Fell behind on these didn't I? Welp better make up for it with one giant post containing praise and disappointment. Mostly the latter.
Djinn of Thundering Lightning Shock
AUTO (VC/RC) When it attacks, COST [Counter Blast 1 & bind one of your other rear-guards], draw a card, and this unit gets Power+10000 until end of turn.
Dragon Dancer, Irsina
Its because I waited so long to write this that you've been spared a wall of text discussing ideas regarding what Bronto was going to do as one of the ideas I had for him was that he'd allow you to call units from your bind zone to R and Djinn here would have helped set that up. Well we all know that's not what happened. My other idea was that Bronto would enable superior ride from bind zone shenanigans by the way. Regarding Irsina it's cute I guess? But do you really see yourself playing it over Seiobo? I didn't think so.
Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
[CONT]:When this card would be ridden, if your vanguard is a unit with “Eradicator” in its card name, this card will be placed while getting all of its abilities until end of turn.
[ACT](VC/RC)[1/Turn]:COST [Soul Blast (1)], choose one of your opponent’s front row rear-guards, bind it, your opponent chooses one of his or her back row rear-guards, and moves it to an open front row (RC).
[AUTO](VC)[1/Turn]:When its attack does not hit, COST [Counter Blast (1) & discard a card from your hand], [Stand] this unit, and it gets drive -1 until end of turn.
I honestly don't know where to begin on this other than he's disappointing. Bear in mind that they printed this in the same set as Nociel, Yggdrasil and Percival. The latter of which is one of the reasons why the Gurguit deck is fucking stupid.
Seriously why is EDD so lame? Why doesn't he gain power on his own? Where's the bonus crit on restand? Why doesn't he work on RC!? Christ I knew the "leaked" effect wasn't going to be real but I would have settled for him being a slightly better Sigma! The fact that you need to ride him over Gauntlet Buster to be threatening against the likes of Seven Seas should spell how doomed this deck is since god help you if you had to ride EDD first (the deck certainly won't be budget either since Gauntlets aren't exactly cheap!). They'd have to print a really, really, REALLY busted G2 promo card that happens to magically fix EDD's problems in order for the deck to work which given how Bushiroad has been in 2020...isn't that far of a stretch. It's sad to see EDD done dirty like this since he's an iconic unit but Bushiroad has been consistent in giving the once Tier 0 deck shit legacy support following EDD's stint on the banlist.
At least there's always Vanguard ZERO.
Blitz Strike Eradicator, Suhairu
[CONT](RC):If it is on an additional (RC), this unit gets [Power]+5000.
[AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, if you have a vanguard with “Eradicator” in its card name, COST [discard a card from your hand], choose one of your opponent’s front row rear-guards, bind it, and draw a card.
Another thing about EDD is that Bushiroad has handicapped themselves in regards to future Eradicator support (and there will be more, even in Overdress) since anytime they print a Grade 2 or above card they have to go "can EDD break this?" which is probably the most amount of impact the card will have going forward. Anyway Suhairu is passable. 19 on Accel 2 with cycle draw is what I'd expect from supporting cards in 2019-2020.
Bombing Eradicator, Nusuku
[AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, look at five cards from the top of your deck, reveal a card with “Eradicator” in its card name from among them and put it into your hand, shuffle your deck, and if you put a card, discard a card from your hand.
This card is unironically the best Eradicator in the set by far. A free top 5 searcher for any Erad and he works on V/R? That's insane (and also why almost every fucking card in this set is an Eradicator) as gets you Seiobo, Suhairu, Zuitan, Cho-Ou, Gauntlet, EDD, hell another copy of himself! Then there's Premium where he can get you Sigma, Sweep Command, the unflip Heal and more! The discard is standard and sets up Rising Phoenix which is fine. Seriously Nusuku could have been a RR and I wouldn't have blinked.
Eradicator, Thunderous Beat Dragon
CONT (VC/RC) During your turn, if any player’s card was bound this turn, this unit gets Power+10000.
AUTO (VC) When it attacks, COST [Counter Blast 1], and this unit gets Critical+1 until end of turn.
This is literally Gauntlet Buster Dragon at home.
Lightning of Triumphant Return, Reseph
CONT Sentinel (You may only have up to four cards with “CONT Sentinel” in a deck.)
Credit for Reseph backing up my reasoning as to why Narukami are in Set 12 to begin with. Bushiroad wasn't going to end V-Series without every clan getting their 30k shields which means NK wasn't getting cucked out of one last wave of support needed to patch up their current issues for a second era in a row. Yes I'm still a bit bitter that they didn't get one last round in GZ. The story for it was right there too! Henri got the thumbs up from Ren which could have led to fights with him being the complete badass he had grown into following GNEXT! Henri best character in G.
Eradicator, Spark Raise Dragon
[AUTO] (VC): When placed, this unit gets +5000 until end of turn. Look at the top 5 cards of your deck, add a Eradicator from among them to hand. If you added a card, discard a card.
[AUTO] (VC/RC): When its attack hits a vanguard, COST: (SB1), Draw a card.
Well as far as in set goes this is probably the best partner for EDD. On hit draw usually baits out guard (story of Chatura's life) and Raise also works on RG in that regard. Being another top 5 searcher on top of this is icing on the cake. Sad that part's VG only though.
Dragon Dancer, Barca
[AUTO](RC):At the end of the battle it attacked, if your vanguard is grade 3 or greater, [COST][Soul-Blast 1 & bind a card from your hand], draw a card, your opponent chooses one of his or her back row rear-guards, and moves it to an open front row (RC).
Finally! Good cards! Sadly Barca's a promo but you never know we may get her if the Clan Selection sets make it to the west (and they probably will. Bushi knows NA simps for Chaos pretty hard) and she's also not a staple unlike some other promos so we can get buy with Voltechshred Dragon for the time being. He's also the best comparison since Barca does the same thing but also yeets a backrow unit to the front. Her timing is a bit stricter since you need a card in hand like with Jaggy so you'll have to plan your attack order accordingly.
Chain-bolt Dragoon
[AUTO](VC):When placed, look at seven cards from the top of your deck, reveal up to one card with "Vanquisher" in its card name from among them and put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.
[AUTO]:When bound from hand during your turn, you may call this card to (RC).
Not much to say here. Chain-bolt is the Nikki clone for Narukami and is also another extender for the Vanquisher deck. He's good.
Rockclimb Dragoon
[AUTO](RC):At the end of the battle it attacked, if your vanguard is "Dragonic Vanquisher", [COST][retire this unit], draw a card, [COST][bind a card from your hand], choose one of your opponent's front row rear-guards, and bind it.
I've seen some mixed opinions on Rock Climb since he doesn't plus you in the same way that Jaggy does (Jaggy draws 1 more card) and is lacking a skill on V to justify the RRR slot which is understandable. That said I do think that Rockclimb will see play since he's another extender for the deck and as an added bonus since he yeets himself out dodge before the bind you can just call your target to the circle he was on. No more having to call Chatura over Chatura!
Dragonic Vanquisher “FULLBRONTO”
[CONT](VC):This unit is also regarded as “Dragonic Vanquisher”.
[AUTO](VC):When placed, all of your front row units get [Power]+10000 until end of turn.
[AUTO]:When bound from hand during your turn, if your vanguard is “Dragonic Vanquisher”, COST [discard a card from your hand], ride this card as [Stand], and this unit gets drive -1 until end of turn. During that turn’s end phase, you cannot get Imaginary Gift:Accel, and at the end of that turn, ride a grade 3 from your soul as [Rest]. This ability may only be used by a card with the same card name once a turn.
You also can't tell me that "you can't get an Accel during EP" line wasn't tacked on after they saw just how dumb Luard was in action. Honestly it feels like Bronto and his cards as a whole were kinda just added in without much thought given how Erad heavy it is. Aside from Bronto, Rocklimb, Chain-bolt and Djinn everything in here has been Erad, Erad, Erad. They probably wanted to make EDD the VR but changed their mind when they realized they couldn't make an Erad the 30k Crit when Reseph exists.
Anyway Bronto is fantastic. All of the VRs in this set as a whole have been pretty well made Gurguit notwithstanding (he is super undercosted and I will die on this hill) and while the support around these VRs has been hit (Gurguit) or miss (Fenrir) this set has been much better made than Set 10 or 11. Bronto is what happens when you learn from the mistakes of printing Riviere and Luard but also don't go too hard with the nerf hammer and he's FREE. This deck is definitely not short of soul and damage denying does almost nothing since only 2 cards in the deck use CB (and Cho-ou may not make the final cut) and all you have to do is play this deck normally. Bronto is another extender in the form of a VG attack provided you have any of your starters and he gives out power to make up for the loss of Vanquisher's CONT that was so vital in getting your multi attacks to hit. Being treated as Vanquisher also solves the issue of him clashing with Jaggy and not being locked behind any Grade restrictions means the deck can now make plays on Turn 3 which the lack of that was a huge problem over the last few months.
Unfortunately it seems like the problem of having no early game won't be addressed which is an issue when some decks can just zerg rush you before you get to G3 which may warrant the use of turn 2 removal like Cho-Ou/Deathscythe (who has MUCH more soul to work off of) but all in all Bronto does a great job of patching up Dragonic Vanquisher's flaws and these 3 cards will give the deck a good chance of swinging back into the meta.
Eradicator, Plasmacatapult Dragon
[ACT](VC/RC)[1/Turn]:COST [Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1)], choose one of your opponent’s front row rear-guards, bind it, your opponent chooses one of his or her back row rear-guards, moves it to an open front row (RC), and if this unit is on (VC), you draw a card.
It is literally Berserk Dragon but worse since it can't be a 13k attacker on its own! Why is this a RRR when the deck already has a G2 RR that also pops and draws!? "Oh this guy doesn't discard and is an ACT therefore he's much stronger and deserving of a RRR slot" R + D is probably thinking when Suhairu also gains power on A2! If Rockclimb as RRR is sus then this guy deserves to be voted out for how underwhelming he feels.
And that's it. Narukami has 1 Rare and 1 Common left that will probably go to Eradicator so as far as Vanquisher players are concerned the three cards they got from the stream is all they have to work with.
By the way my current decklist is looking like this;
