Cardfight!! Vanguard Zero - Let's talk Genesis Witches in Legion

Welp the first Legion set is due to hit the Japanese Servers in a few hours at the time of this post being written and I'll give Zero credit they handled things pretty well.  Alot of my wishes ended up coming true (with the exception of triggers still being able to be shuffled into the deck for Seek Mate) with the first set consisting of RP/NK/GE/NG with extras, Promo Legions being included (Tester Fox), Legacy Legions from Stride Format being included (Guru) and they even went a little extra by making it so that you only have to worry about pulling Legion Leaders in the gatcha since you'll pull their Legion Mates with them in the same roll!  Hell you also can get a free Thing Saver Dragon by doing events with your Friends, Blaster Blade Seeker is the first Rank Reward (and TSD may be the next one) and rolling the new gatcha will get you medals you can exchange for things like RRR Tickets.  What fun!

Like I said alot of the things I predicted/wanted came to pass but one of the things I was wrong on was that I thought that they would include all of the cards Genesis got from Waltz of the Goddess in one set which happened to be cards for the Regalia and Witch Subclans (well Regalia was a subclan already but Witches were just a smattering of cards until the EB dropped).  Mind you my reasoning was before they announced that Great Nature and Angel Feather would be in the set which means that finding room for both Subclans was just too much to ask for at this point.  This means that somewhere down the line Genesis will be back for another gatcha banner and it wouldn't surprise me if they were included in either Blazing Perdition or whatever banner that Shadow Paladin's own Witch subclan appears in.  Some people have even suggested that the two Witch Clans be allowed to be played together in a hybrid Genesis/Shadow Paladin deck!  That last part I think is a bit much to ask for (and unlike the Duke package there is very little synergy I can see aside from the names) but all of this does let me write another speculative article about a future archetype that'll eventually come to Zero.  Let's do this!

What to work with

What's interesting about the Witch deck is that there's a couple cards that are already out that you've probably got some copies of or will be able to get a hold of when the Minerva's Feathers event goes live in Global right away as some of the cards seeing play in Genesis happen to be witches.  Calaway, Valencia, Grappa, Melissa, Chamomile and Cider are all Witches and I honestly see almost all of them getting played in some capacity since the Witch deck lacks Regalia's ability to Soul Charge from the Drop Zone.  This also means that if you haven't picked any of these cards up you'll need to get on that.  Prioritize Chamomile since you can get copies of her from the Event while the others you can craft.

Yeah no.  There's already a Witch starter that after it boosts a G3 and hits lets you SC until you hit 2 non Triggers.

Now that they're importing cards from G I'm hoping we see this and some of the other guys I'll be talking about.  Shiroma's been a fantastic card for a long time.  It replaces itself, selectively fuels your Soul and feeds your drop zone for Legion.  To be honest this might be a little too good in the current format.

It's a less good Shiroma since it negs and costs CB which means it just may be imported.

Not worth playing over the other FVs.

Witches have their own PG and my bet is it'll act like the original ones before LB (so it'll trigger when you'd go from 3 to 5 in one blow) since Genesis doesn't have any PGs of that type. It's also searchable.

10k attackers are always useful but space may be tight between Valencia, Melissa, Cider and Framboise.

This got released in Fighter's Collection 2015 and it's somehow worse than Melissa.  1 of at best.

SCs, scales and doesn't care about Legion status?  Not bad.

You can never go wrong with 12k attackers.  Moreso since Chicory can force PGs before you call over it with Chamomile.

This is pretty much a 5th but weaker copy of Chaomille.

Uhh yeah this seems ok.  Works on V/R (which means it should trigger on Legion) and buffs 2 other cards which allows your 9ks to swing at the VG unboosted then be replaced by Chamomile/Melissa.

Mint Soul Blasts in Battle Phase which means Chamomile/Melissa abuse.  They also get the 5k from her skill since it's a CONT which means your 22k lines become 27 which lets you hit over a defensive.  Also gotta point out that her other skill lets you build up Soul for that first skill.

Fennel's a Morgenrot on Steroids that can't be CB denied, can trigger Melissa/Chamomile and can search PGs, Legions or Ciders.  She also builds soul.

The last Witch card (that isn't a Stride) is Anis who is also pretty solid if imported into Legion Format.  She doesn't enable multi attack but she does give you much needed Countercharge and she can call back any one card you Soul Blast for her second skill which includes Cider to put your board into the Soul if it gets blown up or any of your Soul Chargers.

And that's it.  As you can see there's juuuuust enough cards to fill out a clan slot in a gatcha banner and if they include Anis and Star you have a third Legion to work with!  If they don't then I guess you just run Minerva as your Heal instead of a 9th draw since she can still be useful as an alternative finisher.  Hope you enjoyed the read.  Until next time.

Cardfight!! Vanguard Zero - Granblue Legion and what to expect

 Back at it again I am!  The last three posts were all about my boys the Thunder Dergons in Zero's Legion Format which at the time of this post is about half a month away in Japan.  How will the first set go?  I have my theories (RP/NK/NG/GE) and one of them is that Spike Brothers won't be in the first Legion set like in the TCG.  They'll get their own event as usual.  Guess who's the next clan event after Spikes?  Granblue.

Historically speaking Granblue did a whole jacksquat in Legion Format as the deck was too fair for its time.  What good is calling a board going to do when the meta decks have multi attack/guard restrict?  Exactly.

So how will it be different in Zero?  Well aside from minor buffs the Granblue Legion deck has some cards that are deceptively decent in Zero format.  Enough to make the deck borderline passable.  Meta?  Oh hell no but at the very least it has a chance of being Tier 2 and for any event clan that's not named Spike Brothers that's a victory.  Sad ain't it?  Granblue's Legion options are also kinda iffy so you'll be relying on some older cards to fill out your triggers.  I recommend Thanatos and 7Cs Nightmist.

This will likely be one of the two RRRs of the set and he's your basic "When this unit Legion do X" unit that goes +1 and doesn't cost any CB or SB.  In fact Noir mills 3 to help offset cycling units back into the deck to perform Legion.  His second effect is whatever given Zero's guarding mechanics.  He does scale over a damage though.  I'm hoping like Cocytus R that this guy gains a buff based on how many units in the drop.  15+ in drop for an extra crit?

Noir's Legion Mate is one of the few self revivers that doesn't eat another rear.  Therefore she's a straight +1 and with Noir you're basically going CB1 + Mill 3 for a +2 which isn't awful.  Mind you she requires you to ReRide and ReLegion every turn if you want to call "infinite intercepts."

I'll laugh if this ends up as more than a RR as he's arguably better than Pinot Noir as a boss monster.  Negrobolt allows the deck to do something it could never do in the past which is have extra pressure.  Up until now Granblue's had to rely on Crits or Stands to deal more than 1 damage a turn through double intercepts (or a well timed Thanatos) and Negrobolt solves this by allowing you to sack an attacker that killed an intercept and revive one of your own.  This not only allows the deck to force more than 1 PG a turn but you can now justify playing 9 draws which is superior to split triggers or going 9 crit/stand.  With Legion's mechanic decking out is harder too.  Honestly this is the card you should put your materials towards crafting if you can't pull a set.

Bolt's Legion Mate isn't locked to Legion for his effect?  That's not awful.  I don't expect his skill to go off frequently but is is free and easy to use.

I honestly don't know if we'll get King Serpent in this set.  I hope we do as he's a card that saw play all the way until the end of G.  He alongside Tidal Assault is one of the true staples in Vanguard.

It's a 10k beater/booster as long as you revive it which makes him an option.  GB's G1 space is surprisingly tight with Banshee, Chappie, Dancing Cutlass and another card that's coming up.

Blazing Perdition is when we started seeing the Limit Break removers come into the game.  They're all 7k Grade 1s that are Subclan named and having them in play lets you use your powerful LBs at any point in the game regardless of what your opponent does.  Why yes I do hear MLB and Reijy mains going REEEEEEEEEEE over not being able to cancer people out of games they don't deserve to win.  Fuck those decks.

In Granblue's case there aren't any powerful Limit Breaks that this guy can be abused with outside of BR Nightmist and this ultimately saw no play in the deck.  Now the LB remover for Eradicators on the other hand just may see play...

Pass.

This is not a bad starter.  But is he worth playing over Captain Nightkid or Peter the Ghostie?  Probably not as those two starters are live turn 1 and set up the drop zone.

And that's it.  Yeah Legion Granblue is sparse.  They don't even have the 10k Vanilla Legion common that most other clans got!  No wonder Raul ditched these guys for Link Joker.  They at least have a subclan name to fall back on.  Regardless you don't need to pick up alot from this event in order to update the deck.  Just the Legions, Mates and hopefully King Serpent.  As a whole the Clan's playstyle remains largely the same in setting up double intercepts through self revival every turn but now with cheaper costs and a new boss monster that allows for easier multi attacks.  Again I doubt this deck will be more than Tier 2 unless some extra buffs are handed out but it'll at least be less of a chore to play it on Ranked which is all I ask.

Then we wait for Nightrose.