Following the crowning of Japan's current national champion, Bushiroad has announced the beginning of Fighter's Climax 2013, which will form Japan's Winter national tournament for this year. In the open class division, the top cardfighter from each shop qualifier will receive an invitation to their corresponding regional tournament, after which they will have to register online. The winning fighters from each regional will then go on to the national finals, similar to the model used during the American Challenge Cup. Meanwhile, fighters in the junior tournaments will not need to win at a shop qualifier, instead appearing at their regional to register on the day of the tournament. Only elementary school cardfighters born on or after April 2nd, 2001 can participate in the junior tournaments. Each round will be best of 1, with 20 minute rounds, like in the previous five national tournaments.
Those participating in Fighter's Climax 2013 will not be able to participate in the VF High School Winter 2013 team tournaments taking place at the same time. The current rules for VFHS require all three team members to be from the same school, with participation open to any elementary, junior high and high school students. Students attending special needs schools will also be able to participate. If for any reason one fighter cannot participate on their team after it has registered, up to one participant may be changed out for another under the conditions that the new fighter is from the same school as the other team members.
Regional tournaments will be starting up October 6th and ending on December 12th. Currently eight regionals are planned, going to Hakata, Sapporo, Kanazawa, Sendai, Nagoya, Okayama, Osaka and Tokyo. Unlike FR2013, Kyoto, Fukuoka and Hiroshima will not be part of this coming tournament. It appears that Bushiroad's currently strategy is to cover those cities during the Summer championship, then swap them out for Winter.
