Short Review : BT08 Blue Storm Armada

Winter is coming and a lot has and will happen in the world of Vanguard. Blue Storm Armada spoiler has been announced and so new reprints regarding Nova Grappler and Oracle Think Tank have.

Today we are going to review BT08 and get a taste of the future metagame.

Blue Storm Armada really brought up a lot of support for some “forgotten” clans like Tachikaze, Dimensional Police and Neo Nectar. Let’s take a closer look:

Neo Nectar

This clan is about pushing your opponents with your beatsticks and force them to literally guard against each of your attacks. In this new set a new archetype and a new chain ride is introduced.

“All for one and one for all” This archetype is practically revolving around retiring/thinning and recycling in order to achieve the best formation you can have. Equipped with a Limit breaker and with a mass of “recycling” units a strong and solid line-up doesn’t seem so difficult.

And off course we can’t forget the mighty chain ride. This chain is about powering up your solid formation with minimum cost effectively making every of your attacks hitting the 20-21k powerline easily.

Tachikaze

Another “forgotten” deck has finally been revitalized getting new really good support. Tachikaze is going to attract a lot of attention for sure. Getting 2 limit breakers isn’t a small feat and certainly their support units would not be too kind too. Retiring and powering while getting advantage and pushing your opponent to extremes, sapping away their defenses doesn’t sound bad at all. Chain Ride and a potential double twin drive is a fierce combination that cannot be overlooked.

Dimensional Police

The Justice League of Planet Cray finally got new recruits and not just any recruits but the Ultimate Justice Sword and a new chain ride as well ( it seems that we’re getting a lot of them recently). The new chain ride focuses around weakening the enemy vanguard making powerless in front of your mighty Police. As for the Ultimate Dimensional Robo Daiyusha,13k     potentially superior crossride unit with a free LB making your vanguard a huge finisher especially when you combined it with units such as Dailander.

And now the Man dish. 

My new favorite, Aqua Force. A lot of great units has been released, 2 more Limit breakers have entered the fray accompanied by their own support, Storm Riders. I won’t get into details because this is going to be my next topic.

Last new Narukami units have been introduced. They are not seem very impressive for now , but Narukami is certainly a great clan and new ways can be ventured to incorporate these new recruits into your Thunder army.

 Blue Storm Armada is a great collection that will cause a lot of turmoil to the seas of Cray and will set new rules to the upcoming format. Get Ready! Let’s Imagine! Lets Vanguard!

A new Force emerges!

The “Gear” of Evolution has begun once again to move and the world of Vanguard welcomes the new innovations of Dimensional Police and Aqua Force. Today (after a long time) we will take a peek on the Legendary Clan. I am talking off course about Aqua Force.

Reading the skills of the units we figure out immediately that this clan is all about attacking with perfect sequence, standing and generally obliterating their enemy. From a first look these guys seem to be a “technical” deck that will require a lot of maneuverability and skill and that’s mainly because your moves are easy readable. But don’t be discouraged because sometimes even if your opponent knows what you are going to do, they won’t be able to stop you!

 

Enough with the introduction, let’s meet those guys from closer.

Grade 0

 Focusing on standing and re-attacking (increasing the count of battles mainly), Aqua Force has been equipped with 2 different stand triggers. The rest of the triggers are pretty normal with only 1 kind of critical and draw triggers (yet).Choosing your own trigger configuration is up to your style and how good you can pilot this new force. As for starting vanguard as things are the only logical choice is Erikk, certainly a better option than a vanilla 6k starting vanguard.

Grade 1

 Following on Grade 1, we have some standard but never the less good units that add more stability to every deck. These are Dorothea, the 10k booster, Cynthia a card switcher (replica of Aermo) , perfect Guard Paschalis and the beatstick booster Theo. Also Splash Assault isn’t bad but certainly can be replaced for something better.

Grade 2

Next, the naval crew is introduced with its most notable members to be Coral Assault, Argos and off course the key-unit that gets your battle count to 4, Bashir. Coral Assault and Argos shine the best when you setup your own game pace and for that you have Bashir, a real star among the Aqua Force that gives you a 4^th attack without relying on a stand trigger.

And of course a crew is nothing without their bosses and captains. Let’s meet the Captains and the Dragons of Aqua Force.

Grade 3

I will skip Xenophon and David as they provide only sheer power, one exploiting the characteristic skill of Aqua force and the other by counterblasting 1 and I will proceed to the real bosses of the Legendary Clan.

First we have Navalgazer Dragon, one of the Limit Breakers of Aqua Force. This fierce dragon may be predictable but most of the times your opponent will just sit still watching him wrecking their vanguard. Navalgazer can get to 16k by its own and if its attack hits then your opponent will have to face 2 more attacks!A really devastating skill.

Next we have Diamantes, a grade 3 Bashir essentially raising just like its predecessor your battle count to 4 making the next unit a HUGE finisher.

And at last the other dragon of the Legendary Clan, Hydro Hurricane Dragon. This unit can easily wipe out your opponent’s field as soon as its attack hits and the battle count is at 4 and like Navalgazer it can get to 16k by its own. At worst case scenario every attack of yours will require a null guard or 3 cards at least sapping away your opponent’s defenses and letting your stand triggers do the rest.

Aqua Force is certainly a force to be reckoned. It may be a difficult deck as most of their “tricks” are readable but when you will get the hang of it and set your own pace you will “sink” any opponent you will meet.

Pale Moon Circus- Grand Re-Opening

Summer is up, and the world of Vanguard is evolving as fast as always. The new set BT07 was released and new opponents have arrived at the “battlefield”. Today we are going to analyze a fun, tricky and skillful deck. I’m talking about Pale Moon and the Grand Re-opening of the “Circus”.

With the new set a new starting vanguard was introduced that seems innocent at first sight but believe me you don’t want to let your eyes off of it. The Girl Who Crossed The Gap is an extremely useful unit essentially letting you swap her for a stronger more dangerous unit. There is also Innocent Magician a good tutor card for “netting” grade 3s but I am sticking with the Girl on this one. Her potential is great, fetching a Bunny or Alice or Trapezist is a huge play and provided with the right timing it can be “lethal” too.

In addition to Grade 0 a new set of triggers is introduced that practically gives you a great variety of choices, play styles and the advantage of unpredictability. The star of the trigger lineup is the new Juggler, Poison Juggler. Critical Trigger and on top of that it can grow your soul while pumping another unit of yours with +3k.

Next, we have Grade 1s. Jumping Grain, Mad Cap Marionette and Quantum Magician. Mad Cap Marionette is the “painter” of Pale Moon. Placing a key-unit in the soul doesn’t sound bad at all, especially when you combine it with “substitution” units like Girl Who Crossed The Gap, Quantum Magician, Trapezist, Bunny and Alice. As for key-units a nice addition would be Grain which can be a nice 10k booster adding a more aggressive “note” to your tricky Circus show and don’t forget Accurate Mia, a 7k booster that can “fuel” your soul or “force” your opponent to guard.

The “Stars” of Grade 2s, are certainly Dark Night Dance Queen, Pee-Ka-Boo and Fire Breathing Carrie. The first one covers up all the weakness of Mad Cap Marionette while it can fetch a specific key-unit from deck without losing one from hand, essentially lowering your guard. Queen is a nice addition to every Pale Moon for sure. Next Carrie, Pale Moon’s “Kirara”, letting you a draw when its attack hit by counterblasting 2 damage. I am not sure if the draw can equalize the loss of 2 damage but Carrie is a good card and might give you the edge with that extra draw. Pee-Ka-Boo just do what its name implies. It can be a nice attacker when you want to save up your hand or just irritate your opponent.

At last but definitely not least, the “real” Star Performers of the Pale Moon Circus, Grade 3s.

I will only talk about the new “performers” because I think Alice doesn’t need an introduction. She is a powerful core unit of Pale Moon that can even be considered a “staple”. So let’s talk about the newcomers of the crew. Nightmare Doll Amy, a strong megablaster with a decent skill but when we are talking about Pale Moon we most likely thinking something that uses its counterblasts every turn instead of reserving them for a megablast. So we come to Sara and Lequier.

Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Lequier is the Limit breaker of the Circus and a “Lethal” finisher that absolutely suits the play style of the “Assassin”. Fetching 3 units from soul while pumping herself is undoubtedly a huge set-up for a Final Turn, especially when combined with Trapezist, Quantum, Bunny, Girl and Alice. 

In addition to the Dragon Tamer a Sword Act has been added to the Circus. Sara is here and she is certainly a tough opponent for everyone. Extremely good skill, essentially letting you re-use Alice. Can pressure pretty hard your opponent.   

 The Grand Re-Opening of Pale Moon Circus is not far, great things are being expected and you wouldn’t want to miss a show like this for anything!

Set Review: Rampage of The Beast King

Today we are going to have a more thorough peek at BT07. Most of the set has already been released, and as far as I can say, the next “Era” that awaits us is going to be very interesting, competitive and enjoyable.

 Firstly, a new power clan is introduced in the fighting pool. Of course I am talking about the great university of Cray, Great Nature. The main characteristic this clan features is the skill of boosting rear guard usually giving them plus 4k and at the end phase retires them.  But it doesn’t stop here. Utilizing recycling mechanisms such as Pencil’s squire counteblast, Leopard’s and Bison’s Limit Break abilities you can minimize any draw-backs of boosting mechanism and even obtain advantage.  Great things are expected from Great Nature and for sure it will affect the future metagame.

Next a blast from the past. The return of one of the classic “Big 3” that set the foundation of Vanguard has come. Oracle think Tank has many fans and their time to make an impact might have come. A new engine is introduced focusing around spending the soul instead of “packing” it essentially boosting the Scarlet-Witch Coco style. OTT needed a boost for quite some time and I think its supporters will be pleased with the new units.

Dark zone clans were always popular. With their tricks, the big attackers and being played by AL4 they sure have gained a huge fan-group. Being at the top requires some strong cards except from some tremendous skill. So let’s see the new tricks of Pale Moon and Dark Irregulars.

Pale Moon 

Pale moon circus is open again and its new recruits are amazing, tricky and fun.First, a new starting vanguard, Girl Who Crossed the Gap, an amazing unit that can really give you the edge by substituting herself with another more “dangerous” unit. A new juggler is also added to the circus crew, giving you an additional critical and pumping a unit by boosting your soul essentially giving a much more aggressive note to Pale Moon making it even more threatening. Also the circus is given its own “painter”, Mad Cup Marionette and some “substitutes”, Pee-Ka-Boo and Quantum Magician. Last we have the star-performers. A new doll, Amy a megablaster is introduced but that’s the least problem you will face when Pale Moon hit the Grade 3 pool.  Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Lequier and Sword Magician Sara, are your biggest foes. Dragon Tamer is an extremely powerful Limit Breaker, bringing 3 units out of your soul. Combining this skill with your “substitutes”, Girl Who Crossed the Gap and Quantum Magician, Purple Trapezist, Bunny and Alice, a Final Turn is not a long way from there. Next Sara, tremendous skill , utilizing full your Alices by essentially re-using them and the only requirement is getting a grade 3 at your drive check which making drive-checking grade 3 not a hideous thing anymore. Pale Moon Circus has returned with more tricks up to their sleeves. Be ready for them!

Dark Irregulars

Dark Irregulars up until now was considered by many an underdog and the main reason was not that it has weak units but its predictable trigger configuration. In a format that’s too fast running the standard lineup of 4-4-4-4 is not much of a deal. But that is changed now. A whole new quartet is added to the pool giving you a variety of choices making you more unpredictable and faster. In addition 2 new starting vanguards have entered the “Scene”, one Tutor and one Soul-boosting. Both decent additions.  Also new boosters have been recruited. Demon Bike can easily get to 10k by having 2 more in soul, something that’s being done easily in a deck like Dark Irregulars. Yellow Bolt and Succubus helping on the soul-boosting while an extremely useful unit is introduced. Bloody Calf, a cb 2, grade 1 unit that can blast an enemy grade 1 or lesser unit, practically slowing down opponent depriving them of some key-boosters.Last but not least, the “Demons” that will haunt you down.Mad Eye Bassilisk and Devil Tank can break easily the 20k powerline , making them good rear guards. As for the Vanguard part we have Dark Lord of Abyss  that is somewhat like a replica of Amon and Reggie, a fierce Limit Breaker that can be really annoyed having to guard against him every time because of the Critical 2. Dark Irregulars will certainly justify their position on the AL4 and will stomp many other Tier Decks using their huge attackers and their new lineup.

Gold Paladins 

We can’t simply get enough of them! Some new recruits have arrived on the Gold Paladin’s army. A new starting vanguard that can “replace” itself with a stronger paladin combing with the new boss unit, Pellinore.White Hare is a terrific unit, Limit Breaker and when it comes from the deck by some other unit’s ability can give you an extra attack and an extra twin drive. Quite a formidable unit. Next we have Dindoran , a better version of Silver Witch,  making your deck faster and Griflet the Gold Paladin version of Lion Heat. Last but not least, Lop Ear shooter is another great unit which combos with Pellinore but it can find its place in Black Knights Horde too.

Rampage of the Beast King will set new “game rules” and the battle that will come will be fierce, so pick a side, chose your clan and be prepared for a ferocious Clash at Planet Cray!

Let’s Imagine! Let’s Vanguard!

Lion vs Dragon

 

Today, we will review Gold Paladins, we will compare both versions and analyze their pros and cons.

Grade 3:  2x Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel 2x Gigantech Destroyer 4x Great Silver Wolf, Garmore Grade 2: 2x Sacred Guardian Beast, Nemea Lion 4xKnight of Superior Skills, Beaumains 4x Mage of Calamity, Tripp 1x Player of the Holy Bow, Viviane Grade1: 4x Sleygal Dagger 4x Halo Shield, Mark 4x Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth 1xPrecipice Whirlwind, Sagramore 2x Charjgal Grade0: 1x Little Fighter Cron 4x Elixir Sommelier 4x Flame of Victory 4x Weapons Dealer, Gwydion 2x Silent Punisher 2x Falcon Knight of Azure

Grade 3: 7 4x Spectral Duke Dragon 2x Battlefield Storm, Sagramore 1x Great Silver Wolf, Garmore Grade 2: 11 4x Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer 3x Flash-Edge Valyrie 2x Mage of Calamity, Tripp 2x Sacred Guardian Beast, Nemea Lion Grade 1: 15 4x Jet Black Vanguard Vortimer 4x Gareth Knight of Elegant Skills 4x Halo Shield, Mark 2x War Horse, Raging Storm 1x Player of the Holy Axe Nimue Grade 0: 17 1x Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer 4x Flame of Victory 4x Elixir Sommelier 4x Silent Punisher 4x Falcon Knight of the Azure

                         Let's review the foundation of both Lion and Dragon.

Lion In the list I chose (Nagoya 1st place) the player opted to go for Cron, disregarding the availability of Superior Ride, preferring the tutoring ability and the stability of Garmore instead of chasing the superior ride and focusing around Ezel. Also trigger lineup is “confessing” the need for advantage and the control nature that’s being imbued on this deck. Pros                                                  Cons Stability                                    Lack of speed Card Advantage                         (Power can be considered a Con , but it’s not a huge gap , cause 6 triggers can certainly give you power to push, however less power than Dragon version, and slower “cornering” into the “danger” zone.)

Dragon Now, on the other side, we have the “standard” starting vanguard, which enables the ride-chain. And then we spot a lineup focused around pushing your opponent with force, thus the 8 crits while the 4 draws balance out the aggressive lineup and the “expenses” of Spectral Duke Dragon’s Limit Break. Pros                                                Cons Speed                                         Unstable Rush-Power (I don’t consider card advantage in Cons because when you push opponent faster you make him use more guards, thus exhaust their hand faster. Also Rush-power isn’t the same as speed. A deck has speed when it swarms fast in this particular case, but rush-power is a term referring to pushing force when it comes to attacking the vanguard)

Next, Grade 1.

Gareth and Halo Shield are pretty much standard. But here we spot a quartet of Sleygals that are there to give a boost to the aggressive side of the deck. Also Charjgal is not a surprise with 4 Garmore and Precipice Whirlwind guarantee some card change ,in order to stabilize more your early game and get your pieces for your final setup as the game moves on Pros                                               Cons Power                                               - Stability

Also here Gareth and Halo are self explainable just as much as Jet Black Vanguard. We spot though 3 cards those are unusual enough. First 2 War-Horses. Due to the instability of the deck, those fellows guarantee you a late game “fix” pumping your vanguard at 11k and saving you some cards. Then we have Nimue. Being a 7k boost is certainly adding a more aggressive note to the deck, while making your early game very annoying and pressuring. It could be substituted for a Viviane but the deck needs more grade 1 than grade 2. Pros                                                 Cons Early Pressure                                   - Late game Fixing

Grade 2

An interesting mix-up of pressure (Viviane), sheer power (Beaumains), recycling (Tripp) and defense (Nemea Lion). Pros                                                   Cons Stability                   Lack of much pressure Defense Recycling (Lack of pressure is noted cause of the presence of only 1 viviane.Something that really follows the whole concept and style of the deck/player which chose more defensive attitude instead of mid-game pressure)

Here we have a more straight forwarded lineup. The standard ride-chain backed up by a nice addition to the swarming engine (Valkyrie). Also there are present both defense and recycling engines (Nemea Lion and Tripp) Pros                                           Cons Recycling                              Unstable Swarm-mechanism Pressure (Instability refers to potential lack of Dragon Knight that will lead into a “weak” late game. Also Valkyrie in hand isn’t the best pick.)

Finally the late game and the “meeting “of the Bosses.

We meet, Ezel , Gigantech Destroyer and Garmore.  It becomes clear that Garmore is the leading star of the deck, giving you a stable +1 advantage and a “late” pushing power that’s needed for the final push. Ezel is like the co-star, functioning as a Finisher, a potential swarm-mechanism. Last Destroyer a nice addition to a final push-through attack. Economical and powerful. Pros                                                Cons Stability                                   Predictable Swarming  Power

On the other side of the ring, we have the mighty Spectral Duke Dragon. Final piece of the ride-chain, 11k vanguard essentially saving you some cards when comes to guarding while also having a Limit Break Ability that can be what you need to break through. Next Garmore. He is a unit that can’t be missing from any Gold Paladin Deck. Here he is a back-up plan. And last but not least Dragon’s wingman, the pusher-finisher of this Deck, Sagramore. Combined with 8 crits, Gareth behind him and a 4th attack a final push is guaranteed. Pros                                                 Cons Speed                       Expensive Limit Break Power        High-risk-->Lack of Card Adva. Swarming

So to sum it up, the Ezel/Garmore deck is a more tempo-control based army which balances out its weakness (power, speed) with its Limit Break units. Certainly Tier 1 deck material.

Black Knights are still a controversial deck. Mainly because of its weakness to capitalize on a stable rhythm/rate due to its stability problems. But one thing is undeniable that its Limit Break is a fierce skill that can end a game and also that’s its power is no joke.

 I am emphasizing on the power part because recently I read a post about Spectral Duke Dragon being powerless. I assure you that are not the case at all. In the post I’ve read it was mentioned that the main disadvantage of the deck is Spectral Duke being an 11k vanguard. That’s a terrible misconception. Ezel can power up to 30+ sure, but it’s preventable and readable, also when your turn is over its still a 10k vanguard, an easy target due to the many combinations that break the 20k powerline simple enough.

 Also SDD Limit Break it might be costly but when used right in combination with 8 crits, and Sagramore/Gareth platoon, it gives you a huge finisher setup, especially when you have cornered your opponent at 4-5 damage zone. You have access to 4 attacks. Even if he let one pass, he will need at least 4-5 cards to guard, 2 for vanguard, 2 for sagramore and 1 more for vanguard again. So essentially you sacrifice 3 used up cards to sap away 4-5 cards and gain a potential guard with the extra drive check. The most important thing is to use it on the right time and don’t overextend if it’s not needed.

Vanguard is a game with multiple variables that at least for now doesn’t depend that much on the cards and their power capacity as on the skill of the player. Every deck can beat every deck. Some do it more easily, some harder, but nothing is impossible and nothing is out of reach. Every aspect of it can be controlled and that’s the magic of it, playing against the Player and not the cards. So don’t chase after Phantoms of other games, Tier decks , imbalanced cards. Just find your deck, a clan that fits you , your style and I assure you will be amazed of your potential and the fun you will have.