As usual, I went to locals for the Vanguard tournaments. After two weeks of skipping the morning Vanguard tournament, I actually participated this week. My friend who plays Vanguard was there, as well. He sold his Tsukuyomi deck because it had failed him too much, and he ended up making a Spectral Duke Gold Paladin deck and finishing his Pale Moon deck. Despite the existence of crossrides, Spectral Duke seems to be quite popular.
Anyways, I used my Dark Irregulars deck and my friend used his Pale Moon deck. There were about nine players there for the morning Vanguard tournament. Apparently, the shopkeeper decided to make the rounds best-of-one because that's how Bushiroad likes it: skillless.
I played against a newbie Royal Paladin player in the first round and won; I almost lost due to drawing a bunch of triggers, so I was unable to make a real field. I lost the second round against my Round 4 opponent from this morning Vanguard tournament. He switched to a Reijy build, happened to open with an amazing hand, and got Draw Triggers as the first two damage I dealt him, so he was just able to swarm me, while I didn't get any triggers. I ended up playing against my Round 3 opponent from this morning Vanguard tournament in the third round. He was playing an incomplete Phantom Blaster Overlord deck, and he got gradestuck, so I was able to win pretty easily.
With that, I ended up going 2-1 and getting 3rd place, winning me one additional pack. I ended up getting packs of EB01 so I could get Machining Megacolony stuff, Nova Grappler stuff (specifically Wall Boys), and Murakumo stuff. I pulled a Wall Boy, a High-Powered Raizer Custom, and a Perfect Raizer from my two packs. That was annoying, since I don't like the Raizer series. I ended up giving the Raizer stuff to my friend, and he gave me his Megacolony and Murakumo stuff, including a Dueling Dragon, ZANBAKU.
After the tournament, my Round 3 opponent gave me the Rumble Gun Dragon that he pulled from the new promo pack along with a Machining Stag Beetle, so I gave him the Aqua Force promo I pulled (it's bad, so I didn't care). My friend pulled a Flare Whip Dragon and gave it to me, so that was cool, too. I also traded the Mandala Lord I pulled a long time ago to my Round 2 opponent for a Machining Stag Beetle. I was able to mooch a bunch of Megacolony Commons from EB01 off of various people, so all I needed from EB01 at this point was Stag Beetles, ZANBAKUs, and Wall Boys.
Between tournaments, my friend and I played Kaijudo. I was using a Light/Water/Darkness Cobalt Control deck that will be featured in videos on my YouTube channel later this week, and he was using the Water/Darkness/Nature Dragon deck that I built for him, at his request. He realized that Nature isn't good late game, so we discussed it, and we're going to drop the Nature section to add a Fire section to the deck. I'll be working on that later this week. He may even participate in the Kaijudo Duel Days starting next weekend.
After all that, I asked to try out his finished Pale Moon deck. So, I used it against his Spectral Duke deck; we ended up playing four games, and we each won two (I won the two where he missed his ride chain, and I lost one game due to getting gradestuck on Grade 0). I thought about it, and decided that I wanted to use his Pale Moon deck in the evening Vanguard tournament. He didn't care, since he'd just be using his Spectral Duke deck, so I ended up using it. I figured that even though I wanted to win packs of EB01, it didn't really matter, and I was getting kind of bored playing Dark Irregulars.
But yeah, the Pale Moon deck I used was one based around Crimson Beast Tamer. The main Grade 3's are Barking Manticore and Midnight Invader. He teched in a Luquier and a Mistress Hurricane. I took out the latter for a third Midnight Invader, which I just happened to have on me. Anyways, there were about 20 players there for the evening Vanguard tournament.
Round 1: vs Nova Grappler
I recognized this guy as a Pellinore Gold Paladin player, so I wasn't too worried. But then he told me that he had sold his Gold Paladin deck. Anyways, he didn't play very well; he attacked in incorrect orders, which matters a lot in Nova Grapplers. I ended up losing the first game because he kept getting Critical Triggers, but I won the other two because he refused to attack my Vanguard with his rear-guards. He wanted his on-hit effects to work (Azure Dragon and White Tiger), but I actually know how to play, so I was able to win.
XOO
Round 2: vs Royal Paladin (Majesty Lord)
This was my opponent from the finals of this evening Vanguard tournament. He saw my previous match, so he knew what I was playing. I got gradestuck on Grade 2 in the first game, but I kept pulling triggers on both drive checks and damage checks, so I was able to keep up with him. He ended up drive checking three Grade 3's over the course of two turns, so I was able to finish him off after riding to Grade 3. I won the second game because Turquoise Beast Tamer behind Barking Manticore is a 22k column, which laughs at Majesty Lord Blaster's 12k defense.
OO
Round 3: vs Kagero (The End)
This was my Round 2 opponent from last weekend's evening Vanguard tournament. He still played as badly as ever, but he gave me a couple Wall Boys, so that was nice of him. Oh, and apparently, my Round 2 opponent was using this guy's Majesty Lord deck, so this guy wastes more money on this game than I thought. Anyways, I was able to win the first game because he got gradestuck on Grade 2. I lost the second game because I couldn't amass a full field (which is unusual in Pale Moon, seeing as how you can use your soul to create a field). I won the third game because he rode The End before Dragonic Overlord, despite having them both on his third turn, because he wanted to try and force through the Persona Blast. He complained afterwards that he didn't drive check another The End after I let it through. The chances of that aren't exactly in your favor, silly person. Anyways, because he left himself with an 11k Vanguard, my 21k columns of Midnight Invaders and Turquoise Beast Tamers won me the game.
OXO
So, I somehow made it through the Swiss rounds undefeated with Pale Moon. My friend also went undefeated, so that was cool. At this point, they cut to Top 8. We both made it, of course, but unfortunately, so did three other Spectral Duke players.
Top 8: vs Megacolony
This was my Round 4 opponent from this evening Vanguard tournament. He's a competent player, and his deck was less incoherent than last time, but it was still weird. Anyways, he missed the Giraffa ride chain in the first game, but I got gradestuck on Grade 2, so I still lost. I won the other two games with my 21k columns, though. What lost him the game was that he refused to put a booster behind his Vanguard unless it was Stealth Millipede, so I was just able to guard his Vanguard with one 10k shield each time.
XOO
So I was in the same bracket as my friend, so if he were to win, we would've been paired up against each other. He ended up losing to double Critical Triggers against another Spectral Duke player. Oh, and the other two players who made it to the Top 4 were Spectral Duke players. Yeah, I don't get how Spectral Duke can get this far since it's supposed to auto-lose to crossrides. I mean, Gold Paladin decks in general cannot make 18k rear-guard columns reliably...
Top 4: vs Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke)
This was my opponent from the finals of this evening Vanguard tournament. He got double Critical Triggers when I was at like 2 damage when he rode up to Spectral Duke Dragon, and he was already at 4 damage because he didn't guard anything at all, so he stood back up and killed me. After that game and before the second, the other Top 4 match had finished (my Top 8 match took forever). The loser of that match decided to just take the prize for 4th place and leave. That allowed the winner of that match, my opponent, and I to discuss a split. We agreed that if I were to win the next game (evening the score for the match), then the three of us would split the prizes for the Top 3. If I were to lose, then I'd get 3rd place and they would split the prizes for 1st and 2nd. In the second game, he ended up riding the Grade 1 Vortimer and grabbing the Grade 2 Vortimer with the Grade 0 Vortimer's effect, but he had no Grade 1's or 0's to call and retire next turn. That was great, so I was actually able to keep up in card advantage despite him getting the ride chain. In the end, I was able to win with the 21k columns after withstanding his Limit Break.
XO-
With that, we split the prizes for the Top 3, as agreed. I got 7 packs of EB01, in addition to the entry pack. Out of those 8 packs, I pulled a Golden Beast Tamer, High-Powered Raizer Custom, ZANBAKU, and Machining Stag Beetle. I also got some Wall Boys, so I gave one to my friend, who just needed one more. I also gave him the Grade 2 Raizer, so now he has three (he pulled one himself). Now I have two ZANBAKUs and three Stag Beetles, so that's good. I'll probably continue to get EB01 until I get a fourth Stag Beetle, which shouldn't take too long.
However, I may stop playing in Vanguard tournaments on Saturdays. I'll probably go the next three weeks (next week because I'll likely have nothing else to do, and the following two weeks due to the Vanguard Team League), but after that, I may start going to locals on Sundays instead. I've just been playing in the Vanguard tournaments because I've had nothing better to do. I'm going to start playing in Kaijudo tournaments starting next Sunday, and I found a card shop that has Vanguard tournaments every Sunday afternoon, so I could just go to those after the Kaijudo tournaments.
I'm definitely going to the Kaijudo tournament next Sunday with Aki, and my friend who plays Vanguard will likely be there. But after that, whether or not I'll be able to attend locals on both Saturday and Sunday ultimately depends on how much homework I get. We'll see what happens, I suppose.
Edison Deep Dive: Gladiator Beast
6 months ago
LOL, crossride auto lose to spectral duke is the same as why they auto lose to your DI or pale moon.
ReplyDeleteThat makes no sense. Spectral Duke Dragon cannot hit a 13k Vanguard without triggers, Flame of Victory, or Blessing Owl, the latter of which no one plays. Not to mention that Gold Paladins have a tough time making 18k rear-guard columns. Dark Irregulars and Pale Moon have 9k boosters, so they can make 18k columns really easily.
DeleteThe idea is that Spectral Duke's Limit Break is bad against a 12-13k Vanguard, and since all anyone in my area is playing is The End, Majesty Lord, or Spectral Duke, I don't see how Spectral Duke ends up doing the best. I suppose it's because of the sheer amount of people who are playing the deck, but still.
No need to think so hard. It just mean those crossride players are bad at playing. You will be surprised at the sheer amount of bad players.
DeleteI was talking about the decks, not the players who play them. And no, I wouldn't be surprised by the sheer amount of bad players. I mean, in just about every blog post about Vanguard, I imply that most Vanguard players are bad.
DeleteWell, if you think about it, gold paladin deck has many pluses. They call units from their deck, so usually they have lots of hand. The End may have 13k defense but they don't gain hand advantages, but what compensate the flaw is sheer power creep and retirement. Spectral duke usually outwin through massive hand, unless the players are stupid enough to overguard or something.
DeleteThey don't have that many pluses, though. The Spectral Duke ride chain gives them a relative +2, but over time, the fact that the The End player would barely have to guard the opponent's rear-guard columns should matter more.
DeleteThe probability of being able to crossride is about 50%, whereas the probability of successfully getting the Vortimer ride chain is closer to 30%, so the Spectral Duke player would only have an advantage in about one in every three games. Besides the Vortimer ride chain, the only way that Spectral Duke decks can reliably gain card advantage is through Garmore, but that's it.
This is Vanguard, though, so the luckier player will win more often than not, I suppose...
Well, gp has quite afew on hit unit, like Viviane and damage unflipper. Some even adds special interceptor which forces the players to guard them if they can and wasting turn to attack them, instead of rearguard. Kagero maybe able to retire units but they are counterblast heavy. Most The End players are ignorant, wasting their counterblast like no tomorrow. When they want to persona blast, they realize they are out of counterblast.
DeleteUm, Viviane and Tripp cannot force 10k worth of guard out of a 13k Vanguard because Gold Paladins don't have 9k boosters...
DeleteAgain, I'm not talking about the players. I mean, most players are bad, so there should be bad Gold Paladin players, just like how there are bad The End players.
What I mean using viviane or tripp on hit effect to pressure the players before they crossride. By the time they crossride, it's already late game, and the gp player would rush with 20k rearguard against The End. I doubt The End player would have much hand left, as compared to GP. I know you are talking about the deck, but it is really the players that define the decks, not the decks themselves.
Delete20k rear-guards...? Gold Paladins can barely make 16k half the time. The only way they could make 20k would be Gigantech Destroyer boosted by Gareth, which would honestly be a waste of a Gareth. This alone tells me that you don't know what you're talking about.
DeleteObviously, the players themselves have a great impact on the match-up, but when you consider match-ups between decks, you assume that both players are of the same skill level. Not to mention the fact that skill isn't really rewarded as much in Vanguard when compared to any other card game.
Yes, I am talking about that grade 3 destroyer. In late game, that would be your final column. Most spectral duke players run 4 of those, besides spectral duke. What else are you going to run if you are not going to run them?
DeleteMany Spectral Duke players use Garmore. But that's not the point. You implied that a 20k column would be good against a 13k Vanguard, which is misguided.
DeleteIf you put your Gareth behind your Gigantech Destroyer against The End, then your other columns probably won't hit 18k. 18k is the number to hit against The End, since that's the minimum number necessary to force 10k guard. You should save your Gareth to put behind your Vanguard (if you rode Garmore or missed the ride chain) or behind a 10k rear-guard. Then you can put basically any Grade 1 behind Gigantech Destroyer to make another 18k column to make sure that both of your rear-guard columns can force 10k guard out of a 13k Vanguard.
Yes, Gold Paladins can make 18k columns. Most decks can, but it's usually pretty difficult. Half the time you need your vanilla booster behind a vanilla attacker (either the Grade 2 10k or extra Grade 3's that do nothing in the rear-guard) to even hit 18k. That means that all of your 9k attackers won't be able to force 10k guard, unless you play a deck with 9k boosters. At this point, cards like Tripp, Viviane, Lop Ear Shooter, and the Grade 2 Vortimer become ineffective, and happens about one every two games by the fourth turn.
The point is that if you put Gareth behind Gigantech Destroyer against any deck that doesn't have 10k Grade 3 Vanguards, then that's just a waste. 20k doesn't force any more guard out of a 13k Vanguard than 18k, and it doesn't force any more guard out of an 11k Vanguard than 16k. This is basic math.
How can that megacolony player be competitively if he refuses to put the booster behind his vanguard, LOL!! Any female players?
ReplyDeleteHe just wanted to save that spot for Stealth Millipede, which is understandable, although silly.
Delete@Aradia Medigo and Anon
ReplyDeleteI accidentally deleted your comments before publishing them, but I shall respond anyways.
Although LFN is obviously joking, I do know how to play Mah Jong. So if the "thug ryfe" happens to choose me, then at least I'll be prepared.
And it's obvious that Konami does not care about the health of the game, so it's doubtful that I'll ever play Yu-Gi-Oh competitively again.
Do you have any intention to play YGO after HA07?
ReplyDeleteWith the direction the game has been taking in the OCG, it doesn't look like Yu-Gi-Oh will be getting any better. So no, I don't have any intention to play competitively anymore.
DeleteWait, what about those gem knight deck? At least, play with it to see how it fares against mermail, fire fist or macro rabbit once HA07 is out. You do need some more gem knight supports from there.
DeleteI've been using my Gem-Knights with cards from Duel Terminal 7. It's still no match for what is to come... By that I mean, Elemental (Incarnate) Dragons. That deck is basically Tier 0 right now in the OCG...
DeleteAnd I'm sure I could make Gem-Knights competitive. But it doesn't matter when the game is as broken as it is.
But you are TCG player, so don't use OCG as excuse. Right now, you should concentrate on mermail, fire fist and macro rabbit.
DeleteDo you have the necessary Xyz monsters too?
Don't use the OCG as an excuse? The OCG is practically a look into the future for the TCG.
DeleteAnd if you're really that focused on the TCG, then you would know that it'll only take a month after Hidden Arsenal 7 comes out for Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy to be released. In other words, there'll be a month where Gem-Knights will have the potential to be competitive. Yeah, that's totally worth it... /sarcasm
Not to mention, Yu-Gi-Oh just isn't fun anymore. The game takes less skill than ever, and it's just not worth playing anymore. Even Gem-Knight loops aren't that fun, since the game is just a race to see who can OTK first.
But you already complete the gem knight deck, might as well use it for your local tournament to test out.
DeleteWell, I actually need a Lavalval Chain. Regardless, Yu-Gi-Oh isn't fun anymore. I used to not care whether I won or lost because I just enjoyed playing. But now, with the ridiculously high power level of the cards and the reduced amount of skill required, it's just not fun to play competitively anymore.
DeleteOk then. Once you get that, go take part in the local tournament. You might turn out to win. Don't sound so negative.
DeleteYou're completely ignoring my main point, which is that competitive Yu-Gi-Oh isn't fun anymore. The game really lacks skill now, and all of the terrible players who used to go X-3 every week are now winning tournaments because the game is just so sacky now. Why should I support a game that has become so broken when I could be spending my money on a promising and skillful game like Kaijudo?
DeleteSo I guessing you are going to dump your yugioh cards in the corner.
DeleteI feel like you're being intentionally stupid.
DeleteI said that competitive Yu-Gi-Oh isn't fun anymore. I still play with my friends for fun.
Yeah you're right, the game will be all about OTK and Veiler-ing the OTK
DeleteIn each duel I feel like there's only 1-2 moves that require skill to do correctly
But I'm still playing it lol
Your friend doesn't even to use the stern deck anymore after the trade. What a waste. Why don't you ask for it back?
ReplyDeleteI traded my Blau-series deck to Riku, not to my nameless friend who plays Vanguard.
DeleteEither way, Riku sold that deck to make another Dark Irregulars deck, which he then sold to make a The End Kagero deck. I don't really care, since I didn't really like Stern Blaukluger that much.
Do more vanguard videos!! I saw it on youtube! Love how you pawn your friend's narukami deck with your megacolony deck. You only got like 2 damage while he keeps eating it, LOL!!! MOAR, MOAR!!!
ReplyDeleteI won't be doing any more Vanguard videos. That video was obviously an April Fools joke.
DeleteAnd aside from the fact that Vanguard is mainly a luck-based game, it is also extremely repetitive. Any good deck in Vanguard has a "winning image" associated with it and will perform that "winning image" just about every game. That gets boring quite quickly.
So you and your friends are free on Sunday now?
ReplyDeleteIt depends. My friend who plays Vanguard and Aki happened to both be free this upcoming Sunday because they are both on spring break this week. After that, it will just depend on their schedules.
DeleteRegardless, there will be big Vanguard events on April 13, 20, and 27, so I'll probably go to locals on Saturday for those weekends and end up having to skip going on Sunday. Not to mention that I'll start getting more homework next week since my school just started back up this week.
Either way, from what the shopkeeper of my local card shop has told me, the promos for the Kaijudo Duel Days have to be won in a tournament, and they're both kind of meh. It might not be worth trying every weekend to win them. Perhaps the promos for next month will be better.
BTW, is it true that some expert players can tell if the top cards are triggers or not whether they are sleeves or not? If there is anything to prevent this?
ReplyDeleteAre you asking if some players mark their sleeves so that they know when they'll get triggers? If so, then yes, some players are cheaters. If you think your opponent is cheating, you can always call a judge or the tournament organizer and explain your suspicions.
DeleteNo, what I mean is I heard that they can tell if the cards are foils or something by feeling the texture or something or predict opponents top card by staring at the card condition or something.
DeleteAh, I see. Well, there is something called the "foil trick" which lets you know if a card is foil or not just by looking at how much the card curves.
DeleteIt works well in Yu-Gi-Oh; I used to be able to tell what cards my opponent's had Set, in part due to the foil trick. Of course, you would also have to deduce what Traps they were playing based on their deck and such, but the foil trick helped to see which Set cards were holo. For instance, you could tell if someone had something like a Starlight Road or Solemn Warning Set, but now that those cards have been reprinted as a Rare and Common, respectively, the foil trick isn't nearly as useful.
But I don't really know how well it would work in Vanguard. I suppose if you have holo triggers that are really curvy, like Future Knight, Llew, then you could use the foil trick. It wouldn't really work in most cases, though. And I guess if you don't have holo triggers and see that the top card of your deck is a holo, then you would know that it's not a trigger. But again, not all foil cards in Vanguard bend that much, so it just depends.
Oh, that how's it works. Checking whether the cards are curvy or not. I guess it can't be helped if there're nothing to prevent this. I also got another question.
DeleteI visit this v mundi site to check on neo nectar set 8 build. Alice mentions Sephirot build isn't that great. If the chain ride fails, it will be very hard to make the duplicating column, not to mention it would already be late game by the time Sephirot uses its limit break. Should I stick back to my trailing rose gene build or go for musketeer instead? Or is Sephirot still highly recommended?
The Trailing Rose/Gene build is honestly below-average. It's used nowadays because that's all that Neo Nectar have.
DeleteThe Sephirot build is not consistent, but it is quite powerful when it works. The Musketeer build is very consistent, but it can't make big columns.
I would personally use the Musketeer build because having a good field consistently is important. I mean, you've probably played games where you don't draw any boosters, or maybe you've played games where you don't draw any attackers. If you've had that experience, then you know how difficult it is to win in those situations. Musketeers help to reduce the chance that either of those things happen, and that's the major strength of the deck.
But honestly, this is Vanguard, so you can win with any deck provided you're lucky enough. Just use what you like.
Yes, I did experience not drawing enough booster or attacker which causes me not able to set up the proper column. Look like musketeer is a way to go.
DeleteThe only minor turnoff is that Cecilia is a 10k vanguard.
Since Sephirot power up columns but lack consistency, while musketeer maintain good field consistency but lack strong column, why not combine those 2?
DeleteWe can remove the chain ride since it's not reliable and simply add 4 Sephirot in.
@Anon
DeleteWell, after Set 10 is released, the main weakness of 10k Vanguards, which is their susceptibility to 20k columns, will be diminished. The archetypal themes like Liberators and Eradicators usually don't use their vanilla boosters, which makes it difficult for them to make 20k rear-guard columns. Of course, not everyone will use these themes, but you should be seeing less 20k columns after Set 10 comes out.
@Amaterasu
So what you're suggesting is putting Sephirot in a Musketeer deck? Well, Musketeers generally want to have Cecilia as their Vanguard. And even if that weren't the case, Musketeers may make your field more consistent, but they don't guarantee that you'll have units with the same name on the field.
Checking top 4 to replace the retired musketeer unit at least increase the chance of calling the same unit. After you set up the field perfectly. You can ride Sephirot for final turn. Maybe 4 is too much, 2 is okay though.
DeleteIt increases the chance of calling the same unit, but not by much. You can try it out, but I'm still skeptical.
DeleteSay, LightGrunty, have you preregister for the vanguard team tournament yet? Is the final team consists of you, Riku and the unnamed friend?
ReplyDeleteLet me guess, you will be using Dark Irregular, Riku using The End and your anonymous friend using spectral duke deck?
There will be two team tournaments that we will be attending. The first one is next week at the other card shop in the evening. It'll be myself, Riku, and my nameless friend. Riku will probably run The End, my friend will probably run Majesty Lord Blaster, and I will probably run Pale Moon.
DeleteThe other team tournament is at the usual card shop. We pre-registered for that tournament, but we don't know for sure whether Aki or Riku is going to be in the third spot. We'll probably use Aki, but it depends on when the Team League Regional is because there might be a conflict with Aki's trip to Japan in June.
It's a good thing you quit YGO, as if Spellbook Judgement day wasn't bad enough, Spellbooks get DMoC and JD all in one card. Sounds fair.
ReplyDeleteI'd be more worried about Elemental Dragons, but Prophecy did get pretty broken just because of Judgment Day.
Delete