The Dragontree continues to make its presence known on Cray, and some individuals have been enticed by its mysterious allure and aura. By donning the Masque of Hydragrum, these characters gain a glimpse of the Dragontree’s powers. Firstly, these Masque units can only be ridden upon a grade 3 with a specific name, symbolizing a transcendent (or sinister) transformation of the original persona. While they also have abilities that are reminiscent of their former selves, they also have an ability cost that removes the original unit from hand, soul or drop to gain a huge advantage – to achieve absolute victory by any means – even if it means discarding their previous self.

Blaze through enemy lines with the fearsome ‘Scarlet Flame Marshal Dragon, Gandeeva’! Gandeeva confers scaling Power to your front row units by increasing the number of face down cards in your bind zone! (It also gains a Critical if there are five or more face down bound cards!) Other than the deck’s fiery supporting cast, Gandeeva’s ability to bind a card in your drop face down when an enemy rear-guard is retired aids in the bind zone accumulation. Lastly, Gandeeva’s potential to wipe out the enemy board will be extremely detrimental to your opponent’s game plan. Even if you miss the ideal grades from the top five cards of your deck to retire enemy rear-guards, you still draw a card and grow further in power as more face down cards enter your bind zone! Allowing Gandeeva to scale into the late game is a recipe for disaster for any opponent.

Gandeeva’s conventional ride line has helped to reduce costs and maintain the player’s card advantage. When rode upon, Dipaanel reduces Gandeeva’s Counter-Blast cost for its board wipe to 0; on the other hand, Aguired can either negate the ride deck discard cost or call itself to the field depending on the number of rear-guards on your opponent’s field!

Players of the Japanese Edition have also tested Gandeeva with the Bavsargra ride line! The idea is to tutor an Arms card from the deck the moment Namokahr is ridden, thinning the deck and also adding a card to hand that is primarily discarded for ride deck costs! After discarding it to ride Halibadra, you can then grab the Arms card in drop to be discarded once more when riding Gandeeva!

The troops that Gandeeva commands are not to be belittled! All of these cards help to accumulate more face down cards in your bind zone, adding on to the strength of Gandeeva’s passive! When Gandeeva attacks, Alfagaar binds itself face down to call a card from the top five cards of your deck to the field! (Gandeeva’s passive effectively allows anything called from Alfagaar’s ability to threaten with high numbers!)

When Ruguent or Stirgna enter the field, they can pay their costs to retire an enemy rear-guard; if none were retired, you draw a card and bind a card face down! Stirgna’s cost also allows you to bind one of your own rear-guards face down, enriching Gandeeva’s Power buff further! Lastly, Boucen binds itself face down to provide crucial Counter-Charge to the deck when Gandeeva attacks!

Some Dragon Empire cards from past Booster Sets have great synergy with Gandeeva! Best Harvest’s ability to draw more cardlistcards when an enemy rear-guard is retired during the main phase accentuates Gandeeva’s card advantage and consistency! On the other hand, Brachioforce’s ability to draw a card and retire an enemy rear-guard on-hit proves extremely important in dealing with grade 2 gaming from Stride decksets and adding more pressure from your rear-guards! Lastly, Meteor Flare deals with enemy rear-guards that resist retire effects, while gaining additional Power if your opponent’s board is cleared!

Some great generics for Dragon Empire include Colgafian, Baxter and Burnaia! Aside from Colgafian’s cycle ability, it also retires all enemy rear-guards in the same column that it was placed in if you persona rode this turn! Baxter’s ability to confer Power to your vanguard and itself when an enemy rear-guard in the same column as Baxter is retired could be useful in Eugene. Let’s not forget about Burnaia, which binds itself face down after boosting to draw a card! (If you find yourself needing draw power in Gandeeva without Best Harvest, this is the card to go for!)

For Viamence Bruce players, you can look forward to using ‘Diabolos Heavy Launcher, Patrick’! It gains extra Power when you are in Final Burst, and also forces your opponent to intercept with their rear-guards when it attacks! This form of removal can bypass retire-immune rear-guard abilities to get rid of pesky enemies!

Greedon players can consider ‘Desire Devil, Fuujo’! It retires an enemy rear-guard when it is moved to soul by Greedon’s ability, and binds itself from soul when Greedon attacks to force your opponent to guard with two or more cards from hand for that battle! While not as potent as Gouman, its ability cost allows you to funnel Counter-Blast into other key units such as Bunny/ Kenan!

Lastly, we have ‘Black Sky Thunder Quaking Queen, Leimina’! When placed from hand during a turn that you persona rode, you can call a card from soul to the field and Soul-Charge 1! Decks that rely heavily on calling from soul (like Luquier or Greedon) will definitely appreciate this card’s usefulness in setting up the board!

For Avantgarda players, ‘Blue Deathster, Hanada Halfway’ is an essential addition to your deck! When placed, it draws a card for Counter-Blast 1; it also becomes an efficient booster that Counter-Charges as long as you put a Strategy card into your order zone! Over time, Hanada Halfway will pay dividends on the board should your opponent choose not to deal with it!

An extremely powerful card for Brandt Gate is the transcendent ‘Sickle Blade of Inquest, Habitable Zone’. Aside from its cycle ability, it has immense application during persona ride turns. When placed, it adds a set order card from your deck to hand, allows you to play two orders this turn, and negates the cost of the next order you play! Any Brandt Gate deck that relies heavily on a multitude of set orders will definitely love the consistency and firepower that Habitable Zone brings!

Other interesting generic cards include ‘Solide Stormer’ and ‘Dissolving Heat Monster, Radiabilio’! When a set order played from hand is put into your order zone, Solide Stormer gains Power and adds a set order from the top five cards of your deck to your hand! While not as ubiquitous as Habitable Zone, its costless ability can bode well for decks that struggle with resource management to filter out set orders. On the other hand, Radiabilio can gain additional Power when boosting (upwards of 15 000 Power) as the sum of grades of your set orders increases! In decks that run a myriad of set orders with differing grade counts (like Eva or Orfist), Radiabilio’s potential to form deadly attacking columns can be quite valuable.

Forecast the future with the regal ‘Great Sage of Heavenly Law, Solrairon’! Like Hexaorb Sorceress, Solrairon has the ability to divine the top card of your deck for drive check manipulation! It also confers +5000 Power to your front row units if you correctly declared the card type of the top card of your deck! When attacking, Solrairon looks at the top two cards of your deck, calls one of them to the field and puts the other on the top or bottom of your deck! Enabling both multi-attack and setting up triggers for drive checks is where the magic of the deck happens! (especially with a variety of allies with on-place abilities!)

Let’s not forget about Solrairon’s versatile ride line units! When rode upon by Stogron, ‘Sage of Elixir, Eligron’ allows you to declare the unit card type of the top card of your deck; if you’re right, you can put that card into your hand; if not, you leave it on the top of your deck to be obtained! As a rear-guard, Eligron returns a normal unit from hand back to the top of your deck to draw a card. (This effectively stacks your deck to guarantee Solrairon’s abilities!) Next is ‘Sage of Robust, Stogron’, which calls Eligron to the field from soul when rode upon by Solrairon! (this activates Eligron’s cycle ability!) Stogron also serves as a reliable Counter-Charger for the deck, so you’ll never be wanting for resources!

Strong supporting cards for Solrairon include ‘Dependable Pierce Dragon’ and ‘Truncate Breath Dragon’! Like Eligron, Dependable Pierce can draw a card and return a normal unit from hand back to the top of your deck! When a normal unit is revealed by Solrairon’s ability, it also gets the ability to gain additional Power when attacking, before moving to soul at the end of that battle! On the other hand, Truncate Breath Dragon’s ability to scry the top card of your deck twice can prove effective in setting up the deck’s offense!

‘Drilling Angel’ and ‘Knight of Rendering Flash, Cairbre’ have remained key staples in many Keter Sanctuary decks, and continue to prove their worth with Solrairon as well! Both have the potential to extend your attacks, with their own niches in their on-place abilities: Drilling Angel replenishes soul, while Cairbre can add a grade 3 or more card to hand instead of calling!

Let’s take a look at the multitude of useful generic cards that stack the deck! ‘Spiral Cutie Angel’ is the nation’s cycle card which has another ability active during a persona ride turn: when placed, you look at the top two cards of your deck, puts one of them into your hand, and puts the remaining card on top or bottom of your deck! There’s also Replenishment Angel, which scries the deck on boost, before rearranging them on top or bottom of your deck! Lastly, Trumpet of Blessing calls a grade 3 or less card from the top two cards of your deck to the field and puts the remaining card on top of your deck! These cards will prove extremely useful for decks like Hexaorb and Solrairon which stack the deck consistently!

Sacrosanct Dragon is an interesting card that Solrairon players could consider! It gains Power when called by a card ability, but also draws a card and gains Boost if it was called from deck! Sacrosanct could prove handy for Solrairon (or even Altmile players in Premium) to gain card advantage.