Fortia (post D-LBT03)

Edit 17/06/2023: minor updates to ratios

List I am using for IRL play. Eileen and Ducayla ratios are player preference. Eileen tends to force overguards, whereas Ducayla discourages people from trying to retire rear-guards.

The main addition from D-LBT03 is Expert Fluffer, Teuna, who massively bumps the ceiling of the deck with its whopping 18000 boosts, which are available on turn 1. Ivetta and Teuna together allow you to reach 28000 power on turn 1 if desired, meaning you can still connect hits even after two triggers, making early game rushes very viable.

The game plan is very simple: rush your opponent down as fast as possible. The high crit count and emphasis on low-grade cards help with this, and Friends are capable of reaching late game numbers extremely early due to Ivetta, Yulia, and Teuna's impressive boosting power. Triggers do not consistently answer these early rushes, so opponents are often pressured into making expensive early guards, which Fortia is able to punish with her restand forcing multiple over-guards.

Strengths

The speed and consistency of the deck grant favourable match-ups versus decks that take longer to get going. Decks with grade 4s especially tend to suffer vs. Fortia as they may find themselves dead before their decks come fully online. This also gives you the potential to sneak quick wins against otherwise disastrous match-ups as well.

Fortia's ride line is also highly resource efficient. Azhachir calls itself upon being rode upon, and Fortia's ride is guaranteed to be free against any match-up that doesn't have the ability to retire units. The rides either being functionally or literally free takes pressure off of resource management and gives you the room necessary to make a full board earlier than normal.

The deck also doesn't care about going first or second, and has advantages it is able to leverage in either case. Going first allows Fortia to rush down the opponent while they are still on Grade 2, which will either kill the opponent outright or cause the opponent's game state to be massively underdeveloped due to expending so many resources on guarding. Going second allows for more immediate aggression and the ability to use Larisa's effect sooner, which will turn her into a 20,000 stick.

This deck might also be one of the best abusers of Lyrical's Over Trigger, as you will always endeavour to have a full board to give power to. As Fortia restands, you can expect to hit it with better than average frequency as well.

Weaknesses

As the key gimmick of the deck requires a full board, the deck really does not enjoy any decks with emphasis on retiring units. The Gravidia match-up is expectedly disastrous, and less common match-ups like Baromagnes, Eugene, and Phantom Blaster Dragon will also cause headaches. The deck is surprisingly able to recover its boards thanks to advantage it gradually accumulates through Melty and Ducayla, allowing you to go for last-ditch rushes on Persona turns. Gravidia's low shields also means it will have difficulty preventing your damage if you do decide to throw caution to the wind, though this strategy is high risk. These match-ups are not completely unwinnable, but you may have to abandon common sense and take a lot of risks.

As the deck focuses on speed and consistency, it tends to lack much late game power. This is especially an issue vs. decks like Bastion or Eva, who will become difficult to penetrate if you fail to kill them in sufficient time.

Over Triggers on damage check also have the potential to completely stuff the deck. It is only one card out of 50, but it will happen sometimes.

Other Options

The effect heals in D-LBT03 are obviously worth considering. The reason I am not using these is because the situations where these effects apply tend to be late game, making them much less relevant in a deck focusing on early rushes. You can make the case that they improve the deck's weaker late game, which would be correct. I chalk it up to player preference as to whether doubling down on early strength or softening late weakness is more desirable.

As mentioned earlier, Eileen vs. Ducayla is completely preference. I've used the new card Running High, Menia in place of the Ducaylas, but found myself going back to them for now.

Astesice, Nanami can also be plugged into this rideline. They're not really that meaningfully different, but Azhachir does guarantee a Friend, which is generally more valuable as it improves consistency. Yes, you will sometimes be doing Azhachir beatdown, but the size of your boosts offsets how memeworthy that is. On the other hand, Nanami makes your ride practically free and also gives you an extra card in soul for Teuna.

8 crits are mandatory for ensuring the game ends quickly. The draw triggers could be front triggers to make use of the restand, but the need for board presence and discard fodder makes the draws generally better. Do not use Fronts if running 3 Eileen.

I would not bother Roxella or Arlette. A self-bounce would help vs. things like Gravidia if not for the fact that the effects require board presence to trigger, which defeats the object. No, Ducayla is not good enough to justify using these.

Altariel is just worse than Yulia in basically every way. Alviel is not good. Liydia is too situational and the cost too high to make the C Charge worth it.

Closing Thoughts

If you happen to have a play set of Melty already, then this deck is a pretty fun option with the potential to become good in a more favourable meta, and it seems likely that it will get continued support as the engine is popular. Everything outside of Melty and Eileen are very inexpesive.

I would not play this deck without Melty, nor would I recommend buying Melty purely for this deck. If you happen to really like Lyrical themes, then Melty, Eileen, and the sentinels and triggers can all be re-used in other decks.

The deck is also a little vanilla. It doesn't really do anything unique, it's basically just "base mechanics but faster". Hopefully more support will give it some more character in future,