Vanquish Soul
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Vanquish Soul (
Etymology[edit]
The name of the theme is likely in reference to how a fighting game introduces their opponents to the player as especially seen through the "VS" abbreviation on the cards in Japanese meant to refer to the word "versus".
Design[edit]
The "Vanquish Soul" archetype shares many general aesthetics with those found in various popular fighting game franchises; such as Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. The archetype's monsters especially have designs that match the common character tropes rosters of this genre of games from monsters like "Vanquish Soul Razen" sharing common design elements with that of the standard Fighting Game Protagonist character to "Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger" being similar to the design of large grappler characters and the archetype's main boss monster, "Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius", taking ideas from the final boss of a fighting game. "Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius" heavily resembles Yuuki Terumi (specifically Susanoo), the main antagonist of BlazBlue.
This influence can also be seen in the way the effects are formatted. The way many members of the archetype Special Summon themselves by returning other members of the archetype to the hand can be seen as representing tagging out to an assist character (similar to the likes of Marvel vs. Capcom or Dead or Alive). The way each member has different effects depending on the quantity of Attributes revealed in the hand can be seen as representing different button inputs.
Additionally, their Spell/Trap cards such as "Vanquish Soul Dust Devil" and "Vanquish Soul Calamity Caesar" can be seen as either special moves or "Super Moves/Hyper Combos" of their featured monsters, where the user performs an especially powerful attack or technique to provide immense utility and power in a given situation, as well as put the opponent in an easy position to further the player's onslaught.
Playing style[edit]
"Vanquish Soul" revolves around the shared ability to, as a Quick Effect, reveal monsters from the hand in order to activate a variety of effects depending on the revealed monster's Attribute. The deck generally plays a control/midrange strategy, aiming to generate card advantage on both players' turns to outgrind the opponent.
All "Vanquish Soul" monsters are EARTH, FIRE, or DARK. Each monster has an effect related to summoning; either the monster searches on summon, or the monster can conditionally Special Summon itself from the hand, for some as a Quick Effect.
Each monster also has a Quick Effect activated by revealing EARTH, FIRE, and/or DARK monster(s) in the hand, with a choice between two options: a typically weaker effect requiring revealing 1 monster with the same Attribute as the "Vanquish Soul" itself, and a typically stronger effect requiring revealing multiple monsters of certain Attribute combinations.
| Vanquish Soul | Reveal | Effect 1 | Reveal | Effect 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Razen | 
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Gain effect destruction protection | + 
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Destroy monsters in column |
| Pantera | 
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Gain battle destruction protection | +
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Destroy Spell/Traps in column |
| Heavy Borger |
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Draw 1 card | +
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Burn for 1500 |
| Dr. Mad Love |
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Give -500 ATK/DEF to enemy monster | +
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Bounce lowest DEF monster |
| Pluton HG |
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Gain 3000 DEF | +
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Gain 3000 ATK |
| Caesar Valius |
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Gain protection against activated effects | + +
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Destroy 1 card |
| Jiaolong |
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Change 1 monster's battle position | +
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Search 1 "Vanquish Soul" card |
Because of these varied Quick Effects, the Deck can easily play on both players turns, producing varied disruptions or card advantage generation, as long as the player has the requisite monster Attributes in the hand.
Between their summon-related and reveal-based effects, "Razen", "Dr. Mad Love", "Jiaolong", and "Heavy Borger" are the Deck's main advantage generators, with the former two also having removal effects.
"Heavy Borger" and "Caesar Valius" are the Deck's main boss monsters, able to Special Summon themselves by returning a "Vanquish Soul" that isn't the same Type as them to the hand, and having advantage generating or removal effects.
The deck's supporting Link Monster, "Rock of the Vanquisher", acts as a de facto Field Spell; it has no combat effects itself, but provides a small degree of battle protection and a two-choice Quick Effect to either Special Summon a "Vanquish Soul" monster from hand or add one to the hand from the GY, enabling "Vanquish Soul" on-summon effects or resource cycling.
The theme is further supported through various Spell Cards and Trap Cards that offer extra consistency and bonus disruptions for the opponent to face.
Due to the theme's main playstyle of revealing monsters of various attributes to activate their effects, the theme generally requires a critical mass of EARTH, FIRE, or DARK monsters in the deck; hand traps of these Attributes can provide a flexible way to fill this quota, such as "Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring", "Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion" and "Maxx "C"" (in the OCG), and "D.D. Crow".
Recommended cards[edit]
Weaknesses[edit]
- Because "Vanquish Soul" Deck relies heavily on making several searches within a turn, anti-search cards such as "Droll & Lock Bird" and "Thunder King Rai-Oh" can hinders the Deck's consistency.
- Since all "Vanquish Soul" monsters require the player to reveal a card in their hand to use the effect, "Respect Play" and "Ceremonial Bell" can shut down any of these effects, as player would be forced to reveal their entire hand and unable to fulfil the activation condition.
