I'm going to preface these with a small personal story: I didn't use to have any interest in TCGs until my husband introduced me to Cardfight Vanguard last year, but as soon as I got the gist of how it plays and after a few practice games, I got hooked. As we were watching a few episodes of the 2018 anime, he picked Blaster Blade and in turn I picked Dragonic Overlord which instantly connected with me.

It perfectly suited to how my general playstyle across most games is: a series of aggressive headstrong attacks, or in other words, "shoot at it until it dies". I'm not the kind of person to strategize much - complicated combos and thinking 4 dimensions ahead just ain't for me. So to this day, that's how I roll and I wouldn't do otherwise.

DISCLAIMER: I have neither time nor page space to explain the game mechanics, so from here on out I'll be assuming that the reader is already familiar with the game while reading the nonsense below.

D Standard - Dragonic Overlord the End

Oh boy, did Overlord get absolutely shafted by power creep. The deck suffered through several heavy changes over the course of a year, and it's all because of insufficient support - let me elaborate, because context is absolutely required for this one.

First, you would have to run 4 copies of Dragonic Overlord (hereby referred to as DO) and 4 copies of Dragonic Overlord the End (hereby referred to as DOTE), which was already a heavy hit to deck size. Not only would you have to pull DO, you would also need to put it into drop by all means necessary, then pull an Ardor Hatchet Dragon in order to put DO into soul. DOTE's strength is that if it has a DO in soul, it doesn't lose drives, but the steps you'd have to get there before turn 3, while luck is a major factor, was grueling.

Eventually, Bellicosity Dragon came out, vastly simplifying the process to just choosing DO from hand and putting it into soul. However, with decks such as Varga, Shiranui and Shojodoji being the meta, Overlord's lacking power numbers and severely limited defensive capabilities left it out in the dust. That is, until Scarlet Flamme that changed everything.

Scarlet Flamme's ability allowed for just one DO in ride deck and made putting it into soul unnecessary by giving the ability to ride DO then DOTE right away at turn 3. But its most important ability was Double Persona Ride, giving the front row a whopping +20000 at turn 4, provided that there are enough Flammes to bind from drop. Finally, one would be able to have more freedom in focusing the deck towards offense or defense. However, this time the newer ridelines seem to focus on triple drive and/or even higher power numbers, with some reaching as far as 60000 to 70000. And once again, Overlord suffers to this day from a lack of more frequent support.

Anyway, here's the deck that I am using now - it's focused primarily on defense and survival to turn 4 and Double Persona. Despite the diminished numbers, with lucky trigger pulls Overlord is still able to firmly stand in mid-tier alongside my husband's Bastion Accord.

Premium - Dragonic Overlord "The X"

I've had a complicated relationship with Premium, mostly because for the longest time I just couldn't understand how Stride and Legion mechanics work. The wording on these alone would make my head spin infinitely for over half a year before I finally got some understanding on things. Good thing this deck doesn't really need Stride much, but it does rely on Legion.

Dragonic Overlord "The X" (hereby referred to as DOTX) works best when there's 2 of each, both G and V versions of it. V DOTX rides first on turn 3, gaining Imaginary Gift: Force II (permanent +1 crit). Upon riding, it searches for V DOTE and puts it in soul, also gaining its abilities AND name (this is a surprise tool that will help us later). Since its drive cannot be zero, DOTE's double restand results in an overall 4 drives on 3 attacks, potentially OTK'ing the opponent.

If by turn 3 I only end up having a Dragonic Overlord "The Яe-birth" (hereby referred to as DOTR) in my hand - fuck it, we ball. I usually don't have a lot of units in my hand by then, but once in a blue moon I could have enough to fill out all rearguard circles AND have 4 damage. In such a case, not only DOTR has a double restand, but an additional Imaginary Gift: Force II, making its permanent crit 3. Turn 4 then begins with riding G DOTX.

G DOTX is where this deck starts to shine. Its Legion Mate is DOTE, but a surprise tool from earlier comes in play - V DOTX puts DOTE in soul again and adopts its name, allowing G DOTX to Legion with it! Both of their abilities can be used, but hear this - during attacks, only Legion Leader's drives are used, so DOTE's effect on V DOTX (which is a Legion Mate) doesn't count, making for a deadly 3-attack, 6-drive battle phase. And may the gods help the opponent if I pull the Overtrigger.

If they're somehow still alive at the end and if I happen to have Igniroad Dragon and/or Burning Horn Dragon on my front row, they will finish the job, because on each vanguard attack, they get an additional +5000 power. But because of Legion there are now 2 vanguards, so make it +10000!

Most of the rearguards actually serve as discard/defense fodder, as DOTX needs quite a few of these to restand, unless I get Halbe, which isn't very often.

Hishat's and Calamity Tower Wyvern's 10000 shield makes them essential to use against hard-hitting opponents.
If I have a Striken by turn 2, I always ride it at the cost of being unable to attack this turn, because next turn I get a temporary +1 crit.
Dekat is rather situational, but may come in clutch with its ability, where the opponent would have to use 2 or more guards to defend themselves during its attack.

I think there's room for improvement, like upping Dekat to 2 instead of Striken, or adding Defensive Roar at the price of 1 Bi-Attack Dragon, and so on.

D Standard - Costume Idol, Alk

Typically, I wouldn't have been caught dead playing Lyrical, not because they're bad or anything - I'm just not really a waifu person. Husbandos, on the other hand... Another reason was that I couldn't really find a deck that would connect with me - until Costume Idol, Alk came out, that is. She managed to out-Overlord DOTE at its own game! She even has a Blåhaj!

While DOTE is not as reliant on rearguards, it still needs decent hitters to whittle down the opponent's defenses, which is exactly where Alk shines. She's able to return a rearguard to hand and call another one in its place, ensuring an extra attack. Her loss of 1 drive on "restand" is compensated by an ability not only to perform Double Persona Ride, but also to perform a guaranteed Persona Ride as early as turn 3, provided she goes second. Additional +5000 (+10000 at 4 damage or more) on front row upon Persona is a nice cherry on top. At the end of turn, one Alk card returns back to hand, making Double Persona consistent by turn 4, unlike DOTE which relies on Flamme, energy, and card discard to perform it. And like DOTE, Alk is more reliant on counters, rather than soul.

Alk's support is nothing to scoff at, either:

Kurorone is a decent defense fodder, because her true strength is in searching additional Alk copies which are essential for Double Personas.
Rosanne can look at top 2 cards in deck for trigger manipulation.
Croshe is the main hard-hitter of the bunch, gaining +10000 upon Alk's recall ability, while also being able to recall a booster herself.
Fleurety is able to do a recall of her own, which can potentially increase the total amount of attacks to a whopping 6.
Myrtoa is not only a decent discard-to-draw fodder, but two of her in drop can CC1 with no strings attached.
Sereia is an absolutely GOATed booster, gaining guaranteed +5000 upon Alk's ability Persona while being able to put Alk back to hand from soul or drop, provided there are any extras in there.

Overall, this is a very strong deck while also not being overly meta (unlike Varga back in the day, or Vyrgilla), and I enjoyed playing this deck a lot.