News: Phantom Blaster “Abyss” Tops in Fourth Sapporo VGCS

Hokkaido citizens' activity center, Sapporo city. Over November 2nd the fourth Sapporo city VGCS took place, attracting seventy participants in total. Won by Igachuu, a new face in professional play, the tournament results followed up on recent trends established at the second Chiba Brave Cup. The tournament was primarily made up of Shadow Paladin cardfighters building their decks around the Revenger subclan, many of them having transitioned to it after abandoning Thing Saver Dragon following the implementation of the most recent restricted list.

Deck breakdown (70 participants in total)
23 Revenger
17 Perdition
8 Seeker
7 Liberator
4 Regalia
2 Link Joker (1 Blaster Joker 1 Deleter)
2 Dimensional Robo
1 Brawler
1 Spike Brothers
1 Granblue
1 Musketeer
1 Ancient Dragon
1 Raizer
1 Nubatama

Entry fee at Sapporo was 1000 yen (approx. $10 US) per person with payout to the top 4 cardfighters, with first place winning a the newest model of Nintendo 3DS XL, second place four copies of whichever Beginning Set of their choice, third place two copies of the same, and fourth place two boxes of VG-MBT01: Neon Messiah. As per current rules for mainstream play, G-units and their accompanying stride mechanics could not be used. Tournament format was five rounds of Swiss draw, followed by a four round cut to top 16, with 50 minutes per round and best of three (in Japan recognized as the first to two wins) ruleset in place. The tournament used clan fight rules to prevent mixing of multiple clans in each deck, and lasted just over ten hours from the beginning of the first round at 10:45 AM to the closing ceremony at 8:30 PM. The top 4 decklists are provided below.

While the preceding Brave Cup saw a narrow Liberator victory from the tournament's few Gold Paladin cardfighters, Sapporo city saw more traditional results from the dominant player base. Revenger fighters far outdid their Perdition counterparts, becoming the most prevalent group represented. “Abyss,” which was just feature as the English card of the day this morning, has filled the gaps left by Thing Saver in pro competition, is primarily characterized by its high power restand that tends to exceed the swings of even Minerva and Nouvelle of past tournament seasons. While counterblast heavy, “Abyss” has access to an unflipping engine from the base Blaster Dark Revenger and his supporting grade 1 Dorint. By eschewing Dark Revenger's retire skill entirely and exploiting Dorint purely for his unflip, the break ride central to “Abyss'” high power restand becomes counterblast-free. Later in the fight damage expended for the restand skill can be partially recouped by calling these cards from hand to sustain additional restands in the long term.

As at the Brave Cup, Blaster Joker continues to be absent in spite of it being feared as a major competitor in the current competitive format. An explanation may be drawn from its lack of truly aggressive means of winning games. Unlike the majority of deck options in the format, Joker does not have any kind of aggression approaching the level of a restand or guard manipulation, and its expensive skills can generally only maintain locks for two to three consecutive turns before petering out.

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's larger official tournaments, most VGCS events are done using a best-of-three, Swiss tournament model. Turnout is typically 70-80 persons, but some events see 100 or more participants, all of whom compete using pseudonyms and internet handles rather than their real names as in official events. The VGCS model of fan-organized play has begun to gain popularity internationally, with the bi-monthly BeNeLux tournaments serving as their European equivalent, and there are now similar grassroots organizations emerging in the United States like the ARG Circuit series tournaments and the ongoing King of Cardfight competition in the American midwest.

Fourth Sapporo City VGCS
First place: Igachuu/イガチュウ
Grade 0
x1 Judgebau Revenger (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
Grade 1
x3 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x1 Hatred Prison Revenger, Quesal
x3 Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
x1 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x3 Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod 
x2 Black-winged Sword Breaker
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x4 Battle Spirit Revenger, Mackart
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Second place: Keshigomu/けしごむ
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x4 Perdition Dancer, Agafia HT
x4 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x2 Seal Dragon, Artpique DT
x4 Perdition Dragon Knight, Tuvar CT
x2 Perdition Dragon, Buster Rain Dragon CT
Grade 1
 x4 Peridtion Dragon, Rampart Dragon
x4 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x3 Perdition Battler, Mareikou
x3 Seal Dragon Spirit, Malkibel
Grade 2
x4 Perdition Dragon, Dragonic Neoflame
x4 Perdition Dragon, Menace Laser Dragon
x3 PerditionDragon Knight, Tarayev
x2 Dragonic Burnout
Grade 3
x4 Perdition Imperial Dragon, Dragonic Overlord the Great
x2 Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth”

Third place: Lelouch
Grade 0
x1 Judgebau Revenger (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x4 Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x2 Black-winged Sword Breaker
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x3 Battle Spirit Revenger, Mackart
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Note that there is an error in ☆Shinamon's Japanese decklist; it only lists 49 cards. Based on a photo of ☆Shinamon's decklist, this missing card is a second Sword Breaker.

Fourth place: ☆Shinamon/☆しなもん/
Grade 0
x1 Judgebau Revenger
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x4 Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x2 Black-winged Sword Breaker
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x3 Battle Spirit Revenger, Mackart
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom