News: Maelstrom “Яeverse” Places Second in First Sapporo VGCS, Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth” Soars in Beast Deity Cup

Decklists from the first Sapporo VGCS went up late yesterday evening, along with accompanying videos of the final match. Although the tournament marks yet another top spot for Kagerou cardfighters, interest in the second place fighter's Aqua Force deck has exceeded that in the Nouvelle fighter's, both in Japan and internationally. Second place cardfighter Mantesu created an innovative Maelstrom “Яeverse” deck modeled on the Glory Maelstrom builds of old, with nine grade 3s including familiar Diamantes support to pull off the deck's various limit breaks.

There is a substantial division in how “Я” Maelstorm is being played however. Unlike past and current Aqua Force fighters that tend to tech Glory Maelstrom at one copy, Mantesu's post-BT15 Maelstrom deck focused very heavily on the new crossride, running it at 4/3 with its original form. The first Sapporo VGCS reportedly drew 60 persons including spectators, with 48 persons participating in the championship; Mantesu was the only Aqua Force cardfighter present.

His version of the deck made use of a combination of Blue Storm and Brave Shooter support. The first vanguard Marios can search the top 5 cards of the deck for a Maelstrom unit to put into hand when an attack that it boosted hits a vanguard, potentially giving two to three opportunities to search for one of Mantesu's seven Maelstrom grade 3s before he needs to ride one. However, in both of his games with Nouvelle cardfighter Kukkii, Marios was shut down on his opponent's second turn by Gattling Claw Dragon. With Hermes and the grade 1 Brave Shooter, Mantesu had six options for base 10000 power attackers as early as turn 1, and Storm Rider Eugen let him take advantage of that further by attacking for an 8000 power base early on, then swap out for either Brave Shooter or Hermes for a second attack.

Blue Storm Marine General, Spyros.

Including the vanguard, that can create an early three attack combo. This is where the deck's eight stand triggers come in, as they exacerbate the opponent's initial dilemma of facing repeated and early attacks when guard power is typically low. Tidal Assault is meant to facilitate that further at turn 2; a base 9000 power unit that stands itself after attacking and loses -5000 power in the process, Assault is intended to attack unboosted first and then with a boost second so that it swings in the ballpark of an 11000 base for the second blow, just enough to graze most grade 3s in the format. From turn 3 onward it can also enable multiple-attack vanguards alongside the counterblast-to-stand Spyros and the Blue Storm base 12000 attacker Gregorious, who works well when swapping positions with Diamantes.

This enables both Maelstrom “Яeverse” and Maelstrom's +5000 power limit breaks, which activate during the fourth or greater battle of the turn. If Maelstrom's attack hits it can counterblast 1 to retire one of the opponent's rearguards and draw a card, grabbing up a net advantage of 2 by giving the opponent a -1 and his own cardfighter a +1, which together with the multiple attacks and stand triggers snowballs into the opponent having very few cards in play regardless of how they approach the attacks. Even if Maelstrom is defended, attacking for a ~23000 power base is a tall order to defend early with or without a perfect defense card, and potentially denies the opponent their limit break while Mantesu is setting up his crossride.

In addition to sitting on crossride defense that lets him expend less cards per turn while his opponent spends more defending the attacks, Maelstrom Reverse's limit break bypasses the need to hit. He gives himself an innate extra critical by resting and then Locking a rearguard during the fourth or greater battle of the turn, which makes up for the lack of critical triggers by smoothly bringing the opponent to 5 damage and making the additional attacks of the turn from stands that much more important. If his attack is defended, Reverse can then retire an opponent's rearguard and draw a card without needing to hit, sending the opponent into a downward spiral where there's an effective time limit on how long they have to win the game before they run out of cards from defending multiple attacks and losing a rearguard each turn while Aqua Force hovers above them with superior card advantage. You can jump to the first and second place decklists directly by searching the page for [1SVGCS]

The major fault of the deck is when it does not draw the cards necessary to pull off its strategy, as in the first game of the Sapporo finals where Mantesu went second but had none of his early game offensive power, and late in the second game where he had his Reverse card in play but not a strong enough field to trigger the limit break. Damage triggers can also upset this strategy at any point in the fight, as they effectively decrease the entire field's power by 5000. But with so many options for triggering the fourth attack condition, the consistency of the build is still sufficient to stand up to professional giants like Nouvelle Vague and Raging Form-Dragruler.

Meanwhile the decklists from the Beast Deity Cup are out, and much excitement has been raised over the success of Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth.” While generally agreed on as a strong contender in the current format, “The Яe-birth” has also been overshadowed by its grade 4 big brother, Nouvelle. Яe-birth's Lock field skill prevents anything but the vanguard from being used for the turn, but gives its vanguard +10000 power and a skill that allows it to stand by discarding two cards after an attack. In conjunction with the skill of the BT15 break ride that Яe-birth is a crossride of, this allows for up to three attacks and six drive checks with no loss in card advantage, equivalent in practical terms to giving the entire field twin drive for one turn.

Generally Яe-birth has been used in conjunction with on-call skills like those of Calamity Tower Wyvern and Berserk Dragon, but has only penetrated tournament play in small numbers. Hisui's victory with it is one early footholds in the BT15-on format.

He was accompanied by two other Overlord cardfighters in the top 4, and also notably the Nova Grappler cardfighter Konomu, who played a Beast Deity deck that fused Ethics Buster Extreme and Reverse into one composite strategy. This has become a popular strategy since the release of VG-BT13: Catastrophic Outbreak, with Extreme-Reverse fusion decks dominating the Nagoya junior regional finals, and taking first in the fifth Fateclock VGCS. Konomu made a relatively unprecedented call in running eight draw rather than the stand or critical triggers that have been shown effective with Beast Deities, using Shout to card change the draws out of his hand after they've been checked. He may have been taking a leaf from contemporary Link Joker cardfighters' playbooks, as running in the vicinity of 5~7 draw has been demonstrated to be effective for decks that are heavily break ride dependent, and Ethics Buster “Яeverse” in conjunction with his break ride has achieved no small amount of notoriety as an eight-attack kill strategy. With Chaos Breaker and Glendios heavily sidelined by the Nouvelle-centric state of professional play, the way has been opened once more for rearguard-dependent decks like Maelstrom and Ethics Buster “Яeverse.” You can jump to the top 4 decklists directly by searching the page for [1BCUP]

First Sapporo VGCS [1SVGCS]
First Place: Kukkii/くっきぃ
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x4 HT (Specific information not given)
x4 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x1 Seal Dragon, Artpique DT
x7 CT (Specific information not given)
Grade 1
x4 Nouvelle Roman Dragon
x4 Dragon Dancer, Maria
x4 Calamity Tower Wyvern
x2 Dragon Monk, Gojo
Grade 2
x4 Nouvelle Critique Dragon
x4 Berserk Dragon
x2 Bellicosity Dragon
x1 Demonic Dragon Berserker, Kubhanda
Grade 3
x2 Dragonic Overlord (BT15/004)
x3 Dauntless Drive Dragon
Grade 4
x3 Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague

Second Place: Mantesu/まんてす
Grade 0
x1 Blue Storm Cadet, Marios (FV)
x4 Blue Storm Fleet, Angler Soldier ST
x4 Dolphin Sider of High Speed Raids ST
x4 Blue Storm Battle Princess, Doria DT
x4 Blue Storm Kitchen Sailor HT
Grade 1
x4 Emerald Shield, Paschal
x4 Blue Storm Marine General, Hermes
x3 Storm Rider, Eugene
x2 Mercenary Brave Shooter
Grade 2
x4 Tidal Assault
x4 Blue Storm Marine General, Spyros
x3 Blue Storm Marine General, Gregorious
Grade 3
x4 Blue Storm Karma Dragon, Maelstrom “Я”
x3 Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom
x2 Storm Rider, Diamantes

Beast Deity Cup [1BCUP]
First Place: Hisui/ヒスイ
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x2 Seal Dragon, Biera CT
x2 Lizard Soldier, Goraha CT
x2 Blue-ray Dracokid CT
x1 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x1 Demonic Dragon Mage, Abarara CT
x4 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x4 Dragon Dancer, Barbara HT
Grade 1
x4 Seal Dragon, Rinocross
x4 Eternal Bringer Griffin
x2 Calamity Tower Wyvern
x2 Violence Horn Dragon
x1 Dragon Monk, Gojo
Grade 2
x4 Burning Horn Dragon
x4 Berserk Dragon
x4 Dragonic Burnout
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord (BT15/004)
x4 Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth”

Second Place: Awaawa/あわあわ
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x3 Seal Dragon, Biera CT
x2 Lizard Soldier, Goraha CT
x2 Blue-ray Dracokid CT
x2 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x3 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x4 Dragon Dancer, Barbara HT
Grade 1
x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x3 Eternal Bringer Griffin
x3 Calamity Tower Wyvern
x3 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x1 Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara
Grade 2
x3 Burning Horn Dragon
x3 Berserk Dragon
x3 Bellicosity Dragon
x2 Dragonic Burnout
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord (BT15/004)
x4 Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth”

Third Place: Konomu/このむ
Grade 0
x1 Beast Deity, Riot Horn (FV)
x4 Beast Deity, Death Stinger CT
x4 Beast Deity, Banpauros DT
x4 The Gong DT
x4 Beast Deity, Rescue Bunny HT
Grade 1
x4 Beast Deity, Solar Falcon
x4 Beast Deity, Blank Marsh
x2 Energy Charger
x2 Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
x1 Beast Deity, Hilarity Destroyer
Grade 2
x4 Beast Deity, Hatred Chaos
x3 Beast Deity, Golden Anglet
x3 Beast Deity, Brainy Pabio
Grade 3
x4 Beast Deity, Ethics Buster
x4 Deadliest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster “Я”
x2 Strongest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster Extreme

Fourth Place: Fayete/ふぁやて
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x3 Blue-ray Dracokid CT
x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x4 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x1 Seal Dragon, Artpique DT
x3 Dragon Dancer, Therese HT
x1 Dragon Dancer, Barbara HT
Grade 1
x3 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x1 Dragon Dancer, Maria
x4 Eternal Bringer Griffin
x2 Violence Horn Dragon
x2 Calamity Tower Wyvern
x1 Dragon Monk, Gojo
Grade 2
x4 Burning Horn Dragon
x4 Berserk Dragon
x4 Dragonic Burnout
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord (BT15/004)
x4 Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth”

News: Beast Deity Cardfighter Places First in Fateclock Championship, Fighter's Climax 2013 National Finals Decklists

Kitano Civic Center, Hachiouji.

The fifth Fateclock Vanguard Championship concluded today with the only Ethics Buster cardfighter in the tournament topping first out of 81 participants. For the purposes of this VGCS, held on January 25th in Japan, the February 1st Fighter's Rules and accompanying restricted list were adopted prior to their effective date, providing a look into what the February-on format looks like. Although Kagerou and Genesis together accounted for 48 of the 81 decks entered, the top 4 still ended with two Nova Grappler cardfighters billed for first and second.

Interestingly, the primary influence for these Nova Grappler decks seems to come from the 2013 junior national championships. CS champion "One Way Road" fought with a Beast Deity deck similar to Nagoya regional champion Muramatsu Masakiyo's (村松真聖) decklist, with an identical grade 3 lineup that takes advantage of the Beast Deity's shared support to make an amorphous strategy based around Ethics Buster that can either set up an eight attack combo using its Reverse card's limit break in combination with Buster's break ride skill or use Ethics Extreme to form an independent strategy even if the break ride is missed. One Way Road's primary renovations were to run Street Bouncer and Energy Charger for cheap card advantage and Miraioh, the clan's generic grade 3 searching first vanguard, rather than Riot Horn as is more common. Meanwhile runner-up Ojima's Blaukluger deck drew inspiration from Nishida Sachi's (西田祥) Osaka decklist, using Galaxy and Mond Blaukluger in tandem with the Mars and Jupiter Blau series and 3 copies of the original Blaukluger for early game combos through low counterblast skills and damage unflipping. As in the official tournaments, some familiar names have cropped up as Gungnir has turned up on the radar once more, this time in fourth place with a Minerva-based Genesis deck rather than the Raging Form Dragon that first put him on the map, and Gaiji who some may remember from a previous Fateclock team tournament has likewise come up again right on Gungnir's heels.

The fifth Fateclock VGCS was held in Hachiouji city's Kitano Civic Center and used a Swiss tournament ruleset with 5 rounds of Swiss draw and a 20 minute time limit followed by a cut to top 16. For the top 16, 50 minutes were allotted for best of 3 sets between each participant. Under these rules the tournament began at 11:15 AM and ended at 6:50 PM, with the awards ceremony finishing at 7:00 PM. The tournament's entry fee was 1000 yen, approximately $10 US, and the prize payout was a Nintendo 3DS XL for first place, second place a standard size 3DS, while third place received three boxes of VG-BT14: Brilliant Strike, fourth place two boxes of the same and the rest of the best 8 one box each. The system used by the tournament is similar to that previously tested at the West Tokyo VGCS, which has been employed since then in the majority of CS events.

The Fifth Fateclock VGCS Top 8 

One Way Road/一方通行 Beast Deity
Ojima/オジマ Blau
Black-Rimmed Glasses/くろぶちめがね Dominate Nouvelle
Gungnir/ぐんぐにーる Minerva
Gaiji/カイジ Minerva
Miju/ミジュ Nouvelle
Tsubame/つばめ Dominate
Wago/わご Blau

Of the participants, 23 fighters played Kagerou decks (13 of those based around Dragonic Nouvelle Vague and 10 of them on Dauntless Dominate Dragon "Яeverse"), 23 played Genesis, 8 Royal Paladin (1 Jewel Knight, 6 Sanctuary Guard Dragon and 1 Majesty Lord Blaster), 7 Link Joker, 6 Nova Grappler (5 based on the Blau series, with 1 Beast Deity deck), 5 Gold Paladin (3 Gancelot Zenith and 2 Ezel decks), 3 Shadow Paladin, 2 Narukami, 2 Pale Moon, 1 Dimension Police and 1 played Oracle Think Tank. The top 4 decks have been translated into English at the bottom of the page, and can be jumped to directly by searching the page for [5FVGCS].

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 3, 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.

Lee Innyeng (center right) and Adachi Yuuki (center left) hold up the first and second place trophies.

In other news, the FC2013 national championship decklists were unveiled through the Japanese Cardfight portal yesterday, revealing Lee Innyeng as the winter 2013 national champion. Lee achieved his position with a Revenger deck, based around the twin boss cards that have remained popular since their debut last July, Mordred Phantom and Raging Form Dragon. He is followed by Adachi Yuuki, Issei Sakashita and Hung Kai Chen in Japan's winter best 4, and is the first national champion to use the Shadow Paladin clan; his immediate predecessor, Kokubo Hikaru, played Pale Moon and was the cardfighter that first broke a two year chain of Royal Paladin dominance over the national title. Among the other developments since the previous national tournament, Sakashita's Gancelot build in third place and Hung's Minerva deck in fourth mark the first time that quintet walls have been used in pro decks, at a 1:3 ratio with their perfect defense cards. Quintet Walls are well liked for conserving cards expended from the hand when defending, using their counterblast 1 skill to put the top 5 cards of the deck onto the guardian circle, but can be difficult to manage in higher numbers with counterblast-heavy decks and conflict with perfect defense cards due to sharing the Sentinel keytext.

On the surface, national champion Lee's deck is a very traditional Revenger deck. While other Shadow Paladin cardfighters have experimented with running Creeping Dark Goat as the first vanguard and Claudas as a Dark Bond target, and running 12 grade 3s at the sacrifice of grade 1 space is common to max out Tartu, Lee has done something more subtle with his construction. Instead of running Goat he chose to run two copies of Claudas, the Revengers' unique first vanguard, to create several favorable scenarios for the deck. Primarily this is being able to fetch two Blaster Dark Revengers without needing to rely on Mordred's break ride skill, using Dorin to conserve counterblast and Darkbond to fetch the second Claudas if it is not drawn. Since Dark Bond superior calls Claudas at rest, Shadow Paladin cardfighters have every incentive to immediately put Claudas into the soul with his skill to turn Dark Bond's otherwise serviceable +1 into an active rearguard able to declare an attack that turn. Having a second Claudas ready to come into play also helps deal with Linchu, Moebius Breath Dragon and Dust Tail Unicorn, common staples in the present format that counter Claudas by restricting how quickly he can be used as with Moebius or outright removing him with Linchu or Dust Tail into Chaos Breaker. The core elements of the deck are still the same field buildup with Mordred and Tartu that previous Revenger decks have rlied on, controlling the opponent's field with Dark Revenger and striking a finishing blow with Raging Form's self-stand skill, but Lee has refined it to make the deck run better than it did in Fighter's Road.

Lee is the first Japanese champion to not be ethnically Japanese, born of Cambodian descent. Like the American and Luxembourgian world champions, Lee's achievement points to the globalization of Cardfight!! Vanguard as a competitive game and extends this even to within Japan, but also has deeper significance for everyday fighters in the country. Pro cardfighters in Japan primarily come from a Yamato Japanese background, leading to less visibility of minority ethnic groups in high level play. The FC2013 national decklists have been translated below, and can be jumped to directly by searching the page for [FC13OP].

The Fifth Fateclock VGCS [5FVGCS]
First Place
One-Way Road/一方通行
Grade 0
x1 Transmigrating Reincarnation, Miraioh
x1 Beast Deity, Bright Cobra CT
x4 Beast Deity, Banpauros DT
x3 Red Lightning CT
x4 Beast Deity, Death Stinger CT
x4 Beast Deity, Rescue Bunny HT
Grade 1
x4 Beast Deity, Desert Gator
x4 Beast Deity, Solar Falcon
x3 Energy Charger
x1 Beast Deity, Max Beat
Grade 2
x4 Beast Deity, Hatred Chaos
x4 Street Bouncer
x2 Beast Deity, Brainy Pabio
x2 Beast Deity, Golden Anglet
Grade 3
x4 Beast Deity, Ethics Buster
x2 Strongest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster Extreme
x3 Deadliest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster "Яeverse"

Ojima/オジマさん
Second Place
Grade 0
x1 Morgenroet (FV)
x4 Red Lightning CT
x4 Schones Wetter CT
x2 Schneeregen DT
x2 The Gong DT
x4 Regenbogen HT
Grade 1
x4 Blau Dunkelheit
x4 Clay-doll Mechanic
x4 Stoic Hunny
x2 Screamin' And Dancin' Announcer, Shout
Grade 2
x4 Jupiter Blaukluger
x4 Mars Blaukluger
x3 Blaukluger
Grade 3
x4 Galaxy Blaukluger
x4 Mond Blaukluger

Third Place
Black-Rimmed Glasses/くろぶちめがね
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x4 Blue-Ray Dracokid CT
x4 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x4 Dragon Dancer, Barbara HT
Grade 1
x2 Nouvelle Roman Dragon
x4 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x4 Calamity Tower Wyvern
x2 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x2 Dragon Dancer, Maria
Grade 2
x4 Nouvelle Critique Dragon
x4 Dominate Drive Dragon
x3 Bellicosity Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dauntless Drive Dragon
x2 Dauntless Dominate Dragon “Я”
Grade 4
x2 Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague

Fourth Place
Gungnir/ぐんぐにーる
Grade 0
x1 Vivid Rabbit (FV)
x3 Witch of Lemons, Limoncello CT
x2 Cyber Tiger CT
x4 Battle Maiden, Kukurihime CT
x3 Bandit Danny DT
x4 Witch of Big Pots, Laurier HT
Grade 1
x4 Witch of Apples, Cider
x4 Orange Witch, Valencia
x4 Goddess of Protection, Kushinada
x2 Ordain Eagle
Grade 2
x4 Witch of Ravens, Chamomile
x4 Grape Witch, Grappa
x3 Goddess of Trees, Jupiter
Grade 3
x4 Omniscience Regalia, Minerva
x4 Regalia of Wisdom, Angelica

Fighter's Climax 2013 National Championship, Open Division [FC13OP]
National Champion: Lee Innyeng
Grade 0
x2 Frontline Revenger, Claudas (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Morale Revenger, Dorin
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x3 Transience Revenger, Masquerade
x2 Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter
Grade 2
x4 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
x3 Dark Cloak Revenger, Tartu
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Runner-up: Adachi Yuuki/足立優樹
Grade 0
x1 Extending Black Ring, Pleiades (FV)
x1 Star-vader, Dusttail Unicorn
x4 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x4 Star-vader, Stellar Garage HT
x4 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT
x4 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
Grade 1
x1 Star-vader, Aurora Eagle
x2 Star-vader, Chaos Beat Dragon
x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
x2 Demonic Claw Star-vader, Lanthanum
x4 Prison Gate Star-vader, Palladium
Grade 2
x4 Star-vader, Colony Maker
x4 Star-vader, Moebius Breath Dragon
x3 Unrivaled Star-vader, Radon
Grade 3
x4 Star-vader, Infinite Zero Dragon
x4 Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon

Third Place: Sakashita Issei/坂下一生

Grade 0
x1 Little Fighter, Cron (FV)
x4 Elixir Liberator HT
x4 Weapons Liberator, Gwydion DT
x4 Liberator of Hope, Epona CT
x4 Strike Liberator CT
Grade 1
x4 Little Liberator, Marron
x4 Barcgal Liberator
x2 May Rain Liberator, Bruno
x4 Halo Liberator, Mark
x1 Sword Formation Liberator, Igraine
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade Liberator
x4 Liberator of the Flute, Escrad
x4 Liberator of Royalty, Phallon
Grade 3
x4 Liberator of Bonds, Gancelot Zenith
x3 Solitary Liberator, Gancelot

Fourth Place: Hung Kai Chen
Grade 0
x1 Vivid Rabbit (FV)
x4 Witch of Big Pots, Laurier HT
x2 Bandit Danny DT
x4 Witch of Lemons, Limoncello CT
x4 Battle Maiden, Kukurihime CT
x2 Cyber Tiger DT
Grade 1
x3 Goddess of Protection, Kushinada
x1 Goddess of the Shield, Aegis
x4 Apple Witch, Cider
x3 Ordain Owl
x3 Witch of Frogs, Melissa
Grade 2
x3 Grape Witch, Grappa
x3 Witch of Ravens, Chamomile
x4 Goddess of Trees, Jupiter
x1 Witch of Owls, Paprika
Grade 3
x4 Omniscience Regalia, Minerva
x4 Regalia of Wisdom, Angelica