Vanguard Zero Guide: Tips & Cheats To Building Your First Deck

The new popular Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game has turned into a mobile game experience! Welcome to Vanguard Zero, the official adaptation of the latest card game franchise that is taking Japan by storm. Follow the tale of Aichi Sendou, a young boy who finds joy in “Blaster Blade,” a card game he was fond of as a child.

In our Vanguard Zero tips and tricks guide, we will go over the basics of battle and how to battle effectively. We will also go over tips of clearing the story mode and how to get new cards. Let’s get started with our Vanguard Zero cheats, tips and tricks strategy guide to building your first deck!

Winning Your First Match

Vanguard Zero very gently eases you into the experience with a lot of very easy battles. These battles help you understand the flow of battle and the mechanics you need to take into consideration as you card battle.

To win a Vanguard Zero match, you must take down your opponent’s Vanguard – their central, main card – several times to rack up enough damage. The first player to take too much damage loses, and the other player wins!

To do this, you must go through several phases. The first phase is the Ride phase, where you strengthen your Vanguard. You can only upgrade your Vanguard with cards that are a higher grade than it, and doing so replaces your current Vanguard and gives it more power.

The second phase is the Main phase, where you can start putting down cards. The back row is for reserved for grade 1 cards, while the two spots next to your Vanguard in the front row can hold grade 2 and higher cards. Here is where you can setup for your next attack!

The final phase is the Battle phase, and this is where you play out your attacks. Your front row cards can attack on their own, but you can use the rear cards to boost their attack power. You will need to do this if you are attacking a Vanguard, as their power will go up every time you attack.

If your power matches, you will still beat it the target card, but if you power is a little bit lower, the attack will fail. If you want to attack with all your might, you need to plan out the order of attacks and the boosting that will happen. Plan out your numbers, and you will be able to deal a lot of damage in a single turn!

Every time either character’s Vanguard loses a battle, they will take a damage point. Keep this up and you will eventually win! That is the basics to every battle in Vanguard Zero, but of course there is a lot more to it than just that.

Understanding Card Types

When you get through a few of the beginning grades, you will be able to create your own deck. Building your own deck and creating your strategy is probably the most important part of the process of becoming a better player, so make sure you understand the card types.

First off, you need to choose a starting faction, each represented by one of the characters you meet in the grade missions. This affects your starting Vanguard card and what kind of cards you can place in your deck. Remember that Cray Elemental cards can be put in any deck. For the most part you will have access to the majority of your cards.

Grade 0-1 cards are considered Boost cards. These cards will always go in the back row and as the name implies serve only to boost the front row cards. Some of the come with effects that occur when they are Rode on, otherwise known as the Forerunner skill. Study your cards and make sure you take advantage of these skills!

Grade 2 cards are considered Intercept cards. These cards have higher power than grade 0-1 cards, and they must go in the front row. When Intercept cards in play, they must be targeted and destroyed first before your Vanguard can be attacked, which makes them very important for protecting your Vanguard.

Grade 3 cards are the strongest cards with the highest power, and they also have a special ability. These cards are known as the Twin Drive cards, because when a grade 3 card is in play you will perform a Drive Check twice instead of once every time you perform an action!

Build a deck that plays to the strengths of the faction you have chosen.

Setting Triggers

Drive Checks occur whenever your Vanguard attacks. A Drive Check is pulling the top card from your deck and revealing it – if it has a Trigger attached to it, that Trigger will activate. Otherwise, nothing will happen and the revealed card will return to the bottom of your deck. Triggers can only be attached to grade 3 cards. There are four types of Triggers:

• Critical Triggers increase the attacking Vanguard’s critical by +1. They will also receive a temporary 5,000 power boost.
• Stand Triggers allow the player to choose a resting rear unit to “stand,” which makes them active again. The Vanguard will receive a 5,000 power boost.
• Draw Triggers allow the player to draw a card, and the Vanguard will receive a 5,000 power boost.
• Heal Triggers will take one card out of the Damage Zone and place it into the Drop Zone, but this cannot happen if you have less damage than your opponent. The 5,000 power boost will also occur.

Triggers require a little luck and some deck manipulation to take full advantage of, but mastering them will give you an edge over your opponent. Remember that there are also Damage Checks that occur whenever a card loses a battle. You can turn a losing battle around if you happen to pull a card with a Trigger during a Damage Check. Don’t give up!

Cards that let you peek into the top of your deck like the Royal Paladin Libergal are invaluable for taking advantage of Triggers. If you want to rely on Triggers a lot, these cards are practically required.

Increase Your Grade to Learn

Once you get into the game, you are still in a sort of tutorial phase. Most of the game’s options will not unlock until you complete the Ride missions, which are basically the game’s story missions. Each Ride mission teaches you about some new mechanic to watch out for.

Most importantly, completing the Ride missions is required for increasing your grade, which is basically your rank. The higher your grade is, the more things will unlock, so during the beginning stages of the game simply keep working on complete these missions. You will earn 10 gems for each mission completed, and completing all of them will grade you up.

Hit up the Gacha Shop

When you are getting close to Grade 10, you will start to notice an increase in difficulty. At the point, the game expects to you to fully grasp the basic mechanics, and now it is going to start throwing tougher opponents at you.

If you have not already, stop by the shop and start spending those tickets you got. Completing all the of tutorial grade missions will reward you with a ton of tickets to use in the gacha shop, so start pulling.

Your deck is filled with nothing but grade 0 faction cards and a bunch of differen Cray Elementals, so you need to start building your collection as soon as you can in order to stand a chance.

Craft Cards

Now that you have a few battles under your belt, you have probably amassed enough crafting materials to start making some cards. Once you have pulled a few times from the gacha shop, you can start looking around your collection to see what you have.

If you have cards that you fancy and want more of, try making some more copies. There are lots and lots of cards to choose from, so be sure to browse and take your time to think of potential strategies and synergy. Your deck is yours, so make it special!

That is, for now, our guide on Vanguard Zero and how to build decks. If you have any other tips to share, please let us know in the comments below.