Spotlight: Kagami Takuya/鏡味拓也

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

Kagami is on the left, between Daigo and Shitakawachi; his trophy is masked by his certification.

Kagami Takuya/鏡味拓也

Age: Unknown; Seniors Division
Titles Won: Nagoya Regional Champion (Senior Class), National Finalist Third Place (Japan, Senior Class)
Current Status: National Finalist Third Place (Summer 2011)
Deck Type: Royal Paladin (Alfred-SSD-Bors)

Kagami made his debut in the Nagoya finals, being the only national finalist to have not faced a pure Royal Paladin deck in his regional. His competition, Kamachi Yutaka, used a mix of Royal Paladin, Oracle Think Tank and Bermuda Triangle cards. She used draw power in an attempt to close the difference between her and her opponent's more expensive deck. However, Kagami's deck was more fluid and its synergy eventually saw him to Japan's first national tournament, where he would take third place after his loss to Shitakawachi.

He is not known to have participated in the Grand Prix.

Decks and Play Style
Kagami's decks are regarded as being very cut and dry Royal Paladin, always giving precedence to Alfred with Soul Saver support. For the regional, his choices in cards were very practical and made in light of what had been known to work at the time, as Nagoya was the sixth regional to be completed, running behind the two Tokyo blocks for the last spot. Gordon's especial intercept is used for defense, Randolf to make unboosted attacks on 11000-power units, Soul Guiding Elf and Marron to boost Bors, Pongal to search Soul Saver Dragon, and Barcgal to superior ride.

Nagoya 2011 Regional Tournament, Nagoya Seniors Division
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 Pongal

x2 Soul Guiding Elf

Grade 2

x2 Blaster Blade

x4 Knight of Silence, Gallatin

x2 Covenant Knight, Randolf

x3 Knight of Truth, Gordon

Grade 3

x4 King of Knights, Alfred

x2 Soul Saver Dragon

x2 Knight of Conviction, Bors

Kagami made only a few changes to his decklist for the national, introducing Lien while cutting Randolf and Soul Guiding Elf. Notably, the deck is identical in every way to Shitakawachi's save for card ratios; the determining factor in their fight was how many of each card the national champion chose to use.

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

x2 Little Sage, Marron

x4 Lake Maiden, Lien

x4 Pongal

Grade 2

x3 Blaster Blade

x4 Knight of Silence, Gallatin

x4 Knight of Truth, Gordon

Grade 3

x4 King of Knights, Alfred

x3 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.

Spotlight: Murakami Kazuya/村上和也

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

Murakami is to the right, holding the second place trophy.

Murakami Kazuya/村上和也

Age: Unknown; Seniors Division
Titles Won: Sendai Regional Champion (Senior Class), National Runner-Up (Japan, Senior Class)
Current Status: National Runner-Up (Summer 2011)
Deck Type: Royal Paladin (Alfred-Soul Saver Dragon)
Murakami made his first appearance in the competitive scene at the Summer 2011 Sendai Regional, in June of 2011. Taking first place with his Royal Paladin deck, he proceeded on to face Shitakawachi in the first ever national-level Vanguard competition, held in August. However, Murakami ultimately lost this fight, placing as the runner-up. It is unknown if he participated during the following Grand Prix; he has not appeared on official listings since then.

Decks and Play Style
Murakami is noted primarily for paving the way for much of Japan's competitive scene, as Sendai was the first ward of Japan to have a tournament. As such, its results were available ahead of the other tournaments. He's also recognized as one of the earliest advocates for the Royal Paladin clan, defining what are internationally known as its primary strategies with his first decklist. Ironically, the very strategies that Murakami originated became the basis for the deck that would defeat him in the Summer of 2011.

His opponent in the final rounds of the Sendai tournament was Gotou Hirotaka. Unlike Murakami, Gotou advocated for a more heavily Alfred-centric build, using Bors for support in their fight. Murakami's strategy was to superior ride from Barcgal into Blaster Blade, building up the soul for Soul Saver Dragon's soulblast; High Dog Breeder, Akane and Pongal were additional support cards for his strategy. His grade 1s included just three copies of the Flash Shield, Iseult--typical for the time, as Murakami only ran 2 draw triggers--Lien for her deck-searching capability, Marron as a universal booster, and Lionmane Stallion to support a rearguard Alfred. As Lionmane was also a viable target for Akane, Murakami could take advantage of this to use Alfred to superior call Akane and Akane to superior call Lionmane, building up for the turn in which he would ride Soul Saver Dragon.

Murakami's initial decklist included 3 copies of Blaster Blade, with one Gancelot to make up the difference--thus accounting both for the possibility of his Barcgal being retired, and that one may end up in the damage zone. While the build was somewhat rough for the time and likely ruled by budget, it was nonetheless able to either gain card advantage through superior ride and call, or else punish the opponent that attempted to break this advantage with retire skills.

Summer 2011 Regional Tournament, Sendai Seniors Division
Card Pool: TD01-BT02, PR 0001-0018

Grade 0

x1 Barcgal

x4 Future Knight, Llew CT

x3 Flogal ST (TD)

x2 Margal DT

x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT (TD)

x3 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT (TD)

Grade 1

x3 Flash Shield, Iseult

x3 Lake Maiden, Lien

x4 Pongal

x4 Little Sage, Marron (BT)

x1 Lionmane Stallion

Grade 2

x3 Blaster Blade (BT)

x4 Knight of Silence, Gallatin

x2 High-Dog Breeder, Akane

x2 Knight of Truth, Gordon

Grade 3

x4 King of Knights, Alfred

x1 Solitary Knight, Gancelot

x2 Soul Saver Dragon

The revised deck Murakami brought to Japan's summer national was, unfortunately, not up to par. Between the two decks, Murakami removed one of his Soul Saver Dragons and ditched Gancelot in favor of an additional Blaster Blade. With just five grade 3s and Akane absent from the deck, he would theoretically be dealing with ride problems in the finals--whether this was actually the case or not is unknown. Murakami appears to have substituted out several of his key cards in favor of other, less useful units--cutting Akane for Randolf and additional Gordons, and Margal for another Flogal, the changes are drastic enough that it becomes ambiguous if this Murakami Kazuya is indeed the same Murakami Kazuya from Sendai.

Murakami appears to have rather strangely cut the trial deck Marrons and Elaines in the transition, but on account of the identical kanji(there are around eight ways to write Murakami in Japanese, similar to the Fisher-Fischer shift in English) and the requirements for national participation, it must be concluded that these two cardfighters are in fact the same person.

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
x3 Lake Maiden, Lien
x4 Pongal
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade
x4 Knight of Silence, Gallatin
x1 Covenant Knight, Randolf
x4 Knight of Truth, Gordon
Grade 3
x4 King of Knights, Alfred
x1 Soul Saver Dragon