The title of the deck both refers to returning that my deck to it's most powerful time, which was Set 2-3. It's been updated to keep it able to compete with the Set 4 Valor Form Decks. It also refers to Riku.
Player (1):
Riku lvl 3
Riku seemed like the obvious choice here since he was the big player in the heyday. He can use attack cards (ie Soul Eater) and still hit for -2HP. Lack of a Magic Value was and still is a bit of a drawback, but not too much as I have Friend Cards to cover that.
Friends (25):
Level 0 (Level 1)
1x The King
1x Chip and Dale/Alice
2x Tidus
The King was an easy choice since he is an easier way to pull The Don (yes The Don makes an appearance again). Chip and Dale I had originally thought would have been handier, but after running through with shuffling, they really didn’t seem to fit so I’m experimenting with Alice to see if she is better. Alice is easily explained, field control. If it kills Phil and keeps him off the field, great. Tidus is great here since he has two main targets to kill, Owl, which is a common play, and Captain Pete, which is not.
Level 1 (10):
3x DiZ
2x Phil
2x Pinocchio
1x Cid
1x Abu
1x Moogle
DiZ has to be Riku’s biggest gain out of Set 4, a 7 Support lvl 1, pure beat down. Phil is here for beat down too, his ability gimped him, but while he hurts the combo (explained later on), 6 Support is hard to pass up. Pinocchio is a lot like Tidus in the sense he has two main cards to eliminate, Oblivion and Ultima Weapon, if I catch Valor Form it’s just a bonus. Cid is management of the hand when it gets filled with clutter that I can’t use. Abu is equipment hate. Moogle is part of a combo with The King and The Don to fetch a card (many of the people that lived through this era already know what the card is, I will go into detail later for those that don’t)
Level 2 (5):
2x Yuffie (BoD)
1x Fairy Godmother
1x King Triton
1x Jack Skellington
Yuffie is in purely just to screw with my opponents hand. Godmother is both my caster and a search out to make the deck smaller. King Triton has lost some of his playability, but it’s good to have around for those times when you have either no level 1 or 2/3 level 3. Jack is one of those tool cards where I can offense with him or leave him for casting.
Level 3 (4):
1x Jack Skellington
1x Jack Sparrow
2x Beast (L&D)
Jack Skellington is here for about the same reason as lvl 2, he casts or gets used up in challenge. Jack Sparrow is somewhat of a control card, I haven’t found him really useful yet. Beast is pure power.
Level 4 (2):
1x Donald lvl 4 (The Don)
1x Sephiroth/Auron
The Don (as stated earlier) is part of a combo. Sephiroth is great for consistency but Auron seems to be more practical. I’m play testing with best atm to see which works better.
Magical Friends (4):
2x Simba lvl 3
2x Bambi lvl 3
Simba is my field control general, you just don’t beast him, especially with Monstro on the field, I get 2 friends, they get one.
Magic (1):
1x Stopra
Yes this is the card I was taking about that combos with The Don, The King, and Moogle…and at this point some of you are writing me off as insane and the rest of you are waiting for an explanation. The deck is called Return to Grace and Stopra was a staple. I have a lot of friend control to deal with Phil, very few people I’ve place recently have a Phil on the field often.
Equipment (1):
1x Olympia
It’s the best equipment Riku has for the time being.
Attack (5):
3x Soul Eater
1x Oblivion
1x Ultima Weapon
Soul Eater is my means to deal some serious damage. Oblivion and Ultima Weapon are pure power.
Event (1):
1x Event 1
Extra damage
Dark (5):
1x Pete
2x Fat Bandit
2x Cerberus
Pete is my wild card….unbounceable and undiscardable except by battle he’s great to control my opponent’s world. Fat Bandit is a pain to XIII WR’s and decks that rely on equipment and friends to kill dark cards. Cerberus is just beastly
World (4):
2x Destiny Island lvl 1
2x Monstro lvl 1
Destiny Island is a search mainly for The King to start the combo and can be Stopra’d into a Monstro. Monstro is a field limiter.