New Rain Dance deck using BT08 cards.

Okay, I will first openly say that this is exactly Alice's Rain Dance deck copied right from the Deep Clan because it was an easy layout to get quickly. The changes I have made to the deck are based purely on my first impressions from the new Dimension Police cards in BT08 and how they might alter the way that this deck is built enhance the way it plays. I do not own this deck and I have not made proxies for it as yet (though I think I will) so it is entirely untested.

I know that Burden of Proof lies with me and thus I should be the one stating figures and evidence for why this list works, but let me really hammer home that proving anything is not the goal of this thread. The goal is to get the ball rolling on discussing this out of date build since it now has many more options available to it that no one (I believe) has formally addressed up to this point.

In short this is only an IDEA, not even a theory, but since I hadn't seen anyone else attempt to update the decklist I decided I would try myself and see if any of you people who are more able to play regularly (I only get to play one, maybe two days in the week and against a limited pool of opponents). This is why I put the list forward and encourage other people to test it and make changes and updates based on their experiences, math and data.

I am in no way claiming that this is the "New and improved" or "Current Best" build of the deck. I merely wanted to get the ball rolling on evolving this deck list since I saw a lot of potential in it, but feel it was hampered by the lack of a tailored SVG and subpar G1 and G2 options. With BT08 I believe it is possible to help this deck realise its full potential, even if I am not the one to make that happen, I will be the one who instigates the deeper investigation.





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Grade 0: 17(16)

1 Warrior of Destiny, Dai/Dimensional Robo, Daibattles. Hear me out here: Prior to BT08, Raindance was forced to run Enigman Flow which was a -1 anyway so using Daibattles is no different in that respect. The upshot is that using Daibattles takes off the pressure of using Ripple in the G1 line-up and Wave in the G2 line-up, freeing those spots for use with newer and more helpful cards. In addition, Daibattles can be removed from soul to make Rain go "Live" for no cost at all and even allows her to hit 20/21k during that turn depending on her booster. This means Grander's boost can go somewhere else or stack for a whole stage of power, and of course allows you to stand with Rain even without Grander present during the turn you remove Daibattles from soul. I can think of a lot of uses for this little crit trigger, sadly there is no way of readding it to the deck, so you are effectively only running 15 triggers in this build, 4 heal and 15 stand. I don't think that would make a massive difference to gameplay over the long haul however. The other option of using WoD, Dai as SVG allows the +1 from riding and his 4000 power actually works behind Rain since she will almost always be 12000 before boost anyway making a 16k column without further investment so he can warm Laurels spot behind the Vanguard if that is where you prefer to place him. The Grade 3 search is just gravy since the deck doesn't use Counterblast and if you use it and fail you are no worse off than if Enigman Flow got stuck in soul like the original version of the deck.

4 Justice Rose. Heal Trigger.
4 Guide Dolphin. Stand Trigger.
4 Cosmo Fang. Stand Trigger.
4(3) Noise Monster, Decibelon. Stand Trigger (If using Dimensional Robo, Daibattles as Starter Vanguard then remove 1 Stand.)

Grade 1: 15

4 Diamond Ace. Staple perfect guard.
4 Karenroid Daisy. Staple vanilla booster for use with Grander.
4 Speedster. I think this is the G1 that this deck has really needed. Allowing Rain to go live any time this card is played and synergising with Laurel since unlock Cosmo Roar or Grander, Speedster is still standing after the +2000 boost is given. Think it's pretty much a no brainer to run this card for rain nowadays. Also no less boost than Ripple was since she was just 6000 as well unlike the 7000 power grade 1s that many ride chains now possess.
3 Commander Laurel. Now that Speedster has arrived you will be able to use Laurel a bit more freely, as stated above, resting Cosmo Roar or attacking first with Grander is no longer always necessary to getting Rain's effect to activate and this fact allows you to have your cake and eat it too when it comes to standing Miracle Beauty and still getting an extra Twin Drive with Rain.

Grade 2: 10(11)

4 Twin Order. Staple vanilla interceptor. Can go well in front of Speedster, maybe even hitting Hamburger-time for 2 stages if you have nowhere better to grant the +2000. (unlikely)
4 Masked Police, Grander. Set up a Karenroid-Grander column to always have a live Enigman Rain.
2(3) Operator Girl, Mika/Super Dimensional Robo Dailady/Cosmic Rider. With the shackles to the Enigman Ride Chain shrugged off, this portion of the deck can now rightly go to your preferred tech choice. I think these are in order of the most preferred choice, but I am open to being proven wrong. My reasoning here is that Rain Dance never used Counterblast before now and having Mika there to provide pressure and possible advantage at minimal resource cost is nice and since Rain is on hit, your opponent is going to have a decision to make as to whether you get that stand effect or an extra card in hand. What'll really bake their noodle is that if they make the silly decision of guarding Mika over Rain, then when Rain hits you can stand Mika for a second bite at the apple anyway, this is made even more viable even against 10k and 11k vanguards since Speedster allows Grander to pass his power bonus to Mika instead of Rain if you so desire. The priniple is having these options available to you, even if you rarely use them. Of course if you have Miracle Beauty down then you would stand her instead of Mika, but since you still mostly want Grander out, you'd be putting Beauty in Mika's slot anyway. Running Dailady here is interesting becuase the on hit again forces a decision with Rain's effect whereby if call Speedster and give +2000 to Rain and then attack with Dailady and hit (because your opponent is saving guard for Rain) then you can give the further +3000 to Rain which is exactly one extra stage, possibly negating the extra guard your opponent was trying to save anyway. Triggers only compound this. Finally, Cosmic Rider just gives more ways to activate Rain without having to rest anything so Laurel can go off.

Grade 3: 8

4 Enigman Rain. Ride ASAP. Rain doesn't function any differently now than she ever did, she's just even easier to set up now and has more decent targets in Dailady/Mika if you haven't called Beauty yet. Plus the new freedom to both attack first with Miracle Beauty and use Laurel's effect thanks to Speedster is a nice option.
4 Miracle Beauty. She is still as good as she always was, I don't think BT08 makes Miracle Beauty any better than she was, but she certainly isn't worse. Speedster can go behind her for 16k while giving +2000 to Rain for the perfect set up.



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For Grade Ratio, obviously if you decide to use Daibattles as the SVG (which I oddly believe to be the optimum choice for options and consistency come mid/late game) then you can run 3 copies of your G2 tech choice or alter the ratios in any other appropriate way that you think would be most beneficial.

I think Speedster is a huge boon to the deck and think the saving grace is not being chained to Flow->Ripple->Wave anymore, allowing the greater variety and actual usage of counterblast if running Mika means that resources are not being wasted.

I also think that Land Battle Support Type, Enigship may deserve an honorable mention of being a possible G1 choice if you decide not to run Speedster at the maximum number of copies and/or drop one Laurel. The reason being that once again Counterblast is a readily available and little utilised resource in the deck and the 7000 power makes proper columns with Mika/Dailady and can even make good columns with Grander/Daisy or hit 18k with Twin Order. It's there anyway as another option which I thought was good to mention, even if it didn't make it onto the decklist even as a tech.

Hopefully I have been thorough enough, considering all of the viable new options this decklist has open to it with the new cards released while I have already ceded that no hard math or testing has gone into compiling this list, I believe many of the choices were already accepted even before their release (Like Speedster being good for this deck). Again my aim here was simply to spark discussion and get the ball rolling for the really smart people here to compile their own list which may or may not reflect this one. I really do hope that this starts something (preferably not a flame war though :P) and we can brainstorm Rain to even greater glory! (pun mildly intended... meh)

I would still keep Cosmo Roar over Speedstar.
My points are, while Speedstar gives you a +2k boost, it is for one turn only, Cosmo roar can do this indefinitely until it is retired.

Laurel conflicts with Enigman Rain as both cards require the VG to hit. There is a redundancy of doubling up the pressure on the vanguard. Also Laurel is a poor booster for all of your RGs, You can't make decent columns with it unless its behind a 12k Rain and that is still less than optimal.

Yes Alice recommended it in her build but there was less ways for Rain to be live. With 12 potential units to make Rain live, I don't think there is much point for Laurel. I may be wrong and you can still do something like: hit with Rain, stand miracle beauty column, rest 4 stand Vanguard and stuff like that but it seems like too much setup.

Perhaps you want to consider Critical Triggers?

So lineup might be something like this:
Dai
4 heal
9 stand
3 critical

G1
4 Diamond Ace
3 Cosmo Roar
3 Karenroid Daisey
2 Speed star
2 Laurel

G2
4 Grander
4 Mika
3 Twin Order

G3
4 Rain
4 Beauty

Except I specifically stated in that article that Laurel was only there as a backup and because Rain didn't have options.

That's a fair point, I went back and reread the article and you did say that. I must have missed it when I looked at it for the Rain deck somehow. Think I was more focused on Beauty and Speedster. I'm coming up with a Rain list that doesn't use Laurel. As an experiment and then I will test it.

Pretty tired of people giving me shit all the time for Laurel without actually reading the deck notes.

No shit being given here, I just overlooked it and I admitted as much.

I would replace Laurel all together, there are plenty other alternative...it just doesn't go with Rain and stand build.
I would replace your 1x speedster and 3x Laurel with:

2x Glory Maker (for VG booster, so Rain can reach 22k)
2x Magical Police, Quilt (this deck lacks Draw power, and Quilt can somewhat add on hit pressure)

I like Laurel with Rain/Miracle beauty in a 12 stand build.
a perfect field setup of two beauties means you only have to get one stand trigger to keep the fun going for another attack (assuming you hit)
it's funtimes shenanigans for all!

besides, with miracle beauty you don't lose as much when you rest your rearguards for Laurel's effect--you get a whole column back if Rain hits again, or checks a stand. I don't view Laurel and Rain as conflicting, but rather being complementary. Laurel gives Rain offensive pressure, and Rain mitigates some of Laurel's costs.

AegisCrow wrote:

besides, with miracle beauty you don't lose as much when you rest your rearguards for Laurel's effect--you get a whole column back if Rain hits again, or checks a stand. I don't view Laurel and Rain as conflicting, but rather being complementary. Laurel gives Rain offensive pressure, and Rain mitigates some of Laurel's costs.

This is why I put him in the deck originally. You will NOT always have a Miracle column and a Rain vanguard with a 12k+ Rain. Sometimes you just need a Laurel to make the deck not fall behind.