You get a tiny window of opportunity, to grab victory from the jaws of defeat, and must take it at that precise time, for you know no other window will be open. It is a mad dash for the door, and you will have to cross the threshold before it closes If you do not, you will get mauled to death (by kittens) or spiked into the ground infinitely, whichever your opponent is using at the time. Often, you may have heard cries that aggro is dead, and obviously that goes further than the title of this feature. What may be noticed though is the follow-up to that title : Long Live Aggro. Much like the greek phoenix, aggro often rises from it's ashes to get stamped back down again. Building an aggro deck, however, is exactly like being a modern day Sisyphus, except for one tiny, teensy, small, insignificant thing : There is a way for you to cheat, and reach the top.

    Obviously, I do not want people reading this to start cheating to win. It was more in tune to the mythological reference. Still, there is a way for an aggro deck to make it to the top, as opposed to the famously tortured soul, who could not push the rock up the hill even if he truly wanted to. To be fair, in the Block 3 era of cards, aggro was not a deck type that was given a lot of value. It is a high risk, medium reward affair, and while there are only two cards of Set 12 spoiled out of a possible 288 (144 for each Base set, not counting promos associated with the set – This is going off the two spoilers), that does not mean it will get better in the next set.

     It is obvious where I'm going with this : Without any sort of love from the development side of things, how can aggressive deck players fight on using a deck they not only like to play, but are good at playing? Especially in modern UFS where attacking over several turns is not viable and will often hasten the opponent's win condition (through cards like Lord of the Makai, which will give them a momentum without having to attack if, for example, you attack first). Very easily, I will say. If only because the deck type is so versatile and simple. Aggro truly follows a “Keep It Simple Stupid” method. The goal is simple, do the most damage in the least amount of turns. If you can output 60 damage in the first 3 turns, what does it matter that your opponent has the potential to loop Rejection? Or has any sort of defense in his deck.

     Obviously, this requires that your deck has some sort of thought behind it, as well as the player. Aggro, unlike what people are led to believe, is a finely tuned archetype when played well. It just hides it's smarts well. Studying the state of the metagame right now, it would seem that control wins due to taking the time to set-up an infinite combo, and having the tools to deal with any of your sniping attempts. This is, obviously Theory Fighting System at this point, but in general, to defeat such a deck, you must attack them early and deny them crucial resources. If they rely on Defender, you can attack that through Asset Destroying attacks (Gaishiki Lunar Rebellion, Air Stampede, Still Dragon are possibilities, but Gaishiki Lunar Rebellion is generally the popular choice), Asset Committing effects (Remy, Amy's Assistance, etc.) The trick is finding a way to hurt your opponent while doing so, as in this case, control is their game, not yours. If they drag you on this territory, they will win, and the longer the game lasts, the more they attract you over this territory.


        For those of you who want to have a few pointers to stimulate creativity, I will offer you Hallowed Slug of the Heavenly Conqueror. A heavy control attack, often overshadowed by the fact that it shares two symbols with Feline Spike. Still, it is a card that will prevent shenanigans from your opponent provided it does damage, and is a great opener, allowing you to push an attack line-up without having to worry about your opponent's enhances or responses. Plus, the base 6 damage is pretty good. So is the Stun: 2. Another heavy control card who's use can be subverted is Ira-Spinta, which, sadly, is not the most available of cards. At the cost of one card (chosen by your opponent), you trash two of his. However, if you plan your deck in consequence, you can take advantage of this very easily. For example, playing Temujin will ensure that Ira-Spinta will get a 4 to 6 damage bonus, free of charge! Perhaps this was the problem with Aggro after all.

    Generally, aggression is a very organic process. It's an emotional response to a negative stimuli. It is an instinctual deck, if you will. However, for it to function nowadays, we must reinvent certain cards' uses. Not exactly “think outside the box”, but find more synergy between attacks, their effects, foundations and assets, and preferably with redundancy. An attack that has a combo with only one foundation can get prevented three times. Outright negating the attack, preventing the foundation from hitting the table and negating the effect if both pieces are on the table. If... say, four of your foundations did remotely the same effect, however, it becomes easier for you to have the interaction when needed, and it becomes increasingly difficult for your opponent to prevent the bad things from happening. He must attack the attack, instead of having a pass at your foundation base, due to the fact that so many of your foundations will help this attack.

    As far as interactions go, they can be as simple as throw + damage pump, as Hugo gave us a great one for high vitality, low hand size Earth characters in Huge Wrestling Army, or as complicated as a Chaos Flare combo that does not leave you vulnerable. So long as Aggro players keep exploring, they will find a way to rise from the ashes. The day Aggro stops exploring is the day Aggro dies in UFS. This is what happened. This is what must not happen again.