History TabletopGame / CardfightVanguard

** Harmonics Messiah's BalanceBuff gives it three skills virtually identical to the {{Balance Buff}}s given to it in the mobile game ''Cardfight!! Vanguard ZERO'', although due to the differences between the two games, its third skill creates a Guardian Shield ticket for the player who goes ''second'', not first.[[note]]In ''ZERO'', the player going second had a major advantage due to being able to attack and Stride first, so the Heal Guardian was given to the player going first. In ''Vanguard's'' Premium format, however, the prevalence of Imaginary Gifts gives the player going first the advantage since they start accumulating gifts sooner, and they can use ride-down measures to prevent the player who goes second from Striding first, so the Guardian Shield is given to the player going second.[[/note]]

* VanillaUnit: In the original version of the game, Units (cards) of each rank have a maximum power stat, which is reduced accordingly depending on the Unit's skills. In other words, a Rank 2 Unit with no skills always has 10000 power, and Rank 2 units with skills can have 9000 at the highest. Basically, it boils down to UnskilledButStrong versus WeakButSkilled. Most clans have at least one Vanilla unit per Rank, but it's exceptionally rare to see Rank 3 Vanilla Units, and Rank 4 doesn't have any.
** In the V Series iteration of the game, Vanilla Units distinguish themselves from units with skills in other ways. One might have increased power but no shield (for example, a Rank 2 unit with 12000 power), increased shield but lowered power (a Rank 1 unit with 7000 power and 15000 shield, as opposed to the norm of 8000 power and 10000 shield), or even units with only 3000 power but start with 2 critical.

Additionally, when the Vanguard attacks or is hit, the game performs an additional trigger check (known respectively as "ride check" and "damage check"), where the top card from the deck is flipped up and its listed trigger effects would apply. A deck must contain exactly sixteen trigger cards, with a maximum limit of 4 heal trigger cards, which heal 1 damage when triggered, and 1 over trigger card, which grants an ''extremely'' powerful effect that varies by card.

* MythologyGag: Fittingly, the cards introduced with [=overDress=] seem to have playstyles and artwork that resemble the clans their respective nations used to have, with decks featured in the anime including Tomari's, which resembles Dimension Police, Zakusa's, which resembles Link Joker and Shinobu's, which resembles Dark Irregulars.

* VanillaUnit: In the original version of the game, Units (cards) of each rank have a maximum attack stat, which is reduced accordingly depending on the Unit's skills. In other words, a Rank 2 Unit with no skills always has an attack stat of 10000, and Rank 2 units with skills can have 9000 at the highest. Basically, it boils down to UnskilledButStrong versus WeakButSkilled. Most clans have at least one Vanilla unit per Rank, but it's exceptionally rare to see Rank 3 Vanilla Units, and Rank 4 doesn't have any.

* TimeSkip: There is a time skip of 3000 years in between the original and V series and the [=overDress=] series, where the political situation on Cray has dramatically shifted.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The game includes a large roster of characters within its Cray setting, divided across six nations and dozens of clans within each nation.

Additionally, when the Vanguard attacks or is hit, the game performs an additional trigger check (known respectively as "ride check" and "damage check"), where the top card from the deck is flipped up and its listed trigger effects would apply. A deck must contain exactly sixteen trigger cards and a maximum of four heal trigger cards (which heal 1 damage when triggered).

The playmat includes one Vanguard Circle where the player's Vanguard is placed, and five Rear-guard Circles where other units can be called. At the start of the game, a grade 0 unit is placed in the Vanguard Circle as the First Vanguard. At the start of every turn, the turn player can "Ride" a new Vanguard by placing a new unit with a grade one higher or equal to the current Vanguard on top of the current Vanguard. During the main phase, the turn player can call units onto the field with grades equal to or lower than the Vanguard, and use the abilities of the cards on the field. There are two common types of ability costs: Soul Blast, which requires sending a number of cards under the Vanguard to the drop zone to activate, and Counter Blast, which requires flipping a number of cards in the damage zone (placed face-up when the player is damaged; see below) face down.

The playmat includes one Vanguard Circle where the player's Vanguard is placed, and five Rear-guard Circles where other units can be called. At the start of the game, a grade 0 unit is placed in the Vanguard Circle as the First Vanguard. At the start of every turn, the turn player can "Ride" a new Vanguard by placing a new unit with a grade one higher or equal to the current Vanguard on top of the current Vanguard. During the main phase, the turn player can call units onto the field with grades equal to or lower than the Vanguard, and use the abilities of the cards on the field.

The ''Cardfight!! Vanguard'' card game was "rebooted" twice alongside the ''Anime/CardfightVanguardVSeries'' anime reboot and the ''Anime/CardfightVanguardOverDress'' anime soft reboot. Cards would either have a D icon, a V icon, or no icon on their bottom left corner next to the card ID. Each time the card game was rebooted, all the cards from before the reboot would be shelved into a separate format, and a new format exclusively using the post-reboot cards would be created. Currently, there are three formats: a D Standard, a V Standard, and a Premium Standard where all cards can be used.

The ''Cardfight!! Vanguard'' card game was "rebooted" twice alongside the ''Anime/CardfightVanguardVSeries'' anime reboot and the ''Anime/CardfightVanguardOverDress'' anime soft reboot. Cards would either a D icon, a V icon, or no icon on their bottom left corner next to the card ID. Each time the card game was rebooted, all the cards from before the reboot would be shelved into a separate format, and a new format exclusively using the post-reboot cards would be created. Currently, there are three formats: a D Standard, a V Standard, and a Premium Standard where all cards can be used.

The rough premise of the game is that all the cards in the game are set on the planet of Cray, and the two players are astral spirits who call upon these fighters from Cray to battle for them. Most[[labelnote:*]]It used to be that ''all'' cards in the game were Units, but a new card type known as Orders were introduced in 2020[[/labelnote]] of the cards in the game depict characters, monsters, and beings from Cray, and are known as Units. The act of placing them onto the field is known as Calling.

The rough premise of the game is that all the cards in the game are set on the planet of Cray, and the two players are astral spirits who call upon these fighters from Cray to battle for them. Most[[labelnote:*]]It used to be that ''all'' cards in the CFV are Units, but a new card type known as Orders were introduced in 2020[[/labelnote]] of the cards in the game depict characters, monsters, and beings from Cray, and are known as Units. The act of placing them onto the field is known as Calling.

The rough premise of the game is that all the cards in the game are set on the planet of Cray, and the two players are astral spirits who call upon these fighters from Cray to battle for them. The vast majority of the cards in the game depict characters, monsters, beings, etc., and are known as Units. The act of placing them onto the field is known as Calling.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cfvg_card_7.jpg]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cfvg_card.jpg]]

Additionally, when the Vanguard attacks or is hit, the game performs an additional trigger check (known respectively as "ride check" and "damage check"), where the top card from the deck is flipped up and its listed trigger effects would apply. A deck must contain exactly sixteen trigger cards and a maximum of four heal trigger cards (which heal 1 damage when checked).

During the Battle Phase, the units on the front row (the vanguard and the two rear guards beside it) can attack the opponent's front row units. The power values of the battling cards are compared, with a whole host of effects and mechanics that augment them. If the attacker's power is greater or equal to the attacked unit's power, the attack is considerd to have hit. If the hit card was a rear guard, it's retired and removed from the field. If it was the vanguard, then one damage is dealt.

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cfvg_card.jpg]]

The storyline within the cards themselves is strongly integrated with the story of the [[Anime/CardfightVanguard Anime]] and the [[Franchise/CardfightVanguard Franchise]] at large. As such, additional info on the card stories can be found on these pages and their associated pages.

*

!! Tropes:

The rough premise of the game is that all the cards in the game are set on the planet of Cray, and the two players are astral spirits who call upon these fighters from Cray to battle for them.

The central gameplay involves placing cards onto the field, letting them battle the opponent's cards, and eventually defeat the opponent by dealing a total of six damage to a specific card on the field that represents the player. The vast majority of the cards are known as Units, and the act of placing them onto the field is known as Calling. The Units have two key values: a grade that determines if the card can be placed on the field, and a power value that determines their strength when battling other units.

The playmat includes seven key zones where Units are Called onto:
* One Vanguard Circle, where the Vanguard, the unit(s) that represent the player character is placed.
* Five Rear-guard Circles where other units are placed as rear guards.
* One Guardian Circle where guardians are placed to defend against an opponent's attack.

At the start of the game, a grade 0 unit is placed in the Vanguard Circle as the First Vanguard. At the start of every turn, the turn player can "Ride" a new Vanguard by placing a new unit with a grade one higher or equal to the current Vanguard on top of the current Vanguard. During the main phase, the turn player can call units onto the field with grades that are equal or less than the vanguard's grade, and use the abilities of the cards on the field.

During the Battle Phase, the units on the front row (the vanguard and the two rear guards beside it) can attack the opponent's front row units. The power values of the battling cards are compared, with a whole host of effects and mechanics that augment them. If the attacking unit's power is greater than or equal to the attacked unit's power, the attack is considerd to have hit. If the hit card was a rear guard, it's retired and removed from the field. If it was the vanguard, then one damage is dealt.