Malaysia and Singapore qualifiers...and I got the same number too!
Let me get on for the Vanguard qualifiers on Saturday 26th October. After much consideration, I've decided to use Seal Dragon for the tournament. After lots of play testing the deck worked like a charm, pressuring and controlling my opponent's field with ease. I wasn't able to use Flare Whip as planned since I wasn't able to borrow the Dauntless Drive Dragon that I needed. Spike Brothers was in my consideration list and one way or another, it kept failing from one match to another. No triggers. grade stuck, bad hands...you name it. At the same time, the current Spike Brothers is unable to fight toe to toe with the new support from BT11.
My first match was against Angel Feather. I can't remember the fine details but my opponent panicked a few times and made a couple of mistakes that I exploited. My opponent was supposed to be able to block the damage, but forgot all about the Million Ray Pegasus on the side he can use to intercept. During the last moment, he guarded for 2 pass. I managed to get a double trigger - a stand and heal, which I pass all to Jacquard. He guarded my other rearguard, but didn't guard Jacquard since he thought he only have 10k to guard. At the end of the match, he face palmed himself after taking the final hit and looking at the field, after which he revealed a 10k guard in hand together with 2 grade 3s.
Freebies!! Same as in Malaysia.
Second match was against Kagero, Dauntless-Dote. My hand, was exceptionally bad. My hand consists of 2 G3, 2 G2 and 1 G1...and here's the best part, of all cards, the G1 was Seal Dragon Chambray. And because of that, boy my opponent ripped me up to shreds. I got killed before I managed to ride to G3, so 'nuff said.
Third match was almost a breeze. Fought against Narukami that was a mishmash of random cards. One way or another he will always get a trigger each turn, causing me to suffer a little. Of course being the good samaritan that I am, I used Corduroy to destroy his G1s and forcing his G2 out behind his units. After lots of blasting away his units, it came to a point where he have a few cards left in the deck. Still, I didn't win due to him decking out, but due to a bad mistake on his part.
The match that kicked me out of the tournament for good was against Gold Paladin. My hand was exceptionally great. I can crossride and attack. But things looked extremely grim as well. One way or another, my opponent will get a trigger during his damage or drive check while I get...nope, no trigger here. This happens for a while and I had to pray for a heal at the last moment. Nope, no heal either. What about the seventh damage...there ya go - a heal trigger.
I've decided to hang around for awhile for the free fight. Got myself a second Dark Goat, hanged around and took picture for a custom card. Played with some of the players of my group that was unfortunate enough to be kicked out like myself and a few other things.
Now the next news came in as a surprise. One of my friend actually managed to get 2nd place in the qualifiers with his newly built Celestial deck. Pics or it did not happen? His certificate below! Congrats Ken and Happy Birthday!
Congrats Ken!!
Random Rant: Singapore Cardfight!! Vanguard Qualifier
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.
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.
Box Opening: Cardfight!! Vanguard Booster 11
Roar!! I'm Dragonic Overlord, the star of this show!! Wha..? I no longer am!!?
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.
Kagero used to be an extremely strong contender before BT10 was released for the Japanese game but many has abandoned it for the much stronger Narukami, Shadow Paladin and Link Joker. As for the English side of things, I suspect the same thing may happen. So far, due to the World Championship Qualifiers in Singapore, some are looking forward to the boost for Kagero, but most of them are going along the lines of Narukami or Aqua Force.
What intrigues me the most for Kagero in BT11 was that most of the new Kagero units introduced are of the Flame Dragon race. Ah hah, I like the look on your faces that you see where I'm coming from. For those who don't understand me, here's a quick explanation. Flare Whip Dragon is a card from Promo Pack 5. Its ability is wicked. By himself, he can attack for 16k without much effort. The reason why is that for every Kagero Flame Dragon unit that he drive checked, he gains 3k power. So by simply drive checking two flame dragon units, he gets 16k easily and with triggers, 26k. While he was considered bad initially, with BT11, his value shot up a little. So with a deck filled with Flame Dragons, you definitely will mess up your opponent's ability to calculate how much he needs to guard. Now on to the deck profile!
Grade 0: 17 units
- 1 x Lizard Soldier, Conroe (Starting vanguard)
- 3 x Blue Ray Dracokid (Critical trigger)
- 4 x Seal Dragon Biera (Critical trigger)
- 4 x Gattling Claw Dragon (Draw trigger)
- 1 x Seal Dragon Artpitch (Draw trigger)
- 4 x Seal Dragon Shading (Heal Trigger)
Grade 1: 14 units
- 2 x Iron Tail Dragon
- 3 x Seal Dragon Rinocross (Perfect guard)
- 4 x Seal Dragon Kersey
- 3 x Seal Dragon Flennel
- 2 x Embodiment of Armor Bahr
Grade 2: 11 units
- 3 x Seal Dragon Corduroy
- 2 x Berserk Dragon
- 4 x Seal Dragon Hunger Hell Dragon
- 2 x Bellicosity Dragon
Grade 3: 8 units
- 4 x Dauntless Drive Dragon
- 4 x Flare Whip Dragon
What the hey!? I thought this is a Flame Dragon deck! Well... it is! Conroe is one of the best starter for this deck, since he can filter your deck for a booster. You will also notice I have Bahr in there as well. After a few rounds of testing, a full Flame Dragon Flare Whip deck have a big weakness - the lack of 8k vanillas. One of the main reason why I use Conroe so that he can filter out Bahr to prevent you from drive checking at least one of them.
With most of the units hitting mostly 16k and 17k and only 4 units having a chance of hitting 18k himself that is Dauntless Drive, a Flame Dragon deck can't hit crossrides for big. With Bahr, at the very least you now have about 12 units hitting 18k to force a 10k guard from crossrides. But if you do want to play a full Flame Dragon deck, that is fine too, but I suggest simply hitting their rearguards away to pressure them fully.
Not much to say about this deck. It's pretty straight forward too. So far testings show it's a strong contender against quite a number of decks when played correctly but it still does take a bit of planning ahead while playing.
Deck Analysis: Kagero (Dauntless Flare Dragon)
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.
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.
Box Opening: Weiss Schwarz Devil Survivor 2
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.
Random Rants: Over support? Under support? Or barely enough?
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
Random Rants: Break Time!! - Vanguard Trial Deck 8 & 9 and Booster 11
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"
Level 1:
- 3 x KAITO "Guilty"
- 3 x Megurine Luka "Soft Light Coordination"
- 3 x MEIKO "Noel Rouge"
- 2 x Hatsune Miku "Dark Angel"
Level 2:
- 1 x Megurine Luka "San no Sakura: Maple Scent"
- 3 x Megurine Luka "Amour"
- 2 x Megurine Luka "Ruby"
- 1 x Hatsune Miku "Emerald"
- 2 x MEGANE (Event)
Level 3:
Climax:
- 4 x ACUTE
- 4 x World's End Dance Hall
This deck is pretty much straight forward if you know what goes with what. Level 0 is quite similar to my Rin-chan bait-n-switch deck so I won't actually go into much depth for it.
Level 1 relies mainly on Luka and KAITO. KAITO Guilty has the ability to search for Luka Amour and Miku Innocent when you play together with his climax combo, ACUTE. I only play Amour as Innocent is quite costly to keep in the field, despite being a 10k card at Level 2. At the same time, KAITO will gain 2500 power. MEIKO Noel Rouge is your booster, where she gains 500 boost for every support card in the field. So if you have two of her, both MEIKO will be 1000 boosters. Soft Light Luka is your encore card and Dark Angel Miku is your counter card.
All of my level 2s are red cards. As mentioned before, Luka Amour can be searched with KAITO Guilty climax combo. Her ability to gain 500 power for every music character in the field when you call her out, making her a one turn 10k attacker, which is usually enough to catch most opponents off guard. Next, to another climax combo cards, Luka Ruby and Miku Emerald are your Level 2 combo with World's End Dance Hall. Luka Ruby's ability to force a damage by paying 1 stock can be good for end games, especially when your opponent is at level 3 with six damage. Miku Emerald helps you salvage a character card in the Waiting Room if you need something to defend with later, like grabbing that Maple Scent Luka you used earlier on. MEGANE is another salvage card where you can search your waiting room for 2 of them better character cards.
There isn't much to say about Level 3. Sadly, these 2 cards are the only viable options we have. But don't look down on them. KAITO MEIKO Original have a sweet second ability. While their first ability only triggers during your opponent's turn, where they gain 2000 power for defense, their second ability allows you to increase your hand size. Just attacking, reveal top card for a music character and put to hand before you do your trigger checks. The ability also comes with no cost so it's mostly a plus. Original Luka is another good card that at times overlooked. While her power gain of 1000 when you have 3 other music character is okay. her second ability to -1 soul on the opposite character is quite good against those big soul attackers. Her beauty shines with the 3rd ability. By paying 1 stock when you reversed your opponent's character, you can choose a card in the waiting room and put it on top of the library. I find this ability quite good in a sense it often lessens the chance of your opponent cancelling the damage you do.
My climax cards consists of ACUTE, which deals additional 2 souls when triggered, as well as a climax combo for KAITO Guilty and World's End Dance Hall that allows you to salvage a card from the Waiting Room and also a climax combo for Luka Ruby and Miku Emerald.
As you may have noticed, this deck plays mostly on power, surprise attacks as well as hand replenishment, ensuring you have the cards needed in hand rather easily. I say this deck is good for those who always have problems with hand size.
Deck Analysis: Project Diva F (Luka MEIKO ★ Night Fever!!)
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)
Grade 1: 14 units
- 3 x Circle Magus
- 3 x Crescent Magus
- 4 x Lipis Magus
- 4 x Tetra Magus (Perfect Guard)
Grade 2: 11 units
- 4 x Cuore Magus
- 4 x Stellar Magus
- 3 x Briolette Magus
Grade 3: 8 units
- 4 x Hexagonal Magus
- 4 x Pentagonal Magus
You will notice that I have only 3 draw triggers for my Grade 0 line up. This is because after weeks of testing with trial and errors, I tend to deck out quite easily. After I take a good look at my units, I noticed that I have plenty of units that allows me to draw quite frequently, be it Stellar+Crescent Magus or Hexagonal Magus combos. After reducing the draw trigger by 1 and increasing the number of critical triggers, things got better and I'm able to control both my hand and deck without fear of decking out. I play 9 critical triggers and boy, it pressures way too much most of the time. I get complaints I hit the criticals too much it hurts. I say this is a good sign!
All of my Grade 1 units are magus. The key Grade 1 for this deck is Crescent Magus. She may only be 6k, but she can be powerful when used at the right timing. Combo her with Stellar and Briolette Magus to net your +3k boost and a free draw. Boost her with Pentagonal Magus to guarantee that you can get that +5k and 1 crit. She's indeed a key card for the deck. The rest of the cards are self explanatory. Circle Magus allows you to look at the top card, Tetra Magus is your perfect guard while Lipis Magus is you 10k attacker.
Grade 2 was a bit of a toughie; I initially wanted to put in 2 Silent Toms, but I've decided not to. Briolette Magus is a card that will almost guarantee you a +1 if you combo her right with Stellar Magus. Stellar Magus allows you to add the card you predicted correctly to your hand. Cuore Magus is you 12k attacker, hitting 21 with Crescent Magus if you guess the top card correctly.
There isn't much choice to choose from for Grade 3. There's only 3 units, Hexagonal Magus, Pentagonal Magus and Sailand Magus. Truth be told, I like Sailand Magus' artwork. Sadly her ability is quite common and won't really combo much with the other two magus. Hexagonal Magus is your break ride unit that lets you look at the top 3 cards of your deck, add one to hand and put the rest on top at any order. This means that you literally know what triggers you are getting or what potential cards you can get with Stellar Magus. She's a good combo with Pentagonal Magus since you are guaranteed that +5k and 1 crit, forcing your opponent to either block for no pass, or a perfect guard.
That's all I have for today. I may be updating as frequently as I did for the past 2 days but it still depends on my schedule. Until next time!
Deck Analysis: Oracle Think Tank (Magi of the Future)
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.
The first video will be an unboxing of Sieg Krone trial deck, Attack on Titans. Now what is Sieg Krone? Well, it's a strategic card game, similar to chess I would say. I won't say it is fantastic as it's hyped up to be by the makers and quite a numbers of card game players says the game has too many flaws. I agree with them and I believe they may want to introduce a few rulings to make the game better. I may write up a review on Sieg Krone in the near future but first up, here's the unboxing!
Next up is Vanguard BT13 with Minivan DVD. I won't say much but do enjoy!
That's all I have to offer for today as tired bodies must rest afterall. Hopefully I can get a better camera in 2 or 3 weeks (better yet, before Vanguard BT11 is released).
Box Opening: Sieg Krone Attack on Titan and Vanguard BT13
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.
Fighter's climax 2013 sleeves!!
Freebies from the goodie bag! What!? No deck box!!?
Some scenes before tournament starts.
Promo I got from winning tag tournament
Foil promo from some other guy.
World Championship 2013 Malaysia
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!
World Championship Open Qualifiers, here I come!
Shadow Paladin has extremely lack of support as they only appear in BT04, BT05 and EB03. Still, this clan is automatically considered meta due to Phantom Blaster Overlord and he is widely used in almost all Shadow Paladin decks since he can easily be a 13k vanguard as soon as you ride him. Most PBO decks have the same deck formula and structure that I can assure you that if you have seen one PBO Deck, you've seen them all.
Now enough talk about PBO; let's talk about an alternate card that does not receive as much attention as him, Origin Mage, Ildona. Ildona plays more of a "offensive-defensive" style. Like Phantom Blaster Dragon, you need to sacrifice some of your units to use his skill. Still, you will need to know the exact timing to use it and when not to since it may cause you the game. Now then, for the much awaited deck list!
Grade 0: 17 units
- 1 x Fullbau (Starting Vanguard)
- 4 x Abyss Freezer (Draw Trigger)
- 4 x Grim Reaper (Critical Trigger)
- 4 x Death Feather Eagle (Critical Trigger)
- 4 x Abyss Healer (Heal Trigger)
Grade 1: 14 units
- 4 x Blaster Javelin
- 4 x Black Sage, Charon
- 3 x Dark Shield, Mac Lir
- 2 x Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod
- 1 x Gururubau
*Extra tip: You can change both Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod for Gururubau for more fire power
Grade 2: 11 units
- 1 x Blaster Dark
- 1 x Blaster Dark Spirit
- 3 x Knight of Fighting Spirit, Dordona
- 2 x Cursed Lancer
- 2 x Skull Witch, Nemain
- 2 x Darkness Maiden, Macha
*Extra tip: Change Dordona to Blaster Dark Spirit for retirement combo
Grade 3:
- 3 x Origin Mage, Ildona
- 2 x The Dark Dictator
- 2 x Dark Mage, Badhabh Caar
- 1 x Phantom Blaster Dragon
* Extra tip: With Badhabh Caar, you get a chance to superior call Blaster Dark Spirit for a combo
Nothing much to say on my Grade 0 line up. Shadow Paladins only have 1 viable starter right now and that's Fullbau. When you ride Blaster Javelin above Fullbau, you are almost guaranteed riding off a G2. This deck plays critical triggers as stand triggers does not work well with Ildona.
Grade 1 line up is a bit tight. unless we get a new starter (I'm looking at you Creeping Dark Goat) you have not other choice but to play 4 Blaster Javelins due to your starter. Charon is your 8k vanilla booster. You can search him using Darkness Maiden. Mac Lir is your perfect guard, and I find 3 is more than enough since you definitely will have plenty of cards in hand with this deck. With only 3 slots left in the deck, there are only 2 good cards that you may consider using, Arianrhod or Gururubau. As mentioned, you can play 3 Gururubau if you want to be more aggressive or 3 Arianrhod if you love trading cards for something better.
Like my Grade 1, you need Blaster Dark to guarantee you a ride to G2 smoothly. There are many arguments out there on how many Blaster Dark to play, but I find 1 more than enough. As mentioned, you can trade Dordona for Blaster Dark Spirit. You can combo him with Badhabh Caar to retire a G2 or below front row rearguard. I know I only played one, but as I have the lack of Blaster Dark Spirit, that's all I can play with right now. As this deck can be a bit counterblast heavy, Cursed Lancer is there to help unflip a damage. Nemain is a useful card used to fill your hands while getting rid of an unneeded card while Macha helps to fill up the field.
Your main vanguard for Grade 3 is definitely Ildona. His skill allows you to retire a bad column (think Badhabh Caar with a trigger at the back) and draw two cards. You don't actually want to spam his skill as you'll find yourself decking out way too quickly or drawing out your triggers too much. The best tip to use Ildona is when your field is good and perfect (hitting all the magic numbers for 10k guard) you don't need to use it. If you have a bad field, go ahead and retire the cards to nab something better. The Dark Dictator is more of a "Finishing Move" card. Once you have no counterblast for Ildona to use and you know you need that bit of fire power for the final push, Dark Dictator is there to give that final push. Badhabh Caar is a good card to fill up your field with. Best tip to use this card is when is you field in empty. At the very least, if you net another G2 or G3, you can call it out at the front row. The lone Phantom Blaster Dragon is your insurance. In case you have Badhabh Caar and not confident you can draw a better G3, you can tutor for PBD with Blaster Javelin. At the very least, you don't have to ride a 9k Vanguard.
That is all from me for today. I hope you enjoy my lengthy post and try out this deck. Comments are always welcome!
Deck Analysis: Shadow Paladin (The Origin)
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"
Level 1:
- 4 x Kagamine Rin "SW Striped Bikini"
- 2 x Kagamine Rin "Ni no Sakura: Butterfly"
- 2 x Melancholic(event)
- 3 x Megurine Luka "Soft Light Coordination"
Level 2:
- 3 x Kagamine Rin "Scissors"
- 2 x Kagamine Rin "Append"
- 2 x Megurine Luka "San no Sakura: Maple Scent"
- 2 x MEIKO "Rei no Sakura: Red Pillar"
Level 3:
Climax:
Well, from a first look, it seemed messy. This deck plays with three colors, yellow as the primary, red for the primary support with blue for secondary support. I've linked each cards to a site that translates them; and yes, it's still messy even if you stare at them to see what combo with what.
While you're sitting there racking your head, here's an explanation broken down into different levels.
For my level 0 Blue, "Bad Boy Len" is pretty much one of those card that gets skipped over fairly easily but I like his ability. His first ability is okay, becoming a universal booster only during your opponent's turn but what I'm more interested in is his 2nd ability to sacrifice himself to "revive" a character when that character is placed into the waiting room. This card is good if you are low on stock and somehow your opponent killed your level 3. You can revive that character for almost no cost. "Solitude Miku" is a strong card by herself. If she's all alone at the front row of the stage she becomes a level 1 with 3500 power. Add in "2 x Love Squad No.1 Miku" as the back support and you have a 4500 wall that can't be penetrated until your opponent reaches level 1. Yellow have the vanilla "Future Style Rin", "Tricker Len" that gains when called to stage from hand and "Append Len" that gains power during your turn. These cards are pretty basic so I won't explain much. "Love Squad No.1 Miku" is your universal 500 power booster. Her second ability is good, but quite costly in my opinion.
Level 1 is quite weird to some but the key card here is "Striped Bikini Rin". Her ability is quite strong for a Level 1 that if you pretty much have a field full of Rin/Ren, she becomes 6500 beater. "Rin-chan Love Squad No.1 Miku" is an added bonus. Because she have "Rin" in her name, "Striped Bikini Rin" skill will still be activated. Having two these will simply boost "Striped Bikini Rin" further to 7500, and almost for free too! Did I mention her skill is continuous? That means she's huge wall to defend with too. "Butterfly Rin" is your counter card which is quite self explanatory. Event card, Melancholic, helps you search for a character card from the deck that you may need, be it now or in a few steps ahead. "Soft Light Luka" is your encore card. She's another big wall by herself and can encore herself by discarding a card from hand.
The next level, Level 2, is where the fun actually begins. I shall skip yellow, and start with red. "Red Pillar MEIKO" is one of those card that is overlooked easily. Just by having a support card, she gains 2000 power. A 9500 power level 2? Sign me up! She's also my target for clocking or encore drops. But...but you said she's good!? Why you throw her away so easily? I shall explain this as soon as I finish this sentence. "Scissors Rin" is a card you combo with the climax card "Tokyo Teddy Bear". Her combo ability is that you can pay one stock, retire one card in the stage and call out a music character in the waiting room that is equal or lower than your level. So if you only have a G0 in hand to call out, to worries, retire that card with this combo and call out "Red Pillar MEIKO" if you're at Level 2 or call out a Level 3 if you're at level 3. Quite neat no? You save some stock if you're low as well as trade a bad card for a better one at the same time. Most opponents that faced this skill calls it disgusting; I say it's trolling. "Append Rin" is your card with the change ability to change to "Original Rin" while "Maple Scent Luka" is another counter to screw up your opponent's plan.
Level 3 is pretty standard. Their ability is quite straight forward in itself.
You won't see climax cards here that dish out lots of damages. This deck aims to only "poke" your opponent with 1 or 2 damages each time. "Tokyo Teddy Bear" will only add in one soul and have a burn effect as well so that if the opponent cancelled the attack, he still needs to take another one. "World's End Dance Hall" helps you salvage for a card you need in the waiting room.
Deck Analysis: Project Diva F (Rin-chan bait-n-switch)
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)
Grade 1: 15 units
- 4 x Fresh Star, Coral
- 3 x Mermaid Idol, Sedna
- 4 x Mermaid Idol, Elly
- 4 x Mirror Diva, Biscayne
Grade 2: 10 units
- 4 x Shiny Star, Coral
- 1 x Girls' Rock, Rio
- 3 x PRISM-Promise, Celtic
- 2 x PRISM-Image, Rosa
Grade 3: 8 units
- 4 x Aurora Star, Coral
- 3 x PRISM-Image. Vert
- 1 x Eternal Idol, Pacifica
As mentioned before, my Grade 0 line up can be irritating to read, since I have all the triggers available for Bermuda Triangle in the deck! Aside from the Stand Triggers that it. Stand triggers doesn't work too well in this deck sadly. My starting vanguard will be Angelic Star, Coral. She's a generic ride the G1 and search top 7 of the deck for a G2 or G3 Coral. So far she has been friendly with me but it doesn't really matter if I ride the G1 Coral or not. Reasons why will be explained later. I'm playing 4 Draws, 8 Criticals and 4 Heals. Now if you think there's too many different cards, go ahead and change them. I like them this way since I can play mind games with my opponents by making him think I play 12 criticals or 6 draws 6 crits etc etc.
Grade 1 are pretty simple. I was stuck at having 4 Ellys or 4 Sedna since I'm keeping Coral and Biscayne at 4. In the end, I decided that 4 Ellys are optimal and dropped a Sedna. The G1 Coral's ability is quite unique. As in, if I don't ride a G2 Coral and I have the G0 in the soul, I can look at the top 7 of the deck for the G2 Coral and ride it. I find this ability pretty neat to be honest. First, it does help me thin the deck a little, to give more chance of getting triggers. Second, it builds the soul. Third, my 8k or 9k vanguard suddenly became a 10k vanguard. 4th, it your G3 can now be 11k instead of 10k. Biscayne is another card that utilize the soul and increases your hand power. Soul blast one and look at top 7 for another Biscayne? Why not? I get myself another booster, 5k guard as well as thinned my deck for a higher trigger chance!
Two paragraphs back, I mentioned that the chain ride doesn't really matter to me. The G2 Coral's ability is the reason why. If I don't get to ride a G1 Coral previously, I'll move the G0 Coral to a rearguard circle, usually not as the same column as vanguard but on another location at the back. If I had a G2 Coral in hand, I'd ride that unit on my next turn, and move the G0 Coral to the front. The reasoning is simple; with G2 Coral as a vanguard, I can return one of the cards on the front row into my hand if her attack hits. This means that I essentially secured myself a 10k guard and cleared off the field for a better booster. Pretty neat eh? Rio can be used together with the G2 and G3 Coral, Pacifica and Vert though I mostly used her with G2 Coral and Vert to net myself the extra card in hand. Funny that I find that having one of her is actually more than enough. Celtic is another unit I combo with the grade 3s which I will later explain. Rosa is your 11k attacker but there is also an option of using 10k vanillas like Ligurian or Aqua if you find 8k units too easy a target.
Grade 3 units are a bit weird since you see that lone Pacifica there. Well, she's there for a good reason. I don't have a fourth Vert. Still, she seem to work fine and I usually use her as a rearguard. A great setup will be riding Vert first, followed by a break ride with Coral. But for this deck, break rides are is simply an option we have so you don't have to think "I must break ride Vert with Vert!"
Now on to my Celtic explanation, I usually have Celtic in the field, powering up the rearguards. Here's how; attack with Celtic first, boosted of course. Attack with G3 Coral and activate her limit break (counterblast 2, soul charge 1) now return Celtic to hand and soul blast a card, give power (that 4k) to another rearguard that have not attacked yet. Next, up, profit! I recommend having a 11k unit for the other rearguard with a 6k booster or a 10k unit with a 7k booster. This is to hit the 21k mark to force 11k vanguard guarding for more. If your opponent is a crossride, an 8k booster with 11k unit is much more recommended as it'll hit 23k easily. Of course in this case, I will have Celtic attacking the rearguard first instead of the Vanguard to clear away his potential interceptors. Because now Coral is now attacking for 23k if boosted with a G1 Coral, some opponents may simply use a perfect guard. If he does, any triggers automatically goes to the standing rearguard. Of course now that the rearguard is already 21k to 23k thanks to Celtic, hitting 2 triggers will boost that attack to 31k to 33k, which will forces your opponent to guard for 25k to block that attack. Now imagine doing a breakride earlier on and had passed another 4k to that other rearguard before activating Coral's skill...apart from 13k vanguards, 10k, 11k and 12k vanguards will need 30k to guard. That's a lot of cards used to guard or another perfect guard gone.
Now if you noticed. this focus more on Vanguard+Rearguard power up as well as drawing and deck thinning. Give it try and see how it goes!
Deck Analysis: Bermuda Triangle
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)
Grade 1: 14 units
- 4 x Wonder Boy
- 4 x Reckless Express
- 3 x Cheer Girl, Marilyn
- 3 x Medical Manager
Grade 2: 11 units
- 4 x Field Driller
- 4 x Highspeed, Brakki
- 3 x Panzer Gale
Grade 3: 8 units
- 4 x Demonic Lord, Dudley Emperor
- 4 x Juggernaut Maximum
Grade 0 are pretty standard in most Spike Brothers deck. Almost all Spike Brother users will play the same triggers and first vanguard, so there's nothing much to explain here.
Line up for Grade 1, I would pretty say is quite standard. Most will play with similar units, but with different combinations. Most decks will go with 3 Reckless, 4 Marilyn, 4 Wonder Boy and 3 Medical Manager. I'm one of those who thinks 4 perfect guards is too much and decides to up my offences so I dropped a Marilyn for another Reckless. I used to play with 2 x Dudley Daisy but after many tests, I figure she's good to have, but can be too situational at times.
My Grade 2 line up is fairly...unique in a sense that they all can't hit crossrides for 10k guard, well except for one unit that is. Then again, you are pressuring them very early in the game that by the time they can crossride, they are at 5 damage. One of the best unit in this grade is not Highspeed Brakki, but Field Driller. He's a 7k unit that needs a full field to work. Sounds useless no? But here's where you're wrong. Unlike Fierce Leader Zachary, he does not return to the deck and nets you a +1. You want to actually ride him at turn 2, have a full field and force your opponent to guard. If he does not guard, great! You just earned yourself another card including that trigger check. If he guards, no problems either. He just wasted a card...at turn 2. If he guards and you got a trigger, even better! With a draw trigger, you net 3 cards, with a critical trigger he eats 2 damage. Either way, he loses a card and gets damage. If you have a field full of drillers, your opponent will have to make 2 choices; guard or lose a unit early game or not guard and let you draw. My choice of Panzer Gale instead of Treasured Black Panther is quite obvious. I always run into problems not having enough units to guard with. Panzer Gale is there to help you intercept for 10k defense. If you are on the losing side, and you know you can win if you just have one more turn, instead of calling out Juggernaut maximums, you can call out Panzers with Dudley Emperor just to last you for another turn. With cards like Silent Tom and Maelstrom locking your hands from guarding, Panzer Gale is there to pull you out of that tight spot.
Finally, the leader of the pack, Dudley Emperor. He's the unit you will always want to ride as he nets a 21k attack when boosted by Wonder Boy, forcing 20k guard to 11k vanguards as well as the ability to allow you to attack 5 times when comboed with Reckless Express, Brakki and Juggernaut Maximum. The awesome level of this unit is off the charts that one can't simply measure his greatness in words. This unit has caused great pain to my opponent that some simply concede without having me do the drive check, afterall they know they can't survive the onslaught even if they managed to get a heal trigger.
There you have it. It ended up as a rant I guess but being someone who loves this clan it has to be expected. That's all from me for today, signing off!
My Grade 2 line up is fairly...unique in a sense that they all can't hit crossrides for 10k guard, well except for one unit that is. Then again, you are pressuring them very early in the game that by the time they can crossride, they are at 5 damage. One of the best unit in this grade is not Highspeed Brakki, but Field Driller. He's a 7k unit that needs a full field to work. Sounds useless no? But here's where you're wrong. Unlike Fierce Leader Zachary, he does not return to the deck and nets you a +1. You want to actually ride him at turn 2, have a full field and force your opponent to guard. If he does not guard, great! You just earned yourself another card including that trigger check. If he guards, no problems either. He just wasted a card...at turn 2. If he guards and you got a trigger, even better! With a draw trigger, you net 3 cards, with a critical trigger he eats 2 damage. Either way, he loses a card and gets damage. If you have a field full of drillers, your opponent will have to make 2 choices; guard or lose a unit early game or not guard and let you draw. My choice of Panzer Gale instead of Treasured Black Panther is quite obvious. I always run into problems not having enough units to guard with. Panzer Gale is there to help you intercept for 10k defense. If you are on the losing side, and you know you can win if you just have one more turn, instead of calling out Juggernaut maximums, you can call out Panzers with Dudley Emperor just to last you for another turn. With cards like Silent Tom and Maelstrom locking your hands from guarding, Panzer Gale is there to pull you out of that tight spot.
Finally, the leader of the pack, Dudley Emperor. He's the unit you will always want to ride as he nets a 21k attack when boosted by Wonder Boy, forcing 20k guard to 11k vanguards as well as the ability to allow you to attack 5 times when comboed with Reckless Express, Brakki and Juggernaut Maximum. The awesome level of this unit is off the charts that one can't simply measure his greatness in words. This unit has caused great pain to my opponent that some simply concede without having me do the drive check, afterall they know they can't survive the onslaught even if they managed to get a heal trigger.
There you have it. It ended up as a rant I guess but being someone who loves this clan it has to be expected. That's all from me for today, signing off!