Furthermore, a special announcement was made today that the Japanese restricted list will remain unchanged through September. While some were clamoring for additional restrictions to be placed on Eradicator decks, with much attention being put on Cho-ou for how he simultaneously retires the opponent's rearguards and fuels the soul for Rising Phoenix, this decision was likely made in light of Descendant's general decline among Japanese pros following BT12. The rise of Luquier, Nebula Lord, Raging Form and other decks as strong contenders in their own right has deeply upset what was previously a very set-in-its-ways format.
Part of Luquier Reverse's success is owed to her status as a hard counter to Descendant. When using Ionela and Irina's skills, what the Silver Thorn build is really doing is calling two units at once, one to a rearguard circle and another to the soul to store for later. Since the opponent can't retire the soul, cards like Cho-ou and Dragonic Deathscythe that are a strong part of Descendant's early setup fall flat in the long term, as through chainlocking her rearguards in succession, locking 1 to call 1 that she locks to call another, Luquier “Я”'s limit break can let her multiply one card into two, or up to five if she so feels the need to. That kind of strategy may appear overly defensive and not in line with the aggressive format initially, but the Descendant deck relies on the opponent not being able to survive its endgame strategy by swallowing up their hand with Gauntlet Buster or Descendant over two to three turns after taking a field lead. Luquier “Я” doesn't need to call from the hand to call new rearguards after her soul is set up in the early to midgame, so Descendant loses its main feature as Luquier saves up her hand to go for more turns than Eradicator decks can handle.
In the Junior championship, the success of the Dimension Police has already been strongly noted through junior champion Niida Kazuki's explanation of the deck earlier this week. Although Niida was originally shooting for the Doctor O Prize when he created his 15 grade 3 deck, he ended up taking the junior championship trophy unintentionally, using the devastating combination of Enigman Storm's grade security with Daikaiser's break ride to trigger Storm or Daiyusha's skills with Laurel for a self-standing 26000+ power critical 3 vanguard line that used its high grade 3 count to retire perfect defense cards, making certain that the opponent could only guarantee safety if they dropped three perfect defense cards at once against his attack and paid the cost for all of them. Because of its highly aggressive characteristics, the "Crazy Diamond" deck aims to take the opponent to six damage on turn 4, but because of how it is structured the deck also has an endemic weakness in that once the break ride has been triggered and the vanguard is no longer Daikaiser, if the following turn is survived then the game is over for the Dimension Police cardfighter, as there is no safety net or alternative strategy.
Fighter's Road 2013 National Championship, Open Division
National Champion: Kokubo Hikaru/小久保光
Grade 0
x1 Silver Thorn Assistant, Ionela (FV)
x4 Silver Thorn Juggler, Nadia HT
x4 Silver Thorn Barking Dragon CT
x4 Poison Juggler CT
x1 Dynamite Juggler CT
x3 Rainbow Magician DT
Grade 1
x4 Silver Thorn Assistant, Irina
x4 Silver Thorn Hypnos, Lydia
x2 Midnight Bunny
x2 Purple Trapezist
x2 Seesaw Game Winner
Grade 2
x4 Silver Thorn Marionette, Lillian
x4 Silver Thorn Rising Dragon
x3 Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Maricica
Grade 3
x4 Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier “Я”
x4 Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier
Runner-up: Uemura Shouhei/上村昌平
Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FV)
x1 Eradicator, Blue Gem Carbuncle DT
x3 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seioubo HT
x4 Divine Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT
Grade 1
x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
x4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
x3 Rising Phoenix
x4 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
Grade 2
x3 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-ou
x2 Supreme Army Eradicator, Zuitan
x4 Dragonic Deathscythe
x2 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon
x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon
Third Place: Hirago Masaki/平子真幸
Grade 0
x1 Creeping Dark Goat (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Grim Reaper CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
Grade 1
x1 Revenger of Malice, Dilan
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x4 Morale Revenger, Dorin
Grade 2
x4 Black Clothed Revenger, Tartu
x4 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x4 Illusion Revenger, Mordred Phantom
Doctor O Prize: Matsuoka Reishi/松岡怜史
Grade 0
x1 Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer (FV)
x4 Elixir Liberator HT
x4 Flame of Victory CT
x4 Liberator of Hope, Epona CT
x4 Falcon Knight of the Azure DT
Grade 1
x4 Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth
x4 Scout of Darkness, Vortimer
x1 Silver Fang Witch
x2 Halo Liberator, Mark
x2 Halo Shield, Mark
x1 Listener of Truth, Dindrane
Grade 2
x1 Lop Ear Shooter
x2 Liberator of Silence, Gallatin
x4 Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer
x1 Blaster Blade Liberator
x2 Player of the Holy Bow, Viviane
x1 Mage of Calamity, Tripp
Grade 3
x4 Spectral Duke Dragon
x2 Solitary Liberator, Gancelot
x2 Steel Spear Liberator, Bleoberis
Fighter's Road 2013 National Championship, Junior's Division
National Champion: Niida Kazuki/新井田和輝
Grade 0
x1 Enigman Flow (FV)
x4 Justice Cobalt CT
x2 Dimensional Robo, Daibattles CT
x2 Army Penguin DT
x2 Gem Monster, Jewel Mine DT
x2 Dimensional Robo, Daicrane DT
x4 Dimensional Robo, Gorescue HT
Grade 1
x4 Enigman Ripple
x4 Daimond Ace
x4 Commander Laurel
Grade 2
x2 Enigman Wave
x4 Operator Girl, Mika
Grade 3
x4 Enigman Storm
x4 Super Dimensional Robo, Daiyusha
x3 Lady Justice
x4 Super Dimensional Robo, Daikaiser
Runner-up: Matsushita Shunji/松下隼士
Grade 0
x1 Frontline Revenger, Claudas (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x2 Death Feather Eagle CT
x4 Grim Reaper CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
x2 Freezing Revenger DT
Grade 1
x2 Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x4 Morale Revenger, Dorin
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
Grade 2
x3 Black Clothed Revenger, Tartu
x4 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x4 Illusion Revenger, Mordred Phantom
Third Place: Funayama Yuiga/舩山唯我
Grade 0
x1 Eradicator, Strikedagger Dragon (FV)
x2 Eradicator, Blue Gem Carbuncle DT
x2 Malevolent Djinn CT
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Eradicator of the Divine Spear, Pollux CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seiobo HT
Grade 1
x4 Eradicator, Wyvern Guard Guld
x4 Sword Dance Eradicator, Hisen
x3 Iron Blood Eradicator, Shuki
x3 Rising Phoenix
Grade 2
x4 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Chou-Ou
x4 Supreme Army Eradicator, Zuitan
x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
Grade 3
x3 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon
x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x2 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon
Doctor O Prize: Haryuu Jin'ichi/針生仁壱
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x4 Seal Dragon, Shading HT
x4 Seal Dragon, Biera CT
x4 Seal Dragon, Dobi ST
x4 Seal Dragon, Artpitch DT
Grade 1
x4 Seal Dragon, Flannel
x4 Seal Dragon, Kersey
x3 Seal Dragon, Chambray
x3 Seal Dragon, Rinocross
Grade 2
x4 Seal Dragon, Hungerhell Dragon
x4 Seal Dragon, Jakado
x3 Seal Dragon, Corduroy
Grade 3
x3 Hellfire Seal Dragon, Blockade Inferno
x4 Seal Dragon, Blockade
x1 Dauntless Drive Dragon
