Hello, back again with my G-BT13 with my next clan in the set! Last time, I said I was going to focus on Aqua Force, and, true to my word, I’ll be talking about the various things that Aqua Force will probably get, and some things that they may need to improve their various options.

Unlike Tachikaze, I don’t have as much experience in playing Aqua Force myself. The most experience I had was playing the trial deck in the Cardfight!! Online beta (RIP), but I’ve had experience playing against various Thavas decks at locals, as well as my brother who used to play Ripples. As a Nova Grappler main, I have a lot of respect for Aqua Force with their early game rush, restanding units, and attack patterns; so I wanted to at least try and understand a bit more about what the clan has and needs before this article. If there’s anything I didn’t cover, feel free to share your opinions with me and tell me why I’m wrong.

But anyway, let’s hop right into it!

Reprints/Reissues

If the Revival Collection can do it, perhaps this set can too.

Aqua Force has quite a lot of options of cards they can bring back as a reprint, there are very few that are likely to come back. Storm Dominator came back recently in G-BT09, as well as Glory Maelstrom. Depending on the set’s contents, I could see them bring back something along the lines of Anger Boil Dragon or Tetra Boil if Blue Waves are main theme (which I’ll get to that in a little bit). Other than that, there are two options they can potentially go for, as they have been reprinted before in English but not so much in Japan; Tidal Assault and Marine General of Heavenly Silk, Lambros.

Tidal Assault could easily fit into the reprints while Lambros would have to be a reissue, but given that Bushiroad was willing to reprint them in English, they have slightly better odds than cards that weren’t reprinted. Not great odds, but still possible as it has been done before with Aurageyser Dragon and Chaos Breaker Dragon.

Thavas/Wave Support

It’s a pretty safe bet that we will have support for Thavas and Wave this set. As for Wave….yea, it needs some work. Wave is meant to basically just do what Aqua Force normally does; sequence your attacks in a specific order to get full value of your attack pattern. However, while this was supposed to be utilized properly, it came to be far more restrictive than it should’ve been. Wave cards are tied to a specific attack, or in few cases, the first two attacks, so they aren’t really utilized as much as they were meant to be. Very lackluster compared to what could’ve been. Ironically, the least restrictive Wave option that Aqua Force has is their GB8, Last Twister Dragon; which is thought to be one of the most lackluster GB8’s in the Fighter’s Collection. The quality of the mechanic is why people joke that Aqua Force’s clan mechanic is Resist.

Speaking of resist…

They deserve better, and much like how Bushiroad threw Vanquisher a bone in G-BT12, they’ll need to do something similar to Thavas this set.

Thavas 2.0

This seems to be pretty much a lock in this set, given past trends of this era. Out of all the clans in Vanguard, only Aqua Force, Angel Feather, Spike Brothers, and Megacolony are without a second grade 3 for their boss. Even Claret Sword has one now. So it’s safe to assume we will get one for Thavas himself. Rarity-wise, it’ll depend on the rest of the Aqua Force support, but likely RR-RRR.

As for what he will do I have a few theories of what direction they can go with him, but what stands out most is that whatever he has, he’ll have Wave in some aspect. If anything, it’ll be at least a rear-guard skill, which could at least increase his value to the deck if he does anything remotely worthwhile. If it’s a Vanguard skill, it has to either be usable on rear-guard too, or be some sort of defensive skill.

His On-Stride, this time around will need to actually do something worthwhile. Perhaps it can help the deck set up it’s board to be able to set off a strong turn, or maybe protect units during your first few attacks to ensure you’ll have certain waves active. Whatever it is, it needs to do something actually relevant to your game plan, instead of a retire of basically your opponent’s choice.

As long as it is better than Old Thavas, it can be used to replace him and used in conjuction with something like Skyros.

Thavas Stride 3.0?/G-Zone

As various other bosses are on their third stride now, it’s possible that Thavas will get his third stride this set. Even if it isn’t him, it’ll definitely be a Wave-based stride, and RRR. Aqua Force has had enough GR’s in their last few appearances so won’t have that this time.

I’ll argue this time it’ll be an ACT Flip Skill, with an additional GB3 (not GB4) skill. The first skill needs to be good enough to justify using as a first stride, as they really only have one option as a first stride right now. It should be able to at least allow for you to set up your combos, much like the grade 3 should.

The GB3, on the other hand will probably be focused on the Vanguard itself. If I was a betting man, it’ll probably have something to do with an extra drive check somewhere. On my wheel of Boss Stride Generic Skills, quad drive, or extra drive checks, is the one that Aqua Force hasn’t touched on yet. It may not necessarily be a Quad Drive, but maybe something along the lines of a Rear-Guard drive check, as it’s a mainly rear-guard focused deck. Personally, I would prefer that over a Quad Drive, which has been used a bit too often lately.

Another main issue in the G-Zone for Thavas is their lack of a viable G-Guardian. Sure, the G-Guardian they got from the Fighter’s Collection was actually pretty good, but it is GB1, requires a flip, and well…needs you to have rear-guards to protect. If your opponent can wipe your board before their attack, it’s pretty much pointless. Aqua Force need something generic enough to be useful but not restricted by the Wave mechanic. Perhaps it gets an increased shield value per attack your opponent declares? Can get some good numbers against more aggressive decks.

Wave Support

This is the part where it really needs to be good. As I said earlier, the vast majority of the Wave cards are very restrictive, and if they were a little bit more open-ended (or did more), they could do wonders for the deck. Out of all the decks I’ve seen, most Thavas decks nowadays only use 1-3 Wave Units mainly; Mitros (the starter), Melania, and Skyros (technically speaking). Melania’s main benefit is the ability to draw cards, get power, a lesser restrictive Wave (3+ compared to only 3), and the fact she has resist. Skyros is only used because well…Front Row resist. Doesn’t even care about the on-ride wave skill much. Regardless of the quality of these options, the lack of quantity of quality wave units is the most troubling.

For any future Wave support this set, they could focus on 3 points to make them viable enough to use;

Lesser restrictive waves, such as Melania’s wave or something like 1st Wave or 4th or more (all in one, not seperate). Allows for changing attack patterns and using multiple copies of an attacker with little issue.

Relevant skills such as draw advantage, restands, restricting guards/protection (to a minor degree), etc. In conjunction with less restrictive waves, having a relevant skill to gain some sort of advantage is important.

Increased Power-ups. No, I’m not talking about Nova Grappler-esque power, that’s a bit too much, but something to be able to hit numbers more efficiently. One defensive trigger is easily able to cause any battle formation to tickle right now, so something like a grade two that can hit for 16k unboosted at a higher wave is a start.

As for an example, how about something like this;

(Grade 2/Aqua Force/????/Power 9000/Shield 5000)

[CONT](RC) GB1: During the battle that this unit is boosted by a unit with the Wave ability, this unit cannot be chosen by the effects of your opponent’s cards.

[AUTO](RC) 1/TURN GB1: Wave – 1st time or 4th time or more (This ability is active during the specified battles of each turn): [CB1 & SB1] At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a Vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, stand this unit and it gets Power+2000 until end of turn. If it is the 4th battle or more of that turn, this unit gets Power+5000 until end of turn.

Simple enough, restandable on first attack for a minor bonus, but if restood later, a bigger bonus. If you have to swing with it early to set up, a boost allows for it to be not touched by things like Denial Griffin, allowing you to fight a bit better against clans like Kagero or Narukami. This allows for you to hit higher attack numbers and use any relevant skills. Short, Sweet, Simple (yes I know it’s GB restricted, but this design can’t have everything).

Also, as a side note, a recyclable Wave PG that isn’t Blue Storm restricted would be very useful for the deck too, as more PG options are better these days.

Right now, the grade 1-2 line-ups for Aqua Force are tight and they need some real winners to justify replacing staple units. If they can make Wave units that can do just that, then Aqua Force and Thavas will be in a fantastic spot. Maybe not top tier again, but as close as they can possibly get to their former glory.

The Subclans

As of right now, Aqua Force is divided 3 major subclans; Blue Wave, Blue Storm, and Ripples (and yes, I’ll discuss Ripples a little too). In the clan’s last appearance of G-BT09, they added some basic support Blue Wave support of varying grades, as well as 2 Blue Storm G-Units (the G-Guardian was Blue Storm). No Ripples came to be from that set, and probably for good reason after their last showing.

It’s no surprise that we will get a subclan support, but where can we go? I’ll go from most likely to least likely.

Blue Wave

Blue Wave is basically the “new” baby of the Aqua Force subclans. It is also a subclan used by a supporting character in the anime, who could appear for all we know, so it has some potential to return. Speaking of potential, that’s exactly what this subclan has; potential. It has a strong early game, which is something that Thavas himself lacks, but is still lacking that little push in the mid-late game to make it even better.

Obviously they have the focus grade 3 and stride with Anger-Boil/Tetra-Boil combo, but another decent stride option can add variety to the mix. Also, a minor thing they can do is make some of the triggers this set Blue Wave in name. They don’t need skills, but this would allow for a more dedicated build and be able to use certain counterblast costs (Ok, maybe just Lucianos, but they can make more probably). Other than that, some more strong grade 1-2 units to bring the deck home would be nice.

Of the 3 subclans, this will be the most likely to return with a solid 8/10.

Blue Storm

Ooh Maelstrom, what has become of you these days? Honestly right now, the most lackluster of the modern Aqua Force builds right now, but that’s also because of lack of good support lately. The most they got right now is a combo between Despina and either Glory Maelstrom or Wailing Thavas to prevent guards from hand, but as dangerous as that is, G-Guardians kinda make that null and void these days sadly unless you get Thavas up to a huge number.



The names a bit fitting, given it’s current state.

If Maelstrom (or Blue Storm) is to get support this set, they need something good to shake things up. A Stride Based grade 3 would be a start with all the Maelstrom strides out right now. Something to work with Admiral or Disaster, and potentially anything in the future. Blue Storm has a lot of tools at their disposal but not a lot of outlets in this modern day meta.

I would probably give the likelihood of support for Blue Storm a 5/10, with probably only 1-4 cards max. Tis a shame.

Ripples

This is where it gets a bit tricky. Ripples have not seen support since the clan booster, and that is for good reason ( besides not enough room in G-BT09 ). This is because Bushiroad accidentally broke the game with them. It got to a point where not only did they have to restrict one of their combo pieces, but they had to create Sebreeze as an answer to the problem. Ripple Grade 2 rush is still very dangerous in the right hands, which is why I feel as though they haven’t gotten support.

If by any chance they are to make new Ripples, it would have to be something similar to recent Seven Seas support; restricted to grade 3 or greater. In this case, I would guess something along the lines of “If you have two or more cards with “Ripple” in its original card name on your (VC), <effect>.” So it would work with stride turns and with the Ripple Legion. The last thing Bushiroad would want to do is break Ripples again, but they wouldn’t want to make it completely subpar either.



Perhaps he would actually be usable? We may never know.

I would max the appearance of Ripple support at a potential 3/10 likelihood. Not impossible, but more so improbable. Given their lack of appearance last time though, they could easily come with some new material though, so who knows?

Summary/Conclusion

I don’t have any obscure wishes this time around, as I’m not necessarily an Aqua Force player. Right now, they need to focus on the main support before treading new waters. But to summarize;

New Thavas Grade 3 and possible Grade 4 (with added drive check somewhere?)

Either Blue-Wave Reissues or Reissues of Revival Collection stuff (Lambros/Tidal)

Better Wave units needed and likely possible

Blue Wave most likely subclan choice

Blue Storm and Ripples less likely, but still possible to an extent

If Ripples reappear, would be less early game and more late game

Aqua Force was once a dominating meta clan, and even though it still has its strong points, is a shadow of its former self. It’s mechanic is way too restrictive as it is right now, but with the right amount of tinkering and leeway, can be usable. Much like Tachikaze, it needs something good now especially with all the defensive options this meta will likely have.

Next time, I’ll focus on a clan that recently got some good support, but will likely get some more love this time around; I’m of course, talking about Kagero, aka Overlord and Friends! Until then though, lemme know what you think about where Aqua Force will be headed this coming set. Until next time!

–Dax