Certain abilities can only be used when your Vanguard is in Legion, and they have two different timings. Before I explain how Legion works, I will briefly explain how it governs other units. – Legion is an interesting mechanic which, in short, allows there to be two units on the Vanguard Circle. Many Clans now have support cards which allow Limit Break abilities to be used on three or less damage, allowing players to use these powerful abilities before taking significant damage. As these abilities can essentially only be used on the verge of defeat, they are usually stronger than similar skills. This is usually four damage ( ), but can be five damage ( ). Limit Break abilities are always restricted to the, and restrict the ability they govern to only being used after a certain amount of damage has been taken. – Limit Breaks are somewhat of an older mechanic, but one which is still seen in many decks today. Swords and Shields represent power and shield value, respectively.Ĭertain abilities are restricted to only being used at a certain point in the game, and they have special symbols which represent them: As always, Rested units cannot attack unless they are made to Stand by an effect. – Often seen as a cost, the Rest symbol tells you to Rest one of your units. – The Stand symbol shows that you may Stand one of your units, allowing it to attack again. Trigger effects are not activated at this time. To Soul Charge, you take x cards from the top of the deck and place them underneath the Vanguard. This is sometimes seen as a cost, but is more often part of an effect. – Soul Charging is the reverse of Soul Blasting. Without its opposite effect, most players will only have access to two or three Soul over the course of the game.

A Soul Blast is to take a card from the Soul and put it in the Drop Zone, and effects using this resource cannot be activated if there are not enough cards in the soul. – Soul Blasting is often seen as a cost for abilities, and uses the Soul (the stack of cards under the Vanguard) as its resource. This allows the player to re-use cards for Counter Blasts without taking additional damage.

This symbol has only recently begun to be used in the game, and previously has been represented by the phrase ‘choose a card from your Damage Zone, and turn it face up’. – Counter Charging is the reverse of Counter Blasting. Abilities with a Counter Blast cost cannot be used unless that many cards can be turned face-down. This limits abilities to being used only after the controller has taken enough damage, and effectively serves as a ‘comeback mechanic’. Most often seen as a cost to be paid, a Counter Blast is turning a face-up damage of the player’s choice in their Damage Zone face-down. – One of the most common symbols is Counter Blast. The following is a common list of symbols seen as costs and effects. For example, a card could read ‘ : ’, which allows for the card to be read easily and without confusion. This can be for the Vanguard Circle, for the Rearguard Circles, for the Guardian Circle, while other zones are usually put in brackets and followed by a colon, such as ‘:’.Ĭard costs and effects are easily distinguished by the fact that costs are put in brackets following the symbol which designates the zone in which it may be activated. These are often accompanied by a symbol to show where the cards may be activated. Continuous abilities are active on both players’ turns. For example, this can involve an increase to a units power provided a certain card is in the Soul. – Continuous abilities provide lasting benefits for as long as their conditions are fulfilled. Unless they have a ‘once per turn’ clause, these abilities can be used as many times as their event occurs. An example might be Battle Sister, Maple, who gains 3000 power when she attacks if her controller has four or more cards in hand. – Automatic abilities respond to a specific event, and can only be activated once each time that event occurs. Unless they have a ‘once per turn’ clause, these abilities can be used as many times as the player wishes, provided the cost can be paid, and can be used to create serious advantage for the player. When the player wishes to use the ability, they simply pay the cost and then resolve it. – Active skills can only be used in the Main Phase of the player’s own turn. We have already discussed the Grade abilities of Boost ( ), Intercept ( ) and Twin Drive ( ), so we will ignore these and move on to the other symbols!įirstly, there are three main types of abilities:

In Vanguard, many actions are shown by a visual shorthand. This article aims to discuss everything you need to know about how effects in Vanguard interact! Welcome back to our discussion of Vanguard rules! In this instalment, we will be explaining the various effects and their costs, and discussing the more complicated aspects of the game such as timing.

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