News: ARG Announces 2015 National Championship Series, $2000 Prize Pool

Alter Reality Games President Jim McMahan has set in motion an initiative to bring together a US national championship series, promising to crown ARG's first national champion this summer. The circuit series tournaments are to serve as regional qualifiers for the championship games. Six qualifiers have been announced for February through March, with the preceding Chicago, Atlanta and Orlando tournaments also being granted qualifier status, their winners having retroactively received invitations to the finals. The new qualifier locations and dates are given below. In order to create a strong professional tournament environment without the flaws of Bushiroad's system, the ARG national championship series will employ the same best-of-three Swiss ruleset that ARG has made extensive use of at past tournaments.

In total there are nine tournaments currently integrated into the ARG national championships, and with a three month gap between the last announced qualifier and the nationals, additional locations may yet be announced. The large tournament structure stands in stark contrast to Bushiroad's recently-announced Team League 2015, which features just six regional tournaments for North America's Bushiroad national tournament, only four of which are in the United States and one in of which is in Canada. And unlike Bushiroad's paper certificate system, the winning cardfighters at ARG's tournament series will be rewarded with store credit and cash, fully realizing the meaning of "professional" cardfight.

This new national championship will award cardfighters who place inside the top 8 at qualifiers with both invitations to the finals and Circuit point amounts which can be used to pay entry into the ARG nationals in lieu of the typical $20 entry fee, as well as to purchase ARG-sponsored gear and card supplies. The national championship finals will include trophies for the winners, and a minimum prize pool of $2000--historically the largest prize pool that has ever been made available for a Cardfight!! Vanguard tournament.

Prizes for the regional Circuit series tournaments have been standardized. If tournament turnout exceeds 50 participants, the prizes can be paid out either in cash or as 150% prize credit depending on the player's choice. This means that at a 50 person tournament, first place can opt for either $200 cash or $300 credit, while second place can choose either $100 cash or $200 credit. The championship finals will be held in late July or early August, and are tentatively being discussed inside the area of Philadelphia to Providence, Rhode Island.

Upcoming ARG qualifiers include the Fort Worth and Ontario Circuit series tournaments in Texas and Canada, both on February 8th. Following that will be the Louisville qualifier on February 21st, Fort Lauderdale on March 8th, Hartford on March 15th and Toronto on  March 21st. Beginning with the Hartford Connecticut qualifier, stride units will be legal for play in ARG tournaments. Louisville will be last competition to not allow stride. As at the Orlando Circuit, Cardfight Pro will be traveling to Louisville to provide live coverage of the tournament.

The ARG national championship embodies the culmination of a collaborative effort between ARG and Cardfight Pro; last November we began contacting McMahan and others to pledge coverage for tournaments that would address the concerns of cardfighters worldwide. Alter Reality Games has our full support in establishing this tournament system, and those who place in their tournaments will be recognized by Cardfight Pro as professional cardfighters of the same caliber as those that qualify in the world championships and VGCS tournaments. 

In preparation for the upcoming events, organizer Robbie Kohl surveyed players for eleven questions on specific rulings and then contacted Bushiroad USA's judges directly, to ensure that the judges at ARG will be rigorously trained and able to address major rulings disputes. An exhaustive list of the rulings is provided below.

Q1. Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Buster activates its skill to attack four units. However, the opponent only has three units. Can he still attack all of them?
A1. Yes, you can still attack the three units ,because you have to do as much of the skill as possible once activated.

Q2. What happens when I use a quintet wall against Silent Tom, or Lark Pigeon and a grade 0 is called to the guardian circle?
A2. The units called by the quintet wall are being superior called, not normal called, so they are able to be placed in the guardian circle through that skill. Additionally, the Lark Pigeon is being superior called from the soul to the guardian circle so the same ruling applies. Any form of "call" that does not come from the hand is considered a "superior call" unless otherwise specified on the card.

Q3. Guarding against Transcore Dragon and Glory Maelstrom's skills, will the interceptors be affected?
A3. Intercepts will not be affected by Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom, or Blue Flight Dragon, Transcore Dragon, both units specify that units cannot be called "from the hand" to the guardian circle.

Q4. Brawler, Big Bang Slash Buster is on a rearguard circle and a vanguard Big Bang Knuckle hits multiple times. Will this card gain +3000 power for every unit hit, or only gain the bonus once?
A4. Brawler, Big Bang Slash Buster will gain the +3000 power for each hit that Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Dragon, or Brawler, Big Bang Slash Buster makes. Multiple bonuses.

Q5. Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Buster attacks the opponent's “Ω” Glendios and they use Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium. Will all the attacks redirect to the “Яeverse” unit, or will the other attacks still hit their declared targets?
A5. If you place Rubidium in the guardian circle and activate its skill to retire and redirect the attack to a “Яeverse” unit, despite multiple units being attacked, all the attacks will be changed to that one “Яeverse” unit. Refer to FAQ 805, 807.

Q6. If I use Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon's skill to superior ride a copy of itself from the deck, can I use the skill of the new Thing Saver to perform the skill again if I have the counterblast to do so?
A6. Yes, you may activate the skill of the new "Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon" that was superior ride from the deck, as long as you can meet the requirements to activate the skill again. You do not however, return four cards to the deck with the new "Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon."

Q7. Does riding count as putting a card into the soul? If so, this will trigger Young Pegasus Knight, Doreen the Thruster and Great Sage, Barron, correct?
A7. Ride does not count as putting the unit that was ridden over into soul. In some cases of superior ride, the unit on the vanguard circle is considered being put into the soul, such as Barcgal.

Q8. How do Perdition Emperor Dragon, Dragonic Overlord the Great and the break ride Dragonic Overlord interact with each other?
A8. Perdition Emperor Dragon, Dagonic Overlord the Great as well as Dragonic Overlord (breakride) both trigger and are set into standby once the attack hits the rearguard. At that timing you have to choose one of their skills to activate, so you cannot trigger both of their abilities/given abilities to restand, even if you were to attack a second rearguard.

(Editor's note; This does not contradict Q9. The reason they interact this way is because both Overlord variants have the clause "This ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn. (Even if you do not pay the cost, this ability cannot be used for the rest of that turn.)" Hence they are mutually exclusive.)

Q9. I have a Dorint in the frontrow and a Dorint behind it in the same column. I call a Blaster Dark Revenger over one of the Dorints. How many damage are unflipped?
A9. If Blaster Dark Revenger is placed over one of two Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint, in the same column, two damage will be unflipped due to this resolution chain: Blaster Dark Revenger placed over Barrier Troop Revenger Dorint → Both Dorint skills go into standby, called over Dorint is retired due to game mechanic, call is resolved → Both standby Dorint skills are then resolved. (Dorint does not have to remain on the field for his ability to resolve.)

Q10. If I call a Shiny Angel over a Regalia stand trigger, can I use Shiny Angel to target the said stand trigger that is currently on the same rearguard circle as I call over it?
A10. Yes, you may target the unit you retired due to being called over with the skill of Exorcism Regalia, Shiny Angel. Call Shiny Angel over stand trigger → Game mechanic retires stand trigger to resolve call, Shiny Angel's skill goes into standby → Shiny Angel's skill activates from standby to target up to three units in the drop zone.

Q11. If I legion how many cards must I return to the deck? Can it be less than four or exactly four cards?
A11. You must send exactly four units back to the deck to initiate legion.

News: Dragonic Nouvelle Vague Tops in Cosmic Oasis Tournament, Third BeNeLux Won by Aqua Force and Blau Series

Special thanks to the community of Illuminaudi Cards, Cincinnati, for sending in photographs, videos and information on the tournament to our editors.

This past weekend saw a medium-sized American fan tournament take place at Meeple Fest in Richmond, Kentucky, an unusual sight in a country where professional play primarily revolves around shop tournaments and Bushiroad's official events. Organized by Ron Flickinger of card shop Cosmic Oasis, the tournament was held at Eastern Kentucky University, and had a turnout of 19 persons. While these are relatively small numbers on a global scale, within the United States where fan-organized tournaments are in their infancy the turnout is respectable, and was more than four times the turnout of CO's previous tournament.

The event was held in a best of three format, with five rounds of Swiss pairings between the entrants, followed by a cut to top 8. Bushiroad was supportive of Oasis' efforts, providing the tournament organizer with Creeping Dark Goat promotional cards (previously exclusive to World Championship 2013) and exclusive official deckboxes for distribution at the event, which were given to each of the participants during the fifth round. Those who made it to top 8 were awarded either a quantity of booster packs or a cash reward of equivalent value at their own discretion, with the prize pool increasing based on the number of participants. Each player paid a $20 entry fee, with first place earning two booster boxes, the top 4 receiving other prizes in descending value, and the entire top 8 receiving official playmats. Because each pack was valued at $2 rather than the $3.99 standard embraced by most American card shops, participants could get considerably more value out of the tournament than normal. Judging was handled by a combination of volunteer players, and on-site judges from CO to prevent any favoritism.

Flickinger's tournament was met with an overwhelmingly positive reception, and a followup tournament is currently scheduled for the next Meeple Fest on September 6th.

The tournament finals were recorded by a viewer and submitted to Cardfight Pro for hosting, and can be viewed below in two parts. As both participants were already satisfied with their results in making it to the top spots, the tone of the fight was considerably more laid back than is often seen in professional play, particularly in comparison to Bushiroad's regional tournaments where the difference between first and second place is a paid trip to the national finals. The two competitors had briefly discussed the possibility of splitting their winnings, before opting to play it out. These final games were between Link Joker cardfighter Alexander Wilson playing Chaos Breaker Dragon and a Kagerou cardfighter whose name we do not have permission to use, playing Dragonic Nouvelle Vague. Wilson had previously made a bid at professional play in the 2013 Stand Up Challenge Cup and Team League 2014, and had begun playing Chaos Breaker shortly before the Oasis tournament due to dissatisfaction with his performance using the Revenger series. He was in the minority however, as turnout at Cosmic Oasis saw just one other Link Joker fighter take part, using Nebula Lord Dragon, and five Nouvelle players in the tournament. In total the top 8 was comprised of Chaos Breaker Dragon, Dragonic Descendant, Aqua Force, three Dragonic Nouvelle Vague and two Gold Paladin fighters.


In the first game, Wilson was immediately behind due to being gradelocked at 0 for a turn, but this was somewhat offset by an early critical trigger. A lack of strong aggression on his opponent's part and an early damage trigger prevented the gradelock from being capitalized on, but Wilson was also forced to open his grade 3 turn on Chaos Breaker Dragon rather than the preferred Infinite Zero. He came back by immediately shutting down his opponent's field, using Chaos Breaker's discard skill and Dust Tail Unicorn to Lock both frontrow rearguard lanes, giving himself time to recover. A surprising and early double critical trigger could have potentially sealed it for Wilson, but his opponent healed out of the blow, and he was forced to stare down a 2 critical Blast Bulk Dragon that would restand with Dauntless Drive's breakride skill. Accepting a risk, Wilson allowed the first attack through so that he would go to limit break, used a perfect defense card to block Blast Bulk's second attack, and then activated Chaos Breaker's limit break in the end phase to replenish his hand. With Colony Maker he was able to even out the situation considerably, matching his opponent one-for-one in card advantage, but on the final turn his opponent found an opening by gambling on two triggers to break through Wilson's defense. He made the correct play in assuming that Wilson would be able to guard a rearguard with two triggers on it, and took his one chance to end the game by applying the effects of his first trigger to his vanguard without knowing if there would be a second one.


As the loser of the previous game, Wilson chose to go first in the second one. Forgetting Mobius Breath Dragon's skill, his opponent was caught off guard when Conroe was Locked going into his second turn, which made his grade 2 vanguard easier to defend and limited the options available on that turn. Several timely heal triggers become defining for the rest of the fight, keeping the Nouvelle fighter at a more sustainable damage count over time. Once again Wilson had to open his grade 3 turn without Infinite Zero, forcing him to eventually repeat his shutdown play from the previous game to Lock both frontrow units one turn later. The Nouvelle fighter's persona blast is where the game definitively turned around in his favor, taking four of Wilson's units down for the price of one, leaving Wilson at -6 and his opponent at -5 advantage. Nouvelle's guard restriction skill, preventing Wilson from using grade 0s to defend, forced him to drop two successive perfect defense cards over two turns, and DNV's 13000 power base also forced him to ride Infinite Zero Dragon later on just to be able to connect a hit with the vanguard. The lack of a breakride on the following turn severely hurt Wilson's ability to recover, and this snowballed quickly because of a double draw trigger on his opponent's end. While his last turn break riding Chaos Breaker over Infinite Zero left Nouvelle attacking totally alone, the number of cards under his control was so low by that point that CBD was likewise attacking by itself, and DNV in general has a much better time acting as an independent vanguard than CBD does. Ultimately the Nouvelle cardfighter was able to check one of the last two critical triggers remaining in his deck, and while Wilson pulled a sixth damage heal, its effects were nullified by Nouvelle's skill.

Where Cosmic Oasis was dominated by DNV fighters, the story was considerably different on the other side of the pond, as the third BeNeLux tournament concluded last Sunday in Antwerp Belgium on the 22nd with only a single Nouvelle Vague in the running. Unlike previous BeNeLux tournaments, this month's competition used a combination of tagfight and Invasion rulesets, where each team of two cardfighters acted as a pair sharing one damage zone (capped at nine cards for a game loss) while also being restricted in deck choices. Like in Team League 2014, any pair on the Invading side using Link Joker or “Яeverse” cards was not permitted to use deck options outside of these, and any pair on the Defending side did not have access to Link Joker or “Яeverse” units.

A total of 30 persons took part in the third BeNeLux, divided into 15 teams. Exact clan turnout is uncertain, but the decklists of the top 2 teams were graciously submitted to us by the second place team. First place in the tournament was taken by the team of BeNeLux organizer Tom Staes. Staes is well known in the community as a devout Aqua Force cardfighter, and for one particular combo with his first vanguard Bubble Edge Dracokid wherein he sets Bubble Edge's skill on the grade 2 Tidal Assault in the backrow, and uses the grade 1 Wheel Assault to move the Tidal from the backrow to the frontrow after three frontrow units have attacked, allowing Tidal to use his own skill to create a fourth and fifth battle; this triggers Bubble Edge's draw skill twice during the fourth and greater battles, helping to overcome Aqua Force's consistency problems by building a high hand size on the second turn.

June 22nd BeNeLux
First place tag team: Unnamed
Ashley Annaert
Grade 0
1x Morgenrot (FV)
4x Regenbogen HT
4x Schnee Regen DT
4x Red Lightning CT
4x Schones Wetter CT
Grade 1
4x Blau Dunkelheit
4x Clay-doll Mechanic
2x Energy Charger
2x Stoic Hani
2x Screamin’ and Dancin’ Announcer, Shout
Grade 2
3x Mars Blaukluger
4x Blaukluger
4x Jupiter Blaukluger
Grade 3
4x Galaxy Blaukluger
4x Mond Blaukluger

Tom Staes
Grade 0
1x Bubble Edge Dracokid (FV)
4x Ice Floe Angel HT
4x Battle Siren, Mallika DT
2x Pyroxene Communications Sea Otter Soldier DT
4x Supersonic Sailor CT

2x Jet-ski Rider CT
Grade 1
4x Emerald Shield, Paschal
2x Light Signals Penguin Soldier
4x Wheel Assault
4x Mercenary Brave Shooter
Grade 2
3x Twin Strike Brave Shooter
4x Tidal Assault
2x Tear Knight, Lazarus
2x Battle Siren, Calista
Grade 3
4x Blue Wave Dragon, Tetra-drive Dragon
4x Blue Flight Dragon, Trans-core Dragon

Second place tag team: Dai Team
Kris Brazas
Grade 0
x1 Dimensional Robo, Daimagnum (FV)
x4 Dimensional Robo, Gorescue HT
x4 Dimensional Robo, Daicrane DT
x1 Army Penguin DT
x1 Gem Monster, Jewelmine DT
x4 Dimensional Robo, Daibattles CT
x1 Justice Cobalt CT
x1 Demon-eye Monster, Gorgon CT
Grade 1
x4 Dimensional Robo, Daishield
x3 Dimensional Robo, Daibrave
x1 Dimensional Robo, Dailander
x3 Commander Laurel
x2 Dimensional Robo, Gocannon
Grade 2
x4 Dimensional Robo, Kaizard
x4 Dimensional Robo, Daidragon
x2 Dimensional Robo, Daibarrett
Grade 3
x4 Super Dimensional Robo, Daikaiser
x4 Dark Dimensional Robo, “Яeverse” Daiyusha
x2 Super Dimensional Robo, Daiyusha

Nelson Cheung
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, Dust Tail Unicorn (FV)
x4 Star-vader, Stellar Garage HT
x4 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x4 Star-vader, Meteo Liger CT
x4 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
Grade 1
x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
x4 Demon Claw Star-vader, Lanthanum
x4 Prison Gate Star-vader, Palladium
x1 Star-vader, Chaos Beat Dragon
x1 Star-vader, Aurora Eagle
x1 Mana Shot Star-vader, Neon
Grade 2
x4 Unrivaled Star-vader, Radon
x3 Star-vader, Colony Maker
x4 Strike Star-vader, Krypton
Grade 3
x3 Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon
x4 Star-vader, Infinite Zero Dragon