Feature: Interview with Former Japanese National Champion Kokubo Hikaru

On August 22nd 2013, Dengeki Online published an interview with Kokubo Hikaru, at the time the reigning Japanese national champion and the first Pale Moon cardfighter to ever hold the title. The interview was conducted as part of comprehensive coverage of Bushiroad's events, and was done alongside other interviews with the winners from the Weiss Schwarz, Chaos and Victory Spark tournaments. As the state of the English card game is now firmly in the BT12-on format Kokubo became champion in, his strategies are increasingly relevant for international cardfighters. Below is a translation of his interview, held on the 11th of that year following the national championships.

Kokubo v. Uemura Shouhei, FR2013 finals. Image source.

Interview with the Champion, Kokubo Hikaru/優勝した小久保光さんにインタビュー
――勝因はなんでしたか？
What was the reason for your victory?
スイスラウンドはライド事故で負けてしまった相手との決勝だったのですが、一瞬のチャンスをモノにできたのがよかったかなと思います。
"During the Swiss rounds I had an opponent who lost because of a problem with riding and I won because of that, but I wonder if that momentary opportunity was a good thing or not."
――ここ一番で活躍してくれたカードはなんでしょうか？
What is your most used card?
　《パープル・トラピージスト》かなと思います。このPRカードがあってくれてよかったです。
"I think it's "Purple Trapezist." I'm grateful to have this PR card around."
――WGPも始まりますが、どのように挑みたいですか？
The WGP (World Grand Prix) is already beginning, but how would you challenge it?
これからも変わることなく、大好きな“ペイルムーン”を使っていきたいです。このクランは強いです!!
"Without changing anything for the future, I would do it using the Pale Moon that I love. This clan is really strong!"

The "riding problem" that Kokubo identified is the everpresent fear of what has been called gradelock or misriding in the English game, where a cardfighter is unable to reach grade 1, 2 or 3 at the right moment and spends a turn or more behind the opponent. Winning by way the opponent being gradelocked has been a source of conflict around the world, as many fighters both professional and otherwise consider gradelock the game's worst aspect because of how it prevents one from putting up an effective fight, and thus the wins are felt to be illegitimate both by the defeated and the victorious. Particularly in BT10-on formats where grade 1 and 2 10000 and 12000 power attackers are prevalent, gradelock can spell a rapid death sentence with no opportunity to catch up. The deck that never becomes gradelocked has become a holy grail for professional play. However, it should be noted that Kokubo was referring to the Swiss elimination rounds used to determine the top 2 fighters, not the actual game that decided the Japanese national championship.

Kokubo is well known for his Luquier “Я” deck and accompanying strategies, as his major victory with the build came on the heels of the second Tachikawa Vanguard Championship results just days earlier. At the time this confirmed Luquier “Я” for the larger community as one of the best decks of the format, and also brooked a major division in play style. Kokubo Hikaru's Luquier deck was played with four of each Dragon Tamer for crossride consistency, but there was also a strong camp in favor of playing Luquier “Я” with Miracle Pop Eva for a game-changing endgame assault with four to five attacks in the turn that any deck would be hard pressed to survive. Kokubo's decision to focus on his crossride was partially based in the importance of the Dragonic Descendant matchup in Japanese play at the time, which defined the viability of many decks; the difference between base 11000 and 13000 defense was the difference in whether an unboosted Descendant could be guarded for two triggers to pass, or no pass with a single 10000 power shield.

News: Kaden Kawakami Crowned Next National Champion

Original photo taken by Brandon Smith, used with permission.

After three months of fierce competition, the Stand Up Challenge Cup has come to a close with the coronation of the second North American national champion, succeeding Brandon Smith's seven month reign. Crowned at Champion's Gate, Florida, Kawakami is taking home the crystal cup with a radical Dragonic Overlord The End build that has drawn attention for running no critical triggers, instead filling out the space with seven stands and five draw triggers. The End has defined much of English Cardfight's professional play since February, but what sealed the tournament for Kawakami was the enhanced rearguard pressure of his deck, extending outside of his strong center line.

The runner up for the national title is John Muir, who used a Gold Paladin deck combining Incandescent Lion Blond Ezel and Great Silver Wolf Garmore. Within the best 8 were five The End cardfighters, Muir's Gold Paladin build, one Majesty Lord Blaster cardfighter and one Great Daiyusha cardfighter. The End having a greater presence is surprising to some due to Majesty Lord's firm dominance over him in the Japanese scene, but the Blaster deck as a whole has been noted to have a much lower overall presence within the North American play. Its unpopularity is generally attributed to North American fighters preferring The End's card advantage compared to Lord Blaster's static critical, and also to general overexposure among American cardfighters to The End from studying top Japanese decks.

With the Challenge Cup having come to a close, the last tournament to be resolved before the next World Championships will be the Team League 2013. The North American branch of the League will be concluded on July 14th, aboard the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. The Asian League will finish on July 7th at the Suntec City Convention Center, Singapore, and the European League on July 27th at Thistle Barbican in London.

Spotlight: Eboshida Hiromi/烏帽子田拓海

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

Eboshida Hiromi/烏帽子田拓海
Age: Unknown; Juniors Division
Titles Won: Kanazawa Regional Champion (Junior Class, Summer 2012), Kanazawa Regional Champion (Junior Class, Winter 2012), Fighter's Climax 2012 National Champion (Junior Class)
Current Status: National Champion (Reigning)
Deck Type: Kagerou (Dragonic Overlord-The End)
Eboshida Hiromi is the reigning junior national champion for Winter 2012. A former participant in the Fighter's Road 2012 tournament, Eboshida left his greatest impact on the Fighter's Climax 2012 event of the same year. He is the first, and by all estimates last proper national champion to represent the Dragonic Overlord-The End deck; following his victory, The End was heavily limited for tournament play in Cardfight's first extensive restricted list. Eboshida is considered one of the defining cardfighters of the format, as his seizing of the title played a key role in the restrictions coming into play. Along with his two-times opponent Rikino Sakura, Eboshida is regarded as one of the strongest fighters to come out of the juniors' division.

Decks and Play Style
At his debut in Kanazawa, Eboshida made use of a fairly standard The End deck, using Conroe to retrieve his grade 1s while gradually building up to The End's 13000 base by riding Dragonic Overlord on the turn beforehand. To counter the general slowness of this play, Eboshida sought to slow his own opponents down by retiring their grade 1s and 0s with Gatling Claw to force them to spend more time on setting up their field. Although a typical play from Kagerou cardfighters is to use Conroe to retrieve Barri, Eboshida instead left two single-copy targets in the deck, Heatnail Salamander and Flame of Promise, Aermo. Heatnail, as a card that retires the opponent's rearguard then cycles back into the deck, put pressure on the opponent to guard the attack that he boosted and could also be retrieved with Conroe for a second run if he were drawn and used early in the game. Meanwhile, the Promise Aermo variant was a custom booster for his Overlord vanguard, helping Dragonic Overlord climb up to 26000 power and making The End hit a similar baseline of 23000. The main purpose of this was to bring their initial attacks through, so that the Overlords' on-hit skills could go off and further press the game.

Summer 2012 Regional Tournament, Kanazawa Regional Tournament
Card Pool: TD01-EB03, PR 0001-0066
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FVG)
x2 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x2 Dragon Dancer, Monica DT
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x4 Gatling Claw Dragon DT
x4 Blue-Ray Dracokid CT
Grade 1
x3 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x3 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x2 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x4 Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara
x1 Heatnail Salamander
x1 Flame of Promise, Aermo
Grade 2
x4 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
x4 Wyvern Strike, Tejas
x3 Burning Horn Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End

At the subsequent Fighter's Climax, Eboshida brought a modified version of his previous deck that omitted both Flame of Promise and Heat Nail in favor of a fourth Bahr and the Flame of Hope. This was to work more closely with Garp and Burning Horn, who could act as fifth and seventh Nehalems or in Burning Horn's case, powerful 20000 lines for pressuring base 10000 units. Like his previous deck, this one placed emphasis on Tejas rather than Berserk Dragon, due to Berserk straining his already-choked pool of counterblast while Tejas encouraged the opponent to defend earlier to protect their rearguards, potentially allowing The End's attack through more easily. The use of the original Aermo over his successor was done to increase Eboshida's ability to search for extra copies of The End; factoring in the draw and drive check, he would be searching three to four cards every turn for copies to persona blast with, possibly as high as six on his initial run as Dragonic Overlord.

Winter 2012 Kanazawa Regional Tournament, Japan
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FVG)
x2 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x2 Dragon Dancer, Monica DT
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x4 Gatling Claw Dragon DT
x4 Blue-Ray Dracokid CT
Grade 1
x3 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x2 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x4 Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara
x1 Flame of Hope, Aermo
Grade 2
x4 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
x4 Wyvern Strike, Tejas
x2 Burning Horn Dragon
x1 Cross Shot, Gaarp
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End

Eboshida's Kanazawa deck went unchanged for the national tournament.

Fighter's Climax 2012 National Tournament, Japan
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FVG)
x2 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x2 Dragon Dancer, Monica DT
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x4 Gatling Claw Dragon DT
x4 Blue-Ray Dracokid CT
Grade 1
x3 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x2 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x4 Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara
x1 Flame of Hope, Aermo
Grade 2
x4 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
x4 Wyvern Strike, Tejas
x2 Burning Horn Dragon
x1 Cross Shot, Gaarp
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End

Spotlight: Shitakawachi Kouta/下河内広太

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

 

Shitakawachi, center, holding the first place trophy.

Shitakawachi Kouta/下河内広太

Age: Unknown; Seniors Division
Titles Won: Okayama Regional Champion (Senior Class), National Champion (Japan, Senior Class)
Current Status: National Champion (Reigning)
Deck Type: Royal Paladin (Alfred-Soul Saver)

Initially the fifth regional champion reported, Shitakawachi is today considered one of the original pros. Between his victory at the Okayama regional and his crowning as Japan's first national champion, Shitakawachi's decklist changed very little. Furthermore, his final deck list in the national competition laid out what would become the most prominent set of grade ratios for every fighter regardless of their clan, and while he is not the originator of Royal Paladin strategy, he is certainly the codifier of it. Shitakawachi is not known to have participated in the Grand Prix.

Decks and Play Style
His original deck was an irregular Paladin build featuring slightly off-base trigger ratios intended to confuse the opponent. The deck's lone draw trigger fills this role, as well as as an additional soul charge to fuel Soul Saver Dragon. Leading out from the standardized Barcgal strategy, Shitakawachi abandoned the Akane combo that had been made so prominent by his time in favor of running four copies of Pongal--understandable, as his deck relied on the counterblast-heavy Alfred and Bors.

Shitakawachi originally had very little reliance on especial intercepts, and grade 2 units had a higher overall presence compared to his second deck. Randolf was used as an attacker that could strike high-power units without a booster to aid him, albeit one that did not survive the transition between regional and national events. His deck used a single copy of the powerful Soul Saver Dragon, running only the barest minimum needed to bring her out, while Alfred set up the field on the turn preceding her ride, then going on to cooperatively occupy the rearguard alongside Bors.

Summer 2011 Regional Tournament, Okayama Seniors Division
Card Pool: TD01-BT02, PR 0001-0018 
Grade 0
x1 Barcgal
x4 Future Knight, Llew CT
x1 Margal DT
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT
x3 Flogal ST
Grade 1
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult
x4 Pongal
x2 Soul Guiding Elf
x4 Little Sage, Marron
Grade 2
x2 Knight of Truth, Gordon
x4 Knight of Silence, Gallatin
x3 Blaster Blade
x2 Covenant Knight, Randolf
Grade 3
x4 King of Knights, Alfred
x1 Soul Saver Dragon
x3 Knight of Conviction, Bors

Unlike in the regional, Shitakawachi chose to pull no tricks for his final match and instead loaded his deck with as many critical triggers as were currently printed for his clan. As at Okayama, Shitakawachi used a maximized count of perfect guards and eschewed Akane for Pongal. The general train of thought can be seen that, since Alfred can superior call Pongal from the deck anyway, it would be easier for him to simply call Pongal upon riding the King of Knights and then move into his Soul Saver final turn. Seeing as this brought the dragon into his hand easily enough, and his final deck did not run any copies of Margal, there was no real reason for him to include the High Dog Breeder.

One major difference between this and his Okayama deck is the omission of Soul Guiding Elf in favor of Lake Maiden, Lien. This allowed for Shitakawachi to make use of his grade 1 vanguard even if taking the first turn, searching the deck for needed cards. Outside of this his deck did not undergo major changes, being a more perfected form of his original strategy.

Summer National Championship 2011, Seniors Division (Japan)
Card Pool: TD01-BT02, PR 0001-0018 
Grade 0
x1 Barcgal
x4 Future Knight, Llew CT
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT
x4 Flogal ST
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT
Grade 1
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x3 Pongal
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade
x4 Knight of Silence, Gallatin
x3 Knight of Truth, Gordon
Grade 3
x4 King of Knights, Alfred
x2 Soul Saver Dragon
x1 Knight of Conviction, Bors

Spotlight: Kamosaki Mayu/鴨崎真悠

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

Kamosaki is at the center, holding the first-place trophy.

Kamosaki Mayu/鴨崎真悠
Age: Unknown; Seniors Division
Titles Won: Okayama Regional Champion (Junior Class), National Champion (Japan, Junior Class), Hiroshima Regional Finalist Third Place (Senior Class)
Current Status: National Champion (Summer 2011)
Deck Type: Kagerou (Okayama Regional; Dragonic Overlord-Aleph), Royal Paladin (National; Alfred Early-Soul Saver Dragon)

Debuting as champion in the Summer 2011 Okayama Regional, Kamosaki surprised cardfighters around the world when he made a reversal at the following national event. He is one of few competitive fighters known to have successfully switched decks between competitions, overcoming the inherent expense associated with running multiple clans. Although alternating between Kagerou and Royal Paladin has earned him fame, Kamosaki appears to favor the Kagerou side of his play, having invested in multiple trial decks for it.

The young national champion is not yet known to have participated in the following Grand Prix or Team Festival. He did however, reappear one year later at the Fighter's Road 2012 Hiroshima regional tournament, placing third with a new Kagerou deck. By this time Kamosaki was too old to participate in the Juniors Division, and so made his first appearance with the Senior Class league. Unlike Rikino Sakura, he did not make any additional attempts at the championship title in that year.

Decks and Play Style
Kamosaki's first deck was geared toward making grade 3 a turn early using the Embodiment of Victory, Aleph's superior ride chain, or else negating the advantage his opponent would gain from going first. This gave him the dual advantage of being able to use Conroe, Kimnara and Berserk Dragon's counterblasts with impunity until that point, as Aleph could then soulblast the cards used to superior ride it and unflip his damage zone. Overlord was then his finisher in either a rearguard circle or as his next-turn ride, repeatedly taking out the opponent's rearguards to better wound their hand and weaken their overall field presence. This would leave Kamosaki's opposition crippled and unable to continue the fight.

His opponent in the final match was Horikawa Kanata, who fielded Kamosaki's natural enemy, a Royal Paladin deck. Being an Alfred-Soul Saver Dragon deck intended to combo with Barcgal's then-unrestricted superior ride chain, Horikawa would in theory have been the winner in this fight. Instead Kamosaki came out on top with his retire strategy, proving Kagerou's power in the competitive scene--however, it is possible that Kamosaki was shaken by the match, as it appears that he took a leaf from his opponent's book for the national tournament.

Summer 2011 Regional Tournament, Okayama Juniors Division
Card Pool: TD01-BT02, PR 0001-0018

Grade 0

x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe

x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT

x3 Lizard Runner, Nafud ST

x2 Gatling Claw Dragon DT

x3 Lizard Soldier, Ganlu ST

x4 Demonic Dragon Mage, Raksha CT

Grade 1

x2 Wyvern Guard, Barri

x2 Demonic Dragon Guru, Kimnara

x2 Iron Tail Dragon

x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr (TD)

x2 Dragon Monk, Gojo (TD)

x2 Flame of Hope, Aermo

Grade 2

x3 Draogn Knight, Aleph

x4 Dragon Knight, Nehalem (TD)

x4 Berserk Dragon (TD)

x1 Dragon Armored Knight

Grade 3

x2 Embodiment of Victory, Aleph

x1 Seal Dragon, Blockade

x4 Dragonic Overlord (TD)

For his fight with Hirano Hirotarou, Kamosaki brought his own Royal Paladin deck to the table. In addition to the then-standard Barcgal and Soul Saver Dragon chain, Kamosaki included the Giro promo card. This was likely to accommodate for the copies of Alfred Early he ran, a grade 3 which would have pulled soul away normally reserved for Soul Saver Dragon's soulblast. As Kamosaki was primarily a Kagerou cardfighter, he likely brought the copies of Mirubiru into his deck out of experience with Aermo before it. His particular build gave priority to critical and draw triggers, carefully balanced with an exact number of Flogals necessary to not miss his superior ride.

Summer National Championship 2011, Juniors Division (Japan)
Card Pool: TD01-BT02, PR 0001-0018

Grade 0

x1 Barcgal

x1 Giro

x4 Future Knight, Llew CT

x3 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT

x4 Margal DT

x2 Flogal ST

x3 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT

Grade 1

x4 Flash Shield, Iseult

x4 Little Sage, Marron

x2 Lake Maiden, Lien

x3 Pongal

x3 Mirubiru

Grade 2

x4 Blaster Blade

x3 Knight of Silence, Gallatin

x2 Knight of Truth, Gordon

Grade 3

x3 King of Knights, Alfred

x2 Soul Saver Dragon

x2 Alfred Early 

Kamosaki's third deck returns to his Kagerou tactics of old, rolling out The End as the culmination of his deck's original strategy. Being well aware of the large number of retire units available by this time, Kamosaki included a second Conroe in his deck as an additional deck searcher, likely to get a copy of Barri in hand in the event of facing a persona blast, Majesty Lord Blaster or powerful on-hit skill. With Burning Horn Dragon as Overlord's offensive support and an irregular body of triggers, Kamosaki's new deck is an aggressive and unpredictable build that fights back against card counting and uses Gojo and Aermo to further sift through the deck in search of a second copy of The End. Unfortunately, this decklist was not able to carry him through the competition.

Summer 2012 Regional Tournament, Hiroshima Seniors Division (Japan)
Card Pool: TD01-EB03, PR 0001-0066
Grade 0
x2 Lizard Soldier, Conroe
x3 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x1 Dragon Dancer, Monica DT
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x4 Gatling Claw Dragon DT
x4 Blue-Ray Dracokid CT
Grade 1
x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x2 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x2 Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara
x1 Flame of Hope, Aermo
Grade 2
x4 Burning Horn Dragon
x3 Bellicosity Dragon
x1 Cross Shot, Gap
x3 Berserk Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End

Additional Images

Kamosaki is at the left center, next to Daigo and in front of Shitakawachi.