The Parallel Vision: The Post-BT-03 VGE Metagame

Hi guys, Homura here with a brand new column upon a request from one of my viewers. He asked me how is the English Vanguard environment now and whether I can post up an article or two about VGE because somehow my articles focuses more on the Japanese side of the game. Well, I would say 'Why not', since I'll be able to cater those that play English CFVG only, and also providing me with more things to write. Anyway, let's get back to topic before I strayed too far away...

VGE started almost a year after the Japanese's release, and from what we can see, the competitiveness level of VGE is way below of its Japanese counterpart, among the obvious ones are cards from BT-05 which totally changed the entire metagame. However, they have been compensated with the availability of Limit Breakers at the same time with the Japanese release, as well as extra cards in their expansions in the form of Japanese promo cards in Common or Rare rarity. Also, with the release of BT-03 in this coming period, the VGE metagame will take shape of the pre BT-05 metagame of Japan. Without further ado, let's see how will the metagame be formed once BT-03 for VGE hits in. Let's start with analyzing the state of the Clans when the new cards are available for them.

Royal Paladin
RP gets the most out of the release of BT-03, as they will be getting a lot of new cards from that set. Firstly, they gain another useful Ride Chain, which is the Galahad series. Galahad rides in a same way like Tsukuyomi, where you get to check the top 5 cards to find the corresponding higher grade unit and Superior Ride it, thus saving your hand cards.

Galahad also gains some form of support such as Borugal, a 6k G1 that can boost for 9k if you have 6 or more Soul, matching Galahad's theme where he also needs 6 Soul to unlock his skill.

But the most notable boost that RP gains is 2 cards that is known to be the best cards ever printed for RP pre BT-05 - Toypoogal, and Swordsman of Exploding Flames, Baromedes.

 

Toypoogal is a G1 that can boost for 9k once you met the requirements of having 2 or more Royal Paladin G3, which is not hard to fulfill during mid-late game. The same goes to Baromedes, which can singlehandedly slam into any unit of the game once you hit his requirement, which is the same as Toypoogal. Together, they can hit for a whopping 22k damage!

In short, RP will be the deck to beat once BT-03 for VGE is released.

Kagero
Kagero doesn't get much boost in BT-03, where they only get 4 new cards (and maybe another 2, if the news is confirmed). The cards given to Kagero are mainly support cards for the Blazing Flare Dragon builds. Some notable ones will be Flame Edge Dragon, Kagero's equivalent of Blue Dust. With Flame Edge available to Kagero players now, BFD will be able to use its skill more than once thanks to the Soulcharging ability of Flame Edge.

Dual Axe Archdragon is a 10k G3 that can add 3k power when attacking if your opponent has less that 2 Rear Guards. He is meant to combo with any retire-based Kagero, but only given that you can consistently control your opponent's unit count.

Even though Kagero does not get much boost this set, they still can play their meta-defining deck, Goku-Blade a.k.a. Paladin Killer.

Goku-Blade is a very effective deck that can consistently control your opponent's board presence while you keep on piling up the pressure. This deck specially aims your opponent's boosters, having the logic that if your opponent does not have a booster, you won't have difficulties in guarding when only 5k shields are needed for every attack. I'll be discussing this deck in a future article. Oh, and Kagero also get another Critical Trigger too!

Together with RP, Kagero is the clan to look out for, when people knows how devastating is Goku-Blade.

Oracle Think Tank
Finally, OTT reaches its pinnacle with the advent of the goddess of the Moon. BT-03 emphasizes more on the 'Soul' theme of OTT, allowing you to do more stuff when you have Soul. the Tsukuyomi ride chain provides you with hand advantage as well as Soul, and the support cards released, such as Oracle Guardian Red-Eye further augments the theme of the deck. Tsukuyomi also marks the first ever 11k base power Vanguard for OTT (just make sure your ride is successful), and Tsukuyomi brings even more draw power to a clan that already emphasizing in drawing cards.

There nothing much special besides Tsukuyomi, and OTT now can have a more aggressive playing style now thanks to 11k units. Finally, the Big 3 for VGE is now completed.

Nova Grappler

Bt-03 brings you the Death Army couple. They share the same skill, which is the ability to stand if you hit a Grade 3 Nova Grappler during your Drive Check. They pair well especially with Asura Kaiser, since now you're able to retain NG's specialty of having multiple attacks without the need of Stand Triggers.

As usual, NG is now the underdog clan in an environment where RP, Kagero and OTT is shining brightly. But give them some time, they're just getting warmed-up.

Tachikaze, Pale Moon, Dark Irregulars
These are the three new clans joining into the fight in BT-03, each with their distinct playstyle.

Tachikaze is the 'cannibal', where they need to sacrifice their units in order to pay for their powerful skills. With null guards available for Tachikaze now, they finally can be played properly. Their signature deck will the the Deathrex-Gigarex combo, where you can hit insane power counts when you time your 'cannibalism' properly.

Pale Moon is the circus of the Dark Zone, their playstyle emphasizes in the 'quality' of their Soul, where if you have certain cards in your Soul, some of your units gets a power up. Their specialty skills emphasizes more in this aspect, because they have units that can tag with their partners inside the Soul, hence you need good cards in your Soul to keep the combo going.

Dark Irregulars is a Soul-hungry clan, and they look more at the 'quantity' of the soul. DI plays like a no-brainer, where they are at their best when they attack. The more Soul you have, the more powerful you are. Some example of units that reflects this is the Amon series, and having more Megablast units then other clans.

Jet Black Poet, Amon while boosting Aspiring Demon, Amon can hit for a whopping 20k when you have 6 or more Soul, while the G3, Hell Marquis, Amon gets +1k for each card in your Soul. He also has a skill to send one of your units to Soul to force your opponent to retire one Rear Guard, maintaining board advantage while pumping more power. The unit to look out for is Stil Vampir, a G3 with a deadly Megablast which allows you to ride any cards on your opponent's field as the Vanguard for that turn. This can lead to a very devastating Final Turn as you can ride a low-power unit as the Vanguard and start slamming them.

I guess from the Clan analysis above you can see how will the English metagame be formed once BT-03 hit the shelves. As usual, the Big 3 (RP, Kagero, OTT) will be dominating the format for the time being, while Nova Grapplers and Dark Irregulars comes close. Pale Moon and Tachikaze will have a slight disadvantage because the learning curve for PM is a bit high for beginners, while Tachikaze can't do much besides hitting hard (they are other clans that can hit harder). The only big problem is you have the Limit Breakers running around.

That's all for today's long article I guess. In the future articles related to VGE, I'll be doing the usual stuffs like analyzing decklists and each clan's playability corresponding to their environment. So if you guys out there have any requests for anything related to the English environment, feel free to ask and I'll try my best to give you my insights, hopefully can provide you with some ideas of your own at the same time. Till then, this is Homura signing out.