Stand and Draw: Card game rants and experiences

Hype is in for BT12 as the new clan, Link Joker, will get support along with its Trial Deck. I consider Link Joker a "broken clan", as they gravely disrupts your field by locking up your units. In the case you have no idea what "lock" means, it is when a rearguard unit that is face up is turn faced down. A unit that is locked is not able to boost, intercept, use its skill or be retired by calling another unit above it. You can only unlock your unit at the end of your turn.

Some considered lock as a combination of Narukami, Kagero and Megacolony since Narukami and Kagero retires your unit while Megacolony prevents your units from standing. But unlike Link Joker, units retired by Narukami and Kegero can be replaced, same goes for stunned units by Megacolony.

I personally find Link Joker more annoying since locked units can't do anything but it isn't as disruptive as Naru, Kage and Mega, unless of course you're facing Chaos Break Dragon. With Narukami and Kagero's retiring effect, you'll need to call out units to boost or attack but at the same time, you lose precious guards if you really need them. Megacolony's stun allows you to retire that unit to replace it with a standing unit or let you attack albeit lower power. Link Joker? You may need some endurance to guard against their attacks.

Almost all Link Joker decks will aim to lock your units to gain their pluses. The infamous V-lock is the most common type of locking mechanism where your opponent will lock both your front rearguards and your vanguard's booster, which makes the lock looks 'V' shaped. What makes the lock scary is not just the lock itself; is that there units in Link Joker than gains power whenever a unit got locked. A good example will be units like Demonic Claw Star-vader, Lanthanum and Furious Claw Star-vader, Niobium which can both hit for 28k if they are in the same column.

There are some ways where you can counter yourself from getting locked - one would be rushing Link Jokers hard, while the other is playing slightly conservatively. There are still pros and cons for these two methods. Rushing will use up your hands quickly and if your opponent decides to drag the game, you're quite screwed. On the other hand, if your opponent unable to counter your rush, the game is 90% as good as yours. Playing conservatively on the other hand, may weaken your attacks but it does helps you conserve your hand as and when needed but playing conservatively does not mean dragging the game too long.

Now, there's a method that is not commonly used that I call half-rush. Throughout my plays against Link Jokers, I find that they are typically weak against Grade 2 rushes. What I generally do is to attack twice on turn 2 forcing my opponent to take the damages or guard against it. Formation is best with a front rearguard with booster and vanguard with booster. Once it's their turn to attack, guard their attack, even if it is one to pass. A bit risky, but it is a risk you may have to take in order to win. So far, I managed to survive against Link Joker this way where throughout my matches, I only have a single column of rearguard while the other column is all empty. Most players will also try to aim your only attacking rearguard thinking your hand does not have enough attackers, and that is what you want them to think. Once one side got locked, you have another row to play with.

Notable clans that actually excel against Link Joker are a few. They are Narukami, Kagero and Spike Brothers. Narukami and Kagero are obviously due to their high powered retiring as for Spike Brothers, they rush and return to the decks too much that Link Joker have little to no chance to lock. Decks that requires field presence such as Gold Paladin, Nova Grapplers and Granblue may have some troubles.

One thing not to do when going against Link Joker is to drag the game. Semi-rush is a good method so far and don't be too afraid of getting yourself "locked". Most of the Link Joker's lock ability depends too much on the breakride in order for it to work and if your opponent is unable to breakride, chances of you winning increases. Link Joker may be a strong clan but so far, I have yet to see them topping tournaments frequently.

BT10 has been out for a couple of days. Previously, I talked about a Grateful Catapult. But after a couple of reading (look at the bottom paragraph of my Grateful Catapult build), and more testing, I find that playing 10 grade 3s for a Bad End Dudley deck spells bad end, for you as the user.

The number one reason why Grateful Catapult deck can run 10 grade 3s is due to its 11k base, meaning he has slightly more defensive power so you're immune to a lone 10k attacks and easily defend against 15k attacks. I know there are many 11k and 12k attackers out there, but it is easier to defend even if you have 2 less G1 or G2 to defend with.

For Dudley Emperor in the other hand, he can be hit with a vanilla 10k and needs 10k guard for a 15k attack. He excels offensively and does not have a good defence. But I've tweaked the deck and found a good balance of both.


Grade 0: 17 units

• 1 x Mecha Trainer (First Vanguard)
• 4 x Cheerful Lynx (Draw Trigger)
• 4 x Sonic Breaker (Critical Trigger)
• 4 x Silence Joker (Critical Trigger)
• 4 x Cheer Girl, Tiara (Heal Trigger)

Grade 1: 14 units

• 4 x Wonder Boy
• 4 x Reckless Express
• 4 x Cheer Girl, Marilyn (Perfect Guard)
• 2 x Commander, Garry Gannon

Grade 2: 11 units

• 4 x Dudley Mason
• 4 x Highspeed, Brakki
• 3 x Fierce Leader, Zachary

Grade 3: 8 units

• 3 x Bad End Dragger
• 3 x Demonic Lord, Dudley Emperor
• 2 x Juggernaut Maximum

The units remain similar to the Catapult build, except that I play more Marilyn and Zachary. With break-rides going up everywhere, it is now mandatory to play 4 Marilyn as your vanguard will be only 10k if you failed the final turn. Zachary is your pressure rearguard to help draw out for Dudley Emperor, much like Garry Gannon's ability to drop a useless card for something else. His on hit ability frequently forces your opponent to guard as they don't what you to gain hand advantage during the break ride.

While some will say it's best to play 17/13/10/10 for Spike Brothers, I find that that deck ratio is best for Catapult but in Dudley Emperor, this causes consistency issue and find the classic 17/14/11/8 is still valid. So far this deck works great and I get to pull off the break-ride 8 times out of 10 games.

Update: Another grade line up will be 17/13/11/9, taking out your choice of a grade 1 and adding in a 4th Bad End Dragger.

With BT10 being released in 3 days, I can finally get my hands on more Spike Brothers units that the booster have to offer. Of course like MANY others Spike Brothers players out there, we are quite disappointed with Bushiroad as they STILL REFUSE TO RELEASE MORE TRIGGERS FOR SPIKE BROTHERS! WHERE ARE THOSE DRAW TRIGGERS!!?

My title says it all. I'll be talking about the most overlooked card for Spike Brothers in BT10, Grateful Catapult. He's the alternative of Dudley Emperor where Dudley is a +0 while Catapult nets a +1. For both units, there's pros and cons.

Dudley Emperor is a good unit where he gets to be a 21k attacker when boosted by Wonder Boy due to his +3k when boosted ability and also charges up the soul for Reckless Express, Brakki and Juggernaut Maximum soulblasts and is also more consistent as you can soul charge any Spike Brothers unit. Problem is, he's only 10k and while he gives out more attacks, you use up 2 cards from hand to put into the soul, giving up your defences for more attacks if you don't have spare Grade 3s to use as soul fodder.

Grateful Catapult one the other hand, is a 11k unit that is a persona blast. For a counterblast of 2 and discarding a copy of itself from your hand to call up 2 units, you effectively net yourself a +1. You throw away an unneeded G3 and call out 2 cards. Sadly, he loses out 2 things, the +3k ability that Dudley have and stocking up the soul and also, you will need an extra copy of him in hand if you want to use his ability. So for a better defence, you loses out in power. It'll be great if instead of discarding away the persona blast by having the persona be put in soul instead.

So you've decided to stay on and try out Grateful Catapult? Great! Now here's a decklist you can try out that works quite well for me.

Grade 0: 17 units

• 1 x Mecha Trainer (First Vanguard)
• 4 x Cheerful Lynx (Draw Trigger)
• 4 x Sonic Breaker (Critical Trigger)
• 4 x Silence Joker (Critical Trigger)
• 4 x Cheer Girl, Tiara (Heal Trigger)

Grade 1: 13 units

• 4 x Wonder Boy
• 4 x Reckless Express
• 3 x Cheer Girl, Marilyn (Perfect Guard)
• 2 x Commander, Garry Gannon

Grade 2: 10 units

• 4 x Dudley Mason
• 4 x Highspeed, Brakki
• 2 x Fierce Leader, Zachary

Grade 3: 10 units

• 4 x Bad End Dragger
• 4 x Grateful Catapult
• 2 x Juggernaut Maximum

A big difference from my previous Spike Brothers deck profile eh? Of course the changes are not without reason.

For my Grade 0, standard Spike Brothers triggers and starter. I did consider removing a set of crits for stands, but it didn't trigger out as how I'd want it to. Also, nothing beats Mecha Trainer.

There's a bit of change for my Grade 1. Previously, I had Medical Manager in the set but I ditched him for Garry Gannon. He's your typical Aermo clone. For a persona blast deck as well as break ride deck, he's key in to filtering out your extra Bad End Draggers for those Grateful Catapults you need. I usually will put him behind Bad End Dragger. Behind Grateful Catapult though, he's only 17k max. Can't really hit cross rides for 15k 2 pass but when you think about it, most crossrides these days are usually late game so your opponent will most likely be only 11k until he hit 4 or 5 damage for that crossride or cross-break-ride but when you deal your damage with Bad End and Catapult, your opponent most likely have hit 6 damage already.

More changes for Grade 2 will obviously be the lack of Panzer Gale and Field Driller. I've added in the new Dudley in the block, Dudley Mason and invited in Zachary into the team. While Field Driller was good previously, he's now not as godly as he used to be due to the increased in 12k attackers post BT10. So in order to net that 1 draw, you will get hit left and right which makes it not worth the risk. Panzer is okay and still viable in the deck, but Zachary's drawing skills give you more advantages during the break ride. Think about it, your units will be returning to the bottom of the deck thanks to Bad End Dragger. I'd rather use Zachary to help me get another card so I could prepare myself in case my rush down failed. Mason is a must have as he charges up your soul as well as pressure the opponent to guarding to prevent him from calling out another unit for more attacks.

I bet you're assuming I must be crazy in playing 10 Grade 3s in this deck but hear me out. It's actually a good idea to play 10. 4 Bad End Draggers so that you ride him early and 4 Grateful Catapult so you can get 2 copies of him in hand easily for the break ride and persona blast. Juggernaut Maximum is what you want to search for during the break ride as he can hit 26k by himself. Since your opponent would not actually be a crossride, the chances of him being 10/11k only is high. As mentioned, most decks these days plays break-rides or cross-break-rides so they won't be 13k when they have 3 damage.

Now this is how I tend to play, since one way or another, this happen more frequently than I hoped but, it's a good way to pressure the opponent. Not sure why Brakki rarely comes out when I break ride.

1. Break ride with BED+Catapult (3 souls in total, as in G1, G2, G3)
2. Attack with Zachary boosted by Reckless (for 26k). At this point, I almost always hit and draw a card since they always bet on a trigger. (2 souls left)
3. Attack with Mason boosted by Reckless (for 26k). Opponent will either guard or risk taking it. If he takes it, I'd call out Juggernaut Maximum and attack for another 26k. (2 souls left)
4. Attack with Vanguard (for 27k) boosted by Garry Gannon. Persona Blast for 2 Juggernaut Maximum
5. Assuming no triggers, attack with both Juggernauts for 26k. (0 souls left)

One tip to take note of is that if you do have Reckless and Brakki on the side, on the first round of attacks, I recommend to soul blast to hit big but do not soul blast for Juggernauts to conserve soul, unless of course you have 4 souls already.

This attack formation usually cost my opponent 105k to 135k total shields. Of course the actual amount may be lesser if you break ride when your opponent is at 3 damage but at 5, that's the amount he needs in order to guard against everything.

Hope you enjoy this deck profile. I recommend trying out this deck. If you still don't like Grateful Catapult, I'd suggest using the same deck profile, and change Grateful for Dudley. I've tested out both types and it works much like a charm. Until next time!

It's been a while since my last post but it's finally time for the box opening of Daybreak Illusion, also known as Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou. First video with just me, and I think I made some lame remarks in there that I wish I can hide in a hole somewhere. Yeah, I'm not much of a camera person. Anyways, I introduced the video wrongly, only to realized it was wrong later at the end (I read it as Genei wo Tsukuru Taiyou, so sue me). Now enough of this embarrassing rant and on to the videos!! There's four parts so do enjoy! I'll be doing a deck profile for this series soon (how soon? Not so sure).

So GREE, a mobile app company from Japan, have decided to join the TCG world and thus released their first TCG called Sieg Krone. They had promoted the TCG lots of times in many card shops as well as ads, hyping Sieg Krone up and hoping to make it a big game. It also doubles as a "mobile game" as well since you can create your own card from your phone using their list of pre-loaded artworks or your own ones and put one (only one) in play. Okay, this sounds good and all but...with all the hype from GREE Japan, I was a little disappointed after that with some of the flaws of the TCG mechanics.

Now, I'm no game developer like a friend of mine, but as someone who have played loads of card games in the past, I was a little surprised by how a game company actually managed to make a potentially good TCG, bad. Okay, before I go on to the bad side of things, let me have a quick run down on how the game works. You can get in-depth how to from the following wiki but I'm going to just give a basic idea how the game goes.

Game Requirements
You require a deck of 50 cards of up to 4 copies of a card in a deck. You win when you deal 5 damages to the opponent or your opponent is unable to "Charge" during his "Charge Phase".

Type of cards
There's 2 types of cards, character cards and skill cards. Character comes in 3 colors; red, blue and green. Skill card does not have a color.

Game Start
So you start by drawing 5 cards and no redraws are allowed. The first player charges 3 cards to the charge zone. This is called a "Charge Phase" where the player will place 3 cards into the "Action Area". Subsequent turns, both players will charge 4 cards at the start of their turn. The action area is where resources are placed. You use it to draw cards at the beginning of the turn and as resources to pay for costs of the cards so you need to make sure you have enough cards both in had and the "Action Area".

Main Phase
You can do multiple things during your main phase - call Characters, use Skills, Evolution and Awake (refer to the wiki for more info). There's an area in the playmat called the "Base Area" where you call out your character cards. You can call out as many as you like as long as you can pay the cost.

Battle Phase
You attack your opponent with your character cards. The battle phase will take a couple of times to get use to. You basically try to kill off your opponent's characters cards to 0BP. If you have more BP than your opponent, you win. While it is not mentioned in the wiki, you may need to declare which characters battle with which characters. As mentioned, the battle phase will take some time to get used to.

Damage Step
Whoever loses the battle will take damage by revealing 2 cards from the top of their deck, choose one of them to be sent to the Damage Area while the remaining card is called up to the Base Area at no cost. During this time, some cards have skills that can be used when called up this way. If the card is a skill card, add that to hand instead.

That's the basic idea on how it is played. Of course there are other things to consider but I am simply putting up the basics. Now on to the ugly...

First, there's no limits on how many character cards can be at the base area at any one time. Duel Masters have a similar concept, where there's no limits to how much monsters can be summon at a time as long as you can pay the cost. But unlike Duel Masters, Sieg Krone does not have the concept of "Summoning Sickness" where a character can't be use for battle during the turn it is called. So the bad thing about having too many character in a side is that the match loses its balance quickly. Sure you only take one damage at during each battle but if you have an army of 3 while the opponent have an army of 10, and you can't attack or defend, the game will become one sided very quickly. After playing Sieg Krone with a few other players that tried it out, and all of us came to the same conclusion after a couple of games - there need to be a limit on how many characters can be placed in the Base Area. We currently agree that the best limitation would be 4 which balances the game very well.

Secondly. there's no healing in the game. There's no heal mechanism like Vanguard, Duel Monsters, Colossus Order or like other TCG. The idea of having a healing or recovery mechanism will be an additional plus to the game, granting players who is about to lose that giant leap of faith hoping for a heal to trigger up or cancelling that damage which was taken during the turn. Of course this kind of card will need to be restricted up to 4 per deck.

Lastly, they may need to revamp their battle system. While I do personally think it's okay now, but it is very very confusing as it is. I think having a "one on one" type of battle would be a better idea, while keeping the "Assist Character" and Skill cards.

So yeah, this is my two cents for Sieg Krone. While I believe it has a potential to be a good TCG, the way the game play is set now is too much luck dependent, much more than Vanguard or Weiss Schwarz to be honest. The designs of the cards are great, but sadly, the design of the game really needs a revamp.

I've come to report my bad news of the day. I wasn't able to win in neither the Vanguard qualifiers, and I was pretty confident that I am able to get in too but somehow reality decides to give me a swift kick in the ass big time.

Finally, the box that I've been waiting for! Booster box 11! Thanks to Conquer001 for recording the video for me. This time around, I used a better camera than my previous few videos. And if you're complaining about it being too shaky and stuff...yeah, you know who to look for. And wow, getting 2 SPs from just 2 boxes...I'm amazed at myself as I never had this kind of luck before \(^o^)/ ! Without further ado, the unboxing video. But first, I apologize for the noise as there are a few other players opening their boxes as well but still, enjoy!


Sadly I couldn't get 2 more of the cards that I need (basically Dauntless Drive Dragon), I may have to switch strategies for tomorrow's Singapore Qualifier. I managed to snag a few Blockade Inferno so I may be trying out a couple of builds first before finalizing on the cards. I'm currently leaning more towards Seal Dragons, but we'll see how it goes.

Booster 11 have lots of upgrades for a number of clans; Narukami, Angel Feather, Aqua Force, Tachikaze, the new Genesis and Kagero. Many are hyped up about the updates but my attention will go to Kagero, which received lukewarm attention and simply because I don't play and am not interested in other clans.

Yay!! Another video!! I planned to upload it 3 days back but work, procrastination and Pokemon Y has gotten me busy...Okay, I'll fess up; Pokemon Y was the main reason.

Devil Survivor 2 extra box is mainly consist of Blue and Yellow and I have yet have played against it in a proper game per se, but I did have a quick match with an impromptu deck that was build as soon as we finished unboxing them. I won't say good or bad it is, but I'll just have to wait till my friend build the deck properly

Just a simple notice. I'm not the owner of the boxes and again, I'm the crappy cameraman behind the lens.

With every new boosters or extra boosters, some will rage, some will celebrate while leaving some with a "you've gotta be kidding me" expression. Looking through booster boxes 10 to 13 and the list of possible support for booster 14 was enough to make me rage. Don't get me started on the extra boosters either.

Some clans have way too much support, like Gold Paladin, Narukami and Nova Grappler, that even have a staggering 4 archetype! Seriously Bushiroad, does Nova Grapplers really need that much archetype!? It's already strong enough, if not overpowered, as it is! What about other clans that need much more support than these clans? I won't include Nubatama in the list since it got its support in BT13 but what about the other clans like Megacolony, Murakumo, Granblue and Spike Brothers? Okay, sure Megacolony will be getting more support in BT15 and Murakumo in BT14 but by how much and how well can these clans do against those huge name clans that are currently topping the charts left and right as well as getting more support from the very same boosters?

Continuing on, clans like Narukami getting supports from BT10, BT11, BT12 and BT14, Gold Paladin getting boosts from BT10, BT12 and BT14 while other clans like Great Nature getting only support from BT13, Spike Brothers only on BT10, Granblue in BT13 with only 7 cards for them. Now look at Gold Paladin. Narukami, Angel Feather or Aqua Force; how many booster boxes do they appear in? These clans already are strong as it is but getting more cards to make them even stronger while making other clans low priority is not a good idea to promote balance in the game.

Some argued that despite having more cards does not equate excellent support. I would say not quite so. Most of the support that most of us look at are at the "R" to "RRR" rarity. Commons? Not so much. Some common cards are pretty much staple or have better options. Every single time new cards got revealed, they're mostly new vanguards for a few clans and are mostly of "RR" or "RRR" rarity. We'll see one or two cards for alternative clans and then, a page spread of new cards for the most supported clans in Vanguard.

I personally don't mind having some support for a few clans in one booster box as Bushiroad is doing now but having more than half the clan in the box support for the meta clans that can dish out one-sided beating against non-meta clans is way too much that the only way to beat them is by using meta vs meta, unless of course you got lucky enough that your opponent wasn't able to guard against your attacks.

Still, this is just me ranting and venting out my anger. I know some will agree with me, some will disagree but I'm merely just mashing down my thoughts here. In the end, what I simply want to say is give other clans some love too rather on the the already large clans.

The trial decks was out two weeks ago, but I have yet to actually had a match against one. A friend of mine decided to make one liberator deck for the fun of it - even buying 4 of the trial decks. I initially thought it would be a simple few matches but boy, was I wrong.

By now, break rides is not much of new news. For us English players, we have a taste of its power in the form of mermaids that have their own sets of extra boosters back in July. Yes, I'm talking about Bermuda Triangle.

If you have not heard of break rides before, here's a quick intro; a break ride is when you ride another unit, mainly a Grade 3, on top of another necessary Grade 3, therefore activating its skill when at 4 damage. The effects mainly gives the vanguard a boost of 10,000 power as well as large benefits to the rearguards or penalties to the opponent's field. A very bold example will be the cheatwares Link Joker and Narukami. It is situational, but still, strong.

So now I'm back with what I started in the beginning of this rant. I fought against a newly formed liberator deck and got trashed left and right. Break ride on top of a break ride on top of a break ride...please, I have enough!! As usual, Gold Paladins and Narukami, while already strong to the point of too strong, now got way too strong with their new supports. Still, it will take some time for most of us to get use fighting against these decks.


Now enough of Gold Paladins and Narukami. Tomorrow is the Booster Draft for BT11 and I definitely can't wait to get my hands on them, even if it's just 6 packs! A week after, Booster 11 will be officially released. Of course I'm aiming for Kagero units, mainly the Seal Dragons and Dauntless Drive Dragon. Dauntless Drive with Lawkeeper sounds fun but Flare Whip Dragon will definitely be more trolling.


Still, one day after the release of BT11, it'll be the qualifiers for the World Championships in Singapore. From the looks of the trends, most players will be going Dauntless Drive + DOTE, Aqua Force, Angel Feather and Tachikaze, seeing as these clans will be getting huge support as well as Bermuda Triangle. As for what I'll be using, I'm still undecided. I'm aiming to either use Shadow Paladin Ildona or Spike Brothers, but my gut feeling is saying otherwise. Most probably I'll be following what my instincts tells me to do on that day. But I'm quite pissed off at Bushiroad for postponing BT10 to December. My Bad End Dragger!!!! T^T

In my previous post for Weiss Schwarz Project Diva F, I mentioned having 3 decks. This too was touted another deck with combo rarely used or never seen before that veteran players was surprise with or other Project Diva F users never thought of. This deck is my very first deck that I build after getting myself the booster boxes using Red and Blue.

A few players that borrowed the deck says it's not that easy to use. I have to agree a little on that. This deck relies a bit of combo when you're still at level one, but as long as you know how to use what cards you have efficiently, it is quite straight forward. But one of the most often comment I get is the deck doesn't have any change cards (from G2 to G3) or cards that recover damage. This is quite true as for Project Diva F, both Red and Blue cards have no change or cards that recover that one damage. Still, I do find it powerful enough that such skills can be neglected, albeit good to have.

Now enough with my rants and on to the deck list!

Level 0:

• 2 x Kagamine Len "Bad Boy"
• 4 x Hatsune Miku "Solitude"
• 2 x Hatsune Miku "Memoria"
• 1 x "Endless Singing" Hatsune Miku
• 3 x Hatsune Miku "Rin-chan Love Squad No.1"
• 2 x Megurine Luka "SW Resort Bikini"
• 2 x MEIKO "SW Long Pareo"

Oracle Think Tank used to be a clan dominating tournaments left and right in Japan with Tsukuyomi standing and the forefront, until BT10 was introduced and OTT getting overshadowed by a new clan, Genesis. I have been using OTT for quite sometime, but not too long. I only started using them after EB05, Celestial Valkyries, introduced the Battle Sisters archetype. I couldn't be bothered with the Tsukuyomi build since it's just too common, and during that time, not many was interested in Battle Sisters so I got the cards I needed for rather cheap too. Amaterasu wasn't fun either and I don't really like playing crossrides anyways.

Now where was I, ah yes, Magus. There was an initial hype for the archetype but again, players are more inclined towards powerful clans like Link Joker and Narukami, and therefore, died down a week or two after their release. I do find Magus a strong clan, though in my opinion, needs a bit more of a support. They are powerful as it is, don't get me wrong, but I do love having some options to add on.

The purpose of a Magus deck is to increase both hand size and power, and at the same time, plan ahead. It does requires some luck and skill you will need to know the right timing of using each unit's effects. Still, each player's play style is different so different strategies may work as well. There are good and bad. Good thing about the deck is that you know what cards are coming up next, bad thing is, your opponent knows what card or triggers you'll get too so you have to keep this in mind. Now on to the deck list!

Grade 0: 17 units

• 1 x Battle Sister Eclair (Starting Vanguard)
• 4 x Lozenge Magus (Heal Trigger)
• 3 x Battle Sister Tiramisu (Draw Trigger)
• 4 x Battle Sister Ginger (Critical Trigger)
• 4 x Psychic Bird (Critical Trigger)
• 1 x Oracle Guardian Nike (Critical Trigger)

What!? An update so quick!? Is the sky falling!? No, sky is not falling and I'm updating cause there's some free time in my hand. This time around, there's videos!! Now here's the bad news...the quality is bad. Not too bad, but still, bad. The sound is not as great and is a bit soft and all, so you may have to put up the volume of your headphones or speakers. Just a simple disclaimer, the one doing the unboxing isn't me; I'm the lousy camera man and the items here are my friend's.

With much said and done, I'm sad to say I couldn't make it. Despite giving my all I lost very early during the tournament. I wanted to post about my experience last week, but I decided skip that for now since work has piled up after my return from Kuala Lumpur. I was pretty confident I can make it far but didn't expect to be booted out in the 2nd round.

Preparation was all good. My Spike Brothers deck performed well before the tournament and everything seems good, except for my luck.  My first match was against Gold Paladin Platina build. Not so surprising here. I took a deep breath, shuffle the deck and cut my opponent's deck in 2. He did the same. Then I draw my first 5 cards...my hand was shockingly bad; 3 critical triggers, a heal trigger and a High Speed Brakki. I kept Brakki in hand and mulligan the rest of the cards. After having the deck shuffled and cut, I drew 4 cards...which consists of a Marilyn, a critical trigger, a heal trigger and a Juggernaut Maximum.

It was a...quick match. My opponent superior ride to Ezel and hit me left and right. I couldn't drive check triggers either as I keep drawing them to hand and I couldn't get attackers out on the field either. My opponent got himself all the triggers giving me a hard time guarding as well. Despite all the guarding and struggling, I ended up losing. My opponent gives a smirk for the easy win and started acting all high and mighty. I packed up and simply left.

After the first match was over, we head on to the second one. I say this match was good of Scarlet Witch vs Dudley. My first hand was bad...4 triggers and a Marilyn. I mulligan everything and ended up with pretty much my ideal hand; 2 Field Drillers, 1 Dudley Emperor, a Wonder Boy and a Medical Manager. I started first, a good sign. On my turn, I drew a Panzer Gale, which is a another good sign. Rode Medical Manager, opt not to soul charge and attacked and drive checked a critical trigger. Looks like this match is going to be good.

I rushed him at G2 with Field Driller as the vanguard, another field driller on the side and Panzer Gale boosted with Tiara. Everything went well but somehow, I wasn't able to trigger much. During that match, I managed to drive check triggers only 3 or 4 times. Sad to say, I lost the match, but it was a good and refreshing one despite the loss. I congratulate my opponent and gave him a handshake.

With my chance now over, waited for the next few events - the free fights for Vanguard and Weiss Schwarz and tag team tournament! I managed to bag myself a Creeping Dark Goat, which I now use in my Shadow Paladin deck, and some WS promos. Tag team tournament went well, with my team mate and I bagging the wins easily. I was also quite surprise that a foil card is available in the PR pack (not mine, someone else's) as well as getting a Dudley Emperor sleeves in the lucky draw. I took some pictures for everyone to enjoy, just don't count on the quality.

With the 3rd qualifiers for Asia-Oceania starting in 3 days, I'm psyched up. I'll be travelling out of my home country, heading to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the big day. I will try to bring home some pictures to your viewing pleasure, but don't count on the camera being that good. Of course, I'll try my best to get qualified! For those going there as well, I hope to see you as well!

Wait, what!? An update so soon!? Well, I found time to put an update, so why not? Today, I'm going talk about Shadow Paladins. Now wipe that surprised look on your face. I know I said non-meta the last time, but I said non-meta units, which means cards that you don't see in the competitive scene. Shadow Paladin may be called a "meta" clan, but the main cards I used in the deck, well, not so meta.

Another day, another post since my last one. While I was contemplating on what kind of things to post next, almost two months have passed and...nothing? Well, this time around rather than my usual ramblings on Cardfight!! Vanguard, I have decided to write about another card game that I'm playing; Weiss Schwarz.

To be honest, I started WS as soon as Project Diva F trial deck was released in March after all that waiting and then continued on with expending the deck once the booster boxes is out. Some touted the whole Project Diva F series as weak while others say it's okay, but not that competitive. I can't really comment on that much since I simply play WS for fun. Still, I did manage to beat some tournament decks with this series.

I have 3 Project Diva F decks, all with different themes and styles. Out of the three, I have received quite a number of praises from veteran players since they are quite unique builds that they have never seen before for the two of them. As for the other one, I was told it is a unique build by itself, but it's not that original since there are others who have build something similar. For now, I shall introduce my Yellow-Red deck which I named "Rin-chan bait and switch!" I've highlighted their names in colors so that you can identify which color group they belong to.

Level 0:

• 2 x Kagamine Len "Bad Boy"
• 4 x Hatsune Miku "Solitude"
• 2 x Kagamine Len "Tricker"
• 2 x Kagamine Len "Append"
• 2 x Kagamine Rin "Future Style"
• 4 x Hatsune Miku "Rin-chan Love Squad No.1"

With the release of EB06, Dazzling Divas, as well as the first booster sets that introduces the new Break Ride units for the English community. Many players that regards Bermuda Triangle as a "not competitive" clan jump right into the boat that I tutted to myself when their explanation as to "why" was simply because, the clan is now more imba and can guarantee them wins. Yes, a big facepalm from me indeed.

I have been playing with Bermuda Triangle since EB02 was out, deciding to go for the Raindear built since it can be considered competitive as well as powerful if played correctly. But like many others, since an better units have been introduced, I know that it is time for an upgrade.

After play testing a couple of decks, I noticed I had compatibility issues with the Labrador built. It just doesn't 'click' with me that well and I always got into a bout of misplays. Not sure how, not sure why...it just didn't work. After lots of tweaking and testing, Labrador still failed me and I went back to the drawing board. I looked through my collection of EB02 and EB06 cards and it then hit me; why not a build a deck that nobody uses and is still consistent and powerful enough to actually hit hard, and pressure hard.

And that is how I built my Aurora Star, Coral deck. Some says she's so good, while some says she's okay, but not great. But after building and lots of testing on some builds, I find she is more consistent than Labrador had been to me and more fun too. Now let the booing be heard and all, but I was even more surprised when someone mentioned my deck build was quite similar to one of those that topped in the open team tournament though I did noticed some difference but most likely, both of us had similar ideas.

Now without more procrastination, here's my deck list! Trigger line up can be...irritating, but it does confuses my opponent!

Grade 0: 17 units

• 1 x Angelic Star, Coral (First Vanguard)
• 1 x Heartful Ale, Fundy (Draw Trigger)
• 1 x Drive Quartet, Bubblin (Draw Trigger)
• 1 x PRISM-Miracle, Adria (Draw Trigger)
• 1 x Cooking Caspi (Draw Trigger)
• 2 x Gunslinger Star, Florida (Critical Trigger)
• 2 x Drive Quartet, Shuplu (Critical Trigger)
• 2 x Comical Rainie (Critical Trigger)
• 2 x PRISM-Miracle, Canary (Critical Trigger)
• 2 x Drive Quartet, Flows (Heal Trigger)
• 2 x PRISM-Miracle, Timor (Heal Trigger)

Spike Brothers, one of the best clans out there is quite fairly underrated. Okay, I won't exactly say underrated but more of underused in the tournament scene is more likely the word that we are looking for. I've been playing with Spike Brothers in tournaments since the day BT02 was out with General Seifried and is a clan that complements my play style completely. After EB03 was released, Spike Brothers has shown a whole new rush  play style that puts many clans on their knees with Dudley Emperor. Attacking 5 to 9 times is possible, though the 9 times is only in theory and extremely difficult to pull off. They are also the clan that can push your opponent with early pressure, forcing them to guard and use up their hands early or getting them to 3 or 4 damage before they even ride a Grade 3, being able to hit for the 6th damage on turn 3 even with you shouting "Touchdown!!!!" with great pride.

For those who know me personally - I'm an avid Spike Brothers user. Wherever I go, I definitely will bring along my Spike Brothers deck with me in case I feel like having a quick match. I'm proud to say that many players who sees me after our first meeting will remember me as the "Spike Brothers guy". I mean, who wouldn't if you're one of that 2 or 3 players in the area the only ones playing Spike Brothers, and is pretty damn good at it by beating top teared decks easily.

This is the clan that managed to let me qualify for the Team League Regional Qualifier. Sadly, I only managed to survive up to the 4th round during the qualifier and 3rd round for the open qualifier. Still, managed to one off all the crossrides and by turn 4 on all accounts feels darn good.

Spike Brothers are one of those decks that I always tweak. They never stay the same. Cards used in the deck yesterday has been changed to something else today. Lots of testing, tryouts, winning and losses, heck even tears were shed. Most deck recipes online isn't exactly my play style and don't give much pressure to opponents. It may work for them, but it fall flat when I tried them. Tried so many things, combinations and tactics - nothing worked. But after so many tests, brain raking, headaches and shop tournament losses, I managed to finally come out with a deck that not only pressures, but lets you win by turn 4 and at most 6.

Here's a deck list that I made after multitude of considerations and tests. It instilled fear to my opponents when they are at 4 to 5 damage and you attacking them 5 times. This build also allows me to address Spike Brothers' biggest concern; small hand size. Imagine having more than 10 cards in hand with Spike Brothers and a beautiful full field. Yes, this happened plenty times before and I'm proud to point that out. Without further ado, here's the deck list.

Grade 0: 17 units

• 1 x Mecha Trainer (First Vanguard)
• 4 x Cheerful Lynx (Draw Trigger)
• 4 x Sonic Breaker (Critical Trigger)
• 4 x Silence Joker (Critical Trigger)
• 4 x Cheer Girl, Tiara (Heal Trigger)