Bad Boys, Bad Boys… (Budget Remix Rurouni Kenshin Series: 4)

Let's hop into a fourth and final budget build of this May 2025 set. These complicated "bad boys" have a very powerful plot....ahem.... game to push for victory with.

Check out the Philosophy of the Budget Deck Remix Series here if interested!

Deck Code: XECA

https://decklog-en.bushiroad.com/view/XECA

Quick Pilot Guide:

This deck is a fun budget build that focuses on the enemy build cards that are present in the set. The deck starts with a 0/0 climax combo that can bounce back to hand when front attacked and is the resonance target for a Level 0 guaranteed check top to add a “Meiji Romantic Story” character to hand. The deck wants to repeat this combo as much as possible while setting up the possible early play 2/1 “Great Performance” (Bodyguard) Soji to set up Hajime’s 3/2 finisher, which requires a direct attack to use his finisher ability. The 3/2 Hajime and a pair of Hajimi Level 0s can help fix this issue if the Soji fails or timing doesn’t work out. Hand can be maintained late game when the 0/0 Aoshi is unlikely to survive with the 2/1 Aoshi that can refill hand with either pants trigger in the deck. Important Note: I choose to keep this deck more on theme, rather than putting color splashes and 0 techs to help add a Level 3 healer. I have included in the Budget Swap-Ins some options for adding in a 3/2 healer if you desire.

Budget Swap-Ins:

Note: More are included here for this deck as its early game lacks some set up and Level 3 lacks a healer due to the budget nature of the deck. Feel free to adjust especially the Level 0 game to better fit your player needs or to splash another color into the deck for a healer.

This Yahiko helps with early game deck set up with it’s on play search, can pay out triggered climaxes or try to push more damage with his second on attack ability, and can also splash yellow into the deck for the 3/2 TD Sanosuke that can force a refresh to decompress a deck or heal on play. If trying to splash in a budget healer, I strongly recommend finding room for 4 of these, and then just making it a point to level this if it ends up in your clock. With the rest of the deck being mono-blue, getting blue in clock shouldn’t be an issue.

While blue in the set gives us an event counter that works well with the 2/1 Sojo “Great Performance” (Bodyguard), it isn’t guaranteed to get it in hand. This 2/1 +3000 and you may send the reversed battle opponents to memory counter may be a better substitute for consistency reasons.

This Kaoru is another budget Level 3 healer that may find its way into your deck. While I think Sanosuke from the TD is more flexible, a better fit, and an easier budget splash in, this Kaoru can also be splashed into fit. Consider running the red 0/0 Kenshin or Yahiko from the TDs to allow her to be played at Level 3.

If you would like to add in a traditional brainstormer instead of relying on the 0/0 Resonance Aoshi, this Hajime search brainstormer with a useful Level 0 attacker ability is a good fit and may help with consistency.

I don’t normally do this, but I’m going to group the “Oniwaban Group” package here together. All of these cards are very playable, and a budget deck could even forgo running the 3/2 Hajime combo in place of super focusing on just setting up the 3/2 Aoshi’s ability since it works with any Aoshi. I avoided it for this build simply because I felt like committing so much deck space to trying to get the “Oniwaban Group” members into memory is a lot. Feel free to tech any of these in to guarantee better deck consistency or to swap the Level 3 game out. I will add, as a note, this whole package just works better with the RR Level 3 finisher Aoshi, so it’s better reserved for that build when you wish to upgrade.

This Raijuta has several fun and interesting abilities, so I can see swapping him in as a tech 1 or 2 of for his stock generation, extra soul damage, or as a back up finisher ability.

Kanryu is also another, heavy costed, back up finisher with a possible stock generation engine if you rebuild this deck with a few Megumi cards. Worth it if you save up and eventually decide the healer is the 3/2 RR, but we’re going to avoid this engine for now in a budget build.

Your other option for a budget Level 3 healer. This one I feel is a bit easier to budget splash in and can give you another option if you don’t need the heal.

This is a borderline budget card. Given its powerful ability and the fact it’s a resonance target for the TD+ Level 3 (which is a different finisher option from the set 3/2 RR for the 8 Comeback (Gate) deck) could make this hard to get a hold of. However, if there are some hanging around in your bulk, swapping this for some other 0’s could help deck consistency, as well as splashing for the Red 3/2 Kaoru healer.

This is another card that could help out deck consistency. Yahiko can hand filter out extra pants you don’t want stuck in hand while also paying a triggered one out of stock. Another more accessible red splash tech for the Level 3 Kaoru healer.

Upgrades for when there’s some extra change in the wallet after payday:

A strong on play power Yahiko that helps with filtering hand of extra Gate (Pants) that were triggered and milling the deck for early game hand/deck issues. Can also double as a yellow splash for a healer.

An early play healer that helps to heal and hand filter. Allows a better Level 2 game and trying to buy time to build resources for Level 3. Also aids in increasing soul trigger counts in the deck over the 0/0 play.

A possible deck swap for the 0/0 combo. You’ll want to adjust your Level 0 game to the search brainstorm Hajime from the Aoshi package if going with this combo.

This is our only blue healer! But Aoshi also has his own powerful Level 3 combo, and the “Oniwaban Group” package combined with his other 3/2 assist can make it even stronger if you’re able to get them all in memory. Swapping into this does greatly change the deck construction and how it plays, so realize going with this would be a deck rebuild.

This shop PR was the shop PR for the month of June I believe, but I could be off by a month. This is a +2500 Backup that also allows you to pay an additional stock, discard a “Meiji Romantic Story” trait character from hand to waiting room, and put a character from your stage in the waiting room to anti-change an Opponent’s Character who is higher than your Opponent’s Level to the bottom of their deck. This counter has several possible plays including getting rid of early play Level 3s or getting rid of a character who’s an on reverse combo target.

And that concludes our Budget Remix Series for Rurouni Kenshin! Look forward to a new series beginning next week!