Deck Dissection: Hi-Beast Rumble

Hey guys, Homura here with a double dose today, since I was absent for quite some time already, and people were bugging me to come up with something new ASAP. Well, I went for a vacation, and fell sick after that, that's why you guys were unable to see new posts coming up in the blog. But now, I shall resume my writings with another post dedicated to the VGE community in conjunction with the upcoming release of the new set, BT-04 'Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows'.

If I recall correctly, I've already posted up a Shadow Paladin article sometime back, so I won't be talking much about them except for certain playable cards sometime in the future. Instead, I'll be talking about their 'good' counterparts, the Royal Paladins today. In BT-04, the Royals will gain some new support, basically a totally new archetype that is quite fun to play with while it lasts. Remember when High Dog Breeder Akane was released as one of the first cards that work together with a specific 'race' instead of clan? Yes, the deck that I'll be mentioning will be centered around the Royal Paladins' most trustworthy and loyal allies, the Hi-Beasts. And let's have a look at the deck of my choice:

Grade 0
Bleugal x1 (FV)
Alabaster Owl x4 (Critical)
Bringer of Good Luck, Epona x3 (Critical)
Margal x4 (Draw)
Arms Dealer, Govannon x1 (Draw)
Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Little Sage, Marron x4
Flash Shield, Isolde x4
Pongal x3
Snowgal x4

Grade 2
Beast Knight, Garmore x3
Knight of Silence, Gallatin x3
High Dog Breeder, Akane x3
Blaster Blade x2

Grade 3
Fang of Light, Garmore x3
Swordsman of Exploding Flames, Palamedes x3
Soul Saviour Dragon x2

As you see, this deck is lacking the presence of some Royal Paladin staples nowadays like KoK Alfred and the Galahad chain. Instead, this deck focuses its swarming abilities through Hi-Beasts, which can also in return power up their allies. Let's have a look at the choices of the deck I've posted:

Grade 0
Bleugal is the starter for this deck. Since Barcgal was banned, most people shifted to the Galahad series as their starting plays as they generates a free ride (+/- 0 from hand). But now, Bleugal returns as a starter that can be pulled back upon riding, thus also generates a +1 board presence during G1. Bleugal's power up ability can be ignored unless you are playing multiple copies of it, which I don't think it's a good choice. You can still switch back to the Galahad chain, you just need to adjust the deck composition a bit, then you're good to go.

The trigger lineup here is as usual, 7-5-4. With the capability of hitting high numbers, this beatdown deck really craves for Critical Triggers to end the game as soon as possible, as this deck in my opinion, is lacking the endurance to play a drag game.

Grade 1
The stars of the G1 lineup are none other than the Hi-Beasts, Pongal and Snowgal. Pongal is a good tutor for Soul Saviour in case you need her for your Final Turn, or in case you're gradestuck, plus it can be tutored out via Akane as well. Also, its 7k power makes it a very good booster to hit 11k Vanguards in the current environment.

Snowgal is the main booster for this deck. Starting as a 6k unit, it doesn't seem attractive at the beginning. But, once you have multiples of Snowgal on your field, they get +1000 power for each other one present, making them a maximum 9k power beatstick/booster once you have all 4 in play. However, having 3 is already considered good enough as they can be considered as your extra Marrons, plus they can be tutored out as well. Just beware of Kageros. I guess I don't need to further explain why Isolde and Marron are inside.

Grade 2

The G2 lineup for this deck focuses slightly heavier in the tutoring part, with as much as 6 tutors in the deck to search out the Hi-Beasts. Akane here is the universal tutor, whereby she can search out any Hi-Beast in the deck, whether its Pongal to further tutor for SSD, or Snowgal to increase their numbers.

Beast Knight, Garmore is the new entree in the deck. With a base power of 8k, he might not look that impressive on its own, but what makes him good is his tutoring skill. Upon appearing in play, you can discard a hand card to tutor out a Snowgal from your deck. And if you already have several Snowgals in play or some other boosters, Garmore himself can whack for up to 16k worth of power, which is considered decent in the current environment.

Blaster Blade is in the deck to take care of those pesky S-Intercepts, annoying Grade 2s, and some threatening G3, because in the current environment, only Blaster Blade can easily take care of G3s without sacrificing one attack. Gallatin is there to provide some extra punch, feel free to replace him with Knight of Determination, Lamorak if you prefer his design more, lol.

Grade 3

Here we go, into the Grade 3s. The main star here is Fang of Light, Garmore. This earlier counterpart of the Gold Paladin Garmore is the main Vanguard of this deck. Upon appearing in the VG circle, his skill, which is similar to Beast Knight's triggers, allowing to tutor out either a Bleugal or Snowgal from your deck and call it out. Plus, FoL gains +1000 power for each of those two units in play, enabling him to hit very high numbers, for example 21k when you have 3 Snowgals in play and boosted by one of them.

Our secondary beater here is Palamedes. Nuff said, Palamedes is one of the best G3 ever printed for RP, with the capability to handle even Crossrides on his own, he in automatically included in the deck without any question. A unit that can hit 21k easily? Why not!

As for Soul Saviour Dragon, as usual, she is the finisher of the deck. When you think its time, just Soulblast 5 and watch your opponent's hand cards fly away, or cards in their deck fly away into the damage zone. Definitely a solid finisher for any Royal Paladin decks.

Hence, this is my version of the FoL deck. Truthfully speaking, other variants of the deck can't really stray much from this 'skeleton', whereby the core of the deck like Snowgal, Garmores, Isoldes, and co. are no-brainer inclusions in the deck. The deck is quite fun though, so far the only bad matchup I see from my JP experience is Goku Kagero, whereby you must make sure the timing of your Snowgals must be correct in order to minimize casualties. So give this deck a try, and let me know how it feels.

Deck Dissection: Let's Go Sisters!

Hey guys, Homura is back with yet another deck dissection for you all as per request from one of my readers, this time featuring the new Extra Booster for Oracle Think Tanks: Celestial Valkyries. EB-05 is a joint release with EB-04 Infinite Phantom Legion, which is the Nova Grappler Extra Pack, and this extra booster features a lot of reprints of staples fro m the older sets, as well as the 'Battle Sister' archetype featuring OTT's first ever LB unit.

When Vanguard is still in its early days, Battle Sisters are occasionally featured in every booster, which at least one new card in the majority of the sets. At that point of time, Battle Sisters only played a supportive role, and there's no main unit for this archetype. Hence, this set is welcomed by a lot of players, especially existing OTT players that are yearning for a LB unit for the clan. Without further ado, I'll post up my take on the Battle Sister deck and how it is played.

Grade 0
Battle Sister, Eclair x1 (FV)
Battle Sister, Ginger x4 (Critical)
Psychic Bird x3 (Critical)
Battle Sister, Tiramisu x4 (Draw)
Dream Eater x1 (Draw)
Battle Sister, Chai x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Oracle Guardian, Gemini x4
Battle Sister, Chocolat x4
Battle Sister, Cocoa x3
Dark Cat x4

Grade 2
Battle Sister, Tart x4
Battle Sister, Maccaron x4
Battle Sister, Mocha x3

Grade 3
Battle Sister, Fromage x4
Battle Sister, Souffle x3

A quite simple and straightforward deck I would say, just smash face with a bunch of cute and angry nuns. This archetype is the most aggressive build of OTT decks. Without much combat tricks, this deck just aims to hit hard, VERY HARD. Moving on to the choices of cards:

Grade 0

For the starter slot, I chose Eclair as the starter instead of the new Battle Sister, Waffle. The reason behind this choice is because I don't want to stuck grade and also I will want Fromage to be in my hand. Eclair allows you to fish the top five cards of your deck for a OTT Grade 3 by paying CB1.  This gives you a chance to get the G3 you want and at the same time can also filter out 1 shieldless card out from your deck, assuming your fishing is successful. But if you prefer calling out a free unit, Waffle can be a good choice. So it's really up to the user's preference.

The trigger lineup is my favorite beatdown trigger lineup, which is 7-5-4. Almost everything here are Battle Sisters except for Psychic Bird and Dream Eater, because the bird is good on itself thanks to its self replacing skill. Since Battle Sisters like drawing cards as well, the more the merrier isn't it?

Grade 1
4x 8k vanilla and 4x Battle Sister, Chocolat is so standard that I don't even wanna talk about it, lol. Dark Cat's usage here is also quite self explanatory: a 7k booster with an CIP draw 1 card skill, why not? Now, we have a long time absentee from most Oracle decks, and now she's finally back in action. Enter Battle Sister, Cocoa.

During the early days of Vanguard, Cocoa was almost an auto include in all OTT decks thanks to her 'forecasting' ability. And the same reason is why she's finally making a comeback in this 'Battle Sister' deck. Battle Sisters is an aggressive deck, and Cocoa's skill to allow us to potentially pre-determine the trigger location is very valuable. This skill can also be used as a feint, whereby you can leave a blank card on top, causing your opponent to believe that the card most likely is a trigger, and proceed to overguard. Quite a neat skill in a 'neat' body huh?

Grade 2

The Grade 2 Battle Sisters will be the mainstay beaters of the deck. Each and every Battle Sister in the G2 lineup is either high in raw power, or possess a skill to power themselves up. Battle Sister, Tart is the new G2 10k vanilla for OTT, with an added advantage for being a Battle Sister (which means she synergizes with the overall deck strategy). Finally we can throw Wiseman away for a cuter girl, heh!

Following the lineup is Battle Sister, Mocha and Battle Sister, Maccarone. I don't need to explain much about Mocha, since she's already quite a mainstay card. A potential 11k beater with an easy condition to fulfill, and also a Battle Sister, why not?

Battle Sister, Maccarone is the Battle Sister customized beater. Basically she's a clone of units which needs a Vanguard with [Insert Name Here] in the name to gain a +3000 power up, in this case it'll be a Battle Sister Vanguard. a 12k beater by herself, you can easily form multiple 20k lines in this deck.

Grade 3
To fill up the G3 slot we have 2 different types of Battle Sisters. First up of course, is the main card of the deck: Battle Sister, Fromage. Fromage is the first ever Limit Breaker for OTT and for a LB debutante, I would say that she's quite decent, and fills in the role of beatdown very good.

Fromage is a 10k unit, but can become a 14k monstrosity when you have four or more Battle Sister RGs on your turn. Her condition was fairly easy to fulfill, considering that you have a total of 38 cards which has 'Battle Sister' in their names. Together with the same condition, you can unlock her Limit Break as well. Fromage's LB is an ACT skill, which allows you to CB3 and draw two cards. This allows you to add more hand cards, churn out more units to fight, and this skill also synergizes very well with Cocoa's forecasting skill.

Filling up the other G3 slot is Battle Sister, Souffle. Souffle is a 10k unit that gains a +2000 power when boosted by an OTT unit. Comboing with Gemini, you can have 20k lines easily. Even though you can't field Gemini because of Fromage, she can still hit for quite hard with any given booster. The most important thing? She's a Battle Sister too!

Alright, here's my analysis of the Battle Sister deck. Frankly, I liked this deck a lot because it's a beatdown deck (I'm a beatdown fan), and the deck can also gain you card advantage while maintaining its beatdown potential (unlike Tsukuyomi and CEO builds, whereby sometimes you have to forgo the overall offensiveness of the deck bacause of the drawing power). Too bad I'm slanting more towards Nova Grappler now, if not I'll definitely give this deck a try. So for you guys out there, do try it out and let me know how it feels to smash face with angry chicks!

Calm Before the Storm: Crossing the Limits

Hey guys, Homura here with a small talk about the upcoming release of BT-09: Clash of Knights and Dragons. It's been another three months since the release of BT-08, and of course the hype of Aqua Force, Narukami's new 'boost', as well as Neo Nectar's Musketeer deck. Overall, the set was a decent set, just that everything is overshadowed by Aqua Force. Being a clan that is played by one of the major characters in the anime, Aqua Force has been receiving very good initial wave releases like Gold Paladins. A Trial Deck, very good supports in boosters, and a crossride in the upcoming release.

From the looks of it, Bushiroad might want to pump Aqua Force as their sales booster. However, BT-09 brings up the other clans' competitive level to be on par with Aqua Force by providing almost all the major clans in the anime a crossride unit. Well you might think that 'Ugh, it's all about 13k Vanguards again'. Yeah, that's true. But somehow, it does make sense to provide crossrides for most of the clans because at the present moment, the presence of DOTE and MLB is still very prominent in the tournament scenes. In order to make the metagame more diverse again, clans must have units that can challenge the dominance of the Mk I crossriders, hence the birth of these units. Sometimes just by providing a crossride does not satisfy most of the players out there, so why not add in Limit Breaks into the mix? How will these units affect the metagame when you have crossride and LB all in one? And today, we'll be looking at some crossriders which has been revealed and how can they improve the clans competitiveness.

Super Beast Deity, Ilminal Dragon

This unit is the first ever crossride for Nova Grappler, and the first Limit Breaker for them as well (unless you count Cosmolord from EB04 as the first one). As the name states, this unit is the crossride of Beast Deity, Azure Dragon. Since its release, Azure Dragon was already a staple in almost all deck builds. With a free cost Persona Blast and the ability to stand two RGs, backed by a 11k body, this unit instantly nets 4x of a deck's slots without any question.

Following the specialty of NG, which is standing units, Ilminal Dragon also provides a similar ability like Azure, albeit with a mixture of restrictions and advantages. Firstly, Ilminal Dragon becomes a 13k when you have Azure Dragon in your Soul. Like all crossriders, 13k is a very dangerous number.

If you think a 13k body isn't enough, enter Ilminal Dragon's Limit Break. When this unit attacks, and you hit LB4, you may pay the cost of CB3, and stand 2 Rear Guards with 'Beast Deity' in their names. This LB is particularly dangerous, especially BT-09 has a few more new Beast Deities, like Beast Deity, Gold Angret. Gold Angret is a G2 that can give itself +3000 power when it stands during the battle phase. So combined with Ilminal Dragon's LB, plus whatever trigger effects, you can launch a very devastating attack.

Ilminal Dragon eschews the recent inclusion of more than 4 Critical Triggers by providing a new taste of a Stand-based deck. Although more Criticals can end the game fast, but Stands makes up for its speed with decent attrition, meaning in the long run, you can force your opponent to withstand your relentless attacks by dropping shields to guard, or spend even more hand cards to replenish their attackers because you're consistently wiping off their board.

Radiant Lion, Platinum Ezel
A Soul Saver Dragon with steroids, this card can be said as the most overpowered game ender among all the cards previewed so far. As far as tournament records have stated, Blonde Ezel decks are the mainstay deck for Gold Paladins compared to other builds because of their consistency to churn out units after units while gaining advantage from it.

Previously, B-Ezel's LB only gives himself the power bonus, making the Vanguard's attack the most threatening one. But this time, P-Ezel's LB makes your RGs into terrifying monsters as well. With a Limit Break activation threshold of 5, and the cost of CB3, you can give up to five GP units +5000 power! At that instant, the guard requirement for your opponent has just suddenly increased by 10k per attack!

To make up for this extremely strong LB, P-Ezel loses the +1k/RG skill. But in return, P-Ezel gains all the benefits from being a crossrider, so even if you rode P-Ezel too early before you hit LB, you can still hit for 20k/21k if you have a 7k/8k booster behind, so not a bad situation you're in either way.

Gold Paladins are already strong enough, and with P-Ezel's arrival, they just become more stronger. GP decks featuring the Ezels can now try out the 12 Critical playstyle, as BT-09 also brings in a new Critical Trigger, Dantegal. Continuously triggering Criticals will definitely make your opponent feel not happy at all when combined with the LB, because you're potentially launching 3 high-power, double-critical attacks in their face.

So far only 2 of these units has been revealed, but there are a few more that only their names are known so far:

Dragonic Kaiser Vermilion "THE BLOOD" (Narukami)

Supreme Blue Storm Dragon, Glory Maelstrom (Aqua Force)

Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu (Oracle Think Tank)

So what do you guys think about Ilminal Dragon, and Platinum Ezel so far? And what will be your expectations for the remaining crossriders?

Deck Dissection: Amber Dragons

As promised, I'm back for another article as somehow I managed to find some free time to write one as per request from my friend. Today's article is compatible with both versions of Vanguard, although the Japanese side of this deck is close to forgotten already. As stated in the title, today I'll be looking into the Amber Dragon series of Kagero from the upcoming BT-04 release of the English version of Vanguard.

BT-04 brings in a new ride system for 5 clans, which I called it the 'Progressive Ride' system. How does this work? Basically, the Grade 0 of the chain allows you to search for the corresponding Grade 2 from your deck when the corresponding Grade 1 is ridden on top of it, thus generating a +/- 0 advantage from riding a card from your hand, as well as ensuring a confirmed ride to G2. Then, the G1, when called as a Rear Guard, allows you to discard a Grade 3 from your hand and search for the corresponding Grade 3 fo the chain, again ensuring you won't miss the chain as well as filtering redundant G3s from your deck.

The Amber Dragon series is one of the chains using the Progressive Ride system, and frankly speaking, it's a quite decent system, because even though you missed the G1, as long as you have the G2, your G3 will still be at its maximum potential. Without further ado, let's have a look at a sample decklist for the Amber Dragon series:

Grade 0

Amber Dragon, Dawn x1

Embodiment of Spear, Tahr x4 (Critical)

Blu-Ray Dracokid x1 (Critical)

Flame Seed Salamander x3 (Stand)

Gatling Claw Dragon x4 (Draw)

Dragon Monk, Genjo x4 (Heal)

Grade 1

Amber Dragon, Daylight x4

Wyvern Guard, Barri x4

Heat Nail Salamander x3

Dragon Monk, Gojo x3

Grade 2

Amber Dragon, Dusk x3

Dragon Knight, Nehalem x4

Berserk Dragon x3

Lava Arm Dragon x2

Grade 3

Amber Dragon, Eclipse x4

Dragonic Overlord x3

From the looks of the deck, you might see some very noticeable omissions in the deck. You might wonder why, but I'll explain the reasons behind these selections in a bit. Also, there's one thing that you must bear in mind when playing Amber Dragons. Unlike any other Kagero builds, this deck doesn't rely a lot on retiring your opponent's units, but its played more like a traditional beatdown deck, with the threat of mass retiring to give tough choices to your opponents.

Grade 0

Amber Dragon, Dawn is the obvious choice for our starter. As I explained earlier, Dawn's progressive ride allows you to search for Amber Dragon, Dusk from your deck when Amber Dragon, Daylight is ridden on top of it. Easily understandable, right? Just remember that Dawn doesn't have the free call skill, so if something other than Daylight is ridden on top, Dawn is just a vanilla.

As for the trigger choices, I opted to use a combination of 5-3-4-4 for this deck, whereby the 3 is for the new Stand Trigger, Flame Seed Salamander. Although it's a trigger, Flame Seed doesn't become a dead card even if you drew it. With its AUTO skill, as long as the attack it boosts hit the VG, you may retire a G0 RG and shuffle Flame Seed back into your deck if you do choose to retire. By doing this, you can pile on the pressure early game to your opponent by giving him a tough choice on whether he want to waste a hand card early game to guard your attack, or risk letting their Starters get retired (Mecha Trainer, Conroe, Kryph and those with skills instantly become a sweet target)

As for the others, It's pretty much like the standard Kagero trigger selection with an additional chance to stand your units to provide a few more attacks.

Grade 1

Continuing the progressive ride is Amber Dragon, Daylight. Daylight is a 6k unit which will become 8k in the VG circle if your have Dawn in your Soul. When Daylight is placed at a RG circle, you may discard a G3 in order to search for Amber Dragon, Eclipse from your deck and add it into your hand. By doing this you have just ensured a perfect progressive ride and eliminating extra G3 without shields from your deck. Even if you already have Eclipse in your hand, you can also discard it to look for another one just because you can thin down your deck.

The reason I chose Dragon Monk, Gojo above Bahr is this deck, in order to perform at maximum potential, you must ensure that your progressive ride is complete. Hence, Gojo allows you to filter your hand in order to help you search for the missing pieces of the ride chain. And being a 7k, he's a decent booster as well.

Similar to Heat Nail Salamander over Kinnala, Heat Nail is better in this deck because it helps you to save up your precious Counterblasts for Eclipse. Although Kinnala is a direct killer card, but you have to lose a unit to do it, basically a 1-for-1. When you take a deeper look at Heat Nail, you might see that although Heat Nail doesn't outright retire, but you have a choice whether to retire or not upon hitting the VG with an attack boosted by it.

If the field doesn't require you to do anything, you can just leave Heat Nail there and continue having a 6k boost every turn. Otherwise, you still can wreck magic number units with it should you have a chance to do so. Heat Nail is a very good pressure card like Flame Seed Salamander because it gives your opponent s headaches. Imagine having 3 lines of Heat Nail boosted attacks to the VG, your opponent will really have to think twice on to let which one to go through.

Grade 2

Amber Dragon, Dusk is the G2 of the progressive ride chain. When Dusk is in the VG circle and you have Daylight in your Soul, Dusk becomes an equivalent of a 10 vanilla, with the skill to give itself +2000 power when it attacks, making it a 12k / 11k (if you don't have Daylight in your Soul) attacker.

Nehalem and Berserks are quite standard in Kagero decks, so I won't make any further explanations on their inclusion. The focus of the G2 here is Lava Arm Dragon, the Amber Dragons' custom beater. with a base power of 10k, Lava Arm by itself is already a good unit. Topping up with Dusk's power boost when attacking, it just becomes better. However, the thing that you need to keep in mind is if your Vanguard is not either Dusk or Eclipse, Lava Arm instant shrinks by 5k, making it a 5k weakling, hence why there's only 2 in the deck.

Grade 3

There's only two types of G3s being used here, and the selection varies from player to player, but one of them will be fixed: Amber Dragon, Eclipse. Eclipse is the pinnacle of the progressive ride for the Ambers. When you have Dusk in your Soul, Eclipse becomes a 11k unit, good number for both offense and defense.

The main thing here is Eclipse's ACT skill. By paying a CB of 2, Eclipse gains the ability to retire 2 of your opponent's RG upon landing a hit to the Vanguard. For such a good ability, it does come together with a drawback. The drawback is the skill is an ACT skill, which means you'll be telling your opponent "Hey, you better guard this attack if not I'm gonna burn two of your units!".

But hey, looking into the bright side, basically you're paying CB2 to bait out a null guard, and if you success in doing so, your other attacks will have a higher chance to hit. Otherwise, your opponent will throw hand cards to guard, or just let you take 2 fellas down. Quite a profit skill I would say, and remember, this deck is  not like traditional Kagero decks, don't be so obsessed in retiring your opponent's units. Constant pressuring is good enough to keep your opponent busy thinking.

Dragonic Overlord will be your 2nd beater in Grade 3. Considered one of the best units ever printed for Kagero, you now can have three 11k lines and if you managed to save up 5 CB, triggering Eclipse and Overlord's skill together will definitely put your opponent in a really bad position (either null Eclipse's attack, and let Overlord swing three times; or stop Overlord and let Eclipse take two down).

See the logic of the deck? I believe I don't need to explain much already. The only catch of this deck is the timing of Heat Nail, Eclipse and Overlord's skills, the rest is just basically auto-pilot. Have fun trying out this deck once BT-04 is out!

Randomization: Sorry for the long absence...

Hey there, Homura here with just a short post to explain why am I absent from updating my blog recently.

Firstly, my work is getting heavier, and I don't have access to the internet yet at my other office (which happens to be a construction site). Hence I don't really have much times to update my blog.

Furthermore, there's still a long way to go before any new stuffs are coming in, so hopefully you guys will stay together with me when I continue my updates once I come back from AFA12 next week. ( i should be reviewing stuff from EB-04/EB-05/BT-09 by then if I get more information about those sets)

The most important reason why I'm neglecting the blog for quite some while is because recently, my entire legacy of Vanguard was stolen. Yes, meaning all my decks, spares, collection folders, trade folders, and whatever you name it were gone. GONE FOREVER. I shall refrain from talking about this heartbreaking incident as it'll just bring back bad memories.

I'll admit, this incident did make me lose interest of the game already, as it'll be really crazy to spend a fortune again to rebuild all the decks I've lost. Not to say I don't have the money, but it's the time and effort to hunt and bargain for the cards that I don't really want to spend. But thankfully, my friend has a Narukami bundle with 4x of every card and he's giving it to me for a reasonable price, hence my loss is not that pain after all.

Well, throughout this period I have been receiving supports from most of my friends, and I would like to thank them. If not, I won't be returning back to Vanguard anymore.

Alright, rants aside, I would like you guys to be more patient and stay together with me. Although I'm really lagging and slacking in posting, I promise that I'll continue providing you guys reading materials. Until then, this is Homura, signing off for now...