King of Knights Alfred

*Enter the Fray! The Ruler of the Knights!*

Ability :

This dude can't be boost but he gets a 2000 plus in attack for each other Royal Paladin if he is your Vanguard. An auto +10000 brings him into a 20000 Behemoths that would take down any pray item foolish enough to stand in front of you.

His attack boosting effect is simple and sweet, but best of all, it is a signature of what Royal Paladin does, they searches for each other and swarm the field. Think about it, Barcal, Liew, Gancelot to name a few all have seaching abilities.

To top things off, Alfred himself has a searching ability too. You can counter blast 3 to seach your deck for a grade 2 or lower Royal Paladin and call it to your Rear Guard, if that unit being Blaster Blade, and you have 2 more damage to spare, take out another unit please.

The effect on this unit is really really simple, Boost and Swarm. The basic foundation of the deck he is built around. At of this point, the only down side of playing him would be not drawing into him early.

8.5/10

Combo :

What can I say, its a Royal Paladin, they have the stupidest searches of all in the game(at the moment). His Twin Drive! helps you gain more hand so that your +10k doesn't stop after that turn. But that being said, he is one of those cards that you can't play it in a non-pure Royal Paladin deck or better known as Mix Clan.

As mentioned, he can combo with Blaster Blade, but only when you have 5 damage already. His main purpose is just get all your bigger paladins out (Galatin, Blaster Blade ) and win the game there and then.

Also, his 10000 bench mark makes grade 2 or lower units (Aside a few) not being able to attack him without a boost. But that is easily overcomed.

7/10

Art :

He looks stupid. His armor is oversized and look at that poor horse. I have nothing more to say but he looks like a Subaru Impreza. You know its excellent in it's terrain and you know its good anywhere else, but you just hate its looks. And that look is a look that you can't get chicks for.

3/10

Market :

Being the cover card and a RRR makes this card around the 40s range, which is good considering the market of this card games players tend to look at cute girls more than actually playability. Being a center piece of the current Riyal Paladin deck, or at least it will be in MY Royal Paladin deck because I like the simple effect, makes him a hot trade item and such. Considering those issue, I figure his market value should be at least above the average RRRs.

6/10

Overall : 6.125/10 - Being above average, you might wanna have a copy or 2 in case of emergency trade fodders or just for fun. Not a bad card to invest on, but not the best idea as well. It all comes down to your META game, if there are a lot of beginners (apply after the game gets more mature only) and they wanna play RP, this is a card you wanna get.

~ P.S, being a card game player that has played more than 7 card games, I tend to look at the card's value in the market first to other issues. If a card is good but everyone don't want it, its not worth the time getting it.

Signing out!

Dragonic Overlord

*Burn them to ashes! The embodiment of Rage and Terror!*

Ability :

A 11000 Grade 3 is always good, makes sure your opponent can't attack you without rear guards. Its skill is not all that powerful, but a good one to have.

Counter Blast 3 and get a + 5000 for the remainder of the turn, but losing Twin Drive! sucks. Standing after hitting a rear guard is good. But people will just throw a 20000 guard at your face, effectively wasting your counter blast. Unless you use this ability as a rear guard, where you could hope for a Stand Trigger to wake him up again.

Its passive effect, losing 2000 if you don't have other Kagerou is almost irrelevant.

6/10

Combo :

It has a combo? Aside from being big, and gets bigger, I see no uses for it. True, it may be good just for its size, but its ability is a chore to play, and playing cards like Berserk Dragon or Exile Dragon along with it just wastes your resources.

Its only good point? Getting rid of enemy guardians. Playing his counter blast basically equals to burning your opponent's hand, unless they are willing to let you pull 3 cards instead.

5/10

Art :

Its like a Lamborghini Murcielago, not elegant, not graceful, but a look at it tells you 1 thing : I have nothing but RAW power.

A dragon holding an over sized sword, which looks good on the TD version of the card, not the booster one.

6.5/10

Market :

As a card that is readily available in a TD, which you get 2 copies for a single RM45 TD, you can't expect to make a fortune out of it.

On the other hand, its cheap to make a deck around it thou. But thats about it. Like a Nissan or a Mitsubishi, you get performance, but you don't get class nor supremacy.

3.5/10

Overall : 5.25/10 - slightly above average. You don't wanna have this card unless you really like it.

To my beloved Big Grade 2's

Some of you may tell that I like cards with huge ass power. Simply put, they're like a wall and a tank. Your opponent needs to plan before ramming into them, but you can ram into anyone you want anytime anywhere.

Aside from the oversize Genocide Jack, my next favorite unit has to be King of Swords.

While being another 10000 grade 2 like Gallatin and Nehalem, I like this card for its art. It screams "Tatsumaki ZANKANTOU!!!"

I know I have a weird love for mecha units, maybe thats cause I'm taking an Engineering degree ... hmmm, enough of the bullshits.

You guys might or might not know, that most if not ALL of this mecha-looking units belong to not only the Nova Grappler clan, but more specifically, Star Gate nation. I'm assuming its that underground hi-tech city look-a-like place from the anime.

From my experience of card games (4 other card games actually), one day, the nations is gonna be important, I mean, game changing. They may be only trivial to the game only by the moment, but lets treat if they meant something.

Let me make a Star Gate deck for fun shall we, since I can't afford Asura Kaizer until they release TD Kamui ~ What ever ever bla bla.

Grade 3's (8):

4 Asura Kaizer

4 Mr Invincible

Grade 2's (12):

4 Genocide Jack

4 King of Swords

4 Hungry Dumpty

Grade 1's (14):

2 Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer Shout

4 Claydoll Mechanic

4 Tough Boy

4 Queen of Heart

Grade 0's (16):

4 Battleraizer (stand)

4 Lucky Girl (stand)

4 Shining Lady (critical!)

4 Round Girl Clara (heal)

So, after putting the cards together, you get what is know to be Kamui's deck. And seems like most if not all Nova Grappler out now belong to Star Gate nation. And that was the trivial for the day.

Personally, I would rather take out Heal and Critical for 8 more stand triggers from other clans, but that will be untrue to my theme.

Thus, I guess I'll wait for the release for more Star Gate Nova Grappler Stand units.

For how to play this deck, I have a simple 5 word answer : Go-Watch-the-Anime-Please.

Have a nice day (or whats left of it depending on where you are), and signing out!

Critical Trigger Get!!

Getting Criticals out of the drive checks lets you gain a massive advantage, namely getting over those pesky guardians and ending the game twice as fast.

When you get a TD or Trial Deck, it comes with 16 Triggers but only 4 Criticals. This is to help beginners have a more balance deck, which is understandable, but this also makes getting criticals harder.

A few days ago, I saw this dude playing Royal Paladin with a mix of Kagerou. In my books, the Paladin are more about swarming the field while Kagerou are based on big units and getting there fast.

I'm trying to mimic what the guy had done there you see, but I'm doing it MY way, throwing out the law of balance, and focuses on taking the game as soon as I can.

Today, this will be the main card we are talking about.

Solitary Knight Gancelot is pretty cool unit if you ask me. While his 9000 based attack makes him a little small compare to the bigger Grade 3s, he makes up with his skill. You see, he is a searcher, you can send this guy back to your deck and add a Blaster Blade into your hand. This is good as Blaster Blade is the key to unlocking this guys primary skill.

When you have Blaster Blade in your soul, you can counter blast 2 cards in your damage zone and have this unit increase his attack by 5000 and gaining a Critical (which is important). More interestingly, this skill is stackable, you can use this twice in a role, but doing that means that you want to take out your opponent there and then.

Dealing more criticals is the point of this deck I'm designing. Thats why, aside from Gancelot, I'll be having a few ways to deal more critical to my opponent.

Grade 3s (8):

4 Solitary Knight Gancelot

2 Demon Killer Knight Lohengrin

2 Dragonic Overlord

Grade 2s (12):

4 Blaster Blade

4 Knight of Silance Gallatin

4 Dragon Knight Nehalem

Grade 1s (13):

4 Little Sage Marron

3 Wingal

3 Embodiment of Armor Bahr

3 Flame of Hope Aermo

Grade 0s (17):

1 Barkgal

4 Knight of the Future Liew (critical)

4 Bringer of Good Luck Epona (critical)

4 Embodiment of Spear Tahr (critical)

4 Yggdrasil Maiden Elaine (heal)

The deck basically aims on getting those critical triggers out.

Dealing more damage is crucial on how the deck wins. So I chose units with big attacks to get waste their guardians before Gancelot enter the fray and grabs the decisive strike.

Not having Flogal in the deck meant that Liew is nothing more than a Trigger, but to me, thats what he is worth.

I was thinking of getting rid of Heal Triggers in general but felt that I need them in case I over counter blast too early in the game.

Something I like about Dual Clan deck is that it has the element of surprise. And you can have as much triggers (aside from heal) you like in here, as in my previous deck review, it was Stand.

Dragonic Overlord is in here because it, like Gancelot can become VERY big. With a base of 11000, most unit can't touch it without support. And Having a chance to drive check 3 times adds to his appeal. When ever a boosted Overlord attacks, my opponent usually will throw a 20000 guard at him, adding to the rear guard attack, it is almost always around 28000. But, a boosted Overlord is easily over 24000, and a trigger might get him to the 29000, so unless your attacking a fellow Grade 3, he can trample over the units quite easily.

Another usage for this beast, is that he can really waste your opponent's guardians. Imagine if you have 5 damage and he is attacking you, without the counter blast, supported by Maron or Bahr, he is at 19000, but his twin drive WILL almost certain hit a critical now. You would waste 2 10000 guardian just to make sure he doesn't hit.

Well, I couldn't really promise you much on this deck, as I don't have it with me physically. I just thought about the cards and strategies and throw this together over a course of 15 minutes. Test play it if you like and tell me what it feels like.

~ Signing Out!

Stand and Draw!

If you guys are confuse with the title, which you should, I'm not reviewing the game rules in case some of you have false hope.

Instead, thats actually the name of a deck, more specifically, the deck I'm playing as we speak.

Why the name?

1. Cause its iconic and easy to remember.

2. Thats what my deck is built around, Stand and Draw.

Before I start, I must explain, I have an unusual amount of liking on the card Genocide Jack.

While new players normally enter a game and like main character cards like Blaster Blade and Dragonic Overlord. This dude here is my favorite. Why? He is like the freaking T-Rex, trading off convenience for sheer power.

When you want power, this unit here HAS power. While being a Grade 2 unit, he stands above most of the other grade 2s (if not all), but thats not all, his 11000 power is something even Grade 3s don't necessary has. You can treat him as a tank, stomping into the battle field and taking what ever he wants down.

Another thing about this unit is that it only gets bigger. You see, when ever Jack is boosted by a fellow Nova Grappler while he is the Vanguard, you gain an extra 5000 points of attack, totaling up to 16000 even before adding the rear guards attack, which is easily over 5000. Riding into something that can deal over 20000 damage on turn 2 is HUGE, it can basically run down any wall your opponent tries to throw at you (unless he is willing to ditch 2 10000 shields at you).

The down side is that Jack isn't what you call easy to play. For him to even attack, you need to counter blast a card. So, playing him, you need to make your opponent deal some early damage to you, and playing more than 1 copy at once is almost foolish. All and all, his power doesn't come free ... which to me, actually adds to his appeal!

Like Kamui quote in the anime "Release into High Rev!", the perfect quote for this mechanized Behemoth.

Whoa, look at me side tracking. Back to the deck list.

Despite the name, this deck runs NO draw triggers, instead uses units that have draw or at least hand trading abilities to draw out key pieces. While being a strategy I personally like very much, this has its drawbacks as you might draw into your triggers instead of letting your Vanguard drive check into them. Hence, not really a good strategy to use if you wanna minimize luck, but I personally like to play against the odds.

Another thing about this deck is that its a Dual Clan, namely Nova Grappler and Kagerou. As both these clans have a very very big amount of brute strength.

Grade 3s (7):

4 Mr Invincible

3 Dragonic Overlord

Grade 2s (13):

4 Genocide Jack

3 King of Swords

1 Hungry Dumpty

3 Dragon Knight Nehalem

2 Berserk Dragon

Grade 1s (14):

4 Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer Shout

2 Tough Boy

3 Flame of Hope Aermo

3 Dragon Monk Gojo

2 Embodiment of Armor Bahr

Grade 0s (16):

1 Battleraizer (Stand)

3 Lucky Girl (Stand)

1 Shining Lady (Critical)

3 Lizard Soilder Ganlu (Stand)

4 Embodiment of Spear Tahr (Critical)

4 Dragon Monk Genjo (Heal)

As I previously stated, the deck is sorta of a masochist. In order to really play it, you need to have your opponent attack you first. I normally won't guard for the 1st 4 damages. As my Jacks and Berserk Dragons need those counter blast. Not to mention Dragonic Overlord's Counter Blast is a big push for game.

The real Ace of this deck thou, is Mr Invincible. His Soul Charge lets you infinitely play Jack (as long as your opponent doesn't take him out), and his Soul Blast is the real winner here. When his attack hits, you can pay the MASSIVE cost of 5 counter blast + 8 soul blast and stand all your units. So, you might wanna throw Jack or Overlord at your opponent, waste his guardians before going for the kill with Invincible's invincible skill. Playing it, is almost a certain kill.

Why is Genocide Jack so important in here now? Cause it can walk pass ANY unit, so your opponent will have to waste a few guardian just to block him, an intercept will normally be far from enough. So, his not just the TANK, but also the freaking NUKE, where to control him from doing too much damage, both parties would have to be cautions (whether to waste too much hand on your opponent side, or counter blast on yours).

~ Signing out!

Stand Up! Vanguard

Hi world, the name's LGQ, you guys may know me from YGO, but here at Vanguard, I'm just another no body.

Here to start a Cardfight Vanguard blog to discuss about strategies, new sets and sooner or later, the meta game analysis.

Cardfight Vanguard rided itself into our world just about 2 months ago, and here in Malaysia, just over a month. You can say that its still a very young cardgame.

But this game is not some other TCG, even before the game came out, more than a dozen of players are preordering the TD(trial deck) and booster packs. And just after a month, its one of the most talk about card games in that community.

Simple, fun and a little luck dependent makes this game very enjoyable, in comparison to most established TCG. The game is still young, we can see all kinds of decks running around. Net decking is currently non-existence, and Bushiroad has done a very good job promoting and supporting this game.

Well, you guys aren't here for my granddad stories aren't ya. I leave Cray for now and will come back with some post later.

In case you didn't notice, this is just a Intro to my blog.

For those of you who are interested in learning the game, Vanguard Rider may be your best help if you can't read Japanese.

If you are from the Petalling Jaya area in Malaysia, you can drop by Toys Bar, Atria and we have a few rounds.

Once again, Ride the Vanguard! and signing out!