Not every clan will be getting Front Triggers, Triple Drive not in manual

A leaked image from the Japanese First Guides distributed with the first Standard format flash decks reveals that not every clan will be getting Cardfight!! Vanguard's newest trigger type.

Front Trigger
"All of your front-row units gain +10000 Power. This is a trigger that only certain clans possess."
前列ユニット、すべてのパワーを＋１００００する。特定のクランのみが持つトリガーだ。

As Front Triggers were created to replace Stand Triggers--which executive producer Shimamura Masatoshi confirmed there will be no more of--it's possible that Bushiroad R&D is seeking to balance Fronts by only giving them to the clans specifically designed for them. In particular, Front benefits Accel clans much more than it does Force or Protect, as it addresses both their weakness of being unable to boost their additional rearguard circles and their comparative defensive weakness by giving them a more powerful damage check. (The currently revealed Accel clans in Standard release order are Nova Grappler, Tachikaze, Aqua Force, Pale Moon, and Murakumo.)

Also of note is that where the First Guide describes the different unit abilities like Boost and Intercept, no description of Triple Drive!!! is presented, reinforcing the idea that there will be no strides printed for Standard format. It is possible that Triple Drive!!! is not explained because none of the cards in the flash decks have this ability, but Front Triggers are also not present in either of these.

Monthly Bushiroad Teases 0-Critical 1m Power Shooting Star Stride

July 4th, 2017. Monthly Bushiroad magazine's official Twitter account teased a page from the next chapter of Cardfight!! Vanguard: Shooting Star, an ongoing manga circulated in the magazine. Shooting Star's climax centers on the stride form of protagonist Matsumoto Asuka's key card, Millionaire. The Millionaire stride gains +1,000,000 power when she attacks, and prevents the opponent from calling perfect defense cards to the guardian circle, but in exchange reverts her own critical to 0. While functionally impossible to guard--300k accounts for the entirety of the shield contained in the average main deck, and only a handful of skills superior call perfect guards--an attack of this type would be entirely reliant on checking critical triggers just to deal normal damage.

"The VG Manga Award winner "Vanguard SS (Shooting Star) reaches its long-awaited completion!! 'Power +1,000,000'!!? But 'The critical is 0'??! An original unit's original skill explodes onto the scene!!! Don't miss the exciting conclusion!!"

While manga-original cards have been gradually introduced to the actual card game many times over the years, their skills are frequently adjusted to have appropriate costs attached. For example, "The Dark Dictator" in the manga gave +5000 power to all front-row Shadow Paladin rearguards continuously, while in the actual game this skill could only be used on-ride and cost soulblast 3.

As a whole Asuka's deck revolves around "star" units; in previous chapters she rode the 9000-power grade 2 "Star Saber, Canopus," and called the 7000-power grade 1 "Star Torch, Adhara," while her grade 3 was "Super-Star, Millionaire." Canopus and Adhara  are respectively named after the real-world stars Alpha Carinae and Epsilon Caenis Major. Each of these cards follow a particular naming convention of Japanese Vanguard, where the literal meaning of their written names is supplanted by a forced pronunciation. Millionaire's name is written "Number-One Star Heroine, Millionaire" (一番星の英雄ミリオネア Ichiban-sei no Eiyuu Mirionea) but is spoken aloud as "Super Star, Millionaire." (スーパースター ミリオネア  Suupaa Sutaa Mirionea) Asuka's clan has been the subject of much speculation up to now, but hasn't been addressed directly.

The Shooting Star manga follows Vanguard's first female protagonist, Matsumoto Asuka, a high schooler managing her missing father's titular card shop, "Shooting Star." After her assistant Togakushi Shuuya turns out to be one of the "Twelve Tyrants" of the card gang Crown, Asuka is drawn into a battle with him over the secret of her disappeared father's strength. Written and illustrated by Mitsukoshi Haruha, the manga was selected to receive the Vanguard Manga Award in commemoration of Monthly Bushiroad's third year of circulation, and is being serialized for three chapters alongside the Cardfight!! Vanguard, G, and MiniVan manga. The August issue of Monthly Bushiroad will mark the end of the series' planned run, though with eleven more Tyrants remaining, there's ample room for Shooting Star to be expanded on in additional installments.

Today's Card Analysis: Raging Spear Mutant Deity, Stun Beetle

"Crawl. Such an unsightly form is perfect for you."

The Japanese card of the day is a triple rare stride for the Megacolony clan from VG-G-BT04: Soul Strike Against the Supreme. Featured in the most recent episode of Cardfight!! Vanguard G, Stun Beetle is a finishing move with a deceptively designed skill that will almost always ensure victory if resolved; however, there is one specific barrier that prevents Stun Beetle from fully eclipsing its existing Machining counterpart.

AUTO (Vanguard circle): Generation break 2: [Counterblast 2, choose a face down card named “Raging Spear Mutant Deity, Stun Beetle” in your generation zone, turn it face up] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, during your opponent's next stand phase, all of your opponent's vanguard cannot stand, and during your opponent's next ride phase, your opponent cannot normal ride. (They may still ride by card effects.)

Stun Beetle is among the first strides to use generation break wording rather than specifying a number of cards in the G zone to be face-up. This has not changed the actual mechanics of his skill compared to those strides, it's only simplified the wording; the generation break requirement still counts Stun Beetle himself as part of it. Stun Beetle's skill is impressive on paper, as it both denies the opponent their twin drive for the turn, and prevents them from using the one out that the game has had versus Megacolony since the clan began paralyzing vanguards in VG-BT15: Infinite Rebirth. Because strides inherit the position of the heart, and also pass that position onto the heart in the end phase, Stun Beetle truly leaves no way out of being hit by his skill. This -2 and dramatic loss in offense can be game ending, as outside of activated abilities like that of Takemikazuchi, there are very few ways to recover from Stun Beetle going off to actually catch up in the difference in card advantage it creates. Effectively the card creates a delayed victory condition, where the game is already won on the turn that Stun Beetle resolves, but additional turns have to pass before the opponent is truly unable to keep up any longer.

What should be kept in mind is that the stage at which Stun Beetle comes into play is the same as Root Flare and Saint Blow Dragon. At this stage in the fight, the opponent should already have one or more perfect defense cards available, which makes it exceedingly difficult for Stun Beetle to actually connect within his given timing. The card falls into the same trap as Chronoscommand, having a game-ending skill that is unlikely to ever go off because it is attached to vanguard-hit conditions. Moreover, Stun Beetle is appearing on the field at a point when any stride hitting should win the game. The card primarily caters to drawn-out games in which both fighters are staying at low damage over prolonged periods due to a mutual lack of rearguard aggression. This actually plays against Stun Beetle's strengths, as in a prolonged game the opponent is more likely to be able to take a hit from Stun Beetle and still come out victorious, as they're potentially taking that hit while starting at one to two damage. Because of his persona generation condition, running Stun Beetle at a playset can be detrimental to stride efficiency. If during one of these protracted games, the first Stun Beetle is blocked but the second one goes off, there will be three face-up Stun Beetles and the fourth becomes a dud stride. The same is true for if three Stun Beetles are blocked. Compared to Machining Destroyer from Fighter's Collection 2015, Stun Beetle is a lackluster means of paralyzing the opponent's vanguard that's unlikely to ever go off, gives the opponent better aggressive options, and they need to survive through one less turn than when staring down a playset of Destroyers before the vanguard-paralyze options become locked off.

The optimal means of using Stun Beetle is at 2~3 copies, but in the presently dominant Machining decks, Beetle cannot compete with Destroyer and that puts him in conflict with Paraspear's draw ability. It's difficult to argue for sacrificing Paraspear's draw in a deck that's starved for defensive options. Hence, while Stun Beetle provides a powerful killing blow, the difficulty associated with pulling it off and the sacrifices necessary to take multiple shots at it mean that unless the vanguard and rearguard support of G-BT04 is more compelling, the Machining subclan is likely to remain the dominant form of Megacolony for the foreseeable future.

As this subclan is on the verge of receiving new support cards from Soul Strike in the form of the Machining Scorpio mkII and Mosquito mkII legion pair, and the enigmatic Machining Yellow Jacket, tomorrow is bright for the subclan and dim for genericized Megacolony.

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. 

News: Aurageyser Damned Revealed at Bushiroad's Grand Strategy Presentation

July 9th, 2015. At Bushiroad's ongoing Grand Strategy Presentation in Bellesalle, Akihabara, a card display for G-BT04: Soul Strike Against the Supreme leaked to Twitter unveiled the upcoming "Supremacy Black Dragon, Aurageyser Damned." The display confirmed Aurageyser Damned to be one of the set's two generation rares, and that the card's illustrator is Takayama Toshiaki, known for his illustration of Dragonic Overlord the End.

Supremacy Black Dragon, Aurageyser Damned
"Weakness is a sin."
ACT (Vanguard circle): Once per turn: [Counterblast 1, choose one face-down "Supremacy Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon" in your generation zone, turn it face-up, choose three of your rearguards, retire them] Reveal the top two cards of your deck. For each grade 1 or less card revealed by this effect, choose one of your opponent's rearguards, retire it. Put the cards revealed by this effect into your hand. If there are three or more "Supremacy Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon" in your generation zone, during this turn, this unit gets Critical +1.

Aurageyser Damned's flavor text is lifted directly from the motto of Kanzaki Yuuichirou, the current antagonist of Cardfight!! Vanguard G. A combination of Phantom Blaster Dragon and Origin Mage Ildona from years past, because his stride skill uniquely requires Aurageyser Dragon to be turned face-up, and also benefits from running as much as a playset of the card, Damned encourages running a pure Aurageyser lineup of strides to the exclusion of Dark Dragon Phantom Blaster “Diablo.” However, since no part of the skill requires Damned himself to be face-up, by contrast it's also possible to run just one Aurageyser Damned with a set of three Dragons and “Diablo” to fill out the remaining space. Unlike most strides, Damned has a severe margin of error for his effect to do nothing at all, as if no grade 1s are checked and Damned is stridden without having previously used Dragon's skill, both the retire and critical parts of his counterblast will fail. If used in conjunction with Promising Knight David, the retire for his effect becomes neutral.

News: Chronojet, Altmile, Ashsha Evolutions in G-BT04, Megacolony Support

In this morning's weekly broadcast, Doctor O and a representative from Bushiroad's development staff, Mr. Yamaki, made the official announcement of the launch of G-BT04: Toujin Kongeki (討神魂撃 Lit. "Destruction God Soul Attack.") Yamaki introduced the "evolutions" of Team TRY3's units that will be coming out of the set, Chrono Dragon Nextage, Heaven-Soaring Paladin Altmile (飛天の聖騎士 Hiten no Seikishi lit. "Fly Sky Holy Knight"), and Dream-weaving Ranunculus Ahsha. Nextage is a stride unit that previously debuted in Hirakazu Raiti's Cardfight!! Vanguard G manga; at the time the manga was being illustrated by Itou Akira, who designed the unit for Shindou Chrono's Chronojet Dragon deck. The current version of Nextage is illustrated by Tanimeso, who previously took over for illustrating Itou's Machining Stag Beetle in Comic Style Vol. 1. The entire broadcast is provided below.

Prior to this, the news of G-BT04 had been partially leaked by an image of the pack design distributed anonymously on the 7th, but with the eight clans supported by the set blacked out. Immediately after the broadcast's airing, the Japanese portal site updated with further details regarding the booster set. G-BT04 will include support for  Gear Chronicle, Royal Paladin, Neo Nectar, Shadow Paladin, Genesis, Angel Feather, Megacolony and Cray Elemental. The set will include 104 cards, with 2 generation rares, 8 triple rares, 12 double rares, 22 rares, 60 commons and 12 special parallel cards. In addition to the three units named above, the seven sleeves produced for the set have revealed the names of boss cards for the non-TRY3 clans. The news has immediately taken off on Twitter, with the prevailing theory among Japanese fans being that Nextage, Altmile and Ahsha are each specific-heart strides for their respective decks in the same vein as Upheaval Pegasus from Fighter's Collection 2015.

Left to right; Supremacy Black Dragon Aurageyser Damned, Holy Seraph Raphael, Divine Destruction Beast Vanargandr, and Raging Spear Mutant Deity Stunbeetle.

Of the units named by the sleeve reveals, Aurageyser Damned, Raphael and Vanargandr each approximately correspond to the decks of the anime's current string of antagonists Kanzaki Yuuichirou, Hashima Rin, and Shinonome Shouma. Mr. Yamaki stated that Altmile, Nextage and Ahsha's evolutions will each be appearing in the anime series; it follows that their corresponding antagonists' cards will also make an appearance. Aurageyser Damned also appears to be connected in the card lore to Claret Sword Dragon's war on the United Sanctuary, which was just announced yesterday morning in Dragruler Revenant's card-of-the-day lore. G-BT04 will launch in Japan on August 28th, 2015.

(Set announcement begins at the 26 minute mark)

Over thirteen thousand people tuned in to the broadcast, posting more than eight thousand comments during the broadcast's short half-hour duration. In addition to the set announcement, Doctor O revealed the skill of Academy of Divas' cover card, School Etoile Olivia. According to Doctor O, Olivia's skill is designed to facilitate use with the ♪♪ Harmony mechanic, returning units to hand and then calling them back to the same column to put them in Harmony. Doctor O also revealed the results of the Monthly Bushiroad Cup from June 6th, which was announced last month. Over six hundred participants divided into over two hundred teams of three took part in the team tournament, with the first-place team being Great Nature, Shadow and Gold Paladin. Decklists will be posted later today.

AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1, choose a face down card named “School Etoile, Olivia” in your generation zone, turn it face up] When this unit attacks a vanguard, if the number of face-up cards in your generation zone is one or more, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to five of your rearguards, and if all of the chosen rearguards have different names, return them to your hand. If three or more cards are returned in this way, choose up to two cards from your hand, call them to separate frontrow and backrow rearguard circles, during that battle, this unit gets Critical +1.

Bushiroad's weekly information bulletins air every Tuesday evening at 8:50 PM Japanese Standard Time. They first began in late January to accommodate a new information distribution model for Cardfight!! Vanguard G, as the amount of card information covered in Monthly Bushiroad magazine decreased and was redirected to other routes of distribution. The previous week featured Ishii Mark (voice of Shindou Chrono) and mascot character Vangarou-kun in a fight using the Link Joker and Gold Paladin decks supported in G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon.

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.

News: Amnesty Messiah Prices Skyrocket

Price surveys of sales of Sovereign Star Dragon singles this week are demonstrating an alarming and rapid shift in price dynamics; over the course of just four days the set's second generation rare, Amnesty Messiah, has jumped up from a 1500~2000 yen card to selling for 6000~7000 yen each. (approx. $48~$56 at the current exchange rate.) The news comes on the heels of the set's other generation rare Phantom Blaster Dragon dominating price charts last weekend, with Amnesty matching Phantom Blaster coin for coin. The Abyss Dragon generation rare has since dropped to 5000~5800 yen, with his lows staying at the same ceiling as on the set's release date.

The inflated prices are likely owed to the modified distribution of generation rares in the set, as it has been independently confirmed several times over that in Sovereign Star Dragon each case of sixteen booster boxes comes with exactly one copy of each generation rare.

Prior sets Generation Stride and Soaring Ascent both distributed generation rares with the same frequency as triple rares, and the only real difference between GR and RRR cards were their foiling. Shadow Paladin and Link Joker are the highest priced clans in the set, with Dark Irregulars in third, and Gold Paladin and Murakumo in fourth.

Another reason for the rise is the lack of reliable unlock skills in the Messiah deck. Their key unlockers White Dwarf Lady Battler and Blast Monk are both distributed exclusively as promo cards rather than in booster sets. With few ways to unlock Arousal Messiah to initiate their combos, Messiah cardfighters rely on the high-rarity Amnesty to piece together their strategy.

Cardfighters in Japan are being forced to come to terms with the increasing expense of the game, as the popularity of specific clans dramatically increases the demand for high-rarity cards. Link Joker has always been one of the most expensive clans in the Japanese game, since the heyday of Chaos Breaker Dragon a year and a half ago. But the high prices of Phantom Blaster and Amnesty Messiah exceed anything seen in previous formats, as their absolute values have doubled; where 3500 yen was once the most expensive price one could pay for a single card in Japanese Vanguard, that value has doubled in the time since to 7000 yen. A game that was once priced for children is becoming prohibitively expensive for its target audience, leaving adults as the primary consumer. Two years ago Eradicator Dragonic Descendant was the currency equivalent of a $10 card, and one of the best decks in format could be afforded with a middle school student's monthly allowance. This dilemma is likely to hit the English-language game even harder with the international release of Sovereign Star Dragon on July 10th, as the most expensive standard rarity cards in the game are already $40~$45. The rarity of Amnesty Messiah and Phantom Blaster may drive the grade 4 units to $80~$100 per card, dramatically increasing the cost of deckbuilding. One of Cardfight!! Vanguard's original selling points internationally was the low cost of the game relative to its contemporaries Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic: The Gathering and the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Whether cardfighters would find the new decks worth investing in is questionable when one of the most important aspects of the game is that superior judgement wins out over the amount of money spent; a cardfighter that buys a $500 deck is no more likely to win than one who buys a $150 deck with similar levels of support.

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.

The above buylist comes from card shop C-labo, written c. May 29th. At the time this list was written, the shop was buying Sovereign Star Dragon cards at their exact market value rather than at a 30~40% depreciation. Less than a week after these prices were listed, Amnesty Messiah's average selling price has already tripled from what is seen here, while Phantom Blaster Dragon's has stayed at a similar price point.

News: Monthly Bushiroad Spoils PR♥ISM Support, Izaya & Hadar Reprint

This month's issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine has had its street date broken, and fan photographs of the magazine's contents have spoiled legacy support for the PR♥ISM subclan, coming up in Clan Booster 01: Academy of Divas. The magazine cover features Sendou Aichi as a PSY Qualia zombie, an aspect of the most recently serialized manga chapter that commercials for the issue have played up immensely. The issue has also given a glimpse at several upcoming Special Parallel prints of cards in Academy of Divas; these cards all have alternate artwork featuring humanized versions of the booster set's all-mermaid cast on a beach holiday.

PR♥ISM-Promise, Princess Labrador
ACT (Vanguard circle): Once per turn: [Choose a face down card named "PR♥ISM-Promise, Princess Labrador" in your generation zone, turn it face up] If you have a heart card with PR♥ISM in its card name, choose up to two of your rearguards, during this turn they get Power +5000 and "AUTO (Rearguard circle): If this unit attacks or boosts, at the end of that battle, put this unit into your hand."

The section on Bermuda Triangle also revealed that the upcoming "Duo Eternal Sister, Meer" will be an "evolution" (進化 shinka) with a new limit break ability.

PR♥ISM-Promise, Princess Leyte
AUTO: When this unit is put into your hand from a rearguard circle, if you have a PR♥ISM vanguard, countercharge 1/soulcharge 1, choose one of your units, during this turn it gets Power +4000, during this turn, you cannot normal call a "PR♥ISM-Promise, Princess Leyte." (You can call that card by card effects.)

PR♥ISM-Promise, Princess Celtic
AUTO (Vanguard/Rearguard circles): [Counterblast 1 cards with "PR♥ISM" in its card name] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If paid, choose one of your other rearguards, put it into your hand, and if you put it into hand, draw a card.

Duo Love Trump, Chulim (White and Black editions)
AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Counterblast 1, put this unit on top of your deck] When another of your units is returned to hand from a rearguard circle, if you have a "Duo" vanguard, you may pay the cost. If paid, search your deck for up to one card with the same name as the card you returned to hand, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and shuffle that deck.

At left are the Special Parallel prints of Lovely Day for a Walk Emilia, and Kukuri, who is labeled as the set's G-perfect defense. Kukuri's skill allows her cardfighter to countercharge 1 when they guard with her, if there is an existing copy of Kukuri in the drop zone after paying the cost for her skill.

The set includes several alternate prints of existing cards, including Miracle Voice Lawlis at right. These prints only exist in SP rarity, and are made as part of the second Bermuda Triangle Summer Vacation event, succeeding the swimsuit edition prints of Top Idol Riviere, Velvet Voice Raindear, Costume Idol Alk, Planet Idol Pacifica and Shangri-La Star Coral.






Lastly, the issue revealed an upcoming reprint of the promotional cards Psychic of Ash Hadar and Psychic of Dust Izaya. Made to commemorate the launch of Sovereign Star Dragon and Izaya's legion revival Psychic of Storm Rigel, the reprint will include two copies of both Izaya and Hadar, packaged with the next month's volume of Monthly Bushiroad magazine.

Today's Card Analysis: Genesis Dragon Judgement Messiah

The English card of the day is the featured stride from G-TD05: Fateful Star Messiah, Judgement Messiah. A rare layered stride, Judgement Messiah has multiple effects as part of one skill that trigger sequentially, but not all of those effects have to be used every time. Like the Fighter's Collection 2015 stride Nectaria, Judgement's skill includes an initial effect that resolves on-hit and an optional secondary effect that resolves afterwards, but unlike her, Judgement's full skill does not depend on a specific heart to use. Mastering Judgement Messiah requires understanding the benefits of unlock in the Messiah deck, and when to choose to make use of it.

When Judgement Messiah's attack hits, you can lock an opponent's backrow rearguard and then choose up to one locked card to unlock. The keyword here is "up to;" it is not by any means necessary nor always a good idea to unlock a card. Particularly since Judgement is an early game stride like Gablade or Grim Recruiter, at the time you are resolving him the only locked card may in fact be the unit that he just locked. It's ideal to preserve the -1 that he incurs against the opponent, so in that scenario you would not want to unlock any units. However, if you used Judgement Messiah in conjunction with the skills of the breakstride Alter Ego Messiah, then one of your own rearguards is already locked and it would be ideal to unlock that unit so that it can either attack, or trigger an on-unlock skill like that of Dark Metal Chameleon or the deck's first vanguard Neon Messiah. That way you can either countercharge a damage or search your deck for a copy of Alter Ego to discard for the cost of stride next turn. On the other hand, if you're at a later stage of the fight where Alter Ego's generation break 2 would be online and your own locked rearguards aren't omega locked, then it would be better to wait for your units to unlock on their own in the end phase so that Alter Ego's soulblast skill can activate and draw cards off those cards unlocking. Failing to exercise proper judgment in using Judgement Messiah will invariably prove costly, as one or more pieces of your delicate lock-unlock strategy will fall through the cracks.

The major hole in the Messiah deck at this time is its lack of effective unlockers, which are primarily relegated to still-unreleased promotional cards. Judgement Messiah is thus one of a few opportunities outside of Amnesty Messiah to trigger your on-unlock skills, and you should take advantage of that opportunity accordingly. Fateful Star Messiah will reach western shores on June 19th, 2015.

News: Fans Leak Sovereign Star Dragon, Murakumo Restander

This morning an anonymous Japanese retailer broke the street date on G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon, enabling fans to spoil the remaining unknown cards in the set online. The major takeaway of the cards revealed is Ambush Demonic Stealth Dragon, Homura Raider; a stride unit that is also Murakumo's first restanding boss card.

ACT (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 2, choose a face down card named “Ambush Demonic Stealth Dragon, Homura Dragon” in your generation zone, turn it face up] If the number of cards in your generation zone is two or greater, during this turn, this unit gets Drive -1 and "AUTO (Vanguard circle): At the close step of the battle in which this unit attacked a vanguard, choose one of your rearguards, and return three rearguards with the same name as it to the bottom of your deck, if you returned three, stand this unit. Shuffle that deck."

Homura Raider's skill was shown off today in Bushiroad's weekly information bulletin, with the deck being played by seiyuu Morishita Shuuta, the voice of Nitta Shin in the anime series. In his fight, Morishita used the skill by using his other skills to superior call three copies of the draw trigger Cat Rogue and then return them to the deck for Homura's skill, increasing his chances of checking triggers on the second attack. Sovereign Star Dragon will hit in Japan on May 29th, and internationally on July 10th.

Murakumo's other notable cards from the set include their new first vanguard, Onifundou (bottom left) and the stand trigger Hidden Scroll. Onifundou provides a rare opportunity for Murakumo to dig into the deck for a search target for a combo, rather than to clone cards already drawn, while Hidden Scroll can superior call two copies of a card other than himself. Also visible in this image is Neutron Star Lady Gunner, a game-changing support unit for Link Joker's Messiah deck. When ridden or called, her generation break 1 locks one of her own rearguards to lock an opponent's; locking one's own rearguards makes more viable targets for Amnesty Messiah's power and critical skill.

Stealth Rogue, Onifundou
AUTO: Forerunner
AUTO (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: [Soulblast 1, put this unit into your hand] At the beginning of your main phase, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at up to three cards from the top of your deck, choose up to one of them, call it to a rearguard circle, shuffle that deck, and at the end phase of that turn, put the unit called by this effect on the bottom of your deck.

Stealth Beast, Hidden Scroll
AUTO: Generation break 1: [Put this unit on the top of your deck] When this unit is called to a rearguard circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your rearguards other than "Stealth Beast, Hidden Scroll" and search your deck for up to two cards with the same name as that unit, call them to a rearguard circle, shuffle that deck, and at the end phase of that turn, put the units called by this effect on the bottom of your deck.

Neutron Star Lady Gunner/中性子星のレディガンナー
AUTO: Generation break 1: [Choose one of your rearguards and lock it] When this unit is placed on a vanguard or rearguard circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rearguards and lock it.

The Shadow Paladin cards leaked include new support for the Demon World Castle subclan previously formalized in Requiem at Dusk, ToteWächter and StreitenTurm. ToteWächter is German for Death Watcher (or "Death Watchman") while StreitenTurm is Fighting Tower.

Shadow Paladin has also received specific named support for Claret Sword Dragon, in the Yearning Knight Branwen (哀慕の騎士ブランウェン Aibo no Kishi Buranuen). Branwen is a Steam Breath Dragon copy for Shadow Paladin, filling the stride-enabling gap left by Pitch Black Sage Charon.

AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Choose a grade 3 card from your hand, reveal it] When this unit is called to a rearguard circle from hand, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one grade 3 card with "Claret Sword Dragon" in its card name, put it into your hand, shuffle that deck, and choose a card from your hand, discard it.
CONT [Hand]: When you are paying the cost for stride, this card gets grade +2.

Center top; Star-vader Technitium. Center bottom; Spiral Nebula Fairy.

??? Star-vader, Technitium
AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Choose a card with "Star-vader" in its card name in your hand, discard it] When this unit attacks, if you have a vanguard with "Star-vader" in its card, name you may pay the cost. If paid, during that battle, this unit gets Power +5000 and "AUTO (Rearguard circle) When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, soulcharge 1,  choose a card in your damage zone and turn it face-up."

Spiral Nebula Fairy ??? Girl/渦状星雲のXとし子
AUTO: Forerunner
ACT (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: [Put this unit into your soul, choose one of your other rearguards and unlock it] Choose one of your opponent's rearguards, lock it.

Center left; Stellar Maker. Center right; Gravity Well Lady Battler. Right; Destiny Dealer.

Stellar Maker
AUTO (Vanguard circle): Generation break 1: When this unit attacks a vanguard, choose two locked cards, unlock them, during that battle this unit gets Power +5000/Critical +1.
AUTO: [Counterblast 1, Soulblast 1] When this unit is placed on the vanguard circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rearguards and lock it.

Gravity Well Lady Battler
ACT (Rearguard circle): Once per turn: Generation break 1: [Choose one of your rearguards, lock it] During this turn, this until gets Power +4000.

Destiny Dealer
AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Choose a grade 3 card from your hand, reveal it] When this unit is called to a rearguard circle from hand, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one grade 3 card with "Messiah" in its card name, put it into your hand, shuffle that deck, and choose a card from your hand, discard it.
CONT [Hand]: When you are paying the cost for stride, this card gets grade +2.

Heroic Saga Dragon
AUTO (Vanguard circle): Generation break 1: When this unit attacks a vanguard, your opponent may choose one of their own rearguards and retire it, and if they did not retire, during that battle this unit gets Critical +1 and "AUTO (Vanguard circle): At the beginning of your damage step, if the number of guardians is one, choose one of your opponent's guardians, retire it, and that units effects with "cannot be hit" is nullified." 
AUTO: [Counterblast 1, Soulblast 1] When this unit is placed on the vanguard circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's grade 1 or less rearguards and retire it.

Heroic Saga's skill functionally forces the opponent to either retire a unit or not be able to use perfect defense cards. Quintet walls are functionally exempt from having their guard broken, and Heroic Saga will not work if the opponent guards with multiple 10000-power shields.

Every clan included in Sovereign Star Dragon with the exception of Kagerou and Cray Elemental is receiving a G-perfect defense, with the ability to countercharge a damage when guarded with if there is a copy of them in the drop zone. These are, by clan;
Dark Irregulars -  Flag Breaker
Link Joker- Flower Blooming in the Vacuum, Cosmolis
Shadow Paladin - Karma Collector
Murakumo - Stealth Rogue, White Heron
Gold Paladin - Holy Mage, Pryderi

Upper left; Killing Dollmaster. Upper center; Lunatic Masquerade. Bottom left; Werfleder Ordonnaz.

Killing Dollmaster
AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Put this unit into your soul] At the beginning of your main phase, you may pay the cost. If you do, soulcharge 2.

Lunatic Masquerade
CONT (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: During your turn, if the number of cards in your soul is 6 or more, this unit gets Power +2000, and then if the number if cards in your soul is 10 or more, this unit gets Power +2000.

Werfleder Ordonnaz
AUTO: Forerunner
ACT (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: [Counterblast 1, put this unit into your soul] Soulcharge 2, if the number of cards in your soul is 6 or more, draw a card.

Sweet Predator
AUTO (Vanguard/Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: During your main phase, when a card is put into your soul, during this turn, this unit gets Power +3000.

While these Dark Irregulars units are disappointing to some--as they come in lieu of an Izaya reprint, or generation break versions of Doreen the Thruster and Izaya that work in any phase--there are some upsides to their introduction. Lunatic Masquerade's +2000 power boosts stack on top of one another so that at the 10+ soul benchmark he has a total +4000 power booster and becomes a permanent 11000-power booster. The advantage to this over Doreen is that the soul count being increased during the battle phase will affect his power, allowing the use of Scoremaker Vampir and Kiskill-Lila to pump him up to that point. Moreover, the later in the game Lunatic is on the field the more effective he is over long stretches compared to Doreen, as he does not require redundant soulcharging to power up.

Dragon Knight, Janat
AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Put this unit into your soul] When your vanguard attacks, if you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with "Dragonic Blademaster" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If paid, draw a card, choose one of your vanguards, during that battle it gets Power +5000.

Rising Lionet
AUTO (Rearguard circle): Generation break 1: [Put this unit into your soul] When another card is called to a rearguard circle from your deck, you may pay the cost. If you do, during this turn, that unit gets Power +5000 and "AUTO: (Rearguard circle): [Counterblast 1] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at up to three cards from the top of your deck, choose a card from among them, call it to an open rearguard circle, and shuffle that deck."

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Today's Card Analysis: Sovereign Black Dragon Aurageyser Dragon & Cutting-Edge Knight David

戦場を行く。ただ無人の野を進むが如く。

"To the battleground. It will be just like advancing on untended fields."

The Japanese cards of the day for the weekend are two support cards for Shadow Paladin's rebel faction, the triple rare stride Aurageyser Dragon and the clan's new first vanguard David. Illustrated by Takayama Toshiaki--otherwise known for Dragonic Overlord the End, “The Яe-birth,” Galaxy Blaukluger and Great Daiearth--Aurageyser is a stride revision of one of Shadow Paladin's past boss cards, Origin Mage Ildona. Aurageyser is currently semi-unique as a persona generation grade 4 that does not benefit from nor require two or more face-up G units for any of his card effects, and this property gives him a number of uses in different Shadow Paladin decks attempting to take advantage of the generation zone. The only other cards that function in this way have specific heart requirements, which Aurageyser does not.

AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1, soulblast 1, choose a card named "Sovereign Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon" in your generation zone and turn it face-up, choose two of your rearguards, retire them] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost, if paid, reveal two cards from the top of your deck, during this turn, for each grade 1 or lesser card revealed by this effect, this unit gets Power +5000. Put the cards revealed by this effect into your hand.

Aurageyser was originally envisioned by the Research & Development staff to synergize with Claret Sword Dragon, his corresponding grade 3. By superior calling a Swordbreaker with Claret Sword's on-stride skill and drawing from that Swordbreaker, then her as part of Aurageyser's cost to reveal and add two cards to hand, you set up a net +2 in card advantage when striding over Claret neutrally and consolidate your rearguards into your hand. Counting the triple drive, two additional cards from Aura's skill and the draw off of Swordbreaker, you will put six cards into your hand on that turn. This is offset by all but one of those cards being known to the opponent. A sufficiently skilled cardfighter can memorize everything that Aurageyser has added in terms of (at least) your guard power, if not knowing the cards by name. While Aura does not fully address Ildona's longstanding problem of drawing into trigger units, he does compensate for it by getting +5000 power for each grade 1 or lesser card revealed by his skill, effectively still gaining the power if not the effects of the triggers and during that reveal temporarily turning all remaining grade 1 cards into trigger units that can exclusively be applied to the vanguard. In light of this current brand of Shadow Paladin's emphasis on superior calling grade 1 and lesser cards this can be a difficult sword to balance, as superior calling units interacts with Aurageyser in a strange way by actually decreasing the number of valid targets for his skill.

The incentive to run Swordbreaker does conflict with Aurageyser's soulblast cost. In decks that make use of Phantom Blaster “Diablo” or Blaster grade 3s, Darkheart Trumpeter is also contending for that limited resource, and the latest first vanguard option described below does not move into the soul. This means that to have space for multiple Swordbreakers/Darkhearts and Aurageysers in the same game, one must run Creeping Dark Goat, Judgebau Revenger or Fullbau Brave to build up the available soul. Otherwise one is left with just the grade 1 and 2s in the soul, which makes room for two Aurageysers but no Swordbreakers nor Darkhearts, or vice versa. Running the new move-to-soul draw trigger Howl Owl is an option, but also neutralizes any card advantage gained from these soulblast skills because putting Owl into the soul is itself a negative action. One means of getting around this is to limit Aurageyser to a first-stride utility play. The game-ending turns will typically be spend on Phantom Blaster “Diablo” rather than on Aurageyser, so planning to use Aura only once is an effective means of planning around his soulblast cost. You can run two copies of Aura for the initial stride, four copies of “Diablo” for the two turns after that, and then two of another stride like Blizza or Atmos that can catch the opponent unawares.

Aurageyser is relevant to more than just Claret Sword. Ironically, Blaster Dark “Diablo” benefits immensely from running at least two copies of Aurageyser in the generation zone, as Dark “Diablo's” primary shortcoming is his slowness and utter dependency on Phantom Blaster “Diablo” to function. Blaster Dark “Diablo's” generation break 2 allows him to stride a Blaster unit using any card for the cost by giving that card grade +3, but as a generation break 2 the skill will not come online under normal circumstances until the third stride or later.

This is much later than decks like the Revenger subclan are going off, putting Blaster Dark at a severe disadvantage. What Aurageyser does is address this by getting two G units face-up on his initial stride, making Dark “Diablo” live a turn earlier and allowing an immediate stride into Phantom Blaster “Diablo” just from discarding a grade 0 unit for the cost.

"Always. More than anyone else."

Finally, we have the second card of the day that Aurageyser's been paired with, Cutting-Edge Knight David. Befitting his name, David is a truly state-of-the-art first vanguard with a generation break 1 skill similar to that of Pitch Black Sage, Charon. When David would be used to pay the cost of one of your own retire skills, he can instead be treated as two units, effectively decreasing its cost by one. While Charon requires a Blaster vanguard for this, David instead accomplishes it by being a generation break 1.

With Aurageyser this means that you create a net +1 in card advantage by using David to pay the cost, retiring one card to draw two, and you can reduce Claret Sword's generation break to a net -1 instead of a -2 to pay for a stronger late game offensive. One unorthodox trick the anime series has advocated is running multiple copies of David in the deck and superior calling them with Claret Sword's on-stride skill to grab net card advantage off of Aurageyser without exhausting the soul for Black-winged Swordbreaker.

This is not without precedent. Deletor cardfighters worldwide managed a similar strategy with Acquire Deletor Igor not long ago, and still depend on that strategy heavily. Using David in this way also circumvents Revenger matches using Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss” to retire him. However, it comes at the risk of being forced into a G Assist or even gradelock by having to shave off grade 1, 2 and 3 space to make room for the extra copies of the first vanguard, and whether this is worth it or not to make multiple Aurageyser turns play out positively is up to the individual fighter to decide.

Today's Card Analysis: Sovereign Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon

 "A claret sword. There lies a history of fresh blood."

The Japanese card of the day is one of the lead figures in Shadow Paladin's rebel faction, the military leader Claret Sword Dragon. A generalissimo seeking to take advantage of the clan's weakened leadership in Mordred's absence and overthrow Blaster Dark “Diablo,” Claret Sword will ring familiar for the supporters of Shadow Paladin's former patron deity Phantom Blaster Dragon. The Sovereign Dragon is to Blaster Dark as night to day, and a visionary for a different future for the clan.

ACT (Vanguard circle) Once per turn: Generation break 2: (Active if you have 2 or more face-up G Units in your vanguard circle or generation zone) [Choose two of your rearguards, and retire them] During this turn, this unit gets Power +10000 / Critical +1.
AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1] During your turn, when your G unit strides, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for one grade 1 or less card, call it to a rearguard circle, shuffle that deck, during this turn, that unit gets Power +2000.

As was predicted, Claret Sword's on-stride counterblast 1 superior calls a grade 1 or lesser card from the deck and temporarily increasing its power, allowing a weaker unit with a utility skill to temporarily serve as a valuable booster before being retired by stride skills. The primary issue working against Claret Sword is the lack of genericized support for Shadow Paladin; the Revengers are the clan itself, and most effective support cards that do not belong to them instead go to the Blasters specifically.

Of the pre-Sovereign Star Dragon units, the card Claret Sword fighters will want to take advantage of the most is Black-winged Swordbreaker from BT15: Infinite Rebirth. Swordbreaker's on-call soulblast 1 to draw will build a net +2 in card advantage if Claret was strode over neutrally, refreshing the hand, providing a temporary base 8000 power booster and providing fuel for retire-based strides. Another potential target is the original Black Sage Charon from BT04: Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows and TD10: Purgatory Revenger, who with the power bonus will become a 10000-power booster that can form 21000-power lines with either Triple Dark Armor or the generation break 12000-power attacker Belberith.

Generally the cards introduced in G-LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” will not be compatible with Claret Sword because these units require a Blaster vanguard, but if your stride target is Phantom Blaster “Diablo” this won't be a problem for that turn. You can use Claret Sword to superior call Darkheart Trumpeter, use Darkheart's soulblast 1 to superior call Pitch Black Sage Charon, and since you have Blaster “Diablo” as your vanguard you'll be able to use Charon's Blaster-exclusive skill to make him count as two units at once, incurring a net change of 0--the same exchange as if you'd called Swordbreaker. The difference between Pitch Black Charon and Swordbreaker is that Charon allows you to maintain field presence, while Swordbreaker maintains handsize. Charon is an offensively-minded play, while Swordbreaker is defensively-minded.

Claret Sword is bringing his own leg of support with him, but with so little known of Sovereign Star Dragon it's difficult to say at this time precisely what to rely on. The promotional card Decipherer of Prohibited Books is one such option; her on-call generation break 1 counterblast 1 can superior call any grade 0, but in a generation break-centric deck with no recycling options where triggers are a finite resource, this is of dubious value compared to simply pulling out a Swordbreaker. Knight of Contempt Giiva is designed to support heavy retire skills, but as a grade 2 can't be superior called by Claret Sword and has to be brought out from the hand. The same holds true for Skull Witch Nemain, an old standby for Shadow Paladin veterans.

In terms of his stride targets, while Phantom Blaster “Diablo” is far and away the most desirable option for Claret Sword's endgame at this time, it should be kept in mind that Claret's on-stride counterblast sets up the otherwise-conditional Dark Knight Efnysian from Fighter's Collection 2015. Efnysian's on-stride skill retires one of your own rearguards to gain +7000 power and an on-hit retire skill, which can be impractical if you have no rearguards in play as a result of the opponent's card effects. Claret Sword gets around this by superior calling a card that can immediately be retired for Efnysian's skill to break even on your end and incur a -1 in card advantage against the opponent if the attack hits, and if you call out Swordbreaker this results in a net +1 to your own advantage and -1 against the opponent. Since Efnysian's skill makes him reach 33000 power by himself, if you do already have rearguards in play you can use Claret Sword to bring out a booster for Efnysian and increase its base power so that he breaks the 41000+ threshold.

Finally, Claret Sword's generation break 2 must be put under consideration. While his on-stride skill is reminiscent of Mordred Phantom, his generation break falls squarely within the realm of Phantom Blaster Dragon, down to its timing. Everything learned from Blaster Dragon years ago is applicable, including its shortcomings, but lets consider first how Claret improves the skill. Claret Sword does away with the counterblast cost entirely to get rid of the redundant costing on Blaster Dragon, meaning that so long as you have cards you can put into play, you can use his generation break. And only costing two units instead of three helps offset the lack of access to Pitch Black Charon for the Sovereign's retire skill. Phantom Blaster Dragon does have access to the generation break skills of Knights Dorint and Claudas from their legend deck to unflip damage with, and can make use of Darkheart, Swordbreaker and Charon, while on his own independent turns Claret does not have access to either Darkheart or Swordbreaker (the latter by connection to the former.)

Thus Phantom Blaster is generally looking at a counterblast 1 soulblast 1 retire 2 for his skill, sometimes at a net -1 rather than -2, and because Claret Sword has to wait so much later in the game to get his skill online in the first place, it's less immediately available by comparison. The major shortcoming of the Sovereign Dragon's generation break is that there are so many other cards with almost identical skills that are able to make use of them without paying any cost at all; Dragonic Blademaster, Battle Deity Susanoo, Dragonic Vanquisher and Charharlot Vampir all receive similar benefits passively rather than by actively needing to pay a cost. Secondary to this is that like with Phantom Blaster Dragon because Claret Sword's retire skill is a main phase retire that requires fronting two rearguards it has a hidden second cost, that essentially takes four cards out of your defenses. Every two units that you retire in the main phase have to be replaced with two more from the hand, weakening your overall ability to defend. A further discussion of these types of abilities is addressed in the History of Professional Cardfight. Where Claret has a leg up over his predecessor is that across several cumulative turns he is able to amass greater overall card advantage through repeated on-stride superior calls, and this can make him more viable in the long term. It simply weakens his overall offensive gameplay in terms of the generation break, which like Damned Charging Lance before it is destined to go unused.

Finally, Claret Sword's lore;
神聖国家の闇に生きる黒き騎士団“シャドウパラディン”の騎士。
血のように赤く染まったその剣から「クラレットソード」の名で呼ばれる。
「力こそ正義」という信念を持ち、騎士団に属していながら「神聖国家を影から支える」という思想に異を唱える。

Shinseikokka no yami ni ikiru kurokikishidan "Shadou Paradin" no kishi.
Chi no you ni akakushimatta sono kenkara "Kuraretto Soodo" no na de yobareru.
"Chikarakoso Seigi" to iu shinnen wo mochi, kishidan ni zokushiteinagara "shinseikokka wo kagekara shieru" to iu shisou ni i wo tonaeru.

Living in the darkness of the holy nation, there is a knight of the black order "Shadow Paladin."
Because of his blade stained red with blood, he is called "Claret Sword."
Believing that "power is justice," he opposes the ideal of "supporting the holy nation from the shadows" in spite of belonging to a knightly order.