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The brand new series of Cardfight!! Vanguard, Vanguard overDress, released on May 14th of this year, and oh boy was it a big one.
We've seen major updates to the game made through new series before. Vanguard G brought with it the Grade 4 cards, and V brought a reboot of the cards. OverDress is no different, except.. it is different. VERY different.
Cray, 3000 Years In The Future...
The new series of Vanguard (and subsequently the cards) is set on the original Planet Cray but 3000 years in the future. Torn by war and struggle, the 28 clans have formed into six nations: Dragon Empire, Dark States, Keter Sanctuary, Stoicheia, Brandt Gate, and Lyrical Monasterio. This new nation system replaces the old clans, meaning that cards that previously couldn't run together now can.
Brandt Gate is the featured nation of overDress Aurora Valkyrie. Previously known as Star Gate, this nation served as the host of interdimensional visitors to Cray. Brandt Gate maintains its high technological advances, which is much needed given that the residents of Brandt Gate are required to fend off threats from other worlds. Their main fear at the moment is the threat of the Void, the evil force first fought off when Blaster Blade halted the Link Joker invasion. The nations contained within Brandt Gate are Dimension Police, Link Joker, and Nova Grappler.
A Powerful Princess
Dispelling the stereotype, this princess is out to take prisoners rather than be one. The featured card of overDress Aurora Valkyrie is Aurora Battle Princess, Seraph Snow. This Cosmo Security agent has an arrest rate of 100% and criminals shudder at her name.
Obliterating the enemy with her twin machine-gun-arms, she comes in at 13000 power. Brushing past the amazing artwork, she's formidable on the tabletop. While Seraph Snow is your vanguard, if there are one or more cards in your prison, she gets an extra 10000 power. Additionally, if there are three or more in your prison, she gets to have three drive checks!
Her other ability can be used on any circle. Once per turn, you can counterblast 1 to imprison two of our opponent's rear-guards.
Alongside these abilities, she has the new feature of overDress: Persona Ride. Persona Ride is triggered when a card with the ability is ridden upon a card of the same name. When in the persona ride state, decks like overDress Sylvan King get additional card effects. However, it's still useful for overDress Aurora Valkyrie since it allows you to draw a card. As well as drawing a card, all of your front row circles get +10000 power. Yes, circles, not cards. That means that if you retire a card on those circles and replace it, that new card still gets the bonus. And it's a whopping great big bonus, too.
Arrest The Opposition
After reading my last section, you may be wondering "Joey, what the heck is the prison?"
Well, I'll answer that question. For any old Link Joker players, imprisoning cards is like locking cards. It is a whole new mechanic though, so don't get disappointed.
The order card you'll receive with overDress Aurora Valkyrie is Galaxy Central Prison, Galactolus. This is the first set order of any of the starter decks. When a set order is played, it remains in your order zone until the end of your game, which is good for this card.
As well as being a set order, the card also has the type "Prison". Once you have this card in play, you can begin to use card abilities that imprison your opponent's cards. When a card is imprisoned, it is placed in your order zone with the prison order and is kept there until your opponent recovers it. To play this card you simply have to rest a unit. Immediately, you get to soul charge 3, which gives you ammunition to use imprisoning abilities later.
The main ability of the prison is that your opponent can actually recover imprisoned cards. In a turn where they would call rear-guards, instead, they can pay the cost to call a card from your prison. If they Soul Blast 1, they can recover one card. If they counterblast 1, they can recover two. It's important to note that these recovered cards must be called to rear-guard and not to your hand.
Overwhelming Firepower
Yet another new feature of Vanguard overDress is a brand new trigger. You can have one card of this type in your deck, and for good reason. The Over/Trigger is the most powerful Trigger by far. All Over/Trigger cards have the same trigger effect: "When revealed as a trigger, remove that card, draw a card, choose one of your units and it gets +100 Million power until the end of turn!" Yes, you read that right. +100 MILLION power.
Oh, and that's not all. If an Over/Trigger is revealed in a drive check, it gets an additional effect that's unique to each unit. For example, the Cray Elemental (yes they're still a thing) Over/Trigger card of the overDress Aurora Valkyrie grants an additional 100 Million power to another unit. That means you can have two units on your field that have over 100 Million power. Now that's nuts!
In the booster sets, such as Genesis Of The Five Greats, you can find nation-specific Over/Trigger cards. The Brandt Gate one is just...wow. Besides having stunning art, Star Dragon Deity of Infinitude, Eldobreath is unbelievably powerful. Its additional card effect is that you can double the power and critical of all front row units till the end of your turn. That means six damage at the enemy in a single turn, all with doubled attack. Absolutely terrifying.
Final Thoughts
I absolutely love this deck. I'm a paladins player in the old format, so Keter Sanctuary and overDress Apex Ruler called to me. However, This deck has come to rival my old favourites for the top spot. OverDress Aurora Valkyrie is incredibly fun to play and requires some form of skill and tactical thinking. This deck feels well put-together, possibly even more so than Sylvan King.
Overall, this deck really hit the spot for me, keeping me thinking with my use of the prison feature.
