General Strategy: What to attack with first when your opponent is at 5 damage?

When it comes to Cardfight Vanguard, even small decisions can change the course of the game. In this article, we will explore the possibilities of what you can use to attack with first when your opponent is at 5 damage and almost on the brink of losing the game.

The first question to ask yourself is: what is your deck's trigger lineup? If your deck contains Stand Triggers, the intuitive decision would be to attack with one rear-guard lane first, before the vanguard lane attacks. This is so that in the event that you drive check a Stand Trigger, you are able to stand the front row rear-guard that you had previously attacked with to gain an extra attack. The confusing part comes if your deck does not contain Stand Triggers (or, after some hard work of counting your own triggers, you reached the conclusion that your deck does not contain any more Stand Triggers for your drive check).

Let us analyse the guard requirements for the following situations, assuming you have 2 functional rear-guard lanes and each generating an attack that requires a 10k shield to guard.

SCENARIO 1: Both Guard 10

A: No triggers after drive check

It would not matter if you attack with rear-guard first or vanguard first. The amount of shields dropped by the opponent will still be the same.

B: One trigger after drive check

The attack order still would not matter. The guard requirement is Guard 10 and Guard 15 regardless of the attack order.

C: Two triggers after drive check

Here's where the difference starts to show. If you had attacked with one rear-guard first, you would be forced to pass all trigger effects to the remaining rear-guard, resulting in Guard 10 and Guard 20. This means that the opponent needs to drop a minimum of 3 cards to guard your rear-guard attacks.

However, if you were to attack using your vanguard first, you can assign the trigger power bonus between your two rear-guard lanes, resulting in two Guard 15 lanes. This means that the opponent needs to drop a minimum of 4 cards to guard your rear-guard attacks, and hence this move is a better one.

D: More than two triggers after drive check

If you were to attack with one rear-guard first, once again you would have to pass all trigger effects to the remaining rear-guard, which could allow the opponent to easily survive by dropping a Perfect Guard to that high-power rear-guard.

Attacking with your vanguard first would allow you to split the trigger power and minimise the negative impact of your opponent having a Perfect Guard in his hand.

Conclusion: If both your rear-guard lanes are Guard 10, attack with vanguard first.

SCENARIO 2: One lane is Guard 10, and the other lane is already Guard 15 inherently (before assigning trigger power!)

A: Attack with the Guard 10 lane first

Following our previous analysis, any trigger power bonuses you get will all be assigned to the last rear-guard lane, which allows the opponent to easily Perfect Guard the attack.

B: Attack with vanguard first

This is where it gets a little iffy. Now, let us assume that the opponent does not have sufficient shield in his hand to guard all your attacks this turn. His logical decision would be to no guard your strongest attack, which most likely is the vanguard attack. If you attack with your vanguard first, he will immediately declare a no guard. Assuming you did not check a critical trigger, or any triggers for that matter, but your opponent pulled off a 6th damage heal, your two rear-guard lanes would have turned from Guard 10/Guard 15 into Guard 5/Guard 10, further enhancing your opponent's ability to survive this turn.

C: Attack with the Guard 15 lane first

Assuming the same situation as case 2B, your opponent will have to drop a 15k shield first, before declaring a no guard to your vanguard attack. If he heals and you didn't check any triggers, your remaining rear-guard lane will be worth a Guard 5. Overall, your two rear-guard lanes turned from Guard 10/Guard 15 into Guard 5/Guard 15, and as a result, your opponent would have dropped one more card than case 2B.

Conclusion: If one rear-guard lane is Guard 10, and the other rear-guard lane is Guard 15, attack with the Guard 15 lane first, followed by the vanguard.

OTHER SCENARIOS: It is possible to have many other attacking powers for your rear-guard lanes, but you can still apply similar principles to help you decide which to use for your first attack. Remember to try to cause your opponent to drop as many cards from his hand as possible to guard your attacks!

Alright, that's all for this strategy review article. Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment if you have any queries or doubts. (: