Announcement: Lycian League Launches

Today is the launch day for Cardfight Pro's sister project, the Lycian League, a Fire Emblem Cipher-centric news organization that aims to provide comprehensive coverage on Nintendo & Intelligent System’s latest trading card game. The Lycian League aims to provide information regarding tournament play, events going on both in Japan and internationally, as well as on upcoming booster sets and starter decks. This will not be at the expense of Cardfight!! Vanguard; by launching this branch, we intend to expand our audience through overlapping interests and help sustain both games. It is not in the interests of anyone for these two games to compete with one another, but it is in both their interests to coexist. The overarching goal of the Lycian League at this time is to support Nintendo and Intelligent Systems in bringing the game over to the international market, and to help foster a community for its fans.

News: Duo Fighter Makes Top 4 in Second Kansai VGCS, Lock on Victory to Feature Multiple Endings

Higashiōsaka Civic Center, Higashiōsaka city, Osaka prefecture. Image source.

The last Vanguard Championship of March ended on the 30th, with the Dragonic Nouvelle Vague making an encore appearance in the Second Kansai VGCS' first and fourth spots. Turnout at Kansai almost broke 100, reaching a latent high point of 97 persons, although it was planned to accommodate up to 128 participants. Kagerou made up an overwhelming majority of the tournament with 42 entrants, but in spite of this dominance Kansai became the staging ground for Bermuda Triangle's revival in the Japanese pro scene, being tied with Aqua Force for the fourth most represented clan.

Second Kansai VGCS Clan Breakdown 
42 Kagerou
13 Link Joker
9 Bermuda Triangle
9 Aqua Force
7 Shadow Paladin
4 Gold Paladin
4 Pale Moon
3 Genesis
2 Narukami
1 Nova Grappler
1 Granblue
1 Oracle Think Tank
1 Great Nature

Just over a week after the release of VG-EB10: Divas' Duet, third place in the Kansai CS was taken by Kimuti, playing Duo Temptation Ried. Based on early previews of the cards in Monthly Bushiroad magazine, Duo builds were expected to do well in competitive play, but there was some debate over whether Ried or Iori would be the preferred deck in the current format. Where Ried is a self-standing vanguard like many of the currently favored decks, Iori's limit break allows her to search for up to two copies of any card in the deck as long as she already has one in play, forcing Duo fighters to choose between an offensive swing that can end the game or unparalleled access to the deck.

Duo True Sister, Mare.

The tournament had an entry fee of 1000 yen per person, and was held on the third floor of the Higashiōsaka Civic Center in Osaka prefecture. The tournament lasted from 11:20 AM until 7:30 PM, and had six 20-minute best-of-1 Swiss rounds followed by a cut to top 8 with four 50-minute best-of-3 games. First place won a Nintendo 3DS XL, second place a standard Nintendo 3DS, third place three boxes of VG-BT15: Infinite Rebirth and fourth place two boxes of the same.


The deck's cornerstone play is using the Duo break ride, True Sister Mare, with its self-standing vanguard Ried. Like the previous Dragonic Descendant, Ethics Buster "Яeverse" and Dragonic Overlord "The Яe-birth", Mare into Ried has the inherent advantage of the break ride power multiplying the effectiveness of multiple attacks, but Mare's counterblast 1 also returns all Bermuda Triangle units to hand when the vanguard attacks and then calls two.

Duo Temptation, Ried.

When used in combination with Ried, who can stand herself by discarding two Duos with the same name and paying 2 counterblast after she attacks, this allows for six attacks in one turn. The calling of rearguards also provides more opportunities to use Loulou in combination with the clan's base 12000 attacker Syrdarya, and Ural.

Like Nouvelle, one of the key points of success for the Ried build is its access to a Luck Bird equivalent in Duo Pretty Horn Ural, and Kimuti chose to run Ural at four to capitalize on Duo series' efficient one-girl soulcharging engine, Ricca. By being able to grab up that kind of cheap card advantage throughout the fight, compensating for Shizuku's failure or building on her success early game, then making additional plays over Ricca's soulcharging after using skills that return her to hand, Duo decks are able to effectively accelerate in a way that makes every one card count for two.

Adding to its effectiveness is that the deck has a special booster in Duo Beast Ear Loulou, a base 7000 grade 1 that when called can choose up to Loulous on the field to give +2000 power to. Since Bermuda Triangle makes its plays around being able to return cards to the hand,  she can be safely recycled across multiple turns, and at endgame when multiple Loulous hit the field the first one played becomes successively more powerful than those that follow, so that the backrow begins to look like 13000-11000-9000 or 13000-9000-11000 to make strong rearguard lanes that complement a high-power vanguard.

Second Kansai VGCS Top 8 
1st Ishibaji/イシバシ - Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague
2nd Demon King/魔王 - Star-vader, Omega Glendios
3rd Kimuti/きむてぃ - Duo Temptation, Ried
4th New Moon/三日月 - Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague
Best 8 Nao - Star-vader, Omega Glendios
Best 8 Kuroneko - Star-vader, Omega Glendios
Best 8 Kouzan/光山 - Dragonic Overlord
Best 8 Nikoru/にこる - Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague

Also of note is Demon King's Glendios deck, in second place. While Glendios was previously established at the third Laketown, second Tsurumai and eighth Battle City tournaments as an effective deck in its own right, King's build deviated significantly from the established norms. Most Link Joker cardfighters run Glendios with thirteen grade 3s and seven grade 2s to make use of nine “Яeverse” cards, but Demon King's build instead cut back to eleven grade 3s with seven “Яeverse” units in favor of an additional Colony Maker and Rubidium, prioritizing Colony Maker's ability to search for Ruin Magician and streamlining how the “Яeverse” units are played. This is in contrast to Nao and Kuroneko's Glendios decks from further down in the top 8, which played sixteen and thirteen grade 3s respectively, and experimented with Infinite Zero and Cold Death Dragon to pursue Glendios' ultimate break instead of winning conventionally.

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's larger official tournaments, most VGCS events are done using a best of 3, Swiss tournament model. Turnout is typically 70-80 persons, but some events see 100 or more participants, all of whom compete using pseudonyms and internet handles rather than their real names as in official events.

In other news, the official website for Cardfight!! Vanguard Lock on Victory!! has updated with new information regarding the upcoming 3DS game. According to the newly established story page, there is a separate storyline for each of the three in-game high schools, with each character responding differently depending on whether the protagonist is male or female, and there are multiple endings depending on both the choice of school and character.

主人公（キミ）は高校生の新米ヴァンガードファイター。とあるきっかけで、入学した高校の「カードファイト部」に入部することに！VF甲子園優勝を目指して、ライバルたちと切磋琢磨する部員たち。しかし、そんな彼らに謎の現象「リバース」の影が迫っていた……。 

The protagonist (you) are a Vanguard Fighter just beginning high school. By certain chance, you are going to join your school's Cardfight Club! Aiming to win the VF High School Championship, you and your rivals study hard along with your club members. However, the shadow of the mysterious phenomenon "Яeverse" is drawing near to these people...

Building on the previous game's feature of being able to start the game over with the same card collection after completing it the first time, Lock on Victory takes full advantage of the system by letting them see each of the different storylines across multiple playthroughs.

Second Kansai VGCS
First Place: Ishibaji/イシバシ
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x4 Dragon Dancer, Therese HT
x1 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x4 Seal Dragon, Artpique DT
x3 Seal Dragon, Biera CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Mage, Abarara CT
Grade 1
x4 Nouvelle Roman Dragon
x4 Dragon Dancer, Maria
x3 Calamity Tower Wyvern
x2 Dragon Monk, Gojo
Grade 2
x4 Nouvelle Critique Dragon
x4 Berserk Dragon
x3 Dominate Drive Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dauntless Drive Dragon
x1 Dragonic Overlord (BT15/004)
Grade 4
x4 Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague

Second Place: Demon King/魔王
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, World Line Dragon (FV)
x4 Recollection Star-vader, Tellurium HT
x2 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
x4 Star-vader, Spark Doll CT
x2 Star-vader, Scouting Felis DT
x4 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
Grade 1
x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
x4 Star-vader, Ruin Magician
x2 Carved Seal Star-vader, Praseodymium
x4 Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium
Grade 2
x4 Star-vader, Magnet Hollow
x4 Star-vader, Colony Maker
Grade 3
x4 Star-vader, “Ω” Glendios
x4 Star-vader, “Я” Cradle
x1 Ice Prison Dark Lord, Cocytus “Я”
x1 School Punisher, Leo-pald “Я”
x1 Maiden of Venus Trap “Я”

Third Place: Kimuti/きむてぃ
Grade 0
x1 Bermuda Triangle Cadet, Shizuku (FV)
x4 Heartful Ale, Fundy DT
x2 Duo Lamplight Melody, Tigris DT
x4 Duo Tropical Healer, Mejelda HT
x4 Duo Gran Pasturn, Syanon CT
x2 Duo Pride Crown, Madeira CT
Grade 1
x4 Duo Beast Ear, Loulou
x1 Duo Afternoon Tea, Parana
x4 PRISM-Duo Aria
x4 Duo Pretty Horn, Ural
Grade 2
x4 Duo Kelpie Jockey, Syrdarya
x4 Duo Mini Hat, Rhone
x4 Duo White Ice Crystal, Rikka
Grade 3
x4 Duo Temptation, Ried
x4 Duo True Sister, Mare

Fourth Place: New Moon/三日月
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x4 Dragon Dancer, Barbara HT
x4 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x1 Seal Dragon, Artpique DT
x3 Seal Dragon, Biera CT
x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
Grade 1
x4 Nouvelle Roman Dragon
x4 Dragon Dancer, Maria
x4 Calamity Tower Wyvern
x1 Dragon Monk, Gojo
Grade 2
x1 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
x1 Seal Dragon, Hunger Hell Dragon
x4 Nouvelle Critique Dragon
x3 Berserk Dragon
x3 Demonic Dragon Berserker, Kumbhanda
Grade 3
x4 Dauntless Drive Dragon
Grade 4
x4 Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague

News: World Champion Almeida Stewart Wins BeNeLux Tournament with Genovius, Lock on Victory to Include Over 2300 Cards

The latest BeNeLux tournament concluded on March 9th early this week, with reigning world champion Almeida Stewart taking first place using an Aqua Force deck atypical of the BT12-on format. The BeNeLux tournaments are a line of unofficial competitions organized by the joint vanguard community of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Although open to being held in any of the three countries' major cities, it is typically held in Antwerp, Belgium on a monthly to bimonthly basis; due to its relatively high turnout in the range of ~30 persons minimum, it has been nicknamed the VGCS of BeNeLux.

In total there were 35 participants, low compared to the normal turnout of a Japanese CS but on par with other large tournaments in Europe and the unofficial ARG tournaments in the United States. The March BeNeLux was held in the Outpost Gamecenter of Antwerp and lasted 6 rounds, with second place going to Dylan Kneip playing a Raging Form Dragon deck. The top 8 were as follows;

1. Aqua Force (Thundering Ripple Genovius, played by Almeida Stewart)

2. Shadow Paladin (Revenger Raging Form Dragon, played by Dylan Kneip)

3. Pale Moon (Silver Thorns)

4. Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke Dragon)

5. Narukami (Eradicators)

6. Link Joker (Nebula Lord Dragon)

7. Royal Paladin (Sanctuary Guard Dragon and Fang of Light Garmore)

8. Gold Paladin (Ezel)

Stewart's decklist emphasized better than average draw power, speed and consistency. The core of it used the Ripple evolution cards for ride security to search out Pavroth or Genovius, with the grade 1 and 2 Brave Shooter support for base 10000 and 12000 attackers that allowed better early aggression. This also worked well with Pavroth's ability to stand and power up a rearguard in the midgame, turning Twin Strike Brave Shooter into a base 15000 attacker on the second strike.

Stewart ran three copies of Penguin Soldier for its soulblast-and-draw skill, reasoning that with the deck's break ride he would always have four cards in the soul to use two of the Penguins later on.

His main strategy was to break ride Genovius over Transcore Dragon; attacking with both rearguard lanes first would bring the opponent to 5 damage, Transcore's skill would force the opponent to discard a card just to be able to guard in the first place to ensure a -3 even if they had a perfect defense card, and Genovius' persona blast would stand both rearguard columns to ensure that he would have two more attacks waiting to receive any trigger checks.

The maneuver became even more dangerous if the opponent was already at 5 damage, where any one of the five attacks would win the game. For endgame purposes Stewart ran a tech copy of Blue Storm Supreme Dragon Glory Maelstrom, using Glory Maelstrom's ultimate break to prevent the opponent from using perfect defense cards while increasing his own power. The decision synergized well with his focus on draw power and grade security. You can jump to the decklists directly by searching the page for [MBNL]

Meanwhile more details on the upcoming sequel to the Nintendo 3DS game Ride to Victory, Cardfight!! Vanguard Lock on Victory, have just come out through an Amazon listing. Announced last December, the sequel will feature over 2300 cards, support both local and internet play, and allow the sending of messages to other players after concluding a cardfight. Lock on Victory will also come packaged with four copies of Setting Sun Star-vader Darmstadtium, each foiled as an R-rarity card.

Retailing for 5229 JPY (approx. 52 USD) the game is scheduled for a June 5th release in Japan, will introduce four new protagonists and will allow the player to attend a high school of their choice from the anime series, between Kai Toshiki's Hitsue High, Sendou Aichi's Miyaji Academy, and Suzugamori Ren's Fukuhara High School. Recent issues of Monthly Bushiroad magazine have also shown Reversed cardfighters appearing, with Naoki and Koutei making use of their Vowing Saber Dragon and “Я” Daiyusha decks respectively.

Although past campaigns to bring the first game over have not succeeded, Bushiroad was responsive to fans' initial requests for FuRyu's game to be translated for the western markets, to the point that internal talks had begun by the time of Anime Expo 2013. As Ride to Victory was never designed with an international release date in mind, there may yet be hope for its sequel.

March BeNeLux Tournament [MBNL]
First Place: Almeida Stewart
Grade 0
x1 Starting Ripple, Alecs (FV)
x2 Ice Floe Angel HT
x2 Medical Officer of the Rainbow Elixir HT
x4 Pyroxene Communications Sea Otter DT
x4 Jet-Ski Rider CT
x4 Supersonic Sailor CT
Grade 1
x4 Silent Ripple, Sotirio
x4 Mercenary Brave Shooter
x4 Emerald Shield, Paschal
x3 Light Signals Penguin Soldier
Grade 2
x4 Rising Ripple, Pavroth
x4 Twin Strike Brave Shooter
x2 Tear Knight, Lucas
Grade 3
x4 Thundering Ripple, Genovius
x3 Blue Flight Dragon, Transcore Dragon
x1 Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom

Second Place: Dylan Kneip
Grade 0
x1 Creeping Dark Goat (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x2 Abyss Freezer DT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x2 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Revenger of Darkness, Mac Lir
x4 Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
x2 Sacrilege Revenger, Baal-berith
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x3 Dark Cloak Revenger, Tartu
x4 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

News: Lock on Victory to Introduce New Protagonists and Trial Decks, Link Joker and Nouvelle Vague Top in Third Tachikawa VGCS

The March issue of Monthly Bushiroad was released in Japan yesterday, timed to coincide with the live airing of a crossover conference between Neppu Kairiku Bushi Radio and Monthly Bushiroad staff. While this most recent issue is concerned with the remaining RRR rarity cards for VG-BT15: Infinite Rebirth, it also covered information on the upcoming 3DS game, Cardfight!! Vanguard Lock on Victory. Previews have shown that the player will be able to choose between ten different characters in the game, up from Ride to Victory's six. What kinds of protagonists the new characters are intended to be is unknown, as while preceding characters like Ryouta and Luna were "Hotblooded type" and "Dark type" all four of the new characters have only been collectively referred to as "New type."

Caption: "No way this Naoki is!?"

In keeping with previous trends, there are both male and female versions of each personality, with newcomers Kazuya and Erika representing one kind and Subaru and Rin representing another. During the game's original story the player will be able to go to any of the three high schools from the Link Joker chapter of the anime, Hitsue High, Fukuhara High, or Miyaji Academy. The player character will wear the corresponding school uniform, and unlike in RTV the player will be able to change their character during the storyline.

Preview images have also shown the Hotblooded protagonist Ryouta, fighting a Reversed Ishida Naoki using a Vowing Saber Dragon deck. Lock on Victory's original storyline will apparently feature the Reverse subplot from the anime, but as the player themselves will be able to use Link Joker and Reverse cards from the real-world boosters sets, it's unknown just how the storyline will flow.

Lock on Victory will also feature ten new trial decks, making more options accessible to the player from the beginning of the game. The names of these game-unique TDs have been translated below.

Angel Feather "Aid of the Angels" (Tenshi no Kyuusai 天使の救済)
Tachikaze "Supreme Dragon of the Ancient Past" (Taiko no Haryuu 太古の覇竜)
Murakumo "Spikes of the Hidden Army" (Onimtsu no Ningun 隠密の忍軍)
Dark Irregulars "Twilit Superhuman" (Yoiyami no Inousha 宵闇の異能者)
Pale Moon "Circus of the Moonlit Night" (Tsukiyo no Kijutsudan 月夜の奇術団)
Spike Brothers "Lawless Noisemakers" (Muhou no Bakusou 無法の爆走)
Granblue "Attack of the Ghost Ship" (Shingeki no Yuureisen 進撃の幽霊船)
Megacolony "Indomitable Mutant Insects" (Fukutsu no Kaichuu 不屈の怪虫)
Great Nature "The Wisdom of Beasts" (Hyakujuu no Eichi 百獣の叡智)
Neo Nectar "Eternity of Nature" (Yuukyuu no Daishizen 悠久の大自然)

Two of Lock on Victory's protagonists made a recent cameo in episode 158 of the anime, with Luna and Ryouta wearing Hitsue and Miyaji uniforms. Although most promotional materials for the game have focused on Miyaji, Luna has now been shown wearing each of the three schools' uniforms, Fukuhara during the initial LOV conference, Hitsue in the anime, and Miyaji in Monthly Bushiroad.

In other news, the third Tachikawa VGCS has just come to a close, with Link Joker and Nouvelle Vague cardfighters take first and second place. Tournament organizer Kohaku reported that in spite of the bad weather--the Tachikawa area saw snowfall throughout the 8th--the CS still saw 86 participants attending out of their projected 96. Third and fourth place went to Nouvelle and Minerva cardfighters respectively, while fifth through eighth to another Nouvelle fighter and two Blaukluger players. Decklists are expected to go up within the week.

Ride to Victory Translation Part 9: Regional Tournament, Round 1

←Part 8

Part 10 (Upcoming)→

Regional Tournament Hall

Finally, the regional tournament is beginning. Everyone's support brought you here.

Is Kourin-chan here!?

What, you came too Lose-umi?

Aa, Kourin-chaan!

Tch, listen to him.

This place is bigger than I thought. Are you nervous?

I'm sure you'll be fine. If you fight like always, I know you'll have good results.

Everyone, thank you for waiting. At last, we are opening the third block of the Ride to Victory Regional Tournament. The veteran fighters who have each won their shop tournaments have gathered here! In the hot fights unfolding here, who will seize the laurel of victory!? Doctor O-san is here for commentary. I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

Yes. It's quite heardpounding.

Observing the condition of the fights is me, MC Miya. I will send you all a full, live broadcast. Now then, the first round is a match between Card Capital's representative [Player Name] and Yahagi Kyou.

What are you supposed to be? I've never seen your face around here before.

You're not my opponent. Send out Sendou Aichi or Kai Toshiki!

Uh-oh! Yahagi is suddenly provoking his opponent!

So-o exciting.



Well, whatever. I'll deal with you quickly, win and then go on up!

「俺様のターン！」

 "It's the Great Kyou's turn!"

Grade 0
x1 Mecha Trainer (FVG)
x2 Cheer Girl, Marylin HT
x3 Cheerful Lynx DT
x1 Silence Joker CT
x2 Sonic Breaker CT
Grade 1
x1 Wonder Boy
x3 Dudley Dan
x2 Spike Brothers Assault Squad
x1 Cheer Girl, Tiara
Grade 2
x2 Highspeed Brakki
x2 Devil Summoner
Grade 3
x2 Juggernaut Maximum
x4 Sky Diver

(Above are the confirmed cards that we've seen; there are around 24 cards missing from this list, but until complete data can be assembled it should give you an idea of what to expect from Kyou.)

Kyou is running a variation of his Spike Brothers deck, based on his appearance at the anime's first regional tournament. The goal of the deck is to set the field up with Mecha Trainer's search skill and Dudley Dan's counterblast 2 early on, then use a rearguard Sky Diver's skill to set up a chain of consecutive attacks, sacrificing card advantage by moving Diver into the soul when his attack hits to call another Spike Brothers, ideally Juggernaut Maximum. Maximum and Brakki can both soulblast when they attack to get +5000 more power and then cycle back into the deck, creating a string of powerful rearguard lines. There are a lot of issues with the strategy though--first, Kyou has no good grade 3 for the vanguard circle, as they're all 11000 power units with no skills outside of the rearguard circles. Second, Kyou's deck has a lot of weak rearguards, with the 8000 power Devil Summoner, 4000 power Dan and Assault Squad, which makes for an easy defense on your part.

The third issue is how conservative his AI is. Kyou never actually uses his units' skills. He tries to save his counterblast for either Dan or Mecha Trainer but doesn't seem to prioritize them, so whenever he judges whether or not to use one he decides to save it for the other. So he's not actually going to try and set up his field, or use his counterblast at all, and he'll almost always judge using Sky Diver's soul-in or Juggernaut Maximum's deck cycle as too much of a loss in resources at any given moment moment. The AI playing mindgames with itself means that it's harder to lose to Kyou than to win against him, as he's effectively playing with very weak vanilla rearguards and a vanguard line that can't do anything.

In the games where he does do something, there's still a lot that can go wrong with his strategy, as damage checking triggers throws the whole thing off, as do higher-power units that can't be hit by some of the rearguards that he'll call with Sky Diver.



Th, this can't be...there has to be some kind of mistake...that's right. It's decided. Hahaha, hahahaha...I think this is my victory! Uwaaaa!


Oh, Yahagi has run away! The first round is over. The winner, [Player Name]! Having won, it's decided that in the second round [Player Name] will face Usui Yuri.


Phew. It was nerve-wracking, but you did it.



The victory bells are ringing! My disciple.

That's why she's NOT your disciple.

The regional tournament is only just beginning. Do your best.

←Part 8

Part 10 (Upcoming)→

News: Ride to Victory Patched to Version 1.2

Amid the news scuffle last month surrounding BT13's announced release and Bushiroad's new franchise Future Card Buddyfight, one important subject flew under the radar. The Nintendo 3DS Cardfight!! Vanguard TCG simulator, Ride to Victory, was patched wirelessly from Version 1.1 to Version 1.2 through the online distribution of a special QR code. Alternatively, players could access the patch in the Nintendo eShop.

Released to answer problems with the game's original release, like 1.1 before it the Ver. 1.2 update fixed a notorious bug that caused the game to freeze on startup, but in addition to that it fixed a different bug that caused the game to crash when finalizing deck customizations, and typographical errors in the game text. While the changes in the 1.2 patch are relatively minor, the implications of Bushiroad being both willing and able to distribute game patches of this kind are exciting.

Ride to Victory is not the first 3DS game to receive game patches, although it is among the first to receive multiple patches in sequence. Mario Kart 7 had that honor, followed by Tomodachi Collection: New Life in Japan, and while it never materialized it was suggested for some time that Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition would receive a patch to bring it up to date with its arcade and home console iterations. The technology and precedent is there, but as in the SSIV example, the main obstacles toward patching a 3DS game is convincing the companies involved that it's worth the effort--something that Bushiroad Inc. and FuRyu Corporation have visibly demonstrated with the 1.2 update. The most appealing use of this in the eyes of cardfighters is to update the game's card pool by adding more booster sets, as Ride to Victory currently stops at VG-BT09: Clash of the Knights and Dragons, but through more serious updates, it could potentially go all the way up to BT11: Seal Dragons Unleashed and EB06: Dazzling Divas. The problem faced by going beyond these sets is that while break ride mechanics can be easily handled by the game, it's currently unknown if Ride to Victory would be able to handle Link Joker's Lock mechanic with just a patch. Ver. 1.2's removal of game-stopping bugs suggests that the sky is the limit for these patches, but the impetus to fix release errors in a game is much greater than for an update that effectively serves to add more characters and would require a bigger workload.

Players that made the jump to 1.2 were able to retain their save data, although the update required that the 3DS itself be version 4.1 or higher, and an SD card was necessary to complete the update.

Ride to Victory Translation Part 8: Gouki

←Part 7

Part 9→

Card Capital

Is the guy who won against my little sister in a cardfight at this shop?

Gouki-san? Whatever is wrong?


I've come to play my sister's rival!



Rival!?



My name is Daimonji Gouki. And my sister's name is Nagisa. Bring out the one who interfered with my little sister and Kamui's journey of love!


Ha. So it's you? That's a good expression you've got there. But as Team Handsome's leader, I won't be silent! This is a challenge! Face me in a fair fight! If you have the courage, come to Card Shop Handsome. You can run if you're scared.


Gouki-san. He's full of spirit. What do you plan to do?



...I see. You'll go. Yeah. Do your best!

Card Shop Handsome

Gouki-san, he came!



He's got a lot of guts, ka-boom.


You came. I've been waiting. Because you've against my little sister, Team Handsome's all troubled by you. Take a good look, at the power of the Granblue pirate deck!

Grade 0
x1 Skeleton Assault Troops Captain (FVG)
x2 Rick the Ghostie HT
x3 Hook-wielding Zombie DT
x3 Knight Spirit CT
x1 Rough Seas Banshee CT
Grade 1
x1 Gust Jinn
x1 Dandy Romario
x3 Evil Shade
x1 Ripple Banshee
Grade 2
x3 Ruin Shade
x2 Captain Nightmist
x2 Three Star Chef, Pietro
Grade 3
x3 King of Demonic Seas, Basskirk
x4 Master Swordsman, Nightstorm

(Above are the confirmed cards that we've seen; there are around 20 cards missing from this list, but until complete data can be assembled it should give you an idea of what to expect from Gouki.)

Gouki's Granblue deck is geared toward making the best out of any game, no matter how bad it's going. That said, there are a lot of ways for this to go wrong. The key units to watch out in a typical build of this kind are Samurai Spirit, Captain Nightmist, and the Deadly series as well as Cocytus, but only Captain Nightmist has been sighted Gouki's initial decklist so far. The way these units operate is that when they're in the drop zone, Gouki can counterblast 1 and retire a Granblue rearguard to call them from the drop; Nightmist specifically requires a grade 1 or greater rearguard. Furthermore, Nightmist has just an 8000 base but gets +3000 power when another Nightmist is in the drop zone, so Gouki can have a consistent 16-18000 line and every time he intercepts with Nightmist or you retire it, he can just call it back again next turn, though not without a loss in card advantage.

The way that Gouki gets these cards into the drop zone outside of using them to defend is through the Shade series. Evil Shade gives a 10000 total boost to the vanguard line by sending 2 cards from the top of the deck to the drop zone when he boosts, while Ruin Shade goes from 9000 to 11000 when she attacks through the same cost. Evil Shade also forms a consistent 22000 line with any of Gouki's grade 3s, so even if you had a consistent Majesty Lord Blaster deck at this point Gouki would be able to manage pressure on the vanguard line.

The main issue with Gouki's deck is that it's not fully invested in the idea. This deck avoids using anything but minor counterblasts, because its focal grade 3 is Basskirk, a megablast. Basskirk soulcharges 1 at the start of Gouki's main phase and gets +2000 power, so he can have a consistent 20000 line with Romario, and this also starts off a countdown to the fight. Five to six turns after he rides Basskirk, Gouki will have 8 soul and can get off Basskirk's megablast, but only if he also has five open damage to counterblast with. This is why Pietro's in the deck--Gouki's plan is to use the cheaper counterblast 1 skills from Nightmist and Assault Troops to set up, then unflip them with Pietro and/or by healing damage so that he can have his megablast ready. Six turns is a long time to wait for the win condition, but Gouki speeds it up by using Rough Seas Banshee's skill to move her to the soul and draw 1, improving his consistency by getting access to more cards from the deck while also cutting down on how long he has to wait for the effective timer on Basskirk's skill to finish.

However, trying to devote so much to both the field management and the megablast means that Gouki is effectively stuck trying to strike a middleground between two different strategies, being exceptionally good at neither of them. The megablast itself lets him call up to five Granblue from the drop zone, which will usually increase his card advantage and can be a game-ending maneuver if done well. Usually what you end up with is Gouki not being able to get off the megablast because you aren't letting Pietro's attacks hit while he has two counterblast flipped and/or Gouki becomes unwilling to use skills that could turn the fight around because he's trying to save up for a long-term strategy.



Muu. It's my loss. It seems I misjudged your power.



You beat Gouki-san, that's amazing!



I'm surprised ka-boom!


Nagisa will shed a lot of tears. She has a formidable enemy now. Well, feel free to come and play anytime. Team Handsome welcomes you.

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