Fighter's Collection 2014 - Dragons of the Shadows!

Fighter's Collection 2014 - Dragons of the Shadows!

  Saturday, April 19, 2014    byak

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Welcome back to our daily reviews of Fighter's Collection 2014. Yesterday, we went over the new support for Narukami and Kagero. Today, however, we're going to be looking at the ninja clans of Vanguard: Nubatama and Murakumo!

Nubatama has been regarded as many as the least supported clan in Vanguard. And, well, if you disregard the Etranger joke clan, it pretty much is. Nubatama first received support in BT01, in the form of four cards. Despite them being there in the beginning, they were completely forgotten until BT13 came along. The reason they were kept away for so long was because of their core mechanic: hand control.

Hand control has always been a very sensitive concept in the context of Vanguard. A player's hand was the one of the main resources that wasn't universally susceptible to removal. Outside of the one Oracle Think Tank, Evil-eye Princess, Euryale, and many grade 3 bosses that would restrict certain kinds of guarding, the hand was fairly safe. Unless you're playing versus Nubatama, however.

Our specific focus for today is Shura Stealth Dragon, Yozakuracongo, the second of the two modern Nubatama bosses. For months, players have had to use Shura Stealth Dragon, Kabukicongo as their main focus, who dealt with field removal. However, Yozakuracongo has the potential to effectively shut down your opponent's hand, and even end the game in your favor. Yozakuracongo's Limit Break comes with a cost of counterblasting one and discarding two Nubatama, which gives it +10000 power for the turn. In addition, if your opponent has four or more cards in their hand, you can randomly choose two of the cards in their hand and bind them, with them getting back the two cards at the end of the turn.

The +10000 boost synergizes really well with this part of the effect, considering Yozakuracongo demands a lot of guard that you might be getting rid of with his skill, making it a lot easier to hit for damage. Not only that, but the cheap counterblast cost makes it easy to use repeatedly, given you have enough cards in your hand to discard. While the removal is only temporary by itself, you can easily close the game by eliminating their hand for a turn, making the rest of the game irrelevant anyway.

What makes Yozakuracongo even stronger however, is its potential when used with Nubatama's Break Ride: Shura Stealth Dragon, Kujikiricongo. When you ride a Nubatama over Kujikiricongo, you give your vanguard +10000, and in addition, your opponent chooses two cards in their hand. The first one is discarded, and the second card is bound until the end of the turn. If you use these two cards together, the result is your opponent playing without four cards in their hand for one turn! Not only that, but one of those four are gone permanently, in case the game drags beyond the Break Ride turn.

Chaining Kujikiricongos together is just as good as transitioning into Yozakuracongo, though. With the continuous threat of your Break Ride, your opponent will be losing a card each turn, compensating for investing a single card to ride. In addition, your vanguard will be on +10000 consistently, demanding more and more guard every turn. Being able to drop multiple Kujikiricongos, and then finishing them with Yozakuracongo should be your winning image for Nubatama!

Stealth Arts, Crimson Blizzard!
19 / 14 / 10 / 7

1 Stealth Beast, Kuroku
2 Stealth Beast, Hagakure
4 Stealth Dragon, Kurogane [Critical]
4 Stealth Fiend, Mashiromomen [Stand]
4 Stealth Fiend, Otsuzura [Draw]
4 Stealth Fiend, Zashikihime [Heal]

4 Stealth Beast, Mijingakure
4 Stealth Dragon, Dreadmaster
4 Tempest Stealth Rogue, Fuuki
2 Stealth Rogue of the Night, Sakurafubuki

4 Stealth Beast, Tamahagane
4 Stealth Dragon, Kokujou
2 Stealth Rogue of a Thousand Knives, Oborozakura

4 Shura Stealth Dragon, Kujiricongo
3 Shura Stealth Dragon, Yozakuracongo

Unfortunately, Nubatama only have one of each trigger, making it impossible to devote to a specific attack pattern. This is probably one of the key things that are holding Nubatama back at the moment, but they're still a good contender. Stealth Beast, Hagakure is more of a preferential choice, and if you don't like it, you don't have to include it. It can be removed in order to boost your ratios. Combining Stealth Beast, Tamahagane with Stealth Beast, Kuroku makes for early game field control, which is super strong. Kuroku is also very useful late game, since you can pressure the removal of the cards bound by Yozakuracongo. Tempest Stealth Rogue, Fuuki may not be the most powerful unit by itself, but you want to hold it until you want to remove their whole hand for a turn, so you can end the game.

Nubatama isn't the only clan lurking in the shadows, however! Murakumo have been another contender for the Vanguard playing field for a while as well. Murakumo's strategy revolves around creating card advantage out of thin air, in either an offensive or defensive manner. Their tricks range from pulling copies of other units from your deck to the field to creating a substantially large amount of guard from almost nothing.

Today we'll be going over one of their more defensive additions. Covert Demonic Dragon, Kasumi Rouge resembles the earlier bosses such as Covert Demonic Dragon, Mandala Lord and Fantasy Petal Storm, Shirayuki, who used other copies of themselves as extremely powerful shields. Though, instead of using copies of itself, it has the ability to clone triggers that you use to guard with.

Kasumi Rouge's Limit Break, to be more exact, activates when you call a card from your hand to guard with. When you do, you can counterblast one to pull another copy and use it as a guard. Note that it only activates when the shield comes from your hand, so you can't use it when the second copy comes out from the deck, nor can you use it with intercept units. Basically though, you can turn all of your 10000 shields into 20000 shields at the cost of a counterblast, giving you huge resilience. The only downside is that you're pulling triggers out of the deck, thus making your drive checks weaker. However, if you can last longer than your opponent, you should be able to win the game anyway.

Kasumi Rouge also comes with a second skill. By counterblasting one, you can target a grade 2 or higher Murakumo on the field, then call another copy from the deck. At the end of the turn, the unit you called goes to the bottom of the deck. This skill is actually the same as the old Platinum Blond Fox Spirit, Tamamo, but it's much more significant now than it was back then. Whenever you use this skill, you're guaranteeing that one of your front circles is going to be empty when your turn is over. This means a lot when you're playing versus Link Joker, since that one circle cannot be locked as long as there's another rear-guard on the field to clone. It also helps versus retire crazy decks by being able to hold resources in your hand.

Phantom Stealth Guard!
17 / 14 / 11 / 8

1 Stealth Rogue of Kite, Goemon
2 Fox Tamer, Izuna [Critical]
3 Stealth Rogue of Dagger, Yaiba [Critical]
3 Stealth Beast, Moon Edge [Critical]
4 Stealth Beast, Cat Devil [Critical]
4 Stealth Fiend, Yukihime [Heal]

4 Stealth Beast, Leaves Mirage
4 Stealth Rogue of Silence, Shigimamaru
4 Stealth Rogue of Umbrella, Sukerokku
2 Stealth Beast, Leaf Raccoon

4 Stealth Beast, Bloody Mist
4 Stealth Rogue of Demonic Hair, Gurenjishi
3 Stealth Beast, White Mane

4 Covert Demonic Dragon, Kagurabloom
4 Covert Demonic Dragon, Kasumi Rouge

Unfortunately for us, the rest of Murakumo is significantly lackluster. Our starter doesn't necessarily generate advantage, but it does have the ability to jump to different columns, which comes in handy sometimes. The grade 1's are also really weak, with none of them contributing well enough to the deck. The grade 2 lineup is a bit better, but the lack of power attackers for Murakumo really hurts.

At the very least, there is redemption in Murakumo's Break Ride: Covert Demonic Dragon, Kagurabloom. Kagurabloom's Break Ride skill costs a counterblast, but you pull out two copies of the grade 3 you just rode to the field, and they return to your hand in the end phase. This thins your deck of non-triggers, as well as gives you more attackers at your disposal, making it easier to ditch the extra grade 2's in your hand to protect yourself.

Unfortunately, due to the poor quality of rear-guards, I'd have to say that Covert Demonic Dragon, Hyakki Vogue "Reverse" serves as a much better boss for Murakumo, and he also synergizes extremely well with Kagurabloom. However, if you're afraid of Link Joker, you might be a bit more inclined to use Kasumi Rouge.

That's it for our two ninja clans! I hope everyone is looking forward to the induction of Nubatama in the English card game, and I plan on writing an article when the time comes as well. For now, stay tuned for more Fighter's Collection 2014 articles! Next time: we take a trip down under the sea!