Tyrant Deathrex vs. Raptor Colonel

             VS                 

(I really like sample pics...donno if it annoys anyone though)

And so without further ado, the battle between two titans of the Tachikaze clan is off. As always, it's hard to really give a fair comparison between both cards in a vacuum, so we need to see how the entirety of their respective decks operate:

Tyrant Deathrex and Raptor Colonel represent 2 completely different aspects of forward advantage. Where Raptor Colonel represents raw power, easily breaking multiple stages and blasting through tons of shields with a single use of its Limit Break, Tyrant Deathrex's power can serve to forward field development, being able to solo it's way through the fight and saving you an extra card you don't necessarily need for boosting, on top of allowing flexibility depending on your choices. While both Deathrex and Colonel are essentially synergistic with any non-Ancient Dragons based deck due to their mostly splashable nature, let's simply base these next claims off the styles worked into these decks: Deathrex|Colonel

Tyrant Deathrex is not a card that can simply be viewed in a vacuum, however. If we do so, we are told very little about its possibilities in a build. This in mind, it also means that a build that's heavily reliant on Deathrex also needs to have at least some level of dedication towards it, a detail which may or may not say something about Deathrex. Deathrex however is not a pushover in any right. During the midgame, if facing a 10K Vanguard, its unboosted attack already hits 3 stages, meaning that one less card is necessary to properly establish a field for the midgame. This essentially cancels out one of Deathrex's retires for one turn, while still giving it power during the late game to force more shielding out of the opponent for, at that point, no effort at all. While boosted, its attack breaking often 4 stages means that it can evade damage triggers, which if combined with a stage 3 Rear-Guard column, can easily mean 2 successful hits at the opponent, dealing damage and most likely forcing them far behind in a fight.

What really makes Deathrex shine is when cards like Dragon Egg and Skyptero assist it. Because of the lack of other Counter-Blasts that Tachikaze would burn through, card advantage is of little concern when either of the two maintain Deathrex's costs, essentially meaning that the player can take full advantage of Deathrex's power and/or indirect +1. The other notable set of retire targets are the +3K Winged Dragons, Beamptero and Slashptero. With a build that can create 18K columns, Deathrex's cost becomes a form of card advantage, with creating even more stage 3 columns to rush the opponent or drag out even more cards from their hand. There also isn't nearly as much need for trying to dance around triggers, due to Tyrant Deathrex's timing window. This essentially means that even if a stage 3 column is not possible because of a Damage Trigger, the option to simply save card advantage through Dragon Egg or Skyptero would still be there, while they can also act as a buffer to carry you into the next turn. With this balance of card advantage and forward push in the midgame, Deathrex's abilities as a main Vanguard with a deck dedicated to supporting it makes it an extremely viable and powerful unit to rely on.

Meanwhile, Raptor Colonel represents almost the complete opposite of what Deathrex is capable of. Where Deathrex's strengths lie in a fast paced and aggressive midgame, Raptor Colonel takes full domination and control over the late game. While it isn't to say that a Raptor Colonel deck can't maintain a powerful midgame, as it could potentially use Deathrex as a midgame Vanguard, and its Ride Chain giving it 2 otherwise free units to build the field faster, the fact remains that its capabilities simply do not compare to a dedicated Deathrex build, and vice versa. What makes Raptor Colonel so dangerous is the lack of options the opponent has in the late game. With a high enough Critical count punishing players that try to dance around Colonel by not guarding at all, Raptor Colonel punishes players no matter how they guard its attack. If Perfect Guards are limited, then it becomes of holding out on shielding. Drop the Perfect Guards too soon, and Raptor Colonel is given the opportunity to flat out steamroll the opponent with some +30K assault. Stall for too long, and continuously burning through the 15K shield and two cards to keep Colonel out, on top of compensating for Rear-Guards, will end up completely destroying the hand. Almost no matter what, the opponent is in a losing position.

Unfortunately, this is where the comparison ends. Playing 2 completely different roles for their respective decks, there's very little to actually compare between the two. Deathrex builds tend to be far more flexible. Despite their not as amazing late game, they make up for it with their ability to set up the field quickly, and start beating away with power columns. On the other hand, Raptor Colonel builds tend to lack a midgame much at all without their Ride Chain's skills, but instead offer the opponent almost no 'good' options by the late game. With two such distinct roles, it should simply be left up to the player to decide which deck they think fits them the most, and this vs becomes all but a matter of opinion.

Except, one last unit has something to add.

Destruction Dragon, Dark Rex is a huge threat in and of itself. As discussed in its Card Review, Dark Rex gives yet another power up option to Deathrex builds and has a combo with Deathrex that can devastate the opponent by suddenly punching them through the midgame, or bear heavily over them within the Late Game. It also combos well with Raptor Colonel's skill, not only for giving the opponent almost no good option to take in the late game but capitalizing on it and enforcing strength over the opponent even if they try to get away with the lesser of two immediate evils. While this still leaves the comparison relatively up to debate, this does give us far more context to consider. Deathrex builds aren't just Midgame based builds that only try to emphasize field scalability and damage rushing, but also have a huge punch to deliver to the opponent by the late game. Colonel builds not only take away from the opponent in the late game no matter what they try to do, but are able to punish them even further when necessary.

Be sure to comment below on what you think is the better between these two. Tyrant Deathrex, who's build focuses on all around strength and covers a bit of everything moderately well, or Raptor Colonel, who can completely wreck the opponent the moment they hit the Late Game. Or, point out something I missed, and contribute to the comparison, all to better analyze the two cards.