Twin Blader appears in first episode of Vanguard anime: Nova Grappler Draw Trigger perfect guard?

The first episode of the 2018 Cardfight!! Vanguard anime featured a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by a new Nova Grappler Draw Trigger. Visible just as Miwa finishes fighting Morikawa, when rotated 90 degrees and scaled up the card appears to be a remade Twin Blader, Nova Grappler's original perfect guard from Booster Set 2: Onslaught of Dragon Souls.

The card would be an ideal fit for one of Nova Grappler's still-unseen Double Rares, as with the reveal of Miss Mist Tuesday they are currently only clan in V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 to lack a Draw Trigger perfect guard. With Iseult and Barri having set the bar, it's now expected that every clan will eventually receive a clone of these cards in order to free up their grade 1 space.

In addition to Twin Blader, the manga card Cat Butler also made an appearance in the opening sequence, still a grade 0. The card's original skill was to retire itself after your grade 2 vanguard's attack failed to hit, standing the vanguard; this proved devastating with the onset of Legion format in 2014, as Cat Butler could stand grade 2 Legion Mates, and when a Legion Mate stands its Leader stands with it. Cat Butler giving Nova Grappler a high-power 2 Critical center lane capable of restanding at a net +1 as many times as it had Butlers if its attack didn't hit eventually lead to the card's restriction in the Japanese format.

V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd. It will be accompanied by sleeves based on Dragonic Overlord and Blaster Blade. V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and V-TD02: Kai Toshiki will launch in Japanese May 11th, 2018, and in English June 8th. They will be accompanied by a new sleeve based on the "Imaginary Gift" design.

The first Extra Booster set of Standard, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and August 3rd for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," began airing May 5th, with an English-subtitled simulcast on both YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Nova Grappler "Hero" support

From the June issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine.

All of these units focus on having units with the "Hero" race in play, and all of them are dual-race. Note that the Extra Muscular promotional card is also a "Hero" unit. These primarily consist of Miwa's cards from the manga, and represent an alternative play style to Kamui's Asura Kaiser-Raizer deck.

Miss Splendor

AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: During the battle in which your Hero attacks, your opponent cannot intercept, and if the number of your rearguards is greater than your opponent's, the attacking unit gets Power +3000.

No Imaginary Gift.
Race is Alien/Hero.
This is Miwa's key grade 3 early in the manga; originally the intercept blocking only applied to Miss Splendor herself, and there was no power gain effect.

Miss Splendor is a Single Rare in V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4.

Battle Door Fighter

ACT [Vanguard Circle]: Once per turn: [Cost: Counterblast 1, soulblast 1] Choose 1 of your units, until end of turn during the battle when that unit attacks, when your opponent would call guardians from their hand, if they do not call 2 or more guardians, they cannot call.
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When it attacks a vanguard, if the number of your rearguards is 3 or greater, this unit gets Power +5000 until the end of that battle.

Imaginary Gift: Accel
Race is Human/Hero.
The Question & Answer section of Monthly Bushiroad states that in order to call a perfect guard against the unit with Battle Door's effect on it, you must call another card in addition to the perfect guard. Discarding for the perfect guard does not count as calling 2 or more guardians.

Battle Door Fighter is a Common in V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4.

Boomerang Thrower

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, if there are 1 or less face-up cards in your damage zone, Countercharge 1.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, if you have 1 or less cards in your soul, Soulcharge 1.

Race is Human/Hero.
The original Boomerang Thrower was one of Miwa's grade 2s, and allowed him to attack an opponent's back row unit when he rode it.

Boomerang Thrower is a Common in V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4.

Cup Bowler

CONT [Vanguard/Rearguard Circle]: During your turn, if you have another <<Hero>> unit, this unit gets Power +5000.

Race is Human/Hero.
Another of Miwa's grade 2s from the manga, its effect was never shown in the story, but previously had a promo version of it printed that gained power whenever a Nova Grappler was rested.

Cup Bowler is a Common in V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4.

Rocket Hammer Man

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When this unit boosts a Hero, by paying [Cost: Soulblast 1], this unit gets Power +5000 until end of turn.

Race is Human/Hero.

Rocket Hammerman is a Common in V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4.

Tap the Hyper

AUTO: When you ride, draw 1 card.

Race is Human/Hero.

Tap the Hyper is a Common in V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4.

Character: Miwa Taishi

"To me you're still you. You haven't changed a bit. Only thing that's changed is that you've gotten harder on yourself."

"Final Turn! I ride Garnet Dragon, "Flash"!"

Miwa Taishi/三和タイシ
Age: 15/16 (Approximately)
Voice Actor(s): Morikubo Showtaro(Japanese)¹, Jon Lachlan Stewart(English)²
Anime Biography: Kai's confidant and sparring partner, Miwa is thought to be the only one who knows what's going on in his head. Taishi serves as a link between Kai and the distant past, as well as a waypoint between Team Q4 and their most distant teammate.


Spoiler warning: Season 1 details follow.
The truth runs deeper than that. Miwa is the last of Kai's close friends from elementary school, and the only person he chose not to push away upon moving back. Although Taishi already knew of the deaths that took place four years ago, Kai never confided who he met in his uncle's town, much less that he was the third Foo Fighter. These events serve as a barrier between the two friends throughout the first season, one that Miwa struggles to overcome but is ultimately shut out by.

Midway through season 1 Miwa starts to unearth Kai's past, tagging along with him to their city's underworld. Witnessing Kai confronting the underground fighters alone, he quickly intervenes, managing to talk Toshiki out of six-to-one a brawl. Unfortunately, this only ends in Miwa being used as a human ante in an underground fight between Kai and king Jun. Ironically, Jun and Miwa eventually develop a sort of friendship as Kai continues to frequent the underworld, even cracking jokes during Toshiki's match with Kourin.

In the second shop tournament Taishi finally takes center stage as the captain of Team Overthrow, masking a careful series of plans with a humorous face. He is responsible for assembling the team's four members, and in particular recruiting Emi to disable Kamui during the tournament finals. Against Aichi, Taishi brings out the Kagerou deck he uses to practice with Kai, and in the process unknowingly reveals Sendou's PSY Qualia to his friend.

While he eventually assists Kourin by leading her to Kai, Miwa otherwise keeps to the sidelines in spite of how much he knows. Unlike Team Q4, Miwa tries to uncover the truth about Kai's past in the background, choosing to keep himself hidden and not actively participating against the season's antagonists. While the cast has generally reconciled itself at the season's end, Miwa is still left with only a small portion of the picture, and his fractured friendship with Kai remains a key element of his character.
Spoilers end here.

During the Asia Circuit arc, Miwa takes over for Shin in maintaining Card Capital, watching the store counter with Izaki and the Sub-Manager while the rest of the cast travel to Singapore.

Manga biography: Maintaining his role as Kai's confidant, Miwa takes a more active role in the manga, opposing Asaka's invasion of Card Capital in volume 2 and accompanying Kai to the Foo Fighter's apartment complex in volume 3. Unlike in the anime, Miwa is shown to be a clearly better fighter than Aichi.

Decks and Play Style
During the second shop tournament and in sparingly-seen practice matches against Kai, Miwa cardfights with a Kagerou deck. His winning image is built around Garnet Dragon, "Flash" and his skill, which empowers other Kagerou when his attack hits. For support Miwa brings out the Salamander series to retire grade 0 and 1 units--primarily, his opponent's first vanguards and boosters. Miwa combines these retire skills with those of Berserk Dragon, and Chain-attack Sutherland, to mass retire and gain power while doing so.

Like his sparring partner, Miwa makes use of Dragonic Overlord. However, Miwa prefers it in the rearguard, to burn through his opponent's hand after empowering Overlord with Flash.

Taishi is something of an anomaly in that he is one of the few Kagerou cardfighters to continue using Undeux, long after it has been outmoded by Conroe and the Amber Dragon line.

Rides 1-Current: Who Knows the Most (21/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Undeux
x1 Flame Seed Salamander ST
x2 Dragon Dancer, Monica DT
x1 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x2 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
Grade 1
x2 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x2 Iron Tail Dragon
x2 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x1 Heat Nail Salamander
Grade 2
x1 Chain-attack Sutherland
x1 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
x2 Berserk Dragon
Grade 3
x1 Dragonic Overlord
x1 Vortex Dragon
x1 Garnet Dragon, "Flash"

In the manga Miwa fights with a Nova Grappler deck. In contrast to Kamui, his play style rests rearguards as part of their skills; Rocket Hammerman empowers other units by +2000 power when rested, while Cup Bowler gains +1000 power for each unit at rest. Boomerang Thrower attacks the rearguard units from the vanguard circle, then with Cat Butler's skill stands once more to attack again and make a second attack, this time on the vanguard. Miwa combos this skill with Death Army Guy, using the booster to make two full-power attacks.

Taishi's grade 3 vanguard is Miss Splendor, whose skill prevents her from being intercepted. This gives Miwa coverage in multiple areas; the ability to remove his opponent's rearguard, make multiple drive checks for added power, empower his own units through skills, and prevent his opponent from blocking.

Chapters 2-Current: Advance Lance (8/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Cat Butler
x1 Shining Lady CT
x1 Red Lightning CT
Grade 1
x1 Rocket Hammerman
x1 Death Army Guy
Grade 2
x1 Cup Bowler
x1 Boomerang Thrower
Grade 3
x1 Miss Splendor

Citations and External Links
1. Cardfight!! Vanguard Ride 36. Crunchyroll, 2011. Web. 1 June. 2012.
2. "Cardfight!! Vanguard English Version - NicoNico Channel." NicoNico Channel. NicoNico Douga, 11 Mar. 2012. Web. 1 June 2012. <http://ch.nicovideo.jp/channel/vanguard-dub>.