Union Arena: Code Geass Green Lancelot Deck Guide
I can’t tell you just how excited I am for the Code Geass set to drop in just a few days. This set is the whole reason I started playing Union Arena in the first place, and I have been pouring over all of the updates and spoilers for this set in anticipation. I plan on building every deck this set has to offer, but I wasn’t quite sure where to start. In the end, I decided to build a deck based off of one of the most iconic mechs in all of Code Geass, the Lancelot!
Lancelot Deck List
-
Main Deck (50 cards):
Suzaku Kururugi (CGH-1-034): 4
Euphemia li Britannia (CGH-1-045): 4
Cornelia li Britannia (CGH-1-038): 4
Lloyd Asplund (CGH-1-048): 4
V.V. (CGH-1-043): 4
Suzaku Kururugi (CGH-1-035): 3
Jeremiah Gottwald (CGH-1-052): 4
Euphemia li Britannia (CGH-1-047): 2
Suzaku Kururugi (CGH-1-036): 4
Gloucester (Cornelia Fighter) (CGH-1-055): 4
Lancelot (CGH-1-059): 4
Lancelot Air Cavalry (CGH-1-060): 4
Live! (CGH-1-062): 2
V.A.R.I.S. (CGH-1-063): 4
This deck features two main characters: The seventh generation Knightmare Frame, Lancelot, and its ace pilot, Suzaku Kururugi. In typical fashion for a green deck in Union Arena, the goal of this deck is to ramp up into our high cost cards that will help us close out the game with their powerful effects. Your early game will be a bit slower than others, but the explosive strength these cards have can be worth the trade off. Let’s dig into the featured cards of this list!
Lancelot Air Cavalry -
This is the big boss of this deck. While it has a hefty eight energy cost, this card makes up for the expense with a ridiculous pairing of stats and abilities.
With an impressive 5000 BP, you win combat against most cards on both offense and defense. Combine this with Damage 2 and if Raided, Impact 1, and your opponent will now have to make the tough choice between saving their cards on field or saving their Life Points.
As if that weren’t enough, its “When Played” effect is free removal against a card that is 5000BP or less. True to Suzaku’s nature, when this card is played, it will ruin your opponent’s plans and force them to deal with it as soon as possible. However, due to the high cost, I found that playing only three copies seems to be the most consistent. The only question left: how do we support this powerhouse?
Special Corps Head Trailer
As the mobile home for the Lancelot KMF platform, it is fitting that this Trailer is a key component to build a reliable energy line from. At only three energy cost, this card grants a power few other cards can; the ability to generate three energy from a single card. While you do have to discard a card to activate this effect, the Trailer makes playing your Lancelot much more reasonable.
It is important to note that the Trailer does not have “Switch to Resting” in its activation cost, meaning this effect can be activated on the same turn that the Site is put into play. Since this card has a “Get” trigger, and is searchable, I chose to run only two of them in the list. This allows us to build a flexible energy line without having to rely on sidelining cards constantly to play cards. Only using two copies will prevent us from drawing too many at one time and ending up with a dead hand.
Euphemia li Britania (047) - Four Cost
It is only appropriate that a Suzaku deck is supported by the third princess that knighted him, Euphemia li Britania. While four energy and two action points may seem like a steep cost, Euphy provides a resiliency to your energy line that can be hard to grasp without actually trying her out with the deck. Admittedly, the 2000 BP leaves much to be desired, but Euphemia’s step helps bring this card back into a playable range very quickly. If you are playing on-curve, she is a fantastic way to close out your third turn and set up big plays from turn four and beyond. The biggest drawback to this card that I found in my play testing is that it has a "Draw" trigger as opposed to a “Get” trigger. Even with the risk of having all copies stuck in life, I ended up on running just two in this list. As I continue to refine the deck, I won’t rule out adding more if I can find the space for it.
Lancelot
The original model of Suzaku’s iconic Knightmare Frame, Lancelot provides a lower cost alternative to our main attacker, while still possessing plenty of strength on its own. Like the other Lancelot, this card has Damage 2 even when played without Raiding, but it also has some other tricks up its sleeve. When played, it will boost up to 5000 BP until your next turn, granting reliable offense and defense against many of the biggest threats in the game. And just like Suzaku continually thwarts Zero’s plans in the anime, Lancelot’s “When Sidelined” effect returns your Raid target to your hand to fight another day. I found great success running four copies of this card.
Euphemia li Britania (046) - One Cost
Another Euphy card, but this one one has a utility we have not seen in Union Arena so far. While Euphemia is on your frontline, you protect your other cards from your opponents event cards.
The biggest advantage here is keeping your Lancelot Raid cards safe from any Special cards being played from hand. It is important to note that other “Euphemia li Britania” cards on your front line can be targeted, but our main goal here is to keep our expensive Raid cards on the field as long as possible anyway. At only one energy cost, she is a great choice to play for early energy, and can quickly promote to the front line when you need to ramp up. Her low cost also makes her a fantastic card choice if your opponent hits a “Color” trigger from your life points. Since this Euphemia card protects your heavy hitters, and she has the ever-helpful rigger, I ended up choosing to have four copies of this card in the list.
Unit Maintenance
This card is fantastic for consistency in this list. For the low cost of one energy, you get to search five cards for any character, or a “Special Corps Head Trailer”. This is a great way to find that one piece you need to keep momentum going. As an added bonus, if the card you select is a Knightmare, you get to restore an Action Point, allowing you to play extra cards for very little investment. Whether you need to boost your energy generation or get a Raid to swing hard, this card will find what you need. It also provides another valuable "Draw" trigger for even more consistency. The more I play this card, the more I believe it should be a four-copy staple in any Geass Green deck.
Other Considerations
Here are a few other cards that may be worth adding in your own Lancelot deck list, or may become more relevant as Union Arena’s meta evolves.
LLoyd Asplund
Lloyd is a card I tested for a bit in this list, but I found two main issues in how he fit into it. First, while he matches Unit Maintenance’s five card search, you have to discard a card from hand afterward. Second, he doesn’t have a trigger effect. My original list would lose momentum in the match with so few triggers. I decided to remove this card entirely and max out on Unit Maintenance instead. Lloyd may end up being useful for this deck, but for now, I have moved him to the bench.
Andreas Darlton
Darlton is a great option for early play in any Geass Green decks, with the potential to reach 3000 BP for the low cost of one energy. The only downside to him is that he doesn’t really fill a role to help in our main game plan with this deck. While I decided against using this card, you may find he fits well in your own version of this list.
Villetta Nu
Villetta is Geass Green’s “reduced cost” archetype card. While she has potential to build your energy line quickly if she is played for two energy, in general these cards are very meta dependent. Since this is an early build, I decided not to include the card, but as the format develops I may make room for her in the list. It is worth noting, however, that in Rare Card Battles, or other similarly IP-restricted formats, this card archetype becomes much more reliable in most decks.
Gloucester (Cornelia Fighter)
This is a card that I encountered someone else using just as I was wrapping up testing for this article. While I haven’t been able to test it myself yet, it worked very well for my opponent, allowing them to build a board extremely fast. It is also a nice bonus that the card is played from your deck instead of from hand, which frees up your hand for other plays or discard material on the Trailer. While the player I encountered had a few other Holy Britannian Empire cards added in, I feel like this was the most impactful card that they played from among them. I am really excited to try out different builds with Cornelia cards included and see how it changes this deck’s tempo and playstyle.