News: Goddess of the Full Moon Tsukuyomi Tops Sukacat CS

Fighter's Collection 2014 reprint.

January 18th, 2015. The first team tournament of 2015 ended with a surprising deck at the center of the leading team. The Sukacat Vanguard Championship was won by a team running Thing Saver Dragon, Goddess of the Full Moon Tsukuyomi and Dragonic Overlord “The X.” The team's midfighter Ryo accomplished his feat by integrating Heaven Conquering Battle Deity Susanoo and his support cards from G-BT01: Generation Stride with the Tsukuyomi evolution line, using the evolution and generation break skills to repeatedly stack the bottom of the deck with trigger units while adding nontrigger cards to the hand.

This marks the first monoclan Tsukuyomi top in over two years; while Yasue Takamasa's Genesis-Oracle Think Tank hybrid made top 8 in a regional qualifier in mid 2013, the last time pure OraThin Tsukuyomi won a tournament was under former Sendai regional champion Tanaka Shouta in November 2012. The last time that Tsukuyomi topped, her widespread success eventually led to her finding a place on the restricted list alongside Dragonic Overlord the End and Majesty Lord Blaster. Many of Shouta's innovations have since become essential core elements to Oracle Think Tank, and Ryo's modifications have further improved the deck to create a circular loop in as few turns as possible. The decks of each team member are transcribed below.

Susanoo

Ryo's endgame strategy was to guarantee continuous double triggers for the rest of the game past a certain threshold of bottom-deck stacking, effectively presenting his opponent with a time limit before Tsukuyomi would explode. To build up to this point he first used an old trick of Oracle Think Tank, using the skills of Ichibyoshi, Crescent and Half Moon Tsukuyomi to put between twelve and fifteen cards on the bottom of the deck. Each of these units checks the top five cards for the next incarnation in its line and rides them, then places any remaining cards on the bottom.

In the past many cardfighters have deliberately stayed on grade 2 while feigning gradelock in order to get their stack to reach twenty cards, but in 2015 the deck has better options. Susanoo's on-stride skill checks the top two cards, placing up to one into hand and any remaining on the bottom. Combining this with the stride unit Soaring Auspicious Beast Qilin--who has an identical skill but with on-hit conditions attached--Ryo was able to get two to four more cards on the bottom of the deck, following up in later turns with his "finisher" Takemikazuchi.

Takemikazuchi

By turning a copy of himself in the generation zone face-up and paying two counterblast, as long as there are two or more cards face-up in the G zone, Takemikazuchi checks the top four cards to add two to hand and place the remaining on the bottom. These new units greatly expedite the process of setting up a twenty card stack without having to deliberately take a turn of gradelock, all while keeping up a strong defensive hand and using supporting rearguard draw skills to ensure that the opponent can't knock them out before the stack is reached. Full Moon herself played into this bunker defense strategy by shaving off up to four cards from the top of the deck with her draw skill, although compared to going for Takemikazuchi or Susanoo this is not as preferable.

Photo originally uploaded by ryogyoza.

According to Ryo, his record in the tournament was much better in the finals than in the opening rounds. The first four rounds of the tournament were held in best-of-one, with Ryo getting two wins off of Kagerou and Oracle cardfighters, preceded by two losses against Royal Paladin and Kagerou fighters. In the finals he won all four rounds 2-1 (Kagerou) 2-0 (Kagerou) 2-0 (Royal Paladin) and 2-1 (Kagerou.) The tournament finals were Shou's Thing Saver versus Victor-Raizers, Ryo's Tsukuyomi versus “The X,” and Kaiji's “The X” versus Susanoo-Mille Feuille.

Of note is that team captain Kaiji's “The X” decklist is one of the last that will be seen with four copies of Calamity Tower Wyvern in it, due to the card's imminent restriction effective this February.

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 King of Cardfight competition in the American midwest.

Credit to Siulzen for transcribing today's deck breakdown.

Deck breakdown (141 participants in total)
37 Kagero (34 Overlord, 2 Perdition, 1 Nouvelle)
32 Royal Paladin (22 Jewel Knight/Thing Saver, 8 Seekers, 1 Pendragon/Thing Saver, 1 Ezzell)
23 Oracle Think Tank (13 CoCo/Susanoo, 5 Gelee/Susanoo, 2 Tsukuyomi, 2 Amaterasu/Susanoo, 1 Mille Feuille/Susanoo)
20 Nova Grappler (14 Victor/Raizer, 5 Blau, 1 Blau/Raizer)
10 Shadow Paladin (Revengers)
4 Dimension Police
3 Gear Chronicle
3 Neo Nectar (Musketeers)
2 Granblue (1 BR Legion, 1 Legion)
1 Genesis
1 Tachikaze (Ancient Dragon)
1 Link Joker (Glendios)
1 Spike Brothers
1 Pale Moon (Silver Thorn)
1 Great Nature (Legion)
1 Megacolony

Foreward: Shou/将
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Jewel Knight, Hilmy HT
x4 Margal DT
x4 Jewel Knight, Noble Stinger CT
x4 Blazing Jewel Knight, Rachelle CT
Grade 1
x3 Holy Knight Guardian
x4 Laurel Knight, Cycirlz
x3 Good Faith Seeker, Cynric
x2 Jewel Knight, Prizmy
x1 Stinging Jewel Knight, Shellie
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade Seeker
x4 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x3 Jewel Knight, Swordmy
x1 Knight of Twin Sword
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x3 Seeker, Sacred Wingal
x1 Sacred Beast Seeker, Claude
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x4 Divine Sacred Dragon, Saint Blow Dragon
x3 Shrouded Divine Knight, Gablade
x1 Miracle Element, Atomos

Midfighter: Ryo/りょう
Grade 0
x1 Godhawk, Ichibyoshi (FV)
x4 Lozenge Magus HT
x4 Psychic Bird CT
x4 Battle Sister, Ginger CT
x4 Oracle Guardian, Nike CT
Grade 1
x4 Mediator, Ameno-sagiri
x4 Goddess of the Crescent Moon, Tsukuyomi
x4 Luck Bird
x2 Oracle Guardian, Gemini
Grade 2
x4 Goddess of the Half Moon, Tsukuyomi
x4 Silent Tom
x3 Diviner, Shinatsuhiko
Grade 3
x4 Heaven Conquering Battle Deity, Susanoo
x4 Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x4 Sword Deity of Thunder, Takemikazuchi
x2 Soaring Auspicious Beast, Qilin
x1 Snow Element, Blizza
x1 Miracle Element, Atomos

Captain: Kaiji/ カイジ
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x4 Perdition Dancer, Agafia HT
x2 Seal Dragon, Artpique DT
x3 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x3 Perdition Dragon, Buster Rain Dragon CT
x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
Grade 1
x4 Protect Orb Dragon
x4 Calamity Tower Wyvern
x3 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x3 Lava Flow Dragon
Grade 2
x4 Dragonic Burnout
x2 Perdition Dragon Knight, Ilham
x2 Perdition Dragon, Dragonic Neoflame
x3 Burning Horn Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord “The X”
x3 Dragonic Overlord the End
x1 Perdition Emperor Dragon, Dragonic Overlord the Great
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x4 Imperial Flame Dragon King, Route Flare Dragon
x3 Divine Dragon Knight, Mahmoud
x1 Miracle Element, Atomos