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?

Calm Before the Storm: Incoming Thunder!

Hey there guys. Homura is back for another installment of 'Calm Before the Storm', where I'll talk about the upcoming cards from the new expansions and give you guys an idea on how can we play around with these cards. Today I'll be talking about one of the clans that is quite anticipated by most players - Narukami.

A lot of players were very happy when they see Narukami was listed in the featured clans for BT-08. Because Narukami was absent from BT-07 despite being a clans used by a main character in the anime. This time, Narukami brings us a totally different style of play, as well as some utility cards previously available in other clans, and now finally owned by Narukami as well. As a Narukami player myself, I was quite excited when they started revealing the cards as well. However, after I saw the previews, my anticipation instantly dropped from bad to worse. I wouldn't say the new Narukami cards suck, but it really doesn't impact the clan too much, and truthfully speaking the initial cards given to them are way better than the new ones. Why do I say so? Let's have a look at the new previews:

Demon Sealing Divine Dragon, Dangari

The new Limit Breaker for Narukami, and the 2nd 11k unit for Narukami as well. From the first looks, we might feel happy that Narukami can finally field eight copies of 11k units, however, I think that Dangari is actually a liability in the deck. Let's have a look at Dangari's skills:

[ACT](V)(LB4): [CB1, select a card bound by this unit's skill to the bottom of your deck] Retire one of your opponent's RG. This skill can only be used once per turn.

[CONT](V/R): When your Bind Zone does not have cards bound by this unit's skill, this unit gets -2000 POW. 

[AUTO]When this unit comes into play in (V), bind the top 2 cards of your deck. 

Yes, Narukami gets another unit that is able to retire an opposing unit. But look carefully, this unit has a lot of drawbacks. Firstly, you have two bullets (cards bound by this unit's skill) to be used, but in truth, you can actually use one. Because after you used both the bullets, Dangari instantly turns into a 9k weakling thanks to its CONT skill. And remember Dangari's LB is an ACT skill, so you have to endure a torrent of attacks by your opponent before you can do anything.

Also, tying into its CONT skill, Dangari can't be played as a RG because you won't have cards bound by it when it is played as an RG, hence the power penalty kicks in. Oh, you might think that you can just reride a new Dangari on top of the previous one, then you can get another two bullets to be used. But, you're going to make the unused bullets useless sitting in the Bind Zone. What happens if the bound cards are Triggers? You should know the answer.

Thirdly, Dangari can only retire front row units, and only once per turn. Yes you might be able to retire a crucial Interceptor that might block your attack, but isn't Dragonic Kaiser Vermilion does a better job than Dangari? And Vermilion doesn't get power penalties unless you mix clans.

In short, my personal opinion is Dangari is only a tech card in Narukami decks. I would prefer Vermilion or even Rumblegun Dragon as my main Vanguard compared to him, as the latter two can consistently pressurize your opponent without much drawbacks.

Sealed Knight of the Thunderfang Demon Lance

The 3rd 10k Grade 2 for Narukami. Like Dangari, this unit also has some drawbacks tied to his bonuses. Let's see what are they:

[CONT](V/R): This unit has RESTRAINT.

[ACT](V/R): [CB1] If you have a <Narukami> Vanguard, this unit loses RESTRAINT for the turn.

[AUTO](V/R): When this unit attacks and if you have a <Narukami> Vanguard, this unit gets +2000 POW for that battle.

Good, a 12k attacker that can make us possible to form 20k lines even in G2. But is it really that good? This unit has RESTRAINT, and the cost to release his Restraint is to pay CB1. In a clan that already consuming heavy dosages of Counterblasts, do you think you'll have extra to pay for his restraint release cost? For me, I don't think so. You have Demonic Dragon Berserker, Garuda to reopen your flipped damage, but how often will your opponent to let Garuda's attack hit?

Sealed Knight of the Thunderflash Demon Blade

The second 8k Grade 1 for Narukami, and a very terrible one. And again, his skills:

[CONT](R): This unit gets -4000 POW.

 [AUTO](V/R): When this unit attacks and if you have a <Narukami> Vanguard, this unit gets +2000 POW for that battle.

Awful, totally awful. Having eight 8k boosters is good, but having one that has a permanent -4k power booster is bad. Unless he's in the V circle, don't even think about calling this card as a booster or even an attacker. The CONT skill totally cancels off the AUTO's advantage. He will never make the cut in my decks.

Sealing Priest, Koukou

The new starter available for Narukami, and again, another really subpar one. Skills please:

[AUTO]: When you ride a <Narukami> on top of this card, you may call this card to (R).

[ACT](R): [SB1]: Choose one of your <Narukami> unit's CONT skill. For that turn, it loses the skill.

Hmm... A unit that can rectify the problems of the aforementioned 3 cards. But do you really want a 3k unit on field? You can at most, make a 15k line out of it, and 15k doesn't really that threatening nowadays. Also, although Koukou's skill can cancel off the power penalties and restraints of the new units, but do you have that many Soul topay for the cost? Assuming you Ride until G3 with Koukou as your Starter, you'll only have 2 Soul to pay for the skill twice, and remember, Narukami don't have a good Soulcharge mechanic unless you're playing Riot General, Gyras.

The conclusion about these first four cards is they hardly can go to any deck other than a deck that can consistently abuse Koukou's SB skill, which the only one I can think of is Gyras. Other Narukami builds like Vermilion or Rumblegun won't have slots to accommodate these cards as those build were already CB heavy. Still I won't give up on them that easily, just that I need to squeeze my brain more to think of some funny combo to mash these fellas up XD

New cards aside, Narukami now also gets a pair of clones, which I think is something they really needed most: Limit Break acceleration. Guys, meet the brothers Dragon Monk, Kinkaku and Dragon Monk, Ginkaku.

When I say LB acceleration, you guys should know what am I trying to say here. Yes, these two units are the most anticipated 'Master of Pain' clones. Kinkaku is a 8k G2, while Ginkaku is a 6k G1 that shares the same skill: CB1, put the top card of our deck into the Damage Zone, and shuffle one card from your Damage Zone back into your deck at the end of your turn.

Finally, Vermilion builds can threaten your opponent faster and you now have a way to shuffle back Triggers in your Damage Zone back to your deck. While Ginkaku has doubts because of him being only a 6k booster, but Kinkaku is definitely going into my deck despite him being a 8k unit only.

The last preview of this article is another new G3 for Narukami - Celestial Maiden of Dark Arts, Carri. Carri is something like the Djinn series from the TD, but with a slightly different taste. Unlike the Djinns, Carri can attack Rear Guards, but in order for her to gain the power bonus, you must have more RG than your opponent when Carri attacks.

The power bonus that Carri receives is +3k when in VG, or +1k when is RG, so it means that she can make 23k and 19k lines maximum with boosts from Red River Dragoon and Photon Bomber Wyvern while in VG. Not a bad card I would say, just that you need to play with Stand Triggers to maximize her potential.

So here's my review of the new Narukami cards. Sorry to say that I'm not that fond of them for the moment (maybe I just haven't found a way to make them useful yet). At the meantime, I'll just stick to my Rumblegun and Vermilion build. My personal opinions aside, what do you guys think about these new units? Let me know your comments and do share out your thoughts if you think you have a way to make these cards really viable in the current environment. Until then, I shall excuse myself for now.

 

 

 

 

Calm Before the Storm: Army Dragon 101

Yo peeps! How are you? Homura here again with another preview article for the upcoming expansion, BT-08 'Blue Storm Armada'. The previews are getting really fast now as the release period is approaching us with only a month remaining. As a Dragon Empire specialist, I'm very delighted when they previewed the newest reinforcement of Dragon Empire's Land Assault Division, Tachikaze - The Army Dragon Ride Chain. Today, this article will be devoted to do an analysis of the ride chain and how I think about it.

Army Dragon, Raptor Soldier

It all starts here. Raptor Soldier is basically a clone of the recent Chain Ride starters, For example Vortimer, Riviere, and Ergodiel. This card is a 4k power unit, and has 2 skills at its disposal. The first one, which will only work if the chain is successful, allows you to search the top cards of your deck for a "Army Dragon, Raptor Captain", or a "Army Dragon, Raptor Colonel" into your hand, when you ride "Army Dragon, Raptor Sergeant" on this unit.

This skill ensures a guaranteed advance to further complete your chain by adding in the missing part of your chain. The other skill is a very common skill found in other starters, which is the skill to Superior Call itself into a Rear Guard circle if something else other than Raptor Sergeant is ridden on it.

Army Dragon, Raptor Sergeant

The G1 of the chain. Raptor Soldier's skill will activate once you ride this unit on it, and Raptor Sergeant's passive skill will give a +1k power boost to this originally 7k unit, making it on par as a G1 vanilla when in Vanguard.

The second skill of Raptor Sergeant also only activates when the chain is maintained. When you ride an "Army Dragon, Raptor Captain" on top of this unit, you may search your deck for a Raptor Sergeant and Superior Call it into a RG circle. This skill turns the -1 of your hand size from riding into a +1 of your field presence (adding a valuable booster on your field). 

Army Dragon, Raptor Captain

This is the G2 of the chain. By riding this unit, as stated earlier, will activate Raptor Sergeant's duplication skill. Also, by having Raptor Sergeant in your Soul, Raptor Captain will gain an additional 1k power boost, making it from 9k into 10k.

Raptor Captain also shares Raptor Sergeant's second skill, whereby you can duplicate itself the moment you ride an "Army Dragon, Raptor Colonel" on top of it. Basically, the only difference between Raptor Captain and Raptor Sergeant is that you're now gaining the +1 in the form of a 9k attacker and Interceptor. Not a bad card I would say.

Army Dragon, Raptor Colonel

He's the pinnacle of the Ride Chain, and the art is freaking awesome (A Velociraptor mounted with giant cannons on the back and blasting everything into bits and pieces? YES!). Raptor Colonel is a 10k unit, with the skill to become a 11k when your Soul has Raptor Captain in it. 11k is always a good number, as it helps out a lot during defense.

However, the spotlight of this card is actually Raptor Colonel's Limit Break. Once you hit the fourth damage, you may activate his LB, which will definitely forces a lot of hand cards from your opponent to guard Colonel's attack. By paying the cost of CB1, and retiring 2 of your Tachikaze Rear Guards, Raptor Colonel gains a power boost equal to the total power of the 2 units retired.

Notice any similarities? Yes, Raptor Colonel's skill is a variant of Blonde Ezel's LB. The only difference is Ezel creates board presence, but can't be used when you have more than 4 RGs. On the other hand, Raptor Colonel's LB gains more power than Ezel, while freeing up another column to reorganize your attacks. Which one is better? It's really up to personal preference for that. But however, you must remember one crucial advantage that Tachikaze has.

Tachikaze has a few units that can be bounced back into the hand when they go to the Drop Zone from the field by paying CB1. So, when you use Raptor Colonel's LB, you can just simply choose those units, and retrieve them back easily. By doing that, you have just opened a lot of options to reform your attack formation as well as getting pluses to your hand size.

Alright, here's my analysis of the new Army Dragon Ride Chain for Tachikaze. I'm still neutral about it so far, as the Ride chain won't work if you missed any of the Grades. But I'll still test it out, hoping that the results will change my mind about this series. Until then, see you again next time!

Calm Before the Storm: Tear Dragons 101

Hey there, Homura here with another post about the upcoming new clan, Aqua Force. I just bought 4 Trial Decks last week and started playing with a modified version of it. The results were quite satisfying, and I would say that Aqua Force definitely gives you a new taste in playing Vanguard. However, the only downside is this deck doesn't have a proper starter, and most importantly, null guards. Hence, it's very tough for me to play against the other decks out there (I lost more that I won).

But anyway, BT-08 will be giving the proper support for Aqua Force, and the rest all comes to your playstyle and card selection. Today's article will be focusing more on the 3 main units of Aqua Force, the Tear Dragons. The trio consists of Navalgazer Dragon, Hydro Hurricane Dragon, and also the recently spoiled Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom.

Each of these Tear Dragons has a distinctive playstyle that requires you to choose carefully the cards that're going to be paired up with them. And without further ado, let's have a look at all 3 cards and some brief analysis on how they work and who should they be paired with.

Navalgazer Dragon
This card is available as an x1 for each Trial Deck you bought. Navalgazer is a 10k G3 with a pair of very interesting skills. Firstly, he has an innate power boost of +3k as long as Navalgazer is the 3rd or onward unit to attack. So, assuming that you're boosted by Tear Knight, Theo (the 8k vanilla), you'll hit 21k, or 23k when boosted by Battle Siren, Dorothea.

His second skill comes in the form of an LB. By paying a cost of CB2, Navalgazer gets a +3k boost in power, and gains an additional skill to enable you to stand 2 Aqua Force Rear Guards upon a successful hit on the Vanguard. For a TD card, Navalgazer is exceptionally strong skill-wise. If your deck in centered around the 3rd battle or onward, Navalgazer is definitely your best finisher. Comboing Navalgazer with cards that gains extra bonuses for later attacks, such as Coral Assault, and Marine General of the High Tides, Xenophon will unleash a torrent of high power attacks as you keep on slamming into the red zone.

Hydro Hurricane Dragon
The second member in the Tear Dragon trio is Hydro Hurricane Dragon. Similar to Navalgazer, HHD is also a 10k that has an innate power boost of +3k when attacking the Vanguard. So HHD also can hit 21k normally with Theo, or 23k with Dorothea once you fulfill the requirements.

HHD is also a Limit Breaker, which packs a very dangerous LB skill together with him. The LB skill is a startup ability which costs CB2. After paying the cost, HHD gains an additional +3k power, as well as an additional skill which allows him to retire all your opponent's Rear Guards upon a successful hit on the Vanguard. The only downside (also similar to Navalgazer Dragon) is you're giving away prior information to your opponent, which might probably already prepared a null guard for your attack.

An additional requirement to get the LB going on is HHD's attack must be the fourth one or onward. So how are we going to do that? The answer is the usage of the Storm Riders, Bashir and Diamantes to setup the fourth attack for HHD. The Storm Riders share the same skill, which gives them +2k power, and allows them to switch places with a Rear Guard in the same column after they attack the Vanguard in the first attack. With a constant pummeling during your Battle Phase, you can ensure that you'll be wasting a lot of your opponent's hand cards, or diminishing their board presence as you set up for HDD's finisher.

Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom
This is the cover card of BT-08, and the third member of the Tear Dragon trio. In my opinion, Maelstrom is the most dangerous out of the three, as he sports very decent stats and also deadly skills. Maelstrom is like the newer 11k G3s, with a drawback in the form of a -2k power penalty if you're playing a cross-clan deck.

However, the spotlight for Maelstrom is for his Limit Break, where similar to HHD, an extra skill will be unlocked when Maelstrom is the fourth unit to attack. The first bonus is a +5k to his power, making Malestrom a 16k monster unboosted. And the LB also generate a new AUTO skill, whereby upon a successful hit on the Vanguard, you may pay the cost of CB1. If you paid the cost, you can draw a card, and retire one of your opponent's Rear Guard.

With this kind of skill that only require a mere CB1 (I know the 'must hit Vanguard' part is hard), Maelstrom is hands-down the best among the 3. Like HHD, the Storm Riders are the best partners with Maelstrom as they can setup the fourth attack. Definitely a 3 to 4 off in every deck.

Here you go, a brief introduction and analysis of the trio of Tear Dragons for Aqua Force. Which one and how many of each to use goes ultimately to your personal preference, though I suggest no matter which one you have decided to main, Navalgazer Dragon will definitely be the best sub-Vanguard for your deck, as the LB conditions for Navalgazer is easier to achieve.

Alright, I'll leave you guys now to think about this problem (I myself have to think also LOL!). Until next time, May the wind guide you to your paths.

Calm Before the Storm: More Aqua Force! (and an annoucement)

Hello guys, Homura here with more Aqua Force goodies to share with you all. Just a small announcement, from next week onward I'll be shifting to another location for my work, hence you might not see me that often anymore when it comes to posting articles (apparently no internet connection there, hence I can only write at night). But don't worry, you'll still hear from me, so make sure to let me know anything that you desire to gain more information in, and I'll try my best to present them to you all.

Well, without further ado, let's begin the article by showing you some more cards from the new Aqua Force Trial Deck, Descendants of the Marine Emperor; as well as some cards from the next booster set for JP, BT-08 Blue Storm Armada.

Hydro Hurricane Dragon

The second Limit Breaker for Aqua Force which will be out in BT-08. Lets have a look at its skills:

ACT [V] Limit Break 4: [CB2] Until the end of this turn, this unit gets +3000 power, and gains "AUTO [V]: When this unit's attack hits a Vanguard, if the number of battles this turn is four or more, retire all of your opponent's Rear Guards."

AUTO [V]: When this unit attacks a Vanguard, this unit gets +3000 power until the end of that battle.

Looks familiar? It is actually a combination of Demon Slaying Knight, Lohengrin and Soul Saviour Dragon. The only down side of its skills is that you need to activate it first, giving your opponent prior information of what are you going to do. However, this can also be an advantage to you by baiting out null guards. Take advantage of Aqua Force's Wave Pattern strategy and you are able to launch very devastating effects towards your opponent. At normal times, Hydro Hurricane Dragon is still a 21k beater when boosted by Tear Knight, Theo (8k vanilla) or 23k when boosted by Battle Siren, Dorothea (after you unlocked the requirements).

Storm Rider Diamantes & Storm Rider Bashir

These two guys are the best initiator for you wave pattern attacks. The G2 is Bashir, and the G3 is Diamantes, and both of them share the same skill:

AUTO [R]: When this unit attacks, and this is the first battle of the turn, during that battle, this unit gets +2000 power. During the close step of this unit's battle, choose one other <Aqua Force> Rear Guard at the same column, and exchange their positions (This doesn't change the cards's orientation).

These cards' functions are to net you more attacks to unlock your wave patterns. A simple trick to use them is to put them in the same row with an attacker, and attack with the Storm Riders first. Then you can attack again with the unit behind, and that will net you 2 battles for the turn, with your Vanguard and the other Rear Guard (if any) still able to attack. Most likely a staple in any Aqua Force decks.

Jadeite Shield, Paschalis

Of course, you can't complete a deck without the null guard right? ^_^

Marine General of the Roaring Seas, Argos

Argos is a 9k Grade 2 from the new TD-07 with a similar ability like Kirara clones, which is to draw a card. The only thing you need to take note is his attack must be the fourth or more attack, and you must hit the Vanguard in order to activate his skill. Not really relevant in the TD build unless you hit a Stand Trigger, but he will be played widely when BT-08 is out.

Marine General of the High Tides, Xenophon

Another card given in the Trial Deck, Xenophon is basically a clone of Oracle Think Tank's Sky Witch, Nana, albeit with a different requirement for the power boost. Similar to most Aqua Force units, you need to conduct a certain number of battles to unlock Xenophon's power up. As long as Xenophon's battle is the third battle or onward, Xenophon gets +3k when he's the Vanguard, or +1k when he's a Rear Guard. He might see some usage when the Trial Deck is released, but I think that when BT-08 is out, together with the Storm Riders, he'll have lesser screen time as his power up is not that impressive as a Rear Guard (if he gets +2k then its a different story).

Here you go, a little bit more spoilers for you all. The cover unit for BT-08 is not spoiled yet, but I think it'll be something on par with Naval Geyser Dragon and Hydro Hurricane Dragon (fingers crossed). Yes, and this concludes my article for today, and might be my last article until god knows when. Anyway, do keep following my blog, as I won't be totally MIA from it.

Till then, have fun, and wish me luck at my new office (which will be at a construction site LOL!)

Calm Before the Storm: Descendants of the Marine Emperor

Hi guys, Homura is back after a few days of absence (office work is taxing a lot on my body, was really tired  almost everyday after work). Finally I decided on bringing back 'Calm Before the Storm', which from now onwards, will be discussing more about rumors and upcoming news (of course those with proper proofs).

As we all know, Bushiroad will release their 7th Trial Deck for the Japanese version of Vanguard, which is named 'Descendants of the Marine Emperor'. This TD will be focusing on a new clan called Aqua Force, which according to Bushiroad, will be a clan used by a major rival character during the middle arc of this season's anime.

They have revealed the settings for the anime character not long ago. His name is called Souryu Leon, and he's a last descendant of very famous family from the past. His deck, Aqua Force, is set to be a 'legendary clan' that has been unsealed. Aqua Force bears a lot of references to modern day navies as from what we can see from their design, most of their units wears military uniforms resembling naval officers.

According to Bushiroad's setting, Aqua Force is an ancient, legendary clan from the nation of Magallanica that ruled the seas of Cray. They are Cray's strongest naval army, and fights bearing the name of 'Justice'. Most of the units comprises of Aquaroids, Mermaids, marine-based High Beasts, as well as Tear Dragons (refer to Dragonic Waterfall of Kagero). After they have been unsealed, they're ready to rule the seas again.

Alright, enough for the fluff, and let's look at the actual cards and how they are played in the game. From the several cards that has been previewed, almost all of them (barring the 8k vanilla Tear Knight, Theo and the Stand Trigger) shares a same ability:

When this unit attacks/boosts, if this is the 3rd battle or onward for this turn {insert ability here}

From what we can understand from the ability, it looks like the final attack will have the biggest impact, as the units will gain extra bonuses when they're the 3rd member to attack. It's like the waves we can see at the beach, the smaller ones comes first, then proceeds with bigger and bigger waves, then a tsunami strikes at the end after it collected enough momentum. Now, let's look at the cards that has been previewed so far:

Coral Assault

This is one example of the 'wave' pattern units that I've described earlier. Before the 3rd battle, he's just a normal 8k power Grade 2 with Intercept. However, if he's the 3rd unit onward to attack, he gains a +3k boost to power, making him a 11k attacker.

Battle Siren Dorothea

Dorothea is a 6k power Grade 1. And usually 6k units will have some decent abilities to back up their lack in power. To be exact, Dorothea is Aqua Force's personal booster for their Vanguards, being able to pump their power to boost a higher amount to break magic number lines.

Sharing the 'wave' pattern characteristic with Coral Assault, Dorothea's skill allows her to boost a whopping 10k power for the Vanguard if the attack is the 3rd or onward. So if you want to hit for a ridiculous amount of power, your Vanguard must be the last to attack.

Naval Geyser Dragon

Hopefully I get the translation of its name correct. Anyway, Naval Geyser Dragon is the cover card for the Aqua Force TD. He's a 10k Grade 3, and being the cover card, expect it to have some decent skills to back it up. Naval Geyser Dragon has 2 skills, which we'll take a look at each of them.

One of its skills gives it +3k during battle, if Naval Geyser Dragon's battle is the 3rd battle onward. So if you boost it with Dorothea, Naval Geyser Dragon can hit for 23k power if you fulfill its requirement for the power boost, making it to be able to force at least 15k guard when attacking 13k Vanguards.

Naval Geyser's second skill comes in the form of a Limit Break. It's an activated ability that costs a CB of 2, and gives Naval Geyser 2 additional bonuses. Firstly, Naval Geyser gets a +3k to power, making it a 13k before boosting. Then, Naval Geyser also gains an extra ability:

AUTO [V]: When this unit's attack hits a Vanguard, and this is the 3rd battle or onward for this turn, choose up to 2 of your <Aqua Force> Rear Guards, and stand them. 

At a glance, Naval Geyser's Limit Break doesn't differ much from the Persona Blast of Azure Dragon from the Nova Grapplers. Also, it has a downside, where the ability is a activated ability, giving your opponent information in advance of what you're going to do.

But barring these disadvantages aside, the LB skill is actually very devastating. Imagine a situation where you have Naval Geyser Dragon as your VG, and 2 other RGs that have a 'wave' pattern skill. You attack with both RGs, force some guards out (or not), and then attack with Naval Geyser. If your opponent guards, well you've at least wasted a few cards from their hand. If they don't, you just stand back those units, and attack again with their 'wave' bonus on. Either way, you're actually in a profitable situation.

In short, Aqua Force plays slightly similar as Nova Grapplers. However, they have a key difference which I personally think that what makes them stand out more that Nova Grapplers - their 'wave' pattern. You see, Nova Grapplers allow you to stand multiple times, the same goes to Aqua Force. But, Aqua Force has the advantage of being able to unlock bonuses while attacking multiple times.

Still we have yet to see the full list of the Trial Deck yet, so I can't say much for now. But seriously, I'm really anticipating the arrival of Aqua Force (going to start this clan by the way, lol) as it brings an alternative for us in comparison with Nova Grapplers. Have patience, and wait for the deck's release on 11th August (which is like 3 weeks from now?).

Alright, this is Homura signing out for now, and expect another article quite soon!