Friday, November 16, 2018

Chara Expo USA Results

Hello Cardfighters!  Major Spades with a tournament report from Chara Expo USA.  It was good but not great.  Bushiroad could have done better.  What topped it off was the Roselia concert, but I was sad that they never sang Heroic Advent and Legendary.  Overall it was ok.  My tournament experience was ok.  I got top 60 out of around 600 people for Vanguard standard.  I entered with OTT and my build has changed from the last deck profile I posted a while ago.  Grade 3's are the same, but my grade 2's and 1's have changed.  I run 4 Promise Daughter and 3 of each Yellow Witch Meme and Goddess of Insight Sotoorihime and 1 Battle Sister Torte.  Grade 1's are 4 Circle Magus, 4 Farfelle Magus, 2 Luck Bird and 2 Gemini.  Trigger line up is still the same 8 critical, 4 draw and 4 heal.  Lets get to my tournament experience.
©2018 Bushiroad USA Inc.
Round 1 was against Kagero and I lost.  I survived one Waterfall turn, and I got my opponent to one card in hand due to my turn deering my opponent.  When it got to his turn, he rode another Dragonic Waterfall and had a Gias in hand and played it.  He swung at me for 63k with critical with a sentinel prevention, and he put Gias in the soul.  I swear that was his 4th Gias so now his vanguard has 3 critical, and I am at 2 damage.  In my head, I am like I will be fine if I will be at 5 damage.  I couldn't guard it so opponent's first drive check was a critical and second nothing.  So GG I died due to RNG.

Round 2 I won against another Kagero deck, but my opponent never rode Waterfall, so I had the opportunity to rush him with rear guards and pressuring him with Imperial Daughter rides until I got my deer turn and killed him from there.

Round 3 I won against a good friend of mine who is using Royal Paladin.  My opponent rode Exculpate the Blaster and wiped my entire field, but I had plenty of protect and perfect guards.  After his Exculpate and Blaster Blade play was over, I rode into an Imperial Daughter over another, and I got to do my Victorious Deer play and killed my opponent after that.

Round 4 I won against Megacolony.  My opponent kept dropping my units -5k every time he has 2 counterblast.  However, I had a steady ride chain of riding my Imperial Daughters.  I kept pressuring him with my Imperial Daughter plays.  When I looked at the top 2 cards of the deck due to Imperial Daughter's skill, I got a deer in hand and put a critical on the top of the deck, and I played the deer and got two criticals from it, and my opponent wasn't able to guard everything.  I feel kind of bad beating my opponents to deer cause OTT just forge luck and I felt kind of dirty doing that.

Round 5 I won against Murakumo.  He G-assisted at grade 1 and took out a trigger and a Zanbaku.  He kept the Mandala Lord in hand hoping to draw into the Zanbaku.  I was able to keep taking out his rear guards and counterblast starving him until he was sitting on Mandala Lord for the whole game, so I went all out on his Vanguard and deered him and won the game.  If he had Zanbaku I would have been screwed.

Round 6 I lost to Granblue because even tough I kept riding into Imperial Daughter and keep getting protect gifts, my opponent keeps riding Baskirk.  We were both riding and getting protect markers over and over but I lost all the hand and the protect gifts cause Baskirk gets really big and Skull Dragon is a thing.  He beat me by ridiculous numbers on his Skull Dragon each turn plus even if I deered my opponent, he had hand for days.

Round 7 I lost to a cocky OTT player.  I heard from other people that he is a big rule shark, but he wasn't to me he was just really cocky which ticks me off.  He interrupts me when I attack his vanguard by dropping his protect and perfect guards from my deer turn.  The game went long, and I had 8 cards in deck and my opponent had 7.  The game will go into my favor by deck out, but when I attacked his Vanguard, I drove check a draw which got me into the danger zone for decking out.  The final result was that I decked out due to a draw trigger and my opponent sarcastically saying it was a close match even though he knew he won made me more ticked off.  I hate cocky players.

My last and final round I won against Kagero.  My opponent didn't ride Waterfall.  He rode into Novelle.  Yeah he damages me and wipes my board instead of my Promise Daughters.  I was protect gifting and perfect guarding his Vanguard till I got my deer turn and killed him with my Vanguard for over 50k with 4 damage coming.

So overall I went 5-3.  I was kind of sad I didn't top 8.  I could have won 2 if it weren't for RNG I could have squeezed into top 8 or higher.  Overall it was ok.  Chara Expo was fun with friends and the Roselia concert topped everything off.

Friday, November 9, 2018

Spectacular Performance

Hello Cardfighters!  Major Spades coming with you with a new deck profile.  Sorry for the small hiatus.  I was doing some fine tuning and practicing with my Oracle Think Tank deck for Chara Expo USA in Anaheim, CA.  Also, sorry for no tournament feeds on this blog due to that my locals became pretty small.  I hope to see all you followers on this blog at Chara Expo USA and thank you for your support.  For today's deck profile, its Pale Moon.  Pale Moon to me is a fun deck with spectacular performances by utilizing the soul to make more attacks and plays.  Its perfect that Pale Moon is an accel clan because more rear guard circles means more opportunities for more attacks.  Now let the show begin!

Grade 3's
4x: Golden Beast Tamer (This unit gives 3k to the front row if I have 5 or more rear guards.  Plus, when this unit attacks counterblast 1 and put a card from hand to soul to call out two more rear guards.  My ideal grade 3 ride.  Great way to have more attacks in when I use the Alice and Jumping Jill combo.)
3x: Nightmare Doll, Alice (This unit when placed on Vanguard gets to call a workeroid from the soul to rear guard and that unit gets 5k.  Alice skill on rear guard is that after it attacked counterblast 1 soul blast 1 put Alice into the soul and call a non-grade 3 out from the soul to rear guard.  She is a very good multi-attacker when I utilize Jumping Jill and Purple Trapezist along with Comicality Chimera and Amaranth Beast Tamer.)
2x: Comicality Chimera (This unit's skill on rear guard gets to put a unit into the Vanguard's soul for a soul blast.  If done, I can give this unit 5k and counter charge.  This unit is great for keeping key pieces into soul, so I can do more combos.)

Grade 2's
4x: Jumping Jill (This unit when placed from soul to rear guard, I can put one of my rear guards into soul to call out a non-grade 2 unit from my soul.  This is a great piece for the multiple attacks in one turn as I can soul charge a Purple Trapezist to call a booster out or Alice or soul blast the Trapezist to call Alice.  There are many ways to utilize this skill.)
4x: Nitro Juggler (This unit when placed from hand to Vanguard or rear guard circle, I can look at the top 2 cards from my deck, and I can put one in soul and one at the bottom of my deck.  Great way to set up soul.)
4x: Amaranth Beast Tamer (This unit on Vanguard or rear guard when it attacks a Vanguard, I can put a unit into soul and this unit gets 3k power until the end of that battle.  Like the Chimera, Amaranth can keep my key pieces in soul safely, so I can do more attacks in the current or next turn.)

Grade 1's
4x: Purple Trapezist (This unit gets to call an additional unit from soul when Purple Trapezist is put into soul by soul blasting a Purple Trapezist.  Good unit to call out Alice for another attack.)
4x: Starting Presenter (This unit when placed on Vanguard or rear guard, I get to soul charge 1.  When rode on, I get to put a card from my hand to soul and soul charge a card from my deck.  My ideal grade 1 and a great way to set up soul.)
4x: Midnight Bunny (This unit when boosting, I can soul charge 1, and when this unit attack hits, I can put Bunny into soul and call a non-grade 1 from my soul to rear guard.  Another great unit to call out Jill or Alice for more attacks.)

Grade 0's
4x: Dynamite Juggler (Critical) 
4x: Poison Juggler (Critical)
4x: Hades Hypnotist (Draw/Sentinel)
4x: Candy Clown (Heal)
1x: Entertain Messenger (When rode upon draw a card)

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Rise From the Watery Grave, Granblue!

Hello Cardfighters!  Its Major Spades with another standard deck profile.  This time around it's my Granblue deck profile.  Granblue to me has been very special to me because I have been a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.  I love how Granblue is a protect clan cause the clan doesn't rely on hand that much and having that extra sentinel helps out a lot.  Granblue as always has been well known for their milling and superior calling from the drop zone.  The extra plus is that some of those units get power bonuses depending on the amount of units in the drop zone.  I hope you enjoy the deck profile.

Grade 3's:
4x: King of Demonic Seas, Basskirk (Vanguard skill is that if I have 10 or more units in drop, it gets an additional 5k and critical.  Second skill is for one counterblast and soul blast, I can superior call a unit from the drop zone to rear guard, and Basskirk gains an additional 5k for each grade that unit is called.  This card is great overall pressure wise.  I can constantly hit my opponent for more than 30k with critical, and my opponent has to drop sentinels, trigger units or normal units to not take that extra damage late or early late game.)
3x: Dragon Undead, Skull Dragon (This unit is a huge beat stick as a rear guard cause I mill a good amount of units in the drop, and Skull Dragon gets 2k for every card in my drop, so I can potentially have it hit for more than 50k.  It's one of the good finishers in the deck.)
2x: Violence Flanger (This unit as a rear guard guard restricts sentinels but also the grades of cards I discarded as an additional cost.  Plus it gets 5k.  For a soul blast of a grade 3, I can drop a grade 0, 1 and 2 and make Flanger unblockable for the battle.  Its a good finisher when my opponent is at 4 (banking on the critical) or 5 damage.)

Grade 2's:
4x: Ruin Shade (Vanguard and rear guard skill is when it attacks Vanguard, mill 2 cards from the top of my deck, and Ruin Shade gains 4k.  Its rear guard skill gains another 4k if I have 10 or more cards in the drop zone.  It can potentially become a 17k beat stick as a rear guard.)
4x: Captain Nightmist (As a rear guard, when placed, I can call a grade 1 or less card from my drop zone.  If I have 10 or more in drop, I can call whatever unit from the drop.  Good card for building up my board.)
4x: Commodore Blueblood (Rear guard skill is if I have another Blueblood in drop, it gains 4k.  Its other skill is that when it hits, I can retire this unit and draw 2 cards and discard a card.  Good way to plus one and build up the drop zone.)

Grade 1's:
4x: Dandy Guy, Romario (Rear guard skill is that it gains 4k if I have 10 or more cards in drop zone.  Second skill is that when rode upon, counterblast and put a card from hand to soul to mill 3 cards and return a card from drop zone to your hand.)
4x: Dancing Cutlass (This unit can call itself from drop to rear guard by binding another cutlass from drop.  Plus it counter charges when called this way.  The deck is counterblast heavy, so that extra counter charge really helps.)
2x: Evil Shade (Rear guard skill is once per turn that I can call a unit from drop by binding the card with the same name as the unit called by Evil Shade's skill for a counterblast.  Good way of calling my Flanger or Skull Dragons from drop.)
2x: Norman the Ghostie (This unit can retire itself and mill 2 cards from my deck to give another unit an additional 10k.  Good for adding more power to my Bluebloods for more pressure or Flanger.)

Grade 0's:
4x: Knight Spirit (Critical Trigger)
4x: Mortal Mimic (Critical Trigger)
4x: Gust Djinn (Draw Trigger and Sentinel)
4x: Rick the Ghostie (Heal Trigger)
1x: Guiding Zombie (Starting grade 0 when rode upon you draw a card)

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Tachikaze Roar!

Hello Cardfighters!  Major Spades here with another deck profile.  From now on, I will try my best to post content ever week with probably one or two post that will include deck profiles and tournament reports with my standard decks.  Mostly going to be my Oracle Think Tank deck since I need practice for Chara Expo, but I will try my best to post reports on my other decks.  This time around its my standard deck for Tachikaze.  I love Tachikaze when they first came out because I love dinosaurs, and they remind me of the anime series Zoids.  I love the new mechanic for Tachikaze which is called equip gauge.  What this mechanic does is that certain skills on cards for Tachikaze places the top card face down under a unit.  You may also look at the face down card when placed under the specified unit.  This mechanic is quite unique, and cards with skills that put gauge under a unit gains power for each gauge or lets me add those gauges to my hand.  Another thing is that any remaining gauges under a rear guard that can't be added to hand end up going to the drop zone.
  Mainly the deck gains power and lets me build hand advantage.  There is a lot of gauging, swapping and retiring, but I will do my best to clarify those mechanics further into the deck profile.  This clan is also a clan that utilizes the accel gift which lets me get an additional rear guard circle for more attacks.  In this deck, I play critical triggers in this deck.  I don't play front triggers where it gives all my front row rear guards 10k.  This deck is meant to kill my opponent as quick as possible with huge rear guards.  The setback to Tachikaze is that our equip gauges could be triggers, and it sucks to lose triggers from deck.  Its good guarding but sucks to lose one or more triggers from deck. Lets get into the deck profile:

Grade 3's:
4x: Ravenous Dragon, Gigarex (My main grade 3, and this unit lets me put up to one card from the top of my deck to each of my rear guards as an equip gauge, and it gains 5k for each of my rear guards.  Gigarex's last skill lets me discard 5 equip gauges from rear guards to deal a damage to my opponent if they are at 4 or less damage.  Not only this card becomes big from his skill as a Vanguard, but the damage skill helps out whenever I am behind.  I rarely use the skill if I have the opportunity to use it.)
3x: Tyrant, Deathrex (Vanguard or rear guard this unit gains 10k for each equip gauge attached to one of my rear guards it retires for a soul blast.  In addition, I get to retire one of my opponent's rear guards.  Very good card on rear guard or accel circle.  Best target to put a critical on.)
1x: Savage King (Rear guard skill.  This unit lets me move all my equip gauges from one rear guard to Savage King, and it gains 5k for each equip gauge under it.  Very good beat stick and pressure card on both rear and accel circle and another target to put a critical on.)

Grade 2's:
4x: Ravenous Dragon, Megarex (When attacking on Vanguard or rear guard circle, this unit lets me retire one of my rear guards and lets me draw a card.  If its on rear guard, I can put an equip gauge under it, and it gains 5k for each equip gauge under it for a counterblast.  Another potential beat stick and a target for Deathrex once I stack a lot of equip gauges to it.  It is also a combo piece for my Blightops and Laceraterex once when I discuss it further in the deck profile.)
4x: Assault Dragon, Blightops (When its retired, this unit lets me add up to 2 equip gauges from it to my hand as a rear guard for one counterblast.  Very good target for my Deathrex, Megarex or Sonic Noa.)
4x: Savage Raider (When placed from hand to rear guard, it lets me put an equip gauge to an other rear guard.  Second skill, when it attacks, I can move any number of equip gauges from a rear guard to another, so I can move a gauge or two to another rear guard with a lot of gauge, so they can be retire fodder for my Deathrex or gauge fodder for Savage King.)
1x: Attempt Mammoth (Rear guard skill.  This unit forces my opponent to guard with two cards from hand whenever they are guarding for Mammoth's attack.  The set back to this card is that it needs a gauge to stay alive otherwise it dies if I have no equip gauge onto it.  That's why Gigarex is suppose to be my main grade 3, and its very good on an accel circle.)

Grade 1's:
4x: Sonic Noa (Rear guard skill is when it is boosting a unit, put an equip gauge under the boosted rear guard.  Its Vanguard and rear guard skill is that when it hits while attacking or boosting, retire one of my rear guards and draw a card.  This card has a very good combo with Laceraterex and Blightops cause I can stack a gauge or two for them and retire one of them, and I can add up to one or two gauge to hand depending on the unit while I draw and extra card from Noa.  Even if I have alot of gauge under Blightops or Laceraterex, I can look at them and choose which ones to add to my hand.)
4x: Vicious Claw Dragon, Laceraterex (As a rear guard when placed, I get to equip a gauge under it.  When retired, I get to add that gauge to my hand for a soul blast.  Good target for Sonic Noa and Megarex to plus from their skill and add a gauge from it to hand.)
2x: Winged Dragon, Skypero (As a rear guard, When it get retired, I can add it back to my hand for a counterblast.)
2x: Winged Dragon, Beamptero (As a rear guard, when retired, I can give 3 of my units 3k.)

Grade 0's:
4x: Black Cannon Tiger (Critical Trigger)
4x: Savage Aggressor (Critcal Trigger)
4x: Archbird (Draw Trigger and Sentinel)
4x: Savage Shaman (Heal Trigger)
1x: Dragon Egg (Like most starting Vanguards, They let me draw an extra card when rode upon.)

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Foresee the Future Oracle Think Tank

Hello Cardfighters!  Major Spades back from the hiatus from my depression and motivational problems.  I been having problems coping with my depression and schizophrenia for a long time, and I am sorry if its too much information to you guys and my hiatus, but I will do my best to post as much content as possible.  From the past, I have been posting some G era decks.  I have stopped playing G era ever since the last support for Gears came out.  Now I have been playing standard.  So far I love standard.  I love that now perfect guards are draw triggers, so I plus when I trigger them, and they are a perfect guard.  It gives me a lot more options to fit other units in my deck rather than having them be grade 1 units.  I love that now grade 3's have the ability to grant imaginary gifts.  There are 3 types of imaginary gifts which are force, accel and protect.  Whenever you ride a grade 3, you acquire these gifts.  Force lets you choose any rear guard circle and give that circle 10k for the whole game during your turn.  Accel gives you an additional rear guard circle for more attacks.  Protect is literally adding an additional perfect guard to your hand, and my clan deck profile uses protect.  Standard to me is more luck based err well my deck profile is more likely my clan forging my luck.  So far until this day Oracle Think Tank has been my competitive deck for all local and big tournament events for Cardfight Vanguard standard.  My build isn't traditional like other standard OTT decks.  It's more pressure based.  I do have other decks for standard which are Tachikaze and Granblue.  Future decks I want to build for standard are Pale Moon, Dark Irregulars, Gold Paladin and Great Nature.  Lets get into the deck profile.

Grade 3's:
4x: Imperial Daughter (This unit lets you look at the top 2 cards of your deck, and you have the choice to put one in hand and one in soul or stack it on top of the deck for one counterblast.  Also, her skill when she rides on top of another grade 3, she gains 15k and a critical.  Last, her final skill to soul blast to give a unit 6k really helps to give units additional power to get to magic numbers.  She is the second grade 3 I ride after my ideal ride to CEO Amaterasu, and she comes in clutch stacking a trigger on top of the deck and adding a card to hand and that 15k and crit.)
4x: CEO Amaterasu (This unit lets you draw a card and lets you check the top card of your deck, and you have the choice to put it on the top or bottom of the deck for one counterblast.  She also gains 5k for every time you look at your deck on Vanguard or rear guard.)
2x: Victorious Deer (This card is my win condition.  Soul blast a grade 3 and discard a card from hand to look at the top 7 cards of the deck, and you reveal up to 2 critical triggers and stack them on top of the deck while you shuffle the rest at the bottom of the deck, and all your units gain 10k.  This card won me soo many games.  It develops soo much pressure, and it lets my opponent drop soo much cards from hand and perfect guards.  I try my best to keep deer alive unless I have another in hand, so I can use the skill multiple times.)

Grade 2's:
4x: Promise Daughter (This unit gets an additional 6k when attacking the Vanguard.  She also can't be retired by skills of other cards)
4x: Silent Tom (This unit gets 6k when placed for a counterblast, and his continuous skill prevents my opponent from calling normal units to guardian circle.  He is one of my pressure units where I can force perfect guards and triggers from their hand.)
3x: Battle Sister, Torte (This unit is 8k, but she gains 10k and an additional critical if I have 10 or more cards in my hand.  She is my other pressure unit, and she sometimes win me games along with Silent Tom.  I build up hand soo fast.  I know a lot of standard builds use Yellow Witch Meme and Sotoorihime.  Yeah Meme lets me look at the top card of my deck, but I have soo many cards that do that like Amaterasu, Imperial Daughter and Farfalle Magus.  She is a good card overall, but I like my way of pressuring my opponent to lose cards from hand from Tom and Torte.  Sotoorihime is good too, but I don't want to pay a counterblast just to draw into a card that I don't know before hand like a trigger.  She filters, but I don't want to drop a card from hand because I want to keep my triggers in hand for guarding, Imperial Daughters, and essential grade 2's like Tom, Torte and Promise Daughter.  Even if I draw a trigger, I don't want to discard a trigger for it.)

Grade 1's:
4x: Circle Magus (This unit lets me draw a card when rode upon for a counterblast.  My ideal grade 1 ride)
4x: Farfalle Magus (This unit lets me look at the top card of my deck, and I have the choice to leave it on top or bottom of the deck when she is placed on rear guard.)
1x: Luck Bird (This unit gets 6k and draws me a card for soul blasting 2 cards)
1x: Goddess of Tide of Times, Mizunohame (This unit gets 6k while boosting the Vanguard if my damage is 3 or more.  If I have her in my hand, I play her behind Vanguard, so my Imperial Daughters will hit for 26 without the 15k and critical or 41k with the 15k and critical.)
1x: Oracle Guardian, Gemini (This unit counter charges if I have 3 or more cards in my damage zone.  Before, I played 2, but I am trying out this card which is the next unit on this list.)
1x: Goddess of Forbearance, Ohmiyanome (I might be contradicting myself with my view on Sotoorihime, and I apologize for it, but she is my one tech card I am trying out with the deck.  This unit makes me draw 3 cards just for one counterblast and retire this unit, but she lets me discard 3 cards at the end of my turn.  I tried her for a bit, and she helps me filter and gain the hand size for Torte.  It also helps me rearrange my hand if I need more triggers for big attacks like Dragonic Waterfall where it gains 10k and a critical just for soul blasting a grade 3, and it prevents me from using perfect guards from hand.  Ohmiyanome helps with situations where I need to guard with trigger units.  I am trying her out just to see how well she does in my deck.  If I don't like it, I will return Gemini to 2.)

Grade 0's:
4x: Psychic Bird (Critical Trigger)
4x: Oracle Guardian, Nike (Critical Trigger)
4x: Weather Forcaster, Miss Mist (Draw Trigger and Perfect Guard)
4x: Sphere Magus (Heal Trigger)
1x: Lozenge Magus (Like most of all starting grade 0 units they let you draw a card when you ride on top of this unit.)