Sunday, June 23, 2013

Vanguard and Misplaying: Episode 128

So, does anyone else notice that at the end of episode 127, Takuto has 4 damage and one used Counter-Blast, but come episode 128 that used Counter-Blast is flipped back up?

Start:

                                                   .

                                                     TD11-010

Break-Ride into Twilight Baron, Lock Hisen and Zuitan, and call Krypton. Francium attacks, uses its skill, and hits Dragonic Descendent for Kai's 4th damage. Baron attacks and is cockblocked by Guld, and Krypton is blocked out by a Crit.

Start:

              

                                                   .

Kai calls Demolition Dragon behind Vermillion. He then powers up Descendent through its secondary skill before attacking with Vermillion. Takuto's 5th damage is a Critical Trigger, and powers up Twilight Baron. Descendent attacks, but is blocked by a Stand Trigger for a 2 to pass. Pulling only one Critical Trigger, Kai Limit Breaks to stand up again. Getting blocked again, Kai's turn ends with failing to get a second trigger to break Takuto's 15K guard.

From there, I think we all saw the episode to know where this went. However, those attacks did clue me in on a lot of nice facts about Takuto's hand:

-Kai's turn started with Takuto having 5 cards in hand
-Within that hand, 1 was a stand trigger, and 3 were 5K shields
-Because Takuto uses 3 5K shields to guard Descendent's final attack, that last card in hand must be a 5K or weaker shield, and not a Perfect Guard.

At best, we know that Takuto's defensive forces amount to 35K shield. Including the intercept, 5 cards are 5K shields, and one 10K shield. Well, what if Kai attacked with Descendent first?

I know Kai, it's hard for me to imagine too
No seriously, let's think of it. Had Kai attacked with Descendent first, Takuto would be forced into letting it through and risk losing to a Critical Trigger (which Kai does pull), or guarding it to deal with a second attack. I'm rather bored by the idea that Kai wins because of a Critical Trigger at 4, so let's assume that Takuto guards its attack with the 10K shield and his intercept. As Kai pulls his Critical, he can pass all effects to Vermillion, and restand his Vanguard. Descendent attacks again, this time with 2 crits, basically demanding Takuto to guard once again with 3 of his 4 5K shields from his hand. Kai pulls his second Critical right about now, and once again passes all effects to Vermillion. Finally, Vermillion swings in for 23K 3 Crit to absolutely run over Takuto's last 5K shield, and deal Takuto's 5, 6th, and even 7th damage to basically secure a win.

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