Today's Card Analysis: Spike Bouncer

The Japanese Card of the Day for June 22nd, 2018, is a Spike Brothers Triple Rare from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Spike Bouncer.

AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When placed, [Cost: Counterblast 1, Soulblast 1] look at cards from the top of your deck equal to your vanguard's grade, call up to 1 to Rearguard Circle, and put the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the end of the battle it attacked, [Cost: Counterblast 1, put this unit into your soul] draw 1 card.

This remake is a serious upgrade for humble Bouncer, turning him into the clan's only means of gaining card advantage in the Standard format. While Spike Bouncer is a clear counterpart to his fellow manga card Gyro Slinger, he replaces the card-from-hand cost with a counterblast-soulblast equivalent to Berserk Dragon, Blaster Blade, and Hi-powered Raizer Custom--and like those cards his superior call represents a clear +1. While these other units are left intercepting away afterward to make use of other units' skills later on, Spike Bouncer's other counterblast allows you to clear him from the field offensively while replenishing the lost soul for General Siefried, Black Panther, and Unite Attacker. And by disappearing from the field, Bouncer opens up the possibility of superior calling something else to the empty circle to attack later...though that will have to wait until more set reveals are out.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Winged Dragon Skyptero.

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: 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.

Today's Card Analysis: King of Knights Alfred and Lion Mane Stallion

The Japanese Cards of the Day for May 21st, 2018, are Royal Paladin's Vanguard Rare from V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 and a Common from the same set, the King of Knights Alfred and his trusted steed Lion Mane Stallion.

King of Knights, Alfred
ACT [Vanguard Circle] Once per turn: [Cost: Counterblast 1] Search your deck for up to 1 "Blaster Blade," call it to a Rearguard Circle, and until end of turn, that unit gets Power +5000. Shuffle your deck.
CONT [Vanguard Circle]: During your turn, if you have a "Blaster Blade" on your Rearguard Circle, this unit gets Power +10000.

While many were expecting the cover card of V-BT01 to be a direct remake of the original King of Knights, gaining power for every rearguard in play and searching any unit, the new Alfred's skillset is instead inspired by his less-mentioned successor unit--Monarch Sanctuary Alfred.

Like Monarch this incarnation of the King of Knights gains 10k for having a rearguard Blaster Blade, but this time around it's a non-stackable Continuous ability. Rather than a finisher, Alfred is a midgame card intended to push the opponent to higher damage with his (boosted) 33 center so that they can be finished by Soul Saver Dragon on subsequent turns. His once-per-turn skill superior calls Blaster Blade from the deck at a net +1 in card advantage and gives Blade 5k for the turn, opening up the possibility of SD01 Jauron levels of power with Wingal's boost.

Alfred's Super Vanguard Rare print.

While these skills are in line with Alfred's overall theme throughout the years--drawing power from his rearguards, calling rearguards from the deck, and giving them power in turn--it's hardly the platonic ideal of the King of Knights. Being entirely dependent on Blaster Blade to resolve his skills leaves this Alfred estranged from the overall objectives of the deck. The new Blaster Blade contributes little to the Soul Saver-centric incarnation of Royal Paladin, taking away a valuable soulblast that slows down the vital SSD turn. Conjurer of Mithril is a much better use of the same cost, as he can superior call Funnergal or Akane into Pongal to restore the spent soul while gaining a net +1 or +2 for each counterblast spent on the play. Running the King of Knights means being forced to run Blaster Blade, and the ideal use of Blade in the current deck is as a vanilla--a Gallatin with 5k less shield.

As it stands, this is the only Vanguard Rare that's of questionable use. There's a case to make for running the Start Deck Stardrive Dragon instead, just to avoid using Blaster Blade. Seeing as Alfred will ideally only be in play for a single turn before switching to Soul Saver, it's certainly possible to make a list that dedicates only the minimum space necessary for a single Blade call for the +1 and power turn:

Grade 1
x4 Pongal
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x4 Lion Mane Stallion
x1 Knight Squire, Allen
Grade 2
x2 Blaster Blade
x4 Conjurer of Mithril
x4 High Dog Breeder, Akane
x2 Funnergal 
Grade 3
x4 Knight of Knights, Alfred
x4 Soul Saver Dragon

The gameplan with the above decklist is to ride King of Knights turn 3, using Funnergal or Pongal (whichever is drawn first) to get the last soulcharge necessary for Soul Saver. Conjurer of Mithril is used to gain +1s, targeting Akane or Funnergal depending on whether or not that extra one soul has already been acquired. If it has, then Akane will refund Mithril's cost, and if it has not, then Funnergal will refund Mithril's cost this turn and acquire the final soul next turn. (Granted, this only works if the next turn isn't the SSD turn.) King of Knights vanilla calls Blaster Blade on turn 3 for another +1 and columns that will ideally read 23-33-23, and the game ideally ends on turn 4 when you ride Soul Saver and give 30k to all three columns. If you're forced to first ride Soul Saver that's fine, as she still gives Force to accelerate your gamestate and soulcharges on-attack to make up for missing a grade 3 ride. The only downside is being short 10k due to missing out on one more Force Marker.

The disadvantage to this gameplan is how counterblast-intensive the clan as a whole is. Conjurer, Akane, Funnergal, and Alfred are all CB1. Unless you heal away a CB, the plan calls for being at 2 damage turn 2, and 4-5 damage turn 3. Royal Paladin is very vulnerable to counterblast control, and is also easily pushed into being the first to guard while at 5--the clan's winning image involves being deliberately put in the defensive position.

The primary alternative deck runs Start Deck Stardrive Dragon, for its Force Gift and costless 3k. You don't get the +1 from Alfred and your midgame center caps at 23 rather than 33, but it also necessitates 1 less counterblast and can change out the Blaster Blades for Funnergal. Of course, it's also possible to cut Mithril for either version of Jauron, giving up a +1 option for higher base power and a reliable offensive. It's a matter of how you want to approach the deck.

The second Card of the Day is Lion Mane Stallion, who was previously revealed at the Mexico Team League event.

Lion Mane Stallion
CONT [Rearguard Circle]: If you have four or more rearguards, this unit gets Power +3000.

Lion Mane may only be a 7k base, but having a costless skill that counts itself for power gain and effectively raises the column it boosts by a trigger's worth of power makes it very versatile. In most cases the card will function as an 8k booster would, but unlike the other options Lion Mane can form an 18k+ lane with Conjurer of Mithril, and a 23 lane with Akane due to Akane's own +3 from being boosted by a High Beast. In a pinch the card will also work to form an 18 with any of the grade 1s, and of course forms a 23 behind any of the grade 3s.

Finally, Alfred's lore from the classic game:

The king who leads the Royal Paladins, and their strongest knight.
He is also the leader of the great knightly order, worthy of being called the very embodiment of justice.
Always putting those who live in the United Sanctuary first, he continually wishes for battles to end without bloodshed.
He is a good, understanding man, seen as a hero, to whom Blaster Blade has pledged his loyalty.

Lion Mane Stallion's lore:

The King of Knights’s beloved steed, with a fiery mane like that of a lion’s.
A dappled gray horse whose mane is rarer than that of the glowing blue mane amongst horses, it is a beast worthy of being a horse of legend.
Any time it hears the voice of the King of Knights, it charges recklessly across a thousand miles, breaking through even a horde of a thousand units strong, until it can rally around the flag of its master.

The previous Japanese Cards of the Day were Dragonic Waterfall and Dragonic Gaias.

V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd. It will be 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.

Wall Boy shown in third episode of Origin anime

As in the previous two weeks, episode 3 of the Cardfight!! Vanguard "Origin" anime series was light on card reveals, but nonetheless teased one card we haven't seen leaked: Wall Boy, a remake of the clan's Heal Trigger from the manga and Extra Booster 1: Comic Style Vol. 1. The card was not shown clearly, but Kamui guarded a Stardrive Dragon-Margal column (23000) with it while on Hi-powered Raizer Custom (9000) and it later appeared as a grade 0 in his discard pile.

The specific marking is obscured by his deck, but the yellow border at the bottom is a dead giveaway that this is a new trigger unit. If the resolution were higher it would be possible to confirm the type by its shield value, but for now we'll have to run with the assumption it's a Heal.

Wall Boy's Comic Style print from the original game.

Extra Booster 1's English release date moved, again

The official Cardfight!! Vanguard English portal  updated its page on V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar with a different release date from what was announced back in mid April. This time, the change is much less dramatic; while previously the set was moved from an unassigned date in July to August 3rd, the new date has moved the set one day back to August 2nd. This is reflected in the new promotional images for the set, and distributors have been sent corrected information, though not all of them have updated to reflect it. The prerelease dates for Sneak Peak events remain unchanged, and the new series information page on the official website still lists EB01 as coming out in July.

The new release date puts EB01 on a Friday, which is traditionally when Bushiroad launches new sets in English. Every English-language main booster set since BT08: Blue Storm Armada, every extra booster since EB04: Infinite Phantom Legion, and every Trial Deck since TD10: Purgatory Revenger has launched on a Friday. Bushiroad's exact reasoning is unclear, but putting release dates on a Saturday could potentially affect shops that hold their weekly tournaments that day. Doing product launches on a Friday gives cardfighters additional time to get their decks together, and draws in customers on one more day of the week.

The Destructive Roar features support for the Spike Brothers, Tachikaze, and Megacolony clans, and will contain everything necessary to build those decks. It will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018.

Bushiroad putting up early chapters of the Vanguard manga online

Bushiroad has uploaded high-quality scans of the first four chapters of the Cardfight!! Vanguard manga to the Monthly Bushiroad magazine website as a free preview to promote the upcoming manga-inspired anime, viewable inside their own reader interface. This is only for the Japanese-language edition; users can select from chapters #001~004 using the four orange buttons below the volume 1 cover, and scroll from right to left using their arrow keys or the on-screen icons. Once the reader interface is loaded, the top right button zooms in on the page, while the top left button closes the reader.

The decision was likely motivated by the inclusion of fully colorized chapters in the magazine's most recent issues, which these uploads do not cover. The company probably intends users to preview the manga online, then want to see the color edition in Monthly Bushiroad.

The new anime series based on the manga, 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, and unlike past seasons will be in a late night to early morning timeslot. V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and V-TD02: Kai Toshiki will launch in Japanese May 11th, 2018, and in English June 8th, 2018. V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4! will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. The first Extra Booster set, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and in July for the English-speaking world.

Today's Card Analysis: Miru Biru

Bumble Ray!

The Japanese card of the day is Miru Biru, a Royal Paladin Common from V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4!

CONT [Rearguard Circle]: If it is in the same column as the vanguard, this unit gets Power+5000.

Miru Biru's skill is functionally identical to another skill that we've seen, found on the Start Deck version of Wingal. The different between them is that Miru Biru's skill is continuous while Wingal's is automatic, so Wingal only gains the power boost while he is boosting, while Miru Biru is a constant 12k on both fighters' turns so long as he's behind the vanguard. Currently the two are interchangeable in Standard, but in Premium this matters because it means Miru Biru is harder to target by Nova Grappler's retire skills, which can only hit units with a base power equal to or less than the unit they just stood. (e.g. Tribrut.)

As he stands now, Miru Biru is essentially a version of Wingal that doesn't count towards the 4-card maximum, so you could run 4 copies of Trial Deck Wingal and still get the functionality of Start Deck Wingal from Miru Biru. Also of note is that Miru Biru is the first non-Start Deck grade 1 we've seen to be a 7k base, something that is demonstrably not the standard for Standard. Whether you run Miru Biru at all is largely personal preference; with the 13k base grade 3s he forms a 25k column, which is just over a desirable 23k threshold most grade 1s don't reach. With Star Drive Dragon he forms a 28k, something that can help deplete the opponent's hand over several turns even without Force active.

Both Miru Biru and Wingal are High Beasts, and so can boost High Dog Breeder Akane for 3k, making a 20k column that's just over the 18k threshold expected of rearguards. That helps compensate for his lower power base, but it's hard to advise running Miru Biru at all because of his low flexibility.

A sample grade 1 lineup would look something like this:

Grade 1
x4 Strong Knight, Runoria (Perfect Guard)
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x1 Knight Squire, Allen
x3 Wingal (TD01)
x2 Miru Biru / Wingal (SD01) 

The purpose of the tech Allen here is as deliberate redundancy to make the deck more consistent, functioning as a placeholder for a fifth Marron we can't run. Belgius and Akane are essentially the only grade 2s Miru Biru can boost in other columns, but with the corresponding grade 2 lineup looking like this...

Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade
x3 Sage of Literary and Military Arts, Jarron
x4 High Dog Breeder, Akane

...There's not really room for Belgius in the current deck. That makes Miru Biru a challenging card to fit in, if it can fit in at all.

Right now the Royal Paladin deck is still being faced with the challenge of coming up with a boss card that can stand on even footing with Dragonic Overlord, and addressing its counterblast issues. Royals currently have no way of countercharging, so in current playtesting it's shaping up as a clan that has to constantly give up one skill to use another.

Miru Biru in chapter 1 of the Cardfight!! Vanguard manga.

On one final note, while the current Card of the Day profiles in Japan do not incorporate any of the card lore Vanguard is so well known for, we do have Miru Biru's lore from the classic game on hand;

Among the High Beasts, it is an officer of Royal Paladin of remarkable intelligence. It is also a mascot of the knightly order, and many knights are comforted by its lovely appearance. With is high computing power and extensive strategies, it plays a central role in logistical support.

 Miru Biru is designed by Itou Akira and illustrated by Miyoshi Norikatsu.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Spillover Dragon.

The first Booster Set of the Standard format, V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4! will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. It will be accompanied by V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and V-Trial Deck 02: Kai Toshiki, launching 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 Extra Booster set, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and in July 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.

Today's Card Analysis: Knight of Rose, Morgana

The Japanese card of the day is from V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4!, Knight of Rose Morgana. First revealed at the Malaysian Spring Fest last week, the Japanese print of Morgana differs slightly from its English counterpart;

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks a vanguard, [Soulblast 1], and this unit gets Power +3000 during that battle for each grade of your vanguard. (If your vanguard is grade 3, +9000.)

Not only does the Japanese print contain clarification text, but the effect itself is slightly different. The English version has Morgana gaining power "until end of turn," while the Japanese version gains power "during that battle." The difference is one that would primarily affect Premium format rather than Standard--if Morgana were to soulblast 1 for her power gain, then stand as a result of the vanguard checking a Stand Trigger, and soulblast again, the power gain would stack. Assuming a grade 3 vanguard, she would be a 26k total by herself (31k if the trigger power were given to her) or with a grade 4 vanguard, she would be 32k. (37k with trigger) In Standard format there are no Stand triggers, so Morgana's end-of-turn condition is of no concern unless Royal Paladin gains the ability to stand a rearguard by a card effect, but in Premium we could potentially see her as an important card in the grade 1-focused Sanctuary Guard deck.

The "end of turn" effect is accurate to the original Morgana's skill from seven years back, which brings into question if one of these versions is the result of a misprint.

For the majority of the game Morgana will be able to soulblast to become a 17k attacker in Standard, and with Little Sage Marron or Knight Squire Allen makes a 28k line, one of the most important numbers to hit in the new format. Seeing as the new wave of First Vanguards found in the Trial Decks stay in the soul for the game, and the Imaginary Gift mechanic encourages cardfighters to reride their grade 3s over and over, Morgana will have no shortage of soul to become a powerful attacker with. The problem lies in what happens the turn after she's set up.


Allen and Marron's power bonuses will fade after the first turn their skills are used, and you won't be able to reactivate the Little Sage's skill without calling something new to his column. That leaves Morgana soulblasting each turn to become a 25k rather than 28, and as she's not a grade 2 she can't intercept away to make up for the loss. That 25 is functionally identical to the 18 you would get by having a 10k grade 2 in her place. In the long term, her presence on the field is liable to become an inefficient use of the cards you have available, and force you to eventually call over her to bring out Jarron or another attacker not dependent on soulblast later. There's also the issue of deck space, as Marron will be a focal grade 1 for Royal Paladin decks, and running Morgana means giving up either the card-drawing Allen or Blaster Blade-empowering Wingal. Morgana can make for some powerful pushes in a pinch, and if Royal Paladin gains a field-buffing skill she's likely to make effective numbers with it, but of the cards we know now it's arguable whether she or Wingal is the more compelling choice for Standard Royals.

Knight of Rose Morgana is designed by Ryo-ta.H and illustrated by Syutsuri.

The previous Japanese card of the day was Dragon Armored Knight.

V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and V-Trial Deck 02: 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-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4! will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. The first Extra Booster set, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and in July 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.

Knight of Rose Morgana revealed at Spring Fest

April 6th, 2018. A Cardfight!! Vanguard display from this year's Spring Fest in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has revealed a new Rare from the upcoming V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4!, Knight of Rose Morgana.

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks a vanguard, [Soulblast 1], and this unit gets Power +3000 until end of turn for each grade of your vanguard.

2011 KeroKero Ace teaser

The original Morgana was a base 6000 grade 1 that gained 4k by discarding a card; this new Morgana has the potential to gain up to 9000 power depending on how late you choose to use her skill, and utilizes the soul that the new Royal Paladins have yet to use for costs. This card also uses the same wording found on the official English translation of Dragonic Overlord, in which cards refer to themselves as "it" rather than as the conventional "this unit." The Japanese game no longer uses "this unit" either, instead relying on the high-context nature of Japanese to not refer to the unit at all. (e.g. Dragonic Overlord is literally "When attack hits...")

How much actual play Morgana will see in the final game will likely depend on how many copies of Wingal Royal Paladin cardfighters choose to run, as compared with Allen and Marron, Wingal is shaping up as the most-situational grade 1 in the deck.

This Morgana is V-BT01/026 in the V-T01 card list, making her the last known Royal Paladin on the list at this time. Kagerо̄'s Single Rares currently span slots 033~034, and Oracle Think Tank's Rares are expected to be between Royal Paladin's and Kagerо̄'s.

The first Booster Set of the Standard format, V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4! will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. It will be preceded by V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and V-Trial Deck 02: Kai Toshiki, which 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 Extra Booster set, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and in July 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. 

Let's Translate Cardfight!! Vanguard: Lock on Victory!! Part 4: Kamui

Kamui first.

Ren: After this I'm going to go see Kai. Would you like to come too, Touya? After last time's fight, it looks like he's also interested in you.
...You don't want to? Maybe he scared you?
...That's not it? Hmm...It's bad to lie.

Ren: Hah, I'm kidding. We'll, let's go then.

Ren: Hey there. Is Kai around?

Kamui: He went off somewhere. Maybe he's napping in the park?
Ren: I see. I was hoping to see him rematch Touya, but that's too bad.
Kamui: Y-you're the guy that beat Kai the other day! Perfect timing. This will be your boom. This time the great Kamui will be your opponent!
Ren: I think you mean, "doom." Touya, will you fight him?
>>Fight
>Don't fight

Kamui's trying to say koko de atta ga hyakunenme "This will be your hundredth year," a saying that basically means you're done for. But instead he said koko de atta ga hyakunengo "This will be your hundredth after."

VS Kamui
Nova Grappler 1

We're first this time.

Our opening hand after the redraw and draw-for-turn sets us up with our grade 1 and 2 ride, but otherwise tells us we're playing a defensive game with no guaranteed grade 3.

What's more, we top 7 into nothing off of Planet Lancer. In this matchup it's fine, as we'll still end up with an advantage lead over Kamui's deck.

While initially it's easy to assume Kamui is playing a Raizer deck, his opening ride and drive check say otherwise. He goes into the 8k vanilla Tough Boy and drive checks the Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout, which (counting the 4 Sentinels we should expect) means 11~12 of his grade 1s are non-Raizers.

Battleraizer is the reason I'm not so concerned about whiffing Planet Lancer. At the end of the turn that it boosts, Battleraizer returns to the deck, negating the +1 gained through its Forerunner ability. There are legitimate advantages to running it though, as you have significantly more freedom in deckbuilding with a trigger set as your starter. If Shadow Paladin had a Battleraizer or Lozenge Magus clone, I might run it just for the extra grade 1 space.

On our grade 2 turn we topdeck Ashlei and ride into Determinator, using his skill to superior call Little Storm. With a mostly-trigger hand we're hurting for boosters right now, and it's best not to call any frontrow rearguards that his own could attack, as our 10k base will help discourage rushing in this matchup and we don't want to start losing advantage yet.

Kamui's damage check betrays what he's doing--this is an Asura Kaiser deck, modeled on Kamui's original first season build. We block his rearguard attack and take the vanguard, putting us at 2-to-1. The neutral game is now very slightly tilted in Kamui's favor.

Our drive checks give us Planetal and Claudine, putting us into position for our big turn.

Kamui damage checks the first trigger of the game, but it's a stand--he's now at 3 damage to 1 and +0 card advantage to +0, reversing the overall lead. This is essentially a back-and-forth tug that's going to go back to him in a turn, and until it's interrupted by a big play (or triggers) it will continue as such.

Kamui: The great Kamui rides...Asura Kaiser!

Asura Kaiser is a card built around early game design. It made a lot of sense in 2011, where it shared the format with Dragon Monk Goku and Crimson Butterfly Bridgette. In a format without cross ride, break ride, legion, or stride, there really was nothing to do with grade 3s you had in hand but discard them for Gojo or Iseult clones. These types of boss cards introduced effectively 7 more triggers to your deck, giving a passive benefit to make up for the poor drive check those grade 3s represented, but even in limit break format those benefits were becoming questionable. Running a card of this type effectively surrenders control of the deck to chance, setting up effects that you don't know are actually going to go off, and which may never happen. Dimension Police tried to make this into a kill mechanic you could set up reliably, but the real benefit of that was that the opponent had to guard as though your effects were always going to happen, effectively duping them into destroying themselves.

Asura gives us our limit break, and we damage into a draw trigger.

Break ride into Planetal, and superior call Storm for a booster. We can't set up another 21k column this turn with our current hand, but we can push Kamui to or near defeat.

Kamui gets his heal at the wrong time, taking our unboosted rearguard attack.

Planet is swinging for 34k 2 crit; Kamui guards with a 10k and two 5s, bringing him up to 41 for a two-pass.

Check 1 is a critical trigger. With Kamui at 4 damage, if this were any other trigger type then I would have every incentive to bank it on Planetal, as the second check only matters at this stage of the game if it is a crit. But since it's a crit, and I already know he's down to guarding with 5ks, I can instead safely put it all on my remaining Claudine, which at worst will take every card in his hand plus his intercept to block--and at best, will finish him if we get a second trigger. If it doesn't finish him off, then he has no hand to attack us with, and we're at a net +3 to his overall -6, an unrecoverable difference of nine cards. We have already won the game right here and now.

Check 2 is a Claudine.

As predicted, Kamui only has 5k shields left in hand, forcing him to empty everything on this defense or die. There is no coming back from manually guarding our breakride turn, at least not in Asura.

On his final turn Kamui topdecks a King of Sword. I take the damage to prevent him from healing on his offensive drive checks, then no-pass his vanguard with two 10ks.

Kamui drive checks a Death Metal Droid, causing both Asura Kaiser and Death Army Guy to meet their check timing; Guy stands, and Kaiser stands King of Sword. Unfortunately, his second check is also Death Metal Droid, which is completely redundant in this circumstance and also seals his fate.

Putting down any booster now guarantees that Kamui will take a sixth damage, and if he heals, a seventh. With only a single intercept, he cannot stop even one attack this turn.

Kamui: It's my loss...

750 VP for winning, 50 for limit breaking, 100 for break riding, 100 for breaking 30k power, and a Hungry Dumpty.

Kamui: I-I lost...So you didn't just beat Kai by luck.

Ren: As expected, you're very strong. I'm glad we took him in~
Kamui: I acknowledge your strength. This here is proof of that.

We get a Jetraizer for beating Kamui.

Kamui: Let's fight again some time. See you around!