Shadow Paladin Extra Study Material: Revenger Series

Phantom Blaster Dragon, by himself, has never been a very good card. This is an unfortunate truth that Shadow Paladin cardfighters have had to live with. He has always been defined by his support system, and dependent upon it. The unit takes an enormous amount of skill, prediction, practice and good fortune to use competitively, so much so that virtually ever other grade 3 in his clan outmatches him in sheer practicality. So compared to his counterpart Soul Saver Dragon, Phantom Blaster has always fallen short of the mark. This was the status quo for two years, during which time Shadow Paladin continued to lag exponentially behind the progression of the game's most firmly buried decks like Deathrex and Cocytus; enter the Revengers.

This is the subclan that has answered virtually every issue that the original Shadow Paladins had. Where Fullbau was their only first vanguard in BT04, BT12 and BT15 brought two much more reliable units Frontline Revenger Claudas and Judgebau Revenger. Claudas' counterblast 1 sends him into the soul when you have a grade 3 vanguard to superior call Blaster Dark Revenger from the deck. This incarnation of Blaster Dark still costs two counterblast, so at face value Claudas is a counterblast 3 to rearrange your formation and retire a rearguard, which can be offset with other cards in the clan but is still not necessarily the optimal choice for FVG.

Judgebau meanwhile has the makings of one of the best first vanguard options in the game, rewarding the wait for grade 3 more than Claudas. When he boosts any Phantom unit and the attack hits you're cleared to counterblast 1 and throw him into the soul to call out any two grade 1 Shadow Paladins at rest from the deck. On the surface this is a +1 in card advantage, but with his skill you can target two copies of Black Winged Swordbreaker and then use Swordbreaker's on-call soulblast twice to draw a card off of each Breaker. This gives the Revengers draw power on par with Duo and Oracle Think Tank, and is one of the primary reasons that the Revengers outclass all of their competition within the clan.

Being able to jump up by +3 in a single turn sans limit break or legion is an enormous benefit, and as long as Judgebau is behind a Phantom unit that threat is constantly live. In contemporary times that Phantom unit will typically be a stride that has inherited the name of a Phantom heart card. Swordbreaker herself cannot be targeted for Revenger-specific retire skills and so should only be run at a maximum of two copies, and you may often find yourself using her exclusively as an intermediary booster before calling a Revenger over her later in the game. Swordbreaker also incentivizes the use of 10000-power grade 1 attackers like Masquerade and Lifechur, who form a 16000-power column with her. In the all-too-common event that a Swordbreaker is drawn, drive or damage checked and only one remains in the deck, superior calling a Swordbreaker with a Masquerade behind her that you can move up front next turn is an ideal play.

(Note that there is a misprint on the first English runs of Judgebau Revenger, which incorrectly states the attack he boosts has to hit a vanguard. This has been subject to an errata.)

The Revengers currently have two incarnations of Blaster Dark to their name, which like Judgebau go above and beyond the Shadow Paladins' original design methodology. Blaster Dark Revenger, introduced in TD10: Purgatory Revenger, can counterblast 2 on-call and on-ride when you have a Revenger vanguard to retire an opponent's frontrow rearguard, an improvement over the original incarnation's vanguard-exclusive retire skill. This is not Dark Revenger's real use, though. From BT12 the grade 1 Barrier Troop Revenger Dorint has the ability to unflip a damage every time Dark is placed on the same column as him, turning him into a counterblast 1 retire. The timing of Dark Revenger and Dorint is flexible, so that you can either retire a rearguard first and then unflip a damage, or unflip and then retire, allowing for punishing moves when you only have a single counterblast available. This is how the Revengers' strong pre-limit break midgame originally developed, using their superior call skills to bring out every single copy of Blaster Dark Revenger in the deck to repeatedly retire and unflip damage.

What Japanese cardfighters realized soon after the set hit is that Dorint and Dark Revenger are oftentimes potent as a pure unflipping engine, abandoning the retire entirely to compensate for other counterblast skills. To this day, this is the primary use of the Revengers' first Blaster Dark, keeping damage open while his second incarnation does the primary work with retiring. This use of the card is encouraged by a specific ruling (Card No. BT12/021EN) that states if a Blaster Dark Revenger is called over a Dorint, Dorint's unflipping skill will still trigger. This works because Dorint meets its check timing of "When your "Blaster Dark Revenger" is placed on vanguard circle or rearguard circle in the same column as this unit" causing its skill to queue prior to it being retired by game mechanic. This also means that if you only have one Blaster Dark Revenger in hand but two Dorints, you can call two Dorints to the field, a Blaster Dark Revenger over them, and unflip two damage after the Dorint you called over is retired. Thus while Revengers do not have access to a true Battle Sister Lemonade clone, they do have a massive supply of counterblast available through Dorint. While the Dark Revenger-double Dorint combo does cost you a net -1 in card advantage, the reason this ruling is so critical is because simplifies the number of working parts; it only requires three cards to unflip two damage instead of four.

Introduced in EB11: Requiem at Dusk is Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss,” a legion mate reimagining of the card. “Abyss” consolidates Dorint and Revenger into a single card. When placed on the rearguard his counterblast 1 retires one of the opponent's grade 1 or lesser rearguards, giving up vanguard effects and intercept control entirely in exchange for being able to cheaply eliminate the opponent's boosting units. In general booster control is superior to frontrow control, giving “Abyss” an edge over his predecessors. Determining how best to utilize the two Blasters is probably the most challenging part of playing a Revenger deck. While “Abyss” is a permanent addition to many Revenger builds, other variations are better off without any forms of Blaster Dark. When it comes to playing both incarnations in tandem, there is a particular balancing act between using Dark Revenger for unflipping damage, or trying to retire entire columns for counterblast 2 by combining Dark Revenger, Dorint and “Abyss.” (Bearing in mind that Dorint specifically works with Dark Revenger and not “Abyss.”) If and how you will play these cards is primarily determined by your grade 3 lineup.

The Revengers have been subject to a number of updates through promo cards and alternative bosses, but the four truly competitive grade 3s used by professional cardfighters are Mordred Phantom, Raging Form Dragon, Dragruler Phantom and Phantom Blaster “Abyss.” As the subclan's break ride, Illusionary Revenger Mordred Phantom is a consistent staple of most Shadow Paladin decks. In light of how many different decks he can support, Mordred is arguably the best or second best grade 3 in the entire clan. When ridden over while at limit break 4, his counterblast 1 can superior call a grade 2 or lesser Shadow Paladin from the deck and give it +5000 power, while granting the standard +10000 power to your new vanguard. This works out as a net change of +/- 0, giving you back the card you put onto the vanguard circle as a card on the field, provided that you already had an open rearguard circle. (Superior calling over an occupied rearguard, while possible, counts as a loss in card advantage.)

As the humanoid alter ego of Phantom Blaster Dragon, the possibilities with Mordred's break ride skill are deliberately limitless. You can superior call one of the Blaster Dark variations from the deck to use their retire skill, and if you have Dorint on the field then regardless of which Dark you call it works out to a net counterblast 2. But you can also use Dorint with the first Dark Revenger to unflip the damage expended by Mordred and make the break ride completely costless, or you can superior call a unit that will itself superior call, like Dark Cloak Revenger Tartu or Wily Revenger Mana. Tartu is one of the primary reasons cardfighters originally latched onto Dark-Dorint as an unflipping engine.

She's a Revenger reimagining of Darkness Maiden Macha, with higher base power and the ability to counterblast 2 to superior call a grade 1 Revenger to the same column as herself. Meanwhile Mana is another variation on the formula with the same power as Macha, superior calling the grade 1 Revenger for no up front cost, but in exchange sending it to the bottom of the deck at the end of the turn. The two represent fundamentally different approaches, with Tartu providing a long-term advantage by superior calling a card like Dorint that can be put to use later after Tartu is retired or has intercepted, where Mana instead sets herself and the card she calls as sacrificial targets to compensate for the retire costs ahead of time.


If the opponent tries to spend the match denying Judgebau from going off by playing early defense, Mordred can superior call one of the Swordbreakers that Judgebau was unable to fetch and activate her draw skill while turning her into an 11000-power booster, forcing the card advantage out and partially negating their efforts. However, Mordred's primary use is with Raging Form and Blaster “Abyss,” making their initial attacks swing for exponentially higher numbers while ensuring that they also have a strong rearguard lane that turn which will draw out ~15000 shield before triggers are applied.

Since July 2013 Raging Form has reigned as the undisputed god of limit break Shadow Paladin, for good reason. While the other Revenger bosses are variations of Phantom Blaster Dragon, mechanically and visually Raging Form is a successor to Spectral Duke Dragon. His skill has no counterblast requirement; by retiring three Revenger rearguards at the end of the battle that Raging Form attacked, you can ride a copy of himself from your hand and give it +10000 power, allowing for a second attack at a 21000 power base. His secondary skill gives him +3000 power when he attacks for counterblast 1, allowing him to stand up to crossrides on a power level that pushes past the 23000 mark. Accounting for the sum -4 you take from retiring three rearguards and playing a copy of Raging from your hand, and the additional twin drive you gain from this second attack, his limit break works out to a net -2 overall in exchange for additional drive checks that can dramatically power up the last standing rearguard lane. Because riding over Form wipes the power gain he received from the break ride and any potential triggers, there is a particular incentive to keep a standing rearguard lane around to receive those triggers, which with Mordred's +5000 power boost can snowball into an unguardable rearguard lane once Raging Form's two attacks take out the opponent's perfect defense cards.

The only thing remotely difficult about Raging Form is getting the opponent to high damage before your break ride turn. During the BT12 period the general gameplan was to use Tartu to build up the field and serial call Dark Revenger with Dorint to repeatedly push the opponent down, then break ride Raging Form and continue on with an endgame plan to rapidly chew through the opponent's hand. If the opponent was already at 4~5 damage then each Raging Form attack would take at least two cards from their hand, and following the drive checks the last rearguard lane would average out to 26~31000 power. Today the fight is slightly more uphill for Raging. The retire cost and additional drive checks tend to consolidate all of your resources into your hand, which leads to large hand sizes in spite of the decreased card advantage, and also tend towards acquiring the remaining Raging Forms more easily as the game progresses. The primary opposition that Raging Form faces in present times is the format shift to legion instead of limit break, which took place in November 2014 for the English-language game. Starting in July 2014 Japanese cardfighters began pairing Raging Form with Phantom Blaster “Abyss,” eschewing the break ride entirely to focus on using two restanding vanguards in tandem.

Arguments against this deckbuild include that Raging Form is too slow for the format by needing to be at four damage while most legion decks will gladly stay at 2~3 damage for a much longer period of time, that Raging Form has always lacked synergy with Judgebau and the option for a restanding Phantom unit means that Judgebau ought to be paired with two Phantom grade 3s to ensure that double Swordbreakers can go off consistently, and that Raging Form's persona blastesque condition is too demanding when it may be better to reride “Abyss” than sit on Form until copies of it are exhausted. Raging Form apologists contend that even in “Abyss” the necessary damage required to make use of skills is so high that it may as well be a limit break, and that Raging Form is primarily intended as a finishing sequence after “Abyss” has gone off once or twice. The counterargument to this is that if “Abyss'” damage requirements are truly so high, then it benefits more from being paired with Mordred's limit break than it does Raging Form's, that because Raging Form cannot be searched by rearguard skills in the way that Mordred can trying to set up a clean transition from “Abyss” to RFD consistently is too demanding to be practical, and that Raging Form has better synergy when paired with its original base of support rather than by trying to go halfway in and halfway out of legion.

An explanation; Phantom Blaster “Abyss” is one of two successors to Phantom Blaster Dragon, and is part of a legion pair with Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss.” At the end of the battle that “Abyss” attacked a vanguard during the turn that it performed legion, you can counterblast 2 and retire three Revenger rearguards to restand it. Because there is no reriding with “Abyss,” his power gain is not wiped by using the skill, which means that he retains both the triggers placed on him and the power from Mordred Phantom's break ride skill. Accounting for his own legion 20000 and the +2000 that “Abyss” gets just for attacking the vanguard, this is a ~32000 power column that restands just as big as it was before, which can easily overwhelm even a well prepared opponent. As a Phantom unit, “Abyss” can trigger Judgebau if you fail to set up your Mordred ride, and his 22000-power legion attack ensures that even after your resources are exhausted, unlike with RFD he will always attack with a strong center lane.

The caveat to “Abyss” is that his skill only works on the turn that he performs legion, and you can only legion once with each copy of “Abyss,” which provides a very limited window to restand with. Unlike RFD, “Abyss” does not have the benefit of being able to restand after attacking a rearguard. This may seem trivial, but one of the last support cards keeping the Link Joker clan's “Ω” Glendios deck relevant in the format is Rubidium, a grade 1 that when placed on the guardian circle can retire itself to redirect an attack to a rearguard with “Яeverse” in its card name. Because it changes the target of the attack to a rearguard, this deck can actually prevent “Abyss” from restanding, something which Raging Form need not fear. However, Glendios' status in the progressing legion format is in serious question, as it is not only competing with units that do not depend on limit break, but also with legion cards like Blaster Joker from within its own clan.

Perhaps the strongest and most overlooked argument in favor of Raging Form-“Abyss” lies in the data it provides you. A skilled fighter will always know exactly what kind of position they are in relative to their opponent because of the feedback the deck provides. If at any point prior to your third ride phase you draw “Abyss,” that is then your grade 3 ride. If you open with Raging Form in hand, this changes things; your second turn play is (if possible) Creeping Dark Goat to try to switch over to “Abyss,” but from the moment you ride Raging Form the role of the two grade 3s reverses. In order to avoid wasting copies of it, each Raging Form Dragon has to hit the vanguard circle before you can even consider “Abyss,” who has now become your endgame play to restore the deck after three restands with Form. Furthermore, riding Raging Form immediately makes Tartu live, as you now only need to maintain two counterblast for the endgame, and can generally anticipate healing at least once and set up an unflip with Blaster Dark Revenger to open up that counterblast. Raging Form-“Abyss” can also go to much higher damage numbers earlier as a safe play, maintain a strong hand size throughout the fight, and with two retire-based vanguards can play a defensive game of preventing the opponent from retiring or locking their own cards by racing to be the first to retire them.

So there are multiple ways to play both Raging Form and Blaster “Abyss,” and strong arguments in favor of each. Restanding is not the limit of the Revengers, however. Phantom Blaster has one last incarnation to draw on. Revenger Dragruler Phantom is a crossbreak ride of Mordred that rarely sees play as an independent deck, but often works as a supporting intermediary ride for both Raging Form and “Abyss.” Where other retire grade 3s hybridize Spectral Duke's restand into the clan, Dragruler instead reimagines Phantom Blaster Dragon's extra critical as an extra damage. During the main phase Dragruler can counterblast 1 and retire two Revengers to gain +10000 power and deal a point of damage to the opponent if they are at 4 or less.

This has been incorrectly characterized as burn damage by some fighters, but because it cannot actually kill the opponent it should be understood as a more dedicated form of extra critical attack. In a pre-legion format Dragruler effectively controls when the opponent is allowed to use their limit break, allowing you to starve them of their resources until you're certain that they're incapable of winning, and then send them to 4~5 damage. As a supporting unit to Form he works as one more step between Mordred and RFD, forcing the opponent to stare down a ~38000 power center lane and rearguards attacking for ~21000 power before they are adequately prepared to defend. Dragruler's crossride defense helps to survive the opponent's next turn so that you can transition into Raging Form for the coup de grace.

In legion format Dragruler serves a similar purpose, but for Phantom Blaster “Abyss” instead. This is a contested pairing because it eliminates the benefit of break riding with “Abyss” over Mordred, but the rationale behind it is that because damage and defense are much more important in legion format, the opponent will be both more devastated by and less prepared to guard Dragruler's limit break. The opponent will still benefit from their damage triggers, and in legion format because you are sending them to more damage than in limit break format there is a greater risk of this occurring, but at the very least Dragruler's power boosts will outweigh the opponent's defensive checks. Dragruler is a bizarre boss card because with every limit break after the first, the less you have to use him the better off you are. Retiring two rearguards to deal a damage is not so bad, but having to give up four or even six is a ridiculous cost to pay within a single turn and can cripple you beyond recovery if used poorly. Dragruler Phantom is thus the least self-writing of the Revenger bosses and also the most difficult to use, because he does not inherently dictate when or how to use his skill within his own card text. You have no option but to use Mordred, Raging Form and Blaster “Abyss” whenever you are able to; Dragruler gives you the option to use him as little or as much as you like, and to play him correctly you have to be keep an awareness about the opponent's drive checks and hand, the state of the game, and whether limit breaking is really necessary or not. If you choose to play him, there will both be games where Dragruler is absolutely pivotal, and games where he is completely useless. You do not always need to deal an extra damage, and if you choose to do so it may cost you the game because of the resources this demands.

As his own deck, Dragruler is one of the few vanguards to benefit from not running Blaster Dark variants. In place of them you use the Overcoming and Self-control Revengers, Rukea and Rakia. Rukea is a grade 2 that gains +3000 power whenever a grade 1 or lesser rearguard is called, while Rakia is his grade 1 counterpart that gets +3000 power whenever a grade 0 rearguard is called. Grade 0s like Freezing Revenger make ideal retire targets for Dragruler, and Swordbreakers cannot be retired for his limit break and so serve only as intermediary boosters in that deck. So after crossbreakriding Dragruler over Mordred and superior calling a rearguard (like the Revenger Masquerade variant) with Rukea and Rakia in your other column, you call two grade 0s (potentially over your Swordbreakers) from your hand and then retire them for Dragruler's limit break to send the opponent from 3 damage to 4.

By repeating this skill a second time with two more grade 0s, you not only get the opponent to 5 damage, but Dragruler is now a 43000 power column unboosted and Rukea and Rakia each have +12000 power on them; the column's total power is 40000. Your last rearguard lane, having the power from Mordred's break ride, will be at around 21000 power when boosted. Some Shadow Paladin fighters have been tempted to run stand triggers in the deck to capitalize on these high power lanes, but the problem with stands is that they force you to dedicate to a strictly chance-based element of the game that you have no control over, and in doing so you are required to play and attack with any available rearguards you have on preceding turns just in case you drive check a stand trigger, which conflicts with waiting for Judgebau to go off before making serious field dedication. This also unduly exposes yourself to opposing attacks on rearguards and/or retire skills. Rukea and Rakia have an incredible amount of synergy with Mana and Masquerade, as Mana can target grade 1 or less Revengers for her skill, and so pull out a Freezing Revenger that pumps up their column by +6000 power before she sends the trigger back to the deck at the end of the turn. Even if you don't draw Rukea, Rakia can still act as a 10000+ power booster for Masquerade, making a 22000-power column.

Rukea also has strong synergy with Judgebau, as he does not require the grade 1s called to be Revengers, only that the vanguard be a Revenger. Hence if you use Judgebau to go into double Swordbreakers while Rukea is on the field, Rukea will get +6000 power and spring a surprise attack on the opponent with more power than they were expecting.

The Dragruler deck is generally more difficult to master than either Raging Form or “Abyss,” but whether it's more rewarding or not is questionable. There's no doubt that he's effective as a supporting unit. Transforming the additional critical into an extra damage that makes every rearguard lethal is a brilliant reimagining of Phantom Blaster Dragon, and unlike his predecessor there is a genuine element of risk and reward to the card. One of the primary reasons that Dragruler is so effective as a supporting unit is because of the risk associated with him; in the games where you are better off not using his skill, having the option to transition into Raging Form or “Abyss” gives you an effective finishing move in what would otherwise be a vanilla deck. With Shadow Paladin having not yet received one of the proper BT17-on limit break enablers, playing dedicated Dragruler has become more and more difficult each day, so if you are to play him then you are better off weighing the options of Raging Form and “Abyss” as your primary grade 3s.

In addition to Phantom Blaster “Abyss,” Requiem at Dusk introduced a pair of new Revenger support cards that have proven invaluable in legion format. The first is the grade 2 Fighting Spirit Revenger Macart, whose rearguard skill superior calls a grade 1 or less Revenger at rest when you perform legion. Unlike Tartu and Mana, Macart is not restricted to calling units into the same column as himself. This allows you to easily replace your Swordbreakers once they've outlived their usefulness, offset the cost of retire skills and serves a powerful midgame purpose in building or recovering card advantage. Because of Macart's existence and the ability to fetch him with Mordred Phantom, it is incredibly difficult to punish Revengers for making aggressive plays. You're free to push the game early with both versions of Masquerade, and after the opponent has tried to retaliate by attacking and/or retiring your rearguards, respond by using Macart to get back to the units they thought you had lost.

Macart also allows for normally impossible plays. If you breakride Blaster “Abyss” while having only two available counterblast, you can superior call a Macart with Mordred's counterblast 1, then when you perform legion use Macart's skill to superior call Dorint to your opposite rearguard column. Dorint does not have to be standing to use his skill, so you're free to then call a Blaster Dark Revenger to his column to unflip a damage, leaving you again with two open damage for “Abyss'” retire skill.

Unfortunately, Macart also introduces the great flaw of Mordred-“Abyss.” Because of the high damage requirements of the deck to pull off its winning play, its ability to easily recoup lost card advantage, and the way in which this aspect both encourages open aggression and minimal defending, at every turn in the fight Mordred-“Abyss” incentivizes advancing the tempo of the game as much as possible. Every rearguard you have available sans Macart and Blaster Dark Revenger should be played the moment they are in your hand, to force the opponent to the lethal point at which your restanding 32000 power vanguard becomes a game-winning condition. You must convince the opponent to put you at limit break by pushing them to that same limit, and Macart dangerously enables this. If you refuse to do so, it gives over control of the game to the opponent and threatens to let them control your own damage. Ideally, they should be panicking, not choosing between putting you at limit break or otherwise, but giving you the fourth damage because they have no choice. Because of this rapid tempo, Mordred-“Abyss” games are often decided by initial hands rather than agency or smart play. Once you have the key combos down, it becomes a game of outrunning the opponent.

Hence, a saving grace of Raging Form-“Abyss” is that it shifts the timing of the limit break. Instead of needing limit break to begin your endgame gambit, in this deck you can pursue legion at the first opportunity and begin mowing into the opponent with Phantom Blaster “Abyss” early on, taking advantage of how it consolidates your rearguards into your hand to maintain a strong offensive and defensive midgame while protecting your field from retire skills, devouring them yourself to prevent them from being devoured by the opponent. Once at limit break and after your counterblast is exhausted, you can transition into Raging Form Dragon as your finisher. This option would eschew Macart entirely due to the removal of Mordred and subsequent lack of ability to search for him, instead taking advantage of Tartu or Mana with Rukea, alongside the two Blasters. The Mana option is a strong one, but comes with baggage attached. Running Mana generally means running Rakia, and if one goes then so does the other; Rukea and Rakia's power bonuses synergize with Mana superior calling the units that trigger their skills, and Rakia is one of the few units that can make Mana attack for more than 15000 power. Having a counterblast-free call option is excellent for Ragming Form-“Abyss” because it avoids dedicating counterblast entirely and provides the one superior call option that exists at a point of equilibrium between the others, being equally beneficial to both Raging Form and Blaster-“Abyss.” However, turning to Raging Form is not the only means by which to break the aggressive impetus of Mordred-“Abyss.”

Macart is related to a lesser used legion, Ambitious Spirit Revenger Cormack. His base skill gives him +3000 power when there is another unit in the center column, which can take the form of either a boosting unit or that of his legion mate Macart. If you take the first move then Cormack is an elegant means of forcing the opponent to take damage while still at grade 2, as he'll form a 19000 power line with any base 5000 or greater booster. And while in legion, by retiring any Shadow Paladin rearguard when he attacks, Cormack can gain an additional critical. Early game critical skills are excellent way of pushing the game, and Cormack synergizes with Macart by retiring the rested unit that Macart superior called when he performed legion.

If you run Cormack with Mordred, then he can either use the Swordbreakers as retire targets to make a double critical line with upwards of 33000 power, or after several turns of the opponent attempting to deny Judgebau from going off with high shield and perfect defense cards, you can then breakride Cormack and render all their efforts at midgame defense for naught. Having already exhausted most defensive options against Mordred while at 3 damage leaves the opponent in a precarious position against a double critical vanguard. The trick with Cormack is how many you're willing to dedicate to; three copies of each grade 3 including both Mordred and “Abyss?” Two Cormack, two Mordred and four “Abyss”? Balancing the grade 3 ratios in this deck is a matter of personal experience.

For now the last word in Revengers comes from G-FC01: Fighter's Collection 2015, out June 19th. While the future will see many strides released for the clan that the Revengers are capable of interacting with, at this time FC01's triple rare Shadow Paladin is the only stride that makes Revenger use a prerequisite. True Revenger, Dragruler Revenant's once-per-turn skill is activated in the main phase; by retiring one of your Revenger rearguards, if you have a heart card with Revenger in tis card name, you can search your deck for a grade 1 or less Revenger, call it to a rearguard circle, and have both Revenant and that unit gain +3000 power.

Revenant's skill is subtle in its importance. In a Phantom deck you can use it to make a solid midgame push, calling Rukea and Rakia to give Rukea +3000 power followed by Mana to bring out a Freezing Revenger, whose call will give both knights an additional +3000. Then by retiring Freezing Revenger for Revenant's skill and pulling out a Rakia or Masquerade, you can give another +3000 power to Rukea while solidifying Mana's +1 by exchanging the unit she called for a different one. This will result in Mana attacking for 18000 power, Dragruler Revenant for 36000 boosted, and Rukea for 28000 power, all prior to trigger checks. In an “Abyss” deck you can use Revenant to pull out a Dorint for Blaster Dark Revenger, or a Masquerade to make an unboosted 13000 power attack. While not an endgame card--nor even something remotely approaching Dragruler's "true" form--Dragruler Revenant is a consistent means to glue together your midgame and push the opponent into a difficult situation that will lead you to the end path. The card primarily benefits “Abyss” rather than a Phantom deck, and will likely be a staple one-of in Revenger decks for months to come.

In summary, the Revenger subclan has addressed every issue faced by the original run of the Shadow Paladins, and has carved a niche for itself in retiring multiple units per turn while also making high power vanguard and rearguard lanes. What the subclan lacks in a diversity of explosive card advantage options it makes up for in the high quality of what it has to work with. At this point in time the Revengers are Shadow Paladin itself, and face virtually no competition for that title. Hardcore Revenger fans will want to look into a Revenger-specific playmat from Ultra Pro; but those looking for a group truer to the spirit of the original Shadow Paladins will want to pass this one over, as for all their mechanical improvements the antiheroic tone of the Revengers is discordant with what once was.

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.

Study Guide: Kagerou in 2014

The idea of going into a 96-person best-of-three pro tournament and coming out of it virtually unscathed, undefeated in sets, sixteen wins to one loss was once unthinkable. Many cardfighters struggle just to make it to 16-8 under the same circumstances. It is exceedingly difficult to not give in to some kind of exploitable weakness and have a game taken each round, even assuming that one tops without losing any sets. But this was the story of faruke, one of the first cardfighters to make a strong showing with the grade 4 Dragonic Nouvelle Vague just after Kagerou was hit with Japan's January 2014 restricted list. It was this display which testified to Nouvelle's status as the best deck in format for Japanese professional play, and internationally we are still seeing the influence of this play out in the English-language game. We will continue to see it for some time to come, and both for Kagerou cardfighters seeking to either main Nouvelle Vague or an alternative Kagerou build, and for other fighters intending to compete with other clans it is necessary to fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of Dragonic Nouvelle Vague. Having a Nouvelle matchup is how you compete in 2014, and once you have a way to fight it the rest of your matchups will write themselves.

Before proceeding, there are several tools that you should be aware of that make virtually any Kagerou deck better. Some of these go as far back as the very first trial deck; one of the primary reasons that Kagerou has endured for so many years as one of the most competitive clans is because of the massive amount of strong, amorphous support they've received that can be reasonably mixed into almost any deck. Lizard Soldier Conroe is considered the optimal first vanguard for the clan in most situations because being able to pay counterblast 1 and retire him to search for any grade 1 allows you to effectively tech a wide variety of grade 1 units both for their utility and aggression, or simply guarantee yourself a perfect defense card at any time. However, as of August 20th Conroe will be restricted from being placed as the first vanguard.

This necessitates the use of an alternative first vanguard, and most fighters default to Red Pulse Dracokid. Red Pulse is a grade 3 searcher, counterblast 1 to go into the soul and look at the top 5 cards for a grade 3 or greater Kagerou, and it's his ability to target both grade 3s and 4s that make him useful to nearly any deck. While grade 3 searchers have been criticized for having a success rate in the ballpark of 30%, it's important that their skills shuffle the deck afterwards. If your grade 3 or 4 wasn't in the top 5 cards of the deck then it's foreseeable that you would not be able to ride to that grade on the next turn regardless, so by shuffling the deck Red Pulse tries for a game state where you will draw either of those grades.

The primary grade 3 around which most strategies for this clan hinge is the break ride Dauntless Drive Dragon. When ridden over with another Kagerou, Dauntless gives that unit the standard +10000 power boost and a skill that lets you restand your vanguard after it attacks as long as it hasn't already stood before, by discarding 3 cards. Counting both the additional grade 3 you have to ride and that this skill takes away three cards but only gives two back with the second twin drive, overall Dauntless is a -2 and so unlike many break rides will gradually kill you as you ride successively more copies of it, but the intention of the card's design is that the restanding skill be so devastating to the opponent that the -2 is reasonable. You should take more cards away with multiple attacks than you are losing. So you want to be able to break ride over Dauntless just once or twice, then immediately form an effective endgame turtling strategy to secure your victory.

Berserk Dragon

The key supporting units that can improve your deck are Berserk Dragon and Bellicosity Dragon. Either of these cards could make or break the effectiveness of another clan alone, and together they're a dangerous combination. Berserk's cost is counterblast 2 to retire an opponent's grade 2 or lower unit, while Bellicosity can unflip a card when his attack hits the vanguard, making him an ideal grade 2 ride since he can effectively compensate for Berserk or Conroe.

Bellicosity Dragon

Controlling the backrow is usually considered much better than controlling the front because retiring backrow units requires the opponent to dedicate exponentially more shield to the field over time where frontrow units can intercept, but situationally you will find it helpful to curb the opponent's aggression by doing things like retiring a 10000-power grade 2 with Berserk's skill and then using him to attack a 9000-power unit in the other lane. Bellicosity keeps the damage zone open and usable, which is more important for Nouvelle than other decks because it is not a deck where you are constantly at limit break-level damage and so being able to budget within three counterblast is a game all its own.

A good Kagerou deck will tend to balance between four and six draw triggers with criticals to compensate for a lack of direct searching in a post-Conroe format, and Gattling Claw Dragon is easily their most important draw trigger. Gattling's skill is to counterblast 1 and move into the soul to retire an opponent's grade 0 rearguard, and this is an example of one of the myriad reasons Kagerou has stayed such a consistently good clan over the years. It does more for taking the same actions than other decks of comparable support. Drive checking triggers can be considered one of the many standard parts of a deck existing in play, and in that regard Kagerou does more just by existing than its contemporaries. Gattling increases your card advantage by 1 when you drive check him, then by using his skill next turn you retire the opponent's first vanguard and have a net change of +/-0 compared to their -1.

The last important supporting element in generic Kagerou is a card that was intended to be specific to one subclan but because of its conditions can be used in any Kagerou deck. Seal Dragon Kersey is a grade 1 that allows you to discard a card when placed on a rearguard circle if the opponent has a grade 2 on their field. Kersey is considered superior to the clan's other card changer, Dragon Monk Gojo, because Gojo requires himself to be rested to use his skill while you will still get Kersey's boost after card changing. This lets you dispose of excess Gattling Claws or other drive checked cards, concealing your hand from your opponent and trading out less useful units for others of either the same or greater utility.

Moving into the cards introduced by VGE-EB09: Divine Dragon Progression, consider Nouvelle himself. Dragonic Nouvelle Vague is the standard by which not just all Kagerou decks in 2014 must live up to, but is the standard by which all professional decks must compete. If you cannot plan for and play against the Nouvelle matchup, you are not ready to be playing in a pro setting this year. Unlike every other boss card in the format, DNV's game is defined not by its limit break but by its innate skills. The unit has been said to remove chance from the game without reintroducing a proportionate amount of skill, and any one of its unique abilities could have easily been a boss card in its own right. When Nouvelle attacks the vanguard it cannot be guarded using grade 0 units from the hand, removing the primary means of defending oneself from the game, and all of the defending player's trigger effects are cancelled during the Nouvelle cardfighter's turn. This means that the benefits of defensive triggers cannot be received, including draw effects, and most importantly if a sixth damage is taken during the opponent's turn there is no way to heal out of it. DNV controlling the ability to defend oneself is easily the most dangerous aspect of it, while everything else is complementary fluff.

Nouvelle in the Cardfight!! Vanguard manga

Dragon Knight Ashgar

As a grade 4 unit Nouvelle Vague boasts a 13000 power base, giving defensive power equal to that of a crossride without demanding specific units to be in the soul. Blocking grade 0 units means that even an unboosted Nouvelle requires two cards to be put down for a two triggers to pass defense, but his grade 1 especial booster Dragon Knight Ashgar, makes this a 23000 power total and can be searched as early as turn 2 by Conroe. With any grade 0s in the hand being dead, guard options against such a line are limited to perfect defense, Quintet Wall, or dropping four 5000-shield grade 1~2 units for two to pass. In the rearguard DNV drops down to 12000 power, but Ashgar's boost is applicable to both vanguard and rearguard Nouvelles, making DNV arguably the best overall unit in the deck regardless of where it is placed.

Depending on the tempo of the fight however, a rearguard Nouvelle may never be seen. This is because Dragonic Nouvelle Vague's limit break is a persona blast; for counterblast 3, soulblast 3 and by discarding a copy of Nouvelle, all of the opponent's rearguards can be retired. Originally intended as an incentive for Nouvelle cardfighters to run four copies of the grade 4 instead of just two as had been seen in grade 4 playtesting with Epitome of Knowledge Silvest, the persona blast is often regarded as an incentive gone completely out of control. Achieving a total field wipe can make it impossible for the opponent to fight back at all, crippling setup-heavy decks like Aqua Force and Beast Deity builds, and coming back from extremely poor situations with a game-deciding limit break. Rather than considering this skill from an advantage perspective, it may be helpful to look at it from the angle of how many turns it takes to set up a field. It effectively puts the Nouvelle Vague cardfighter ahead one turn for each unit retired. The persona blast is the reason that a gradelocked Nouvelle fighter cannot be said to be totally out of a game, because the moment the skill goes off it puts Nouvelle five turns ahead by destroying that many turns' worth of drawing.

Nouvelle's major drawback of not actually being a grade 3 unit that can be ridden from grade 2 can also be partially mitigated with the grade 1 Nouvelleroman Dragon, who can send a Nouvelle Vague into the deck when ridden or called to search for any grade 3 Kagerou. Roman is how Nouvelle Vague has been treated as if it were a grade 3 in deckbuilding, and the biggest wall between DNV fighters and gradelock. Given that each of Nouvelle's attacks blocks grade 0 units, there's inherent synergy between Nouvelleroman, the grade 4 himself and Kagerou's restanding break ride Dauntless Drive. The more attacks Nouvelle gets in per turn, the more attacks the opponent has to block without using grade 0s, pushing them steadily behind in card advantage and working to that key moment when there are nothing but 0s in their hand.

Nouvelle's grade 2 lineup is usually rounded out by Demonic Dragon Berserker Kumbhanda and Nouvellecritic Dragon. Kumbhanda is a normal base 8000 grade 2 that becomes an 11000-power attacker if the vanguard has a limit break icon, and is standardized in most Kagerou decks that are not Seal Dragon or purely Dauntless based. Nouvellecritic is more interesting, acting like a Nouvelle-specific Berserk Dragon. When called or ridden Critic can counterblast 1 and reveal a Dragonic Nouvelle Vague in hand to retire any of the opponent's rearguards, eliminating key units while punishing them for trying to put together a strategy. By conserving more counterblast than Berserk, Nouvellecritic is overall healthier for the progression of Vague's game and keeping the damage zone open, and puts the field control abilities of other decks to shame by giving the deck two different options for destruction.

Overall Nouvelle Vague is a powerful format-defining deck that combines overwhelming control over the pace of the game with excellent resource management and hyperaggressive endgame pushes with a restanding vanguard that manipulates the opponent's defense, edging on being the best deck in the format. And in its favor, aside from Dauntless Drive most of the Nouvelle deck is compressed into VGE-EB09: Divine Dragon Progression, which greatly expedites assembly. It is far from the only deck worth consideration and faces severe competition from within its own clan, and as the "final boss" of Vanguard defeating it can be its own reward. It does not totally eliminate any particular decks from play as Chaos Breaker Dragon once did, but you cannot build in 2014 without accounting for the Nouvelle matchup. To do so would be like trying to ignore the existence of the sun.

Accounting for the clan as a whole Kagerou at present has three options for perfect defense cards split between BT01's Wyvern Guard Barri, BT11's Seal Dragon Rinocross and EB09's Dragon Dancer Maria. Maria is easily the cheapest option among these because of her recent release in an extra booster set, but Rinocross is desirable for Seal Dragon cardfighters because of their need for Seal Dragon-specific counterblast.

Divine Dragon Progression has also introduced several alternative grade 3 options. Of particular note is Blast Bulk Dragon, formerly known to his English-speaking fan following as Barky. Like Nouvelle, Barky is considered dangerous even before limit break, because his autoskill gives him +5000 power whenever his critical is two or greater, turning every critical trigger check into two triggers. This makes guarding Barky extremely tricky, because in normal calculations he behaves as if he always has an additional +5000 power over whatever his current swing is. Note that the +5000 power lasts until the end of the turn but cannot be stacked, so if you attack with Barky after break riding over Dauntless Drive and his critical increases then his next attack after restanding will have 26000 power rather than 21000. Barky's limit break is to counterblast 1 and discard a card for +5000 power and +1 critical until the end of the battle, making him a constant 21000 power 2 critical lane.

The other new grade 3 introduced by the set is Cruel Dragon, who was originally designed as Nouvelle support and so can either function in DNV or as his own build. Prior to limit break, Cruel's superior ride skill allows it to be ridden by resting your grade 2 vanguard when an opponent's card is put into the drop zone during the main phase, after which Cruel will ride in the standing position but with -3000 power for the rest of the turn. So Cruel will drop down to an 8000 power base to attack with effectively the same power as a grade 2, but with the benefit of twin drive to give an extra card over what is normal for that point in the game.

Cruel's limit break is to counterblast 1 and soulblast 1 when it attacks a vanguard to retire an opponent's grade 2 or lower unit, incurring a -1 against the opponent while controlling the field with a cheaper Berserk Dragon effect. The soulblast requirement normally limits Cruel to twice per game, but with Conroe out and Red Pulse in this can increase to three times per game, and it can also work in tandem with Gattling Claw's main phase effect or that of Seal Dragon Artpique. The skill is not as dominatingly aggressive as DNV, but note that if you forego the superior ride it can also combo with Dauntless' restanding skill to retire two cards in a turn and effectively force the opponent to lose as many cards as you do for break riding.

Cruel Dragon in the Cardfight!! Vanguard manga.

Cruel synergizes well with Nouvelle Vague because you can combo his skill with Nouvellecritic's and ride your grade 4 on the next turn while negating the extra -2 taken from riding one more unit than normal with his early twin drive. This is how Nouvelle was originally designed to be run prior to Dauntless Drive's design, and it allows you to secure your grade 4 ride a turn earlier. For this reason many diehard Japanese cardfighters have sworn by their Cruel Dragon techs even in builds that do use Dauntless Drive, because Nouvelleroman makes a single copy of Cruel so easily searched that it lets the deck adjust as necessary for the pace of each fight.

A direct competitor to DNV exists in VGE-BT14: Brilliant Strike's Dauntless Dominate Dragon "Яeverse," which is more field control-centric than Nouvelle with less opportunity to be gradelocked at 2 but in exchange a less stable 13000 base. Being one of the units that was Яeversed by the invading forces of Link Joker, Dauntless Dominate's strategy is based around temporarily sacrificing one's own rearguards by locking them in order to gain overwhelming power. Like most crossbreak rides, Dauntless "Яeverse" has strong breakride synergy. Once per turn during the main phase, his limit break 4 locks one of your own rearguards to receive an autoskill, so that when he drive checks a grade 1 or greater Kagerou during the battle phase one of the opponent's grade 1 or lesser rearguards can be retired, and Dauntless Dominate receives +3000 power. Acting like the new and improved Dragon Monk Goku, Dauntless "Яeverse" compensates for poor trigger checks by turning them into good ones, getting "half a trigger" in power whenever he checks a nontrigger units and giving the opponent a -1 in card advantage.

With Dauntless Drive's breakride skill you can simply sacrifice Dauntless' booster for the lock cost, and being able to restand for that turn means getting twice the chances to retire the opponent's rearguards. After potentially taking out 2~3 units and powering up your own with trigger checks, you can then go into a defensive game with his 13000 base when the opponent's field is already crippled and not well prepared to make lanes that can even hit the vanguard, much less create 18000 power lanes. This is one of the best ways to contend against both Nouvelle and Chaos Breaker in the current format, as assaulting the opponent's field is one of the few ways to reliably deal with either deck. Dauntless "Яeverse" is thus one of the strongest contenders within the clan for the Kagerou throne, and his bevy of support from BT14 assists that.

In particular DDЯ does not make use of the soul, which opens the door towards a playset of Calamity Tower Wyvern. Introduced in the same set, Calamity Tower is a Luck Bird clone that can soulblast 2 when called to draw a card, building advantage and making him into a safe lock target.

DDЯ also has room for an alternative first vanguard to Red Pulse, Dragon Knight Sadegh. Sadegh's skill places him into the soul when an opponent's unit is retired, and in exchange forces the opponent to retire another of their rearguards, which when combo'd with DDЯ's limit break and Calamity Tower over two turns can make a net change of +/-0 on your end to the opponent's -3 cards. Berserk Dragon can also capitalize on Sadegh, but as counterblast is important in this build and DDЯ has his own grade 2 subclan attacker in Dominate Drive Dragon, space may be too tight for this particular combo.

The Seal Dragons are the corner of Kagerou that is in the most need of renovation. Made up of prisoners from Kagerou's Magma Prison temporarily put on parole in exchange for fighting the Link Joker invaders, the subclan has the bare minimum of grade 1 and 2 subclan attackers and unique skills at every grade, but lacks a strong core grade 3 lineup and suffers from needing Seal Dragon-specific counterblast in a deck that is mostly not Seal Dragons. Their first vanguard is Seal Dragon, Terrycloth. Once a revolutionary that rebelled against the empire, Terrycloth in his sealed form has had his body and magic rewound three thousand years. While that seal is in theory indefinite and meant to assist a life sentence, Terrycloth still has access to some of his magical power. His especial counterblast places him into the soul, then retires an opponent's rearguard; the opponent can then look at up to four cards from the top of their deck and superior call 1. Note that even if the opponent chooses to look at up to zero, they still have to shuffle their deck, so this ruins the deck stacking strategies of Tsukuyomi and Mandalalord.

Also note that Terrycloth is the key to a specific Seal Dragon combo. The majority of Seal Dragons specialize in retiring units for cheaper costs than standard Kagerou cards would pay to retire any unit, attempting to pay less and then gamble that the opponent does not get a grade 2 off the top of their deck. These cards can retire any unit, allowing you to force the opponent to replace a grade 0 or 1 in a boosting position with a grade 2, which locks up their field. Furthermore, the Vanishing Field skill of this deck's key card prevents the opponent from intercepting, which completes the lock by forcing them to guarantee you a cheap retire by removing the grade 2 that your skill called. The point to be wary about with Seal Dragon retire skills is that they will also activate "when this unit is called" autoskills; so you could for example, end up superior calling a Blaster Blade that then retires one of your units, or a Nemain that reinforces the opponent's hand, or even end up helping the opponent to superior ride on your turn by calling a Lop Ear Shooter that they then combo with Pellinore. There's a lot of risk involved with sealed magic, and part of the reason that the magic of these cards is forbidden in the first place is because it operates in a completely different way from every other skill type in the game.

Corduroy is the star of this build's grade 2s. An insane dragon, Corduroy was dissatisfied with run-of-the-mill dragon magic and turned to investigating the cursed black arts to feed his unending greed. When called or ridden he can counterblast 1 Seal Dragon to retire one of the opponent's rearguards, and from there the skill operates exactly the same as Terrycloth. This is important because while Terrycloth interacts as turning your advantage from +1 to 0 to either give the opponent a -1 or -0 with weaker field setup, Corduroy is always a -1 or -0 to the opponent without giving an inherent loss to your own advantage.

The vanguard that once served as the basis of the deck is Seal Dragon, Blockade. While he only has a 10000 power base in a clan of 11000-power units, Blockade's Vanishing Field stops the opponent from intercepting during your own turn. Blockade himself has two forms. In his sealed form the Vanishing Field can only be momentarily expressed, but VGE-BT11: Seal Dragons Unleashed opened up the ability to unseal the original Sealed Dragon. In his crossridden form as Hellfire Seal Dragon Blockade Inferno, his cursed magic runs wild and the Vanishing Field with that. Inferno's limit break is to counterblast 2 Seal Dragons, then retire all of the opponent's grade 2 rearguards and get +10000 power until the end of turn. The setup that has been established thus far is to use Terrycloth and Corduroy to retire the opponent's grade 1 and grade 0 units, replacing them with grade 2s that help lock down the field, then keep them trapped there with Blockade. After crossriding Blockade Inferno, you then take advantage of this through his especial counterblast to destroy those units that you locked into the opponent's field, giving them up to a -3 in a good game and potential field wipe on the extreme end.

VG-BT14: Brilliant Strike brings with it both a new grade 2 for the Seal Dragons and their Lock Break campaign promo, Seal Dragon Georgette. Prior to limit break Georgette has a main phase counterblast 1 to unlock one of the rearguards, carving out a specific and somewhat redundant niche for Seal Dragons as the anti-Link Joker branch of Kagerou. While DNV already overwhelms Chaos Breaker handily, both CBD and the upcoming Glendios have terrible matchups with Georgette because he effectively makes any reductions in CBD and Glendios' advantage permanent by making all of the cards they discarded and put into the soul to lock, relock and omega lock units wasted and shuts down both limit breaks for cheap. Meanwhile Georgette's limit break automatically gives him +5000 power for each of the opponent's grade 2 rearguards when he attacks the vanguard, and an additional critical if they have two or more in play. This puts Georgette on par with Barky for being a strong power and critical boss card, and further cements his status as an anti-Link Joker unit by making him into a devastating independent swing.

The grade 2 Flame Star Seal Dragon Knight is considerably less impressive, counterblasting 1 when called to prevent the opponent's units from intercepting. It is important that Seal Dragon Knight does not require Seal Dragon counterblast to use his skill, and with the original Blockade potentially out of the deck in favor of Georgette blocking the opponent's intercepts is a useful way to keep grade 2s around to activate the deck's other skills.

In December VGE-FC02: Fighter's Collection 2014 is to introduce their next major boss card, Hellfire Seal Dragon Weathercloth. Weathercloth's breakride skill is to give the vanguard +10000 power and to retire two of the opponent's rearguards when ridden, with no counterblast cost. The opponent then looks at the top 4 cards of their deck for up to two grade 2 units and calls them, and because this is only two checks from four cards rather than two checks from eight, they are much less likely to be able to hit two replacements than they would with Corduroy or Terrycloth.

Weathercloth and Georgette are the kind of boss cards that Seal Dragons need. In conjunction with Blockade Inferno's limit break he creates a 31000 power center lane and has the potential to completely wipe their field, for effectively 2 counterblast and a -1. With Georgette, Weathercloth makes up for the lack of direct retiring attached to Georgette himself and strongly supports his own innate skill, making a center lane in the range of ~36000 power 2 critical before boosting and ~43000 afterwards. The main problem with the Blockade Inferno build at this time is whether or not his skill is enough to finish the opponent off and reign the game in. Arguably other late-game power pumps like Gancelot Zenith and Dragruler Phantom do even less than this the further the game goes on, so many fighters would say that this is enough to put Seal Dragons in contention for DNV's throne, but Georgette provides them an extra boost that helps define them in a different direction and in that way compete.

On September 19th we're due for the release of VGE-BT15: Infinite Rebirth and the rise of Kagerou's second Яeverse card, Dragonic Overlord "The Яe-birth." While the cornerstone of the deck is a restanding strategy, unlike Dauntless the goal of "The Яe-birth" is to fight totally alone by sacrificing the entire field to stand as many times as possible and rack up multiple trigger checks. "The Яe-birth's"limit break 4 is to counterblast 1 and lock Kagerou rearguards until you have five locked cards in play; this gives DOTЯ +10000 power and the ability to restand by discarding two cards after it attacks the vanguard. In combination with a break ride this guarantees DOTЯ a 31000 power base to work off of and six drive checks, and is equivalent to giving the entire field twin drive.

Dragonic Overlord "The Яe-birth" is one of the only cards in the game to be both a crossride and a crossbreak ride, as there are two cards that qualify his continuous +2000 power. The first is the original Dragonic Overlord introduced in VG-TD02: Raging Dragon of the Empire and VG-BT01: Descent of the King of Knights, but the second is a new break ride with the same name introduced by BT15.

Like many alternate break rides given to other clans, the break ride incarnation of Dragonic Overlord comes with a counterblast 1 cost attached, but the timing for it is unorthodox. When ridden, Overlord gives the vanguard +10000 power and an autoskill which allows it to counterblast 1 and discard a card after attacking a rearguard to restand. So while DOTЯ's restand is an exchange of +0/-0 whose effect on the game is wholly dependent on how heavily it damages the opponent's defense, break ride Overlord's is a +1 that negates the -1 of riding over him, but also incurs a -1 against the opponent to work the individual battle in your favor. There was once some debate among "The Яe-birth" cardfighters regarding whether it would be better to run DOTЯ with Dragonic Overlord or to forgo the crossride entirely and use Dauntless Drive to get in three attacks against the vanguard, but the final print of "The Яe-birth" prevents its skill from being used if the cost was not paid after it attacks.

The break ride reimagining of the original Overlord has other consequences. While it doesn't synergize well with Seal Dragons, who are likely to not have an opposing frontrow to attack, one of the noted features of the new Overlord is that it makes the old standby Dragonic Overlord the End into a crossbreak ride. DOTE's persona blast is a familiar element to the game, restanding it whenever its attack hits, and this has been historically devastating when used in combination with Dauntless Drive Dragon because it puts the opponent in a world of bad decisions, but the new Overlord is a strong improvement by returning his defense to him and enabling his skill to be more powerful than ever.

While neither DO nor DOTE have stipulations demanding that they must not have stood previously, their skill interaction is made more complicated by sensitive timing. Overlord's break ride skill only activates when the broke ridden unit attacks a rearguard for the first time; if the cost is not paid and the vanguard restands by another skill, then like with Galaxy Blaukluger because of the clause "(Even if you do not pay the cost, this ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.)" Dragonic Overlord's skill will not be usable. So while the End and Dragonic Overlord's skills may both be used in the same turn, they must proceed in the order of Dragonic Overlord followed by the End even if their first attack is not defended. What this means is that the best option for the opponent is also the scenario in which they lose the most cards, no-guarding the rearguard attack and then dropping a perfect defense or greater when the End's next attack comes down. If the opponent chooses not to guard the End's second attack then they are conceding to staring down a third vanguard attack in addition to the still-standing rearguard lanes and giving DOTE a +1 where "The Яe-birth" merely breaks even. Dragonic Overlord as a break ride thus solves the problem faced by Dauntless Drive Dragon, that the exchange was 'solved' by being at two to three damage. Versus a crossbreaken the End, it's better to be at higher damage and a later stage of the game that justifies dropping a perfect defense than at lower damage where one is enabling the additional drive checks. At low damage it becomes a paradoxically necessary play for the End's opponent to let their rearguard go and allow the End to hit so that they only guard the last attack that DOTE makes on that turn, giving the End an overall +1 and the opponent a -3. The alternative is losing out on limit break during a crucial endgame stage of the fight, giving the Overlord fighter more time to recover and going into their next turn still at lower damage and still vulnerable to the End's persona blast. DOTE's midgame vanishes more quickly the sooner its attack hits.

The chief problem for all Overlord decks is that their strategies peter out after their break ride turns. This is more of a problem for the End than it is for "The Яe-birth" because the End becomes a vanilla crossride once his counterblast is spent. "The Яe-birth" can still repeat his limit break each turn to make two 23000 power attacks, preserving quality over time and scoring multiple drive checks, but faces problems with gradually approaching a deck-out the longer that the game drags on, and that his limit break may not always be superior to simply attacking with three lanes instead of one twice. "The Яe-birth" also has a notably poor matchup against Star-vader “Ω” Glendios because its requirement to lock all of the rearguards can walk right into Glendios' alternate win condition of having all of the rearguards locked, but only if Glendios reaches its main phase with five damage. Because DOTЯ does not make use of its rearguards very much, a Glendios cardfighter at four damage is liable to be trapped that way for the rest of the game, as the DOTЯ fighter will not be putting them to five with their rearguards. The matchup is thus not as bad as it may appear initially, although it is important to note that if all of the rearguards remain locked through Glendios' omega lock skill, DOTЯ may not use his limit break because at least one rearguard needs to be unlocked before the cost is paid in order to initiate it.

BT15 introduces two cards that support Overlord units directly. Eternal Bringer Griffin is an updated Doom Bringer Griffin, reimagined as a grade 1 that can discard any Kagerou grade 3 to search the deck for a card named Dragonic Overlord and add it to hand, helping to secure your vital break ride turn.

This also connects to the skill of Dragonic Burnout, another modified Berserk Dragon. Burnout's skill is to soulblast 1 when called and return any Overlord from the drop zone to the bottom of the deck to retire an opponent's rearguard. Like Nouvellecritic, there are no restrictions on Burnout's possible targets. This helps support a stronger endgame for the End after its break ride turn is over, capitalizing on his crossride defense by destroying the opponent's 18000 power lines and protecting the vanguard while the opponent struggles to recover from being crippled by the break ride turn.

The overall goal of "The Яe-birth" is to use the entire field as a tool to support the lone vanguard, making great use of Calamity Tower Wyvern, Dragonic Burnout, Gattling Claw and Berserk Dragon and then locking all of them to initiate a strong crossbЯeak ride turn that exhausts the opponent's defenses with its restanding strategy. While it has never been as dominant as Nouvelle, the various Overlord decks are strong contenders and have even seen mixed play with Nouvelle in Japan's post-Legion format as an effective means of piggybacking the old deck.

While Kagerou has always been one of the most well-supported clans, 2014 has a much stronger showing of support over previous years, and the rise of the Legion format in 2015 will mark a temporary dry spell for them until the arrival of the Perdition Dragons in BT17. With at least five distinct decks available that each occupy their own place in professional play, the clan is one of the best choices for cardfighters in 2014, both casual and competitive.