G-Mooney

Obligatory follow-up post on the deck list I posted the other day. Hell, obligatory post in general since my Vanguard history is so heavily entrenched in Tsukuyomi that it's impressive Bushiroad ever managed to create other decks that appealed to me.

The moment Oracle Think Tank was confirmed for a proper booster set again, I was rather elated, because I knew whatever toys appeared would be many times better than the ones I'd been locked to for a couple years. What I didn't know was that they would cater directly to the fortunetelling style of play, simultaneously blazing through the deck at such a pace that the bottom of the deck can feasibly be reached not just often, but almost every game.

1 Godhawk, Ichibyoshi

1 Sphere Magus

3 Lozenge Magus

4 Psychic Bird

4 Assault Dive Eagle

4 Oracle Guardian, Nike

4 Goddess of the Crescent Moon, Tsukuyomi

4 Divine Sword, Amenomurakumo

4 Mediator, Amenosagiri

1 Battle Sister, Lemonade

4 Goddess of the Half Moon, Tsukuyomi

4 Diviner, Kuroikazuchi

4 Promise Daughter

4 Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi

4 Supreme Sky Battle Deity, Susanoo

4 Sword Deity of Divine Sound, Takemikazuchi

2 Soaring Auspicious Beast, Quilin

2 Snow Element, Blizza

Susanoo now leads the charge as our ace Grade 3, offering a nice bonus card and extra digging for every Stride that's made. After a second G-Unit has been turned face-up, he can even threaten an opponent with an innate critical buff, which is more useful than it really deserves to be. What can I say? Heals are a bitch.

Most of her drawbacks have vanished, so the Full Moon is free to see play again. The rare 9K defense is no major issue when archetype decks and their 12K attackers are drying up en masse, and CB2 for +1, while overcosted, is still a boon in the event your opponent is exercising anti-Stride tactics or you at a bunch of damage when going first. You'll primarily be ignoring what she does in favor of your G Units, appreciating the ride chain procs as a means to retain cards (read: discard fodder).

Kuroikazuchi is the best Grade 2 the clan has received in years, offering a near unconditional CB1 for +1, the timing of which can be toggled slightly to your liking.

Promise Daughter remains the primary means of reaching further heights on the power front.

It goes without saying that the new perfect guard variant is incredible. Lemonade is far better than she used to be as well, because 2 CB is worth twice as much as when she was printed.

Amenomurakumo serves a great many purposes, the first of which is acting as an additional 4 Grade 3s for the cost of Stride. You want to do it on every turn, so it's imperative to have the fuel. Additionally, he's the most cost effective way of shuffling the deck in a pinch. It just couldn't be done before without losing a card. Amusingly enough, shoving a Full Moon back into the deck while sending the other three to a random location rather than the bottom of the deck increases your odds of seeing one on the Half Moon check, so you can end up milking a lot out of this move. He's a solid 7K boost otherwise.

I do find, however, that Dark Cat and draw triggers made it easier to have Stride fuel even without Amenomurakumo in the deck, so I suspect I may retain the flavorful 12 Bird trigger lineup if nothing else. Kinda liked having spare change when dealing with modern Nova Grapplers, honestly. Though I'll admit I've yet to deck out with this setup.

BRB, nagging Bushiroad for a bird Heal.

Oh, and the G Units OTT got are absolutely perfect. I do appreciate having unlimited power to finish the opponent off at the end of the game, though, so I employ a couple Cray Elementals to have just that.

G Assist need not apply most of the time since the deck already has it built in, so to speak. I'll use it on turn one if necessary, however, then smile when Godhawk turns the process into a break even. :x

The deck as a whole is slightly slow on the uptake as per usual, but I find the wait is actually worthwhile now. I mean, taunting an opponent with an average hand of 8 is pretty sweet, as is hamming it up with 26K+ unboosted behemoths in your center lane.

End of rambling.

I suspect a major upswing in this style of deck in the near future, so practice well!

Meaningless fantasies of what the future brings

So while the hype surrounding Roar of the Galaxy is real and all well and good minus the implication that Commander Laurel is going to become more and more cancerous, it got me wondering about what's going to happen with the remainder of the clans during the G era.

We have an established pattern wherein generic cards take up most of the space in any given set, where previously established archetypes are thrown a couple bones here and there to reshape how they perform. Mileage naturally varies in terms of where those old decks end up in the format. However, it means we can make reasonable predictions in regards to what's coming over the course of the next year.

Narukami is in a tough spot, because front row hate has gotten progressively weaker as the life of the game drags on. However, Descendant offers a nice fall back option, and any +crit G-Units would suit a build around him just fine. As of yet I have a hard time imagining what their GB1 support is going to be like, because Kagero really kind of got the best of it already. I can't say my expectations are too high after the less than stellar Dragonic Kaiser Crimson.

Both Shadow Paladin and Gold Paladin have nothing to worry about; they'll almost certainly be top contenders out of the gates.

Link Joker doesn't need much of an upgrade to be relevant and non-game breaking, as the Legion era proved. I am wary they could go a little too far, though. If, for example, we have an Infinite Zero Dragon-like G-Unit, Chaos Breaker Dragon could make a big comeback and bend the game over backwards again. More so if the clan is handed some soul charge support.

Aqua Force is looking to get greater reward for their multi-attack gimmick in addition to the ability to land hits more easily. This is good, but of course we have to wait and see how they ultimately stack up. The presence of a trial deck is typically a good sign, though.

Bermuda Triangle will likely have a field day, as the standard Stride Enabling Grade 1 (Steam Breath Dragon, etc.) has that much more flexibility when augmented by the bounce mechanic. Field scaling and control hate will be at an all time high. I just hope their finishing power isn't too amazing if they're going to stack up to be anything like OTT advantage-wise.

Great Nature is getting cheaper costs and higher rewards, probably no issues there aside from low popularity.

Aaand that covers everything that's been confirmed so far, but I'm kinda hyped for Granblue's expansion as well. Freelance discards to set up the drop zone and go to town sound sweet. And since they never had an archetype in the first place, it's not like they're losing out on any of their current toys to use the new support.

Here's hoping for announcements on the likes of Angel Feather, Nubatama, Dark Irregulars, and so forth soon.

A Light in the Dark Zone?

It's not uncommon in cards games for the designers to introduce new mechanics to keep the game fresh, and most of the time they'll also debut an entirely new deck with dedicated, streamlined support to showcase just how far that mechanic can go. After all, it wouldn't do to have people just ignore their new hotness. Suffice to say Stride does not have this problem, but when it comes to Gear Chronicle - the premier Stride clan - I can't help but think Bushiroad dun goofed, because it's easily the weakest of what G-BT01 has to offer. But why?

For starters, Gear Chronicle's debut toolkit contains little more than the same bare bones support the old big four also received. This puts them at a natural disadvantage because they lack a 200-some card pool to fall back on for patchwork.

More than that, though, is Gear Chronicle's weak mechanical identity. Returning rear-guards to the deck has little bearing on decks with direct recruiting ability, as they just gain the ability to call those cards again if they should so choose. It also comes up short against the heavy draw of clans like OTT and Bermuda Triangle for the same reason retire does - replacing the lost cards is just too easy. The addition of guard restriction is cute, but it never really has held a candle to Vanguard standing, and all the cards capable so far just have it backwards.

Ragnaclock Dragon, Gear Chronicle's big finisher, prevents the use of Grade 0s from hand against its own attack. Nice if you catch your opponent without a perfect guard what with the bonus critical, but any opponent attempting to guard a G Unit's attack with Grade 0s would probably be losing the game in short order anyway. Fate Wheel has it worse, requiring you to not Stride at all and being significantly smaller. The mate to their sole Legion thus far can gain the Tom ability for soul blast 2, again coming up short because you can realistically use it a maximum of two times, and that's only if you shut yourself out of any and all other soul blast skills the deck has to offer, such as a field nuke from Chronos Command or a draw by way of Gigi. Chrono Jet Dragon instead offers a free Glory Maelstrom ability at GB2, but again, it's only demanding a two card guard and has you missing out on the much bigger potential a Stride turn can offer. It's hard to break even on Chronos Command, let alone plus, and the likes of Lost Age and Mystery Flare are largely irrelevant. Gear Chronicle also lacks a forerunner with the ability to significantly impact the game - your choice is the potential to 1-1 trade early or the guarantee to 1-1 trade later, after it no longer matters.

tl;dr What is synergy?

However, main character status grants Gear Chronicle the opportunity at continual growth and expansion, and aesthetically speaking, they're quite charming, so it's not like their presence in spoilers will wear on one's patience. Bring on G-BT02 and beyond! Many great things have come from humble beginnings, and I'm curious as to where they'll go. At least, I expect Gear Chronicle to pass up Dark Irregulars promptly. xP

Praise be Messiah

Subtitled: Holy Crap, I Live!

It's been a couple of years, I know, but between Vanguard entering a samey funk for a block or two and not having a computer for the past... seven or so months, I never had much to say, nor was I able even when I did. The 3DS web browser can hardly be called one.

Lo and behold, another new era is upon us, so my timing couldn't be better - let's talk Stride.

Many were apprehensive about the concept of an "Extra Deck" entering Vanguard. I can't blame them; the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG ultimately boiled down to "your main deck doesn't matter anymore, abuse this generic toolbox" on more than one occasion. What's worse is that it exponentially bloated the price of entry and maintenance for the game as a whole, because you simply couldn't ignore the behemoths within. Those of us who were willing to wait out the news and see what it entailed for Vanguard were pleasantly surprised, however. The cap of 8 on the Generation Zone is very reserved, especially when you consider that the most powerful G-Units turn copies of themselves face-up and that you can end up removing 2 or even 4 of these cards from the game via the long awaited G-Assist mechanic. You're very unlikely to ever be able to use more than 3 different cards at any point in the future. Indeed, a stark contrast to 15. Half of these cards aren't even foils, either. Bushiroad was generous to offer many stellar common and rare options. That goes for G era main decks, too - most of them only feature one foil boss. The end result is the price of entry and maintenance being nearly identical to what it was before, if not more accessible due to the new handling of Trial Decks.

As for the impact Stride has on game play? Advantage-wise, it's typically fair - trading one (or more) card for an extra drive check and stage of power when compared to Legion, with further stipulation that you have to do this each turn and don't get to recycle triggers and other valuable cards. The real threat comes from support cards in the form of Generation Break 1 and on-Stride skills, which all seem to clock in at values of 1 counterblast being equivalent to 1 card. GB2 seems to be in a class of its own, and thus far it's restricted to G3 Vanguards only, so I can't say much in that regard (I do appreciate the bonus crit on Susanoo at times, though). All of the above are ultimately more repeatable and accessible during a game than your average on-Legion skill, however, as if to make up for the constant investment, not to mention the myriad of on-hits you're now liable to be using. I don't consider the removal of archetype tags and ease of blending with older deck and mechanical styles to be power creep, so I've no complaints with this new direction, especially since I really liked the Legion block for its return to early and mid game options.

Of course, I'm crazy biased on the grounds that Oracle Think Tank's grand return came in G-BT01, so feel free to call me out on any blatant bullshit.

While you're thinking on it, have a deck.

It's coming along pretty well for one night of testing.

1 Godhawk, Ichibyoshi
1 Sphere Magus
3 Lozenge Magus
4 Psychic Bird
4 Assault Dive Eagle
4 Victory Maker

4 Goddess of the Crescent Moon, Tsukuyomi
4 Dark Cat
4 Mediator, Amenosagiri
1 Weather Girl, Milk

4 Goddess of the Half Moon, Tsukuyomi
4 Diviner, Kuroikazuchi
4 Promise Daughter

4 Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi
4 Supreme Sky Battle Deity, Susanoo

4 Sword Deity of Divine Sound, Takemikazuchi
2 Soaring Auspicious Beast, Qilin
2 Snow Element, Blizza

eGale's Emotional Rollercoaster: Chicago Qualifier Report

Hello, one and all. I'm kind of exasperated at the moment, so this could end up being rather short, I dunno. lol

I woke up around a quarter after five in the morning to do my usual rituals and eventually meet up with my group of friends at the local community college. A few people flaked in some fashion, a couple out of the day completely, others in their methods of travel, but after all was said and done we arrived at the venue around 8:15.

Ironically, it wasn't a very good day for trades. Since most people play Vanguard as a secondary or even tertiary game, there weren't many with decent collections, so unfortunately our group didn't snatch up as much as we would have liked that way. The vendors were pretty decent. While the stuff that was recently winning was overpriced to high hell (32 dollar Marks, lol), largely unproven decks got away with wondrous tags that were less than eBay and such, ie. $6 Battle Cupid, Nociel. There was a wide array of Bushiroad official sleeves (mostly BT07 variants, though) available; I got a set of LaLa sleeves myself just in case I'd need them.

Lots and lots of waiting later, we finally get ushered in and receive our swag plus paperstuffs. I took forever in writing down my deck list, but that's to be expected when you're mixing it up as much as possible and using a total number of cards with the longest names in the game greater than anything else out there (Tsukuyomi, hurr hurr). The event started around a half an hour late, and a fair few people were very disappointed that Doctor K was not in attendance to start us off. All the same, everything started off with huge enthusiasm!

Round 1 - Tsukuyomi vs. Royal Paladin

And right off the bat, a guy I knew. I was broadcasting my deck like no other, sleeving it with Full Moons. It ultimately wasn't a hindrance throughout the day, though. When I saw Drangal, I wasn't too terribly surprised, though I was expecting something else for whatever reason. Ah well.

I open the game with a Gemini ride. Bad news bears. His turn... no Knight of Quests, and no ride at all! He swung solo into my Gemini and managed to land a crit when I decided to not guard. Ow. From there on out I was on my auxiliary CEO plan, which of course ended up dominating the game while he struggled to make the grade and throw down columns that could at least do... SOMETHING. He did ultimately get a Soul Saver out there, but it wasn't doing anything to me without boosts, nor were his rears. Condolences aside, I got to move on.

Round 2 - Tsukuyomi vs. Royal Paladin

...again, though this time it was a stranger. This guy did play Godly Speed in his deck, but I was prepared for the worst. My ride chain went off, he missed his proper grade 1 but had the proper g2 and g3, plus a Margal, so he was able to pressure me with the counterblast. The first attempt was staved off with 20K shield, the second a null that I miraculously drew off of Petal Fairy the previous turn (I was prepared to not attack with my third column to protect myself, but when Chocolat appeared that game was over). Quick work from there.

Round 3 - Tsukuyomi vs. Gold Paladin (standard)

I missed my ride chain entirely, but I was fortunate enough to have 3 copies of Red Eye and two copies of Psychic Bird available to me in the first couple turns. He made the horrendous misplay of riding Gigantech Commander and calling Beaumains to the rear-guard, which my doggies (one boosted by Bird, even) were able to punish pretty hard. Next turn I was able to draw 4, but sadly I had to fight on with an incomplete soul. Ultimately, that made no difference. This came down to my being 5K short on my final push, and had I rode the CEO in my hand on that last turn (I was gone, I had no reason not to at that point, but I didn't...), I would have gotten a heal trigger to make that swing the end of it. Ah well. Being on the bubble, I started getting the butterflies.

Round 4 - Tsukuyomi vs. Royal Paladin

Wow, what are the odds? This fellow main decked Barcgal, which he played and used turn one after missing his Grade 1 entirely. He never did get that grade 1 to make the comeback. Sad day. My Grade 2s were happy to deliver a swift end.

Round 5 - Tsukuyomi vs. Kagero/Narukami

This one was fawkward~. His deck was incomplete, he got grade locked, and he kept blocking my Vanguard so my Petals couldn't sift the 4 G3s out of my hand. It came down to a moment where his G1s would have killed me with a critical due to my only having 5K available shield and a null. SUCKED. He didn't get it, though, and on my turn I rode the Full Moon with a complete soul to sift out all the garbage. I never thought I'd be so happy to draw 4 straight triggers. A few misplays on his end later, and the game was handily mine. I he did ultimately make it to the G3 Djinn, though.

Round 6 - Tsukuyomi vs. Gold Paladin (Aggravain and stuff)

Another incomplete deck by and large. He got locked for a turn while I got the nuts with multiple superior rides and criticals on most turns. By the time he made it to Grade 3, he had no cards in hand and couldn't stop my double Tom advances.

Round 7 - Tsukuyomi vs. Narukami (standard)

I saw the Saishin and was feeling like a boss. And I was - he wasn't able to make relevant columns that game. I think I say on Half Moon for an extra turn, but I opened with plenty of other G1 and G2 units to bumrush the everloving crap out of him, including my beloved Petal Fairy (who got my Full Moon to me!). Things didn't last long until I won.

So at this point we sit around for ages waiting for the judges to announced the top 8. My one loss had the same record as I did at some point, but I wasn't feeling too confident I'd make the cut since all my opponents aside from him were just... awful or terribly unlucky. My friends go out for food, and when they made it back the pairings were announced. After hearing someone else called for slot 8, I was sure I was done, but when my number came up for slot 7, things got real. o3o

For the record, top 8 was 3 Tsukuyomi and 5 GP (2 of which I believe were Duke, one was standard with a single tech Duke).

Quarter Finals - Tsukuyomi vs. Gold Paladin (standard)

Screw this noise, this is a match-up I practiced a lot against one who goes by the name Nightmare on BYOND; he's essentially Kai in the grand scheme of things. The build wasn't amazing as far as I could tell, and I pushed him around non stop by dancing around his potential limit breaks by way of bullying a deadly Garmore + Charjgal rear column. This was the first opportunity of the day I got to legitimately use my stack, and it was too much for him to handle at that stage. For the love of all that's holy, Garmore isn't worth burning ups of 30K on... At any rate, he was looking forward to my taking the event after that. I was psyched!

Semi Finals - Tsukuyomi vs. Gold Paladin (Duke)

I was sure as **** I'd end up playing in a mirror match at this point since the Tsukuyomi decks all won their quarter final matches. This was perhaps the most intense game I've ever played. I lost the roll, and with my sub-par hand it was already looking to be in the dumps. But I wanted it! The trip, the glory, everything, so much. I had to try. He rode Mark, and I opted to not ride after missing the top check and having no G2 in hand. Calling a draw trigger behind my Godhawk, I swung for a critical hit (which was canceled with a heal). I got my Crescent next turn, and Half too. From there, however... the certain lack of Petal Fairy and legitimate columns (calling draws in front of vanillas ftw...) made things really, really hard. I ended up with a stack of 23 or so cards. Knowing that and the positioning of all my triggers, my Full Moon and shots are rear-guards, with columns on my end slowly emerging began to do work.

I exhausted all of his Marks, and it was coming down to crunch time. With so few cards left in deck, things didn't look great. I have only myself to blame, but I drew one card too many, which shafted me out of the potential double critical to Tom play that might have won me that game by dealing the last three damage. I decked out.

It was a crushing defeat, and I genuinely wanted to weep. Watching something of a dream slip from your fingers at the last second is really tough to swallow. I had a lot of moral support, though. Many thanks to my friends who kept me fed and hydrated in those last few moments, and those who helped me assemble the deck of my dreams. I'll never give it up.

I got a ton of praise and inspired many to never scoop it up in this game, but I don't feel I deserved it. All I did was something any seasoned Tsukuyomi player could, and I succumbed to rough luck as expected. Fighting tooth and nail does feel good, though.

We were not done!

Playoffs - Tsukuyomi vs. Tsukuyomi

Here we were playing for third. I lost the roll and opened with a decent hand after mulli, but he was not so fortunate. Riding Battle Sister, Cocoa, he sealed his own fate. I destroyed him. With no evident Red Eyes or CEOs to get him out of that jam, there was nothing he could do with a 9K Full Moon.

I'm the first alternate for Chicago if the champion or runner-up cannot make continentals for whatever reason.

Afterword - But wait, there's more!

EPIC ROCK PAPER SCISSORS A GO-GO. There was some leftover swag at the end of the day, so the few people that remained in the crowed played a giant string of jan-ken-pon to determine who got what, and it was GLORIOUS. Mindgames abound, I got my revenge on the champion in this little series of games, and a friend of mine managed to tie about 8 times straight near the end. It was glorious. The only thing that could have made it better was flashing an "o" sign at Doctor K if he were there to play some rock paper scissors. xD

On the topic of the tournament format; Best of 1 double elimination is not the monster many make it out to be. Many decks are bad choices in this kind of environment, admittedly, but the best players at the event DID make the top cut, so something about the whole thing worked. A handful of players were so profusely upset by the notion of qualifying for top 8 and not making the cut in the end, or over other results during the day. To them, well, I can't offer any words. Vanguard will be Vanguard, and if you don't have the balls to accept the nature of the beast, you shouldn't be playing it. Be polite, be graceful, and be humble. After having played in many tournaments thus far, I can safely say that best out of three would not make things significantly more favorable for the better players, because the game still is what it is. Master your deck, be on your toes - anything could creep up on you, and anticipating your opponent's hot tech is a skill in and of itself (oh boy, there was a lot of that running around today).

The event staff were really on the ball and kept things moving at a rapid pace for having no software and other such automatics available to them. Cool guys, every one, especially the head judge, JD. I'd have possibly joined them myself were it not for the fact there's only one of these in the area this year. They each got two BT03 boxes for their efforts.

By the way, everyone who made it to round 7 at this event missed out on free play, so as a result we were all given the promo cards we would have earned had we had the time ourselves. It was nice. I'll be putting that Sphere Magus to good use, I assure you! Now to get an SP Lozenge. I would have bought one from the vendors if they had it. xD

That's everything that comes to mind. Feel free to ask questions if you like, and do look forward to the vlogs my friend recorded popping up at some point in the near future!

Neonectar - Identity get!

And damn is that identity scary. No longer are they paladins lite, but a truly terrifying growth theme that's more flexible than it seems. Of course, I'm referring to the Arboros Dragon ride chain. The Musketeers, while neat and highly resilient, come up short on power for virtually the whole game.

When Sephirot pops out in his full glory, however, little stands in your way. The ride chain, having cloned two extremely solid units along the way paves the way for the limit break from hell that turns every column into a crossride-slaying behemoth. At its best, the deck can achieve 26K rear-guard columns without triggers. SURE IS NICE.

Sephirot manages okay even if it misses the chain, too, because of those CB2 draw 1 grade 2s and Lady of Kamorebi pooling together the best cards you can muster. Eventually your field is going to have some same-named units on it and hit those large numbers, albeit not as quickly.

Galaxy Stores Local Tournament - Week 14

Finally, people show! Still a little late, but early enough to manage a tourney. I cruised through Swiss with a 3-0 record, hitting a slight hiccup when I got grade locked for two of the games against my pal's Spike Brothers, but I ultimately managed to pull through with a 2-1 against him. I lost in top four to an incomplete Tsuku deck because I was naive enough to believe my opponent wasn't going to start checking the nuts after sitting on Amaterasu for around four turns. It hurts, though, because they were betting on the second trigger rather than remembering and making a proper choice, and I was able to block for no pass and still survive. Bleh. Happens, though. My friend won in finals.

All prize packs today yielded jank, with the best pull being a Mirror Demon to second place. We'll get good stuff next time!