With Evenfall Onslaught (D-BT12) releasing in English, many are upgrading their old Bastion decks thanks to his exciting new form, Sword of the Nation, Bastion Accord. With Bastion’s updated play style, many are curious as to how one of the first decks in the format has changed, developed, and evolved.
This guide provides a baseline deck with tips and tricks on how to play Bastion Accord. Feel free to make changes, but if you don’t know where to start, you came to the right place!
What Changed Between Bastion and Bastion Accord?
Back then, Bastion relied on drive checking grade 3s in order to restand a rearguard. This play style stayed similar with the introduction of Bastion Prime. However, Bastion Accord no longer relies on drive checking grade 3’s to restand; it restands a rearguard for free.
Bastion Accord now strengthens its grade 3 rearguards by granting them 5k power continuously, even on your opponent’s turn. They also cannot be targeted by card effects, excellent against most control decks like Gandeeva.
Bastion Accord further empowers its rearguards by enabling the restanding unit to gain drive checks. That means when you restand a grade 3 rearguard, that rearguard gains twin drive.
What stayed the same?
Bastion Accord doesn’t rely on drive checking grade 3s, but you’ll want to run several grade 3s in your deck. Bastion Accord still needs threatening rearguards to target its restanding skill. You’ll also need Bastion-named units to enable Accord’s twin drive skill.
Bastion Prime is still excellent and can be used as a reliable 5-attack finisher. You’ll need several grade 3s to maximize Prime’s restand skill and finish your opponent with a flurry of high-powered attacks.
Bastion Accord’s New Rearguard, Grandeur Edge Dragon
D-BT12 brought multiple powerful rearguards, particularly a new RR in Grandeur Edge Dragon. Grandeur compliments Bastion Accord so well because it’s one of the deck’s main attackers.
Revealing Grandeur counts two grade 3s for the ride deck and retains a continuous 10k power and shield. Grandeur Edge gives Bastion the versatility it desperately needed. It can be used:
- As a 10k shield
- A powerful attacker (28k WITHOUT Persona Ride)
- As a 23k booster under the right circumstances
Overall, Grandeur Edge is one of Bastion’s best support units because of its incredible versatility and power.
Bastion Accord’s Main Rearguards
Like most Keter decks, Bastion relies on his friends to get the job done. Grand Heavenly Sword, Alden continuously excels with Bastion because he can attack for high numbers. On a non-Persona Ride turn, Alden’s first swing will be hitting for 23k power. Once he restands, he’ll be swinging again for 28k before any triggers.
You can also use his on-place draw skill, but be careful of your counterblast usage. There’s a section below discussing how to manage counterblasts in Bastion Accord.
This build runs both Divine Knight of Deeply-laid Strategems, Sajess and Brave On Sky-trimmer, Rondahlia. Sajess is a powerful secondary attacker while potentially being used defensively if your opponent checks a trigger. When combined with Rondahlia, he can even be a good 13-23k booster.
Rondahlia enables grade 3s to gain boost, making each attack all the more threatening. You can also replace Rondahlia for Dark Strain Dragon for a similar effect.
To fulfill Bastion Accord’s restand skill, I run both the original Apex Ruler, Bastion and Bastion Prime. This makes my Accord turns more consistent and gives me an option of riding Prime as a finisher. Overall, Bastion likes to roll in with a stacked crew of power cards while dabbling in some defensive capabilities.
Can Bastion Accord Use Order Cards?
Although Bastion is incredibly self-reliant on units, it can use a couple orders to great effect. The most effective order in this deck is Form Up, O Chosen Knights. This order grants multiple benefits depending on how many grade 3 units are on the field:
- 2 or more: Gives a unit 5k power for the turn
- 3 or more: Draws a card
- 4 or more: Gives your vanguard drive +1
Due to how the deck is constructed, getting four grade 3s on the field is not difficult. This order also checks your vanguard since Bastion Accord is a grade 3 unit. To use this order to its full power, all you need is three grade 3 rearguards on the field.
Utilizing Form Up means when your standing rearguard gains triple drive, you’ll be able to get five drive checks. Since the deck is also not relying on Bastion Prime anymore, Bastion players can now use Elementaria Sanctitude for more defense.
I would also advise Bastion players to utilize a Regalis Piece in their deck, either Evergreen Transphere or Forbidoll Surrogate.
Evergreen is great because it’s a 25k shield and can really help against the Overtrigger when checked offensively. It only costs 1 soul blast, a resource Bastion Accord can afford when saving yourself from an Overtrigger.
Personally, I run Forbidoll Surrogate because it searches for grade 3 targets while searching for my grade 4. Overall, your choice in orders/Regalis pieces is personal preference and you should do what’s best for your playstyle.
How Many Bastion Cards Should I Run?
Due to Accord’s skill forcing you to discard a Bastion-named card, it’s very important to run them in your deck. But how many do you need to run? First of all, I think it’s important to run all 3 Bastions to consistently do Accord’s skill. You can also use Bastion Prime for your final push turn.
You can personally play around with the Bastion ratios but I personally like to go with:
- 2 original Bastion
- 3 Prime
- 4 Accord
I prioritize discarding the original Bastion because you won’t be riding that card and you may ride Prime later. Running four Accord not only gives you more Bastions to fulfill costs, but it’s ideal for Persona Ride. During a persona turn, those grade 3 rearguards will be hitting with +15k power pending triggers.
The Bastion Accord Rideline
Bastion Accord can use three possible ridelines that it can use to some effect. The first and most popular one is the Bastion rideline. It’s the most straightforward one by allowing you to potentially generate an attacker while allowing you to draw a card.
The big disadvantage is Fort’s skill making you potentially call subpar attackers like triggers or even an order card. I personally like to use the Bastion rideline because of its simplicity and because of Rooks’ draw skill.
The second rideline Accord can use is Little Sage, Marron into Blaster Dark. On-ride, Blaster Dark acquires twin drive because Marron calls out Wingal Brave. Blaster Dark then retires Wingal Brave to gain twin drive for the turn.
The main restriction for this rideline is that it requires a counterblast to use and your opponent could potentially damage deny you. It’s a really solid ride line for any Keter Sanctuary deck that can push early.
The third rideline is not one I would recommend but can be used regardless and that is the generic Keter rideline from the Gramgrace Stand Up Deckset. While not inherently bad, there’s no real significant advantage compared to the other two ridelines because it doesn’t plus more compared to the other ridelines. But it is still an option regardless.
Disadvantages of Bastion Accord
Although Bastion Accord helps with survivability along with Grandeur Edge and Sajess, Bastion is still a glass cannon deck. Bastion still suffers from a lack of early game aggression, meaning it gets rushed incredibly easily.
Because Bastion Accord deck relies on grade 3s, Bastion players may have nothing to defend themselves during their opponent’s turn. They may even have a chance for said 3s to not have shield value.
No matter the hand size, if your cards don’t have shield value, you must close out the game ASAP. Bastion does hit incredibly hard, but it can also get hit hard if you’re not careful. To help mitigate this, I recommend not to discard your triggers for the ride deck if possible, as sometimes all you need is a 15k shield to guard the last attack.
Bastion Accord’s Trigger Lineup
As much as I’d love to run 11-12 critical trigger Bastion, we can only run a maximum of 8 critical triggers per deck, according to the Fighter’s Rules. Personally I like to run:
- 8 criticals
- 3 fronts (Bard of Heavenly Song, Alpacc)
- 4 heals (1 Affectionate Harp Angel and 1 Invigorate Sage)
- 1 Overtrigger (Spiritual King of Aquatics, Idosfaro)
I like eight criticals to maximize my damage potential. The effect fronts are mainly for the 20k shield. Fronts are a great alternative to draw triggers especially in Keter Sanctuary decks. So many Keter decks like Youthberk and Thegrea have a lot of draw power. Playing draw triggers are unnecessary and may even deck you out.
I like to run two effect heals and two vanilla heals in my deck, but any heal lineup is viable. I like Affectionate Harp Angel for matchups when I’m going second or against stride decks like Chronojet. I like Invigorate Sage because a good amount of decks can now restand their units like Willista.
Even when I can’t use my heal’s full effects, at least they provide a 10k shield against low-powered attacks. I run Idosfaro as my Overtrigger because I prefer adding a Bastion or any card from the drop zone to hand.
Once again, your Overtrigger is personal preference but Spiritual King of Ignition, Valnout is another great option. You can get a 5th attack on an already dangerous 4 attack turn.
I personally advise against using Amartinoa because you have a greater potential of decking yourself out. The extra drives are redundant as one of your rearguards will gain drive checks anyways.
Overall, trigger lineups are personal preference and I encourage everyone looking to build Bastion to find what works for you.
Managing Counterblasts in Bastion Accord
Bastion Accord uses a lot of counterblasts per turn, ranging anywhere between 1-4 counterblasts depending on effects used. To mitigate these costs, I highly recommend not using Alden’s on place skill no matter how tempting. It’s also not needed because the deck draws a lot of cards anyways.
Another solution would be to run Knight of War Damage, Fosado, but his countercharge activates only when it hits. His resist is also redundant because of Accord’s continuous skill.
Divine Sister Faciata is a generic countercharger, but it’s a grade 1 and requires you to drive check a trigger. Even then, you have to soul blast two, getting in the way of Form Up and Dark Strain. Unfortunately the deck has no real good counter charger until set 13 when we get Sapient Owl as a box topper.
Considering the Mulligan
Considering the deck’s reliance on grade 3s, what does Bastion Accord want to open with? The best cards to have in your hand at the start of the game are:
- Grandeur Edge Dragon
- Form Up O Chosen Knights
- A Bastion-named card
This is to guarantee that during your second grade 3 turn, you have 5 drive checks. Furthermore, Grandeur Edge is an excellent attacker for turn 3 and beyond. It’s also ideal to have a persona ride in hand to add more pressure to your opponent.
The fifth card can be anything but personally Alden or Sajess is the ideal fifth opening card. I would mulligan away any non grade 3s such as triggers, which would hopefully draw you into the grade 3s you need.
Conclusion to this Bastion Accord Deck Profile
All in all, Bastion Accord does not disappoint. It feels like a proper progression in Bastion’s evolution and a natural upgrade. The card keeps the grade-3-heavy playstyle alive while making use of Bastion Prime.
It improves upon Bastion’s aggressiveness and protects its board from external threats. I highly recommend building and playing this deck.
