tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10598608206411556672024-03-13T03:23:00.245-07:00Cardfisticuffs!!Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-74131691436567836262016-07-28T11:37:00.002-07:002016-07-29T08:07:18.413-07:00Know Your Meta: GranblueWhat's up, gang? Historically I've focused more on writing about the decks I've been playing with, what I think of certain cards, delving into the more large-scale implications of new mechanics, and so forth. Today's piece is going to be different, and I suspect you'll find it more informative than my average post, as my goal is to shed light on an increasingly popular and increasingly competitive clan - Granblue. It's pretty spooky! Though that should go without saying, what with all the undead floating around. If you like what you see, be sure to let me know. I may turn this into a series if I can keep up with the hectic release schedule of the game. Note that I won't be including any G-BT08 cards in this rundown.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>The Basics</u></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Granblue is characterized first and foremost by its ability to call cards from the drop zone. While it's becoming more common to be able to refresh one's deck by shuffling cards from the drop zone back in or to revive a unit the instant it bites the dust, the pirates of Magallanica remain unrivaled in their ability to go beyond the grave and resurrect their allies again and again.
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Granblue enjoys enabling its gambits by way of effects that send cards from the deck to the drop zone, but Vanguard's core game mechanics play into its strength as well. Any rear-guard that gets retired by battle or card effect, any unit used as a guardian, any card that happens to be soul blasted or discarded... they all end up resting in that comfy abyss that acts as a second hand. There aren't a whole lot of cards that are able to interfere with an opponent's drop zone, so it's also the safest toolbox a player could ask for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Given that their core formula is so potent, you may be wondering why Granblue didn't see a whole lot of action until just recently. It's actually a fairly simple matter - their cost efficiency wasn't very good, their revival frequency was low, and they didn't have a whole lot of stellar rear-guards to bother recurring in the first place. The past is the past, though. G Era support has rectified all these problems and has even gone a step further in handing Granblue a bunch of toys that make even the more established powerhouses jealous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>The Goods</u></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well, when you have all those resources...</td></tr>
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At the forefront of Granblue's success story is one of the most powerful cost mitigation options the game has ever seen. In exchange for spending the time to revive Grenache and waiting until the end of the turn for him to off himself with his own Hollow ability, you net a juicy double counter charge. Seven Seas can easily accommodate this since they get multiple calls in one go, while Nightrose can fall back on the likes of Negrobone and Negrolazy to get the cheesy forerunner back on board if you aren't already going full on ham with your Nightrose G Unit. As an added bonus, Nightrose can use her Generation Break to pull up Grenache as Hollow again and claim an additional two counter charges for the low cost of three cards off the top of the deck. I prefer him in the main deck, personally, while Peter the Ghostie takes the lead at the start of the game, but calling over Grenache is easy enough. You can even activate Hollow turn one if necessary.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey! The world can be nice sometimes.</td></tr>
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Free as free can be, Negrorook is an 11K beater from the very first stride. But more than that, if he was called in the Hollow state, he rockets up to a whopping 16K solo. That's a pretty good deal, especially for the Seven Seas deck, where he's on a one way trip back to the drop zone in the first place. But he's fine in other variants as well - you're going to call over him with something a bit more permanent by the time Mist Phantasm Pirate King, Nightrose makes her move. If you play any stand triggers, he's your ideal target. He's more or less the ideal column mate for Grenache or a Dancing Cutlass, too. For added spooks, a Nightmist break ride play can generate a 21K solo swing. Or two. Or four. Just line up those counterblasts and the sky is the limit.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keep it in your pants, bub.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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This one is kind of dumbfounding. The precedence for retires in Granblue was set during the Legion block, where Negrobolt's mate Ghoul Dragon gained the ability to do so when it hit the Vanguard on the turn it was called from the drop zone. This naturally fell flat due to low power and no incentive to guard any other attack launched in the given turn. Skeleton Cannoneer takes it to the next level, knocking out any rear guard you want for the low cost of counter blast 1 simply when he's called from the drop zone. He doesn't even need to be in a Hollow state to do so. But if he is? You draw a card too. This means that if you revive both Cannoneer and Grenache with Nightmist's G Unit, you're going to end up paying nothing to create a two card gap in card advantage in addition to getting warm bodies to attack and boost with, or even sacrifice to other effects to generate more permanent cards. It's probably the single strongest common from GBT06.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's not joking.</td></tr>
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What surprises me the most about Pirate Swordsman, Colombard is his utter lack of restrictions. He doesn't call within a specific grade range, he's not picky about unit type, and he doesn't even have a blanket ban on touching other copies of himself. With enough open counter blasts, you can make very long attack chains to close out a game, and you don't even need to be sitting on a particular G Unit at the time. He plays a mean setup game, too, generating inherently permanent cards when and where you need them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It just keeps going and going and going...</td></tr>
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Even if you don't like stand triggers, you sort of have to appreciate the moves this one offers. Mick the Ghostie and Family lends a ludicrous amount of free power to your field, and once it hits the drop zone again after being resurrected in the Hollow state, it returns to the deck for continued use. Since it strictly increases the size of your deck, you can use Mick and Family to turn an otherwise losing situation into an almost guaranteed win. My favorite finisher right now involves grinding my own deck down to a single card, then spinning back three Mick in order to guarantee two stands or more on triple drive. And since there are some particularly big rear-guards sitting around on that turn... you get the picture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...for a white guy.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty fly...</td></tr>
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The duo tied to Nightrose is quite respectable. One gives you more revivals with an optional cost refund if you decide to let him go (and Nightrose can use her Generation Break to bring him back again anyway), while the other facilitates making more attacks and even lets you juggle Grenache around with the greatest of ease.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't think grammar works like that.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And doesn't Cray only have one ocean?</td></tr>
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All those temporary calls? Not so temporary with these two on the scene. Taking a Hollowed unit revived by Nightmist and transforming it into a booster or additional attack is just about the pinnacle of efficiency in Vanguard right now.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mai waifu.</td></tr>
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A cost of counter blast 2 may seem steep, but being able to break ride out of the drop zone without consuming any cards in hand is well worth the investment, and the option means you will /never/ be without a move to make even in the grim scenario where you had to give up everything you were holding. Plegeton is the ultimate in hope - perhaps even more so than heal triggers themselves. I can't complain about the on-ride skill either because it usually translates into a hard plus somehow. Rough Seas Banshee? Draw. Grenache? Hollow and stride. Anything else? Swap for Nightcrow or Slash Shade. Late game? Pull up that Mick. The possibilities are endless.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why not both?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a bro.</td></tr>
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Previously, Granblue had a heavy reliance on cards like Ruin Shade in order to achieve their initial drop zone setup. This has been significantly lessened by the addition of Obadiah and Deep Corpse Dragon to their G Zone. Obadiah gets bonus points for cherry picking any three cards you may desire on top of generating a plus in the form of the very card you ditched to Stride him. Thanks, Tommy Bros.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The man knows what he wants.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Go deep or go home.</td></tr>
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The two don't look like much at first glance, but when you examine how Nightmist and Nightrose interact with the rest of their clan, there's no denying their potency. A proper drop zone easily allows either one to grind an opponent into the ground through a series of linked abilities and attacks, though I'd advise saving Nightrose for the tail end of the game when you need a slightly more aggressive option to avoid dying yourself. She works best with an already loaded field.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>The List</u></span></div>
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Since Seven Seas is the generally more successful and popular Granblue variant, I've made it a priority to get to know it above all others. I may come up with a formula for Nightrose at a later date since G-BT08 is looking to be a major overhaul for her specifically. Anything else can be regarded as irrelevant until further notice.</div>
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<b>Grade 0 (19)</b></div>
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<b>1 Peter the Ghostie [First Vanguard]</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>1 Undying Departed, Grenache</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>1 Seven Seas Apprentice, Nightrunner</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>4 Rick the Ghostie [Heal Trigger]</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>4 Jimmie the Ghostie [Critical Trigger]</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>4 Rough Seas Banshee [Critical Trigger]</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>4 Mick the Ghostie and Family [Stand Trigger]</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>Grade 1 (13)</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>4 Tommy the Ghostie Brothers</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>3 Seven Seas Helmsman, Nightcrow</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>1 Head-start Zombie</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>4 Waterspout Jinn</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>1 Dancing Cutlass</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>Grade 2 (11)</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>4 Pirate Swordsman, Colombard</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>2 Seven Seas Master Swordsman, Slash Shade </b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>2 Witch Doctor of the Rotten Sea, Negrorook</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>2 Skeleton Cannoneer</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>1 Deadly Spirit</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Grade 3 (7)</b><br />
<b>4 Lord of the Seven Seas, Nightmist</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>2 Seven Seas Sage, Plegeton</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>1 Vampire Princess of Night Fog, Nightrose</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>G Deck (16)</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>4 Loved by the Seven Seas, Nightmist</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>4 Mist Phantasm Pirate King, Nightrose</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>2 Ghostie Great King, Obadiah</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>1 Pirate King of Secret Schemes, Bandit Rum</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>1 Air Element, Sebreeze</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>1 Light Element, Agleam</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>1 Metal Element, Scryew</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>2 Eclipse Dragonhulk, Deep Corpse Dragon</b><br />
<br />
Outside of the aforementioned goods, you'll notice quite a few techs on my end, which I'd like to touch on now.<br />
<br />
Nightrunner - A self contained milling engine that provides warm bodies for Nightcrow, I've always felt people were too tough on the guy. I can attribute much of my success with the deck to the fact that he's here. The consistency of end game Mick combos shoots through the roof, among other things.<br />
<br />
Head-start - Sometimes you just want that hollow 7K booster. More targeted mill is always appreciated as well.<br />
<br />
Cutlass - A classic that's pretty well received even to this day. I'm a bit at odds with it due to it being 5K, not to mention generally not having time to pay it any mind as a revival target, but emptying the soul is a boon that can't be ignored for now.<br />
<br />
Deadly Spirit - A grade 2 outlet to burn the soul. Has particularly good synergy as a follow up to the Nightrunner-Nightcrow combo in the event I really need another unit on the front row.<br />
<br />
Princess Nightrose - The Tommy Brothers are a staple anyway, and her presence adds even more to their utility by letting you ditch any card in hand to the drop zone without taking a minus to your card presence.<br />
<br />
Agleam - It's less of a tech and more of a staple if you ask me. It's by far the most useful Cray Elemental in the deck, allowing you to filter any card of your choosing from your hand into the drop zone while potentially getting something even bigger to work with. Fastest way to turn on Pokkur if you feel the need to play him in a Link Joker heavy environment.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Plays</span></u></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
When it comes to piloting Granblue, there are about as many routes to take as there are bodies of water on Earth. As such, I won't list every little nuance here. But here are some patterns to get you started.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<u>Let's get Spoopy</u><br />
<br />
1. Stride Obadiah, sending Nightrunner and 2 Nightcrow to the drop zone.<br />
2. Use Nightrunner's skill to call itself, sending 4 cards off the top of the deck to the drop zone.<br />
3. Sacifice Nightrunner to call Nightcrow.<br />
4. Since you have another Nightcrow at the ready, you can use Nightrunner again on the following turn.<br />
<br />
This is one of your safest long term investments, as losing Nightcrows to the damage zone over the course of the game can really screw you up. Given the importance of Grenache in longer games, however, it's also a strong choice to send him to the drop zone instead of the second Nightcrow.<br />
<br />
<u>Let's get Spoopy 2</u><br />
<br />
Sometimes you will already have a Nightcrow or Nightrunner in the drop zone. In these cases, your Obadiahs are worth even more.<br />
<br />
1. Stride Obadiah, sending whichever of the Nightrunner/Nightcrow pair you don't have to the drop zone, alongside 2 cards with Hollow (Grenache is a priority, then take your pick of Head-start, Negrorook, or Cannoneer).<br />
2. Call the Tommy Brothers (or Peter) behind Obadiah.<br />
3. Use the Nightrunner-Nightcrow combo.<br />
<br />
Two warm bodies and a drop zone with answers to anything? Pretty good. And the whole dynamic makes Colombard super easy to use, so there's that.<br />
<br />
<u>Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap</u><br />
<br />
1. Stride Loved by the Seven Seas, Nightmist and use his skill to call Grenache and a Skeleton Cannoneer, both Hollowed.<br />
2. Use Skeleton Cannoneer's skill to retire and opponent's rear-guard and draw a card.<br />
3. Have Skeleton Cannoneer attack an opposing rear-guard in the front row.<br />
3a. (Optional) Trade Skeleton Cannoneer for Slash Shade when the Vanguard attacks.<br />
4. Grenache retires due to Hollow at the end phase, refunding 2 counter blasts.<br />
<br />
<u>The Face is the Place</u><br />
<br />
1. Stride Loved by the Seven Seas, Nightmist and use his skill to call Grenache and Negrorook, both Hollowed to the same lane.<br />
2. Attack with Negrorook. Boost the attack if you have any stand triggers remaining in the deck.<br />
3. Attack with the Vanguard, trading Negrorook for Slash Shade. <br />
4. Grenache retires due to Hollow at the end phase, refunding 2 counter blasts.<br />
<br />
<u>Stupid Sexy Colombard</u><br />
<br />
This works so long as your back row circles on the left and right contain 7K boosters.<br />
<br />
1. Stride Mist Phantasm Pirate King, Nightrose.<br />
1a. Call Colombard from the hand if he's not on board already.<br />
2. Attack with Colombard, reviving Mick as Hollow to the front row of the other rear guard column. Grant 10K to Colombard, making his attack that much harder to stop.<br />
3. Attack with the Mick column.<br />
4. Attack with Nightrose, calling Grenache as Hollow and any 11K or higher attacker over the Mick column, returning Mick to the deck.<br />
5. As usual, after you finish your attacks, Grenache retires due to Hollow and refunds 2 counter blasts.<br />
<u><br />The Ghosties Cometh</u><br />
<br />
Opponent ignoring your front row in favor of just going face? Fine and dandy.<br />
<br />
1. Stride Loved by the Seven Seas, Nightmist and use his skill to call two copies of Mick and Family to the back row, hollowing both, and power up each side lane.<br />
2. Use your two copies of Nightcrow to replace the Micks and shuffle them back into the deck.<br />
<br />
Of course, the more resource sensitive option of reviving one Mick and Grenache is also on the table.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<u>And you thought I only had one Negrorook</u></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
1. Stride Mist Phantasm Pirate King, Nightrose</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
2. Conduct your attacks, making sure to swing with Nightrose last.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
3. At this time, use Slash Shade to sacrifice Negrorook.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
4. Use Nightrose's skill to retrieve said Negrorook in the Hollow state, as well as Grenache in the Hollow state behind either one of the two, whichever doesn't have a potential booster to stand.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VF769J3fkbQ/V5twytLtUXI/AAAAAAAAAQg/N15XORbfJychOWSzSOMh2NOnuVETIEXeQCLcB/s1600/Mugen_Fukkatsu_Jigoku.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VF769J3fkbQ/V5twytLtUXI/AAAAAAAAAQg/N15XORbfJychOWSzSOMh2NOnuVETIEXeQCLcB/s400/Mugen_Fukkatsu_Jigoku.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And for the shits and giggles, here's the most ridiculously over the top play for you to dream about performing. Plenty lesser versions will occur on a regular basis, but this is the fullest extent of Granblue's finishing power.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Conditions:<br />
-5 face-up damage<br />
-No less than 3 and no more than 4 cards remaining in the deck, at least 2 of which should be Stand triggers (ie. Mick the Ghostie and Family)<br />
-Nightmist on the Vanguard Circle<br />
-1 pre-existing 7K booster<br />
-Plegeton in hand, along with enough stride fodder<br />
-A
drop zone containing 1 Negrorook, 1 Mick, 1 Nightcrow, and 2 Colombard;
1 Head-start required if the deck is 4 cards instead of 3. This part is mostly negligible since it's a natural result of just playing the game in the first place.<br />
<br />
Yo dat ain't Falco:<br />
1.
Ride Plegeton over Nightmist to activate the break ride skill, calling
Negrorook as Hollow in front of the 7K booster and Colombard to the
other front circle.<br />
2. Use Plegeton's on ride skill to resurrect Mick as Hollow to any empty circle. Mick's skill gives 10K to the 7K booster.<br />
3. Stride into Mist Phantasm Pirate King, Nightrose.<br />
4. Use Nightcrow's skill to sacrifice Mick, calling himself to the circle behind Colombard. Mick returns to the deck.<br />
4a. If you wish to call a booster for Nightrose, you may do so now.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
(all attacks will be pointed at the Vanguard in this scenario)<br />
5. Enter the battle phase. Start by attacking with Negrorook unboosted for 21K.<br />
6.
Attack with Colombard boosted by Nightcrow for 21K; use Colombard's skill to call your second
Colombard over Negrorook, which then retires.<br />
7. Attack with the new Colombard boosted for 26K (remember, we doped
that booster!) and use his skill to call Negrorook as Hollow over the
first Colombard.<br />
8. Attack with Negrorook for 16K.<br />
9.
Attack with Nightrose, using her skill to call Colombard over Colombard
and a booster behind Negrorook (Head-start Zombie if your deck is currently greater than 4 cards).<br />
10. Your triple
drive should reveal at least 2 Stand triggers. Use one to stand
Colombard's booster, giving it or Colombard the 5K. Use the other to
stand Negrorook and add 5K to it. If a third trigger comes up, assign
the 5K to Negrorook's booster.<br />
11. Attack with Negrorook for 21K.<br />
12.
Attack with Colombard boosted for 31K; use his skill to
call any attacker over Negrorook.<br />
13. Attack with your final lane for at least 21K. If by chance you chose to play Gast Dragon, this can also be 31K.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In the end, even if we assume the opponent had all of their perfect guards and all of their heal triggers in hand, the opponent will be losing 11 cards to the combo if they are at 5 damage.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Note: Angel Feather can royally screw this up. But sure to snipe any copies of Nurse of Broken Heart before trying anything fancy.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Note2: Dimension Police can also soften the blow with X-Carivou if you make the mistake of ever attacking for 31K. Assign triggers a bit more carefully in this match-up.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Note3: Any rogue Crossrides will also change the dynamic.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Counters</span></u></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Since you can't realistically expect Granblue's resources or attacking formation to ever fizzle out, your best option as its opponent is to attempt outpacing it in battle. The hand is something that <i>can </i>run dry with enough effort.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Added defense on your Vanguard will significantly nerf the output of their multi-attacking prowess, instead forcing them to swing fewer times for larger numbers.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Deletors have the potential to give Granblue a run for their money if they can get rolling soon enough. Cutting into the drop zone toolbox before it gets built up and shutting off Nightmist's break ride skill as well as Nightrose's stride skill hurts.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-size: x-large;">The End</span></u></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Well, it's coming up on 2 AM, and I think I've covered the majority of what one can expect to see from the clan on a regular basis, so I'm gonna call it quits. I can only hope you've been enlightened in some way - thanks for reading!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-1376605748400840312016-07-25T11:53:00.000-07:002016-07-25T14:28:10.198-07:00The Growth and Expansion of VanguardVanguard as a TCG is starting to get on in years - 5 and counting - and it's survived <i>a lot</i> of rough patches along the way in order to reach its current state. Viability across the clans is at an all time high. The average Cardfight is more interactive and entertaining than ever before. Deck building is less clear-cut in many cases, which places a greater emphasis on really understanding what you as a player are trying to accomplish within the given card pool, and very rarely will you decide on an addition simply because "there isn't anything else I could be using". It's a great time to be playing Vanguard, and both the sales reports and event attendance rates are a testament to that fact. It's not an accident, either. The current state of the game is a culmination of Bushiroad's past experiences combined with the very real desire to provide players with product that is bigger, faster, and stronger than the cards of yesteryear. This policy of card power inflation is the primary subject I want to explore today.<br />
<br />
I want to preface this by saying power creep isn't all bad. Without it, we'd have never gotten past the overbearing presence of Crossrides, nor the extremely oppressive Lock ability. The timely appearance of triggers during a game would still trump anything a given player or deck did in the vast majority of cases. And chances are that Royal Paladin would still be the uncontested king of consistency and flexibility that nothing else could ever hope to mirror. In other words, Bushiroad's willingness to push beyond the established standard has led to a lot of interesting things and avoided what could have been a lot more stagnation than we actually dealt with.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JAWec_ib5Qg/V5Y8fTkwlHI/AAAAAAAAAMg/HbXXJ1jmMKQYIN5cy3EcPG4Rft-yDzvEgCLcB/s1600/Leading%2BJewel%2BKnight%252C%2BSalome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JAWec_ib5Qg/V5Y8fTkwlHI/AAAAAAAAAMg/HbXXJ1jmMKQYIN5cy3EcPG4Rft-yDzvEgCLcB/s320/Leading%2BJewel%2BKnight%252C%2BSalome.jpg" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A dying breed... in just about every sense.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Some forms of power creep are obvious to see. Grade 3 cards with 10,000 base power haven't been pushed as serious contenders for the better part of two years. Numerous cards have strong abilities that require you to focus on the only boss you would want to consider in the first place. Effects that exist exclusively to hold cards back, such as Restraint or Lord, are almost completely gone with no signs of ever returning. Even a previously format defining keyword - Limit Break - came to be so dated that a series of cards were rolled out that turned it off, allowing players to use the abilities whenever they like. And to the surprise of no one who's stuck around to see the game grow, most of these cards are <i>still</i> no longer viable.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w7NS0mvxAw8/V5ZHsoSNRCI/AAAAAAAAAMw/mXCA4Y4dBEEcs6btS8zz4yNU4o9t8TyXgCLcB/s1600/Alter%2BEgo%2BMessiah.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w7NS0mvxAw8/V5ZHsoSNRCI/AAAAAAAAAMw/mXCA4Y4dBEEcs6btS8zz4yNU4o9t8TyXgCLcB/s320/Alter%2BEgo%2BMessiah.png" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The world keeps spinning. Must be dizzy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Other forms of power creep are more subtle. Prior to the beginning of Vanguard G, the number of effects that fired on the opponent's turn were slim and universally the same. Now we have a bunch of them, and they do a lot of different things. Alter Ego Messiah can draw cards, Gurguit can call upon pinch defenders, Denial Griffon cancels attacks outright by retiring rear-guards in a manner more proactive than we've ever seen before, and many decks are able to use some sort of combo to achieve rather unshakeable power during the opponent's battle phase (looking at you, Nociel and Garnet).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C52h78qGJ54/V5ZL5HAM1ZI/AAAAAAAAAM8/L7nBX73imnwmUus6anu8ukXSUzVIlOvNACLcB/s1600/Player%2Bof%2Bthe%2BHoly%2BPipe%252C%2BGerrie.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C52h78qGJ54/V5ZL5HAM1ZI/AAAAAAAAAM8/L7nBX73imnwmUus6anu8ukXSUzVIlOvNACLcB/s320/Player%2Bof%2Bthe%2BHoly%2BPipe%252C%2BGerrie.png" width="218" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">11/10, you damn overachiever.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The overall flexibility of cards has seen a dramatic increase. Triggers are no longer just triggers - their individual effects play an incredible role in the success of their respective decks. Heals in particular are just outright worth more than they were a few months ago because they became the catalysts for G Guardians, which in and of themselves have rather limitless design potential. Some forerunners are so good that it's become viable to play them in multiples. Grade 1 cards have done double duty as both boosters and attackers for a long time, and now some are even going a step further by providing search power and the ability to become fodder for a bigger play. Grade 2s regularly get two abilities. Grade 3s... well... you know...<br />
<br />
One-shot skills are taking a back seat to those you can use repeatedly over time. Even the very cost to use an ability can prove beneficial these days.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HRv855S1Syw/V5ZVl9K75zI/AAAAAAAAANM/bbNxR22oUlwBGh5aviDTGs-jGcsmpfDewCLcB/s1600/Dream-spinning%2BRanunculus%252C%2BAhsha.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HRv855S1Syw/V5ZVl9K75zI/AAAAAAAAANM/bbNxR22oUlwBGh5aviDTGs-jGcsmpfDewCLcB/s320/Dream-spinning%2BRanunculus%252C%2BAhsha.png" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do you even into perpetual motion?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Then you've got powerful generic G-Units that share the name of their respective clan's strider Grade 3. I've always thought this was a bit of a mistake, since it allows support tied to their names to be used in any deck that has the space and isn't already sitting on a goldmine of more desirable options. This is particularly apparent when you look at the current state of Kagero - there's simply no reason to use a deck centered around Blademaster when Taiten allows Overlord to have access to Jannat, Nadel, Radiant Dragon, etc. and never miss a beat. Thankfully other clans like Neonectar and Granblue have largely avoided the issue by way of more nuanced design decisions.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
There's certainly a lot more that could be done in the future, too. I won't pretend to know what Bushiroad has in store, but like it or not, you can count on most of the trends we see today continuing for a good, long time.</div>
Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-80270498079217874032016-04-04T16:57:00.001-07:002016-04-04T16:57:46.976-07:00GG no re: The G-Guardian and thensome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
April 3rd, 2016. The day Bushiroad destroyed the internet. Again. And just when we were getting comfortable with the direction things were presumably going, too! It seems the introduction of G-Guardians isn't the only thing that's going to be turning Vanguard on its head in the coming months.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
First things first, let's look at the specifics of how our new friends work. All G-Guardians share the following text:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's not easy being green.</td></tr>
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[G-Guardian] <i>(Use it when both players' vanguards are grade 3 or greater, and you have three or less face up G-Guardian in your G zone)</i>-Guard Step of your opponent's turn-[Choose a "HEAL" from your hand, and discard it] Call this card to your (GC) from face-down.</blockquote>
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Oh, boy. They went there. Bushi ain't settling for a mere bump in shield value.<br />
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The number one thing we need to take away from this is that G-Guardians do not have any Generation Break requirements. They can always be used from the moment both players reach Grade 3. This means that even if your opponent gets to make the first stride, you have a powerful option to use to stay in the game provided you fumbled into a heal trigger by then - not unlikely given that any card you play at four shows up over half the time by the first twin drive. Furthermore, employing the use of a G-Guardian at that early stage of the game enables you to Stride your biggest bosses right out of the gates, bypassing your programmed on-hit or similarly mediocre G-Unit altogether. It's a monumental factor in the ongoing debate of turn order value, for sure.<br />
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Also of significance is that G-Guardians can be called in response to any attack, regardless of target. This means it's impossible for an opponent to play around the aforementioned scenario that allows you to first stride a GB2-or-3 boss. It's also that much easier to shrug off Overlord "The X" or Commander Laurel plays that aim to exploit the hole in modern day perfect guards. You still want to avoid defending rear-guards most of the time to save shield, but an option is an option if the niche situation presents itself.<br />
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G-Guardians can be called in multiples, too, providing a silver lining for sub-optimal card sequencing.<br />
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Despite Heal triggers themselves being limit four, G-Guardians also soft limit themselves by disallowing further use after the fourth opportunity to call them comes and goes. This caps the otherwise ludicrous potential of Legion refreshing while still making sure it remains a valuable part of the game, as it's far easier for a Legion deck to call several G-Guardians during a game.<br />
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Decks focused on a Limit Break or Legion boss that benefit highly from the inclusion of particular GB1 rear-guards become that much more viable, as they no longer need to dedicate a turn to striding in every game if it wouldn't especially benefit them.<br />
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Power on rear-guards must now be bumped to 31K or higher in order to certainly force two cards out of an opponent. <br />
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It's simply too much to process all at once. <u>But wait, there's more!</u> Bushiroad announced that with the introduction of G-Guardians, we're also seeing an increase in the maximum size of the G Zone. How much, you ask? Well... <i><a href="http://cf-vanguard.com/en/information/g_guardian/" target="_blank">they're freaking doubling it</a>.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some fish just want to watch the world burn.</td></tr>
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That's right - we get to play 16 G-Units in total across G-Guardians and what we have now. I find myself utterly dumbfounded by the notion because we had just started to reach a point where the majority of decks had to weigh the value of one G-Unit against another and make cuts, focusing solely on what they <i>need</i> rather than having a toolbox. The opportunity cost of G-Persona Blasts began to catch up with us, curtailing how much power and longevity a G Zone could have at one time. Now that's all just gone, and I can't say I'm happy about it. Hopefully a year or two down the line we'll return to the same situation and not have an arbitrary inflation that invalidates the whole point of having a limit in the first place...<br />
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I mean, I get it. Unless we began to see cards that are outright better than behemoths like Chronodragon Nextage, we'd never be willing to update our G Zones, and Bushiroad largely wouldn't be able to move product. Having a bunch of extra slots lets us play around with new ideas more easily, and there's no excuse on our end not to. But is it really worth the even greater barrier of entry new players will have to face? Is it worth demotivating players from wanting to use multiple clans? What on earth is going to happen to our already baffling secondary market? I'm left crossing my fingers, hoping dearly that our community can hang on through this transition and live to see an even more glorious Vanguard scene.<br />
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Doom and gloom aside, I'm curious to find out just how much G-Guardians will extend the average span of a game and whether or not the expansion of the G Zone is actually justified in any way on a game play level. It would certainly be something if we returned to an average of seven or more turns per player. Well. So long as we don't have a drastic increase in the number of tournament matches going into time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome back, fam.</td></tr>
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I'm also eager to retool all the decks I play to better suit a new environment, even if I have this gut feeling than a few of them (OTT variants especially) are condemned until their next wave of support. Who knows? Maybe I'll stumble upon new formulas that never worked before. <strike>Or maybe Gear Chronicle will finally run the game. That works too. Maybe.</strike> And oh my goood it just hit me that all these changes are going to play a role in team league continentals. Good luck to the folks who make it in, and get ready to put your thinking caps on!<br />
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That's all I've got for now. See ya after Monthly Bushiroad drops. Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-54232424339647691362016-03-30T22:10:00.000-07:002016-03-30T22:11:44.655-07:00Stagnant Air? Not on MY Planet!You know Bushiroad is scraping the bottom of the barrel when they feel the need to unveil a new wave of Bermuda Triangle artwork to maintain viewer interest for their weekly Vanguard stream. :x<br />
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It's more or less true - with the remainder of Fighter's Collection 2016 presumed to be mostly-identical G-Guardians (which they're still a week off from properly showcasing), there isn't much left they could have shown us. But the Cray Elemental that Bushiroad held in reserve certainly has people talking!<br />
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For those who felt Twitterun inadequate, this is your new go-to. Air Element, Sebreeze offers a more widely accessible means to continue playing your own game even if your opponent doesn't ride their own Grade 3. For those who felt Grade 2 stalling to be the pinnacle of strategy, this is a wake-up call. Bushiroad <i>always</i> intended the first stride to be player two's exclusive privilege, and the outrage I'm seeing from certain individuals about Shibreeze cementing that ideal is, frankly, stupid. Yes, more so than the short-sighted design of the stride mechanic that allowed for the exploit in the first place.<br />
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...speaking of which, yes, Sebreeze won't keep anybody from stalling at grade 1. <i>So what?</i> Grade 1 cards, designed at their very core to be combo pieces, lack both the power and the quality of abilities necessary to hold out in the face of anything bigger than them, even for a single turn. That's why rush decks proved to be resounding failures in the Legion era and why going first had such a heavy impact on the outcome of a game for some years prior.<br />
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...and yes, Sebreeze is also disabled by the action of riding a second grade 2. Again, <i>so what?</i> That's one less attacker and/or guardian available to the player who does it when their card count is already hurting for their reduction in power and drive opportunities. It becomes that much easier to establish dominance by way of rear-guard sniping, a tried and true tactic that's been with us since the birth of Vanguard.<br />
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The real point of concern is that Sebreeze is a blank card in the G Zone in most games to offset the niche it fills otherwise. Because of this, I can see a handful (or more...) of decks not giving it the time of day. However, the fact that Sebreeze <i>could</i> be sitting on the sidelines is enough reason for players to carry on as if it is a certain threat, so even if you don't choose to play one in your G Zone, it's likely that you'll benefit from its existence anyway. Nice deal. If you're willing to invest the space? Just make sure to carry a generic G-blaster of some kind to flip Sebreeze in the event you don't need it. That goes double if you happen to be a fan of Pokkur as well, as Sebreeze is the Cray Elemental you need to meet the prerequisites of use.<br />
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I don't project any great change in the competitive format going forward, but nevertheless I'll admit that Sebreeze has me feeling a little more willing to experiment with dedicated G Era decks. It's just a question of which are efficient enough on counterblasts. xPElliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-70813611856322863522016-03-26T16:30:00.000-07:002016-03-26T16:30:24.865-07:00BSF 2016 Chicago Team League ReportTired. Exciting day. Words.<br />
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Got the old RUTV team together for the first team event in Illinois in YEARS, and we had a really good time. We took team placements as they fell in the morning, with me in slot C playing Tsukuyomi, one team mate playing Sanctuary Guard in slot B, and the other playing Claret Sword in slot A. Much to our surprise <i>a lot</i> of teams were actually playing with their ace members in the third slot, so I got a lot of great games.<br />
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<u>Round 1 - Tsuk vs. Chaos</u><br />
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Right off the bat I'm accosted by a match-up I know altogether too well (tanks, Soolzen), and I was fairly pumped to see how it would turn out. I open with the first turn, call two Concierge alongside my Half Moon vanguard on turn two to force the ability through and ravage his hand in the process. He targets them as one should, but I'm able to maintain one and call another card to my front row on my third turn, thus turning off the possibility of Chaos Universe stunning me to any horrifying degree. He rides Chaos Bringer, locks my only back row, strides Universe and... you know, I'm not sure if he was missing another counterblast to use it or what, but he didn't use its ability. I learn a turn later than he had a Photon at the time too and chose not to call it. Come my turn, he declares the ability of Chaos Bringer, but I inform him that I did not have two locked cards. After he does a double take and we fix the game state ourselves, I carry on as normal. Next turn he rides CBD, tosses out the locks in full force with Bringer and Photon, and I intentionally take a couple more damage. Using the combined abilities of Susanoo and Takemikazuchi I hit my stack, breaking through his two-pass with triple triggers for the game.<br />
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Sanctuary Guard partner loses to Nubatama by a very narrow margin, Memesord outpaces an unfortunate Angel Feather player. 1-0 for the team.<br />
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<u>Round 2 - Tsuk vs. Sanctuary Guard</u><br />
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I'm fairly used to this as well. Went first. Weaker turn two on my end than I would have liked, being forced to throw down a column of Akagi and Kusanagi alongside my Half Moon vanguard. Ate an early crit for lack of any real way to shrug it off in the face of mighty 14K lanes, he healed somewhere, and got run over badly by his second Sanctuary Guard Regalie. Not for lack of trying, of course - things just didn't favor me this time. 9 cards away from the average sized stack.<br />
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Teammates both lost as well. Sanctuary Guard got hit by DOTE while on G2, Memesord lost to Revengers. 1-1 for the team.<br />
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<u>Round 3 - Tsuk vs. Revengers</u><br />
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Went first. The perfect guards flew, both of us denying each other on-hits the entire game. I reach my stack and double crit him from 3 to 6 while his pants are down, so to speak.<br />
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Sanctuary Guard lost the mirror match when two g assists fell through, while Claret overcame Brawlers with the most overkill Phantom Blaster Diablo I've ever seen. 2-1 for the team.<br />
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<u>Round 4 - Tsuk vs. Break Ride Reit</u><br />
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Went first. Well this certainly proved to be a blast from the past. Guy was making mistakes left and right, though, opting out of or just forgetting on hit skills (I reminded him of the mandatory one in Somni). I got slightly faked out by the white duo artworks that I never actually look at (mostly playing online and all...), but nothing that kept me from playing my normal game. He manages to hold out through two separate bands of stacked triggers with all his perfect guards, and it comes down to me swinging with a Full Moon vanguard for the crit to win. He might have actually been able to hold out by playing the Olyvia turn better, but I'll take it.<br />
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Sanctuary Guard beats Extreme Battlers. Claret cheeses Revengers with a double crit at 3. Salt ensues. The long and short of it is that this guy <i>really</i> does not like Claret and tried to justify his case by making terrible cross-clan card comparisons (what does Chromejailer have to do with... anything???). The guy's friend was very happy he lost to Claret. I feel like those two shouldn't be on the same team, but whatever. lol. 3-1 for the team.<br />
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<u>Round 5 - Tsuk vs. Revengers</u><br />
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This was a local team we haven't fought in a long time, so it was good to see them. Went first. Got hammered by at least one flavor of Blaster Dark every turn until the end of the game, where I got cheesed out by Phantom Blaster Diablo. Course, if I tossed out another card so as to be super careful and avoid that, then Spectral Blaster would have gone to town and ended things all the same. This was the only game all day where I had to toss two cards to stride, one of which was an Akagi I could have otherwise used to be in a solid position. Sadness.<br />
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Sanctuary Guard ends up on the receiving end of a last minute Commander Laurel appearance backing Daikaiser Leon to reverse the card advantage situation and loses. Claret decks out by a one card margin against DOTX in a game that would have otherwise been sealed... 3-2 for the team, GG guys, we out. They earned it.<br />
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Overall we're not upset. We had a good time, all our opponents were pretty cool guys who were more than willing to explain things like we were, and we never caught wind of any nasty rule sharking cases or what have you. The event was run very well. No re-pairing, no major delays between rounds, a very outgoing staff that was more than willing to lend a hand where there was confusion...<br />
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For reference, we took off at 1:45 or so to go eat, lol. So I can't say personally what/who topped or anything. There were 7 rounds before the top cut, though.<br />
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If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-64305077199697021152016-03-23T07:25:00.001-07:002016-03-23T07:26:23.847-07:00Oh your God<div style="text-align: center;">
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I'm usually not too vocal when Bushiroad screws something up. But they <i>really</i> screwed this up.</div>
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<i>[Stride]-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down.<br />[AUTO] Generation Break 2:[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a face down card named "Genesis Dragon, Trance-else Messiah" from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit is placed on (VC), if you have a heart card with "Messiah" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, lock all rear-guards of all fighters, and unlock all locked cards other than the cards locked with this effect. </i></div>
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(Name is a placeholder as always. Who knows what the intention behind this one is...)</div>
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*ahem* So, let me get this straight. If I'm sitting on Alter Ego Messiah and I can't use his stride skill for lack of a card to lock, I can just use this to mass lock all the things.<i> </i> </div>
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But why? It's GB2, which means it's competing with Big Crunch, who for the most part has better synergy with the Messiah deck by leaving some lingering locks for Amnesty or Excelics to take advantage of. What's more, Big Crunch can be used when you're sitting on your alternate Grade 3 - who isn't a Messiah - whatever it may be.</div>
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And in the event I <i>do</i> have a field, I can at best keep one card (and X number of circles) unlocked, if I have counterblasts for both this and Alter Ego. I also probably need some rear-guards that can unlock cards to make the most of it, which are awkward fits when Amnesty and Excelics are already doing that job on most turns. On the turns they aren't? Well... it's not like Big Crunch is making me lock any of my own cards.</div>
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This thing is just <i>awkward</i>. More so when you consider the G Persona cost in a G Zone already loaded with them: 1 Blizza, 3 Amnesty, 2 Excelics, 2 Big Crunch. Where could it POSSIBLY go without removing your win conditions?! </div>
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I'm not really convinced Alter Ego's GB2 is so ridiculously powerful that it'd be unreasonable to give Link Joker a theme stamped method of G Zone acceleration on the first stride, but for the time being, Bushiroad seems to be afraid of it.</div>
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Such as it is. Maybe next time, Ibuki. </div>
Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-26001860460177375242016-03-20T11:34:00.002-07:002016-03-20T11:34:56.357-07:00Implying Implications<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh, boy! Here we go.</div>
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It seems the secrecy surrounding the RRs in Fighter's Collection 2016 is finally over. For the most part. We're not getting an official explanation until April 4th. But damn if this isn't a bombshell reveal either way!</div>
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<i>Sacred Tree Dragon, Rain Breath Dragon</i> is the first in a new line of cards called G-Guardians. Unlike prior G-Units, G-Guardians do not have printed power and presumably do not have the Stride ability. Instead, as their name implies, they have a new kind of ability that allows you to call them as guardians from your G Zone. They have an inherent shield value of 15000. They also sport a fancy green border for easy identification.</div>
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Rain Breath in particular allows the player to call a card from hand to rear-guard, and if they did, Rain Breath gains an additional 5000 shield. </div>
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While the conditions surrounding the use of G-Guardians are still a total mystery, it appears as though the generic cost of using them is discarding a card with a Heal Trigger, further reinforcing the importance of playing four.</div>
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So what does this mean for the game?</div>
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It's definitely another option we'll be glad to have! The base effect generated by doubling the shield value of one, <i>maybe</i> two cards in a given game is somewhat difficult to gauge. However, since 31K rear-guards are still rather rare, I imagine G-Guardians will go the distance in making sure you don't have to drop four cards from your hand on rear-guard swings nearly as often as you do right now.<br />
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G-Guardians also provide a significant nerf to guard restriction effects since they aren't called from the hand. They won't hold up against easily repeatable instances of it, but having outs where you might not have had any before is really nice.<br />
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I can also think of numerous decks (mostly of the Legion-centric variety) that never come anywhere close to using all of their G-Units in a game, so having G-Guardians as a more practical means to fill space will be a significant boon to those decks. Could we see a resurgence of DOTX? Thing Saver? Raizers? Musketeers? The sky is the limit as far as I'm concerned.<br />
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And if it were possible to use a G-Guardian as soon as both players hit G3? Just think of how dramatically that would impact how people play! No longer would the first stride be met without recourse - you'd have to deal with your opponent's GB2 units right out of the gate if they came across a heal to drop in time. It's the ultimate motivation for riding.<br />
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We'll just have to wait and see what the final verdict is.</div>
Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-41368338450824857452016-03-18T11:45:00.000-07:002016-03-18T11:45:58.360-07:00My Little Sister Can't be This Terrible<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Disclaimer: Kirino a shit</span></i> </div>
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After the reveal of <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Flower_Princess_of_Perpetual_Summer,_Verano" target="_blank">Verano</a> on Tuesday's weekly stream, I had a feeling we'd be seeing the headlining Oracle Think Tank card from Fighter's Collection 2016 in short order - you know, for the sake of lining up with the fight featured in the coming episode of Vanguard G. Lo and behold, I was right on the money. She's here!<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>導きの天神 ワカヒルメ / Heavenly Deity of Guidance, Wakahirume</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>[Stride]-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down.<br />[AUTO](VC) Generation Break 2 Oracle (This ability is active when you have five or more cards in your hand):[Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1) & Choose a face down card named "Heavenly Deity of Guidance, Wakahirume" from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card, choose a card from your hand, and put it on the top of your deck.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">For all my familiarity with how Bushiroad designs Oracle Think Tank cards, they continually manage to find new ways to catch me off guard and make me question my own sanity. Even within the context of this set alone, this card is very strange because every other GR thus far has featured generic G-blast costs and incremental gains for each copy of them you've used. Wakahirume isn't having any of that. About the only thing she shares in common with the set theme is being a generic card toting its clan's keyword (or supporting said keyword where it's exclusive to rear-guards).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">What Wakahirume does is profoundly simple. At no loss or gain to your overall card count, you're able to place any one card from your hand on top of your deck when she attacks a Vanguard. Token interactions with a handful of Magus cards (which <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/One_Who_Views_the_Planet,_Globe_Magus" target="_blank">Globe</a> better compliments in the first place) aside, this serves a single purpose - to re-activate the trigger of any card you're currently holding.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.pojo.biz/board/showpost.php?p=31736960&postcount=461" target="_blank">My knee-jerk reaction</a> was very similar to most of yours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Taking a step back, I recalled my first impressions for <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Destroyer_Battle_Deity,_Kamususanoo" target="_blank">Kamususanoo</a> and <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Moon_Deity_Who_Governs_Night,_Tsukuyomi" target="_blank">Deity Tsukuyomi</a>. Both were equally as poor, yet both cards in time proved to be integral parts of my deck. With that being the case? I couldn't just stew in regret and anger. I figured Wakahirume had to have some at least <i>some</i> merit. So one by one, I began to break down her applications (mostly as they apply to Tsukuyomi).</span></div>
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Ensuring a <u>critical trigger</u> makes Wakahirume comparable to the likes of <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Holy_Dragon,_Saint_Blow_Dragon" target="_blank">Saint Blow</a> or <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Jester_Demonic_Dragon,_Lunatec_Dragon" target="_blank">Lunatech</a>. If an opponent is sitting at 3 or more damage, they need to block her or risk the very likely scenario of shooting up to 6 damage straight away. If they're at 4 or more damage, not only do they need to block Wakahirume, but also the rear-guard that received the trigger instead. In this respect she's actually a little better than either of the aforementioned cards.</div>
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Ensuring a <u>heal trigger</u> turns Wakahirume into a ghetto <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Holy_Seraph,_Raphael" target="_blank">Raphael</a>, allowing you to further conserve your hand and drag out the game leading into the win conditions you planted in the deck earlier.</div>
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Ensuring a <u>draw trigger</u> is the only way Wakahirume generates a raw plus, but considering their nonexistent impact on the opponent, it's not worth doing unless you have no other choice (though I'd question why the draws are in your Oracle Think Tank deck to begin with). <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Sword_Deity_of_the_Thunder_Break,_Takemikazuchi" target="_blank">Takemikazuchi</a> covers the proactive self-advantage niche far more effectively and without any ties to the Oracle keyword.</div>
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Ensuring a <u>stand trigger</u> is effective in sealing games against opponents who feel better holing up at 5 damage, and in other instances allows you another go at pushing home the effects of cards like <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Shrewd_Concierge" target="_blank">Shrewd Concierge</a>. It was difficult to justify the use of stand triggers prior to the introduction of Wakahirume because it diluted your concentration of criticals. You needed as many of those as you could get to compensate for blind draws and soul charges regularly stealing them from you, else you'd end up in situations where you literally could not win the game due to lacking enough power and attack frequency to overcome opposing heals in the late game. Furthermore, any nominal stand count you may have tried using tended to end up pointless for the same reason - you'd just blind draw or soul charge them all the time and never net their effects. With Wakahirume on the table this is no longer true. You can easily activate any kind of trigger any time you want even if there aren't any left in your deck. I appreciate that a lot. It's a wonder to consistency.</div>
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Since your opponent does not necessarily know which type of trigger you're throwing on top, they could end up playing in such a way that makes them more vulnerable to one type or another, and you can adapt accordingly. </div>
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Wakahirume also has a heavy impact on how one can arrange stacks of cards they see with the Tsukuyomi line. You always <i>want</i> to set up triple triggers, but it's often not possible to do so because there are only so many revealed at a time. This led to, say, situations where you'd place two crits at the tail end of five cards in the hopes of being able to pair them up with a third at the beginning of the next five cards, and even that didn't always come to fruition. With Wakahirume in tow, you don't need to fear placing a mere pair of triggers together - she'll turn it into a triple for you, and you can always safely place them at the topmost point in the stack. This is nice, as I can recall a number of games I've lost because I had to wait out another two or three cards than I was actually capable of sifting through at the time.</div>
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Being a vanguard-contained method to pull just one card out of the deck as opposed to two, four, or five also plays a significant role in keeping the flow of the game on track.</div>
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On the whole, it definitely <i>seems</i> like Wakahirume covers enough niche situations to warrant play alongside the other niche G Units in one of the game's more niche decks. Whether I'd settle for two or displace Kamususanoo entirely and gun for four copies is something I've yet to determine. Only testing will tell.</div>
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...what, the costs and conditions? They actually don't concern me <i>too</i> much. On average, Tsukuyomi is a very resource-light deck, only ever tempting fate in the outlying games where G3 Susanoo has to take center stage. I've often contemplated the removal of Ame-no-Sagiri in favor of a traditional perfect guard, in fact. But I digress, the Oracle keyword is the largest factor in how playing four Wakahirume could backfire. It's a very naturally occurring condition for <i>rear-guards</i> to meet, but it's kind of tricky for a <i>Vanguard</i> to do so in a more intense game where you've had to guard a lot. Does that make her more of a "win harder" card as opposed to something legitimately helpful? Ehhh... maybe it would if we weren't talking OTT. Even when you're in a good spot you aren't necessarily in total control. Asserting dominance is hard.</div>
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I'll admit I do have a hard time picturing the Magus, Battle Sister and Witch decks ever wanting to stride Wakahirume as opposed to their own themed options that scale really well to the situation themselves, but what do I care? I don't play those enough anyway. :^)</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>tl;dr</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I give this adorable little shit a "not worthless" out of "why so stingy, bushi?" and hope the best for OTT's RR in FC2016.</b></span></div>
Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-84776876707210661652016-03-13T15:07:00.003-07:002016-03-13T15:07:55.149-07:00Quick fixes from BT06Headed to the Chicago Team League? Too cheap to buy into a case the day before the event? Haven't done any testing? Never fear, this bird is here to spill the beans on some fairly fast and painless additions you can make to your decks that will make a world of difference to their performance.<br />
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<u>Royal Paladin</u><br />
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That shiny new Altmile? Irrelevant! The cards you <i>really</i> need to hunt down are all R and below - <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Favorite_Disciple_of_Light_and_Darkness,_Llew" target="_blank">Llew</a>, <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Floral_Paladin,_Flogal" target="_blank">Flogal</a>, and <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Blaster_Friend,_Barcgal" target="_blank">Barcgal</a>. Throwing extra attacks at your opponent works at any stage of the game, and the possibilities only continue to snowball later on with sweeping power-ups such as that of Sanctuary Guard Regalie. <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Scouting_Owl" target="_blank">Scouting Owl</a> is a pretty neat way to steal games, too.<br />
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<u>Shadow Paladin</u><br />
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A single <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Dragon,_Spectral_Blaster_%22Diablo%22" target="_blank">Spectral Blaster</a> will vastly improve anything you have without throwing your dynamic at all. A set of <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Vigor_Revenger,_Maul" target="_blank">Maul</a> revolutionizes Raging Form/Abyss, and die hard fans of Claret will find his pair of underlings, <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Graymyu" target="_blank">Graymyu</a> and <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Abyss_Summoner" target="_blank">Abyss Summoner</a>, at common. <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Cradle_Knight,_Oscar" target="_blank">Oscar</a> and <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Demon_Eye_Mage,_Alsur" target="_blank">Alsur</a> go a long way as well.<br />
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<u>Nova Grappler</u><br />
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Sadly, a bit more weight goes into fleshing out your existing Nova Grappler variants. <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Extreme_Battler,_Kabutron" target="_blank">Kabutron</a> is incredible for all, where Victor improves greatly with the addition of a pair of his G4, 4 soul-in to draw Crits, and sparing numbers of <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Extreme_Battler,_Arbarail" target="_blank">Arbarail</a> and <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Kumah_the_Destroyer" target="_blank">Kumah</a> or <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Extreme_Battler,_Malyaki" target="_blank">Malyaki</a>. Raizers need to become ultra xenophobic in order to benefit at all from their new kit, as do Beast Deities, and they aren't nearly so explosive or consistent as decks comparatively, so I wouldn't recommend them. There aren't enough rear-guards with Rush abilities to build a full deck around the set's secret champion, <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_Messenger,_Crystaldevil" target="_blank">Crystaldevil</a>. Oh, but if your deck is still a fan of stand triggers, <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Perfect_Referee_2.99" target="_blank">Perfect Referee</a> alongside your existing Energy Girls makes for some nauseating dunk potential.<br />
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<u>Pale Moon</u><br />
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You get a variety of new combo-tastic options in this set - <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Hoop_Master" target="_blank">Hoop Master</a> into Trapezist while <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Artillery_Man" target="_blank">Artillery Man</a> is on your Vanguard Circle has the potential to shut down an opponent's entire turn on the cheap, <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Silver_Thorn_Assistant,_Dixie" target="_blank">Dixie</a> works wonders for your existing Silver Thorn deck, and Harri's personal minions... er... have their fringe uses, including automatic 31K lanes with Darkside Princess. <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Curtain_Call_Announcer,_Mephisto" target="_blank">Mephisto</a> makes it possible to sport a full Magia G Zone and rewards you for doing so.<br />
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<u>Granblue</u><br />
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Seven Seas gets the cheaper deal by far, with only R and below cards being immediate requirements. <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Seven_Seas_Master_Swordsman,_Slash_Shade" target="_blank">Slash Shade</a>, <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Seven_Seas_Helmsman,_Nightcrow" target="_blank">Nightcrow</a>, <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Seven_Seas_Witch_Doctor,_Raceruler" target="_blank">Wraith Ruler</a>, and <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Skeleton_Cannoneer" target="_blank">Skeleton Cannoneer</a> vastly increase your play options. <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Ghostie_Great_King,_Obadiah" target="_blank">King Boo</a> is a godsend to any Granblue deck under the sun. And it's probably easy enough to manage a singleton <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Ghoul_Dragon,_Gast_Dragon" target="_blank">Gast Dragon</a> just about anywhere too.<br />
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<u>Neo Nectar</u><br />
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Bust out that Maiden of Legion deck, <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Maiden_of_Rambler" target="_blank">Rambler</a> and <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Maiden_of_Damascena" target="_blank">Damascena</a> are utterly nuts. Ahsha suffers heavily for having to buy up an entirely new deck featuring Bloom support.<br />
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<u>Cray Elemental</u><br />
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Can your deck recruit Grade 1s easily prior to gen break situations? Rustled by grade 2 stalling? <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Air_Elemental,_Twitterun" target="_blank">Air Elemental, Twitterun</a> has your back. Retweet: OP is a fag.<br />
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If you don't use any of these clans, rejoice with me - we don't have to change anything!Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-10183430547038755862016-03-11T00:32:00.001-08:002016-03-11T03:42:07.555-08:00IT'S LEGENDARY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The reborn apocalyptic flames - this is my true form!<br />
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What do you mean that isn't the correct image? Who the fuck is Toshiki Kai?! In all seriousness, though, this has been one hell of a Thursday night, and if you play Vanguard at all, I'm sure you already knew what the buzz was about before even wandering over to my nest.</div>
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<a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Dragonic_Overlord_%22The_Legend%22" target="_blank">Dragonic Overlord "The Legend"</a> finally hits the table, and we now have a complete picture of exactly where Bushiroad was going with all that support. Specifically, threatening to deck yourself out at light speed as you desperately punch away with <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Emperor_Dragon_Knight%2c_Nehalem" target="_blank">NeoNewNehalem</a> and remove threats with <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Dragonic_Burnout" target="_blank">Burnout</a>, who's easier than ever to use due to the search effects of <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Lava_Flow_Dragon" target="_blank">Lava Flow Dragon</a> and <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Lizard_General,_Conroe" target="_blank">Lizard General, Conroe</a> on top of striding just naturally fueling the drop.</div>
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There are a lot of hot topics being debated in regards to the remainder of the deck at the moment, so before I throw a deck list at you, I have to debunk something that the majority don't seem to grasp.</div>
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The combination of Dauntless Drive Dragon's Break Ride and The Legend's Generation Break is astonishingly mediocre. Since Dauntless cannot be activated if the new Vanguard has already stood that turn, it has to be used first. And you have to attack the opponent's Vanguard too - attacking the rear-guard puts The Legend's ability into standby, meaning that if you choose not to use it at that time, you cannot use it at all that turn. Such is the definition of [1/Turn]. The fact that you're attacking the Vanguard first means that as long as the opponent hasn't been a complete and utter moron, they can, at the very least, use all their intercepts (even if they don't want to guard otherwise) so as to prevent you from being able to attack a rear-guard to trigger The Legend after attacking the Vanguard to trigger Dauntless. In the end, it boils down to you having spent an extra grade 3 in order to point a second triple driving swing at the opponent's Vanguard than you would have been able to just sitting on The Legend. That may not sound too bad, but there are other hidden costs involved. For starters, you had Dauntless sitting on your Vanguard Circle for a certain period of time, during which he wasn't doing anything that any other unit couldn't. No plus, no particular threat to the opponent, nothing. It was making their life easy. Additionally you had to allow yourself to reach the 4 damage threshold for Limit Break - or include Mulciber in your deck - when you may not have necessarily wanted to. You're also playing fewer actual Overlords in total, so Burnout and The Ace suffer for it, not to mention Nehalem. It's not a package of issues I'd care to accept.</div>
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Dragonic Overlord (BT15) at least lets you swing at a rear-guard, counterblast 1 and drop 1 in order to net your six drive checks and most likely remove said rear-guard while not being a logic bomb to every single one of the deck's operations. Even then, I wouldn't use him either!</div>
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The real key to keeping up with an increasingly early game centered format is to bite back with your own batch of cards that don't sport needless restrictions like generation break or an opposing field being lined up in a certain way. You haven't forgotten the apocalypse brought about by Awakening of Twin Blades, have you?</div>
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...oh, you say you weren't around at the time? Fair enough. I'm talking about Dragonic Overlord the End. He's about as much of an atom bomb on the initial ride going first now as he was back then. Much more than either of your potential legions could ever be. And those aren't necessarily the worst inclusions either, but making space is difficult.</div>
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All things said and done, I've arrived at this initial draft.</div>
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3 (minimum) Supreme Heavenly Emperor Dragon, Dragonic Overlord "The Ace"</div>
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2 (minimum) Transcendence Divine Dragon, Nouvelle Vague L'Express</div>
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1 (minimum) Supreme Heavenly Emperor Dragon, Vortex Desire</div>
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2 other slots to be determined</div>
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3 Dragonic Overlord "The Legend"</div>
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4 Dragonic Overlord the End</div>
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1 Perdition Emperor Dragon, Dragonic Overlord the Great</div>
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1 Dragonic Blademaster</div>
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4 Emperor Dragon Knight, Nehalem</div>
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4 Dragonic Burnout</div>
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2 Armor of Flame Dragon, Bahr</div>
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1 Perdition Dragon, Dragonic Neoflame</div>
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4 Lava Flow Dragon</div>
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3 Lizard General, Conroe</div>
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2 Spear of Flame Dragon, Tahr </div>
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4 Protect Orb Dragon</div>
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1 Lizard Hero, Undeux</div>
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4 Mother Orb Dragon [HEAL]</div>
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4 Magnum Shot Dracokid [CRIT]</div>
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4 Blue Ray Dracokid [CRIT]</div>
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4 Gatling Claw Dragon [DRAW]</div>
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The emergency first stride The Ace play being as common as it is throws something of a wrench into the G Zone, as after using it you're left with two /other/ guys that probably won't ever get to do anything due to being on-hits as well as a 4th copy of The Ace that's dead, if you play that many. But for the slower games against other control-oriented decks, lacking a 4th copy of The Ace could very well get you killed since The Legend isn't exactly able to go face twice. 3 copies of The Ace is very manageable both ways, though, as if you /don't/ go into first stride The Ace, you can flip the extraneous third copy for Vortex Desire and still have a pair to use later. 4 Nouvelle seems kinda silly but may be the best overall option for its heal negating cheese. We'll have to see if Fighters Collection and GBT07 bring anything new to the table (HI BLADEMASTER, WHAT UP CRAY ELEMENTALS?) on this front. </div>
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Bahr and Tahr aren't strictly mandatory, but in my experience they help cover you in certain match-ups - Bahr against big bruisers with little to no control like the majority of United Sanctuary, and Tahr against glass cannons such as Nubatama and Spike Brothers that can easily overrun you if you don't command the pace of the game. Other options to consider are additional Neoflames, Burning Horn Dragon and Violence Horn Dragon, Calamity Tower, and even 8K or 10K vanillas. They all have merit.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
And I guess if you're still hung up on The X, you could... er... I dunno, play more G3s and scale back on The Legend? It's really not worth it, though. Legion looping went the way of the dodo after GBT02 and shows no real signs of returning to viability anytime soon. </div>
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The new era Overlord deck is looking to be fairly potent without being too terribly overbearing (except on one's wallet). It'll be interesting to see how the tournament format unfolds going into Team League continentals and beyond.</div>
</div>
Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-47030451066690630202016-02-26T10:31:00.001-08:002016-02-26T10:31:13.470-08:00I'm on a Rampage! the 3rd: Spike BrothersSo how 'bout them Superb Owl commercials?<br />
<br />
...yeah I thought so too. Anyway, it's time to close out my review of The RECKLESS RAMPAGE by visiting one of the game's oldest clans, the resident extreme sports professionals, Spike Brothers.<br />
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Ayyy lmao is the name of the game as always, with the Charge keyword being a natural extension to what Spike Brothers have always done; call whatever they want from the deck, get huge, and swing a lot for the kill. The catch-22, of course, is that the G Era deck references and generally depends on Charge as a keyword for any of their big plays to work, so whether you like it or not (you actually will), you have to cram as much of it into the equation as possible. And it works better than expected! Well. The G Zone leaves a little to be desired, I guess, but besides that!<br />
<br />
1 Great Villain, Dirty Picaro<br />
4 Shootdown King, Miracle Ace<br />
1 Super Heavy Tank, Tiger Centurion (okay, okay, now I know I've put off this review too long)<br />
2 Godly Speed, Flash Bruce<br />
<br />
4 Exceptional Expertise, Rising Nova<br />
2 Hive Maker<br />
2 Bulldozer Dobe<br />
<br />
4 Wink Killer, Misery<br />
4 Heave Wheeze<br />
1 Cobalt Impulse<br />
2 Devildom Chemist (or filler Brakki)<br />
<br />
4 Acrobat, Verdi<br />
4 Frog Raider<br />
4 Untouchable, Milly<br />
2 Moodmaker, Nyanrook<br />
<br />
1 Mecha Trainer<br />
4 Heal<br />
4 Silence Joker<br />
4 Liar Lips<br />
4 Draw<br />
<br />
Your primary objective is to stock up soul and hold out until your second stride turn, where Miracle Ace takes the stage. When one of your rear-guards returns to the deck, he lets you call a new one and give it or any other rear-guard of your choosing a nice 5K power buff. Ideally, you're passing all those buffs to Frog Raider as you continually call new charge units in front of him. And they have to be charge units (or self-spinners like Chemist), because neither Miracle Ace nor Rising Nova have the ability to remove units from the field themselves. Hence the absurdly high charge count in the deck. Yes, even on the perfect guards. You don't much care how small they are when the booster is fuckhuge. It's easy enough to get all this to come together, too, because Mecha, Rising, and Misery can just recruit whatever you want. There's basically no way for anyone to survive the play either. Which is good, because you're a dead man if they did!<br />
<br />
If you err towards something more conservative in nature, I have no idea why you're playing Spike Brothers, but they actually DID support a build that's a little less "all in" - Dudley Dragger.<br />
<br />
4 Dudley Geronimo<br />
1 Great Villain, Dirty Picaro<br />
2 Divine Hand, Good End Dragger <br />
1 Godly Speed, Flash Bruce<br />
<br />
4 Dudley Jessica<br />
2 Bad End Dragger<br />
2 Bulldozer Dobe<br />
<br />
4 Wink Killer, Misery <br />
4 Dudley Mason<br />
1 Cobalt Impulse<br />
2 Devildom Chemist<br />
<br />
4 Acrobat, Verdi<br />
4 Cheer Girl, Elza<br />
4 Kiss-mark, Alma<br />
2 Death Flag Dragger<br />
<br />
1 Mecha Trainer<br />
4 Heal<br />
4 Silence Joker<br />
2 vanilla Crits<br />
6 Draw<br />
<br />
Feel free to insert minor counts of Monti or Daisy or what have you if you feel the need. Usually Jessica is recruiting Mason or copies of herself, though.<br />
<br />
Jessica offers more stability on the defensive front, bumping up all your front row Dudley units by 2K at GB2 on both turns. In other words, she turns herself into a crossride for free, and that's nothing to scoff at (match-up pending). While you'd rather not burn a Geronimo as first stride, the option is there to net a free recruit and earn that defensive buff if you need it. In any other case, there's a Good End play leading straight into an explosive Jessica-Geronimo turn on the next round. Can't knock the consistency of everything searching everything else.<br />
<br />
And the best part about The RECKLESS RAMPAGE is that it didn't support Ogles at all sans the indirect buff to Dragger, which works wonders for the clan's inner diversity.<br />
<br />
All in all, the set worked wonders for every clan involved, and I'm fairly excited to see what the second one has in store for Murakumo, Great Nature, and Megacolony. Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-15847528601354575852016-02-18T13:14:00.000-08:002016-02-18T13:14:02.520-08:00Eagle, Y U NO POST?!I've been busy, okay?<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2fLMyHDHVSc/VsYzupVrEYI/AAAAAAAAAJs/P1e6Qo4GRJI/s1600/GOGOGOGOGO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2fLMyHDHVSc/VsYzupVrEYI/AAAAAAAAAJs/P1e6Qo4GRJI/s320/GOGOGOGOGO.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Gaining swag, mostly. Somehow I don't think I'm gonna make rank 1 by the end of the beta, but seeing as all the players at rank 1 and 2 I've run into so far have disconnected instead of taking losses legitimately like I've been, I'm not gonna be too beat up about that.Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-37417050834688855492016-02-14T00:33:00.001-08:002016-02-14T00:33:28.794-08:00I'm on a Rampage! Pt. 2: NubatamaAt this point we've basically solidified the theory that Vanguard's true ninjas only receive support once every two years and any and all power creep is made in an effort to prepare every <i>other</i> clan for the incoming Nubatama cards. Gotta maintain that balance!<br />
<br />
...seriously though, The RECKLESS RAMPAGE offers the strangest mixed bag for Mr. Mark's saikyou strongest clan.<br />
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For starters, like both Tachi and Spikes, Nubatama saw the introduction of a keyword ability to its arsenal - Afterimage. But where Engorge and Charge are essentially rehashes of what those clans have always done, Afterimage is... completely shoehorned?<br />
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<i>When a card is returned to your opponent's hand from their bind zone, if the number of cards in your hand is six or less, you may return this unit to your hand.</i><br />
<br />
Alright, alright, I can't deny it, Nubatama do have a history of requiring fewer cards in their hand than their opponent to activate their abilities. As such they need to be guarding and aggressively calling to meet that requirement. This in turn leaves them vulnerable in various ways. Afterimage attempts to rectify this by allowing you to field the cards as necessary and then keep them safe. Does it succeed? Well... yes and no.<br />
<br />
When one binds an opponent's card using effects like those of Tamahagane or Shiranui, they're typically aiming to remove those cards permanently with the on-hit abilities of Kuroko or Agitomaru. Doing so cripples the opponent, sometimes irreparably, and it's extremely cost-efficient. Opponents don't always have to bend over and take that, though - they can toss out a perfect guard or some such and retrieve their cards. That's where Afterimage comes in. It's nice, in theory, because it creates a "lose-lose" situation for your opponent no matter what they do.<br />
<br />
...but then you look at the effects the individual Afterimage cards.<br />
<br />
They're mostly vanilla beaters you don't have any particular use for because an opponent with a suffering hand isn't going to be able to guard them even if the attacks are lower in power. Some, like <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Stealth_Rogue_of_the_Wintry_Wind,_Kamojigusa" target="_blank">Kamojigusa</a>, are incredibly slow, not coming into play until turns 5 and beyond unless you get fairly lucky, and in her case, <i>actively work against your own keyword ability</i>. It's messed up, and I don't like it one bit.<br />
<br />
But the clan wasn't completely screwed on this round of support. They got an incredibly good stride leader in Shiranui, a really scary game ending boss in Atagolord, a situational lifesaver in Tsukumorakan, and a few more bind hate cards to take a bit of load off Kuroko. Hell, the resident Heart-thump and Amber clones play into the base Nubatama strategy better than anyone could have hoped. And man oh man does a well piloted Nuba deck ever trigger me, because it genuinely doesn't feel like there's anything one can ever do; you just die no matter how you play.<br />
<br />
Give my scrubby list a go if you want:<br />
<br />
1 Kuroko<br />
4 Heal<br />
12 Crit<br />
<br />
4 Stride fodder<br />
4 Dreadmaster<br />
4 PGG<br />
2 Fuuki<br />
<br />
4 Tamahagane<br />
4 Amber clone<br />
2 Agitomaru<br />
1 Glimmer clone<br />
<br />
4 Shiranui<br />
4 Kujikiricongo<br />
<br />
4 Atagolord<br />
1 Tsukumorakan<br />
1 Jyurorikan<br />
2 GedatsurakanElliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-43162034685304802072016-02-13T06:47:00.001-08:002016-02-13T06:47:39.045-08:00Dank BetaWell, the Cardfight!! Online closed beta seems to be working well enough despite my grievances with the engine. In the process of trying to snag more cards to dust for OTT junk so I can at least try to extreme fight with it, but it's slow going.<br />
<br />
Nubatama article soon. Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-31175434925207791482016-02-11T18:39:00.000-08:002016-02-11T18:39:13.818-08:00Steam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aSNjxh79WMo/Vr1FjRYa0iI/AAAAAAAAAJc/UeA5FtnIogo/s1600/waitingintensifies.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="103" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aSNjxh79WMo/Vr1FjRYa0iI/AAAAAAAAAJc/UeA5FtnIogo/s320/waitingintensifies.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<br />
<br />
Well I guess I should have expected this, but geez, this wait is gonna be immense.<br />
<br />
See you on CFO Beta tomorrow, folks.<br />
Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-21692289482203598342016-02-11T14:38:00.001-08:002016-02-11T14:39:05.862-08:00I'm on a Rampage! Part 1: TachikazeVanguard G's first Technical Booster is upon us. The RECKLESS RAMPAGE features promising cards for Nubatama, Tachikaze, and Spike Brothers decks both new and old, and while it's uncertain just how prominent any one deck in particular will be in the competitive field, a few things are undeniable. Each of these clans possess <i>a lot</i> of power and <i>maddening</i> combo potential. So without further adieu, let's start the examinations with everyone's favorite dinosaurs.<br />
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Tachikaze received 3 new G Units in this set: <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Destruction_Tyrant,_Twintempest" target="_blank">Destruction Tyrant, Twintempest</a> at GR, <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Absolute_Ruler,_Gluttony_Dogma" target="_blank">Absolute Ruler, Gluttony Dogma</a> at RRR, and <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Destructive_Equipment,_Hammer_Gewalt" target="_blank">Destructive Equipment, Hammer Gewalt</a> at R. All have earned places across the various Tachikaze G Zones, addressing different situations alongside the established Destruction Tyrant, Archraider and Super Ancient Dragon, Pearly Titan.<br />
<br />
Twintempest is decidedly a 1-of; its ability its costly, the GB2 restriction is a bit of a downer, and all in all it's fairly rare that you'll ever be presented with a situation where the hefty double-edged blow will cripple your opponent enough to squeeze out a win you might not have gotten otherwise.<br />
<br />
Gluttony Dogma, when not faced with the potential to have its rear-guards locked, is one of the scariest standing Vanguards to date. It doesn't cost any counterblasts and can even drive check 5 times in all so long as you're able to feed it the 5 rear-guards. What's more, the use of various cards like <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Emperor_Dragon,_Gaia_Emperor" target="_blank">Gaia</a>, <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Baby_Camara" target="_blank">Baby Camara</a>, Skyptero, and Iguanogorg can help mitigate the minus on your end and generate even <i>more</i> attacks. The synergy is immense. You're probably not going to get more than one shot as using it, though, so it seems best to keep Dogma at 2 and save your G Zone space for lower maintenance cards.<br />
<br />
Hammer Gewalt offers a catch-all method of retiring as many of your own cards as you want to set off various abilities, probably gaining more attacks in the process, while knocking out a pesky front row rear-guard on your opponent's end. It's not quite as powerful as Archraider, and being unable to knock out a grade 1 can be a bit of an issue, but that's the price one pays for it being a better team player.<br />
<br />
Oh right, speaking of Gewalt and Gaia and all that, the Tachikaze keyword Engorge is just a repeat of what they've always done; consume each other to inappropriately touch their opponent. It makes for an interesting experiment as a complete deck, what with having self-bouncing perfect guards and a clone of Silent Tom, but as with most G era builds it's a bit slow on the uptake and a little too combo dependent to make up for it with burst advantage when it starts striding. The forerunner and stride leader do some pretty silly things together, though. I've always missed Conroe in Kagero. Getting to use it 2-3 times in a game in Tachikaze? Unbelievable. Jigsawsaurus is probably the most potent amber clone to date that doesn't focus on generating more units, and Tank Mammoth is silly in any deck that isn't dedicated to some sort of Ancient Dragon boss.<br />
<br />
Those guys got a handful of new toys, too, for the record. And by those guys I mean Spinodriver. <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Ancient_Dragon,_Spinocommando" target="_blank">Jesus</a> <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Ancient_Dragon,_Hypnohang" target="_blank">fucking</a> <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Ancient_Dragon,_Nodtank" target="_blank">Christ</a>. Hit by an early game crit? No problem, just swing at your opponent's Grade 2 Vanguard 6 times to teach them a lesson. Not dead yet? First stride Pearly Titan for a 46K 2 crit attack!<br />
<br />
Sample list for the giggles:<br />
<br />
1 Ancient Dragon, Babyrex (FV)<br />
4 Ancient Dragon, Orinthhealer [HEAL]<br />
4 Ancient Dragon Flame Maiden [CRITICAL]<br />
4 Ancient Dragon, Dinodile [CRITICAL]<br />
4 Ancient Dragon, Titanocargo [DRAW]<br />
<br />
3 Prism Bird<br />
3 Ancient Dragon, Iguanogorg<br />
3 Ancient Dragon, Nodtank<br />
4 Ancient Dragon, Paraswall<br />
<br />
4 Ancient Dragon, Dinocrowd<br />
4 Ancient Dragon, Hypnohang<br />
3 Ancient Dragon, Tyrannobite<br />
<br />
4 Ancient Dragon, Spinodriver<br />
3 Ancient Dragon, Spinocommando<br />
2 Ancient Dragon, Tyrannolegend<br />
<br />
2 Absolute Ruler, Gluttony Dogma<br />
1 Destruction Tyrant, Twintempest<br />
2 Destruction Tyrant, Archraider<br />
1 Destructive Equipment, Hammer Gewalt<br />
2 Ancient Dragon, Pearly Titan<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-StXRfhOWmSw/Vr0NT0ZX6fI/AAAAAAAAAJM/BV5U6cGg6jg/s1600/Prehistoric%2BSnowballs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-StXRfhOWmSw/Vr0NT0ZX6fI/AAAAAAAAAJM/BV5U6cGg6jg/s320/Prehistoric%2BSnowballs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Aaand I've run out of words regarding these things. Have fun guys.Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-8512856225061571392016-02-11T11:55:00.005-08:002016-02-11T11:55:56.259-08:00Cardfight!! OnlineWave 2 beta codes go out tonight, it seems. Excited? I know I am. Even if I didn't make the list, I'm curious to see what tweaks they've made to the engine and card pool after a week of testing and review.Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-79073918595591075522016-02-10T11:39:00.004-08:002016-02-10T18:22:30.029-08:00Just Shoot MeI may just hold off on discussing G-BT06 until the whole thing spoils. Wouldn't want to take it piecemeal without knowing the whole picture in regards to the contents, especially not after G-BT05 proved that commons can completely revolutionize a concept.<br />
<br />
Today I want to talk Angel Feather. A rogue until it managed to win the North American continentals in a sea of (mostly Shadow) Paladins, the G-era deck proved its worth to the masses and has seen a steady growth in popularity. It's even gotten new toys since then - namely Love Sniper, Nociel. And boy did she ever fix the driving force behind why people may not have wanted to play Angel Feather! With two skills that can be used unhindered by Generation Break, the new deck gained mid game potential that's sorely needed these days. Take a look.<br />
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1 Black Candle, Azrael [FV]<br />
4 Sunny Smile Angel [HEAL]<br />
4 Critical Hit Angel [CRITICAL]<br />
4 Happy Bell, Nociel [STAND]<br />
4 Doctroid Refros [STAND]<br />
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4 Thousand Ray Pegasus<br />
2 Black Call, Nakir<br />
4 Pure Keeper, Requiel<br />
4 Battle Cupid, Nociel<br />
<br />
4 Nurse of Broken Heart<br />
2 Million Ray Pegasus<br />
4 Love Machine Gun, Nociel<br />
1 Dreamlight Unicorn<br />
<br />
4 Love Sniper, Nociel<br />
4 Black Shiver, Gavrail<br />
<br />
4 Holy Seraph, Raphael<br />
1 Holy Seraph, Raziel<br />
2 Holy Seraph, Nociel<br />
1 Snow Element, Blizza<br />
<br />
There's a bit of deviation from the established Gavrail-centric deck. For starters, the trigger lineup has shifted to accommodate Happy Bell, Nociel as a valuable enabler for Love Sniper. It's not a bad deal since the rear guard lanes get big mclarge huge anyway, dealing hefty blows even through a hand filled with sentinels. Battle Cupid and Love Machine Gun have also been bumped up to 4 from their previous station of 2. Other than that it's pretty much the same driving strategy. Swap cards around, get really big both offensively and defensively, filter the deck to a point of being majority triggers, abuse heal buffers, so on and so forth. Sniper in tandem with Cupid and Broken Heart can even lead to some pretty ridiculous developments where you guard your way through a turn and end up with <i>more</i> cards in your hand than when it started. Her effects can snowball just as hard as Refros alone is known to.<br />
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Nevermind combining them... jebus.<br />
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With the anime turning back towards the United Sanctuary branch, I'm fairly curious about whether or not we'll see the return of Rin and further expansion of the clan in G-BT07. Not quite as much as I'd like to see considerable Genesis buffs from Shouma, but still!Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-62622813907574101332016-02-09T21:48:00.001-08:002016-02-09T21:48:37.749-08:00Pot o' GoldSpoilers run rampant as of late, but screw your Spectral Blaster Diablos and your G-ranblues for a moment (just a moment, I promise, I'll get to those soon enough!) and check out the deets on G-SD02: Knight of the Sun.<br />
<br />
*52 card pre-constructed deck featuring Taiyou's Gold Paladins<br />
*19 types of cards in the main deck, 14 new and 5 reprint (plus 2 copies of a new G Unit)<br />
*Among the new cards are units with the "Unite" ability, as well as 2 perfect guards<br />
*Among the reprints are Gurguit, Golboduc, and Flame of Victory with new art<br />
*something about fewer RRR cards compared to TDs, but who cares<br />
*Clan Card<br />
*Fight Guide<br />
*1 PR "Golden Dragon, Scourge Point Dragon" included<br />
*All for 500yen + Tax<br />
*On sale April<br />
<br />
Holy shit the value. <br />
<br />
I've been looking forward to the expansion of this particular paladin flavor for awhile now, having appreciated the new design space Gurguit and friends explored. Done a lot of speculation in regards to how his "second-wave clones" would work. I suppose that's neither here nor there given the imminent shoehorning of buzzwords, but to see it all happen in such an affordable and convenient package is <i>insane</i>. The new precedent for reprints is mind-numbing too. Time Dergs, now Bling Knights... who could be next?!<br />
<br />
Now to be fair, it wouldn't surprise me if the contents ended up entirely uninspired and less than competitive. Given how the tech booster went over, though? I think I'll maintain cautious optimism.Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-60053237700458387892016-02-09T12:15:00.002-08:002016-02-09T12:15:24.914-08:00This post is for the birdsPREVIOUSLY ON CARDFISTICUFFS!!<br />
<br />
eGale ranted about pointless bullshit, posted a lot of theory-oh in regards to decks and upcoming releases, occasionally talked about game rules, gave knee-jerk reactions to news, and expressed many <strike>terrible</strike> opinions!<br />
<br />
NEXT TIME ON CARDFISTICUFFS!!<br /><br />Absolutely nothing changes!<br />
<br />
So I didn't exactly go anywhere, but anyone who knows me is probably familiar with the circular nature through which my interests flow and just how much that can affect my motivation and attention span in regards to upkeep for personal projects such as this blog. Apologies are due.<br />
<br />
That said, I'm in a fairly good mood regarding Vanguard a year into the G era. Most new decks (and old decks that have received new cards, for that matter) are fun, even for the clans I <a href="http://cardfisticuffs.blogspot.com/2015/01/that-which-does-not-stick.html" target="_blank">spit toxins at</a> in the past. News flow is more frequent and consistent than it used to be as well, so there's plenty to talk about on any day of the week.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned. Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-42405528532493143012015-01-16T12:48:00.000-08:002015-01-16T12:49:13.516-08:00Bubble SortI'm edgier than I thought. <br />
<br />
-<br />
Oracle Think Tank<br />
Granblue<br />
Aqua Force<br />
Shadow Paladin<br />
Link Joker<br />
Genesis<br />
Kagero <br />
Bermuda Triangle<br />
Royal Paladin<br />
Angel Feather<br />
Nubatama<br />
Megacolony<br />
Gold Paladin<br />
Pale Moon<br />
Gear Chronicle<br />
Great Nature<br />
Neo Nectar<br />
Dimension Police<br />
Narukami<br />
Dark Irregulars<br />
Tachikaze<br />
Spike Brothers<br />
Nova Grappler<br />
Murakumo<br />
-Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-58880658218670667162015-01-15T18:42:00.003-08:002015-01-15T18:42:51.754-08:00Moon Magic RevistedIt may be an understatement to say it's been awhile since I posted anything excessively in depth. I mean, it's been years, right? So it's only appropriate that I start anew by bringing ye olde Tsukuyomi theory up to speed.<br />
<br />
For starters, a <b>sample deck list</b>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span id="intelliTxt">1 Godhawk, Ichibyoshi<br />
3 Lozenge Magus<br />
1 Sphere Magus<br />
4 Psychic Bird<br />
4 Assault Dive Eagle<br />
4 Oracle Guardian, Nike<br />
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4 Goddess of the Crescent Moon, Tsukuyomi<br />
4 Mediator, Amenosagiri<br />
4 Divine Sword, Amenomurakumo<br />
1 Battle Sister, Lemonade<br />
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4 Goddess of the Half Moon, Tsukuyomi<br />
4 Diviner, Kuroikazuchi<br />
4 Promise Daughter<br />
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4 Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi<br />
4 Supreme Heavenly Battle Deity, Susanoo<br />
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4 Sword Deity of Divine Sound, Takemikazuchi<br />
2 Soaring Auspicious Beast, Quilin<br />
2 Snow Element, Blizza</span></i></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt">There's more room for customization than you might think - <b>the only truly mandatory cards are Ichibyoshi and the Crescent and Half Moons</b>. Well... as far as the main deck is concerned, anyway. The G Zone isn't quite so flexible. You need those Quilin and Takemikazuchi, and a power attacking generic is appreciated during end game scenarios.</span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt">However, no matter what you choose to serve you in the remaining 41 slots, your goal should be the same. <b>Arrange the cards you see from the ride chain skills in such a way that you can hit triple triggers later</b>, preferably multiple times. Moreover, it helps to remember what types those triggers were, and it's a basic requirement that you count perfectly so as to fire off that stack in proper fashion. With this knowledge, it becomes rather easy to close games no matter the situation, as even if the opponent is paying close enough attention to your deck progress, they won't necessarily be able to do anything about what's to come.</span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt">Unlike older incarnations of the Tsukuyomi deck, <b>it's no longer imperative that you ride through the Moons smoothly</b>; doing so is merely a bonus. This is because your G Zone now houses multiple additional ways to expand your hand and stack, so you are both able to last longer and dig further while setting up more. As a result, <b>you'll almost always want to ride whatever you happen to have</b> (with rare exceptions when going first) so as to keep up with your opponent and Stride your way into an increasingly better situation. It's worth noting that a</span><span id="intelliTxt"><span id="intelliTxt"> Full Moon penalized with a power
drop is far less likely to lose you a game now, because your G Units still
inherit the printed power of 11000 and are able to use their skills
unhindered. Do try to clear out 12K beaters in this situation, though.
They'll still hurt pretty badly on the defensive.</span></span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt"><span id="intelliTxt"></span>Another rather profound benefit to the new Stride-centric model is that <b>you don't need to extend a booster for the Vanguard most of the time</b>. This is great for many reasons, especially for the sample build. Because half of the already limited number of solid boosters (7!) have a tendency to become Stride fodder first, you'd much rather save the remainder for your rear-guard lanes. Meanwhile, that empty back circle leaves a convenient space to drop nice techs like Lemonade or Milk when the time comes. There's also a certain value in swinging with a lone Quilin; opponents are far more inclined to guard when it's only clocking in at 26K, and in doing so, they leave themselves with that much less to survive oncoming rounds.</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt">As the Oracle Think Tank pool has grown significantly over the years, <b>I'd rather not touch on every single card as it relates to this deck</b> (although most don't, truthfully), but to remain in the same vein as my older articles, I'll gladly touch on the ones I feel are best and otherwise high profile candidates.</span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt"><u>Grade 3</u></span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Grade 3 Susanoo</b></span><span id="intelliTxt">: </span><span id="intelliTxt">Balanced almost to a fault, I find myself appreciating but not regularly requiring the headlining boss of G-BT01 to be in my Vanguard Circle. This is because Kuroikazuchi generates the same card for the same cost, and generally speaking, I'm making a conscious effort to slow my progress through the deck to ensure I don't go doing something silly like overshooting the stack by one or firing off a nice band of triggers too early. However, therein lie his greatest strengths; he's a deadly pressure unit in slower games. His GB2 is especially threatening if your opponent has been guarding those Quilins. He closes damage gaps generated by excessive healing. He offers the means to jump through the deck by two, something no other single card does. On the other hand, he doesn't provide a means to fire back against an early game rush when going first like the Full Moon can. He's shut off entirely by rogue decks that stay on Grade 2 or less. There's nothing objectively <i>better</i> to use than him, though, so I've made the effort to finesse each of his benefits to the greatest extent I can.</span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Grade 3 Tsukuyomi</b>: Far from a requirement, but I appreciate it above other options for two main reasons. The first is that it offers a play prior to Stride territory, so long as you ride the chain all the way up and use a Psychic Bird. The second and perhaps more important reason is that a superior ride into the Full Moon means one additional Grade 3 is free to become stride fodder or even enter play as a rear-guard. With no traditional beaters amongst the top end of my current build, the only way to make an 18K lane to tackle a rogue crossride is with these. Other situations may still call for a column of 11K + 5K. It's not a freedom to be understated.</span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Battle Sister, Mille Feuille</b>: A more straightforward and easy-to-use Full Moon that trades the ability to be searched for a permanent 11K body. Not much to say. Good is good. Not reusable until you can Stride, though.</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"><u>Grade 2</u> </span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Diviner, Kuroikazuchi</b>: A direct upgrade to Libra in both cost and effectiveness. There's no reason not to use him, really, unless you're really good at piloting Stellar Magus or something.</span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Promise Daughter</b>: The simplest means of making your final push. An opponent at five damage is forced to feed you an extra card at the cost of one of yours, one that you likely won't be missing, especially if it means the opponent is losing on the spot.</span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Silent Tom</b>: The old monster is back, though his lust for an 8K boost still persists. Thankfully, you can play upwards of 8 now, if you're willing to restructure the deck a bit. But that's my problem with him - I'd rather play other, more flexible Grade 1s.</span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Diviner, Shinatsuhiko</b>: A card to keep in mind as crossrides drop in and out of viability. Not so relevant as I type, but you know how things go...</span><span id="intelliTxt"> and he's definitely the easiest 12K beater to maintain anyway.</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"><u>Grade 1</u> </span></div>
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Divine Sword, Amenomurakumo</b>:</span><span id="intelliTxt"> Securing Susanoo at the expense of shuffling the deck will rarely be worthwhile. No, the main application of this card is serving as additional Stride food when it's not busy boosting. And you'd be surprised at just how often that can be when toting a twelve crit lineup and GB-locked draws out the nuts. Moving on...</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>8K Vanillas</b>: Aside from being a requirement for Tom, they do have a couple benefits innate to themselves. They're nice rides when the Crescent Moon falls through, and they make 17K lanes with just about anything on turn two, perfect for beating 7K Grade 1 rides over the head in the event you went first.</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Mediator, Amenosagiri</b>: I find that a good 99% of the time, the inability to protect a rear-guard with the new era Perfect Guards is irrelevant, especially for OTT. The other 1% of the time I'm getting donked by Bluish Flames because GOD DAMN IT I NEED THOSE INTERCEPTS. I'm... surprisingly okay with a DOTE in Legion going off, though. At any rate, the unflip is positively wonderful, more than enough to offset a rare grieving. Each CB is another card, after all. And you can obtain and use all your PGs rather easily in this deck, for a total of three. Sweet deal.</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Dark Cat</b>: For the more aggressive types. Just one tends to be enough to flood the field with a complete formation on turn two, as has been the case in ages past. I dropped it, though, because I was finding it gave Kagero the ability to survive long enough to deck me out. Consistently. And that's not nice!</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Weather Girl, Milk</b>: 36K in the center is no joke. It's easy to maintain the power bump now, too.</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Battle Sister, Lemonade</b>: As resource deflation occurred, this little number's value increased, and now she's outshining Luck Bird for the most part. As she should - she's got a one or two turn delay for which to compensate.</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Tankman Mode Morning Star</b>: For Amaterasu variants. Don't consider otherwise.</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"><b>Battle Sister, Lollipop</b>: For Battle Sister variants. Both Parfait and Monaka are powerful options with her in tow. I... suppose you could try her with a Magus variant too, but I wouldn't bother personally. Lack of space and homogeneity and all that.</span><br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"><u>Grade 0</u></span></div>
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<b>CRITS!!!</b></div>
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...what?</div>
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...okay, okay, <b>Heals</b> are still god tier, and you still want four. They expand your shenanigans in many ways, including the game stealing no guard on a massive lane that would have otherwise won were you not an evil asshole who stacked it.</div>
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But speaking from experience, <b>Draws</b> do absolutely nothing here. Every drive check that features one is better off being a crit to advance the game state, and every damage check that features one is just another step closer to deck out territory. The drop in overall shield value you eat for running them is rather harsh.</div>
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<b>Stands</b> don't make such a good fit either. They call for a lot of beaters at 11K and higher, and even if you were to pack as many as you feasibly could, there wouldn't really be enough in the deck to justify them. Maybe Battle Sisters could do it at a stretch, but you definitely want to stay away from Nono. She doesn't even stall deck decay like Lozenge can in vital moments.</div>
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Aaand since OTT doesn't have any nice tech G0s to look at, I think we're done!</div>
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<b>Now sally forth with your new found (or refined) image of victory!</b></div>
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Feel free to ask me any questions you may have regarding specific plays, match-ups, etc. The line is always open. By which I mean the comment section. And Pojo. And every so often Skype.<b> </b></div>
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Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-36060712958584710392015-01-11T12:28:00.001-08:002015-01-11T12:28:36.720-08:00Hype train reconvenesOne busy day and you suddenly don't feel like keeping up with the blog at all. Das not nice, life.<br />
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The World Grand Prix finals in both WS and VG featured the most ludicrously over the top games I've ever seen on screen, and in addition to that, GTD03 and GTD04 were being sold, so we finally got to see some of the critical elements of the up and coming G decks that we've been missing. Namely, Amber clones!<br />
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Over at Neo Nectar, no one is surprised -<a href="http://blog-imgs-79.fc2.com/2/c/r/2critical/B7C_EZgCIAIL_72.jpg" target="_blank"> this lovely lady</a> requires CB1 when her boosted attack targets the vanguard at GB1 in order to duplicate one of the other units you have in play. You're pretty much only ever going to clone boosters with her, unfortunately.<br />
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But Aqua Force's <a href="http://blog-imgs-79.fc2.com/2/c/r/2critical/B7C_FJ7CMAALfbu.jpg" target="_blank">Magnum Assault</a> breaks new ground. With the same GB1 CB1 and boost against VG requirements, and an added once per turn clause, he gets to stand with a bonus 2000 power. This means he's inherently making two meaningful attacks, and much like Tidal Assault, he can activate on any attack count, making him a very real threat, especially in a more critical-oriented deck such as Tetra Drive. Oh, but he has to use his ability the first time the condition is met, or he gets locked out of it. So if you intend to cheese with other standing abilities, be sure you send him into a rear-guard first to get the most of his shenanigans.<br />
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Also, the latest episode of Vanguard G featured a glimpse of the assumed RRR G Unit for Aqua Force. Costs aside, it appears to stand your front row rear-guards if it attacks fourth, really driving home the "death by a thousand pokes" strategy. Whether it does anything else (like buff up those units) has yet to be seen, but it's no doubt a powerful asset to the Aqua Force arsenal.<br />
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A certain High Tide guy is being kept under wraps, though. Kind of annoying.Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-52218388480403840072015-01-06T02:14:00.001-08:002015-01-06T02:14:59.480-08:00I-I'm over hereOn one hand, the spoilers popped up when expected. On the other, they were kind of the polar opposite of what I was expecting. Rather than dumping all of GBT02's foils on us, we got a bunch of (supposed) rares and commons instead. And it's a mixed bag of interesting for sure.<br />
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No Aqua Force deck will hurt for additional attacks again thanks to the new GB1 battle sirens. One is able to attack from the back row and gets bumped from 6K to 9K when she does, making her extremely flexible. The other totes Resist while turning anything she boosts into Tidal Assault for CB1 SB1. The trial deck stand trigger also swaps itself with any of your other RGs after it performs an attack, then shuffles itself back into the deck. The ultimate whiff!<br />
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Neo Nectar appears to be going the Dark Irregulars route, pumping all your clones to absurd levels of power immediately after you field them. Kind of a yawn fest, but I guess it's distinction enough from the paladins. Musketeers have been gifted a second critical trigger that also unflips 2 when called through a Musketeer effect. Crazy.<br />
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Great Nature has it pretty good with a second legion that generates even more advantage than the foxes as well as a cool phoenix of sorts for a G Unit. It gives +4K to two rear-guards when it attacks and retires them at the end phase.<br />
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Narukami claims a new identity - "Your stuff is gone forever!"<br />
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When your G Unit strides, Dragonic Vanquisher lets you CB1 to retire a unit in the front row and then bind it face-down. Their on-hit G Unit retires one of the opponent's choice, then has you bind two cards in their drop zone face-down. Granblue beware! Link Joker must by mad that their manga gimmick was stolen, though.<br />
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Gear Chronicle and Royal Paladin evidently don't exist.Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059860820641155667.post-33485783088371284432015-01-04T19:54:00.000-08:002015-01-04T19:54:10.086-08:00The calm before the Storm...is actually quite a mother load in and of itself.<br />
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Today's Card on the Japanese Cardfight Vanguard website has made a couple of incredible reveals in advance of Monthly Bushiroad's arrival tomorrow night.<br />
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The first is <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Blue_Storm_Marine_General%2c_Despina" target="_blank">Blue Storm Marine General, Despina</a>. While criticals are generally accepted as suboptimal triggers in Maelstrom decks, I think the majority are going to make room for her, especially since G Units adopt the name of the Vanguards they Stride. It just makes sense since your primary means to generate advantage - Marios and Tidal Bore - both need to hit. Additionally, in the off event you're sitting at 5 damage, Glory Maelstrom locks out guarding entirely, making for one hell of a wicked finisher.<br />
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The other is <a href="http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Blue_Storm_Soldier,_Rascal_Sweeper" target="_blank">Blue Storm Soldier, Rascal Sweeper</a>, and there's not much to say about it other than, "run 4, period." It is the one card above all else that needs to be in a Maelstrom deck's Grade 2 lineup. And really, similar cards are jealous as all hell. He does more than both Miranda and Regulation Aglovale while being a common to boot.<br />
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<a href="http://cardfisticuffs.blogspot.com/2014/12/wave-battle-ride-on.html" target="_blank">Dat intuition doe</a><br />
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So I guess one last draft before the full reveal is in order.<br />
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1 Blue Storm Cadet, Marios<br />
4 Blue Storm Kitchen Sailor<br />
4 Blue Storm Marine General, Despina <br />
4 Blue Storm Fleet Angler Soldier<br />
4 other stand triggers<br />
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4 Blue Storm Marine General, Hermes<br />
3 Blue Storm Battle Princess, Electra<br />
1 Blue Storm Guardian Dragon, Ice Fall Dragon<br />
3 Mercenary Brave Shooter<br />
3 Whirlwind Brave Shooter <br />
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4 Blue Storm Soldier, Rascal Sweeper<br />
3 Blue Storm Marine General, Gregorios <br />
4 Couple Dagger Sailor<br />
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3 Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom<br />
4 Blue Storm Karma Dragon, Maelstrom "Яeverse"<br />
1 Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom Elliot Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10158082728519302056noreply@blogger.com0