Dragon Lord

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEELLLLLLL SIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEGGGGAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR

DUEL SIEEEEGERRR

Martial Arts Dragon Emperor, Duel Sieger. There's really not much to say about this card besides repeating his name again and again for meme purposes. He evolves when he dies into a form which also evolves into another form. It's pretty ridiculous. I'll go over some of the nuances with each specific form and how your gameplay style actually changes slightly between the forms.

Starting with the base form. 7000/2/7000 with Double Attack. Key thing to note here is the optional soul from hand. You're allowed to choose any number of Dragon Lords between 0 and 2 to put into Duel Sieger's soul. The cool thing about the effect is that you'll actually find yourself putting any of those numbers in. Sometimes its wise to not soul-up Duel Sieger - especially when you might need those cards in hand (like why would you put Glacies in, ever?). If you're lacking gauge, that Forbolka might as well stay in hand too so that you can actually get Spartand out. But when you have the hand for it, souling up Sieger is generally the best course of action. 7000 both offensively and defensively is very good, escaping most numbers-based removal and still remaining relevant.

SPARTAAAA

The next form is Spartand. Spartand has 8000/3/8000 with Double Attack, and it's guaranteed one soul. Since Duel Sieger is sent directly to the drop zone after death, Spartand will always be able to pull a Duel Sieger out of drop zone - namely the one sent to the waiting room. However, if Duel Sieger was removed from the field and sent to somewhere else, like hand or gauge, Spartand's call cost actually can't activate and you just end up eating Lifelink 5. Make sure you always have the gauge for Spartand, as most of your game depends on how reliably you can get this baddie out. Spartand is a monster, that extra crit does wonders for your opponent's face as you endlessly smack it.

The final form is Tempest Enforcer. Don't be deceived by 12000/3/12000 with Triple Attack and Penetrate, because Lifelink Lose is just game over. Tempest Enforcer should be a last ditch maneuver and nothing else. You're honestly better off letting Spartand die at 6 life than changing into Tempest Enforcer just because you might be able to try again from base form. Only use Tempest Enforcer when you're actually going to die from Spartand's Lifelink. Because in some matchups, particularly against Magic World, Tempest Enforcer is not a win-condition but a lose-condition. When you get him out, be prepared to make the most of the one turn that he's probably going to live for. 9 damage in 3 instances is practically game, especially if you can follow it up with an Impact.

Hey - Let's go to Space

If you want to be hipster and get off the Sieger train, you can sign your death wish with Space Dragon Emperor, Galiazond. This card is pretty tragic. In order to call it, you need to have one of each specific card in the drop zone - cards that normally require a Level 3 on the field to be of any real use. Once Galiazond actually hits the ground, it...sucks. 6000 defense is really crap, you can get swept by Size 1 monsters easily, not to mention all the Penetrate damage that would be going through. 7000/3 with Double Attack is barely acceptable for the call cost. And when Galiazond is finally dead after losing its four soul (or, alternatively, a timely Rolling Stone), you take 8 damage non-negatable. That's basically Lifelink Lose with numbers. Until Galiazond gets some form of auxiliary support, it's going to be a weak alternative, if it even is one, to Sieger.

It's pretty apparent that Dragon Lords have a binary playstyle: things to do when Sieger is out and things to do when it isn't. Life's good when Sieger is out, when you have access to all the drop-cast monsters and 8 different Counterattack counters. The problem mainly lies with when Sieger isn't out, because you're basically twiddling your thumbs hoping you can get Sieger out as soon as possible. Well, Dragon Lord PRs to the rescue to save your non-Sieger game. Flame Strike Deity, Agosbruch is a great Size 2 to call. It has pretty stellar stats and when it's about to die, you can use its Act effect to kill a Size 1 that your opponent has as well. Pretty good early game control. The second PR is the Size 3 tutor spell, Makings of a Great Dragon. You can only tutor Dragon Lords but that's basically everything you could ever want (it even grabs Ladis).

Advil Diablo III

Perfect Pack 01 gave Dragon Lords a solid substitute Size 3 that could sometimes even outperform Sieger when used correctly. Meet Ghoul Dragon Emperor, Adil Diablos. The important thing to note about Diablos is that his soul comes from topdeck, which means - you guessed it - he plusses. Finally, a Size 3 that plusses. 3 gauge is a very cheap price to pay for both Double Attack and free 2 soul, meaning that Diablos gets about +1 coming into play (factoring in somewhat lackluster stats). Lifelink 5 therefore is still a pretty heavy price to pay, but at least Diablos has better staying power than Sieger and conserves hand, allowing you to buy time and gauge for Sieger. Even better, Diablos has a rage trigger when he loses all his souls: his stats increase to an amazing 9000/3/8000, which is even better than Spartand. Letting Diablos get down to his last soul and then protecting that last soul with Wrath Trigger and Glacies is a great way to get that extra mileage out of this badass.

Freeze!

Alongside the new Raging Spirits, H-BT01 gave us a bit more support for the early-mid game of Dragon Lords. Ice Prison Emperor, Cocytus Greed (is this Vanguard now?) is an early-play Size 2 that allows you to "steal" 1 gauge from your opponent - basically casting Dimensional Demon Slay Slash. That's basically a +1, so Cocytus is a great card, especially if you negate the Lifelink with Dragonverse. His second ability is situational because, like Gan Alchimia, there is no "may" clause which allows your opponent to play around it. However, it's a cheaper ability than Gan Alchimia's and it allows Ancient World to spot remove some nasty weapons, giving them an out against early weapon-aggro decks.

While Demonic Demon Fairy, Sorciere and his Size 2 buddy Rage Thirst Emperor, Grand Wilderness (who makes up these names?) are cool, I'm skeptical about spending gauge on anything outside of Size 3. Although with this kind of support, you could move away from Sieger play and just focus on either Ladis or Adil Diablos and have more gauge to spare. Sorciere and Grand Wilderness both give +1 if they kill a unit, but Sorciere is much better since an extra attack is more flexible and Sorciere doesn't lose out on stats as hard as Grand Wilderness. At least they don't have Lifelink, although if the call cost was replaced with Lifelink 1 these cards would be amazing.

My right arm is a lot
stronger than my left
arm!

Three Size 0s? Whoa there. Burning Right Bruder and Blizzard Left Bruder are some amazing gifts to Sieger and friends in the form of actual cards you can call to the field while a Size 3 is out. Finally. Both these cards have pretty bad stats but they have rest abilities that are pretty cool and work exceptionally well together. Blizzard Left reduces the defense of all enemies by 5000. Unfortunately, this isn't Weiss where anything below 0 is removed but at least you can defeat stall-wall decks. Burning Right destroys all defense 2000 or lower monsters on your opponent's side. That's much better in a vacuum, since aggressive decks usually sport monsters with low defense. Put them together, however, and you get a field wipe of anything 7000 defense or lower. For free. Well, you call two cards so that's kinda difficult but you don't pay any gauge/life. Adil Diablos conserves hand so the Bruders work pretty fantastically with him. And if you don't use the Bruders' effects, you can always use them as extra 1-crit attacks.

Flying turtle!!

Fire the death barrage

Sieger always had issues with the fact that you couldn't time when you evolved between forms. You were constricted to always keeping 3 gauge open. And there was no chance to use the evolution process offensively unless your opponent misplayed or something. Now, Hundred Demons Sorcery, Rineryusho gives you the ability to sack your own monster and gain 1 gauge. Used alongside Sieger, you can evolve on-command and guarantee not only the evolution but also an extra Double Attack if you evolve Sieger and a Triple Attack if you evolve Spartand. The strategy now is to play Sieger with no soul, attack and then Rineryusho into Spartand for 10 damage turn and a better tank, all while not minusing hand. Pretty disgusting. It's not even that inconsistent since it only hinges on a single card, so this is definitely a viable play.

The Will of the Blades

If Ancient World had bad spells, Armorider Dragon Emperor, Suvarious would be amazing. Unfortunately, Ancient World has fairly good spells. On the other hand, Ancient World doesn't really need those spells to function, so Suvarious is still a good option. Suvarious is alluring because no gauge cost for Double Attack on a 3-crit body. Spell negating for cheap is also great. Not casting spells really sucks, but I think with the hand-trap monsters and the 4 gauge Impact you can manage fairly well. Suvarious might be a good complement to Adil Diablos as an alternate gameplan. It also just 1TKOs with a good hand because you can spell negate every shield your opponent throws out.

Sieger is so cute! Also this Sieger opens up worlds of really cool plays for Sieger players. See, not only is this card cheaper than normal Sieger to play onto the field (freeee) but he also tutors for other Sieger forms when discarded. You can call SD Sieger and let him die to get Spartand out with virtually no fuss. No longer do you have to worry about having tons of gauge from the get-go! You might as well just not run normal Sieger at this point, this card is better in virtually all regards.

Loyal Dragons and Courage. The card that makes everything work again. Not only does it grab Size 0s and calls them for free, but it also gives soul and gauge. +1.5's wherever you go. Good times.

- updated to H-BT03, CP01, H-EB04, 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.