News: Glendios Tops Second Phantom VGCS

August 8th, 2015. This morning Gungnir, winner of the 2014 Hachioji Cup and veteran of the Japanese professional community, tweeted the results of the second Phantom VGCS. First place went to Healer playing Glendios, second to Toothpick with Sanctuary Guard, third to Hunter playing Bermuda Triangle, and fourth to Nekono also playing Glendios. This statement was confirmed by tournament organizer Yuihan, who thanked everyone for their support in holding the tournament. Decklists will likely come out within the next few days. A breakdown of the top 16 cardfighters is provided below.

The Glendios fighters that made the top cut represented a very slim minority of entrants, as they were two of the only four Link Joker cardfighters present, all playing Glendios. The Messiah deck, in spite of initial hype, has not caught on strongly in Japan. Royal and Shadow Paladin have alternately dominated tournament results since the launch of Sovereign Star Dragon, with Kagerou taking a backseat to the two primary Paladin clans. Royal and Shadow together made up almost half the entrants at the Second Phantom CS, with Revengers alone accounting for 34% of participants. It should be noted that the most played deck at this Phantom CS was also not played by anyone in top 4, and that Bermuda Triangle was the third most played deck of the tournament, a trend that has been growing in Japanese play since Academy of Divas' launch.

Deck Breakdown (101 participants in total, 10 decks unreported)
34 Revenger
22 Royal Paladin
11 Bermuda Triangle
9 Kagerou
6 Great Nature
4 Aqua Force
4 Glendios
3 Narukami
2 Nova Grappler
2 Gold Paladin
1 Dark Irregulars
1 Neo Nectar
1 Tachikaze
1 Touken Ranbu

Entry at the Phantom VGCS cost 1500 yen (approx. $12 US at the current exchange rate), and first place won a New Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as entry into a sub-competition for a copy of Splatoon. Second place won an official Amnesty Messiah playmat, as well as one box of Soul Strike Against the Supreme. Third place also won an Amnesty Messiah playmat, and fourth a Lambros mat. The five preliminary rounds used a 30 minute best-of-one format, while the cut to top 16 used a 50-minute best-of-three tournament bracket. The first round of the tournament began at 10:30 AM, with the final preliminary finishing at 1:40 PM, and the cut to top 16 began at 2:40 PM. The finals ended at 6:30 PM, with the tournament dispersed by 8 PM.

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's official tournaments, most VGCS events are done using a best-of-three, 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. The VGCS model of fan-organized play has begun to gain popularity internationally, with the bi-monthly BeNeLux tournaments serving as their European equivalent, and there are now similar grassroots organizations emerging in the United States like the ARG Circuit series tournaments.

Today's article was made possible by the donations of our patrons at Patreon. Cardfight Pro is funded by public contributions from readers like you.

News: Glendios and Tsukuyomi Promo Sleeves, Weekly Broadcast Features Murakumo/Kagerou Fight

This morning Bushiroad of Japan's weekly information bulletin guest starred seiyuu Morishima Shuuta (voice of Nitta Shin) and Yanagita Junichi (voice of Anjou Mamoru) in a featured fight between Shin's Yasuie and Mamoru's Dragonic Blademaster decks. The broadcast also revealed two upcoming promotional sleeves from the Get! Treasure Campaign, featuring Deity of the Evening Moon Tsukuyomi and Death Star-vader “∞” Glendios from G-FC01: Fighter's Collection 2015. The sleeves will go out in early June. Doctor O also took the opportunity to introduce several cards for both Murakumo and Kagerou from Sovereign Star Dragon, but these announcements were preempted three hours earlier by Japanese fans leaking the remaining cards of the set, much to the company's chagrin. The full video of the broadcast, including the fight, is presented below.

(Note that there is an audio desynch in the below video, and a brief interruption at the 43 minute mark. This is a consequence of recording the broadcast as it was originally airing.)

The fight between Morishima and Yanagita begins at 13:08 (standup at 15:44) in the video and ends at 48:28. The decklists used by them are provided below. Yanagita checked more triggers overall than Morishima, giving him considerable freedom with the use of his hand and taking early damage. Morishima initially got more setup off of striding first, superior calling two copies of his first vanguard Onifundou with Yasuie's skill and using two of their soulblast skills to return them to hand to gain 20000 shield, while also calling a unit from the top three cards of the deck to replace them. (This would be a net +4, but the replacement units called by the Onifundou copies return to the bottom of the deck at the end of the turn, mitigating it down to a net +2; Morishima averted this by calling Cat Devil with Onifundou and putting it into soul, still taking the negative but gaining soul that could be used for his remaining Onifundou next turn. Making his third turn a +2 in card advantage overall, discounting draw triggers.)

Yanagita retaliated with Blademaster's on-stride skill to retire the booster Ataka, comboing this to his rearguard Soheyl's autoskill to give him +5000 power. (As this only activates when a rearguard in the same column is put into the drop zone, later retires were not applicable to Soheyl.) Using the stride Divine Dragon Knight Mustafa, he then retired Tokubei and gave Mustafa an on-hit unflip. With Twilight Arrow's counterblast, Yanagita then retired the Onifundou that remained on the field, neutralizing the advantage Morishima had built up in the previous turn. Yanagita then forced him to five damage in that turn, and with only one unit in play, to meet the conditions for Homura Raider during the stride step Morishima was forced to clone his draw trigger Cat Rouge. And when Morishima attempted to go on the offensive, Yanagita guarded with the promo card Lizard Soldier Belogue--Belogue's skill allows it to retire an opponent's rested rearguard during the guard step if the guard is successful, meaning that Yanagita could completely nullify Homura Raider's skill by retiring one of the rested Cat Rogues, preventing Homura Raider from returning three units with the same name to the deck and restanding. Since Homura Raider had already received drive check -1 from its own skill, it wouldn't even get a single triple drive, let alone four drive checks; retiring Cat Rogue would incur a net -4 for the entire turn against Morishima. Morishima-as-Shin had to beg Yanagita-as-Mamoru not to do it in order for them to show Homura Raider's skill on camera, illustrating the vast disparity in support between Kagerou and Murakumo.

Yanagita obliged, retiring Fujino and using a Protect Orb Dragon to achieve perfect defense against Homura Raider. Although Morishima enjoyed a brief window with which to win the game on his second twin drive, failing to check a critical trigger prevented him from sealing it, causing Yanagita to win on his following turn.

Morishima's game was incredibly skillful overall. By standing his boosters and giving them power with his stand triggers, he was better able to take advantage of Ushimitsu Train's double superior call to clone Tokubei twice. His main misplay was fielding and then targeting units which only had one or less copies remaining in deck, in this case Nyudo Cloud. Doing otherwise would have given him two attacks, one for 12000 power and another 34000 power. His second was in using Fujino to attack the vanguard instead of the rearguard, exposing him to Belogue's skill, which otherwise can't be used while protecting rearguards. However, in general there was little else that could be done on his end of the game to fight back once Yanagita swung the game in his favor with Mustafa, Twilight Arrow and Soheyl. Making his one opening in the opponent's defenses with Homura Raider's second attack was his one chance to end the game.

Doctor O proceeded with an overview of several cards from Sovereign Star Dragon, including Dragon Knight Emad, Mustafa, Homura Raider and Hidden Scroll. However, all of these units were already spoiled by this time thanks to fan efforts. After a brief overview of the currently ongoing Cardfight!! Vanguard G the above sleeves were unveiled, and Doctor O closed out the broadcast alongside his guests imploring viewers to "Ride KYUN Vanguard!"

Almost seventeen thousand people tuned in to view the live broadcast during its run. Bushiroad's weekly information bulletins air every Tuesday evening at 8:00 PM Japanese Standard Time. They first began in late January to accommodate a new information distribution model for Cardfight!! Vanguard G, as the amount of card information covered in Monthly Bushiroad magazine decreased and was redirected to other routes of distribution. The previous week's broadcast introduced Spear Cross Dragon and several other units from Sovereign Star Dragon, and the week before covered Deletor cards from the same set. Next week's episode will be a special G-BT03 release party guest starring Ishii Mark, seiyuu for Shindou Chrono.

Today's article was made possible by the donations of our patrons at Patreon. Cardfight Pro is funded by public contributions from readers like you.

Morishima Shuuta's deck: Murakumo
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x4 Ambush Demonic Stealth Dragon, Homura Raider
x2 Ambush Demonic Stealth Beast, Ushimitsu Train
x2 Ambush Demonic Stealth Rogue, Kagamijin
Grade 3
x4 Fathoming Stealth Rogue, Yasuie
x3 Stealth Fiend, Nyudo Cloud
Grade 2
x4 Stealth Dragon, Rune Star
x4 Hanagasa Stealth Rogue, Fujino
x2 Overseas Stealth Ogre, Tokubei
Grade 1
x4 Gateway Stealth Rogue, Ataka
x4 Stealth Fiend, White Heron (G-Sentinel)
x4 Stealth Fiend, Lake Diver
x2 Stealth Fiend, Oborocart
Grade 0
x3 Kusarigama Stealth Rogue, Onifundou (FV)
x4 Stealth Beast, Cat Rogue DT
x4 Stealth Fiend, River Child HT
x4 Stealth Beast, Cat Devil CT
x4 Stealth Dragon, Hiden Scroll ST

Yanagita Junichi's deck: Kagerou
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x4 Divine Dragon Knight, Mustafa
x2 Imperial Flame Dragon King, Root Flare Dragon
x2 Divine Dragon Knight, Mahmud
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Blademaster
x4 Dragon Knight, Soheyl
Grade 2
x2 Wyvern Strike, Doha
x3 Dragon Knight, Emad
x3 Dragon Knight, Tanaz
x3 Twilight Arrow Dragon
Grade 1
x4 Protect Orb Dragon (G-Sentinel)
x2 Lizard Soldier, Belogue
x4 Lava Flow Dragon
x3 Dragon Monk Gyokuryu
x1 Wyvern Strike, Garan
Grade 0
x1 Wyvernkid Ragla (FV)
x4 Dragon Knight, Jannat CT
x4 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x4 Magnum Shot Dracokid CT
x4 Mother Orb Dragon HT

News: “∞” Glendios Tops West Japan and Kansai Championships, Kagerou Disappears Overnight

"The unending apocalypse, infinite Ω."

Link Joker made an unanticipated return at the apex of two major tournaments yesterday, with both the West Japan VGCS and Kansai Spring Cup seeing Death Star-vader “∞” Glendios in first place. In both cases, Link Joker represented a minority among the participants. At the Spring Cup 35 3-man teams (105 persons) participated, but only two cardfighters played Link Joker among them. At the West Japan CS there were 86 participants, with the 5 Link Joker fighters split between Glendios and Blaster Joker. With the support that it's received in Fighter's Collection 2015, “Ω” has come out as a dark horse answer to the swarm of “Diablo” decks now flooding tournament play.

"Sold out." Photo by inaisekai.

Unusually for a post-Generation Stride tournament, no Kagerou cardfighters were present at the 86-person West Japan Vanguard Championship. The clan collapsed entirely in the face of “Diablo,” with many cardfighters jumping ship to Shadow Paladin and Narukami. Meanwhile at the Spring Cup only 10% of all fighters present played Kagerou--occupying the same niche that “Abyss” filled prior to the Legend Deck's debut. Meanwhile the Legend Deck is selling out in stores across Japan, and Japanese card shops are struggling to keep up with demand. “Abyss” made up 24% of all tournament entries at the West Japan CS, and 41% of the entries at Kansai. Glendios' top at the Spring Cup was complementary to this; while team forward Shokushu lead the way for his mates by going undefeated in the nine rounds he played, both of his teammates were playing Revenger decks with “Diablo” support. (Unlike other team tournaments, the Spring Cup did not prevent teammates from using the same clan.)


Shokushu's “Ω” Glendios deck focused on using its Fighter's Collection 2015 upgrade Death Star-vader “∞” Glendios. (Read as "Omega Loop" Glendios) For counterblast 2 and by turning a copy of itself face-up in the generation zone, “∞” places a card from the top of the opponent's deck onto their field locked for every “Яeverse” rearguard the Omega cardfighter controls. The stride's skill also effectively incorporates an ultimate break of its own, as if the Glendios fighter has five damage then the opponent's rearguards will not unlock during their end phase. This means that, barring any changes in damage as a result of trigger checks, an “∞” deck with five “Яeverse” units in play and five damage will guarantee themselves to automatically win through “Ω” Glendios' World End ultimate break during the main phase of the next turn, provided that the opponent does not have any unlock skills attached to their vanguard and that the Link Joker cardfighter is able to defend through their opponent's turn.

By cutting out even more grade 2 space than is standard, Shokushu was able to make room for both thirteen grade 1s and twelve grade 3s, helping accommodate  “∞'s” stringent requirements. His opponents were forced to avoid granting him five damage, only having the option to send him directly from four to six or not at all. Shokushu reported his individual matchups; six of the nine rounds he played were against Shadow Paladin cardfighters. (Shokushu's other rounds were against Narukami, a team that forfeited and Aqua Force.) He did not lose a single game during the tournament, despite some of the advantages Phantom Blaster “Diablo” had in those matchups. This record may be attributed to his teammates--the team's midfighter Nero and its captain Buretan both played Revenger decks, hence Shokushu had ample opportunity to practice for the matchup. Shokushu was also no stranger to playing Glendios, as he had topped the third Kansai CS sub tournament with it back in July 2014.

Another potential reason for Shokushu's success was the tournament format. Prior to top 16 the Spring Cup used a five-round Swiss system, with each round lasting 20 minutes and being constrained to best-of-one games. The first round began at 11:00 AM, the second at 11:35 AM, and so on. The tournament finals were best-of-three with a 50 minute time limit, and clan fight rules were enforced throughout. But because the initial five rounds were in best-of-one and every opponent facing “∞” Glendios had an incentive to keep the deck at four damage, the format was arguably biased in Glendios' favor. In any given game the looming threat of “∞” hitting the field prevents opponents from putting Glendios fighters to five damage, while still staring down 22000-power “Яeverse” rearguards every turn and having higher damage incentivized by the time limit. Conflicting priorities force poor decisions out of the opponent, to either risk putting the Glendios cardfighter at five in the belief that they will be unable to guard the next turn's stride attack, or to go to five damage themselves to scramble for an additional counterblast while in the immediate short-term putting down less guard. With a 20-minute timer, trying to send a Glendios cardfighter straight from four to six damage becomes less viable as the clock may finish counting down before that can happen.

Kansai Spring Cup Clan Distribution (105 participants)
43 Shadow Paladin
16 Narukami
11 Royal Paladin
11 Kagero
6 Aqua Force
4 Megacolony
4 Oracle Think Tank
3 Great Nature
2 Dimension Police
2 Link Joker
1 Nova Grappler
1 Pale Moon
1 Spike Brothers

The Kansai VGCS Spring Cup took place over the course of two days from May 4th to 5th at the Naniwa Citizens' Hall. 48 teams (144 participants). Entry was 4500 yen (approx. $38) and first place won a carton of G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon and were qualified for two byes for the second day of the tournament. Second place won six boxes of Sovereign Star Dragon, third place three boxes, and fourth place one box. Clan fight rules were implemented. The decklists for Shokushu's teammates are still forthcoming.

Do-re-mi Town. Original image by Morichan.

Second place at the West Japan VGCS was Sanctuary Guard Royal Paladin, third place Thavas-Strikehead Aqua Force, and fourth place Exxtreme Battler Nova Grappler. The tournament was sponsored by Cardbox, one of the original shops to support Cardfight!! Vanguard in Japan. It was a singles division tournament, held on the third floor of Do-re-mi Town, an entertainment center in Okayama prefecture. The first round began at 11:00 AM, with each round lasting 20 minutes. The tournament finals began at 2:30 PM, and the closing ceremony was held at 6:30 PM. Entry at West Japan was 1000 yen for those that preregistered and 1200 yen for those that registered on-site. First place won eight boxes of Fighter's Collection 2015 as well as a voucher for 5000 yen. Second place won four boxes of FC2015 and a voucher worth the same, third place two boxes and a 3000 yen voucher, while fifth through eighth places won a single box.

West Japan VGCS Clan Distribution (86 participants in total)
21 Shadow Paladin (Revengers and Blaster Dark "Diablo," 1 Witch reported)
12 Royal Paladin (Thing Saver, Jewel Knights)
9 Narukami (Brawlers, Eradicators)
5 Link Joker (mostly Glendios, a few Blaster Jokers reported)
5 Nova Grappler (Exxtreme Battlers, Raizers, and Asura reported)
5 Aqua Force (Thavas, Maelstrom)
4 Oracle Think Tank (2 Tsukuyomi, 1 CoCo, 1 Susanoo)
3 Murakumo (Hyakki Vogue)
3 Dimension Police (Metalborgs)
3 Gold Paladin (reported no Pellinores, Ezel, Liberator)
3 Great Nature (Tester Fox)
3 Gear Chronicle (reported no Upheavals)
3 Megacolony (1 made it to Top 16)
2 Granblue
2 Neo Nectar (Musketeers, 1 with Captain Cecilia, 1 without Captain Cecilia)
1 Pale Moon
1 Dark Irregulars
1 Genesis (Legion)

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's official tournaments, most VGCS events are done using a best-of-three, 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. The VGCS model of fan-organized play has begun to gain popularity internationally, with the bi-monthly BeNeLux tournaments serving as their European equivalent, and there are now similar grassroots organizations emerging in the United States like the ARG Circuit series tournaments and the King of Cardfight competition in the American midwest.

Kansai VGCS Spring Cup
Championship team
Forward: Shokushu/しょくしゅ
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, World Line Dragon (FV)
x4 Star-vader, Pixie Powder HT
x3 Star-vader, Jailer Tail DT
x3 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x4 Apollo Nail Dragon CT
x1 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT
x1 Star-vader, Spark Doll CT
Grade 1
x4 Refusing Deletor, Evil
x4 Star-vader, Ruin Magician
x4 Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium
x1 Star-vader, Volt Line
Grade 2
x3 Star-vader, Magnet Hollow
x3 Companion Star-vader, Photon
x2 Star-vader, Colony Maker
Grade 3
x3 Star-vader, “Ω” Glendios
x3 Star-vader, “Яeverse” Cradle
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Яeverse”
x1 Dark Dimensional Robo, “Яeverse” Daiyusha
x1 Silver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier “Яeverse”
x1 Deadliest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster “Яeverse”
x1 Cleanup Celestial, Ramiel “Яeverse”
x1 Broken Heart Jewel Knight, Ashlei “Яeverse”
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x4 Snow Element, Blizza
x4 Death Star-vader,  “∞” Glendios

Midfighter: Nero/ネロ
Decklist pending

Captain: Buriten/ブリテン
Decklist pending

West Japan Vanguard Championship
Champion
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, World Line Dragon (FV)
x4 Recollection Star-vader, Tellurium HT
x3 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x3 Vortex Star-vader, Molybdenum DT
x3 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
x3 Apollo Nail Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Refusing Deletor, Evil
x4 Star-vader, Ruin Magician
x4 Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium
Grade 2
x4 Star-vader, Magnet Hollow
x3 Companion Star-vader, Photon
Grade 3
x4 Star-vader, “Ω” Glendios
x4 Star-vader, “Яeverse” Cradle
x1 Covert Demonic Dragon, Hyakki Vogue “Яeverse”
x1 Dauntless Dominate Dragon “Яeverse”
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Яeverse”
x1 Maiden of Venus Trap “Яeverse”
x1 Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth
x1 School Punisher, Leo-pald “Яeverse”
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x1 Miracle Element, Atmos
x3 Snow Element, Blizza
x4 Death Star-vader,  “∞” Glendios