Vanish Delete! Deletors post GBT-08

This is my third article on Deletors. If you haven't read my two other articles on Deletors, you can read them here and here.

"We transcend your very understanding."

When It was revealed that Deletors were to be supported in GBT-08, I was very excited. I hoped a strong amount of support, preferably with a new stride... But alas it was not to be. Deletors got 2 normal units, neither of which fix most of the decks problems.

I say most because they actually addressed one of my biggest issues with the deck, that being the fact that Vanish Delete was completely useless bar a near impossible win condition.

That was, until this card was revealed:

Punishment Deletor, Gieron.

(Cont) (RC)}: This unit gets (Power) +1000 for every face down card in your opponent's bind-zone.

(Auto) (RC)]: At the end of the battle that your vanguard with "Deletor" in it's card named attacked a Vanguard, your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop-zone, and binds it face down. (Vanish Delete)


The first skill increases it's power by the amount of cards in the bind-zone, which makes this card get stronger both offensively and defensively. Gieron has a strong synergy with Delete, as the power it gains allows it to force more hand from the opponent, as well as being able to bind those cards without a cost.

The catch? It's a 7k. I'm not going to lie, I was very weary about this when I first tested him, but after my tests I've come to the conclusion that he is the best G2 in Deletors, even despite the 7k.
I hope more cards that benefit from Vanish Delete are printed for Deletors in the future, especially if they are good like this card.

The second card of the deck is the same story: I thought it was bad at first, tried it and found out it was pretty good:

Overeat Deletor, Onagil.

(Auto)]: When this unit is placed on (RC), you may play "All fighters draw a card, chooses a card from his or her hand and discards it.

(Act) (RC) :[Put this card into soul]: If you have a vanguard with "Deletor" in it's card name, your opponent chooses a face down card from his or her drop-zone, and binds it face down (Vanish Delete)

When this card was released, there was many criticisms. One my personal complaints what why the Vanish Delete wasn't on-retire, which admittedly would have certainly made the card better.

Regardless, the card is still quite good, both for fixing your hand and providing you cards to vanish Delete.

As well as that, it can be an emergency bind if you are extremely close to getting Egorg's win condition.

And that's all the cards in the set. However, between Comic Booster one and GBT-08, A new mechanic was introduced:

G-GUARDIAN!

So let's talk about the two link Joker G-Guardians, and how they help Deletors:

Death Star-Vader, Demon Maxwell.

(Auto) :[Choose one of your back-row rearguards, and lock it.]: When this unit is placed on (GC), you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets (Shield) +5000 until the end of that batlle.

I'm not gonna lie, this doesn't help Deletors that much. I run it because 20k Shield is sometimes necessary to surviving, and sometimes I want to protect a rearguard in the backrow, so I lock it. 

Locking backrow rearguards isn't the best in Deletors either, who want to force as much shield as possible, and every unit is valuable as a booster, so using this can have its drawbacks.

Genesis Beast, Destiny Guardian

(Auto)]: When this unit is placed on (GC), choose up to 2 locked cards, and unlock them. If two units were unlocked with this effect, this unit gets (Power) +10000 until the end of that battle.

I only run this to deal with other Link Joker decks, in what is essentially a "Win more" move. Apart from that, It's a 15k shield.

So no, it's not that good in Deletor.

Decklist:

G-Zone:

4 Original Deletor, Egorg

4 Nebula Dragon, Big Crunch Dragon

2 Genesis  Dragon, Amnesty Messiah

2 Death Star-Vader, Demon Maxwell

2 Genesis Beast, Destiny Guardian

1 Dark Element, Dyzmel

1 Light Element, Agleam.

Grade 3:

4 Docking Deletor, Greion

2 Waving Deletor, Greidhol

Grade 2

4 Bloating Deletor, Gio

4 Punishment Deletor, Gieron

3 Juxtapose Deletor, Gaele

Grade 1

4 Instill Deletor, Ender

4 Illfate Deletor, Drown

3 Overeat Deletor, Onagil

3 Looting Deletor, Gunec

Grade 0

Starting VG: Aquire Deletor, Igor

4 Biting Deletor, Geeva

4 Deletor Criticals

4 Cramping Deletor, Edy

4 Deletor Heals

THE GENIUS STRATEGY, Megacolony review!

Technical Boosters so far have been very interesting to pay attention to. They always support more niche clans with interesting support, and there's a lot to cover, so let's get started with:

Megacolony!

Bushiroad, I have a question: Why do you hate Megacolony? They're the clan who has received the worst support in this set by far. And this card is a microcosm for why:

Merciless Mutant Deity, Darkface.

(Act) (Vc) :[(CB)1 And choose a face down card named "Merciless Mutant Deity, Darkface" from your G-Zone and turn it face up]: Choose one of your opponent's units for every face up card named "Merciless Mutant Deity, Darkface" and until the end of your opponent's turn those units get "(Cont) (RC) This unit cannot intercept and cannot be chosen for the cost or effect of one of your cards" and for each rearguard chosen with this effect, this unit gets (Power) +5000 until end of turn.

CB1 Flip anything to turn a paralysis into either a lock or a retire  isn't the best to be honest, even if it does make sure that the opponent can't get rid of the cards using skills such as Gluttony Dogma or Diablo. CB1 for something that is only useful when combined with something else is pretty bad to be honest. It's worth noting that for the clans you'd mainly use this against, Tachikaze and Shadow Paladin it only is effective when they actually have a field, which isn't always the case.

So it's only useful in niche situations, it requires copies of itself to be useful and it burns counterblast, which are extremely precious in Dark Face, the only card you'd consider running more than 2 copies in. It's overcosted and performs very little for any deck overall, Sums up a lot of Megacolony's support in GTB-02, actually.

Lawless Mutant Deity, Obtirandus

(Act) (VC) (GB2) :[(CB)2 & Choose a card from your hand, and discard it] Your opponent cannot call cards to (RC) until the end of your opponent's next turn.

G-Units in Technical Boosters tend to be cards that are needed for niche situations. This card definitely fits that description.

Overall this card punishes a significant amount of decks and can turns paralysis into locks... The only issue is it's stupidly high cost. I can understand why Tsukumorakan was CB2 person, I really can. Reducing your opponent's hand size to 4 is very powerful, as well as being able to reduce it even further to 3 which pretty much makes it impossible to guard every single attack. It was also noteworthy that Nubatama has the ability to countercharge 1 every single turn using Kamoquisha.

 Megacolony definitely does not have Countercharge abilities as good as Nubatama, that's for sure, as they are constantly forced to -1 to do so bar their P-Guard.

Overall the card's good, but Megacolony (Especially Darkface) needs a much better capacity to countercharge, as well as a generic finisher that isn't on-hit before this card can become the powerhouse staller that it is capable of being.


Mutant Deity Fortress, Gricefort

(Auto) :[(CB)1];  When this unit is placed on (GC) for the battle that your vanguard was attacked, you may pay the cost. It you do, rest all of your opponent's backrow rearguards, and this unit gets (Shield) +5000 for every two of your opponent's units at rest until the end of that battle.

This is one of the few quality cards Megacolony received in the technical booster. It's well costed, powerful and flexible. It can become a 30k with ease, and it can reduce the power rearguard attacks easily.

I find no faults with this card. It's exactly what it should have been, a great way to control the opponent's board while gaining shield.

There are ways to play around it, yes but for the most part you are succeeding at forcing your opponent to either attack in a less than efficient pattern or by resting the opponent's rearguards and doing the same.

I rather like it.


Sky-Slicing Rending General, Superior Mantis

(Auto) Dark Device :[(CB)1]: When this unit is placed on (VC) or (RC), you may pay the cost, if you do, choose one of your opponent's rearguards in the same column, and that unit cannot (stand) during your opponent's next stand phase.

(Auto) (GB1) Dark Device: When this unit is placed on (RC), choose one of your opponent's rearguards, and that unit cannot (stand) during the opponent's next stand phase.

This card is pretty bad, simply because you don't want to call grade 3's to rearguard circle.

If it was a grade 2 however, this card would be alright. Nothing spectacular, just alright.




Punish Stag

(Auto) (GB1) (Dark Device)]: When this unit is placed on (RC), if you have a vanguard with "Darkface" in it's card name, this unit gets (power) +2000 until end of turn, choose one of your opponent's rearguards, and until the end of your opponent's next turn, that unit gets "(Auto) (RC) At the end of your turn, if this unit is at (Rest), your opponent draws a card" and that unit doesn't stand during your opponent's next stand phase.

This card's pretty good. A Giga paralysing Machining Papilio with 9k base power is cool with me, even if it is slower.

Even so, the nature of the card means that the effect only happens for a turn, and that there is no way really to get around it.




Six Horns Mutant, Honeycomb Queen.

(Cont)]: Sentinel

(Auto) :[Choose a card from your hand, and discard it]: When this unit is placed on (GC), you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to one of your vanguards that is being attacked, and that unit cannot be hit until the end of that battle.

(Auto) (RC) (GB1) Dark Device :[(SB)1]: When your unit's attack hit's a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, return this card to your hand.

This card is alright, I guess. The biggest problem with this card is opportunity cost, as G-Megacolony needs all the countercharging it needs, so not running the G-PG is simply not an option.

Nothing else to say really.

Vulcan Lafertei

(Auto) (RC) (GB1) Dark Device :[Put this unit into soul]: At the beginning of your main phase, you may pay the cost, If you do, (CC)1

(Cont) (RC)]: If you have a vanguard with "Giraffa" in it's card name, this unit cannot be chosen by the effects of your opponent's cards, and your opponent's units in the same column as this unit cannot intercept.

Probably the best rare in the set for Megacolony, Vulcan Lafertei's conditional skill is pretty amazing. It both allows paralysis to be put in the front row and the unit cannot be removed if you have a Giraffa vanguard.

Unfortunately, I believe that the Auto Skill should have been CC2 instead of CC1, as this unit is extremely valuable to keep on the board, so you are either forced to remove it from the board so you can do your thing, or keep it on the board to make Paralysis more efficient. If it was CC2 it would have been much more effective as a countercharger, and would have allowed Megacolony to stall much more efficiently.

Makeup Widow

(Auto) (RC) (GB)1 Dark Device :[Put this unit into your soul]: At the end of each turn, you may pay the cost. If you do, (CC)1, Choose your opponent's grade 1 or less rearguard, and that unit doesn't stand during your opponent's next stand phase.

This card is alright I suppose. It's main issue is that it is a -1 to countercharge yet again.

Why does Megacolony have to -1 to cc1 when decks like Great Nature can do it while plussing and while CBD has a countercharger that is a -1 to CC2.

It makes no sense, really.

Childhood Command, Rosenberg.

(Auto)]: Forerunner

(Act) (RC) (GB)1 Dark Device :[Put this unit into your soul]: Choose one of your opponent's rearguards, and until end of the opponent's turn that unit gets "(Cont) (RC) This unit cannot intercept and cannot be chosen for the cost or effect of one of your cards."

(Act) (RC) :[(Rest) this unit]: Choose one of your opponent's units, and (Rest) it.

Let's take an already mediocre ability from our RRR stride, and give it to a rearguard for a -1! Such a great idea!

No, this card is awful. Use Crimebug instead. At least you get something out of that -1!

And that pretty much sums up Megacolony support in GTB-02. 

Vanguard Stride Gate: A Theory.

So I've been watching the Vanguard G anime for a while now, and something had been bugging me for a long time. That something being how are TRY3, Ibuki and group who co-operated to cause GIRS CRISIS going to stop Ryuzu Myoujin? Surely Ryuzu could just steal Chrono's Depend cards, as Ibuki did with Kanzaki's?

Chrono Shindou

As we found out last episode (Episode 34 of GIRS Crisis/Stride Gate) Ryuzu requires Chrono to fully awaken the Depend cards, so he can open the stride gate, as being the singularity, Chrono is the only way to fully bring a unit to Earth. We also found out that Chrono Dran is the only Depend Card to have been fully completed. Stealing Chrono's Depend cards would be pointless, as all twelve Depend Cards have to be fully completed to open the stride gate.

When we found out that Ryuzu Myoujin needs all 12 different depend cards, all of them complete to open the stride gate, I turned to attempt to solve another question: Why did Ibuki re-introduce Chrono to Vanguard? Surely that's a horrible idea when you're trying to stop somebody from plunging Cray into the dark ages for their own sakes?

Ibuki must know this, and wouldn't do this unless he had to, So he requires Chrono to have been awoken for his plan, But why?
After thinking about this for a while, and coming up with no solution, I decided I might be able to figure this out by looking at the how and not the why.

So how will TRY 3 and Co defeat the company and ensure that the Stride Gate will never open?

Kouji Ibuki

The Company won't back down because they lost a Vanguard Fight. That much is obvious. Whether they win or lose is irrelevant, though they tell themselves otherwise. After all, they might lose the battle but they will win the war. They've been shown to go as far as destroying buildings and endangering lives just to "punish" those who are plotting against them.

When you're this far down the rabbit hole, you're not getting back out.

Unless Chrono stops playing Vanguard and wipes it from his memory (which is highly unlikely for him to do,), the only way of stopping Ryuzu is somehow permanently destroying Depend Cards.

Logically, burning a Depend Card would release the unit trapped inside, making it so that the released unit could possibly be recaptured. In otherwords, our question isn't "How do you destroy a Depend Card", but it's actually "How do you destroy a unit?"

Then I had a Eureka moment:

The only way anyone can stop Ryuzu from opening the stride gate is with Deletors!

Daunting Deletor, Oksizz 

I can explain: In the Vanguard Movie, the Deletors were shown to be able to "Delete End" the avatar of whoever was beaten by them, turning the card black and effectively removing it from existence. We know the movie is canon in the G-Universe as Ibuki was given Neon Messiah at the end of the movie. Ibuki was the antagonist of the Neon Messiah Movie, and he used Deletors. In the Manga Ibuki is linked to Deletors as well.

So here's my theory: Ibuki's plan is to use the Deletors to "Delete End" Chrono Dran, and everything so far has been put into place to make it as easy as possible for Ibuki to achieve this goal. Everyone fighting against Ryuzu except TRY3 are working with Ibuki to achieve this goal.

Why Chrono Dran? He is the only complete Depend Card at this moment.

So why not use Deletors on Chrono after he created Chrono Dran's Depend Card? It's simple: Delete End targets the user's Avatar, rather then a card of their choice. Chrono Dran isn't Chrono's avatar, Chronojet is! Chrono Dran and Chronojet appear to be related, but lore wise they appear to be unrelated. It's confusing.

However, we know that Rive has 3 Depend cards, one of which could have been linked to Chrono Dran at the same time Chrono got his. Chrono Dran is likely to be Rive's Avatar, as it would remind him of his son.

Chrono Dran when first revealed.

Why is Chrono involved with this plan? To make it possible for Chrono Dran to be Deleted. He's also bait for Rive Shindou, who did everything in his power to stop Chrono from getting involved in the plan.

 Now that Rive knows he's invovled again, he's knows who exactly is to blame, Ibuki!

Rive is likely to return to Japan to confront Ibuki, no matter how hard it will be for him to do that. He is likely to challenge Ibuki to a Cardfight, and then all Ibuki has to do is win to stop Ryuzu from ever opening the stride gate. The sacrifice, rather then the entirety of Cray, is a Single Zodiac Time Beast: Chrono Dran.

Well that's my theory. There's only one way to find out whether it's true or not, and that's to watch the Vanguard Anime!

Hope you enjoyed this very different kind of article.

Interesting Rulings #1: The Ultimate Defence?

There's a secret "mechanic" in Cardfight Vanguard that I'm going to tell you about today. Ok. It's not actually a mechanic, moreso a consequence of several rules that can be applied in a very creative and useful way.

The catch? It's only possible in two decks right now, and one of those decks can only trigger it against two very specific matchups, and requires luck. So we'll focus on the deck that it is possible against every single deck.

That deck being... *Drumroll*

Sweep Command Eradicators!

So what's so special about this deck that it can do something only 1 other deck is capable of only against certain matchups?

It's simple: There's a 2 card combo that if luck is on your side you can "P-Guard" the vanguards attack whilst retiring 3 rearguards... without P-Guards. Yes, you didn't misread that, this combo Makes it so the opponent cannot hit your vanguard during that battle.

One of these combo pieces is guaranteed (unless your opponent is a control player.), Eradicator First Thunder Dracokid:

(Auto)]: Forerunner

(Auto) (RC) :[Put this unit into your soul]: When an opponent's rearguard is put into the drop zone due to an effect by one of your cards, if you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with "Eradicator" in it's card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at up to ten cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one "Eradicator, Sweep Command Dragon" from among them, ride it and shuffle your deck.

This card is the center of this deck. It can be used to psuedo-restand if Zoras hits, and it can be used for our amazing combo.The only catch is it searches the top 10 cards of your deck, and if lady luck hates you on that day, you might not get Sweep Command in the top 10.

The other card we need for this combo is Eradicator, Unruly Dragon:

(Auto) (RC) :[(CB)1-Card with "Eradicator" in it's card name]: When this unit Intercepts (intercept), if you have a vanguard with "Eradicator" in it's card name, you may pay the cost, if you do choose one of your opponent's rearguards not attacking or boosting (Boost), and retire it.

Simple enough. Retires a unit not attacking or boosting during your turn, Can stop an attack, Pretty decent.

So what's the combo? It's actually quite simple:

When your opponent attacks your vanguard (preferably with their vanguard), intercept with Unruly Dragon, use it's skill to trigger First Thunder, activate his skill and (hopefully) ride Sweep Command, Use Sweep Command's onride skill (Or Vowing Sword Dragon if LB4 is online and you had him as your vanguard) to retire a front row rearguard, then use Sweep Commands LB4 if applicable to retire the other rearguard and draw 1.

So how does this P-guard without an effect that stops an attack from hitting? Because of this rule from the official comprehensive Vanguard rulebook:

"7.6.1.3.If the attacking unit or the attacked unit had left the field, or if the master of any of these unit changed, or if any of these units moved to another circle, then the powers are not compared, and the attack does not hit"

Since we had superior rode Sweep Command during a battle, That put the vanguard that was being attacked into the soul, causing it to leave the field and putting this rule into effect.

However, the opponent drive checks cards as per usual, and any effects that read "At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard" still activate, so use with caution.

This combo has a few problems though: It is HIGHLY reliant on both of these cards being on rearguard circles, which makes this combo highly telegraphed. Because of this, any player who knows about these two cards will quickly try to stop this combo as quickly as possible.

Still, it is a very interesting combo!

G-Guardians, the G-Zone increase and how this affects the Metagame.

Today, Bushiroad announced two things: How the new type of G-Unit, G-Guardians work exactly, and that the G-Zone limit would be increased to 16 cards, double the size of the current G-Zone.

First lets talk about G-Guardians.

G-Guardians are a new defensive mechanic originally revealed in the Vanguard Anime that allows you to superior call a 15k shield from the G-Zone to the guardian circle if you discard a heal. After the battle the G-Guardian returns to the G-Zone face up. Clan based G-Guardians also gain 5k more shield if you can successfully resolve their ability. This slows down the game a little bit, allowing you to get more shield out of your heal trigger, as well as being able to guard Glory and Tom skills with ease.

It also sorts out an issue that Vanguard has had ever since G-Units were introduced: Second Turn Advantage. Pretty much, if your opponent strode first, they had a much higher chance of winning as they would get to their (usually) extremely powerful strides first. Clans which could rush, had strong first strides, or in the case of Royal Paladin, both, had a significant advantage over other clans.

G-Guardians have helped level the playing field.

If a G-Guardian is used on your opponent's first stride, and you have not strode first, it gives the the player who has not strode this turn a face up G-Unit after that battle, which can be capitalised next turn by G-Units which either have GB2 (Or even GB3 if they can persona) or skills that behave similarly to these conditions. The only issue is that some clans (especially Megacolony) gain little benefit from this, whilst other clans, such as Aqua Force and Royal Paladin can abuse this incredibly well. 

G-Guardians also help Limit Break and Legion decks, as they can set up their huge finishers without actually having to stride.

Are there actually anything bad about G-Guardians? Only that it makes already powerful clans a bit more powerful, but it counterbalances that by buffing defences rather significantly.

Now the G-Zone size increase.

Whilst I feel that increasing the size of the G-Zone was a good idea, the size they actually increased it by I think is a little overboard. I understand why they did it: to sell G-Units, so they didn't have to power creep constantly to keep people buying sets, and giving people more flexibility so they can tech niche G-Units in their G-Zone.

This benefits clans with large, powerful and useful G-Unit rosters.

However. I think that for the long term, Bushiroad should really start doing more reprints so that the cost of the game can stay somewhat reasonable.

Cards of the week! 21st Edition

New Card:

Dragonic Overlord, "The Legend"

More like Dragonic Overrated!

(Act) (1/Turn) (GB2) :[(CB)1 & Choose a grade 3 <Flame Dragon> from your hand, and discard it.]: Until end of turn, this units gets (power) + 15000 grade +1, drive check +1 and "(Auto) (VC) (1/Turn) :[Choose 3 cards from your hand, and discard it]: At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a rearguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, [Stand] this unit."

(Auto);[(CB)1 & (SB)1]: When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, look at the top 5 cards of your deck, search for up to one <Flame Dragon> from among them, reveal it to your opponent and shuffle your deck.

I thought I'd never say this, but thank god for Dragonic Overlord. This week's reveals (on and before Friday) have been AWFUL. At least now I have something interesting to talk about

Right, the actual card. 

The Legend, like all Overlords can restand! (So exciting.) Only if it attacks a rearguard, and if you have a grade 3 to discard, but as a result it is the only card whose skill allows it to drive check six times, or even nine times if you are using the Dauntless BR Legend combo (which I will talk about shortly)

This card's skill is incredibly flashy, but I personally think that the Legend is of a mediocre level of strength. Sure it's a wash, you drive check six times and your opponent can lose a front row rearguard from it, but unless your drive checks are seriously lucky and your opponent isn't packing a P-Guard, it's restanding skill is completely inferior to The Ace.

The Dauntless Legend combo is incredibly Timmy, and you shouldn't run it. Ever. 

If you are running Dauntless, then you are not running Overlord, which makes The Ace less consistent, you'll have less Overlords to use some of Kagero's best skills on and you need to have ensure that you have 2 grade 3's in hand at the start of your Legend turn. That isn't very likely, and the disadvantages of running this combo are too many.

The on-ride search skill is good, but not overpowered like many are claiming.

Verdict: Decent.

Old Card:

Transcendence Divine Dragon, Nouvelle Vague L'Express

Vaguely interesting, and by that I mean
boring.

(Stride)

(Act) (VC) (1/TURN) :[(CB)1 & Choose a face down card named "Transcendence Divine Dragon, Nouvelle Vague L'Express" from your G-Zone and turn it face up]: Until end of turn, this unit gets "(Cont) (VC)]: During the battle that this unit attacks, your opponent cannot call grade 1 cards from hand to (GC)" and "(Cont) (VC)]: During your turn,  if the number of cards in your opponent's damage zone is 5 or more, all of your opponent's trigger effects are nullified."

So, this card has been on my "Backburner" for a small while now. So let's get talking about this.

Verdict: This card is mediocre.

There. Done. Saved you a few minutes of reading. Now I don't have to talk about Kagero anymore. Thank God...

Oh. You actually want to listen to me ramble on for several minutes. Ok then, whatever you say.

This is the "Finisher" of the Legend Deck, and I put finisher in massive air quotes. Let me explain.

This card has a Psuedo-Glory skill. It also nullifies triggers at 5 damage, when Glory has the most pressure.

So what extra pressure does trigger nullification add to the player versing this if they are incredibly likely to die anyway? Sure they could check a heal trigger, but that is very unlikely, and considering how popular crits and, and the check percentages of stride, they should have about a 50% chance of forcing you to take 2 damage anyway, meaning you have to heal trigger twice. Unless your opponent is cheating or the king of sack, that isn't happening often.

Also, why would you use this to finish the opponent when DOTA would be a more effective finisher?

Right. There. Happy now?

Verdict: This card is mediocre

Cards of the Week! 20th edition.

New card:

Omiscience Dragon, Hrimthurs

(Stride)

(Auto) (VC) :[(SB)1]: After the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your rearguards, and that unit gets (Power) + 4000 until end of turn. Then, you may have that unit gain (Power) +4000 until end of turn. If you do, at the of this turn, retire this unit. If the chosen unit's (Power) 20000 or more, draw a card.

Great Nature's RRR stride from the fighter's collection, and it is pretty interesting.

It's the first Great Nature card that can actually give 8K to a rearguard instead of 4k, but it's draw is not guaranteed,so you will need to give a 9k grade 2 another 4k to get it off. Whether he effect it's a better Phoeniciax in any matchup not named Link Joker.

If you want to activate it, you can do so using cards like Telescope Rabbit, Binoculus Tiger or Crayon Tiger, so it's not exactly impossible. It can also be triggered by using Bigbelly's On-stride skill.

Verdict: Pretty good

Old Card:

Ghostie King, Obadaia

(Stride)

(Auto)]: When this unit is placed on (VC), search for up to three cards from your deck, put them into the drop-zone and shuffle your deck. And if two or more cards with the Hollow ability were put into the drop-zone by this effect, choose a normal card with "Ghostie" in it's card name from your drop-zone and call it to (RC) in the same column as this unit.

Granblue's R keyword stride from G-BT06, this is the card Granblue needed to be consistent, and oh boy is it amazing!

On-stride add any three cards to your re-useable toolbox for free is ludicrously powerful, and gives every Granblue deck a way to consistently get the necessary cards to set up.

On top of that, if you need to call a rearguard behind the vanguard, you have the option to do that without needing any set up.

Verdict: Amazing.

Fighter's Collection 2016 part 1: A card that is clearly not generic.

With Fighter''s Collection 2016's poster art having being revealed about 3 weeks ago, I have been hyped about it to no end, and the Sub-Clan's that I think are going to get support. (It does look like the majority of the support will be generic, however.)

To drive the hype train ever further, today I'm going to talking theory going around that all the cards in FC2016 are generic, and the main piece of evidence I use to believe this not to be true.

So without further ado,

Towermaster2 presents:

Fighter's Collection 2016

 part 1: A card that is clearly not generic.

First example: Aqua Force's (Assumed) RRR Stride. 

This is a great card to start with, as it is incredibly likely (99.9% likely) to be a Blue Storm stride, which kind of puts a massive hole in the theory that all the strides in FC2016 are generic.

 "But it might be a Marine General of Heavenly Silk!" You might say. Here's why that isn't the case:

The other generic Aquaroid strides are the first pieces of evidence. All Marine Generals of Heavenly Silk thus far have all wielded swords, whilst the new stride clearly wields a gun.

"That's semantics! Just because all the other generic Aquaroid strides have swords doesn't mean this one isn't generic!" Very true, but there are other factors to this card that tell us that this card is not generic.

So let's focus on the weapon itself a bit more, or more specifically, the colour scheme: Green and Black. There are a few cards that have weapons with this colour scheme, which are:

Here are all the examples I can think of, and note that every single one is a member of the Blue Storm Sub-Clan. There may be a few more but I can't think of anymore.

However, two other cards with black weapons even combined with my last point is nowhere near strong enough of a trend to rule out the possibility of the card being generic.

So, do I have any strong evidence using only the revealed card's art and trends of Blue Storm to prove that this card has an element specific to the Blue Storm Sub-Clan?

In fact, I do. All Blue Storm Cards with four exceptions (All forms of Maelstroms bar Maelstrom Reverse and Sebastian) has one distinctive element to them: A Green, Teal or Turquoise Hexagon. In other words, out of the 42 Blue Storm cards currently in print, 38 of them have this insignia.



I have chosen these 4 examples as they clearly show this hexagon I'm talking about and they are all from different sets, I've put a ring around the hexagon to make it even more visible.

So, does this new card have this hexagon shape on the cards clothing?

Yes it does! In the same place as Gregorios (The left shoulder) no less!

So that concludes part 1 of this series. In part 2 I'll be talking about an art that has got many, many people speculating about exactly what it is!

The Vanguard of your destruction! An analysis of Deletors post-G Comic 1

This is a follow up to my last analysis on Deletors, so if you haven't seen that, read it here.

"We are your salvation through destruction."

Deletors are a very interesting sub-clan. Not because they are particularly amazing, but that they always seem to just miss the mark of being amazing.

Close but no cigar, as the saying goes.

Before I start on talking about the cards themselves, let's first talk about Vanish Delete. It's the most pointless keyword in Vanguard's existence. It does absolutely nothing for the deck, we gain no advantage because of it other then a single card that I'll be getting to. That and often, you don't bind cards from your opponent's drop-zone simply because they have nothing to bind. Other times, you don't bind because it's quite frankly pointless. You'll never get off Delete-End, so why bother?

I'll only be talking about cards from Vanguard and Deletor in this analysis.

Alright then, let's get started.

Original Deletor, Egorg

(Stride)

(Act) (VC) (1/Turn) (GB2) :[(CB)1 & Choose a rearguard with "Deletor" in it's card name, and retire it.]: Delete all your opponent;s vanguards, choose one of your opponent's rearguards in the back row, lock it and your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop-zone, and binds it face down. Then, if the amount of cards in your opponent's damage zone is four or more, and the amount of face down cards in your opponent's bind-zone is thirteen or more, you win the game.

Let's start of this discussion with the best card in the set for Deletors, hands down. Egorg is nothing short of amazing. The amount of work he puts in is just insane. It's a real shame we don't have a first stride we can delete because the tempo we lose by not deleting for a single turn is immense. It's pretty much a guaranteed loss. But if Deletors ever get a first turn delete stride, the true power of Egorg shall rear it's head.

My only problem with the card is the win con... It's near impossible if you don't specialise in it. Thirteen cards bound doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot considering we are completely reliant on the opponent's behaviour, and often our bind skills whiff. 4 Damage is quite easy to push your opponent to using Deletors though.

Docking Deletor, Greion

(Act) (VC) :[(CB)2 - Cards with "Deletor" in it's card name & choose one of your rearguards with "Deletor" in it's card name, and retire it.]: Delete all your opponent's vanguards, Your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop-zone, and binds themface down.

(Auto) When this unit is placed on (VC), your opponent chooses two cards from his or her drop-zone, and binds them face down.

Deletor's new grade 3 boss, and to be honest it's one of the cards Deletor's needed. A fairly costed card (considering it can be activated as soon as you ride to grade 3) that can do some significant damage, and doesn't care what the opponent is doing.

It's a shame that Deletors that can compliment him other then Greidholl are very expensive cost wise. . I wouldn't mind too much, but the only way we can stride then delete is using Keios, who is pretty damn expensive, and his discard has crippled me several times. I pray for a Grei-stride for Fighter's Collection 2016. Please Bushiroad!

Mixed Deletor, Keios.

(Auto) :[(CB)2-Cards with "Deletor" in it's card name, and choose two cards in your hand, and discard them.]; When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, Delete all your opponent's vanguards, choose two of your opponent's rearguards, and lock them.

(Auto) (VC) ]: When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets (power) +2000 until end of turn.

This card is the best backup for Greion right now, even though I hate him... so much. Why couldn't it be a retire and a discard? His locks can come in handy if your opponent has fielded, but it relis on your opponent calling cards before riding. 

That discard 2 is ridiculous. Losing 2 cards from hand in a deck that struggles to generate advantage (to the point that draw triggers are necessary.) is just silly, even if we get 2 locks in return.

We run him because we have to. Nothing else to say really.

Hailing Deletor, Alba

(Auto) When this unit is placed on (RC), if your opponent's vanguard is deleted, search your deck for up to one card named "Hailing Deletor, Elro", call it to (RC), and shuffle your deck. If you called a card, your opponent calls the top card of his or her deck to (RC).

(Auto) (RC)- In the right column]: When this unit attack, if you have a card named "Hailing Deletor, Elro" in your left column, this unit gets (power) +3000 until end of that battle.

Hailing Deletor, Elro.

(Auto) (RC) When your opponent's unit is called to (RC) by an effect from a card, (CC)1, your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop-zone, and binds it face down.

(Auto) (RC)- In the left Column]: When this unit attacks, if you have a card named "Hailing Deletor, Alba" in your left column, this unit gets (Power) +3000 until end of that battle.

I cannot talk about one of these cards without talking about the other. After all, they are designed to work together.

Alba becomes a 11k attacker when Elro is in the left column, and on call, if the opponent's vanguard is deleted it searches the deck for Elro, and forces the opponent to call the top card of their deck...

This skill essentially makes it so your opponent plusses instead of you losing advantage. This can be bad, especially if the opponent is using a deck with a lot of on call or call from deck skills. On the flip side, you opponent can call a trigger.

I don't think that's what holds these cards back, however. What holds these cards back is the fact that they require the other card on the field to hit an 11k base vanguard without a booster.

If that skill was something like "(Auto) (RC) ]: When this unit attacks, if your opponent's vanguard is deleted, this unit gets (Power) +3000 until end of turn." I'd imagine that these cards would be pretty decent, but the fact that they need the other card to even function really holds them back.

Swift Deletor, Geali.

(Auto) :[Choose one of your rearguards with "Deletor" in it's card name, and retire it.]: When this unit is placed on (VC) or (RC), if you have a vanguard with "Deletor" in it's card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's front row rearguards, retire it, your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop-zone, and binds it face down, and until end of turn this unit gets (Power) +2000.

This card is terrible, there is very little more to say, except the fact that this card does nothing for the deck bar Vanish Delete a single card, which we've already established is near pointless.

Just don't ever play this card... please.

Clipping Deletor, Evo.

(Auto) :[(Cb)2}: When this unit is placed on (RC), if your opponent has a deleted vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one card with "Deletor" in it's card name not named "Clipping Deletor, Evo", call it to (RC), and shuffle your deck.

A card that gives you a searchable plus in Deletors, Am I dreaming? Oh. It costs two counterblasts. Nevermind then.

If this card was CB1, It would be amazing. It could search any Deletor, so I'd search Alba, and plus 2 for absolutely nothing. Except giving 1 random quality card's worth of advantage your opponent.

Then again, Maybe that's why this card is CB2. It really shouldn't cost that, especially since it requires you to have Deleted the opponent's vanguard, but with Alba and Elro existing, it makes some sense.

Ill-Fate Deletor, Drown

(Auto) (RC) :[Put this unit into your soul & choose a card from your hand, and discard it.]: At the end of the battle that this unit boosted (Boost) a vanguard with "Deletor" in it's card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw two cards and your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop-zone, and binds it face down.

Undoubtedly Deletor's best grade 1, Drown gives the deck much needed searching power, and it's available from turn one.

Little to say. It's clear why this card is so good.

Ferment Deletor, Gaen

(Auto) (RC) (SB1) When your opponent's vanguard is deleted, if you have a vanguard with "Grei" in it's card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop-zone, binds it face down and until end of turn, this unit gets (Power) +3000

An interesting "replacement" for Gatario. I have to admit I completely forgot this card existed for a while. This card is definitely good for aggression, as it easily creates magic columns, both in the front row and the back row.

It's a pretty decent card, but because of how much Deletors lose advantage, I think Aieda is a better grade 1 as of right now.

Sprout Deletor, Luchi

(Auto)]: Forerunner

(Auto)]: When this unit is put into the drop zone as the cost for the ability of your vanguard with "Deletor" in it's card name, choose up to one of your opponent's rearguards in the back row, lock it and your opponent chooses a card from his or her drop-zone, and binds it face down.

The new starter has a lot of competition in Igor, a card that countercharges, filters and fills up the soul.

Is this card the new starter in Deletor? Not really, but that isn't to say that this starter is bad. It only works with the Grei deck, however.

It's lock can sometimes be really useful for disrupting your opponent, especially if they are playing a rearguard reliant deck, but otherwise Igor outperforms it, massively.

Biting Deletor, Geeva

(Auto) (RC) :[Put this unit on top of your deck]: At the end of the battle that this unit boosted, if your opponent has a deleted vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, shuffle your deck, (CC)1 & your opponent chooses a card in his or her drop-zone, and binds it face down.

Deletor's skill crit trigger. It doesn't take up any space in your main deck, but it can be an emergency source of countercharge as well as vanish delete if you really need to try and turbo Delete End. That is a desperate (and most likely futile) endeavourer, however.

Deck Profile.

Grade 0:

Starting Vanguard: Acquire Deletor, Igor

4 Biting Deletor, Geeva

2 Deletor Crits

6 Deletor Draws

4 Deletor Heals.

Grade 1:

4 Refusing Deletor, Evil

4 Ill-Fate Deletor, Drown

4 Destiny Dealer

3 Deriding Deletor, Aieda

Grade 2:

4 Juxtapose Deletor, Gaele

2 Bloating Deletor, Gio

4 Pursuing Deletor, Egotte

Grade 3:

4 Docking Deletor, Greion

4 Mixed Deletor, Keios

G-Zone

4 Original Deletor, Egorg

2 Nebula Dragon, Big Crunch Dragon

1 Genesis Dragon, Amnesty Messiah

1 Genesis Dragon, Judgement Messiah