Black Knight

With H-BT04, Black Knights become an exclusive archetype apart from Deep and it's time to give them their own page. Similarly to Deep, Black Knights rely on flooding the drop zone with cards to fuel their effects. There's also this weird mechanic with Buddy Monsters...we can get to that in a bit.

There's really not much to say about them just now, other than the fact that it's basically a Deep deck except you replace beefy Size 3 tanks with Black Knights.

Knight

You start out as Adventurers in typical RPGs, right? Classless beginners who run around doing whatever they can to get experience. Eventually, you become more specialized, and decide on a path and build to choose. You work hard to perfect the right stats, the right abilities, and the right combos as you improve and advance. In short, you go from being just an adventurer to becoming a true Knight.

Knights are interesting. They rely on vaguely the same advantage engines that Adventurers do (they share the same trait as well) but they've got their own thing going on. Namely two Items equipped. And a whole lot of really stupid boosts from having two Items equipped. That's actually the entire deck. Kill people with two weapons.

The Underappreciation of Typical Glasses-wearing Male Side Character (Overview)

This is relevant.

If you've ever thought that the archetypes you've played lacked support in any way, be it draw, gauge, removal, control, or otherwise pure gimmicks, don't forget that there's a complete extension of your dataset found here.

We're neglected, but it doesn't mean we're useless.

Battle Deity Robo

So I'm not a huge fan of robots, but I do like my share of them. I loved Bionicles as a kid and I won't deny that a cool-looking Gundam would have me ooh-ing at it. But there is an ethical reason why I can't play Brave Machines because it is simply unconstitutional for my own conscience to ever touch something remotely top-tier and bandwagonable. I can't do it. It's impossible.

So Bushiroad, understanding my plight, created Battle Deity Robos. Specifically for me. I know. They're too kind.

While they might not be as outright broken as their Hero World counterparts, Battle Deity Robos do introduce the Ride mechanic alongside some interesting options to other Worlds. And I do think they are playable, all the more so if they get a nice helping of support come H-BT03.

Tarot

I'm a big fan of fortune telling. I think it's a cool system, even if none of it makes any sense at all. And the Tarot cards all, in my opinion, represent different aspects of mankind and humanity. The reason why they're so accurate is because they cover broad, generic aspects of the human experience that we can all relate to on a innate level.

I was pretty hyped when I first saw Tarot cards in Buddyfight, just because it gave me an archetype that I was actually interested in collecting cards for. Of course, since they were Generic cards, I couldn't expect them to be good or anything. That would be asking too much.

Well, apparently somebody up in Bushi HQ likes me a whole damn lot, because they threw Tarots 4 full booster sets of support until these bad boys became a legitimate top-tier deck. Wow. What a world we live in.

There are two distinct ways to play Tarots, and a third for the funky combos. Because I love this archetype so much, I'll cover all three.

Chess

I'll make this quick and painless.

Chess sucks.

Art

When Evil Spirit Leader, Kimaris was printed as a PR with 72 Pillars/Art, everybody didn't give it a second glance. 6000/2/7000 for 2 gauge is too expensive, so Kimaris was never considered as even a remotely playable option. So nobody really gave that secondary Art attribute any notice, and the few that did probably dismissed it as some cute thing Bushiroad did.

Little did they know...

Art as it stands now is a high-crit high-play archetype. The playstyle centers around being able to negate spells with ease and constantly pushing damage into your opponent's face. Alongside some good gauge save/ramp mechanics, Art can afford to also play fast and risky with high-cost spells. But the most interesting thing about Art is the cooperation between 72 Pillars and Wizards in the same deck, something you wouldn't think could be possible.

Quartet Five

Let me give you some backstory.

There were a group of people. Unemployed. Wandering around the streets of urban Saitama, without food or shelter. Desperately trying to get odd jobs here and there to keep themselves alive. They laughed together, cried together, got mad at each other, relied on each other. They developed close bonds and swore that they would find a way to get out of their dire straits, together.

Then one guy decided they should start a hero show.

They tried the idea out with three guys. Since they were all ex-chuunibyou and high-school dropouts, they named the show Quartet Five. An English name in Japan. With the letter "Q" in the name, which must be super radical. They made costumes out of rags, they went dumpster-hunting for scraps to build robots out of. They started small. Their first showing only attracted some kindergartners playing at a nearby park. But they didn't give up. Soon, those kindergartners started bringing their parents. They would catch the glances of pedestrians and shop owners. People started gathering around as they set up their stage. Their posters drew in more and more people.

Now, they are a major attraction in Saitama and the locals love them. They were recently featured in the prefecture news, and their story has been recounted as one of the amazing success stories of the century. But they take it in stride, with their humble origins, and they congratulate their success not on talent or ability, but on the bonds that they've developed.

I just made that all up.

Darkhero

I'll be honest. I didn't think that Bushiroad could pull off more stylistic archetypes without resorting to using new Keyword Mechanics (like Crossnize). Between all the worlds and archetypes already released, it seemed that every kind of playstyle was covered already. That's what I honestly thought.

So I never saw Darkhero coming.

Similar to Skull Warriors and Purgatory Knights, Darkheroes have a very sacky playstyle, involving destroying your own monsters for better stats and/or effects. However, Darkhero doesn't just stop at destruction: you have a lot of bounce and other disappearing effects on your monsters too. To the extent that Darkhero does everything it possibly can to make sure your field is completely empty by the end of the turn. It's pretty cool.

While they have some semblance of resurrect effects, the main deal of Darkhero is draw much drop much. A lot of your engine is free cards, but a lot of your free cards require you to eventually sack more as well. It's very easy come easy go style of play that relies on hit-and-run, damage push, and very tactical choices to make sure you don't die before your opponent does. Altogether, it's a very cohesive and thematic package that really puts the fun in Buddyfunght.

Hundred Demons

One hundred monsters swear allegiance to not only their native world but to a new flag that flies above their march of destruction.

One hundred warriors line up for battle.

One hundred demons rush into the enemy flanks.

I got 99 demons but a Yamigedo ain't one.

Alright, enough flavor, let's get down to business.

Parade of Hundred Demons marks the second time Buddyfight's had a special flag. Like Dragon Ein, this flag constricts the player into a single archetype - the Hundred Demons trait (well, and Generic). Ironically, with the advent of Omni Lords being available for any flag, you can actually make a Hundred Demon deck with all 8 Omni Lords in it. Maybe it's a sign...

Dragonarms

Dragonarms. Weapons for dragons.

Bushiroad...

As an archetype, Dragonarms aren't exactly standalone. Instead, they are meant to support Neodragons and used as extra soul for the bosses of that archetype. This is why most Dragonarms are Size 1 or smaller, and the Size of the Dragonarms actually helps balance and weight how powerful the effect is. Being able to fuse with another dragon and combine the two powers is the idea behind Crossnize.

Pfft. Crossnize sounds so lame.

Neodragon

Neodragons are supposedly the dragons of the future, reborn through otherworldly technology and far more advanced than their brethren - besides, of course, still being dragons. It's hard to say how I feel about these guys in general solely because I'm scared what new dragons Bushiroad is going to flood Buddyfight with in the future. Sea Dragons? Time-traveling Dragons? It can really only get worse from here.

As far as Neodragons go, they're mostly concerned with Soulguard and having synergy with their brethren, the Dragonarms. Since Neodragon bosses have Soulguard, card quality becomes a very important consideration because they have a lot of staying power, so you need to get the most out of that stint as possible.

The Hope of Campanella (Overview)

Bushiroad wants ALL the dragons, apparently, because not even two Dragon Worlds and three more Dragon-based archetypes was enough to sate that company's insane Dragon fetish. Behold, the stars are the limits for their zeal and lust for more and more winged reptilian creatures, because Star Dragon World is here.

Star Dragon World at its base seems to be similar to Dragon World, but the spell support is vastly different. For starters, they have quite an impressive hand engine in various forms while lacking in destruction effects. Instead, Star Dragon World seems to be more control and advantage based, relying on combo effects to retain field presence and power.

Star Dragon World relies on the Neodragons, supported by their Dragonarms, to defend the future of tomorrow.

Fairy

So, is this the closest I'll get to moe girls in Buddyfight for now?

Fairy was not really a thing before when the only member of the archetype was Sylph (correction, tfw she's not a Fairy), but now we've gotten a lot of dedicated Fairy support to make the deck tick. Like Olympus, Fairy cards often have other archetypes attached (usually Hero or Wydar Sarkal) so they're best splashed around, but there's also enough dedicated Fairy support to base a majority of the deck around this archetype.

Like Heroes, Fairy is very weapons-based and play around having different weapons in your arsenal; unlike Heroes, Fairy is more focused drop zone support and grabbing advantages from that.

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.

Superhero

Superheroes. What every kid aspires to be, looks up to, and believes in. Even debased thinkers, mentally clouded in darkness like Emiya Shirou (bless his future soul) can find some semblance of hope and solace in these people, these bright figures. Now it's your turn to be a hero, to take up the mantle and wave that banner high. Are you ready to Transform?

Transform is the basis of how Superheroes work. You literally don a skintight suit and become the thing that you equip. For some reason, all the Superheroes you can become are all pretty good, having better defensive powers than Brave Machines. Weird. You'd think a robot would be more sturdier than...rubber? Anyways, Superheroes also tend to help each other out and work together, so you'll find that a lot of them have synergistic effects and support each other for a greater combination effect.

Working together and Transforming to meet every challenge, Superheroes will never give up and never let evil win.

The Pride of Ultraman (Overview)

♪The mark on his chest is a meteor♫

♫He beats down his foes proudly with his jet♪

♪From the Land of Light, he fights for us♫

♫Here he comes, our hero~♪

Hero World is like that old children's show that you watched when you were young (if you were Asian enough). I'm not talking about stuff like Disney Channel or Spongebob or Sesame Street or My Little Pony or Ni Hao Kai Lan. I'm not even talking about stuff like Power Rangers, although that's getting closer. No, the real superhero of the youth of children around the world has to be Ultraman.

He's freaking scary.

But back to the analogy. Hero World is full of really weird and kinda crazy effects, with half of them not making any sense and the other half being ridiculously good (or bad). Just like those things you didn't understand as a kid, jumping into Hero World is an adventure in itself. From the strange men in skintight costumes to super badass robots to spells with simply the best names ever, Hero World is just a ball of nostalgia. They focus on the Ride/Transform mechanic that allows you to truly be a hero yourself. Justice time!

Fight alongside your Superheroes, or board a Brave Machine and let evil tremble. Or even join the dark side and share your cookies with the Darkheroes.

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!

Star

Twinkle twinkle Legend Star, how I wonder what you are?

Are you broken? Are you lame?

Can you beat the meta game?

Twinkle twinkle Legend Star...

I'm kinda in love with Stars.

Without a single card with more than 2 crit, without a single Soulguard or draw engine, with just a single weapon, Stars can stand against the meta and practically wipe face. The first viable lockdown deck in the entire game. Rejoice, permissions players! Soon you'll be able to make everybody hate you again!

By the way, quick note, since all Star is also in Olympus as of now, all Olympus support will also work well with Stars. Which means Golden Lion of Nemea is basically a must.

Raging Spirit

Ancient World used to be all about having a huge Size 3 in your center position and feeling big and playing with the center strategy. Well, you can still do that with the new support in Hundred Booster 1...but why not use a weapon as well? I mean, you rogue Sieger players are probably tired of using that freaking Burning Bow. Why not just play Ancient World with all the Size 3 goodness alongside actual weapons?

With Raging Spirits, you can do that. The archetype works with Size 3's that you can call to the side, instead of the center. These Size 3's have the Guard ability - I just coined that - to redirect all opponent attacks to them, effectively being in your center without actually taking up your center lane. This allows you to wield a legit weapon - and Raging Spirits works wonderful with the new weapons released (even the vanilla one).

Basically, if you like to play with weapons like Dragon or Danger but you can't leave Ancient World alone, here's the best of both Worlds. Literally.