A.V.D.: Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon

Advanced Vanguard Discussion: Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon

"lock . . .lock . . . lock . . everything"

The Link Joker clan made its official debut in the international meta two weeks ago, with the release of their trial deck “VGE-TD11 Star-vader Invasion", and with the recent English release of BT12 – Binding Force of the Black Rings, the clan received their first grade 3 boss card: Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon.

In contrast to Chaos Breaker Dragon (which is treated as the optimal grade 3 boss card of the clan), Nebula Lord doesn’t fall too far behind with breaker – albeit the consistency and the draw-power that Breaker offers. The best description there might be for Nebula Lord is that it’s a “Beatdown” unit, designed to crush and obliterate the souls of fighters who come against it, and ultimately, reverse them in the process of doing so. In the anime, this was the first boss card which the pseudo-antagonist of the series, Toshiki Kai, used and was responsible for many fighters getting reversed, including the likes of Shinjou Tetsu and Narumi Asaka.

At 11k base power, Nebula Lord stands as a solid vanguard unit for Link Joker. It has an [ACT] activate ability which enables it to lock one rear-guard booster of the opponent for the cost of two (2) counterblasts. This vicious ability gets rid of pesky and dangerous boosters such as the likes of Doreen, and even that of their own clan, Lanthanum. The only problem that most players have with this, is that for the cost two (2) counterblasts, locking an opponent’s rear-guard booster is somewhat not as flexible as it should be, in contrast to that of Breaker’s which is able to lock any rear-guard unit of the opponent. This limits the options that the player should have in playing it, thus making it in this sense inferior to Breaker. 

But that’s not what this unit is only capable of; this extra-terrestrial beast’s power lies in its limit break. A limit break which is very devastating and game-owning, that when used properly, it can grant this card’s user the assurance of reversing every opponent. At four (4) damage, Nebula Lord gains an Active ability; every <Link Joker> in the front row line − including this card as the Vanguard – is entitled of having a massive +3000 power boost for every locked card in the opponent’s side of the field. And with the bonus of locking two (2) cards when you breakride this unit, courtesy of Infinite Zero, it is a guarantee that this unit and some other two (2) front row <Link Joker> units will get a +6000 power boost. What’s worth noting is that, cards such as Lanthanum and Niobium also get their own bonuses from locking your opponent’s units, all the more reason as to how dangerous they are when played together. And when the opponent is already at four (4) damage, with the massive number of power that the attacks of these units are capable of reaching, opponents are forced to use perfect guards and/or to guard as much as they are able to; if they do survive, they may not do so anymore in the succeeding turns for they will have already used up all of their resources . Nonetheless, it is really gonna cripple the powerplays that the opponent supposedly intended to play.

Nebula Lord Dragon is a really good card that is only underestimated by most players. This card is a strong card on its own, independent of breakride and is capable of winning many games by itself. If only played right, one can truly understand how strong and beastly this card truly is. But with the near-coming release of BT13 in two (2) months time, not that much attention will really be given to this card. If ever there may be, it will only be just by the few. Nonetheless, this card is the first Invader, and it will lock and reverse anyone who comes across the path of its user; such potential has never been this concealed.