News: Extra Booster 11 "Requiem at Dusk" and Extra Booster 12 "Waltz of the Goddess" to Support Shadow Paladin and Genesis, New Witch Cards to be Introduced

Images circulating on Twitter Japan this morning unveiled the next two extra boosters for the Japanese edition of Cardfight!! Vanguard, VG-EB11: Requiem at Dusk (宵闇の鎮魂歌 Yoiyami no Chinkonka, "Requiem of Twilight") and VG-EB12: Waltz of the Goddess (女神の円舞曲 Megami no Enbukyoku, "Goddess' Waltz.") Stated to provide exclusive support for the Shadow Paladin and Genesis clans, and feature cards used by Suzugamori Ren and Tokura Misaki in the TV anime Cardfight!! Vanguard Legion Mate, the extra boosters are confirmed to support the Revenger and Regalia subclans that were introduced last year. In addition, EB11 will introduce a series of Shadow Paladin "jet-black witch" (漆黒の魔女) cards, while EB12 will introduce "snow-white witches" (純白の魔女) for Genesis.

新たな力、漆黒の【魔女】達を集めて新しくヴァンガードをはじめることもできる！
Aratana chikara, shikkoku no majo-tachi wo atsumete atarashiku Vangaado wo hajimerukoto mo dekiru! 

"By collecting the jet-black "Witches" you can use a new power to begin a new kind of Vanguard!"

EB11 and EB12 will be released on June 20th in Japan. Each set will feature 35 cards, 25 new with 10 reprints (3 RRR, 5 RR, 8 R, and 19 C-rarity cards, with 6 Special Parallels containing only 1 reprint and 2 Legion Rares.) Blaster Dark Revenger is popularly believed to be one of the reprints in the set, with alternate artwork derived of the promotional image seen above, and a Legion marker to allow connectivity with the new boss card. There is also a possibility that he will be modified to be closer to Blaster Blade Seeker in skill. The sets are confirmed to include use the Legion mechanic, as was suggested at a previous press conference.

News: Mordred Phantom Break Rides to the Top in FR2013 Nagoya, Vanguard Championship Won by Link Joker, Shadow Paladin and Narukami Fighters

The final regional tournament for Fighter's Road 2013 finished over the weekend, and while decklists are not yet out, Doctor O has reported some of the results. The winner of the Nagoya Open regional tournament used a Shadow Paladin deck with Illusion Revenger Mordred Phantom as its focal card, while the Junior class tournament had first place taken by a Narukami cardfighter using the clan's recently-released Reverse card, Vowing Saber Dragon “Я.” As at Sapporo and Tokyo, a shift away from the previously-dominant Dragonic Descendant has been observed, and as the entrants that qualified during the previous Memorial Tournament that are still in the running for the FR2013 trophy will have to change their decks to accommodate for the current restricted list, we may yet see some established pros jump ship toward the new Shadow Paladin and Link Joker builds. The Fighter's Road 2013 national finals will be held on August 11th.

In underground news, the most recent in the line of unofficial VGCS tournaments has finished, with this team tournament won by a team of Link Joker, Shadow Paladin and Narukami cardfighters. The second place team had a similar setup but with Link Joker replaced by Pale Moon, making for a very early debut of Luquier “Я” in tournament play.

An interesting innovation from the second place team is Gadgetarou's Raging Form Dragon deck, which uses Creeping Dark Goat as its first vanguard and Claudus as an eighteenth grade 0 to fetch with Dark Bond Trumpeter. Although this particular strategy has been in discussion among Shadow Paladin fighters ever since Dark Bond was first revealed, this is the first time that it has been seriously proven in a tournament environment.

In all, 96 cardfighters divided among 32 three-man teams participated. The tournament was split into five rounds of each team member fighting the opposing team simultaneously, with the tournament finals being best of three within those individual fights. The tournament breakdown for the top four teams saw the Eradicators and Revengers tied in popularity, with 4 Revenger, 4 Eradicator, 3 Star-vader and 1 Silver Thorn decks in the top 4.

VGCS First Place Team
Gaiji/カイジ
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, Dusttail Unicorn (FVG)
x4 Star-vader, Stellar Garage HT
x3 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT
x3 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x3 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
x3 Star-vader, Scounting Felis DT
Grade 1
x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
x4 Demonic Claw Star-vader, Lanthanum
x3 Demonic Bullet Star-vader, Neon
x3 Opener of the Black Door
Grade 2
x3 Soaring Star-vader, Krypton
x4 Unrivaled Star-vader, Radon
x4 Furious Claw Star-vader, Niobium
Grade 3
x4 Star-vader, Infinite Zero Dragon
x4 Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon

Yuurei/ゆーれい
Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FVG)
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Eradicator Dragon Mage DT
x4 Divine Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seiobo HT
Grade 1
x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
x4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
x2 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
x4 Rising Phoenix
Grade 2
x3 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
x4 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-ou
x4 Dragonic Deathscythe
Grade 3
x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x2 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Я”
x4 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon

Genex/ジェネクス
Grade 0
x1 Creeping Dark Goat (FVG)
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 Morale Revenger, Dorin
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x2 Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x3 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
x4 Black Clothed Revenger, Tartu
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x4 Illusion Revenger, Mordred Phantom

VGCS Second Place Team
Gadgetaro/ガジェ太郎
Grade 0
x1 Creeping Dark Goat (FVG)
x1 Frontline Revenger, Claudus
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 Morale Revenger, Dorin
x3 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x3 Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x4 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
x3 Black Clothed Revenger, Tartu
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x3 Illusion Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Suzu/涼
Grade 0
x1 Girl Who Crossed the Gap (FVG)
x4 Silver Thorn Barking Dragon CT
x4 Poison Juggler CT
x4 Silver Thorn Juggler, Nadia HT
x4 Silver Thorn Marionette, Natasha DT
Grade 1
x4 Silver Thorn Hypnos, Lydia
x2 Silver Thorn Breathing Dragon
x3 Silver Thorn Assistant, Ana
x2 Midnight Bunny
x3 Purple Trapezist
Grade 2
x4 Silver Thorn Marionette, Lillian
x4 Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Maricica
x3 Nitro Juggler
Grade 3
x3 Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier
x2 Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier “Я”
x3 Miracle Pop, Eva

Moo-chan/もーちゃん
Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FVG)
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x2 Eradicator Dragon Mage DT
x4 Divine Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT
x2 Eeradicator, Blue Gem Carbuncle DT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seiobo HT
Grade 1
x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
x3 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
x3 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
x1 Iron Blood Eradicator, Shuki
x3 Rising Phoenix
Grade 2
x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
x4 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-ou
x4 Dragonic Deathscythe
Grade 3
x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Я”
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon
x3 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon

News: Blaster Dark Revenger's Skills Revealed

This morning the latest issue of KeroKero Ace hit Japan, and among the previews for the DAIGO Special Set and Fighter's Collection 2013 was an ad for TD10: Purgatory Revenger with the long awaited skills of Blaster Dark Revenger enclosed. Two years ago, Blaster Dark's original incarnation in BT04: Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows was the first Shadow Paladin to ever be shown to the public, and his Revenger print follows suit.

(Imposed text; "Blessed are those who receive the light. Shadow has but one way it must go.")

Blaster Dark Revenger
Grade 2/Power 9000/Shield 5000
Shadow Paladin/Human/United Sanctuary
AUTO [Counter Blast (2)]: When this unit is placed on V or R, if you have a vanguard with "Revenger" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards in the front row, and retire it.

On June 22nd, this will be the first pure Shadow Paladin unit to be released in twelve months. Although a copy of Blade Liberator, Dark Revenger is a marked improvement over his original incarnation as a consistent access point toward field control. The unit is not the "ultimate" Blaster Dark that some were hoping for, however; one of the defining features of the original was his vanguard defense, as he was the first grade 2 to get +1000 additional power when a specific grade 1 was in the soul, which allowed Shadow Paladin cardfighters to completely stop an attack from Blaster Blade and prevent Wingal Brave's skill from going off. The Revengers are interacting with both their Gold and Royal counterparts differently, right from the first card printed. Counterblast is also not as freely available for the Shadow Paladins as it is for the Gold Paladins, as Macha, Nemain, Vaha, Phantom Blaster and Ildona take up the entire damage zone many times over on their own. Dark Revenger's playability will ultimately be determined by the unique abilities of the remaining Revenger subgroup cards.

Among the other cards previewed in KKA are several special prints for FC2013; the original Blaster Dark and the SP print Itou Akira artwork of Phantom Blaster Dragon will both be reprinted with commemorative gold lettering over the illustration.

News: New Shadow Paladin, Link Joker Cards Shown

The images at right began circulating through the Japanese blogosphere today, hinting at six new cards from TD10: Purgatory Revenger and TD11: Star-Vader Invasion. The Shadow Paladin units show a reimagined Knight of Nullity, Masquerade from their Blaster subgroup and what appears to be a new version of Abyss Healer, the clan's heal trigger. Speculation holds that the new Masquerade will behave as his original incarnation did but for the Revenger subgroup, and that the last card of those shown is a Dignified Black Dragon to go with the Dignified Gold and Silver Dragons introduced for the Gold and Royal Paladin clans previously.

News: VG-BT12: Binding Force of the Black Rings Unveiled, New Link Joker and Shadow Paladin Cards, Pale Moon, Dark Irregulars et al.

This morning VG-BT12: Binding Force of the Black Rings (黒輪縛鎖 lit. Black Ring Binding Chain) was announced for a Japanese release on July 6th. Featuring support for the revived Shadow Paladin clan and the Link Joker clan that will be introduced in TD11: Star-Vader Invasion, BT12 will introduce Link Joker's new "Lock" mechanic. (Although presented as "Lock" phonetically, the kanji 呪縛 used for it means "Spell" or "Curse.")

The set will contain 102 types of cards with 1 reprint, currently believed to be Blaster Dark Revenger from TD10: Purgatory Revenger. It will also support the Pale Moon, Dark Irregulars, Narukami and Gold Paladin clans. Careful scrutinizing of the promotional images reveals cards resembling Great Silver Wolf Garmore, Divine Seal Dragon Dungaree and Mad-Eye Basilisk. The Link Joker units have been noted to resemble existing units from other clans, so far with Blaster Blade on the cover image for TD11, Spectral Duke Dragon on one promotional image for BT12, and Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier on the other promo image. Furthermore, the artists for these Link Joker units are the same as their originals, Suzukigorou and Masa.

Notably, as the images for the Garmore and Dungaree lookalikes have United Sanctuary and Dragon Empire nation boxes, it appears that modern promo materials are now eschewing the standard practice of using Sanctuary templates to conceal a unit's nation prior to release. Because of this, the image for TD11 which showed a US nation likely points to Link Joker being from the United Sanctuary. However, due to now counting a version of Luquier among its ranks, Link Joker may be a composite clan with multiple nations contributing to its card pool.

In addition to the new "Lock" mechanic, the image at left advertises that BT12 will also introduce new crossride and break ride units. With Garmore and Dungaree as the speculated crossride candidates, and the Link Joker clan which is already embraced by many cardfighters as an appealing new group of antagonists, BT12 is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated sets of 2013.

News: TD10: Purgatory Revenger and TD11: Star-Vader Invasion Announced, New Clan "Link Joker" Unveiled

The bomb dropped this morning with the reveal of the upcoming Shadow Paladin trial deck, VG-TD10: Purgatory Revenger (奈落の撃退者 lit. Revenger of Hell, Revenger of the Abyss, Revenger of Hades et cetera.) This trial deck, which was first announced in Bushiroad's December 5th press conference and confirmed for a June 2013 release last February, will renew the Shadow Paladin strategy with a new subgroup of "Revenger" units as counterparts to the Gold Paladin "Liberator" subgroup. Promising the introduction of a Shadow Paladin break ride for further support, many hopefuls are eager to see the Shadow Paladins return to prominent competition after their celebrated victory in the amateur VGCS tournament. The anime's most prominent Shadow Paladin cardfighter, Suzugamori Ren is being used as the cover character, suggesting that he'll be getting more extended screentime for Link Joker, in contrast to his gradually-reduced role during the Asia Circuit. Blaster Dark is also featured prominently, and is speculated to undergo a reimagining similar to the Blaster Blade to Blaster Blade Liberator conversion, as "Blaster Dark Revenger."

Continuing the theme of previous Shadow Paladin boss cards Phantom Blaster Dragon and Blaster Overlord, the as of yet unnamed grade 3 for TD10 features a prominent eclipse. Artist Hagiya Kaoru, previously known for illustrating Origin Mage Ildona, Skull Witch Nemain and both Gancelots, is among the artists credited, and the unnamed card is very recognizably in his style. With veteran artists like Hagiya and Itou Akira at the new deck's helm, it's clear that a lot of attention is being put into this new deck.

Additionally, news of a new clan has sprung up along with the announcement of TD11: Star-Vader Invasion (侵略の星輝兵 Invasion of Starlightsoldiers) which will introduce the new clan, Link Joker. Like TD08, 09 and 10 before it, TD11 will introduce a break ride unit. Bearing the third season's title, the clan is being speculated by fans as the antagonist clan for the season, much as Shadow Paladin and Aqua Force served in the past; the otherwordly appearance of the two units shown thus far and the trial deck's title may imply an extraterrestrial theme, connected to Cardfight's overall focus on the planet Cray. In addition to its break ride, the trial deck will introduce a "new system" that will overturn "common sense." (This is the same "common sense/常識 joushiki" that the third season has been talking about in its early episodes.) Already it has been noted that the Link Joker clan's nation box seemingly belongs to the United Sanctuary, although US colors have been used as a placeholder in the past.

TD10: Purgatory Revenger and TD11: Star-Vader Invasion will be released in Japan on June 22, 2013. Following Bushiroad's current trial deck policies, Revenger's sealed fifty card deck will contain seventeen exclusive cards and three foil cards.