Alright, as attention-grabbing and over-the-top as the title is, its exactly how I feel about the format now and I'll explain exactly, and with a moderate amount of detail (If it was an excessive amount, this blog would be far too long, and I want this post out before the 1-2 punch of Xenoblade Wave 4 and Tears of The Kingdom come out) as to why that is.
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| The three year filler arc |
Like with my previous in-depth article discussing why I heavily dislike Standard (Something that has improved, somewhat, since the time I've made that article), I'll be cutting this blog into different chapters, so head on over to which section you're more interested in reading about.....or read the whole thing, that's an option too!
To at least paint some level of positivity on V before I go ahead and excruciatingly demolish it, I'll just start off with some benefits the format has
Some Positives
- Its very cheap to play. Most decks shouldn't cost nearly the same as standard decks, which is nice for people on a tight budget, even for meta decks.
- Retains true clan aesthetic identity. Perhaps not too important for many, but I know some people enjoy having a deck fully to there own favorite clan's aesthetic.
- No overtrigger which is arguably the best reason for this format existing (More on this later).
Okay, with that out of the way and as a certain Persona 5 character would say, time for a bloodbath.
- Balancing is a Nightmare
- Two Day Event, Three formats
- No Overtrigger, so what?
- Card Collection Value
- New Cards? What new cards?
Balancing is a nightmare
Lets be perfectly honest here, Bushiroad really doesn't have a history of having formats being perfectly balanced. No card game does this perfectly. That saying, when looking at Vanguard's history of balancing, other than Premium (Which, even though the meta's have been horrendous) at least can have some answers to those issues thanks to the advent of an extra deck mechanic, 12+ years of cards and actual generic cray elementals that V doesn't have in any meaningful degree.
V on the other hand? I can't remember a time in this format's history where it hasn't been a "Go first and get a sizeable advantage over your opponent" and the card pool is so small and insignificant that you really don't have tech cards that can assist with an issue like that, unless Bushi creates them....which they're not (This is another issue I'll touch on later).
If people remember the insanity that was the 2020 meta-game and how insane power-creep became at that point, and with how V plays, they would know that there really wasn't much you could theoretically do. Your clan just does its shit, there really isn't any major interaction that the opponent can do to stop your plays and you just go off and either kill or be killed.
Then, you add in how insane imaginary gift's are. I don't like Persona Ride and think its far too swingy, but it isn't as overbearing as spamming the ever living hell out of marker generation (Although, D set 10 is starting on that pathway of making Persona Ride overbearing). I truly believe, conceptually, multiple markers a turn can be acceptable, but not in the way Bushi has designed the cards around it. If Luard/Ange/Thavas/Any other G3 only gained those extra markers for the turn, I feel it would be better than what we currently have, though, not nearly a solution to the mess that it is in currently.
Even worse, I quite frankly do not think there is a solution to this issue V finds itself in, balance wise. Bushi would need to essentially gut 2020 decks considering, even in 2023, most of the best deck(s) of the format are still going to be 2020 decks. They either gut them all or create things that're stronger than the current top tier, which is what happened (Whether intentionally or not) with Steam Maiden's. The end result was a catastrophe.
I can go on and on about how Bushi could kill Luard, which makes Ange/Leopald/Thavas the best decks, or kill Luard and Ange/Leopald/Thavas which just makes "X"(Not Overlord X) best deck, but at that point, this section would never end. Either the 2020 decks all get eradicated, or you attempt another Steam Maiden, which, even if all the clans received support to that degree, would only exacerbate the going first issue and the major power-creep issue V has without a defense power-creep alongside it. This just feels like a lose-lose situation, unless, somehow, new support comes out that's pretty even across the board (Doubtful) along with a -major- going 2nd defensive mechanic (Also incredibly doubtful).
Always keep in mind that three format's is always harder to balance than two. This is also Bushi we're talking about, so them having to only balance two would be a much easier thing for them which also free's up space to better design and fix issue's that both D and P clearly have.
Two day events, three formats
I remember a time when we had two days events for one format. I even remember when even with two formats, each format had there own separate day so that people have the opportunity to play both. Now, since Overdress started, IRL events participants have had to choose with format they'd want to join during day one. Whether that was D/P or D/V, that decision unfortunately had to be made, which resulted in whichever format that shared event space with D to be relegated as "That other format". Not necessarily a good thing to be labelled as if you ask me.
Gutting V would also allow -all- players to be able to play both other formats without making a decision on which to play day one. The only benefit with three formats over two is that if two have god awful meta's, you can have that lone "healthy" one, but that's betting on the fact the two other format's are in the trash heap competitively, while also ignoring the fact that two format's would be easier to balance than three, especially for a company like Bushiroad.
Finally, as we've been seeing lately with events like BSF San Gabriel, its honestly quite sad to see only 10 teams for V. Do keep in mind this is definitely due in part of that current meta during that time, but it also shows that people are just tired of V (A specific reason I will touch on later on).
Bonus point is that during BSF's/BCS's, we theoretically could see the return to competent side events again to help take up that allotted space that second format took up. Probably not, but it would be nice.
No overtrigger, so what?
Okay, drop your pitchforks. I am in no way defending the arguably worst mechanic ever designed in this Messiah-forsaken game. I fucking hate the OT immensely, shit needs to be banned, burned and buried 12ft under the ground we walk on.
What I mean by this title is that people will use this argument (Even I did as well) to say why V needs to stay. One one hand, I understand the hatred and contempt for the OT 100%, and I understand why people would enjoy playing without the worry about it, however, if the OT not existing in this format is your biggest reason to keep this format around, that says just as much about V as it does about the OT.
This line is not a positive for V, in any way, shape or form. It is fully negative towards D and P. V isn't doing anything to warrant it being a format worth keeping outside of decks being cheap (But that also means cards in general in V are worth very little), it just so happens to not have that one garbage mechanic.
An argument for keeping V around should be a positive benefit about V, not a negative about two other formats.
Card collection value
Remember when G era ended and people's collection's massively dropped in value? Nobody with a collection liked that.
Remember when V era ended as the main format and people's collection's dropped in value? People also didn't like that.
What do you think would happen if V ended as a format, in general? Some cards would certainly lose value. Some. Not all. You know why it wouldn't be nearly as bad? Because those V cards are more than playable in Premium. Premium is often called V+ for a reason. Your G era V deck would be more than fine in Premium. Your V boss unit from 2018/2019 that is probably not even worth anything right now, and probably bad in V anyway, can still be played in Premium. Casual premium is super fun.
Now imagine if Premium died as an official format, imagine how many years of cards would be rendered worthless? 2011->2018 + Premium Collections, all invalidated. That is certainly a sure fire way to get long-time players to outright quit.
A game like Vanguard needs an eternal format, regardless of how you feel about Premium now, or possibly in the future.
New cards, what new cards?
For the final point, and the main reason why I wanted to write this article, why the fuck is this format a thing when the amount of new cards each clan gets aren't even enough to wipe your own ass with?
2021 and 2022, when we had our collective two V Collections + promo, each clan received (Outside of Link Joker Glendios) a total of seven cards. That's all. Seven cards is already a paltry amount for people to keep a constant interest in a format, and yet, in 2023, that number is one.
Singular.
I legitimately want to ask Bushi how much crack cocaine they're smoking when they themselves believe that one, lone singular card per clan, is sustainable for people to keep interest in a format. That one lone card, no matter how strong they are is still only one card, and they're not even boss units, only support cards. If Bushi is too preoccupied with Standard to bother with V, just kill the format.
There's zero reason to keep around a format that each clan ends up receiving one card per year while also taking up company resources, event time/space and making it more challenging to easily find people to play against, hoping they play the same format as you. None. There is no legitimate argument someone can make that justifies this.
Side note before I end this portion, while 99% of cards in Standard aren't really used in Premium at a competitive level, that doesn't actively stop people from playing around with D cards/D decks in a more casual setting, something that can keep a format thriving from the casual side. People like new cards, people would prefer playable cards, but just new cards in general is still better than fucking one singular card.
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| Time to move on |
To finalize, while I understand there are people who indeed like V as a format, and in some cases, I do too, however, while I may believe both V and D have caused major issues to this game, D's issues are at least fixable to a certain degree, V's isn't. Its also at a place where the least amount of focus is being given to it, hardly any new cards, taking up event space and not even having any specific product for it being launched anytime soon (History Collection is mainly P focused, not V).
While V isn't in as bad a shape as something like Zero, which is dead now, I also feel the game, in the long-run, would be healthier if V wasn't around anymore.
- More time Bushi can put in to making D and P more satisfactory
- Players wouldn't have to choose between a format for two day events
- Easier for players to find someone locally to play an active format (V/P players hoping others are playing there format of choice)
- Card Collection won't completely be destroyed (It would with P)
- More than one P collection per year (Hopefully) which can still add in new G3's (Nostalgic G3's or what have you)
The only negative would be there wouldn't be a format without the OT.....unless these COKED UP BAT-SHIT DERANGED NUMBSKULLS CAN FUCKING BAN THIS UNHOLY NEVER-SHOULD-HAVE-BEEN-PRINTED PIECE OF CARDBOARD STRAIGHT FROM THE DEVIL'S RECTUM FROM PREMIUM ALREADY.
Anyway, if you read all of it, thank you very much. I appreciate it, even if you disagree. If you read parts of it, also thank you very much.
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