"Here Comes the Sun" - Amaterasu and Ohirume

For a long time, the crossride of CEO Amaterasu has been ridiculed for its mediocre Limit Break, to the point that its existence is ignored. Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu needed to hit to activate its skill, but the Limit Break meant that it would not be available until the opponent was at a point that the attack would be guarded regardless, or its owner was at a huge disadvantage and would have trouble making use of its minimal gains. It seemed as if its only advantage was its 13,000 defense, but without any offensive presence, a deck focused on it would be hard-pressed to win games.

However, the Amaterasu deck has gained the offensive presence it has needed thanks to the new Oracle Think Tank Legion, Goddess of the Treasure Mirror, Ohirume. Moreover, an Amaterasu deck still has access to the powerful draw power in Oracle Think Tank, and can still take advantage of these cards to keep up the formidable defenses that come with a crossride deck. This allows the deck to maintain a good offense and defense makes it a formidable threat.

Hover over a picture to show its card effect

Goddess of the Treasured Mirror, Ohirume

[ACT](VC): Legion 21000 "CEO Amaterasu" (If your opponent's vanguard is grade 3 or greater, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone into your deck once, search your deck for the specified card, and Legion)
[ACT](VC):[Counter Blast (1)] If this unit is Legion, declare a card name, and reveal the top card of your deck. If the revealed card is the card you declared, Soul Charge (2), choose up to two cards from your damage zone, and turn them face up. Then, if the revealed card has the same name as a unit on your (VC), draw two cards. This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.

CEO Amaterasu

[CONT](VC):During your turn, if the number of cards in your hand is four or greater, this unit gets [Power]+4000.
[AUTO](VC):At the beginning of your main phase, Soul Charge (1), look at the top card of your deck, and put that card on the top or the bottom of your deck.
[AUTO](VC/RC):[Soul Blast (8) & Counter Blast (5)] When this unit's attack hits, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw up to five cards.

Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu

[AUTO](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (2)] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one «Oracle Think Tank», reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.
[CONT](VC):If you have a card named "CEO Amaterasu" in your soul, this unit gets [Power]+2000.
[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

Grade 0

Battle Sister, Eclair
4 Psychic Bird
4 Battle Sister, Assam
4 Emergency Alarmer
4 Sphere Magus

Grade 1

4 Battle Sister, Chocolat
4 Battle Sister, Lollipop
4 Oracle Guardian, Gemini
2 Weather Girl, Milk

Grade 2

4 Battle Deity, Susanoo
4 Maiden of Libra
3 Blue Scale Deer

Grade 3

3 Goddess of the Treasured Mirror, Ohirume
3 Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu
2 CEO Amaterasu

The primary focus of the deck is to take advantage of the draw abilities in Oracle Think Tank. Maiden of Libra and Blue Scale Deer both allow the user to draw more cards when they hit, setting up pressure against the opponent that is amplified by the addition of 8 Stand Triggers. Both cards rely on different things to function and therefore rarely overlap. Their costs are mitigated even further by Ohirume's skill, which can effectively flip a damage face-up and Soulcharge, especially since the divination is guaranteed by CEO Amaterasu's skill, which also activates when it is the Legion Mate. Ohirume's skill can also set up for Amaterasu's Megablast skill, but it should not be a skill to aim for; Ohirume cannot use her skill once all the Counterblast is filled up and the rest of the game will be limited.

Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu helps out the deck even more by helping you conserve guard with its 13,000 base power during the opponents' turn, allowing you to conserve guard from the many incoming attacks. It is an excellent followup ride after Ohirume, since CEO Amaterasu will be readily available due to Ohirume entering Legion, granting additional defense to bunker down for the grind game. If a situation occurs where Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu must be played first, do not fret too much, as Battle Sister, Lollipop's skill can allow for an early Limit Break that can search out a Perfect Guard or even Ohirume to ride next turn. Eclair also helps mitigate this problem by giving an extra chance for a favorable Grade 3 to ride.

Overall, the Amaterasu deck is very fun to play, and the multiple draw skills can make it very frustrating for an opponent as they struggle to break through your mounting defenses and you whittle down the opponent's resources with your mix of critical and stand triggers. Try it out! It just might surprise you how effective it is.

"Turbulent Whirlpool" - Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom

Hello everyone, Ascriptmaster back with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. This deck focuses on the Maelstrom series in Aqua Force and how their playstyle has changed and improved since Fighter's Collection 2014, specifically with the addition of a new Break Ride and the "Limit Break Enabler" cards to allow the deck a faster and more disruptive playstyle.

Hover over a picture to show its card effect

Blue Storm Marine General, Demetrius

[AUTO] Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (1)] When an «Aqua Force» rides this unit, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose your vanguard, and until end of turn, that unit gets [Power]+10000, and [AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, if it is the fourth battle of that turn or more, draw two cards, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and retire it.".
[AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of that battle.

Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom

[AUTO](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):When this unit attacks a vanguard, if it is the fourth battle of that turn or more, until end of that battle, this unit gets [Power]+5000 and "[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit's attack hits, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and retire it.".
[CONT](VC/RC):If you have a non-«Aqua Force» vanguard or rear-guard, this unit gets [Power]-2000.

Blue Storm Karma Dragon, Maelstrom "Яeverse"

[AUTO](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (1) & Choose one of your rear-guards, [Rest] it, and lock it] When this unit attacks a vanguard, if it is the fourth battle of that turn or more, you may pay the cost. If you do, until end of that battle, this unit gets [Power]+5000/[Critical]+1 and "[AUTO](VC): At the end of the battle that this unit attacked, if the attack did not hit during that battle, draw a card, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and retire it.". (The locked card is turned face down, and cannot do anything. It turns face up at the end of the owner's turn.)
[CONT](VC): If you have a card named "Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom" in your soul, this unit gets [Power]+2000.
[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

Grade 0

Officer Cadet, Erikk
4 Angler Soldier of the Blue Storm Fleet
4 Blue Storm Soldier, Missile Trooper
4 Supersonic Sailor
4 Blue Storm Soldier, Kitchen Sailor

Grade 1

4 Blue Storm Battle Princess, Electra
4 Shortfin Mako Soldier of Blue Storm Armada
3 Blue Storm Marine General, Hermes
3 Wheel Assault

Grade 2

4 Tidal Assault
3 Blue Storm Marine General, Gregorios
3 Blue Storm Marine General, Spyros

Grade 3

3 Blue Storm Marine General, Demetrius
3 Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom
3 Blue Storm Karma Dragon, Maelstrom "Яeverse"

Thanks to Shortfin Mako Soldier of Blue Storm Armada, any and all of this deck's Limit Break 4 abilities can activate early, allowing for quick pressure from their abilities. Each possesses an effect to draw and retire units if it's the fourth attack of the turn, increasing defenses and disrupting the opponents' field. Maelstrom's effect is especially useful early game because its on-hit requirement occurs at a time when the opponent has fewer resources to guard with, and doesn't require a heavy commitment to Counterblast. Demetrius, as the break ride of the deck, helps immensely with mid-game to late-game pushes as its draw and retire only require the Vanguard attack fourth, regardless of whether it hits or misses. Finally, Maelstrom "Яeverse" adds critical pressure and threatens with field disruption should its attack be guarded, creating a lose-lose situation.

However, all three of these Aqua Force Vanguards require the fourth attack, so most of the deck is tailored towards achieving that goal. Spyros and Tidal Assault stand themselves after attacking, and Wheel Assault swaps units' positions to allow for more attacks. This gives a multitude of options to obtain that fourth attack, and if the situation arises where there are multiple options to gain the fourth attack, the deck can simply use the cheaper option if possible, or if "Яeverse" is the Vanguard, locking the standing unit for its skill instead.

The deck presents many different options to utilize its Grade 3 units. If Maelstrom and "Яeverse" are both available, a crossride can be formed, and if Demetrius is available, break riding either becomes an easy option, either riding it on Maelstrom for a super-powerful "Яeverse" next turn, or riding Maelstrom on it and crossriding the next. Because of the usefulness of Demetrius, Officer Cadet Erikk was chosen over Blue Storm Cadet Marios, which adds on-hit pressure and gains more opportunities to search for Maelstrom and "Яeverse", to gain extra chances of obtaining Demetrius or another Grade 3.

An ideal trigger lineup for the deck involves a good mix of Critical and Stand triggers. Critical triggers push the opponent towards 6 damage very quickly, and Stand triggers add extra pressure after the Vanguard because most units will be at rest by the time the Vanguard attacks, preventing wasted triggers when it is completely blocked. This deck specifically uses 8 critical and 4 stand, which aims to maximize the number of Blue Storm units so Spyros' especial Counterblast can be used, and also allows for the use of 4 Supersonic Soldier, which flips damage face-up to allow other units to use their skills more often, especially the Vanguard's.

Overlord Vague

Hey everyone Natsu here back with another deck profile and this week I'm going to be focusing on my new Kagero deck that I built after set 15, and it's a little... different.  But it still works really well and let's us use both of Kagero's big cards and give our Vanguard some heavy pressure.

Grade 0
Red Pulse Dracokid
Blue Ray Dracokid x4 (Crit)
Embodiment of Spear, Tahr x4 (Crit)
Dragon Dancer, Babara x4 (Heal)
Gattling Claw Dragon x4 (Draw)

So for this build I chose to run Red Pulse as my starter since this build runs Overlord AND Vague so I only have 6 grade 3s so it can help get that extra grade if you're missing it.  The rest of my choices are pretty standard for this deck type and I chose to use Gattling Claw over the Seal Dragon trigger for retiring pesky starters.

Grade 1
Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara x4
Dragon Dancer, Maria x4 (Perfect Guard)
Eternal Bringer Griffon x3
Lizard Soldier, Grom x2
Nouvelle Roman Dragon x2

For the grade 1s we run 4 Kimnara to retire any annoying or critical grade 1s such as Palladium, Ballan and Dorint.  Then we also run Griffon in order to grab our Overlords in order to help ensure that we can get the breakride off as this deck is more about attacking with enough force to make your opponent run out of guard.  We then round out the grade 1s with Grom to help unflip your counterblasts (which you'll be using A LOT of) and Nouvelle Roman for grade security.  Meeting Grom's cost shouldn't be an issue unless you end up using Nouvelle Vague's ability but if you do you should've generated enough advantage off the +5 to not need to retire much anymore.
 

Grade 2
Dragonic Burnout x4
Belicosity Dragon x3
Burning Horn Dragon x3

For the grade 2s we run 4 Dragonic Burnouts who can soulblast 1 and place an Overlord on the bottom of your deck to retire any unit.  This is the main eater of your soul and your other main source of retiring.  Then we also run 3 Belicosity in order to apply rear guard pressure and also as your ideal grade 2 ride, also if it hits you can unflip a damage although usually if you're running low on counterblast cost Grom takes care of it.  Lastly we run 3 Burning Horn Dragon, Nouvelle is mainly there to be a finisher and he can make Grom's bad numbers issue go away since we're now back to an 11k meta and make 17k columns.

Grade 3
Dragonic Overlord x3
Dragonic Overlord The Re-Birth x3

For our grade 3s we run 3 of each Overlord (the breakride version of course) and Re-Birth.  If possible you want to always ride Overlord first and then continue to keep riding more Overlords in order to apply as much Vanguard pressure as possible while wearing down their defenses, while using Re-Birth as a finisher.  The deck in that sense runs similar to Thing Saver where you want to finish them off with the effect, using your own judgement for when the appropriate time is key but USUALLY if their hand is at 5/6 or less you can likely finish them off that turn provided they don't have a perfect guard or two in their hand.

Grade 4
Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague x2

Then lastly we run 2 Nouvelle Vague, like Re-Birth he's just there mainly as an extra finisher in case you end up sending most of your Re-Birth's to the drop zone/bottom of your deck.  While he doesn't have the multiple attacks the way Re-Birth does he still makes a strong push during the breakride turn by taking the option of using grade 0s away and thanks to the +10k from breakriding him your opponent if they aren't using a perfect guard need to use an extra 2 cards from their hand to guard him also assuming that you don't get triggers, not to mention the threat of making your opponent getting their field nuked AND negating triggers on their turn.

Overall this is a VERY powerful deck although it can be difficult to learn for someone newer to the game or even to Kagero.  A key thing to remember when playing this deck is to retire the units that are key to the opponent's deck as well as knowing when to make that big game winning push.

Spike Brothers "Winmore Rush"

Hello everyone, this is Ascriptmaster back with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. This week's article focuses on a Spike Brothers deck revolving around the Legion Card, Bloody Ogre, and its incredible synergy with the Spike Brothers Break Ride, Bad End Dragger. These two units together create a dangerous volley of attacks that is extremely difficult to escape.

Hover over a picture to show its card effect

Bad End Dragger

[AUTO] Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage): When a «Spike Brothers» rides this unit, choose your vanguard, and until end of turn, that unit gets [Power]+10000 and [AUTO](VC):When one of your «Spike Brothers» rear-guards attacks, that unit gets [Power]+10000 until end of that battle, and at the end of that battle, put that unit on the bottom of your deck.".
[AUTO](VC):When this unit is boosted by a «Spike Brothers», this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of that battle.
[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

Frozen Ogre

[AUTO](RC):[CB(1) & Put this unit into your soul] During the turn your vanguard performed a Legion, at the end of the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for a card, and call it to an open (RC), and shuffle your deck.

Bloody Ogre

[ACT](VC): Legion 20000 "Frozen Ogre" (If your opponent has a grade 3 or greater vanguard, only once, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone to your deck, and search your deck for the specified card, and perform Legion.)
[AUTO](VC):During the turn this unit performed Legion, when one of your rear-guards attacks, that unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of that battle, and at the end of that battle, put that unit on the bottom of your deck.
[AUTO](VC):[CB(2) & Choose one card from your hand, and put it into your soul] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for a card, call it to an open (RC), and shuffle your deck.

Grade 0

Mecha Trainer
4 Cheer Girl, Pauline
4 Silence Joker
4 Sonic Breaker
4 Cheer Girl, Adared

Grade 1

4 Cheer Girl, Marilyn
4 Reckless Express
3 Wild Hitter
2 Wonder Boy

Grade 2

4 Frozen Ogre
2 Devil Summoner
2 Highspeed, Brakki
2 Silver Blaze

Grade 3

4 Bad End Dragger
4 Bloody Ogre
2 Sky Diver

When Bloody Ogre performs a break ride on Bad End Dragger and performs Legion, their skills overlap and result in a 15,000 power bonus to every single Spike Brothers rearguard that attacks that turn. This huge single-turn push is extremely difficult for an opponent to guard entirely, especially since Bloody Ogre can call a unit from the Deck when it attacks. Sky Diver also helps with this as a tech, since it allows you to call another unit from your hand when it hits, continuing the string of attacks. Ultimately, however, the string of heavy attacks will mean nothing when the opponent is low on damage because of their ability to no guard, so it's recommended that you hold back on the combo until your opponent is at four or five and you're ready to go for the kill.

Frozen Ogre is ultimately the star of the deck; not only is it needed for Bloody Ogre to perform Legion, its skill allows you to search for another unit during the turn you performed Legion by using one Counterblast and sending it to the Soul immediately after attacking. What makes it especially brutal is the fact that Bloody Ogre's skill can immediately retrieve this from the deck, guaranteeing that you can gain an additional attack. Moreover, if you have Counterblast to spare, Frozen Ogre can call out yet another Frozen Ogre to continue the onslaught. This means that it can be more beneficial to return copies of Frozen Ogre in the drop zone instead of triggers when you perform Legion with Bloody Ogre.

As for the other Grade 2 units, the main attackers of the deck, Brakki and Silver Blaze, can be called as the last part of a Frozen Ogre chain, then attack and Soulblast to gain even more power. Brakkis and Silver Blazes were balanced out because Brakki's skill can activate before your big push, either dealing damage or forcing guard, while Silver Blaze's increased power gain during the main push can make a difference between a blocked attack and the damage needed to win. The last tech, Devil Summoner, has a chance of adding to your field at any time, and mostly helps with getting extra field in early/mid game to increase your opponent's damage to within your kill range. In fact, if you are feeling lucky, it is possible to use Devil Summoner during the push and potentially get the extra attack needed to win.

The Grade 1 units in this deck mostly consist of strong boosters that can hold offensive presence if needed as attackers during your big push. Reckless Express' skill is identical to Brakki's, which means that it can pressure most opposing Vanguards even when unboosted, draining your opponent's hand, especially during your break ride turns. Wild Hitter is the ideal booster to place behind the Vanguard, because upon drive checking a Grade 3, it calls a unit from the deck at the end of the battle, giving yet another attack to aim for victory during the big push. The best part about this is the fact that Mecha Trainer can search Wild Hitter easily if you really need to place it behind the Vanguard.

Bouncing Festival: Planet Idol, Pacifica's Debut

Hi, Thataznguy here again to bring you a deck about Bermuda Triangles.  With the release of EB10: Diva's Duet in America, Bermuda Triangles are finally coming back with new support that makes them hit harder and faster.  Even Prisms get a perfect guard, which allows Labrador to get more consistent counterblast. However, the units that really attract my attention are the box toppers that you get when you purchase a EB10 box, which are Costume Idol, Alk, Shangri-La Star, Coral, and Planet Idol, Pacifica.

Planet Idol, Pacifica and Diva's Duet give a lot of new cards to the Pacifica deck which allows it to use and obtain Eternal Idol, Pacifica's skill and crossride number more effectively now with Bermuda Bounce Damage unflippers and Planet Idol's skill.

Grade 0:

1x Prism-Smile, Coro (Starter)

4x Duo Tropical Healer, Medjerda (Heal)
4x Duo Grampus Turn, Shannon (Critical)
4x Duo Pride Crown, Madeira (Critical)
4x Duo Morning Charm, Liffey (Draw)

This trigger line up is pretty standard in most Bermuda Triangle builds. The main reason for no stand triggers in this line-up is the lack of possible good targets. With Eternal Pacifica originally, you would bounce a column that attacked to call out one Standing unit from the deck with its skill already and possibly another column standing. With this in mind, most of the time your stand trigger will fail to have a good target other than the booster behind the Vanguard unit.  However, if you do want to play stand triggers, you can go for 6 stand triggers, 3 draws, and 3 crits, which leaves you with an overwhelming stand trigger play and keeps some critical pressure active. If you only run stand triggers, since this deck doesn't have any effects for extra criticals, there won't be any pressure against your opponent if they are at four and they know you only run stands, which will let them no guard as the fear of getting a critical is null and void.

Prism-Smile Coro has good synergy with the cards Yarmouk, Slaney, Planet Idol, and Eternal Idol because when Slaney, Planet Idol, or Eternal Idol bounce another unit, Coro jumps to your hand as well, which adds another 3000 power to Yarmouk.

Grade 1:

4x Prism-Duo, Yarmouk
4x Duo Dream Idol, Main
4x Prism-Duo, Aria
1x Duo Clear Parasol, Kura
1x Duo Pretty Horn, Ural

The main card in here is Yarmouk which gains 3000 power whenever a Bermuda Triangle unit is bounced from the field to the hand. Because Yarmouk gains 3000 power per bounced unit, it gains 6000 power when Eternal Idol uses its Limit Break.  This sets up numbers really well with Sana or any grade 3 since it can get to 23 or 24k easily. Kura is there to have a way to use Eternal Idol's Limit Break multiple times and Ural is there to abuse bounce to draw cards if needed. I would use Ural and Kura sparingly as they do eat up soul.

Grade 2:
4x Duo Dream Idol, Sana
4x Duo White Crystal, Ricca
3x Prism-Duo, Slaney

Slaney and Ricca are the main units for grade two.  Slaney has great synergy with Ural, Kura, Ricca, and Yarmouk, bouncing units manually to abuse effects or draw cards and power up Yarmouk for one counterblast. Ricca is also a main unit for her overall synergy with Slaney, Ural, and Kura as well. Since Ricca soulcharges one and unflips a damage when she is bounced, she is the perfect target to use Slaney's effect on as she bounces back to hand for free and gets a soulcharge, which can help you get a Top Idol, Pacifica into soul or set up numbers with Yarmouk.  Prism-Duo Avon, the grade two counterpart to Yarmouk, isn't in this build is because of the lack of space in the deck and the poor base number. With the English format being slightly centered on cross rides, it might be hard for Avon to get to 18 easily.

Grade 3:
3x Planet Idol, Pacifica
3x Eternal Idol, Pacifica
2x Top Idol, Pacifica

Eternal Idol, Pacifica may be the whole center of the deck, but Planet Idol, Pacifica can easily set up field even without the use Eternal Idol, Pacifica's Limit Break. Combining Slaneys and Ricca, you can easily get a free call from deck if you were to ride a Planet Idol, Pacifica over another one. Riding Eternal Idol, Pacifica over Planet Idol, Pacifica allows you to call two units out of the deck for three counterblast, or cheaper when combined with Ricca.  Planet Idol, Pacifica's in-soul skill also allows you to set up the cross ride if you call a Top Idol, Pacifica from the deck via Eternal Idol, Pacifica's Limit Break.

This deck became an idea when I saw Yarmouk and Slaney and tried to think of a deck to abuse them.  Since Slaney was a card that wasn't appreciated, I wanted to find a situation where her skills would be really handy in setting up field or numbers. Each of these cards lets this deck have more synergy with each other rather than having Rhone or Lu Lu. Hopefully people who read this will try to think more outside of the box when it comes to deck building. This is the Pacifica Decklist with Break Ride.  Thataznguy, Over and out.

Perfect Cherry Blossom (Shirayuki)

Hello everyone, this is Ascriptmaster here back with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. This deck focuses on Fantasy Petal Storm, Shirayuki's ability to weaken the opponent's attack power by a colossal 20,000 in order to survive what would otherwise be difficult-to-block attacks, conserving hand while slowly draining the opponent's resources.

[AUTO](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a card named "Fantasy Petal Storm, Shirayuki" from your hand, and discard it] At the beginning of the guard step of the battle that this unit was attacked, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose an attacking unit, and that unit gets [Power]-20000 until end of that battle.

[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

Grade 0

Stealth Rogue of Body Replacement, Kokuenmaru
4 Stealth Beast, Cat Rouge
4 Stealth Beast, Cat Devil
4 Stealth Rogue of Dagger, Yaiba
4 Stealth Fiend, Yukihime

Grade 1

4 Stealth Beast, Leaves Mirage
4 Stealth Rogue of Silence, Shijimamaru
3 Stealth Beast, Deathly Dagger
3 Stealth Fiend, Oboro Cart

Grade 2

4 Stealth Rogue of Demonic Hair, Gurenjishi
4 Stealth Beast, White Mane
3 Stealth Beast, Chain Geek

Grade 3

4 Covert Demonic Dragon, Kagurabloom
4 Fantasy Petal Storm, Shirayuki

With a Limit Break designed to transform extra copies of herself into 20,000 shields, a Shirayuki deck focuses on a defensive playstyle that slowly drains the opponents' shield while conserving its own. Covert Demonic Dragon, Kagurabloom is a perfect partner for Shirayuki, since its break ride skill will give you increased power to either force more guard or push them closer to 6 damage, and gives you two free copies of Shirayuki as attackers for a turn and return to the hand afterwards to defend your opponent's attacks. The forerunner, Kokuenmaru, also serves this purpose by increasing the chances of getting a Shirayuki in your hand.

The trigger lineup for the deck is quite basic. Draw triggers facilitate additional resources to use for defending and attacking with, as well as increasing the chances of drawing a Shirayuki for her Limit Break, while critical triggers get your opponent to higher damage faster, meaning they'll need to guard earlier.

The rest of the deck follows the standard Murakumo playstyle of unit cloning. Gurenjishi provides excellent incentives for your opponent to guard by threatening with extra attacks, especially in early-game. Also, Oboro Cart gives a free attacker or booster for a turn when you find yourself needing to conserve the units in your hand, continuing this defensive aspect. While the Counterblast costs for these two units is relatively light, however, it can add up quickly, so White Mane provides extra pressure thanks to its ability to flip damage face-up. Chain Geek is a general strong attacker as the "Hey Yo Pineapple" clone, attacking for 11,000 when your field is nearly full, and is especially useful since you won't want to call your Shirayuki to the field anyways, which will cut down on your potential attackers.

Goddess of Laws, Justitia

Welcome back, everyone. This is Ascriptmaster here back with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. This deck is focused on a Genesis promo card from the Lock Break Campaign, Goddess of Laws, Justitia. This card uses a Soul Saver Dragon style Limit Break to power up its allies for powerful attacks.

[ACT](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Soul Blast (6)] Choose up to three of your «Genesis» rear-guards, and those units get [Power]+5000 until end of turn. This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.

[ACT](VC):[Counter Blast (1)] Choose one of your locked cards, and unlock it.

[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

If you have unshakable faith, you would not succumb.

Grade 0

Battle Maiden, Amenohoakari
4 Battle Maiden, Kukurihime
2 Lemon Witch, Limonccino
3 Spark Cockerel
3 Patrol Guardian
4 Witch of Big Pots, Laurier

Grade 1

4 Goddess of Self-sacrifice, Kushinada
4 Orange Witch, Valencia
3 Existence Angel
3 Witch of Frogs, Melissa

Grade 2

3 Battle Maiden, Sahohime
3 Broom Witch, Callaway
3 Witch of Owls, Paprika
3 Witch of Ravens, Chamomile

Grade 3

4 Goddess of Laws, Justitia
4 Oracle Queen, Himiko

With Justitia's Limit Break powering up 3 rearguards at the same time, it was only natural that stand triggers be included into the trigger lineup. Stand triggers allow your already-strengthened rearguards to attack more times within the turn, forcing more guard from the opponent. Oracle Queen, Himiko also aids in this by giving the units even more power the turn you Break Ride, making a stand trigger potentially devastating when the opponent faces an additional rearguard attack at +15,000 Power, thanks to the combined effects of the trigger, Justitia, and Himiko.

Like many Genesis ace units, Justitia highly values quick Soulcharge opportunities that let it use its skills. Existence Angels and Battle Maiden Amenohoakari aid in its venture, boosting units and giving quick Soul. The deck also uses the traditional Soul-based units that gain effects when sent to the Drop Zone, such as Valencia, Melissa, and Chamomile. More Valencias have been included instead of Melissas because the additional Soulcharge is appreciated as it sets Justitia up to Limit Break the turn after as well. However, her Grade 2 cousin Grappa was removed in favor of pressure units like Callaway, and high-power units like Paprika, who take advantage of stand triggers nicely, the former for its pressure and on-hit draw, and the latter for its higher power to more easily hit the Vanguard.

Seekers

Hello everyone Natsu here back for another Vanguard deck profile article and this week we're going to be taking a look at Seekers, the new Royal Paladin archetype used by Kai in the beginning of the Legion Mate arc and how I decided to build the deck.

Grade 0

Advance Party Seeker File
Certain Kill Seeker, Modron x4
Seeker, Harold Breath Dragon x4
Seeker, Loving Healer x4
Margal x4

So for our triggers I went with the standard build and File as the starter in order to get a starter that can place himself back into my soul for a mid game retire and to help pay for Sing Saver's hefty soul blast cost (or at least hefty for this clan).  Like most other Seeker builds Margal is used as the draw trigger for a quick +3k to a unit for magic numbers and a +1 to soul while losing only 5k shield in the process.

Grade 1

Glynngal Seeker x4
Good Faith Seeker, Cynric x4
Guardian Law Seeker, Shiron x4
Seeker, Rune Eagle x3

My grade 1 lineup is also pretty standard for the most part with Glynngal who when boosting a Blaster Blade Seeker attack that hits lets you unflip and cycle through your cards.  Due to legion rulings if he boosts a Sing Saver in legion his skill will go off so it can add pressure to your Vanguard attacks since sometimes you can eat up counterblast in this deck quickly.  Next is Cynric who is our standard 10k grade 1 attacker to help push your opponent to high damage early on, and Shiron is our standard perfect guard.  I opted to not play Quintent Wall in this build because I feel that I already use up enough counterblast with my other cards and usually can just guard the 4 cards to my damage zone if I need to.  Lastly Rune Eagle is a 10k booster when you're in Legion so that you can hit 32k with your Sing Saver Dragon.

Grade 2

Blaster Blade Seeker x3
Romance Seeker, Cerdric x3
Crossbow Seeker, Gildas x2
Total Force Seeker, Locrinus x2

For our grade 2s due to my choice of back up Legion vanguard the variety is bigger than my normal grade 2 line ups.  First we run 3 Blaster Blade Seeker who is Sing Saver's Legion Mate and who by counterblasting 1 when he's called can retire a grade 2 or higher rear guard so long as your Vanguard is a Seeker.  Then I run Cerdric who is the 12k attacker for the Seeker archetype, for standard number pressure.  Next is Gildas who when you legion can counterblast 1 and get you ANY Seeker from your deck, which can help you gain more field presence and help push for game.  Then lastly I run 2 Locrinus who is the legion mate for Brutus (who I'll talk about later) and has a skill of being a 13k attacker during the turn you legion.

Grade 3

Seeker, Sing Saver Dragon x4
Bifurication Seeker, Brutus x4

First is Sing Saver Dragon who when in Legion can counterblast 2, soulblast 3 and discard to in order to ride another copy from
your deck at stand AND perform legion with a Blaster Blade Seeker from your soul.  The soul blast cost makes the skill a usually once per game skill, but the key with this deck is knowing when to use the skill due to royal paladin not having an efficient way to build up soul to have the skill go off more than once a game (although possible if you have the Margals for it).  Generally you'll want to use this skill in a push for game so that you can finish off your opponent.  The other grade 3 I chose to run was Brutus, his legion mate is Locrinus and his skill is by especial counterblasting 1 you can give your whole front row (the legion mate included) 3000 power.  So he alone will swing for 26k every turn unboosted which hits magic numbers against a lot of decks and since most clans will now have a legion and we're moving towards a legion meta, this only makes him an even better unit.  He can help add more pressure then Sing Saver and then you can ride Sing Saver over him to make a final push for game.

Overall this deck is a very good deck and it's very clear why it's been dominating most of Japan.  The deck has the ability of Raging Form Dragon where it holds 2 Vanguard attacks over its opponents while also at the same time is like Zerachiel where it can power up all of it's rows for high numbers to quickly drain and opponent's hand.  The only issue that this deck can have is sometimes running out of counterblast and in the hands of less experienced players not knowing the proper time to use Sing Saver's skill.

Ancient Dragon, Volcatops

Hello everyone, this is Ascriptmaster here, back with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. Today we will be focusing on a new card from Fighters' Collection 2014, Ancient Dragon, Volcatops. Volcatops diverges from most other Tachikaze aces by using its skill to give rearguards power, while other aces primarily focus on giving power to themselves. Here is a video of the deck in action.

[ACT](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (1) & Choose one of your rear-guards with "Ancient Dragon" in its card name, and retire it] Choose up to two of your rear-guards with "Ancient Dragon" in its card name, and those units get [Power]+5000 until end of turn. This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.

[AUTO](VC):[Choose one of your rear-guards, and retire it] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of that battle.

To store up energy, and then release it. It is like how a volcano erupts.

Grade 0

Ancient Dragon, Baby Rex
4 Ancient Dragon, Ornithhealer
4 Ancient Dragon, Caudinoise
4 Ancient Dragon, Dinodile
4 Black Cannon Tiger

Grade 1

4 Ancient Dragon, Iguanogorg
4 Ancient Dragon, Paraswall
3 Sonic Noa
2 Ancient Dragon, Gattlingaro

Grade 2

4 Ancient Dragon, Beamankylo
4 Ancient Dragon, Dinocrowd
3 Ancient Dragon, Criollofall

Grade 3

4 Ancient Dragon, Volcatops
3 Ancient Dragon, Spinodriver
2 Ancient Dragon, Tyrannolegend

To start, the deck runs a full lineup of Iguanogorg and leads with Baby Rex. Both of these units are very useful because their abilities allow them to replace themselves when they are retired. Baby Rex is particularly nice because I can use Volcatops' second skill or one of my Dinocrowd to retire it and search out a Tyrannolegend, giving me an extra attack. Iguanogorg is also useful in this regard as its revival ability allows it to fulfill a role as booster for both rear-guard columns, by attacking with one column first, then attacking with Volcatops and retiring Iganogorg for its second skill.

Since Volcatops boosts rearguards instead of itself with its Limit Break, it benefits from stand triggers just as much as it does from critical triggers, as the rearguards will stand with increased power to force additional guard. I personally chose to only use 4 stands in my deck, but I recommend that you try out whatever combination of triggers that works for you.

My Grade 3 lineup focuses on Volcatops and Spinodriver as the main units to have as the Vanguard, Spinodriver being extremely useful as a Break Ride that gives criticals and draw power. The two Tyrannolegend act mainly as targets for Baby Rex, but if push comes to shove and I need to ride it, it serves decently as a Vanguard, albeit one that struggles to synergize with Stand Triggers because of its demanding Limit Break retiring 3 units.

Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion

Hello everyone, this is Ascriptmaster with another Cardfight!! Vanguard deck profile. This week focuses on Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion and its Crossride, and their abilities to quickly wipe the opposing front row as well as maintaining a crossride defense.

Grade 0

Lizard Soldier, Saishin
4 Brawler, Green Gem Carbuncle
4 Brawler, Plasma Kick Dragon
4 Malevolent Djinn
4 Spark Edge Dracokid

Grade 1

4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
4 Certain Kill Eradicator, Ouei
4 Red River Dragoon
2 Eradicator of Fire, Kohkaiji

Grade 2

4 Demonic Dragon Berserker, Garuda
4 Dragonic Deathscythe
3 Dusty Plasma Dragon

Grade 3

4 Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion
4 Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD"

I will take on all of you at once! Vermillion Thunderbolt!

This is the final thunder.
Let’s go, Vermillion Catastrophe!

The general strategy of Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion is to forgo the Ultimate Break of the Crossride due to its restriction to 5 damage, and instead use it solely for its crossride defenses after the original's Limit Break has been used. Their aggressive style is complemented by a 12-crit lineup that uses the criticals to push the opponent into a corner. Saishin was chosen over Spark Kid Dragoon's ability to look for Grade 3 units and Djinn of Wishing Thunder's draw power because of his ability to boost for 5,000 and the potential pressure against decks whose First Vanguard remains on the field or otherwise rely on a Grade 0 for their abilities (like Cat Butler). While Brawler of Battles, Haoka's skill would allow me to retire a backrow unit alongside a frontrow unit that Vermillion retires, its nature as a Stand Trigger conflicts with Vermillion's Limit Break, which all but requires it to attack first.

For Grade 1 units I chose to opt out of using Rising Phoenix for draw power, due to Vermillion's lack of a consistent Soul engine, unlike Eradicators, and went for a fully offensive booster lineup. Red River Dragoon is a standard vanilla booster, and Kohkaiji boosts the Vanguard for 10,000. Certain Kill Eradicator, Ouei is also a nice booster whose skill is an added bonus to remove more units from the opponent's field and force them to spend resources to bring them back. While one could argue that Ouei provides a small Soul engine for Rising Phoenix, I felt that powerful boosters were more important for this particular playstyle and if Red River Dragoon were to be replaced, it would be for another booster with a good ability instead.

The remainder of the deck focuses on beatdown as well. Garuda's ability to flip damage face-up puts pressure on the opponent because of the threat of another Vermillion attack. Dragonic Deathscythe adds one more retiring option to the deck, using the last 2 Counterblast left by Vermillion to retire one last unit; while it appears counter-intuitive to include 4 copies when only one will likely be used, the increased likelihood of drawing it and the fact that it still serves as a good attacker mitigate that.

Jewel Knights

Hello everyone Natsu back with a look into Jewel Knights.  Jewel Knights were the 2nd archetype introduced into Royal Paladin back in set 10.

Grade 0

Desire Jewel Knight, Heloise
Blazing Jewel Knight, Rachelle x4
Jewel Knight, Noble Stinger x4
Enthusiastic Jewel Knight, Polly x4
Jewel Knight, Sacred Unicorn x4

So for our starter we run Heloise who if you have 4 other Jewel Knights becomes an 8k booster which is definitely very nice because if she's boosting a successfully cross-ridden Ashley you'll have a 21k vanguard column which just hits magic numbers for many decks.  Then as we run no on hit units for the deck I use the standard 8 critical and 4 draw trigger line up since there are no on hit units in the deck stands aren't all that great for this build.

Grade 1

Flashing Jewel Knight, Iseult x4
Security Jewel Knight, Arwen x4
Stinging Jewel Knight, Sherrie x4
Jewel Knight, Prizme x3

For our grade 1s we run 4 Iseult who is our perfect guard, although Jewel Knights did introduce the Quintet Wall to the game, it's not too great for this build of Royal Paladin.  Next up is Security Jewel Knight, Arwen who can put an Ashley unit (basically any grade 3) from your drop zone and put it on the bottom of your deck to give another Ashely unit 5000 power.  This is good for adding extra power to your late game pushes and makes up for the loss of power from locking a unit from Ahsley Яeverse's skill.  Lastly there's Sherrie who is a 10k attacker so long as you have 3 other Jewel Knights out on the field and Prizme who with the same condition is an on call drop and draw which can help add food for Arwen and also help you have Ahsley Яeverse at 13k.

Grade 2

Banding Jewel Knight, Miranda x4
Dogmatize Jewel Knight, Sybill x3
Linking Jewel Knight, Tilda x3

For our grade 2s we run 4 Miranda who's an 11k attacker for the Ashley archetype archetype, and if she hits give another Royal Paladin 3k power for the turn which can sometimes help pressure for numbers if you have your columns set up right.  Then there's Sybill who on call can Counterblast 2 to get any grade 1 or lower Jewel Knight to your field from your deck.  This combos really well with  Ahsley Яeverse because it turns your +2 into a +3, although the cost can add up and be hefty it can also be very helpful too.  Lastly we run 3 Tilda, who when a grade 3 is ridden can counterblast 1 to get any grade 1 or less Royal Paladin from your deck and call it.  This can further add to the pluses that the deck allows you to get with a cheaper counterblast cost than Sybill although more situational.

Grade 3

Pure Heart Jewel Knight, Ashley x4
Broken Heart Jewel Knight, Ahsley Яeverse x4

Lastly for grade 3s we run 4 Ashley and 4  Ahsley Яeverse.  Ashley's breakride skill is to give an extra critical as well as 10k power which isn't too great when compared to other breakrides out there, however Ahsley Яeverse is a whole other story.  It's a crossride so it has a 13k base, and it's main skill is to lock 1 unit and counterblast 1 so you can retire an opponent's front row unit AND get ANY Jewel Knight from your deck.  It's a once per turn ability, but even then it's still really good since it allows you to go +2 every turn, not only that but it combos really well with a lot of other units in the deck and makes a gap of 10k shield ideally with your opponent every turn.

Overall the new Jewel Knight support from set 14 was DESPERATELY needed by this archetype and allows the deck to take on a strategy where you basically out plus your opponent so hard that you can overwhelm them and win.

Locking For Days: Star-Vader Dark Band Dragon

Hello Everyone, I’m ddr101 aka ThatAsianGuy and I’m going to talk about an interesting build for Link Joker. Everyone knows the cookie cutter decks for Link Joker are Glendios, Chaos Breaker Dragon, and Nebula Lord.  However, each of these cards has a niche way of using the lock mechanic for a different means: Nebula uses it to power up the front row from its Limit break, Chaos Breaker Dragon to increase hand advantage, and Glendios going for the eternal lockdown and a win condition.  However, each of these cards’ lock feature usually have a hefty cost of CB or a limitation of uses per turn, which really made me irritated because I felt that Link Joker’s main intention was to lock as often as possible.

So looking into the other Link Joker cards in the English Format, I found a card that allowed me to lock multiple times a turn at a cheap cost: Star-Vader, Dark Band Dragon. Before people start discrediting me for choosing this card, I want to tell you this, this card may seem weak to you at first, but when the deck is built correctly and played out well, you can see this card can be as troublesome as its more expensive bigger brothers.

Grade 0:
1x Dust Tail Unicorn (Starter)
4x Star-Vader, Meteor Liger  (Critical)      
4x Star-Vader, Weiss Soldat (Critical)
4x Star-Vader, Nebula Captor (Draw)    
4x Star-Vader, Stellar Garage (Heal)

This is pretty standard for most Link Joker decks, excluding the Standing Nebula Beat-down play style, I prefer to use this trigger line-up on this deck because of the flexibility with the other units of the deck to hit the magic number of your opponent’s vanguard or rearguard units.  This way, the flexibility allows you to choose your targets carefully while continually applying lots of pressure from the critical triggers. The draws are mainly used as your technical draw engine; since there isn’t any other way to get units added to your hand in this deck, the draws play a major role in the deck to set up you optimal field against your opponent.

Grade 1:
2x Star-Vader, Aurora Eagle (10k Vanguard Booster)
4x Demon Claw Star-Vader, Lanthanum
4x Prison Gate Star-Vader, Palladium
4x Barrier Star-Vader, Promethium (Perfect Guard)

This line-up of grade one units really are the core of field presence in the deck as the Aurora Eagle and the Demon Claw Star-Vader, Lanthanum play a key part in keeping your continuous field pressure there.  Aurora Eagle and Demon Claw Star-Vader, Lanthanum does this in conjunction to Star-Vader, Dark Band Dragon’s Limit Break skill.  Dark Band Dragon’s Limit Break is that you counterblast one card in your damage zone with Star-Vader in its name and you lock a back row unit.  Aurora Eagle requires you to have more rearguards than your opponent to give your Vanguard a 10k boost, which can be easily done since Dark Band Dragon’s skill has no limitation on how many times a turn it can be used.  

However, when I use Dark Band Dragon’s skill, I use it usually when I and my opponent are at full field or when I have a pesky booster I have to deal with.  Even when we both are at a full field, only using Dark Band Dragon’s skill once will activate Aurora Eagle’s skill. The same goes for Demon Claw Star-Vader, Lanthanum as its skill allows it to gain 2k when a unit is locked by one of your card effects, with Dark Band’s skill, you can easily set up your field to hit the magic numbers you need against your opponent’s vanguard or rearguard units.

Palladium has great synergy with every Link Joker deck, but even more so in this deck.  From Infinite Zero's Break Ride effect or Dust Tail Unicorn's skill, you can easily lock the front row and keep it locked with Palladium. This help with lowering the amount of attacks coming your way, if you are behind in cards in hand.




Grade 2 :

4x Unrivaled Star-Vader, Radon(12k attacker)
4x Furious Claw Star-Vader, Niobium
3x Star-Vader, Colony Maker

This grade two line-up will be your main front row rearguards that you will have in most of your cardfights, because when combined with the grade ones and Dark Band Dragon’s skill, everything comes together. The Radon combined with our Demon Claw Star-Vader Lanthanum is a good unit combination normally as the attack total would usually be around 19k or 24k with one trigger placed on it, but in conjunction with 1 use of Dark Band Dragon’s skill, Lanthanum will gain 2k on the boost which allows that column to push for 21k or 26k with one trigger. This column will be able to hit most vanguards in the current English meta, excluding Cross-ride units like Lequier Reverse, Vowing Saber Reverse, etc.  However, with our other unit Niobium with a Palladium or a Lanthanum, the column can hit 18k with a Palladium or it can hit 20k when paired with a Lanthanum and Dark Band Dragon’s skill once.   

Our last grade 2, Colony Maker, allows us to set up the field in whatever way we need it as the skill for Colony Maker calls out a Star-Vader card from the deck, but it doesn’t have to be in the same column, which allows you to search for an Aurora Eagle for the vanguard or a Lanthanum for the other rearguard; however, the only drawback to Colony Maker is that it requires a locked unit before its effect can activate.  This problem is easily solved when you look at our grade three line-up as locking a unit will either be upon break ride or for the measly cost of one counterblast.

Grade 3:
4x Star-Vader, Infinite Zero Dragon (Break Ride)
4x Star-Vader, Dark Band Dragon (Main Unit)

This line-up allows you to lock your opponent often and make the most of it with your units.  Infinite Zero’s skill is pretty self-explanatory as it allows you to lock one unit in the front row and back row once a unit rides over it.  This in combination with Colony Maker can help you set up you ideal field even before you ride the Dark Band Dragon.  The main unit for this deck Dark Band Dragon really pulls all of the cards together as you can control the number of all of your units to hit the best possible magic number against your opponent.  Dark Band Dragon itself is a 10k base vanguard, but don’t let that fool you. 

The second ability of Dark Band Dragon is that it gains 3k if you have more rearguards than your opponent when you are attacking.  This effect works for any attack target too, whether it is vanguard or rearguard.  Depending on the unit behind Dark Band Dragon, Dark Band Dragon can hit 13k by itself, 18k with Dust Tail Unicorn, 20k with Lanthanum or Palladium, 22k with Lanthanum with Dark Band locking one unit, or 23k with Aurora Eagle with Dark Band locking at least one unit.  Dark Band Dragon allows great versatility with its locking skill and its power gaining effect, which in conjunction with units like Colony Maker or Lanthanum can cause a lot of chaos for your opponent. Even with a 10k base making it harder to guard, Dark Band Dragon is still a fun card to use as your opponent scrambles to find cards to guard with as you are hitting their units’ magic number every turn.  

    This deck really shows that with the right amount of experience and deck building, you can make versatile decks with cards that people rarely give the chance to playtest.  If you want more from ThatAsianGuy, please comment down below about your impressions about the deck. You can also put down other clans that you want to see decklists for. ThatAsianGuy, Over and Out.

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.