G Booster Set 2: Soaring Ascent of Gale & Blossom review

You can purchase Cardfight!! Vanguard singles at Big Orbit Cards.

First Impressions

This set follows on from G-BT01 in continuing to define & build upon the traits that make each clan unique.

When I look through this set, I can see that Great Nature have gained a lot of good support. They  have been given a new mechanic where their rear guards get benefits from reaching a certain amount of power (Usually 20000 power), similar to how Dimension Police power up the Vanguard.

Narukami get a new mechanic too. Along with their usual skill of retiring your opponents rear guards, they also bind them afterwards. Binding your opponents rear guards, instead of fully retiring them can, can interrupt your opponents plans of legioning or if they are using a clan like Granblue.

There are only six cards for Royal Paladins in this set but this isn’t a problem seeing as they had a lot of cards in the previous set and they have had support since the very first trial decks.

In G-BT02 we get another look at the RR critical triggers that support Altmile and Chronojet. These triggers work the same as Cosmic Hero, Grandbeat but work for the Gear Chronicle and Royal Paladin leaders. It makes sense for Chronojet to get this support because his first effect preventing your opponent from using perfect guards, but it doesn’t seem that Altmile really needs it, or that it should take a space in the RRs.

We also get a few cards to support older decks, such as Jewel Knights, Eradicators, Maelstrom, Blue Strom, Musketeers, Vermillion, and even the Nobles from Narukami. There are a few cards that don’t belong to a certain sub-clan or archetype but still do better in older decks, for example, Hidden Sage, Miron would be best used in a Sanctuary Guard Dragon deck or a deck that has Constance in it due to her being a grade 1 but her ability only taking effect from being placed on the rear guard circle from the deck. Snowdrop Musketeer, Pirkko and Paint Otter allow a Vanguard’s limit break to be activated no matter what damage you are on. This is especially easy for Neo Nectar because they can look at the top few cards of their deck and search for the card they want to superior call, then when you don’t need it any more, you can recycle it for a different card.

Resist is a new CONT effect that has been introduced which prevents cards with the effect from being targeted by one of your opponents card effects. This is very handy for cards from clans like Aqua Force who rely on their rear guards a lot, and if their formation is broken then they loose a huge amount of power.

The Pros

Flower Princess of Spring’s Beginning, Primavera may seem to have a hefty cost for her effect with a counter blast of three, but with the help of Wheel Wind Dragon you can easily unflip two damage just by attacking. You can also use Primavera’s skill to bring another Wheel Wind Dragon out to un-flip a total of four damage in one turn.

We get a second powerful G unit for Neo Nectar. Sacred Tree Dragon, Jingle Flower Dragon works really well with the new GR of this set. If you use Primavera to bring out two units with the same name as two other units already on the field, then next turn you can bring out this guy to give each of those units +8000 power each. The only drawback to this ability is that you will have to use four grade 1s or grade 0s to get the maximum power boost out of this guy otherwise you won’t be able to boost the front units, but the extra power more than makes up for it.

As mentioned previously, Royal Paladin don’t get many cards in this set, but the ones they do get are a great addition to the clan. The most noticeable is the new RRR G unit, Flash Flame Divine Knight, Samuil. Samuil takes full advantage of having a field full of rear guards which is great seeing as Royal Paladins were the first clan to get more power from the amount of units you have on the field. For the low cost of counter blasting two while having five rear guards you can deal one direct damage to your opponent when you attack as long as they are on four or less damage. This move seems a bit dark for the holy Royal Paladins, especially when you look back and see that the other clans that have had similar abilities are Shadow Paladin and Kagero, two clans that have always been thought of as quite ruthless. Despite the fierce nature of this attack, this is a card that will come in handy in any Royal Paladin deck, and as a Royal Paladin player, I will definitely be putting it in mine.

Jewel Knights make a comeback in this set with the addition of two cards. These two cards give Jewel Knight decks a boost in defence and offence. With a soul blast of one, Kymbelinus can intercept with a 15k shield, and by resting Cymbeline when he comes on the field you can give another unit +10k power, making Broken Heart Jewel Knight, Ashlei all that more useful.

Dragonic Vanquisher is our new Narukami leader. If you combine Dragonic Vanquisher with the new G unit, Supreme Conquering Dragon, Conquest Dragon, you will be able to retire your opponents rear guards in the front row and give your whole front row 10k power. If you don’t want to use Dragonic Vanquisher then you can always use Jaggies Shot Dragoon as your supporting grade 3 to easily retire and bind your opponents front row rear guards when he attacks. Harbringer Dracokid makes full use of these abilities by him getting +3k each time an opponents card is placed in the bind zone, making him one of the most potentially powerful forerunners so far.

Narukami also get a new unit that legions with Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion. This new card, Dragonic Kaiser Crimson, takes away the cost of Vermillion’s ACT so that you can attack your opponents whole front row each turn without paying a cost.

Another great card for Narukami is Roar of Chaos Deity, Rudra. When he attacks you can counter blast one to retire a number of your opponents rear guards equal to the amount of cards you have called “Roar of Chaos Deity, Rudra” on your rear guard circles. This works really well with an old promo, Thousand Name Wyvern Knight, who takes the name of Vanguard who’s race is Noble.

Cards such as Gearhound of Iron Fangs, Mistgazer Dragon, and Brass Feather Gearhawk for Gear Chronicle can gain a huge amount of power in one turn. All three of these units gain 5000 power for each card put at the bottom of an opponent’s deck during that turn. Combining this kind of ability with Chronoscommand Dragon, a unit that puts all your opponents rear guards to the bottom of their deck, can give all these units up to 25k each.

Another powerful unit for Gear Chronicle is the new G unit, Interdimensional Dragon, Fate Rider Dragon. This unit can get you a great boosting formation by putting any of your units at the bottom of your deck, and replacing it for any grade 1 from your deck. This ability can be used to bring out the afore mentioned Mistgazer Dragon to prepare for a powerful attack the next turn. This unit also gives a rear guard +3k for each face up card in the G zone, making this card  great for early and late game.

As I mentioned before, Great Nature have got a lot of good support in this set and are proving to be a very powerful clan. Famous Doctor, Big Berry is their new leader and is a great example of what Great Nature are now about. When you stride a G unit you can give two rear guards +4k, and if their attack hits while their power is 20000 or more, then you can draw a card. This works especially well with the RRR G unit, Omniscience Dragon, Managarmr, who can give two more units +4k, and when they attack with 20000 or more then your opponent can’t guard with grade 1s or higher, preventing them from using perfect guards or quintet walls. If those powerful attacks weren’t good enough, Crayon Tiger allows you to stand a unit back up, give them an additional 4k and draw a card at the end of the turn, making it easy to draw 5 cards in your turn.

The new forerunner for Great Nature is one that I would recommend in any Great Nature deck. Pencil Koala gives +4k to a rear guard when the boosted unit’s attack hits, which is great for a card that has been affected by Big Berry’s and Managarmr’s abilities. At the end of that turn you have to retire the affected unit and then draw a card, giving the classic Great Nature effect of attacking with huge power and then having enough cards on your opponents turn to defend some of the strongest of attacks. Balloon Raccoon is another useful unit for his defensive abilities. When he would be put into the drop zone from a rear guard circle, you can instead put it into the bind zone. When you’re being attacked by your opponent, this unit can come to defend from the bind zone with a shield of 10k.

Rear guards of Aqua Force are being given their long-awaited power boost. The problem with Aqua Force before now was that they could attack a lot but a lot of the attacks wouldn’t be able to go through, even if your opponent didn’t guard. Cards like High Tide Sniper can soul blast one to gain 10k, Battle Siren, Sutashia can attack from the back row and get +3k, and the new legion, Michael, can stand two units and rearrange your whole formation. Lambros can also stand two rear guards and give them +10k each, which combos really well with High Tide Sniper to attack with +20k.

Rascal Sweeper and Despina provide good support for Maelstrom. With Rascal Sweeper attacking for 11k as a grade 2 and then switching places with the rear guard behind it. Despina is a trigger that, when she boosts a Maelstrom card, your opponent can’t guard with grade 0s from hand. This works great with all Maelstrom cards, but works best combined with Glory Maelstrom, making it so your opponent can’t guard with any cards from their hand. I’m just confused as to why this critical trigger got moved to common when Belenus and Throbbing Worker were RRs.

The Cons

A lot of the rarities seem a bit odd in this set. The GR in this set, though good, could have been replaced with many of the other RRRs. The RR triggers also seem like an odd choice. I understood it a bit better with Grandbeat because it really helped out the deck, but these triggers for Royal Paladin and Gear Chronicle seem like they are more worthy of being R at most.

Aqua Force seems to have gained a lot of soul blasting units, though Aqua Force aren’t really known for their soul charging, so you’ll only be able to use a lot of these effects a couple of times every game. On a similar note: Neo Nectar is very counter blast heavy in this set. They are given a few damage un-flippers, but if you can’t get them out then you’re going to run out of counter blasts very quickly.

Finally, though Rudra has an amazing ability he is limited by the fact that multiple copies of himself need to be on the field to make full use of his ability. Being a grade 3 this is a problem. You won’t be able to boost some of your units, and the fact that he only has 10k power will make it hard to hit your opponents Vanguard.

The Summary

This set has given a good amount of support for all the clans it contains, giving a boost to old decks as well as being a great way to start a new deck.

There are some specific cards in G-BT02 that feel a bit isolated in terms of support, however, this is more than made up for as many other cards in the set are very powerful and can be used to bring out the potential of the clans they belong to.

Remember you can purchase Cardfight!! Vanguard singles at Big Orbit Cards.