A.V.D.: Self-standing Vanguards

Advanced Vanguard Discussion: Self-standing Vanguards

Photo owned by James Gabriel Garrido (not to be used or to be posted elsewhere without the owner's permission)

It is a rule that Vanguard units are to remain at rest after they've attacked. Stand Triggers can only apply its restand effect on Rear guards. This is because if vanguards were to stand back up again, they could again attack and drive check twice. If this would've been the case, everyone might’ve been playing 8-12 stands instead of bringing multiple criticals. Some cards though, surpass this limitation. These units are able to restand themselves, and could attack once more.

The very first of its kind, Dragonic Overlord was the very first self-standing vanguard. It was released in both its trial deck and in set 1. This Demonic Beast unleashed the flames of hell itself upon those who would be foolish to oppose its superior power. An 11k beater, it’s just as big as it could get hitting 16k-21k power columns that proved to be so devastating to old grade 3 units whose average base attack powers were just 10k below. And that’s just its stats, his abilities have not been mentioned yet. At the cost of 3 counterblasts, this motherfucking dragon of mass and colossal destruction gets a continuous +5000 power until the end of the player’s turn. And that’s not all, when it hits an opponent’s Rear guard, its true power is revealed: IT STANDS BACK UP. It restands and all of the effects remain in it – provided also that its attack hits. And with this at hand, it would again look forward for another attack until ultimately all of the opponent’s resources have been burned to ashes. Of course there’s a catch to this though; it loses its Twin Drive ability yet it can still drive check 1 card when it attacks again.

But neglect the capability to drive check twice or thrice, what’s so dangerous about this beast is that it can still activate its skill while it is also in Rear guard (no drive checks though). A rear guard that is almost as strong and as good as the vanguard is such a huge plus for any player.

Later sets then tried to imitate the signature skill of Dragonic Overlord most notably its crossride, DragonicOverlord “The End”. What differed between the two was that “The End” required a cost of persona blast. BT04 also released Stern Blaukluger which also has a skill similar to Overlord, that when it hits it can stand back up.  EB03 also released a vanguard similar to Overlord but with an easier condition to pull-off: Spectral Duke Dragon.

Photo owned by James Gabriel Garrido (not to be used or to be posted elsewhere without the owner's permission)

Spectral Duke Dragon is a 10k Vanguard. While “Black Dragon Knight,Vortimer” is in the soul, it gets a continuous +1000 power. But that’s not what’s scary about it. Just like Overlord, it too can stand back up on its own, for the price of 2 counterblasts and 3 Rear guards. What edge it has over Overlord is that during the end of the damage step that it attacked (regardless if its attack hit or not), its Limit Break allows it to restand itself back up, retaining all the effects of power boosts and extra criticals that it gained during its drive check. It does lose its twin drive though, yet still the ability to choose whether or not to restand yourself back is already a very destructive skill.

Not to mention also that this was also the main vanguard unit of Brandon Smith’s Gold Paladin deck which won the World Championships 2012 last year. He ran this build instead of the normal Ezel deck and showcased to the world how strong and effective this deck really is. Another testament added to how devastating and dangerous these type of vanguards are. 

-kamiPrince39-