News: Preregistration Open for ARG Texas, Ontario Circuit Set for February

On February 8th 2015 Alter Reality Games will be bringing its ARG Circuit series to Fort Worth and Ontario, commencing the first Vanguard Circuits in Texas and Canada. The entry fee for ARG's Cardfight!! Vanguard tournaments will be $20 per person, with five booster packs being provided to every player that enters. For the Texas Circuit, ARG will be giving out free playmats to the first 25 players to preregister. The playmats will be handed out prior to the tournament, in place of the free booster packs. Preregistration can be carried out through ARG's webpage. The tournament venues addresses are given below. At Fort Worth the tournament finals will be streamed lived to ARG's Twitch channel, but the Ontario tournament will not be.

As at Chicago, Atlanta and Orlando there will be a payout of $500 divided among the top 8, along with Circuit series playmats. The payout will be in store credit to be used on Alter Reality Games' website, unless more than 40 cardfighters participate, in which case payout will be in cash. As is standard for competitive tournaments the format will be best two out of three games, beginning with several rounds of Swiss pairings and followed by a cut to top 8. Only English-language cards will be permitted in the tournament, while Lizard Soldier Conroe and Barcgal will be banned from play. Clan mixing is allowed, so that cardfighters can play popular mixed decks like Thing Saver-“Abyss” and mixed Witches. On-site registration will begin at 10:00 AM and the tournament itself will begin at 11:00 AM. The tournament will take place at the Fort Worth Convention Center, 1201 Houston Street, Fort Worth, 76102.

The ARG Circuit series is publicly endorsed by Cardfight Pro as a professional tournament system. Those who place in the tournament will be recognized by Cardfight Pro as professional cardfighters of the same caliber as those that qualify in the world championships and VGCS tournaments. 

The Ontario tournament will not be run by Alter Reality Games, but ARG will be providing top 8 playmats for their associates in Canada to distribute. Registration will be held from 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM, while the entry fee and tournament regulations are identical to those at Fort Worth. The prizes for top 8, based on an anticipated turnout of 50 cardfighters, will be $220 for first place, $120 for second, $80 for third through fourth place, and $45 for fifth through eighth. Each member of the top 8 will receive an ARG playmat, while four random cardfighters will be given a BT16: Legion of Dragons & Blades mat. The Ontario Circuit will be held at the MVP Complex on 1325 Eglinton Avenue E Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

News: Christian Rivera Tops ARG Orlando with Thing Saver Dragon

Six of the top 8 games. Orlando champion Christian Rivera is on the left, in the center game.

The first major tournament of 2015 concluded earlier today with the lauded Thing Saver Dragon in first place, under the command of Orlando Circuit champion Christian Rivera. Beginning at 11:00 AM and lasting over ten hours, the six round tournament saw a payout of $500 to the top 8 cardfighters, with Christian claiming $200 of it and an exclusive champion's playmat. The top 8 fighters included the first Deletor top in the United States, as well as two Gold Paladin, one Blue Storm and one Yggdrasil top. The day was primarily stolen by Thing Saver Dragon, who accounted for three places in the top 8 and a significant portion of the tournament's participants, both as a pure Royal Paladin deck and as a mixed Royal-Shadow Thing Saver-“Abyss” deck. The top 8 decklists are provided below.

85 cardfighters participated at the Orlando Circuit, making it the largest fan tournament ever organized on the North American continent. Some of those fighters came from as far as Miami, more than three hours from the tournament salon at the Ramada Gateway hotel. The Cardfight!! Vanguard portion of the Circuit was organized by judge Harris, a veteran cardfighter from Jacksonville who has been specifically hired for his experience by several tournament hosts in the past. The tournament format was held in best-of-3 with a 40 minute time limit on rounds. Six rounds of Swiss determined the top 8 cardfighters, who then played out to determine the pecking order on prizes.

Photos property of Cardfight Pro.

Clan mixing was permitted at the event. While Thing Saver-“Abyss” proved a population option as it had in Japan, no fighters were observed taking advantage of the rules to run mixed Genesis-Shadow Paladin witch decks. Importantly, while the Spike Brothers' legion grade 2s Bloody Ogle and Silver Blaze have been seen to tear apart the competition in Japan's Extreme Fight format, these were also not seen outside of pure Spike Brothers decks.

The tournament's time limits fell under some scrutiny by the cardfighters present. The most common complaint of the evening was of only having 40 minutes versus 50 to 60. The introduction of legion format has stretched the midgame of each fight considerably, with a strongly defensive and stall-oriented gameplay developing around legion skills removing most damage restrictions. Judge Harris was available for comment on the matter; while he was sympathetic to the fighters' problems, he cited the encroaching length of the tournament even under the current system as one reason for the limits. The difficulty of organizing large groups of players to complete their games in a timely fashion also came into play. Harris suggested a 50 minute time limit with double elimination rules as a future solution, so that every fighter that had lost two best-of-three sets would be cut from a given competition, effectively halving the number of players needed to be paired for every round following the second.

Photos property of Cardfight Pro.

Perhaps the most striking image of the day was that of the tournament's unintended mascot, top 4 cardfighter Joshua Harvie. Referred to during the tournament as "the Teletubby," Harvie cut an intimidating figure to those competing, as he attended the tournament in a Laa-Laa costume juxtaposed with a Guy Fawkes mask. Adding fuel to the fire is that Harvie was extremely proficient with his Thing Saver Dragon deck. When he abruptly won a game after an announcement that there were two minutes remaining until the time limit, his opponent was admonished by audience members for "activating The Tub." Harvie became the first of the top 8 fighters to be put on stream, but was eliminated in the top 4 in a mirror match with Christian Rivera.

Tournament runner-up Brian Villamil carved out a place for himself with the recently released Bluish Flame Liberators. Noticeably Villamil chose not to run Prominence Core with his Prominence Glare copies, opting to run Percival instead. This is a preference emergent in the American pro scene similar to that of the Americans' Japanese counterparts. Percival's direct card advantage is seen as more valuable over Core's neutral superior calls, and the additional critical from Core is much more easily dealt with than that of Glare or Percival's unboosted center lane. Villamil was joined in top 8 by Daniel Pelaez also playing Bluish Flames, but Pelaez was eliminated quickly by Rivera. Rivera poked fun at Pelaez's mass chaining of skills--Prominence Core to Oath Aglovale to Zorron to Ketchgal to call Bruno--that his opponent had "taken his turn for a year."

Note that when going through the decklists below, the copy of Kevin Carlson's Aqua Force list currently in our possession does not have the quantities of the cards he used list on it. As such, only the names are provided at this time.

The ARG Circuit series is publicly endorsed by Cardfight Pro as a professional tournament system. Those who place in the tournament will be recognized by Cardfight Pro as professional cardfighters of the same caliber as those that qualify in the world championships and VGCS tournaments. 

First place: Christian Rivera
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x4 Margal DT
x4 Impact Seeker, Modoron CT
x4 Seeker, Hallowed Breath Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Defending Seeker, Shiron
x4 Honest Seeker, Cynric
x3 Grynngal Seeker
x3 Lake Maiden, Lien
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade Seeker
x4 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x3 Great Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x1 Light Source Seeker, Alfred Exiv
x3 Seeker, Sacred Wingal

Second place: Brian Villamil
Deck Name: Gold Paladin Liberator
Grade 0
x1 Flaming Passion Liberator, Guido (FV)
x4 Numinous Tree Liberator, Elchea HT
x4 Liberator of Hope, Epona CT
x4 Great Wish Liberator, Esus CT
x4 Flame of Victory CT
Grade 1
x3 Halo Liberator, Mark
x1 Light Formation Liberator, Erdre
x4 Fast Chase Liberator, Josephus
x4 May Rain Liberator, Bruno
x2 Physical Force Liberator, Zorron
Grade 2
x4 Regulation Liberator, Aglovale
x4 Oath Liberator, Aglovale
x3 Liberator, Lawful Trumpeter
Grade 3
x4 Bluish Flame Liberator, Prominence Glare
x4 Bluish Flame Liberator, Percival

Third and fourth place
Michael Housely
Deck name: Saver of Things
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x4 Margal DT
x4 Impact Seeker, Modoron CT
x4 Seeker, Hallowed Breath Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Defending Seeker, Shiron
x3 Honest Seeker, Cynric
x3 Flail Seeker, Isbuzzard
x2 Lake Maiden, Lien
x2 Grynngal Seeker
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade Seeker
x4 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x3 Great Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x2 Seeker, Sacred Wingal
x2 Light Source Seeker, Alfred Exiv 

Joshua Harvey
Deck name: XXMLG420YOLOSWAGXXMTNDEWDORITOSXX
Grade 0
x1 Advance Party Seeker, File (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer HT
x4 Margal DT
x2 Messegal Seeker DT
x4 Impact Seeker, Modoron CT
x2 Seeker, Hallowed Breath Dragon CT
Grade 1
x3 Defending Seeker, Shiron
x1 Seeker, Plume Wall Angel
x3 Honest Seeker, Cynric
x3 Flail Seeker, Isbuzzard
x2 Lake Maiden, Lien
x2 Grynngal Seeker
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade Seeker
x4 Full Bloom Seeker, Cerdic
x3 Great Crossbow Seeker, Gildas
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x2 Seeker, Sacred Wingal
x2 Light Source Seeker, Alfred Exiv

Fifth through eighth place
Michael Luo
Deck name: Need Prize Money for PGs
Grade 0
x1 Regalia of Prayers, Pray Angel (FV)
x4 Regalia of Compassion, Eir HT
x4 Mirror Regalia, Achlis ST
x4 Regalia of Far-sight, Clear Angel CT
x4 Battle Maiden, Kukurihime CT
Grade 1
x4 Cold Blast Regalia, Svalinn
x4 Exorcism Regalia, Shiny Angel
x2 Regalia of Well-wishes, Preach Angel
x4 Witch of Oranges, Valencia
Grade 2
x4 Midday Regalia, Hemera
x4 Regalia of Fate, Norn
x1 Regalia of Fertility, Freyja
x2 Twilight Regalia, Hesperis
Grade 3
x4 Cosmic Regalia, CEO Yggdrasil
x4 Midnight Regalia, Nyx

Zarvani Grant 
Deck name: Team Ubermensch
Grade 0
x2 Acquire Deletor, Igor (FV)
x4 Taunting Deletor Goto HT
x4 Exulting Deletor, Maestol DT
x1 Squeezing Deletor Id DTx4 Override Deletor, Olg CT
x3 Marching Deleteor, Maze CT
Grade 1
x4 Refusing Deletor, Evil
x4 Idolizing Deletor, Guim
x3 Breaking Deletor, Gatario
x2 Looting Deletor, Gunec
Grade 2
x4 Greedy Deletor, Jail
x4 Juxtapose Deletor, Gaele
x3 Pursuing Deletor, Egotte
Grade 3
x4 Daunting Deletor, Oksizz
x4 Juxtapose Deletor, Zaele

Kevin Carlson
Deck name: Wipeout!!!
Grade 0
Blue Storm Cadet, Anos (FV)
Blue Storm Soldier, Kitchen Sailor HT
Battle Siren, Mallika DT
Supersonic Sailor CT
Blue Storm Soldier, Missile Trooper CT
Grade 1
Emerald Shield, Paschal
Blue Storm Guardian Dragon, Icefall Dragon
Mako Shark Soldier of the Blue Storm Fleet
Blue Storm Marine General, Hermes
Light Signals Penguin Soldier
Mola Mola Soldier of the Blue Storm Fleet
Blue Storm Battle Princess, Electra
Grade 2
Blue Storm Marine General, Starless
Blue Storm Marine General, Gregorios
Blue Storm Marine General, Spyros
Tidal Assault
Grade 3
Blue Storm Wave Dragon, Tetra-burst Dragon
Blue Storm Marine General, Demetrius

Daniel Pelaez
Grade 0
x1 Flaming Passion Liberator, Guido (FV)
x4 Numinous Tree Liberator, Elchea HT
x4 Ketchal Liberator ST
x4 Strike Liberator CT
x4 Steel Blade Liberator CT
Grade 1
x1 Sword Formation Liberator, Igraine
x3 Light Formation Liberator, Erdre
x4 Fast Chase Liberator, Josephus
x4 May Rain Liberator, Bruno
x2 Physical Force Liberator, Zorron
Grade 2
x4 Oath Liberator, Aglovale
x4 Regulation Liberator, Aglovale
x3 Liberator, Lawful Trumpeter
Grade 3
x4 Bluish Flame Liberator, Percival
x4 Bluish Flame Liberator, Prominence Core

News: ARG Unveils Orlando Circuit Facebook Page, Thing Saver-“Abyss” to be Legal

In advance of the upcoming tournament next week on Sunday January 4th, Alter Reality Games has set up a Facebook page for the Orlando Circuit. The tournament will take place at the Ramada Gateway Hotel (7470 Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy 192, Kissimmee, FL 34747) and will have a total payout of $500 to the top 8 cardfighters. First place will receive $200 in prize credit as well as a playmat exclusive to the tournament champion, while second place will get $100, third and fourth $50, fifth through eighth $25, and all places from second to eighth will receive a top 8 playmat. If the tournament attracts more than 40 participants, the prizes will be paid out in cash. The top 8 will be broadcast live to ARG's Twitch channel, so even those not attending the tournament can tune in to see the final games played out. Cardfight Pro editor Touya will be attending the event to do on-site coverage and interviews.

Registration will begin at 10:00 AM and the tournament will begin an hour later. Preregistration is not possible. Participants are advised to print out one of these deck sheets to write out their decklists on. The tournament will require a $20 entry fee, and participants will receive five booster packs with their entry. Tournament format will be Swiss, meaning that players with similar records will be paired together each round where possible, and unlike Bushiroad's official tournaments, ARG Orlando will be best-of-three games. The time limit on each round is 40 minutes. Any questions can be answered by sending an e-mail to events@alterealitygames.com. 

Note that ARG has ruled that clan mixing will be legal at Orlando, so cardfighters will be able to use Thing Saver-“Abyss” and other mixed decks. The announcement is concerning to some, as most cards from BT16-on do not require a vanguard of a specific clan nor do they target only cards within their clan, and the Lord keytext is no longer being printed on grade 3 cards. This means that units like Frozen Ogle, Silver Blaze and Brawler Yojin can be played in any deck so long as that deck uses legion vanguards and no boss cards from BT15 or earlier.

The ARG Circuit series is publicly endorsed by Cardfight Pro as a professional tournament system. Those who place in the tournament will be recognized by Cardfight Pro as professional cardfighters of the same caliber as those that qualify in the world championships and VGCS tournaments.

News: ARG Atlanta Championship Top 8 Videos Released

Over December 11th Alter Reality Games released the videos of their Atlanta Circuit's top 8, including the grand finals matches between Atlanta champion Nam Vo and runner-up Matthew An. Vo won the tournament playing Cosmic Regalia CEO Yggdrasil, and his decklist was previously published through Cardfight Pro. Matthew An had previously made top 8 at ARG's Chicago Circuit, as well as won Bushiroad's Tennessee regional qualifier playing a Bermuda Triangle Duo deck. The ARG Atlanta tournament is to be followed up by another ARG Circuit series event on January 4th in Orlando, Florida.

Having access to Judgebau and Macart for superior call options later in the fight, in the opening turns of top 8 Matthew An was able to safely play his rearguards at will, taking the lead through aggressive attacks and maintaining this throughout his games. By the time Boyce rode Yggdrasil, An already had a seven card lead over his opponent, and by retiring Pray Angel early preemptively prevented her soulcharging skill. His aggression also pressured Boyce into trying to retaliate while not having the card advantage options nor handsize to do so. The first fight was cut short by a double grade 3 drive check on Boyce's part and a double critical trigger on An's end, but ultimately the remaining game played out on the same terms of superior aggression and card advantage.

(Note that early on, An made use of an errata on Judgebau that allows his skill to activate when the attack he boosts hits a rearguard. A misprint in the English run of BT15: Infinite Rebirth led many fighters to believe that the skill would only activate on a vanguard hit.)

In top 4 An played an “Abyss” mirror match versus Tony Wong. Both fighters were dealing with poor early setups, unable to call many rearguards until they reached grade 3. By retiring Wong's Judgebau with Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss'” skill, then going after his rearguards with Mordred, An was able to make up for both of his own Sword Breakers being removed from the deck early by decreasing his opponent's card advantage and preventing Wong's Judgebau-Sword Breakers from activating in retaliation. Even so, neither fighter's position was particularly stable until An was able to set up Masquerade and Macart columns on the next turn to force more defense out of his opponent than Wong was putting out per turn.

Wong negated the -1 of “Abyss'” legion skill on the next turn by superior calling with Wily Revenger Mana on the next turn and retiring her call target for “Abyss,” but did not check any triggers on either of his twin drive checks. With An having started Wong's turn at 2 damage, this severely curtailed the impact of “Abyss'” second attack, and left An able to make a decisive next turn by break riding “Abyss” over Mordred, creating both a 21000 power Macart line whose on-legion skill negated “Abyss'” -1 in a more efficient manner than Mana, and a restanding 32000 power Phantom Blaster “Abyss.” This left An with a seven card advantage over Wong at the end of that turn, so that the remaining game played out defined by this gap until Wong was eventually pushed to six damage. An won the round 2-0 due to gaining a severe advantage from Wong being gradelocked at 0 for two turns, which left An with more time to set up his strategy and get in early damage.

Matthew An started out strong in grand finals, winning game 1 handily, punishing Vo for filling his field early by retiring his first vanguard with Dark Revenger “Abyss” and then proceeding to focus wholly on the rearguards for that turn, setting Vo so far back he would be unable to recover without any available draw skills. By the end of An's turn on Modred these combination of rearguard-centric plays and draw triggers left him at -1 to -6, a five card difference that Vo struggled to make up in game 1. An had the freedom to expend the same number of cards per turn as Vo without falling behind, because of Vo continuously trying to block his Judgebau boosted vanguard. This also allowed An to gamble on a double trigger check later on, since he had little to lose by applying the first trigger to the vanguard even if the second check did not bring out anything. By going into his double Sword Breakers this way, An effectively sealed game 1 for himself.

Nam Vo's turnaround came in game 2 and 3; in game 2 An redrew five cards and still ended up gradelocked as Dark Shield Mac Lir, causing Vo to win the game before he could ever reach grade 3. In the third game an early critical trigger from Vo on turn 1 set him ahead significantly. An would have been better off to guard all of Vo's attacks while he was on grade 2, but choosing not to left him at 3 damage before Vo had hit grade 3. Going second allowed Vo to be the first to legion, using two Freyjas and Pray Angel to soulcharge 9, setting up his soulblast 6 legion skill. With CEO Yggdrasil's final power at 33000 power 2 critical and blocking all grade 1 and higher cards from being guarded with, there was no feasible way for Matthew An to guard the attack, and a critical trigger put him from 3 to 6 damage, making Nam Vo the ARG Circuit champion.

News: Nam Vo Wins Atlanta Championship with CEO Yggdrasil

ARG Atlanta champion Nam Vo, holding his playmat and prize money. Original photo uploaded by Alter Reality Games.

December 7th, Georgia International Convention Center, Georgia. The second stage of ARG's Cardfight!! Vanguard Circuit series tournaments finished over the weekend with Genesis cardfighter Nam Vo in first place. 41 cardfighters participated in the event, making this the first largeCardfight!! Vanguard tournament with cash payout. Nam Vo received $200 for placing first in the tournament, while runner-up Matthew An was awarded $100. The tournament finals were streamed like to ARG's Twitch channel, and recordings of the top 8 will be uploaded to their YouTube later. Atlanta will be followed by another Circuit series tournament in Orlando Florida on January 4th, the first major tournament of the new year. Vo and An's decklists are provided below, courtesy of Robbie Kohl.

ARG Atlanta's top 8 consisted of five Shadow Paladin and three CEO Yggdrasil cardfighters, with three of the Shadow Paladin fighters playing Phantom Blaster “Abyss” and two of them playing the clan's Witch deck. North American cardfighters have generally gravitated towards decks out of EB11: Requiem at Dusk and EB12: Waltz of the Goddess since the November 21st releases, preferring these options to the less complete trial deck options that went out on the same day. The format is expected to diversify with the release of VGE-BT16: Legion of Dragons and Blades ver. E on December 16th, but for the time being a back and forth tug-of-war between Yggdrasil and “Abyss” has dominated professional competition, as seen in both Atlanta and Chicago.

Nam Vo's Yggdrasil deck was not without surprises; while the majority of Regalia cardfighters have adamantly stuck to draw and critical triggers, Vo ran two copies of the stand trigger Mirror Regalia Achlis. One of the consequences of the Regalia Angel series' semirandom soulcharging is that there is always the potential to soulcharge trigger units. This puts an incentive on the Genesis fighter to soulblast those trigger units so that they can be recycled later through legion, rather than soulblasting grade 1 and 2 cards with on-blast skills.

Because Achlis can give a Regalia vanguard +5000 power when soulblasted, he answers this scenario by ensuring that Yggdrasil fighters do not miss out on a potential skill by soulcharging a trigger unit. Stand triggers in general have proven more popular with the onset of the legion format, as the vanguard's naturally high center lane and the increased importance of each damage point has made them a more viable--and unexpected--choice when considering trigger lineups. Most opponents do not factor in stand triggers when guarding, due to their lack of play in past formats.

The ARG Circuit series is publicly endorsed by Cardfight Pro as a professional tournament system. Those who place in the tournament will be recognized by Cardfight Pro as professional cardfighters of the same caliber as those that qualify in the world championships and VGCS tournaments.

First place: Nam Vo
Grade 0
x1 Regalia of Prayers, Pray Angel (FV)
x4 Regalia of Compassion, Eir HT
x2 Mirror Regalia, Achlis ST
x3 Regalia of Foredoom, Lot Angel DT
x3 Regalia of Far-sight, Clear Angel CT
x4 Battle Maiden, Kukurihime CT
Grade 1
x2 Cold Blast Regalia, Svalinn
x2 Witch of Strawberries, Framboise
x4 Exorcism Regalia, Shiny Angel
x1 Goddess of Union, Yuno
x3 Purification Regalia, Pure Angel
x2 Ordain Owl
Grade 2
x2 Twilight Regalia, Hesperis
x2 Regalia of Fertility, Freyja
x4 Regalia of Fate, Norn
x3 Midday Regalia, Hemera
x1 Goddess of Trees, Jupiter
Grade 3
x3 Midnight Regalia, Nyx
x4 Cosmic Regalia, CEO Yggdrasil

Second place: Matthew An
Grade 0
x1 Judgebau Revenger (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x4 Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
x2 Black-winged Sword Breaker
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x3 Fighting Spirit Revenger, Macart
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

News: ARG Chicago Top 8 & Decklists, Atlanta Championship Upcoming

Alter Reality Games has uploaded recordings of the ARG Chicaco Circuit's top 8 fights to its YouTube channel, showing off the last two of each three games played between Circuit champion Robbie Kohl and top 8 finalists Brian Mei, Antoine Michael Jackson and Christian Maldonado. Kohl has also provided us with some of the decklists gathered from the top 8, but was only able to provide Brian Mei's Great Nature deck and his own “Abyss” build. The videos of the top 8 are given below, with commentary.

In upcoming tournament news, the ARG Atlanta Circuit is imminent, coming up on this weekend on December 7th at the Georgia International Convention Center. $550 in prizes will be awarded to the top 8 as store credit, with the credit becoming cash payout if more than 40 cardfighters attend. Each participant will receive five free booster packs with their $20 entry fee, and the tournament will consist of 45 minute best-of-three rounds. Registration is at 10:00 AM and the tournament will begin at 11:00 AM, so please arrive promptly. You can find more information through the event's Facebook page.

ARG Atlanta will be followed by an Orlando tournament on January 4th. Each of the ARG Circuit events will be accompanied by its own playmat, generally handed out to the top 8 in addition to their prize credit. The ARG Circuit series is publicly endorsed by Cardfight Pro as a professional tournament system. Those who place in the tournament will be recognized by Cardfight Pro as professional cardfighters of the same caliber as those that qualify in the world championships and VGCS tournaments.

Researcher Fox, the crux of Mei's deck.

One of the most noted fighters present at Chicago was Brian Mei, whose Great Nature deck was uncharacteristic of typical top 8 tournament results. Mei's deck was assembled just two days before the Chicago Circuit, and primarily focused on Great Nature's breakride Chatnoir with its legion pair Tester Fox and Researcher Fox. His primary strategy was to use Tester Fox's skills to power up rearguard copies of Researcher Fox, then retire it in the end phase while in legion; Researcher's on-retire skill counterblasts 1 to search the deck for either half of the legion pair so that he breaks even on the retire exchange, then Tester Fox's end phase skill unflips the damage Researcher counterblasted, draws a card and then puts two cards from the drop zone onto the bottom of the deck. In this case, putting the Researcher that was retired onto the bottom of the deck ensures that the one in his hand can search for it next turn, and repeat the whole cycle from square one.

Furthermore, for every copy of Coiling Duckbill called to the field that turn Mei could layer an instance of "[AUTO]: During your end phase, when this unit is put into the drop zone from a rearguard cricle, draw a card." on Researcher Fox, essentially gaining a +1 in card advantage for every card drawn after using Researcher's counterblast. Mei ran four stand triggers in place of draws in his Great Nature deck, taking advantage of the clan's triple rare grade 2 Binoculus Tiger. Every time Binoculus attacks the vanguard he can give +4000 power to another rearguard in exchange for retiring it at the beginning of the end phase, which means that there is no penalty for repeatedly using Binoculus on Researcher Fox. With one stand trigger, it's possible for Researcher to acquire a net +12000 power boost from Binoculus and Tester Fox, making a ~28000 power column.

Mei also ran a single copy of Leo-pald “Яeverse” to round out the grade 3s; “Яeverse” can be a devastating tech card in the endgame in combination with the deck's stand triggers, as “Яeverse” can repeat his limit break any number of times per turn limited only by how many cards it can lock. Since “Яeverse” gives two rearguards +4000 power in exchange for locking one, this establishes two rearguards with the +12000 power boost described above. When break ridden this allows his fighter to attack with two rearguards columns in the range of ~29000 and ~32000 while the vanguard attacks for 21000 power, and then draw two cards at the end of the turn to not just refund the cost of riding but also gain a +1 off of it. With so many options this leaves the deck able to have simultaneously offensive and defensive turns, as seen below.

Mei had wanted to run an additional copy of Coiling Duckbill in his deck but was not able to find room for it, believing that Silver Wolf was more important for building 21000 power rearguard lanes. A 16000 power column can only reach 20000 with a single Binoculus or Tester Fox power boost on it, but a 17000 power column is able to graze its way into 21000. Hence, Silver Wolf is important for getting the deck's various 9000 power grade 2s into that territory.


Versus Kohl's Revenger deck Mei won the unseen first game, but struggled to keep pace in the second and third. One of the weaknesses of Great Nature is needing to keep its rearguards in hand until a combo is set up, and hence having poor early aggression. Kohl had the first move and this would normally put Mei in a position to be very aggressive, but because of this incentivesto keep cards in hand earlier he was unable to build on this. Initial triggers also set Mei behind significantly, forcing him to play catch-up in a damage lead, and Kohl was able to consistently retire Mei's first vanguard Gardening Mole, which prevented Mei from using his skill later on to return a card retired in the end phase to the hand.

Because Mole sends itself into the soul to do so, it typically trades field presence in order to keep the hand high for a defensive game. Its skill can be particularly dangerous in combination with the critical trigger Ruler Chameleon, whose on-retire counterblast can search the deck for a copy of itself and put it into the hand. Mole into Chameleon results in both critical triggers being put into the hand for defensive purposes, which also sets up a legion for the next turn in addition to being defensively beneficial immediately. In the first game Mei drew three cards off of Chatnoir's break ride skill and Tester's legion, and was able to search out a Chameleon with Chameleon, but not having access to Mole prevented him from converting a fifth card to his hand. Had this been the case, Mei would have been able to keep a Researcher Fox in hand rather than guard with it, to use with Tester Fox's legion skill in the next turn, which would have led to drawing another card and searching for another Fox instead of losing card advantage off of Compass Lion.

In game 3 the problems of the first game were exacerbated when Mei became gradelocked at 2, preventing him from making a comeback against Kohl's early leads. Gradelock has been a constant hazard for cardfighters since the game's beginning, but with the introduction of stride units and Harmonics Messiah in VGE-BT16: Legion of Dragons and Blades ver.E on the 19th fighters will be able to circumvent gradelock through the G Assist step.


In top 4, Kohl played against Antoine Michael Jackson's Duo deck. Kohl ended up gradelocked at 1 in the second game, followed by Jackson facing the same. However, Jackson was ultimately unable to retaliate against Kohl's Transient Masquerade field, and Judgebau ensured that Kohl had a six card lead going into Jackson's first grade 3 turn on top of the immense 2-to-4 damage difference. While Jackson attempted to delay Kohl's endgame by playing counterblast control, focusing on his rearguards and only affording him a single damage, having Dorint's unflipping skill active allowed Kohl to ignore this and his break ride entirely to go for game.

As in most of these games, Kohl effectively won with his grade 1 plays; as long as his opponents were unable to retaliate against multiple rearguard attacks early in the fight, the rest of the deck's card skills would ensure that the situation would be preserved for the remainder of the game. Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss” continued to push Jackson down in card advantage while preemptively negating the draw power from his first vanguard by retiring it, and Judgebau threatened him with the alternative of a constant high pressure lane that demanded at least 15000 shield while the rearguards would continue to push him towards 4 damage, or with Kohl building advantage off of a Sword Breakers.

Versus Antoine, Kohl deliberately avoided giving critical triggers to his vanguard in order to prevent Jackson from break riding. Kohl was already at 4 damage by this point, and allowing Jackson's Duo break ride to go off would spell an end to the match. This allowed him to slow down the pace of the game by a turn and recover, putting his opponent at the 3 damage mark so that Phantom Blaster “Abyss” would have better chances of getting his opponent to 4 damage and ending the game before most of Jackson's skills could go off. Kohl won the round 2-1.


Game 3 of Robbie Kohl versus Christian Maldonado was already covered, but as discussed there in game 2 Kohl repeated much of his strategies he would use in 3, retiring Maldonado's first vanguard to prevent soulcharging later on, playing both aggressive attack and early defense strategies. Kohl ended his grade 2 turn at +0 to -3, taking four cards from Maldonado in a single turn. By the end of his grade 3 turn Kohl to Maldonado was at -1 to -6, an advantage difference of five cards. This went down to -7 when Maldonado was gradelocked at 2. This was a deliberate decision, but one which cost Maldonado the game, attempting to prevent Phantom Blaster “Abyss” from legioning by not going to grade 3 until it could become part of a winning play. By the end of the first game Kohl was maintaining a ten card difference in advantage, -2 to -12. In game 2 Maldonado was able to get his Yggdrasil legion set up, putting Kohl from 3 to 6 damage with a single critical trigger by gaining an added critical from his soulblast 6 legion skill, and blocking Kohl's grade 0-heavy hand from being used. In game 3 Maldonado's play was weakened by opening with Minerva and once more having his first vanguard Pray Angel retired, while Kohl chose to prioritize a brute force approach before dedicating to his restand strategy, winning 2-1.

Kohl's opponents did not play around the fact that his rearguards were generally only worth 5000 shield. Because of Kohl's pattern of attacking with one rearguard and then attacking with the other if the first one was guarded, then following with the boosted vanguard, it was in his opponents' best interests to let the first rearguard attack hit in the case of a damage trigger check. A single damage trigger would prevent the remaining unboosted rearguard from hitting, and make Kohl's vanguard a 10000 shield for two or none to pass, but each opponent consistently guarded the first rearguard and took the second instead, missing out on the opportunity to counter Kohl's offense. In turn, his opponents did not emulate this strategy of attacking with unboosted rearguards prior to the vanguard, sometimes costing them when Kohl would damage check triggers, as in the case of Maldonado's first turn Ordain Owl in their second game.

Alter Reality Games Circuit Series Chicago, December 2014
Chicago Circuit champion: Robbie Kohl
Grade 0
x1 Judgebau Revenger (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x4 Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
x2 Black-winged Sword Breaker
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x3 Revenger of Nullity, Masquerade
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Top 8: Brian Mei
Grade 0

x1 Gardening Mole (FV)

x4 Dictionary Goat HT

x4 Eraser Alpaca ST

x4 Triangle Cobra CT

x4 Holder Hedgehog CT

Grade 1

x4 Cable Sheep
x4 Silver Wolf
x3 Coiling Duckbill

x3 Tank Mouse

Grade 2

x4 Illusion Scientist, Researcher Fox
x4 Binoculus Tiger
x2 Compass Lion

x1 Lamp Camel

Grade 3

x4 Magic Scientist, Tester Fox
x3 Honorary Professor, Chatnoir
x1 School Punisher, Leo-pald “Яeverse”

News: Robbie Kohl Wins ARG Chicago Championship with “Abyss,” Great Nature in Top 8

Original photo uploaded by Alter Reality Games.

November 30th, Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Illinois. The first of ARG's renewed Cardfight!! Vanguard tournaments has ended with YouTube celebrity Robbie Kohl taking first place with Revenger Phantom Blaster “Abyss.” Runner-up at ARG was Christian Maldonado playing a Cosmic Regalia CEO Yggdrasil deck. This was the first Cardfight!! Vanguard tournament to be held after the shift to legion format on November 21st, and the results reflect general shifts observed in card shops throughout North America. Professional cardfighters are favoring Yggdrassil and “Abyss,” with Genesis and Shadow Paladin's witch subclans as close competitors to the more mainstream Regalia and Revenger decks.

Like a number of Japanese cardfighters, Kohl built his “Abyss” deck with the Mordred Phantom break ride as his secondary grade 3, creating the potential for an overwhelming 32000+ power restanding attack at endgame. Many opponents when confronted with such a deck meet it by trying to control the “Abyss” fighter's damage and keep them out of limit break. However, this tends to keep those fighters at higher damage than their opponent, with the typical response being to ride into “Abyss” without waiting to break ride and go straight for his restanding legion skill the moment the opponent is in the 4 damage range.

Kohl won $200 in store credit for his victory, with prizes for the rest of the top eight descending from $100, to $75 and down to $25 for fourth through eighth place. The Chicago tournament was put together on short notice compared to the rest of ARG's events that weekend, and drew 34 participants. The top four cardfighters at Chicago were Robbie Kohl with Blaster “Abyss,” Christian Maldonado and Lance Bow both playing CEO Yggdrasil, and a currently unknown fighter with Duo Temptation Reit. Kohl defeated the Bermuda cardfighter before advancing to the finals against Maldonado. A Great Nature fighter was commended by those that made the top cut for placing inside the top eight.

The tournament's top cut was streamed to ARG's Twitch channel, attracting over two hundred viewers during its run. Commentary was provided in-house. The full video of the top eight playoffs will be posted to their YouTube channel later, but for the time being one of our editors recorded the decisive third game between Kohl and Maldonado. Followup tournaments for the ARG Circuit will take place on December 7th and January 4th in Atlanta and Orlando. Decklists are expected to go out this week.

In his games with Maldonado, Kohl focused on aggression to draw out early defense from his opponent, making it more difficult to guard the Judgebau-boosted Phantom Blaster later on in the match. Maldonado responded by trying to draw the same guard out from Kohl by attacking his rearguards, leveling the playing field but not overtaking Kohl in the card advantage game. Kohl took advantage of this by punishing his opponent with further rearguard swings, securing his on-hit, but an unfortunately timed heal trigger locked him out of using Judgebau to go into double Sword Breakers. With very little in the way of card advantage and soul setup, Maldonado was quickly backed into a corner, leading him to use an early quintet wall to provide a pool of cards to soulcharge out of the drop zone off Hemera and Shiny Angel.

However, Maldonado had chosen to open with Minerva to serve as an additional card in the soul for Yggdrasil and early crossride defense, and this proved costly as it locked him out of using his legion-based starter Pray Angel to soulcharge; Kohl capitalized on this by using Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss” to retire it, limiting Maldonado's soul options for the rest of the game. This play proved critical, as it stopped Yggdrasil's soulblast 6 from being used a second time. By the time Maldonado rode Yggdrasil, these plays had snowballed into a ten card difference in advantage for Kohl, and Maldonado was left with just two cards in hand. Because of the third game's emphasis on prevention and damage control, it ended without Kohl using his restand skill, winning instead by brute force and capitalizing on early leads so that he ended with upwards of twelve cards in hand even as the game finished.

In addition to his breakthrough as a professional cardfighter, Kohl has been instrumental in helping to organize the Circuit series, working closely with Alter Reality Games to revitalize Cardfight!! Vanguard tournaments in the United States. He has previously experienced some success as a duelist in Yu-Gi-Oh!, and volunteered to help set up tournaments with ARG after their call for organizers last October.

News: ARG Circuit Series to Visit Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, Call for Judges

Beginning this weekend, Ohio-based card shop Alter Reality Games has announced the return of Cardfight!! Vanguard to its Circuit series tournaments. Cardfight!! Vanguard will join Magic: The Gathering and the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card games as part of ARG's featured games. To promote the Circuit series ARG is introducing its own line of playmats, with the three introduced today featuring the characters Phantom Blaster “Abyss” and Great Daikaiser. Each of the playmats has the name of the event it will be distributed at printed on it, as well as the skyline of the city the event is to take place in. Atlanta's playmat bears the SunTrust Plaza skyscraper in the background, while Orlando's shows the Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom behind “Abyss.” Each of the three tournaments scheduled is described below, with links to their events page.

The finals from each tournament will be streamed by ARG on their official channel, allowing viewers to watch the top cardfights compete live. Each Circuit event will use a best-of-three games ruleset, with Swiss round pairings. Vanguard tournament organization at ARG is currently being handled by YouTube celebrity Robbie Kohl, known for his impact in the Yu-Gi-Oh! community. With over fifty thousand subscribers Kohl is a relatively high profile figure in the west, acquainted with past Vanguard stars like the first world champion Brandon Smith. Kohl volunteered to help run the tournaments after ARG made their previous call for tournament organizers, but the events remain shorthanded where judges are concerned. ARG is still in need of judges for Cardfight!! Vanguard tournaments, so if you are available for either the Georgia or Orlando Circuits described below please send an application to jim@alterealitygames.com.

Set to take place on Saturday November 30th, ARG Chicago will be held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont Illinois. The entry fee will be $20, and cardfighters that enter the tournament will receive five booster packs for entering. First place will win $200 in store credit at ARG, which can be used on their official website to purchase cards, booster boxes and other supplies. Second place will win $100 in store credit, third and fourth will receive $75 in store credit, and fifth through eighth place will win $25 credit. The top 8 cardfighters will each receive a playmat, but due to holiday delays these may arrive late and have to be mailed to the players. The prizes described assume a 16 player turnout; if more than 40 fighters participate, prizes will be handed out in cash. Each round will have a 45 minute time limit, registration for the tournament will begin at 10:00 AM, and the tournament itself will start at 11:00 AM. The tournament will follow Bushiroad's Comprehensive and Floor rules, with some additional rules established by ARG, and modifications made to adjust the tournament for a Swiss format.

ARG Atlanta will take place on Sunday December 7th, and will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center. The same entry fee, prize and tournament rules from Chicago will be used at Atlanta, with a total of $550 being distributed among the winners, and a tournament-specific playmat being given to the top 8 fighters. Atlanta is still in need of judges, so if you are able please apply to jim@alterealitygames.com.

ARG Orlando is set to take place on Sunday January 4th, and will be the first Circuit series tournament of 2015. It will be held at the Ramada Gateway Hotel in Kissimee, Florida. Orlando is still in need of judges, so if you are able please apply to jim@alterealitygames.com.

The ARG Circuit series is publicly endorsed by Cardfight Pro as a professional tournament system. Those who place in the tournament will be recognized by Cardfight Pro as professional cardfighters of the same caliber as those that qualify in the world championships and VGCS tournaments.

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