Monday, October 31, 2011

Glorious Fang!

Hello and Hello everybody once again, and welcome back to SO IMBA!

Where we learn how to be a better card fighter.

I am Rauzes, and today, we talk about Glamaeux.


Glameaux is a new grade 3 Royal Paladin, with an ability as vanguard to gain 1k for each of his dogs around, and an ability that lets him special call out these dogs from the deck.

Snowgal is a rather interesting unit. If you can line up 3 of them, they will each become 8k boost, equaling Marron in power.

And with the abilities of Grade 2 and 3 Glameaux, you can very well do so.

Fangs of Light Glameaux, the grade 3, has 10000 power, and the same ability as the grade 2: By discarding one Royal Paladin when he comes into play, special call one Snowgal (or bluegal) from the deck.

What this translates to is that when you call this unit, you can turn any one of your cards from your hand into a 6-8k boost.

Deck balance wise, this means that even if you end up with a situation where you have too many grade 2s and 3s, but not enough grade 1s, you can throw any card to make it a boost.

Even if you do have enough grade 1s, by throwing extra Pongals once you have gotten your soul saviour Dragon, you can pull out cards from your deck, making your deck thinner and the chance of triggers higher.

Since most boost units with effects have 7000 Power, by having two Snowgals out, you already clear the 15000 Line with grade 2.

While Grade 2 Glameaux is rather small in terms of size, Grade 3 is 10k, a good size, especially for rear guards.


But grade 3 Glameaux has a certain power hidden for when he is the vanguard.

He gains 1000 for each Snowgal and Bluegal in the field as Rearguards.

Thus, if he is the Vanguard, and there are 3 Snowgals behind, he will become 13000, with 8000 Boost: 21000.

Even without this, if there are 2 Snowgals, and 1 Bluegal still around from the starting Vanguard, he will reach 20000 attacking power.

And even so, there is another hidden power.

If you have 4 Snowgals as Rear guard, they will all become 9k, giving you 2 9k boosts, and 1 18000 Power total(Snowgal boost Snowgal)

This will also give Glameaux 4000 Power.

If your last Rear Guard circle is Bluegal, Glameaux will gain 5000 Power, and recieve a 9000 Boost, a grand total of 24000 Power.

If you happen to be attacking a grade 2 or a grade 3 with 9000 Power, thats just enough so 20000 Guardian is a 1 trigger break.

Freaking massive.

On the next turn, when they change to a 11k or 10k Vanguard, you simply need to change out the attacking rearguards to larger things, and your Glameaux will still retain 21000 Power, with a full force of 8000 Boosts behind anything.

Drop one Snowgal and Bluegal for 2 Baromedes, and the enemy will almost have to fold.

Thats all for today.

SO IMBA, Stepping up your game since 2011

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Grade 1 Rush

Hello and Hello everybody once again, and welcome back to SO IMBA!

Where we learn how to be a better card fighter.

So today's topic is Grade 1 Rush.


People usually see a grade 1 Rush and think...

What the heck is wrong with this guy?

In a deck consisting entirely of Grade 1 and Grade 0, how can you win?

The deck will have no twin drive, and no hope of beating any other deck, right?

Right?

Wrong.


The most important concept behind the grade 1 rush is the concept of Ride.

See, every turn, you ride to the higher grade, by putting a card of that grade on top of your Vanguard, changing your Vanguard.

But what if you dont ride?

What if you only ride to grade 1?


Usually, what happens as you ride to the next grade is this:

Draw +1, Ride -1, Drive Check +1,(Grade 1)(Total +1)
Draw +1, Ride -1, Drive Check +1,(Grade 2)(Total +2)
Then Draw +1, Ride -1, Drive Check +2(Grade 3)(Total +4)

As you can see, every turn, you are only getting one card from your drive check, as advantage wise you are losing cards to ride.

Yes, you do gain some power, but how big a difference is 2000 more power?

That's less than 10% of the average vanguard's attack at grade 3!

The end result of your efforts in riding is the grade 3's Twin Drive, the ability to gain more and more cards every turn, and make triggers come out faster.



But lets think in another way.

What if, lets say, we DON'T ride beyond grade 1.

What would your number of cards look like then?

Draw +1, Ride -1, Drive Check +1,(Turn 1)(Total +1)
Draw +1,Drive Check +1,(Turn 2)(Total +3)
Then Draw +1, Drive Check +1(Turn 3)(Total +5)

By not riding beyond Grade 1, you gain a 1 card advantage over the enemy every turn for the first two rides.

What about turn 4?

At turn 4, the grade 3 will gain 3 cards, whilst the grade 1 will gain 2 cards.
Grade 3 player will have a total advantage of +7, whilst the grade 1 will have a total advantage of +7 as well.

Thus, it is only turn 5 and beyond that being at grade 3 will make a difference, card advantage wise.

And, as most players of Vanguard will already know, Turn 5 usually means the opponent is at 4-5 Damage, and about to die to a nastily timed trigger.


This means that the advantage and power of a Grade 1 rush is in fact...

The fact that advantage wise, you are at equal footing, if not better footing, until each player has gotten their 5th turn!

So, why bother with all this potential ride mishaps or having to mulligan to get a good hand with good balance up from grade 1 to grade 3?

Why not get rid of all of that, and just play ALL grade 1s?

All you have to do is rush the enemy, and kill the off before they can get their grade 3's Twin Drive to mean significant advantage.

So, by running only grade 1s in your deck, and probally mixing 2 clans(Kagerou + Royal Paladin or Kagerou + Nova Grappler are the most common), you generate a strategy in which you have a grand total of 5 turns to end your opponent, but in doing so be significantly advantageous in terms of advantage.


Thats all for today.

See you again on SO IMBA!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Beyond the Apex Limit

Sunday, October 23rd
Two Thousand and Eleven

Is the date today, and you are currently reading

SO IMBA!

Where we learn how to be a better card fighter.

I am Rauzes, your host, and today, we discuss the AL4 deck.


So you might be thinking: "AL4 is a team that runs 3 different clans, right? Everyone knows how to play those decks."

But what about using them all together at once?

Today, I'll be explaining a deck to you about the deck I recently be on a winning streak with: The AL4 deck.

Is it good?

Well, I've won a few tournament games without bothering to ride to grade 3, and at times even before needing to ride to grade 2.


The AL4 consists of 4 clans: Shadow Paladins, Spike Brothers, Dark Irregulars, and Pale Moon.

When constructing the deck, I focused on the specialties of each of these clans, and built the deck around these.

Spike brothers specializes in:
Superior Call during the battle phase, and Soul Blast for power up at the cost of returning to the deck.

Dark Irregulars specializes in:
Soul Charging at a fast rate, and utilizing this Soul for Power up.

and Palemoon Specializes in:
Superior Call from the Soul, and Power up from specific units within the soul.

Now a regular deck with only 1 clan can and would make full use of all these specialties, but if you think about it enough, you could actually mix all of these together.

If you use Dark Irregulars to soul charge, your Pale moons would be able to function to their fullest.

Then, if you use Spike Brothers to soul blast out anything that you DON'T happen to need for your pale moons, you can get rid of the dead weight soul charges that happened, for next to free attacking offensive power, leaving everything you might need behind.

If you think like this, the deck actually falls into place...

You start off the game by soul charging while putting on the offensive with high power Spike Brothers, and end the game when your combination of Pale moon and Spike Brothers superior call.


Spike Brothers Superior Call?

Spike Brothers have two cards that can Superior Call out Juggernaut Maximum(or Wonder Boy): General Zaifreed and Dudley Dan.

General Zaifreed is kind of weak as a Vanguard, but Dudley Dan is a rear guard circle unit...

When this Unit Boosts a Vanguard, You may pay the cost (Counter Blast 2, and send one Spike Brothers card from your hand to the soul). If you do, superior call one Spike Brothers from your deck to a Rear Guard Circle that has no unit in it.

And Juggernaut Maximum:
When this unit attacks, you may pay the cost of (Soul Blast 1). If you do, this unit gains 5000 Power(to 16000), but returns to the deck at the end of the battle.


Note that these two effects have one very important line missing from their effects...

The line "If you have a Spike Brother's Vanguard".

That's right. Dudley Dan can call out Juggernaut Maximum for him to attack with 16000 Power regardless of Vanguard.


So, as a finishing move, you could:

Attack with High Speed Blacky, boosted by Midnight Bunny, with Soul Blast.

Thats 21000 Power. Assuming it hits, High Speed Blacky will return to the deck, and Midnight Bunny will call out either a Barking Cerberus or Dark Metal Bicorn.

Then you attack with your Vanguard. Use Dudley Dan's Boost and effect to superior call out Juggernaut Maximum.

Juggernaut boosted by Dark Metal Bicorn with Soul Blast... 24000 Power.

Then, attack with the other rear guard you have.

Rather than forcing several weaker attacks, try to do so in the early game, to make it so the high power attacks of the late game will matter more.


By interchanging the cards on your field to adapt to the situation at hand at ease, you will find yourself at an advantage very quickly.

On top of that, by playing 3 clans, you have access to not just 4 types of Triggers, but a whooping total of 12 TYPES of triggers... of which you can pick any 4.

You can play 16 Criticals if you wanted to!


There is a criticism against mixed clan decks though...

Some say that it's very hard to play, because what clan your Vanguard is can severely limit what you can and cannot do...

Allow me to quote an adept player:

"Have you ever heard of this super awesome thing that allows you to change the card that is your Vanguard, whilst sending the previous one to the soul called 'Ride'?




The only thing stopping you from reaching the apex limit is your play.

Here at So Imba, we step up your game.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

8000 Boost

Hello and Welcome back to SO IMBA!,

where we learn how to be a better Card Fighter.

I am your host, Rauzes, and today, we will be discussing about 8000 Boost Units.


First off, sorry for not posting for nearly a week. I've been really busy this week with...

1: Organizing a huge project on Monday.

2: Organizing as committee for an ANIME CONVENTION on Saturday

3: Cheerleading for Friday.
Wimps lift weights. Real men involve lift people.

But now all of that is Over!

And that means we can get back to our regularly scheduled dose of IMBA Strategies and tips!


So today, we discuss 8000 Boost

Grade 1 Units with 8000 Power, as well as grade 2 Units with 10000 power might not seem like much, but if you think they don't have uses, you've been playing too many other games.

Yes, they don't have effects, but their power gives them as much an advantage as you ever need.

Grade 2 10000 Power Units can hit a grade 3 without any boost, but what about Grade 1s?

Grade 1 8000 Power might not seem like much, but today, we prove all of that wrong.

Each clan only has 1 8000 Power Grade 1 unit, only one type of 8000 Boost.

However, most clans will have a good variety of 7000 Power units, so why cant we just pack those instead? Those seem to have pretty nice effects.

Yes, you can, but 8000 Power has one more thousand power, which is very important in crossing the: 21000 Power Line.

The 21000 Power line doesnt make much of a difference when up against 10000 Power Vanguard Units, but it sure does when up against 11000 Power.

Besides, when up against 10k Power, who can complain?

It is only with 8k Boost that Units that become 13000 Power alone can breach the 21000 Power line.

The only other way to breach this line is with Sakuya or CEO Amaterasu... who go to 14000 Power with more than 4 cards in the hand, as well as have a 10k Boost from Milk, going up to 24000 Power as a Vanguard.

Other clans, however, have to stick with units that can only get up to 13000 Power...

Meaning their only way of getting over 21000 Power is having the 8k Boost.

By getting over this power, it effectively equates to an additional card every turn, as the opponent needs to guard the attacks.


8k Boosts are, however, quite valuable.

Unlike Grade 2 Vanillas, their ability is irreplaceable.

Grade 2 Vanillas's 10k Power is the same as any grade 3, for the most part, minus the intercept, so the deck will have plenty of 10k Power units to fight for you.

However, grade 1 8k Boosts are much more valuable because in any one clan deck, you can only run four.



8000 Boosts also allow the making of 20000 Power with units that can become 12000 Power.

Practical gameplay wise, you will be seeing more 10000 Power Vanguards with the ability to boost up an additional 3k when attacking.

Thus, units that can gain 2k for soul charging can benefit from this to easily become 20k.


What about by themselves?

Actually, most decks utilize some form of low power Grade 2 Units for one reason or another...

Low power being 8k Power only.

So, as a grade 1, you can call these as attackers to try to take down that special intercept, then drop them to the backrow on the next turn, to serve as boost.


Thats all for today.

See you next time, on SO IMBA!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Galahad Paladins

Greetings, Hello, and good day to all.

You are reading SO IMBA!,

where We learn how to be a better card fighter.

I am Rauzes, and today, we discuss Gallahad.

Ichibyoushi is a similar card, so this discussion sorta does include the moon series of Oracle Think Tank.

Every turn, you can reveal the top 5 cards of your deck, and if the next level of the series is present, you can superior ride, at the cost of normal riding that turn, effectively giving one card.

However, the level 3 has a heavy drawback: if it does not have the full series in the soul, it will lose 2000 power and drop down to 9000 power...

Less than the percentiles involved in the special riding, we will be discussing the usage of running the series not in full.

It is quite common in Royal Paladins to start with Dorangal, and run 4 Galahad grade 1, and 4 Galahad grade 2, with no Grade 3.

This gives your deck a rather high chance of getting one free card per game, at the cost of running units that are 1000 power short of a vanilla, a pretty good deal.

Since the grade 3 is the only one that entails anything that can be considered a disadvantage, you mitigate the possibility of any such disadvantage by not running any at all.

Thus, your grade 3 lineup will be completely open.


But what about the cards that returned to the bottom of the deck?

Whilst special riding is not compulsory, as you can choose to select NONE of the units to special ride, checking the top 5 cards and sending them back to the bottom of the deck IS.

In most games, usually this means that those cards will never be seen in the game again...

Unless you do one of two things:

DRAW!

or

SEARCH and Shuffle!

Oracle Think tank, with their Draw 1 return 1 units, can achieve the insane amount of drawing needed to bring those returned cards back up,

whilst Royal Paladins can search, shuffling those cards back to random order.


Now, without these, you would know what cards are at the bottom, right?


How could we use that to our advantage?


The first was is by knowing which triggers will come up.

Because you have a good idea of how many triggers went back to the bottom of your deck, you know which triggers will NOT come up for you, but also potentially which ones CAN come up for you.

Thus, if you know all 4 of your heal triggers went to the bottom of the deck, you can play accordingly, and be a bit more defensive, because your heal triggers will not come up, and if they dont come up, they wont be hit to heal nothing.

Similarly, you can use similar thinking for the other triggers such as critical or stand.


This leads to the next use.

You can use them to time your searches.

If you use many cards that search such as Gancelot, Pongal, or Barcgal, you should hold on to these until you know the timing is good to shuffle your deck.

The timing to shuffle is when you feel you've seen too many triggers go back to the bottom.

Lets take a look at some numbers.

Even if you only run grades 0, 1, and 2, you actually do get a lot of information regarding your triggers.

Grade 0 will check 5 cards, Grade 1 will check 5, and Grade 2 will check 5.

A total of 15 cards that you could check, and statistically, about 5 triggers you know will not come for you.

So, if you had more than 7 or 8 triggers go off already, you simply need to shoot off a search card, and re-shuffle your deck.

In this same thinking, it might also be possible to use Dorangal... with NO Galahad at all, in fact.

Simply for the information advantage of 5 cards you know are at the bottom of your deck at the cost of 1000 power of your starter vanguard...

Seems like a good trade off, no?


That's all for today.

See you next time on SO IMBA!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Full Blast

HARO and HARO everybody, and a warm welcome back to SO IMBA!,

Where we learn how to be a better card fighter.

Today is October 11th, Two Thousand and Eleven, Tuesday.

Just a really quick reminder to everyone that Thursday, October 13th, so this thursday, is International Suit Up Day.

Wear a suit to work!
Wear a suit to school!
Wear a suit to sports!
Wear a suit to watch sports!
Wear a suit to watch cheerleaders in between sports!
Wear a suit to perform the cheer leading!

Wear a suit to VANGUARD!


Today, we will be discussing Full Blast.

Say what blast?

Full Blast.
Or, as some would like to say: 行くぞ。ファイナル・ターン!フルブラスト発動!!

Full Blast is the term used for card with the following Text:
[V] Soulblast(8), Counter Blast(5):

And they all have:
[V] At the beginning of your main phase, Soul Charge (1), and

Full Blast units are called so because they WILL use up all of your counter blast, as well as all of your soul.

As the Full Blast units have a soul charging ability, in theory, with enough time and good playing, they can set themselves up for a full blast.

However, in most games, you wont last quite as long, especially without counterblast support, so you would have to use cards that give some form of soul charging, in order to rack up enough soul to activate the full blast.

Very few Full Blast units are frequently seen in common play for two main reasons:
The first is how hard it is to pull off, especially without added deck support and devotion.
and the second is that most of these effects... just don't add up...

as in: They aren't worth Full Blasting for.

Here are some examples of Full Blasts:

Destroy all Enemy Rear Guards
Draw 5 Cards(ohoho we all know who this is)
Destroy 3 Rear Guards
Move 3 Rear Guards to Soul
Move 1 Rear Guard to Vanguard
Special Call up to 5.
Stand all Units

Now, lets take a quick look at whether these all add up.

Card Advantage wise, Lo Bell and Vortex Dragon are quite frankly, out.

Soul Blast of 8 AND a Counter Blast of 5 isnt quite worth the 3 Cards advantage that they give.

Simply put, instead of using your counter blast and soul on those 3 cards, you could be using them on other cards, such as Berserk Dragon, or Nightmare Doll Alice, to give you effectively, the same amount of advantage.


Next up are the cards that give 5 advantage... In Theory.

I'm talking Baskirk and United Attacker.

Both have effects that allow them to special call 5 Cards, supposedly adding up: In Theory...

But most good players will never ever use their Full Blast abilities.

Why? Because although they can give 5 Advantage, most of the time, they wont.

When you have 8 Soul, 5 Damage, and are ready to rev up your Full Blast... for the final turn...

Do you have absolutely Zero rear guards?

Of. Course. Not.

At the end stage of games, chances are that you have quite a few rear guards hanging around chilling out, doing work.

So, while, advantage wise they may seem good, but actual play wise, they run into some problems.

First, with United attacker:

Spike Brothers without 4 Juggernaut/4 Skydiver? Must Be 4 Juggernaut/2 Skydiver/2 General.

Quite frankly. Spike Brothers dont really have other choices for their Grade 3. Juggernaut and Skydiver are just that good.

On top of that, General Zaifreed is already your dedicated Vanguard unit, so hence, United Attacker doesnt really have a spot on the team.

Sorry, big ol Ogre, but you're getting Benched.


Next up is Baskirk.

Yes, he can call the Kraken, but unlike United Attacker, Granblue as a clan doesn't really have much choice for dedicated Vanguard Grade 3 Units.

Baskirk actually does have it's uses, but not for his Full Blast.

First off, his soul Charge.

Whilst Granblue doesnt usually use Soul Blast, there is one very good card that utilizes it very well: Dancing Cutlass.

Considered a mainstay in Granblue builds, Dancing Cutlass provides the stepping stone to Captain Nightmist or Samurai Spirit at next to no cost, because Granblue doesn't use soul all that often.

Hence, by giving a soul charge every turn, you are feeding Dancing Cutlass, while becoming a 20k Attacker.

In Granblue, the counterblasts are better used in reviving your Rear Guards to do battle, so forget completely about using Bakirks Full Blast. Its just not worth it.


The cards that either Destroy all Rear Guards or Give 5 Draw are actually worth your time to aim for, but do take a long time to set up.

Simply put, instead of garnering 5 card advantage, think of it more as a way instead to be burn through Guardians.


The last 3 are Steil Vampir, Mr. Invincible, and CEO Amaterasu.

First up is the CEO herself.

Reasons to use this card?
Other 2 effects. Nuff said.

Although CEO's Full Blast isnt something you actively aim for, it could very well be in your deck, since the 5 draw in any deck at all is amazing.

Steil Vampir is another good example of a Full Blast.

What allows Dark Irregulars to use Full Blast so well is that they exceed at fast and strong soul charge, allowing your first effect condition to be met easily, but also that they don't have too many Counter Blast units, so your damage zone will probably be open for a long time.

Hence, the Dark Irregular's Full Blast units are actually quite achievable.


The last one in line is Mr. Invincible.

Mr Invincible is almost as imba as CEO Amaterasu, only without the +4000 Power.

Not only does its effect help open damage, setting up the counter blast needed for the effect,

but it is one of the very few cards in the game

That can stand your vanguard, whilst retaining the Twin Drive.

Just those additional drive checks give +2 Advantage.

Then you have 3 more full power attacks.

Its as if your opponent's turn never happened.

That's right.

Mr. Invincible Full Blast might as well read:

When this unit's attack hits, Full Blast to SKIP THE OPPONENT'S NEXT TURN


Suddenly he becomes one of the most imba cards in the game, right?

Not quite.

Nova Grapplers soul charge...

Very... very... horribly.

Out of the entire clan, only Mr. Invincible can soul charge, meaning that your Tornado Stand Galactica will take up a lot of time to set up.

Too bad, I guess.

Maybe run a Mr. Invincible deck that Utilizes Dark Irregular's Soul Charging abilities, and Nova Grappler's counter cost recovery?


That's all for today.

See you next time on SO IMBA!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

4 Chappie Splash

Hello, Hi, and Good day, to all the readers out there.

Today is October 9th, 2011, and you are currently reading SO IMBA!,

Where we learn how to be a better card fighter.

Today, we talk Chappie the Ghost.


Chappie the Ghost is a Grade 0 10k shield Granblue card, with a rather fun effect:

When you use him as a guardian, you can send a Granblue Card from your deck to the drop zone.

(Completely regardless of your vanguard)

So, usually, players using Granblue would put in about 2 or 3, for a tiny bit extra shielding, and because its effect is pretty good, as a pinpoint search.

That being said, its popularity has been going down since the release of Dancing Cutlass. Players seem to just max out on Guiding Zombie and Baskirk, and use Soul Charge -> Guiding Zombie -> Dancing Cutlass -> 1 Draw to send a grand total of 5 cards to the drop zone, whilst drawing one card.

This allows the granblue player to have much more cards with effects in the drop zone there, as opposed to just one.

On top of this, Guiding Zombie has the same 10k shield, giving the player the same amount of protection over the course of the game.

But that's a story for another day.


Todays story is about Chappie, and instead of using it in Granblue Decks that you pinpoint drop any card you happen to need, just putting 4 into any deck, to increase the chance of triggers.

Chappie can actually be used as a 10k shield, followed by it being used to send another Chappie to the drop zone, thinning out the deck.

This ability allows you to run them in any deck at all, so long as you have something to drop.

By running 4, you effectively have 2 extra 10k Shields, as well as a 47 card deck, as opposed to 49.

In decks such as CEO Oracle Think Tank decks, more importance is placed upon having many cards in the hand and drawing, hence either 4 to 8 Draw triggers.

However, adding on more draw triggers will lead to a slight imbalance in defensive power, and you will need to add in 10k Shield Cards.

Perhaps throwing in 4 Chappie is the solution to this.

Keep in mind that this effect is compulsory, not optional.

But who can say no to an increase in trigger chance?

Thats all for today.

This is Rauzes, signing out.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Superior RIDE! GRADE 3!

Hello everyone out there, and welcome to SO IMBA!,

Where We learn how to be a better card fighter.


Today, I'd like to share with you a decklist for Superior Ride.

Grade 3, with their Twin Drive, are extremely powerful, the exact reason why you cannot afford to lag behind the opponent in terms of Grade.

The first player to reach Grade 3 is at such a major advantage, Its very hard for the opponent to catch up...

If you go first, and can Superior Ride to grade 3 before the opponent even hits Grade 2...

They are at a pretty big disadvantage...

Not only can they not hit you without boosts on their turn, but they have to sit through two rounds of Twin Drive before they get there themselves.


SUPERIOR RIDE!

Grade 3: 8

2 Blazing Flare Dragon
2 Embodiment of Victory Aleph
4 Draconic Overlord

Grade 2: 12

4 Blazing Core Dragon
4 Dragon Knight Aleph
4 Dragon Knight Nehalem

Grade 1: 14

4 Embodiment of Armor Bahr
4 Iron Tail Dragon
2 Dragonic Imam Kinnala
2 Fire of Hope Aermo
2 Wyvern Guard Barri

Grade 0: 17

1 Lizard Soldier Conroe (First Vanguard)

4 Embodiment of Spear Tahr(CRIT)
4 Gattling Claw Dragon(DRAW)
4 Blue Ray Dracokid(CRIT)/Lizard Runner Nabudo(STND)
4 Dragon Monk Ghenjo(HEAL)


As you could probally see from the decklist, this deck runs not one, but TWO reliable ways to quickly ride from Grade 2 to Grade 3, Dragon Knight Aleph and Blazing Core Dragon.

By utilizing these two engines to victory, reaching Grade 3 and pushing out damage quickly becomes easier and faster.


Give it a spin.


This is Rauzes, and you're reading SO IMBA!, where we learn how to be a better card fighter!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Trigger Balance.

Hello and Hello, boys and girls,

and welcome back to SO IMBA!, where we learn how to be a better Card Fighter.

Today, we'll be talking about Trigger balance: What triggers you should put into your deck.

Statistically speaking, of your 16 triggers, the following will happen in an average game...

One to three will end up in the Damage Zone...

Three to four will be drawn into your hand, doing nothing...

And 4 to 6 will be hit by Drive Check, during your turn, hopefully doing something.

And if you run 4 heal triggers, you will, on average, heal once a game, with 2 to 3being hit in the game.


So, taking these into account, lets run over the advantages and disadvantages of each trigger.

HEAL: Can be used with both Damage and Drive Check, but only 4 can be put in your deck.

DRAW: Can be used with both Damage and Drive check, but only has 5000 Shield, reducing its use once its in your hand.

CRITICAL: Can only be used on Drive Check, but deals more damage. And who doesn't like dealing more damage?

STAND: Can only be used on Drive Check, but stands your units to attack one more time. And everybody loves more attacks.


We can break triggers down into two categories:

Offensive: Triggers that will allow your attacks to be better,

and Defensive: Triggers that will work on your opponent's turn.

The offensive triggers will be your Critical and Stand, whilst your Defensive triggers will be your Draw and Heal.


Now, try to imagine a game you had recently.

Whilst you damage checked about 5 to 7 times, you certainly took a Drive Check much more often than that.

Defensive triggers still retain their effect on your turn, just that they will also come into play on the opponents turn as well.

Take a quick look at the numbers I presented above, about the number of triggers that end up where by the end of the game.


From this, the conclusion that can be reached is that you will want to have not exactly 8 Defensive Triggers, but instead slightly less, around 6.

The other 10 Triggers should ideally be offensive triggers.

The 6 Defensive triggers will ensure that of the two to three triggers that end up in the damage zone, at least 1 will be a draw or heal, giving you advantage.


Whilst some decks prefer 12 offensive, and 4 Heal, this doesn't exactly capitalize on the amount of damage you take.

Additionally, some clans currently don't have any choice as to their arrangement of triggers.


The 4 Crit/4 Stand/4 Heal/4 Draw build has been popularized thanks to Trial Decks, but should be tweaked slightly, in fact.

the 6 Crit/4 Stand/4 Heal/2 Draw will capitalize best on where cards tend to end up, as opposed to raw luck.


That's all for today, everyone.

Tune in tomorrow, for another post in SO IMBA!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Split The Critical Trigger!

Hello, hello everybody, and welcome back to So Imba!

Where we learn how to be a better card fighter.

The day is Sunday, October 2nd, and I am Rauzes, here to discuss about Critical Trigger Splitting.


First and foremost, I'm sorry for the lack of post yesterday. My internet died because my housemate forgot to pay for internet.

Sad story. Story of all our lives. True story. Tell it again.


Anyhows, I had somebody ask me about my little "Catch Phrase", "Where We learn how to be a better card fighter".

"But, if you're the one teaching all of us the technique and things to learn, why do you say we? Shouldn't it be 'where you learn how to be a better card fighter!' ?"

Actually, that's not entirely true.

I am learning just as much as you are.

What I write about, the concepts and techniques, is something I look up from various sources around the web and from discussions.

Most of what I write about... I have never learned for myself before.

So what you learn is what I have learned. I'm just passing along the word.

Hence, not only you learn to be a better card fighter, I do too!

WE learn how to card fight better!



Today, we discuss a rather interesting concept... Splitting Critical Triggers.

So what's the split Critical?

"Splitting" a trigger is a term used for putting the +5000 of a Critical or Stand trigger onto different units than putting the critical or stand effect.


But... why on earth would you want to put a critical effect on another unit... when your Vanguard's attack already went through?

Although, yes, most of the time, you would want to put the critical on the unit who's attack already went through, and the power on another, so it would be harder to guard.

But, you can also try to force the opponent to guard, in order to burn through cards.

One of the easiest ways to force a guard from the opponent is to have a low power unit attacking... with two critical.

Even if the opponent has one or two damage, it's highly unlikely that the enemy will let that attack through, and might even throw a few grade 1 or 2s to guard.

Hence this is where the Critical Split comes in.

When you attack with your Vanguard, and hit a critical trigger, instead of putting the power and critical to your vanguard to push for damage and break the guard,

Instead put one critical on one of your rear guards, and the power on yet another rear guard.

This will make the opponent prioritize guarding the one with critical, and put less importance on guarding the one with the power, allowing its attack to go through easily.

So, as opposed to the 2 damage from Vanguard, and maybe 1 from the Rear Guard...

the opponent at the end of your turn has 1 damage from your rear guard, and has used a lot of cards to guard your unit with the increased critical.

While this might seem like a bad idea, as I mentioned several times before, burning through the opponents cards in the early game is very important.

Some other factors that might come into play:

Some cards gain their effect when their attack hits, such as soul charging or drawing cards. By putting the power of the trigger onto this unit, it allows this attack to hit a bit easier.

Heal triggers will only work if you have more damage than the opponent. Hence, if you only put one damage on the opponent, sometimes this will completely shut down their heal triggers, even for one turn.

Counterblast.
By splitting the critical trigger, and preventing the opponent from gaining too many damage, it might shut down the enemy's counterblast, thus making them not play that Blaster Blade, to save it for next turn. Thus, one less attack to worry about.


That's about it for today.

See you next time, right here on So Imba!