News: Fighter's Collection Units to be Remade as Legion Pairs, Thing Saver Dragon Saves All of the Things in FR2014 Tokyo

Fourteen hours ago Bushiroad representative Doctor O tweeted a surprising piece of information on upcoming cards, revealing that on June 10th 8:00 PM JST a special conference will be held through NicoNico Douga, outlining the schedule of Legion releases for the remaining clans in a product lineup for the season. Accompanying this announcement will be the beginning of the "Grade 3 Revival Campaign," which will feature the remaking of old boss cards with new Legion skills to bring them up to speed with new game mechanics. The units chosen came from a survey based on Fighter's Collection 2013, with the fan favorite units getting remakes. Each month, the official cf-vanguard portal will be revealing one of the units included in the game, with July's Legion pair being CEO Amaterasu and a new card to Legion with her. Remaining Legion pairs will be released from August onwards. The conference will also include information on Cardfight!! Vanguard Legion Mate, the currently-airing fourth season of the anime series.

Original photo by EnjoyVanguard.

In other news, the decklists from Japan's ongoing summer national tournament "Fighter's Road 2014" have been uploaded to the official Japanese Cardfight portal, unveiling the Thing Saver Dragon decks used by Takagi Yuuta and Ooyama Takeshi to take first and second place in the open-class regional qualifier. Following suit in the junior's division, the Victory Cup regional qualifier brought its own surprises as according to his Twitter page, the junior regional champion for Tokyo is none other than child actor Horiki Takumi, who played the deuteragonist of the 2012 Cardfight!! Vanguard live-action film and also made guest appearances on the Vanguard TV programming block Vanguard Kids. These successes on the Royal Paladin end of professional play have come on the heels of high placements from Thing Saver cardfighters thinking along similar lines at the Second Beast Deity Cup and Fourth Laketown Championship. The Tokyo regional decklists each placed particular emphasis on the Quintet Wall, Summoning Jewel Knight Gloria, reflecting the general favor Quintet cards have received from professional cardfighters in the BT16-on format. You can jump directly to the Fighter's Road decklists or the Victory Cup decklists by searching the page for [FR14OC] or [FR14VC] while VF Koushien decklists can be jumped to by searching for [FR14KS]

FR2014 Tokyo Regional Qualifier Top 8 (Open Class)
Takagi Yuuta/高木 裕太 - Royal Paladin
Ooyama Takeshi/大山 強志 - Royal Paladin
Sakumagazuki/サクマ カズキ (Doctor O Award) - Narukami
Saito Takato/斉藤 理斗 - Neo Nectar
Onodera Yuuta/小野寺 佑太 - Dimension Police
Okuwaki Yu/奥脇 優 - Nova Grappler
Takahashi Kazuya/高橋 和也 - Pale Moon
Watanabe Hitomi/渡部 瞳 - Aqua Force

Also notable is that the Brawler decklist that received the Doctor O award does not use Skybeat Dragon as was the convention prior to the release of BT16: Legion of Dragons and Blades, but instead Narukami cardfighter Sakumagazuki (alias) replaced it with Wild Rush Dragon, a Legion grade 3 whose skill lets it counterblast 1 for +10000 power and +1 critical when it drive checks a card with the same name as one of the two units on the vanguard circle, increasing its power after the guard step has already taken place and potentially surpassing the value of what would otherwise be a no-pass defense. Prior to BT16 there was some debate of whether Bigbang Knuckle Dragon's mass frontrow attack or Wild Rush's unpredictable persona blast-like effect would be favored in competitive play, and it seems that for now the more difficult to anticipate card has gained ground with pros.

The Tokyo regional qualifier also represents the first Metalborg victory for the Dimension Police clan, with Sin Buster cardfighter Shibata Takumi coming in second place in the Victory Cup tournament. Shibata's strategy was to use Sin Buster along with the special booster Black Doctor to create a strong center lane, and the supporting rearguard Commander Laurel to restand his vanguard. Sin Buster's Legion skill prevents the opponent from guarding with grade 1 or greater units from their hand if Sin Buster's power exceeds 30000, and unlike a variety of old-style Dimension Police units, this power threshold only has be reached after boosting. Black Doctor is a base 10000 booster whenever the unit is in Legion, so that with Sin and Doctor alone the post-Legion skill will be constantly active.

Even when Doctor is not available, the skills of Russell Blizzard and the stand trigger Metalborg Operator Kirika can increase the power of up to two vanguards by +3000 power, simultaneously giving power to the entire Legion pair of Sin Buster and Ur Buster. Since the opponent can only guard with grade 0 units, this makes their defensive power finite, and when his attack hits Sin Buster's innate skill will let him draw a card, while Commander Laurel's skill follows the time-tested strategy of resting four rearguards to restand the vanguard, a threat which is becoming more difficult than ever to defend because of the ability to block both perfect defense cards and Quintet Walls. Even should the opponent survive the turn, the initial draw from Sin Buster and the +2 from using Commander Laurel helps secure the game by keeping handsize high, making the Shibata's Metalborg deck formidable in professional play.

FR2014 Open Class Tokyo Regional Qualifier [FR14OC]
First place: Takagi Yuuta/高木裕太
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x4 Margal DT
x4 Certain Kill Seeker, Modron CT
x4 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
Grade 1
x3 Flash Shield, Iseult
x1 Summoning Jewel Knight, Gloria
x2 Good Faith Seeker, Cynric
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x2 Glynngal Seeker
x2 Flail Seeker, Hasbasado
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x3 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x4 Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x4 Seeker, Sacred Wingal

Second place: Ooyama Takeshi/大山強志
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x4 Margal DT
x4 Certain Kill Seeker, Modron CT
x4 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
Grade 1
x2 Guardian Law Seeker, Shiron
x2 Summoning Jewel Knight, Gloria
x3 Good Faith Seeker, Cynric
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x2 Glynngal Seeker
x1 Flail Seeker, Hasbasado
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x3 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x4 Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x4 Seeker, Sacred Wingal

Doctor O Prize: Sakumagazuki/サクマカズキ
Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FV)
x4 Brawler, Green Gem Carbuncle HT
x3 Brawler, Dokouson DT
x4 Malevolent Djinn CT
x4 Brawler, Plasmakick Dragon CT
x1 Brawler of Heavens, Youzen
Grade 1
x2 Hardship Brawler, Toshu
x2 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
x2 Tonfa Wielding Brawler, Ark
x3 Rising Phoenix
x1 Bonfire Eradicator, Castor
x4 Threatening Brawler, Koumei
Grade 2
x4 Brawler, Wild Fist Dragon
x3 Brawler, Skyhowl Dragon
x2 Military Brawler, Lisei
x1 Brawler, Plasma Claw Dragon
x2 Brawler Youjin
Grade 3
x4 Brawler, Shotgun Blow Dragon
x3 Brawler, Wild Rush Dragon

FR2014 Victory Cup Tokyo Regional Qualifier [FR14VC]
First place: Horiki Takumi/堀切拓海
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x4 Margal DT
x4 Certain Kill Seeker, Modron CT
x4 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
Grade 1
x2 Guardian Law Seeker, Shiron
x2 Summoning Jewel Knight, Gloria
x4 Good Faith Seeker, Cynric
x3 Lake Maiden, Lien
x2 Glynngal Seeker
x2 Flail Seeker, Hasbasado
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x3 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x2 Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
x2 Seeker of Bravery, Ars
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x3 Seeker, Sacred Wingal

Second place: Shibata Takuma/柴田拓真
Grade 0
x1 Destined Warrior, Dai (FV)
x4 Metalborg, Black Nurse HT
x4 Metalborg, Devil Roader DT
x4 Metalborg, Battle Roller CT
x4 Metalborg, Operator Kirika ST
Grade 1
x4 Metalborg, Mist Ghost
x2 Dimensional Robo, Daishield
x2 Metalborg, Bri Knuckle
x4 Commander Laurel
x3 Metalborg, Black Doctor
Grade 2
x4 Metalborg, Lionetter
x3 Metalborg, Russell Blizzard
x4 Metalborg, Ur Buster
Grade 3
x4 Metalborg, Sin Buster
x3 Metalborg, Draion

Doctor O Prize: Nishiguchi Reiji/西口玲侍
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x4 Margal DT
x1 Messgal Seeker DT
x4 Certain Kill Seeker, Modron CT
x3 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Guardian Law Seeker, Shiron
x2 Good Faith Seeker, Cynric
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x2 Glynngal Seeker
x2 Flail Seeker, Hasbasado
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x4 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x3 Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x4 Seeker, Sacred Wingal

FR2014 Tokyo VF Koushien Team Tournament [FR14KS]
Foreward: Andou Masaya/安藤雅也
Grade 0
x1 Starting Ripple, Alecs (FV)
x4 Medical Officer of the Rainbow Elixir HT
x4 Blue Storm Soldier, Missile Trooper CT
x1 Battleship Intelligence CT
x4 Dolphin Soldier of High Speed Raids ST
x2 Pyroxene Beam Blue Dragon Soldier ST
x1 Enemy Seeking Seagull Soldier ST
Grade 1
x1 Battle Siren, Dorothea
x3 Patrol Swimming Jellyfish Soldier
x3 Tear Knight, Cyprus
x3 Tear Knight, Theo
x4 Emerald Shield, Paschal
Grade 2
x1 Twin Strike Brave Shooter
x1 Coral Assault
x2 Blue Storm Soldier, Tempest Assault
x2 Tear Knight, Lazarus
x4 Tidal Assault
Grade 3
x4 Blue Flight Dragon, Transcore Dragon
x4 Blue Wave Dragon, Tetra Drive Dragon

Midfighter: Kawamoto Suzumi/河本涼生
Grade 0
x1 Liberator, Cheer Up Trumpeter (FV)
x4 Elixir Liberator HT
x4 Armed Liberator, Gwydion DT
x4 Liberator of Hope, Epona CT
x4 Strike Liberator CT
Grade 1
x4 May Rain Liberator, Bruno
x4 White Rainbow Liberator, Balan
x2 Sword Formation Liberator, Igraine
x2 Halo Liberator, Mark
x2 Starry Skies Liberator, Guinevere
Grade 2
x3 Liberator of Royalty, Phallon
x4 Liberator, Star Rain Trumpeter
x4 Blaster Blade Liberator
Grade 3
x2 Liberator, Monarch Sanctuary Alfred
x2 Solitary Liberator, Gancelot
x4 Liberator of Bonds, Gancelot Zenith

Captain: Yamamoto Hiroki/山本拓希
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x2 Margal DT
x2 Messgal Seeker DT
x4 Certain Kill Seeker, Modron CT
x4 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
Grade 1
x2 Summoning Jewel Knight, Gloria
x2 Flash Shield, Iseult
x3 Seeker, Rune Eagle
x4 Good Faith Seeker, Cynric
x3 Glynngal Seeker
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x4 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x3 Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x4 Seeker, Sacred Wingal