Why Vanguard shouldn't have a time limit, or at least have better rules when time is called.

Thought I've been quite quiet recently which is very unlike me, so decided to talk about something that kinda bothers me, because I like rulings and all that judge shenanigans and I think this is a problem.

I hear from my Vanguard playing friends who attended AFA, that some pro Vanguard player was eliminated cos his opponent dragged game to time, and overguarded like a total scrub.

For those of you unfamiliar with Vanguard, basically if you take 6 damage you lose. Similar to Yugioh, it is perfectly normal to throw the first few damage for free, just as it is to sometimes eat some big push then counter attack, the same concept remains, as long as your life isn't 0, or in Vanguard's case, damage isn't 6, you still have a chance to win.

When Yugioh is brought to time, the current Turn Player will be sitting on Turn 0, and the game ends when Turn 3 is over. Essentially this means both players are given 2 BPs to do anything. Which usually is rush like dogs and defend like Chinese DotA players. The one with the higher LP at the end of Turn 3 wins.

Not trying to slam the organisers, as I heard they did quite a good job considering it was the first major Vanguard event in Singapore, but I feel such a rule is unfair in Vanguard. Yes in Yugioh, we have people who drag game to time too *ahem Wesley*, but almost every meta deck now has some sort of 8000 board all in that can appear, which is what the players tend to turn to during Sudden Death.

However, in Vanguard, this is not the case, even if your entire board's attacks hit, it is unlikely to be able to deal 6 damage in a single turn, as such, 1 point of damage is much more valuable than even 1000 LP in Yugioh terms. Furthurmore, certain decks rely heavily on Counterblast abilities, which require them to take damage. This puts the player in between a rock and a hard place. If he takes the damage, he may lose, if he doesn't take the damage, he may not be able to win.

More importantly, in Yugioh, where during time we just try to push as much damage as possible, basically overexerting like a newb, it is not necessarily bad playing, it could be a form of mindfucking, making your backrow seem extremely protective to your opponent. However, in Vanguard, overguarding is a sign of scrubbiness and lack of foresight. To add on, unlike Yugioh, where some attacks deal less damage, in Vanguard, 1 point of damage from a 5000 Draw Trigger is as good as 1 point of damage from a Counterblasted Dragonic Overlord.

The problem still remains, though, that in a best of three tournament setting, where the stakes are so high, players should not be given an hour and a half to play out their matches, a time limit must be imposed. Still, this would lead to tremendous overguarding in the final game if both players knew that time was going to get called. They may even Mulligan to get a full Trigger hand of 10K guards, which is even noober than noob.

During the Saturday Econ tournaments, usually we just let the players play it out, best of three, everyone there has time anyway and the prizes are not to kill for. At Ah Soo, it seems they adopt a best of one format, which although may not be the greatest, ensures that the games end on time.

From the above two scenarios, we can see two imperfect solutions to the problem at hand. Let the players play it out, or adopt best of one. While both are full of cons, they ensure the game of Vanguard, in all its greatness, is played the way it's supposed to be played. With skill, epic lucksack, and basic arithmetic.

NOTE: I just got that info from heresay, if it isn't true, well this wall of text talks about why you shouldn't make time limits in Vanguard in any case.