BR Ethics Buster Dragon, Nova Grappler: Deck Breakdown

Much like the Cross-Ride build of Iluminal Dragon, the Break-Ride build incorporating Beast Deity, Ethics Buster focuses on carrying through the midgame, mostly done so through the work of White Tiger and Blank Marsh, and wait out your opponent into the late game to line them up into the killzone. While sacrificing the possible 13K defense of Cross-Riding, the combo itself is far stronger than Iluminal's Limit Break on its own, meaning all the greater opportunities to slam down on the opponent.

Beast Deity, White Tiger

X3 Minimum Raizer

X4 Red Lightning

X4 Ring Girl, Clara

X4 The Gong

X1 Three Minutes

X2 Beast Deity, Blank Marsh

X4 Beast Deity, Desert Gator
X4 Beast Deity, Solar Falcon

X4 Tough Boy

X4 Beast Deity, Hatred Chaos
X4 Beast Deity, Damned Leo

X4 Hungry Dumpty

X4 Beast Deity, Ethics Buster

X3 Ultra Beast Deity, Iluminal Dragon

With Ethics Buster in play, Riot Horn's role in the deck goes all for naught, and so is why White Tiger leads as the starting Vanguard here, out to quickly push out that break even to drag out some of your opponent's hand. With its inclusion however, the deck quickly runs into a few problems. Unless you can back off and attempt to Limit Break at 5 damage instead of 4, a single usage of White Tiger will lock off Blank Marsh from being able to activate without blocking Iluminal's Limit Break, and as a starter, this problem becomes present in virtually every match. To counteract this, the lack of need for Beast Deity beaters opens up Grade 2 spots for Hungry Dumpty, better allowing continued and multiple uses of Blank Marsh's skill. Desert Gator has also been added to supply the deck more options and power. The final change is the transition from Azure Dragon to Ethics Buster. A Break-Ride that, on its own, drives for a b.a.s.s. value of 63.3K shield in the form of 7.7 cards(3100/49K, 375/49), assuming both beaters are able to at least kill an Intercept. 

How the Deck Works

Much like the last build, this one focuses on lining up the opponent into an optimal zone of damage and  striking them down in one fell swoop. The key to this is once again recognizing that an Ethics Buster you Break Ride will have a b.a.s.s. value of 63.3K shield in the form of 7.7 cards, and that an Iluminal Dragon that you Break Ride and use its Limit Break would have a b.a.s.s. value of 68.3K shield in the form of 7.7 cards, raising the threat against the opponent by much further by 10K more shield and 1 more card.

Of course, there's just one slight defect with this combo, notably named a Perfect Guard. With just a single Perfect Guard, Break Riding over Ethics Buster now only has a proficiency of 5K more shield forced out that that of Cross-Ridden Iluminal with a Riot Horn acting on its own. Not even retaining that +1 in card advantage, Ethics Buster is only barely shy of flat out clocking in at the exact same strength as the regular Iluminal Dragon Limit Break.

On top of this, we have to view both Iluminal's 13K defense and the possibility of setting up your Break Ride in the same light since the numbers are for the most part mostly the same. And as we know from this handy little article I thought to make a while back, a Cross-Ride can shut down the opponent setting up a 21K column and save you a potential 5K shield and 44/49 of a card on average each turn. Throw in whatever you save from the opponent not being able to abuse a 21K Vanguard lane on you or something similar to being unable to make a proper 18K column, and the Break-Ride's 5K lead on Iluminal Dragon, even with the possible use of Yamata Dragon to make it a 10K lead, and a +44/49 cards, the most of this falls apart quickly in comparison to the performance of 13K defense.

To sum up, Break Riding Iluminal Dragon is flashy and cool and all, but you're going to have a much better time sitting on that 13K defense.