Guardian Force

Guardian Force (ガーディアンフォース Gādian Fōsu) is a clan from the United Sanctuary nation.

Background
What is Guardian Force?

Guardian Force is the homeland defense and intelligence-gathering agency of the United Sanctuary government in an alternate timeline of Cray. Due to the nonexistence of Oracle Think Tank and Genesis in the alternate timeline, Guardian Force handles information gathering of all kinds, ranging from spying on the Dark Zone and cardfight:Dragon Empire governments to predicting tomorrow's weather. Guardian Force also handles clandestine operations and assassinations, a role assigned to Shadow Paladin in the main timeline.

Despite their important role in intelligence gathering, Guardian Force is more well-known for the Steel Legion, the second regular army of the United Sanctuary in the alternate timeline behind Gold Paladin. The Steel Legion is known for its steady, defensive tactics on the battlefield, and their defense never seems to break.

The Divisions of Guardian Force

Due to the greatly varied purposes Guardian Force serves, its ranks are divided into several groups.

The most prominent of these groups is the Steel Legion, the second regular army of the United Sanctuary after Gold Paladin. While Gold Paladin handles the air force, the navy, and inter-nation expeditions, the Steel Legion is most responsible for homeland defense, clashing with the Dragon Empire, Dark Zone, and Granblue at the Sanctuary's borders. The Steel Legion is known for its steady, defensive tactics, and no matter how much they are attacked, they outlast and tire the opponent before pressing their advantage.

The second group, the newest one, is Guardian, the special emergency task force of Guardian Force. Its formation was largely an accident: when the great flood appeared on Cray, Guardian Force's bases were bogged down in water and bureaucracy, so the angel Ciel assembled a small group of loyal allies to quickly provide help to devastated regions. For this, Ciel and her team were hailed as heroes, and the top brass of Guardian Force begrudgingly allowed her to officially form Guardian to respond to emergencies throughout the country.

The third group is Guardian Force's intelligence agency, occupying the niche that Oracle Think Tank fulfills in the main timeline. While it serves civilian purposes, its main purpose is the analyzing and storage of data collected by Guardian Force's field forces, with most of Oracle Think Tank's civilian activities handled by private companies.

The fourth and most secretive group is Covert Ops (秘密作戦), essentially the CIA of United Sanctuary. Led by Abyss Dragons and consisting of Ghosts and other shadowy operatives, it takes on the secret operations no one else can do. They are responsible for United Sanctuary's most amoral actions, which they believe is necessary for the good of the realm. It is often said that they have "a thousand eyes, and one."

Playstyle
Guardian Force is the king of defense. They hold complete dominion over the guardian circle, whether it be calling units to or from it, or having effects that trigger when a unit is called to the guardian circle. Most of Guardian Force's flashiest plays are done not on the Guardian Force player's turn, but on their opponent's turn.

Each of the divisions of Guardian Force has their own playstyle. The Steel Legion focuses on conventional defense, including increasing their vanguard's power and reinforcing lots of cards. Guardian focuses on superior calling from (GC), allowing them to maintain a consistent field. Covert Ops is the most offensive, with many effects that undermine your opponent during their attacks.

Reinforce
To reinforce a card, bind it face down. While the reinforced card in your bind zone, you can guard with that card as if it was in your hand. Unlike cards in your hand, you can't ride or call with reinforced cards.

The reminder text of reinforce is as follows:

ACT during the guard step
ACT abilities that say [Guard Step] can be used during the guard step in which your unit is being attacked, at the same period of time you can normal call units from hand to (GC) or call G guardians to (GC). This is mostly to clean up wording and triggers.

List of Guardian Force cards
Movement is incomplete: cards can currently be viewed here.