Cardfight!! Vanguard Weekly Card Update #5
Welcome back to our weekly Vanguard update! This week we see new support for Shadow Paladins, Megacolony and Gear Chronicle, as well as the full effect of Techgal, who was discussed last week.
Shadow Paladins receive some powerful new options for Claret Sword Dragon decks. Dark Pride Dragon has a Generation Break 1 ability that activates when it is retired for the cost of your unit’s ability. Provided that you have a Claret Sword Dragon vanguard, you can call up to one card named Dark Quartz Dragon from your deck and counter charge 1. This combines especially nicely with Supremacy Black Dragon, Aurageyser Damned – if you retire Dark Pride Dragon and Promising Knight, David (whom you can call using Supremacy Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon’s skill) then you have paid the cost of retiring three units while only losing one rear-guard. Further, the counter blast is refunded, essentially making Aurageyser’s effect free! Dark Quartz Dragon is a 7000 power Grade 1 which can give itself and a vanguard with ‘Claret Sword Dragon’ in its name 3000 power when it is called until the end of the turn. The ability to become a 10000 boost is nice, and will almost certainly force a Perfect Guard when boosting a critical Aurageyser Dragon.
Megacolony receive excellent new support with the Stride unit Poisonous Spear Mutant Deity, Paraspear. His ability rests all of his opponent’s units when he is placed on the vanguard circle, and if the number of his opponent’s units at rest is three or more, you draw a card and he gains 5000 power. This skill is extremely reliable, and is especially good considering it has no cost. Megacolony units tend to have a problem with being either counterblast heavy or using on-call effects, which limits their ability to stun the opponent’s field. Paraspear’s ability to draw a card and rest the opponent’s entire field for no cost helps mitigate this weakness in the clan, allowing the user to save counterblasts for their stun cards and call one more unit than they would otherwise be able to do. This will certainly find a home in every Megacolony deck.
Techgal is a great addition to G-Era Royal Paladins, who have a theme of only being able to superior-call Grade 2s. Techgal has a Generation Break 1 ability of soulblasting 1 and resting itself to grant its power to an attacking unit in the same column until the end of that battle. This is not a boost, but rather a direct increase in power, allowing it to support units such as King of Knights, Alfred who cannot be boosted. This effect should be used sparingly, however, as the Soul is a limited resource. This will therefore most likely be used mid game, with the supporting Techgals then being moved forward to act as interceptors. While G-Era Royal Paladin would be improved by the ability to call Grade 1 boosters, this is an excellent option for the deck.
Steam Fighter, Ul-nigin is superb support for Chronojet Dragon builds. His Generation Break 1 ability allows the user to counter charge once per turn when an opponent’s rear guard is returned to the deck by one of your cards. This requires a Chronojet vanguard, but considering that Chronojet is one of the deck’s most reliable ‘rewind’ sources, that should not be a problem. This perfectly refunds Chronojet’s on-stride cost, and is similar to the effect of Steam Fighter, Mesh-he. Both counter-charge 1 on rewind, but have different uses. Mesh-he can be used with any vanguard, but requires a soulblast of 1 to do so. As most Gear Chronicle decks use Chronojet as their main Vanguard, this card should see a significant amount of play.
That concludes this instalment of our weekly Vanguard news, check back next week for more updates!
Cardfight Vanguard singles are available to purchase at Big orbit Cards: Cardfight Vanguard