Fighter’s Collection 2015 Overview
First Impressions
Fighter’s Collection 2015 comes with a little something for every clan, bringing them into the G series. All the clans that haven’t yet had G unit support get it in this set.
I notice that the clans that received a lot of support throughout previous sets have been allocated the GR spaces in this set, but it would have been nice to see the lesser supported sets get the GRs to give them the boost they deserve. Luckily, the clans that get GRs in this set miss out on getting a RRR, so at least they’re not getting a a huge amount of extra power compared to the rest.
This set appears to be structured so that each clan gets one powerful rare card, which can typically be used in a specific situation, and then a more common card whose skill isn’t as flashy but can generally be used more broadly.
All these new cards are G units apart from the grade 1, Light Elemental, Pica, which is one of the Cray Elemental cards, with Rain Elemental, Madu being the other. Both these cards are only RR, but they bring new life to the older decks in the series by supporting grade 3s with 10k or less power, something that many fans of old decks with be grateful for.
A lot these cards support old clan leaders. Cards such as Shirayuki, Leo-pald, Amon, Cecilia, and so on, have all been given some love, making each of these leaders stand a good chance against newer decks from the G series. This support begs the questions “Will we be getting more grade 3 versions of this character?” or “Will this card be reprinted in newer sets?”. Perhaps Bushiroad will release a set full of reprints of much wanted cards for all grades, maybe even bringing us the wonderful Doreen once more.
It’s nice to see that we’re getting this set so early. The previous Fighter’s Collection flopped a bit because it was a little underpowered and it didn’t really bring much to the table, but Fighter’s Collection 2015 gives us something fresh and provides great support for older decks.
Royal Paladin
To compensate for Royal Paladins getting a lot of generic support recently, the only two units they get in this set are specific to certain decks. Soul Saver Dragon is back as Holy Dragon, Religious Soul Saver and her new version will only really work with Majesty Lord Blaster decks for the time being. If you have a heart with “Blaster” in it’s name, you can get that nostalgic Soul Saver feeling of giving three units +5k power. Another reason this works well with Majesty is that, if you have two or more units with “Blaster” in their name, then this gets +1 critical, making use of Majesty’s skill. It would be best to put Star Call Trumpeter in this deck to have a better chance of putting both Blaster Dark and Blaster Blade in the soul to activate Majesty’s and Religious Soul Saver’s abilities.
Sanctuary Guard Regalia gives a huge amount of power despite not having a cost. If you have a heart with “Sanctuary Guard” in it’s name, this card gives +3k power to the whole front row for each of your grade 1 or less rear-guards. This card works especially well with Sanctuary Guard Dragon, who can allow you to superior call a grade 1 or less when he’s placed on the Vanguard Circle. You can also use Sanctuary Guard Guarantee, but Sanctuary Guard Dragon’s superior calling allows you to get the much wanted +9k power more easily. If you are not going to be using many counter blasts in this deck then Battle Flag Knight, Constance is also a good option for getting rear-guards to help get that boost.
Oracle Think Tank
Many people will be happy to see that Tsukuyomi is back after all these years. Deity of the Evening Moon helps you fix up your ride chain and lets you look at the top five cards of your deck to choose two and put them in your hand. This version allows you to use an old deck, but one with the abilities of newer Oracle Think Tank cards. Using
Deity of the Evening Moon’s ability can also help give Battle Maiden, Tagitsuhime and Battle Sister, Maple a power boost by getting the required number of cards in the soul. One thing that would have been nice would have been to see Tsukuyomi all grown up like Susanoo.
Another useful Oracle Think Tank card is Nimbus Summoning Nine-headed Dragon King. This card allows you to return up to three unnecessary cards from your hand into your deck, shuffle, and then draw the same amount of cards. This also allows you to shuffle all the cards you put on the bottom of your deck during the game, giving you another chance of drawing, or even triggering them. I’d recommend using this after using Takemikazuchi a couple of times to shuffle any triggers that may have been left on the bottom of the deck from his skill.
Angel Feather
Holy Seraph, Uriel has an interesting ability that seems to be inspired by the Gold Paladins. With Uriel you can look at the top three cards of your deck and put one of them in to the damage zone. This works really well with cards like Zerachiel, who grants other units additional power if another copy of her card is in the damage zone. It also works well with the other Angel Feather G unit in this set, Holy Celestial, Mikael, who can superior call a card from the damage zone and give them additional power if you have a card in the damage zone with the same name as a card in the heart. You can also use this card with Cleanup Celestial, Ramiel “Reverse” to try and get another copy of her card in the damage zone so you can manipulate your opponents rear-guards & damage.
Mikael is good for late game where you can bring out a new and powerful unit and give them +5k. With this skill you can move a card from the damage zone onto a rear-guard circle as well as bring out the card you put into the damage zone for this effect. As I’ve said before, this will mostly be used at the end of a game, I can’t imagine many people would use this card early on unless they were really struggling for rear-guards.
Shadow Paladin
Dragruler Revenant is handy as he can get a grade 1 on to the battlefield during the main phase by retiring any other rear-guard. This is good if you have too many grade 2s or 3s in your hand and have nothing which can boost. With the +3k boost, this can get columns going in for around 21k, but apart from that, this card doesn’t bring overly much to Shadow Paladins apart from some skill fodder next turn. That being said, this effect works well if you are using Blaster Dark Revenger in your deck, if you are you will most likely be using Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint and will easily be able to bring him onto the field. You could also use this to bring out Transient Revenger, Masquerade on the front row to get a powerful grade 1 attacking your opponent.
Efnysien is a great card for generic Shadow Paladins. This card can retire one of your rear-guards to give himself +7k power and allow you to retire an opponent’s rear-guard on-hit. The problem with this card is that you have to retire one of your own rear-guards as soon as he is placed on the Vanguard circle, so it’s best to put something weak down the previous turn, even if you don’t need it that turn, just to make sure this skill works well for you. Using Darkness Maiden, Macha, Dark Cloak Revenger, Tartu or Dragruler Revenant on the previous turn can get you an extra unit to sacrifice on the turn you use Efnysien.
Gold Paladin
One of the first cards that was revealed in this set was Purgation Lion Emperor, Mithril Ezel, who is an amazing addition to the Gold Paladins. It may just be because he’s my favourite Gold Paladin leader, but I feel Ezel truly shines with this card. He has a combination of the previous Ezel card’s skills, with unlocking, superior calling and giving extra power all in one package, with the bonus of artwork that will make the fan-girls “squee~”. Providing additional power to your Vanguard with this effect will make it more likely for you to pull of Scarlet Lion Cub, Caria‘s skill.
Golden Dragon, Scourge Point Dragon gives +5k to every rear-guard called from the deck on that turn. This card has no cost but only works if you have specific rear-guards as he is not able to superior call. This card will most likely be used in early game to gain power as you fill the rear-guard circles, but after that I can’t imagine he will be used much. Using Nimue and Viviane can easily activate Scourge Point’s ability if you missed out superior calling in your main phase. If you manage to superior call Ketchgal, you can put him straight in to the soul and look at the top three cards for another unit to superior call, giving you an extra chance of getting a more powerful unit to devastate your opponent. If you are using a Liberator deck, Liberator, Cheer Up Trumpeter can start giving Scourge Point some power as well, which means all columns will get power major power boosts.
Genesis
The new Genesis cards really help most previous decks for this clan, especially Regalia decks. Divine Flame Ultimate Regalia, Demeter works the best with legion, namely Cosmic Regalia, CEO Yggdrasil and Midnight Regalia, Nyx. This card soul charges three and counter charges one (previously known as un-flipping) card in the damage zone for each heart, so when in legion you can soul charge six and counter charge two, making this the perfect card for Yggdrasil with her need to soul blast six. I’d suggest using this effect in early game to set your Vanguard up with the ability to dish out a flurry of strong attacks towards the end.
Archangel, Doombrace is a much more flexible option with the benefit of not being in a sub-clan. With a soul blast of three, you can give two rear-guards +5k each and, if you have two or less cards in the soul, you can soul charge three. This is best for the Artemis ride chain by getting rid of the cards that aren’t needed in the soul and inserting three new cards, hopefully including those needed for the ride chain.
Kagero
We have a new addition to the onslaught of Dragonic Overlord cards. Dragonic Overlord “The Ace” has given this well known character a G unit with the classic Overlord effect of re-standing. To re-stand with this card you need to discard two cards from your hand, one having “Overlord” in its name. This can be made a lot easier with the help of Dragonic Overlord “The X”, Eternal Bringer Griffin and Doom Bringer Griffin. Like Victoplasma, if you activated his re-standing ability in your main phase, his triple drive gets down-graded to twin drive, but with the extra 5k, it shouldn’t cause too much trouble.
Divine Dragon Knight, Zahm is a nice, cheap stride for Kagero. Combining this card with Blademaster can easily retire two of your opponents cards right after you stride. Many Kagero cards support this G unit and you can activate his ability more than once in a turn, easily taking care of most of your opponents field. This card can activate its skill with the help of cards like Twilight Arrow Dragon, Wyvernkid Ragla, and Berserk Dragon.
Nubatama
Six Realms Stealth Dragon, Gedatsurakan proves that simple isn’t always a bad thing. When his attack hits, your opponent discards a card from their hand. Using this with Dreadmaster and Voidmaster will significantly lower your opponent’s hand options.
Nubatama also get Six Realms Stealth Dragon, Jorurirakan who binds one of your opponents rear-guards and a card from their hand, and then retires them at the end. This retiring ability only takes effect if you have a heart with “Shura Stealth Dragon” in it’s name but, by using Six Realms Stealth Dragon, Gedatsurakan with Stealth Beast, Kuroko, you can retire your opponents rear-guards regardless of the heart, making this card viable in a lot of Nubatama decks. The main downside to this card is that the cost of the counter blast seems a bit high, considering what he does. Because of his counter blast costs, you might not want to use him in a deck with Dreadmaster.
Tachikaze
Super Ancient Dragon, Parititan is an awesome card for Tachikaze which allows you to retire a card from each fighter’s field, meaning if you were playing a tag match you will retire a card from all four fighters. What makes this ability really good is that, this card gains power equal to the sum of all the retired units power, and if the sum is 20k or greater, he gains +1 critical. You can easily get the extra 20k from retiring a 9k grade 2 and an 11k grade 3 (Or a grade 2 like Cannon Gear). Retiring something like Tyrannobite means as long as you have face up damage you’re not really losing out. This is a great addition to Tachikaze and I’m glad it’s getting greater support.
Destruction Tyrant, Archraider is a weaker alternative to Parititan, but can still put some early pressure on your opponent with the risk of them losing a rear-guard if the attack hits. This can be used slightly more efficiently than Efnysien with the bonus of being able to activate the skill once he attacks and you can also bring some units, such as Tyrannobite and Iguanogorg, straight back from the drop zone.
Murakumo
Shirayuki has always been one of my favourite Murakumo grade 3s, and to see her get support in this set is great. The new Cosmetic Snowfall, Shirayuki does truly support the original. This card’s ability to call a card with Shirayuki in its name from the deck and then put it into the hand afterwards really is a boon to Fantasy Petal Storm, Shirayuki. With Fantasy Petal’s ability to reduce your opponent’s attacking unit’s power by 20k, this card will make it so much easier to defend yourself against enemy G units. This effect can sadly only be used a handful of times because there isn’t really a way to get Shirayukis back from the drop zone after using them. Nevertheless, this card provides great support for Shirayuki. Using this early can give you the defence you need as you build up cards in your hand allowing you to play something powerful late game, such as Covert Demonic Dragon, Hyakki Vogue “Reverse” who will provide the final push you need after your opponent has worn themselves out from trying to attack Shirayuki for so long.
Kagamijin‘s ability works from other units superior calling and then giving those called units a boost. Giving the new unit +2k and the ability to attack from the back row lets you usefully place grade 2s and 3s in the back row, ready to take part in additional battles. The newly called units need the same name as two other units on the field, and the additional effects only last for one turn, but this card is good for a finishing an opponent off. This unit will work well with the much sought after Stealth Fiend, Oboro Cart who can choose a rear-guard and search your deck for a copy of the same card.
Narukami
Remembrance Avatar, Vishnu is another great Noble unit with little support. On attacking a vanguard, Vishnu’s ability forces the opponent to retire one of their rear-guards for each “Noble” rear-guard you control. However, with the lack of Noble support, particularly their lack of 11k grade 3s, even after pulling off this ability it will be hard to attack your opponent with your own rear-guards. With this in mind it would be best to put Black Celestial Maiden, Kali in your deck so you are able to attack your opponent’s Vanguard without a boost.
The next Narukami G unit is the GR, True Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Turbo. This card is an absolute beast, allowing you to attack three of your opponents units for each of your hearts. Your heart needs to have “Big Bang Knuckle” in it’s name, but seeing as the Big Bang Knuckle cards are legion cards then you will easily be able to attack all six of your opponent’s units in one attack and gain +5k for every card with the same name face up in the G zone. The only draw back is that your Brawler rear-guards with abilities that activate when your Vanguard is in legion won’t activate as when you stride, you are no longer considered to be in legion. That said, getting rid of all your opponents rear-guards is good enough on it’s own and your opponent will struggle to fill up all those spaces again.
Nova Grappler
Asura Kaiser returns as a new stride that feels like the classic Nova Grappler leader with an extra boost in strength.If you play Battle Deity, Asura Kaiser, you will likely want extra grade 3s in your deck just to make sure you can use his effect reliably. The cost of his ability is that you put a grade 3 from your drop zone back in to your deck and shuffle, then if you reveal a grade 3 on your drive check you can stand four rear-guards. This ability compliments stride in general by putting the grade 3s back in to the deck to give you a chance of drawing them and striding again next turn. Also, Immortal, Asura Kaiser will work well as your heart in case you can’t stride that turn because all the grade 3s would have been recycled into your deck, giving Immortal a better chance at activating his skill.
The second Nova Grappler, Tribute, is something we haven’t really seen before. When another unit stands you can counter blast one to give them +2k and retire an opponents rear-guard with that much power or less. This can prove to be a very useful skill, especially when you remember that Nova Grappler have consistent damage counter chargers. It’s odd to see a Vanguard that does not stand their rear-guard, but rather support a newly stood rear-guard, though this skill fits well with the idea of wrestlers standing back up and overpowering their opponents. If you are using this card I would recommend you put Hungry Dumpty, Clay-doll Mechanic, and Lady Cyclone in your deck to get extra counter chargers, especially if you plan to use this card more than a handful of times in a game. Cool Hank is also a good card to combo with this unit, giving standing units even more power to take out stronger rear-guards on the field.
Dimension Police
Heavy Duke is the G unit that Metalborgs missed out on with G-EB01. This unit will put a load of pressure on your opponent by not allowing them to perfect guard or use a quintet wall against your attack. If the attack goes through, then this unit will also allow you to draw up to two cards depending on whether you’re in legion or not. With a counter blast of two, you may want to conserve your face-up damage until this guy comes out onto the field. This card is great if you are running out of units on field and in hand because you don’t need to reach a certain amount of power to activate his skill, and with the triple drive and legion, you can easily get five new cards in your hand by the end of the turn.
Pretty Cat is our Catwoman inspired alien whose skill is an odd mix of a couple of Dimension Police’s effects. Her ability lowers your opponent’s attack by 5k, but in order to do this she must have 34k or more power during the main phase. Her ability at first might seem like something that would fit with Zeal, but the problem is that she needs a large power boost, which is more representative of the heroes of Dimension Police, and considering that she is one of the villains, you’re going to struggle finding a deck that she’ll work well in. She would probably do best in a Cosmic Hero deck because of how easily accessible their power boosts are. You would also do well to stride her over Gallop, activating Gallop’s breakstride effect and then using Grandbeat to easily get her over that 34k power threshold.
Link Joker
Now, a card that everyone will either love or hate: Death Star-vader, “Omega Loop” Glendios. This card makes it that much easier to reach Glendios’s alternate win condition. Like the old Glendios, this version’s skill works best when you are on five damage. This card can bring out and lock a number of your opponents units equal to the number of “Reverse” units you have on the field, and if you are on five damage then your opponent can’t unlock them at the end of their turn. This skill makes it so much easier to use “Omega” Glendios’s skill to win the game. Using Star-vader, Ruin Magician, it is possible to get the “Reverse” units you dropped to stride again next turn, making it easier to lock five of your opponents rear-guards.
The next Link Joker G unit is Nebula Dragon, Maximum Seal Dragon who can be used in multiple decks as it gains +5k for each of your opponent’s locked cards. This unit is very useful even if you only manage to lock three or less of your opponent’s rear-guards with Glendios. This card has similar problems to Scourge Point Dragon, but, with the help of Glendios, this card has a little more support to fall back on. This card will make good use of Star-vader, Dust Tail Unicorn being your forerunner to easily give an extra +10k to your Vanguard.
Spike Brothers
Dudleys get a unit that has the potential of letting you attack six times without any restands. Dudley Geronimo gives all your units a chance to attack with a boost of +5k power each, but with the downside that they are sent to the bottom of the deck afterwards. This card works really well with cards such as Juggernaut Maximum, who can soul blast one to gain +5k; Highspeed, Brakki, who has the same effect; and Sky diver who, if his attack hits, can move into the soul to call another unit from hand – this new unit then benefits from Geronimo’s ability as well. Sky Diver’s skill is also good to bring out Dudley Douglass, who can gain an extra +5k when he’s brought out, giving him an attack with +10k. Geronimo’s effect falls short if your opponent gets too many triggers, and with needing a Dudley heart you won’t really be able to have enough grade 3 space to put in Juggernaut or Sky Diver. This card is great for a final push on your opponent if they are on their final damage as they will struggle to defend every attack.
Godly-speed, Flash Bruise can put a lot of pressure on your opponent. If your attack goes through, you can put a unit into the soul and then superior call any card from the deck. The newly called unit also gets +5k power, which will make your opponent try their hardest to guard your Vanguard’s attack, which in turn will drain their hand if they aren’t holding a sentinel. The card going into the soul can provide ammunition for a card like Juggernaut Maximum or Highspeed Brakki. Flash Bruise works well with Bloody Ogle and Emerald Blaze decks. Combining the calling ability with Silver Blaze can provide heavy attacks for two turns, and by bringing out Frozen Ogle you can use a similar effect next turn if you can’t stride. This card will also gives a chance of setting up a good formation for Geronimo later in the game.
Dark Irregulars
Great Demon, Soulless Demagogue is great for early game as you set up your soul for later on. With this card your whole front row will get +1k for each card put into the soul. With the cards at the moment, we may struggle to get this unit super powerful, but the anime gave us a small glimpse of a character managing to get his soul to fifteen cards in the first turn that he used a G unit, mostly using the cards from G-BT03. You’ll mostly be wanting to use this early game, as the more units you can put into your soul in one turn, the better. Looking at what we have so far, there are a number or cards that are available which you can use to support this. Decadent Succubus will let you soul charge every time another Dark Irregulars is placed on the rear-guard, so it will be best to get her on the rear-guard circle first. Accompanied with Decadent Succubus, you can use Flirtatious Succubus so that when she is placed on the rear-guard circle you can soul charge two. Yellow Bolt and Dimension Creeper will also provide a lot of help but, at the moment, having a Amon heart will most likely serve you best. With Amon’s Follower, Hell’s Draw and Hell’s Deal you can put two cards in the soul easily with both their skills. Additionally, Doreen is great to have around when Demagogue is out as she will already get a huge power boost for all the cards you will be putting in the soul.
After you’ve used Demagogue, if you are using an Amon deck, you can bring out Amon’s Claw, Marchocias for a final push. This card will give two of your rear-guards with “Amon” in their name +3k for every five cards in your soul. This makes Demagogue great as you set up your soul then bring Marchocias out to give your units as much power as possible when you don’t need to soul charge any more. If you bring out Ron Geenlin or Phu Geenlin they will gain an extra +3k from you just having a Amon Vanguard, so the power will just keep stacking.
Pale Moon
Now for a card that I’m sure every Luquier player will use in their decks. Silver Thorn Dragon Master, Mystic Luquier is the newest edition to the series of Luquier cards. This unit allows you to put two rear-guards into the soul and soul charge two, then you may superior call two Silver Thorn cards from the soul. You can use this once per turn and there is no other cost other than putting the two units into the soul, which is great when you have run out of counter blasts for the original Luquier or Venus. This will also support Upright lion who gains +3k for each Silver Thorn put onto the rear-guard circle from the soul. To further support this you can bring out Zelma with Luquier’s ability to add an extra 6k power to Upright Lion.
Lunasquare Impact, Clifford can also be used to power up Upright Lion during your battle phase. If his attack hits you can bring out a unit from your soul, place it on a rear guard circle and give it +2k power. With this ability, you can attack with a rear-guard and, if the attack hits, bring out a new unit in place of the rested unit. You can also bring out Zelma or Purple Trapezist to put the rested unit back in the soul and bring something new out. If you have a stood Upright Lion on the field during this he will gain an extra 6k power. You can also use this ability to bring out a Crimson Beast Tamer or Turquoise Beast Tamer who may have accidentally ended up in the soul, and combined with Purple Trapezist, you would be able to put a Crimson Beast Tamer in the soul to power up your Turquoise Beast Tamers.
Gear Chronicle
Upheaval Pegasus takes advantage of having a heart with “Chronojet” in it’s name. Used in the right situation, this card can be one of the strongest G units for Gear Chronicle. If you combine this card with Gearhound of Iron Fangs, Mistgazer Dragon and Brass Feather Gearhawk you can easily give all these units +25k each without counter blasting. You can also do this with Chronoscommand Dragon, but his attack has to hit and needs a bigger cost.
Epochmaker Dragon seems like an odd choice to put in the GR position. When his attack hits you can bind one of your rear-guards and call a grade 3 from your deck to the field for an extra attack, then at the end it is put back into the deck and your old rear-guard retakes its place. The best thing about this card is that there isn’t a cost provided the attack hits. I suspect this will be mostly used in late game when you have run out of cards to counter blast. Bringing out Smithereen Colossus will make it so you can damage your opponent without a boost even if they have a crossrode Vanguard.
Granblue
Granblue’s new Cocytus Negative card has many different ways it can be played. If you use his effect to call a card with “Cocytus” in it’s name, you can superior call a grade 1 from the drop zone and give it +4k. You could bring out Brutal Shade to get rid of your grade 3’s limit break, or Dragon Spirit who specifically supports Ice Prison Necromancer, Cocytus, while Sea Strolling Banshee allows you to soul blast one to draw a card when she is put on the rear-guard circle from the drop zone. You can also use this card to bring out the new Cray Elemental, Light Elemental, Pica, who I’ll talk about later. This card still needs to drop three cards to activate its skill like the previous Cocytus cards, but with this cost and triple drive you’ll have to try especially hard not to deck out.
Pirate King of Abyss, Blueheart can provide a similar support to Cocytus but with slightly more consistency. With Blueheart’s skill you can call two units from the drop zone, but they have to be called over existing units. This card, like Cocytus, works well with Sea Strolling Banshee, as well as cards like Stormride Ghost Ship, Skeleton Swordsman and King Serpent. This card is much cheaper to use than Cocytus, with a counter blast of only one, making him useful in nearly every Granblue deck.
Bermuda Triangle
Nectaria is a unit that falls under both the PRISM and Duo subclans. Being part of two subclans, she has effects that activate whether your heart is a Duo or PRISM. If your heart is a PRISM then, when this unit’s attack hits a Vanguard, you can bounce a unit back into your hand and then call a unit out from your hand and give it +5k power. Combining it with cards like PRISM-Image, Clear; PRISM-Duo, Yarmouk; Duo Shiny Tone, Cikola; PRISM-Promise, Celtic or PRISM-Duo, Avon, you can gain extra power across your field from the initial bouncing. If you have “Duo” in your heart’s name, then you can search for another copy of the card bounced, and put the new copy in your hand, easily getting you more sentinels to defend with. Other cards you can use well with this unit’s bouncing ability are Duo Falling Heart, Quancy; Duo White Crystal, Ricca; Girls’ Rock, Rio; Duo Happy Diary, Sheryl and Duo Petit Etoile, Peace. With this kind of support, it’s very possible that they will make a grade 3 PRISM-Duo card to be able to activate both this unit’s abilities in future.
Legendary Glass Shoes, Amoris can be used efficiently in a lot of Bermuda Triangle decks. When she’s placed on the Vanguard circle, you can choose up to two cards from the rear-guard circles and bounce them back to your hand at no cost. This is great for all the bouncing units mentioned in the previous paragraph as well as just putting cards in your hand that you put out for early game pressure, but now want to use to defend.
Aqua Force
Maelstrom is back with his new form Blue Storm Master Dragon, Admiral Maelstrom. This card allows you to draw on-hit and choose three of your opponents rear-guards, and for each of this G unit face up in the G zone, to retire one. His ability is best the second time around when you can retire three of your opponents rear-guards, but with it being an on-hit ability, your opponent will most likely prepare to guard the second time. This card would probably work best with Glory Maelstrom, to stride until you’re at five damage and then use Glory’s ultimate break from then on.
Marine General of the Heavenly Silk, Socrates gets +5k with a counter blast if he attacks on the third or greater battle. This card is okay early game, but may seem like a waste of a counter blast when you have other options like Atmos and Blizza. The benefit of this card’s ability is that it isn’t hard to pull off compared to other Aqua Force. Because the attack only needs to be on the third battle instead of the forth, you can use this unit with only one column if you use cards such as Tidal Assault, Officer Cadet, Alekbors, Storm Rider, Diamantes, Magnum Assault or many others.
Megacolony
Megacolony have come back with the ability to stun your opponent’s Vanguard. Carapace Strange Deity, Machining Destroyer allows you to stun an opponent’s rear-guard, and, if you have four or more rear-guards with “Machining” in their name, you can stun your opponent’s Vanguard too. This is great in the new G series owing to the fact that, if your opponent decides to stride, their G unit will stay rested. They must first ride again and then stride if they wish to have a stood G unit on that turn. The turn before striding, if you don’t have many rear-guards, it would be good to ride Machining Warsickle or Machining Stag Beetle so that it’s easier to bring out more rear-guards to prepare for Machining Destroyer’s second ability.
Jaggies Devil is a great card to use against your opponent because he can put them in a difficult situation for their next turn. If this unit’s attack hits then you choose a rear-guard from your opponent’s front and back row and they can’t stand next turn. If you also have Toxic Soldier and Toxic Trooper attacking afterwards, then it will also prevent your opponent from intercepting with the card you chose from the front row. Your opponent will have to decide whether to keep them rested or to replace them with something from their hand. This can be especially troublesome for a Aqua Force player who relies on a large number of attacks in one turn, or against non-Jewel Knight Royal Paladin decks because they find it difficult to call grade 1s, so keeping their support rested can screw up their plans.
Great Nature
The RR from Great Nature, Wisdom Teller Dragon, is a fairly simple but effective card. When his attack hits you can give a rear-guard +4k and, if they are at 20k when they attack, you can draw a card. This works well with Crayon Tiger because you can attack with the affected unit to draw a card, then stand it back up with Crayon Tiger so that, when it attacks again, you can draw another card, then when the card is retired you draw yet another card.
The RRR supports one of the most well known Great Nature grade 3s in the game. School Special Investigator, Leo-pald Chaser has a more traditional Great Nature feel to it. When he attacks a Vanguard you choose one of your rear-guards and give it 4k, then at the end of your turn, you retire it and find another copy from your deck to add to your hand. You can combine this effect with Pencil Hero, Hammsuke; Pencil Knight, Hammsuke and Pencil Squire, Hammsuke to get two copies of this card instead of one. You can also use this card effectively with Recorder Dog, Melodica Cat and Vocal Chicken to keep your field in a steady position while increasing your hand size.
Neo Nectar
White Lily Musketeer Captain, Cecilia is an amazing card for a number of reasons. By counter blasting one and retiring two Musketeers, you can look at the top five cards of your deck and call three of them with Musketeer in their names. Using this, you can prepare for using Jingle Flower Dragon if you get multiple cards with the same name. It can also get rid of some weaker cards in your hand and exchange them for stronger ones. If you want to have a wider range of cards to choose from, there are plenty of cards to put in your deck that combine well with this effect, such as Lily of the Valley Musketeer, Kaivant; Pansy Musketeer, Sylvia; Camellia Musketeer, Tamara and Lily of the Valley Musketeer, Rebecca. Other cards this unit can work with are Platycodon Musketeer, Evelina to easily get another copy of her on the field to give her extra power, Gardenia Musketeer, Alan to counter charge two damage when brought onto the field, or Snowdrop Musketeer, Pirkko to remove your limit break, which isuseful for when you have White Lily Musketeer, Cecilia.
Multivitamin Dragon is another great G unit for Neo Nectar. When a unit is placed on the rear-guard circle, you can choose up to three other units with the same name and give them +5k power. This works especially well with the aforementioned Musketeers because, when they’re called, you can search for more cards, which could keep increasing the power that it gives. This card works best if your Vanguard is Ranunculus Flower Maiden, Ahsha, because of her ability to search the deck for another copy of a rear-guard when you stride over her. More cloning units to help this card are Maiden of Gladiolus, Maiden of Frilldrod, Maiden of Cherry Bloom and Maiden of Cherry Stone.
Cray Elemental
Cray Elementals, though the only clan in this set to get both of their cards as RRs, bring a lot to the game. If you have an old deck that you don’t think will do well these days because the main grade 3 in it only has 10k power, then you’ll rejoice at these cards. The G unit Rain Element, Madu is a great way to get extra strides in your game. Her ability allows you to choose a grade 3 in the drop zone and add it to your hand if your Vanguard has 10,000 or less power. This kind of effect also works with ride chain cards because G units go by the power that is printed on the card, so even if your ride chain is technically at 11,000 then this ability still works for you. This card can also be used for some of the modern 21k legions such as Amon’s Leader, Astaroth; New Era Beast, Zeal; Goddess of the Treasured Mirror, Ohirume; King of Knights’ Vanguard, Ezzell and Rising Star, Trois. These legion cards combine with an old 10k grade three which will activate Madu’s ability.
Next we have Light Elemental, Pica, who is the only non-G unit in this set. This card gives +1k to a Vanguard with 10,000 or less power when it is being attacked. That extra 1k may not seem like much at first, but when you’re playing you can really see how well defended 11k Vanguards are in comparison. Pica, being a Cray Elemental, can be used in any deck so test these cards out in some of your older decks and see how well they do now. You could use this unit efficiently with clans that are good at superior calling.
Summary
This set is full of great G units for both new decks and old. If you have an old deck that you can revive with these cards then I highly recommend that you do so. Some of these cards will make you feel nostalgic and you’ll be glad to be able to play with familiar old characters again, while on the other hand you can play with something new and fresh.
Cardfight Vanguard singles are available to purchase at Big orbit Cards: Cardfight Vanguard