Gekiha Dan – Episode 10

Yawl mother-effers wanna KEY CHANGE!?

So since the LAST time I posted, the greatest thing of all time happened.

I don’t know if it was force of will, or community outcry, or even if it was this blog, but all I know is, Battle Spirits has COME TO THE WORLD.

Now even I can play my favourite game physically, and you can be damned sure my wallet is going to wonder if it wronged me in a past life after I’m done with this game I swear to you.

Of course, If you are a Battle Spirits fan, I would highly recommend checking this game out. But if you’re just here for my dumb takes on an anime that’s several years old, don’t worry, ye shant be waiting long.

So there’s no pre-cursor to whatever happened last episode, no reference made, not even a title card, we’re actually flung into what appears to be exactly NOT Grand-Lolo.

This house has honestly seen better days, I won’t lie, half of it is missing.

And it’s raining too, I’m a lover of rain but I know for a fact like 99% of people disagree with me.

If you haven’t quite figured it out from the awfully recognizeable young faces here. This is Yuuki and Kajitsu’s past. Their house appears to have been destroyed by a Storm when they were children.

No one this tiny speaks this concisely or verbosely.

This would also be more believable if there was any wind animated over the storm, but not only is there no wind, the rain is falling horizontally, if it were windy it’d be at least diagonal.

More like an English Mastiff’s drool…

Yuuki and Kajitsu were initially humans from Earth but appear to have made a home in Grand-Lolo, it appears that this event instilled the idea that the Human world isn’t for them.

We interrupt this flashback to give you Yuuki being a bloody creep and watching his Sister sleep.

Though looks like Kajitsu’s having a nightmare flashback and it’s enough to bring her to tears while unconscious.

This is meant to be all very precious but LET THE GIRL SLEEP DAMMIT!

And with that we FINALLY get our episode title, no points for guessing what the card of the day is.

“The ArmoredSacred Walhalance’s Trial, Strongest Lance, The Sacred Gungnir”

That’s a bloody mouthful and a half if I do say so myself.

So naturally we’re going to see this lovely White X-Rare.

Behold, an entirely inconspicuous field of flowers.

This appears to be a Garden located in the White World. It’s a location we come back to a few times over the course of the show, but it’s not particularly significant now.

…I mean come on, she’s the Butterfly Princess, of course she’s going to like Flowers.

Looking at the Flowers appears to give Kajitsu memories of… picking flowers with Yuuki in the rain.

I think we’ve ALREADY established you have a past, this is kind of rubbing it in now for the sake of padding.

Kajitsu attempts to pick a White Rose but pricks herself on one of the thorns.

Yadda-yadda, Roses have Thorns, etc etc.

WATCH OUT GUYS

UNCENSORED BLOOD, AVERT YOUR EYES.

OH THE HUMANITY-

As much as I’m being incredibly sarcastic about the blood, please be wary if you have Haemophobia. While this show doesn’t make excessive use of blood whenever it can, it won’t be afraid to display it if it’s relevant.

Like say, pricking your finger on a rose.

Tips for trying to impress a prospective partner.

No, Gratuitous French does NOT make you sexy.

Ask CONSENT before touching someone.

And especially don’t fucking GRAB THEM BY THE WRIST, OUT OF NOWHERE, SURPRISING THE SHIT OUT OF THE PERSON YOU JUST GRABBED HOLD OF BECAUSE YOU WERE NOWHERE TO BE SEEN UNTIL THIS PARTICULAR MOMENT.

Fuckin’ tell ’em Kajitsu.

Tell me you’re hopeless with women without telling me you’re hopeless with women.

We’ve been granted a name, this is Belga, he appears to be of some kind of Royalty. And is asking Kajitsu out to a ball that’s THREE MONTHS AWAY.

I’ll stop shitting on him for a moment, just because I know he’s trying to embody very chivalrous values, but come oooooon man…

To be fair it’ll make more sense later once we actually get a gist of how Grand-Lolo actually functions.

I’d be more considerate of the fact that he’s given her a nice little bandage for her finger if the animators hadn’t missed where his mouth should be.

Look at that shit, it’s barely hanging on.

I may have left out some context of the conversation, Belga basically just said “You are beautiful, so you should avoid being injured”

Kajitsu here is saying that she isn’t so narrow-minded as to believe that Thorns are needless on a rose.

Kajitsu casually saying its her will to protect the thorns on a Rose after having just pulled one out of it’s stalk, that rose is fuckin’ dying yo.

Aaaand because Belga is Super Into Mash Potaters. He instantly renegs on what he just said and completely agrees with her.

Have some substance man.

Belga’s… making a REALLY big deal out of the fact that Kajitsu likes the Thorns on a Rose.

So, Belga is a fucking creepazoid and is trying a little TOO hard to curry Kajitsu’s favor…

But uh, Yuuki is asserting a little too much authority over Kajitsu’s company.

Belga, as any person would, takes personal offense at being asked to remove himself when it hasn’t been actually made evident that he’s bothered anyone.

He appears to be a member of the Otherworld King’s “Personal Guard”, known as the Silver Knights.

Though the veracity of this claim has yet to be seen, Belga seems more like a Silver Spoon than a Silver Knight.

I’m surprised he doesn’t go by the “Karma” portion of his name honestly. That’s SIGNIFICANTLY more threatening and far more fitting for a Silver Knight than… Belga…

Also he’s hardly a common man, you just invited his Sister to the ball.

It’s not a crime if he wins at card games.

Grand-Lolo is a Meritocracy, your Laws don’t mean shit if you can’t enforce them with power.

…So you KNEW who you were dealing with, called him a commoner despite inviting his Sister to your stinkin’ ball, and STILL don’t realize how fucked you are?

This is the guy who literally told the flame-haired protagonist that he was Omnipotent in this world.

Apparently that remark was enough to prompt a physical response.

Though to be fair if someone was suggesting I was about to be arrested for something I know that isn’t against the law and has no way of being enforced I’d be pretty damn inclined to prove how powerless they were as well if I could.

Belga finally drops the pretense and finally moves to defend his presence, namely that hew as trying to help Kajitsu because she injured herself.

Yuuki just fucking tosses Belga aside after learning Kajitsu has an injury.

Now under most circumstances the audience are likely going to be “Yeah fuck that guy” because he was just blowing smoke not 2 seconds prior.

But anyone with half a brain would realize that Yuuki’s given an overtly aggressive response to a guy only mildly up his own ass and was actually there for a decent reason.

Firstly, that’s incredibly disrespectful, the bandage was a non-stick bandage which is a perfectly fine way to treat a cut from a rose-thorn. So it’s not like Belga has even used incorrect treatment here.

Secondly, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?

YUUKI, STOP.

I’d be more concerned about the fact that he’s just done something signficantly MORE harmful to Kajitsu than you did… but eh, he’s meant to be the bad guy I guess.

Belga, chivalrous as he is, challenges Yuuki by throwing a white glove at him. Very traditional.

Yuuki of course isn’t having any of whatever this is and refuses.

For reference, it’s evident Yuuki is being excessively over-protective of Kajitsu here to an almost weird level.

This trait is… explainable.

And there is a reason I specifically use the word explainable.

I will say there is something quite hilarious about these 2 siblings sharing a smile while Belga malds off-screen.

Okay I’ll relent here, Yuuki isn’t completely unjustified in his rage, Belga is acquainted with him so Yuuki is probably up to here with his bullshit, Belga came in unannounced, touched Kajitsu without her consent, lectured her on something he had no clue about, relented instantly just to try and gain her favour and invited her to a ball. It’s possible Yuuki is aware that Belga has a history of trying to hit-on Kajitsu and Kajitsu has welcomed… exactly none of it. But of course, being unable or unwilling to reject Belga herself, Yuuki puts it upon himself to be more direct.

It appears Belga is harboring what appears to be jealousy towards Yuuki’s position as The White Core-Bearer.

I’m aware there is a distinction between envy and jealousy, namely that envy is wanting what another has, and jealousy is feeling as if someone is trying to take, is taking or has taken what is yours. And one might be so inclined to claim that Belga is envious, not jealous.

To that I say!

They aren’t mutually exclusive feelings, one can be both envious and jealous.

Yuuki’s mostly dismissed Belga as a nuisance up until this particular moment, seeming almost amused by the suggestion that the title of White Core-Bearer is so fickle as to have chosen Yuuki over Belga lightly.

Yawl Mother-Effers want a SCENE CHANGE!?

Dan is working on his deck, it seems like he’s trying to review after his battle with Suzuri where he was nearly decked out and is considering trying to increase the number of cards in his deck.

Oh, now I get to talk about differences between Battle Spirits and Saga.

So in Battle Spirits, 40 cards is the minimum, with 3 copies per card. If you want to have a deck with the highest possible consistency, you will not run a single card over that 40 card count.

There are many who have attempted to try and force Blue deck destruction to work a bit harder to obtain their victory by increasing the number of cards in their Deck. Unfortunately in practice, what most find is that by doing so, it becomes more difficult to draw the exact card they need in a situation where it matters, and that affords Blue decks more time and more freedom to discard more cards, not less.

As a result, it is simply better to try and keep to 40 cards, and try to achieve your win condition before Blue can destroy your deck.

In Saga, though we don’t have Blue just yet, your deck must contain no less than 50 cards, with up to 4 copies per card, but you are also entitled to a max 10 card sideboard which you can side in between games 2 and 3. The reason it’s maximum 10 is because the number of cards between your Deck and your Sideboard cannot exceed 60. Meaning you can’t bring a Sideboard if you bring a 60-card deck.

This is useful, because it means in Games 2 and 3, if you feel the need to, against Blue decks, you can increase your Deck count in Games 2 and 3 to try and achieve this same result, though in practice it would probably be better to simply side in cards that counter Blue strategies like that.

Another difference between Battle Spirits and Saga. The way Armor functions.

In Battle Spirits, Armor’s a Catch-all, if you have Armor, the Spirit is unaffected by any opposing effects coming from the colour specified.

In Saga however this has been nerfed. Armor in Saga only prevents their selection for the purposes of an effect, if an effect does not involve a selection, it will punch through Armor.

This can cause interactions to work differently. For example:

Covering Desperado’s effect, if it were to face off against Armor Purple in JP Battle Spirits, it wouldn’t have an effect on the Armor Spirits, but in Saga (where we have a card with an exact duplicate of Desperado’s effect), because this effect does not involve making a selection, it can chomp through Armor.

And while Dan and I are clearly on the Battle Spirits Grind, thinking about the game itself.

Clackey’s cleaning his Waifu.

Ugh…

Dan’s hit the limit on his ability to consider everything for his deck-building, this can happen, there is only so much a deck can actually do.

People often take this feeling as a sign that a deck is as good as it is going to get, and simply try to bet on luck when facing a poor matchup.

But every person has a different style of building, and there is likely always a card that can help you in a given situation if you’re expecting it.

Then stop trying to snog cardboard ya weirdo.

I think, concerning this Era, there isn’t much Red can do about White. White happens to be Red’s worst matchup, as it can resist all of Red’s attempts to try and brute force through it. Hilariously the best way for Red to try and push through White is pure power. High BP values will overcome pesky blockers.

At least for Armor though, Armor sucks when facing off against opponents that the Armor is prepared for. But Armor crumples when you manage to use a wide array of colours as not every spirit can Armor through every colour.

…Yet.

Clackey’s more interested in people than cards, which makes sense. So we once again return to the theory that Yuuki is the Otherworld King.

Though given that Belga appears to dismiss Yuuki as a Common man, as well as supposedly being the Otherworld King’s “personal guard”, it seems highly unlikely that Yuuki is indeed Otherworld King.

Especially since the Core Light-Bearers are supposedly meant to be opposing Otherworld King, it would be incredibly strange for Otherworld King themselves to become a Light-Bearer.

I mean his ace also just straight up counters yours, your hand doesn’t matter if it doesn’t do anything.

Clackey dismisses the ability to read Dan as an indicator of Otherworld Kingliness, mostly because Dan is incredibly easy to read. His win-con is Siegwurm’s Clash ability to wipe out the enemy’s spirits in order to reduce their options.

Clackey is quite laid-back, effort is good but investing effort for no gain definitely isn’t going to be much use, and suggests Dan should relax.

It appears Clackey has an idea for what Dan should do besides thinking-

This was such low-hanging fruit it actually overflowed into being genius.

It’s not creative but god-damn its still funny.

Dan notes there’s a problem with the amount of curry left, Zungurii made loads so there should be a fair bit more than one container of it.

The culprit is: Zungurii

The reason? Say it with me now: He’s Super Into Mash Potaters.

Zungurii inquires as to what Mai is doing.

And the results are in:

I’m so used to like, hamming these out in like 2 or 3 hours and then uploading them right after I’m done that I often forget I can save them as Drafts and upload them later.

Mai has this guy trained like a puppy.

Excessive amounts of positive reinforcement has made him inclined to do nice things for her with the expectation of being rewarded.

What is he? A Butler?

Also really? Chilled Pasta and Prosciutto?

Seems.. a tad light don’t you think?

My mans just learned what curry was last week, he ain’t ready for this Italian shit.

Nowadays “Noodles” refer to very specific things while “Pasta” refers to something different, but the word “Noodle” does come from the German word for “Pasta”, which is “Nudel”

They are interchangeable words, if a bit strangely used here.

I wish I had Zungurii’s confidence in making food.

Zungurii spots Dan and Clackey in the Kitchen and fuckin’ tosses them out.

His love for Mash Potaters gives him super strength.

…Well on top of the super strength he has already.

My man just learned what Pasta was not 30 fucking seconds ago. I don’t think he knows what Chocolate is, much less a Parfait!

Well I’m glad you’re having fun.

Can we get back to card games?

It appears Yuuki and Belga have pissed off elsewhere in search of a place to battle.

I mean you get taken to the Battlefield either way, I’m not sure what the preference of location is for.

Not gonna lie this shot REALLY looks like it wouldn’t be out of place with GUNDAM slapped on it.

It looks like another re-attempt at what Bashin Toppa did before, creating a 2-Spirit combo using an X-Rare and a designated Weapon.

Where Gigantic Thor had Mjolnir, Walhalance has Gungnir.

It appears that there are a set of qualifications for becoming the White King. The first is that one must bear the White Core’s Light, and the second is that they must have Walhalance and Gungnir included in their decks.

Yuuki naturally dropping the “Who the hell cares”

The adage of “If you can’t beat em, join em” works for political power too, if you’re unable to be in charge, then simply be the next best thing: The favourite of the one in charge.

It seems like Belga is relatively obsessed with status, and needs validation of his status.

Which seems to have manifested in an erroneous belief that if he acquires Walhalance and Gungnir, he’ll be considered more worthy to bear the White Core’s Light than Yuuki.

…Except it’s also just as possible that Walhalance and Gungnir will choose Yuuki because he bears the White Core’s Light.

It appears Belga was spoiled to an unfair degree, being promised the status of bearing the White Core’s Light only to have it stripped from him by Yuuki.

…Eliminating the current White Core-Bearer would certainly throw a wrench in Yuuki’s ability to obtain it.

The saddest part about this is why he wants to do it. It’s not even for his own gain. Earning the Armor and Lance of the King and proving yourself to be the rightful heir to a whole world is bragging rights for like… eternity.

And he just wants it to please his father, it’s incredibly vain.

Belga doesn’t even want power, he just wants approval.

“Look Dad! I’m the White King” is certainly very childish, yes.

We’ve survived the plot, now we can actually get into some BATTLES!

Belga’s Battle Form is… much like his personality. It’s eye-catching for a split-second but ultimately not very interesting.

Looks like Yuuki’s requested the first move.

From a game design standpoint, it certainly shouldn’t matter whether or not a deck goes first or second, as it should be capable of producing it’s intended function regardless. In practice however, certain decks do prefer to go first or second.

This is mostly determined by your deck’s intended opening play though, rather than it’s colour. Given what we know of Yuuki’s deck however, I presume he would prefer to go first to establish a board faster.

Time for Yuuki’s first move.

Yuuki starts off by… playing a Level 1 Berserker-Gun?

Strange, even on Turn 1, it’s possible to play Berserker-Gun at Level 2.

But there may be reasons as to why one would do this, for example, trying to prompt an attack.

…You twisted his wrist and flung him onto a cold brick floor, and that’s ignoring how badly you treat Belga in general.

“Bothered by your existence” is putting it VERY lightly.

Talk about misreading the situation. It seems like Belga’s issue tends to directly be with Yuuki, and that Kajitsu was not infact Belga’s target whatsoever.

Belga is suggesting that the easiest way to draw Yuuki out tends to be to use Kajitsu as bait.

…Except all malice is lost when one factors that he IS genuinely infatuated with Kajitsu.

Kajitsu finally makes a summation of Belga.

The Silver Knights protest, because apparently brown-nosing Belga until they’re indistinguishable from Koala-bears is part of the job description.

Kajitsu protests being compared to a Rose, as she believes herself to be more of a Butterfly, and White Roses are a type of rose more favoured by Butterflies.

Now, if you’re keen on symbolism, you’ll notice that Butterflies and Roses are symbolic of romantic love, not sibling love. With White Roses representing loyalty, purity, and innocence… but most importantly, eternal love.

White Roses are also the most common type of rose to be seen at weddings.

Yes, the suggestion is very… very odd. And I hate it as much as you do.

Belga says a bunch of things here that are mostly just him screaming about wanting Walhalance, yadda yadda.

Infact he took SO long we had to expedite it with an Eye catch.

Also notably the uniform Kajitsu is wearing there is a Battle Form, and we haven’t seen her Battle in Grand-Lolo yet.

Another eyecatch… For the sake of… catching your eyes… I guess.

We appear to have jumped to an indeterminate turn, but to summarise, Yuuki’s amassed a field of 2 Droidens, and 1 Level 2 Berserker-Gun.

Yuuki, at this point, has not lost any lives.

Belga however, has 2 Bersker-Magnums, and a Fenrircannon MK-II.

And he has 4 lives remaining.

Your “Belga-Sama” is currently on the back-foot.

Though he does have the strongest spirit currently, so.

I think Kajitsu.exe has stopped working.

It appears the awkwardness of Kajitsu’s… very concerning statements are not lost on the Silver Knights.

Ah fuck me we’re on Turn 6?!

Let’s see, Yuuki’s lost no lives and has had 2 Core steps, so he’s working with only 6 Core at present.

Belga’s lost a life though and this will be his 3rd Core Step, so he’ll be working with 8.

WE GET IT, YOU DREW A GOOD CARD.

Overconfident people failing at keeping a Pokerface is a very routine trope of this genre.

Belga uses all his available Core that isn’t being used to maintain a Spirit to play The Gigantic Thor.

Much like Siegfried, our boy Thor has gotten a good-ass glow-up since we last saw him in Bashin.

Is it? It has a Lv1 BP of 4000, and Belga needs to deplete his other spirits in order to raise it’s level.

It’s not doing much at the moment. It can’t exactly do it’s multi-attack combo without being at Level 3.

Yuuki takes a life, dropping him to 4.

Belga seems to be rather irate about the fact that Yuuki does not show outward signs of discomfort when losing a life.

It looks like we skipped Yuuki’s turn as it simply consisted of a pass as Yuuki’s board hasn’t changed.

Let’s see, Belga’s working with 9 core on this turn, 4 on Thor, 3 on the other spirits.

Mjolnir is 2 reductions and needs 2 core for maintenance, I can see the writing on the wall.

I always found it interesting that Thor’s BP at Lv3 is so incredibly low compared to most other X-Rares, but it makes sense given the fact that he makes up for it based on how much you invest into Mjolnir.

Even at Lv1 Thor will have 11000 BP for his attacks, just maybe not while he’s defending, though given what he’s intended to do with his abilities, refreshed on an opposing turn is not a likely scenario.

We… don’t actually see a Mjolnir play, Belga just has Thor repeat it’s attack from last turn, Yuuki taking a Life, dropping him to 3, Belga has taken the lead.

…What about this “one-swing-per-turn” is “constant” to you?

As if to prove my point, Belga’s turn ends.

Yuuki’s turn, 4th core step, 2 lives lost, so about 10 core total to work with.

Oh, he’s drawn Yggdrasill. With 1 Droiden levelled up, and Berserker-Gun at Lv2, he can play this without much problems.

Now Yuuki is comparing Yggdrasill to a White Rose…

That padding aside, Yuuki finally summons The Iron Knight Yggdrasill!

So having Yggdrasill is proof of bearing the White Core’s Light… and being a White Core-Bearer with Walhalance and Gungnir is proof of the White King…

At that point just cut the middle man and make the White Core-Bearer King?

Yggdrasill is one of those cards that are most nightmarish when you’re not expecting it. It’s effect just bounced THREE cards to Belga’s Hand.

Yuuki levels down Berserker-Gun and Droiden to bring Yggdrasill to Level 3.

Yuuki’s managing his core VERY well, He just spent 3 of his 10 available core to play Yggdrassil, 4 are levelling up Yggdrassil, and the other 3 are maintaining the Level 1 on his Spirits.

As an interesting aside, Yggdrasill’s effect at Level 2 and 3 gives Armor to Red and White to all of Yuuki’s Spirits, which makes Yuuki very well-suited to a White Mirror match.

Berserker-Gun snatches a life from Belga, dropping him to 3.

It occurs to me that Belga has no blockers, and Yuuki has enough Spirits to take the game.

Droiden swings, the score’s now 2-3 in Yuuki’s favor.

You are getting your ass quite thoroughly whooped, yes.

I’m certain that even if that were true, that wouldn’t necessarily mean you’d be winning.

Note to parents: Don’t make promises you can’t keep and Don’t tell big lies, your child will remember and once that trust is gone, it’s damn hard to get it back.

And if their trust doesn’t vanish, you’ll teach your child that it is okay to lie and well, honesty is kind of a virtue.

Yuuki didn’t press his attack for the last 2 lives, despite having enough attackers.

I guess one might try to read his hand to suggest a potential counter? White does have plenty of defense magic. And Belga did have 6 core available to use some.

Plus a potential counter-attack from Thor could be nasty.

Magnum’s back.

And he’s brought his friend.

The Artifact Plant would be great here.

Also worth mentioning that Belga’s working with 12 Core at the moment, he’s just spent 2 of it, and 7 is being used on his spirits, he’s got 3 left.

Oh that’s niiiice, we’ve got a peak at the entirety of Belga’s Hand! I’d love to see what’s in there! Notably he’s taken a card out but we’ll get to that.

The first is Eternal Shield, an Anti-Blue Magic for White that limits how much your Deck can be discarded to 5 for the turn.

Not a particularly good stopgap for Blue really, especially given the timing, the most devastating deck destruction effects come from Titus and Castle-Golem on summon.

The next card is Reflection Armor, this can grant Armor to Cost 2 Spirits to everything except Yellow or White. It’s okay-ish for Belga’s deck as he’s running Berserker-Magnum and Mjolnir. But it’s understandable why he isn’t using it here, because Yuuki’s a White user.

Which makes you wonder if he planned to Battle Yuuki why is this card in his deck?

Mobius Loop is an Anti-Nexus card, not bad if you want to deal with a particularly oppressive Nexus, like the ones Purple like to use, otherwise it’s a nice Battle Trick.

And finally, The Protection of Sacred Artifacts, a Cost 3 Nexus that protects your White Nexuses from Red destruction (the colour most likely to destroy your Nexus) and at Level 2, designates a Spirit on the Start Step to attack on this turn.

So, this is a Cost 3 Nexus, which means it’s easy to play, and it is nice protection against Red, if nothing else, it’s an easy extra symbol.

…But.

That Level 2 isn’t that useful, because it’s designated during the Start Step, if the opponent gets rid of the Spirit, they’re no longer subject to the effect.

Additionally it doesn’t say when they must attack, just that they must at some point do so.

Never give your opponent decisions if you want the benefits of an effect.

Anyway, moving on, Belga plays The Sacred Mjolnir at Level 2.

Looks like Mjolnir’s ALSO had a significant glow-up, its far less shiny now.

…It can attack twice my dude.

Belga declares an attack with The Gigantic Thor, exhausting The Sacred Mjolnir in order to add Mjolnir’s BP to Thor.

8000 + 5000 is 13000. So The Gigantic Thor is swinging for 13000 BP.

You have a refreshed Droiden! Why sacrifice Yggdrasill? at this point in time?

You have 3 lives! Take 1!

What purpose does sending Yggdrasill to die serve!?

He just… he could have blocked with Droiden

and then you’d be boned, because Thor would be swinging for 8000.

And then Yggdrasill would wreck your shit.

In the hallway they were just in, Walhalance appears to be glowing.

Same with Gungnir.

Okay so Yuuki appears to be attempting to flash here, he needs 2 core for… something.

Since they only had 1 core anyway, they’re depleted.

Yuuki plays Avalanche Aura, which will give Yggdrasill 4000 BP.

This will put it on par with Thor, who’s at 13000. This makes sense as to why it was Yggdrasill that blocked, Yuuki’s trying to use mutual destruction to stop Thor’s consecutive attacks.

…Though I’m pretty sure we just saw a Battle trick in Belga’s Hand.

…Wot?

Belga depletes his Lv2 Berserker-Magnum to play Mobius Loop.

One might wonder why he didn’t use Mjolnir’s core, well there’s a ruling about The Gigantic Thor that the BP gain is constantly checked, if Mjolnir’s BP changes, the BP Thor gains also changes, so the core needed to come from elsewhere.

With 15000 BP, Thor defeats Yggdrasill.

If Yuuki had just pressed his attack last turn, Belga didn’t have a counter, he would have lost.

Yuuki sorely misread Belga’s hand.

In summary, Belga’s been led to believe he is someone he’s not, and therefore is entitled to something he isn’t.

And that entitlement is the only reason he wants it.

Get wrecked.

Meanwhile the glowing has hit a breakpoint and Gungnir has been released from it’s seal.

The card appears to have added itself to the top of Yuuki’s deck.

Japanese readers will already be able to see it’s effect so might as well talk about it.

The Sacred Gungnir is from the first Starter Deck containing unique cards. SD01. It’s almost entirely unremarkable as a card. Only having a When-destroyed effect that bounces all opposing Cost 1 and 0 spirits.

And it seems like Yuuki just passes turn.

And Belga has leapt straight for the attack step.

Let’s see, currently 9 core is used up, Belga should have about 13 Core available.

He’s more than capable of playing that Fenrircannon-MKII in this hand without compromising his position, though its perhaps unecessary given Thor can make up the extra attack on his own.

Still, having an extra blocker on hand wouldn’t hurt-

Wait, Fenrircannon has appeared on his board!

Hwat.

Its on the field too, they completely skipped over him playing it.

Also yeah, Thor snatches a life, This looks kinda bad given that Yuuki only has maybe 1 Spirit remaining and Belga has a potential 5 attacks.

Though swinging with Thor here kind of wastes Mjolnir’s attack.

It’s possible Belga chose not to attack with Mjolnir because I believe a Levelled up Droiden would have destroyed it, which is fair.

Belga uses Thor’s Level 3 effect to destroy Mjolnir.

You’d think they’d have come up with a way to determine whether or not one does indeed bear the core’s light-

Oh right. Magisa can, and she only has “Washed up” Magic.

Thor attacks again, apparently it has ROCKET POWERED FISTS!

Yuuki’s reduced to 1 Life, against Belga’s 2.

YOU HAVE 2 MORE ATTACKERS.

HE HAS 1 LIFE.

1 BLOCKER.

JUST
FUCKING
SWING!

Though he did pass his turn without playing a card so that might be a tell-tale sign that he has defense of some kind.

and relenting to it is a tell-tale sign that you, Belga, don’t.

If only you knew.

This is the first time Yuuki has actually gone out of his way to berate Belga for his actions rather than just making fun of him.

I can see how he compares wanting a King’s Power for selfish reasons to be comparable to wanting the power of an Evil God.

Yuuki’s resolve appears to be motivated by his rejection of the Human World… For reasons other than losing their house mind you.

And at this moment, Walhalance is ALSO freed from it’s seal.

Yuuki plays a Sacred Gungnir at Lv2, there’s really not much else to cover here.

Though there’s notably 2 cards on Yuuki’s board when he plays it in this shot:

But he depleted 2 cards for Avalanche Aura and Yggdrasill was destroyed so I have zero clue what that extra card is. It had to have been there since his last turn since it being there would stop Belga from going for game.

And of course for a nice debut, we get a Level 3 Walhalance.

A Black Knight of Silver to contrast Yggdrasill being a White Knight of Silver.

BS06’s White X-Rare card. The ArmoredSacred Walhalance.

Cost 7 with 3 White Reductions, meaning you need to pay a minimum of 4 to get this into play.

It’s first effect, at all levels, is Armor Infinity. A Special kind of Armor that gives Walhalance immunity to any effect that shares a colour with a symbol on the opposing field. The only way to skirt around this is to use a card that does not share a colour with a symbol on your field, such as using a White Magic with only Red symbols on board. But this usually means you’ll be paying full cost to try get rid of Walhalance.

The effect at Level 2 and 3 is similar to Odin’s, he can exhaust Armed Machines in order to add their BP to his.

And finally, when he attacks, all opposing Spirits with 4000 BP or less return to the hand, it’s a VAST upgrade to Yggdrasill’s effect when summoned.

Supposedly, according to the Batspi.com page on Walhalance, when he came out in BS06, there was a vote, and Walhalance was ranked as the 3rd strongest card in that set.

Overall, he’s a little expensive for what he does, but he’s a good card at the time of his release.

Nowadays, haha, Powercreep is a bitch ain’t it?

Belga’s struck with a horrifying sight, failing to process the fact that the cards he expected would fall right into his hands and make him King are now being used by his opponent.

While very rare, situations where the evidence speaks for itself are certainly the most satisfying… provided it’s not contradicting something you believe to be true anyway. That’s just cause for rage.

Pretty typical response to a self-entitled individual, he’s just now realized something doesn’t belong to him, and has now defaulted to trying to take it.

And of course, since if he can take a card, then property no longer matters and he can take what he wants.

When the chips are down, he’s given in to his greed.

Thor attacks again, using his effect when attacking to exhaust Mjolnir and gain it’s current BP, putting him at 11000.

Yuuki blocks with Walhalance.

Naturally, Walhalance only has 10000 BP at Level 3, dealing with a 13000 BP Thor won’t do much.

Unlike his predecessor, Thor, Walhalance is able to use Thor’s BP gaining effect on Block as well.

This gives Walhalance Gungnir’s 4000 BP, sticking him at 14000 BP. But Belga’s made a misplay.

You see, it’s turn 14, Belga’s had 7 Core steps, and lost 3 lives. That’s 14 Total core he has available.

Of that 14 core, only 11 of it has been used. 4 for Thor’s Level 3, 2 to maintain his 2 other spirits that aren’t Fenrircannon MK-II, 2 more to maintain Mjolnir’s Level 1 (it needs 2 core to be at Level 1), and 3 to Level up Fenrircannon MK-II to Level 2

Now, even if he played Mjolnir THIS turn, Mjolnir is free with maximum reductions, if he used the 3 Core he hasn’t used yet.

The reason he hasn’t used that 3 core to level up Mjolnir is because there are now 2 Fenrircannon MK-II’s on his board. Which means he spent the 3 core that isn’t being used playing the 2nd one and levelling it up.

Had he not played the 2nd one, and just raised Mjolnir’s level to 3, Thor would be gaining 7000 BP now. Putting him at 15000 BP, far higher than Walhalance’s maximum 14000.

Why didn’t Belga do this?

Because Belga’s an idiot, and likely isn’t aware of the effects of Walhalance, this is likely meant to be a “Show, don’t tell” way of informing us, the viewers, that Belga does not give less of a shit about Walhalance enough to even know what it does, just the status that the card can give him.

When Core beliefs are challenged, it makes one’s faith in them stronger, not weaker. That’s a human defense mechanism.

Belga cannot fathom the idea that he is not fit to be this World’s King, so Walhalance’s choice must therefore be wrong.

Thor is destroyed. Shattered to pieces, much like Belga’s self-perception.

Yuuki decides this match is over, and starts to ask Kajitsu to leave.

The Silver Knights are not convinced, believing that this isn’t over.

And to a degree they’re right, Yuuki only has 1 life, and 2 blockers, Belga has 3 attackers remaining.

But even if Yuuki is in a losing position, their positions are already clear regardless of whether he wins or loses. Not to mention Yuuki supposedly wasn’t trying.

Yeah that block from Yggdrasill was kind of suspect honestly, there was no reason to want to push for such a dangerous gambit when you weren’t even in danger.

Belga’s motivation to continue vanished along with his Key Spirit, so even if he can win here. It wouldn’t change that he is neither the White Soldier, nor the rightful White King. It would be meaningless.

We got to see Thor vs Thor-but-not-really. Don’t think it was that uninteresting.

I wish less steps were skipped, the amount of flashback padding really cut into that time.

Kajitsu spots a Brilliant Rose, a Mysterious Rose and a Warm Rose, divining that Clackey, Mai and Dan have gathered.

Whoa Dan, get a room.

Checkmate, Meat-eaters.

Remember to always re-evaluate your position when presented with new information.

In other news, Zungurii succeeded at making chilled pasta.

D’aww that’s adorable, Zungurii’s taking responsibility for the fact that Clackey and Dan are arguing over the last pieces of the Curry because Zungurii’s been too busy doting on Mai thanks to her positive reinforcement.

Mai’s attempts to condition Zungurii into being her personal chef have failed thanks to Dan’s passion.

Magisa of course, is saying what we all feel like saying, “The goofiness is fun and all but there’s a whole-ass PLOT going on?”

This would make more sense coming from the lips of someone who wasn’t a fictional character speaking from a world where time has no meaning.

That certainly was an episode of Battle Spirits Shounen Gekiha Dan.

Naturally, the point of this episode was to flesh out how actually deep the relationship the Momose Siblings have with each other is.

It stresses a level of trust and loyalty that seems to go beyond just siblings and is justified in story by their shared adversity in the Human World.

The problem is the execution of this is uh… handled quite poorly, using symbolism more suggestive of romance than kinship (which, for reasons we’ll find out later, isn’t an accident) and Yuuki displaying behaviours that seem more controlling of Kajitsu than supportive (which, is probably an accident, don’t let anyone tell you nothing in stories is by accident because literally anyone can interpret anything however they want)

The only way this feels less creepy than it is, is because Kajitsu actively shows she’s content with and welcomes the way she’s regarded by her brother which would leave a more analytical person with an idea of “Well if that’s the dynamic that makes them happy then who are we to argue?”

In any case! That’s the Episode! Naturally our card of the day is our boy Walhalance! So since we’ve discussed that already, I’ll end this post here!

See you lot next time! Buh-bye!