New art of Glendios and Deletor support from Rondo of Chaos and Salvation

In my previous article, I speculated on little things as to what the Trial Deck could bring to the Messiah variant, and to Link Joker as a whole. This time, I’ll be discussing my impressions and what I expect (or want, mostly would want) from the Clan Booster.

I must also point out that I am in no way, shape or form a Link Joker expert. If there is something you feel like I missed on or am completely misinformed about, feel free to leave a comment so I know for future reference. Anyway, without further adieu….

Rondo of Chaos and Salvation

There isn’t too much known about this Clan Booster right now, but right now, we know there is 4 reprints in the set and 4 special reissues to go along with them. The main set reprints are:

While the special reissues (likely at RRR) are:

Of the reprints, Dark Metal Chameleon and Colony Maker are definitely A+ reprints that were in need, while all 4 of the Reissues (especially in Japan, who has had only one issuing of Chaos Breaker) are good decisions. For me, it is a bit sad to see a lack of reprints for cards like Big Crunch Dragon and Companion Star Star-Vader, Photon, but I’ll learn to make do without them for now.

It is also known in this set that not only will it support Messiahs and Chaos Breaker, but it will have Glendios support and Deletor support. As I went over Messiahs a good deal, I’ll focus more on generic support as well as the 3 other confirmed archetypes

Generic Support

As a whole, Link Joker is a bit odd in that it doesn’t focus too much on generic options. At the time of its release, subclans were the big thing and although it got a handful of generic support ( bring back Schwarzchild Dragon ), Star-Vaders were where it was at. In modern Link Joker, most of the generic support is meant to work mostly with Messiahs with the idea of locking/unlocking your own rear-guards. However, in all the generic support, there is one card that stands above all else.

That’s right, Nebula Dragon, Big Crunch Dragon. This beast here is a staple in basically any Link Joker deck’s G-Zone purely because of the sheer locking power it provides. The ability to Omega Lock an entire column for a counterblast, without even having to have a specific vanguard is too good to pass up. Sadly, he has only had one release and is not for the budget player. This is why, if anything from this Clan Booster, Bushiroad will need to…

Create a powerful G-unit that can be used in any Link Joker deck

Realistically, they will probably make it a Messiah Unit, but so long as its utility is broad enough for any Link Joker deck, then maybe it would be enough. Does it have to beat Big Crunch in strength? No. But does it have to be useful enough so that a budget player has an option if they can’t afford at least 2 Big Crunch? Absolutely.

In terms of generic units, Link Joker recently got another powerful option in their G-Zone in the form of Darkness that Lights Up Demise, Lacus Carina. This card (despite locking your own units) gives all Link Joker decks an option to lock cards on their opponent’s turn. Although it’s focused on back row, it is still a very dangerous card to be wary of. Still, they are missing something to lock a front row unit on the opponent’s turn. Will they get something like that this set? Honestly, if they get a G-Guardian…

Link Joker will get a disruptive G-Guard and/or a large shield one

First off, I don’t expect something like Denial Griffin. If Link Joker got a locking Denial Griffin, it would actually be very dangerous territory. I expect (if Link Joker gets something disruptive) something more like Narukami, locking only a rested unit after battle or something of your opponent’s choice. Depending on the number of G-Guardians that come in this set, if nothing is subclan restricted, I would expect a larger shielded one as well, if not instead of a disruptive one. I would not be surprised if there was a G-Guardian, if not in this set, but a future set, that came out with a skill similar to this:

AUTO: [CB1] When this unit is placed on (GC), you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets Shield+5000 for each of all fighter’s locked units until end of battle.

For some variants, this would be more than likely a 30-35k shield, while in something like Messiahs (or after a Lacus Carina) it can reach even higher numbers. Do I expect this exact card? Not at all, but it’s a jumping off point of what I want to believe in.

Chaos Breaker Dragon

Chaos, Chaos, Chaos. The card that turned Link Joker into the terrifying monster it was back in the Limit Break era. With the release of Chaos Universe, you became more powerful than ever, but…still seem to be missing something.

Given Chaos Breaker’s appearance in G Zeta and obvious importance, he will have the brunt of the Star-Vader support, giving him new tools and options to torture his opponents with. After talking to some people over at my locals, they expect one thing that I honestly don’t expect of this deck. In my opinion…

Chaos Breaker won’t get a new Grade 3 version

Some people will probably agree with me that Chaos Breaker Dragon is honestly the only grade 3 you need to be on when playing the deck. Any other Grade 3 is basically just for show. For me, when Star-Vader, Chaosbringer came out, that immediately became my second grade 3, purely because it got me to Chaos Breaker (and added one more to soul). So although I expect a third grade 3 with Chaos in its name, I expect it to play second fiddle to the big man himself. If he got a new grade 3, it better wow me and make me have a difficult choice in game.

Given the art shown, it’s basically a given we are at least getting a Chaos Stride, but as to what it can do, we don’t know. But if there is one thing that Chaos still needs that I want…

The New Chaos Stride has to be a finisher stride

Ok…maybe doesn’t HAVE to be, but it is something that Chaos will need. Right now, the match-up against Chaos is purely a war against time. Chaos Breaker doesn’t finish you, it just merely outlives you. It doesn’t have the kind of finishing blow that it needs to finish the job efficiently. Sure, with Lacus Carina you can potentially use Amnesty better for the crit (or use it for the mirror match) but that’s a very specific scenario.

I’m not saying that it needs something mindblowingly powerful. It’ll probably be revealed to have a very unique and scary sounding skill, but it should have something, even if it’s just something as simple as a critical attached to it. Just something to be able to push for game. Hell, it could lock guardians for all I care, so long as it gets the job done (yea, I have no idea how the hell that would work either).

“Omega” Glendios

Honestly, I really don’t know as much about Glendios as I should to know what the deck still wants or needs. Apparently it needs a stride or two though, or else Bushi wouldn’t announce support. Let’s just hope it’s good.

Obviously for this deck, they won’t release any new Reverse units…unless they are more like Reverse Cradle (being Link Joker instead of another clan) but will definitely get some grade 1-2 support. And even though it’s not directly related to Glendios ( except by maybe name )…

I expect some Star-Vader cards that can Omega Lock in some fashion

Also, water is wet. This may actually be my safest prediction yet though. Moving on….

Deletors

Deletors came to be in a very weird spot. They dropped with the ability to wipe your opponent’s vanguard literally just before Stride came out. Their main gimmick became almost pointless given your opponent can Stride and fix the damage. The Vanish Delete mechanic then came in their Comic Booster, and honestly is a mixed bag. Unlike Narukami, that can take advantage of the opponent’s number of bound cards, Deletors can’t nearly as efficiently do the same, nor do I think they will in the same fashion.

Believe me, I actually really loved the Deletor’s game plan. In my original variant of Messiah, I used the legion as my backup G3 to throw my opponent for a loop. They expected me to rush them with a stride turn, but instead get deleted and rushed. Given this soft spot I had for the mechanic, I want 2 things from the Deletors:

I want Deletors to get a Grade 3 Stride Boss

And

I want their Stride to be the spiritual successor of Oksizz

Of all these subclans, I feel Deletors can easily manage to find room for a stride boss. Would I expect something along the lines of deleting when you stride? Oh hell no. Honestly, I would be just fine with something like this for a stride skill:

AUTO: (VC) [CB1] During your turn, when your G-Unit with “Deletor” in its original card name Strides, you may pay the cost. If you do, your opponent choose one card from his or her drop zone and binds it face-down. Then, choose up to one of your vanguards, and it gets, “AUTO: (VC) Whenever your opponent’s vanguard becomes deleted, draw a card,” until end of turn. (vanish deletes)

This part isn’t nearly as likely as the second part. The main issue with Deletors is that when you delete the vanguard, your opponent still has ways to fix that issue for their turn. So realistically, there needs to be a consequence to whenever your opponent tries to weasel their way out of the deletion process. Even as something simple as having to discard extra cards to ride or stride would help a little bit, much like Daunting Deletor, Oksizz did. So whatever the stride is, I want it to tell your opponent that if they try to reset their vanguard, they need to pay a little more.

Although thinking about it, I feel like the grade 3 will just restrict striding a bit more as opposed to Oksizz restricting riding, rather than the grade 4 doing the heavy lifting, but that’s why I speculate. Regardless, they need something big.

Closing Comments

That took a bit longer than I expected to go over, but those are some of my predictions/suggestions/wishes or whatever you may call its. Next time I make a prediction/wishlist article, it will be more geared towards GBT-13, and I’ll go over each individual clan. You can expect a bit more knowledge specifically towards two of my main clans in that set; Spike Brothers and Tachikaze. But for now, thanks again for reading and until next time!

–Dax