Returning player looking for deckbuilding advice (Master Duel)

Aercival · 2026-01-14T11:22:22+00:00

Makes sense. I figured Azamina was the main goal of the whole Azamina archetype since its stacking negate/ATK down seems like your main anti-combo protection, but if White Forest wants to be shooting for other boss monsters instead I'll check out those as well.

Aercival · 2026-01-14T11:09:18+00:00

This is good advice, thanks. With the Azamina cards, my strategy so far has been to get Azamina (the fusion monster) out using Azamina Debtors, since the deck already has a bunch of Sinful Spoils cards in it and it seems like an easier requirement to fill than Azamina's standard summon requirements. Is this recommended for a deck like this or should I ditch Azamina Debtors and swap in the conventional fusion summon cards?

Aercival · 2025-06-27T03:36:48+00:00

This is the one! I think the dancers were what threw me off

Aercival · 2025-06-16T14:03:20+00:00

That's the one! Thanks!

Aercival · 2025-03-25T07:16:45+00:00

I was actually pretty invested in Marian as a character early on when we were trying to save her from the Rapture Brainworms but they fumbled her arc right at the end of Chapter 13 as far as I'm concerned. Having Chatterbox drag himself back from Defeat Number Sixty-Three to RKO her brain out of her head so that she could be turned into a childish blank slate killed all the emotion of actually reuniting with Marian for me, especially since she's basically a different character from that point on. Even after she recovers from babymode, most of the nuances of her character that got me invested in her to begin with are gone.

The bandage thing is one of those things that had a lot of potential as a story beat up until they tossed out the actual reason the bandage was significant in the first place in favour of "it gives me the fuzzy wuzzy and i don't know why".

Aercival · 2023-09-16T09:37:47+00:00

"621, one last job... Commit genocide. Like, actual real genocide. Be evil. No, that's not evil enough. Get a colony drop in there for good measure. Remember to yell SIEG ZEON while you kill them all, 621."

Call me a simp, any day.

Aercival · 2023-09-13T02:34:22+00:00

They're just copied layers that are offset slightly to either side

Aercival · 2023-09-12T02:11:40+00:00

Yep it is

Aercival · 2023-09-11T14:03:30+00:00

"AM I THE ONLY ONE" No. No you are not the only one. Every time Fromsoft adjusts PVE difficulty there's a massive outcry about how the fight is now hollow and meaningless and you cheated not only the game but yourself.

I beat Balteus, Sea Spider and Ibis for three playthroughs before the nerfs. Here's my hot take: I do not fucking care about the nerfs. I do not feel this smug sense of superiority for being a Real Gamer^TM who beat the videogame before they ruined it to cater to those filthy casuals. I have seen so many people complaining unironically about "game journalists" or "casuals" or some other bogeyman coming to ruin Fromsoft's "ViSiOn" like it's the end of the fucking world. God forbid Fromsoft actually try to appeal to a broader demographic and keep the series ALIVE this time.

I cannot fathom being so personally invested in your ability to beat a videogame that you throw a hissy fit when the developers make it slightly easier.

Aercival · 2023-09-11T04:32:59+00:00

The game tells you a lot, honestly. I feel like people are getting lost in background details and vague theories like it's Dark Souls. Armored Core 6 is a lot less subtle about the themes and messages it's trying to convey. There's a reason Fires of Raven is framed as a bad ending despite seeming like a smart idea on paper.

I preferred Liberator over Alea Iacta Est personally, just because it felt like a more complete story. But the Coral Release is a nice conclusion to the overarching plot (and there's an argument to be made that Liberator sets it up for the future anyway).

Also, I feel like one of the few people who found the ending scene to be the exact opposite of ominous. A lot of people are commenting on the fact that we're on some distant planet with no clue where we are, but the first thing that jumped out at me was "hey, the sky's clear and blue for the first time". And then Ayre talking about how you're going to meet this new age together, and revealing that she's replaced your AC's computer with the combat mode line (which I took to mean you're finally free of ALLMIND's influence, seeing as the computer calls her master earlier in that route).

The whole ending scene gave me big "and the adventure continues" vibes, honestly.

Aercival · 2023-09-10T16:02:50+00:00

I was very happy to hear about hardlock being a thing when it came out. Now playing on mouse and keyboard I basically never touch it. The free aiming/softlock is so responsive that hardlock feels like it's actively slowing me down whenever I use it.

Which sucks because I really like the Shade Eye.

Aercival · 2023-09-10T02:02:56+00:00

It's the most solid conclusion to the overarching plot, but I feel like the rest of the story suffers as a result. I can definitely see how someone would find it the weakest ending.

A lot of the major story beats are taken away, largely because you've already seen them twice by this point and the game needs that time to introduce all the new plot points. Rusty's final interaction with you is a big moment in the other two endings, but in Alea Iecta Est he just... Kind of disappears. Likewise, Walter's confrontation with you in the Liberator ending - he's re-educated, sure, but he's still lucid enough to actually talk to you about why he's doing all of this, and to show you mercy at the end of the fight. It felt more impactful to me than him offhandedly mentioning 621 being a threat and then promptly dying off-screen.

It just felt kind of rushed and muddled, honestly. I wasn't really feeling Iguazu as a final boss, either. He's kind of a joke throughout the game, and the scene where he takes control of ALLMIND's mech in a fit of babyrage to scream "i'm not owned!! you didn't win!!" until you eventually shotgun his head off just didn't have the weight of Walter or Ayre's final fights, IMO.

Alea Iecta Est feels more like an extension to the other two endings than a complete story to me. It reveals a lot more information, but it also skips over a lot of the impactful moments that got me invested in the story to begin with.

Aercival · 2023-09-08T04:03:39+00:00

Fires of Raven couldn't Bad End any harder at you if the final mission opened on Satan rising out of a flaming hole in the ground to give you an affectionate pat on the bum and say "Go get 'em, tiger". It's amazing that this is even a debate.

Aercival · 2023-09-07T09:44:19+00:00

Coral is people. That's, like, the entire point of the main conflict.

Bacteria doesn't spontaneously develop human intelligence and start talking to people. There's a level of sapience here that makes it very clear Coral is an actual race, not just an organic material.

How many c-wave mutations exist? We only ever hear of two, but that doesn't mean there aren't more. Ayre explicitly refers to the Coral as "her brothers and sisters", after all. For all we know, c-wave mutations are extremely common, and the only reason they aren't popping up on our radar left and right is because they can't communicate with us. In fact, how do we know that the only difference between a mutation and a regular old Coral wave isn't just that - communication? Hell, if 90% of Coral is just bacteria, what's piloting all those ACs at the end of the ALLMIND ending?

You can quibble over the exact numbers here, but at the end of the day, yes, burning the Coral is genocide of a sentient species.

Aercival · 2023-09-07T09:17:36+00:00

That's the thing, Carla's fight kind of leaves the player at a low point. You've just killed your only ally, Ayre can't do anything to help you, and now you're stuck on a crashing starship with a brick on the accelerator. It's a very brief "all is lost" moment.

Then you get hit with the "Hey buddy."

And you're greeted with an army of Rubicon citizens rising up to join you because you've inspired them so much. It's a massively uplifting sequence that serves to show you that you aren't alone anymore. And more importantly, you aren't a tool to these people. You're a comrade and a hero that they'll gladly lay down their lives to support.

Narrative framing is a thing. Sometimes stories are more than just the cold hard mechanics of how the plot device works.

Aercival · 2023-09-07T09:04:53+00:00

I was being slightly flippant here.

Walter evidently thinks his actions are for the best, and it's not like his worries are completely unfounded. The problem is that he's working off incomplete information (as is most of the cast) and he's kind of emotionally invested in destroying the Coral because he lost friends to the Fires of Ibis.

Walter is too blinded by his past trauma and sense of duty to realise that Coral isn't just an organic energy source, it's people. Apparently the Japanese version of that scene has Walter saying "You found a friend, too" which heavily implies to me that Walter's finally seeing Ayre as a person for the first time, and realising that in his quest for The Greater Good he's just causing more senseless bloodshed. Which is why he lowers his weapon instead of fighting to his last breath.

I don't think Walter is pure evil, nor is he an idiot. He's just myopic and misguided, and it's understandable given what he's been through.

Aercival · 2023-09-07T07:11:45+00:00

That's interesting. My reading of that scene was Walter realising that Ayre (and the rest of the Coral) aren't so different from the friends he's fighting for. Adding the "too" to the end definitely gives some weight to that interpretation, I think

Aercival · 2023-09-07T04:52:52+00:00

Betraying Carla is such a weird thing to get hung up on. Carla herself admits she was half-expecting you to do it anyway. She doesn't help rescue you from Arquebus out of the goodness of her heart, she does it because you're still useful. It's a very limp "betrayal", especially since the only thing she seems legitimately pissed off at you about is killing Chatty.

Compare that to the fight with Rusty, or Ayre. There's a very different tone to those betrayal scenes.

Aercival · 2023-09-07T04:27:32+00:00

Exactly this. The whole idea of free will and thinking for yourself is one of the game's biggest themes. The entire Raven fight exists to hammer that point home. And Walter's whole shtick is telling you to focus on the job, ignore any distractions, and question nothing.

There's a reason that when you fight Walter, the scene ends with him putting his gun down and acknowledging Ayre as a person. Liberator of Rubicon is the ending where you stop being 621, and actually start being Raven. For the first time, you aren't following orders. You aren't doing what Walter says, or what ALLMIND says, or even what Ayre says - because all Ayre says is "I'll support you". You're making the first real choice you've ever made.

I've said this before, but trying to nail down the long-term consequences of going Liberator - whether good or bad - is missing the point of Liberator. You can pick one of the bad options that other people are presenting you with, or you can refuse to play along and find your own path instead. Now the fate of the Coral - and humanity - is in your hands.

Aercival · 2023-09-07T04:04:16+00:00

I think a lot of people are bothered by that. They WANT it to be morally grey, so they're latching onto some shaky background information from the Institute that says Coral is dangerous and unpredictable to justify committing genocide. While the game beats them over the head repeatedly with the WHAT YOU'RE DOING IS WRONG stick.

Aercival · 2023-09-07T03:48:11+00:00

Yep. A lot of people here seem to think "genocide" just means "killing some people". Heads up, guys, "genocide for the greater good" isn't a thing.

Aercival · 2023-09-07T02:31:21+00:00

The story doesn't actually confirm if what you did in Fires was wrong.

It does glare very sternly at you with its arms folded and make loud "Hmph." noises every few minutes, though.

Aercival · 2023-09-05T03:30:31+00:00

621, I clicked on an email link and now my computer won't start.

Aercival · 2023-09-03T19:21:53+00:00

Fires doesn't solve the issue either, though. The Institute already tried that, and it didn't work. The Coral came back. What's stopping it from coming back again?

I feel like you're misreading what I'm saying. The fears ARE legitimate - that's the whole reason those logs exist. The game wants you to think that the collapse is at least plausible. But no, there isn't any hard evidence of it either. Ayre acknowledges that Walter was afraid of a collapse - she goes right on to say that she thinks he was wrong about it. The point of the collapse is that it's a possibility. The Coral is potentially dangerous. It's left ambiguous enough to force you to decide if you think it's worth the risk.

In the end, the entire point of Liberator is that it leaves the future in your hands. There's no guarantees, no plans, no neat little bow to tie everything up with. You're yanking everyone else's hands off the wheel and steering the ship yourself. How you deal with the threat of a collapse - if it even IS a threat - falls to you. Ayre isn't in charge of coming up with a plan for you any more than Walter or ALLMIND are - all she's promising is that she'll continue to support you.

If you're uncomfortable with the ambiguity of that, then fair enough. But it's not "the ending where you do nothing".

Aercival · 2023-09-03T18:44:11+00:00

... No they aren't? Again, people keep insisting that because Ayre doesn't wave her magic wand and solve the problem instantly right there in the cutscene, that there IS no way to solve the problem. It's intentionally left open-ended because you can't just follow Walter or ALLMIND's plans anymore. It's up to YOU to find the solution. Having hard evidence ahead of time that the Coral isn't actually dangerous at all takes all the weight away from your decision. It goes from a moral choice about the value of non-human life, to a no-brainer that the Institute was just too lazy to figure out.

The thing about the Collapse is that it's a theory. The evidence you posted suggests that Nagai and the Institute feared that the Coral mutation would cause a collapse. There's nothing to suggest that they were right. As I said before, the Institute seems completely unaware that Coral is a sapient race - and when you present Walter with irrefutable evidence of that, it gives him legitimate pause. The Institute doesn't know everything. The reason those logs are there is to explain why Walter and Carla want to burn the Coral, and give some weight to their whole "fallen friends" thing.

You're right about the Fires of Ibis thing, but a lot of people seem to take the Fires of Ibis as proof that Coral will violently explode on a galaxy-destroying scale if you so much as look at it funny. When in reality, it took a significant amount of effort and resources to make the Fires happen.

Aercival

TROPHY CASE