Prisms: The lovely mirage is disappearing

With today's reveal of the returning Prism trio, and after combing through the deck, trying it out and discussing with a few others, I feel comfortable in posting why I dislike the cards shown and why I feel the Prisms I used to love have now fallen to the wayside. 

Just a note, I am mainly referring to the Premium format in this article as that's the format I mainly play. 

To begin with, to understand my point of view a bit better, you will need to understand what Prisms used to be back in G-era. They were what some people classify as an "Aggressive" and "Mirage" deck. The former aspect is still kept in the V series version of the deck, yet, the "Mirage" aspect is hardly a whimper. That is, unless you want to run the majority of old cards (We'll get to that). 

When G-Prisms dropped in 2015, they were, in my personal opinion, one of the better Bermuda decks. The combination of Princess Celtic, Princess Leyte and Princess Labrador gave the deck an early game advantage, draw pressure, CC/SC'er and a way to "Mirage" rears during the battle phase.

When they later received support in 2016, the sub-clan received a couple more cards that both added to the mirage play and introduced a new style for Prisms that still merged with the mirage playstyle, which will be dubbed "LB". For clarity sake, I'll only link the cards that actually made a splash: Sunshine Clear, Garnet and Sunshine Vert (Rosa was never good nor something you'd want to run, Emeral was extremely mediocre and Sapphire was a god-awful starter)

Such a beauty of an SP

Continuing into 2017, the support centered around the Mirage playstyle again in the form of Nelum, Tytis, Rupina, Ayari and Kaname. The latter two were definitely contested with other cards in the clan like Spica and Olivia, the former three were a welcomed edition however. Whichever way you played, you still had that "Mirage" playstyle going on. This is where the deck was at its prime in entertainment value. Was it a strong meta-defining deck? Lol no. Not even close. The only time Prisms ever competed in any literal sense was in 2016 with Sunshine Vert's release. It wasn't tier 1 or anything, but could do some plays. Regardless, this is where I went from loving the deck, to wanting to max rarity the deck as my favorite deck of all time. 

Finally, in 2018, we received three more cards that "Finished" the deck and added onto the "LB" portion of the sub-clan in Sapphire, Emeral and Garnet. This is where the deck started to lose my interest a tad. Its not that I didn't enjoy using Emeral and Garnet, but the deck felt awkward and pushed into a direction I wasn't a fan of. The restriction of being in LB for everything hurt the overall consistency of the deck. It was alright with just Sunshine Vert as that was your finishing play anyway, plus, you had other options that worked quite decently. At this point, those options had dried up and you were forced into playing the LB version.

The Queen of weakest heart copier 

Now that we're through with the introduction phase, you can now see where the deck stands. Almost three years later and Prisms finally received three brand new cards, so, lets go over them. 

PR♥ISM-Image, Clear                                         

[AUTO](VC):When placed, look at seven cards from the top of your deck, reveal up to one grade 2 or greater card with "PR♥ISM" in its card name from among them and put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.

[AUTO](RC):When placed from bind zone, COST [bind a card with "PR♥ISM" in its card name from your drop zone], draw a card, and this unit gets [Power]+10000 until end of turn.

PR♥ISM-Image, Rosa

[AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, COST [Counter Blast (1)], look at seven cards from the top of your deck, reveal up to two cards with "PR♥ISM" in their card names from among them, put up to one card into your hand, bind up to one card, and shuffle your deck.

[AUTO](RC):When placed from bind zone, all of your front row units with "PR♥ISM" in their card names get [Power]+10000 until end of turn.

PR♥ISM-Image, Vert

[ACT](VC)1/Turn:COST [Soul Blast (1)], and bind a card with "PR♥ISM" in its card name from your (RC) or drop zone. If you bound a card, this unit gets drive +1 until end of turn.
[AUTO](VC):When it attacks, COST [Counter Blast (1) & return all of your front row rear-guards to your hand], and call up to one card with "PR♥ISM" in its card name from your bind zone to (RC). If your opponent's vanguard is grade 3 or greater, you may call up to a total of two cards with "PR♥ISM" in their different card names to (RC) instead of one.

On the outset, those skills seem competent enough, and in some aspects, to someone who has rarely played Prisms (Or are jumping on for the first time), they are. However, the forced use of the bind zone is the biggest culprit to the inconsistency of what Prisms used to be known for and put a humongous burden on the Premium build.

To make my life simpler and to illustrate it much easier for every reader, let me show you my current Prism list and lets go over it. 

G0's: The triggers are mostly self-explanatory. 15K shield and 10K power are nuts. The only reason you play Sunshine Clear is to possibly get an extra swing in by calling out a Rosa/Clear/Vert (Mainly Rosa to get her skill off if you have the CB. She's vital). That, and your PG slot is taken up by Sapphire, but we'll get to that shortly. You can run Nelum for the Mirage play, but that requires you to run a 5K trigger with 5K shield. Hardly worth it personally speaking. 

G1's: Leyte is a mandatory 4. You do not care about her lack of shield. What she brings to the table is invaluable. Without her, this deck would be even more in the dumps. Sunshine Clear is obvious as her on-ride skill is nice and her second ability is decent if you get her in the bind zone. Sapphire is here solely, and I mean that in the most literal sense, because she binds herself. You do not care about lowering LB5 down to LB4, you only care about getting her in the bind zone. The Sedna there is just filler, you can throw in a Rupina if you wish. 

G2's: I won't bother going over Rosa. She's needed, end of story. Aqua and Liselotte are here because of the utility they provide. Liselotte is just a strong card overall and with the adequate level of bouncing, you can always return whatever you called to hand. Speaking of bouncing, Aqua is here for three main reasons. One, she's a decent beater, two, she allows you to bounce any normal unit on call, and three, she can bounce Leyte in the main phase which allows you an extra CB. Trust me, you'll need that CB. Ayari is an option as she does have the Prism naming, but her skill is extremely mediocre and she's GB locked. Celtic as well, but I always wary about the especial CB nowadays, especially without running a full deck of Prisms (Triggers included)

G3's: Almost self-explanatory as well. The two reasons why Emeral is ran as a backup is because the PG, which is needed as an alternative binding card, can only block Prisms and because riding Vert on-top of her can result in an extra attack and a booster for the second attack with G3 Vert and can combo with Sunshine Clear for the 8th attack.

Play example:
- Swing Rear left (Battle #1)
- Swing Rear right (Battle #2)
- Swing Sunshine Vert on-top of Emeral (Battle #3)
- Emeral's stride skill bounces two (Sunshine Clear and X) and call X, X being anything as Emeral isn't Prism restricted in the call

- Sunshine Clear activates, search Rosa/Clear/Vert, call to other rear guard circle
- Divulge triggers accordingly and activate Sunshine Vert's skill to re-ride Vert on-top of Emeral. Activate optional Emeral skill
- Swing Rear left (Battle #4)
- Swing Rear right (Battle #5)
- Swing Vert and use Emeral's skill if activated (Battle #6)
- Activate Vert's skill to call two from bind
- Swing rear left (Battle #7)
- Swing rear right (Battle #8)

Just keep in mind that you need two cards in the bind zone to call and they'll need to be able to hit numbers (So you need Rosa to give 10K to the front row). 

G4's: I know plenty will question the missing Projenitor and Zeroth dragons, but unfortunately, this deck can't really rely on Megiddo all the well thanks in part to having weak rear guards for a finishing turn of that caliber and not having enough CB to usually partake in a Megiddo buffet. As for the Projenitor, while this deck can build a decent hand if you're not fighting against tier 1 decks (So casual), you usually want to save the G3's in hand for a Sunshine Vert turn. That, and if you're forced to run a stride that costs no CB, Labrador is there to cover you, mediocrely. The G-Guards are just something I through in quickly, if you have Dizmal, that works as well. 

Lovely trio!

Now that I've gone over both the history and the current reveals, I can explain why I have disdain towards Prisms now. The inclusion of the bind zone mechanic flips this entire deck on its head and diverts the strength that Prisms used to have. Just working that into the deck forces the deck into interactions that was never intended. The deck's full strength cannot be met in Premium thanks in part to Garnet and Sunshine Vert not being able to take full-advantage of V-series Vert. This is unfortunate as it makes you feel like you're playing two different clans crammed into one. Bermuda and Narukami lite. 

The deck definitely can high-roll into something pretty decent, however, that comes at the cost of consistency and an incredibly bad low-roll. Even back in 2016/2017, a low-roll was still fun to pilot and interact with, but here, in 2020, it feels truly dejected from what Prisms used to be and, while this may be too much sentimentality for just a card game, it honestly fucking sucks and makes me sad to witness. 

And yes, I know more Prisms are coming in the Clan Selection booster, however, if its more bind cards (Which it ostensibly is), that may make the deck a bit more consistent, but it also means the sub-clan is losing more of the flavor that I fell in love with in the past, something that is not uncommon for Bermuda lately.

Anyway, I'll be giving this deck a couple more shots, and play some of the Standard variation and perhaps my thoughts will change slightly. If not, and I truly cannot enjoy Prisms of all things, it may be time to hang up the fighting rod until Shizuku returns.