Cardfight!! Vanguard - Dragonic Overlord "The X" Deck Mar16

I've been figuring out different ways to blog post, here's another layout...

The full list of the Kai Legend deck (JP) was just released a few days ago and I though I'd just share the current Dragonic Overlord "The X" deck that I own for those that want to try playing some Overlords before the legend deck is officially released.

"The X" decks haven't changed too much since G-BT03 but there are different variants depending on how you like to play the deck, the style is mainly achieved by changing the trigger line up. 

Well...this is my list.

Dragonic Overlord "The X".dek

And in case you want to read more... here's the list in words =S

G3:

4  Dragonic Overlord "The Ace"

3  Dragonic Overlord the End

1  Dragonic Blademaster

G2:

4  Burning Horn Dragon

3  Dragonic Burnout

2  Perdition Dragon, Dragonic Neoflame

2  Berserk Dragon

G1:

4  Protect Orb Dragon

4  Lava Flow Dragon

3  Calamity Tower Wyvern

3  Lizard Soldier, Bellog

G0:

4  Dragon Knight, Jannat (Critical)

2  Embodiment of Spear, Tahr (Critical)  

4  Gattling Claw Dragon (Draw)

2  Seal Dragon, Artipique (Draw)

4  Dragon Monk, Genji (Heal)

Dragon Knight, Sadegh (Starter)

G4:

3  Supreme Heavenly Emperor Dragon, Dragonic Overlord "the Ace"

2  Flame Emperor Dragon King, Root Flare Dragon

2  Divine Dragon Knight, Mustafa

1  Divine Dragon Knight, Mahmud

The deck

In essence "The X"/the End is designed to be a high pressure grind deck. Their effects when legioned:

[ACT](VC):Legion22000 "Dragonic Overlord the End" (If your opponent's vanguard is grade 3 or greater, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone into your deck once, search your deck for the specified card, and Legion)

[AUTO](VC):When this unit Legion, search your deck for up to one card with the same card name as a unit on your (VC), reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.
[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a card named "Dragonic Overlord "The X"" from your hand, and discard it] At the end of the battle that this unit attacked, if the attack did not hit during that battle, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to two of your opponent's rear-guards, and retire them.

[AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (2) & Choose a card named "Dragonic Overlord the End" from your hand, and discard it] When this unit's attack hits, you may pay the cost. If you do, [Stand] this unit.

When you legion "The X" grabs a copy of either one of your vanguards for you, if you're new to vanguard, what we have here is a Win-Win situation; grab which ever card you don't have in your hand (so if you have "The X" in hand, search for the End vice versa) this will give you access to both Overlords' skills; if your attack hits, discard the End to restand or if your attack doesn't hit, discard "The X" to retire 2 rear guards. No matter what; you are getting an advantage even if you don't use their effects because when normally riding a card is a -1 (both players will eventually have to do this), "The X" grabbing you a card +1 makes it a 0 therefore you inherently have 1 card more than your opponent. 

What you want to do is legion multiple times throughout the game while using Calamity Tower Wyvern and Dragonic Burnout's effects:

[AUTO]:[Soul Blast (2)] When this unit is placed on (RC), if you have a «Kagerō» vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card.

[AUTO]:[Soul Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on (RC), if you have a «Kagerō» vanguard, you may choose a card with "Overlord" in its card name from your drop zone, and put it on the bottom of your deck. If you put a card on the bottom of your deck this way, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and retire it.

If can see where this is going, then you probably know how to play the deck already; abuse "The X"s on legion effect. When you ride over the existing legioned Overlords both "The X"/the End become souls making them perfect resources for Wyvern and Burnout so theoretically: 

1 - Ride "The X" -1, legion > get Overlord card +1 (0) and do your thing, use their effects etc to have an Overlord in the drop zone to make Burnout live. First legion. (-1 for your opponent, if you used Burnout its a technical +1)

2 - This time ideally you want Wyvern or Burnout in your hand > Ride "The X" over existing legioned vanguard -1 (remember you +1 from the first legion, so the -1 for riding becomes 0) > play Wyvern, soul blast the Overlords for the cost, +1 > legion, get Overlord card +1. Second legion. (overall you inherently gained an extra 2 cards over your opponent or just 1 if you didn't use Burnout's effect at all)

3 - Repeat step 2. What happens is every time you legion you'll net a +1 or +2 card advantage, so after about 3 legions (common number of times) you can gain up to a 6 card advantage equivalent to proc'ing a draw trigger 6 times. Whenever you legion, return either: your triggers (criticals and heals ideally), Overlords, Wyverns, Burnouts or sentinels. This will allow you to keep repeating the process, if you're able to control this well you will essentially never deck out and eventually have a deck full of triggers and Overlords to proc effects.

My deck is heavily based on this theory trying to deck out my opponent or just living long enough so that they no longer have the resources to continue striding/making power plays while I can still make mine. 

The theory sounds good on paper but actually legion decks are generally pretty bad right now, they're just slow in a meta heavily dominated by early game rush and mid-game power plays which is why this deck also plays strides and multiple early game cards. 

It's pretty obvious but the skill they all have in common is retiring a unit on the field, mainly used to recover control of the game and slowing things down (anti-rush) so you don't get smacked to 4-5 damage so quickly as well as give you time to fill the drop zone for legion'ing. 

Combined with Sadegh's effect, Gattling Claws, Burnouts, Neoflames and Beserk Dragons are essentially counter blast (x amount) and/or soul charge (x amount) to retire 2 units, making it probably the most valuable card here as it can force your opponent to lose key cards such as their starter (strong combo pieces in some decks), Tidal Assaults, Swordmys, on-hit effect rear guards etc. 

Lava Flow guarantee's you to not ride the End because it's the worst thing to ride in this deck; no stride effects, can become stuck in soul, and worst case scenario if they ever get damaged, you can no longer use the End's restanding effect or legion. So other than being a stride fodder he can make your Burnouts live early by discarding an Overlord, give you a proper G3 to ride, keep an Overlord card in your deck and in general just increase deck consistency.

At glance it might seem this lineup is very counter blast heavy especially the Beserk Dragons and that is somewhat true but between Protect Orbs and lots of drive checks (triple drive, restanding vanguard etc) proc'ing heal triggers; it is manageable, people who are able to plan ahead and make good decisions in the early game will have no problems; this deck shines the most in the mid-late game. Which brings me to the mid-late game...

To get there your main tools beside your G2s are striding, Bellog and hitting draw+heal triggers (this becomes easier after you stride/legion as you can consistently get 4 drive checks). 

Draw triggers are live throughout the whole game and their purpose is obviously...net you card advantage giving you more cards to guard with to fill drop zone and a higher chance of getting your combo pieces (Overlords, Wyverns, Burnouts etc.). The trade off with 6 draws is less crits making your multi-attacks less threatening earlier in the game; thus I make sure to prioritize returning critical triggers back in the deck when legion'ing.  

Bellog is the only GB effect card in the deck and for good reason; 

[AUTO] Generation Break 1 (This ability is active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):When this unit is placed on (GC), choose one of your vanguards, and until end of that battle, that unit gets "[AUTO](VC):At the end of the battle this unit was attacked, if the attack did not hit during that battle, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards at [Rest], and retire it.".

GB cards are just slow, they are vanillas before striding so for the minimum first 3 turns you are playing cards with no effects. But I chose to play because he does what all the other control cards do essentially for free during your opponent's turn at GB1. There aren't many cards that can disrupt your opponent during their turn which is why Bellog is so strong particularly against decks such as Aqua Force and Gear Chronicles he can completely ruin a combo play by retiring a wave enabler or time-leap target.  

Striding is another option for this deck usually accessed when you can't legion or simply because one of your strides are better for the situation for example Root Flare, Mustafa and Mahmud give more retiring options and guaranteed 3 drive checks (maybe you want to hit those draw+heal triggers?). There are 2 ways to use "the Ace"; 

1 - If you took a lot of damage early and you have 4 counter blasts to use; he can be a first stride by paying the cost twice which is why I run 3 copies. This guarantees 4 drive checks giving you a higher chance to hit heal triggers and a chance to stay in the game longer.

2 - As he stands no matter what (as long as you can pay the cost...) he's the strongest game ender Kagero players will probably ever need.

If you're looking for a deck that hits massive numbers, crits for days or can just ends games in an instant, this isn't the deck. Games with this deck can last a whole hour long; this was really common back when this was one of the best decks G-BT01. However if you want a deck that annoys and pressures your opponent to death, play this, it's a ton of fun!

Note* - All images and card effects were taken from cardfight.wikia.com