In today's weekly broadcast, host Doctor O discussed the approaching launch of G Title Booster 01: Touken Ranbu -ONLINE-, giving an early look at the first TV commercial for the title booster set. Doctor O also showed off a foiled poster for G-BT04: Soul Strike Against the Supreme, one new Angel Feather card from the set, the previously-seen promotional card Light Elemental Sunny, the 1/8th scale Minerva figure that launched this month, and a new set of sleeves made available through Bushiroad of Japan's promotional campaign. The complete broadcast can be viewed below.
(TVCM shown at 12:12, figure shown at 17:43 to 19:18, sleeves at 19:33, new Angel Feather unit at 23:10)
The broadcast showed a new generation break grade 2 for Angel Feather, "Black Sniper, Harut." Named for one of the angels of the Qu'ran, Harut's skill acts as the new Angel Feather's equivalent to Steam Fighter Amber. When Harut attacks a vanguard and is boosted, for counterblast 1 she can add a card face-up from the top two cards of the deck to the damage zone, then call a face-up unit to the rearguard--these conditions prevent her from unflipping the damage that she just counterblasted, but can serve as either a net +1 in card advantage or allow for an aggressive means of getting out an additional attack in the turn.
Black Slice, Harut AUTO (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: [Counterblast 1] When this unit attacks a vanguard, if this unit is boosted, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at two cards from the top of your deck, choose one from among them, put it into your damage zone face-up, put the remaining cards on the bottom of your deck in any order, and choose a face-up card from your damage zone, and call it to a rearguard circle.
Doctor O also revealed an upcoming product available through the Japanese Get! Treasure Campaign, a set of 60 Vangarou-kun themed sleeves that were seen being used in previous broadcasts by the character himself. Japanese cardfighters will be able to exchange points found in their booster packs for a full set of these sleeves; importers will have to buy them secondhand.
Bushiroad's weekly information bulletins air every
Tuesday evening at
8:50 PM Japanese Standard Time. They first began in late January to
accommodate a new information distribution model for Cardfight!! Vanguard G, as the amount of card information covered in Monthly Bushiroad magazine decreased and was redirected to other routes of distribution. The previous week featured a fight between Doctor O and mascot character Vangarou-kun using Harmony and Duo Bermuda Triangle decks, while the week before contained the announcement of G-BT04: Soul Strike Against the Supreme.
In other news, the English-language Cardfight portal updated today with a list of participating stores for the G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon
prerelease event. Held over the 4th of July weekend, participants will receive a PR/0194EN Sabmyu with their entry. The playmat for the prerelease will feature Genesis Dragon Amnesty Messiah, one of the two generation rares from the set.
Today's article was made possible by the donations of our patrons at Patreon. Cardfight Pro is funded by public contributions from readers like you.
Price surveys of sales of Sovereign Star Dragon singles this week are demonstrating an alarming and rapid shift in price dynamics; over the course of just four days the set's second generation rare, Amnesty Messiah, has jumped up from a 1500~2000 yen card to selling for 6000~7000 yen each. (approx. $48~$56 at the current exchange rate.) The news comes on the heels of the set's other generation rare Phantom Blaster Dragondominating price charts last weekend, with Amnesty matching Phantom Blaster coin for coin. The Abyss Dragon generation rare has since dropped to 5000~5800 yen, with his lows staying at the same ceiling as on the set's release date.
The inflated prices are likely owed to the modified distribution of generation rares in the set, as it has been independently confirmed several times over that in Sovereign Star Dragon each case of sixteen booster boxes comes with exactly one copy of each generation rare.
Prior sets Generation Stride and Soaring Ascent both distributed generation rares with the same frequency as triple rares, and the only real difference between GR and RRR cards were their foiling. Shadow Paladin and Link Joker are the highest priced clans in the set, with Dark Irregulars in third, and Gold Paladin and Murakumo in fourth.
Another reason for the rise is the lack of reliable unlock skills in the Messiah deck. Their key unlockers White Dwarf Lady Battler and Blast Monk are both distributed exclusively as promo cards rather than in booster sets. With few ways to unlock Arousal Messiah to initiate their combos, Messiah cardfighters rely on the high-rarity Amnesty to piece together their strategy.
Cardfighters in Japan are being forced to come to terms with the increasing expense of the game, as the popularity of specific clans dramatically increases the demand for high-rarity cards. Link Joker has always been one of the most expensive clans in the Japanese game, since the heyday of Chaos Breaker Dragon a year and a half ago. But the high prices of Phantom Blaster and Amnesty Messiah exceed anything seen in previous formats, as their absolute values have doubled; where 3500 yen was once the most expensive price one could pay for a single card in Japanese Vanguard, that value has doubled in the time since to 7000 yen. A game that was once priced for children is becoming prohibitively expensive for its target audience, leaving adults as the primary consumer. Two years ago Eradicator Dragonic Descendant was the currency equivalent of a $10 card, and one of the best decks in format could be afforded with a middle school student's monthly allowance. This dilemma is likely to hit the English-language game even harder with the international release of Sovereign Star Dragon on July 10th, as the most expensive standard rarity cards in the game are already $40~$45. The rarity of Amnesty Messiah and Phantom Blaster may drive the grade 4 units to $80~$100 per card, dramatically increasing the cost of deckbuilding. One of Cardfight!! Vanguard's original selling points internationally was the low cost of the game relative to its contemporaries Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic: The Gathering and the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Whether cardfighters would find the new decks worth investing in is questionable when one of the most important aspects of the game is that superior judgement wins out over the amount of money spent; a cardfighter that buys a $500 deck is no more likely to win than one who buys a $150 deck with similar levels of support.
Today's article was made possible by the donations of our patrons at Patreon. Cardfight Pro is funded by public contributions from readers like you.
The above buylist comes from card shop C-labo, written c. May 29th. At the time this list was written, the shop was buying Sovereign Star Dragon
cards at their exact market value rather than at a 30~40% depreciation.
Less than a week after these prices were listed, Amnesty Messiah's
average selling price has already tripled from what is seen here, while Phantom Blaster Dragon's has stayed at a similar price point.
This week's information broadcast guest-starred Ishii Mark, seiyuu for Shindou Chrono in the ongoing anime series Cardfight!! Vanguard G. The broadcast was put on as a launch party for G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon,featuring a live box opening as well as a fight between Ishii Mark and mascot character Vangarou-kun. Ishii and Doctor O both wore party hats for the occasion, prompting the twenty thousand viewers to compare Doctor O to a squid in their comments. After the fight, the first commercial for G-CB01: Academy of Divas was shown, along with several pieces of upcoming merchandise related to Cardfight!! Vanguard G. As part of the Bermuda Summer Festival, fans in Japan will be able to cast their vote for their favorite Bermuda Triangle character from the new booster set in a popularity contest. A recording of the broadcast, including the featured fight and commercial, is provided below along with Ishii and Vangarou-kun's decklists.
After the fight, Doctor O unveiled one of the upcoming cards from Clan Booster 01: Academy of Divas, a remake of Bermuda △ Cadet Shizuku from 2012's Banquet of Divas.
The new card is a grade 1, Extraordinary Freshman Shizuku.
Like the original unit she's based on, Extraordinary Shizuku searches
for a grade 3. Her generation break 1 activates when she enters a state
of Harmony (represented as ♪♪), achieved by placing her in the same column as another unit or having that unit enter the same column as her. The moment she enters Harmony, Shizuku can
search the top 5 cards of her cardfighter's deck for a grade 3, add it
to hand and then shuffle that deck. Since this skill can only be used
after achieving generation break, Extraordinary Shizuku can't actually
bypass a gradelock like her original incarnation, but the skill can be
useful for acquiring stride material cards.
Extraordinary Freshman, Shizuku AUTO: (Vanguard/Rearguard circles): Harmony (When another of your units appears in the same column as this unit, during this turn, this unit becomes Harmony) AUTO: (Rearguard circle): Once per turn: Generation break 1: When this unit becomes Harmony, you may look at up to five cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one grade 3 card, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your handle, and shuffle that deck.
(Fight begins at 0:27:20 and ends at 0:57:00. The Academy of Divas commercial is at 1:10:04.)
In the course of the fight Ishii stumbled onto one of the Messiah deck's key combos for Arousal Messiah, around the 51 minute mark. By using White Dwarf Lady Battler's on-boost skill to unlock Arousal Messiah and give the boosted Gravity Well Lady Battler +4000 power, Ishii was then able to use Arousal's skill to stand Gravity Well and give her +2000 power during her attack. Although resting a unit is necessary to declare an attack, the attack does not end if the unit becomes stand during that battle. Though this may seem counterintuitive, it allowed Ishii to attack with Gravity Well for 22000 power while in a standing position, then attack with the still-standing Gravity Well in a second battle for 15000 power.
Despite these innovative plays, in general Ishii's command of the deck did not measure up to its extremely technical nature; on his initial Amnesty Messiah turn he used Amnesty's skill and chose to unlock his opponent's rearguards to reach the condition for Amnesty's second critical, even though he had seen Vangarou-kun drive check a perfect defense card earlier in the fight. Unlocking Vangarou-kun's rearguards also prevented Ishii from using Alter Ego Messiah during his opponent's following end phase, causing Amnesty to work against him in the long run.
Doctor O later unveiled two new products from Bushiroad's Cardfight!! Vanguard G merchandise line, a set of six character-themed strap lights, and a game pouch intended to carry a portable game system. The interior of the pouch features Shindou Chrono with Chronojet Dragon, and the exterior uses the same silver stride circle displayed on the backs of Japanese edition grade 4s.
Bushiroad's weekly information bulletins air every
Tuesday evening at
8:00 PM Japanese Standard Time. They first began in late January to
accommodate a new information distribution model for Cardfight!! Vanguard G, as the amount of card information covered in Monthly Bushiroad magazine decreased and was redirected to other routes of distribution. The previous week featured Morishita Shuuta (Nitta Shin) and Yanagita Junichi (Anjou Mamoru) in a fight demonstrating the strengths of the Murakumo and Kagerou decks supported by Sovereign Star Dragon.
Today's article was made possible by the donations of our patrons at Patreon. Cardfight Pro is funded by public contributions from readers like you.
Ishii Mark's Link Joker deck Grade 4 (Generation zone) x2 Genesis Dragon, Amnesty Messiah
x2 Genesis Dragon, Judgement Messiah
x4 Nebula Dragon, Big Crunch Dragon Grade 3 x4 Alter Ego Messiah
x4 Neutron Star Lady Gunner Grade 2
x4 Gravity Well Lady Battler
x4 Arousal Messiah
x3 Sunset Edge, Duskblade Grade 1
x4 Flower Blooming in the Vacuum, Cosmolis
x4 Destiny Dealer
x2 Dark Metal Chameleon
x2 White Dwarf Lady Battler
x2 Breaker of Keys, Riddle Biter Grade 0
x1 Spawn of Spiral Nebula (FV)
x4 Asteroid Fenrir CT
x4 Quake Kick Pulse Monk CT
x4 Torn World Lady Healer HT
x4 Superstring Theory Beloved Girl DT
Vangarou-kun's Gold Paladin deck Grade 4 (Generation zone) x4 Golden Dragon, Spear Cross Dragon
x1 Galloping Golden Knight, Campbell
x2 Golden Dragon, Surge Point Dragon Grade 3
x4 Knight of Rising Sunshine, Gurguit
x3 Veteran Knight, Danvalo
x1 Salvation Lion, Grand Ezel Scissors Grade 2
x3 Knight of Far Arrows, Saphir
x2 Farmgal
x4 Holy Mage, Pwyll x2 Earth Elemental, Pokkle Grade 1
x4 Halo Shield, Mark
x4 Knight of Day Break's Light, Golbodok
x3 Knight of Morning's Shadow, Kimarcus
x3 Slaymy Grade 0
x1 Rising Lionet (FV)
x4 Air Raid Lion CT
x4 Peeping Rabbit DT
x4 Pharmacy Witch HT
x4 Flame of Victory CT
The Japanese edition of G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon went on sale just a few hours ago, and prices from both Japanese auctions and retailers are already stabilizing. Of all the cards in the set, the most alarming is G-BT03's print of Phantom Blaster Dragon; his average selling price has jumped to be the highest single in the game's history, at 5000~7000 yen per card. (approx. $40~56 at the current exchange rate.) This is more than the price of one box of Sovereign Star Dragon, and observations from Japanese buyers are that the inclusion rate of the set's two generation rares is at one of each generation rare per carton--one Phantom Blaster and one Amnesty per every sixteen boxes. If this ratio is true, it would be a massive departure from Generation Stride and Soaring Ascent of Gale & Blossom, where generation rares were distributed at the same rate as triple rares. Lagging behind Phantom Blaster are Amnesty Messiah and Aurageyser Dragon as the second most expensive cards from the set, going for 1500~2000 yen each.
The exorbitant prices for Phantom Blaster are derived from his synergy with multiple different Blaster deck types, including Phantom Blaster “Abyss,” who is generally regarded as the dominant deck of the pre-BT03 format. Both halves of the “Abyss” legion experienced a similar price jump earlier this month. However, running the Phantom breakride in “Abyss” has been brought under severe scrutiny from the first day the Blaster Dragon breakride was revealed. Doing so means surrendering virtually all forms of soulblast support, including Black-winged Swordbreaker and Darkheart Trumpeter. It also means losing access to Blaster Dark Revenger and Revenger “Abyss” for most of the game, neutering Revengers' devastating field control options and ability to shut down a vast number of first vanguard-centric strategies. Other Blaster decks are also on the rise, with triple rare playsets of Phantom Blaster Overlord reaching a 2000 yen high, and Gust Blaster Dragon rising to 1200 yen apiece.
In other news, Duel Portal, retailers Cardshop Ogre and Card Kingdom have all revealed merchandise for G-Title Booster 01: Touken Ranbu -ONLINE-, including eight character-specific sleeves from Bushiroad's Mini Sleeve Collection and several deckboxes. Six playmat designs (pictured below) are also being produced for the set, intended to double as mousepads. The Touken Ranbu booster was originally announced as an April Fool's joke by Bushiroad of Japan, and later clarified to be a real product made in association with DMM and Nitro+. The booster will feature the characters of Touken Ranbu as part of the unique clan "Touken Ranbu," and will be compatible with all of the cards produced in the existing Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game.
While the booster set has been designed to attract a new audience to Vanguard, fan reactions across the globe have been mixed. Some fans have expressed displeasure with devoting a booster set to what has been described as an opposite gender counterpart to Bermuda Triangle, when that space could be devoted to an existing clan. Others have criticized the Touken Ranbu clan as being out of place in the greater context of Cardfight!! Vanguard's world, particularly with respect to the planet Cray. But still other fans find an appeal to the cross-promotion that would otherwise be absent from the game, and in Japan boxes of the title booster have already been promised as prizes at several upcoming VGCS tournaments.
The set's status in English-speaking countries is unknown, as DMM lacks an international presence and licensing the set for the western market could prove difficult. Bushiroad Inc. does have experience with bringing over these types of properties in its older card game Weiβ Schwarz, but the possibility remains that one of Cardfight!! Vanguard's clans will remain exclusive to the Japanese edition. Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- will go on sale in Japan on July 17th.
Today's article was made possible by the donations of our patrons at Patreon. Cardfight Pro is funded by public contributions from readers like you.
The Japanese cards of the day are the G unit Genesis Dragon Amnesty Messiah from G-BT03:Sovereign Star Dragon and her corresponding grade 3 Alter Ego Messiah from G-TD05: Fateful Star Messiah. Amnesty is the second Generation Rare from G-BT03, and the Messiah faction's new finishing move. The Amnesty stride functions like an inverted Tempest Bolt Dragon that gains power from unlocking rearguards, refunding the costs of her rearguards that lock themselves while also granting her opponents field presence in exchange for giving her power.
AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose any number of locked cards, unlock them, during that battle this unit gets +3000 power for each unlocked unit, and if the number of cards unlocked is 3 or more, during that battle this unit gets Critical +1.
Although this may seem lacking compared to something like the Abhorrent One that comes with innate guard restriction, the real value of Amnesty is in the combos she can pull of with skills that activate when cards unlock. Typically you can turn Amnesty into an unboosted 34000 power 2 critical line, and the purpose of this is to force guard from the opponent's hand and bait perfect defense cards if possible. The second critical gives the opponent no choice but to guard the attack when they're in the 4~5 damage range, even if it's only for one trigger to pass, and that can strategically ruin their hand to guarantee you the game. But when used in conjunction with the new Messiah support's bevy of on-unlock skills, you can strategically lock your own rearguards and then unlock them to draw benefits from that.
There are three primary units to use this with right now. The promotional card Dark Metal Chameleon is a good choice because his generation break unflips a damage when he's unlocked, refunding the cost of Amnesty. Moreover, Dark Metal has Resist and so can't be chosen by the opponent's card effects to be prematurely locked or retired, so there's very little to prevent Dark Metal from going off. Since you get to choose as many units as you like to be unlocked, having multiple Chameleons in play can also refund the cost of Amnesty's supporting units.
The Messiah subclan's first vanguard Neon Messiah is another good choice; when unlocked, by putting Neon Messiah into the soul you can search your deck for a grade 3 Messiah unit, enabling your stride for next turn. While you lose out on the boost of Neon for that turn, the net power Amnesty derives from unlocking at least two units will exceed that of Neon's boost, and the additional soul can be used for soulblast skills.
Heavy Material Dragon doesn't have an on-unlock skill, but actually locks one of your rearguards for his cost. He has the Nemain-like generation break of paying counterblast 1 discard 1 and locking a rearguard to draw two cards; by unlocking the rearguard with Amnesty, this is a net exchange of +1 while still getting your full offensive for the turn. You can also combo Heavy to Dark Metal Chameleon above, locking Chameleon for Heavy's cost and then unlocking Chameleon with Amnesty to unflip the damage that Heavy Material flipped. However, running Heavy also necessitates using base 8000 boosters to get your full offensive out for the turn.
The question remains of how you're going to get multiple rearguards locked in the first place, as just drawing Heavy Material Dragon isn't going to be reliable. By using Amnesty in tandem with the Fateful Star grade 3 Alter Ego Messiah, you can both increase the power of your center lane and ensure that you have rearguards to unlock. Alter Ego's on-stride skill locks both one of yours and one of the opponent's rearguards, creating a strategic gameplay where you can either choose to unlock only your own rearguards and activate their on-unlock skills, or you can choose to also unlock the opponent's to raise Amnesty's power further and try to go for broke on the offensive with a second critical. During the early to midgame it will be wiser not to do so, as a particular reward waits for you if you keep the opponent's rearguards locked...
AUTO (Vanguard circle): Generation break 2: [Soulblast 1] When a locked card unlocks, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card. AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1, choose one of your rearguards and lock it] During your turn when your G unit strides, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rearguards and lock it, and choose one of your vanguards, during this turn it gets Power +5000.
Alter Ego's ultimate skill is a partial generation break revival of Chaos Breaker Dragon's limit break, one of Link Joker's most fearsome metagame giants. And unlike Chaos Breaker, Alter Ego's skill is not constrained to the end phase; if your opponent tries to use Lock Break Campaign units or Mithril Ezel to unlock their rearguards, you can soulblast to draw off of those unlocks. If the opponent unlocks five rearguards, you can draw five cards so long as you have the soul to fuel it. Since Alter Ego doesn't include the retire portion of Chaos Breaker's skill, your opponent will still return to the level of card advantage they were at prior to the lock, but thanks to the modifications made to the end phase last April, Alter Ego Messiah can now draw off of his own rearguards unlocking because skills with a timing of "when a card is unlocked" are put into standby with the same timing as "when put to G zone." The primary function of Alter Ego is to perform a burst draw during the opponent's end phase so that you can replenish your hand immediately before your turn starts and open up options, but after a point in the game you can also keep up continuous card advantage at the end of your own turn to turtle through the opponent's. The primary issue is keeping up the soul count, as a key difference between Chaos Breaker and Alter Ego is that Chaos Breaker had multiple turns of Infinite Zero Dragon and Palladium to sustain the necessary soul count. If Neon Messiah's skill will go off, Alter Ego will only be able to activate three times before you need to ride to rebuild the soul--which brings into question if running multiple Neon Messiahs is viable or not. With over twenty cards from Fateful Star Messiah and Sovereign Star Dragon yet to be revealed, the future remains open as to what kind of additional soul support the Messiahs will have, if any.
prerelease event. Held over the 4th of July weekend, participants will receive a PR/0194EN Sabmyu with their entry. The playmat for the prerelease will feature Genesis Dragon Amnesty Messiah, one of the two generation rares from the set.
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