deaths-reportcard - Tumblr blog

[deaths-reportcard]

Future Granblue deck profile, Granblue gets a boost!

What's up my fellow vanguards? So I'm back from my trip to Vancouver and to be honest I'm really disappointed with my performance at the event. I will post a deck profile of the deck I used another time (most likely on the channel and not here) so I'll post a profile of the deck I wish I could have played at the event. Grade 0: SV: Grade 3 Searcher 1 Chappie 4 Rough Sea Banshee 2 Knight Spirit 2 Ghoul Cannonball 2 Hades Steerman 1 Hook Wielding Zombie 1 Nightflare Grade 1: 4 Gust Jinn 3 Dandy Guy Romario 2 Samurai Spirit 1 Deadly Nightmare 3 Rough Seas Banshee Grade 2: 3 Ruin Shade 3 Pietero 2 Blueblood 3 Corrupt Dragon Grade 3: 3 Nightmist 2 Nightsnow 2 Malefic Dragon 1 Skull Dragon So, I've been waiting for this deck to finally come out and I feel like I would have performed better in Vancouver if I had access to fighters collection prior to the event. I'm not going to brood too much over the event in this little article, but I will go about the deck I'm going to be running from here on out. Kagero may be my gateway clan, but Granblue is the clan of my soul. So starting off with the grade 0's. The forerunner for the deck is the grade 3 searcher for Granblue. After using Red Pulse so frequently over the last two months I've come to appreciate what grade 3 searchers have to offer. I chose the assault squad captain over my Avatar Nightkid due to the grade 3 searcher being more of an immediate plus should I need it where as Nightkid, regardless of how versatile he is, is way too flexible. Although it would make sense to be using a card that has more plays and more immediate pluses, the Skeleton can pretty much do the same. I feel like in this meta pluses to your hand are more important than pluses to your gimmick. Regardless, once Set 17 drops I have a unit that can do the exact thing Nightkid can do in the form of a stand trigger and that unit stay on the field for future replacement. Next unit to discuss is the single Chappie. Now I've been recently been on the fence about Chappie being that late game is extremely dangerous to have him in hand, but I figured that I would rather have access to my toolbox as early as possible and with Chappie I can hit Nightsnows and the promo dragons easily and having the one of is not so bad in Granblue. The triggers are a but strange to some, but I'll do my best to explain my choices. The 8 crits seem a bit obvious since early crits win your games. The two stands and two draws are what seem strange. The two stand triggers are in the list because of two reasons. 1) The units effect is basically a free booster for my Vanguard and also free unit to retire for boosters and Nightsnow 2) Unexpected stand triggers screw up peoples guarding I've experienced the second event far too much and a random stand trigger has lead to my downfall many times. The mentality that crits are better than stands is a bit ignorant and unjustified. I've mentioned earlier that yes crits can speed up you chances of victory, but a stand can also lead you victory. To take this into perspective, Granblue do not currently have a self standing vanguard. The popular decks that are consistently winning in the meta are currently self standing vanguards. These deck of course are playing many crits in their trigger line up, but that's not the main reason as to why they are winning so much. It's the fact that they have at least one more extra attack that is generally super powered up and most of the time people don't have a hand to guard it. The addition of the two stand triggers in my list not only allow access to a really good unit, but also if they are still in the deck late game, a potential 4th attack is too strong not to even consider. Plus, I've mentioned it earlier that there will be a Nightkid stand trigger coming out in January so I have that to look forward too. Finally to discuss the draws (heals are obligatory so yeah). I play the two draws simply because I need the extra hand power. Granblue with the help of Banshee already have massive hand capabilities, but of course extra cards aren't such a bad thing. I'm going to mention this here since it may be a burning question to some people. Why do I play so many different units? Here's my reasoning. It's a soft way of stacking your deck without cheating per say. I learned this from a simple magic trick. You offer a deck of cards to someone and let them pick a card. While they pick a card and they are looking away, you take a peek at the bottom card. Then once they committed the card to memory you ask them to put the card on top of the deck. You yourself cut the deck once then offer to the person to shuffle the deck. Now, as long as you don't allow them to shuffle thoroughly, you take the deck back and look through the deck. The card they've chosen is beneath the one you saw on the bottom. Now what does this trick have to do with the multiple units? Well when you shuffle your deck you always make sure it's thoroughly randomized. Once you draw you have a chance to make a mini stack by putting a draw trigger beside a unit then a second trigger. You can make these mini stacks every time you pick up multiple cards. So when you are drive checking, if you remember your mini stack and see a draw, be sure to draw first. If the card you drew was the one you stacked, then apply power accordingly. If not then it is to your discretion. Now since in this deck there are only two draws they are literally red herrings as to what is to come and thus a better chance to break shields. With grade ones out of the way, I'll move on to the grade 1's. The four sentinel cards are pretty self explanatory. The Romario at three in this deck are simply here as place holders until the limit break enabler is released. This deck has an easy time making magic numbers so having an 8k vanilla isn't that great. It really only works behind Blueblood, but he also is to be eventually replaced. The two Samurai Spirit is also pretty self explanitory. The Nightmare is in this deck simply because it helps get units that are stuck in soul out to be revived (especially if you reride into Nightmist over Nightsnow and there isn't a second copy in the drop). And the three Banshees. One of the best units to be brought from season three for Granblue. The grade 2 line is very simple so I shouldn't have too much to say. 2 Bluebloods because 10k bodies are great to ride into. 3 Ruin Shades because she is the only consistent 11k grade 2 unit and she helps set up drop zone. 3 Corrupt dragon because reviving him is really good. Anytime he is revived he will have 17k and as long as the booster is at least 4k swinging 21k or higher is really easy. And finally the 3 Pietros. You tend to use up counterblasts with Nightsnow a lot and when you are in the grind game, Pietero becomes a pressure card. Having an unflipper is really useful and I'm so glad to have access to it. Once set 17 drops, the biggest change to the line would be to replace 2 Blueblood and a Pietro for 3 Ghoul Dragons. Access to retiring is made available and also once King Serpent is released, Pietro is out and a more reliable unflipper will be in the deck. The 8k doesn't matter as long as I don't ride into him. Finally the grade 3 section. A lot of this is pretty self explanatory. 3 Nightmist for break ride, 2 Nightsnow to guarantee break ride. With the way Nightsnow works you can break ride twice in one turn and your rearguard and your center line will average around 30k each. That's really powerful and if timed right your opponent can't guard. The two dragons are place holders for Negrobolt, but for now I might as well have good rearguards in the form of grade 3's. I can easily make lines with the dragons and also are good targets to drop from anywhere, making PG's a net 0 instead of a minus 1. So that's pretty much my deck for now until set 17. I hope that season 5 brings more to Granblue and as always, remember to stand up to the occasion my fellow vanguards!

[deaths-reportcard]

A few minutes in shop is a lot of fun. I don't own the art, and the design is inspired by Super Smash Bros.

[deaths-reportcard]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but some shouldn't really share theirs. :I

[deaths-reportcard]

Top 10 Best Crossrides

Wut wut! Wus happenen mah fellow Vanguards? So here is an article, which is gonna be another top 10 as well. But I'm first gonna be taking about this whole mechanic first. Based off the title, you probably figured that it's going to be based off crossrides, and you're right. Crossriding is a mechanic that has been part of Vanguard all the way since season one, being DOTE and PBO being the units in question. MLB was also in the mix, but he really doesn't fit the picture. Now, also in terms of the stort line for the show, crossriding was a way to sore a characters growth as a player (evident in season two when almost every character had access to a crossride). Now I'm gonna explain what a "crossride" is out of obligation to newer players (ily). A crossride is a mechanic that occurs when a unit is present in your vanguard circle while a specific unit is in your soul stack, the unit in your vanguard circle gains 2k. Generally, all crossride units are 11k base making them all 13k based. One more note is that the crossride unit is usually a powered up unit of the specific unit in soul. Think of it like a forme change or something. Now that I've explained it, I'm gonna explain it's relevance. Having a vanguard with 13k based power is not only strong offensively, but also defensively. 5k shields become really big when guarding and almost always, the person who is crossriden has a lot of control in terms of guarding. That's why a lot of players tend to make 18k lines to attack because that's the number that forces 10k shields out of your opponents hand. This boost in power is a big pinnacle to the games development and a lot, if not most competitive decks now a days are using a crossride unit alongside their breakride units, thus the term "crossbreakride" is born. Seasons 1-3 of Vanguard always in some shape or form has crossriding become a very powerful force to deal with. An example are the reverse units of season 3. All of the Reverse units (minus 3) are crossride units and are all usually paired with a breakride unit. Most of the time they are iconic units within a clan (Maelstrom for example). As season 4 is now introducing Legion, it is starting to rival crossriding, but it has not completely overruled the mechanic. For those thinking like this, the only thing that has made Legion so hard to deal with is the fact you need to start guarding early. In seasons 2 and 3 we have gained a habit of taking early damage to use our Limit Break abilities to end a game faster. If you were to do the same with Legion, you either are playing Tachikaze or losing haha! All joking aside, with that new mentality of guarding early AND crossriding, it looks like the 13k monsters are going to be relevant for a long time (especially with the new LB unlockers. :3c) Now that that is out of the way (oh look, a weird English grammar mechanic), let's get onto the list! Now, how I constructed this list is based on a few things as usual. 1. Personal preference. That's always going to be a thing. (So if you disagree, then ya disagree) 2. The unit has to GAIN 2k for having a specific unit in soul. So ride chain units, MLB and Nouvelle Vague will not be on this list unfortunately. They need to gain that 2k or bust. 3. The card will rank higher depending on playability. There are some crossride units that do not see any playability anymore (I'll prevent saying which to avoid flaming) but yeah. The units need to be relevant to the current format. Possibly the future format as well. Now that the ground rules are out of the way, let's begin! 10. Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom Starting off the list, we have the big star of season 2, Glory Melstrom. As we all know, this is one of the first ever Ultimate Break units to ever arrive in the game, and Aqua Force at this time was a force to reckon with. For those that do not know, Glory had the ability to prevent your opponent from dropping grade 1 or higher units when your back is against the wall. How powerful is that?! Also, Aqua Force had self damaging units which not only triggers ultimate break at 4 damage, but could recycle heal triggers and crits. That's really awesome! The reason, however with Glory at the bottom of this list is that being an ultimate break, you probably won't be using the ability nowadays. Sure you would be at 13k base and a ticking time bomb, but unfortunately your opponent most of the time will keep you at 4 damage to ensure their PG's and QW's go off. //just self damage yourself, you'll be fine. :D 9. Eternal Idol, Pacifica Okay, this unit is a personal favourite of mine, but the way it is, it does not go very far (but gets a better place than Glory!). So Pacifica. Her ability is to CB3 on LB to bounce 2 units and superior call 1 from the deck. That's a pretty amazing ability especially with the Prism dtand trigger and Prism Clear. Their abilities can power up the new unit so it doesn't need a booster to swing. If you combo this unit with Planet Idol Pacifica, you can potentially get 5 attacks off! Pretty awesome don't you think? The combo goes like this, make sure you have a full field. Use the front two rows unboosted to attack rearguards, or the Vanguard if they can swing. Next attack with Pacifica and bounce the two rested units. Using her LB call 1 unit and with the Breakride skill call a second one. Now you gained 4 cards to your hand (with twin drive) and you still have 2 powered up lines to attack with. If that doesn't scare you, what will? (Reit eat your heart out...) 8. School Punisher, Leo-Pald "Reverse" Here we go, the first Reverse unit to make the list. Now Leo-Pald Reverse is the crossride unit for Great Nature, but the best way to use him doesn't really need the crossride, though people still would have the option to cross (I know I would) There is a really amazing combo with the breakride Chatnoit where you would use two units that rest and give +4k to a unit (tank mouse I believe) then you would activate LB twice to lock both of those units and give power to your rearguard again. You would then proceed to attack. At the end of the turn, the units you kill are brought back onto the field and not only that, but you draw a cars for each one that died with the break ride skill. Amazing. 7. Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier "Reverse" Pale Moon making the list here. Luquier Reverse made Silver Thorn a very powerful deck to play, being that it made calling out units from your soul very easy to do, with a small cost of 1 CB and locking a unit. Not only does the unit come out for cheap, but it also gains 5k to counteract the lock cost. The greatest thing about Luquier is how simple it is to correct your ride. Since soul manipulation is what the clan is all about, getting a regular Luquier into soul is a simple feat. Either you soul charge it by using the Silver Thorn mechanics or you use units like Purple Trapezist to push it into soul and switch a unit in. There is also a combo with breakride, but it works better with regular Luquier so I won't dive into that one. :P 6. Dark Dimensional Robo, "Reverse" Daiyusha This unit is very unique, due to the fact that it doesn't do what Dimensional Robos are supposed to do. That being to gain crits based on power. Dark Daiyusha instead borrows an abikity from the Zeal archtype in the same clan, that is dropping your opponents Vanguards power. That's pretty amazing if you ask me (wow I've typed amazing so many times...). Now specifically, Daiyusha here drops your opponents Vanguard by 10k. If combined with Original Saver, you drop it down to I believe 15k (yes you can go to negative numbers). This ability is very strong because you really do not need the crossride with this unit. Generally your opponent has to make up for the 10k increase in shield that they will have a hard time making lines. Other than that, this unit barely beats Great Daiyusha because you play lots of crits in the deck anyways and guarding is super difficult. 5. Galaxy Blaukluger At the halfway point, and here is where we start seeing self standing vanguards. Now here is a unit that I utterly DESPISE!!!!! Galaxy Blaukluger has this self standing ability where if ANY unit with Blau in its name hits the opponents vg, Galaxy STANDS UP. What?! And with Blau units already being able to stand on their own, what do you do against that?! The only real way to protect yourself during this is hope your opponent heals the 4th damage or if you're crossriden yourself. That's ridiculously powerful. Why is this card a thing?! Ugh... Novas are the bane of my existence... 4. Broken Heart Jewel Knight, Ashlei "Reverse" Although Ashlei isn't a self standing Vanguard, but she does perform really well. Basically her skill will retire one of your opponents units to superior call one of your own. What a cost. For Royal Paladins to be able to do that is insane, and with the announcement of the Limit Break unlocker with Jewel Knight in its name, Jewel Knights will be relevant for a long, long time. 3. Dauntless Dominant Dragon "Reverse" Haha, one D too many to be called DDR. DDDR is also not a self standing Vanguard, but it does factor into the retire meta season 3 has turned into. DDDR's ability is when you drive check a grade 1 or higher Kagero unit, you may retire 1 grade 1 or lower rearguard on your opponents side of the board. Really strong when the breakride does allow DDDR to stand up again (I didn't call Dauntless a self standing, because he don't self stand if you know what I'm saying.) 2. Omniscience Regalia, Minerva Genesis has become one of those crazy new clans that just takes over a format, like Aqua Force! Minerva here is a crazy unit mostly due to the units that are in Genesis to begin with. Before I get Minerva, I gotta talk about the Witch of Ravens and Melissa. Both of these units, when soul blasted can be superior called. SUPERIOR CALLED. Bushiroad, why are these two units rares when they deserve to be at least RR. They are too good. If you soul blast two of each, you basically get two free lines that hit 16k which is the basic magic number. Dang. Back to Minerva. She basically can restand herself for 1 CB and SB3. That's too strong. Also she gains 5k. Seriously. She doesn't even need a booster. No wonder her hype was so big. And finally. 1. Dragonic Overlord, the "Re-birth" Of course Dragonic Overlord would take the top spot. But why DOTR over DOTE? 3 things. 1, DOTR laughs in the face of Link Joker 2. DOTR gains power 3. DOTR does not need to hit. In all honesty, DOTR is a far superior unit to DOTE, but the two can be in the same deck. The way the deck plays, you consistently get the breakride, and you always find ways to amass a huge hand. Dragonic Overlord is a season 1 card and even now it is a really powerful crossride unit. So that there is my full list of the top 10 most powerful crossrides in the game! If you all enjoyed reading up on this, or if you have your own list you want to share, feel free to reblog this post with your list, or send me an ask with your list, we can have a nice chat! So remember to stand up to the occasion my fellow vanguards! Until next time.

[deaths-reportcard]

So I promise to write more articles. :3c Here we go!

[deaths-reportcard]

Granblue deck profile! :D Enjoy~

[deaths-reportcard]

Here is game 1 for a game I had at locals. Links are in the description of the original video leading to the next part, and the Granblue deck list that is show cased. :D

[deaths-reportcard]

Top 10 Best Starting Vanguards

Haideehoo fellow Vanguards!

So a forerunner is pretty much everyone’s favourite thing start off their game of vanguard am I right? I mean who doesn’t like that first ride field presence, am I right?

So, this article will be discussing my personal top 10 starting vanguards to use out of every clan in the game! Don’t feel bad if your favourite unit isn’t in this list, but feel free to share your own!

Also if you would rather listen to the list, check out the video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcUFPM2Mh1g

So let’s get started.

10. Ancient Dragon, Babyrex

Starting off this list we got lil’ Babyrex. If you aren’t familiar with this babe, he is a Tachikaze unit that when he is retired you can superior call the Ancient Dragon, Tyrannolegend for the small cost of a counterblast! Now that’s pretty good for a forerunner if you ask me, and really good in Tachiz considering that you need to retire your junk to play the deck!

I personally like this unit because Babyrex is able to replace himself fairly easily and not only that, he is excellent in the front row because Babyrex will always have his ability go off even if he is retired by an opponents effects, all you need is to manage your resources and you are set!

Let’s move on!

9. Star-vader, World Line Dragon

Oh cool, Link Joker is on my list. Yay! Ahem, so WLD is on my list because this unit is pretty cool. It essentially helps out Glendios from getting grade stuck, all you need is to not be at grade 3, drop a Reverse unit (which makes up the entire deck) and look at the top 5 cards for a Link Joker unit! Any unit! Seriously… WHAT WHY IS THIS SO GOOD?!

Excuse that outburst, but seriously this unit single handedly make Glendios super consistent and I’m pretty sure if there are multiple copies you can perform it’s skill more than once before each ride phase… OH WHAT THE TIMING IS BEFORE RIDE PHASE?! My golly you can use his skill right out of the gate! It would be a shame if this unit would leave the field before you can search it. Good thing the only clans that can really do that are Kagero and Narukami…

But yeah, I really like WLD simply because it single handedly improves the consistency of Glendios, which requires a lot of Grade 3’s to be in the deck to be pitched as cost. I feel like I should be trying to get all the cards asap… Nah.

Next up!

8. Bermuda Triangle Cadet, Weddell

So yeah, Weddell is higher up than WLD… I like her more ok?

So Weddell here is a Bermuda Triangle unit that allows the player to bounce any unit by soul charging her. She right now is one of the best generic forerunners in BT simply put, she triggers bounce effects like Girls Rock Rio and Prism Clear to name a few units.

Umm. I feel like I should say more about her. She has purple hair? Um. She is a loli? Uh… She…. Er… Nevermind let’s move on…

7. Ambush Eradicator Dragon, Linchu

Ah yes, Narukami. Kagero’s lightning counterpart. Linchu overall is a great unit in Eradicators because he is a really scary unit to be guarding against because if his column hits, his skill allows a unit to be retired, and unless you play Granblue or Neo Nectar, it’s gonna hurt. A lot. Being able to put pressure on your opponent with a booster like Linchu will strain your opponent, especially when you’ve been playing for over 3 hours in locals. :D

Also, Linchu is great as a tech in. One in VG circle and one in deck. Drawing into a Linchu is never a bad thing because of his 10k shield and the fact you can make two rows have the ability to potentially retire a unit. It’s really good, and if you haven’t tried playing with two Linchu I suggest you try it out!

6. Crimson Lion Cub, Kryph

Here is a very annoying unit that I believe is just way too good…

Kryph here is a unique forerunner that will move into the soul with Gareth (8k GP vanilla) when there is a Bauemains (10k vanilla) in the VG circle and you can superior ride into Ezel, one of the best Gold Paladin grade 3’s in the game. Now, with the new Ezel support, I do not see why you wouldn’t want to play with Kryph. Sure there is that new forerunner, but I believe that being able to hit Grade 3 turn 2 is really strong. Plus with a cross ride readily available and the new Ezel Scissors to unlock stuff, Ezel is just way too good as a deck. Move aside Liberators, the real Gold Paladins are here to play.

Next on our list.

5. Wingal Brave

At the halfway point we have everyone’s favourite pooch, Wingal Brave! This brave doggie has the ability to search for a Blaster card if he boosts and successfully hits with a Blaster unit. That’s really good! Being able to search MLB is great and getting Blaster Blades and Darks on hit coolioz. Oh and he can be played in Shadow Paladins too! With that Gust Blaster Dragon, classic Shadow Pals will hopefully see play! I’m pretty excited for that guys.

But wait… I thought Wingal Brave fought for the Royal Paladins! WINGAL LIED TO MEEEH!!!

4. Little Witch, Lulu

This lil’ witch is in my opinion, one of the most unique forerunners due to the fact that you call it out when you ride a grade 3 instead of a grade 1. Also it soulblasts 2 to allow you to draw a card, making it a plus 2 essentially, which is good. It also allows our favourite red head Coco to get her effects off. Also Imperial Daughter can recycle Lulu multiple times with a re ride. Pretty awesome.

Aside from all the cool tricks you can do, I personally like Lulu just because of the fact she was showcased in the show and that Soulless OTT is my favourite variant and plus the card art is pretty cute. ;3

3. Godhawk, Ichibiyoshi

Another OTT is in the list! Yes, the Tsukuyomi ride chain starter is in here just because that this is the only ride chain I would actually play. I personally have a vendetta against ride chains, but there are a few I do like. Not much I can say about this unit. :)

2. Captain Nightkid

OMG IAN NOOOOOOO. NIGHTKID ISN’T NUMBER ONE?! BLASPHEMY!

Ok shush. Nightkid does make it high on my list, but it does not mean it’s my top starting vanguard. It is my favourite unit overall, but this list isn’t my favourite unit list.

I honestly can go on and on and on about how great Nightkid is, but I think I have a lot of videos and articles explaining why. So yeah. Gonna keep this short. :D

And finally… What is number one?! I’m gonna tell you! Its… Its…

1. Barcgal AND Conroe

BAM! Gotchya!

These two units are what are on top.

So Barcgal and Conroe. These two units are the only units on a banlist for this game, and for good reason.

Barcgal was key in one of the best win conditions in the game, and that’s Soul Saver Dragon. Ok that’s not the real reason…. The real reason is the fact you do not need to ride into grade 2 because of Llew. Barcgal pluses way too hard and it also makes Blaster Blade too good. Too good.

Conroe is also one of the best units in Kagero, a free grade 1 for 1 CB? And Kagero has a really good grade 1 list and of course sentinels are grade 1 as well. Conroe doesn’t need too much explaining. Hopefully it sticks in the English format since it’s our lucky break. But yeah Conroe. Don’t be Goneroe…

So yeah that’s my top 10 list and I hope you all enjoy it. Feel free to share your own lists and remember to stand up to the occasion my fellow vanguards! Peace!

[deaths-reportcard]

Top 5 Most Difficult Decks to Play

There will be a video so that you can listen to me ramble. If you would rather listen than read, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWAgVEAmuiU

Wassap fellow Vanguards!

So I’ve been wanting to share this for a very long time now. Mostly due to the era of Limit Breaking coming to a swift close, and Legion will be coming around to shift the tides of the game, I wanted to list off the top five most difficult decks to play as of set 15 (yes I know is not out yet, but bear with me here).

Now the way I’ll be going about this, I’m categorizing the decks based on a few things.

1. The consistency of the deck 2. The reliance of promo cards/high rarity cards 3. The presence of “pressure cards” and finally 4. Popularity

Now that last point that I included really is a factor into this top 5. This is strictly speaking to my firm belief that the games “meta” is truly a popularity contest that the community of players and of course the developers of this amazing game have come to put certain clans (*cough* paladins, kagero, link joker *cough*) in front of many.

This list also isn’t a “the top 5 weakest decks” or “worst clans” either because the strength of a deck/clan comes from the player, and luck factor (wew best game mechanics eva).

Now with all that aside, let’s get the ball rolling!

5. Spike Brothers (Bad End/Dudley Emperor)

Now the first clan I want to bring up are Spikes. Now a lot of you would be wonder “wait what? Why is this clan on your list?! I mean seriously, Spikes are of one the best decks in the game!”

Okay shush shush. Listen up! Yes I agree that Spikes really are one of the best decks to play… If you are a beginner. Spikes support the play style of using every card in your hand to beat your opponent as fast as possible by putting on the pressure really quickly and breaking down the defenses as fast as possible. This style of play, is the clans strength, and it’s biggest weakness.

Let’s get facts straight here, yes the deck has the potential of winning really quickly, but you need to get the pieces of the deck really quick as well. The consistency of the deck has some issues since there are no sure fire ways of building your field, and the fact that the grade stuck just ensures your defeat (as in most decks) but Spikes just flat out suffer. The whole premise of Spikes as they are now is to bust out your breakride/limit break the moment you have it and punish your opponent for giving it to you, but should your opponent manage to survive your onslaught you should just offer the handshake right then and there (cuz honestly that ain’t easy yo. AE yo!)

Another strike that Spikes have is that their important cards are pretty high rarity. Yes, granted that the deck itself is pretty dirt cheap, but you still need to find that junk! Most people who have the cards usually don’t want to give ‘em up because of sentimentality, collection, or because they want to sell ‘em. Trading in Vanguard is really difficult if you don’t keep up with the new things, and unless you wanna go shopping on ebay or ideal, finding the cards locally is a task in itself.

Now Spike Brothers do have the huge grade 3 finisher, but the pressure on Vanguard circle isn’t really there. Mostly just the likelihood of a double trigger really. There is Dudley Maison too, but most of the time it’s not gonna hit. The pressure in this deck is decent, but then again it’s not huge.

And it’s popularity is actually pretty good, but again more so towards new players. Spikes aren’t usually seen in top tables at events (at least according to my locals and events like Defenders vs Invaders) so I’d say their popularity is pretty decent.

4. Angel Feathers (non-Celestial)

Now I had to make this point very clear, if you play Angel Feathers without the Celestial units you are going to have a very tough time.

In a non-Celestial build, Angel Feathers very well have been the worst deck to be playing. The only 2 Non-Celestial grade 3’s that actually can perform are Shamshiel and Metatron, but these units are 10k each which makes their amazing-ness put to shame.

When building an AF deck without the use of Celestials, you face many inconsistency issues. Having to rely of random damage is not the best thing to do, and not only that it forces you to make risky decisions when taking damage. That’s why not having the Celestial support really hurts.

The fact that in order for you to use Angel Feather’s Celestial units is what really makes playing Angel Feather so difficult, because you don’t have access to power cards like Zerachiel and Reverse, but rather it focused HEAVILY on the gimmick of swapping cards, where in the pure Celestial builds it’s more of a luxury. A lot of thinking and card moving is involved when using Angel Feather, but with the Celestial support cards it helps out a bit (good thing though that no one wants to use Shamshiel as their main Vanguard… *shifty eyes*)

3. Tachikaze

Now, Tachiz are one of my favourite clans to mess around with. Mostly due to the fact it’s based on dinosaurs and brings younger (or creepy older) people into the game who are dinosaur enthusiasts. These players however will have a difficult time when trying to face the “meta” because so much thought is required to play the deck efficiently.

The gimmick that Tachiz have is that they retire themselves to beef their units up, either with power or crits. This is great and all, but there are too many things to consider. You need to have a consistent hand size when using the clan because you will need to be replacing your units quite a fair bit, good thing Ancient Dragons have decent draw power with the breakride. Another thing, this is one one of those clans that suffer from being locked, unless you are playing the Raptor Series which I believe is the better variant of the dinos imo simply put that you don’t need to rely on the gimmick.

One more point about tachiz is that committing to your field before your grade 3 ride is really bad, and I mean bad. I’ve stated before that you need your hand in order to do anything. In your early rides you generally will be faced with only 1 or 2 attacks since you only have your Vanguard and maybe a grade 2 to intercept/attack with. Also you cannot afford to guard. Guarding early is also a downside for tachiz. Even though the deck is popular amonst newer players, it doesn’t support the newbies style of play, which generally is call all my units and attack. That’s where the deck becomes so difficult to play. Oh and being locked sucks. I’ve said that already right?

2. Any Megablast focused deck.

Aha! A non-clan based selection. I’ve really don’t have much to say about this segment simply because it’s really difficult to pull off. SB8 and CB5? You gotta be kidding me… But it’s possible. The only problem is, consistency issues. Getting CB5 is really simple, but SB8? Not a lot of clans can get that much soul without risking decking out or losing by taking the sixth damage. Plus, Megablast decks are always 10k Vanguard based so there is that.

Megablast decks are relatively cheap, but the amount of pressure it provides is very minimal and this type of ability was only cool when you are capable of pulling it off which most players have trouble with (unless your me. //hue hue hue))

And finally… The number one most difficult deck to play is…..

GRANBLUE!!!!

I bet you saw that a mile away.

Now when I say Granblue, I mean every variant of the deck. The Breakride.deck, the Cocytus Crossride deck, the Tentacle Lord deck, just the entire clan is very hard to use. The play style is very “non-vanguard” because it’s so heavily reliant on unit management and that is something a lot of decks don’t care about. From calling units onto the field, to guarding, intercepting, even healing, every unit needs to pull it’s weight and be thought of before it happens.

I really enjoy Granblue not simply because it’s my favourite clan, but because the difficulty level of the deck is extremely high. It’s like running with leg weights. You force yourself to think of every possible move you can make even though the luck factor is present.

The consistency of the deck is a bit hard to maintain because there are so many grade 3’s that are too good not to run, Chappie the Ghostie being a staple card thus ruining standard deck building numbers AND the fact Granblue has the worst grade 2 line up in the entire game. You can’t even compare that to Megacolony because there is a grade 2 unit that paralyzes a unit just by simply being called to the field. If Granblue had a grade 2 that could either revive or selectively mill any unit from drop zone or deck respectively, then Granblue would be so high on the mythical “tier list.” Like, if Granblue could perform like Celestials, then the deck would be amazing when you consider the fact that superior calling from the drop zone is just way to strong (that’s why Legion Musketeers will be super strong.)

Another thing, the fact that Granblue has the smallest cardpool in the game, there are promos that needed to be used in order for decks to function. Specifically the Skull Dragon and Melefic Dragon. These are both really strong units, but they are promo cards so you need to either get them online, trade or participate in your locals. Oh and one more thing… EVERY CARD BEFORE SET 13 IS OUT OF PRINT. So you need to dig up those commons and drop a fair amount for perfect guards (I’m so happy I’m a Granblue player…)

Now that’s my list of the top 5 most difficult decks to play. This was hard to make so I’ll throw in some honorable mentions in to particular order.

-Aqua Force simply put, field or bust -Bermuda Triangle, your field is your hand. Play cards at your own risk. -Pale Moon, selective soul charging is too important but very limited -Link Joker, not really but people rely to heavily on the lock which really shouldnt be the case.

So yeah there you go. That’s my list. I hope you all enjoyed this top five and be sure to leave an inbox for any future top 5 topics you would like to see.

Remember to always stand up to the occasion, until next time.

[deaths-reportcard]

This is how we relax...:

[deaths-reportcard]

Legion!!!!

Hi. :3c How you doing fellow Vanguards?

So, a friend of mine acquired a Legion Neo Nectar deck. Uggghhhhhhh…… Legion is one of the most annoying abilities that have come up as of yet, and I am really looking forward to it. :D

I tried going up against the deck using my LossSnow deck (Granblue you know) and I got to say, it’s really difficult going up against Legion while having a deck that relies on multiple break rides. Legion decks have a really good time slowing down the game and making it more controlled on their part more or less.

The one thing however that I do not enjoy about Legion that came into light when I played against it, Seek Mate is apparently once per unit. Originally I thought that Seek Mate was something you can only do once per GAME instead of once per UNIT. I got incredibly salty when that happened, especially since I was up against Neo Nectar who already specialize in recycling the drop zone.

I don’t know if Seek Mate really is once per UNIT or once per GAME as I write this article/blurb/whatever but I really hope it’s the latter considering sending back 4 units is already huge, but sending 8+? I have a hard time thinking about the balance of it all, but thinking deeper into it, I don’t think it would matter once every clan gets a hold of Legion (SET 17 GRANBLUE HOOORAHH).

Now, seeing how Legion actually performs and such, how will it affect the game? I believe the presence of legion won’t get rid of Limit Breaks and Break Rides simply because there some Limit Breaks/Break Rides that are extremely strong (ie Daikaiser, Chaos Breaker, Monarch Sanctuary, that Revenger Crossbreaksuperduperride guy, Nouvel Vague). These LB decks however, need to play at a much slower pace. When this mechanic was introduced, the pace of the game was incredibly fast. People would allow themselves to hit 4th damage in order to use these incredible abilities. With Legion decks can play the game at a much slower pace, making it possible to win with zero damage much easier to pull off like it was way back in season 1.

This article blurb thing is written to share my opinion of the new mechanic, and also in part of all the rising complaints about Legion being “broken”. By no means do I believe in this. I rather believe that Vanguard is shifting in terms of how to play the game and that Vanguard is becoming a game where careful thought is becoming more important than racing to LB first to finish off your opponent. The shift will be hard for a lot of veteran players who have more experience with a faster paced game, but it’s a shift I believe will make the game so much better in terms of quality and overall “fun-ness.”

Anyways, thank you so much for taking time to read this. Remember to stand up to the occasion my fellow Vanguards! Take care until next time.

[deaths-reportcard]

Is Cocytus "Reverse" really trash?

Howdy hue my fellow Vanguards! So I've finally gotten to play with my new form of Granblue, the Cocytus based deck that I've showcased recently on the channel. From what I've said in that video, I've only been looking at the deck in a very flat and "face value" sort of way. After playing it however, I feel like I've looked at the clans reverse unit with a lot of scorn and did not give the unit the credit it deserves. As we all know, Reverse was introduced to us with the great break ride unit LOSS Nightmist. Now comparing the two units side by side, Reverse is really lackluster when pitted against loss. Loss gets you two units from your drop and can utilize units like Banshee and Thanatos for a huge pressure line and extra draw power for example. Cocytus "R" can only net 1 unit from the drop by locking 1 and milling 3. That sounds very bad considering that Loss needs a lot of the deck to draw and drop into the grave, Reverse paired with Loss is very dangerous in terms of decking out. But separate those two units, just get them away from each other. When Reverse is put into the Cocytus deck, which btw was very strong during the reign of limit breaking, Reverse does not sound so bad. The Cocytus deck in general, does not need to facilitate the drop zone as much as Loss does. There is really only 1 unit that needs to be in drop zone, Dragon Spirit. Dragon Spirit in the drop zone will equal a 26k Vanguard when you are at limit break. That sounds really good right? In the Loss deck, there is only the 26k line on the rear with BR, and the vg can only swing those numbers during that turn. Cocytus can do this every turn. Now let's introduce the crossride factor. A 13k Vanguard in Granblue? That's pretty swee, especially since there is an 8k booster in the deck. Also all the field correction cards like Samurai, Cap'n Nightmist and Skull dragon, when you crossride over a Cocytus being boosted by a dragon you can fix your field without minusing yourself. That Dragon Spirit can become an interceptor with the small cost of a CB. The mill factor of Reverse doesn't seem so bad when your deck is very healthy with cards, and since the deck is very simplistic, Ruin Shade does not need to mill. I've even considered taking her out and putting in Blueblood since I do not need to mill. Building a crossride deck in Granblue allows you to focus on making the best field possible while controlling your deck flow. When I initially started playing the deck, I had trouble going for the crossride. I feel that my uneasiness for riding a card that I viewed as "trash" for so long prevented me from letting that card shine. It also prevented me from using Dragon Spirit to it's fullest potential too boosting a rearguard Cocytus. The concept wasn't new to me since I did this sort of thing in Soulless OTT, but it never occured to me that I could do it in granblue, when I never actually went for that formation during this decks prime. I believe that this version of the deck is the stronger variant of Granblue, simply put that the goal is to build the best FIELD. The Loss deck is more focused on the best DROP ZONE. This huge difference is what separates Loss and Reverse. To put this into perspective, Loss needs 4 units in the drop zone in order for it to shine, Thanatos, Banshee, Ghost Ship and Nightsnow. Once those units are present, the deck is really strong. Reverse on the other hand, it really depends on your hand, but you generally only need 1 unit in the drop. Your skill with unit and resource management is really important considering getting Cocytus in soul is very important. Cross riding is more important than dropping units. This is the strength of Reverse. Playing Reverse in a deck where his LB isn't much of a minus, but rather guarantees of future power lines due to the presence of field correction cards. And considering Nightsnow isn't gonna arrive until the release of Fighters Collection, Loss is gonna have to take a backseat and let Reverse bring Cocytus back into the spotlight, at least in my opinion anyways. Anyways, thank you very much for taking time to read this little blurb. If you haven't seen the deck profile yet make sure to check out the deck profile on my channel. Remember to stand up to the occasion my fellow Vanguards! Until next time.

[deaths-reportcard]

Yugioh vs Vanguard

How's it going my fellow Vanguards!

Now this topic has been brought up over and over and OVER so many times on the internet and I just want to, how to put this, enlighten? I think that's right. Enlighten people on the whole “Yugioh vs Vanguard” war that almost always comes up in threads or groups, even in locals and I honestly am sick and tired of it.

I wanted to first point out that I am an advocate of both games. I played Yugioh long before Vanguard was a thing and I play Vanguard and I love the game to death and put my heart and soul in to this Vanguard centred channel. But there is alway this argument on which is the better game to play and blah blah blah blah.

The first thing that people generally argue about is price. Yes, we get it. Money is always an issue when playing card games, especially when we really shouldn't be spending our hard earned cash on beautiful pieces of paper, but I digress because I do exactly that with no regrets. If you want to play a card game competitively and you want to do well and win, you need to invest in the game. Much like any other sort of hobby or sport, you need to invest time and money in order to improve your game. Without that investment, how in the world do you think you will get better at this game? I know that if I don't practice with a deck before a major tournament, I will get my butt handed to me and I will feel all the salt.

Back to the topic of price. From a general stand point, Yugioh costs a lot more to maintain over Vanguard. That I agree. From the view point of box digging, I would rather do that in Vanguard over Yugioh because in Vanguard, buying a box can get you about 80% of all the cards you need for 1 particular deck and trade fodder for the rest. In Yugioh, you don't have that same sort of luxury. But that is just based solely on box digging. The average Vangaurd box goes for about 80 (35 for half boxes) and Yugioh boxes ranged from 90-100 (so I hear). From that perspective that seems that Vanguard is the way to go for prices. But look at it like this.

Yugioh has been around 13+ years and the way the game uses it's cards, you can still use the old classic cards from all the way since the games debut (examples would be Dark Hole, Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force, Magical Hats, Swords of Revealing Light, the list goes on). These cards have been getting reprinted, getting reused for the longest time and the usability of older cards just gets better as new cards are released. Looking at single prices, these “staple” cards have pretty cheap prices to grab, and because Yugioh has a ban list you don't need to get playsets of all of them, unless you really want them.

Now that you have that in mind, when newer cards come out for Yugioh, you really just need to get the newer cards. You don't have to spend a lot to get a bunch of cards that most of the time you don't use, and when it comes to a lot of jank cards, I mean there is a LOT OF JANK CARDS, and will collect dust in your tins. But, over time, these cards will gain value and in the future they could actually see some play. An example of this would be Swords of Concealing Light. A few years ago when I found this card, I could not think of a reason why I would want to set my oppents monsters when I could attack over them and deal LP damage. But now Ghostricks are a thing and Swords of Concealing Light just gets better! I mean come on, Ghostricks are hardly “meta” in a matter of speaking, but in the hands of a good player you can win almost anything.

Now you have been enlightened on Yugioh and how the cards are used. Let's take a look at Vanguard...

Set 1. We had Alfred, Dragonic Overlord, Blaster Blade. You know, the first generation of Vanguards. Where are they now? We have arguments over Alfred being good or bad, Dragonic Overlord is getting reprinted with a break ride effect, Blaster Blade has been remade 4 times! Why would I spend money on cards that will almost never see any play and you absolutely HAVE TO buy the newest sets in order to keep up with Vanguards “meta” (which really is just a popularity contest) and waste money on boxes and boxes?

When it comes to buying singles, Yugioh does it better because every single card has a home and can be played. Vanguard, not so much. There are cards that just do not do anything within the clans they are in, the BIGGEST example is the CB2, draw 1 cards that each and every clan has and wastes a RR spot in the set they are released in.

So, when it comes to spending money, Vanguard makes it really easy to get into the game considering that box digging in Vanguard is so much more worth it, but you can really play budget decks in Yugioh, AND STILL WIN if you are a good player.

--

Now we break off from the money, and lead into the skill argument. I noted a few times that any deck can be good in the hands of a good player in Yugioh, and that is true. Recently I went to a win a box for Yugioh, and I heard rumors that Mermails can't really perform now that Artifacts are a thing. But I went with Mermails anyways, and loe and behold, I went up against Artifacts. Now, the player that used the deck is a friend of mine so we went in with the mentallity of having a good game. And we did! It was game 1 I managed to win, game 2 was a loss due to a mistake of mine, and game 3 was so close, the tension could be cut with a butter knife. When you become well versed in Yugioh, and you play against a player that is also really good at the game, you get really tense situations and you prove that you are actually good at this game. And I love Yugioh for it!

Another thing I need to point out, Yugioh is really a knowledge based game. You need to do reasearch on how other decks perform, where their weaknesses lie and how to stop them in their tracks. If anyone plays competitive Pokemon VGC, you know too that you need to know the stats of the popular Pokemon in order to work with the team you have and win. Knowledge is power and that power will bring you places. You are given 5 cards at the start of the game and you need to make do with those 5 to bring your win condition to the board.

The Banlist is also an important factor in Yugioh because there are certain cards that just make the game not worth playing (which was originally why I switched to Vanguard) like Spellbook of Judgement and Dragon Rulers running around like they own the game, which they did for a while.

This format I believe was the reason why Vanguard got the boom that it did because it was a new game with simpler mechanics and overall, a funner game.

Now, I am going to bring the skill factor and apply it to Vanguard. The decks that we in the English format see top are Gold Paladins, Shadow Paladins, and Narukami. Now, let's take a look at what's topping in the Japanese format. Kagero, Genesis, Nova Grappler. Wow, that's a pretty big difference in terms of the choices of clans. I wonder why? OH THAT'S RIGHT IT'S A POPULARITY CONTEST. I cannot stress this enough, the decks that win or do very well in tournaments such as these, if you were to look at the percentages of the clans that show up at these events, the ones in the top bracket usually have the highest percent of people who use the deck.

This arguably is the same as Yugioh, but if you take a look at a tier list for Yugioh, over time the list gets bigger and more decks can be played and do really well. Vanguard, not so much.

Paladins as a whole are the most supported clan in the entirety of the game and I myself, play Granblue which along with Megacolony (until set 14) is the most under supported clan in the entire game. Yet I still play the clan with a passion because I love the clan, it's what started my Vanguard career.

When it comes to winning, any deck in Vanguard can win. It's not something to be surprised about. I mean haven't you ever faced a new player, and because they play so differently than the standard veteran player you just flat out loose? I know I have and I always ask myself “why? I have been playing this game longer than he has!” Well it's a simple fact, Vanguard at is core is a simple game. If you play any deck with no gimmicks, no abilities and play with just face value of the cards you have, you probably would win more of your games because making lines in Vanguard is really the best way to win. Knowing simple math is really all you need to be successful in Vanguard. You don't need to drop all the money you have to build the most popular deck, you just need to make lines and attack the Vanguard. You save a lot of hand power and you pressure your opponent so much more. (Oh and don't forget that you have a chance to fix a bad opening hand. Just saying...)

If I were to put it into a number sort of thing, about 45% of skill that is involved with Vanguard is in the deck building. 25% is knowledge of the game and the last 30% is luck factor. With Yugioh, I would say that 45% of skill is deck building, 45% is knowledge and the last 10% is luck. In skill is present in both games, but Vanguard has the larger luck factor. That however still does not prove that one game is better than another. Using meta in either game is a great way to get wins, but if you just net deck you aren't going anywhere, and from one experience player to the general populous the majority of decks that are posted on the internet are complete garbage because those who post the decks either a) are using a copy of someone else's deck, b) are terrible deck builders or c) a complete scrub who thinks they are good at the game. You would rather be building your own deck and test out your own ideas than to ask people for their decklists. There is nothing wrong with getting inspiration from people, but in the end it is your deck and you should know what you are using inside and out.

--

Now the last thing I want to really discuss is the people who actually play these games. I can say I have experience with both of these communities seeing that I play both of these games. Both have a healthy amount of people who play the game, but of course one is obviously older than the other.

A majority of the Vanguard community, let's face it, they are ex-yugioh players. I mentioned this before, during the reign of Spellbook of Judgement and Dragon Rulers, a majority of the yugioh community has left to play Vanguard, and that's why the game became as successful as it is right now, even though the game is over 3 years old and Yugioh is 13. But, if you notice the people that left, they were the players that the Yugioh community really shunned and labeled as “scrubs”. These “scrubs” were titled as such because generally these people do not think about the game they are playing. I have said this before, but you need to actually think about what you are doing when you play Yugioh and where as in Vangaurd all you need to really think about is making lines.

During those times, people in the Yugioh community were very mean, way before the release of Vanguard in English. There was a reason for that. A lot of people played Yugioh without actually trying to play. I know there are casual players, and there are a majority of people who play casually. But the kids who ran around bragging about their decks were so good, and the easy access to better cards because of reprints just drove the core Yugioh community bannanna sandwich. Then Dragon Rulers came along. Only the die hard, or the desperately wanting to win people dropped all their money to get the “best cards ever” and they started to win. The core community started to get more fed up with these “scrubs”. But something happened. A godsent to the Yugioh community. Cardfight!! Vanguard became a thing and a lot of people switched over.

Now the reality of this isn't so pretty and simple like that. But it is true that a bad format of Yugioh caused a huge boom for Vanguard, and that was really good on the Vanguard community. All these scrubs that the Yugioh people didn't want to deal with are playing something else and those who still play Yugioh are either really commited to actually playing well or casual players (which will always be around). So the core Yugioh community became less mean and more supportive of people, which is great!

But lets look at the core Vanguard community...

At the communities core there are so many trolls and people who treat this game the same way as yugioh. They over hype cards that really shouldn't be over hyped, they act as if their builds are the best ever even thought they never actually compete at top tier events, these people cause so much shenanigans and BS that I am really kinda surprised that the numbers of Vanguard players havent dwindled. But there is a reason for this. These people have one thing in common. THEY DON'T ACTUALLY THINK.

I'm not trying to bash the Vanguard community, because I am a part of it. But if you all take a look at the condtion of the community, it's really poor. People don't respect one another, there are always fights over what card/deck/clan/penis is better than the other. I mean, so much BS is being thrown around in these communities it just frustrates me because we had such a good start. We are actually turning into what Yugioh players fear the most, ANNOYING.

If you ever go to a locals, and pay attention to the tournaments for each game, you notice that the players patiently wait for their rounds to end, they watch each other play their games and they pay attention and LEARN. When it comes to people who play Vanguard however, they whine and groan when they have to move spots a majority of the time, when they watch other people play they coach each other, which is a violation of protocol, and they are always looking out for number one and not letting others learn for themselves. As a whole, the Yugioh community is much more patient, and the Vanguard community is much less so.

One more point I would like to bring up.

Vanguard people are rowdy. Just flat out. Sure it's one thing to have a reaction when you get the sack and your friends are with you to share the moment, it gets really exciting and it happens in both games. But when it comes to Vanguard, these “moments” happen way more often than not. And they happen when outside of competitive play! I think this also adds to the appeal of Vanguard, but really guys? Everytime? We don't need you to announce to the world that you got 69k with 5 crit and won the game. It's honestly just so annoying and we don't need it. It's cool if you do it once in a while, but right now the community as a whole just needs to tone it down and play your freaking game. Please, honestly, just SHUT UP. Enjoy your game without the noise please! Let people learn how to play and let them do their own thing. Leave their decks alone, let them misplay, let them fix their mistakes, ask questions when you need to and for the love of all that is fun answer questions that are worth asking. Don't rely on others to play this game for you because this game is just so simple that even an eight year old could win the world championships if he applied himself.

One more point, something a bit left field. The fandoms between these two. The Vanguard one has such a healthy fandom with a lot of cool art and stuff. I kinda wish Yugioh had that big of a fandom, it's all Ze(x)al's fault if you ask me. :I

--

So this concludes this rant/essay/idontknowwhattocallthis thing and I hope you all get something out of this. I hope you all get something out of this and reflect on yourselves and your community.

Thanks so much for reading and supporting me as I grow as a player and community member!

Remember to stand up to the occasion, until next time.

[deaths-reportcard]

Tournament Diary: May 10. (Brief Aqua Force deck discussion)

Locals Report – May 10, 2014

So here is a report for May 10 locals. I didn't do as well as I liked due to unfavourable luck, but the deck I played did perform well. Just things like grade stuck and triggers not showing up really just punished me.

I almost didn't want to write the report just because of how poorly I did, but I am going through with it because I told people I would write it. There will not be a video corresponding to this, but a video for the deck will be uploaded once it's been finalized so look forward to it. Well here we go!

Match 1: Joey – Link Joker

Score: 0-2

Why on the days I decide to write these reports I am paired up with the people I wanna face in the final rounds in round 1? Not only that, this person went 4:0 that night. :C

Game 1:

This game was putting a lot of pressure to both sides on this game. Joey manages to break ride twice, while I managed to keep pressure going with crits from Colbalt Wave Dragon. I had a bit of a hard time since a majority of the game I had a 10k Vanguard and it was easy for Joey to hit 20k lines, although I was pretty use to it since for the longest time I played with a Cocyutus based deck and with the new support for Aqua Force drawing cards was so much easier. The game ended when I failed to break through Joey's guard with my final attack. I had a locked field afterwards and only 2 cards left in hand. Glory did his best to turn things around. It hurt a bit.

Game 2:

It's ridiculous how close this game was in comparison to the first game. It pretty much went the same way except he rode into Budget Breaker Dragon (Chaos Breaker Dragon) without breakriding which kinda gave me a break there. In the end, Joey manages to guard under Glory Malestrom while at 5 damage. I wish my other games were as close or as good as this match was. A trigger where it mattered would have saved the quality of this report.

Match 2: Jacob – Beast Dieties.

Score: 0-2

instert fit of rage

Game 1:

Grade stuck at 1 while Jacob was grade stuck at 0, but that didn't last long for him. I manage to recover, but then I was caught off guard with Jacob breakriding into Reverse Ethics...

Game 2:

Grade stuck at 0... for 5 turns... I just scooped... insert fit of rage After I scooped I checked the top 5 cards... there were all grade 1's and a heal trigger....

Match 3: Colby – Ancient Dragons

Score: 2-0

I was up against a sort of new player. He has experience with the game and I think the deck was his? I'm not sure if he was borrowing it or not, I was still salty from my match 2 BS...

Game 1:

Basically, I gained the field advantage I desperately wanted from my other games that night and Colby misplayed a bit (from what I could tell from past experience using Tachikaze) by play style and which units to retire. I just fought through and won.

Game 2:

Here was a bit bad on my part. I had Colbalt Wave Dragon for two turns pressuring crits with a 27k attack, then when I finally got the 5th damage off, I switched into Glory and ended it. It was basically the best setup I had that night, but unfortunately it wasn't against one of the vetaran players.

Match 4: Jude – Master of 5th Element

Score 1-2

This was my final match that night and I wanted to breakeven. As you can see from the score however, I didn't get my final wish. It was against one of my good friends from high school, so at least I had fun. Still salty however.

Game 1:

This game I wasn't sure which form of Dark Irregulars Jude was playing. I haven't seen my buddy in a while and thought he would have been using Amon Reverse (which I would have had a harder time with considering people play 3 different units that retire rearguards...) and I just played my best.

The surprise factor won him the game by breakriding into Master of 5th and having at least 3 units on board for the breakride to go off. I also made the mistake of choosing to ride Colbalt over Maelstrom when I had the chance. He wanted to get to five damage because from there he knew he had the game. It was a pretty good match.

Game 2:

This game I believe the luck wasn't in Jude's favour. He didn't ride into Dantalion and I believe when it mattered most he only had 5 in soul as apposed to the required 6. So Glory made the game ender one that I would have liked.

Game 3:

I believe Jude opened the nuts here. I on the other hand did not. Jude got his breakride off twice this game and that just ate up my hand like it was nothing. I was stuck riding into Colbalt where the Maelstrom would have made all the difference (since Jude usually had even numbers for his rearguards) and I think 1 or both of my Glory Maelstroms were put into damage zone this game. I was a bit salty at his third breakride into Master, but I accepted my loss. It was a good game after all.

So that's my tournament report for this locals. I may have done poorly in the tournament, my final score being 1-3, but the deck itself worked to my theoretical ideas. Things like triggers, drawing cards when I needed them, and the dreaded grade stuck just made my evening a little be less enjoyable than I wanted to.

So here is the deck that I ended up bringing. It's a bit different than what most people have been expecting, but I wanted to try something new (plus I had a bit of a budget going into this).

Grade 0: (17)

FVG: Bubble Edge Dracokid

3 Battleship Intelligence (crit)

2 Jet-ski Rider (crit)

1 Mothership Intelligence (crit)

1 Supersonic Sailor (crit)

4 Battle Siren, Mallika (draw)

1 Pyroxene Communications Sea Otter Soldier (draw)

2 Medical Officer of the Rainbow Elixir (heal)

2 Ice Floe Angel (heal)

Grade 1: (14)

4 Tear Knight, Theo

4 Emerald Shield, Paschal

2 Battle Siren, Dorothea

2 Wheel Assault

2 Reliable Strategic Commander

Grade 2: (11)

3 Tear Knight, Lazarus

3 Tidal Assault

3 Coral Assault

2 Storm Rider, Basil

Grade 3: (8)

3 Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstroms

2 Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom

2 Cobalt Wave Dragon

1 Storm Rider, Diamantes

So here comes the part where I discuss the choices I made for the deck.

So the starting Vanguard. For the longest time I was using Eric (the grade 3 searcher) in Aqua Force because in my opinion, all the other forerunners we had were just subpar. When Bubble Edge was announced and I learned of his effect I was like “OMG wow this is really good!” And I was right. Bubble Edge gives you that plus 1 that Aqua Force has been needing for a long time now. The fact you draw 1 card regardless if that attack hits AND for not cost is just way to good not to run. The one downside is that you need to get that 4th attack going on. The upside is, with the new support we have, a fourth attack shouldn't be too hard with a bit of setup.

My trigger line up was a bit to “meta” for this kind of environment, but I didn't have enough time to find everything I needed. I wanted to play stand triggers for this deck considering that I have a choice to go into third or fourth attack with my Vanguard with the presence of Cobalt Wave Dragon, but I couldn't find everything. I wanted to play 2-3 stands but I couldn't find enough Sonic Soldiers for the deck. So I stuck with this line up. The five draw triggers in the line were an absolute must for me. Aqua Force don't have a lot of means to draw cards aside from the on hit pressure cards which generally don't hit anyways and this just gives the deck a better hand (hahaha... I need to stop the puns...)

My choice of grade 1's could have been a little more thought out. After I looked at everything I felt that I wasn't putting enough into the deck and I was thinking too close to the basics. The only thing I really thought about was the inclusion of 4 Theo in here. I was going to use the 10k attacker originally, but with this version of Aqua Force I was not going to be hitting 10k with it most of the time anyways. So Theo came in. The 4 perfect guards were also pretty bad in this build. I should have dropped 1 because of Aqua Force having poor hands most of the time and having a lot of PG's just kills you. I only had 4 because they were place holders for Quintet Walls once they drop in set 15. In fact, a lot of this deck is going to change once set 15 drops.

I played a lot of two-oves in this deck simply because I was a bit indecisive with the build. Now that I think about it I should have thought more about it (such grammar, much wow...). Anyways, I chose to include Dorothea in this build because it's the best booster in Aqua Force in my opinion. Her swinging 10k just give the Vanguard so much more pressure on hit. Behind (Glory) Malestrom the line becomes 26-28 depending on the crossride and behind Cobalt it becomes 22-27 depending on which attack number it is. I played 2 Wheel Assault because it helps so much against Link Joker. The wording of the card makes is so that you can switch units in different columns as well as within. Because of the word “position” you can move two units that are in different columns, as long as they are occupying a Rearguard circle. You can't just move them to an empty one or else that would make it really busted. The last grade 1 is a choice that I never regretted since it helped me win a box a long time ago and that's the Reliable Strategic Commander. To force myself to limit or ultimate break is just so good especially when your opponent isn't prepared for it. While playing with Maelstrom, the limit break and ultimate break are just way too important not to get off, and generally players will make you sit at 3 damage if they aren't ready for the assault. The self-damager isn't given the title “reliable” for not reason. Another benefit of the self-damager is that you can send heal triggers back into the deck, and who doesn't like that?

After looking at the list, I probably could cut the Dorothea and add in another Wheel and self-damager. I didn't have as much testing for this deck as I did with my Granblue, but looking into this is just as good now than ever.

My grade 2 line up was also a bit poorly thought out as well. I chose 3 Lazarus because I honestly didn't think of anything else to put in. The only really unit that I know I wanted to include was Tidal Assault, and I didn't even put in 4 of him. Coral Assault also was included because of my previous build. Basil was included because I thought he would be handy just incase I needed an extra attack... boy was I wrong.

I didn't write much of the grade 2 line up because I poorly thought this through. If anything, I should have included the damage unflipper promotional card because of the presence of Wheel Assault. I originally thought that I wouldn't need him, but I thought wrong again. As I played this deck, I found myself flipping a lot of cards and I wasn't expecting to have all 4-5 of my damage being flipped. Another thing was that I should have included somewhere Algos or Valaria. I didn't want to go out of my way to get more of each copy, and I also completely disregarded them. In all honesty, I was thinking too far ahead with this deck for set 15 and I wanted to play it with the new things from set 13.

My grade 3 line up is not what you would be expecting with the drop of set 13, but it's the version of Aqua Force that won me a box and I wanted to improve it somehow. I chose to play 3 Maelstrom just to fit in more things. Now that we have a new grade 3 to play with I wanted to try it out, also as a place holder for the new cards in set 15. Glory Maelstrom is in my opinion one of the best units in the game, with the requirements that it self sustains it's own ability and the only draw back is you need 5 damage to pull it off (that's why the self-damager is in this deck) but runnig more than 2 isn't that great and to get the best out of him you need the crossride. Cobalt Wave Dragon was one of the new cards I wanted to try out and it did a lot of work when I played him. He gives me the option to have the third attack or the fourth and with those I get more power depending on the attack number, but the two criticals built in is just way too good. The downside of this guy was that he is a 10k Vanguard and that's not so great with the other 11k vangaurd running around, but with Aqua Forces' new draw power it kinda makes up for it. The last grade 3 is Diamantes. I kept him at 1 because 11k Vanguards are a thing and it adds up more attacks, but now that I think about it, I could have elmininated him completely for a smaller grade 3 line up and more grade 1's or 2's.

Aqua Force isn't my biggest forte, but I really enjoy it for several reasons. If you guys want to try this out go ahead, but right now the best Aqua Force build would be Tetra-Drive Dragon. He has all the support he needs and the breakride is too good with him. Maelstrom doesn't really work with the breakride because he only can attack once. Tetra is self-standing so he can abuse Trans-cores abilities oh so well.

I'm patiently waiting for the release of set 15, so once that drops I will be giving a lot more in-depth look into Aqua Force and Maelstrom in general. Thank you for reading and remember to stand up to the occasion my fellow Vanguards!

[deaths-reportcard]

Tournament Report, in case you would rather listen than read. It's not as indepth, but it covers everything in a nutshell.

[deaths-reportcard]

Set 13 Win a Box Report and Granblue Analysis indepth

Here is a report for my locals set 13 win a box.

If you would rather listen/watch this report, copy the link here: http://youtu.be/WeiBqgyQ_Us

I played Granblue post set 13.

With the release of set 13, the diversity of clans that were running around was very healthy. There wasn't 1 clan that over powered the tournament and was very enjoyable overall. (Plus, who wants to keep playing against the same deck over and over and over again right?)

Match 1: VS Sean – Ramiel Reverse

Score: 0-2

My first match up was against a really good friend of mine. It was a bit disappointing to start of the win a box by going off against my friend wasn't the best thing in the world not that I wanted to avoid playing him, but rather I would like to play him in later rounds, but what can you do?

The two matches I had against him could have tipped either way. It didn't help in my favour that I didn't ride into Nightmist at all, but still. They were very good matches.

Game 1:

Both of us were keeping the other at bay fairly well. I manage to sustain a full field while Sean held onto hand really well. The biggest factor that I found out after the match was one turn where I drove checked a crit and he had 5 cards in hand and he guarded for a two break. My mentality at the time was that I need to get the double trigger or else I couldn't push him to five damage. IF had played it safe and stacked it on my rearguard, I would have gotten the two crit on him since during that turn he had 3 Zeracials and 2 5k shields in hand.

Game 2:

The grind was close, but I fell short by 1 card. It pretty much went the same was as game 1, but I ran out of hand. It was pretty bad that I drove checked into a Nightmist the turn I rode into Cocytus “Reverse”. If I had the breakride, I would have been solid considering that Thanatos and Banshee were in the drop. The one turn 26k would have helped me out so much and would have had a game 3.

(Love you Sean-chwan. <3)

Match 2: VS Denzel – Jewel Knights

Score: 2-0

So having a first game loss, I had to play with the lower members of the tournament. I was paired up against a new player, who was borrowing a deck for this tournament. It was really unfortunate for him since he didn't know how the deck works, and some mechanics of the game were foreign to him like “restrain”. I also had to swoop in and stop his illegal plays.

Game 1:

So this match was played out really slow. I had to explain every move I made, which made turns last a few minutes longer than normal. Also, significantly Denzel had guarded as many attacks as he could in the beginning, even to using a perfect guard incorrectly on my grade 2 Vanguard. I had to stop so many of his illegal plays, and it also bugged me that he didn't know that his 12k attackers were 12k attackers. I guarded properly when needed to, but he had no idea that his units were getting power. He did know about Solome's limit break at least, but not his especial counter blast. I ended up winning by consistent breakrides and his lack of hand due to his improper guarding.

Game 2:

This was basically the same thing as game 1. I had to prevent so many illegal plays as well. One significant thing that grinded my gears was that he rode Palamedes over his Solome thinking he would get a 3k boost. I didn't let him take that back because we were in tournament.

Sorry guys, if you play me in tournament and you misplay, I am not gonna let you take back moves. A card laid is a card played.

Match 3: VS Summer – Genesis

Score: 1-2

I came into this match thinking that I had a little bit of an advantage considering Summer had borrowed this deck. I played him earlier and he didn't play the deck to it's fullest extent, but as the score shows I lost this round.

Game 1:

This match started off in my favour. I had break ride set, although Thanatos and Banshee were not in the drop zone. I pounded him out and Summer had an addiction to soul charging (which most people who play Genesis, or any soul charging clan for that matter, tend to get), and forced him to 5 cards left in deck. I ended up guarding for 2, and he topped the two triggers which cost me the match.

Game 2:

This round I started off strong right out of the gate. My turn two was the best turn I've had with this version of the deck so far. Basically, I rode into Ruin Shade turn two. I cracked Nightkid's ability to drop Banshee from the top 10. I then proceeded to attack Summer with Ruin Shade, I then used her ability. The two units I milled were Thanatos AND Samurai Spirit. That set up was the best thing I could have done! I also drew into all 3 of my LOSS Nightmist (wow that acronym...) as well so once I hit 4 damage, I had 3 turns with a 26k line that would superior call a grade 2 (which happens to be Ghostship) once it hits, giving me another card to guard with.

Game 3:

The grind game was real. I game everything my all this round because I needed the win in order for a chance to top. I kept him off the best I could, I didn't throw away any cards that I needed, trigger counted, everything I could have done. The final turn was so clutch, that I hated myself for letting it happen. Summer had Fortuna as a Vanguard. He also had 4 cards left in deck, 2 of them were triggers. None were draw triggers. Fortuna could only use her ability 2 times, meaning that the triggers had to be at minimum pass the first card he checked, or he would lose to deck out. I guarded for two like a dunce. His one line was a 7k lead with a heal trigger boosting. After my guard for 2 triggers, I had 1 more 5k shield. He checks the first card. Of all the triggers he could have checked, it was a stand trigger. The moment that hit my heart just dropped to the floor. My goodness, to think that a stand trigger would have saved him in his time of need. I had to hope for the last trigger of the deck to be at the bottom, but as luck would have it the next card was a crit, sealing my fate. I was sitting at 5 and 3 heal triggers were already in play. I had no out to that and therefore lost the game.

(Summer-kohai! Senpai notices you naow. And also, this was Sean-chwans deck. I technically lost to him twice lul)

Match 4: VS Matt – Liberators

Score: 2-0

So knowing that I lost my opportunity to top this win a box, I started to feel a little salty not going to lie. So I went into this next match with huge desire to win. I wasn't anyones friend (hahaha...) and didn't take any BS from spectators or my opponent. This guy I played against likes to make conversation and talk a lot during games, so I ended up giving him the cold shoulder (sorry brah). Oh and a note, he was the first “meta” deck I ran into this tournament.

Game 1:

So this game, I was “in da zone” (haha Kuruko no Basket references) and just focused on the game. I had this guy shut down by turn 5, since my hand then was consistently above five cards and had breakride available to me twice. It was over pretty quickly.

Game 2:

Now this wasn't very kind of me. I had stopped talking to the guy, only to announce effects were going off and to intimidate him a little (although he is a bit dense and that I couldn't get his attention very easily). Let's just say, by the end of the round, my hand had 15 cards in it. He managed to get breakride off twice, but I got mine off 3 times, with Thanatos and Banshee being my targets. Plus, I hit all 5 of my draw triggers which just shot me so far ahead.

Yeah. I wasn't anyone's friend during that time.

So my overall score I had was 2-2 so the deck I played performed well, although I did get a poor match up.

So now for the decklist:

Grade 0: (16)

FVG: Captain Nightkid

1 Chappie the Ghostie

4 Rough Seas Banshee (Critical)

1 Samurai Spirit (Critical)

1 Ghoul Cannonball (Critical)

3 Gunshot of Sorrow, Nightflare (Draw)

2 Hook Wielding Zombie (Draw)

1 Hades Steerman (Stand)

2 Rick the Ghostie (Heal)

2 Doctor Rouge (Heal)

Grade 1: (14)

4 Dandy Guy Romario

4 Gust Jinn

2 Sea Strolling Banshee

2 Dancing Cutlass

2 Samurai Spirit

Grade 2: (10)

3 Commodore Blueblood

3 Ruin Shade

2 Captain Nightmist

2 Stormride Ghost Ship

Grade 3: (8)

3 Lord of Seven Seas Nightmist

3 Ice Prison Hades Emperor, Cocytus “Reverse”

1 Death Seeker, Thanatos

1 Witch Doctor of the Abyss, Negromari

So here I go and discuss my choices for the deck. This part is going to be very lengthy and I congratulate everyone who made it this far.

So to start off, my forerunner of the deck is my Avatar: Captain Nighkid. I know that a majority of people who play Granblue have been opting to choose Peter the Ghostie. Now, I can understand why people would choose Peter over Nightkid considering you drop 2 cards instead of Nighkid's 1, AND you draw a card off of that, but if you really think about it, Nighkid just out classes Peter. Nightkid had so much versatility that it's just strange to see any other forerunner. Nightkid first of all, looks at the top TEN cards of your deck! Using theoretical numbers, the earliest turn you use him is your turn 2 where you have 1 damage. Assuming you didn't get a draw trigger, the cards left in deck is 43 cards. 10 cards out of 43, that's almost 1/5 of the deck you get to look at. Not only that, you specifically select 1 card to drop which beats out Peter's random milling of 2 cards, where if you mill triggers you just get really salty. Another point to make is that, Nightkid doesn't alway need his skill to go off. There are times where I open Chappie, or Ruin Shade or whatnot and don't necessarily need to drop a card. So I can push him up and have him in the front lines being boosted OR I can sac him for a Samurai Spirit to make a line and free up a circle for a different unit without having to waste cards.

The other two forerunners that are available to us are the grade 3 searcher and Guiding Zombie. I'm just going to write off Guiding Zombie, because outside of a Basskikr based deck, he does not have a place. My reasoning as to why the grade 3 searcher for Granblue isn't so “good”, as people have been also saying, is that why would I check the top 5 for a grade 3 that I would easily draw into than check the top 10 to fuel my toolbox? And not only that, the fact that I can wiff the search is a minus one. Nightkid has a 100% chance of a drop, and now that we have Nightmist and Cocytus “Reverse” (more so the first one than the latter) every unit is revivable and there are so many targets that do so well in the drop zone.

For my trigger line, I only have one thing to focus on, but I will mention the proper use of Rough Seas Banshee as a booster before you soul charge and draw. By using her as a booster first, you don't get a 1 for 1, but rather a plus 1 on the next turn. Also, the 5 draw triggers are very good because if you mill draw triggers, you remove more of the chances of decking out. If you are down to the last 3 cards of the deck, and you now 1 of them is a draw trigger, you basically have a 1 in 3 chance of winning or losing.

Now, the 1 stand trigger in the line up. Originally I wanted to play 3 stands. Because pre set 13, I had a 6 crit, 3 draw, 3 stand, 4 heal line up. And with the older cards, this worked out pretty well and could hold it's ground against most decks in the format. With the newer cards however, that stand trigger isn't much needed as crits and draws are way too important in terms of offense and defence. I am playing 1 Steerman not so much as a stand trigger, but rather as a free unit to superior call. The presence of Steerman in my deck just gives the deck so much more to work with. Generally, the circle behind the Vanguard is unoccupied during turns 3-5. And breakriding Nightmist over Nightmist is the best thing you can do. Calling 3 units is not so bad, considering you keep 1 that you can sac later.

My grade 1 line up is pretty standard. 4 of Romario and Jinn is a must in Granblue because a) the 8k booster is so important since no other grade 1 can facilitate the drop zone, and b) Jinn puts cards you can revive into drop zone, giving you a plus 1 in drop. The 2 Samurai is also nice. In all seriousness, you just need the 1, but having 2 gives you more chances of dropping him. I originally wanted to play Deadly Nightmare for the option of soulblasting over counter blasting, but I decided against it for two reasons. 1, I hardly counter blast in this deck, so I will generally have counterblasts to spare. 2, I reserved the soul for Sea Strolling Banshee and Dancing Cutlass.

My decision to run the two and two each, was inspired by Gold Bunnies, which is always my favourite variant of Gold Paladins. The idea was to have 2 Dindraine and two Silver Witch to use up the useless soul and ensure the plus one draw went off. The idea is the same is here, but considering that units in the soul do so much better in the drop zone anyways, the release of SSB (haha Super Smash Brothers) was a godsent by Bushiroad. This Banshee is my new Waifu guys. Hahaha!

This grade 2 line I have is also pretty uniform when it comes to most Granblue, the one thing I don't run is Petro, the damage unflipper that Granblue have. In all honesty, I would be playing the chef, but considering that this deck seldom uses its counterblasts, I didn't need to put him in. Once Nightsnow from the Fighters Colletion drops in English, I would definitely put him in over Commodore Blueblood. The regular Captain Nighmist is in there as well for the same reason as Samurai. It also is really good if my opponent leaves grade 3's on my field. I can just sac them for a free 5k shield. It's totally worth the power drop if I can use them to intercept.

Now, Ghost Ship is something I need to go in depth with. First thing to know is that this unit has an 11k body and has restraint, much like the Nova Grapplers Brutal (Genecide) Jack. In order to remove restraint, you would need to revive a Granblue unit from the Drop Zone. When I originally started playing this game, I had played with Ghost Ship. I was running both of the self reviving grade 1 at 2 a piece and also a Deadly Spirit as well (I had a bad thing with Nightmist at the time. It took a while for me to learn his worth in the deck). So having the Ghost Ship was really nice considering when set 6 came out in Engish, 10k Vanguards were still a thing. But as the game grew, Ghost Ship was scrutinized and people opt out of using it. There was also a big debate as to how we remove his restraint. People had been going around saying that the Ship needed to be on the board before you revived anything and that he couldn't unrestraint himself if it were to be revived. But now the game has evolved, and one word in effects has become very important to the game. And that word is “other”. Ghost Ship's ability reads that “one of YOUR Granblue units must be placed on Rearguard from the Drop Zone”. If the word “other” was present in that sentence then Ghost Ship wouldn't even be considered to be put in the deck. But since it isn't, being able to revive and attack with him is just way too good. That's why on breakride, calling Thanatos and Banshee is just way to strong if the Ship is in the drop zone.

My grade 3 line up was an emotional battle for me to decide upon, but I ended up with what I have now. I planned to have access to crossriding by putting the original Cocytus in the deck at 2. I also was going to play 2 of the Skeleton World Knights to get a superior ride if I had opened a Chappie and was going second. But as the rest of the deck fell in place, I couldn't fit him in. There were times when playing this deck I wished I had crossride available to me, but I just couldn't fit it in. The regular Cocytus and Nightmist do not work together, and if I had to play the original Cocytus, I would have to play Nightmist at 2, which is very very bad. Nightmist at 3-4 is just way to good in the deck. Nightmist, along side SSB, was a godsent from Bushiroad to all the Granblue players. The fact that on breakride you can call 2 units AND they each gain 5000 power is so strong. It also balances themselves out by sacing the two units called, but if I called Thanatos and Banshee, that just balances themselves out AND it's a small counter to Link Joker, giving them no targets to lock. Lord of Seven Seas Nightmist is by far the best, if not one of the best breakride units in the game.

Cocytus “Reverse” I am not afraid to admit it. He is a piece of junk. Cocytus was the worst idea for a unit to get a crossride, and I'm not mincing words here. If anything, Basskirk should have received the crossride, at least Basskirk would have been the only unit in this version of the deck that would counterblast (much like Pacifica). Coctyus versus his Reverse counterpart, it's so much better. Coctyus original can swing 15k by himself while underlimit break, and with Steermans and Dragon Spirits in the deck, he always hit magic numbers. The fact you can use his ability to either call an attacking unit or revive his personal booster was just way to strong. The fact he can swing 21 in rearguard to 26 in Vanguard made Cocytus the best unit pre set 13. Reverse on the other hand, sure he can call a single unit anytime he is in the Vanguard circle, and that unit gets 3k (which would make the 10k especial intercept sorta playable), but the huge thing that makes him so bad is the fact you mill 3 cards. It's already hard enough that Ruin Shade has to mill 2 to hit 11k, but 3? It's honestly not very good. When playing with Reverse, you honestly can only mill with him if you absolutely need to. To compare to another Reverse unit with a similar skill, Luquier Reverse does this skill so much better than him. The only difference that make Luquier so much stronger than Cocytus, is that fact Luquier does not mill. Not only that, Luquier has a better time crossriding than Cocytus becasuse the soul charge is so easy to do. Bushiroad should have also released a “White Hare of Inaba Clone” if they wanted to make sure people would play Cocytus for the crossride, but alas. Until Fighters Collection 2014 drops in English, I am stuck with this piece of garbage.

The last two grade 3's that I have to discuss are the Witch Doctor and Death Seeker, Thanatos. I added the Witch Doctor for two reasons. 1, since I hardly counterblast in the deck, I might as well put him in for a free unit. Second, I had an SP version of him so why the heck not? The Witch Doctor, while being an 8k grade 3 seems like a poor choice to have because the threat of riding him is very very real, but if I have this guys on rearguard, I can fix my field for the pretty small price of 2 counterblasts. If in need a row to be made, I can call him and bring back a Romario giving me a 16k line. If I call him in front of a Romario and my other side is lacking in units, I can call another attacking unit as well (Ghost Ship here would be great). Also, generally your opponent will disregard the Witch Doctor on your board since it's 8k only. That's really good for you considering you play the grade 2 version of Nightmist and that you can switch a dead body on the field (hahaha... dead body on the field...) for an intercepter. It's really good to have this option. Witch Doctor is worth a try folks.

Thanatos, as I have been raving on in the entirety of this whole report/deck discussion, is the heart and soul of this deck, my first mate so to speak. Thanatos is basically a Nightmare Doll Alice. This unit provides a huge amount of pressure and the best thing about it, I actually WANT my Thanatos in the drop zone (noooo don't attack mah Alrice-chwan...). I keep bringing this up, but breaking riding to superior call Thanatos and SSB not only gives you a free card, but you have a 26k line that your opponent has to deal with. And more than likely, this card will either eat up your opponent's hand OR you can get a free shield. So the fact that Nightmist sacs those two units at the end of the turn, doesn't really affect you at all. Breakriding is the heart and soul of the deck, and it's biggest win condition. For those of you who haven't tried out Thanatos you should really try it out. Thanatos is the reason why I started playing Vanguard to begin with, so it's my number 1 card to play for a reason (so cool that it comes in SP!).

Now I have the deck discussed thoroughly, I am gonna talk about other popular units that I didn't include (if I haven't already spoken about them) and why I didn't add them. I will list them in order:

Evil Shade

Skeleton Colossus

King Seahorse

Dragon Corrode, Corrupt Dragon

Dragon Undead, Skull Dragon

Dragon Undead, Malefic Dragon/Master Swordsman, Nightstorm

King of Demonic Seas Basskirk (indepth)

Spirit Exceed/Deadly Swordmaster/Monster Frank

Right off the bat, we have Evil Shade. Now, a lot of people I find have been including this card in the deck because of his 10k boost. I did not include this guy simply because there already is too much milling involved with this clan. Sure milling gets you to your toolbox faster, but milling random cards is never a good thing. This isn't like Yugioh and Lightsworns where you can just mill your entire deck and win. Milling should be kept to a minimum, and it should be very selective. That's why cards like Chappie the Ghostie and Captain Nightkid are just way too good to have in your deck.

Skeleton Colossus I've only included in this list to discuss this card in general. The Cocytus “ride chain” as people incorrectly refer it to is by all means really subpar. The fact that this isn't even a ride chain and more of a superior ride correction is just way to conditional. With pre set 13 cards, if anyone was considering superior riding Cocytus at all, you should't run Colossus. Skeleton World Knight by himself, and at 2 was very good to have since you generally would run Cocytus at 3-4 during his prime. Colossus just never makes the cut, unless you run a massive milling deck. It's good for a deck where you want a high risk for a high reward, but when you're in a tournament, this card really is not good for you to have.

Next on this list, the elusive promo King Seahorse. Now, this Aermo clone I had considered when planning for the release of set 13. I liked it for the fact that you can filter out useless grade 3's in hand, but after playing around with it, it's good to keep grade 3's in hand as odd as it sounds. Plus, the draw power in Granblue increased dramatically, so yeah.

Now, this next unit is highly debated over. Dragon Corrode, Corrupt Dragon is Granblue's version of a 9k based, 12k attacker grade 2 unit. When it was introduced, I thought it was amazing! 12K attackers were running around in all the meta decks since set 5 and the fact my clan was getting one got me excited. But I thought about it. It only gets it's 3k boost when it's revived from the drop zone. Not only that, it loses that boost after your turn is over. With what we have now, it's not all that worth it running in your deck. My reason being, you have other units you would rather superior call with breakride and Cocytus Reverse. Arguable, you can use this instead of Ghost Ship. But, my counterargument is that Ghost Ship has an 11k body. I chose defence over offence in this case. In reality, I think the choice here is preference.

This next card has been a favourite of mine since I ran him in all my variants of Granblue pre set 13. The Redundancy Dragon, as Crimson from TeamRevival affectinately calls it, or Undead Dragon, Skull Dragon has been considered to be the “Palamedes” of Granblue. The good thing about this guys is that he swings for 13k by himself, the condition being that your Vanguard is a Granblue unit. Also, he can be revived for a pretty small cost, having a grade 1 Granblue unit on board and 1 counterblast. He is ballanced off by the fact that he goes to the drop zone at the end of the turn. I did consider him in my original draft of the deck. He got replaced by the Witch Doctor in the end, but he can easily be switched out for him. Remember, reason two why I run the Witch Doctor was because I had an SP of him.

Undead Dragon, Malefic Dragon and Master Swordsman, Nightstorm are really good units in Granblue. They both do the same thing as rearguard, swing for 12k which is really nice considering that there wasn't a grade 2 that can do that. Malefic has an extra ability where if the opponents Vanguard has 12k or more, he would swing 20k by himself. This was nice when everyone was running crossrides. It's not so lovely nowadays because people prefer breakride over crossride, but it also goes off if my opponent gets a damage trigger too. If I had the room to put two of either one in my deck, I wouldn't hesitate to. But since my grade 3 line up is so tight as it is, I decided not to use them. If you want to use these guys instead of Thantos and Witch Doctor, I don't see the harm in it.

The last two cards on this list are Basskirk and the three superior ride cards Spirit Exceed, Deadly Swordmaster and Monster Frank. Exceed and Swordmaster are clearly out of the deck because a) I don't run enough Samurai and Knight Spirits for Exceed and b) I don't run any of the Deadly card. Monster Frank however, he can be used just by counterblasting 3. Now, this is actually not that bad of an idea. But Nightsnow does this so much better. Nightsnow needs to counterblast 2 and soulblast 2. The soulblast is usefull because you get trapped units and put them in dropzone. The counterblast 2 is pretty hefty, but I would rather counterblast 2 than 3 anyday. Frank though helps prevent grade stuck where Nightsnow needs a grade 3 in Vanguard circle in order to superior ride. Superior riding from drop zone is a very powerful thing for Granblue and it's exclusive to the clan, but right now the units are just too cost heavy to pull off. Once Nightsnow comes out however, this will change.

Basskirk I have mentioned should have gotten the crossride instead of Cocytus and compared it to Pacifica. My reason being is that, both Basskirk and Pacifica have megablasts that have a really impacting effect on the game that if it goes off, you should be winning. With Pacifica getting a crossride, and the units supporting her, she can abuse soulblasting effects and has a stellar limit break effect as well. If Basskirk had a crossride, I would imagine that the effect would be a counterblast 3, and a superior call 2 units like Nightmist, but insead of getting power and being sact at the end of the turn, they would be able to remain on board. Also, there should be units (preferrably grade 2) that can facilitate the drop zone by swapping cards in drop for cards in deck, much like how Angel Feather have it for their hand and damage zone. This is wishful thinking, but since Granblue has the worst grade 2 line up in the entire game in terms of units that actually facilitate the main gimmic, if Bushiroad released one unit like that, Granblue would be a top contender. All of this with consideration that Granblue has the strongest gimmic in the entire game, it just has the worst support.

Well this has been my report for set 13. Thank you for taking the time for reading, and please subscribe to my YouTube channel as well!

http://www.youtube.com/cvctvchannel

Stand up to the occasion my fellow Vanguards!