Weekly Bites reveals: Foo Fighter arc adapting Vol. 2-5 of Vanguard manga

This week's episode of the rebooted Weekly Bites series features live-size replicas of Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark's swords.

Image 10: "Aichi's Wind!!"
The fourth round of the shop showdown is Sendо̄ Aichi versus Sо̄ryū Leon. Struggling against something Leon calls "the Wind," Aichi witnesses a completely different image in their fight from anything he's seen before.

Image 12 "The Mysterious Enemy, Foo Fighter!!" airing July 21st introduces the Foo Fighters, and begins their arc of the anime series.

There are several differences between the Foo Fighters of the reboot and those of the 2011 anime series:

• In the first season, Team Foo Fighter was Japan's strongest team. In the 2018 series, the Foo Fighters are a Card Gang.
• In the original anime the battle against them was set in the national championship tournament, but in the reboot they are fought as part of everyday life.
• In the 2011 version of this arc, Aichi used Shadow Paladin; in the 2018 version, he continues to use Royal Paladin.
• In the first season, Ren wanted Kai to return to him. In this season, Ren wants to ____ Kai.

This is all based directly on Itо̄ Akira's Cardfight!! Vanguard manga, and with his supervision additional scenes (not found in the comics) are also being developed. The manga was originally published simultaneous to the first season; internationally it's published by Vertical Inc.

 The Q4 versus Foo Fighter arc is adapted directly from volumes 2 through 5 of the manga.

Itо̄ Akira's character design of Suzugamori Ren, which can be found in the in-between pages of volume 3. Itо̄-sensei is excited that the Foo Fighter arc is finally beginning.

Image 12 "The Mysterious Enemy, Foo Fighter!!"
A member of the mysterious gang "Foo Fighter," Kawanami Minami, suddenly appears in the peaceful Card Capital. He uses a dangerous piece of equipment called the "VF Gloves" to make the damage from a fight become real.

 This twelfth episode is a straight adaptation of the manga's fifth chapter.

Kai, Ren, and Aichi's story
"The real battle begins between Kai with his painful past and Ren driven mad by his "PSY Qualia."
Can Aichi save these two, caught up in their chain of battles...?"

Today's Card Analysis: Dragonic Waterfall and Dragonic Gaias

 

The Japanese Cards of the Day for May 18th, 2018, are Kagerо̄'s Vanguard Rare and a Double Rare from V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4, Dragonic Waterfall and Dragonic Gaias. Kai's trump card from the climax of the manga's fourth volume was originally designed to give the most raw power in the game, a mark it's long fallen short of. The rebooted card restores Waterfall to its former glory by giving it the ability to override one of the game's fundamental balancing mechanics.

Dragonic Waterfall
AUTO [Vanguard Circle]: When placed, choose 1 of your opponent's grade 2 or greater rearguards, and retire it.
AUTO [Vanguard Circle]: When it attacks, [Cost: Soulblast 1 grade 3 card] this unit gets power +10000/Critical +1 until the end of that battle, and your opponent cannot call cards with "Sentinel" to Guardian Circle from hand.

The new Waterfall is designed to be used as a second or third ride after beginning the match on Dragonic Overlord, putting it in the same class as Soul Saver Dragon and Victorious Deer as an endgame finisher. Like Victorious, Waterfall requires soulblasting grade 3s as part of its cost, restricting it to the endgame unless you can randomly soulcharge a grade 3 off of Cruel Dragon's on-hit skill. The on-ride skill ensures the opponent is dragged down with you as you invest another card onto your vanguard circle, and allows for easy removal of key attackers like Maximum Raizer and Gigantech Charger.

Waterfall's Super Vanguard Rare print.

Waterfall's on-attack autoskill is the primary reason to run the card, and should not go underestimated. Like Overlord, Waterfall possesses the Force ability and Kagerо̄ favors putting its Force Markers on the vanguard circle to develop aggressive centers. The opponent will likely be exhausted from defending Dragonic Overlord up to this point in the match, and with two to three Force Gifts on Waterfall and a boost from Gojo, Aermo, or Raopia they'll be staring down a functional 53~63k 2 Critical center; Waterfall preventing the opponent from calling Sentinels means they haven o option to simply negate the attack. Even Protect Markers have the Sentinel keyword on them and so are not exempt from this, so the only means of guarding Waterfall is to guard manually. That's putting down 55~65k shield for two-triggers-to-pass, equivalent to two Heals and a Critical Trigger if 53k, or three Heals and an intercept if 63k.

As stated back in April, 53k is one of the most important numbers in the game because it is completely impossible to guard with less than three guardians except using a perfect guard. This means that Waterfall is at minimum a -3 for the opponent under optimal conditions, and more commonly a -4--guarding with three Criticals and one 10k, or a -5 for four Crits and a 5k guardian to make an 78k no-pass. Effectively doubling the strain on the opponent's card advantage engine when compared with being able to perfect guard means two Waterfall turns at 4+ damage will win the game, if the first turn doesn't do the other fighter in outright. It's simply not feasible to repeatedly endure Waterfall while still needing to guard the rearguard lanes.

The other Card of the Day is a fellow Tear Dragon to Waterfall and another of Kai's cards, Gaias.

Dragonic Gaias
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it boosts a grade 3 or greater, [Cost: Counterblast 1, put this unit into your soul] the boosted unit gets Critical +1 until the end of that battle. (If you put it into the soul, the boosted unit does not receive Power.)

Gaias is a generally-faithful preservation of the original card from the manga. The original effect rested Gaias to give the boosted unit no power but increase its Critical by 1. Do note that because the additional Critical only lasts until end of battle, Gaias cannot be abused to give Dragonic Overlord 2 Critical on both attacks as Striken can. What Gaias can do is make Waterfall into a 3 Crit unit for a near-guaranteed on-hit win, as well as fuel the soul for Overlord's cost will increasing the impact of him hitting in the early game. You can also make plays like swing with a Forced Overlord unboosted for 33k on a rearguard, restand, then use Gaias during the second swing to guarantee a crit.

With this, the final Kagerо̄ lineup is at last taking shape.

Grade 1
x4 Flame of Hope, Aermo
x4 Dragonic Gaias
x4 Lizard Soldier, Raopia
x1 Dragon Knight, Burj
Grade 2
x4 Berserk Dragon
x4 Prowling Dragon, Striken or Spillover Dragon
x4 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord
x4 Dragonic Waterfall

Accounting for Oracle Think Tank likely getting a grade 1 perfect guard as a Single Rare and 4 trigger units along with Lozenge Magus for their grade 0 Commons, Kagerо̄ has just 2~4 cards left to reveal in the set, all at C rarity.

"Ride the Vanguard! Water Spirit Dragon, show yourself from within the fountain!"

The previous Japanese Card of the Day was Conjurer of Mithril.

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

The first Extra Booster set of Standard, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and August 2nd for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," began airing May 5th, with an English-subtitled simulcast on both YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Weekly Bites reveals: Monthly Bushiroad content

Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLWheGgHeP4

The June issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine is out today, May 8th. Readers that complete the online survey linked in the issue can get a special smartphone wallpaper featuring Sendou Aichi and Kai Toshiki from the Origin anime.

The issue comes with a double-sided poster comprising the key art for the Cardfight!! Vanguard Origin anime on one side and Dragonic Overlord on the other.

It also comes with a 50-card Stardrive Dragon Start Deck featuring an alternate artwork version of Knight of Silence, Gallatin.

The issue includes 36 full-color pages from the second chapter of the Cardfight!! Vanguard manga, which is being rerun in the magazine with color work done by its original artist, Itou Akira.

It also contains eight pages covering V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4, focusing on Royal Paladin, Kagerou, and Nova Grappler units.

The July issue of Monthly Bushiroad will come with a 2018 version of the Knight of Silence Gallatin Shadowbox Kit, a popular pack-in item from previous years.

Weekly Bites episode 1, start!

Final cards out of Trial Decks 01 and 02

The official card data for Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and Trial Deck 02: Kai Toshiki was published during the previous weekend's Great Vanguard Festival.

The grade 1 perfect guard Strong Knight Rounoria is still a 7000 power base, as is Guard Griffon. The trigger units are confirmed to not have effects in the Trial Decks, and remain 5k bases.

The most important takeaway from this is that the Start Deck perfect guards remain interchangeable with their Trial Deck counterparts, though both of these clans are likely to run at least a mix of grade 1 and grade 0 perfect guards come BT01, if not go full-Iseult and Barri.

Today's Card Analysis: Crested & Stardrive Dragons

The Japanese cards of the day for April 27th are the supporting grade 3s from V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and 02: Kai Toshiki, Stardrive Dragon and Crested Dragon. Longtime cardfighters will remember these from the Stardrive and Crested Flash Decks distributed prior to the game's actual launch in early 2011, and these cards have served much the same purpose in the rebooted Cardfight!! Vanguard as the headliners for the Start Decks distributed during the worldwide Demo Caravans. (To be held in June for the English format.) The Trial Deck versions of these cards differ significantly from their Start Deck counterparts, and both versions will be legal under the Standard rules, so which should you run?

Crested Dragon
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks a vanguard, if the number of your opponent's rearguards is 3 or less, this unit gets Power +5000 until end of battle.

Stardrive Dragon
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks a vanguard, if the number of your rearguards is 3 or greater, this unit gets Power +5000 until end of battle.

Appropriately for Royal Paladin and Kagerо̄, the new Stardrive and Crested Dragons are essentially inversions of each another's conditions, with Stardrive gaining power based on increasing your own rearguards and Crested gaining it based on reducing the opponent's. Their SD incarnations instead gained just 3k power, but those versions were active in both vanguard and rearguard circles, and both required their fighter to have three or more rearguards in play.

The 5k power bonus means that the new cards can swing for 18 alone, which meets the base requirement to force the opponent to guard with 10k shield. (13 being the normal base power for a grade 3 vanguard in Standard.) With as low as a 5k boost these cards can go for 23k and force a guard with a Critical Trigger or better, but the problem is reaching the stage after 23. 28k is the threshold at which rearguard columns become truly threatening in the Standard format, and the only way for these cards to reach that threshold is with Allen, Marron, Gojo, or Auspice Falcon. These cards each have skills capable of powering up either themselves or these attackers, bringing them in the range of 28~29k. Without these specific units, there isn't a tangible difference between the SD and TD versions of these cards, as virtually any booster will make a 23 column with the Start Deck versions.

No matter which version is your preference, they each have the Force icon, granting you another instance of a continuous +10k during your turn to a circle of your choice--for the rest of the game. That brings us to an important issue with these cards; they contradict the goals of your deck.

In the new format, the ideal play strategy is to continuously ride another grade 3 every turn from the first moment possible, gaining another instance of your clan's Imaginary Gift to further strengthen your board and force additional guard from the opponent. (Or in the case of Protect, progressing another step on the long road towards an unbreakable defense.) Playing grade 3s with a Gift to the rearguard directly contradicts the ideal flow of Standard decks. Vortex Dragon and Gigantech Charger can get away with it because these cards don't have Force, and as a trade-off are capable of a much higher maximum threshold of power than Crested or Star Drive, with Vortex getting 5k every time you use Bahr, Burj, Berserk Dragon, or Spillover, and Gigantech getting 10k on-place or when you ride.

What this means in the long run is that the Start Deck versions are preferable because these at least can make a power difference on the vanguard circle with base 7k grade 1s or with vanguard-specific boosters like Miru Biru. The Trial Deck equivalents are vanilla 13ks on vanguard, and if you were going to run them for their rearguard boost then you would find better versions of that strategy waiting in BT01. (For $0.50 and $0.25 per card, at that!)

At the end of the day, the Start Deck vs Trial Deck version debate won't have long to live. The Trial Decks hit June 8th for the English format, and we move on to BT01 format just 22 days later. By then multiple new grade 3s will have likely swept all this under the rug. But for those 22 days, it's probably best to switch these units out for their Start Deck prints.

With these two cards out of the way, we have one final set of uncertainties regarding the Trial Decks; whether or not the grade 1 perfect guards will differ from their Start Deck counterparts, and if any of the triggers will be effect triggers.

The previous Japanese card of the day was Bellicosity Dragon.

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

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," will begin airing May 5th, 2018, on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations. It will be simulcast with English subtitles on YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Today's Card Analysis: Bellicosity Dragon

The Japanese card of the day for April 25th, 2018, is Bellicosity Dragon. A Single Rare from V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 and one of Kai Toshiki's recurring grade 2s from the manga, veteran cardfighters will recall Bellicosity being rather infamous for his on-hit countercharge skill. Historically that version of Bellicosity contributed to the dominance of many past Kagerо̄ decks like Dragonic Overlord the End and Dragonic Nouvelle Vague.

AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circles]: When your opponent's rearguard is retired during your turn, this unit gets Power +5000 until end of turn.

In the comics Bellicosity's skill was never shown directly, and this incarnation of Bellicosity is quite different form the original. Rather than a countercharge ability, he's a modern take on Chain-attack Sutherland from Booster Set 2: Onslaught of Dragon Souls. These kinds of power units have often been looked down upon over the years, as they require other cards to consistently enable them and have to be powered up again each turn. The decks that have most been able to make use of them were subclans with access to cheap forms of retire like the Eradicators or Perdition Dragons. So how can Bellicosity fit in with the new Kagerо̄'s overall image?

To get our priorities straight, Kagerо̄ has had six grade 2s revealed thus far: Dragon Knight Nehalem, Berserk Dragon, Dragon Armored Knight, Prowling Dragon Striken, Spillover Dragon, Bellicosity Dragon, and the 10k vanilla Embodiment of Shield Rahm. Of these, Nehalem and Berserk Dragon have absolute priority over all other grade 2s--these are the cheapest retires you get at grade 2 in the deck, with Berserk even having a situational draw. These are either the first 4-ofs to be considered in deckbuilding right now, or they're the first 3-ofs if you're going to run four kinds of grade 2. Bellicosity is competing against...

• Striken - For the Dragonic Overlord critical combo
• Dragon Armored Knight - For attacking
• Spillover Dragon - As another cheap retire option

In terms of units that enable his skill, Bellicosity already has the aforementioned grade 2s as well as Burj and Bahr to set him off. And like Vortex Dragon, Bellicosity's power gain can also come from units being retired as a result of battle phase attacks, so you can trigger his skill by restanding with Overlord off a rearguard hit. It's conceivable that nearly everything except Bellicosity in the deck can activate his ability--we shouldn't have any trouble managing a 2-card combo consistently.

The issue is that for just a 5k increase, Dragon Armored Knight is functionally free. Bellicosity can become more powerful for a single turn off of multiple retires, but requires more investment from multiple counterblast/soulblast costs compared to simply making sure the opponent has one less rearguard than you. Meanwhile Striken rewards holding back for a turn by multiplying the damage Overlord is capable of dealing with its restand, and Spillover brings some desirable redundancy in another retire option.

Bellicosity Dragon doesn't bring any immediate reward to the Kagerо̄ deck; his function is to exacerbate a situation in which you already have the lead by draining more shield from the opponent as a reward for setting up your combos.

Vortex is arguable in the deck because there isn't a go-to second grade 3 for Kagerо̄ just yet, though that's subject to change when Dragonic Waterfall finally rears its head. But both Vortex and Bellicosity face an issue that a 5k power boost isn't what it used to be, in part because of Trigger Units now carrying 15~20k shield inherently and the basic unit of power both for Triggers and Gift Markers being 10k.

What all this means is that there isn't room for Bellicosity in a conventional grade 2 lineup with three types of grade 2 maxed out to 4. The way you make room for this beater is by taking away space from everything else:

Grade 2
x3 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
x3 Berserk Dragon 
x3 Spillover Dragon
x3 Bellicosity Dragon 

This involves a hit to the consistency of the other three units, as on average you'll only see one copy of a unit you run three of in any given game. We can afford that hit because 9 of the grade 2s serve functionally the same purpose, with that lone Bellicosity Dragon we draw taking their field control skills and turning them aggressive. It's going to take some proving to establish whether or not this really brings something better to the table over running 4 Armored Knight, Striken, or Spillover, but it's worth experimenting with and seeing what results you can bring out.

Bellicosity Dragon is designed by manga author Itou Akira and illustrated by Maekawa Yuuichi, who also illustrated the original Bellicosity Dragon in EB01: Comic Style Vol. 1.

The previous Japanese card of the day was Giro.

V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. 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, 2018. 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," will begin airing May 5th, 2018, on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations. It will be simulcast with English subtitles on YouTube and Crunchyroll. 

Today's Card Analysis: Dragon Knight, Burj

The Japanese Card of the Day for April 18th, 2018, is a Kagerо̄ grade 1 from V-Trial Deck 02: Kai Toshiki, Dragon Knight Burj. While the Start Deck version of Burj had a fairly low base power for the format at just a 7k base, the new Burj is even weaker--and has an incredible skill to pay that back.

ACT [Rearguard Circle]: If the number of your opponent's rearguards is 4 or greater, by paying [Counterblast 1, put this unit into your soul] choose 1 of your opponent's rearguards, retire it, and until end of turn one of your rearguards gets Power +10000.

Burj functions like an additional use of Force that retires any of your opponent's rearguards while simultaneously refueling the soul for Bahr, Berserk Dragon, and Dragonic Overlord. It's a successor to Demonic Dragon Mage Kimnara, and a card that has to be used carefully. At this time Kagerо̄ lacks draw power compared to their immediate rival, Royal Paladin, so any loss of card advantage incurred by giving up a unit like Burj represents a permanent long-term commitment to playing with fewer cards. You have to ensure that using Burj will actually conserve more shield than you lose by having to give up both him and dedicate a new booster to the board, and target the right cards.

Knight Squire Allen is a poor target because the opponent is likely to call over him anyway to get another Little Sage Marron into play, while Marron is the perfect target because he has a long-term use for the opponent and can reuse his skill every time another unit is called to his column. Blaster Blade would make for a poor target because his rearguard skill is one-and-done, while his Wingal booster would be ideal because of its continuous boost to Blade. Jarron is one of the big finishing moves in the Royal deck right now and so has high priority as a target.

Another factor to consider with Burj is the order of effects. Because Burj is only active when the opponent has 4 or more rearguards in play, the ideal time to use him is as your first retire of the turn. Using Berserk Dragon first could put the opponent down to 3 rearguards, disabling Burj--thus you're encouraged to play Burj early as a 6k booster, then give him up later in the game after the opponent has put down a board and you're ready to call a better booster like Bahr.

As for where to allocate the power, while you could power up Dragon Armored Knight or another beater, you should be aware that you can just pass Burj's power onto the vanguard's booster to make your Overlord swing stronger. Of note is that there are only 3 copies of Burj per Trial Deck, so if you want to go for an average ~2 Burj per game you'll need to either pick up two copies of the TD or buy a single of Burj on top of your initial deck purchase.

Dragon Knight Burj is illustrated by Aoji, who previously illustrated Spectral Blaster “Diablo” and Defeat Flare Dragon.

The previous Japanese card of the day was Gigantech Charger.

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

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," will begin airing May 5th, 2018, on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations. It will be simulcast with English subtitles on YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Today's Card Analysis: Cruel Dragon

The Japanese card of the day for April 16th, 2018, is a Double Rare from V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 and one of Kai Toshiki's key grade 3s from the manga, Cruel Dragon.

CONT [Hand]: During the turn your opponent's rearguard was retired, you may normal call this unit to Rearguard Circle even if your vanguard is grade 2 or lower.
AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When its attack hits a vanguard, by paying [Return this unit to your hand], you may Soulcharge 1.

It's hard not to be underwhelmed. In its original debut, Cruel Dragon was a superior ride Kai used to reach grade 3 faster, and carried the strategic advantage of letting one ride the grade 4 Dragonic Nouvelle Vague in the same number of turns it would normally take to ride a grade 3. In that version, Cruel Dragon was a base 11000 grade 3 that could be ridden when an opponent's rearguard was retired during the main phase, and if ridden this way it would lose 3k power for the turn as a trade-off. It's understandable why Cruel has to be reimagined for Standard format; the new Gift mechanic gives cardfighters another instance of Gift every time they ride a grade 3, and letting Kagerо̄ cardfighters rack up two Gifts in the time it takes the opponent to get just one could destabilize the game. But it would be just as easy to simply not give Cruel Dragon the Imaginary Gift ability, especially seeing as this card already has no vanguard skills.

Kai superior riding Cruel Dragon was an important play in the final chapter of the manga's first arc, and beyond that it leaves an open question of just how Nouvelle will be handled by the new series seeing as superior rides are seemingly out of the question. This also means the anticipated synergy between Cruel Dragon and Striken--an important combination focused on in that same chapter--is out the window with it.

Adding insult to injury is that the classic game got Cruel Dragon right in Extra Booster 9: Divine Dragon Progression, balancing its superior ride so that you could only do it in the main phase and only if you could successfully rest your grade 2 or greater vanguard. (Not interfering with Megacolony's stand denial mechanics.) EB09 even gave Cruel Dragon a Limit Break.

That said, how best can you use Cruel Dragon?

Because his skill is Continuous and not Automatic (e.g. "When your opponent's rearguard is retired...") and specifies "normal call," you can't get any multiple attacks going with Spillover because Cruel can only be called during the main phase. What you can use the card with is either print of Nehalem, to call a powerful rearguard on your grade 2 turn, and to form an early 23k lane with Dragon Monk Gojo.

The on-hit skill doesn't inflict much pressure right now, as the only use of the soul Kagerо̄ has is Dragonic Overlord, but with Spillover also filling up the soul it's worth keeping in mind for paying future costs should there prove to be a soulblast theme to the deck. It's likewise worth remembering that you can technically call Cruel Dragon while you're on a grade 1, we just don't have any grade 1 or 0 units that retire cards yet.

The intention behind Cruel is likely to attack with it, return it to hand, and ride it again next turn for another instance of Force. However, seeing as Cruel Dragon's return-to-hand effect is an on-hit skill, there will be plenty of times where you can call this card but shouldn't because you don't have another grade 3 to ride next turn in case the opponent guards. Moreover, once you're on Dragonic Overlord you don't really want to be on any other unit, as his restand skill is too important to Kagerо̄'s gameplan.

This is yet another case where replacing "soulcharge" with "countercharge" would have made the card vastly more appealing. Even discounting that, had it been callable during battle phase, Cruel would be much more compelling. Overall it's hard to recommend Cruel Dragon with what little we know of the current card pool, as Dragonic Overlord, Vortex Dragon, and Crested Dragon are all more appealing units; the only leg up Cruel has over Vortex is possessing the Force ability, and seeing as Crested Dragon's power bonus is both a vanguard and rearguard skill, Crested may be the better choice. When Crested Dragon is an all-around better grade 3 than you, you need to go home and rethink your life.

"Ruthless Stream!!"

While Bushiroad posted no lore for this incarnation of Cruel Dragon, we still have his classic lore to go on from the original game:

A fearsome general of "Kagerо̄" who swore absolute loyalty to the emperor of Dragon Empire. It is a radical hostile to all who dare complain about the stance of the empire, even among comrades. Its ruthless personality is outshone by its many achievements, among them preventing revolts by dissenting elements. However, it exploits its authority by independently sending out spies and covert units to monitor its comrades, excessively monitoring even those that do not even remark or act against the empire. As a result, many generals censure its excessive actions. Nevertheless, it is a treasure to the empire, and its contribution both in interior and foreign affairs are not to be neglected. The Cruel Dragon roars only once on the battlefield. Its comrades flee as soon as they hear its battlecry. If they do not escape in time, they are incinerated by the turbulent storm of its inferno, as only enemies stand in the dragon's way.

Cruel Dragon is designed by Itou Akira and illustrated by Miyoshi Norikatsu, who also illustrated Miru Biru.

The previous Japanese card of the day was the Dragon Knight, Nehalem.

V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. It will be preceded by the first Trial Decks of the Standard format, V-TD01: Sendou Aichi and V-TD02: Kai Toshiki, launching in Japanese May 11th, 2018, and in English June 8th, 2018. 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," will begin airing May 5th, 2018, on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations. It will be simulcast with English subtitles on YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Today's Card Analysis: Dragon Knight, Nehalem

The Japanese card of the day is Dragon Knight Nehalem, from V-Trial Deck 02: Kai Toshiki.

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When placed, by paying [Counterblast 1], choose 1 of your opponent's rearguards in the back row, retire it, and this unit gets Power +5000 until end of turn.

We had previously seen Nehalem in the Crested Dragon Start Deck, and a special edition version of that card with its 2011 artwork is currently being distributed in the May issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine, but the two differ significantly in their skills;

ACT [Rearguard Circle]: [Counterblast 2] Choose 1 of your opponent's rearguards, and retire it.

You can see Kitta Izumi employing this older version of Nehalem to devastating effect in this official video of the Start Decks, where she takes advantage of it being repeatable to retire two of Morishima Shuuta's rearguards in one turn. Both versions of the card will be legal in Standard format, so which do we go with? Early playtesting showed Nehalem to be the primary reason to run Kagerо̄ over Royal Paladin, just as his counterpart Jarron was the reason to play Royals, but the Dragon Knight was held back by his 9k base. With 10k being the new standard for grade 2s, this incarnation of the card was wholly dependent on Gojo to meet the 18k+ baseline of the Standard format.

Monthly Bushiroad promo

The Trial Deck version of Nehalem is the first cheap retire skill Kagerо̄ has had access to (Spillover moving to soul is a hefty cost in a deck with no draw power or superior calls) and he provides an additional option for an attacker on top of Dragon Armored Knight. You will be running 4 copies of Nehalem, but will it always be the Trial Deck version? Being on-place means he's not necessarily playable the moment you draw him, but instead a card that has to be held back for the right moment, like Berserk Dragon in the old days. And while back row retires are generally stronger than front row retires since most front row units can't hit the vanguard without a boost, this keeps Nehalem from retiring the most tempting targets; Jarron, Dragon Armored Knight, and Blaster Blade. (Provided he has Wingal behind him.)

What Nehalem can do is take out Marron, crushing one of the sources of Royal Paladin's long-term card advantage. For that alone the card is probably going to be a staple, and being able to stop Blaster columns from reaching 23k by hitting Wingal is likewise welcome in the deck.

If you do want to make use of the old Nehalem to go after Jarron, you can try to either split your Nehalems 2-2 or simply tech the old card outright. Since the Start Deck Nehalem's skill is an Activated ability, you don't have to use it the moment you put the unit down, so old Nehalem doesn't actively hurt you beyond being a 9k base and needing Gojo's boost to function offensively.

Your grade 2 lineup would thus look something like this;

Grade 2
x1 Dragon Knight, Nehalem (SD02)
x3 Dragon Knight, Nehalem (TD02)
x4 Dragon Armored Knight (TD02)
x4 Spillover Dragon

Is this a wound to consistency? You're still getting access to a retire skill from this tech Nehalem, but introducing variance in the form of your retire sometimes reaching the front row and costing more. You could easily skip the trouble and run the deck without the SD02 print, and certainly Dragonic Overlord is designed with the idea in mind that you're swinging at front row units late game and retiring back row units. While I personally favor not running the Start Deck version due to Spillover being able to hit virtually anything of importance, I recommend putting the options you have on the table to the test so you can make a truly informed decision when tournament time comes.

Lastly, while the current Card of the Day profiles still do not incorporate lore into them, we will always have Nehalem's lore from the classic game:

A Dragon Knight of the Empire that wields a huge spear endowed with lightning.
They are said to have the power of a hundred soldiers.
Alongside the dragon that could be called their second self, they soar across many battlefields.

Dragon Knight Nehalem is illustrated by Roku.

The previous Japanese card of the day was Miru Biru.

The first Trial Decks of the Standard format, V-TD01: Sendou Aichi and V-TD02: Kai Toshiki, will launch in Japanese May 11th, 2018, and in English June 8th, 2018. They will be accompanied by a new sleeve based on the "Imaginary Gift" design. The first Booster Set of Standard, V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4 will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. The first Extra Booster set, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and in July for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," will begin airing May 5th, 2018, on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations. It will be simulcast with English subtitles on YouTube and Crunchyroll.

First look at colorized Vanguard manga

Late last March it was announced that the Cardfight!! Vanguard manga is being re-serialized in Monthly Bushiroad magazine in colorized form. The series' concept creator and manga author Itou Akira is doing the color work himself, expanding on several one-shot colorizations he had done back during its original 2011-2017 run. Monthly Bushiroad tweeted several preview images of the first color chapter, which debuts in the latest issue. Chapter 1 will span 48 pages in total.

Fans will be able to purchase a pair of pins based on the manga panels at this year's Vanguard Festival in Japan. Aichi's badge will be for sale on day 1 of the event on April 29th, and Kai's badge on day 2 of the event on April 30th.

The Cardfight!! Vanguard manga's international license is currently held by Vertical Inc., who is in the process of localizing volume 12, due out July 24th. No international plans for the color edition have been announced as of yet.

The new anime series based on the manga, codenamed "Origin," will begin airing May 5th, 2018, on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations. It will be simulcast with English subtitles on YouTube and Crunchyroll, and unlike past seasons will be in a late night to early morning timeslot. V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and V-TD02: Kai Toshiki will launch in Japanese May 11th, 2018, and in English June 8th, 2018. V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4! will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. he first Extra Booster set, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and in July for the English-speaking world.

Today's Card Analysis: Dragon Armored Knight

The Japanese card of the day is Dragon Armored Knight, from V-Trial Deck 02: Kai Toshiki. Originally debuting in the Vanguard manga, Dragon Armored Knight is one of the recurring members of Kai's lineup.

AUTO [Rearguard Circle]: When it attacks a vanguard, if the number of your opponent's rearguards is 3 or less, until end of battle this unit gets Power +5000.

Although we've already seen Dragon Armored Knight in the second Start Deck--currently on distribution as part of the Japanese 2018 Spring Caravan--this version of the card is more than a little different. The Start Deck card gained 3000 power while its owner had a grade 3 or greater vanguard; the Trial Deck verson instead gains 5k when attacking the vanguard, provided the opponent has 3 or less rearguards in play. Both version will be legal for play in Standard under the new rules, but the Trial Deck version is going to be preferable for several reasons, despite being more conditional.

In terms of the new magic numbers, the most important thresholds to hit with your rearguards are 23k, 28k, 33k, and 53k. That's because 23k forces the opponent to guard with a Critical Trigger or better, 28k forces a Heal Trigger or better, everything between 33k and 48 has to be guarded with 2 or more cards, and 53k is completely impossible to guard with less than three guardians unless using a perfect guard. While the SD Dragon Armored Knight could only make a 23k column with Dragon Monk Gojo, TD Dragon Armored Knight makes a 23k column with any 8k booster--which will be most grade 1s in the new format.

And while the new Dragon Armored Knight only works while the opponent has a reduced field, its purpose goes beyond just swinging for guard. Once the opponent is familiar with how Dragon Armored Knight works, they'll begin making informed decisions about whether to disable the ability or not. Dragon Armored Knight pressures the opponent to fill their field as much and as quickly as possible by forcing them to guard with 5k more shield as a punishment for leaving it open. That in turn reduces their available shield when they start dedicating cards to the back row, and exposes them to retire skills from cards like Dragon Knight Nehalem and Vortex Dragon. It also leaves them with a front row rearguard you can attack with Dragonic Overlord when the opponent is at a higher damage threshold where they aren't likely to let Overlord's attack hit the vanguard. That gives you the opportunity to hit, power up Vortex, and restand for a second swing. Ultimately Dragon Armored Knight's effect is that he progresses the game state, as the opponent comes to an equilibrium where playing their rearguards earlier will conserve more shield for them than if they had held back and have to guard for more from Knight.

That role sets Dragon Armored Knight as a staple in Kagerо̄, a deck we know comparatively little about compared to the current Royal Paladin build. Right now the ideal lineup is shaping up something like this;

Grade 1
x4 Guard Griffon (Perfect Guard)
x4 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x1 Dragon Knight, Burj
Grade 2
x4 Dragon Armored Knight
x4 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
x3 Embodiment of Shield, Rahm / Prowling Dragon, Striken
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord
x2 Crested Dragon
x3 Vortex Dragon

However, we have no real idea what Bahr's skill is going to be, and Kagerо̄ will certainly get other grade 1 and 2 options out of V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4! that will affect how the final core looks. It's hard to imagine Kagerо̄ getting an attacker better than Dragon Armored Knight in the immediate future though--that would be giving them rearguard attackers on par with Jarron in Royal Paladin, when their vanguard has historically been the deck's focus.

Dragon Armored Knight is designed by Itou Akira and illustrated by yuukoo009.

The previous Japanese card of the day was the Little Sage, Marron.

V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi and V-Trial Deck 02: Kai Toshiki will launch in Japanese May 11th, 2018, and in English June 8th, 2018. They will be accompanied by a new sleeve based on the "Imaginary Gift" design. The first Booster Set of the Standard format, V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4! will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. The first Extra Booster set, V-EB01: The Destructive Roar will launch in Japan June 29th, 2018, and in July for the English-speaking world. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," will begin airing May 5th, 2018, on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations. It will be simulcast with English subtitles on YouTube and Crunchyroll.

Today's Card Analysis: Prowling Dragon, Striken

The Japanese card of the day is a single Rare from V-BT01: UNITE! TEAM Q4, Prowling Dragon Striken. A Kagerо̄ unit first introduced in chapter 5 of the manga, Striken went almost unchanged in the transition from the original TCG to Standard. A slight buff to his skillset makes him more palatable to Kagerо̄ cardfighters, but it comes with a trade-off.

CONT [Vanguard Circle]: This unit cannot attack.
AUTO: When you ride a grade 3, by paying [Counterblast 1], draw 1 card, and during that turn 1 of your vanguards gets Power +5000/Critical +1.

In exchange for giving up a drive check and an attack on your grade 2 turn, Striken makes it back up to you with a draw and an extra critical. This might seem like a straight negative at first--after all, you're giving up a potential damage and trigger just to get it back for a counterblast next turn--but the real asset of Striken is how he interacts with the recently-revealed Dragonic Overlord. Overlord's once-per-turn skills respectively give him a 10k buff and the ability to restand after his attack has hit; combine this with Striken and you have a 28k 2 critical vanguard with an opportunity to deal 4 damage in a single turn before factoring in actual triggers. Historically speaking, Striken was used in a similar way late in the life of the 2011 Overlord-Goku deck, one of the earliest competitive Kagerо̄ decks.

The downside to this is that it's easily stopped with a perfect defense card, but it's also a very cheap maneuver that rids the opponent of one of (on average) two they'll see from their playset. Versus Accel and other Force decks, staring down an Overlord that will so easily end the midgame and send them straight to the late is devastating; on the other end of the spectrum, Protect clans are likely to shrug off the play as a direct result of having double-or-more the number of perfect guards. The loss simply isn't as significant in a draw-heavy deck that gets another Sentinel unit every time it rides a grade 3. Those matchups are more likely to play out like the Tsukuyomi-Goku slow grind of the BT03 days.

One element of Striken that was lost in the transition is his defensive value. In both the original manga and card game, Striken was envisioned as a unit that gained power when attacked by unboosted units, preventing the opponent from rushing him down while his fighter's hand was still low from not attacking the previous turn. Striken now replenishes your hand for a cost, but being a base 10k isn't as walling as it was in the old format. (We currently know of only one 9k grade 2.) For a totally clean transition from EB01, Striken would need to be an 11k base that also gained power while being attacked--instead he gives us compensation on our lost card advantage, which is a bit messier since the cards conserved from not having to guard could very well be greater than simply maintaining the same level of card advantage.

There's also the issue that Striken hasn't totally scaled with the power of the game. The old Striken was essentially a guaranteed critical trigger in exchange for a dead turn, but the new Striken only gives half as much power as an actual crit. And while Striken is designed to be a strategic investment, whether or not that investment will pay off is at least partially matchup dependent, which isn't something you want to hear when said "investment" involves the real possibility of having only one ride option for the turn.

One upshot of the card is the role it plays in counterblast denial, particular when going first. The new format has already shown us cards like Knight Squire Allen and Alfred Early that use their counterblast skills on-place, and encourage conserving cards to call at the right moment rather than immediately rushing in. Leaving the opponent at 0~1 damage for a turn forces them to pace their deck and pinch those on-place skills rather than spam them, as well as choose between cards like Allen and Jarron. The alternative is that they choose to lose their opportunities to gain card advantage and switch to vanilla attacking--all because you rode a grade 2 that gives you the "benefit" of skipping a turn.

Cruel Dragon, a grade 3 that could be ridden during the main phase if an opponent's rearguard was retired.

There are some unresolved questions brought on by the relatively unknown card pool of BT01. For example, at this time we don't know if Cruel Dragon is going to get remade inside 2018. Having access to a grade 3 that can superior ride and bypass your grade 2 turn to negate the loss of an attack would make this incarnation of Striken a net +1 rather than a neutral exchange. These are questions that will have to be addressed as we go.

Prowling Dragon Striken is designed by Itou Akira and illustrated by Kogaratsu, who also illustrated its card for Comic Style Vol. 1. The previous card of the day was the Knight of Silence, Gallatin.

V-Booster Set 01: UNITE! TEAM Q4! will launch in Japan May 25th, 2018, and in English June 22nd, 2018. It will be preceded by V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi, and V-TD02: Kai Toshiki, launching in Japanese May 11th, 2018, and in English June 8th, 2018. Both Trial Decks will be accompanied by a new sleeve based on the "Imaginary Gift" design. The accompanying new anime series, codenamed "Origin," will begin airing May 5th, 2018, on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations. It will be simulcast with English subtitles on YouTube and Crunchyroll.