News: Aichi Returns as PSY Qualia Zombie in Cardfight!! Vanguard Manga

Now, will you all fight? Against me...

A commercial for the next month's issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine has starred Yonaga Tsubasa in the role of Sendou Aichi, awakened from his sleep in the ongoing chapters of Itou Akira's Cardfight!! Vanguard manga. The current story thread concerns Aichi having been turned into a PSY Qualia zombie after losing a fight against another zombified character in a previous issue. PSY Qualia zombies approximately equate to the Link Joker chapter of the anime's Яeverse cardfighters, but originate from Ibuki Kouji and a partner antagonist "Cold Walker" rather than Void. Unlike Яeversed fighters, zombies are endowed with the PSY Qualia ability to see the future of a fight. The original commercial, along with a transcript and translation of Aichi's lines, is provided below.

While the anime presented a hypothetical scenario of Aichi being Яeversed in episode 144, this was never realized during the course of the Link Joker chapter's run. Previously Itou stated through Twitter that he first proposed the Яeverse concept to the anime staff; it's likely that he took influence from the anime's unrealized scenario. The Monthly Bushiroad commercial below provides a quick view of the upcoming chapters of both Cardfight!! Vanguard and Cardfight!! Vanguard G, as well as the issue's PR♥ISM-Duo promotional cards.

月刊ブシロード。
Monthly Bushiroad.
さあ、ファイトしましょうよ。僕と…ふふ。
Now, will you all fight? Against me...Haha.
新世代の彼だって僕を止められない。
Even the new generation cannot stop me.
聞こえる、白と黒のハーモニー。もう限界などないのです。
I can hear it, the Harmony of white and black. Soon, there will be no more limits!
イメージしてください。その先に見える、新たな世界を。
Please picture it. That which you saw before, a new world.
月刊ブシロード七月号。六月四日発売！
Monthly Bushiroad, July issue. On sale June 8th!

Today's Card Analysis: Earth Elemental Pokkle

The Japanese card of the day is a unit that doubles as both anti-Link Joker and “Яeverse” support, Earth Elemental Pokkle. The first grade 2 Cray Elemental unit, Pokkle's on-call soulblast 1 unlocks any of your locked cards as long as you have a face-up Cray elemental in your generation zone, providing an important support option for decks that are overwhelmed by lock but don't have reliable Lock Break Campaign support.

AUTO: [Soulblast 1] When this unit is called to a rearguard circle, if you have a face-up Cray Elemental in your generation zone, choose one of your locked cards and unlock it.
CONT: This unit belongs to all nations and clans.

Ironically, the decks that benefit most from the addition of Pokkle are the “Яeverse” decks that already lock their own units as part of their costs, as keeping around a counter just for Link Joker that's tied to a specific rearguard with no other function is overdedication when one may never encounter Link Joker in the tournaments they're attending. Meanwhile “Яeverse” decks can already anticipate needing to lock cards for their card skills, and so are able to carry with them both a utility grade 2 that can make their lock skills more effective, and a partial counter to the very clan that so often counters them.

Although not formally a “Яeverse” unit, Star-vader Blaster Joker can also make use of Pokkle to unlock the unit that he locks for his legion skill. However, because there's no benefit to repeating the skill and he's dependent on soul for using it in the first place, this is less advisable. One trick that Joker can exploit is with Infinitesimal Star-vader Mayoron, an existing support card that rests himself to give Blaster Joker +10000 power. By locking Mayoron for the cost and then unlocking him with Pokkle, Mayoron's skill can be repeated a second time because cards default to unlocking as stand even when they were at rest beforehand. A similar combo exists with the promotional card Roaring Legs Blast Monk, whose generation break unlocks a locked card for +4000 power in the battle phase, allowing Mayoron to be used as a booster. Pokkle provides one more option for achieving this combo, and the soul used for his skill can be replenished semi-consistently with Link Joker's upcoming Margal clone.

Not every “Яeverse” deck benefits equally from running Pokkle. Many of the existing “Яeverse” units can only use their skills once per turn, or otherwise have limited timings to their locks that prevent them from taking advantage of main phase unlock. Those units whose skills activate in the main phase but are once-per-turn can still benefit from unlocking the locked unit as a booster, eliminating the principle weakness of Ashlei “Яeverse” and similar cards. Below is a list of “Яeverse” cards capable of exploiting Pokkle.

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.

Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Яeverse” - Locking four Eradicator rearguards to retire four of the opponent's rearguards has always been possible, but Pokkle makes it easier by unlocking one of the initially locked units and still allowing for two rearguard attacks to be used in the turn. The issue with this is that Vowing Saber's limit break is attached to a counterblast 2, which severely hampers its use.

Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier “Яeverse” - The primary use of Pokkle in this deck is to enable Luquier “Яeverse” to call more rearguards than normal by using her skill multiple times and then unlocking the locked units, calling up to four rearguards from the soul in a turn. As Pokkle is technically a Pale Moon, he can also be superior called from the soul by Luquier's effect. More typically, Pokkle can be used to make two 21000+ power lanes with Luquier “Яeverse;” locking her booster with her limit break to superior call an attacker and give it +5000 power, unlocking the booster with Pokkle and then locking it again to superior call a +5000 power booster behind the Earth Elemental.

Cleanup Celestial, Ramiel “Яeverse” - Use with Pokkle is possible, but Ramiel's effect of "Choose up to three units in your front row with "Celestial" in its card name, those units get Power +5000 until end of turn" will be partially negated because Pokkle does not have Celestial in their card name. Instead, using Pokkle you can effectively retire two to three of the opponent's rearguards that turn and give Ramiel “Яeverse” +10~15000 power by locking two Celestials, unlocking one of them with Pokkle, locking two Celestials again, then calling another Celestial over Pokkle and locking the remaining units. It's entirely a question of how many Pokkles and Celestials you have available in hand, and where you want to stop. It's actually entirely possible to retire up to five units in a turn and give +25000 power to Ramiel “Яeverse” if you have four Pokkles and a sufficient number of Celestials in hand, by repeatedly calling over units to unlock locked cards and then relocking them.

Deadliest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster “Яeverse” - Ethics Buster's limit break has never been repeatable, as even if his cost is paid twice, when he attacks a vanguard “Яeverse” meets the criteria for both instances of his restanding skill, hence the second instance also can't be used for the rest of that turn. However, Pokkle does allow you to make one of your rearguard lanes attack for full power, which can be vital during the battle phase when “Яeverse's” crossbreakride rearguard stand comes into play.

Ice Prison Hades Emperor, Cocytus “Яeverse” - Due to Cocytus both sending three cards from the deck to the drop zone every time his lock is used, and superior calling and powering up units as part of his skill, trying to abuse Pokkle with him to repeatedly lock units is undesirable. However, it can be useful for restoring the unit originally locked to pay for his cost.

School Punisher, Leo-pald “Яeverse” - Leo-pald's lock skill can be used as many times as there are unlocked Great Nature units, and a common tactic in the past has been to lock all three backrow units to give +12000 power to the frontrow rearguards. On the surface it would appear that Pokkle doesn't synergize with this play style because calling him over one of the units powered up in this way ultimately grants you less power than you lose by retiring that unit. However, he can be abused by having open backrow circles to call Pokkle to, unlocking one of the units locked and effectively getting two more locks out of it. This upgrades Leo-pald “Яeverse” from giving +12000 power to the rearguards to giving +20000 power to each, locking both the unit Pokkle unlocked and Pokkle himself.

Covert Demonic Dragon, Hyakki Vogue “Яeverse” - As far as Vogue is concerned, Pokkle is not a new trick. Murakumo cardfighters have been using Stealth Beast Metamorfox to unlock their locked units and repeat Vogue's lock 2 to make the copies of himself attack for 31000 power each ever since BT14: Brilliant Strike hit. Pokkle simply adds another grade 2 option that's capable of pulling this off, replacing the filler grade 2s Grenjin and Bloody Mist that once took up space in the build.

Maiden of Venus Trap “Яeverse” - Like with Luquier, Pokkle is valuable because he enables Venus Trap to set up two powerful rearguard lanes in a turn. Moreover, since Venus Trap's limit break comes out of the top 5 cards of the deck, this also has the benefit of thinning the deck of nontrigger units, making one more likely to drive check triggers after bringing out those 21000+ power lanes.

News: “∞” Glendios Tops West Japan and Kansai Championships, Kagerou Disappears Overnight

"The unending apocalypse, infinite Ω."

Link Joker made an unanticipated return at the apex of two major tournaments yesterday, with both the West Japan VGCS and Kansai Spring Cup seeing Death Star-vader “∞” Glendios in first place. In both cases, Link Joker represented a minority among the participants. At the Spring Cup 35 3-man teams (105 persons) participated, but only two cardfighters played Link Joker among them. At the West Japan CS there were 86 participants, with the 5 Link Joker fighters split between Glendios and Blaster Joker. With the support that it's received in Fighter's Collection 2015, “Ω” has come out as a dark horse answer to the swarm of “Diablo” decks now flooding tournament play.

"Sold out." Photo by inaisekai.

Unusually for a post-Generation Stride tournament, no Kagerou cardfighters were present at the 86-person West Japan Vanguard Championship. The clan collapsed entirely in the face of “Diablo,” with many cardfighters jumping ship to Shadow Paladin and Narukami. Meanwhile at the Spring Cup only 10% of all fighters present played Kagerou--occupying the same niche that “Abyss” filled prior to the Legend Deck's debut. Meanwhile the Legend Deck is selling out in stores across Japan, and Japanese card shops are struggling to keep up with demand. “Abyss” made up 24% of all tournament entries at the West Japan CS, and 41% of the entries at Kansai. Glendios' top at the Spring Cup was complementary to this; while team forward Shokushu lead the way for his mates by going undefeated in the nine rounds he played, both of his teammates were playing Revenger decks with “Diablo” support. (Unlike other team tournaments, the Spring Cup did not prevent teammates from using the same clan.)


Shokushu's “Ω” Glendios deck focused on using its Fighter's Collection 2015 upgrade Death Star-vader “∞” Glendios. (Read as "Omega Loop" Glendios) For counterblast 2 and by turning a copy of itself face-up in the generation zone, “∞” places a card from the top of the opponent's deck onto their field locked for every “Яeverse” rearguard the Omega cardfighter controls. The stride's skill also effectively incorporates an ultimate break of its own, as if the Glendios fighter has five damage then the opponent's rearguards will not unlock during their end phase. This means that, barring any changes in damage as a result of trigger checks, an “∞” deck with five “Яeverse” units in play and five damage will guarantee themselves to automatically win through “Ω” Glendios' World End ultimate break during the main phase of the next turn, provided that the opponent does not have any unlock skills attached to their vanguard and that the Link Joker cardfighter is able to defend through their opponent's turn.

By cutting out even more grade 2 space than is standard, Shokushu was able to make room for both thirteen grade 1s and twelve grade 3s, helping accommodate  “∞'s” stringent requirements. His opponents were forced to avoid granting him five damage, only having the option to send him directly from four to six or not at all. Shokushu reported his individual matchups; six of the nine rounds he played were against Shadow Paladin cardfighters. (Shokushu's other rounds were against Narukami, a team that forfeited and Aqua Force.) He did not lose a single game during the tournament, despite some of the advantages Phantom Blaster “Diablo” had in those matchups. This record may be attributed to his teammates--the team's midfighter Nero and its captain Buretan both played Revenger decks, hence Shokushu had ample opportunity to practice for the matchup. Shokushu was also no stranger to playing Glendios, as he had topped the third Kansai CS sub tournament with it back in July 2014.

Another potential reason for Shokushu's success was the tournament format. Prior to top 16 the Spring Cup used a five-round Swiss system, with each round lasting 20 minutes and being constrained to best-of-one games. The first round began at 11:00 AM, the second at 11:35 AM, and so on. The tournament finals were best-of-three with a 50 minute time limit, and clan fight rules were enforced throughout. But because the initial five rounds were in best-of-one and every opponent facing “∞” Glendios had an incentive to keep the deck at four damage, the format was arguably biased in Glendios' favor. In any given game the looming threat of “∞” hitting the field prevents opponents from putting Glendios fighters to five damage, while still staring down 22000-power “Яeverse” rearguards every turn and having higher damage incentivized by the time limit. Conflicting priorities force poor decisions out of the opponent, to either risk putting the Glendios cardfighter at five in the belief that they will be unable to guard the next turn's stride attack, or to go to five damage themselves to scramble for an additional counterblast while in the immediate short-term putting down less guard. With a 20-minute timer, trying to send a Glendios cardfighter straight from four to six damage becomes less viable as the clock may finish counting down before that can happen.

Kansai Spring Cup Clan Distribution (105 participants)
43 Shadow Paladin
16 Narukami
11 Royal Paladin
11 Kagero
6 Aqua Force
4 Megacolony
4 Oracle Think Tank
3 Great Nature
2 Dimension Police
2 Link Joker
1 Nova Grappler
1 Pale Moon
1 Spike Brothers

The Kansai VGCS Spring Cup took place over the course of two days from May 4th to 5th at the Naniwa Citizens' Hall. 48 teams (144 participants). Entry was 4500 yen (approx. $38) and first place won a carton of G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon and were qualified for two byes for the second day of the tournament. Second place won six boxes of Sovereign Star Dragon, third place three boxes, and fourth place one box. Clan fight rules were implemented. The decklists for Shokushu's teammates are still forthcoming.

Do-re-mi Town. Original image by Morichan.

Second place at the West Japan VGCS was Sanctuary Guard Royal Paladin, third place Thavas-Strikehead Aqua Force, and fourth place Exxtreme Battler Nova Grappler. The tournament was sponsored by Cardbox, one of the original shops to support Cardfight!! Vanguard in Japan. It was a singles division tournament, held on the third floor of Do-re-mi Town, an entertainment center in Okayama prefecture. The first round began at 11:00 AM, with each round lasting 20 minutes. The tournament finals began at 2:30 PM, and the closing ceremony was held at 6:30 PM. Entry at West Japan was 1000 yen for those that preregistered and 1200 yen for those that registered on-site. First place won eight boxes of Fighter's Collection 2015 as well as a voucher for 5000 yen. Second place won four boxes of FC2015 and a voucher worth the same, third place two boxes and a 3000 yen voucher, while fifth through eighth places won a single box.

West Japan VGCS Clan Distribution (86 participants in total)
21 Shadow Paladin (Revengers and Blaster Dark "Diablo," 1 Witch reported)
12 Royal Paladin (Thing Saver, Jewel Knights)
9 Narukami (Brawlers, Eradicators)
5 Link Joker (mostly Glendios, a few Blaster Jokers reported)
5 Nova Grappler (Exxtreme Battlers, Raizers, and Asura reported)
5 Aqua Force (Thavas, Maelstrom)
4 Oracle Think Tank (2 Tsukuyomi, 1 CoCo, 1 Susanoo)
3 Murakumo (Hyakki Vogue)
3 Dimension Police (Metalborgs)
3 Gold Paladin (reported no Pellinores, Ezel, Liberator)
3 Great Nature (Tester Fox)
3 Gear Chronicle (reported no Upheavals)
3 Megacolony (1 made it to Top 16)
2 Granblue
2 Neo Nectar (Musketeers, 1 with Captain Cecilia, 1 without Captain Cecilia)
1 Pale Moon
1 Dark Irregulars
1 Genesis (Legion)

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's official tournaments, most VGCS events are done using a best-of-three, 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, and there are now similar grassroots organizations emerging in the United States like the ARG Circuit series tournaments and the King of Cardfight competition in the American midwest.

Kansai VGCS Spring Cup
Championship team
Forward: Shokushu/しょくしゅ
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, World Line Dragon (FV)
x4 Star-vader, Pixie Powder HT
x3 Star-vader, Jailer Tail DT
x3 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x4 Apollo Nail Dragon CT
x1 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT
x1 Star-vader, Spark Doll CT
Grade 1
x4 Refusing Deletor, Evil
x4 Star-vader, Ruin Magician
x4 Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium
x1 Star-vader, Volt Line
Grade 2
x3 Star-vader, Magnet Hollow
x3 Companion Star-vader, Photon
x2 Star-vader, Colony Maker
Grade 3
x3 Star-vader, “Ω” Glendios
x3 Star-vader, “Яeverse” Cradle
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Яeverse”
x1 Dark Dimensional Robo, “Яeverse” Daiyusha
x1 Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier “Яeverse”
x1 Deadliest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster “Яeverse”
x1 Cleanup Celestial, Ramiel “Яeverse”
x1 Broken Heart Jewel Knight, Ashlei “Яeverse”
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x4 Snow Element, Blizza
x4 Death Star-vader,  “∞” Glendios

Midfighter: Nero/ネロ
Decklist pending

Captain: Buriten/ブリテン
Decklist pending

West Japan Vanguard Championship
Champion
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, World Line Dragon (FV)
x4 Recollection Star-vader, Tellurium HT
x3 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x3 Vortex Star-vader, Molybdenum DT
x3 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
x3 Apollo Nail Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Refusing Deletor, Evil
x4 Star-vader, Ruin Magician
x4 Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium
Grade 2
x4 Star-vader, Magnet Hollow
x3 Companion Star-vader, Photon
Grade 3
x4 Star-vader, “Ω” Glendios
x4 Star-vader, “Яeverse” Cradle
x1 Covert Demonic Dragon, Hyakki Vogue “Яeverse”
x1 Dauntless Dominate Dragon “Яeverse”
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Яeverse”
x1 Maiden of Venus Trap “Яeverse”
x1 Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth
x1 School Punisher, Leo-pald “Яeverse”
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x1 Miracle Element, Atmos
x3 Snow Element, Blizza
x4 Death Star-vader,  “∞” Glendios

Press Release: Bushiroad Announces Cardfight!! Vanguard Team League 2014 Plans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bushiroad Announces Cardfight!! Vanguard Team League 2014 Plans

Los Angeles, CA (February 24, 2014) – Bushiroad announced their plans for their 2^nd Cardfight!! Vanguard Team League series which will take place between April to July 2014. The Cardfight!! Vanguard “Team League” tournament series focuses on the team format. Players of all ages may form teams, consisting of 3 members, to face off against other teams.

The key change between Team League 2013 and Team League 2014 is the featured Regional Championships across multiple countries between April to July 2014.  These Regional Championships will lead up to the Continental Championships for each of the 3 regions (North America, EU, Asia-Oceania) in July 2014. Bushiroad will sponsor the travel and accommodation fees of most winning teams from each Regional Championship.

 [North America]

April 18-19	Mexico, México D.F.
April 19-20	Canada, Vancouver
May 3-4	USA, New York
May 17-18	USA, Atlanta
June 13-14	USA, Columbus
July 4	USA, Los Angeles

 

[Europe]

April 19-20	France, Paris
May 3-4	Germany, München
May 10-11	Sweden, Stockholm
June 28-29	United Kingdom, Scotland
June (TBC)	Portugal, Coimbra
July (TBC)	Ireland, Dublin
July (TBC)	United Kingdom, London

[Asia-Oceania]

Dates	Location
April 26-27	Philippines, Metro Manila
May (TBC)	Indonesia, Jakarta
June 7-8	Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
June 21-22	Australia, Melbourne
June 21-22	Singapore

* Dates and locations are subject to change.

For an immersive experience within the current Cardfight!! Vanguard narrative universe, players form teams to “protect” or “invade” their region during the Cardfight!! Vanguard Team League 2014. Teams who choose to protect are the “Cray Defenders,” while teams who invade are the “Void Invaders.” The results will be updated on Cardfight!! Vanguard’s website and Facebook page to reflect the progress of the campaign. 

The Cardfight!! Vanguard Team League 2014 will be held in conjunction with the “Neo-Showdown” and “Buddy Challenge,” which will be the first major English tournaments for Weiβ Schwarz and Future Card Buddyfight respectively.

Producer of the English Edition Cardfight!! Vanguard and Weiβ Schwarz, and Co-Producer of Future Card Buddyfight, Shunichi Taira explained that the changes in the qualifying format were to cater to the growing communities for Cardfight!! Vanguard, WeiβSchwarz and Future Card Buddyfight. “We are excited to have future major events feature all current English editions of our games. We will plan for these events to be held in multiple central locations around the world to cater to players everywhere”.

More information can be found at the respective links below:

Cardfight!! Vanguard Team League 2014: http://cf-vanguard.com/en/event/team-league-2014/

News: Chaos Breaker Dragon's Skills Leaked

Following a long train of hype surrounding Link Joker's new boss card, Star-vader Chaos Breaker Dragon, his skill has been leaked through images of Monthly Bushiroad magazine. As Kai Toshiki's new key card, Chaos Breaker integrates Link Joker's Lock skills along with the retire aspects of his previous clans Kagerou and Narukami. The new unit's skill allows it to retire a rearguard when it is Unlocked and draw a card by eroding at Chaos Breaker's soul, preventing opponents from escaping Lock altogether.

Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon
Grade 3/11000 Power/No Shield/Link Joker - Cyber Dragon/
AUTO (V) [Limit Break 4]: [Soulblast 1 cards with "Star-vader" in their name] During the opponent's end phase, when an opponent's card Unlocks, retire that card and draw 1 card.
ACT (V): [Counterblast (1) "Star-vader" and discard 1 card with "Star-vader" in its name from your hand] Choose one of your opponent's rearguards and Lock it. This ability cannot be used for the rest of the turn.



Chaos Breaker is expected to carry a heavy impact on professional play, as prior to his debut Link Joker has been very reliant on the Infinite Zero Dragon break ride to achieve consistent field control, and his ability to retire Unlocked units is very destructive to the currently Reverse-centric Japanese competitive scene. At present there are two types of Reverse units that have shown themselves to be best all-around units in tournament play and preliminary testing. The first type are cards like Luquier “Я” and Cocytus “Я” that give +1 card advantage per counterblast spent, but are based on limiting that advantage to the manipulation of specific zones and rearguard skills. They get their mileage out of Lock by capitalizing on the fact that Locked cards open at the end of their owner's turn. Being able to retire the cards that the opponent's Reverse card Locked changes this, negating the +1 that Luquier and Cocytus “Я” achieve and instead giving it to Chaos Breaker.

The second type are cards like Vowing Saber “Я” and “Я” Daiyusha, which Breaker has an even better matchup against. This is because these units are reliant on Lock 2 skills to achieve overwhelming power. Normally, Vowing Saber uses his Lock 2 to retire 2 of the opponent's rearguards, which works out to a -2 to the opponent with only counterblast cost once the Locks open. “Я” Daiyusha doesn't directly take away the opponent's card advantage, but by decreasing the opposing vanguard's power he functionally forces the opponent to drop one more card per attack to defend successfully so that they incur a -3 each turn. Chaos Breaker breaks the formula because now Vowing Saber takes a -2 equal to the opponent's -2, and Chaos gets to draw 2 cards to replace the rearguards that Saber retired, while Daiyusha's impact on the game is similarly mitigated to a -2 for Daiyusha vs net -1 to Breaker. Using Reverse card skills no longer becomes sustainable because more resources are lost through using them than are gained. The use of those skills is likely to drive Chaos Breaker's cardfighter to limit break in the first place, enabling his counterplay. Furthermore, Vowing Saber and “Я” Daiyusha normally choose their vanguard booster as the primary sacrifice for their Lock 2 skills, because Saber gets +10000 power to go for 21-23000 unboosted and Daiyusha's Tyrannus Gravity has a functionally similar effect. Chaos Breaker's retire skill takes away those vanguard boosters, so that in either case Reverse cardfighters need to use their limit breaks just to attack at normal strength rather than to power up. This narrows down their resources even further when Breaker limit breaks again, perpetuating a vicious cycle that makes Chaos Breaker Dragon into a hard counter to Reverse cards.

Bushiroad has gone all out in making Reverse cards some of the best choices to build a deck around within their own clans, which suggests that Chaos Breaker will be a format-defining unit not just during the release of Catastrophic Outbreak, but also through future booster sets.

News: Link Joker Units and "Lock" Unveiled

呪縛［ロック］されたカードは、裏向きになり何もでない。持ち主のターンの終わりに表に戻る
"A "Locked" Card is turned face-down and cannot do anything. It is turned back face-up at the end of its owner's turn."

The official Japanese portal has updated with information on the long-awaited Link Joker clan, and the Lock mechanic that they will be introducing in TD11: Star-Vader Invasion and BT12: Binding Force of the Black Rings. This new mechanic extends both to Link Joker units and “Я” or Reverse series units, those corrupted by the clan. According to Doctor O's twitter, locked cards are rendered completely unusable, are no longer treated as rearguards, and so cannot be retired or have new units called over them. Furthermore, the clan of a Locked unit is negated in the process. Locked units effectively no longer exist but still prevent their rearguard circle from being used, creating a disruptive strategy that destroys rearguard-centric decks--and in a format that has in many ways been defined by the mass distribution of Masquerade and Kay clones, most decks of the current format will feel the effects of that. As the Lock lasts throughout the turn of the card's owner, “Я” units that use Lock to pay costs like Vowing Saber Dragon “Я” have an advantage over opponents inflicted with Lock by card skills, as they will regain the use of their rearguards at the end of the turn that they paid the cost in, while the opponent will have to sit through both the Lock user's turn and their next one until they get back control of their cards. The new Link Joker units unveiled are listed below, with translations provided by NeoArkadia.

Star-Vader, Dusttail Unicorn
Grade 0/Link Joker - Cyber Beast/5000 Power/10000 Shield
Auto: Forerunner
Activate (R): [Counter Blast 1 Card, Place this card in the Soul] If you have a "Link Joker" Vanguard and your opponent has a Locked Card, you can choose 1 of your opponent's Rearguards, Lock it.

Star-Vader, Darkband Dragon
Grade 3/Link Joker - Cyber Dragon/10000 Power/No Shield
Activate (V) Limit Break 4: [Counter Blast 1 Card with "Starvader" in its name] Choose 1 of your opponent's Back Row Rearguards, Lock it.
Auto (V): When this Unit attacks, if you have more Rearguards than your opponent, this Unit gains 3000 Power during this turn.

Star-Vader, Infinite Zero Dragon
Grade 3/Link Joker - Cyber Dragon/11000 Power/No Shield
Auto Limit Break 4: When a <<Link Joker>> rides this Unit, your opponent chooses 1 Rearguard in their Back Row and Front Row, and Locks them, then you choose 1 of your Vanguards, this Unit gains 10000 Power during this turn.
Auto (V): When this Unit attacks the Vanguard, it gains 2000 Power during this Battle.
Continuous (V/R): Lord

Star-Vader, Mobius Breath Dragon
Grade 2/Link Joker - Cyber Dragon/9000 Power/5000 Shield
Auto (V): When this Unit's Attack hits the Vanguard, choose 1 of your opponent's Rearguards, and Lock it.







Note that units returning from Lock are not entering a rearguard circle but are instead being flipped back over, so on-call skills like that of Gigantech Charger will not activate. Units which gain power from having other units on the field like Liberator of the Round Table Alfred and The Dark Dictator will not be able to derive any power from Locked units, as those units do not exist until they are turned back up.