News: Glendios Cardfighter Wins Second Tsurumai VGCS, Triple Kagerou Team Places Second in Eighth Battle City CS

This weekend brings an increased prevalence of Glendios decks with it, following on the build's initial momentum earlier this March. The second Tsurumai and eighth Battle City Vanguard Championships both concluded over the 21st and 22nd, with Link Joker fighters making a lasting impression in the top brackets of each tournament. The build's impact has varied immensely based on region, achieving greater visibility within central Japan in Gunma prefecture, than in Hokkaido to the north, where Nouvelle Vague has a better hold on the format.

The second Tsurumai CS had 59 participants in all, with the top 4 going to Glendios, Dragonic Overlord, Glendios and Revenger cardfighters. This isn't the first victory for Glendios fans; the deck had been previously spotlighted in competitive play at the head of the Fireball VGCS earlier this month, under the command of tournament champion Kado. The main difference between Kado and Tsurumai winner Red Deer's decklists are that Kado was more willing to play around Omega Lock. His decklist used Cold Death Dragon where Red's uses Colony Maker, with the intent being to take the initiative away from his opponent by forcing them to put a Locked card into play, but with the caveat that he needed to be able to cast Omega Lock on that very turn to prevent the opponent from gaining card advantage in the long run.

This works better with the World End alternate win condition because otherwise opponents can voluntarily choose to keep their rearguard circles open until Omega Lock fizzles to prevent the auto-win from being initiated, but Deer's decklist is geared to take advantage of how Omega slows the game down without necessarily needing to win through it. Colony Maker leads into Dust Tail Unicorn or Ruin Magician/Praseodymium depending on the conditions. Ninjin's decklist was built similarly, but with two extra Reverse cards for 14 grade 3s and just 12 and 6 grade 1s and 2s, straining the limits of established concepts of deckbuilding.

Interestingly, among those grade 3s was a copy of Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth.” It has frequently been assumed by westerners that “The Яe-birth” cannot be used with Glendios support because it does not have the specific phrase “Я” in its card name, but in Japan “The Яe-birth” is instead seen as being compatible because the supporting units' card text only specifies the backward R character, Я, in card names, and because the phonetic reading for Яe-birth and Яeverse are the same リバース Ribaasu. It's uncertain how the English-language incarnation of the card will handle the intentional double meaning behind “The Яe-birth,” as there are no standards in English for phonetic guides.

Second place cardfighter Sousuke reached the top bracket using a Dragonic Overlord the “The Яe-birth” deck, with notable similarities to the makeup of Beast Deity Cup champion Hisui's deck. Both cardfighters agreed for the most part on the grade 2 and 3 makeup of their builds, with Dragonic Burnout and Berserk Dragon being favored units for their on-call field control that makes use of the rearguard circles Яe-birth Locks, but Hisui prioritized accessing the break ride with Eternal Bringer Griffon more where Sousuke went for raw draw power using Calamity Tower Wyvern and Gojo's card changing to ditch excess draw triggers.

Meanwhile the eighth Battle City Trio CS concluded recently with first place going to a Glendios, Dragruler and Glendios team while second went to three Kagerou cardfighters running two Nouvelle Vague and one Overlord decks. Third place was a makeup of Glendios, Blue Storm and Kagerou; deck lists are not yet available, but the Blue Storm build is suspected to be a Maelstrom build along the same lines as the one that recently placed second in the first Sapporo VGCS. The success of a triple Kagerou team points to the mutual effectiveness of separate but contemporary Kagerou decks, even in spite of Nouvelle being generally regarded as king among them. With Dauntless Dominate Dragon “Я” likewise hanging around in tournament results, many are eyeing Kagerou as a mainstay clan for the 2014 tournament season on both sides of the water.

Second Tsurumai VGCS
First Place: Red Deer/赤いシカ
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, World Line Dragon (FV)
x1 Star-vader, Dust Tail Unicorn
x4 Star-vader, Stellar Garage HT
x3 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT
x4 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
x2 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x3 Star-vader, Scouting Felis DT
Grade 1
x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
x4 Star-vader, Ruin Magician
x3 Carved Seal Star-vader, Praseodymium
x2 Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium
Grade 2
x4 Star-vader, Magnet Hollow
x3 Star-vader, Colony Maker
Grade 3
x4 Star-vader, “Ω” Glendios
x3 Star-vader, “Я” Cradle
x1 Deadliest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster “Я”
x1 Cleanup Celestial, Ramiel “Я”
x1 Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier “Я”
x1 Demon God Marquis, Amon “Я”
x1 Ice Prison Dark Lord, Cocytus “Я”

Second Place: Sousuke/そーすけ
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x2 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x2 Demonic Dragon Mage, Abarara CT
x2 Seal Dragon, Biera CT
x1 Blue-ray Dracokid CT
x1 Lizard Soldier, Goraha CT
x4 Seal Dragon, Artpique DT
x4 Dragon Dancer, Barbara HT
Grade 1
x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x4 Calamity Tower Wyvern
x2 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x2 Eternal Bringer Griffin
x2 Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara
Grade 2
x4 Dragonic Burnout
x4 Burning Horn Dragon
x3 Berserk Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord (BT15/004)
x4 Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth”

Third Place: Ninjin/にんじん
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, World Line Dragon (FV)
x1 Star-vader, Dust Tail Unicorn
x4 Star-vader, Stellar Garage HT
x4 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
x1 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT
x2 Star-vader, Spark Doll CT
x3 Star-vader, Jailer Tail DT
x1 Star-vader, Scouting Felis DT
x1 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
Grade 1
x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
x3 Star-vader, Ruin Magician
x3 Carved Seal Star-vader, Praseodymium
x2 Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium
Grade 2
x4 Star-vader, Magnet Hollow
x2 Star-vader, Colony Maker
Grade 3
x4 Star-vader, “Ω” Glendios
x2 Star-vader, “Я” Cradle
x1 Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier “Я”
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Я”
x1 Maiden of Venus Trap “Я”
x1 Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth”
x1 School Punisher, Leo-pald “Я”
x1 Dark Dimensional Robo, “Я” Daiyusha
x1 Covert Demonic Dragon, Hyakki Vogue “Я”
x1 Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier “Я”

Fourth Place: Kainzu/カインズ
Grade 0
x1 Creeping Dark Goat (FV)
x1 Judgebau Revenger
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Healing Revenger HT
Grade 1
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x1 Black-winged Sword Breaker
x1 Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter
x2 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x1 Brunt Revenger, Shadow Lancer
x4 Self-control Revenger, Rakia
Grade 2
x4 Overcoming Revenger, Lukea
x2 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
x3 Wiles Revenger, Mana
x2 Dark Cloak Revenger, Tartu
Grade 3
x2 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom
x2 Revenger, Dragruler Phantom
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon