Today's Card Analysis: Machining Mantis

The Japanese Card of the Day for June 1st, 2018, is a Megacolony Triple Rare from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Machining Mantis.

AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When placed, [Cost: Counterblast 1] look at 6 cards from the top of your deck, reveal up to 1 grade 3 from among them and add it to your hand, shuffle your deck, and this unit gets Power +6000 until end of turn.

Mantis is one of the Machining cards first used by Foo Fighter Kawanami Minami in the manga and 2018 anime series, and has been greatly updated over its 2011 counterpart. The original Mantis gained 3k if there was a Machining unit in the soul, while its reimagining can become a 15k for the turn able to reach 23 with an 8k booster or 29k with Phantom Black. The top 6 check should not go underestimated; along with High Dog Breeder Akane, Berserk Dragon (via its on-ride) Hi-powered Raizer Custom, and Conjurer of Mithril, Mantis is one of the only grade 2s in the entirety of Standard capable of getting a net +1. Like the old grade 3 searchers of previous formats, if Mantis whiffs its grade 3 check then he shuffles and gets you out of a situation where you weren't going to draw a grade 3 regardless.

Although it's still early to be calling this, Mantis being on-place is likely to play into the greater strategy of the Machining cards as a whole. When the subclan's boss card, Machining Stag Beetle, first debuted in chapter four of the manga it had an on-ride skill to superior call two Machining units from the soul at rest and gain power equal to their own. This would in turn activate their own skills, and they could then be stood with the ability of Machining Worker Ant. Later cards like Machining Armor Beetle and Machining Little Bee further built on their soul-based play mechanics.

While we have yet to see exactly how Bushiroad intends to revise the boss cards for the reboot, we know that Stag Beetle is in the set, and retaining his old superior call skill would let you reuse Machining Mantis. So you could ride Mantis on your grade 2 turn, grab a Stag Beetle out of the top 6, then next turn ride Stag Beetle and superior call Mantis to reuse its skill and top 6 another Stag Beetle to ride the turn after. Taking into account the Protect Gift you'll be getting from that on-ride, that can stack into a net +4--provided Bushiroad doesn't reimagine Stag Beetle entirely, as they did for Perfect Raizer. So far most of the manga cards have taken a broad-strokes approach to matching their original effects, with Imperial Daughter gaining power and crit but ditching the no-rearguards mechanic, and Waterfall soulblasting a grade 3 for power, critical, and Sentinel blocking rather than discarding a grade 3 just for raw power.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Front Line Commander, Sigiswald.

V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and August 2nd for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," began airing May 5th, with an English-subtitled simulcast on both YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Satanic Middle Guard revealed on Vanguard YouTube Channel

The official Japanese YouTube channel revealed a new card as part of its weekly roundup, a Spike Brothers Common from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Satanic Middle Guard. Although the card's Japanese name is Satanic Middle Guard (サタニック・ミドルガード Satanikku Midorugaado) the official English subtitles censor the name to "Diabolic" Middle Guard. Similar cover-ups were done in the past with Genocide Jack and Aurageyser Damned.

CONT [Guardian Circle]: During the battle your grade 3 is attacked, this unit gets Shield +10000.

Satanic Middle Guard's Continuous skill turns it into a guardian on par with a Critical Trigger, but because this only works when defending grade 3s it's effectively gated behind your third turn ride. Note that if multiple units are battled "in one attack"--for example, by a future Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion--Satanic's Continuous ability will still only work if you call it to guard a grade 3, because the opponent's vanguard is engaged in two or more battles at once and you have to call Middle Guard during the battle a grade 3 is attacked for its Continuous ability to become active. Calling it to guard a grade 2, even when your grade 3 is also being attacked in another battle, wouldn't resolve it.

The skill makes it easier to defend grade 3 rearguards like Juggernaut Maximum and Sigiswald. With Silent Tom and Phantom Black's guard restrictions both blocking normal units, these types of shield-gain skills are less useful for defending the vanguard, though they can still come in hand versus Sentinel-blockers like Dragonic Waterfall. The issue for Satanic is similar to the problem faced by Shooting Bobby. Offensive cards like Brakki have priority in general, as additional shield can be useful in specific defensive scenarios but doesn't directly contribute to your overall win condition.

The last time the channel had a YouTube exclusive was Burstraizer.

V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and August 2nd for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," began airing May 5th, with an English-subtitled simulcast on both YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Today's Card Analysis: Front Line Commander, Sigiswald

The Japanese Card of the Day for May 31st, 2018, is a Spike Brothers Common from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Front Line Commander Sigiswald.

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase, [Cost: Put this unit into your soul, put 1 card from your drop zone on the bottom of your deck] Draw 1 card, and Countercharge 1.

Like Vortex Dragon, Gigantech Charger, and Maximum Raizer, Sigiswald is a supporting grade 3 that does not carry the Imaginary Gift ability. He shares his primary mechanic with this week's Weekly Bites reveals, all of which move to the soul at the beginning of the main phase to trade themselves out for something else. Unlike Wonder Boy, Brakki, and Juggernaut, the purpose of this play isn't to create power columns but to countercharge and replace with a draw. Thus far we haven't seen what kind of counterblasts Spikes will have to pay, but it's hard to imagine Sigiswald being a staple for two reasons:

• Lacking both Gift and any kind of vanguard abilities makes it incredibly difficult to run. The first tournament results out of Japan are showing the only viable non-Gift grade 3s are the ones with overwhelming offensive rearguard skills like Maximum Raizer, while this card is a utility unit that only gives you 1 extra counterblast and can be easily interrupted by Dragonic Waterfall, Blaster Blade, or Berserk Dragon.
• The card is slow, not giving a reward for playing it until the turn after it's first used. There should be more of a reward for running a card where having it as your only ride option shuts down your gameplan. Brakki, Wonder, and Juggernaut all have one skill that resolves on-place and one that resolves at the beginning of the main phase, which ensures you get something out of the play no matter what.

However, if Sigiswald is indicative of a skill shared across multiple units of different grades, a grade 2 or 1 version of him could be an instant 4-of. With three slots between Sigiswald and Funky Bazooka, there's ample room for one. The fact that both Sigiswald and Wonder Boy are capable of recycling triggers from the drop zone bodes well for Spike Brothers' coming support, as they're currently the only clan in Standard format capable of doing so.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Bloody Hercules.

V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and August 2nd for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," began airing May 5th, with an English-subtitled simulcast on both YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Today's Card Analysis: Bloody Hercules

The Japanese Card of the Day for May 30th, 2018, is a Megacolony Single Rare from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Bloody Hercules.

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, [Cost: Soulblast 1] this unit gets Power +6000 until end of turn.
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When its attack hits, Countercharge 1, and 1 of your units gets Power +6000 until end of turn.

Like all of the Protect grade 2s seen thus far Hercules is a base 9k, with its first skill being copied directly from Silent Tom's template over in Oracle Think Tank. With Phantom Black, Hercules jumps up to a 29k lane that blocks the opponent from guarding with Normal Units, an attack that can only be guarded with one guardian via a Heal Trigger; otherwise it requires a minimum two cards to stop.

Hercules' on-hit skill is among the few repeatable countercharges in the Standard game, along with Transraizer's on-boost and Perfect Raizer's on-hit. The difference being, Transraizer is restricted by soul and Perfect Raizer has to hit a vanguard. Hercules can countercharge off of hitting anything, and so can dive on a key rearguard and still benefit from unflipping a damage and powering up a unit. Speaking of, that 6k is anything but arbitrary--like with Phantom Black, it's designed to turn columns made up of a 9k attacker and 8k booster into 23ks, grazing them into the threshold where the opponent needs to drop a Critical Trigger to block. While no counterblasts for Megacolony have been revealed just yet, having regular access to countercharge from turn 2 as well as a pressure attack that can lure the opponent into guarding unnecessarily is a powerful asset.

The primary concern right now is what Megacolony will be capable of and at what cost thresholds. Kagerо̄ can already kill units on-place for as low as counterblast 1 if grade-restricted, and CB1 SB1 if not. It's conceivable Megacolony will be able to stun rearguards of any grade (or even multiple rearguards simultaneously) for just CB1, which Hercules could turn into free stuns.

Of note is that Hercules' set number is #030, so there's one more card between it and Phantom Black.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Assist Pteryx.

V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and August 2nd for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," began airing May 5th, with an English-subtitled simulcast on both YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Weekly Bites reveals: Cardfight!! Vanguard Origin Image 5 episode preview

Image 5: Let's go to Card Capital!!
Learning of the existence of the CF Research Club from Morikawa and his friends, Aichi hopes to become a new member. However, the CF Research Club is caught up in a crisis because of Morikawa and the others' low grades.

Adapted from chapter 4 of Itou Akira's Cardfight!! Vanguard manga.

Souryuu Leon of Team NwO is a 6th grade elementary student in the new series, and an Aqua Force user that became champion of the Asia Circuit. Vangaro-kun wonders why he's taken an interest in Aichi.

The grade 1 unit Tear Knight Theo after being ridden by Leon.

Weekly Bites reveals: New Vanguard manga "MiniVan Hi!!", prototype Gift Markers

Beginning in the upcoming July issue of Monthly Bushiroad, out June 8th, a new manga by Mini Vanguard gag manga author Quily based on the new Vanguard anime will begin, MiniVan Hi!!

Prototype Gift Markers will be available as part of the Get! Treasure Campaign; one Force, Accel, and Protect Marker packaged together, exchangeable for 1 point beginning May 30th. Fighters pull points in Japanese boxes and redeem them for these prizes.

Happy Birthday Aichi!! Vanguard goods, commemorating Aichi's birthday on June 6th. Cakes, macaroons, and cupcakes.

Alternate artwork Alfred Early, being given out in Japan as part of the Vanguard Plus campaign.

Weekly Bites reveals: Highspeed Brakki, Wonder Boy & Juggernaut Maximum

Highspeed, Brakki
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, this unit gets Power +10000 until end of turn.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase [Cost: Put this unit into your soul] search your deck for up to 1 "Highspeed Brakki" call it to Rearguard Circle, and shuffle your deck.

Brakki is a Single Rare, V-EB01/025 R.

Wonder Boy
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, [Cost: Put 1 card other than a grade 1 from your drop zone to the bottom of your deck] This unit gets Power +5000 until end of turn.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase, [Cost: Put this unit into your soul, search your deck for up to 1 "Wonder Boy" call it to a Rearguard Circle, and shuffle your deck.

Wonder Boy is a Single Rare, set number V-EB01/027 R.

Juggernaut Maximum
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles: When placed, this unit gets Power +10000 until end of turn.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase, [Cost: Put this unit into your soul] Search your deck for up to 1 "Juggernaut Maximum", call it to a Rearguard Circle, and shuffle your deck.
Imaginary Gift: Force

Juggernaut Maximum is Spike Brothers' first Triple Rare, set number V-EB01/006 RRR.

First tournament videos of Standard: Card Place tournament finals, Kagerо̄ vs OTT and Royal Paladin vs Kagerо̄

The Oita branch of Japanese card shop Card Place uploaded the final games from its two Standard-format unofficial shop tournaments, both held on May 26th, 2018. These videos are the first tournament videos of the Standard format, although they are best-of-one. The above video features Kanari (left) playing Kagerо̄ versus Gamarin (right) playing Oracle Think Tank, while the video below covers Kawanobe (left) playing Royal Paladin versus Shuugo (right) playing Kagerо̄. Decklists are at the bottom of the page.

Of note is that despite otherwise playing the game well, Gamarin misunderstands Imperial Daughter's on-ride skill at the 11:46 mark, looking at the top 2 cards of the deck and adding one card to soul and stacking one on top of the deck. In reality, Imperial Daughter adds one of those cards to hand and the other to either soul or top of deck, so he should have put the Gemini into his hand rather than to soul. It ultimately doesn't change much because of the game ending shortly thereafter--he soulblasts the Gemini as part of Luck Bird's cost, but could have blasted any of the other 4 for the cost even if Gemini weren't in soul.

In this match, Gamarin hits all of the major beats of his deck; he rides Circle Magus, opens on Amaterasu so he has an overall lead in card advantage throughout, then transitions to Imperial Daughter for his endgame. Meanwhile Kanari is hurt both by having to G Assist to grade 3 and by how Gamarin's units counter his own plays. Promise Daughter's inability to be retired for the opponent's card effects stops Kanari cold on his grade 3 turn, as it blocks Waterfall's on-ride skill, and the turn before that Promise Daughter's +6k forced Kanari to take a damage he clearly didn't want, giving the lead to Gamarin.

Because he can't retire anything with Waterfall, Kanari's Gabiya column becomes just 15k rather than 25, and his Raopia 8 instead of 13, preventing him from poking with Raopia and then forcing a damage with Gabiya. Kanari failing to ride Overlord deprives him of his midgame and makes him waste a ride on a vanilla Force turn that doesn't develop his overall strategy, putting him in a significantly worse position. For Gamarin's part, successfully powering up CEO three times with Farfalle and her own skill pushes his opponent to go to 5 first, while also stacking a crit on top with Farfalle that almost ends the game outright. Silent Tom ends up only swinging for 37 vs a 33k vanguard, but it still forces a 15k shield because of Tom's effect blocking normal unit guardians, wasting Kanari's resources. For the finale Gamarin chooses to let Dragonic Overlord hit when could easily stopped the first swing, so that Kanari would discard 2 cards for a single drive check and reduce his own hand size.

In general, Kanari seemed less familiar with his opponent's card effects going into the match than Gamarin was with his; he didn't know Imperial Daughter couldn't be retired, nor about her power gain, both things which cost him early on. He also chose to snipe a Tom with Berserk Dragon rather than one of the boosters, when already-called Toms are mostly dead in Standard for only hitting 17k on their own.

For Kawanobe versus Shuugo, Kawanobe's hand doesn't let him hit the ideal Royal rides, forcing him to open on Soul Saver Dragon and be put in the unusual position of transitioning from SSD to King of Knights after using his Holy Charging Roar turn to force Shuugo to 5. Meanwhile Shuugo begins with the intended open of Dragonic Overlord and forces Kawanobe to perfect guard early with Overlord's 31k on-hit pressure, but misplays by first calling a rearguard Dragonic Overlord and attacking with it.

In the first place, calling that Overlord is the reason he's unable to get another Force Gift on the next turn as it would be too early to ride Waterfall even if he had it, and he doesn't have a third Overlord waiting in hand to ride. Second, Shuugo saw his opponent drive check a Draw Trigger perfect guard back on Kawanobe's first turn and should have anticipated Overlord being guarded. Swinging with the vanguard first would let him put the crit on the rearguard, potentially evening the pace of damage.

Akane ensures Kawanobe can hit his target soul count by turn 4, and a second Akane in hand actually opened the possibility of a Holy Charging Roar on the first ride at the 3 minute mark. Kawanobe rightfully held back until his opponent was at a damage count where the 30k power boost would matter, choosing to play conservatively because going second already gave him the damage lead he needed and Shuugo wasn't doing anything to outpace him. This second Akane proves pivotal in enabling him to get off a Roar in the same turn he later used Blaster Blade.

Shuugo makes an interesting play at the 9:55 mark: he attacks a rearguard with Spillover Dragon to power up Bellicosity mid-battle phase, taking out an interceptor and drawing more shield out of Kawanobe. He could have called a booster for Spillover to use its end-of-battle skill and guarantee the retire, but instead played on his opponent not expecting the move while saving himself a 5k shield and counterblast.

Ultimately what does Shuugo in is that Kawanobe is able to scale his field appropriately to set up both Jauron and Blaster Blade as overwhelmingly powerful beaters that stretch Shuugo's hand to its limits when he's already back-to-the-wall at 5 damage. Jauron gets 5k on-attack which makes a 23 column with Pongal and jumps up to 33k with Force, already making Shuugo guard with a Heal and one card more, and Blaster Blade similarly received 5k from King of Knights' skill and a 13k boost from Wingal for 28 total. Kawanobe's trigger checks push Shuugo beyond the threshold he can guard with that turn, making 43 and 38k columns. The match opened with Kawanobe playing offense, and it ended that way.

Gamarin's Oracle Think Tank decklist.

Grade 0: 17
x1 Lozenge Magus (First Vanguard)
x4 Sphere Magus (Heal Trigger)
x4 Weather Forecaster, Miss Mist (Draw Trigger) (Sentinel)
x4 Psychic Bird (Critical Trigger)
x4 Oracle Guardian, Nike (Critical Trigger)
Grade 1: 13
x4 Circle Magus
x2 Farfalle Magus
x3 Oracle Guardian, Gemini
x4 Luck Bird
Grade 2: 12
x4 Silent Tom
x4 Promise Daughter
x4 Goddess of Insight, Sotoorihime 
Grade 3: 8
x3 Imperial Daughter
x3 CEO Amaterasu
x2 Victorious Deer

Compare and contrast Soga Hiroshi's Oracle list.

Kawanobe's Royal Paladin decklist.

Grade 0: 17
x1 Glyme (First Vanguard)
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine (Heal Trigger)
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult (Draw Trigger)
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona (Critical Trigger)
x4 Flogal (Critical Trigger)
Grade 1: 14
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x3 Knight Squire, Allen
x4 Pongal
x3 Wingal
Grade 2: 11
x4 Blaster Blade
x4 High Dog Breeder, Akane
x3 Sage of the Arts, Jauron
Grade 3: 8
x4 King of Knights, Alfred
x3 Soul Saver Dragon
x1 Alfred Early

Note the differences with Uchida's list. Jauron instead of Conjurer, tech Alfred Early, valuing Wingal over a 12th grade 2.

"Winged Dragon, Beamptero" coming in Monthly Bushiroad

The official Monthly Bushiroad magazine Twitter account tweeted a sample image of the upcoming promo card for the issue out June 8th, the Tachikaze unit Winged Dragon Beamptero.

AUTO: When it's retired from Rearguard Circle during your turn, 3 of your units get Power +3000 until end of turn.

The card is a remake of the grade 1 unit of the same name from Booster Set 8: Blue Storm Armada, first printed back in 2012. That incarnation of Beamptero could only power up a single unit when it was retired during the battle phase, while this Beamptero can power up three times as many at any point during your turn. Of note is that the unit does not require itself to be retired by card effects, so simply calling over it normally will resolve Beamptero's skill.

Today's Card Analysis: Assist Pteryx

The Japanese Card of the Day for May 29th, 2018, is the first Tachikaze unit of the Standard format and a Common from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Assist Pteryx.

Assist Pteryx is a clone of the Nova Grappler unit Death Army Guy. Like all vanillas in the Standard format, Pteryx's stats are determined by the Gift their clan possesses. Force clans like Spike Brothers have grade 1 vanillas with 8000 power and 10000 shield, Protect clans like Megacolony have vanillas with 7000 power and 15000 shield, and Accel clans like Tachikaze have vanillas with 9000 power and no shield. This helps makes their 9k base grade 2s reach the 18 threshold, which is the minimum number required to force a 10k or more shield from a base 13k grade 3. It can also function as a strong defensive opening ride that forces all other unboosted grade 1s to hit a trigger if they're to hit at all; the only exceptions being Damanance Dragon and Gabiya.

Of note is that Pteryx's card number is V-EB01/037, putting it before Funky Bazooka and Karma Queen and solidifying the set order as Tachikaze > Spike Brothers > Megacolony. This is the same set order used for these clans since their debut in BT01 seven years ago, and it means we know the set numbers of their respective Vanguard Rares. (Presumably Gigarex, Siefried, and Spark Hercules.) It also means Tachikaze is set for no more than 12 Commons (034~046) as the Rares begin just two slots above Pteryx and to have any more than that would keep Spike Brothers from having any grade 3 Commons.

Taking into account Trial Deck support for Royal Paladin and Kagerо̄, that's fewer Commons than any other clan in Standard--Oracles had 14 and Novas 15 in V-BT01. That's just the price of being in an Extra Booster with only 33 Common slots; the most realistic assessment is that each clan in V-EB01 will get 11 Commons each, evenly dividing the space between the three so that no clan gets more or less support than others. Following that logic, each clan would have 2 RRRs, 3 RRs, and 5 Rs.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Phantom Black.

V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and August 2nd for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," began airing May 5th, with an English-subtitled simulcast on both YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Vanguard world championship regionals reverting to best-of-one, no national championships, top 3 go to World Finals

This just in: shop tournaments are more competitive than the regional championships.

The rules and regulations for the 2018 Cardfight!! Vanguard world championship series are now live on Bushiroad's official portal, and the news is bleak.

There will be two tournament formats for Vanguard in 2018, Standard and Premium Standard. In Standard format the official regulation is that cards from V-VGE-Trial Deck 01: Aichi Sendou and later can be used; this is slightly different from the official cf-vanguard portal's definition of the Standard format, which is that cards with the V-series icon are legal and cards from V-Start Decks 01 and 02 are treated as cards with the icon. In Premium Standard, all cards may be used.

There will not be any national championships for worlds 2018. Instead there will be shop challenges and regional qualifiers. The winners of each shop challenge will win a certificate and a BYE card which players can exchange for byes (free wins) during the Swiss rounds at regional championships. (One bye will be given if the regional championship lasts 6 rounds or less, and 2 byes if it is instead a 7~9 round tournament.) The winner of each regional championship will get a sponsored invitation to the 2018 World Finals, while second and third place will have an unsponsored invitation to the same.

The regional championships will be held in a best-of-one Swiss tournament format with 25 minute rounds, in which fighters are paired with opponents of similar scores until one undefeated remains, up to a maximum of 9 rounds. After this, the regionals will cut to a single elimination top 8 tournament bracket. Unlike all world championship tournaments since 2016, there will be no two-day split with day 2 being best-of-three, and top 8 will be best-of-one games. Top 8 has not been best-of-one since 2016.

Shop challenges prior to the top cut will use a best-of-one, Swiss format with 25-minute rounds in which fighters continue to be paired until there is only one undefeated remaining. After the cut to top 4 or top 8, the format will switch to best-of-one or best-of-three single elimination depending on shop preference.

Of note is that Imaginary Gift Markers must be in different sleeves from the main deck. Moreover, if there are more than 350 cardfighters competing at the beginning of round 1, a second tournament will begin with all fighters split evenly between the two using a "random method." Additional prizes will be given out for the top cut of the second tournament.

The Deck Registration form for Cardfight!! Vanguard can be found here, and the rest of the rules and regulations can be found here.

Tournament locations have not yet been announced, but the page mentions "more than 20." It was previously announced that the Japanese World Grand Prix--the champion of which is invited to the World Championship--will be held in October. Typically the world championships are held between August and November or August and January.

Today's Card Analysis: Phantom Black

"It's their own fault they got deceived? No, our deception's just that good!"

The Japanese Card of the Day for April 28th, 2018, is a Megacolony Single Rare from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, everyone's favorite cigar-chomping ant criminal, Phantom Black.

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it boosts, [Cost: Discard 1 card from hand] this unit gets Power +6000 until the end of that battle, and your opponent cannot call normal units from hand to Guardian Circle.

Phantom Black is a grade 1 on-boost version of Silent Tom attached to a discard cost and with a power boost, something which has interesting implications both for Megacolony and for Protect clans as a whole. 14000 power is no arbitrary number; it's the exact number required to make a 23k column with a 9k attacker, and Protect and Accel clans as a whole have already been shown to have lower average base powers than Force clans. With Phantom, we can run those 9k attackers assured that they'll break the all-important 28k threshold so long as they get one more bonus from a skill or trigger.

The discard cost might sound heavy on paper, but these are some of the easiest costs for Protect clans to pay because they can discard their Gift for it; in a deck that receives another copy of Protect with every grade 3 ride and excels at dragging games out, you can expect to have a glut of Sentinel units available. In fact, Oracle Think Tank already has several cards themed around discarding to make use of this very property, with Chitose in particular specifically discarding Sentinels to take advantage of Protect. Another option is to run additional draws on top of your perfect guards specifically to pay discard costs. 6 Draw hasn't been in vogue for some time now, but Protect might be just the place for the old lineup to function.

On his own, Phantom isn't exactly overwhelming. A 23k column will usually be guarded with trigger units regardless, because of Critical and Front Triggers innately having 15k shield in the Standard format. The card only begins to make an impact when its column crosses 28k, at which point Heals or a combination of two trigger guardians are the only viable ways to block, at which point you're potentially forcing the opponent to drop a waste an extra trigger guarding the remaining 5k--or otherwise force a Draw Trigger perfect out. Phantom and Silent Tom together suggest blocking normal unit guardians will be a feature of Protect clans as a whole, helping to make up for how they struggle to hit 28k+  without triggers. If this is the new design approach, it suggests even greater parity between clans than was first suspected.

The previous Japanese Cards of the Day were Karma Queen and the four SVRs of V-BT01.

V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and August 2nd for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," began airing May 5th, with an English-subtitled simulcast on both YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Royal Paladin tops Card Kingdom Akiba tournament

Yesterday at Card Kingdom's Akiba branch in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Royal Paladin cardfighter Uchida made first out of 37 participants with a Soul Saver-King of Knights deck. Card Kingdom is one of the bigger card shop chains in Japan, thought to be one of the inspirations for Card Capital in the Vanguard anime series.

1st Place: Uchida/ウチダ
Grade 0: 17
x1 Glyme (First Vanguard)
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine (Heal Trigger)
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult (Draw Trigger)
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona (Critical Trigger)
x4 Flogal (Critical Trigger)
Grade 1: 13
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x3 Knight Squire, Allen
x4 Pongal
x2 Wingal
Grade 2: 12
x4 Blaster Blade
x4 High Dog Breeder, Akane
x4 Conjurer of Mithril
Grade 3: 8
x4 King of Knights, Alfred
x4 Soul Saver Dragon

Compared with Guld's third-place deck from the 1st TraCaider VGCS, Uchida's deck is almost identical save for his choice to run Wingal over Lion Mane Stallion. Although Lion Mane and Wingal can both make 23k columns--with Akane for Lion Mane and Blaster Blade for Wingal--the additional 5k from King of Knights' superior call means Blaster Blade can actually reach 28k, a more important guard threshold in Standard for how it forces the opponent to use a Heal Trigger or two guardians.

Oracle Think Tank tops BM Zero tournament

On the heels of Kagerо̄ topping the 1st TraCaider CS, Oracle Think Tank found itself in first at the card shop Big Magic Zero's weekly shop tournament. 24 cardfighters joined in the competition, and Oracle Think Tank tied with Royal Paladin for the most-played clan of the event:

Clan breakdown (24 total)
8 Royal Paladin
8 Oracle Think Tank
7 Kagerо̄
1 Nova Grappler

Being less than half the size of the TraCaider CS, the results are likely not representative of the current pro scene in Japan as a whole, but it is nonetheless interesting that three of the four clans in V-Booster Set 01: Unite! Team Q4 found approximately equal representation while Nova Grappler was severely underplayed. This does reflect popular opinion on the clan post-set launch, a fact corroborated by prices, as complete Nova Grappler decks can be assembled for the currency equivalent of ~$60 just buying from singles. Although they've been subject to extreme price fluctuation in the past few days as the market struggles to stabilize, Oracle Think Tank, Royal Paladin, and Kagerо̄ are each in the range of $110~140 depending on when and where they're bought.

1st Place: Soga Hiroshi/ソガ ヒロシ
Grade 0
x1 Lozenge Magus (First Vanguard)
x4 Sphere Magus (Heal Trigger)
x4 Weather Forecaster, Miss Mist (Draw Trigger) (Sentinel)
x4 Psychic Bird (Critical Trigger)
x4 Oracle Guardian, Nike (Critical Trigger)
Grade 1
x4 Circle Magus
x4 Farfalle Magus
x3 Oracle Guardian, Gemini
x2 Luck Bird
Grade 2
x4 Silent Tom
x4 Promise Daughter
x2 Yellow Witch, MeMe
Grade 3
x4 Imperial Daughter
x3 CEO Amaterasu
x3 Victorious Deer

Soga's Oracle list is generally in line with the standard that's been taking shape in card shops across Japan for the past two days. These lists have tended towards 9~10 grade 3s due to Imperial Daughter, Amaterasu, and Deer each contributing equally to the overall win condition, cutting grade 2 space to make room and using Luck Bird for its draw effect and Gemini to countercharge. The overall objective is to build up card advantage with Circle Magus and Amaterasu's counterblasts and Imperial Daughter's on-ride skill, force the opponent to higher damage with Silent Tom's guard restriction and Imperial's additional critical, and ultimately close the game out by using Victorious Deer to power up the field by +20k and stack two Critical Triggers on top of the deck.

Kagerо̄, Novas, Royals top TraCaider Vanguard Championship

The first Vanguard Championship of the Standard format ended three hours ago, with tournament winner Grapha clawing their way to the top of the 1st Vanguard TraCaider CS with a Kagerо̄ deck built around Dragonic Overlord and Waterfall. Second place was taken by Tandou with a Nova Grappler deck running Perfect Raizer, Maximum Raizer, and Asura Kaiser, and third place taken by Guld playing a Soul Saver-Alfred deck. Fourth place is currently unreported. Decklists for the top 3 are transcribed below.

The tournament carried a maximum capacity of 64 participants, making it the largest Standard-format tournament until the Sukacat CS surpasses it this June. Immediately following the first booster set's launch less than 48 hours ago, a number of Nova Grappler decks had been topping in the first shop tournaments of Standard, leading some to question if we wouldn't see Novas set the tone of the format. Instead, the pro scene finds itself in familiar territory--kneeling once more before the might of the Overlord.

1st Place: Grapha/グラファ
Grade 0: 17
x1 Lizard Runner, Undeux (First Vanguard)
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo (Heal Trigger)
x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri (Draw Trigger)
x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr (Critical Trigger)
x4 Demonic Dragon Berserker, Yakshasa (Critical Trigger)
Grade 1: 13
x4 Flame of Hope, Aermo
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x3 Dragonic Gaias
x2 Lizard Soldier, Raopia
Grade 2: 12
x4 Berserk Dragon
x4 Dragon Knight, Nehalem (Trial Deck version)
x4 Spillover Dragon
Grade 3: 8
x4 Dragonic Waterfall
x4 Dragonic Overlord

The overall image of Grapha's deck is to apply early game pressure with high-power Dragonic Overlord swings that gain increased Critical from Dragonic Gaias, restanding to rack up damage if the opponent doesn't guard the initial attack and then close games out with Waterfall's Sentinel-denying soulblast skill. Every grade 2 in this lineup can retire an opponent's rearguard to power up Raopia, with Berserk Dragon being the ideal ride for its vanguard circle-exclusive draw effect.

The grade 2 that will likely draw the most criticism in this list is Spillover Dragon, which has drawn some ire for going into the soul as part of its cost, a net -1 to incur a -1 against the opponent. However, when compared to its immediate alternatives Dragon Armored Knight and Prowling Dragon Striken, Armored Knight distracts from the overall strategy of layering Force Markers on the vanguard circle while Striken becomes redundant in a deck that runs Gaias. Some prefer that redundancy as a way of making Overlord hit 3 Critical early without any trigger checks, but this is counterblast-intensive and means sacrificing many early uses of grade 2 skills like Berserk or Bahr. Grapha's decklist is counterblast-intensive too, but because every counterblast that results in a retire can be refunded through Aermo's countercharge, and Waterfall's own on-ride retire skill will also cause Aermo to resolve, there's more flexibility in skill use.

2nd Place: Tandou/たんどう
Grade 0: 17
x1 Battleraizer (First Vanguard)
x4 Wall Boy (Heal Trigger)
x4 Twin Blader (Draw Trigger)
x1 Three Minutes (Draw Trigger)
x3 Turbo Raizer (Front Trigger)
x4 Cannon Ball (Front Trigger)
Grade 1: 11
x4 Raizer Custom
x4 Rocket Hammer Man
x3 Transraizer
Grade 2: 13
x4 Hi-powered Raizer Custom
x4 Cup Bowler
x4 Iron Killer
x1 Boomerang Thrower
Grade 3: 9
x4 Perfect Raizer
x1 Asura Kaiser
x4 Maximum Raizer

Although this isn't directly relevant to the deck list, it's worth noting that Tandou was third place in the 2017 World Grand Prix Japanese national championships, playing a Deletors. Their decklist will appear the strangest of these three, even to veteran cardfighters. Immediately following the start of Standard proper, a groundswell of Nova Grappler tops has taken hold in Japanese shop tournaments; the past 48 hours have seen multiple Nova decklists running just 11 grade 1s shared to Twitter, 2 less than the average for most professional decklists, and 1 less than even Neo Nectar has ever run. Cutting grade 3s and 2s has been common practice at different points in Cardfight!! Vanguard's history for a variety of reasons ranging from ride chain support to direct searching, but even Glendios never ran less than 12 grade 1s.

The reason for the cuts has little to do with the printed skills of these cards and everything to do with the changing game mechanics behind Vanguard. As the first Accel clan of the Standard format, Nova Grappler has a necessity to fill all front row circles beginning from its third ride to maximize its offensive output and take full advantage of the +10ks given to front row. Rearguards that rise to at least 17/18k or greater unboosted like Battledore Fighter and Maximum Raizer have the most synergy with the Accel Gift for being able to make standalone 28k lines. If those rearguards get retired in either the Kagerо̄ or Royal Paladin matchups, they need to be replaced immediately. Many have found Nova Grappler's grade 1 support out of V-BT01 to be lacking, so few miss the Transraizers and Death Army Guys they've cut to make room for Iron Killers, Battledore Fighters, and Maximum Raizers. On top of all this, more grade 2s and 3s increases the chance of Asura Kaiser's skill meeting its check timing, while grade 1s contribute nothing to that.

Overall, cutting 2 grade 1s means taking a ~6% loss in probability to have a grade 1 in the opening hand in exchange for securing much of the deck's mid- and endgame consistency. In Tandou's case, their list stands out for not running the popular Burstraizer, which in early testing was one of Nova's most important attackers. Instead they run both Iron Killer and Cup Bowler, two cards that are functionally the same as 14k attackers that become 24k on Accel circles, but in the case of Cup Bowler the card allows the use of Rocket Hammer Man as a 13k booster that can make a 27 column--a 15k guard versus Royal Paladin and Kagerо̄, or a 20k guard versus Oracle Think Tank and other Nova Grappler decks. Cutting Burstraizer also frees up the soul for Hammer Man's cost.

3rd Place: Guld/ガルド
Grade 0: 17
x1 Glyme (First Vanguard)
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine (Heal Trigger)
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult (Draw Trigger)
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona (Critical Trigger)
x4 Flogal (Critical Trigger)
Grade 1: 14
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x4 Knight Squire, Allen
x4 Pongal
x2 Lion Mane Stallion
Grade 2: 11
x4 Blaster Blade
x4 High Dog Breeder, Akane
x3 Conjurer of Mithril
Grade 3: 8
x4 King of Knights, Alfred
x4 Soul Saver Dragon

Guld's Royal Paladin deck immediately stands out for using 3 Conjurer of Mithril. Most shop tournament Royal decks have kept Mithril to 2 if they've run the card at all, with others instead favoring the costless Trial Deck version of Jauron. While Mithril takes away a soul for the Soul Saver turn, it's a versatile card for being able to search out Akane into Pongal and immediately replace that lost soul. The deck's overall image is to open the game on Alfred, vanilla call Blaster Blades from deck with Alfred's counterblast to conserve hand, soulcharge off of Pongal, and use the deck's field swarming and power gain to push the opponent into the range where Soul Saver Dragon's Holy Charging Roar can win the match with +15k to all units. It's likely Guld ran into problems versus Tandou's deck because the go-to strategy for the Nova matchup in early theory was to drop the SSD gameplan and use Blaster Blade calls to repeatedly retire front row units, wounding both the Accel strategy and Nova Grappler's restand skills as a whole. Royal Paladin is supposed to focus on Burstraizer in this matchup, but that doesn't work when Burstraizer isn't even in the deck and the units are more easily replaced.

Grapha won four boxes of V-Booster Set 01: Unite! Team Q4, Tandou won three boxes of the same, and Guld walked away with two. The unreported fourth place cardfighter received just one box. Entry at the TraCaider CS cost 1000 yen per person, with the tournament running from 11:20 AM to 5:00 PM Japanese Standard Time. The event consisted of 5 rounds of best-of-one Swiss pairings, followed by a 4-round cut to top 16 played in best-of-three. Additional information like clan usage and final participation numbers has not yet been published. The TraCaider CS will be followed up by a second event on June 30th.

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops in Japan. Unlike Bushiroad's official tournaments, most VGCS events are done using a best-of-three, Swiss tournament model. Turnout is typically 70-80 persons, but some events see 100 or more participants, all of whom compete using pseudonyms and internet handles rather than their real names as in official events. The VGCS model of fan-organized play has caught on internationally as an alternative to Bushiroad's model, embodied in the United States through the ARG Circuit series.

Card Gamer Vol. 40 promos "Fierce Leader, Zachary" and "Mimori Suzuko"

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed from your hand, [Cost: Counterblast 1] look at 1 card from the top of your deck, call it to a Rearguard Circle, and at the end of this turn, put that unit into your soul.

An Etranger card based on Mimori Suzuko, voice of Tatsunagi Kourin in the Cardfight!! Vanguard anime.

To be included in volume 40 of Card Gamer magazine.

FamilyMart booster boxes give more foils than normal boxes

Two sets of the FamilyMart BT01 blister packs. Each set contains 2 booster packs and 3 promotional cards.

Japanese cardfighters have begun opening up blister packs from the FamilyMart-Circle K Sunkus collaboration between the eponymous convenience store giant and Bushiroad, and the results are showing a very different distribution compared to normal booster boxes of V-Booster Set 01.

A box of blisters contains 10 sets of 2 booster packs each, resulting a 20-pack total rather than the normal 16 found in regular VBT01 boxes. A FamilyMart box contains 1 Vanguard Rare and 1 card that is Vanguard Rare or higher (Origin Rare, Super Vanguard Rare, Image Ride Rare) as well as 3~4 Triple Rares and 7~8 Double Rares. More instances of 4 Triples have been reported thus far than 3.

This box resulted in 1 VR, 1 SCR, 4 RRR, and 8 RR, one of the optimal pulls from a FamilyMart box.

For comparison, normal distribution for one box of V-BT01 is:

• 1 VR
• 3 RRR
• 6 RR

With 4 boxes in a case containing a Super Vanguard Rare instead of a Common, 2 boxes containing a Secret Rare in place of the same, 2 boxes containing an Origin Rare, and 1 box in each case having an Image Ride Rare. (It's possible not every case has an IMR, but this has yet to be proven.)

For the FamilyMart blisters it's instead:

• 1 VR + 1 more VR or SVR or OR or IMR or Secret Rare
• 3 or 4 RRR
• 7 or 8 RR

Case ratios for FamilyMart blisters are unknown. While FamilyMart packs cost 650 yen apiece rather than 300 yen per pack, and thus cost more than buying a pair of packs normally, the fact that every set contains 1 RR or greater and a box of 10 comes with 2 VRs or greater has many fighters rushing to buy as many packs as possible and share the results.

An example of 8 RRs (top) 3 RRRs (bottom right) and 2 VRs (bottom left) opened from a box of 10 blister sets.

V-Booster Set 01: Unite! Team Q4 launched in Japan May 25th, and will launch in English June 22nd.

Today's Card Analysis: Karma Queen and Super Vanguard Rares

"Come, fight for me."

The Japanese Cards of the Day for May 25th, 2018, are a Common from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar and four Super Vanguard Rares from V-Booster Set 01: Unite! Team Q4, King of Knights Alfred, Imperial Daughter, Dragonic Waterfall, and Perfect Raizer.

Karma Queen is a clone of the Oracle Think Tank card Shooting Bobby. Like all vanillas in the Standard format, Queen's stats are determined by the Gift her clan possesses. Force clans like Spike Brothers have grade 1 vanillas with 8000 power and 10000 shield, Accel clans like Tachikaze have vanillas with 9000 power and no shield, and Protect clans like Megacolony have vanillas with 7000 power and 15000 shield. In a draw-focused deck like Oracle Think Tank that makes sense, as once the field is filled the excess grade 1s can be used solely for having shield value on par with a Critical Trigger, but because Megacolony traditionally revolves around denying the opponent advantage and conserving existing cards by stopping units from standing rather than on drawing cards, unless we see draw effects comparable to CEO Amaterasu and Circle Magus, at best Karma is likely to be a filler grade 1 when you need to fill out a 13th space and have nothing more compelling to fill the slot.

It's a shame because the original Karma Queen was the first card in Megacolony shown paralyzing a unit back in the first Cardfight!! Vanguard anime. While the card was often criticized even in the BT01 days for costing counterblast 2 just to stop a unit from standing, Mr. Invincible decks put her to good use by effectively reducing her cost to CB1. Alas, this time around we'll have to look to other units to fill that role.

(Unless we get a Megacolony Start Deck...)

Karma Queen's lore from the classic game:

The lady boss of the crime syndicate Megacolony's armed robbery group.
With her colossal wasp minions, she sometimes devours the economy of an entire town.

The skills of the SVRs have already been discussed in their respective articles, so today we'll instead touch on rarity. Super Vanguard Rares are 4 per case (4 in 20 boxes) and no box contains more than 1 SVR, making them rarer than Origin Rares but more common than Image Ride Rares. As they are only alternate prints of VRs, SVRs are optional but also ensure each case contains functionally 6 copies of each VR. That means each case sustains 1.5 players for any given clan.

The previous Japanese Cards of the day were Funky Bazooka and the four Origin Rares of V-BT01.

V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 launches in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd. It is accompanied by sleeves based on Dragonic Overlord and Blaster Blade. V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and V-TD02: Kai Toshiki will launch in English June 8th.

The first Extra Booster set of Standard, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and August 2nd for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," began airing May 5th, with an English-subtitled simulcast on both YouTube and Crunchyroll.

FamilyMart distributing alt art Wingal and Aichi promos

Bushiroad and the Japanese retail chain FamilyMart announced a collaboration at more than 7000 participating FamilyMart and Circle K Sunkus convenience stores. Beginning May 25th, customers will be able to buy two-pack sets of V-Booster Set 01: Unite! Team Q4 for 650 yen. (Tax not included.) These sets come with three promotional cards, the TV schedule Blaster Blade, an alternate artwork version of Wingal with its Trial Deck skill, and a Sendou Aichi Force Gift Marker.

Their respective card numbers are VPR/0001, V-PR/0022, and V-GM/0016, and the key art used for the Marker differs from the one used for the booster set's own promo card campaign and Secret Rare. Buying two copies of the set will still get users the promo card pack for buying 4 booster packs.

The special 2 pack set.