take. The grade 1 pegasus is better then the grade 2 version, as it can boost units such as Armaros and non-Angel Feathers to 18k hitting crossride units and in a few cases to 20k.
The Grade 1 Nociel plays a great role in Shamsiel decks, so I’m surprised it’s not encountered in more decks I see. In the late game Nociel becomes an amazing 7k shield, being able to give Shamsiel a defensive boost WITHOUT taking damage. The Grade 2 Nociel is good as well, but Shamsiel’s different playstyle drops STAND for CRIT and DRAW, therefore creating a more beatdown technique. This speed is also slightly dangerous, but Angel Feathers still have enough defense and flexibility to work with.
Shamsiel Sanctuary is your next upgrade, which works a lot smoother then the previous set.
BT09
Set 9 contains new crossride units, and to try to counter them we have some new Angel Feathers. Whether they can or not is dependent on staggeringly long battles that would most likely be decided with a heal trigger.
While the first boss card for angel feathers (Ergodiel) is purely defensive, it has transitioned to something with more firepower (Shamsiel) and now Crimson Impact, Metatron raises Angel Feathers power output once again with the new set. At first, its skill seems to double Shamsiel’s attack boost by allowing a Calamity/Thousand Ray move up to 25k. But pay attention to the effect: Any Pegasus brought out by Metatron will not get +4000, so a plussed Calamity behind an unplussed Pegasus will be the EXACT same as Shamsiel giving a small plus to the two units. However, Machine Gun Nociel becomes the Messiah for Metatron. ABUSE HER. You can call Nociel to swap a card then use Megatron’s counterblast to bring Nociel to the field again and swap AGAIN. This small combo can create a 32000+ Pegasus line while keeping Megatron’s limit break essentially free, and allow more interaction with the damage zone so it will literally become a second hand for you. Interestingly, the highest power level you can reach from a static field (recalling the units already on the field) for Metatron is not two Calmities and a full row of Thousand Ray. Instead, it is actually two Nociel’s up front and a Thousand Ray back row which, if you play it out in your head right, causes the opponent to guard anywhere from 1 to 5 more card then the previous field on everything including crossrides. That’s right, the 23|28|23 columns is going to be truly advantageous for Angel Feathers. With all this power though, Metatron is stuck at 10k making it very vulnerable to incoming attacks.
Megatron continues to deliver by taking a tip from Granblue. Megatron’s skill will be able to make almost every card perfect for the job. Place two grade 0’s down, then remove them to bring out boosters, attackers and even the ever abusable Nociel. However, the damage zone is not a cornucopia of options so Metatron fighters will need to manage the hand, field, and damage zone with more care to ensure Metatron keeps the pressure going. What goes in the drop zone will stay in the drop zone.
Fever Therapy Nurse stomps on Bouquet Toss Messenger’s face like no tommorow sporting a Margal-like skill from the damage zone. Instead of minusing from the hand to get 3000, you flip it over in the damage zone. Since the opponent will actually help you to get it there, you do literally nothing and the skill is absolutely free. Once set comes out run over and mingle out 4 of these and replace all the draw triggers you had before.
The ride chain for Metatron is another failed attempt to give Angel Feathers anything solid, and their effects hardly make up for it. Crimson Drive Aphrodite and Crimson Mind Baruch has the same effect as Fever Therapy nurse, so it sounds okay to put at least one in…right? Wrong. The reason is the available space does not permit running such Vanguard oriented cards, and is counterproductive to pulling out better cards for Angel Feathers. At most only one +3000 is ever needed in a turn, and usually at the last moments. Fever Therapy Nurse satisfies without compromising deck space, and any extra 3000’s are usually obsolete. And you may want to try using Shamsiel or Nociel to have a steady flip over every turn, but then your responsibility will be split between retrieving good defensive/offensive cards with a semi-helpful self-flipper. Crimson Heart Nahas gives a Ezel Style Ride chain, but since there is no crossride for AF, no good way of plusing, no way of abusing early twin drive, and no usage of soul it was obvious she was doomed from the start.
BT11
As it stands, the Oracle Think Tank extra booster – Celestial Valkyries – prompted an outrage in the Angel feather unit, therefore they developed their wrath with the real celestials. Unfortunately, OTT foresaw this and therefore jumped to jump ship to Genesis.
*BB’s unofficial lore. Contact angelfeather_celestials@heaven.god to find out the special lore package only for 42.99.1 golden darchmas.
The one everybody wants is Solidify Celestial Zerachiel, with an extremely painful Limit Break. With a copy of itself in the damage zone, all Celestials get 3000 power. That is much much much easier condition to complete then Sephirot. Both Nociel and Candle Celestial Sariel can add it without any difficultly. Combined with Underlay Celestial Hesediel and Wildshot Celestial Raquel, Celestials can hit for 27|26|27!!! Wait…crossrides…ya. I don’t even know why Bushiroad tries.
The iffiness (yes, its a real word) of Zerachiel is its brainless effect. Unlike the nice pressure by Ergodiel, the swapping plays by Shamsiel and the field manipulation of Metatron, Zerachiel has got nothing. All you’ll be doing is swinging for 3/4 stages with vannila units. And vannila units it is; as the guild only comes in standard boring. I won’t even need to make a decklist: All you need to do is stuff all the Celestials into one pile and declare it finished. (I lie, of course I’ll provide a list)
Just as boring is AF’s breakrider Prophecy Celestial Remiel. I will classify this as the worse break ride up to set 11 and may be for all time. Sure, you get the standard +1 from the break ride but that isn’t special. Sure, you get to activate on-swap effects but where are you going with this? If you want to swap then swap earlier and not until you break ride. There are more then a couple of Angel Feathers that swap. Sure, you get a free card from your hand, but break rides are for a final push so what is with a defensive skill? You probably are going to get killed on your opponent’s turn as this break ride is litteraly a pushover. The only niche it tries to fill is with Ergodiel, but by the time you break ride, won’t your opponent be in a dangerous damage limit and want to guard the attack with a perfect anyways?
Reverse Aura Pheonix is still a blasphemy to Angel Feathers previous inventive playstyle, but less so then the other cards. Aura has a standard swapping ability, but it can swap consistently without limit break. So unlike Metatron or Shamsiel, you are allowed well built 21k rows at least 2 turns before a normal Angel Feather. As a downside, the swap happens to be via the deck, so you get no guard quality nor any field building. You can try it with the Crimson girls, but that’ll be extremely difficult to get a consistent boost. Thinking about returning triggers and using Doctroid to shuffle them in? Fat chance to get any significant trigger boost. Adding triggers with Nociels will be nice, if you have enough \5/ to swap out. So with all those half-truths pheonix is horrible and shouldn’t even come into mind when creating an Angel Feather deck.
If you do want to show the bland yet competitive side of Angel Feathers the Zerachiel build is perfect for continuous 26|26|26 pressure with its everlasting cannon, or maybe you want to try something more interesting in the form of an Ergodiel upgrade.
Crossrides
Metatron and Zerchiel both exhibit 23k+ columns. Zerchiel gets a bonus 1k in defense, but Metatron gets the ability to perfectly work on crossride hitting magic numbers. In both cases, crossrides remove a lump sum of your power, which is obvious due to the broken defensive nature. Since Angel Feathers do not have a crossride, they are pretty much sitting right under the big ones. If crossrides get hit with a banhammer/errata, Judgement day awaits.
Decks Matchups
Angel Feathers - Mirror Matchup
AquaForce - For most builds, AqF is a plain joke. Getting power ups by being attacked, and locking out the opponents attack targets. Shamsiel has the most fun toying with its pseudo-crossride defense.
Bermuda Triangle – Bermuda’s have a pretty difficult time finishing you off, but its the same for Angel Feathers too. You have the slight advantage, being able to generate advantage without drawing.
Dark Irregular - Expect a creeping battle if Amon+defense is being used. Dark Irregular can keep guard up for longer, but they still have a problem in hand management. Read whether they are being cautious or pushing fast and adjust. Also keep track of triggers, as they are one of the few clans that still have a problem in information concealment. Lastly, note the speed of the deck and see if you can deck out the Irregulars.
Dimension Police – Expect a difficult time as your defenses are tied to stopping the vanguard. Depending on the type of playstyle, it may be possible to outdefend him in order to push for game.
Genesis – A weaker Oracle Think Tank.
Gold Paladin - A consistent player like Royal Paladin, with more Vanguard power then Rearguard. Use perfect guards when you need it, and waste all of their futile efforts.
Granblue - Another late game deck, but Granblues have gotten a consistency upgrade. This makes them mill less and survive longer then previously. Also, Granblues have a larger pool(the drop zone) to use so they have more options. I say AF have the advantage with slightly more pressure and easier to use resource.
Great Nature – A very technical Great Nature deck can set up the field to press through your awkward defensive numbers. In general, you will win, but if the opponent has more patience and skill it will not be easy.
Kagero - Kagero seems to have the upper advantage in this bout, but both sides will encounter very quirky scenarios. Kagero can push away Angel’s Boosters, but the swapping ability makes it difficult to keep it that way. Angel Feather like to take more damage, but Kagero also tries for the same gambit. The winner will be the flexible one.
Megacolony – Trapping just slows you down, and these angels can take waiting around for a couple more turns.
Murakumo – Murakumo plays like Aquaforce in the early game, so like AqF you can ignore the threat of this kind of deck.
Narukami - Angel Feathers play exactly into Narukami’s strengths, but Narukami has the higher advantage here. The field wiping capabilities, intercept locking, extra criticals and power gains based on damage makes it an uphill struggle.
Neo Nectar – If you don’t know, on-hit effects really harm Angel Feathers. Or, if its not on-hit effects, its high-powered musketeers.
Nova Grappler - This is going to be the most equal matchup. Nova Grapplers is a constant pressurer and all game attacker. Angel Feathers is the shield; the constant defender and counter.
Oracle Think Tank - Oracle think tanks get their defense by assorting many 5k shields. You get by with fewer 10k shields. Since you don’t deck out as fast, you have a good chance. However, watch out for trigger stacks.
Pale Moon - This is an okay battle, as your defense can withstand what they have. The best way to beat them is to learn what they are going to do and prepare beforehand. As long as you can get through a surprise in the middle game, you’re well off.
Royal Paladin - This is going to be tough. Your going the have to push the Rearguards for a long time before you can win. And that’s if you survive the onslaught at the beginning. The early pressure can really come down onto you.
Shadow Paladin – Put your defenses up and wait out their temper tantrum. Ironically, Shadow Paladin’s turn into a big wall when its your turn, making it difficult to land a critical blow.
Spike Brothers - Another rushing player, but unlike Narukami they aren’t on solid ground. They assert a lot more power pressure, but you can just create a wall with your extra triggers. Then they start lose out attackers and defenders and end up with nothing.
Tachikaze - An offense/defense switching deck, making it hard for you to make a good swing. They don’t pack the punch as other decks have, but they can hang in for a long time. Take your time and work patiently; don’t oversimplify your plan of attack.