Vanguard Team League 2018: Stark Gate

Hey guys, what's up. I know I kinda stopped with the whole BT COTD round-up, and I do apologize for that, but I had other things going on IRL as well as school to worry about so I didn't have enough time to really sit down and review anymore cards. I may review the set soon though, so look forward to that.

Anyway, today, I want to talk about my experience at Team League this year, my first ever one. It happened in Toronto, on March 24th (Yeah, I know, this is late). So without further ado, lets get to it.

I don't actually remember who my teams mates fought, so I can't comment much on that, so please keep that in mind.



Team Name: "Stark Gate"
Team Decks: "A" = Gallop, "B" = Deletors (Me), "C" = Victor
Team Record: 4-3
Personal Record: 5-2
Deck List:

Round 1

For the first round, I fought What'sAKagero.dek and won pretty damn quickly. I was playing Deletors so it made some sense, but the opponent really didn't have such good luck and I pulled off Givun and well, yeah, the game ended right there, especially when he was on G2, so no worry from Denial.

1-0 (Personal Record)
1-0 (Team Record)

Round 2

This was certainly an interesting match. The girl I was fighting seemed a bit new, but still had me on the ropes. In most of my games, I was usually the first person to finish on my team, but this match went into time, believe it or not.

Stopping Z's free stride and spin ability was a great asset every turn, but the deck could still make a lot of advantage, so I had to play somewhat conservatively, only calling down what was necessary and not doing the whole Givun combo. Surprisingly enough, she never used Heritage on me, or Dust, so I'm thankful for that.

What was great was that on her first turn during time, I had enough to guard, but not enough to stride, so I over-guarded the last attack, to where I had no cards in hand, and was able to use this, the only time he really came in handy.

2-0 (Personal Record)
2-0 (Team Record)

Round 3

Yes, I fought back-to-back ZTB, except this one ended in 3 turns. I believe I critted him on my first VG swing (iirc), so he was already at high damage, by the time I rode G3 first, I just givun'd him and won it there.

Not much else to say, I got kinda lucky with my opening hand.

3-0 (Personal Record)
3-0 (Team Record)

Round 4

4th round was actually against a friend's team. The only opposing team from someone I know. It was...a complete massacre. I wasn't really knowledgeable about Brave so it came as a complete surprise and got completely rushed, so I wasn't able to build my pieces unfortunately.

Was a complete loss (Damn you Brave!!!)

3-1 (Personal Record)
3-1 (Team Record)

Round 5

5th round was a match-up I was just waiting and dreading for. It was one I was prepared to fight against though, I just didn't want too.

Pretty much, he locked me down on his first stride turn and made Givun completely useless, but thanks to packing two Destiny guardian's, I was able to go on the offensive as well. On his final turn, he Deluged me, and almost killed me, but I somehow survived. After that, my entire board was locked and I had only a few cards in hand, so I knew I had to finish it here, but was debating, Integral (Yes, I ran him over Amnesty) or Stark.

Both had there justifications, but what tipped my choice was that my opponent was at 5 and I wasn't surviving another turn so I starked.

First attack - He PG's - Drove no trigger
Second attack - He goes one to pass with a bunch of cards - Drove no trigger
Third attack - Goes one to pass again with practically all of his hand - Drove check a stand

Yeah, that was the most intense match of the day, by far. Too bad my other 2 teammates lost that round.

4-1 (Personal record)
3-2 (Team record)

Round 6

Round 6, we had Victor. I had a good idea how this deck played, but it didn't really matter, my opponent had awful luck and I sacked to hell and back. I did my Givun combo and hit like a literal God and he hit absolutely nothing.

Was over before it even started. Shame too, he was a pretty cool dude, I hate winning like that, but we do take those.

5-1 (Personal Record)
4-2 (Team Record)

Round 7

This asshole again (Not the player, the deck) was my round 7 opponent. I thought to myself, well, at least I have some info on the match-up, it won't end up the same right?

RIGHT?????

Yeah, no. Complete and utter destruction on my end. GG, I'm not living. I'll be honest though, I don't exactly remember how that match went, as I was already dead tired at that point, hungry as all hell and its been a month since, but all I do remember was getting my ass handed on a silver platter.

And that's all she wrote.

5-2 (Personal Record)
4-3 (Team Record)

Stark Gate lives on

Overall, I had a really fun time, and while I will always have a pure hatred for Brave, I'm satisfied at how I piloted Deletors through out the day and had a lot of fun doing so. I was originally gonna take Messiah's, but I feel that Deletors were the better choice, and I don't think I was mistaken in thinking that.

There was about 100 teams and we made top 25 iirc, so that's not too shabby. Also, to everyone who read through, thank you.

Until next time, my friends.