Rocks D. Xebec: EB05 Deck Guide

1. Introduction

Rocks D. Xebec is the most consistent deck in the format and the most punishing one to pilot badly, for the same reason: none of your crew has a Counter.

That isn't a deckbuilding choice you made. Go through the {Rocks Pirates} pool card by card and every single Character has a blank counter box. What you get in exchange is a crew with the best stats per cost in blue and effects that would be strong even on cards that did have counters. What you give up is the ability to defend out of your hand the way every other deck does.

So the deck answers the question differently. Your defence comes from Characters already on the board, each of which converts a dead card in hand into power. Newgate turns a card into +3000. Linlin turns a card into +1000. Shiki turns a card into -3000 on their attacker. None of that works if the board is empty, which is the whole shape of the deck: survive to a board, then never run out of cards again.

EB05 didn't add a single card to the crew, and Rocks still came out of the first week as the most played deck in the format. The list did move, though. The early-game patches I liked in OP17 mostly left, and what came back is the older idea of stretching your 0-cost Events across the whole game.