"Clans" (クラン Kuran) are the factions of Cardfight!! Vanguard. Within the card game, they are the primary determinants of the structure of a deck. Clans are defined by their different themes and focuses; for example, Royal Paladin is a clan composed of holy knights focused on calling allies, while Kagero is a clan composed of fiery dragons and dragon knights focused on retiring the opponent's rear-guards. All cards have an original clan, listed in the bottom-right corner of the card above its race. Additionally, all clans are associated with a nation, one of the six countries or continents of Planet Cray, the setting of the Cardfight!! Vanguard universe.
In the main mode of Vanguard play for the Premium and 
Premium formats, Clan Fight, decks can only be composed of cards from one clan, with some exceptions. Originally, cards were allowed to be used in decks regardless of clans, although many cards had restrictions that heavily discouraged using them with cards from different clans (such as Lord), and mixing clans was infrequent and largely discouraged. For various reasons, the Clan Fight regulation was eventually implemented in March 2014, rendering restrictions like Lord unnecessary, and while the Extreme Fight regulation was implemented to allow multi-clan decks, it is rarely played in practice.
In the past, to activate a trigger effect, the player must have at least one vanguard or rear-guard on the field with the same clan as that trigger unit. However, due to Vanguard being primarily played with the aforementioned regulation, this restriction is now no longer in effect.
List of Clans
Other Clans
| Name | Notes | Color |
|---|---|---|
| BanG Dream! | Belongs to the nation of same name | White / Pink |
| BREAKERZ | Non-tournament legal | Black |
| Cray Elemental | Belongs to all clans and nations | Clear rainbow |
| Hololive | Exclusive to Cardfight!! Vanguard ZERO; useable in all clans' decks | Clear rainbow |
| Iconic | Thai-exclusive; Does not belong to any nation | Gold |
| Touken Ranbu | Belongs to the nation of same name | Clear pink |
| TachiVan | Non-tournament legal | Yellow / Red |
| Etranger | Non-tournament legal (except for Gargantua Dragon); belongs to Star Gate | Grey |
| The Mask Collection | Thai-exclusive; belongs to Star Gate | Grey |
| Union Verse | manga-exclusive; belongs to Star Gate | Grey |
| Animation | Thai-exclusive; belongs to Star Gate | Grey |
| Game | Thai-exclusive; belongs to Star Gate | Grey |
| Live Action | Thai-exclusive; belongs to Star Gate | Grey |
Nation Clans
Each collaboration nation introduced in the 
Standard format has a corresponding clan of the same name that all cards possessing the nation are also part of. These clans have little meaning in actual gameplay and are only used to allow deckbuilding in Clan Fight-based formats for those nations.
| Name | Color |
|---|---|
| Monster Strike | Light Orange |
| SHAMAN KING | Dark Orange |
| Record of Ragnarok | Black / Desaturated Yellow |
| VSPO! | Purple |
| CoroCoro | Yellow / Red |
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