Cray Journals: Bermuda Triangle Harmony Deck

Hi guys. I haven't been on this blog for awhile, but now I'm back with a new article :)
With the release of the new Bermuda Triangle clan booster for Japanese meta, the new stride-harmony based deck is looking very strong in recent testings.
Before saying anything else, I think I should explain the concept of Harmony.
Harmony is a new mechanic created in the game, so far exclusive to the Bermuda Triangle clan. I'm a little lazy to explain here, so you guys can go read on this link:
http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Harmony

The G3s
Miracle Voice, Lauris

[AUTO](VC/RC):Harmony (When another of your units is placed on the same column as this unit, both units are in Harmony state until end of turn)
[AUTO](VC)[1/Turn] Generation Break 2 (This ability is active if you have two or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):When this unit becomes Harmony state, choose two of your units, they get [Power]+5000 until end of turn, and this unit gets [Critical]+1 until end of turn.
[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1)] During your turn, when your G unit Stride, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your rear-guards, and return it to your hand. If you return a unit this way, draw a card.

Diligent Girl, Riddhe

[AUTO](VC/RC):Harmony (When another of your units is placed on the same column as this unit, both units are in Harmony state until end of turn)
[CONT](VC) Generation Break 1 (This ability is active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):During your turn, this unit gets [Power]+5000 for each of your units in Harmony state.
[AUTO]:[Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, look at five cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one card with Harmony ability from among them, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.

Little Princess, Himari

[AUTO](VC/RC):Harmony (When another of your units is placed on the same column as this unit, both units are in Harmony state until end of turn)
[AUTO](VC/RC)[1/Turn] Generation Break 1 (This ability is active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, if this unit is in Harmony state, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your other rear-guards, return it to your hand, choose up to one card from your hand, call it to (RC), and that unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn. (Even if you do not pay the cost, this ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn)

Take a good look at these 3, and try to figure out a combo in your head, while I move on to the main techs of the deck that make it so powerful.

Strolling Weather, Emilia

[AUTO] Generation Break 1 (This ability is active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit is returned to your hand from (RC), you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card.
[CONT](VC/RC/GC):Resist (This unit cannot be chosen by the effects of your opponent's cards)

Glitter of Yearning, Spica

[AUTO](RC) Generation Break 1 (This ability is active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit attacks a vanguard, if this unit is boosted, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your other rear-guards, return it to your hand, choose up to one card from your hand, call it to (RC), and that unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of turn.

Unprecedented Girl, Potpurri

[AUTO](VC/RC):Harmony (When another of your units is placed on the same column as this unit, both units are inHarmony state until end of turn)
[AUTO](RC) Generation Break 1 (This ability is active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, choose one of your other rear-guards, return it to your hand, if this unit is in Harmony state, choose up to one card from your hand, and call it to (RC).

Extraordinary Freshman, Shizuku

[AUTO](VC/RC):Harmony (When another of your units is placed on the same column as this unit, both units are in Harmony state until end of turn)
[AUTO](RC)[1/Turn] Generation Break 1 (This ability is active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):When this unit becomes Harmonystate, look at five cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one grade 3 or greater card from among them, reveal it to your opponent, put it to your hand, and shuffle your deck.

Sweet Paradise, Manya

[AUTO](VC/RC):Harmony (When another of your units is placed on the same column as this unit, both units are in Harmony state until end of turn)
[AUTO](RC) Generation Break 1 (This ability is active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):When this unit boosts, if this unit is in Harmony state, the boosted unit gets [Power]+4000 until end of that battle.

Important Phase, Reina

AUTO](RC):[Put this unit into your soul] When your vanguard attacks, if you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with "Lauris" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card, choose one of your vanguards, and it gets [Power]+5000 until end of that battle.

First Lesson, Akari

[AUTO]:Forerunner (When a unit of the same clan rides this unit, you may call this unit to (RC))
[AUTO](VC/RC):Harmony (When another of your units is placed on the same column as this unit, both units are in Harmony state until end of turn)
[CONT](RC) Generation Break 1 (This ability is active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):If this unit is in Harmony state, this unit gets "[ACT](RC):[Put this unit into your soul] Choose one of your other rear-guards, return it to your hand, and draw a card.".

School Etoile, Olivia

Stride (Released when both players' vanguards are grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down.
[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a face down card named "School Etoile, Olivia" from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit attacks a vanguard, if the number of face up cards in your G zone is one or more, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to five of your rear-guards. If all of the chosen units have different card names, return them to your hand. If the number of cards returned is three or more, choose up to two cards from your hand, call them to separate (RC) in your front row and back row, and this unit gets [Critical]+1 until end of that battle.

More combos forming in your heads now guys?

Spica and Olivia allows for extra attacks in a turn, and pressuring with Himari can possibly land another attack in the turn. Having Manya as a 10k booster in the same column as Himari is gonna make things a lot more pressurizing, with your opponent having to drop 15K shield every time you attack with that column. When done right, it's possible to have 6 attacks in one turn on the turn you stride Olivia. Here's how. Your field:

Spica-Olivia-Himari

Shizuku-Manya-Manya

Attack unboosted with Himari first. Attack boosted with Spica. Activate Spica's skill, bounce Himari, call her back. Attack with unboosted Himari again. (3 attacks)

Attack with Olivia, bounce Shizuku, Himari, Manya(behind Olivia). Olivia gets +1 crit. Call Spica in front of Manya, Manya behind The rested Spica. (4th attack)

Spica attacks boosted by Manya, skill activates. Bounce the rested Spica, call Potpurri in her place(5th attack). 

Attack boosted with Potpurri for a 21k column.(6th attack)

Assuming your opponent did not get any damage triggers during this whole combo, this is arguably the current best game-ender in Bermuda Triangle. Similar concept to Ethics Buster Reverse's "Infinite Hell", a counterblast 3 is kinda justifiable in this case. 

The deck's defensive power is just as good as the offensive power. Lauris' on stride skill lets you bounce a unit, and draw a card, for 1 counterblast. If you bounce Emilia, it's a draw 2 for 2 counterblast. Reina helps you draw more during your battle phase, so you have more options to bounce and call different units throughout the battle phase. You can also use this when your Vanguard is Olivia, provided your Heart is Lauris, since the G unit inherits the name of the Heart. 

Akari's skill lets you draw even more to boost your defensive capabilities. Assuming she is in Harmony state, use her to bounce Emilia, and net a draw 2 for 1 counterblast. 

Shizuku's tech helps to filter the deck by finding you stride fodder and Himaris, increasing your handsize even more to possibly fool your opponent into thinking there's alot of shield in your hand(which there probably is from other effects). 

For those of you sick of my babbling, here's a decklist for you to consider. I personally saw this deck in my past 3 shop tournaments, and died 2-0 in all of my match-ups against them.

G4: 4 Olivia, 2 Legend of the Glass Shoe, Amoris, 2 Leisure Soft Ribbon, Somni

G3: 3 Lauris, 3 Himari, 2 Riddhe

G2: 4 Spica, 4 Emilia, 3 Potpurri

G1: 4 Kukuri(unflipper negate), 4 Shizuku, 3 Manya, 3 Duo Clear Parsol, Kura

G0: 4 Reina(crit), 8 other crits(any), 4 heal(any)

Starter: First Lesson, Akari

I may not have mentioned Kukuri, but she is simply the G-era type negate, which lets you unflip if you guard with her and there is another copy of herself in the drop zone. Kura is one of those 5K soulblast 2 unflip 2 cards, which really is a must in this deck which eats up counterblast at the speed of light. 

Amoris is the FC2015 RR if you're wondering, which is a good option for your first stride, letting you bounce 2 cards on the field the moment she appears. 

Somni is the other good option for your first stride, as she is another pressure unit which lets you bounce one RG and call another, giving it 3K, if her attack hits the opponent's Vanguard. 

Really, I've said all I can about this deck. It may be rather expensive to build due to the GR Olivias, and full foil G2 lineup, but this deck is so strong and so fun, you'll probably forget about the cost soon enough, and win enough tournaments to earn back the cost of your deck building. Go test this out for yourself and have fun Cardfighting everyone! :)

Signing off, 

Lee Megan

Dimension Police:Metalborg deck profile.

Hi, I am back with another deck profile and sharing from my experience of using Metalborg Sin Buster deck.

Here is the decklist that I am playing with.

G3:

4x Metalborg, Sin Buster

4x Metalborg, Barrengrader

G2:

4x Metalborg, Ur Buster

4x Metalborg, Lionetter

3x Metalborg, Russell Blizzard

G1:

4x Metalborg, Mist Ghost

3x Metalborg, Black Doctor

1x Commander Laurel

2x Cosmic Hero, Grandseil

4x Diamond Ace

G0:

4x Metalborg, Battle Roller (Critical)

4x Metalborg, Grass Cutter (Critical)

4x Metalborg, Devil Loader (Draw)

4x Metalborg, Black Nurse (Heal)

G4:
2x Super Cosmic Hero, X-rogue
4x Hyper Metalborg, Heavy Duke

2x Dark Superhuman, Omega

I got 2 Words 2 describe this deck. 

Consistency & Pressure.

Guard Restriction

My question to readers/cardfighters: Which is Deadlier? Restricted to guard with grade zeros or restricted to guard with grade ones and above?

My answer would be being restricted to guard with only grade zeros only coupled with vanguards that swing for huge numbers are a deadly combination. 

Here is Metalborg Sin Buster's ability:

[ACT](VC): Legion20000 "Metalborg, Ur Buster" (If your opponent's vanguard is grade 3 or greater, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone into your deck once, search your deck for the specified card, and Legion)

[AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, if this unit is in Legion, and this unit's [Power] is 30000 or greater, until end of that battle, your opponent cannot call grade 1 or greater units from hand to (GC).

[AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, if this unit's [Power] is 20000 or greater, until end of that battle, this unit gets "[AUTO](VC):When this unit's attack hits, draw a card.".

Hitting 30000 or greater is an easy task to fulfil in dimension police. Not to mention it triggers its other ability as well in conjunction with the guard restriction ability to restrict your opponent from guarding with grade ones and above.

This ability allows Sin Buster to filter out all the perfect guards from being placed on the guardian circle. Guarding a Sin Buster would cost the opponent 3 10000 shields would render a No Trigger Pass for the attack to go through. Not to also forget 2 more 10000 shields for 2 rearguard columns. This means they would need 3 cards to guard the vanguard and 2 cards for the rearguard to maintain not taking damage this turn. To cut the long story short, you would need 5 10000 shields guard all of its columns. 

Normally people wouldn't bother to guard for Sin Buster which normally earns you the +1 hand advantage over your opponent which also makes them vulnerable to wild critical triggers that showed up during the drive check.

Consistency

This deck is consistent with its new support Metalborg, Barrengrader.
[ACT](VC):[Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1)] Search your deck for up to one grade 3 card with the Legion ability, ride as [Stand], shuffle your deck, choose one of your vanguards, and it gets [Power]+3000 until end of turn.
[ACT](RC):[Soul Blast (1)] If you have a vanguard with "Metalborg" in its card name, this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of turn.

This card has a special ability to superior ride a grade 3 unit with Legion ability which allows him to tutor out a Metalborg Sinbuster from the deck. Its cost of soul blast, allows him to set up for performing legion. By pulling off this combo, you easily filter out 2 cards from the deck if you are performing legion this turn.

His second ability allows the quick dumping of souls to the drop zone which helps assist Metalborg Sin Buster to legion with ease and to also hit for higher numbers.



Power Up Supports

Metalborg, Grass Cutter
[ACT](RC):[Put this unit into your soul] Choose one of your other grade 3 and grade 2 units with "Metalborg" in its card name, and those units get [Power]+3000 until end of turn.

Grass cutter has a decent effect of powering up 2 separate units, 1 of grade 2, the other of grade 3. Preferably you would usually use its ability to power up your legion to hit perfect numbers of either 33000 or 36000, it ability can also be used to buff rearguards as well.

The objective of this deck is to outlast your opponent and to hit high numbers with Sin Buster to prevent them from guarding, then pull crits to get all that damage through.

The key card to make Sin Buster work consistently is Metalborg, Black Doctor, a 10K booster for the Vanguard. The Legioned Vanguard is already 20K on its own, so a 10K booster would spike the power to 30K, instantly activating Sin Buster's skill.

Another notable feat of this deck would be the tagging of Commander Laurel as your rearguard. It turns sin buster to a beast which helps you gain massive card advantage over your opponent.

Stride

Hyper Metalborg, Heavy Duke
Stride (Released when both players' vanguards are grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down.
[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (2)] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay cost. If you do, until end of that battle, this unit gets "[AUTO](VC):When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, draw a card for each of your heart cards.". Then, if you have a heart card with "Metalborg" in its card name, until end of that battle, your opponent cannot call grade 1 or greater cards from hand to (GC).

Heavy duke would be the real beast of the deck, unlike Sin Buster, it doesn't need to be at 30k power to have its guard restriction. It also has the added draw for each heart it has. This is just to rub the salt to the wound after pressuring with Sin Buster. This card allows metalborg to overextend its shenanigans and gives you a net +2 advantage when this card hits your opponent's vanguard. Coupled this with the Notorious Commander Laurel would just made this card an unrivalled monster. Giving a +10 handsize advantage if your opponent is ever going to let him hit the vanguard twice.

In short, this deck is pretty straight forward to use and its pretty monstrous too with the pressure it puts on the opponent.
Signing off,
Khai

Disclaimer
Note: I don't own any of the images above. Credits to their respective owners and Bushiroad Inc.

Vanguard Discussion: Card mechanics Q&A

Qn: Card mechanics: Legion, Stride, Limit Break? What are the difference? Which is better.

Limit Break:

[AUTO](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage)

Opinion: limit breaks are pretty much overshadowed by newer card mechanics such as stride and legion due to the difference in power and their overwhelming ability. Limit breaks are pretty risky to run limit break as a standalone mechanic in the current meta. Limit breaks required the player to acquire at least 4 damage which endangers the player to unguarded critical triggers and pressured by vanguards with additional criticals while being at 4 damage. This put them to a vulnerable spot where they have to guard and put more cards to prevent them from losing the game. However limit breaks are usually accompanied by legion where players would run "Break rides" to give the newly ridden vanguard a stacked effect or a dual skill. This hybrid build is quite common and pretty popular in the current meta.

Example.
Super Dimensional Robo, Daikaiser +  True Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daikaiser

Break rides

Break rides are limit break cards with effects activated when a card is being ridden on it while you are at 4 damage. In the current metagame, it is best not to play based on breakrides as it is pretty slow as compared to the current trend and metagame of vanguard nor it is still able to stall to keep up its pace. Break rides require the controller to ride a card that is of the same grade or a grade higher than the current vanguard.

How do I counter break rides and limit breaks?
As mentioned earlier, limit breaks require the controller to be at 4 damage. Pressuring them with a vanguard that has additional criticals will be great to pressure and curb the whole deck from gaining its advantage and thus, also making certain abilities unable to activate nor able to fulfil its limit break condition.

Thus, cards like e.g.
Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha, etc... are perfect to shutdown limit break decks.

This problem to limit break had been overcome by the release of "LB enablers".
They all comes with a similar effect of:
[CONT](RC):Your vanguard's "Limit Break 4" is active even when you have three or less damage.

with the creation of this new breed of cards, it increases the probability of activating limit break which negates and overwrite the original condition of having 4 damage.  This ability is active only when this card is present of the board which makes it vulnerable to board removal manoeuvres and cards that are able retire, return, bind or lock.

legion

[ACT](VC): Legion20000 "Mate" (If your opponent's vanguard is grade 3 or greater, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone into your deck once, search your deck for the specified card, and Legion)

Opinion: Legion is still one of the few best mechanisms that are revolving the current metagame despite having G4 strides with triple checks. 1 key advantage that legion give is the returning of 4 units from drop zone into the deck which effectively; you can add back 4 triggers from the drop zone back into the deck. 2nd key advantage is the consistent 20k pair which gave a huge power boost to the vanguard that is attacking. 3rd is the seeking of "mate" to the vanguard circle which filters 1 non-trigger out of the deck which increases the probability of drive checking triggers.

Below are some of the notable effect a mate has and carries.
Notable mate effect types:
1.  if your vanguard is Legion
2. When your vanguard Legion

they are phrased almost the same. But 2 different effects!

1.  if your vanguard is Legion
It means being in the state of "legion" where there is already 2 cards on the vanguard circle.
Therefore cards with similar effect will trigger and resolve only when there is 2 cards in the vanguard circle.
Example of cards with such effect:
Blue Storm Marine General, Starless
Blue Storm Marine General, Milos

2. When your vanguard Legion
It means the refers to the act of "performing legion" and the skill would only activate when your vanguard performs legion.
Example of cards with such effect:
Metalborg, Ur Buster
Ultimate Raizer Dual-flare
Therefore only when your vanguard performs legion and cards such as ur buster has to be present before the vanguard legions to be able to trigger its effect.

Other notable card effects:
3. During the turn your vanguard Legion
Example:

Frozen Ogle
Card effects phrased this way will only activate after the action of your vanguard legions. Which takes place anytime during the main phase to the end phase.

stride

Stride (Released when both players' vanguards are grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down.

Common FAQ for stride: 
What is "Stride"?
Answer: "Stride" is a powerful ability to call a G unit from Generation Zone, and becomes a vanguard. The previous vanguard(s) becomes "Hearts", and it is put under the G unit, and the number of the G Unit and Hearts' power are summed. Also, when attacking, Drive Check is performed 3 times.

Until when Stride continues?
Answer: Stride continues until the end of its owner's turn.

When performing Stride on a unit with a Break Ride ability, does the ability activates?
No. Stride and ride are different actions, thus the effect cannot be used.

What happened when performing a Stride on a vanguard that is in Legion?
Both vanguards that are in Legion became "Hearts". When a Stride is performed, choose either of the Hearts, and the power and the card name of the chosen Hearts will be taken. At the end of turn, when the G unit is returned, both of the Hearts became the vanguards in Legion status.

What happened when performing a Stride on a deleted vanguard?
The vanguard would turned face up and become a "Hearts", and the G unit and the Hearts would combine normally.

What happened if you ride on a G Unit?
The G Unit will return to the Generation Zone, and the Hearts will go into your soul.

Source:http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Stride

Opinions on stride: Stride is especially useful when you have a hand jam with dead cards such as grade 3s. Which makes it a perfect stride fodder and to unclog your hand. Triple drive checks makes up for the discard cost which also gives an additional chance of pulling a trigger.

Generation Break 1

[ACT](RC) Generation Break 1 (This ability is active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):
Example of cards with GB1:
Cosmic hero, Grandfire
Whirlwind Brave Shooter
etc.. etc...

Opinions: Generation break 1 is only active only when you had strided a grade 4. Thus, to enable gb1, both you and your opponent has to be at grade 3 which render units with gb1 a vanilla on the 1st 3 to 4 turns of the game. Sometimes, in certain games, its all about the speed which certain decks like aqua force needs it to end the game by 7 turns.

Generation Break 2

[ACT](RC) Generation Break 2 (This ability is active if you have two or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):

Opinions: Similar to Generation break 1, generation break 2 requires 2 or more cards faced up in either G zone or VC. Similar to what i've mentioned above. You can use Snow Element Blizza to hasten the GB2.

Thats all we have for now folks. Stay tune for more articles and discussion.

Cray Journal: Gear Chronicle

Following the start of Season 4, our dear Bushiroad has decided to release a new clan, called Gear Chronicle, which is used by our new main character, Chrono Shindou.

For those of you familiar with Greek mythology, Chronos is the personification of time in pre-Socratic philosophy. If Bushi is trying to hint something, they certainly did a good job of it.

Anyways, back to Vanguard. Gear Chronicle was the first clan to receive a new TD for Season 4. The main boss of the TD: Chrono Jet Dragon

[AUTO](VC): GB2(This ability is active when you have 2 or more face-up G units in your G Zone and/or VC) When this unit attacks a Vanguard, until end of that battle, this unit gets [Power}+5000, and your opponent cannot call Grade 1 or greater units to (GC).

[AUTO](VC): [Counter Blast (1)] During your turn, when your G unit Stride, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and put that unit at the bottom of your opponent's deck.

So this unit plays with the concept of "time", by sending rear-guards back to the deck, where they once were(in the past). The GB2 ability is pretty neat, considering by that time, the game would have shifted into late-game, and your opponent would need to guard almost every attack. 

Gear Chronicle's main mechanic focuses on sending their opponents' rear-guards back to the bottom of the deck.

Now let's look at their G unit from the TD:

Interdimensional Dragon, Mystery Flare Dragon

(G unit cannot be in your main deck)

Stride(Release it when both you and your opponent have a Grade 3 or greater Vanguard)-Stride step- [Choose 1 or more cards from your hand, with the sum of grades being 3 or greater, and discard them] Stride this face down card on your (VC) 

(When you stride, it gets the power and name from one of your hearts, and return this unit to the G Zone face-up at the end of your turn)

[AUTO](VC): [Counter Blast (4)] When this unit's attack hits a Vanguard, you may reveal the top 4 cards of your deck. If the revealed cards have 4 different grades or more, you may pay the cost. If you do, you get an additional turn. If you reveal, shuffle your deck.

Welllll ok..... This seems rather OP at first glance, but the CB4 effect is REALLY hard to pull off in actual gameplay. If you do pull it off, the "extra turn" starts off with the stand-and-draw phase, and this unit would have gone back to the G Zone. 

I'll clarify this unit's effect. For it to actually go off, you need to reveal 1 grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, and grade 0 in the top 4 cards. Assuming you run a 8-11-14 build. By the time you have enough damage to pay the cost, the grade 1s, 2s, 3s, and 0s left in the deck would be around 6-6-4-9. So that's 25 cards left in your deck. It's simple probability mathematics. Chances of pulling this off at this point in time: (6/25)(6/24)(4/23)(9/22)= 0.0042687747= ~0.427%(3 s.f.) chance

That's not even a 1 % chance!

So for those of you who think this will break the meta, think again. 

As I said before, the main mechanic of Gear Chronicle is to return your opponent's units to the bottom deck. So here's a decent deck build based on the cards released so far, and those to be released in GBT-01

4 Chrono Jet Dragon; 4 Fatewheel Dragon

4 Steam Fighter, Amber; 4 Steam Knight, Puzur Ili; 3 Relic Master Dragon
4 Steam Maiden Alulim(PG); 4 Steam Breath Dragon; 4 Apex Standing Gearwolf; 2 Steam Rider, Burnham
4 Lucky Pot Dracokid(draw); 4 Steam Maiden, Ululu(heal); 4 Steam Battler Dadashig(critical); 4 Steam Battler, Mashuda(critical)
Starter: Timepiece Dracokid
G Zone: Interdimensional Dragon, Ragnaclock Dragon; Interdimensional Dragon, Chronos Command Dragon 

In this deck, Mystery Flare Dragon is replaced by Chronos Command Dragon, simply because the chances of Mystery Flare going off is too low, and Chronos Command is more consistent by putting on more pressure when he is on the (VC).
Fatewheel Dragon is in a word, ANNOYING. While it uses alot of counterblasts, it certainly has a good reason to do so. Its main effect is a silent tom that gets a critical when attacking for just 1 counterblast. It just wastes all your negates away. So while one Vanguard has a glory effect, the other has a silent tom effect. Good job.
Steam Fighter Amber is a core unit of this deck. As said before, the main purpose of this deck is to send your opponent's rear guards to the bottom deck, and this unit does it perfectly well. If this unit is boosted and it's attacking a Vanguard, the GB1 ability will let it CB1 to send a G2 or less RG to the bottom deck. Sounds good to me.
Steam Knight Puzur Ili is another card with the silent tom effect, except you have to pay the cost of SB2 when attacking the Vanguard to activate the effect.
Relic Master Dragon is a CB2 on call or on ride to send a G2 or less RG to bottom deck. It's quite CB heavy, like many other units in the deck, and that's why there's only 3.
I know the new negate has the restriction of only being able to protect the Vanguard, but you need the unflipping more than ever
Steam Breath Dragon gains +2 grades in the hand when it is to be used for the cost of striding. You'll need this because you can't keep dropping your G3s. Its other effect is to reveal a G3 from your hand and discard 1 to search for a Chrono Jet Dragon. Such a useful card...
Apex Standing Gearwolf is a key card. Since this deck focuses so much on sending RGs to the bottom deck, why not power up because of it? This unit gains [Power]+3000 on the RC when an opponent's rear-guard is sent to bottom deck. 

Steam Rider Burnham is a 10K booster for the Vanguard, and it's a GB1 skill. Best to have this behind your Vanguard when it is at Chronos Command Dragon to make sure that thing hits.
Lucky Pot Dracokid is a draw trigger with the Margal effect. You're gonna need this to fuel your soul for all the different card abilities your deck has.
Timepiece Dracokid is a G3 searcher with no restrictions. Nuff' said.

Overall, this deck is really fun to play but really CB heavy. You have to be careful not to spam all the skills when you play this deck or your deck will become vanilla once you hit late game.
There's nothing much more to say here, so keep on Vanguarding everyone~

Signing off,
Lee Megan

Cray Journal: Oracle Think Tank Stride~

As a huge OTT fan, I'm just sooooo happy that they FINALLY got support. It's been so long since they were supported it's hard to believe they were once considered meta. Anyways, moving on to the main point of my article, their new stride units and G-BT01 support.

Supreme Sky Battle Deity, Susanoo

[CONT](VC) Generation Break 2(This ability is active if you have 2 or more face up G units on your (VC) and/or G Zone) During your turn, if you have 4 or more cards in your hand, this unit gains [Power]+5000/[Critical]+1
[AUTO](VC): [Counter Blast (1)] During your turn, when your G unit Stride, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at the top 2 cards of your deck, search for one card, put it into your hand, and put the rest at the bottom of your deck in any order. 

Kinda lackluster for a RRR, but decent nonetheless. The GB2 ability will create a lot of pressure for your opponent. By the time you have used stride twice, it would be late game, with both opponents at 3-4 damage.
The second skill is the better part of this card. Since striding is essentially a net +/-0, this would make striding a net +1 for one counterblast. It would also let you stack your triggers at the bottom of the deck, so if you have a great memory, you will know what's coming once your stack is reached. In this sense, this card works rather well with the tsukuyomi ride chain.

Now let's look at the two G units that came out in this

Sword Deity of Divine Sound, Takemikazuchi

Stride- [Choose one or more cards from your hand with the sum of grades being 3 or greater, and discard them] Stride this face down card on  your (VC)
[ACT](VC): [Counter Blast (2) & Choose a face-down card named "Sword Deity of Divine Sound, Takemikazuchi" from your G Zone, and turn it face up] If the number of face-up cards in your G Zone is 2 or more, look at the top 4 cards of your deck, search for 2 cards, put them into your hand, and put the rest at the bottom of your deck in any order. 

Just like Susanoo, this card works really well with the Tsukuyomi chain, letting you reach your stack even faster and stacking more at the bottom. This ability is meant to be used sometime late to mid-game, to help you out of a pinch or get the desired cards into your hand.
Since the effect cost makes you turn another copy of itself face-up in the G Zone, you'll have to run an even number of these to fully utilize the effect.
But of course, you'll need another G unit in your deck to even use this card, so let's look at the other G unit released in this set:

Soaring Auspicious Beast, Qilin

Stride-  [Choose one or more cards from your hand with the sum of grades being 3 or greater, and discard them] Stride this face down card on  your (VC)
[AUTO](VC): When this unit's attack hits a Vanguard, look at 2 cards from the top of your deck, search for 1 card from among them, put it into your hand, and place the rest at the bottom of your deck in any order.

This unit is meant for early game rush. The instant both you and your opponent are at Grade 3, release this to pressure so you can build your hand early. Most people would not have a negate by that time, and would not be likely to throw a 30K shield for 2 pass at this point. This gives you even more reason to go second at the start of the game(or so I feel).
And the fact that this is only a R is so great~

Now I think I've said enough about those 2 G units, so moving on to a proper deck build:
4 Supreme Sky Battle Deity, Susanoo; 4 Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi
4 Goddess of the Half Moon, Tsukuyomi; 4 Diviner, Shinatsuhiko; 3 Silent Tom
4 Mediator, Amenosagiri(PG); 4 Goddess of the Crescent Moon, Tsukuyomi; 3 Divine Sword, Amenomurakumo, 3 Oracle Guardian, Gemini
4 Psychic Bird(critical); 4 Battle Sister,Ginger(critical); 4 Dream Eater(draw); 4 Lozenge Magus(heal)
Starter: Godhawk, Ichibiyoshi
G Zone: 4 Sword Deity of Divine Sound, Takemikazuchi; 4 Soaring Auspicious Beast, Qilin

The G3 Tsukuyomi is here because, what better G3 to run than this? Monaka is fine too, but her effect is LB, and you don't exactly have enough G1 space to put a LB enabler. Her effect isn't exactly a finisher either, and you won't have enough G3s left to use as stride fodder.
Shintatsuhiko's name may be a mouthful, but it's nothing more than a GB1 12K whacker. Nuff' said.
Silent Tom. The silent killer. With triple drive check and a higher chance of getting triggers, why would you NOT run this?
Amenomurakumo. Another mouthful. It's a G1 with the ability to reveal a G3 and drop 1 card to search out Susanoo. This is effect is not meant to be used as it will ruin your stack. It's main effect is to drop for stride. If this unit is to be used to pay the cost for stride, it gains 2 grades, meaning you can just drop this card from your hand and stride.
I know the new negates have a restriction in that they can only defend your Vanguard. But in this deck, the CB usage is really high, and you'll need a way to unflip, and this is the only possible way. Running Lemonade(sb2, unflip 2) is not an option here as there isn't enough G1 space.
8 crit 4 draw is standard and will help maintain the large hand size OTT is known for.
Psychic Bird is a must because you'll need the 6 soul requirement if you were to accidentally ride Tsukuyomi first.
The main purpose of this deck is to draw until you reach your stack, and pull a double/triple trigger to kill your opponent instantly.

For those of you a little tight on budget, here's an alternative decklist:
4 Supreme Sky Battle Deity, Susanoo; 4 Battle Sister, Mille Feuillle
4 Diviner, Shinatsuhiko; 4 Diviner, Kuroikazuchi; 3 Battle Sister, Marshmallow
4 Mediator, Amenosagiri(PG); 4 Divine Sword, Amenomurakumo; 3 Oracle Guardian Gemini; 3 Battle Sister, Lemonade
4 Psychic Bird; 4 Battle Sister, Ginger; 4 Dream Eater; 4 Lozenge Magus
Starter: Battle Sister, Eclair

Mille Feuille is a C card with an on ride ability to CB1, SB1 to draw one card. Her GB1 ability is an ACT ability to CB2, check the top 2, take 1, and put the other at the bottom. She doesn't have much use on the Vanguard, so you can ride her first to fulfill the conditions for Marshmallow, and then use her as stride fodder once you ride into Susanoo.
Marshmallow is a pressure unit that lets you soul charge 1 and unflip 1 when her attack hits the Vanguard, and your Vanguard is a battle sister. It's a VC/RC effect, so it would be best to ride her on your G2 turn.
Kuroikazuchi is a RR. Her GB1 ability: when she is boosted, and attacking a Vanguard, you can CB1 to draw 1 card.
Psychic Bird again is a must to fuel the soul for unflipping. This build uses even more counterblasts than the previous one, so you're gonna need lemonade and the negate to unflip as many times as possible for you.
The main purpose of this deck is to filter until you have mostly triggers left in the deck. Lozenge Magus and Eclair are needed to shuffle so the triggers don't all get stuck at the bottom. If they do, by the time you reach them, you would lose by deck out.

Overall, OTT is still very fun to use, and you get to traumatize your opponents with your huge handsizes~
I really don't think I can say any more about this clan, so have fun Vanguarding everyone~

Signing off,
Lee Megan

Cray Journal: Granblue, the strongest budget deck!!

Want to stay competitive in the current Legion meta, but have not enough money to buy a full build, expensive Legion deck? Fear not, Granblue is here to save you. The mighty pirates will cut down anyone who stands in your way, and will be easy on your wallet too. Let's look at their main boss:

Young Noble Pirate, Pinot Noir
[ACT](VC): Legion 20000 "Pirate Belle, Pinot Blanc" 
[AUTO](VC): [Put 3 cards from the top of your deck into the drop zone] When this unit performs Legion, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one card from your drop zone, and call it to (RC).
[AUTO](VC): [Choose 1 of your rear-guards, and retire it] When this unit attacks a Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of that battle.

 


Pirate Belle, Pinot Blanc 
[AUTO](Drop zone): [Counter Blast (1)] When your Vanguard performs Legion, you may pay the cost. If you do, call this card to (RC)

That's Granblue's ace unit from BT17. Not too shabby for a RR, right? The good thing about Pinot Blanc is, if you don't have her in the drop zone when you Legion, but end up milling her as part of the 3 cards from Pinot Noir's skill, you can still activate her skill. Pinot Noir's ability to retire units for additional power is very useful. You can either retire some useless G0(like Hades Steersman) or your Sea Strolling Banshee or Corrosion Dragons to spawn them later to use their skills. With more support from bt17, the options for you to retire are endless! Of course, the main problem with Pinot Noir is that his skill is a one-time thing. Which is why we have the other Granblue Legion card from BT17:

 
Witch Doctor of the Dead Sea, Negrobolt
[ACT](VC): Legion 20000 "Dragon Undead, Ghoul Dragon"
[AUTO]((VC): [Counter Blast (1), Choose one of your rear-guards, and retire it] When this unit attacks a Vanguard, if this unit is in Legion, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose 1 card from your drop zone, and call it to (RC).
[AUTO](VC): When this unit attacks a Vanguard, if there is another unit in the center column, this unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of battle.
  
Dragon Undead, Ghoul Dragon
[AUTO] When this unit is placed on (RC) from your drop zone, until end of turn, this unit gets "[AUTO](RC): When this unit's attack hits a Vanguard, choose 1 of your opponent's rear-guards, and retire it" until end of turn. 

WOOOOOWWWWW... I see so many ways to abuse these 2 together. A simple way would be to attack with a rear-guard column first, then superior call Ghoul Dragon in the front row of that column. With this, you get an extra 1 attack for that turn. Even better, Ghoul Dragon would add pressure to your opponent to guard. I must say, this is really impressive, considering it's only an R.
Here's a nice, cheap decklist for you guys:

4 Pinot Noir, 4 Negrobolt
4 Pinot Blanc, 4 Ghoul Dragon, 4 Corrosion Dragon
2 Universal Negate(bt16 or later), 2 Reef Banshee(QW), 2 Deadly Nightmare, 3 Sea Strolling Banshee, 2 Arman, 2 Evil Shade

Corrosion Dragon is almost like a staple in this deck... You can either call it via Pinot Noir, or Negrobolt's skill for a nice 12k whacker.
The reason i put deadly nightmare instead of samurai spirit, is because this deck is quite counterblast heavy. The soul isn't used for anything other than the banshee, so might as well use it to spawn perfect number 16k columns right?
Sea Strolling Banshee... Lets you soul blast 1 to draw when she's called from the drop zone. With the 2 bosses listed above, need i say more?
Chief of the Deck, Arman... He gains +3k when you superior call him from the drop zone. Basically a G1 version of Corrosion Dragon, i only run 2 of this simply due to the lack of G1 space.
Evil Shade boosts your Vanguard for 10k by milling 2 at once. Sets up for Legion and puts revivables in the drop zone for you? OH HELL YES.
The universal negate can be any negate post-bt16 since it doesn't have a clan restriction. If you want, you could run Gust Jinn, but this is meant to be a budget deck. Gust Jinn is from bt02, an extinct set, and you're gonna blow a hole in your wallet trying to get 2 of him.

Now to look at the prices:
4 Pinot Noir: ~$4 each, $16 total
2 Universal Negate: ~$5 each, $10 total
2 Reef Banshee: ~$4 each, $8 total
~$5 for all CnRs.
Total: $39
 Now would ya call that cheap or what?? :D
Cheap and good, welcome the era of the Granblue Pirates!!

Signing off,
Lee Megan 

Genesis LB5 unit

Ohayo minna~ I think i forgot to write about this card during my article about the EB12 Regalia support. So sorry about that~ ><

Anyways, let's take a look at the new crossride for Regalia of Wisdom, Angelica, with a lb5 skill shall we?

Regalia of Wisdom and Courage, Brunhild

[ACT](VC): Limit Break 5(This ability is active when you have 5 or more damage)[Counter Blast (4), Soul Blast (6)] Retire up to 3 of your opponent's rear-guards. For each unit retired, you may draw 1 card.

[CONT](VC): If you have a card named Wisdom of the Sacred Regalia, Angelica in your soul, this unit gets [Power]+2000.

Okay, abit overcosted, but this is a decent card overall. The lb5 is devastating to many rg-dependent decks(eg, Aqua Force, Nova Grappler) and hand size would not be a problem in this deck with Angelica. The main issue here is deck-out. Your opponent might want to keep you from 5 damage to prevent usage of this card's skill, and as a result from constant soul charging, you would deck-out. To counter this, you may want to run a few legion units in the deck, for extra power pressure as well, since Brundhild does not have much power on her own unless you soul blast Norn or Achiles. 

You may also wish to run unflippers in the deck, since this card doesn't have Lord(yay! :D), to use the lb5 skill multiple times in one game, but watch out for your deck size once again. 

Most people think this card is no good, but really, it's all about how you use it and make it synergize with the other cards in your deck. I have constructed a deck around this card and beat quite a number of top-tier decks with it, namely, Raizers Legion and RPBA. You may wish to take a look at my decklist below:

G3

3 Regalia of Wisdom and Courage, Brundhild

3 Regalia of Wisdom, Angelica

2 Regalia of Cosmos, CEO Yggdrasil

G2

4 Regalia of Fate, Norn

4 Goddess of Trees, Jupiter

2 Regalia of Abundance, Freya

2 Evening Regalia, Hesperides

G1:

2 Witch of Strawberries, Framboise(Perfect Guard)

2 Regalia of Cold, Svalin(Quintet Wall)

4 Exorcism Regalia, Shiny Angel

2 Ordain Owl

3 Witch of Apples, Cider

Rainbow triggers(all with Regalia archetype)

Starter: Vivd Rabbit(G3 searcher)

The main focus of this deck is to Legion early, pressure the opponent and deplete his hand, then ride Brundhild to wipe the field and win the game. Sometimes i ride Brundhild first, so i would build my hand, and wipe my opponent's field. Once their defenses are withered down, i would ride CEO Yggdrasil to end the game.

You see, Brundhild is not really meant to be a main boss(imo) but more of a support card which you can use to pressure your opponent and reduce his hand size, as he would have to use his hand to replenish the field that you wiped out. Now do you believe me when i say Brundhild is actually a decent card, compared to what most people think? :D

Signing off,

Lee Megan

Angel Feather Celestial Anime Matsuri Legion!

It's Anime Matsuri again!! YAYYYY!!! On another note, several clans have gotten Legion during this event(see: "Legion: the basics"), and one of them is Angel Feather with their beautiful Celestials. Let's take a look at their Legion unit shall we?
 
Holy Edge Celestial, Malchedael
[ACT](VC): Legion 20000 "Overdose Celestial, Asmodel" (If your opponent has a Grade 3 or greater Vanguard, only once, this unit may return 4 cards from your drop zone to your deck, and search your deck for the specified card, and perform Legion)
[CONT](VC): During your turn, if this unit is in Legion, all of your units in the front row get [Power]+2000. Then, if you have a face up card in your damage zone with the same name as a unit on your (VC), all of your units in the front row get [Power]+2000.
[AUTO](VC): When this unit attacks a Vanguard, if there is another unit in the center column, this unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of that battle.

 
Overdose Celestial, Asmodel
[AUTO](RC): [Counter Blast (1) & put this unit into your damage zone]When this unit's attack hits a Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one face up card not named "Overdose Celestial, Asmodel" from your damage zone, and call it to (RC).

I don't know about you guys, but these 2 just makes AF even more fun than it already is. Looking at the G2 Legion mate, it's an easy way to achieve the 2nd part of the skill for Malchedael. It can also combo with Emergency Celestial, Danielle when it enters the damage zone, allowing for more attacks in a single turn. Asmodel is basically a very pressurizing unit which would force your opponent to guard if they don't want more full-strength attacks coming their way(Raguel and Danielle, I'm looking at you :P).
Now let's talk about the G3 itself. Although this might seem a little weaker than Zerachiel in terms of all-round field power, the Vanguard power is absolutely devastating. Let's take a look: 23K(when attacking) + 4K(first part of skill, adding 2K to each unit on VC) + 4K(second part of skill, adding another 2K to each unit on VC) + 9K(possible boost from Hesediel with Zerachiel in the damage zone)= A devastating 40K Vanguard attack
Comparing to Zerachiel with a maximum consistent attack of 26K per turn, this unit obviously outclasses Zerachiel in terms of Vanguard power alone. Run this in an 8 Crit build, and it's a hell lot of pressure. :D
I'll go into a basic pressure field setup for this unit:
Left column: Asmodel(front row), Hesediel(back row w/ face-up Zerachiel in damage zone)
Center column: Legion Malchedael + Asmodel(front row), Hesediel(back row)
Right column: empty front row, narelle/hesediel in back row
Damage Zone: face-up Zerachiel, face-up Danielle, face-up Raguel, 2 face-up damage
This is a basic field set-up i thought of which is very pressurizing to the opponent, because if they let Asmodel hit, it will open them up to 2 more full strength attacks from Raguel, and Danielle later. Of course, it's risky to be at 5 damage in the current meta, so the part about Danielle is optional, and you can have one less face-up damage.

Here's a nice deck-list I thought up:
4 Zerachiel, 4 Malchedael
4 Asmodel, 4 Raguel, 3 Danielle
4 Aniel(pg), 4 Narelle, 4 Hesediel, 2 Nociel
Triggers: 4 Hot Shot Celestial, Samyaza(critical); 4 Rocket Dash Unicorn(critical); 4 Celestial, Landing Pegasus(draw); 4 Recovery Celestial, Ramuel(heal)
Starter: First Aid Celestial, Penuel

The reason I run Nociel in this build is to possibly swap Danielle or Asmodel into the damage zone, as well as obtain more shield for guarding during your opponent's turn. Hesediel serves as a good booster in the back row for higher powered columns. Narelle is a staple in practically every Celestial deck, because it has an on-call effect to allow you to swap cards from your hand with the damage zone, possibly setting up for more fun combos later. Penuel is still the best starter for the Celestials in my opinion because she allows you to superior call 1 unit straight from the damage zone for the effective cost of one counterblast(Asmodel & Raguel I'm looking at you :P).
Well, that's it from me for now for the Celestials. I run a Celestial deck myself, so I was able to write this nicely. Feel free to voice your opinions in the comments section though :D

Signing off,
Lee Megan

Legion: the basics

This is basically an article talking about the basics of the newest mechanic, Legion. Enjoy :)

For all who watched S4, you would know about Legion. Legion is a new mechanic in Vanguard, released by Bushiroad in BT16. 

What exactly is Legion?

It is an ACT ability to return 4 cards from your drop zone to your deck, search for a specified "mate" and perform Legion. The Legion Mate is usually a Grade 2, placed on the left of the Grade 3 unit. 

How do I Legion?

When performing Legion, most people would send back 3-4 triggers or some key cards, depending on the contents of their drop zone. People generally want to perform Legion early for high numbers pressure. To do this, it is important to have 1-2 Quintet Walls in a deck consisting of Legion units. The QWs will help to build the drop zone quickly, allowing you to perform Legion sooner. However, do note that if you defend early-game, you may not have enough defenses for mid-late game. So do be careful on how you Legion :D

Examples of Legion units:

Royal Paladin: Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon + Blaster Blade Seeker

Shadow Paladin: Revenger, Phantom Blaster "Abyss" + Revenger, Blaster Dark "Abyss"

Genesis: Cosmic Regalia, CEO Yggdrasil + Regalia of Fate, Norn

Narukami: Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Buster + Brawler, Big Bang Slash Buster

DP: Metalborg, Sin Buster + Metalborg, Ur Buster

DI: Psychier of Ash, Hadar + Psychier of Dust, Izaya(Monthly Bushiroad promo)

NN: Penoy Musketeer, Martina + Peony Musketeer, Thule

GP: Bluish Flame Liberator, Percival + Liberator of Oath, Aglovale

LJ: Star Vader, Garnet Star Dragon + Companion Star Vader, Photon

Spike Brothers: Bloody Ogre + Frozen Ogre

OTT: Battle Sister, Jelly + Battle Sister, Pudding(Monthly Bushiroad promo)

This is just a list of Legion cards that have already been released by Bushiroad. If your favourite clan doesn't have a Legion unit yet, fret not, because more Legion cards are coming your way in the upcoming boosters. 

Remember, Vanguard is all about havig fun, so have fun, and Seek the Mate!! :D

For more information on Legion, do read 

http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Legion. They have an extensive article written on Legion here, for anyone who is still unsure of the mechanics :)

Signing off, 

Megan Lee