Vanquish Soul Guide (2026)
Overview
Vanquish Soul is an archetype that was introduced in "Wild Survivors" Deck build Pack. The deck theme focuses on Fighting games (mostly BlazBlue as you can see with some of the designs).
What make Vanquish Soul unique?
Their main gimmicks are to reveal monsters in your hand and the ability to tag out between fighters. The deck uses the revealed monster's attribute to then use what I dubbed 'Combo Effect'. Each Vanquish Soul monster has 2 effects that require 1 to multiple specific attributes to reveal to then use one of these abilities per turn. The required attributes can correlate to the Vanquish soul monster that you are trying to use their effect. 'Tag Out' is the other gimmick of Vanquish Soul which can help you avoid commonly used Handtraps like Imperm and Effect Veiler or other Targeting disruptions.
PATCH NOTES 1.2
It has been some time, dear Vanquishers. With this update, we're introducing a series of balance adjustments and bug fixes aimed at creating a fairer and more enjoyable gameplay experience. We hope these changes improve overall balance and enhance your time in the game. With Patch 1.2, we’re also introducing the new DLC, No Rest for the Dead.
Following extensive community testing, we’ve determined that the characters Jiaolong and Razen required adjustments and have therefore been nerfed to better align with overall game balance. In addition, the comeback mechanic “Stake Your Soul!” has also been nerfed. Data and competitive feedback showed that it was excessively powerful and offered too much value, particularly in professional league play. Furthermore, we’re excited to announce a special collaboration with a title from Konami™. This crossover introduces the renowned criminal hunter unit, K9-17 Izuna, to the fight of the Vanquishers. Learn more in our K9 Collaboration section inside Main Deck Tech/Engines!
Table of Contents
- Select your Vanquisher! (A general understanding of how each cards work)
- Main Deck tech/engine.
- Combos
- FAQ
- Select your Vanquisher!
- Main Deck Tech/Engines
- Combo
- FAQ
Searchers
"Razen, the man who burns his heart brightly!"
Searcher
- Add 1 non-Warrior "Vanquish Soul" to your hand from your Deck. This means he can't search himself.
Combo Effect
- FIRE: Makes him unable to be destroyed by card effects this turn.
- FIRE and DARK: Destroy all other monster in his column. Note: This affects your own monsters.
"The smart and cunning yet mischievous Dr. Mad Love!"
Searcher
- Add 1 "Vanquish Soul" Spell/Trap from your Deck to your hand. Note: She can't search Stake your Soul!
Combo Effect
- DARK: Reduces a monster ATK/DEF by 500.
- DARK and EARTH: Return 1 monster on the field with the lowest DEF to the hand. This affects your own monsters.
Taggers
These cards have the Tag Out Effect, which is a Quick-Effect bounce effect in the hand, which can replace a VS monster you control by returning them to the hand, then Special Summoning the Taggers. They can Tag Out during Main Phase and can only Tag Out a different Type from theirs.
"His signature move 'Borger Punch' will damage his opponent's pride! "
Combo Effect
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DARK: Draw 1 card.
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EARTH and FIRE: Inflict 1500 damage.
"His signature move 'Caesar Calamity' will shred anyone in his way!"
Combo Effect
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EARTH: Makes him unaffected by activated effect for the rest of the turn.
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EARTH, FIRE and DARK: Allows him to destroy 1 other card on the field.
Free Body
These monsters can Special Summon themselves in special conditions, making them ideal to be used as Link material.
"The beautiful huntress of the arena! Pantera!"
Summon Conditions
- Having no monsters in your Main Monster Zone. This is a(n) Ignition Effect. Synergizes really well with the Link.
Combo Effect
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EARTH: Makes her unable to be destroyed by battle this turn.
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EARTH and FIRE: Destroy all Spell/Trap in her column. This also destroy your Spell/Trap.
"The maniac Revival Slime! Pluton HG!"
Summon Conditions
- Having no monsters OR all monsters you control are Vanquish Soul. This is a Quick Effect only during opponent's turn.
Combo Effect
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FIRE: This card gains 3000 DEF.
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DARK and EARTH: This card gains 3000 ATK. (Kinda mid ngl)
The Pillar of the Team
Important Note: This card is not treated as a "Vanquish Soul" monster, so you cannot bounce it with Caesar and Borger, nor will it help with Dust Devil and Vanquish Soul, Start!.
Spell/Traps
Spells
Would you like to continue?
OPEN THE GAME! By paying 500 LP, you can bring back 1 of our Vanquish Soul monster back to our hand, or revive it from the GY. Currently not ran because... Rock exists.
Finish off your opponent's combo!
By changing a VS monster's battle position, you can change monsters your opponent control to face-down Defense Position, up to the amount of Vanquish Soul monsters you control. A decent card that is optional in your build.
Get ready... Stake... YOUR... SOUL!
This card allows you to Special Summon 1 Vanquish Soul monster from your Deck, that has the same Attribute and different name as the monster you revealed for this effect. NOTE: Stake Your Soul! is NOT treated a Vanquish Soul Spell.
Trap
The power of teamwork! TRINITY TIME BURST!
A Trap Card that can Special Summon 2 Vanquish Soul from our hand, with a different Attribute than the one we targeted. It brings a lot of utility as we can bounce cards in the same column as the Special Summoned and targeted cards. However, the Special Summon monster's effects are negated.
The draconic power overstrikes! 'Calamity Caesar'!
This is a Counter Trap which negates a card that targets a card we control, while we control a 'Vanquish Soul' monster. This card however, is just kinda mid, because we have ways to avoid targeted effects. You can run this if you want.
DLC: Winter Breakpoint
In Patch 1.1, we introduce Jiaolong, a fighter featuring a unique combat mechanic. Beware his “Snow Devil” special attack. One misstep could leave you frozen in place.
Cold like ice and burns brightly like the sun! Jialong!
Konami has blessed us with new patch notes, and with that new patch comes a new fighter! 'Jiaolong'! With him comes a new playstyle. After activating VS card that reveals monsters in hand, he can be Summoned directly. He's the most unique in the roster, as his Combo Effect requires the same Attribute as him.
Combo Effect
- FIRE: Change the battle position of 1 monster on the field.
- FIRE & FIRE: Add 1 "Vanquish Soul" card from your Deck to your hand, except "Vanquish Soul Jiaolong".
Jiaolong's signature move that leaves no one alive!
This card can work with all of the Attributes, and need all 3 Attributes (EARTH, FIRE and DARK) to get all of the effects.
- 1+: Inflict 400 damage, then you can Special Summon 1 VS monster from hand.
- 2+: Inflict 600 damage, grants immunity to effect destruction to all of your VS monsters.
- 3+: Inflict 800 damage, also destroy all monsters on the field. Normally this won't destroy your VS monsters due to the above effect taking place beforehand, however do note that your Rock of the Vanquisher will be destroyed.
DLC: No Rest for the Dead
In Patch 1.2, we’re introducing two new fighters, along with a brand-new campaign. Command the undead and overwhelm your opponents with Hollie Sue, and uncover the true origin of the colossal statue found in the “Rock of the Vanquisher” map through the Vanquish Soul Rocks campaign.
The puppeteer of the faithful dead, Hollie Sue!
Another unique card in that she could be Special Summoned by revealing 1 other "Vanquish Soul" monster from your hand. Another thing about her is that her Combo Effects requires 2 Attributes each, as opposed to just 1.
Combo Effect
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EARTH & DARK: Take control of 1 monster your opponent control with the lowest ATK (your choice, if tied) until the End Phase.
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FIRE & DARK: Special Summon 1 non-Psychic "Vanquish Soul" monster from your Deck.
Rock it up for Vanquish Soul Rocks!
An Xyz Monster that requires 2 or more Level 4 "Vanquish Soul" monsters. Can also be Special Summoned by attaching to 1 "Vanquish Soul" monster if one had battled that turn, or even "Rock of the Vanquisher"!
His bonds with friend grant him powerful effects!
- DARK: All monsters your opponent control loses 800 ATK.
- FIRE: "Vanquish Soul" monsters you control gain 1000 ATK.
- EARTH: You can detach 1 material from this card; destroy 1 card your opponent controls. The pop isn't once per turn. Can also be used as a 1-card Zeus.
Experience a brand-new campaign, featuring Jiaolong as they uncover the truth behind their connection to Caesar Valius, and the mysterious giant statue in “Rock of the Vanquisher.”
A field spell that comes with 3 effects that help our Deck. (And searchable by Dr. Mad Love herself.)
All of these effects are hard once per turn.
- You can target 1 "Vanquish Soul" monster you control; add 1 "Vanquish Soul" monster with a different Attribute from your Deck to your hand.
- If a "Vanquish Soul" monster(s) you control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can reveal 1 "Vanquish Soul" monster in your hand instead. This effect DOES not activate/causes a chain.
- During your End Phase, if you control 2 or more "Vanquish Soul" monsters: You can Set 1 "Vanquish Soul" Trap from your Deck.
VS Core
Vanquish Soul Rocks is optional.
Sample pure VS deck list
Non-Engines
These are 'handtraps', able to be used from your hands to disrupt enemy turn. We mostly want to use handtraps that match our Deck Attribute, so handtraps that you commonly see like Imperm or Veiler isn't used much in this Deck with an exception.
Loading... and Loading... are Meta-changing powerful cards that you need to run. They're also Fire and Earth so you can use them for revealing cost of VS cards. The rest are meta dependant. Note: Loading... can search up Loading... Since Caesar is a Dragon.Loading... and Loading... is also good handtraps to use.
Generic Searcher
ENGINES
Introducing characters from the fighting game K9 Pursuit: Justice Hunter! This collaboration features K9-17 Izuna, K9-66a Jokul, K9-66b Lantern, K9-04 Noroi, and K9-ØØ Lupis. We would like to sincerely thank Konami™ for this opportunity to bring these iconic characters into Vanquish Soul™.
K9
Well, it had to happen at some point. K9 is a really powerful generic Level 5 spam archetype. And Hollie Sue and Jiao are Level 5. Fun, isn't it? This guide won't go indepth about VSK9, as it's another guide on its own.
CORE
Extra Deck:
Noroi is used for a 1cc to refresh your hand while allowing you get to a main VS name and combo using Saryuja SS effect (most importantly Dr. Mad Love)
N.As.H Knight can be bumped to 2 if you have space, 1 for Masquerade (after going into CXyz N.As.Ch. Knight), and 1 for its quick effect suck effect going 2nd.
Some optional N.As.H. Knight cards could be: Loading... and Loading... . Just be sure to run their original counterpart.
Arc Rebellion helps us deal with Lunalight.
Sample VSK9 list
Mitsuguri
A really generic splashable engine that makes Loading... to search Razen. Can be used if you're planning to use pure VS.
Sample Decklist for Mitsurugi VS
Rescue-Ace
This is an old engine that was used in pure VS because they are FIRE and could help us via Loading... 's draw effect.
Other Noteworthy Engines
Regenesis Engine
OPTIONAL:
Superheavy Samurai Engine
Vanquish Soul is a hand-resources-based deck so most of your combos will depend heavily on what you open. However I can give some examples on the basic line of VS.
With the addition of K9, we can expand more interactions during our opponent turn! Noroi is also a 1cc into Saryuja to start our VS combo while reshuffling stuffs that we don't need. Special thanks to VS Arcade guide for these combos!
Disclaimer: Most of the combos are for pure VS. K9 is simply just there for extending.
Most of the combos heavily rely on whether you have DARK and EARTH in hand to proc Holly Sue. If you do proc Holly Sue, you can go into K9 portion of the Deck and cook from there!
1) What is the deck's chokepoint/Where can I safely handtrap?
Unfortunately, while being in K9 meta, it's pretty hard to activate any handtrap (except for imperm) against them for Ripper is a thing. But, if they haven't make Ripper yet, then these are options you can use to stop VSk9.
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Loading...
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Razen
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Jiaolong
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Madlove
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Stake Your Soul!. Do be careful as they can easily bait you out with this card if they already have Razen in hand.
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Hollie Sue
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- This is trickier to do since VS can dodge easily with Tag Out. However, a neat thing is that you can Imperm their Loading... during your Standby Phase (It only activates during Main Phase). For Effect Veiler however, it gonna depend since it's gonna be countered a lot. Hollie Sue is also a big priority
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Loading...
- If the K9VS somehow overextend badly, use Nibiru, since card advantage is what VS needs to win, deriving them of both Rock and whatever monsters on field will leave them devastated. However, be aware of Ripper!
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Loading...
- Droll can stop the K9VS player turn if you droll'ed after their search. Droll is still pretty good right now. If you Droll after Razen searched a monster, the VS player can still just go into Rock and set up on your own turn.
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Loading...
- Really only useful on Rock of the Vanquisher to deny them getting back their Razen to be used for next turn. Or Lupis.
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Loading...
- Able to be used on Izuna or Lupis before they could Xyz during your turn into Ripper.
2) I activated Pantera/Razen pop, and yet they didn't resolve when they get bounced back by Caesar! Why?
- According to the texts on both Pantera and Razen, the effect checks for the card's column. If they aren't at the original column at the end of the resolution, they will 'fizzle'.
3) What do I search with Razen??!
It depends on your hand.
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If you have another FIRE, search Jiaolong, then summon him by using Razen reveal effect. Link rock with Razen then fetch him back, then from there, you can search whatever VS card you need in that situation.
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If you have a DARK, you can try to search for Borger if there's no other need to search.
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If you have all 3 Attributes, then it depends on the amount of Attribute. I.e Search an EARTH like Pantera to make Caesar pop live, a DARK to make Borger draw live or a FIRE to make Jiaolong live.
4) Why didn't my Dust Devil go off and make my opponent monster flipped to facedown?
- You need to have the monster's position to be changed successfully for the effect to take place, meaning if the monster is removed from the field before its position could be changed, you won't be able to flip face-down.
5) My Snow Devil effect to SS a VS and/or Dark Hole effect didn't go off, why?
- For the effects to be applied, the burn needs to be applied first, otherwise the effect(s) won't go through.
6) How do I go 2nd?
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The deck has 2 turn 0 plays: Being Izuna and Holly Sue. If you have Holly Sue and its Attributes needed, you can Summon it, then activate Sue effect to either take control of 1 monster or Special Summon Razen from Deck for a quick search + Pop. Izuna can be SS'ed the turn your opponent used a monster effect in hand or GY. You send Lupis to then Xyz Summon during their turn, going into Loading... or Loading... to interrupt your opponent.
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Going 2nd, you can use Jacks 2nd effect to try and push for OTK.
7) VSK9 Mirror
Unfortunately, this is chalking up to who has the better draws to extend past the other's interruption. Since VSK9 is really skill intensive, it's similar to Tear mirror match as to who have more experience and knowledge.
8) How do we play under Maxx C/Mulcharmies?
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Really hand dependant, at best, we'll give them 1 card drawn (best scenario, if Fuwalos) or 2 (if C) passing with Ripper and Set Forced Released (from her effect).
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Mad Love results in 2 draws (Sue SS'ing from Deck and Ripper from Extra Deck under Fuwalos and 3 if you link off mad love for rock)
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Alternatively, you can do the good ol' NS Razen, link into Rock, add back Razen. Or Mad Love to get the field spell and search Sue to play on their turn!
Always try for ripper if you have the chance as she'll guaranteed you 3 disruptions on her own (Hand/GY monster effect disruption, Forced Release pop and Werewolf handrip).
- If your hand has diverse Attributes, you could go for Sue SS, effect SS Madlove from Deck, effect to add Start! from Deck. Searches for Caesar. Link into Rock, add back Sue. This gives 2 draws if Fuwa, which is ideal. Not ideal under Maxx C however.
Conclusion
Vanquish Soul is a strong deck that can play through the most popular handtraps like Loading... or Loading... or Loading... (drawing the opponent only 2-3 cards) while putting up enough disruption to head for the grind game win. The deck is fairly easy to learn, the difficulty is:
- Learning where to use your tag out to evade disruptions
- Optimize your endboard and gameplan on your hand attribute
- Know the Match Up so you can pull out the best strategy
Thanks to K9 breathing new life into VS (and having a support card that synergize VERY well with it), it is pretty much very good.
Special thanks to
, , Shadow#1221, iaito, Kurolox, Platon, Master Duel server VS Channel and VS Arcade Station for help with this guide.Credits to
for the thumbnails on each of the sections."Heaven or Hell? Stake Your Soul!"
Guide Update Logs
Last updated February 5th 2026.
- Adjusted the guide in accordance to the latest banlist and new pack releases (February 4th 2026)