Dragon Ein

Here it is. The Flag to end all Flags. Nooooo, my route!

You know that feeling when you think a game's gone dead, and that the company is never going to do anything creative with the game ever, and it's just going to stagnate slowly until everybody gets bored of it and quits? Yeah? Well, Dragon Ein was a glimmer of hope in the Darkness (Dragon World). Bushiroad finally found its balls to create a multi-world Flag that not only attribute-locks the player into a funky (but well supported) trait, but also changes the starting hand and starting life? What?

Despite the obvious starting nerfs (yes, those are nerfs, and if you don't think so then you're crazy), Dragon Ein remains a very competitive and frankly quite elusive Flag to play against. Without even looking at the other Ein-exclusive cards, Dragon Ein gives the player major upsides in terms of spell, monster, and weapon selection. Have fun crafting for one of the coolest Flags released!

That's four D's, mind you - not five;
we're not bad like Yugioh

But let's talk exclusive cards first, because they truly set the tone for what kind of potential Dragon Ein can pull off. First off is Dragon Throne. Only available to Dragon Ein players, Dragon Throne is a Set spell that increases your field size limit to 4. Additionally, it grants your item and itself permanent invulnerability (no bounce either!) - and its effects can't be nullified, not even by Frozen Stars. So basically, from the get-go, Dragon Throne allows you to do some funky 3/1 and 2/2 field shenanigans that you wouldn't normally get to pull off. With an invincible weapon, it allows you to heavily invest in some awesome cleaver and be sure that your opponent can't just pop or even bounce it.

The real deal with the Size limit of 4, however, is to get Azi Dahaka in play. The first and only Size 4 in the entire game, Azi Dahaka sports monstrous stats alongside...nothing? Wait, what? No Soulguard, no Double Attack...not even Penetrate? Or Move? It better have a kickass effect - oh wait it does. On attack, attacks EVERYTHING at once. Upon damage dealt, pop a weapon. Alright. I'll take it. That's well worth the -2.5 it took to get him out. His effect gives him pseudo Shadow Dive as well as that Vermillion effect, and it pops weapons which all but strangles your opponent for ways to retaliate. And since you have access to stuff like Dragon Barrier and Dark Energy, Azi Dahaka gets some pseudo longevity.

This is what you call a sword

Azi Dahaka's best attribute, however, is when he dies. That's because he grabs Demonic Demise Sword, Aqulta Gwaneff from your deck (or if its already in hand, just equip it) and now you're really in business. Aqulta Gwaneff has a whopping  6 crit with 12000 power, and it crushes the souls of anything it attacks - literally. On top of that, any single attack gets auto-nullified by its Counter Act ability, forcing your opponent to link for damage. Guess what this deck has access to? Dragon Shields! 12 of them, to be precise, on top of a bunch of other great removal and negation effects. In short, your opponent is all but screwed as long as you have the hand to sustain yourself.

And if you're worried about getting stuff into hand, don't worry. The secret cards also came with a Size 2 monster that grabs either Throne or Azi for 2 life. It's basically foolproof.

So where's Azi Dahaka lacking? The answer is hand. Without a good draw engine, the Azi cards more or less kill each other because you can't protect Azi for more than a turn or  output enough field to do anything after Aqulta Gwaneff comes out. Dragon Ein, while allowing you to do funky things, doesn't inheritently generate advantage and Azi is expensive as hell. You need to be able to support all this craziness with more resource craziness on the back end.

Firing mah lazaar

The best way to start building for Ein is to get your initial ratios correct: probably 3 Azi, 2 Gwaneff, 3 Throne and 3-4 of that Size 2. Then, go to Bushiroad's Buddyfight Card Database and search "Dragon", check Attributes only, 100 lines and off we go. Pretty soon you'll start seeing the staples. Green, Blue, and Black Dragon Shields. Grimoire is solid, as is Dragoknuckle. Inferno is like a must, he's so cost effective and helps you stall for a good hand. Same with vanilla Drum. Flame Strike Deity, Agosbruch is available and ready to be abused to the death. Wrath Trigger is great, Dark Energy is better, and Dragon Barrier might be the best of them all. Nothing screams "true stall" like Iron Fortress Dragon.

Ancient World's incredible resource engine is a must. Dragon Emperor Legend, Divine Dragon Creation, and Rise and Fall of Dragons is your only lifeline. Rise and Fall is actually an incredible card given your ridiculous starting life, allowing you to spam field-clearing Impacts to keep up the pace or even just rush face. Cheesing alongside Gran Railgun Dragon can zap your opponent faster than you can say "Level 5 Esper".

Don't forget the basic
vanilla utility cards either!

Medrogirus is a cool option, giving soul to anything with Soulguard or even Inferno - you can run Medrogirus alongside some of the Ancient World Size 3's for a cheap extra life (remember, Size 4 fields). Graybard is a good alternative to Inferno, and can be run alongside, especially since you're likely not going to get Inferno's second pop off. And of course, can't forget the Boomerang. Tenbu is huge, but given the Omni Lord mechanic you can only run one despite being a Green Dragon. Cocytus Greed helps your early game stall tremendously and Dragodefense isn't trait-restricted! Between Gran Wilderness and Dragon Arcadia, your life replenishment is pretty set and Dragon Prudent offers a fourth negate if you so choose to use it.

You also have the option of building around an archetype, like Thunder Knights or Purgatory Knights. Purgatory Knights are probably ideal, given that they have pretty decent plussing spells like Purgatory Knights, Forever. Not to mention that they have pretty good monster choices.

As far as winning image goes, it's more or less an Ancient World stall-game until Azi comes out, and then you basically do the same thing once you get your sword except with a Size 3 to the side (and Boomerang spam). Or, you could pull off the many different cheese builds with the treasure troves of Impacts and really weird effects that you have at your service.

If you want to be a hero, run Victory Slash. That's the ultimate advice I can give to anyone who truly wants to win at this game.

- updated to H-BT01, CP01, EB02, TD07, 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.