Deck of the Week - Zeal

Welcome to "Deck of the Week," where I take a deck, break it down, and analyze it in a competitive environment! To kick off this series, and this new blog, I'm going to take a jab at the new "Zeal" deck and see what kind of effect "G Extra Booster 1: Cosmic Roar" had on the deck's viability. First things first, here's the deck list:

Grade 0
1x Larva Beast, Zeal
4x Demonic Eye Monster, Gorgon (Critical)
4x Justice Cobalt (Critical)
4x Jewel Beast, Jewel Mane (Draw)
4x Justice Rose (Heal)

Grade 1
4x Eye of Destruction, Zeal
4x Evolution Monster, Davain
4x Cosmic Hero, Granguard (Perfect Guard)
2x Commander Laurel

Grade 2
4x Devourer of Planets, Zeal
4x Cosmic Hero, Grand Kungfu
3x Combined Monster, Bugleed

Grade 3
4x Galactic Beast, Zeal
4x New Era Beast, Zeal

Generation Zone
4x Super Cosmic Hero X Tiger
2x Dark Superman, Omega
2x Rain Element, Madu

What's the point?

The main goal of the Zeal deck is to use Galactic Beast Zeal's Limit Break skill to lower the opponent's Vanguard's power in order to make it impossible for them to guard. The G-Unit lineup is designed to force the opponent to high damage early, or to bait any Perfect Guards they may have before going in for the final push. The Rear Guard lineup is focused on capitalizing on the opponent's lowered power.

MVPs

Evolution Monster, Davain

This guy is the glue that holds the deck together. Seriously, he's soo good, and without him, the deck would flat-out suck. When he is called, he puts 1 other Rear Guard into your soul, then rides a unit from your deck that has the same grade as your Vanguard, then calls a unit from the soul that has the same grade as your Vanguard, and lowers the opponent's Vanguard's power by 3000. Its a net +0 overall, with a 3000 power weaker Vanguard, but its a very quality +0. His main use is to fix the ride chain so that you can salvage it later on, or still get the 1000 Power boost to Galactic Beast later on in the game. Sadly, you can't use him to trigger the ride chain skills if you missed them, but he can turn the crappy 4000 Power starter into a Grade 1, 2, or 3 unit, which is a very quality upgrade. His 3,000 drain means Bugleed becomes live against even 11,000 Power Vanguards, and he can be used to add onto Galactic Beast's 5,000 drain.

His greatest attribute, though, is the combo where you perform legion with New Era Beast, sending back 3-4 triggers and legioning Galactic Beast, then draining the opponent for 5,000 Power. Calling a Davain after that means you can ride another New Era Beast from the deck, legion again to send back even more triggers, AND use Galactic Beast's Limit Break to drain 5,000 more power. With Davain's drain, that's a total of -13,000 Power, putting almost ever Vanguard at -2,000 Power and having to contend with your 3 attacks.

Commander Laurel

Any Dimension Police deck that uses Laurel and doesn't list it as an MVP is wrong. Especially now with Strides, Laurel is incredibly deadly and there's definitely a reason he got put to 1 in Japan. The new Perfect Guards that unflip damage can't even be used to guard Rear Guards, so swinging at an RG with your Vanguard (a common strategy with Laurel) is even more deadly than before, and that isn't even taking into account the Triple Drive. Getting +6 cards in hand for 2-3 turns in a row is game winning enough, even before taking actual skills into account. Laurel becomes even more deadly in this deck when you account for the numerous cards that reduce the opponent's power, making guarding even harder.

What the Deck Needs

Advantage Engines

Sure, battle advantage through power reduction is cool and all, but decks need hard advantage engines nowadays to keep up with the meta. The only way to gain hard advantage in Zeal is through Bugleed, who is pretty lackluster, and through Laurel restanding your G-Units. The fact that the deck is comprised primarily of vanilla ride chain pieces really doesn't help.

Not New Era Beast

This card sucks. Like, hardcore. It has 2 skills, neither of which help the deck out in any way. The only reason it sees the light of day is because its a legion, so it can shuffle triggers back, and because it makes Galactic Beast hit a little harder. His legion skills really is impossible to trigger simply due to the timing of it, and even when it goes off, it isn't very helpful. If it had been a skill that increased the amount of Galactic Beast's drain, or even if it had Bugleed's skill, it would have been infinitely better.

Final Thoughts

The deck is a solid Tier 2 deck. It won't be contending with the big names like Thing Saver or Lambros anytime soon, but it can definitely hold its own against any deck that doesn't spit out an ungodly amount of hard/soft advantage. And, given how cheap all of the components to the deck are, its a really good choice for people operating on a budget.