Overview
In a game of Vanguard, you will be required to make many choices that will ultimately decide how the game will turn out. From redrawing to guarding, everything you do can be done in multiple ways that will lead to different results and the player who makes these choices better will usually be the winner. In general these decisions will fit in one of three categories: attacking, calling, and guarding. However, at the beginning of the game, there are two decisions that will need to be made. The first of these is how you should redraw, since your hand will play a vital role in the game. The second is how you will respond to the turn order, as it will give each player a different advantage.
This article divided into sections talking about each of the different types of decisions players will need to make. These sections will be in the order that they take place in the game for the most part. In the first section, it will talk about how to make the most out of redrawing. The second will talk about the advantages of going first and second and how to respond to them. The third, fourth, and fifth sections fall into the “calling” category, and are respectively about the benefits of units being rear guards or Vanguards, calling the right units and not overplaying, and positioning your units. The sixth and seventh both relate to attacking, with the sixth being about choosing attack targets and the seventh being about the order of attack. Finally, the eighth section discusses how and when to guard. By knowing how to make the most the most of each step of a Vanguard game, you will be able to make the best possible plays and gain a pretty good advantage in Vanguard fights.
Redrawing
When starting the game you are given the chance to shuffle as many cards as you want from your hand back into your deck and draw the same number of cards as the number you shuffled into the deck. The redraw will give you a chance to get a closer to ideal hand and should help you reach two main goals. First of all, a player unable to ride to grade3 will be at a serious disadvantage, so you should try and make sure you have at least one unit from each grade (the Grade0 being your starting Vanguard). Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, you will want to put your triggers back in your deck in order to maximize your chances of drive checking them. Those should be the two main goals for redrawing. You will usually want to shuffle in any trigger you draw. If you are missing a grade, the other units you shuffle back in will usually depend on which grade you are missing and what the units you have can do.
The most important grade to have at the start is Grade1, since it will be the first grade that you ride to, and not having one will prevent all your future rides, giving your opponent a huge advantage. Next, it is important that you have a Grade2 in hand, although it is slightly less important, since you have a little more time to draw one, but not having a Grade2 will still be a great hindrance. While it is always good to ride to Grade3, it is least important to have one in your opening hand, since you will be able to get at least 3 draws (two draws and a drive check in going first or two draws and two drive checks if second), so you will have a longer time to try and get one, although most players run less Grade3s than the other Grades, so it is less likely that you will draw one. Not having a Grade3 will put you at a disadvantage as time goes by, since you won’t have twin drive, but luckily Grade2s have strong enough powers that they can fight well on their own, but in that case, your best bet is to try and beat your opponent faster. I’ve actually had some games where my opponent had a Grade3 and I didn’t. I had assumed that I lost, and just decided to hit him with my Grade2s. After a couple of turns I’d won. Also, I’ve had a couple of games that were over before either of us could ride to Grade3. However, in games where a player didn’t have a Grade1 or 2 unit, and wasn’t able to get one quickly, the other player would usually take advantage of this, and defeat him quickly. These situations don’t happen often, but the point is that you can still put up a good fight without a Grade3, but you will be at a great disadvantage without Grades 1 and 2. That said, how you ride to the different Grades isn’t really important, as long as you can ride to them.
Many decks have the ability to search or ride from the deck, and what you put back in your deck will depend on these abilities. Take a look at Royal Paladins, for instance. As shown by Aichi in his fight with Misaki, they can ride to Grade2 without having a Grade2 unit in hand, and since Barkgal will usually be their starting Vanguard, it will work almost all of the time (just don’t call any other units front row units, so your opponent can only attack your Vanguard and don’t give your opponent any hints that you’re lacking a Grade2). Additionally, if they draw Gancelot, then it can be swapped out for Blaster Blade, pretty much giving them access to two Grades with one card. Additionally, thanks toPongal, Royal Paladins have the ability to search out Soul Saver Dragon making it even easier for them to ride to Grade3. The only Grade that they are unable to almost guarantee is Grade1, meaning that when playing Royal Paladins, you will want to make sure that you have a Grade1 in your opening hand, and will probably want to put back as many cards as you are willing to part with to ensure this. Regardless of what deck you play, you will want to make sure you will have access to all the Grades when you need them. The example I gave is for Royal Paladins, but think about your clan and which Grades they can access easier and then decide what you will want to aim for in your opening hand.
After you have decided which Grades you want to keep and how many cards you want to put back, you will have to decide specifically which cards you want to put back. For instance, let’s say you have 2 Grade1s, and 3 Grade0 triggers. You will obviously want to put back the three triggers, but since you are lacking both Grade3 and Grade2, you will probably want to put back a Grade1 as well. The question is, how do you decide which Grade1 you will put back? At first it may seem obvious: whichever one is stronger, but that may not be the best choice. When you think about it, on your first turn, you will need to ride a Grade1, and chances are, by your second turn, that card’s only purpose will be adding 1 to your soul. Also, if you go first, that unit won’t even have the chance to attack, and you won’t gain much from it other than possibly being stronger than your opponent’s Vanguard, which they could boost to overcome. If going second, you could get in one attack with that extra power, but after that it would disappear. By choosing the weaker card, you will be happy to draw the stronger unit later. Of course, if a unit has a skill that can only be activated as Vanguard, you will probably want to use that as your Vanguard, since you won’t be able to get that skill later.
Skills can also factor into the decision making process as well. If you have units likeFlame of Hope Aermo or Lake Maiden Lien that allow you to draw, then you can use those to your advantage to have a better chance of getting the Grades you want. For instance, let’s say you are going first, and you have Lien and Knight of Rose Morganna in hand along with 3 Grade0s. You can shuffle the Grade0s back and keep Morganna and Lien. Redraw three cards, and then call and rest Lien to discard Morganna (or another unwanted card) to draw a card (if you are still short on the grades or if you are likely to get a card better than the one discarded). If you don’t want to discard Morganna, you could instead ride it and then call Lien as a backrow Rear Guard and use its skill once per turn. The reason it is better to discard Morganna than to put it back into the deck is because you have a higher chance of drawing the Grade you want from the deck when there are less cards in the deck, and you probably won’t want a card like Morganna to turn up later in the Game.
Lastly, always consider what is left in your deck before making your choice. If there are more cards that are worse than what you are returning than there are better than what you return, then you probably just want to keep those cards. Even if you don’t have a Grade3, if you have a solid hand otherwise, then it is probably worth keeping it the way it is, since, most of the time, you will be more likely to draw a trigger than a Grade3.
First versus Second
Going first and going second each have their own advantages and disadvantages. The player who goes first gets to ride first and will be able to call stronger units before the person who goes second. On the other hand, the player who goes second has the opportunity to attack first, which meaning that they have the first chance to deal damage. Having the ability to deal the first damage is an advantage because this will put you in the lead in terms of damage, however you may not want to attack your opponent’s Vanguard more than once depending on the deck, since you could fall victim to a counterblast and any units you play can easily be wiped out by your opponent’s higher grade units on the next turn. Think about your opponent’s deck before attacking and see what you can understand from their current situation before making your choice however, if you know they run Kagerou and expect them to use a Berserk Dragon/Yaksha combo, you probably don’t want to give them two damage yet. However, if you a counterblast wouldn’t put you in a bad position and you are okay with losing the units you call, then it may be nice to give your opponent three damage right off the bat and get ahead.
The player who goes first will first get to attack on his second turn, although at that point he will have the opportunity to ride Grade2 (and sometimes Grade3) while the player who went second will only have Grade1 units. Because of this, the player who went first will easily be able to overpower his opponent’s units. With a boost, this attack will take 10000 if not 15000 to guard against without accounting for any triggers. If they take advantage of this, the player who went first will either hit with their attacks or force their opponent to guard with units that they will want to have later, either way putting them in a worse situation. Also, if their opponent called any units in the front row, it will be easy for first turn player to retire them if they see them as a threat.
At first, these roles will play a large factor in the game, but as the game progresses and the players make their decisions, who went first won’t really matter. Should the opponent play it right, the advantages of going first or second can be negated or cancel each other out. If the second turn player deals three damage on their first turn, the first turn player can make use of it by using a counter blast, wiping out their rear guards, or possibly even getting a trigger from a damage check or being able to use a heal trigger. In response, the player who went second could be the one to superior ride, potentially getting to Grade3 and giving them the ability to call out stronger units first. While going first and second do have an impact on the game, it’s not who gets to go first or second that determines the winner, but what the players do with their position.
Vanguard or Rear Guard?
Riding grades 1 and 2 will be different than riding Grade3, since you will usually ride over them on the next turn. Because of this, you will probably want to put the units you find to be less helpful as the Vanguard, so you can use the more helpful units as rear guards and potentially give them more use. Usefulness will be different depending on the cards you have, but if you will want a grade 1 or 2 to have a chance at sticking around longer, you should put it as a rear guard. Also, remember that only the Vanguard gets a drive check, so even if it’s power is lower than your opponent’s vanguard’s, they may still guard in case of a trigger, so putting stronger units as rear guards will maximize potential hits. Also, if a unit has a skill that it can only use while Vanguard it will probably be good to put him as Vanguard.
A good example for all of these is Knight of the Harp Tristan. Tristan is a Grade2 with 8000 power, which gains 5000 power when it drive checks a Grade3 Royal Paladin. Its skill will only activate as Vanguard and 8000 power is weak for a Grade2. Also, with its skill, it makes it even more likely to gain power from a drive check, so it will definitely be a bigger threat as a Vanguard than a rear guard.
Also, in certain cases, you may want to ride a unit in order to get it into the soul or avoid using your ride phase in order to superior ride. For instance, Solitary Knight Gancelot can only use it’s skill to gain power and critical while there is a Blaster Blade in the soul, so if you’re using Gancelot, you will probably want to ride Blaster Blade. Also, if you use Soul Saver Dragon, you may want to avoid using your ride phase to ride to Grade2 and instead use Llew to put four cards in the soul and Ride Blaster Blade (this should meet the requirements for Soul Savior Dragon’s Soul Blast).
Riding Grade3s is completely different. Since your Grade3 Vanguard will often be your final Vanguard (or at least stay a while), and most Grade3 units will have skills that can be only be used as Vanguard, it will be a matter of choosing the Vanguard that has the best skill. If a unit doesn’t have a good skill or all of its skills can be used as a rear guard, then it’s probably best to put it as a rear guard.
An example: If you have Gigantic Charger and Soul Savior Dragon, it will be better to ride Soul Savior Dragon (whose Soul Blast can only be used when called as a Vanguard) and call Gigantic Charger as a rear guard (since his skill can be used either way).
Calling versus Guarding
With the exception of Grade3s, all units have the ability to guard attacks. Throughout the game, you will have to make a lot of decisions on whether or not to call a unit. On the one hand, calling a unit will give you more attack power which can lead to more damage. One the other hand, you may want to have that unit to guard with later. Since Grade 2 units have intercept, so the only drawback to playing them will be that they could possibly be taken out with by a skill like Blaster Blade, or that they might be more effective if played later. For instance, if you have Berserk Dragon, but you only have one damage, it may be worth waiting a turn to call it, so that you can use its skill. Grade3s follow that rule as well, except that they can’t even guard in the hand, so the only time they can do anything is on the field (except in certain cases, like Solitary Knight Gancelot).
For the most part, the decisions will be made about Grade0 and Grade1 units, particularly Grade0. The majority of Grade1 units have 5000 shield, but have powers that will force your opponent to take a hit or use more cards to guard, and some can even hit on their own. On the other hand, Grade0s probably won’t hit on their own, but can often give a boost of 5000, and up the amount that your opponent needs to guard. Unlike Grade1s, they will often have 10000 shield, and can be very useful for guarding. Because of this, it is usually a better idea to call grade1 units to boost, and save Grade0s for guarding, although that isn’t always the case. A lot of the draw triggers, like Weapons Dealer Govanon, have 5000 power and shield, so they can be safe to call. Additionally, some Grade1 units, such as Flash Shield Isolde have skills that make them very helpful for guarding. For the most part, it’s a good idea to keep 10000 shield units and units that can prevent an attack from hitting (Isolde, Barri, Jin etc.) in your hand, while calling the units with stronger power and lower shield. Of course, if you really need to boost a unit and all you have are cards with strong shields, don’t refrain from playing them, but in General, it’s good to make use of a unit’s strongest trait. So hang on to those units with 10000 shield, you will be relieved to have them later in the game.
Positioning
Whenever you call a unit, you first decide where to place it. Placement can be pretty straight forward, but is still an important part of the game. Since units in the back row are unable to attack or intercept, it is really only useful for calling Grade1 units or calling a unit for a skill (ie. Alfred gains 2000 for each of your rear guards during your turn). The front row is the place for attacking units, and the best place for units of Grades 2 or 3. Also, remember that units can move vertically in a column, but they can’t move horizontally, meaning that the only way to change the units in a column will be to retire one of them (except in the middle column, because you can ride). In order to maximize power, you could consider put your strongest units in the same column, but that may not be the best idea.
While it may seem like more power is always better, this is not always the case. Remember that when your opponent will only be able to guard in multiples of 5000. This means that when attacking your opponent’s Vanguard that has 10000 power with a unit with 10000 power, it makes no difference whether you’re attacking with 15000 power or 19000 power, because your opponent will just need a shield of 10000 to block the attack. Basically power differences don’t matter unless they are in multiples of 5000 because anywhere in between will still be just as easy to guard against. Take this into consideration when building your columns.
For instance, let’s say your opponent’s Vanguard has 11000 power and you have a unit with 10000 and a unit with 9000 as rear guards in the front row. You also have two grade1 units in your hand; one with 6000 and one with 7000 power. If you put the 7000 power unit behind the unit with 10000 power and the 6000 behind the 9000, then you will have one unit with 17000 power and one with 15000 power. In order to guard against them, your opponent will need to use 10000 to stop the 17000 power and 5000 to stop the 15000 power. However, if you put the 6000 behind the 10000 and the 7000 behind the 9000, then you will have two units with 16000 each, and your opponent will need 10000 shield for each attack. By creating the combinations that force your opponent to use as much as possible guarding, you can gain an advantage that can ultimately lead to victory.
While the units in the back are unable to attack, themselves, they can still be used to boost and are safe from attacks. This safety is another reason why placement matters. In situations where you have a Grade 2 or 3 unit in the front row and a Grade 0 or 1 in the back, that’s the way to go so you can get the boost while attacking. However, in the situation that you have 2 units Grade 0 or 1 in the same column, the safety rule is good to make use of. Since either of them will be able to boost, you will have the same power no matter which unit is in front. This means that you can put the weaker or less needed unit in front, and the stronger one in the back, so that the one that gives the good boost will be in position for your next unit, should the front row unit retire.
For instance, let’s say you have Weapons Dealer Govanon and Little Sage Marron in the same column. Regardless of which is in front, the attack will have 13000 power. If you put Marron in front and it gets hit, then you are left with a unit with 5000 power to boost with. If you instead put Marron in back, then Govannon will be the only unit your opponent will be able to attack, and, if it’s defeated, you will still have an 8000 power unit. Putting the better unit in the back will yield better results since it ensures that the stronger unit is safe from attacks and your opponent will need the right skill to retire it.
Attackers and Attack Targets
Before making any attacks, you will first need to decide which units you want to hit that turn. Try to make the choice that will put you in the best position and your opponent in the worst position. For instance, if you’re opponent has two Grade2 rear guards and five cards in their hand, there is a good chance that they will easily be able to replace that unit on their next turn, so it will pretty much be equivalent to your opponent guarding with 5000 shield, which may or may not be what you want them to do. In a situation where they could easily replace it, it is probably better to focus solely on the Vanguard to quickly build up the damage. However, if your opponent is short on cards in hand, it is probably a good idea to take out the rear guards, so that they have less to hit you with and so you don’t have to spend much to guard on the next turn. Also, when deciding who to attack, think about the number of attacks you can make and what the consequences of each choice will be. You may want to attack the rear guards only to prevent your opponent from pulling off a counterblast or concentrate on depleting your opponent’s units, so your opponent has less to work with. Also, since heal triggers can only be used when you have the same amount of damage or more, you might want to keep that possibility open depending on how many heal triggers you have left in your deck. The answer will usually be decided by thinking about multiple of these factors and deciding on the best choice.
When attacking, you will also want to decide the specific targets of each of your units. Again, since the goal is to put your opponent in the worst position, you will want to make sure to make sure to either hit your target or make your opponent lose a lot guarding. You will want to take power into consideration as well. If one of your units will require your opponent to guard with 10000 on a specific target, while the other will only require 5000, you will want to attack with the one that requires 10000. Think about what attacks will force your opponent to guard with the most total, should they choose to guard. Since your opponent will usually lose more guarding a rear guard than they would just letting it get hit, you can usually assume that you will be able to hit them, or at least put your opponent at a disadvantage which will be good enough. If you plan to hit the Vanguard, you will also want to take critical triggers. When attacking the Vanguard, make sure that you can make use of any critical triggers you get. This means that the unit attacking the Vanguard should be either your Vanguard or a unit attacking after your Vanguard, so that you can make the best use of your triggers. Also, if you pull any triggers, you may choose to change your attack targets, to make best use of the triggers. In this case, just rethink your possibilities and make sure to make the best use of your units.
Order of Attack and Trigger distribution
Once you decide on your units’ targets, it is time for them to attack. Depending on how many units you have, you will have a different number of attacks and a different attack order. The change in attack order is primarily because of triggers, as their effect can change based on the order you attack. Part of it also depends on which triggers you use. For instance, a player using Nova Grapplers would want to make sure to attack with other units before attacking with his Vanguard, since they focus a lot on stand triggers, although other clans would probably do the same just in case they get a stand trigger.
First of all, let’s take a look at what different triggers can do and how they vary depending on attack order. The draw trigger allows you to draw a card and the heal trigger allows you to heal a damage if you have the same amount of damage as your opponent or more. Since your opponent won’t be able to damage you during your turn, the heal effect won’t change anything, and the draw won’t change anything unless you have a card like Aermo, in which case you will may want to discard the card you drew. Unlike draw and heal triggers, the effects of Critical and Stand triggers are almost guaranteed to be affected by the order of attack. Since a stand trigger can stand a resting unit, having a resting unit will be a good thing to have so that you can make the most of it. In the case of a critical trigger, you will be given the opportunity to give one of your units plus 1 critical, which is a very nice bonus if you can make use of it. It’s best to give the plus 1 critical to your Vanguard if the attack will go through, but in case your opponent successfully guard, it will be best that you can give it to a standing unit, so you have another chance with it. Additionally, all triggers will give a unit of your choice plus 5000 power, which is similar to critical triggers in that you can give it to another unit if your Vanguard’s attack will still be blocked.
Basically, the two main factors to be taken in to consideration when attacking are making the use of a stand trigger possible and making the most of the critical triggers and power bonus. You will need to meet multiple requirements for each to happen. Using a stand trigger will rely on having a unit at rest and using a critical or power boost will be best when you have a unit you can still attack with. Additionally, the more units you have, the easier it is to prepare for both possibilities. Without twin drive, 3 units in the front row will be enough to make the most of your triggers, but while you have twin drive it is best that you at least have a front row unit and a unit to boost with in the left and right columns. The reason for this is that if you have both stand triggers and other triggers left in your deck, then you can make good use of either, should you pull two triggers. For instance, if you attack with the unit on the left first, and boost it, and then attack with your Vanguard and pull two stand triggers, you will be able to stand both units, and give a boosted attack again. However, if you do the same and pull two criticals, or any other two triggers, then you can give the boosts to the standing unit on the right so as not to waste them. Still, remember to take into consideration the fact that your opponent will guard with shields of either 10000 or 5000, and that forcing them to guard with more units is better. This mainly applies when you are out or nearly out of stand triggers, but still have other triggers left in your deck, so you can still get the power boost. If you are not counting on a stand trigger, then you may not want to attack with your Vangaurd first, although you will want to take power into consideration before making your descision.
For instance, let’s say you have all three columns filled and your opponent has 5 damage, and has to guard. The column on the left and right have Gallatins in the front row andMarrons in the back row, while the middle column has Star Drive Dragon in the front row and Wingal in the back row. You are attacking the opponent’s Vanguard, which is aDragonic Overlord. Without triggers, the boosted Gallatins will have 18000 power and the boosted Star Drive will have 16000. Since Dragonic Overlord has 11000 power, it will require 10000 shield to block each attacking unit without triggers. You only run four stand triggers, and only one of them is left in your deck, however, you still have ten other triggers. Because you are likely to come across multiple other triggers before you get to the stand trigger, you will probably want to attack with your Vanguard first, so you can choose how to distribute any triggers you get. Let’s say your opponent guards with 20000, meaning you can’t. You drive check the first card: Bringer of Good Luck Epona, a critical trigger. Since you can’t hit with Star Drive Dragon, you choose to give the critical and power boost to the Gallatin on the left in order to make sure you don’t lose it if you don’t get a second trigger (which would be very unlikely). You then do your second check and get Knight of the Future Llew. Now, do you give the trigger to the Gallatin on the left, which already has a boost, or do you give it to the one on the right without a boost? The one on the left will already require 15000 shield to block, so with the second one, the left Gallatin will make your opponent use 20000 while the right Gallatin will only require 10000. However, if you give the power boost to the right Gallatin, then they will each require 15000 to block. This is where you need to think about how many cards your making your opponent use. Since no units have a shield higher than 10000, 15000 or 20000 will require at least two cards. However, 10000 can potentially be handled with only one. By giving one trigger to each, your opponent will be forced to use at least two cards to block each unit, which could potentially cost them the game, or at least put them in a worse position for next turn.
In short, how you attack depends on what triggers are left in your deck. Also, in cetain cases, you will need to take skills into consideration. For instance, Covenant Knight Randolf gains 3000 power when it attack and you have more in hand than your opponent. If that 3000 will change the amount your opponent has to guard with, and a drive check will give you the amount of cards you need, then it is probably worth attacking with Randolf after attacking with your vanguard, so that you can make the most of your units. Also, remember that you will not always have a full field and sometimes you will have only two units to attack with. In that case, you will want to decide whether to attack with the Vanguard first or the rear guard. It will usually be safer to attack with the Vanguard first, since any trigger you pull can pass it’s power onto the rear guard, although if you are run a lot of stand triggers, then you may choose to take a chance and attack with the rear guard first. Attack order is a big part of the game, but by using the order best for the situation, you will usually find yourself in a better position. Make sure take everything into consideration before attacking so that you can make the most of your units and triggers and put yourself in a better situation.
Guarding
Last, but far from least, we have guarding. Guarding is a very important part of the game, you want to make sure not to take six damage, but at the same time, you want to guard with as little as possible so you can damage your opponent. Since you can take 5 damage and stay in the game, you may not choose to guard immediately. It is usually even good to take damage, especially since many units have counterblasts and use damage as a cost to gain an advantage. Also, by allowing yourself to take damage, you could potentially get triggers. Getting any trigger will power up your unit and potentially stop your opponent from being able to get another hit (particularly in early game, since 5000 will often be enough to stop a hit). Also, since heal triggers will only work if you have more damage than your opponent, by letting yourself take damage, you will often increase the amount of damage your opponent needs to deal you to win. Taking damage can be guarding, itself.
How much damage you should allow yourself to take will also be determined by your deck. If you have a unit like Gancelot or Mr Invincible whose counterblast you want to use, you will probably want to get five damage and will probably let the first five through, allowing heal triggers and boosts to take the place of guarding. If not, you may want to only take a couple damage and slowly guard so that you can allow some of your opponent’s big hitters through and make guarding easier later, but don’t over-guard in the beginning if you choose this route, because you won’t be able to survive the big hitters later in the game. Also remember that only the player with the most damage will have access to heal triggers. Heal triggers usually won't be planned for, but it is really nice to be able to use them, so it may be worth hitting the rear guards or allowing more damage to catch up or prevent your opponent from gaining the advantage. Both options have their advantages. Slowly guarding throughout will often allow you to block attacks with your weaker units while and allow you to take attacks that you would normally need to use a lot to guard. There isn’t one right way to guard, although how players guard has a big impact on how the game turns out.
In terms of when you guard, there are multiple possibilities that will work fine. Deciding what to guard with, however, is a little bit trickier. When your opponent attacks and you want to guard, you will want to guard with as little as possible. That is pretty simple, but how do you guard against a Vanguard. If it’s Grade3, it could potentially gain 10000 attack, but could also gain nothing. Sure, you could plan for the bonus ahead of time and guard with an extra 10000, but then you’ve wasted a unit or two when you find out they didn’t get any triggers. At the same time, if you prepare for no triggers, you may find yourself losing the game. The best way to guard is to find a balance between being safe and being conservative. When guarding, you should take into consideration the size of your opponent’s deck and how many and (if possible) which triggers they have left in it. Then think about the possibility of your opponent pulling a trigger or two. Usually, the chances are low that they will even pull one, but if they have twin drive, you will probably want to be a little on the safe side if you can’t afford to take a hit.
After you decide how much to guard with, you will need to decide which units to guard with. There are multiple factors that will go in to deciding this. First off, find the combinations that get you to your desired shield total using the least amount of units. Then decide which units will help you the most on your next turn or if you have any units with special skills, such as Rock the Wall, which can be put into the soul after it’s used to guard and units like Isolde, which you may want to save for later or use if you would otherwise need to guard with three units or more. You will want to use units like this Rock the Wall and triggers since they have the lowest power and are best for shielding. However, sometimes you will find yourself in situations where you need a total shield of 15000 to guard, and you have to decide between guarding with 20000 so that you can use two triggers and keep one of your other units so that you can use it later or guarding with that other unit so that you have more shield for later. You will often have to choose between keeping a great shield or a powerful unit, and the answer will depend on the game’s current situation and which you need more. Take the same thing into consideration when deciding between units of the same grade as well, basically guarding is all a matter of choosing which units you need or want the least.
Grade2 units fit into this process, as well, but with another factor to determine. Thanks to their ability to intercept, your opponent will lose a possible attack target, meaning that you are narrowing down what they can attack. This usually won’t change your opponent’s plans, but in certain cases, it can come in handy. For instance, Dragonic Overlord’s skill allows it to stand after it hits a rear guard. Assuming Dragonic Overlord is your opponent’s Vanguard, it will lose Twin Drive, but will still get one check for each unit it hits. Let’s assume you have three grade2 units in the front row. If you are unable to or don’t want to block its attack on your first rear guard, you may want to intercept with your other grade2 unit anyways in order to prevent him from getting another attack and drive check. Also, at times, you may want to call a unit in the hand to take the place of one of your front row rear guards, and intercepting will allow you to get the most of the rear guard while allowing you to put a new one in its place. At the moment, however, there isn’t much of a difference between intercepting and guarding from the hand, except that you can use intercept to get the most of a unit you would retire anyway and narrowing down your opponent’s attack targets, and, in certain decks, keeping your hand size up.
Lastly, as the game progresses and you need to guard, you will find yourself running out of units to guard with. This means that you will often get into situations where you can guard your opponent’s attacks, but only in the case that your opponent doesn’t get a heal trigger and sometimes you won’t be able to block all of your opponent’s attacks. In the first situation, you will need to decide which is more likely, your opponent to get a trigger or you to get a heal trigger. Most of the time, you will bet on your opponent not getting a trigger, but it is just something you should think about just in case you do end up in the very uncommon situation where you pulling a heal trigger is more likely than your opponent not pulling a trigger. In the case where you can’t guard all your opponent’s attacks even without a trigger, there is only one good response: let the first attack through. Even if the chances of getting a heal trigger are very low, in the chance you do get one, you will be in a much better position if you get it before guarding than if you use up your hand and then get it on the last block. The heal trigger not only lets you take one more damage, but can also give your Vanguard an extra 5000 power which can make blocking easier. If you know you’re going to lose if you don’t get a heal trigger, it’s better to bet on the heal trigger from the beginning, because getting it will make you guard with less than you would have if you had guarded until the last moment, putting you in a better position for next turn should the game continue. In Vanguard, you should never give up until the very end.
Conclusion
Throughout the game, there are many choices that will have to be made, and making the best choices will put you in a much better position. By understanding the pros and cons of all of the possible choices, you should be able to decide for yourself which decisions you will make when. Especially near the end of the game, sometimes you will have to make tough choices to grasp victory. Sometimes, you will even have to take chances and go all out, betting on a trigger to win. Just remember, when you have to take a chance to win, always take the chance that has the highest probability of success. In all card games, there is going to be the luck factor, but taking the path to success that is most likely to succeed will usually be the best way to go. Remember that when faced with a difficult choice, always think about your options before deciding your answer. The key to becoming better is learning to make the right choices.
