Cardfight!! Vanguard Weekly Card Update #8

Welcome back to our weekly Vanguard update! This week sees some exciting support for Genesis decks, fixing their weakness of decking out easily, while also bringing some more support for Megacolony, Angel Feather, Neo Nectar and Gear Chronicle.

Dreaming Dragon (pictured) is the new Stand trigger for Genesis, with a really interesting effect. Its rear-guard ability activates at the end of your turn, returning itself to the top of the deck to return all cards from your Drop Zone to the deck. Then, if you returned ten or more cards, you may draw a card. The hefty Soul Blast cost of established Genesis builds (such as CEO Yggdrasil’s cost of six) means that the Drop Zone tends to fill up rapidly mid game, while the other popular build of Omniscience Regalia, Minerva equally burns through a lot of the deck. This tendency to self-mill has led to Genesis being an exclusively early to mid game clan, meaning that an opponent who can survive their few powerful turns was then favoured to win. Dreaming Dragon helps to resolve this weakness by making them significantly less likely to deck out, allowing continued use of combinations such as Apple Witch, Cider with a Quintet Wall. The downside, however, is that Dreaming Dragon’s 4000 power means it forms poor columns and that Genesis do not particularly enjoy the use of Stand triggers. This somewhat limits its usability in Genesis, but many builds will find room for it at one or two copies. Cramer Harry is the other Genesis card that has been revealed this week. He is a Grade 1 with 6000 power, with a Generation Break 1 ability which returns units put in the Drop Zone from the Soul to the bottom of the deck, and then Counter Charges 1. This can easily help to refund the Counter Blast costs of Witch of Ravens, Chamomile or Witch of Frogs, Melissa, allowing them to be called essentially for free. However, once more his weakness is in forming poor quality columns – at 6000 power he just misses the threshold of being able to boost a 9000 power Grade 2 for 16000 combined, and so needs to be used with cards such as Goddess of Hearths, Hestia to be able to hit well. However, his skill is useful for any Counter Blast heavy Genesis build, so I’m certain he will see use.

Young Executive, Crimebug (pictured) offers Megacolony a new starter with a great effect. He is a Forerunner with the Generation Break 1 ability to move into the soul, choose one of your opponent’s rear-guards and rest it, and prevent it from intercepting or from standing during their stand phase. This essentially forces them to either remove the card or have a useless column for a turn, while helping you to activate your other Megacolony effects. Buster Mantis is a Grade 2 with 9000 power, who, at Generation Break 1, gains 3000 power when he attacks, provided all your opponent’s units are at rest. This should be relatively easy to achieve, and the fact that he gains 3000 power even when not attacking a vanguard means he is a flexible offensive option. Machining Slater is a Grade 1 with 6000 power with a Soul Charging effect. When it boosts a vanguard with ‘Machining’ in its name while all your opponent’s units are at rest, it Soul Charges 2. The nice thing about this effect is that it can be used even early in the game (as it is not a Generation Break ability), and the 6000 power is perfect when it is used to boost the new Legion unit, Machining Scorpion mk II, who calls ‘Machining’ units from the Soul to rear-guard circles at rest and gains their total power. This is further helped by the new Stand trigger, Earth Dreamer. It has the Generation Break 1 ability to return to the top of the deck during the opponent’s ride phase if they have three or more rear-guards at rest, then to draw two cards. This means that the units have to have been paralysed by your effect to actually allow this ability to activate, and, as usual, its 4000 power limits its use in columns. Fortunately, Buster Mantis attacks for 12000 power, so he would form the ideal Grade 2 for Earth Dreamer to boost. The draw power this unit provides is excellent, so it seems it will be very strong in new Megacolony decks.
Angel Feather gain a few new cards, such as Holy Seraph, Raphael (pictured). Her Generation Break 2 skill enables her to turn a copy of herself to heal a damage, offering Angel Feather their first truly viable healing ability. She can only be used late on in the game, but her ability is essentially unique and offers easy access to the valuable resource of healing. She is not offensive in her use (aside from the huge power bonus Stride units inherently have), but her utility will make her a must for the clan. Meanwhile, Nurse Cap Dalmatian seems to be designed as a Generation Break 1 alternative to Thousand Ray Pegasus, with the ability to gain 1000 power when it boosts for each face up card in the Damage Zone. When used directly after a Holy Seraph, Raziel, it can boost for 12000, allowing it to form a 21000 power column with any 9000 power Grade 2. Many people, however, will prefer to stick to using Pegasus, as Pegasus can boost for 17000 using the same combo. Angel Feather also receive their first Quintet Wall in Solid Celestial, Adnarel, who is actually revealed to be a single Rare. This is welcome news for Legion decks (especially considering the new Legion, Clumsy Celestial, Batrael, is released in this set), as well as budget players, who will be able to easily acquire Sentinels. Most players, however, will prefer to use Black Record, Israfil as their Sentinels, limiting Adnarel’s usage to only budget and Legion builds. Finally, Confidence Celestial, Lumiel offers the clan its Limit Break 4 enabler, and will help many older decks substantially.

Flower Cluster Maiden, Salianna (pictured) is a new Neo Nectar card especially for Ranunculus decks. When she is placed on a rear-guard circle, she may Counter Blast and Soul Blast 1 to choose another rear-guard, call another copy of it from the deck, then gain 2000 power until the end of the turn. This allows her to become 11000 power on her own while cloning a booster, although only once and at a somewhat hefty cost. The use of Flower Garden Maiden, Mailis can help to refill the Soul and power up the vanguard, somewhat mitigating the Soul Blast cost. Meanwhle, Gear Chronicle receive a new early game Grade 2 in Steam Knight, Kalium. Kalium does not have a Generation Break ability (which is unusual for the clan), but pays for his speed by only having 8000 power. However, his effect can be very strong: when he is placed on a rear-guard circle, you may choose one of your opponent’s rear-guards, return it to the deck, then they may call a unit that is one Grade less than that unit from the deck. This has no cost and can be a free ‘retire’ against Grade 0 units, while also having the potential to remove intercepts for free. This also powers up other units such as Brass-winged Gear Hawk, allowing the low power to be somewhat mitigated. Kalium has a definite niche in being the quickest of the Gear Chronicle ‘rewind’ effects, and so will be used in quite a few decks.

That concludes this week’s instalment of Cardfight!! Vanguard news, check back next week for more updates!