News: Glendios Tops Second Phantom VGCS

August 8th, 2015. This morning Gungnir, winner of the 2014 Hachioji Cup and veteran of the Japanese professional community, tweeted the results of the second Phantom VGCS. First place went to Healer playing Glendios, second to Toothpick with Sanctuary Guard, third to Hunter playing Bermuda Triangle, and fourth to Nekono also playing Glendios. This statement was confirmed by tournament organizer Yuihan, who thanked everyone for their support in holding the tournament. Decklists will likely come out within the next few days. A breakdown of the top 16 cardfighters is provided below.

The Glendios fighters that made the top cut represented a very slim minority of entrants, as they were two of the only four Link Joker cardfighters present, all playing Glendios. The Messiah deck, in spite of initial hype, has not caught on strongly in Japan. Royal and Shadow Paladin have alternately dominated tournament results since the launch of Sovereign Star Dragon, with Kagerou taking a backseat to the two primary Paladin clans. Royal and Shadow together made up almost half the entrants at the Second Phantom CS, with Revengers alone accounting for 34% of participants. It should be noted that the most played deck at this Phantom CS was also not played by anyone in top 4, and that Bermuda Triangle was the third most played deck of the tournament, a trend that has been growing in Japanese play since Academy of Divas' launch.

Deck Breakdown (101 participants in total, 10 decks unreported)
34 Revenger
22 Royal Paladin
11 Bermuda Triangle
9 Kagerou
6 Great Nature
4 Aqua Force
4 Glendios
3 Narukami
2 Nova Grappler
2 Gold Paladin
1 Dark Irregulars
1 Neo Nectar
1 Tachikaze
1 Touken Ranbu

Entry at the Phantom VGCS cost 1500 yen (approx. $12 US at the current exchange rate), and first place won a New Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as entry into a sub-competition for a copy of Splatoon. Second place won an official Amnesty Messiah playmat, as well as one box of Soul Strike Against the Supreme. Third place also won an Amnesty Messiah playmat, and fourth a Lambros mat. The five preliminary rounds used a 30 minute best-of-one format, while the cut to top 16 used a 50-minute best-of-three tournament bracket. The first round of the tournament began at 10:30 AM, with the final preliminary finishing at 1:40 PM, and the cut to top 16 began at 2:40 PM. The finals ended at 6:30 PM, with the tournament dispersed by 8 PM.

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's official tournaments, most VGCS events are done using a best-of-three, Swiss tournament model. Turnout is typically 70-80 persons, but some events see 100 or more participants, all of whom compete using pseudonyms and internet handles rather than their real names as in official events. The VGCS model of fan-organized play has begun to gain popularity internationally, with the bi-monthly BeNeLux tournaments serving as their European equivalent, and there are now similar grassroots organizations emerging in the United States like the ARG Circuit series tournaments.

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