Last month I took a look at the Gold Paladins’ first trail deck Slash of Silver Wolf, and today I’m going to take a look at its counterpart. Resonance of Thunder Dragon was the fourth trial deck release in the English Edition. The trial deck introduced Limit Break alongside Slash of the Silver Wolf and the new Narukami clan. The RR card is Thunder Break Dragon, and the two R cards are Djinn of the Lightning Flare and Djinn of the Lightning Spark.
Lackluster Boss
Thunder Break Dragon is one of the weakest boss units from a trial deck. It is nothing more than a copy of Blaster Dark in grade 3 form, a different clan, and with 10K power. It will become a vanilla Limit Break unit after its second skill is used. The card would be more useful if the second skill was an ACT instead of AUTO similar to its counterpart Great Silver Wolf, Garmore. Players are able to build good decks around Great Silver Wolf, Garmore, but are unable to build solid decks for Thunder Break dragon.
Horrible Supporting Cast
They always say a good boss has a good supporting cast, and we already know the boss is terrible. Don’t expect much from the remaining cards in the deck because they are very ineffective. Djinn of the Lighting Flare and Djinn of the Lightning Spark are two of the worst designed R cards I have ever seen in a trial deck. Both units are restricted to attacking an opponent’s vanguard, they also have a stereotypical skill to gain power with a Narukami unit as the vanguard.
There is some bright light at the end of the tunnel. Red River Dragoon, Thunderstorm Dragoon and the triggers are the only cards that are used in many competitive Narukami decks. These are the only cards in the deck that should be vanilla based on how 8K units and 10K units have been created in the game.
Missed Opportunity To Showcase Narukami’s Abilities
Narukami is very similar to Kagero, both clans focus on retiring opponent’s units to control the field. Narikami’s controlling tactics are aggressive and for gaining an offensive advantage by increasing an unit’s power and gaining extra criticals. The units in Resonance of Thunder Dragon lack the skills to properly demonstrate Narukami’s playstyle and potential as a clan. The lack of complex units does not create a good strategy for the deck.
Thunder Break Dragon is the only card in the trial deck that gives a weak representative of the clan’s playstyle. The trial deck should have included a few units with skills to retire units and gain power when an opponent’s unit is retired to the Drop Zone. It would have given veteran players and new players alike a very good perspective on how to build a good Narukami deck and what combos are the most effective.
The Final Word
Resonance of Thunder Dragon is by far one of the worst trial decks to date. My main complaints about the trial deck are the terrible boss unit, pure vanilla strategy, and not showcasing Narukami’s playstyle. Trial decks are supposed to give players especially new players a general idea of how a clan and archetype operate, and Bushiroad failed to do either in this trial deck. Vanilla decks can give players an understanding of the game’s mechanic, but these types of decks do not allow new players to critically think about combo plays that reflect the clan’s tactics.
Do not buy this worthless trial deck. The only useful cards in the deck are triggers, Red River Dragoon, and Thunderstorm Dragoon. You are much better off buying staple cards as singles rather than spending $15 to $20 on a poorly designed trial deck.
Trial Deck Rating: [usr 1]
