Jojo – Stardust Crusaders (R) [08/16/2024]

In their plight to save our young and honest gentle boy’s mother, the ever-sweet Jotaro Kujo (at least in his momma’s eyes) embarks on a grand adventure that spans halfway across the world to eventually arrive in Egypt to defeat an ancient adversary that has cursed his ancestors for generations. Joining him on his road trip are his grandfather Joseph Joestar; the flame magician Mohammed Avdol; the high-school student Noriaki Kakyoin; the lovable clown Jean Pierre Polnareff; and the best boy Iggy.

Instead of our traditional structure of beginning with the deck’s endgame, we are going to focus on the journey taken by the boys instead from start to finish. As you can tell from Polnareff’s tears, this is going to be one unforgettable adventure. Beginning with Mr. Funny Popo’s combo, Polnareff is a burst powered advantage combo that lets you discard a card to search out two characters from your deck after reversing his opponent with his climax in play. Polnareff’s ability will be quite important to set-up for our endgame which we’ll explain in due time.

One other key part to reaching our end game is that of our wonder boy Kakyoin here. Kakyoin is very important for his initial effect. You may run his additional combo if you’d like, but it’s not essential to this deck’s gameplan. Kakyoin grants us cheap advantage at the cost of life when a climax is played in the climax zone. This bit of cheap advantage is key due to the heavy costs of our finishing combo, and Kakyoin is great throughout the early and mid-game as well to maintain advantage while milling the deck. Keep in mind that Kakyoin can be activated in the backrow as well which is very important.

In order to rid this world of the accursed blonde demon, Jotaro must muster the strength of all his allies while improving himself throughout his arduous journey. Although relatively generic at a glance, hand-fixing profiles are integral to our game plan. Joseph is a double drop search on the turn he’s played when he attacks, allowing us to discard two cards to add two characters from our deck to our hand. Jotaro plays a mini-game if you pay his costs when he enters the stage. It’s a bit of a gamble, but what is life without some risk? After shuffling your deck for his mini-game, you reveal the top card of your deck, and if that card is a character, you may salvage a character, grant Jotaro a large amount of burst power at the cost of sacrificing him at the end of turn. Kakyoin is a generic drop salvage profile that also grants top deck rearrange (top two). These hand-fixing tools are essential to the game-plan. Just believe in the Stardust Crusaders.

As a bit of a side engine for our game plan and also a partial reflection of the struggles of our beloved crusaders, the boys have a three card chain that rewards us with a powerful two soul swinging Polnareff at the end. Avdol, the grand self-less protector and guardian, sacrifices himself to protect his allies while entering your memory zone as a J.C. profile. Iggy, following in Avdol’s footsteps, gains power if Avdol is in memory, and upon being reversed and meeting his conditions, goes to memory as well. Feeling the energy of his comrades, Polnareff is empowered by their noble sacrifices and gains a massive boost in power and an extra soul, helping push our opponent to their edge and preparing for the final showdown.

At the end of the day, sometimes it’s key to remember it’s not just the results of an adventure or the end of a journey that defines the experience. Sometimes the real treasure is the friends we met along the way. Even if they are distant memories, they are kept forever in our hearts. As a side plan and supplement to our last duel with the golden haired nemesis, Polnareff has come up with a genius plan. Polnareff gains a stock charge upon reverse ability when you use any ACT 【起】ability, and this is key as Polnareff generates the much needed stock for our event on the right. This event assists our finisher by dealing two shots with large bursts of damage that hopefully sticks, the last bit of support from the boys before they fade away into the sky.

Now that we’ve reached the final encounter with the dark one, it is time to unleash our ultimate plan. Jotaro, armed with the knowledge and strength passed on by his allies takes on his greatest foe. It is time that the plague that has stained humanity for over a century finally meets his fitting end. Jotaro STANDs PROUD as he faces his adversary alone at the front, supported by his boys in the back. This is a battle that could result in the End of the World as we know it. When his climax is in play, and you meet his conditions of being alone in the front, you may pay his hefty costs of discarding two additional copies of himself and four additional cards at the end of his attack (two Jojos and four crusaders), and deal one damage to your opponent seven times. To aid in helping secure our gameplan, Jotaro in the center is his bonder that can sacrifice himself to salvage a copy of 3/2 Jotaro from the waiting room.

As for defensive utility, the Jojo family is more than ready to protect their friends and allies alike. Joseph is a Leafa counter, perfect for fixing our hand and getting us closer to cancels. Jotaro is a memory counter, helping rid our opponent’s board of annoying threats.

As we come to the end of our adventure, waiting for the Last Train Home, it’s best we reflect upon our journey thus far. Avdol is a Kazuma profile that also doubles as a discard and draw profile. Joseph is the search brainstorm for the deck. He has a marker ability, but it is not used in this deck. Jotaro giving his jaded pose is a spawner Riki profile that can also go to stock if damage during battle taken by him is cancelled. Jojo in his 3D model form is a level one reverser and a climax swapper. 2/1 Jotaro looking cool grants two characters the ability to become Adachi profiles upon being reversed. Polnareff is an early play healer that heals a character in your clock to the bottom of your deck, giving you the opportunity to search out that card again.

It is essential that we prepare for Jotaro’s final escapade. Jotaro is literally meant to be our final chance, our last gamble, to take against the forces of DIO. Jotaro is great at securing the end game, but we must reach there first. Use his friends to pave the way for him. Polnareff and the boys’ event is great to help push our opponent closer to the edge for Jotaro to secure the kill, but keep in mind regarding the heavy costs, especially the hand costs. Jotaro requires exactly seven hand with his climax included at minimum. You need to sculpt that exact hand at the very least to use his ability. However, as a side note, because of Jotaro’s requirements and lack of stock costs, you can feel free to use your stock as much as you’d like to generate advantage for the final turn.

The reason that 0/0 Kakyoin is so essential is that two Kakyoin(s) can essentially freely add two hand to your hand when you drop Jotaro’s climax, easing the very expensive hand requirements for Jotaro while safely sitting in the backstage to fulfill Jotaro’s solo front field condition. Just make sure you have the extra copies of Jotaro prepared in advance ideally before entering your final turn.