Great Nature: The Foxes Legion Deck Profile

In this great world, we humans seem to be the ones with the most intelligence that we currently know. We study hard and we work to improve our lives with the knowledge we have obtained over many centuries of trials.

But now the tables have turned, and the animals have began to step up and take researching into their own hands! This is the way of the Great Nature University!

Great Nature is one of the few clans that has been in an under-produced and under appreciated cycle, similar to Granblue and Nubatama. However, despite those clans starting to peak out from the shadow of the lime light, it seems the power of Great Nature, a clan built up by Season 2, has gone like dust in the wind without a trace of any care.

However, that doesn't mean they have lost their bite.

With the Legion Campaign, this mark the release of the last 2 Great Nature cards until G Series, and it doesn't take a professor to see that it is meant for a big bang! This Legion Pair helps concentrate the essence of Great Nature to a more usable factor.

Let's start by looking at the main Legion Card:


Magic Scientist, Tester Fox

LEGION: Illusion Scientist, Researcher Fox

AUTO: (V) During your end phase, when one of your rear-guards is put into the drop zone, if this unit is in Legion, choose a card from your damage zone, and turn it face up. Then, if the unit put into the drop zone has the same card name as a unit on you (V), draw a card, choose up to two cards from your drop zone, and put them on the bottom of your deck in any order.

AUTO: (V) When this unit attacks a vanguard, choose one of your rearguards, and you may have that unit get +4000 power until the end of turn. If you do, at the end of turn, retire that unit. 

This Fox is out to experiment on anything it can find, even if it is himself! For those of you who are new to this clan, Great Nature builds power onto it's units, however, they have to retire the boosted units at the end of the turn. This is very troublesome as you'll need to find out which units are expendable. However, these cards always have a backup plan. 

Tester Fox's Legion Skill lets you flip any damage back up when you retire a unit. And then, if the unit is either Tester Fox or Researcher Fox that you retire, you get to draw a card and put 2 cards back to the bottom of your deck! This allows to make up for the loss of a unit, and also counters strategies that like to eliminate your rearguards or lock them down by leaving open spaces on the field for you to continue to play off of!

His second ability also combos with his Legion Skill, as you can give a power boost to a unit and retire it, then get your bonuses accordingly. Just remember what units you give the boosts to, or you may end up retiring all your units.

Now, let's look at the mate of this card:

Illusion Scientist, Researcher Fox



AUTO: [Counter Blast 1] During your end phase, when this unit is put into the drop zone from (R), if your vanguard is Legion, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of the units on your (V), search your deck for up to one card with the same name as that unit, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck. 


This mate could not synchronize with her Legion any more than it could now! This card can effectively loop back into your hand, get played on Rearguard the next turn, given the boost and retired, unflip a damage, draw, and send 2 cards back, /then/ search your deck for another copy of itself to repeat the process with that damage you just unflipped! The combo just keeps going! It's amazing what animals will do when they actually try and study!


These two cards have set the bar for Great Nature, in my opinion. After studying the limited number of cards at their disposal, it wasn't too hard to make a deck out of them. I think I did get a good balance of what the deck should look like.

Grade 0s x 17

1x Acorn Master (Starter)

4x Ruler Chameleon (Critical)

4x Triangle Cobra (Critical)

4x Castanet Donkey (Draw)

4x Dictionary Goat (Heal)

Grade 1s x 14

4x Cable Sheep

4x Coiling Duckbill

4x Sea Stamp Otter

2x Taping Cat

Grade 2s x 11

4x Illusion Scientist, Researcher Fox

4x Binoculus Tiger

3x Pencil Knight, Hammsuke

Grade 3s x 8

4x Magic Scientist, Tester Fox

4x Honorary Professor, Chatnoir

Winning Image:

The deck is focused around stabilizing your hand and field while giving your power boosts, as well as hitting hard. This build is a 8 critical, 4 draw build, with 4 of the criticals being a card that can be used with the retiring abilities in an odd way. Really, I only put in Ruler Chameleon for the off chance you want to use his skill.

The starter is Acorn Master, who will help you set up either the Break Ride or the Legion in your hand. And you won't really worry about the Counter Blast used for this ability because of Tester Fox.

Grade 1's were a bit easier this time. Since Great Nature lacks a Quintet Wall, Cable Sheep will have to be maxed at 4 for Perfect Guards. Coiling Duckbill adds more draw power to your retired units, so you can build up even more hand. Sea Stamp Otter is more of a fail safe. He isn't able to be retired by skills, so if you don't have the looping combo ready, you can safely put boosts on this booster in order to avoid any losses. And lastly we have Taping Cat, a decent Soul Blasting Draw card to help fill the drop zone.

Grade 2's are made up of our Legion Mate, Researcher Fox, and 2 cats from a while back. Binoculus Tiger gives another 4000 power to a unit of your choice when it attacks, yet retires it at the end of the turn. However, you can stack this power up on a unit that already is doomed to fall to the drop zone, meaning you won't be losing much, or you can put it on Sea Stamp Otter. And lastly is Pencil Knight, Hammsuke, which is a good way to thin the deck as well as shuffle the cards you return. 

And lastly, we have our Grade 3s. Tester Fox is our main card, and honestly, he can hold up by himself. However, he can do even better with the Break Ride skill of Chatnoir. Chatnoir's skill lets you give a 4000 power boost to a rearguard when a rearguard attacks. And at the end of the turn, you draw a card and retire that unit. However, this draw ability can stack, and you do not have to retire to get the draw. This means you can target Sea Stamp Otter 2 or 3 times, and draw that many cards while keeping him in tact! Not to mention the 10000 power boost to your Vanguard!

Final Turn:

Why is no one running this?! After looking at how much this deck can really shine in terms of offense and defense, I'm shocked that I haven't seen this around anywhere! Great Nature players seem to have a bright future ahead, and I honestly can't wait to see what will happen to the Clan in G Series. 

Until next time:

Daltorus.

Big Bang Brawlers Deck Profile!

The Narukami is one clan that has been a fierce competitor, yet buried under the more well known clans to not have an appropriate spotlight. At least, that's the case in this Sub-Clan who packs the mightiest of punches: The Brawlers.

Why I Dislike Kagerō

The release of Generation Stride was a new and fresh beginning for the clans, even interiducing a new clan. With the power of Stride and their combos that can florish, people now have a way to fully appreciate the power of the Vanguard.....that is, if you are anyone but Kagerō.

Kagerō in Generation Stride is boosted not mainly by a G Unit, but by a Legion Card known as Dragonic Overlord: The X. 

Now, you can tell from the Title of this article I do not have many positive things to say about this clan in general. But I want to get a few positive things out of the way.

First off, just because I don't like Kagerō, that doesn't mean I don't like their base mechanic or Toshiki Kai. Their mechanic of controlling the game is a good way to keep your opponent on their toes, and honestly, even though Ren Suzugomori is my favorite Cardfighter, Id have to put Kai on the top of my favorite characters list. 

Kagerō is meant to be a control deck. It first started out as a way to destroy rearguards easily and get multiple drive checks. When they returned in Season 3, they became more for Grade 2 disruption in the Seal Deagon Sub Clan, which again was about controlling your opponents field. Even Dauntless Drive Dragon with The End was ok since you can prepare yourself for the Break Ride. 

But everything changed when the Dragon Empire Attacked. (yes, I went there.)

The release of Trancendance Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vogue was the start of a true war between those who like Kagerō and those who despised it. 

The main difference that appeared was how over powered the card was at that time. The standard ability, meaning no requirements like Limit Break, was to nullify the use of Grade 0's to guard and to nullify any trigger effects that happened during its turn. This is what made the deck so destructive that not long after, Conroe, a starter commonly used for that deck, was banned because so many people used it. 

Nowadays people don't care, as Legion and other cards can play with it. And with Dauntless Dominant, only the lesser cards were implemted into the Kagerō decks. But Kagerō didn't stop there. They introduced the new Deagonic Overlord Break Ride as well as Dragonic Overlord The Rebirth. This was one of the top tier decks that wipes the floor when played right, getting 3 twin drives at a high power. Despite decks like Glendios countering it, the Overlord lineup has so much support it balances the damage done, and to top it off, Nouvelle Vogue could finish off should your opponent survive, considering most likely they will have used their perfect guards just for The Rebirth. 

Then came Perdition Dragons, which took even less subtlety that this was a Fan Service Clan. Not only did the main card copy the ability to damage outside of attacks from Dragruler Phantom, it gained the ability to null triggers and destroys 2 rearguards in the process! And not to mention it gained a power boost just from killing rearguards. 

And finally in the regular series, the release of Dragonic Overlord The Great, not only having the Overlord name, but also a Perdition card, meaning mixing these two sub clans wasn't a bad idea. While it only gets a restand by attacking a rearguard, the deck runs well with the extra twin drive as it gives more and more pressure, and also takes out rearguards when it's needed. 

The Kagerō clan may not always be the main focus of the show, but if Season 4 did anything right, it's correctly potray the destructive power of Kagerō. But this does not excuse how much the Kagerō clan is supported. Even as we enter G Series, Kagerō is one of the most used clans with yet another Dragonic Overlord card, and most don't even need the ability of Stide because of it. Though we've seen many old card revivals in the past with True Daikaiser, Amon Revival, and the soon to be coming Vermillion Revival, Kagerō's The X was a misplay not because of itself, but the timing of putting him in the series. The last thing other ayers wanted was to see, after so much Persition support they could continue through Stride even with their own Stride, another revival of the Overlord. If they had saved it like they might be doing with the Paladin clans, it would have been ok because the Perditions were good enough to be supportive of Stride and their own mechanics work. It could also help other clans to polish their skills as Bushiroad focused on the lesser played but still enjoyable clans. But The X throws all that balance out the window as Kagerō shows it needs to reinvent it's wheel every so often no matter how good its current support can survive. 

One of my friends who is a big fan of Kagerō once argued that the cards like Blaster Blade get even more support. And another says Revengers have great support for how little it gets. However, there is a difference between having /a lot/ of support, having  /good/ support,  and having /a lot of good/ support. Blasters may have had support for a while with their many cards and variations, but Majesty Lord Blaster died with the advent of Season 3, and the Royal Paladins became the Jewel Knights. Revengers had 3 parts of Support from Set 12, Set 15, and their Extra Booster, and Raging Form was the pinnacle till Abyss. Kagerō had Seal Dragons, but anyone who wanted to play top tier played Dauntless with The End until Nouvelle Vogue and The Re-Birth came out. And again, despite Dominant not coming close to Nouvelle, the smaller support was still viable and then was expanded on in the very next set.

I honestly don't hate the idea of Kagerō. The problem lies with how much their tactics are flanderized and how much they don't even need to evolve until other cards that can counter them comes. The End and Nouvelle Vogue are prime examples of cards that even when others need to evolve little by little and when their new support comes, the main cards become obsolete, Kagerō only gets stronger and their older cards return because it's the fan favorite clan. 

Do I dislike Gold Paladins or Shadow Paladins for the same reasons? No, because they have seen moderation and have weaknesses even when cards do come out. Kagerō gets constant support that they see no moderation aside from their hiatus in Season 2.

To all Kagerō players out there, this is not an attack on you. This is more of a personal gripe I have with this clan. Moderation is needed so that players can express more diversity and not show any true favoritism. 

These are my honest opinions. Happy Kagerō Day everyone. And Merry Christmas to non-Vanguard players. 

Daltorus.

Boss Card Battle: Daunting Deletor Oksizz Vs. Juxtapose Deletor, Zaele

Deletors are currently small in numbers compared to other Sub Clans, but they have leaders that can hold those numbers well. These creatures seek to eliminate all life on Cray without a second thought.

And the beings that lead them are known as Daunting Deletor, Oksizz and Juxtapose Deletor, Zaele.

These two cards are two of three cards able to Delete the Vanguard. This power is the main focus of the Deletor Sub Clan, where the power of the Vanguard is dropped to zero and the text aside from the name is nullified. All that is really left is the name and grade of the Vanguard, even if it is in Legion.

But even though these are two different cards that have a powerful effect, they seem to have a different play style based on their effects and how they play off their Deletion ability, the main difference being their costs and how they get around the high cost needed to fulfill their true power.

So, here is my opinions on how the cards are, both in good and bad perspectives.

First is the first Boss Card to have appeared that showed what Deletors could really do:

Daunting Deletor, Oksizz

ACT: (V) [CB 3 card with "Deletor" in its name & Choose one of your rear-guards, and put it into your soul] Delete all of your opponent's vanguards, and this unit gets +10000 Power until the end of your turn.

AUTO: (V) At the beginning of your opponent's ride phase, if your opponent has a deleted vanguard, your opponent may choose a card from their hand and discard it. If your opponent does not, your opponent cannot normal ride during that ride phase.

Daunting Deletor, Oksizz was the first unit with the ability of Deleting, and even then, he was widely revered for his ability to truly keep his power even more threatening. See, Deleting can easily be overcome by riding over the Vanguard. But Oksizz has the unique ability to hinder the opponent's ride phase with a simple cost. No matter what happens, your opponent will have the inconvenience of losing a card to ride over their weakened vanguard. 

His Deleting ability is also a very threatening, as he gains 2 stages of power. This promotes his ability to pressure your opponent as he will either force 3 cards out of hand or a perfect guard or Quintet Wall, as well as give your rearguard attacks more freedom to rush. Since some rearguards have the ability to lock upon hitting the deleted Vanguard, this will harm your opponent's hand if you can plan your attacks correctly.

But of course this power comes at a very, very hefty cost. an Especial Counterblast of 3 cards as well as putting a rear-guard into the soul. This means that you will have to plan using your cards wisely. Using this ability shouldn't be taken lightly, as it is only rare you use it two times or more. 

Pros:

Deletion comes with a 10k boost

Freedom to Delete without specific conditions

Hinders Riding with a Discard.

Cons:

High cost of Deleting

Especial Counterblast hinders flexibility.

Now here is the other contender that also has the power of Deleting:

Juxtapose Deletor, Zaele

LEGION: Juxtapose Deletor: Gaele

AUTO: (V) [CB 2 and Choose a card from your hand, and discard it.] When this unit Legions, you may pay the cost. If you do, delete all of your opponent's Vanguards.

AUTO: (V) When this unit attacks a Vanguard, this unit gets +2000 power until the end of that battle.

This unit is a Legion Deletor, capable of putting back cards into the deck and be a 22k base attacker. Legion is also how you activate it's Deleting ability. The main difference between Zaele and Oksizz is the Counterblast, as Zaele does not need Deletors to counterblast and only needs 2 counterblasts, as well as a discard for payment. This helps you use this Deletion multiple times and get the benefits of Legion added to it.

This card is also versatile, as you can mix other Link Joker cards with this card aside from Deletors. This helps with making decks focused on suppression and making sure your opponent cannot do much by both locking and Deleting. 

However, Zaele has flaws that are more with how the game itself plays rather than hindering itself. The Deleting ability is limited to Preforming Legion, which means to reuse the effect, you must ride another copy of Zaele on top of your current Zaele. This is very tedious as Grade 3 Searching cards take up your precious Counterblasts, making you rely on draws.

Also, since Zaele does not have the ride hindering effect of Oksizz, riding is not an issue for your opponent, and only serves as a minor setback. This means your mostly be deleting for the attacking pressure rather than defense. 

And like Oksizz, having to use a card for the payment is very tedious. It's hard enough to replenish cards for Deletion effects, but when you need cards in the drop zone early game for their Legion, there will be a point where you will be severely weak unless you can follow up with another Deletion. And unlike Oksizz who can use existing rearguards or throwaway rearguards from the hand, Zaele is limited to only the hand. 

Pros:

Legion returns needed cards to the hand

Deleting has less cost and allows more flexibility in unit choice.

Constant high power while in Legion.

Cons:

Legion requires early guarding and limits hand size.

Deleting can only be preformed by preforming Legion

Can easily be cancelled by riding over the deleted vanguard

Both cards have ups and downs, and while Deletors have a bad case of being weak in hand size, it's made up by their ability to zero out the Vanguard and not only hit for massive pressure, but also require the opponent to ride in order to make an effective attack. However, in my personal opinion:

I would choose Daunting Deletor, Oksizz.

Oksizz does have a high cost, but there are many cards that can play off of the deletion, which includes soulblasting and unflipping damage. You won't waste too many cards guarding attacks, and once you delete, you can have an easy turn of guarding to the point where the reduced hand size will be mute. Zaele can do the same, but it cannot follow up as well as Oksizz since you must preform Legion again, and Oksizz also hinders the opponent enough with his second effect to where the pressure of Deleting will overcome the opponent. 

That's my honest opinion. If you want, please leave your opinion or questions in the comments below, as well as any future suggestions for this segment.

Until next time:

Daltorus.

Boss Card Battles: Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon vs. Light Source Seeker, Alfred Exiv

There are many ways to build a good deck. Every clan has a way to play and there are many cards to support their play style. But what really drives what the deck is centered around? What is the key ingredient to choosing the right cards?

The answer? The Boss Cards.

Many clans and Sub clans have a leader they must follow in order to obtain victory. These Bosses form the basis, and it's up to the rest of the deck to synergize with that basis for a clean victory.

While some Bosses hold the Monopoly on their clan, however, many times there will come two or more great cards that will lead, each with a different way of playing. This is where confusion may set in, as choosing which play style to use is very tedious, and can lead to a clash of strategies. 

This is where Boss Card Battles come into play. This is a segment where 2 cards from the same clan or sub-clan will be compared against one another, viewing their Pros and Cons to determine which card will truly shine more.

With the release of Booster Set 16 coming to English format, there are a few cards that fit the bill in this new format of Legion. 

And for our first battle, it will be between two cards that share a bond with the same card, the Legions used with Blaster Blade Seeker: Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon, and Light Source Seeker, Alfred Exiv!

For fairness of our contenders, we will be giving both Pros and Cons of both cards, as well as how they combine with other cards in their sub clan. Now, with that out of the way, let's get started!

Seekers are the new Sub Clan for the Royal Paladins, and unlike some Sub Clans that have a specific gimmick that is a variation of normal gameplay, Seekers don't have that much variation in the Royal Paladin's usual Superior Calling strategies. However, the Sub Clan focuses motly on the use of Blaster Blade Seeker, which brings us to our Contenders for today:

Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon. 

LEGION: Blaster Blade Seeker

AUTO: (V) [CB 2, SB 3, and choose 2 cards in your hand, and discard them.] At the end of a battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, if this unit is in Legion, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one card named "Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon," ride it as stand, shuffle your deck, choose a card named "Blaster Blade Seeker" from your soul, and Legion

AUTO: (V) When this unit attacks a Vanguard, this unit gets +2000 Power until the end of that battle.

Thing Saver Dragon was the first Boss Card of the Seekers to be released in a Booster set, the first Boss Card being Sacred Wingal from the Trial Deck. This is one of Blaster Blade Seeker's 3 Legion Pairs, and is a powerhouse. 

Unlike Royal Paladin Boss Cards, Thing Saver Dragon does not focus on having a full field to aid its effect or give it power. Rather, it's a Restanding Vanguard with a high cost, with 2 Counterblasts, 3 Soul Blasts, and a discard of 2 cards, as well as being a Persona Ride from the deck and using the Blaster Blade Seeker in the Soul to Legion again. 

However, despite having no effect based on the number of Rearguards, that doesn't mean that Thing Saver Dragon should be alone. Many of the Rearguard cards in this deck work with Thing Saver, or Legion in general. From gaining power while in Legion, to superior calling when performing Legion, the rearguards can play off the power of the Legion Vanguard. 

However, this card also has Raging Form Dragon's Persona Ride con, where you cannot carry the power of triggers to the restand for extra power. And the very high cost means this is used mostly for pressure, and you'll need to be very careful of how many Counterblasts and cards you have in your soul and hand. 

Pros:

Restanding Vanguard means more Triggers and High Power Attacks.

Persona Legion thins deck of Grade 3's

Card can play off Persona Legion with "When you preform Legion" effects. 

Cons: 

Persona Ride nullifies self added triggers and power boosts.

Cost nullifies the card advantage of 2 twin drives, save using draw triggers.

Not as unpredictable as Raging Form Dragon, since Persona Ride is down from Deck instead of hand. 

This card is amazing at pressure, and has been a controversial part of the deck named Sing Saver Abyss, using the rule of mixing Shadow Paladin's and Royal Paladin's. With the new ruling of only 4 Blaster Darks limiting this deck now, this Card does work well with the synergy of the deck, yet it should not be something that's used without planning. Poor Planning and lack of support will render the Legion Skill mute, as it has a hefty cost for the effect to even work. 

Now that we have given Thing Saver Dragon its spotlight, time to look over the next contender:

Light Source Seeker, Alfred Exiv

LEGION: Blaster Blade Seeker OR Blaster Blade

CONT: (V) During your turn, if this card is in Legion, this card gets +1000 Power for each of your other units with "Seeker"in its name. Then, if the number of rearguards you have is five or greater, this unit gets +1 critical.

ACT: (V) [CB 2-cards with "Seeker" in its card name] Search your deck for up to one card with "Seeker" in its name, call it to (R), and shuffle your deck. 

The King returns to his throne as a new Boss Card originally released in The Movie Booster: Neon Messiah. Now as another card released in the English version of Legion of Dragon and Blades, he competes for a true spot as the top Seeker card to have. 

One unique power Alfred Exiv has is his Legion is not only limited to Blaster Blade Seeker, but can also be Legioned with the original Blaster Blade. This allows variety in the deck, as well as a way to have Blaster Blade use its Vanguard effect, since while in Legion, the Mate is considered being placed on the Vanguard Circle. 

Alfred Exiv's Legion Skill, unlike Thing Saver Dragon, does focus on the number of rearguards you have. Since his power gain ability focuses on Seeker units, this will include the Legion Mate, meaning if you Legion him with Blaster Blade Seeker, this will add 1000 more power to this pair. However, his rearguard effect gives him even more pressure, as he gains a critical for having a full field. 

His normal ability is a standard call ability using an Especial Counterblast, similar to Liberator of the Round Table, Alfred, but with more precision than luck. 

This card may not have the restand ability of Thing Saver Dragon, but his added critical and power is threatening on his own. He doesn't have the synergy with combining with the effects of rearguards, but still synergize a with his power and ability to call them himself. 

The only problem with his dual Legion is the usability of Blaster Blade itself. Not many Seekers can be combined with a Non-Seeker card, and there are more Blaster Blade Seeker support cards that cannot make the adjustment. And even Alfred cannot use a Damaged Blaster Blade for his Counterblast, limiting the usability of the damage should it happen. 

Pros:

Power and Critical based on the number of Seekers and rearguards respectively.

Flexibility with Legion using either Blaster Blade or Blaster Blade Seeker.

Superior Call ability to help hand advantage and fill the field.

Cons:

Blaster Blade is not synergize with Seekers.

Call Ability has a specific and somewhat high cost in a deck with many small Counterblasts. 

Both Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon and Light Source Seeker, Alfred Exiv have a lot going for them in this Sub Clan, and the Seekers are a great cln for those who enjoy the effect of a full field. However, their playstyle is very different when comparing these two. Thing Saver Dragon is focused on boosting the units with triggers as well as combining with cards already on the field, while Alfred Exiv gains power from its comrades and helps fill the field with useful units. Each have their ups and down, which makes them perfect for being competitive units.

However, if I had to choose only one of these cards to use as my true boss card:

I would pick Light Source Seeker, Alfred Exiv.

His cons are really just affected by the addition of Blaster Blade in the deck, which can be avoided by putting in another Seeker Grade 2. His Counterblast ability can easily be fixed with support cards like Grangal Seeker, as well as draw triggers to help further the field's progression. 

But my biggest selling point is the consistent pressure Alfred Exiv gives. Thing Saver has a massive cost as well as a limit of having Thing Saver Dragon in the deck, which means rarely will you use this effect more than once without precision planning. Alfred Exiv keeps his pressure with a full field, and while destructive clans like Narukami and Link Joker can hinder it, the it's still more consitant when you put just as much planning for such clans. 

This is my honest opinion. Feel free to leave your opinions or questions in the comments, and also please suggest new battles for the future. 

Until Next Time:

Daltorus.