Star-vader, Freeze Ray Dragon

Hello everyone, this is Ascriptmaster here, b̷̧a̡c̨͟͏̴̢k̸̀͞ ̵̶̵͘̕w̶̶̧̨i̡t̀͘̕͞ḩ̛̕ ̵̶͡ą́͜n̵̢͡ơ̡̡̕͘t̡͏h̸̛͞e̡̡͜͠͝r̸͞ ̶̡͞Ç̶a̕͜͠r̶̶̸̨͢d̵̢̛̕͠s͞҉̶̵͜à̶̵̡͠f̵̨͟͡#̨̨̀͠͡5̶̨͘̕͟7̨̨̧́͡X̧̨̛̕8̸̸̧9̡͢͞͞͝0̵̷̧̕͘-̶͢͟͜͝-́͘͏͢-̵̢̡

INJECTING LINKJOKER\STARVADER.BAT
DECODING: 33124d36d39ae7c013e95c54d698807e
------- VOID PROGRAM INITIATED ------- > SELECT * FROM FREEZERAY.DEK
... ORDER BY GRADE, AMT, NAME;

-----ACCESS GRADE [0]-----

> EARNEST STAR-VADER, SELENIUM
> [4] STAR-VADER, METEOR LIGER
> [4] STAR-VADER, SCOUTING FERRIS
> [4] STAR-VADER, STELLAR GARAGE
> [4] STAR-VADER, WEISS SOLDAT

-----ACCESS GRADE [1]-----

> [4] BARRIER STAR-VADER, PROMETHEUM
> [4] PRISON STAR-VADER, PALLADIUM
> [3] TWIN BLADE HOLLOW, BINARY STAR
> [2] IMAGINARY OTHROS
> [2] STAR-VADER, AURORA EAGLE

-----ACCESS GRADE [2]-----

> [3] NEGLIGIBLE HYDRA
> [3] STAR-VADER, COLONY MAKER
> [3] UNRIVALED STAR-VADER, RADON
> [2] STAR-VADER, MOEBIUS BREATH DRAGON

-----ACCESS GRADE [3]-----

> [4] STAR-VADER, FREEZE RAY DRAGON
> [3] STAR-VADER, NEBULA LORD DRAGON

> DECKSTRAT FREEZERAY.DEK
DECKSTRATEGY FOR FREEZE RAY DRAGON:
- LOCK OPPOSING REARGUARDS IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR TURN
- USE PRISON STAR-VADER, PALLADIUM TO MAINTAIN THE LOCK
- USE SELF-DAMAGING UNITS TO LOCK MORE UNITS DURING YOUR TURN
- DOES NOT REQUIRE LIMIT BREAK OR COST FOR LOCKING PROTOCOL
- NEBULA LORD DRAGON AS BACKUP VANGUARD W/O SUBCLAN RESTRICTION
> LOGOUT
------- CONNECTION TERMINATED -------

Phantom Blaster Overlord

Hello everyone, this is Ascriptmaster back with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. This time, we're looking at Phantom Blaster Dragon and its crossride, as well as how their playstyle has changed with the addition of Judgebau Revenger instead of its traditional ride chain.

Grade 0

Judgebau Revenger
4 Freezing Revenger
4 Healing Revenger
4 Grim Revenger
4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon

Grade 1

4 Revenger of Darkness, Mac Lir
3 Black Sage, Charon
3 Black-winged Swordbreaker
2 Buranbau Revenger
3 Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter

Grade 2

3 Crisis Revenger, Mana
3 Cursed Lancer
2 Darkness Maiden, Macha
2 Skull Witch, Nemain

Grade 3

4 Phantom Blaster Dragon
4 Phantom Blaster Overlord

Death and agony are my blades! Writhe in pain, Shadow Erosion!

Close your eyes. All you can see is despair.

Thanks to Judgebau Revenger, the Phantom Blasters gain an additional mid-game advantage engine by searching out two Black-winged Swordbreakers for immediate draw power. Darkness Maiden, Macha also has this function within the deck, searching out the third Swordbreaker in the deck for one more draw. Crisis Revenger, Mana and Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter provide quick, low-cost sacrifices for Phantom Blaster Dragon's skill. Finally, Cursed Lancers maintain pressure in the deck due to the medium-to-high Counterblast usage that the deck employs.

Another look at Silver Thorns

Hello everyone this is Natsu back for another article, this time we're going to be taking another look at Silver Thorns since the card pool has changed quite a bit since we last looked at this deck so let's see ways we can improve it from before.  I'm not going to go too into any of the units that were in the last edition of the build since I've already talked about them in a previous article which you can find in the November 2013 tab, however I will talk about how new units can help units that were previously in the deck.

G0
Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Emil
Dynamite Juggler (Critical) x4
Silver Thorn Barking Dragon (Critical) x4
Silver Thorn Juggler, Nadia (Heal) x4
Silver Thorn Marionette, Natasha (Draw) x4

The triggers have stayed the exact same, although we do run an especial counterblast unit now it CAN get in the way but it's only 4 cards so it isn't too much of a big deal.  The starter however did change to Emil who is a MUCH better starter than Iorena (although Iorena is still pretty good).  Her ability is to move her to the soul to check your top 5 and then put one of each a grade 1, 2 and 3 into your soul the only limitation being is that they must be Silver Thorn units.  One of the things that makes her better though is that her cost is to move her to the soul which prevents her from getting sniped and also since this is Pale Moon allows for repeat usage of the skill.

G1
Silver Thorn Assistant, Irina x4
Silver Thorn Assistant, Zelma x4
Silver Thorn Breathing Dragon x4
Silver Thorn Hypnos, Lydia x3 (Perfect Guard)

For grade 1s the only new unit is Zelma who is essentially a Purple Trapezist for Silver Thorns which makes her too good, she's your primary grade 1 ride target and also what you'll want to grab with Marichika.  You could take out Breathing Dragon for Ana if you want since now having the card go back to the soul works well since it allows you to abuse Zelma's skill over and over again.  Zelma can also get you Emil from your soul to give you a +3 to your soul (as well as allow you to skip cross-riding your Venus or  Яeverse).  Your other main use for Zelma will be to put an Irina on your field back into your soul to call it out again to let you use it's skill.

G2
Silver Thorn Marionette, Lillian x3
Silver Thorn Rising Dragon x3
Silver Thorn Upright Lion x2
Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Marichika x2

For new units in grade 2 there's Upright Lion, everytime another Silver Thorn unit is called from your soul he gains 3k power.  He's mainly used in combination with Venus so that he'll gain 12k during the turn to give you a strong column for the turn although you can also boost him up with Zelma.  Marichika also gets a lot better as now with her skill you can use Zelma in the same way one would use Purple Trapezist of putting a unit back into your soul to re-call it out at a stood position.

G3
Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier x3
Silver Thorn Dragon Empress, Venus Luquier x3
Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier Яeverse x2

The last new unit is Silver Thorn Dragon Empress, Venus Luquier who is the new Luquier cross-ride.  Her ability is an especial counterblast of two to soulcharge 2 and then call up to 5 Pale Moons from you soul who's total grades equal 6 and call them to ANY RG circles.  Now one thing to remember is that the total number has to add up to 6 so ideally what you'd want to do is call 2 grade 2s and then 2 grade 1s.  Now one may think "but that already adds up to 6" but what is 6+0? 6 so you can call Emil from the skill and once again get to add 3 more cards to your soul.  This is very important because it allows you to still add to your soul and not have to worry about running out of quality soul.

Overall the new Silver Thorns are great additions to the archetype as they allow Silver Thorns to get over their main problem which was running out of quality soul and also accumulating a more massive soul.  It's also allowed the deck to take a more offensive playstyle rather than it's old playstyle of defending and being able to call out free 5k shield after free 5k shield.

Sage's Egg, Minette

Hello everyone! This is Ascriptmaster, back with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. Today, we will be covering the new Great Nature unit from Fighter's Collection 2014, a unit that combines power boosts for Rearguards with drawing cards for hand advantage. See a video of the deck here.

[ACT](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (2)] Choose one of your rear-guards, that unit gets [Power]+4000 until end of turn, and at the end of that turn, draw a card, and retire that unit.

[AUTO](VC):During your end phase, when your rear-guard is put into the drop zone, choose a card from your damage zone, and turn it face up.
The answer is in our hand!

Grade 0
Blackboard Parrot
4 Dictionary Goat
3 Alarm Chicken
3 Eraser Alpaca
3 Holder Hedgehog
3 Triangle Cobra

Grade 1
4 Cable Sheep
4 Coiling Duckbill
3 Tick Tock Flamingo
3 Soft Tank Sloth

Grade 2
4 Binoculus Tiger
4 Compass Lion
3 Lamp Camel Geograph Giant

Grade 3
4 Honorary Professor, Chatnoir
4 Sage's Egg, Minette

Minette's modus operandi is to grant the user sustained draw power with its Limit Break, allowing you to weather most attacks from the opponent with the heightened defensive skills. As a "grind" deck that focuses on weathering opponent attacks and shields until they fall, the inclusion of 6 Stand triggers serves to increase the pressure against the opponent and force more guard, especially from a Rearguard that has been boosted by Minette's Limit Break and Chatnoir's Break Ride Skill. Naturally, Coiling Duckbill and Blackboard Parrot also increase the amount of draw power further and multiply the amount of shields in the hand.

Although Lamp Camel (a card I used in the demonstration video), Pencil Knight, Hammsuke or Washup Raccoon would further the amount of shield given by adding an additional unit to the hand, it also uses up Counterblast, a valuable resource in a deck focused on Minette. As such, the remainder of the deck focuses on high-power attackers like Compass Lion and Geograph Giant, as well as Binoculus Tiger's ability to further boost the unit targeted by Minette's Limit Break. Furthermore, Tick Tock Flamingo and Soft Tank Sloth can flip damage face-up with their skills, allowing for repeated uses of Minette's Limit Break over a long game.

Echo of Nemesis

Hello everyone, this is Ascriptmaster back with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. This week's deck focuses on the powerful new Dark Irregular unit released in Fighter's Collection 2014 in Japan, Echo of Nemesis. Echo of Nemesis stands apart from most other high-power Vanguards because of its ability to immediately stop Sentinel units that would otherwise trivialize the need to guard. Here is a video of the deck.

[自](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):When this unit attacks, if the number of cards in your soul is ten or greater, until end of that battle, this unit gets [Power]+10000, and your opponent cannot call grade 1 or greater units to (GC) from his or her hand.

[起](VC):[Soul Blast (1 Grade 0 card)] Soul Charge (2). This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.

This too, this too, this too, this too! The rest are all mine as well!

Grade 0
Amon's Follower, Fate Collector
4 Amon's Follower, Cruel Hand
4 Amon's Follower, Hell's Trick
4 Dark Knight of Nightmareland
4 Hysteric Shirley

Grade 1
4 Amon's Follower, Vlad Specula
4 Doreen the Thruster
3 Alluring Succubus
3 Jet Black Poet, Amon

Grade 2
4 Gwynn the Ripper
4 Fatigue Succubus
3 Flirtatious Succubus

Grade 3
4 Echo of Nemesis
4 King of Masks, Dantarian

Overall, Echo of Nemesis plays like any other Dark Irregular ace unit: accumulate a high Soul and gain effects based on your Soul count. Once 10 cards are in the Soul, Echo of Nemesis' Limit Break gives it an additional 10,000 Power (similar to Demon World Marquis, Amon's skill given 10 Soul) and prevents Grade 1 or higher units from guarding when it attacks. This will instantly shut down any Sentinel hoping to catch the attack effortlessly in late game. This forces the opponent to guard with the triggers in their hand, whittling down their hand because of high-power attacks. Dantarian increases the guard that Echo of Nemesis can drain in a turn, by giving even more power to Echo of Nemesis and its booster, for at least a 20,000 Power boost. Dantarian is also a good unit for increasing the Soul every turn to reach the 10-Soul threshold.

The rest of the deck also tends to focus on high-power attacks to force guard in late game. Doreen the Thruster is especially useful once you have Echo of Nemesis, because of the latter's ability to send a Grade 0 unit from the Soul to the Drop Zone to Soulcharge 2 cards, immediately granting Doreen a 6,000 Power increase for the turn, allowing it to boost for 12,000! This is especially deadly when combined with Hysteric Shirley, whose ability places herself from the field into the Soul, as it immediately fulfills the conditions for Echo of Nemesis to use, either immediately for an inhuman amount of power, or allowing you to save the skill for later to boost Doreen again. When Dantarian is the Vanguard, Jet Black Poet, Amon fulfills the role of a powerful booster as it consistently maintains 9,000 Power during your turn, which is particularly useful when boosting a Fatigue Succubus once you have met the 10-Soul requirement.

Instead of using the arguably more reliable Emblem Master and Courting Succubus to amass Soul, I ultimately chose to rely on Alluring Succubus and Flirtatious Succubus instead at the time of recording. Without the need to hit to trigger their skills, the two Succubi have one guaranteed Soulcharge when they are called, and also give Doreen the Thruster a boost for the turn. That is not to say that the aforementioned cards are not viable; you should try it out and find out which combination works best for you.

Spectral Duke Liberators

Hello everyone, Ascriptmaster here with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. This week, we will be covering my Spectral Duke Dragon deck, which focuses on the use of Liberator, Star Rain Trumpeter to quickly fill the field for Spectral Duke's Limit Break without using up Counterblast. A video showcasing the deck can be found here.

Grade 0
[LEAD] Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer
4 Armament Liberator, Gwydion
4 Elixir Liberator
4 Liberator of Hope, Epona
4 Strike Liberator

Grade 1
4 Halo Liberator, Mark
4 Scout of Darkness, Vortimer
3 Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth
2 Black Mane Witch
2 Throw Blade Knight, Maleagant

Grade 2
4 Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer
4 Liberator, Star Rain Trumpeter
3 Blaster Blade Liberator

Grade 3
4 Spectral Duke Dragon
3 Dignified Gold Dragon

The deck leads with the Vortimer Ride Chain to gain access to Spectral Duke Dragon more efficiently, potentially giving it the 11,000 defense line and also unleashing a flurry of superior calls to quickly fill the field. Aiding the superior calls is Star Rain Trumpeter, which gives an extra superior call if a Blaster Blade Liberator is already in the Drop Zone. Black Mane Witch also serves as a tech option, as it can trade in weaker units for potentially stronger ones, but also can sacrifice a Blaster Blade Liberator to grant immediate access to Star Rain's abilities.

Besides the obvious use of a small Liberator engine in a Spectral Duke Dragon, the tech options chosen for this deck are Black Mane Witch and Throw Blade Knight, Maleagant. Black Mane Witch's main function is to trade out unneeded units and try for better ones. It also can sacrifice a Blaster Blade Liberator to set up for a Star Rain Trumpeter play quickly if none are present in the Drop Zone. Maleagant, on the other hand, has the powerful ability to Soulblast 2 to turn 2 damage face up, allowing Spectral Duke Dragon to use its Limit Break a third time in the game. A player will generally have 2 Soul by the time they ride Spectral Duke Dragon, although it might be undesirable if the player is forced to Soulblast Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer, causing Spectral Duke Dragon to lose its 11,000 defenses, although if the entire Ride Chain has been completed, this will not be the case.

The rest of the deck consists of high-power units meant to force further guard from the opponent. Dignified Gold Dragon stands at 12,000 power when attacking as a Rearguard, and Gareth boosts for considerable power. Of course, the deck's offensive power is hampered by the fact that Blaster Blade Liberator cannot activate its skills with Spectral Duke as Vanguard, filling all the Grade 2 slots with 9,000 power attackers that struggle to hit most Vanguards without a Gareth or Vortimer boosting, especially crossrides.

Omniscience Regalia, Minerva

Hey everyone Natsu back for an article, I apologize for this one being a little late but I got sick that Thursday afternoon and just haven't been able to shake off whatever I have quite yet.  Anyways this week we're going to be looking at Mineva, Misaki's final season 3 ace and her second crossride.

Grade 0

Battle Maiden, Amenohoka
ri
Battle Maiden, Kukurihime x4
Cyber Tiger x4
Large Pot Witch, Laurie x4
Lemon Witch, Limonccino x4

So for this deck due to Genesis' massive soul charging and deck out being a thing we run 12 crit and 4 heals.  I would run draws since I'm a big fan of 8 crit 4 draw but with massive soul charging and deck out being a thing I feel that 12 crit is the way to go for this deck.  As for our start we then run Amenohokari who on boost for a grade 3 lets you soulcharge 1.  Therefore once we reach grade 3 this allows for a consistent +1 to our soul.

Grade 1

Apple Witch, Cider x3

Goddess of Union, Juno x3
Witch of Frogs, Melissa x3
Witch of Oranges, Valencia x2
Goddess of Self-Sacrifice, Kushinada x2 (Perfect Guard)
Goddess of the Shield, Aegis x2 (Quintet Wall)

For our grade 1 lineup we have loads of variety we run 3 Apple Witch Cider who when you guard with her if your Vanguard is a Regalia (which all of your grade 3s are) EVERYTHING you guard with for that battle goes to your soul.  This can allow you to fill your soul with key units that we'll be discussing later and also combos well with another card that will be discussed later.  We then run 3 Juno who is our Regalia 10k attacker as well as 3 Melissa who when soulblasted if you counterblast 1 you may call her to RG so she's a good ride as well as a nice card to guard with when using Cider.  Then we run 2 Valencia who when soul blasted will allow you to soulcharge 2 cards keeping your soul nice and full so you don't have to worry about you ever running out of soul.  Then this is where it gets slightly unorthodox, we run TWO perfect guards and then two of a newer concept which is known as Quintet Wall.  Quintet wall which was introduced in this set is a sentinel mechanic that if you call it to the guardian circle from YOUR HAND you can counterblast 1 and then take the top 5 cards of your deck and guard with all of them (provided they're of the same clan of course).  Now while this may sound risky and not good there's one key unit to remember, Apple Witch Cider.  If you get a Cider with your Quintet Wall or just add Cider along to your guard you go +6 MINIMUM to your soul AND you guard the opponent's attack, which is pretty good.  Of course we only run 2 since deck out is still a thing that can happen.

Grade 2

Goddess of Trees, Jupiter x4
Grape Witch, Grappa x3
Witch of Birds, Chammomile x3

For our grade 2s we run 4 Jupiter who is the Regalia 12k attack and then 3 Grappa who is a Valencia and 3 Chammomile who is a Melissa.  This allows for more soul shenanigans and can once again allow Minerva to set herself up again for next turn and let us go plus on our opponent for extra attacks.

Grade 3

Omniscience Regalia, Minerva x4
Regalia of Wisdom, Angelica x4

Lastly we run just 4 Minerva and 4 Angelica for our grade 3 lineup.  Angelica is a breakride who when attacking soulcharges for an extra 1k power and then her breakride skill is by soulblasting 3 on ride you can draw 2 cards which isn't too bad.  However the main boss of this deck (and arguably clan) is Minerva.  She's a crossride of Angelica so she has that 13k defense (and due to Genesis soul charging shenanigans you could in theory skip crossriding all together).  After she's done attacking you can counterblast 1, discard 3, and soulblast 3 to stand her and give her 5k power.  While she does have a heftier cost than Descendant who's skill is almost identical there are 2 key differences.  The first being that she gains power which late game is usually better since your opponent will usually just be at 5 damage anyways so the crit is usually just more an insult to injury.  The second key difference between the two units is, Minerva can go off hit or not hit so if your opponent is one of those players who likes to keep themselves at 4 damage to allow some wiggle room in the late game from a big vanguard attack, you'll still be able to get that extra attack in.

Overall this is a rather fun deck although it does lack the heavy retire that Eradicators have however the deck can go plus a lot more easily than Eradicators with Chammomile and Melissa.  This in my opinion is the best type of genesis deck out there at the current moment, and definitely a good choice if you want to go with this clan although it can be difficult to master since players not used to decks like genesis or dark irregulars may find themselves getting close to or actually decking out in games.