Sunday, July 15, 2012

Spotlight: Nakamura Seishirou/中村誠士朗

Fighter's Spotlight is an ongoing project concerned with tracking real-world professional cardfighters across the globe.
Nakamura Seishirou/中村誠士朗
Age: Unknown; Seniors Division
Titles Won: Hakata Regional Champion (Senior Class), National Finalist Third Place (Summer 2012)
Current Status: National Finalist Third Place (Summer 2012)
Deck Type: Kagerou (Dragonic Overlord-The End)
Nakamura Seishirou was the 2012 regional champion for Hakata. While he was one of the stronger candidates for the title, Nakamura was generally placed behind Shibata Yuusuke in terms of which Kagerou cardfighter was more likely to seize the throne.

Decks and Play Style
Nakamura uses a draw-heavy The End deck which is geared towards flexibility based on the opponent rather than on a direct, automated play style. Making full use of his Conroe first vanguard, Nakamura's primary targets for the Lizard Soldier's skill are Kimnara, Heat Nail and Aermo. Like with other The End decks, Aermo is used to cycle out cards in search of extra copies of The End to persona blast, while also dropping drive checked cards for its cost to fully conceal his hand from the opponent. Heat Nail retires the opponent's grade 1 boosting units while pressuring the opponent to guard to stop its skill, and this is where Nakamura's six draw triggers come in; they compensate for Heat Nail cycling himself back into the deck after using his autoskill, negating his cost. These draw triggers likewise make up for Kimnara leaving the field when her own skill is used to unavoidably remove those same units.

Bellicosity Dragon unflips damage expended on Conroe and Kimnara, as well as counterblast spent on Berserk Dragon, to prepare for Overlord and The End's self-standing skills. In the vanguard circle The End creates a 13000-power defense while providing Nakamura with an additional 11000-power unit for his rearguard circles in addition to Overlord. While each of these cards can be weakened by removing their rearguards with Lawkeeper and field removal units, those decks' lack of presence in the Japanese competitive scene makes Nakamura's deck versatile and dangerous to face.

Summer 2012 Regional Tournament, Hakata Seniors Division (Japan)
Card Pool: TD01-EB03, PR 0001-0066
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FVG)
x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x4 Gatling Claw Dragon DT
x2 Blue-Ray Dracokid CT
x2 Red Gem Carbuncle DT
Grade 1
x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x3 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x1 Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara
x1 Heat Nail Salamander
x1 Flame of Promise, Aermo
Grade 2
x4 Burning Horn Dragon
x4 Bellicosity Dragon
x3 Berserk Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End

Nakamura chose to forgo some of his previous deck's early game versatility by removing Kimnara for the championship finals, limiting his options with Conroe. However, the counterblast-heavy nature of his deck leaves little room for her skill in the first place, potentially making Heat Nail the more useful unit.

Summer 2012 National Tournament (Japan)
Card Pool: TD01-BT07, PR 0001-0066
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FVG)
x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x4 Gatling Claw Dragon DT
x2 Blue-Ray Dracokid CT
x2 Red Gem Carbuncle DT
Grade 1
x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x3 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x2 Heat Nail Salamander
x1 Flame of Promise, Aermo
Grade 2
x4 Burning Horn Dragon
x4 Bellicosity Dragon
x3 Berserk Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End