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

Cray Journal: Gear Chronicle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Interdimensional Dragon, Mystery Flare Dragon

(G unit cannot be in your main deck)

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

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

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

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

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

That's not even a 1 % chance!

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

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

4 Chrono Jet Dragon; 4 Fatewheel Dragon

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

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

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

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

Signing off,
Lee Megan

Stride Generation~ G!!

Following the introduction of Cardfight!! Vanguard G, we have new G units, and stride.

What are G units?

G units are Grade 4 units with "Triple Drive!". They are not placed in the main deck, but in the G Zone, a zone right abobe the damage zone on the typical playmat. G units can be used for Stride, and each player can have up to 8 G units, with a maximum of 4 copies per unit. 

What is Stride?

Stride is an ability unlocked when both players' Vanguards are Grade 3 or greater. To stride, one must discard 1 or more cards with the grades totaling to 3 or more. All G units are face down in the G Zone at the start of the game. When you stride, choose a G unit and place it face up on the Vanguard circle. At the end of your turn, that unit goes back to the G Zone face up, and cannot be used for stride again. When you stride on your Vanguard, the G unit gains the name and original power value of your "heart". If your original Vanguard is in Legion, choose 1 unit to be the heart. The G unit does not gain the skills of the heart. As the term "triple drive" suggests, you get 3 drive checks when you stride. 

Generation Break

You may have noticed some new units have the symbol GB1 or GB2. These abilities are unlocked when there is the stated number of G units face up in the G Zone or on the Vanguard circle. So for example, if your grade 2 rear guard has a GB1 ability, it can be activated when you have a Striden Vanguard or when there is one face up G unit in the G Zone. 

G Assist:

G assist is a new mechanic designed to help with misgrading. You need to have at least 2 G units to use this. Here's how it works:

1)Reveal your hand to your opponent, proving you don't have a unit 1 grade higher than your Vanguard. 

2)Check the top 5 cards of your deck for a unit 1 grade higher than your Vanguard, and add it to your hand. Shuffle your deck. 

3)Choose 2 G units from your G Zone, and 2 cards from your hand, and remove them from the match. This is not bind or discard. The lost G units cannot be used to fulfil the conditions for Generation Break. 

4) Proceed to ride phase. 

If you did not add a card to your hand during step 2, skip step 3 and jump to step 4. 

The G Assist ability is very costly, hence it should only be used when truly desperate. 

Examples of G units: 

All clans: Harmonics Messiah; Heat Elemental, Magnum; Miracle Elemental, Atmos

Gear Chronicle: Interdimensional Dragon, Mystery Flare Dragon

Royal Paladin: Vague Sacred Knight, Gablade

Oracle Think Tank: Sword Deity of Divine Sound, Takemikazuchi

Nova Grappler: Meteorkaiser, Viktplasma

Kagero: Imperial Flame Dragon King, Route Flare Dragon

This is just a short list of the current known Stride units. Certain clans have new cards which combo well with the Stride mechanic to net huge advantages.
If your favorite clan does not have Stride units yet, you can use the generic clan G units to power up your current deck, or wait for Bushiroad to release G units for that clan.

Happy Cardfighting everyone~!

Signing off,
Lee Megan