Cat Butler

Hello everyone, and welcome back to SO IMBA!,

where we learn how to be a better card fighter.

I am Rauzes, and today, we abuse Cat Butler.

Now, as you know, Cat Butler is a Nova Grappler, grade 0 with 5000 Power... With a rather unique ability...

If your Vanguard's ability did NOT hit, you can stand your Vanguard by retiring him.

But only if the Vanguard is Grade 2 or Below.

Not a problem, right?

Actually, this simply means you drive checked one more time, at the sacrifice of one card. An advantage difference of 0.


Oh.

Except for the fact that you DRIVE CHECKED.

If you get a trigger with the Drive check, you can gain more power, and utilize the effect.

Usually, this power would be used to hit the enemy, since you can put the power anywhere.

Or...

OR.
You put the power gained onto the unit behind your Vanguard.

The secret to using Cat Butler is to NOT boost your Vanguard, but still put something there.

Ride a unit that has lower power than the opponents Vanguard, and deliberately plan to utilize Cat Butler's Ability.


How it goes down is like this:

You attack, and since your power is lower than the enemy Vanguard's, your attack cannot hit unless you hit one trigger.

You drive check, and if you get a trigger, you apply the effects such as giving critical to the Vanguard, but give the power to the rear guard behind the vanguard.

This allows you to activate Cat Butler's ability, standing your Vanguard, and then you can attack a second time(or 3rd time if using 2 or more Cat Butler), this time giving the boost.

Since you pumped the rear guard behind your Vanguard, the total power will be the same, 5000 From each trigger, and forcing the enemy to guard thanks to the Critical Triggers.


Now... If only there were a Grade 2 Nova Grappler unit who could realistically attack with such high power, he could Tackle grade 3 11k Vanguards or Grade 3+ 13k Vanguards...


Oh. wait.


Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Genocide Jack.


As Vanguard, Genocide Jack gains an additional 5000 Power... When boosted.

If you DONT boost, he simply attacks for 11k Power...

Just right for taking down Grade 3+ Vanguards!

Use Cat Butler to gain triggers worth 3-4 Drive Checks, then boost with Doguu Mechanic.

Even without any triggers, thats 23000 Power. 15k Guard against Grade 3+!
(One trigger break~)

And add on another 5000 Power for each trigger you get, and suddenly Genocide Jack seems... not quite a normal Grade 2!

Why bother to ride to grade 3 and then to Grade 3+... when you just have to keep attacking with Genocide Jack?

The trick is to save up on your Cat Butlers until they ride Grade 3+... At their 4th Turn...

You have an inherent 1 Card Advantage over them(they get twin drive once), without losing power.

Since you've been attacking for... I dunno two or three times at this stage, they should have somewhere around 3-4 Damage.

Stack an inherent card disadvantage due to riding on top of that, and its highly unlikely the opponent will have any cards to be ready for an attack... that used Drive check FIVE times!

InvinciLord

Hello everyone, and welcome back to SO IMBA!

Where we learn how to be a better Card Fighter.

I am Rauzes, and today, we discuss Invinci-Overlord... Post Booster 5!

So, as you know, Draconic Overlord is getting his own Special Boost... In the same way Alfred has Lion Mare Stallion.

Soul Blast 1 to become a 10k Boost.

Which is awesome, since Overlord can attack with 21000 Power.

Unless, of course, you counter blast, giving it 26000 Power... without triggers.

But, the counter blast cost of 3 is rather steep, no?

Thats where Mr. Invincible Comes in.

The concept behind Invinci-Overlord is to abuse Invincible and Nova Grappler's ability to open damage, and use Overlord to completely obliterate the rear guards.

The problem with the deck is that your soul every turn... does nothing.

UNTIL NOW!

With Flame of Promises Aermo, you can boost and attack with 26000 Power against a Rear guard... Multiple times!

Who wouldn't want that?

Amon Flare

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to SO IMBA!,

where we learn how to be a better Card Fighter.

I am Rauzes, and today, we discuss an interesting mix clan style:

Amon Flare.

Just like the name of the deck suggests, the deck revolves around Amon, with his high attack and ability to turn any Dark Irregular into a 1:1 Removal, and Blazing Flare Dragon.

The deck runs with a Dark Irregulars core, meaning most of the cards in the deck utilize Dark Irregulars and their Soul Charging abilities.

However, unlike classic Dark Irregulars builds, the deck doesn't necessarily use a massive amount of Soul for Amon.

Thus, instead of using cards such as Amon grade 1 and 2, the deck can function with only 3 or 4 soul under the Vanguard.

Because with only 4 Dark Irregulars in the soul, Amon goes to 14000 Power by himself. Put a 8k Boost behind, and he goes to 22k, needing another 3000 Power to breach the next power line.

Of course, this doesnt mean you dont run any extra soul Charging.

The deck uses many extra Soul Charging abilities as well.

Since the deck prioritizes high Power attacks and torturous removal over tricky effects such as Full Blasts or Multi Stand, your counter blast is used instead of Full Blast for removal effects of Gwynn the Ripper and Amon.

This is where the "Flare" bit of the deck comes in.

By running 4 Extra Blazing Flare dragon and 3/4 Bahr(Or Johka) as the only Kagerou cards in the deck, you can, with one Counter blast and one Dark Irregular, score a "Retire", powering up Blazing Flare!

With 13000 Power, only a 8k boost will push this guy over the 21000 Power line. 22k if Johka was boosting.

Counter Blast a second time, and the two together will breach 28k Power.

Actually, not only Johka can be used.

With Dark Irregulars, you can instead use Doreen the Thruster as boost, to get the same effect.

Meaning this deck can effectively run EIGHT 6+3k Multi Stack Boosters!

Imagine:

Amon as Vanguard(Lets just say... 6 soul), Boosted by Johka.
As a rear Guard, you have one Blazing Flare, boosted by Doreen.

Call one Skull Juggler. Soul Charge one. Doreen +3k.
Amon Counter Blast. Soul Charge one to kill one. Doreen, Blazing Flare, Johka +3k Each.
Call one Prisoner Beast.
Amon Counterblast. Soul Charge one to Kill one. Doreen, Blazing Flare, Johka +3k Each.

Total:Johka is 12k Boost, boosting a 19k Attacker Vanguard(31k Total), Blazing Flare has 16k, being boosted by Dorreen, who is 15k(31k Total)

The opponent has already lost 2 Cards.

Because Dark Irregulars has Absolute crap for Triggers, you get one Stand Trigger and no critical. You push in 3 Damage, of one your opponent heals(Enemy at 4 Damage).

The next turn, you take... lets say 2 Damage and are left with only one Blazing Flare in your hand... But the opponent only has 3-4 Cards in their Hand.


What do you do? You dont have Dark Irregulars to Soul Charge to Amon!


Well, you do what any good player does: declare FINAL TURN!

RIDE! Blazing Flare Dragon!

Because you now have 10 Soul under your Vanguard, thanks to Amon's rampant Soul Charging, you can use Blazing Flare's Ability Twice!

BURN two of those impudent fools!

Johka +6k, Blazing Flare(s) +6k Each.
Blazing Flare +Doreen will be 22k, and your Vanguard is 28k.

After the damage done by the brutal attacks the previous turn, as well as those 4 Units you have just ruthlessly Slain, its highly unlikely the opponent was READY for such high power attacks the next turn, since you burned through a lot of cards as well.

Thus, its unlikely they will be able to guard your attacks.

ATTACK! GET! CRITICAL TRIGGER DOUBLE!

Power Lines

Hello everyone, and welcome back to SO IMBA!,

Where we learn how to be a better Card Fighter.

I am your Host, Rauzes, and today, we learn how to clear Power Lines.


In Vanguard, the most important thing is being able to hit the opponent's Vanguard... Hard.

Because most games go until both players get to grade 3, or about 6-7 turns on each end, the most important lines to clear are based on the Enemy's Grade 3 Vanguards, and how big they usually are.

Most of the time, Grade 3 Vanguard units are either 10000, or 11000 Power.

Occasionally, in cases such as Gancelot and Eidel Rose, they are 9000 Power...

So, as you play, the more important lines to clear are based on 10000 Power and 11000 Power.


Since in Vanguard, only 5000 and 10000 Guards exist, any number less than 5000 more than the previous line is Effectively the Same

Repeat after me: Effectively the Same


The power lines that are most important in Vanguard are:
10000, 11000, 15000, 16000, 20000, and 21000.

First, the 10k, 15k, and 20k.

With these powers, attacking a 10k Vanguard will mean they will have to guard a minimum of 5k, 10k, and 15k power, respectively.

However, this all changes when attacking a 11k Vanguard.

11k, 16k, and 21k become the magic numbers.

As you may notice, when attacking a 10k Vanguard, 14k is no different than a 10k attack.

Meaning that even if you boost with 4k to a 10k attacker, it doesn't really do much at all.

This means that when constructing your formation, which unit is boosting which, you have to take into account these power lines, and aim to construct these lines when attacking.

For instance, if the enemy only has 10k and 11k units out, and you have an empty space in front of your 8k boost, instead of putting a Gallatin or Nehalem there, placing a Gordon or Behger will still clear the 16k power line, making it a 10k shield for any unit, whilst providing benefits over the 10k attacker.

But if you get a 9k boost going, you might reconsider both of these, and instead call out a Gallahad Grade 3 or Draconic Overlord, especially if the enemy has a 10k Vanguard, because it will allow you to attack with 20000 Power total.

Thats all for today.

Special Boost

Hello everyone,

I am Rauzes, your host of SO IMBA!, where we learn how to be a better Card Fighter.

Today's topic is Special Boost.

I'm sure everyone has seen these guys around. Most clans have one.

"R: When Boosting , this Unit Gains 4000 Power(To become 10000 Boost Power)"

Cards like Wingal, Doranbau, Wyvern Strike Jarran, Queen of Heart, Nightmare Baby.

There are also a Vanguard Special Boost, units that, when a certain condition is met, becomes a 10k boost, but only for your Vanguard.

These are cards such as Lizard Soldier Raopia, Weather Girl Milk, Glory Maker, Stealth Millibird, And Evil Shade.


First up are the normal normal boost.

The partner units for these are all Grade 2 units, which makes sense.

If their partners were grade 3 Units, they would be able to hit 20000 Power every turn with ease.

But what about usability?

Usually, when attacking the Grade 3 Vanguard, only 2 Numbers matter: 21000 and 20000.

Both of these means that the 11000 and 10000 Power vanguard will have to throw at least a 15000 Power guard, instead of just 10000.

But most of these units that get boosted have... either 9000 or 8000 Power!

In actuality, they become 19000 and 18000 power, respectively.

Yet, while attacking the Vanguard, they are still 10000 Power Guard.

What if you put another 6000 Boost?

15000, and 14000 Power, respectively.

Still a 10000 Guard. Or worse, 5000.

Instead, lets put a 7000 Power Boost, pretty standard for units with effects, right?

16000 and 15000. Both, against a 10000 Vanguard, will be a 10000 Shield.

So, in actuality, the special boost did... Nothing.

It wastes space, by taking up space which could very well be higher power boosting units.

There are a few exceptions to this, though.

Blue Dust, who usually will go after Rear guards, can benefit from this 10000 Boost, especially against 8000 and 9000 Rear Guards.

By going over 19000 Power, it becomes a 15000 Guard for both, quite problematic for the opponent, especially since Blue Dust gets to soul charge when it hits.

More often than not, 15000 Guard means that guarding will take up more cards that just letting the attack hit, so it wont be a good idea.


Queen of Hearts is the only exception to this rule. When boosting King of Swords, a Grade 2 Vanilla, becoming 20000 Power, meaning that, if you choose to use her, you can hit 20000 Power, meaning that the enemy has to use a 15000 Power Guard, as long as they have a 10000 Power Vanguard.

Whilst I would suggest Lean, Sutherland's special boost, It is highly situational.

It does go to 21000 Power, so long as you have both Lean AND Sutherland as well as retiring a unit, making it much more situational than other combos.

Doranbau can boost Blaster Dark as Vanguard to 20000, very big as grade 2.

But when you reach grade 3, Doranbau becomes just another 6000 boost, pretty useless, except for feeding to Phantom Blaster Dragon.

Wyvern Strike Jarran boosting Tejas will attack with 18000 to the boosting guards, almost ensuring a kill of the boost units, but just a normal boost will be able to burn through advantage much easier.

On top of that, Kagerous have much more better selection of grade 1s.

So, in conclusion, most of the special boost units are not actually worth it to play in, but for stability and power, you are better off playing in cards that have higher power or more deck stabilizing effects.

Guard Griffin

Good evening.

I'm teenage heartthrob, Rauzes, and it is my honor to be hosting today's show on So Imba, where we learn how to be a better card fighter.


Today, we discuss Guard Griffin.

Guard Griffin is a 6000 Boost at Grade 1 that can Counterblast when it enters the Guardian Circle to become a 10k Shield.

But...

For the counter blast cost of 1... is it really worth it for another 5k shield?

In terms of counter blast, each counter blast is worth approximately one half a card, or two counter blast is a +1 in card advantage.

So, concept wise, one counter blast for one more shield of 5k is worth it, no?

As holy disaster dragon illustrates for us, one card is worth 5000 Power as a guardian, so one counter blast is a pretty sweet deal, right?


What people don't realize is that there is, in fact, a card already out in the game that does this... only better!

Lizard Runner Undeaux!

Formerly used before the advent of Conroe for the first vanguard, the grade 0 Vanilla is, in fact, an upgrade of Guard Griffon!

It has 10000 Shield permanently, and since grade 0s can be used as boost as well, it will function also as 6k boost.

Perhaps you should consider playing in some of them, just for the flexibility between the boost and shield?

Stern Blaukunger

Hello all and welcome back to SO IMBA!,

Where we learn how to be a better card fighter.

Today's post is rather short, and about stern Blaukunger, the new ace unit of nova grapplers.

By counter blasting 2 and discarding 2, Blaukunger gains the ability to attack once more, as a vanguard, along with his boost.

Now, While his multiple attacks might not seem threatening, especially since there's only one drive check the second time around, stern Blaukunger has a hidden ability.

Note that the card never specifies that you can only activate it's ability once per turn.

This means that, if played correctly, he can attack three times in one turn!

Scary enough?

How about combining with dancing wolf. Whilst you don't get a second drive check, you do get even more power.

Just imagine breaking a 2 trigger break, recovering with +10000 power, and giving dancing wolf another 3000 to become a 10000 boost!

Attack with 31000 power, and drive check another time !

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

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!

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.