Cardfight Vanguard Deck Tech: Chronojet Stride

By Serena L.

Stand up! Vanguard!

It’s Serena, back with another Cardfight Vanguard deck tech! This time, I’d like to focus on the deck that’s taking control of the meta in Japan that recently released here as well. I’m talking about the Chronojet Stride Deck Set! This product reintroduces the Stride mechanic from the G anime into Overdress’s D format. The Deck Set itself contains all the basics you need for the strategy, but there are some powerful upgrades to made. We’re going to focus on more of a budget approach in this article.

Our Ride Line is the one that’s included in the Deck Set. The grade 0 Chrono Dran, who has the standard effect of a D starter. Next, the grade 1, Masergear Dragon, who when Riden over Chrono Dran draws you a card and gives you the Chronojet Dragon Crest. Our grade 2 is Smokegear Dragon, when ridden on by our main grade 3, Chronojet Dragon, lets you Soulblast 1 to search for a grade 3 unit and add it to your hand! The Chronojet Dragon we find here is actually a reprint, but not of a card we’ve had before in D Format! It does the exact same thing as the original Chronojet, and you can use the original and the one from this preconstructed deck interchangeably! Now, with Chronojet, if you have 2 or more faceup cards in your G-Zone or on your Vanguard Circle (which is called Generation Break 2) and Chronojet is attacking a Vanguard, he gets 5k power and blocks your opponent from calling grade 1 or greater cards from hand to guard. That means no pesky PGs! That’s not all though, as when you Stride with him, you can Counterblast 1 and put one of your opponent’s rearguards to the bottom of the deck.

The Chronojet Dragon Crest isn’t a card in your deck, but has a lot of power behind it! The Crest is what gives you the ability to Stride, but it locks you into only riding grade 3s with Chronojet in their names. You can still ride into grade 2s too! The Crest also grants your front-row rearguards a 5k boost for every face-up card in the G-Zone if your vanguard is a grade 3 or higher Chronojet!

OK, so now on to our grade 0s, notably our trigger lineup! We’re playing a 8 crit, 3 front lineup, with the standard 4 Heals. Many people prefer to play Rouse Wildmaster, Riley, the effect Draw Trigger, but it is getting hard to find, so instead we’re playing 3 copies of Diabolos Girls, Natalia as our front triggers. Both Riley and Natalia’s extra effects grant them extra shield, but Nat’s more budget friendly, even if she isn’t drawing you a card. Other than that, any Dark States critical triggers and heal triggers you want to run will do. The precon itself does provide 4 of each non-effect trigger. Personally, I will be using Diabolas Girls, Maimai and Diabolas Girls Arianna. Rounding out my triggers are Connected Rampage, Clenn and Hades Dragon Deity of Resentment, Gallmageheld, a critical trigger and the Dark States Overtrigger, respectfully.

Our grade 1s is where most of our budgeting options will be. First, we have our sentinels, which the precon provides, giving us four copies of Steam Maiden, Arlim, who in Overdress works the same as the normal booster set sentinels! This is great for a budget, meaning unlike other preconstructed Vanguard Overdress decks, we don’t need to worry too much about upgrading them! In for our grade 1 normal units, we have 4 Steam Scara, Gigi, one of the cards included in the precon. She says when she’s placed on rear while you have the Chronojet Crest, you can Soulblast 2 to draw a card, and if she’s placed by an effect, she gets a 5k boost until the end of turn. Now, here’s where some of our more budget choices come in. I have 2 copies each of Diabolos Girls, Belinda and Direful Doll, Kjerstin. Kjerstin lets us Counterblast 2 to draw a card if our vanguard is grade 3, and Belinda lets us Soulcharge once at the start of our main phase if our vanguard is grade 3 or greater. Her Final Rush ability doesn’t do anything sadly, so she’s just here for budget Soulcharging.

Our grade 2s are going to start with Upstream Dragon, another precon card, who’s ability requires GB1 and gains 5k if he attacks the vanguard. Then, at the end of the battle, he goes to the bottom of your deck and tags into a grade 1 (like, say, Gigi?) then calls it to your back row. 4 copies of Amazement Magician will help keep soul around, because when she attacks, you simple Soulcharge 1. Lastly we have 3 Indicate Arrow Dragon. When you place on rear, you reveal the top card of your deck, and if nothing in your soul shares a name with it, you Soulcharge 1.

For grade 3s, we have extra copies of Chronojet, which, as a reminder, cannot Persona Ride, but can be discarded to pay Stride costs. I also use 4 copies of Steam Fighter, Balih, who, with GB2, gets 10k power if something is put on the bottom of the deck, and when discarded for Stride cost, draws a card.

Now, we’ve talked a lot about ‘Striding’ and ‘G-Units’ and such, so a quick rundown. After you ride during your ride phase, if both players are on grade 3 or higher (or if you started the turn with a grade 3 vanguard) you can Stride. After paying the costs, which by default is sending cards from your hard to drop totaling at least grade 3, you place a face-down G-unit from your G-zone over your vanguard face-up. This is different from riding, as your old vanguard becomes a ‘heart card’. The G-Unit that is now your Vanguard gains the original name and power of the heart card, adding it to its own. So our Chronojet Dragon Strides into Chronodragon Nextage, giving Nextage both names and a total power of 28k (13k from Chronojet, plus its own 15k base). Then at the end of turn, you put the G-Unit back into the G-zone, face up.

Speaking of G-Units, we have access to two. The aforementioned Nextage, who wants you to use a ‘Chronojet’ grade 3 as its stride cost, has a GB2 ability that at the end of a battle it attacks a vanguard, you can CB1 and discard 2 cards to put Nextage into your G-Zone and restand you Chronojet Vanguard. The other is Interdimensional Dragon, Faterider Dragon, who has the standard Stride cost Also, when it attacks, you can CB 1, turn a card in the G-Zone face-up and put one of year rears on the bottom of the deck to call something with1 grade higher than what you put on the bottom. Then you give one of your units +5k for each face-up G-Unit you have! We have 4 of each of Nextage and Faterider.

Finally, let’s talk upgrades. The elephants in the room are Brainwash Swirler, who at the time of writing is roughly $50 a copy, and Falcate Performer, which is 30$ a copy. Both are very powerful cards, Falcate letting you put things from drop to soul, and Swirler not only Soulcharging, but also giving out +5k power for each card you Soulcharge. I’ve seen lists with one or both, but this list is based on a deck that won in Sapporo without either. Instead, it ran 4 copies of Steam Battler Gungram, a grade 1 who when placed on rear Soulchanges, then lets you Soulblast 3 to draw a card. The last major upgrade you might already have if you bought one of the Willdress Trial decks. Those decks included a promo, Elementaria Sactitude. Sanctitude is very strong in this current format, exactly because of Chronojet, as it lets you play without paying its cost if your opponent’s vanguard has Triple Drive (which all grade 4s, including the G-Units, have). This would be replacing an Arlim. I plan on replacing the Belindas and Kjerstins with Gungrams myself as well.

As always, you can find the decklist here on the official decklog. I hope you found this enlightening or useful, and may your opponent never sac you! See ya next time!