Monthly Bushiroad Issue 6, Part 1 - Glendios Intensifies (Again)

Monthly Bushiroad Issue 6, Part 1 - Glendios Intensifies (Again)

  Thursday, February 06, 2014    byak

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It's finally here! The conclusion of the Omega invasion begins!

Now, I figured Bushiroad would end up printing more support for the new Star-vader, "Omega" Glendios, but I didn't necessarily believe he would get so much direct support. I'm a bit overwhelmed.

In fact, when I originally posted a Deck Check for Glendios, I thought I was done with it. I thought there weren't going to be that many changes, but with the newest wave of Link Joker, I'm now not so sure.

DISCLAIMER: SCANS ARE STILL FAIRLY NEW AND THERE MIGHT BE TRANSLATION ERRORS, KEEP THIS IN MIND

To start, Link Joker got their own Reverse unit. It's odd to think of, but it actually has some neat applications. Star-vader, Reverse Cradle looks as if it's the Reverse of the recent Star-vader, Magnet Hollow. Though, they could just both be Cyber Golems, I'm not sure. Regardless, it functions sort of like a mini Glendios. Its Limit Break gives you Glendios' effect that locks a unit when you call a Reverse unit, and then Reverse Cradle gains +5000 power for the turn. It also turns all of your Reverse units into Link Joker units, which also comes from Glendios. Now, this card really isn't that strong by itself, but it's probably 100% necessary in all Glendios builds. Why is that, you might ask? Well, it's mainly because it's searchable by Magnet Hollow. Being able to ride Magnet Hollow guarantees you will be riding a Link Joker that game, which is good because riding any other Reverse unit just messes you up. Can it end up working by itself? I could probably see a build where you play it alone, then just use Magnet Hollow to grab it every game, but it still thrives on Reverse units to make it useful. If you start to build around it like that, you end up realizing that Glendios does the same thing but better. Maybe it was designed to be a budget version of Glendios, considering how rare it is to actually get one? Perhaps, but in an optimal scenario, Glendios is clearly the better boss.

Link Joker also got an interesting grade 2 that might even be able to help you use Glendios' Ultimate Break. Star-vader, Cold Death Dragon has a low base power of 8000, but when it hits the field, if your opponent has a Locked unit, you can counterblast a card to call the top card of their deck to their field as a Locked unit. I think it can have really neat interactions, and by itself, the strongest thing it can do is fill one of their front rows with a Locked unit to stop a potential attack. While it seems this card is meant to be used with Glendios, I don't think you have the room or counterblasts for it. What I do think it can be used with, however, is Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon. While Chaos Breaker Dragon has a hard time sustaining counterblasts on its own, you can still use Cold Death Dragon to fill up their front row for a turn, and then use Chaos Breaker Dragon's Limit Break to kill off that unit when it's freed and let you draw a card. It might be hard to find room and it's a questionable idea, but I think it warrants testing. This card might not be very strong right now, but I'd watch it, because it has potential.

Next up, we have Star-vader, Ruin Magician. Ruin Magician is a fairly simple grade 1, that, whenever it's called, can add Reverse units from your drop zone to your hand equal to the amount of Reverse rear-guards you control. I think it's an interesting touch. Usually it'll grab one or two per call, which can keep your Omega Lock up a bit longer if you're lacking the Reverse units. There's not much else to say about this unit, because it gives you simple, free advantage. I'd find room for it in just about any Glendios deck, depending on the ratios.

Now that we can sustain our resource of Reverses, what about our damage? Fortunately, (?) Star-vader, Braseossim simplifies this for us as well. Similarly to Ruin Magician, when it's called it gains a skill based on the amount of Reverse units you control. Instead of adding back Reverse units however, you un-flip a damage for each one you control. Now even though it has 6000 power, Braseossim still makes very good columns, seeing as all of your Reverse units are 15000 power units. The combination makes a very comfortable 21000, which is just enough. I'd try to find room for this as well, and I'd even go as far to say that Braseossim and Ruin Magician will be the core pieces of future Glendios grade 1 lineups.

Since there's no Wiki page for this card yet, the text from translators reads as: [A] When this unit is played to (R), if you have a <LJ> Vanguard, for each "R" Rearguard you have with a different name, unflip 1 damage.

But that's not all! We also have Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium. Now, as I was testing Glendios, a common complaint was not being able to defend against Break Rides. I had told myself to put Sentinels in the deck, because they're actually less dead than I expected them to be, but this offers a completely different perspective! When Rubidium is called as a guardian and your vanguard is Glendios, you can actually change the attack target to a Reverse rear-guard! It's basically a Sentinel personally catered for the deck. It also doesn't eat away at your hand, since it burns up a Reverse unit on the field, allowing you to call a fresh one next turn and Lock a unit in the process! I think this card is very good, and also deserves to be used in Glendios. The only problem is that it has a hard time dealing with on-hit vanguards (I'm looking at you, new Dragonic Overlord), but versus everything else it's very effective. It also counters Descendant very well, since they can't use their Limit Break after the attack.

Since there is no Wiki page for this card yet, the text from translators reads as: Auto: [Retire this Unit] When this Unit appears in a Guardian Circle, if your Vanguard is "Star-Vader, Omega Glendios", you can pay the cost. If you do, target 1 of your "Я" rear-guards, {during this battle that rear-guard is attacked instead.}

Lastly for our Reverse support we have Collapsing Starry Star-vader, Erbium. Despite its name being a mouthful, it once again has a fairly simple skill. During your turn, it gains +1000 power for each of your Reverse rear-guards. I think this little guy is pretty useful, because if you combine a Reverse unit with him, he goes up to at least 8000 power and creates a 23000 column, which is the number you want to see versus Cross Ride decks. Now the problem here is that there's already a ton of new Link Joker grade 1's you want to include. I think I'd try to find room for at least one of this guy, but I'm still unsure of how useful he'll be. I still think it's a cool card, there's just a lot more cooler cards out there.

Link Joker also got a new boss unit a few days before in a different leak. Meet Star-vader, Freeze Ray Dragon. It comes with an ugly 10000 base, but its skills certainly make up for it. If Freeze Ray is your vanguard, whenever you take damage, you get to Lock a unit. It's not a Limit Break either, so your opponent always has to be aware of it. With this unit, you're essentially able to Lock out one column every turn no matter what they do, meaning you only have to deal with two attacks per turn! Additionally, it has a Limit Break where, whenever you Lock an opponent's unit, Freeze Ray gains +3000 power during this turn. While it cannot activate when a Reverse unit locks its own rear-guard, you can still use this during your opponent's turn, when they deal damage to you! This makes it so when they attack for the second time, they have to deal with a 13000 base, and if they find more ways to attack, the numbers will just keep increasing! Don't let Freeze Ray's weak base fool you, because he's capable of doing a lot.

Along with Freeze Ray's reveal, we also got to see Link Joker's own damage inducers. Imaginary Orthos and Negligible Dragon might not be Star-vaders, but they work really well with Freeze Ray! As we all know, damage inducers come with a counterblast cost, but they deal damage to you that's returned at the end of your turn. They're typically used to enable the Limit Breaks of your vanguard, but in this case they even Lock units with Freeze Ray! Freeze Ray Locks a unit whenever you take damage, meaning if you use Orthos or Negligible Dragon, you're also Locking a unit in the process. This can set up for some oppressive fields, if you can manage with the weak base powers that all of these units come with.

That's all of the new Link Joker units for this Monthly Bushiroad! I'm assuming that they're done showing us the major support, so I can finally sit down and draft a more complete Glendios build, that should be up sometime this week. I definitely think the deck got stronger, since it now has built in sustain with Ruin Magician and Braseossium, but outside of those cards the deck is still the same. I also want to try a deck with Freeze Ray, since it actually looks as if it's a very defensive unit. That's it for this article though. Any feedback would be appreciated in the comments below and stay tuned, because we're going to continue our coverage tomorrow with Gold Paladin!