Genesis Decks: Post Tahro Hit

Hi amigos, today I’ll be covering some considerations and options that we have at our disposal for Genesis after the Tahro hit. Decks, engines, and future support will be highlighted. Enjoy!!

Thumbnail Art By Vanguard Ocean:

Tahro Restricted To Zero

Yep, so now what? Looks like the Fighters Rule update wasn’t as merciful to our beloved Tahro.

However, let’s recognize that Tahro needed to be addressed and it’s a blessing in disguise for the long term for Genesis as a whole.

Although, I would have kept Tahro at least 1 copy to play with. But oh well.

But Tahro was literally one of our methods to finish games effectively, why is it a blessing in disguise?

Glad you asked! Some quick points to highlight for Genesis as a clan:

Since Wiseman Tahro abuse days, any card moving forward that could SB during the battle phase, could present an issue like this. Which could hinder some card design aspects for the entire clan.
Tahro was part of an infinite loop that could be abused with. Infinite loops in general are not healthy due to their unfair nature to win games.
Decks like Fenrir and Valkerion were highly focused on optimizing the usage of Tahro that it may have left out for other combo/plays that would be either fun and/or competitively viable.

Now, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of our opponent on how they have to deal with Tahro abuse:

They have to use a disruptive play in order to stop a restanding play with Tahro such as Denial Griffin, Tricky Assistant, Skeleton Cannoneer, etc. Not all decks have access to these disruptive plays.

Gif credited to Evelove from Twitter.

Fenrir and Valkerion can win as soon as they ride to G3 regardless of the opponent’s VG grade due to Marduk/Zarzan plays on enabling GB1 for Tahro. How can an opponent deal with something like that while being at G2?
They have to resort to damage denial tactics and hope you didn’t have a card to give you a CB or enable GB1. Zarzan did get restricted too, but now there’s the new G3 Heal triggers that give you a CB such as Aias. As well as Additional Angel.

Current Deck Options

So what are the deck options that we have at our disposal to explore? Glad you asked!

Here are some that come to mind:

Fenrir (Post Tahro)
Regalia
Valkerion (Post Tahro)
Himiko
Fortuna

Now, this isn’t a complete list, but these are worth mentioning their key plays and Winning Images.

Fenrir

**Reverant White Sorcerer, Veratrum**:
[AUTO]: When this unit is put on (GC), COST [Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (3)], choose one of your opponent’s (RC) with a [Stand] unit, your opponent looks at the top card of their deck, and calls it to the chosen (RC). Your opponent cannot activate [AUTO] abilities from this call.

Fenrir as a deck is the most consistent due to a skill that lets it search ANY card from the deck. This is part of the reason that Tahro got restricted since cards like Gleipnir and Croute can be searched.

However, this still allows for a more resilient type of build without Tahro in the picture. For example, we’re getting the new promo G2 Veratrum.

Fenrir has the revival skill to revive anything that is SBed, especially during the opponent’s battle phase.

It almost reminds me of the Granblue in a way but with the Soul. Furthermore, Fenrir can search Veratrum, Sentinels, and other key pieces to really have a solid defense.

The deck can fall back to Amaruda, Marduk, and other strides. Dreaming Dragon can be also used to recycle our cards back to prevent deck out and have a grind game.

The one con would be that it doesn’t have a super-strong play to finish games early on. So it may be best to think of it as a long-term Winning Image.

Regalia

At first, Regalia was outshined by Fenrir in competitively play before the Tahro restriction. But it is a very solid deck that is aggressive in nature.

Main pros:

Norn can restand a Regalia VG
Minerva G4 turns it can see 7 drive checks
ANY other stride is 5 drive checks
Force 2 on VG is very aggressive
Builds advantage while being aggressive
Has protection skills for RGs that have Divine Gauges

Main cons:

You need Yggdrasil on the field to make a Norn boost a unit, so that it may restand it
No reliable way to search Yggdrasil, so you can only increase the likelihood of seeing it
Still susceptible to certain disruptive defensive plays such as Defeat Flare

This deck has been seen as the best Genesis deck after the restriction of Tahro. We will see if we’ll see more representation of it, especially in the upcoming Bushiroad Rumble Online event.

Valkerion

Valkerion was the 2nd Genesis deck that was greatly affected by the Tahro restriction. It took advantage of restanding a Valkerion on a Force 2 marker. Plus it’s 70k already, a really huge number.

Now without Tahro, it’s restricted to restanding a 2nd time by Uranus or by drive checking a Stand trigger. Furthermore, another new ruling is that if a RG is restood by a Stand trigger, that RG CANNOT perform drive checks once more.

Main Pros:

Still can swing with a 70k+ Valkerion twice
Can fall back to other strides
Force marker generation is still beneficial

Main Cons:

Still reliant on Force marker generation
Valkerion loses drive checks from being stood by a Stand trigger

This deck still has great potential and perhaps will go toward a more Stand/Critical trigger combination ratio.

Himiko

Himiko in V Premium was a solid deck that used Crit stacking onto the VG or RGs. Pair along a restanding Yggdrasil, you could have a very powerful RG Crit 4 column that could one-shot an opponent to 6th damage.

Furthermore, Marduk can be used to still take advantage of Himiko’s skill. Otherwise, fall back to our other strides.

Main Pros:

Crit stacking and Force 2 abuse
Can take advantage of the Regalia Engine to push harder
G Guards can SC Critical triggers to enable Himiko’s skill for the next turn
It doesn’t rely on the strides as heavily, essentially a Standard+ deck

Main Cons:

Relies on a Critical trigger being in Soul
There’s no other skill for Himiko

Furthermore, there’s new support coming soon in the form of Demise Queen, Himiko “Яeverse”. We don’t know much yet, so it’s hard to say if it will synergize with the current Himiko strategy.

But still! It’s a really cool art and concept for Genesis. We didn’t get a “Яeverse” unit back in the Link Joker arc, so this is really refreshing.

Fortuna

V Clan Collection was just released in English! This gives new opportunities for the new Fortuna deck!

Fortuna brings an interesting dynamic of stacking the top of deck depending on how much you SB for its skill. This can provide effective Soul Charging pieces, drive checking triggers, and even setting up for a damage check trigger the next turn.

What’s also great about this card is that Marduk also works well. You can actually Soul Charge first with Fortuna’s 2nd skill and then pay the cost for Marduk. The overall benefit is getting a 3rd drive check to see a 3rd trigger. Keep in mind this combo uses 2 CB and a good amount of Soul.

Furthermore, it almost reminds me of the Himiko deck where you can “stack Crits” onto your units. However, you have the flexibility of stacking any triggers, including the Over Trigger.

The 3rd skill provides an added benefit of damage checking triggers where you get an additional Force gift! Force I can be stacked onto the VG or RGs. Force 2 can be spread out to your entire front row, without having to reride. I think Fortuna is a deck worth exploring and can be fun.

However, there is one major con worth pointing out. There are matchups (such as Gear Chronicle) that have access to disruptive guard plays which will shuffle your deck! Your stack then becomes randomized and you miss out on doing a power play.

The Regalia Engine

It’s worth pointing out that there are 2 cards that go hand in hand. Those are Yggdrasil and Norn. These are often referred to as a Regalia Engine.

What is an Engine? For the context of this article, it means, a group of cards that are used together to accomplish a stand-alone purpose while synergizing well with the rest of the deck.

This Regalia Engine can be seen as:

4x copies of Yggdrasil
4x copies of Norn

The purpose they serve is that it can be used to restand a Regalia VG or RG. This is really good on its own and can be “splashed” into ANY Genesis deck.

Decks like Himiko are a good example of this. A “pure” Himiko deck could only do so much, but adding the Regalia Engine makes the Himiko deck much more powerful and what it is really known today.

Decks like Fenrir and Valkerion that were greatly affected by the Tahro restriction, could use the Regalia Engine to help with some aggression and more lines of play.

Especially with Fenrir, since it can search any key pieces. So Fenrir can search Yggdrasil and then it can search for Norn. Thus you have a good setup to use the Regalia Engine to your benefit.

Future Support

As mentioned before, we are still getting new support in the near future. The new Demise Queen, Himiko “Яeverse” and Veratrum will definitely add to the lines of play for their decks.

Furthermore, we will see a new retrain of Sunlight Goddess, Yatagarasu! More than likely, this will introduce a new deck on its own.

I believe as we see more of the actual skills, we can then start brainstorming more ways of achieving a strong contender.

Feel free to check out my video on some Veratrum defensive plays as well:

Our Other Current Options?

There are different types of variants for Genesis and may be worth exploring. I know the Witches/Sorcerers are some to explore. Old G3s in V Series and G Era could be worth exploring as well.

Closing Thoughts

As we can see, there are some options to explore even after Tahro’s restriction. I’m excited for more of the new support to come out as well!

Perhaps in the near future, we will see some Genesis tops still from time to time. We’ll find out more this December with the Bushiroad Rumble Online event!

Also, if you want to hear my thoughts on the Fighter’s Rule changes, feel free to check out my video on my channel:

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