Well judging from the title you should already know what are the things I, Brian will cover today and the reason I wanted to share this is because playing this intense heart-trumping card game is one of my favourite past times , I'll do my best to share my experience with you viewers. So please enjoy !
What is "Cardfight:Vanguard"?
Cardfight:Vanguard is an intense official trading card game that was introduced by Bushiroad on February 26 2011 in Japan and released internationally on May 12 2011 in Singapore.As well as a trading card game,Cardfight:Vanguard was also shown on the anime television series which was produced by TMS Entertainment and aired in Japan on TV Tokyo starting on January 8 2011.A manga series was also announced and began publishing in Kerokero Ace magazine on March 26, 2011. A second season for the anime under the title Cardfight!! Vanguard: Asia Circuit (カードファイト!! ヴァンガード アジアサーキット編 Kādofaito!! Vangādo Ajia Sākito Hen, lit. Cardfight!! Vanguard Asia Circuit Chapter) began airing on April 8, 2012. A third season for the anime began airing on January 13, 2013 under the title Cardfight!! Vanguard: Link Joker (カードファイト!! ヴァンガード リンクジョーカー編 Kādofaito!! Vangādo Rinku Jōkā Hen, lit. Cardfight!! Vanguard Link Joker Chapter). A fourth season for the anime with the subtitle Legion Mate (レギオンメイト編 Region Meito Hen, lit. Legion Mate Chapter) began airing on March 9, 2014. An anime/live action film was released on September 13, 2014 in Japan.A fifth season titled Cardfight!! Vanguard G premiered on October 26, 2014.
However, in this blog post I will be only focusing in the trading card game.To start off, the basic premise of the trading card game, as explained in the anime,
is that the two players represent astral spirits dueling on the
fictional planet Cray. The cards in players' decks, called "Units",
represent characters from Cray that players can "Call" to the field to
fight for them. Players alternate turns calling, attacking, and
defending with units. When one player reaches six damage, or there are
no more cards in his or her deck, that player loses the game.
Furthermore, each unit has a Name, Clan, Power Level, Shield Value, Critical Value,
one or more Skills, and "Grade", which ranges from 0 to 4. Overall
strength of units increases with grade, but a unit can only be called if
the player's vanguard is of that grade or higher. A deck must contain
exactly fifty cards, including exactly sixteen "Trigger Units." There
can be no more than four copies of the same card, no more than four
total Heal Triggers, and no more than four cards with the keyword Sentinel (守護者 Senchineru)
in a deck. There is otherwise no restriction on how many cards of a
certain clan or grade must be used. There may also be an extra eight
cards, but they all have to be G-units, and they do not count in your
deck. They are placed in a separate place called the Generation Zone
located above the damage.
The game begins when the players place a grade 0 unit, the titular
"Vanguard", face-down in the center of their playing area, and each draw
five cards. Each player is allowed one "Redraw" by shuffling any number
of cards from the starting hand into the deck and drawing the same
number of cards. Players randomly decide who goes first and reveal their
starting Vanguards; the player who goes first cannot attack during the
first turn. To use a unit to attack or activate certain skills, the
player must rotate it from its normal position ("Standing") to 90
degrees clockwise ("Resting"). At the beginning of a player's turn,
during the Stand Phase, that player stands all his or her rested units,
so they can be used again. During the Draw Phase, the player draws a
card. Then, during the G-Assist Phase, the player can put two "G units"
and two cards from the deck out of the play area and check for a card
one grade higher than his vanguard, and "Ride" it, putting it on top of
the current vanguard. However, to G-assist, the player should not have
any cards with a higher grade by one in his hand. Next, during the Ride
Phase, the player can choose a unit from the hand that is either the
same grade or one grade higher than the current vanguard, which rides
over top of the former vanguard(the card stack underneath the Vanguard
is called the "Soul"). If there was a G-assist and you successfully rode
earlier, this phase is skipped.Afterwards is the Stride Step in which
the player can put cards in a discard pile called the "Drop Zone" whose
grades sum up to three or higher, choose a G-unit from the Generation
Zone, and put in on top of the current vanguard, the previous vanguard
considered a "heart." The strided card gets the hearts' name and power
and adds it to its own. During the Main Phase, the player can call
"Rear-Guard" units to five additional spaces: one each to the left and
right of the vanguard, and three to the back row. The player can move
rear-guards between the front and back row in that column and can
"Retire" a rear-guard to call a new one in that space. Retired units are
put into the discard pile ("Drop Zone").
The next part of the turn is the Battle Phase. The player can conduct
any number of battles in sequence, and can attack with the same unit
more than once as long as it is standing when the attack is declared. A
battle is conducted by resting a front-row unit and choosing an opposing
front-row unit to be attacked. If there is a standing grade 0 or 1 unit
behind the attacker, it can "Boost" by resting, which adds its power to
the attacker's. Then, the defending player has the chance to either
take the attack or "Guard" with units from his or her hand and/or to
"Intercept" by guarding with grade 2 rear-guards in the front row.
Guarding units add their shield value to the defender's power, but are
retired immediately when the battle ends. After guards are declared, if
the attacker is a vanguard, the attacking player performs a "Drive
Trigger Check": the player reveals the top card of his or her deck in
the "Trigger Zone" and then adds it to his or her hand. Attacking grade 3
vanguards have the "Twin Drive!!" skill, which causes an additional
drive check to occur after the first check is completed. G-units have a
Triple Drive!!!" skill, causing three drive checks. If a trigger unit
that matches the clan of one of the checking player's units is revealed
during a Drive Check, one of that player's units gains 5000 power, and
one of four possible effects may occur:
- Critical (Yellow): a unit gets +1 critical value.
- Draw (Red): the player draws one more card from the deck.
- Stand (Blue): a rested rear-guard unit stands.
- Heal (Green): the player "Heals" by moving a card from the
damage zone to the drop zone, but only if his or her damage is equal to
or higher than the opponent's before checking the trigger.
The power boost and additional trigger effect can either be given to one unit or divided amongst two units.
When the attacker's power is equal to or greater than the defender's,
the attack hits; otherwise, nothing happens. If a rear-guard unit is
hit by the attack, it is retired. If a vanguard is hit, however, it
remains in play and the defending player makes a number of "Damage
Trigger Checks" equal to the attacker's critical value. The process
works exactly like a Drive Check, but the revealed card is put into the
"Damage Zone" instead of the hand. After the attacking player has
finished conducting battles, the turn enters the End Phase, where
certain effects may happen, and the strided unit (if the player strode)
goes back to the Generation zone face up (Face-up G-units cannot be used
to stride), before going on the next player's turn.
Nations and Clans
Units in Vanguard are organized in Nations and Clans. Nations
are the different countries that Planet Cray is divided in, with a total
of six nations. Each nation is subsequently subdivided in clans, which
are groups of units that band together to form an alliance. Each clan
usually has its own unique aesthetic, and bases its play style around a
certain skill.
- United Sanctuary: A small, holy nation that combines old traditions with scientific technology. Represented by the color yellow.
- Royal Paladin
- Shadow Paladin
- Gold Paladin
- Oracle Think Tank
- Genesis
- Angel Feather
- Dragon Empire: The largest nation of all, the Dragon Empire
is a militaristic monarchy that is bent on conquering the other nations.
Represented by the color red.
- Kagerō
- Narukami
- Nubatama
- Murakumo
- Tachikaze
- Dark Zone: A dark and mysterious nation whose leadership is
constantly disputed between the various demonic and magical creatures
that inhabit it. Represented by the color purple.
- Dark Irregulars
- Spike Brothers
- Pale Moon
- Gear Chronicle
- Magallanica: An archipelago nation of islands which is
inhabited by all sorts of creatures, from undying immortals to charming
inhabitants of the sea. Represented by the color blue.
- Granblue
- Bermuda Triangle
- Aqua Force
- Zoo: An extremely fertile and nature-attuned nation situated
in the east of Cray, that houses the most intelligent creatures in the
world, sentient plants & bioroids, as well as the most heinous
criminals. Represented by the color green.
- Megacolony
- Great Nature
- Neo Nectar
- Star Gate: A nation situated in Cray's southern pole, in
which a spaceport operated by the Comercial Wrestling Federation
attracts all kind of visitors from outer space and alternate realities.
Represented by the color gray.
- Nova Grappler
- Dimension Police
- Link Joker
- Etranger
Joke Of The Day #5 (JOB)
I think I want a job cleaning mirrors. Its just something I could really see myself doing.
