FC2015: A quick overview (Part 1)

Today I will be talking about the main G units featured for all clans in the upcoming FC2015. Just a brief explanation, I won't be talking about the Cray Elementals, as that's for another article altogether.
Since all clans are featured, this will be a rather long article, so bear with me. Now then, let's begin, shall we?

Holy Dragon, Religious Soul Saver 

 [AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a face down card named "Holy Dragon, Religious Soul Saver" from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit is placed on (VC), if you have a heart card with "Blaster" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to three of your units, and they get [Power]+5000 until end of turn. Then, if the number of cards in your soul with "Blaster" in its card name is two or more, this unit gets [Critical]+1 until end of turn.
The obvious deck choice to run this with would be MLB(Majesty Lord Blaster). On your G3 turn, make sure you get Blaster Dark, and Blaster Blade into the soul with MLB's skill. Next turn, stride this card for a free crit pressure and high-powered rear guard columns. Make sure you have at least 3 RGs to maximize this effect; 2 in your left column, 1 on the right at least, vice-versa. You can throw a RG behind your VG, but your opponent is likely to just kanzen, so you'd best save your hand, unless you know for sure he does not have a kanzen in hand.

Deity of the Evening Moon, Tsukuyomi 

[ACT](VC)[1/Turn]:[Choose a face down card named "Deity of the Evening Moon, Tsukuyomi" from your G zone, and turn it face up & Choose a card with "Tsukuyomi" in its card name from your hand, and put it into your soul] If you have a heart card with "Tsukuyomi" in its card name, look at five cards from the top of your deck, search for up to two cards from among them, put them into your hand, and put the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order.
This stride is kinda lackluster for a GR, but pretty good nonetheless. Since it doesn't use any counterblast, you can save the CB for Full moon Tsukuyomi's skill. This stride will ensure that your g1 and g2 Tsukuyomi's do not become dead fodder in your hand. Granting a net +1, not very good, but this helps reach your stack even faster.

Purgation Lion Emperor, Mithril Ezel

ACT](VC)[1/Turn]:[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a face down card named "Purgation Lion Emperor, Mithril Ezel" from your G zone, and turn it face up] If you have a heart card with "Ezel" in its card name, unlock all of your locked cards, look at five cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one card from among them, call it to (RC), shuffle your deck, and increase that unit and this unit's [Power] by the original [Power] of the unit called with this effect until end of turn.
With the return of Link Joker and Glendios(and his stride) this card can be a major killjoy for your opponent when he's about to World End you next turn. It doesn't take as much counterblast and soulblast as Ezel Scissors, so you can keep unlocking just for the trolls. The advantage of being able to superior call something slightly more specific than what Blond Ezel can give is good. Even if your opponent is not a Link Joker, you still get the +1 from the new rear-guard, and the extra power for increased pressure on your turn. 

Supreme Heavenly Emperor, Dragonic Overlord "The Ace"

[ACT](VC):[Counter Blast (2) & Choose a face down card named "Supreme Heavenly Emperor Dragon, Dragonic Overlord "The Ace"" from your G zone, and turn it face-up] If the number of face up cards in your G zone is two or more, until end of turn, this unit gets drive-1 and "[AUTO](VC)[1/Turn]:[Choose a card from your hand, and discard it & Choose a card with "Overlord" in its card name from your hand, and discard it] At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, [Stand] this unit, and this 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)".
I see a lot of problems with this unit. The counterblast cost is 1. Imagine using this in a DOTX or DOTR deck. Spend 2 counterblast on this, and what have you left to restand with your boss G3? Another problem is the discard cost. In any Overlord deck, you have to already discard a G3 for stride, then you need to have another Overlord in hand. Since all Overlords a G3s, this may be a problem in all Overlord decks, and WILL be a problem in a DOTX deck. Both DOTE and DOTX require a persona blast to activate their skills. If you throw one of them from your hand, that's 1 less chance to pull off a restand with DOTE or a burn with DOTX. The way I see it, the best part about this card is the high power restand, and the additional +5K after restand. Other than that, not so good. Kind like Dragonic Overlord "The Hype". Haters gonna hate on me, but this is how I see this card.

True Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Turbo

[ACT](VC)[1/Turn]:[Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1) & Choose a face down card from your G zone, and turn it face up] If you have a heart card with "Big Bang Knuckle" in its name, until end of turn, this unit gets "[CONT](VC):When this unit would choose a unit to attack, choose up to three of your opponent's units for each of your heart cards instead, and this unit battles all of the chosen units in one attack.", and this unit gets [Power]+5000 for each face up "True Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Turbo" in your G zone.
This is so good. Just being in Legion mode ensures you can hit the whole field, and kill all your opponent's rear guards in one shot. Having 2 Big Bang Slash Busters in your left and right column would make for immense attacking power, as if your Vanguard didn't have that already. The consistency is just soooo good. Once you've used up all 4 of this in your G Zone, you can just stick with your Legioned Big Bang Knuckle Buster and whack for high numbers and pressure. With this, your opponent can only attack with his Vanguard or waste resources trying to build a rear-guard presence. Bye-bye Aqua Force.

Death Star-Vader, "Omega Loop" Glendios

[ACT](VC)[1/Turn]: [Counter Blast (2) & Choose a face-down card named "Death Star-Vader, "Omega Loop" Glendios" from your G Zone, and turn it face-up] If you have a heart with "Glendios" in its card name, your opponent chooses one of his or her (RC) for each of your rear-guards with "Я" in its card name, and puts the top card of his or her deck into that (RC) face down as a locked card. Then if the number of cards in your damage zone is five or more, all your opponent's locked cards cannot be unlocked during his or her next end phase.

Although this card sets up for your World End, the problem is that all your Reverse units from other clans can't attack, since they are no longer considered to be Link Joker units. You'll be screwed over by one heal, and then your opponent can just whack a rear-guard with his Vanguard. Another problem is that you might not have enough counterblast left after using Magnet Hollow's skills and maybe some others you might have, depending on deck build. In short, this card looks good on the surface, and would be good, if it just wasn't so circumstantial. 

Blue Storm Master Dragon, Admiral Maelstrom

[AUTO](VC)[1/Turn]:[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a face down card from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, if it is the fourth battle of that turn or more, and you have a heart card with "Maelstrom" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card, choose three of your opponent's rear-guards, your opponent chooses one from them for each face up "Blue Storm Master Dragon, Admiral Maelstrom" in your G zone, and retires them.

Obviously, Aqua Force can very well achieve a fourth attack with the Vanguard. In this situation, your opponent will either retire 1 or 3 of their rear-guards from the skill. The only issue here is thatthe skill is an on-hit effect. This can be seen not as a problem, but as an advantage which would force shield out of your opponent before you use Glory Maelstrom or Reverse Maelstrom's skill. This way, the deck becomes more pressure-centric, and it would be meant to outlast your opponent but whittling down their hand until they have nothing left.

Interdimensional Dragon, Epoch Maker Dragon

[AUTO](VC):When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, you may choose one of your rear-guards, and bind it face up. If you do, search your deck for up to one grade 3 card, call it to (RC), shuffle your deck, and at the end of your turn, put the unit called with this effect on the bottom of your deck. If you put a card on the bottom of your deck this way, choose a card bound with this effect from your bind zone, and call it to (RC).
This card basically allows for you to get a fourth attack in one turn, not accounting for stand triggers. Again, the issue/advantage is that this is an on-hit effect. Your opponent can either choose to no guard and risk taking around 3 damage(including 1 crit trigger) or waste shield guarding this, and be open to your Ragnaclock's crit later in the game. This effect was not really meant to go off most of the time, but this card acts as a pressure unit in the deck.

Holy Celestial, Mikael

[ACT](VC)[1/Turn]:[Counter Blast (1)] If you have a heart card with "Celestial" in its card name, put the top card of your deck into your damage zone, choose a face up card from your damage zone, and call it to (RC). Then, if you have a face up card in your damage zone with the same name as a card in your hearts, the unit called with this effect gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn.
This card is one of the good cards from this set, as it works with any of the Celestial bosses in Angel Feather(except maybe the FC2014 card). The best card to run this with would be the Celestial Legion, considering its ability to create huge-powered columns. For old school, you can run this with Zerachiel or Ramiel Reverse to build your field for their limit break to go off next turn.

True Revenger, Dragruler Revenant

[ACT](VC)[1/Turn]:[Choose one of your rear-guards with "Revenger" in its card name, and retire it] If you have a heart card with "Revenger" in its card name, search your deck for up to one grade 1 or less card with "Revenger" in its card name, call it to (RC), shuffle your deck, that unit and this unit get [Power]+3000 until end of turn.
As the name suggests, it's best to run this card with Dragruler to create columns harder to guard while your opponent is already at 5 damage thanks to Dragruler's skill. The best way to abuse the ability is to call something with Mana, then kill it with this skill and summon either a Blaster Dark or Masquerade. A so-so card, you can run it with any Shadow Paladin Revenger deck, although it doesn't exactly generate any pluses.

Divine Flame Ultimate Regalia, Demeter

[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit attacks a vanguard, if you have a heart card with "Regalia" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, for each of your heart cards, Soul Charge (3), choose a card from your damage zone, and turn it face up.
Simple, but great. There's several ways to use this card. You can ride Angelica then stride this, so you can use pure angel's secondary skill to draw one card and still be able to break ride next turn. Even if you soul charge triggers this way, you can soul blast it out with the break ride. You can also use this to refill your soul after using CEO Yggdrasil's skill. If your Vanguard is in Legion when you stride this, it's a instant 6 soul for you, allowing you to use Yggdrasil again next turn for more pressure.

Six Realms Stealth Dragon, Jorurirakan

[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (2)] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, bind it face up, your opponent chooses a card from his or her hand, and binds it face down. At the end of that turn, if you have a heart card with "Shura Stealth Dragon" in its card name, your opponent puts the cards bound with this effect into his or her drop zone, if you do not have, your opponent puts the cards bound with this effect into his or her hand.
This G unit works with any of the current Nubatama bosses, even the break ride, since they all have Shura Stealth Dragon in the name. You can choose a pesky rear-guard from your opponent's field, and get rid of it by the end of your turn(I'm looking at Aqua Force and Nova Grapplers). And while they are allowed to choose which card from hand to bind, it's likely they'll have to throw some shield or an important card, allowing higher chances for your attacks to get through. This is the kind of good support Nubatama's been waiting for for so long.

 Super Ancient Dragon, Parititian

[AUTO]:When this unit placed on (VC), if you have a heart card with "Ancient Dragon" in its card name, choose a rear-guard of all fighters, retire them, and increase this unit's [Power] by the sum of the original [Power] of the units retired with this effect until end of turn. Then, if the [Power] increased with this effect is 20000 or more, this unit gets [Critical]+1 until end of turn.
Translation: you and your opponent retire 1 rear-guard each, and if the total power of those 2 units is 20K or more, this unit gets +1 crit. It seems good, it's hard to get that extra critical. One will have to retire a 11K rear-guard, and the other a 9K rear-guard. Obviously your opponent wouldn't want you getting that extra crit, so he'll choose a G1 with about 7K power. The only surefire way to make sure you get that crit is in a tag match, where all 4 players will have to retire 1. In normal matches, the main purpose of this card is to force your opponent to retire their rear-guards, and you can keep yours by choosing Tyrannobite or the G1 version to retire, then revive them with their counterblast skill. This card is meant to work in a deck with Tyrannoquake and/or Tyrannolegend to keep up the pressure with high-powered attacks and easy-to-get crits.

I will continue this article with a Part 2 coming very soon :) 
For now, feel free to comment on anything below :)
Note: I don't own any of the images above. Credits to their respective owners and Bushiroad Inc.
-Megan Lee

Td16 & Td17

Here’s a quick review on the Trial Decks that came out last week, TD16 and TD17

Divine Judgment of the Bluish Flames and Will of the Locked Dragon respectively, allowing players to play using the debut decks of two members of the Elite Four, ahem, I mean Quatre Knights from the fourth season of the anime, Olivier Gaillard and their recently converted-to-evil leader, Aichi Sendou.

To sum up the 2 TDs, they are of course meant to be playable out-of-the-box for beginners as how TDs always are, but considering that they are based on the existing Liberator and Star-vader archetypes established the previous season, these TDs serve to introduce a few key cards that allow them to do what they usually do faster and more reliably, namely more cost-efficient superior calling for Gold Paladin (not so much extra focus on power increments this time round) and the lock that has become synonymous with the nefarious Link Jokers. However, these decks’ main point is still Legion, the name of the game status quo, hence they will also provide the debut for the Legion pairs in each clan and cards that support/benefit from a Legioned vanguard.

The key cards from each deck


TD16
Starter: Genius Liberator, Woltimer

[AUTO]: Forerunner (When a unit of the same clan rides this unit, you may call this unit to (RC)) [AUTO](RC): When this unit boosts, if the number other vanguards and/or rear-guards you have with "Liberator" in its card name is four or more, the boosted unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of that battle.

Bushiroad is nowmore generous for the TD’s starter vanguard. In past TDs, our dear publisher usually throws in a vanilla G0 as a starter that you will eventually scrap and buy a better unit in replacement. But for the first time ever, the TD comes with a Forerunner that essentially becomes a grade 1 8000 vanilla booster. The condition is extremely easy to achieve,considering that Gold Paladin emphasizes on filling as many Rearguard slots as possible. So as long as your backrow is full, the extra +3000 is yours.

Bluish Flame Liberator, Percival

[ACT](VC): Legion 20000 "Liberator of Oath, Aglovale" (If your opponent has a grade 3 or greater vanguard, only once, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone to your deck, and search your deck for the specified card, and perform Legion.) [AUTO](VC):When this unit performs Legion, look at four cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one card with "Liberator" in its card name, call it to an open (RC), and put the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order. [AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of that battle.

Percival is the trump card of the deck similar to other TD-trump cards that usually usually give Power boosts or superior calling effects like the Great Silver Wolf Garmore. Looking for 1 unit among the top 4 upon Legioning for free is an average-good effect and the odds of you pulling an attacker or booster that you need is high.

Liberator of Oath, Aglovale

[AUTO]:[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on (RC), if you have a vanguard with "Liberator" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at three cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one card with "Liberator" in its card name, call it to an open (RC), and put the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order.

Percival’s legion partner. If not used as such, Aglovale being called onto the rear-guard is a low cost way of increasing field size and you get to choose from the top 3 cards of the deck at a low cost of CB1. This card will become a splashable seen in most GP decks.

TD17

Starter: Vacant Space Star-vader, Quantum

[AUTO]: Forerunner (When a unit of the same clan rides this unit, you may call this unit to (RC)) [AUTO](RC):When this unit boosts, if the number of locked cards your opponent has is two or greater, the boosted unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of that battle.

A starter capable of forerunning like the one in the GP TD. Its power gain, however, is not as reliable as his GP counterpart since you need 2 locked cards on the opponent’s side of the field. Moreover, this deck, being so Legion-centric, offers very little opportunities for locking in the first place. The only times you Lock with this deck is when you Legion or if you decide to call your single copy of Photon as a rearguard, so tough luck trying to maintain weak Quantum’s +3000.

Even if this card is used as a starter in other LJ decks, the +3000 might be harder to achieve until mid-game when you have access to grade 3s that possess more certain lock effects, but by then you are better off retiring this puny G0 and replacing it with an actual 8000 vanilla or 7000-power-with-effect booster.

Companion Star Star-vader, Photon

[AUTO]: When this unit is placed on (RC), if you have a vanguard with "Star-vader" in its card name, and your opponent has a locked card, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and lock it. (The locked card is turned face down, and cannot do anything. It turns face up at the end of the owner's turn.)

Assume Photon to be the new Blaster Blade of sorts, the new G2 signature of Aichi’s that has a disruptive effect on the opponent’s side of the field a la Blaster Blade’s retiring. This card is close to giving the you a free Lock, usable almost anytime in-game, as all you need is to call it as a reagruard, which is more reliable and has even fewer strings attached than Dust Tail Unicorn and the Infinite Zero Dragon breakride. Sadly, with all good things in the TD, only 1 copy is included, but forsee this card to become a new staple to both new and old Link Joker decks like what Blaster Blade is to the Royals.

Star-vader, Garnet Star Dragon

The boss of the deck, basically a Legion version of Infinite Zero Dragon, which locks 2 cards on the opponent’s side of the field, one from the front row and one from the back.

ACT](VC): Legion 20000 "Companion Star Star-vader, Photon" (If your opponent has a grade 3 or greater vanguard, only once, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone to your deck, and search your deck for the specified card, and perform Legion.) [AUTO](VC):When this unit performs Legion, choose a rear-guard from your opponent's front row and back row, and lock them. (The locked card is turned face down, and cannot do anything. It turns face up at the end of the owner's turn.) [AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of that battle.

LJ also received their first Especial Intercept in this TD, though we’re putting this to the back of our head as we rarely see use of the +5000 shield of this breed of G2s these days.

Since Legion is the new thing, a significant portion of the remaining cards that gain power increments when your Vanguard is in Legion. Each deck also has the “budget” Legion only there for the “+5000 when attacking” power increment which competitives will phase out. The remainder of your deck is your standard TD fare: straightforward “french vanilla” cards with simple effects or small power increments. You will definitely be throwing away the 7000s that gain 1000 with CB1 and in come the Sentinels or the other G1s that you have been using. I feel disappointed that Busiroad decided to dump in these 7000+1000s when they could have just printed 8000 vanillas like what they always did for previous TDs.

So, how worth it are the 2 TDs?

If this is the first time you are playing Liberators and Star Vaders, sadly you might not get much of the feel of these two clans’ traits because the superior-calling theme and Locks do not show much here - the only time you can do it with this TD is with the Legion components. TDs 16 and 17 are more about the Legion and generic power increments with the cards that support/gain effects when your Vanguard is Legioned than showing off what the clans are really unique at.

However, if you are an existing user of the said clans, you are most probably grabbing a copy just for the Legion couples and the better support cards that I have highlighted earlier. Most of the triggers and vanillas are mere reprints of the previous Liberator and Star-vader TDs which you will relegate to your common-and-rare scrap trunk.

And as with the recent TD bosses, do not count on them to win that many battles if you stick to using them as your main vanguard till the end of the battle, especially if you are a veteran or the competitive-minded. Moreover, at the point in time of writing, some of the cards in BT17 have already been revealed, including potentially stronger ace cards that Aichi will be using in the coming episodes of the anime. These new cards might easily overpower your the Legion couples you’ve just obtained from the TD. You might hold your horses and switch over to those if your wallet permits. Furthermore, there is also the Neon Messiah Deleter Deck used by Ibuki in the upcoming movie with the enigmatic Delete mechanic, which may prove to be a better Link Joker deck compared to Aichi’s.

Looking ahead for the villain clans

Gold Paladin and Link Joker will remain as relatively popular clans as it has always been for clans used by main characters in the anime. Furthermore, trends for the new and much-hyped Legion mechanic do not seem to be particularly detrimental towards any clan, unlike Locks which are a significant threat to decks that require a full field to function properly. LJ dominated the previous season because of the varied playstyles that they can achieve with Lock, which is not a mere stalling of attacks but from which, further injuries to the insult, such as chain-locking more cards or retiring Locked units, can be added. Of course, not to forget the amount of complaints we’ve heard over the feared Chaos Breaker Dragon. As for GPs, they have been around since Season 2 and will continue to be a clan favoured by entry- to intermediate- level players due to their heavy promotion in the anime and the easy-to-pilot nature of a clan that focuses on straightforward power increments and top-calls.

BT17 will bring upgrades to these clan soons in a month from now, but until then, enjoy Legioning with these two TDs for now.

Mikeru

Cray Journal: Link Jokers

Hey folks, Imma just write a mini tourney report and a cray journal about my experience at Chak Fung's 2 man team tourney.

Before that lets talk about my journey for the past 2 weeks since i entered with CBD.
Here was my 1st decklist when i entered.

SVG: Dust tail Unicorn
G0:
4x Meteor Liger
4x Vice Soldat
4x Nebula Captor
4x Stellar Garage

G1
4x Promethium
4x Palladium
3x Chaos Beat Dragon
3x Neon

G2
4x Colony maker
3x Mobius Breath Dragon
4x Radon

G3
4x Infinite Zero Dragon
4x Chaos breaker Dragon

Reviews and experience after playing with this decklist.

Problem 1: Chaos beat dragon
6k base... Get poke by anything and almost everything.
He isn't a good rearguard booster if ya have a 9k rearguard such as colony maker and mobius breath dragon. 15k rearguard collumn gives a 5k guard for rearguard.

So ya telling me to put this behind the vanguard of CBD for a 21k column... Hmmm... right.... So what would ya normally do when ya guarding the middle lane? 20k 2 pass? or just negate? How bout putting the CBD as a rearguard? What card would ya discard as a fodder for CBD and Kanzen? A jam card like a G3 right? And ya get a palladium that will shut down that collumn.

Problem 2: Chaos Breaker Dragon
I am not high to mention this. But CBD has a notorious problem of decking out and unable to end games. Lets all Draw, Deck out, and Lock each other rearguards.

Here is the modded decklist that I used for Link Joker and the team tourney

SVG: Dust tail Unicorn
G0:
4x Meteor Liger
4x Vice Soldat
4x Nebula Captor
4x Stellar Garage

G1
4x Promethium
4x Palladium
4x Demonic Claw Star-vader, Lanthanum
2x Neon

G2
4x Colony maker
3x Mobius Breath Dragon
4x Radon

G3
4x Infinite Zero Dragon
3x Chaos breaker Dragon
1x Nebula Lord Dragon

Reviews and experiences after testing the new decklist.
Nebula Lord Dragon: It help end games. Break Riding a nebula over an Infinite zero is just very pain for late game when the game is stagnant and keeps ya opponent at the edge of his seat. +3k to all front row for each locked unit.

Nebula lord dragon isnt there to use his CB. Ya use the palladium to lock units with CB1 than use the CB2. just imagine all ya columns get +9k and ya control a Lanthanum.

Lanthanum: He combos very well with Radon and CBD given CBD's nature to only lock once per turn. he easily becomes a 9k booster and able to drive a 21k column easily and also as explained good for feeding Steroids and Ecstasy for Final turn. 7k base also makes it a better option over the chaos beat dragon.

Chak Fung Team Tourney Report.
Participants 16 teams.(32 man)
Deck Distribution.
Chaos Breaker
Shadow paladins - Revengers
Dimension Police
Narukami
Kagero
Nubatam

Round 1
Rfd vs CBD( Khai) Win
Rfd vs CBD (Khant Nyar) Loss
Tie Breaker
RFD vs CBD(Khai) Win

Round 2
DP vs CBD(khant)Win
CBD vs CBD(Khai)Loss
Tie Breaker
CBD vs CBD (Win)

Round 3
DP vs CBD(Khai)Win
RFD vs CBD(Khant)Win
.
.
to cut the long story short.

It all lies down to this match. The Most Crucial Match.
Kagero(DDD-inferno) vs CBD(Khai)
Nubatama vs CBD(Khant)
Outcome: Lose-Lose

Notable Experiences faced:
1. Misgrade at mobius for 1 turn in 2 games and still win matches.
2. Survived Daikaiser Twiced. Playing granblue and DI really help me. Credits to Aetas Kun for teaching me :D
3. Loss to Kagero and nubatama which got me stunned at the edge of my seat.

So what actually happened here. It got us really stunned. Just when everyone expect an RFD or CBD to top and kill Link Jokers.

Lets leave ya guys in suspense for now. Imma not gonna reveal how we lost that match which cost us the top 2 positions. Stay tune for the next journal where i am gonna explain in further details.

Lets Break the Chaos!

Sup guys, this Le jestre over here. I be making this post on behalf of my co-author, Purgatory Void Nothingness.
Here is what he have to say:

This Post Contains:
1. Chaos Breaker Overall Analysis (vs Reverse isn't covered as Dee Kit's post has covered)
2. Triangle Lock Card Advantage Calculations (Not all Situations!)

Kai Toshiki: "Strongest Dragon... Advent!", "Lock... You're not escaping!"

He wasn't joking, and you should be scared, for he is...

BT13/007 RRR
Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon
Star Gate/Cyber Dragon/Link Joker
Grade 3/Twin Drive/11k power
Auto [V] [Limit Break (4)] {This ability is active if you have four or more damage): [Soul Blast (1) - Cards with 「Star-vader」 in its card name] During your opponent's end phase, when one of your opponent's locked cards is unlocked , you may pay the cost. If you do, retire that unit, and draw a card.
Activate [V]: [Counter Blast (1) - Cards with 「Star-vader」 in its card name & Choose a card with 「Star-vader」 in its card name from your hand, and discard it] Choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and lock it. This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.
{Locked cards are turned face down, and cannot do anything. Turn them face up at the end of its owner's turn.}
Continuous [V/R]: Lord {If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack.}

The secret agent of Link Joker...! Stupid jokes aside, Chaos Breaker is the FIRST EVER HARD-counter against a certain Deck-type, specifically, Reverse, but since that has been covered, let's move on, on why you should be scared, even if you're not using Reverse.

Just stare at the Limit Break ability, let it sink in for a few moments. Yes, you pay ONE SOUL to retire one card, draw one card. Yes, it technically uses the Soul better than Dark Zone Clans and depending on the situation, It retires better than the Dragon Empire.

That isn't even including the Lock aspect of the skill. The most obvious one, is to combine it with Infinite Zero and Dust Tail as your Starter. Let us (I) do some calculations shall we?

Break Ride: -1
Dust Tail Unicorn: -1

Results: -2, 3 Units Locked.
Without factoring Lock, this is a -2, which is true for both Nebula and Chaos, but Factoring in Lock and their skills, this -2, gives a much larger Plus.

Assuming a Standard Full field and no Power Boosts, and the classic "Triangle" formation and you are forced to guard everything, you can now guard 15K No pass, instead of 15K 2 Pass VG.
IF your opponent gets 1 Trigger, it would cost you 40K wroth of guards, but don't be fooled, this isn't 4 cards, this is actually 5 cards since 2 attacks are wroth 15K.
2 Triggers, assuming lack of all to the Vanguard, is a 45K. Once again, don't be fooled, It's a 6 card guard.

NEWBIE-TIP: Don't give all your trigger powers to a single Rear-guard if you have 2 rear-guards to attack with. This forces your opponent to throw out more cards to guard your attack as they require 5K Guards.

So, assuming you throw a 15K No pass, which works on almost every vanguard in the meta, so here are the pluses you get.

2 Triggers:+2
1 Trigger:+1
No Trigger: 0

So no matter what happens, if you throw a no Pass, you won't lose anything. ALWAYS throw a no pass, unless you can't afford to throw another 5K.
This equation holds true for basically any card you Break ride, Infinite Zero, Nebula or Chaos. So It's a pretty good deal to Triangle when you can.

It gets better, when you factor in Cards like Niobium and Lanthanum (Or Lasange, if you catch my drift, Jed Lee). I don't have to explain why right? Nebula just takes it to the next Level.

Although Nebula's +9K to the front row matters in terms of guarding, This is about The Advantage Chaos Breaker generates, so let us continue.

So you're Triangle'd and Chaos Breaker stares you in the face. You can pretty much despair right there. Because, Soul Blast 3, is a very affordable cost, it is almost impossible to triangle without 3 soul.

You lose 3 units, and Chaos Breaker draws 3. Not to mention those "3 Units" are not units that you choose and are the least important ones. Units in the Lock Triangle are debatable to be one of the better cards on the rear-guard circles, Yes I know there are plenty of great on-hit or power increasing G1 boosters.

So finally, at the cost of Soul Blast 3, Counterblast 1 Chaos Breaker Gains +3-5, and you lose -3.

Yeah, that is quite the ridiculous amount of Card Advantage. This doesn't even include extra uses of Cards such as Palladium and Dust Tail in addition to Chaos Breaker's Regular Ability. So if you think that +3-5 and your -3 is recoverable... You're gonna to lose more than that.

Prepare yourself, Apocalypse is coming.

~Purgatory Void~

Link Joker Part 2 SchwarzChild Dragon

Hey folks, This is le-jester over here. I am here to share a few Extra spoilers, decklist of the SchwarzChild Dragon build that you might want to play with link jokers.

Schwarzschild Dragon

[ACT] (VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (3) & Choose a card named "Schwarzschild Dragon" from your hand, and discard it] Choose up to three of your opponent's rear-guards, lock them, and this unit gets [Power]+10000/[Critical]+1 until end of turn. (Locked cards are turned face down, and cannot do anything. Turn them face up at the end of its owner's turn) [AUTO]:[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, look at up to five cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one card named "Schwarzschild Dragon" from among them, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck. [CONT]:If you have a card named "Gravity Collapse Dragon" in your soul, this unit gets [Power]+1000.

My comments on this Badass:

Whoa... Lock 3 cards. Triangle lock and ya GG.com Persona blast? Seriously? Its way too counterblast heavy. A chain ride ride for LJ. Its been time chain ride got respawned into the meta after being on hiatus and unpopular for so long.

Gravity Collapse Dragon

[CONT](VC): When you have a card named "Gravity Ball Dragon" in your soul, this unit gets [Power]+1000.[AUTO]: When this unit rides on "Gravity Ball Dragon" and you have a card named "Micro-hole Dracokid" in soul, choose up to one of your opponent's rearguard and lock it.(Locked cards are turned face down, and cannot do anything. Turn them face up at the end of its owner's turn)

Gravity Ball Dragon

[CONT](VC): If you have a card named "Micro-hole Dracokid" in your soul, this unit gets [Power]+1000. [AUTO]: When a grade 2 «Link Joker» other than a card named "Gravity Collapse Dragon" rides this unit, if you have a card named "Micro-hole Dracokid" in your soul, look at up to seven cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one card named "Gravity Collapse Dragon" from among them, ride it, and shuffle your deck.

Micro-hole Dracokid

[AUTO]: When a card named "Gravity Ball Dragon" rides this unit, look at up to seven cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one card named "Gravity Collapse Dragon" or "Schwarzschild Dragon" from among them, reveal it to your opponent, put it to your hand, and shuffle your deck. [AUTO]: When a «Link Joker» other than a card named "Gravity Ball Dragon" rides this unit, you may call this card to (RC).

So now we can conclude the 2 distinct build in Link Jokers
VS
Here is my decklist for Schwarzchild dragon.

SVG:
1x Micro-Hole Dracokid

G0:
4x Star-vader, Vice Soldiert (Critical Trigger)
4x Star-vader, Meteor Liger (Critical Trigger)
4x Star-vader, Nebula Captor (Draw Trigger)
4x Star-vader, Stellar Garage (Heal Trigger)

G1:
4x Gravity Ball Dragon
4x Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
4x Demonic Claw Star-vader, Lanthanum
2x One Who Opens the Black Door OR Hollow Twin Blades, Binary Star

G2:
4x Gravity Collapse Dragon
4x Gamma Burst Fenrir
3x One Who Shoots Gravitational Singularities

G3:
4x Star-Vader, Infinite Zero Dragon
4x SchwarzChild Dragon

Comments on this decklist:
This deck focuses on locking your opponent consistently every turn and gain pluses via the chain ride.
Reason why I played Lanthanum is its a 9k booster when your opponent has a locked rearguard.
I also picked One Who Opens the Black Door for consistency and speed in getting the extra copy of SchwarzChild Dragon ASAP and to hasten the process.

Gravity Collapse is an effective card that locks your opponent units freely without any counterblasts. Which is the prefered card to play over a mobius breath whose condition is harder to fulfill. Fenrir for a 11k beatstick and Singularities for Further Pressure.

This deck focuses on Riding IZD as your grade 3 over SZD. As it helps to buy you time to stock up the other piece and do a devastating persona blast later on. This deck doesn't uses much counterblasts at all with exception of SZD for the "Final Turn" and the triangle lock. This deck is quite fast ya may say with the chain ride. However every chain ride has only ONE major weakness which will cause it to lose to itself which is missing the chainride.

Signing off,
 Le Jester

Lock and Link Jokers

Hey folks, this is le jester over here. Today I am gonna enlighten you about the playstyle of link jokers and reverse cards such as Vowing Saber Dragon Reverse.

So who are the Link Jokers?
Link Jokers are the scourge of planet cray which is used by multiple characters in Season 3 of the Cardfight!! Vanguard Anime and is the avatar of Void. Link jokers are corrupted the corrupted counterparts of existing cards such as the case of Soaring Star-vader, Krypton who is the counterpart of Knight of Darkness, Rugos
 VS 
see the similarity in the art?

Link jokers also happen to have their own archetype called Star-Vader
The forerunners of "Link Joker", which is the incarnation of "Void" and the invaders threatening Cray. Their main mission is to investigate the indigenous creatures and collect the data of powerful beings, and dominate their bodies if possible. However, it is said that they would annihilate weaker beings in the process, finding their data not valuable enough to be collected. They possess multiple technologies that do not exist on Cray, and can manipulate the mysterious power "Lock" freely.

So what is the playstyle of Link Jokers?
Link jokers revolved around locking your opponent units similar to binding them in the rearguard circle which would stun your opponent and disable the card's potential and ability it has on the rearguard circle. Link jokers often goal and objective is to disrupt your field, at the same time stunning you and limiting your actions for subsequent turns. This lock ability not only immobilize and stun your units, it also allows themselves to gain card advantage through the locking. Imagine, if your opponent front row interceptors got locked, Logically, they would need to guard their vanguard with cards from their hand, which eventually reduce their handsize. At the same time, it also help them conserve their handsize as they have to guard for lesser attacks and smaller attacks that will eventually give them enough time to gain a larger handsize than your opponent.

What is the "lock mechanism"?
When a card is affected by lock, it is turned face down until the end of its owning player's turn (the card remains where it is). A unit turned face down by lock cannot be used to perform any action; it cannot attack, boost, use skills, be used to pay a cost, move to another circle or zone (including intercept) or be retired by calling another unit over it. The card is not considered a unit and the card and the circle it is on are considered to not exist for the duration of the lock skill. When a unit is unlocked, it is not considered to be called back to the field, and thus on call skills are not activated.

Lets take a look at the badass cards that link joker has to offer to us.
Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon

[CONT](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):During your turn, all of your «Link Joker» in your front row get [Power]+3000 for each of your opponent's locked units. [ACT](VC):[Counter Blast (2)] Choose one of your opponent's rear-guards in the back row, and lock it. (Locked cards are turned face down, and cannot do anything. Turn them face up at the end of its owner's turn) [CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

Star-vader, Infinite Zero Dragon

[AUTO] Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):When a «Link Joker» rides this unit, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards in the front row and back row, lock them, choose your vanguard, and that unit gets [Power]+10000 until end of turn. (Locked cards are turned face down, and cannot do anything. Turn them face up at the end of its owner's turn) [AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of that battle. [CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

So what happen if I were to Break ride a Nebula Lord Dragon on an Infinite Zero Dragon?
Obviously, you would want to lock the vanguard booster and a one attacking front row with IZD's effect. Next I would want to lock the backrow of one of his attacking rearguards.Thus, Your opponent has an 11k attacking vanguard and a 12k attacker. Next, with a Nebula Lord Dragon's effect, it gives a 3k power to all your front row attacking units for each locked units your opponent controls, This easily gives you at least a + 6000 power to all your attackers.

Wait isn't this better than the celestials?

Now, lets do the math behind it, How much must your opponent guard during your turn?
Assuming you have an 8k booster behind every column and a NLD that broke ride this turn, along side with a 12k attacker rear and a mobius breath dragon too. Also to add that your opponent has 3 locked units.
R1: 9k Mobius + 8kboost + 9k NLD effect = 26k column PERFECT NUMBER! 20k GUARD!
R2: 11k Vanguard + 8kboost + 9k NLD effect + 10k 2trigger check = 38k column. 30k NO PASS!
R3: 12k attacker + 8kboost + 9k NLD effect = 29k column. 20k GUARD!
Total power your opponent has to guard: 20k + 30k + 30k = 70k
Minimum handsize your opponent needs to burn to guard this: 6 (1 negate, 4 10k shields and 1 random card)

Now, lets do the math behind it, How much do you have to guard for your opponent's turn?
Assuming opponent has only 2 cards in his front row to attack and controls an EDD.
Lets now imagine.... FINAL TURN!
R1: 12k unboosted attack = -1 from hand for a 5k shield.
VG: 16k descendant with especial CB = -15k 2trigger pass, 20k No pass.
Restand Vanguard: 26k with 2 triggers: 25k 2 pass, or 30k No pass. Or KANZEN!!
Total damage you need to guard: 5+ 20+30 =55k.
Minimum hand you need to tank your opponent W/O restand and W/O especial CB: 2 (5k, 1 10k guard for 2 trigger pass)
Maximum hand you need to tank your opponent: 11cards (11 5k guards)

So who are their key minions?
Star-vader, Dust Tail Unicorn

[AUTO]: Forerunner (When a unit of the same clan rides this unit, you may call this unit to (RC)) [ACT](RC):[Counter Blast (1) & Put this unit into your soul] If you have a «Link Joker» vanguard, and your opponent has a locked card, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and lock it. (Locked cards are turned face down, and cannot do anything. Turn them face up at the end of its owner's turn)

Star-vader, Mobius Breath Dragon

[AUTO](VC): When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and lock it. (Locked cards are turned face down, and cannot do anything. Turn them face up at the end of its owner's turn)

One Who Shoots Gravitational Singularities

[AUTO](RC):When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, if you have a «Link Joker» vanguard, and your opponent has a locked card, choose one of your opponent's rear-guard, and lock it. (Locked cards are turned face down, and cannot do anything. Turn them face up at the end of its owner's turn)

How do i deal with these pesky jokers?
So these are the rearguards ya gotta look out for.
Dust-Tail Unicorn is annoying, Kill him fast with your linchiu or by the turn that he rides nebula lord dragon.

So we got 2 different pressure units to play with. Mobius and Singularity.
Mobius is an on hit effect, guard him during the turn your opponent ride his as a VG. Do note that he can target any rearguards to lock, which would give Singularity an effective early game pressure to lock more of your units. YOU MUST BE HIGH TO NOT GUARD.

Singularity is only effective when ya got a locked unit. Otherwise it be a waste of deck space to run 4 of her in your deck, what more its a puny 8k beatstick. However look at it this way, They will need a NLD to turn on the pressure cooker on you where ya gotta guard its additional power that all the front row gains when he rodes on IZD.

The real threat of the Deck is actually NLD and IZD who can start turning on the pressure in you with the locks. So in other words, They need to start a chain of locks with the vanguard's ability. In this case, If they were to fail to ride an IZD, they would need to depend on their CB 2 to start screwing up your field. So in other words ya might wanna control their damage and do not give them a chance to counterblast and start the chain of locks and pressure on you.

Note that Link jokers rearguards do not use counterblasts at all with exception of dust-tail which is CB1.

So how do i counter them? Hmm this is when you play decks that restand the vanguard or decks that do not focus too much on the rearguards or rearguard dependent. Decks such as DOTE, ERADICATORS are barely affected as LJ only focus on crippling your rearguard. Decks that allow your vanguard to hit High numbers are best against them. So no worries readers, your DOTE and ERADICATORS are still badasses that can screw the jokers up.

Signing off,
Le Jester

Updates and Spoilers

This morning VG-BT12: Binding Force of the Black Rings (黒輪縛鎖 lit. Black Ring Binding Chain) was announced for a Japanese release on July 6th. Featuring support for the revived Shadow Paladin clan and the Link Joker clan that will be introduced in TD11: Star-Vader Invasion, BT12 will introduce Link Joker's new "Lock" mechanic. (Although presented as "Lock" phonetically, the kanji 呪縛 used for it means "Spell" or "Curse.")

The set will contain 102 types of cards with 1 reprint, currently believed to be Blaster Dark Revenger from TD10:Purgatory Revenger. It will also support the Pale Moon, Dark Irregulars, Narukami and Gold Paladin clans. Careful scrutinizing of the promotional images reveals cards resembling Great Silver Wolf Garmore, Divine Seal Dragon Dungaree and Mad-Eye Basilisk. The Link Joker units have been noted to resemble existing units from other clans, so far with Blaster Blade on the cover image for TD11, Spectral Duke Dragon on one promotional image for BT12, and Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier on the other promo image. Furthermore, the artists for these Link Joker units are the same as their originals, Suzukigorou and Masa.

Notably, as the images for the Garmore and Dungaree lookalikes have United Sanctuary and Dragon Empire nation boxes, it appears that modern promo materials are now eschewing the standard practice of using Sanctuary templates to conceal a unit's nation prior to release. Because of this, the image for TD11 which showed a US nation likely points to Link Joker being from the United Sanctuary. However, due to now counting a version of Luquier among its ranks, Link Joker may be a composite clan with multiple nations contributing to its card pool.

In addition to the new "Lock" mechanic, the image at left advertises that BT12 will also introduce new crossride and break ride units. With Garmore and Dungaree as the speculated crossride candidates, and the Link Joker clan which is already embraced by many cardfighters as an appealing new group of antagonists, BT12 is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated sets of 2013.

Copied from: http://vanguardus.blogspot.sg/

BT11 Spoilers

Goddess of Fortune, Fortuna

[AUTO](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Soul Blast (3)] When this unit's drive check reveals a grade 1 or greater «Genesis», you can pay the cost. If you do, put that revealed card into your drop zone after of this drive check, and perform a additional drive check.
[ACT](VC):[Soul Blast (3)] This unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn
[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit that doesn't belong to the same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

Fighter's Collection Spoilers

Wisdom Keeper, Metis

[AUTO] Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (1)] When a «Genesis» rides this unit, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card, Soul Charge (3), choose one of your vanguards, and that unit gets [Power]+10000 until end of turn.
[AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, Soul Charge (1), and this unit gets [Power]+1000 until end of that battle.
[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit that doesn't belong to the same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

Story Teller


[AUTO](VC/RC):[Counter Blast (2)] When this unit's attack hits, if you have a «Dark Irregulars» vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card.

Pretty Celeb, Charlotte

[AUTO](RC):[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, if you have an «Bermuda Triangle» vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, return this unit to your hand, choose up to one «Bermuda Triangle» from your hand other than a card named "Pretty Celeb, Charlotte", and call it to an open (RC).

Dandelion Musketeer, Mirkka

[AUTO](RC):When this unit boosts a «Neo Nectar», if you have a «Neo Nectar» vanguard, and if your deck has been shuffled by your card's effect during this turn, the boosted unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of that battle.

Unrivaled Brush Wielder, Ponga


[AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, if the [Power] of your opponent's battling unit is 12000 or greater, this unit gets [Power]+10000 until end of that battle.
[AUTO](RC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, if you have a «Great Nature» vanguard, this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of that battle.

More updates and New Clan: Link Joker

TD11: Star-vader Invasion

Release Date: 22nd June 2013
Features the new Link Joker clan.
A constructed deck built of 50 cards.
There are 18 different cards.
The deck includes 1 RR and 2 R cards. Includes cards used in Season 3 of the Cardfight!! Vanguard Anime
The official price is 1,050 Yen.


Fighter's collection:
Liberator of Rigid Spear, Bureobellis

[AUTO] Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (1)] When a «Gold Paladin» rides this unit, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at up to two cards from the top of your deck, search for up to two «Gold Paladin» from among them, call them to separate open (RC), put the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order, choose one of your vanguards, and that unit gets [Power]+10000 until end of turn. [AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of that battle. [CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit that doesn't belong to the same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

Eradicator, Electric Shaper Dragon

[AUTO] Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):When a «Narukami» rides this unit, choose one of your vanguards, that unit gets [Power]+10000, and gets "[AUTO](VC):When an opponent's rear-guard is put in the drop zone by any of your card's effect, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards in the back row of the same column as the retired unit, and retire it." until end of turn. [AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks, if the number of cards in your opponent's damage zone is three or more, this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of that battle. [CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit that doesn't belong to the same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)