This clan's playstyle revolves around the themes of "stealth and sabotage". The clan focuses on reducing the opponent's resources, either directly by forcing them to discard, or indirectly by binding cards so they cannot be used to guard until the turn's end. Nubatama also gains various benefits for binding cards, including power bonuses or gaining the ability to send those cards to the drop zone. The stealth aspect is reinforced with their keyword "Afterimage", which allows them to return rear-guards to their hand once an opponent's bound card is returned to their hand. This allows them to use hit-and-run tactics throughout the game to keep their important units safe.
This clan gained a second keyword in Cardfight!! Vanguard G: NEXT based around taking control of the opponent's units and forcing them to attack their allies, aptly named "Dominate". This is the ability given to the shadow dragon by the demon from the past and thus is only used by Shiranui and his followers. While the keyword itself takes control of the opponent's rear-guards, there are some cards that force the opponent to revive cards from the drop zone, while others give power when a Dominated rear-guard attacks, allowing for more targets to control and weaker rear-guards to gain enough power to attack the opponent's vanguard.
Backgrounds
What is Nubatama?(Card of the Day, 18th December 2015)
It is the Espionage Corp of "Dragon Empire", the militant nation of the dragons. Its members are experts who master the unique martial arts and dark arts passed in the eastern territory of the Empire. Their main mission is intelligence collection and spying. Led by black dragons said to be born from darkness itself, the corps is relentless, not hesitant of self-sacrifice if ordered. To them, "accomplishment of missions" is more important than their lives.
This clan is based off of ninjas and dragons, which is apparent in their designs and playstyles. As a clan of the Dragon Empire, most of the units here are dragons, although there are some creatures and demons as well. Like its counterpart Murakumo, the clan is heavily influenced by Japanese culture, with a darker color scheme and a focus on shadows and destruction. Most of the units have "Stealth" in their titles, as well as a type of stealth, and a form of being, whether it be "Beast", "Fiend", "Rogue", or "Dragon". The Shura Stealth Dragon share the suffix "-congo", as "Congo" is a familial clan inside Nubatama. The inhabitants of this clan are beasts, dragons, ghosts, and demons.
Nubatama (射干玉) are the seeds of Iris Domestica. This word is used as a metaphor of "black".
Nubatama was the clan that took the longest time to become fully playable after its initial debut.
The Abyss Dragon G units have the tradition of including the phrase "rakan" at the end of their names, which is taken from the word "羅漢", which translates to "Achiever of Nirvana".
The "Rikudo" (六道, literally Six Paths) from the G units name refers to The Six Domains of the Desire realm in Buddhism.
The "Enma" (閻魔) from the G units name refers to Yama, the one who judges the dead.
