Simple Deckbuilding Guide

I made the following post on Pojo, as there seems to be a few people that needed deck help after taking up the English version of Vanguard that just came out.

If you haven't figured it out by now, there are many strategies in the Vanguard TCG that can make you either win or lose the game, hell, each "clan" is based off one of these strategies.

Ladies(However few there may be) and Mentelgen, I come here today wanting to discuss the "metagame" as the title suggests. What do you think makes the meta in Vanguard?

To me, the game has always been about "plus-ing" in either hand or field and "big beats" to make the opponent "neg", this is explained very well in the "Magic Numbers" theory.

The combination of the two above, I believe make the "meta" and it can be seen in the decks that are constantly winning in the big Japanese events, which are mostly Paladins, who's abilities let them do of both of the above and the Kagero who are able to "neg" the opponent so that you are able to net advantage. Of course other decks are there, such as Oracle decks and what not.

So what can you do to keep up with the meta? Live every other card game, the major points are in deck building. For example, I personally use 4 null-guards in every single deck that i play, and the reason is pretty clear. And although i don't think i need to say it, 4 heal triggers is pretty much required for any deck, even though it's not a rule.

Now, besides the Heal triggers and the null guards, each clan has powerful "staple" cards that are used in most decks for the clan, no matter what the strategy of the deck is. Good examples of this is Silent Tom for Oracle Think Tanks, Blaster Blade for Paladins, Kimnala for Kagero, Claydoll Mechanic for Novas.

So how do you build a deck? Simple, pick an "engine" or a card that you want to base you deck around (In this example i will restrict myself to the English set 1 + the two initial trial decks). After picking the base of the deck it's really just adding in staples and complimentary cards that allow you to hit the "magic numbers" while firing off abilities to "plus".

EXAMPLE - Royal Paladins. (because EVERYONE and their DOGS play Paladins and ask for deck help)

Card Base - Alfred. Both abilities are amazing, potential 20k unboosted unit, and plus if ability is activated.

Total: 50 (17 + 14 + 12 +7)

Grade 0 - 17
1 x Barcgal - Starting vanguard, allows you to plus
4 x Llew(Crit) - Combos with Barcgal
4 x Epona(Crit) - 8 Critical triggers as Alfred is rarely blocked unless needed
4 x Flogal(stand) - Combo's with Barcgal + more offensive than draw
4 x Elaine(heal) - pretty much 4 heals is mandatory in every deck

As you can see the grade 0's/triggers are decided by the "base" of the Alfred/Barcgal engine, each choice has a reason to be there.

Grade 1 - 14
4 x Iseult/Isolde - Null guard
3 x Marron - 8k vanilla
3 x Starlight Unicorn - 6k + 2k to a unit when it hits field
4 x Lake Maiden Lian - Tap,Toss,Draw

The grade 1 selection pool at this point is very narrow; however Lake Maiden Lian is a very strong turn 1 play that lets you cycle hand, and is also useful behind alfred as alfred is unable to be boosted.
Null guard at 4 is my personal preference and may not be needed in set 1.
The Marron combos well with the grade 3 Knight of Conviction Bors to hit 21k and is able to maybe force an oracle/nova player to boost with their lozenge/battleraizer to hit your vanguard.
The starlight unicorn, though a 6000 unit, is able to be called to a rear guard circle and add the 2000 power onto Alfred, in the case you are hitting an 11k opposing vanguard.

Grade 2 - 12
4 x Blaster Blade - Barcgal searches
4 x Gallatin - 10k vanilla, able to hit almost everything unboosted
4 x Covenant Knight, Randolf - able to hit 11k if conditions are right

At this point, Not only is the grade 1 pool a bit shallow, the grade 2 pool is as well.
Blaster Blade is able to be searched out of deck by Barcgal's skill, and also has a very good ability. Both lake maidens and marrons are able to boost him to 16k and above.
Gallatin is a 10k vanilla, which allows him to be able to hit almost everything without a supporting rear guard. Everything in the grade 1 lineup is able to bring him to a minimum of 16k. And in the situation of a stand trigger, a solid 15k attack is nice
Randolf is able to hit 11k under the right conditions, if these conditiosn fail, you are able to put marron behind him to hit 16k. Under the right conditions, you are also able to hit for 16k if you trigger a stand trigger.

Grade 3 - 7
4 x King if Knights Alfred
3 x Knight Of Conviction, Bors

As you can see, the grade 3's are usually the most powerful, with the potential to boost themselves to high power to attack and reach higher "magic numbers" pretty self explanitory

So a simple paladin deck from set 1 was built in a matter of minutes with some number logic. The deck will probably need to be played a few times and tested to be adjusted to personal preferences.

There has also been a few people asking about the grade distribution of a deck, usually a deck will have:
16-17 grade 0s
12-14 grade 1s
10-12 grade 2s
6-8 grade 3s

However the numbers depend on the deck, as an Asura Kaiser nova grappler deck will run more grade 3's than normal i.e. 8-10.

Any other questions can be posted below.

Neonectar

With the coming of set 5, 13k vanguards aren't the only thing coming... A new clan called Neonectar will be released within the set.

Little is known about the clan at this point in time, however it can be assumed from the abilities provided within the previous few "Card Of The Day" previews that the clan revolves around building up field presence, and the field presence boosting the card abilities.

So far officially shown by card of the day is:

Knight Of Harvest Gene

This card, when it's attack hits the opponents vanguard, is able to search out two "Knight of Young Leaves, Gene" and call them to rear guard spaces at the cost of returning Knight of Harvest, Gene back to the top of the deck, and shuffling the deck.

Hey Yo Pineapple

This card gains 3000 power when attacking if there are 4 or more vanguard and or rear guard cards of the Neonectar clan.

Maiden of Blossom Rain

This card is the standard null guard for this clan.

So far, with only these three cards, it seems that this clan will be a "minimum rarity" deck, as there will be no RRR cards of this clan, which can be seen in the fact that the first RR is the neonectar null guard, while the first RRR isn't a neonectar clan card at all.

For now, i believe this clan will be a very fun to play card, with heavy "plusses" in field presence at almost no cost whatsoever. I'll be staying tuned to the news for the rest of the clan.

Return and the Meta game.

Been a while since i last posted, kind of forgot that this existed >.>...

I guess the newest update would be on the meta game at the moment as of set 4 + comic styles, though it will be subject to change very soon with the induction of the new 13k passive grade "3.5" cards that will be released in set 5.

As you can see, in the link provided - http://cf-vanguard.com/cardlist/deckrecipe/
Deck lists for the Japanese tournament winners have been provided with each major event, much like other TCG such as YGO and the YCS events.

The most recent event decks, and even the older ones, are mostly of the Royal Paladin clan, with Kagero/Heat Haze, coming in a very close second, and the occasional Oracle Think Tank. This is because that these three clans have a lot of support in both attackers and boosters, and are able to reach a very high attacking power, or in oracle's case, are able to make grade 0 guards useless.

Therefore, from the beginning, this card game has been about "plus-ing" and "big beats", being able to reach attack values that require the opponent to use up more hand cards to guard, while gaining hand or field advantage.

To counter the "big beats", it is almost a requirement to run a full set of "null guards", which are grade 1, 0 shields with the ability to block the attack of an opposing card.

If there are any questions ore requests, post a comment below. I'll get back to you with either a blog post or a comment, whichever one is needed.