Friday Stride: Omniscience Dragon, Cath Palug

There's a legend in the Great Nature university that is one gains enough knowledge you'll reincarnate into a dragon with great intelligence and wisdom. Since the university is home to various sentient animals, however, these dragons become Wild Dragons, the 11th dragon race currently in the game and how Bushiroad got dragons into a clan which wouldn't otherwise have thematically fitted them. The latest member of the 'Dragonic animals club' is the reincarnated form of - and dedicated stride support for - Great Nature's break ride, Honorary Professor, Chatnoir. As part of the newly released Fighter's Collection 2015 Winter, the first G unit review of 2016 is Omniscience Dragon, Cath Palug.

Is fluff really intellig- Ooh, kitty!

Cath Palug, as an exclusive stride to Honorary Professor, Chatnoir (at least for the moment), has a skill which mirrors that of her previous form's break ride - each time a rear-guard attacks, any rear-guard can gain 4000 power for the turn, and then at the end of the turn you draw a card and retire the powered-up unit. Cath Palug differs in that each power-up will cost a counter-blast, though this is set against the 26000 power body, triple drive and instant access denied to the break ride. Much of what Cath Palug does also applies on the turn you break ride over Chatnoir (and since both go together you're actually quite likely to do both in a game).

First trick of note: Power up the same rear-guard more than once. You'll draw a card each time you power up a rear-guard, however you can only retire a rear-guard once (even if it manages to come back it's a new unit and won't retire again). Thus each subsequent power-up will change the retire & draw from a break even to an increase in card advantage. This is something of a standard Great Nature trick, but it's worth pointing out for those new to the clan.

You only naturally gain two rear-guard attacks a turn, but this can be increased. There's the good old-fashioned stand trigger, which can work well if you can pump up rear-guards or run units which can hit without boosters, or for more reliability there's Crayon Tiger, one of G Great Nature's more effective weapons. Restanding a rear-guard with a power boost is a useful skill. Adding a drop and draw on might sometimes cost you an interceptor, but can be employed equally as well on excess grade 3's or grade 1's dropped for a rush, and can help dig through your deck. Add in yet another draw on a unit already due to retire? Now you're not only gaining +1 in battle advantage, but a net +1 in hand at the end of the turn as well.

Of course with Cath Palug this is starting to rack up counterblasts, so generally it's not going to be used unless you took a lot of damage early (though it does help towards evening out that score). You can run Label Pangolin to unflip during the damage phase, but grade 1 space is rather tight, and it's another card you need to draw into before you can start using most of your draw abilities. However, Great Nature is usually comparatively counter blast light, and has quite a few end phase unflips, so if you can overlook being unable to maximise Cath Palug when you only have one damage or so she won't cripple your deck.

Great Nature's retirement mechanic has two aspects to it. The first is the power-up & retire skills as discussed above. The second is on-retire effects, which come either built-in or are passed on by other units much like the power-ups. Of the built-in on-retire effects, most aren't used - Ruler Chameleon and Protractor Orangutan are some of the most widely seen, but generally as triggers - though removing triggers from the deck isn't ideal, maintaining card advantage can be key early. The last card of this type used frequently is Illusion Scientist, Researcher Fox, who's conditions make in irrelevant for Cath Palug. 

It's the on-call skills which grant another unit an on-retire skill which are more significant. Tick Tock Flamingo, Coiling Duckbill and Honorary Assistant, Mikesaburo are all 7k grade 1 units which grant another unit an on-retirement skill when called in the main phase. When the target is retired, Flamingo provides a counter charge, Duckbill gives you a draw, whilst Mikesaburo searches for any grade 3. The last of these is the key card of the three, helping ensure your prefered ride, though Duckbill is also useful to gather other cards needed to guard or for later plays. Flamingo suffers from a lack of space, not directly replacing the retired card, and Great Nature having other effective counter charge options, though could be interesting as an alternative to the other. Set Square Penguin is similar - a 9k grade 2, he effectively combines Duckbill and Flamingo into a single skill whilst not competing with them for space - but is a GB1 and so significantly slower. There's also Blackboard Parrot, a starting vanguard with the same skill as Duckbill, except as an ACT skill putting itself into the soul. Much like the power-ups, stacking these skills onto a single unit can generate a lot of advantage for very little overall cost.

Cath Palug, despite being heart restricted, is quite a useful tool for many Great Nature decks. Chatnoir is still quite an effective break ride and usable with most if not all of the clan's ace units, especially with extra attacks, and an effective way to generate advantage and activate on-retire skills whilst preparing for the break ride turn really gives the deck a boost. With Mikesaburo to help get the grade 3 you want when you want it there's little threat of missing your break ride and Cath Palug not going live. Trust the cat. The cat has spent millennia studying and ended up turning into a dragon, it knows how to support it's clan.

Costume Coordination - Using Costume Idol, Alk

Costume Idol, Alk is one of the more interesting cards in the Bermuda Triangle clan, not only for her effects but also for her origin. Alk began her career in Dazzling Divas as Costume Change, Alk, the clan's generic Limit Break support starting vanguard, and was used little if at all. Under these conditions, she could easily have been forgotten (Who remembers Suwannee, for example?), and likely would have been were it not for Bushiroad setting up a popularity contest for the 35 idols within the set. Alk was depicted in artwork as promoting the contest, and it would seem to have promoted herself as well, getting her into the top three which got her exclusive sleeves and a playmat, and when Divas Duet rolled around the following year, a new promotional card, seeing her jump straight from grade 0 to grade 3 (and in the English release another playmat for the Divas Duet sneak peek event). It's this second card that we're looking at here.

Alk represents all idols. That's why she's cool.

This Alk has an on-ride soul blast to return a rear-guard and gain 5000 power for the turn, and then a limit break 4 skill which, after she attacks, allows you to ride another grade 3 from the hand (rested), return Alk to the hand, and draw. With the only cost being the grade 3 you ride, which is replaced by Alk, this skill grants a net +1 every time it's used. The first key combo play - or more accurately the last, since this is what any Alk deck will end up doing once it's other grade 3's are gone - is to loop two Alk turn after turn, netting free draws and picking up units if you need to. You can't take advantage of Alk's on-ride power gain, but since the point of the play is card advantage, it's only a minor setback.

More importantly, Alk is one of, if not the most flexible grade 3 in Bermuda Triangle, and if something doesn't work with her then it's probably down to the other card being restrictive than anything Alk did. In this article we'll go through some of the better partners, but before we do it's better we look at some of the support available which specifically benefits Alk, so we don't have to cover them for each build.

Costume Disciples - Alk-centric support

Alk doesn't have any direct support (at least not yet), but there's a fair chunk of cards which work well with her. I'll set aside cards with on-bounce effects as a whole, since most of them do work with Alk's on-ride skill, and instead look at a selection of cards which specifically support the Limit Break's mechanics.

Adults don't go on adventures - quick, break that limit!

First up is PR♥ISM-Duo, Loretta, the clans Limit Break enabler. Since Alks LB4 activates after she attacks, heal triggers can occasionally leave her stranded out on the field when you'd rather switch her out. Loretta prevents this being an issue, as well as allowing you to start chaining rides as soon as you reach grade 3 - even if your opponent opts to remain on grade 2. Whilst this series of cards usually isn't overly effective when it can't be searched out, Bermuda Triangle can generate a lot of draw power to reach her quickly.

If you're looking for Nemo, he's behind you

A card which some older Alk builds tried to include was Dancing Fan Princess, Minato, a grade 3 who as rear-guard could gain 10000 power whenever you rode a grade 3. If you rode Alk during your ride phase, then re-rode with her limit break, she could gain this power boost twice, giving you a hefty 30k rear-guard before boosting. However, including her cuts into your grade 3 space, which you need for Alk and her partner, and a 10k base vanguard with no usable skill was a death sentence before stride, and is still a huge handicap today. Academy of Divas brought us a much more practical form of this card, in Mystery Solving Time, Ithil. Ithil has the same skill as Minato, but is a grade 2, making her far easier to fit into the deck. Whilst her 8k base means that she'll need 8k vanillas to reach proper column numbers, the ability to gain 10-20k each turn makes up for this.

It's been a while Shizuku. How are you?

Alk needs her grade 3s, and Academy of Divas provides a helpful way to dig for them. Superb New Student, Shizuku is appropriately enough another retrained starting vanguard from an older set, though she sticks closer to her original skill than Alk. At GB1, when she enters Harmony she searches the top 5 cards of the deck for a grade 3. Whilst not a guaranteed card, it's a costless, reusable skill and will usually succeed at least part of the time.

That light was a passing angler fish.

On the subject of grade 3s, Talent of Perseverance, Shandee is essential for striding. Whilst you can drop an Alk, maybe two if you have the others on hand, the need to re-ride from the hand will demand you not discard grade 3's to stride, and hence 1-card strides are vital.

The last card we'll cover here is Admired Sparkle, Spica, although she's useful for almost all Bermuda Triangle decks - only some Duo decks are better without her. She allows you to extend attack patterns, as well as getting further use from on-bounce and on-call units. It's worth noting that the 3k power boost she gives makes Ithil 11k, allowing Ithil to attack twice with a 10k boost rather than once with a 20k boost.

The above cards will no doubt give some idea of where an Alk build can go. Now it's time to get down to the defining element of Alk decks - the alternate grade 3.

Break Time - Alk with break rides

For her own decks, the most obvious partner would be a break ride, since you can break ride, gain the benefits, and then drop a new break ride from hand and recover Alk to repeat the process. The sheer speed you kick out break rides with this deck puts out a massive amount of pressure even without resorting to strides. There are three options, each with it's own benefits, and all three can give a workable deck.

But what if it's a duet with two true idols?

PR♥ISM-Image, Vert: The original Bermuda break ride, and honestly she hasn't aged all that well. She has a basic skill to bounce two rear-guards and draw a card, and whilst this was a major boost back before Legion and Stride it's no longer all that efficient. However, PR♥ISM's star is rising, and using Vert gives a couple of advantages over the newer break rides. The biggest is that having a PR♥ISM grade 3 gives access to Princess Labrador, one of the most effective first strides for the entire clan. Beyond that, should you want a greater focus on the PR♥ISM units you can also use Princess Leyte as a counter-charge and soulcharge engine, and Princess Celtic for on-hit pressure even with Alk on vanguard.

Weiss or Schwartz?

Duo True Sister, Meer: Duo's Break Ride is far more offensive than PR♥ISM's (as opposed to the rest of the subclans, in which Duo tends to be the more defensive deck), with Meer allowing for the entire field to be picked up when the vanguard attacks, and two new units placed down. Meer provides an powerful offensive push that might otherwise be lacking, but as partner to Alk there's a couple of issues - Duo Temptation, Reit and Duo Eternal Sister, Meer. Both Duo's original ace and Meer's upgraded form have intentional synergy with the break ride skill, Reit with her restand (allowing two uses of the break ride skill and power boost) and Eternal Meer re-riding the break ride from the soul standing, allowing potentially even more break rides than Alk. Of course this increased pressure comes at a cost - both cost resources to achieve the second vanguard attack, whereas Alk actually gains cards, which is where the Alk-Meer build finds it's niche. Meer also encourages the use of at least part of Duo's advantage engine, with Rhone and Kazuha able to provide on-hit pressure as well as copy other units should they get through.

Always Evolving. Just like everything else.

Planet Idol, Pacifica: The third break ride comes from the same wave of promotional cards as Alk herself, being the third form of one of Bermuda Triangle's most popular idols, Pacifica. Pacifica was the first break ride who's secondary skill wasn't a 1000-2000 power gain with at most a soul charge, instead being intended to set up Eternal Idol, Pacifica's 13000 crossride defence and trigger the break ride effect in the absence of another way to bounce units. Her break ride gives the vanguard a 1 time ability to call a unit from the deck when one is bounced, replacing the blind draw of Vert and attack pressure of Meer with a higher quality +1. Whilst it's technically possible to use this for an extra attack, your best battle phase bounce is Spica - who calls a unit herself - and so if you do get the call at this stage you're more likely to be replacing a solo attacker with a full column than calling a front row unit where there wouldn't be one. More likely still, you'll bounce a unit with Alk's on-ride skill to grab whatever you need but haven't drawn into, and if you do so you're then free to stride the same turn, should you not want (or are unable) to use Alk's limit break. Pacifica doesn't have as much support as PR♥ISM or Duo, and without the other Pacifica units Twinkle Happiness☆, Pacifica isn't performing optimally and whilst she's still nice to secure a second Planet Idol could be passed over for other G units. Friend of the Sun, Malucca is much the same - without three different Pacifica cards, she doesn't do much, but she does the key part the Alk deck needs in digging for that next ride.

Back to School - Alk and G era units

Academy of Divas brought a new set of grade 3s, which utilise Bermuda Triangle's new Harmony keyword. Whilst they can be used with each other, this does leave you vulnerable to being shut down by decks not riding to grade 3, so an alternate grade 3 not reliant on stride or legion, such as Alk can be a useful tool.

Sing in harmony with G units.

Miracle Voice, Lauris: Lauris is the centrepiece of the G Bermuda deck, with a useful on-stride skill as well as a decent GB2 skill which activates when entering Harmony. G Bermuda as a whole are very counter-blast heavy, and often run dedicated unflippers as well as the new perfect guards. Alk provides a nice relief from this, costing no counter-blasts, and only using one soul on ride - which is paid for by your previous vanguard entering the soul. She's also nice for how quickly she can shift in and out of the vanguard circle - any time you can't gain anything from striding, Alk can come down, gain 5000 power from her on-ride skill, then shift back into Lauris after her attack, with Alk going back to the hand to either ride again or to drop for stride. With the extra draw, the card advantage comes out to be the same as striding, though at the cost of less power. There's one other benefit - if you're at GB2 and have a unit with Harmony behind Alk, riding into Lauris will activate her GB2 skill, allowing you to give your rear-guards additional power.

How do you get water drops underwater?

Sincere Girl, Liddy: The second GB grade 3, Liddy is designed to work with harmony to a greater degree than Lauris. Her on-ride skill lets you search for a unit with harmony from the top 5 cards of the deck, and her GB1 grants her power for each unit in harmony, which can push her up to 41000 power before boosting. At first glance, that on-ride might suggest the need for as many harmony cards as possible, but there's certainly room for at least some other cards. Any Liddy deck is going to want to return it's units frequently, in order to reset the harmony skills, but Liddy can't do this herself, and will be relying on the rest of the deck to bounce. Alk can bounce on ride, allowing her to bring units back to recall later before changing out, either to herself to bounce more, or Liddy to gain another card from the deck and to prepare for a big centre lane next turn. Overuse of both on-ride skills can deplete the soul, however, so it may be worth trying a soul charge engine. There's one more factor in favour of this build - both Alk and Liddy are inexpensive, and neither is reliant on striding more than once, making this a decent option as a budget deck.

Army of Two - Legion and anti-control

There are many different partners for Alk, though some of them will be better than others. Here we'll look at two other grade 3s which can work well with Alk.

This is the dream team? Mother of God.

Dream Team Legion: Bermuda Triangle are interesting in that they got a generic legion whilst also having a subclan with legion units.Dream Team, Madre and Dream Team, Dios are designed to work together, with the grade 3 Marde gaining 5000 whenever a unit is bounced as well as a once per turn bounce - the cost of which is repaid exactly if you bounce Dios. The need to legion in the main phase doesn't seem like it'd work with Alk, but since the Dream Team don't have an intended alternate grade 3 Alk can make a useful backup for the deck, depending on the focus of your rear-guards. Whilst you can't use Dios' skill with Alk, if you intend to utilise Yarmouk and Avon to gain more power-up from bounces, or harmony units to have skills reset each turn when you bounce units, Alk will allow you to to set off these effects each turn, as well as drawing you closer to Madre.

You have no idea what's coming.

Bermuda Princess, Lena: Lena is one of the oldest Grade 3s in the clan, being released in Banquet of Divas, where is was useful for it's ability to instantly return all of your rear-guards to hand on ride. Since most of the bouncing within that set was either on-hit (Perla, Flores) or otherwise chance-based (Raindear), Lena made a useful backup for most of the decks, but break rides, subclans and more reliable bounces have rendered her redundant. Alk, however, breathes new life into her, by allowing her on-ride skill to activate during the battle phase. The deck works somewhat like the break ride version, riding a fresh Lena each turn whilst recovering the Alk, but when you ride Lena your rear-guards all return to the hand, triggering on-bounce skills, protecting them from your opponent's effects and allowing on-call and harmony skills to be re-used next turn, as well as allowing you to drop anything in your hand without losing them. This build is one of, if not the, most effective anti-control deck in the game. Lock, retire, paralysis, return to deck - all fail when there's no targets for them. Only the upcoming Chaos support for Link Joker and Nubatama 'shand control can even hope to damage you without a field. However, it's not all rosy - Conquest Dragon can give Narukami 10000 to the entire front row with no effort at all, Gear Chronicle has plenty of other tricks, and worst of all emptying your field is an instant death sentence against any Shadow Paladin deck, because Phantom Blaster "Diablo" will come out and make your massive hand useless.

Conclusions (for the moment):

Alk suffers in current Bermuda Triangle from being a wild card in a clan (and, indeed, a game as a whole) where support is tightening up and defining specific builds. As the grade 3's either gain dedicated support that needs them as vanguard or slip into complete irrelevance, Alk is pushed out to the side, being the domain of fun or budget builds. Whilst it's almost inevitable that a future grade 3 will create a potent combination with her, Alk isn't going to win any major tournaments in the near future. However, Alk builds are dynamic and fun to use, and for an idol is there any better praise?

Never forget, Alk is the little idol who made it to the big leagues, rocketing form a grade 0 newbie to a grade 3 star in record time. She wasn't written as a popular megastar - she earned her popularity and her place as a star of her own deck - and I've no doubt that Bushiroad will, in time, get around to giving her the support she needs to shine once again.

2015 Stride Awards

So a new year begins on a Friday, and it's as good a time as any for a look back over the past 12 months and have a look at what the G zone gave us in the first year or so of it's existence. In the spirit of award shows everywhere I'll be handing out a series of awards to some of the more noteworthy strides of the year, whether for good or bad reasons, so allow me to present the first No Guard No Life G unit awards (there's no actual awards, because I'm a hack with no artistic design talent or commitment) (also I'd rather spend money on trading cards).

I'll only be covering the cards released in the English game during 2015. This means no FC2015 winter or G-BT05 cards, and to be fair no Harmonics Messiah either, since that was released in 2014.

I think we do now.

Five Nights at Freddy's Award for most terrifying effect

There's quite a few 'guard or die' G units - almost everything which can gain a critical, mostly - but although Stun Beetle is something you shouldn't ever let through without a superior ride on standby I have to give this award to Dark Dragon, Phantom Blaster "Diablo", for not only gaining a critical, but for also packing a complete guard prevention which requires the opponent to retire two of their own rear-guards to even attempt to stop the attack. For forcing opponents to commit more than they might want just to live, and for making several clans almost unworkable, this award goes to you. Oh, and since Ren is finally showing up in G with a role beyond "look at this guy and cheer, audience", he's getting more support. Oh boy.

You'll need to do more than that.

Chocolate Dragonshield Award for most pointless card.

I suppose winning this award would put you in line for being worst G unit of 2015, but this award is for the card which has the least reason to exist, and it's for a truly stunning case of redundancy the award goes to Ardor Dragon Master, Amanda. The difference between Amanda and Clifford is that Amanda gives you a blind soul charge whilst Clifford keeps the unit out. Amanda isn't even all that bad a card, but for being a second on-hit to call from soul with 2000 power she gets this award. Maybe if you'd been on-stride, or on attack, or given a larger power boost, or, well, anything you wouldn't be here. 

Shame they're in different clans.

Exiled to Heaven Award for card most benefiting from Extreme Fight. 

A lot of G units can be abused in Extreme Fight - the threat of combining units from different clans only becomes more threatening when you add in G units which have some of the strongest effects in the game - if Silent Tom with Stil Vampir is a threat, how much more dangerous is it if you have Ragnaclock Dragon sat on the vanguard circle? However the award is going to Avatar of Heroic Spirits, Vishnu because whilst he's functional but not meta-shifting for Narukami nobles, when thrown into Genesis, a clan loaded up with them, he becomes a massive threat capable of insanely cheap field wipes with a critical, and even functions when the host deck is struggling to generate the soul it needs for it's own skills.

 

Cubic Crab Award for most blatent enabling of cancerous cards.

Now it could be argued that Sanctuary Guard Regalie took a Swordmy who was just starting to settle down and hyped it back up to stupid tier, but ultimately I have to give this award to the entire Dimension Police clan, for their tireless work in making sure Commander Laurel will never be balanced again. Nice work guys.

Err, you're not in Kagero mate.

Faithful Butler Award for most necessary on-hit unit.

Whilst many on-hit units have been super-ceded by more useful utility strides, or the use of Blizza for faster GB2 access, a few have stayed in use due to a lack of better options. As more sets come out and bring more cards along, this list gets smaller, but it's still there. I'm giving the award to Lightning Dragon Knight, Zorras, because we know what it's getting in early 2016, and none of those G units do anything to make Zorras less essential to any deck that uses it.

One where you're useful?

Golden DCL Award for most immense effect cost.

Now I could take the dull and dry approach and calculate which unit has the highest cost with everything standardised, but I'd rather not bother and just look at the card with the most striking cost. Therefore I'm giving it to Interdimensional Dragon, Mystery-flare Dragon, for a counter blast 4 - a level of flipping damage which has only been seen twice before in this game - for a skill which requires a very specific set of events to happen. Obviously if you can pull it off it can be a game changer, but if it wasn't so good the cost would get it laughed out of the room even harder than it is already.

She's really expensive. Just like real girls.

Golden DLC Packaging Award for most expensive card.

This was a tricky one. A few of the GR cards, especially the ones which require two copies to work, have reached some almost unheard of prices for this game, but one card has stood out above all the others, reaching prices beyond any other card ever printed. Yes, for having the sheer guts to have an SP version of a GR with a persona cost, School Etoile, Olyvia takes this award. Let us hope that 2016 doesn't give us anything this expensive again, but there'll be another Bermuda set so that's not very likely.

So then a heavy dream is...a blizzard?

Compulsive Pie-Poker Award for least restricted heart-specific G unit.

Many G units with heart restrictions don't need the entire deck to share that name - indeed, for some it would be literally impossible since there's only a small number of cards with that name. However, Cosmetic Snowfall, Shirayuki takes it one step further and doesn't even require you have a Shirayuki heart at all, just giving you a bonus in the form of a one-for-one swap if you do. Admittedly this is somewhat fair given that there is only one Shirayuki to be a heart, but the same can be said of half of the cards in the upcoming FC2015 Winter and it hasn't affected any of them.

By Justice, he means superior calls.

Shinji Ikari Award for least valued 'main' stride.

Most G units have had criticism, even the good ones. In fact those are some of the most criticised, although more for being 'broken'. However, from the series of cards which flip another copy of themselves as a cost, and which were intended to be the first 'ace' strides of each clan's G build, none has been regarded as less useful than Golden Dragon, Spearcross Dragon. In a clan built almost entirely around calling from the top of the deck, more of the same was not really what any build needed, and the card has, as an ace, been overshadowed by Scourge Point Dragon. In fact Bushiroad resorted to cheating to show it off in the anime, which shows how unimpressive it is (or maybe that the anime script writers don't read the cards properly). Maybe with more cards that clear the field it might see more use, but until then enjoy your meaningless accolade Spearcross.

She didn't stop, so soon she'll bloom

Unfaithful Waifu Award for card most useful outside it's intended build.

I've mentioned it before, but whilst Dream-Spinning Ranunculus, Ahsha is fairly useful within her own build mostly as recovery from control or a first stride, she becomes the go-to stride for most other builds where cloning wasn't as abundant and setting up the homogeneous field needed for Jingle Flower wasn't as easy. 2016 is offering us a new Maiden G unit which may negate this slightly, and Ahsha is gaining another stride which may support Ranunculus directly, but Dream-Spinning Ahsha is likely to remain the envoy spreading the word of Ranunculus to the rest of Neo Nectar. Thus she gets this special award for being stupidly amazing in every deck which doesn't focus on her own grade 3 form. 



Ego's Choice Award: My Stride of the Year

Once again, I could go look at all the tops, find out what was found at most copies in most top decks, but since I'm lazy and any such analysis would favour popular decks which got earlier stride support I'm just going to give it to a card that has achieved a lot, both for it's deck and for me personally.

Carapace Mutant Deity, Machining Destroyer showed us what even minor clans could do with the right support. Giving Machinings a reliable, low-cost vanguard stun took Megacolony from something that might get the odd win to being a deck you needed to keep your wits about you to fight off. Whilst the deck around it wasn't quite strong enough at the time, it only took a handful of cards to make it one of the most frustrating decks to play against. On a personal note, Machinging Megacolony, with Destroyer as MVP, took me the full 9 rounds at my regionals, losing only to bad hands against decks with ways to avoid destroyer.

Even criminals understand the power of friendship.

And so, we reach the end of another year. A lot's happened both in Vanguard and the rest of the world, so here's to 2016. Ride well, trigger hard, and may all your Guards be Perfect.

An attack for all seasons: Aqua Force 4th battle enablers - Part 3

A few months ago, past me promised that I'd go through the enablers of additional attacks for Aqua Force that came from Clan Booster 2, Commander of the Incessant Waves. Well, since I have some free time and motivation let's get on with it.

The new clan booster introduced the Wave keyword for Aqua Force, which is a more concise form of the existing mechanic of counting the number of battles. Besides being easier to say, it makes it easier to see at a glance which units need which attacks to activate, and a couple of cards also interact with the wave mechanic itself, but we'll get to those later.

Girl's can't be ripples. Apparently.

The booster itself gave support for almost every major build of Aqua Force, although not all of them received attack enablers due to differences in play-style and previous support. The Ripple deck received some very powerful support, but they continued the set 11 mechanic of counting resting units rather than attacks. Maelstrom also passed up an enabler, but as he received Rascal Sweeper in the last round of support his relatively small amount of support filled in other roles.

As to the enablers themselves, we'll start with the generic cards, and picking up where part 2 left off Couple Dagger Sailor was reprinted, although not given an errata with wave. Given how rare these were in set 2, being in only 1 in 7 boxes, this is a reasonable reprint, though the amount of enablers now available make her less than essential for a lot of decks. 

That doesn't sound ri- and he's gone.

The only other generic enablers this time are the series of Violent Shooter,  Marine General of the Sonic Speed, Nektarios, and Titan of the Trench Patrol, all of whom have the same skill at different grades. At GB1, on wave 1 or 2, they can soul blast 1 for 2000 power and then at the end of the battle you check the top 4 cards for a card with a Wave ability. You can then call that unit and put any un-called units as well as the original attacking unit to the bottom of the deck. A fair attempt to create a new series of enablers, but it has some flaws. Trying to use them often will suck up a lot of soul which may be better served elsewhere, but more significantly they have reliability issues. Since it's impossible to run only units with wave abilities (if only because there aren't 4 different wave triggers), there's always a chance of the search missing - and if you're relying on it to set off something like Lambros failing to get another unit for the attack could be fatal. Having said that, If you can balance the soul usage properly and incorporate enough wave units it's not a high-cost effect, so they're not entirely useless - if they can supplement other attack enablers, or are used with decks that activate key effects on wave 3 or more where failing won't shut down those central plays entirely, then they have potential.

Wish she'd refrained from needing legion.

Although Maelstrom didn't get an enabler, Blue Storm did get one, for it's legion build. As legion decks are usually less flexible in their grade 2s, due to the need to include enough mates, here their new enabler is a new stand trigger. Blue Storm Battle Princess, Doris can, after it attacks as wave 1 with a vanguard in legion, swap positions with another rear-guard, give the other unit 5000 power, and then return to the deck. Although 4000 power means she will need a booster to hit, the power boost to the other unit means that unit is unlikely to need it to hit so she can be safely boosted. Whilst it's not going to make the Blue Storm legion deck amazing, it gives one further boost to the deck's consistency, which might make all the difference later. Since this set's release, a couple of cards have been given wording that allows them to work with legion vanguards even when you stride, so the deck may get it's chance next time around.

So, in short, he's in charge.

As the second set of G support for Aqua Force, more support for the Thavas build was inevitable. This includes his stride fusion form, Storm Dominator, Commander Thavas, who this time actually helps set up additional attacks. For flipping a copy of himself, he grants a rear-guard 5000 power as well as the ability to attack from the back row, which gives three rear-guards the ability to attack and thus with enough rear-guards sets up wave 4 easily. Since I covered this card not too long ago, I'll not go into much more detail, except to note how interesting it is to see a wave 4 vanguard who can set up it's own wave.

Thavas' new starter, Kelpie Rider, Mitros, might not seem to generate extra attacks at first glance. When a Thavas vanguard attacks at wave 3 or more, Mitros' GB1 allows him to move to the soul to call a Thavas from the deck, and then return that Thavas to the hand at the end of the turn. Since the new Thavas can come in standing it gives one

Unless it's before about 1500 AD.

extra attack, of most use for the retiring skills of both forms of Thavas. If needed, you can even call the Thavas over another unit - although you'd be advised to leave Mitros in the front instead, to open a space and avoid losing a card.

Thavas also gained a GB1 grade 2 in Battle Siren, Adelaide, who on-call can counter-blast 1 and soul-blast 1 to gain 2000 power and the ability to restand after it first attacks the vanguard for that turn. Two attacks which under normal conditions should hit help ensure that the higher wave counts can be met, acting as a Magnum Assault without the need to be boosted. Like Magnum, Adelaide can also be powered up by triggers or the effects of other units to double-up on those bonuses. Unfortunately she only gets to restand the turn she's played, but she's still a 9000 power grade 2, and can intercepy herself away for another unit once she's finished.

Maybe from you. For this turn.

The new Blue Wave deck, centred around Tetra-drive dragon and following up on it's 'Vanguard 2nd' attack pattern, also has a similar card, in Blue Wave Marine General, Foivos. Like Adelaide, Foivos can make 2 11k attacks for a counterblast, but whilst Adelaide can make her first attack at any point on one turn, Foivos can only restand when he attack third, but on any turn provided the vanguard is a Blue Wave. Since the two Blue Wave restanding vanguards require a rear-guard to attack for wave 4, restanding after the third attack instantly sets up the conditions for this.

He needs a more dramatic entrance.

Blue Wave is currently a small group, but isn't tied into needing specific support aside from a grade 3 vanguard. The newest of these, Blue Wave Dragon, Anger-boil Dragon, also provides extra attacks. His  GB2 skill restands a unit when it attacks at wave 2 only with an extra 10000 power (as well as 5000 for Anger-boil). Whilst instantly setting up a charged-up Foivos (or Tidal/Magnum) to attack twice more, this isn't the most interesting skill in terms of enabling wave 4 or more skills. His other skill, when Blue Wave Marshal Dragon, Tetra-boil Dragon strides over him, gives him a wave 2 only ability to re-stand 2 rear-guards with 3000 power each. Like Tetra-drive, Tetra-boil requires the 4th attack to be from your rear-guard to be against the opponent's vanguard, and by standing a full column Anger-boil provides the only enabling you'd need - however just like with the GB2 can allow you to power up re-standers for more attacks.

And so we reach the end of another wave of support. Different clans are differentiating further in the cards they use, but in terms of generic enablers Tidal and Magnum still rule, with Couple Dagger for those who want swapping. With no further support announced, I'm not going to make any promises on part 4, but hopefully I'll have some articles on another clan some time.

Friday Stride, Christams Edition: Amnesty Messiah

I did have a good better excuse for not posting last week - 11 boxes of Aqua Force, 2 of Japanese Weiss, various pre-constructed decks and long work hours meant I actually spent most of my free time dealing with actual cards. Helpfully we're now in holiday season, so hopefully I can get at least one extra post up in the next week, but first back to the scheduled postings, and in the spirit of a holiday commemorating the birth of a Messiah, let's review one, more specifically Genesis Dragon, Amnesty Messiah

This lord is a shepherd of locked cards.

Amnesty is the third G unit in the Messiah series of cards, which form the core of the vanguard G Link Joker. All of these are forms of the same entity, who is integrating Link Joker units with the rest of Cray, and so they show of the new play-style of these cards - self-locking. Unlike the (thematically) overly aggressive Star-Vaders and Deletors, this group take a more technical approach, locking and each other as the cost for effects, and then unlocking for more bonuses. Amnesty slots in here perfectly - when he attacks he unlock any number of cards for a counterblast, and then gains 3000 power for each, with a critical if 3 or more were unlocked. Without any requirements for other G units face up, he's viable as a first stride, and is one of a very small number of such which can gain a critical.

It does, however, take a little bit of work to set up and get the best out of the skill. Whilst the Grade 3 Alter Ego Messiah can set up two locks along with a power boost, one of those is on your opponent's field, so you'd usually prefer not to unlock it where possible. He also needs a counterblast and a rear-guard to lock when you stride, which can sometimes leave him unable to activate. However, he's not the only locker available. Lady Gunner of the Neutron Star, Spawn of the Spiral Nebula and Wings of Phenomenon, Wingmatter also provide one-for-one locking, with the former two being able to activate on-demand without a counterblast cost. If you're wanting more conventional defence, that's also available, with the interceptor Lightspeed Cheetah who can lock any unit not under attack for a 10000 shield boost.

For more aggressive plays, Lady Battler of the Gravity Well is a common choice. A useful solo attacker for when boosters (or guaranteed unlocks for them) aren't available, she locks one of your cards in the main phase for a 4000 power boost. Whilst she'll need an 8k or better booster to make a 21k column, she's a free, reusable lock and makes a great stand target. The last self-locker in English is Heavymaterial Dragon, who for a counterblast and a self-lock can discard 1 card to draw 2. The filtration helps dig for key cards, and whilst it may only have 8000 power, the equivalent in Shadow Paladins without the self-lock is the even trickier to use 7000 (and without GB1, this falls to just 3000 power - on a grade 2), and if you're running it with Gravity Well, you might even find room for grade 1 vanillas - for now.

G-BT05, Moonlit Dragonfang, introduces two new Messiahs with self-lock capability: Arrestor Messiah, who on the turn he's played gains 2000 power and then after attacking locks himself to lock any back row card, and Sacrifice Messiah, who responds to a unit being locked by locking itself to counter charge and give a 3000 power boost. Both of these units allow for battle phase locking, something which combines very nicely with battle phase unlocks - since units unlock standing, a unit which attacks before being locked can make two attacks in a turn, making Amnesty's mass unlock into a mass re-stand as well.

Since on an Amnesty turn he'll be doing the majority of the unlocking, unlockers aren't of major note here, but it's worth noting a couple of cards with skills which activate when unlocked. Neon Messiah can search for Alter Ego when unlocked, pulling a non-trigger from the deck, fixing your ride if you had to go into a backup grade 3 or netting you stride fodder. Awaking Messiah can restand another unit with a 2000 power boost when unlocked (remember how Lady Battler of the Gravity Well made a good stand target? Well this is what stands it), and lastly Dark Metal Chameleon, who grants a counter charge when unlocked. The chameleon also has resist, making it useful against control decks to retain a unit for Alter Ego to lock.

So, overall, Messiahs have created a whole new, not inherently evil, Link Joker deck. Not bad for Cray's saviour, and it would seem it isn't done yet.

Friday Stride: Storm Dominator, Commander Thavas

So after a week suffering from a severe case of laziness, we return to meet our next release - another clan booster, so now it's time for Navy Season a single review. There's a better reason than for the swordboys, or at least a less subjective one - we're getting plenty of new stuff in the next few weeks, so there's only really chance to cover one card. Maybe I'll get back to the others later, but I promise nothing. So, anyway, let's get into the super special cover card of the set - Storm Dominator, Commander Thavas.

Never release 'Battle Siren, Storm', Bushiroad.

Thavas comes to us from the first school of stride fusion, whereby you get soft advantage for your persona flip whatever and then a +1 if you have two units (and in Thavas' case, four attacks but he sets that up himself so you'll rarely be worried about that). More specifically, flipping a copy of himself gives a rear-guard 5000 power and the ability to attack from the back row. Then, if you're at Generation Break 3 (that is, you have 2 face-up G units in the G zone) he gain the on-stride skill of his grade 3 form, to force your opponent to retire one of three rear-guards on the fourth attack. It's worded slightly differently due to the introduction of the Wave keyword, but the impact is the same.

At first glance, this doesn't seem all that impressive - this is the clan that carries the monster that is Lambros, so why would you want a card that enables 4 attacks for a retire of dubious quality? To a degree, it's a valid point, as Lambros is the big finisher, but that's not what Thavas is here for. Thavas is a grinding unit, with all of his effects aiming at working more cards out of your opponent's hand. More power, means more shield to stop the attack. Attacking from the back means an extra attack, which forces the guard to be split between attacks and drain even more cards in shielding. Whilst the retire isn't the most efficient, it's one card that they have to replace in order to sustain their pressure, and it's not so good that it insists you avoid this as first stride to access it. Each extra guard, or indeed extra damage, can make the difference between Lambros ending the game or letting them survive to make their counter play.

There's also the small matter of all your 'Wave' rear-guards getting their skills enabled even if you draw none of your enablers. None of Aqua Force's other G units do this, giving it a unique and valuable role in most builds.

The other advantage he has is that he's Thavas, which means he has access to the standard suite of support for on-stride units. The most generally useful is the critical trigger,
Kelpie Rider, Petros, who can go to the soul when a Thavas vanguard attacks to draw and give a power boost. Few Aqua Force builds need especial counterblasts, so Petros is easy to fit in most decks running commander Thavas even in the absence of the grade 3. The other support is unlikely to be seen outside of Thavas-centered builds, but with only one grade 3 option you won't always have him to ride. Kelpie Rider, Mitros can search out a Thavas for another attack and then a copy in hand, but only if you have a Thavas as vanguard. Commander Thavas allows him to correct having to ride into an alternate grade 3, fetching a card to re-ride. Battle Siren, Melania also generate advantage with a Thavas vanguard, and the ability to attack from the back row is perfect for her - as a grade 1 with resist the back row is a perfect place for her, but her skill requires her to attack which would normally require her to move up to use it. The last card, Battle Siren, Adelaide, is a one-time restander with a Thavas vanguard. Being effectively 'disposable' whilst making two valid attacks without support, she's a nice way to enable attacks against control decks, and the commander allows her even more power, and even a chance to hang back to allow her to get locked without clogging up the front.

In conculsion, Thavas is a solid support card. He's probably a 2-of, since most builds have a finisher of choice they want at four, but almost every build will have use for him, either to patch up a poor hand or drag an opponent into kill range.