One Who is Abhorrent, Gilles de Rais
The new boss unit for Dark Irregulars, Gilles embodies everything the clan ever wanted to be. Going along with the new theme of staggering effects given the size of the soul, Gilles gains 10,000 Power for having a soul of 10, then adds a guard restriction ability with a soul of 15. To top it off, if he's your second stride, he gains a critical. This means he's swinging 36,000 minimum, unboosted, with a critical that can't be guarded by Grade 1 or greater cards. Unless you just suck and your opponent is at really low damage, or they happen to have 4-5 10,000 shields in their hand to throw down for fun, there's no realistic way they're blocking that attack. Gilles is the perfect Dark Irregular card: It rewards you for hitting that huge soul mark, and its a very powerful finisher. This, combined with the new Rear Guard support they got in the set, have definitely brought them up to speed for the first time in a while.
Nebula Dragon, Big Crunch Dragon
This was a hard choice. This slot was going to either Big Crunch or Amnesty Messiah, but ultimately Big Crunch took the cake for helping out more decks. I haven't delved too deep into Messiahs, but I assume he's at least usable in their deck, not to mention being a huge boost to Venom Dancer, Nebula Lord, Dark Zodiac, Deletors... essentially every other Link Joker deck variant. He isn't broken and doesn't troll too hard (he's certainly no Glendios), but he's simple, effective, and helps out just about any deck he's put in.
Sovereign Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon
If something Shadow Paladin didn't make it onto a Top 3 Cards of the Set list, something would be wrong. Claret Sword is everything people were hoping Blaster Dark Diablo would be: Striding over him yields a Grade 1 call, and it increases the power to boot, making those Sword Breakers 8,000 Power for the turn. Pre-Battle Phase on-demand searching is a pretty big deal, since most other options the deck had for Grade 1 tutoring (Judgebau, Grim Recruiter, Macha) are all on-hit or in the Battle Phase. His GB2 skill isn't something to be trifled with either, being a CB-less Phantom Blaster Dragon skill for 1 less retire (as it should always have been). Being able to nab a Charon when you stride into Phantom Blaster Diablo can be a huge life saver in some situations, as well as a nasty surprise for your opponent.Phantom Blaster Dragon
I finished off the Top 3 with a Shadow Paladin, so its only right to start the Bottom 3 with one as well. The much-anticipated 2nd Generation Rare of the set turn out to be a brand new Phantom Blaster card, and everything, under the impression that it would be a Stride, was ready to throw all of their money at Bushiroad. But then we found out it was, of all things, a Break Ride. Not only is it the first non-Stride Generation Rare, it also sucks. The Soul Blast 3 cost means you are locked out of Dark Trumpeter and Sword Breaker, two of the best advantage engines available to the deck. Not only that, but the retire 3 cost also keeps it from synergizing with things like the Abyss legion. Its only realistic use is with Phantom Blaster Overlord, refunding the massive CB3 cost of the persona blast, as well as preventing the opponent from simply dropping a Perfect Guard and calling it a day. But its a gimmicky combo at best, and the space definitely could have gone to something more useful and helpful.Golden Dragon, Spear Cross Dragon
Everyone knew this was going to be on here. This card is without a doubt the biggest disappointment in the set. Losing a GR to Phantom Blaster Dragon was a huge heart break to players, but at least Shadows had Diablo and Claret Sword to fall back on. Gold Paladin players? They had nothing. Gurguit was a great addition to the deck, and added a really interesting mechanic to the game, but when you looked at a Gold Paladin Stride Deck, there was a clear need for a strong finishing unit, and with a cool name like Spear Cross Dragon, everyone expected this guy to fill that role. Instead, they got a really crappy mass-caller. As a mechanic, mass calling is simply terrible and inefficient, which is seen in cards like Liberator Garmore and Monarch Alfred. Late-game restricted mass calling units are walking paradoxes: They require a near empty field to get the most out of, but by the time late game rolls around, having an empty field means you had a terrible early and mid game and are probably losing, and the advantage from the mass call will be needed just to catch up. What's more, Spear Cross is a costly CB2 and persona flip. He's good for recovering fields in the late game against Kagero, Narukami, and other mass retire decks, but other than that he's useless.
Sovereign Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon
It was between Aurageyser and Homura Raider for the last spot on the Bottom 3. However, bad as Homura is, he still contributes more to his deck than Aurageyser does. I probably should have made more of an effort to try to add more variety to this list (3/6 of the cards are Shadow Paladin...) although I guess that just speaks to the quantity and quality of support they got in the set. Aurageyser just... isn't good. He's a CB1, SB1, Persona Flip, AND Retire 2, all for a crappy break even skill. Retire 2 to Draw 2 is essentially what is boils down to, and maybe gain some power. He's little more than a glorified Ildona, who wasn't a very good card in his own time. Aurageyser is good for setting off Blaster Dark Diablo's GB2 skill if you think you'll be hurting for stride ammo, but as a whole he's just terribly overcosted for what he does.
So, as a whole, the set was pretty good for what it was. Shadow Paladin had Phantom Blaster Diablo to fall back on, and got a couple pieces of quality support out of the set. Link Joker and Dark Irregulars made out like bandits. Golds got the middle finger from Bushi, but they got enough to scrape by, and would do very well to see another set with minimal support in it. The real tragedy was Murakumo, as always, but at least they got focused, centralized, and playable support this set, which is a lot more than they've gotten in the past.
