Opinion: Where is Link Joker Headed?

(Note: Today's article was written before the official reveal of the BT12 sleeves. Doctor O tweeted the names six hours ago at about 6AM EST. The translated name of the new Luquier is Silver Thorn Dragon Empress, Luquier “Я” and the reading for “Я” says to pronounce it as either Reverse or Rebirth; these are homophones in katakana and the pun is probably intentional. Luquier “Я” is confirmed to be a Pale Moon unit. The other new units revealed are Revenger, Raging (or Rising) Form Dragon and Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon. Nebula Lord is the set's cover card. I have edited the names into the captioned images below, but the article is otherwise unchanged.)

The recently-released poster for VG-BT12: Binding Force of the Black Rings has drawn a lot of attention for an apparent new direction headed by one of the cards showcased for the set. While not immediately apparent to most fighters, the implications of the card's design for not just this coming booster set but also for sets to follow are far-reaching.

This Luquier at the left, all but confirmed at her original debut alongside the set's cover card to be one of the new Link Joker units introduced by BT12, is at the root of the discussion. While Link Joker so far has exclusively had United Sanctuary as its nation, the color of Joker Luquier's nation in the new poster is purple--Dark Zone, the same as her original incarnation. Several possibilities have arisen from this, not all of them mutually exclusive ideas.

1. Link Joker as a multinational clan.
This is not so much a possibility as it is what the new Luquier has concretely established. Link Joker is now a clan that draws from multiple nations. As virtually every Joker unit introduced by TD11 and BT12 has had an existing counterpart, this is only somewhat surprising, but what needs to be understood is that when we talk about Link Joker from the perspective of being a "multinational clan" we're also implying that the other possibilities are not reality. Essentially, if we take perspective 1, none of the below ideas apply. I consider this idea is less likely because there's no real precedent within the game mechanics for multiple nations to have an impact. Currently, no skills rely on nation, so this would be an entirely decorative thing. BT12 is allegedly introducing a system that will "defy common sense," and while many have assumed that the new Lock mechanic will be that same common-sense defying factor, the promotional materials have not explicitly identified Lock as being so. As for what does defy common sense, that brings us to point 2.

2. Link Joker as a double clan deck.

The idea of double clan units has held public fascination on and off for several years now, but it hasn't yet been implemented in a major way. BT09 used it to make the Spirit cards more playable and to tie back to the card lore, one of the Etranger promotional cards did it to provide Aqua Force with a Knight Squire Allen clone, and for a long time BT10 was suspected to introduce Gold-Royal double clan units, but this last idea did not turn out. Joker Luquier--possibly, "Star-vader Luquier"--has a little more precedent when we consider that having a unit that is a Pale Moon with "[CONT]: This card is also a «Link Joker»." would be able to simultaneously update two clans at once. By making the card playable between two different clans, it expedites the ease with which Bushiroad can update different clans, and it would also affect sales. Although concrete numbers are not currently available, the general trend agreed upon by retailers is that the set in which Luquier originally debuted, VG- and VGE-BT07: Rampage of the Beast King did not sell as well compared to its contemporaries. Rampage was a set that primarily updated non-core clans, focusing on Dark Irregulars, Pale Moon, Angel Feather and Great Nature. The core clans that it did update were Gold Paladin and Oracle Think Tank; but the GoPala support consisted of Pellinore assist units, and the OraThin support was for the new soulless deck, chiefly in the form a new FVG, when many OraThin cardfighters were already very content with their Tsukuyomi builds.

The result was that the majority of Gold Paladin cardfighters went in to get copies of Listener of Truth Dindrane for their Garmore decks, then jumped ship to wait for BT09 while Oracle Think Tank cardfighters either just bought their Little Witch LuLu and Glace rares or didn't buy Rampage at all. With BT08 bringing Aqua Force to the table, it was very easy for the set to be overlooked. Worth considering is that in the 2012 world championships, Gold Paladin always had a presence of at least 18.2% or greater in every tournament, averaging at 26.32% throughout the season while Pale Moon, Dark Irregulars, Great Nature and Angel Feather combined averaged a presence of 10.47%. Excepting the unclear "20% Rest of Clan" results from Indonesia, there were no qualifiers in which Royal Paladin and Kagerou were not played, but there were qualifiers where Pale Moon did not show up at all, despite Pale Moon coming in second for the Great Britain qualifier and third for the European finals overall while Royal Paladin only appeared as second at the Philippines' regional. What is being illustrated here is that the global popularity of these clans impacts the sales of sets that focus on them, and it's actually quite apt that the third season of Cardfight!! Vanguard chose to open with a discussion on globalization and common sense, because in a period where the franchise is undergoing globalization the once-impossible thought of double clan mechanics may be just the common sense-defying idea that can save the more obscure clans.

By creating Link Joker as a core clan and packaging their key units with the return of the Shadow Paladins in BT12, Bushiroad may be able to replicate the global success of BT04: Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows, one of the bestselling sets of all time that was in the past practically carried by the Shadow Paladins that it introduced. BT04 is also known for reinforcing many minor clans, giving Megacolony and Dimension Police enough cards to be playable while also refining the concept of ride evolution that would go on to proliferate to every clan in the game in subsequent sets like EB02 and BT06. As with BT04, BT12 can become the launchpad for the mass support of smaller clans, by piggybacking that support onto Joker cards. Link Joker being a double clan deck would allow Bushiroad to give support to clans like Pale Moon and Megacolony while using a consumer base of Link Joker cardfighters to make it economically viable. In the example that we've been discussing, "Star-vader Luquier" is a Pale Moon with "[CONT]: This card is also a «Link Joker»." I don't intend to speculate on what her actual skill will be when printed, but for the purposes of our example let's say that it's a V/R activate skill that requires a Pale Moon vanguard and can call any grade 2 or lower unit from the soul for some amount of counterblast. Pale Moon cardfighters that use Luquier could use her example skill in either the vanguard or the rearguard, but Link Joker cardfighters would be only able to use her if she was in the vanguard circle.

In another example, let's say that Star-vader Luquier actually has two skills; one of them lets her call any grade 2 or lesser Pale Moon from the soul, and another can let her call any grade 1 or grade 2 Link Joker from the soul. In this example, you would have two skills but only one would see play depending on whether her cardfighter is using a Pale Moon or Link Joker deck. Assuming that Luquier is the only Link Joker-Pale Moon hybrid, Link Joker cardfighters would only be able to use her second skill because there would be no other Pale Moons in a Link Joker deck normally, while Pale Moon cardfighters would only use her first skill because there would not be any Link Jokers in their decks below grade 3. Keep in mind that these example skills are just thought experiments--I'm only showing how double clan cards could work, I don't think that these are her actual skills.

Both economically and mechanically, double clan Link Joker makes sense as an interesting mechanic and new play style that fits the bill for "defying common sense," but the implications of a double clan Joker are far-reaching. The cover card for BT12 is a Joker Spectral Duke Dragon; but SDD is generally agreed upon based out of his lore and holding the Armor of the Black Horse to be a reincarnation of Phantom Blaster Dragon. There have been a lot of questions as to where the Shadow Paladins in BT12 are because of a lack of obvious units out of those revealed--so is this Joker SDD a Shadow Paladin or a Gold Paladin? Ren's return to the anime and his current deck would suggest the former, and in that case, the cover card for BT12 is both a Shadow Paladin and a Link Joker unit at the same time. Considering the anime though, if Luquier is both a Pale Moon and a Link Joker simultaneously, then the release of the new batch of posters is timed perfectly because the upcoming match between Asaka and Kourin is being resolved this week. With Leon having previously pointed out that Fukuhara's Foo Fighters were holding something secret, Luquier may be the trump card that decides the fight. In other words, the first Link Joker unit that we see the actual skills of could appear as early as this coming Saturday.

Left to Right; Great Daiyusha - Mitsusada Kenji, Battle Sister Tiramasu (debated) - Tokura Misaki, Knight Squire Allen (debated) - Sendou Aichi

With regards to TD11: Star-vader Invasion, I feel the need to point out that there is no anime character on the cover of the trial deck. This is a first for the franchise. Even when Aqua Force debuted as the new antagonist clan of the Asia Circuit, Leon was still shown as being on the front cover of the deck in promotional materials. We knew of Leon before we even knew his name. The fact that TD11 has no anime characters on its cover suggests to me one of two things. Either this is being done because the character to use Link Joker this season is someone from the existing cast and it would be a spoiler at this point to know who, or it's because Link Joker is going to be used by multiple characters. If it is a double clan deck, then there's a lot of existing correlations drawn by fans that can point to which characters and clans are seeing representation within Link Joker.

Left to Right; Blaster Blade - Sendou Aichi or Kai Toshiki, Star-vader Infinite Zero Dragon (Eradicator Armor Break Dragon (debated) - Ishida Naoki)

The timing of some other parts of the franchise should also be considered. Starter Set 0 included a manga containing the prologue chapter "#0 The Beginning of Everything," authored by franchise creator Itou Akira, which focused on Kai's time as a Royal Paladin cardfighter, his connection to Blaster Blade and Blaster Blade Burst, and on Kai's childhood friend Ibuki Kouji. I should point out that, although such sources are not always reliable, Japanese twitter reports from the "Get! Deck Holder Caravan 2013" Bushiroad event mentioned that CEO Takaaki Kidani said in a Q&A panel that most of the ideas for the third season came from Itou, and that there is a planned "mood shift" in the anime related to the term Link Joker (this was prior to the announcement that LJ would be a clan.) As one of the cover cards for TD11 appears to be a corrupted Blaster Blade, and that between Kai, Ren, Aichi and Ibuki there are four characters with some kind of connection to the card in the franchise, the probability of an existing character using Link Joker is sky high.

Given that Link Joker has an extraterrestrial theme and is described in the lore as a group of invaders, it seems as though these units are being abducted and corrupted by BT12's titular "Black Rings," allowing Link Joker to gradually invade each of the clans in turn and take over Cray from the inside.

Left to Right; Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon (Spectral Duke Dragon - Suzugamori Ren), Silver Thorn Dragon Empress Luquier “Я” (Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer Luquier - Narumi Asaka)

The idea has already been put forth that Link Joker represents Void's clan within the anime, and if so then this also explains why Ren's former persona has resurfaced. If the Link Joker print of Duke Dragon is a double clan with Shadow Paladin, then Void may already have begun corrupting him from the inside. Although the Shadow Paladins themselves were once portrayed within the series as a semi-mystical, inherently corrupting force and the possibility remains that their deck still has these properties in the anime, this possibility seems relatively slim in face of the more concretely realized idea that Link Joker is "infecting" the decks of the cast.

3. Link Joker as a mixed clan deck.

This possibility is what I consider the least likely but still within the realm of plausibility. In this scenario, the above Luquier is not a Link Joker at all, but only a Pale Moon. Link Joker would then only have pure Link Joker units within its clan, but would encourage the use of other clans in the deck, possibly to activate the Lock skill. Without guessing what Lock actually entails, let's assume that it needs units of another clan as part of its cost. The Joker Luquier would then be a supporting, rearguard grade 3, not intended to be in the vanguard circle but instead used for skills that work independent of clan and help support Lock. The reason that I consider this unlikely is because of how cumbersome it would be to potentially ride those non-Link Joker units and be unable to use your Jokers' skills at all. Riding Blaster Dark in a Majesty Lord Blaster deck is already hard, more so if you don't have any Royal Paladins in hand to call, because once Wingal Brave is off the field your triggers no longer activate and you already can't use the skills of units like Pongal or Iseult; how problematic would it be to have more than four cards in the deck that could trap you out of your perfect defense, skills and triggers?

That said, it may be intended as a more tech heavy build that has more options for specific searching. Only a couple clans handle direct searching at the moment, but if Link Joker has skills that are limited to searching for units from other clans, then it could be balanced out. For example, you could have a skill that in some way has you lose two Link Joker units as a cost, then add two units of different clans to your hand; requiring the search targets to be of different clans from one another as well would restrict you from double dipping on skills that specify a particular type of rearguard.

4. Luquier is not a Link Joker.

This is probably the most likely possibility next to point 2. As interesting a mechanic as a double clan unit could be, the Dark Zone nation box all but confirms her as a Pale Moon unit and only the illustration suggests that double clan could be a reality. And while there isn't enough information for any further speculation on what Lock entails, it's much simpler for the one announced but unrevealed mechanic to be the mechanic that the promotional materials are talking about than it is for an unannounced idea with little precedence to be so. Lore-wise, the new Luquier could be empowered by Link Joker without actually being a part of it, and so far all previous predictions of double clan mechanics have been overturned. Considering that the card illustration being irrelevant to the game mechanics is in page 3 of the rulebook, this could be the promotional materials taking us for a spin. The wrench in this point is that one of the first promo images put out for the set shows the new Luquier's illustration side by side with the new SDD's, and it would be strange for a connection to be implied by the company and then immediately cast away.

If it seems that the editor is biased toward point 2, he is; there's less to write about the others.

News: European, Asia-Oceania Championship Results, Japan Eliminated from WCS2012

Note: 11/21/12 - Due to an HTML error, part of this post was not displaying properly yesterday. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Today the official results of the European and Asian-Oceania events were made public, revealing the final opponents of Brandon Smith and his fellow Americans at the 2012 World Championship. Due to the differing tournament structure, Europe will field only its champion, while the top three of the Asian-Oceania championship will be competing along with in Tokyo.

Representing Asia is national champion Irwin Jansen Arogo from the Philippines, using a Spectral Duke Dragon-Garmore combination deck. The runners-up were Henry of Indonesia, Sham Chun Lok of Hong Kong and Frenky of Singapore. Chun Lok fought with a Tsukuyomi deck, and Frenky a Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion-based Narukami deck.

On the European side, champion Christopher Fernau of Germany will be representing with his Garmore deck. Second place finalist Anthony Francis of France also used Garmore, while Daniel Cottom of Great Britain came out as the first nationally competitive Pale Moon deck in Cardfight history, basing his build around Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier.

Due to all of the Japanese participants being eliminated or having otherwise not attended in the Asian-Oceania championship, the world championship's host country is no longer able to take the title in this year's event. This is the first such tournament in Vanguard's history in which Japan was both an eligible participant and was ultimately unable to take the title. Due to the similar elimination of France, Great Britain, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore, the final participating countries in the tournament are the United States, Mexico, Canada, Germany, the Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong. Barring sickness, injury or some other intervention by which a participant would be substituted, the finalists for the December 9 championship in Tokyo are:

1. Brandon Smith (Canada) - Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke Dragon)
2. Christopher Sok (United States, New York) - Gold Paladin (Garmore-Pellinore)
3. Gabriel Espinosa (Mexico) - Narukami (Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion)
4. Raymond Wong (United States, New York) - Gold Paladin (Garmore-Pellinore)
5. Christopher Fernau (Germany) - Gold Paladin (Garmore)
6. Irwin Jansen Arogo (Philippines) - Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke Dragon)
7. Henry (Indonesia) - Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke Dragon-Garmore)
8. Sham Chun Lok (Hong Kong) - Oracle Think Tank (Tsukuyomi)

As six of the eight participants are Gold Paladin cardfighters, the odds heavily favor this clan, and some fighters are already predicting that the clan's runaway success will steal all of the top spots in the tournament. However, the finalist Narukami and Oracle Think Tank decks remain wild cards for the tournament, as all of these decks have an equal chance at the championship title.

Pale Moon Extra Study Material: Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier & Sword Magician, Sarah

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

With the coming of Rampage of the Beast King, the Pale Moon circus is seeing an expansion on their established play, simultaneously bolstering their existing Crimson Beast Tamer style while also integrating new cards to further develop the format. This comes at a time when many feel that the circus has fallen out of a competitive scene that it was struggling to be sustainable in to begin with, and so the rain of new material is well welcome by Pale Moon cardfighters.

Addressing the past weaknesses of Hades Ringmaster is Girl Who Crossed the Gap and Innocent Magician, both of which move to the rearguard when ridden over. Innocent comes from the same line as Shizuku and Acorn Master, and he shares their shortcomings. Innocent's counterblast 1 to search for a grade 3 is too costly in a Pale Moon deck for what it does, as that counterblast will be needed for soul swap skills, and is most useful at a point in the game when retire-based units have already hit the field. Even at that late stage, the accuracy is in question in a deck that tends to quickly shave random cards off the deck and into the soul.

Girl Who Crossed the Gap meanwhile, uses the same cost to soulcharge herself and superior call another Pale Moon from the soul. This places all the way of early-game soulcharging on Skull Juggler, but makes up for this by giving the Pale Moon cardfighter direct, unstoppable card advantage and being a repeatable skill that can be brought out once more with cards like Purple Trapezist. By making careful use of Gap, Manager's job can also be done for him, superior calling the Juggler that was ridden at the start of the game multiple times with Trapezist and other soul-swap skills.

For triggers, there's no direct advantage to using Funny Pierrot vs Popcorn Boy. Poison Juggler takes precedence over Dynamite Juggler due to his +3000 power move-to-soul skill, and Rainbow Magician similarly has a place above Flyer Flyer and Spiral Master because of his soulcharge skill.

As I said last time, Pale Moon's access to multiple types of draw triggers was intended to supplement the lack of card advantage generated by Hades Ringmaster. Since BT07 and Girl Who Crossed the Gap removes the triggers from this context, they now generate additional cards rather than compensate for a lack of them. However, because Sky High Walker is the clan's only guaranteed means of unflipping the damage needed for Alice and Bunny's Deadly Shadow Beast, almost all Pale Moon decks will need to run some strand triggers. This does work in their favor, since to begin with one of the clan's most prided features is its fourth and fifth attacks, which jump up to six and seven with a checked stand.

Bull's Eye, Mia cannot be recommend over Skull Juggler, because she gives the opponent room to stop the soulcharge, and Juggler's skill is easy to repeat with Gap. So like Starting Presenter, Mia can't really challenge Juggler as the king of soulcharging.

Dreamy Ammonite exists as a counter to the long-loathed Berserk Dragon, Kimnara and Amon, along with other retire-based units. Unique in that it only preserves advantage on the opponent's turn, when Ammonite is retired an additional Ammonite can be called from the soul. Because the soul is public knowledge, the opponent is unlikely to deliberately retire an Ammonite. Amon is the lone unit that this skill would see popular use against.

Soul swap itself has evolved considerably since BT03. To recap the old maneuver, originally you would superior call Trapezist with Bunny, then soulcharge the unit Bunny had boosted to bring out Alice, Cerberus or another attacker that Trapezist could boost. Alice furthers the combo, potentially superior calling Bunny to start the chain all over again, but all this is limited by the opponent's ability to guard, by your damage zone and by your soul's contents. Magician of Quantum Mechanics is BT07's answer to Bunny and Trapezist. His cost is identical to Bunny, but it activates in the main phase, before you attack. After soulcharging himself, Quantum can then call any Pale Moon unit other than Magician of Quantum Mechanics. Completely unstoppable, the skill falls short of achieving the same rapid attack ability since it goes off in the main phase, but does resolve many of the issues surrounding Bunny to bring out on-soul skills--at a price.

Magician's call is not perfect. The unit he calls will return to the soul in the end phase, and Quantum would return to the field. If however, Magician's target is Alice or Bunny, and their skill activates, Magician's skill will not resolve and play can be resumed as normal.

Rampage also modifies Pale Moon's power-gain formula. While initially Turquoise Beast Tamer was presented in Demonic Lord Invasion, gaining +3000 power when her sister Crimson was in the soul (and this is intended to combo with Crimson for a 20000-power column), Jumping Glenn effectively replaces her in that role. When Glenn is superior called from the soul, she also gains +3000 power--but unlike Turquoise, this is over a 7000-power base. Pale Moon's wide range of call units, including the newly-introduced Quantum, makes Glenn's conditions very easy to fulfill, replacing Turquoise for the foreseeable future.

Cycling Actor is an interesting card. A classic Claire, Cycling gives +2000 power to another Pale Moon when he's called; unlike similar cards from other clans however, Cycling can be reused by swapping him in and out of the soul with other cards, potentially repeating his skill several times with the likes of Quantum, Gap and Alice/Bunny, building up the strength of weaker rearguard columns to make for a strong overall offense.

The reason that I stress the rearguard for Cycling is that Rampage of the Beast King brings with definitively stronger vanguard units over past sets. Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier has gotten the most attention of these--the first skill you tend to see from her is an autoskill, giving her +3000 power for each soul-based superior call of your Pale Moon rearguards. With Quantum calling Glenn that's an immediate 23000-power column for dealing with the 11-13000 power vanguards dominant in the coming format, sufficient to catch any fighter's eye. And the well-loved Alice/Bunny-Trapezist formula can pump Luqui up to 16000 in the battle phase, ready to reach the same numbers with basic boosting units, or as far as 25000-31000 with two formula columns working in concert. Beyond that though, Luquier's limit break 4 is a heavy counterblast 3 to superior call up to one Pale Moon unit of each grade 0-3. That's four units in all, for a +12000 power boost, and if one of those is Jumping Glenn then we're looking at Ezel-style power gain for a 32000 line.

Alternative to this is Sword Magician, Sarah. While the millennium elf has been overshadowing her up to release, Sarah has been catching some hearts now that people have their hands on the new cards. Sarah gets an automatic +3000 when boosted by a Pale Moon, putting Manticore to shame by breaking 21000 with Bicorn, and she falls into the Goku line of cards in that her skills activate when she drive checks a grade 3. When those conditions are met, Sarah soulcharges a grade 3 or greater Pale Moon rearguard, then calls any Pale Moon from her soul. Although the conditions can be somewhat awkward to work with, this effectively lets Sarah stand the unit that she charged, letting Alice have a second go with Deadly Shadow Beast, or working with the new +2000 Midnight Invader rearguard. Sarah can also do this to start up a chain of swap skills, superior calling Purple Trapezist over the rested booster of the soulcharged grade 3's columnt, who then soulcharges Sarah's booster to superior call whatever unit is desired out of the soul to the front line, probably the Alice that Sarah charged, or otherwise pulling in a rearguard Sarah with the vanguard's skill for Trapezist for Crimson Beast Tamer. The possibilities are endless, since you could also call a useful interceptor like Big League Bear (or the slightly hardier Dreamy Fortress) when you're low on shields to guard with for the next turn, or draw cards like Fire Breeze Carrie. Sarah's skills are also always active, letting you accelerate right into the endgame even if you're at just two or three damage.

Despite all the talk of the new vanguards, the old Pale Moon hasn't vanished. Dancing Princess of the Night Sky can counterblast 1 both on-call and on-ride to choose a grade 2 or less Pale Moon unit and soulcharge it from the deck. Interestingly, Dancing Princess has caused Barking Manticore's build to grow stronger, not weaker with age. While he cannot reach the same numbers as Luquier, Manticore can consistently get Crimson into the soul with Princess' skill, automatically making Turquoise into something worth the two-card investment and helping Manticore to regularly push 22000 power. Turquoise can even be argued for as getting four slots in the deck with this build, since she can then press any column in the field with a 9000 boost, helping get Dancing Princess or Big League past the 15000 line and making the field in general much more versatile. Someone who wants to run the original Moon will have their work made very easy for them by the new cards, having a much easier time than someone struggling to hit off all of the new skills in succession.

Whether the classic look can match the requirements of a modern clan is still uncertain, however. The times have changed considerably since Demonic Lord Invasion's initial Japanese run; 26000 is the new standard now, rather than 21000 being the goal of every deck. In the old days when Dragonic Overlord, Soul Saver Dragon and Amon were the top vanguards, Manticore was the best vanguard that Pale Moon had. With Sarah and Luquier being the trend setters of Rampage, it's going to be interesting to see how the pro scene develops between traditional and modern Moons.