Break Ride: Zanbaku Comes Into The Picture!

With all the new Ride Breaks being so powerful, many have considered Zanbaku as a way to fight against them. This is actually a pretty good card to use, even in the current situation. It is a counter to many decks that rely on riding another grade 3 like CoCo, Gold Garmore, Soul Saver, the multiple of x-rides and sorts.

The thought of losing one hand could make your opponent second guess their decision to ride another vanguard. Playing Zanbaku with Magatsu chain also gives you a chance at early strikes or harrasments against your opponent which would further decrease their hand/field advantage. Zanbaku is also a decent Vanguard, being a 11k base.

Although, there are also flaws with using this card. Other than the restrictive ability, this card really don't do too much. It's only a stand still Vanguard. It doesn't have the offensive abilities of Magatsu, nor the defensive power of Mandala and Shirayuki. Tamamo also trumps with his consistent front row filling.

Another point is the clan Zanbaku is in. Murakumo does not have much decent support. Their gimmick is to call copies of  units from their deck and then returning them. The ability is decent but to do it continuously means that you will need a good hand and field to do it, along with a supply of open damage. This could help you avoid units that attack multiple units but it doesn't raise your overall defenses. The lacking of special intercept also doesn't help.

The next point would be when the opponent can get more advantage than what they paid for. This is especially true for the current Ride Breaks because of the massive power increase they get. Your resources will be cut down pretty severely too. Most units that rely on multiple rides also have other purposes. CoCo draws 2 cards in exchange of discarding probably another grade 3, Garmore has consistent calls, it would be like exchanging cards, and they will gain it back by calling Dindrane. Some other unit has the ability to retire which would also hurt your field lines.

For now, I think that it's a good idea. The only problem would be that the clan is a little lacking in support. I am really looking forward to how the future Murakumo support would help this card and the clan.

 ----------------
CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Break Ride: Beginning Of A New Wave

Hello everyone! Today I will write on the newly revealed break rides. These units will most possibly be the main focus of the next season cards.

At first look, the newly revealed break rides has very powerful abilities. These newly revealed units seems to add a great amount of power to the whole field to the point that it's as powerful as Platina's ultimate break. Even so, I would still say that these cards are not overpowered in any way.

After being in this game for over one year, this is something I face every time something new is brought to the table. I would feel that the new cards seems to be way too strong without looking at the card as a whole. Now after two years of experience with the game, all I see from these cards are only big numbers.

I would agree that numbers plays a very important role in this game and losing out in numbers against your opponent would mean that you have lost the game. However, in this game, there are multiple value of numbers. Field power, hand cards, damage received and at times the soul and even the drop zone. Dominance in just one area of the playing board will not win you the game.

These units are made to look very powerful to attract players to buy them. What people don't see is how the card will play out in an actual game, what they see is the ideal situation for the card which makes the cards ridiculous. I am not saying that the situations are not possible, but it's not as easy to build even a near perfect setup.

These cards are given fair restriction for what they can do. First of all, you need to ride that unit as your first grade 3 to fully utilize it. After that, you need to wait for 4 damage and also another grade 3 on your hand to ride. Even if you manage to pull these off, you would still need to have a decent field to be able to do anything good. All this would contribute to having a lower hand and restriction of not calling a grade 3 for the break ride. After all these, there are also more extra conditions that would make the perfect situation for the cards.

Relying on getting that 4 damage, players who use this card might have to sacrifice being hit by cards with abilities to give the opponent advantage. Pressure units would force more guards out of these units and there will be a time when the pressure unit attack hits and that would very much be the end of them. These units are also weak against early rushing because they need to be more careful when they are forced to 4 or 5 damage early game. Because they need to make a setup, it takes time to gather the correct resources. It doesn't help that they are in the brink of danger early game and are forced to play more shields to avoid that trigger.

The ride break so far are also made to be well suited for the clan. Eradicator is said to be the worst out of them but it is very much suited for the newly revealed cards. The tendency for Narukami to gain criticals have increased and so not having an incredibly large powered field would balance out. The retiring also cuts down the opposing intercepts to increase the probability for the critical hit.

Gold Paladin's Gance can be said to be an improvement of Soul Saver but not really. Gold Paladins have the ability to call cards for advantage sure, but the call is not as consistent as Royal Paladins. Being stuck with a field of triggers really kills for Gold Paladins so the extra power is really not much of a big deal. If they really are lucky enough to superior call the perfect field, maintaining it would be another thing.

Spike Brothers really is the unit with the biggest power boost. This however fits the clan for it's rush to win tactics. The power increase is tremendous and with Dudley Emperor, it is possible to have 5 super charged attacks. This however comes at a large cost and would eat your whole hand. The only thing you gain is large number fields but if you don't finish the game that turn, you are basically toast.

To sum it up, I don't think these units are that much of a big deal. The most important thing is that you know how to adapt and deal with these cards. Each clan has their way of crippling their field, forcing their hand or gain more advantage. Those will soften the impact when the ride break happens and you will be prepared for it.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Final Take On The Cross-Rides

The once in a while epic image!

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. For this post, I am going to write on my opinions on the Cross-Rides after seeing them in action and how each of them work for their clans. These x-rides does not includes ones from set 5 and is exclusively for x-rides of season 2. Yes, that includes Great Daiyusha.

At the time when no one really wanted anymore x-rides, Great Daiyusha made a surprise appearance, well for me at least. At first, the appearance of another x-ride made me really sad. It meant that Bushiroad is telling us that more will be coming. The card however, did spell joy for some, it also meant that their favorite unit or clan might get one as well. However as time passed, I realised that x-rides are not everything for this game, what's important is how you play the game, and adapt to the new released cards. This is also true for the newly revealed Break Rides, which I will do my best to explain in the next post.

Great Daiyusha is an amazing card with great support. I usually compare it to Raizers and they both have their own unique features which makes them equally awesome. Great Daiyusha, is a x-ride that you can't miss not having Daiyusha in the soul. With Daiyusha in the soul, you have the 13k base that serves as a great defense and needed unit for the limit break ability.Great Daiyusha also came with the ability to have a superior ride at quite a high cost, but the cards used for the superior ride can be used to greatly increase his power. This trades off hand advantage and field consistency for a big vanguard, which is a very bad match up against defensive builds, but the high power is still an overwhelming obstacle. Most of the time, you would be relying on the high power and +1 critical pressure to bring down your opponent's defenses.

Platina Ezel, this is the first card shown with Limit Break 5. His ability is amazing with overwhelming field power increase. In my opinion, this card works best as an option. That way, you won't lose out on getting field advantage instead of just totally focusing on this one vanguard. You are given more options to work on than just being forced to sit on a 13k vanilla all the time. All in all, I would say that this x-ride has the most devastating limit break 5 ability in season 2.

Vermillion "THE BLOOD", is an improved Vermillion with the added critical. This build has the best consistency in what the deck should do. If you ride basic vermillion first, you get to use his limit break to take care of early front rows and also have unflippers pressure. After that, if you are lucky enough to get a heal trigger, pulling off "THE BLOOD" in the process would be quite possible too. Due to the decks' high damage usage, I will not recommend using any other counter blast units for better consistency and pressure. Running some damage increasers are also good for the deck as you can recycle some triggers even if you cannot pull off the limit break.

Glory Maelstrom, after further inspection, I would say that this unit is the weaker of the other two ultimate breakers. Glory's ability stops your opponent from using perfect guards, sure, but if your opponent has 4 damage, they could survive with a no guard if you don't get a critical trigger. It also doesn't work too well with the former Maelstrom. However, with the low cost, you are free to use any other card ability that needs them, which there isn't much in Aqua Force besides the new column swapping units. The only good thing about this card is that you can have consistent pressure, and even then you need to reach 5 damage for that.

Sun Amaterasu, is a great unit but quite different from other oracles. This unit is used more for her pressure and does not give you a high amount of draw power. The best way to play a pure build of this deck is mix it with Apollon and Libra for more pressure. You could also add in cookie for that extra draw power you need early game. Besides from less early on draw power, this card is also weak for the fact that her pressure only begins when you have 4 or more damage.

Illuminal Dragon, this card has one too many restriction for it's own good. The need to build a front rows of Beast Deities could proof to be quite the hassle. However, with that setup, it is easily a 5 attack per turn, especially when you add in toolkit boy for that extra unflip power.The build is great at early rushing and late game limit break to go for the win, or it would at least greatly bring down the opposing defenses.

That is about it from me for season 2. I might write a review on the whole season anime when it is finished but, that is something in the future.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Closing Up on Season 2 Cards Before Going to Season 3

Still wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Today I will write my thoughts and opinions on how the second season ended up to be and what each clan got themselves through set 6 to 9. I wrote about Gold Paladins on another post so they will not be touched here.

First of all, it's Narukami! This clan is the Kagero replacement for season 2. Their element are mostly of electricity instead of the burning flame. Narukami was first brought onto the table in set 6 (not including the trial) with the ability to attack multiple units with Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion. This was a surprise to many and with the official ruling that you would need different sets of shields for each unit being attacked, Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion is a very powerful card. Narukami also has the easiest 10k vanguard booster.

In set 8, they got the sealed cards as support, these cards received some negative feedback due to their restrictive nature. These units are actually great but the negative feedback is due to the fact that they don't really help Vermillion. These units were made to be a separate build and does not mix will with Vermillion. They can also be said to be the cheaper build of the clan, given the popularity. In my opinion, this build have more destructive potential compared to Vermillion.

Set 9, we got the Vermillion cross-ride, and the generic support cards. I've tried the build and they are very good and has power field consistency. The sealed cards also got themselves some nice additions. Other than the main builds mentioned above, there are also the Indra and Vaayu builds. Overall, this clan is a interesting clan. They have the potential to be as destructive as Kagero with the ability to build higher powered fields.

Next, we have Angel Feathers! Also introduced in set 6, these angels have the ability to manipulate cards in the damage zone! This clan is also very interesting as they can very easily cause cards on your damage zone to be unflipped. There are also many different builds on this clan, some of them allows you to heal damage! Being made to be a 'defensive' clan they were also given a Lozenge Magus copy.

On set 6, this clan has a very good pressure build with Ergodiel, Armaros and Feather Palace. This build pressures your opponent to choose to be hit by either of the cards so that you would gain advantage from the hit. For Feather Palace builds, nociels were used to unflip damage used in early game. Angel Feathers also has pretty good power builds. These builds are Kiriel, Shamsiel and Metatron. For power builds, it is important to build a good field for the maximum power. Kiriel and Metatron don't really have a problem with this but it is a little difficult for Shamsiel. Shamsiel field building really relies on your draws and is more of a defensive build. One good thing about the Shamsiel build is that you can replace flipped crimson cards on your damage for another Crimson to prepare for the next turn. Lancer Shooter is also more usable in Shamsiel builds because they don't use much counter blasts.

Moving on, Aqua Force! This is another new clan introduced in season 2 and first came in set 8. They mainly focus on stacking up attacks for a very powerful vanguard attack. Although low in power, they stack up attacks through swapping front and back rows or restanding. This can cut down on a lot of the opponent's resources and getting a stand trigger really makes matters worse for the opponent. They don't really have much options in terms of builds but each build is equally as powerful.

Now that we are done with the new clans, let's begin with the older clans, Oracle Think Tank! The oracles got some decent boosts this season, including the starting on Battle Sister Archetype. Some main additions they got this season would be LuLu, Cookie and Sun Amaterasu.They got themselves some very powerful drawing ability and also Sun Amaterasu's pressure build is amazing. These builds also gave oracles different play styles which are more offensive.

Nova Grappler got some decent support for previous builds and also a few pretty strong new builds. The Death Army is a great addition for old Cosmolord and also Top Gun, making them quite a strong build. Raizers also got their boosts with a critical trigger and 2 more amazing units, which greatly increases Perfect Raizer's probability to get that extra critical. The Beast Deities are also a very strong offensive build which has a high rush potential and also pressure standing.

Then we have Great Nature, which got themselves an amazing boost. They have great ability to boost their field to amazing powers which can really eat up your opponent's hand. After that, the retiring at the end of the turn could be turned to being advantage. Some notable builds are Leo-pald, Bison and Polaris.

Now for the least supported, Granblue which got themselves an amazing generic breaker which is also somewhat anti mis-ride. They also got their second draw trigger and third critical. Dark Irregulars got themselves faster soul chargers, more power units and a second critical. Dimension Police with Great Daiyusha and Zeal, also their Libra clone. Neo-Nectar got a huge boost with Arboros and also a very interesting build, Musketeers. Tachikaze got amazing Dark Rex and powerful Colonel, along with a second set of triggers. Murakumo got a some great card, Magatsu has both properties of being offensive and defensive, also shirayuki who provides great defense. Pale Moon got better at soul manipulating, the best build for the season in my opinion is Sarah. Fire Juggler is also a good card that can be used with Manticore, which is a power build, their Libra clone is another amazing addition for them.

That pretty much wraps up the season, the next post would be on the x-ride for the season.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Trial Deck 9: Eraser of the Empire *Updates*

Discharging Dragon

Auto [V] Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have 4 or more damage): When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets power +5000 until end of battle.

Auto [R]: When this unit attacks a vanguard, and you have a <Narukami> vanguard, this unit gets power +2000 until end of battle.

Barrage Eradicator, Shion

Auto [V/R]: [Counter Blast(1)] When this unit attacks, you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets power +3000.

Dragon Dancer, Veronica

Auto: When this unit intercepts, and you have a <Narukami> vanguard, this unit gets shield +5000.

Assasin Sword Eradicator, Suusei

Auto [V/R]: [Counter Blast(2)] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, and you have a vanguard with "Eradicator" in it's name, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one opponent's rear-guard in the front row, and retire it.

Eradicator, Thunder Boom Dragon

Thunder Blade Eradicator, Jeem

Auto [V/R] When this unit attacks, if your opponent has 2 or less rear-guards, this unit gets power +3000.

Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon

Auto [R]: When this unit attacks, if you have a vanguard with "Eradicator" in it's name, this unit gets power +3000.

True Flame Eradicator, Kohgaiji

Auto [R]: When this unit boosts a <Narukami> vanguard, if your opponent has three or more damage, the boosted unit gets power +4000 until end of battle.

Dust Eradicator, Tokoh

Activate [V/R]: [Counter Blast(1)] During this turn, this unit gets power +1000.

Red River Dragoon (Alt Art)

Eradicator, Demolition Dragon

Auto [R]: When this unit attacks, if you have a vanguard with "Eradicator" in it's name, this unit gets power +3000.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I wish everyone reading my blog a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I got myself some Christmas presents.

You can't see it in the image but I actually have 2 Chocolat, one is slid behind LuLu. These cards gave quite the unexpected effect on me. They look very nice, and the art is better and cuter on the actual card than the images I see on the web. Chocolat is especially cute that I felt bad thinking of using her for guarding.

Also I pre-ordered the Sakuya trial deck along with 2 CoCo which will be coming on January.I already have a deck build planned with the available cards which is working decently in Cardfight Capital.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Other Cards From The Latest Kero A!

Royal Paladin

 I think the Counter Blast(x) - "something" means you can only flip cards of that type to pay for the Counter Blast.

Blaster Blade Burst (Card For Vanguard 0)

Continuous [V]: Your units cannot boost this unit.

Auto [V]: [Counter Blast(2) - <Royal Paladin>] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, until end of the battle, increase this unit's power, the power increased is the total original power of your front row <Royal Paladin> rear-guards.

Auto [V]: When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets power +3000 until end of battle.

Claudia (Vanguard 0)

Auto: Pioneer (When another card with the same clan rides this unit, you may call this unit to a rear-guard circle.

Activate [R]: [Put this unit into soul] Choose one of your <Royal Paladin>, it gets power +3000 until end of turn.

Cardfight Pack Vol. 8 *Updates*

Holy Edge Knight (Gold Paladin)

Auto [V/R]: When this unit attacks a vanguard, and you have a <Gold Paladin> vanguard, this unit gets power +2000 until end of battle.

Dragon Dancer, Stormy (Narukami)

Auto [V/R]: During your main phase, when an opponent's rear-guard is placed onto the drop zone, this unit gets power +3000 until end of turn.

Stealth Fae, Gashadokuro (Murakumo)

Activate [V]: [Choose one of your <Murakumo> rear-guard, and rest it] Choose one of your <Murakumo> rear-guard, and put it at the bottom of the deck. Choose a unit with the same name as that unit, it gets power +5000 until end of turn.

Earth Gunner (Dark Irregulars)

Auto [V/R]: When this unit is boosted by a <Dark Irregulars>, this unit gets power +2000 until end of battle.

Soft Tank Sloth (Great Nature)

Auto: [Soul Blast(1)]: During your end phase, if this unit is placed onto the drop zone from a rear-guard circle, and you have a <Great Nature> vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to two cards on your damage zone, and turn them face up.

Cardfight!! Vanguard Manga Chapter 6 Translated!

It's pretty cool to be able to see what the original abilities of the manga cards =)
Anyways download below and enjoy!

http://www.mediafire.com/?s8a4q2w8pqx80an

What I Want For Cardfight!! Vanguard

Hello again people! Today I will write on the problems I have with how Bushiroad is dealing the the card game. This will involve in my opinions of how they are developing the game and how I would want them to improve on the situation.

From what I see, Bushiroad is giving too much attention to the main clans and thus neglecting the less used clans. By main clans I mean clans used by the main characters or characters of importance. These clans gains supports and great key cards or boss cards in great consistency and speed compared to many other clans. Even more recent clans like Gold Paladins and Narukami has much of their gaps filled sooner than later.

The comparison for numbers of RRR cards for each clans are also not in balance. Main clans gets RRR cards in almost every booster set, and at times, more than one of them. I would very much prefer that more RRR is released for clans with less RRR than the main clans. The main could still be added into booster sets with support cards for their current cards. Although, I have noticed that some RRR are not quite worth their rarity value. Some of them are Ravenous Dragon, Gigarex, Emerald Witch, LaLa, Ruin Shade and Mistress Hurricane. Their abilities much pales in comparison to other RRR and I don't see how much support could improve them. RRR cards should be worth their rarity value and the consideration for possible further support for them is also important. The increase of better cards for less popular clans will also balance out the variety of clans used by players.

Less RRR for main clans would not possibly make the anime less interesting for the viewers. A good solid story is also important to keep the people watching. This is an easy game which game flow can be easily predicted. Having episodes just to show off cards is never a good idea and I think having better, more passionate fights would attract more viewers. This was true for me and Battle Spirits. A lot more about the game can be shown like taking out rear-guards instead of focusing all attacks on the vanguard. Trigger appearances should be increased but not to the point of just showing that the main characters lucked out.

Support for old RRR which are less used should also be considered. Many RRR made during early times of the game are not much used because the others seemed better. One of the causes for this is that the available cards synergizes better with the more used cards. Some of the old RRR cards has great potential to be amazing units with just some more support for them. Some of the RRR units which greatly improved because of newly added supports are Scarlet Witch, CoCo, Perfect Raizer and Ultimate Lifeform, Cosmo Lord. I would really like to see some support especially for the neglected Kagero units like Aleph and Blockade.

In my opinion, power creep started on set 5. With X-rides having the capability of being at 13k base and also Majesty's consistent critical, players at the time had a hard time coping around these units. Although that have been fixed for most of the clans now, those builds are still standing on solid grounds which ultimately led to their restriction. Having balance all over the clans could have possibly prevented the restriction list. That being said, I am now worried for my CoCo since she have been showing pretty positive results in the Japanese meta.

That is all I have to write for now. I really hope much improvement will be made by Bushiroad to the game. The way they are doing things now leaves less popular clans behind as the main clans gets more and more support. However, I do commend on Bushi for the fact that no actual power creep have been observed since set 5.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Cardfight Pack Vol.8 Card List!

I found a card list for the upcoming promo cards for the Japanese game. Here's are the unofficial translations for the names of the cards.

"Princess of the Corals, Tethys", "Holy Edge Knight", "Dragon Dancer, Stormy", "Stealth Fae, Gashadokuro", "Earth Gunner" and "Soft Tank Sloth"

Clans for most of the cards here are not revealed yet but can be easily guessed from their names.

A Music Playlist for the Blog

You can listen to some of the Cardfight!! Vanguard OST by pressing the 'play' button at the bottom left of the screen. I did not leave it on auto-play because it might be of inconvenience to some people. I hope you guys enjoy the music! =)

Cardfight!! Vanguard Manga Chapter 5 Translated!

So I decided to translate the manga with what free time I have. Here's the download link. It's in a .zip file.

http://www.mediafire.com/?kdu6bd8ldlw5a17

I Never Liked Gold Paladins: A Look at Set 9 and Gerard

Hello everyone, and welcome back! Gold Paladins have recently won the Worlds Champion and have dominated most of the time. This clan is known for it's consistency and one of the beginning power of the Limit Breaks. They are powerful but I never came to liking them in any of the builds I made. Their power is further increased with set 9 and one of the new promo cards, Knight of the Afterglow, Gerard.

When Golds was first released I tried them out like anyone else who liked the previous paladins. The play style however did not seem quite similar and pretty distinct from what the previous paladins were. The Royal and Shadow Paladins have their ways of getting what they want onto the field and highly focuses on building a consistent field and maintaining it so that you are always hitting at the highest power. Golds however focuses more on the vanguard power pressure and did not always needed a power field. They are also more inclined to the ability to call units from the top number of cards rather than searching from the deck. Their vanguard also has the ability to gain high amount of power and could plow through a great amount of shields if you are not prepared.

Gold Paladins then grew more and came pretty unique mechanics that works well with their abilities. The Spectral Duke Dragon, although the cost is pretty high, allows your vanguard to attack again. Pellinore, the card which is now pretty staple in Gold Paladin decks for his superior ride and not needing any open damage for his Limit Break makes him a great early advantage and also late game vanguard. They stayed to the powerful vanguards and not too focused on powerful rears. However, their rears are mostly pressure units, which has the ability to call more units if the condition is met. These units easily gives more advantage to the Gold Paladins be it in form of field or hand power.

Although powerful, these distinct features Gold Paladins  have over Royal and Shadow Paladins made me walk away from them. I did not have much hype for set 6 and the favorite card from the set for me is Gyras, the megablast for Narukami. I did not really like Narukami too, Dragonic Empire was never really my thing and I did not like the high cost for Vermillion. However, that changed a bit when Dungaree got released but, that's for another post.

With the release of set 9 and Gerard, the Gold Paladins  have yet again increased their consistency in pressure units and calling cards from their deck. The main focus in set 9 is Kahedin. This one unit has greatly increased Gold Paladin's ability to build pressure fields. This is especially powerful when you have Kahedin boosting the vanguard and Viviane on a second column. Boosting Gerard also greatly increases the chance to bring out Pellinore that leads to you being able to attack again. If you manage to call one of the rabbit units you're also getting another card to your field or hand with a small cost.

Next of course is Chromejailer. With Golds' consistency on being able to pressure rush on grade 2, Chromejailer is amazing that he is able to gain 10k and +1 critical just for 2 rear-guards. The early rush would have either gave you a higher advantage on field/hand or your opponent would have been struggling to guard the attacks, leading to less field presence. If you play your cards right, it's pretty easy to finish off your opponent with Chromejailer's Limit Break. Chromejailer also has a very powerful persona blast that it can bring out more units for you to sacrifice.

Last but not least, Platina Ezel. This unit works quite differently from other main Gold Paladin vanguards is that it does not focus on giving itself high amount of power (although you can choose your targets for Pellinore), Platina Ezel focuses on giving you a high amount of power to all your unit and powering your way to victory. Getting a heal trigger after you used the ability pretty much secures you a win. The ability is very powerful with a high restriction and cost.

All in all, Gold Paladins are as strong as they seem to be. They can easily apply early pressure and has great late game power pressure. Even then, I do not like their play style. When playing against them, I would highly recommend taking out their pressuring rears like Viviane before they can gain more advantage than you can handle. Knowing when you can handle their Limit Break is also very important.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

You Know What...

I don't even care anymore. Let's just enjoy life as it is. Here, have a candy!

A New Restriction List!?

A few hours ago, the Cardfight!! Vanguard Facebook just posted news on a new restriction list which would take effect starting from the 1st January, 2013. This restriction is only applied to the Japanese version of the game and is stated to have no plans to be applied to the English version.

Quote from the Facebook page:

**As the situation is different for the Japanese and English versions, there are currently no plans to implement the following restriction for the English version of Cardfight!! Vanguard at all!**

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With effect from the 1st of January 2013, for the Japanese version of Cardfight!! Vanguard, the cards highlighted in the following list will be restricted to up to a total of two cards in the deck (including the first vanguard).


King of Knights, Alfred
Majesty Lord Blaster
Wingal Brave


Lizard Soldier, Conroe
Dragonic Overlord the End


Silent Tom
Godhawk, Ichibyoshi
Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi

*This includes all cards of the same name with different rarities.

[Example]
OK: King of Knights, Alfred x 2
OK: Majesty Lord Blaster x 1, Wingal Brave x 1
- Total of 2 in a deck, so it’s fine.

Not OK: Majesty Lord Blaster x 2, Wingal Brave x 1
Not OK: Dragonic Overlord the End x 2, Lizard Soldier, Conroe x 1

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This list is actually quite a shock for me as I am planning to get a Majesty deck build and planned to buy a couple of boxes for set 4 and 5. I might change my mind, the list also greatly brings down my hopes for the game. This list really brings down a lot of the builds. The restriction is very strict as you can only use up to 2 of the cards listed.

This list would bring down The End to having only 1 copy for persona blast. That is the only strong point for the card and it is now basically taken away from it. Not being able to rely on Conroe also means that you are stuck with vanilla starter. That would bring you down to 1 less rear-guard and lacking of Conroe's ability to bring you good rears or perfect guards.

Majesty consistency would be brought down by a lot since you can only have 1 Wingal Brave and 1 Majesty. Unless if you're lucky enough to get it into your hand, relying on Brave to get Majesty would be an important point for the deck. You could possibly wait till you get it later with other grade 3 like Pendragon and such but you would lose out on Bediviere's effectiveness and you won't have the luxury to enjoy an early 2 critical vanguard.

The drop on Wingal Brave also affects Phantom Blaster Overlord decks. As you could no longer rely on Brave to find another Overlord or Dragon to add to soul. You would also have less soul for Bat's soul blast. Restriction on Alfred is supposed to drop Majesty's consistency on getting Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark on the field but I still think that it is not necessary.

Tsukuyomi decks are also brought down to only 1 Full Moon with no Toms. This greatly affects the consistency of the deck which is already somewhat lacking but also takes away quite some of their offenses of Toms. Not only that, they would add Godhawk into the list! Seriously, who would benefit from having more than 1 Godhawk in the deck!?

All that aside, the rule on Barcgal was not dropped and it will remain unavailable as your starting vanguard. This is much expected since exculpate was just recently released for the Japanese version.

I could only think of 3 reasons for Bushiroad to do this. One being that it these cards are overused in tournaments and would like players to try out different builds. Another reason would be for their own benefit. As the arrival of set 10 draws close these pretty 'old' clans are said to get support in the set and Bushiroad wants these cards to sell. The last reason would be that the cards in set 10 would justify the restriction of the cards. The support might make the listed cards too powerful and so decided to restrict them.

Overall, I am not happy to see the list as these 'powerful' cards can now be easily dealt with and are of not much threat. If this list stays in effect for long, there is a high chance that they will be implemented to the English game and many people would not want that. The list would cause people to avoid investing on set 5 because it might turn out to be bad for them.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Trigger for the Strategist: Heal Trigger!

Hello everyone. Today I will be writing my second post on triggers. The topic today is heal trigger! This is a very defensive trigger and is limited up to 4 per deck. One of the reason for that is because checking this trigger could change the tide of the game, it could even save you from a loss.

One of the strategies of this game is on defending and planning on when you should defend and how much to defend. All these are calculated along with trigger probability, and the chances to get each trigger. Defending to avoid damage is important but it is also equally important to keep your damage up to your opponent's level to have a chance at healing when you get a heal trigger. Guarding and not being able to heal the one damage would mean that you wasted the shields when you could have healed off the damage.

Heal triggers also works very well with damage increaser. Not only that you give yourself more chance at healing, you could also return the heal trigger on your damage zone back to your deck and at the same time, possibly stop your opponent from healing. Heal triggers that has the ability to recycle themselves like Lozenge Magus are even more powerful. They can be easily returned to the deck to give you another chance  at healing. However you should be careful when doing this as it may backfire because you are reducing the shields on your hand by 10k, which you might need on your next turn.

Most decks have 4 heal triggers in them because of how much they can affect the game. Planning ahead and knowing how on heal triggers work is a very important strategy for the game. You should avoid having less damage than your opponent during your drive checks or taking the attack of a rear-guard to stop the opponent from healing. Mastering the strategy of how to work heal triggers against your opponent could really turn the tides to your favour.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

New Keyword Announced: Break Ride!

Hello again! Very recently, Bushiroad had a live conference and revealed this unit with a Limit Break ability which activates when another Narukami rides on it! This card was first shown as the box art of the upcoming Narukami trial deck. It is confirmed to be named, Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon.

For now, I think the Break Ride ability could be treated as any other ride ability and gaining advantage due to riding. This card would most likely be used in a deck that focuses on riding the same unit each turn and would in this case also be like a form of Persona Blast but the restrictions are not as strict. A few cards which also revolves around this strategy would be Pendragon, CoCo, and almost all the generic Limit Break units.

However, the Break Ride seems to have a low cost due to the need to ride which would be quite fair due to the need to use another card on your hand. The need to have at least 4 damage before you can use the ability also justifies for the cost. These free cost can be used for other units for power gain, or any other clan gimmicks which needs the damage.

From observing this new unit, one weakness the mechanic has is the need to ride another unit and the possibility to get no plus from the ride. Instead this will bring down your hand and there might be times when you would have to decide if you want to ride or call the unit. Unless if you have a certain difference in hand advantage, using the ability might hurt you more than giving you the advantage.

I can see a lot of potential in this mechanic. Adding some cost on it could make it to have some very powerful abilities. After having seen this card and the PV for the next season, I am looking forward to what Bushiroad has in store for us.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Cardfight!! Vanguard: Link Joker Arc PV

Here is a little PV shown in a nico nico live stream conference by Bushiroad. It contains a prelude to the upcoming story and also that I believe to be the opening song of the next season.

Glory Maelstrom Ability Leaked!

Apparently someone got the card early -gasp-. Also, like the other two main x-rides, Glory Maelstrom also has a Limit Break 5!

AUTO [V] Limit Break 5: [Counter Blast(1)] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets Power+5000, and your opponent cannot call grade 1 or higher units to their (GC) from their hand.

A very impressive ability for a low cost, but a high restriction. This means you would have to strategize on making a deck that would focus on taking damage and rely on playing defensive instead of the usual Aqua Force attack rush. This would limit the usage of stand triggers but this ability is amazing with critical rush. This would be especially true if you get that lucky critical off your first two turns.

In my opinion, this ability is the best Limit Break 5 because it has a low cost which makes it a constant threat. Your opponent won't be able to use cards which are grade 1 or higher from their hand means that they don't have access to perfect guards, and the +5k make a whole lot of difference in these cases. Having unit to take care of their rear-guards also works to bring down their usable units to guard this monster.

Although to fully utilize this unit's ability you would need to restraint yourself from calling too many rear-guards to the front row. So the opponent would be forced to attack your vanguard instead to give you damage or, they can drag it out a bit by not attacking which would still give you some form of advantage. This unit highly relies on late game pressure and the 'attacks per turn' mechanic for most Aqua Force units would be a little more difficult to utilize.

That being said, having the previous Mael as the other grade 3 of the deck isn't too bad. It is a good 11k rear-guard and has the potential to hit 20k with Torpedorush Dragon. With Glory in the deck, you would have less Diamantes and Benedict, possibly none at all to help Mael's Limit Break but you would have Damon which could help out a bit. Even without those, Mael would still be a good 11k vanguard.

It would be intersting to see how people would play this card and how to play against it. The best solution I've come up with is special intercepts but still, this thing is a pretty big threat and a very strong card.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Blaster Dark Spirits: Support for Phantom Blaster Overlord!

Bad ass Overlord!

Hello everyone today I decided to try out Blaster Dark Spirits (BD Spirit) in a Phantom Blaster Overlord deck. It have been working great and has a high consistency on getting Blaster Dragon in the soul with Overlord as vanguard.

The deck I use have Wingal Brave in it to get consistency in taking out required grade 3 to your hand. This can be done easily with the new BD Spirit. You have access to more Blaster units to be boosted by Brave. You can easily bring out another Overlord to secure a Persona Blast or the required Dragon to add it to soul with Painter. You can also force some really tough decisions for the opponent when you attack their rear-guard.

Although, to do this, you would need to fix up some grade ratio. My build had 6 grade 3 and 10 grade 2 with 3 Wingal Brave in it. This deck highly relies on pressure and critical rush. Pressure is applied by Wingal Brave and the unflipper which fortunately can be easily accessed soon by English players in set 4. The extra Wingal Brave are also great 10k shields. It also helps stacks up soul for Apocalypse Bat.

Blaster Dark Spirit and Creeping Dark Goat have been working great for me in my few Shadow Paladin builds. Still, I would hope that Shadow Paladins will get some extra stuff in set 9. Also one point to note is that when you have Blaster Dark Spirit on the field, Overlord will get power -2k so, do plan ahead.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Battle Sister, Cookie: Best Thing to Happen to Oracle Think Tank Since LuLu

Hello everyone, Oracle Think Tank and a few other clans will be receiving their generic Limit Breaker in set 9 of the Cardfight!! Vanguard boosters. The main topic today is Battle Sisters, Cookie.

Like all other generic Limit Breaks, a vanguard Cookie gains +5k if you have 4 or more damage when attacking a vanguard. Although the ability is a little plain, but it is powerful and applies quite a huge pressure on any kind of opposing vanguard. Cookie also has her own personal booster, Cream which can bring her attack power up to 21 or 26k. That is one of the reason generic Limit Breaks are sought for because they can make a good rear column.

In my opinion, Cookie is the best thing to ever happen to Oracles since LuLu. Cookie is a very flexible unit which can be added into any other Oracle builds. She gives quite the better alternative for Tsuku builds instead of CEO and also could increase the offensive and draw capability of CoCo builds. She is also decent in a Fromage build, being a possible 21k rear column with Battle Sister in her name. She could also be played with CEO with the consistant ability to hit 21k on rear.

Cookie is also very powerful on her own build. She has more access to Oracles cards compared to Fromage. You have the freedom to use Tom and also can have Macaron as 12k attackers. Her draw ability is also very good as it can help get you that null you might need and also help you setup a field if you need one, ditching out your draw triggers or grade 3.

Cookie is an amazing card and great addition to the Oracles. This card alone has greatly increased Oracle's offensive capabilities and also added more options to deck variations.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

I Made Some Custom Playmats!

As the title suggests, I edited some custom playmats for Cardfight!! Vanguard. Hope you guys like it! =) More can be seen in my Deviantart

Decklist & Review: Crimson Impact, Metatron

Being the first RRR to be revealed for set 9, I decided to make a deck review for the updated deck I used in a previous video. First up would be the decklist.

Grade 0 (17)
Crimson Heart, Nahas -1 (Starter)
Critical Hit Angel (Critical) -4
Rampage Cart Angel (Critical) -2
Fever Theraphy Nurse (Draw) -4
Bouqet Toss Messenger (Draw) -2
Sunny Smile Angel (Heal) -4

Grade 1 (15)
Burst Shot, Bethnael -3
Crimson Mind, Baruch -4
Pure Keeper, Prequiel -4
Thousand Ray Pegasus -4

Grade 2 (12)
Core Memory, Armaros -3
Crimson Drive, Aphrodite -4
Love Machine Gun, Nociel -2
Million Ray Pegasus -3

Grade 3 (6)
Crimson Impact, Metatron -3
The Phoenix, Calamity Flame -3

Let's start with the grade 0. Nahas herself is a great early booster and could allow you to superior ride Metatron. She can be used for Metatron's ability during late/mid game as well. I decided to go with this trigger setup for better hand advantage and critical offensive. Most of the time, I have a full field and the ability to access units from my damage zone also helps make a good field. You could also have stands instead of more draws like mine, but that is up to you.

I decided to not have any damage increase units and focuses more on power offensive. I also have Armaros as pressure unit and also to further increase hand advantage. Nociel can help with fortifying hand shields and unflip damage. Metatron can also help with recalling Nociel each turn for a +6k to each Pegasus/Calamity on the field. Having all these counted, I decided to have 4 sentinels to fully utilise the draw power and damage recycle-ability.

I decided to only have 6 grade 3 because of the possible option to superrior ride. There is a high chance that you would get either the superrior ride or Metatron herself into your hand. Even without those, Calamity Flame makes a decent defensive vanguard.

This is a very offensive based deck, it has the ability to rush early game and pegasus as early on vanguards can avoid rush strategies. Metatron Limit Break ability can be used to adjust field units, give power to your rear-guards and also help you with your hand using Nociel.

Special thanks to (DSE) Galatin for advises ;D

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

Oh My, it's a Persona Break!

I was the one who edited the image

Or, Limit Blast, however you would like to call it. Two newly revealed cards, Farah and Shirayuki was revealed with Limit Break abilities that require to discard a copy of their own from your hand as the cost. This makes the ability very restrictive but their abilities are a decent for the restrictions. The strict requirement also made it so that the damage cost is greatly reduced. Although, with the high restriction, you would most possibly only be able to use the ability 1-2 times per game.

These two cards have 11k base power and the ability officially dubbed "Lord" by Bushiroad. They are also both of RR rarity. These units are great additions to their clans and their low requirement for damage makes it so that you would be able to spend more on other cards.

Farah's ability lets you soul charge 2 and call a Pale Moon from your soul. This ability is great to refill your field with boosters or intercepters. Calling out Purple Trapezist can rearrange your field a little, and possibly calling either Laquer or Partner for a 11k column with more soul to expend. Farah also works great with Fire Juggler and Midnight Bunny since you can bring them out again for consistent pressure. You could build up some soul with Robert but I would rather play her with Laquer and Alice.

Shirayuki can be said to be an improvement to Mandala Lord. With the Limit Break, Shirayuki decreases your opponent's power by 20k instead of Mandala's 10k. However, Shirayuki doesn't have Mandala's searching units. This ability is very powerful defensive wise, especially against Vermillion which has the ability to attack all your front row. You would bring down Vermillion to a mere 3k or the cross ride, 8k max, assuming that they have a 10k booster. Since power can be brought down to negative values, sometimes, you might not even have to bring out more for defenses. You could run her with the Magatsu chain for some early rush advantage and have late game defenses. I can see this build being very dangerous with stands and draws since Shirayuki herself is a great shield and the stand could really bring down the opposing forces.

These two cards has beautiful art and pretty amazing abilities. I can't wait to see them in action and maybe trying them myself. Although, I'm not too much of a Pale Moon or Murakumo player.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out

A Look at the NEW Cross-Rides!

Hello everyone, I have not been writing for a while now because I have been quite busy for the past few weeks. Although I have some topics in mind, this would be the first. New cards have just been recently revealed with Amaterasu and Vermillion cross rides among the revealed cards.

I have had the privilege to test out Amaterasu myself and to be frank, she seems pretty plain and so are the other revealed x-rides this time round. One of the troubles that these x-rides share is field presence. A good hand is required for them to setup a decent field. Maybe that is my problem but, I have been struggling a bit to keep up with my opponent due to difference in field.

Amaterasu is a decent card with a decent Limit Break. She allows you to add an Oracle Think Tank from your deck to your hand when she hits at the cost of 2 damage. With an on hit ability, she is a good pressure unit and can be used along with other pressure units like Libra, Tom and Apollon. She can also easily be a 13k base with Inaba. Although so, I seem to have problem with setting up a decent field early on the game. Even if I have a decent field, protecting it takes quite a lot of effort on it's own. The reason is that Amaterasu doesn't have as much draw power as the CoCo and Tsuku builds and the fact that you need to have CEO in soul for the +2k. This problem could be slightly fixed with Dark Cat, Petal Fairy, Lulu starter and more draw triggers. She is also not much pressure without the required 4 damage, when you have reached 4 damage, the opponent would have had 4-5 damage and would rather put up a tight defense. One exception is against rush decks, where Amaterasu shines best. Although you would be in a disadvantage of damage but you would have more pressure and have the opponent in a heal lock.

The Blood, another Limit Break 5 however, the ability only looks half decent. Basically, it's a Vermillion with more power and added critical. The extra critical would force your opponent to guard the vanguard since they would most likely have 4 or more damage. Considering the cost, you would most likely be able to use it's ability for only once, unlike Platinum, you don't get to have a very powerful unflipper. The only way you would be able to use the ability twice would be through a heal trigger which I would rather use on cards like Deathscythe and the new Voltage Crow... if only Narukami had a Kimnara. Like Amaterasu, The Blood would probably be facing the same problems on rear-guards but they can make up by retiring enemy units. You would also need to wait till you have 5 damage to be able to use The Blood's ability.

Glory Maelstrom's ability is still a secret for now but other than that, there are a bunch of other very interesting cards revealed, including cards that have the ability to be treated as another clan! To sum it up, I think the x-rides this time are a little plain. They seem to have a high restriction and cost on their abilities. The abilities are powerful but somewhat, disappointing. For most of them, I would rather play them on their own than with their previous 'form' just for the +2k. That is it for now, until next time.

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CoCo 4 Lyf
Peace Out