One-By-One: Promos Galore!

Hey there. Homura here for another simple and short post. Since the release of BT-08, more different archetypes have already emerged and has been widely played up to now. While waiting for the new releases, there's nothing much to write about deck analysis to be honest. So, I would like to start a new column, which does not focus too much on decks, but rather on individual cards and how would they be able to include themselves in decks of their respective clans.

As a kickstarter for this column, I shall review cards from the newest Promo Pack, which is Cardfight Pack Vol. 7. This promo pack is given to participants of any shop/official tournaments throughout the period of October-December as an entry gift. Before I continue, Let's have a look at the list of cards included in this promo pack:

1) Medical Gunner, Hermieres (Angel Feather)
2) Assault Dragon, Circular Spino (Tachikaze)
3) Demonic Dragon Berserker, Vasuki (Narukami)
4) Electrostar Combination, Cosmo Great (Dimension Police)
5) Battle Siren, Nepheri (Aqua Force)
6) Stamp Otter (Great Nature)

And now, I shall explain slightly more in detail on how these cards work and how can you play them in your decks.

Medical Gunner, Hermieres
This card is a clone of Deathseeker Thanatos of the Grandblue clan, but with AF's twist in it. Instead of retiring herself, you may CB1, and send herself to the Damage Zone and Superior Call another AF unit other than 'Medical Gunner, Hermieres' into a RG circle.

This gives another 'swapper' for a clan that already has plenty of it. Hermieres acts like a pseudo Stand Trigger, allowing you to bring in a new unit to attack, as long as you manage to trigger the skill. Hermieres works exceptionally well with cards like Calamity Flame, Thousand/Million Ray Pegasus, and Chief Nurse, Shamsiel. Because you need to send her into the Damage Zone, you get to trigger the aforementioned units' power boosting skills, giving you slightly more punching power when you attack. And by comboing with Shamsiel, you get to reuse her over and over again.

Hermieres also goes well with cards that can return her back to your hand or field, like the Nociel series as well as Circular Saw, Kiriel. The only drawback of Hermieres is that she can only call face-up units, so you have to be careful in which card you use to pay for your CB skills so that Hermieres can always call out what you want. However, given that most AF decks already has a predetermined set of units to be used in the deck, it seems like Hermieres will have a hard time to fight for a place in any AF decks.

Final Verdict: Decent skill, awesome art, but hard time fighting for slots

Assault Dragon, Circular Spino
A new unit for Tachikaze, this unit allows you to retire one of your Tachikaze RG to give this unit a +4000 power boost when it attacks. While 8k base power does not look impressive, being able to hit the magic number against Majesty Lord Blaster instantly made Spino slightly better, especially when Tachikaze has plenty of units that can confer advantage to you when retired.

One classic example will be Dragon Egg and Winged Dragon, Skyptera. You can always target this unit with Spino, and pay a mere CB1 to take back those two units back to your hand. In that way, not only you gained a 12k attacker, but you increased your hand size, putting you in a better situation when you're on the defense. A newer example will be the new Pteras, Beamptera and Slashptera. These two units, when retired during your turn's Battle Phase, you can give a Tachikaze unit a +3000 power boost. Either you can give a unit which haven't attack more power, or you can target Spino itself in case you still need more punch.

Circular Spino is a very versatile unit, being able to fit in all Tachikaze builds. The only concern is whether you can find space for it or not. Frankly speaking, I tried it in my Raptor Colonel build, but ended up removing it because my power output has been reduced due to the omission of Sonic Noa (8k vanilla) to fit in Skyptera in order to provide 'unlimited' fodder for Spino to eat. I don't know about you guys, maybe you guys can find a better way to incorporate it in your decks.

Verdict: 'Fluffy' skill, has synergy with the clan overall, but slightly reduces the overall power output

Demonic Dragon Berserker, Vasuki
Enter the angry snakeman. This is my favorite PR in this promo pack (one of the reasons being me as a Narukami player). Vasuki is a very interesting unit that can become a powerhouse, and somewhat quite 'abusable' in certain Narukami deck builds.

First things first, Vasuki's skill allow him to gain a +10000 power boost, whenever a Narukami G3 enters the Vanguard circle. Which means, whenever you ride a G3, his power is doubled for the turn. Finally, a card that can make triggered G3s in your hand into useful stuff. There's actually a few ways to abuse this card.

Firstly, Vasuki can be incorporated in a Dungaree-main Narukami deck. Dungaree requires you to keep on reriding him in order to get ammo for his skill, as well as to this your deck. So every instance of 'reloading' is a +10k for Vasuki. Hence, with 2 Vasukis and your Dungaree boosted by Photon Bomber Wyvern (the Narukami 10k booster), you basically can have 3 20k+ attack lines to threaten your opponent.

The best deck to abuse Vasuki is none other than the TD star, Thunder Break Dragon. With a CIP retiring skill, TBD can be said as the perfect unit to synergize with Vasuki. As long as you can pay for the CB, each ride of TBD equals a +1 field advantage, and +10000 in Vasuki's power. Add in Stand Triggers into the mix, and your opponent will have to face 20k monstrosities not one, not two, but possibly 4 times in a turn. Change your Stands to Criticals, and slash even more hand cards away from your opponent. Definitely a good card to run.

Verdict: Decent skill, highly abusable, and versatile, just make sure he can survive the turn he came out.

Electrostar Combination, Cosmo Great
Another combination mecha from Dimension Police, this time a combination of all the 'Cosmo' machines. This unit actually share the same skill with one of his 'parts', which is none other than Cosmobeak. Bascially, Cosmo Great allows you to pay CB2 to give one of your DP units +4000 power until the end of the turn, similar to Cosmobeak.

From a glance, Cosmo Great seems like a good card to put into a Enigman deck. Yes, you're right. However, not ALL Enigman decks can fit this big guy in. Enigman Storm utilizes the Miracle Beauty/Commander Laurel combo, whereby Miracle Beauty already occupied your secondary G3 slot. Enigman Rain based decks only need a +2k in order to unlock Rain's skill, hence paying CB2 doesn't sound like a wise choice. Daiyusha is out of the question, Dailander already kick him out of the picture.

Although the older Enigmans does not work well with him, BT-08 also introduces a new Enigman - Enigman Cyclone. Enigman Cyclone has a skill which can only be unlocked when his power is 14000 or above during his attack step. In this situation, Cosmo Great looks like his best friend here. Not only being able to confer the bonus to Cyclone, but you also can have a good RG beater (DP is famous for the lack of high power RGs in Enigman builds).

Verdict: Good unit in Enigman Cyclone decks together with Cosmobeak, but quite lackluster apart from that

Battle Siren, Nepheri
The first PR give to Aqua Force. But truthfully speaking, she doesn't give much surprise despite having a nice art. Her skill allows her to confer a +3000 power boost to a G3 Aqua Force unit upon entering play. A not-so-decent power increase in a not-so-decent body (usually we tend to avoid 6k units unless they have really good skills). One word, her skill is too restrictive, as she can only target G3s.

Aqua Force is renowned for its playstyle that involves heavy usage of the Storm Riders, Basil and Diamantes. So you need to constantly churn out attackers, rather than boosters in order to unlock your VG's skills. So I can't really see any situation where Nepheri will make herself useful. Although there are actually a few 6k units in Aqua Force, a few stand out more when compared with Nepheri. The most obvious comaprisons are Battle Siren, Dorothea and Torpedo Rush Dragon. Both units are able to confer better bonuses without much restrictions.

So I'm sorry to say that Nepheri does not worth a slot in a deck due to her not-so-decent skill. Even the Starlight Unicorn clone, Accelerated Commando outshines her. Hopefully someone can find better usage for her, and whoever it is, do let me know how you managed to convince yourself to include her in your deck.

Verdict: Nice art, nothing impressive other than that.

Stamp Otter
Finally, the last card to review. Sea Otter is actually released earlier via the promo campaign of the TD-07 release. And those who got it, especially Great Nature players, will really rejoice. This card is totally a life-saver for GN players against Kagero/Narukami, and also an abusable card for brainjacking.

First things first, Stamp Otter boasts a 'good enough' 6k power, and as a booster, 6k does not sound like a  good number but Stamp Otter rectifies it with a fairly decent skill. The arrival of Stamp Otter can be said as totally replaces Hammsukes in GN decks. Stamp Otter works well in any deck that is heavy in brainjacking. You can just simply pump Stamp Otter, and through its own skill, Stamp Otter can't be retired by card effects, hence it stays after you end your turn. Basically, Stamp Otter makes good friends with the Tiger brothers, Leo-Pald, and Armed Instructor Bison.

Not only that, Stamp Otter is also a nightmare for any decks that plays retiring (Kagero/Narukami instantly comes in to the picture). Any attempt to get rid of Stamp Otter, it just shrugs it off, like a boss. What comes next? MORE brainjack!!!! All in all, Stamp Otter is a reliable card for all GN players.

Verdict: Abusable, immortal to retiring, primary brainjack target. A really good card overall for GN.

Here you go, a kickstarter reviews for my single card discussion columns. Hope you guys will enjoy it, and I would gladly take any requests for single card (or deck) reviews as long as I have time to write them. Unitl next time, bye!

Deck Dissection: Raizer, GO!

Hey guys, Homura is back with yet another old favorite to dissect and analyze. The new Extra Booster specially catered for Nova Grappler players, Infinite Phantom Legion will be released in another month's time. While most of us is waiting eagerly for the new cards in the set, namely the Death Army series, but at the same time, we shouldn't be neglecting what have the rest of the set offered us.

With useful reprints, especially the almighty null guard Twin Blader, basically you can build almost any variant of a NG deck just by buying the EB, barring the Blau series and Asura Kaiser-main builds. Definitely a worthy set to spam (yes, spam is the correct word). So, since the full spoiler isn't out yet, so I've decided to come up with a dissection of an old favorite of mine, the Raizer deck. And here's how my list looks like:

Grade 0
Battleraizer x4 (Stand) (FV)
Turboraizer x4 (Stand)
The Gong x4 (Draw)
Wall Boy x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Raizer Custom x4
Tough Boy x4
Twin Blader x3
Screamin' and Dancin' Annoucner, Shout x3

Grade 2
High-Powered Raizer Custom x4
Magician Girl, Kirara x3
King of Sword x3
Genocide Jack x2

Grade 3
Perfect Raizer x4
Mr. Invincible x4

Basically as the namesake, this deck focuses on the setting up of a gigantic Perfect Raizer and proceed to bash face. This deck is similar to the Engiman Storm version of the Dimension Police clan, by putting more pressure to your opponent through the Vanguard, and continuous harassment from the Rear Guards.

Grade 0

Either one of the 2 G0 Raizers can be made as a starter Vanguard. I don't know what the new Raizer from EB05, Minimum Raizer can do, but for now I'll make do with these first. The trigger lineup focuses more on stand, as your Perfect Raizer will have an additional Critical once you have fully powered him up.

With Stands at your disposal, your attack pattern will always be R-R-V or R-V-R, so that you can threaten your opponent with Perfect Raizer's huge power and extra critical, or risk being attacked again if you hit your Stand Triggers.

Grade 1

Without any further consideration, 4x of Raizer Custom is an auto-include in the deck. If you managed to ride him 2nd turn using Battleraizer as a starter, you can immediately attack for 12k unboosted or 18k boosted with Battleraizer (Battleraizer must be behind him of course). This amount is already enough to force a 10k guard against most G1 vanguards.

Shout is our hand filter option here. you need to ensure that you have all the key cards needed to maximize Perfect Raizer's potential, and Shout is here to help you do that. Heck if there's an Aermo clone, I'll use that also! The rest is pretty much self explanatory.

Grade 2

Again, High-Powered Raizer Custom is the no-brainer include in the deck. Sharing the same skill with Raizer Custom, High-Powered can hit for 16k unboosted and 22k boosted (again if Battleraizer is behind him), more than enough to force guards or to harass your opponent.

King of Sword is standard, Kirara is to help you rack up your hand as anything with card drawing skills are quite rare in NG. As this deck doesn't use any CB at all for your main cards, that's why Kirara and Genocide Jack is inside. Jack can provide you with a little more firepower, and not forgetting to mention hitting 16 with a Stand Trigger sounds good also.

Grade 3

Enter the main card, Perfect Raizer at 4x, yet again. Perfect Raizer boasts 4 skills in one body, and very impressive stats. He's a 11k beater, and can pump himself +3k for each Raizer in your Soul. So how do you get your Raizers in? One is you ride all the way, or you swarm your field with Raizers prior riding Perfect Raizer. When there's no other Raizer on the field, Perfect gets -2k to his power, but this can be easily mitigated just by putting a Raizer down.

The main skill of Perfect Raizer is his +1 Critical skill. When you have 4 or more Raizers in your Soul, on your turn, Perfect Raizer gets an additional Critical. Add in the Raizer power bonunses and you have a devastating war machine slamming into the red zone. A pressure card, and definitely a game ender.

Mr. Invincible is our secondary Vanguard. His Soulcharge is mainly used to charge in Raizers into your Soul, and to provide unlimited fuel for Genocide Jack's Restraint, as well as Kirara's CB. Also, Invincible sports a pretty useful Megablast, which can be very game ending as well. Attacking for 5 times with maximum power is not something to laugh at, plus the Megablast can be activated by Rear Guard Mr. Invincibles. The only thing you need to wary about is his 10k power.

And there you go, my take on one of my favorite NG deck. Truthfully speaking I really like NG's overall design (Mechas), but sad to say I've focused too much in Dragon Empire, hence my inability to continue my Nova decks (I used to have a Gold Rutile deck before). Well, this aside, hopefully everybody can try this out and if you can make is better, please do share with me!

Deck Dissection: Raptor Series, Deploy!

Hey guys, Homura here with an apology before anything else for not updating my blog for so long... Work has been taking away most of my time, as well as preparations for the just ended Weiss Schwarz WGP 2012. But anyway, I'm finally back with more stuff installed for you guys.

Recently, Tachikaze caught my eye again when BT-08 introduces more support for them. I'm always a fan of power-based and straightforward decks. Sometimes the more simpler the deck is, the better you can pilot them. And once the booster was on sale, I quickly got myself playsets of all the new Tachikaze cards for a very good deal.

The new cards really offers a very unique playstyle, albeit staying within the core of Tachikaze: Retiring your own units to generate bigger advantage. One of the more interesting ones was of course Tachikaze's first ever chain ride, the Raptor Series. Below is the deck that I'm currently playing, and having a lot of fun with.

Grade 0
Military Dragon, Raptor Soldier x1 (FV)
Dragon Bird, Fire Pteryx x2 (Critical)
Black Cannon Tiger x4 (Critical)
Ironclad Dragon, Steelsaurus x4 (Heal)
Cannon Fire Dragon, Sledge Ankylo x4 (Draw)
Herbivore Dragon, Brutesaurus x2 (Draw)

Grade 1
Military Dragon, Raptor Sergeant x4
Sonic Noa x4
Archbird x3
Winged Dragon, Beam Ptera x4

Grade 2
Military Dragon, Raptor Captain x4
Ravenous Dragon, Megarex x3
Winged Dragon, Slashptera x4

Grade 3
Military Dragon, Raptor Colonel x4
Savage Warchief x3

This deck features Tachikaze's first ever 11k Vanguard, and also further defines the clan's 'Survival of the Fittest' philosophy. From the looks of it, the decks looks like a very simple beatdown deck. However, the potential of the deck lies in the beatdown capability itself. This clan boasts the highest power output out of any other clan out there without any complicated set-ups (Dark Lord of Abyss for example). Let's see how this deck came into life.

Grade 0

Raptor Soldier is the starter for this deck. Like the newer 4k starters, Raptor Soldier allows you to search your top 7 cards of your deck for Raptor Captain or Raptor Colonel when Raptor Sergeant was ridden on top of it. Otherwise, you'll get a free unit through its Superior Call skill.

As for the triggers, I chose to go with 6-6-4 as you'll definitely need the draws to bolster your hand size due to you needing to 'eat' your own units to unlock your Vanguard's skill. Among the triggers, Black Cannon Tiger serves as a recyclable Critical, whereas Sledge Ankylo is a Margal clone which allows you to push for the magic number required.

Grade 1

The next chain of the series is Raptor Sergeant. Sergeant is a 7k unit, which will become an 8k when you have Soldier in your Soul while he's the Vanguard. Also, by being part of the chain ride, Sergeant also has a skill which will be triggered when Captain is ridden on top of it.

The next main star here is Winged Dragon, Beamptera. Beamptera is also a 7k unit that has a very interesting ability. When this unit is retired during the Battle Phase (yes, during the BATTLE PHASE), you get to choose a Tachikaze unit and give it a +3000 power boost for the turn. This card can form a very devastating, and usually game ending combo which I'll be describing later.

As for the rest, 4x Sonic Noa is standard, and 3 Archbirds in the deck is because I'm still yet to find my 4th one, lol.

Grade 2

Raptor Captain is the second stage of the chain. Similar to Sergeant, Captain gains an innate +1000 when Sergeant is in the Soul and while Captain is in the Vanguard circle. Another skill of Captain is where the chain ride's advantage lies. When Captain in ridden over Sergeant, and you have Soldier in your Soul, you may search your deck for a Raptor Sergeant and Superior Call it into a RG circle. By continuing the chain, you get to net a free unit, a very big advantage as it provides you with a decent 7k booster, and free fodder for your skills.

Winged Dragon, Slashptera is the G2 counterpart of Beamptera. Usually, these two are called in pairs to fully utilize the advantage of this deck. Together, they also form a 16k attack line, which is able to force a 10k shield to any Vanguard in the game barring 13k units. As like Beamptera, you'll need to run 4 in this deck. Ravenous Dragon, Megarex is pretty self-explanatory here.

Grade 3

Finally, the pinnacle of the ride chain, Raptor Colonel. Again similar to the previous Grades, Colonel can become a 11k Vanguard as long as Raptor Captain is in your Soul. Also, when Colonel is ridden over Captain, you can Superior Call another Captain from your deck, netting you yet again another free unit, as long as the chain is not broken.

Colonel also has a very devastating, game-ending Limit Break. When attacking, you may pay the cost of CB 1 and retiring 2 of your Tachikaze units, and Colonel will get a power bonus equal to the retired units' base POW (Something like Blonde Ezel, but you have to kill 2 to gain the bonus). By activating this skill, Colonel can become a superpowered monstrosity, forcing at least 25k worth of shield unless your opponent has a null guard in hand.

The other G3 that I opted to use is Savage Warchief. Some might say that Ravenous Dragon, Gigarex is better is this deck thanks to the bonus it gets from units that are retired. However, without any retiring going on during your mid-game, Gigarex will just be a 10k vanilla. Compared to it, Savage Warchief is also quite a 'vanilla' unit while alone, but at least he can hit 20k when boosted by Sonic Noa, unlike Gigarex, which only can hit the same amount when there is at least 2 instances of retiring going on.

And now, the combo of the deck. Remember the skills of the two new Winged Dragons? Yes. When you decided to launch a strong attack, your field should always have both Beamptera and Slashptera in 1 line. Attack with them first, forcing some guard out or damage, then activate Colonel's LB targeting both the Winged Dragons. Colonel should be able to break the 35k mark when you do so, and most likely your opponent's hand will get slashed to almost nothing is left.

Then, both the Winged Dragons' skills activate, allowing you to add a total of 6000 power to one (or two) Tachikaze units. Add all the bonuses to the 3rd attacker, and you're able to hit for at least 23-26k (excluding any Drive Check bonuses) for your 3rd attack. By then, your opponent should've depleted their hand or have sustained critical damage. Rinse and repeat during your next turn if its necessary.

Here you go, the current Raptor Series Tachikaze deck I having fun with right now. This deck is awesomely cheap to build, and its power is something that you should not underestimate easily. It might not be a top tier deck now, but who knows? At least I know that I'm trying to make it tourney-worthy. Until then, have fun unleashing your prehistoric rage on those that oppose the might of the Dino Dragons!

Deck Dissection: The Destroyer

Hi guys. I felt bored in the office, so I decided to give you another deck to try out once BT-08 is out this Saturday. BT-08 gives us a plethora of new Dimension Police supports, since they got their major update back in BT-04, when the Enigmans debuted. One of them, without any further explanations needed, is of course, Great Daiyusha. With a combination of both a Limit Break skill and a Crossride skill, DP might be the new meta this upcoming season.

However, there's another thing that caught my eye besides Great Daiyusha, and I think this deck really has potential. The thing that I'm talking about is the Zeal series. Compared to a no-brainer deck like Dimension Robos, Zeal needs a bit more setup and flair to use, because it require a very good sense of timing on when you are able to launch a devastating assault. And as usual, here's my take on the deck:

Grade 0
Larva Beast, Zeal x1 (FV)
Guide Dolphin x4 (Stand)
Cosmo Fang x4 (Stand)
Army Penguin x4 (Draw)
Justice Rose x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Eye of Destruction, Zeal x4
Diamond Ace x4
Glory Maker x2
Karenloid Daisy x4

Grade 2
Devourer of Planets, Zeal x4
Twin Order x4
Operator Girl, Mika x3

Grade 3
Galaxy Super Beast, Zeal x4
Miracle Beauty x4

This is a very unique deck compared to other types out there. Usually Vanguard is all about increasing your own power to hit harder, and Dimension Police, barring the Dimension Robo series, is usually lacking in power. So to make up for this, they decided to give a Ride Chain that reduces your the power of your opponent's Vanguard instead, making your units easier to land a hit on them. And explanations of the deck below:

Grade 0

Larva Beast, Zeal is the starter for this deck. Similar to all other 4k Ride Chain starters, Zeal allows you to search for the G2 or G3 Zeal from the top 7 cards of your deck when you ride the G1 Zeal on top of it. Otherwise, you'll get a free unit on the field.

As for the trigger lineup, I chose to play more Stands because I wanted to exploit the advantage given by Zeal's power reduction skill. Compared to Criticals, Stands in this deck is way more effective because you can still pile on the pressure with multiple attacks that require at least 10-15k worth of shields just to prevent from taking damage.

Grade 1
Being part of the chain, Eye of Destruction, Zeal is a must at 4x. Not only because of that, but because Zeal also has a triggered skill when the G2 is ridden on top of the G1, which I'll explain later. The rest of the G1 lineup is quite standard, as DP doesn't have much choices unless you're going for Enigmans and Dimension Robos.

4 Diamond Ace is for the defense, Karenloid Daisy is also at maximum to further exploit Zeal's power reduction by making 18k power lines, which becomes from good to deadly when Zeal's skills are online. Glory Maker is also a classic addition, which allows you to have 2 different types of Limit Breakers in the deck.

Grade 2

Your show (or your opponent's nightmare) starts when you ride Devourer of Planets, Zeal. Upon riding, if you have the G1 Zeal in Soul, you can give a power penalty of -3k to your opponent's Vanguard for the turn. Let's assume you start 2nd, and your opponent's VG is a 9k (quite common nowadays). At this instant, it becomes a 6k weakling where you can force 15k shields just by creating 16k lines, which you can make easily. And also, G2 Zeal sets up for the G3 as well.

With the arrival of Operator Girl, Mika, Dimension Police finally has gotten a bit better in terms of card advantage. Mika is a Maiden of Libra clone, which allows you to draw a card upon landing a hit. And since you don't really use your Counterblasts before G3 and hitting LB, you can abuse her together with Zeal's power shrink by providing multiple threats for your opponent.

Grade 3
Finally the main 'MonStar' of the deck arrives. Enter Galaxy Super Beast, Zeal. This Zeal, upon riding, triggers the G2 Zeal's skill. When you ride Super Beast Zeal, and if you have Destruction Zeal in your Soul, Devourer Zeal's skill allows you to shrink your opponent's Vanguard by 3k again.

Not only that, Super Beast Zeal also has a very devastating Limit Break, where you can shrink your opponent's Vanguard by 1k per DP rear guard you have on field, which equals to a maximum penalty of 5k for the turn. And when you Ride Super Beast after you hit Limit Break, you can shrink their VG by up to 8k thanks to both Zeals' skills. Let's have a look at the maths:

13k VG -- 10k (-3k from Devourer Zeal) / 8k (Full field Super Beast LB) -- 5k (Double Zeal LB combo) Pain.
12k VG -- 9k (-3k from Devourer Zeal) / 7k (Full field Super Beast LB) -- 4k (Double Zeal LB combo) More pain.
11k VG -- 8k (-3k from Devourer Zeal) / 6k (Full field Super Beast LB) -- 3k (Double Zeal LB combo) Dying.
10k and below VG = Dead.

See the power of Zeal? Of course not all situations are as ideal as that, but still Zeal can cause a pain in the arse' for your opponent regardless whether you manage to do the combo or not.

The other half of the G3s is none other than Miracle Beauty. Why her? Because she fits perfectly in the role of 'rape' in this deck. I'm sure that you guys remember Beauty's skill, where she can stand the unit behind her when she stands. In this deck, she's basically a powerhouse shouting 'please throw all your hand cards' whenever she attacks with Zeal's LB on.

Hitting for 5 fully powered attacks when your opponent's VG is a weakling is fun for you, and not fun for your opponent. Since I can do it, why don't I do it?

So there you go, my harrassing-happy Zeal deck. I seriously wanted to try it out and see how good it is in action. That's all for today, and hopefully you guys can have fun with this deck once it comes out.

Deck Dissection: Maelstrom Force

Hi guys, Homura is finally back from his long absence. Apologies before anything because I'm really busy with work, and also the lack of article ideas caused me to delay my posts for so long. But nevertheless, I'm back, and hopefully I can keep up with my productions. Today, I'll be talking about one of the newly emerged clans with a lot of hype throughout the preview period - Aqua Force.

Aqua Force currently has a Trial Deck available, and will receive further support when BT-08 is released this coming weekend. The playstyle of Aqua Force is very distinct and tricky, as it require a certain number of attacks to be done in order to unleash the units' full potential. With the expansion's support, a few different archetypes are viable for AQ players, but the one that I'll be looking at involves Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom as the core of the deck. Without further delay, here's the decklist that I have in mind.

Grade 0
Officer Cadet, Erikk x1 (FV)
Seagull Soldier of Enemy Searching x3 (Stand)
Dolphin Soldier of High Speed Raids x3 (Stand)
Sea Otter Soldier of Pyroxene Communication x3 (Draw)
Battleship Intelligence x3 (Critical)
Medical Officer of Rainbow Elixirs x4 (Heal)

Grade 1
Tear Knight, Theo x4
Emerald Shield, Paschalis x4
Battle Siren, Dorothea x3
Torpedorush Dragon x3

Grade 2
Storm Rider, Bashir x4
Tear Knight, Lazarus x4
Coral Assault x3

Grade 3
Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom x3
Marine General of Spiral Waves, Benedict x2
Storm Rider, Diamantes x2
Navalgazer Dragon x1

You may see the deck's composition is quite weird there, with 4 different types of G3s especially. I'll explain further in detail below why I build the deck like this.

Grade 0

Officer Cadet, Erikk is the starter for the deck. Erikk is a clone of all the G3 searcher starters out there so further explanation of his skill in not required. The reason why he was in there is for you to fish out your G3s, especially your 'Enablers' (I'll explain what are Enablers later).

The Trigger lineup is geared more towards Stands to maximize AQ units' skills. The 3x Draws is to provide you with more hand advantage, and the 3x Criticals is for the Surprise Factor, especially when your opponent says No Guard during their 4th damage, if you just kept on triggering Stands.

Grade 1

4x Theo is standard, as well as 4 null guards. Dorothea is our main VG booster, with the capability to boost up to 26k during Limit Break attacks, forcing your opponent to use up their nulls or dump a lot of hand cards to guard your VG's attack.

Torpedorush Dragon works similar to Dorothea, but with the added benefit of working as a Rear Guard booster as well. The only drawback for Torpedorush is that it only can boost up to a maximum of 9k once you unlock its requirement. But, combining it with a 'Enabled' Coral Assault or Rear Guard Maelstrom, you can still make 20k lines.

Grade 2
The G2s from Aqua Force are the most versatile among all of their units. They each have a different Enabler skill that requires different enable conditions, which give AQ players a lot of choices in terms of deck building.

Storm Rider, Bashir is a must play at 4x because he's an Enabler. An Enabler is a unit that helps you to unlock your other units' potentials by providing extra attack counts. When your first attacker is Bashir, he turns into a 10k beater, and after the attack, you may switch places with the unit behind him, thus enabling you to launch another attack, and push the attack count to 2 just with 1 column.

Coral Assault is your 3rd attacker during your Battle Phase. When he's enabled, he hits for 11k for the turn. And if you hit any Stand Triggers during your VG's Drive Check, he hits harder for a whopping 16k unboosted.

Tear Knight, Lazarus is the 10k vanilla, and he's in the deck to provide a bit more stability in power, and to maintain your attack momentum.

Grade 3
Now here's the main dish of your deck, and where the show starts. The G3 package holds 2 different types of Enablers, and of course a main and sub VGs.

Storm Rider, Diamantes is the same as Bashir, but with an increase of 1k in base power, allowing your to hit 11k Vanguards while enabling your other units. This addition is to ensure that you have enablers in case you don't hit any Bashirs.

Marine General of Spiral Waves, Benedict is another different type of Enabler. Although it doesn't swap positions like the Storm Riders, but he's very good being a harasser. Benedict is a 10k G3, with the skill of being able to stand again once per turn, at the cost of -5k power for the turn. So the best way to use Benedict is to first hit anything within reach unboosted, and then hit again with the backrow's boost, effectively eliminating Rear Guards, hand cards or deal damage, and of course pushing up the attack count by 2, all at the same time.

Maelstrom is the main Vanguard for the deck. Boasting 11k base power, and a very devastating LB, Maelstrom can be considered as one of the most powerful units in the game, despite the condition to enable its LB.

Once you hit LB, and when Maelstrom is the 4th attacker, it gets a +5k power boost, making it a 16k unboosted (26k when boosted by Dorothea). And if Maelstrom's attack hits, the additional AUTO skill granted by the LB activates. By paying a mere CB of 1, you can choose and retire 1 of your opponent's Rear Guard, and draw a card. Packing raw power, retiring power, and hand advantage all in one body is definitely something to be looked out for.

Because AQ is famous for wave pattern attacks, and due to Malestrom's 4th attack requirement, we need something that can be enabled at the 3rd attack other than Coral Assault, and that's why I added in a singleton Navalgazer Dragon. During the 3rd attack, Navalgazer can hit up to 23 when boosted by Dorothea (it gets +3k when he's attacking in the 3rd or onward battle).

Navalgazer also has a Limit Break with the same enabling requirement like its AUTO power boost. After you paid CB2 for the cost, it gets +3k power, and the AUTO skill to stand two AQ units when its attack hits the Vanguard. Hitting for 26k and topping up with the skill to enable up to 2 more attacks is no joke as well.

There's another Enabler which I can't find slots for them at the moment: The Tactician Duo, which enables your Limit Break as early as Turn 3. Maybe after testing this prototype I'll try to find slots for them.

And here you go, my take on a Maelstrom based Aqua Force deck. Sad to say I'm on the verge of quitting this once enjoyable card game, if not I would've make this deck and try it out myself. But rest assured, even if I don't play the game anymore, I'll still be providing my insights for Vanguard, and the blog will never die.

That's all for now, see you soon!

After the Storm: Cardfight!! Vanguard EN Post-WCQ Analysis

Hey guys, Homura is back after quite a few days of absence due to work and health problems. WCQs for Europe and Canada have already kicked off last week, and we can see from the statistics that Gold Paladins are dominating the metagame. Actually, I would say that this scenario was actually a carbon copy of the previous Japanese WCQs and Championship Finals. During that time, Royal Paladins was so famous and widely used that they almost have Top 8 appearances in every single tournament, and also one-two finishes during the Finals.

But why we don't see other clans topping? What was the reason of their absence? In my opinion, the reason why the traditional clans don't have any high place finishes was due to the fact that they lack a very crucial thing - Limit Break. Well, isn't Kagero and Royal Paladins got their LB unit already? How come they still can't top? Which brings me to my second point - Support.

As we can see, Gold Paladins got tons of support during the first 3 months of their debut in English, together with 2 possible deck types which was equally strong (not to forget featuring Limit Breakers also). What about Kagero and Royal Paladins? Compared with Gold Paladins, these two supposed-to-be the main clans of the game kind of fell short in terms of support given to them.

Let's look at Kagero. At the moment, the only deck that was actually viable for Kagero players was the Goku-Blade build. I know that Lawkeeper exists, but comapring both of them, I would say Goku-Blade fares better against the majority. And moving onward to Royal Paladin. RP is worse, with only one possible competitive deck ready at their disposal - Barome-Saviour. Truthfully speaking, Pendragon was a flop, it never seen play in JP tourneys, and I doubt it'll be seeing major play in EN tourneys.

So all and all, I think that GP will still be the deck to beat in this WCQ season. One weakness of the EN environment was that the sets were not parallel, meaning that they will not have what we JP players already had. If you all did your research, you should be able to see that regardless how strong GP was, Kagero and RP still dominates the metagame, as we have access to Majesty Lord Blaster and Dragonic Overlord The End.

This article was not written to show off the privileges that we JP players have, but to show you what defines a metagame as a whole. As what we can see from the statistics, sheer numbers can actually define a metagame. Imagine if 80% of the people were using Kagero and we'll be able to see Kagero topping everything. It's just as simple as that.

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.