Cardfight!! Vanguard Weekly Card Update #32
Welcome again to the weekly Vanguard update. All the G-BT06 cards have finally been revealed so I will go over all the new cards shown for it but before I get into that large amount of cards I’ll quickly go over some of the Legend Deck and Starter Deck cards.
A stride for Kagero has been revealed for the Legend Deck. Supreme Heavenly Emperor Dragon, Vortex Desire (Wait.. are you the emperor or is Dragonic Overlord..? I’m so confused!) has a risk of having to pay the cost before the ability’s conditions are met. When Vortex Desire attacks you may G blast (Choose any face-down card in your G zone and turn it face-up) to then gain the ability where if his attack hits you choose one of your opponent’s Grade 2 or less rear-guards and retire it for every Flame Dragon on the Vanguard circle. This basically means if you have Dragonic Overlord (Just an example of a card with the race of Flame Dragon) as your Grade 3 Vanguard you’ll be able to retire two units as Vortex Desire is a Flame Dragon himself, and if you were to have Vortex Dragonewt and your Vanguard while legion’d and you stride then you can retire three.
Say that Mr. Vortex’s attack doesn’t hit, that doesn’t mean his attack will go in vain. With the twin-headed dragon, Berserk Lord Dragon you can Counter Blast 1 when your Grade 4 Vanguard attacks to retire one of your opponent’s Grade 2 or less rear-guards. This along with Emperor Dragon Knight, Nehalem makes the most of using more Grade 3s in your deck so you can stride more consistently.
Who remembers Undeux? Probably those of you who didn’t exile him from your deck as soon as you got Conroe to replace him. Well he’s been crying lonely tears for a long time now, for so long that his sadness has made him stronger. He is just a Fullbau Brave with the ability to go into the soul and put an Overlord from your deck but this helps a lot more with Overlord decks than Blaster, especially with Dragonic Overlord “The Ace”.
In the new G Start Deck 1 for Gear Chronicle we’ve been told that it will all be reprints apart from one card. That card is the Grade 4 unit, Thunderbolt Shockwave Colossus. This card is a G zone refresher of sorts which, when he goes back into the G zone, can Counter Blast 1 to turn one face-up G unit face-down, allowing you to use those units again. This unit can have it’s uses but the Counter Blast hurts it a bit and you might struggle to find room for it. There are other options like Wakey Wakey Worker who doesn’t use up Counter Blasts but you’ll have to decide if you want to run stands just for him or now.
Onto the G-BT06 cards and staying in the Dark Zone I will introduce our lovely new Pale Moon units! The first one being the Grade 1, Cutie Paratrooper, an extremely useful but Harri specific card. With a GB1 and when she’s brought out from the soul from a Magia ability, Soul Charge 1 and choose another unit from the soul to Magia out in the same column as this card and that new unit gets +5000 power. With Harri’s skill you can call Cutie Paratrooper out with CB1 and give her +5000 power and then use her skill to fill the rest of the column and giving the column a total boost of +10000 power… That’s nasty.
Now Artillery Man isn’t the best Grade 3 ever but I really like him and I feel that he would at least make a good backup. Once per turn with a GB1 when a card is put into your soul you may retire one of your opponent’s rear-guards with the same Grade as the card put into your soul, as well as that he has another once per turn skill that allows you to put a card going into your soul into the drop zone instead and Artillery Man him self gains power equal to the card put in the drop zone. The second skill isn’t GB1 restricted so pulling off some early powerful plays will help you and if your opponent decides to stall on Grade 2 then you have a skill to back you up.
Gold Paladin’s skills have been stolen yet again, this time by Dreaming Pegasus. When this Grade 2 is placed on the rear-guard circle, with a GB1, look at the top three cards of your deck and put one into your soul and put the rest to the bottom of your deck. With Granblue getting Disappear-running Zombie it does seem that Pale Moon drew the short straw with this skill, though it is still powerful.
Now, if you’re looking for a card for early game then Pale Moon do have a new 6k Grade 1, Signal Snake Tamer. With a CB1 and resting himself Snake Tamer will let you look at the top card of your deck and search your soul for a card with the same Grade and bring it out to field. I know I said this was early game, and technically it is, but if you want to use this skill to its fullest then I’m afraid you’ll need to do some setting up first. Chances are when you have a Grade 1 Vanguard that you’ll have a very small soul or most of the time no soul at all. It is a shame and if they gave him 7000 power he might have been used more but this little unit may be going to the backbench, though I hope someone can find a good use for him and maybe one day I’ll see him in competitive play.
Lastly for Pale Moon we have a Silver Thorn critical trigger, Silver Thorn Assistant, Dixie, to give support to Luquier. Her skill is short and simple allowing you to put her to the top of your deck and shuffle if you have a Luquier Vanguard to choose a Silver Thorn in your soul and bring it out onto the field. This can be used to bring herself out from the soul if she got accidentally soul charge’d in to then put more triggers back into the deck.
A couple of weeks ago we saw the new Ahsha stride and now it’s time for Altmile to get his glorious new form. Transcending the Heavens, Altmile has a GB2 which will let you Counter Blast 1 and G blast (only if you have an Altmile heart) to give him two skills. The first skill activates when Altmile attacks a Vanguard which will let you search your deck for a Grade 2 and bring it to the field with +5000 power. This is a nice bonus if you attack first with your rear-guards, allowing you to get in an extra attack. His second skill gives the whole front row +2000 power for each face-up copy of Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile (The previous Altmile stride unit) in your G zone. This can go up to a buff of +8k to the front row and combine that with the Grade 3 Altmile’s on-stride skill of giving +5000 power to two units as well as this Altmile’s superior call with +5000 power and you’re going to have a seriously powerful turn.
Another superior caller comes in the form of an 8k Grade 2 named Hopesong Angel. Much like Starlight Violinist and Benizel has you SB1 and CB1 for a superior call one, though unlike the two previously mentioned cards Hopesong Angel isn’t restricted to Grade 2 searching, instead he searches your deck for a card with Brave and calls it to rear-guard circle. Another plus this has over Benizel is it isn’t GB restricted, allowing you to use this early game to set up your Brave-filled field.
As for the actual Brave units we have three new High Beasts with the keyword. Firstly the defensive unit with Brave, Scouting Owl, a Grade 1 who acts as a 10k shield if you SB1 and move him from a rear-guard circle to the guardian circle. A great way to fight back in a defensive manner when you’re being pushed too far by your opponent’s attacks. The second Brave unit, Shyngal, is a more offensive one with the Brave. This Grade 2 is given +2000 power and if he hits a Vanguard you can Counter Blast 1 to draw a card. Similarly the stand trigger Salgal allows you to draw a card while in brave only this time it’s when he is placed on Vanguard circle and at the end of turn you have shuffled him back into your deck. The great thing with Shyngal and Salgal is that you draw the cards in your end phase so it does not interfere with any of your other Brave skills and with the new stride stands seem a lot more useful in Royal Paladin builds.
Nova Grappler finally get their Glimmer Breath clone with Extreme Battler, Abarail. With a GB1, if your Vanguard is Victor, and when this unit is placed on a rear-guard circle, you may SB1 and CB1 to give Abarail +2000 power and when he attacks a Vanguard choose one of your rear-guards and stand it with an extra +5000 power. This is a great effect allowing for two powerful attacks though Cool Hank is especially great for using in Rush decks.
Moving down the Grades we have the Perfect Guard, Extreme Battler, Gachibattle. When Gachibattle is placed on the guardian circle he gives the usual skill of dropping one to nullify attack as well, if you are on GB1 and you have another copy in the drop zone then can choose one of your rear-guards and it’s given a skill to Counter Blast 1 and at the beginning of one of your guard steps on that turn you can bring that chosen unit to the guardian circle with +10000 shield.
Next in the Extreme Battler series get a new forerunner with GB1. Extreme Battler, Cabtron can put himself into the soul and by Counter Blasting 1 at the end of the battle that this unit boosted to stand one of your rear-guards and give it +2000 power. This is a nice and easy way to get those Rush abilities activated. Extreme Battler, Runbhol may still be a choice for many people though due to Cabtron eating away at the Counter Blasts when you could be using them on things like Cool Hank and Abarail.
Speaking of Runbhol there is a very similar Grade 1 option, Ratchadamnoen Kid. Ratchadamnoen only stands back up once a card with Rush has been stood up in the same column. Due to this Rush restriction it allows Ratchadamnoen to have a 7k base but not having a GB1 does wonders for this card and is sure to be used in nearly all Rush decks.
Raizer get some more support with a new legion with the leader being Ultimate Raizer Glory-hand. Now Glory-hand can legion with either the old unit Ultimate Raizer Dual-flare or the new unit Ultimate Raizer Speed-star. If another of your Raizers stands from an effect of one of your units and if Glory-hand is in Legion then that stood unit gets +5000 power. He has the power but does not have an ability to stand units himself but that’s where his mate comes in. While on the rear-guard circle and your vanguard is in legion Speed-star can Soul Blast 1 Raizer to gain +3000 power and if his attack hits a Vanguard you can stand another unit and Glory-hand will give that unit +5000 power.
Shinobiraizer‘s skill activates when another of your Raizers in the same column stands due to an effect. He allows you the chance to look at the top three cards of your deck and if you do you and all the shown cards are all Raizers you can put one of the cards into your hand and put the other two in the drop zone, however, if one or more of the revealed cards isn’t a Raizer then they all go into the drop zone. This skill is a good way to have a choice in what you draw while also giving you fodder to legion with seeing as the amount of Raizer legions are slowly building.
Finally for Raizers we have a forerunner, Turboraizer Custom. As an ACT you can CB1 and retire Turboraizer Custom to give one of your units the ability to stand after they have attacked with an added +5000 power. This is another way to fill your drop zone in preparation for legion-ing and the skill itself helps out Glory-hand, giving the stood units +10000 power.
Lastly for Novas we have the triggers. Extreme Battler, Buchinurk is the critical trigger who is the Heart Thump Worker clone who goes into the soul when you Victor Vanguard attacks to give it +5000 power and draws you an extra card. A stand trigger under the name of Beast Deity, Great Eater can go back into the deck when one of your units stands from an effect, and if it does you can draw a card. The stand trigger Perfect Referee 2.99 gives another unit the Rush keyword to give it +5000 power when it attacks a Vanguard after restanding. Other than that we also have a vanilla heal trigger, Training Therapist, and a vanilla draw trigger, Totem Brothers.
A great little Maiden of card for Neo Nectar has made an appearance with the addition of Maiden of Rambler. When you are paying the cost of striding she counts as a Grade 2 and when she hits the drop zone from playing the stride cost then you can call her to a rear-guard circle and draw a card. This is interesting in the way that it encourages you to you more than just one card to stride also lowering the pressure of thinking you need a Grade 3 to drop to stride effectively. She only gets these abilities if you have a Maiden of Vanguard but they are getting pretty powerful lately and even have their own legion and stride.
Maiden of Noisette is a new forerunner for the sub-clan with an ability to CB1 with Maiden of in the name and putting Noisette into the soul to give two of your Maiden of units the ability to draw a card if their attacks hit and if you have two units on your Vanguard circle with Maiden of in the name.
To help you get your Maiden of Rambling Rose and Maiden of Trailing Rose for the legion skills there is Maiden of Damascena. When Damascena’s attack hits a Vanguard you can Counter Blast a card with Maiden of in the name to search your deck for a Grade 3 Maiden of and put it into your hand. Not having a GB makes me love this card because it makes the deck a lot more consistent and works well early and late game.
Red Leaf Dragon is an interested Grade 3 allowing you to have up to sixteen of it in your main deck and at the beginning of the main phase, either on the Vanguard circle or rear-guard circle, you can Counter Blast 1 to search for another copy of him and place it on rear-guard circle and the unit you CB’d with gets +1000 for each Red Leaf Dragon on the field until end of turn. This will work great for keeping a constantly cloned field and also having the option to have more than four eliminates the risk of too many falling into your damage zone.
As well as Afoo Roccoli having one of the most ridiculous pieces of artwork in Vanguard this Grade 1 also has a pretty decent skill. With a GB1 and when an attack hits in the battle that he boosted you may retire him to choose one of your units and superior call another copy from the deck. Yet again this just helps Neos get the constancy they need though finding space for this guy is going to be a little tricky.
As for some Bloom support we have Crop Maker Dragon. When Crop Maker is placed on a rear-guard circle you may CB1 to retire a unit with the Bloom ability to search your deck for up to two copies of that card and place them on the rear-guard circle and they gain +3000 power. It gets a bit awkward with Crop Maker being a Grade 2 by it being limited to what you can clone if you want to make full use of his skill but by bringing out Greenshot Elf you can turn her into a booster and she will even gain extra power through Bloom.
Finally for Neo we have Tomboy Elf who continues the Bloom support by putting a normal unit from your drop zone into your deck, allowing you to give a unit with the Bloom keyword a buff of +2000 power for each card on the field with the same name.
Onto the Granblue support and we have a new Grade 3, Ghoul Dragon, Gast Dragon. Gast Dragon has Hollow and a GB skill that allows you to mill two card from the top of your deck when he attacks a Vanguard and he gains +3000 power AND if he is Hollowed then he gains an extra +5000 power. Now you may be thinking that you would prefer to use him as payment for stride… why not do both? He has another skill to choose one of your Grade 2 or higher rear-guards and retire them and CB1 to call this card to a rear-guard circle, allowing you to make use of his Hollow keyword several times in a game.
Another Grade 3 Granblue that has been revealed is Sleepless Ship’s Captain, Blackgeek. When Blackgeek is placed on the Vanguard circle you may CB1 and SB1 to choose a Grade 2 from your drop zone and bring it onto the field and as an ACT once per turn you can CB1 to call a card from your drop zone and give it +5000 power and at the end of the turn retire that unit.
The Grade 3s don’t stop there as we have some support for the Seven Seas subclan with Seven Seas Dragon Undead, Prisoner Dragon. Similar to Gast Dragon, this unit can CB1 and retire a Grade 2 or higher to call himself though this time it is when your Seven Seas Vanguard has attacked, allowing for some extra attacks by attacking with your rear-guards and then replacing them for this fella. Dragon Undead also gains +2000 power when brought out onto the field from the drop zone so he is able to penetrate crossride levels of defence.
As for Grade 2 Seven Seas support we will be getting Seven Seas Witch Doctor, Raceruler. When Raceruler is placed on a rear-guard circle and if you have a Seven Seas Vanguard you may CB1 to call a unit from your drop zone and that unit gains +5000 power until end of turn. At the end of the turn you must retire that card but it leads to some powerful early plays.
Seven Seas Apprentice, Nightrunner is a new forerunner who’s skill works from the drop zone. At the beginning of your main phase you may mill four cards from the top of your deck to call this card to a rear-guard circle. Unfortunately you have to retire him at the end of the turn but it at least fills your drop zone up a bit. Grenache has shown to be everyone’s favourite Granblue forerunner at the moment but Nightrunner may see some action with future Granblue releases.
If you thought Disappear-running Zombie was great then you’re going to love Ghostie Great King, Obadaia. When Obadaia hits the Vanguard circle you search your deck for three cards and put them into the drop zone. This sorts out the randomness of milling from the top of the deck but it doesn’t stop there. If two or more of the cards you put into the drop zone had the Hollow keyword then you can choose a Ghostie normal unit from your drop zone and place it onto the rear-guard circle. Not only does this guy have amazing art but he also has an amazing skill!
And for the final clan we have Shadow Paladin. I’ll start with their new Grade 3, Death Spray Dragon. Death Spray has a GB1 skill that activates at the end of his battle if you CB1 and retire one of your units and has you retiring one of your opponent’s rear-guards. This guy does work on the rear-guard circle but generally because of the high cost he may not be used in battle much.
A card that will be seen a lot though is Cradle Knight, Oscar who is here to directly support Claret Sword. If you have a Claret Sword Vanguard and are at GB1 you can put Oscar into the soul to search your deck for a Grade 1 and shuffle your deck then put the Grade 1 on top of your deck and Counter Charge 1. Some may still be wanting to keep David but after I tell you about this new stand trigger you may think differently.
Demon Eye Mage, Alsur is a new stand trigger and he is truly something. When he would be retired he gets David’s skill of counting as two units and when he is put into the drop zone you can put him into the deck and shuffle. This is an amazing card for Shadows and will make many want to use stand triggers in many different Shadow decks.
For Revengers we have Vigor Revenger, Maul. When Maul is placed on a rear-guard circle and you have a Grade 3 or greater Revenger then you may CB1 Revenger to put a card from your deck into your hand with the same name as a card on your Vanguard circle. This will mostly be used for Raging Form Dragon for his Persona Blast skill to ride another copy of himself after attacking. After that there are nothing more than some vanilla triggers for Shadows, those triggers being Grave Horn Unicorn a critical trigger, Ingenius Strategist, Ophir a draw trigger, and Illegal Alchemist a heal trigger.
Well that is finally everything for G-BT06. It is definitely an interesting and diverse booster with so many different sub-clans and different builds in general getting supported. I am personally looking forward to this set. Be sure to check in next week when I’m sure there will be more Legend Deck cards revealed.
Cardfight Vanguard singles are available to purchase at Big Orbit Cards: Cardfight Vanguard.