Random Thoughts #9: Last day of 2013! Top 5 3DS games of all time!

Hello everyone. Its been roughly over two weeks since I last posted anything on this blog and just to keep this blog alive, as dead as it might already be, I am posting on guess what, my all time 3DS top 5 favourite games! Before I get into that, just a little update about my life, been very busy these past few weeks with Christmas, family and friends. With the year drawing to a close, what better way to end off than with a blogpost here?

Now onto the main bulk of the blogpost, and be warned it may contain some spoilers, although I will try to keep it short and simple, as well as minimize plot spoilage (if that even is a word).

#5: Pokemon X
Now this entry by GameFreak came in at number five mainly because of the memories and fond times I had with earlier Pokemon games, and this was in some sense an adequate reimagining of the Pokemon world with improved graphics and stylistics, although I do miss the ability of the first Pokemon to follow behind you in the HeartGold and SoulSilver games, which I felt was a grear feature they did not carry over to Black and White as well as X and Y. Overall, I would say that the game does not disappoint, and does deliver well in the graphics department, although more functions and a bettet tweaked storyline could be added in the reimagining of X and Y,  which I imagine would be called Z. But if judged as a standalone game unsupported by previous versions and without the ability to use PokeTransporter to be reverse compatible at this time, I feel that the game is lacking in this department and until it gets the app I think it will continue to lack.

#4: Kid Icarus-Uprising
Now this game title was released in 2012, but back then it was a great hit and I thought it brought a novel playing experience akin to playing at the arcade, albeit better since you could bring it anywhere. The storyline was also quite linear and although it was quite predictable, the gameplay more than made up for it, with the excellent usage of the touch screen. Although much could be said about the 3D function which was more of a gimmicky look rather than affecting the gameplay by much, and it made it seem more like a ordinary DS game than a 3DS one. But all in all, an excellent game with well polished gameplay and a easy to grasp and follow game mechanic.

#3:
Moving on to my third most favourite game from the 3DS, I think the recent Legend of Zelda: Link between
Worlds takes the spot at #3. Why? Because it just is awesome in terms of graphics, I have done a more complete review of it in an earlier post, do check that out, so I won't be elaborating much on why it is such a great game and if you own a 3DS and don't have it then you are missing out on the Zelda experience.

Sidenote: Now some of you might be wondering-when is he gonna unveil a Mario game? Sadly, from my perspective, I don't rank Mario games very highly mainly because I just don't like Mario games much (weird huh). So I cant judge Mario games like Luigi's Mansion and Mario Kart and stuff like that. But I urge you to continue readig because up next is my top 2 picks (and you may disagree) of 3DS games which I love.

#2: At the runner-up spot we have the 3D remake of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, which came out in 2012 and which I thought was the best game of 2012. Bearing in mind that I did not play the one on Playstation when it came out years back, I dove into this game with a fresh mind, although this was not the first Metal Gear Solid game that I have played. I loved the plot, which arguably was very emotional and deep, drawing from concepts like being human, sacrifice and love. The aspect of stealth always appealed to me, and was one of the reasons why I bought a 3DS in early 2012- JUST for games like these. Alas, I know that the 3DS is a gaming console targeted at children, and thus we won't get many titles like these, but the immerse storyline and fact that you could influence some part of the storyline made it less linear and less boring than other 3DS games. The graphics and environment was particularly stunning, and by far it is one of the best looking games on the 3DS. I highly recommend this game even in 2013 if you have not gotten it already, you will not be disappointed by it.

#1: Coming in slightly above MGS 3D is none other than Fire Emblem: Awakening released early 2013 and I think is the best game of 2013. I love games which hinge on strategy and tactics, where one wrong move could mean the PERMANENT DEATH of your beloved characters, and a misstep could be costly especially in situations when your opponents may outgun and outmatch you 3-1. The storyline is immersive and they get you to warm up to your characters where you come to the point that you have some attachment to them. The maps are also challenging if you play on harder difficulties and offers unlimited replay value. One thing that may deter people would be grinding to gain levels and unlocking certain skills, but I find it a necessary part of the game as you see your characters grow as the story progresses. The 'marraige' function also creates some flexiblilty ingame and allows customisation of children, like genetic manipulation. But overall it beat MGS largely due to the replayability factor of the game and potential DLC content if you so choose to purchase the DLC packs. As such I highly recommend buying this game if you get a 3DS or you are sure to regret it

With that, I wish you all a Happy New Year and until next time,

EndBlade

Posting hiatus + Some updates on Cardfight Vanguard!!! And my thoughts

Hello everyone. Trust you guys are doing well, preparing for Christmas (if you celebrate it) because it is less than 20 days away! Some news about posting though, as you all already know I am about to enter the military and as such for this month of December I will not be posting anything, when things begin to settle down in January I may return to this blog and start posting again. Although it might be longe or shorter than what I stated here, which i about a month.

Also, with the reveal of recent Bt14 cards like those from Gold Paladin with the anti-Lock mechanic ot berings a huge change to the metagame. Not because Lock becomes less useful, to some extent it loses its edge and decks which focus onass locking may not dominate the top spots of tournaments as frequently. But I see a change in the meta to another more powerful alternative and it might just skew such that people may not play Link Joker, since in the first place Link Joker suffers under the Limit Break Syndrome. Well what does that mean you may ask? Simply put, it means that without Limit Break or >=4 damage you are effectively useless. Because most Lock skills are Limit Break centric, and with the exception of the breakride there is no easy way to hit high power levels like 26k or even 21k without Locking. And besides, Lock comes at a cost, with people being able to counter Lock with Vanguards that get insane power and/or can restand at virtually no cost (except for in some cases), and with the unlocking skill which I think was just given so that the anime can progress with Aichi becoming victorous at the end. I think that card games tied too closely to the anime may suffer from ingame imbalances, more so in Vanguard which is clan-based, which reinforces the power gap between the main clans and the clans with less screen time. Which I think is a pity because it just does not do justice to a game which has so much potential to shine if it is balanced properly.

Now it just suffers from the catching up of less-used, less popular clans where they get their power boosts very late or their skills are underwhelming compared to the main characters clans. Take for example Neo Nectar's reverse unit. It simply has a recycled version of Lequier 'R', with some slight differences. And more importantly, Bushiroad just seems to just churn these units out to 'get it over with' especially for certain clans ahem* Nubatama ahem* and taking a reactionary approach when it comes to the meta, like a 'lets try this idea and see how it impacts the metagame, then we'll work to fix it' attitude which arguably serves to subject the game to volatility and power gaps.

Well with that food for thought, this is for the last time this month where I say until next time,

EndBlade

Cardfight Vanguard!!: Back in the game??

Helloooooo everyone! Just a short post for today. So I just went to my local cardshop to play a few games with my Kagero deck, if you haven't seen it, check out my deck profile here. Sadly, because I went there pretty early, there wasn't many people playing Vanguard, and in the end I couldn't get to play any games (sadface). But oh well, maybe I will drop by next week at a later timing.

But I am the type of person who tends to spend money if I see what I like, which in short just means impulse buying. Haha. So I got some Kai Sleeves, they look AWESOME, let me show you guys:

Kai Sleevessssssss! Pardon the many 's's. Hehe.

These are for my Kagero Dauntless Drive Dragon deck. Sadly I didn't get to use them. But there's always next time! Also, I recently found Cruel Dragon, the RRR from the newest EB09, very cool. Its' effect is really interesting, its' a superior riding Grade 3, like Ezel but much better. Just because its' a Dragon and its' from Kagero. But for those of you who don't know what it does, this is the breakdown of his skills:

 Cruel Dragon

 [AUTO](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1)] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's grade 2 or less rear-guards, and retire it.
[ACT](Hand):[Reveal this card & Choose your grade 2 or greater «Kagerō» vanguard, and [Rest] it] If you put an opponent's rear-guard into the drop zone during the main phase of that turn, ride this unit as [Stand], and choose your vanguard, and that unit gets [Power]-3000 until end of turn.
[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

 The picture above may be slightly off-center, but basically that it how it looks like. Its' art is amazing, basically the winning point is the superior ride capability which you can trigger at Grade 2 with Kimnara, The Grade Zero draw trigger and many others like Berserk Dragon or Corduroy. Because Kagero has so many retiring units that are Grade 2 and below, superior riding can help you gain more advantage as the only minus is the -3000 power which can be fixed by sending Artpitch, the Seal dragon draw trigger from your field into the soul for the +3k power. Cruel Dragon can also combo well with Dauntless Drive, especially if you get pushed to 4 damage early and need to claw back some advantage, but do take note that even if you breakride with Cruel Dragon on Dauntless on your turn 3, Dauntless by itself consumes quite a bit of cards to activate the breakride effect to restand. But the fact that if you do breakride and use the restanding effect (which you should unless in exceptional circumstances, but still.), you can get to use Cruel Dragon's Limit Break skill twice because it is a on-attack activation, which potentially means you can retire pesky intercepts before the Guard Phase. But the weakness is that you cant use the effect if your opponent has no rearguards, but then again, isn't it great if your opponent has no rearguards? Because Cruel Dragon's effect uses SoulBlast and CounterBlast, the main thing that will be restricting you will likely be these two variables. So in theroy you can use it 3 times if you breakride over Dauntless, unless you Soulcharge with the Grade 0 Draw triggers. But compared to other Kagero cards, this card's Limit Break may not seem very attractive. The main selling point is the art, ahem* I mean the superior ride, which in a Grade 4 Transendence Deck helps you hit Grade 4 one turn earlier and potentially nets your a HUGE advantage.

But overall, this card is a pretty good card, especially in a Grade 4 centric Kagero deck. But it is useful in a normal Kagero Deck too, just that there are more OP options like DOTE or Blast Bark Dragon. And knowing people, its' likely this card is overhyped and then nobody ends up playing it as a keycard but rather as a Grade 3 ride towards Grade 4. Which I think was the initial intention, which was seen in the manga. Thats all I have today, so until next time,

EndBlade

Random Thoughts #8: Post-exams, Review on Legend of Zelda: Link between worlds

SPOILER ALERT: MAY CONTAIN PLOT SPOILERS FOR THE 3DS GAME LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK BETWEEN WORLDS. THIS REVIEW IS DONE BY SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO DO REVIEWS, SO PLEASE EXCUSE ME IF I LEFT ANYTHING OUT. I AM JUST VOICING OUT MY OWN OPINIONS ON THIS GAME. NOW I WILL BEGIN BUT NOT IN CAPS.


Hellloooooo everyone, hows' it going? My exams have JUST ended today, and I am soo excited! Well not as excited as I thought I would be, but oh well. Moving on, I said I would post a full review on the recent 3DS game that I played, Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds, and I'm gonna make good my promise! So here we go....

SPOILER ALERT: Well, the story begins where you, a young boy named Link (Or whoever you chose to name your hero), is summoned to the blacksmith. You are introduced as his apprentice, and immediately, you are tasked with running an errand: to deliver the Captain's sword. You then meet up with the 'bad' guy who has the power to merge into walls, and guess what, he want to revive Ganon using the Triforce of Power! So basically you have to save Princess Zelda, who is captured and imprisoned in a painting in Lorule, the parallel dimension of Hyrule (weird why would someone with the Triforce of Wisdom be so easily captured?) and get the Master Sowrd in order to do so! Then you are tasked with recusing the Seven Sages in order to summon the last piece of the Triforce: The Triforce of Courage! But there's a twist: you have to use the power of merging into walls in order to solve tricky puzzles, and use special tools that are rented/bought.And there is a twist to the story, although slightly predictable: But I'm gonna have to tell you guys to get the game to find out what :)


The laws of Physics aside, since this IS a game, and you don't question how does Link travel between the two worlds and what-not, but the plot is simple, easy to follow, I'd say the game's selling point is NOT the plot, nor is it the cool Master Sword or Hyrulian Shield, but the puzzle solving. As I mentioned in my previous post a few days ago, this games utilizes the 3D capability VERY well, so much so that if you play it in 3D you can really feel the difference for some puzzles, which span different levels at once and with the camera panning from a near top-down approach, the 3D helps to distinguish the depth and height of platforms, making the puzzles easier. Not that the puzzles are hard, but some parts are slightly tricky, and having the 3D functionality helps.

Furthermore, besides the 3D graphics which are practically used EVERYWHERE, unlike ahem* Pokemon *ahem, which I think is gimmicky, a Link Between Worlds showcases the true beauty of the 3DS, and makes me love the 3DS more compared to PSVita. They sure did a fantastic job with this one. I can't compare it to many Legend of Zelda games, because I didn't really play many, but this game easily is one of my all-time favourites, with the option of a harder mode once you beat the story. The controls are easy to use, and the game is VERY VERY forgiving, and I love the fact that you get to explore and choose what dungeons to attempt. The combat is pretty cool too, no fancy combos just your forward slash and spinning slash, as well as shooting Getsuga Tenshos out of your blade (don;t know if that was the right word to use, but haha)

On to the downside of this game. Overall, it is an interesting, fun to play game, but what I felt could have been incorporated could have been maybe a longer storyline? Although I heard its' a remake of an old game, so I don't know how much flexibility they had with this one on the story, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. The plot IS slightly disjointed, with bits and pieces as you advance, with little to no cutscenes (that can be a plus side too in some games haha), and there are minigames to help you while your time away as you detract from the main quest. But I felt that the game was really too short, in terms of total playtime, I think i barely hit 20 hours? So replay value not so much, but not as repetitive as Pokemon, which really aside from the graphics and wifi capability, really isn't all that great compared to this.

If you like the Legend of Zelda, or don't have anything to ply on your 3DS for this December, give Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds a shot. Its' worth you money for the 10-odd hours you will be spending on this game, much better than many other games that I have played before. 

FINAL VERDICT:
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Overall Experience (ease of use, connectability, WOW factor): 8/10
Total: 8.7/10

Easily a winner in my eyes. Gameplay is amazing, Use of 3DS graphics is skilful and stunning, 9 for both. 8 for the overall experience just because there is just room to improve, whether plot wise or length of game itself. But buy it, you won't regret it.

Until next time,

Endblade

Random Thoughts #7: End of Exams soon, back to Cardfight Vanguard???

Hello everyone. Hope you guys are doing well. Haven't been up to posting anything for the past few days, I was extremely occupied with exam preparations. Now that I have some time to post something, just wanted to inform everyone that my exams officially this coming Thursday! I am so excited, just because I can start cranking out more posts and whatnot for all those who read this blog. Now regarding Cardfight Vanguard!!, the latest Extra Boosters came out not too long ago, with the EB09: Divine Dragon Progression which came out just three days ago! So to celebrate the ending of my exams prematurely (haha I am mad), I picked up a box of EB09 at my local cardshop! At the point of writing this, I have not yet got to opening up the box and packs, I will do that soon and update you guys on what I pulled. I don't really have high expectations though, if I do get Transcendence Dragon, the Grade 4 I will be happy. But just anything is fine. Just a picture to whet your appetites, depending on what I pull this box I may or may not choose to buy more boxes to open AFTER my exams end at the end of this week.

Hehehehehe....

On a side note, recently I got a 3DS games which ALSO came out on 22 November, its' the Legend of Zelda, Link Between Worlds game. I have been tinking around with it, but I haven't completed the storyline yet, nor have I tried the mini-games. I will most likely post a review of the game once I have finished it after my exams have ended. But knowing that this game is a 3D remake with some tweaks here and there of a old Zelda game, although I did not read the plot or any spoilers, the game itself graphics-wise may not be as impressive as 3D Pokemon sprites, but the function of 3D being used in the game is really mind blowing, the fact that because most puzzles consist of floor and levels, 3D really helps you differentiate the different levels. The almost top-down camera approach gameplay is also notable of past Zelda games that I have played on the DS, I wasn't fortunate enough to own or play a NES or Gamecube, neither did I have the Wii. So I cant give a valued judgement and compare them side-by-side. But for a game which I thought was boring, it really surprised me, not just graphics-wise but also the utilization of the 3D function to optimize gameplay, which was the selling point of this game for me. Well worth the money I paid for it, some puzzles are not as direct and require a bit of thinking, while others once you get the hang of the mechanics are simply a breeze. 

I will post a full review along with pictures once I get to it, I know this post is relatively short, but I'm ending it here. So until next time,

EndBlade

Random Thoughts #6: Exams & Phone Games

Hello everyone, its' been quite a while since I last checked or updated this blog. Hope you guys are doing fine. I am in the midst of my exams period, and I just felt like I wanted to post something short just to keep this blog semi-active. And to keep my mind off studying too, haha. Now this blog is becoming less and less focused on Cardfight Vanguard!, and I guess its' because I've lost much of my interest in the game, along with exams which brings me to the excuse of not having time to play. Oh well, I still do watch the Japanese anime and I do check Cardfight Wiki once in a while, but aside from the new cards revealed (which are quite a lot by the looks of it), namely those in EB08, EB09 and BT14, nothing much excites me, the cards are still very much the same apart from a few eye-catching ones, its' just the power creep taking effect, thats' all. Another reason why I sort of semi-quit playing the game was due to the fact that I'm too lazy to find people to play with, my close friends quit playing the game a few months back, I still have my decks with me though, but they don't see any play.

Well on to non-Cardfight related stuff. Just a small update on my life, I am having exams now (haha said that earlier...but oh well) and my exams end on 28 November (just 17 days to go!) and maybe when it ends I might go out to the local cardshop to play some games of Cardfight. But until then, more studying and revising for me then haha. Now some of you that read this blog (if any) may use their mobile devices to read or surf the Net, and I would like to recommend some Smartphone games that you guys should give a shot, you won't regret them!

1) Puzzle and Dragons
Now I have been playing this game for the past 6 months or so, haven't spent a SINGLE cent on this game, although arguably if you want to speed things up you could toss some cash at it. But I personally don't, but it is a much slower process. But I do enjoy it. For those of you who may want to check it out, and give it shot, don't know if it is available in your country, as of now PAD has servers in North America/Canada, Japan, Korea (South Korea of course) and most recently the United Kingdom. I'll put some links for you guys if you are on iOS or Android, and you can go check the respective websites out (NONE of the things below are owned by me and copyrights to everything are Gungho Entertainment's, NOT mine + fan-based web tools to help you out):

Puzzle and Dragons (US Server)

For Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.gungho.padEN

For iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/puzzle-dragons-english/id563474464?mt=8

And a helpful site to get started:
http://www.puzzledragonx.com/

Facebook group for helpful information, tips and tricks:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PADGlobal/

If you don't know by now, with the links I gave you, I play the US server. Although it is behind the Japanese Server in terms of updates and some differences, I can't be bothered to overcome the language barrier and learn Japanese for the sake of the game. Ad the US server is on par in terms of updates as the Korean server and slightly faster than the UK server. Also, the US server is the most populated English-based server. But if you guys don't mind reading Kanji/Hiragana (I don't know which one is it haha), you can go Google PAD JP for yourselves :P.

Even if you are NOT in these regions, you STILL can play PAD (like me here hehehe). For iOS I am not too sure, you could create a iTunes account based in US or JP (depending on the version you want to play) and download the app from there. For Android, what I usually do is that I download the APK.file from the Facebook Group as shown above, or you can click the link here if you are lazy, and update/install from there. Its' really quite simple and easy, I quite like the ease of play in the beginning, although there is a steep curve as you progress and become stuck as I was, but not if you do some research beforehand to plan your steps. Initally it may be difficult, but you'll get used to it.

Now on to the gameplay of Puzzle and Dragons. Now as the name suggests, it is a Puzzle-based game, which has you collecting cards or monsters to fill up your party (much like Pokemon, with the leveling and evolving concept) as well as for the obsessive collector, the chance to Collect 'em All (which is quite a challenge if you don't spend money in the game). Now I am NOT encouraging you to spend money, nor am I dissuading you from doing so, I for one did not spend a SINGLE CENT on the game, and although compared to the people who spend money I cannot compare to them, but I can safely say I am pretty strong, although not exactly top-tier or fantastic. You just need a bit of patience and hey, after all, its' a phone game, why so serious? Just have fun and go with the flow :)

To help newbies, I will introduce to you some jargons and abbreviations which the Facebook Group as well as the Puzzle and Dragons Forum uses, which when I first started took a while for me to figure out, and it really was an experience which I do not want any of you to go though. Hence this mini-guide below:

Jargons and terms used (not exhaustive, or limited to):

PAD/PnD - shorthand term for Puzzle and Dragons
PG/@PG- members of the Facebook Group
PF/@PF - members of the PAD Forums
Helpers/Pals - Friends which you MUST have in order to enter dungeons, you can add them either through the FB Group, or through beating dungeons, which will allow you to add the people you paired up with (subject to the person's approval)
Magic Stones - Given out for free, either during events or milestones in your PAD journey. Also can be bought. Used as a type of ingame currency in order to gain access to stronger monsters/cards.
IAP - in-app purchase, basically just buying Magic Stones.
REM - Rare Egg Machine, the Golden dragon machine which acts as a slot machine type of dispenser. Through this you get Star, Silver or Gold Eggs, which gives you stronger and better monsters to use in your party. (The best being Gold).
Re-roll(ing) - The process by which you clear you ingame data by resetting the app in order to re-do the tutorial and get a free roll on the REM. (Important to note, especially if you do NOT plan to IAP).
Evo Mats - Evolution Materials, used for Evolving Monsters to help them reach the next stage.
Normal Fusion (also known as Power-Up Fusion) - The function in the Menu where you can 'feed' monsters to other monsters for EXP. Also used in Ultimate Fusions.
Ultimate Fusion - the process where you use certain cards/monsters and fuse them to a certain monster in order to gain access to the card's final form. Different from normal Evolution. (like Mega evolution in Pokemon).
Descend(s) - Dungeons with strong bosses which are useful and can be gotten if you clear them, mostly endgame material for your team
Godfest - Events where strong monsters (Gods which are found in Gold Eggs) from the REM are made more likely to appear. Usually an extra 3X chance to appear.
OoH - Ocean Of Heaven, can be found in the 'Normal Dungeons' list as you progress. A well-known Dungeon which people run in order to farm pluses.
Plus(es) - Additional stats which a monster can accumulate (not by levelling up the monster) by feeding monsters with the yellow 'plus sign' in the Normal Fusion function.


(OTHER TERMS TO BE ADDED WHEN I THINK OF THEM)

Some abbreviations of Monsters/Cards which are useful to know (you can copy and past to search these monsters for more information):

ADK- Ancient Dragon Knight
CDK- Chaos Dragon Knight
D'tron - Dark Metatron
SOD Luci- Seraphim of Dawn, Lucifer
Valk - Valkyrie (as well as evolutions of her, most notably Warrior Rose, Graceful Valkyrie)\
Chuchu - Noble Wolf King, Chu Chulainn (somewhat similar to Valkyrie)
Sieg - Earth-rending Emperor, Siegfried (also similar to Valk)
OneTrueGod - Anubis, well known for his crazy power, and yet demanding on skill and luck.

These terms above are just kickstarters to help you in your PAD journey, if you so choose to download and give this game a shot. Overall I rate this game a 8.5/10, higher than my rating for Pokemon X. Although the graphics are nothing compared to Pokemon XY, the gameplay is addictive and fun, with a friendly community to help you every step of the way, and the way the game is built such that there is little to no competition to be the 'best', and you need friends to help each other, I find this game overall a great game, both in gameplay as well as you can progress at your own pace, without worrying that you are too slow or will get left behind. Do give it a shot if you have chance to, trust me, you won;t regret this! Hope you guys enjoyed my post, sorry if I cant update this as frequently as I would like to, but thanks for reading!

FINAL VERDICT:
Puzzle and Dragons:
Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Overall Experience (ease of use, connectability, WOW factor): 8/10
Total: 7.7/10

Until Next time,

EndBlade.

ADDITION: If you havent checked out my mini review on Pokemon XY, do check it out here!

BT14: Jewel Knight cards revealed! New type of Perfect Guard?!?! (WARNING SPOILERS)

Hello everyone. Just a short post on regarding some Cardfight Vanguard!!! news on the anime, where I'm sure if you guys haven't already watched, Cardfight Vanguard's latest anime episode. I'll put a link down below just in case you guys want to watch it.

Cardfight Vanguard Episode 146 - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrvCvr32Dgs
Cardfight Vanguard Episode 146 - Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEBXx6EyMok

WARNING: What I am about to discuss in my blog post below WILL contain spoilers of the latest episode of the anime, so if you haven't watched it yet, do click on the links above to watch them before you read my post.

Now, you guys should already know that recently I posted a rant on my blog about the boring nature of Cardfight! Vanguard, and with what I saw in the latest episode of the anime, which is basically Kamui duelling with Kourin, and in that duel Kourin used a special type of Perfect Guard, which I think is a original concept and refreshes the game. For that, good job Bushiroad, for making a unique mechanic, which I hope each clan will have a different Perfect Guard mechanic in the future. If you all don't already know what card I am talking about, its' Summoning Jewel Knight, Gloria.

                                        I think this looks like Knight of Rose Morgana with Alfred's armor....

Now the card's effect is unconfirmed, but it is likely that the effect will stay true to the anime, because most, if not all cards shown in the anime are usually accurate to the card game, with the exception of certain phrasing of the card text. But basically her effect is:

Summoning Jewel Knight, Gloria 
GRADE 1
[CONT]: Sentinel (You may only have up to four cards with "[CONT]: Sentinel" in a deck)
[AUTO]:[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on (GC), if you have a «Royal Paladin» vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at up to five cards from the top of your deck, search for up to five «Royal Paladin» from among them, call them to (GC), and shuffle your deck.  

This is a completely new type of Perfect Guard. It may seem to be overpowered, just like all new cards always are...right (not really), but it is good in the sense that you do not need to discard a card to activate the effect, although if you ask me if you need to use Gloria then you must be pretty screwed. Notwithstanding the effect where you send the top 5 cards to you Guardian Circle as guard against the attack, although it is not a 100% chance you will get enough guard if for some reason you topdeck 3 Grade 3s and 2 Grade 2s, which in that case you wasted the effect as it is likely the attack will go through (this action is irreversible) and you waste 5 cards, which essentially is a -6, because you don't gain anything out of it by discarding Gloria milling 5 cards. I foresee that there might be some problems with this card, such as the obvious likelihood that you potentially can overguard and lose precious triggers when you mill 5, or you might thin your already thin stack of cards which remains in your deck, as it is likely that IF you use Gloria, more or less you are in a position where you have not much choice left. It is also not advisable to run more than 1, personal preference (I rather not lose by decking out, if you know what I mean). This possibility of decking out is made more likely given the fact that Royal Paladin tends to have units based around superior calling cards from your deck, like Ashlei Reverse, Sybil and Salome among the Jewel Knights archetype, and this thins your deck by quite a few cards. You may think it is insignificant, but sometimes when it comes down to the wire, an extra 3 or 4 more cards in your deck may allow you to outlast your opponent, or at least hang on for a longer amount of time. 

Another card which I mentioned above and will be coming out in BT14 would be Broken Heart Jewel Knight Ashlei Reverse:

Cyber-Ashlei!!!

[ACT](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (1) & Choose one of your rear-guards with "Jewel Knight" in its card name, and lock it] Choose up to one of your opponent's rear-guards in the front row, and retire it, and search your deck for up to one card with "Jewel Knight" in its card name, call it to (RC), and shuffle your deck. This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.
(Locked cards are turned face down, and cannot do anything. Turn them face up at the end of its owner's turn)
[CONT](VC):If you have a card named "Pure Heart Jewel Knight, Ashley" in your soul, this unit gets [Power]+2000.
[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

 

 

Ashlei 'Reverse' has the self-Lock skill to activate her effect, and the CB cost Lock 1 Rearguard cost isn't too much of a requirement to activate Ashlei Reverse's ability, which functions very much like a Blaster Blade for the front row plus a free superior call, and for -2 cost due to Locking and Counterblasting for a +2 due to retiring and superior calling, it is a good way to fill up your field, the drawback being that you can only use it once per turn. But it is a pretty balanced card, not screaming 'OP' or anything like that on the outset, but what disturbs me is possibly the lack of synergy it has with her breakride form, which I guess is not too much of a problem besides the crossriding thing that everyone has just gotten used to. Overall this card is a 6/10 for me, it is slightly better than the breakride form, which synergises better with Julia then with this card. But do take note that because you Lock 1 to superior call 1, this does not help you to activate Tracie and Sherrie's +3k skill when attacking, or Prizme's filtering on-call skill. In fact, it hinders their effects as you 'waste' a slot which brings your rearguard count to a maximum of 4, and given that you need 3 OTHER Jewel Knights to activate their skills, this makes it even harder. But in the long run it is a +1 if your opponent is not CBD. Another issue is thaqt as with other Jewel Knights, this makes it difficult to splash in non-Jewel Knight Royal Paladins into your deck, like Blaster Blade.

 

Well that being said, I am not especially hyped for BT14, because its' likely that by the time it is released, I will be in the army anyway.... On the side note, this card's name reminds me of Demi Lovato's 'Give your Heart a Break'...haha don't ask me why, maybe recently I have been listening to too many Demi Lovato songs.

That is all I have for you guys for now, and until next time,

EndBlade

 

Random Thoughts! #4: Pokemon X REVIEW and 5 Reasons why Cardfight Vanguard! is getting boring

Hey everyone, just a short post to try and keep things going. Something off-topic, recently I just finished the main storyline of Pokemon X, and I must say, the story-wise was pretty underwhelming. Not because they re-used the usual Pokemon story of a young trainer who saves the world from a power-crazed, conflicted individual who leads a huge group of brainwashed members, but more of on the length of the story. Well, firstly, the plot wasn't too deep or anything, it was quite straightforward and easy to understand (Well, maybe it has got to do with the appeal to children), but I felt that as a game, the story didn't really feel LONG. The characters were not well developed, especially the rival team (SPOILERS) Team Flare, and the leader (MORE SPOILERS), Lysandre, gave off a more touch-n-go vibe, like you didn't feel for their noble cause and I didn't pity them when I defeated them. Don't get me wrong, overall Pokemon XY delivers in terms of breakthrough graphics and there are quite a few things to explore even after the plot ends, but I felt that XY was a slightly rushed job, given all the hype about its' release and announcement months back. Many crtics gave it high ratings, Gamespot gave it an 8/10, IGN a 9/10 and many others all giving Pokemon a positive rating. Overall it is a good game, with improved graphics, 3D capability and a few new Pokemon (somehow they are getting uglier and uglier, haha), and the Mega Evolution mechanic is pretty interesting (although it gets pretty repetitive after a while).

But recently with the 'game-breaking' (literally) bug about saving in the biggest city in the Kalos Region for Pokemon XY sort of showed how it may have been slightly rushed to meet the international deadline for the simultaneous release of XY. I do like how the online play function is heavily exploited in XY, which makes it a great experience knowing that thousands of other people around the world are simultaneously catching, training and sharing the same Pokemon experience with you. it really puts things in perspective. Pokemon transfer is still not out yet, and I am looking forward to the possibility of transferring my old Pokemon over to Pokemon X. That being said, another thing that I have gripes with besides the skimpy plot would be the new Pokemon in the Kalos region. I would think it would be better to incorporate more Pokemon trainers with the new Pokemon, because having the option of using Kanto/Sinnoh/Hoenn/Johto/Unova region Pokemon appeals more to me, and as such, personally I do not use many of the new Kalos region Pokemon. If you all know what I mean. 

Personally, given the plot and the game itself, I would give Pokemon XY a 7.5/10, given that it is a solid game, building upon the previous successes of the Pokemon franchise and expanding the world of Pokemon, and for that continuity aspect it scores highly, as well as the 3D graphics which are not revolutionary, but a 'nice to have' option sometimes. I would still recommend people to buy Pokemon X or Y to try it out for yourself, and maybe share in the comment section what version you play and how you found the whole Pokemon experience to be like.

Moving on, with things picking up in terms of studies and other commitments, I find that Cardfight Vanguard is starting to lose its' lustre, maybe because I havent touched the game for about a month now. Reading TehNacho's recent blog post in http://thunkofcardgames.blogspot.sg/ got me thinking: its' not just me thats' finding Cardfight Vanguard boring (personal opinion here). What he said in his blog post was more or less what I personally felt: Bushiroad is just churning out cards for the profit, and its' getting more obvious with each set that is released. Its' as if they were trying to squeeze all possible profits dry (not that I am against them for that, all companies seek profits, I understand.). Now 5 reasons why I think Cardfight Vanguard is getting boring (at least for me)

1)They are trying to make all clans 'similar'
Now, don't get me wrong. Its' good to balance out the clans' power level, and this is vital for a more varied metagame. But it seems to me their defintion of 'balancing' results in giving each clan with a unique mechanic behind them, a similar skill/ability. Just take the example of restanding Vanguards, like TehNacho mentioned briefly. For many sets now, restanding vanguards seem to be the staple behind 'good' decks. So Bushiroad decided to give almost all clans a restanding vanguard. Now restanding was unique to clans like Nova Grapplers, Aqua Force and Kagero (to some extent). But now they plan to give Genesis a restanding Vanguard? As if giving Narukami Dragonic Descendant wasn't enough, they had to overkill and give the main clans all restanding vanguard, in an effort to 'balance' the metagame, and competitive scene. Now that doesn't make any sense to me (correct me if I am wrong), but each clan USED to have something unique about themselves, Gold Paladin being lucksack heavy, Kagero defensive field control, Aqua Force with multiple attacks, Narukami with crazy retirement, Royals with high power and field presence, Shadows with sacrificing for power, Dark Irregulars with crazy soul-charging, you get my point. All clans used to have something that was unique to them, and I applaud Bushiroad for that. But now with the trend of re-standing vanguard, it seems Bushiroad is just following the statistics of 'best-selling booster packs' and making cards that re-stand. This makes the clans increasingly similar, and at the same time, incrasingly boring.

2)Crossrides are everywhere.
Now this is similar to point 1), in the sense that crossrides were seen in the past as strong and powerful and whatnot. But now, what happened to crossriding? People choose to just straight up ride the crossride Vanguard without riding the previous 'form' of the card. The intention was to make people ride the original and then 'upgrade' in order to get an advantage, much like breakride, but more defensively. But with crossrides everywhere, and the incentive to crossride decreased due to crossriding generally being a -1 and not always consistent to pull off, it seems that Burshiroad is just giving people crossrides just because 'every clan needs a crossride' reason, and because the clan may benefit more from it. It just seems redundant, and makes the game so homogenous.

3)Absurd power...everywhere.
This is another put-off for me, when it comes to playing. Now hitting 21k/23k used to be a feat only a few clans could pull off, and although it was pretty lop-sided when it came to the competitive scene, where Kagero/Royal/Gold dominated majority of the wins, at least we could blame it on the insane power levels of the cards. But now, with breakride giving a 'free' +10000 power for almost all clans, power levels are soaring, way above 9000 (pun intended). Again, this makes games hit crazy numbers like 36k or even 46k and so on, and after a while of all the crazy power, you get kind of used to it. It doesn't seem as phenomenal as before, where hitting above 20k was considered 'OP' and 'broken'. Well, when everyone can hit 26k and above, Vanguard seems like a pretty broken game to me.

4)They are making old booster set cards redundant.
THIS is really important. If you notice, card games that do last long like YuGiOh (can't say the same for Magic:the Gathering because I have never played it before), do not make old cards entirely redundant. In Vanguard, with every new gimmick like Limit Break, Lock and what not making the game 'fresh', but in fact it is an endless cycle  where people keep buying for the sake of staying relevant to the game, to extents where whole deckbuilds become redundant due to power creep. I'm not saying this is wrong, every card game in existence makes old cards redundant to some extent, where old cards are not 'usable' if you want to win consistently. In games like Yu-Gi-Oh, cards that date back to the early times in the game, like Heavy Storm, Dark Hole, Mystical Space Typhoon, even Synchros, which were released like 3-4 years back, are STILL used in tournament-winning decks, and are still part of game-winning combos, even with the introduction of meachanics like XYZs. Every game is different, I understand that. This is why there are banlists for games, and although Vanguard does have a banlist consisting of 3 cards, I think this banlist should be widened, such that decks do not completely become unplayable like in Yu-Gi-Oh, but hit in the way that crazy re-standing Vanguards like Raging Form Dragon or even cards with effects that are on the verge of conquering the metagame (yes I'm talking to you, Chaos Breaker Dragon) should be limited to 2 or even 1 copy, that old cards become may see the light again. And Bushiroad, I dont see the use of placing Tsukiyomi in the limited list. Just get her to 4 copies again.

5)Bushiroad seems like its' doing too many things....at one time.
 Some of you may dispute this, But I think Bushiroad has got its' hands full at the moment. Well sure, Weiss is more of a fangame rather than a competitive one, and Chaos has its' place. But seriously? Buddyfight? What kind of monstrosity is that? Vanguard isn't even 3 years old yet and you release yet ANOTHER cardgame? And it sounds SO similar to Cardfight! Vanguard if you ask me. This just seems too absurd to me. Why would you release a new game when your current game isn't well established around the world? Especially the English Print of the game, I feel it is sorely lacking proper tournament support and there is much potential in the English print (I don't play the English version), but if I was Bushiroad, I'd market the English version better, and proved better Cardfighter support for continents like Europe, or even Southeast Asia, and USA. Furthermore, won't this new game conflict with sales of Cardfight Vanguard? Don't assume that Cardfight is doing well now doesn't means it won't exit the market in 3 or 5 years time. This seeming lack of commitment to the game (you can tell from the storyline too) that this whole thing seems more like clockwork rather than a concerted attempt to churn out a good game. And this is why Cardfight to me has begun to lose its' luster. Not that I won't play it anymore, but it has lost the novelty it once had as a refreshing game.

With that, thanks for reading this post/rant and until next time,

EndBlade

EDIT:
FINAL VERDICT:
Pokemon XY:
Gameplay: 7/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Overall Experience (ease of use, connectability, WOW factor): 7/10
Total: 7.5/10

Cardfight Vanguard!!! blog posting possible hiatus

Hey there everyone, I don't know how many people read this blog, whether people even enjoy this blog, but I am posting this notice in advance just in case for those who may read this blog.

Now I love playing Cardfight Vanguard!!!, but recently I haven't been playing any matches, just because my friends have moved away and it takes about an hour and half to get to my friend's house on weekends, and recently with all my preparation for my upcoming exams and other stuff that have cropped up, I just haven't found the time to play any Cardfight Vanguard games any more. If you all don't know already, I am from Singapore, and there is conscription into the military once you reach 18 years of age, and I just got my enlistment letter not too long ago, and the sad news is that I will be entering the army in early December, and it is unlikely for a few weeks or even months that I will be able to access a computer, much less play card games (unless somehow my bunkmates in there happen to play Cardfight Vanguard!, so it is very unlikely that I will be able to post updates on Cardfight Vanguard from December onwards.

When I first started this blog not too long ago in September, I wanted to be able to post frequently, especially once my exams had ended and with my early enlistment this kind of ruined my plans that I laid out beforehand and although I would much love to continue posting on this blog for the few readers that chance upon this blog in the short few weeks that I started this blog, it is just not possible to continue posting after the end of November.

That being said, I will try to post on Cardfight Vanguard whenever I can, and I will keep up with the Cardfight news as it comes out, and I will still continue to update this blog as and when I have free time (not much), and it is probable that I might not post as many Cardfight Vanguard posts as I would like to (the irony of calling this blog My Vanguard Journey haha), but I will still continue to post some stuff, although that will progressively dwindle as the dates for my examinations approaches as well as my enlistment into the military.

I would like to thank all my readers (however few that may be), for reading my blog posts and updates, I love to write and post things on this blog, but due to the circumstances mentioned above, sometimes life throws you a curveball, and just have to deal with it. My journey does not end here though, I think that someday I will be able to realize my dream of posting Cardfight Vanguard material where everyone can enjoy reading (sounds shallow, but hey, don't judge). It is a difficult decision to stop at a point where I am enjoying this experience so much.

So for what might be one of the very last times I type this out:

Until next time,

EndBlade.

Random Thoughts #3: Pokemon X & Y, my experiences with Pokemon

Hey everybody, hope you guys are having a good week. Well just yesterday (Tuesday to be exact), I bought guess what, yes I got Pokemon X for the 3DS! Although my exams are in 4 weeks, I just couldn't resist the temptation. But I am limiting myself to a maximum of 2 hours a day (is that a lot?) to play the game, and as of now, I am still taking my time with the game.

Pokemon X- Isn't the deer legendary just amazing looking?

Now, the main reason I bought this game was just because I felt that since I followed the Pokemon franchise from the Ruby/Sapphire days back in 2003 (Although I did play Red version and Gold version later), I figured- why not pick up a copy of Pokemon X? I didn't really do much research into it, so I kind of went into the game not knowing anything about the new Pokemon etc. and I'll come to my first impressions of it later. But why did I choose Pokemon X instead of Pokemon Y? I think it was the cover Legendary Pokemon that sold it for me. A deer with rainbow antlers or a weird Y shaped wyvern-thing? Give me the rainbow deer anytime. Well, before I proceed, I would like to warn all those who have not played the game that I may reveal some spoilers about the game (although as of now I have only reached the first gym and completed that), so I guess the spoilers in terms of plot won't be so significant, and I might do a full-on review once I get to finishing the main storyline and side-quests.

First Impressions:

Now, Pokemon X and Y are set in a new region, the Kalos region. The beginning is pretty much the same, although the way in which you get your starter Pokemon is not directly from some Professor-named-after-a-tree, but from your new 'friends' (how kind). I cant say too much about the battling system, its' reminiscent of the Diamond/Pearl and Black/White type of touchscreen interface, albeit more polished and with some slight differences (not really significant). But the thing that sold it for me so far would be the graphics, a notch up from the previous Black/White and other generations preceding it, although I was happy they did keep the L-button = A-button option, that is really convenient for single-handed play (although I don't know why anyone would do that). Another thing that struck me would be the ability to see 'passers-by' online, it really made the world of Pokemon seem much larger and I realized that Pokemon has such a wide reach and has impacted many, like myself. But one thing that was slightly off for me was that the picking up of items took a while with the new animation they implemented, as well as the battles seem to be slightly slower paced, (not that I am rushing through the game or anything) with all the animations and what-not, even after I disabled the battle animations (hey I just don't like to see the battle animations, don't ask me why, just personal preferences, haha)

Some of the Pokemon games that I played, couldn't find them all (pun intended)

Now although I have played close to all the main Pokemon games from Sapphire being my very first experience with Pokemon, Emerald (I think I clocked more than 300 hours on that game alone), FireRed & LeafGreen (yes I played both), Diamond, Platinum (I even have the Japanese version of it), SoulSilver and finally most recently Black (I didn't get Black 2, mainly because I felt the differences were too minor to warrant me getting it, and personally I didn't really like the 5th Generation Pokemon), I was blown away by the huge leap in graphics by GameFreak this time to utilize the 3D function (although in some cases may seem underwhelming and gimmicky), but still the way the game was worked (I am still getting used to using the Circle-pad on my 3DS), and the overall graphic changes were such that although it made the game look more appealing, it did not detract from the overall nostalgia that I had when I chose my first Pokemon, and the background music so far is just...fantastic.

That being said, I am no pro at Pokemon, although I do know about effort values, Natures, breeding and all those mechanics behind Pokemon, I personally do not care for them, with the exception of once I tried to create a Attack & Speed variant of Gallade (my favourite Pokemon, besides Blaziken), I have never bothered to EV train my Pokemon, or breed them for 'special' egg moves, so you can say that I am a Poke-noob. But who cares, its' the fun from playing Pokemon that makes the experience all the more unique to every player, instead of mechanically training and breeding the 'super-Pokemon', although I am not in any way discouraging you from doing so (but it is really boring and taxing).

Back to Pokemon X. Hmm for now, with the limited time that I have played on my 3DS for this game, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has played Pokemon before and are looking for the game to jump back into the Pokemon world, this is the game for you. For those who have never played Pokemon before (where were you the last 18 years), this fresh take on Pokemon does not disappoint (for now) and although revolutionary in graphics, Pokemon stays true to what it knows best, soothing background music and the simple gameplay makes it really a game for all ages, for both beginners and old players alike. This is speaking from a player who has played almost all the versions of Pokemon, although in recent years has become less hardcore. But I think the money paid for Pokemon X is worth very single cent. It is likely I will do a final review and score it once I have finished the main story, so do look out for that post (won't be anytime soon though).

On a side note (but still related to this in some way), do you guys think I should continue to post sections on 'Random Thoughts' in between every Cardfight Vanguard article? I will create a poll to see how the response is like, if for some reason you guys like the current posting format I will continue to do so, so do vote on whether I should continue to post these types of articles, and feel free to comment on how I can improve/ what I can include in future posts in the Comments Section below. But thats' it from me for now, thanks for reading and until next time,

EndBlade

Undaunted until the End! Deck profile: Dauntless Drive the End!!!

Hey there guys, hope you are having a great week. Today I'm gonna bring you my deck profile of my Dauntless Drive Dragon breakride with Dragonic Overlord the End deck (now that would be mouthful if I actually had to say it). Now, before any of you guys accuse me of 'jumping on the bandwagon' and 'another OP deck again', let me clarify certain things: I made this deck mainly because I liked Dragonic Overlord the End, and only recently did it come around to making the deck, because the price for cards like Dauntless Drive and DOTE have dropped quite a bit since the time gap from the release of BT11:Sealed Dragons Unleashed. So you could say I am sort of a hippie, I don't like newly released decks like Link Joker and all the Lock stuff, don't get me wrong, I've played with those decks (I used to have a Eradicator deck running some Vowing Saber Reverse), and to be honest, I like the idea of retiring opponents' vanguards and field control, which Kagero is really good at with all the support they have. And I thought it would be timely to make this deck before EB09- Divine Dragon Progression comes out, because prices for Dauntless Drive and other Kagero cards will shoot up, undoubtedly.

Now this is a picture of my deck (for now), taken with a potato (this is what happens when you spend your money on card games....haha)

 Oops the top part got cut off slightly x.x

Decklist:

Grade 0: 

Total: 17

Red Pulse Dracokid (SVG) x1

Gattling Claw Dragon (Draw) x2

Seal Dragon, Artpitch (Draw) x4

Seal Dragon, Biera (Critical)  x4

Embodiment of Spear, Tahr (Critical) x2

Seal Dragon, Shading (Heal) x4

Grade 1:

Total: 14

Seal Dragon, Rinocross (Perfect Guard) x4

Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara x2

Seal Dragon, Kersey x2

Dragon Monk, Gojo x2

Embodiment of Armor, Bahr x4

Grade 2:

Total: 11

Dragon Knight, Nehalem x2

Seal Dragon, Corduroy x3

Berserk Dragon x2

Seal Dragon, Hunger Hell Dragon x4 

Grade 3:

Total: 8

Dauntless Drive Dragon x4

Dragonic Overlord the End x4 

Now this deck does not differ much from some other deck profiles that others have done, I run the Sealed Dragon lineup from Grade 0 to 2 just for Corduroy's effect where he need Especial Counterblast of 1 in order to activate his on-call effect. My starting Vanguard is Red Pulse Dracokid, although Conroe is a more reliable alternative, and can help you filter out your Bahrs and Rinocrosses, I prefer the Grade 3 searcher, because usually you will want to ride Dauntless Drive as your first Grade 3, and either use Red Pulse's ability to check the top 5 cards of your deck to search for either another Dauntless Drive if you want to breakride over breakride, or search for a copy of Dragonic Overlord the End, and this is useful for searching out DOTE even if you already have DOTE, just for the Persona Blast threat to your opponent. Also, I usually don't face any trouble, I have rarely misgraded, and even I did, i usually get gradestuck at Grade 2 more often than at Grade 0 or 1, simply because I run 14 Grade 1s and 11 Grade 2s, and by the time you usually reach the ride phase to Grade 2, you usually have one or more Grade 2s in your hand. Now the downside of running Red Pulse is that firstly he is a 4k booster, and runs into some trouble if you boost DOTE at Grade 3 which hits for only 15k, 1k short of the 16k barrier mark you ideally want to hit. But this is no big deal for Dauntless which can hit for 13k by itself if you have more rearguards then your opponent, making it 17k when boosted by Dracokid. Another problem that you might face if you don't run Conroe is that you cant search for boosters or perfect guards, and sometimes this might be quite crucial especially if you are playing against decks that retire your field or lock your boosters, Kagero finds it difficult to hit particularly high numbers without boosting, with the exception of breakriding. But the aim of the deck is to make sure you get Daunltess first, so Red Pulse does help quite a bit, although if played incorrectly you might end up with a ton of Grade 3s and nothing as guarding fodder (I got into this situation a few times), so timing is crucial knowing when to use Red Pulse's ability and when not to. Ultimately both are useful and Conroe is more reliable, but I just prefer Dracokid.

Now the trigger lineup I chose 6 Draw, 6 Criticals and 4 Heals. You don't run Stands because nowadays there are so many rearguard disabling abilities, with Lock and archetypes like Eradicators, sometimes having a full field may be difficult. The reason why I run so many draws is for Dauntless' effect, which is a costly nett -1 in hand advantage if you use its' breakride effect to re-stand your Vanguard, and not to mention sometimes you need to pop pesky Grade 0s or power up your units by +3k, the two draw triggers do perform this function well, and emphasizes what Kagero is all about: not brute force, but control and utility.

Criticals are always useful. Dont' ask why. And for Heals if you don't run the maximum 4 copies then you are better off running 16 Criticals.

For the Grade 1s I run Kimnara instead of Heatnail, beacuse Kimnara doen't need to boost and hit to activate its' effect, and can be called and used immediately, 2 is enough and throughout the game I usually get to see one or even two in my hand. Seal Dragon Kersey and Dragon Monk Gojo both perform the same task, to thin the deck for triggers and get rid of cards that are dead in the hand, like excessive Grade 3s, or even to ditch cards to filter for a Grade 3 if you don't have one in your hand. Bahr is there as a solid 8k booster and preferred ride target, and to run less then 4 would be as good as running none. 4 Rinocrosses, because its' good. And perfect guards are better at 4 (or 3, but depending on the type of deck you play).

Grade 2s are where things get a bit difficult. I run 6 10k beatsticks, 10k is a good number and even when boosted by Grade 1s like Kimnara you can still hit the 16 barrier. Why not run the 12k Seal dragon beatstick, or Burning Horn Dragon, you might ask? Well, because firstly I don't run the full Seal Dragon lineup, so the Seal Dragon 12k is out of the question, and Burning Horn is only useful when your Vanguard is DOTE, because I tend to stay in Dauntless until the time is 'right' to breakride, if I run Burning Horns they will either get clogged up in my hand or stay on the field as 9ks, which aren't really good rearguards to have.

For field control and utility, I have Berserk Dragon and Seal Dragon, Corduroy. I find that although Berserk Dragon is useful, if you think about it, you have to Counterblast 2 in order to pop 1 card, and although you can choose any rearguard to retire, basically if one follows the game mechanics as laid out by TehNacho in his recent (not so recent) article on Game Design: Counter-Blasts, Soul-Blasts, and all the Little Things

(go check his article out, its' good) you will find that using his calculations which I find make a lot of sense, mathematically-speaking, we run up to a conditional 0 since we assume 1 Counterblast as 1 card and that we assume this is 'High Quality advantage' generated, which makes this: 

                                     

                               -2(cost)=+1+1(assuming it is high quality advantage)=0

Worse still if your do not have any open counterblasts(because you want to ultilize counterblasts or at least have 2 CB open at all times to give the illusion of a possible DOTE Persona Blast, Berserk Dragon is basically just waiting to be sent into the Guardian Circle, and is 'useless' so to speak. Corduroy on the other hand, although his on-call ability is less impressive then Berserk Dragon's the cost required to activate its' ability is a Especial Counterblast of 1, which translates to a -1 and a +1 due you pooping your opponent's card, which makes it:

                          -1(cost)=+1+1(asumming this is high quality advantage)=1

                               OR

                         -1(cost)-1(due to opponent calling a Grade 2 using Corduroy's effect)=+1+1=0

becomes a nett 0 in advantage if your opponent manages to call a grade 2 from the top 4 cards to replace it. Or if he chooses not to, or cannot replace due to him not drawing into a Grade 2 in those 4 cards, you have yourself a conditional +1, which is far better than Berserk Dragon and you can use 2 of it due to the lower CB cost.

Lastly, we run 4 Dauntless Drive, because of his restanding ability when it is breakridden upon

                                                                          Undaunted by any opposition! Re-Stand!

Its' effect overall is quite good, given that on the turn its is breakrided upon you potentially get a

        

 -3(discard cost)-0.5(Limit Break)-1(breakride)+4(drive checks)+1(10k bonus power/situational +1)=0.5

Therefore using TehNacho's rule we come up with this equation, where I added in the -1 due to you needing to breakride before you can use the effect, accounting for the loss in advantage generated due to it being a vanilla if you don't breakride over it. This is oversimplification of the matter, but it is just to show my take on why Dauntless overall is still a good card, and might not be the -1 people are making it out to be. The +2 comes from the 10k power as a result of the breakride and thus 10k requires a minimum of extra 10k guard from your opponent, leading to them losing 1 card extra in guarding. This leads to the total advantage gained being 0.5.

Now for the boss card, 4 copies of Dragonic Overlord the End

                                                      As Morikawa once said: NEVER-ENDO

We run DOTE just beacause he synergises well with DDD. Although it does slow down the deck and removes the early pressure exerted by DOTE due the fact that it needs Limit Break, DOTE overall is a really solid card, no wonder it dominated the Japanese format when BT05 first came out and is still solid, despite the many new cards that try to mimick it (yes I'm talking to you Dragonic Descendant, Raging Form Dragon, Ethics Buster 'Reverse'), it still is the gold standard of re-standing Vanguards, due to it not being limited by Limit Break (pun intended) and if we calculate the advantage we gain by using his Persona Blast skill, we get:

                      -2(Counterblast)-1(Persona Blast)+4(drive checks)=1 

So we get a solid +1 in advantage, this is assuming that it is low quality advantage generated. Timing is crucial for DOTE, and the weakness is that if you use the Persona Blast too many times, coupled with the draw triggers, you might end up decking out as a result. So be careful if you use his skill, don't overextend. More often than not, the advantage is more of a psychological one, as people usually will be afraid of your Persona Blast.

Well with that, hope you enjoyed reading my take on DDD-DOTE Never-End Deck profile. 

Until next time,

EndBlade

Random Thoughts #2: My experiences with Yu-Gi-Oh!

Hey everybody, its' been a few days since I have last posted. Today I'm gonna be talking about something that I played a few years back (about 2-3 years ago), and recently I've been checking the 'new' cards out, as well as I stumbled upon my old stash of Yu-Gi-Oh cards and deck.

Some of the 'new' cards are mainly the XYZ monsters (I think it came out pretty long ago, but I've just come to know about it) and after seeing a few Youtube videos here and there, as well as reading up on some wikia articles on Yu-Gi-Oh Wikia, I found out that my previously used 'old' Yugioh Deck still can be used, with the slight adjustment of certain cards and addition of a few XYZ monsters and Synchro monsters to my current deck.

Well I play a Fairy-themed deck, and the main reason why I picked up the deck way back in 2010/2011 was largely due to ONE card in the deck which I really liked, not just because of the artwork but also its' effect, and because of that I was inspired to build a deck themed around it. I did NOT consult any wiki, forum or any form of advice on how the build my deck, I literally just went and built my deck how I saw fit, adding in cards I thought would be useful. Now I'm sure you guys might be wondering: what Fairy-type card could that be?

Well, its' Archlord Kristya. Now, the copy I got (and still have) was the Gold Rare VJMP Japanese Archlord Kristya, the moment I saw that card I knew that I HAD to build a deck based on it, and it would be my avatar (he he he). I didn't have much money then, so my deck was mostly built from a combination of Japanese, English and Korean cards, the latter two being because the Japanese variants were either too rare, or was threatening to burn a deep hole in my pockets, hence I chose to not make a fully Japanese deck.

Now my deck was focused solely on getting high levelled monsters out into play, especially Archlord Kristya once I had 'set up' my ideal field with high levelled monsters through the use of cards like Vahalla, Hall of the Fallen, Mausoleum of the Emperor and Gellenduo. I also played Nova Summoner, and Shining Angel just as delaying tactics or to get out my sole 'Honest'. Now usually once I summoned Kristya it was as good as GG for the opponents, especially because at that time, Synchro Summoning was the 'in' thing to do, and once I prevented their Special Summon they were practically useless. Now to prevent crazy things like Traps I played Royal Decree, at the expense of myself not being able to activate other traps, but this 'secured' my Archlord Kristya from removal from play traps like Bottomless Trap Hole, and even if it got destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, its' effect allowed it to be at the top of my deck, ready for a summon on the next turn. Its' ability to be Special Summoned for 'free' if I had exactly 4 Fairies in my Graveyard was also really good.

But I was never able to complete my deck, and I had a few 'missing' cards. I looked into one of the Structure decks and I realized many of the cards I needed (and bought for crazy prices at that time) was in this one 'new' Structure Deck, the one with Master Hyperion in it, but apparently the structure deck is difficult to find because it is actually pretty OLD haha. This is what happens when you stop playing a trading card games for 2 years and get back into the gaming scene. I might be making a Agent-based Kristya Deck, but for now nothing is set in stone yet until I find a way to get the cards needed (which is unlikely because I am just too lazy to go out and search for sellers of such cards).

Well overall Yu-Gi-Oh! was a great part of my school life, and the times I played with my pals after a tiring day at school were one of the most memorable and happy times, even though I might not have had the most powerful/rare cards, but Archlord Kristya undoubtedly formed a great deal of memorable moments that I would never forget. What are some of your experiences with trading card games when you were younger/in your teens? I would think that most of you would have played Yugioh or Duel Masters (and other stuff like those). I hope you guys enjoyed my post, I will not be posting so frequently, just because I am preparing for my Final Year exams, which are really important. But I'll still post when I think of stuff I wanna share with you guys, and it is likely the next post I post will be about my Dauntless Drive Dragon decklist and discussion (at least before EB09 hits our shores), and I change my deck.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

EndBlade

Transcending Boundaries : Grade Four?!?! Analysis on the new Grade 4

Hello everyone, just recently there has been news for EB09: Divine Dragon Progression released, and with the revealed cards so far, it seems that building a deck centralized around a Grade 4 unit may be possible!
Now the announcement about EB09 was not big news to me, and it seems that with the revelation of its' skills there is much hype generated surrounding Nouvelle Vague as a card, no doubt it will change Vanguard as a game. Although in my opinion, it does have some weaknesses, which may change as more cards are revealed along the way.

This image was taken from Cardfight Wikia and is the property of Bushiroad

Transendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague <Grade 4> "Twin Drive!!"

[ACT](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (3) & Soul Blast (3) & Choose a card named "Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague" from your hand, and discard it] Retire all of your opponent's rear-guards.
[CONT](VC):During your turn, the effects of your opponent's triggers are negated.
[CONT](VC):During a battle that this unit attacks a vanguard, your opponent cannot normal call grade 0 units to (GC) from his or her hand.
[CONT](RC):This unit gets [Power]-1000.
[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

Now this is not the first Grade 4 introduced, the first being the promo card Epitome of Knowledge, Silvest.

Its skill being [AUTO](VC): When this unit attacks a vanguard, if the number of «Great Nature» rear-guards you have is three or more, this unit gets [Power]+10000 until end of that battle.

You might be thinking 'well that kinda sucks, only +10k power? And with a condition attached to it? But one must note this was pre-breakride era, where +10k was considered pretty good, and it had base 13k defense, equal to a crossride in terms of raw power. However, with Nouvelle Vague, the skills have been reworked, such that it remains attractive, in an era of breakrides and Vanguards with absurd power values.

By itself, it is a 13k powered unit, so defense-wise it doesn't fair too badly. But hitting 18k for rearguards and vanguard units are no longer a big problem, so what is so great about this Grade 4? Well for one, its' Limit Break ability may seem great when you look at it, but hey, who would be so stupid to go all in and fill up all their rearguard spots, especially if they know they are going up against such a deck? Unless you are playing against a rush deck like Spike Brothers, or Jewel Knights, particularly any Vanguard that focuses on rear guard power, like maybe Nova Grapplers. But it comes with a heavy cost at CB3 and SB3, the Soulblast not being so much of a problem, unless you want to use its' skill twice, which by itself requires 6 unflipped damage and unless you get a heal trigger, or unflip damage with something like Bellicosity, the chances of using it twice is unlikely. Furthermore, you need to perform a Persona Blast, and by itself is a -1 due to loss in hand advantage, and if you count Counter-Blasting as a -1 and Soul Blasting as a -1, you rack up a -7 in total card advantage, for the possibility of a +5, which makes its' skill a nett -2. So unless you get about to retiring 3 or more (optimally 4-5) of your opponent's rearguards, the skill itself is too costly.

Then what makes this card so good? Now that comes to the second and third CONT abilities. The first of which being the one where during your opponent's turn, trigger effects are negated. Now that takes away the trigger element of Vanguard, and in some sense makes it more advantageous towards you (unless you are in a mirror match, or up against Ethics Buster Extreme), as every turn it is a possible -2 for your opponent as he has to drop more guard, relying less on trigger luck.

The other skill, which I think really changes everything, is where your opponent cannot call Grade 0 units from their hand. So even if you don't have a booster for your Vanguard, your opponent must still perfect guard, intercept twice, or guard with Grade 1s and 2s from their hand. This makes it a minimum loss of two cards for them when they could lose one card just by dropping a Grade 0. If one places a G1 Bahr to boost Vague, then it hits for 21k, which then either forces out a perfect guard, or makes them drop 4 cards/intercept to guard for 2 triggers to pass, which in this case, ruins your opponent's mood. Furthermore, it syntheses very well with the trigger lock skill, as the Grade 0 your opponent drive checks now becomes even more useless as they cant use it to guard your Vanguard, however they CAN still use it to guard the rearguards, so it does not completely amek Grade 0s useless.

Both effects are gamebreaking just because they are NOT Limit Break restricted, in this case I classify such a skill as worthy of future restriction, and I think with the support this Grade 4 is going to have, we may very well see a restriction of Nouvelle Vague after a few tournaments.

Some of the notable support we are seeing for this new Grade 4 would be Nouvelle Roman Dragon a Grade , its' on-call ability helps you get your Grade 3 so that so won't be grade-locked at Grade 2, because the main problem of this deck is the Grade distribution, where space for Grade 3s becomes tighter due to the likelihood of people running more than 1 copy of Nouvelle Vague as it has its' Persona Blast. So placing 4 of each of these Grade 3 searchers are essential for consistency so that you get a smooth ride to Grade 4.

Now because of this new Grade 4 mechanic, the structure of decks will inevitably change, and optimally one would run 3 or maybe even 4 Nouvelles due to the support helping to search out for Grade 3 rides. This makes Grade 3s less desired in such a deck as one would want to ride into Nouvelle as soon a possible to reap the full benefits of locking down triggers and guarding restrictions.

Onto possible weaknesses I see in this card is not only the heavy cost, it is also very conditional. Although it is a well-rounded card in terms of defensive capabilities and exerting pressure on your opponent, it does require careful setup and I find that against rush decks like Spike Brothers or even the 'old' build Majesty Lord Blaster, or just anything that can dish out quick damage in the first 3-4 turns before you ride to Grade 4 stands to fare well against this card. Also, because one needs to increase consistency as the number of Grade 3s are decreased, more focus and resources are diverted into increasing consistency, which takes up card space for other Grade 2s and 1s which Kagero has a lot of great cards for (like Kimnala,Berserk Dragon etc.), so your options become more limited and restricted, and you stand to lose a great deck if you are somehow gradestuck at Grade 2 or even at Grade 3, because a deck focused around the Grade 4 will tend to have consistency issues. But only time will well whether this card is actually good, and only with the revealing of more cards then can we make a better judgement on the power of a Grade 4. But for now, these are my thoughts on the new Grade 4.

But still, I might get a few boxes of this just because the artwork of Nouvelle Vague is just so amazing.

So until next time,

EndBlade