Friday, September 12, 2014

News: Grade 4 Harmonics Messiah Promo Leaked, Extra Deck to be Introduced to Vanguard

Five hours ago images of the Cardfight!! Vanguard Neon Messiah film's promo card were leaked to Twitter by Japanese fans, revealing the full skills of the grade 4 unit Harmonics Messiah. The first unit in the game to make use of the new Stride mechanic, Harmonics uniquely belongs to no clan or nation, possesses a triple drive check instead of twin drive, and has a staggering 16000 base power where 13000 is the norm for grade 4 cards.

Harmonics Messiah
G Unit/Grade 4/Triple Drive/16000 Power/No Shield/Critical 1/No Clan or Nation - Messiah/
"Shining on the darkness of chaos, oh grand light of truth----!"
(This card cannot be put in your Main Deck)
STRIDE (By meeting the condition and cost, until the end of the turn you may Stride)
CONT: This card belongs to all clans and all nations.


Harmonics' unique card back.
Harmonics' skills explicitly prevent it from being placed into the deck, and in fact its card back is completely different from standard card backs. This suggests that Harmonics will remain in a separate zone until Stridden, which has been theorized to be some form of Extra Deck or a zone specifically designed for this type of unit. Interestingly, Harmonics is not a Normal Unit nor a Trigger Unit, but a "G Unit," tying into recent promotional materials for the still-unannounced fifth season of Cardfight!! Vanguard which stated "To the next "G" Stand up!! Vanguard!"

The Triple Drive ability gives Harmonics the same offensive trigger checking and card advantage buildup as Great Daikaiser, but the fact that Stride only lasts until the end of the turn suggests that it will either retire or return to the zone it was Stridden from after it is used, preventing Harmonics' 16000 power base from being manipulated as a massive bunker defense.

While the exact mechanics of how Stride will work are unclear, seeing as Harmonics can be used by any clan or deck, it serves as an equal upgrade to all of the clans. It can be expected to best support the clans which already have a strong early to midgame but are lacking in some form of endgame skillset, as using Harmonics in place of one's vanguard would mean giving up that vanguard's skills for the duration of the turn. Stride itself exists in place of an Activate, Auto or Continuous skill, and its kanji is written as 超越 Chuuetsu "Transcendence," the same form of Transcendence used in the name of Transcendence Dragon Dragonic Nouvelle Vague.

Harmonics Messiah is being distributed as a promo card to attendees of the Neon Messiah film, and will also be printed with alternate artwork as a Special Parallel-rarity card in the accompanying booster set, VG-MBT01: Neon Messiah.