Mars, Belligerent Flame was considered one of the worst cards ever printed for Swordcraft. Her effect is nowhere near impressive, considering the strict requirement that she imposed when building a deck around her. However, everything changed when Cygames decided to announce this change at the start of the new expansion.
The main strategy of Mars Sword is to abuse the effect of Flame General’s Regalia as much as possible. This token amulet can only be summoned by evolving Mars while having at least 20 Officers follower inside the deck. This requirement forced a deck-building restriction since you need to include as many Officer followers in your deck as possible to maintain the consistency. The whole ordeal means there is less space to include Commander, Spell, Amulet, and Neutral cards in your deck, which is a price that we need to accept. With the recent buff, evolving Mars no longer costs an evolution point which is a huge upside. It means that we can use the evolution points for other Swordcraft followers. This ability also hinders enemy cards that benefit from having more evolution points, such as Angel’s Blessing. Mars herself has Bane attached, which makes her a troublesome follower to trade against. Flame General’s Regalia grants any follower being played three powerful effects:
A big thing about this amulet is that its effects are stackable. Having two copies of Flame General’s Regalia on field means you will gain double the effects. Stacking the Clash ability is pretty massive since it allows us to chip a significant amount of damage that will put the enemy’s health in the red zone. However, we also need to be careful, as the Amulet occupies a precious boardspace—which is needed to play our finishers.
Mars Sword is the main archetype for Swordcraft in the current meta. It is an aggressive deck that is able to exert pressure with constant board presence. Unlike most aggressive decks, which usually struggle against control-oriented decks like Discard Dragon, Mars Sword is actually rather favored against that specific archetype because they have access to powerful burst combo with Valiant Fencer, which makes them a solid consideration in the current meta. However, it does have some fatal weaknesses that other decks can exploit—such as Amulet removal techs that ruin their gameplan or decks that are more aggressive.On top of that, Mars Sword is also a deck that is really affordable especially for new players because the total vial cost is rather cheap, so you might see it more often on the early rank ladder.
Amerro … Yamero …Amerro, Spear Knight is the most valuable damage dealer in this deck. It is one of the main reasons why the Heroic package is considered because Amerro will gain Storm.Amerro is your main evolve target outside of Mars in this deck. The evolve can destroy enemy followers that might block the route. With minimal setup, its evolve will deal 5 damage to the face. That base damage can be further buffed by Mars amulets, so effectively, it will deal 6 damage with 1 amulet or 7 damage with 2 amulets. Furthermore, it synergizes really well with Windslasher, which effectively doubles the amount of damage it can deal.This big damage package for merely 1PP is extremely valuable.
Bumpkin Recruit is a 1PP Officer that might help you to draw into Mars. A solid inclusion for the deck.However. in a pure Mars build where you play fewer Officer followers in the deck, be wary that drawing too many Bumpkins during the early game might cause you to miss the Mars 20-Officer requirement because of overdraw.
Tony, the plucky Pogchamp His main job in this deck is to tutor Mars, and is therefore essentially another copy of Mars. However, in Heroic-oriented builds, it has the chance to draw Valiant Fencer because it is also a Commander. But that is the risk that most people are willing to take since Valiant Fencer has a great effect to close the game.He has Rally(10), which allows him to auto-evolve—but it is not so relevant for this deck archetype.
Lyrala, Luminous Cleric is one of the most important defensive cards in this deck.Flame General’s Regalia has a Commander trait, which means Lyrala’s effect will always activate once you set up the Amulet. Her damage shield can be really crucial against opponents that can perform burst damage or drain.It is also a rare source of healing in this deck. Followers with Ward generally have higher value with Regalia, as it forces opponents to trade with her.
Flame Soldier is one of the best offensive cards in this deck.Since all of our followers will eventually gain Rush and be able to trade with the enemy's followers, his effect can be easily activated. Flame Soldier is a strong tempo swing card that can chip some damage.Being a Heroic follower means he also synergizes with Amerro and Valiant Fencer, which is a big plus.
Swiftspeed Quickblader essentially doubles the value of those Flame General’s Regalia buffs since it has the ability to attack twice when evolved. He is your other finisher besides Amerro.Unlike Amerro, it doesn’t require any synergy. So it can also be used on turn 2 as an aggro maneuver to chip early damage.
Ironwrought Defender was built for Flame General’s Regalia. Since all damage that he received will be reduced to 1, each stat buff that he receives will significantly improve its survivability.This follower is deadly when played with two Amulets on the field, as your enemies will be forced to receive multiple damage instances unless they have an instant answer.Due to its ability, it usually sticks on the field while being damaged. This makes it synergize really well with another Heroic follower, such as Mach Knight or Flame Soldier.
Mach Knight is a prominent damage dealer that synergizes with Flame General’s Regalia. Stat buffs equal more Storm damage. When you have a damaged follower on field, it can recover 2PP after strike, which makes it an even better card. Since it is also a Heroic follower, it synergizes really well with Amerro. That play point recovery paired with Amerro will guarantee a significant damage burst.
Lieutenant’s Report is not an officer card, but it is a great tool to cycle your deck for merely 1 play point. During the early game, it can help you to look for your Mars. But the value of the card increases once you have Flame General’s Regalia on the field, as it will act as a healing source and a way to refill your hand size.
Since stacking Flame General’s Regalia is good for this archetype, ideally you want to draw multiple copies of Mars as consistently as possible.In order to maximize your chance of drawing multiple Mars, Mars should be the only Commander card in this deck so that Tony, Plucky Pollywog can tutor her without fail. This build shall be called the “pure” build.A card that can improve the consistency of this strategy by creating another copy of Mars is Return from the Brink. This card allows you to revive the Mars that you just played on the previous turn with the right setup.Return from the Brink is your best spell card for maintaining hand resources because it doesn’t actually thin your deck. The problem with this archetype is that you don't want to make your deck thin too early because it might cause Mars to lose its Officer-left-in-the-deck requirement. This is especially crucial for the pure build, since you tend to run fewer officer cards for more Spell cards that support their endgame.The usage for Return from the Brink is not only limited to Mars, as you could also recreate high-value cards such as Amerro that you can use again to push more damage in later turns.The weakness of the pure builds is that their way to close the game is quite limited. Which is why going with Heroic build is a strong consideration.
Since most of the essential cards have Heroic traits, putting Valiant Fencer inside the deck is a huge consideration: in fact, it is the most popular build of this archetype. The builds that include Fencer shall be called “heroic.”Valiant Fencer's best usage is for his turn 7 Enhance, as it acts not only as a hand refill but also a way to close the game by playing as many valuable Heroic cards as possible, since they cost 0PP to play.Unlike the pure build, which usually relies on enemies having empty board to end the game so that their follower can deal Storm damage, the value of Valiant Fencer Enhance gets much better the bigger your opponent board: those Heroic followers have more stuff to trade, which creates more boardspace to play all of the 0-cost heroes. More trades equal more damage from Flame General’s Regalia.The Valiant Fencer build is usually paired with Windslasher, which can grant another Heroic follower ability to attack twice. This can be applied to either Amerro or Mach Knight, which results in a powerful burst. In summary, Valiant Fencer provides powerful endgame opportunities.However, this comes with a big risk because Valiant Fencer is a Commander follower. It means Tony is no longer a pure Mars tutor, and it affects the overall consistency of the deck. Drawing Valiant Fencer from Tony before you draw your first Mars can be a game-losing outcome.
Morgenstern Maid always appears in a damaged state, which really synergizes with Heroic followers, notably Flame Hero. Turn 1 Maid into turn 2 Flame Hero is a devastating aggro move that can chip a lot of damage and exert a lot of pressure early game.Turn 3 Maid + Flame Hero is also a strong move.Turn 5 Maid + Mach Knight + Flame Hero is another power move.
Brave Vanguard has multiple uses and is usually good against other aggro board-based decks like Mirror, Fairy Forest, or Wrath Blood.In the early game, it trades really well with 1-attack followers like Fairy and will enable strong cards like Flame Hero when it's damaged.In the midgame, it is another source of Bane to fight against wide and strong boards. It can possibly double trade and benefit a lot from Flame General’s Regalia.
Quickblader is a simple follower that has Storm. It benefits from Flame General’s Regalia with buffs and does really well against enemies that play around Mars’ effect, as he can damage without relying on trade.
Wayfaring Goblin is essentially another copy of Bumpkin Recruit that you can keep in the mulligan to increase the consistency of your early game. It does have healing on evolve, but it rarely matters, as you want to evolve Mars or followers that are going face like Amerro most of the time.However, it is a Neutral card and might accidentally cause your Mars to be inactive when needed because of the non-officer ratio.
Wingslasher is definitely a core inclusion for the Valiant Fencer build. Valiant Fencer will make this card cost 0PP, and its ability to grant Amerro or Mach Knight double attack is necessary to deal enough damage for lethal.It also heals your health a little bit and draws another Heroic card, but this ability rarely matters since you usually win the moment you play this card with Valiant Fencer.Rarely played for 5PP.
Katze, Lady Thief will help you fetch Valiant Fencer, as he is the only Enhance card in the deck. It is your best turn 3 play in this deck.Drawing Lancer with Katze makes your Tony a guaranteed tutor for Mars.
Metatron is a 2PP, 4-defense Ward. She is actually a card that benefits a lot from Flame General’s Regalia since it guarantees her more than one hit on average.It is also a strong turn 2 follower that can trade against followers with 2 or 3 attack and still survive, which allows you to counterswing with Flame Hero.Her ramp rarely matters because you want to evolve Mars on your evo turn rather than Metatron.Another downside is that she is not an Officer card, which makes the deckbuilding even stricter.
Leonard Grappler is sometimes included for his Double-Rush ability and a way to draw more cards. Usually played in Pure Mars builds as another draw engine for the deck.
Forge Weaponry is your damage extension for Swiftspeed Quickblader or a tool to buff Ironwrought Defender, which looks really scary. Mostly used in Pure Mars build as a finisher for the deck.
Agile Twinblader is sometimes included in Pure Mars build as the way to end the game. However, her Rally (15) can be quite hard to achieve, and she is mostly cut from the lists.
I believe overthinking will cause more harm than good for this deck in terms of the mulligan, so let’s keep it simple. Only keep Mars, Belligerent Flame and Tony, Plucky Polliwog because he draws into Mars.Mars is the core for this deck and most of the time is your best evolve target. Even for the matchup where you want to be so aggressive and dominating on tempo, you will eventually need Mars to make your plan smoother on the evolve turn. It might be better to miss your early-game cards rather than missing your Mars on evo turn.While there are cards like Bumpkin Recruit or Wayfaring Goblin that seem to be really good to keep on turn 1 because of cycle value, try to refer to matchup sections, as there are situations where you don't actually want to keep them.Generally it is okay to keep more than one copy of those cards since you can stack Flame General’s Regalia, and Tony will also help you to draw Valiant Fencer in matchups where he is needed. But again, please refer to the gameplan and matchup section for more details.
There are two goals that you want to achieve during your early turn.
Ideally you want to achieve both, but depending on the matchup and hand situation, you might need to choose only one of the goals and leave the rest to luck.Generally, it's safer to stick to the first goal, as you want to secure Mars before the first evolution turn. Mars is the prerequisite of the deck after all. Specifically these are your options:
However, Lieutenant’s Report or Tony is a very low-tempo play. In a matchup where early-game tempo is so important, this could backfire and your opponent may take too much advantage and overwhelm your early game as a result.Use your Tony and Katze carefully, as you don't want to accidentally reduce Katze’s value. Although, this situation is only applicable for going 1st: going 2nd you don't have a choice but to simply play Tony on turn 2 and risk your chance of drawing Mars.
As for more strong tempo plays that are required against decks that also want to win the early game, these are the possible strong plays:
There is no exact answer to the question of whether you should save your card for Mars, or just use it for tempo early game, as it would be very dependent on your matchup and hand situation—but here are some very rough guidelines:
Any card can be played for tempo during the early game, unless you anticipate a specific use for them in late game. Amerro, Mars, and Valiant Fencer are examples of cards that have significantly better usage during the mid to late game.
Your goal at this stage is to summon Flame General’s Regalia and start dishing out damage as much as possible. In general, the movement can really vary depending on whether you are going 1st or 2nd.Going 1st, you are usually aiming to win on turn 7 with the Valiant Fencer combo. While there are patterns that let you win earlier than that, turn 7 Fencer is the most standard play to end the game, especially when going 1st against most meta decks, so let’s focus on having a midgame that builds toward that.
There is less incentive to go with two Regalias when going 1st, since your Valiant Fencer practically deals more damage with only one Regalia due to boardspace issues. However, if you didn't see your Fencer by turn 6, summoning the second Regalia will allow you to end the game on turn 7 easier.Going 2nd in this meta is pretty tough. You are usually in a race with your opponent because you need to win before turn 7, which means that you shouldn’t be relying on Valiant Fencer as much compared to when you are going 1st.
Against slower decks, you can definitely take it slower and stick with the reliable Valiant Fencer combo plan to end the game.
Late game for this deck is mostly about the Valiant Fencer combo. Valiant Fencer Enhance basically converts all Heroic cards in your hand into 0pp followers that you can play in the same turn. There are a lot of combinations, and the damage changes depending on how many Flame General’s Regalias are on the field. But the most common play is with one Flame General’s Regalia on field so it’s easier to manage the board space.
This is the most common lethal line for Mars, which deals 18 damage with the exact boardspace. It consists of Fencer, Amerro, Mach Knight, and Windslasher. We can calculate the total damage this way:
In most games, the Fencer combo should seal the game. Extending games beyond the Fencer combo turn is not an ideal situation because your damage output becomes weaker during the late game. Consider delaying your Fencer turn to turn 8 or later, especially when your hand is already full but you can’t see any lethal combo.The Fencer combo’s maximum damage is limited by your own boardspace. To be able to extend the damage, you are relying on the opponent board’s to have something that can be traded with your board—which means, the bigger your opponent’s board is, the bigger your maximum damage.
Answer: 25
Before talking about each matchup in specific, I would like to discuss this singular card that can change the whole matchup dynamic if your opponent happens to tech it.
The mere existence of Lucius, Travelled Trainer in an opponent’s deck tips the matchup in their favor if used correctly: the ability to destroy an amulet really ruins Mars’ core gameplan. However, it does come with a cost, as Lucius requires them to spend an evo point, and they usually need to delay their original gameplan to commit to his ability. Not every deck is willing to do that, preferring instead to progress their own gameplan.From Lucius player point of view, It is easy to be tempted to destroy the first Flame General’s Regalia that being summoned on Mars’ first evolution turn, However, that is not always the best scenario to use Lucius in, since your first evolution turn is usually dedicated to something that progress your own gameplan, and it is possible that there might be a second Mars in hand to follow up with. I think the most brutal way to use Lucius is right before their turn 7 Valiant Fencer. It will ruin the setup for the Valiant Fencer Enhance, as it cuts a tremendous amount of damage, and they will be forced to play something else on turn 7 besides Valiant Fencer.
Additional Mulligan: Brave Vanguard, Katze (going 1st), Flame Soldier (going 2nd, combo)Key cards other than Mars: Flame Soldier, Ironwrought Defender, Valiant FencerIt should be obvious, but not drawing Mars in the mirror will put you at a disadvantage. But this matchup was never about how many copies of Mars that you can draw, but more about how effective you can translate those into damage. The crucial step is only the first Mars.So that is why the player going first still has an advantage in this mirror matchup. It is a race, and by natural selection, they should be the first player to reach the Valiant Fencer turn, which can convincingly seal the game. The second player should be aiming to end the game on turn 6 or earlier if they are hoping to win.When going first, you can take your time and be more defensive to aim for the turn 7 Valiant Fencer combo. Focus on defensive capability and maximizing the value of Lyrala and Ironwrought Defender. There is no need to overcommit on followers and be so aggressive. Try to save them to deal with threats from players going second. Being ahead on tempo is also important since you want to keep your opponent busy with your followers instead of them hitting your face.
Going 2nd is tougher and you should really aim to perform as much tempo swing as possible. Brave Vanguard into Flame Soldier or Maid + Flame Soldier are your most effective early game plays that can swing the tempo into your favor while chipping damage. When going 2nd, you also have a chance to summon 2 Flame General’s Regalia which improves your chance of winning since it can chip so much damage. Use Mach Knight / Flame Soldier / Amerro on turn 6 to deal the final damage if you have successfully chip your enemy’s defense. Alternatively, we could go for Ironwrought Defender + Amerro Evolve on turn 4 instead of evolving Mars for greater tempo because that is way more difficult to clear compared to standard Mars evolve. And if they failed to clear Amerro, the victory is most likely yours.Keeping ahead on tempo is everything in this matchup. We need to be careful when playing a 1/1 follower during the early game because they can be traded with 2-defense followers like Brave Vanguard and create a damaged follower. Flame Soldier and Mach Knight can capitalize on this damaged follower to create strong tempo and push damage at the same time. That is why I don't advise keeping any 1/1 follower in mulligan for this matchup unless you know your opponent doesn’t have any Brave Vanguard in their list.Ironwrought Defender is a really powerful card in this matchup, especially with Regalia on the field—it’s even deadlier if you have two Regalias. It is able to chip so much damage, and the only card that can clear it is Mars with Bane in the standard decklist.
Additional Mulligan: Bumpkin RecruitKey cards other than Mars: Ironwrought Defender, Lyrala, AmerroVengeance Blood is probably one of the scariest matchups for Mars Sword in the current meta. Both Mars and Vengeance can be considered an aggressive deck, so the match between them is a race on which deck can kill faster. However, Vengeance Blood has a massive advantage:
Relying on turn 7 Valiant Fencer should not be the main gameplan as they can always kill you before that turn, and they have access to Doomlord, which invalidates the whole Fencer combo. The ping damage from Flame General’s Regalia usually is not an effective damage dealer since Vengeance Blood doesn’t really trade to destroy your board. They use Galom’s AOE board wipe or Room Service Demon in order to deal with your board or straight-up ignore it and use all their resources to go to your face. So that is why you have no choice but to be as aggressive as possible and curve your followers early. You will be relying on early board followers, burn damage from Flame Soldier, and Storm damage from Amerro and Mach Knight as your main damage dealers in this matchup. You can’t rely on controlling their Vengeance state, as you need to play board to deal damage, which is another situation that you need to accept.If the Vengeance Blood player doesn’t manage their Vengeance carefully and tunnels themselves into Doomlord on turn 6, that is another chance for Mars to win the game. Mars Sword has two cards that make Doomlord ineffective: Lyrala and Ironwrought Defender. Lyrala will deny Doomlord face damage while Defender can’t be destroyed by Doomlord. That will give you more time until you can find your Valiant Fencer / Amerro / Mach Knight to end the game.
Additional Mulligan: Bumpkin Recruit, Katze, Valiant FencerKey cards other than Mars: Valiant Fencer, Amerro, WindslasherDiscard Dragon is a control-oriented deck with access to burn damage that is able to contest and deny a lot of aggressive decks in current meta. However, Mars Sword is an exception, as the deck is capable of breaking through Discard Dragon’s barriers. Although, this matchup really depends on the Discard Dragon list itself, as they can tech more cards that are more suitable for fighting Mars Sword, with cards like Lucius, Mermaid Songstress, or Ethica.The reason why I think Mars Sword has advantage against Discard Dragon is the combination of their early chip damage and the access to big burst damage from Valiant Fencer combo. For the first 6 turns, Mars Sword should be able to dish out a significant amount of damage. If they failed to answer those pressure with Drazael, Mars will just take the win by those constant damage. In the case where Discard Dragon is able to answer with Drazael, it is not a bad sign for Mars as long as they can play the Valiant Fencer combo right after that. The big body of Drazael allows them to trade multiple followers, which allow them to reach high burst damage with Amerro + Windslasher.
The Valiant Fencer combo not only works against Drazael but also a wide Lumiore + Noir & Blanc board, which makes it really versatile in this matchup, and I think it should be kept in the mulligan due to its importance (or keep Katze). Since Fencer combo is so important, boardspace management needs to be emphasized. It’s better to just stick with one Flame General’s Regalia in this matchup rather than pushing for more. This is to ensure Valiant Fencer always has the chance of dealing maximum damage when turn 7 comes.The way Discard Dragon wins this matchup is if they had a very quick Lumiore turn, which requires some amount of highroll. It is really difficult for Mars Sword to deal with that kind of board before the Valiant Fencer turn. The other way is when the damage that we dish out with Valiant Fencer is not enough for lethal. This will allow Discard players to push more damage to end the game with Lumiore or recover a lot of health with another Drazael while we have less resources to deal with it. However, with some fortunate hands, we could still push for lethal, even if we miss the lethal on Fencer turn, just like in the example below.
Additional Mulligan: Bumpkin Recruit, Brave Vanguard, Flame SoldierKey cards other than Mars: Flame Soldier, Amerro, Mach KnightThe match between those two is simply a race to which one can kill faster; every single chip damage matters because both Mars Sword and Fairy Forest have minimum access to healing. Going 1st usually helps because it comes with better tempo, and those who are ahead can chip significant early damage. However, both decks have cards that make going 2nd is not so bad because of their powerful evo ability (Mars Sword with Mars and Fairy Forest with Nobilis and Shining Valkyrie). In an ideal case, the game should end on turn 7 or earlier when going 1st while turn 6 is the final turn for those who are going 2nd if they want to win.This is also the matchup where having 2 Flame General’s Regalia on the field is game winning, and you should go with that if the situation allows you to. However, a good Fairy player will recognize the threat and will always create a board situation that makes it awkward for you to go for it.As being ahead on tempo is very important in this matchup, Flame Soldier is really good to have since it can swing the tempo, especially when going 2nd. Try to think twice whether you are going to play Tony for Mars tutoring or go for Flame Soldier to contest the tempo. Losing tempo during the early game can really cost you the game if you are not careful.
Valiant Fencer is less relevant in this matchup, as you should try to close the game as soon as possible. Though it is possible to end the game with it if the game reaches turn 7 especially when going first. While Ironwrought Defender with Flame General’s Regalia stacks sounds good, it usually doesn’t matter that much on those late turns, as Fairy Forest has tools to deal with it—like Tam Lin or Cleaver Cat. I find that it is better to just play it early on turn 3 to soak up chip damage from fairies.There are two major variants of Fairy Forest: the Filly Variant and the Tempo Evo Variant. I find that the Tempo Evo variant with Alice is harder to fight from Mars perspective compared to the Filly variant. This is because they had access to more bounces that can bounce Castelle, which is the biggest threat for Sword’s early board. They also tend to tempo their Fairies, which makes it more troublesome to deal with.
Additional Mulligan: Bumpkin Recruit, Brave VanguardKey cards other than Mars: Ironwrought Defender, LyralaWrath Blood’s main threat for Mars Sword is their access to Howling Demon, which allows them to recover from early aggression on turn 5 while wiping the whole Mars board without taking damage, followed by the constant threat of the Garodeth combo on turn 6 onward. Moreover, due to the Clash effect granted by Flame General’s Regalia, Garodeth combo is way easier to trigger because they can use the ping from Clash to activate the combo.While it seems Wrath has an advantage based on those facts, in practice, this is an interesting matchup for Mars because usually the deciding factor in this matchup is their defensive capability with Ironwrought Defender and Lyrala. Using them at the right timing will allow Mars Sword to buy time until the inevitable Valiant Fencer combo to settle the game.
Lyrala’s damage shield is really useful at nullifying Howling Demon’s drain ability, as they damage us for 0 damage if they decide to attack the shield. Ironwrought Defender is even more trouble for them, as Howling Demon can’t actually destroy them, and trading against them will only heal their leader for 1HP if they decide to trade. Moreover, it can effectively stop the Garodeth OTK setup because it is a troublesome card to clear; they need to use Bane to clear or go with Raging Commander, which results in lesser damage.To win this matchup as Mars, ideally you need to be ahead in tempo in the early game while chipping in some early damage. Be careful of turn 2 Vampire Castle and turn 3 Raging Commander, as they can snowball really hard from that position. Cards like Flame Soldier need to be used carefully to anticipate that play.Then during the mid-game after evolving your Mars, deny their healing as much as possible with our defensive capability to buy time until we can finish the game with the Valiant Fencer combo. This is also a matchup where Ironwrought Defender + Evolve Amerro might be better on turn 4 instead of evolving Mars because it will block their Howling Demon play.The player that goes 1st in this matchup is more favored because they curve better and are able to anticipate better. For example, on turn 5, Mars + Lyrala going 1st makes you able to block their turn 5 Howling Demon—which is the same for Wrath since Howling Demon on turn 5 going 1st is a much more feasible to playBoardlocking their followers before your Valiant Fencer turn is actually quite relevant in this matchup. It doesn’t even need to be a full boardlock, as the Garodeth combo usually requires multiple boardspaces. As long as you are outside their lethal range, simply passing your turn will let you hit a reliable lethal with your Valiant Fencer.While summoning two Flame General’s Regalias seems suicidal, as it can enable Garodeth even easier, that is actually a risk that you can take especially when going 2nd. Just let them commit their Garodeth. As long as we are not dying to the first combo, we can strike back with powerful bursts that are only possible due to double stacks of effects.
Mars Sword is one of the simplest decks in the current meta because of its seemingly straightforward gameplan. Many labeled the archetype as a simple “Just evo Mars and win” deck. However, upon digging deeper into the way the deck plays, there are actually a lot of play optimizations that pilots can use to improve their chances of winning. The deck’s position in the meta is getting gradually better—and we should never worry about it being oppressive. The counter is so obvious, and a lot of decks can just tech for the answer if it gets out of control.I definitely recommend this deck to all players, including the new ones: it is quite cheap to build when compared to other meta decks in Rotation. Play Mars and be the Hero!