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Nanya’s Mistaken: I Don’t Hate All Crit-Gainers

So what sort of Critical-gaining Vanguards does Saikyo Cardfighter actually like?

So Nanya reckons I basically hate any sort of Grade 3 that gains Critical. Anything who’s only purpose is to inflict more damage in one attack as opposed to several small hits.

Once upon a time that may have actually been true. But that was quite a long time ago…or about a year ago, whichever one sounds more reasonable. We had a massive explosion of Limit Break units that gained Critical as part of it.

It’s only specifically those units that I have a problem with. For those of you who cannot be arsed to look through my reviews to a time where I didn’t apply a LGCSSG stamp to increase the time I have to write a book or staple my toes to the floor, here is why: When you can use a Limit Break, it’s usually because by this time, assuming the opponent didn’t sack horribly, both players should be floating on about 4 damage. At this moment, one checked Critical Trigger will end you on the spot. The opponent will then guard your vanguard to not die. And that’s a Vanguard WITHOUT the Crit gaining skill. So basically, all a LB unit that gains Critical does is force the opponent to make a play they would have made anyway without anything reminding them.

This sort of statement doesn’t really apply to the newest set of Crit gaining toys we have. Legion isn’t really like Limit Break; it is perfectly possible to make Legion live before either player is at 3 damage. That’s the kicker: you can make the opponent guard during a time when they’d much rather take the hit to the face.

It’s not even that recent a concept; before then, back in BT03 we had Daiyusha who was gaining Mid Game Criticals before it was a trending thing. Hipster-yusha.

Now I need to address another point. Every clan is now getting units that can remove the restriction on Limit Break by simply existing as a rear-guard. So does my LGCSSG stamp apply in these cases now?

I guess it depends on where it is. You need to keep in mind the ways to search them are few. To make them useful, they have to be there in the hand quite early AND you have to open with your Grade 3 as well. Something like Leading Jewel Knight Salome for example can easily search for its LB remover for a mere Counterblast of 2. Presto, as long as you have 4 Jewel Knight rear-guards, there’s your free Critical. All game, unless the opponent Kagero’s it away like a cock-muncher.

Unfortunately, a free Critical is basically the Jewel Knight’s only trick once the field’s been set up. You’ve got a cheaper, but slightly more fragile Majesty Lord Blaster. And in this day and age, I can’t really vouch for MLB anymore since the Vanguard is pretty much the only thing pulling any weight; the rest are just swinging for numbers as you normally would. And that’s just the EASY to set up deck. For something that needs to draw into the pieces by accident, you’re basically flipping a coin regarding if you get that free Critical or not. It’s not even what you call an especially game-breaking skill since it’s good only once.

I’ve now gotten as far as this part of the article and just realised that I said that I don’t have a problem with Crit gaining as long as I get it early, and yet I just said it’s not even that exciting. I guess I’m still not a great writer yet.

Well, I suppose it’s probably because the ones that gain Crit and are not horrible either have another trick to so they still have merits even when used alone, or are basically a nice afterthought. As in, they don’t really act as the main VIP, the slack’s picked up by the rear-guards (Seekers are poppin’ cards all day, every day with Blaster Blade Seeker).

So I guess I’d better leave behind my favourite Critical gaining units for you to examine, just as examples of ones that aren’t horrible and not subject to Nanya’s broad opinion of me. I’m not THAT harsh, am I?

Light Source Seeker, Alfred Exiv is easy enough to set up thanks to Gildas and even his own skill setting up the 5 rear-guards you need, and thanks to Legion swings for such massive numbers you sentence the opponent to PG you or you die. Of course, given the frequency of when they appear once Grade 3 is reached “no PG” is something you never assume ever.

Cosmic Regalia, CEO Yggdrasil takes it a step further by not only gaining a Critical for what is an easy enough skill to set up, but also hitting the opponent with a skill that seals the opponent’s minimum loss of -2 to block. Now, they have to drop guard, all of it in 0s and interceptors, to block what is on average a 28k column assuming no help like Norn is involved.

Ultimate Raizer, Mega Flare ticks a lot of boxes. Easy to set up (4 rested units, including himself and his Legion Mate as part of it) and has a skill that still sentences the opponent to PG it because it has another skill that can be used on-hit. Any scenario where he can hit is a bad one. Or maybe even then you still have outs thanks to an innocuous card called Cat Butler. If you don’t hit, stand your Grade 2 Legion Mate, who will stand Mega Flare. So the Crit is not only threatening, it’s also repeatable, which was basically the reason Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant kicked so much ass back in the day (and got restricted to 2 in Japan for a bit).

…And it’s all Legion units. I guess that’s power creep for you. Stupid freaking TCG model. Oh well.

Shove GBD (Garbage Bin Dragon) right in my indifferent face at saikyocardfighter@outlook.com

Cry to me about giving scrubs advice on how to beat your deck at saikyocardfighter@outlook.com