News: Mordred Phantom Break Rides to the Top in FR2013 Nagoya, Vanguard Championship Won by Link Joker, Shadow Paladin and Narukami Fighters

The final regional tournament for Fighter's Road 2013 finished over the weekend, and while decklists are not yet out, Doctor O has reported some of the results. The winner of the Nagoya Open regional tournament used a Shadow Paladin deck with Illusion Revenger Mordred Phantom as its focal card, while the Junior class tournament had first place taken by a Narukami cardfighter using the clan's recently-released Reverse card, Vowing Saber Dragon “Я.” As at Sapporo and Tokyo, a shift away from the previously-dominant Dragonic Descendant has been observed, and as the entrants that qualified during the previous Memorial Tournament that are still in the running for the FR2013 trophy will have to change their decks to accommodate for the current restricted list, we may yet see some established pros jump ship toward the new Shadow Paladin and Link Joker builds. The Fighter's Road 2013 national finals will be held on August 11th.

In underground news, the most recent in the line of unofficial VGCS tournaments has finished, with this team tournament won by a team of Link Joker, Shadow Paladin and Narukami cardfighters. The second place team had a similar setup but with Link Joker replaced by Pale Moon, making for a very early debut of Luquier “Я” in tournament play.

An interesting innovation from the second place team is Gadgetarou's Raging Form Dragon deck, which uses Creeping Dark Goat as its first vanguard and Claudus as an eighteenth grade 0 to fetch with Dark Bond Trumpeter. Although this particular strategy has been in discussion among Shadow Paladin fighters ever since Dark Bond was first revealed, this is the first time that it has been seriously proven in a tournament environment.

In all, 96 cardfighters divided among 32 three-man teams participated. The tournament was split into five rounds of each team member fighting the opposing team simultaneously, with the tournament finals being best of three within those individual fights. The tournament breakdown for the top four teams saw the Eradicators and Revengers tied in popularity, with 4 Revenger, 4 Eradicator, 3 Star-vader and 1 Silver Thorn decks in the top 4.

VGCS First Place Team
Gaiji/カイジ
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, Dusttail Unicorn (FVG)
x4 Star-vader, Stellar Garage HT
x3 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT
x3 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x3 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
x3 Star-vader, Scounting Felis DT
Grade 1
x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
x4 Demonic Claw Star-vader, Lanthanum
x3 Demonic Bullet Star-vader, Neon
x3 Opener of the Black Door
Grade 2
x3 Soaring Star-vader, Krypton
x4 Unrivaled Star-vader, Radon
x4 Furious Claw Star-vader, Niobium
Grade 3
x4 Star-vader, Infinite Zero Dragon
x4 Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon

Yuurei/ゆーれい
Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FVG)
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Eradicator Dragon Mage DT
x4 Divine Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seiobo HT
Grade 1
x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
x4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
x2 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
x4 Rising Phoenix
Grade 2
x3 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
x4 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-ou
x4 Dragonic Deathscythe
Grade 3
x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x2 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Я”
x4 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon

Genex/ジェネクス
Grade 0
x1 Creeping Dark Goat (FVG)
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 Morale Revenger, Dorin
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x2 Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x3 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
x4 Black Clothed Revenger, Tartu
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x4 Illusion Revenger, Mordred Phantom

VGCS Second Place Team
Gadgetaro/ガジェ太郎
Grade 0
x1 Creeping Dark Goat (FVG)
x1 Frontline Revenger, Claudus
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 Morale Revenger, Dorin
x3 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x3 Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x4 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
x3 Black Clothed Revenger, Tartu
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x3 Illusion Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Suzu/涼
Grade 0
x1 Girl Who Crossed the Gap (FVG)
x4 Silver Thorn Barking Dragon CT
x4 Poison Juggler CT
x4 Silver Thorn Juggler, Nadia HT
x4 Silver Thorn Marionette, Natasha DT
Grade 1
x4 Silver Thorn Hypnos, Lydia
x2 Silver Thorn Breathing Dragon
x3 Silver Thorn Assistant, Ana
x2 Midnight Bunny
x3 Purple Trapezist
Grade 2
x4 Silver Thorn Marionette, Lillian
x4 Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Maricica
x3 Nitro Juggler
Grade 3
x3 Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier
x2 Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier “Я”
x3 Miracle Pop, Eva

Moo-chan/もーちゃん
Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FVG)
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x2 Eradicator Dragon Mage DT
x4 Divine Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT
x2 Eeradicator, Blue Gem Carbuncle DT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seiobo HT
Grade 1
x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
x3 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
x3 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
x1 Iron Blood Eradicator, Shuki
x3 Rising Phoenix
Grade 2
x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
x4 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-ou
x4 Dragonic Deathscythe
Grade 3
x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Я”
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon
x3 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon