News: ARG Announces 2015 National Championship Series, $2000 Prize Pool

Alter Reality Games President Jim McMahan has set in motion an initiative to bring together a US national championship series, promising to crown ARG's first national champion this summer. The circuit series tournaments are to serve as regional qualifiers for the championship games. Six qualifiers have been announced for February through March, with the preceding Chicago, Atlanta and Orlando tournaments also being granted qualifier status, their winners having retroactively received invitations to the finals. The new qualifier locations and dates are given below. In order to create a strong professional tournament environment without the flaws of Bushiroad's system, the ARG national championship series will employ the same best-of-three Swiss ruleset that ARG has made extensive use of at past tournaments.

In total there are nine tournaments currently integrated into the ARG national championships, and with a three month gap between the last announced qualifier and the nationals, additional locations may yet be announced. The large tournament structure stands in stark contrast to Bushiroad's recently-announced Team League 2015, which features just six regional tournaments for North America's Bushiroad national tournament, only four of which are in the United States and one in of which is in Canada. And unlike Bushiroad's paper certificate system, the winning cardfighters at ARG's tournament series will be rewarded with store credit and cash, fully realizing the meaning of "professional" cardfight.

This new national championship will award cardfighters who place inside the top 8 at qualifiers with both invitations to the finals and Circuit point amounts which can be used to pay entry into the ARG nationals in lieu of the typical $20 entry fee, as well as to purchase ARG-sponsored gear and card supplies. The national championship finals will include trophies for the winners, and a minimum prize pool of $2000--historically the largest prize pool that has ever been made available for a Cardfight!! Vanguard tournament.

Prizes for the regional Circuit series tournaments have been standardized. If tournament turnout exceeds 50 participants, the prizes can be paid out either in cash or as 150% prize credit depending on the player's choice. This means that at a 50 person tournament, first place can opt for either $200 cash or $300 credit, while second place can choose either $100 cash or $200 credit. The championship finals will be held in late July or early August, and are tentatively being discussed inside the area of Philadelphia to Providence, Rhode Island.

Upcoming ARG qualifiers include the Fort Worth and Ontario Circuit series tournaments in Texas and Canada, both on February 8th. Following that will be the Louisville qualifier on February 21st, Fort Lauderdale on March 8th, Hartford on March 15th and Toronto on  March 21st. Beginning with the Hartford Connecticut qualifier, stride units will be legal for play in ARG tournaments. Louisville will be last competition to not allow stride. As at the Orlando Circuit, Cardfight Pro will be traveling to Louisville to provide live coverage of the tournament.

The ARG national championship embodies the culmination of a collaborative effort between ARG and Cardfight Pro; last November we began contacting McMahan and others to pledge coverage for tournaments that would address the concerns of cardfighters worldwide. Alter Reality Games has our full support in establishing this tournament system, and those who place in their tournaments will be recognized by Cardfight Pro as professional cardfighters of the same caliber as those that qualify in the world championships and VGCS tournaments. 

In preparation for the upcoming events, organizer Robbie Kohl surveyed players for eleven questions on specific rulings and then contacted Bushiroad USA's judges directly, to ensure that the judges at ARG will be rigorously trained and able to address major rulings disputes. An exhaustive list of the rulings is provided below.

Q1. Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Buster activates its skill to attack four units. However, the opponent only has three units. Can he still attack all of them?
A1. Yes, you can still attack the three units ,because you have to do as much of the skill as possible once activated.

Q2. What happens when I use a quintet wall against Silent Tom, or Lark Pigeon and a grade 0 is called to the guardian circle?
A2. The units called by the quintet wall are being superior called, not normal called, so they are able to be placed in the guardian circle through that skill. Additionally, the Lark Pigeon is being superior called from the soul to the guardian circle so the same ruling applies. Any form of "call" that does not come from the hand is considered a "superior call" unless otherwise specified on the card.

Q3. Guarding against Transcore Dragon and Glory Maelstrom's skills, will the interceptors be affected?
A3. Intercepts will not be affected by Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom, or Blue Flight Dragon, Transcore Dragon, both units specify that units cannot be called "from the hand" to the guardian circle.

Q4. Brawler, Big Bang Slash Buster is on a rearguard circle and a vanguard Big Bang Knuckle hits multiple times. Will this card gain +3000 power for every unit hit, or only gain the bonus once?
A4. Brawler, Big Bang Slash Buster will gain the +3000 power for each hit that Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Dragon, or Brawler, Big Bang Slash Buster makes. Multiple bonuses.

Q5. Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Buster attacks the opponent's “Ω” Glendios and they use Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium. Will all the attacks redirect to the “Яeverse” unit, or will the other attacks still hit their declared targets?
A5. If you place Rubidium in the guardian circle and activate its skill to retire and redirect the attack to a “Яeverse” unit, despite multiple units being attacked, all the attacks will be changed to that one “Яeverse” unit. Refer to FAQ 805, 807.

Q6. If I use Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon's skill to superior ride a copy of itself from the deck, can I use the skill of the new Thing Saver to perform the skill again if I have the counterblast to do so?
A6. Yes, you may activate the skill of the new "Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon" that was superior ride from the deck, as long as you can meet the requirements to activate the skill again. You do not however, return four cards to the deck with the new "Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon."

Q7. Does riding count as putting a card into the soul? If so, this will trigger Young Pegasus Knight, Doreen the Thruster and Great Sage, Barron, correct?
A7. Ride does not count as putting the unit that was ridden over into soul. In some cases of superior ride, the unit on the vanguard circle is considered being put into the soul, such as Barcgal.

Q8. How do Perdition Emperor Dragon, Dragonic Overlord the Great and the break ride Dragonic Overlord interact with each other?
A8. Perdition Emperor Dragon, Dagonic Overlord the Great as well as Dragonic Overlord (breakride) both trigger and are set into standby once the attack hits the rearguard. At that timing you have to choose one of their skills to activate, so you cannot trigger both of their abilities/given abilities to restand, even if you were to attack a second rearguard.

(Editor's note; This does not contradict Q9. The reason they interact this way is because both Overlord variants have the clause "This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn. (Even if you do not pay the cost, this ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.)" Hence they are mutually exclusive.)

Q9. I have a Dorint in the frontrow and a Dorint behind it in the same column. I call a Blaster Dark Revenger over one of the Dorints. How many damage are unflipped?
A9. If Blaster Dark Revenger is placed over one of two Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint, in the same column, two damage will be unflipped due to this resolution chain: Blaster Dark Revenger placed over Barrier Troop Revenger Dorint → Both Dorint skills go into standby, called over Dorint is retired due to game mechanic, call is resolved → Both standby Dorint skills are then resolved. (Dorint does not have to remain on the field for his ability to resolve.)

Q10. If I call a Shiny Angel over a Regalia stand trigger, can I use Shiny Angel to target the said stand trigger that is currently on the same rearguard circle as I call over it?
A10. Yes, you may target the unit you retired due to being called over with the skill of Exorcism Regalia, Shiny Angel. Call Shiny Angel over stand trigger → Game mechanic retires stand trigger to resolve call, Shiny Angel's skill goes into standby → Shiny Angel's skill activates from standby to target up to three units in the drop zone.

Q11. If I legion how many cards must I return to the deck? Can it be less than four or exactly four cards?
A11. You must send exactly four units back to the deck to initiate legion.