NO.

No, means NO, bitch. Now, shuddup.

[Cardfight!! Vanguard] My view on metas after the launch of EB03

Since Homura and Rauzes have been writing about it, I guess I'd throw in my two cents too.

Tier 1

• Shadow Paladin ~PBO~
• Kagero ~The End~
• Royal Paladin ~MLB~
• Nova Grappler ~Azure Dragon~
• Narukami ~Shinegreymon~

Tier 2

• Royal Paladin ~SSD - Alfred~
• Gold Paladin ~Garmore - Ezel~
• Gold Paladin ~SDD~
• Neo Nectar ~Trolling Rose~
• OTT ~Eclipse~
• Kagero ~Lawkeeper~

Tier 3

• Nova Grappler ~that fucking Gundam~
• Megacolony ~Warlord Phantom~
• Bermuda △ ~Rivere~ / ~Pacifica~
• Angle Feather ~Ergodiel~
• Granblue ~Cocytus~
• Spike Brothers

Tier 4

• Angle Feather ~Kiriel~
• Murakumo
• Gold Paladin ~pure Garmore~
• Narukami ~Thunder Break~
• Dark Irregulars ~NLK - Still Vampir~
• Dimension Police

Tier 5

• Kagero ~Amber Dragon~ / ~Waterfowl~
• Megacolony ~Giraffa~ / ~Machining~
• Dark Irregulars ~Amon and whatever goes with him~
• Pale Moon
• Granblue ~builds before BT06~
• Tachikaze

Flash clock finally done!

I've got too much free time in the office, so I thought of scripting a online clock for the blog. Well, it's finally done and it seems to be working well, I guess? Any opinion guys? Though I guess I'll expect lurkers, instead of feedbacks... =w=

On a side note, I wanna congratulate Homura for getting actual comments and more readers on our Vanguard blog (another project of mine, though I'm just the designer and scriptwriter). If you guys don't know what I'm talking about, here's the link for the blog. Go ahead and check it out, it has some really great insights of Vanguard from Homura. It might even help you out in your games. Well, if you don't know what is Vanguard, erm... perhaps what I can only do is asking you to Google up "Cardfight!! Vanguard". I don't think I'd be writing anything on there yet, since I'm much more comfortable with writing on here.

Anyway, I'm gonna stop here and get back to work or I might get screwed.



Oh, and another thing, selling off my Giraffa-based Megacolony deck, so I'm not gonna post the build anymore, unless someone requested for it. Gonna get Warlord Phantom soon, RIMITO BUREEEEEEEEEEEEKU!! Heh.

[Cardfight!! Vanguard] Aki's Neo Nectar deck

Name (Japanese)	Name (English)	Grade / Skill / Starting VG	Damage / Guard / Critical	Numbers in Deck	Race	Trigger	Effect	Serial Number
シールドシード・スクワイア	Shield Seed Squire	0 / Boost / ✔	5000 / 10000 / 1	1	Bioroid	n/a	自 : When another 《Neo Nectar》 rides this unit, you may call this card to 【Ｒ】. 自【Ｒ】 :  [Put this unit on top of your deck] When this unit's attack hits the opponent's Vanguard, if you have a 《Neo Nectar》 Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one card named "Blade Seed Squire", call it to 【Ｒ】 in Rest, and shuffle your deck.	BT05/026 R
スイート・ハニー	Sweet Honey	0 / Boost / ✘	5000 / 10000 / 1	4	Insect	Heal	(You may only have up to 4 Heal triggers in a deck.)	BT05/052 C
ダンシング・サンフラワー	Dancing Sunflower	0 / Boost / ✘	5000 / 5000 / 1	4	Dryad	Draw	n/a	BT05/051 C
ウォータリング・エルフ	Watering Elf	0 / Boost / ✘	4000 / 5000 / 1	4	Elf	Stand	起【Ｒ】 : [move this unit to soul] choose 1 of your 《Neo Nectar》 unit, during this turn, this unit gains 3000 damage.	BT05/053 C
ダンガン・マロン	Dungan Chestnut	0 / Boost / ✘	5000 / 10000 / 1	4	Dryad	Critical	n/a	BT05/050 C
カローラ・ドラゴン	Corolla Dragon	1 / Boost / ✘	8000 / 10000 / 1	4	Forest Dragon	n/a	n/a	BT05/044 C
ブレイドシード・スクワイア	Blade Seed Squire	1 / Boost / ✘	7000 / 5000 / 1	3	Bioroid	n/a	自【Ｒ】 : [Put this unit on top of your deck] When this unit's attack hits the opponent's Vanguard, if you have a 《Neo Nectar》 Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one card named "Knight of Young Leaves, Gene", call it to 【Ｒ】 in Rest, and shuffle your deck.	BT05/047 C
キャラメル・ポップコーン	Caramel Popcorn	1 / Boost / ✘	7000 / 5000 / 1	3	Dryad	n/a	起【Ｖ／Ｒ】 : [Counter Blast *1] This unit gains 3000 damage till end of your turn.	BT05/045 C
木漏れ日の貴婦人	Lady of Kamorebi	1 / Boost / ✘	7000 / 5000 / 1	3	Elf	n/a	起【Ｖ／Ｒ】 : [Rest this unit, choose a card from you hand and discard the chosen card] Draw a card.	BT05/046 C
メイデン・オブ・ブロッサムレイン	Maiden of Blossom Rain	1 / Boost / ✘	6000 / 5000 / 1	3	Dryad	n/a	自 : [choose an 《Neo Nectar》 from your hand, and discard it] When this unit is placed on 【Ｇ】, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your 《Neo Nectar》 will not be hit till end of that battle.	BT05/011 RR
アイリスナイト	Iris Knight	2 / Intercept / ✘	10000 / 5000 / 1	4	Bioroid	n/a	n/a	BT05/024 R
グラスビーズ・ドラゴン	Glass Beads Dragon	2 / Intercept / ✘	9000 / 5000 / 1	3	Forest Dragon	n/a	自【Ｖ／Ｒ】 : [Counter Blast *1] When this unit's attack hits, if you have a 《Neo Nectar》 Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card.	BT05/010 RR
ヘイヨー・パイナッポー	Hey Yo Pineapple	2 / Intercept / ✘	8000 / 5000 / 1	3	Dryad	n/a	自【Ｖ／Ｒ】 : When this unit attacks, if you have four or more 《Neo Nectar》 unit, during that battle, this unit gains 3000 damage.	BT05/025 R
魁の戦乙女 ローレル	Forerunner Battle Maiden, Laurel	3 / Twindrive / ✘	10000 / n/a / 1	3	Bioroid	n/a	自【Ｖ／Ｒ】 : When this unit attacks the opponent's Vanguard, if you have a 《Neo Nectar》, during that battle, this unit gains 2000 damage.	BT05/021 R
メイデン・オブ・トレイリングローズ	Maiden of Trailing Rose	3 / Twindrive / ✘	11000 / n/a / 1	4	Dryad	n/a	永【Ｖ／Ｒ】 : If you have a non-《Neo Nectar》 unit on the field, this unit this unit loses 2000 damage. 自【Ｖ】 : [Counter Blast *1, discard a "Maiden of Trailing Rose"] When this unit's attack hits the opponent's Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If paid, look at the top 5 cards of your deck, choose up to 2 of your 《Neo Nectar》 cards,call them to seperate 【Ｒ】 and shuffle your deck.	BT05/S09 SP

Rational and Notes:

Ah, Neo Nectar, a clan full of plants. It's a clan you grow plants, make more plants and straggle your opponent with vines before they can even prepare to defend themselves against your plants. Literally, that's what living plants do, no? Anyway, if you read any blogs on the internet, you'd already know Neo Nectar's potential and how good the deck is. For those who don't, Neo Nectar is indeed a very good clan. In fact, if you're a beginner, I'd really recommend you to try out this clan. The mechanics for is simple, annoy the shit out of your opponents with your units' skills and practically hit and guard for the rest of your match. Sounds boring? It may be after some time, but it's still a fun clan that's worth to invest in.

My friend, QHong managed to use my deck to achieve top 4 in the "National" (unofficial) Tournament in Malaysia awhile ago (yes, I regret on not using my Neo Nectar deck). That pretty much indicates how strong it is, and the potential to fight against meta clans that players regard nowadays.

Alright, let's now dissect my deck, shall we?

The deck starts off with Shield Seed Squire, the best startup Vanguard Neo Nectar currently has. Why is Shield Seed Squire the best startup Vanguard for Neo Nectar? The reason is simple, his awesome skills. Shield Seed Squire's first skill basically gives you a free booster. In fact, having a 5k booster is decent. Since my deck's playing methods are based on "Trolling" Rose (Maiden of Trailing Rose), it's more likely I'd have her standing as my Vanguard. With Shield Seed Squire standing behind Trailing Rose, her power boosted by Shield Seed Squire will become 16k, which is the minimum requirement to fight against 11k Vanguards, forcing them to guard with a minimum 15k guard to make it two triggers pass. Of course, that's depending on your opponent's deck.

Shield Seed Squire's second skill is a pretty cool skill which may annoy your opponent. Some players might say, "5k damage? What am I gonna hit with this?". Heard of 1st and 2nd turn rush? No matter if you're starting first or later, the best standing Vanguard your opponent could offer, will be always 8k. If he/she has a 7k standing Vanguard, it'll be a better scenario. Since the deck is a deck with tons of booster, I won't be surprise in getting two or three Grade 1's on my hand. Now, here's the fun part. Ride a 7-8k Grade 1 onto Shield Seed Squire, superior call him to your current Vanguard's side. Call another 7-8k Grade 1 behind Shield Seed Squire. Can you imagine this? Start the attack with Shield Seed Squire, this will force your opponent to guard with 5-10k to avoid you from superior calling Blade Seed Squire. If your opponent doesn't guard, you're able to superior call Blade Seed Squire, and Shield Seed Squire will go back to your deck, allowing to have an extra 10k guard, if you manage to draw him. See? It's a win-win situation! You either reduce your opponent's hand cards, or call an extra booster to prepare yourself for the later turns. Shield Seed Squire's skills are pretty awesome, eh? Just wait till we get to the rest of the cards.

Now, onto the triggers. I guess I can't really say much about the triggers, since the triggers now available for Neo Nectar are balanced triggers, basically Heal, Stand, Critical and Draw. It's worth to note though, that Watering Elf, which is the Stand trigger for Neo Nectar does have a skill among all triggers. In my opinion, it's actually a decent skill, worth to use, if you could utilize it to finish off your opponents. That always depends on situation though.


Next, we have the Grade 1's lining up. Firstly, we have Corolla Dragon which is the 8k vanilla for Neo Nectar. Nothing much to say, except it's really recommended to have 4 of Corolla Dragon in your deck. Secondly, Blade Seed Squire, the evolution of Shield Seed Squire. Unfortunately, there's nothing much he could offer in this stage, since I'm not a fan of his later evolutions the Grade 2, Knight of Young Leaves, Gene and Grade 3, Knight of Harvest, Gene. However, he is a pretty decent booster unit to be used around.

Thirdly, Caramel Popcorn. As embarrassed as she is, she is actually a pretty good unit to have around. Neo Nectar doesn't really use much of the Counter Blast, unlike clans such as Shadow Paladin, Kagero, Megacolony, etc. This is where she comes in, extra 1k damage per Counter Blast. Sounds wasting, eh? But, with the correct timing, this will actually make your opponent frown with annoyance. Besides, she's the only unit that can provide boost more than 8k. Combined with Laurel (Forerunner Battle Maiden, Laurel), she could be a devastating force to be reckon with. With the correct amount and timing, you could actually shout out "FINAL TURN!". For instance, you have Laurel standing in front of Caramel Popcorn, and your opponent has a 11k Vanguard standing with 3-5 hand cards and he/she has taken 5 damages. Counter Blast *2, Ms. Popcorn has an extra 2k damage added, which pretty much makes her a 9k booster. Now, Laurel's effect (check top) activates, which makes her pumped up to 12k, boosted by Caramel Popcorn, totaling up the damage to 21k. With this, your opponent will be forced to guard with 15k guard, pretty much an effective way to burn up his/her hand cards. This will probably throw your opponent into a state of agony, even if he/she manage to survive after this, since he/she will probably have no hand cards and if he/she doesn't finish you off next turn, he/she will lose.

Fourthly, Lady of Kamorebi. Before saying she's an old woman, I gotta say, she a pretty good unit to have around, when you can't get the cards you want. Rest her, throw a card from your hand, and draw a card. Simple as that, you'd be filtering your deck, at the same time, a second chance in trying to get the card you much need, though sometimes it's still up to your luck, you unlucky bastard. Heh... Fifthly, Maiden of Blossom Rain, well, our lovely null guard for Neo Nectar. I guess there's nothing much to say about her, except for the amount of her in my deck. Why just 3? As I've always said it, having 3 is just having more than enough. It's good to have a card that could nullify attacks, but having too much of it will just drag you down. I guess quoting a friend of mine will best suit my remarks:

"Think of Null Guards as a heavy and sturdy shield.
Although it will be able to protect you from many things, it is heavy and won't come into play until late game, where higher power matters."

-Rauzes

Let's move on to Grade 2's. Firstly, the 10k vanilla for Neo Nectar, introducing Iris Knight. Nothing much to say, except just like Corolla Dragon, I think it should be compulsory to have 4 of him in the deck since he provides the most consistent damage output among Grade 2's. Secondly, the weird looking Glass Beads Dragon. At the cost of 2 Counter Blasts, you are able to draw a card. A decent unit to have around since Neo Nectar uses not many of the Counter Blast. So, it sounds good to be able to draw a card after causing a damage to your opponent or lay waste to one of your opponent's Rearguard. In addition, Glass Beads Dragon's drawing card ability is something that most players are having trouble with. Guarding Glass Beads Dragon means reducing one's own hand card, while not guarding the opponent will be able to draw a card. So, feel free to annoy your opponent with it - to guard or not to guard?

Thirdly, going HEY! YO! with Hey Yo Pineapple. He does look kinda ridiculous, if you'd ask me. But, his ability makes him deadly. As long there's 4 Neo Nectar units on the stage, he becomes a 11k damage pineapple. No, seriously. Even without boosters, you could just easily hurl him onto your opponent's 11k Vanguard. Try hurling a pineapple onto opponent, that hurts...


Finally, Grade 3's. We have Forerunner Battle Maiden, Laurel, the card that made Dragon Executioner looked like a cheap bastard (I know you guys out there paid that much for DE, hah...). But, seriously, for a relatively cheap card, she has the same skill as DE, making her very effective in harassing Vanguard of any amount of damage. Sounds fun, eh?

And now, the ace of the deck, Maiden of Trailing Rose or most might prefer to call "Trolling" Rose. Wonder why? Let's take a look at her first skill. Nothing much it seems. The second skill is where the fun part comes in. Her second skill allows you to check the top 5 cards and superior call up to 2 of the cards of the Neo Nectar clan to two different Rearguard Circle, and you could even replace the existing units to accommodate the newly superior called units. And what's the cost for these? 1* Counter Blast and of discarding a Maiden of Trailing Rose from your hand (basically "Persona Blast") if the attack goes through. HOLY SHIT! 1* COUNTER BLAST? Yep. At the cost of 1* Counter Blast, you get to annoy your opponent by calling out more units (growing out more plants, lol). Basically, Maiden of Trailing Rose has one of the cheapest and most efficient cost to activate such impressive skill. This pretty much makes her one of the best Persona Blast-ing units out there, rivaling Kagero's Dragonic Overlord The End and Nova Grappler's Azure Dragon. Let's not forget, Ms. Trolling Rose here is a 11k unit by default, which makes her much more awesome.


After all these elaboration, I guess you guys will be still wondering about the grading structure of this deck. 17-16-10-7? Well, apparently, it's the standard grading structure for the Japanese players over at Japan. Why shouldn't I try it out? I've played it, my friends tried it out, and it shows good results. My friend's success at the "National" (unofficial) Tourney in Malaysia is a prove of it. Basically, the deck won't run out of boosters, and won't lose out against decks that focuses on retiring opponents' units. There are tons of advantage in having more Grade 1's, but it's really up to your own choice.

In my opinion, this is a pretty fun deck, a really offensive deck. The deck is able to shift from either rushing or controlling playing style, depending on how you play it and the situation. You grow plants and the plants keep reproducing, till your opponents can't contain them. That's the primary play style and my opinion, the rest it's up to you guys to debate.

If you have any questions, feel free to post it on the comment box below, I'll try to answer all your questions. And that's all for now, see ya next time!

[Cardfight!! Vanguard] Decks I possessed

• Oracle think Tank ~Imouto deck~
• Oracle think Tank ~Sakuya beat-down deck~
• Bermuda △ ~pure Riviere deck~ [current main deck]
• Neo Nectar ~T-T-T-TROOOOLING ROOOOOOOOOSE!! deck~
• Kagero ~Vortex-Overlord power deck~ *sold
• Megacolony ~Giraffa burning deck~ *selling pending
• Megacolony ~Phantom Warlord + Lady Butterfly deck~

[Cardfight!! Vanguard] Aki's Bermuda △ deck

Name (Japanese)	Name (English)	Grade / Skill / Starting VG	Damage / Guard / Critical	Numbers in Deck	Race	Trigger	Effect	Serial Number
バミューダ△候補生 リヴィエール	Bermuda △ Cadet, Riviere	0 / Boost / ✔	4000 / 10000 / 1	1	Mermaid	n/a	自 : When you ride "Mermaid Idol, Riviere" on this unit, you may look at the top 7 cards of you deck and select up to one "Super Idol, Riviere" or "Top Idol, Riviere" to add to your hand. After that, place the remaining cards to the top of your deck and shuffle. 自 : When you ride a 《Bermuda △》 Unit other than "Mermaid Idol, Riviere", you may move this unit to 【Ｒ】.	EB02/015 R
ドライブ・カルテット フロース	Drive Quartet, Flows	0 / Boost / ✘	4000 / 10000 / 1	4	Mermaid	Heal	(You may only have up to 4 Heal triggers in a deck.) 永【Ｒ】 : If you have a "Drive Quartet, Shuplu" on 【Ｒ】, this unit gains 3000 damage.	EB02/031 C
ドライブ・カルテット　バブリン	Drive Quartet, Bubblin	0 / Boost / ✘	4000 / 5000 / 1	3	Mermaid	Draw	永【Ｒ】 : If you have a "Drive Quartet, Ressac" on 【Ｒ】, this unit gains 3000 damage.	EB02/033 C
クッキング・カスピ	Cooking Caspian	0 / Boost / ✘	5000 / 5000 / 1	3	Mermaid	Draw	n/a	EB02/028 C
ドライブ・カルテット シュプリュ	Drive Quartet, Shuplu	0 / Boost / ✘	4000 / 10000 / 1	3	Mermaid	Critical	永【Ｒ】 : If you have a "Drive Quartet, Bubblin" on 【Ｒ】, this unit gains 3000 damage.	EB02/032 C
コミカル・レイニー	Comical Rainie	0 / Boost / ✘	5000 / 10000 / 1	3	Mermaid	Critical	n/a	EB02/027 C
マーメイドアイドル セドナ	Mermaid Idol, Sedna	1 / Boost / ✘	8000 / 5000 / 1	4	Mermaid	n/a	n/a	EB02/021 C
マーメイドアイドル リヴィエール	Mermaid Idol, Riviere	1 / Boost / ✘	7000 / 5000 / 1	4	Mermaid	n/a	永【Ｖ】 : If your Soul contains "Bermuda △ Cadet, Riviere", this unit gains 1000 damage. 自 : If you ride "Super Idol Riviere" on top of this unit, and your soul contains "Bermuda △ Cadet, Riviere" you may draw 1 card.	EB02/024 C
マーメイド アイドル フェルッカ	Mermaid Idol, Felucca	1 / Boost / ✘	7000 / 5000 / 1	4	Mermaid	n/a	自【Ｒ】 : When this unit appears in a 【Ｖ】 or 【Ｒ】 and you have a 《Bermuda △》 Vanguard, you may [Soul Charge *1].	EB02/023 C
マーメイドアイドル　エリー	Mermaid Idol, Ellie	1 / Boost / ✘	6000 / 5000 / 1	3	Mermaid	n/a	自 : [choose an 《Bermuda △》 from your hand, and discard it] When this unit is placed on 【Ｇ】, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your 《Bermuda △》 will not be hit till end of that battle.	EB02/007 RR
トップアイドル アクア	Top Idol, Aqua	2 / Intercept / ✘	10000 / 5000 / 1	4	Mermaid	n/a	n/a	EB02/010 R
スーパーアイドル リヴィエール	Super Idol, Riviere	2 / Intercept / ✘	9000 / 5000 / 1	4	Mermaid	n/a	永【Ｖ】 : If your Soul contains "Bermuda Idol, Riviere", this unit gains 1000 damage. 自 : If you ride "Top Idol Riviere" on top of this unit, and your soul contains "Mermaid Idol, Riviere" you may draw 1 card.	EB02/11 R
マーメイド アイドル、フルート	Mermaid Idol, Flute	2 / Intercept / ✘	8000 / 5000 / 1	3	Mermaid	n/a	永【Ｖ／Ｒ】 : During your turn, if you have four or more 《Bermuda △》 Rearguards, this unit gains 3000 damage.	EB02/012 R
スーパー アイドル セーラム	Super Idol, Salem	3 / Twindrive / ✘	10000 / n/a / 1	3	Mermaid	n/a	自【Ｖ／Ｒ】 : [Counter Blast *1] When this unit attacks, you may pay the cost.  If paid, during that battle, this unit gains 3000 damage.	EB02/008 R
トップアイドル リヴィエール	Top Idol, Riviere	3 / Twindrive / ✘	10000 / n/a / 1	4	Mermaid	n/a	永【Ｖ】 : If your Soul contains "Super Idol, Riviere", this unit gains 1000 damage. 自【Ｖ】 : [Counter Blast *2, discard a "Top Idol, Riviere"] When this unit's attack hits the opponent's Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If paid, choose up to 3 of your 《Bermuda △》 Rearguards, the units gain 5000 damage during this turn.	EB02/002 RRR

Rational and Notes:

Imagine, the blue ocean, filled with lolis, hot chicks, boobs and more boobs. The only catch is, they live underwater, and probably has no feet, well, you get what I say. That's pretty much sums up Bermuda △, a clan filled with Mermaids.

Alright, I'll admit it, the only reason I'm playing Bermuda △ is due to all the delicious lolis. Don't look at me like that, IT'S LOLIS, LOL.

Anyway, the main feature for Bermuda △ is the bouncing ability, in which you get to have a unit returned to your hand due to an unit's skill. By returning the unit to your hand, you probably will gain more hand size, from the bounced back unit's skill or the unit itself. However, my build will not be focusing on that, no, it doesn't even have any cards with bouncing ability. I'll be introducing you guys to Riviere build, which focuses on her Persona Blast and boring hit and guard tactics. Kinda sound boring, unless you like boobs, eh?

Most will tell you this is a average build, it's not overpowering, the skills are too plain, and Riviere has proportionate eyes. Unfortunately, it's kinda true. The deck has no draw power in late game, unless you're considering putting more Draw triggers; your opponent will keep guarding Riviere to prevent you from activating her skills; boosters and attackers are just plain, they have none of the impressive skills other builds have. So, how could this build strive among others? After throwing OTT aside, this deck has help me a lot in recent tournaments, I even managed to reach top 4 for some those tourneys. There are two things I've learned from this deck: memorizing my deck structure and my opponent's hand cards, perfect timing on skill activating. You guys will be saying, "LOL AKI! BUT LIKE WE CAN DO THAT ON EVERY DECK/BUILD...". Yes, but this build relies on these two aspect more than any other build, because if you fucked it up, you're pretty much a goner.

Without further ado, let's start dissecting my deck!


Starting off with Grade 0s, we have the cute loli starter, Bermuda △ Cadet, Riviere! Her skills are actually kinda decent. Her first skill is worth to be noted, by riding Mermaid Idol, Riviere, you'll get to check the top 7 cards of your deck and keep either Super Idol, Riviere or Top Idol, Riviere to your hand if they're available among the 7 cards. Sounds profit, eh? Riding Mermaid Idol, Riviere on Bermuda △ Cadet, Riviere, you get a free Super Idol or Top Idol, Riviere to your hands. However, that only comes if you manage to get Mermaid Idol, Riviere onto your hands on the first 6 cards you draw. This pretty much means, 2.04% to draw the specific Mermaid Idol, Riviere you need. Don't let that statistic scare you off though, there's always a chance to get the card and it's not a must to ride Mermaid Idol, Riviere onto Bermuda △ Cadet, Riviere. Bermuda △ Cadet, Riviere second skill on the other hand is not too shabby actually. A 4k booster if you didn't manage to ride Mermaid Idol, Riviere onto her. It compromises the failure of riding G1 Riviere and gives you an extra booster. Well, kinda useful for early games, or against 10k Vanguards.

Next, we have the triggers lining up. The deck utilizes 4 Heal triggers, 6 Critical triggers and 6 Draw triggers. The reason for triggers placement is merely to just increase the draw power for the deck, while keeping the pressure on doubling the damage on your opponent. Drive Quartet, Flows, Bubblin, and Shuplu's skills are not even worth to mention. To activate their skills are somewhat wasting, you might as well keep them on your hand for guarding purposes, unless you're facing the worst case scenario, then the last resort will be using them as either attackers or boosters.


Moving on, Grade 1's on the list. Firstly, we have Mermaid Idol, Sedna, the 8k vanilla of Bermuda △. It's important to have 4 Sednas in this deck, partly due to the fact that most attackers in this deck are 10k, actually 7-10 attackers are 10k, and you'll probably need to pump them up to 18k against 13k Vanguards, namely PBO and The End. Secondly, Mermaid Idol, Riviere the continuation of Bermuda △ Cadet, Riviere. Mermaid Idol, Riviere's skills are quite good. Her first skill makes her a 8k Vanguard, if she has Bermuda △ Cadet, Riviere in her soul, basically forcing your opponent to ride a 8k unit or having a booster in order to guarantee a definite attack hit on her. Her second skill is practically a profitable skill. The skill allows you to draw a card if you manage ride Super Idol, Riviere onto her with Bermuda △ Cadet, Riviere in her soul. The best part? There's no cost to activate this skill at all, just the meager (perhaps?) requirement. In addition, she has 7k damage by default, which makes her pretty useful as a booster.

Thirdly, we have watermelon boobs. No, I'm just kidding, Mermaid Idol, Felucca's her name, though she really does have those enormous boobs. As a 7k unit, Felucca is a decent booster, though her skills are not as impressive as her boobs, I mean her looks, dammit. When she comes to play, you may Soul Charge *1, doesn't seem to fit in around the other cards in the deck, no? I have two words that sums up her usefulness and effectiveness among Grade 1's, "PROFIT CHARGE". Pretty much mean Soul Charging the correct card at the correct time, although this requires deck structure memorizing and anticipation. I'll talk about that other day, but this pretty much sums up Felucca. Fourthly, papaya boo... no, wait, I mean Mermaid Idol, Ellie. Aside from her boobs, she is the null guard for Bermuda △. Having 3 Ellies in the deck is more than enough, because having too many null guards in the deck might cause you certain disadvantage, even though it's nice to nullify attacks.


After that, time for Grade 2's. My deck has 3 types of Grade 2's. Let's first talk about Top Idol, Aqua the 10k vanilla of Bermuda △. Not much to elaborate, just 4 Aquas are needed in the deck since she provides the consistent damage output among the Grade 2's. Next, the continuation of Mermaid Idol, Riviere, Super Idol, Riviere. Similar to her predecessor, Super Idol, Riviere gains 1k damage when Mermaid Idol, Riviere is in her soul making her a 10k Vanguard. Her second skill somewhat similar to Mermaid Idol, Riviere, allows you to draw a card when you ride Top Idol, Riviere on top of her if Mermaid Idol Riviere is in her soul. Pretty much another profitable skill, eh? With both Mermaid Idol, Riviere and Super Idol, Riviere's skills activating successfully, you're able to gain early hand advantage, which kinda helps if during middle or late game, Draw triggers are not triggered as frequent as desired. Therefore, the early cards drew will be a great help.

For the last Grade 2, we have Mermaid Idol, Flute. Flute is somewhat a decent card. After the Hey Yo Pineapple from Neo Nectar proves to be kinda broken in some way, Flute's skill is toned down to gaining 3k damage if you have 4 or more Bermuda △ Rearguards during your turn, compared to having 4 units. The difference between these two cards' effects are actually kinda obvious, since Pineapple may gain 3k damage when 4 units are on the stage, but with Flute, you'd need a minimum of 5 units, including of your Vanguard on the stage. See the difference? However, it's still a nice unit to be considered since there are not many other cards to be put in into the deck.


Lastly, Grade 3's. Firstly, we have Super Idol, Salem. Mainly deployed as Rearguard, she can fight as a Vanguard if situation needed. At a meager cost of 1* Counter Blast, she gains 3k damage, which makes her a 13k attacker. That being said, this allows her to harass 10-11k Vanguards easily, without need to use Top Idol, Riviere's Persona Blast. This pretty much makes a one of the most efficient card to be placed as Rearguard among Bermuda △ Grade 3's. Secondly, we have the ace and the focus of the deck, Top Idol, Riviere. Just like Mermaid Idol and Super Idol, Riviere, Top Idol, Riviere gains 1k damage when Super Idol, Riviere is in her soul making her the sole 11k Vanguard among all Bermuda △ Grade 3's. Her second skill, a Persona Blast driven skill, is just average among all kinds of Persona Blast driven skill. But, it could be deadly if you manage to time it well. For instance, your opponent has 4 damages and doesn't guard against your attack, this will be a great chance to utilize Riviere's Persona Blast. It could even well be his/her defeat. Even if the attacks do not finish off your opponent, you may have well reduce your opponent's hand card. She may not be flashy or has powerful Persona Blast as The End or Trailing Rose, but she's still a dangerous unit to face against.


Now, on the deck structure, the grading structure is 17-15-11-7, which gives more priority on having more boosters, rather than the traditional attackers over boosters. The deck itself is more of an offensive deck, pushing attacks with raw power, while pressuring opponents with attackers' skills.

In my opinion, it's really worth to tryout this deck, if you're into girls (with fish tails, fins or gills) and pressuring opponents. I've tried it, and it proves to be a pretty good deck to me.

Feel free to post any questions on the comment box below, I'd gladly answer them. That's all for now, till next time! <3

[Cardfight!! Vanguard] How to play decently in Vanguard?

While playing a couple rounds of Vanguard, you might faced some opponents who trashed you ass so easily that made you look like a newbie. Perhaps it's time to rethink your strategies and how did you play the game.


There are three important aspects in playing Vanguard, deck build, memorizing cards, decision making and luck. These are the three aspects you'll have to review over and over again to make sure you're playing decently.


Let's go through the first aspect, deck build. I believe most players, regardless inexperienced or experienced players knows that having a good deck build is important. Having a crappy deck build is as if walking into a wall eventhough you know you will be hitting the wall hard.

For instance, playing a classic Shadow Paladin PBD build with only one PBD, one Nemain, one Macha (lol @ Kira), that's practically asking to be kicked in the ass. The deck has no draw power, you might fail in making your PBD to 11k in power, you might even fail in calling PBD. These are just some of the failing parts of the deck which will cost you dearly. Reminds me of another fail deck build, a MLB deck with 2 MLBs, 1 SSD, 1 Palomides, 1 Alfred Early and 2 Gancelot. The multiple Grade 3 in the deck build is just disastrous, and what makes the deck worse is the only 2 Iseult. Perhaps the deck is meant to be a laughing stock or a bad joke.

Another example is playing 12 same triggers in your deck. Yea, I know some of you will be saying, "but, Aki, 12 crits are fucking awesome, I crit everyday and you're a noob". No shit, you'll be drawing out critical triggers everyday, but where's the draw power? Same goes to those who tries 12 stand triggers. And for those who uses 12 draw triggers, don't even think about it, unless you like the feeling of decking out and weak guarding. Besides the obvious problems with drawing power and decking out, you'll be facing problems by not being able to guard with the right amount of guarding power. With full critical or stand triggers, you'll be facing dilemma in which you might over guard, since every trigger on your hands are 10k (*laughs*); while full draw triggers means throwing more cards into the guardian circle since you have mostly 5k guarding power cards on your hand. Having 12 same triggers also means that your opponent may predict your trigger build easily and it'll be easier to arrange strategies against you.

Not forgetting builds with no heal triggers. Don't even get me started on that, that's a fucking huge joke. Basically, you're denying yourself an opportunity to heal, a second chance to live if you made a mistake, or whatever. Without heal triggers, you're telling your opponent to kick your ass six times, you'll roll over and die quietly.


Next, we'll be looking at memorizing cards. Well, memorizing cards is pretty important. Memorizing the cards that were drawn out during drive checks are one of the basic thing that a player needs to do while playing Vanguard. Furthermore, if you can, you may even try to memorize cards and triggers sent to the drop zone, damage zone or soul (you may still check the cards though), or even if you're that good enough, deck structure itself.

Some of you might say, "LOL Aki, I just attack, attack and attack till my opponent has no cards, it's not hard to do so". Yea, right... Perhaps you could try that against a Shadow Paladin deck with enough draw power from Nemain or better, maybe playing against OTT. Alright, the latter is not that scary anymore due to all the POWDERFUL cards from BT05 and so on. The main point is, by memorizing cards, let's just take drive checks for example, you can arrange your strategies according to your opponent hand card. Maybe your opponent does not have enough cards to guard, you could take out their interceptor, take out his/her attacker if you want to prolong it to the next turn, or even just rush attack at their Vanguard.

By memorizing the cards, you'll be able to arrange your strategies one step ahead of your opponent, knowing what to expect during your opponent's battle and guarding phase.


The third aspect is the most important aspect among all aspects, decision making. Vanguard is all about making decisions. Every decision you make, no matter how unimportant it is, will affect the outcome of the game. A small mistake can cost you dearly, and with small mistakes stacking up, this will eventually cause a snowball effect which effectively kill off you chances in winning the game.

There are many things to be considered in decision making, I won't be going into details. These normally comes with experience as you play. The only advice I can give is, before rushing to ride a Vanguard, call a Rearguard, guarding or giving powers to units, think twice. Every decision you make is important - it might lead you to your demise; or perhaps your victory.


Finally, luck. It's impossible to manipulate this aspect, I mean, I doubt anyone can control luck. Every card game is influenced by luck. You might have one of the best deck, you are able to memorize everything, and your decision making is perfect. Then, your opponent keeps getting draw triggers for damage check, drive checking double criticals every fucking time, heals multiple time that nearly made you flip the table. That's what we call luck.


Alright, that's all for now. These are some of the important aspect that I think a cardfighter ought to consider, while playing. I hope this will help you guys improve in playing Vanguard. Till next time!