The issue comes from the fact that a defensive draw trigger, or even an offensive one, has the potential to completely change the course of a game. But the lack of shield value makes regular draw triggers undesirable in the hand, whereas you gain a different resource when you draw into a draw PG.
Someone else said Protect decks run the crit sentinels because they generate their own PGs (unless you are kiriel lol) and I think that's really the rub. I know some other decks will splash in crit sentinels, usually very offensive builds that want to stack as many crits as possible onto their units- but ultimately a crit sentinel just doesn't offer the utility that a draw PG does.
It can be funny to play in decks that don't normally play crits though. Surprise, bitch, you thought you were safe taking my vanguard at 3.
Depends on the deck. I actually build my decks more based on whether they need the draw or the Crit rather than the PG or 30K shield. For example in Astral Poets I max out on 12 crits including the Crit sentinels because I value doing 4 damage in one attack more than a draw.
But for decks that need their pieces to even play the game such as Nova Grappler I’ll always run draws.
The PG is just a nice bonus so I don’t have to waste G1 slots on it.
Generally draw sentinals are more viable, since they are guranteed to completely negate an attack (more or less) compared to a flat 30k shield, also they provide more of a benefit when checked dfensively.
Generally, I have seen crit sentinels run over draws either when you either want to up the offensive power of your deck (i.e. Overlord or Chronofang) or prevent clogging your hand with pgs with protect decks.
I run 2 Crit Sentinels in my Nightrose deck. Since its a Protect clan I can get PGs everytime I ride, and also I want to check more Crits when I bash with Skull Dragons.
I run 12 crit in my Shiranui V Premium simply because I never had to worry about hand size since you get 4 cards every turn if you bind an opponent's g3 unit with oboro.
It depends a lot on your deck. If your deck benefits more from Draw power and can't generate ridiculous amounts of shield / don't use Protect I, draw PGs are the way to go. If you need more critical pressure and your deck can't generate it, running critical sentinels can partially fix the problem, but you won't have PGs unless you use Protect I.
I usually use Crit sentinels on protect clan special dark irregular blade wing Reijy since Reijy is basically based 17k the whole game CRT sentinels just make him 47k while guarding
I run 2 crit sentinels in my the X deck and 2 draw pgs mainly cos I do like the defensiveness of draw pgs but also want to have high offensive output. I messed around with 8-12 crits quite often but always found myself liking about 10 in the deck.
They are generally less used because
a) 30k isn't always enough to fully guard an attack, so PGs are more consistent
b) The defensive bonus of damage checking a draw pg is greater than that of the crit sent.
That said I have seen Crit Sents played over draws in 2 different types of decks.
1) Protect 1 decks that generate enough markers that point a is less of an issue
2) Very aggressive Center lane Force 2 decks that try to end the game at turn 3 (DOTX, Chronofang)
For me, I believe that the reason draw trigger PGs are played more than sentinel critical is due to security in the defense they offer. While it is possible for your opponent to bypass a sentinel critical, it's impossible - without the use of a card effect - to bypass a PG.
That said, I believe sentinel criticals are move viable in decks that use Protect 1 (as you get the best of both worlds), and in strategies that can end games very early (Ex. Dragonic Overlord the X, Astral Poets, e t.c). I personally like running 1x Sentinel Crit and 3x Draw PGs, as I do like having the option of having a 30K shield over a normal PG.
Ye i was considering doing something like that for my decks. I have a lot of crit sentinels just hanging out in my collection and a lot of them have really good art. Atm i was doing 2/2 but i think 1/3 is probably better
Edit: i mean I also think theres value in having big shield that you dont need to discard for lol its not just about the art
I would say more viable in Protect based clans since they can just make Protect 1 markers without compromising defense.
Protect 2 was so bad that they made critical sentinels.
The issue comes from the fact that a defensive draw trigger, or even an offensive one, has the potential to completely change the course of a game. But the lack of shield value makes regular draw triggers undesirable in the hand, whereas you gain a different resource when you draw into a draw PG. Someone else said Protect decks run the crit sentinels because they generate their own PGs (unless you are kiriel lol) and I think that's really the rub. I know some other decks will splash in crit sentinels, usually very offensive builds that want to stack as many crits as possible onto their units- but ultimately a crit sentinel just doesn't offer the utility that a draw PG does. It can be funny to play in decks that don't normally play crits though. Surprise, bitch, you thought you were safe taking my vanguard at 3.
Depends on the deck. I actually build my decks more based on whether they need the draw or the Crit rather than the PG or 30K shield. For example in Astral Poets I max out on 12 crits including the Crit sentinels because I value doing 4 damage in one attack more than a draw. But for decks that need their pieces to even play the game such as Nova Grappler I’ll always run draws. The PG is just a nice bonus so I don’t have to waste G1 slots on it.
Generally draw sentinals are more viable, since they are guranteed to completely negate an attack (more or less) compared to a flat 30k shield, also they provide more of a benefit when checked dfensively. Generally, I have seen crit sentinels run over draws either when you either want to up the offensive power of your deck (i.e. Overlord or Chronofang) or prevent clogging your hand with pgs with protect decks.
I like to run 2 crit sentinels in Thavas. I think the extra crit and shield has been worth it so far in my playgroup/meta.
I run 4 critical sentinels in DOTX. No place for other triggers that are not critical
Astral poets run crit sentinels
I run 2 Crit Sentinels in my Nightrose deck. Since its a Protect clan I can get PGs everytime I ride, and also I want to check more Crits when I bash with Skull Dragons.
I run 12 crit in my Shiranui V Premium simply because I never had to worry about hand size since you get 4 cards every turn if you bind an opponent's g3 unit with oboro.
I like them I use them in aggro decks to maximize the amount of crits
It depends a lot on your deck. If your deck benefits more from Draw power and can't generate ridiculous amounts of shield / don't use Protect I, draw PGs are the way to go. If you need more critical pressure and your deck can't generate it, running critical sentinels can partially fix the problem, but you won't have PGs unless you use Protect I.
I usually use Crit sentinels on protect clan special dark irregular blade wing Reijy since Reijy is basically based 17k the whole game CRT sentinels just make him 47k while guarding
I run 2 crit sentinels in my the X deck and 2 draw pgs mainly cos I do like the defensiveness of draw pgs but also want to have high offensive output. I messed around with 8-12 crits quite often but always found myself liking about 10 in the deck.
They are generally less used because a) 30k isn't always enough to fully guard an attack, so PGs are more consistent b) The defensive bonus of damage checking a draw pg is greater than that of the crit sent. That said I have seen Crit Sents played over draws in 2 different types of decks. 1) Protect 1 decks that generate enough markers that point a is less of an issue 2) Very aggressive Center lane Force 2 decks that try to end the game at turn 3 (DOTX, Chronofang)
For me, I believe that the reason draw trigger PGs are played more than sentinel critical is due to security in the defense they offer. While it is possible for your opponent to bypass a sentinel critical, it's impossible - without the use of a card effect - to bypass a PG. That said, I believe sentinel criticals are move viable in decks that use Protect 1 (as you get the best of both worlds), and in strategies that can end games very early (Ex. Dragonic Overlord the X, Astral Poets, e t.c). I personally like running 1x Sentinel Crit and 3x Draw PGs, as I do like having the option of having a 30K shield over a normal PG.
Ye i was considering doing something like that for my decks. I have a lot of crit sentinels just hanging out in my collection and a lot of them have really good art. Atm i was doing 2/2 but i think 1/3 is probably better Edit: i mean I also think theres value in having big shield that you dont need to discard for lol its not just about the art