Card Review: Fighters Collection Winter 2015 Review Part 2

With most of the Fighters Collection 2015 Winter cards out, it is once again time to do a review on the cards that have been currently released. In my previous article, I did a review on some of the more promising card support for clans that have come out. This review will be more of a mixed bag and incorporate a much larger set of clans that are being supported for FC Winter.

First off, let's start with the GRs.

Climax Jewel knight Lord Evangeline has a lovely card art and a really strong effect for the Jewel Knights subclan. Although most Royal Paladins tend to put in some Jewel Knights cards into the deck, or even use Jewel Knights as their backbone, Evangeline is a card obviously intended to support a pure Jewel Knights deck. Evangeline's effect is as follows: 1/Turn, you may unflip a copy of itself in the G-Zone. If you have 3 or more Jewel Knights (an incredibly easy condition to meet) Rearguards, each of your Jewel Knights gain +3k for each face up Evangeline on your G-Zone. This is an incredibly strong card effect that makes each RG column an easy guard 15k, not to mention its potential combos with existing Jewel Knight units like Cymbeline on first stride. By 2nd stride, Evangeline gives each Jewel Knight unit on your RG circles +6k power, creating a min, of guard 20k per column, giving the Jewel Knights a formidable late game presence by GB2, Evangeline is a great addition to every Jewel Knights deck and coupled with Jewel Knights' early game presence, is exactly what the subclan needed to update itself in the meta.

Rating: 4/5

Bluish Flame True Liberator, Holy Flame is a unit designed to revive the Liberators subclan. As its name suggests, it helps the Bluish Flame deck along in situations where you failed to ride Prominence Glare, do not yet have 4 cards in the drop zone to perform legion, or you are not confident to discard a Bluish Flame card from your hand to kick off the Explosion Blue skill. Comparing this card to Cambell, which has been fulfilling this role of "emergency stride" thus far, Holy Flame is definitely a better choice since you do not need to hit the vanguard to activate the superior call skill. In other Liberator deck builds, you can use this card to achieve an early power-up of cards like Brennius and Brunos.

Rating 4/5

Have already discussed this card in an earlier  article. Overall its a great unit.

Rating: 4/5

Conquering Supreme Dragon, Dragonic Kaiser Warning is finally revealed. The most anticipated GR of the set, Narukami players had been waiting with bated breath for exactly what type of support would be given for the clan. This is a disappointment for me because my Vowing deck is still rotting in the dungeon and will continue to rot there for a good long while more. However, for Crimson/Vermilion players this is a great card. 1/Turn, you may unflip this unit from the G-Zone to gain the ability to battle the opponent whole front row in one attack. Furthermore, when this unit attack hit (not specified RG/VG), you may choose two of your other units and give them 5k power. The Crimson player can thus potentially power up his RG columns by 15k if the attack hits all of the opponent's front row units. This is an incredible level of power. However, since it is GB2, the effect is pretty slow to manifest itself and by then, the opponent could be at sufficiently high to necessitate a perfect guard. In other words, the power level returns to Conquest levels when two of the opponent RGs are destroyed. Still, this is a good addition to the Crimson/Vermilion's arsenal. If the opponent chooses not to call RGs, Conquest can still be stridden to punish the opponent. Overall, not a bad card.

Rating: 3.5/5

Ultimate Beast Deity,  Ethics Buster Catastrophe is a pretty good card that can be used on first stride. This unit gains the ability to stand one of your RG when any drive checks reveal a G1 or greater card with Beast Deity in its name, and if you have two or more face up cards with Catastrophe in your G-Zone, the unit that stands gain +3k power. In my opinion, this is a decent card. It reduces the reliance of the Nova Grappler on stand triggers and allows the player to run more critical triggers. Since 2/3 of the deck are composed of non-triggers (i.e. G1 or higher), it is quite likely that over the course of 3 drive checks, the Nova Grappler gets to stand 1 or 2 units, which further triggers native NG abilities like Riot Horn etc, to restand his columns. As this is still somewhat chance reliant, rather than a guaranteed stand like Ethics Buster, it may be a somewhat iffy card. Consistency is my main gripe here, even if more than half the deck can trigger this card's effect. The great thing about it though is that there isn't really a fail drive check.

Rating: 3/5

Some love for Dimensional Police! Daikaiser Leon basically gains the same effect characteristic of the Daikaiser archetype, being able to choose one of your opponent's guardians and nullify it when you drive check a G3. While still highly chance reliant, Leon gives you 3 opportunities to check a G3, and the new G2 support for Daikaisers basically makes it easier to fulfil the requirement and break through your opponent's guard. A pretty decent card.

Rating: 3/5

The hype when this card appeared was real. Chronoscommand Revolution is basically the evolved version of the first GR-Chronoscommand Dragon, focusing on its same mechanic of field wipe. At GB2, for the cost of 1 CB, Chronoscommand Revolution gives the ability to rewind both the opponent and the GC player's field, without needing to hit. However, if a face up copy of Chronoscommand Dragon is on the G-Zone, the GC player gets to keep 2 of his RG units. Chronoscommand Revolution works well in a Time Leap deck because a copy of Chronoscommand Dragon can be unflipped using Metallica and most Time Leap formations lead to a net 2 RGs on field at the end of the turn anyway. As a result, Rev can be used with little cost to the Time Leap player and allows him to field wipe the opponent field. This is a great card. If only Stun Beetle was like this....I am giving this a less than perfect rating due to the need to unflip Chronoscommand Dragon-its main drawback as a tech in is that it takes up considerable large G-Zone space.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pacifica GR was previously released as a promo, and took the Pacifica fans by storm. The Pacifica deck build of Bermuda Triangle features all three forms of grade 3 Pacificas, namely Top Idol Pacifica, Eternal Idol Pacifica, and Planet Idol Pacifica. Using a combination of skills, the three forms of Pacifica can be easily obtained to the hand to possibly achieve an autocrit on your first stride. However, the overall lack of consistency of these combos and the comparatively complicated advantage engine of the Pacifica deck limits its effectiveness in tournaments.

Rating: 3.5/5