#Art - Magneto Speed Beading Video Live!

Hey guys, YouTube just finished processing my Magneto Speed Beading video so be sure to check it out!

Will try to bead a little more and make those kind of videos more often. I just have to get back into the groove. 

#CFV - Week 04/22 Results & Battle Log

Pretty lax tournament week for me this week. Thursday tournaments seem to never happen because of the lack of people showing up and the Saturday tournament got canceled because of YGO and Magic pre-release events happening at the same time.

Monday Tournament @ GameKeeper (12 players)
Battle Log
- 1st Round vs. Oracle Think Tank (CEO) 2-0
- 2nd Round vs. Spike Brothers (Siegfried) 2-1
- 3rd Round vs. Oracle Think Tank (CEO) 1-2

Results:
1st - Sam Rubens S. (Oracle Think Tank)
2nd - Judes R. (Royal Paladin)
3rd - Alex V. (Spike Brothers)


Was round was away to finally get first place, but bad shuffling killed my chances in the final round against my friend - oh well. Still happy that our crew had a good showing at the tournament.

#Art - Magneto Bead Sprite (Card Saga Wars)

Haven't post something in a while (almost a week!), but that's only because nothing much has been going on lately. I started beading again after telling myself that I couldn't just let all those spare Perler beads in my room go to waste so I decided to take some of my friend's commission request.

This is my latest creation: Magneto bead sprite from Card Sagas Wars. Took me around 3-4 hours and required 1919 beads (11 different colors). I had my doubts when doing it, but I gotta say I'm pretty happy with the final result!

Original sprite by Abysswolf. Speed Beading video coming soon.

#CFV - Week 04/15 Results & Battle Log

Great news! I learned this week that there is actually three local Vanguard tournaments in my area per week in different places. Unless I feel very lazy, I'll probably be able to go to each of them every week, so instead of posting long (and tedious) battle logs & thoughts about the tournaments, I'll just post results and score for each of them.


Monday Tournament @ GameKeeper (12 players)
Battle Log
- 1st Round vs. Royal Paladin (SSD/Lohengrin) 0-2
- 2nd Round vs. Royal Paladin (SSD/Charger) 2-0
- 3rd Round vs. Oracle Think Tank (CEO) 2-0

Results:
1st - Aram D. (Royal Paladin)
2nd - Judes R. (Royal Paladin)
3rd - Jonathan M. (Spike Brothers)


Saturday Tournament @ BD Cosmos (8 players)
Battle Log
- 1st Round vs. Kagero (D.Overlord/B.Core) 2-0
- 2nd Round vs. Kagero (D.Overlord/Goku) 1-2
- 3rd Round vs. Spike Brothers (Juggernaut) 2-1 (forfeit)


Results:
1st - ??? (Royal Paladin)
2nd - ??? (Kagero)
3rd - Judes R. (Royal Paladin)


What is written in bold in the results is how I placed. Unfortunately, not enough people showed up at the Thursday tournament this week so there are no results for that this week. 

#CFV - Angel Feather's Nociel Trilogy

So, Angel Feather's second, and I think last (hopefully not), RRR card got revealed yesterday and believe it or not, it's a Grade 1 unit. It's pretty rare to see a Grade 1 unit offered that kind of rarity - the last one being Heatsnail Salamander in Japanese's BT04. In Angel Feather's case, their new RRR Grade 1 unit is called Defender of Love, Nociel.

Auto: [Choose an <Angel Feather> from your hand, send it to your Damage Zone] When this unit is placed on the Guardian Circle, if you have an <Angel Feather> vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose a card from your Damage Zone, and add it to your hand.

With this card revealed, we can clearly see how Angel Feathers will be a defensive clan and how they will be able to manipulate their damage zone. Defender of Love, Nociel is exceptionally good because, unlike her other incarnations which I will talk about later, her effect activates when you guard with her. By guarding an attack, you can dump what you don't need in your hand in the damage zone un-flipped and pick up something else you need from that said damage zone whether it's un-flipped or not. For example, you can go pick up 10k guard or a Null guard to guard the upcoming attacks, a Grade 3/2/1 unit that you're missing for your next Ride phase or simply go look for a unit that benefits from having an un-flipped counter for it's effect. With this card in this clan, the way we will use our counters and which card we flip face-down will be extremely important because we will want to get the most out of Nociel's effect (Which, in Defender of Love's case, is guarding an attack, dumping a useless card in your hand, take something you need from the damage zone and flipping a counter back up). So, in the end, when using counter blasts with other cards, we'll have to basically flip the cards we think we'll need later on in the game. It's definitely a card with a lot of utility and I can see this card be played a lot in upcoming Angel Feather decks.


Her two other incarnations are a Grade 0 and a Grade 2 unit. The Grade 0 being called Happy Bell, Nociel and the Grade 2 being Love Machine Gun, Nociel. 

Continuous 【R】: If you have an <Angel Feather> vanguard, this unit has the following ability, "Activate [R]: [Move this unit to Soul, choose an <Angel Feather> from your hand, send it to your Damage Zone] Choose a card from your Damage Zone and add it to your hand."

As you can see, they all kind of have the same effect - the only difference being the timing of each. Happy Bell, Nociel goes to the soul from an activation effect when she's in a Rearguard slot. That alone would not be very good and justify her place in a deck. However, her being a Stand trigger gives her a bit more utility as not only this clan relies on un-flipping damage, they also already have a unit (Armaros) that benefits from Stand triggers because of their effect that only activates when their attack lands. The fact that she goes into the soul also benefits Angel Feathers as some unit work with souls.

Auto: [Choose a <Angel Feather> from your hand, send it to your Damage Zone] When this unit is placed on a Rear Guard Circle, if you have an <Angel Feather> vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose a card from your Damage Zone, and add it to your hand.

As for Love Machine Gun, Nociel, it's kind of like the opposite of her Grade 1 counterpart. While Defender of Love can go look for something in the damage during your opponent's turn, LMG, Nociel can go look for something in the damage zone during your turn. That said, you can pick up units to apply more pressure like a booster or a beatstick while dumping something you don't need in your hand.

This new line of unit definitely adds a unique vibe to Angel Feathers and the game in general as this kind of strategy is pretty new to the game. What I'm really hoping for is to see a Lozenge Magus incarnation for Angel Feathers to add up on the fact that this clan is all about medics & healing! 

#FGC - Skullgirls. It's a good game, buy it!

For those who don't know, it has been exactly a week since Skullgirls released on Playstation Network & Xbox Live and I have to admit, I've had a lot of fun with the game thus far even though my opinions about the game before the release were somewhat negatives. Indeed, before the game came out, I didn't like the characters that much and I didn't like how the game played/felt. After trying it though, I fell in love with some characters that I never thought I'd like and started to enjoy the flow of the game once I got used to it. I guess the lesson of the day is: ''Never judge a fighting game by the pre-release gameplay videos/trailers...?''


Anyways, if you're into fighting games or you just like Darkstalker-like characters, I'd recommend buying this game as it's really cheap ($15 on PSN/XBL) and it really feels like a complete fighting game. It's also very important to support because unlike other popular fighting games on the market, the game was made by a member (Mike ''Mike Z'' Zaimont) of our own Fighting Game Community who listened carefully to his community & to the hardcore fighting game fans. If the game does well, I believe it will open doors to the creation of other solid fighting games!


http://skullgirls.com/

#CFV - 16/04/12 Results & Battle Log

Just came back from my local store's Vanguard tournament and I am happy to say that I reached my goal for this week. Placed higher than 6th place this time.. Yup, I actually got 2nd place which is way better in general and also for myself (did not leave the tournament super salty)!


Battle Log & Thoughts
First Round: vs. Royal Paladin (SSD/Lohengrin)
First round was against the guy who places 1st almost every time. First match of the set was pretty convincing for him mainly because of the heal triggers he pulled. Every time, I managed to somewhat take a lead in damage, he pulled a heal trigger and heal himself while I never drive check'd critical triggers to even it out. He eventually took a lead and finished me off. As for the second match, it was very close. At the end, he misplayed by riding Lohengrin over his SSD for no reason which allowed me to block and live for another turn. Unfortunately, he had all the necessary resources to block that extra lucky turn I had and finished me off with a clutch Blaster Blade (who retired the Galatin I needed to be able to resist one more turn) for the win. 0-2


Second Round: vs Royal Paladin (SSD/Gigantic Charger)
Another mirror match but this time, way easier for me since she played Gigantic Charger as a backup Grade 3 and who, in my opinion, is a pretty bad card. Anyway, first match was pretty one sided as she had a horrible hand and missed a ride. Was able to pull off the Barcgal+Llew+SSD combo before her, took an early lead and rush her down. Pulled out a critical trigger for the win. 2nd match was pretty on her part because she played so many of her cards wrong. Close to the end of the match, almost none of her attacks were a threat: she had a Gigantic Charger (R) in front with Barcgal boosting him which makes a  horrible number for an attack (13k), SSD as Vanguard with only Flogal boosting her and finally, another SSD in Rearguard with no one behind her. Pretty bad field and unit placement gave me an easy win. 2-0


Final Round: vs Oracle Think Tank (CEO) 
This guy pretty much gave the wins away to me by not attacking the first turn to avoid the infamous SSD combo. It would be a legit strategy if Royal Paladin's strategy wasn't about rushing and if they had no other Grade 3 to work with. By not attacking first turn, I always had an early lead and this is what you want to avoid when playing Paladins. First match, he didn't even get CEO and was obliged to use Apolon as his Vanguard and even if he didn't give me the counters to soul charge early with Barcgal/Llew/Flogal, I still managed to pull SSD's roar with Margal and Pongal soul charging Alfred during the game. First round was pretty convincing. Second round was a little closer, though. He got CEO as his Vanguard, but the fact that he still didn't attack me first turn gave me an slight advantage. Not only that, his field was far from being the best with two Apolon (with no boosters) as his Rearguards. He managed to stall enough to use CEO's Megablast, but it was not really a game changer as my field and hand were just better. 2-0


So yeah, pretty happy with my placement. Next time, I will try to aim for 1st place. Even though I placed high, I still want to try a Lohengrin/SSD build because I still feel Alfred does not support SSD well. Hopefully, I'll get the cards before next week!

#FGC - 6th Place Hell (MAD results)

The number 6 seems to be my lucky (or cursed) number this week. Out of 15 entrants, I got 6th place in KoFXIII at Montreal Air Dashers. Not too bad considering I didn't practice much before this tournament. What I was really looking for is the Arcana Heart 3 and Skullgirls tournament, but the tournament ran too late and had to leave before it started (In fact, I don't even know if it truly happened...). It sucks because those were the two tournaments where I had the most chances to actually place high. Aw well, next time I guess.


Tomorrow is Cardfight!! Vanguard tournament again. Couldn't change my build to Lohengrin/SSD in time, but I tweaked my current deck a little and I think it's going to run a bit more smoothly. I also thought of a new strategy/mentality depending on my opening hand, so hopefully it will work in the tournament tomorrow. My goal for next week: place better than 6th place!

#CFV #Art - More Angel Feather & Commissions

A few Angel Feather cards got released today and although they're not as surprising as their Circular Saw, Kiriel, it's still great to see what they're going to look like. 

Critical Hit Angel

Activate 【R】:[Move this unit into soul] Choose an 《Angel Feather》, that unit gets Power +3000 until the end of the turn.

First off, we got Angel Feather's critical trigger! I was really happy to see this card revealed because it means that Angel Feathers will most probably get a full set of triggers and that means that they are going to be playable unlike some other clans out there. Other than that, there's not much to talk about as this card is pretty standard. The +3k boost seems out of place in a defensive oriented clan and on top of that it's on a critical trigger which makes it a little less useful than it would be if it was on a draw trigger (Margal). I wonder what will be better for this clan - A 3k boost + soul or a 10k guard...

Core Memory, Armaros

Auto 【V/R】: [Counter Blast(2)] When this unit's attack hits and you have a 《Angel Feather》 Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card.

Second card revealed was Core Memory, Armaros who is essentially a Maiden of Libra clone (except prettier). Not much of a surprise to see similar effects appear in this clan as both Oracle Think Tanks and Angel Feathers are defensive clans. Playing against OTTs on a regular basis, I can see this card having it's place in this kind of clan especially because Angel Feathers have control on the damage zone. CB2 to draw one card is not so much of a threat, but if they're able to pull it off multiple times in a game I can imagine it being one. Can't wait to see how they will function. And as I said before, I really love the artwork on those cards. 

On another note, not too long ago, I commissioned an artist to draw me a profile picture of myself in a semi-chibi art style and she finally finished the commission! Here what it looks like:

Pretty happy with the results and will surely use that art as a profile picture here on blogger. If you like what you see, be sure to check Ame-nii on deviantArt.

#FGC - Montreal Air Dashers (Pre-Thoughts)

Montreal Air Dashers is less than a week away! For those who don't know, MAD is the biggest fighting game tournament in Montreal for non Capcom/mainstream games. There's going to be a lot of "obscure'' fighting games being played there such as Guilty Gear, Melty Blood and Blazblue being the main star for this event.


I will definitely attend this to participate in The King of Fighters XIII tournament as well as the Arcana Heart 3 tournament. For now though, I need to hit that training room and dust off my rustiness in those games because it's been a while since I actually played them. 


I'm feeling pretty confident in placing high in the games I plan to participate in so right now, no worries on my part.


Will post how well or bad I do when I come back from the tournament this Saturday/Sunday.


Montreal Air Dashers details

#CFV - 09/04/12 Results & Battle Log

Will finally be able to attend one of my local store's Vanguard tournament today. Hopefully my luck will be better than what it usually is when I play casuals against my friends.


Will post results and battle log once I return from the tournament.


Battle Log & Thoughts
Just came back from the tournament and I'm not too happy about my performance. I placed 6th place out of 9 people which is pretty bad, in my honest opinion.


First Round: vs. Kagero (Dragonic Overlord)
First match of the set was pretty convincing for him. He retired my barcgal early in the match with his draw trigger and it went downhill from there. He rushed me down with Dragonic Overlord and pulled a couple of critical triggers that basically gave him the win in the long run. The second match I managed to quickly rush him down with Barcgal+Llew+SSD early in the game which gave me a huge lead. I basically kept the lead and got the game. As for the third match, due to some little misplays from him and my luck (that finally showed up after 2 matches!), I managed to stole the final round from him with a Critical trigger for game. Was really close.


Second Round: vs Royal Paladin (SSD/Gigantic Charger)
Did not really lose to the player/deck, but to the dudes behind the actual player coaching him (actually, one of the coaches was behind me seeing my cards). Since the guy was a beginner, I let it slide but it's really only after you realize that you lost to coaching that it gets to you. I should have called it the same way I call pauses or infractions in fighting game tournaments... Lesson learned. He 0-2'd with and half-ass Paladin deck, some luck and a huge amount of coaching - whatever.


Final Round: vs Oracle Think Tank (CEO)
Played against my friend who won convincingly in the casuals we had this last weekend so I knew it wasn't going to be easy. First match, he had a pretty bad hand at the beginning of the match but fortunately for him and unfortunately for me he managed to get back in the game with his draw power and heal triggers. He finally took the lead and pulled lucky triggers with CEO for game. Second match was very close (5 damage vs 5 damage) and I had the lead until I made the biggest mistake of my life and decided to overblocked his CEO (dumping every blockers I had in fear of two triggers). He twin drived a stand trigger, put the power on his 8k rearguard and finished me off. Not too happy about that lose and, but it was a legit win over my dumbness. Live & learn, I guess.


Right now, I'm really considering changing my deck to a Lohengrin/SSD build because I think Alfred and SSD has no synergy whatsoever. Alfred needs rearguards to hit while SSD eats the rearguards Barcgal calls. I'm really wondering how Japanese players used them because right now, my record with that deck is not that great. Will try my hardest to change it before next tournament.

#CFV - Angel Feather's Circular Saw, Kiriel

I got the news that an Angel Feather card got revealed yesterday so I quickly jumped on my computer to see what the card looked like and boy, was I pleased to finally see this card in hi-res on the wikia:

Circular Saw, Kiriel

Auto 【V】 [Limit Break (4)] {Activate when you have four or more damage}: When this card attacks a vanguard, this card gets Power +5000 until end of that battle.

Auto: [Counter Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on Vanguard Circle, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one face up 《Angel Feather》 from your damage zone, and call it to Rear Guard Circle, put one card from the top of your deck into your damage zone, flipped.

One word to describe my feelings about this card is: ''sexy!''. Not because of how good the card is, but more so because of how great the card look. Although, I talked a lot about  Golden Paladins in my previous posts, Angel Feathers was the clan that I was truly looking forward to play in the next set because not only they are a female oriented cleric/medic/supporter clan (which I'm a fan of), but they also seemed to to have great art!

As for the card itself, I can't really comment on how good it will be considering the rest of the clan is not even revealed yet but as an early impression, I'd say this card is okay at best. Like I said in the Gold Paladin impression (Part 3) blog entry, I am not too much of a fan of Limit Break (4) for power boost effects because I think the cost/gain ratio is pretty poor. Yes, you'll be able to hit hard enough for your opponent to never block the Vanguard, but you'll also be in a near death situation when playing against decks that runs a lot of critical triggers. But at the end of the day, who knows how useful it will be for Angel Feathers? Considering they're a defensive clan that plays around with the damage zone, this Limit Break might be way more useful than compared to other.

Kiriel's second effect is also something that I can't comment on because it really depends on how the other units in her clan will function. If Angel Feathers have units that has effects that are triggered when they are called from the damage zone, I could see Kiriel's effect having potential. Only downside, though, is that you can only activate her effect when she is called. If we could activate her effect whenever, we could wait until you get the unit you want in the damage zone and call it when needed with Kiriel's effect which would give her a little bit more utility, but unfortunately it's not the case.

Anyways, I'm pretty hyped about this new card right now and I really can't wait to see the rest of the clan and how they will play. Hopefully, Bushiroad will release enough Angel Feathers for them to be playable and viable in the English meta. *crosses fingers*

#FGC #Art - Q4RAF Template (Finished!)

My template commission is finally done! Here's the final result

And here's a preview of how it would look like on my stick:

Pretty happy with the results and big thanks to Jaime for doing this for me! Now, I need to decide whether I should go all clear buttons/balltop for a clean look or throw in some blue in there to match the whole case... decisions, decisions... 

Jaime Herrera on deviantArt

#CFV - Gold Paladin Impression & Review (Part 3)

Alas, I'm at the part where I give my impression about the heart and soul of Gold Paladin's decks! Among the six Grade 3 Gold Paladins currently revealed, only two of them are worthy of being main Vanguards: Great Silver Wolf, Garmall & Burning Lion, Blonde Aezel.


First, let me start by giving my impressions about Gold Paladin's mascot, Garmall. If we don't compare him to it's competition for the main Vanguard spot, Aezel, this card can be considered as a pretty good Vanguard for Gold Paladins. The search effect for 2 Counter Blasts when he is played on the Vanguard circle can be helpful for immediate support. Assuming you are missing a booster unit to boost Garmall, he can CB2 and go search for either Chargegal or Little Duelist, Toron that will both make him reach magic numbers when swinging (Chargegal being the best option here). The only flaw I find in this effect, though, is that it's not an activation effect and can only be used when he is called. If you don't have 2 Counter Blast available, like Blaster Blade, he becomes a vanilla unit when called (until you reach 4 damage that is).

Great Silver Wolf, Garmall

AUTO [(VC)]: [Limit Break 4] (Active when you have 4 or more damage) When this unit attacks a vanguard, this unit gets [Power] +5000 until end of that battle.

AUTO: [Counter-Blast 2] When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, search from your deck, up to one grade 2 or less <Gold Paladin>, call it to (RC), and shuffle your deck.

I would consider Chargegal a staple to Gold Paladin players that really wants to to get the most out of Garmall as it is the only reason why I think Garmall is a viable pick when Aezel is also around. With Chargegal behind Garmall, Garmall can ALWAYS swing with magic numbers. Let me explain: 16k power is the minimum they can achieve and this is already a magic number that forces out 10k blockers, they can get to 21k if one of them decides to activates their effect (either Chargegal's Soul Blast or Garmall's Limit Break) which forces out 2 cards from your opponent's hand regardless of their Vanguard and last but not least, they can reach 26k power which is pretty much considered as a guaranteed hit unless it gets null guarded. What is also good with this combination, is the fact that for only 1 Soul, they can reach the 21k power when Garmall in a Rearguard circle too!

Chargegal

   Auto [R]: [Soul Blast (1)] When this unit boosts「Great Silver Wolf, Garmall」, you may pay the cost. If you do, the boosted unit gets POWER+5000 until end of that battle.

In my opinion, Garmall is surely not a bad card, but it has it's flaws. The power boost he gets from the Limit break is good and can make him swing for big numbers consistently, but the fact that it comes so late into the game cripples it's effectiveness (only 1 Critical away from death). I think he becomes a viable pick more so because of the support he can have behind him both as a Rearguard and a Vanguard, but still, I'd rather be able to swing for big numbers early and be able to call support when in danger to try and finish the game as soon as possible - and this is where Aezel comes into play because he does exactly that.

Burning Lion, Blonde Aezel

Activate 【V】 [Limit Break (4)] {When you have four or more damage}: [Counter Blast (2)] Look at the top card of your deck. If that card is a 《Gold Paladin》, call that card to a [R] without an unit. If not, put that card to the bottom of your deck. This unit gets Power equals to the Power of that unit called by this ability until end of turn.

Continuous 【V】: This unit gets Power +1000 for each of your 《Gold Paladin》 rear-guards during your turn.

Burning Lion, Blonde Aezel is probably the card you will see most of the time in the Vanguard spot in competitive Gold Paladin decks. Although it's effects are really similar to Garmall's, their timing are not exactly the same and I believe that will make a difference between the two of them. With his second effect, Aezel is able to swing for big numbers as soon as he is called on the field depending on how many units you have on the field. With only 1 unit beside him (excluding the unit boosting him) , Aezel is able to swing for 20k+ if Gareth or Toron are the units boosting him. With 2 units, he can reach 20-21k+ power if the aforementioned boosters are still behind him, Hougang or Slaygal Dagger. While it requires a little more cards, reaching those magic numbers will most likely happen because Aezel does not need a single specific card to be able to hit hard unlike Garmall who absolutely needs Chargegal behind with some soul. As for Aezel's Limit Break, I think it's a really good effect if you want to push for game. Not only it is an activation effect (meaning you can activate it more than a single time a turn if you have the counters available), but the upcoming unit basically gives it's power to Aezel while boosting him because of it's presence on the field. Although it is true that the upcoming unit can be a card that you would not want on the field (i.e: triggers), the fact that it's an activation effect and that you can activate it before any other Rearguard gives the possibility to the player to place his units on the Rearguard circle according to what he revealed with the Limit Break. It's definitely a good effect in late game as it pressures the opponent with Azeal's huge power, and at the same time mills your deck for more chances to get the trigger you need to finish the job (assuming you don't reveal a trigger with the Limit Break).


The only real advantage Garmall has over Aezel is that there is no solid way for Aezel to get to 21k in the rearguard, but I think the fact that Aezel has a Superior Ride support compensate for all of this and makes him a better option. 


Anyways, that's my take on the two big bosses of Gold Paladins. I'm not an expert and I might be wrong and some place as this is only theories, so take this with a grain of salt.

#CFV - Gold Paladin Impression & Review (Part 2)

Moving on from my previous post, let's see what Gold Paladins has to offer in term of Grade 1 and Grade 2 units and how good they differentiate themselves from Royal Paladins. Like I mentioned earlier, when I first saw the first couple spoilers of Grade 1 and 2, I wasn't happy to see very similar cards to Royal Paladin's cards. Although there were some different cards here and there such as Waving Owl and G1 Slaygal Dagger, nothing too impressive was released until this card was spoiled:

Little Duelist, Toron

Auto【R】：When this unit boosts a 《Gold Paladin》 vanguard and you have more rear-guards compared to your opponent, the boosted unit gets Power +4000 until the end of the battle.

On paper, Little Duelist, Toron seems like it's going to be one of the best Grade 1 booster in the current English meta. If we decide to analyse him without his effect in the equation, having 6000 power means that behind a 10k power Vanguard or beat-stick such as Bohman, he is able to bring them to 16k power which is a magic number to force out 10k blockers for 11k power Vanguards. Being already a decent card at that point, his effect just adds up to how good he becomes. With his effect activated, he essentially becomes a 10k booster which brings 10k Vanguards to another magic number: 20,000 power. With that said, we can say this card will be an exceptional support for 10k or 11k Vanguards.

Considering the fact that Gold Paladin's main strategy, aside applying pressure, is 

swarming  the field with units, I can see his effect being active pretty consistently throughout a game. Indeed, in addition of being supported by a clan that swarms a lot, nothing prevents the player to setup Toron's effect when his opponent has equals number of Rearguards as him. By simply targeting one of his opponent's front row Rearguard before attacking with the the Vanguard by Toron makes you able to swing with high magic numbers.

Royal Paladins and Kageros are the two clans that might give Toron's effectiveness trouble as Royal Paladins seem better at swarming than Gold Paladins in general and as for Kageros, they can diminish your Rearguard count by retiring them with effects or they can simply decide to retire Toron if they see he's a threat to them. 

Unquestionably, this card will have it's ups and downs depending on the matchups and situations, but I'm pretty sure it's going to see a lot of play in any Gold Paladin decks.

Speaking of cards that has ups and downs, Assaulting Chariot Knight is one of those cards that got a lot of mixed reviews because of how subpar his brother in Royal Paladins, Covenant Knight, Randolf was.

Assaulting Chariot Knight

Auto【V/R】: When this card attacks, if you have less cards in your hand compared to your opponent, this unit gets [Power] +3000 until the end of the Battle.

Me, trying to make Randolf work in the early days of Royal Paladin made me yell ''finally!'' when I first saw Chariot Knight. Finally a card that is actually productive to the main strategy of the deck. Randolf made me frown a lot of times during some games because of how situational is effect was and how counter-productive it was to Royal Paladins. Personally, when I play Royal Paladins against other decks, I almost never have the hand advantage because I'm too busy trying to swarm the field, rush and hit hard (which is RP's and GP's main goal). So most of the time, Randolf was just a G2 8k vanilla on my field or in my hand. Assaulting Chariot Knight seems like it's going to be a more consistent version of Randolf because the more you remove cards from hand to play them on the field, the more power you get with both Chariot Knight and Toron! And as a side note, triggered effect Chariot Knight boosted by triggered effect Toron reaches 21k which is another magic number for 11k Vanguards!

Assaulting Chariot Knight is definitely a card to consider in more Aggro Gold Paladin builds. He's not Randolf, so I would suggest not sleeping on him! 

#CFV - Gold Paladin Impression & Review (Part 1)

We've finally reached the month of April! For most, it doesn't mean much, but for both English and Japanese Vanguard players, it means 3 long weeks of waiting before the new Vanguard set, BT06/03 - Breaker of Limits, hits the shelves. That said, It's pretty natural that a lot of us, VG players, has been checking out all the possible news and spoilers released about this new set on the wikia and forums - especially with the release date being so close to us.

Being a Royal Paladin player since the game came out, I've personally been trying to keep up with the new information regarding one of the new clans appearing in this set, Gold Paladin, to see what they are all about and how they differentiate from RPs. Honestly, at first, I was not very pleased with them considering most of them were exact replicas of RP cards except with a different artwork, but as the time passed, some newly released cards started to make Gold Paladins a little more interesting... 

Crimson Little Lion, Kirufu

Auto: When a 《Gold Paladin》 rides this unit, you may call this unit to a Rearguard Circle.

Activate【R】:[Choose a unit named 「Crimson Little Lion, Kirufu」 and a unit named 「Knight of Fine Skill, Gareth」 from your Rearguard Circles and put them into your soul] If you have a unit named 「Knight of Divine Skill, Bohman」 on your Vanguard Circle, search your deck for a unit named 「Burning Lion, Blonde Zeyer」, ride it, and shuffle your deck.

Crimson Little Lion, Kirufu was one of the cards that made me reconsider my opinion about Gold Paladins in this set. What is so good about this card is that it's a Superior Ride tool that doesn't cost you deck space, souls or counters. Unlike other Superior Rides, the two cards you are required to achieve the Superior Ride are two staples you would put in (almost) any Paladin decks regardless of the build. Knight of Fine Skill, Gareth is your usual Grade 1, 8k vanilla booster while Knight of Divine Skill, Bohman is your Grade 2, 10k vanilla beatstick. 

      

                                      Knight of Fine Skill, Gareth                   Knight of Divine Skill, Bohman

Although Kirufu requires a specific setup to activate it's effect, it's the fact that it's free that makes him so solid. Even if the player is unlucky enough to not be able to activate it's effect, it still becomes a 5k booster after being rode (which is better than Barcgal) and is able to proceed riding turn after turn like a normal deck would do. If the player is fortunate and has the setup required, he gets an advantage in term of turns over his opponent and has Gold Paladin's best Grade 3 on the field, Burning Lion, Blonde Zeyer, almost for free (other than two Rearguards).


Overall, I think Kirufu is going to be a staple in Gold Paladin decks focusing on Zeyer, and seeing how Zeyer is the most solid Grade 3 for this clan, I predict that it's going to see a lot of play in general.

#FGC #Art - Q4RAF Template Sketch

First ever post on blogger, so why not start it off with something as simple as showing a new artwork? The drawing below is a sketch of a template I commissioned an artist for my newly bought Qanba Q4RAF arcade stick. My only requirements for the artwork were that I wanted to have my two favorites characters from Street Fighter x Tekken, Chun-Li and Asuka Kazama, featured on there. The rest was up to the artist’s likings and I have to say, I’m pretty happy with what he came up with. Can’t wait to see the final colored version!

The artist in question is Jaime Herrera or jaimito on deviantART. So hit him up if you want to see more of his work!