Burstraizer revealed on Vanguard YouTube Channel

The official Japanese Cardfight!! Vanguard YouTube channel revealed a new card as part of its weekly roundup, a Nova Grappler Single Rare from V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4.

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When your vanguard attacks, [Cost: Counterblast 1, Soulblast 1] Stand this unit, and if the number of cards in your opponent's damage zone is 4 or greater, this unit gets Power +3000 until end of turn.

As Bushiroad points out in the episode, Burstraizer is perfect to use in conjunction with Perfect Raizer to stand 3 units, and with Raizer Custom as the ideal booster to make a self-standing column. On an Accel circle the card will become 22k on its second swing, making a magic number versus 12k bases like Imperial Daughter.

While up to now the Raizer deck was shaping up to use some combination of Hi-powered Raizer Custom, Boomerang Thrower, and Iron Killer, Burstraizer is likely to take Killer's spot. The extra 5k shield Killer takes away on-attack is outweighed Burstraizer doing an entire second attack. However, with how counterblast- and soulblast-intensive the Raizer deck is proving between Perfect, Burst, and Transraizer, Boomerang Thrower isn't likely to leave unless Nova Grappler's final Single Rare or Commons contain a more compelling means of doing both countercharging and soulcharging.

Last week's YouTube exclusive was the Goddess of Insight, Sotoorihime.

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.

Transraizer

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

Set number is V-BT01/073 C.
Revealed at Bushiroad's 2018 Springfest event in Anaheim. After using Transraizer to countercharge, you can offset his soulblast cost next turn by calling Boomerang Thrower.

Today's Card Analysis: Maximum and Jet Raizer

The Japanese cards of the day are two of the first Raizers from V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4, Maximum Raizer and Jet Raizer. Designed for maximum synergy with the Accel Gift, these two ramp up the power to levels comparable with Royal Paladin and Kagerо̄ while remaining usable in any Nova deck.

Maximum Raizer
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When it attacks a vanguard and is not boosted, this unit gets Power +10000 until the end of that battle.
Jet Raizer
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When your other rearguard is placed, this unit gets Power +3000 until end of turn.

Maximum Raizer is an interesting inversion of the Start Deck card Sage of the Arts Jauron, gaining 10k when it attacks while not boosted. This is designed to complement with Accel, as the additional rearguard circles you gain from Asura Kaiser and Battledore Fighter are not boostable due to the lack of back row units behind them. With the continuous +10000 power you gain from Accel, Maximum will swing for 32k each turn, functionally demanding a Heal Trigger in guard versus Dragonic Overlord and Alfred or a minimum two guardians from CEO Amaterasu and other Nova Grappler grade 3s. The card's weaknesses is that like Miss Splendor it doesn't possess the Accel Gift, so all it can do on the vanguard circle is attack for a vanilla 22k--not that impressive when you realize it's interchangeable with an 18 column versus half the format. For many fighters, the trade-off will be worth it considering that Maximum is easily the best target we've seen for Asura's stand skill, swinging 42k on his second attack.

Jet Raizer is an easy 10k booster far exceeding Gojo, as his 3k can be stacked by multiple placements in the same turn. As long as you can consistently gain another instance of Accel, Jet should continue to be live even in the longest and grindiest of games, as you continually gain another opportunity to call another unit each turn. When you want to go in and force damage early you can make him a 16k booster with three calls, which can make a 28k lane with Extra Muscular or any other Hero buffed by Miss Splendor. The card opens up a lot of options for making powerful rearguard lanes and is likely to get better as the format ages, despite its below-average base power.

On top of all this, these reveals finally give us an idea on where Nova Grappler's boundaries for Commons are in the set. The clan will have 16~17 Commons in BT01, depending on whether or not there's a grade 3 above Maximum Raizer and below Gabiya.

The previous Japanese cards of the day were Flame of Hope Aermo and Lizard Soldier Raopia.

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.

News: Cat Butler to be Restricted on the 18th, Dragonic Descendant Removed from List

The official cf-vanguard webportal updated this morning to reflect new changes made to the Japanese restricted list. After several months of play in the current Raizer deck, the grade 0 Cat Butler has been restricted to being played at a maximum of two copies, limiting how consistently its skill can be pulled off. Meanwhile the once-infamous Dragonic Descendant has been taken off the list, after being restricted to two for the past year. Lizard Soldier Conroe and Barcgal remain restricted from being placed as the first vanguard. The new restrictions will take effect on August 18th.

Cat Butler has gained infamy internationally for making every Raizer Legion a restanding vanguard with a positive exchange in card advantage, retiring Butler to drive check an additional two cards. This has proven deadly in combination with their core grade 3, Ultimate Raizer Mega Flare. MF's extra critical encourages the opponent to guard it at all costs, and Cat Butler's skill only activates when the vanguard's attack does not hit, creating a consistent combo wherein the opponent is forced to accept multiple vanguard attacks rather than risk potentially game-ending damage.

Butler's restriction coincides with recent modifications made to the list for the English-language format, bringing changes instituted in Japan back during the height of Dragonic Nouvelle Vague's popularity.

Although the modification has answered the general dominance of Cat Butler Raizers, observant fighters have noted that the new restricted list does not address the rise of Thing Saver-Phantom Blaster “Abyss,” which has just recently come to prominence in the Japanese pro scene as a powerful hybrid deck.

News: Fourth Laketown VGCS Decklists, Narukami-Royal Paladin Fusion Places Third, Cat Butler Raizers Control Top Two

Original image by card shop Fireball.

Hosted by card shop Fireball, the fourth Laketown Vanguard Championship took place over the 17th of the month, and had a turnout of 60 persons with a 1000 yen (approx. $9.80) entry fee. Preceded by several rounds of six draw and then followed by a cut to top 8, this CS marked another victory for Nova Grappler cardfighters, but interestingly preceded the debut of Cat Butler Raizers at the Second Beast Deity Cup by a matter of days. Unlike the recent Raizer decks from the fourth Tachikawa VGCS and the Second Beast Deity Cup, first place finalist Hideyuki's deck included a more normalized grade 3 count, with seven grade 3s instead of four to five, and made room for its extra grade 0s by cutting out space throughout the entire deck, running just twelve grade 1s and ten grade 2s. His build also emphasized Energy Charger in a fashion similar to Calamity Tower Wyvern's use in the late Dragonic Nouvelle Vague decks prior to their phasing out. Although Beast Deity champion Silver Crow has received much of the credit for popularizing a particular incarnation of the Raizer series in professional play, Hideyuki may lead Nova cardfighters to rethink where they make their cuts and which cards are most important for supporting their restanding strategy.

Third place finalist Black-Rimmed Glasses made his way into the top 4 by uniquely inserting a playset of the grade 2 Narukami Brawler Youjin into his Thing Saver Dragon deck, taking advantage of the fact that Youjin does not require a Narukami vanguard to use his retire skill; so that when either Sacred Wingal or Thing Saver enter Legion, Youjin automatically retires one of the opponent's frontrow rearguards. This kind of deckbuidling is not possible in Bushiroad's official tournaments due to the implementation of rules which prevent players from using other clans in their decks, but VGCS organizers have no such qualms about mixing cards if the skill text allows for it. He also featured a number of other modifications, mixing in a Shadow Paladin card as well with the card changer Witch of Nostrum Arianrhod, to help expedite getting four cards into the drop zone for Legion alongside his Lake Maiden Lien playset. BRG has made a name for himself in the Vanguard Championships, making third in the fifth Fateclock VGCS and second place in the third Laketown VGCS.

The remaining top 8 in the fourth Fireball VGCS included Star-vader "Ω" Glendios, Thing Saver Dragon and two Cat Butler Raizers cardfighters. Glendios has remained an enduring part of the format since its debut at the previous Laketown CS, becoming one of the few builds to consistently slow down the pace of a game by shutting down both rearguard lanes and preventing them from unlocking. In the Legion format Omega has received consistently trouble from the plethora of semi-independent vanguards, diminishing the impact of a locked field.

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's larger official tournaments, most VGCS events are done using a best of 3, Swiss tournament model. Turnout is typically 70-80 persons, but some events see 100 or more participants, all of whom compete using pseudonyms and internet handles rather than their real names as in official events. The VGCS model of fan-organized play has begun to gain popularity internationally, with the bi-monthly BeNeLux tournaments serving as their European equivalent.

Fourth Laketown CS
First place: Hideyuki/ヒデユキ
Deck name: STAP Cells Are Right Here!/スタップ細胞はここにあります！
Grade 0
x1 Transmigrating Evolution, Miraioh (FV)
x4 Cat Butler
x4 Regenbogen HT
x2 Raizer Crew DT
x2 Meteoraizer CT
x4 Red Lightning CT
x4 Minimum Raizer CT
Grade 1
x4 Shieldraizer
x4 Energy Charger
x4 The Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
Grade 2
x4 Ultimate Raizer, DF
x4 Phoenix Raizer, FW
x2 Marine Raizer, HT
Grade 3
x3 Pheonix Raizer, DW
x4 Ultimate Raizer, MF

Second place: Rishia/リシア
Deck name: Don't Say Kompeitō Panic @Berserk/コンペイトウパニック＠バーサークとは言わせない
Grade 0
x1 Transmigrating Evolution, Miraioh (FV)
x4 Cat Butler
x4 Raizer Girl, Kate HT
x2 Raizer Crew DT
x2 Schones Wetter CT
x4 Red Lightning CT
x4 Meteoraizer CT
Grade 1
x2 Shieldraizer
x2 Twin Blader
x3 Energy Charger
x3 Jetraizer
x3 The Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
Grade 2
x4 Ultimate Raizer, DF
x4 Phoenix Raizer, FW
x2 Marine Raizer, HT
Grade 3
x2 Pheonix Raizer, DW
x4 Ultimate Raizer, MF

Third place: Black-Rimmed Glasses/くろぶちめがね
Deck name: Youjin in Thing Saver/ヨウジン入りシングセイバー
Grade 0
x1 Starting Legend, Ambrosius (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x4 Certain Kill Seeker, Modron CT
x4 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
x4 Margal DT
Grade 1
x1 Good Faith Seeker, Cynric
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x4 Guardian Law Seeker, Shiron
x4 Glynngal Seeker
x1 Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod
Grade 2
x4 Brawler Youjin
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x2 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x1 Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x4 Seeker, Sacred Wingal

Fourth place: Knight of Stability/安定のナオト
Deck name: Seeker, Media Park Kawaguchiten/探索店メディアパーク川口店
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x2 Arms Dealer, Govanon DT
x4 Messegal Seeker DT
x4 Certain Kill Seeker, Modron CT
x2 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x3 Flash Shield, Iseult
x1 Summoning Jewel Knight, Gloria
x2 Glynngal Seeker
x4 Flail Seeker, Hasbasado
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x3 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x4 Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x4 Seeker, Sacred Wingal

News: Soul Saver-Thing Saver Fusion Deck Emerges in Fourth Tachikawa VGCS, Cat Butler Raizers in First

Original photo by FarEastBirds.

Nine hours ago the fourth Tachikawa Vanguard Championship closed with a Nova Grappler cardfighter playing the new Raizer Legion deck in first place, followed closely by a Royal Paladin fighter in second running a Cosmo Dragon deck that synthesized three-year-old Soul Saver Dragon support with BT16: Legion of Dragons and Blades' recently-released Seeker units. Third and fourth were likewise filled by Thing Saver and Raizer fighters. Both Nova Grappler and Royal Paladin have enjoyed considerable popularity among professional cardfighters since the set's release day, gaining favor for their aggressive self-standing vanguards whose speed--able to bring out their skills as early as turn 3--has supplanted the formerly dominant Nouvelle Vague deck, a deck once feared as having potentially solved competitive play. Out of the Tachikawa VGCS' 96-person turnout, not a single person ran Dragonic Nouvelle Vague.

Fourth Tachikawa VGCS Deck Breakdown
33 Seeker
21 Raizer
16 Metalborg
7 Star-vader, "Ω" Glendios
6 Spike Brothers
5 Musketeer
5 Brawler
2 Duo
1 Gold Paladin

According to tournament organizer Kohaku, the top 16 for the tournament consisted of five Seeker decks, five Raizers, two Spike Brothers, two Musketeers and two Metalborg decks. Although written deck recipes are not yet published, the top 2 decklists from the VGCS were photographed and uploaded to Twitter, and have been transcribed below. The first place deck was a streamlined version of Beast Deity Cup champion Silver Crow's Raizer build, running just four grade 3s to accommodate a Cat Butler playset, and focusing on setting up Legion quickly with Shieldraizer and Energy Charger while building card advantage using Street Bouncer.

Original photo by Yukiya.

Second place cardfighter Yukiya's Cosmo Dragon deck brought some much-needed innovation to the emergent format, running five grade 3s with a single copy of Soul Saver Dragon made searchable using the time-tested grade 1 Pongal. Yukiya's alternate artwork Soul Saver (illust. Studio TMS) served as a finishing move after several bouts of Thing Saver Dragon's restanding skill, taking advantage of the deck's strong soulcharging engine using multiple copies of File, the draw trigger Margal and Legion's special property of sending the entire Legion pair to the soul when another grade 3 is ridden.

Soul Saver Dragon's on-ride soulblast 5 is well remembered for being one of the first mass field power boosts in the history of the game, but is rarely played today due to contemporary cards often gaining comparable levels of power with minimal setup. Soul Saver also served an alternate purpose in facilitating the same kind of minimal grade 3 count as is played in Raizers, and due to the nature of her support is flexible enough to work either as a strategy in her own right or purely as a setup for Thing Saver Dragon to build more soul for his Soulmate Legion skill. Yukiya tweeted that the trigger count for the deck was 8-4-4, presumed to be eight critical triggers, four draw triggers and four heal triggers based on the general trends within Japanese play.

The fourth Tachikawa VGCS results were mirrored at the Fighter's Road 2014 Sapporo regional qualifier, where first place was taken by a Thing Saver Dragon cardfighter who was reportedly using a more normalized deck, followed in second by another Raizer fighter picking up on recent trends. Decklists for FR2014 Sapporo are expected to go out in the next few days.

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's larger official tournaments, most VGCS events are done using a best of 3, Swiss tournament model. Turnout is typically 70-80 persons, but some events see 100 or more participants, all of whom compete using pseudonyms and internet handles rather than their real names as in official events. The VGCS model of fan-organized play has begun to gain popularity internationally, with the bi-monthly BeNeLux tournaments serving as their European equivalent.

Fourth Tachikawa Vanguard Championship
First place
Grade 0
x1 Transmigrating Evolution, Miraioh (FV)
x4 Cat Butler
x4 Raizer Girl, Kate HT
x4 Raizer Crew DT
x4 Meteoraizer CT
x4 Minimum Raizer CT
Grade 1
x4 Shieldraizer
x4 The Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
x3 Energy Charger
x3 Cannonraizer
Grade 2
x4 Ultimate Raizer, DF
x4 Phoenix Raizer, FW
x3 Street Bouncer
Grade 3
x4 Ultimate Raizer, MF

Second place
Grade 0
x2 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Unstated Heal Trigger
x4 Unstated Draw Trigger
x8 Unstated Critical Trigger
Grade 1
x4 Guardian Law Seeker, Shiron
x4 Pongal
x3 Lake Maiden, Lien
x2 Glynngal Seeker
x1 Good Faith Seeker, Cynric
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x4 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x4 Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
x1 Knight of Loyalty, Bedivere
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x1 Soul Saver Dragon

News: Cat Butler Raizers Top in Second Beast Deity Cup and Fourth Laketown CS

The second Beast Deity Cup and fourth Laketown Vanguard Championship both finished on the seventeenth, with each tournaments' respective top 2s filled by Nova Grappler cardfighters using the new Ultimate Raizer Mega Flare builds from VG-BT16: Legion of Dragon and Blades, released in Japan last Friday. Each tournament had a strong turnout, and their Raizer champions were followed closely by Thing Saver Dragon cardfighters whose decks may give some insight into what kinds of build broke first and second in the recent FR2014 Tokyo regional.

In addition to the 48 persons that preregistered, sixteen more registered on-site for the Beast Deity Cup, bringing the final turnout to 64 persons. The fourth Laketown CS (also branded as the fourth Fireball CS due to the hosting party) saw 38 persons preregister, but made accommodations for up to 68 persons and final attendance is not known. Beast Deity champion Silver Crow built his strategy around smoothly developing a fast and early Legion attack with Mega Flare; with the support of the Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer Shout and Energy Charger he could quickly card change out his six draw triggers while building advantage with Charger and putting cards into the drop zone to activate Legion with.

Mega Flare's Legion 20000 triggers its autoskill, which gives it an extra critical if there are four units at rest when it attacks the vanguard--including the entire Legion pair. The bigger picture surrounding this is the synergy between the Nova Grappler Legions and Cat Butler, a grade 0 printed back in December 2011 in VG-EB01: Comic Style Vol. 1. Cat Butler's skill can stand the vanguard by retiring himself if the vanguard is a grade 2, and immediately after Bushiroad representative Doctor O confirmed via Twitter that this was valid with Legion skills, the card drew widespread attention both in Japan and overseas. As Cat Butler's retire is effectively a -1 to receive a second twin drive and neither Mega Flare nor Butler are constrained by limit break, this allows for a fast and early +1 increase in card advantage that comes coupled with additional critical and aggressive sweeping attacks. As Ultimate Raizer MF only requires four units to be at rest for his critical to kick in, Silver Crow also made use of the grade 2 Street Bouncer to build his advantage further early on, giving up a rearguard attack in order to draw a card and improve consistency while still maintaining the vanguard's dangerous Legion skill.

In an unexpected twist, both of the Beast Deity Cup finalists run four of the Nova Grappler Quintet Wall, Shieldraizer, completely abandoning perfect defense cards for the first time in the history of professional play. The low counterblast cost of the Raizer deck and the need to set up an early Legion functions well the early use of Quintet Walls as a quick way to prep Legion in advance. While the pro reception of Quintets ranged from lukewarm to negative when they first debuted in VG-BT14: Brilliant Strike, Legion has made the likes of Shieldraizer and Gloria commonplace among professional cardfighters. More surprisingly still, Silver Crow's decklist used just five grade 3s in order to accommodate maxing out Cat Butler at 4.

The fourth Laketown/Fireball CS decklists are not currently available, but the top ten are known to contain 5 Nova Grappler, 4 Royal Paladin and 1 Link Joker decks, with Raizers making first and second place. The previous Laketown CS is generally regarded as the origin point for the proliferation of Star-vader “Ω” Glendios in Japan following VG-BT15: Infinite Rebirth. The first Beast Deity Cup meanwhile is attributed with being the inspiration for many of the competitive Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth” decks.

Second Beast Deity Cup
First Place: Silver Crow/シルバークロウ
Deck name: The Will of Konomu-sensei/このむ先生の闘志
Grade 0
x1 Transmigrating Evolution, Miraioh (FV)
x4 Cat Butler
x4 Beast Deity, Rescue Bunny HT
x2 Meteoraizer CT
x2 Red Lightning CT
x2 Beast Deity, Death Stinger CT
x4 Raizer Crew DT
x1 Schneeregen DT
x1 Beast Deity, Banpauros DT
Grade 1
x4 Shieldraizer
x4 The Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
x3 Energy Charger
x2 Cannonraizer
Grade 2
x4 Ultimate Raizer, DF
x4 Phoenix Raizer, FW
x3 Street Bouncer
Grade 3
x4 Ultimate Raizer, MF
x1 Phoenix Raizer, DW

Second place: sein
Deck name: Good Luck Spiral/幸せスパイラル
Grade 0
x1 Transmigrating Evolution, Miraioh (FV)
x2 Cat Butler
x4 Raizer Girl, Kate HT
x2 Meteoraizer CT
x3 Shining Lady CT
x3 Red Lightning CT
x3 Raizer Crew DT
x1 Subliminal Grey ST
Grade 1
x4 Shieldraizer
x3 The Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
x3 Energy Charger
x2 Clay-doll Mechanic
x1 Carvingraizer
Grade 2
x4 Ultimate Raizer, DF
x4 Phoenix Raizer, FW
x1 Wing Raizer
x2 Marine Raizer, HT
Grade 3
x4 Ultimate Raizer, MF
x3 Phoenix Raizer, DW

Third place: Jin/仁
Deck name: Seeker/探索者
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x3 Certain Kill Seeker, Modron CT
x3 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
x4 Messegal Seeker DT
x2 Margal DT
Grade 1
x3 Flashing Jewel Knight, Iseult
x1 Summoning Jewel Knight, Gloria
x4 Good Faith Seeker, Cynric
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x2 Glynngal Seeker
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x4 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x3 Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x4 Seeker, Sacred Wingal

Fourth place: Hisui/ヒスイ
Deck name: None
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x3 Certain Kill Seeker, Modron CT
x3 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
x4 Messegal Seeker DT
x2 Margal DT
Grade 1
x2 Good Faith Seeker, Cynric
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x4 Guardian Law Seeker, Shiron
x2 Glynngal Seeker
x1 Flail Seeker, Hasbasado
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x3 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x4 Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
x1 Natural Talent Seeker, Valrod
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x3 Seeker, Sacred Wingal
x1 Pure Heart Jewel Knight, Ashlei

News: March 2nd Broadcast Explains Legion Mechanic, Raizers and Musketeers to See Support in BT16

Following the end of Link Joker earlier today Bushiroad aired a special broadcast on NicoNico Douga, discussing the upcoming Legion Mate season and some of the card mechanics therein. The program was introduced by Doctor O, with the anime being addressed by the voices of Sendou Aichi and Kai Toshiki, Yonaga Tsubasa and Satou Takuya; Satou confirmed for the fans that Kai will be the main protagonist of Legion Mate, and to Yonaga's distress that Aichi will be disappearing during the season.

When things came back to Doctor O, the viewers were treated to two jumbo-sized replicas of the upcoming TD14: Seeker of Hope cards. The deck's key grade 2, Blaster Blade Seeker, is a variation on the established field control formula. Like the traditional Blaster Blade he can retire a grade 2 or greater rearguard, but this is only when placed on a rearguard circle and costs just a single counterblast as opposed to past incarnations' two. Blade Seeker may require a Seeker vanguard to do so, but this is difficult to confirm from NND's low resolution.

What really drew surprise from the broadcast's 18,000 viewers was the explanation of the new Legion Mate mechanic and the skill of Seeker, Sacred Wingal. Sacred Wingal's Activate skill is not a limit break, but instead activates Legions it to Blaster Blade Seeker by matching up their Legion icons. Wingal can pay a cost of shuffling four units from the drop zone into the deck, to become joined with Blade Seeker as one unit with a total base power of 20000. Wingal's autoskill then triggers at the moment that it has been Legioned, letting it superior call a grade 2 or greater Seeker from the deck.

How exactly Legion Mate interacts with established mechanics is unknown. Legion units becoming a 20000 power base during their own turn was described as a typical attribute of the Legion Mate mechanic, so presumably most if not all Legion cards for this upcoming season will be a base 11000 grade 3 and base 9000 grade 2.

Interestingly, the introduction of Legion Mate may mark either an end or shaky coexistence with limit break; addressing the longstanding issue of the game's pace becoming more oriented around being at 4 damage over time, the only condition observed on Legion Mate skills is the ability to have a Mate on the field. Legion activates when a vanguard and rearguard with paired Legion icons are matched up, which gives their cardfighter greater freedom of choice on when to use skills, and rewards successful timing for using Legion Mate when the opponent is already at higher damage by giving them innately greater power to work with. Conversely, using Legion too early wastes a skill that can only be used as many times as the Mate unit can be played from the hand.

Doctor O revealed several different upcoming pairs of Legion units, including those from Brawler of Friendship and an alternate set of Legion cards from Seeker of Hope, but what drew the most excitement were the units from VG-BT16: Legion of Dragons and Blades. Nova Grappler will be receiving a pair of Raizer units with the new mechanic to round out their build, while Neo Nectar will start the season off with paired Musketeer units.

Additionally, Doctor O assured everyone that Tokura Misaki will also be returning with Legion cards, much to the relief of her voice actor, Kitta Izumi. What clan she will be using is unknown. Many fans are clamoring for her to return to Oracle Think Tank while others have suggested she stay with Genesis, but neither clan is currently scheduled to be supported by BT16.

The program was closed out by Morishima Shuuta, voice of Shin Nitta, who asked the audience to help him with the cheer "Ride the Vanguard!" The cards covered by the NND conference will be given better coverage in the upcoming seventh issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine. A recording of the broadcast will go up tomorrow.

3/3/2013 Update: The broadcast has been uploaded to YouTube. Highlights include an explanation of the Legion mechanic at the 22 minute mark, Blaster Blade Seeker and Sacred Wingal's debut at 23:37 as well as the introduction of Raizer and Musketeer support from 28:19 on.

Nova Grappler Extra Study Material: Raizer Series

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

As one of the first subgroups to be introduced, the Raizer series has been long established as one of the top Nova Grappler builds, and an enduring presence across multiple formats. The series has not only taken center stage at the forefront of Japanese Grappler play throughout 2011 and 2012, but has been the most stable Grappler deck when not playing a "best of" build up through BT09. Under his public persona as Doctor O, pro Cardfight commentator Nakamoto Nobuhisa recognized the Raizer series as one of his twelve "strongest decks" at their debut. So their introduction to English-language Cardfight in EB01: Comic Style Vol. 1 is set to leave a lasting impact on the pro scene, and with the set's final release on the 29th there's no better time to take a look at the emerging strategy.

The first vanguard for this subgroup is the Grapplers' original Battleraizer, bringing back both the advantages and disadvantages of a cycling trigger; you won't be able to maintain the +1 from him outriding, but you will be able to maintain a high trigger count all the way to the endgame. And since BT06: Breaker of Limits, Turboraizer has also been brought in to allow for up to eight cycling triggers in the deck, although because of how valuable criticals are to professional play as a whole, you may only want to run five at the most. EB01's Raizer cards give us a way to get more out of our FVG--the grade 1 Raizer Custom is a base 6000 unit normally, but when Battleraizer is on the same row as him, he gets +6000 power during your own turn for a base 12000 grade 1. In the early game you can use this unit by himself for an independent offense, and in the late you can use Battleraizer's boost for a crossride-busting 18000-power line, opening the field at the expense of card advantage. Something to note about this is that for a very long time now, Raizer Custom's skill has been mistranslated, and the official English print contains a clause that Battleraizer must be on the back row, so you cannot put out a temporary 15000-line formation by having Raizer Custom in back. Also keep in mind that Turboraizer cannot completely sub in for Battleraizer, since Raizer Custom doesn't get the same boost from having a Turboraizer in his column but it will become useful to have another Raizer unit further down the line.

BT09: Clash of the Knights and Dragons will bring us a third Raizer unit for grade 0 and a second for grade 1, Minimum Raizer and Burst Raizer. Minimum is a critical trigger with no skill that's run generally for consistency purposes. You'll rarely call him, but as the Raizer series as a whole builds its skills around having any Raizers at all on the field, and Nova Grappler is naturally a clan that lends itself toward base 11000 attackers, when you do need to call a trigger to make that 16000 power line or meet certain skill requirements, Minimum is important over other critical triggers for his synergy with Raizer-specific skills. Burst Raizer on the other hand is Oasis Girl right down to her skill and power, but again I need to stress the importance of the "Raizer" name. Having four more grade 1 Raizers is going to be very useful once we hit grade 3.

At grade 2 EB01 gives us Hi-Powered Raizer Custom, a base 8000 unit that gains 8000 power if Battleraizer is on the same column. Hi-Powered forms stable base 16000 lines so long as you do not boost him, and when you do he breaks 22000, generally requiring two or more cards to be defended against while only causing you to lose one in the process. Since the standard Battleraizer doesn't return to the deck until the end phase of the turn, if you drive check a stand trigger after Hi-Powered's attack, he'll be at a full 16000 power prior to the stand and will break 21000 after, taking full advantage of the Grapplers' native stands. BT09 expands on grade 2 by bringing Transraizer to the table. A base 7000 grade 2, when called or ridden Transraizer can open up the top card of the deck and if it's a grade 1 or 2 Nova Grappler, call it. In a standard Raizer deck you're looking at between 26 and 27 search targets, a little over half of the available deck for a possible +1, which helps to compensate for the inevitable losses that the Raizer deck takes from cycling its triggers.

Grade 3 is where the strategy comes together. Perfect Raizer is the centerpiece of the Raizer series, a base 11000 unit whose continuous skills give him +3000 power for each Raizer unit in the soul, and if there are four or more Raizers in the soul he gets +1 critical. This is further fueled by his autoskill, soulcharging all Raizer units on your side of the field when he is ridden, but it's offset by him losing -2000 power if there are no other Raizers on the field. To deal with this best, you should keep an additional Raizer unit in hand to call after riding him, ideally Transraizer to cope with the loss of rearguards or another Perfect. Like with the Dark Irregulars and other soul-based decks, a Raizer build needs to measure its soul intake carefully and set goals for soul size. It's not enough to wantonly ride Perfect Raizer after Perfect Raizer. Four is the most obvious goal, since it will set Perfect Raizer up for 23000 power / critical 2 with another Raizer on the field. This is an extremely powerful independent attack, hitting base 10000, 11000 and 13000 power units for the perfect numbers all at once, and while Perfect Raizer can go for 30-31000 power with the right boosters, that static critical and strong independent power means that with four to five soul no booster will be needed.

With that four-soul goal, you can partially circumvent the normal loss of advantage that your Battleraizer FVG would normally incur by dedicating it to setting up the soul. This gives you one of those four Raizers for free, reducing your total needed cost to -3. Since the opponent will likely be dropping a perfect defense the moment that your static critical comes out, that comes down to a single card difference between your opponent and yourself in an ideal game on that turn, and with Perfect Raizer demanding two to three cards for defense every turn after, you should be able to close that difference quickly. To help deal with the threat of retire-based decks, you can further build that soul through rides, which will also decrease the amount of cards that you'll need to intentionally lose to Perfect's autoskill. It can be a little hard to learn at first, but as with any subgroup, practice will bring out the best understanding of the strategy.

In addition to its gameplay strengths, this deck is definitely gearing up to be one of the cheaper ones of the EN format. EB01 has just 35 cards in the set, and with only Perfect Raizer and ZANBAKU competing for the 1 RRR per box spot, that makes assembling most of the cards for the deck very easy. Trial Deck 03: Golden Mechanical Soldier already comes with all of the basic Grappler cards like Shout and additional triggers, so one TD03 and a couple of EB01 boxes will go a long way to giving you a Raizer deck that's just short of complete. The key units that would be missing in that case are four copies of Twin Blader from BT02: Onslaught of Dragon Souls, additional copies of the boss card Perfect Raizer, and possibly some Hi-Powered Raizer Customs. "Cheap" and "competitive" aren't usually words that go together, but much like Giraffa, the Raizers are a background deck that when played properly, can hold their own in the world of pros.

Next, I'll be visiting the Beast Deity series and its evolution from BT06 through BT09.