Captain Zane leader of the Blood Guard Anarchist is a crazy character (dare I say zany?). He is an odd twist on the rushdown style by not being truly fast until he has the opponent knocked down (KD). However, one of Zane’s innate abilities, Shenanigans, lets him flip two cards off the top of his deck whenever he could play a combo card and use one of those flipped cards in the combo. This essentially gives Zane free damage and is what allows him to put on lots of pressure. It enables him to get high damage combos on fewer cards from hand. Shenanigans is also a double edged sword because Zane can end up flipping cards he can’t use in a combo. Jokers are particularly painful cards to flip from Shenanigans. But Zane isn’t a man with a plan so he just rolls with the madness.

Zane is an odd rushdown character because while both players are standing he doesn’t have a fast (speed 1.0 or faster) attack. In fact his fasted combo starting move while the opponent is standing is speed 2.3. This is quite a bit slower than other aggressive characters. Having said all that Zane becomes quite fast when the opponent is KD. Because of Zane’s second innate ability, Meaty Attacks, all his normal attacks are speed 1.0 when the opponent is KD. This is bonkers when you factor in Mix up normals on top of Zane’s high damage normals, and mixed with a dash of Shenanigans.

Now that Zane’s innate has been covered let’s look at some of his odd normals.



Zane having odd normals was meant literally. Both his normal attacks and throws are speed x.3. No other character in the game has moves that are odd speed numbers. That is just one more thing that makes this anarchist zany.

While his 2 attack is at speed 2.3, which is pretty fast considering the kind of damage it leads into, it is also his fastest non-ace attack while the opponent is standing.

While Zane’s standing attack speed is a little on the slower side he’s no slouch when it comes to throw speeds. His 5 throw comes in at speed 5.3!! this is going to be the fastest normal throw in most mu. He also has a throw on his 7 which is speed 7.3, this is also a fast throw. Thanks to these throws Zane can be played like some kind of batty offensive grappler that plays a throw/dodge range to get his offense going. But make no mistake he can connect with his normal attacks as well and many a Zane can get things going with their attacks.

One final note about Zane’s throws is that they are 2cp linkers! This allows him to place them in any combat and he can make use of them whenever he flips throws from Shenanigans. They also don’t KD, Zane can’t get his Meaty mix ups started THAT easily.



Speaking of getting KD Zane’s J, Anarch Crushers, allows him to do just that. It is a 1cp 9 damage ender that KD! That is a lot of good stuff right there. It is only speed 2.8 and it’s an ender so in most mu Zane won’t be playing this as his combat card but sticking it in combos. And what combos it makes, here are some examples of the kind of damage Zane can do with Anarch Crusher:

2Q9J = 27 and the KD (if any of the combo cards came from Shenanigans Zane just did that kind of damage and his hand size for next turn only decreased by 1)

Throw9J = 25 and the KD

Zane is very happy indeed when he flips a J from Shenanigans. Any time an Anarch Crusher combo connects it lets Zane start his Meaty offensive in a very big way.

Zane is one of 3 characters in the game that has an attack on something higher than 8. He is however, the only character in the game that can make these slow high damage attacks fast. When the opponent is KD all Zane’s normal attacks become speed 1.0. This allows for some sick damage combos all the while the opponent can’t dodge and their blocks can get crossed up. The Zane KD dream combo is:

9Q9J = 35 damage and KD



Zane’s highest damage normals are both odd. This can make Zane predictable on Meaty Turns if he always just goes for biggest damage. Zane needs to be not afraid to mix in the even attacks as well (his highest damage even attack being a 6).


Zane’s Q, Shoulder Ram, is pretty straight forward. It’s a 1cp linker that does 7 damage. Put it in combos, do good damage, and kill the opponent. It's speed is slow at 4.0 so it won’t be starting many (if any) combos, just use it to link combos together for big damage.

An important thing to know is that Zane has no normal straights at all. So the only way to connect his fast normals to his high damage ones is by playing a Q or a throw to link them. The Q is way better at linking combos together because it is only 1cp and does 1 more damage.


While Zane doesn’t have any super fast non ace attacks in neutral (when everyone is standing) he does have a way around that, by throwing BOMBS! Zane’s “slow” K has an ability on it, Crash Bomb, that says it can’t be interrupted which means if the opponent plays something that is faster Crash Bomb will hit after and it wins combat. This allows Zane to trade well with all other characters reversals. One thing Zane needs to be wary of is high damage super attacks. If one of those trades with Crash Bomb Zane will probably be sad.

In addition to the K’s cool 10 damage it also KD which is fantastic with its ability. It gives Zane a very strong tool to get his offense started in neutral.

Crash Bomb does have a negative side. If it is blocked Zane will take 5 damage (but will also deal 5 to the opponent) and he becomes KD. Zane being KD can be a problem because he has no odd blocks, which makes it easier for him to be crossed up then some of the other characters.


Wow, what can be said about Zane’s ace attacks? Well he has two different sides to his ace like everyone else. On the bottom is slipstream phase which takes two aces and deals 19 damage for 2cp. Zane can stick this into any combo (it’s even better when Zane has one ace in hand and flips another ace from Shenanigans) that he wants.

The top attack on this card is Maximum Anarchy (MA). It is a 4 ace attack that deals 50 damage and is speed 0.0!!! When Zane gets MA he can play a very strong mix up of throw or MA. With Zane being Zane throw wins will also get solid damage so it is a very effective mix up to be playing. Not much else to say about MA but if you want to inject a little chaos into your life get four aces and play the mix up.


Zane’s other ability is on his 4. Creator & Destroy can be used whenever Zane hits with a full combo or hits with a can’t combo move. It allows him to look at the opponent’s hand. Then the opponent discards their hand to the bottom of their deck and draws that many cards.

This card shouldn’t be used willy nilly because Zane might actually be improving the opponents hand. But, if the opponent is someone that likes to build up a strong hand or the opponent has powered up for a lot of aces then it can be a very strong and effective ability to use. Just give the opponent time to build up and then let them have it with Creator & Destroyer.

Well there you have Captain Zane. If you want to play a rushdown character that is horrifying to KD opponents and has more health then other rushdown characters, and you want to string together powerful combos with free cards + if you like powerful super moves and don’t mind the fact that Zane has slower attacks then other rushdown characters in neutral then you should check out this zany guy.

-This guide was posted with permission of the auther, ClanNatioy.