Fate/Grand Order – The Lion King Sleeps Tonight (Y/R) [08/24/2022]

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight… Artoria and her round table knights are a defining force of justice and peace, maintaining Camelot and ensuring nothing breaches her pure white walls. However, what say would happen if King Artoria herself were to be corrupted in some way or form?

Special thanks to Skarvak and うるさい 馬鹿 for their insight into the deck.

The Lion King in all her might descends upon her opponents with the legendary Rhongomyniad. Artoria is an interesting card who plays an inversion on the general finishing combo. Usually any healing abilities are part of the on-play effect whereas the finishing ability is tacked on the climax combo. However, for Artoria, these are inverted, which can be invaluable, depending on the situation. This enables Artoria to constantly deal damage with her second ability, but hinders any needed healing in the late game unless a climax is present. That being said, all her abilities are repeatable as a bonus.

A primary key piece of the set comes with Saber’s armour to the left. Saber’s armour does come with a condition requiring Saber to be on stage to be played. It is essentially an Akatsuki event that also places itself underneath one of your cards as a marker. Gawain and Saber is a bonder to said Saber’s armour. Lastly, the Saber support to the right is a global support while providing extra power with its marker mechanic and providing all your characters with markers with Gift (ギフト) trait.

Now the other part of the this deck’s plan to bring out the Lion King is to use the assist above coupled with that of the Agravain to the right. Now these two are essential to the deck with the Lion King assist here both being the method of spawning the 3/2 and grabbing the 3/2 to hand. The spawn effect requires Agravain on the field. Agravan is coincidentally the best brainstorm for the deck with an important ability to give you a scry ability whenever one of your characters hits the stage. This will help you with the attack order to ensure the Grand Lion’s damage effect will hit.

For the early advantage combo, we are presented here with two different options. Gawain is nice if you can fulfill all his conditions. If you do so, you are rewarded with a 6000 powered cross-turn beater. Furthermore, his salvage combo isn’t half bad, although his salvage check is based on the numbers of characters with markers.

Bedivere is a standard cigarettes combo that also pumps him for the turn. Both Gawain and Bedivere have different upsides and downsides. Gawain is more powerful in theory, but his condition may be difficult to reach. Bedivere is, overall, more consistent, but he doesn’t have the power or flexibility that Gawain may offer with his combo. Keep in mind as well that Gawain combos with the choice trigger below, which will offer more flexibility compared to that of the gate trigger, especially in respect to this deck.

Since the main focus is to draw out the Lion King early, Gawain’s trigger can help you either stock up for the early play effect or grab the Lion King pieces to assemble the combo.

As for some other cards that help with scrying away and rearranging the deck for the Lion King, we have the two shown above. Agravain is essential to change the order of triggers in your deck during your main phase. His niche ability can come in sure to mess with your opponent’s field. Mordred is a beat-stick with a double swing ability, helping to push forward with your deck, potentially netting you extra advantage through triggers or resetting the top of your deck for the Lion King.

Some other great cards to note are that of the Lancelot here which is a 4000 powered clean cut if he has a marker. Mordred is an Adachi with a bonus plus-side. If you pay her costs by ditching the event bonder, you can send one of your opponent’s front row cards to the waiting room (level 2 or lower). She has a downside of sending herself to the waiting room after, but this is a great two for one effect, ridding your opponent of two field for the price of one card’s effect. Bedivere is a rare Akatsuki for climaxes, helping you set-up for the Lion King further.

At first glance, Tristan may just seem like your usual climax swapper, but Tristan holds another quite powerful effect as well. If you do play a climax and Tristan is on stage, you can assign one of your characters the ability to stock kick your opponent’s characters on reverse. This is huge, especially in the early game, if you can deny your opponent’s filters and on sent to waiting room plus effects.

Strangely enough, this counter pairing perfectly mimics the fight scene in the movie. Bedivere is a modal counter that can be an emergency Adachi bomb on stage. Gawain is an oversized 3500 counter should all your characters be of his listed traits. Counters are actually quite useful for this deck because of the Lion King’s repeatable damage ability. Since it triggers when she swings rather than by climax combo, keeping her alive for a few turns should secure you victory or put you ahead by quite a bit. Considering her support spawns her without sacking itself, the Lion King would stand at 13000 power on her own in front of the support. A counter would more than likely secure her supremacy on stage.

0/0 stock bomb Agravain is a hilariously flavorful card that gains power if your opponent plays his nemesis on the stage. Lancelot can clean cut Agravain potentially to the back to be re-used again as a stock bomb. Mordred is another interesting option whose early play condition comes to match your opponent’s early plays. During your turn, she becomes an impressive 13000 power before boosts, helping her beat down any opposing foe with ease. Stack your top deck and compile massive amounts of damage with the Lion King supported by her loyal subjects.