Cards of the week! 15th Edition!

New card:

Absolute King, Gluttony Dogma

Get Tyrannosaurus-Rekt!

[Stride]

[Auto] [VC/RC] Engorge

[Auto] [VC] [GB2] [Choose a face down card named "Absolute King, Gluttony Dogma" in your G-Zone, and turn it face up]: When this unit becomes engorged, if you retired 3 or more units this due to this unit's engorge ability, You may pay the cost. If you do, until end of turn, this unit gets [Power] +10000 & "[Auto] [VC] [1/TURN] At the end of the battle that this unit attacked, if you retired five or more units during this turn due to this unit's engorge ability, stand this unit, and this unit gets drive check -1 until end of turn."

The first persona stride from RECKLESS RAMPAGE has been revealed, and it's Tachikaze's!

Whenever people have talked about Tachikaze in the past, it can be pretty much summed as "They are a worse version of Shadow Paladins." I personally think this was a bad comparison. They were a worse Aqua Force... But not anymore!

Gluttony Dogma is an incredibly powerful card. For example, in Ancient Dragons, as long as you have 2 cards such as Iguanogorg, Tyrannobite or Baby Rex on the field, this card would be essentially be Phantom Blaster, "Abyss" for Tachikaze, except this card hits 36k twice, has 5 drive checks instead of 4, and restands a rearguard column. Pretty good huh? 

I'm not even considering Gaiaemperor, which can turn any rearguard on the field into a Iguanogorg clone, and Baby Camera, which is just ridiculous combined with Gaiaemperor, making this card even stronger and even more consistent.

There's only one major issue with this card, and that is it is completely stopped by a single lock. But I guess that's what Twin Tempest is for, am I right?

Verdict: 10/10 Would be T-Rekt again. No seriously this thing is awesome!

By the way, I listened to Jurassic Park's theme whilst writing this... That reminds me, I still have to see Jurassic World!

Old Card

Destruction Tyrant, Archraider.

[Stride]

[Auto] [VC] Choose one of your rearguards, 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 turn and "[Auto] [VC] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, choose one of your opponent's rearguards, and retire it."

Tachikaze's RR Stride from Fighter's Collection 2015, 

This card can be a CB1 restand a rearguard, +5k and on-hit vanguard retire one of your opponents rearguard if you retire a card that can superior call itself or another card back onto the field.

In Ancient Dragons, this allows you to attack 4 times with ease.

You can also combine this with Gaia Emperor and Baby Camera to make Archraider a CB2 restand a rearguard, superior call a grade 1 rearguard, +5k to vanguard and on hit retire a rearguard.

This can also be used in conduction with Dark Rex, to make it lose-lose situation no matter what your opponent does.

As a whole, this card encapsulates what Tachikaze does: Retires it's rearguards to both to push an offensive and maintain hand advanatage at the same time.

Verdict: Pretty good. 

Cards of the week! 14th edition.

New card

Stealth Dragon, Nibikatabira

Now you see me, now you don't!

[Auto] [RC]: Afterimage. (When your opponent puts a bound card into his or her hand, if you have 6 or less cards in hand, you may return this card to you hand.)

[Auto] [GB1] [CB1] + [SB1] When this unit is placed on [RC], if you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with "Shiranui" in it's card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to one of your other rearguards, and until end of turn, that unit and this unit get [power] +3000 & "[Auto] [RC] Afterimage"

Nubatama's Benziel clone and it's interesting, to say the least.

The first thing I noticed is that it is the first Benziel Clone with a secondary skill, and a decent one at that. Pretty much, if your opponent's bound card returns to your hand, as long as you have six or less cards in hand, you may return this card to your hand. Allows you to call this and be able to return it back to your hand to use later is nice.

However, that isn't the main skill, which is when this unit is called, you may Counterblast 1 and Soulblast one to give both this unit and a chosen unit 3k and Afterimage. Sounds pretty mediocre, doesn't it?

Well you're WRONG!

This card is actually pretty powerful because of how versatile it is. Here are some ways of using this card:

The first (and most obvious) way you can use this is by returning valuable cards you wish to protect that are on the field by bouncing to your hand.

Secondly, you can use it to calling a card such as a perfect guard, then calling Katabira, then using Katabira's skill to give afterimage to the perfect guard, and at the end of the turn return both cards to your hand.

Thirdly, you can use it to power up a column that Dreadmaster (Nubatama's MVP.) is in to force your opponent to lose two cards from either guarding or Dreadmaster hitting a front row rearguard. This won't work against 10k Vanillas unless you are running 10k vanillas, unfortunately.

Fourth: You can call a 7k rearguard (Such as Dreadmaster), then call Katabira in the same column to get a 21k attack that returns to your hand at the end of the turn.

The condition isn't even that harsh, considering that Nubatama is notorious for having and needing small hand sizes,

My only problem is the card is it's cost: A counterblast and a soulblast. It's not overpriced or anything, but Nubatama are very resource heavy as a deck, especially with counterblasts and soulblasts. Hopefully though, the Technical booster will give us a good soulcharging and countercharging engine!

Verdict: Nubatama are the better Ninjas CONFIRMED!

Old card:

Climax Jewel Knight Lord, Evangeline

Shing! Sparkle Sparkle.

[Stride]

[Act] [VC] Choose a card in your G-Zone, and turn it face up]: If you have a heart with "Jewel Knight" in it's card name, and if you have three or more rearguards with "Jewel Knight" in it's card name, all of your units with "Jewel Knight" in it's card name gets [power] +3000 for every face up card named "Climax Jewel Knight Lord, Evangeline" in your G-Zone until end of turn.

Disclaminer: Before I talk about this card, I do not claim to be an expert on Royal Paladin, at all. So if I say something absolutely moronic (Such as OG Aurageyser being one of the worst G-units in the game around the time fighter's collection 2015 came out.) I preemptively apologize. Thank you!

Evangeline is Royal Paladin's stride in Fighter's Collection 2015 Winter, and it can pretty much be summed up as: "What Regalie would look like if it was actually balanced."

Like Regalie, Evangeline can create stupidly large columns, even bigger then Regalie. Unlike Regalie though, only units on the board when the skill was activated get the power. It also requires units to be on the board when the skill is activated. After all, 3 really powerful attacks is worse then 4 really powerful attacks.

As a trade of with Regalie though, Jewel Knights are better at rushing your opponent IMO, with the infamous Swordmy always being online as long as you have counterblast, and powerful grade 3 options such as Salome to kill your opponent even before they stride.

This isn't to say Evangeline is bad, far from it. It's probably the best G-Unit in the fighter's collection, 

Verdict: Pretty damn amazing.

Cards of the week! 13th edition.

New Card:

Honorary Assistant, Mikesaburo

[Auto]:When this unit is placed on [RC] during your main phase, choose one of your other rearguards, and until end of this turn, this unit gets "[Auto] During your end phase, when this unit is put into the drop-zone from [RC], search your deck for up to one grade 3 card, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand and shuffle your deck."

The RR from the fighter's collection, and it is essentially a slightly different version of Coiling Duckbill. 

Or to be more precise, it's a hybrid of Duckbill and Minibelly. This card is pretty amazing; it's usable during the early game, can search for any grade 3 and helps generate advantage.

It's worth noting that to use it in the early game requires you to run either Binoculus or Tapir. I'd personally recommend Binoculus because you can still use Mike if you ride Binoculus and Binoculus does not have resist like Tapir.

Verdict: Exceptional: Staple playset in every Great Nature Deck.

Old Card:

Honorary Professor, Chatnoir.

[Auto] [VC] [LB4]:When a <Great Nature> rides this unit, choose your vanguard, until end of turn, that unit gets [Power] +10000 & "[Auto] [VC] When your rearguard attacks a vanguard, choose one of your <Great Nature> rearguards, and until end of turn, that unit gets [power] +4000, and at the end of that turn, draw a card and retire that unit.

[Auto] [VC]:When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets [Power] +2000 until end of turn.

[Cont] [VC/RC]:Lord

Some people say that break-rides are all but out of Vanguard's meta-game. I personally disagree. There are a select few break-rides that are still powerful in this meta-game.

This is one of those break-rides.

This card combos really well with Crayon Tiger, one of the best amber clones in vanguard in my humble opinion, turning Chatnoir's usual +1 into a +2, and allowing for an additional attack and powering up a single column by 12000 power. Combine this with cards like Tester Fox, Researcher Fox, Duckbill and Mikeasaburo and Pencil Koala and you have a turn where you can generate advantage extremely quickly.

And all this is even before we know about Chatnoir's Stride, which we'll have to wait and see what Bushiroad has in store for us!

Verdict: Purrfect (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Cards of the Week! 12th Edition.

New Card

Wings of Annihilation, Blade Wing Tibold

[Stride]

[Auto] When this unit is placed on [VC], If you have a heart with "Blade Wing" in it's card name, return all cards from the drop zone to the deck, and shuffle your deck. Then, if the number of cards in your soul is 15 or more, until end of turn this unit gets "[Cont] [VC] All of your rearguards in the front row get [power] + 10000", and if not [SC5]

I said to one of my friends who plays vanguard the other day: "They're doing Blade Wing for Dark Irregulars, how in the world are they going to make them Viable? They need 15 cards in soul to even do anything!" 

Turns out this is how.

This card does 3 different jobs at once: It's a mass soul charger,  Dreaming Dragon and it's Regalie, rolled up into one unit.

It's worth noting that the 10k to the front row skill is restricted to only when you have 15 cards in soul. This is a target for Dark Irregulars anyway, because Gilles De Rais, the clan's Finisher, also needs 15 cards in soul to have all skills online, and the Blade Wing grade 3's also have skills that activate when you have 15 cards in soul.

A Dreaming Dragon skill is amazing in clans like Genesis and Dark Irregulars, where deck-out is much more likely to happen then in other decks, so a stride that does this on top of other skills is really great.

It's also worth noting that this card behaves fundamentally differently depending on what heart it is using. If the heart is Reijy, it is used mainly as a Regalie clone, if the heart is Sullivan, it is used to fuel Sullivan's extreme soul blasting.

Verdict: Really, REALLY solid.

Old Card

Blade Wing Sullivan

[Cont] [VC] If the number of cards in your soul is fifteen or more, this unit gets "[Cont] [VC] All of your guardians gain [Shield] +10000" & "[Auto] [VC] At the end of the battle that this unit was attacked, [SB2]"

[Auto] When this unit is placed on [VC], choose one of your rearguards, search your deck for up to 3 cards with the same that as that card, put them into your soul and shuffle your deck.

The RR for this winter's Fighter's Collection. I'm not going to lie, at first I really did not like this card. Funny how knowing the stride made me do a complete 180 opinion wise. 

This is one of the best defensive vanguard in the game... When you reach 15 soul, that is. Giving 10k shield to all cards is amazing, especially considering cards like Visionary Gemini exist. Being able to no pass 26k G-Unit boosted by a 7k rearguard with 2 10k shield cards is amazing. 

This comes at a cost, however. Every time your vanguard is attacked, if you have 15 or more cards in soul, you must soulblast. It's a small price to pay.

Verdict: Amazing.

Cards of the week! 11th edition.

New Card

Helldeity Seal Dragon, Crossorigin.

[Stride]

[ACT] [VC] [CB1] & Choose a face down card in your G-Zone, and turn it face up.] If you have a heart with "Seal Dragon" in it's card name, for each face up card named "Helldiety Seal Dragon, Crossorigin" in your G-zone, choose one of your opponent's rearguards, and retire it. your opponent reveals the top 4 cards of his or her deck, and chooses a grade 2 card from among them for each card put into the drop zone with this effect. Your opponent calls the chosen cards, and shuffles his or her deck. If your opponent has two or more grade 2 rear-guards, this unit gains [Critical] +1 until end of turn.

The Seal Dragon stride from the fighter's collection. The cost is reasonable, the fact that your opponent reveals the cards and must call grade 2's to rearguard is even better, but the icing on the cake is the critical trigger which you can get first turn. Unlike Pearly Titan, which requires either player to have an 11k base rearguard and the other to have a 9k base rearguard to gain the crit, this card only requires your opponent to have two grade 2 rearguards. Yes, Pearly Titan gains power, but gaining advantage is worth more then gaining power, as a 26k base is already very strong. 

Verdict: Pretty damn strong.

Old Card

Seal Dragon, Gariserge

[Auto] [RC] [CB1] When this unit boosts, if you have a vanguard with "Seal Dragon" in it's card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, until end of that battle, your opponent cannot intercept and the boosted units gets [power] +2000 for each of your opponent's grade 2 units.

Ever wanted a 13k booster easily that can boost either vanguard or rearguard? One that isn't reliant on how many soul-charges or cards you call? Meet Gariserge, which for a counterblast, can become up to a 17k booster. As well as that your opponent cannot intercept.

Yes it has to counterblast, in a deck that already uses counterblast quite a bit, but you can always run Protect Orb Dragon and Tarparlin Dragonkid can be a possible countercharge 5, so running out of counterblast is not much of an issue.

Verdict: Quite good.

Cards of the Week! 10th Edition.

New card

Flying Peryton

[Auto] [GB1] When this unit is placed on [RC], [SC1], choose up to one card in your soul, call it to [RC] in the same column as this unit, and at the end of that turn, put the unit called with this effect into your soul.

This card is a free temporary +1 for no cost. Decent enough, but like a lot of Pale-Moon cards, the true power of this card is in it's combo potential.

Harri skill > Call Peryton.>Call Purple Trapezist>Put Peryton back into soul > Call Peryton, > Call another card from soul.

Result> CB1 to SC3, Temp call 2 to RG and call 1.

This isn't the only combo, but it shows exactly this card is capable of.

There is a problem with Peryton though. The mandatory soulcharge can cause the player to deckout if used too much.

Verdict: A Solid staple in generic Pale Moon.

Old Card

Waving Deletor, Greidhol.

[Act] [VC] [1/Turn] [SB1-card named"Docking Deletor, Greion" & Choose a rearguard with "Deletor" in it's card name, and retire it.] Delete all your opponent's vanguard. Your opponent chooses a card in his or her drop-zone, and binds it face down (Vanish Delete)

[Auto] [VC] [CB1] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at the top 5 cards of your deck, search for one card named "Docking Deletor, Greion" from among them, put it into your soul, shuffle your deck, choose 1 of your opponent's rearguards in the front row, retire it, your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop-zone, and binds it face down (Vanish Delete)

Greidhol is both strong and weak at the exact same time. When he is rode on top of Greion, he is powerful, almost to ludicrous levels with Given. However, when he does not have Greion in the soul, he becomes extremely weak, with only Greidhol's on-hit pressure online.

The fact that Greidhol's delete costs a retire and soublasting one Greion from soul makes this card great when you cannot delete, but it is also a very risky card to use, as if it you ride it, you pretty much auto-lose.

Verdict: Strong in certain situations, a death sentence in others. Overall decent. 2 of in Greion decks max.

The embodiment of chaos, Chaos Breaker Dragon & Co!

"Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder!"

Back in BT-13, There was a terror. A Sadistic clown who countered and toyed with all it's subjects, known as "Reverse", the most powerful cards in the game at that time. A card so monstrously overpowered in it's time that many still resent it today. That card is Star-Vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon, and we will talking about this card today, and his new subordinates.

[Auto] [VC] [Limit Break 4] [SB1-Card with "Star-Vader" in it's card name.] During your opponent's end phase, when an opponent's locked card is unlocked, you may pay the cost. If you do, retire that unit, and draw a card.

[Act] [VC]: [1/Turn] [CB1]&[Choose a card with "Star-Vader" from your hand, and discard it.] Choose one of your opponent's rearguards, and lock it.

[Cont] [VC/RC]: Lord

Chaos Breaker's first skill turns soft advantage (The hand saved by not guarding those columns) into hard advantage (Retire + Draw) without losing the soft advantage. This was brutal in BT-13 because all the best bosses during that time where Reverse units, which self locked for skills.

Today however is a different story. CBD on his own is pretty meh, as his locking skill needs you to discard. In BT-13 he relied on a BR, making him slow, which is pretty much a death sentence in today's metagame. 

So what has brought back the clown? The new card that helps him the most in my opinion is next.

Star-Vader, Chaos Bringer.

[Auto] [VC] [Limit Break 4] [CB1] At the beginning of your opponent's main phase, if your opponent has 2 or more locked card, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for a card named "Star-Vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon", Ride it at [Stand] and shuffle your deck.

[Auto] [CB1-Card with "Star-Vader" in it's card name.] When this unit is placed on [VC], you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's cards in the back row, and lock it.

This card makes CBD much more consistent: It sets up the conditions for you to call Charcoal or Zinc (Another card we'll bet talking about) with Colony Maker, and it also sets the conditions for Dust Tail and Photon.

More importantly, It can superior ride CBD, making having CBD as your vanguard more consistent. It's also a better ride then CBD, because it sets up the soul and provides a lock on-ride for CBD to use when it is Superior Ridden.

Death Star-Vader, Chaos Universe.

[Stride]

[Act] [VC] [CB1] & Choose a face down card named "Death Star-Vader, Chaos Universe" from your G-Zone, and turn it face up.] If you have a heart with "Chaos" in it's card name, choose up to one of your opponent's [RC] without a card, your opponent chooses a card from his or her hand, and puts it into that [RC] face down as a locked card. If the number of face up cards in your G-Zone is two or more, choose one of your opponents rearguards, and lock it.

CBD's support stride, Chaos Universe fixes one of Chao's main problems: When your opponent doesn't want to call cards. Rather then going the Omega Loop route of forcing your opponent to call from the deck, it forces your opponent to call from their hand. Combine this with CBD's retire and you've reduced your opponent's advantage immediately.

The second part of the skill is really just icing on the cake, but grinding your opponent down faster is always nice.

Chain Battle Star-Vader, Technetium

[Auto] [RC] [Choose a card with "Star-Vader" in your hand, and discard it] When this unit attacks a vanguard, if you have a vanguard with "Star-Vader" in it's card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets [Power] +5000 & "[Auto] [RC] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, [SC1] [CC1]"

This card might seem bad at first, but creasing a 21k column with a 7K booster is very nice, as well as pressuring your opponent. A -1 may seem heavy, but with the ample amount of advantage that CBD gives you, it's not too big of a dint on your hand.

Confusion Star-Vader, Zinc.

[Act] [RC] [Put this unit into your soul] If you have a vanguard with "Chaos" in it's card name, [CC2] [SC2]

This card helps CBD by providing CBD with fuel. It's really good. Not much else to say here, really. Except that it can be superior called by our next card...

Intricacy Star-Vader, Carbon

[ACT] [RC] [Put this unit in your soul] If your opponent has a locked card, search your deck for up to 1 grade 1 or less card with "Star-Vader" in it's card name, call it to [RC], and shuffle your deck.

Oh boy is this thing amazing. This is lock a card put into soul pull whatever grade 1 you need right out of nowhere. No other cost! Since the best Star-Vader's are limit break, this card just helps the entire sub-clan so much, as before it had issues setting up LB.

Star-Vader, Paradigm Shift Dragon.

[Act] [RC]: [Put This unit on top of your deck.] If you have a vanguard with "Star-Vader" in it's card name, and your opponent has a locked card, choose a card in your opponent's back row, and lock it. Shuffle your deck.

One lock short of World's End? Want to shuffle triggers back into your deck? Need more locks? Well no fear, a new critical trigger is here!

This card just made Glendios so much scarier, as well as Venom-Dancer and CBD (Of course)!

Staple in Star-Vaders easily.

So overall what do I think about the new Star-Vader support? In my opinion Star-Vader is what saved GBT-05. They have needed a boost for some time now, and it's great to see them getting such great support... Or at least I'll be happy until CBD kicks the living daylights out of my Aqua Force decks. :/

Cards of the Week! 8th & 9th editions!

Sorry about the week delay, I took a very small break from the blog, just to chill a little and collect my thoughts. I apologize for not informing you.

Now onto new cards, and boy in the last two weeks have we had some great ones!

8th Edition:

New Card

Interdimensional Beast, Mettalica Phoenix

Our weapon? It is all of Time itself!

[Stride]

[Auto] [VC] [Choose a card in your G-Zone, and turn it face up] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. if you do, Time-Leap one of your rearguards. (Bind that rearguard face up, search your deck for a card 1 grade higher, call it to [RC], shuffle your deck, at the end of that turn, return the card called with this text to the bottom of your deck, and call the card bound with this skill.)

Gear Chronicle's second G-Trial Deck stride, Mettalica Phoenix is the revealing of Gear Chronicles key word: Time Leap. By binding a rearguard, they can call a card from their deck a grade higher, but at the end of the turn, the card "turns back" into it's form before time leap. This allows for many powerful offensive formations, and essentially turns Gear Chronicle from a control clan into a Midrange clan, like Shadow Paladin. (If you didn't know, Midrange is a playstyle where you control during the early game, and become aggressive with powerful columns during the mid-end game.)

But what do I think of the card itself? Well it can activate Chronojet's GB2 on your first stride, which is always nice, but that isn't this card's strong point. It can enable an extra attack for no cost, whilst allowing you to use any rearguard of a higher grade in the deck.

Ultimately, this card's potential is in what it can combo with. and so far, Gear Chronicle has received everything it could have wanted as combo pieces, including what I'm about to talk about next...

Verdict: A great G-Unit.

Old Card:

Upstream Dragon

Time itself does not move forward.
Instead, we actually move through time.

[Auto] [RC] [GB1] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may have this unit get [power] +4000, if you do, return this unit to your deck, search your deck fo up tor one grade 1 card, call it to [RC] at rest, and shuffle your deck.

Upstream Dragon is a unique card. It can change itself into a lower form after attacking, giving Gear Chronicle much more consistent Grade 1 tutoring. This card gives instant access to cards like Gigi, Dah-nish and Masergear

This was already pretty damn amazing, but thanks to Time-Leap, this card's capabilities has expanded ever further. It, in combination with Mettalica Phoenix can make a column that can attack twice, whilst doing the above.

If you Time-Leap into Kalibum, you can Reverse Time-Leap one of your opponent's rearguards. If you Time-Leap into History Maker Dragon, for a counterblast you can do another Time-Leap. The flexibility is astounding!

Verdict: Exceptional. A must have in every Gear Chronicle deck, just because of it's sheer utility.

9th Edition

New card

Stealth Dragon, Shiranui

To see a Shinobi is in itself a death
sentence.

[Auto] [VC] [GB2] When this unit attacks, if you have less cards then your opponent, this unit gains [Power] +5000 & [Critical] +1 until end of that battle.

[Auto] [VC] [CB1] When your G-Unit [Stride], you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rearguards, bind it face up, your opponent chooses a card from his or her hand. and discards it. At the end of the turn, your opponent puts the card bound with this effect into his or her hand.

I'm sure many of you know that after Aqua Force, Nubatama is my favourite clan, and I was highly excited for the Technical booster, which we now know is called "The Reckless Rampage" but I didn't expect any cards to leak so soon! Enough digressing, lets get onto the actual card.

The GB2 might seem extremely bad at first. Only 5+ and a Crit? That's all? However, anyone saying that has clearly forgot that Nubatama can easily reduce the amount of cards in the opponent's hand, therefore making this much harder to guard, and gives Nubatama a consistent way of finishing the opponent on 4 damage, something that has been a big issue for a while. It's also worth noting that the GB2 actives before the attack, which means the drive check will not affect your hand size, which is usually very annoying with this specific restriction. (I'm looking at you, Dreadmaster. You're still amazing though!)  In short, the GB2 effect is absolutely brutal.

The On-Stride skill is even better! CB1 to force a discard, the best quality control in the game, as well as more soft control bind a rearguard? Amazing. Remember that there is no restricting to what rearguard we bind, which we can tailor to the situation in hand. Have a pesking card in the back row you want Kuroko to snipe? bind that. Want to finish your opponent this turn, and reduce his shield as much as possible?  bind an interceptor.

And  this is not considering Kujikiricongo, which when rode at 4 or more damage forces your opponent to bind a card, and discard a card, whilst increasing the vanguard's power by 10k! The finishing potential is exceptional in this card, both if you want to stride and if you don't.

Verdict: This card is very, very scary. There really is no better way of putting it.

Old Card

Rikudo Stealth Dragon, Gedatsurakan

Shinobi are masters in the art of
making things disappearing.

[Stride] 

[Auto] [VC] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, your opponent chooses a card from his or her hand, and discards it.

Nubatama's On-Hit stride. It is really simple, but extremely effective. It puts your opponent in a Lose-Lose situation, Lose cards guarding, Lose cards not guarding. This strode over Shiranui will increase the amount of disruption you do to your opponent's hand on that turn, and also reduce how much shield they can guard with until they can no longer guard.

This card can only become more effective with new cards introduced in GTB-01!

Verdict: A great early game pressure card.

Cards of the Week! 7th Edition.

New Card

Not a wizard, unfortunately.

Masked Magician, Harri

[Auto] [VC] [GB2] When this unit attacks a vanguard, choose a card from your soul, call it, and that unit and this unit gain [power] +3000 until end of  turn.

[Magia] [Auto] [VC] [CB1] [Magia] When your G-unit [Stride], you may pay the cost. If you do, [SC1], choose up to 1 card from your soul. call it to [RC], that unit gains [power] +5000 until end of turn, and at the end of that turn, put the unit called with this skill into your soul

This card is clearly meant to be a combo card, but in all honesty this card just isn't good. It's probably got the worse On-stride skill out of all RRR Break-Strides, and it's GB2 Skill isn't much better. To be honest. I expected more from Pale Moon. I know what shenanigans this clan is capable of, so it;s quite disappointing to see a card which contributes nearly nothing to the overall game.

Verdict: Pretty mediocre.

Old Card

Purple Trapezist

[Auto] [Choose another of your <Palemoon> rearguards, and put it into your soul.] When this unit is placed on [RC], you may pay the cost. If you do, choose a <Palemoon> other than a card named "Purple Trapezist" from your soul, and call it to [RG]

As vanguard becomes older, some older cards become outdated, useless. Others only get better over time. I'd argue that Purple Trapezist is the latter.

While Trapezist is strictly worse then her Silver Thorn cousin, Zelma, that does not mean she isn't one of the best card generic pale-moon have in my opinion.

She is the cornerstone of generic Pale-Moons soul manipulation. But she is not perfect, and it is from no fault of her own. Generic Pale Moon has very few ways to efficiently soulcharge, which severely limits what Purple Trapezist can target during the early game. Hopefully this will be fixed in the upcoming Trial deck and GBT-05.

Verdict: Has a lot of potential that unfortunately hasn't been tapped.

Cards of the week! 6th Edition

New Card:

Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom

Glory, Glory Glory Mael-stronk!

[Auto] [VC] [LB4] [CB1] When an "Aqua Force" rides this unit, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your vanguard, and until end of turn it gets [Power] +10000 & [Auto] [VC] [Wave 4th time or more] When this unit attacks a vanguard, draw a card, choose one of your opponent's rearguards, retire this, and until end of battle, your opponent cannot normal call grade 0's from hand to [GC]

[Auto] [VC] [Wave 3rd time or More] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, search your deck for a card with "Maelstrom" in it's name, add it to your hand, and shuffle your deck.

When this card was announced, the Vanguard Wiki was saltier then the dead sea, but was it justified? 

First of, the actual Break-Ride skill. It's not actually overpowered. It makes Glory Easier, yes, it also can be cross-ridden, but Cross Ride defense barely matters anymore.

The other skill is what makes this card: A way to pressure and possibly get advantage in Maelstrom pre-stride without needing any type of enabler? Yes please!

In theory, this BR can also work in Ripple, so there's that.

Verdict: Stronk? Yes, Broken? No.


Old Card:

Blue Storm Soldier, Rascal Sweeper

Maelstrom's right hand man, if he(?) ever
had one.

[Auto] [RC] When this unit attacks, if you have a vanguard with "Maelstrom" in it's card name, this unit gains [Power] +2000

[Auto] [RC] [Wave 1 only] At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, if you have a vanguard with "Maelstrom" in it's card name, choose one of your rearguards in the same column as this unit, and exchange positions with the unit.

Maelstrom's Miranda clone, Rascal Sweeper is combination of two good Aqua Force cards: Storm Rider, Basil (But free) and Gregorious, Blue Storm's 12k attacker.

This makes Rascal Sweeper very flexible, and having several of him in your hand or on the field means that he isn't dead on draw.

Verdict: Strong and Flexible

Cards of the week! 5th Edition

New Card

One Who Rules the Storm, Commander Thavas

The waves created by my storms shall be
ceaseless

[Stride]

[Act] [VC] Choose a face down card named "One Who Rules the Storm, Commander Thavas" from your G-Zone, and turn it face up.] Choose up toone of your rearguards, until end of turn it gets [power] +5k and "[Cont] [RC] This unit can attack from the back row" And until end of turn, this unit gets "[Auto] [VC] [GB3] [Wave 4] When your unit attacks a vanguard, choose 3 of your opponent's rearguards. Your opponent chooses 1 from among them, and retires it.

The G-Rare of the Aqua Force clan booster. While many are disappointed in this card, I am not. This is exactly the card Aqua Force needed: A card that allows us to get 4 attacks with any three cards. We can turn grade 0's like Petros into Stacia at will, We can make Tidal Assault hit like Magnum Assault. We can put two Melanias into the same column and have them both attack. The flexibility that this card allows is simply outstanding just by it's initial ability alone.

It's GB3 is very strong with Thavas, but isn't that useful in other Aqua Force decks.

Verdict: An Outstanding Support Card

Old Card

One Who Surpasses the Storm, Thavas

Must. Have. This. SP. So. Good!

[Auto] [VC] [GB2] [Wave 4 or more] When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gains [Critical] +1 and your opponent cannot normal call grade 0's from hand to [GC] until end of that battle.

[Auto] When your G-Unit [Stride], choose your vanguard, and until end of turn it gets "[Auto] [VC] [Wave 4] When your unit attacks a vanguard, choose 3 of your opponent's rearguards. Your opponent chooses 1 from among them, and retires it.

The Namesake of this very blog, Thavas is one of my favourite, if not the favourite Aqua Force boss.

His GB2 Was decent, but with his very own Heart Thump Worker clone, Petros, he can hit 23k boosted. Because of his Tom skill, this number makes it near impossible to no pass without P-guarding it, and with G-units providing high power vanguard columns, this gives Aqua Force a secondary win con outside of Lambros.

Even when you stride over him, Thavas puts in work. His On-Stride skill retires an opponent's rearguard at the fourth attack, and while you won't have full control of what is retired, the grind this card helps accelerate softens up your opponent for either Lambros or Thavas' GB2 skill.

 This is ignoring the fact that Aristoteles, Tidal Bore and Commander Thavas work with this skill very well.

Verdict: A strong card with very strong synergies.

Cards of the Week! 4th Edition

New Card:

Flashing Ripple, Odysseus

All Hail Odysseus, our lord and savior!

[ACT][RC][1/Turn] Choose one of your other rearguards, and put it into your soul] Search your deck for up to one card with "Ripple" in it's card name with the same grade as your vanguard, ride it as [stand], and shuffle your deck. If you rode, choose a card from your soul with the same grade as your vanguard not named "Flashing Ripple, Odysseus", call it to [RC], and that unit gains [power]+2000 until end of turn.

This. Card. Is. So. Good. This card does so much for free. It allows Tidal Assault to hit 11k base vanguards on grade 2, it can allow the deck to plus quickly using Sea Turtle Soldier and Miltiades, it makes the deck near immune to Megacolony in general, and it makes Infinite legion easier to achieve.

And this is all before it's intended purpose of fixing the Ripple ride chain, which is notorious for it's very powerful early game.

This card single-handedly fixed all of Ripple's problems, and simultaneously make it a deck that you shouldn't mess with.

Verdict: An outstanding card.

Old Card:

Tidal Rescue Sea Turtle Soldier

As the Ripple surges forth, I shall be there
to support them!

[Auto] When this unit is placed on [VC] or [RC], reveal the top card of your deck. If that card is a grade 1 or grade 2 <Aqua Force>, call it to [RC], and if it's not, shuffle your deck.

Aqua Force's Conjurer of Mithril clone. Such a card could never be good in Aqua Force, right?

Thanks to Odysseus, not only is this card now viable, but it's amazing in Ripple.

Odysseus allows us to use this cards skill several times without actually having to call it from hand, which is fantastic. Free superior calls are always nice!

You'd think the fact that it can't call Grade 0's or Grade 3's would hinder the deck, but it actually helps the deck by keeping the cards we want in the deck (grade 0's and 3's) in the deck while calling grade 1's and grade 2's which help our rush.

The reason we want Grade 3's in the deck is so we have targets for Odysseus if Megacolony paralyze the vanguard or if we want to ride Miltiades several times.

Verdict:  Really good. An instant Playset in Ripple.

Cards of the Week 3rd Edition.

New Card:

Salvation Sage, Benon.

[Auto] [CB1] When this unit is placed on RC, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one card with [power] 6000, call it to RG in the same column as this unit, and shuffle your deck.

Royal Paladin's new "Swordmy", this card has some advantages and some disadvantages compared to Swordmy

Advantages: This card can call Hidden Sage, Miron, which allows this card to +2 for CB1 SB3, This card call call all 6K cards, not only jewel knights, this card also does not need you to tech Jewel Knights.

Disadvantages: Can only call into the same column, making where you can call it it more restrictive them Swordmy. you also cannot call limit break enablers or 10k attackers to rush very quickly. Columns it creates does not hit magic numbers against 11k vanguard without help from strides like Soul Saver and Altmile.

However, it's worth noting that any card like is extremely powerful, and these cards haveridiculous amount of Synergy with Regalie, one of the best strides in the game.

Verdict: Extremely good.

Old Card:

Battle Siren, Melania.

[Auto] [RC] [GB1] [Wave 3 or more] [CB1] When this unit attacks a vanguard, if you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with "Thavas" in it's card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, Draw a card, and this unit gains [power] + 5000 until end of that battle.

[Cont] [VC/RC/RC] Resist

One of the first two cards revealed for the Aqua Force clan booster, I only started testing her a few days ago and it's a shame I did, because Melania is simply amazing. The main reason I have come to really like her so much is simple: She is extremely flexible.

She generates advantage (which is always nice in Aqua Force.)

She does not require a booster to hit an 11k vanguard, allowing me to save cards in my hand for later.

She is a great target for Tidal Bores superior call, allowing you to pressure your opponent further while maintaining your hand.

She combos with Lambros extremely well. So well in fact I have started using Lambros as a first stride.

And being a grade 1, Melania doesn't need to be squeezed into the extremely tight Grade 2 lineup.

Having resist however is a double edged sword. While Melania is immune to every form of specific control in the game bar Brawlers, Shadow Paladins can turn Resist into a liability. Still, Resist is a very powerful defensive effect.

Verdict: If you play Thavas, play this card. You will not regret it!

The Lovecraftian Horror: Original Deletor, Eigorg!

"Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything."

Original Deletor, Eigorg

[Act] [VC] [GB2] [CB1] & Choose a rearguard with "Deletor" in it's card name, and retire it] If you have a heart with "Deletor" in it's card name, delete all your opponent's vanguard, choose up to one of your opponent's backrow rearguards, and lock it and your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop-zone, and banish deletes it. Then, if the number of cards in your opponent's damage zone is 4 or more and the amount face down cards in your opponent's bind-zone is 13 or more, you win the game.

Deletors to me have always seemed Lovecraftian in nature. They are alien, mysterious beings who have the power to exterminate us and want to exterminate us but we don't know why.

This card's skill feels like the embodiment of that idea. There is no way to combat it, there is no way to fight against it. The clock slowly ticks, and when it strikes 13, the end shall come.

But is it possible? The scary part is that it is, but it largely depends on your opponent. It is very easy to use enough card skills to bind 13 cards, but the issue is whether your opponent has the cards in their drop-zone to bind.

Of course, this is just the icing on the cake. The extremely cheap cost for a Delete and a lock is really good.

Verdict: This card is exactly what Deletors needed: A way to delete extremely cheaply and a Stride they can use very well.

Cards of the Week! 2nd Edition

New Card:

Liedown Deletor, Givun

The only Deletor that likes Mondays...

[Auto] [CB1]Card with "Deletor" in it's card name] & Retire this unit & choose 4 other rearguards with "Deletor" in it's card name, and retire them.] After the battle that this unit attacked a Vanguard, if you have a grade 3 vanguard with "Grei" in in it's card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, [Stand] all your vanguard.

Another Deletor again? Yes. Personally, the Alfred support released in the last week has been extremely lackluster and uninteresting to me.

So Deletors now have a rearguard based Vanguard restanding skill. These cards in the past have shown to be extremely powerful and heavily restricting on the clans these cards are in can be given, as the two cards that could restand a vanguard as a rearguard in the past, Cat Butler and Commander Laurel had no counterblast cost and gained advantage.

Givun on the other hand has a counterblast cost and is a -3 in advantage, while being extremely easy for other Link Joker archetypes to disrupt and "Diablo" being un-guardable because of it's skill. Seems to be a rather unreasonable restriction for this card, don't you think? Personally, I think it implies that Deletors are going to get a good advantage engine to help support Deletor's near constant self minusing. (They do however have an amazing filtering engine now thanks to Illfate Deletor, Dorohn)

As of right now? This card is only viable as a finisher, and even then it is extremely risky, if you don't kill them that turn, you've probably lost because Givuns huge advantage lost is extremely hard to mitigate right now in Deletors.

Verdict: Has potential, but right now is risky.

Old Card:

Blue Storm Marshal Dragon, Admiral Maelstrom.

Best. Centaur. Ever.

[Stride]

[Auto] [Wave 4 or more] [CB1] & Choose a face down card in your G-Zone, and turn it face up.] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, if you have a heart with "Maelstrom" in it's card name, you may pay the cost, if you do, draw a card. choose 3 of your opponent's rearguard, your opponent chooses a rearguard among them for each face up card named "Blue Storm Marshal Dragon, Admiral Maelstrom" in your G-Zone and retires them.

A card that I have seem very often criticized by the vanguard community for being bad. I disagree with this sentiment.

First of, thanks to Blue Storm Marine General, Despina, Admiral Maelstrom can block grade 0'Ss for attacking 4 times and a -1, and while that is a huge commitment to the board, it is a great way to capitalize on your opponent's lack of P-Guards, force P-guards out and be used as a first stride finisher. Using Admiral this way can be done both in Maelstrom and Thavas decks. What harm comes from toolboxing a single copy of what can become a Psuedo-Ragnaclock?

Secondly, Admiral's skill is a great way to grind your opponent down while gaining advantage yourself in Maelstrom decks, especially against more aggressive decks. They either guard (+2 soft advantage at least) or take the hit (+2 hard advantage,). However, Admiral's more demanding conditions make it less of an option against control decks that specifically focus on the rearguard (pretty much all of them.) So if a Maelstrom player is running this, I'd also highly recommend that you run this with Tidal Bore Dragon, Who is a staple in any Aqua Force player's G-Zone.

Thirdly, Admiral Maelstrom, just like Stun Spear, only persona flips when it hits. This makes it a lot easier to fit Admiral into the G-Zone. Unlike Stun Spear however, Admiral is even easier to compress into the G-Zone, and only has to be run at 2 to use it's skill.

Verdict: A very flexible G-Unit, who can be used in several different ways.

Cards of the Week! 1st Edition

First of, I have to apologize for not doing Card of the Week! for the last two weeks. I took a small Hiatus from the blog, mainly because I was playing Terraria's Expert Mode. (which is a blast BTW! :D)

While on this Hiatus, I also decided to make a change to the Card of the Week series. Rather then just analyzing a newly released card every Wednesday, I'll also review an older card in which may or may not have become more relevant because of a newly announced card or may just be a card I am very interested in.

With that out of the way, let's get to the 1st edition of Cards of the Week!

The New Card:

Docking Deletor, Greion

"We are the pinnacle of Evolution and
Existence."

[Act] [CB2] Cards with "Deletor" in it's card name & choose a rearguard with "Deletor" in it's card name, and retire it.] Delete all your opponent's vanguard, your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop zone, and Banish Deletes it. (The Deleted card is turned face down, has 0 power and loses all it's text. It turns face up at the end of your opponent's turn. The Banish Deleted card is placed in the Bind Zone face down.)

[Auto] When this unit is placed on [VC], your opponent chooses 2 cards from his or her drop-zone, and Banish Deletes them. (Banish Deleted cards are placed in the bind zone face down.)

The newest weapon in the Deletor's arsenal, Greion is probably one of the best Deletor bosses we have had yet.

First off, his Delete is the cheapest out of all Deletors, so we can keep Deleting the opponent's vanguard with relative consistency now, and like Oksizz he can Delete regardless of what the opponent is doing. Which makes Deletors much more consistent and MUCH faster.

Banish Delete is kind of interesting. It's really strong in the early game against Legion decks or Musketeers in general, but I am not sure how effective it is other then in those two cases. We also don't know what Bushiroad will do with this mechanic. It could turn out to be an Amazing mechanic with a lot of control and flexibility (And maybe even a Win Condition!?)

Verdict: A great help to Deletors, but more help is needed to make Deletors Relevant.

The Old Card

Mixed Deletor, Keios

Hey guys! Mind if I hang around with you
 today? No? Why not!? I can delete like all you
 guys as well! See! All I want is to be
your friends... MOTHER! OKSIZZ
IS BULLYING ME AGAIN! HE WON'T
LET ME BE HIS FRIEND!

[Auto] [CB2] two cards with "Deletor in it's card name] and choose two cards in your hand and discard it] When this unit is placed on [VC] you may pay the cost, if you do, Delete all your opponent's vanguard, choose 2 of your opponent's rearguard, and lock them.

[Auto] [VC] When this unit attack's a vanguard, this unit gains [Power] +2000 until end of that battle.

Keios is like that child who trys so hard to impress you, to show you how cool he is, but fails miserably.

Keios is one of the clunkiest cards I have ever seen. He only triggers when you ride him, unlike the rest of the deletors who trigger during the main phase, his skill is ridiculously expensive advantage wise, and he relies on your opponent having called rearguards before riding him to make park of his skill even useful!

Because of this, Keios is barely useable.

Verdict: Why does this card even exist?!