With the release of the V Extra Booster 11: Crystal Melody Bermuda Triangle booster support, there’s only one predator in the sea and she’s blonde.

It’s been only 3 weeks ’til the mermaids received their annual support but like last year, the dynamics of the game has shifted again in favor of the Bermuda Triangle. While there are decks variants like Pacifica, Melody, Coral, and Colorful Pastorale which received a significant power boost, only one of those decks stood out in the tournament scene the most – Riviere.

It’s true that one-turn kills have existed in almost every card game and Cardfight! Vanguard itself is no stranger to having this in the previous sets. However, it is only in Riviere that the OTK mechanic in the Standard Format became so consistently abusable. The sheer amount of utility the deck offers makes it one of only few decks that has an extremely high win-rate against every other deck and archetype. This is what happens when you make an entire booster set featuring only a single clan, the card designers are bound to run out of ideas and eventually make a broken card.

For now, I see no way for other players to outplay this deck as mechanics such as resource control such as denying counterblast or eliminating rear-guards do very little to prevent an imminent defeat. Doing generic counter-strategies like early-game rush or ensuring that you get defensive triggers on the kill turn may work but only if you have control of what triggers will appear.

Of course, we’d recommend this deck for those who are thirsty for victory (and other things, probably) but not to those who are on a very tight budget. The deck is a great competitive deck which will last until future metas. Although, one thing to remember is that with its prominence in the tournament scene comes this fish’s natural enemy – THE BAN LIST.