Blaster Blade leaked

April 17th, 2018. An English product leak for V-Trial Deck 01: Sendou Aichi reveals the full skills of the Standard format Blaster Blade, hybridizing a number of different versions of the card from formats past.

CONT [Vanguard Circle]: If you have four or more rearguards, this unit gets Critical +1.
AUTO [Vanguard/Rearguard Circle]: When placed, by paying [Counterblast 1 & Soulblast 1] choose one of your opponent's rearguards in the front row, and retire it.

While the original Blaster Blade from 2011 could only retire grade 2 or greater units when placed on a rearguard circle, and gained the ability to retire any unit when placed on the vanguard circle, the reimagined card borrows Blaster Blade Liberator's front-row retire and gains a vanguard-critical skill that seemingly foreshadows Majesty Lord Blaster.

Although some have expressed concern with regard to Blade's early critical and emphasis on swarming, Bushiroad's plan seems to be to push both fighters in a match to advance the game state as quickly as possible. Nowhere is this more evident than in the age-old Royal Paladin-Kagerо̄ rivalry; Royal Paladin swarms the field with Allen and Marron to fuel Blaster Blade's extra critical, but Kagerо̄ in turn punishes Royals by retiring their units with Burj, Bahr, and Berserk Dragon, trading counterblast for counterblast and damage for damage. Royals have a theoretical damage lead from Blaster Blade, but Kagerо̄ gets to power up off retiring their field with rearguard Vortex Dragon. Royal Paladin in turn has to put down more guard to defend in the late game, while Kagerо̄ conserves hand by needing to defend against fewer and less powerful rearguards after initiating their retires. Royals' constant drawing off of Allen and Marron helps alleviate the high guard requirements, but Dragonic Overlord swinging for 43k+ promises to break through that hand as it builds up instances of Force and Burj power. It's a phenomenally designed matchup defined by a string of trades and choices on what each fighter wants to keep and what they are willing to sacrifice--and where will it lead? The King of Knights and Dragonic Waterfall will have to tell us.

News: Omniscience Regalia Minerva Figure Goes on Sale this Month

This month is the long-awaited launch of Kotobukiya's Omniscience Regalia Minerva figure, first announced and put up for preorder in November 2014. Originally designed by Tony Taka, Minerva has been a popular subject for sleeves, playmats and other merchandise since her introduction in BT14: Brilliant Strike. Kotobukiya's rendition of Minerva is a 1/8th scale figure, measuring 220 millimeters (8.7 inches approx.) at her highest point, is made of PVC plastic and comes prepainted by the production studio's in-house workers.

Cardfight!! Vanguard figures have been a favorite subject of hobbyists in the past, with amateur garage kit productions of Majesty Lord Blaster, Super Dimensional Robo Daiyusha, and Eradicator Dragonic Descendant all finding their way into annual figure festivals. Unlike Minerva though, these figures were only produced on a small scale to be auctioned to private collectors, and not as commercial products officially licensed out to a major production house. The Minerva figure retails for 13800 yen, approximately $112 at the current exchange rate. Figures will go out on the 27th.

The only other officially licensed figures on the market are Goodsmile Company's Cardfight!! Vanguard Nendoroids of Sendou Aichi and Kai Toshiki, and their original Nendoroid Petits. The Aichi Nendoroid in particular has become especially notorious among collectors, as it can easily go for more than $150 on the secondhand market. Kai's figure sells for less than half that price.

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News: Fighter's Rules Kill Thing Saver-“Abyss” for the End of September, Modified Legion Ruling

The Fighter's Rules for the Japanese format were amended earlier today, modifying a portion of the standard Clan Fight ruleset that has been in place since January 2012; beginning on September 29, Royal Paladin cardfighters may no longer include up to ten Shadow Paladin cards in their decks. Instead, they may only include up to four copies of Blaster Dark. (BD variants "Blaster Dark Spirit," "Blaster Dark Revenger" and "Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”" are not acceptable.) The original ruling was made in order to promote the use of Majesty Lord Blaster in clan-restricted formats back when the deck debuted, as MLB is one of the few decks which is designed around mixing clans by using both Royal and Shadow Paladin cards, but of late the ruling has seen mass exploitation as an easy way of building up enough soul for Seeker decks to restand their core boss card, Thing Saver Dragon, twice in a turn. At the head of Thing Saver-“Abyss'” popularity the deck topped in five consecutive tournaments, and at the end of August was used by pro cardfighter Hayashi Hiroki to win the summer 2014 Japanese national championships.

This new rule is subject to some criticism, as it prevents Majesty Lord Blaster cardfighters from using other Shadow Paladin cards which support it. Past Majesty decks have made use of Apocalypse Bat and Blaster Javelin from the Shadow Paladin clan, cards which would no longer be permitted under the new ruling. However, Majesty Lord is generally considered irrelevant in the present format when compared to Royal Paladin's modern deck options, so while the principles of the rule may clash with the intent of giving fighters the freedom to play MLB, in practice few will be affected by it. The primary concern is for Seeker cardfighters, who will have to return to playing Sacred Wingal or Brutus as Thing Saver's alternative grade 3. Given the deck's overwhelming success prior to the discovery of “Abyss” however, it is unlikely that pure TSD's stranglehold on the format will be broken.

Also pressing is that the Fighter's Rules have changed the behavior of Legion. Originally, a vanguard which entered Legion through card effects (in the case of TSD's superior Legion from the soul, and in the Metalborgs' example of superior riding into a Legion) was still able to activate its Legion effect if it had not already, and return four cards to the deck. While this would not seek the Legion's mate, it would recycle trigger units and cards with the Sentinel skill, and help to prevent decking out in the slower format. The new ruling prevents cards which are already in Legion from activating their Legion altogether, dealing a further blow to TSD. It will be implemented by modifying Legion skill text to state "If this unit is not in Legion, and if your opponent has a grade 3 vanguard..."

News: Fighter's Collection 2014 to Release in May, Majesty Lord Blaster to See Reprint

Illustration: Yamazaki Nanae, Sekiyama Konomu, Ebira, Tanimeso, Kawasumi, Ririnra.

As part of his coverage for the upcoming Great Vanguard Festival, Doctor O has revealed the next issue in the Fighter's Collection series of boosters, VG-FC02: Fighter's Collection 2014. Stated to support all of Cray's clans with new RRR-print grade 3s, the set will go on sale on May 2nd, coincidentally on the same day as the international release of Catastrophic Outbreak. According to the Japanese Cardfight portal, this entry in Fighter's Collection will support "all 23 clans" with exception given to Etranger. Like in the upcoming EB10, Bermuda Triangle units will have both black and white prints of the same card, with different artwork.

Most interestingly, the recently-unrestricted Majesty Lord Blaster is explicitly stated to be reprinted in the set, both on cf-vanguard and by Doctor O, and will be one of the Special Parallel prints for FC2014 in the same style of the 2013 set with golden calligraphy foil in place of its flavor text. Note that SPs in a Fighter's Colleciton set are considerably less rare than in standard booster sets, as there is an SP in every box rather than in every case of 16 boxes.

Prior to its store date, boxes of this year's Fighter's Collection will be sold on-site at Vanguard Fest 2014 on April 26th and 27th. It will be priced at 3000 yen a box (approx. $30) and each pack will contain 10 packs.

News: Conroe to be Restricted for February, Tsukuyomi & Majesty to Return, Almeida Stewart's World Championship Decklist Made Public

The Japanese restricted list was revised Tuesday, with a somewhat surprising addition made in Lizard Soldier Conroe; widely respected as Kagerou's most optimal first vanguard since his release three years ago in BT01: Descent of the King of Knights, Conroe is now the first card since Barcgal to be banned from being set as the first vanguard. Like Barcgal, Conroe can still be included within the deck, but is now of limited use because he cannot be played to open the game. Unlike with Barcgal, many cardfighters saw this restriction coming.

Conroe had previously spent a tournament season on the list but in a different capacity, limited to two copies in combination with Dragonic Overlord the End. Done to put down the DOTE deck after an extended term of prolonged dominance, the world was surprised when both cards were taken off the list despite the release of Dauntless Drive Dragon as DOTE's new supporting grade 3. Initial Dauntless mania cooled with the continued dominance of the Eradicators in the format, but this new decision has come about with likely inspiration from the results of the Fighter's Climax 2013 national tournament. Divided between the open class and junior divisions, six pros made waves with powerful Nouvelle Vague decks whose overwhelming success would not have been possible without Conroe to fix their grade ratios. The common feature of all Nouvelle decks used in competitive play thus far is running 4 grade 3s and 4 grade 4s--functionally equivalent to running 8 grade 3s, and only playable in this way because Conroe's search skill can be used to target the grade 1 Nouvelle Roman Dragon, whose on-call skill sends Nouvelle into the deck to search for a grade 3. In this way, all copies of Nouvelle automatically become grade 3s purely on the basis that Conroe can instantly fetch Roman for a single counterblast, and this is almost a guaranteed move with the rise of Link Joker and subsequent diminished presence of retire skill first vanguards like Linchu and Terrycloth.

This searchability also allows Dauntless Drive Dragon and Cruel Dragon to be run in unnaturally low numbers in the Nouvelle deck and still be consistently fetched, most commonly at 2-2 as done by Sen Hayato, Matsushita Daisuke and junior cardfighter Matsushita Shunji. The ability to use Nouvelle with effectively normal grade ratios is probably not an intended part of the card's design. By cutting Conroe out from organized play, Bushiroad is taking a cautionary measure that diminishes Nouvelle's effectiveness without completely destroying the deck entirely, making Nouvelle Roman a chance-based draw and forcing Kagerou cardfighters to modify their grade ratios in order to use the same kinds of grade 3s. Reinforcing the Barcgal comparison in 2011, this has taken an exceptionally consistent deck and bumped it back down to level with its contemporaries. Restricting Conroe has also resolved an issue that has plagued Kagerou from the beginning; his search skill has discouraged diverse deckbuilding by prematurely making other first vanguards for Kagerou obsolete, even in Seal Dragon builds.

A similarly surprising change is the return of Goddess of the Full Moon Tsukuyomi and Majesty Lord Blaster, whose deckbuilds had dominated alongside DOTE in 2012. For Tsukuyomi, the nail in her coffin was the ability to run the Goddess at four copies as her build's only grade 3, and Japanese cardfighters cultivating a play style of deliberately accepting gradelock in order to avoid riding non-Tsukuyomi cards, so that Goddess of the Crescent Moon's soulcharge 2 would be guaranteed, and the freed up deck space could be used for maximum copies of Oracle Guardian Red-Eye without sacrificing space given to Silent Tom or Mocha. In this way Tsukuyomi could consistently reach grade 3, reach 6 soul with support units like Red-Eye and Kaguya, make multiple gains in card advantage through free superior rides along with Tsukuyomi's draw skill and Luck Birds to make use of the extra soul, and stack the deck up to 20~25 cards through gradelock instead of being hardcapped at a maximum of 15. Meanwhile Majesty Lord Blaster was able to set up a consistent 12000 base defense on turn 3 along with a permanent extra critical and three rows of 21000+ lines with Toypugal, Bedivere and Palamedes. While Majesty may not have aged well compared to Tsukuyomi, even while restricted he was periodically seen popping up throughout 2013 in VGCS tournaments and in Fighter's Climax, so both decks are likely to find their place in the February-on format. Eradicator Dragonic Descendant has remained restricted to 2 copies, making him the only card to still be restricted in this way. Ultimately the restricted list has diminished with time rather than grown larger as in other TCGs.

Finally, the decklists from the 2013 World Championship have been released, including reigning world champion Almeida Stewart's Dauntless DOTE deck. As an update over the previous story, there were actually ten participants in the championship rather than nine. Presumably to prevent anyone from having a bye, Bushiroad injected a Japanese cardfighter with an English-language Eradicator deck into the tournament; the identity of this mystery fighter is presently unclear, but a best guess is a representative from the Fighter's Climax national tournament that was taking place on the same day.

1/25/2014 Update: A source within Bushiroad international has explained the fighter's identity. The tenth cardfighter is Nakajima Yuu, the Japanese champion for English edition Cardfight!! Vanguard. Nakajima's presence in the world championship finals was previously overlooked due to a rule in the 2013 World Championships that differed from WCS2012, which allowed for the Japanese champion to participate directly in the finals without having to make first place in the Asia-Oceania continental qualifier. In the previous year the Japanese champion still had to place within the top 3 at the AO tournament to be in the finals, but because the Japanese route to the finals for 2013 was separate from the rest of Asia's, Nakajima was not noticed. We apologize for the gap in our coverage.

2012 world champion Brandon Smith issued a public congratulations to Stewart and the other competitors via the official Cardfight!! Vanguard USA Facebook page, expressing anticipation to one day play against the new champion and see the competitors return for 2014. Breakdowns of the top 4 decklists from WCS2013 can be viewed below, with general descriptions of their strategies and play styles.

Almeida Stewart: Black BBC

Grade 0

x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FV)

x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT

x4 Seal Dragon, Artpique DT

x2 Gattling Claw Dragon DT

x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT

x1 Blue Ray Dracokid CT

x1 Seal Dragon, Biella CT

Grade 1

x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri

x1 Flame of Hope, Aermo

x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr

x2 Dragon Monk, Gojo

x4 Seal Dragon, Kersey

Grade 2

x2 Berserk Dragon

x4 Dragon Knight, Nehalem

x3 Burning Horn Dragon

x1 Bellicosity Dragon

Grade 3

x4 Dragonic Overlord the End

x4 Dauntless Drive Dragon

Stewart's decklist is a modification of his favored 8-draw build for DOTE, using 6 draw triggers and multiple types of critical triggers to give the appearance of running more criticals than in reality. There are some notable similarities to Albert Lee's old Dauntless DOTE build in using 2 Gojo and 4 Kersey to cycle those draw triggers after they've been checked, but Stewart made the wiser choice in playing Conroe to be able to tech Aermo as a vanguard booster and go through his cards more consistently. The deck is notably light on Berserk Dragon, as most Kagerou cardfighters play him at 4 not for the sake of using that much counterblast but instead to consistently draw the card. The builds' main goal is to break ride over Dauntless with The End, leaving the opponent in a world of poor decisions if they're at more than 3 damage. The most optimal way to deal with the play is to no-guard it, but if this isn't an option then Dauntless' break ride skill will stand The End, allowing it to swing again and bring the situation back at the opponent. No-guarding makes an opening for Stewart to use the persona blast to stand and attack again, which differs from Dauntless' stand skill in increasing advantage rather than decreasing, but the main point is that Dauntless DOTE will always make two 21000+ power swings with the ability to go for up to three attacks total if the opponent's hand is low, but the persona blast in this scenario only recoups the -1 of break riding rather than actually giving a +1 as it did in previous months and the danger of the Dauntless build comes entirely from its four drive checks.

The biggest hole in the deck is that once that initial DOTE break ride turn is over, there's nothing left afterward. Generally all of the counterblast is used up by then, additional attacks aren't going to hit for the persona blast even when there is open damage, and more break rides aren't going to come after DOTE hits the field. Thus, the deck has to win many turns before it actually drives the opponent to 6 damage, by taking out a large part of the opponent's hand. This can be answered by doing successive Dauntless into Dauntless break rides, but because of DOTE's need to save up multiple grade 3s for both the break ride and persona blast, and the deck not actually grabbing up a huge amount of advantage despite cycling through a lot of cards per game, this isn't always practical. Stewart's deck is effective, but its primary trait is getting inside the opponent's head during break ride turns.

Albert Lee: Gundam

Grade 0

x1 Beast Deity, Riot Horn (FV)

x4 Ring Girl, Clara HT

x2 Three Minutes DT

x4 The Gong DT

x4 Red Lightning CT

x2 Shining Lady CT

Grade 1

x4 Twin Blader

x4 Clay-doll Mechanic

x1 Toolkit Boy

x4 Beast Deity, Scarlet Bird

Grade 2

x3 Magician Girl, Kirara

x4 Beast Deity, Golden Anglet

x4 Beast Deity, Hatred Chaos

Grade 3

x4 Beast Deity, Azure Dragon

x4 Ultra Beast Deity, Illuminal Dragon

x1 Beast Deity, Ethics Buster

Lee made some interesting choices when compared to the other noted Beast Deity cardfighter of the time, Sebastian LeBon; both fighters recognized the value of 6 draw with 6 critical in the Illuminal deck, due in part to Nova Grappler's minimal ways to grab up card advantage and lack of deck searching. When presented with more options than LeBon though, Lee still valued Azure Dragon more than Ethics Buster, setting up consistent crossride defense--normally ineffective in BT10-on, but with a very positive Descendant matchup due to the general reliance on Rising Phoenix in that build, tendency to run low on boosting units and the weakness of Descendant's unboosted 11000 swing vs a single 10000 shield on 13000 defense. However, Lee eschewed Black Tortoise in favor of Kirara but still considered Scarlet Bird playable as a pressure attacker and 18000 line with Hatred Chaos, where most others run Blank Marsh.

Toolkit Boy is an unusual tech, considering many cardfighters don't even know what the card does. Although at 1 it's far from guaranteed, Toolkit can unflip a damage when he boosts the vanguard and the attack hits the opponent's, which gives him a lot of synergy with Kirara's counterblast 2 and Illuminal Dragon's counterblast 3. There are also more opportunities to play him in the Eradicator matchup, where sacrificing the vanguard booster to Gauntlet is a typical play if it's something like Clay-doll or a draw trigger. Lee's general idea is to wear the opponent's hand down with Scarlet Bird and Kirara, draw cards when her attack finally goes through, then unflip counterblast with Clay-doll and Toolkit, and set up an Ethics break ride into either Azure for a persona blast to have two standing rearguards or into Illuminal for a counterblast 3 to stand the entire field, getting five attacks in either way while keeping flipped damage low so that Illuminal can go off twice. This variation is versatile and its techs are set up so that drawing one card can be beneficial by warping the entire strategy in a new direction, but without necessarily building the entire deck around the break ride. Not running Blank Marsh is the most unusual choice, but arguably a very good one. Marsh has specific combos with Golden Anglet and Hatred Chaos, but is much stronger late-game when the opponent is at 4 damage and willing to accept one more to conserve shield, and because of the problem of getting boosters set up consistently it's not typical to use him more than one per game in the first place.

Adwin Leong: FTW

Grade 0

x1 Ambush Dragon Eradicator, Linchu (FV)

x4 Worm Toxin Eradicator, Seiobo HT
x4 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT

x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT

x4 Sacred Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT

Grade 1

x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guldx3 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon

x2 Rising Phoenix

x3 Ceremonial Bonfire Eradicator, Castor

x3 Steel-blooded Eradicator, Shuki

Grade 2

x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon

x3 Supreme Army Eradicator, Zuitan

x3 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-Ou

Grade 3

x3 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon

x3 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant

x2 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon
Leong's deckbuild is a combination of snowballing skills. Originally, Spark Kid Dragoon was the favored first vanguard for Narukami and has remained so in Japan, but internationally his main competition in Linchu has been adopted for the Eradicator deck. Linchu works like Saishin from the previous format, but to compensate for being dependent on the Eradicators he can also retire grade 1s, which can be instrumental in punishing early game attacks to control how the opponent plays in addition to countering first vanguards as before. In that way Linchu expresses a different kind of pressure, discouraging the opponent from making two or more attacks in the first turn as is so common in BT10-on with the prevalence of Kay clones, but it's also easy to bait just by leaving the first vanguard exposed without calling other units to deliberately goad the Eradicator fighter to use Linchu as early as possible. Since Linchu is lost to destroy the opponent's card, it's not truly a gain in advantage, but can create one by helping Leong conserve cards that would have been used to defend. Rising Phoenix also recoups the loss from putting Linchu back in, and combos with Cho-Ou's retire skill, which can even be used with Linchu as the cost to effectively reach grade 2s and 3s using the first vanguard. This all ties back to Gauntlet Buster Dragon, effectively the deck's midgame limit break that attacks with an extra critical for each card retired, commonly swinging for 3 damage when the opponent is at 3 and would otherwise guard the attack to clear out early perfect defense cards. Arguably the biggest flaw in Leong's build is that Gauntlet is only at 2, when there's a case to be made that the card has a bigger overall impact on the game than Vowing and takes precedence for bringing the opponent to higher damage faster to let Descendant tag in.

Dragonic Descendant is what will likely get the most attention. Commonly identified as the main axis around which the Narukami deck is based, like Stewart's Dauntless, Descendant relies on making multiple attacks with the vanguard line, but is able to do it over multiple turns for counterblast 1 discard 3 and swing with an extra critical the second time. The cost is technically more expensive than Dauntless but less so than The End, and can only be done if the attack does not pass through. Descendant's other skill lets it get +5000 power for 2 counterblast, making use of untouched resources if Gauntlet isn't drawn in the game and attack without a booster, and because neither attack can get through when the opponent is at 4~5 damage it means that at least the first attack has to be guarded no-pass due to all triggers automatically going to Descendant. The opponent is put into a very difficult situation, one which sometimes compels fighters to declare no guard at 4 damage simply to bypass the scenario altogether, but it can also be avoided by staying at lower damage for much of the fight and is offset by the Eradicators being a low advantage build that has trouble setting up its boosters and taking a -1 each time Descendant stands with its once-per-turn limit break. The result is that if Descendant doesn't end the game on his limit break, then the game ends next turn. Eradicator plays can also typically be seen coming a mile off due to the most optimal decisions being built into the cards, which means that after fighting one Descendant-Gauntlet, you have fought all Descendant-Gauntlets.

Kevin Lang: Made in England, God Save the Queen

Grade 0

x1 Ambush Dragon Eradicator, Linchu (FV)
x4 Worm Toxin Eradicator, Seiobo HT

x4 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT

x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT

x4 Sacred Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT

Grade 1

x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld

x4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon

x2 Rising Phoenix

x3 Steel-blooded Eradicator, Shuki

x2 Eradicator of Fire, Kohkaiji

Grade 2

x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon

x4 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-Ou

x3 Supreme Army Eradicator, Zuitan

Grade 3

x3 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon

x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant

x2 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon

Kevin Lang's Eradicator build differs from Leong's mainly in the use of Kohkaiji over Castor, a debate that also took place in Japan. Uemura Shouhei solidified the definitive Descendant-Gauntlet build over there with Castor, whose card changing skill proved extremely potent in the early game and following Gauntlet's limit break, but Kohkaiji isn't entirely without merit. The skill is essentially the same as Photon Bomber Wyvern but for the Eradicators, pumping the vanguard up by +10000 instead of +6000 when the opponent has 3 or more damage in the damage zone, but differs in how it interacts with the card pool. Kohkaiji becomes a very strange pressure unit in that he effectively prevents the opponent from defending early to midgame as one would like to in the Eradicator matchup if they do not guard the attack immediately preceding Gauntlet/Descendant's. All defending decisions must be made before the vanguard strikes; if Gauntlet has an increased critical and perfect defense will be dropped early to absolutely prevent it from going through, then it's natural that the previous rearguard attack will be allowed to hit since the vanguard line's power is functionally meaningless versus defense, but if the attack is to be allowed in then the rearguard must be defended to stay at 2 damage. Kohkaiji's effect on the game is more important with Descendant later on, since the card will swing for 21~31000 after the boost, so when Descendant makes his initial attack he'll often go unboosted to make the second blow go for exponentially higher power.

Lang ironically ran Dragonic Descendant at just 2 copies. As described above, this is what that card is currently limited to in Japan, but not on the world stage. This goes a ways towards demonstrating the diminished impact of the restricted list on the Eradicators, and their nature as a combo deck that bases itself on each card individually being able to make or break a clan, but it can also be construed as one of the contributing reasons that Lang's build is in fourth.

News: Nova Grappler Places First in Toronto World Championship Qualifiers, Tri-stinger Dragon Turns Heads

Note: To help better organize the community and answer questions about WCS2013, there are now help threads on the Neo Ark Cradle forums and Cardgame!!Coalition.

The World Championship 2013 regional qualifiers have begun, with the first North American qualifier in Toronto having finished yesterday evening. Regional champion Sebastien LeBon fought his way to the top using a Nova Grappler deck, currently believed to be a Beast Deity build. The victory comes as a surprise to the world of pros, as Nova Grappler has never been a strong component of high level play, and even more surprising is that no Dragonic Overlord the End decks placed in the regional. LeBon may have brought some exciting innovations to how the Grapplers are played. Runner up Kevin Perron played a Narukami deck, rumored to be a Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD" build, third place fighter Robert Ewell used an Aqua Force deck based around Tri-Stinger Dragon, and fourth went to Kevin Luu with Majesty Lord Blaster. All four cardfighters have received invitations to the North American national finals in Pasadena, California.

The presence of Tri-stinger in the regional finals instead of Glory Maelstrom has also been a surprise. The deck has been relatively underground up to this point, but those well versed in Aqua Force can attest to its strength. The main strategy of Tri-stinger builds is to use the Dragon's counterblast 2 to power up a rearguard Basil or Benedict by +3000, so that they can swing for 13000 with their initial attack, and then either (in Basil's case) swap places with Coral Assault or have Benedict stand and swing for 13000+ power again with as little as a 5000 power boost. With Tri-stinger's limit break, he unflips the 2 counterblast that he paid when he attacks in the third or more battle of the turn, allowing him to make the maneuver all over again in the next turn. This quality of making four 13000+ power attacks per turn helps Tri-stinger to contend effectively with the crossride decks that have caused so many problems for Aqua Force since their debut, quickly eating up their 5000 power shields and forcing them to drop 10000 shield per each attack by way of not having anything else to guard with. Furthermore, Tri-stinger plays a very vicious game against other limit break decks, deliberately using Astraea to make a 14000 power vanguard line that constantly baits the opponent to guard in a way that they never reach their limit break until they have no resources left to guard with.

According to on-site informants, approximately 300 people attended the Toronto regional. Reigning world champion Brandon Smith was in attendance, and lasted until the final elimination round to make it into the top 16, but took two losses spread across the tournament's third and seventh rounds from gradelock, causing him to be eliminated. As Smith will still be competing for this year's championship title in subsequent tournaments, we will not be disclosing his deck type.

Alarmingly, in the aftermath of the Toronto regional some sellers have taken to selling the WCS2013 regional promo PR/0069EN Creeping Dark Goat at four times the price of any other contemporary promo card, going as high as $18.99 for a single copy, and almost twice the price of Circle Magus, a previous world championship promo released last year. Goat is a promo card whose English-language release was met with celebration earlier this year, as the card has been called Shadow Paladin's most competitive first vanguard, both in the English and Japanese formats. Critics of the high price have pointed out that there is no real market for the pricetag, as without the Revengers in the English format Shadow Paladin is generally ranked lower than Megacolony in competitive application, and only played by hardcore fans of the clan. Consumers are discouraged from buying overpriced Goats, as that price is unlikely to go down unless CDG becomes unsellable at these artificially inflated prices.

News: Spike Brothers and Majesty Lord Blaster Take First in Sapporo Regional

Doctor O tweeted earlier today from the Sapporo branch of FR2013, revealing that the Open division champion used a Spike Brothers deck based on the Dudley series of units. Meanwhile the winner in the Junior class tournament was a Royal Paladin cardfighter who built their deck around Majesty Lord Blaster. The upper brackets for Sapporo included Tachikaze, Shadow Paladin, Link Joker and Narukami decks, but which clans made second place in each division is currently unknown.

Doctor O's information is coming on the heels of Raging Form and Nebula Lord's success at Tokyo, as well as the Spike Brothers' previous triumph in Hiroshima. This sudden influx of seemingly underdog decks into a format that was previously stale and dominated by Dragonic Descendant has come as a surprise to many, but as these outlier decks pick up steam the tail end of FR2013 promises to be an exciting period. As the official Cardfight!! Vanguard portal does not update over the weekends, the decklists from Sapporo will likely be put out later this week. The next and final regional in FR2013 will be Nagoya tomorrow on the 15th, with the championship finals on August 11th.

News: FR2013 Kanazawa Decklists, Aqua Force and Majesty Lord Blaster Sweep Through Team Tournaments

The Fighter's Road 2013 Kanazawa decklists are out, revealing names of the newest emerging pro fighters of this year's national championship. Despite their restriction earlier this year, Eradicators have consistently maintained a steady grip on the Open division as the favorite pro deck of choice, with the Liberator subgroup as their constant rival. While they aren't shining as prominently, Angel Feather's Celestials made it into Kanazawa's best 8, pointing to a more even playing field than the top two results would suggest. The Open division may be business as usual for the Eradicator-Liberator deadlock, but the Junior class tournament is the center of attention for the crossride-centric Dragonic Overlord The End build that has reappeared here after a six month hiatus, this time taking advantage of Corduroy's cheaper cost and a pool of Seal Dragon triggers to make retiring easier on a build that wants to reserve its damage zone for The End's persona blast. The deck is being piloted by Niida Kazuki, a veteran of the 2012 Fighter's Road tournaments who previously used The End. Since that time it's clear that Niida's play style has cultivated in a different direction entirely, turning away form the Burning Horn Dragon that he once ran at four in favor of Corduroy, Berserk Dragon and Bellicosity Dragon's utility skills.

In an interesting twist of history, Eboshida Daito has reappeared in the best 8 for Kanazawa's Juniors division; while Eboshida has never been an especially prominent name among pros, at the game's beginning in late 2011 he was the runner up for the Nagoya Junior regional tournament using a Nova Grappler-Royal Paladin hybrid deck, and was also the runner up in the Kanazawa Junior regional for Fighter's Road 2012. Since 2012 he appears to have settled into Gold Paladin as his clan of choice, this time using a Liberator deck instead of Ezel support. Unfortunately, Eboshida did not place high enough to continue contending for this year's national title.

In VFHS news, teams sporting both Dragonic Descendant and Majesty Lord Blaster are gaining ground as a popular combination. With a modernized, break ride-focused Dragonic Overlord The End filling the third space, Hirayama Ken, Ishida Koudai and Watanabe Shouhei are together making for a dangerous combination of all-star builds, in spite of their neophyte status to the world of pros. The direction of the team is ambitious, but it remains to be see if their combination pays off or if the next wave of strategy pushes back the tide.

The Student-only division has taken a different course, with a tech-heavy Maelstrom deck emerging under the command of up-and-coming fighter Torimi Akitaka. Torimi is of interest due to Aqua Force's overall weaker presence in professional play, as the clan is generally agreed upon as strong but difficult to use compared to contemporaries with a less steep learning curve. As the format up until January was heavily defined by defensive play and base 13000 vanguards that Aqua Force units could generally not target with Diamantes or Basil, and the emphasis on aggressive play has only developed within February-on, Aqua Force fighters have been generally slower to come out of the woodwork.

Open Class Regional Tournament
Regional Champion: Shinohara Shigeki/篠原成貴
Grade 0
x1 Ambush Dragon Eradicator, Linchu (FVG)
x3 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT
x1 Malevolent Djinn CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seiobo HT
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Eradicator of the Divine Spear, Pollux CT
Grade 1
x3 Rising Phoenix
x4 Eradicator, Wyvern Guard Guld
x4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
x3 Iron Blood Eradicator, Shuki
Grade 2
x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
x3 Dragonic Deathscythe
x4 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Chou-Ou
Grade 3
x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x4 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon
x2 Eradicator, Sweep Command Dragon

Runner-up: Nakanishi Yuusuke/中西雄亮
Grade 0
x1 Spring Breeze Messenger (FVG)
x4 Liberator of Hope, Epona CT
x4 Strike Liberator CT
x4 Weapons Liberator, Gwydion DT
x4 Elixir Liberator HT
Grade 1
x2 Liberator, Flare Mane Stallion
x4 Curved Blade Liberator, Josephus
x4 Little Liberator, Marron
x4 Halo Liberator, Mark
Grade 2
x3 Blaster Blade Liberator
x4 Liberator of Silence, Gallatin
x4 Liberator of Royalty, Phallon
Grade 3
x4 Liberator of the Round Table, Alfred
x4 Solitary Liberator, Gancelot

Doctor O's Pick: Yoshida Shouji/吉田祥二
Grade 0
x1 First Aid Celestial, Penuel (FVG)
x4 Healing Celestial, Ramiel HT
x4 Celestial, Landing Pegasus DT
x4 Punishment Celestial, Shemhazai CT
x2 Critical Hit Angel CT
x2 Rocket Dash Unicorn CT
Grade 1
x4 Marking Celestial, Arabaki
x4 Underlay Celestial, Hesediel
x1 Order Celestial, Yeqon
x4 Adamantine Celestial, Aniel
Grade 2
x4 Candle Celestial, Sariel
x4 Wildshot Celestial, Raquel
x4 Love Machine Gun, Nociel
Grade 3
x4 Prophecy Celestial, Ramiel
x4 Solidify Celestial, Zerachiel

Junior Class Regional Tournament 
Regional Champion: Niida Kazuki/新井田和輝
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FVG)
x3 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x1 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x3 Seal Dragon, Artpitch DT
x4 Seal Dragon, Biera CT
x4 Seal Dragon, Shading HT
x1 Blue-Ray Dracokid CT
Grade 1
x2 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x4 Seal Dragon, Kersey
x4 Seal Dragon, Rinocross
x3 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x1 Flame of Hope, Aermo
Grade 2
x4 Seal Dragon, Hunger Hell Dragon
x4 Seal Dragon, Corduroy
x2 Berserk Dragon
x2 Bellicosity Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End
x3 Dragonic Overlord

Runner-up: Takamoto Yutaka/高本豊将
Grade 0
x1 Dreaming Sage, Korron (FVG)
x2 Flame of Victory CT
x4 Silent Punisher CT
x3 Dantengal CT
x2 Loonbau ST
x3 Speeder Hound DT
x4 Elixir Sommelier HT
Grade 1
x2 Little Battler, Tron
x2 Blessing Owl
x2 Evil Slaying Swordsman, Haugan
x3 Advance of the Black Chains, Kahedin
x3 Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth
x2 Disciple of Pain
Grade 2
x2 Master of Pain
x3 Sacred Guardian Beast, Nemean Lion
x1 Mage of Calamity, Tripp
x3 Knight of Passion, Bagdemagus
x3 Knight of Superior Skills, Beaumains
Grade 3
x1 Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel
x2 Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel
x1 Solitary Liberator, Gancelot
x2 Battlefield Storm, Sagramore
x1 Holy Mage, Manawydan

Doctor O's Pick: Eboshida Daito/烏帽子田大翔
Grade 0
x1 Little Battler, Cron (FVG)
x4 Liberator of Hope, Epona CT
x4 Strike Liberator CT
x4 Weapons Liberator, Gwydion DT
x4 Elixir Liberator HT
Grade 1
x2 Silver Fang Witch
x4 Curved Blade Liberator, Josephus
x3 Little Liberator, Marron
x3 Halo Liberator, Mark
x1 Halo Shield, Mark
Grade 2
x4 Liberator of the Flute, Escrad
x1 Knight of Superior Skills, Beaumains
x4 Liberator of Silence, Gallatin
x3 Liberator of Royalty, Phallon
Grade 3
x4 Liberator of the Round Table, Alfred
x2 Solitary Liberator, Gancelot
x2 Steel Spear Liberator, Bleoberis

Vanguard Fight High School 2013 Summer, Open Class Kanazawa Regional Tournament Championship Team
Hirayama Ken/平山謙
Grade 0
x1 Ambush Dragon Eradicator, Linchu (FVG)
x3 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT
x1 Malevolent Djinn CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seiobo HT
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Eradicator of the Divine Spear, Castor CT
Grade 1
x2 Rising Phoenix
x4 Eradicator, Wyvern Guard Guld
x4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
x4 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
Grade 2
x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
x3 Dragonic Deathscythe
x4 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Chou-Ou
Grade 3
x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x4 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon
x2 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon

Ishida Koudai/石田航大
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FVG)
x2 Dragon Dancer, Monica DT
x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x1 Seal Dragon, Artpitch DT
x4 Seal Dragon, Biera CT
x4 Seal Dragon, Shading HT
x1 Red Gem Carbuncle DT
Grade 1
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x1 Seal Dragon, Kersey
x4 Seal Dragon, Rinocross
x4 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x1 Flame of Hope, Aermo
Grade 2
x2 Seal Dragon, Hunger Hell Dragon
x4 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
x3 Berserk Dragon
x2 Cross Shot, Garp
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End
x4 Dauntless Drive Dragon

Watanabe Shouhei/渡辺翔平
Grade 0
x1 Wingal Brave (FVG)
x4 Enthusiastic Jewel Knight, Polly HT
x3 Margal DT
x1 Alabaster Owl CT
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT
x4 Blazing Jewel Knight, Rachelle CT
Grade 1
x2 Toypugal
x2 Lake Maiden, Lien
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x4 Flashing Jewel Knight, Iseult
x3 Knight of Friendship, Kay
Grade 2
x3 Star Call Trumpeter
x3 Blaster Blade Spirit
x3 Blaster Blade
x4 Blaster Dark
Grade 3
x2 Swordsman of the Explosive Flames, Palamedes
x2 Majesty Lord Blaster
x1 King of Knights, Alfred

Vanguard Fight High School 2013 Summer, Student-only Class Kanazawa Regional Tournament Championship Team 
Grade 0
x1 Little Witch, LuLu (FVG)
x4 Oracle Guardian, Nike CT
x4 Psychic Bird CT
x4 Battle Sister, Ginger CT
x4 Lozenge Magus HT
Grade 1
x1 Battle Sister, Omelet
x4 Battle Sister, Chocolat
x2 Battle Sister, Cream
x2 Battle Sister, Cocoa
x2 Emerald Witch, LaLa
x4 Oracle Guardian, Gemini
Grade 2
x3 Battle Sister, Tart
x3 Battle Sister, Mocha
x4 Silent Tom
Grade 3
x4 Battle Sister, Cookie
x4 Scarlet Witch, CoCo

Ueki Shun'ya/上木駿矢
Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FVG)
x4 Demonic Dragon Nymph, Seiobo HT
x3 Mischievous Girl, Kyon-She DT
x4 Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Malevolent Djinn CT
x1 Spark Edge Dracokid DT
Grade 1
x2 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x2 Photon Bomber Wyvern
x1 Eradicator of the True Flames, Kougaiji
x1 Rising Phoenix
x1 Dragon Monk, Ginkaku
x4 Red River Dragoon
Grade 2
x4 Thunder Storm Dragoon
x4 Dusty Plasma Dragon
x2 Demonic Dragon Berserker, Garuda
x1 Dragon Dancer, Veronica
Grade 3
x3 Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD"
x4 Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion

Torimi Akitaka/鳥見皓宇
Grade 0
x1 Officer Cadet, Erikk (FVG)
x2 Mass Production Sailor ST
x2 Enemy Seeking Seagull Soldier ST
x3 Dolphin Soldier of High Speeds, Raids ST
x3 Pyroxene Communications Sea Otter Soldier DT
x2 Supersonic Sailor CT
x4 Medical Officer of the Rainbow Elixir HT
Grade 1
x2 Tear Knight, Theo
x4 Emerald Shield, Paschalis
x2 Battle Siren, Dorothea
x2 Flash Signal Light Penguin Soldier
x3 Shortstop Brave Shooter
Grade 2
x4 Tear Knight, Lazarus
x2 Storm Rider, Basil
x3 Twin Strike Brave Shooter
x2 Veteran Strategic Commander
Grade 3
x4 Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom
x1 Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom
x1 Last Card, Revonn
x3 Storm Rider, Diamantes

Interview: World Champion Brandon Smith

Thursday morning we at Cardfight Pro were able to sit down with the reigning Cardfight!! Vanguard world champion Brandon Smith for an interview. Since his crowning in December 2012, Smith has become a noted celebrity in the greater community of Cardfight!!, opening his doors to the press and riding the wave of publicity that followed his seizing of the first international title. However, his skill is more than what's seen on camera. Played against in person, Smith is the genuine article; after a string of victories in casual matches, Smith temporarily traded decks with our editor and played a flawless game, turning the editor's personal build against him after only brief observation of how it played. This ability to pick up and play any deck has been recognized as one of Smith's greatest strengths.

Smith's store, Collectible Investments in Berkley, MI, is one of the busiest we have ever seen. In addition to selling the Cardfight!! Vanguard Trading Card Game and other TCG properties, the store does double duty as a seller of collectables and curios, with Beatles memorabilia and rotary dial telephones stacked high along the shelves. The merchandise moves in and out--what you see in the store one night is likely not there the next. While most local shops see a regular turnout of six to eight people a week, on tournament night at Collectible Investments as many as twenty-five or thirty people will be crammed into the tables of the long, corridor-like card shop. Collectible Investments serves as the epicenter of eastern Michigan's professional scene, and a gathering ground of strong cardfighters, who are currently preparing for their regional tournament in April.

CFP: Up to now we've heard the story of you becoming the world champion, the road to the championship and how the match with Henry Suharto went. The story not yet told is the story coming home. How has that impacted you, coming back to your store and your hometown, and has your life changed any by becoming world champion?

Smith: It's been a lot of fun. [Being in] Japan, the tournament was a lot of fun, but being back home was good. I got a celebration when I got back, had this tournament and whatnot. I've gotten a lot of offers for sponsorship....at nationals I got sponsored by CoreTCG, I also got a lot of opportunities to create games, so it's a lot of different things that have been offered. I got a lot of congratulations from all around the world. I'd like to thank everybody for being supportive. It's been great.

CFP: Now that we're headed into the Stand Up Challenge Cup--you've already qualified for regionals--in this new crossride format, Dragonic Overlord The End and Majesty Lord Blaster are expect to do very well, but how are you going to face this [next] championship?

Smith: I haven't quite decided yet. I have an arsenal of decks. I still have my Spectral Duke Dragon deck and it's very formidable against this format. I also have The End and MLB as well to playtest against, so I don't wanna say what I think will happen at the Stand Up Cup finals or championship. The End is very formidable as an opponent, very hard to beat, hard to deal with and if you don't play against it correctly you can lose easily. But even though those two are getting the limelight, the glory, I think that the Shadow Paladin guy [Phantom Blaster Overlord] could step up and cause some unsuspected damage to the tournament scene.

CFP: There's been a lot of talk about a restricted list like Japan currently has, with certain decks being restricted, what do you think of this idea?

Smith: [It's] like you said earlier, about everyone having a deck in their backpack, but then the decks that hit the table were MLB and DOTE. (While setting up for the interview, I had commented offhandedly about the qualifier tournament Collectible Investments had held on Sunday night. Everyone in Smith's store had two decks--their regular deck, and their "tournament" deck that was either Majesty Lord Blaster or Dragonic Overlord The End.) So I'm in favor of the restriction list. Unfortunately it does hurt [Oracle Think Tank] and they're not seeing as much play in America, so it does seem like--and a lot of people said [this]--they didn't get justly hit. I'm in favor of Bushiroad and their restriction list, especially if the tournament scene ends up like Japan. When I was in Japan I played about twelve matches against Japanese-only decks and even though they were at like set 10--it had just come out that weekend--everyone played Majesty Lord Blaster and DOTE. So it just seems like Bushiroad did themselves a favor and what's best for the game by making the restricted list, especially targeting MLB and DOTE. Unfortunately MLB is really consistent and the fact that it can pull itself out with just the one [and] Wingal Brave, overall I'm in favor of the restrictions.

CFP: In Japan right now we have the break ride format going on that's predicted to make crossrides irrelevant. Of course, we don't have those yet in the English format so you haven't had the chance to playtest [yet], but what's your view?

Smith: Theoretically I think they're good, but I think that a lot of players are overhyping them. Yes they're devastating, but you also have to have them in the correct order. So if you're playing the Kagerou ride break [Dauntless Drive Dragon], if you ride DOTE--or however it plays out if we get a restriction list--then it may not be as good, because you'll just sit there with ride break grade 3s later. Or if you play the Gold Paladin version [Gancelot], if you choose to play like Duke or Ezel, [and] you ride those first then they're just rearguards. So it all depends on how it plays out, I think they have really great potential and that's why they were introduced to the game, but I don't think they're as strong as people give them credit to be.

The Challenge Cup regional tournaments will start up on April 12th and last through April 28th, with twenty-seven regionals spread out across the continent deciding who will go on to the finals in Orlando, Florida, to be held this June. As the previous year's titleholder, Smith is among the favorites for the North American title, but the competition even at the regional level will be fierce and Michigan is one of the most difficult states to qualify in. With many cardfighters eager to either champion or defeat the crossride decks of this format, 2013 is promising to be an unpredictable year.

Royal Paladin Extra Study Material: Majesty Lord Blaster

Photo by rawritzrichii, not to be reposted elsewhere without the original photographer's express permission.

Clans are not static. They are born, then grow and undergo constant change and revision. The units of those clans are likewise always evolving in their scope and concept. These units are characters, and their role, their loyalties and personal stories are deeply intertwined into the mechanics of Cardfight. Sometimes units will grow up and become different cards, or join another clan and suddenly bring their past support with them. Each card added to the game causes previous cards to start interacting differently. This is the premise of the Royal Paladin Blaster deck introduced by BT05: Awakening of Twin Blades, which unifies not just past units from TD01-BT04, but also two different clans into one composite strategy. The subgroup has also revised the Royal Paladin clan as a whole to the point where a static critical is considered part of their core gameplay, beyond just calling rearguards and drawing power from them.

The first thing that we should tackle is the existing support that the Blaster subgroup is reliant upon. Deck space for the Blasters is enormously constrained by a backlog of old cards that are endemic to the Royal Paladins, so from the previous modules you should pick up on Explosive Flames Palamedes, Toypugal, Margal, Gancelot and the King of Knights being retained in the Royal Paladin Blaster deck. Alfred in particular is a useful single copy because he forms a good alternative vanguard in the crossride format, and because his V/R counterblast 3 allows for many pieces of the Blaster strategy to be searched for. Blaster Blade is also retained and maxed out at four copies, as he forms the cornerstone of almost every play that the Blaster deck will make and is part of multiple activation conditions. Barcgal would be retained in the build were he not restricted, for reasons discussed below.

The first vanguard for the deck is Wingal Brave, the Royal Paladins' first true base 5000 FVG and the reason that Blaster Blade is such a critical card for the subgroup. When he boosts a Blaster unit and the attack hits, Brave can move to the soul to add one unit with Blaster in its card name to your hand from the deck. This makes grade 2 a very important point in a match for the Blaster deck, as a vanguard Blaster Blade with Wingal Brave boosting him will be difficult for opponents to rationalize guarding if their vanguard is not a base 10000 grade 2. And Margal makes even that difficult for the opponent to justify, since she throws their line up to 17000, so in most scenarios the opponent will be left to choose between dropping 15000 shield at grade 2, letting one early trigger ruin their defense and bring your strategy together, or simply not guarding and letting you get that Blaster unit in hand. This is why Gancelot is retained by the new subgroup, as he can search out Blaster Blade on the preceding turn, which makes this grade 2 scenario easy to set up as you can effectively run five copies of Blade.

With regard for what we want to search, Wingal Brave's main feature is not specifying any particular grade requirement in his search criteria, which makes one of the subgroup's Blaster grade 3s the natural target. These units are Blaster Blade Burst, Exculpate the Blaster and the titular Majesty Lord Blaster, which we'll examine in reverse order. Majesty is the deck's winning image, around which the strategy is based. Like most Royal Paladin grade 3s Majesty is a base 10000 unit, but his autoskill allows him to soulcharge a Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark on-attack for +10000 power until the end of the battle; more importantly, he also receives +2000 power and +1 critical continuously for having both of these units in the soul. This makes him easily the greatest shield that the Royal Paladins have, just under the defense of a crossride but above base 11000 units, demanding 12-17000 power lines from the opponent. Since these skills will activate simultaneously at first, Majesty will go for 22000 power and critical 2 unboosted, but with Marron or Toypugal can clear 30-31000, thereafter breaking 20-21 critical 2 each turn. The inclusion of Blaster Dark is surprising to many, but Majesty Lord Blaster is a character based around uniting a warring people and bringing conflicting ideas together for synergy. As his deck is already intended to be a mixed deck, it's natural for it to look at other Shadow Paladin additions that can be made to improve the strategy.

Apocalypse Bat is probably the first other unit that fighters take note of. Like Lionmane Stallion, Apocalypse is a base 4000 power unit that when it boosts a unit with a specific word in its name, can soulblast 1 to give +6000 additional power for a +10000 boost overall. While Lionmane focused on "Alfred" units for a stronger rearguard, Apocalypse is more vanguard oriented, soulblasting when it boosts "Blaster" units. Because it is a Shadow Paladin and has low base power, it's recommended to be run at 1-2 copies maximum, with at least 10 other boosting units in the deck of power 7000 or higher. The recommended way to run Apocalypse with Majesty is to actually not soulblast initially, as with Majesty's continuous and autoskills the first attack will go for 26000 power critical 2, and from that point on will form a 16000 power critical 2 line every turn. It's best to save the soulblast for turns when Majesty's autoskill will not be used, because we want to avoid removing Blade and Dark from the soul, so Lord Blaster with Apocalypse only gets three soulblasts per game, and thus three turns of 22000 power critical 2. The main reason to use Apocalypse instead of Toypugal is that this will pressure other Majesty decks, while Toypugal's 21000 critical 2 line could actually be stopped by a single trigger defense.

In general, the Blaster deck intends to have a unit with "Blaster" in its name as the vanguard from grade 2 onward, be that Blade or Majesty. This is something to be taken advantage of. The Blaster series has a plethora of rearguard support, primarily the grades 1 and 2 Knight of Friendship Kay and Knight of Loyalty Bedivere. Kay is a base 7000 unit that gets +3000 power when he attacks and there is a Blaster vanguard, allowing him to effectively do the job of Gallatin for greater flexibility and to score early damage. Meanwhile, Bedivere is a base 9000 grade 2 that gets +3000 power when he attacks under the same conditions for 12000 total, allowing him to go for 20-21000 with Marron or Toypugal, and to form the easy base 18000 lines that are so critical to the crossride format. Bedivere also has a Shadow Paladin equivalent, Knight of Nullity Masquerade, but there is not a whole lot of room for Bedivere by himself in the first place, so this is an unlikely inclusion.

The reason that the room is so constrained is that Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark are both necessary for Majesty's skills, which means running both at four. And even at four, Dark doesn't have a Gancelot to search him like Blade does; with Wingal Brave's skill dedicated to Majesty, that makes bringing Dark out problematic. The answer to this is Star Call Trumpeter, a base 8000 grade 2 that can counterblast 2 on-call to superior call one grade 2 or lower Blaster unit. While Brave's key feature is ignoring grade, Star Call's is ignoring clan. This allows her to be freely called to the back line to bring out Dark and his slightly higher power to the front, or even to call Dark over Trumpeter and simply retire her with no loss in advantage. Together with the two Blasters, grade 2 space is already tight, although by running less grade 3s it's possible to make room for Bedivere.

Blaster Javelin is another Shadow Paladin unit that can be considered for the deck, but only as a single copy. This is more of a rearguard modification, as it lets Wingal Brave be moved to boost the left or right lanes, and for a turn 1 activation of Brave's skill to get Majesty Lord Blaster into hand immediately. Javelin can then be safely retreated afterward to boost Palamedes, Masquerade or Bedivere, each of which he will form an 18000+ line with for fighting The End and contemporaries.

The basic Majesty build has almost no need for any draw triggers whatsoever, beyond using Margal for tactical moves, and can be run without them because it is exploding with search skills. Critical triggers are overwhelmingly favored by the deck, so much so that you can even run a single Grim Reaper from the Shadow Paladins if three types are not enough to satisfy you.

One variant on Majesty that continually pops up is using Fullbau with Javelin to search for Blaster Dark. The problem with this is that it's attempting to make use of units that the Shadow Paladins wouldn't run if they had a real choice in the matter. Much as the Royal dilemma of being forced to run Drangal with Galahad or resort to Stardust Trumpeter following Bacgal's restriction between BT03 and BT05, Fullbau-Javelin is an enforced restraint on deck space that prevents more useful grade 1s from being utilized. Even in Japan's restricted format where only one copy of Majesty can be in the same deck as Brave, Fullbau-Javelin is not necessary because of Brave's search power and because of the remaining grade 3s that we are about to describe.

As a followup to Majesty, we have Exculpate the Blaster, a promo card that will see English release with boxes of EB01: Comic Style Vol. 1. While Majesty represents Blaster Blade's power after taking up Blaster Dark's sword and bringing together light and darkness to fight the Phantom Blaster Overlord, Exculpate is a temporary transformation that shows his inner light above all else. Exculpate is unique as a base 12000 grade 3, but self-retires when called and at the end of a turn in which you ride him, moves to the soul by riding Blaster Blade from the soul or drop zone. He also requires your vanguard to be a Royal Paladin grade 3 to ride him, and he cannot attack if Blade is not in the soul. Ironically for a transformation that lore-wise took place before Blade became Majesty, what this translates to in gameplay is a one-turn finishing move after riding Lord Blaster. Analyzing the costs that we've paid up to this point, moving Dark and Blade to the soul is a -2 overall, while riding Exculpate over another grade 3 is a -1, and since we'll be left with a weak base 9000 Blaster Blade vanguard after this turn, it's critical that those losses be compensated for. Exculpate's counterblast 3 is his answer to this; an activate skill that causes him to battle all of the opponent's units at once, as an advanced take on Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion's limit break. Assuming the full field that the opponent will generally have at that point, they will be at a minimum suffering a -5 in addition to taking damage. Defending the rearguards would also be pointless--as long as you have two counterblast open, when superior riding Blade from the soul or drop zone in the end phase you can retire any rearguard on the field with Blade's autoskill.

Beyond his activate skill, Exculpate's autoskill is his other key benefit. When he attacks, Exculpate sends all cards in his soul not named "Blaster Blade" to the drop zone to gain +2000 power for each unit. This autoskill does not discriminate between clan. Considering what we did on the turn before with Majesty, Exculpate will be getting +8000/+10000 power to going for at least 20-22000 depending on whether or not your grade 2 ride was Blaster Blade, more if you used Margal. Then you can also use Apocalypse Bat's soulblast on the Blaster Blade that's left in your soul--boost takes place after attack declaration, so Exculpate's current attack must resolve before his inability to attack without a Blade in the soul will kick in--for 30-32000 overall, to the entire field. As with Kaiser Vermillion, each unit must be guarded individually, so you will have at least a one or two card lead at the end of the turn, and the opponent will likely be unable to sustain any kind of counterattack even assuming that they do survive.

Exculpate is believed to be the chief reason that the Barcgal restriction remains universal across formats. The five soul that Barcgal once lent to Soul Saver Dragon would go to Exculpate the Blaster, but with the added bonus of guaranteeing a Blaster Blade in the soul as made necessary by Exculpate's activate conditions. Instead of turning that soul into +5000 power to three rearguards, Exculpate would use it to default to 22000 power prior to boost to the entire field, in every game. This kind of power is already possible as discussed above, but it isn't the same concrete guarantee that Barcgal would give, albeit Exculpate himself would be difficult to search without access to Wingal Brave. Exactly how this works out will likely be seen in the unrestricted Total War tournament set for March 2013, a Japanese tournament that will probably decide Barcgal's ultimate fate in relation to Exculpate.

The main problem with Exculpate is that he can only go off once and exactly once in a fight. This is the only other search target that a standard Blaster deck will dedicate Wingal Brave to, so Majesty Lord Blaster can safely be run at four while Exculpate must be as just one copy.

The last of these "Blaster" vanguards is Blaster Blade Burst, a promo card that has yet to be released in the English format but is nonetheless worth examining for the future. Burst is a base 10000 grade 3 that cannot be boosted, and when he attacks a vanguard he gains +3000 power, both skills which we are familiar with from Alfred and Soul Saver Dragon. This creates a certain expectation for what the remainder of his skills will be, but unfortunately that final skill does not wholly succeed their legacy. When Burst attacks, he can perform an especial counterblast 2--a counterblast where all of the damage being flipped are Royal Paladins--to increase Blade's power by the original power of all of his front row Royal Paladin's for that battle. This is counterblast intensive to a deck that will be using Star Call, Blaster Blade and Exculpate within it, and it also contradicts the synergy that Majesty Lord Blaster promotes between Royal and Shadow Paladin cards, as there must be two Royal Paladins in the damage zone for the skill to work and two in the front row for it to be effective. However, it does have some merits. In general, this will be a total boost of 16-20000 power, for 29-33000 total with his on-attack skill, an increase which is well worth the price but unfortunately lacking in extra critical, and difficult to repeat for a clan devoid of damage unflipping at release.

Like Drangal and Brugal before him, to understand Burst you have to understand the context within which he was printed. Blaster Blade Burst was created as a response to the January 1st 2013 restricted list, which restricted Wingal Brave, Majesty Lord Blaster and the King of Knights Alfred to being run in no combinations exceeding two within the Japanese format. Burst was created to address the loss of each of these units, providing a unit that could be run in two to three copies along with one Wingal Brave and one Majesty to provide an alternative if weaker vanguard line, and to give Alfred decks an alternative vanguard as well that shared the synergy with Wingal Brave. The unit is a crutch to support the weakened Royal Paladins of a different format, not the dominating theme of an entire deck as Majesty Lord Blaster is. In spite of his weaknesses, because his skills are vanguard exclusive, Burst can at least have some synergy with Apocalypse Bat in the rearguard by forming a base 20000 line.

The Blaster subgroup is characterized by its synergy between multiple clans, strong plays at every stage of a match and consistency. It is extremely rare to not bring both Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark into the soul in a game; this means that the deck can guarantee a continuous critical and 12000 base in every match. That critical means that even though the vanguard has somewhat lower base power than contemporary units, it will draw much more attention and shield from the opponent than normal, and that it suddenly only takes three hits to win the round instead of six. This kind of consistent accelerated play is Majesty Lord Blaster's greatest asset, as while The End has the greater potential damage, Lord Blaster's will come out more consistently and is not as reliant on trigger checks.

Fifty-two pros use this deck.

Spotlight: Watanabe Genki/渡辺元気

Fighter's Spotlight is an ongoing project concerned with tracking real-world professional cardfighters across the globe.

Watanabe is at the left; center is Kakuhara Misaki, right is Sawada Yuu.

Watanabe Genki/渡辺元気
Age: Unknown
Titles Won: Osaka Trio Battle Champion (Vanguard Festival 2012)
Current Status: Osaka Trio Battle Champion
Deck Type: Royal Paladin (Majesty Lord Blaster)
Watanabe Genki was one of the first Royal Paladin cardfighters to prove the Majesty Lord Blaster deck to the world, entering into the Osaka Team Festival as his team's captain. The success of Watanabe's team influenced the professional scene heavily in the coming year by codifying Majesty Lord Blaster, Phantom Blaster Overlord and Dragonic Overlord The End as a definitive team formation, although he has not made major appearances since then.

Decks and Play Style
Watanabe's deck worked to synthesize the Royal and Shadow Paladin strategies into a single build, but compared to the fighters that would follow in his footsteps he was relatively conservative in how he brought it together. His grade 1 setup reflects an experienced background with the Royals, instead of taking the somewhat riskier move of including Apocalypse Bat as a vanguard booster. Rather than the radical twelve critical of future Royal Paladin decks, Watanabe stuck to traditional conventions and operated on a six draw, six critical build, using the extra draw power to compensate for the -2 incurred by Majesty Lord Blaster's autoskill.

Also markedly different from his successors, Watanabe eschewed subgroup support almost entirely, omitting both Kay and Bedivere despite the offensive push that they could have brought his deck, reserving the grade 1 space for Toypugal to form a 21000 line with Lord Blaster. This sets a clear divide between Watanabe and more experimental cardfighters who were willing to try riskier modifications within the confines of Majesty's build, like Palamedes or Kay.

Grade 0
x1 Wingal Brave (FVG)
x2 Weapons Dealer, Govanon DT
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT
x4 Margal DT
x2 Alabaster Owl CT
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT
Grade 1
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x3 Toypugal
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade
x4 Blaster Dark
x3 Star Call Trumpeter
Grade 3
x2 King of Knights, Alfred
x1 Solitary Knight, Gancelot
x4 Majesty Lord Blaster

News: New Years' Trio Festival 2013 Osaka Championship Results

Just today the first results of the commemorative New Years' Trio Festival were posted on CF-Vanguard, welcoming the new year with the opening to 2013's pro season. This event can be seen as a continuation of the Vanguard Fight Team Festival begun in January-February 2012; such team-based tournaments are the norm for beginning the new year. Today's results come from Osaka, a city home to many famous pro cardfighters like Kakuhara Misaki and 2012 National Runner-Up Kanamaru Makoto. While last year saw Royal Paladin, Shadow Paladin, Kagerou and Oracle Think Tank as the dominant decks of the time, this year is divided between Royal Paladin, Gold Paladin, Narukami and Oracle Think Tank decks.

An important development on the Narukami side is that the clan has a clear, distinct identity now due to the onset of Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD." Beyond being a less powerful clone of Kagerou, Narukami has struggled to establish itself as both a distinct and viable clan within the past year, but now pro decks are finally settling into a niche for it as multiple grade 3 rides become an exploitable center of the deck's strategy in addition to its retire strategy. "THE BLOOD" has proved to be the most popular deck of those presented today, though he has not quite lived up to The End's legend as a format-defining unit.

Much to the chagrin of classical purists, this is also the first time in history that Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel-based Gold Paladin has really proved itself in a professional environment. Criticized for being a blank card at less than five damage, and for his strain on counterblast, Platina has been a difficult unit to gauge and build around effectively. His lack of a persona blast or soulblast-based boosting unit for the rearguard has also weakened the idea of running both the crossride and its preceding ride at four, a trait unique to this particular generation of crossride. The format of team tournaments however, better lends itself to the emergence of a wider variety of decks, as less powerful builds have more of a chance in the trio fights than in the juniors' and seniors' divisions. This was demonstrated in the last 2012 championship, where the Dark Irregulars, Pale Moon, waning Shadow Paladin and pre-crossride Aqua Force all placed within the team tournaments despite being heavily unpopular in the other two divisions.

The Blaster deck has also been firmly established as still kicking, with a variant having emerged that similar to the now-restricted Tsukuyomi variant runs just four grade 3s, using a grade 2 lineup which consists exclusively of Blaster units and Starcall Trumpeter to ensure that Wingal Brave's skill goes off. With one new pro, Tachibana Souten, going so far as to add a single Blaster grade 1 to the deck, this new variant is extremely dangerous. Blaster Blade Spirit seems to have replaced Gallatin altogether for the foreseeable future due to his compatibility with Wingal Brave, and his retire combo with Starcall Trumpeter. While the deckbuild does not seem to have been widely circulated prior to the Osaka tournaments, future events are projected to see a resurgence in Blaster decks due to Majesty Lord Blaster now having the winning qualities of both its past self and the restricted Tsukuyomi, with Blaster Blade Burst arriving at the end of January to replace Soul Saver Dragon in the deck. For some fighters, concern over further amendments to the restricted list because of this indie deck potentially seeing mass adaption is already budding.

Of all these surprises however, the most directly shocking of all is that a possible revival of standardized three perfect defense is at hand; in a curious trend, two of the three A Block, all three B Block, one from C Block, and one Trio Championship deck from F Block have reverted to the old style of play, a model which was outmoded in the parallel English pro scene by the introduction of the limit breaks that are now endemic to the Japanese format. Until these tournament results came in, running four perfect defense cards was a nigh-unquestionable part of the tournament scene. How this will be resolved remains yet to be seen; the 2013 Trio Festival will pick up again further down the line with the Tokyo results.

New Year's Trio Festival 2013 Trio Championship, Osaka
A Block Championship Team
Gotou Hiroshi/後藤啓志
Phantom Blaster Overlord (Shadow Paladin)

Tokumitsu Kenta/徳満健太
Spectral Duke Dragon (Gold Paladin)

Kawachi Yoshirio/河内良弘
Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD" (Narukami)
B Block Championship Team
Tonoi Wataru/殿井渉
Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel (Gold Paladin)

Nakaya Haruhi/中矢一日
Battle Sister, Fromage (Oracle Think Tank)

Ueyama Naoki/上山尚樹
Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD" (Narukami)
C Block Championship Team
Maeda Atsushi/前田惇
Scarlet Witch, CoCo (Oracle Think Tank)

Hisano Masanori/久野雅徳
Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD" (Narukami)

Tachibana Souten/立華奏天 (Note; this name is most likely a pseudonym, lifted partially from the anime/light novel series "Angel Beats!" If this is their actual birth name, then they have supreme, all-surpassing luck.)
Blaster deck; Majesty Lord Blaster, Exculpate the Blaster with Soul Saver Dragon (Royal Paladin)
D Block Championship Team
Kubo Yoshinori/久保慶典
Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel (Gold Paladin)

Nakamura Koujiro/平岡晃次郎
Galactic Beast, Zeal (Dimension Police)

Umehara Shunei/梅原俊瑛
Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD" (Narukami)
E Block Championship Team
Anonymous/匿名
Scarlet Witch, CoCo/Battle Sister, Cookie (Oracle Think Tank)

Tanabe Kazuki/田辺一樹
Blaster deck; Majesty Lord Blaster with Soul Saver Dragon (Royal Paladin)

Matsushita Shin'ya/松下晋也
Spectral Duke Dragon (Gold Paladin)

F Block Championship Team
Sakagami Ryouta/阪上良太
School Hunter, Leo-pald (Great Nature)

Fujii Taichi/藤井太智
Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD" (Narukami)

Yagi Ryousuke/八木亮輔
Spectral Duke Dragon/Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel (Gold Paladin)