Log in to remove this sponsored message
What is Cardfight!! Vanguard?
Picture it! Your spirit has been transported to the Earth-like planet called Cray. In this world, you have the ability to command a 50 Unit army of your choice against your opponent in an all-out war to decide a victor. Your avatar, the Vanguard, aims to become stronger with each passing turn, Riding to the next Grade while in the meantime staving off hits from your opponent's attacks. The Rear Guard's goal is to support the Vanguard in its assault on the opposing army. Of course, neither side is without Guardians either. The first to land six successful hits on the other player's Vanguard is the winner!
How do I build my army?
A Fighter's Deck must consist of exactly 50 cards. In addition, exactly 16 of these cards must be Trigger Units, with no more than 4 Heal Triggers among them. Other than that, what you use is up to you! There are many different
Clans to choose from, each with differing play styles and central themes. You can even mix cards at your leisure, though keep in mind that the effects of Trigger Units can only be applied if you have a Unit in play with the same Clan.
The average deck will have 17 Grade 0 Units - the 16 Trigger Units plus one Unit that will be assigned to the role of the starting Vanguard for each game. Typically speaking, these serve as your greatest raw defenders while in your hand. It's usually better to hold them, but they can Boost if need be. That is to say, they can add their power to an attacking Unit in front of them for that battle by going to Rest alongside the attacker.
One should play no fewer than 14 Grade 1 Units. Any less risks not being able to get an ideal turn 1 Ride. In addition, you'd run into problems getting Units that can properly Boost your front line attackers. Yes, Grade 1 Units also have the ability to Boost an ally in front of them. They're your best option when it comes to this.
Your Grade 2 line up should cap out at 12. Some decks play as few as 10. These serve as front line attackers with the added bonus of being able to Intercept in sticky situations. Intercepting allows a Grade 2 Unit in the front row to be used as a Guardian, and it will be retired afterward like any other.
The usual Grade 3 set up tends to be 7, give or take 1 depending on the deck in question. As a Vanguard, a Grade 3 Unit grants the Twin Drive!! ability for your attacks, but more on that later. Grade 3 Units in the Rear Guard are simply big beaters with no special skill to their name unless the cards themselves have any of their own.
A big tip, especially for my Yu-Gi-Oh! brethren: Power matters. Most Vanguards will have 10,000 or 11,000 Power, with most front line Rear Guards floating around 8,000 to 11,000. Units that Guard do so in intervals of 5,000. When you're equal or greater in Power than your attack target, you land a hit, so you should aim to make your formations add up to magic numbers such as 15,000/16,000 and 20,000/21,000 depending on what your opponent has deployed. 18,000 and 19,000 can be valuable numbers as well.
Let's Play Already!
You have to learn the rules first, silly. I wish I had an image, but you should be able to picture this, a playing field:
---G---
R-V-R-D
R-R-R-O
V is the
Vanguard Circle. You place a Grade 0 Unit of your choice from your deck face-down here at the start of the game. Units that accumulate under the Vanguard are part of the Soul.
R are the
Rear Guard Circles, and you can probably imagine this is where your other Units will go over the course of the game.
G is the
Guardian Circle, the area in which you temporarily place defending units when trying to block your opponent's attacks.
D is your
Deck Zone. Obviously, the deck goes face-down in it. If your deck becomes 0, you lose the Fight!
O is the
Drop Zone. Units that are Retired for whatever reason are sent here.
Off to the side someplace is your
Damage Zone. Whenever your Vanguard takes a successful hit, the top card of your deck is placed here to show it. If you take 6 damage, you lose the Fight. Deal 6 to your opponent, and it's your victory.
Setting Up
Once you've chosen your starting Vanguard, shuffle your deck, then draw an opening hand of 5 cards. If there are cards you don't want, you can shuffle any number of them back into the deck and draw an equal number so that your hand is once again 5 cards. This action of redrawing may only be done one time, so choose your cards carefully! Try to assemble a hand with at least one Unit of each Grade 1 through 3.
Stand Up!
Decide who goes first randomly, then flip your starting Vanguard face-up so that both parties can see it. Play proceeds in Phases, much like other games.
During the
Stand Phase, any of your Units that are in the Rest (landscape) position return to the Stand (portrait) position.
You draw 1 card during the
Draw Phase.
The
Ride Phase is next. At this time, you are allowed to Stand a Unit from your hand on top of your Vanguard up to 1 Grade higher than it currently is. This Normal Ride is optional and can only be performed once per turn.
After that is your
Main Phase. You may Call Units from your hand to the Rear Guard Circles as many times as you wish in Stand (portrait) position. However, the Units you Normal Call
cannot exceed the Grade of the Vanguard. In addition to the ability to Call, you may also move Units in the outer Rear Guard Circles up and down at your leisure. You can even make two units switch places if you so desire. It's also possible to replace a Unit entirely, Calling a new one to its space and Retiring the old one. Lastly, this is the time during which you may use the Skills of your Units that are labeled ACT as long as you can pay any necessary costs.
The all-important
Battle Phase follows. Note that the Battle Phase cannot be conducted on the first player's first turn.
Each Unit you have in the front row is allowed to attack by being turned to the Rest (landscape) position and declaring their attack target, which also must be in the front row. You may Boost with the Grade 0 or 1 Unit behind the attacker by putting that unit to Rest as well, then adding its power to your total for that battle. If your Vanguard is the one performing an attack, then a Drive Check will be performed. Reveal the top card of your deck, and if the revealed Unit is a Trigger Unit, you apply the effects of the Trigger in whatever fashion you desire. Whether you get a Trigger or not, add the revealed card to your hand. When attacking with a Grade 3 Vanguard, Twin Drive!! causes you to perform this Drive Check twice. Be sure to distribute Trigger effects from the first check before performing the second check.
On the defensive, a player may Call one or more Units from their hand to the Guardian Circle to soften an attack by applying their Shield value. As with the Normal Call during the Main Phase, a Guardian that is Called in this fashion cannot exceed the Grade of the Vanguard. One may also Intercept in addition to the usual Guardian Call, moving a Grade 2 Unit from the front row to the Guardian Circle. Any Units that are used to guard are sent to the Drop Zone after that battle.
If the total power of an attacking unit equals or exceeds the total power of the defending unit (after applying Shields), the attack hits. A Rear Guard that is hit must Retire and is sent to the Drop Zone. If the Vanguard is hit, its owner must perform a Damage Check. Reveal the top card of the deck, and if a Trigger Unit is revealed, apply its effects before placing the revealed card in the Damage Zone. Nothing happens if an attacking Unit's Power ends up being less than its attack target.
To summarize the flow of a battle: You Rest your attacking Unit and Boosting Unit (if any) and choose the attack target, then apply any "When this Unit attacks" and "When this Unit Boosts" Skills, then the defending player performs any Guards, then you perform your Drive Check (if any), distributing Trigger effects (if any), then you determine if the attack hit or not. If it did, the opponent Retires or Damage Checks as necessary, then you may apply any appropriate "When this Unit's attack hits", etc. Skills.
Finally, the
End Phase closes a player's turn. The opponent then proceeds with their turn in the same fashion.
Trigger Types
Any of the following effects that are granted to Units apply until the end of the turn.
Heal Triggers are green. When you check one, give 5,000 Power to one of your Units. In addition to this, if your total damage (excluding this card) is equal to or greater than your opponent's total damage, choose a card in your Damage Zone, and send it to the Drop Zone.
Critical Triggers are gold. When you check one, give 5,000 Power to one of your Units. In addition to this, give an additional point of Critical to one of your Units. A Unit with additional Critical deals more damage to the opponent if it hits their Vanguard.
Stand Triggers are blue. When you check one, give 5,000 Power to one of your Units. In addition to this, choose one of your Rear Guard Units that is Resting (if any), and Stand it. This allows the Unit to attack again.
Draw Triggers are red. When you check one, give 5,000 Power to one of your Units. In addition to this, Draw 1 card.
Unit Skills
These are divided into 3 types.
Skills labeled
AUTO are performed automatically when their conditions are met. Most of these are mandatory. Any that are optional will say "you may" in their text. AUTO Skills with the timing "When" can only performed once each time their condition is met, even if you are capable of paying their costs multiple times. Different AUTO Skills that share the same timing can each be used in the order the player chooses, however.
Skills labeled
CONT are applied continuously during the time frame they mention. If there is no time frame specified, the Skill is always applied.
Skills labeled
ACT are activated at the player's leisure during the Main Phase. These can be used as many times as a player desires as long as they can pay the necessary costs.
Sometimes a Unit's Skill will allow you to Ride or Call a Unit. When performed by way of a card Skill, one does not take the Grade of the Vanguard into account. As such, these are referred to as Superior Rides and Superior Calls.
Paying Costs
Costs are noted in brackets at the start of a Skill's text. These come in many forms, such as discarding cards, Retiring Units, and so forth, but the most prominent methods of paying costs are noted with symbols.
The
Counter Blast is noted by a card flipping icon and a number. To pay this cost, flip face-up cards in your Damage Zone face-down.
The
Soul Blast is noted by an arrow leaving a card labeled V and a number. To pay this cost, send the necessary number of Units from the Soul (the pile under the Vanguard) to the Drop Zone.
It should be noted that one can pay the cost for a Skill that will end up doing nothing. While this can be advantageous in obscure situations, one should typically avoid doing so in order to conserve their cards.
Other Symbols
Soul Charge is noted by an arrow pointing toward a card labeled V and a number. When you Soul Charge, you take the appropriate number of cards from the top of your deck and place them under the Vanguard.
Power is symbolized with a sword and
Critical is symbolized with a star.
Limit Break should be pretty obvious when you see it - LB linked with a number. These skills only become available when you have the listed amount of damage or higher. Whether the damage is face-up or face-down doesn't matter.
Thanks for Reading!
You now know what you need to in order to play the game. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Enjoy!
Discuss anything pertaining to the game here. For those of you with BYOND, you can play Vanguard online by way of
Cardfight Capital.
Edit: Apr 18, 12 3:07pm
