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[Better Older Deck Support] - Cloudians


Tkk

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Hi again! Frustrated by a wave of bad support for older decks, I took it upon myself to try and re-imagine some of these concepts from decks I either know a lot about or have actually played myself. This time it's Cloudians. Although Cloudian Aerosol is not a bad card, I don't feel like it's enough. That being said, It'd feel like a cop-out if I just made a Link monster and called it a day. So instead I've made 3 cards that I feel like truly help modernize the theme of Cloudians: a control deck that out values your opponent. Please share your thoughts!

 

 

 

 

 

(The one I drew myself :D *DISCLAIMER: NOT AN ARTIST*)

pR6VZRa.png
 

version 1

If you control 2 or more \"Cloudian\" monsters, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). Cannot be destroyed by battle. If this card is in face-up Defense Position, destroy it. All \"Cloudian\" monsters you control gain 100 ATK for every Fog Counter on the field. Once per turn, you can remove any number of Fog Counters on this card: Add 1 \"Cloudian\" monster from your Deck to your hand whose Level equals the number of Fog Counters removed. If you removed 3 or more, you can add 1 \"Cloudian\" Spell/Trap instead.

 

current

If you control 2 or more \"Cloudian\" monsters, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). Cannot be destroyed by battle. If this card is in face-up Defense Position, destroy it. When this card is Normal Summoned or Special Summoned by its own effect: Place 1 Fog Counter on this card for each \"Cloudian\" monster on the field. Once per turn, you can remove any number of Fog Counters on this card: Add 1 \"Cloudian\" monster from your Deck to your hand whose Level equals the number of Fog Counters removed.

 

 

 

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Cards and effects cannot change the battle position of \"Cloudian\" monsters you control with Fog Counters. You can only use each of the following effects of \"Gathering Cloudian\" once per turn.\n● Activate 1 \"Cloudian Squall\" from your Deck or GY.\n● Remove Fog Counters from anywhere on the field; you can Normal Summon 1 \"Cloudian\" monster whose Level equals the number of Fog Counters removed in addition to your Normal Summon/Set, and if you do, draw 1 card.

 

 

 

Je1PJZv.png

 

version 1

Once per turn, if a \"Cloudian\" monster(s) you control would be destroyed by card effect, you can remove 1 Fog Counter from that monster(s) instead. Once per turn: You can activate 1 of the following effects.\n● Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower banished \"Cloudian\" monster.\n● Return 1 \"Cloudian\" monster you control or in your GY to the Deck, and if you do, distribute Fog Counters equal to its Level to face-up monsters.

 

current

Once per turn, if a \"Cloudian\" monster(s) you control would be destroyed by card effect, you can remove 1 Fog Counter from that monster(s) instead. You can only use each of the following effects of \"Cloudian Storm Wall\" once per turn.\n● Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower banished \"Cloudian\" monster.\n● Return 1 \"Cloudian\" monster you control or in your GY to the Deck, also, after that, distribute Fog Counters equal to its Level to face-up monsters.

 

 

 

(another one I drew <3)

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When this card is activated: You can add 1 Spell/Trap that has \"Cloudian\" in its text, except \"Cloudian Kingdom\", from your Deck to your hand, and if you do, send 1 \"Cloudian\" card from your hand to the GY. If you cannot, banish the added card instead, face-down. All monsters with Fog Counters, except Fairy monsters, lose 100 ATK for each Fog Counter on them. If a monster with Fog Counters is destroyed: Distribute those Fog Counters to face-up \"Cloudian\" monsters you control (evenly).

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I don't know if bumping is allowed, but...

** also update on Trap Card

 

Old:

 

Once per turn, if a \"Cloudian\" monster(s) you control would be destroyed by card effect, you can remove 1 Fog Counter from that monster(s) instead. Once per turn: You can activate 1 of the following effects.\n● Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower banished \"Cloudian\" monster.\n● Return 1 \"Cloudian\" monster you control or in your GY to the Deck, and if you do, distribute Fog Counters equal to its Level to face-up monsters.

 

New:

 

Once per turn, if a \"Cloudian\" monster(s) you control would be destroyed by card effect, you can remove 1 Fog Counter from that monster(s) instead. You can only use each of the following effects of \"Cloudian Storm Wall\" once per turn.\n● Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower banished \"Cloudian\" monster.\n● Return 1 \"Cloudian\" monster you control or in your GY to the Deck, also, after that, distribute Fog Counters equal to its Level to face-up monsters.

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Okay, so...Volutus looks amazing, all the more so for being something you put together themselves. Did feel that the initial issue with Cloudians was the inability to start off proper without stuff like Celestial Transformation and/or Valhalla. This actually incentivizes those cards, I do think. And Cloudian Aerosol has another good target in this as well, as it is still a good way to help unleash the Cloudian - Storm Dragons in your hand. Bridging between bodies is always nice, especially for a Fairy Deck. I like that.

But...It not being able to put Cloud Counters on itself feels like a design slip, even with the Spell/Trap, though, because Cloudians are already overreliant on combo pieces being in the right place at the right time without this putting up more cones. So I'm not sure that effect of it will be as live as often as you would prefer, not without putting out more resources than I think you would be comfortable burning through that fast.

 

 

Then we have Gathering Cloudian. Protects your stuff from UCT, further incentivizes the usage of Aerosol even if you don't have Turbulence, and affords extra Normal Summons for the big three in Altus, Cirrostratus and Acid Cloud. Lovely card, and it can get out Squall too to help further the Fog Counter fun.

But... is that going to happen, again, without Aerosol? Because accumulating Counters is still something the Cloudians struggle at, even with its Aerosol, and would rather either remove the counters to Smoke Ball spam or trigger Altus (this is on the first turn, as a hypothetical.) Retrieving the Squall without having to worry of a search helps, but this still relies on setup of Fog Counters that is by no means guaranteed, especially considering their best accumulation of it is through an unsearchable Quick-Play Spell, that this support solves by usage of a monster that defeats the purpose of searching it since it needs to remove Fog Counters to search it....

 

....though, Cloudian Storm Wall certainly helps that cause in spades as a substitute. Recycling Cloudians on the field and GY to move more Fog Counters onto monsters is amazing, alternating between that and summoning back Storm Dragon Fodder banished Cloudians is an amazing attention to Archetype interaction that I do so love to see, and resisting card effect destruction, though also demanding of Fog Counters, puts you that much closer to securing boards. 

But... it's a Trap A rather useful one, in terms of being able to provide Fog-Counter speed, and a certainly useful one when the opponent tries to roll up on your board, but its something working a turn late for an Archetype that's already, consistency wise, a dollar short.

 

Don't take this all the wrong way. I love all of these cards, to conclude. I just wish there was something up front to help put up the Counters, something that keeps the Archetype, in general, from being OpenWithAerosolOrScoop.dek. And good as all of these cards are, they're not there yet. I've faith in your amazing creative cardmaking skills. Anything like, say, another Spell that works to put up counters, would easily make this the best collection of Cloudian support yet (and I've had some of my own, myself!)

 

Hope this was the inquiry into your sets I was so dreadfully late to give in return for yours that you wanted Tkk.

 

BD'S, signing off!

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Hey man thanks for any feedback at all. I was feeling a little left out and this comment really brightened my day.

 

I fully understand your criticisms, mostly circulating around the idea that the opening hand is still pretty weak. My thought process behind the lack of Fog Counter distributors was the hopes that if they had a reliable Normal Summon engine, they could create their own Fog Counters without having to add too much support (which I frown on as much as too little support). That being said, I do agree. I'm not sure if I like the idea of another spell card necessarily, but something else.

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@@Black D'Sceptyr I made some changes. Added a new card and reworked Volutus. Please share your thoughts.

 

God it took me forever to correctly tag your name...

 

Definitely an improvement, I must say! 

 

Volutus actually can help to expand Fog Counter usage in the first turn, considering its own Summon method almost guarantees it gets three Counters, so you can possibly play around a stun. I do think its fine now, though-its a high reward for such a demand for investment, and between Valhalla, Turbulence and Cloud Dragon, its easy enough to make.

 

Gathering Cloudian doesn't look unchanged, so I'll be witholding judgment on that.

 

Cloudian Storm Wall is still doing its thing as the premier defense unit-Cloud Counter-stacking barrier, and I'm grateful for that, considering the increase in Volutus' utility. 

 

And the new card,  Cloudian Kingdom...oh my. Gives access to any Cloudian card (at the cost of a discard but that's incredibly easy), actually puts the accumulation of Fog Counters on the opponent's turn to good use by dropping stats-a very  welcome bit of attention that you gave towards one of the Cloudians' weaknesses in their lackluster stats. And the last effect is a cherry on top once more, allowing any of your Cloudians that get taken off-board with Fog Counters to give them toward others. Not gonna lie, this might actually make Nimbusman legit again, if your opponent can't run it over and every other Cloudian they hit makes it stronger. 

 

But...If I've any issues, its how little Gathering Cloudian was changed, and maaaaaybe that Cloudian Kingdom's ATK-drain benefit might not be high enough to significantly hamper the opponent's efforts, even with the ability to trade-off Fog Counters. But that's an issue for the philosophers at this point (and maybe a targeting immunity effect or two); this support is good, and it got better with the changes you made to it. By leaps and bounds.

 

Again, sorry for the delay in getting to you, I'm just starting a college semester, you know how it is.

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Thanks again for you input! I'm a recent college grad myself, so I understand the pressure. This has been fun.

I don't think I could make any more increases in power and still feel comfortable. If the 100 ATK drop isn't enough, it's because there's probably a failure to produce Fog Counters, but with Aerosol already able to make U-Link boards with Turbulence (which would almost certainly get banned if my support existed), I feel like producing Fog Counters should be easy with something like this.

Unless someone comes along with a new mind-blowing revelation, I'll call this one done and look at another one.

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