Friday Stride: Omniscience Dragon, Cath Palug

There's a legend in the Great Nature university that is one gains enough knowledge you'll reincarnate into a dragon with great intelligence and wisdom. Since the university is home to various sentient animals, however, these dragons become Wild Dragons, the 11th dragon race currently in the game and how Bushiroad got dragons into a clan which wouldn't otherwise have thematically fitted them. The latest member of the 'Dragonic animals club' is the reincarnated form of - and dedicated stride support for - Great Nature's break ride, Honorary Professor, Chatnoir. As part of the newly released Fighter's Collection 2015 Winter, the first G unit review of 2016 is Omniscience Dragon, Cath Palug.

Is fluff really intellig- Ooh, kitty!

Cath Palug, as an exclusive stride to Honorary Professor, Chatnoir (at least for the moment), has a skill which mirrors that of her previous form's break ride - each time a rear-guard attacks, any rear-guard can gain 4000 power for the turn, and then at the end of the turn you draw a card and retire the powered-up unit. Cath Palug differs in that each power-up will cost a counter-blast, though this is set against the 26000 power body, triple drive and instant access denied to the break ride. Much of what Cath Palug does also applies on the turn you break ride over Chatnoir (and since both go together you're actually quite likely to do both in a game).

First trick of note: Power up the same rear-guard more than once. You'll draw a card each time you power up a rear-guard, however you can only retire a rear-guard once (even if it manages to come back it's a new unit and won't retire again). Thus each subsequent power-up will change the retire & draw from a break even to an increase in card advantage. This is something of a standard Great Nature trick, but it's worth pointing out for those new to the clan.

You only naturally gain two rear-guard attacks a turn, but this can be increased. There's the good old-fashioned stand trigger, which can work well if you can pump up rear-guards or run units which can hit without boosters, or for more reliability there's Crayon Tiger, one of G Great Nature's more effective weapons. Restanding a rear-guard with a power boost is a useful skill. Adding a drop and draw on might sometimes cost you an interceptor, but can be employed equally as well on excess grade 3's or grade 1's dropped for a rush, and can help dig through your deck. Add in yet another draw on a unit already due to retire? Now you're not only gaining +1 in battle advantage, but a net +1 in hand at the end of the turn as well.

Of course with Cath Palug this is starting to rack up counterblasts, so generally it's not going to be used unless you took a lot of damage early (though it does help towards evening out that score). You can run Label Pangolin to unflip during the damage phase, but grade 1 space is rather tight, and it's another card you need to draw into before you can start using most of your draw abilities. However, Great Nature is usually comparatively counter blast light, and has quite a few end phase unflips, so if you can overlook being unable to maximise Cath Palug when you only have one damage or so she won't cripple your deck.

Great Nature's retirement mechanic has two aspects to it. The first is the power-up & retire skills as discussed above. The second is on-retire effects, which come either built-in or are passed on by other units much like the power-ups. Of the built-in on-retire effects, most aren't used - Ruler Chameleon and Protractor Orangutan are some of the most widely seen, but generally as triggers - though removing triggers from the deck isn't ideal, maintaining card advantage can be key early. The last card of this type used frequently is Illusion Scientist, Researcher Fox, who's conditions make in irrelevant for Cath Palug. 

It's the on-call skills which grant another unit an on-retire skill which are more significant. Tick Tock Flamingo, Coiling Duckbill and Honorary Assistant, Mikesaburo are all 7k grade 1 units which grant another unit an on-retirement skill when called in the main phase. When the target is retired, Flamingo provides a counter charge, Duckbill gives you a draw, whilst Mikesaburo searches for any grade 3. The last of these is the key card of the three, helping ensure your prefered ride, though Duckbill is also useful to gather other cards needed to guard or for later plays. Flamingo suffers from a lack of space, not directly replacing the retired card, and Great Nature having other effective counter charge options, though could be interesting as an alternative to the other. Set Square Penguin is similar - a 9k grade 2, he effectively combines Duckbill and Flamingo into a single skill whilst not competing with them for space - but is a GB1 and so significantly slower. There's also Blackboard Parrot, a starting vanguard with the same skill as Duckbill, except as an ACT skill putting itself into the soul. Much like the power-ups, stacking these skills onto a single unit can generate a lot of advantage for very little overall cost.

Cath Palug, despite being heart restricted, is quite a useful tool for many Great Nature decks. Chatnoir is still quite an effective break ride and usable with most if not all of the clan's ace units, especially with extra attacks, and an effective way to generate advantage and activate on-retire skills whilst preparing for the break ride turn really gives the deck a boost. With Mikesaburo to help get the grade 3 you want when you want it there's little threat of missing your break ride and Cath Palug not going live. Trust the cat. The cat has spent millennia studying and ended up turning into a dragon, it knows how to support it's clan.