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?!

Delete-End! An Analysis of Deletors Pre-G Comic 1.

"You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it."

Deletor are my favourite Link Joker deck, Rather then focus the majority of their skills on your rearguard, Deletors seek to exterminate the main threat itself: the Vanguard. They reduce their opponents vanguard power to 0 power until the end of their opponent's turn and remove any abilities on the vanguard, meaning that the Deletor player's offensive is greater while their opponents offensive is hindered significantly. 

Sounds like an amazing deck, doesn't it? Unfortunately not. Deletors are plagued with so many issues, they are actually the weakest of all Link Joker archetypes,

First and foremost, Delete's defensive aspect is completely neutered by Stride. This is a HUGE issue in a meta where every clan has access to Non-vanilla strides, there are many decks that just focus on striding anyway and offense is extremely powerful.

Secondly, All cards that Delete the opponents vanguard require you to lose advantage to active. This lowers any advantage gained by Delete, and outright makes you lose advantage to stride.

Thirdly, the decks Advantage engine is nearly non-existent. We have a stand trigger that we can call, a G1 that when it hit and the opponent's vanguard is deleted, you can SB1 to draw 1, and a Luck Bird Clone. In a deck where the you require to lose advantage, and rarely gain soft advantage thanks to stride, this is not enough.

Now I've explained these, lets have a look at some of the cards in the Deletor's arsenal.

Daunting Deletor Oksizz

"I am the vanguard of your destruction"

[Act] [VC] [CB3] Cards with "Deletor" in it's card name] & choose one of your rearguards, and put it into your soul.] Delete all your opponent's vanguards, and this unit gets [power] +10000 until end of turn.]
[Auto] [VC] At the beginning of your opponent's ride phase, if your opponent has a deleted vanguard, your opponent may choose a card from his or her hand and discard it. If he or she does not, your opponent cannot normal ride during the ride phase.

Oksizz is a decent card: He punishes your opponent for grade locking themselves, he gains power and he makes riding more expensive for your opponent if their vanguard is deleted. Everything that you could want from a G3! His only problem is that his ability isn't expensive, it isn't even ridiculously expensive, it's ludicrously expensive! It doesn't help that Deletors don't have a way to counter charge other then Igor or Jail either. So yeah. He's great when you use his ability, but don't expect for a competent opponent to allow you to use it anytime soon.

Juxtapose Deletor, Zaele

"Before us, you are nothing."

[Act] [VC] [Legion: "Juxtapose Deletor, Gaele"]

[Auto] [VC] [CB2] & Choose a card from you hand, and discard it] When this unit [Legion] you may pay the cost, If you do, Delete all your opponent's vanguard.

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

Zaele is quite a bit cheaper then Oksizz. At CB2 and discard a card you can delete your opponent's vanguard... Once. Before you have to ride Zaele again and Legion again. This is great for a finisher, but rather costly to delete several times.

Juxtapose Deletor, Gaele.

Pursuing Deletor, Egotte & Breaking Deletor,Gatario

[Auto] [RC] When this unit attacks, if you have a vanguard with "Deletor" in it's card name, this unit gains [power] +3000 until end of that battle,

Generic sub-clan attackers? What's so special about these? Well. These units can use the fact that your opponent is at 0k power to their advantage, as they create 15k shield to guard columns on their own while your opponent's vanguard is deleted. This allows you to sustain your assault a lot easier while hitting your opponent's hand very hard.

As you can imagine, a deck that doesn't create hard advantage and removes advantage from you constant wants to make very rearguard useful, and these fit the bill perfectly. Being able to attack and your opponent either takes the hit or guards with 2 cards every time is incredibly damaging to your opponent's hand.

These units are just great in any deck, and they are even better in Deletors.

Deriding Deletor, Aieda

[Auto] [RC] [SB1] When attack hits a vanguard that this unit boosted [Boost], if your opponent's vanguard is deleted, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card.

One of the few cards that can give Deletors some advantage, Aieda is quite good. He pressures your opponent to guard the attacker he is boosting when their vanguard is deleted. This is problematic for your opponent as it is very easy for deletors to make magic columns. 

He also removes soul when he hits, putting more cards into the dropzone for legion.

Cramping Deletor, Edy,

[Auto] When this unit is placed on [RC] if  you have a vanguard with "Deletor" in it's card name, and your opponent's vanguard is deleted, draw a card.

A stand trigger for Deletors with a skill. Edy can actually be very useful for forming Magic numbers when your opponent's vanguard is deleted, either being boosted or boosting a 7k, the attack reaches 11k, forcing a 15k shield, and when used in condunction with Egotte, you can create a 16k columns which forces a 20k shield guard.

You also can gain advantage by calling this unit, something that Deletors need tremendously.

In turns where your opponent's vanguard is not deleted however. Edy becomes a liability, his 4k base makes him almost useless as a booster.

Acquire Deletor, Igor.

[Auto]: Forerunner

[Auto] [Put this card in your soul] When your opponent's vanguard is deleted, you may pay the cost. If you do, Draw a card and [CC1].

Deletors premier starting vanguard, when you delete, Igor filters your deck and counter charges. Simple, but very valuable in Deletors.

Decklist from Siulzen :

Grade 0

SV: Aquire Deletor, Igor

2 Aquire Deletor, Igor

4 Deletor Heals

8 Deletor Criticals

4 Cramping Deletor, Edy.

Grade 1

4 Refusing Deletor, Evil

3 Deriding Deletor, Aieda

2 Idolizing Deletor, Gunec

4 Breaking Deletor, Gatario

Grade 2

4 Juxtapose Deletor, Gaele

4 Pursuing Deletor, Egotte

3 Greedy Deletor, Jail.

Grade 3

4 Daunting Deletor Oksizz

3 Juxtapose Deletor, Zaele.

G-Zone

4 Nebula Dragon, Big Crunch Dragon.

2 Genesis Dragon, Amnesty Messiah

1 Geneis Dragon, Judgement Messiah

1 Rain Element, Madew.

[Auto] When this unit is placed on [RC], if your opponent's vanguard is deleted, choose one of your opponent's rearguards in the front row, and lock it.

Deletor's defensive grade 2, Gaele is pretty simple: Lock a rearguard when opponent's vanguard is deleted. The only problem is that you cannot delete all the time, so there are times where Gaele is a dead draw.

I can't really blame Gaele for this, as when delete becomes cheaper, Gaele will start pulling his weight a lot more, not that he doesn't pull his weight right now.

Card of the Week! 6th Edition.

Raging Spear Mutant Deity, Stun Beetle.

[Stride]

[Auto] [VC] [GB2] [CB2] & Choose a face down card in your G-Zone named" Raging Spear Mutant Deity, Stun Beetle" and turn it face up. When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, all your opponent's vanguard do not[stand] during your opponent's next end phase, and during your opponent's next ride phase, your opponent cannot normal ride. (He or she may ride using a card's effect.)

This card has gotten so much slack from the Vanguard community. I can see why, it's ability was massively overplayed in the anime, but I cannot understand for the life of me why people think this card is "bad" at all.

I'm just going to say this right now: This is Machining's Omega Loop. It's a secondary win condition and a Psychological Weapon, forcing your opponent to play differently due to it's sheer existence. It FORCES your opponent to have a P-Guard in hand at all times, otherwise this card's gonna hit, and they're basically going to be forced to skip their turn,  losing the ability to drive check and you saving a lot of hand you would have used to guard.

The only time you are safe from Stun Beetle, is if you have a P-Guard in hand, and having to hoard that P-guard while having to guard and keep the pressure on Megacolony is gonna ruin the quality of your hand real fast.

It also doesn't matter what clan you are, like it does with destroyer. No clan is safe from the Syndicate anymore.

Don't forget. At the same time, the colony is locking down your field while gaining advantage themselves. That goes for both Generic and Machining.

Verdict: A great card.

Card of the Week! 4th and 5th Editions

Poisonous Spear Mutant Deity, Paraspear

[Stride]

[Auto] When this unit is placed on [VC], [Rest] all of your opponent's rearguards, if the number of  your opponent's rearguards at [Rest] is three or more, draw a card, and this unit gains [Power] + 5000 until end of turn.

Megacolony's R stride from GBT-04. It makes sure all of your opponent's units are susceptible to stun, and can act as hand advantage if the conditions are met.

It is a great first stride if you cannot get the field to Destroyer, and is a good alternative to Jaggy Devil.


Verdict: A simple, yet useful card.




Steam Fighter, Balif.

[Auto] [RC] [GB1] [CB1] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, you may pay the cost. if you do, choose one of your opponent's rearguard in the front row, and your opponent puts that card to the bottom of his or her deck,

[Auto] [VC] When your G-unit [Stride], choose one of your vanguards, and it gets "[Act] [VC] [1/Turn] [CB1] Search your deck for up to one card named "Chronojet Dragon", put it in heart state on your [VC], and shuffle your deck. Then choose a card named "Steam Fighter, Balif" in heart state on your [VC] and put that card to the bottom of the deck."

This card is very interesting, and is very clear support to the two Gear Chronicle cards in the fighter's collection, Epochmaker and Upheaval Pegasus.

It's Rearguard skill is great for Epochmaker. It gives the stride a good grade 3 to call to RG when it hits, while not just being a rearguard based card.

It's vanguard skill is great for Upheaval Pegasus and Glimmer Breath.
For a counterblast it removes itself as heart and puts Chronojet into his place.

Verdict: A very useful G3 that makes already released cards more consistent, and that is a definite 2 of in every Gear Chronicle deck that uses Chronojet.