Psychic Bird and Miracle Kid shown in Monthly Bushiroad

The June issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine contained a detail that flew beneath the notice of most readers: Oracle Think Tank's first trigger units of the Standard Format were shown in the magazine's demonstration of the new Amaterasu support. Although they're scaled down to be very small for the demonstration, close-ups reveal the returning Psychic Bird and Miracle Kid will be reprising their roles as Critical and Draw Triggers for the clan.

While Psychic was an effect trigger in the previous game, in Standard the only trigger units with effects are Draw Trigger perfect guards. Keeping with this, the new Psychic Bird is a vanilla with 5k power.

Miracle Kid is likewise a vanilla Draw, with just 5000 shield. While it may be tempting to say these are only mock-ups and the final versions could have effects, it should be kept in mind that neither Royal Paladin nor Kagerо̄ have triggers in the set outside of Iseult and Barri, leaving the Trial Deck triggers as the only ones available. It seems the standard for Standard is vanilla grade 0s, and for every clan to have at least two types of Draw, and likely two types of Crit as well. This would rather neatly explain Nova Grappler's nine grade 0s in V-BT01, where Oracle Think Tank will at most have six. Nova needs the space to fit in another Draw Trigger, two Criticals, another Front, a Heal, and Cat Butler, alongside the previously confirmed Battleraizer, Tap the Hyper, and Turboraizer.

Today's Card Analysis: Transraizer and Twin Blader

The Japanese cards of the day for May 15th, 2018, are two Nova Grappler units from V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4, Transraizer and Twin Blader.

Transraizer
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it boosts. [Cost: Soulblast 2], Countercharge 1, and if that attack targeted a vanguard, this unit gets Power +3000 until the end of that battle.

Transraizer was previously revealed at the Anaheim Team League event this past weekend, while Twin Blader was all but confirmed by the first episode of the Origin anime series. Due to the power of boosting units being continuously applied to the boosted unit during the battle phase, Transraizer's additional 3k will transfer to the unit it's paired with. Ideally that would be Extra Muscular, Iron Killer, or Cup Bowler to make a 23k+ column, but the 3k isn't what's really valuable about Transraizer.

Rather, it's the countercharge that makes the card useful. One countercharge off Transraizer means a second use of Perfect Raizer's counterblast or a full refund on Asura Kaiser. In conjunction with Boomerang Thrower you can further refund the soul cost and make Transraizer more sustainable, and by carefully timing your use of Hi-powered Raizer Custom you can pull Battleraizer out of the soul to soulcharge with Boomerang Thrower, then throw Battleraizer back into the soul mid-battle phase with Hi-powered, and soulblast the card with Transraizer to countercharge.

Twin Blader is the clan's Draw Trigger perfect guard, matching Iseult, Barri, and Miss Mist.

Twin Blader
CONT: Sentinel (You may only have up to 4 cards in your deck with "Sentinel")
AUTO [Guardian Circle]: When placed, [Cost: Discard 1 card from your hand], and one of your units cannot be hit until the end of that battle.

As in the other decks, Twin Blader is an important component of a good Nova Grappler build for freeing up grade 1 space. With Raizer Custom, Transraizer, Jetraizer, Death Army Guy, Rocket Hammerman, and at least one more unrevealed card all competing for those slots, the free space is a welcome addition regardless of whether you're maining Raizers or Heroes.

With this, all of Nova Grappler's Vanguard Rares, Triple Rares, and Double Rares have been revealed; There are two to three Single Rares left for the clan, depending on whether V-BT01/037 R is a Nova Grappler grade 3, a Kagerо̄ grade 1, or Kagerо̄ grade 0.

The previous Japanese Cards of the Day were Circle Magus and Luck Bird.

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.

Twin Blader appears in first episode of Vanguard anime: Nova Grappler Draw Trigger perfect guard?

The first episode of the 2018 Cardfight!! Vanguard anime featured a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by a new Nova Grappler Draw Trigger. Visible just as Miwa finishes fighting Morikawa, when rotated 90 degrees and scaled up the card appears to be a remade Twin Blader, Nova Grappler's original perfect guard from Booster Set 2: Onslaught of Dragon Souls.

The card would be an ideal fit for one of Nova Grappler's still-unseen Double Rares, as with the reveal of Miss Mist Tuesday they are currently only clan in V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 to lack a Draw Trigger perfect guard. With Iseult and Barri having set the bar, it's now expected that every clan will eventually receive a clone of these cards in order to free up their grade 1 space.

In addition to Twin Blader, the manga card Cat Butler also made an appearance in the opening sequence, still a grade 0. The card's original skill was to retire itself after your grade 2 vanguard's attack failed to hit, standing the vanguard; this proved devastating with the onset of Legion format in 2014, as Cat Butler could stand grade 2 Legion Mates, and when a Legion Mate stands its Leader stands with it. Cat Butler giving Nova Grappler a high-power 2 Critical center lane capable of restanding at a net +1 as many times as it had Butlers if its attack didn't hit eventually lead to the card's restriction in the Japanese format.

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 Japanese May 11th, 2018, and in English June 8th. They will be accompanied by a new sleeve based on the "Imaginary Gift" design.

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," began airing May 5th, with an English-subtitled simulcast on both YouTube and Crunchyroll.