News: Narukami Fighter Wins Dolce Cup, Yamato CS Decklists

Original photo by @vg_dolce

Kanazawa Workers' Plaza, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. Twenty-one hours ago the Dolce Cup finished its run, with first place at the tournament taken by "Thermos," playing Narukami. Second place went to Bill playing Shadow Paladin, third place to Fujimaru and fourth place Mopii, both also playing Shadow Paladin decks. No decklists for the finalists have been given as of yet, but a complete breakdown of the participants by clan is available below. Shadow Paladin was the most played clan of the tournament, accounting for 25% of all decks played, with Royal Paladin as its closest runner-up at 15%.

Original photo by @vg_dolce

First place at the tournament won three boxes of Sovereign Star Dragon and a rubber playmat custom made for the Dolce Cup. (Pictured above) Round 1 began at 10:00 AM JST, with the finals being completed by 4:00 PM that day. Both the three opening elimination rounds and the tournament finals used a best-of-one format with a 30-minute time limit. Reaching time resulted in a mutual loss for both cardfighters.

VG Dolce Cup Deck Breakdown (47 participants in total)
12 Shadow Paladin
7 Royal Paladin
4 Neo Nectar
3 Gold Paladin
3 Kagerou
3 Link Joker
2 Murakumo
2 Nova Grappler
2 Great Nature
2 Aqua Force
1 Genesis
1 Angel Feather
1 Narukami
1 Dimension Police
1 Dark Irregulars
1 Gear Chronicle
1 Bermuda Triangle

Decklists from the Dolce Cup are not yet available, but the results of the Yamato CS have been made public through the tournament's organizational site. First-place team Suddenly Sussan was lead by Sanctuary Guard cardfighter Chris, and captained by Pitarui--organizer of the regular Pitarui VGCS tournaments--playing Phantom Blaster “Abyss,” with the team's eponymous fighter Sussan taking up Dragonic Overlord “The X” for the tournament. These three decks have emerged as some of the most prominent matchups of the Sovereign Star Dragon-on format, with Sanctuary Guard in particular being a breakout deck among Royal Paladin cardfighters due to how it can seamlessly integrate Jewel Knight and generation break support to overwhelming effect.

Although its contemporary contender Thing Saver Dragon will likely never disappear from the game entirely, for the time being Sanctuary Guard has against all odds come out as the dominant Royal Paladin deck. The addition of Sanctuary Guard Guarantee has given the deck stable grade 3 options for meeting the specific-heart criteria of Regalie; seeing as Guarantee is currently in circulation as part of Cardfight Pack Vol. 13 in the English-language format, his price internationally is likely to increase in face of these results.

Pitarui's “Abyss” deck notably omits the original Blaster Dark Revenger that was once a staple of Shadow Paladin builds, in favor of running both Macart and Macha. This reflects developing the strategies surrounding Phantom Blaster “Diablo;” as cardfighters have become more conscientious of “Diablo's” skill, and are maintaining larger fields accordingly, it is proving increasingly impractical for Revenger cardfighters to focus on emptying their opponent's rearguard circles to make “Diablo's” attack unblockable.

The Revenger gameplan has thus shifted towards taking advantage of the opponent fielding more cards than necessary in order to have retire targets for “Diablo,” by legioning with “Abyss” while their handsize is low from calling so many units. Macart and Macha better support this play style by superior calling Revenger grade 1s for “Abyss” to retire. Blaster Dark Revenger is not the only card to vanish from the deck, as the once-ubiquitous Mordred Phantom and Black-winged Swordbreaker have all but been eradicated from Shadow Paladin play. The soul once dedicated to Swordbreaker now goes to Aurageyser Dragon and Dark Heart Trumpeter, while Mordred has been abandoned for Blaster Dark “Diablo” due in part to the necessity of a Blaster vanguard for Trumpeter and Charon's skills to go off. Without a Blaster grade 3, Charon can't be used as a retire target for Aurageyser, leaving only David to build a net +1 off of in the early to midgame.

Sussan's deck sticks out, as they are one of the few cardfighters to stick by Dragonic Overlord “The X” in the post-legend deck format. Kagerou had all but disappeared from professional play shortly after the deck's Japanese launch date, yet Sussan played it with very few modifications to the deck. At present “The X” is sustained by his Fighter's Collection 2015 stride, Dragonic Overlord “The Ace,” which unlike “The X's” mate, the End, is an offensive rather than defensive stride that can restand regardless of whether or not it hits in exchange for requiring specific discard targets and being a net -1 rather than net neutral or net positive.

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. 

Yamato CS First Place Team: Suddenly Sussan/突然のすっさん (Totsuzen no Sussan)
Foreward: Chris/クリス
Grade 0
x1 Shining Knight, Millius (FV)
x4 Jewel Knight, Hilmy HT
x2 Devoting Jewel Knight, Tabitha DT
x4 Jewel Knight, Noble Stinger CT
x4 Blazing Jewel Knight, Rachelle CT
x2 Bringer of Dreams, Belenus CT
Grade 1
x4 Holy Knight Guardian
x4 Heat Wind Jewel Knight, Cymbeline
x4 Laurel Knight, Sicilus
x1 Jewel Knight, Sabremy
x1 Hidden Sage, Miron
Grade 2
x4 Jewel Knight, Swordmy
x3 Knight of Twin Sword
x2 Starlight Violinist
x2 Transmigration Knight, Brede
x1 Earth Elemental, Pokkle
Grade 3
x4 Sanctuary Guard Dragon
x3 Sanctuary Guard Guarantee
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x1 Shrouded Divine Knight, Gablade
x3 Holy Dragon, Sanctuary Guard Regalie
x2 Holy Dragon, Saint Blow Dragon
x1 Miracle Element, Atmos
x1 Great Sage of Contradiction, Jirron

Midfighter: Sussan/すっさん
Grade 0
x1 Red Pulse Dracokid (FV)
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x4 Gattling Claw Dragon DT
x3 Magnum Shot Dracokid CT
x1 Lizard Soldier, Goraha CT
x4 Dragon Knight, Janat CT
Grade 1
x4 Protect Orb Dragon
x4 Lava Flow Dragon
x3 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x2 Calamity Tower Wyvern
Grade 2
x4 Burning Horn Dragon
x4 Dragonic Burnout
x2 Dragon Knight, Jabad
x1 Perdition Dragon Knight, Sabha
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord “The X”
x4 Dragonic Overlord the End
x1 Dragonic Blademaster
Grade 4 (Generation zone)
x1 Divine Dragon Knight, Mahmud
x1 Divine Dragon Knight, Mustafa
x2 Imperial Flame Dragon King, Root Flare Dragon
x4 Supreme Heavenly Emperor Dragon, Dragonic Overlord “The Ace”

Captain: Pitarui/ぴたるい
Grade 0
x1 Cutting Edge Knight, David (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x2 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
x2 Revenger, Wounded Angel CT
Grade 1
x4 Karma Collector
x4 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x3 Pitch Black Sage, Charon
x2 Knight of Yearning, Branwen
x1 Dark Heart Trumpeter
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x4 Fighting Spirit Revenger, Macart
x3 Dark Night Maiden, Macha
Grade 3
x3 Blaster Dark “Diablo”
x1 Supremacy Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
(Generation zone unlisted)

Today's Card Analysis: Dark Heart Trumpeter

The English-language card of the day Dark Heart Trumpeter, one of the Blaster series support cards from LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori,” which will reach the international game in just ten days' time. Illustrated by Ryuutetsu, the artist behind Darkside and Dark Bond Trumpeter from BT04 and BT12, Dark Heart trades the early game utility of Dark Bond in favor of an overall cheaper cost and higher base power, at the expense of only being usable at the mid to late stages of a fight. In the majority of Blaster decks Dark Heart will be an effective replacement for Black-winged Swordbreaker, better complementing those decks with her higher power base and ability to rapidly fill the field.

Because she requires a Blaster vanguard for her generation break to resolve, Dark Heart's primary place is with Blaster Dark “Diablo” and Phantom Blaster “Abyss.” The breakride print of Phantom Blaster Dragon requires a soulblast 3 to use, and so running the breakride is generally going to be mutually exclusive to running Dark Heart. On the other hand, the BT04 print of Phantom Blaster Dragon can use her soulblast to help fuel his retire skill, superior calling rearguards to act as sacrifices that will mitigate the retire cost, effectively trading the retire cost for a soulblast cost.

For “Abyss,” Dark Heart can easily replace Swordbreaker as a staple card in the deck. The idea behind this is to use Judgebau to superior call two copies of Dark Heart while in stride with Phantom Blaster “Abyss” as the heart, then using both Dark Heart's soulblasts to superior call a Transient Revenger Masquerade and a booster for it. While the Dark Hearts will come out at rest, the Masquerade column will be as stand, allowing an additional attack that turn.

If called to empty rearguard circles, Judgebau into Trumpeter is a net +3, the same as Swordbreaker. But unlike Swordbreaker, Trumpeter is not a dead card if drawn normally prior to this, as her generation break can be used from the hand as well, and there's no risk of accidentally emptying valuable triggers out of the deck as there are with Swordbreaker's draws. Both units should result in generally identical handsizes throughout the game so long as you don't call to three of your rearguard circles prior to using Judgebau. Calling to occupied circles is only a net neutral exchange in card advantage (+1 -1) instead of a net positive exchange (+1). Furthermore, you can conserve more advantage using Trumpeter than you can with Swordbreaker in the long-term if you use Trumpeter to superior call a copy of Pitch Black Sage Charon. While the Trumpeters cannot be sacrificed for “Abyss'” retire skill because he can only retire Revenger rearguards, they can be used to pay for the cost of the stride Phantom Blaster “Diablo.” With Charon in play, “Diablo” only requires two sacrifices to use--one Trumpeter and one Charon. Hence, Dark Heart is not just a net +3 with Judgebau, she also mitigates “Diablo” down to a net -2, conserving more cards than Swordbreaker.

On a final note, examine Dark Heart's SAMPLE image carefully; the English edition of the card misprints her race as Human rather than Angel.

Today's Card Analysis: Pitch Black Sage, Charon

The English card of the day is a Blaster support unit from G-Legend Deck 01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori,” the Pitch Black Sage Charon. Designed to better support the Blaster subclan's retire skills while avoiding the pitfalls of generation break, this incarnation of Charon splits the benefits of a stride supporter with those of a card advantage unit. The result is a unit with benefits at every stage in the game, from initial setup to the pivotal endgame plays that will bring the opponent to their knees. Like all cards from this legend deck, Pitch Black Charon will have two prints; the first as a common, and the second as a triple rare. One triple rare Charon will be in every LD01, with three common editions of it rounding out the deck's playset.

Charon's initial skill is lifted from Steam Breath Dragon of Generation Stride. By revealing a grade 3 from your hand when Charon is called, you can search your deck for a grade 3 unit with "Blaster Dark" in its card name. You're then required to discard a card from hand to make the exchange neutral, but this doesn't have to be either of the grade 3s the skill involved. Several aspects of Charon have been prepatched to avoid exploitation. The first aspect is that Charon's on-call skill only works when called from the hand, so superior calling him with Dark Night Maiden Macha or Claret Sword Dragon won't work. The second is that because Charon only searches for grade 3 Blaster Darks, you can't search out Blaster Dark, Dark Revenger or Dark Revenger “Abyss.” Hence it's not possible to bypass grade 2 gradelock with Charon. His continuous skill allows Charon to be used as two rearguards to support the cost of a retire skill; this skill is almost identical to that of Cutting-Edge Knight David, but instead of being a generation break, Charon requires a Blaster vanguard to function.

Appropriately for the grandmaster's chief adviser, Charon's intended role is in supporting Blaster Dark “Diablo,” searching out copies of him and ensuring that there will be multiple grade 3s to stride with on one's initial stride turn. However, Blaster Dark has no retire skills that Charon can provide support to. In the legend deck one instead has to turn to Phantom Blaster “Diablo,” whose retire 3 cost Charon helps mitigate down to a retire 2. Charon also interacts with heart-stride name mechanics in an interesting way, as even if you've stridden a unit like Aurageyser Dragon that does not have Blaster in its name, as long as the heart card of the stride is a Blaster unit, Charon may be used for the cost of those skills. Likewise, if your heart is not a Blaster unit but your stride is Phantom Blaster “Diablo,” Charon's skill will still be live.

In addition to stride support, the Pitch Black Sage can also be used to hold up a variety of Blaster grade 3s. Shadow Paladin's founder and original grandmaster from Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows is one such unit; Phantom Blaster Dragon normally requires three sacrifices to gain +10000 power and an additional critical, but Charon can reduce this to two, and with the skills of Knights Dorint and Claudas from the legend deck you can also mitigate the counterblast cost of Phantom Blaster Dragon. In total that modifies the skill to counterblast 1 retire 2, which is much more reasonable overall than the text printed on the actual card. The same principles can be applied to Phantom Blaster's upgrade introduced as a promotional card in the manga, Gust Blaster Dragon. Moreover, Phantom Blaster's breakride remake from the upcoming G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon also requires a retire 3 cost for its breakride skill, and Charon is a practical necessity in the deck to mitigate the heavy cost of putting down four or more cards during the break ride turn.

Be mindful of Charon's role compared to other support options. It's certainly true that one could run a unit like Black-winged Swordbreaker or Darkbond Trumpeter to draw or superior call for card advantage, and then retire those units for an exchange that is functionally identical to retiring Charon. However, Charon does not have a cost attached to him, and compared to using Swordbreaker consolidates cards on the field rather than in the hand. Depending on the situation, standard draw and call support may be more desirable, as having occupied rearguard circles can be a disadvantage versus “The X,” Gear Chronicle and Link Joker decks; but having unoccupied rearguard circles can be even more dangerous versus the popular “Diablo” matchups, Heroic Saga Dragon and Narukami. It's best to use the Pitch Black Sage judiciously, adjusting your play based on the opposition. Charon can support a variety of divergently-envisioned Blaster decks, and will likely remain a staple for Shadow Paladin cardfighters for several formats to come. G-Legend Deck 01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori,” will hit international shelves on June 19th, 2015.

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.

Today's Card Analysis: Sovereign Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon

 "A claret sword. There lies a history of fresh blood."

The Japanese card of the day is one of the lead figures in Shadow Paladin's rebel faction, the military leader Claret Sword Dragon. A generalissimo seeking to take advantage of the clan's weakened leadership in Mordred's absence and overthrow Blaster Dark “Diablo,” Claret Sword will ring familiar for the supporters of Shadow Paladin's former patron deity Phantom Blaster Dragon. The Sovereign Dragon is to Blaster Dark as night to day, and a visionary for a different future for the clan.

ACT (Vanguard circle) Once per turn: Generation break 2: (Active if you have 2 or more face-up G Units in your vanguard circle or generation zone) [Choose two of your rearguards, and retire them] During this turn, this unit gets Power +10000 / Critical +1.
AUTO (Vanguard circle): [Counterblast 1] During your turn, when your G unit strides, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for one grade 1 or less card, call it to a rearguard circle, shuffle that deck, during this turn, that unit gets Power +2000.

As was predicted, Claret Sword's on-stride counterblast 1 superior calls a grade 1 or lesser card from the deck and temporarily increasing its power, allowing a weaker unit with a utility skill to temporarily serve as a valuable booster before being retired by stride skills. The primary issue working against Claret Sword is the lack of genericized support for Shadow Paladin; the Revengers are the clan itself, and most effective support cards that do not belong to them instead go to the Blasters specifically.

Of the pre-Sovereign Star Dragon units, the card Claret Sword fighters will want to take advantage of the most is Black-winged Swordbreaker from BT15: Infinite Rebirth. Swordbreaker's on-call soulblast 1 to draw will build a net +2 in card advantage if Claret was strode over neutrally, refreshing the hand, providing a temporary base 8000 power booster and providing fuel for retire-based strides. Another potential target is the original Black Sage Charon from BT04: Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows and TD10: Purgatory Revenger, who with the power bonus will become a 10000-power booster that can form 21000-power lines with either Triple Dark Armor or the generation break 12000-power attacker Belberith.

Generally the cards introduced in G-LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” will not be compatible with Claret Sword because these units require a Blaster vanguard, but if your stride target is Phantom Blaster “Diablo” this won't be a problem for that turn. You can use Claret Sword to superior call Darkheart Trumpeter, use Darkheart's soulblast 1 to superior call Pitch Black Sage Charon, and since you have Blaster “Diablo” as your vanguard you'll be able to use Charon's Blaster-exclusive skill to make him count as two units at once, incurring a net change of 0--the same exchange as if you'd called Swordbreaker. The difference between Pitch Black Charon and Swordbreaker is that Charon allows you to maintain field presence, while Swordbreaker maintains handsize. Charon is an offensively-minded play, while Swordbreaker is defensively-minded.

Claret Sword is bringing his own leg of support with him, but with so little known of Sovereign Star Dragon it's difficult to say at this time precisely what to rely on. The promotional card Decipherer of Prohibited Books is one such option; her on-call generation break 1 counterblast 1 can superior call any grade 0, but in a generation break-centric deck with no recycling options where triggers are a finite resource, this is of dubious value compared to simply pulling out a Swordbreaker. Knight of Contempt Giiva is designed to support heavy retire skills, but as a grade 2 can't be superior called by Claret Sword and has to be brought out from the hand. The same holds true for Skull Witch Nemain, an old standby for Shadow Paladin veterans.

In terms of his stride targets, while Phantom Blaster “Diablo” is far and away the most desirable option for Claret Sword's endgame at this time, it should be kept in mind that Claret's on-stride counterblast sets up the otherwise-conditional Dark Knight Efnysian from Fighter's Collection 2015. Efnysian's on-stride skill retires one of your own rearguards to gain +7000 power and an on-hit retire skill, which can be impractical if you have no rearguards in play as a result of the opponent's card effects. Claret Sword gets around this by superior calling a card that can immediately be retired for Efnysian's skill to break even on your end and incur a -1 in card advantage against the opponent if the attack hits, and if you call out Swordbreaker this results in a net +1 to your own advantage and -1 against the opponent. Since Efnysian's skill makes him reach 33000 power by himself, if you do already have rearguards in play you can use Claret Sword to bring out a booster for Efnysian and increase its base power so that he breaks the 41000+ threshold.

Finally, Claret Sword's generation break 2 must be put under consideration. While his on-stride skill is reminiscent of Mordred Phantom, his generation break falls squarely within the realm of Phantom Blaster Dragon, down to its timing. Everything learned from Blaster Dragon years ago is applicable, including its shortcomings, but lets consider first how Claret improves the skill. Claret Sword does away with the counterblast cost entirely to get rid of the redundant costing on Blaster Dragon, meaning that so long as you have cards you can put into play, you can use his generation break. And only costing two units instead of three helps offset the lack of access to Pitch Black Charon for the Sovereign's retire skill. Phantom Blaster Dragon does have access to the generation break skills of Knights Dorint and Claudas from their legend deck to unflip damage with, and can make use of Darkheart, Swordbreaker and Charon, while on his own independent turns Claret does not have access to either Darkheart or Swordbreaker (the latter by connection to the former.)

Thus Phantom Blaster is generally looking at a counterblast 1 soulblast 1 retire 2 for his skill, sometimes at a net -1 rather than -2, and because Claret Sword has to wait so much later in the game to get his skill online in the first place, it's less immediately available by comparison. The major shortcoming of the Sovereign Dragon's generation break is that there are so many other cards with almost identical skills that are able to make use of them without paying any cost at all; Dragonic Blademaster, Battle Deity Susanoo, Dragonic Vanquisher and Charharlot Vampir all receive similar benefits passively rather than by actively needing to pay a cost. Secondary to this is that like with Phantom Blaster Dragon because Claret Sword's retire skill is a main phase retire that requires fronting two rearguards it has a hidden second cost, that essentially takes four cards out of your defenses. Every two units that you retire in the main phase have to be replaced with two more from the hand, weakening your overall ability to defend. A further discussion of these types of abilities is addressed in the History of Professional Cardfight. Where Claret has a leg up over his predecessor is that across several cumulative turns he is able to amass greater overall card advantage through repeated on-stride superior calls, and this can make him more viable in the long term. It simply weakens his overall offensive gameplay in terms of the generation break, which like Damned Charging Lance before it is destined to go unused.

Finally, Claret Sword's lore;
神聖国家の闇に生きる黒き騎士団“シャドウパラディン”の騎士。
血のように赤く染まったその剣から「クラレットソード」の名で呼ばれる。
「力こそ正義」という信念を持ち、騎士団に属していながら「神聖国家を影から支える」という思想に異を唱える。

Shinseikokka no yami ni ikiru kurokikishidan "Shadou Paradin" no kishi.
Chi no you ni akakushimatta sono kenkara "Kuraretto Soodo" no na de yobareru.
"Chikarakoso Seigi" to iu shinnen wo mochi, kishidan ni zokushiteinagara "shinseikokka wo kagekara shieru" to iu shisou ni i wo tonaeru.

Living in the darkness of the holy nation, there is a knight of the black order "Shadow Paladin."
Because of his blade stained red with blood, he is called "Claret Sword."
Believing that "power is justice," he opposes the ideal of "supporting the holy nation from the shadows" in spite of belonging to a knightly order.

News: Japanese “Abyss” Prices Double, Raven Haired Ezel Debuts in Manga

Price charts coming out of Japan this morning have demonstrated that the average selling prices of the Shadow Paladin legion leader Phantom Blaster “Abyss” and his mate Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss” doubled between the months of April and May. Phantom Blaster skyrocketed from a below-1500 yen average to 2500~2700 yen apiece. (Approximate conversion is going from $13 to $21~23 in US money.) For comparison, Thing Saver Dragon is current available in Japan for ~400 yen and Dragonic Overlord “The X” for ~600 yen. The “Abyss” price rise is reflective the results of the fifth Sapporo VGCS, in which “Abyss”-“Diablo” decks both dominated top spaces and accounted for 46% of all decks entered in the tournament, as well as the results of the West Japan and Kansai Spring Cup where Shadow Paladin made up 24% and 41% of the participating entries.

Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss” has actually turned out as the more expensive of the two, starting at a similar price point and jumping up to 2600~3000 yen apiece. This is arguably based on Blaster Dark's greater utility in the “Diablo” deck, as the actual use of Phantom Blaster “Abyss'” restanding skill is low compared to Blaster Dark's cheap retire skill, which can be used to help force a win condition with “Diablo.” The original Blaster Dark Revenger has not experienced any comparable rise despite seeing similar levels of play, likely due to his widespread availability in VG-TD10: Purgatory Revenger. Both “Abyss” units were printed as triple rare cards in EB11: Requiem at Dusk, increasing their scarcity and making them subject to greater market fluctuations.

Original images donated by inaisekai.

In other news, this month's issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine has come packaged with the latest chapter of Itou Akira's Cardfight!! Vanguard manga. Featuring a fight between Tatsunagi Kourin and Tokura Misaki, at the climax of the chapter Kourin rode a new unit "Raven Haired Ezel" in a bid to end the game. The new unit was ridden over Incandescent Lion Blond Ezel, potentially making Raven Haired a crossride of the original card. However, its actual skills were not explained before the fight ended.

Unlike in the anime series, for the manga Ezel was originally designed by Itou as one of Kourin's units, and she's used the Ezel deck since her introduction. During the Asia Circuit arc of the anime she gave her Blond Ezel to Aichi as a nod to Itou's original plan. Early on in her introduction to the manga, Kourin had a fight against Misaki in which the Magus cards debuted, and Kourin crossrode Platina Ezel over Blond Ezel; this latest chapter bringing in Raven Haired Ezel parallels their past battle.

The current arc of the manga approximately corresponds to the Link Joker arc of the anime, with Ibuki Kouji replacing Kai Toshiki and "PSY Qualia Zombies" replacing the Яeverse fighter phenomenon. (Itou had suggested the Яeverse concept to the anime staff while Link Joker was in its planning stages.) The previous chapter established Kourin to be working for "Cold Walker," an antagonist that seeks to control destiny and works from within Tatsunagi Takuto.

News: Phantom Blaster “Diablo” Dominates Fifth Sapporo VGCS

Original image provided by SapporoVGCS

Sapporo Citizens' Hall, Japan. Yesterday morning the fifth Sapporo Vanguard Championship took place, and when the curtain closed on this tournament it cemented “Abyss” Shadow Paladins as the dominant deck of the day. First place at the tournament finals was Igachuu playing Phantom Blaster  “Abyss” with supplementary support from Legend Deck 01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori.” Second place was Goppii with Thing Saver Dragon, third valdy (sic) and fourth Lelouch, each of them also playing Abyss decks. The tournaments top bracket was made up of veteran professional cardfighters, with Igachuu having also won the fourth Sapporo CS with “Abyss” last November and valdy acting as the midfighter for the team that topped the second Sapporo championship one year ago. However, it's not just the top 4 that was being dominated by Revenger decks; 36% of the participants at Sapporo were playing Shadow Paladin decks, greater than the combined total of Royal and Kagerou cardfighters present. Decklists are provided below.

Although these decks spend a significant portion of their gameplay on either Mordred or Phantom Blaster “Abyss,” the release of the Legend Deck on April 24th has made “Diablo” into the face of the deck. By turning a copy of himself in the generation zone face-up, “Diablo” gains +10000 power +1 critical and an on-attack skill. When he attacks a vanguard, “Diablo” pays a retire 3 cost; and then if the opponent does not retire two of their own rearguards, they cannot call cards from their hand to the guardian circle. This prevents even strategies like using “Ω” Glendios' Rubidium to redirect the attack from working, since that requires a call to the guardian circle to be made. In a pure generation break deck “Diablo's” function would be to force the opponent to both retire their rearguards and drop a perfect defense card, incurring a net -4.

However, in the Revenger deck “Diablo” receives the name of its heart, becoming a Revenger itself and then gaining access to the grade 2s Blaster Dark Revenger and BDR “Abyss.” With Dorint the former Dark Revenger can effectively counterblast 1 to retire a frontrow unit, and Revenger “Abyss” can counterblast 1 to retire a backrow unit. If the opponent only has three rearguards out this prevents the opponent from guarding altogether because they do not have two rearguards to pay the cost. And in a format where Resist is becoming increasingly prevalent, “Diablo” has one more leg up over the competition, because units with Resist cannot be chosen for “Diablo's” on-attack skill. Hence removing enough of the opponent's rearguards that they only have one eligible target in play has become an automatic win condition far more effective than the World End of past formats, as it allows “Diablo” to send the opponent from four to six damage directly.


The result is that “Abyss'” restand is secondary to the twin Blaster Darks' field control skills and “Diablo's” persona generation. In many games, Phantom Blaster “Abyss'” actual skills go unused entirely, and the card becomes purely a target to gain the Revenger name from. Supplementary to “Diablo” is the introduction of Darkheart Trumpeter, whose generation break 1 can search for any grade 1 other than herself as long as the vanguard has Blaster in its card name, and Dark Night Maiden Macha who at generation break 1 can counterblast to search for any grade 1 on-attack as long as she's boosted. Hence Macha can search out Darkheart, who then superior call Black-winged Swordbreaker to draw a card from. Pitch Black Sage Charon is a common tech in these decks, since Charon counts as two units when sacrificed for a Blaster card skill, which helps with the all-important “Diablo” mirror match by ensuring that three cards will be on the field during the opponent's turn. “Diablo” is arguably its own most difficult matchup at this point, as the sacrificial nature of “Abyss” Shadow Paladins helps consolidate cards in hand for defending against Thing Saver, while using the rearguards to pay costs in general prevents Kagerou decks from retiring them.

Many thanks to Siulzen for transcribing the clan distribution below.

Fifth Sapporo VGCS clan distribution (96 participants, 95 listed)
34 Shadow Paladin
15 Royal Paladin
13 Kagero
8 Aqua Force
6 Nova Grappler
5 Great Nature
3 Oracle Think Tank
3 Narukami
2 Nubatama
1 Gold Paladin
1 Spike Brothers
1 Dimension Police
1 Link Joker
1 Bermuda Triangle
1 Pale Moon

Notably, this is the first tournament that Gear Chronicle has completely flatlined in since its introduction; no cardfighters taking part in this month's Sapporo VGCS played Gear Chronicle. This is also the first significant reduction in Royal Paladin play, as at the preceding Phantom CS Thing Saver accounted for 46% of all decks played.

Entry at Sapporo was 1000 yen ($10 approx.) The tournament champion received a New 3DS XL, second place four boxes of VG-G-BT03: Sovereign Star Dragon, third place two boxes of the same, and fourth place one box. As the set does not come out until the 29th of the month, these boxes are promised to the winners in advance and shipped to them at the release date. The tournament enforced clan fight rules, with a 50 minute time limit and best-of-two rounds; five rounds of Swiss pairings, followed to be a four round cut to top 16. Registration at Sapporo ran from 9:30 AM to 10:15 AM, followed by a fifteen minute opening ceremony, and the tournament proper began at 10:45 AM. A fifteen minute break interrupted each 50-minute round, with the tournament finals beginning at 8:30 PM.

Fifth Sapporo VGCS
First place: Igachuu/イガチュウ
Grade 0
x1 Judgebau Revenger (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x2 Black-winged Sword Breaker
x2 Darkheart Trumpeter
x2 Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
x3 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss” 
x3 Blaster Dark Revenger
x2 Fighting Spirit Revenger, Macart
x3 Dark Night Maiden, Macha
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x1 Rain Element, Madew
x1 True Revenger, Dragruler Revenant
x2 Dark Knight, Grim Recruiter
x4 Dark Dragon, Phantom Blaster “Diablo”

Second place: Goppii/ごっぴー
Grade 0
x1 Dreaming Jewel Knight, Tiffany (FV)
x4 Jewel Knight, Hilmy HT
x4 Margal DT
x4 Jewel Knight, Noble Stinger CT
x4 Blazing Jewel Knight, Rachelle CT
Grade 1
x4 Holy Knight Guardian
x4 Laurel Knight, Sicilus
x4 Heat Wind Jewel Knight, Cymbeline
x2 Jewel Knight, Sabremy
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade Seeker
x4 Jewel Knight, Swordmy
x2 Fellowship Jewel Knight, Tracie
x1 Knight of Twin Sword
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x4 Broken Heart Jewel Knight, Ashlei “Яeverse”
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x2 Shrouded Divine Knight, Gablade
x4 Holy Dragon, Saint Blow Dragon
x1 Flash Flame Divine Knight, Samuil
x1 Great Sage of Contradiction, Jirron

Third place: valdy
Grade 0
x1 Judgebau Revenger (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
x4 Revenger, Wounded Angel CT
Grade 1
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x2 Black-winged Sword Breaker
x2 Darkheart Trumpeter
x3 Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
x2 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
x1 Pitch Black Sage, Charon
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss” 
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x3 Dark Night Maiden, Macha
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x1 Dark Knight, Efnysian
x1 True Revenger, Dragruler Phantom
x2 Dark Knight, Grim Recruiter
x4 Dark Dragon, Phantom Blaster “Diablo”

Fourth place: Lelouch
Grade 0
x1 Judgebau Revenger (FV)
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
Grade 1
x4 Young Skull Witch, Nemain
x2 Black-winged Swordbreaker
x2 Darkheart Trumpeter
x3 Barrier Troop Revenger, Dorint
x3 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss” 
x3 Blaster Dark Revenger
x3 Fighting Spirit Revenger, Macart
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom
Grade 4 (Generation Zone)
x4 Dark Dragon, Phantom Blaster “Diablo”
x2 Dark Knight, Grim Recruiter
x1 True Revenger, Dragruler Phantom
x1 Rain Element, Madew

News: Shadow Paladin Stride "Dark Knight, Grim Recruiter" Revealed, Legend Deck Beginning Set

The Japanese products page updated today to reflect the upcoming Beginning Set for Legend Deck 01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori,” due this April. Among the merchandise to be included in the Beginning Set is a triple rare print of the promotional card Dark Knight, Grim Recruiter. A counterpart to Royal Paladin's Shrouded Divine Knight Gablade, Recruiter's skill calls a grade 1 or less card rather than a grade 2. This makes for easy access to Shadow Paladin's burgeoning pool of supportive rearguards, primarily the on-call draw unit Black-winged Swordbreaker. If stridden neutrally, calling a Swordbreaker off of Recruiter and drawing is a net +2 in card advantage. This can alternately help fuel the retire skills of the clan's upcoming boss cards, or provide an intimidating pressure unit that gives the opponent an incentive to drop a perfect defense card on a high power center lane early in the fight, similar to how Gablade has been used in professional competition.

AUTO (Vanguard circle): When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, search your deck for up to one grade 1 or less card, call it to a rearguard circle, and shuffle that deck.

Thematically the card is a successor to the trigger units Grim Reaper and Grim Revenger of BT04 and TD10, but unlike those cards Recruiter is not of the demon race. Grim Recruiter may be an early promotional print of a stride from the booster set G-BT03, as Shadow Paladin is to be included in the G-booster and only one copy of Grim Recruiter will be in each Beginning Set.

The set will also include a storage box, deck box and Fighter's Counters each featuring Blaster Dark “Diablo” and Suzugamori Ren on one face, and Phantom Blaster “Diablo” on another. Ren and Dark “Diablo” will serve as the +5000 power counter, while Phantom Blaster “Diablo” will serve as the +10000 counter. The set will include 60 card sleeves, and will retail for 3500 yen, approximately $29.50 at the current exchange rate.

News: Legend Deck 01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” for April

This morning Bushiroad of Japan revealed the first legend deck through a live Niconico broadcast in cooperation with Card Kingdom, G-LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori.” The broadcast attracted more than ten thousand viewers and five thousand comments. Card Kingdom deck designer JacK (@JacK_cardkingdo) released promotional images teasing four cards from the deck, including cover card Blaster Dark “Diablo.” Unlike trial decks, legend decks contain a full four card playset of their main grade 3, stride unit and Sentinel cards. Each legend deck contains 54 cards, and unlike with trial decks can be played competitively out of the box without buying additional legend decks. Legend decks feature the cards of legendary cardfighters from Cardfight!! Vanguard's original run, transplanted into the era of Cardfight!! Vanguard G. The legend deck will be released in Japan on April 24th, 2015. No English-language release date has yet been announced.

Duel Portal has since released higher quality images of the units from initial previews. The deck's cover card, Blaster Dark “Diablo,” is illustrated by veteran artist Daisuke Izuka. Within the clan Izuka is known for his work on Raging Form Dragon, and outside of it on other famous units like Chaos Breaker Dragon and all of the Garmore variants. As the first of a pair of “Diablo” units, this is notably the first incarnation of Blaster Dark to not be a part of the Revenger subclan since his return in VG-TD10: Purgatory Revenger in June 2013. Originally designed by franchise creator Itou Akira, Blaster Dark has not had a consistent illustrator; in BT04 and BT06 he was illustrated by Ryuutetsu, in TD12 and BT12 by Itou, as a promotional card by studio TMS, and in EB10 by Foo Midori

He is followed closely by Darkness Dragon, Phantom Blaster “Diablo.” Generally thought to be Shadow Paladin's first stride unit, Blaster “Diablo” is illustrated by NINNIN, who previously handled Phantom Blaster Overlord in BT05: Awakening of Twin Blades. “Diablo” greatly resembles the Overlord of the past drawn from a different angle, standing upright rather than hunched over and with his double lances fused at their hilts. The background and foreground of the illustration are likewise variations on Blaster Overlord's, harkening back to the world's first persona blaster. Based on this, some fans are theorizing that “Diablo” will be Shadow Paladin's persona stride, activating his skill by turning a face-down copy of himself in the generation zone face-up.

The legend deck will also bring back Skull Witch Nemain as Young Skull Witch Nemain (髑髏の魔女っ娘　ネヴァン Dokuro no Majommusume Nevan, musume can mean either "young lady" and "daughter" depending on the context.) She is illustrated by Hagiya Kaoru, who also illustrated the original Nemain. Based on similarities in the artwork to contemporary units, many cardfighters believe Young Nemain will be the Legend deck's perfect defense card, potentially serving as Shadow Paladin's G-perfect defense capable of unflipping damage during the guard step while there is a copy of her in the drop zone.

Finally, the LD01 will bring back Darkness Maiden Macha as the Maiden of the Dark Night, Macha. Like Blaster Dark, Macha will not be retaining her original illustrator; Hayabusa Yuki has uniquely never illustrated any other cards for Cardfight!! Vanguard since BT04. Instead, the Maiden of the Dark Knight will be illustrated by Aoji, who recently did work on the Neo Nectar trial deck G-TD03: Flower Maiden of Purity.

The legend deck will retail for 3500 yen (approx. $30 at the present exchange rate) and will contain fifteen unique cards, one of those being a G Unit. It will come packaged with a Ren themed storage box, 60 Ren mini sleeves and one Ren deck holder, as well as a Ren Fighter's Counter. Additionally, there will be a triple rare-foiled promo card and a playmat with a guide on how to play the deck on its back. Its announcement reflects the increased focus on the globalization of the Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game, as three years ago the same deck would likely have been titled “Suzugamori Ren.”