The last set of the G-Series is upon us. While some might dismiss it due to that fact, it actually adds to the current and upcoming formats. Premium Format will be a thing. Thus, the most up-to-date cards will be from this set going into the V-Series shakeup. As such, there are a multitude of cards to consider from this set, though most of the interest will lie in the Crown Special Parallels, which continues the trend of alternate art Bermuda Triangle Units with legs instead of fish tails.
Indeed, the ZR in the set is a reprint of “Zeroth Dragon of Distant Sea, Megiddo”, but with mermaid themed art to match the set in which it is included. That aside, we will be examining the other cards in the set based on their effects rather than the art (which will already be coveted).
First will be a pair of “retrained” units, “Aurora Star, Coral” and “Velvet Voice, Raindear”. Coral deals with the Soul, specifically whether you have a certain number of units with Coral in their names. Continuously, she gets +2000 Power if you have 4 or more Corals in your Soul on Vanguard or Rearguard Circles. This actually makes Coral comparable to upcoming V-Series 13,000 Base Power G3 Units (and even more similar to older Crossride Units as well). She can add Soul (usually a Coral Unit to help its skills) with her “On Placement to Vanguard”/”On Striding a Coral” skill that draws you two cards and can boost your front row Rearguards by 5000 Power for every 2 Corals in your Soul. This can lead to some power columns that can force more cards from the opponent’s hand while you just drew more and increased your own advantage. A powerful combination, indeed.
The other retrained unit is “Velvet Voice, Raindear”. Essentially, it is a Critical Trigger for Raindear units at the cost of a discard when you “Drive Check” it. Her other skill turns all of your Grade 3 Drive Checks into +5000 Power boosts for every Rearguard when you have placed her on Vanguard or Strode over her. The key for this unit is that, at base, it increases the number of successful Trigger Checks your deck can make. It can definitely mess with card counts in tight games where both triggers and Grade 3 units need to be accounted for, and especially copies of this card.
Next up is “Chouchou Popular Favor, Tirua”, the Generation Rare in the set. Her first skill is arguably the better, as it gives all of your front row Chouchou units +5000 Power for each of your open Rearguard Circles. Ideally, that would be about 2-3 empty Rearguard Circles adding 10-15000 Power to each column. This skill can be aided by having a full field, and using the second skill, which returns up to 3 Rearguards to the deck, to restand Tirua if you sent 3 units back and giving her 2 fewer drive checks on the restand. However, she gains 15000 Power from this effect, barring any calling in the middle of the effect, which would lead to a 41000 Vanguard, or better depending on the Triple Drive’s checks. You could also have larger Rearguard attackers as well if you run stands or choose not to attack with one or both Rearguard columns.
The next set of cards will be a trio of Double Rare cards that work in tandem to make for some scary good defenses. First, “Transcend Idol, Aqua” which is essentially a Perfect Guard for the Soul, as the normally discarded card to activate the “cannot be hit” ability of most Perfect Guards puts that card into the soul (if run in Coral decks, it could add Coral units to the Soul to boost those effects). However, what really makes it interesting, if not good, is that you can run 6 of it in your deck.
While adding more 6000 Power boosters into your deck may not be a great thing, “Luxury Wave, Elly” helps make up for that with her skills. “Elly” is a G-Guardian that can be used like any other, but her first skill lets her Shield go up to crazy numbers. For every face up one of her in your G Zone or Sentinel in your Drop Zone, she gets +10,000 Shield. Combine that with the fact that you can run 6 Sentinels and her second ability that turns her face down after you Guard with her, you can essentially tank your opponent into long games.
But of course, you need Heal Triggers to G-Guard. While the restriction on heals remains, Bermuda Triangle gets a card that helps with that. “Attractive Glow, Sandy” acts as a Heal for the purposes of G-Guarding. Essentially, you can G-Guard up to 8 times in per Fight if things go right.
With all three cards, you can begin to see a very defensive Bermuda Triangle deck start to take shape, and any new cards will only help that once the V-Series begins to roll out. While it has not been announced what type of Gift Marker Bermuda Triangle will get, Protect would make these new cards into a more interesting defensive force than they already seem to be on paper. We look forward to what new things lie ahead, especially with the set releasing April 27th and the Sneak Peak only the weekend prior, April 20, 21, 22.