Gekiha Dan – Episode 33

I was just minding my own business.

But since you’re here… I may as well shpeal about Gekiha Dan Episode 33.

So Gouda’s got his ass whooped, we’re on to Door number two!

The general ambience of a prison is more of a horror mood than the wall full of fucking living people stuck in it?

I’m sure you’ll say that after they beat this one as well. I’d probably start with someone who can actually compete with a tournament-level fighter like Dan-

Oh…

Oh…

So couple things, WHY IS BRUSTOM HERE?!

…I mean I suppose we’ve enough evidence to suggest that Namii is Otherworld King affiliated, the Prison was an old facility for him, Gouda is familiar with the inhabitants of the wall of souls and oversaw many of their… executions I guess?

Brustom being part of this is plausible.

In the meantime, apparently Zungurii carried Kajitsu back to The Violet.

I’m sorry did I miss something? I wasn’t even aware Kajitsu was feeling unwell. She was completely fine at the previous episode’s end.

BUT WHEN DID THE COLLAPSE HAPPEN? I guess they really didn’t want to animate so many people onscreen so used Kajitsu’s frailty as a reason to get them out of there.

Kenzo assigns himself to stay with Kajitsu, and thereby recuses himself from the plot by being too scared to remain inside the prison.

I mean if I damn near became one with the wall I’d be pretty “NOPE” about it too.

Zungurii goes to do the best thing he can do, provide Kajitsu with sustenance

in this case he even knows her preference, Honey Juice.

In other news, Magisa’s getting a real bad vibe from the Prison.

Gouda slinks away defeated, and a voice in the prison seems to taunt him for his loss.

“An Otherworlder couldn’t defeat a single brat” is certainly an interesting take, normally Humans are universally presented as having a higher baseline aptitude for battle spirits.

Which makes sense given that Battle Spirits is a human creation.

Huh, what tribe is this one from, he’s got WINGS!

D’aww you can’t just spare Gouda and then kill him off the second you introduce a new character, that’s so mean!

Also I am not covering the Episode titles now unless they don’t spoil, so if you don’t see me talk about one, it’s probably because it gives the game away.

Don’t worry Clackey’s not asking Brustom if he’s tired of chasing the Lightbearers.

He’s asking the audience if we’re tired of this fatass constantly being a problem!

Brustom tells them to chill the fuck out, he’s not here on Otherworld Kingly business. Stating that he genuinely didn’t know he’d be fighting them until now.

Clackey ignores him, asking if Brustom intends to trade Kajitsu for Blue Kingship.

I also hate being ignored, infact fuck you guys I’m rooting for Brustom just for that.

The group finally click, in spite of Brustom’s attempts to explain, that Brustom is here to fight for Namii, and not Otherworld King.

As it turns out, Brustom’s just straight up friends with Namii. Hence why he agreed to come when called over.

…I’m not gonna lie I have absolutely zero idea who Brustom’s trying to follow the footsteps of.

I would presume it’d be Leon? But..

Apparently Serge reacts to this comment, so my only guess is that they mean Brustom intends to follow in Serge’s footsteps.

…Which doesn’t make a lot of sense but I’m not gonna bother analyzing it too deeply.

Brustom asks which of them will fight.

Clackey is the only other available battler, and so he has a claim to the battle by right of rotation.

But Dan stops Clackey, demanding to have the battle by right of revenge.

Dan lost to Brustom’s shoddy White/Blue build last time.

Oh that’s ominous, Brustom intends to make Dan and Clackey part of the wall, and if you actually look at the background, the highlighted heads match the designs of Dan, Clackey and Serge.

Before they can start however, they’re interrupted by a voice from… somewhere.

The Winged Otherworlder we saw approach Gouda earlier has arrived, apparently to assist.

It seems however this winged chap is, it’s Brustom’s Dad.

Though I suppose the wings weren’t hereditary.

That’s an understatement.

More like sideways…

Brustom seems… terrified of this guy… In any case they haven’t been in contact for quite some time.

Also seems like in spite of a highly advanced core system, Otherworld King hasn’t created a phone network yet.

At the very least, regardless of where his fear of his Dad comes from, his Dad does seem to be at least interested in his health.

Ah right, gotta explain for anyone uninitiated.

Japan has many ways to refer to oneself, “Boku” is the standard polite mannerism for a boy to use when referring to themselves, Brustom’s been flinging his weight around both literally and verbally, so the switch to “Boku” here caught Clackey’s attention because for once, Brustom’s being polite.

This man has 3 names, but we only care about the last one, for the purposes of referring to the character, he is Heliostom, father of Brustom.

He acknowledges that he’s Brustom’s father but he also seems to act like it’s not quite the whole story. I suppose among Otherworlders, designations like Parent or Child have different meanings.

Ah lovely, we meet for the first time, a member of the Mazoku.

I won’t call it a “Tribe” like the Gurii or the Mimi Tribe, as Mazoku are actually incredibly varied unlike the rest of the Otherworlders.

What I find odd about this is they only felt it necessary to note that Heliostom was a Mazoku, but the natural extension of this is that Brustom is also a Mazoku due to his lineage.

Mazoku are incredibly violent people, come in many shapes or sizes, have the most innate magic abilities out of any Otherworlder, and moreover, they are even extensively proficient at Battle Spirits. Zungurii and Kenzo’s conversation a few episodes ago suggests that, on average, Humans are superior to Otherworlders in Battle Spirits.

Mazoku however, seem to have bridged that gap.

Bear in mind, Heliostom is a survivor of the Mazoku, they actively opposed Otherworld King and said King saw fit to actually try and get rid of them, whereas he easily suppresses other Otherworlders.

Mazoku also, above all things, despise Humans.

It seems Heliostom’s here to assist Namii, naturally, because what else could go wrong?

It’s very clear Heliostom’s just using this entire situation as an excuse to dunk on Dan and Clackey, for no other reason than being Human.

TvTropes has a page on this, it’s called “Fantastic Racism”

I’m sorry what broke bitch is able afford the upkeep cost of a Prison, a whole ass wine rack, and a personal bodyguard?

Mai also feigns innocence concerning the reason Namii’s flying by the seat of her pants.

So… I suppose Namii is broke?

Lady must have spent an absolute ton on The Violet.

Seems Heliostom’s particular gripe with the Humans is their sense of self-importance. Otherworld King has such a trait in spades.

Sadly when you define a race by a single member of it’s entire species, you start seeing any ounce of a particular trait as equally worthy of scorn as a fully formed vice.

Dan and Clackey’s “Air of self-importance” has precisely nothing to do with why Otherworld King has it.

Serge attempts to reason with Heliostom, stating that they share an enemy, above all, Mazoku truly despise Otherworld King, given he offed many of their numbers, Serge tries to broker a peace by noting that Dan and the rest of the Violet crew are also vehemently opposed to the guy.

All things considered, they should be allies.

Heliostom refuses to differentiate them from Otherworld King however, they share his origin, that being a Human born on Earth.

as far as he’s concerned, that’s enough to treat any and all Humans precisely the same as they’d treat Otherworld King.

The way Heliostom sees Brustom’s demotion to Leon’s Bitch Henchmen is essentially Brustom siding with the Humans, and then getting his Kingship stripped by Humans.

Heliostom lectures Brustom over how that could have helped the Mazoku if he wielded his influence in their favour.

Seems Heliostom’s absolutely ready to fight.

Also his hand looks really odd here but it is drawn correctly, just a weird angle.

…

Absolutely not

let’s not have a Tag Battle

If you wanna fight, fight Heliostom, but don’t suggest terrible ideas.

NO DAN, DON’T AGREE WITH HIM!

Clackey, for these few minutes you are my favourite.

Clackey claims that he shouldn’t tag battle with Dan because Dan’s battle style is incredibly rudimentary, Clackey’s deck is rather complex which will cause the 2 playstyles to mesh horribly.

As for why I don’t like tag battles, they’re an interesting gimmick and it’s certainly a fun way to enjoy a game between 4 people without separating them.

However, there is no official tag battle format in Battle Spirits, or at least, not an up to date one.

Official support for the format was dropped after BS10 due to a particular rule I’ll explain later that modern decks would have had a problem fitting in with at the time, but as a result, it means that these battles are really difficult to analyze with regards to the standard game because there’s a bunch of context-based issues that wouldn’t have otherwise been there.

Like sure 2 cards might have a ton of synergy but in what universe would you ever use those 2 cards together? And pulling it off in a Tag battle naturally doesn’t come with the same issues a Single Battle would have doing the same thing.

You’ll see what I mean.

Famous last words.

Dan’s barebones idea doesn’t sound bad, Clash supplemented by Clackey’s strengthening Magic does sound incredibly cool…

But Clackey’s deck is built around Light Spirits, cards that can refund his Magic, something Dan’s Spirits can’t do.

Either way, the Gate is opened!

And it seems like the Battle System only requires that 2 parties consent to the Tag, regardless of the Tag partners’ wishes.

Zungurii and Magisa try to return to Dan, they seem to pass by where Gouda ran into Heliostom.

…Only to find out that Gouda’s been rendered part of the Wall now. After Dan and Zungurii saved him.

Heliostom really punished the guy after he barely escaped his fate from an altruistic opponent.

Point is, Mazoku are heartless monsters.

Someone who can’t tolerate Humans, much less those who can’t stand against them.

Remove “Tag” from that sentence and we’ll be in agreement.

It seems that Heliostom’s effectiveness in Battle has nothing to do with raw strength… But a high win streak implies one is strong so I don’t really get it.

So his full title as a battler is “The Firm Heliostom”

And one of the potent Mazoku traits is that they live exceptionally long lives.

In fact it’s possible that they’ve achieved genetic immortality, after a Mazoku reaches their adult appearance, they don’t change at all beyond that aside from standard hair growth. We will see a Mazoku become incredibly old with no change to their appearance whatsoever.

As a quick science lesson: there are many theories as to why we age and become frailer and older over time, some believe it’s due to accumulated damage from the Sun and external forces, others believe it’s cell replication making mistakes over extended periods of time. Whatever the reason, our bodies degrade as we get older.

If our body was capable of maintaining the state and health of it’s cells through whatever it was that was damaging them in the first place, we’d be able to achieve a type of Biological Immortality, essentially never aging beyond 25-30 (but still being very killable due to injury or infectious disease)

There is only one animal on earth that has achieved Biological Immortality, and that is the Turritopsis dohrnii… Or the famous Immortal Jellyfish. It can still be eaten or suffer infections which can cause an individual Jellyfish’s death, but when Starving or only slightly injured, they can basically revert to their baby state, and grow up again from there.

There is one other animal that hasn’t been yet labelled biologically immortal but is theorised that it could be, called a “Hydra”, it’s like the baby state of a Jellyfish, a polyp, but in simple terms, it has a high expression of what’s called a FoxO gene, something we humans also have, and this FoxO gene prevents the Hydra’s cells from getting old, causing it to remain youthful.

The Mazoku are likely a humanoid variant of this, sentient beings with a strong or perfected FoxO gene.

My only guess is that if it is isn’t strength that makes Heliostom scary to fight, it must be the sheer experience of his 1000 years of battle.

Magisa’s arrived in the battlefield, and more importantly, it seems her and “He-chan” are old friends.

My guy your son is right there.

It’s clear that Magisa didn’t give birth to Brustom, so Brustom’s Mother is dead, divorced, or Heliostom’s a cheater.

I truly don’t think Brustom gave 2 shits about you, he didn’t even write to you.

It seems Heliostom is quite happy to try and repair his relationship with his son after he was fired from being the Blue King.

You’d think he’d be quite a nice Dad then… so why is Brustom so bloody terrified?

…Given the way her face looks, and the topic of conversation immediately preceding this.

It seems Heliostom liked to get around.

He got that dawg in ’em.

And he certainly got his dawg in them.

So uh, while a kid is likely to simply derive that they were friends.

It’s clear to me, an adult, that these two have a history of staining bedsheets.

Hey I ain’t judging, people can do what they like… and who.

Clackey’s on the marbles.

Dan however seems to imagine them as being complete utter delinquent bikers.

Magisa realizes how embarrassing either designation is and tells them they can think what they want.

Into the match! Turn 1 goes to Dan!

Clackey immediately stops Dan, suggesting they should get their heads together and strategize.

In Cardfight Vanguard’s Tag battle rules, you aren’t allowed to share hand information, but I believe in Battle Spirits and Yu-Gi-Oh, you are.

Though Yu-Gi-Oh! It can be a toss up depending on the game.

Dan however doesn’t feel like strategizing and just wants to play.

This straightforwardness and lack of thought is precisely why Clackey didn’t want to Tag with him.

Also note how their Battle Forms have extra pieces of armor, Dan and Clackey both have small… Tiaras I guess?

The reason for this is to account for the increased number of lives, in a Tag battle, both Teams share 8 lives.

Dan summons Dinonychusaw at Lv2 (4000 BP) and ends his turn.

Magisa takes this moment to explain the Tag battle rules.

Firstly, each player brings their own deck, and take turns one after another, starting from player 1, then the opponent directly across from them, and so on.

While each player on a team share 8 lives to ensure everyone gets a turn (something something Lightspeed Shula), there’s only 4 core in the reserve.

Dan’s just used all of the available core for this turn.

You’re free to attack, defend and otherwise control the cards your teammate has on their field.

But, as a restriction, the 2 paired decks cannot have any cards of a matching colour.

Dan’s deck is pure Red, and Clackey’s deck has a Yellow main, with some Green and White supplemental magic. So this is fine.

This is the rule that mainly kills the format, BS09 started producing a series of cards that supported multicoloured strategies, bear in mind we’re on BS08, not to mention players tend to go off-colour for specific cards for many reasons, the main one being White defensive magic to ensure they’ll live another turn. Imagine being the only player who got to use White Magic?

Each player gets an opportunity to use Flash so I suppose it’s not the worst, but being unable to tag with someone with a Red deck because they have 1 Red card amongst 39 Green ones is a pisstake.

As a result the format was eventually dropped after BS10, and is no longer supported, Tag “style” rules had a weird update in later shows, the main changes being that Teams had a united turn, and took their phases one after the other along with having separate reserves.

Before Brustom makes his move, he runs his intended play by Heliostom.

Heliostom agrees, ordering Brustom to attack.

Brustom summons 2 BattleBeast Bayrouzas and a Block-Golem.

Babyrouza’s a Cost 1 BS08 card in the Fighting Beast family, nothing else notable, Fighting Beasts aren’t really a conceptualized deck type and are an unsupported family, often used when they don’t want to add a card to a supported one.

Naturally these also exist for Draft reasons.

Brustom, like his namesake, is playing what appears to be a Blue deck.

Last time he mixed white with it, but for this episode, it’s Pure Blue.

Brustom goes on the offensive, attacking with Babyrouza.

Dan sees the clear difference in BP, Babyrouza’s 1000 BP doesn’t hold a candle to Dinonychusaw’s 4000.

But Clackey interrupts him, choosing to take from the Life.

Team Core Soldier lose a life, dropping to 7.

Brustom continues, attacking with Block-Golem

Clackey has them take another life, dropping them to 6.

Clackey makes a note, that since they share lives, they both get to feel the same damage they would when taking a life normally.

Dan of course, feels exhilerated by this.

I do like tag battles as a concept, there’s nothing quite like a good co-op game. Seamless Co-op Elden Ring is a well-loved mod of Elden Ring for this specific reason.

Brustom double checks with his father that this was a desirable outcome, and Heliostom confirms.

Brustom ends his turn.

So it’s clear that had Dan blocked, Brustom would have simply full attacked, they have 8 lives, so it’s not a scary situation at all whatsoever.

But since Dan didn’t block, Brustom simply kept attacking until the same number of lives were taken that he would have gotten, Clackey choosing to take from the life was probably to make absolutely sure that Brustom wouldn’t have stopped attacking.

Zungurii asks why Brustom doesn’t seem very happy and Serge answers that Heliostom is very clearly in control between the 2 of them. Brustom is terrified of his father’s disapproval and so is treading on eggshells to ensure he doesn’t make a mistake and tick off Heliostom.

Dan naturally confused by Clackey’s plan, demands to know why Clackey took from the life when his Spirit was more than capable of taking out one of Brustom’s attackers.

The answer… is because Clackey wanted to do something with the extra core.

Clackey brings Dinonychusaw to Lv1, which draws Dan’s irritation because Clackey’s basically core hoarding.

Clackey then uses a whopping 5 of the 6 core in his reserve to summon The Angelia Cherubim.

Essentially, the reason Clackey took 2 lives so readily is because he had Cherubim in his hand, and didn’t have enough core to summon it turn 1…

Not that you would WANT to! It’s on-summon effect is terrible with an empty board!

Clackey, Lucky sod that he is, reveals ONE card from the top of his deck thanks to Cherubim’s effect, it’s Wing Boots, a Magic card, which means he can add it to his hand.

Clackey then moves to his attack step, and swings with Dinonychusaw.

Heliostom declares Babyrouza as a blocker. They were expecting to lose one last turn anyway and didn’t, so they’re getting more than they bargained for because of this.

As both have 1000 BP due to Clackey levelling it down, what would have been a clear win is now mutually assurred destruction.

Clackey moves in with Cherubim, and Team Namii take from the life, leaving them with 7.

Dan expresses the point I just made, asking to know why Clackey chose to level down a Spirit who would have otherwise not been destroyed.

Clackey states that it isn’t a problem, as Cherubim can be relied on, and besides, they can always look at her.

Dan’s not quite smellin’ what Clackey’s bakin’, and just answers that they could have also looked at Dinonychusaw. (Who, to be fair, is an immensely cute spirit)

Well this isn’t going to end well, the problem is if you keep sabotaging your partner’s spirits, they’ll have less reduction to work with, and will become hard-pressed to be able to help you.

Clackey and Dan’s hard-headedness causing a rift between the two and resulting in them both taking actions without regard for the other one seems to be a surprise to absolutely nobody.

And now for something completely different.

We’re treated to a Flashback of Brustom’s history.

And oh my god, Brustom’s young design looks absolutely amazing, he had absolutely no business turning into the giant mound of lard he ended up as.

It seems Heliostom is assaulting his son with Lightning Magic over a disagreement they’re having.

Oh wow, at such a young age.

It seems like this was around the time Brustom was offered to become the Blue World’s King under the authority of Otherworld King. Brustom notes that there was “No condition” but clearly fealty was an expectation.

And even so Brustom was replaced later.

Heliostom sees the position for what it is, Brustom would be working for Otherworld King, and his position as Blue King would simply be a method to control the Blue World without having to personally oversee it.

Brustom bites back, stating that Otherworld King is undefeatable, and Heliostom, of all people, should know, given he was a survivor of the Mazoku that Otherworld King defeated.

Heliostom decides that having a Temper is for chumps.

And here we actually get to have a look at Brustom’s mother, who has all of these… weird looking tendrils floating about her “Hair”

Heliostom takes this opportunity to justify his acting against his… I’ll just call her a “Partner”, he justifies acting against his partner’s wishes by placing the blame on her “influence” for Brustom’s acting out.

But you can tell he doesn’t really believe this, because he’s completely unable to look her in the eye and is almost taken aback by her comments.

Heliostom very clearly has trouble regulating his anger and it causes him to act irrationally, you can see he agrees with his partner absolutely.

Brustom moves to defend his mother also, as he too can clearly see that Heliostom’s blowing smoke out of his ass.

Dissatisfied that he can’t change their minds, Heliostom flies off, presumably this was the last time Brustom saw him.

Oh right, I didn’t see it immediately earlier, Brustom’s mother is called “Ryoko”

Firm Turn 4.

Heliostom deploys The Invaded Castle.

Effective use of the lives lost there, he has just enough core to play it without depleting any of Brustom’s Spirits.

A Cost 5 Nexus from BS06, Cost 5 Nexuses are an interesting topic to talk about because the difference between a Nexus you can play on the first turn and a Nexus you can play at any other time is immense enough for vastly different amounts of power.

Case in point, The Invaded Castle has 2 effects, the first at all levels moves all of the core in your Trash to the Reserve during the opposing Start Step.

If you don’t understand what the signifance of that action is, normally during your opponent’s turn you cannot recover core from the Trash, this means that if you want to keep core for a counter magic during your opponent’s turn, you have to avoid spending that core. Sometimes the decision between summoning a spirit or holding onto the core for Magic is a grueling one. This Nexus’ basic effect means you no longer ever have to make that decision again.

At Lv2, which understandably requires 3 core to maintain, allows you a free bounce during your Start Step, which, understandably happens to be right after your opponent’s attack step and well before your own.

All in all this Nexus essentially allows you to curate both your core and the opponent’s field to suit you.

Oh, and this is a White card, which is proof of why Brustom doesn’t have any white in his deck currently.

Heliostom ends his turn.

Dan enters his start step and Heliostom resolves the effect of his Nexus, moving the 5 core he just spent on the card back to his reserve.

Magisa notes that apparently this is Heliostom’s style, being right to the point and “dirty”

…While also being “Kind” to women?

Damn.

From here on out, there are no longer any safe attacks, as long as Heliostom has a hand, each one can be a usable counter card.

Now Dan’s just playing mean, Dan depletes Cherubim entirely.

Needless to say if you’re ever trying out this format and you want to keep your friends, don’t do this.

The issue here is they’re attempting to summon their own cards at the direct expense of the other’s ability to play.

The issue with this kind of sabotage is it can only increase, diminishing Cherubim might mean Spare core for Dan but it means more core spent by Clackey later which might require him to take Dan’s Spirits himself.

Dan uses the extra core to summon The StarEmperorDragon Meteorwurm and immediately attacks with it.

Clackey tries to remind Dan that Invaded Castle is up, meaning attacking in this specific manner is incredibly silly.

I guess Dan’s thought process is that Meteorwurm’s Lv1 is 6000, the likelihood that either of them have a Card that can wipe it out is low.

As a reminder, Brustom’s Spirits don’t refresh when Heliostom’s refresh step happens, you only refresh the cards on your field even if you can control the cards on your partner’s.

As a result, Team Namii don’t have to block with anything, and fall to 6 lives.

Yeah man, Clackey really needs that for his strategy. Depleting it for Meteorwurm was a little inconsiderate.

Dan protests that there wasn’t enough core, and so Cherubim needed to be sacrificed so Dan could summon his Key Spirit.

Clackey answers, quite correctly, that the enemy had no blockers, and all Meteorwurm did was take a life, that could have been done by any Spirit, and depleting Cherubim wasn’t necessary to achieve anything that couldn’t have been done without summoning Meteorwurm.

Dan protests that this is his playstyle… Which isn’t an argument.

If “This is how you do things” is your argument for actively causing harm to someone else, that’s… not an argument, you’re just stating that what they’re going through is necessary for the sake of your unwillingness to do anything about it.

Fact of the matter is, Dan wanted to summon Meteorwurm, and he didn’t care that he had to step on Clackey’s Spirit to do it, and he clearly doesn’t care that it bothered Clackey either.

Clackey’s no better, having levelled down a perfectly good Dinonychusaw and taking lives unnecessarily so he could summon Cherubim, and while he cared enough to keep Dinonychusaw on the field, he didn’t care enough about it’s capacity to be able to affect the game.

Which makes his argument about Meteorwurm’s necessity this turn incredibly fucking rich.

Heliostom, the man who seems to only think of himself as proven by his flashback with Brustom and his mother, Ryoko, claims that the true nature of Humans are people that only think of themselves…

Everyone’s a Hypocrite.

Someone should remind these 2 that they’re going to become part of the wall if they don’t win.

Brustom once again runs his play by Heliostom, who seems very ecstatic about what Brustom’s about to try.

Oh well that was fucking fast.

Brustom summons The GodMadeSoldier Orichalcum-Golem at Lv2 (7000 BP)

A BS08 Blue X-Rare out of god-damn nowhere, this is Orichalcum-Golem! A Cost 7 Spirit with 4 Blue reductions, so it can be brought right quite early given the right conditions.

At all levels it holds the Demolish Keyword, but unique to this one’s particular Demolish, it’s 2nd effect, also at all levels, adds an addendum to it’s keyword, increasing the number of discarded cards by the number of Blue Symbols on your field.

From Levels 2 and up, It also has Assault: 2, meaning it can also do a Triple attack combo just like The GiantEmperor Alexander, except this one is clearly more geared for Deck destruction strategies.

For the purposes of Tag Battles, the Start step checks if both you and your partner’s decks hold no cards in them, your Partner can still play with an empty deck if your deck still has cards in it.

Brustom attacks with Orichalcum-Golem, activating Demolish.

Also for the purposes of Tag Battles, if you use an effect that targets a specific opponent, you can select which opponent recieves it.

In this case, Dan is targeted.

Orichalcum-Golem’s level is 2, so Dan loses 2 cards, Extra Draw and Reborn Flame.

Dan’s had about 2 turns, so his deck should be around 32 cards left.

As Brustom holds 3 symbols on his field, he’s able to discard a further three cards from Dan’s deck. Dropping him to 29

Due to some incredible bad luck, Dan loses The Sunstone Shrine, Meteor Storm and Siegwurm, 3 pretty key cards to his new strategy.

The loss of Reborn Flame earlier means Siegwurm isn’t coming back very soon.

Say that to the Cherubim you depleted, cry me a river, Dan.

Brustom activates Assault, exhausting The Invaded Castle to refresh Orichalcum-Golem.

Still needing to address it’s current attack, Team Core Soldier take a life, now dropping to 5.

Brustrom attacks again, this time using Demolish to target Clackey’s deck.

Clackey loses 5 cards from the top of his deck, while he hasn’t had a 2nd turn like Dan yet, he removed a Wing Boots from his deck with Cherubim, so his deck is also at 29 cards now.

Adding further insult to injury, Sophia was among the cards Clackey lost.

Team Core Soldier drop to 4 lives.

Clackey is distraught from the loss of his Key Spirit.

Remember, Deck Destruction is nasty because it tries to win fights before they start. Board states don’t matter when your best cards are gone and your deck is empty.

Dan tries to reassure Clackey that this match is only half over.

Clackey asks what the point in fighting is if you can’t even use the cards you like.

Reminder: Clackey’s battle ideology is that battles must be fun, as such Clackey has produced a deck that is comprised entirely of cards he genuinely likes.

Deck Destruction is a particularly nasty blow to Clackey as he tends to lose out on cards he would very much have liked to use.

Once again, my favourite theme in the series is playing, and I cannot for the life of me identify what the track is.

I’ll keep asking this until I receive it cuz hot damn it’s a good one.

Anyway, Heliostom is feeling just like I do when I hear this theme and wants to get EVEN MORE VIOLENT

My guy doesn’t do skinny jeans, he does happy pants, leave him be.

One can only wonder what would happen if Brustom lashed out at his father, dude is at LEAST a few weight classes above the winged twit.

Brustom attacks with Babyrouza.

Clackey starts playing the blame game which isn’t a particularly helpful thing to do as it doesn’t really further any kind of possible game plan.

I’m not quite sure where this giant pole came from but it’s definitely there.

Where? Oh sorry you don’t see it?

It’s right there, firmly lodged up Dan’s ARSE.

Down to 3 lives our Hero Team goes.

Heliostom continues to make orders of his Son, demanding he keep attacking.

Block-Golem attacks, as there is a Nexus on his Team’s field, Block-Golem destroys 2 cards in an opposing deck.

The target is Clackey, who drops to 27 cards in deck.

Block-Golem strikes true, dropping our Hero Team to a measly 2 lives remaining.

What in the hell is Kajitsu so happy about? The lads are getting their asses completely whooped.

No, but Clackey can lose for him.

Suddenly, we’re interrupted by a looming shadow.

Well who is it this time, is it Leon? Is it Belga?

Is it Brustom’s ass coming into view from all the way in the battlefield?

By virtue of Brustom having half the DNA of this lady I was half right.

It’s Ryoko! Who has appeared out of seemingly nowhere and can apparently glide using the power of a mere umbrella

She’s offering to show Kajitsu and Kenzo where Namii is, to what benefit I have zero clue.

Noble Youth of Light Turn 7, Clackey goes down to 26 cards and summons Gremly and Froger, at Lv2 and Lv3 respectively.

It’s quite comical how much core ends up on Froger due to it’s absolutely comical 7 core requirement to be at Lv3, for 6000 BP.

Watch out, it could tie with a Lv1 Meteorwurm.

Clackey ends his turn, without waging an attack.

Dan is absolutely bothered by the fact that Clackey didn’t wage an attack.

Yes! Look at the board, they’ve got 2 Blockers against 3 attackers and one of them can attack twice!

And sadly, Dan’s attack with Meteorwurm earlier is the reason Clackey can’t do anything, had Meteorwurm been left refreshed for a turn, Clackey would have been able to raise it to Lv3 and target attack Orichalcum-Golem. If Clackey is going to do anything it’s going to be to wait for an opportunity to somehow deal with it using Magic given Meteorwurm is about as helpful as a Chocolate Spatula.

Firm Turn 8.

Heliostom preps to summon something large but he lacks core, so he depletes Babyrouza to make up for it. Notably he does this without running a single thing by his son.

And thus, Heliostom’s Key Spirit is shown to us finally, he summons The Gigantic Thor. We’ve seen Belga use this so there’s no need to cover it again.

Dan seems to have diminished his number of brain cells to a nice, crisp 0, as he expects an attack but Heliostom ends his turn.

I was also expecting one but I forgot that Brustom’s attackers can’t be used on Heliostom’s turn.

Heliostom’s intent is to use his board to raise defense, and Brustom to attack.

Though at the moment he’s not done a very good job, Thor is still at Lv1, so it’s Anti-Red capabilities aren’t even active at the moment.

For those who can’t remember, The Gigantic Thor is capable of blocking Red Spirits without exhausting, essentially allowing it to defend infinitely against Red…

The problem lies with the fact that this level is only available at level 2+

Heliostom orders Brustom to make the next attack forceful.

Heliostom also declares that on Brustom’s Turn, they will win the game.

Clackey notes that the formation as it stands is “Unbelievable”

…It would be, if Thor was at any Level other than the one it’s currently at, what was the point of summoning this 7 core-costed brick to the field?

You didn’t last turn, because ya swung with it, ya dingus.

Clackey gets irritated at Dan again for dismissing Gremly and Froger.

Dan, for the first time in this entire battle, actually decides to talk to Clackey about his thoughts currently, noting that Heliostom’s White deck allows him to cater to his playstyle, White is at home when it’s not attacking, the main problem is that tends to be White’s ultimate weakness, it has a really hard time closing out games on account of it’s defensive nature making attacking essentially undesirable.

But you gotta get lives somehow.

Here, Heliostom doesn’t have to deal with that problem, he can just hide behind Brustom’s attack step.

Dan however declares rather loudly that he’s aware that Brustom isn’t enjoying himself, what was meant to be a fun game between Dan or Clackey and Brustom to settle a score has instead reduced Brustom to a quivering child.

Dan tries to appeal to Brustom, asking if he’s fine being driven from the backseat by his father.

Heliostom tries to counter this, telling Brustom that Humans are known for using their words to make people suffer.

Dan tries to get through to Brustom…

…But Heliostom isn’t having it.

Heliostom loses it, declaring ultimately what his problem is, Otherworld King has attempted to civilize the Mazoku, likely through force, and the Mazoku responded by choosing to act like beasts out of sheer defiance.

They don’t want him as a ruler, if Otherworld King says the Sky is Blue, the Mazoku will stubbornly assert that it’s Red.

While it hasn’t been fully confirmed by the show just yet, I’ll get it out of the way, This is a very clear indication that Namii’s disdain of Mai is not just because of their personal situation, but is also being used to justify a very Mazoku-oriented hatred towards her.

What I’m saying is, Namii seems very clear to me, to be a Mazoku as well, much like Heliostom.

Heliostom once again states his goal, to cleanse Grand-Lolo of ALL humans…

To be fair, Dan also wants to get rid of the Humans from Grand-Lolo, the issue is that while Dan is trying to get rid of the humans causing Grand-Lolo grief, Heliostom is unable… or rather unwilling to differentiate between a Core Soldier fighting for Grand-Lolo like Dan, and a Tyrant like Otherworld King.

We’re interrupted by Ryoko arriving at the Battlefield, Magisa recognizes her, and refers to her by her title, “Boomerang Oryo”

…Which is pronounced like Oreo… or REO…

What other “REO” uses a boomerang like weapon…

Nope, can’t put my finger on it.

Aaand the episode closes out with Brustom recognizing his Mother from halfway across the battlefield…

WHICH GIVEN THE BATTLE ISN’T OVER, MAKES THIS A 2-PARTER

UUUUGH, WOE IS MEEEEE.

There’s no Card of the Day today, the Batosupi Corner at the end of the episode actually tries to highlight the concept of Tag Battles.

So I’m going to use this opportunity to be incredibly annoying, and grab my own card of the day.

We haven’t seen this card in a while, The Gigantic Thor was rather difficult to use back around it’s release due to the fact that one necessarily had to jump through a series of hoops in order to accumulate the requisite amount of “Armed Machine” spirits in order to keep it’s refresh combo going.

Nowadays however there are more tools available, though while I’ve centred this build on the combination of Thor and The Invaded Castle, the likelihood is Thor is being used to help out Walhalance due to Laevateinn supporting both. I’ve also included The Infinite Mother Ship, which will allow us to turn Androids like Vellnd and Droiden into Armed Machines.

You’ll note that The Invaded Castle is being flagged with a legality marker, this is actually because the card is currently limited to one copy per deck as of 2017, the reason for this is due to a quirk of it’s effect returning all core to your reserve interacting rather nastily with a specific gimmick introduced around BS40 that requires a certain kind of core. For the times this deck was made for however, 3 copies is perfectly legal.

Anyway, I’ll be sure to see you next time! Ta-ta!