[TCG] Transition to a free-for-all TCG Blog!

Hello everyone,

It had been a while since I last wrote on this blog. I had started this blog as a Cardfight! Vanguard (CFV) blog, but soon after I started to lose interest in the game. And thus, I had brought it upon myself to try out many other games out there just to pass time before recently coming back to CFV.

But boy, oh boy, had I had a good time trying out all these other games. As such, I had decided to return to the blog to put my thoughts about the games that I had played into writing, both for my own reference later if I ever think of investing further into any one of these games, and for others to read to learn more about these games. 

Note: The following are not ranked in any order. Okay, maybe I do write them in the order of which game I enjoy more, but this is in no way a comparative list. I am not saying that the games I put higher or lower in the list is better or worse than the others.

1. Battle Spirits

Battle Spirits. Ah, how else can I start talking about this game other than talking about the anime. Boasting the best *VISUAL* among the card game genre anime, I must say that Battle Spirits nailed its marketing pitch (and is one of the reasons I picked up the game in the first place.)

I mean seriously, check out those visuals. 

"Well, what about the actual card game?" I hear ye ask. In a nutshell, Battle Spirits is an extensive resource management game. You use the cores (the small blue jewel things you will see on the board) to not only summon your Spirits (the game's version of Monsters, Creatures, Units, etc) and cast spells, etc but also to power up those Spirits and give extra effects to those Spirits . Knowing when to summon more Spirits or to 'level up' an existing Spirit could make a difference between a win and a loss in this game.

The card art itself is quite amazing. Too bad the Burning Soul series just ended, meaning less Sengoku-themed cards (which is my favourite by far) for the time being. Small loss, but eh. New season = New cards.  

Battle Spirits also features a robust, but limited, interaction system between players. The core Flash Timing and Burst mechanics of the game give players the ability to respond and/or set up traps in order to counter the opponent's moves. There are very few viable cards which could nullify or negate the opponent's cards and effects, which ties in with the fact that the Flash and Burst mechanic forgoes the chaining mechanics commonly found in other card games, instead letting each card played to be resolved completely before the next card is played.

Sadly the game is only available in Japanese since the English version of the game had been cancelled a long time ago. The Japanese version of the game had recently been re-introduced in Malaysia which makes the game greatly accessible for those who are interested in the game.


2. Force of Will

Okay, where should I start with this magnificent beast? If I were to give an overly simplified description of the game, it would be Magic: The Gathering (MTG, which, in retrospect, I probably should have covered first) without the Land/Mana issue and with anime artwork. Speaking of anime, the card game does not have an anime, which is a shame since the fluff/lore of the cards are quite interesting.

Okay, onto the game itself. The game takes a lot of inspiration from many other card games, but manages to put all of those moving parts together to create quite a unique experience for players. The game does feature some unique mechanics that gives it its distinct identity, but it is hard not to compare such a young game to its predecessors.

The artwork on the cards are absolutely amazing, especially in higher rarities and on foiled versions of the rare cards. Speaking of rarities and foils, the game is also very lenient when it comes to rarities, having THREE different prints of the rarest cards (the SR rarity) in the set namely; a non-foiled version, a foiled version and a full-art foiled version. This makes the prices of the harder to get cards barring the full-art version, quite low, making decks very easy to build and is easy on the wallet for budget players (like me).

Other than that weird font (subjective) that they used for the card names, I really like the overall look and feel of Force of Will cards.

The game also uses a block rotation system a la MTG and Pokemon. This ensures that power creep have a harder time ruining the game, but at the same time making it quite expensive to keep up with the competitive scene in the long run. This system also ensures that popular or staple cards would have a higher chance of being reprinted, which is a plus

While the game is still in its infancy, the company that supports it had been very active in supporting its playerbase and is growing very rapidly in presence. I, personally, hope that the game will grow (especially here in Malaysia, and also everywhere else) since among all the games that will be on this list, this is the one game that I feel would have the most potential to become something greater, and maybe even challenge the throne of MTG as the most competitive card game in the world.

This game is available in English, which makes it a lot easier to play for those who could not read Japanese (or those who do could not be bothered to remember the effects of every single card in the game).



3. Yu-Gi-Oh! 

Yes, the great-grandfather of Japanese TCGs. The Arc-V era had been amazing for the game, with Konami creating an environment where many different decks are viable in the competitive format, making most themed cards easier to obtain for more casual players like myself. The deck staples are still very much prohibitively expensive, however.

The recent introduction of Pendulum Summoning had really changed the landscape of the game, making the game vastly different from when I left it back when Vanguard was first released. Unlike when Xyz was introduced, however, Konami did not completely forgo support for decks that does not use Pendulum Summoning. In fact, Konami had released just as much support for Fusion, Xyz and Synchro Summoning decks throughout the Arc-V era as Pendulum Summoning decks as well as creating many more non-Pendulum archetype decks.

I don't believe that Yu-Gi-Oh! needs much explanation since its one of the oldest and best known Trading Card Games in the world other than MTG and *MAYBE* Pokemon TCG. Anyhow, I'm happy to return to this game.



4. WIXOSS

Ah, WIXOSS, the most hipster TCG (in my opinion) available right now. It's another all-Japanese card game, as expected. It does have an anime (most current series during the time of writing: Lostrage incited WIXOSS) but even the anime is hipster as hell. Instead of focusing on the fun of playing the game, it has a very dark and brooding tone. [SPOILER ALERT] Basically its play the game or die, and git good or die. Add in a possibility of the characters on the card possessing you if you lose enough and you can see how this is the polar opposite of Cardfight Vanguard. [SPOILER END]

The animation quality is okay, I guess. I'm enjoying it so far, so there's that. Do give it a try if you like all this emo stuff.

The game itself is also quite unique, being an interesting blend of many elements seen in other card games while at the same time introducing many refreshing new mechanics. The only complaint I have about the game would be the length of some games with a single game possibly taking around 30 minutes to almost an hour due to the very defensive-favoring gameplay.

I have to say one thing, however; all the cards in this game are females. Take that as you may, but that's the whole point of the game. (But somehow they are marketing this game to girls, apparently? I'm sorry Japan, but how?)

WIXOSS's card design however, is not one of my favourites. 

The game is easily available in Malaysia, with many stores carrying as a secondary (or maybe even tertiary or beyond) game. Single cards are hard to come by, but there is a good community that makes it easy to get into the game.

I guess that should be all I want to say about the games that I currently am following. As a side note, I have already returned to playing Cardfight Vanguard, and the upcoming post that I am working on will be a Cardfight Vanguard post. However, I believe that I will also be writing about the games that I had listed above from time to time, so do look out for that!

Yes, I had retired any previous writings and is starting anew. I'll probably keep the style of the previous posts, so I hope all of you will enjoy that! Until then, have a great day!

Signing off,

ドラエン TCG. 

Rulings Case Study 1: Battle Rules

Case: Demonic Dragon Berserker, Chatura vs Taboo Star-Vader, Rubidium

Okay, first you guys would need to have a copy of the Comprehensive Rules, you can get it here:
http://cf-vanguard.com/en/wp/wp-content/uploads/Cardfight-Vanguard-Comprehensive-Rules150619.pdf

Referring to page 11, Item 7.3. “Attack Step”, sub-item 7.3.1.3 and 7.3.1.3.2

“7.3.1.3 The turn player chooses one of his standing units on a vanguard or rear-guard circle in the front row (or if the vanguard is in a legion state, both units on a vanguard circle) as the unit to attack with for this battle, and rests it. If he or she cannot choose any units, then proceed to the close step immediately.”

“7.3.1.3.2 Only units that can attack at the point of 7.3.1.3 may be chosen be an attacking unit. Between when the attacking unit is chosen and the end of the battle, if the chosen unit becomes unable to attack, the process of battle still proceeds.”

At this point, the attacking player chooses a rear-guard Demonic Dragon Berserker, Chatura (Chatura) as the attacking unit for that battle at (7.3.1.3). Demonic Dragon Berserker, Chatura has the abilities:

“[CONT](RC): This unit cannot attack a rear-guard.

[CONT](RC: During your turn this unit gains POWER+3000 and "[AUTO](RC):(CB1)When this unit attack hits a Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card and choose a card in your opponent's Drop Zone, bind it."

Continuous abilities does not require a check timing to activate, thus the ability is applied at all times. As such if the opponent only has rear-guards, Chatura could still attack but instead of actually battling, the battle straight away ends (as denoted by the orange text above).

The opponent, having a Vanguard (which is mandatory, otherwise he loses the game) provides one valid target for Chatura, allowing it attack, so the battle moves from item 7.3.1.3 to the subsequent steps. Note that Chatura is now an attacking unit and is governed by item 7.3.1.3.2.

Since Chatura is attacking a valid target, the battle moves on to the next step; page 12, Item 7.4 “Guard Step”. 

Nothing special happens here, just the usual Guardian Call and effect resolution. Now, the opposing player plays a Taboo Star-Vader, Rubidium, using its effect to redirect the Chatura's attack target to a 'Reverse' unit in his rear-guard. This counts as Chatura attacking the rear-guard. 

Now, recall that Chatura has a [CONT] effect that prevents it from attacking a rear-guard. There is a check timing between the Guard Step and the Damage Step (it is a rear-guard attack so we skipped the Drive Step), but being a Continuous ability, the ability kicks in and prevents Chatura from attacking. However, recall that last part of item 7.3.1.3.2, the red text above;

"7.3.1.3.2 [...] Between when the attacking unit is chosen and the end of the battle, if the chosen unit becomes unable to attack, the process of battle still proceeds.”

Thanks to this handy rule, the attack still goes through as the restriction is (re)-placed AFTER Chatura had been declared as an attacking unit with a valid target. So the key rule of units with restrictions on their attack targets is that if the attack target is changed after attack declaration, the attack will continue (targeting the new target) even if the change in target would cause the restriction on the attacking unit to be activated.

Conclusion: In a match where Rubidium is used to redirect a Chatura's attack to a rear-guard 'Reverse' unit,the attack will continue targeting the new target. Rubidium does NOT nullify the attack.

A/N: Chatura is still MVP (no Touken). 

Reconquer the Darkness, the Crimson Blade Rises! G Shadow Paladin Part 1: Striders

You might be asking, where is the Part 2 and beyond for Kagero? Well, to be honest, I believe that posting the same clans consecutively would be boring. So I decided to shake things up and write about another Clan in the time being in order to keep things fresh and interesting for everyone.

So, I decided to write about the Clan made popular due to its dark, mysterious air with the theme of selfless sacrifice paving way to a greater victory adding to the already bloody nature of the Clan: the Shadow Paladins. The Clan is used in the first series by two powerhouse characters, Sendou Aichi and Suzugamori Ren. The latter used the Clan exclusively after Sendou Aichi left the clan to go back to his original Clan, the Royal Paladins. In the Cardfight!! Vanguard G series, this clan is used by Kanzaki Yuichirou, head of the United Sanctuary branch in the series. So far he had only made one appearance, crushing his opponent under the overwhelming might of the Clan.

Shadow Paladins could generally be considered to be an anti-hero clan, protecting the United Sanctuary from the shadows while rejecting the fame and glory that comes with being a real Hero. The lore really shows the struggle of the Clan, and now in the new Generation they face a new enemy in form of a rebel within their folds. Their story

Blaster Dark Diablo

Grade 3 / 11000 Power / 0 Shield / Twin Drive / Human / Shadow Paladin

[AUTO][VC][GB2 This ability is active if you have two or more face-up G-Units in your (VC) or Generation Zone]: While you are paying the cost for [Stride], if the G-Unit you [Stride] has "Blaster" in its card name, the cards in your hand gets Grade +3. 

[AUTO][VC]: During your turn, when your unit name "Dark Dragon, Phantom Blaster "Diablo" [STRIDE], choose one of your opponent's rear-guard, and retire it.

The current Grandmaster of the Shadow Paladins, Blaster Dark had reached the zenith of his abilities and inherited the title from the previous Grandmaster (Spoilers: The previous Grandmaster was Illusory Revenger, Mordred Phantom) Now armed with new armaments and taking the name of Blaster Dark "Diablo", the legendary Hero rises once more to protect the peace of the United Sanctuary. Released in the G-Legend Deck 1: The Dark "Ren Suzugamori", this card revives one of the most popular card in the game in the previous season into a brand new Strider.

To be brutally honest however, Blaster Dark "Diablo" is not a good card. Don't get me wrong, it is a decent card, but not good enough to live up to the hype that surrounds its reveal. Sure, the art is good which is always a plus (personal opinion; DaisukeIzuka makes some of the best art in the game), but in play it is just simply meh. 

Let's start with its on-Stride bonus. It allows the Shadow Paladin player to retire any of his opponent's rear-guards for free a-la Kagero's Dragonic Blademaster, but without the Counterblast cost. While this sounds fantastic, it is only applicable when a very specific G-Unit Strides on top of it namely the Dark Dragon, Phantom Blaster "Diablo", and no other unit. The Dark Dragon, Phantom Blaster "Diablo" is a powerful G-Unit but has the standard requirement for G-Persona units of having two or more face-up G-Units in the Generation Zone, making it unsuitable to be the first Stride in the game. Due to this, Blaster Dark Diablo's on-Stride bonus could only be accessed in the later stages of the game making the first Stride of the game essentially a vanilla Stride with no extra bonuses.

In the later stages of the game, however, when Blaster Dark "Diablo"'s on-Stride bonus is online, it becomes a dangerous weapon that could potentially force the opponent to commit 3 or more units to the board to prevent themselves from being locked out of calling units to the Guardian Circle by Phantom Blaster "Diablo"s effect. At this point of the game is where Blaster Dark truly shines, but sadly it would usually be too late and with the opponent having access to their Vanguard's skill from the get-go could possibly already amassed enough advantage to counter the Diablo play.

The Generation Break ability of Blaster Dark "Diablo" is also very sub-optimal. Unlike other Striders that uses their GB2 abilities as contingencies when the player is unable to Stride, Blaster Dark's GB2 ability facilitates the process of Stride by turning all cards in the player's hand into possible 1-card Stride fodders for "Blaster" named G-Units. So far, only ONE G-Unit in the Clan has the "Blaster" name, the infamous Phantom Blaster "Diablo".

One problem faced by pure Diablo players is that they run out of any form of aggression should the opponent manage to defend against the two Phantom Blaster "Diablo" Stride turns. At that point Blaster Dark "Diablo" does absolutely nothing to help you push for game, a vanilla Grade 3 on VC is never a good thing.

One pros to running Blaster Dark "Diablo" is that it lets the player access the powerful 'Blaster' support that comes with the Blaster Dark in the Legend Deck. Cards like Darkheart Trumpeter, Pitch Black Sage Charon and the brothers, Dorint and Claudas. Even with this, Blaster Dark "Diablo" still loses out to its more useful previous forms, namely the Revenger versions (Blaster Dark Revenger and Revenger, Blaster Dark "Abyss").

Please welcome the Clan's second Strider, the leader of the opposing force which is trying to wrest leadership of the Clan from its rightful Grandmaster. He is the dragon with the blood red sword foretold by prophecy:

Sovereign Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon

Grade 3 / 11000 Power / 0 Shield / Twin Drive / Abyss Dragon / Shadow Paladin

[ACT][VC][1/Turn][GB2 This ability is active if you have two or more face-up G-Units in your (VC) or Generation Zone]: (Choose two of your rear-guards, retire them) This unit gets [POWER]+10000/[CRITICAL]+1 until the end of this turn.

[AUTO][VC]: (CB1) During your turn, when a G-Unit [STRIDE], you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one Grade 1 or less card, call it to (RC), shuffle your deck, and that unit gets [POWER]+2000 until the end of turn.

Introduced in G Booster Set 3: Sovereign Star Dragon, Sovereign Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon is the second of the two Striders available for the Shadow Paladin Clan. Personally, I think he is the better of the two for multiple reasons, one of ti is that its on-Stride bonus providing a steady stream of +1 advantage to fuel the Clan's more powerful skill that mostly require a sacrifice of your own units. It gives the unit it calls an extra boost, bumping up any 7000-power booster up to 9000-power, creating a column with 21000 power with Knight of Solemnity, Barbedith the GB1 12000-power attacker. The 2000 power increase also brings 6000 power units such as the Black-winged Swordbreaker which is commonly used in Shadow Paladin decks as a draw engine. This allows the Black-winged Swordbreaker to function as a booster for 9000-power Grade 2 units, allowing them to reach the 16000 power threshold in order to force out a 10000-point shield from the opponent.

The on-Stride bonus also allows the deck to have an amazing toolboxing ability. While Claret Sword himself lacks a 'Blaster' name, Striding a Phantom Blaster "Diablo" on it allows the player to access the 'Blaster' support available to the Clan, so a Claret's on-Stride into Darkheart Trumpeter into Charon/New Sharp Knight David gives you access to Phantom Blaster "Diablo"s devestating skill without Calling a single card from your hand. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. 

The Generation Break 1 ability is a throwback to the signature ability of Ren's Shadow Paladin key Unit during (Season 1 of the original series; Phantom Blaster Dragon's Damned Charging Lance. Claret Sword's ability requires one less sacrifice to activate, making it a little bit less straining on the Shadow Paladin player's resources. It is, however, still a very potent finisher that could be used as a last resort should the Shadow Paladin player run out of Stride units.

To wrap this all up, I would say that both of the Shadow Paladin Striders are representative of two different approach to playing the G-Era Shadow Paladin deck. "Diablo" focuses on pressuring the opponent with the retiring ability and Phantom Blaster's guard restriction to try and end the game as quickly as possible, while Claret allows the player to be more tactical in approach and save up resources while quickly depleting the opponent's. It is certainly a difficult deck to build and master, and I hope my writing is able to help those who are doing so as it would also be a journey for myself in understanding the clan better. If there is anything that you think I should add, please do leave a comment.

Next time, I will talk about the G-Units available to the clan, all 4 of them (not leaving any out as I did Kagero). Please stay tuned!

Signing off,
ドラエン Vanguard.

Welcome to the New Generation! G-Kagero Part 1: Bladmaster and the G-Units

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new Cardfight!! Vanguard blog. Here I will discuss cards and decks, as well as offer my opinion on the current meta as well strategies on how to face (as well as how to play) some of the more or less popular decks from the current sets. Or rather anything I feel like writing about.

As my page name might suggest, I am an avid Dragon Empire fan. That, however, does not mean that I would be focusing solely on one Clan or Nation in particular. Having played the game since its first release in the Japanese version, I am confident that I could deliver some degree of understanding on most of the clans in the game.

Having said that however, I would like to commemorate the conception of this blog with an analysis of my absolute favorite clan in the game; the Flame Dragon Clan, Kagero. Kagero, literally heat haze in Japanese is the clan made popular by the anime, being the main clan one of the main characters (which is also arguably the most popular character in the game), Kai Toshiki. In the sequel series of the anime that was aired last year (2014), the clan in now relegated to being the deck of choice of a supporting character, Anjou Mamoru.

The transition from being a main character clan to a supporting character clan had brought a lot changes to the clan as a whole, both positive and negative. One of the most definite changes is the change in the mascot of the clan, which previously revolves heavily around the Overlord series of units. I will talk about the Overlord series in another post, as I would like to focus on the G Series
Kagero in this post.

Dragonic Blademaster, introduced in G-BT01, serves as the new mascot of the clan as well as the clan's Strider (a term used for units that have on-Stride bonus abilities), serving as the main focus of the decks built in the new Generation. The card's abilities and stats is as follows.

Dragonic Blademaster

Grade 3 / 11000 Power / 0 Shield / Twin Drive / Flame Dragon / Kagero

[CONT][VC](GB2: This ability is active when you have 2 or more face-up G-Units in your VC or Generation Zone): During your turn, if the number of rear-guards you have is greater than your opponent's, this unit gains [POWER]+5000/[CRITICAL]+1

[CONT][VC]: (CB1) During your turn, when a G-Unit [STRIDE], you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards and retire it.

Let's talk about how utterly non-spectacular this card is. The GB2 ability is nothing special, while his on-Stride bonus ability is barely on-par, a non Grade or row restricted retiring, as expected of a Kagero boss unit. When compared to more explosive, yet more restricted Striders, Blademaster seem vanilla in comparison. As such, Blademaster is mostly overlooked and is superseded by more 'premium' Kagero units (usually the Overlord series, or the equally popular Perdition archetype).

If anything, this culminates into Blademaster being relatively cheap compared to other Kagero bosses, making decks revolving around him to be considered a budget choice suitable for players planning to go into the previously 'expensive' clan. This one of the new directions taken by the clan, making it more accessible to newer players.

The real value of this unit is how precisely it allows its Kagero player  to control the field as well as the tempo of the game. Combined with the Kagero G-Units, most of it involved in retiring more of the opponent's units, this makes it easy for the Kagero player to remove multiple threats from the board. The opponent would have to think twice when committing to the board when playing against this card, as it is almost certain that no unit placed on the field would stay long enough to provide pressure on the Kagero player for more than one turn.

Speaking of the Kagero G-Units, let's talk about a few of them. Barring one, all of Kagero's G-Units have abilities that involves retiring the opponent's rearguards. One of the first Kagero G-Units we have in our arsenal:

Divine Dragon Knight, Mahmud 

Grade 4 / 15000+ Power / 0 Shield / Triple Drive / Human / Kagero

STRIDE: (Released when both players' Vanguards are Grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their Grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face-down.

[AUTO][VC]:When this unit attack hits a Vanguard, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, retire it.

The first G-Unit for Kagero, Divine Dragon Knight, Mahmud, is a standard one which has an on-hit effect which gives a simple +1 advantage to its user when the attack hit. It is an R card in G Booster Set 1: Generation Stride, making it one of the easier G-Units to obtain. In Mahmud's case, it retires one of his opponent's rear-guards when his attack hits. The effect is simple, but having a chance to misfire if the opponent ever decides to keep his board empty. While it is a norm (at least here in Malaysia) for Fighters to allow o-hit Stride units to hit, it is much less risky for a player to let Mahmud hit especially when they have no high value units on the field to be retired. 

The timing of this effect is also a problem when combined with other Kagero support units that is released in the G Generation. Being resolved after a battle, it reduces the certainty of the ability activating and enabling the combos related to retiring the opponent's rear-guards. As such Mahmud had quickly lost its place in a G Kagero deck's Generation Zone, being replaced by newer units.

Flame Emperor Dragon King, Root Flare Dragon

Grade 4 / 15000+ Power / 0 Shield / Triple Drive / Flame Dragon / Kagero 

STRIDE: (Released when both players' Vanguards are Grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their Grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face-down.

[ACT][VC]: (Choose a face-down card named "Flame Emperor Dragon King, Root Flare Dragon" from your Generation Zone, and turn it face-up.) If the number of face-up units in your Generation Zone is two or more, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, retire all of your  opponent's rearguards in the same column as that unit. This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn. 

Flame Emperor Dragon, Root Flare Dragon is Kagero's first G-Persona G-Units, the second G-Unit to be released in G Booster Set 1: Generation Stride. (G-Persona G-Units being cards whose cost includes flipping a copy of itself face-up) Once again following in theme with Blademaster, Root Flare is very unimpressive when it was first revealed. It lacked that wow factor that most other G-Persona units have, especially during release. It was mostly overshadowed by the more explosive restanding Viktplasma and the guard-restricting Ragnaclock Dragon in theory, but in practice it proved to be the more flexible G-Unit.

Retiring an entire column is not a new thing for Kagero. It is first introduced in the clan by the Perdition archetype in BT17, and was only carried over to the new Generation by Root Flare. As I had said before, the beauty in this unit is its simplicity and flexibility. The ability to -2 your opponent for essentially free is great, combined with the fact that the ability is [ACT] allowing it to be used after you have set up your field to take full advantage of retiring your opponent's units. Combined with units that gain power whenever an opponent's unit is retired such as Demonic Dragon Madonna, Joka, Chain Attack Sutherland and Blazing Flare Dragon, the Kagero player could easily build a high power formation that could swing the battle in their favor. 

Divine Dragon Knight, Zahm

Grade 4 / 15000+ Power / 0 Shield / Triple Drive / Human / Kagero

STRIDE: (Released when both players' Vanguards are Grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their Grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face-down.

[AUTO][VC]:(CB1) When one of your opponent's rear-guards is retired by an effect of one of your other cards, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and retire it.

Divine Dragon Knight, Zahm is a card released in the recent Fighter's Collection 2015. Being the lower rarity card for the clan from the set, it does has a pretty solid ability. Combined with other retiring abilities in the deck, Zahm could easily wreak havoc on an opponent's field. He punishes early rush plays, using the accumulated damage to retire all of the units that the opponent fielded to make the push.

His Counterblast cost could quickly deplete your resources if used without caution, but with the abundance of Countercharge (flipping face-down damage back face up) cards in the clan, it is easy to mitigate this cost and even use it to your own advantage.

Divine Dragon Knight, Mustafa

Grade 4 / 15000+ Power / 0 Shield / Triple Drive / Human / Kagero

STRIDE: (Released when both players' Vanguards are Grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their Grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face-down.

[ACT][VC](Once per turn): (CB1, Choose a face-down card from your Generation Zone, and flip it face up.) Choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, retire it, choose one of your units for each face-up cards named "Divine Dragon Knight, Mustafa" in your Generation Zone, until the end of this turn those units get "[AUTO][VC/RC]: When this unit attack hits a Vanguard, choose one card from your Damage Zone, and turn it face-up."

Divine Dragon Knight, Mustafa is the latest Kagero G-Unit to be released in the game (during the time of writing, 9th June 2015) as a new RRR card from the G Booster Set 3: Sovereign Star Dragon. Remember how I said that Divine Dragon Knight, Mahmud would easily be replaced by a newer Kagero G-Unit? Mustafa is the G-Unit that does just that. 

Many might argue that Mustafa's cost is too much for what the effect does. A Counterblast 1 to retire 1 sounds really close to what Zahm does, but Mustafa took it a step further and requires you to flip over a face-down G-Unit. Seriously overcosted, unplayable trash. Is what some of you might be saying the first time you see this unit. I won't lie, I did too.

The true value of this card, however, lies in how much his simple ability enables so much more combos for the deck. First off, it turns Dragonic Blademaster's GB2 on on your first Stride. That early extra Critical on your Blademaster could come in clutch for putting more pressure on your opponent during the early to mid game, allowing you to take even more control of the game's tempo. Secondly, the ability is an ACT ability, which like Root Flare before him, allows a field to be set up to make full use of the retirement. 

The unflipping ability is an added bonus, giving you a chance to recuperate the Counterblast spent on activating his ability. It could also provide some of the pressure that is lost due to the lack of an on-hit ability that is present in Mahmud. When combined with Stand Triggers, this ability could easily pay for itself as well as providing some much needed pressure in the deck.

So, I guess that would be it for my first post. I hope you found it enjoyable and maybe you've learned something from it. For those of you that is asking where is my part on "The Ace" in this G-Unit review, he will be included in a dedicated Overlord post that I would be doing soon. So leave a comment, and hope to see you again soon!

Signing off,
ドラエン Vanguard.