With four new clans getting added to the standard format, two for Dark Zone Pale Moon and Dark Irregulars, Dragon Empire’s first ninja clan, Murakumo and United Sanctuary’s edgy poster boys, the Shadow Paladins. This is also the first non-extra set since BT01 with Unite! Team Q4. Not all clans are created equal and while Bushiroad has done a way better job at balancing the game than the past influx of Gear Chronicle support every other set back in the G-era, clans that were good on release have stayed good and clans that were bad have stayed bad. Shadow Paladin and Murakumo have been making waves in the standard meta while Pale Moon and dark Irregulars are still only mid tier at best. What separates these clans form the rest, what makes them good and what makes them bad?

Let’s start off by taking a look at the new fresh kids on the block, Shadow Paladin and Murakumo. Shadow Paladin has always been a fan favorite since its very first release in BT04’s Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows with their black armor and edgy counterparts of popular Royal Paladin units like Blaster Blade and Alfred Early. Now, while their popularity does play into the amounts of tops they get, they are indeed a good clan mechanically as well. Shadow Paladins focus on retiring their own rearguards in order to plus in card advantage by forcing their opponent to retire his/her own units. They are an Accel clans worse enemy, as in whatever rearguards the opponent plays will just fuel the flame for their boss unit Phantom Blaster Dragon. Murakumo doesn’t have as many good match-ups as Shadow Paladin but they have particularly good match-ups against top competitors in the likeness of Dimension Police and the fabled Oracle Think Tank (OTT). Murakumo’s main combo revolves around their main boss unit Dueling Dragon, ZANBAKU and Left and Right Arresters locking down the opponent from standing and/or riding. This is a big blow to Dimension Police and OTT since their play style revolves around re-riding the vanguard to start a snowball towards their win-condition.

One the other hand clans such as Pale Moon and Dark Irregulars are struggling to top despite them being new clans. Pale Moon suffers the same problems as all the other Accel clans. They have really explosive turns that can devastate the opponent but a defensive trigger or two and their turn is as good as done. Dark Irregulars have some pretty decent cards, as all the protect clans do, but just like Megacolony that is as good as they get, decent. No Life King, Death Anchor is definitely the bread and butter of the deck but it’s re-ride ability is just to slow to consistently get off before your opponent is far enough ahead to matter. Now with all this information at your disposal, I’d like to remind you all that ARG Fall States for the standard format is taking place on the weekend of November 3-4, more info at argcircuitseries.com.