Neo Exdeath in EoL
Neo Exdeath in Emissaries of Light is still quite good and worth considering with some of the new cards.
It’s also worth looking at some of the new cards that hurt Neo Exdeath. Shiva 16-028 gave Ice a way to break Neo Exdeath for 4cp, but only after they have attacked with it, or if you have a way to dull it without targeting it because certainly we don’t want the Neo Exdeath player to get two triggers. Cactuar 16-045 is a much cleaner out for Earth at 4cp. 4cp is where you want to be when killing Neo Exdeath unless you are getting something left behind (like in the example of a Shantotto 1-107). Layle 16-083 is an interesting out to a mid game Neo Exdeath, forcing him to attack, but certainly isn’t a great early game answer. Wind got Gargoyle and is especially better than Alexander when on the play. Seymour 16-090 is another 4cp clean break but conditional early. Lightning 16-124H might be the cleanest outs in Opus XVI due her costing 3cp. Andrea Rhodea 16-106 is a strange out to Neo Exdeath but requires a specific setup and likely being on the play. How popular these cards are will likely help determine which protection cards to run.
There are a few directions I would consider when building around Neo Exdeath. They are:
Water X
Mono Wind
Wind X
Earth X
Water gives you access to some protection and searching. Ezel 16-107 is an easy setup searching. Kyrie 16-109 provides information on our opponents hands and thus their outs to an early Neo Exdeath. It also has a bit of dig for protection/Neo built in and is a nice Exburst at that. Kimahri 16-108 gives Neo Exdeath some protection from fire decks, especially the Amaterasu that can give you problems. Marche 16-122 searches for these backups but can also search for other tools of protection across various colors like the monsters Clione and Unsaganashi, which of course are both great targets for Relm 11-124 as well out of water. Finally Corsair 16-112 allows some multi-backup filter for your dig and also for discarding extra Neo Exdeaths from hand. Meia 16-123 also offers the deck a way to play off color protection summers like Amaterasu. Overall Water has some new tools that work well with the deck and is an element that is definitely worth consideration on top of having some of the better ways to operate with Neo Exdeath from older water cards like Leviathan 13-100 and Syldra 12-097.
Wind gained some powerhouses for the deck! Wol 16-044 can come down the same turn as Neo Exdeath and really put your opponent on a clock while also offering protection. Cecil 16-051 plays many of the other protection pieces, including off color ones, while also protecting Neo, creating a clock, and even offers some other minor synergies when you factor in cards like Edge, Hooded Man, and Ceodore to round out the deck a bit. Chocobo Sam can accelerate the deck to 2 or 4 backups and really makes the deck less “all in” on having Neo or losing early. Speaking of getting to 4 backups, Fina 16-058 is a fantastic hand trap for protecting Neo but can also help protect other threats in the deck like Bismarck. Lulu 16-135 also gives you a way to recycle some of your protection summons if you choose to run cards like Titan, Dryad, Leviathan, etc. Wind also has the only 3cp backup searcher for Neo Exdeath. Overall I think the more conservative players would gravitate towards wind both because of the nature of how good Wind is and also allowing you to play a multifaceted deck.
Ok so Earth didn’t exactly get anything super exciting for the deck… but it’s definitely worth considering as a splash as it has a ton of searchers for Neo Exdeath like Tyro and Gabranth 9-063 as well as a few good ways of protecting Neo Exdeath like Mist Dragon and Titan 1-110.
If I played the deck I would actually go Mono Wind for the consistency of the backups as well as being able to play Bismarck-Control deck that specializes in protecting Bismarck with cards like Aerith 8-049, Y’shtola, Zidane, Cecil, Wol, and Fina, which can tap for Bismarck 2k ping and protect it as well. These cards all serve dual-purposes in the deck at protecting Neo-Exdeath. You can run cards like Edge to form multi-layered protection while he protects your protectors.
Here's the list I would run: Neo Exdeath O16
Overall I think the deck could be really fun (for you) so I hope you give it a try and let me know in the comments what your thoughts are.
