Brave Machine

Big robots! Gundams! Dimension Police! Dimensional Robos! Big robot cannons and big robot swords that don't make any sense in any context! Whoo!

There's only so much you can't love about super big robots.

Brave Machine distinguish themselves from Superheroes in...not many ways, actually. Instead of Transform, they get the Ride mechanic which is word for word exactly the same. If anything's to be said about them, it's the fact that they have surprisingly less support than Superheroes by a staggering amount. No good Size 2 selection, severe lack of clear Ride winners (as opposed to Takochuu and Rampage Sonic), not even a 3000/3000 Counterattack spell. Of course, they'll get stuff in due time, but for now they're kind of lacking in various areas.

It's okay, they make up for it with robot swag.

I'm actually 3 inches tall

Oh man. So like, this is Card Burn. 4000/1/3000 for 2 gauge is horrifically expensive of a Ride, not even barely worth it. Never Ride Card Burn if you can help it. But even when you call him, he's a pretty tragic vanilla, being an entire -0.5 down from what he should be. Unfortunately, you actually have to run this guy at a rather high number for his first effect.

That effect also involves Card Serpent and Card Rhino. Card Serpent is a typical 5000/2/2000 vanilla that this world offers. Card Rhino is a Size 2...

...wait, so you have to Ride Card Burn. Wow. This sucks.

Charge through!

Anyways, Card Rhino is a pretty decent Size 2 that can spend 1 gauge to become 6000/2/6000 with Penetrate. Although with the stats in this world, it wouldn't be out of the place for a 6000/2/4000 to have permanent Penetrate for the same 1 gauge. So basically, Card Rhino and Card Serpent aren't that amazing either.

When you have all three on the field (so Card Burn has to be Ride), you can activate Card Burn's main ability: pay 4 gauge, send all three Card Brave Machines to the drop, then Ride Ultimate Card Burn from deck or hand. Okay, let me get this straight. 2 gauge to Ride Card Burn. -3 cards for getting all three Card cards on the field. Then another 4 gauge to get Ultimate Card Burn, hopefully from deck so you can actually +1 instead of a wash. That's a whopping -6 gauge and -3 cards on very ephemeral monsters (meaning you probably do this in one turn), a total -6 advantage points for a single +1. Not even Excalibur or Aqulta Gwaneff can match this level of minus. What does Ultimate Card Burn have to offer?

GREAT...DAIYUUUSHiit wrong
show

12000/3/8000 weapon with Double Attack. Can't be destroyed or returned to hand.

Oh. Okay.

Speaking seriously, Ultimate Card Burn is pretty much Jackknife Goldritter, except with a much more favorable Double Attack trait and slightly less defense. However, Goldritter has much more support in the form of Jackknife Gift, and Jacks themselves are quite the plussing engines (especially Burn Energy). Goldritter also has a life-saving link attack debuff that all but stops your opponent's damage output. Meanwhile, everything prior to Ultimate Card Burn sucks like crap. The only thing Ultimate Card Burn has really going for it is the ability to call more than Size 0 stuff onto the field. But that requires that you have the hand to support that kind of investment, and after a -6, you really don't. Either you win with Ultimate Card Burn, or you die because you have no hand left.

It's not like Brave Machines have that many negates either, so you have to heavily rely on that 8000 defense - and it's not even that much. If you want to play Card Burn line, either wait for more support or get a Goldritter deck while its off-meta.

Thanks to several people for reminding me that Rescue Dragon, Metamorph Effect is a thing. The PR allows you to replace any named card with another named card, fulfilling many conditional effects. You can use him in Card Burn's effect, replacing Card Rhino so you don't have to ride Card Burn. You can save...one gauge by doing that. Haha. Hahaha.

Metamorph is a pretty good card though, makes Card Burn more consistent and works for other stuff with name-based conditions.

Literally winning with math

Infinite Robo, Mathematics. Kek, Mathematics. Anyways, this is the Size 3 tank of Quartet Five. You can pump it up to 3 soul for only 1 gauge, and it has a pretty decent 10000/2 Double Attack. The only problem is the 5000 defense. Not only is that easily popped by spells and monsters, but you're actually seriously in danger of being Penetrated to death. There's no negates in Hero World that work with a center yet, so that's a huge issue. However, it's a pretty solid card against decks that don't pack much Penetrate/Spectral Strike, so feel free to abuse Math against Magic World, Katana and the like.

The main boon that Brave Machines have over Superheroes is Call, Super Machine! For one gauge, you can turn this spell into any Brave Machine card in your deck, be it spell, monster, or even Impact. To be able to grab any card you want at any moment is a huge help, especially since Brave Machines have few cards that are really good. It also helps getting Ultimate Card Burn out, but that's even more cost you're dumping down that terrifying -6 advantage drain. Seriously, if there was no Hyper Energy this card would never be playable, ever (by the way, that's a pretty good searchable card with Call).

Behold, my fist! Of light!

Thankfully, our PRs give us some hope that Brave Machines will be a lot more supported and more unique in the future. Fire Armored Mech, Dynamizer is a Double Attack Size 2 for 1 gauge. It only has 1 crit, but it has Double Attack regardless of where it is, equipped or on the field (though it costs 2 to equip). That's pretty cool. It's like Dragoanthem without the center restriction and 3000 defense to boot.

But the other PR is definitely the better one. X-Blazer is insane in a variety of really good ways. Firstly, 1 gauge to Ride or call. 6000/2/3000 equipped is just Sunshine Impact (that RRR) with a free +3000 defense. Wow. Whenever you deal damage to your opponent, you can take a 1 life tick to shove 2 more damage up their face. This ability can activate as a monster or equipped, and it's worth it in either circumstance. It's essentially a cheap Double Attack in the best circumstances.

I win games, period

So I was complaining about not having a good Ride target in Brave Machines, and WHOA HO we hit gold guys! I've talked about how good stuff like Road Blader and Rampage Sonic are, but Unmovable Steel Mech, Ganzallar takes the cake. We've talked about how good 5000/2/5000 for 2 gauge is (1 gauge for 5000 defense? +1.25? I'll take it), but what the hell is 5000/2/5000 for 1 life? Just, give me 5000 defense for free and let me pay with the superior payment type? As if that wasn't freaking enough, this card can't be destroyed or returned to hand by card effects. Period. Wow. So free indestructible tag and free 5000 defense when rode. Okay. That's fair.

Do you know that his ability still remains active when he's called? So you can call him to the center and he can't be popped by Pillar of Fire or anything like that. Unbelievable. This card is the most undercosted piece of win-game I have ever seen. Permaweapon that stops all attacks with 4000 or lower power. Unbelievable.

Get rocked

We needed more distinct support for Brave Machines, and Bushiroad delivered. Prepped and OK to Launch is a +1, no questions asked. You can Set the card, and then trigger it by performing a Ride. When that happens, you can pop the card to draw 2. Once per turn, of course, but effectively the freest +1 that you'll be getting ever. Even if your opponent counter removes the Set spell, they -1 and lose 2 gauge (probably) for your -1, so you come out way ahead. Since Ride in this deck can be as cheap as...1 life...you can essentially treat this card as a -2/+2 cycler by Riding over your weapon and paying 1 life. Still basically a wash, and a good cycler at that.

And then we get easy donk Impact for 3-damage reach. Okay, I'm done - Ganzallar is a Rare, this deck is cheap as hell, probably the strongest top-tier budget deck in the history of budget decks, everybody go build it and start riots at their locals. What a game...

Do you see the word "lose" in this
name? No? That's because you
can't

When Hero World was first introduced, if you told me (or anyone else) that within three months, Brave Machines would become the best deck in the entire game, I think I would have called you insane. They weren't even better than Superheroes at first. But after just two extra boosters, I think it's indisputable that Braves are actually flat-out SS tier.

We start with Great Sword Deity, Kaizerion. Who is the greatest weapon that ever was. Ride and call are both 2 gauge, and 8000/3/5000 is broken stats, especially for Riding (think 5000/2/5000 + 3000/1 for an extra gauge). But what's this? On-play dropcharge Soulguard? That means he gets a soul on-field (which makes his call a wash) and an extra life as your weapon. He's guaranteed to survive at least one removal effect thrown at him. That's really good. Really really good. You'd think it couldn't get any better, but it does. When this card has 3 or more cards in the soul, it gets +1 crit. Oh damn, Brave Machines have soul mechanics just like Star Dragon World. This is going to get nasty...

Caw caw

And nasty it gets very quickly. You see, Kaizerion is actually make out of three different robotic pieces of...well, mecha-animals. A bird, a tiger, and a whale-fish thing. Bird Deity, Sabird gives Kaizerion his blade. It also gives him the ability to pay 1 gauge and get Double Attack for the turn. What the actual...you can only use this ability if its in the soul and you have less than 6 life but WHAT THE ACTUAL First of all, Sabird isn't even restricted like the "A"s series from going into Kaizerion's soul. You just put him there if you have him in hand or on field. So at worst he's 1-for-1 in protecting your Kaizerion. At worst.

Gaoooo

Does it get worse? Oh yes it does. Beast Deity, Tigerhurst makes up Kaizerion's breastplate and body armor. For some God knows why reason, it also gives him Penetrate. It's also on all the time.

Why...

Ocean Deity, Slashark is the last part of the trifecta and creates the wings of Kaizerion. Apparently, wings give you strength so you also get +1000/1000. This is obviously the weakest of the three abilities, but who the hell is going to complain about having a 9000/3/6000 weapon equipped?

So when you have all three Deities in Kaizerion's soul, you end up with a 9000/4/6000 weapon with Penetrate and Double Attack. And you can still call monsters. Whaaaat. It's overrrrr.

Iron Defense

Also note that all three Deities also work well with Ganzallar since Ganzallar can't be destroyed. So if you can't get Kaizerion out (which I don't know why the hell you wouldn't), you can still get a 6000/2/6000 weapon with all of the above. That can't be destroyed. It's pretty much a given at this point that your Ride choices are Kaizerion, with Ganzallar being a good budget alternative.

You can also make X-Blazer really stupid with Sabird, but it's pretty risky and in a deck where you are mostly guaranteed a win, you don't need to risk the overreach.

Brave Machines get a Counterattack spell of the grossest kind. +5000 defense and Counterattack. With Kaizerion, that's up to 9000/4/11000. Gah. Four negates of the freest kind that also kills something that attacks you.

And if you actually are about to die, we've got a revival Set spell for Brave Machines: Super Headquarters, Brave Fort. Not only does this card make gauge not an issue for you at all (you basically get 1 free every turn if you can breathe), but you get a guaranteed revive when you die by popping out of your Ride machine (this doesn't work with Ganzallar unfortunately, you just die in there). Since Kaizerion has Soulguard, you can actually just make Kaizerion drop a soul to keep yourself alive. And then Set the card again. And then pop another soul. And then Set the card again. You can't lose.

Super Saiyan + Robots

Do we need more good Kaizerion synergy? No? Alright, let's give you one more. New Impact: Brave Energy Full Drive! Cast when Ride and your opponent has 5 or less life. Deal 2 damage for 2 gauge. Then, deal damage equal to the number of your Ride's soul. As a multi-damage Impact, the ruling is still shady whether or not it can overkill your opponent through revival. But nevertheless, 2 gauge for 5 damage (2 + 3) sounds pretty good. As in insanely good.

More synergy? More synergy. I Leave the Rest to You is a Counter destruction spell that can target anything. Pay 1 life and sack a Ride to pop anything on field. But with Kaizerion? Pay 1 life and sack a soul. Kaizerion is still here. I'm still winning. Okay.

More? More. Long-range Cannon gives a Ride card unnamed Shadow Dive for 1 gauge. Just in case you dropped Tigerhurst for an effect. Alongside Arduous Training, there's no way you can't just slam your opponent for dead whenever you feel like it.

More big robots!

So we've basically seen how you can win with Kaizerion alone. Alright. Now don't forget that we can still call monsters, this isn't Goldritter. Steel Beast Battle Robo, Gaidenor is your Size 3 boss of choice. It has 1000/1000 less than Gunvellz but it costs 1 less and sticks around longer. You can call him to the center to tank early before you get Kaizerion if you need to.

But you're probably better off running Size 1/2 field for maximum scalability. Size 2 should mainly still be the X-Blazer show with Ganzallar tech. We've got new tools for the Size 1 stuff too, like Boldam Breaker that kills for gauge. We also have a new splashable Mover with Heroic Blader, and don't forget Thief Cat is also a Brave Machine too!

PRs give us another great Size 2 option. Grand Calibur, Fullgunes is Damage Control on a body. That you can Ride. For 1 gauge. You actually can't die, it's not feasible in the slightest.

Dammit Brave Machines stay dead already. Don't go all "I Cannot Afford to Lose" on me. You can afford to lose. I don't want to deal with you, not when you get this stupid spell that can never minus.

- updated to H-BT02, CP01, H-EB02, H-TD02, PP01 -

All images used obtained from the official Bushiroad website and used here solely for reference purposes. Future Card Buddyfight!, logos, and respective content belong to Bushiroad. Large images belong to the Buddyfight! Wikia.