Crimson Wings of Love and Passion

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this article, I want to elaborate on something. I am attending the UK Qualifier this weekend and I will be posting a tournament report here after the fact to cover my experiences there.

Now, the subject matter of this review are our first revealed cards of Set 9: Clash of the Knights and Dragons, the Crimson series of Angel Feather Units. Bringing to the table two extremely nice utility Units, as well as a new starter and Limit Break boss, these Units present as a set a potent new decktype for Angel Feather, one more viciously offensive than the famed Shamsiel build but sacrificing that deck's defensive advantage. Demonstrated pretty much out of nowhere by Rekka in the latest episode, these four Units offer Angel Feather several new options.

So without further ado, let's get to it:

Crimson Heart, Nahas

Grade 0/Boost

United Sanctuary/Angel/Angel Feather

5000 Power/10000 Shield/Critical 1

Auto: Pioneer (When a Unit of the same Clan Rides this Unit, call this Unit to a Rearguard Circle.)

Activate [R]: [Move this Unit and a Unit named 'Crimson Mind, Baruch' from your Rearguard Circles to your Soul] If you have a Unit named 'Crimson Drive, Aphrodite' on your Vanguard Circle, search your deck for up to 1 Unit named 'Crimson Impact, Metatron', Ride it and shuffle your deck.

Nahas is effectively a Kyrph clone, with the exact same general function. As is usual in this generation, it is a moving starter (though it is the first Unit to apply a keyword to it, incidentally translation of said keyword varies), and its other skill allows you to move it and a specific Grade 1 to Soul, then if you have a specific Grade 2 Vanguard, Superior Ride a specific Grade 3. This Superior Ride is helped by the fact that should you Damage Check Baruch, you can use a Nociel to retrieve it from your Damage Zone for the Superior Ride. On a technical note in terms of advantage, the Metatron Superior is essentially a +1 to your hand because although you're losing two Units, one of those (Nahas) was gained at no cost to the hand, and you then receive both a Grade 3 at no cost to hand, and an additional Drive Check, a +2, which is then reduced to a +1 by the loss of Baruch. 

Crimson Mind, Baruch

Grade 1/Boost

United Sanctuary/Angel/Angel Feather

7000 Power/5000 Shield/Critical 1

Activate [Damage Zone]: [Counterblast this card] Select 1 of your <Angel Feather> Vanguards, it gains 3000 Power until end of turn.

Crimson Drive, Aphrodite

Grade 2/Intercept
United Sanctuary/Angel/Angel Feather

9000 Power/5000 Shield/Critical 1

Activate [Damage Zone]: [Counterblast this card] Select 1 of your <Angel Feather> Vanguards, it gains 3000 Power until end of turn.

I'm lumping these two together because they have the same utility and purpose. Technically you can tech Aphrodite and Baruch into any Angel Feather build even without Nahas and Metatron, because their skills work just so long as your Vanguard is an Angel Feather. In general terms the purpose of Aphrodite and Baruch is the same as Daimariner and Daibattles in a Dimension Police deck, with an added advantage - Aphrodite and Baruch are reusable because of our good friends, the Nociels and Shamsiel.  +3k to the Vanguard is pretty useful, especially against Crossrides, and stackable 3ks is even more so. So yeah. Overall, these two are pretty fun techs into any AF deck if you can find the space and think they'd be useful, and they're more-or-less essential to a pure Metatron deck due to the utility of Nahas' Superior Ride.

And finally, the boss herself:

Crimson Impact, Metatron

Grade 3/Twin Drive!

United Sanctuary/Angel/Angel Feather

10000 Power/No Shield/Critical 1

Activate [V]: [Limit Break 4, Counterblast 1, put 2 of your <Angel Feather> Rearguards into your Damage Zone] Choose up to 2 face-up <Angel Feather> from your Damage Zone and call them to separate Rearguard Circles. This ability can only be activated once per turn.
Auto [V]: When this Unit attacks a Vanguard, this Unit gains 3000 Power until end of that battle.

Here she is, Metatron herself. First of all, Metatron can gain 3000 Power for attacking a Vanguard, allowing her to hit over even a Crossride with just Nahas' boost, and with Bethnael or an empowered Thousand Ray Pegasus, she's hitting for 15k guard minimum over anything not a Crossride or Majesty, with Thousand Ray she's even forcing 15k from Majesty. However, that's not what you're here for, right? :P

Metatron's Limit Break allows you to trade two Units from your field with two from your Damage Zone, allowing you to set up more optimal columns, switch out worthless Units in your hand for more useful ones, and even get extra Shield by switching Grade 3s for Interceptors. So she's pretty nice for that reason alone. 

And then you put these in your deck:

Yes, these three. +2000 Power whenever a card is placed in your Damage Zone. That's +4000 Power from using Metatron's Limit Break (though note Units called by the Limit Break won't get this bonus because the cards went to the Damage Zone before they were on the field). See the picture here? Metatron with the Pegasi and Calamity Flame is a beatdown engine. Thousand Ray becomes 11k, Million Ray becomes 13k and Calamity Flame becomes 14k. With that, Thousand Ray can boost anything 10k or more to 21k, Million Ray + Bethnael is 21k, and Calamity Flame + any 7k or higher booster is 21k. It's awesome beatdown as a deck. Furthermore, at this point you'll be going, 'but Duke, eventually you'll run out of Counterblasts and you won't be able to call new Units!'

I'd like to introduce you to another lovely lady:

Ah, Nociel, my lovely lady :D. Basically the trick here is that you can use Nociel to unflip Damage and in addition, every time you use her, your Pegasi and Calamity Flames are getting even stronger. And the really fun part? 

1) Call Nociel

2) Swap a Damage with her skill

3) Use Metatron's Limit Break

4) Call Nociel again with the Limit Break

5) Use Nociel's skill again

You're buffing your Pegasi/Calamity Flames by 8k with this move, and also potentially swapping two cards in your hands for ones which are more useful while in essence unflipping one Damage. Plus, you remember that lovely loli swordsangel back at the very start, Nahas?

1) Move Nahas to Damage with Metatron's LB

2) Call Nociel with Metatron's LB

3) Swap a card from your hand with Nahas

Swapped a Grade 3? Congratulations, not only did you bring a more useful Unit to the field, but you got +10k Shield to your hand, while buffing your Pegasi/Calamity Flames by 6k. This is just the tip of the iceberg that is this deck's true awesome. The combos Metatron opens up for Angel Feather are simply put incredible. Shamsiel may have more viability due to her defensive potential, but the beatdown Metatron gives you is awesome, and Metatron also has pretty neat Damage switch potential due to effectively swapping two cards at once.

So, getting to the point, here is a sample decklist for a Metatron focused Beatdown AF deck.

Wings of Zealous Passion

Grade 0:

1x Crimson Heart, Nahas

4x Bouquet Toss Messenger

4x Critical Hit Angel

4x Rocket Dash Unicorn/Rampage Guard Angel (these two are functionally the same, being skilless Crits, it comes down to your preferred artwork basically)

4x Sunny Smile Angel

Grade 1:

4x Crimson Mind, Baruch

4x Thousand Ray Pegasus

3x Burst Shot, Bethnael

3x Pure Keeper, Requiel

Grade 2:

4x Crimson Drive, Aphrodite

4x Million Ray Pegasus

4x Love Machine Gun, Nociel

Grade 3:

4x Crimson Impact, Metatron

3x The Phoenix, Calamity Flame

The point of this deck is get massive columns and beat things to pulp. The Pegasi and Calamity Flame go massive for beatdown, while Nociel helps them get even more massive while unflipping for Metatron and adding more consistency by switching out useless cards for useful ones. Overall the deck's aim is simple, beating things into paste with monstrous columns and using Metatron in tandem with Nociel to switch out useless cards in the hand for useful ones.

That however isn't the only potential build for Metatron. There is another one I thought up, using this gal:

Medical Gunner, Hermieres

Grade 3/Twin Drive!

United Sanctuary/Angel/Angel Feather

10000 Power/No Shield/Critical 1

Auto [R]: [Counterblast 1, put this Unit into your Damage Zone] When this Unit's attack hits a Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If paid, choose 1 face-up <Angel Feather> in your Damage Zone other than a Unit named 'Medical Gunner, Hermieres' and call it to a Rearguard Circle.

Hermieres is basically an Angel Feather equivalent to Death Seeker, Thanatos. However, an advantage she has over Thanatos and Nightmare Doll, Alice is the aforementioned three Units which +2k every time a card goes to your Damage. They activate when Hermieres uses her skill, making things even more painful for your opponent in tandem with the +4k off of Metatron's Limit Break.

So without further ado, that second deck:

Wings of Radiant Love

Grade 0:

1x Crimson Heart, Nahas

4x Aurora Ribbon Pigeon

4x Happy Bell, Nociel

4x Bouquet Toss Messenger

4x Sunny Smile Angel

Grade 1:

4x Crimson Mind, Baruch

4x Thousand Ray Pegasus

3x Battle Cupid, Nociel

3x Pure Keeper, Requiel

Grade 2:

4x Crimson Drive, Aphrodite

4x Million Ray Pegasus

3x Love Machine Gun, Nociel

Grade 3:

4x Crimson Impact, Metatron

4x Medical Gunner, Hermieres

The point of this deck is POWER combined with Stands and Hermieres for more attacks. Metatron's Limit Break can recover Hermieres from the Damage Zone after she's used her skill or if she's Damage Checked, and the Stands allow you to attack once more with Hermieres for a second chance to get her skill. The key trick is getting Thousand Ray to 11k via Metatron and then boost Hermieres with it to force 15k at least to stop her unless she's attacking a Crossride or Majesty. Nociel again serves the purpose of unflipping Damage, which is useful even more so in this deck due to Hermieres' Counterblast. 

Anyway, that's my thoughts on Metatron and her squad done. I hope this article helps to detail at least some of the neat combos Metatron and co enable, and I look forward to seeing many fun decks using her in future. So, my next article will be my UK Qualifier tournament report. Until then, good luck to everyone, and I hope you found this article useful.

Crossrides: Why Set 5 Broke The Game

There are, I've noticed, a lot of varying opinions regarding the above three cards. Some consider them the spawn of Satan, some think Barkgal should be unrestricted and these three banned outright instead, some consider them the worst thing to ever happen to Vanguard, some think these three are perfectly fine, etcetera etcetera.

These three cards, in order Dragonic Overlord The End, Phantom Blaster Overlord and Majesty Lord Blaster, are regardless the three single most infamous cards in Vanguard. They were the first cards to be able to achieve a Power above 11000 during both turns, giving them an unparalleled defensive advantage, along with each possessing another powerful skill, be it the Persona Blasts of PBO and DOTE, or MLB's more infamous second skill.

The reason I want to do some analysis of these three cards now is essentially a matter of time. Set 5, Awakening of Twin Blades, has been announced for an English release in February, meaning the English meta will be changing radically at that time. I can't make exact predictions as to how, but my general belief is that we will see a drastic decrease in certain decks which have excelled in Qualifiers thus far. The Spectral Duke Gold Paladin deck will suffer against the threat of Crossrides and Majesty and probably lose its current high ranking due to this, while I expect the Ezel-Garmore build to cling to power as it has maintained a strong position in Japan in Crossride meta. Narukami and Oracle Think Tank decks will likely fade out for the most part, though OTT may maintain a place with the Oracle Witch build, though Tsukuyomi will be out-tanked by the superior defensive capability of Crossrides. Other decks will likely fade back for a time, though new support in Blue Storm Armada will give Dimension Police and Neo Nectar in particular the ability to stand up to Crossrides (D-Police owning to their own, Great Daiyusha, plus Galactic Beast, Zeal, Neo Nectar due to the Arboros Dragon Ride Chain and its capability to easily surpass 20k marks on all three columns with Sephirot's Limit Break.)

Anyway, that aside, let's get into a discussion of the big three. This analysis is mainly derived from my own experience of Crossrides, but also my discussions on the subject with my friends, Nightmare and Valkaris, who any CFC players reading this will most likely know. Before I specifically target each of these three, I want to clear up one major issue because it is present with all three.

I've heard a lot of opinions regarding the 12k/13k capability of MLB and Crossrides, some holding it as the inferior reason for the dominance these Units possess compared to their own skills, others considering it the superior. In truth, while the skills of MLB and the Crossrides are undoubtedly part of their dominance, their ability to surpass 11k in both turns also plays a major part. It forces the opponent to set up 17k/18k columns or have their Rearguards be blocked by 5k Shields effortlessly. Needing 5k less Shield to guard columns an 11k would need 10k to guard is absurdly good. This, by the way, is also the reason for the Tsukuyomi deck's inferior matchup to Crossrides. Silent Tom, that deck's major winning image prior to Awakening of Twin Blades, can only reach 16k maximum, leaving it open to 5k guards which completely defeat its ability to prevent Grade 0 (ie, 10k Shield) guards.

Now, onto each of the three on their own:

ZETSUUUBBBOOO

Phantom Blaster Overlord

Abyss Dragon/Shadow Paladin/United Sanctuary

Grade 3/11000 Power/No Shield

Continuous [V/R]: If you have a non-<Shadow Paladin> Vanguard or Rearguard, this Unit loses 2000 Power.

Continuous [V]: If you have a Unit named 'Phantom Blaster Dragon' in your Soul, this Unit gains 2000 Power.

Auto [V]: [Counterblast 3, discard a Unit named 'Phantom Blaster Overlord' from your hand] When this Unit attacks, you may pay the cost. If paid, this Unit gains 10000 Power and 1 Critical until end of that battle.

The first of the three superboss cards in Awakening of Twin Blades, Phantom Blaster Overlord possesses the usual two Crossride abilities, -2000 Power for a Unit not of the same Clan on your field (a step which ironically dissuades hybrid decks in the set which gave us the first viable hybrid. Well, sort of), and +2000 Power for the previous form in your Soul. Shadow Paladins alone among the Crossride Clans can actually 'cheat' at this with Nightmare Painter, which on call can send a Shadow Paladin from your hand to the Soul, allowing you to speed up getting a full-Power PBO by a turn by riding PBO, then using Painter to send PBD to the Soul. It also has its third, unique skill. On attack, by Counterblasting three cards and Persona Blasting, PBO activates its previous form's Damned Charging Lance for +10k and +1 Crit for that attack.

In terms of deliberate support, three Units from Awakening are clearly designed to work in tandem with PBO. Knight of the Void, Masquerade is a 9k Grade 2 which gains 3k when it attacks if your Vanguard is a 'Blaster' Unit (this usefully alleviates the issue of Shadow Paladins being forced to run Javelin @4). Apocalypse Bat is a 4k Grade 1 which when it boosts a 'Blaster' unit, can Soul Blast 1 to boost by an extra 6k for that battle. Finally is Phantom Bringer Demon, a 5k Grade 0 which can Counterblast 1 and retire 2 Shadow Paladin Rearguards to add a PBO from your deck to your hand. Of these three, Bringer Demon is generally trash which no-one runs. Apocalypse Bat also doesn't see much play due to a Charon being sufficient to push PBO to 21k, enough to roll over anything but MLB or another Crossride. Masquerade however is considering a near-staple by PBO decks due to his ability to roll over Crossrides when boosted by any Grade 1 the deck offers.

To sum up PBO, of the three superbosses in Awakening, it is easily the weakest. Its skill, while turning it into a massive beatstick, shares its previous form's vulnerability to Perfect Guards, and moreover, in a Counterblast-heavy Shadow Paladin deck, Counterblast 3 is a ridiculously high cost. Because the Persona Blast activates on declaration of the attack, you cannot use it to apply pressure in the same way you can use DOTE or MLB, allowing the opponent to more-or-less safely not guard PBO on any turn when it doesn't Persona Blast. Moreover, as a deck, Shadow Paladin actually isn't suited to a Crossride at all. They don't have the sort of options Kagero or Royal Paladin had at the time when these three cards were released (nor do they have such options now, to my constant irritation), leaving them at four Draw Triggers when PBO's competition is mostly likely running with six Draw, six Critical, four Heal, a combination generally seen as the optimal for this deck as it provides 5k Shields both to guard with using the Crossride's superior defense, and extra fodder to discard for Perfect Guards while maintaining the offensive threat of Critical Triggers. 

This is not to say, of course, that PBO isn't a threat. It is still a powerful card purely on the virtue of being a Crossride Unit. However in comparison to its peers, it lacks the offensive threat to apply pressure as DOTE and MLB can, and the options necessarily to fully make use of its superior defense. A PBO deck can still do nasty things by cycling through the deck with Nemains, which in tandem with PBO's 13k can defend against 17k or less columns on their own, but compared to the threat of DOTE in combination with Kagero's ability to snipe away major threats, and MLB's ridiculous consistency and potentially even larger offensive threat, PBO falls short. Of the three, it's the one I'd call closest to balanced, and that's largely because it was dumped into a Clan lacking the tools to properly make full use of it while being saddled with an inefficient, over-the-top rendition of Damned Charging Lance when that skill was already inefficient as it was. But even then, possessing the ability to become a 13k Unit makes PBO a serious threat to non-Crossride builds due to the sheer ability to tank behind that 13k and Nemain's ability to cycle away useless cards to acquire more guards. So ironically for a card so clearly geared towards being an offensive powerhouse, its greatest asset is a defensive body supplemented by a cheap cycle and draw Unit.

(I also despise PBO for moving away entirely from the Give your lives to the cursed dragon! ethos but more of that another time.)

BURN BABY BURN

Dragonic Overlord The End

Flame Dragon/Kagero/Dragon Empire

Grade 3/11000 Power/No Shield

Continuous [V/R]: If you have a non-<Kagero> Vanguard or Rearguard, this Unit loses 2000 Power.

Continuous [V]: If you have a Unit named 'Dragonic Overlord' in your Soul, this Unit gains 2000 Power.

Auto [V]: [Counterblast 2, discard a Unit named 'Dragonic Overlord The End' from your hand] When this Unit's attack hits, you may pay the cost. If paid, Stand this Unit.

Dragonic Overlord The End. Possibly the most divisive and infamous Unit in Vanguard. It's topped in Japan, edging out even Majesty for that spot at the top of the meta (though it and Majesty got dethroned in Fighter's Road by an anti-Crossride Alfred RP deck, as well as a Bermuda deck which got there because the guy using it was a hack and a cheater), and much debate has raged regarding just how powerful DOTE is. I've seen threads on Pojo asking simply 'Ban DOTE and bring Barcgal back?'.

In terms of what Ji Endo does, aside from the typical Crossride skills, its unique skill allows you to Persona Blast and Counterblast two when its attack hits to stand it. It's worth noting that unlike, say, Spectral Duke Dragon or Stern Blaukruger, Ji Endo doesn't have to attack the Vanguard specifically to get this skill, nor does it lose Twin Drive on the second attack. That's right, people. Snipe an Intercept, and get a second Twin Drive. This provides you with four Drive Checks in a turn. And what's amazing about this skill is that because it's timed after the attack hits, unless your opponent knows with certainty that you don't have a second The End in your hand, they will be lured into a state of paranoia when it attacks, often guarding simply to prevent the off-chance of you getting a second copy and proceeding to use the Persona Blast to wreck things up for them.

With regards to support, all three of The End's particular support Units are clones of the three supports I mentioned for PBO. Burning Horn Dragon is a Masquerade clone for 'Overlord' Units, the same with Flame of Promises, Aermo with regards to Apocalypse Bat, and Doom Bringer Gryphon is a Phantom Bringer Demon clone. Much the same as was discussed with PBO's supports applies, Bringer Gryphon is trash, Burning Horn is pretty much a staple, and Aermo does see use due to Conroe's ability to farm it out of the deck, as well as the potential presence of Flame Edge Dragon to increase the Soul. A typical DOTE deck will also likely tech in Berserk Dragon and Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara, which is where one of Ji Endo's major strengths compared to PBO becomes apparent, Kagero's ability to snipe things. With these two Units, the Ji Endo deck can effortlessly knock down columns capable of hitting over 18k and actually threatening Ji Endo. See a Charon, Marron or Gemini boosting a 10k? Snipe it with Kimnara. Masquerade, Tagitsuhime or Daidragon pressuring you in the front? Snipe it with Berserk Dragon. Kimnara also provides additional Soul for use with Aermo, making things even worse for your opponent. 

Another benefit to The End is Kagero itself. The Clan has access to the ability to run more or less any Trigger lineup you could want or need. 12 Draw can be run. 12 Crit can be run. 12 Stand can be run if you so wish. As a Clan, Kagero has many more options to use with its Crossride than Shadow Paladins do with PBO, putting the edge squarely with DOTE. My experience is generally that the favored Trigger build is six Draw, six Critical, four Heal, a balance of offense and defense. Using Gatling Claw Dragon as one of the Draw Triggers the deck employs is also likely, on the off chance it can be used to snipe away a Wingal Brave or other such threatening Unit while gaining more Soul for Flame of Promises' Soul Blast. With access to so much Retire, The End's strength is clear. The overwhelming pressure the mere threat of its Persona Blast creates pushes your opponent to guard its every strike lest you unleash the Persona and get two more Drive Checks, but with the retire capability provided by Kimnara, Berserk and Gatling, you're whittling away their field. Eventually, their capability to guard and attack will be worn down, allowing you to move in for the killing blow. In effect Ji Endo is a pressure deck much more dangerous, dare I say it, than even Aqua Force. This pressure is mixed with a tank of a Vanguard capable of shrugging off attacks with nothing but 5k Shields, basically allowing you to play the long game because chances are that you'll outlast the opponent.

All in all, DOTE has a reputation as a dangerous card for a reason. It just plain is one. In the hands of most players, it's a devastating force which can shrug off your attacks and then come back with potentially one of the most dangerous and powerful skills in the game. I have very rarely seen The End beaten by a non-Crossride/MLB deck, and even against other Crossrides, it clearly has an edge all to itself. With the perfect support to augment its defensive capability, while maintaining the offensive ability to truly pressure the opponent's resources in tandem with Kagero's retiring skills, The End certainly deserves its reputation as possibly the strongest card in the game, backed by a very adept and powerful deck. 

However, there is a third superboss. And this one, it is said, could possibly be even worse than Ji Endo.

KIBBBOOOUUU

Majesty Lord Blaster

Human/Royal Paladin/United Sanctuary

Grade 3/10000 Power/No Shield

Continuous [V]: If you have a Unit named 'Blaster Blade' and a Unit named 'Blaster Dark' in your Soul, this Unit gains 2000 Power and 1 Critical.

Auto [V]: [Send a Unit named 'Blaster Blade' and a Unit named 'Blaster Dark' from your Rearguard Circles to the Soul] When this Unit attacks, you may pay the cost. If paid, this Unit gains 10000 Power until end of that battle. 

Majesty Lord Blaster, Aichi's final ace in Season 1, wielding the combined power of Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark. An embodiment of hope, the lone light amidst the blackest darkness which refuses to die no matter how desperate things become. Also pretty much fully deserving the title of the single most broken card in all of Vanguard.

In terms of what he can do, Majesty breaks the Crossride formula entirely, most probably due to needing two Units instead of one to unleash his full power. While you have Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark in your Soul, Majesty gains 2000 Power and one Critical during both turns, and furthermore, when he attacks, you can move those two Units from your Rearguard into the Soul to have him gain 10000 Power for that attack. This gives MLB the ability to actually set up his own bonus, adding a level of consistency not present with PBO and DOTE. Indeed it could be argued that Majesty's true great power is consistency. As a deck, Royal Paladins have generally always had the capability to search out exactly what you need in a given situation and make use of it, with King of Knights, Alfred and Hi-Dog Breeder, Akane being stellar examples of this theme. Though Majesty with his skill active is 1000 Power weaker than Crossrides, he also gains an additional Critical for having Blade and Dark in your Soul, and this factor makes him possibly even more of a pressure card than DOTE. If DOTE attacks the opposing Vanguard while they're at three Damage, they may choose to gamble on you not Persona Blasting, reasoning that even with a Critical Trigger, The End can't finish them with that attack. Majesty with his skill active on the other hand can and will beat them with a Critical Trigger at that point, forcing guards to stop him from doing so. While 12k isn't as potent defensively as 13k, it still locks out the Tsukuyomi deck's Silent Tom plays and forces 17k columns, which makes it extremely hard for decks with several 8k Grade 2s.

In terms of support, Majesty can technically make use of Masquerade and Apocalypse Bat from Shadow Paladin, but comes with support of his own. Knight of Loyalty, Bedivere is a Royal Paladin clone of Masquerade, while Knight of Friendship, Kay is a 7k Grade 1 equivalent. Wingal Brave, the deck's starter Vanguard, can not only move to the Rearguard when ridden over by a Royal Paladin, but when it boosts a 'Blaster' Unit, it can move itself to Soul to search a Blaster from your deck and add it to your hand, pretty much setting the toolbox tone of this deck. And then there's Starcall Trumpeter, an 8k Grade 2 who can Counterblast two when she appears to Superior Call a Grade 2 or lower Blaster from your deck.

This deck can be defined as 'Toolbox, then break things'. With Brave and Starcall, you can snag out the Blasters you need to activate Majesty's skill, and Blade can searched by a teched Gancelot if you so wish. Once you have MLB as the Vanguard and Blade and Dark in the Rearguard at the ready, you can use MLB's skill and basically be set to break things. The consistency of a Majesty deck is ridiculous and devastating, creating a 12k Crit 2 Vanguard effortlessly even by Turn 3, and once that Vanguard is there, it's an uphill struggle for the opponent to overcome it. Royal Paladins have pretty much the same Trigger options as Kagero, minus perhaps the ability to run 12 Draw Triggers, and once more the six Draw, six Critical, four Heal lineup seems favored for offensive and defensive balance. Swordsman of the Explosive Flames, Palamedes can be teched in to make Rearguard columns as massive as Majesty himself, while Soul Saver Dragon is another alternate option due to both its ability to serve as a backup Vanguard, and Majesty's own ability to prep the Soul for a finishing strike with Holy Charging Roar. The only major Counterblasts a Majesty deck really uses are Blade's and Starcall's, leaving potential room for Pongal in a deck teching Soul Saver in order to further the toolbox and get Soul Saver for the finishing blow, as well as for Grade security purposes.

All in all? Majesty Lord Blaster was seen as the first hope of a viable hybrid deck when it first appeared, and... ehhh. It can't really be said it succeeded as that. Majesty decks tend to only run three to four Blaster Dark and then the rest of the deck is Royal Paladins. If the intention was to make a Royal-Shadow hybrid, then perhaps the smarter move would not have been to give Royals their own Masquerade, but I digress. Majesty is a toolbox, plain and simple. It's a ridiculously efficient toolbox which results in a monster of a Vanguard and enormous pressure. And once you have that Vanguard, you will more than likely wear down your opponent's defenses with Majesty's raw power, putting them firmly on the back foot until you finally end the game. Only extreme Triggersack or a fellow superboss can really counter Majesty once it gets going, I find, and the most tried and tested way to deal with it is an early rush to try and push up the MLB player's Damage to the point even Majesty's defensive capabilities aren't quite enough. Majesty's skill to move Blade and Dark to Soul is a -2 in card advantage terms, strictly speaking, but the added defensive capability tends to make up for it. With all this in mind, I'm still not entirely sure why The End is able to overcome Majesty to become the stronger deck by tournament standards, whether it's a question of skill or not.

That said, one edge Majesty does have is column strength. While The End can be massive on his own, Majesty can make all three columns hit over 21k easily with combinations of Palamedes, Bedivere and Toypugal, while sniping more dangerous opposing Rearguards with Blaster Blade's Counterblast if needs be. With this toolbox consistency, power output and capability to remove threatening opposing Units, Majesty, while it may not be as deadly overall as Ji Endo, is definitely a real threat at the very least. Many decks simply can't stand against a full power Majesty Lord Blaster without extreme luck, due to how overwhelming the deck is. 

To conclude, these three cards signaled the end of and the beginning of an era in more ways than one when they first appeared. It was the end of Season One and the dawn of Season Two, the end of the Royal Paladins, Shadow Paladins and Kagero and the beginning of Gold Paladins and Narukami. But it was also the end of an age of Tsukuyomi and Kagero, and the beginning of a new age where 11k wasn't necessarily enough anymore. Since that time, the Crossrides and Majesty have maintained a place at the very top of Vanguard's Japanese metagame, and while challenges have come in the form of Gold Paladins and a remarkable anti-Crossride Royal Paladin deck, the superboss Units have kept their throne for the most.

There are a lot of suggestions out there as to how to resolve this problem. Some argue that there is no problem and that these units are perfectly fine. This is an argument I strongly disagree with. Crossrides were released before the game could deal with them. The game can deal with them to a degree more now than it could when Set 5 was first released, but these three (along with Great Daiyusha) still hold an inherent and dangerous advantage over practically all of their competition. Their 13k defensive ability combined with in particular the skills of DOTE and MLB create an overwhelming force which wears away the opposing defenses with ease, while holding off attack more-or-less just as easily much of the time. 

Others have suggested making these Units the first subjects of a Vanguard banlist. While I understand the rationale to it, and can agree, I also think it's the wrong way to go about it. Starting a banlist is a way to deal with the problem, but more preferable alternatives exist which don't involve blacklisting cards because of bad design. I look to the Pokemon TCG and regard a potential method there for fixing flaws in design, namely Errata. 

The biggest problem of Crossrides is their permanent 13k, while arguably Majesty's greatest edge is his permanent Critical 2. To resolve this, all I feel you would really need to do is errata their skills in the following manner:

Continuous [V]: If you have a Unit named '?' in your Soul, this Unit gains 2000 Power during your turn.

Continuous [V]: If you have a Unit named 'Blaster Blade' and/or a Unit named 'Blaster Dark' in your Soul, this Unit gains 1000 Power.

Continuous [V]: If you have a Unit named 'Blaster Blade' and a Unit named 'Blaster Dark' in your Soul, this Unit gains 2000 Power during your turn.

Auto [V]: [Send a Unit named 'Blaster Blade' and a Unit named 'Blaster Dark' from your Rearguard Circles to the Soul] When this Unit attacks, you may pay the cost. If paid, this Unit gains 10000 Power and 1 Critical until end of that battle.

These erratas reduce the Crossrides and Majesty to 11ks during your opponent's turn, while maintaining the same offensive force and removing the overwhelming pressure aspect of Majesty's extra Critical by allowing him to have it only when he uses his skill to move Blade and Dark into the Soul. With the superboss Units so nerfed, their threat level would likely decrease enough to allow more varied decks to step up, diversifying the meta. Still, in the end, it's up to Bushiroad what they decide to do about these Units, I can ultimately only make a suggestion and hope it's what they decide is best.

All in all, with that done, this post is over. I hope you found my analysis of these Units useful, and that I was able to present them in a more objective light as to why they are as effective as they are.

Fake Shadow Paladin

Fake Shadow Paladin.

These three words might not seem like much of a topic starter, or even the topic starter to start my blog, but in any case, they are more than enough for me.

A short introduction is probably in order before I start in earnest. I'm Spectral Duke, known on Cardfight Capital as Digi (assorted titles/tags vary), and on Neo Ark Cradle forum as Phantom Blaster. I've been cardfighting via Cardfight Capital since April of last year, and have basically been hooked on the game since then. My favorite Clan is basically Shadow Paladin, with my current favorite Unit on the other hand being, as you may have guessed, Spectral Duke Dragon.

Anyway. Onto business. Knowing that my favorite Clan is Shadow Paladin might cause some wonder as to why the words 'Fake Shadow Paladin' so annoyed me, so I'll put it into context. In context, those three words are the deck title used by a player I would rather not name, because honestly this goes beyond my personal issue and more into misconceptions made by the fanbase as a whole. This player, currently competing in the Chicago Qualifiers as far as I know, used the title to refer to their Spectral Duke Dragon Gold Paladin deck.

In other words, this player referred to my favorite Unit as being nothing more than an inferior sham of my favorite Clan. While I know full well this is not intended as a snipe at me by any stretch of the imagination, not only did it result in ten minutes of ranting, but it caused me to want to deal with the issue with my own personal thoughts on the exact nature of the connection the two decks have. Before I delve into individual Units, I'll look with a more general overview.

Shadow Paladins:
In terms of the lore of Vanguard, the Shadow Paladin Clan is an army of dissenters, traitors and second-rates dredged from the bottom of the United Sanctuary's society. Even molded by their leader, Phantom Blaster Dragon, into something of a fighting force, the Shadow Paladins are still ramshackle, ill-equipped and ill-trained for the most part. Their opposition, the Royal Paladins, are an elite, well-trained fighting force with the best benefits of both science and magic, with years of training and discipline. While the Shadow Paladins can contribute sheer numbers, this advantage only would not normally avail them.

This is where Phantom Blaster himself comes in. In gameplay terms, his infamous skill, Damned Charging Lance sacrifices three of your Shadow Paladin Rearguards and Counterblast two, in exchange for empowering Phantom Blaster by 10000 Power and an extra Critical. As a Shadow Paladin fighter, your general aim is to use the deck's advantage generation plays to build a resource surplus to spend on guarding and the field, before allowing the dragon to kill off your Units to empower itself. While later additions such as Phantom Blaster Overlord and The Dark Dictator move away from this general theme, it is possibly the single most enduring image of Shadow Paladin tactics, summed up best by Aichi in the anime: 'Give your lives to the cursed dragon!'

Spectral Duke Gold Paladins:
The Gold Paladins are equally ramshackle and varied as a fighting force, the major difference being their allegiance and their aims. While Shadow Paladins opposed the United Sanctuary's government and generally sought reform and change (with several notable exceptions, among them Phantom Blaster himself), Gold Paladins fight in the name of that government. However, their major conviction is a 'Grail Quest' of sorts, aimed at gathering the Seven Sacred Beast Armors, with which they can undo the seal holding captive many of the leading figures of Royal Paladins, Shadow Paladins and Kagero. The Gold Paladins are divided into six divisions, each led by and themed after one of the bearers of the beast armors. In this instance, I'm focusing on the Black Horse division, led by Spectral Duke Dragon.

As with Shadow Paladins, the Black Horse Gold Paladin build follows a trend of advantage generation, followed by a sacrifice of that advantage for a battle-oriented benefit. While the Shadow Paladin deck placed a fair amount of stock on both hand advantage and field generation, the Gold Paladins orient more towards the field generation, using their skills to call the top card of the deck cheaply, sacrificing the precision of their calls in exchange for making those skills cheaper. The winning image of the Black Horse deck is Spectral Duke Dragon's Limit Break skill, Spectral Halberd. With this, by sacrificing three Gold Paladin Rearguards and two Counterblasts, Spectral Duke can stand itself and attack again, regardless of whether the previous attack hit or not, and losing its Twin Drive for the second (and any possible subsequent) attack.

What we can immediately establish is that both decks have a very similar strategy. They both generate raw card advantage, often via imprecise but cheap methods, in order to then sacrifice their advantage into devastating and powerful skills held by their ace cards. It is even noted in the lore by implication that Spectral Duke is Phantom Blaster's successor, holding the same power but using it for the side of good. Now, this is all well and good, but you may be wondering exactly what this has to do with my anger at the 'Fake Shadow Paladin' thing.

My problem is simply put that Spectral Duke is, to my eyes, the superior in terms of design, consistency and general effectiveness. Calling it a 'Fake Shadow Paladin' implies it to be lesser in quality when in fact it is honestly a refinement of the strategy, turning it into a much more viable, efficient and devastating deck. Let's take a look at the effective cores of the two decks, the Ride Chains.

Ride Chains:
A divisive issue among players, owing to a perception of inconsistency, Ride Chains are sets of cards from Grade 0 up to Grade 3 which are designed to be ridden in succession in order to attain certain benefits, most often additional Power. The Shadow Paladin Blaster Ride Chain is a second generation Ride Chain design of the type debuted in and not continued past Set 4, Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows.

 Fullbau

High Beast/Shadow Paladin/United Sanctuary

Grade 0/5000 Power/10000 Shield

Auto: When a Unit named 'Blaster Javelin' Rides this Unit, search your deck for up to one Unit named 'Blaster Dark', reveal it to your opponent, add it to your hand, and shuffle your deck.

Blaster Javelin

Human/Shadow Paladin/United Sanctuary

Grade 1/6000 Power/5000 Shield

Continuous [V]: If you have a Unit named 'Fullbau' in your Soul, this Unit gains 2000 Power.

Auto [R]: [Choose one Grade 3 <Shadow Paladin> in your hand and discard it] When this Unit appears in the Rearguard Circle, you may pay the cost. If paid, search your deck for up to one Unit named 'Phantom Blaster Dragon', reveal it to your opponent, add it to your hand, and shuffle your deck.

Blaster Dark

Human/Shadow Paladin/United Sanctuary

Grade 2/9000 Power/5000 Shield

Continuous [V]: If you have a Unit named 'Blaster Javelin' in your Soul, this Unit gains 1000 Power.

Auto [V]: [Counterblast 2] When this Unit appears in the Vanguard Circle, you may pay the cost. If paid, select one of your opponent's Rearguards and retire it.

Phantom Blaster Dragon

Abyss Dragon/Shadow Paladin/United Sanctuary

Grade 3/10000 Power/No Shield

 Continuous [V]: If you have a Unit named 'Blaster Dark' in your Soul, this Unit gains 1000 Power.

Activate [V]: [Counterblast 2, retire 3 of your <Shadow Paladin> Rearguards] This Unit gains 10000 Power and 1 Critical until end of turn.

 

The Blaster chain is simplistic but effective. The aim of the chain, as with all Ride Chains of the second and third generations (the two first generation chains of course having their additional ability to search the top five cards of the deck), is to get the Grade 1 of the chain, in this case Blaster Javelin, in the first six cards in your hand. Upon riding Javelin, Blaster Dark can be searched from the deck, both ensuring the Ride to Grade 2, and providing an additional card of advantage. The +Power skills each stage have allow both defense and attack, making rush tactics much more difficult to employ against the deck without significant drain on the hand, and also ensure that short of special cases such as Genocide Jack, the Blasters will never be unable to strike the other Vanguard even without a boost. 

 

This chain however has its flaws. It is practically mandatory to run Blaster Javelin at four and at least two Blaster Dark to get the chance of the chain, and as Shadow Paladins have no other starter option besides the vanilla Zapbau, every Shadow Paladin deck is therefore forced into running these Units. Javelin is effectively a sub-par boost in the Crossride era, and was inefficient even before this owing to the lower Power of two near-staple Shadow Paladin Grade 2s, Skull Witch, Nemain and Darkness Maiden, Macha. Blaster Dark's Counterblast is a sub-par rendition of his rival's, and is extremely unlikely to see use even when it can be because of the deck's dependence on Counterblasts. Why use two of your precious Counterblasts on a retire when that could be a total of two cards gained via double Nemain, or a Charon searched with Macha? In addition, Dark is a 9000 Power vanilla Unit outside the Vanguard Circle, all but ensuring the inability to effectively deal with Crossride Units. 

 

The biggest issue the chain has is ironically the most memorable part of the chain. Damned Charging Lance turns three of your Rearguards into a gigantic beatstick to bludgeon your opponent into loss with. While a potentially near-30k Vanguard with Critical 2 is nothing to laugh at, Phantom Blaster Dragon suffers the tragic weakness many such boss Units have: Perfect Guards. One Iseult, Baryi or Chocolat dropped in front of the mighty Blaster Dragon renders the sacrifices a waste, and so Damned Charging Lance is often rendered a pressure move, unleashed earlier in the game to draw out guards when it's less likely that the opponent's accumulated a Perfect Guard. But on top of that, the lance itself is just plain inefficient. You sacrifice three Units for a momentary gain, but that gain is easily nullified by staples every competitive deck will run, and moreover, Shadow Paladins, unlike their close counterparts Tachikaze and Great Nature, lack any way to actually recover direct advantage from retiring their Rearguards (except for Origin Mage, Ildona, however what I refer to is more in the vein of Pterodactyl Skyptera or Pencil Squire, Hammsuke, Units which can be easily splashed into any build of the Clan regardless of Vanguard you intend to use). While your losses can be alleviated preemptively by sacrificing Nemain, Macha or Babd Catha, Units which provide extra advantage at the moment of calling, much of the deck lacks this capability, and as Shadow Paladins lack a second Draw Trigger, it's hard to rebuild advantage you spend on Phantom Blaster's skill.

 

In case anyone expected me to delve into the alternate builds of Shadow Paladin, this article is more concerned specifically with Phantom Blaster Dragon and Spectral Duke Dragon. As such, I don't intend to delve into Phantom Blaster Overlord, Ildona, or The Dark Dictator right now, though I almost certainly may cover them in detail in future. For this reason I am also not touching the Ezel/Garmore/Ezel-Garmore/Pellinore builds of Gold Paladin.

The Spectral Duke Dragon Ride chain is a third-generation Ride Chain of the type started by Extra Booster 2, Banquet of Divas, and continued since then with every Ride Chain which has followed. This chain is a more refined version of the Ride Chain concept, with several failsafes allowing you to generate advantage no matter how things go. There is only one way not to generate any advantage from this Ride Chain, namely to Ride Scout of Darkness, not get Dragon Knight or Spectral Duke from the top seven check, and then fail to Ride Dragon Knight.

Scout of Darkness and Dragon Knight share a skill which allows for additional advantage. When you Ride the next stage of the chain onto them, if the previous stage is in the Soul, you can retire a Gold Paladin Rearguard to check the top two cards of your deck and call any Gold Paladin Units from those cards to separate Rearguard Circles. While the Blaster Ride Chain could only generate one additional card of advantage, if fully achieved, the Spectral Duke chain gives you three extra cards in effect, one added via Black Dragon Whelp's skill, the other two achieved by successive use of Scout of Darkness and Dragon Knight's skills. It is also worth noting the cost of Spectral Duke's Limit Break, is to retire three Gold Paladins. If you pull off the Ride Chain completely, then you have already gained those three Rearguards at a loss of one card from your hand (the Unit initially called to serve as the sacrifice for Scout's skill). This is a fantastic and cheap way to not only create advantage to feed Spectral's Limit Break, but also to fill your field at a minimal cost to your hand. As with the Blaster chain, the Spectral Duke chain has the same type of +Power skills, along with the same assorted defensive and offensive benefits.

In addition, even if you fail to get Scout of Darkness in your opening hand, the chain provides a backup there. When Ridden over by any Gold Paladin not named Scout of Darkness, Vortimer, Black Dragon Whelp can move to the Rearguard, providing a Unit for free. While Whelp is not an ideal booster or attacker due to its low Power, this is one less card needed from your hand to serve as a sacrifice for the Limit Break, which also clears the field, allowing you to set up more optimal columns as necessary. Scout of Darkness is a 7000 Power booster compared to Blaster Javelin's 6000 Power, more easily pushing the deck's usual plethora of 9000 Power Units over the key 16000 Power mark to deal with 11000 Power Units, and while Black Dragon Knight suffers from Blaster Dark's flaw, it is not necessarily so crippling in this deck as it is in Shadow Paladins.

The big comparison to make is in the final trump of the deck. Ultimately, the Spectral Duke Dragon deck, much like a Phantom Blaster Dragon Shadow Paladin deck, is generating fodder to feed to the cursed dragon. To fully evaluate the deck, we therefore need to look at just what the cursed dragon does with that fodder. Spectral Duke, rather than turning his sacrifices into more Power and Critical, instead uses them to re-energize himself. In gameplay turns, he sacrifices three Rearguards and two Counterblasts to stand himself. What is fantastic about this skill is that the only way to prevent it is for the player to check a Heal Trigger on the first attack which takes them below the four Damage requirement to activate Limit Break. Even if a Perfect Guard, the bane of Phantom Blaster's life, is dropped in front of Spectral Duke, the halberd will still strike once more. This is because Spectral Duke doesn't have to hit to activate his Limit Break, but neither does he have to have his attack foiled, as Destruction Dragon, Dark Rex does. Any attack result can still end in Spectral unleashing his halberd and standing. While Spectral loses Twin Drive on the second attack, this still provides another Drive Check, and more importantly he will hold onto any Trigger bonuses applied from the first two Drive Checks. In this way, Spectral can tear your opponent's guards apart, forcing more and more Shield with ridiculous ease.

The most important aspect of Spectral Halberd is that it is, in essence, self-sustaining. Even ignoring the Ride Chain's ability to provide your three sacrifices at the cost of a single card, the additional Drive Check means that in essence, you gain three cards by Drive Checks that turn, equalizing the three Units you cut down to activate the skill to begin with. If you received your sacrifices by the Ride Chain's skills or indeed, any of the Gold Paladin Clan's other ways to cheaply bring Units to the field, then you're only generating more of an edge. And on top of this key advantage, you're also taking, on average, three cards from your opponent's hand with just Spectral Duke Dragon's attacks, let alone your Rearguard lanes. This feeds into another of Spectral Duke's edges over Phantom Blaster: skill timing.

Phantom Blaster's Damned Charging Lance is an Activate skill, which means it must be used in the Main Phase, prior to attacking. This ensures that whatever you feed to the cursed dragon will not be attacking that Battle Phase, often forcing you to call new Units from the hand to replenish your field in preparation for attack. Because you will be sacrificing at least one Unit from the backrow no matter what, this often means calling Units to the backrow, which is in effect a loss of Shield. Spectral Duke on the other hand activates his skill mid-Battle Phase. As such, you can attack with a column first, then with Spectral's column, and sacrifice the three Rearguards which have already attacked/boosted, allowing you to conserve your hand for calls until the next turn.

In terms of Trigger lineup, Spectral Duke belongs to, for better or worse, one of the most supported Clans in the game. Gold Paladins have at the time of writing access to two Critical Triggers, three Draw Triggers (Speeder Hound will be available in the English game a week from the time of writing), and two Stand Triggers. This diverse Trigger lineup allows the Spectral Duke player many options compared to the restrictive one Draw, two Critical, one stand options of Shadow Paladins (this article assumes the presence of four Heal Triggers in all decks as standard), as well as the added advantage provided by being able to run up to twelve Draw Triggers if wanted. Gold Paladins also have a variety of support options to experiment with, and the benefit of an easily-available Damage unflipper, Mage of Calamity, Tripp, as opposed to the Shadow Paladin equivalent of such, Cursed Lancer, which is a promo given away exclusively with the CD of the anime's second opening, Believe in my Existence.

To evaluate this fully, the concise point I'm trying to make with this article is the reason I came to love Spectral Duke to begin with. Its strategy is a more refined, more viable and more effective play on the Shadow Paladin Phantom Blaster Dragon strategy, namely creating advantage cheaply, often by indiscriminately acquiring cards, then sacrificing that advantage for a devastating move. The key is that the Spectral Duke chain fuels the gaining of advantage much more than the Blaster chain, actually generating enough advantage to fuel Spectral Halberd via its own skills, as opposed to the Blaster chain's more pitiful single card gain by comparison. Although the Blaster chain requires less to actually get the benefit, the benefit itself pales in comparison to the cost demanded by Phantom Blaster Dragon to unleash its skill, a skill which carries an enormous risk. The Spectral Duke chain not only fuels its winning image skill on its own, but that skill is much more consistent and deadly by its nature. It is near-impossible to prevent Spectral unleashing the halberd, and when he does, more cards are demanded to hold his onslaught back. As a fighter who greatly loved the Shadow Paladin Clan for its distinct lore and identity, and deeply regrets their lack of options post-Set 5, I find the Spectral Duke Dragon deck a welcome refinement of a somewhat awkward, difficult strategy into a much more efficient and polished one. The ethos of the Shadow Paladin deck is still living and breathing in the Spectral Duke build. Your allies are still there to give their lives to the cursed dragon. The difference is that you can be sure their sacrifice will truly make a difference to the game.

This is what so got to me about those three words. Fake Shadow Paladin. Because in all honesty, Shadow Paladin is the less refined, less developed deck by comparison. Phantom Blaster Dragon's Damned Charging Lance always was and always has been a flawed, inefficient skill, costing a lot and usually receiving little in return. Lower down the Clan, Shadow Paladin suffers from a horrible lack of options, to the point practically every Shadow Paladin deck is railroaded into running Fullbau, Javelin and Dark even if the user has no intention of using Phantom Blaster at all. Gold Paladin on the other hand has a variety of options to supplement Spectral Duke, including the daring option to use it as a boss Unit without the Ride chain and fully experiment with the wide variety of support available to the Gold Paladin Clan. You can do as Ren did and use the Valkyries, or you could experiment in combining Spectral with the White Hare division.

So in conclusion, having analyzed two Ride Chains and skimmed two Clans to try and express my frustration at a really, really stupid deck title, all I can say is that Spectral Duke is a Shadow Paladin. If not by Clan, then by nature and by similarity. His deck plays like Shadow Paladins play, just refined into an engine which works much more efficiently than the Shadow Paladin deck does. His Clan has access to more options than Shadow Paladin does, allowing Spectral much more variety of deck builds even in the most competitive scenes, and his skill provides a much more certain and effective payoff than Damned Charging Lance does. To sum it up? Spectral Duke Dragon isn't a Fake Shadow Paladin. He's the very epitome of the Shadow Paladin playstyle and ethos, refined to perhaps the most perfect form of that strategy there is in Vanguard.