Is Vanguard Beatdown?

Brampton Booster
Jun 20, 2012
Comment

Soo…this is my second topic on this sore subject, isn’t it? Vanguard is said by NOOBS it is just beatdown and there is no way around that. I need to burn the impression that it is not so.

By the way, is you don’t know the meta of games, then you’re wasting my time.
People not of meta mind think differently then those who are not. They can see what is good and what is bad, pass all the stupid hype that people think. People of meta, especially ones that go to official tournaments, are there to win. They can’t be bothered by insignificant things that the rest of the world believes is overpowered. If you want to challenge me, go find a reputable source and detailed mechanics and tell me then, as a comment, why something is something or other.

Okay, to start off, let’s see what Beatdown means:

Beatdown is a strategy which utilizes monsters with high ATK to overpower the opponent. It is one of the oldest Deck types. Beatdown Decks often aim to force the opponent into defense, and to destroy their monsters and Life Points as quickly as possible. Counter Traps such as “Trap Jammer” and “Solemn Judgment” are used to avoid Traps the opponent may use to stop the monsters. “Nobleman of Crossout” is used to get rid of face-down monsters the opponent may Set.
Source: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Beatdown
Aggro is similar, but the difference is that it has measures if their monsters attacks are negated
Source: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Aggro

The key point in both definitions is to rush your opponent into defense ASAP. Not only is it one of the oldest types of decks, it is also the most effective and is found in all national level championships (the metagame):

Yu-Gi-Oh

2012 National Championship Qualifier Decks (For those represented in 4 or more places)
x11 Dino Rabbit (Fast and retrieval XYZ Summon beatsticks and other Rank 4’s combined with Evolzar S/T/M negation)
x5 Chaos Dragon (Combines Chaos Monsters and Red-eyes to create a stronger beatdowns style then Disaster Dragon)
x4 Inzector (Removing any threatening cards and increase card presence, being very aggressive in general)
x4 Wind-up (Control field and bring out their powerful XYZ easily, as well as the fatal Hunter loop)
*All decks are highly capable of an OTK

Source: http://theirishduelist.blogspot.ca/2012/04/2012s-yu-gi-oh-national-championships.html
Source: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Metagame

Magic the Gathering

Cause I can’t find actual Tournaments (stupid ambiguous sites), I’ll explain the metagame briefly. It’s either all AggroControl or just Aggro(Okay, 45%, but still a lot). I see Affinity everywhere, and in spite of Affinity Haters time and time again they raid tournaments money faster then they win tournaments.
Event decks 2012 and 2013 are all aggressive beatdown decks.

A couple of MtG decks stem from the beatdown but the same concept. A burn deck will avoid the opponent (so they can’t defend), and finish them off like that. A draw/mill deck aims to empty your opponent as quickly as possible while getting the cards you need.

What I’m saying is, meta deck focus on rushing, with counters only to make sure they can keep the momentum. Or, they can forgo the counters and have a easy way to return everything to it’s beatdown state. Successful Beatdowns are those who are so fast, it can’t be stopped and so the only option is to rush as well. Fewer and fewer metagame decks include counters, mainly because it’s too situational and it is much better for a consistent OTK then a semi-okay OTK with protection cards. The current metagame is now a giant game of Russian roulette.
(Don’t even try to argue that; if you know the meta it’s true)

That alone should probably get you to stop talking about beatdowns, but since I haven’t talked about Vanguard yet, let’s continue.

The Premise

Vanguard is a game with a simple premise: attack until you inflict six damage. In your heads your thinking: “Attack without punishment? And huge attack boosts? This is an attack all or die game!”

I can’t argue with the attack only premise, after all, it is the bulk of the game. The good thing about this is that the mechanism of the game makes it strategically turn based. In Yugioh and Magic if you keep swinging hard you can keep your opponent squirreling away. Then it is is only when either your opponent destroys the offending monster or brings an even stronger monster to take it down. That is beating down. But in Vanguard even as your winning you still need to be cautious, and therefore you need careful planning to keep going. This is not beatdown. Beatdown is having high attack monsters to keep your opponent sheltering. You can’t stop a Vanguard from attacking, therefore in that definition is not beatdown.

You are probably still going in your mind, well this is still just attack until you win.

Now, all units can only do one damage. Having three attacks a turn will only give 3 damage a turn. No matter how you much high powered units into your deck, that isn’t going to really change. Triggers and abilities yes, can do more, but that isn’t a certain and of course, outside of my huge rant about luck, no meta player will even what to think about getting double criticals in their check to kill the opponent instantly, and no player will let units with a high critical through.

The Power Limit

But obviously having high powered will merit unguardable attacks and therefore is the reason you will go so high, right? Right? Well, too be honest although obviously the attack has no theoretical limit, there is a certain point where putting any more power will be deemed unnecessary. Let’s view a typical field:

without effects:

2/2/2

with effects(on the attack):

2/3/2

Guarding comes in multiples of 5000, and is found in grades 1 and 2. As you can see, units unboosted can’t even merit any more then 5000 Shield. Looking at the top left, a 10k Rearguard can go up to 13k, but big whoop as it still takes a 5k shield to stop it. While it may sound stupid, many fighters can’t see that and they just keep powering up their units like no tomorrow. Triggers and some card effects makes for a 10k shield, meaning that it can be dropped to stop one damage. A common 10000 Shield is what a booster can provide at maximum power (BTW, the 10k behind the Vanguard works only with the vanguard and a specific condition)

Now, about that limit I was talking about. That number is 31000. Any higher then that, then your opponent will be plopping down 5~8 cards just to stop that attack. And while some people do just that, that is so unreasonable it will most certainly KILL them.

But is it now give everything to Vanguard to crush everything? No, we have a special card that exists in every complete deck. It’s called a Perfect guard. It completely negates any attack, regardless of Damage taken, regardless of power of unit. This not only stops stupid amounts of power, it also serves as development protection. Perfect guarding will always protect you, regardless if the opponent’s vanguard is 20000 or 200000000000000000. Why throw down 20 cards to stop an attack when you can use one? Also, even if you let a 200000000000000000 powered unit through, you’ll still take one damage. Now that is called good development protection.

You don’t need more then 4 of these perfect guards, Most of the time two 10k Shields are even. These Perfects are for ones hitting more then 31k, so you only lose the perfect guard (and the dropped card for its effect). The only times that will happen is 1-3 times, so it’s okay.

Rearguards (when boosted) usually hit for 16k and less. Very few cards can hit pass 20k. Why 20k? It’s because at that point, an opponent has to consider to either guard that attack with 2 cards, or take 1 damage. Therefore, there is no need for a Rearguard pass 20k. The useful numbers are 15k, 20k and 30k, but as I’ve said before, they can’t get to 30k.

On the defense (hence your opponent’s turn), your Vanguard is only 10k or 11k. Now my friend brought up a good point, and it is if the Vanguard gains power it makes it much easier to guard, and a high enough number will stop any attack. The developers obviously know that and so they don’t do it. The developers don’t give killer power in your opponent’s turn, and the couple of cases of power in which they do is justified. The first is Phoenix Calamity Flame; a card that gains 2000 every time a card is placed in the damage zone. With three attacks, are you going to take two attacks just to have a +4k for the last attack? Also, It’s a terrible Vanguard being at 10k and no real way of boosting it well, so that means with that Vanguard it they guard less, you guard less. The other card is Knight of Fury, Agravain. First, it’s power fluctuates based on the number of Rearguards you have. Second, the cost to get to that power is a CounterBlast of 5 and a Soulblast of 8. Soul generally increases one a turn, so that means eight turns have gone before it can be used. The cost is so heavy, if you CAN’T beat them then you probably were losing beforehand.

Cost of Power

Now, the cost. This is the most important point against any Aggro deck. To gain power, you need to use resources. The resources in the soul can only go up once a turn and damage needs to be taken. Obviously, to get more powerful you need to take more damage and build more soul. This means you can only kill them as fast as they can kill you. This also means that it is the fighter that decides how fast a fight can go. If the opponent starts rushing, there’s two things to do. You can rush back, or you can hold back on your attacks and restrict what abilities they can use. If they want to go slowly, you can push them and keep them on the defense, or keep your units as well. It is all how you decide to make of the situation. Also, the most powerful units are Grade 3’s so you need to wait for 3 turns before you can threaten to finish them. Putting too many Grade 3’s will create a grade lock situation, and since they have no Shield it is better not to put so many of these powerful units. Finally, with triggers you can also define your strategy: Put more criticals to speed up the game, or use heals to slow it down. Stands can bring more attacks, while draws stop multiple attacks. Putting more of one means you have to lose another, so the opponent can attack that point that you left out.

So, in stanza, the attack premise is completely thought out and many points are many to ensure it doesn’t become a crazy game of Infinite ATK Monsters.

Other Playstyles

Why no burning or milling? The main reason is that it hurts the premise of Vanguard. By streamlining the game to attack and defense it makes it much better off. Now, yes you can ‘burn’ and ‘mill’ yourself, but not your opponent. It’s cheap. Because you have six damage, a burn will take off a chunk of your life. In Yugioh you can go down by 500 or 5000 by things, and burn decks only inflict about 500/ Unlike a 20k 4 Crit attack, the problem is that you can’t stop it. To stop it means you need another system, burning and anti-burn cards. That makes it stupid, because the only reason to have different options to win is because you can’t win in the other way. A burn deck can’t go up to a beatdown attack by attack, rather they burn them while the beatdown rampage on the burn deck. A beatdown can’t get the opponent into the defense, and there is no way to stop the burning. So it makes it a game of bloody knuckle. In Vanguard you can’t stop them from attacking, you can make them cautious but they will always move forward. Therefore you need to prepare beforehand for their attack and not plop them all on the field.

Yes, there are decks you can make that aren’t just attack for the win in Vanguard. OTT focus on defense and prediction of triggers, waiting for your opponent to make a stupid move a punish gravely. Royal Paladins create field presence, play and counter any type of game(Making them very reliable). Kagero and Nubatama controls the advantages you get by drawing and Twin Drive, forcing an opponent into an unfavorable situation. Angel Feathers Heal damage. Even decks that seem to be beatdown, like Tachikaze and Great Nature, have defensive measures built in and fool to everyone who does not decide to put them in.

Final Remark

Vanguard is not Beatdown. Far from it. Rather then saying Vanguard is an attack only game, it is really more of a tempo and control game. By reducing complications of extra systems, they have created a fun streamlined game that can be played simply for fun or deadly serious in advanced metagame strategies.