Deck Dissection: Blazing Flare Dragon

Hey guys, this is your friendly neighborhood Cardfighter Homura here again. Today's post is applicable for both the English and Japanese environment of Vanguard. Although this article may be kinda 'old' for JP players, but for EN players, I would say that this is a buff for one of their competitive decks out there.

BT-03 is coming in just a few days time, besides bringing us 3 playable clans, it also boosts the playability of the older, existing clans, like Royal Paladins and Kagero.Today's Deck Dissection will be talking about one of my favorite decks during the BT-03 era: Blazing Flare Dragon

During the release of BT-03 in JP, Kagero decks were very varied, but one of those that stood up was BFD. With its ability to mass retire your opponent's field, as well as the speed of Superior Ride, BFD was the deck of choice for most Kagero players.

However, in the EN metagame, thanks to the earlier release of EB-03, Kagero players for the EN environment prefer Dragonic Lawkeeper more than any other Kagero deck. So today, I hope to bring in more players to play BFD by sharing this deckbuild of mine.

Grade 0
Lizard Solider Conroe x1 (FV)
Embodiment of Spear, Tahr x2 (Critical)
Demonic Dragon Mage, Raksha x4 (Critical)
Gatling Claw Dragon x4 (Draw)
Dragon Dancer Monica x2 (Draw)
Dragon Monk Genjo x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Iron Tail Dragon x4
Embodiment of Armor, Bahr x4
Wyvern Guard Barri x3
Demonic Dragon Mage, Kinnala x4

Grade 2
Blazing Core Dragon x4
Berserk Dragon x3
Flame Edge Dragon x3

Grade 3
Blazing Flare Dragon x3
Dragonic Overlord x3
Dragonic Executioner x2

This deck focuses more on Superior Riding BFD to hit Twin Drive as soon as possible. But if the Superior Ride failed, you still have Flame Edge Dragon to pump up your Soul count.

Grade 0
Without any doubts, we're using the best starter in the game, Conroe. With the ability to tutor any G1 or lower Kagero from your deck, you can instantly tutor any missing Superior Riding material the moment you ride Blazing Core Dragon and you have 2 damage available (1 for tutoring, 1 for Superior Riding).

The trigger setup here is 6-6-4. Raksha can be a good booster, but I don't recommend using it unless you're really desperate. Gatling Claw Dragon is at maximum for the Superior Riding, and serving as a G0 killer that fuels up the Soul as well.

Grade 1

Same as Gatling Claw, Iron Tail Dragon is at maximum, and being a 7k with the skill to pump 1k / CB paid, it's quite a decent booster. Bahr at 4 and Barri at 3 is quite standard. Kinnala is the G1 killer that sends herself into the Soul to fuel up BFD.

Grade 2

Without any question, Blazing Core is at maximum because the entire Superior Ride chain won't work without him. and being a 9k, it can even hit most Rear Guards and forces a 10k shield with a booster with at least 6k power. Berserk is also an auto include, as you need cards with retire effects to activate BFD's power boost.

The new member here is Flame Edge Dragon. Flame Edge is Kagero's Blue Dust, where upon a successful hit, you may SC1. It is a good unit as it can fuel up BFD, and at worst it will bait out shields in order to stop you from feeding Souls for BFD.

Grade 3
Like all units with Superior Riding skills, I'll include 3x of them in the deck. This is to prevent the situation where you have 1 in the Damage Zone, and another 1 in your hand, preventing you from Superior Riding if you only play 2 copies. With constant retiring on your turn, BFD will hit 21k when boosted by Bahr. SO as long as you can control the pace of your retiring, your Vanguard column will always be a powerhouse attacker. Bear in mind that BFD's power boost also works in the RG circle, so you can threaten multiple 20k+ attacks in a turn.

Our secondary Vanguard will be Dragonic Overlord. It goes without saying that Dragonic Overlord is the best RG we can have for Kagero, so when you can't field multiple BFDs, you can still threaten them with Overlord's Counterblast, plus the 11k is good for defensive purposes.

Dragonic Executioner is our main RG beater. With it, you can even hit 20k when boosted by Bahr even if you can;t retire someone during your turn (just make sure that the attack is aimed at the Vanguard).

Here you go, my take on this long forgotten deck. I would say that compared to the JP version, BFD is still viable in the EN environment due to its consistency in terms of raw power, and also field control. The cost of this deck is actually not that expensive, unless you're starting anew (since you need the Barris). Well, I'll let you all decide whether you want to give this deck a chance or not. Have fun testing it out, until then!