Double the Smiles - Bermuda Triangle (Duo)

I have finally returned from a long journey out at sea, training in the ways of both the admiral and the idol. Before I begin to show you the fruits of my training, I would first like to thank our newest staff member, Richard, for bringing his boundless enthusiasm for the game of "Cardfight!! Vanguard" to the table and publishing content while the rest of us were too occupied! Now without further ado, with the recent release of Extra Booster 10: Divas Duet, I will bring you all some smiles with a Bermuda Triangle build from myself featuring the Duo subclan!

Well, not quite like this, but you get the idea!

Now, for those of you who have not ventured out into the seven seas as far as I have, the Duo is the second subclan of Bermuda Triangle like the PR♥ISM released first in Extra Booster 06: Dazzling Divas. Whereas PR♥ISM focuses on powering up their fellow mermaid idols on stage upon being returned to the hand and bringing them back out for the real performance when called out by the Vanguard Labrador, Duo behaves a bit more differently. Besides having two different outfits to exhibit a white and a black side of themselves, the members of Duo act in pairs or trios of themselves to be able to give a stunning performance.

Anyways, onto the lineup of performers!
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Grade 0 (17):
1x Duo Lovers Singer, Darling
4x Duo Tropical Healer, Medjerda (Heal Trigger)
4x Heartful Ale, Fundy (Draw Trigger)
4x Duo Pride Crown, Madeira (Critical Trigger)
4x Duo Grampus Turn, Shannon (Critical Trigger)

Grade 1 (14):
2x Duo Beast Ear, Lu Lu
4x PR♥ISM-Duo, Aria
4x Duo Pretty Horn, Ural
4x Duo Shiny Tone, Cikola

Grade 2 (11):
4x Duo Mini Heart, Rhone
4x Duo Kelpie Jockey, Syr Darya
3x Duo White Crystal, Ricca

Grade 3 (8):
4x Duo True Sister, Meer
4x Duo Temptation, Reit
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This honorary Duo member's flavor text
says it all!

Starting with Grade 0s, we have a new Forerunner type First Vanguard made for Duos, Darling. Darling allows us to place her into the Soul to bounce all copies of a Rear-Guard with "Duo" in its card name. This helps us optimally use the skills of some of our cards, re-use on-play abilities, and re-arrange our field to some extent. A very nice utility card. Some people may forgo this in favor of Bermuda Triangle Cadet, Shizuka, a Grade 3 searcher that we all know is prone to failure, but I feel it's not too necessary. Besides, if you are afraid of Ambush Dragon Eradicator, Linchu, this can be shoved into Soul without a Counter-Blast cost. As for triggers, I opted for Fundy over any of the Duo Draw Triggers as I feel her Soul generation and Power boost abilities are much too valuable for this type of deck.

Something you'll notice about the Grade 1s is that it lacks early offensive units in the form of 10000 POWER Attackers that we are familiar with in most builds focusing on one subclan. As with most Bermuda Triangle builds, Duo is a variant that performs more optimally at later stages of the game and requires specific setup to do so. This Grade 1 lineup utilizes more power gainer cards to be able to make larger columns to land easy hits or force out more cards from the

opponent. Lu Lu allows us to make easy 9000 and 11000 boosters if necessary when she comes into play. Just 2 because I can easily reuse her with various abilities in this deck. You'll also notice that EB10 has given us a Perfect Guard for both PR♥ISM and Duo in one, so there is less worry when it comes to utilizing Especial Counter-Blasts. Cikola has an

We need more POWER! Unlimited POWER!
POWER to bring more smiles!

interesting ability. She is similar to Celtic and Clear of PR♥ISM in that she gives another Bermuda Triangle unit a POWER boost of 4000. However, instead of a Soul-Blast, she costs a Counter-Blast. Now, this may seem expensive at first, but then she has a follow-up to this. At the time she is bounced from Rear-Guard Circle to hand, you may also reveal up to 3 copies of her from your hand. If you reveal 3, unflip a damage. Wait, a potentially free POWER boost? Sign me up! But now you might be asking, how does one reliably get the extra pieces to hand if I do not have enough on Rear-Guard Circles to return them using Darling? Well, read onto to find out! Ural is included in a whopping 4 for extra draw power as this deck can easily generate Soul with Fundy and another card I will mention later.

And they once called Viviane a
dangerous woman on the frontlines...
Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to be
dazzled by a new take on the
pressure unit! 

Spearheading my Grade 2 lineup is Rhone. Rhone will remind you cards like Player of the Holy Bow, Viviane with an advantage gaining on-hit skill. Upon hitting the Vanguard, you may Especial Counter-Blast 1 to bounce a Duo Rear-Guard to your hand AND search your deck for a card with the same name and add it to your hand! That allows us to have 2 guaranteed copies of a Duo upon Rhone hitting, so we can set up to optimally use cards like Cikola to get free POWER boosts and get extra cards overall to help set up for future plays. Syr Darya is the standard 12000 POWER Attacker and can make easy 21000 columns with Lu Lu or even a Ural if a Cikola's skill goes off. Rounding off our Grade 2s are a trio of Riccas to help generate even more Soul and to increase the longevity of resources.

Grade 3s are quite simple. 4 Break Rides in the form of Meer, which gives the Break Ridden Vanguard the standard 10000 POWER boost and the ability to Counter-Blast 1 while attacking to return ALL Bermuda Triangle Rear-Guards from your field to hand and call two from your hand. This can essentially give you 1-2 additional attacks AND activate skills like those of Ricca and Cikola as well as reusing cards like Lu Lu and Ural on subsequent turns. Of course, the true focus is the title card of the booster, Reit. She may give off a Vocaloid vibe thanks to KEI, the guy who draws the official art for Hatsune Miku, being the artist, but do not be tricked. This idol does not have a synthetic voice and is not as obedient as her supposed doppelganger may be. What I mean by that is the strict requirement for her Limit Break, but before I jump into that, let me move onto her non-Limit Break skill first. When she attacks, you may Soul-Blast 1 (which I should have a ton of if the ship sails smoothly) to return a Duo Rear-Guard to your hand. This along with the early game setup of Darling and Rhone should help ensure that her Limit Break goes off at least once in a game. At the close step of the battle that she attacked, you may Counter-Blast 2 and discard 2 Duo cards with the SAME name to re-Stand her and give her an additional 3000 POWER. If you combo her with Cikola, you can have her re-Stand at 18000 POWER before accounting for triggers, forcing out a minimum of 10000 Shield even from Crossridden Vanguards! As we all know from cards like Dragonic Overlord the End and Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant, re-Standing Vanguards are nothing to scoff at, and Reit is no exception. Of course, this can also be used in a gimmicky Break Ride tactic involving the usage of 4 Counter-Blasts in one turn with Meer to get off 6-8 attacks in a turn a-la the Beast Deity Infinite Hell! Due to the strict requirement for her Limit Break re-Standing skill, I maximized card quantities throughout the deck. 

You thought the one giving the final and encore performances was a Vocaloid?
It was actually me, Reit! 

Being a Bermuda Triangle subclan that tries to set up for late-game explosive plays, this deck cannot afford to grind as long as some other decks like those based around the Revenger subclan. This is due to how quickly one can go through in this deck with searching and blind Soul-Charging. Some people might question my preference for using Ural or Cikola over Peace. This is due to Ural being more reliable and not requiring Counter-Blasts at any point as well as not requiring me to have a way to bounce to be able to get the draw skill off. Also helps if I am playing against an Eradicator build of Narukami and the opposing First Vanguard is Ambush Dragon Eradicator, Linchu. I can just shove Darling into the Soul and use Ural on the turn I ride to Grade 2 to get a free card! Yes, Peace can help you get ridiculous amounts of cards in your hand should you be able to garner the copies of her and get a Break Ride off or two, but you do not want to speed up the clock this deck has as it is. Cikola provides extra POWER that can help me clinch a game or force out key cards from my opponent to ensure their survival. In the end, forcing cards out of your opponent's hand and field is more important to victory than amassing cards for yourself. Besides, as a friend of mine once told me, "It's not a minus if you win!" 


With that said, break a leg and bring smiles to your audience by showing them how brightly you can sparkle in the spotlight with the Duo!

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Rin Dunois