I Want to Talk About Cardfight! Vanguard.

Notes: I am not going to talk about how Vanguard is played, this is just a retelling of a story on how I ended up playing Vanguard and the first ever (this is a lie) deck that I have for the game.

The title says it all. I want to talk about Cardfight! Vanguard (the card game, not the anime). So let us start with a little history of my experience with trading card game in general, then about my experience renewal with Vanguard,

How it Started

I started playing card game way back when I was in 4th or 5th grade of primary school. Back when I was in Surabaya. It is driven by curiosity as I usually went to this mall in Surabaya every month or so to get my hair cut (yeah, I go to a mall just to get a haircut, I know it is weird, but back then my parent insist on doing so because I think they didn't trust the local barber). There is this hobby shop in that mall that sells card game like Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, and of course Cardfight! Vanguard that was pretty new back then. I always have this curiosity toward that store with their promotional banner and such, showing cool looking art of the cards. Plus, the place always filled with people that seems to be having so much fun. I always wanted to go there and see what is it all about, but never have the courage to say it to my parent.

But, one time, when I go to that mall, instead of going to a console rental (I usually play on a rental spot while waiting for my siblings to get their hair cut too), my curiosity finally reach its peak and I ended up going to that hobby store to see what is it all about. I ask my parent to bought my first starter deck there and even learn how to play the game from the owner and the people who were there. My younger brother even jump on the bandwagon with me. However, my fixation with Vanguard only last for less than a month before I fell in love with Magic: The Gathering instead.

I forgot whether it is in the same mall or a different mall, but there is another hobby shop where I got my MTG card from. I also bought a starter deck and learn how to play it. Maybe because back then I wasn't as much as a weaboo (I see anime as merely another form of entertainment and I have no interest in the Japanese otaku culture, yet), so looking at MTG card attracts me more than Vanguard (despite Vanguard art attract me first, yeah I am a bit weird). The art on the card reflect cool looking fantasy world drawn in a more realist way, instead of the anime style that is shown in Vanguard. Back then, that sort of realism art attract me more it seems than anime despite the anime art looks cooler in term of pose and composition, and so I completely ditch Vanguard and played MTG quite intensively, mostly Modern and Legacy format.

It goes on until early middle school and I completely stop at high school as I go back to Jakarta. Mainly because malls are no longer a stone throw away from my home in Jakarta and I didn't have the social capability to search for local game store. I completely stray away from playing any kind of TCG as I mature and started to have a different goal of becoming a programmer (It is a story in itself for another time).

Reason Why I Play it Again

So, how did I ended up in this rabbit hole again? Well... it is driven by boredom, depression, lack of social interaction, and lack of social acceptance. Although, me being a an extreme degenerate weaboo does also contribute to me starting to play Vanguard again. 

A university friend of mine plays Vanguard and my bigger brother play Yu-Gi-Oh intensively. At first I turn a blind eye as most of the time in my early university year, I always have something to do. And also the fact that I got into Gundam and Plamo (Plastic Model) in general at the start of my university years, which is also an expensive hobby, therefor it is impossible for me to manage 2 expensive hobby anyway.

But as years pass by, I got... bored. Plus, the fact that the burden of expectation that I put into myself started to eat me away and causes me a great depression. I plunge into a deep abyss that I created myself and I desperately want to crawl my self out of it. I need something to do, a social activity that allows me to at the very least ease the abyss that rotting my mental health.

The though of going into TCG again came up in my mind. Although, I got into Gundam and Plamo customizing at first, but the lack of physical social interaction still make me as depressed as ever. I wanted to go into the TCG route because I finally see some of the reason why people play TCG from the first place. The social interaction, meeting with other player, fighting other player, etc. I envy my bigger brother who plays Yu-Gi-Oh and my friend who plays Vanguard because they have something to look out for every week and they are never short of physical social interaction as playing these TCG already allows them to connect with people. I envy them so much.

So, about a month ago more or less (if my memory didn't fail me), I follow my friend to a local game store where he usually plays (the store owned by other friends is also a factor) and ended up re-learning Vanguard (as they have a format change, like there is so many new things happening). I chooses Vanguard because of course, most of my friends plays it, but the other reason is because: 

1. I don't like Yu-Gi-Oh by default

2. I didn't see any MTG group around Jogja

3. I don't really like One Piece (oh my god, controversial opinion, I know) and it reflect to my disinterest for its card game despite it being extremely popular.

4. I am not interested in playing Pokemon as TCG (I rather collect the card)

5. I didn't see anyone playing Weiss Schwarz in Indonesia in general and I also prefer collecting the card instead of playing it.

And so, after re-learning Vanguard, I wanted to play it. I asked my friends about budget deck and how the deck is played and also asked for some recommendation of decks withing my budget and my preferences, but I ended up falling in love at first sight with a deck of the Stoichea nation (and actually, there is one other deck from Lyrical Monasterio nation that I really wanted too, but that is going to be a story for another time) with the main card called "Lianorn"

My First Deck

A.K.A the start of my rant on the pricing of the glorified cardboard.

My first ever deck that I got after getting back into the game is a deck called "Lianorn". It came from Stoichea nation and the only reason I get this deck is because the art on one of its higher rarity version for the main card looks cool as hell and I wanted it. I was told the gist of how the deck is played from the Vanguard Jogja community member, but at first most of it just went over my head as I just wanted the cool looking card.

The whole deck cost me a fortune. My friends already said that the deck is a competitive meta deck and it will be expensive, but I underestimated the price of this cardboard with cool art. I spend 25000 yen for the core of the deck and spend an upward of 1 million or more rupiah to fully kit the deck, and even after all of that money spent, my friends says that it is still missing some nicer effect cards that turns out to cost me my liver if I wanted to buy a playset of it. The card is not really necessary, but its existence in the deck will help me win more apparently. I want to rant about the pricing of these glorified cardboard, but it will become the topic for another post.

My "First" Experience With The Game

I played Vanguard in the same store as my friends. I have only played 4 times with the deck but it already bring me more joy than playing the abundant Steam library backlog and playing my Gacha Games. The game itself is fun, playing against other people is fun. I only experience loses in the times I play with my deck, but that make want to play again. The deck I have is very fun to play too, with huge potential damage play that make my neuron go batshit insane (haha, see big number, monkey get excited). I wanted to learn the deck more and maybe experience winning for once. 

Playing Vanguard also ease up a bit of my depression. I was able to talk (in physical condition) to other people about the game and various stuff. I go out more often now and my brain is actually being used again because playing this card game require you think. Not to mention that my Lianorn deck is in full Japanese that require me to memorize the effect of each card. Though, it does make me more productive than ever before. Like I made a spreadsheet and word document with the translated effect, I watch people play the deck, I research the card that I can add or substitute to deck, and so fort.

I can really see again why people like playing TCG in general. The social interaction and gathering, the strategy and your resilience being tested, and the in-depth research done to be better and to improve is all fun to do, very fun. It makes me happy, I got to learn new things, and make me truly experience what previously only shown to me through text and theory in game design. Playing the game not only help me heal myself, but also expand my knowledges, more importantly on games design (my journey to become a game developer will be another story entirely).

What's Next?

So, what's next?

Simple. I am going to keep on playing. Even by the time I am writing this, I already planning ahead on what deck I want to play next. It is going to make a dent in my finance, but I feel like it will be worth it, just like before when I am into Gundam and Plamo. I also interested in other TCG and even wanted to go back to MTG too. But that is going to be for later. By the time I graduated from university, I will have the time explore all of them. For now, I am going to play Vanguard.

Yogyakarta, September 3rd 2024

Yours Truly, Rxdsavt