News: Cardfight Online Greenlit, Commemorative Cards to be Given as WCS Prizes

August 7th, 2015. This morning Cardfight!! Online was finally greenlit by the Steam community, leading to outreach by Valve Corporation to Bushiroad to make the online game available through their software distribution platform. The online game, which was only announced a month ago, is set to launch within 2015 as a free-to-play means of playing the Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game through the web.

In other news, Bushiroad announced through Facebook today that their 2015 World Championship series will introduce commemorative prints of existing Cardfight!! Vanguard cards, to be given to the finalists of the national and international championships. The cards currently know to be distributed are Supremacy Dragon Claret Sword Dragon, and Chronojet Dragon. Each card will be gold stamped and have a unique foil, different from its original print.

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. 

Today's Card Analysis: Dark Pride Dragon

The Japanese card of the day is a single rare from G-BT04: Soul Strike Against the Supreme, a support card specifically designed for Claret Sword Dragon. Claret's loyal followers created by the abuse of Aurageyser's powers, Dark Pride and Dark Quartz are made up of magic that can continually reanimate to give their lives to Claret Sword again and again. When sacrificed to the Supremacy Dragon, Dark Pride can be used both as a tool to countercharge damage, and as a means to conserve card advantage that would otherwise be lost.

Dark Pride Dragon
AUTO: Generation Break 1: When this unit is sent from a rearguard circle to the drop zone by one of your unit's effects, if you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with "Claret Sword Dragon" in its card name, search your deck for up to one "Dark Quartz Dragon," call it to a rearguard circle, and shuffle that deck. If you called that unit, countercharge 1.

Dark Pride's generation break superior calls his lower-graded servant, Dark Quartz, allowing you to mitigate the loss in card advantage from paying retire skills, while simultaneously thinning the deck of nontrigger units, bringing much-needed unflipping to Claret Sword's gameplay, and meeting the conditions for Dark Quartz's skill to resolve. An important element of Dark Pride is that even if you choose not to superior call Dark Quartz, because of how this skill is worded Dark Pride will still automatically shuffle the deck. This is important versus Gear Chronicle decks, which attempt to stack your rearguards on the bottom of your deck, and in a build that lacks legion every shuffle counts.

Dark Quartz Dragon
AUTO: Generation Break 1: When this unit is placed on a rearguard circle, if you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with "Claret Sword Dragon" in its card name, choose one of your vanguards, during this turn, this unit and that unit both get Power +3000.

Dark Quartz's power boost is cumulatively greater than what one gains from Night Sky Eagle in the Claret Sword deck, but only becomes truly relevant when two or more Quartz are played in the same turn, or when Claret Sword has a booster with a base power of 7000 or greater to form a lane breaking the 21000 power threshold. Being able to superior call on-retire in a Tachikaze-like fashion turns Claret Sword's generation break 2 into a net -1 for +10000 power/+1 critical that countercharges damage, and gives another option outside of David for turning Aurageyser Dragon into a net +1.


Because Claret Sword's name carries over to the unit that strides over him, these new Abyss Dragons will still function with either Aurageyser or Phantom Blaster “Diablo.” When played with Aurageyser Damned, Dark Pride effectively neutralizes both the counterblast and retire cost of the card, while ensuring that with a base 7000 booster Damned will reach at least 36000 power. However, while Pride is a necessary countercharge option for the Claret Sword deck, there are problems with trying to run Quartz; Night Sky Eagle is key to forming a 23000-power lane with Knight of Solemnity Balberith, which becomes a 26000-power lane when Howl Owl is added on top of that. Dark Quartz can only reach 22000 power with Balberith, putting him short of reaching another stage of power with Owl. Unlike Eagle, Quartz requires an attacker with a base power of 11000 or greater to breaking a 21000 power. Quartz cannot form such a lane with itself without a power boost from either Claret Sword or Howl Owl, making it more difficult to make the strong rearguard lanes that the Claret Sword deck excels at. Grade 1 space is already tight, with Swordbreaker, Karma Collector, Branwen, Night Sky Eagle, Decipherer of Prohibited Books, and Blitz Knight Bolfri all contending for the space that Dark Quartz would occupy.

Finding room for Pride means finding room for Quartz, and doing that requires sacrificing some of the deck's key cards from Sovereign Star Dragon. The Claret Sword deck seriously wants for grade 1s that it can play in the early game, prior to striding. It is sad that there are still cardfighters running Gururubau--who doesn't synergize in the slightest with Swordbreaker or Decipherer, two cards that are able to combo together very efficiently when given a proper countercharging engine to make up for Decipherer's cost. If Quartz's skill resolved on-attack or as an activated effect, he would be phenomenal for Shadow Paladin. As it is now, choosing to run Dark Quartz may mean rounding out grade 1 space, not running playsets and instead running 3-ofs to create room for the deck's diverse grade 1 lineup.

Soul Strike Against the Supreme will launch in Japan on August 28th 2015, and internationally on October 2nd of the same year. Be sure to read the Abyss Dragons' card lore at Arkadiaworks.

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. 

News: Japanese Cardfight Twitter Reaches 30 Thousand Followers, Dark Quartz Dragon Leaked by Weekly Stream

Today Bushiroad's weekly Cardfight!! Vanguard livestream discussed several cards from G-BT04: Soul Strike Against the Supreme, focusing on upcoming support for Claret Sword Dragon. In addition to this, the stream discussed upcoming promotional products including a Vangarou-kun themed deck box, and a new poster for G-BT04. Doctor O also announced that official Cardfight!! Vanguard Twitter account has reached over thirty thousand followers, thanking the page's fans for their support. A recording of the livestream can be viewed below.

Doctor O gave an overview of "Supremacy Black Dragon, Aurageyser Damned," introducing the the terminology cross stride to describe Damned's ability to turn a copy of the original Aurageyser Dragon face-up. He also discussed the current card of the day "Dark Pride Dragon," and revealed its support unit "Dark Quartz Dragon." Dark Quartz's generation break 1 gives both itself and a Claret Sword Dragon vanguard +3000 power when Dark Quartz is called, and by using Dark Pride's skill it's possible to superior call Dark Quartz from the deck when Dark Pride is retired.

Dark Quartz Dragon
AUTO: Generation break 1: When this unit is placed on a rearguard circle, if you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with "Claret Sword Dragon" in its card name, choose one of your vanguards, during this turn, this unit and that unit get Power +3000.

The latest G-BT04 poster features units from Royal Paladin, Shadow Paladin, Neo Nectar, Angel Feather, Genesis, and Gear Chronicle, several of which have yet to be properly unveiled.

Doctor O also showed off an upcoming deck box. As part of the Get! Treasure Campaign, a Vangarou-kun themed deck box will be available from events as a promotional item in Japan starting July 31st and August 2nd, and be available from TCG Station retailers beginning on August 7th. The base of the deck box has tiny black circles representing the bottom of Vangarou-kun's feet, and the back is modeled after the Friendly International Vanguard Association logo.

(Vangarou-kun deck box at 14:11, G-BT04 cards shown at 25:52.)

Thirteen thousand live viewers tuned into the stream during its run. 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 guest stars Enoki Junya and Hama Kento to commemorate the Japanese launch of G-Title Booster 01: Touken Ranbu -ONLINE-, while the week before covered new Machining, Celestial, and Jewel Knight support cards from G-BT04: Soul Strike Against the Supreme.

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.

Today's Card Analysis: Contemptuous Knight, Ghiva

"I don't need you. Because you're useless now."

The Japanese card of the day is one of the rebel Shadow Paladins from G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon, the Contemptuous Knight Ghiva. A single rare support card for Claret Sword and Aurageyser Dragon, Ghiva revives the skill of Skull Witch Nemain from BT04: Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows as a generation break. In exchange for her slower startup time, Ghiva has a higher base power that can form a 16000-power lane with either a grade 1 superior called by Claret Sword, or with the 9000-power booster Hard Fighting Knight Claudas. Unlike other draw support cards Starlight Hedgehog and Flying Librarian, Ghiva's 7000 power base actually prevents her from forming a 16000-power column with Black Sage Charon or Diligent Knight Matholwch. Night Sky Eagle from the same set becomes an 11000-power grade 1 in the turn that it's called, and this card can be used to make Ghiva jump over the 16000-power threshold, but her low base power relative to the type of skill she carries brings with it several obstacles to Ghiva's success.

AUTO: Generation break 1: [Counterblast 1, choose a card from your hand, discard it] When this unit is called to a rearguard circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw two cards.

As a whole, Ghiva's base power is not quite high enough compared to Nemain to justify the generation break conditions. Unlike Flying Librarian, there are no conditions under which Ghiva will countercharge the damage she counterblasted. Moreover, one of the primary reasons to run Nemain in the original Shadow Paladin deck was that if a grade 1 and 2 were already in hand, Nemain could be kept in the opening draw instead of redrawing her because she filtered through more cards than would have been seen had she been sent back to the deck. Because Ghiva requires being at generation break before she can be used, she has zero early game utility and the primary benefit of her 7000 power base is being marginally less weak than Nemain while defending. This is a dubious benefit. The difference between 3000 and 7000 power is the difference between being assailed with trigger units versus grade 1s, and it also means that 10000-power subclan attackers like Transient Revenger Masquerade only require 5000 rather than 10000 shield to block.

But in the present generation break format, subclan attackers are generally run by just two decks--Phantom Blaster “Abyss” and Thing Saver Dragon. While those decks do account for a significant portion of professional play, neither of them want to commit a large number of trigger units to the field versus Shadow Paladin decks because of the danger of being hit with a “Diablo” stride and not having the hand to block it. Moreover, Thing Saver's subclan attackers are not effective early game because they are Jewel Knight subclan attackers that require a nearly-full field to function. Thus the primary disadvantage to running Nemain (riding her) has already been negated by aspects of gameplay endemic to the LD01-on format. The general reluctance to commit field at a fast pace versus any deck running the “Diablo” stride enables weaker cards like Nemain to function, as opponents have next to no hope of playing short games versus Shadow Paladin decks.

Both units synergize strongly with Aurageyser's Ildona-like skill, albeit at the disadvantage of costing counterblast in an already counterblast-intensive deck. Of the two, Nemain is the much more effective card in the early game, where her primary role is to fix bad hands and trade trigger units for useable rearguards while also getting the cards in hand you need for your stride combos. However, she's considerably weak in the mid to endgame, where her 3000 power base works against her even with Claret Sword's power bonus on her booster. Ghiva is more effective at forming real lanes that can draw 10000-and-greater shield out of an opponent. The cards do not have to be mutually exclusive to one another. Running the minimum number of Nemain to help secure initial setup can help sustain Claret Sword, and from there on out a playset of Ghiva can take over once your generation breaks are online.

Ghiva has also been subject to a widespread mistranslation. Originally propagated by the Cardfight Wiki, and likely owing to putting her name through Google Translate, this translation comes from interpreting mokusatsu (黙殺) as "smother," However, the smother translation comes from a dictionary definition "smothering a conversation." The real meaning of mokusatsu is akin to the phrase "I won't even dignify that statement with a response." It is a silence that indicates refusal to comment on something, rudely stoic behavior, and holding a statement in contempt. Ghiva's counterpart in this regard is Knight of Silence Gallatin, who is instead chinmoku (沈黙) indicating reticence and taciturnity. (Note that mokusatsu and chinmoku come from the same root word moku 黙) At her best, Ghiva is a Silent Knight; at her worst, a Contemptuous Knight.

News: Fans Leak Sovereign Star Dragon, Murakumo Restander

This morning an anonymous Japanese retailer broke the street date on G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon, enabling fans to spoil the remaining unknown cards in the set online. The major takeaway of the cards revealed is Ambush Demonic Stealth Dragon, Homura Raider; a stride unit that is also Murakumo's first restanding boss card.

ACT (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 2, choose a face down card named “Ambush Demonic Stealth Dragon, Homura Dragon” in your generation zone, turn it face up] If the number of cards in your generation zone is two or greater, during this turn, this unit gets Drive -1 and "AUTO (Vanguard circle): At the close step of the battle in which this unit attacked a vanguard, choose one of your rearguards, and return three rearguards with the same name as it to the bottom of your deck, if you returned three, stand this unit. Shuffle that deck."

Homura Raider's skill was shown off today in Bushiroad's weekly information bulletin, with the deck being played by seiyuu Morishita Shuuta, the voice of Nitta Shin in the anime series. In his fight, Morishita used the skill by using his other skills to superior call three copies of the draw trigger Cat Rogue and then return them to the deck for Homura's skill, increasing his chances of checking triggers on the second attack. Sovereign Star Dragon will hit in Japan on May 29th, and internationally on July 10th.

Murakumo's other notable cards from the set include their new first vanguard, Onifundou (bottom left) and the stand trigger Hidden Scroll. Onifundou provides a rare opportunity for Murakumo to dig into the deck for a search target for a combo, rather than to clone cards already drawn, while Hidden Scroll can superior call two copies of a card other than himself. Also visible in this image is Neutron Star Lady Gunner, a game-changing support unit for Link Joker's Messiah deck. When ridden or called, her generation break 1 locks one of her own rearguards to lock an opponent's; locking one's own rearguards makes more viable targets for Amnesty Messiah's power and critical skill.

Stealth Rogue, Onifundou
AUTO: Forerunner
AUTO (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: [Soulblast 1, put this unit into your hand] At the beginning of your main phase, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at up to three cards from the top of your deck, choose up to one of them, call it to a rearguard circle, shuffle that deck, and at the end phase of that turn, put the unit called by this effect on the bottom of your deck.

Stealth Beast, Hidden Scroll
AUTO: Generation break 1: [Put this unit on the top of your deck] When this unit is called to a rearguard circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your rearguards other than "Stealth Beast, Hidden Scroll" and search your deck for up to two cards with the same name as that unit, call them to a rearguard circle, shuffle that deck, and at the end phase of that turn, put the units called by this effect on the bottom of your deck.

Neutron Star Lady Gunner/中性子星のレディガンナー
AUTO: Generation break 1: [Choose one of your rearguards and lock it] When this unit is placed on a vanguard or rearguard circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rearguards and lock it.

The Shadow Paladin cards leaked include new support for the Demon World Castle subclan previously formalized in Requiem at Dusk, ToteWächter and StreitenTurm. ToteWächter is German for Death Watcher (or "Death Watchman") while StreitenTurm is Fighting Tower.

Shadow Paladin has also received specific named support for Claret Sword Dragon, in the Yearning Knight Branwen (哀慕の騎士ブランウェン Aibo no Kishi Buranuen). Branwen is a Steam Breath Dragon copy for Shadow Paladin, filling the stride-enabling gap left by Pitch Black Sage Charon.

AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Choose a grade 3 card from your hand, reveal it] When this unit is called to a rearguard circle from hand, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one grade 3 card with "Claret Sword Dragon" in its card name, put it into your hand, shuffle that deck, and choose a card from your hand, discard it.
CONT [Hand]: When you are paying the cost for stride, this card gets grade +2.

Center top; Star-vader Technitium. Center bottom; Spiral Nebula Fairy.

??? Star-vader, Technitium
AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Choose a card with "Star-vader" in its card name in your hand, discard it] When this unit attacks, if you have a vanguard with "Star-vader" in its card, name you may pay the cost. If paid, during that battle, this unit gets Power +5000 and "AUTO (Rearguard circle) When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, soulcharge 1,  choose a card in your damage zone and turn it face-up."

Spiral Nebula Fairy ??? Girl/渦状星雲のXとし子
AUTO: Forerunner
ACT (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: [Put this unit into your soul, choose one of your other rearguards and unlock it] Choose one of your opponent's rearguards, lock it.

Center left; Stellar Maker. Center right; Gravity Well Lady Battler. Right; Destiny Dealer.

Stellar Maker
AUTO (Vanguard circle): Generation break 1: When this unit attacks a vanguard, choose two locked cards, unlock them, during that battle this unit gets Power +5000/Critical +1.
AUTO: [Counterblast 1, Soulblast 1] When this unit is placed on the vanguard circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rearguards and lock it.

Gravity Well Lady Battler
ACT (Rearguard circle): Once per turn: Generation break 1: [Choose one of your rearguards, lock it] During this turn, this until gets Power +4000.

Destiny Dealer
AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Choose a grade 3 card from your hand, reveal it] When this unit is called to a rearguard circle from hand, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one grade 3 card with "Messiah" in its card name, put it into your hand, shuffle that deck, and choose a card from your hand, discard it.
CONT [Hand]: When you are paying the cost for stride, this card gets grade +2.

Heroic Saga Dragon
AUTO (Vanguard circle): Generation break 1: When this unit attacks a vanguard, your opponent may choose one of their own rearguards and retire it, and if they did not retire, during that battle this unit gets Critical +1 and "AUTO (Vanguard circle): At the beginning of your damage step, if the number of guardians is one, choose one of your opponent's guardians, retire it, and that units effects with "cannot be hit" is nullified." 
AUTO: [Counterblast 1, Soulblast 1] When this unit is placed on the vanguard circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's grade 1 or less rearguards and retire it.

Heroic Saga's skill functionally forces the opponent to either retire a unit or not be able to use perfect defense cards. Quintet walls are functionally exempt from having their guard broken, and Heroic Saga will not work if the opponent guards with multiple 10000-power shields.

Every clan included in Sovereign Star Dragon with the exception of Kagerou and Cray Elemental is receiving a G-perfect defense, with the ability to countercharge a damage when guarded with if there is a copy of them in the drop zone. These are, by clan;
Dark Irregulars -  Flag Breaker
Link Joker- Flower Blooming in the Vacuum, Cosmolis
Shadow Paladin - Karma Collector
Murakumo - Stealth Rogue, White Heron
Gold Paladin - Holy Mage, Pryderi

Upper left; Killing Dollmaster. Upper center; Lunatic Masquerade. Bottom left; Werfleder Ordonnaz.

Killing Dollmaster
AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Put this unit into your soul] At the beginning of your main phase, you may pay the cost. If you do, soulcharge 2.

Lunatic Masquerade
CONT (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: During your turn, if the number of cards in your soul is 6 or more, this unit gets Power +2000, and then if the number if cards in your soul is 10 or more, this unit gets Power +2000.

Werfleder Ordonnaz
AUTO: Forerunner
ACT (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: [Counterblast 1, put this unit into your soul] Soulcharge 2, if the number of cards in your soul is 6 or more, draw a card.

Sweet Predator
AUTO (Vanguard/Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: During your main phase, when a card is put into your soul, during this turn, this unit gets Power +3000.

While these Dark Irregulars units are disappointing to some--as they come in lieu of an Izaya reprint, or generation break versions of Doreen the Thruster and Izaya that work in any phase--there are some upsides to their introduction. Lunatic Masquerade's +2000 power boosts stack on top of one another so that at the 10+ soul benchmark he has a total +4000 power booster and becomes a permanent 11000-power booster. The advantage to this over Doreen is that the soul count being increased during the battle phase will affect his power, allowing the use of Scoremaker Vampir and Kiskill-Lila to pump him up to that point. Moreover, the later in the game Lunatic is on the field the more effective he is over long stretches compared to Doreen, as he does not require redundant soulcharging to power up.

Dragon Knight, Janat
AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Put this unit into your soul] When your vanguard attacks, if you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with "Dragonic Blademaster" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If paid, draw a card, choose one of your vanguards, during that battle it gets Power +5000.

Rising Lionet
AUTO (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: [Put this unit into your soul] When another card is called to a rearguard circle from your deck, you may pay the cost. If you do, during this turn, that unit gets Power +5000 and "AUTO: (Rearguard circle): [Counterblast 1] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at up to three cards from the top of your deck, choose a card from among them, call it to an open rearguard circle, and shuffle that deck."

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.

Today's Card Analysis: Sovereign Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon

 "A claret sword. There lies a history of fresh blood."

The Japanese card of the day is one of the lead figures in Shadow Paladin's rebel faction, the military leader Claret Sword Dragon. A generalissimo seeking to take advantage of the clan's weakened leadership in Mordred's absence and overthrow Blaster Dark “Diablo,” Claret Sword will ring familiar for the supporters of Shadow Paladin's former patron deity Phantom Blaster Dragon. The Sovereign Dragon is to Blaster Dark as night to day, and a visionary for a different future for the clan.

ACT (Vanguard circle) Once per turn: Generation break 2: (Active if you have 2 or more face-up G Units in your vanguard circle or generation zone) [Choose two of your rearguards, and retire them] During this turn, this unit gets Power +10000 / Critical +1.
AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1] During your turn, when your G unit strides, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for one grade 1 or less card, call it to a rearguard circle, shuffle that deck, during this turn, that unit gets Power +2000.

As was predicted, Claret Sword's on-stride counterblast 1 superior calls a grade 1 or lesser card from the deck and temporarily increasing its power, allowing a weaker unit with a utility skill to temporarily serve as a valuable booster before being retired by stride skills. The primary issue working against Claret Sword is the lack of genericized support for Shadow Paladin; the Revengers are the clan itself, and most effective support cards that do not belong to them instead go to the Blasters specifically.

Of the pre-Sovereign Star Dragon units, the card Claret Sword fighters will want to take advantage of the most is Black-winged Swordbreaker from BT15: Infinite Rebirth. Swordbreaker's on-call soulblast 1 to draw will build a net +2 in card advantage if Claret was strode over neutrally, refreshing the hand, providing a temporary base 8000 power booster and providing fuel for retire-based strides. Another potential target is the original Black Sage Charon from BT04: Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows and TD10: Purgatory Revenger, who with the power bonus will become a 10000-power booster that can form 21000-power lines with either Triple Dark Armor or the generation break 12000-power attacker Belberith.

Generally the cards introduced in G-LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” will not be compatible with Claret Sword because these units require a Blaster vanguard, but if your stride target is Phantom Blaster “Diablo” this won't be a problem for that turn. You can use Claret Sword to superior call Darkheart Trumpeter, use Darkheart's soulblast 1 to superior call Pitch Black Sage Charon, and since you have Blaster “Diablo” as your vanguard you'll be able to use Charon's Blaster-exclusive skill to make him count as two units at once, incurring a net change of 0--the same exchange as if you'd called Swordbreaker. The difference between Pitch Black Charon and Swordbreaker is that Charon allows you to maintain field presence, while Swordbreaker maintains handsize. Charon is an offensively-minded play, while Swordbreaker is defensively-minded.

Claret Sword is bringing his own leg of support with him, but with so little known of Sovereign Star Dragon it's difficult to say at this time precisely what to rely on. The promotional card Decipherer of Prohibited Books is one such option; her on-call generation break 1 counterblast 1 can superior call any grade 0, but in a generation break-centric deck with no recycling options where triggers are a finite resource, this is of dubious value compared to simply pulling out a Swordbreaker. Knight of Contempt Giiva is designed to support heavy retire skills, but as a grade 2 can't be superior called by Claret Sword and has to be brought out from the hand. The same holds true for Skull Witch Nemain, an old standby for Shadow Paladin veterans.

In terms of his stride targets, while Phantom Blaster “Diablo” is far and away the most desirable option for Claret Sword's endgame at this time, it should be kept in mind that Claret's on-stride counterblast sets up the otherwise-conditional Dark Knight Efnysian from Fighter's Collection 2015. Efnysian's on-stride skill retires one of your own rearguards to gain +7000 power and an on-hit retire skill, which can be impractical if you have no rearguards in play as a result of the opponent's card effects. Claret Sword gets around this by superior calling a card that can immediately be retired for Efnysian's skill to break even on your end and incur a -1 in card advantage against the opponent if the attack hits, and if you call out Swordbreaker this results in a net +1 to your own advantage and -1 against the opponent. Since Efnysian's skill makes him reach 33000 power by himself, if you do already have rearguards in play you can use Claret Sword to bring out a booster for Efnysian and increase its base power so that he breaks the 41000+ threshold.

Finally, Claret Sword's generation break 2 must be put under consideration. While his on-stride skill is reminiscent of Mordred Phantom, his generation break falls squarely within the realm of Phantom Blaster Dragon, down to its timing. Everything learned from Blaster Dragon years ago is applicable, including its shortcomings, but lets consider first how Claret improves the skill. Claret Sword does away with the counterblast cost entirely to get rid of the redundant costing on Blaster Dragon, meaning that so long as you have cards you can put into play, you can use his generation break. And only costing two units instead of three helps offset the lack of access to Pitch Black Charon for the Sovereign's retire skill. Phantom Blaster Dragon does have access to the generation break skills of Knights Dorint and Claudas from their legend deck to unflip damage with, and can make use of Darkheart, Swordbreaker and Charon, while on his own independent turns Claret does not have access to either Darkheart or Swordbreaker (the latter by connection to the former.)

Thus Phantom Blaster is generally looking at a counterblast 1 soulblast 1 retire 2 for his skill, sometimes at a net -1 rather than -2, and because Claret Sword has to wait so much later in the game to get his skill online in the first place, it's less immediately available by comparison. The major shortcoming of the Sovereign Dragon's generation break is that there are so many other cards with almost identical skills that are able to make use of them without paying any cost at all; Dragonic Blademaster, Battle Deity Susanoo, Dragonic Vanquisher and Charharlot Vampir all receive similar benefits passively rather than by actively needing to pay a cost. Secondary to this is that like with Phantom Blaster Dragon because Claret Sword's retire skill is a main phase retire that requires fronting two rearguards it has a hidden second cost, that essentially takes four cards out of your defenses. Every two units that you retire in the main phase have to be replaced with two more from the hand, weakening your overall ability to defend. A further discussion of these types of abilities is addressed in the History of Professional Cardfight. Where Claret has a leg up over his predecessor is that across several cumulative turns he is able to amass greater overall card advantage through repeated on-stride superior calls, and this can make him more viable in the long term. It simply weakens his overall offensive gameplay in terms of the generation break, which like Damned Charging Lance before it is destined to go unused.

Finally, Claret Sword's lore;
神聖国家の闇に生きる黒き騎士団“シャドウパラディン”の騎士。
血のように赤く染まったその剣から「クラレットソード」の名で呼ばれる。
「力こそ正義」という信念を持ち、騎士団に属していながら「神聖国家を影から支える」という思想に異を唱える。

Shinseikokka no yami ni ikiru kurokikishidan "Shadou Paradin" no kishi.
Chi no you ni akakushimatta sono kenkara "Kuraretto Soodo" no na de yobareru.
"Chikarakoso Seigi" to iu shinnen wo mochi, kishidan ni zokushiteinagara "shinseikokka wo kagekara shieru" to iu shisou ni i wo tonaeru.

Living in the darkness of the holy nation, there is a knight of the black order "Shadow Paladin."
Because of his blade stained red with blood, he is called "Claret Sword."
Believing that "power is justice," he opposes the ideal of "supporting the holy nation from the shadows" in spite of belonging to a knightly order.

News: Claret Sword, Aurageyser Dragon and Rebel Shadow Paladins Shown in Anime

This morning's Japanese episode of Cardfight!! Vanguard G (ride 27) partially revealed the skills of several upcoming Shadow Paladin cards from G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon, including what may be the titular dragon itself. Used by director Kanzaki Yuuichirou, these Shadow Paladins are comprised of a group of dissenters united under Claret Sword Dragon, who in a short novel published in last month's issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine challenged Blaster Dark “Diablo” for control of the Shadow Paladin clan. Their skills, as best can be reconstructed from the anime and the existing template for these types of cards, are given below.

As Kanzaki's damage zone was not shown at any point after his initial stride, all counterblast costs are conjectural and are based on comparison with existing cards. (Altomile, Chronojet Dragon, Neon Messiah et al.)

11:00 PM Update: Several summaries of the fight conditions added to and expanded on below.

Black Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon/黒竜クラレットソード・ドラゴン
Grade 3/11000 Power/No Shield
(Vanguard circle): Generation break 2: (Active if you have 2 or more face-up G Units in your vanguard circle or generation zone) Unknown
AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1] During your turn, when your G unit strides, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for one grade 1 or less card, and call it to a rearguard circle.

In the episode, Kanzaki first used Claret Sword's on-stride skill to superior call a Night Sky Eagle from his deck. On his second stride, he used the skill to call a second copy of his first vanguard Daffyd from the deck. It is also possible that Claret gives between +2000 and +6000 power to the unit that he superior calls, because when Kanzaki attacks with Giiva boosted by Eagle (normally a 14000 power column) his opponent guards with a 10000 shield trigger from the hand rather than intercepting. Claret's on-stride may return retired units to the deck; see below.

Sovereign Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon/覇道黒竜 オーラガイザー・ドラゴン
Grade 4/15000 Power/No Shield
Stride (Released when both players' vanguards are grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your vanguard circle from face down.
AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Choose two/one of your rearguards, and retire them] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, until the end of that battle this unit gets Power +10000, search your deck for one/two grade 1 card(s), reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and shuffle that deck.

Some Japanese fans have suggested that Aurageyser retires three cards to search for two, rather than retiring two to search for one. One-for-one has also been put forth. In the episode Kanzaki retired a Daffyd to search for two perfect defense cards; based on him then drive checking a Daffyd and superior calling a second one on his next turn, 2critical theorized a card recycling skill attached to Claret's on-stride effects, but this could also be part of Daffyd's skills or even Aurageyser's. Searching for two perfect defense cards may have actually been the result of multiple skills (both Auragesyer's and Daffyd's) being used in succession. (An animation error showed the Daffyd he drove check being on the field during the activation of Claret Sword's skill during his next turn, but immediately before this the field was empty, and subsequent call animations showed Daffyd being called behind a Night Sky Eagle.)

Knight of ???, Daffyd/☓☓の騎士ダフィド 
AUTO:Forerunner (When a unit of the same clan rides this unit, you may call this unit to a rearguard circle) 
AUTO?: [Generation break 1]:

• Daffyd's skill may be either a generation break version of Pitch Black Sage Charon's skill or an on-retire search for a grade 1 card.
• May involve a self-cycling effect that returns Daffyd to the deck; after Daffyd was retired, another copy was drive checked by Kanzaki (manually called on the next turn), and yet another Daffyd was superior called on the next turn.

Knight of Contempt, Giiva/黙殺の騎士ギーヴァ
Grade 2/7000 Power/5000 Shield
AUTO: [Generation break 1] [Choose a card from your hand, and discard it.] When this unit is called to a rearguard circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw 2 cards.

• Kanzaki called Giiva on his grade 2 turn as well, but his hand size matches being unable to use the skill due to not being at generation break.

Night Sky Eagle/ナイトスカイ・イーグル
Grade 1/7000 Power/5000 Shield
AUTO: [Generation break 1] [Choose one of your rearguards, and retire it] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets Power +4000 until the end of that battle.

• During Kanzaki's final turn of the episode, Eagle was able to attack for 16000 power with Daffyd as its booster, and that Kanzaki's opponent guarded with two separate 5000 shield units.
• A Night Sky Eagle on Kanzaki's left side of the field was retired by Parititan's on-stride skill.

Name Unknown
Grade 1/6000 Power/5000 Shield
CONT: Sentinel (You may only have up to four cards with "CONT: Sentinel" in a deck)
AUTO: [Choose a card from your hand, and discard it] When this unit is placed on the guardian circle from hand, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your vanguards that is being attacked, and that unit cannot be hit until end of that battle. Then, if you have a card with the same name in your drop zone, choose a card from your damage zone, and turn it face up.

• Two copies were searched by some combination of Aurageyser and Daffyd.

Knight of ???, Matholwch/☓☓の騎士マソルフ
Grade 1/8000 Power/5000 Shield

White Eagle Knight, Gwawl/白鷲の騎士 グワウル
Grade 2/10000 Power/5000 Shield