Ripple support as of 23/9

Ripple is getting new support in the aqua force clan booster, and I like what I am seeing.

Demise Ripple Orest

AUTO](RC):[Put this unit on the bottom of your deck] At the end of the battle that this unit boosted, if the number of your other [Rest] units with "Ripple" in its card name is two or more, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at five cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one card with "Ripple" in its card name from among them, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.

So this lets you search top 5 for a ripple after boost, assuming you have VG and at least another ripple. This lets us trade the trigger for more chance to find a proper unit or hitting the ride chain, find a persona, while recycling the trigger back. A great boon to consistency.

4k does not seem like much, but remember that the ride chain if ridden properly (extremely easy with Odysseus) are 8k/10k/11k respectively, which can hit conventional 12k/14k/15k breakpoints we need against another non vanilla vg. The legion also hits 22k assuming you have Pavroth in soul, so 26k is still an ideal breakpoint. Lastly You can still swing with this and Lavisse to make a 16k in a pinch, as long as its the 2nd column to attack. 7k will still hit 11k, 9k will hit crossrides for 13k, and 11k will hit 15k, which is 10k for most grade 2.

Rating: 7/10 Its an effect trigger that improves the consistency of the deck. definitely run 4. Mostly to fix terribly hands.

Flashing Ripple Odysseus

[ACT](RC)[1/Turn]:[Choose one of your other rear-guards, and put it into your soul] Search your deck for up to one card with "Ripple" in its card name with the same grade as your vanguard, ride it as [Stand], and shuffle your deck. If you rode, choose up to one card not named "Flashing Ripple, Odysseus" from your soul with the same grade as your vanguard, call it to (RC), and that unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of turn.

This ripple ride chain getting the Darwin treatment. As long as you can get this to RC, it doesn't matter if you hit the ride chain anymore as you can just fix it there and then.

Missed Sotirio? Just send Alecs back to soul and fix it, and get back that 8k defense.

Missed Pavroth? Ride it as required and call back out a tidal assault or Lavisse you were forced to ride and giving them 2k, making any 8k boost a huge 19k column.

Can also easily fetch Militiades or Genovious depending on whether opponent is grade stuck or not. Or just reride Militiades for another round of effects and legion.

Also note that you can only call same grade as VG, so no fixing column other than front row most of the time, and cannot loop indefinitely since you can't call another Odysseus.

Side not is that this hurts megacolony's VG stun, since it does not specify VG needing to be in stand to activate. It also get rid of gigaparalyzed units and call out new units (abeit mostly grade 3) so you can still have a decent attack turn.

(25/9) It has been brought to my attention that you can Infinitely recycle Militiades every turn with multiple Light Signal Penguin Soldier, similar to how kagero does it with the X. Wad you do is this:

1) Ride over Existing legion with Odysseus effect
2) SB legion and mate with Light Signal. Draw a card
3) Legion back the units you SB
4) Next turn use Odysseus to Ride Militiades again, call out Genovious in soul. Use Militiades' on ride effect if applicable
5) Call Light signal #2 OVER Genovious RG, SB 1st Light Signal and Militiades. Draw a card
6) Legion back Light Signal #1, Genovious and Militiades and 1 other cards. Light Signal #2 is now Light Signal #1
7) Repeat 4-6 whenever you have a Light Signal to call ad naussium, every turn

Rating: 9/10. Super consistent. No Brainer 4-of. Super derp with Light signal penguin soldier.

Turbulent Ripple. Lavisse

AUTO](RC):When this unit attacks, if the number of your other [Rest] units with "Ripple" in its card name is two or more, this unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of turn.

Few things to take away from this:
1) Its out Pseudo 12k sub-clan attacker, which all aggressive clans should have. In a pinch makes 16k column with Orest and Alecs.
2) Makes a 19k column with 7k booster to force 15k guard on 9k grade 2.
3) Its effect is not 1/turn, and stacks for the whole turn, meaning on Genovious or Militiades turns, you expect at least 6k power, which results in 22k column
4) Use with Odysseus you can make a 14k attacker on turn 2 by sending him in to ride Pavroth, then calling him out as a 11k, which gets +3k through effect to become 14k.

Rating: 7/10. Ain't flashy but serves the needs ideally. We still are not sure if we'll see a grade 1 version of this (as of 23/9), but hell it would be awesome. As of now this will do just fine.

Breaking Ripple, Miltiades

[ACT](VC): Legion21000 "Thundering Ripple, Genovious" (If your opponent's vanguard is grade 3 or greater, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone into your deck once, search your deck for the specified card, and Legion)
[AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, if this unit is Legion, and if the number of [Rest] units in your front row is three or more, choose up to one of your rear-guards and [Stand] it, and Counter Charge (1). Then, if the number of [Rest] units in your back row is three or more, draw a card.
[AUTO]:[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, look at three cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one card with "Ripple" in its card name from among them, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and put the rest into your drop zone.

So this can get quite confusing for many, and may look a little meh. But this is anything but meh.

We start by looking at the on ride effect; CB1 to top 3 for a ripple card, add up to one to hand, and the rest hit the drop zone. Being a legion based deck the drop zone filling is always welcome as we can save hand instead of committing cards to guard. It also helps search for another ripple, and since another 3 ripple cards are previewed, that makes a grand total of 28/49 cards in deck if you run 4 of everything, which is over 50% chance, a reasonable rate. Be it finding a RG to call, or grabbing a genovious to persona or stride, its a welcoming plus for aqua force who naturally lack in that department.

Militiades is also a 21k legion (due to being a revival legion for grade 3 genovoius). Which grants the deck access to some decent legion support like Anos(Pavroth does not need Alecs in soul for effect but we lose ride chain search), Milos(resist tidal assault), Starless (grade 2 Diamantes), Mola (10k vg booster) and tempest broader (costless unit swap) should u choose to run them. We also have access to Madew to retireve copies of Militiades or Genovious in drop zone, which is always a plus.

The legion based effect is a little trickier to understand. Basically its tailored to the ripple strategy of full field attack before using Genovious' persona to restand the entire field. Due to this we need to know that:

1) Attack order is RG/RG/VG (restand RG)/RG/RG
2) They usually will play mostly crits (maybe draw)
3) They have some of the scariest rush due to Pavroth and tidal assault, so they are aggressive in nature
4) They reward committing to a full field due to Genovious full field restand
4) There is no need for 4th attack enabler, as the grade 3 is the enabler, so space can be committed to ride chain.

The first part helps you meet the important 3 rested front row (on full field, legion have 4 units in front row, including the mate, so this helps meet Genovious condition). Even if you have just 1 16k column, you can still restand a unit to place triggers on (legion 2 units + rested front row). It also adds in a countercharge, making it easier to get Genovious 2 CB requirement. It becomes very relevant when you cant access a 2nd front row attacker, as we can stand a booster, and use genovious to stand the front row, although its quite undesirable for cost. This is due to Genovious being a limit break unit, so we won'y always have it available unless we run the enabler.

2nd part involves you having a full field and rewards you with a free draw if you can swing as a full field. This is actually the minor part of the effect as its never easy to full field as aqua force, particularly against retire clans. but if you managed to, you get to draw an extra card a turn, which puts this roughly on par with stride adding 3 cards to hand, minus a drive check, helping to dig further for a persona.

3rd part would involve after the attack end, and you have an opportunity to use Genovious' persona, whcih will restand the entire field for another 2 columns of attacks (and if stacia is behind VG with GB1, she can attack again as well). Again note that you need exactly 3 rested front row, so this is where the first legion effect comes into play in the event you have 2 front row RG. This is done after the attack, meaning that even if you did not have a persona in hand before attack, you still have 2 drive checks and Militiades draw effect to find it, as well as Orest to check top 5, increasing the odds greatly.

Rating: 8/10. Strong role player, helps them get small incremental advantage over multiple turns while providing legion support. Will likely bring back the ripple deck, in a good way (less of the grade stuck shenenigans Pavroth was, but more of a proper legion focused deck with ride chain).

Torrential Ripple, Podromos

[AUTO](VC):[Choose a face down card named "Torrential Ripple, Podromos" from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, if you have a heart card with "Ripple" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at five cards from the top of your deck, search for up to two cards with "Ripple" in its card name from among them, call them to separate (RC), and shuffle your deck.

This is really good. Its cost no CB, it helps fuel the Field by potentially calling up to 2 ripple, granted we still not sure if any more grade 1 or 2 is going to be printed, so as of now... we have 28/49 ripples maximum, slightly over 50%, meaning likely at least 1 unit called. Its also a pressure on hit unit, meaning you don't have to flip until he actually hits. Best part he does not have to be the 3rd or 4th attack, so more reasons to go straight crits.

Rating: 9/10. Definitely play in ripple decks, but mostly as 3 of due to the nature of on hit, as we really only need this to go off once, and the 3rd is here incase the first miss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How I would go about building this deck? It kind of builds itself.

Grade 0: 17
1 Alecs
4 Orest
4 Sonic Sailor
4 Crit (or 4 Malikka for more consistency and possible columns)
4 Heal

Grade 1:
4 Odysseus
4 Sotirio
4 PG (Any will do, though TD PG would save lots of cash)
3 8k/LB4 enabler/Kelpie rider/Stacia (Depending on whether you want early rush, earlier Genovious or more Lambros/extra utility unit)

Grade 2: 12
4 Pavroth
4 Lavisse
4 Tidal Assault (No contest in rushing department)

Grade 3: 8
4 Genovious
4 Militiades

Grade 4:
2 Lambros (Always run at least 2, we dont have enabler outside of stacia or tidal assault)
3 Podromas (helps fill the field, its never gonna hit twice ever, so 3rd copy only if 1st one missed)
3 Madew (Recur back Genovious for persona)

Best part of this deck is everything works without striding, so opponent gains no real advantage for grade stuck.

Card review and deck profile: Phantom Blaster Dragon (breakride)

Alright guys, this is going to be a hell of a long article, but I assure you that its going to be as informative as I can write. After the short teaser of a Phantom Blaster previewed, we finally get spoiled the full effect of the new SP GR: the return of Phantom Blaster Dragon (breakride)

http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Phantom_Blaster_Dragon_(Break_Ride)

[AUTO] Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Soul Blast (3)] When a «Shadow Paladin» rides this unit, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose your vanguard, and until end of turn, that unit gets [Power]+10000, and "[AUTO](VC):[Choose three of your rear-guards, and retire them] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw two cards, choose three cards from your damage zone, turn them face up, and until end of that battle, your opponent cannot call grade 1 or greater cards from hand to (GC).".
[AUTO]:[Choose one of your rear-guards, and retire it] When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one card with "Blaster" in its card name, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.


Looks like old PBD got similar treatment as dragonic overlord. This has quite a wall of text. Its actually not that confusing; it has effects that require some form of payment.

1) When you ride over this unit, and have 4 damage, you may SB3 to gain the breakride skill. This grants you 10k power to the new Vg and grants the next skill to the new VG. If you failed to pay the SB3 or not at LB4,  you will miss the effect entirely.

Do note that SP does not have reliable ways to SC atm, at least without costing hand. Our only viable options is to ride over with another G3, howl owl, painter, and fiercebau. Fiercebau can be a tad unreliable as new sp tends to flood the board with a lot of G1, but its still a possible option.

Also this clashes with some support people run, like bat, swordbreaker, darkheart and aurageyser, and will cost your Gust blaster 10k power, assuming you blast away the ride chain. Extra precaution should be taken if you do not run a starter that can go into the soul, as that leaves you with only 3 soul to work with (including PBD) when you breakride.

2)If you paid for the breakride, in addition to the power, PBD will grant the new VG the ability to pay 3 RG when it attacks. If paid, first you get to draw 2 cards, and then unflip 3, and finally gain the glory effect for that one attack. Note that you only get the glory effect FOR THE ATTACK you pay the retire cost, NOT the entire turn. So if you were planning to use it with RPBA or RFD, you won't be able to double dip the glory effect.

The draw 2 does help you break even the retire cost if you retire a Charon or David, and help you have more options available.

The unflip 3 is interesting, allowing you to spam more CB during the early phase of the game. First prominent thing is that

3) On ride you get to trade a RG in play for any 'blaster' unit to add to hand from deck. Again this lets you toolbox for whichever blaster you need, similar to Fullbau Brave. You can tutor for your next G3 to ride, search for any of the G1 and G2 from the ride chain, or just search a G3 for stride fodder. Only thing to really note about this is that it is time sensitive to when you ride it, so the fodder have to be already in play by then, so make sure you planned for it.

So, who he works well with?

Many people will want to try this with an restanding VG, but the gimmicks to pull it off is insane. For both abyss and Raging form need to retire 3 other revengers, and this pretty much leaves you without aboard, even on ideal board situations. So I feel this isn't such a good idea as too many things have to go right.

He is very interesting with dragruler though. The dragruler play from PBD will allow for a very scary turn where you activate dragruler a few times, and you will get a very scary VG column, anywhere between 31k to 41k and cannot be guarded by G1 or above.

However, the most obvious one is he is completely tailor-made for his crossride overlord deck. The on ride effect makes it easy to fetch a copy of the crossride, while the unflip 3 ensures you will have the CB for the persona on that turn.The breakride makes overlord into a 33k 2 crit and glory effect, a very scary proposition considering any 8k boost brings it to 41k, and owl + bat brings it to a whooping 46k without giving up the crossride. Also similar to DO, he has the exact same name as his predecessor, meaning Javelin can search for him, and overlord gains the crossride if ridden over him. One very cute interaction in this deck is the overlooked Phantom Bringer Demon. In the past this is way over costed, but now that Charon and David exist, you can effectively trade them for a copy of the G3, which does open up options. Being a blaster he also benefits off all the support from legend deck.

G0 18
1 Fullbau (FVG)
1 Phantom Bringer Demon
4 heal
4 howl owl (draw)
8 crit

G1 15
4 PG
4 True Charon
2 Claudas
1 Nightmare painter
4 blaster javelin

G2 9
4 Macha
1 blaster dark
4 Dorint

G3 8
3 PBD (breakride)
1 PBD
4 PBO

G4
2 Grim Recruiter
4 Phantom Blaster Diablo
2 Aurageyser Dragon

This is an old PBO deck with some upgrades from G-era. Winning image would be to end the game with a breakride PBO and persona blasting, gaining a 31k+ glory and 2 crit. Failing that, you still have crossride defense and a reasonably good trigger ratio left in deck. You will realize this deck is rather light on counterblast except for PBO, so if you want to spend counterblast early on blaster dark or macha, just spam away since breakride will unflip 3 for use.

Dorint is there more as a 12k attacker with occasional upside of unflip + 22k column, letting you pull off another gambit if you are at 5 damage and have 2cb unflipped. Therefore i picked it over masquerade, but if you prefer some early aggression you can probably fit masquerade instead of dorint.

Claudas has a different purpose as in the legend deck. He is more often used as a 9k booster when you are on PBO, but you can still use him behind dorint to make a 22k column and a unflip. I would want to fit more in, but since charon is more important to the strategy, and you do not really need the unflip, i had to cut down to just 2 claudas. You can swap the numbers between them if it is to your preference.

Nightmare lets you 'cheat' the crossride defense if you had to ride PBO first by putting the breakride into soul. Its undesirable to do so, but on the long term the defense does add up in card advantage as these days people never really plan to go against crossride defense. Only played one as its for worst cast scenarios, and can be easily fetched with grim recruiter simply hitting the VG, and providing a booster to VG at the same time. Also it is important to note that this and owl allows you to use aurageyser prior to breakride and still keep PBD in the soul, keeping the 13k defense.

Demon requires a little more explanation. Demon lets you fetch more copies of your persona. You can trade Charon for another copy of PBO, or units like painter or javelin who are taking up back row and needs to be replaced with other units. This thins the deck further thin out the deck for your gambit turn by removing another G3 from the deck.  The CB cost is already quite light in this deck, and since the breakride already unflips 3, you don't really have to save CB for the big turn. In a pinch you can retire a charon, and still make a 16k column with this unit and either G3s or a dorint.

I ran the ride chain because it synergies with BPD quite well. The G1 can fetch the G2 if ridden or search for the breakride if called as RG. 6k still makes reasonable columns with dorint and blaster dark, and if used as booster for macha you will still get the search, which is what is more important. Blaster dark can be used early if you get rushed, and 10k base is quite good defense against rush so that they find it hard to punish you for more guard as compared to G2 9k. You only really need 1 copy as there is almost no way to damage check it if you ride javelin, and if you missed the ride chain you can still ride any other G2.

The deck can be is a bit slower because of GB1, but you can sit on 10k blaster dark quite safely for a turn without getting overwhelmed. Furthermore your GB1 RG do not have any important effects on call, so they can be called early to pressure if needed.

Card review: Golden Dragon, Spear Cross Dragon and role in GP

Today more details on a new GP stride, one showed in the anime. Here is spear cross dragon

http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Golden_Dragon,_Spear_Cross_Dragon#comm-1081188

Stride (Released when both players' vanguards are grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down.
[AUTO]:[Counter Blast (2) & Choose a face down card named "Golden Dragon, Spear Cross Dragon" from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit is placed on (VC), if you have a face-up card in your G-Zone or more, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at five cards from the top of your deck, search for cards up to the number of face-up cards you have in your G-Zone, call them to separate open (RC), and shuffle your deck.

First thing many will relate this to is liberator Garmore for its ability to flood a field from absolutely nothing. However, unlike its predecessor, it works for all GP, but takes a little more setup than normal. You also get to cherry pick which unit you want and put the rest at the bottom, unlike Garmore who has to keep calling until you decide to stop, not letting you see what is available at the top 5 before deciding. Also important is that you can only call in open RC, like many other GP cards, so no replacing existing units.

The way this unit works is time sensitive to on stride, but you can chain this together with Gurguit, letting you decide the order. You can first let Spear Cross resolve first, pick the best possible units to call from top 5, then decide if you need to use Gurguit to try to fix any column.

The cost is quite unique to many of the strides we already know. It is like a mix between requiring 2 face-up strides to at least function, and rewards you for striding it later into the game. It is similar to existing game ending strides where you have persona flip, allowing this to be used maxed twice a game It synergies well with Blizza-type effects, assuming we see GP getting another one this set, but currently only existing one is Mithril Ezel. The setup with scissor or platina  being the heart allows you to have a game plan throughout, chaining RGs to spam the field while building to either LB4 or LB5.

So based on G-generation cards leaked, GP favors a heavy swarming strategy; calling non-triggers from deck for attacking and boosting, and then trading them later on defense to guard, therefore saving cards in hand to guard. They are also unique in allowing you to guard from the deck, which bypass Tom,Glory or Diablo effects to prevent guarding from hand. Slaymy lets you guard from the back row, while braygal is the GP's incarnation of Especial-intercept, providing a small quintet wall effect, and Gurguit helps you dig deeper for the guard that you might need if you have the resources to spare. Do note nowever that the new PGG does not work with these effects, as they have to placed from hand to GC, but it works fine with any normal PG.

With Coolgal, Farmgal, and Pwyll for easy pluses, and the consistency of all the "search top x cards", like Katchgal and lop ear, its easy to find the right guy for the job. In fact it becomes realistically easy to do what I dubbed as "pellinoire cheese".

People who played in second season remembered the nonsensical luck-sack that was Pellinoire. Back then the only real options were Viviane and Kahedin, and it usually involved immense amount of luck as they can only top call 1 card. Then came the legion era, which brought all the "call from top x cards", greatly increasing the rate you dig though your deck. Katchgal followed by Heli and Rud gave more combat calling, while making their way into the soul for more calling and paying for SB effects. Adding in G-era units, you can have easily 16-20 units in the deck that can call a unit during combat step along with Cambell to superior ride Pellinoire, gaining a further twin drive, and providing two set of 5k power to units while making space for more calling! With some luck, you might even be able to call 2-3 Pellinoire in a single turn! Show Thing Saver and DP who's the boss from superior riding from deck!

The last one I am going to at are liberators, particularly Blueish flame. With most of their bosses not using a lot of CB (max 2-3 a turn on heavy turns, it will be possible to use this in combination with Bruno to get some scary columns. However, I think one will rarely stride this unit, unless against heavy retire clans or effects.

Card review: Nebula Dragon, Big Crunch Dragon

This is the new stride for LJ, and it has strong control elements to further support their control strategies.

http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Nebula_Dragon,_Big_Crunch_Dragon

So let me first get the obvious out of the way. This will usually be your second stride to omega lock an entire column, granting similar control as route flare dragon. Unlike route, it deny them the ability to use an entire column for 2 whole turns, which will buy you 10-15k shields each turn for 2 turns, particularly so if you lock dangerous rearguards like sazanda.

The cost for activation is very similar for most GB2 strides, and can only be used only twice at most. Fortunately it is only a low cost of 1 CB, making it quite easy for many LJ decks to weave this in addition to their other locking tactics. Omega lock 2 units for 2 turns at 1CB and a discard, tag in a 26K+ VG and triple drive check, and we got a pretty good deal.

The way the ability works helps you get around resist units, as long as there is another select able unit in that column. Problem do arise when your opponent scatter their units around and leaving only 1 RG in each column, making this effect not so tempting. But then you have duskblade, alter ego, judgement to pinpoint control, so there's still options if this isn't the right tool for the job.

Now the most obvious combo to use with this is hinted greatly in the VG G episode: Star-vader, dark zodiac. After you stride Crunchy, you can perform legion with zodiac in induce another turn worth of omega lock. That is a pretty low cost of maintaining 2 RG locked for 3 turns for only 2 CB; quite a steal even for legion era LJ, not factoring Zodiac's persona blast lock VG booster and another front row.

The less obvious combos would be using this to set up G3s that need locked units to function, due to the units still being locked next turn. Hafnium, Venom dancer, nebula lord give you some power plays along with this card, something LJ are usually in short supply of. In combination with the claw buddies, you can see some scary number on the turn you stride Crunchy. It also lets you conveniently search for Blaster Joker with Dilaton the next turn when you legion, either as future ride or fodder.

People also talked about using this in Glendios to start the board locking. In my opinion I will only see a pair the most being played. The omega locking is quite time sensitive, and the most I see being locked in one column and if you are striding, you are not making full use of Glendios and your reverse units cannot attack due to lord, hence only 1 column will be attacking. Also the units you have locked previously with Glendios will now unlock due to you not maintaining any previous omega locks. You will have to stride at least once before, making it 2 turns of not using Glendios effect. For better or for worse, we will see how it goes, but as of now I am not convinced its mandatory due to fruit loop existing.

Card Review: Soverign Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon (I mean, AURAKAISER Dragon) + Basic combos

Card Review: Soverign Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon (I mean, AURAKAISER Dragon) + Basic combos

Finally the full effect of the SP new stride is previewed. I am a tad sad the name is Aurageyser and not Aurakaiser, which would have been more badass. After all the hype about it, many people view this as a little as underwhelming, but I assure you, this is anything but disappoint. Lets get to the card breakdown.

http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Sovereign_Black_Dragon,_Aurageyser_Dragon

Stride (Released when both players' vanguards are grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down.
[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1) & Choose a card named "Sovereign Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon" from your G zone, a turn it face up & Choose two of your rear-guards, and retire them] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, reveal two cards from the top of your deck. This unit gets [Power]+5000 for each grade 1 or less card revealed with this effect until end of turn. Put the cards revealed with this effect into your hand

Firstly, Kanzaki is a super sacker to get 2 PG off the stride effect. Its not as strong as direct search as predicted by many, but this ability, which I will dub as "Pseudo drive check", is actually really unique without being broken, and fits G-SP's "G1 matters" theme. Also this pushes G-SP into a more defensive clan who can swarm the field and get back pluses to stay healthy with guarding, a rather big change to the more offensive play-style of revengers.

It might be quite confusing for non-SP players to understand how strong this effect actually is. Basically this unit trades 1CB + 1SB and 2 retire and a copy of itself to activate, meaning the max you can use its effect is twice per game. The main effect is the additional 2 "pseudo" drive checks granted by its effect: a net +2 to your hand. This is great for setting up for your guarding, and your big power play next turn either by breakride, striding, or even legion.

Ok about his "pseudo" drive checks. Many people have pointed out that its not impressive as it only gives power to Aurageyser, and any trigger revealed would be 'wasted'. It cannot be any further from the truth. If you checked a trigger, you would have added another 10k shield into your hand (unless draw trigger), and added another 5k to Aurageyser, making it more tempting for enemy to PG or just no guard. It also turns any G1 into a real trigger to Aurageyser, which on normal circumstance is worth nothing but a 5k shield. If we follow the standard grade composition in a deck being 16 triggers and 13 G1, we have upwards 22-26 G0 or G1 out of the remainder still left in the deck, almost nearly 50% chance on first stride to get at least 5k power. That makes this a 36k triple drive column, an almost PG or no guard.

*(Gentle reminder: this happens during declaring attack, so your opponent will know exactly how much power you are getting off the skill. It works in your favor either way, as you either bait out more of his guard or force damage through).

Another important, but often taken for granted is the retire cost. This proves to be extremely good against overlord by preventing them swinging at your intercepts, and LJ so they cannot lock out that column without gimmicks. It also helps fuel for legion, as it adds at least 4 cards to drop zone in 1 shot.

So based on all this, Aurageyser is a setup stride, very similar to grim recruiter, except it does not have to hit and is a lot harder to guard without a PG due to its variable power.

Combos (obvious ones)

Some of the simplest pluses for the various archetypes:

G-Era SP

0. Start turn with 2 hand; fodder/G3 and a G1/G2
1. Draw phase (+1 hand,3 hand)
2. Stride by dropping fodder or G3 (-1 hand, 2 hand)
3. Use Claret skill to superior call a swordbreaker, draw a card (+1 unit and hand, 3 hand)
4. Call another RG in swordbreaker column (-1 hand, 2 hand)
5. Swing into Enemy VG if column is 16k+ (swordbreaker is 8k booster because of Claret), else swing their intercept
6. Swing with Aurageyser, pay cost retire swordbreaker row (-2 unit, cost 1CB 1SB)
7. Aurageyser skill drive check, imagine you drive check 2 G2/G3, so no power added (+2 hand, 4 hand)
8. Proceed to normal triple drive of the stride unit. Much higher chance to check triggers due to removal or 2 non-triggers (+3 hand, 7 hand). Opponent proceeds to eat the attack or PG (-2 enemy hand) or drop 3+ cards to guard if he is dying and no PG

total profits: +5 hand (+1-1+1-1+2+3), -1 unit (+1-2) for the cost of 2CB 2SB, 1 Fodder and 1 unit in hand, 5 cards in drop zone (If legion next turn)

Adding 6 new cards to hand in 1 turn is no laughing matter, without accounting for draw triggers. You also just went through 7 cards in your deck, greatly increasing your next turn's trigger density. This also is not including any new cheese that might appear in GBT-03 that will further imbalance this equation further. (hint: new GB1 Nemain) 

(Edit: It has caught my attention that David exists. This changes the situation to similar as Charon, making the retire cost for Aurageyser VERY affordable.)

Legend Deck

0. Charon or a way to fetch it, fodder G3 or G1 (2 hand), Blaster dark diablo as VG
1. Draw (3 hand)
2. Stride Aurageyser, discard fodder (-1 hand, 2 hand)
3. Call charon (-1 hand, 1 hand)
4. Charon boost with starter, 5k guard
5. Aurageyser attack, retire charon (-1 RG)
6. Aurageyser skill drive check, imagine you drive check 2 G2/G3, so no power added (+2 hand, 3 hand)
7. Proceed to normal triple drive of the stride unit. Much higher chance to check triggers due to removal or 2 non-triggers (+3 hand, 6 hand). Opponent proceeds to eat the attack or PG (-2 enemy hand) or drop 3+ cards to guard if he is dying and no PG

Total profits: +4 hand (+1-1-1+2+3), -1 RG (charon), 1CB 1SB

In this scenario it is a insanely cheap setup for 5 new cards in hand, while only retiring charon (potential G3 filter), as well as instantly going to GB2 which allows cheap diablo strides next turn while maintaining a reasonable board. Add in Macha for for insane plus through calling trumpeter into claudas for a new 16k column.

Revengers

0. Start with fodder and mana in hand (2 hand)
1. Draw (3 hand)
2. Stride (2 hand)
3. Call mana, calling any G1 (shadow lancer to filter if G3 in hand, dark bond to CB and filter a G0 or Claudas (-1 hand)
4. Mana boost attack intercept or VG
5. Aurageyser attack, retire mana and called unit (-2 RG)
6. Aurageyser skill drive check, imagine you drive check 2 G2/G3, so no power added (+2 hand, 3 hand)
7. Proceed to normal triple drive of the stride unit. Much higher chance to check triggers due to removal or 2 non-triggers (+3 hand, 6 hand). Opponent proceeds to eat the attack or PG (-2 enemy hand) or drop 3+ cards to guard if he is dying and no PG
8. If called trumpeter and not retired, return to deck to be called again later.

Total profit: +4 hand (+1-1-1+2+3), costing 1-2 CB 1SB, 2 retire, Thin deck of 2-3 non-triggers (remove 8-9 cards out of deck), 4 cards in drop zone for legion.

This suits the revengers playstyle for setting up Abyss breakride turn. For a minimal cost you thin your deck, dig deeper to find an abyss, and add cards to hand to guard as required, granting a more devastating legion turn that drive check into lots of triggers to wreck them. Given the nature of how revengers call units for cheap, the retire does not really hurt them much. If Judgebau was behind the Vg this creates immense pressure to your opponent, as you threaten to dig up  to 2 swordbreakers for even more insane pluses, and setting up for a diablo gambit next turn.

Witches

Post legion turn:
0. Hand fodder, a morpher(G1 or G2) (2 hand)
1. Draw (3 hand)
2. Stride (2 hand)
3. Call morpher, change a RG (1 hand)
4. attack with column
5. Aurageyser attack, retire morpher and used unit (-2 RG)
6. Aurageyser skill drive check, imagine you drive check 2 G2/G3, so no power added (+2 hand, 3 hand)
7. Proceed to normal triple drive of the stride unit. Much higher chance to check triggers due to removal or 2 non-triggers (+3 hand, 6 hand). Opponent proceeds to eat the attack or PG (-2 enemy hand) or drop 3+ cards to guard if he is dying and no PG

Total profit: +4 hand (+1-1-1+3+2), CB1 and SB2, reload hand for next legion turn, retire already used on-call RG to be legion back (Melb or Setcurna), 4 cards in drop for next legion, force more 0s out of hand.

So summary:

• Aurageyser WILL find a home in pretty much every SP deck as a 2-4 off
• Converts RG (usually those that already gave pluses) for MORE pluses in hand.
• Do not fear its "pseudo check", a plus is still a plus!
• Sets up most kinds of finishers (Abyss or Diablo)
• Fits beautifully into the legend deck (1st stride), Charon makes it cheap, sets up Blaster Dark's GB2 for just 1CB and 1SB

Overall Verdict: 9/10 (will be everywhere in SP, and they will be EVERYWHERE)

card review: Sovereign Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon

card review: Sovereign Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon

http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Sovereign_Dragon,_Claret_Sword_Dragon

So we have the stride break unit for SP finally revealed in its full glory. And does not dissapoint. It is a straightforward +1 for 1 CB with a bonus 2k tagged onto the unit. The power bonus is deceptively powerful as hitting those perfect numbers are key to forcing more shields.

Possible Value targets:

• 8K + 2k = 10k booster, works with 11k or 12k attacker for 21k
• 7k + 2k + 12k attacker = 21k
• Eagle can make 21k column with 8k booster (tentative)
• Gururubau to make 11k attacker
• GB1 10k attacker hitting for 12k (tentative)
• 6k + 2k = 8k booster (prohibited books or Swordbreaker)
• 5k + 2k = 7k booster, boost most g2 to 16k (calling a 2nd starter or utility starter)
• Servemyu to become 12k VG booster (hit crossrides)
• Effect triggers like Howl owl for +3k and SC to fix columns (6k can still make 16k with 10k attacker, GB1 G1 or 10k vanilla), or new GB1 stand trigger (tentative)

Another thing worth noting is that his timing works really well with  Efnysian, You can still pay for Efnysian effect even if you have 0 RG by first using Claret Sword's effect, possibly a Swordbreaker for a +1 hand before retiring for the power gain. You could even use it to call a 6k G1 to boost for 8k, hitting the magic number of 41k, which is PG or no guard territory.

As for his GB2 effect, its a reminiscence of Halberd Revenger, Peredur minus the CB and Revengers restriction. However, it would not be possible to use Charon for a cheap 10k crit as Charon needs a 'blaster' VG, but given how easy it is to get cheap plus and no CB cost, it is relatively painless to employ. However you will likely not see this being used much due to the strength of currently known DDPBD and possibly speculated Aurakaiser Dragon, but in a pinch can be used to force shields or PG off opponent if you are unable to stride.

Possible roles with current pool:

• Swordbreaker and little penalty. and even to the extent of using this with Darkheart and Prohibited Books or Charon while you are on DDPBD to get 3 cheap fodder
• striding Dragruler Revenant lets you do some cheese with Claudas to find a Blaster Dark Revenger
• Judgebau with DDPBD if it suits your fancy. 
• Emergency attackers in a pinch and column fixing.
• Along with Macha and Badhabh Caar, swarming the field for cheap, ready for DDPBD, Aurakaiser Dragon or Efnysian retire cost, and thinning deck in the process.
• Potential good combination of this with Cormack legion to have an all round strong stride turns + universally strong legion that isn't picky about what it eats.

Rating: 9/10

Based on whats already spoiled, we can conclude Claret has a good plateau of toolbox to call,for cheap field flooding and fodder. A very strong ace unit for G-SP for gaining board presence and filtering, expect to see a lot of this once GBT-03 becomes available.

Card review + deck profile: Covert Demonic Dragon, Magatsu Typhoon

Card review + deck theory: Covert Demonic Dragon, Magatsu Typhoon

Alright its been awhile since I have last posted, but now I have some free time to talk more vanguard! Today I am going to talk about the new revival legion for Murakumo: Magatsu Typhoon.

http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Covert_Demonic_Dragon,_Magatsu_Typhoon

[ACT](VC): Legion21000 "Covert Demonic Dragon, Magatsu Storm" (If your opponent's vanguard is grade 3 or greater, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone into your deck once, search your deck for the specified card, andLegion)
[AUTO](VC):When this unit Legion, choose up to five of your rear-guards with "Magatsu" in its card name, and they get [Power]+5000 and "Boost" until end of turn.
[ACT](VC)[1/Turn]:[Choose a card from your hand, and discard it] Search your deck for up to one card with the same name as a unit on your (VC), call it (RC), shuffle your deck, and at the end of that turn, return the unit called with this effect to your hand.

This is quite a god send for the ride chain deck. The ride chain had little more than the g0 seaching the top 7 for G2 or G3 for consistency. It will always guarantee that you will have Magatsu Storm in your VC as long as you can perform legion. It also ensures you have multiple Storm left in your deck for the LB4 effect by using legion to shuffle back used or healed copies.

First things first, this new revival legion promotes you to play a full playset of itself and the ride chain. The extra copies of G1 and G2 can now be used to form 26k columns when you legion. Also drawing extra copies of Storm does not mean they are dead cards, as they can be either used as 10k boosters or stride or discard fodders.

Second is the legion skill. Granted its timing does not go well with Storm's LB4, it does greatly solve the lack of power in RG column that Murakumo tend to experience. Granting anywhere from 21k-32k RG colimns on legion (2G3, thanks to legion effect granting boost) and a legion column upwards to 41k (legion 21k + lb4 3k + typhoon boosting 16k + soul G2 1k)

The last ability is deceptively useful. It lets you trade any hand for a G3 that is the same name VC. It is useable even outside of legion, and can be used to ensure you always have 16k booster or stride fodder, and even perform legion every turn as long as you can provide 4 drop zone every turn.

So how would I build a deck with Typhoon? I start by maxing out Magatsu units and adding cards that help push towards winning image.

Grade 0: 17

1 Magatsu wind

4 heal

4 crit

4 draw

4 cat devil (sc +3k)

Grade 1:

4 Magatsu Breath

4 PG

3 Oboro Cart

3 Sukerock

Grade 2: 11

4 Magatsu Gale

4 Bloody Mist (10k Vanilla)

3 Royale Nova (Magatsu persona 12k attacker)

Grade 3: 8

4 Magatsu Storm

4 Magatsu Typhoon

Grade 4: 8

4 Shirayuki

2 Madu

1 Blizza

1 Kagamijin

From here the winning image is to get as many copies of  Magatsu units as possible. or form columns. For G1, Oboro cart lets us accomplish this even prior to legion, and a possibility of a mega rush down if u manage to hit the ride chain up till G2 by cloning a booster for 16/16/16. Sukerock is there just to SB away your previous legion so they can be recycled back in and called again. I also choose to run 4 PG and will probably change to the new PGG as the extra unflip could mean 1 more activation of the LB4.

For G2, I opted for Bloody mist and Royale Nova. I lean more towards Bloody as if you miss the ride chain, Nova is a terrible ride (5k base if you ride it) while Bloody Mist gives you the same base as Gale minus the cloning, as well as make 26k column with Typhoon boost on legion. However until Murakumo get their own 12k generic attacker, Nova is really our only other choice, as it can make 16K - 21k column with starter if we miss ride chain, or make 26k column with Gale. Both are also 10k base RG, which means your opponent will not be able to get cheap attacks with 9k RG to force 5k guard.

G3 is pretty standard so I won't go into too much details, but do not that even though you cannot get Storm clones out in time for the legion effect, it still lets you gain 2 10k attackers to compliment your typhoon that you can call out each turn for a discard, making a 26k column with typhoon boosting. Also note that if you hit the ride chain, typhoon will be at 25k when LB4 is activated, so 6k boost will get it to 31k, and typhoon boosting it on legion will make it a scary 41k, rivaling even stride in power. The search effect of typhoon is also very useful for resetting or thinning your deck of 1 less non-trigger, as well as guarenteeing you have an attacker or new legion or stride next turn.

G4 is a little hurting for options at the moment, but this will get better once GBT-03 comes around. Till more are spoiled, the ideal strides will be shirayuki for an additional attacker on stride or Madu if you are already in legion or are stuck on the ride chain( even if gale is in the soul, the base of storm is still 10k without effects, so you will still get your G3 back!) Blizza will be your game-ending stride if out of options,