Saturday, January 30, 2016

Card of the Week: Steam Maiden Lacina-Ber

Hello Cardfighters! Today’s Card of the Week is: Steam Maiden Lacina-Ber!







She is the promo that you receive for participating in the Moonlight Dragonfang sneak peek and is definitely good to pick up for Gear Chronicle players that are looking for more tech cards. Her skill is: GB1 When this unit is put into the bind zone from rearguard, choose up to one of your opponent’s grade 1 or less rearguards and put it on the bottom of their deck. I like the design of this card because her skill has great synergy with the rest of the Time Leap deck and you can use her skill every turn. However with Gear Chronicle having so many options such as Gear Wolf, Gigi and even Etana, is she really worth a slot? I think it depends on the Meta and what’s being played at the your locals. Are you sick of Laurel/Odysseus/Judgebau? One Lacina-Ber please! In my personal opinion, I would only run her at a single copy because most GC decks have a good handle on control with all of the rewind cards out there, and even at one copy it seems a little redundant. I think you will see many GC decks tech this card, but very rarely will you see her played to her full potential. 5/10

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Watchu Gonna Play at ARG?!

What’s up Cardfighters! With ARG coming up this weekend (all you Cardfighters in the Bay Area come on down to Watsonville for our ARG State Qualifiers and meet up with us! I wanted to share our team’s opinions of what we think is going to be dominate post GBT-05. Keep in mind that this is just our personal opinion and I wouldn’t be surprised if none of the decks we picked won the whole thing. Also this is only for the state that Vanguard is in today, not including Reckless Rampage which we believe will change the Meta dramatically. Let’s get started: Stand up, Vanguard!


Kooj: I am your Blogger and Analyst of the game, so if you have questions regarding strategy and deckbuilding please feel free to contact us through our blog or via e-mail. I am known for my D-Robo and Revenger decks. 

       Revengers:
With Ripples being almost non-existent because Odyseus is now only two copies and SGD’s loss of Swordmy, I believe that Revengers will once again reign supreme. They have enough control pre-GB to handle early rush and they have one of the deadliest post G3 game. The game is going to slow down due to the decline of Ripples and SGD as well as the rise of CBD gives Revengers that extra turn they never had. As far as how they matchup vs other Meta decks: CBD is probably going to be the hardest, but I don’t think Chaos Breaker will be able to topple Revengers. Sure they have Chaos Universe to force lock, but they can only do that for two turns. There’s also the inherent downfall of LJ vs Shadows: the ability to retire their own units thus not giving LJ the ability to lock preexisting rearguards. Majority of these games will be a grind down to the last card, however I believe Revengers have the upper hand because Revenger’s primary boss is a legion while CBD, if they decide to even run legion, will be a secondary thus tilting the power towards Revengers. Also in tournament format I think that almost every game is going to run into timeouts and all Revengers need is one turn to push for damage with either swinging twice with Abyss, or spending all their CB and sacking them with Diablo. The second biggest threat to Revengers is Blue Wave because they aren’t nearly as rearguard dependent as other Aqua Force Decks and can overwhelm them. Tis not to say that Blue Wave can fight without any rears because clearly Tidal and Magnum make this deck amazing, which means that there are targets for Dark Blaster/Abyss to snipe. Revenger’s can sit on G2 with Dark Blaster retire and wait to stride first. Getting first stride with Aura Doom to clear rearguards can put a hindrance on Tetraboil’s first stride. I think this matchup comes down to who has the better G2 game and if Blue Wave is able to get Foivos on rear and Vanguard they might be able to force Revengers to G3 first. Revengers is probably the most well rounded deck and consistent deck which is why they take my first spot.

      Chaos Breaker Dragon(CBD):
Easily the best control deck out at the moment because of its control pre GB. With Chaos Universe, people cannot leave their front row empty in hopes for a counter assault because Chaos Universe can force lock anywhere on the board. Also Chaos Breaker himself is pre GB which means that he can fight any gradelock deck as well as hold rush decks a turn early because he doesn’t have to wait for GB. He also has a built in draw engine and retire to keep up with other draw powered decks. One of the biggest downfalls to CBD has always been CB, but with the new support from GBT-05 comes Zinc which can easily CC. Like all LJ decks, CBD forces the opponent to slow down and play at their pace which means that fast paced decks such as Aquas and SGD become dead in the water. Aside from Messiah’s that completely wreck this deck, there isn’t much else out there that can compete with CBD. I would’ve moved it to my first slot but I feel like top Meta decks shouldn’t have glaringly bad matchups for I’d hate to take CBD to a tourney only to run into 2 Messiah decks and get knocked out, which I could see easily happen because that deck is no slouch.

     Blue Wave:
Blue Wave takes my third spot for best deck in the Meta because it isn’t completely rearguard dependent with their powerful strides. They have tons of options you can tech in to stop lots of different decks which makes them so versatile in almost any situation. They have Tetra Drive Dragon for decks that don’t want to stride, they have Aristotle and Thavas for retire, and most importantly they have Skyros for resist. Skyros saves Blue Wave from a lot of decks due to the front row resist which plays an important role against Chaos Breaker. The problem with this is that if you stock your deck up with Skyros for the CBD matchup, then you’re going to have a hard time against Revengers because you cannot retire resist units for Diablo. Tetraboil allows Blue Wave to not rely too much on their rearguards but with a full board you can easily end the game by the second Tetralboil stride. Brawlers don’t care about Skyros and punches the entire field which can prove troublesome for any Blue Wave player.



Jaccas: Our Facebook Coordinator-if you need updates on all of our activities you can check it out. Known for his Spike Bros and Beast Deity Decks.


     Chaos Breaker Dragon:

Out of all the control decks Link Joker provides arguably one of the most powerful with its ability to render not only the units placed useless but units in hand practically useless. With Kagero and Megacolony those units can be replaced and for some clans this isn’t an issue. But when a unit is locked you cannot replace it, you simply have to watch helplessly. Chaos Breaker while not a new card did get support, and the support is strong enough to shift the Meta to its demands. Being able to lock pre generation break as well as on stride forcing your opponent to call a card from hand as locked means that even trying to save field from link joker means nothing now, as they can ruin even clans like Bermuda, Spike Brothers, and Murakomo, that lived off hit and run tactics. There is a savior though and leads me to my second pick.


     Messiahs:
While Chaos Breaker Dragon may get time in the sun, another Link Joker deck provides the perfect shield. Messiah also recently got support and is now a direct Counter to Chaos Breaker in my opinion, While also a stride deck Messiah gains strength from being able to unlock the field, meaning that while Chaos locks and draws, Messiah unlocks and draws, taking away the advantage the Chaos has. Excelics and Amnesty also gain power and crit for unlocking, which means the more you opponent locks you, the more they will pay later. Why it is a number two pick though is hit and run clans can still function as well as not playing field till you need to still work, as Messiah cannot force cards from hand to lock.

     Revengers:
Not much needs to be said here, this clan can call, not call it, and it doesn't matter as it doesn't get punished like most clans having no front row. Shadows has an option for everything, a truly toolbox clan. It can leave nothing on the field for Link Joker to lock, and even with it getting locked by Chaos Break from hand, it can still drop enough to make for devastating turns with Doom/Diablo Strides. Where I feel it will struggle though is the fact that Chaos Break does draw on unlocks, which means it gains hand. And good Chaos Breaker Players will be able to save enough units to fill the field pre Diablo turn, and save themselves from that pain.



Feed: Always enjoys a trigger-less game and is our Twitter Manager. While a man of few words on social media, you can always hear him in the backgrounds of our videos. Known for his Aqua Force and Great Nature decks.

1      CBD:
 Pre GB lock, control deck that can essentially plays for you by forcing cards from hand in lock and can draw on unlock- deck thinning is deck winning, hard counters rear guard dependent decks, ripples lose to him but ripples have been neutered, decks have to play around him but loses to messiah - which it doesn't have to worry about too much.    

2      D.Robos:
Two words: GUARD BREAK, when you couple that with Laurel your opponent is gonna have a bad time especially if he doesn't use regular PG's, able to get multiple pluses to hand or field, can play around control decks due break ride skill and critical stack pressure. Also given there is a loop hole to give a Leon stride critical with his triple drive and guard break - such wow, much OP. Also no restriction on Laurel is a bad move.

3      Blue Wave:
No pun intended, but keyword here is Pressure. Aqua's known to have early game pressure with multiple battles, able to play the grade 2 game efficiently but can also dominate at grade 3. Re-standing Vanguards is a big deal and in a deck that thrives in multi attacks if you don't have enough to guard most of it, GLHF. This deck can also generate a decent plus to hand especially when stacking blue wave starter and a couple special critical triggers. Even though they are heavily reliant on rearguards, which control decks have an advantage, sometimes a crashing tsunami can come from a small wave.



Hebi: Our Youtube Master who likes to examine matches to get the most optimal play out of every turn. When he isn’t posting videos, you can find him at all the SoCal locals including CoreTCG. Hebi is known for his Jewel Knights and Brawler decks.

     CBD
I put him at one because he’s a field disruption deck that can do what it wants to do without having to wait on someone else to hit 3. He does everything you want in one go: lock, retire, and draw. He has limited bad match ups. The new build allows him to misride because the new grade 3 lets you superior ride into CBD making sure you are always on the boss. I would personally add in a legion and that would help in the deck out problem as well as recycling the new crit trigger which also locks making it even stronger. Any deck that is rear guard dependent automatically starts a battle going uphill. Because the lock is a mechanic 90% of decks cannot play around, CBD will be strong for a long time.

   Brawlers
They punch the field and they do it efficiently and are one of the better decks against CBD. Brawlers have good tempo and continue throughout the game because they don’t necessarily need field to put pressure. They force you to play cards from hands because they destroy field consistently; Turbo on top of legion is hit 6 targets meaning just to refill you have to play 5 cards from hand and guard the Vanguard at the same time. Brawlers also has good matchups with strong decks such as Aquas, Royals, and Shadows. Aquas has no ability to tutor cards so losing their valuable grade 2s makes them worthless. Royals and Shadows can toolbox for field but forcing them to use valuable resources that normally isn’t a problem just to stick to their normal game plan is easier said than done. Shadows especially since they need to retire field in order to get skills off so if you hit field they must commit from hand just to have value turns. 

     Revengers
Not much to say about Revengers. They can retire backrow with their grade 2s and they can tool box cards and have great pluses with Aurageyser and Judgebau. Their one weakness is that they are a bit slower than royals and aqua but once the grade 3 game starts it doesn’t matter. With the new Meta I predict the game to slow down a lot because of CBD being so prevalent.  Revengers is also a deck that has cards that activate pre GB and you can’t really forget the good ole Abyss restander and Diablo. They were once BDIF and still are a really good deck in today’s format.


Endo: Our social media enthusiast and Leader of our Instagram, check our page out for daily card posts! When Endo isn’t raiding the interwebs he likes to play Gear Chronicle and Deletors.

     Messiah:
Messiahs were already was a solid clan and with the latest support and new stride Excelics it’s ridiculously over powered. Plus it’s a great counter pick to CBD.


     Brawlers:
With its newest ability “Thunderstrike” and new support from G-BT05, Narukami in general is definitely getting stronger. However Brawlers is where it’s at by being able to target multiple units in one attack. A good counter to any rearguard dependent decks.

     Gear Chronicle:

The new time Leap ability is amazing in the sense that you can literally set up multiple swinging combos per turn, keeping pressure on opponents that may have card advantage. The clan itself is very versatile allowing you to adapt to different situations by utilizing a number of different strides and utility cards. Downside though is they are Generation Break reliant which can be harsh going against rush decks, although I don’t see that happening as much considering the Meta slowing down. 

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Card of the Week: Excelics Messiah

It's so purdy!




How do you say money in Bushinese? It would roughly translate to Excelics Messiah. Why must you kill our wallets Bushiroad!? First off you need to have an Amnesty Messiah (the GR from GBT-03) face up in the G-Zone AND you need to flip another one up when you stride with Excelics Messiah. That’s 3 GRs just for one Excelics Messiah turn. Lets do some math: each Amnesty at the moment is around $80  and Excelics is ballpark $50: that’s 200 bucks for one turn of Excelics Messiah! Why Bushiroad, WHY! Alright lets move onto our first COTW: Excelics Messiah is a pretty darn good GR and he’s got the artwork to prove it. His skill is you counter blast 1 when you attack and you can unlock any number of units, for each unit unlocked this way he gets +3000 and if you unlock three or more units he gains an additional crit.  You can then retire each of your opponents rearguards that were unlocked by his skill. Whew that’s a chunky bit of text! In a non-Messiah deck he’s definitely not worth playing (unlike is younger Amnesty brother for the LJ mirror matchups), but in a Alter Ego Messiah deck he’s amazing! You can clog the field with locks from your Alter Ego Messiah as well as Big Crunch Dragon, then once your opponent has a field full of lock cards you can retire them all out in one fell swoop making a -4/5 turn for your opponent. Excelics Messiah is one of the only ways Link Joker can empty your opponent’s hand because they now have to replenish the board after and Excelics turn. With the Messiah Deck shenanigans of unlocking and restanding their rearguards and your Vanguard swinging with an additional crit for 2/3 turns, your opponent is going to have a difficult time guarding, especially after you wipe with Excelics. I believe that with Excelics and the rest of the GBT-05 Messiah support, Link Joker now has another contender for best sub-clan. 7/10

Thursday, January 21, 2016

New Restriction List Revealed!

Breaking news! We waited so long, but finally the English Restriction list is following Japanese format! Odysseus is now only 2 copies per deck and Swordmy is allowed in decks that only contain Jewel Knight Grade 3's. Better sell your Ripple decks people, because in about a week you might as well use them as coasters.



Awww poor guy...New Restriction List Revealed!

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Kai Will Set the World Ablaze!









What's up Cardfighters?! Today I wanted to talk about what's coming out in Japan over the next 6 months. Below is an image of Bushiroad's timeline of Japanese releases for the next 6 months. I am extremely excited for these releases because not only is Bushiroad giving support to clans that are in desperate need, they are also releasing another Legend deck! Let's get started! 



From Left to Right: Kai Legend Deck, Budget Gold Paladin Trail Deck, GBT-07 (Gold Paladin and more), Bermuda Triangle, Technical Booster (Murakumo, Great Nature, Megacolony)



First off in March we have the Kai legend deck! Its going to be based off of Kagero Overlords and boy is it going to be amazing. It was announced that the "Ace" is going to be a promo included with the deck, let's just hope they follow the grim recruiter format and release it in our legend deck as well. I am extremely hyped for this as I never had a chance nor the funds to build an "X" Kagero deck. Now Bushiroad has given me a competitive deck with brand new support all in a neat little package? DEAL! There's probably a good amount of the cardfighters with that are in the same situation as mine and buying Overlordblaze is a no-brainer. Since legend decks are so cost efficient and competitive, everyone will now have a pocket control deck to fall back to thus shifting the Meta. Kagero decks traditionally control the game by wiping the board with their powerful retiring, therefore decks that are rearguard dependent will take a huge blow, especially those that cannot superior call and replenish their field. Decks like Aqua Force, Nova Grappler and Great Nature will have the biggest deficits to overcome. Depending on whether they give the new Kagero support pre-GB1 will determine how well they fair against ripples and other early rush decks. This will shift the meta into a more vanguard-centric play-styles such as Amon, Dimension Police and Brawlers. Other decks that will also be prevalent will be all of the paladin clans because of their ability to superior call from the deck, thus keeping board presence. In conclusion, I believe that having easy access to a powerful control deck makes the game more enjoyable because now all of us has an easy answer to decks that like to flood the field. If Chaos Breaker Dragon wasn't enough to slow the flow that is Aqua Force, Overlordblaze will definitely put them in check.





In April we have the Gold Paladin Budget trial deck:Knight of the Sun. This is Bushiroad's way of promoting the game by giving easy access to new players. Obviously it won't have the competitiveness of a legend deck, nor will it be that complex, but it'll be a great way for helping new kids learn and enjoy the game. Attention parents: don't give in to Bushi's enticing offer ... It's a Trap!



In May GBT07 will be released featuring gold paladin support and more. My guess is that it will focus on Gurguit support such as a new Gurguit crit, a Glimmer Breath clone and probably another Amber clone. Even though bluish flame is a competitive deck and Ezel is a good niche deck, I feel like Gold Paladins in general need more support. G-support especially needs attention because waiting to flood the field post generation break is much too weak at the moment. They need more consistency (I.E.- the ability to check more cards per skill), better effects (I.E.- more damage per superior call like Bruno) and more potent strides. With today's Gold Paladin strides you first have to go stride into Cambell or Scourge Dragon which both are terrible in comparison to Royal and Shadow Paladin's first strides. Then you get to Spearcross which is decent at best. We need strides that are deadlier and worthwhile to stride into, because Prominence Glare is by far the best finisher in the clan at the moment. 


Also in May, we have Fighter's Collection 2016. Not too much to say here other than the fact that I'm glad Bushiroad is releasing them twice a year now. It's a healthy way to promote other sub-clans into the Meta. It also gives that little bump that makes a deck go from "meh" to "damn they're already sold out on TCGPlayer!"

Next we have another clan booster for Bermuda Triangle being released in June. SURPRISE!...not. Just more support for the game's most expensive singles. Olyvia get a giant hike in price and suddenly the price of all the Bermuda Triangle decks on eBay go up 30-50%.  



Moar Mermaids = Moar $


I hate this guy
Lastly in July we have our next Technical Booster featuring Great Nature, Megacolony and Murakumo. Even though Great Nature is gaining hype is japan due to Mikesaburo and Cath Palug, they still need support for specific bosses such as Big Belly and Leopald. And please Bushi give us a soul blaster! Taping Cat and sloth tank just doesn’t cut it. Megacolony holds a dear place in any Cardfighter’s heart: it’s the place between frustration and despair. Even though I despise that clan (I’m looking at you Mosquito MK II, seriously why is he not GB1?!), I understand the clan’s importance in the Meta. They are the only clan other than Deletors that can “control” the opponent's Vanguard. As far as what to expect from TB02: probably lots of Darkface support since it's Megacolony’s only on-Strider. Lastly we have the real problem child of the group: Murakumo. Now I know that lots of people say that Murakumo is a decent clan, however any deck I’ve ever witness has been dysfunctional and in need of way too much set-up. The ninja clan has a really cool hit-n-run mechanic and it should be good in theory, Bushiroad just needs to give them the support they rightful deserve to function smoothly. They’re ninjas for Messiah’s sake, why do they need so much set up. They need to give them the ability to drop rearguards first and then they can clone them. Because right now all you have to do against Murakumo is snipe the one or two rearguards that they try to leave on the board. I predict plenty Yasuie support and it would be pretty bad-ass if they gave Magatsu Storm some love too. 




Please Bushi, give em some love!
Well that's about it folks! Let us know what you think about the upcoming releases in the comments below and don't forget to vote in our poll at the top! Thanks for reading! 

-Kooj signing out


Thursday, January 14, 2016

The Beginning of SackSquad



What's going on everybody, just wanted to give you guys some information on our new Cardfight Vanguard channel: SackSquad! Let me breakdown our squad: From the Bay Area comes the SackSquad: an elite group of nerds providing you with videos and content centered around the TCG (trading card game) Cardfight Vanguard from Bushiroad. Rounding out this amazingly talented group of five twenty-something children are:

Kooj - from the Land of the Rising Sun a master of strategy and caring father is capable of destroying what you love most. You may think you’re winning against him but you’d be wrong. Always two steps ahead of you, waiting to spring his trap and take home the win.

Hebi - the one who started it all… a man of stature, royalty, elegance, seduction. Hebi entranced us all with the magic of an amazing tcg called Vanguard he had been playing for a year. It is from him that we have all succumbed to the greatness that is Cardfight Vanguard.

Feed the Triggerless - a man of many talents will eat you alive. Be wary for when this man is your opponent you will suffer a slow painful death. A genius considered by some (not us) carefully plans out his attack with strategy, taking his time, thoughtfully making sure his turn is effective, making sure that your slow death is all the more satisfying when he finally after fifteen minutes destroys your field taking home the win.

Jaccas - a barbarian of immense strength and resolve, crushes his opponents to a pulp. Leaving no trace behind Jaccas will destroy not only you but your entire family to sate his everlasting hunger of blood lust and death. You have been warned. He is also Mexican.


I (kooj) will try to keep this blog going a few times a week with content on our lives pertaining to Vanguard, as well as some analysis on matches, deck profiles, and anything else Vanguard related. So hang tight, cause we're going to start next week! Here's a link to our webpages:


www.facebook.com/SackSquad