It's been about a month since I last posted; been testing for Spring Fest.
If you guys didn't know Royal Paladin is my main clan so I've been testing the different variants for the past month with the new cards from G-BT06. Initially I was going to make separate posts for each deck but decided that since they're pretty much variations and style choices of the same engine I'd just make one massive post =P
The "Blaster" Engine
The Blaster engine mainly consists of these four units:
The Blaster engine is pretty amazing being non-GB and non-vanguard restricted. The general idea is grab as many of the combo pieces as you can ASAP and start filling your rear guard circles. Here is a pretty cool example of what the new units can do:
1 - Attack the vanguard with Llew boosted by Flogal, after the attack Llew's effect activates>>counter blast 1 superior call a "Blaster Blade" grade 2 to the Barcgal column>>both Barcgal and Blaster Blade's effects go off at the same time so choose whether you want to retire a card or not; otherwise counter charge 1.
*Note* that you choose the order of effects.
2 - Attack with your vanguard. Give trigger effects to the new Blaster Blade if any.
3 - Attack vanguard with Blaster Blade; he is 12000 alone so he hits 19 when boosted by Barcgal (this forces at least 2 cards if your opponent is on a 9000 base)>>after he attacks the vanguard; Flogal's effect activates and restands Blaster Blade for another attack.
Llew provides a very strong rush as he tags himself out for Blaster Blade enabling multiple attacks and control via retiring opponent's rear guards. The engine creates an extremely versatile rush/control style throughout the game really putting the trigger checks you get to full use. There's a few other combos and nice little plays you can make but lets leave the rest for yourself to find out =P
For those that have been keeping up with the meta you'd know that Thing/Blaster is a particularly popular build since G-BT06. The newest form of the Thing Saver deck, following its footsteps its previous iterations is to gather soul and make trades before finally ending the game with Thing Saver's multi-attacks or striding.
The list I've been playing with is very standard; realistically there's only a couple of cards that can be changed so there's very little variation with this deck largely because the usual "free" slots are taken by the Blaster Blade Seekers.
Unlike most Royal Paladin decks, Thing Saver is very vanguard centric meaning most of the deck plays around setting up for the vanguard plays; in this case Thing Saver's multi-attacks.
While we've seen re-standing vanguards in the past the little big quirk Thing Saver has is that it re-stands by riding a copy of himself from the deck and it's an auto effect without a "1/Turn" restriction allowing him to attack up to 3-4 times in one turn provided you have adequate soul and counter blast. Here are two examples of performing multiple attacks:
The Triple Attack
1 - With 5 cards in soul and 4 counter blast attack the vanguard>>skill activates after the attack; counter blast 2 & soul blast 3 ride a Thing Saver from deck.
2 - Attack the vanguard for a 2nd time>>skill activates, pay cost>>ride another Thing Saver>>Attack again for the 3rd time.
The Quadra Attack
1 - Set up 1 column of Barcgals and another column with Knight of Twin Sword boosted, 7 cards in soul and 5 counter blasts; attack the vanguard>>skill activates after the attack; pay cost to ride a Thing Saver from deck.
2 - Attack for the 2nd time>>pay the cost and ride another Thing Saver. This time DO NOT attack immediately, instead attack with the Knight of Twin Sword column>>Twin Sword activates; counter blast 1 to superior call a Blaster Blade from deck ON TOP of a Barcgal in the Barcgal column>>both Barcgals' skills are triggered allowing you to counter charge 2. This gives you enough counter blast for another Thing Saver attack.
3 - Proceed to attack for the 3rd and 4th time.
The quadra attack requires a very specific set up and you might even drive check your Thing Savers so honestly don't expect to pull it off at all; the triple attack on the other hand can be done consistently and is extremely devastating in the mid-late game when players are on 4-5 damage as critical triggers become lethal and guarding options grow smaller. Three attacks at a minimum of 22000 power each means an average of 6 cards to completely guard the attack (null or 15000 for 1 to pass).
There are 3 methods to fuel the Thing's multi-attacks:
1- Ride MLB and use his effect for the power and critical>>>ride Thing Saver over and proceed.
But seriously you don't want to do that (more explained further down the post).
2- Use Belenus and Margal effects to soul charge.
3- With the "Blaster" engine using Llew to fuel soul and Blaster Blade to counter charge .
The "Blaster" engine is the latest and most optimal way to set up Thing Saver, the engine actually passively does this over the course of the game as you attack and soul charge with Llew and counter charge with Barcgal and Blaster Blade; I generally don't want to legion too early in the game since I most likely won't have many cards to put back in to the deck, instead the deck size as small as possible to hit triggers/cards needed for combo pieces before finally legion'ing for game; especially in grind games I like save legion'ing to prevent decking out.
The reason you play the 1 MLB (besides the 1 off situations) is in case you ever get grade stuck at 3 or need a stride fodder. Yes, MLB is possibly the most expensive fodder in the game =P This is also one of the reason why Royal Paladins playing the Blaster engine can comfortably play a small grade 3 line.
Wingal essentially searches for whatever missing card you need whether its a rear guard, a card to ride or a stride fodder; I'd say he is currently the strongest starter by far and probably outright over performs more than every other card in the deck being both a key pressure and consistency card combined with the 4 Laurel Knight, Sicilus; your actually supposed to use his effect to reveal MLB and search for Altmile (reason why 1 is played) means you will never need to ride MLB instead have access to A PROPER vanguard which combos extremely well with the Blaster engine, for example:
1 - Ride Altmile>>Stride in to Aerial Altmile for the continuous 3000 power>>counter blast 1 for Altmile's stride skill +5000 to a Blaster Blade and another unit you control>>call Flogal.
You now have a 17000 Blaster Blade that re-stands.
*Note* Blaster Blade can be 22000 on GB2 if it was called from deck with Aerial Altmile's effect.
DO NOT ride Majesty Lord Blaster and do not use his effect unless you know for sure his bonus power and critical will net you a game winning position for example:
1 - You can make your opponent drop a good amount of cards/force the perfect guard so you can go for game next turn.
2 - You know your opponent has no perfect guard.
The reason why you don't want to ride MLB is because he's a vanilla 10k base and if you use his effect for the extra 2000 power you -2 (Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark go in soul). You can argue that your opponent will probably drop an equivalent maybe more of cards to guard the attack or the critical will push them to a game ending state next turn. But coincidentally one of the cards you lose is a powerful combo piece (Blaster Blade) and if your opponent chooses to simply take the criticals and the game doesn't end soon you essentially lost 2 cards for nothing except give your opponent more counter blast to play with on a stride/legion turn; if the previous example of the Thing Save multi-attacks is an indication of anything this can be lethal against counter blast reliant decks as you now lost 2 cards that could have been interceptors. The extra 1 or 2 cards can make or break a game especially in mirror matches or against decks that do similar things.
Here's some math to help out:
1 - MLB is a -2, at most it is a 2 card trade or 2 damage (excluding triggers), you don't actually gain any advantage = 0; the 2 cards will usually be the pg or 20000 guard for 2 triggers to pass. This combo requires 3 cards MLB, Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark.
2- Blaster Blade swinging for 17000 twice is also 20000 worth of guard, a 2 card trade or 2 damage (same as using MLB). Even if your opponent triggers it's still 5000 guard/1 card trade each so again 2 cards if Blaster Blade re-stands. See where I'm going with this? No matter what unless they take the damage they need to drop a card. In this scenario I need 2 counter blasts and 3 cards, Altmile, Blaster Blade and a Flogal. The only card I lose is the Flogal = -1 which becomes +1 if your opponent dropped 2 cards to guard (versus 0 if your opponent guarded MLB).
TLDR; Altmile with Blaster Blade and Flogal force the same amount of cards off the opponent (more if triggered) as MLB with a lesser card cost.
So if you've kept up this far then you'd probably know the game plan already otherwise here's a small run down:
1 - Start the game ride to grade 1; attack if you go second>>>can you proc Wingal Brave? If yes, search.
2 - Ride to grade 2; do some fancy things with the Blaster engine; rush or retire a unit>>>can you proc Wingal Brave? If yes, search.
3 - You have an option to stay stuck at grade 2 if you want since you do have a pretty strong grade 2 game>>>clamp until you get to stride/legion first; otherwise proceed to next step, oh and have you proc'd Wingal yet?
4 - Ride to grade 3; stride if you can't legion or legion if you can't stride>>>attack with vanguard and rear guards.
5 - Repeat step 4 until game.
If you're looking for a mid-range deck; aggro with some control, this is it. Thing Saver is a very versatile deck with the ability to immediately flip the switch between aggressive and control plays, it has a pretty even-good match up against most decks but it does have some ramp time so it does fall short against strong forms of early game aggro such as Raging Form and Royal rush (Benon, Violinist & Blaster etc).
*Note* that you choose the order of effects.
2 - Attack with your vanguard. Give trigger effects to the new Blaster Blade if any.
3 - Attack vanguard with Blaster Blade; he is 12000 alone so he hits 19 when boosted by Barcgal (this forces at least 2 cards if your opponent is on a 9000 base)>>after he attacks the vanguard; Flogal's effect activates and restands Blaster Blade for another attack.
Llew provides a very strong rush as he tags himself out for Blaster Blade enabling multiple attacks and control via retiring opponent's rear guards. The engine creates an extremely versatile rush/control style throughout the game really putting the trigger checks you get to full use. There's a few other combos and nice little plays you can make but lets leave the rest for yourself to find out =P
Deck 1 - Thing/Blaster
G4:
2 Holy Dragon, Religious Soul Saver
4 Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile
1 Shrouded Divine Knight, Gablade
1 Rain Element, Madew
G3:
4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
1 Majesty Lord Blaster (MLB)
1 Blue Sky Knight, Altmile
G2:
4 Blaster Blade
3 Blaster Blade Seeker
4 Favoured Diciple of Light and Dark, Llew
1 Blaster Dark
1 Blaster Blade Spirit
G1:
4 Laurel Knight, Sicilus
4 Holy Knight Guardian
4 Blaster-Friend, Barcgal
2 Swordsman of Light, Blaster Rapier Laura
G0:
4 Floral Paladin, Flogal (crit)
4 Bringer of Dreams, Belenus (crit)
4 Margal (draw)
4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine (heal)
1 Wingal Brave (starter)
For those that have been keeping up with the meta you'd know that Thing/Blaster is a particularly popular build since G-BT06. The newest form of the Thing Saver deck, following its footsteps its previous iterations is to gather soul and make trades before finally ending the game with Thing Saver's multi-attacks or striding.
The list I've been playing with is very standard; realistically there's only a couple of cards that can be changed so there's very little variation with this deck largely because the usual "free" slots are taken by the Blaster Blade Seekers.
Unlike most Royal Paladin decks, Thing Saver is very vanguard centric meaning most of the deck plays around setting up for the vanguard plays; in this case Thing Saver's multi-attacks.While we've seen re-standing vanguards in the past the little big quirk Thing Saver has is that it re-stands by riding a copy of himself from the deck and it's an auto effect without a "1/Turn" restriction allowing him to attack up to 3-4 times in one turn provided you have adequate soul and counter blast. Here are two examples of performing multiple attacks:
The Triple Attack
1 - With 5 cards in soul and 4 counter blast attack the vanguard>>skill activates after the attack; counter blast 2 & soul blast 3 ride a Thing Saver from deck.
2 - Attack the vanguard for a 2nd time>>skill activates, pay cost>>ride another Thing Saver>>Attack again for the 3rd time.
The Quadra Attack
1 - Set up 1 column of Barcgals and another column with Knight of Twin Sword boosted, 7 cards in soul and 5 counter blasts; attack the vanguard>>skill activates after the attack; pay cost to ride a Thing Saver from deck.2 - Attack for the 2nd time>>pay the cost and ride another Thing Saver. This time DO NOT attack immediately, instead attack with the Knight of Twin Sword column>>Twin Sword activates; counter blast 1 to superior call a Blaster Blade from deck ON TOP of a Barcgal in the Barcgal column>>both Barcgals' skills are triggered allowing you to counter charge 2. This gives you enough counter blast for another Thing Saver attack.
3 - Proceed to attack for the 3rd and 4th time.
The quadra attack requires a very specific set up and you might even drive check your Thing Savers so honestly don't expect to pull it off at all; the triple attack on the other hand can be done consistently and is extremely devastating in the mid-late game when players are on 4-5 damage as critical triggers become lethal and guarding options grow smaller. Three attacks at a minimum of 22000 power each means an average of 6 cards to completely guard the attack (null or 15000 for 1 to pass).
There are 3 methods to fuel the Thing's multi-attacks:
1- Ride MLB and use his effect for the power and critical>>>ride Thing Saver over and proceed.
But seriously you don't want to do that (more explained further down the post).
2- Use Belenus and Margal effects to soul charge.
3- With the "Blaster" engine using Llew to fuel soul and Blaster Blade to counter charge .
The "Blaster" engine is the latest and most optimal way to set up Thing Saver, the engine actually passively does this over the course of the game as you attack and soul charge with Llew and counter charge with Barcgal and Blaster Blade; I generally don't want to legion too early in the game since I most likely won't have many cards to put back in to the deck, instead the deck size as small as possible to hit triggers/cards needed for combo pieces before finally legion'ing for game; especially in grind games I like save legion'ing to prevent decking out.
The reason you play the 1 MLB (besides the 1 off situations) is in case you ever get grade stuck at 3 or need a stride fodder. Yes, MLB is possibly the most expensive fodder in the game =P This is also one of the reason why Royal Paladins playing the Blaster engine can comfortably play a small grade 3 line.
Wingal essentially searches for whatever missing card you need whether its a rear guard, a card to ride or a stride fodder; I'd say he is currently the strongest starter by far and probably outright over performs more than every other card in the deck being both a key pressure and consistency card combined with the 4 Laurel Knight, Sicilus; your actually supposed to use his effect to reveal MLB and search for Altmile (reason why 1 is played) means you will never need to ride MLB instead have access to A PROPER vanguard which combos extremely well with the Blaster engine, for example:
1 - Ride Altmile>>Stride in to Aerial Altmile for the continuous 3000 power>>counter blast 1 for Altmile's stride skill +5000 to a Blaster Blade and another unit you control>>call Flogal.
You now have a 17000 Blaster Blade that re-stands.
*Note* Blaster Blade can be 22000 on GB2 if it was called from deck with Aerial Altmile's effect.
DO NOT ride Majesty Lord Blaster and do not use his effect unless you know for sure his bonus power and critical will net you a game winning position for example:
1 - You can make your opponent drop a good amount of cards/force the perfect guard so you can go for game next turn.
2 - You know your opponent has no perfect guard.
The reason why you don't want to ride MLB is because he's a vanilla 10k base and if you use his effect for the extra 2000 power you -2 (Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark go in soul). You can argue that your opponent will probably drop an equivalent maybe more of cards to guard the attack or the critical will push them to a game ending state next turn. But coincidentally one of the cards you lose is a powerful combo piece (Blaster Blade) and if your opponent chooses to simply take the criticals and the game doesn't end soon you essentially lost 2 cards for nothing except give your opponent more counter blast to play with on a stride/legion turn; if the previous example of the Thing Save multi-attacks is an indication of anything this can be lethal against counter blast reliant decks as you now lost 2 cards that could have been interceptors. The extra 1 or 2 cards can make or break a game especially in mirror matches or against decks that do similar things.
Here's some math to help out:
1 - MLB is a -2, at most it is a 2 card trade or 2 damage (excluding triggers), you don't actually gain any advantage = 0; the 2 cards will usually be the pg or 20000 guard for 2 triggers to pass. This combo requires 3 cards MLB, Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark.
2- Blaster Blade swinging for 17000 twice is also 20000 worth of guard, a 2 card trade or 2 damage (same as using MLB). Even if your opponent triggers it's still 5000 guard/1 card trade each so again 2 cards if Blaster Blade re-stands. See where I'm going with this? No matter what unless they take the damage they need to drop a card. In this scenario I need 2 counter blasts and 3 cards, Altmile, Blaster Blade and a Flogal. The only card I lose is the Flogal = -1 which becomes +1 if your opponent dropped 2 cards to guard (versus 0 if your opponent guarded MLB).
TLDR; Altmile with Blaster Blade and Flogal force the same amount of cards off the opponent (more if triggered) as MLB with a lesser card cost.
So if you've kept up this far then you'd probably know the game plan already otherwise here's a small run down:
1 - Start the game ride to grade 1; attack if you go second>>>can you proc Wingal Brave? If yes, search.
2 - Ride to grade 2; do some fancy things with the Blaster engine; rush or retire a unit>>>can you proc Wingal Brave? If yes, search.
3 - You have an option to stay stuck at grade 2 if you want since you do have a pretty strong grade 2 game>>>clamp until you get to stride/legion first; otherwise proceed to next step, oh and have you proc'd Wingal yet?
4 - Ride to grade 3; stride if you can't legion or legion if you can't stride>>>attack with vanguard and rear guards.
5 - Repeat step 4 until game.
If you're looking for a mid-range deck; aggro with some control, this is it. Thing Saver is a very versatile deck with the ability to immediately flip the switch between aggressive and control plays, it has a pretty even-good match up against most decks but it does have some ramp time so it does fall short against strong forms of early game aggro such as Raging Form and Royal rush (Benon, Violinist & Blaster etc).
Deck 2 - SGD/Blaster
G4:
1 Shrouded Divine Knight, Gablade
1 Shrouded Divine Knight, Gablade
3 Holy Dragon, Sanctuary Guard Regalie
2 Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile
2 Holy Dragon, Saint Blow Dragon
G3:
4 Sanctuary Guard Dragon (SGD)
G2:
1 Starlight Violinist
2 Knight of Twin Sword
1 Starlight Violinist
2 Knight of Twin Sword
4 Blaster Blade
4 Sage of Salvation, Benon
4 Favoured Diciple of Light and Dark, Llew
G1:
4 Laurel Knight, Sicilus
4 Holy Knight Guardian
3 Blaster-Friend, Barcgal
3 Hidden Sage, Miron
G0:
4 Floral Paladin, Flogal (critical)
4 Bringer of Dreams, Belenus (critical)
4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona (critical)
4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine (heal)
1 Wingal Brave (starter)
Since the release of G-FC01 Sanctuary Guard Dragon have been topping non-stop reigning supreme as the strongest Royal Paladin variant and probably the strongest deck at this very moment.
At glance SGD doesn't seem to be all that powerful and that's true since it generally just becomes a vanilla once the stride wars begin. What makes this deck is his stride.
Regalie is arguable the strongest first stride in the game. With 3 grade 1 or less rear guards on first stride the front row gets a continuous 9000 power buff which means all columns will easily hit the magic 21000+ number. This makes for some really cool plays as Royal Paladins have always been the clan with amazing rear guards & power gains but is restricted by being counter blast heavy. Regalie lowers this limitation as the power gain has no cost, the deck can freely utilise the counter blast they gain throughout the game for instant value and pluses for a very strong early game in the power curve. 
And what will the counter blasts be used for? The plethora of grade 2s. Royal Paladins' strongest cards lie in the grade 2s and SGD decks are known for their grade 2 game; my deck is no different, it runs 15 grade 2s most notably the Blaster engine for rush and the Benon engine for card advantage (standard in SGD decks since the the Swordmy restriction).
Benon synergises very well with SGD bringing out a grade 1 (something Royals have always had trouble with doing) to setup the Regalie power buff and a card to the hand essentially being a +2 for 1 counter blast and soul blast. This is stupidly overpowered early game as it creates an entire column for basically free that hits the magic 14000 number on a 9000 unit and equates to proc'ing 2 draw triggers or a twin drive check meaning as long as I can keep on playing Benons the deck can play on grade 2...combined with the Blaster engine it fuels soul for repeated Mirons and creates a high pressure, rush style game play.
My list is very standard to be honest, the deck is so popular and has topped so much to the point where the community has just found "the perfect build" and its true. While the trigger lineup is personal preference usually the choice between 4 more criticals or 4 draws (how aggressive and sacky do you want to be? cause triple crits are a thing =P) the rest of the list is near staple baring about 3 or 4 cards which are usually determined by player preference i.e. "I want a little bit more mid-late game power" or "I want more early game presence" so I should probably explain my line up a little bit.
The small grade 3 line up means I have a lower chance of getting my SGD compared to a regular deck with 7-8 grade 3s thus lots of Benons, Llew and Violinist are used to deck filter quickly. On optimal games I can easily filter 3-4 cards including the drive check meaning I will get my SGD sooner or later. But that's not all while most think G-assist is a last ditch option to get out of the grade stuck situation its actually a legit strategy in SGD decks particularly in my build to get the grade 3. With Benon and the Violinist I have cards in my deck that gives me immediate pluses so as long as I've played at-least one of them the -2 cards from hand to G-assist is basically nullified; I can G-assist for free besides the cost of removing G-zone units from the game that won't affect me in any way.
*Note* While G-assist is a strategy in this deck; its still not an optimal play; most of the time playing the grade 2 game with the Benon and the Blaster engine will run through the deck quick enough eventually drawing in to a SGD so don't jump to conclusions if you don't see SGD right away.
SGD decks typically all play the same way:
1 - Start the game ride to grade 1; attack if I went second.
2 - Ride to grade 2; do some fancy things with the Blaster engine and Benon engine>>>attack.
3 - I have an option to stay stuck at grade 2 if I wish since this is what the deck is built to do>>>"clamp" until I feel I can get game or at least control of the game on first stride.
4 - Ride to grade 3 and stride>>>attack with vanguard and rear guards.
5 - Repeat step 4 until game.
*Note* Benon and the Blaster engine is suppose to generate enough advantage in the early to essentially propel the deck through the rest of the game thus try to close out asap as the deck will eventually run out of steam once the amount of grade 2s in the deck start depleting.
There's really not much more I can talk about with this deck as at its core is a rush deck on steroids, there aren't many if any fancy combos, it's literally call a bunch of rear guards>>>smack the opponent a few times and try to end the game from there, almost every game follows the above example baring control decks like Link Jokers and Kagero.
I could say the deck takes advantage of the meta or even a weak part of the game being so reliant on grade 3+ where early game rush with essentially free rear guards is extremely obnoxious especially if I hit a critical or 2 the game can pretty be done before the grade 3 game even starts but at the same time its quite an innovative approach since so many decks nowadays just ride to grade 3 and stride,stride,stride. There's so little interaction in the early game it might as well not be there.
If you' want to play one of the best decks right now; this is it imo. If you want an extremely fast and aggressive deck that can make stupid amounts of power and multi-attacks play SGD.
Deck 3 - Altmile/Blaster
G4:
1 Shrouded Divine Knight, Gablade
4 Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile
1 Trascending the Heavens, Altmile
2 Holy Dragon, Saint Blow Dragon
G3:
4 Blue Sky Knight, Altmile
1 Majesty Lord Blaster
G2:
1 Starlight Violinist
1 Starlight Violinist
4 Blaster Blade
4 Sage of Salvation, Benon
4 Favoured Diciple of Light and Dark, Llew
2 Blaster Blade Spirit
G1:
4 Laurel Knight, Sicilus
4 Holy Knight Guardian
2 Blaster-Friend, Barcgal
3 Hidden Sage, Miron
G0:
4 Floral Paladin, Flogal (crit)
4 Bringer of Dreams, Belenus (crit)
4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona (crit)
4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine (heal)
1 Wingal Brave (starter)
While testing "Blaster" variants I found certain perks to each that didn't quite suit the way I played or felt could be changed.
Long story short I ended up playing a deck based on a card many people like to tech as a 1 or 2 off; Altmile. Turns out he's just as good as the other variants I played.
The deck plays the same as Sanctuary/Blaster to a certain extent (deck list makes that pretty obvious); grade 2 rush and try to stride for game. But what really makes this deck shine is the crazy amount of consistency and synergy the deck has with the "Blaster" engine and Wingal Brave.
Wingal Brave shines extremely bright here as he brings a stupid amount of consistency to the deck being able to grab MLB and then make use of Sicilus' effect (where mostly forgotten) to search for Altmile. Because I can always search for my cards this way I'll never have fear of missing a grade; a good amount of "Blaster" cards means getting Wingal Brave's skill off isn't hard at all as if I get to choose when I want my Altmile, ride or stride, one of few problems that Sanctuary decks had when running a small grade 3 line up was the grade stuck games when even G-assist fails.
8 "Blaster" cards in the deck = 16% I get a "Blaster" in hand.
6 "Blaster" grade 2s = Wingal Brave has a 40% chance of boosting a grade 2 "Blaster".
Because this deck plays the Benon engine, Violinist and draw triggers it has a better card generation and filtering system versus SGD (trading the critical power for consistency) thus opening up even more options between searching the missing card with Wingal Brave, G-assist or literally drawing in to it (because I draw and thin deck so much...).
Both Thing Saver and SGD decks also had a mediocre game after their initial burst of power whether that's in the early, mid or late game, when all copies of Thing savers or Regalies are used up it eventually reaches a point where they have a hard time closing out games due to the now lack of power. In these scenarios Altmile/Blaster has the benefit of being able to play his latest incarnation.
Transcending Altmile at the cost of 1 counter blast can give a strong power buff to the front row(up to +8000 power when all four copies of Aerial Altmile are face up on the G-zone. It's important to note here that the requirements are very loose unlike specific rear guards for Regalie or a good amount of counter blaster for Thing Saver. Basically drop your hand and he turns any of your remaining rear guards to hard hitting trucks. If you can get to this point of the game, Transcending Altmile has crazy amount of game ending power that other Royal decks don't have (extra attacks are nice =D).
The deck largely functions like SGD so there's really nothing more for me to say except it does require more counter blast to do the same thing so be mindful when using counter blasts. This is why I love this variant so much, it can do the same and more with a good sense of planning and smarts. Some extra attention and finesse from a good player (aka myself =P jokes) imo can really make this the better deck.
The Blaster engine is incredibly strong in any Royal Paladin deck imo; I am well aware there are other variants like Alfred Exiv, Ezzell/Alfred & Thing/Altmile/Blaster etc but I don't feel they are optimal builds as they tend to try to do too much and not have a uber strong point in the game.
So I'm going to end this post off, which variant do you prefer?
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