Thank you for 4 million hits!

Last night Cardfight Pro crossed the threshold for 4 million all-time pageviews. Though it's only been a short while since I returned to newswriting, traffic has quickly picked up since March. Our daily views are steadily rising back into the range they were before I departed back in October 2015.

There is much that remains to be done, and lost time to be made up for; I once came to believe that Vanguard no longer needed me, and I realize now my mistake. Never once in these past seven years has the game achieved the immortality I set to endow it with. At this very moment Vanguard is struggling against forces which would eliminate it from this world. I am here now because I cannot stand by and do nothing while this struggle takes place. I have seen just how barren and empty the world can be. 2018 will be a year for growing--for growing Cardfight Pro, for growing the community, and for growing Vanguard.

Not just for Itou, nor just for myself, I am fighting alongside Vanguard for the sake of everyone this game connected me to, and everyone we lost along the way.

Announcement: Returning to Cardfight Pro

Everything began here.

I looked into the windows of this shop, and wanted to be a part of what I saw within it. It was here in this store that I learned to strike at an opponent without holding a single thing back. To count card advantage, compose a deck, and struggle with everything I had. Card Capital is where I was taught the rules of Vanguard; Card Capital is where I joined my first team. Card Capital is where I suffered my first defeat, scored my first victory, and swore to become stronger than anyone else. It was where I decided I wanted to make Cardfight Pro. This place did not just exist as an ethereal idea presented in a weekly anime, but through the Cardfight Capital BYOND client, it was a space where I visited with friends and trained daily.

Taken during the final days of Cardfight Capital, January 4th, 2013.

We likely did more talking than playing. From day one, the room was overcrowded, and we tended to gather in Card Shop Handsome more often than in Card Capital proper. (Or the beach.) Nevertheless, we knew that Card Capital was our home. And it remains so.

What did I believe in back then? What was it that lead me down this path? I saw in Vanguard a future. A future where the game was professionalized not just to the same extent as Magic, but to the level of chess, Go, and Shogi. A future where fighters could compete fairly and honestly before an eager audience, and trust in the fact that they would be rewarded not for winning nor losing, but simply for demonstrating their skill and testing one another's abilities. Where an association would provide serious fighters with the freedom to concentrate solely on overcoming the opponents in front of them, without giving thought to anything else.

And I still see that future today.

There is nothing I can do which could ever get those times back. Even resurrecting Cardfight Capital would not bring back my lost friends, my teammates, nor the once bustling community we enjoyed. The world has changed; people have changed. But Vanguard is still here, and its future is still to come.

The world makes sense when I play Vanguard. In my life I have not experienced anything so engrossing as struggling with all of one's might against an indomitable opponent. Nor have I witnessed any scene so special as seeing several hundred people clash in hopes of making the top cut.

This is the destiny that I myself have chosen. No one chose me to do this; not Akira Ito, not Takaaki Kidani, not Nakamura Satoshi, nor did any other representative of Vanguard go and make me into this. I chose this path of my own will, to create the future that I glimpsed so long ago. And I will continue on this path that I have chosen, for the sake of everyone we lost along the way. All this I do, so that this place will continue to be here for those that come after me. No matter how many obstacles I face, my determination will not waver; such is the power to turn despair into hope.

Announcement: Cardfight Pro Live on Patreon, Twitter

Over the past few months, we at Cardfight Pro have increasingly had to face a problem that we would be remiss to ignore. No one should ever be expected to work 48 hours a week and not be paid a living wage for their contributions, but this is exactly the dilemma we have to address. When we started out in 2011 our work was done for free, as a labor of love; but the bar is higher in 2015, and the hours necessary to create quality news are longer. Our goal is to be the NPR of Vanguard. We want to provide the community with a free, nonprofit centralized news source for information about professional level competition in the Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game, and provide support for its burgeoning tournament scene. We also want to be able to pay our writers and contributors a living wage for the work they've done for this community. Working for the good of the community and paying our employees are not mutually exclusive decisions; as part of our solution, we've opened up our Patreon page to public donations. Cardfight Pro will be written for and supported by the public.

Patreon is an efficient system which allows patrons to donate whatever amount they feel the content is worth, or are able to pay. Patrons of Cardfight Pro can donate through a pledge, paying whatever amount they feel comfortable with on a monthly basis. We do not need a tremendous amount of money, nor should anyone feel compelled to donate large sums. If all of our readers donated just $4 a year, our chief editor would make minimum wage. (Note that a pledge can be made for one month only and then canceled later, to make the donation truly one-time.) As Cardfight!! Vanguard continues to grow and Cardfight Pro grows along with it, we will be able to hire more permanent staff, and realize our long-term goal; a print publication available on the magazine racks of retailers and bookstores across the United States. If our campaign is successful, readers will observe an immediate effect of their support--Cardfight Pro will move to a twice-daily schedule, updating in the mornings and evenings every day of the week. As an immediate reward, patrons who pledge $4 or more will be able to suggest articles to be written and published on Cardfight Pro, and all patrons will have the option to receive public acknowledgment (in the form of their name, their username or other preferred identification) at the end of news articles. Business owners that pledge $8 or more will also be able to have their business identified as a source of support, allowing them to advertise their brand on the site. Those who pledge $30 or more will be able to have a strategy or deck analysis article written at their request.

As part of our transparency policy, all funds donated through Patreon will be disclosed annually during our end-of-year reporting in December. Money paid to employees and contributors will be clearly labeled, as will work-related expenses for travel and equipment. At this time it is believed that upwards of 98% of the funds received will go to paying the employees. We have no desire to misuse the funding our supporters provide; Cardfight Pro must match the will of the community as nearly as is possible. Our services will always remain free to the public. No one will be excluded from content based on donating too little or not at all.

Although the bar can always be set higher, Cardfight!! Vanguard is by far one of the best balanced games of its era and we do not want to drop an opportunity to help develop the very special community it is host to. Your donations will enable us to travel nationwide to cover tournaments across the United States, and eventually internationally.

We are also now live on Twitter; follow us @vanguardus

Announcement: Jetpack Comics to Host Cardfight Invitational in November

Over November 15th, Jetpack Comics in New Hampshire will be hosting a large tournament celebrating Cardfight!! Vanguard's two year anniversary at the card shop. Taking place from 12:00 to 3:00 PM, the singles division tournament will guarantee $100 in store credit and a free playmat to the tournament's first place winner, with additional store credit to the top 8 being based on attendance. At minimum second and third place will each receive a playmat and five packs, while fourth place will receive a playmat and three packs, and fifth through eighth will win a playmat alone.

Entry fee to the tournament will be $10, and participants can RSVP through the event's Facebook page. Additionally, side events will begin at 1:00 PM and continue until 10:30 PM, with the prerelease event for extra booster sets VGE-EB10: Requiem at Dusk and VGE-EB11: Waltz of the Goddess taking place from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. From 3:00 to 10:30 PM there will be a workshop introducing the Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game to new players, and giving out free starter decks to every new cardfighter that completes three free fights. The workshop will be teaching general game strategy, deckbuilding and the ins and outs of the metagame.

Furthermore, a triples team tournament will take place from 3:30 to 6:30 PM, requiring a $10 entry fee per team and guaranteeing $40 in store credit to first place, along with a playmat for each teammate. As with the singles tournament, prizes distributed will increase based on attendance.

Jetpack Comics is located in Rochester, New Hampshire, at 37 North Main St., ZIP code 03867.

Announcement: Call for ARG Circuit Series Tournament Organizers

In order to promote the welfare of cardfighters across the United States, going into 2015 Cardfight Pro is collaborating with multiple tournament organizers and card shops throughout North America to support unofficial and underground tournament play.

Ohio-based card shop and event host Alter Reality Games is reaching out to the community to find tournament organizers for its Cardfight!! Vanguard tournaments. In the past the ARG Circuit series has acquired a respected reputation in the community; unlike Bushiroad inc.'s official tournaments, ARG's have employed a best-of-three Swiss pairing format. Rather than a cut to top 8, past Circuits have simply distributed prizes derived from the players' entry fees to the top players at the end of the Swiss rounds, and with a typical tournament size of 50+ cardfighters and $20 entry fees this has climbed up to $1000 in prize payout divided among the top participants. In spite of the rewards, the tournaments have faced obstacles due to a lack of organizers to help set up and run the events.

Alter Reality Games hosts its Circuit series tournaments monthly, and is currently looking for tournament organizers to set up Cardfight!! Vanguard tournaments alongside its Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: The Gathering tournaments. If organizers sign up quickly enough, Vanguard tournaments can be added to the upcoming tournaments for October and November. The Circuit operates throughout several geographic sectors of the United States, and the present tournaments include Columbus (OH) from October 11th to 12th, Des Moines (IA) from the 18th through the 19th, Raleigh (NC) from November 8th to 9th and Seattle (WA) from November 15th through the 16th. Previous Circuit events have included locations like Chicago and Indianapolis.

In the future ARG plans to expand their operations from two tournaments monthly to three and four, and to hold Circuits in more cities, which would likewise allow for more Vanguard tournaments to be held. Those interested in organizing Cardfight!! Vanguard tournaments, please contact ARG president Jim McMahan with your application at jim@alterealitygames.com