Very overdue Update and Pale Moon Guide from CheckTheDriveTrigger's Pale Moon player Cottonsocks

Hey guys,

As you know, we here at check the drive trigger have been away for some weeks due to university work and other complications like lack of internet etc.

So lets recap what we have missed.

EVERYTHING SO FAR IN THE CARDFIGHT UNIVERSE!

So what we're going to do, is every week on a saturday evening we'll update you with run downs from our locals and also update with Deck Profiles of the top player from each week, and also give discussion about certain clans and their future support.

So with demonic lord invasion being released a mere 2 weeks ago, I have finally been able to run my favorite and main Clan. PALE MOON.

So what I'm going to do as a treat for all you readers is write a Pale Moon Guide for set 3 and then next week, I shall update you all with what has been released in set 7, what looks like trash for clans and what cards are key staples for decks in clans and cards that can help them achieve a competitive state, whilst talking about other fun builds too for all the clans supported and give an analysis of the English meta after the set is released.

So lets talk about Pale Moon and how we build a Pale Moon deck with the cards we have :)

OVERVIEW

Pale Moon are a clan that are from the Dark Zone, like spike brothers and also Dark Irregulars (Another clan released in set 3), and like the Dark Irregulars, focus on soul charging to help them win in a fight.

However whereas Dark irregular rely on the amount of cards in soul to win and gain their abilities, Pale Moon focus on getting specific Units into their soul to call them from the soul to achieve more than 3 attacks a turn to gain an advantage over the opponent using Specific Units such as  Midnight Bunny and Nightmare Doll Alice as a toolbox style of play.
Units
So as with every clan, Pale moon also have some key units that need to be considered when building a deck in set 3 (set 7 guide next week guys don't panic).

There are two builds to think about

Robert Swap and Tamer beat

So before building our deck we need to consider what build we'd like to play and whether it will suit our style of vanguard fighting, do we want to win using skills or with RAW power, both of which pale moon can do.

The first build to consider is Robert Swap

Robert Swap focuses on using  Nightmare Doll Alice and midnight  Midnight Bunny  to achieve 4/5 attacks a turn while using Robert to help the Pale Moons most fantastic talents as support to help feed them triggers to get their abilities off and wow the Crowd by switching from one act to another.

Tamer Beat is a deck which uses Crimson Beast Tamer and her support to gain massive attack power in order to force your opponent to use at least 2 cards a time to guard from The Circuses mightiest beasts and their bravest tamers to scare your opponent so hard they'll crit themselves in fear!

So after deciding what we want to build, we need to look at what Cards we consider "Staples" for our specific build.

So with Robert Swap, the deck gets it's name from its main vanguard, Dark Illusionist Robert

So as you can see, he has the amazing ability to predict the future and help you in your assault, very handy for giving those boosts to  Nightmare Doll Alice  or to a row where  Midnight Bunny  Resides allowing them to use their abilities to swap with other cards in the soul to attack again.
not only this but because of his soul charging capability you constantly have a flow of Units entering the soul so you arn't spoiled for choice. And when boosted by a turquoise beast tamer he can hit for 21k forcing your opponent to guard with at least 2 cards, lowering their guard to activate  Nightmare Doll Alice  and  Midnight Bunny .

So as I've mentioned 2 specific cards many times, lets have a look at them.

First possibly the best card for the pale moon clan by far, NIGHTMARE DOLL ALICE!

Very powerful unit, with an equally powerful skill, as you can see from reading this, its obvious as to why we run her, she is the heart and soul of the pale moon deck and especially this build, and with Robert supporting her with +5k from the trigger you know is there, she will be a force to be reckoned with in any pale moon build

MIDNIGHT BUNNY

My favorite unit from the clan and definitely the most underestimated, she's not quite as potent as  Nightmare Doll Alice , but for a 7k booster she is definitely the dark horse in a pale moon build as most opponents look out for  Nightmare Doll Alice ,  Midnight Bunny  doesn't seem like much, but if she's on a column that's not attacked when you have a rested rear guard, she can provide that extra attack just as easily as  Nightmare Doll Alice  if the unit she's boosted has hit, OR provide more power by calling a more powerful grade 1 from the soul. Throwing off your opponents guarding strategy all together, hopefully guaranteeing you a damage. She's works very well when you have a crimson beast tamer in the soul and you need that all important turquoise beast tamer to get that extra 2000 power to smack your opponent in the face. I suggest always running her at 4 in any pale moon build as she's the best piece of utility you have until Purple Trapezist is released in set seven, and even then I'd recommend running  Midnight Bunny at no less than 3 :)


MIRROR DEMON

 

Not as good as  Nightmare Doll Alice  or  Midnight Bunny , but still nice to run in this deck because if you do get that trigger and there's no  Nightmare Doll Alice  or  Midnight Bunny  on the field, he's always the best option to go to, Especially if you're on grade 2 and have soul charged an  Nightmare Doll Alice  very early in the game.

So after looking at this, we need to think of the best way to soul charge besides Robert's own skill.

the soul chargers are quite abundant and also very good at doing what they do quickly, however they come down to preference when building a deck.

Grade 2 wise, we have 2 MAIN soul charging units

Hungry Clown
 
And Elephant Juggler
 

Both have different ways of soul charging, and again whichever you pick is down to preference, if you wish to get a quickly filled soul and rush your opponent with swap abilities, I recommend Elephant Juggler (Brilliant for the tamer build)

Whereas if you wish to conserve your hand and slow yourself from decking out, then hungry clown is the way to go, and what is good is your opponent often overlooks this guy and doesn't guard him, meaning you deal damage and soul charge (really good for the Robert build).

GRADE 1

we have just one unit right now that soul charges

Skull juggler
 

Very nice card and a staple in all Set 3 + 5 Pale moon builds after set 7 we get a better card who is grade 2. Nice ability and combined with our starting vanguard you can get any pale moon deck off to a flying start with his ability.

Another neat trick to do with this guy is if you're lacking that crimson beast tamer in the soul or have a midnight  Midnight Bunny  and you wish to soul charge again, just summon him from the soul to get that extra card that could help you win the game. However this is a last resort and should only be considered when you have no other options.

Grade 0

Hades Ringmaster
 

Our starting vanguard and our only option for now. Nice ability but could be a lot better.


Rainbow Magician
 

awesome card for early and mid game to help us gain that extra soul. Not only this but it gives us that extra trigger in the deck for late game. Never run a pale moon deck without him I say :D

So now that we've looked at all the soul chargers to help us use  Midnight Bunny  and  Nightmare Doll Alice's Skills we can look at a basic Robert build

Considering we have only 16 triggers so far, we can't be creative with our set 3 builds, but in the future I recommend running 7 stands in every pale moon build that focuses on swapping out units.


WHO DO WE WANT TO SOUL?

So with a deck that concentrates on soul charging, we must have cards that work when in the soul.

Right now we only have 1 card that does this, but she gives power to 2 very important units which we run in most pale moon set 3 builds

CRIMSON BEAST TAMER
 

Creates a 11k grade 2 interceptor when in soul, a 13k vanguard and a 9k booster whilst in the soul. A staple in every build. However depending on whether you run swap or beat down depends on how many of her you run :)

other cards which are nice to have in the soul

- Nightmare Doll Alice
- Skull Juggler
-  Midnight Bunny 
- Turquoise beast tamer
- Vanilla's (10k/8k)


Robert Swap Build

Grade 3 - 7

4 Nightmare Doll Alice 
3 Dark Illusionist Robert

Grade 2 - 12
3 Crimson beast tamers (we want these in the soul rather than the hand so i recommend 3)
3 mirror demon (at just 8k power 3 is enough as it saves room for more powerful units)
4 Barking Cerberus (Vanilla 10k)
2 Hungry Clown (we want a nice steady soul flow rather than a burst so this guy is better to run as Robert will provide most of the deck's soul charging power)

Grade 1 - 15

4 Midnight Bunny  (staple)
3 Turquoise beast tamer (if we run 3 we have a steady balance of swapping to power and calling power, also if we have 3 we aren't relying solely on crimson beast tamer being in our soul)
3 Skull juggler (main soul engine here)
2 Darkmetal Bicorn (vanilla 8k - helps us achieve the 20k boost when adding a trigger to our mirror demons, and also when boosting robert allows him to reach 20k if our tamer's are unavailable)
3 Hades Illusionist (perfect guard for the pale moon, not needed in 4's as otherwise you find yourself discarding him to activate his own ability)

Grade 0 - 17

we really only have 1 choice here :)

So this is the Robert swap build. A nice consistent deck that actually lets you get a full feel for the pale moon clan as they stand now.

Tomorrow I shall post the Tamer Beat build and we'll look at how their cards work compared to that of a Robert style build.

PEACE

Cottonsocks

**NOTE I have provided links for Bunny and Alice, as they're card tips on Cardfight Wiki is worth a read :)**