CFV Weekly Update 1st September, 2017
First off we have Link Joker with ‘Genesis Dragon, Bearing Messiah’, a Stride for the Trial Deck. Her skill is “[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose a rear-guard in any players’ back row, lock it, choose a locked card, and unlock it.” This is generally very handy for ‘Messiahs’, but it also easily allows for an extra attack with ‘Arrester Messiah’, as it is not hard to get ‘Arrester’ to Lock themselves.
The Clan Booster has the Grade 1, ‘Abolition Star-vader, Neodymium’. He has “[AUTO](RC):[Soul Blast (1) & Retire this unit] When your opponent’s locked card is unlocked during his or her end phase, if you have a vanguard with “Star-vader” in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, retire one of those unlocked units. If you retired a unit, draw a card.” It’s nice to have a mini ‘Chaos Breaker’ that you can put into any ‘Star Vader’ build, helping you survive a little longer. And doesn’t require Limit Break or Soul Blasting a ‘Star Vader’.
My personal favourite of the three Link Jokers shown this week is ‘Forbid Deletor, Zacuerad’. It has “[ACT](RC)[1/Turn]:[Counter Blast (1)-card with “Deletor” in its card name] If your opponent has a deleted vanguard, until end of turn, this unit gets [Power]+2000, and “[AUTO](RC):When this unit’s attack hits a vanguard, if your opponent has a grade 3 vanguard, your opponent cannot Stride during the next ride phase.”.” Counter Blast 1 may seem like a lot for something that’s not guaranteed, but it does require a 15k Shield to Guard even without it being Boosted or having Triggers, so I think it is well worth it. ‘Deletors’ already have a Critical that Counter Charges, and I’m sure we can expect to see more Counter Charging in this set. Even if it will only be one card.
The majority of cards this week were for Touken Ranbu. The first card to show is the Stride, ‘Ishikirimaru -Hanamaru-‘. He has “[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a face down “Ishikirimaru -Hanamaru-” from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit attacks, if all of your units are [Rest], you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets [Power]+5000/drive+1 until end of that battle.” This feels a little bit like a weaker ‘Ishikirimaru Toku’ but can be used earlier on. And considering this is fixed content, it is actually really good. It’s interesting that they went for the Weiss Schwarz look for Vanguard cards.
‘Taroutachi -Hanamaru-‘ is another Stide. This one having “[AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks, search your deck for up to one “Jiroutachi -Hanamaru-“, call it to (RC), and shuffle your deck.” ‘Jiroutachi -Hanamaru-‘ is also a card shown this week with “[AUTO](VC/RC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of that battle for each face up “Taroutachi -Hanamaru-” on your (VC) or G zone. If there are no face up cards in your damage zone, Counter Charge (1).” This card seems really good. If you can get other Strides to flip ‘Taroutachi’ then it shouldn’t be long until this card starts getting +20k every turn.
‘Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki -Hanamaru-‘ is a Critical Trigger with “[CONT](Hand):If you have a face up card in your G zone, while you are paying the cost for Stride a G unit with “Hanamaru” in its card name, you may discard this card as a grade 3 card.” This is a very easy condition to meet, and always nice to have more Stride fodder. If you don’t have anything else to Stride with, discarding a 10k Shield to Stride is generally still worth it.
Lastly for the Touken Ranbu is ‘Namazuo Toushirou -Hanamaru-‘. He is a Sentinel with his skill being “[AUTO]:[Choose a card from your hand, and discard it] When this unit is placed on (GC) from hand, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your units that is being attacked, and it cannot be hit until end of that battle. If the number of your rear-guards with “Hanamaru” in their card names is four or more, Counter Charge (1) or Soul Charge (1).” We’ve only seen a little bit of Superior Calling from them so far, but it may end up being a thing that comes into a lot of the ‘Hanamaru’ cards. if so, this skill will be very consistent, and you don’t need another version of it in the Drop Zone like other Counter Charging Perfect Guards.
Lastly for this week, we have a Promo card, ‘Pulsar Tamer, Eriba’ for Gear Chronicle. She has “[CONT](RC) Generation Break 1:This unit gets [Power]+2000 for each different grade among the face up cards in your bind zone.” So at max, she’ll get +8000 Power, which is actually really good not only for attacking, but the Power is also there on your opponent’s turn. She is definitely one to replace any 12k beaters you may be running if you have a solid way of Binding.