CTDT Week 2, KNOW YOUR CARDS!!!

Hey all, welcome to check the drive trigger, a blog about the cardfight vanguard TCG. What you can expect from this forum is clan expertise, card reviews, deck lists, tournament overviews from the UK cardfight Vanguard meta scene, weekly updates on the local cardfight tournament i attend, set inspections and updates also hopefully a youtube channel to boot :D

This week we're continuing on with looking at the basics of Cardfight Vanguard,and looking at Card mechanics.

Cards in cardfight vanguard are all made up of 'Units', unlike other card games where you have mana, monsters, spells, traps and creatures, this game only has the one kind. However they are broken down into many categories

CLAN
RACE
UNIT TYPE
GRADE

As such. So lets look at a card layout.

So lets look at the different features in detail.

• Boost

This symbol signifies that this card can be placed ona rear guard circle behind the Vanguard or a Rear guard to apply its power on top of that units current power for a more powerful attack.

• Intercept

This symbol is usually associated with Grade 2 Units, this skill allows them, when they are placed on a front Rearguard circle, to move from their current position and be placed on the Guard Circle to help defend your opponents attacks.

Another type of Intercept is a S Special Intercept. This is a Unit skill which increases the Unit's Shield value if a Unit in the Vanguard Circle is from a certain Clan; for example Knight Of Truth, Gordon or Dragon Knight Berger. (links given to show examples)]

• Twin Drive!!

Grade 3 Vanguards have this ability. When you attack with your Vanguard you can Drive Check two times. (TIP: because this gives you 2 cards, its advised to Ride to grade 3 AS SOON AS POSSIBLE).


Not only this but cards also have certain ability types.

Continuous - Always in effect.

Activation - Can be activated when certain conditions are met or costs have been paid.

Auto - Usually occur when a card is called, ridden or attacks. Then you can activate this skill. But only once.

(colours given represent the colours of effects oncard descriptions)

AND as mentioned above there are costs to be paid for certain Skills, these costs come in the forms of:

• Soul Blast (X):
  • Retire X cards from Soul (Send X cards from bottom of the stack of your current Vanguard to the Drop Zone (Bottom of the stack) ).

• Soul Charge (X):
  • Send the top X cards of your Deck to your Soul (Top of the stack)
  • [Example : CEO Amaterasu's soul charge, you put it directly below CEO Amaterasu]

• Counter Blast (X):
  • Flip X cards from the Damage Zone face-down.

(PICTURES GIVEN ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SYMBOLS ON CARD DESCRIPTIONS)

There are also community terms that have come about referring to certain effects for example:

• Mega Blast : Retire 8 cards from Soul and Flip 5 cards from the Damage Zone face down. This is referred to as "Mega Blast" in the manga/anime.

• Persona Blast : A community-made term which refers to an effect where an identical copy of the card needs to be discarded from your hand as part of the cost.

(Links given to show examples.)

Finally onto the most important mechanic in the whole game. TRIGGERS.

Triggers or Trigger Units as they are known are a mechanic to allow combat to become more interesting and also can me bade to help your clans theme even more effective.

Trigger types include:

• Draw Trigger  (Draw triggers only have a 5k shield so be sure you're deck is well equipped to counter this)

When revealed during a Drive Check or Damage Check, select 1 of your own Units and it gains +5000 Power, and draw 1 card. Draw the card immediately after the Trigger is revealed (before your next trigger check, in case of Twin Drive or more than 1 Damage). (ORACLE THINK TANK'S MAIN TRIGGER)

• Critical Trigger

When revealed during a Drive Check or Damage Check, select 1 of your own Units and it gains +5000 Power, and select 1 of your own again and it gains +1 Critical. Power and Critical gains may be applied to different units. (EFFECTIVE IN NEARLY EVERY DECK)

• Heal Trigger

When revealed during a Drive Check or Damage Check, select 1 of your own Units and it gains +5000. When the damage you've received before the Heal Trigger is equal or more than your opponent's, you can put one card in your Damage Zone into your Drop Zone.(You cannot put more than 4 Heal Triggers in a deck.) (BRILLIANT IN ANY DECK)

• Stand Trigger

When revealed during a Drive Check or Damage Check, select 1 of your own Units and it gains +5000.Then choose a Rear-Guard Unit (You cannot stand the vanguard unless an effect specifies) and restand it. (GREAT FOR NOVA GRAPPLERS)


THANKS FOR READING THIS WEEKS INSTALMENT BE SURE TO CHECK OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR CARDFIGHT VANGUARD GAMES CARD REVIEWS AND OTHER SHINNANIGANS :D