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Ishige Yuudai/石毛優大
Age: Unknown; Seniors Division
Titles Won: Tokyo Regional Champion (Senior Class)
Current Status: Tokyo Regional Champion (Reigning)
Deck Type: Royal Paladin (Majesty Lord Blaster)
Ishige Yuudai is the reigning Tokyo regional champion for 2012, and accordingly is the city's representative in the Fighter's Climax 2012 national championship. Notably, Ishige defeated Sekiguchi Tetsuya in the regional finals, a fighter who had been sporting a very close replica of the previous national champion Gotou Kiyomi's Alfred deck. This upset the at-the-time prevalent view that Majesty could not take the title in face of the post-BT05 King of Knights deck, which was based on the results of the Summer championship putting Majesty in fourth.
Decks and Play Style
Ishige's regional deck ran three types of critical trigger, and like his contemporary fighter Nakamura, Ishige maintained draw triggers as a necessary way to reinforce his advantage. His single copy of Lien was seemingly adapted as a means of trading those triggers in the hand for more valuable cards, as her skill is usable without affecting the field in a noticeable manner on turns when his lone Alfred takes point, or otherwise provides a strong opening when taking the first turn. Ishige chose to run more copies of Toypugal than either Nakamura or Tanaka, but less Kay--possibly due to his deck being based directly from Nakamura and Tanaka's rather than Minami Takeshi's, or otherwise out of personal preference.
Despite the numerous count of single copies in his deck, the overall strategy remains unchanged from his contemporaries; using Wingal Brave with a vanguard Blaster Blade--potentially one retrieved with Gancelot in his previous turn--to search out Majesty Lord Blaster and then set up Lord Blaster's skill by calling his missing Blasters with Starcall Trumpeter. This creates a temporary 22-30000 line with Marron, and a permanent 12000 defense with one extra critical. On subsequent turns Ishige follows up with Palamedes and Toypugal to consistently break the 21000+ line, effectively shutting down the defense of most base 10000 and base 11000 decks. However, as both the vanguard and rearguard lines top out at 22000 in this build, they cannot have the same effect versus crossrides, leaving him open to The End, Blaster Overlord, Great Daiyuusha and the many crossrides to be released the day before the championship finals.
Winter 2012 Regional Tournament, Tokyo Seniors Division (Japan)
Card Pool: TD01-BT08, PR 0001-0079
Grade 0
x1 Wingal Brave (FVG)
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT
x1 Knight of the Future, Llew CT
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT
x3 Margal DT
x4 Alabaster Owl CT
Grade 1
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x1 Lake Maiden, Lien
x3 Toypugal
x2 Knight of Friendship, Kay
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade
x3 Blaster Dark
x1 Knight of Loyalty, Bedivere
x3 Starcall Trumpeter
x1 Knight of Determination, Lamorak
Grade 3
x1 King of Knights, Alfred
x1 Solitary Knight, Gancelot
x2 Swordsman of the Explosive Flames, Palamedes
x3 Majesty Lord Blaster
