Lesson 2: Deck Staples
- Brampton Booster
- Jun 01, 2012
- Comment
Woah there! This is a REALLY outdated post. For more current and accurate articles visit my main page.
First step to building a deck, put in staples. The following cards are to be put in all decks that you make, even if they are for fun or they are not for playing meta. These are cards that are not going to be called a real ‘deck’ if you haven’t got them.
4 Heal triggers
I don’t care how bad your deck is or how bad your luck is, always put 4 heal triggers into the deck. When they work, even once, it is the equivalent of an Extra damage zone. Let me give you the quick reasons why you run a certain trigger:
Draw – Increase hand size. The free hand advantage is countered by having it the only Trigger with 5000 Shield.
Stand – Apply pressure by allowing more attacks, nice Trigger to get when your opponent uses a perfect guard. Useful for depletion of field, since an opponent is less likely to guard it then a Critical.
Critical – Apply pressure by depleting their hand size or increase your damage advantage.
Heal – Nullifies all the other Triggers when it works, acts as a pseudo-perfect guard. Hugely compensated to only work at a damage equal or more then your opponent, and is limited to only 4 copies per deck.
At five damage drive checking a Heal trigger takes a load off your back. That’s because now you can let one damage through and keep your hand from needing to guard that attack that you had to at five damage if you got a different trigger. That’s why the developers of Vanguard limited the amount of this trigger to 4, so don’t be stupid: Run 4 Heal Triggers in every deck you have, no questions. A full Crit deck has 12 Critical Triggers and 4 Heal Triggers.
Now, In every 2 games your heal trigger will activate (maybe misfire but still activates) at least once. Even if you are the unluckiest person in the world your life will be saved by putting this in (By math and foresight). If you play aggressively, note that their Heals will almost always work, and yours won’t. That balance will make it slightly harder to rush.
Necessity of Perfect guards
I’ve seen this card go to waste so many times. Some people also say that this card is not so good. They are idiots: There is no other way to say it. How do you use Perfect guards? If you need more then 2 cards to guard an attack, THAT is when you should use it. They are mainly used to guard Vanguard attacks, because you know how guarding a Vanguard’s attack should require 15000+ minimum. With twin drive, an extra 10000 makes it 25000+. That is higher then what two cards can defend with, so this is when you use perfect shields: When you absolutely don’t want an attack through. Most of the time, you will have 5000 Shields, so you need these cards even more. Don’t use it in the beginning of the game because this card gains usefulness when you can use other cards, and when you hand is dwindling you can prop this up and safe yourself.
People say you don’t need FOUR prefect guards. It’s a terrible waste of space and you never need it. But that’s because they don’t think and have never thought about meta game decks.
You should have four perfect guards in all your decks. Why? The thing is, most meta players will hit or 21000 or more for every attack. But that’s not what you should be worried about. What you should worry about is Limit Break;
LB Units are generally described by being the only Limit breaker or that clan or has the following ability:
AUTO[V]: [LB4] When this card attacks a vanguard, this card gets POWER+5000 until end of that battle.
That means, they aren’t hitting for 21k anymore. They are taking their impact to the next stage in magic numbers; 26000. That power is way past what any defense beforehand had handled before. A perfect 30k power now is vulnerable to one single trigger and a no pass 35k is now a 2 to pass. So that means all those cards in your hand that you thought was enough to get through the turn becomes nothing to the vanguard. Also, if you’ve never ever read Ezel’s effect before, go do it now. It can hit for crazy 30k+ normally and 45k+ at maximum power. No reasonable person will throw down their hand to guard that attack, because it is a huge loss of advantage even if no triggers are found: it’s either a NO GUARD or PERFECT GUARD. Any deck without Perfect guards will have a disadvantage against these new powerful Limit Breakers. Even other vanguards can create pressure that needs to be perfect guarded. The chance of double triggers is necessary to incorporate into guarding a powerful VG.
A few people put three, since it kinda squeezes their grade 1 line, but in the end, four is going to be the preferred number. You’re rarely going to get all of them, and riding one is inevitable. So, put 4 or don’t make a deck.
Now, in reality, not all decks will have 4 perfect guards. most of the time it’s going to be either a matter of cost or availability. But I urge you to get them. Now, there are a couple circumstances where you shouldn’t run the max. If you have ways to draw cards, and you minus terribly your better off with 10k Triggers(Note the after Set 7 there won’t be any more cases of this.). That is because you might find yourself needing to discard a perfect guard to use another one at the worse case scenario. The other reason not to run so many is if you are using a twin or multi-clan deck. (Perfects can only defend themselves). If the card is teched(say, running less then 8 cards), then have 4.
Vanilla Units
A vanilla unit is one that has no effect. There is one for each grade, and at least two of them (The grade 1 and grade 2) are present in every full deck. They are very useful for hitting raw numbers.
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The Grade 0 Vanilla should not be used. There is no use for them as a starter vanguard, any other starter is much better. They also hog up precious card space that can be used for other cards. The two reasons you will use them is that there is no other starter (which is preposterous) or you are using a Tachikaze deck(Which I will explain in greater detail in that clan’s analysis) |
| The Grade 1 Vanilla should always be put at the maximum 4, unless there is pressing reasons not to. They are best when paired with a grade 2. They allow any unit on and after 7k to hit for magic numbers, which is basically everything you will use to attack with. Remember when I said never to put those 6k behind 8k units? That’s because these vanilla’s are much better at doing that job. Without effects, they give a consistent boost that allows attacks to go to and surpass 20k much more easily then any grade 1 with an effect. They however can be hard to place, since many different units benefit from them. Normally, I would say not to place them behind your vanguard but that choice is dependent on the build. You can run less IF none of your units are lower then 9k. |  |
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Grade 2 Vanilla’s are very spread out and can be placed at any number depending on the circumstances. Now, by itself it is great at hitting units and in Vanguard it absorbs some magic numbers. These units are used in place where a Grade 3 will eventually reside itself: Due to having most Grade 3’s at the 10k mark. It does not need an 8k and can do fine under a 6k booster. Running less is for clans that have many difference grade 2’s, some that is more beneficial to the playstyle then these units. Actually, a lot of newer cards can somewhat replace these, but given a mediocre spread you can take them as its own. |
| You are lucky to even find this Grade 3 vanilla, and in reality you are fine without it. Strictly speaking, Some Grade 3’s in the Rearguard Circle act like vanillas such as King of Kings, Alfred or Tyrant Deathrex. So it’s a fun card but you will really be better without it. Besides, you will have a hard time finding this in order to put this into a deck. |  |
12k and 13k hitters
13k hitters I have already described. 12k hitters are for Grade 3’s with the effect.
AUTO: If this unit attacks and you have a «clan» Vanguard, this unit gains +POWER2000 for that battle.
OR
AUTO: If this unit is boosted by a «clan», this unit gains +POWER2000 for that battle.
I don’t count card that gain it through a situation like Blazing Flare Dragon, but consistent power.
Now which is better? For now, I would have to go with 12k but 13k is going to be better in the long term.
12k can hit 7k, 8k, and 10k. One number is not that popular and it is missing 11k. The 13k however hits for all the important numbers and more – 8000, 9000, 10000, 11000 and 13000. The drawback is the CounterBlast, although low it needs to be used wisely. If you have a 8k behind it, it may be better to hit for 18k and pull a guard then go to 21k and damage them. But 12k is okay for now. The slight drawback of both of these hitters is that they need 8k boosters behind them to hit terrifying numbers. But that’s okay, intercept with that 8k GR2 and place this unit after.
A little bit more into this: a lot of vanguards gain 2k or 3k by their skill. So putting 8k behind them is always a good idea.
Okay, now lets see your deck before you start putting the cards you want in:
- 4 x Heal Triggers
- 4 x GR1 Vanilla
- 4 x Perfect Guards
- 4 x GR2 Vanilla
- 1~2 x GR3 that move into 12k/13k
18/50 cards! After triggers you now have 3/5 of you deck complete! Now you know why deckbuilding can be a challenge. Don’t worry, the next couple of sections will get your deck ready to play meta. Then we can start the deeper meaning of Vanguard.
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