Spotlight: Uemura Shouhei/上村昌平

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

Uemura Shouhei/上村昌平
Age: Unknown
Titles Won: Asia Circuit Memorial Tournament Event Champion (Osaka), Fighter's Road 2013 National Runner-up
Current Status: Fighter's Road 2013 National Runner-up
Deck Type: Narukami (Eradicator)
Uemura Shouhei was one of the leading fighters of 2013, first appearing as the victor in the Osaka Memorial Tournament held in March of that year. Uemura proved to be a trendsetter for his time, with his deck prompting many cardfighters to follow suit in adapting a Dragonic Descendant-based Narukami deck as a replacement for Dragonic Overlord The End, who had been restricted in January. Regarded as one of the most influential cardfighters of his period, Uemura used his qualification to contend for the Japanese national title, coming in second behind one of his former imitators Kokubo Hikaru. While other fighters, Kokubo included, would drop away from the Eradicator deck after the new restricted list was set in place to limit its key card to 2, Uemura remained with the build throughout the tournament season.

Decks and Play Style
Uemura's deck as a whole evolved from the standard Narukami build of the time, based out of Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD." Spark Kid Dragoon as Narukami's first vanguard and the eight-critical four-draw trigger setup were already endemic to Uemura's format as a normal part of playing his clan. Rising Phoenix was likewise a holdover from the Vermillion build that had emerged during the previous Trio Fest tournament, used to take advantage of the clan's multiple 11000 base grade 3s and build on the lead in advantage from their limit breaks. Uemura's innovation came from adapting the framework for the Eradicator subgroup and applying his keen understanding of what needed to change versus what needed to be left alone.

Uemura chose to avoid the break rides that were projected to be dominant in his format, opting for a faster paced game by combining Dragonic Descendant and Gauntlet Buster Dragon. As a result, there is no bad grade 3 ride for his deck, and their 11000 bases allow them to still act as useful rearguards. Both units have skills that can be activated outside of their limit break, which gives them greater use throughout the entire match rather than just in the endgame, and discourages the opponent from baiting them by leaving the fighter at three damage. Gauntlet Buster's especial counterblast 2 forces the opponent to retire a unit, while his limit break gives him +3000 power and +1 critical whenever an opponent's unit is retired. Meanwhile, Descendant's counterblast gives him +5000 power, and his limit break acts as Narukami's The End, discarding 3 Eradicators in a battle in which his attack did not hit to stand and gain +1 critical. Uemura, knowing that both of these units had skills which gave them power and critical, recognized the Photon Bomber Wyvern that had long been a staple of Narukami decks as superfluous and chose not to run the unit at all, bringing out greater consistency and especial counterblast synergy with additional Eradicator units like Castor.

Dragonic Deathscythe on the other hand, was a unit that firmly supported Gauntlet Buster and gave Narukami better control of the field. Uemura's Eradicator deck retained it for this reason, showing some powerful foresight and mastery over the clan. In general, Uemura's build was not wholly Eradicator or standard Narukami, but represented a skilled fusion of the two to better play to the deck's strengths.

Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FV)
x4 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seioubo HT
x4 Divine Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT
Grade 1
x2 Rising Phoenix
x1 Dust Storm Eradicator Tokou
x4 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
x4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
Grade 2
x4 Eradicator, Thunderboom Dragon
x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
x3 Dragonic Deathscythe
Grade 3
x3 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x4 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon

Uemura eventually came in second place for the national championship, continuing to use his original Eradicator deck after having modified it to account for the restricted list. This new build adapted many of the strategies that other Eradicator cardfighters had developed in the interim period, using cards from BT11: Seal Dragons Unleashed and BT12: Binding Force of the Black Rings. Uemura made the transition to a much more Eradicator-like deck in this period, using the new Cho-ou to retire the opponent's rearguards and build up soul for Rising Phoenix and maintain better overall synergy, as well as Zuitan to unflip his damage and again build that soul. Castor and Phoenix together allowed Uemura to see many cards from his deck in a game and dig through for one of those Dragonic Descendant copies, with Vowing Sword Dragon sometimes employed as a buildup ride prior to reaching limit break.

Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FV)
x1 Eradicator, Blue Gem Carbuncle DT
x3 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seioubo HT
x4 Divine Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT
Grade 1
x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
x4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
x3 Rising Phoenix
x4 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
Grade 2
x3 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-ou
x2 Supreme Army Eradicator, Zuitan
x4 Dragonic Deathscythe
x2 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon
x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon

News: Asia Circuit Memorial Tournament Osaka Results

Today the Osaka regional tournament results for the Asia Circuit Memorial Tournament were made public, giving the first look at how the BT11-on format plays out in an official tournament setting. Both first and second places were taken by Narukami cardfighters, and as these Dragonic Descendant-Gauntlet Buster Dragon decks are very close in design, predictions are already coming out that the self-standing Descendant deck may replace The End as the dominant pro deck of the season. Critics of this view point to the recent Hobby Station unofficial tournament for contrast, where the new Eradicator subgroup flopped in face of a Shadow Paladin deck reworked around The Dark Dictator.

The Memorial Tournament is being held to commemorate the conclusion of the second season of Cardfight!! Vanguard, and will extend to three other locations, with the Tokyo tournament taking place on March 23rd, Nagoya's on the 30th, and Hakata's on April 6th. These tournaments operate on special rules which require fighters to have more than four grade 3s in their deck, most likely in response to the Osaka Trio Festival results in which C Block Champion Tachibana Souten's Majesty Lord Blaster deck emulated the tactics of national third place runner-up Tanaka Shouta's Tsukuyomi deck in running four grade 3s, effectively defeating the restricted list that had been placed on the Blaster deck. This had been followed up by the Tokyo Trio Festival, where Tachibana's idea had been similarly used in Nakamura Mitsuaki's Blaster deck, and in Murakumo cardfighter Kagawa Hitori's Magatsu Storm build. The winners of the Memorial Tournament will have an invitation to the Fighter's Road 2013 national championship.

Prizewinner: Uemura Shouhei/上村昌平
Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FVG)
x4 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seioubo HT
x4 Divine Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT
Grade 1
x2 Rising Phoenix
x1 Dust Storm Eradicator Tokou
x4 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
x4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
Grade 2
x4 Eradicator, Thunderboom Dragon
x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
x3 Dragonic Deathscythe
Grade 3
x3 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x4 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon

Runner-Up: Nishiyama Daiki/西山大希
Grade 0
x1 Ambush Dragon Eradicator, Linchu (FVG)
x3 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seioubo HT
x4 Divine Spear Eradicator, Pollux CT
x1 Malevolent Djinn CT
Grade 1
x2 Rising Phoenix
x4 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
x4 Eradicator Wyvern Guard, Guld
x4 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
Grade 2
x4 Eradicator, Thunderboom Dragon
x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
x3 Dragonic Deathscythe
Grade 3
x4 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x4 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon

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)

Spotlight: Horikawa Eiki/堀川詠生

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

Horikawa Eiki/堀川詠生

Age: Juniors Division; Exact age unknown, 9 years old in August 2010
Titles Won: Kanazawa Trio Battle Runner-up (Fighter's Road 2012 National Championship), Osaka Regional Finalist Third Place (Junior Class)
Current Status: Osaka Regional Finalist Third Place (Junior Class, Summer 2012)
Deck Type: Royal Paladin (Majesty Lord Blaster), Oracle Think Tank (Scarlet Witch, CoCo)
Horikawa Eiki is the third place fighter for the Fighter's Road 2012 Junior Osaka tournament, who was unable to qualify for the national championship over Ushinohama Tetsuya and Yokoyama Yoshiya. Interestingly, this was by all appearances not Horikawa's debut in the pro scene; he was previously a participant from the Kanazawa Regional Trio Battle's runner-up team. Before this, Horikawa had an established background in card games, being the 2010 junior national champion in the Pokémon Trading Card game, and he had appeared on the Pokémon Sunday TV program along with several other members of the 2010 Japanese junior team before then.

Horikawa's brief TV appearance.

Decks and Play Style
Horikawa used a Majesty Lord Blaster deck at his debut, working alongside Nova Grappler and Gold Paladin teammates. His particular build was notable for featuring two copies of Wingal Brave, likely as a counter to the dominant Dragonic Overlord The End decks of the time, which could retire the card freely with Gatling Claw Dragon. The second copy was mainly accessible with either Alfred or Akane, and room was made for it by cutting the grade 3 count down from the more standard 8 to 7. Since Majesty was searchable through Brave in the first place, this made sense as a means of pressuring the opponent to stop even weak attacks while also aiding his strategy's longevity over the course of a game.

Summer 2012 Regional Tournament, Kanazawa Trio Battle
Card Pool: Card Pool: TD01-EB03, PR 0001-0066
Grade 0
x1 Future Knight, Llew CT
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT
x4 Margal DT
x3 Alabaster Owl CT
x2 Wingal Brave (FVG)
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT
Grade 1
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x1 Lake Maiden, Lien
x4 Toypugal
x1 Knight of Friendship, Kay
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade
x1 High Dog Breeder, Akane
x4 Blaster Dark
x2 Starcall Trumpeter
Grade 3
x2 King of Knights, Alfred
x2 Swordsman of the Explosive Flames, Palamedes
x3 Majesty Lord Blaster

Horikawa was an early adopter of the witch deck, using the then-new Oracle Think Tank build as his Osaka deck. Osaka was in fact the witches' professional debut and it performed above expectations, with one deck placing in each age division, possibly serving as an eventual inspiration to Rikino. Horikawa chose to focus on the deck's battle potential, using the four-card increase in advantage from LuLu and CoCo to allow for an unprecedented twelve critical triggers, while Mocha, Silent Tom and Promise Daughter each functioned as additional pressure on any guards the opponent chose to make. Miss Mist and Apollon are taken as alternative single-card techniques to occasionally force the opponent into an unusual situation by stopping early damage altogether, or making them choose whether or not to give Horikawa one more card on top of his existing advantage by letting a lesser rearguard attack through.

The greatest flaw of Horikawa's deck that Rikino seemed to recognize over him was LaLa, whose on-call card change skill never did live up to the expectations that marketing hype put on her.

Summer 2012 Regional Tournament, Osaka Juniors Division
Card Pool: Card Pool: TD01-EB03, PR 0001-0066
Grade 0
x1 Little Witch, LuLu (FVG)
x4 Lozenge Magus HT
x4 Oracle Guardian, Nike CT
x4 Psychic Bird CT
x4 Battle Sister, Ginger CT
Grade 1
x4 Battle Sister, Chocolat
x4 Oracle Guardian, Gemini
x2 One Who Gazes at the Truth
x3 Emerald Witch, LaLa
x1 Weather Forecast, Miss Mist
Grade 2
x2 Battle Sister, Mocha
x3 Oracle Guardian, Wiseman
x4 Silent Tom
x2 Promise Daughter
Grade 3
x1 Oracle Guardian, Apollon
x4 Scarlet Witch, CoCo
x3 Goddess of Flower Divination, Sakuya