Game 7 - Without Stride - What if...?

Dear Vanguardians,

I decided to write a kind of different post this time. Today, I will show you a theoretical alternative version of the game while also asking one question: what would the game be if we NEVER had strides, but rather an expansion of the Legion era where every clan (and sub-clan) slowly but surely got its own support.

Before we start, let's just take a moment and talk about the Legion Era itself. Legion itself was a new mechanism introduced in Trial Deck 14: Seeker of Hope, and while introduced some fan favourite decks, the overall feeling about the mechanism and its effect in the game had a huge backlash when many people stopped playing the game, both in Eastern and Western Regions.

Why? You may ask. And to be honest, that's not so easy to answer, so let's just take another step back in the history of the game.

Season 1 was obviously the experimental state of the game. We had many different things and playstyles for even clans, like Soul Charge-based builds, Ride Chains, Megablasts, and Boss Units that worked even on the Rear-Guard. The game itself was really simple at that time, and lots of games were purely based on luck, but it was nonetheless a fun game that was obviously evolving step by step. You can call it the "Golden Age" of Vanguard by pure nostalgia, but gameplay-wise, it would be more like the "Iron Age", as it was something new, compared to other games, but still really, really young.

Season 2 tried to limit the game by lots of new features: they introduced Limit Break, which was designed as a "last resort" mechanism that worked only when you were in a risky situation; they added Sub-Clans (but they weren't fully featured at this time), some new clans to balance out things, and so on. The main problem was that Limit Break was inferior compared to the cards which worked outside of the Limit Break, as these abilities were almost the same as the Limit Break unit's skills. That was the time when they had to even limit a card: Barcgal, so they can create a less stagnating format. Thanks to all the changes, new decks and new cards were seen in the game, and it started to become something more different, yet still the same. The "Bronze Age" of the game has begun, and slowly, but surely we had an overall image of the game what will it become.

Season 3 was the "Silver Age" of the game. They updated Limit Break into Break Ride, which was not only something completely new, but also worked completely differently compared to other old boss cards: you sacrificed one turn in order to gain more advantage in the next turn, risking everything on one card, literally. The best thing was about them is that they were somewhat generic, so you could even upgrade old decks by including simply one playset of Break Rides. However, the new stars were obviously the new Sub-Clan decks that were either upgrades of old, but unfinished archetypes or completely new concepts. While they were stronger than usual decks, they were limited by deck choices and mostly, you couldn't use cards from other sub-clan effectively.

However, Link Joker was obviously the star of this format so much that most of the decks that could compete in this meta were either completely immune to lock (like Gold Paladins and their unlocks), or simply they didn't care, as they had no cards to lock at all (Shadow Paladins are a great example of this). However, most of the decks couldn't handle it in a way and were completely outclassed by the ability of lock. And because the game by that time was all about Rear-Guards and abilities (aside from breakriding and that one specific play of the Vanguard), they had to do something about it.

They wanted to include a new mechanism that won't directly dismiss the ability of lock, but will surely allow people to concentrate more on the Vanguard itself and to not rely on rear-guards ONLY. It's interesting how Strides could be this mechanism, but they decided to include main deck cards instead, and that is how we arrive to Season 4.

The introduction of Legion was either hated or loved, depends on who you ask. It did some things nice, but in general it suffered from bad planning (and as I said, we won't even talk about strides this time). One of the main problems were the Legion Units is that they caused power creep. Previously used Top Tier decks were completely outclassed, and while some breakrides could be included, in most cases, the decks required their own to compete. Seekers didn't need any other units, since they could do the same by the time, and even more on their own. Old sub-clans were not favored at all, and the new sub-clans of the same clan completely outclassed them.

The case was even worse when we are looking Mid Tier decks. They either didn't have a Legion on their own for a long time, or couldn't use it as effectively as pure Legion builds where a whole sub-clan could help them. And last, but not least: these new aces were obviously superior. You didn't need to wait one turn to breakride and unleash your ultimate attack. You didn't have to take everything on one huge attack. You could rely on your Vanguard's new strong ability AND you even had your own rear-guards.

Link Joker was obviously creeped, and while they were strong, they were no longer on the same level as the decks emerged by this time.

Obviously, the reaction from the players was one of the main reasons why they decided to include Stride (as, in contrary to legions, it actually supports much more decks in the first place, so you can sell the product for more people and the overall idea was well-received compared to Season 4's mechanism). But imagine for a moment: what would happen if we never had Stride? How would they continue if Legion was the last new mechanism?

Well, keep it in mind that Legion is still supported in some ways, and they actually did that support in a really interesting way. Instead of creating completely new archetypes, they decided to support not only old cards by creating more Legacy Legion units, but also by adding support for older sub-clans. Revenger and Blue Storm got an excellent addition that are obviously not used so much at the moment, but could be really interesting decks in this imaginary scenario.

But how would this fix the problem of legions at all?

First, they should have include more generic aces if they had continued producing Legions only. For example, Gold Paladin had some Liberator legions that were okay that time, and while they were not Bluish Flame support at all, they still had an overall image of supporting Liberators (even if that support is actually an indirect support). Creating not only Legacy Legion units (like "The X"), but cards that are actually generic and could be splashed into any deck would give a nice overall feeling of the deck. Still, Legion in its core would still outclass some of the old Grade 3 units, especially non-Break Ride cards, but those could either be revived by getting their own Legion, or simply getting rear-guard Legacy support, so they don't need the Legion. The latter would still be problematic, however, as Legions in general would hit for 20k at least, while the older bosses could only go for 11k without any further support. Limit Break enablers fixed this somewhat, but still didn't give the power needed for them.

The easiest way to answer the question if Legion is doing well at the moment is taking away all the current Strides and their supports, leaving all clans with only their non-stride related supports. Would they work fine? Which clans would be obviously outclassed, and which clans would be much better to play with? Would this metagame be balanced? What kind of cards would still be needed (aside from the mentioned "more legion revivals please").

Royal Paladins and Seekers in general would obviously be great deck in the game. BUT not the only best! Since they'd have access to the Jewel Knight legion by that time, the variety would be more interesting and you could even create mixed decks by adding non-Seeker related cards. While still strong, with the other clans having access to similar cards, I wouldn't be afraid to say that they wouldn't be as unbeatable as they used to be by that time. In this theoretical format, however, they still obviously need some legacy support, like a Legion Revival of Majesty Lord Blaster, and another Jewel Knight legion. The Comic Booster support would be really interesting with Alfred Exiv and even the Alfred/Ezzell legion pair.

Oracle Think Tank, however, is one of those cards in need of more support if they didn't have any strides at all. While Battle Sisters would be fine (especially with the new critical trigger), I'm pretty sure Bushiroad would have to include a new Legion unit with the effect similar of Globe Magus's (and it would be easy to balance if it only activated the turn you Legioned). Also, the Amaterasu revival is nice, but they definitely should have get more support.

Shadow Paladin, on the other hand, would be a dangerous force. Not only Abyss would be in its prime, but the additional support cards like Teyrnon would make it to a deadly concept. Also, the Witches would be still really interesting to use, but a third Legion with effect similar to Sinclair's would be really interesting.

Gold Paladin would have Bluish Flame as the competitive deck, but unfortunately, they still'd needed some additional cards in order to support old cards, like Ezel, Chromejailer, and maybe even Spectral Duke.

Angel Feather would actually be nice. With the new trigger Celestials have and the second Legion they would actually be okay. Nothing game-breaking, but okay. Also, the Metatron card would be really refreshing even in such a format, and one of the older aces (like Kiriel) could actually get a real revival.

Genesis would also be fine. With the huge amount of breakrides to support the Legions, and the overall support for Regalia and Witch would still make them a force. One generic Legion and the clan would be more than fine in my opinion.

Kagero not only would have Perdition, but also the Legion Revival of The End, "The X", and some other cards dangerous even in this specific format. A Seal Dragon legion may have been expected, but overall the decks weren't as power creeped as other clans.

Now Narukami's where some problems are coming. Obviously, Brawlers would be really awesome, but Eradicators would have been obviously outclassed, so they would have been in need of a new support (unlike Vermillion, which would have Crimson by that time). The overall sub-clan support with some generic cards is nice, to say the least, but at least one new legion or legion revival is a must for the clan to be on the same level as Brawlers.

While Tachikaze had some nice supports, it's one of those cases where the deck would simply need more rear-guards rather than new aces to keep them up to date. Some Generation Break cards simply made into a Legion support would have been more than welcomed.

Murakumo, on the other hand, would incredibly need support. They would even need their own Clan Booster to be relevant in that format. They have poor Grade 3 support and without the stride support, they literally have nothing to be relevant. Not just Legion Revivals, but new aces, and even a Sub-Clan was really, really needed for them....

...well, except that they have Magatsu Typhoon, who may be actually relevant in that case, but still in need for more support.

In contrary, Nubatama would have been much better in this scenario, because of the Technical Booster's support that works with Legion and the second pair of Legions. Some additional cards, and they would be fine even without a card such as the new stride.

Spike Brothers is an interesting case. Not only they have a few (a really few) cards they can use from the Technical Booster (as they are not Generation Break/stride support), the deck overall is really fine and was one of the most underrated decks in that era. All they need in my opinion is a card like Jessica, just to make the clan more different and allowing more variations, but that's all.

Dark Irregulars has Psychic, which is actually really nice, but the real MVP here is Amon and its Legion Revival. Believe it or not, that deck would be relevant by that time, especially with the support from G-BT03.

Pale Moon, on the other hand, has terrible Legion-related support (Cracking Beast Tamer is awesome, but they NEED an other legion pair to work effectively), but at least they have the Nightmare Dolls, which can even work without the stride (kinda... sorta... yeah, they'd even need a Legion too).

Gear Chronicle as a full Legion-related clan would be really interesting, especially since it has two actual legions. It would be really interesting to see what would have happened if all those cards were Legion-related and not Generation Break support. The possibilities. And the lack of Chronojet Dragon.

While Granblue had some nice support, I still feel like that their real power is in the new stride supports, so they definitely would have needed more cards - especially a Legacy Legion for, maybe Basskirk.

Bermuda Triangle obviously has the Duo variant, that even without a Legion can work perfectly fine, and they also have Riviere/Trois and the obscure Dream Team for more obscure choices. Maybe something for PR-ISM would be good and they are fine.

Aqua Force, on the other hand, would be one of the newcomers, since the Blue Storm legion support is actually incredibly awesome (and even fun to play), and while Link Joker could screw them up, because of all the cards they have, the deck could generate lots of card advantage to guard against control decks. And don't forget that they even have the Ripple cards.

Megacolony would still need some support, but overall they would be fine. Something like Stun Beetle as a generic card would give them more variety.

Great Nature, on the other hand, would be really hurt without strides. Not only they didn't have important rear-guards, but they depending on stride too much at the moment that a Tester Fox/Guru Tiger variant would definitely be top tier, and not even a Chatnoir/Tester Fox deck could save them from that status. While Mikesaburo would make the deck more consistent, they still'd need some kind of finisher (maybe a Silent Tom clone, as in that case they wouldn't have Managarmr).

Neo Nectar would be much more varied: Musketeers would still be as relevant as they were in the Legion Era, and they would even have all those Maiden of cards. Even without an additional variant they would be fine, but a more generic new Legion would be just a piece of cake.

Nova Grappler would be fine to be honest. A few more Beast Deity cards would make another variant, and some legacy support (a legion for Asura Kaiser instead of a stride), and we're done.

Dimension Police really depends on if they have Laurel or not. If Laurel is limited, the overall power of the deck is somewhat limited, but still viable. However, with Laurel at 4, the deck would have an incredibly toolbox utility and they could be a Top Tier deck for sure, especially with some of the new cards and with the Legion Revival either.

Last, but not least, Link Joker would be an interesting case. Deletor would not be as power creeped as they are now, and the Star-vader variant would still be viable, not as dominating as they used to be in the Season 3, for sure.

While I discovered some things in this theory, there is still so many things to talk about. For example, all the G Boss units could easily be Legions (with the Amber clones being their mates, for example), and the overall game would be much more different in so many ways.

Overall, I think that while Legion in general had so many problems at the debut, I think that it ended too soon to discover the real potential and the overall feeling of the format, thanks to Harmonics Messiah and stride in general.

Speaking of Messiah, it would be really interesting to see what the game would have been IF the only stride we have is Harmonics...

...but this is another topic for another time.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this article, and feel free to tell me your opinion about not just the writing itself, but about Legion too! Did you enjoy the Legion Era? If not, what was your biggest problem with it? Do you think it was an overall bad design, or just badly developed/rushed? Do you think it could have been fixed if they didn't include Stride too fast? Or was it doomed since the beginning?

Let me tell you what you think, until then, see you next time!

Kind regards,

~ Sheo

Game 6 - What does your Ace say about you? - Great Nature Edition

Dear Vanguardians,

Did you know that choosing your ace is not just by coincidence? When you make your own Vanguard deck, your unconscious chooses your ace, your main card, your "avatar" depending on who you really are. But what does those aces actually say about you? Let's find out!

Today, I'm gonna show you all the Great Nature grade 3s and the "hidden messages" behind them.

Famous Professor, Bigbelly

You're chill, patient, and you don't really fight unless it is necessary. The win or lose after your battle, or even during your own life ("journey") is not rewarding for you, what you're really looking for is challenges and the joy of small things in every day. In other words: you appreciate more the journey itself rather than arriving to a destination. While there may be some hidden potential within you, you feel a bit awkward when you have to prove it.

Fervent Professor, Guru Tiger

You're a born to be a teacher. Your knowledge in things you're passionate about is unbelievable, and while your experience in practical things may be not as great, your theoretical skills are unquestionable. While some people would underappreciate or underrate you, in the end, you will prove yourself as an equal of them, or maybe even better than your rivals and enemies in the end.

School Hunter, Leo-pald

You are like a lion. A proudful warrior, whose life is all about fighting and battles. While you may lose sometimes, you take all of your loss with pride, but you still use it to your own to learn from it to become a better fighter. Even thought you may feel like selling your soul to the devil for ultimate power, your regret will be strong enough to find your salvation within yourself.

Honorary Professor, Chatnoir

You behave exactly like a cat. You like to control everything you can and while you don't want to humiliate (completely) your enemies, you can't help but enjoy their loss by your winning. On the other hand, you don't take losing to well, and you may even even feel offended by one small mistake you make. By your nature, you also feel superior compared to others.

Magical Scientist, Tester Fox

You're exactly like a Fox: you sometimes like to play the Fool, persuading everyone thinking you have no potential at all just to perform a sneak attack on them at their worst moments; or simply use your poker face to show no emotion at all. While you may not seem to be the person of emotions, your soul mate is more important than anyone else.

You didn't find the card of your choice? Or Great Nature is not the clan you were looking for? Don't worry, as the "What does your Ace say about you?" will come with a new Episode soon!

[Or not.]

Kind regards,

Sheo

P.S.: Don't take this post seriously. It was just made for fun.

Game 5 - My Vanguard (Part II)

Dear Vanguardians,

As I previously mentioned in my previous post, Vanguard G has some problems with not only the writing, but its presentation. While I mentioned what are these, I only mentioned a few solutions. This time, I will do my best to show all the details about the characters of G's protagonists, compare them Season by Season, then even show you my own version of those characters (or "how would I do them if I was in charge").

Let's start with Tokoha Anjou, because, in my opinion, her character suffered the most since Vanguard G's Season 1. Originally, she was a character that's only motivation was to become as good as her brother and step out of her brother's shadow. Her "Vanguard", Ahsha, started to bloom and develop its own personality, just like Tokoha herself, who after realizing what makes it to become her own self, an identity without connected to her brother, THEN realizing what her own quest shall be ASIDE from having the fear that she won't be noticed except as the sister of Mamoru, is a promising writing for that specific character.

Now let's skip one season, and let's see what happened.

On the quest of her own personal salvation and becoming that strong, independent person that she wanted to be... somehow everything she learnt was forgotten for the next season. To the top it off, her role as a cardfighter is even decreased to the level that the only fights she has are either out of screen, or simply has no role or impact in the main storyline at all. The only achievement she had is her odd victory against Christopher, and THAT didn't matter at all, as he wasn't the real boss of that specific quest after all.

Her impact worsened so much that her own side-plot doesn't matter at all, only used as a filler, and her new ace was revealed in a joke fight.

At the moment, in the series, all the female characters are slowly, but surely becoming support characters that are only there to either "cheer" the main protagonist(s), or simply have as much impact as some other secondary characters (like Team Trinity Dragon). 

Originally, her "Avatar", Ahsha represented herself not just in visual style, but also had a metaphorical meaning: the blooming of Tokoha was meant to show how much he improved not just as a cardfighter, but as a human being. Learning from her own mistakes, learning how to make friends and how to find herself is something that is represented by the cards and cardfights - or at least, it was supposed to be in the previous season.

Now, Neo Nectar and its "Ranunculus" archetype is only a visual representation of feminine outlook. In other words: Tokoha is using Ahsha because it is a female unit. She is using Neo Nectar because it is "so cute". While it was indeed the first indicator for her to choose Ahsha, at least there were more details about how she "grew" and how she got attached to that specific card (just like how Shion is attached to Altmile and Chrono is Chronojet). Tokoha used to be Ahsha. She's now only using Ahsha. There's a slight difference in metaphores (or more precisely, the lack of messages) that makes her character bland.

Let's see one of my OCs in contrast to her, and you will see what are the problems with her. (Keep it in mind that some of these mistakes they made are just poor choices, and not fatal plot holes. They can easily be fixed just by a few new details and making her active again instead of being a passive viewer of the events.)

This is Nora, a character I designed recently for my own Vanguard story. Since that story I have in my mind is really realistic and has no supernatural elements at all (not even Psyqualia), it is purely about slice of life and character drama. However, because it is also about cardfighting, showing character development is not that easy. That's where (in my opinion) cardfight and character development should fuse sometimes. In order to show what your character is, you have to show them at the moment they're fighting, when they are revealing their true selves.

In this specific story, the characters are all over 16+ (some of them are even older than 20+), so some serious topics can and will be mentioned. Nora's character development (her need - the true goal she needs to fight for and what she really needs to achieve; in contrary to her goal, which is the temporary success in her "evolution") is based around independence. It is really similar to Tokoha's goal of becoming her own selves, yet still different. Unlike Tokoha, Nora starts as a non-cardfighter who has no relation to it at the beginning. She's an average girl who doesn't find her place at all in this world, and she feels lonely. She has a bad relationship with her parents, and because she doesn't know what to do and how to do (anything), she finds herself in relationships after relationships. 

Her character sounds cliché, until the moment he joins to the "local Card Capital" after quitting an abusive relationship and literally escaping from her boyfriend, who used to beat up her when he was drunk. After telling her story to Kevin (one of the other protagonists), he invites her to the local he's attending just to relax a bit. After seeing all the players, she wants to try it herself, and she fails. A lot. Not because she has no talent, but because she occasionly asks Kevin for an advice, and she isn't comfortable with the clan she's playing (Bermuda Triangle). Then, Kevin asks her to try out each decks to find what she feels comfortable with. While the encouragement of Kevin helps her to find her own personality (and later Cardfight itself helps her to improve herself in many ways), it was actually her who took the responsibility and started her own journey, and going forward in becoming a famous player.

Unlike Tokoha, her role as a Cardfighter has nothing to do with having a family member. It was indeed from a friend as an encouragement, but she was the person who accepted the invitation, and she was the person who started to practice to become a great player who attends in national and international championships. For Nora, Cardfight is not only a way to express herself, but also a metaphore of finding your true "persona" (Avatar) and starting building your own character from null to become an independent person without the guide of anyone else.

Also, there is one huge difference between them. While Tokoha kept Ahsha, Nora indeed decided to change the deck she was playing to something that truly reflects her goal, her origins, and her emotions that she feels about her past, present, and even future.

Let's play a game. Guess what will be the avatar of Nora, based on the representation of females in card battle animes. Something cute? Powerful, yet feminine? Crazy and "masculinized" female character? Not at all.

This is her avatar and ace card.

Narukami in general represents "the storm" she had to experience during her past, while "Eradicators" representing her present by loyalty and faith. Why Sweep Command, though? Because he is an inspiration, according to the lore of the game. Her need to become somewhat important made her realize to become an "idol" herself, a champion, a true warrior who not only uses her cards, but leads them into a victorious battle.

While Tokoha herself is far from being a warrior - in fact, she's indeed a different character with different potential, the "void" of her current presence is quite sad. She has been demoted to a minor character whose only appearance is only as a filler, and a secondary player next to the big boys.

I used my own character as an example that every character has a potential to improve. All we need for Tokoha is more active role-taking (in similar way how she did in the Zoo G Quest), having impact of her victories, and the most important: fighting for not only her team, but for herself in some way. While there is still some unfinished business with her character for this season, the problem is that the show take a direction that only concentrates on Chrono and Shion, and their own different stories, instead of showing the story of Try3, like G Season 1 did.

Tokoha is far from being a flawed character - in fact, as I said several times, she has lots of potential. The main problem is that they're wasting this potential with questions that are either already answered, or they just simply don't care about her, because the other characters stole the show and having their own spot.

The next part will talk about Chrono (and Shion will be mentioned too), but not just their own sagas, but their "old and new relation with Try3".

Kind regards,

Sheo