Messiah Play Guide - The Genesis Dragon of Creation PART 1 Introduction

      MESSIAH - GENESIS DRAGON OF CREATION   PART 1

Introduction 

What is even the Messiah deck? Messiah is the Flagship of Link Joker created in the G Era, appearing first in 2015 with its most recent support being in Star Gate. Unlike previous Link Joker decks which give of the villainous vibe of oppression, Messiah is rather different as it is, in fact, Genesis Dragon of Creation, one of the higher deity-like being of the Vanguard World of Cray. As such to fit this new image, a new playstyle was then created to further build on Link Joker's original mechanic Lock, that being Unlock. Something more symbolic of being the act of giving salvation to others. Which in turn, will also activate more skills to create this symphony of plays of each other, that in essence is the crux of the Messiah Decks.

1. Oppressing the Enemy 
2. Releasing and Powering its Allies
3. Achieving more Power 

Deck Overview 

Messiah, since its debut, has always shown potential in the competitive scene. Its primary strategy revolves around using a Lock and Unlock in succession to create creative and very interactions that not many decks are able to. It uses this 2 mechanics like a rondeau in music. Black and White to reach a final symphony.Often ending the game in a series of attacks accompanied with the Vanguard activating the final trigger. It can be a rather flashy playstyle which is a factor why some people, myself included decided to pick up the deck in the first place.

Harmonics Neo Messiah the main finisher of the Messiah Deck
, giving itself and its allies a huge power boost 

With this in mind here are the main characteristics of the decks

1) Control

2) ‎Multiattack

3) Vanguard Threats

4) Good Recovery

Gameplay wise

As a Link Joker deck, it too has access to LOCK,  which helps to slow down the opponent and restrict movement, in the long run, every lock you deal saves you one card,  which will add up over time putting you in a more favorable situation. Locks, in this case, should be seen as a way to prevent a problem and protect yourself mostly and never as an End Goal.

The Original Boss Card for Messiah

Messiah also uses lock on its own RGs, sometimes during the battle phase, to put itself back into a dormant state, where they await being released for a cost or skill. This brings us to the next point which is Messiah's Signature Trait,  Unlock aka Despell,  this ability when first introduced was used as a direct counter against the Link Joker's in the era. Providing Salvation to allies to fight on in the face of despair, lore-wise. Messiah uses unlock in similar ways, liberating their allies,  but this time also rejuvenating them with Energy as they are able to stand up once more. Yes,  Cards that are unlocked are always in the Stand State. Meaning any Self Locking that occurs during Battle Phase can be then Unlocked to create multiple attacks.This a defining trait of the deck's playstyle.These combos can be heavily extended with specific cards like Dunames and Sacrifice.

Messiah's current engine and core

It is by far one of the decks with the fastest recovery time , in the game having multiple cards that net you extra cards for little or minuscule cost , usually with many being intervals of counterblast and soul blast of one all of this usually kept within the 1st stride of the game This helps the deck to set up main winning combinations,  which all require a minimum of 8 cards to defense fully against, some turns even demanding guard restrict. 

With all this tools and promise why is it this deck is not as popular as its other Link Joker Counterparts?

Its weaknesses are also, unfortunately, the easiest to exploit. Being a deck that was created in the G era it suffers the faults of many Early G era decks , it's reliance on achieving generation break one,  this makes the deck prone to being rushed and many card choices in Messiah that are often played often rely on this factor, with the exception of 2 cards which I will get to a while later. This deck is it focuses on Lock and Unlock,  also suffers from fighting against " Mirage " decks,  where RGs are able to remove themselves from the field at the end of the turn,  this allows counterplay to Messiah's control aspect. Messiah, unlike Chaos Breaker, doesn't have cards that force locks to be placed, this characteristic now being the specialty of Star Vaders.

Link Joker when unable to establish proper field control, which is something that can happen while playing Messiah, does not really have many amazing G Guardians in terms of shield values especially with the dominance of the pushing powers of most decks coming from the front row. G guardians like Darkness Lacrina and Cosmo Wreath are unable to sufficiently, defend against the likes of Alexandros, Domination as well as Restanders, as the only Link Joker G Guard that reaches any higher is Torn Healer only reaching 25000 shield and Destiny Guardian which needs you to unlock 2 rearguards. Because of this while it is able to gain a lot of advantage, it really does not have real answers to decks like Hell Hard Eight and Wiseman. 

While playing the deck it is important to note this factors, as an experienced player will exploit them preventing you from sealing the game and even deck out due to its amount of draw power. 

The Overlooked Factor

With all the drawing and specific combos, we mentioned what could I be referring to? This is something I am sure most players should know by now, but it is not often brought out in Messiah. That is to always know the contents of your decks at all times. One of Messiah's demands in that you have to continuously play new units on to the field every turn after stride, as many cards may get removed due to not having any answer to field removal. Knowing your likelihood of drawing cards to replace whats on your board, and also your choices when guarding can make or break in the later stages of the game. Remember Messiah gets through its deck pretty fast meaning there will be games you will end up close to deck out. Getting your winning condition in time will be the decisive factor. Mastering this skill is very important in this deck in particular due to its heavy combo nature. They are however ways you can manipulate this when the games are reaching the end.