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!

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!

The Parallel Vision: Goku-Blade for VGE

Hey there guys, Homura here with a much anticipated post for the VGE community, especially the Kagero players. Today, I'll be discussing about one of the Kagero decks that made its name during the pre-Persona Blasters era in the Japanese metagame - Goku-Blade. This deck is one of the most stable Kagero decks ever built, as well as the most cost efficient one (you just need to get 4 Trial Decks and a few more cards to complete the deck).

The reason why this deck has dominated tournaments across Japan is because almost every card in the deck has good synergy with others. This deck packs card cycling, card draw and board control at the same time, further emphasizing Kagero as the 'control' clan in Vanguard. Though this deck has become less popular since the debut of Dragonic Overlord The End, but in the VGE environment, this deck is just beginning to shine. Before we go into more details, let's have a look at my previous deckbuild for Goku-Blade:


Grade 0
Lizard Soldier Conroe x1 (FV)
Embodiement of Spear, Tahr x3 (Critical)
Gatling Claw Dragon x4 (Draw)
Blu-Ray Dracokid x3 (Critical)
Dragon Dancer Monica x2 (Draw)
Dragon Monk Genjo x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Embodiment of Armor, Bahr x4
Wyvern Guard, Barri x3
Flame of Hope, Aermo x2
Demonic Dragon Mage, Kinnala x2
Dragon Monk Gojo x3

Grade 2
Dragon Knight Nehalem x4
Berserk Dragon x4
Dragon Knight Berger x3

Grade 3
Dragon Monk Goku x4
Dragonic Overlord x4

From the looks of the deck, it just looks like a normal Goku + Overlord build. Simple right? But do you know that even if something is simple, it doesn't mean that it can't be lethal. As for the name, you might wonder where is the 'Blade'? I'll explain that later in the article. For now let's go into the details of the deck


Grade 0
The trigger setup here is the standard (for me) setup of 6-6-4, where you can have decent offensive boost, as well as being in the safe zone for defense with the increased hand size. As for the starter, we have our best starter in the game - Lizard Soldier Conroe. Being able to tutor for a cost of CB1 is no joke. Finding out the crucial Barri through Conroe's effect can save you in a pinch.

Grade 1
4 Bahr here to provide much needed 8k boost, as our Rear Guards is somewhat lacking a bit of power to push through. 3 Barri to save your hand size when guarding a high-power smash, quite standard lineup there.

The cards that you want to look out for is these two: Dragon Monk Gojo and Flame of Hope Aermo. Let's start with Gojo first. Gojo is a 7k booster, which is a very good number to enable you to hit 16k lines in case you're boosting a Berserk Dragon. Secondly, Gojo has a very important skill, which allows you to trade away unnecessary cards in your hand, or to fish out your G3 as soon as possible. Meanwhile Aermo is also serving the same function, where once you Drive Checked a G3, you can cycle it away for a fresh card (hopefully those with Shields). Kinnala here is to provide a little bit more of the Board Control element.

Grade 2
The G2 lineup for each Kagero deck is quite standard, whereby you'll have 3-4 10k vanilla, and a couple of Berserk Dragons. Usually, Berserk Dragon's CIP skill is seldom used unless you're opponent played something that made you feel that you really must kill off that thing. However, in a Counterblast-heavy clan like Kagero, without the presence of Bellycoisty Dragon, your precious CB can't be simply used.

However, in this deck, Counterblast consuming is quite light, hence you can freely use Berserk's skill anytime you see necessary. Retiring that Interceptor of pesky boosters at the right time perfectly justifies the value of Berserk. Since this deck relies on triggering G3s. once they're in your hand, they are quite useless. So, in order to bolster your defenses, I opted to include 3 Dragon Knight Berger to improve your defenses a bit. Also, Berger can serve as a lightning rod to lure away attacks that are meant to be directed at your Vanguard.

Grade 3
As the name has stated, Dragon Monk Goku here is our Ace unit. Goku transforms all your G3s into 'Bomb Triggers' where you can retire important booster units of your opponent. By doing that, you instantly gain a plus to your field, whereby your opponent suffer minuses on their field, and more from their hand if they decide to redeploy their units to maintain attack power.

The name Goku-Blade is derived because initially, Goku is paired with a Promo card called Sword Emperor, Dragonic Valblade (hence the name 'Blade'). Valblade is Kagero's Crimson Butterfly Bridgitte, where it gains +5k power whenever you Drive Check a Kagero G3. I tried that build, and noticed that if you pair Goku with Valblade, one of them will be useless as a RG. Since Goku's advantage weighs more that Valblade's simple power boost effect, Valblade was excluded from the deck.

And who to replace the absence of Valblade? Enter our most useful RG ever printed - Dragonic Overlord. With its 11k power , and a skill that can be used even as a RG, Dragonic Overlord becomes an auto-include in the deck at maximum copies. Even though you did not manage to ride Goku, Overlord still can serves as your secondary Vanguard.

You might worried that you'll have too many G3 in hand after your Drive Check, but no fear, because this is what Gojo and Aermo is here for. Just chuck away the G3 that cannot be used to guard (especially extra pieces of Goku) to get a new card fresh from your deck.

Goku-Blade is a totally simple and easy deck to pilot, close to the 'brainless' level. But, despite being a simple deck to play, it is still very lethal to play against. I had a match before whereby the moment I ride Goku, my opponent just simply ceases to put any boosters behind his units, hence saves me a lot of precious hand cards when guarding his attacks, as most of his attacks just required a 5k shield. BT-03 is going to make an impact for sure, and this deck doesn't even need any cards from there except the Critical Trigger!

Trust me, once you mastered this deck, you'll see the fun of playing it and a lot of face expressions when you trigger a G3 during your Drive Check. For those that like Kagero, and do not have a lot of budget to make decks like Blazing Flare Dragon or Dragonic Lawkeeper, you can always try this deck. In my honest opinion, I would say that this deck is more stable than BFD or Lawkeeper, as it doesn't require set up time and necessary cards to compliment the deck. This deck is just simple: Burn, Beat, and Burn more.

Until then, have fun, and let me know how the deck performs for you! This is Homura, signing out!

Deck Dissection: Lawkeeper Kagero

As promised, today it'll be normal posts again. EB-03 is seriously picking up at a very fast speed here at my local meta. Everybody now is trying their new decks with EB-03 cards inside non-stop. So what about me? I also wanted to try them out, but the problem here is Kagero is so commonly played that I have a very hard time to find the Dragonic Lawkeepers that I need for my deck. I think after 3 days of searching it, I only managed to secure 3 pieces of it.

So much demand for this guy here... Sad...

Although my ideal deck is using 4 of those guys, but I have to improvise thanks to the lack of cards. However, my friend Rauzes gave me a good suggestion to build a deck with only 3 Dragonic Lawkeepers. And the deck is performing quite well despite not having a full set of Lawkeepers. So here's the deck that both of us came up with:

Grade 0
Lizard Soldier Conroe x1 (FV)
Embodiment of Spear, Tahr x4 (Critical)
Blu-Ray Dracokid x3 (Critical)
Gatling Claw Dragon x4 (Draw)
Dragon Dancer Monica x1 (Draw)
Dragon Monk Genjo x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Embodiment of Armor, Bahr x4
Dragon Monk Gojo x3
Wyvern Guard, Barri x3
Lizard Soldier Raopia x2
Demonic Dragon Mage, Kinnala x2

Grade 2
Cross Shot Gaap x4
Dragon Knight Nehalem x2
Berserk Dragon x3
Bellycoisty Dragon x2

Grade 3
Dragonic Lawkeeper x3
Dual Axe Archdragon x3
Dragonic Overlord x2

The base of this deck is very easy to come up with because most Kagero decks are using this as a template (mine at least). What you need to do is just change the G3s and the trigger set up then the deck will have a new flavor in it. Moving on to the selection of cards:

Grade 0
For the starter we have the best G0 available for us, which is Lizard Soldier Conroe. Thanks to it we can reduce the number of certain units to make space for others because Conroe can tutor them out. As for the trigger set up, I opted to go with my favorite - 7 Critical, 5 Draw, and 4 Heal as I'm a Critical fan. But this might change as I'm currently experimenting on different trigger set ups.

Grade 1
4 Bahr and 3 Barri, quite standard base. Gojo is there to help you cycle cards (seriously, this guy is my favorite G1 now, can't leave him out in any deck). Although Kinnala will eat some of your Counterblasts, but I really think that we can't depend on Lawkeeper's skill alone, hence she's there to provide a bit of board control, especially those threatening boosters like 10k boosts, Toypoogal, 8ks etc..

The key G1 here is Lizard Soldier Raopia. With Lawkeeper's Limit Break on, you can guarantee a 23k attack every time you use the LB skill, and ensure that your opponent will either say 'No Guard', throw a null guard, or waste a lot of cards to guard. Being able to be tutored out by Conroe, he's at x2 (you'll only need 1 on field anyway).

Grade 2
I'm playing 6 pieces of the 10k vanillas here to maximize the offensive power. Rauzes suggested me to play HIdden Dragon Striken initially, but I really can't find the guts to lose a Drive Check just to get a confirmed Critical Trigger. Similar to Kinnala, Berserk Dragon x3 is here to provide more board control as well as creating presence. Since this deck uses quite some CB, I added in 2x Bellycoisty Dragons just to help recover some CB. It also helps you to 'psycho' your opponent, whether he wanna let you unflip the damage or spend cards to guard.

Grade 3
Dragonic Lawkeeper at x3 in the deck. Although I would like to play 4 but sadly I only have 3 with me now. However, once you played enough, you will find out that you don't actually need 4. Because you need 4 damage to activate LB, means by then it's already in mid or late game already. Also, Lawkeeper is a VG only effect, means once you ride him, the other copies are useless already. So I guess 3 here is quite enough for the deck.

Dual Axe Archdragon, another partner card with Lawkeeper. Being able to hit 20k magic lines is good, nuff said. 3 pieces of it is because like the other cards, the requirements to get the +3k power is kinda hard, unless you trigger LB every turn. So most of the time, Dual Axe will only be a vanilla 10k if your opponent keeps on spamming units.

Hitting 20k+ magic numbers was never that easy until now... Welcome back my long forgotten friend...

The 2 Dragonic Overlords here is to fill in the VG spot while waiting to ride Lawkeeper on top of it. With its 11k defense, you can buy more time to fish out your Lawkeeper and proceed for your win. Besides, if you have extra CB to use, why not call out Overlord in RG and push for more damage?

So here you go, a sample Critical-based Lawkeeper deck. This deck is geared more towards offense, but now I'm experimenting a way to make the deck faster. Once I secured all my cards, most likely will give this deck a shot in my shop tourneys. Hopefully this deck will live up to my expectations and Lawkeeper can be my new Avatar besides DOTE (lol!). So until next time, this is Homura signing out!

Defining the Metagame: Kagero

Hello guys, Homura here again. It has been a while since I wrote some stuff about Kagero, so I decided to write one today. So without further ado, let's get started!

Every time I went to look up for tourney reports, whatever I saw there were always the same thing: It's either Kagero, Royal Paladins, or Shadow Paladins. Where are the Limit Breakers? Aren't they're supposed to 'Break the Limits'? Why am I still seeing the same old clans since a year ago? WHY!?!?!?!?!?

The answer is simple - consistency. In almost every TCG that I played, consistency always plays the most important part in a game. More often a win or loss is determined by the consistency of your deck (of course plus your skills). Kagero is one of the clans that really represents consistency to its fullest, IMO. Even though BT-06 gives us Limit Breakers, but yet Kagero still manage to stay at the top, without the help of any LB units.

I'm still a badass after so long, RAWR!!!

The epitome of consistency in Kagero is their current strongest/stablest deck of all time - Dragonic Overlord The End. Why? because the deck combines all factors of consistency in one whole package. Here are some staples in the deck that made is super consistent and stable:

Lizard Solider Conroe: Nuff said, the best G0 in the game.

Dragon Monk Gojo - 7k booster, perfect for creating 18k lines with the G3s, and 20k with Burning Horn. Also helps you to cycle cards.

Demonic Dragon Mage, Kinalla - Board control, breaking magic numbers for a cheap cost of CB1.

Burning Horn Dragon - Permanent 12k attacker during your turn. Sets up 17k, 18k, and 20k magic numbers.

Berserk Dragon - One of the best G2s we have. Board control, creates presence and removes interceptors.

Dragonic Overlord - God before he gets angry (LOL!). 11k tanker with a scary skill. Nuff said.

Dragonic Overlord The End - God when angry. even more tank with 13k, and when he stands again, it's usually 'THE END'.

So you see? Card cycling, cost-free power-ups, board control, defensive and offensive power, card advantage, tutoring all-in-one. What more you want? With all these goodies still available for Kagero, unless Bushiroad decides to come up with a super-crazy-insane-imba LB unit with 13k base power, DOTE will still remain the top of the ladder of competitive decks. With most LB units being at 10k base power, there's a reason why DOTE eats them for lunch (munch munch!).

DOTE aside, there's now a new contender to possibly join DOTE in the competitive scene to be a semi-meta, if not meta deck. Enter the new Kagero LB unit - Dragonic Lawkeeper.

This firebreathing dragon here sports 10k base power like most G3s, but the upside is it has a very funky LB skill. For a cost of CB1, you may bind all your opponent's Rear Guards for that turn. This skill actually has its own pros and cons. The good thing is you can remove Interceptors away to force your opponent to dump more hand cards. Topped up with Lawkeeper's automatic power increase when your opponent has 2 or less RG when it attacks, it can really dish out high amounts of damage. The downside is during your End Phase where you used this skill, up to 4 bound RGs comes back. It means that your opponent can rearrange their formation, and any units with CIP skills will activate again.

So, the key to using this skill is about timing. Basically, you only use Lawkeeper's skill when you have a chance to deal high power attacks. With that, you can force your opponent to dump hand cards, possibly removing higher level threats, and you will only need to deal with the same units once you end your turn.

I'm still tinkering around with Lawkeeper, and I came out with a prototype deck (with proxies) and modifying it from there. Truthfully speaking, I actually made a lot of people pissed off and frustrated because of Lawkeeper's LB skill (heh!). What you should put in your deck, I'll leave it for your own, but I'll show you some long-forgotten cards that will fit this deck superbly. Behold!

Yes, Dual Axe Archdragon and Lizard Solider Raopia. I bet you don't even bother playing these guys before Lawkeeper was previewed. All these 3 units share a common skill, whereby they all get a power boost when your opponent has 2 or less RGs. When combo-ed with Lawkeeper's skill, you can literally tell your opponent "In Your Face!!!" when you smash into the red zone with 3 lines of 20k++ power attacks. Luckily I still keep my playset of Dual Axe Archdragons (got them when they're like 10 Malaysian Ringgit per piece LOL!), because now this card will be a hot stuff (very hard to find them because nobody is opening BT-03 anymore).

So in short, DOTE will still dominate the meta until something stupid happens, and Lawkeeper will definitely gring a new twist to the existing Kagero decks out there. So remember to try Lawkeeper out, and let me know how you feel about it! If you want some sample decklists for any Kagero decks, just drop me a comment and I'll do a post or reply you with it (I can build almost any Kagero decks heh!). Until then, this is Homura, signing out for the day, and back to sleep in the office....

Field Report: Toysbar Weekly Shop Tourney 13/5/12

Good day and this is your friendly neighborhood Cardfighter Homura speaking. I know this post is quite long overdue, but yeah, I can't think of anything to write thanks to my work (yes, I'm in my office now and doing this in front of my boss, like a boss, heh!).

This is my first field report of Toysbar tourneys because I haven't been playing there for quite some while due to laziness (cannot wake up too early for registration lol!). So without further ado, here's the report from the tourney that day.

Tournament: Toysbar Weekly Shop Tourney
Date: 13/5/12
Location: Toysbar, Damansara Jaya
No.of Players: 20
Deck Used: Dragonic Overlord - The End
Rounds Played: 4



1st Round vs Jin Hong (Gold Paladin)

I started quite steady, riding all the way from Conroe > Gojo > Nehalem > Overlord. Though I started first, I had a bit of worry since Gold Paladins was able to Superior Ride to Blonde Ezel to catch up with me. However he didn't, and the game went into my favor.

My attacks were quite cautious, slowly nitpicking off his threats while leaving weaker units on field to occupy the Rear Guard slots so that when he hits Limit Break threshold, he can't use it often. Also, my damage output control was quite good, that he wasn't able to hit LB threshold until I rode to The End. Basically a steady play for me, and eventually took him down with 3 big swings (18k, 19k with triggers, 20k)

1-0


Round 2 vs Kae Kwang (Majesty Blasters)

Can't say much about this game, basically his luck was quite bad, unable to hit triggers consistently while mine was quite okay (it should be since I had so much of bad luck yesterday *smirks*). At a point I have to take a 2 Critical Majesty swing because I couldn't afford to spend my hand to guard (where my hand was full of attackers).

I didn't Cross Ride in this game, and my Persona Blast hitting double Criticals (I love you, Blu-Ray Dracokid *lol*) sealed the deal.

2-0


Round 3 vs Sunny Tat (DOTE)

One of the high potential Kagero player in Toysbar, I actually intended to self-appoint him as my successor for Kagero at a point of time (LOL!). This game he was quite persistent and apparently Lady Luck was beside him that day. No matter how much I pummel his Vanguard and Rear Guards, he was still able to find replacements for them.

Well, I can say that I didn't made any mistakes during that game, just that my triggers were nowhere to be found (The Curse of Bushiroad Games...). What to do, I just lost flat like that, eating a Persona Blast from his The End in that crucial timing... And he eventually became 2nd place in the tourney, losing to Majesty Blasters.

2-1


Round 4 vs Shawn Bushido (DOTE)

One of my fellow pure Kagero players, he was also quite a decent player I would say. In this game, I finally managed to Cross Ride early in the game, just that I had Aermo behind The End so I can only hit 19k. But hey, eventually he also rode into The End so it doesn't matter. Bascially we're just trading blows here and there but I had the upper hand thanks to my timely Draw Triggers and Heal Triggers.

Both of us were just waiting for the timing to Persona Blast, and mine came first because he does not have enough guard in his hand to guard a 19k attack against his Burning Horn Dragon (9k). I hit a trigger during the initial Twin Drive, Persona Blasted and hitting another one to win the game.

3-1


Conclusion: Clearly I would say that Toysbar's players were of a higher standard, due to the fact that it was the most active Vanguard shop around the region (no offence to other players and shops!). The competition there was actually very high (no jokes!). And although I can consistently Top 4 there, but getting first place was very hard... In the end, I finished in 3rd place for this tournament.

So there you go, a long overdue tourney report. And I promise, the moment I can think of something to write, I'll immediately write it down. No more overdue stuffs okay? That's all for now, this is Homura signing off!

Field Report: Card Arena Sunday Tourney 29/4/12

Hello to everyone, this is Homura with yet another tourney report.With BT-06 'Breaker of Limits' available in Malaysia on Saturday, a lot of players were very excited to try out their new decks, namely Gold Paladins, Narukami, and Angel Feather. And of course, players that joined this tourney were using Limit Break decks mostly.

I myself have an Eisele-Garmall build Gold Paladin deck, but I prefer to go for consistency and stability in tourneys, hence I stuck with Dragonic Overlord The End. Without further ado, here's the details of the tourney.

Tournament: Card Arena Sunday Tourney
Date: 29/4/12
Location: Card Arena SS15, Subang
No.of Players: 10
Deck Used: Dragonic Overlord - The End
Rounds Played: 4


1st Round vs Zend Chou (Narukami)

Basically I don't have much pressure in this match due to my opponent was quite a new player and he is only using a Narukami TD with a single piece of Dragonic Kaiser Vermilion. The moment I Cross Ride The End, I already shut down most of his units because the highest power that his units have was 10k. With a 13k tank parked at the Vanguard Circle, I was able to maintain my hand advantage.

A 21k attack by The End to his 9k Rear Guard spells destruction as I hit a Draw Trigger, and triggered a The End after that. Without further hesitation I Persona Blasted and smashed into the red zone, triggering Tahr to seal the deal.

1-0


2nd Round vs Mok Hann Yann (Narukami)

Well this Narukami matchup was more interesting as he's obviously a better player. I went second, and sent Gojo smashing into his Red River Dragoon. He then rode Wyvern of the Cursed Cannon and attacked. I then progressed from Gojo to Nehalem and then to Dragonic Overlord, whilst he was stuck at the Wyvern. Although I had the advantage of having Twin Drive, but I was lacking on boosters at the back row. With that, I can't pile up the pressure during mid game. Mok then rode into Dragonic Deathscythe, blasted away my Aermo which was my only booster at that time.

I Cross Rode into The End, but I'm still lacking boosters, making my Persona Blast attempts less threatening and easier to guard against. While I finally found boosters for my units, Mok rode into Dragonic Kaiser Vermilion, activated his Limit Break skill, and zapping off my attackers this time.

After a while more of trading blows here and there, I finally lost despite I already forced him to the dead end. Why? because I failed to apply pressure during early game due to bad draws (and lack of boosting units) and missing a lot of triggers that time.

1-1


3rd Round vs Ryan Kai (Narukami)

Yet another Narukami matchup, but with the added flavor of the Djinns found in the TD. My startup was Bahr>Burning Horn>Dragonic Overlord for my first 3 turns, whilst his was Red River Dragoon>Thunderstorm Dragoon>Djinn of the Lightning Flash. For this match I opted to go with a slower pace, picking off his threats slowly and guarding quite a lot of his attacks. This is because Ryan was quite an experienced player in terms of calculations and strategy planning since his Yugioh days, whilst I'm more of a tactician, playing and adopting tactics based on the field.

During mid to late game, I clearly had the advantage in terms of damage (1 for me, 4 for him), and hand cards (9 for me, 5 for him), but still I can't be careless about the game. He rode Thunder Break Dragon on top of his Djinn, and blasted away my 20k lines (Burning Horn + Bahr) with it and Dragonic Deathscythe.

I still can't get my Persona Blast go off since Ryan guarded all of The End's attacks with nulls. And I was about to exhaust my deck completely because I hit a lot of Draw Triggers, and dragging the game. But chance came when he nullified too many of The End's attacks, which left him with only 3 cards + 2 G3s that he Drive Checked earlier. And thanks to me hitting nothing except for Draws and Heals, most of my Criticals were still intact. I smashed into his Deathscythe, he opted for a one-trigger-break. I triggered a Heal, recovered one damage and broke through his guard, Persona Blasted and slammed into Thunder Break again. He can't guard it, and a timely Critical ended the longest game that night.

2-1


4th Round vs Witnes (Dragonic Overlord - The End)

As expected, I'm playing against a mirror (can't be helped, isn't it?), and the deck was almost similar to mine, besides some tech choices. I went second, and was lucky to drew Dragonic Overlord on my first draw phase because I don't have a grade 3 in my hand after I mulligan. I went from Gojo>Nehalem>Overlord>The End, whilst Witnes completed his ride until Grade 3 with Bahr>Nehalem>Overlord>The End.

We were quite ferocious in trading blows, but his was harder thanks to double Burning Horn Dragon + Bahr that kept on harassing my Vanguard. He called out Flame of Promises, Aermo behind his The End, and I immediately retired it with Berserk Dragon, because if left alone, it'll be a nuisance to me with its 10k boost.

At one point I have to take my 6th damage, but Genjo put me back into the fight, and with revitalized vigor, The End kept going into the red zone, and finally Witnes succumbed after a couple of turns later.

3-1

Conclusion: Both Witnes and me were tied for the top 2, but since I beat him in the final match, I became first (yet again, so happy, heh.). I won 3 packs of BT-06, and pulled crap out of them (stupid box GRRR!!!). But I'm happy because even though that Limit Break is slowly reforming the metagame, I can still hold it with the same old The End, and it proves that Persona Blast and 13k Vanguards were still standing strong.

Another tourney done, another report done. Be sure to keep tuning into this blog as I'll start posting articles about deckbuilding and single card discussions, since BT-06 is out! Until then, this is Homura, signing off!

Field Report: Card Arena Shop Tourney 27/4/12

Hello there. Homura is back after a few days hiatus due to work. Joined a tourney yesterday and here's the tourney report for it. Enjoy!

Tournament: Card Arena Shop Tourney
Date: 27/4/12
Location: Card Arena SS15, Subang
No. of Players: 10
Deck Used: Dragonic Overlord - The End
Rounds Played: 4

1st Round vs Darren Khong (Majesty Lord Blaster)

I started, drew my opening hand, and found no Grade 3. It's still the same after I mulligan, and that made me worried about stuck halfway at Grade 2. I rode Gojo, used his skill, dropped Gatling Claw Dragon, and drew a Dragonic Overlord (phew, lucky me!). Darren rode Marron, pulled Wingal Brave behind, attacked, and I took the damage.

Mid-game he had a Blaster Dark at VG whilst mine is Nehalem. He tried to attack, hoping that it'll go through for Wingal Brave's skill to activate, but I guarded it nicely. I rode Overlord afterwards, and started my onslaught towards the Vanguard due to him being unable to find a Grade 3. Having no choice, he had to rode Swordsman of Exploding Flames, Baromedes instead, and the 10k power of his Vanguard allowed me to hammer it with 20k lines of Burning Horn Dragon boosted by Bahr. The game was sealed when my The End Persona Blast-ed and hitting a Critical Trigger when he's at 4 damage.

1-0


2nd Round vs Lelouch Wong (Mirror)

As I said previously, the mirror was the most boring matchup for my deck. Basically from early till mid game we traded blows here and there with me riding Bahr>Berserk Dragon>Overlord and him riding Bahr>Nehalem>Overlord.

I managed to guard most of his attacks, and hitting Draw Triggers for the damages that I took, whilst hitting Criticals and Heals for my own attacks. Finally I Crossride-ed into The End, and he's still stuck at Overlord. He initially tried to stop me from using The End's Persona Blast with Barri when I attacked his 9k Rear Guards with a boost by Aermo (13k +6k =19k). In the end, he can't guard anymore due to his diminishing hand advantage, and once again I sealed the game with a Persona Blast, attacked with The End that has 2 Critical, and hitting a Heal Trigger when he only guarded for a one-trigger-break.

2-0


3rd Round vs Edmond Teh (Majesty Lord Blaster)

Somehow MLB really preferred to meet against me for some reason (lol...). Basically this was quite an easy game due to the mistakes made by him, and my hand advantage. My set-ups were quite standard, maintaining field advantage while picking off his threats like 18k lines and Blaster units.

He managed to rode into MLB, and I actually took a 2-Critical, 22k hit from it because I don't want to spend anymore hand to guard and I was still very healthy thanks to my defences earlier in the game. Although his MLB now is a 12k, 2-Critical monster, the lack of Rear Guards made me easier to handle the incoming attacks, whilst my The End and 17k Rear Guard lines kept MLB at bay. As usual, I did a Persona Blast when I got the chance and I won.

After the game my friend Eugene, whom was the judge on that day said "Wow, you really damn cruel man, not giving any chance, just hammering the Vanguard only..." I replied to him saying that it's still a tourney, and I bet he himself won't let the chance of winning slip away just because your opponent is a beginner.

3-0


4th Round vs Kae Kwang (Majesty Lord Blaster)

Again MLB. Nothing much to write about since the game was very similar to my previous games. The only notable scenes were Kae Kwang found no MLB, and rode Soul Saviour Dragon instead, as well as me having The End with only 11k power.

Since I did not hit the magic number against Paladins, hence I played in a slower pace, without overextending just to nail the coffin. It paid off when my high power attacks burned off a lot of his hand cards, and the tide of battle has began to go in my favor. Yet again I managed to Persona Blast, and he had to declare 'No Guard' due to his hand being Grade 3s. I hit a Critical trigger, and sealed the game from there.

4-0

Conclusion: Won first place with 3 packs in my pocket (decided to wait until I can claim BT-06 instead). And it shows that my modified deck really works. Very satisfied with the outcome of the tourney. And another thing: Persona Blast is WIN. Period.

So this ends my Field Report for this edition. Until next time when I have a chance to try out the new metagame decks, this is Homura, signing off!

Calm Before The Storm: Choose Your Avatar Pt.1

Hi there, Homura here, and welcome to Cardfighters Unite!

I'll be bringing up a new column today, which is 'Calm Before The Storm' (CBTS). Bascially, this column will have articles about tactics, game plays, lore, and other random stuff which I can think of (lol!). Well, let's get started before the storm really hits in!

'Choose Your Avatar' is a article analyzing the clans of VG, and it'll be broken down to a few parts, featuring a clan in each installment. Today's featured clan will be the one of the dominating clan of the current format-Kagero

Kagero

In game, Kagero embodies the aspect of Destruction. Their main advantages of the game are higher-than-average raw power, speed, and their trademark-retiring.

One of the special things that Kagero have is the speed to Superior Ride into Grade 3s, gaining a 2-turn advantage over your opponent, or chase up to your opponent if you go second.

But the main highlight of this clan is their retiring power. Retiring effects generates a +1 to your field, and a -1/-2 to your opponent, because now your opponent has to either put another one down to maintain board advantage, or risk the lack of power. Kagero has cards that retire units from all Grades, thus allowing you to retire their most threatening units.

Also, Kagero Grade 3s are the most versatile among all the clans out there, having various utility effects that can change the tide of the battlefield.

Dragonic Waterfall (Power): A 13k Vanguard beatstick by itself, potential to go to 21k and 31k with a excess G3 in hand and boosted by Bahr.

Dragonic Overlord (Advantage/Defense): A devastating effect that instantly nets you board/hand advantage, packed together with a sweet 11k power, nice for offense and defense.

Sealed Dragon Blockade (Negation): With the ability to prevent intercepting, it means that your opponent has to spend more hand cards to guard, and an easier 'FINAL TURN' from you.

Blazing Flare Dragon (Retiring): One of the best retiring cards available for Kagero, BFD can virtually obliterate whoever that he doesn't like, and gaining a power boost from there as well.

Embodiment of Victory, Aleph (Speed): One of the Superior Ride chains together with BFD. Instant 2-turn advantage and +2 hand if you go first (TWIN DRIVE!!).

Of course, there are other Grade 3s as well, but it's totally up to the player's choice to include which one in their decks. And with the introduction of BT-05, Kagero has evolved into the next level with the appearance of their newest ace unit: Dragonic Overlord-The End.

DOTE restricts you to building your deck around it, but the advantages it provides in return are just too good. Firstly, you gain a 13k power Vanguard at all times (if Overlord is in your soul). Secondly, you gain a very powerful Persona Blast, which nets you a minimum of a +3 and a possible game ender. THE END?

Although Kagero has all these powerful effects, a Kagero player must think carefully when to use his CB where there's not much options to regain CB besides heal triggers and Bellycoisty Dragon.

So in conclusion, Kagero is a very competitive clan to play, and it's also beginner friendly. Because of the variety of decks that you can build, think twice before choosing the build you'll be focusing on.

Pros: Speed, Power, Advantage all in one / Beginner friendly / Auto-pilot (in a sense)

Cons: Pricey (in terms of both ability and wallet cost, depending on build) / Difficulty in looking for certain key cards.

Rating: 4.5/5

Here you go, the first installment of CBTS. Quite a lengthy one isn't it (sorry about that lol~)? Hope those that wanted to pick up Kagero will have a better understanding of the clan inside-out. Join me again next time for another installment of CBTS, or if you wanted to know more about a certain clan, do request for a 'Choose Your Avatar' written for them! Until then, this is Homura, signing out!

Field Report: Card Arena On-Demand-Tourney 16/4/12

Hello there and this is your friendly Cardfighter Homura speaking.

As the first 'official' post of the blog, Field Report is the column where I will be posting reports of tournaments that I've joined, plus those from other contributors (if they still remember the fights they had). Well, let's get started!

Tournament: Card Arena On-Demand-Tourney

Date: 16/4/12

Location: Card Arena SS15, Subang

No. of Players: 10

Deck Used: Dragonic Overlord-The End

Rounds: 4

1st Round vs Leon (Deathrex Tachikaze)

He starts the game with Sonic Noa and passes. I rode Bahr, attacked with Conroe's boost. He rode Blightops as his G2, calling out a Megarex and a Black Cannon Tiger behind it. I have to let his Critical Trigger to go back into the deck as I don't want to waste a lot of cards to guard. My turn I rode Nehalem, smashed into his Blightops hitting a Critical Trigger.

Leon finally brought out Deathrex, and sent forth his army of Dino Dragons into my then Dragonic Overlord. On my turn I managed to Cross Ride into The End, and took the game from there with 21k and 20k attacks (Burning Horn + Bahr)

1-0

2nd Round vs QHong (Neo Nectar)

This was a scary game for me, because I thought I was going to lose due to stuck Grade at Nehalem for 3 consecutive turns. Qhong already had Maiden of Trailing Rose ready, together with other 15k lines. To add salt to the wound, my Drive checks and Damage check were all misses, and the Triggers keep coming up to my hand. Since I'm losing advantage of Twin Drive, I have to send in whatever attackers that I drew into the fray, hoping to end the game ASAP.

Somehow, the Triggers in my hand serves to be a blessing in disguise, as the 10k shields helped me to survive the onslaught when I'm still stuck at G2.

After almost spending my entire hand to guard, I finally drew The End. Although it's only 11k, but I couldn't care much since what I need now is to regain my hand advantage. As Qhong was already in 4 damage, I just keep on pummeling his Vanguard non-stop, and my effort paid off as he used up his hand to guard as well. I survived his counter attack, and took the game with The End hitting a Critical Trigger to end it.

2-0

3rd Round vs Lawrence (Dragonic Overlord-The End)

One of the most boring matchups ever, the Kagero Mirror Match. Basically when pitted against a Kagero player, it's just basically a game of non-stop retiring, and trading blows with high-power attacks. Nothing much to be surprised, unless you managed to pull The End's Persona Blast multiple times.

Our starting moves were quite basic until G2 (Bahr>Nehalem for me, and Bahr>Bellicoisty for Lawrence). I rode Dragonic Overlord on my turn, then Cross Ride to The End the next, whilst he also did the same, and then the process of trading blows started. The thing worth noting here is Lawrence does not have a boost for his The End, meaning that he was only attacking me for 13k each turn. Since he does not have power, I can guard easier, spending only a 10k shield for a 2 trigger pass.

As for my side, I have a constant 3-attack lineup, and all of them require a 10k guard at least. I managed to pull of my Persona Blast once, and took the game when he guarded with only '1 trigger pass' worth of shield, and me triggering Blu-Ray Dracokid. After the match I asked him why can't he defend my attacks, and he told me that his hand only consists of 5k shields, and a The End (maybe he was aiming for a Persona Blast to search out boosters).

3-0

4th Round vs Ryan Kai (Dragonic Overlord-The End)

Again another mirror. Though it's kinda inevitable because the majority of players were playing The End.

Ryan was a good Yugioh player, and I did not doubt his skills in Vanguard as well, as he really put up a fight against me. The early game was the same as my previous round, and both of us have a 13k The End set up for late game. Since the numbers does not matter unless it's a multiple of 5, he opted to put Flame of Hope Aermo to help him in filtering redundant cards, while my booster is Bahr.

I tried my best to prevent him from doing his Persona Blast, and pulled one from my own The End, hitting a Draw Trigger on my initial Twin Drive. He also hit a trigger for his damage check. Basically the game ended after I Persona Blasted, and hitting a Tahr in my next Twin Drive, while he can only guard for 10k.

4-0

Conclusion: It has been a while since my deck has performed that well. I won 3 packs (pulled out crap rares) from the tourney, and overall I'm satisfied with my deck because this tourney gave me a chance to test out my modded deck.

Well, that's it for Field Report today, and I shall see you again later with more interesting tourney reports from me, as well as my fellow contributors! This is Homura, signing off!