Nightrose Cardfight!! Vanguard Granblue DivineZ Encyclopedia(September 2024) ナイトローゼ カードファイト!! ヴァンガード
Introduction and History
Ever since her debut in G Trial Deck 08 Vampire Princess Of The Nether Hour, Nightrose revolutionized the Granblue clan by using the one thing no one can deny: hot asian vampire girl pirates. She has polarized not only users of the clan, but the entire community as a whole. A mainstay name in G, she has been brought into public attention for many reasons across the formats. These include but are not limited to the price tags of her decks, her competitive relevancy, her bullshit in Premium under the Beatrice stew, and her wide array of fanarts. In tri-regulation, she has become a great eyesore to the competitive community over her continued overusage in the different formats.
Fast forward to the news that I have been waiting for so long, my favorite girl is finally coming to DivineZ. From my experiences playing this deck across all formats(including Vanguard Zero) and then testing her in Standard across multiple deck building options, today I would like to share whatever I could muster and cope into an article, a…Granblue Encyclopaedia. Catered for today’s generation of Cardfight!! Vanguard players. It is my hope that I am able to educate both potential pilots of this intricate deck or people looking to take her down, a comprehensive look into the Nightrose deck(s) available in DivineZ upon release. You can also consider this as a sort of “beginner’s guide” to the broad strokes of the nation.
I understand that this article is in english and is very long, so there may be some difficulties in reading. Please use Google Translate if english is not your native language, and if my points are lost or unclear in translation, feel free to reach out to me directly for clarification. It is my sincere hope that this article can help you regardless of format or language.
Also, if this is your first time playing standard in 2024, please check out my DivineZ explained video…it may be a little bit outdated but tells you all about the ruling changes from 2023 to 2024, as well as an introduction on energy. In case you are wondering why the deck seems bigger, why is there a crest in my main deck etc…
The Stride Deckset
The Ride Deck
Undying Departed, Grenache is our standard D series starter. That is all. I prefer his G art though.
Parting Shade is also our standard D series Grade 1 for the Stride Decksets. It gives us a draw and the Nightrose Crest, which I will elaborate in this section.
Pirate Swordsman, Columbard is very interesting. When a G3 Nightrose is placed on top of him, for a soul blast, he can top 7 mill 1 add 1 to hand. This effect was much better than I anticipated! They gave Nightrose players a way to add cards to hand, and still get a nice mill at that. It isnt V Columbard, but I love this version too.
However, his RG skill of being a G2 hollow 15K beater leaves much to be desired. At least you can use this on turn 2 to push for numbers..? If anything, this is still a beatstick you will always have access to.
Last but not least, the star of our show is Vampire Princess Of Night Fog, Nightrose. This is the exact same card from GTD08, so she has already been talked about till death. I will summarize quickly what you need to know:
The Stride Skill brings 1 rear guard back from the drop zone with +2K power. You can time this anytime you wish in respect to any other skills that trigger “When your grade 4 vanguard is placed”.
The GB2 effect allows you to keep a rear guard that is retiring from the board to stay at a mill 3 cost. It can work in conjunction with hollow units to either keep them around for good or to refresh and reuse their hollow effects once again.
You can use the GB2 during your opponent’s turn.
The Nightrose Crest is standard +5K for every card face up in the generation zone. However, the Crest passive effect is that if you discard 3 cards from your vanguard’s ability, you may return one of them to the bottom of the deck. It helps in giving Nightrose players less worry in using a blind mill from the GB2 effect for example, but it is definitely not as profoundly strong as the Luard crest, which lets him keep playing the game with increasing critical chances. Certainly not as strong as the Harri crest, which gives a draw every stride turn. On another note, for the Nightrose players, do consider ways to shuffle the deck, so that the Crest returning the Overtrigger back to the deck would not feel wasted. (Personal experience too many times.)
The Main Deck
We start off with Nightstorm, who is our typical G3 RG in Stride Decksets(SDS). Draw one when used for cost for stride, and 23K beater with Hollow GB2. Nothing to explain here, its a mandatory part of the deckset’s number formation. If only he did more useful things like, I dunno, Manticore. But that would surely be asking for too much. #JusticeForGhastDragon.
Following that, Negrolazy is the most akin to his G series version. He can call one rear for 1 CB when hollow and if you have a Nightrose vanguard in the main phase. At the end of the turn when he retires, GB1 CC1 if you have not CCed this turn. Its very faithful, but it doesnt give any real advantage…and cannot be used for “G2 Gaming” (Playing without riding to G3). The CC was much needed, but requires him to stay around on the board till the end phase and is non-stackable (no interaction with Nightrose GB2). He can either refund his own cost, or can be used as a CC1 if you incorporate him into your attack lines(but he is just a 10K vanilla). The way it is worded also means it’s purely for board building in the main phase, and cannot contribute to multi attacks. Where will we get multi attacks from? ?
One of our newest members is Marauding Shade. They have the ability that hollow, if you have the Crest, this unit gets +5000 power until the end of that turn. If you have 10 or more cards in drop, it gets +10000 power instead of +5000 power. When this unit is put in GC, if you have the Crest, this unit gets +5000 shield during that turn. If you have 10 or more in drop, it's 10000 shield instead of +5000 shield. It is a good beatstick and shield even from G2 onwards as it only checks the crest. Counting the number of cards in drop means that the deck requires a route to mill and to accumulate drop zone is necessary in this deck. We will discuss more of it later.
However, do remember that for its offensive skill, since it is hollowed, it will die at the end of the turn. Therefore, the GB2 will come in handy.
Our iconic Tommy the Ghostie Brothers is back! These fellas have the exact same skill as every other stride fodder. Bonus points that it features Nightrose on the art, just like the V counterpart. Hooray!
Another returning cast member is Negrobone. Unlike Negrolazy, he is too far off either his V or G counterparts. At the end of the battle this unit that was placed from drop this turn boosted, if you have a "Vampire Princess of Night Fog, Nightrose" crest, COST [retire this unit], and draw a card. Basically, it is a Painkiller Angel/Varga Support, but can only be used if called from drop for a net 0 draw. It helps that the deckset has an innate way to draw. It may be a bit unwieldy to use, but we have cards in Stoichiea that can revive G1s from Turn 1 onwards that can support this card well (we will talk about them in the sections below). This card can synergise with Negrolazy too.
Cam the Ghostie is our second newest crewmate. It is nice to see that Ghosties have survived to the modern day. I wonder if the Ghosties would recognise Zorga, who was one of Nightmist’s deckhands. Anyways, his effect is that he's a hollow 13k body, which is good for numbers at the cost of dying at the end of the turn. When placed from hand, he can mill 1 from top 5 as long as you have the crest. Very similar to someone we will be going through shortly below.
Our perfect guard is Waterspout Djnn. Its really a “I'm Batman'' kind of thing, where I don't think I need to actually give an explanation on a perfect guard…right? (Dumjid Encyclopedia when)
The Generation Zone
The G-Zone uses two different strides.
Ghostie Great King, Obadiah is the first/regular stride for the deck. His effects allow us to mill 1 from the top 5, and call a card to rear. If it is a hollow unit, it gains 5. This is a great set up stride that is costless, early G-flip for crest, and encourages Hollow synergy. (Post-Writing note: the G-flip early does play into the DZBT05 Blitz Orders and G2s that check for a face up card in the Generation Zone. So, that’s something we should be aware of.)
However beyond that, this is by no means a killing stroke on the level of Fate Rider or Dragdriver. Something else is needed, that would be….
Mist Phantasm Pirate King, Nightrose is our Ultimate stride, persona stride, finisher, stride fusion, whatever term you wish. By using a Nightrose in hand as stride cost, a more devastating stride is unleashed. She can CB1 retire 2 of her own on attack, to summon 2 grade 2+ units with different names to rear guards. If 10+ in drop, +1 crit, and 15+, the called units gain 10. Its a good finisher stride, and if you can survive till turn 4+, can dish out a lot of damage. She does feel like a worse Bartholomew though.
Deck Building Options
There are many different ways to approach Nightrose in DivineZ. A possible option is to play her out of the box. As you can see, it is a pre-constructed deck with an understandable game plan.
In this section, I will cover different cards you can buy to mod the Nightrose deck to your preference. Given that there's not much lock on Hollow units, the deck can be very flexible as per the player's requests. As Zoo/Stoicheia is not Nightrose’s native nation, I wonder if she would be shocked 3000 years later to see the options for crewmates she can recruit today.
"Generic Open Stoi"
The term “Generic Open Stoi” is self-explanatory when you reflect about it. Stoichiea has a package of generic deadly cards that can work together around a token engine for opening game moves not seen in any other nation (Excluding you, Shojodoji). If this engine seems familiar to you, it should - this engine has seen competitive success in many of Stoichiea’s competitive decks, including Lianorn, Granfia, and more pertinently Rorowa.
The smallest and slimmest version of this package would be to include 4 Horo Horo Mushroom and 4 of either Spiritual Body Condensation or Frozen Resentment(the criteria for this slot is ANY G1 Order that can superior call from the drop zone with a soul blast). With this, it can give you a healthy 10K column on turn 1, or 2 if you open both pieces. Can also work with Negrobone.
However, there are other cards you can play in tandem to expand on, giving this deck an early game only Stoichiea can produce. These are:
A new G2 ride is The World 3000 Years Later, Rorowa. He turns 1 unit into 2 tokens for yet another 10K column. The issue? You will need to ride it.
Tear Knight, Emilios converts one overloaded circle into a fast draw and a 13K booster at a soul blast.
On the topic of board changing, Unwavering Maiden, Yolanda helps to convert 2 plant tokens into a draw to prevent board clogging, and an extra 10K power to boot.
Blessing to the Flowering Buds is a devastating deck option to allow the gameplay to move to the next level. This order gives all units with 5K or less power 10K, and if the attack hits, the attacking unit can return to the hand. This allows even triggers to join the fight, and a surprise candidate at the end of the segment….
Mystiark Habitat gives a great option for selective deck scrying and a neat one-for-one should you end up calling the Habitat itself. A wonderful option for deck digging that is worth its price point.
Another new G2 worth riding is Black Tears Husk Dragon to recycle orders from the drop zone on place. This can allow Buds to completely rush down the first 2 turns of play. The issue? You will need to ride it.
If you find yourself playing a lot of orders, consider Roaming Prison Dragon. A free G3 call that can threaten 15K numbers early, or an extra critical if you feel adventurous. Should he already be on the board when you play Buds, he also gains 10K and the on hit, allowing you to recycle stride fodder. (Does not apply if he resurrects himself when you play buds.)
Mill Options From Overdress
Now we will cover valuable mill options from the Overdress era. A central core in Granblue from its inception is its ability to mill and gain benefits.
Benevolent Maiden, Araserith mills 3 and allows a flexible effect for one card in the drop zone. She can either call a grade 2 or less card from drop, or add a copy of your vanguard back to the hand. A solid option that allows you to recycle persona for Ultimate Stride or build a board. Her only downsides are her high costs(CBSB1) and needing to be called from hand.
Inheritance Maiden, Hendrina is the iconic vice-captain of Zorga’s Regrain, and is an easy mill 3 on place.
Conceited Noble, Philander is a devastating 18K booster when 10 or more cards have reached your drop zone. However, he barely helps hit this condition, as he only mills one specific card out of the top 5 when placed from hand. While still an amazing card, do be careful as he takes his time. Combo him with cards that soul blast.
Pulsating Hood is a quick mill 2 on place, and also gains 2K. He’s neat to rush heavily while leading to more accumulation of the drop.
Lady Demolish is Standard’s Navigator, but when its boosted attack hits. The largest mill outside the Deckset, but do be careful for different reasons.
Sylvan Horned Beast, Bilber, is a custom card for this deck. A net total of 4 cards to drop and allows you to gain a stronger back row rear guard in replacement.
Command Of Death’s Restraint is similar to Bilber, but for free and for an order-heavier deck. While it can toolbox the drop zone for cards with the same grade or less as your vanguard, it still only mills 1 ultimately.
Frozen Resentment and Wild Intelligence work similarly, but for different costs.
Rousing Rasp (or Wheeze Of Awakening in JP) is a high risk high reward mill card that could help you set up effectively while hand fixing. The risk comes in terms of which turn you use this card.
Mill Options From DivineZ
Illusivewing Dragon, Fjarmja allows you to mill one if you are on a backfoot in grade. It can also allow you to “Greed Shade” your discarded card once if this card is on rear or in the drop. Given the nature of drop zone usage, this could become a valuable option.
Blitz Order Engine
The best card for a blitz package in any form will be Hallucinatory Morpho. It gives this defensive package a turn 2 punch, making it early game competition with the entire Generic Open Stoi as a package. It gains 10K with a soul blast if you have a blitz in drop, which is super easy. At the end of the battle with a counterblast you can trade her for an order depending on the state of your drop zone. As long as you are considering any blitz orders, she should be an auto include at 4. Even in the anime, the blitz package was recently featured in Levidras!
Strange Food Preparation is a neat G3 that can add a blitz from drop to hand when called from the drop zone. He's nice. May not be played though.
Buprestinger becomes a 13K booster if you have 2 or more blitz in drop, and when placed he can add a Sweet Honey Garden from deck or drop. Sweet Honey Garden is a 15K blitz with a soul blast, and 25K blitz if you already have a blitz in the drop zone. If these 2 sound convincing enough, add them both for solid offense and defense!
Lastly in our ensemble of blitz unit cards as support is Hee Ro Pineapple. This adorable little HERO will exchange one card in your hand for one blitz in your drop zone, at the cost of his own life and the attack he boosts must hit. He fails in the advantage department, but let's see what options he can give his life for below.
I need to get the GOAT out of the way, Evergreen Transphere. I won't even attempt to explain how good it is, I'll just link it. Do note he is a Regalis Piece, so if you choose to BALL, you will need to give up other options in that category.
The Sealed Path gives an attacking VG -1 critical for 2 counterblast. Costly, but I am still obligated to mention.
From the same set, Ghost Chase is a free 5K shield blitz and returns one of your rear guards to the hand. It's nice, and allows you to reuse on place effects + you could revive PGs to bounce them, just saying…..
Believe In The Fragrant Buds Of Tomorrow is your anti stride blitz. If you have 2 or more G1 or less rears, it's a 15K shield, or 25K if your opponent’s VG was placed by an effect. With a simple consideration such as Generic Open Stoi, you can now use this to shut off decks like Youthberk or even the mirror Stride Deckset matchup. Worth consideration.
Finally, the last card I will mention here is a new one from 2024, Effervescent Shadow Dream Blade. With 2 energy, it is a 20K shield, and allows you to play one more blitz order this turn. If you have been considering any form of blitz package from this section, understand that this is completely free and complimentary to your core! However, there are even more defensive options that lurk in the shadows…
The Hostage Package
Festival Booster 2024 gave us even more defensive options in the form of new set orders/field spells for a few nations. Unfortunately, this has also given rise to a new deck variant known as “Hostage” in the JP community.
A deck can opt to use this engine if it fulfills 2 criteria: non-reliance on orders and drop zone recursion. To great dismay, this package has taken off in decks such as Rezael, Luard and Christianos. It leads to very sad game states, and an unpleasant experience for those who have to fight this stall deck, which can drag and at worst lead to a double loss scenario, which does not reward the skill of an opponent. Nonetheless, it is still my responsibility to educate and inform you of the availability of this option to Nightrose players.
The package works with Sincere Confectioner, Viore searching and setting a copy of Flowering Sweet Shop. From there, the rest is history. You can now move high level shield cards from your field to the guardian circle to protect you, including perfect guards. Then, Sleeve Tugging Belle can help to refresh all your defenses. The only real ways to stop this version is to either rush the Hostage player, use main phase spot removal to address board defenses, or play the cycle cards from DZBT04 (Germinate Found Dragon for Stoichiea). Speaking of Cycle cards…
"Cycle" Cards, The True Ones
There has been a series of “Cycle cards” created since DBT10. While this term has been taken out of proportion by Bushiroad to refer to every D Nation generic under the sun, I will be using this section to categorize the cycle cards as God intended: self-replacing for draws.
Love-binding Maiden, Margaret and Latent Archer, Shazar both serve the same purpose: to replace themselves with a soulblast cost to draw during the ride phase. However, both of these are not very effective as they are not G3, and Nightrose does not have Persona Ride. In the future, if your local metagame becomes very aggressive, these can be considered as options to help recover hands for the early game.
The same for Sea Rumble Brave Shooter, but with energy.
Sea Strike Dragon, Enlargulv is a special one. He can cycle your draws for Nightrose and for any stride, which makes your deck play like Vanguard Zero. In addition, he can add to hand a G2 or greater card from your drop zone with a soul blast, setting up Ultimate Strides(discarding a same name as VG) amongst other things. He is certainly valuable enough for notable status. Which brings me to a later segment, but firstly I need to address…
Counter The Charge!
Seeing the crest not providing the resource that we desperately needed, it is not a wrong sentiment to go seeking elsewhere to fill the gaps. Do remember that Negrolazy always needs to be the first CC. Fortunately, I have charted all the current options here for your convenience…
Swell Assault is the weakest option here, but he gets a mention as he is generic. He can counter charge by retiring himself, if the attack he boosted hits the opponent’s vanguard and is the THIRD battle of the turn. Talk about steep…
Prized Trident moves himself to soul to counter charge 1 when your other unit performs the 5th attack this turn.
On a similar vein, Clipping Dragon of Soul Revolution checks, during the end phase, if you have alchemagic-ed or if you have performed 5 or more battles during the turn. If you have, he can move himself to the soul to CC one. Not a bad option by any means…I remember when this card was revealed and people were so hyped at CC and SC for Stoichiea…
For my Order players, do not cry! Tearful Malice, by retiring 2 of your own rear guards, can move this card into the soul to draw 1 and counter charge 1. Wait a minute…
Finally, Radiance Caliburn is a Regalis Piece that can either draw 2, or move this card to soul and CC1. It's technically the easiest CC the deck has outside of the deckset…which is hilarious given the opportunity cost is literally Pot Of Greed. Wait..what does it do? We will never know. You will need to reflect on this one if it is worthwhile for your CB needs.
Other Notables
Friendly Broccoli is a good beater and shield should you adopt any form of Generic Open Stoi, and is a CB1 Draw 1. Solid must include.
Performing Petal, Diantha is a good method to build a board in the mid game and a good booster, but needs to be called from the hand. Hey, at least this works with Negrobone!
Maple is a good recursion 10K body on G3 ride or stride. Nice for Grade 3 Gaming to compete for boards early.
The same can be said for Rotting Usurp Dragon, who is a G3… means he can be used for stride fodder too. Goodbye Nightstorm. Nice for Grade 3 Gaming to compete for boards early.
On the topic of grade 3s, one more useful card to consider is Heartful Pompilidio. When Nightrose is attacked, by retiring him, he can choose one of your opponent's rear-guards, and decrease that unit's power by its original power until the end of turn. This can also combo in with Nightrose’s GB2 to use the effect again! Amazing that Nightrose has unconventional G3 options for both offensive and defensive uses. In such a world, will Forbidoll Surrogate be used alongside heavier G3 variants?
→ For regalis pieces, I have mentioned a few, it is up to you to add any piece you would like, past present or future. Do note as I have mentioned previously, you can only play one, and it comes at the opportunity cost of all other Regalis pieces. In addition, as it is only a one-off, it does not have a high consistency and also hurts the consistency of your other cards. Therefore, you would need to reflect on what your deck wants to achieve, and if you would like the regalis piece.
Nectar is a good order finisher for long games.
Connection Ivy, Eniel is an interesting card that I have seen being thrown around on discourse online, so I thought a mention would be interesting. When placed from hand, SB2, mill 1 from the top 2, and call the other that is same grade or less than VG. Its a very good way to combo with Philander turbo, but by no means is it feasible. Nevertheless, I will still mention it for those who wish to try it.
Sylvan Horned Beast, Enpix is an interesting option for players of Hostage, or are worried about control. By having 3 or less rear guards while this is in the back row, it can prevent all rear guards in the same column from being chosen from card effects. A wonderful way to keep your defensive rear guards alive during the opponent’s turn thanks to Hollow units dying. Or, this could situationally be used to stop a Denial Griffin style card.
Friendly Maiden, Alvina taps on energy to either call a G1 from drop or recover an order, and gains 2K if you have 4 or more units on board. Whether you play any form of Order Package or Generic Open Stoi, this will be a worthwhile addition. You can use this as early as turn 1 if you go second! This works well with Negrobone too, for the fastest revival ever.
Azure Sky White Scales, Aspronia and Saffira are a dual nation G2. They can allow you to scry the top card, and with a CB, can either add an order back to hand or call a G2+. While it is a very impactful card, it needs to be called from hand.
On the topic of dual-nations, Flame Leaf Chaotic Dance, Hakusui & Remred is another card that is heavily hyped up for Nightrose. It can play into the G2 game very well with a free plant token, enabling Generic Open Stoi. More interestingly, the CB1 effect can scale in different directions. Giving the vanguard +10K can help threaten numbers in unlikely situations. In your more traditional context, the +5K to all rear guards placed by card abilities this turn, including respawning from the drop zone, can prove to swing games very far and well to your favor.
Overtrigger Calamity
It comes as no surprise that any discussion on Standard should talk about Overtriggers. Today, instead of taking the easy way out and ragging on them, I figured I should list each of the options available, and lay out the pros and cons of each. Remember, you can play any of these.
Firstly, if all else fails, the good ole Spiritual King of Determination, Olbaria gives a free 100 million as its effects, making 2 of your attacks to require perfect guards! Also the best option if you are poor and dislike Blessfavor.
Source Dragon Deity of Blessings, Blessfavor is the nation overtrigger, and contains the effects of all 4 regular standard triggers in one: Critical, Heal, Front and Draw. Its a pretty handy overtrigger, and the safest option if you dont have a preference of OT. Oh, and its in the sealed product, so that helps.
We joked about Greed Shade earlier, and Spiritual King of Aquatics, Idosfaro is literally that! And an extra critical. Since this card has a lot of similarities to Blessfavor, it depends on player preference.
Spiritual King of Ignition, Valnout turns up the heat with extra attacks, either giving your attackers one more attack, or allowing you to call a new one from hand if you dont have one. Its honestly nice for extra attacks, and will suit pilots who enjoy high attack potential.
Speaking of extra attacks, Spiritual King of Nightsky, Nyxlaszelia lets you add one card from the damage zone to your hand + gives one extra attack from hand. While this card seems to be the best of both Valnout and Blessfavor, it does require you to call a rear guard from hand, which can be wasteful especially during your stride turns, and would need more foreplanning beforehand.
An overtrigger which does none of the above and is the easiest to set up for is Spiritual King of Brightsky, Meridzanblia. However, this guy does not contribute at all to the direct gameplan. Whatever it is, it is eternally funny to carry around a pocket Dragonic Blademaster. Oh, and the draw. The draw effect can help a lot.
Sample Decklist
Here is an example of a sample list that is possible. Do note that given the numerous ways to build Nightrose, I encourage you to try making one yourself or even check topping lists from various WGPs and other major tournaments.
G Zone(8):
4 Mist Phantasm
4 Obadiah
Ride Deck:
Grade 3: Princess Of the Night Fog, Nightrose
Grade 2: Pirate Swordsman, Colombard
Grade 1: Parting Shade
Grade 0: Undying Departed, Grenache
Main Deck:
Grade 3(8):
3 Nightrose
4 Enlargulv
1 Nightstorm
Grade 2(6):
4 Negrolazy
2 Nectar Of Sensationalism
Grade 1(20):
4 Gust Djinn
4 Tommy
4 Negrobone
4 Alvina
4 Philander
Triggers(16):
8 Crits
3 Draws
4 Heals
1 OT
Conclusions
In summary, the Nightrose Stride Deckset is by no means the strongest Stride Deckset we have seen in Bushiroad’s arsenal. However, as we have seen time and time again, the nature of G units and Crests will ensure that the Vampire Princess will see some level of playability in the metagame, be it as a popular option or a memorable deck even years after this set release. Some could call this longevity. Others call it fading into obscurity.
Regardless, I hope today’s encyclopedia is able to shed light on the options available to yourself, as well as the knowledge to beat this deck.
I made this article because I am a Nightrose simp. That is all.
About The Author
Ahmes004 is a Vanguard youtuber, former writer at Axis Vanguard, and was a contributor to CrieTEXe’s Granblue Premium Encyclopaedia in 2021.
Acknowledgements
Special Thanks to:
ChisatoMelody for the graphics.
Mcrafter3000 for the encouragement.
Raterswoon for the beta testing at WGPs.
For my grandparents, who never stopped encouraging me to do more with my hobbies.