The Blue Corner - Blog Station: June 2017

Friday, 30 June 2017

5 Things I'm expecting for Narukami in Set 12

Kinda tempted to make this a video as well if I decide to not do a "How I would support" like I did when Set 9 was announced. Anyway;

It's not a secret that I was not happy with how Set 9 handled Narus. Despite their position as one of the headliner clans of the set with a large number of cards to their name the fact of the matter is Bushiroad botched the clan support big time. We got an impressive Generation Rare in VMAX who on paper is bonkers but the support for the Vanquisher deck was extremely lacking and Eradicators got more support nobody wanted, this time with the "strongest" version of the deck in Descendant getting a Stride and support that also sucked dick which I had made a video warning people about. As a result the Eradicator deck was a failure and Vanquisher got the raw end of the stick.

No seriously of all the cards released under the Narukami banner in Set 9 the amount of units actually played now are; VMAX, Bulwark Dragon, Martial Arts Dragon, Trainee Monk Dragon and Dragon Dancer Fatine. The latter two don't even see play half the time as I swear to god 8k Vanillas are sometimes more effective than they are.

And people thought Genesis has it rough in the upcoming set. Sure they get 20 cards and only a few are useful...but Amaruda is insane, Ishtar is the first stride the clan NEEDED and the new Revelation units don't suck! They even have a good PG and synergize with the older support. You know that thing that Thunderstrike was never able to do.

So with Bushiroad claiming that they will give Thunderstrike a significant buff (not holding my breath here) and make it easier to bind I'm going to list off the things I think we can all see coming a mile away and give my thoughts on what they should do. Why? Because I'm a wrestling youtube channel that thinks it's more of a bigger deal than it actually is (no seriously I'm starting to dislike whatculturewwe).

1.) A Generic G-Unit that G/Persona Flips, Retire + Binds and isn't GB2.
This is what I feel like will be what makes or breaks the deck as Narukami is one of the clans in the game that has no legitimate first stride options outside of Brawlers. Right now our options are; Zorras who is an on hit from fucking Set 2, Vanquisher Voltage who is bonkers in the late game but as a first stride...is Zorras and finally Voltechzapper Dragon who requires you to be at Thunderstrike 3 to do anything so he's basically limited to the Vanquisher Deck because as it is Kaiser, Erads and Brawlers can barely hit Thunderstrike 3 on a good day. Needless to say we've been overdue for a makeover in that regard for over a year and a half now and I feel like Bushiroad will deliver on this regard based on previous sets. In Set 9 we got Split Pegasus, Dragdriver Luard and Altiel, Set 10 gave us Gaia Dynast, Heavenly Law Gurguit, Selfina and Luminous Hope Dragon and the upcoming Set 11 will be releasing Ziegenburg, Magentenbu, Mujinlord and Ishtar so I think whatever we get will follow in the same vein. It'll do something that lets you immediately go up in advantage over the opponent as a first stride and have a strong Generation Break 3 effect that'll make it an alternative finisher. Bonus points if it can flip anything as being able to flip up Voltages could be a thing.
-Theoretical Skill: CB1/Persona Flip/Your opponent retires and binds RGs equal to the number of face up [This unit] in your G-Zone and this unit gets GB3 Thunderstrike 3: All your units get +1000 power for each card in both players' bind zones.

2.) A new Dragonic Vanquisher
This one is also confirmed and I'm at a loss as to what it's going to do outside of one thing: his on stride skill needs to be able to retire anything and not just the front row. It's too easy for many decks out there to end their turns with an empty front row thus OG Vanquisher can't use his Stride Break which is usually what kick starts Chain-Bolt Dragoon which in turn is the heart and soul of the deck. This guy also needs to have an ability that allows you to punish decks like Nightrose who end their turn with no board at all. Narukami is supposedly the counter deck to Granblue but it lacks many of the tools needed to do that. I think an ability that forces the opponent to bind from drop would be fine. Maybe even take it a tad further and allow it to be a quick effect that allows me to choose what gets bound on either turn for a Soul Blast at Generation Break 2 and Thunderstrike 2+. I'll be watching what they do with this guy closely as the OG Vanquisher right now has a niche of being able to gain power off retires which is now relevant thanks to 2 of our G-Guardians being able to retire.
-Theoretical Skill: VG: GB2/TS2/1-Turn/SB1: During either player's turn you may choose a unit in your opponent's drop zone, and bind that unit face up. On Stride CB1: Opponent binds a card from their drop zone face up, then retires a unit they control and binds that unit face up.

3.) Good main deck units
Our G-Zone aside from lacking a good first stride is actually solid. We have finisher's up the ass including 3 that support Rear Guards (Conquest, Voltage, Closer) but the problem with that is that we don't HAVE rearguards to use them with. Narukami's Rear Guard quality has been extremely hit or miss with the majority of the deck being made up of cards from Set 2 and Set 5 and the occasional Set 9. Martial Arts Dragon is NOT a good card, but it's ran because there is literally no good alternative for Vanquisher. This needs to change. Make these new cards able to bind regardless of the opponent's board presence and give them a bonus skill at Thunderstrike 1-2 and I promise you things will improve. At the very least make it so that we have something as good or better than Chatura, a common that's been more impressive than all of the RRs and RRRs Narus have gotten in over a year. Also PLEASE give us a counter charge engine. Vanquisher is super heavy on counter blasts and we need more ways to unflip outside of Anastasia and Vianne. Blademaster and Nightrose have two very good examples that allow them to maintain their tempos without running out of CB for their upcoming turns (most of the time).
-Theoretical Skill: On call opponent binds a card from their drop zone face up, then Thunderstrike 1-2: When your Vanquisher VG attacks, countercharge 1 for every 3 cards in your opponent's bind zone.

4.) A better Perfect Guard
This one's also a no brainer as every clan has gotten another PG in a main/character booster and they've been mostly good. Eras is insane, but I wouldn't mind a PG that helps the deck towards its win con in the same vein of the Neo Nectar and Genesis PG.
-Theoretical Skill: Normal Perfect Guard skill. Thunderstrike 2: If another one of [This unit] Is in your drop zone this unit gets: At the end of the battle this unit was placed on G, your opponent chooses one of his RGs at rest and retire + binds it.

5.) A new G-Guard
This has also been a thing with sets. Every clan has gotten a third core booster G-Guardian and they've mostly been about gaining ALOT of shield. Usually +10-15k. Since Bulwark Dragon is our +10k shield I think we'll get something that allows us to hit even higher numbers. Ideally this guy should not be restricted to Thunderstrike AND should be able to bind.
-Theoretical skill: On G: Your opponent binds a card from their drop zone face up. This unit gets Shield +5000 for each card in both players' bind zones.

There you have it. Now let's see how these predictions pan out.

Saturday, 24 June 2017

Cardfight!! Vanguard Locals Report - "RAIGEKI!"

Imagine a game where Fiend Comedian isn't a shit card.

Let's try to get back into the habit of doing these things shall we? Even if all I'm doing is reporting on what are basically playtesting sessions as our locals usually just has 6 people present, it's still something I can write about as we all have about 3-4 decks of varying clans that we're competent with so provided I can find an opponent I can usually get a decent idea of how any particular deck of mine fares against them. That and people (and by that I mean Norden) have told me they like reading these posts because of my times snappy remarks and my writing style that can be best described as visual. I either entertain you or leave you informed. Let's do this;

So today I came with Narukami Vanquisher as it's the only deck I have at this time with a full set of the new Heal Triggers, G-Guardians and Generation Break 8 unit as I haven't been bothered to order the cards needed for my other decks and I wanted to see how my revised build with 8ks and 10ks would fare anyway. Sweep Command Dragon performed decently so how would the "less gimmicky" deck fare? Well;

Game 1 - vs Gurguit (Win)

Not much happens in the early game as I know I don't get a Martial Arts off so it's up to my stride turns to bring the hurt. My first stride ends up being a Voltechzapper over Voltage which was a misplay in hindsight. I REALLY wanted to get a resist unit off the board but going for the flip would have been better in the long run. As it is I kept his CB down to a low amount so his stride options were limited as with only 1 CB to work with Golds can't be TOO crazy and when he was able to mass call his RNG was sour. I know I resolve one or two Impede Dragons as I am able to live long enough to hit GB8 and proceed to #Nukethedrop for 17 and push his shit in with my suddenly 50k lines to his 4 damage. He's able to survive but can't stride wheras I have enough cards in hand to stop his desperation push and follow up with Vanquisher Voltage for the win.

Game 2 - vs Gaia (Lose)

Despite a hefty mulligan I end up missing my Grade 2 ride for 2 turns and have to G-Assist in order to not die because of my Grade 3 heavy hand (and 2 Heals), I get first stride but my drive checks reveal nothing so I'm fighting an uphill battle against a deck that can multi attack while my opponent hits Draw triggers like a god. I'm able to keep in it by using Impede Dragon to disrupt his Gluttony Dogma turn so he doesn't get the restand and an additional one to fuck up his Gaia Dynast but unfortunately because of having to ditch 1s and 2s for multiple strides I end up with of a lack of pushing power despite getting to GB8 and fail to close it out while he responds with his own GB8 and kills me.

Game 3 - vs Gaia (Win)

No misride this time! We take those! Anyway I forget how the early portion of this game goes other than I don't have a G-Guard play so I have to get to GB8 the slow way. I know I got first stride because I went into Voltage and double Chatura with none of them hitting followed by another Voltage and a Conquest. I hit a Heal eventually and do have an Impede Dragon play and the chance to drop Closer Dragon but my hand is nothing but triggers and he was at 4 damage so I opted for Vanquisher VMAX to put him at 5 via my Thunderstrike 5, survive his GB8 turn as his own field was pretty weak (enough that I only needed a PG and a 15k to stop both) and respond with Closer Dragon for the win.

Game 4 - vs Nightrose (Win)

Hoo boy. I knew my work was cut out for me as while in theory Closer Dragon should single handedly win this matchup getting to him is another issue entirely due to Nightrose's ability to multi attack at respectable power. Both of us play the Grade 2 game but I eventually win that as he rides to 3 and I topdeck mine for turn and it ends up being Great Composure Dragon (the 12k) which is arguably the better ride for this matchup. I go into Voltage but I'm pretty sure it doesn't hit (however I do force a bind through my starter so his Skeleton Cannoneer can't get the retire + draw) while he goes into Gouache but doesn't have King Serpent so he isn't able to go too overboard with his comboes. Furthermore I also have an Impede Dragon play so I'm able to get a crucial 2nd bind to make my Thunderstrike 2 units live and make it through the turn while I got into another Voltage. I believe this one also doesn't hit and he also didn't let one of my RGs hit so I passed the turn, keeping him at 1 open CB which for Nightrose is REALLY limiting as the deck needs 2-4 in order to pull off its best combos. He debates on what stride play to make as by this point I'm at GB7 and will #Nukethedrop if I survive. I do as I've got just enough cards in hand to survive all 4-5 of his attacks and have a means to stride for a delicious Closer Dragon and manage to bind a total of 24 cards off his GB8 and I go to town. He's able to stop 2 of my attacks but I flip a Stand and that's all she wrote.

Game 5 - vs Nightrose (Win)

He makes me start which is fine as I open with an 8k ride and he gets greedy and calls his starter to the front in hopes of hitting a trigger and putting me to 2. He doesn't and worse so I don't draw the Martial Arts Dragon to punish him for that, so instead I ride my 10k and swing at his Grenache to get it in the drop zone in case I draw a Chatura as my hand is such that I can Gradestall for a couple turns to get first stride. He rides to 2 and contemplates calling an attacker but doesn't and swings which I let through and I stay on 2 for a turn and swing which he takes. By this point he either has to reride to 2 to keep the game of chicken up or ride to 3 and give me first stride and he opts to ride Nighrose, call Nightstorm to the side and swings with both which I take one while blocking the other. Now I could ride Vanquisher and Stride but I instead reride Martial Arts Dragon to kill Nightstorm and bind it thinking he's only playing one of it (he doesn't) and swing for a hit while he responds with a swing of his own which I PG. I stay on 2 for another turn as he's at 1 damage and I have a Chatura in hand which I call down and proceed to swing unboosted at his VG so he doesn't take a damage and it leaves him with in an unfavourable scenario; let Chatura hit or don't Seabreeze. Either outcome is favourable to me as while getting Seabreeze'd may suck, it'll cost him 2 counterblasts and he'll have none face up so I don't have to worry about being combo'd AND I'll have bound his unflip engine which will make it even more difficult to play and I don't hit then no Seabreeze. He lets it hit and I bind his starter and his Seabreeze play is just as underwhelming as I expected and I stride into Voltage and we're off to the races. It hits so I bind a King Serpent and 2 other cards as I had Chain Bolt Dragoon in play (and it was there the entire game) to REALLY put him in a bind as I've taken away his unflip engine and his Soul Charge engine which makes his Gouache turns weaker while also limiting his counterblast options and by this point I've established full control over the game as he's gone through all 8 crits so I'm able to defend against his push turns...mostly. My following Voltage and VMAX turns pushed him to the brink (he 6th damage healed out of my VMAX) and he went into a Gouache with 3 cards left in deck, but was able to cycle one of his stands back in with another one in there while I only had enough cards in hand to block 2 attacks but not a third off a stand trigger flip (and with 3 checks and a 4 card deck he WAS going to hit one of them) so I had no choice to take the Vanguard attack and bank on getting a 6th damage heal...which I do! I live his push and he concedes he 2 cards left in deck so even if I can't kill him with VMAX or Closer Dragon, he loses to deckout on the following turn.

And that was it as after the match it was time to leave and so I did. Whew. The Nightrose matchup is just as hard as I imagined it to be. The deck can play around mine so very well and it's able to multi-attack me to hell if I don't have Impede Dragon to trigger Vanquisher's Generation Break 2. Holy shit that skill has become more and more relevant as the format continues to be geared towards small to medium sized poke decks. It just happens to be now that I have a reliable way of triggering it that I can legit use it as a counter to said decks. Having a 19k Vanquisher on the opponent's turn is no joke. It's just a shame that many of my other options are so limited. I've gone on full tangents over how badly Bushiroad handled Narukami in Divine Dragon Caper so I won't go into that here. I'll just end this with I hope they know what they're doing with Dragon Emperor's Awakening. What I want out of the set is the subject of a video or post. Haven't decided either.

Props
-Nuked 4 out of 5 drop zones.
-Managed to break my previous Thunderstrike record of 17 with a massive 26.
-Through Closer Dragon I was able to make 102k+ Columns. Where were you when Narukami was able to hit Neo Nectar numbers?
-Managed to somehow eke the win against Nightrose, Kagero/Narukami's worst enemy not once but twice.

Slops
-Misriding to Grade 2 and nearly misriding to Grade 1 and 2. I'm running a 6 Grade 3 count so that I can fit in more Grade 1s and 2s and I'm still somehow not able to see either or when I need to!?
-I may have won against Nightrose, but I had to Grade Stall to do it. I know it's a legit strategy and if this were tournament play it's expected but still it's kind of scummy. Unfortunately I need first stride that badly.

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Ryu Azura's Fantasy Ritual Theme - Espers

Many, many years ago I had an idea for a Ritual Archetype based around the Final Fantasy franchise for the character Ryu Azura to use as a mid season deck upgrade in a YGO 5Ds Fanfiction that's many, many years dead. I think I may have posted some snippits of this "Eidolon" deck on here but otherwise never really did much with it. Anyway their original name were the Eidolons and well that name is sort of being used by the Invoked so when I heard about them it made be want to revisit these guys in case they end up being included in any potential VRAINS Fanfictions.

That and you guys know how much I like trying to come up with card designs. That being said the "Eidolons" are back but have now taken on the name of "Espers", which is the name given to Summoned Monsters in both Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy XII with the former being the best in the franchise (fight me) and the latter set to get a HD Remaster release next month which means we get to hear the glorious "Esper Battle" once again;

I hope to make monsters as glorious as this theme.

What are the Espers?

The Espers are an Archetype based around efficient Ritual Summoning in the same vein as Gishki and Nekroz. Thus they employ similar tactics of using search effects to get the Ritual Spells, Monsters and have the ability to Ritual Summon without taking heavy losses in advantage. The theme also has some common traits among its cards;

-The Ritual Monsters can discard themselves to the Graveyard to search any Esper Spell from the deck to the hand.

-The Ritual Spells can discard themselves to the Graveyard to search any Esper Monster from the deck to the hand.

-The Non Ritual Monsters have the ability to count themselves as 2 Tributes towards the Ritual Summon of an Esper Ritual Monster (so if a Level 3 Non Ritual were to be used, it can be counted as 2 Level 3 monsters and thus allow you to Ritual Summon a Level 6 Ritual Monster).

-The Ritual Monsters all have effects that are based on the number of monsters tributed for their summon. The more monsters used the bigger the payoff!

-The Non Ritual Monsters can banish themselves from the Graveyard to give an Esper Ritual Monster an additional effect. These range from giving the monster the ability to deal Piercing Damage, Attack all monsters, Armades effect, etc.

Understand? Read a few cards and you'll get a jist of the deck;

Non-Ritual Monsters

Esper Child Eiko

Lv. 2 Light

Spellcaster/Effect/0/1800