An attack for all seasons: Aqua Force 4th battle enablers - Part 1

The clan system is one of Vanguard's defining features. The concept of different groups of cards doing different things is certainly not a new thing for TCGs - Magic's colours tend to have different effects, and Yugioh has not only it's archetypes but also different types and attributes tend to have their differing play-styles. Vanguard, however, doesn't allow mixing of cards with different effects anything like as easily, and it allows each clan to have it's own thing, at least for the most part.

For Aqua Force, it's focus is on attack order and positioning. Whether or not the deck has been focused on activating skills when the vanguard attacks 4th, the deck has always paid attention to attack number and order, and so many of it's cards have been designed around setting up an extra attack without reliance on unpredictable stand triggers. In this short series we'll be examining these enabler units, as well as taking a glance into how they slotted into the clan at the time.

Back in the day, you used him or you
used another clan.

Aqua Force were introduced to the game in their first trial deck, Descendants of the Marine Emperor. As hard as it may be to see how, trial decks back then were even more generic than they are now, and with very little room for non-generic cards - one card, at one copy each, for grades 1 and 2, the cover card, and 2 copies of a backup grade 3 - a 4th attack focus would have left the deck unstable and probably too complex for new layers. It was probably for the best, therefore, that Bushiroad opted to focus the deck on the third attack, with the only card using the 4th attack functioning on rear-guard to allow synergy with stand triggers and the vanguard's Limit Break. We need not dwell on this deck any longer, except to not that it wasn't very good anyway, and the new one is much better.

The Grade 3 we needed,
but not the one we deserved

Set 8, Blue Storm Armada was the clan's full introduction, and with it came Blue Storm Dragon, Maestrom and Hydro Hurricane Dragon, two units who had to be the 4th attack of the turn to get the effects off. Clearly as vanguard these units were not going to be able to set this up with stand triggers, so some way to allow an extra rear-guard attack without the vanguard needing to attack would be needed. Bushiroad's first attempt to provide this came with the first set of Storm Riders: Eugen, Basil, and Diamantes. All three had the same skill - if they made the first attack of the turn against the opponent's vanguard, they gained 2000 power and then could exchange their positions with the unit behind them, allowing that unit to attack. In principle, this allows you to do the same damage as a standard rear-guard column, but broken up over two attacks to allow you to reach the 4th, however the units suffered from a severe lack of power. The grade 1 Eugen is 6000 power, meaning it will struggle to hit even grade 2 vanguards reliably. The grade 2 Basil was still weak at 8000 power, but reaching 10000 on attack meant it could hit at least some of the vanguards used at the time of it's release. That meant, however, that it's usefulness was entirely dependent on the opponent's choice of ride (and once 11k vanguards became the norm his usefulness dropped). Diamantes was the only one able to hit the stronger vanguards without assistance, but 9000 power as a grade 3 brought the threat of being forced to ride and sit on it, opening up the threat of an opponent abusing the low power.

Well at least he can boost things

Given that these three were the entire 4th attack enabling section of the clan, you pretty much had to run the lot to maximise your chance of reaching that 4 attack setup. However Aqua Force were a key player in the latter half of the anime's season 2, so the season finale set, Clash of the Knights & Dragons, would provide a second set of storm riders: Nicolas, Damon, and Lysander. These three fixed the sub-par base power of the originals, but were worse in every single other way. The need to attack first had been removed, but so had the power gain, which meant that they couldn't hit anything bigger than themselves, and worse they now had a counter-blast cost, which although not too onerous for Maestrom stopped Hydro Hurricane being able to use them. The cost also slowed them up to the point than Nicolas would be unable to ever hit whilst using the skill if the player went second. Damon did little better, and Lysander was as efficient as Basil, only with a heavier cost and directly competing with Diamantes for the same 4 secondary grade 3 lots. Without external power boosts, these three were relegated to being emergency enablers only, although Nicolas did edge out Eugan in this roll, as a better booster when not enabling attacks.

Wave-like Spirals = Whirlpools
It's elementary, dear Watson

Swapping units mid-battle phase is one way to add attacks, but it's not the only one nor even the most obvious one. Standing rear-guards is something Nova Grapplers have been doing from the very first set, so it made sense to intergrate this into Aqua Force. The first of such card was Water General of Wave-like Spirals, Benedict, another grade 3 enabler, but rather than swapping out it restood itself at the cost of 5000 power. His remaining power wouldn't hit anything alone, but it would give you the extra attack you needed, and if the opponent's vanguard had low enough power for him to hit alone the first time, then you could save the booster and have the same effect as a storm rider column. In the worst case, he could give two attacks alone, whereas a Storm Rider without a parter to switch with can't do anything. At the time, he was a very efficient enabler, doing no worse than storm riders against weaker vanguards but much better against stronger ones. Even better, if your vanguard could attack before him trigger power and extra criticals could be passed over so he could threaten the opponent with them twice. Sadly though, his reign was not to last. 11000 power as standard on grade 3's meant he couldn't apply any extra pressure over a normal column, break rides would take over the slots where utility grade 3's once dwelt, and riding a 10k vanguard was worse than ever as more decks got easy 20k columns.

Set 11, Seal Dragons Unleashed, shifted the focus of the mechanic from attack count to attack pattern. For this set, and this set alone, no-one would require a specific attack number. Instead the aces of the set would want a resting front row, and the Break Ride itself, effective as it was, lacked any specifics so as not to conflict with any of the existing or new bosses. No enablers made their way into the set, although it did give the grade 1 and 2 Brave Shooters, which made ideal switch-in units to put behind a storm rider.

Aqua Force's 4th attack plays would return in Catastrophic Outbreak, with Blue Wave Dragon, Tetra-drive Dragon, who played with the formula somewhat. Whereas previously the vanguard had simply triggered a skill on the third or fourth attack, Tetra-Drive's Limit Break activated at the end of second battle - but simply gave it a skill which would only trigger if the 4th attack was against a vanguard. Since this skill was to re-stand the vanguard, this was worth the effort to set up, and the synergy with the break ride in particular made this something you really didn't want to leave up to chance (that is, finding a stand trigger)

I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay,
Watching my Tidal crit away

It was this set that would give the clan it's most popular enabler. Tidal Assault was simply a grade 2 version of Benedict, but that change had a huge impact. Tidal has one downside, in that he can't hit 10k vanguards alone, but with the meta being almost entirely 11k or better this really didn't matter, and in every other way the downgrade was an improvement. Benedict's 10k base power was low for a grade 3; Tidal Assault's 9k was standard for a grade 2, meaning the opponent was less likely to ride a unit above Tidal's own base power before he could hit the field. Not taking up grade 3 space meant he could slot into more decks, where if obtained early he could rush, could sit there to absorb triggers during the mid-game, and was able to enable 4th attack skills as needed. Especially effective with Tetra-Drive, where he could enable the dragon's Limit Break and absorb trigger bonuses simultaneously, he's been a core part of most if not all Aqua Force decks ever since, which is why at the time of writing his price is one of the highest ever for a core set single rare.

The clan progressed right past him.
Oh well.

Catastrophic Outbreak also gave us Wheel Assault, an enabler who took the basic principle of the storm riders, but operated it a different way. After it boosted an attack, for a counter-blast of one any two units could swap places. The most obvious use is to swap two attackers to enable the 4th attack - essentially a storm rider play without a storm rider - but there's further utility in moving units around, such as repairing suboptimal columns once preferred units are drawn, or giving a re-stander a booster for both it's attacks. A counter-blast cost gets in the way of some boss units, so it never gained quite the same recognition as Tidal, but it outclassed what came before and still has some relevance today.

In part two of this series, we'll be looking at the enablers brought with the Blue Storm Armada, and the new toys the new generation brought along.

Friday Stride: Fluffy Ribbon, Somni

So here we are. Japan has finally go hold of G set 4, and for those of us playing the English game the Bermuda Triangle World Tour 2015 has just rolled into town. Since I'm an English-playing 42nd class citizen (I'll save learning Japanese and/or card translations for games I can't play in my native language) I'll be discussing the new Bermuda cards, but since I also like to use the cards I'm taking about I'll start off Mermaid Season with the one I actually got hold of in the sneak peek: Fluffy Ribbon, Somni.

IT'S SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE!

Most clans come with a core lineup of generic G units including one on-hit unit, one unit with a persona cost and one utility unit with neither of these requirements. Previously I've covered a utility unit and a persona unit, and now we see an on-hit unit. Somni is typical of the type - her skill gives you a 1-card swing in advantage (in this case by forcing another card out of your opponent's hand, either now or later) in a manner befitting the clan's theme.

Her skill returns any of your rear-guards to your hand, and then allows you to call out a new unit with an extra 3000 power. Functionally this is similar to re-standing a rear-guard, although it doesn't allow you to carry over triggers or other benefits. However, it makes up for that by being in Bermuda Triangle, where half the cards benefit from being returned to the hand and many of the others will benefit from returning something else. The 3000 power means that any unit of 8000 power or greater can hit an 11000 vanguard - and since Bermuda Triangle doesn't actually have any 7000 or lower Grade 2 or 3 units, it means every attacker will be brought into hit range.

Also, you don't have to call the unit you return - you can easily pick up her used booster and then send out a card you just drive checked, or bring back a unit with an on return skill and put out something with an on-call skill to maximise the effects activating.

So, a useful skill in a clan that can abuse it, but on-hit strides rarely if ever form the core of a deck by themselves, so where does she shine and where do others take centre stage?

First up, the one deck that has no use for her - PR♥ISM. Since Legendary PR♥ISM-Duo, Nectaria with a Prism heart grants the same skill, only with a 5000 boost to the called unit Somni can't give them anything new. She does a little better for Duos - since Nectaria's on-hit changes she isn't entirely redundant, and extra pressure is quite nice in the more defensive builds - but their combo and copy-based play means that your few turns of being able to hit will usually be better spent using Nectaria to clone than gaining extra attacks.

It's outside the subclans where Somni gets to shine. As first stride the only real alternative is Legend of the Glass Shoe, Amoris, who needs more setup to be at her best. Just looking at a few key Bermuda units:

• Miracle Voice, Lauris. With her ability to return rear-guards on stride, doesn't usually need Amoris, and the pressure Somni provides makes a nice complement both to Lauris' on-stride draw power and her later GB2 power and critical. Further, the Harmony build has quite a lot of skills which can be activated by calling the new unit.
• Rising Star, Trois/Top Idol, Riviere. Bermuda's revival legion suffers from the deck around it being somewhat vanilla. The high cost of Trois' restand, and the vanguard-only skills in Riviere's ride chain, means the deck often doesn't do much outside the vanguard (most successful builds tend to focus on unflipping damage to get more restands). Somni creates costless pressure which can really help add some extra push to the deck, especially since you can't usually both legion and restand the turn you reach Grade 3.
• Shangri-La Star, Coral. The other ride chain won't usually stride that often, but between a crossride defence and some hefty draw power her deck is generally very bulky. Whilst Amoris can give you some cheap pickups, Somni adds some nice offensive pressure to help push games to an end once your hand is all set.
• Costume Idol, Alk. On the surface, she isn't an obvious pick. She has her own use for spare grade 3's, can bounce units herself and can now generate large rear-guard columns with even greater ease. However Stride is not a bad way of passing the time until her Limit Break comes alive, and after one stride a Bermuda deck gains access to the powerful School Etoile, Olyvia, and for a more offensive build Somni keeps up the momentum whilst setting up the G zone, especially against decks where Amoris can't bring out her potential.

In conclusion, Somni is nothing ground-breaking. She isn't the card that'll take Bermuda Triangle to the top of the metagame, but she will be one of the cards that provides a friendly boost on the way.

(Yes, I'm aware Pacifica has her own stride, but as was established at the beginning I'm a dirty English player so I don't get it yet. Besides, Bermuda season isn't over yet - we've still got a few weeks before we get what Japan gets today, and did you really think I'd only cover the lowest rarity G unit in the set?)

Friday Stride: Abominable One, Gilles de Rais

It's almost time. Next Friday we get brand new sets for both the English and Japanese versions of the game, so I suppose I'd better cover something from set 3 whilst anyone still cares about it. OK, so our subject is something people will care about for a long time to come, but  before that last of that new card smell rubs off, let's cover Dark Irregulars' contribution to the Persona stride club, Abominable One, Gilles de Rais.

Also, he kicked a puppy.

The real Gilles de Rais was a 15th century French nobleman who was convicted of being a serial killer of children, so probably not the best role model. Cray's version seems to have been even worse, and being a vampire much harder to get rid off. It seems the Dark Zone's entire demonic leadership of the time had to unite to get rid of him, but even then Stride will bring him right back to fight in any DI deck which can spare G zone space - which is all of them, because it's just so good.

His skill has a very minimal cost - simply flip over a copy of himself during your main phase, and then he gains up to three bonuses for the turn, depending on your soul and G zone. Firstly, with 10 or more cards in soul, he gains 10000 power. Since he's sitting at 25-26 already, this isn't anything too special, but it's a nice buff when combined with the rest of the skill. The second part activates if the soul is 15 or more, and grants him the skill to prevent opponents using grade 1 or higher cards to guard with (commonly known as a glory skill). No perfect guards, no quintet walls, no special grade 1's with huge shield increases or attack redirects, just you're opponent's 16 triggers lie between him and getting that damage in. This is a hefty skill alone, but then there's the icing on the cake in the last bonus. If you have two or more face-up units in the G zone (this is after paying the cost, so the Gilles you flipped counts as one of them) he gains another critical, making a single hit from him drive you even closer to victory)

So why is this so good? Well, your four sentinels are your deck's best defences against your opponent's big push, but with Gilles shutting them down you have to manually guard with triggers, and that can get difficult. With a functional starting value of 36000 power and triple drive to search for triggers, it's going to take a minimum of 3 cards to stop it, 4 to do so with any degree of reliability, but so far we haven't even considered the rest of the clan - and given that power is something they're good at, it's a huge mistake not to do so.

First up, Lunatic Masquerade. Giving an extra 2k at 6 soul, and another at 10, with Gilles active he's an 11k booster, forcing yet another 10k shield from the opponent. The much older Devil Child does the same thing, but isn't as effective - although slightly faster she's much less versatile.

However, an extra 10k is child's play compared to what can be achieved. Dark Irregulars are the home to Doreen the Thruster, a card which has been a staple since the clan's beginnings. Gaining 3k for each card put into the soul in the main phase, it's not difficult to make her massive, and sat behind the vanguard she gets to add that huge buff to Gilles, meaning your opponent has even more they need to stop with their triggers. Add in Gilles' critical, triple drive with a deck full of critical triggers, and a stride unit you tend to be going into later in the game, and you have a recipe for salty tears as that entire hand of cards your opponent dropped still isn't enough.

Doreen however comes with a weakness - you have to actively put cards into the soul to power her up, so getting her that big will both eat into your resources and accelerate you even closer to decking out. However, for Amon builds a far more manageable option has emerged. Introducing Amon's Follower, Barmaid Grace. If your vanguard is an Amon, so in our case if you strode over an Amon, she can counter blast 1 and rest herself to soul charge 2 and give any Amon unit a continuous skill to gain 1000 power for each card in the soul for the turn. Since it's a new skill, subsequent soul charges will be added to the power. Whilst Gilles has his guard restriction live, Grace will give him at least 15000 extra with her skill, and if she's not in the vanguard column you still have your booster. Even better, stack two Grace skills onto one Gilles and watch your opponent cry. Grace has forerunner, so outside of control match-ups you'll usually have one guaranteed, but she is good enough to run more.

Of course, you can combine Grace and Doreen to go completely mad - each Grace will also give +6k to Doreen, so 2 Grace + Doreen is at least 42 on top of Doreen's boost, so with 15 soul your total power is 36 + 6 + 12 + 15 + 15 = 84000 power. One more soul would get you to 86 and another shield stage, but you're already at a point even decks with large hands would struggle.

Lastly, an Honourable Mention goes to Echo of Nemesis. At first glance he may seem redundant - after all he also gains the Glory skill and 10k, just without the higher base power or critical. However, Gilles can force so many of your opponent's grade 0's out that should he not get the kill Nemesis will be almost entirely unarguable.

In conclusion, Gilles is without a doubt one of the most powerful strides in the game, and in a clan which can maximise his potential he can be downright terrifying. Nothing else in his clan comes close to his power levels, so there's no debate - run him, and run him at four.

Friday Stride: Holy Dragon, Sanctuary Guard Regalie

This week on Friday Stride: Stride support for one of the hardest cards in the game to get hold of. As you've probably gathered by reading the title, today's card is one of Royal Paladin's cards from Fighter's Collection 2015, Holy Dragon, Sanctuary Guard Regalie.

Just like the tin man, good luck finding a heart.

Sanctuary Guard Dragon is a unit which emerged at the start of the Break Ride era, but failed to make much of an impact - mostly because it was a 1-of in Bushiroad's greatest marketing failure in the English game (A deck only available with a bunch of extras at double regular trial deck prices, and with only 1 or 2 cards people were even interested in). With people unwilling to spend so much for a single card which whilst not bad, wasn't anything special either, the deck simply remained in the pile of 'things nobody plays' - and by the time Legion arrived, Sanctuary Guard's power gains could be matched far more easily and there was no longer any point to using him.

Enter Regalie, who gives Sanctuary Guard his first exclusive support, and coupled with a backup ride  in Sanctuary Guard Guarantee, allowed the deck to do something other than give a big vanguard lane. Now you can have big rear-guards as well. Regalie takes Sanctuary Guard's Limit Break skill - gaining 3000 power for each grade 1 or lower rear-guard - and spreads it across the entire front row. Simply having a full field grants 9000 power to everything - almost an extra 10k shield from a standard column, and anything with just a little extra power tips the scales and will hit those nice numbers.

Even better, he has no cost, no second stride requirements, and no conditions besides the heart - just stride over a Sanctuary Guard and get a bucket of power, provided you can get the grade 1 units out. Despite having no extra exclusive support until G Set 4 arrives, there's actually quite Royals can do with it's large card pool:

Jewel Knight, Swordmy is appreciated in many other builds for it's ability to grab a booster in a season where Royal Paladin superior calls are focussed on grade 2s. Besides the obvious extra 3000 from Regalie, there's a couple of interesting call options - Jewel Knight, Sabermy gives Sanctuary Guard Dragon it's limit break early, whilst Stinging Jewel Knight, Shellie can be an attacker, and allow you to get even more grade 1's on the field without damaging your offensive power.

Knight of Twin Sword works fantastically with this deck. Sure it calls a grade 2, but that means it can call Swordmy, and it can also call an additional attacker. Since Regalie is a continuous effect, the new unit will also get the power buff as well, giving you one more massive attack to grind at the opponent.

Whilst the more conter-blast intensive Altmile and Thing Saver decks prefer Knight of Fragment for his on-hit skill, Regalie gets more out of Transmigration Knight, Brede, as the extra 1000 makes all the difference, allowing him to hit for 21k solo. Great either as a call target for Twin Sword, a stand trigger target, or just leaving the booster open for Twin Sword to replace him.

Moving to grade 1, we have Righteousness Seeker, Gangaren and Knight of Shield Bash, both of which act as either 7k boosters or 9k attackers. Providing both early game rushdown and the ability to put out more grade 1s, they're great for decks not using Jewel Knights.

Finally, there's the recently revealed support in G-BT04: Soul Strike Against the Supreme. Jumpgal and Battle Song Angel both have generation break 1 skills activated when there are two other grade 1 or lower units on your field, and seem designed for Regalie. Jumpgal is a forerunner who becomes a 10k attacker and an interceptor (whilst keeping the 10k shield he has as a grade 0), whilst the angel gains 2000 power - enough to push a 9k attacker with a 9k boost from Regalie up one more power level - and Resist, to protect it from opponent's card effects.

Of course the synergy these have with Sanctuary Guard makes even more sense in the context of Archer of Sanctuary, Santuary Guard's own 11k attacker, who can for counter-blast 2 on call search for any grade 1 or lower card. This isn't cheap, but it's very flexible and the deck can probably afford it at least once, and whilst 11k doesn't give it Brede's ability to attack for 21k alone it does mean that it can hit above 26k with a booster.

So, in conclusion, what do we have: A card which is simple, powerful, has a deck full of amazing support at it's back, and is itself cheap. Just a shame that Sanctuary Guard Dragon is still as rare as fairy dust and twice as expensive, but even that's not quite as bad as it was, as Guarantee exists and retailers are starting to discount Rise to Royalty to get them off shelves. If you can find the parts, it's definitely a good deck to try.

Friday Stride: Marine General of Heavenly Silk, Sokrates

Welcome to Friday Stride, or "Megacolony Guy didn't want to just do a normal card of the week." So, every Friday I can I'll look at a G unit, and give my assessment of it. I'm aiming to be somewhat holistic here, and look at the card in the context of everything around it, because that might be useful to those of you who don't play the clan.

Anyway, for the very first entry, I'm going to go with something that's out and I've used, rather than something with a bunch of still unseen support, so, let's have a look at our card, Aqua Force's Marine General of Heavenly Silk, Sokrates.

Builds upon war with power. Then more power.

Sokrates comes to us from the 2015 Fighter's Collection, and comes with a fairly simple skill. To summarise, for every attack you make against the opponent's vanguard after the second, you can Counterblast 1 to give the attacking unit an extra 5000 power, or one shield stage. Although he doesn't activate on a specific attack in the way a lot of his fellow Aqua Force vanguard do, the rearguard power-up is similar to several GB1 skills units found in G BT02, such as High Tide Sniper, so it's not out of theme.

OK, so he gives your third attack a bit of extra power, but then what? Well, if you ask that you probably don't play Aqua Force, because if you did you'd be aware that the clan has quite a lot of ways to generate four or more attacks, which means that he can power up multiple successive attacks. Using the skill a lot will eat into your counter blasts, but even one well-timed boost can allow a Tidal Assault to make two useful attacks even without a trigger, or push it's second attack over that trigger your opponent unhelpfully damage checked.

It's also important to note that the G Aqua Force build doesn't Counterblast all that much, so even if you use an older Perfect Guard rather than the unflipper you can often have the damage open to fire off the skill multiple times in a single turn as a finishing blow.

Now I've said that, everyone who's played against Aqua Force in the last three months will be saying: "But Megacolony Guy, why not just use Lambros? He's a Marine General of Heavenly Silk as well, and he's OP." Well, hypothetical person, there are a couple of reasons. The first is budget - despite being in a set in seemingly short supply, it's a lot easier to get this guy than Lambros, and since he isn't a Persona Flip, you don't need as many.

The second reason is because you can easily use both. Lambros is your main push, but Sokrates will back him up, either coming in first against an opponent trying to rush against you to soften them up or following up the big push to sweep up what remains of the opponent's hand and close out the game. Lambros doesn't need your damage zone, and during his turns you'll generally only use 1 Counterblast, 2 if you're pushing hard, so Sokrates still has the fuel he needs to batter the foe.

So, overall Sokrates is a very nice support card for Aqua Force decks. It's not going to win games alone, but turning spare counterblasts to extra power gives the deck just one more way to make sure the opponent can't stand up to the might of Cray's naval forces.

I suppose I'd better introduce myself...

Hi, my name is Megacolony Guy (well, that's not what my mother calls me, but it's something other people call me, so it's good enough), and I'm a vanguard player with delusions of communicating over the internet.

So, another Vanguard blog. If you're reading this sometime close to when it was written, you've probably seen a link from me, but not huge amounts of content from me, so I may not be familiar to you. If you're reading this in the far future and I'm world famous or something, hi, you've reached the beginning of my blog, but no I didn't expect to do whatever it was I did.

So, who is this random internet person waffling on about nothing? I go by many names on the internet, because I'm a rounded person with varied interests, but the most fitting one for a Vanguard blog is actually not one I assigned myself. When I took up the game on release of English set 5, I was a poor unemployed ex-student, so had to build something cheap. Since Megacolony had Perfect Guards far below what they cost for the then meta decks which were also actually available, I built the clan and ran it at locals for several months, before new PG prints in Season 3 brought the prices down and I got a job. At some point, I acquired the name, and it has stuck even though I don't play the clan often at the moment (when G BT04 arrives though...). Hence, I use the name here.

I'd like to think I'm a competent player of Cardfight Vanguard, and I do have a couple of respectable results in the Team League events of 2014 and 2015 under my belt, so there's that, but I'm also the kind of person who's actually interested in the card lores and the overarching story behind the game as well. I suppose there'll end up with a bit of everything here, unless people like one thing or another - or I settle on something or other.

Yeah, you don't need to listen to me talking fluff, so I'll sign off here and get on with the writing about card games.