Maelstrom and Support Reveals!! Aqua Force in overDress!! 

Hi amigos, today we got the skills revealed for Maelstrom and more units to support it! Let’s discuss it!

Maelstrom and Aqua Force Homies (Ride Line)

Great to see familiar faces already! We see Erikk is being our starter! It’s nostalgic since he was our original starter from Limit Break Era days!

Theo when rode upon gives us a +1 to hand immediately! What’s a Blue Storm Fleet card? We have more additional support in the form of an Order card, more later on! On RC, it’s a 13k attacker/booster which is a nice-to-have. I’m sure we’ll have other cards in the Main Deck that may have this not needed in the Main Deck.

Algos is another +1 but this time for RC! It’s great having to be able to search the top 7 cards and get a RG that will aid us that turn. At first, it may seem restricting since it can only grab Aqua Force or Tear Dragon cards. We’ll be able to get 1 for sure and we do have some Tear Dragons in Stoicheia that it can grab. Later in the article, I’ll have a section on Tear Dragons.

Algos’ 2nd skill on RC is a nice-to-have. On 4th battle or more, with an 8k booster it can hit as a 23k column with on-hit pressure. The draw would be very appreciated too.

Now for Maelstrom! For discarding ANY card from hand, we can have access to our Soul on calling a unit! Furthermore, if our opponent is at G3, that unit will gain a restanding CB1 skill! This is a BIG consistency boost for the deck wanting to accomplish 4+ battles! If we just have our Ride Line, we can easily call Theo or Algos from Soul. Now we can see how their RC skills can help such as Theo being a 13k attacker/booster or Algos with 23k column numbers (possible draw too). There are more cards that can be called from Soul, more on that later.

So what about the VG skill? It’s a free skill that let’s us draw a card and retire a RG when we achieve 4+ battles. That’s it! Nothing crazy like restanding VG or guard restriction. Before we assess the pros/cons of this Winning Image, let’s still cover the the remaining new support and possible Tear Dragons that can aid it!

More Aqua Force Homies and New Order

Wheel Assault is also back! This time he’s a swapper with different conditions/cost! You need a Maelstrom VG, so it can’t be used in another Ride Line. We can swap any RGs by paying a SB1. This card will be essential starting at G3 since it can allow us to achieve 4+ battles. Remember Maelstrom’s skill to make a restander is restricted to the opponent being at G3 as well. So if we’re going first, we definitely want to see a card like Wheel Assault. Furthermore, this can help get to 5+ battles too. Having our VG be 4th battle, we can stack our triggers onto the remaining RG that can still attack.

Tidal Assault is back too! A well-known unit for Aqua Force as a whole! Interesting 2 skills. The 1st is for a SB1 we can beef up our Maelstrom VG. It can help our VG be harder to guard, but I wished that we can choose what unit to give the +5k. That would at least give it to a RG if needed to make better numbers.

Tidal’s 2nd skill allows us to also reach 4+ battles! It’s another important unit to see if we’re going 1st. Do keep in mind the conditions, it has to attack during the 2nd battle and your Maelstrom VG has to be in Stand position. Your attack patterns are vital since they’re more specific. Tidal cannot be used in another Ride Line as well, so it’s a Maelstrom exclusive. I believe Bushiroad wanted this Tidal to be supportive for our VG to achieve 4+ only. What I mean is that Aqua Force players are familiar on stacking triggers onto a RG that could still attack and restand. This condition prevents us from abusing that type of play. Bummer but I can see that they want to keep overDress still “balanced”. Also, if this was called out from Soul via Maelstrom’s skill, it’s possible for it to restand twice in a turn!

Judgement Maelstrom Order card! I wasn’t expecting to get an Order card but it’s welcomed. This is the Blue Storm Fleet card that can be searched by Theo. We can only Play it if we have a VG that is Maelstrom, so it’s exclusive as well. Interestingly it revives Aqua Force/Tear Dragon cards from our Drop Zone. With also giving a potential +5k (or 10k, 15k) to any RG. I have mixed thoughts on this card since it’s a G3 and the power up skill is reliant on other copies of it in Play. We can’t use it prior to G3, so it’ll be Turn 4 where we see the benefit of a +5k onto a RG. We probably be Persona Riden by then too. The main pro is that it’s searchable by Theo as a revival card.

Current Stoicheia Tear Dragons

Main Options

Right off the back, I think we all agree that Inlet Dragon comes to mind! Even though its 1st skill is restricted to the Flagburg Ride Line, the 2nd skill is still SUPER appreciative. Just like in Magnolia, we can benefit from it being a 13k attacker that can go into Soul to return hand advantage. It’s a card that can keep things going smoothly turn-after-turn. Furthermore, there’s synergy with Maelstrom’s creating a restander skill. Since Inlet Pulse can go into the Soul, the next turn we can call it out with Maelstrom’s skill to make it a 13k restander. It basically gains its 1st skill back, although the cost is a CB1 instead. Then it can go back into Soul at the end of the turn and redo it! I’m sure Inlet Dragon will make the cut.

Shieldfisher is another card that can be abused as a restander. It’s already an 18k, any power up of +5k can make it a stand-alone 23k. Since you’re going to call a card from Soul with Maelstrom’s skill, this card can attack easily. The dilemma is how to get this into Soul for making it a restander?

Hydrorail Dragon is another Tear Dragon that have some on-hit pressure. When it came out, it saw some play in Magnolia. This can help get copies of Maelstrom or Inlet back to hand from Drop. The main benefit would be Persona Riding the next turn. We already have access to revival cards where we can grab an Inlet from Drop on the same turn to use it.

Okay Options?

Some more interesting options, but they may not make the cut. I thought I at least mention them.

Bovine seems restrictive and weak, but remember it’s inherently Critical 2. The concept is a possible Critical 2 restander that has gained power by skills or Persona Riding. Great for when the opponent is at 4 damage. But is it worth it? Probably not.

Back in OG Zorga days, we had seen Hydrolic Ram Dragon as an 18k RG when we have a binded Order. I think Shieldfisher though would be easier to use.

Thrustorrent Dragon is a card that gains +5k on 3+ battles. However, it’s 9k base so it makes awkward numbers in overDress such as 14k and 22k with an 8k booster. Probably not worth it.

Current Orders

Revival Orders

We have Judgement Maelstrom as a new addition, but we do have access to these 2 options! Both Resentment and SBC use a SB1 to revive a unit. Resentment helps in a consistency boost early on when we need to build a solid field. Where SBC gives the revived unit +5k such as Tidal. I believe these Orders and alongside perhaps with Judgement Maelstrom will be worth looking into.

Power Up Orders

We have costless Orders that give power to our units. Ideal is often used on a booster, so it can see 20k+ when boosting on the 4th battle. Great for the 5th battle too with a leftover RG column, it’ll see a +25k power-up! Nectar has the potential for Critical gaining which can apply real pressure if the opponent is at 4 damage. This can be used on the restander that Maelstrom makes for 1st and 2nd battle pressure.

Maelstrom Vs Flagburg

So the big question is, “What’s better, Maelstrom or Flagburg?”

First off, this is the very 1st set of cards for the Maelstrom Ride Line. So Flagburg is already ahead in terms of multiple sets of support.

Maelstrom Pros:

• More consistent on achieving 4+ battles
• Main skill needs to only go to 4th battle, 5th battle can be a RG with triggers
• Can easily reuse cards like Inlet by VG’s skill
• VG skill is free
• Access to swapping units with Wheel Assault

Flagburg Pros:

• Guard restriction when 5th battle is achieved
• Retires 2
• Inlet is full power on its own
• Access to Shelling Cannon, can have 6th battle RG with triggers

Play testing will tell with the current metagame. In theory, Maelstrom uses less resources like CB, Soul, etc. to achieve its Winning Image. Flagburg’s issue sometimes is resources. Both decks suffer the need for a field issue like old-school Aqua Force. Flagburg has had more time to become more solid too with support and more is coming.

Premium Impact!

Yes, there are some interesting Premium plays ha!

Furiargus is a fantastic Stride that can be used in a Stoicheia G3 Premium deck! It can generate Accel circles and restand RGs for more attacks! It synergizes well with Maelstrom too since most of the RG attacks will be before the VG’s attack.

Furthermore, we can use amazing Aqua Force cards like:

• Coral Assault
• Pursuit Assault
• Nerissa
• etc

The new Maelstrom can call those from Soul and make them 1st battle restanders too. There are some early plays with Algos since it can help build a field for any Aqua Force deck. A deck like Thavas, can ride back down to G2 and benefit from Algos’ on-ride skill a 2nd time. Furthermore, the VG is a 13k base and the new Tidal and Algos are 10k base. Remember that Aqua Force is an Accel clan, so it has 12k base and 9k base units respectively.

I go over some ideas with Furiargus in general in the Card Reveal video I did earlier this year! Feel free to check it out!

Final Thoughts

What’s also cool is that the cards are restricted to a VG that has “Maelstrom” in the name. So there leaves the possibility of future Maelstrom overDress G3s making a showing. Furthermore, in Premium, any Maelstrom VG can take advantage of the new overDress cards.

What are some of your thoughts about the skills and support? Are you excited?

I’m excited to play test and come up with a preliminary build soon!