AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks a vanguard, if the number of your rearguards is 3 or greater, this unit gets Power +5000 until end of battle.Auspice Falcon's name was leaked three weeks back in Monthly Bushiroad magazine's complete card list for the Trial Decks, but until now its effect was a mystery. Along with Burj, Auspice is one of the few base 6k units of Standard, an exceptionally low base power for a grade 1 that struggles to make basic 18k rearguard lanes. The only unit Auspice can easily do that with right now is High Dog Breeder Akane, as Auspice is a High Beast and so valid for her +3k effect.
ACT [Rearguard Circle]: [Counterblast 1, Rest this unit] Until end of turn, 2 of your rearguards get Power +5000.
It means spending valuable counterblast just for power though, which can be better spent on Marron, Allen, Blaster Blade and Alfred Early. Certainly we won't have any space issues if we want to include Falcon, not with Draw Trigger perfect guards around.
If you do want to run Auspice, one way to do it is by treating Allen as backup copies of Marron and Pongal purely as a search target for Akane, resulting in a grade 1 lineup looking something like this:
Grade 1Marron gets maxed out by default because of how essential he is to the deck's advantage engine, and Wingal is a 3-of to try to go for a single copy for the lane you're dedicating to Blaster Blade that game.
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x2 Knight Squire Allen
x2 Pongal
x3 Wingal
x2 Auspice Falcon
The Trial Deck print of Jarron provides only 75% the power of the Start Deck version, but doesn't demand anything of your very-limited counterblast. He also includes himself when counting the number of rearguards you have, and if used during your grade 2 turn with Blaster Blade's extra critical can make for a powerful midgame push.
On the other hand, 28k is essentially the pre-trigger power cap for non-Forced rearguards in this format, and is the magic number for forcing the opponent to guard with a Heal Trigger or 2 guardians. A 23k rearguard simply means guarding with a Critical Trigger, which is already what the opponent is most likely to drop to stop a normal 18k swing. (You also already have a 23 option in Blade-Wingal and Funnergal.) The Start Deck print is the more recommendable of the two, as most opponents will save grade 1s to call rather than guard with them, meaning you'll already be taking away a grade 0 guardian with a normal attack and can choose to take away even more by paying the CB cost. We've run across a bit of irony here, where one of the best beaters in KagerŠ¾̄ is underwhelming in Royals simply because Royals have a higher quality alternate option available.
On a slightly frustrating note, both the Start Deck and Trial Deck only come with 3 copies of Jarron, so if you want a full playset of either you'll need to do multiple demo caravans in June-July and/or buy multiple copies of the TD. Another option would be to wait for singles to turn up on the secondary market; time will tell if Jarron becomes the offensive staple he first looked like, or if he'll be succeeded by something else.
What's left from the Trial Deck? The final prints of Stardrive Dragon, Margal, Flogal, Epona, and Runoria.
The previous Japanese cards of the day were Flash Shield Iseult and Wyvern Guard Barri.
V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and V-TD02: Kai Toshiki will launch in Japanese May 11th, 2018, and in English June 8th, 2018. They will be accompanied by a new sleeve based on the "Imaginary Gift" design. The first Booster Set of the Standard format, V-BT 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. It will be accompanied by sleeves based on Dragonic Overlord and Blaster Blade.
The first Extra Booster set of Standard, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and August 3rd for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," will begin airing May 5th, 2018, on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations. It will be simulcast with English subtitles on YouTube and Crunchyroll.
