Deck Ideas: Kagero (Dauntless-Saga)

Hi folks, I apologise for the hiatus on the updates on this blog. Today I'll be sharing a kagerō fun deck that we can play in our locals.

Here is the decklist:

G4:

4x Flame Emperor Dragon King, Root Flare Dragon

4x Divine Dragon Knight, Mahmud

G3:

4x Heroic Saga Dragon

4x Dauntless Drive Dragon

G2:

4x Twilight Arrow Dragon

3x Berserk Dragon

4x Dragon knight, Emad

G1:

4x Lava flow dragon

4x Energy flame, Aethonic

2x Calamity Tower Wyvern

4x seal dragon, rinocross

G0:

2x gattling claw dragon (draw)

4x seal dragon, artpique (draw)

6x critical trigger

Starter:

Wyvernkid Ragra or Red Pulse Dracokid

Main Deck Tech

Heroic Saga Dragon

[AUTO](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): When this unit attacks a vanguard, your opponent may choose one of their rear-guards, retires it, if he or she does not, during that battle, this unit gets [Critical]+1 and "[AUTO](VC):At the beginning of your damage step, if the number of guardian is one, choose one of your opponent's guardians, retire it, and that unit's effects with "cannot be hit" is nullified.".

[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1) and Soul Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's grade 1 or less rear-guards, and retire it.

This card simply negates sentinels and damage nullifier. The turn you rode this card, is enough to clear 2 of your opponent rearguards. Combo it with the notorious Dauntless Drive Dragon would be devastating. Firstly, it allows 3 rearguards to be retired and if your opponent do not have any rearguard to retire, they would unable to place a negate on the guardian circle which gives them limited choices of guarding using grade 2s, 1s and zeros. Dauntless drive gives this card the massive power boost that it needs to apply pressure on the opponent. And a restanding vanguard would mean trouble for your opponent if they ran out of cards to retire and cards from their hand to guard.

Dragon Knight, Emad

[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 an opponent's rear-guard in the same column as this unit is put in the drop zone due an effect from one of your cards, you may pay the cost. If you do, until end of turn, this unit gets [Power]+2000 and "[AUTO](RC):At the beginning of your damage step that this unit attacks, if the number of guardians is one, choose one of your opponent's guardians, retire it, and that unit's effects with "cannot be hit" is nullified.".

Similar to Heroic Saga Dragon, it had an effect that triggers the negation of nullifiers. Its condition is relatively easy to fulfil and kagero has loads of options of retiring rearguards such as twilight arrow dragon, berserk dragon, etc.. etc..

To pilot this deck is relatively simple:
 Ride Dauntless drive Dragon. Stride every turn if possible each turn or you can break ride dauntless over dauntless to pressure and to drain your opponent shields. Push them to 4 to 5 damage if possible. Finale Turn with Heroic Saga break ride on dauntless. Clear their rearguards with removal cards such as berserk dragon, twilight arrow dragon. Swing for the win with a restanding Vanguard.

The deck is pretty linear with its strategy, straightfoward and simple to use for beginners. Not to forget it is wallet friendly as well with the exception of the 4x dauntless drive dragons. Until next time.

Signing off,
Khai

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.

Aqua Force Deck Profile, opinion and Guide.

Hey folks, Its been a really long time since i ever update this blog and write a detailed article about vanguard. Today i'll be sharing with you my opinions and thoughts of piloting aqua force and the new support that it has received in this booster.

Here is the deck list that i've been using and testing with. Tested with DOTX, SSSD, etc... etc..

The matches I had using this deck lasted not more than 6 to 8 turns. Somewhat of a blitzkrieg which suited my aggressive playing style which puts loads of early game pressure. The main strategy of this deck revolves around the consistent early game pressure to deal as much damage and drain as many 5k shields from your opponent as possible to setup for your Savas to finish your opponent.

Deck List.

Starting Vanguard

1x Officer Cadet, Andrei

Triggers

4x Battle Siren, Carolina (Heal)

2x Bubble Bazooka Dracokid (Critical)

4x Officer cadet, Alexpose (Stand)

2x Keen Eye Sea Horse Soldier (Stand)

4x Battle Siren, Mallika (Draw)

Grade 1

3x Mercenary Brave Shooter

3x Battle Siren, Sutashia

4x Kelpie rider, Nicky

4x Battle Siren, Phaedra

Grade 2

4x Tidal Assault

4x Magnum Assault

3x High Tide Sniper

Grade 3

4x Transcendent of Storms, Savas

3x Marine General of the Wave Sword Slash, Max

1x Strikehead dragon

Grade 4

1x Snow Element, Blizza
1x Miracle Element, Atmos

2x Marine General of the Heavenly Scale, Tidal-bore Dragon

4x Marine General of the Sky and Earth, Lambros

Now you've know the list, Let me also explain why I played and teched in certain cards and also explain some of the combo involved. 

Transcendent of Storms, Savas

Savas is the MVP(Most Valuable Player) of the deck or what i would called the FINAL PUNISHER or your main winning image of the deck.

His effect is:

[AUTO](VC) 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 attacks a vanguard, if it is the fourth battle of that turn or more, until end of that battle, this unit gets [Critical]+1, and your opponent cannot call grade 0 cards from hand to (GC).

[AUTO](VC):During your turn, when your G unit Stride, choose one of your vanguards, and until end of turn, it gets "[AUTO](VC):When your unit attacks a vanguard, if it is the fourth battle of that turn, choose three of your opponent's rear-guards, your opponent chooses one from among them, and retires it.".

In short he is there to wreck your opponent. His had a GB2 skill similar to the notorious card from the Kagero Clan, Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Novelle Vague. Those who had encountered him would know the horror of not being able to guard with grade Zero. Savas however has an added pressure of having the  extra critical to pressure your opponent. However all these effects takes place only when you had fulfill its conditions of having 4th battle and GB2. Many would be questioning, how do I get my GB2 by turn 5? My answer would be using Snow Element Blizza. His second effect is optimal for crippling your opponent's field however it has a random retiring effect where your opponent chooses 1 of his rearguards to retire despite having to pick 3 cards. 

Snow Element Blizza

His effect is:

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 from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets [Power]+5000 for each face up card in your G zone until end of that battle.

[CONT]:This card is from all clans and nations.

Paying the cost of counter blast 1, Flipping 1 G-Unit Faced up enables you to fulfill the condition for Savas which needs GB2 in order to activates its effect. Blizza would be the 1st card you would want to stride on if you wanted to use savas as a finisher for the next turn. Which it swings for 31k without boost on its own which is enough to bait out the negates and sentinels from your opponent's hand or to quickly push them to 5 damage in order to pressure them with your relentless attacks from your rearguards for the next turn which would be probably your opponent's final turn.

So in short what I am trying to say is that Savas + Blizza = GB2 condition fulfilled.

Marine General of the Sky and Earth, Lambros

His Effect is:
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):[Choose a card name "Marine General of the Sky and Earth, Lambros" from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit attacks a vanguard, if it is the fourth battle of that turn or more, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to two of your rear-guards, and [Stand] them. Then, if the number of face up cards in your G zone is two or more, the units [Stand] with this effect get [Power]+10000 until end of turn.

Lambros is whom we revere as the final finisher of the deck. His effect is what i called epic. With the meagre cost of Turning a copy of itself from the Generation zone face up, you are able to stand 2 of your rearguards and give a +10000 power is what I called an epic finish and overkill. Nuff said.

How is lambros used in this deck? usually it would be the best alternative besides blizza to achieve the GB2 condition for savas and also to grant an additional 2 rearguards attack for the early game pressure to quickly wipeoff their shields and options to retaliate to your assault.

Marine General of the Heavenly Scale, Tidal-bore Dragon

(This card cannot be in your main deck)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.(When this cards Strides, it gains the power and name from one heart. At the end of the turn, return it face up.)[AUTO](VC):When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, if it is the third battle of that turn or more, draw a card, choose up to one card from your hand, and call it to (RC).

Tidal bore is good for early game pressure and gaining handsome advantage which allows you to draw a card and being able to call it from the hand. Tidal bore is hardly used in this deck as you would not need to farm much for the handsize as the objective is to finish your opponent quick, blitzkrieg style.

Next I will be explaining to you how the other cards in the deck synergizes with the strategy and also tips on how to use them.

Battle Siren Sutashia

Her effect is:
[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):During your turn, this unit gets "[CONT](RC):This unit may attack from the back row." and "[AUTO](RC):When this unit attacks, if this unit is in your back row, this unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of that battle.".

Sutashia has the special ability to be able to attack from the back row which makes her invulnerable as an attack target. Having this ability, she allows you to have another rearguard in the same column to lay another attack on the opponent which gives the whole column the ability to deal at least 2 attacks. She is tactically used to knock out your opponent's rearguard interceptors which is very useful especially when using aqua force, it is integral to have your opponent to guard from their hand and to drain their resources. Thus, giving them less options & resources for the next turn and having lesser cards to call as rearguards.

Magnum Assault

His effect is:
[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):[Counter Blast (1)] At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, if this unit is boosted during that battle, you may pay the cost. If you do, [Stand] this unit, and until end of turn, this unit gets [Power]+2000. (Even if you do not pay the cost, this ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.)

Magnum assault would be the card that will give your vanguard the wings to victory. He is the card that you would want to call from turn 3 onwards or when you have access to Generation Break 1. You would usually want to call this card out to replace your Tidal assaults (which i would mention more about it later) where it usually be the No.1 attack target your opponent would want to eliminate after being devastated by it on turn 1 to turn 3.

Magnum assault has the special skill of being able to stand itself after being boosted to attack the vanguard and +2000 power make it an effective 15k guard column. This makes him annoying for the opponent in the long run to have him consistent deal damage to the opponent with perfect numbers of 16000 and 11000.

Magnum assault having a an awesome ability has a downside to it where it is a vanilla card on between turn 1 to turn 3 or any turn where you have yet to reached generation blast 1. Which makes tidal assault the best card to replace his rearguard position during the turns of the early game.

Tidal Assault

His effect is:
[AUTO](RC)[1/Turn]:At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, if you have an «Aqua Force» vanguard, [Stand] this unit, and this unit gets [Power]-5000 until end of turn.

Tidal assault is the unit you would want to call on the early turns of the game where he would be most effective in dealing damage to vanguards who have a base power of less than or equal to 9000. Tidal assault is an effective restanding rearguard when it comes to early game pressure where your opponent's vanguard power is within its reach. Ideally, you would want to place a booster behind it who has a power of at least 5000 in order to make up for the cost of -5000 for its effect to pull off.

Tidal assault may seems OP to some during the early game. I bet some of you would have questions on How do I exactly counter this card? My answer would be playing a 10k vanilla grade 2 to prevent getting wrecked by this card during the early game. 10k vanilla would be the best option as a mini counter as aqua force in general would have a hard time attacking with their rearguards in the early game which are usually 9k and would have prevented you from losing additional hand cards and being devastated to 5 damage in the long run.

Here is a tip that may be useful when using tidal assault in the turns of the Midgame to Lategame which is to combine with Battle siren, Mallika for it to be able to reach the 11k base power vanguard.

Battle Siren Mallika

Her Effect is:
[ACT](RC):[Put this unit into your soul] Choose up to one of your «Aqua Force», and that unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of turn.

Mallika had proved to be one of the most important trigger unit in this deck and that you should have at least 4 copies of her in the deck. She would be the most important card that you would want to play between turn 3 to turn 4 and would be ideal for a situation where you do not met the Generation Blast Condition for your magnum assault. Hence, ideally you would want to have the tidal assault remained on the field for pressure during the midgame combo with this card to continue swinging for perfect numbers.

Mallika also combos well with Battle Siren Sutashia, allowing her to attack for 12000 power, hence able to deal pressure and damage to the opponent's vanguard as well.




High tide sniper

His effect is:
[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):[Soul Blast (1)] When this unit attacks, if it is the third battle of that turn or more, you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets [Power]+10000 until end of that battle.

High tide sniper is one of the best cards to have swinging for 3 or more battle where itself as a standalone is able to drain a 10k shield from the opponent. Having it with a booster would make him a devastating 20k guard column.

High tide sniper also combos well with the starter vanguard, Officer Cadet, Andrei (Who i will mention more about him later.) and also Battle Siren, Orthia. He is such a key card during the mid game to late game onwards where he is needed to use for the final finishers and big plays involving Lambrose.




Officer Cadet, Andrei

His effect is:
[AUTO]:Forerunner (When a unit of the same clan rides this unit, you may call this unit to (RC))[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):[Counter Blast (1) & Put this unit to your soul] Choose another of your rear-guards, and until end of turn, it gets "[AUTO](RC)[1/Turn]:At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, [Stand] this unit, and this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of turn.".

His ability allows your rearguard to be a Magnum Assault which is often used as a desperate measure to have a rearguard able to hit for the 4th attack or combos with High tide sniper to attack for a 21k column perfect numbers on its own after a boosted attack.

In short Andrei combos with the following:
Andrei + High Tide Sniper = 10 shield + 15k shield(3 cards).
Andrei + 11k attacker = 5k shield + 5k shield(2 cards).

Marine General of the Wave Sword Slash, Max

His effect is:
[AUTO](VC/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)] At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, if it is the third battle of that turn or more, you pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your rear-guards, it gets [Power]+2000 until end of turn, choose two of your rear-guards, and exchange their positions. (The state of the card does not change.)

Slash max is an awesome backup vanguard where he allows rearguards to switch positions and giving a +2000 power to one of your rearguards when he is the 3rd to attack. He is especially useful when you have a hand full of attackers which also help fix jam and dead columns. He also give 9k attackers a +2000 power boost, hence enabling them to hit for perfect number of 11000 and drain additional 5000 shield from the opponent.  He would be the best option as a backup vanguard if you can't stride.

To conclude, Aqua Force is not the clan that you want to mess with during the early game and proven to be annoying to the opponent to consistently guard 5k shield. It has a similar aggressive play style to spike brothers. So how do i exactly counter this clan? There are many options, in this case would be playing kagero, since it is in the current metagame, where they have cards such as Prowling Dragon Striken where you can prevent the early assaults from tidal assault and 9k rearguards, making you invulnerable to their early game rush strategy which forced them to stall till late game. Another counter measure may be using anti-rush cards such as the good old Berserk Dragon where you can instantly retire their biggest threats in the early game, during turns 1 to turn 3.

To my Kagero players, there is still hope and counter measure against this clan.

Signing off.
Khai

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 

Nubatama Legion

Well, Bushiroad's least supported clan gets support in the latest Anime Matsuri. Good for that :)
Let's take a look at their Legion units shall we?

Shura Stealth Dragon, Mantrakongou
[ACT](VC): Legion 20000 "Shura Stealth Dragon, Daranikongou"
[ACT](VC): [Counter Blast (1), and discard 1 card with the same name as a unit on your (VC)] If this unit is in Legion and your opponent has 4 or more cards in his/her hand, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose 2 cards from your opponent's hand, and bind them face down. Choose one of your opponent's rearguards, and bind it face up. During the start of your end phase, return all cards binded by this card's skill to your opponent's hand. 
[AUTO](VC): When this unit attacks a Vanguard, if there is another unit in the center column, this unit gets [Power]+3000.

Shura Stealth Dragon, Daranikongou
[AUTO](RC): When this unit attacks a Vanguard, if your Vanguard is in Legion, this unit gets [Power]+2000 and "[AUTO](RC)]: [Soul Blast (1) When this unit's attack hits a Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to 2 cards from your opponent's bind zone, and place it into his/her drop zone" until end of turn.

Well, well. I kinda expected this from Bushiroad. Although Nubatama rarely gets support, when they do, it's really good. These 2 cards add on to their gimmick of playing with the opponent's bind zone very well. The Legion effect can be achieved very easily, considering most Legion decks would have large handsizes, and having very few cards in hand is kind of Nubatama's "thing".
The G2 Legion mate combos with the G3 very well for high pressure. The Legion skill would place 3 cards at maximum into your opponent's bind zone, then the G2 can attack the Vanguard to pressure your opponent to guard. If he/she doesn't guard, that's an instant -2 for him/her, which is obviously a bad thing. For even more pressure, the starter from BT13 can be placed behind the Vanguard. Here is it's skill:
Stealth Beast, Kuroko
[AUTO] Forerunner (When a unit of the same clan rides this unit, you may call this unit to  (RC))
[AUTO](RC): [Soul Blast (1)] When an attack hits a Vanguard during the battle that this unit boosted, if you have a <<Nubatama>> Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to 2 cards in your opponent's bind zone, and put them into the drop zone.
By using this unit and placing it behind your Vanguard, it adds even more pressure. Even if you attack with the G2 Legion mate first and it fails to hit, this unit boosting the Vanguard's high-powered attack would add alot of pressure to your opponent to guard, or it's -2 to them instantly.
Overall, I would say I'm impressed by these 2 units, as not only do they go along with Nubatama's old gimmick, they are very pressurizing units when used correctly in a well-built deck. To help you, below is a decklist I came up with. Feel free to follow it or share your opinions in the comments :)

4 Shura Stealth Dragon, Mantrakongou; 4 Shura Stealth Dragon Kabukicongo
4 Shura Stealth Dragon, Daranikongou; 4 Stealth Dragon, Kokujou; 3 Stealth Beast, Tamahagane
4 Stealth Beast, Minjakure(pg); 4 Stealth Dragon, Dreadmaster; 4 Tempest Steath Rouge, Fuuki
2 Stealth Beast, Hagakure; 4 Stealth Dragon, Kurogane(critical); 4 Stealth Fiend, Mashiromomen(stand); 4 Stealth Fiend, Otsuzura(draw); 4 Stealth Fiend, Zashikihime(heal)
Starter: Stealth Beast, Kuroko

Kabukicongo acts as a back-up plan when your hand size goes too low, and you can't afford to use the Legion skill anymore. This way, he still pressurizes your opponent a lot with his LB4, and the help of the G2 Legion mate and Kuroko.
Kokujou is basically a staple in every Nubatama deck. Because of the cards in the bind zone, Kokujou will power up significantly when you use the Legion skill or Kabukicongo's LB4 skill. Tamahagane can be combo'ed with the Legion skill to set 4 cards in your opponent's bind zone, a nice even number for Daranikongou and Kuroko's skills to go off.
Dreadmaster is just a pressure unit for your opponent to guard, since you would very easily have less cards in your hand than him/her. Fuuki helps to build up the soul, and at the same time combos with the Legion skill to make 4 cards in the drop zone for Daranikongou and Kuroko's skills to go off later.
Hagakure is just fun to use as it makes your opponent use up his/her hand even on his/her turn, since you would very easily have less cards in hand than your opponent(unless he/she purposely decides to use up his/her whole hand on RGs, which would leave him/her quite defenseless later).
There is no other option than rainbow triggers for Nubatama, but it works well nonetheless. Stands can be used to restand pressure units on the field(like Daranikongou), criticals add to pressure on the high powered units on the field(like Kokujou), and draws help to maintain hand size at a decent level to maintain defense.

All in all, Nubatama is a very fun deck to use, but tricky as you need to know when to time your moves right. Feel free to share your opinions on these cards and the decklist in the comments below :)

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

Cray Journal: Genesis, the Sacred Regalia

One topic not covered in this blog yet, is the Genesis clan, and their atchetype, regalia. 

In the very beginning, we had Wisdom of Sacred Regalia, Angelica from the TD

After that, we had the crossride, Omniscience Regalia, Minerva 

Now, at Extra Booster 12: Waltz of the Goddess, we have legion for these beautiful ladies :D

Our main boss, the CEO of genesis herself, Regalia of the Cosmos, CEO Yggdrasil, and her mate Regalia of Fate, Norn. 

CEO Yggdrasil: [ACT] Legion 20000 "Regalia of Fate, Norn" (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, search for the specified card, and perform Legion)

[AUTO](VC): [Soul Blast 6] When this unit attack a Vanguard, if this unit is in Legion, you may pay the cost. If you do, until end of that battle, this unit gets [Critical]+1, and your opponent cannot call Grade 1 or greater units to (GC) from his/her hand. 

[AUTO](VC): When this unit attacks a Vanguard, if you have another unit in the center column, this unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of that battle. 

At a glance, this seems like a very powerful unit, but overcosted with a cost of soul blast 6, considering soul charging support from bt14. But wait, let's look at support from eb12:

Regalia of Abundance, Freya: [AUTO](RC): [CB1] When your Vanguard performs Legion, you may pay the cost. If you do, soul charge 3, and this unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn

Regalia of Midday, Hemera: [AUTO] When this unit is placed on (RC), choose up to 3 cards from your drop zone with "Regalia" in its card name, and put it into your soul

Exorcism Regalia, Shiny Angel: [AUTO] When this unit is placed on (RC), choose up to 3 cards from your drop zone with "Regalia" in its card name, and put it into your soul

Regalia of Foredoom, Lot Angel: [AUTO] When this unit is placed on (GC), you may Soul Charge (1)

Regalia of Prayer, Pray Angel: [ACT](RC): [Put this unit into your soul] If your Vanguard is in Legion, Soul Charge (3), choose your Vanguard, and that unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn. 

Now does it seem so hard to achieve the cost of Soul Blast 6? I don't think so...

Now let's take a look at what makes CEO Yggdrasil so powerful:

Regalia of Fate, Norn: [AUTO] When this unit is placed in the drop zone from your soul, choose your Vanguard with "Regalia" in its card name, and that unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn

Mirror Regalia, Achiles: [AUTO] When this unit is placed in the drop zone from your soul, choose your Vanguard with "Regalia" in its card name, and that unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn. 

Regalia of Purify, Pure Angel: [AUTO]: [Counter Blast 1] When this unit is placed on (RC), you may pay the cost. If you do, choose your Vanguard with "Regalia" in its card name, and until end of turn, that unit gets [Power]+5000, and "[AUTO](VC): [Soul Blast 3] When this unit's attack hits a Vanguard, you may pay the cost, if you do, draw a card. 

Regalia of Congratulations, Preach Angel: [AUTO](RC): When this unit boosts a Vanguard, if your Vanguard is in Legion, the boosted unit gets [Power]+4000 until end of that battle

These are the various supports that allow CEO Yggdrasil to gain so much power. Norn and Achiles' skills can be easily activated when Yggdrasil uses her skill to Soul Blast (6). Combining that with Pure Angel, we're possibly looking at 58k power with 2 Critical, without a Vanguard booster. This element of being able to easily power up, and have a critical effect is what makes CEO Yggdrasil so threatening, and hence Genesis' main boss in the current Legion meta. 

But of course, CEO Yggdrasil and her mate cannot stand as solo warriors on the field. And that's why we have a second Legion unit for the Regalia archetype: 

Regalia of Midnight, Nyx: [ACT] Legion 20000 "Regalia of Midday, Hemera"

[AUTO](VC): When a card with the same name as a unit on your (VC) is placed in your drop zone from your soul, if this unit is in Legion, this unit gets [Power]+5000/[Critical]+1 until en of turn. This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn. 

[ACT](VC): [Soul Blast 3] If the number of cards in your hand is 3 or less, draw a card. This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.

The Legion skill seems abit hard to pull off at first glance, but remember the specific Regalia support like Hemera and Shiny Angel. These 2 units can get either Nyx or Hemera into the soul, and then you can use Nyx's ACT ability to place one copy of either herself or Hemera from the soul into the drop zone. Of course it's risky to have 3 or less cards in your hand at any given time, so this may not be a very good card to work with. 

All in all, the Genesis Regalia is a very strong deck to use, if you know exactly how each unit works with the other. Below is a decklist of this deck seen in tournaments, but your decklist is for you to decide. After all, Vanguard is all about having fun, right? :D

G3:

4 Cosmic Regalia, CEO Yggdrasil

4 Regalia of Midnight, Nyx

G2:

4 Regalia of Fate, Norn

4 Regalia of Midday, Hemera

3 Regalia of Abundance, Freya

G1:

2 Regalia of Cold, Svalin(Quintet Wall)

2 Witch of Strawberries, Framboise(Perfect Guard)

4 Exorcism Regalia, Shiny Angel

3 Regalia of Purify, Pure Angel

3 Regalia of Congratulations, Preach Angel

Rainbow triggers(all with regalia archetype)

Starter: Regalia of Prayer, Pray Angel

Some may choose to tech in Angelica and/or Minerva as back-up bosses along with some older support from bt14 and td13, but ultimately, your choice of deck build is yours. Do what suits you best and have fun :D

Signing off, 

Lee Megan

Legion: Preliminary thoughts

Mikeru follows up on Megan’s introduction of Legion with common opinions about how future games will pan out with Legion at work.

On first glance, Legion appears to be Bushiroad’s power creep in the works as with each new mechanic introduced at the start of a new season of the anime, though it also raises several considerations on their impact on gameplay.

Apart from being stronger in terms of raw power, Legioned vanguards fasten the pace of the game and makes it more mid-game-centric as Legion abilities, while comparable in utility and power to the Limit Break 4 skills you and I are comfortable with till now, can be activated as long as both players are already at G3, the point in time considered to be the start of mid-game. By then, it is likely that around 3-4 cards are already in the drop zone from guarding against attacks received during the first few turns and the first Legion can be performed. Gone is the need to wait till you have reached 4 damage, and even then, proper pacing of which attacks to guard against and which to receive had to be practiced to prevent crippling late-game guarding power at the expense of over-zealously and eagerly rushing to take 4 damage and start using your Limit Breaks.

Games will also be slightly more-fast paced since the Vanguard column’s power has increased but the base power of Legion Vanguards still remains unchanged at the usual 10000 or 11000, hence each attack received by a Legioned vanguard equates to more Shield being discarded in the guarding when compared to a non-Legion one.

Each instance of Legion also essentially recycles 4 cards back to the deck, with triggers being good choices for the return trip. Subsequent Legions increase the remaining guard value of the deck and increase the ratio of trigger to-non-trigger units, hence increasing the chances of pulling triggers. This is akin to the compression technique practiced by the much-luck-reliant Weiss Schwarz players, whereby they try to maximize the amount of climax cards (the damage-cancelling cards that are the closest equivalent of Vanguard’s Heal Triggers) in their Waiting Room (drop zone) before their deck is refreshed upon deck to increase the odds of striking a Climax when they run through their deck a second time.

However, Legion also has its drawbacks as the mate sought has to come from the deck. One  stuck in the damage zone, drop zone, soul (by accidental soulcharge on effect) or hand does not make an appropriate candidate, and it can be quite easy to have a card wind up in those places by chance. This makes the number of Legions you can perform per game up to the dice, and the importance of such chances increases if you are aiming for the one-turn-on-Legion effects. I forsee that this might turn problematic for Legions from the Genesis, Dark Irregulars and Pale Moon which soulcharge excessively, or Granblue recognized for milling cards to the drop zone and using it as a source for rearguard respawns and other effects. 

In addition, there will soon be a G1 7000 unit for each clan that enables a vanguard’s Limit Break 4 skill to be used before reaching 4 damage called as a rearguard. This restores some functionality to the older Limit Breakers, allowing them to start using their skills once they are ridden or gain the sharp power increments of breakrides in early game, hence keeping them up to pace with the Legions. Despite so, I still feel that the Limit Break vanguards will still be intrinsically inferior to Legion as the columns they hit for hover around the 18000-21000 power thresholds. Personal boosters and other power-increment effects can still allow them to hit for higher power values but require resource payment and field setup of the specific personal booster, hence they cannot be considered as constant or liberally-usable as the Legions’ power values.

Whether you buy the Legion concept or retain your reservations about the new mechanic, it will be here to stay for the next few sets, so be prepared to adjust your decks and strategy to keep abreast of its influence on the game and the meta as a whole.

Happy cardfighting!

-Mikeru

The manga promos – How useful are they? (Part 2)

Volume 4: The Dark Dictator

The Dark Dictator is the evil clone of The King of Kinghts, Alfred created by Phantom Blaster Dragon to slaughter his original. It does essentially what its benevolent twin does but is also armed with Soul Saver Dragon’s skill at a lower cost.

Dictator’s skill sticks out like a sore thumb among Shadow Paladin vanguards. The typical Shadow Paladin vanguard retires smaller rearguards to activate benefits deemed straightforward-powerful by game standards for themselves - the heavy +10000 power increment, vanguard re-stand or an extra Critical. In contrast, Dictator does not strengthen itself and instead gives power +5000 to 2 rearguards at the cost of 3 soul instead of Alfred’s search-and-call, a payment that is peanuts if you did not use a Forerunner skill for your starting vanguard. Shadow Paladins use more Counterblasts than Soulblast so said skill should not be a strain the resources of most decks.

The remaining evaluation of this card would turn out similar to Alfred’s, considering its +2000-power-per-rearguard and inability to be boosted is identical to Alfred. At the point in time of release, using vanguards with base 10000 is still commonplace even though there were 11000s around, for those ride-chain vanguards. Being able to hit the magic number 20000 was still quite a feat during that period of time.

Dictator might also have been printed as a cheaper alternative to the only other feasible vanguard option at that time - the all-famous Phantom Blaster Dragon and Overlord. They were an expensive deck to build back as 4 copies of each meant 8 RRRs. Cross Rides were king at the point due to their defensive capabilities and ability to reach high power levels than the other grade 3s before Limit Break and Legion were invented, and the high demand for this right chain pushed up their price further.

Of course, Dictator is less practical for use today due to 2 obvious reasons identical to Alfred’s. Firstly, most vanguards nowadays have 11000 base - that pesky extra 1000 that protects them long-term from attacks whose power is rounded to multiples of 5000.

Secondly, in the present day where Limit Break and Legion are the dominant mechanics, vanguards hitting for 21000-28000 is common fare. Dictator’s 20000 pales in comparison and to add injury to the insult, its power is easily reduced by Locking and retiring. More so when Link Joker is all the rage today and can achieve Locks rather easily with their Breakride, Dust Tail Unicorn and whatnot. Kagero and Narukami, the dragons well-known for retiring, have become increasingly strong with their recent Breakrides and Cross-breakrides, being able to retire multiple rearguards at once to similar effect on poor Dictator.

Dictator can make a budget deck idea but otherwise, it can be one card that is easily forgotten. It is obvious that newer cards like Raging Form Dragon, Mordred Phantom and (contestably) Gust Blaster Dragon make better vanguard choices for their generally better effects and higher power levels.

Volume 5: Exculpate the Blaster

The first thing that you are drawn to on this card is probably the very large chunk of effect text comprising 6 skills, the most a card has ever had. It is a transformation of Blaster Blade, the profound “exculpate” meaning “to purify”, that resembles what Dragonic Kasier Vermillion converted over to the Royals would look like. Consider it to be a pseudo-grade 4 unit as it can only be ridden over a Grade 3, though searchable by Pendragon’s effect.

Exculpate’s main plus is its field-clearing, which is very effective if you can pull off its effect, since only a madman will want to guard for 5 rearguards and decimate his hand in the process. It may not be a final turn card but provides you with field advantage for the late-game push. The fact that the rearguards usually go unguarded can be further exploited by boosting Exculpate with on-hit effects. Miru Biru is a good choice, allowing you to draw 5 cards when Exculpate hits 5 rearguards, essentially doing what Amaterasu does with her hard-to-achieve Megablast.

The catch: setting it up. Since Exculpate is a pseudo-grade 4, you will face consistency issues similar to Kagero players using the “real” grade 4 in the game, Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague, but without its dedicated support. Those who use Exculpate run 2, or reluctantly 3, copies of it in their decks, but doing so would exhaust space for other main grade 3s that you would run such as your Break Ride and rearguard grade 3 attacker. Being forced to ride Blaster Blade after the attack also renders you vulnerable to losing more cards on hand unless you already have a grade 3 ready to ride over it during your next turn.

Volume 6: Pentagonal Magus

Of the all cards covered here, her and Waterfall are arguably the most feasible cards. Pentagonal Magus pushes Oracle and Bermuda Triangle’s card-stacking theme to different variant and forces its user to build a deck based on rearguards and the Hexagonal Magus breakride to look at the top few card(s) of the deck for its effect. Moreover, these cards activate on-call/on-ride so no cost is involved; pull it off successfully and you get an essentially-free critical and 5000 power to pressure your opponent with. Quite a novel, gimmicky and interesting vanguard to build a deck around.

Volume 7: Gust Blaster Dragon

Gust Blaster Dragon is yet another addition to the “retire 3 to gain powerful effect” series akin to the Phantom Blaster, Raging Form and Spectral Duke Dragons.

The main purpose of GBD is to restore some functionality to the Phantom Blaster Overlord and Majesty Lord Blaster ride chains, both whose power have been diminished by Limit Break and Legion. PBO’s notoriously high CB3 and persona blast for a mere +10000/1 Crit is a bad deal by today’s standards. MLB, whose 20000 columns and passive +1 crit was struck much pressuring fear, is not seen as such – greater pressure through higher power increases and ways of getting criticals can be attained through the Royals’ Breakrides and Legion. GBD, when used after you do your thing with PBO or MLB will give the massive power and critical boost as a final turn card. However, be prepared to suffer a -3 in field advantage should your attack be guarded successfully.

A counterblast of 1 is cheap for a strong effect like GBD’s, and whether you are playing MLB or PBO, you are guaranteed 3-4 Blasters in the soul (Blasters Javelin, Blade, Dragon and Overlord for PBO and Blasters Blade, Dark and Majesty Lord for MLB) beneath GBD. How else you can optimize the effect depends on your setup to soulcharge Blasters specifically into the soul with other units.

Overall: a good late-game change-of-plan to bring life into those who want to be retroactive about their oldschool MLB and PBO decks.

Conclusion

Manga cards make novel twists to your vanguard choices and their effects are marginally better than that of your normal promo cards. You would, however, have to be reminded of they do not function as straightforward as more common vanguard choices and therefore are not for those who want to play a simple mid- to late- game.

Where to buy the manga in Singapore without ordering online?

It should not be that difficult to purchase the cards separately from the manga from card shops or dealers as with other promo cards. The manga is in Japanese-only (save for Volume 1) and obviously, local bookstores will not carry them due to the low demand.

However, if you are keen on getting it as a set, the manga can be purchased at Kinokuniya which imports a lot of manga and magazines for the Yu-Gi-Oh! and Cardfight!! Vanguard franchises.

Some neighbourhood hobby shops like Chak Fung and TTZ at Hougang Central and Best Games Centre at Jurong East will carry them, along with Monthly Bushiroad, the other major Japanese print publication that is generous on Promo cards and other freebies. Quantities are limited and shopkeepers usually only import current issues shortly after their release date, so tough luck to those finding older issues of the manga.

Mikeru

The manga promos – How useful are they? (Part 1)

Today, I will be sharing about a sometimes overlooked place where you can get grade 3s to use as your vanguards: the Japanese-only Cardfight!! Vanguard manga series.

Before we start off with the cards themselves, here is some background information about the manga. The manga is published in Bushiroad’s magazines and in bound volumes released once every 4-5 months. The storyline differs slightly from the anime and is more concise. It focuses more on character development and is told in a darker tone as the author is allowed to be more liberal in his storytelling, unlike the anime whereby the story is heavily convoluted for the sake of introducing cards in upcoming expansions. There are also some differences in major plot points: for instance, Aichi uses Exculpate the Blaster as Blaster Blade’s “ultimate transformation” in the manga and not Majesty Lord Blaster in the anime.

As most of you already know by now, the cards that appear in the manga but not in the anime are eventually printed in the Extra Boosters. However, as an added incentive for people to buy the manga and enable them to replicate the fights depicted in it, some of the manga grade 3 cards are released together with the volume they appear in. With the exception of Dark Irregular No Life King, Death Anchor, these cards are mostly from the main characters’ clans, Royal Paladin, Shadow Paladin and Kagero – after all, that’s how Bushiroad makes them your trust-fund clans by making them look cool and pumping gallons lot of support, subclans and variants to key cards like Blaster Blade, Alfred and Dragonic Overlord.

However, as with promos given elsewhere, they are not necessarily clear-cut stronger than regular cards. This is in the name of fairness so that players who cannot afford multiple copies of the manga (which is hard to obtain outside of Japan in the first place) will not be relegated to a disadvantage. They are mostly for those who want to use novel cards and gain bragging rights about it. In addition, most of the manga cards often rely heavily on another card (yes, Blaster Blade, I am pointing at you) or a certain gimmick. Either that or the card does something that typical cards from the clan usually cannot do.

Now, on with the individual analysis of each card:

Volume 1: Alfred Early

Alfred Early is essentially the younger self the of iconic King of Knights, Alfred, Royal Paladin’s splashable ace that has been present since the days of BT01.

Early calls 1 Blaster Blade from your soul onto the rearguard circle, hence allowing you to re-use his retiring effect, assuming you already used it once when riding it over your grade 1 vanguard. How good this skill is is entirely conditional and depends on how else you want to use your damage, but from the looks of it, it is usually not worth it unless you are desperate to wipe a particular pesky rearguard.

At the point in time of release, players usually use Blaster Blade’s retiring skill only once per game. The remaining counterblasts are best saved for other purposes like calling rearguards or power-increasing effects that synergize well with the Royals’ strategy long-term, which are better deals than a one-time retiring effect. In stark contrast, Blaster Blade affects units on the opponent’s side of the field and this does not sync well with the Royal Paladin’s theme of increasing your advantage in terms of net Power and field size.

With only a one-time-use effect and 10000 power, we can shrug Early off as nothing too special or big a deal, and it is not a viable vanguard to keep for multiple turns. Thankfully, since Alfred Early has “Alfred” in its name, Lion Mane Stallion can be used as its personal booster but due to the soulblast requirement involved, it may not be worth it to use this pair of cards in the first place.

Volume 2: Dragonic Waterfall

This card was surprisingly good when it was released back in late 2011 when power increments of 10000 was a big deal prior to Limit Break, the LB4 + 5000 power breaker clones and today’s Break Rides.

The best card to pair it with is Dragon Monk Goku in a deck with 10-12 G3s to optimize its G3-checking effect. Goku goes first as your mid-game vanguard, bombing your opponent’s back row with is G3-checking effect and once you have around 4 damage or have 6-7 G3s in your hand and drop zone (whichever comes first), you can ride Waterfall and start ridding off the extra G3s Goku checked previously. Unfortunately, Breakrides have pretty much killed the use for Waterfall as they do essentially the same thing and give your Kagero an additional one-turn effect on top of that. Thankfully, Waterfall can still hit for 21000 columns with an 8000 booster behind it to take on the dominant 11000-base vanguards we usually see today.

Volume 3: No Life King, Death Anchor

Death Anchor can be a swift, effective setup for Dark Irregular vanguards that require heavy soul like Amon and Reijy. It soulcharges 5 cards, a the fastest soul increase to DIs, which need that need a heavy soul for its vanguards’ effects, and gains a +10000/1 Critical for doing so.

It is however dangerous only interested in its power-and-critical gaining effect as the deck burn involved is a grave-digger in the long term. You are best off using its soulcharge 5 a maximum of twice the game as rushing through more than 10 cards is suicidal, and not to mention it burns triggers from your deck. This skill also prevents you from counterblasting for other purposes during the game, whether you should mind is up to you. DI can do well without counterblasts to charge its soul and use cards that soulcharge on-event (when it is called or used to guard etc).

Mikeru

Deck Classes in vanguard

Hey folks, today i'm going to talk about decks and the metagame in cardfight vanguard.

Decks that are viable in the current competitive scene.
Eradicators
Transcendence Dragon G4
Minerva
Dauntless Reverse
Chaos Breaker Dragon
Silver thorns
Jewel Knights
Blaukuger
Revengers

Lets classify them into classes and Categories.
Playstyle
Class 1: Disruptive Field Control
Class 2: Aggressive beatdown
Class 3: Anti Burn
Class 4: Anti Rush

Triggering Style
Shuffle
Stack Hastening

Disruptive Field Control (Burn).
They are decks that are disruptive and love killing your rearguards. Decks of this class gain +1 for themselves or -2 to the opponent via retiring or field removal. Often packed with pressure on the opponent who is facing it.

Decks that fall into this class:
Kagero
Narukami
Nubatama
Chaos Breaker Dragon

Aggro-Beatdown(Rush)
They are the type of decks that do nothing else except 1 thing. to rush and beatdown and deal damage. They are decks that are packed with pressure and forces the opponent to guard everything or take the damage. They are the type of decks that normally do not gain pluses with exception of a restanding vanguard.

Decks that fall into this class:
Beast Deity
Spike Brothers
Aqua Force
Blaukuger
Dimension Police
Ancient Dragons
Great Nature
Murakumo

Anti Burn
They are the type of deck that gain massive advantage and able to replenish their field easily to make up for the lost. Often have a huge handsize to begin with and play around. They are usually direct counter to our dragons from the dragon empire.

Decks that fall into this class:
Jewel Knights
Silver thorns
Minerva
Bermuda triangle
Granblue
Royal Paladins
Gold paladins
Celestials
Great Nature
Murakumo

Anti Rush
They are decks that are counterblast dependant and gain advantage when have loads of open damage to use for counterblast. They are there to prevent getting rushed and to counter them after getting rushed.

Decks that fall into this class:
Revengers
Celestials
Jewel knights
Narukami
Kagero
Nubatama
Gold paladins

Not to forget some decks belong to more than one class and share more than 1 characteristic.

Now we know what decks there are out there,
Lets simplify how the metagame works
Burn (wins)> Rush
Burn > Anti Rush
Rush > Anti Burn
Anti Rush > Rush
Anti Rush > Anti Burn

Now lets talk about triggering style in vanguard. This section is where the more advanced players would understood and how triggers can help gain pluses.

Shuffling
Shuffling is one of the few ways to score triggers as it resets your deck stacking pattern by removing the cards that are non trigger.

Decks that uses this technique:
Neo Nectars
Revengers
Royal Paladins
Great Nature
Murakumo

Stacking
Oracle Think Tank
Granblue
Dark Irregulars
Palemoon
Gold Paladin