Showing posts with label spike brothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spike brothers. Show all posts

Monday, June 25, 2018

Today's Card Analysis: Commander, Gary Gannon

The Japanese Card of the Day for June 26th, 2018, is a Spike Brothers Single Rare from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Commander Gary Gannon.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When an attack it boosts hits a vanguard, [Cost: Put this unit into your soul] draw 2 cards, and put 1 card from your hand on the bottom of your deck.
The original Gary Gannon was a Flame of Hope Aermo clone, and fittingly his remake serves a similar purpose to the Kagerо̄ card in filtering the deck. Gary Gannon has you give up 2 cards to draw 2 cards, a net-neutral exchange that facilitates hand fixing while also allowing you to return trigger units to the deck. In addition to trigger units, Gary can return cards to the deck that you want to search later with the skills of Brakki or General Siefried. This ensures you're not searching for nothing, and also refuels the soul for Siefried, Spike Bouncer, and Black Panther.

The previous Japanese Cards of the Day were Ravenous Dragon Gigarex and Fierce Claw Dragon Laceraterex.

V-Extra Booster 01: 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.

Friday, June 22, 2018

Today's Card Analysis: Spike Bouncer

The Japanese Card of the Day for June 22nd, 2018, is a Spike Brothers Triple Rare from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Spike Bouncer.
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When placed, [Cost: Counterblast 1, Soulblast 1] look at cards from the top of your deck equal to your vanguard's grade, call up to 1 to Rearguard Circle, and put the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the end of the battle it attacked, [Cost: Counterblast 1, put this unit into your soul] draw 1 card.
This remake is a serious upgrade for humble Bouncer, turning him into the clan's only means of gaining card advantage in the Standard format. While Spike Bouncer is a clear counterpart to his fellow manga card Gyro Slinger, he replaces the card-from-hand cost with a counterblast-soulblast equivalent to Berserk Dragon, Blaster Blade, and Hi-powered Raizer Custom--and like those cards his superior call represents a clear +1. While these other units are left intercepting away afterward to make use of other units' skills later on, Spike Bouncer's other counterblast allows you to clear him from the field offensively while replenishing the lost soul for General Siefried, Black Panther, and Unite Attacker. And by disappearing from the field, Bouncer opens up the possibility of superior calling something else to the empty circle to attack later...though that will have to wait until more set reveals are out.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Winged Dragon Skyptero.

V-Extra Booster 01: 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.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Today's Card Analysis: Cheer Girl, Franny

The Japanese Card of the Day for June 20th, 2018, is a Spike Brothers Common from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Cheer Girl Franny.
ACT [Rearguard Circle]: [Cost: Put this unit into your soul, put 1 card from your drop zone on the bottom of your deck] Countercharge 1.
Franny is Spike Brothers' equivalent to Giro, a grade 0 that's not a trigger unit nor a First Vanguard, with a powerful skill as a reward for decreasing the ride consistency of your own deck. If Franny were a grade 1 or 2, it would be easier to make an argument for her; the problem is that being a grade 0, you inherently increase your chance of being gradelocked by running her. While it's no problem for Megacolony to run the similar Jocular Cicada, Cicada is a dramatically more aggressive skill that Megacolony can reuse Cicada Stag Beetle or even set the card as their FV.

What Franny brings to the table is a net -1 to recycle a card from drop for superior calling later and an additional countercharge, permitting the reuse of General Siefried. Siefried is currently the only card in the clan's repertoire that benefits from the countercharge, but because his skill is not once-per-turn it can easily translate to a counterblast 4 or 5 rather than a CB1. This is Franny's role in the clan for the time being, enabling Siefried to bring out two columns with 20k on them, a powerful booster for himself, and pump up himself by 50k. Minussing oneself still isn't a great idea in Spikes, as the clan's only ways to plus are through Draw Triggers and Unite Attacker as a result of their core mechanic being one-for-one trades where they give up a card to gain a card, but final turn is final turn.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Water Gang.

V-Extra Booster 01: 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.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Weekly Bites reveals: General Siefried, Daiyusha and World Grand Prix 2018 promotional cards

Super Dimensional Robo, Daiyusha
Imaginary Gift: Force
CONT [Vanguard Circle]: If its Power is 35000 or greater, this unit gets Critical +1.
ACT [Vanguard Circle] Once per turn: [Cost: Rest any number of your rearguards] Until end of turn, this unit gets Power +10000 for each unit Rested for this cost.
Note that this is altogether different from how the Daiyusha of the original series worked. The original Daiyusha had to meet his power benchmark before boosting, while the new one can reach it after, or even via having trigger effects applied to it.

Image 8: "Uproar!! Q4 vs NwO"
A shop showdown with Team Q4 representing Card Capital and Team NwO representing Voyage begins! The siblings Daimonji Gоuki and Nagisa are up first to face Team Q4.
Animation reference for Team Q4 out of their school uniforms. Note the fanny pack on Aichi.

Japan's Standard-format shop tournament promo for July 1st through 31st is an Origin Rare print of Oracle Guardian Gemini.

Eight new promotional cards will be distributed at in Japan through Special Fight Pack Vol. 1. Fighters will be able to exchange coupons received for participating at shop tournaments from July to September, then exchange them at World Grand Prix regionals for packs. Each pack contains 1 randomized card, with a chance for the card to be printed with a Double Rare foil instead of as a Common. This is similar to the redemption process used for past Spring Fest promos.

Double Rare (right) foiling compared to Common.

Royal Paladin
Holy Disaster Dragon
No Gift
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When it attacks, [Cost: Put 1 card from hand to soul] this unit gets Power +10000 until the end of that battle.
Eagle Knight of the Skies
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard/Guardian Circles]: When placed, [Cost: Soulblast 1] this unit gets Power +3000/Shield +5000 until end of turn.
Oracle Think Tank
Battle Sister, Torte
CONT [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: During your turn, if the number of cards in your hand is 10 or greater, this unit gets Power +10000/Critical +1.
Goddess of Tolerance, Oomiyanome
ACT [Rearguard Circle]: [Cost: Counterblast 1, retire this unit] Draw 3 cards, and at the end of your turn, discard 3 cards.

Kagerō
Chain-attack Sutherland
CONT [Rearguard Circle]: If you have a "Follower, Reas" on your Rearguard Circle, this unit gets Power +5000, and if you do not, Power -5000.
Follower, Reas
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, 1 of your other rearguards gets Power +3000 until end of turn. If that unit is "Chain-attack Sutherland," it gets Power +5000 instead.
Nova Grappler
King of Sword
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When placed, [Cost: Soulblast 1] 2 of your units get Power +3000 until end of turn. If the number of your units is 5 or greater, they get Power +5000 instead.
Queen of Heart
AUTO [Rearguard Circle] Once per turn: When a Sentinel is placed in your opponent's Guardian Circle, Stand this unit.
Card supplies associated with V-Trial Deck 04: Suzugamori Ren will launch August 10th, 2018. They include Blaster Dark and Suzugamori Ren sleeves, each retailing for 740 yen + tax, and a Blaster Dark deckbox for 600 yen + tax.

Treasured, Black Panther
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks, [Cost: Soulblast 1] you may have this unit get Power +5000 or Power +15000. If it gained Power +15000, at the end of that battle, put this until into your soul.

General Siefried
Imaginary Gift: Force
ACT [Vanguard Circle]: [Cost: Counterblast 1, put 1 of your rearguards into your soul] Search your deck for up to 1 card with the same name as the unit put into soul for this effect's cost, call it to a Rearguard Circle, and this unit and that unit get Power +10000 until end of turn. Shuffle your deck.
AUTO [Vanguard Circle]: When its attack hits, [Cost: Soulblast 2] Stand 1 of your rearguards, and choose 1 of your opponent's rearguards, and retire it.
Note that Siefried's second skill caused some confusion on-stream. Its Japanese wording sounds vague due to literally saying "When attack hits." (アッタックがヒットした時 attaku ga hittoshita toki) The sentence uses a subject-drop rule of Japanese where the subject of the sentence is not stated if it is presumed to be obvious; all cards in Standard format are worded like this to save space, but Doctor O mistakenly skill would resolve when a rearguard's attack hit. He was then corrected--Siefried can only pay his soulblast 2 if his own attack hits. The wording is identical to Dragonic Overlord.

Next week will feature the voice of Inanaga Ichirō and Vanguard evangelist Maeda Seiji as a special guest, and a fight with cards from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar.

Episode 8 of Weekly Bites will air Tuesday June 26th, 2018, at 9:00 PM Japanese Standard Time.

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Today's Card Analysis: Gyro Slinger

The Japanese Card of the Day for June 18th, 2018, is the final Spike Brothers Double Rare from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Gyro Slinger.
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When placed, [Cost: Place 1 card from your hand into your soul] look at cards from the top of your deck equal to your vanguard's grade, call up to 1 card from among them to Rearguard Circle, place the rest of them on the bottom of your deck in any order, and until end of turn the called unit gets Power +5000.
Originally a promotional card used by Morikawa in the manga, Gyro Slinger has gone from an Iron Tail Dragon clone to becoming a unique support card that trades a card in hand for one from deck. This has been a recurring cost for Spike Brothers across the past seven years, allowing them to trade fodder like vanilla Draw Triggers for quality units and build up towards powerful soulblasts. In Standard format  those "powerful soulblasts" are consolidated into their finisher, Unite Attacker. Alongside the likes of Brakki and Juggernaut, Gyro Slinger builds towards being able to pay Unite's cost while creating powerful 23-28k columns that force the opponent to reach a damage threshold where Unite is threatening. Comboing into the aforementioned cards is an ideal way to make lanes that exceed the magic 28 threshold, so this is one RR that's likely to be a staple of the clan just as Little Sage Marron is over in Royal Paladin.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Death Warden Antlion.

V-Extra Booster 01: 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.

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Today's Card Analysis: Unite Attacker

The Japanese Card of the Day for June 14th, 2018, is a Spike Brothers Double Rare from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Unite Attacker.
ACT [Vanguard Circle] Once per turn: [Soulblast 7] Look at 5 cards from the top of your deck, call up to 5 cards from among them to Rearguard Circle, and place the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order. Until end of turn, 3 of your units in the front row get Power +5000.
Unite Attacker is a remake of a megablast unit from BT02: Onslaught of Dragon Souls, but is infinitely more playable than his 2011 counterpart. This incarnation of Unite preserves the call-5 theme of the original while making use of the heavy soul buildup from Wonder Boy, Highspeed Brakki, and Juggernaut Maximum. Note that you don't have to use Unite's call effect, since it says "up to 5;" you can simply soulblast 7 to put the top 5 cards of your deck on the bottom and give 5k to your front row. Under ideal circumstances you'll have a field of Juggernaut Maximums boosted by Wonder Boys for a total 41000 power (functionally equivalent to 38k) after Unite's power boost. That's before Force Gifts are factored in.

Variance being what it is, most games will see different combinations of which attackers you're using between Maximum, Brakki, White Tight and so forth. But the core idea is the same; where the other clans center their big endgame plays in single cards like Soul Saver Dragon or Dragonic Waterfall, Spike Brothers spreads out its power gains across the rearguards and vanguard so that your strategy isn't totally bricked when you have one and not the other. With the clan already having access to redundant units like Funky Bazooka that can fill in for other cards, you shouldn't need to worry about getting Unite off consistently. The card also gives an out against retire matchups, as it can create a field from nothing--though you have no guarantees on quality there.

Note that while Unite Attacker is a megablast remake, unlike Vortex Dragon he still has an Imaginary Gift.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Attempt Mammoth.

V-Extra Booster 01: 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.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Weekly Bites reveals: New Vanguard manga "Vanguard Frontier" starting in Monthly Bushiroad magazine

In addition to the new MiniVan Hi!! manga by Quily, this month's issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine will include a new original manga series called Vanguard Frontier, illustrated by new up-and-coming artist Pinko. It comprises more than 40 pages.


This month's smartphone wallpaper, given out for completing the issue's survey.

 This issue includes a four-page special on the characters' decks from the ongoing anime series.

It also contains spreads on Tachikaze, Spike Brothers, and Megacolony from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar.

Monday, June 11, 2018

Today's Card Analysis: White Tight End

The Japanese card of the day for June 12th, 2018, is a Spike Brothers Common from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, the grade 1 White Tight End.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks, if the number of your rearguards is 4 or greater, this unit gets Power +10000 until the end of that battle.
White Tight is a powerful grade 1 attacker that swings for a magic 18k on his own, making a 31k column with Wonder Boy or 30 with Funky Bazooka active. The fact that a solo White hits for exactly the number required to make a base 13 vanguard drop 10+ shield should be kept in mind going forward because one of Spike Brothers' overarching mechanics is pumping up rearguards and sending them back to the deck after they attack--give tighty-whitie here a Standard version of Bad End Dragger, and you have a 28k solo polar bear ready to smash face.

That said, on the best of days White Tight is a substitute for Highspeed Brakki. His role is similar to Reckless Express in the old format, a booster of reasonable power that can become an attacker when your options are limited.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Machining Hornet.

V-Extra Booster 01: 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. 

Friday, June 8, 2018

Today's Card Analysis: Archbird, Cheer Girl Marilyn, and Paralyze Madonna

The Japanese Cards of the Day for June 8th, 2018, are the three Double Rare perfect guards from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Tachikaze's Archbird, Spike Brothers' Cheer Girl Marilyn, and Megacolony's Paralyze Madonna.
CONT: Sentinel (You may only have up to 4 cards in your deck with "Sentinel")
AUTO [Guardian Circle]: When placed, [Cost: Discard 1 card from your hand], and one of your units cannot be hit until the end of that battle.
These four cards are their clans' respective versions of Flash Shield Iseult, Wyvern Guard Barri, Miss Mist, and Twin Blader. Their set numbers more or less confirm what was speculated from the moment the set was announced; each clan will be receiving three Double Rares, with the two spaces between each perfect guard being the slots for their clan's remaining RRs. Of these we already know that Blightops and Sonic Noa are the other two RRs for Tachikaze, thus the clan has no RRs left in the set, while Spike Brothers and Megacolony each have two slots left to fill.

It bears repeating that while each clan will likely receive a grade 1 perfect guard as a Single Rare counterpart to the likes of Ruote Magus and Hate Reflector, Draw Trigger perfects are inherently superior for Standard format for how they free up grade 1 space by combining mandatory trigger slots with mandatory Sentinel slots. The only reasons not to run them are either for budget reasons or to run alternate trigger lineups, and the only clan likely to have alternate lineups at this time is Tachikaze with its Front Triggers. Spike Brothers and Megacolony are more likely to be put in the same position as Royal Paladin and Oracle Think Tank, locked into a minimum of 4 Draw and maximum of 8 Crit.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Jocular Cicada.

V-Extra Booster 01: 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. 

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Satanic Middle Guard revealed on Vanguard YouTube Channel

The official Japanese YouTube channel revealed a new card as part of its weekly roundup, a Spike Brothers Common from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Satanic Middle Guard. Although the card's Japanese name is Satanic Middle Guard (サタニック・ミドルガード Satanikku Midorugaado) the official English subtitles censor the name to "Diabolic" Middle Guard. Similar cover-ups were done in the past with Genocide Jack and Aurageyser Damned.
CONT [Guardian Circle]: During the battle your grade 3 is attacked, this unit gets Shield +10000.
Satanic Middle Guard's Continuous skill turns it into a guardian on par with a Critical Trigger, but because this only works when defending grade 3s it's effectively gated behind your third turn ride. Note that if multiple units are battled "in one attack"--for example, by a future Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion--Satanic's Continuous ability will still only work if you call it to guard a grade 3, because the opponent's vanguard is engaged in two or more battles at once and you have to call Middle Guard during the battle a grade 3 is attacked for its Continuous ability to become active. Calling it to guard a grade 2, even when your grade 3 is also being attacked in another battle, wouldn't resolve it.

The skill makes it easier to defend grade 3 rearguards like Juggernaut Maximum and Sigiswald. With Silent Tom and Phantom Black's guard restrictions both blocking normal units, these types of shield-gain skills are less useful for defending the vanguard, though they can still come in hand versus Sentinel-blockers like Dragonic Waterfall. The issue for Satanic is similar to the problem faced by Shooting Bobby. Offensive cards like Brakki have priority in general, as additional shield can be useful in specific defensive scenarios but doesn't directly contribute to your overall win condition.

The last time the channel had a YouTube exclusive was Burstraizer.

V-Extra Booster 01: 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.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Today's Card Analysis: Front Line Commander, Sigiswald

The Japanese Card of the Day for May 31st, 2018, is a Spike Brothers Common from V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Front Line Commander Sigiswald.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase, [Cost: Put this unit into your soul, put 1 card from your drop zone on the bottom of your deck] Draw 1 card, and Countercharge 1.
Like Vortex Dragon, Gigantech Charger, and Maximum Raizer, Sigiswald is a supporting grade 3 that does not carry the Imaginary Gift ability. He shares his primary mechanic with this week's Weekly Bites reveals, all of which move to the soul at the beginning of the main phase to trade themselves out for something else. Unlike Wonder Boy, Brakki, and Juggernaut, the purpose of this play isn't to create power columns but to countercharge and replace with a draw. Thus far we haven't seen what kind of counterblasts Spikes will have to pay, but it's hard to imagine Sigiswald being a staple for two reasons:
  • Lacking both Gift and any kind of vanguard abilities makes it incredibly difficult to run. The first tournament results out of Japan are showing the only viable non-Gift grade 3s are the ones with overwhelming offensive rearguard skills like Maximum Raizer, while this card is a utility unit that only gives you 1 extra counterblast and can be easily interrupted by Dragonic Waterfall, Blaster Blade, or Berserk Dragon.
  • The card is slow, not giving a reward for playing it until the turn after it's first used. There should be more of a reward for running a card where having it as your only ride option shuts down your gameplan. Brakki, Wonder, and Juggernaut all have one skill that resolves on-place and one that resolves at the beginning of the main phase, which ensures you get something out of the play no matter what.
However, if Sigiswald is indicative of a skill shared across multiple units of different grades, a grade 2 or 1 version of him could be an instant 4-of. With three slots between Sigiswald and Funky Bazooka, there's ample room for one. The fact that both Sigiswald and Wonder Boy are capable of recycling triggers from the drop zone bodes well for Spike Brothers' coming support, as they're currently the only clan in Standard format capable of doing so.

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Bloody Hercules.

V-Extra Booster 01: 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.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Weekly Bites reveals: Highspeed Brakki, Wonder Boy & Juggernaut Maximum

Highspeed, Brakki
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, this unit gets Power +10000 until end of turn.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase [Cost: Put this unit into your soul] search your deck for up to 1 "Highspeed Brakki" call it to Rearguard Circle, and shuffle your deck.

Brakki is a Single Rare, V-EB01/025 R.

Wonder Boy
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, [Cost: Put 1 card other than a grade 1 from your drop zone to the bottom of your deck] This unit gets Power +5000 until end of turn.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase, [Cost: Put this unit into your soul, search your deck for up to 1 "Wonder Boy" call it to a Rearguard Circle, and shuffle your deck.

Wonder Boy is a Single Rare, set number V-EB01/027 R.

Juggernaut Maximum
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles: When placed, this unit gets Power +10000 until end of turn.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase, [Cost: Put this unit into your soul] Search your deck for up to 1 "Juggernaut Maximum", call it to a Rearguard Circle, and shuffle your deck.
Imaginary Gift: Force

Juggernaut Maximum is Spike Brothers' first Triple Rare, set number V-EB01/006 RRR.

Friday, May 25, 2018

Card Gamer Vol. 40 promos "Fierce Leader, Zachary" and "Mimori Suzuko"

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed from your hand, [Cost: Counterblast 1] look at 1 card from the top of your deck, call it to a Rearguard Circle, and at the end of this turn, put that unit into your soul.
An Etranger card based on Mimori Suzuko, voice of Tatsunagi Kourin in the Cardfight!! Vanguard anime.

To be included in volume 40 of Card Gamer magazine.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Today's Card Analysis: Funky Bazooka and Origin Rares

The Japanese Cards of the Day for May 24th, 2018, are the first Common out of V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar, Funky Bazooka, and the four Origin Rares from V-Booster Set 01: Unite! Team Q4, Blaster Blade, CEO Amaterasu, Dragonic Overlord, and Asura Kaiser.
Funky Bazooka
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When your other rearguard is placed in the same column as this unit, this unit gets Power +5000 until end of turn.
Bazooka is a powerful supporting grade 1 for Spike Brothers, a clan which emphasizes sending its rearguards back into the deck after they've attacked and superior calling to open rearguard circles mid-battle phase using one-for-one exchanges rather than plusses. The essential template for the clan since it was first fleshed out in Onslaught of Dragon Souls is to attack with units that send themselves back into the deck, then use a vanguard that superior call those same units out mid-battle phase. In 2011 this was Juggernaut Maximum and Highspeed Brakki paired with General Siefried, with Maximum swinging 16k (equivalent to an 18 today) for soulblast 1 and Siefried superior calling any grade 2 or greater units he drive checked to open rearguard circles. In 2012 Siefired was replaced by Dudley Emperor, who instead paid counterblast 2 on-attack to send two cards from hand to soul and search the deck for two units. Thus the gameplan was to swing 14/16 with Brakki/Maximum, return them to deck, and use Emperor's Limit Break to bring them right back out to swing 21k boosted. Dudley Emperor became the template for all future Spike Brothers boss cards to live up to--Grateful Catapult, Bloody Ogle, Rising Nova, and others.

With these kinds of strategies in mind, Funky Bazooka's skill helps build up for the final attacks of the turn and ensure the opponent is staring down the most powerful column last. Funky doesn't care if the cards are called from an effect or just called normally, and so can become a 17k booster with just one normal call and one superior call. If Spike Brothers get a new unit like Frozen Ogle, who can search and call after attacking, Funky has the potential to rack up those +5s over and over up to 37k. With Spike Brothers confirmed as a Force clan, the Gift Marker ensures boosting won't be necessary to reach high power levels quickly, and every new card called will benefit from the Gift. Take that 37 boost, factor in two Force Markers, and a Juggernaut Maximum remake that gets 10 instead of 5. Bloom.

The four Origin Rares have already been discussed at length in many previous articles, and there's no need to repeat these statements at this time. Instead, look to the distribution of Origin Rares: it appears to be two per case based on early openings, making these as rare as Special Parallels were in the BT01 days. Worth noting is that while Vanguard Rare and Special Vanguard Rare prints seemingly go to set cover cards by default (usually but not always manga bosses) ORs instead go to the faces of the first season. Based on this information, with Siefried, Hercules, and Gigarex as the cover cards of EB01 and thus its most likely VRs, the remaining ORs for 2018 would include at least Deathrex, Amon, Voidmaster, base form Daiyusha, and Maiden of Trailing Rose.

Others are harder to pin down due to unclear clan identities early in the game's history--Hell Spider, Giraffa, and Machining Stag Beetle were each the "face" of Megacolony at different points in 2011, while for Pale Moon it was a toss-up between Barking Manticore, Alice, Robert, and the grade 2 Crimson Beast Tamer. Exactly where Standard format will take each clan is unclear, but so far we've seen generally-focused support with few alternative deck options. Only Nova Grappler has had multiple distinctive deck types, with Perfect Raizer, Asura Kaiser, and the Hero deck each having some overlap but with preference given to their respective exclusives.

The previous Japanese Cards of the Day were Cat Butler and Blaster Blade.

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.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Extra Booster 1's English release date moved, again

The official Cardfight!! Vanguard English portal  updated its page on V-Extra Booster 01: The Destructive Roar with a different release date from what was announced back in mid April. This time, the change is much less dramatic; while previously the set was moved from an unassigned date in July to August 3rd, the new date has moved the set one day back to August 2nd. This is reflected in the new promotional images for the set, and distributors have been sent corrected information, though not all of them have updated to reflect it. The prerelease dates for Sneak Peak events remain unchanged, and the new series information page on the official website still lists EB01 as coming out in July.

The new release date puts EB01 on a Friday, which is traditionally when Bushiroad launches new sets in English. Every English-language main booster set since BT08: Blue Storm Armada, every extra booster since EB04: Infinite Phantom Legion, and every Trial Deck since TD10: Purgatory Revenger has launched on a Friday. Bushiroad's exact reasoning is unclear, but putting release dates on a Saturday could potentially affect shops that hold their weekly tournaments that day. Doing product launches on a Friday gives cardfighters additional time to get their decks together, and draws in customers on one more day of the week.

The Destructive Roar features support for the Spike Brothers, Tachikaze, and Megacolony clans, and will contain everything necessary to build those decks. It will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

EB01: The Destructive Roar moved to August for English format, Sneak Peak dates

April 14th, 2018. Distributors are reporting the official English release date for the first Extra Booster of the Standard format, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar, will be August 3rd, 2018. Moreover, the set's prerelease "Sneak Peek" event will be held from July 27th to 29th. The accompanying prerelase kit sent out to shops will include two rubber playmats, 39 booster packs for use at the event, and 9 promotional cards to be distributed to participating cardfighters.

Each case of 24 booster boxes of the set will include reprints of the Premium/G format strides Overwhelm, Dirty Picaro, and Gluttony Dogma, which will not be usable in Standard format. Furthermore, each booster box will include one of three randomly-inserted illustrated Gift Markers, one for Protect, one for Accel, and one for Force. The manufacturer's recommended retail price for individual booster boxes is $71.88, almost $40 above what Japanese players pay for their own boxes at the current exchange rates.

Previously Bushiroad had scheduled The Destructive Roar for a July release in the English format, but with the set now officially hitting in early August that leaves July without a new product release. Potentially, this could have a cascading effect that pushes Extra Booster 02 into September and Booster Pack 02 into October, but the company has yet to issue an official statement. Currently no hard release dates for any product beyond EB01 exist for any region.

Of note is that since 2014 the Cardfight!! Vanguard World Championships have begun in August, so cardfighters looking to play any of the three clans out of EB01 or EB02 may be faced with very little time to prepare before regional qualifiers start up.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

V-EB01: The Destructive Roar card listing

Their roar will destroy the world!
To be updated as new cards are revealed.

Release dates: 06/29/18 (JPN) 08/03/18 (ENG)
MSRP: 300 yen per pack, 3600 yen per box (JPN)
Sneak Peak prerelease date: 07/27/18~07/29/18 (ENG)
The set's tagline is "Their roar will destroy the world!"

Contains cards for Spike Brothers, Tachikaze, and Megacolony. You can build a complete deck for each clan in the set, including First Vanguards and Trigger Units.

Contains 66 types of cards; 3 Vanguard Rare, 6 Triple Rare, 9 Double Rare, 15 Single Rare, and 33 Commons. Further features 3 Special Vanguard Rare and 3 Origin Rares. Each pack contains 7 cards, 2 cards in every pack are Single Rare or higher. 1 display box contains 12 packs.

Each case contains case toppers of Poison Sickle Mutant Deity Overwhelm, Great Villain Dirty Picaro, and Absolute Ruler Gluttony Dogma. These cannot be used in Standard format.

General Seifried (V-EB01/00?)
  • Imaginary Gift: Force
  • Illustrated by HMK84

Ravenous Dragon, Gigarex (V-EB01/00?)
  • Imaginary Gift: Accel
  • Illustrated by DaisukeIzuka

Machining Spark Hercules (V-EB01/00?)
  • Imaginary Gift: Protect
  • Illustrated by ToMo

Machining Stag Beetle (V-EB01/00?)
  • Illustrated by Tanimeso
Tachikaze Triple Rares

Tyrant, Deathrex (V-EB01/004 RRR)
  • Imaginary Gift: Accel
  • AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When it attacks a vanguard, [Cost: Soulblast 1, retire 1 of your other rearguards] choose 1 of your opponent's rearguards in the front row, retire it, and for every card in the Equip Gauge of the unit retired for this cost, this unit gets Power +10000 until the end of that battle.
Spike Brothers Triple Rares

Juggernaut Maximum (V-EB01/006 RRR)
  • AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles: When placed, this unit gets Power +10000 until end of turn. 
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase, [Cost: Put this unit into your soul] Search your deck for up to 1 "Juggernaut Maximum", call it to a Rearguard Circle, and shuffle your deck.
  • Imaginary Gift: Force
Megacolony Triple Rares

Machining Mantis (V-EB01/009 RRR)
  • AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When placed, [Cost: Counterblast 1] look at 6 cards from the top of your deck, reveal up to 1 grade 3 from among them and add it to your hand, shuffle your deck, and this unit gets Power +6000 until end of turn.
Tachikaze Double Rares

Assault Dragon, Blightops (V-EB01/010 RR)
  • AUTO: When it is retired from Rearguard Circle, [Cost: Counterblast 1] put up to 2 cards from this unit's Equip Gauge into your hand.
Sonic Noa (V-EB01/011 RR)
  •  AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it boosts a rearguard, place the top card of your deck face-down as the boosted unit's Equip Gauge. 
  • AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When its attack or an attack it boosts hits a vanguard, [Cost: Retire 1 of your other rearguards] draw 1 card.
Archbird (V-EB01/012 RR)
  • CONT: Sentinel (You may only have up to 4 cards in your deck with "Sentinel") 
  • AUTO [Guardian Circle]: When placed, [Cost: discard a card from your hand], and one of your units cannot be hit until end of that battle.
Spike Brothers Double Rares

Cheer Girl, Marilyn (V-EB01/015 RR)
  • CONT: Sentinel (You may only have up to 4 cards in your deck with "Sentinel") 
  • AUTO [Guardian Circle]: When placed, [Cost: discard a card from your hand], and one of your units cannot be hit until end of that battle.
Megacolony Double Rares

Machining Mantis (V-EB01/017 RR)
  •  AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circle]: When its attack or an attack it boosts hits a vanguard, look at 6 cards from the top of your deck, reveal up to 1 grade 3 from among them and add it to your hand, and shuffle your deck. If you added a card to your hand, and if this unit is on Rearguard Circle, put this unit into your soul.
Paralyze Madonna (V-EB01/018 RR)
  • CONT: Sentinel (You may only have up to 4 cards in your deck with "Sentinel") 
  • AUTO [Guardian Circle]: When placed, [Cost: discard a card from your hand], and one of your units cannot be hit until end of that battle.
Spike Brothers Rares

High Speed, Brakki (V-EB01/025 R)
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, this unit gets Power +10000 until end of turn. 
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase [Cost: Put this unit into your soul] search your deck for up to 1 "Highspeed Brakki" call it to Rearguard Circle, and shuffle your deck.
Wonder Boy (V-EB01/027 R)
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, [Cost: Put 1 card other than a grade 1 from your drop zone to the bottom of your deck] This unit gets Power +5000 until end of turn. 
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase, [Cost: Put this unit into your soul, search your deck for up to 1 "Wonder Boy" call it to a Rearguard Circle, and shuffle your deck.

Megacolony Rares

Bloody Hercules (V-EB01/030 R)
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, [Cost: Soulblast 1] this unit gets Power +6000 until end of turn. 
  • AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When its attack hits, Countercharge 1, and 1 of your units gets Power +6000 until end of turn.

Phantom Black (V-EB01/032 R)
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it boosts, [Cost: Discard 1 card from hand] this unit gets Power +6000 until the end of that battle, and your opponent cannot call normal units from hand to Guardian Circle.

Tachikaze Commons

Heavy Artillery Dragon, Sharangastego (V-EB01/034 C)
  • ACT [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: [Cost: Counterblast 1, retire 1 of your other rearguards] All of your "Heavy Artillery Dragon, Sharangastego" and "Sharp Blade Dragon, Refilstego" on your Vanguard and Rearguard Circles get Power +10000 until end of turn.
Savage Raider (V-EB01/035 C)
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed from your hand, place 1 card from the top of your down face-down as Equip Gauge for 1 of your rearguards. 
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks a vanguard, you may move any number of Equip  Gauge from 1 of your units to 1 of your rearguards. 
Sharp Blade Dragon, Refilstego (V-EB01/036 C)
  • ACT [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: [Cost: Counterblast 1, retire 1 of your other rearguards] All of your "Heavy Artillery Dragon, Sharangastego" and "Sharp Blade Dragon, Refilstego" on your Vanguard and Rearguard Circles get Power +10000 until end of turn.
Assist Pteryx (V-EB01/037 C)

Spike Brothers Commons

Front Line Commander, Sigiswald (V-EB01/045 C)
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: At the beginning of your main phase, [Cost: Put this unit into your soul, put 1 card from your drop zone on the bottom of your deck] Draw 1 card, and Countercharge 1.

Satanic Middle Guard (V-EB01/047 C)
  • CONT [Guardian Circle]: During the battle your grade 3 is attacked, this unit gets Shield +10000.
White Tight End (V-EB01/048 C)
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks, if the number of your rearguards is 4 or greater, this unit gets Power +10000 until the end of that battle.
Funky Bazooka (V-EB01/049 C)
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When your other rearguard is placed in the same column as this unit, this unit gets Power +5000 until end of turn.
Megacolony Commons
Nasty Smog (V-EB01/057 C)
  • CONT [Rearguard Circle]: All of your opponent's units on the same column as this unit cannot intercept. 
  • CONT [Rearguard Circle]: During your opponent's stand phase, all of your opponent's units in the back row of the same column as this unit cannot Stand.
Burner Ant (V-EB01/058 C)
  • ACT [Rearguard Circle]: [Cost: Rest this unit] Choose 1 of your opponent's rearguards in the same column as this unit, and move it to one of your opponent's empty Rearguard Circles. 
  • ACT [Rearguard Circle]: [Cost: Discard 1 card from your hand] Stand this unit, and it gets Power +5000 until end of turn.
Karma Queen (V-EB01/059 C)
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, [Cost: Rest this unit] choose 1 of your other rearguards, and it gets Power +10000. If you chose a rearguard, at the end of that turn, put that unit into your soul, and Countercharge 1.
Jocular Cicada (V-EB01/061 C)
  • CONT: When this unit is called to Rearguard Circle, call it as Rest. 
  • AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks, during that battle, this unit's Power is multiplied by 3, and at the end of that battle retire this unit. (Power received from boost is included.)