News: Phantom Blaster Dragon Becomes Most Expensive Card in Game, Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- Playmats, Deckboxes & Sleeves

The Japanese edition of G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon went on sale just a few hours ago, and prices from both Japanese auctions and retailers are already stabilizing. Of all the cards in the set, the most alarming is G-BT03's print of Phantom Blaster Dragon; his average selling price has jumped to be the highest single in the game's history, at 5000~7000 yen per card. (approx. $40~56 at the current exchange rate.) This is more than the price of one box of Sovereign Star Dragon, and observations from Japanese buyers are that the inclusion rate of the set's two generation rares is at one of each generation rare per carton--one Phantom Blaster and one Amnesty per every sixteen boxes. If this ratio is true, it would be a massive departure from Generation Stride and Soaring Ascent of Gale & Blossom, where generation rares were distributed at the same rate as triple rares. Lagging behind Phantom Blaster are Amnesty Messiah and Aurageyser Dragon as the second most expensive cards from the set, going for 1500~2000 yen each.

The exorbitant prices for Phantom Blaster are derived from his synergy with multiple different Blaster deck types, including Phantom Blaster “Abyss,” who is generally regarded as the dominant deck of the pre-BT03 format. Both halves of the “Abyss” legion experienced a similar price jump earlier this month. However, running the Phantom breakride in “Abyss” has been brought under severe scrutiny from the first day the Blaster Dragon breakride was revealed. Doing so means surrendering virtually all forms of soulblast support, including Black-winged Swordbreaker and Darkheart Trumpeter. It also means losing access to Blaster Dark Revenger and Revenger “Abyss” for most of the game, neutering Revengers' devastating field control options and ability to shut down a vast number of first vanguard-centric strategies. Other Blaster decks are also on the rise, with triple rare playsets of Phantom Blaster Overlord reaching a 2000 yen high, and Gust Blaster Dragon rising to 1200 yen apiece.

In other news, Duel Portal, retailers Cardshop Ogre and Card Kingdom have all revealed merchandise for G-Title Booster 01: Touken Ranbu -ONLINE-, including eight character-specific sleeves from Bushiroad's Mini Sleeve Collection and several deckboxes. Six playmat designs (pictured below) are also being produced for the set, intended to double as mousepads. The Touken Ranbu booster was originally announced as an April Fool's joke by Bushiroad of Japan, and later clarified to be a real product made in association with DMM and Nitro+. The booster will feature the characters of Touken Ranbu as part of the unique clan "Touken Ranbu," and will be compatible with all of the cards produced in the existing Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game.

While the booster set has been designed to attract a new audience to Vanguard, fan reactions across the globe have been mixed. Some fans have expressed displeasure with devoting a booster set to what has been described as an opposite gender counterpart to Bermuda Triangle, when that space could be devoted to an existing clan. Others have criticized the Touken Ranbu clan as being out of place in the greater context of Cardfight!! Vanguard's world, particularly with respect to the planet Cray. But still other fans find an appeal to the cross-promotion that would otherwise be absent from the game, and in Japan boxes of the title booster have already been promised as prizes at several upcoming VGCS tournaments.

The set's status in English-speaking countries is unknown, as DMM lacks an international presence and licensing the set for the western market could prove difficult. Bushiroad Inc. does have experience with bringing over these types of properties in its older card game Weiβ Schwarz, but the possibility remains that one of Cardfight!! Vanguard's clans will remain exclusive to the Japanese edition. Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- will go on sale in Japan on July 17th.

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: Phantom Blaster Dragon

運命よ、我にさらなる絶望を与えよ！

"O fate, bestow unto me even further despair!"

The Japanese card of the day is an unconventional revival of Shadow Paladin's original boss card, Phantom Blaster Dragon. While the original Phantom languished in disuse for years, this new breakride incarnation of the unit supports multiple different deck types and strategies with divergent bodies of support, giving life to cards both old and new. The Dragon of Hell's second coming is upon us.

AUTO (Limit Break 4): [Soulblast 3] When a <<Shadow Paladin>> rides this unit, you may pay the cost. If paid, choose one of your vanguards, during this turn it gets Power +10000 and "AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Choose three of your rearguards, retire them] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If paid, draw two cards, choose three cards from your damage zone and turn them face-up, during that battle, your opponent cannot call grade 1 or greater cards from hand to the guardian circle."
AUTO: [Choose one of your rearguards, retire it] When this unit is placed on the vanguard circle you may pay the cost. If paid, search your deck for up to one card with "Blaster" in its card name, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand and shuffle that deck.

Phantom Blaster Dragon can be used with virtually any Shadow Paladin grade 3, but because he searches for Blasters units exclusively he primarily supports the Blaster subclan. It should be noted that the soulblast 3 attached to his breakride is attached to specifically prevent synergy with the clan's mass of soul-based card advantage support, from Black-winged Swordbreaker to Darkheart Trumpeter and Aurageyser Dragon. Running Blaster Dragon means surrendering most if not all of these support cards.

The general properties of Sovereign Star Dragon's Phantom Blaster Dragon are that by blocking grade 1 and greater guardians he answers the primary problem with his past incarnations, being easily blocked by perfect defense cards and special guardians like Rubidium or Guinevere. As a trade-off he has no innate critical skill of his own and instead depends on the grade 3 that you ride to achieve that. The soulblast cost makes it exceedingly difficult to use multiple Phantom Blasters in a game, so unlike with a unit like Daikaiser or Cormack there is no real option to continually threaten an opponent at 3 damage across multiple turns. Instead Phantom Blaster is made as a genuine killing move that will end the game on the turn that he is break ridden.

Considering the Blaster units chronologically, the breakride of Phantom Blaster Dragon conflicts with trying to use his original print from BT04: Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows. Even though their set numbers and skills are different, because the cards have the same name only up to four copies of either unit in combination may be included in a deck, just like with the Dragonic Overlord breakride from Infinite Rebirth. The primary reason one would want to mix the two is to for Eclipse Phantom Blaster Dragon's additional power and critical skill, which can work well in combination with the break ride's perfect defense blocking. However, compared to using Claret Sword Dragon's generation break, the only advantages this holds are that Eclipse Blaster can be searched by Sovereign Blaster, and that the skill can be used twice for a 40000 power critical 3 lane instead of a 31000 power critical 2 lane. With a booster factored in the difference should be that Phantom requires 15000 additional shield to block over Claret Sword Dragon.

The issue of space can be somewhat alleviated with Blaster Javelin, the grade 1 from Shadow Paladin's original series of evolving cards. Javelin's on-call skill allows you to discard a grade 3 Shadow Paladin to search for a unit named Phantom Blaster Dragon, and the breakride is just as eligible for this as the BT04 print. This is the reason Blaster Javelin has jumped up from being worth 20 yen and below to almost 400 yen overnight in Japan. You can run two copies of each Phantom Blaster Dragon, using Javelin to guarantee that you get the breakride in hand, then riding it and retiring Javelin to search for the Eclipse print. The trouble with this is trying to fit Blaster Javelin into the deck, as the breakride benefits from having both Hard Fighting Knight Claudas and Pitch Black Sage Charon in his grade 1 slots.

The card that Phantom Blaster Dragon has really been designed from the ground up to support is his crossride introduced in VG-BT05: Twin Swords Awakening. Searching for any Blaster on-ride assists with getting a copy of Phantom Blaster Overlord in hand, and his on-attack skill turning three damage face-up is meant to be specifically used in combination with Overlord's counterblast 3 persona blast for +10000 power and +1 critical. The timing of both skills is flexible so that they may be resolved in either order like with Dorint and Blaster Dark Revenger, but not inside the resolution of one another. So you can either persona blast with Overlord and then retire three to countercharge the damage to have resources open next turn, or you can use the retire skill first to countercharge the damage necessary for Overlord. The latter is the more likely use of the card; while most crossbreakride decks are characterized by having a central devastating breakride turn followed by several turns with just the crossride's abilities, for Overlord the breakride turn is the final one. Overlord simply doesn't stand on his own.

If you can muster the additional soul for it, Apocalypse Bat can act as a 10000-power booster for Overlord, creating a 41000 power 2 critical center. However, provided that that one soul is Sovereign Phantom Blaster Dragon, functionally the same thing could be accomplished using Claudas as a 9000-power booster while crossridden; a 42000 power center with the same critical. The primary issue with the Overlord build is the sheer number of grade 3s it requires, as the deck has to be up to the task of pulling off a breakride, persona blasting Overlord and striding for several turns to force the opponent to the 4~5 damage range where Overlord can kill.

Pitch Black Sage Charon is an essential card for mitigating the retire costs in Phantom Blaster Dragon decks, as his skill makes him count as two units as long as a grade 3 or greater Blaster vanguard is present. Given that the deck has access to Dark Night Maiden Macha for superior calling, Pitch Black Charon would be at a maximum of three copies, and more likely two. It's easy enough to pull out Charon that he doesn't need to take up too much space on his own.

First vanguard choice is a contentious issue. Bushiroad's Research & Development staff recommended using Fullbau alongside the requisite Blaster Javelin and Blaster Dark units. However, Blaster Javelin is not useful enough on his own to justify dedicating all of the component pieces of the sequence to the deck, and Fullbau ultimately goes off just 46% of the time. Judgebau Revenger is an option since both grade 3 options are Phantom units and he provides another means for searching out Charon, and one that doesn't depend on getting to generation break to pull off Macha.

Creeping Dark Goat would be another good choice for first vanguard, as he helps avoid riding Overlord before the Dragon and goes into the soul before retire skills can usually touch him. Fullbau Brave from the Legend Deck is also an option, since his generation break both returns him to the soul and adds a Blaster unit to hand. By riding Phantom Blaster Dragon and retiring a different rearguard to search for Overlord, then immediately striding with a different grade 3, you can use Brave's counterblast to add the second copy of Overlord needed for the persona blast to hand. This does leave Brave exposed to opposing control decks' skills though, whether that's Gattling Claw, Duskblade or Dragonic Burnout. While that won't interfere with the breakride's soulblast 3 necessarily, it would obstruct multiple breakrides from taking place and interfere with numbers when trying to exploit the crossride offensively with Claudas.

The soulblast cost is the biggest obstacle to using Phantom Blaster Dragon. It directly inhibits synergy with Gust Blaster, who gains power and critical dependent on the number of Blasters in the soul; this prevents Gust from becoming a true win condition capable of sending the opponent from 0 to 6 damage easily. For those that truly want to use Gust there are ways around this, but it's an uphill battle. It requires amassing a filler soul of non-Blaster units, preferably with the draw trigger Howl Owl from the Legend Deck. The Fullbau series is generally considered a prerequisite for Gust because of the lack of grade 1 Blasters; running Blaster Javelin, Dark and Nightmare Painter at their maximum amounts in the deck along with the breakride would all but guarantee the necessary three Blasters in soul to make him a destructive threat, and the only problem remaining is getting two additional filler soul over Fullbau in. This type of strategy also necessitates Charon to reduce the cost of either Phantom or Gust, so that retire 5 can get you the full effects of each.

For Gust that's a 38000 power critical 4 center that must be blocked by 0s and can send the opponent from 2 to 6 in one attack. This last property is the only real reason to want to go through the hoops necessary for Gust, as if the opponent is already at the 4~5 damage range both Overlord and Eclipse Dragon can reach higher center lanes with less complex setup, chiefly thanks to being able to be boosted.

The natural first temptation for Revenger cardfighters--who at this point make up the majority of Shadow Paladin fighters--is to use the breakride with Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss.” Like in the Gust example, both units require a retire 3 cost and that mandates using Charon to reduce the net retire to 5, but there are several factors that dissuade using the breakride with “Abyss.” The soulblast cost preemptively negates “Abyss'” strong early card advantage game, as you lose access to Swordbreaker and Trumpeter, who have been at the forefront of “Abyss'” Judgebau combos. “Abyss” also has to specifically retire Revenger units, so there need to be at least three Revengers in play and Charon must be used as the breakride's sacrifice. Moreover, the effect of "your opponent cannot call grade 1 or greater cards from hand to the guardian circle" only lasts until the end of that battle. To get the skill on the second attack you would have to hit with Judgebau on the first to superior call another Pitch Black Charon and one more unit so that you would be able to pay the breakride cost again after restanding.

However, since the opponent's grade 1 and greater guardians are blocked during that battle and “Abyss” is already attacking for 37000 power with Judgebau's boost, hitting is much easier. The opponent would have to drop ~40000 shield on the first attack for a no-pass and still have a perfect defense and discard target in hand for the second attack. At that point the act of trying to prevent “Abyss” from blocking perfect defense cards on both attacks may require dedicating so many resources that the opponent will be unable to come back from that turn. This still requires losing out on a tremendous portion of “Abyss'” support, and the combo is easily exposed to control tactics because Judgebau cannot be used until the breakride turn. Rather than ever needing to drop that amount of shield, opposing Revenger fighters can easily prevent it by retiring Judgebau with Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss.” Ultimately using “Abyss” with Phantom Blaster Dragon is so much trouble that it's likely not worth the effort.

The final Blaster unit to consider is the breakride itself. Riding the generation rare over himself can be done as an alternative to Aurageyser to force the opponent to go to a high damage threshold where Overlord can seal the game, as while Aurageyser can attack for 36000 power unboosted and get a net +1 from retiring Charon, he can still be blocked by perfect defense card to avoid going to that threshold in the first place. The soul math for planning out a breakride over the breakride and then with Overlord is the same as for Thing Saver Dragon or The Dark Dictator; you need a minimum of 5 soul to do it because when you do your second breakride the second Phantom Blaster Dragon you rode will become soul as well. Having to ride a grade 3, retire three rearguards and then drawing two cards off of Blaster Dragon works out to a net -2 overall, which can be refunded using Macha and other counterblast units that will capitalize on his unflipping properties. Charon can reduce it to a -1. If you can't get to at least 6 soul with Howl Owl then you ultimately come 1000 power short of making a 41000+ power line with Overlord and Claudas later, which can be just enough for the opponent to guard the final turn. But using Dragon to force them to higher damage also gives you two opportunities to retire a rearguard and search for a copy of Overlord, getting both the breakride and persona blast in hand for later.

Blaster Dark “Diablo” can be break ridden over Blaster Dragon while still benefiting from Charon, but this is not especially advisable. “Diablo” has no real card effects of his own, and if you stride over him you then lose the skills given by the breakride. The main reason to use “Diablo” is to pay the cost of stride, as you can use Charon's skill to reveal a grade 3 and search for “Diablo,” then discard a non-grade 3 unit to resolve Charon and later discard the copy of Blaster Dark for stride. You can also use a Blaster Javelin exploit with this; if you start with Blaster Overlord in hand you can use Charon to search out “Diablo,” then use Javelin to discard “Diablo” and search for Blaster Dragon. When you ride Blaster Dragon you can then retire Javelin to search for a second copy of Overlord, completing the setup for the breakride and persona blast.

As for non-Blaster units, Dragruler Phantom makes a particularly strong case for himself. Dragruler differentiates himself from the other grade 3s in that he genuinely has the highest possible power threshold of any unit that can breakride over Phantom Blaster Dragon. By repeating his limit break until the opponent is at five damage--or until you are simply out of counterblast--it's possible to make Dragruler attack for up to 71000 power unboosted, 81000 power with Eloquence Revenger Glonn or Branbau Revenger. Since Dragruler ensures that the opponent is always one point away from death, attacking with him breakridden for 81000 is functionally the same as attacking with Overlord for 42000 while they are at four to five. The biggest difference is that it's possible to get a sixth damage heal out of Dragruler's attack, while if Overlord connects the opponent will usually be going to seven damage and have to get two consecutive heal triggers to survive. The problem with this setup is that it requires even more resources and setup than “Abyss;” ten Revenger rearguards to retire and three units for Blaster Dragon, and Glonn. Dragruler is much more a theoretical scenario than he is a real strategy at this time.

The final way to consider using Phantom Blaster Dragon is with the Witch subclan. Like with Dragruler this carries the downside that none of these ride targets can be searched by the breakride, but the reason to do it is for either Cultus Witch Rias or for Witch of Quests Securna. Securna's retire skill decreases the opposing vanguard's power by -5000, and Rias' on-legion skill can reduce it by up to -25000 power, which greatly exacerbates the problems with not being able to use grade 1+ guardians. However, this is extremely dependent on getting the opponent to five damage, as the Witch subclan has no additional critical vanguards. Only time will tell if G-BT03 will introduced other grade 3s that work well with Blaster Dragon, but there's a very diverse body of options available at this time.

As has been demonstrated, the major obstacles to Phantom Blaster Dragon's success are the stringent soul conditions and the necessity of keeping and using multiple grade 3s. The introduction of a Steam Breath Dragon clone to the clan in Sovereign Star Dragon may alleviate this, provided that it happens at all. Claret Sword is considered likely to receive this type of stride enabler, and it would help the Blaster deck immensely if it could co-opts the grade +2 skill to stride prior to limit break becoming active. The soulblast makes for less of a disconnect between Phantom Blaster and his original counterpart Soul Saver Dragon, as well as to Phantom Blaster and his form as the guardian dragon Thing Saver. The emptying of the soul into the drop zone also makes an elegant parallel against Majesty Lord Blaster and Religious Soul Saver's soul-squatting gameplay. But it is also the greatest obstacle to Blaster Dragon's success, and needs to be planned around carefully based on what type of deck you want to run with it. Be sure to read the card's 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.

Interview: World Champion Brandon Smith

Thursday morning we at Cardfight Pro were able to sit down with the reigning Cardfight!! Vanguard world champion Brandon Smith for an interview. Since his crowning in December 2012, Smith has become a noted celebrity in the greater community of Cardfight!!, opening his doors to the press and riding the wave of publicity that followed his seizing of the first international title. However, his skill is more than what's seen on camera. Played against in person, Smith is the genuine article; after a string of victories in casual matches, Smith temporarily traded decks with our editor and played a flawless game, turning the editor's personal build against him after only brief observation of how it played. This ability to pick up and play any deck has been recognized as one of Smith's greatest strengths.

Smith's store, Collectible Investments in Berkley, MI, is one of the busiest we have ever seen. In addition to selling the Cardfight!! Vanguard Trading Card Game and other TCG properties, the store does double duty as a seller of collectables and curios, with Beatles memorabilia and rotary dial telephones stacked high along the shelves. The merchandise moves in and out--what you see in the store one night is likely not there the next. While most local shops see a regular turnout of six to eight people a week, on tournament night at Collectible Investments as many as twenty-five or thirty people will be crammed into the tables of the long, corridor-like card shop. Collectible Investments serves as the epicenter of eastern Michigan's professional scene, and a gathering ground of strong cardfighters, who are currently preparing for their regional tournament in April.

CFP: Up to now we've heard the story of you becoming the world champion, the road to the championship and how the match with Henry Suharto went. The story not yet told is the story coming home. How has that impacted you, coming back to your store and your hometown, and has your life changed any by becoming world champion?

Smith: It's been a lot of fun. [Being in] Japan, the tournament was a lot of fun, but being back home was good. I got a celebration when I got back, had this tournament and whatnot. I've gotten a lot of offers for sponsorship....at nationals I got sponsored by CoreTCG, I also got a lot of opportunities to create games, so it's a lot of different things that have been offered. I got a lot of congratulations from all around the world. I'd like to thank everybody for being supportive. It's been great.

CFP: Now that we're headed into the Stand Up Challenge Cup--you've already qualified for regionals--in this new crossride format, Dragonic Overlord The End and Majesty Lord Blaster are expect to do very well, but how are you going to face this [next] championship?

Smith: I haven't quite decided yet. I have an arsenal of decks. I still have my Spectral Duke Dragon deck and it's very formidable against this format. I also have The End and MLB as well to playtest against, so I don't wanna say what I think will happen at the Stand Up Cup finals or championship. The End is very formidable as an opponent, very hard to beat, hard to deal with and if you don't play against it correctly you can lose easily. But even though those two are getting the limelight, the glory, I think that the Shadow Paladin guy [Phantom Blaster Overlord] could step up and cause some unsuspected damage to the tournament scene.

CFP: There's been a lot of talk about a restricted list like Japan currently has, with certain decks being restricted, what do you think of this idea?

Smith: [It's] like you said earlier, about everyone having a deck in their backpack, but then the decks that hit the table were MLB and DOTE. (While setting up for the interview, I had commented offhandedly about the qualifier tournament Collectible Investments had held on Sunday night. Everyone in Smith's store had two decks--their regular deck, and their "tournament" deck that was either Majesty Lord Blaster or Dragonic Overlord The End.) So I'm in favor of the restriction list. Unfortunately it does hurt [Oracle Think Tank] and they're not seeing as much play in America, so it does seem like--and a lot of people said [this]--they didn't get justly hit. I'm in favor of Bushiroad and their restriction list, especially if the tournament scene ends up like Japan. When I was in Japan I played about twelve matches against Japanese-only decks and even though they were at like set 10--it had just come out that weekend--everyone played Majesty Lord Blaster and DOTE. So it just seems like Bushiroad did themselves a favor and what's best for the game by making the restricted list, especially targeting MLB and DOTE. Unfortunately MLB is really consistent and the fact that it can pull itself out with just the one [and] Wingal Brave, overall I'm in favor of the restrictions.

CFP: In Japan right now we have the break ride format going on that's predicted to make crossrides irrelevant. Of course, we don't have those yet in the English format so you haven't had the chance to playtest [yet], but what's your view?

Smith: Theoretically I think they're good, but I think that a lot of players are overhyping them. Yes they're devastating, but you also have to have them in the correct order. So if you're playing the Kagerou ride break [Dauntless Drive Dragon], if you ride DOTE--or however it plays out if we get a restriction list--then it may not be as good, because you'll just sit there with ride break grade 3s later. Or if you play the Gold Paladin version [Gancelot], if you choose to play like Duke or Ezel, [and] you ride those first then they're just rearguards. So it all depends on how it plays out, I think they have really great potential and that's why they were introduced to the game, but I don't think they're as strong as people give them credit to be.

The Challenge Cup regional tournaments will start up on April 12th and last through April 28th, with twenty-seven regionals spread out across the continent deciding who will go on to the finals in Orlando, Florida, to be held this June. As the previous year's titleholder, Smith is among the favorites for the North American title, but the competition even at the regional level will be fierce and Michigan is one of the most difficult states to qualify in. With many cardfighters eager to either champion or defeat the crossride decks of this format, 2013 is promising to be an unpredictable year.

Shadow Paladin Extra Study Material: Phantom Blaster Overlord

Photo by rawritzrichii, not to be reposted elsewhere without the original photographer's express permission.

As the first crossride formally introduced to Cardfight as a whole, Phantom Blaster Overlord is the harbinger of a format defining mechanic. While it lacks the overwhelming support and rapidfire early game of The End, Overlord has repeatedly demonstrated itself as a championship-level deck that operates on equally defensive and aggressive tactics, gradually stretching out a difference between it and opposing decks until there is no outcoming remaining where the opponent can win. This despair-based play style uniquely requires commanding units, rather than playing them. Individual moves become unimportant compared to the overall state of a match, and sacrifices become dispassionate rather than agonizing.

Overlord expands on the existing base of Shadow Paladin cards, bringing with him their second critical trigger, Death Feather Eagle. Death Feather is an essential component of competitive Shadow Paladin decks, as their play style prefers critical and draw triggers before anything else. As we will see soon, Overlord maximizes Fullbau's synergy and opens up deck space for other units, and because of this synergy there is no new first vanguard for the deck. Instead we have Phantom Bringer Demon, a base 5000 grade 0 that draws special attention for not outriding. Phantom Bringer's skill is very similar to Doom Bringer Gryphon of Kagerou, although the skill is more at home here. Phantom Bringer's counterblast 1 allows him to retire two Shadow Paladin rearguards--ideally with himself being used as part of this cost--and then add Phantom Blaster Overlord from the deck to your hand, helping to guarantee your grade 3 ride, but overall it incurs a -1 with no outride to compensate and as there is only Macha to search him with, his use is even more difficult to justify for the Shadow Paladins. As Nemain is more effective for letting you look through two cards at a time without any loss in advantage, she is more practical for finding your Overlord ride.

Phantom Blaster Overlord himself is one of the Shadow Paladins' strongest vanguards. Like Blaster Dragon before him, Overlord is a base 11000 grade 3, but his 11000 is contingent only upon having no non-Shadow Paladin units on your side of the field. While this does unfortunately lock him out of using Blaster support cards from the Royal Paladin side of his subgroup, in a pure Shadow Paladin deck this effectively makes him a conditionless base 11000, which is a powerful improvement over his original form. As a crossride, his autoskill gives Overlord +2000 power in the vanguard circle if Phantom Blaster Dragon is in the soul; with Dragon being searchable by Javelin, this capitalizes on his evolving line's efficiency and provides a powerful base 13000 defense that can deny the upper half of all rearguard combinations with only 5000 shield, while also forming a 21000 power line with Charon. That 21000 won't be enough to touch his contemporaries, The End and Majesty Lord Blaster, but like Lord Blaster, Overlord has access to a base 10000 boosting unit exclusive to the Blaster subgroup.

Apocalypse Bat is a base 4000 grade 1 that when he boosts a unit with "Blaster" in its name, can soulblast 1 to give that unit +6000 additional power for a +10000 boost overall, forming a powerful 23000 line that hits base 13000, 11000 and 10000 units for all of the optimal numbers simultaneously. Since Apocalypse is a Shadow Paladin, unlike in Lord Blaster you can safely run him at two copies and only need four grade 1s with base 7000 or higher to make him practical and ensure that you won't ride him in the majority of games. Unlike Conroe and Wingal Brave, Fullbau stays in the soul no matter what, and we want to avoid soulblasting Blaster Dragon from the soul, so Overlord will generally see that soulblast come out three times in a given game for three turns of 23000 power overall. Even before the soulblast though, Overlord's crossride power puts him at 17000 with Apocalypse. This means that the soulblast should probably be restricted to use only after the opponent's crossride has come out, or otherwise that it should only begin being used the turn after Overlord is ridden.

Phantom Blaster Overlord's second autoskill has him counterblast 3 and persona blast a copy of himself from the hand when he attacks to gain +10000 power and +1 critical until the end of the turn. Most commonly this skill is mistaken as the main goal of the deck and something to be done simultaneous to Apocalypse's soulblast, but a truly effective Overlord deck will likely not persona blast in the majority of games that it plays. With Nemain being the best way to search for Overlord and her intercept as the ideal use of his 13000 base, Macha setting up rearguard lines in the midgame and Blaster Dark disrupting the opponent's strategy with his retire skill, counterblast is very heavily strained in the Overlord deck and grade 2 space is still at a premium, which means that Cursed Lancer will likely only be a single card tech in most decks. Furthermore, the Overlord that we would be persona blasting is probably better used as a rearguard, forming easy base 17-18000 lines for combating other crossrides and Lord Blaster, or a base 21000 rearguard with Apocalypse. The best way to use the persona blast is as a substitute for Apocalypse Bat's soulblast, if you have run out of blastable soul or otherwise want to hold off on it for another turn. This gets you four turns of breaking 23000 power, for a more long-term offense.

Because of his 13000 base being contingent on Blaster Dragon, all Overlord decks fundamentally play four copies of the deck's titular crossride and either three or four copies of Phantom Blaster Dragon. While grade 3 space is then locked down by Overlord, he does significantly improves a Shadow Paladin deck's open space at grade 2 because Blaster Dark can now be safely run at two copies. As the new final goal is to ride Overlord instead of Blaster Dragon, and Overlord's 11000 base is not contingent upon Dark being within the soul, Blaster Dark is now solely the means by which we gain an extra card from Fullbau, as well as free up our redraw by effectively drawing our grade 2 ride when we draw Javelin. The reason to run this at two instead of just one is to avoid having our only copy of Dark in hand after the redraw, which would negate Javelin's two strengths. Overlord maximizes Fullbau's synergy and opens up deck space for other units, and the four-Overlord/four-Dragon model puts emphasis on the grade 2 and 1 units as the main area of customization.

Of those grade 2s, BT05: Awakening of Twin Blades introduces the Knight of Nullity Masquerade, a base 9000 grade 2 that will effectively replace Rugos and Dordona in the Overlord deck. Masquerade gains +3000 power when he attacks and you have a Blaster vanguard, forming a 12000 offensive base that can go for 20000 with Charon to pressure base 10000 units, or otherwise make anticrossride 18000 power lines with even greater ease than rearguard Overlords. Since unlike in the Majesty Lord Blaster deck, the Overlord deck has every vanguard from grades 1 to 3 as a Blaster vanguard and does not make use of alternative grade 3s, Masquerade is much more viable to the Shadow Paladins and should be run at four. 

While grade 2 space is once more constrained because of Masquerade being the perfect rearguard for the deck, running Cursed Lancer in one or two copies is more viable than before when considering how many counterblasts won't be going off in every game; Blaster Dark, Blaster Dragon and Blaster Overlord are all very unlikely to happen together with the other units' skills, which leaves just Macha and Nemain as consistent uses of counterblast. So while he is not stapled to the build as Masquerade is, Lancer can free up counterblast for those three Blaster units' outlier skills.

Another aspect of Masquerade is that he makes base 6000 grade 1s viable for the crossride format, and other than Javelin for searching purposes the Shadow Paladins also have the new Nightmare Painter to take advantage of this. Painter's autoskill allows him to choose up to one Shadow Paladin from the hand when he is called and put it into the soul. This is important because it means that Overlord's continuous +2000 can be made to come out in every game, and even more than that Painter brings speed to the deck by allowing you to ride Overlord directly and soulcharge Blaster Dragon from the hand instead of waiting a turn and then riding. Since getting Blaster Dragon into the hand is much easier for the Shadow Paladins than getting Dragonic Overlord is for Kagerou, this makes Overlord both the fastest and most stable crossride in the format.

The other new grade 2 that comes with Overlord is Moonlight Witch Vaha. Vaha is a Shadow Paladin release of Maiden of Libra, a base 9000 unit that when her attack hits can counterblast 2 to draw one card. Like Blaster Dark and Overlord, this is an outlier counterblast that will not go off in every game and so can be supported by Cursed Lancer, but Vaha is largely redundant because of Nemain's role in capitalizing on both crossride defense and card drawing.

Overlord's defining advantage over other decks comes from both Nightmare Painter and Apocalypse Bat, units which together allow him to start his defense early and end the match late. Having a stable base 13000 defense and 23000 power every turn as well as Masquerade as a powerful rearguard setup lets the dragon keep playing for virtually forever, gradually narrowing the situation with each turn until there is no outcome where the dragon loses. The despair deck primarily relies on patience rather than straightforward battle, playing its key move early and sitting on it for the rest of the match.

Fourteen pros use this deck.

News: VGE-TD03 & 04, VGE-BT05 Announced

Over the weekend Bushiroad unveiled the upcoming English releases of trial decks 3 and 4, for the Nova Grappler and Oracle Think Tank clans. Theirs is the most celebrated release yet to come out of 2013, as these decks were once a point of contention for many cardfighters who felt that the clans' focal TDs were being passed over in favor of limit break. Set for global distribution on January 23, 2013, each deck features exclusive cards that have already embedded themselves in specific Japanese builds across the sea.

 

Gold Rutile of VGE-TD03: Golden Mechanical Soldier is noted primarily for his ability to unflip damage in the vanguard circle, unflipping one damage with every successful rearguard attack landed. This combos well with Super Electromagnetic Being, Storm, who innately unflips one damage when his own attack hits, allowing up to two cards to be turned face-up per attack; that ties back to Rutile's other skill, which stands a rearguard for a counterblast 2. So in some setups, Rutile can create a four-attack combo while losing no counterblast in a turn.

The TD is additionally noted for its Oasis Girl exclusive, who can repeat her counterblast 1 up to five times to gain +1000 power again and again, comboing with the aforementioned damage unflip skills, as well as other Nova Grappler unflippers like Claydoll Mechanic or Hungry Dumpty to create consistent lines of 20-25000 power.

VGE-TD04: Maiden Princess of the Cherry Blossoms has two similarly noted cards, Goddess of Flower Divination Sakuya and Dark Cat. Sakuya returns all OraThin cards on the field to her fighter's hand when ridden, allowing the reuse of on-call skills and the free rearrangement of the field. The Goddess also continuously gains +4000 power on her fighter's turn if there are four or more cards in hand, making for an easy 21000+ vanguard line while also turning any draw trigger into an artificial +9000. Dark Cat is a more rearguard-oriented card, which lets all fighters draw one card when it's called. This advantage can quickly snowball for the turn player even in spite of how it contributes to the opponent's hand. Both traditional OraThin and Tsukuyomi fighters have something to invest in, as TD04 is a viable starting point for any new player, and its exclusives are valued for their ability to shave cards from the deck to reach a Godhawk-Tsukuyomi built stack of triggers.

The deck also includes four alternate artwork Lozenge Magus heal triggers, both as a First VaNguard for those cardfighters who prefer a traditional OraThin build over Tsukuyomi or CoCo, and as a starting point for other Think Tank decks.


Alongside these Bushiroad also confirmed VGE-BT05: Awakening of Twin Blades for a February 23, 2013 release. The set is praised for its introduction of a new Blaster-oriented play style for the Royal Paladins and a concentrated vanguard Dragonic Overlord deck to Kageoru, while giving the Shadow Paladins further definition. However, these same qualities have been faced with criticism for bringing about the crossride mechanics that now pervade the Japanese scene, using 13000-power vanguard defense as bunker tactics against assault, while also rendering most 6000-power boosting units heavily mollified. How crossride will interact with the currently-omnipresent limit break mechanics and Gold Paladin dominance in the EN scene is a highly anticipated topic. The set remains a controversial part of Cardfight's history, having come in to interrupt a competitive scene that at the time was regarded as the most balanced format since BT01.

Aside from these, BT05 will also bring the English scene the original Neo Nectar cards, a new clan focused on growing one's field like a garden while also being the cheapest competitive deck available. The new ninja clan Murakumo will see its proper introduction here, despite originally debuting in EB01 of the Japanese scene.

Crossride: The Grade 4 Prototype

One of the most talked-about cards in recent days is The Epitome of Knowledge, Silvest. Originally introducing a series of heart attacks and collective panic in the English-speaking world as the second grade 4 in all of Cardfight!!, and seemingly the first legitimate entry into the series, this all calmed down when it came out that Silvest was just a humorous play on the creators' part and wouldn't be permitted for use after September 21st. And yet, for a joke card there's a surprising amount of forethought put into Silvest's skills.

First, Silvest comes with base 13000 power and a continuous skill that as stated, prevents him from being in a deck after September 21st. And second, Silvest gains +10000 power when attack a vanguard if the number of Great Nature rearguards is three or more. This latter skill only works in the vanguard circle, and already it brings to mind several skills of the past.

Grade 4 bears many similarities to the ever-propagating crossride family of skills. Like crossride units, Silvest is intended to have 13000 power whenever possible. His autoskill is a direct modification of Blaster Overlord's, dropping the +1 critical gain and its included cost altogether in favor of simply meeting a requirement. While Silvest has no specific support cards in line with the Flame of Promise or Apocalypse Bat, his skill compensates for this by giving him the equivalent of a 10000-power support, allowing for 23000-31000 power attacks in the vein of Great Daiyusha or Blaster Overlordt. All these point to crossride--a type of unit directly designed  to be ridden over a grade 3--being a prototype of grade 4 mechanics, with Silvest being Bushiroad testing the waters for how it would be implemented.

However, crossride in general is the better mechanic. There are inherent flaws with Silvest which in general make him overhyped and underpowered.

First and foremost, grade 4 would harm grade ratios. Riding consistently from grades 1 to 3 across consecutive turns is an important element in cardfight. Not reaching grade 3 at the same speed as the opponent means losing card advantage and subsequently, control of the fight. Trying to incorporate grade 4 into the deck is nearly impossible to balance because a fourth grade was not designed as part of the system. The most optimistic grade ratios are 17/13/10/6/4 or 16/13/10/7/4 with both making room for missing grade 1 very easily, and the latter assumes the use of a cycling trigger unit that hurts advantage in the first place. Implementing grade 4 in the way that past grades are currently implemented would mean raising the deck size from 50 to 60, and mandating a new universal deck size would deeply wound past Tsukuyomi and Beast Deity builds, while giving artificial power to draw- and vanguard-stand based decks that once had to be careful not to deck out altogether. Changing the deck size would be introducing a fundamental rule change to Cardfight!! for the first time, such that we could not longer call it Vanguard.

Second, riding grade 4 is in the first place a bad idea. While Silvest is powerful in Great Nature, similar units would be disastrous to the other clans' existing strategies, and he's already difficult to use in a Great Nature deck. The primary reason for this is that outside of superior ride, you can only ride units of equal or higher grade than that of your vanguard; riding Silvest locks the player out of Leo-pald, Bison and the Guardian of Truth, all units which are intended to exist in the vanguard circle exclusively. Furthermore, Leo-pald and Guardian of Truth generate card advantage with Hammsuke and other rearguards at such a rate that each of them is preferable to the Epitome of Knowledge. Silvest's real use is as a nearly-invincible 13000-power rearguard, but he can't be called without riding him. This makes the Epitome of Knowledge into something the class clown might use, even moreso from a clan that has room for a crossride of its own for Lox. Grade 4 is not an impossible mechanic to implement, but seeing as its prototype already does the same job more effectively in the current climate, until this mechanic has a better proof of concept, it's probably best to leave it alone.

As some closing notes on Silvest, his skills could be further rebalanced by adding a -2000 clause if the player has any non-Great Nature rearguards, and an additional -2000 for being in the rearguard circle.

Spotlight: Kakuhara Misaki/角原美咲

Fighter's Spotlight is an ongoing project concerned with tracking real-world professional cardfighters across the globe.

Kakuhara is at the center; at left is Watanabe Genki and at right is Sawada Yuu.

Kakuhara Misaki/角原美咲
Age: Unknown
Titles Won: Osaka Trio Battle Champion (Vanguard Festival 2012)
Current Status: Osaka Trio Battle Champion
Deck Type: Shadow Paladin (Phantom Blaster-Overlord)
Kakuhara Misaki is one of fifteen Shadow Paladin fighters to gain recognition as a Japanese pro, and one of the only women in the Japanese format active in senior class competitions. An Osaka native, she was important as one of the key figures to first introduce the Phantom Blaster Overlord deck as a competitive deck to the Japanese pro scene, reversing the at-the-time typical view of the clan as being outside the bounds of professional play.

Decks and Play Style
Kakuhara's deck is an Overlord-based Shadow Paladin build, characterized by its reliance on the vanguard's self-empowering skills and disposable rearguards. She is not as vested in the philosophy as comparable fighters; Kakuhara eschews reliance on the Blaster Dragon's damned charging lance, in favor of using counterblast-heavy skills like those of Macha and Nemain to superior call her reserves and draw cards to build up a lead over an extended period of time. Aside from the standard Charon, Macha's alternate targets include Javelin, whose own rearguard skill can easily add the original Dragon to her hand, and Nightmare Painter who can add the necessary units to the soul if she misses her opportunity for an evolution ride.

Cursed Lancer is notably absent. In spite of being a PR card, the Lancer was very widely circulated in the Believe in My Existence single, so this absence is likely deliberate. Although he could potentially increase Kakuhara's efficiency by unflipping damage, Lancer would take space away that she already devoted to Masquerade, who could be considered the single indisposable grade 2 of her deck. Masquerade is her only rearguard capable of reaching 20000 power, climbing up to those ranks with Charon's boost. Lancer himself also could not form a line exceeding 17000 base power, when 18000 was the dominant number of Kakuhara's format, a problem which Masquerade answers consistently, due to her grade 3 makeup consisting of entirely of Blaster units to trigger Masquerade's power-gain skill.

The sheer prolificacy of her sacrificial units gives Kakuhara an alternative play style centered purely on her original Blaster, retiring her own rearguards to force a quick finish before she would even need to ride the Overlord. Being able to use either strategy freely makes her deck variable and difficult for the opponent to gauge, which in 2012 brought her an edge in Osaka's otherwise-predictable environment.

March 2012 Vanguard Fight Team Festival, Osaka Trio Battle
Card Pool: TD01-BT06, PR 0001-0054

Grade 0

x1 Fullbau

x4 Grim Reaper CT

x4 Abyss Freezer DT

x4 Abyss Healer HT

x4 Death Feather Eagle CT

Grade 1

x4 Dark Shield, Mac Lir

x4 Black Sage, Charon

x4 Blaster Javelin

x2 Nightmare Painter

Grade 2

x2 Darkness Maiden, Macha

x3 Skull Witch, Nemain

x2 Blaster Dark

x4 Knight of Nullity, Masquerade

Grade 3 

x4 Phantom Blaster Dragon

x4 Phantom Blaster Overlord