List of every Cardfight Vanguard Set released in English in chronological Order

This was something I got around to typing up since deciding to collect sentinel cards, and I thought it would be a useful to have all in one place!





BT01- December 10, 2011
BT02- March 10, 2012
BT06- May 19, 2012

Cavalry of Black Steel- July 7, 2012

BT03- August 11th, 2012

Banquet of Divas- November 9, 2012

BT04- December 14th, 2012
BT05- February 22nd, 2013
BT07- September 29, 2012

Comic Style- March 29, 2013

BT08- May 3, 2013
BT09- June 28, 2013

Dazzling Divas- July 26, 2013

Infinite Phantom Legion- September 6. 2013
Celestial Valkyries    - September 6, 2013

BT11- October 25, 2013
BT10- December 13, 2013
BT12- February 21st, 2014

Mystical Magus- April 11, 2014

BT13- May 2, 2014

Champions of the Cosmos- June 6, 2014
Divine Dragon Progression- June 6, 2014

Divas Duet- August 15, 2014

BT14- September 19, 2014
BT16e- December 19, 2014

Requiem at Dusk- November 21, 2014
Waltz of the Goddess- November 21, 2014

BT17e- January 23, 2015

Awakening of the Interdimensional Dragon (TD) - February 27, 2015
Swordsman of the SHiny Star (TD) - February 27, 2015
Flower Maiden of Purity (TD) - February 27, 2015

GBT1- March 13, 2015

Cosmic Roar- April 17, 2015

Blue Cavalry of the Divine Marine Spirits- April 17, 2015

GBT2- May 22, 2015

Fateful Star Messiah- June 19, 2015

The Dark Ren Suzugamori- June 19, 2015


GBT3- July 10, 2015


Academy of Divas- August 28, 2015

GBt4- October 2, 2015

Vanguard and Deletor- November 20, 2015

Commander of the Incessant Waves - December 11, 2015

Ralling Call of the Interspectral Dragon - December 18, 2015
Illusionist of the Crescent Moon- December 18, 2015

GBT5- January 29, 2016

The Reckless Rampage - February 19, 2016

Odyssey of the Interspatial Dragon- March 11, 2016

Vampire Princess of the Nether Hour- March 25, 2016

GBT6- March 25, 2016

Knight of the Sun - April 22, 2016

The Overlord Blaze Toshiki Kai- April 29, 2016


GBT7- June 17, 2016


Blessing of Divas- July 29, 2016

The Genius Strategy- August 26, 2016

GBT8- October 7, 2016

Gear of Fate- November 4, 2016
True Zodiac Time Beasts- November 4, 2016

Ritual of Dragon Sorcery- December 9, 2016

GBT9- December 16, 2016

Divine Knight of Heavenly Decree- February 17, 2017
Flower Princess of Abundant Blooming- February 17, 2017

TRY3 NEXT- March 3, 2017

We Are Trinity Dragon- March 24, 2017

GBT10- April 14, 2017

Rummy Labyrinth - May 12, 2017

The Blaster Aichi Sendou - May 26, 2017

Prismatic Divas- July 21, 2017

Evil Eye Sovereign- September 1, 2017
GBT11- September 1, 2017

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!

Playing Vanguard! Part II- Where to Start

 So you want to play Cardfight Vangaurd? 

 

Well awesome because you are looking at investing in not just a fun, fast paced, ever growing card game, but also into a community that will welcome you with open arms. So here is an easy step by step guide to getting into Vanguard!

Step 0- (Optional): Get Some Friends to Join you!

While you can have just as much fun with Vanguard by just going along to a locals it can be a lot more fun to have someone to play with outside of what is perhaps only a once a week event. This also gives you someone to play against while you are learning the basic mechanics of the game! Of course if your locals is anything like mine then there will definitely be someone willing to take the time to teach you how to play!

Step 1- Start Simple: Trial Decks

One of the great things about Vanguard is that anyone can pick it up. But do not be fooled! Like anything else you need to start simple and this game has the very aptly named Trial Decks for that! It is important to note that while very similar in function to a Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic starter deck, Trial Decks have a few notable differences- 

1. Trial Decks Can Win! As I stated in my previous post due to the nature of this game it isn't     like a trial deck can't be played out of the box at an event.

2. Trial Deck cards aren't just good for learning how to play! This is particularly true in the         new "G" era (more on G later on!) where trial decks come with key cards that you can 

    only find in the trial decks. 

I am planning to do an opening video of a Trial Deck when the Shadow Paladin one is released in December, just to show what a trial deck comes with. I will post a link to that when that is uploaded!

One thing to remember though that a trial deck can be a stepping stone into your next, more custom deck or just, as the name suggests, a way to trial out the game. See if you do actually want to play!

Another option is the "Legend" decks. These have a little bit more structure than a trial deck and make a great start if you are willing to spend a little bit more! These sell at my shop for £22, whereas Trial Decks are only £13. If you are sure you want to play Vanguard then these "Legend" decks may be the ideal start for you! 

Step 2- Learn the Basics and Get Playing!

This sounds like an obvious step and it is but none the less is an important part of getting into the game. Trial Decks all come with a rulebook as well as a "how to play" guide. They are designed to be simple, but with enough in them to be able to introduce new players to the game. They are not simple to the same degree that a Yu-Gi-Oh starter deck is, but not enough to over complicate anything and put off new players. 

Once you have a basic idea of how to play and what the cards in your trial deck do it is time to start playing! 

Step 3- Finding Somewhere To Play

As step 0 covered it isn't totally necessary to start the game with a friend or group of friends, but it does help, simply because with someone else you can play. This can be anywhere! When me and my friends got into the game we were not above playing Vanguard in the ICT rooms at college! But if you don't have friends who want to play Vanguard or you want to play against a larger variety of people then you need to look for a local tournament. 

On the official Cardfight Vanguard website there is a section where you can find shops that run Cardfight Vanguard events in your country! ( http://cf-vanguard.com/en/shop/ ) And hey. If you are ever in South-East England  on a Sunday look up The Games Shop in Aldershot and come say hello! 

Step 4- The Next Step

This is a place we are all at! Through playing games against a variety of people you can come to learn what is out there and what you might like to try playing. And if that doesn't help you work out then Part III might! 

The next part will be looking a little into all of the clans and what they do!

Hopefully this has helped you in how to take your first steps into Vanguard!

 Thanks for reading! 

Playing Vanguard! Part I- My Vanguard Story

  This is something that has indirectly come up at my locals and I thought I would write a little bit about my thoughts on it, because it can either be as simple as it sounds or a total nightmare! This post is going to be a little different because it is all completely my own opinion as oppose to something that can be backed up by facts. So bare that it mind if you decide to read on!

 Vanguard is different to all of the other card games I have played, and I, like most Vanguard players, have tried a lot (I'm convinced that well over 80% of people who play Vanguard played another card game before and of those at least 70% played Yu-Gi-Oh!). Vanguard was a game that, for me personally, appeared when Yu-Gi-Oh was starting to get stale. The game was getting too expensive for my, at the time, very limited budget and my local competitive scene was less than friendly. In the true style of the first series of the anime for Vanguard I found out about this new game through the owner of my local card shop. At first I was sceptical. New card games came and went (ehem. The Spoils) but the three main pillars of successful card games had always stood as the three you would choose from; Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic and Pokemon. When Vanguard was coming out I had tried all three and was ready to give something new a go. At this point of course I didn't know that it would be the game to keep me hooked!

  I think it's important for me to clarify that I am not knocking Yu-Gi-Oh!, This is somewhat off topic and perhaps should have appeared as a disclaimer at the start of the post! I have been playing card games since Yu-Gi-Oh became a craze at my primary school when I was about 7 years old. I made two of my closest friends through the game and without it I wouldn't be the cardy that I am today! I enjoyed Yu-Gi-Oh as a child, from a child's perspective. It wasn't about having a top tier deck that could win big events, it was about having fun with friends. I don't know if it is the case everywhere, but at my local scene it is a lot different to that. Don't get me wrong, I understand that that is how the game works now. At my local shop everyone is playing high tier decks and aren't all that understanding of newer or less skilled players. What this does create is a high skill level arena perfectly orchestrated towards honing your play for the many regional and national events that Konami hold across the country, the continent and the world. If you want to be a highly competitive player it is ideal. If you don't, as I didn't at the time the game doesn't have a lot to offer you in the range of regular meet-ups. But back to the story!

 So I watched the anime and what I got was something totally new and fresh; this was an anime about playing card games. Not an anime about saving the world through the card games (Not in season 1 anyway!). I knew this was something I wanted to play. A way to play card games without the hardcore atmosphere of the more competitive ones. The fact that there were no events at my local shop was at first a curse but shortly after became a blessing. So I became the Tournament Organiser. Our community was small at first, just like the game itself, but slowly, gradually we built up a community. I was able to create a space that was totally different to other tournaments, and as more and more people fell away from the other, bigger card games, Vanguard became just what they were looking for. Nearly four years later and Sunday is still my favourite day of the week because of it!

 Vanguard is easy to pick up. Literally anyone over the age of about 8 could pick up a trial deck and play it. It's for that reason that I wanted my tournament to be a friendly and welcoming place, even for players who are brand new to the game. As sad as it sounds I wanted my little tournament to be a similar place to Card Capital in the anime. Now time for another little disclaimer. I am not an otaku. I don't watch nearly enough anime for that, and my goal wasn't a perfect little slice of anime world. The anime just helped me to see that card games can be a catapult into friendships and personal development. Aichi's story in the anime is an extreme version of that, but throw the tournament I have grown as a person and made a lot of friends. Something I may not have been able to do in other card games without being very good at the game. Vanguard isn't made to just be played competitively, the evidence of which being that we only get two major sets of events a year; Trios and World Championships, to the point where, if you played very well, won every game you played and made it to the Worlds Finals you would still probably play only about 6 events in the year. But for the majority of people 2-3 events a year is average. This means that a lot of cards come out either after or before big events, meaning that they may never see big tournament play before the next support comes out. But still people buy those cards, and that is another big difference in Vanguard; Cards don't have to be the very best for people to want to play them.

Of course some players will only play the best decks to have the best possible chance at winning events, but a great many more are happy to play a deck just because it is their favourite clan. Vanguard lets you do that. There is an undeniable element of luck to the game, to the point where it is perfectly feasible for a £15 trial deck to beat a £300 tier 1 deck. I'm not denying or discounting the amount of skill that is involved in vanguard, but because of the nature of triggers any deck can win. What this creates is variety. Of course in the very top circle you will have the two or three decks just a little above the rest, but when you look at results from across the world there is a lot of variety. Even if you look closer to home at local events, you see variety. As an example, off the top of my head, at my locals this weekend I saw-

- Fenrir
- Messiah
- Magia
- Seven Seas/ Nightrose
- Gear Chronicle
- Dark Irregular Legion/Nightmareland
- Bloom
- Silver Thorn

 The point is that Vanguard allows people to play what they want to play. So how do you know what is the right deck for you? This is a question that came up when I was talking with friends at locals about different playstyles and how that can affect deck choice. When I first started playing this game at locals it was shortly before the English release of BT04, so there was a lot to choose from. I had no idea what clans did what at the time so my choice came down to what I thought looked coolest. After narrowing it down to Angel Feather and Pale Moon I ended up with a Sword Magician Sarah Pale Moon deck (As Luquier was and still is a pain to get a hold of!). I was lucky enough that the deck I liked the look of was also a lot of fun, but I may have hated it. As such as part of this new series of posts I will be looking at all the clans and giving you a brief idea about what they do!


 Ok so I know that was a lot of reading so if you are still here thank you! This was just a little introduction to how I started to play Vanguard as a way to introduce my new series of posts which is going to explore getting started in the game and eventually into more advanced techniques!

Thanks for reading!

Revival English Only Set Predictions!

A long-standing issue with English Cardfight Vanguard is the unavailability of older cards, and how that effectively locks out certain decks from people who want to try them, simply because they weren't playing when essential cards were released or they were playing but the cards were so "meh" at time of release or shortly after that people didn't hold onto them. The example I have always given is that you can't play a Nightmare Doll deck without Alice. This is because it's not like Alice is a strong addition to the deck, but Alice IS the deck. The same can be said about a pure Blade Wing deck. Revival Collection is a set that English players, including myself have been begging for for a long time now. Confirmed reprints include-

- Nightmare Doll Alice
- Blade Wing Reijy
- Lambros
-Aurageyser Dragon


From these reveals alone we can see the direction that Bushiroad are trying to take the English game. The reveals imply that it won't just be pre-G cards that are reprinted but essential hard to find cards. No Aqua Force deck doesn't run 4 copies of Lambros. Even when they get further support in G-Set 9 I can't imagine Lambros will be completely pushed out, to 2 I should think will be it. In my eyes that is what this set is about. We are coming to a point in the game where clans are going to get support, but you still need the older cards. Yes without a doubt it is to do with selling the new cards, but at the same time it means that we get to play with decks that before may have been completely inaccessible (Aurageyser is still sitting ona  value of around £30-50 online. You need 2. And that is £100 before any other shadow paladin cards.)

One downside I have seen players complain about is the destruction of the secondary market. The reprints are easy to find so the originals are less wanted so will lose value. My argument to that is tough. I have known of people to really go crazy with their prices because they know there is demand. This prevents that. And with this set being called Revival Collection Vol.1 I am hopeful that this may continue as the game grows. Fingers crossed for a Luquier reprint in Volume 2!

It is not confirmed how the numbers of the sort work out so these predictions are not as a setlist as a whole, more so what I think may get printed/what I would like to see!




Royal Paladin- Aerial Divine Knight Altmile
                       - Sanctuary Guard Dragon
                       - Seeker Support

Shadow Paladin- Witch Stride or Grade 3
                          -  Diablo Stride

Aqua Force- Transcore Grade 3
                   - Ripple support

Pale Moon- Silver Thorn Stride/ Grade 3
                  - Nightmare Doll Support

Gold Paladin- Liberator Support
                      -Salvation Lion Ezel Scissors

Oracle Think Tank- New: Battle Sister Support
                              - Silent Tom

Genesis-  Regalia Grade 3 (Minerva, CEO or New)
             -
Kagero - Overlord (because it's Overlord)

Tachikaze- Rex support

Murakumo- Zanbaku and/or support

Narukami- Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion
                - Confirmed Eradicator Support

Nova Grappler- Confirmed Beast Deity Support

Dimension Police- Dimensional Robo support.

Link Joker -  Chaos support

Spike Brothers- Dragger reprint/support

Gear Chronicle- Steam Maiden Melem

Granblue- Seven Seas Stride Reprint
               - Stride that flips a G Unit face up.

Bermuda Triangle- ??? (see notes (b)

Megacolony- Giraffa reprint/support.
                    - Machining support

Great Nature- Managarmr reprint
                 
Neo Nectar- Musketeer Support
                  - Maiden of support.



Notes


(a) Link Joker was a hard one as Messiahs, Star Vaders and Chaos have had a lot of support lately. Gears was tricky to because the question is how recent are they going back to get reprints? We know as GBT03 because of Aurageyser, so the question is; is GBT05 too recent? Melem is sitting at about £20-25 at the moment. which is a lot for a RR. With all the Gear support coming it seems illogical to me to not reprint her. But time will tell!

(b) For Bermuda Triangle I had no idea at all. They have so many different decks you can play that I couldn't quite decide what I think is most likely. Olyvia would have been the number 1 candidate were it not for the fact that she has literally just been reprinted. That being said I wouldn't say it is impossible. My guess would be Duo support, or more specifically; Meer. She got a stride in the Summer Collection but didn't do all that much to the deck itself. The deck lacks a finisher. Reit is good, but we need her in stride form! Or just a really decent Duo stride.



These are just some of my thoughts. Overall, from what has been revealed so far, this set is looking to bring good things to the game, and I am looking forward to more reprints int he future!

Types of Vanguard Players!

(Disclaimer! This post is completely satirical. Please don't take anything seriously or to heart! Thank you!)

Vanguard players. If you are reading this blog then you either are one, are thinking of becoming one, or are just a little bit curious about one actually is. Well whatever the case you are in the right place, because I'm going to tell you exactly what a Vanguard player is and how you can tell different types apart. First let's look at the definition of a Vanguard player-





  Vanguard Player- (Cardfight, Yugioh Dropout, Weaboo gamer) -

       A person who plays the game cardfight vanguard as a side game or is mad enough to invest in it as a main game.



Cardfight Vanguard was released to the world at a glorious time, and into a gap in the market that only it could fill. Most people who play card games (and lets make it crystal clear that they need to have little pictures on them and  not just numbers and symbols) have at some point in their lives played more than one game, because lets face it the people who design these games have not even the remotest idea of balance and what is is good and is widely played can be the dominant force for a long time, making for a stale metagame (but that is a topic for another post.) Lots of different people play vanguard for a lot of different reasons.. So can you really put them into categories as if certain traits dominate who that person is?.. Yes. You can.

1- The Weaboo 

Ah the weaboo, the usually non-asian, long-haired, anime t-shirt wearing guy at your locals who is instantly recognisable by his playmat with altogether way too much anime ass and/or tits. This kind of player has likely seen all of the episodes of the anime that goes with the game and can probably quote the names of moves used by units ingame. He will judge you either in his head, because his god-complex is assuring him he is better than you, or he will straight up say something offensive, because the 19 hours of anime he watches a day have all but murdered his social skills. 

Things to look out for- 

- Anime playmat: Likely not from the Vanguard anime but some soft-core porn anime, either official or custom. 

- Fedora - This comes into the whole "i think therefore everyone with a different believe to me is a degenerate" WARNING: Not all neckbeards are weaboos, but most weaboos are neckbeards! Discretion is advised. 

- Quotation of the Vanguard anime explicitly referencing his plays to the anime. 

- Openly discussing "Kaichi" (if you don't know you are better off. But trust me you don't want.)

2- The Claimer

Like the weaboo, the Claimer has an obsession too, but not over a culture he/she wasn't born into. Oh no! The Claimer is the player at locals who tries to take total ownership over part of the game. Confused? Ok. I'm sure there is one at your locals. Let me explain. The guy who claims to either; only play one deck, played a deck before anyone else, tries to have priority in trades if something he thinks he owns is involved. Still confused? Here is an example- 

You- Oh Sweet look i pulled an SP Kagero

The Claimer- You have to trade that to me. 

You- I mean I don't have to.. it depends what you have. 

The Claimer- No you have to because it is my clan.

Notice the insistence of that just being how it is and a claim to ownership of a clan.

Lets lay down one fact. A lot of people play this game. You having been the first to complete a deck, or having played a deck for a long time, or having more SP cards than anyone else in no way gives you anymore of a claim than anyone else. In fact, you have put so many trades into getting your SP cards that your trades are shit and you've got nothing I want. 

The Claimer is more intelligent than the weaboo. The Claimer is better at hiding their obsession. Well some of them. Some of them will just bumble through locals making himself look like a plonker, but some are more tactical. They know that "Mine" and "my" are words people don't like. So they don't use them. But you can still see the signs..

When they try to trade for, for example, an SP of a clan they have claimed, they won't just present their trades or cash in an attempt to get the card. Oh no. They will make sure you know why exactly they want card.- 

"Yeah it's like the last SP I need for the Clan"

"I'm the only one who needs it" 

Another tell-tale sign, if you are unfortunate another to have the Claimer on Facebook is that their profile picture and cover photo will likely feature the clan they claim. 

Remember! No Claimer wants to be labelled with how pathetic being a claimer is! If confronted their response will often be- 

"No I just like the clan"

 or

"I've always played it, it isn't a new thing."

Be aware!

3- The Noob 

Every locals has them. Infact every community of any activity ever has them. That person that just doesn't quite get things as much as everyone else  Remember! Noob doesn't just mean you are new to the game. People who are new can get better. If you have been playing for 6 months and still try and drive check with your rear-guards then you are having more than just teething problems!

      This is the guy who comes week after week and never manages to get more than one win (let's remember that anyone can rip triple critical). His deck is inconsistent to say the least, he doesn't play heal triggers. He always attacks with his vanguard first despite his only triggers being stands. In League of Legends this is what we would call "freelo"- a free win. 

 

4- The Salt

The Salt is divided into 3 categories- Losing, Winning and Supreme. 

Losing salt is self-explanatory. They lose and they get really mad. They will often have a full list of reasons why they lost- I got no triggers. I got no grade 2s. I got too many grade 3s. They will never be saying- "Good game!" or "Well played!" or "Perhaps it was down to the choices I made within the game that contributed to the outcome, perhaps if I put some time into working out why I lost I may be able to improve for my next game with this opponent." They are just salt. The other person is a bastard for getting triggers. 

Winning salt is almost not salt at all but is usually the result of continuous unbroken losing salt. When you lose a lot, you forget the nice feeling that comes hand-in-hand with victory. You get a bit cocky. If your situation is looking good, you might start talking a bit of shit to your opponent. People only do this if they have lost so much that they milk the feeling of victory for everything it is worth. Their arrogance and heightened euphoria often clouds their judgement and causes them to lose, resulting in even more salt, which they carry to their next game, which they then of course lose. it is a vicious salty cycle, which results in the ultimate salty form. 

The Salt Supreme. This is the guy who goes 0-X so often that winning for him is like some kind of mystical event foretold by the stars. This is the guy who goes red in the face when he loses his 5th game of the day, the same guy who won't shake your hand when you beat him. But eventually, by some stroke of luck, or if he is using Diablo, he will get a victory. And when he does he will not let you forget about it. Like ever. This once in a millennium event is all of his Christmases at once, he will talk about it every time he sees you, and tell tales of his victory wherever he goes. But from his next game onwards, when he inevitably loses again, his salt will build back up. This of it like filling up a salt shaker. With every game the shaker has more salt added to it. If you are the unlucky person to lose to his first stride triple trigger then you will have those months and months of salt poured all over you. But don't worry. You'll thrash him next time. 

5- The Former Yugioh Player

"This game is too simple"

"There is so much luck involved"

"im only playing this while Yugioh is bad"

"haha i wouldn't lose if this was actually a skill game"

6- The Former Magic Player

"some cards can't be holo?."

"Im not sure if a deck worth less than $800 is worth buying.."

"You only just have full arts?."

"There is only one format?.."

"There are other cards except Magic?.."

7- The Good Guy

This. This is the guy. He might play a deck because it is good or because he really likes the theme. He's just playing for fun. But he isn't bad at the game. He has done his research and may casually watch the anime. But he won't cuss you if you haven't. He doesn't think he is better than everyone else. He's just there to have fun playing Vanguard and he respects that you are too. He's not going to get salty if you lose or rub it in your face if he wins. He is. The Good Guy. 

Rule 1. Always be the Good Guy!

Nociel to the Rescue! (Post GBT07 Angel Feather Nociel Rescue deck!)

As anyone who has been here before will know, I have always been a Nociel enthusiast when it came to Angel Feather, going way back to the Jurassic period of Kiriel and Calamity when BT-06 came out. While the new set did not bring any Nociel specific support, the more generic rescue support has turned Nociel into a pre-stride engine that sets the rest of your game up for some very explosive turns which are ridiculously hard for your opponent to survive.

I've covered a lot of the good Angel Feather units in my previous post about Nociel, so this one is going to more so be about Nociel's synergy with Rescue and how that affects the build of the deck. So first let's take a look at our Angel Feather keyword; Rescue. 

What is Rescue? 

Rescue is the new keyword/mechanic for the Angel Feather clan which has shaped how the new support for the clan works, as well as reshaping how existing cards play. When you perform Rescue you heal a card from your damage zone, then deal your vanguard one damage (or 2 in the case of a certain stride unit's skill, but more on that later). Effectively Rescue allows you perform drive checks in addition to your vanguard's drive checks, at different points in the game, such as when guarding or after a rearguard has attacked. The great about Rescue, which arguably makes it one of the best keywords in the game, is the utility it brings. It can be used aggressively to perform more drive checks, or during your opponents turn to check for defensive damage triggers, all while filtering and effectively counter-charging damage (because Rescue heals any damage, face-up or face-down and deals a damage face-up). It is an incredibly strong mechanic. 

The Nociel Engine

As mentioned earlier Nociel is an engine. The cards that make up the engine have strong skills themselves as well as making up the official strength and consistency. The card that brought the engine together was Love Sniper, Nociel , a grade 3 that on the surface (if you didn't know she was part of an archetype) doesn't seem particularly strong. It's only when you play 4 of each grade of Nociel (that's at 0,1,2 and 3) that you realise how consistently you can plus. 16 cards in your 49 card main deck are have Nociel in their card name and when you combine this with the skills of all of the Nociel units below grade 3, you have a lot of chances to trigger the skill of the grade 3 and plus. In case you don't remember Love Sniper, here are her skills: 

[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1)] When a card with "Nociel" in its card name is put into your damage zone, you may pay the cost. If you do, and that card is face up, put that card into your hand, then put the top card of your deck into your damage zone face up.


[AUTO]:[Choose a card from your hand, and put it into your damage zone face up] When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, choose a card from your damage zone, and put it into your hand.

As you can see it is very easy to plus off of this skill, given the sheer amount of Nociel units you play. And as if that wasn't enough she herself gives you a free one to boot. 

Nociel to the Rescue!

The synergy of this deck comes from the Nociel engine helping you to set up at hyper-speed, while the rescue support sets up turns that are ridiculously hard to guard. Remember we spoke about rescuing two at once? 

Black Seraph Gavrail. Nociel maybe royalty in terms of how good she is, but she is just a princess next to the true Queen of Angel Feather. Let's take a look at that skill. - 

[ACT](VC)[1/Turn] Generation Break 2:[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a face down card named "Black Seraph, Gavrail" from your G zone, and turn it face up] Until end of turn, this unit gets "[AUTO](VC):When your card is put into your damage zone during the battle phase, choose up to two of your units, and they get [Power]+2000 until end of turn." and "Rescue 2-[AUTO](VC):At the end of the battle that this unit attacked, choose two cards from your damage zone, heal them, choose one of your vanguards, and deal two damage.".

X-Gallop can quad-drive? That's cute. Gavrail can perform 5 drive checks. 5. 3 from her attack and 2 just after from her Rescue 2 ability. Remember how disgustingly high columns can get in this deck, thanks to the likes of Nurse of Broken Heart and Thousand Ray Pegasus? Well now you have 5 chances to find those triggers, in a deck that has been thinned and siphoned thanks to your Nociel engine. And as if that wasn't enough, Black Seraph can dish out even more power after her rescue 2. The idea is that through Nociel you set up early game, to the point where Gavrail is usually enough to win the game. The rest of the G-Zone is almost just utility if you cannot end with Gavrail. 

Let's take a look at my Nociel Rescue deck (seeing as that is what most of you are waiting for!) and i'll explain some of the choices afterwards. 

Nociel Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue!

4x Love, Sniper Nociel 

1x Black Shiver, Gavrail

1x Holy Edge Celestial, Malchidael 

4x Nurse of Broken Heart

4x Love Machine Gun, Nociel 

2x Million Ray Pegasus 

2x Candle Celestial, Sariel 

1x Dosage Celestial, Asmodel 

4x Doctroid Remnon 

4x Battle Cupid, Nociel 

3x Black Call, Nakir 

3x Thousand Ray Pegasus 

4x Sunny Smile Angel (HEAL)

4x Happy Bell, Nociel (STAND) 

4x Doctroid Refros (STAND)

4x Surgery Angel (STAND) 

4x Black Seraph Gavrail

4x Holy Seraph Raphael 

1x Holy Seraph Uriel 

1x Holy Seraph Zachariel 

1x Holy Seraph Raziel 

1x Holy Seraph Nociel 

2x Holy Seraph Suriel 

1x Holy Seraph Oriphiel 

1x Metal Elemental Scryew 

The Nociel engine speaks for itself, but some of the cards are less self-explanatory. Let's start with the Grade 3 line-up. Nociel is one of those decks that can get away with running less than average amounts of grade 3 units (some builds have even played just the 4 nociel grade 3!). The Gavrail tech is there as a strong back-up ride. The standard Rescue deck plays 4 of her as the main vanguard, and the essential post-stride aggression is the same, just with different rear-guards, so hitting Gavrail instead of the Nociel isn't the end of the world, it is better than not hitting grade 3 at all during the game. You do have plays outside of striding, but the true strength comes from hitting Nociel. The other grade 3 tech is one of the Angel Feather Legion units. I was recommended her by a friend for two reasons. Firstly because Nociel gets through her deck really quickly. You want to be hitting Nociel units with her skill so that you can plus, but by doing this you are eating through your deck very quickly. Her legion skill isn't terrible, nothing particularly worth mentioning, but that four cards back into the deck can be the difference between decking out and losing or winning by stacking more triggers. 

For the Grade 2s we are playing one of the Legion mate, but again literally just for the off-chance you have to ride the Legion, damage checking the mate doesn't mean much, you play the legion just for the deck refuel. Broken Heart is Broken Heart. No more is needed to be to said. Nociel is Nociel. She fuels the engine and makes plays. Some people are no longer playing the Grade 2 pony, I personally still like it, it can create offensive or defensive plays outside of striding. She is also essentially the fifth and sixth Broken Heart. People know Broken Heart is a huge player in this deck and she will be targeted for attacks, retires, locks and binds. Playing two of the pony just means we have options when our Broken Hearts have to face control. Sariel is a popular tech simply because she lets you search out the Nociel you want which you then add to your hand through the skill of the grade 3 Nociel. The cost is to counterblast 2, but it's a specific plus, a plus that if you think a little bit creatively can net a what you need, for example, damaging a grade 3 nociel so you have something stride with next turn. 

Grade 1s: 4 Nociel. MVP. 3 Stride Assist. You want to be able to stride when you need to. You can make plays without striding, but Black Seraph is the big finish you want to be able to reach, with so few grade 3 units, these can help you get there. I'm playing the older support rather than the rescue specific support, simply because the rescue support has been more designed to synergise with Gav, but with Pegasus you can make the huge columns. I am however playing the rescue PG because it is a lot easier to forfil the condition of having one of her face-up when you guard with her, because of all the switching Nociel does (this was an issue I found in Pure Gavrail, whereby I would be in a position where I have to rescue off the face-up PG or use her to counter-blast, but in a deck where only two of your units are performing rescue, one of the stand triggers and the stride you want to end the game with, it is much less of an issue. 

G-Zone is very standard. One huge thing is no Seabreeze. The theory behind this is that, not only does Nociel not need stride to perform, but by not playing it we have more options in what we do, for example I'm playing Raziel over Seabreeze, because if I have 2 ponys and 2 Broken Heart on board, the turn I can do is much more threatening than a turn i would have done by striding while they were on grade 2. 

For the G-Guards I'm playing 2 of the new ones that perform rescue and one of the limit break 4 one. You check the top card of your deck and decide whether or not you want to damage it. This can do a multitude of things. If it's a nociel you can plus. If it is a trigger you can power up your vanguard. If it is a heal trigger you can heal. And, in a position of desperation where you need to get a heal to survive the turn, you have a chance to check the top two instead. Very strong. I'm playing one of the fighter collection G-Guard because sometimes you need the 20k shield, and that isn't something that the other g-guard can guarantee. And at the moment I am playing one of the screw, for the same reason as above, sometimes you just need a really big shield. 

So that is my take on Nociel Rescue. It is an extremely consistent deck, but also a deck that you need to spend time with to learn in order to maximise the potential. 

I hope you guys enjoyed reading, and let me know your thoughts!

Thanks- 

Flogal