Stand and Draw: Card game rants and experiences

Looks like the date for Wixoss booster 7 is out and is set to be released on the 23rd May and it comes with many new terms such as Resona Signi, Cross and Heaven. I'm going to talk about these new skills and comment on them as much as I can, although for now, there isn't much information available.


Resona Signi


First up, is Resona Signi. Simply put, it's a Signi you put in your LRIG deck. But you can't just put any Signi you like in there. Unlike a Signi card, it has a white backing and and border, similar to your LRIG. Of course like other Signis, you're still restricted to what level and cost your LRIG have. You can only play this Signi when certain conditions are met, however, whatever condition it was wasn't mentioned. Is it like Vanguard's Stride? Or the condition is simply the text on the card itself? For now, I'm assuming it's the latter. It could be played like Mecury (image below) where you put 3 <Space> Signi which is not Resona into trash and call this card out from the LRIG deck to the field. When they leave the field, instead of going to the LRIG trash or ener, they return to the LRIG deck instead.

I find Resona Signi kinda nice although, it may take up ARTS space that is is already tight if one were to play until Level 5. I'm assuming that Resona Signi is probably meant to take up that Level 5 space but it could still be played with Level 5 decks for builds that does not actually need too much ARTS.


Cross


Cross is another mechanic appearing on new Signi cards. My very first impression when I saw this mechanic was "Whoa, this is just like Vanguard's legion!" I know Vanguard is not the only card game that can have two cards in a slot but I only know of Vanguard so sue me. So anyways, Cross Signis needs to be paired with specific signis (Just like Legion and its mate). The card that is needed to Cross itself is mentioned on either one or both of the Signis. When Cross is active, so is any skill that is needed Cross via (X 常) that is written on the card. Of course there may be cards where the Signi will have both Cross skills and non-Cross skills but again, this is merely speculation on my side. Apart from simply having two cards in the same field for Cross, we're assuming the positioning for the Signis are important as well. That means that if Cock on the third column of the Signi zone and Heckler is on the middle column, Cross is not activated. If Cock is on the first column of the Signi zone and Heckler in on the third column and there's another Signi that is not Cock in the middle column, Cross is not activated. If Cock is on the first column and Heckler is on the middle column, Cross is activated. Still, this is just an assumption as there is not much information for how cross is activated when on the field.

Cross is definitely like a high powered play and a good skill to add in. I kinda wish there's more information Takara Tomy can reveal to us but probably we'll have to wait till May for more news?

Heaven


Cross also includes another skill which is Heaven. You can see at the top of both cards that there's a half a logo. Only Cross Signis will have Heaven and is only activated when both cards are in the "down" state. The logo on top will make into the Heaven logo. With the example of Cock and Heckler, when both are down, it's now in Heaven. You can pay 1 Red ener to crush 1 of your opponent's Life Cloth. Now, apart from that scary looking Heaven's skill, it's not sure whether the skill can only be used once or can be used indefinitely as long as they're both in heaven as the ability states "as long as the Signi is in Heaven state". If there's no limit, you can just keep paying 1 Red and crush all of your opponent's Life Cloths till they have nothing left. Which could be too over-powered in my opinion.

I believe Takara Tomy may put restrictions on Heaven in the rulings, else I can just use a card skill to down myself and shotgun ahead with 7 Reds. It could be there when the Signis goes in Heaven state, you can use the ability in that instant, but hey, I could be wrong. There isn't much information to pull up for now. Again, we may have to wait for more news in the near future.

Personally, I think that Takara Tomy may have introduced too many new skills and gimmicks at once. Now it makes me wonder what new things will be in store for Booster 10 onwards.


Source: @wixoss_hanayo

And it's finally time for Fortune Selector!! Okay, I wanted to write about it before the booster is out but I've decided to put it off and post it with the unboxing videos. Yes, this is going to be a rant, meaningful or not, is completely your decision; I just want to get it out of my systems.

Firstly, I'm glad we're still getting more stuff for Wixoss. But I am quite disappointed with what was released in Fortune Selector and it's targeted mainly at the common cards. Head to the Wiki and look through the list. So what did you see? If you didn't see much stuff, then you're not looking hard enough. Here's a hint - all of the common Signi cards are cards with trait power-up effect aka "If you have another <trait> in the field, this Signi's power is XXXX.".

Yup, it's just that for ALL colours. I get that some of these traits needed them, like red's Ore or green's Beast. If these cards are released in Booster 7(?), I'd be more than happy to welcome them but in Booster 6 where slots are limited since set has only 56 odd slots, you would expect to see something better. I get that it's a supplementary booster to Booster 4 and 5 but Booster 3 have a much better pool of card for the commons and a number of these cards are staples in many decks. Now I just hope booster 7 has a much better outcome.

Secondly, the point exchange. For those who didn't know, Singapore can exchange the points they get from buying packs for foiled promo cards (look for point campaign remarks). Collect 100 points and you can change them for one of them shiny promos. It's all good and dandy when you printed out the form and was told to cut out the points and paste them. Then, drop it off to at any Wixoss supporting card shop and they'll send over the points to the supplier who will send it over to Takara Tomy Japan. The process takes about a few weeks as it involves waiting for the cards to be delivered to Singapore and back to the store.

Turns out, there are some, sorry to say this, idiots out there who think they are being extremely smart by PHOTOCOPYING the points and pasting them on the form. It wasn't officially mentioned (I may be wrong. If there is a source, direct me to it please) by Genesis Frontier (the supplier who got Wixoss in SG) but it was mentioned by a few card shops I visit for Wixoss stuff that was doing the points exchange as well. They were told not to collect any points for the time being and was instructed to tell the players not to cut out and paste the points onto the form, and instead, just pass the stack of points with the forms and written details. Apparently, after the points was delivered to Japan, there was an outrage by Takara Tomy that there was lots of fake points coming in from Singapore. Another thing to note of is that there is a limited number of Wixoss cases that was officially shipped to Singapore by Takara Tomy and they were overwhelmed that the points they received from Singapore was more than what was shipped to Singapore. They had to scan through each forms and check the point cut outs to separate the legit filled forms from the fake ones. The shops that I wanted to exchange with said they can't accept any points for now until Genesis gives them the green light for it again.


Seriously, for those who are planning on photocopying the points and exchanging them for the promos, don't be a smartass and do that, please. You're making it hard for us legit point collectors to exchange them. If people still decide to continue "cheating" the system, Takara Tomy may just announce "Hey look, we gave you a chance to get the promos, fooling me once was fine but second and third time? Know what? We're scrapping the point exchange for you guys. Nope, no promos for you!". That may just happen and who knows, Takara Tomy may decide to not export Wixoss again to Singapore or any other country.

So you've been playing Vanguard for an extremely long time, be it during its first inception in either both the English or Japanese meta game. You may have just started yesterday or a even a couple of weeks before. But have you ever take a look at your deck and think "Have I mastered this deck?"

Mastering a deck isn't about playing hundreds of time with the same deck over and over again. You can play that deck a thousand times and still have yet to master it. The best way to master it is to learn how the deck function as you play it and ask yourself questions along the way. Look at a card's skill, then think if what it can combo with another card in the deck, field or hand. Can you do a chain combo? Will that combo puts me into an advantageous situation down the road or just for that instance but it may cause me the game later on.

Then there's also the timing to use a skill. Let's say you're at 5 damage and your opponent is at 3. Should you break ride now or wait for another turn? Ask yourselves - How is my opponent doing? How many cards is in his hands and did he have a null guard during his checks and has he used it yet? How is my field and hand working out? While many "professional" players may think this is a basic thought process, I may have to actually disagree. I have seen lots of players, be it beginners, intermediates or experienced players, making lots of mistakes. It can be a simple one like not calling out a card (let's say you play Kagero and have  Perdition Dragon Knight, Ilham in hand) to the field first before performing Legion. It can also be not guarding early in the early game when your opponent attacks for 13k and you're a 9k vanguard while having a 10k shield trigger in hand. You can just guard for a no trigger pass with that.


To put it simply, mastering a decks is knowing the ins and outs of your decks. Know its particular strengths and weaknesses and see how you can exploit them to your favour. It may take time depending on the particular deck builds and clans. It's also best to try out other deck builds and clans as well for a feel for it. Knowing how a different clans or deck plays like will also help when playing against that similar deck or clan and you would know what combos to pull off for the win.

"So I tried to go to your store, and I'm seeing your blog! What gives!?". The domain will now point to this blog, and will probably stay that way. Update: Well, looks like the domain is gone.

Well, that it. I've closed the store, a day earlier than planned. Many thanks to all supporters out there who had helped me come this far. I do wish I had the time and resources to do up a more professional store but alas, despite all the planning, that idea was scrapped. I had wanted each card's translation to be reflected in the item's  description among others as well as high resolution scanned images for the cards, especially for the Japanese version card games. It may seem trivial but when I buy a card online, I personally rather have the translation on the card's page itself rather than having to go to the wikia for translation and I believe most of us would rather see that piece of info on the same page.

As mentioned in my previous post, the lack of time and resources (namely manpower), as well as shipping cost was one of the major factor that lead to my decision in closing the store. Once again, thank you for your support and I hope you'll still continue to follow my blog! Happy card gaming!

After giving it some thoughts, I've decided to close down the store. Although it has only been 8 months, there are too much commitment in real life that I'm unable to update the store (and even the blog) as regularly as I'd love to. There's lots of items to add in; from Wixoss booster 5 and trial decks, Japanese Weiss Schwarz, both English and Japanese Vanguard to the much needed updates for Ange Vierge and Level Neo. Sadly, there's only one of me and I can't really outsource for external help.

Another deciding factor was shipping costs. Throughout some feedback from a few customers, their main complaint was that shipping can be too expensive for a single card. Even with registered shipment, the shipping and handling fee can go up to $6. So if the card they are looking for is $5 and shipping is $6, it becomes quite a turn off. Not forget to mention the duration of the shipment. While the post office claims it'll take 5 to 10 working days to reach its destination, it may take 3 to 4 weeks for it to actually reach. Fedex, DHL, EMS and the likes are way too expensive for a single shipment as their minimum weight rate is capped at 500 grams, which costs about $30 for one shipment. So imagine shipping out a card that is only 10 grams in total with bubble mailer and top loaders and having to pay $30 for shipping. Well, let's throw that idea out the window shall we?

So when exactly the store will close? Welp, we're closing on the 31st January 2015, which incidentally is a month later. Well, it's sudden but it can't be help. So any orders from 31st Jan will be cancelled and payment returned. I won't be adding in more items to the store during this period.

Now what will happen to this really empty blog? It'll stay the same. Probably with the store closed down, there would be more time for me to finally put up more contents. The URL will probably just revert back to the blogger address.

Will I ever re-open the store again? Depends. But the chances are quite slim.

I've updated the prices for WIXOSS booster sets 1 and 2 as well as more stocks added in. Not much differences but you may have noticed the foil cards are steadily dwindling down in price and has stabilized mostly. And yes, I finally got off my lazy butt to upload the images for each cards as well! So long to those "Now printing" images!

I am saddened to announce that WIXOSS booster set 3 will be slightly delayed for one or two days however. The prices are spiking up and down a little as various stores across Japan having slightly different prices by a large margin as well. I expect for the price to settle down within one or two days though.

Ninja update: Prices seems to have stabilized. WIXOSS booster set 3 have been added in to the store!

Visit the webstore now!

I apologize for not updating for too long. No, it's that I'm lazy. I literally have no time to do any updates as I've been doing lots of overtime work in real life, working 6 days 12 hours shift a week. I did take a few unboxing videos (Ange Vierge Chapter 4 and Project Diva F 2nd) but I have yet to upload those. I have some free time these few days but I hope the lazy bug didn't get me.

For now, I'm just here to announce that there have been major price update for WIXOSS. The market price over in Japan have stabilize and the updates have been done to reflect them. From what I heard, the price have been stabilize for about two weeks but I delayed a little in case there was another unforeseen fluctuation. You'd be glad to see cards that used to cost more than $20 is now just about $10 odd. Well, except for Three Out which is has increased to $12 despite being just a common card (and I heard it may still increase some more). For those who are sceptical about the prices, I'm using Bigweb and Card Kingdom as a reference, which most players and shops in Singapore are using for Japanese singles. Head down to the store and get those cards that you've been itching to get!

I wasn't able to actually complete translating the rule book, but no fret! For those who would like to play or try Level NEO and have no idea how to play it can look at a step by step tutorial at a blog called The Draw Phase by Some Guy. You may need to take a glance at the rule book for some of the parts, like the card types for cross references.

I really appreciate that he took the time to make the tutorial. Double thumbs up to him!

Phew, it has been a month since I last updated...now where do I begin...Firstly, I apologize (again) for not updating much. Work has been extremely crazy that I didn't have much time for Vanguard or blog updates. It's a Sunday and I'm still busy working too but as I am writing this, I have already finished quite a bulk of things.

Initially, I wanted to use two different blogs; one simply for my rants, deck recipes and videos (yup this blog!) and another one for updates on the store. I realized then that having two blogs is a pain and decided to use this blog and twitter for both.

While my job have been pulling me away from playing TCGs, I do find at least 2 or 3 hours to play some games to unwind once a week. I mentioned busy, but I was busy on two ends, my real life job and of course updates for the webstore. So here are a few updates on the store end!

1. Just added in more cards for Cardfight!! Vanguard, such as Trans-core Dragon or more Eradicator units. Also some EB09 Kagero cards as well from the booster draft!
2. Search optimization!! Now you can simply search for the clans you need instead of jumping all over the place, scrolling through the booster sets and getting frustrated. To be honest, this took me a couple of hours to finish. Update: May need a little bit more optimization. Eg, if you search "genesis" you get nothing but if you search "Genesis" you get something. Will fix this in due time.
3. Follow me on twitter! Posting updates on the blog, webstore and of course some random stuff! I'll be tweeting some of the box opening pictures for EB08 and EB09 this Friday Singapore time! (This will be a Thursday for those living in the west :D)
4. Got a new scanner! Some pictures added in for those with blank images. While I can simply grab an image for Vanguard on the Wikia, I rather scan my own images for quality purposes. Of course another reason is that some of the TCGs I carry doesn't have good images hi-res off the web. WIXOSS and Weiss Schwarz are such examples.
5. Blog have moved to a new domain! If you noticed, your address bar is now showing http://blog.standanddrawtcg.com. The old link will still be used, but it will simply redirect itself here.

I believe that should be about all the updates I did. I am not so sure when the next update will be (apart 6th June). Hopefully I can update more frequently soon :D.

I quite frustrated with ebay. Too many restrictions and issues that I've made a decision 2 weeks ago to might as well start an eStore. And now, two weeks later, the store is now up and running! There are a few kinks left to fix, mainly;

1. Paypal only payment. I know paypal sucks but because of location issue I can only accept paypal. Looking to other modes of payment though
2. Older cards (pre BT12) won't be stocked up, unless I managed to find some.

For now, I only have Cardfight!! Vanguard up. But I will be adding in more TCGs to the list such as Weiss Schwarz, Ange Vierge and Sieg Krone among others. That's about it for today. For those reading, I do hope you spread the word around!

A couple of months back, a new skill, Legion, was announced together with the new Trial Decks for Narukami and Royal Paladin. There is still not much info though. But if you are interested to see a glimpse of what Legion is all about, you can still view the preview info below (skip to 38:20 if you just want to hear about Legion)

As mentioned, there wasn't much info on Legion except it is when your Vanguard and another "mate" rearguard is in the field and they gain a certain effect. The cards will also have combined artwork. Their attack power are also combined, making attacks go up to 20k, but only during attack and not defend. Other than these few info, there wasn't much info yet.

Now imagine Legion mixed in with Break Rides. Yeah...I believe we may have some fun time ahead of us. So far from the revealed cards, the Legion units does not have Limit Break but this could possibly be combined to add in more abilities. Bushiroad may even decide to have Limit Break Legion units in the near future, who knows.

As for the many possibilities of Legion, I'm already assuming that Bushiroad may expand Legion to use 3 units in the future, but this may most likely be geared towards main clans like Royal Paladin and Narukami, leaving smaller clans in the dust yet again.

A new TCG will be releasing in April 25th 2014 titled Level NEO. It's a joint venture between Movic and Ensky who are the TCG makers of Prism Connect and Precious Memories. The new TCG will be making used of anime characters as used in Precious Memories and Prism Connect as well as other TCGs like Weiss Schwarz and Sieg Krone.

So far, Level NEO has announce 4 series, Garden of Sinners: Gospel in the Future, Wake Up Girls!, World Conquest Zvezda Plot and The Irregular at Magic High School which will air in April. All series announced are famous series and may attract players to the TCG.

The trial decks for Garden of Sinners: Gospel in the Future, Wake Up Girls! and World Conquest Zvezda Plot are set to be released in April 25 at about 535jpy each according to webstore Amiami. Most likely just for the first release as according to their road map in the rule book, the trial deck will cost 1200jpy each with booster pack cost 330jpy. They have stated on the release dates of the boosters with 23rd May for Garden of Sinners, 27th June for Wake Up Girls and 25th July for World Conquest Zvezda Plot. No dates for The Irregular at Magic High School but it is stated in the road map as releasing in Summer.

 
I am looking forward to this new TCG. It has this similar feeling to Vanguard and Weiss Schwarz. Personally, it does look like it has lots of potential. As for the game play itself, I have yet to see it and I am in the middle of struggling in translating the rule book (my Japanese ain't that good). Probably someone else would have it translated weeks ago by the time I finish.

Level NEO official website
Level NEO twitter
Level NEO rule book
Level NEO Tutorial (English)

The invasion of Earth and Cray has begun. Are you the Invader? Or are you the Defender? Bushiroad has announced the upcoming Team League 2014 Invasion. A fight between Void and the defenders of Cray to determine the fate of the world. The winners will decide if the world to be conquered or saved and the fight begins in April, ending in July.

A single team consists of 3 members and must decide if they are a Cray Defenders or Void Invaders and each member's decks must use a different clan. The Defenders are restricted from using any "Reverse" units or Link Joker whilst the Invaders must have at least 3 "Reverse" units in their deck or use Link Joker. For the Invaders, this means that only one player can play Link Joker, while the other two will play "Reverse" units OR all three plays "Reverse".

One thing that irks me a little was how that no distinctions made between Defenders or Invaders. To be honest, they should limit the entry for both sides and have both sides of the team duke it out though I believe Bushiroad is simply too lazy to do this or things will be messy later on.

Tournament format will be the same as all previous Cardfight!! Vanguard tournaments, mainly double elimination before top 8 and single elimination after top 8. It will be best out of one round where wins and losses are calculated by the whole team. Those who participate will get a PR card that have yet to be announced and a badge depending whether you're a Defender or Invader.


I am all psyched up for the tournament and have decided on what team to play for but I am still deciding which clan to play. Well, we shall see how it goes. What about you? Are you a Defender or Invader? And what clan will you be participating with?

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.

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.

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