*kicks open the door*

Yep, it's that time of year. I'm actually updating this book.

(Your unit chat will come soon, I just focus on Z World too much. Check it out by the way, good book to read)

Okay, let's lead the backstory on this. TL;DR, Vanguard got a reboot. As the self-proclaimed Lord of Shadow Paladin (this won in the vote between King and Lord) I was patiently waiting for my clan, if you haven't guessed already, Shadow Paladin, to get revealed. Now, since SP is used by the ever so fabulous Ren-sama, of course, he got a Trial Deck. Why am I making this?

So I can review (more like overanalyse the shit out of) said trial deck, which is named: Trial Deck 04: Ren Suzugamori.

Why?

Because putting this on Discord would not work. Anyways, let's get rooooooooight into this bullshit. (I swear I'll try not to crack too many jokes since this is lowkey serious review.)

Cards in the deck:
4x The Dark Dictator
4x Smashing Knight, Daman
3x Calamity Witch, Emer
4x Blaster Axe
4x Blaster Dark
3x Foldbau
4x Blaster Javelin
4x Knight of Refusal, Limwris
3x Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod
1x Fullbau
4x Darkside Trumpeter
4x Death Feather Eagle
4x Howl Owl
4x Abyss Healer

The Dark Dictator
[CONT](VC):During your turn, this unit gets [Power]+2000 for each of your rear-guards.
[ACT](VC)[1/Turn]:COST [Counter Blast (1)], call up to one grade 2 or less card from your hand to (RC), and that unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn. Your opponent chooses one of his or her rear-guards, and retires it.

You know, for a Trial Deck, I am pleased for Dark Dictator. Is it gonna see play in the deck? No, unless Phantom Blaster Dragon is horseshit, but for a TD boss, this is pretty decent. His first skill, if you have a full board, is like a free force marker. So far, from what I can tell, you'd be giving force markers to your rear-guards, so being able to get a pseudo-force marker is pretty damn sweet.

The second skill is... iffy. While interesting, it doesn't provide much to the overall deck, and gets cucked by Promise Daughter of OTT (this will be a common trend), being able to possibly fix a column is always sweet. Yes, it costs a CB for essentially non-targeting retire and +5k somewhere, it's not so terrible I'd go, "Yeah, that's a bad TD boss.". It's very much in the Overlord ball park, but since we have cards like Badhadh Caar revealed already which can actually give you a temporary +1, I do not see a place for Dark Dictator outside a retire focused SP build.

Now, let's quickly deviate from the card reveals to talk about... the non-targeting removal. This... I will not lie, bugs me. You see, this has two major issues. The first, Promise Daughter. OTT can call it behind VG and instantly make a majority of your deck super dead.

♿️ Promise Daughter is fair and balanced ♿️

Secondly, it's the fact that it doesn't target. Yes, I get it's to "balance" the deck, but not being able to remove threats when you want is so lame. Unless your opponent has a board full of good cards, they can just pop off their least needed card to fulfil the retire cost. Unless you can consistently retire often, which probably won't happen considering this is the V Era, you will never burn actual threats.

As much as I do like G Era NK, their non-targeting removal outside Vanquisher's front row targeting stride skill, has already been somewhat proved to be weak and not very strong. Now, while they did also have the bind, they did have a focus on non-targeting removal, and usually it didn't impact the opponent too too often.

Yes, the retire is still a retire, and that's good, but if you want to play a retire deck, just play KG. Cuz right now, a majority of players are praying that our VR will be a godsend, and will not be shit.

Back to the cards.

Smashing Knight, Daman
[AUTO](RC):When it attacks a vanguard, if you have more rear-guards than your opponent, this unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of that battle

Okay, standard back up G3. Good side? It's got the force gift. Bad side? The skill is 🚮

Don't bother running it.

Calamity Witch, Emer
[AUTO](RC)[1/Turn]:When your other rear-guard is placed, this unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn.

Okay firstly, I live for the small gap between her skirt and thigh highs. That is G O D T I E R. Secondly, she's very high up in the waifu category of SP, in 4th place, beaten only by Abyss Healer.

Oh wait, this is card analysis, right? I thought this was a waifu showdown...

Okay, okay, the skill is actually really damn good. Call her, then throw down something else, and it's a free 15k beater. Throw down an 8k G1 behind her, that's 23k column, forcing at least 15k shield! Slap on that 5k from Dark Dictator, it becomes 28k, and that's a heal trigger out of your opponent's hand!

Honestly, Emer has so much worth atm. She's much better than Blaster Rapier who's only a lowly 14k (yes, the extra 1k makes a difference against force clans, believe it or not) and helps the aggressive build. From what's reveal, she is going to definitely make the final deck!

Blaster Axe

There's not much to say about the big guy. He's the vanilla of the clan, which means that he can really go either way. Right now, I don't see the worth of a 10k G2, however, it might come up in the future. As a possible tech... eh, maybe. The extra 5k shield might come up but... honestly, I think Blaster Axe is one better left with his friends, Blaster Rapier and Blaster Dagger, and that's in the back of your collection, and left to be forgotten.

Oh man, the bunshin of the deck...

Blaster Dark
[AUTO](VC/RC):When placed, COST [Counter Blast (1)], your opponent chooses one of his or her rear-guards, and retires it.
[ACT](VC)[1/Turn]:If your opponent has no rear-guards, COST [discard a card from your hand], and this unit gets drive+1 until end of turn.

Now, I will admit I'm a massive Blaster Dark fanboy. When this bitch dropped, I was really damn excited.

However, that time has passed, and I've had time to look over the card. My honest thoughts...?

Well, Blaster Dark is... bad.

My first viewing of this card had me pleasantly surprised. Retiring for a CB, and a twin drive to dig deck harder, and maybe get an extra trigger seemed decent. It wasn't good, nor was it bad. It was very mediocre.

However, even though it is very mediocre, after reading some other people's thoughts online and looking back at the card, I feel like Blaster Dark doesn't have "worth". It won't make the final cut because the value it has just doesn't outweigh the cons. The mind game with Blaster Dark is cool, but unless running it is necessary, I'm not going to use it.

Firstly, yes, it's a retire skill for 1 CB. That is extremely good in V. My issue? Non-targeting. As a player, I would prefer much more to CB1 & SB1 to retire what *I* want, rather than letting my opponent choose. Now, if I factor in the "early game", if your opponent puts down 1-2 cards, and both of them don't have use, maybe this has value. But for the entire game, the retire skill doesn't really... progress you. Yes, the opponent now has to replace the rear-guard, but like I've said many many times before, unless it's the card I want dead, it's worthless.

Also, Tachikaze will have a fun time with retiring their own stuff since Blightops just gives them advantage.

Secondly, it's the twin drive. It is such a good, good concept, but what fails it is the conditions. Now, the conditions itself can have a mind game effect, but really, a smart player won't commit anything since the skill is very much a noob trap. What I mean by a noob trap, is that something a new player will do because they overvalue the twin drive, when in reality it won't do much to further the game. Yes, you dig a little bit more and can pull another trigger out of nowhere, (albeit it's just one extra card so it's already treading on a thin line) but the twin drive doesn't provide real... "advantage". You don't gain or lose anything from it. It's just a net 0.

Now, did I expect it to gain advantage? No. But for a one time usage, it suffers the same issue as Blaster Blade. The critical depends on overcommitting to the board, and actually doesn't do much in the long run, outside maybe that extra damage mattering on the SSD dunk turn. The twin drive? It means you have to try and retire your opponent's board to 0, but the twin drive just... doesn't have enough value. Hoping to randomly flip triggers from that extra drive won't increase your game state at all.

What would increase your game state instead would be a card like Macha, which can help fill board and keep hand size decent. This an example of a better ride target. I'm sorry Blaster Dark, but you just won't make the cut due to being lacklustre.

(Then Phantom Blaster Dragon requires Blaster Dark and I die)

Foldbau
[AUTO](RC):When an attack that it boosted hits a vanguard, COST [Counter Blast (1)], and two of your other units get [Power]+5000 until end of turn.

Foldbau's an interesting case. Since the VGs we know so far do not have much in the pressure department, you could put Foldbau behind it, then boost with it. This would make a Dark Dictator (with a full board) a 31k attack. If your opponent needs to no pass that, it'll be 40k shield at least. So, if they do let it hit, what will you do?

Make your RGs bigger with Foldbau. Now, remember, this is a force clan, so your RGs will probably have +10k already, plus whatever other power boosts you get (e.g, Dark Dictator's +5k, Javelin & Painter +3k, etc) this will just force even more shield.

When I first saw this card, I immediately wrote it off trash, but now it's definitely a sleeper card for the deck. Maybe this doggo will put in some work... testing will be required.

Blaster Javelin
[AUTO](RC):When placed, if you have two or more grade 1 or less rear-guards, COST [Counter Blast (1)], draw a card, and this unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of turn.

Man, my man Javelin is a sweet sweet card. Instant 4-of, since it not only replaces itself, but gains power too. Very solid card, and there's no doubt it'll be a staple in all SP decks. Not much else can be said for such an amazing card.

Knight of Refusal, Limwris
[CONT]:Sentinel (You may only have up to four cards with "[CONT]:Sentinel" in a deck.)
[AUTO](GC):When placed, COST [discard a card from your hand], and one of your units cannot be hit until end of that battle.

Well, it's the standard G1 PG. We'll probably run Mac Lir, (the draw trigger PG) instead, so there's not much to say about this.

Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod
[ACT](RC):COST [Soul Blast (1) & [Rest] this unit], and one of your other units gets [Power]+10000 until end of turn.

Okay, honestly, is it just me or is Arianrhod just fugly? I don't like her art/design at all.

Now, I was a bit wary on the skill since I didn't know how much soul the deck could use, but after all the reveals, I can safely say 2-3 copies will be going into the deck, since +10k is massive! It's a pseudo force marker, and much better than 6k booster.

At first I didn't want to run it, but now, that 10k looks pretty damn spicy, so she's earned the spot in the deck.

(Then Phantom Blaster Dragon uses soul and I die)

Fullbau
[AUTO]: When rode upon, draw a card.

Go to starter in Shadows. Not much else to say.

Well, we've finished the units with skills, so uh, just look at the triggers and I'll provide some insightful commentary.

Darkside Trumpeter

She looks like she can give a pretty good blowjob

Death Feather Eagle

The katakana is desufezaa iiguru. Does that mean he's a kawaii kawaii desu desu unit?

Howl Owl

> normal draw trigger unit
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Abyss Healer

Abyss Healer is the best SP Heal trigger, and if you disagree, FIGHT ME.

Also, her art is just lovely. If you saw my Discord pfp, it was of Abyss Healer until Macha was revealed. Then the rest is history...

Well, now that's I've examined the units, what's the thought on the deck?

If I was playing purely the trial deck, I'd say it's got... Mild synergy. It does feature both SPs traits: a little bit of retire, a little bit of power. You'll retire the opponent units and have power lines hitting their face. It's not terrible, but really you'd want to upgrade.

At the time I'm writing this, Phantom Blaster Dragon isn't revealed. We are very much banking on him to make the deck good, cuz what we have revealed so far... yeah, we're gonna need the VR to make sense of this. If we don't focus on the retire, SP looks like a pretty decent beatdown deck, with all those high powered swings.

Now, the next time you see me update, it's gonna be about Phantom Blaster Dragon and smearing my load on over how good/bad it is, or the sleeper deck that got no representation because everyone was jerking off Raging Form's ass: Swagruler Revenger.

That's all for now, Fox out!