Today's Card Analysis: Dark Heart Trumpeter

The English-language card of the day Dark Heart Trumpeter, one of the Blaster series support cards from LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori,” which will reach the international game in just ten days' time. Illustrated by Ryuutetsu, the artist behind Darkside and Dark Bond Trumpeter from BT04 and BT12, Dark Heart trades the early game utility of Dark Bond in favor of an overall cheaper cost and higher base power, at the expense of only being usable at the mid to late stages of a fight. In the majority of Blaster decks Dark Heart will be an effective replacement for Black-winged Swordbreaker, better complementing those decks with her higher power base and ability to rapidly fill the field.

Because she requires a Blaster vanguard for her generation break to resolve, Dark Heart's primary place is with Blaster Dark “Diablo” and Phantom Blaster “Abyss.” The breakride print of Phantom Blaster Dragon requires a soulblast 3 to use, and so running the breakride is generally going to be mutually exclusive to running Dark Heart. On the other hand, the BT04 print of Phantom Blaster Dragon can use her soulblast to help fuel his retire skill, superior calling rearguards to act as sacrifices that will mitigate the retire cost, effectively trading the retire cost for a soulblast cost.

For “Abyss,” Dark Heart can easily replace Swordbreaker as a staple card in the deck. The idea behind this is to use Judgebau to superior call two copies of Dark Heart while in stride with Phantom Blaster “Abyss” as the heart, then using both Dark Heart's soulblasts to superior call a Transient Revenger Masquerade and a booster for it. While the Dark Hearts will come out at rest, the Masquerade column will be as stand, allowing an additional attack that turn.

If called to empty rearguard circles, Judgebau into Trumpeter is a net +3, the same as Swordbreaker. But unlike Swordbreaker, Trumpeter is not a dead card if drawn normally prior to this, as her generation break can be used from the hand as well, and there's no risk of accidentally emptying valuable triggers out of the deck as there are with Swordbreaker's draws. Both units should result in generally identical handsizes throughout the game so long as you don't call to three of your rearguard circles prior to using Judgebau. Calling to occupied circles is only a net neutral exchange in card advantage (+1 -1) instead of a net positive exchange (+1). Furthermore, you can conserve more advantage using Trumpeter than you can with Swordbreaker in the long-term if you use Trumpeter to superior call a copy of Pitch Black Sage Charon. While the Trumpeters cannot be sacrificed for “Abyss'” retire skill because he can only retire Revenger rearguards, they can be used to pay for the cost of the stride Phantom Blaster “Diablo.” With Charon in play, “Diablo” only requires two sacrifices to use--one Trumpeter and one Charon. Hence, Dark Heart is not just a net +3 with Judgebau, she also mitigates “Diablo” down to a net -2, conserving more cards than Swordbreaker.

On a final note, examine Dark Heart's SAMPLE image carefully; the English edition of the card misprints her race as Human rather than Angel.

Press Release: 3 Major English Edition Cardfight!! Vanguard Expansions in June 2015

The following is a press release distributed by Bushiroad USA and may not reflect the views or opinions of Cardfight Pro or its editors.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3 Major English Edition Cardfight!! Vanguard Expansions in June 2015

Singapore (March 12, 2015) – Bushiroad announced the simultaneous release of 3 Cardfight!! Vanguard G English Edition products which will be on sale on June 19, 2015. These expansions include one new Trial Deck, the 2015 edition of the Fighters Collection and an all-new product, the Legend Deck.

 

Cardfight!! Vanguard G Trial Deck Vol. 5 ‘Fateful Star Messiah’, Fighters Collection 2015 and Legend Deck Vol. 1 ‘The Dark “Ren Suzugamori”’ feature the latest in the Cardfight!! Vanguard G series and contain new cards that will feature units with the Stride and Generation Break abilities.

G Trial Deck Vol. 5 ‘Fateful Star Messiah’ features the <<Link Joker>> clan, while the Fighters Collection 2015 will contain new G-units for all clans that have been released thus far, excluding the <<Etranger>> clan.

The Legend Deck series is a new product that shines the spotlight on “Legendary Fighters” from the Cardfight!! Vanguard animation. Legend Deck Vol. 1 will feature the fan-favorite Ren Suzugamori and his popular <<Shadow Paladin>> deck. It is the first of its kind, and will contain premium items such as an exclusive deck holder, fighter’s counter as well as a special foiled promotional card.

G Trial Deck Vol. 5 ‘Fateful Star Messiah’ and Legend Deck Vol.1 ‘The Dark “Ren Suzugamori”’ will also include one hot-stamped card randomly inserted into decks.

News: International Game to See LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” in June, VGE-TD05: Fateful Star Messiah and Fighter's Collection 2015

Today the English Cardfight portal updated with release information for the international distribution of G-LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori,” G-TD05: Fateful Star Messiah and G-FC01: Fighter's Collection 2015. All three sets will hit western shores simultaneously on June 19th 2015. The legend deck will notably contain all of the accoutrements of its Japanese counterpart sans sleeves, including the triple rare promotional card Grim Recruiter.

The Dark “Ren Suzugamori,” first announced in late January, will introduce the new Shadow Paladin cards used by legacy character Suzugamori Ren in the Cardfight!! Vanguard G anime series. Careful scrutinizing of a promotional poster distributed in early February reveals that the cards teased so far each have partial grade information in their grade circles. The number of bars inside their grade circles indicate that the new Nemain and Charon units are grade 1s, Macha and Mac Lir grade 2s, and Blaster Dark “Diablo” is a grade 3. Furthermore, Nemain's gold shield icon points to her being a card with the Sentinel skill, and Phantom Blaster “Diablo's” card color corresponds to a G Unit.

The legend deck will come out on April 24th in Japan.

Fateful Star Messiah was announced in Japan only last week, alongside the upcoming booster set G-TD05: Dragonic Star of the Supreme Way. The set will feature Ibuki Kouji's Messiah units, a new series of Link Joker-turned variations on the original stride Harmonics Messiah. Japan will receive Fateful Star Messiah on May 29th.

Fighter's Collection 2015 is a special form of extra booster that will provide G Units for every clan sans Etranger. The set will reach Japanese waters on May 5th.

News: Shadow Paladin Stride "Dark Knight, Grim Recruiter" Revealed, Legend Deck Beginning Set

The Japanese products page updated today to reflect the upcoming Beginning Set for Legend Deck 01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori,” due this April. Among the merchandise to be included in the Beginning Set is a triple rare print of the promotional card Dark Knight, Grim Recruiter. A counterpart to Royal Paladin's Shrouded Divine Knight Gablade, Recruiter's skill calls a grade 1 or less card rather than a grade 2. This makes for easy access to Shadow Paladin's burgeoning pool of supportive rearguards, primarily the on-call draw unit Black-winged Swordbreaker. If stridden neutrally, calling a Swordbreaker off of Recruiter and drawing is a net +2 in card advantage. This can alternately help fuel the retire skills of the clan's upcoming boss cards, or provide an intimidating pressure unit that gives the opponent an incentive to drop a perfect defense card on a high power center lane early in the fight, similar to how Gablade has been used in professional competition.

AUTO (Vanguard circle): When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, search your deck for up to one grade 1 or less card, call it to a rearguard circle, and shuffle that deck.

Thematically the card is a successor to the trigger units Grim Reaper and Grim Revenger of BT04 and TD10, but unlike those cards Recruiter is not of the demon race. Grim Recruiter may be an early promotional print of a stride from the booster set G-BT03, as Shadow Paladin is to be included in the G-booster and only one copy of Grim Recruiter will be in each Beginning Set.

The set will also include a storage box, deck box and Fighter's Counters each featuring Blaster Dark “Diablo” and Suzugamori Ren on one face, and Phantom Blaster “Diablo” on another. Ren and Dark “Diablo” will serve as the +5000 power counter, while Phantom Blaster “Diablo” will serve as the +10000 counter. The set will include 60 card sleeves, and will retail for 3500 yen, approximately $29.50 at the current exchange rate.

News: Legend Deck 01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” for April

This morning Bushiroad of Japan revealed the first legend deck through a live Niconico broadcast in cooperation with Card Kingdom, G-LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori.” The broadcast attracted more than ten thousand viewers and five thousand comments. Card Kingdom deck designer JacK (@JacK_cardkingdo) released promotional images teasing four cards from the deck, including cover card Blaster Dark “Diablo.” Unlike trial decks, legend decks contain a full four card playset of their main grade 3, stride unit and Sentinel cards. Each legend deck contains 54 cards, and unlike with trial decks can be played competitively out of the box without buying additional legend decks. Legend decks feature the cards of legendary cardfighters from Cardfight!! Vanguard's original run, transplanted into the era of Cardfight!! Vanguard G. The legend deck will be released in Japan on April 24th, 2015. No English-language release date has yet been announced.

Duel Portal has since released higher quality images of the units from initial previews. The deck's cover card, Blaster Dark “Diablo,” is illustrated by veteran artist Daisuke Izuka. Within the clan Izuka is known for his work on Raging Form Dragon, and outside of it on other famous units like Chaos Breaker Dragon and all of the Garmore variants. As the first of a pair of “Diablo” units, this is notably the first incarnation of Blaster Dark to not be a part of the Revenger subclan since his return in VG-TD10: Purgatory Revenger in June 2013. Originally designed by franchise creator Itou Akira, Blaster Dark has not had a consistent illustrator; in BT04 and BT06 he was illustrated by Ryuutetsu, in TD12 and BT12 by Itou, as a promotional card by studio TMS, and in EB10 by Foo Midori

He is followed closely by Darkness Dragon, Phantom Blaster “Diablo.” Generally thought to be Shadow Paladin's first stride unit, Blaster “Diablo” is illustrated by NINNIN, who previously handled Phantom Blaster Overlord in BT05: Awakening of Twin Blades. “Diablo” greatly resembles the Overlord of the past drawn from a different angle, standing upright rather than hunched over and with his double lances fused at their hilts. The background and foreground of the illustration are likewise variations on Blaster Overlord's, harkening back to the world's first persona blaster. Based on this, some fans are theorizing that “Diablo” will be Shadow Paladin's persona stride, activating his skill by turning a face-down copy of himself in the generation zone face-up.

The legend deck will also bring back Skull Witch Nemain as Young Skull Witch Nemain (髑髏の魔女っ娘　ネヴァン Dokuro no Majommusume Nevan, musume can mean either "young lady" and "daughter" depending on the context.) She is illustrated by Hagiya Kaoru, who also illustrated the original Nemain. Based on similarities in the artwork to contemporary units, many cardfighters believe Young Nemain will be the Legend deck's perfect defense card, potentially serving as Shadow Paladin's G-perfect defense capable of unflipping damage during the guard step while there is a copy of her in the drop zone.

Finally, the LD01 will bring back Darkness Maiden Macha as the Maiden of the Dark Night, Macha. Like Blaster Dark, Macha will not be retaining her original illustrator; Hayabusa Yuki has uniquely never illustrated any other cards for Cardfight!! Vanguard since BT04. Instead, the Maiden of the Dark Knight will be illustrated by Aoji, who recently did work on the Neo Nectar trial deck G-TD03: Flower Maiden of Purity.

The legend deck will retail for 3500 yen (approx. $30 at the present exchange rate) and will contain fifteen unique cards, one of those being a G Unit. It will come packaged with a Ren themed storage box, 60 Ren mini sleeves and one Ren deck holder, as well as a Ren Fighter's Counter. Additionally, there will be a triple rare-foiled promo card and a playmat with a guide on how to play the deck on its back. Its announcement reflects the increased focus on the globalization of the Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game, as three years ago the same deck would likely have been titled “Suzugamori Ren.”