Guarding and Taking Damage

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Introduction
An aspect of the game, a decision if you will, that commonly gets overlooked in Cardfight!! Vanguard is the choice between guarding and taking damage. The point of the game after all, is to get your opponent to 6 damage before yourself. That means that every time you take a point of damage, you're one step closer to losing the game. But at what times is it appropriate to guard, and when is it best to let the attack through? In this article I hope to shed some light on the above questions, in hopes of making you, the reader, a better player.


Consequences of Guarding/Taking Damage
What are the pros and cons of each? Let's take a look:


Taking Damage
Pros: Costs no cards from your hand, allows for beneficial effects from damage checked triggers.
Cons: One step closer to losing.


Guarding
Pros: Stops you from taking damage (duh).
Cons: Costs cards from your hand, no beneficial effects from triggers.


So at first, the difference between the two should be common sense and really basic. However, when we get really down to it, an early game decision between guarding and no-guarding could cost you the game.


Early Game Gets the Worm
The early game is actually a lot more important than people think when it comes to guarding or not guarding. Decisions that you make at this point in the game can greatly affect your hand size later on. What I've noticed most people do is just take damage early. Players are generally more conservative at this stage in the game and don't wish to guard. However, this can come bite them later in the game.


While it's strongly dependent on your hand, by guarding early in the game, (5k for rearguard attacks, 10k for Vanguard attacks) you are then able to take Vanguard hits later in the game when your opponent gets Twin Drive, allowing you to get hand advantage while your opponent has to guard for a fear of a Critical trigger because you got them to 4 damage early in the game. By dropping that 5k or 10k shield in the early game (early game being defined as before either player rides to Grade 3) and preventing damage, you are allowing yourself to take damage in the late game, where 10k/15k shields would have been necessary.


A general rule of thumb should be to not take 4 damage before your opponent rides to Grade 3. Why 4 damage? Once at 4 damage, a player will try to block all Vanguard attacks in fear of a Critical trigger- while you at less than that can more safely take a Grade 3 Vanguard hit (unless you get double critical triggered, then that's not my fault) simply because you guarded for that 5k/10k in the early game. As such, your hand suffers less than your opponents, hopefully netting you the hand advantage going into the all-important late game.


Unfortunately, your ability to guard in the early game is heavily determined by your starting hand. If you have no triggers in hand, then there's not a lot you can do. But that being said, don't fret too much when you mull 2 cards and end up drawing back two other triggers, as they might just end up making the difference.


Common Sense
The following may be common sense to some, but I see many players misplaying like this:

• Let's imagine for a second that it's your opponent's turn and you're at 4 damage. Your Vanguard is 10k and you've guarded their Vanguard attack, so they've got their rearguards left.
• One rearguard column is attacking for 18k, and another is swinging for 20k. Since you're at 4 damage, you are willing to take an attack and guard the other.
• Your opponent attacks with their 18k rearguard column. You take that attack in hopes of getting a damage check trigger so the next attack is easier to guard.

NO. STOP RIGHT THERE. BAD. BAD READER. Even if you do get damage trigger, you would still need 10k shield to block the other attack. And if you don't? You would need 15k. Why risk it? Simply guard the 18k attack for 10k, and then take the other attack for a 5th damage. It's the same thing.


Like I said, to some this is common sense, but I bet more of you than not have done this yourselves.


Conclusion
Commonly overlooked, the correct decision making in the early game when it comes to guarding allows for a smoother and easier transition to the late game. Remember that this game rewards the aggressive player, either you force them to use cards from their hand, or you are closer to winning (which is why decks such as Spike Brothers are strictly balanced, ie. Imagine if Dudley Dan did not require a card to be added to the soul from the hand. There are plenty of Counterblast 2 effects that give +1's, but not in an aggressive way like Dudley Dan). Knowing when to take damage and guard is just one the of the aspects of the game that needs to be mastered in order to have as much of an edge over your opponent as possible.


HerO


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