COTW: Absolute Ruler, Gluttony Dogma!

This week’s COTW is Dogma! He is the new stride for Tachikaze and is hands down the best stride of the clan. His skill is if you Engorge three units he gains 10k and another skill: if he has engorge five units he can restand himself with -1 Drive Check. If you like Nextage, then you’re definitely gonna love this guy. He synergizes will with Gaia Emperor and Ancient Dragons extremely well because they are able to call units back to the field so you really don’t minus on those turns. You can also swing with your rearguards before you Engorge as well as after you call them back. If you can manage a full field for two consecutive Dogma turns, you should win majority of your games much like Nextage. Four copies of him is a must in any Tachikaze deck because one: there isn’t really much else and two: he’s actually a pretty good restanding stride. 8/10

Why is Moonlit Dragonfang so bad?!

With the rest of GBT06 being revealed due to the release in Japan this week, lots of people the community is hyped including myself. However I wanted to do somewhat of a rant of its ugly older brother: GBT05. Many considered this set to be the weakest of all the G sets and for good reason. What makes a set strong is the playability of the clans it supports. For example GBT04 was considered a strong set because it revived Angel Feather (pun intended), updated Genesis and made Megacolony the pain it is today. On top of that it gave us Nextage which is a mandatory stride in every competitive GC deck. In GBT05 there were very few cards that were worth playing, one obviously being Chaos Universe and the support for Chaos Breaker Dragon. Other noteworthy cards are Nightmare Doll Catherine which is the best version of Pale Moon even though G-Era Pale Moon received majority of the support. Excelics Messiah is easily the best stride for Messiahs but it requires 3 GRs to play, at least they got some decent support with their Messiah G2,G1 and crit. Gear Chronicle seemed like just a toss in, but they got Colossus Monarch which is extremely good if you can fit it in your stride zone. Narukami was pretty darn weak with Erradicator and Vanquisher support, nothing worth going out of your way to play. And the OTT stuff was so meh in comparison to the older support including KamuSusanoo who is a complete joke. What made this set worse was the rarity of these cards because most of the RR and RRR is garbage! Why would they make Clockfencer Dragon a RRR?! During my sneak peek kit opening I pulled: Chaos Universe, KamuSusanoo, 2x Clockfencer Dragon, Voltage and Gauntlet Buster. I was so disappointed that I wasted 150 bucks on cards not even worth 1/3 of what I paid. So moral of the story is unless you are going to be playing all the clans or have a team that can split the cost, don’t bother buying packs. Sure it’s fun and you might get lucky but if you’re on a budget like most of the world, save yourself the disappointment and go straight to TCGPlayer. Just make sure you buy ‘em a couple weeks after the release so the hype dies down. Even though Bushiroad completely ripped me off, I am still going to be splitting GBT06 boxes with the rest of SackSquad because all the clans in this set are going to be played and this set looks very strong. So keep an eye on our Youtube channel next month for that unboxing!

DOUBLE HEADER COTW: Rikudo Stealth Dragon, Tsukumorakan!

This week we have a double header for COTW! Today’s card is Rikudo Dragon Tsukumorakan from the new Tech Booster: Reckless Rampage! His skill is when he’s placed on VG: CB2 and flip any card up from your G-Zone. Then your opponent chooses 4 cards to keep in their hand, the rest gets binded face down and returned to hand at the end of turn. Tsukumorakan is a very powerful card and is just the type of finisher Nubatama needs. In combination with Shiranui’s on stride skill you can whittle the hand down to three cards and one less interceptor; and for each Miyabi column that you are able to fulfill the requirements, you would take an additional card. It’s very difficult guarding with restrictions such as Silent Tom and Glory Maelstrom, but if you can’t guard because you have no hand is a nightmare. I like the design of this card because it gives you the “comeback” factor for it doesn’t matter how much hand advantage you opponent has, all you need is a couple good swings. I also like that Tsukumorakan is a G flip rather than a persona flip because it gives you flexibility in your G Zone (also your wallet). 9/10

COTW: Darkside Princess

Today's COTW is: Darkside Princess! Pale Moon has waned in comparison to other clans because of the limited amount of cards and also due to GBT-05 being so weak. Aside from having below average strides, many problems stem from their random soul-charging. However if you can get quality soul early they can be very deadly with high columns and multiple swings. Enter: Darkside Princess. Her skill is when she attacks a VG you can give her +5k and at the end of the battle she goes into the soul. It’s super simple yet very efficient for making 21k columns, 26k with Intensely Sweet Clown. Her offset skill to go back into the soul doesn’t hurt the deck because most of the Pale Moon cards have Magica anyway so she would have to return to the soul regardless. Also in situations with the GR Harri she can be very deadly by swinging for 26k twice with one column. Darkside Princess is a staple if you combo your attacks with Purple Trapezist/Midnight Bunny. She is also not GB restricted which means you can use her for an early push or if you are running 8k guy. This card deserves 4 spots in any G Pale Moon deck for the utility and power it gives to columns. 8/10

Reviewing Reckless Rampage!

Today I wanted to talk about the new Technical Booster how the new support is going to effect the Meta. Reckless Rampage is a special booster in that it specifically supports Tachikaze, Nubatama and Spike Bros. First I want to congratulate Bushi on a job well done with giving crowd-favorite clans some much needed love because they holda specail place in people's hearts, Tachi and Spikes specifically. All three clans were mostly considered the underdogs against majority of the cast, but with  new support they now have a chance to compete and maybe even hold a place in the Meta.  Although each clan currently has a specific sub-clans that somewhat work in the meta now, I will be mixing both old support with new G-Era support in my discussion:

Tachikaze:

Dinos have always been a fan favorite among the Vanguard community. Ancient Dragons were cool with their additional crits, however having only on-hit effects made them obsolete. They now have an endless breakride combo with Spinodriver and Spinocommadner giving them pressure, hand advantage and the threat of always being able to stride. Historically Tachi strides were so terrible people were forced to stay on legion, but now they have much more powerful strides to get ridiculously explosive turns(I’m looking at you Gluttony Dogma). In the past, Tachikaze's gimmick of retiring their own units to get more powerful effects had paled in comparison to Shadow Paladin because it wasn’t as efficient and on-hit skills are too inconsistent. Now they have very dangerous turns with Engorge setups and can continue to keep board presence with Gaia’s skill calling rearguards back. I think of all the three clans, Tachikaze is going to be the most popular by a huge margin due to its artwork appeal and seriously: who doesn’t like Dinosaurs?! 

Spike Brothers:

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL! Spike Bros were probably the most competitive clan before the Tech Booster with their deadly Bad End/Legion combo that could end any game in one turn. Now they have the new Charge mechanic which allows them to get multiple swings in the same column because they can replace each other with superior calling from the deck. The breakride deck is pretty tight on room and aside from the LB remover, I don’t see that deck changing much. However the new G-Era deck featuring Rising Nova and Dirty Picaro can be just as deadly with their multiple swings; I’ve done some simulation and its plausible to get 6-8 attacks in a turn. They also have some of the best G2's with Wink-Killer Misery and Axe Diver creating multiple columns a turn. The new G-Era deck is less reliant on getting combo pieces and is better balanced, however it is extremely GB reliant like most G-Era decks so we’ll see how it fairs among the Meta. I think they will do well due to the fact they can tutor their units from the deck and they don't rely on board presence. 

Nubatama:

Easily the most delicate of the group, probably in the entire game because one small tweak can completely change the complexion of the clan. A lot of people suspected that Bushiroad didn’t want to meddle with Nubatama because of how powerful the discard mechanic is. Because if Bushi made them too powerful then Nubatama would dominate the Meta making the game very stale, however if they made them too weak  there would be an outcry in the community. I feel like they cut Nubatama’s power just slightly in comparison to the other two clans by giving them multiple requirements, but not an excessive amount so that they can still compete. They put tons of pressure and they force you to play their game much like Link Joker. With having the Afterimage ability you can expect a full board of swinging rearguards each turn because they can swing and still maintain hand. Lots of people fear the Shiranui/Tsukumorakan turn because you are forced to guard with only three cards, maybe two if Miyabi hits! With probably one of the best finishers in the game, Nubatama will definitely be around as an Anti-Meta deck similar to Megacolony. I don't know if you'll see this deck top, but you will definitely see this deck in tourneys just to ruin competitors hopes and dreams. 

Sacksquad ARG Results!

Sacksquad in the house!

Feed placing 3rd with Ripples AKA Cancer

ARG weekend has come in gone and I hope everyone played to their fullest potential or at least got some good games in. Sacksquad was able to attend ARG Watsonville and with a field of about 50 people we did alright. One of our members (Feed) managed to fight through the crowd and get into playoffs with a 4-2 record and placed 3^rd overall. A big congratulations to him and we’re proud to have him as a part of our team! I ended up going 3-1-2 with Revengers and I wanted to share my experience:

Round 1: Ripples (2-1)

Definitely one of the toughest matches of the day. Even though I knew the match-up very well, I couldn’t stop his Ripple shenanigans game 2. However both victories came due to my control of the pace and he had to stride multiple times, at that point I knew the game was mine.

Round 2: Sanc Guard (0-2)

First game I had complete control over the game: the board was in my favor, I had at least +5 hand advantage and I was up 4-2 in damage. He swings with Regalie and I eat the attack (with PG in hand) thinking I can punish him with Diablo then…CRIT!, CRIT!, CRIT!…FUUUUUU! My Sodium levels were way over 9000...

Round 3: Angel Feather (1-1)

I’ve played this match-up plenty of times with my brother to know that this is a toss-up. Most Angel Feather matches go to time so I thought that if I could clutch out the first game I’d be sitting pretty. I was wrong. Instead the first game was completed within the first 15 min with me setting up two rounds of Diablo and grabbing the win. Second game was a grind and went to time. On the 4^th turn I decked out and it was tied up. I should’ve checked the rulings to see if time was called does the person with the win get the match? Or do you finish the 4 rounds and then decide? Either way it was my fault and I took the tie.

Round 4: D-Robos (1-1)

First game he guard-breaks me 3 separate occasions, but I was able to hold on with guarding early and getting a couple lucky heals. Second game was very volatile game with triggers being hit back in forth, but he was able to get the win 20 seconds before time is called. TIME IS NOT ON YOUR SIDE TODAY SENPAI…

Round 5: Touken Ranbu (2-0)

At this point I was pretty pissed that I dropped my last 3 matches and I was probably not going to make it with only 2 points over 3 games. So I played much more aggressive and blew caution to the wind. This didn’t bode well for the next guy which I felt a little bad for now that I’m reflecting on the match. Both games I proc’d Judgebau then strode Doomed, Diablo, Diablo and he had no chance of coming back.

Round 6: Tachikaze (2-1)

My last match was pretty fun considering I’ve never played against Dinos before. First game I tried to retire his units while he had counterblast which was a pretty big mistake considering he can just call them back. He was able to sack me the first game with Tyrranolegend. I quickly picked up on his gimmick and for the next two games I suffocated his resources by attacking his rears and retiring is backrow with my Blasters while he didn’t have CB. With Judgebau and Swordbreaker I definitely noticed the difference in card advantage and then I went in for the kill with Abyss.

Our Top 8: Revengers, Revengers, Ripples, DiaBuster, SancGuard, Chaos Breaker, SancGuard, Ripples

Overall I think Sacksquad had a decent outing at our first ARG. I've been to plenty of tournaments throughout my Pokemon and Yu-Gi career and I have to say that the ARG tournament was well executed, shout-outs to Gamer’s Den for a job well done! Everyone was pretty friendly and I was able to get a few trades in as well as these awesome Marth sleeves! I hope everyone had a good weekend and I look forward to seeing some familiar faces at our next event (which will probably be Springfest in Anaheim).

See you all next week, kooj signing out.