Saturday 21 May 2016

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!