Playing Vanguard! Part III- The Clans Part 1- The Dark Zone

Important note: All of the below information has been researched and was accurate at the time of writing of this post, however as with any card game, the meta-game changes. The core concept of the clan will not likely change, certain key cards/ strategies may. 

With that being said, and in no particular order; Here are the Dark Zone clans of Cardfight Vanguard!!

The Clans of Cray- Part 1- The Dark Zone

Gear Chronicle

The newest clan in the game, Gear Chronicle is a Dark Zone clan that was first introduced to the game with the first G-Era booster set; Generation Stride. Originally with a theme of bouncing opponents units to the bottom of their decks, the main strategy of the clan has evolved into a heavy assault deck that can easily pull off many attacks in a single turn thanks to their key word; Timeleap. Timeleap is the act of binding a unit and searching your deck for a unit that is a grade higher. The strategy revolved around cards that gain power on attack and then downgrade themselves to a lower grade unit that can then be time-leaped for another attack. The name of the game is many small rather than fewer big. as the average attack only hits around 11k. 

 Generally speaking the deck has a central theme of time, with all of the units having a cool look about them that is sometimes steam-punk, sometimes cyber-punk. If you like steam-punk style humans and big dragons with lots of gears this is a clan to check out!

Dark Irregulars

Like all of the clans from this Nation, the Dark Irregulars make use of the soul, the cards that go underneath your vanguard. Dark Irregulars use the soul less so as a resource but more so as a way of unlocking stronger skills. The clan is made up of demons, monsters and humans with strange abilities, with the lore concept of building soul being a literally amalgamation of souls. The fun thing about Dark Irregulars is that they are very rarely very competitive, which sounds like a strange statement but because there is no one build that has a very good chance of topping tournaments you can have fun playing different builds and strategies. It also means that cards generally won't be quite as expensive. It isn't currently a deck I would recommend to build if your goal is to attend events wanting to top. One of the major flaws with the deck is that to optimise your mid to late game you need to soul-charge a lot. This means that inevitably your combo pieces will end up in your soul which can mean that a solid strategy that involves attacking mainly with your vanguard can sometimes be all you can guarantee.
  The keyword Darkness is a skill that triggers when a card moves into your soul, this somewhat added to the usefulness you can get out of your rearguards given that units with Darkness often have strong skills, but the deck can still struggle. Ultimately, Dark Irregulars is a cool clan with lots of interesting card-arts that, while not always competitive, is a lot of fun to play.

Pale Moon

I have tried to be as completely unbiased as I possibly can, but Pale Moon was the very first clan I played; the clan that got me into Vanguard. Pale Moon use the soul in a very unique way. Like a circus, that the theme of the units reflects, the units bounce in and out of the soul to make attacks, often getting abilities to gain power or to call more units out of the soul. Whereas Dark Irregulars like to soul-charge en-mass, Pale Moon likes to be a little bit more picky. What is important is not how many cards you have in the soul, but what cards you have in the soul; what pieces of the performance you have that you can chain together. I would honestly recommend anyone who is just starting out to look into Pale Moon. It is a really fun deck that is a good introduction to turns and plays that have multiple parts to think about. And that isn't even to mention how cool all the units look!

Spike Brothers

Ah Spike Brothers. I don't think there has ever been a clan in this game that has been less appreciated. The inherit problem of this clan is that they are afraid to make them too good. Themed around being a fantasy American football team, Spike Brothers make their attacks from the deck; units are called from the deck to the field with often very high attack power, to them return to the deck after their attack. The problem is there is only so far you can take that mechanic before it becomes too powerful. Spikes are one of those clans that don't often get support, but when they do it is just enough to keep them playable. Their most recent support gave them the keyword Charge, which occurs when a unit is place on rear guard by an effect; that unit is considered to be charging. When a charging unit attacks it returns to the deck. This can be very powerful and can, in the mid-game, create turns that simply can't be guarded against due to raw power and number of attacks. The problem occurs when not hitting the right combo pieces to make the perfect turn, as not hitting the right cards can leave you with absolutely nothing, and due to the glass cannon nature of the deck when you commit to an attacking turn you have to commit hard as you are unlikely to have the cards to guard the next turn. It can be a tricky deck to play as you need to make the right judgements of when it is time to go fully in. If you are looking for a deck that is going to get regular support then Spike Brothers may not be for you. However, if you are on a budget, it is a really cool clan to get into as you won't to spend money on it as much. Cool theme, a lot of potential and really fun when you learn how to play it!

So that is the Dark Zone! As you can see the central theme of the Nation is the super-natural; Demons, Elves, Monsters and twisted humans. The soul plays a key role in all of these clans (even if just to pay costs), so if you are looking to sit on more than your rides then the Dark Zone is for you!

In the next post I will be covering another Nation; The United Sanctuary!

Please do let me know if you found this in anyway helpful!