Thursday, April 25, 2013

News: Blaster Dark Revenger's Skills Revealed

This morning the latest issue of KeroKero Ace hit Japan, and among the previews for the DAIGO Special Set and Fighter's Collection 2013 was an ad for TD10: Purgatory Revenger with the long awaited skills of Blaster Dark Revenger enclosed. Two years ago, Blaster Dark's original incarnation in BT04: Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows was the first Shadow Paladin to ever be shown to the public, and his Revenger print follows suit.

(Imposed text; "Blessed are those who receive the light. Shadow has but one way it must go.")

Blaster Dark Revenger
Grade 2/Power 9000/Shield 5000
Shadow Paladin/Human/United Sanctuary
AUTO [Counter Blast (2)]: When this unit is placed on V or R, if you have a vanguard with "Revenger" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards in the front row, and retire it.

On June 22nd, this will be the first pure Shadow Paladin unit to be released in twelve months. Although a copy of Blade Liberator, Dark Revenger is a marked improvement over his original incarnation as a consistent access point toward field control. The unit is not the "ultimate" Blaster Dark that some were hoping for, however; one of the defining features of the original was his vanguard defense, as he was the first grade 2 to get +1000 additional power when a specific grade 1 was in the soul, which allowed Shadow Paladin cardfighters to completely stop an attack from Blaster Blade and prevent Wingal Brave's skill from going off. The Revengers are interacting with both their Gold and Royal counterparts differently, right from the first card printed. Counterblast is also not as freely available for the Shadow Paladins as it is for the Gold Paladins, as Macha, Nemain, Vaha, Phantom Blaster and Ildona take up the entire damage zone many times over on their own. Dark Revenger's playability will ultimately be determined by the unique abilities of the remaining Revenger subgroup cards.

Among the other cards previewed in KKA are several special prints for FC2013; the original Blaster Dark and the SP print Itou Akira artwork of Phantom Blaster Dragon will both be reprinted with commemorative gold lettering over the illustration.