Friday, August 22, 2014

News: Daunting Deleter Wokshyz and "Delete" Unveiled

デリートされたユニットは裏向きになり、パワ—が0でテキストを失う。持ち主のターンの終わりに表に戻る
"A Deleted Unit is flipped face-down, its Power becomes 0 and it loses all Text. At the end of its owner’s turn, it is flipped face-up."
The official Japanese portal updated early this morning with information on the upcoming mechanic introduced in VG-MTD01: Malefic Deleter, delete. Featuring the trial deck's cover unit Daunting Deleter Wokshyz as the card of the day, this unit is at present the only one capable of inflicting a delete. Wokshyz separates the cardfighter's astral body from their vanguard by deleting it, forcing the player to fight as themselves without their main unit to protect them. Fitting this idea, once deleted the vanguard turns face-down and has its power reduced to 0, reflecting the native weakness of the player's astral from. All of the vanguard's skills are removed, and if the vanguard is in a Legion then both halves of it will be affected. Like a locked card, the vanguard turns face-up at the end of its owner's turn.

The massive power reduction effectively strengthens the entire Deleter cardfighter's field by 11000 power and negates the effects of crossrides, while also decreasing the amount of shield they will need to spend on defending the next turn and preventing strong comebacks from limit break and Legion skills. However, because the vanguard retains its name, grade, clan, nation and critical it will still have twin drive if at grade 3, activate the rearguards' subclan-related skills and be able to deal damage if its attack goes through. That fighter's soul still remains a usable resource, and the delete can be partially bypassed by riding over the deleted unit, but if the deleted vanguard was a break ride then its limit break will not activate because it still deleted at the moment that it is ridden.

Wokshyz itself blocks the opponent from riding by taking a leaf from Dueling Dragon ZANBAKU and forcing them to discard a card at the beginning of their ride phase if their vanguard is already deleted; if they cannot discard a card or choose not to, then they cannot perform a normal ride. Wokshyz's delete is notably not a limit break or Legion skill, so it may be used regardless of conditions with only 3 damage, putting it in the same class of unit as the primary first season bosses. And while it is clearly one of the strongest cards in that classification, the skill is expensive;

Daunting Deleter, Wokshyz
Activate (Vanguard Circle): [Counter Blast 3 Cards with “Deleter” in their card name, Choose 1 of your Rearguards, place it in your Soul] Delete all of your opponent’s Vanguard, during this turn, this Unit gains Power +10000. (A Deleted Unit is flipped face-down, its Power becomes 0 and it loses all Text. At the end of its owner’s turn, it is flipped face-up.) 

Requiring three especial counterblasts for its main skill means that none of the pre-Malefic Deleter support is compatible with Wokshyz, forcing Link Joker cardfighters to find a fresh start in the trial deck and Neon Messiah booster set. As an offensive incarnation of Link Joker focused on dramatically weakening the opponent in order to strip them of their abilities just long enough to win the game, the deletion strategy stands in contrast to their past defensive play style. Accounting for those differences, delete can be expected to attract completely different kinds of cardfighters from lock.

MTD01: Malefic Deleter and MBT01: Neon Messiah are both due for September 24th release date in Japan, with a limited theatrical release on September 13th.