News: Phantom Blaster “Abyss” Tops in Fourth Sapporo VGCS

Hokkaido citizens' activity center, Sapporo city. Over November 2nd the fourth Sapporo city VGCS took place, attracting seventy participants in total. Won by Igachuu, a new face in professional play, the tournament results followed up on recent trends established at the second Chiba Brave Cup. The tournament was primarily made up of Shadow Paladin cardfighters building their decks around the Revenger subclan, many of them having transitioned to it after abandoning Thing Saver Dragon following the implementation of the most recent restricted list.

Deck breakdown (70 participants in total)
23 Revenger
17 Perdition
8 Seeker
7 Liberator
4 Regalia
2 Link Joker (1 Blaster Joker 1 Deleter)
2 Dimensional Robo
1 Brawler
1 Spike Brothers
1 Granblue
1 Musketeer
1 Ancient Dragon
1 Raizer
1 Nubatama

Entry fee at Sapporo was 1000 yen (approx. $10 US) per person with payout to the top 4 cardfighters, with first place winning a the newest model of Nintendo 3DS XL, second place four copies of whichever Beginning Set of their choice, third place two copies of the same, and fourth place two boxes of VG-MBT01: Neon Messiah. As per current rules for mainstream play, G-units and their accompanying stride mechanics could not be used. Tournament format was five rounds of Swiss draw, followed by a four round cut to top 16, with 50 minutes per round and best of three (in Japan recognized as the first to two wins) ruleset in place. The tournament used clan fight rules to prevent mixing of multiple clans in each deck, and lasted just over ten hours from the beginning of the first round at 10:45 AM to the closing ceremony at 8:30 PM. The top 4 decklists are provided below.

While the preceding Brave Cup saw a narrow Liberator victory from the tournament's few Gold Paladin cardfighters, Sapporo city saw more traditional results from the dominant player base. Revenger fighters far outdid their Perdition counterparts, becoming the most prevalent group represented. “Abyss,” which was just feature as the English card of the day this morning, has filled the gaps left by Thing Saver in pro competition, is primarily characterized by its high power restand that tends to exceed the swings of even Minerva and Nouvelle of past tournament seasons. While counterblast heavy, “Abyss” has access to an unflipping engine from the base Blaster Dark Revenger and his supporting grade 1 Dorint. By eschewing Dark Revenger's retire skill entirely and exploiting Dorint purely for his unflip, the break ride central to “Abyss'” high power restand becomes counterblast-free. Later in the fight damage expended for the restand skill can be partially recouped by calling these cards from hand to sustain additional restands in the long term.

As at the Brave Cup, Blaster Joker continues to be absent in spite of it being feared as a major competitor in the current competitive format. An explanation may be drawn from its lack of truly aggressive means of winning games. Unlike the majority of deck options in the format, Joker does not have any kind of aggression approaching the level of a restand or guard manipulation, and its expensive skills can generally only maintain locks for two to three consecutive turns before petering out.

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's larger 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 and the ongoing King of Cardfight competition in the American midwest.

Fourth Sapporo City VGCS
First place: Igachuu/イガチュウ
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
x3 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x1 Hatred Prison Revenger, Quesal
x3 Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
x1 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x3 Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod 
x2 Black-winged Sword Breaker
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x4 Battle Spirit Revenger, Mackart
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Second place: Keshigomu/けしごむ
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x4 Perdition Dancer, Agafia HT
x4 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x2 Seal Dragon, Artpique DT
x4 Perdition Dragon Knight, Tuvar CT
x2 Perdition Dragon, Buster Rain Dragon CT
Grade 1
 x4 Peridtion Dragon, Rampart Dragon
x4 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x3 Perdition Battler, Mareikou
x3 Seal Dragon Spirit, Malkibel
Grade 2
x4 Perdition Dragon, Dragonic Neoflame
x4 Perdition Dragon, Menace Laser Dragon
x3 PerditionDragon Knight, Tarayev
x2 Dragonic Burnout
Grade 3
x4 Perdition Imperial Dragon, Dragonic Overlord the Great
x2 Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth”

Third place: Lelouch
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
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x2 Black-winged Sword Breaker
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x3 Battle Spirit Revenger, Mackart
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Note that there is an error in ☆Shinamon's Japanese decklist; it only lists 49 cards. Based on a photo of ☆Shinamon's decklist, this missing card is a second Sword Breaker.

Fourth place: ☆Shinamon/☆しなもん/
Grade 0
x1 Judgebau Revenger
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
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x2 Black-winged Sword Breaker
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x3 Battle Spirit Revenger, Mackart
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

News: Liberators Win Second Brave Cup Championship, Revengers in Second

Chiba city, Japan. Three months ago the first Brave Cup was just one of five of Thing Saver-“Abyss'” latest victories, but following the implementation of the modified Fighter's Rules the deck has vanished overnight. The second Brave Cup held over the 18th has become an example of the Revengers' renewed dominance and the rise of the new Kagerou in professional play. Pure Thing Saver decks still controlled a significant fraction of the Cup, making up almost 16% of the competition. Dragonic Overlord decks accounted for approximately 26%, while the Revengers made up 24% of the tournament.

The Brave Cup's top 8 were four Revenger, two Liberator, one Regalia and one Seeker cardfighters. As illustrated by the deck breakdown below, this most recent shift in Japanese play has moved towards the next most successful restanding decks, Dragonic Overlord the Great and Raging Form-“Abyss.” The surprise factor in the tournament was the dearth of Blaster Joker cardfighters. Forecasted from the moment of its announcement as a much stronger contender in the present format than Glendios and a specific counter to most Legion decks, Joker's lack of a strong card advantage game and omega lock skills has proved to be a serious setback versus the aggressive retire and restand-centric focus of the format.

Deck breakdown (89 participants in total)
23 Overlord
1 Kagerou
14 Thing Saver
1 Vanguard of the King of Knights, Ezer
21 Revenger
8 Liberator
5 Regalia
3 Brawler
1 Dimension Robo
1 Metalborg
2 Link Joker
2 Deleter
2 Great Nature
1 Ezel
1 Pale Moon
1 Battle Sister
1 Raizer
1 Beast Deity

The remaining top 16 included two additional Revenger, three Seeker, three Liberator, two Perdition Dragon, one Regalia and one Battle Sister cardfighters. One blogger gave a tourney report of his experience going 1-2 in the Cup with a Purgatory Dragon deck. Faced with a Kagerou mirror match in the first round, a Revenger fighter in the second and a Thing Saver fighter in the third, he won the first round by double critical trigger and lost the second, and third by gradelock. Expressing sadness at the results and frustration at using Gojo's card changing skill ten times and still not drawing a grade 3, his report illustrates one of the primary differences in how VGCS tournaments have come to operate; the preliminary rounds of tournaments are now commonly held in a best-of-one format in the interest of time, with best-of-three being reserved for the top 16. During the elimination rounds fighters frequently only have 20~30 minutes to play, while the top cut receives a full hour for its three game format. Proponents of this system have countered that the top 16 having access to best-of-three is an important improvement over Bushiroad's system, and with closing ceremonies already not concluding until 9:00 PM there are few other options available.

Entry fee at Chiba was 1000 yen per persons, with a maximum capacity of 96 fighters. Tournament format was five rounds of best-of-one Swiss draw, followed by a cut to top 16. The winner of the tournament won an unofficial rubber playmat featuring several Revenger series Shadow Paladins, as well as two movies of VG-MBT01: Neon Messiah. Third place received three boxes of the Movie Booster, while fourth received two boxes, and fifth through eighth one box. The Swiss rounds lasted from 11:30 AM to 1:50 PM, with an hour lunch break from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. The top 16 was played out from 3:10 to 5:00 PM, with the semifinals and finals taking place at 5:10 and 6:10 PM, finishing at 7:00.

Rather than following Bushiroad's official rules for regulating games hitting their time limit, the Brave Cup used its own ruleset wherein when the time limit is reached, a count is made with the turn player's current turn as turn 0, and at the end phase of turn 2 the player with less damage is declared the winner. If damage between the players is tied, play continues until a change in damage is reached.

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's larger 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 and the ongoing King of Cardfight competition in the American midwest.

Decklists from Chiba have not yet been published.

News: Interview with French Regional Runner-up Helene Bourree, Bushiroad to Open European Offices

Special thanks to Kyo of France, who conducted and submitted the interview below.

Over September 27th the Paris regional qualifier took place, with Pale Moon and Kagerou cardfighters Jeremie Raso and Helene Bourree taking first and second place. The tournament was the first time a French national has placed first in France's annual regional qualifiers, and a major victory for advocates of both Venus Luquier and non-Nouvelle Kagerou. 164 cardfighters participated this year, up from Brussels' 81 person attendance in 2013 and Paris' 60 person attendance in 2012.

French contributor Kyo was able to secure an interview with Helene Bourree, one of the few professional female cardfighters in the world. As the runner-up Bourree is officially permitted to take part in the European continental championship, and potentially the world finals in Japan, but under the current WCS2014 regulations all fighters from France cannot have their travel expenses paid by Bushiroad due to the tournament finals being in Paris. Topics of the interview included the beginnings of her career, her deck and the controversial organization of the Paris qualifier, in which several cardfighters who had not been eliminated were arbitrarily cut from the tournament by proceeding directly to the top 8. A video of French regional finals can be viewed here.

In other news, Bushiroad Global tweeted today that the company is in the process of expanding its international offices, with a Bushiroad Europe branch opening in Germany this year. The development of a European office reflects the growth of Cardfight!! Vanguard's popularity in the region, Bushiroad had previously created the body of Bushiroad EU Inc. to officiate its European tournaments, and as with Bushiroad USA control of the company resides in Singapore with Bushiroad South East Asia Pte. Ltd. All of these subsidiaries ultimately answer to Bushiroad Inc. back in Japan.

The following interview is the result of contributor submission and may not reflect the views of Cardfight Pro or its editors. Spelling and grammar corrections have been made by the editor.

Interview with Helene "Reyson" Bourree
Q: Describe your career.
A: I started playing when the game was released in English. For a while, it'd been just a fun game to play with a bunch of friends during the weekend. But my vision of CFV changed after my first national championship in Manchester (2012). I went with Golds and went further as I could have ever hoped, as Garmore led me to top 16. It was a revelation, and I've been playing for competition since then, trying to attend all the main events in France and England. Unfortunately I couldn't enter the Team League French qualifiers in Paris last April, as I was asked to be the head judge. Another great experience!

Q: Describe your Deck.
A: The deck I used was inspired from a very close friend's build. I was ready to go with a Nouvelle Vague deck, but deep inside me I hated my own deck for offering nothing else but a win by sacking and going against the mechanics of the game. Taking a damage and hoping for a trigger to be able to guard the remaining attacks is part of the game and a valid strategy that we've all used, or relying on a 6th damage heal! But in my eyes, Nouvelle Vague and its skill broke the game.
This is why when Kyo showed me his Kagero deck, I got inspired again, and chose to go with a hybrid Overlord BR, Rebirth, Dauntless Reverse, and...Georgette deck! The focus was obviously on the Break Ride, as the push it allows is immense. With Dauntless, you can retire up to 4 G1/0 with 2 attacks! An amazing card that kills decks relying on their field, such as Kagero (Rebirth), Aqua Force, etc. Then of course Rebirth was my main focus, as you can stack the triggers on it, and attack 3 times. And Georgette...Well Georgette was supposed to used against Glendios...Which I didn't get the opportunity to face!

Q: What do you think about the fact you're one of the few women in the professional world [of Vanguard]?
A: It is a fact about card games in general. There are very few women, but I've been playing card games for 10 years, and got used to that.
Surprisingly enough, there were much more women in Paris that I would have expected! Usually we are 5 regular players (and not bad ones!), but I think remembering up to 15 women for the BWC this week end. Two of them went 4-2 (Genesis and Pale Moon), and another one went 5-1 (Genesis) but didn't make it to the final cut (her only loss was against me!)
Men tend to see women as fragile and shy players, but it is our duty to show them wrong.
I guess we can say that there are clans women are naturally more attracted to than others... But I personally prefer knights and dragons in general. I guess this is why my fellow men players and friends have been calling me for a while now "one of the guys"!

Q: What do you think about the tournament's organization? I have heard that there was a cut for top 8 while 16 players were remaining.
A: There were 15 remaining players after round 5, and the judges decided to go for a 6th one. After this round, 4 players were on 6-0, and 4 5-1 among the 8 (I guess?) still remaining. At this point I was on 5-1 too, as I lost during last round to the player who was about to become the French champion. My goal average was strong (among the players I beat, 2 of them were on 5-1).
It was the right decision to make.
The overall organization was a good one. Those big events are always complicated to organize, but we had space. 3 rooms (we were playing in a school) were dedicated to the tournaments (161 players), and 2 others were then opened for the ones who wanted to go for the freeplay.
4 judges were here, and decisions had to be made (a player was accused of cheating as there were huge fingerprints on his trigger sleeves.) A few problems with the pairings as well, but nothing as important as the top 8 cut, where a player on 6-0 was forgotten, and a player on 5-1 had to go...But it wasn't me!

News: Monthly Bushiroad Reveals Deleter Legion, Great Daiyusha Legion Teased

This month's issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine broke early over Thursday in Japan, with several photos leaked onto the net by fans ahead of the issue's release date. The issue's Vanguard section focused on upcoming Link Joker, Royal Paladin, Gold Paladin and Kagerou cards from VG-MBT01: Neon Messiah, to be released in Japan on September 24th.

Of primary interest are the new Deleter units introduced to support the cards from MTD01: Malefic Deleter. These new units are each of the Alien race, much like their key card Woksis before them. Secondarily the issue focused on Kagerou's new Perdition Dragon support for their remade Dragonic Overlord. It was also stated that Dimension Police will be the next recipient of a Legion card for the Grade 3 Revival Campaign, with Ultimate Dimensional Robo Great Daiyusha as the mate of the new Legion. Although with his crossride and limit break active Great Daiyusha will be able to contribute an additional +4000 power to the Legion, because the mate's critical is not naturally added to the Legion, his passive second critical will not actually affect how much damage is dealt to the opponent's vanguard.

A note on the translation of these cards is that each of the new Deleters employ one of the obsolete katakana ヰ "wi" or ヱ "e," which have not been in use for more than seventy years. Similar to the English "long s" character ſ, these characters have been abandoned in everyday language. The effect they create is that of struggling to read an alien name even when written in a phonetic script.

Juxtapose Deleter, Gwiil (並列する根絶グヰール "Parallel Deleter Guwiiru")
Grade 2 /Alien - Link Joker/
"AUTO: When this unit is placed on a rearguard circle, if your opponents' vanguard is deleted, choose one of your opponent's rearguards, and lock it."

Much like the Star-vaders' recent support unit Photon, Gwiil uses an existing condition as a trigger for lock, manipulating the opponent's field for a defensive buff on top of using delete offensively against their vanguard.
Juxtapose Deleter, Zwiil (並列する根絶ゼヰール "Parallel Deleter Zewiiru")
Grade 3 /Alien - Link Joker/
"ACT (Vanguard circle): Legion 20000 "Gwiil" (If your opponent has a grade 3 or greater vanguard, only once, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone to your deck, and search your deck for the specified card, and perform Legion.)
AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 2, choose a card from your hand and discard it] When this unit Legions, you may pay the cost, if you do so, delete your opponent's entire vanguard. (A deleted unit is flipped face-down, its power becomes 0 and it loses all text. At the end of its owner’s turn, it is flipped face-up.)
AUTO (Vanguard circle): When this unit attacks a vanguard, during that battle, this unit gets Power +2000."

Zwiil's Legion skill, while more restrictive in its timing compared to Woksis, generally supersedes it card-for-card in terms of cost. Zwiil's Legion power boost makes it more effective after delete's period of effect has already expired, and the lower counterblast cost synergizes with their first vanguard Wigor's unflipping skill. The primary weakness of Zwiil is the need to continuously re-Legion across multiple turns to keep delete active, but the overall low impact on counterblast means that Woksis can be kept in hand as a followup to Zwiil late-game.

Infatuation Deleter, Gwiim (心酔する根絶者グヰム "Adoration Deleter Guwiimu")
Grade 1 /Alien - Link Joker/
"AUTO (Rearguard circle): When an attack hits a vanguard during the battle that this unit boosts, if the opponent's vanguard is deleted, choose one of your opponent's rear-guards in the frontrow, and lock it. (The locked card is turned face down, and cannot do anything. It turns face up at the end of the owner's turn.)"

Gwiim's on-hit puts increased pressure on the opponent to guard the attacks that have already been made more powerful by delete, providing an incentive to drop more cards and endanger themselves to taking important damage later on.

Greedy Deleter Jewir (貪り喰う根絶者ジェヰル "Longing to Consume Deleter Jewiru)
Grade 2 /Alien - Link Joker/
"AUTO (Vanguard/Rearguard circle): When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, choose a card from your damage zone, and turn it face-up."

Jewir's skill is a notable game changer both for the Deleter and Star-vader subclans, as giving Link Joker a clanwide unflipper has been seen as one of the stepping stones towards breaking the major constraints on their more counterblast-heavy decks. On the other hand, as a Deleter Jewir interferes with the need for Star-vader specific counterblast, and he has better synergy with the Deleters overall because of how the opponent's power reduction from being deleted makes it more difficult to block Jewir in the first place, and so feeds back towards multiple Deletes in a game.

Other leaked images have also revealed a new base 8000 power grade 1 for the Deleter subclan, making Link Joker the first clan to receive such a clone. The unit is considered particularly essential for the Deleters because delete's effect of reducing the opponent's power to 0 makes their key number for rearguard lanes 20000. The illustration also reveals a base 10000 power Deleter grade 2, a 12000-power subclan attacker, a Cosmo Roar clone and a special Woksis booster in the same class as Chaos Beat Dragon that gives it an 11000-power boost if the opponent's vanguard is deleted.

Star-vader, Sword Viper
Grade 2 / Cybergolem - Link Joker/
"AUTO (Rearguard circle): When this unit's attack hits, if your vanguard is in Legion, and if your opponent has a Locked card, choose one of your opponent's rearguards and Lock it."

Star-vader, Venom Dancer
Grade 3 / Cybergolem - Link Joker/
ACT (Vanguard circle): Legion 20000 "Star-vader, Sword Viper" (If your opponent has a grade 3 or greater vanguard, only once, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone to your deck, and search your deck for the specified card, and perform Legion.)
AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1] At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, if this unit is in Legion, you may pay the cost, if you do so, for each of your opponent's locked cards choose one of your rearguards and Stand it.
ACT (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1 cards with "Star-vader" in their card name] If you have another unit in your center column, choose one of your opponent's backrow rearguards and lock it.

Perdition Dragon Emperor, Dragonic Overlord the Great
"Surge forth Flames of Perdition! Eternal Explosion!"
Grade 3 / Flame Dragon - Kagero/
"ACT (Vanguard circle): Legion 20000 "Perdition Dragon, Dragonic Neoflame" (If your opponent has a grade 3 or greater vanguard, only once, this unit may return four cards from your drop zone to your deck, and search your deck for the specified card, and perform Legion.) 
AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1, Choose 2 cards from your hand, discard them] At the close step of a battle in which this unit attacked a rearguard, if this unit is in Legion, you may pay the cost. If you do, stand your entire vanguard. This ability cannot be used again this turn. (This ability cannot be used even if you pay the cost.)
AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Choose 1 of your rearguards with the same name as a unit in your Vanguard circle, retire it] When this unit's attack hits, you can pay the cost. If you do so, choose 1 of your opponent's rearguards, and retire it."

Perdition Dragon, Dragonic Neoflame
Grade 2 / Flame Dragon - Kagero/
"AUTO: When this Unit appears in a Rearguard circle, during this turn, this unit gets "AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Counterblast 1] When a rearguard in the same column as this card is placed in the drop zone, you may pay the cost. If you do so, select 1 of your opponent's rearguards in the same column as this card, and retire it.""

The wording on Neoflame is important because unlike Berserk Dragon variants, it does not need to be used the moment the card is called. As long as the conditions are met in the same turn that Neoflame is called, his skill can be used, which gives it synergy with the Great's freedom to attack a rearguard before the vanguard. By using the Great to attack a rearguard in same column from where Neoflame was called, you can use Neoflame's skill to retire than unit's booster when the Great's attack hits, then use Overlord's skill to retire Neoflame and retire a card in the opposite column, after which you can use Overlord's remaining skill to restand.

Perdition Dragon, Petal Flare Dracokid
Grade 0 / Flame Dragon - Kagero/
"AUTO: Forunner
AUTO (Rearguard circle): [Place this unit into your soul] When your vanguard performs Legion, you may pay the cost. If you do so, choose 1 of your vanguards, during this turn, it gains "AUTO (Vanguard circle): When this unit's attack hits, choose 1 of your opponent's rearguards, and retire it.""

Petal Flare's skill doubles up on the aforementioned combo, allowing Overlord to retire another unit by hitting, and if his attack connects twice in one turn then using all four units' skills together can result in a total field wipe.