After watching a full game of Vanguard Zero, I've come to a few conclusions about what's going to be busted and what will be balanced.
First, I'll explain some core mechanics so you can follow what the game plays like.
You have a 40 card deck. A vanilla starter, 13 grade 1s, 13 grade 2s, and 13 grade 3s that are also trigger units (you get to choose what type of triggers they are). This next part is conjecture, but I can only assume that you are limited to 4 heals. If we get to use 9 critical triggers, that will be fancy. I may even evaluate if running fewer heals and more crits would be worthwhile. Spoilers, it probably will be if my theories are remotely accurate.
The board is setup the same as vanilla Vanguard. You have a Vanguard circle and 5 RG slots in the normal locations. Riding and calling function identically to vanilla Vanguard. That's about where the similarities end. When it comes time to attack, you'll notice that you are unable to call Guardians. That's because Guarding isn't "a thing" in this game. Instead, your opponent must attack "interceptors" before they can swing at your face. This means that front row units are going to be consistently played and removed throughout the course of the game. Being able to maintain a board is key, as it is the difference between getting donked in the face once per turn or several times in a turn. Naturally, retiring a grade 2 on your opponent's field during your main phase leads to you getting an extra swing at their face, so retirement is pretty good.
For actual combat, drive checks function normally (other than grade 3s having 5k shield value and being triggers now). Damage checks are wildly different, however. When you take a damage, your Vanguard gains power equal to the shield value of the damage checked unit (which is always 5000 currently). If your opponent cannot hit 16k, then 21k (assuming you have no front row grade 2 RGs and they don't hit triggers), then simply damage checking can shut down their offense. Additionally, perfect guards do exist in the game. They don't require a discard to use, and automatically nullify the first attack done at your Vanguard that turn while they are in your hand.
Speculation: It was not mentioned whether or not that attack needs to have enough power to "force" the activation of the null guard. Something to look out for in the future.
With those core mechanics out of the way, the rest of the game functions like Vanguard, and games are won by going to 6 damage. All of the units I've seen have had their original skills (barring Dragonic Overlord, which gets Drive -2 on VC), but that is likely to be subject to change after more testing is done and they've already made the claim that cards could change for balancing purposes.
With all of that out of the way, let's talk some OP (in theory) units from the older sets.
Dragonic Overlord (on RG) - Dragonic Overlord was always a strong RG in early Vanguard in my opinion. I doubt they'll allow deck mixing, but if they do, he had some nutso synergy with Mr. Invincible, Hungry Dumpty, and Claydoll. In Vanguard Zero, assuming you have an 11k RG row and a Waterfall on Vanguard, you could easily CB3, wipe out the interceptors, swing 11k to VG, swing Overlord to Vanguard, Swing Waterfall to Vanguard and get in three damage that your opponent can't really do anything about (unless they have a null guard or damage check a draw and draw a perfect guard). That's devastating.
Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion - Similar in concept, attacking the Vanguard and the Interceptors at the same time is pretty good. In OG Vanguard, you would lose 10k~ shield. In Vanguard Zero, you will lose your face to the two subsequent attacks that you can't guard as long as the RG rows can get the needed power to hit over the damage
checks, which is the core concern Narukami seems to have at the moment. Additionally, Shiden and Raiden "stopped interceptors" in OG Narukami. Interested in seeing how those transition.
Bonus Critical Vanguards/Rear Guards - It should be pretty obvious that bonus crit units are cancer when not only can the opponent not guard, but they also must use their perfect guards as soon as they are able to. If you aren't attacking Vanguard last, you are heavily incentivized to pass crits to your RGs (as the only thing that could make the next attack be nullified would be them hitting a draw trigger (10% if they run 4) into a null guard (10%) which comes out to a 1% chance for them to do so, so giving them less damage checks on the between is going to be extremely beneficial. If the unit in question can hit 3 critical, it's just game over at that point.
Look to Gancelot either being overpowered (trading a trigger back to deck for an interceptor is already strong, especially since you pick which units are which trigger and this will be your heal. If he can CB4 for +10k +2 crit like in OG, it's game over) or nerfbatted/changed completely.
On-hit units - This also shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone. If you control when your opponent is able to guard, you control when your on-hit effects proc. The majority of on-hit effects in the early game were either CB2 draw a card effects or Megablasts (draw 5 cards/retire all opposing RGs), so this won't be an overwhelming advantage necessarily. But the alternative Enigman builds from set 8 would certainly be stepped up quite a bit (made worse with Laurel being a card) and Aqua Force would also get some solid usage out of Hydro Hurricane Dragon. Things to keep in mind.
At the end of the day, these theories are based largely off of what we've seen so far and what is likely to be coming for the game in the near-ish future, assuming major changes to cards aren't in the works (they probably are).
Some cards aren't even playable without grade 0s (RIP in Aleph). So there are definitely going to be changes. Hopefully Bushiroad doesn't screw up the game balance super early, but they're Bushiroad, so... they probably will.
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Monday, July 23, 2018
V Era Trigger Tier List (Standard)
After three sets of game play, we've gotten to see how the new values for triggers, including their shield values, weighs in on their overall usefulness.
Let's go ahead and list them:
SS Tier
Front Triggers
S Tier
Critical Triggers, Heal Triggers, Null Guard Draws
C Tier
Non-null Draws
As it turns out, the added shield value for Crits and heals has made them even better than before, albeit less impactful with 10k triggers and a ton of bonus power in the new format. That being said, I'd argue that Crits, Heals, and Draw-Nulls are about even in strength.
With non-Sentinel Draw Triggers being a pathetic 5k shield, they simply should never be run. The shield value is negligible in this format, the extra draws you get are marginal over many play tests, and in a format of sentinel negation, you really need shield value. As with my previous tier list, drawing into a draw trigger instead of checking into it now reduces your shield by a full 10k, and there's more variance making the Draw Trigger actually net you less average shield than if you had checked a front or a critical. I didn't think this would need to be said, but I'm seeing a lot of 6/6/4 lists floating around.
If it were in my power to not play Draw Nulls in non-Accel clans, I would. Sadly, the option to adjust your trigger line-up in Force and Protect decks just isn't there. They force you to run 4 or more draws, and I'm looking forward to this changing. I would gladly play grade 1 nulls for a 12 Crit lineup if it's beneficial for the deck in question. This is actually a philosophy I've applied in Nova Grapplers, where I play 7 front/5 crit/4 heal and play the grade 1 null, as grade 1 Novas are extremely lackluster at the moment and high-rolling is super important since it's the deck's win condition.
Finally, we have the newest trigger, the Accel Trigger. Wew lad is it ever amazing. Accel clans get bonus front row slots and this bad boy can net you 40k power with only one extra slot. It's simply a fantastic trigger, offensively and defensively, as it can make your entire board unable to be hit mid-game. It puts in so much work that it's actually crazy, which is why I've bumped it up to SS tier. It's currently the strongest offensive *and* defensive trigger, and if you get 2-to-passed and check this first, you don't have to worry about making the gamble to break through. It has so many facets that make it function quite nicely. Definitely run no less than 6 in any accel deck in my opinion.
That's it for this article. Have a good one!
Let's go ahead and list them:
SS Tier
Front Triggers
S Tier
Critical Triggers, Heal Triggers, Null Guard Draws
C Tier
Non-null Draws
As it turns out, the added shield value for Crits and heals has made them even better than before, albeit less impactful with 10k triggers and a ton of bonus power in the new format. That being said, I'd argue that Crits, Heals, and Draw-Nulls are about even in strength.
With non-Sentinel Draw Triggers being a pathetic 5k shield, they simply should never be run. The shield value is negligible in this format, the extra draws you get are marginal over many play tests, and in a format of sentinel negation, you really need shield value. As with my previous tier list, drawing into a draw trigger instead of checking into it now reduces your shield by a full 10k, and there's more variance making the Draw Trigger actually net you less average shield than if you had checked a front or a critical. I didn't think this would need to be said, but I'm seeing a lot of 6/6/4 lists floating around.
If it were in my power to not play Draw Nulls in non-Accel clans, I would. Sadly, the option to adjust your trigger line-up in Force and Protect decks just isn't there. They force you to run 4 or more draws, and I'm looking forward to this changing. I would gladly play grade 1 nulls for a 12 Crit lineup if it's beneficial for the deck in question. This is actually a philosophy I've applied in Nova Grapplers, where I play 7 front/5 crit/4 heal and play the grade 1 null, as grade 1 Novas are extremely lackluster at the moment and high-rolling is super important since it's the deck's win condition.
Finally, we have the newest trigger, the Accel Trigger. Wew lad is it ever amazing. Accel clans get bonus front row slots and this bad boy can net you 40k power with only one extra slot. It's simply a fantastic trigger, offensively and defensively, as it can make your entire board unable to be hit mid-game. It puts in so much work that it's actually crazy, which is why I've bumped it up to SS tier. It's currently the strongest offensive *and* defensive trigger, and if you get 2-to-passed and check this first, you don't have to worry about making the gamble to break through. It has so many facets that make it function quite nicely. Definitely run no less than 6 in any accel deck in my opinion.
That's it for this article. Have a good one!
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Vanguard Reboot - First Thoughts
Hey all,
I decided to give some initial thoughts on the new format and what I think of each individual mechanic, as well as the removal of other things. Let's start with my initial tier list for set 1.
SS+++ tier
Going First
S tier
Oracle Think Tank, Kagero, Nova Grapplers with a good hand
B tier
Royal Paladin
C tier
Nova Grapplers having a mediocre hand or worse.
You may notice that I skipped a full tier between Royal Paladin and every other deck. That's because Royals have no incentive to multi-ride grade 3s, don't have a "high-roll" that proves to be devastating like Novas (restanding a 32k attacker with the potential for triggers is crazy strong), and have little end-game utility outside of Soul Saver, which can only be used once and fights for resources with Blaster Blade. Outside of Royals, I think the format is pretty well balanced. Novas have an advantage over OTT generally speaking. OTT can outlast Kagero, although Kagero can get in a win with Waterfall in ideal situations. Kagero pretty much auto-wins the Nova match-up. It's not so bad that all of the match-ups are the equivalent of playing rock, papers, scissors, but no singular deck has an insurmountable advantage that we can't see a diversity of tops, either.
My initial opinion is that the format is well-balanced in card design. But that doesn't make the format itself well-designed. Let's look into the Imaginary Gifts.
FORCE
Force gives a circle of your choice 10000 power during your turn. It's pretty close to adding a legion mate to that circle. Consequently, this is a power-level we've seen and are used to. Currently, the advantages of Force are that it makes power-requirement clans like Dimension Police achieve those requirements far more easily. It also makes multi-attacker decks that call mid-battlephase have extra advantages when this is done, which will likely be a facet we see for Royal Paladin and Gold Paladin at a later date (assuming Gold Paladin is in this reboot). I think Force has solid utility and potential. The only major abuse I can see for force clans would be sentinel restriction. Wouldn't you know it, that happened set 1 with a bonus crit and it's the best singular card in the set. I think that force is the most tame of the the imaginary gifts in power level and the one that's the hardest to abuse.
ACCEL
Accel gives you an extra front row RG circle with a bonus 10000 power on it during your turn. It's pretty nuts. Nova Grappler started with very few cards in the first set and nothing to reliably get a solid field set-up. Currently, when they get their optimal set-up, they are the strongest overall deck. But, high rolling is still high rolling. You will keep seeing Novas top here and there so long as the deck can destroy anything when it gets that setup. I think this is the strongest of the gifts because it has the most potential for abuse when joined with a clan that has access to mid-battlephase calls or a large amount of restanding. Not only do you get all of the swings associated with having the extra RG slots, but you also get that extra static power boost at all times. Getting in 7-8 attacks at ascended power levels can be quite potent, to say the least. So far, no accel clans have had a mid-battlephase call announced, so I think Bushiroad is being mindful of this. That being said, I could see Accel clans being stupid in premium, which is why I'm glad I won't be playing it.
PROTECT
Protect gives you a null guard every time you ride to grade 3. It's pretty nuts. It's currently the strongest mechanic in the current format because Bushiroad has been mindful in restricting the other two from becoming too cancerous, at least in the first set. This mechanic is strong independent of the deck being used, but OTT gets extra bonuses for riding more grade 3s with Imperial Daughter and Deer, so it's shown itself to be the strongest deck in the current format for exactly this reason. I can see protect in a control clan (like Megacolony) being strong, but I think protect in a clan like Granblue is going to really show us the limits on how much it can do as a mechanic. I think protect clans are always going to be in the upper tiers simply for the mechanic at this point, as the mechanic is independently strong and requires no additional mechanism to function properly.
I think that the Imaginary Gifts have the potential to be really unbalanced depending on what support is created, and it will make entire clans limited in design in that facet. I wanted to discuss what I'm really upset about with the new format: Going first. I wrote an article about how going first was objectively overpowered until Legion became a mechanic. Well, here we are, back with the same old problems, only we also have to deal with Imaginary Gifts benefiting the first player as well and all previous mechanics that benefited the second-turn player are now gone. I have done some playtesting with friends, and short of playing a deck that wins a match-up convincingly, the person who goes first wins at a very disproportionate amount. I did mirrors with my buddy (Novas vs. Novas) where there is even more variance in potential power-output from the decks, and the first-turn player won the first 12 games. ~_~ Unless there is a large disparity in deck strength, the deck going second has an unfavorable match-up, or the player going first plays suboptimally, going first is a daunting facet to the game that currently is the hardest thing in a fight to overcome. I hope Bushiroad addresses this in some way to make it more "fair" for people going second. Especially now that the loser decides who goes first in games 2 and 3. Every single 3 game match my buddies and I played was won by the person who won the dice roll when doing mirrors. Let that sink in.
In conclusion, I think that there's some room to work with. I see caution from Bushiroad on Accel that I think is merited. I also see caution on Royal Paladin, as that was the busted clan last time around, and this over-caution left them pretty lackluster, but these cautions can both be fixed later. I think that the individual mechanics are slightly imbalanced, Accel for potential and Protect for practical usage, leaving Force somewhat underpowered, but I think that they aren't so varied in power-level that it's damning to the game's potential for fun or future content. I do think this about going first, though. I hope Bushiroad will implement something to make going second less detrimental that doesn't lead to the stupidity of something similar to R I P P U L.
I decided to give some initial thoughts on the new format and what I think of each individual mechanic, as well as the removal of other things. Let's start with my initial tier list for set 1.
SS+++ tier
Going First
S tier
Oracle Think Tank, Kagero, Nova Grapplers with a good hand
B tier
Royal Paladin
C tier
Nova Grapplers having a mediocre hand or worse.
You may notice that I skipped a full tier between Royal Paladin and every other deck. That's because Royals have no incentive to multi-ride grade 3s, don't have a "high-roll" that proves to be devastating like Novas (restanding a 32k attacker with the potential for triggers is crazy strong), and have little end-game utility outside of Soul Saver, which can only be used once and fights for resources with Blaster Blade. Outside of Royals, I think the format is pretty well balanced. Novas have an advantage over OTT generally speaking. OTT can outlast Kagero, although Kagero can get in a win with Waterfall in ideal situations. Kagero pretty much auto-wins the Nova match-up. It's not so bad that all of the match-ups are the equivalent of playing rock, papers, scissors, but no singular deck has an insurmountable advantage that we can't see a diversity of tops, either.
My initial opinion is that the format is well-balanced in card design. But that doesn't make the format itself well-designed. Let's look into the Imaginary Gifts.
FORCE
Force gives a circle of your choice 10000 power during your turn. It's pretty close to adding a legion mate to that circle. Consequently, this is a power-level we've seen and are used to. Currently, the advantages of Force are that it makes power-requirement clans like Dimension Police achieve those requirements far more easily. It also makes multi-attacker decks that call mid-battlephase have extra advantages when this is done, which will likely be a facet we see for Royal Paladin and Gold Paladin at a later date (assuming Gold Paladin is in this reboot). I think Force has solid utility and potential. The only major abuse I can see for force clans would be sentinel restriction. Wouldn't you know it, that happened set 1 with a bonus crit and it's the best singular card in the set. I think that force is the most tame of the the imaginary gifts in power level and the one that's the hardest to abuse.
ACCEL
Accel gives you an extra front row RG circle with a bonus 10000 power on it during your turn. It's pretty nuts. Nova Grappler started with very few cards in the first set and nothing to reliably get a solid field set-up. Currently, when they get their optimal set-up, they are the strongest overall deck. But, high rolling is still high rolling. You will keep seeing Novas top here and there so long as the deck can destroy anything when it gets that setup. I think this is the strongest of the gifts because it has the most potential for abuse when joined with a clan that has access to mid-battlephase calls or a large amount of restanding. Not only do you get all of the swings associated with having the extra RG slots, but you also get that extra static power boost at all times. Getting in 7-8 attacks at ascended power levels can be quite potent, to say the least. So far, no accel clans have had a mid-battlephase call announced, so I think Bushiroad is being mindful of this. That being said, I could see Accel clans being stupid in premium, which is why I'm glad I won't be playing it.
PROTECT
Protect gives you a null guard every time you ride to grade 3. It's pretty nuts. It's currently the strongest mechanic in the current format because Bushiroad has been mindful in restricting the other two from becoming too cancerous, at least in the first set. This mechanic is strong independent of the deck being used, but OTT gets extra bonuses for riding more grade 3s with Imperial Daughter and Deer, so it's shown itself to be the strongest deck in the current format for exactly this reason. I can see protect in a control clan (like Megacolony) being strong, but I think protect in a clan like Granblue is going to really show us the limits on how much it can do as a mechanic. I think protect clans are always going to be in the upper tiers simply for the mechanic at this point, as the mechanic is independently strong and requires no additional mechanism to function properly.
I think that the Imaginary Gifts have the potential to be really unbalanced depending on what support is created, and it will make entire clans limited in design in that facet. I wanted to discuss what I'm really upset about with the new format: Going first. I wrote an article about how going first was objectively overpowered until Legion became a mechanic. Well, here we are, back with the same old problems, only we also have to deal with Imaginary Gifts benefiting the first player as well and all previous mechanics that benefited the second-turn player are now gone. I have done some playtesting with friends, and short of playing a deck that wins a match-up convincingly, the person who goes first wins at a very disproportionate amount. I did mirrors with my buddy (Novas vs. Novas) where there is even more variance in potential power-output from the decks, and the first-turn player won the first 12 games. ~_~ Unless there is a large disparity in deck strength, the deck going second has an unfavorable match-up, or the player going first plays suboptimally, going first is a daunting facet to the game that currently is the hardest thing in a fight to overcome. I hope Bushiroad addresses this in some way to make it more "fair" for people going second. Especially now that the loser decides who goes first in games 2 and 3. Every single 3 game match my buddies and I played was won by the person who won the dice roll when doing mirrors. Let that sink in.
In conclusion, I think that there's some room to work with. I see caution from Bushiroad on Accel that I think is merited. I also see caution on Royal Paladin, as that was the busted clan last time around, and this over-caution left them pretty lackluster, but these cautions can both be fixed later. I think that the individual mechanics are slightly imbalanced, Accel for potential and Protect for practical usage, leaving Force somewhat underpowered, but I think that they aren't so varied in power-level that it's damning to the game's potential for fun or future content. I do think this about going first, though. I hope Bushiroad will implement something to make going second less detrimental that doesn't lead to the stupidity of something similar to R I P P U L.
Friday, December 15, 2017
Interview with World Non Ranked Meme Player, Two Time Accidental Topping Player, The Princess of Dark Irregulars Himself: Timothy Emerson! On: Stardrive Dragon and Memes in Vanguard.
Hello again friends. TimPowerGamer here. Today I have an exclusive interview with the Princess of Dark Irregulars, Timothy Emerson. Timothy, how are you doing this wonderful December afternoon? I have to say, I am awestruck to be in the presence of Vanguard royalty. (TPG)
Why thank you, Mr. Power Gamer. I am doing quite well this afternoon. I do have to politely correct you on one thing, though. We are all royalty in Vanguard. I am really no different than anyone else. (TE)
TPG: Such humility! You exemplify all of the aspects of princesshood. I wanted to shift to our first topic if that's fine with you.
TE: No. Let's talk about how princess-like I am for a few more paragraphs.
TPG: No. Now, let's discuss memes in Vanguard. What is your stance on memes?
TE: I personally believe that memes are the very nature of Vanguard. Memes from every clan, unit, and player are what exemplify this game and make it what it is. Everything from Stardrive Dragon to Stardrive Dragon.
TPG: While I approve of the Stardrive Dragon meme, don't you have any other Vanguard memes?
TE: There are other Vanguard memes?
TPG: Yes, like the Zubat Victor meme you just released. Or the Hey Yo Pineapple memes. Or the Brandon Chmiel memes? Or you actually having ever topped. How did you manage that one, by the way, Timothy?
TE: For starters, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of these non-Stardrive memes. Secondly...
TPG: Ahh, well, if a doctor says so, it must be true.
TE: Assuredly.
TPG: Didn't you also top with Seven Seas Rush?
TE: Nobody cares about that.
TPG: Right. So, next question. What is your favorite card in the game.
TE: I'm sure Wolverine already knows.
TPG: Interesting. Who else acknowledges your avatar, Stardrive Dragon?
TE: Good question. Here are a few individuals who acknowledge the greatness of Stardrive Dragon. Donald Trump, Google, and Bushiroad's banlist.
TPG: Very interesting. So what you're saying is that Stardrive Dragon is quite literally the secret to success in Cardfight!! Vanguard?
TE: If Trump, Google, and especially Bushiroad know how overpowered this card is to the point where they would restrict it, I don't think I'd call it a secret.
TPG: Another quick question while I have you here. I notice that Stardrive Dragon is a "Shadow Paladin" in the Japanese text of that meme. Care to comment on this mistake?
TE: If Blaster Blade Seeker is a Shadow Paladin, why not Stardrive?
TPG: Valid point. Do you have any advice for those in the Vanguard community who want to rise to prominence and become well known and respected?
TE: Yes. Find a better goal in your life than enlarging your internet ego by claiming to be special at a Children's Trading Card Game.
TPG: Aren't you doing exactly what you're accusing other people of doing by being in this interview as a member of Vanguard royalty?
TE: Irony seems to be lost on you, Mr. Power Gamer.
TPG: Indeed it does.
TPG: That's it for my exclusive interview withmyse-, erm, with Timothy Emerson, princess of Dark Irregulars. Which makes me wonder why we never asked about Dark Irregula-
TE: Amon is my waifu.
Why thank you, Mr. Power Gamer. I am doing quite well this afternoon. I do have to politely correct you on one thing, though. We are all royalty in Vanguard. I am really no different than anyone else. (TE)
TPG: Such humility! You exemplify all of the aspects of princesshood. I wanted to shift to our first topic if that's fine with you.
TE: No. Let's talk about how princess-like I am for a few more paragraphs.
TPG: No. Now, let's discuss memes in Vanguard. What is your stance on memes?
TE: I personally believe that memes are the very nature of Vanguard. Memes from every clan, unit, and player are what exemplify this game and make it what it is. Everything from Stardrive Dragon to Stardrive Dragon.
TPG: While I approve of the Stardrive Dragon meme, don't you have any other Vanguard memes?
TE: There are other Vanguard memes?
TPG: Yes, like the Zubat Victor meme you just released. Or the Hey Yo Pineapple memes. Or the Brandon Chmiel memes? Or you actually having ever topped. How did you manage that one, by the way, Timothy?
TE: For starters, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of these non-Stardrive memes. Secondly...
TPG: Ahh, well, if a doctor says so, it must be true.
TE: Assuredly.
TPG: Didn't you also top with Seven Seas Rush?
TPG: Right. So, next question. What is your favorite card in the game.
TE: I'm sure Wolverine already knows.
TPG: Interesting. Who else acknowledges your avatar, Stardrive Dragon?
TE: Good question. Here are a few individuals who acknowledge the greatness of Stardrive Dragon. Donald Trump, Google, and Bushiroad's banlist.
TPG: Very interesting. So what you're saying is that Stardrive Dragon is quite literally the secret to success in Cardfight!! Vanguard?
TE: If Trump, Google, and especially Bushiroad know how overpowered this card is to the point where they would restrict it, I don't think I'd call it a secret.
TPG: Another quick question while I have you here. I notice that Stardrive Dragon is a "Shadow Paladin" in the Japanese text of that meme. Care to comment on this mistake?
TE: If Blaster Blade Seeker is a Shadow Paladin, why not Stardrive?
TPG: Valid point. Do you have any advice for those in the Vanguard community who want to rise to prominence and become well known and respected?
TE: Yes. Find a better goal in your life than enlarging your internet ego by claiming to be special at a Children's Trading Card Game.
TPG: Aren't you doing exactly what you're accusing other people of doing by being in this interview as a member of Vanguard royalty?
TE: Irony seems to be lost on you, Mr. Power Gamer.
TPG: Indeed it does.
TPG: That's it for my exclusive interview with
TE: Amon is my waifu.
Monday, January 16, 2017
A History of Bushiroad's Vanguard World Championships
Every single year, world finals happens. Every single year, people whine about the fact that the meta deck always wins. That bad players top. That Vanguard isn't competitive. That they're quitting the game. But, every single year, everyone seems to forget that the exact same thing happened the year before. But, what people don't seem to realize is, if a non-meta deck tops, the game isn't competitive because someone sacked with a non-meta deck and happened to win.
This year, we had an exceptional amount of players attending worlds that either maliciously or unknowingly cheated. Like, just about all of them. This, honestly, isn't wildly different from any other Vanguard Championship Circuit, outside of the staff being more incompetent than normal and the stream doing the rulings for them. It sucks when the judges aren't paying attention and things like this slip under the radar. With the loss of exceptional staff members like JD Mercado, it seems that Bushiroad can't ensure the integrity of the game. But enough about that, let's talk about the history of Vanguard World Championships.
2012 World Championships.
Brandon Smith (Spectral Duke Dragon) vs. Henry Suharto (Pellinore/Garmore)
Brandon expended a counterblast on Sleygal Dagger to make a 9k booster behind his Gigantech Destroyer to make a 21k row. Against a 9k Vanguard.
Henry called a Flame of Victory behind his 10k base Pellinore to attack a 10k base Spectral Duke Dragon, then subsequently lost because he didn't have shield. No, he didn't send it to the bottom of the deck with Pellinore to actually make a stage, either.
This was the first example of a World Championship that we had. Both players misplayed, albeit one more than the other, and it was recorded. Both players played pretty poorly, and people didn't really feel satisfied with the conclusion. To my knowledge, neither player stayed relevant after this. As a matter of fact, I don't believe we have a single person who got top 3 more than once at any World Championship.
2013 World Championships
While the decks were all pretty much what you would expect for a set 11~ time frame (DDD/DOtE won, Descendant was 3rd and 4th, Beast Deities had a surprise 2nd place finish, but Novas were the most supported clan and they had quite a bit going for them), that isn't what I wanted to touch on.
These finals weren't filmed. We can't touch on misplays or cheating. People were upset with Bushiroad for this, but they did nothing about it. It's hard to assess what happened under these conditions. But we can talk about the individual who became World Champion. Almeida Stewart. There have been allegations of Almeida cheating to win the Parisian qualifiers. It was said that he was able to stack opponents' decks without them or the judge noticing. As the article mentions, "According to our source, the statement 'If you cheat, cheat good' attributed to him by those that attended the tournament, has been a common saying from him throughout his career." has been a defining highlight of his reputation. If memory serves, I believe he was also caught stealing cards from a child and ended up getting in some legal trouble. I heard another report of him being in the news for stealing 4000 Euros of card gaming supplies in a gang-related incident. The truth of these claims is up in the air, but something definitely doesn't sit right here.
2014 World Championships
This is the second consecutive year that Bushiroad did not film the World Championship. The top three decks were all the same (Seekers). It's really hard to make any positive or negative commentary. However, 2nd place was KEVIN CHO! (Not really salty he beat me and knocked me out of the championships at Chicago this year, but I wanted to fill up space.) For all I know, this could have been the golden year of everyone being good at the game. The world may never know...
2014 was also the year they decided to fire JD Mercado for being too vocal about cheating that occurred in the Asia-Oceania Finals. Or, at least, that is my assumption of what happened. In this video you can see a Genesis player cheating really hard by having his preferred grade 2 ride face down, standing it as his Vanguard, saying, "Oops!", then adding it to his hand for his draw for turn.
2015 World Championships
R I P P U L was the deck that won the tournament this time. We got to see the grand finals get played. The Ripple player failed just about every turtle check and hit a critical just about every drive check, in spite of running draws and heal triggers. It was a very disappointing final match to watch, because he was rewarded for his opponent having a completely locked-out deck while playing a deck that was honestly trash, playing it like trash (never did top 7 search for Pavroth when riding Turtle, although that mattered less since he always had Odysseus, because he was a sack), then getting rewarded with triggers and with the ability to counteract the opponent playing the game in a pre-Sebreeze era. If he didn't sack triggers in such an insane way and if his opponent was actually hitting offensive triggers, the game would have spiraled out of the Ripple player's favor, easily. He had multiple grade 3's in hand game 2 and only had enough shield in hand because he hit a critical trigger every single drive check game 2. I decided to count triggers and turtles, so you can see how much of a sacklord this guy was with triggers, and why playing Turtle in a deck with 8 grade 3's is a waste.
Ripple player:
1st Drive Check - No trigger (False sense of security)
2nd Drive Check - Heal Trigger (Heal goes off)
3rd Drive Check - Critical Trigger
4th Drive Check - Critical Trigger
5th Drive Check - Critical Trigger
6th Drive Check - Critical Trigger
7th Drive Check - Critical Trigger
1st Turtle - Whiff (Heal)
2nd Turtle - Whiff (Genovious)
3rd Turtle - Perfect Guard (Pretty much the worst case scenario for calling a top card)
4th Turtle - Whiff (A lot of glare, but looks like a crit to me)
5th Turtle - Penguin Soldier
2016 World Championships
Our top 3 were:
1st - Daniel Middlesworth - 7C's Rush
2nd - Andy Lo - 7C's Rush
3rd - Liu Bo Chen - Thing Saver/Sanc Guard
As most of you are probably aware, there was a lot of misplaying going around. I believe it was 1st place who would use Nightrunners that were milled off of Nightrunners (the timing would be missed). The Gears player Time Leaped Gigi into Melem (Time Leap doesn't go to the same grade, and these are both grade 1's). The 3rd place player didn't discard for Sebreeze's skill (why he was running Sebreeze in a Sanc Guard deck is beyond me). Issues like this popped up all over the place. You've watched it or heard about it, and now you are angry. And here we are. We have yet to, other than the mysterious WC2014 which I wasn't able to find any real information on, have anything remotely close to a solid final match or a champion that we can say earned the title by being good at the game. And people are upset by it.
So the question lies: Have we ever had a respectable champion for an official Bushiroad tournament? Was there ever a player who legitimately outplayed the metagame and took advantage of how the game was played without locking people out of their own mechanics or luck sacking critical triggers left and right? The answer is yes.
Challenge Cup 2013. Before Team Leagues were a thing, this was how Bushiroad decided to do what eventually became "Spring Fest". They had shop qualifiers at many, many card shops all over the country. Winners of these qualifiers made it to a state qualifier. Winners of that state's qualifier made it to nationals. Sadly, nationals was where the event stopped. The individual who won nationals for this event was a very skillful player named Kaden Kawakami. Here is how he did it.
He ran the typical DOtE list. A lot of back row retirement. A lot of draw triggers. Typical walling for a deck in a metagame that struggled greatly to hit 18k. So, how was his list different? He didn't run any critical triggers. You might be thinking, "So, he's bad then?" Nope. He outplayed everybody. You see, in a best of 1 format, you have no idea what your opponent's trigger line-up is going to be. When you stare down a restanding Vanguard like DOtE, you can only assume that he is going to have the threat of increased critical pressure and a potential restand. Thus, the standard play against DOtE was to always guard him if you are capable of doing so. Kaden knew this and decided to run stand triggers to reinforce his rear guard pressure and end games. Keep in mind that during this timeframe, the standard meta way to play was to no guard any attack that didn't kill you to access limit break as early as possible, increasing the value of stand triggers even more. He legitimately outplayed the format, the players, and the metagame. And he didn't even have to lock people out of stride to do it.
It is my hope that we have another champion like Kaden to restore our faith in the game. In order for this to happen, Bushiroad needs to keep a better eye on R&D, keeping the game safe from an over saturation in the metagame along with the cheese mechanics of rushing. The only reason Gears or Wiseman Loop haven't won the last two championships was because rushing was the counter deck of the format, but the counters to rushing can't be used against the standard meta decks. Is it healthy? If rushing kills the cancer, does that make it chemotherapy? I doubt it. Bushiroad has designed themselves into a corner, and they have not handled it well.
This year, we had an exceptional amount of players attending worlds that either maliciously or unknowingly cheated. Like, just about all of them. This, honestly, isn't wildly different from any other Vanguard Championship Circuit, outside of the staff being more incompetent than normal and the stream doing the rulings for them. It sucks when the judges aren't paying attention and things like this slip under the radar. With the loss of exceptional staff members like JD Mercado, it seems that Bushiroad can't ensure the integrity of the game. But enough about that, let's talk about the history of Vanguard World Championships.
2012 World Championships.
Brandon Smith (Spectral Duke Dragon) vs. Henry Suharto (Pellinore/Garmore)
Brandon expended a counterblast on Sleygal Dagger to make a 9k booster behind his Gigantech Destroyer to make a 21k row. Against a 9k Vanguard.
Henry called a Flame of Victory behind his 10k base Pellinore to attack a 10k base Spectral Duke Dragon, then subsequently lost because he didn't have shield. No, he didn't send it to the bottom of the deck with Pellinore to actually make a stage, either.
This was the first example of a World Championship that we had. Both players misplayed, albeit one more than the other, and it was recorded. Both players played pretty poorly, and people didn't really feel satisfied with the conclusion. To my knowledge, neither player stayed relevant after this. As a matter of fact, I don't believe we have a single person who got top 3 more than once at any World Championship.
2013 World Championships
While the decks were all pretty much what you would expect for a set 11~ time frame (DDD/DOtE won, Descendant was 3rd and 4th, Beast Deities had a surprise 2nd place finish, but Novas were the most supported clan and they had quite a bit going for them), that isn't what I wanted to touch on.
These finals weren't filmed. We can't touch on misplays or cheating. People were upset with Bushiroad for this, but they did nothing about it. It's hard to assess what happened under these conditions. But we can talk about the individual who became World Champion. Almeida Stewart. There have been allegations of Almeida cheating to win the Parisian qualifiers. It was said that he was able to stack opponents' decks without them or the judge noticing. As the article mentions, "According to our source, the statement 'If you cheat, cheat good' attributed to him by those that attended the tournament, has been a common saying from him throughout his career." has been a defining highlight of his reputation. If memory serves, I believe he was also caught stealing cards from a child and ended up getting in some legal trouble. I heard another report of him being in the news for stealing 4000 Euros of card gaming supplies in a gang-related incident. The truth of these claims is up in the air, but something definitely doesn't sit right here.
2014 World Championships
This is the second consecutive year that Bushiroad did not film the World Championship. The top three decks were all the same (Seekers). It's really hard to make any positive or negative commentary. However, 2nd place was KEVIN CHO! (Not really salty he beat me and knocked me out of the championships at Chicago this year, but I wanted to fill up space.) For all I know, this could have been the golden year of everyone being good at the game. The world may never know...
2014 was also the year they decided to fire JD Mercado for being too vocal about cheating that occurred in the Asia-Oceania Finals. Or, at least, that is my assumption of what happened. In this video you can see a Genesis player cheating really hard by having his preferred grade 2 ride face down, standing it as his Vanguard, saying, "Oops!", then adding it to his hand for his draw for turn.
2015 World Championships
R I P P U L was the deck that won the tournament this time. We got to see the grand finals get played. The Ripple player failed just about every turtle check and hit a critical just about every drive check, in spite of running draws and heal triggers. It was a very disappointing final match to watch, because he was rewarded for his opponent having a completely locked-out deck while playing a deck that was honestly trash, playing it like trash (never did top 7 search for Pavroth when riding Turtle, although that mattered less since he always had Odysseus, because he was a sack), then getting rewarded with triggers and with the ability to counteract the opponent playing the game in a pre-Sebreeze era. If he didn't sack triggers in such an insane way and if his opponent was actually hitting offensive triggers, the game would have spiraled out of the Ripple player's favor, easily. He had multiple grade 3's in hand game 2 and only had enough shield in hand because he hit a critical trigger every single drive check game 2. I decided to count triggers and turtles, so you can see how much of a sacklord this guy was with triggers, and why playing Turtle in a deck with 8 grade 3's is a waste.
Ripple player:
1st Drive Check - No trigger (False sense of security)
2nd Drive Check - Heal Trigger (Heal goes off)
3rd Drive Check - Critical Trigger
4th Drive Check - Critical Trigger
5th Drive Check - Critical Trigger
6th Drive Check - Critical Trigger
7th Drive Check - Critical Trigger
1st Turtle - Whiff (Heal)
2nd Turtle - Whiff (Genovious)
3rd Turtle - Perfect Guard (Pretty much the worst case scenario for calling a top card)
4th Turtle - Whiff (A lot of glare, but looks like a crit to me)
5th Turtle - Penguin Soldier
2016 World Championships
Our top 3 were:
1st - Daniel Middlesworth - 7C's Rush
2nd - Andy Lo - 7C's Rush
3rd - Liu Bo Chen - Thing Saver/Sanc Guard
As most of you are probably aware, there was a lot of misplaying going around. I believe it was 1st place who would use Nightrunners that were milled off of Nightrunners (the timing would be missed). The Gears player Time Leaped Gigi into Melem (Time Leap doesn't go to the same grade, and these are both grade 1's). The 3rd place player didn't discard for Sebreeze's skill (why he was running Sebreeze in a Sanc Guard deck is beyond me). Issues like this popped up all over the place. You've watched it or heard about it, and now you are angry. And here we are. We have yet to, other than the mysterious WC2014 which I wasn't able to find any real information on, have anything remotely close to a solid final match or a champion that we can say earned the title by being good at the game. And people are upset by it.
So the question lies: Have we ever had a respectable champion for an official Bushiroad tournament? Was there ever a player who legitimately outplayed the metagame and took advantage of how the game was played without locking people out of their own mechanics or luck sacking critical triggers left and right? The answer is yes.
Challenge Cup 2013. Before Team Leagues were a thing, this was how Bushiroad decided to do what eventually became "Spring Fest". They had shop qualifiers at many, many card shops all over the country. Winners of these qualifiers made it to a state qualifier. Winners of that state's qualifier made it to nationals. Sadly, nationals was where the event stopped. The individual who won nationals for this event was a very skillful player named Kaden Kawakami. Here is how he did it.
He ran the typical DOtE list. A lot of back row retirement. A lot of draw triggers. Typical walling for a deck in a metagame that struggled greatly to hit 18k. So, how was his list different? He didn't run any critical triggers. You might be thinking, "So, he's bad then?" Nope. He outplayed everybody. You see, in a best of 1 format, you have no idea what your opponent's trigger line-up is going to be. When you stare down a restanding Vanguard like DOtE, you can only assume that he is going to have the threat of increased critical pressure and a potential restand. Thus, the standard play against DOtE was to always guard him if you are capable of doing so. Kaden knew this and decided to run stand triggers to reinforce his rear guard pressure and end games. Keep in mind that during this timeframe, the standard meta way to play was to no guard any attack that didn't kill you to access limit break as early as possible, increasing the value of stand triggers even more. He legitimately outplayed the format, the players, and the metagame. And he didn't even have to lock people out of stride to do it.
It is my hope that we have another champion like Kaden to restore our faith in the game. In order for this to happen, Bushiroad needs to keep a better eye on R&D, keeping the game safe from an over saturation in the metagame along with the cheese mechanics of rushing. The only reason Gears or Wiseman Loop haven't won the last two championships was because rushing was the counter deck of the format, but the counters to rushing can't be used against the standard meta decks. Is it healthy? If rushing kills the cancer, does that make it chemotherapy? I doubt it. Bushiroad has designed themselves into a corner, and they have not handled it well.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Are you still Madew, Bro? Cray Erminantor Camtater Climb Ladder Dooklast
As I asked for 18 ANGERY emotes on Facebook to confirm my place as Clam Liter, and ended up getting 96 ANGERY emotes, I have decided to release my updated Clore Elmimantle dacklost.
Starter - Shining Knight, Millius
8x 5k Royal Paladin Crits
4x Thunder Elemental, Goloro (Critical)
4x Royal Paladin Heal Triggers
4x Light Elemental, Sunny
4x Air Elemental, Fwarlun
3x Light Elemental, Peaker
3x Laurel Knight, Siciilus
4x Knight of Twin Sword
4x Transmigration Knight, Brede
2x Escort Eagle
1x Earth Elemental, Pokkur
4x Knight of Mastery, Glenus
4x Gigantech Charger
GZone
4x Rain Element, Madew
3x Blazing Sword, Fides
2x Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile
1x Divine Knight of Flashing Flame, Samuel
1x Air Element, Sebreeze
1x Snow Element, Blizza
2x Dark Element, Dizmel
1x Light Element, Agleam
1x Metal Element, Scryew
The first observation you will probably make is, "Oh hey, this looks pretty much the same other than filling out the GZo- WHERE DID STARDRIVE GO?! YOU TRAITOR!"
Hear me out, bro. Fides can only search for grade 2's and those grade 2's need the "Brave" keyword. Fides draws a card, retires a unit, gets a grade 2 out of my deck, AND gives me 10k power to distribute to my board. It's an INSANE card and the only reason it isn't played at 4 of in a bunch of decks is because those decks can't afford to run "Brave" units. The unit that has replaced Stardrive Dragon is Knight of Mastery, Glenus. Glenus, being a 10k power Royal Paladin unit means that it, of course, does everything Stardrive did in the deck, including being able to proc Madew. Additionally, Glenus' skill is, "Brave: Cont: This unit gets grade -1 while in the deck." This means we can grab him directly out of the deck with Fides (who can only grab grade 2's), and the check for his Brave keyword is done after the discard for Fides and after the cost for stride has been paid. So, if your hand was 5 or less cards at the start of your turn, Fides into Glenus can definitely be a good move.
Now, you may be thinking, "Tim, how necessary even is that? You're running Escort Eagles in your deck already." Brede is mandatory at 4 of (switchable and interchangeable with Knight of Fragment who is 11k when attacking vanguards and rear guards vs. 12k vs. Vanguards only. I'm running 2/2 at the moment, but I think Brede is better, which I'll cover shortly). Knight of Twin Sword is our only multi-attack enabling unit in our deck (and he can grab Glenus too, if done before my Vanguard attacks or if I have 0 cards in hand at the start of the battle phase), so he's a 4-of. We only have 3 spaces, and Pokkur is just amazing in a deck with 10 Cray strides and with the ability to grab 2's on-demand. So Escort Eagle is down to being a 2-of. If I draw EITHER of them pre-Fides plays, I can't proc the draw for Fides. This is why we play Glenus. That and he makes 21k with any non-sentinel grade 1 booster in my deck, which is icing on the cake.
Now that that's out of the way, let's discuss updates. We added in the Cray Elemental critical trigger, Goloro. Goloro's guard restriction ability (you can only call this card as a Guardian if you have another Guardian on the circle) is actually pretty bad, but it can be pitched with Fides, Agleam, Scryew, or used for its useful ability, to count as a grade 2 when pitched for stride. In this deck, we can easily convert our strides into hard advantage generation. Even just ditching Goloro and another card to stride into Madew will take our previously +2 turn and convert it into a +1 turn. Whether or not this is mandatory isn't super important to me, I am playing it for the Cray Craze. The vast majority of the time, you will not be impacted by its negative or positive effects. It does have a 4k body, however, and that is why we made the next change.
Knight of Fragment and Transmigration Knight, Brede are our Brede and butter cards to call off of Knight of Twin Sword. (NYEH HEH HEH) With Goloro being a potential call from Gigantech Charger, Brede makes numbers with EVERYTHING where Knight of Fragment has this weakness with only being 15k with Goloro (and requiring another 2 out, which cards like Heteroround, Denial Griffin, having a locked front row, and getting Fragment called off of Charger can make difficult). While you can easily build around this in most cases, I've found that the only advantage that Fragment gives over Brede is the ability to hit 10k+ rear guards unboosted, since the counter-charge is typically useless and the soul charge is almost detrimental.
Escort Eagle made its way into the list due to being a Brave and a Resist unit that is grade 2. It gets Fides synergy, and helps handle a big weakness the deck has in its Link Joker match-up. The extra shield is just icing on the cake.
Now, for the GZone, we have 8 new spots to fill. Of course, Cray Elemental GGuardians are entering four of these spots. Reason 1, they are all relatively powerful Guardians due to having some nice secondary effects. Reason 2, pretty much all of the Royal Paladin GGuards have been roasted garbage on a stick. Reason 3, they give Fwarlun power and enable Pokkur plays without having to stride into Madew and waiting a turn. For our remaining spots, we have made the following changes.
-1 Atmos
-1 Gablade
+2 Aerial Divine Knight Altmile
+3 Fides
+1 Sebreeze
Atmos was in the deck as the designated flip target for Blizza. We no longer need that, since Sebreeze took its place. Gablade was never really good, but it didn't require a flip and I had one space open previously. I actually did switch both Atmos and Gablade out for Aerial Altmile before the 16 card GZone happened, but not much else has been changed from the base list. We added in Sebreeze because it is a Cray Elemental (procs Fwarlun and Pokkur) and the deck is very Generation Break heavy. We also have a large amount of counterblasts available to expend where a Samuel or Sebreeze doesn't kill our resources all that badly anyway. I feel like Fides was already covered, but I'll just recap. You can flip Sebreeze with it for more effects with your Cray Elementals, and it's discard a card to make big numbers, draw a card, retire a unit, and call a unit. Like, it does so much for such a tiny cost.
That covers the major changes. I hope you don't rage on me too hard for dropping Stardrive. On that note, the original reason I played Stardrive was due to their being NO suitable 10k Royal Paladin unit that made a meaningful difference. Palamedes was the best one initially. I'm not counterblasting 2 to call a grade 1. I didn't have enough spots in my GZone to play Regalie, so I couldn't risk having a dead, vanilla stride when I missed my Sanc Guard. There was no room to put in Jewel Knight archetype support, and Swordmy would be useless without JK grade 1's, even if I could use him with Charger. I could have run the 10k Vanilla legion, but I don't think the 10k grade 2 was worth running at the time. The long and short was that there wasn't much that was really useful to run, and anything that may have been useful would compromise my GZone.
That's it for now. Clyde Ornamental Cornpattytav Clumb Looper, signing out.
Starter - Shining Knight, Millius
8x 5k Royal Paladin Crits
4x Thunder Elemental, Goloro (Critical)
4x Royal Paladin Heal Triggers
4x Light Elemental, Sunny
4x Air Elemental, Fwarlun
3x Light Elemental, Peaker
3x Laurel Knight, Siciilus
4x Knight of Twin Sword
4x Transmigration Knight, Brede
2x Escort Eagle
1x Earth Elemental, Pokkur
4x Knight of Mastery, Glenus
4x Gigantech Charger
GZone
4x Rain Element, Madew
3x Blazing Sword, Fides
2x Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile
1x Divine Knight of Flashing Flame, Samuel
1x Air Element, Sebreeze
1x Snow Element, Blizza
2x Dark Element, Dizmel
1x Light Element, Agleam
1x Metal Element, Scryew
The first observation you will probably make is, "Oh hey, this looks pretty much the same other than filling out the GZo- WHERE DID STARDRIVE GO?! YOU TRAITOR!"
Hear me out, bro. Fides can only search for grade 2's and those grade 2's need the "Brave" keyword. Fides draws a card, retires a unit, gets a grade 2 out of my deck, AND gives me 10k power to distribute to my board. It's an INSANE card and the only reason it isn't played at 4 of in a bunch of decks is because those decks can't afford to run "Brave" units. The unit that has replaced Stardrive Dragon is Knight of Mastery, Glenus. Glenus, being a 10k power Royal Paladin unit means that it, of course, does everything Stardrive did in the deck, including being able to proc Madew. Additionally, Glenus' skill is, "Brave: Cont: This unit gets grade -1 while in the deck." This means we can grab him directly out of the deck with Fides (who can only grab grade 2's), and the check for his Brave keyword is done after the discard for Fides and after the cost for stride has been paid. So, if your hand was 5 or less cards at the start of your turn, Fides into Glenus can definitely be a good move.
Now, you may be thinking, "Tim, how necessary even is that? You're running Escort Eagles in your deck already." Brede is mandatory at 4 of (switchable and interchangeable with Knight of Fragment who is 11k when attacking vanguards and rear guards vs. 12k vs. Vanguards only. I'm running 2/2 at the moment, but I think Brede is better, which I'll cover shortly). Knight of Twin Sword is our only multi-attack enabling unit in our deck (and he can grab Glenus too, if done before my Vanguard attacks or if I have 0 cards in hand at the start of the battle phase), so he's a 4-of. We only have 3 spaces, and Pokkur is just amazing in a deck with 10 Cray strides and with the ability to grab 2's on-demand. So Escort Eagle is down to being a 2-of. If I draw EITHER of them pre-Fides plays, I can't proc the draw for Fides. This is why we play Glenus. That and he makes 21k with any non-sentinel grade 1 booster in my deck, which is icing on the cake.
Now that that's out of the way, let's discuss updates. We added in the Cray Elemental critical trigger, Goloro. Goloro's guard restriction ability (you can only call this card as a Guardian if you have another Guardian on the circle) is actually pretty bad, but it can be pitched with Fides, Agleam, Scryew, or used for its useful ability, to count as a grade 2 when pitched for stride. In this deck, we can easily convert our strides into hard advantage generation. Even just ditching Goloro and another card to stride into Madew will take our previously +2 turn and convert it into a +1 turn. Whether or not this is mandatory isn't super important to me, I am playing it for the Cray Craze. The vast majority of the time, you will not be impacted by its negative or positive effects. It does have a 4k body, however, and that is why we made the next change.
Knight of Fragment and Transmigration Knight, Brede are our Brede and butter cards to call off of Knight of Twin Sword. (NYEH HEH HEH) With Goloro being a potential call from Gigantech Charger, Brede makes numbers with EVERYTHING where Knight of Fragment has this weakness with only being 15k with Goloro (and requiring another 2 out, which cards like Heteroround, Denial Griffin, having a locked front row, and getting Fragment called off of Charger can make difficult). While you can easily build around this in most cases, I've found that the only advantage that Fragment gives over Brede is the ability to hit 10k+ rear guards unboosted, since the counter-charge is typically useless and the soul charge is almost detrimental.
Escort Eagle made its way into the list due to being a Brave and a Resist unit that is grade 2. It gets Fides synergy, and helps handle a big weakness the deck has in its Link Joker match-up. The extra shield is just icing on the cake.
Now, for the GZone, we have 8 new spots to fill. Of course, Cray Elemental GGuardians are entering four of these spots. Reason 1, they are all relatively powerful Guardians due to having some nice secondary effects. Reason 2, pretty much all of the Royal Paladin GGuards have been roasted garbage on a stick. Reason 3, they give Fwarlun power and enable Pokkur plays without having to stride into Madew and waiting a turn. For our remaining spots, we have made the following changes.
-1 Atmos
-1 Gablade
+2 Aerial Divine Knight Altmile
+3 Fides
+1 Sebreeze
Atmos was in the deck as the designated flip target for Blizza. We no longer need that, since Sebreeze took its place. Gablade was never really good, but it didn't require a flip and I had one space open previously. I actually did switch both Atmos and Gablade out for Aerial Altmile before the 16 card GZone happened, but not much else has been changed from the base list. We added in Sebreeze because it is a Cray Elemental (procs Fwarlun and Pokkur) and the deck is very Generation Break heavy. We also have a large amount of counterblasts available to expend where a Samuel or Sebreeze doesn't kill our resources all that badly anyway. I feel like Fides was already covered, but I'll just recap. You can flip Sebreeze with it for more effects with your Cray Elementals, and it's discard a card to make big numbers, draw a card, retire a unit, and call a unit. Like, it does so much for such a tiny cost.
That covers the major changes. I hope you don't rage on me too hard for dropping Stardrive. On that note, the original reason I played Stardrive was due to their being NO suitable 10k Royal Paladin unit that made a meaningful difference. Palamedes was the best one initially. I'm not counterblasting 2 to call a grade 1. I didn't have enough spots in my GZone to play Regalie, so I couldn't risk having a dead, vanilla stride when I missed my Sanc Guard. There was no room to put in Jewel Knight archetype support, and Swordmy would be useless without JK grade 1's, even if I could use him with Charger. I could have run the 10k Vanilla legion, but I don't think the 10k grade 2 was worth running at the time. The long and short was that there wasn't much that was really useful to run, and anything that may have been useful would compromise my GZone.
That's it for now. Clyde Ornamental Cornpattytav Clumb Looper, signing out.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Diet Cancer - All of the taste, none of the calories. A non-Wiseman Fenrir Build.
To preface this, I believe that Wiseman Loop (Thanks Science of Vanguard for the video explanation!) is currently the superior build for Genesis at the moment. The only major stipulation to that is that Angelic Wiseman's Loop has three hard counters that stop their OTK turn.
The first has been around for a while. Denial Griffin. This retires Wiseman on his first swing, preventing him from restanding multiple times.
The second has just been released for, what is arguably the most played deck in the format, Chronojet Gear Chronicles. Heteroround Dragon places the powered up Wiseman into the deck, which is then shuffled and the Genesis player calls the top card of their deck, which is likely to be a 4k Stand Trigger or 7k grade 1. Even if they sack into the Wiseman that was placed back into the deck, they still have to deal with it only being a 14k swing. They could also potentially Heteroround a second time. A single defensive trigger will shut it down, so they would have to swing with their Vanguard after putting multiple stands into their deck for the power, but that drastically cuts down on the loop's ability to restand Wiseman. While this doesn't prevent lethal 100% of the time, it still disrupts the loop greatly.
The third is Freezeray Dragon. It can stop the loop if the Link Joker player is at 4 or less damage, since the loop variant has few outs to give Wiseman a bonus critical, since that is almost never necessary.
Due to the Wiseman Loop typically occurring on the third stride turn after two Tyr strides, It's extremely likely that a Kagero or Gear Chronicle player will have gotten one or more heal triggers in their hand, and then held on to them understanding the match-up. Additionally, they never need to guard the Vanguard due to extremely low critical quantities (2 or 4) and no on-hit abilities, giving them an unfavorable match-up to Freezeray. Damage is very easily kept low early-to-mid game due to Genesis having no real rush, restanding, or superior calling mechanics that the Loop is willing to utilize, due to needing those counterblasts for higher power on the push-turn.
Since my locals has many Gear Chronicle and Kagero players, and our Link Joker players typically run Freezeray, I felt like it was a bad meta call to play the Wiseman Loop variant of Genesis, and opted instead for a more balanced version of the deck. Here's the list.
Grade 0's
Starter - Fetter Creator, Van
4x Goddess of Sound Sleep, Tahro (Stand)
2x Dreaming Dragon (Stand)
4x Stake Fetter, Thviti (Critical)
2x Battle Maiden, Kukurihime (Critical)
4x Goddess of Youth, Hebe (Heal)
Grade 1's
4x Mythic Beast, Skoll
4x Shackle Fetter, Gelgja
4x Goddess of Decline, Hel
2x Mythic Beast, Hati
Grade 2's
4x Boulder Fetter, Gjoll
4x Battle Maiden, Kotonoha
2x Earth Elemental, Pokkur
1x Mythic Snake, Jormungand
Grade 3's
4x Mythic Beast, Fenrir
4x Ice Crest Goddess, Svava
GZone
4x Mythical Destroyer Beast, Vanargandr
2x Beast-Slayer Military Deity, Tyr
2x Mythical Hellsky Beast, Fenrir
2x Great Angel, Doom Brace
1x Air Element, Sebreeze
1x Snow Element, Blizza
3x Goddess of Seven Colors, Iris
1x Sky-dome Battle Maiden, Hanasatsuki
The first major question would be, "What does this list provide over the standard Wiseman Loop variant?" Well, it provides a few nice things, actually. It gives extra critical pressure on your Vanguard swing, gives you access to the Revelation mechanic for units you want to field (giving you more trigger scrying and potential soul set-up), and it also gives you access to counterblasts at all stages of the game so you can make plays on a case-by-case basis instead of going "all-in" for a single turn. Additionally, the deck doesn't automatically lose when you miss the Fenrir ride, even though both decks would gladly ride Fenrir at a minus to have him as Vanguard.
A few cute things the deck can do:
The first has been around for a while. Denial Griffin. This retires Wiseman on his first swing, preventing him from restanding multiple times.
The second has just been released for, what is arguably the most played deck in the format, Chronojet Gear Chronicles. Heteroround Dragon places the powered up Wiseman into the deck, which is then shuffled and the Genesis player calls the top card of their deck, which is likely to be a 4k Stand Trigger or 7k grade 1. Even if they sack into the Wiseman that was placed back into the deck, they still have to deal with it only being a 14k swing. They could also potentially Heteroround a second time. A single defensive trigger will shut it down, so they would have to swing with their Vanguard after putting multiple stands into their deck for the power, but that drastically cuts down on the loop's ability to restand Wiseman. While this doesn't prevent lethal 100% of the time, it still disrupts the loop greatly.
The third is Freezeray Dragon. It can stop the loop if the Link Joker player is at 4 or less damage, since the loop variant has few outs to give Wiseman a bonus critical, since that is almost never necessary.
Due to the Wiseman Loop typically occurring on the third stride turn after two Tyr strides, It's extremely likely that a Kagero or Gear Chronicle player will have gotten one or more heal triggers in their hand, and then held on to them understanding the match-up. Additionally, they never need to guard the Vanguard due to extremely low critical quantities (2 or 4) and no on-hit abilities, giving them an unfavorable match-up to Freezeray. Damage is very easily kept low early-to-mid game due to Genesis having no real rush, restanding, or superior calling mechanics that the Loop is willing to utilize, due to needing those counterblasts for higher power on the push-turn.
Since my locals has many Gear Chronicle and Kagero players, and our Link Joker players typically run Freezeray, I felt like it was a bad meta call to play the Wiseman Loop variant of Genesis, and opted instead for a more balanced version of the deck. Here's the list.
Grade 0's
Starter - Fetter Creator, Van
4x Goddess of Sound Sleep, Tahro (Stand)
2x Dreaming Dragon (Stand)
4x Stake Fetter, Thviti (Critical)
2x Battle Maiden, Kukurihime (Critical)
4x Goddess of Youth, Hebe (Heal)
Grade 1's
4x Mythic Beast, Skoll
4x Shackle Fetter, Gelgja
4x Goddess of Decline, Hel
2x Mythic Beast, Hati
Grade 2's
4x Boulder Fetter, Gjoll
4x Battle Maiden, Kotonoha
2x Earth Elemental, Pokkur
1x Mythic Snake, Jormungand
Grade 3's
4x Mythic Beast, Fenrir
4x Ice Crest Goddess, Svava
GZone
4x Mythical Destroyer Beast, Vanargandr
2x Beast-Slayer Military Deity, Tyr
2x Mythical Hellsky Beast, Fenrir
2x Great Angel, Doom Brace
1x Air Element, Sebreeze
1x Snow Element, Blizza
3x Goddess of Seven Colors, Iris
1x Sky-dome Battle Maiden, Hanasatsuki
The first major question would be, "What does this list provide over the standard Wiseman Loop variant?" Well, it provides a few nice things, actually. It gives extra critical pressure on your Vanguard swing, gives you access to the Revelation mechanic for units you want to field (giving you more trigger scrying and potential soul set-up), and it also gives you access to counterblasts at all stages of the game so you can make plays on a case-by-case basis instead of going "all-in" for a single turn. Additionally, the deck doesn't automatically lose when you miss the Fenrir ride, even though both decks would gladly ride Fenrir at a minus to have him as Vanguard.
A few cute things the deck can do:
- A combination of the stand trigger, Svava, and Vanargandr can make for a nice 21k+ multi-attacking RG row if you have excess stands in soul. This can be boosted higher with Gelgia.
- A combination of Gjoll (called that turn) and a critical trigger can create an 18k restanding rear-guard. I use Gjoll instead of Wiseman for my multi-attack gambit, trying to use the twin-Revelation checks from Hellsky Fenrir to set up a double trigger for Gjoll. Additionally, Gjoll can also get bonus power from Gelgia, much like Wiseman can. I typically have at least one game in a set where I have a 41k+ 2 crit restanding Gjoll. This can play around Freezeray to an extent.
- I've used Revelation on Vanargandr turns using Gelgia to restand and was able to filter down 7 cards to hit a double trigger on a Gjoll turn.
- Fenrir can call Gjolls that you've intercepted with by placing them back into soul with Iris for a prolonged gambit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)