News: Glory Maelstrom Fighter Places First in World Championship 2013 Chicago Regional Qualifier, Greece and Belgium Dominated by Dragons and Paladins

Last weekend the Chicago regional qualifier came to a surprising conclusion, with Eric Hernandez taking the regional title using his aggressive Glory Maelstrom deck, and Daniel Janas' Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD" coming in second. "THE BLOOD" has been no stranger to professional play throughout this tournament season, appearing in three of the four other world qualifiers to have taken place so far, but Maelstrom is a deck with relatively low representation in English play. This was out of an attendance of 332 persons, approximately 50 more than in the previous year. In other parts of the globe the qualifier results have been similarly varied. Belgium's qualifier for the European championship saw 81 persons in attendance, and ended with Almeida Stewart's Dragonic Overlord the End in first and Soudant Dominique's "THE BLOOD" in second, both familiar stories to western players. In Greece the qualifier had a turnout of 65 cardfighters, with Avis Samaras' Garmore-Ezel Gold Paladin deck in first and Illias Joannis' Spectral Duke Dragon in second.

Following his shot at the Toronto title, reigning world champion Brandon Smith attended the Chicago regional, bringing previous regional champion Brandon Bastianelli with him, and we were able to meet the two of them in the preregistration line. In contrast to the stable format of the Challenge Cup, which saw the majority of professional cardfighters adopting DOTE and other popular decks, the 2013 World Championship has proved unpredictable with diverse top 8s from each regional and a very diminished presence of Kagerou and Royal Paladin across the world. Smith and Bastianelli were no exception to this trend, with the world champion having drawn much attention in recent weeks for running a Great Nature deck.

"I'm running the deck I promised to last year." Bastianelli was proud to bring Great Daiyusha to Chicago. He had been preparing for this day since BT04's release last December, and while he explained that Great Daiyusha did not really suit his preferred control-based play style, it was a card that he was dedicated to out of a strong bond. "It's one of those units that I don't really like what it does with its skill, but love as a card."

When Smith was asked about his thoughts on The End in this tournament, in light of the deckbuild having dominated competitive play for the last seven months, he explained that he was no longer as concerned with it. "I'm not really worried about DOTE. I think my Majesty beatstick's better." He laughed. Smith had a thorough history with the Majesty Lord deck during the Challenge Cup, but found its sacrificial play style awkward and eventually moved on to exploring other options prior to Worlds. "Our goal today is 0 DOTEs in the top 8!"

He almost got his wish. The top 8 of the tournament had only a single The End deck present, with the top 4 coming down to Glory Maelstrom, "THE BLOOD" and two Gold Paladin decks. There was an overwhelming sense of evolution running through the tournament that day. Like Soul Saver Dragon before it, The End has become a cliché in pro play, its strategies have been memorized and the build is now known inside and out by anyone trying to contend for the world title. And so the game is changing.

Smith made it through all eight elimination rounds 7-1 that day, which put him in the top 12, but he was cut from the top 8 without a chance to participate in the tournament finals because of his tiebreakers. By contrast Bastianelli was eliminated 0-2, regretting the results but admitting that he had not done his best in maintaing focus. Where their paths will go in the rest of this season is unknown, but Bastianelli has his mind set on the future, toward BT12: Binding Force of the Black Rings and the coming of Link Joker for 2014.

Currently the favorite for the North American national championship title is Toronto regional champion Sebastien LeBon, a Nova Grappler cardfighter known for his Illuminal Dragon deck. On-site viewers at other regionals have contested the relative skill of the finalists, with LeBon's strongest contenders at this time being Johnathan Luu and Daniel Sirois from Atlanta, and Robert Ewell from LeBon's own top 4 back in Toronto. With six regionals still remaining in North America, and the Hawaii and Washington qualifiers to finish this weekend, the question of who will be representing the continent in the World Championship is still open.

Analysis: Smith versus Suharto

Smith versus Suharto, Match 3 was a cardfight played in September of 2011 at the Tokyo Dome Hotel. Played between North American national champion Brandon Smith and Asia-Oceania runner-up Henry Suharto, it is among the most famous cardfights and one of the first professional games to be recorded in video. Today it is used as a reference point for the early development of the English format's pro scene, and as an instructional tool on the value of damage control, field presence and the weaknesses of limit break. Although there were actually three matches, with match 2 going to Smith and match 1 going to Suharto, match 3 is considered the most important of the three as it was the turning point where Smith gained the upper hand and demonstrated his qualification for the world title. This was also the closest of the three games, with a clear winner being impossible to call on either end up until the last trigger check. Smith would go on to call it "one of the best matches in the history of the game."²

Circumstances of the Match
The games were played as part of World Championship 2012, the first such international championship of its kind⁴. The winner would be crowned the first world champion as a result, the highest-ranked title of any format. Popular favor was overwhelmingly turned toward Smith even before WCS2012's international rounds had begun, due to his placing first at Toronto and Los Angeles previously, while Suharto had never taken first place in any of the competitions that he had qualified in. At the time, Christopher Fernau was considered the strongest alternative candidate for the title due to his performance in the harsh European environment and his wealth of experience; Suharto outperforming him and confronting Smith in the finals was a surprise turnaround, which threw off previous predictions surrounding the world championship. While almost all official tournament matches are conducted in a best of one, double elimination format with twenty minute rounds, the WCS2012 finals allotted the total match time fifty minutes for a best of three title game. A little under half of the total time given was used for the finals.


 
The final round was covered through a NicoNico Douga livestream on one of Bushiroad's official web channels, hosted by Doctor O and Terakawa Aimi.¹ While Smith was using the same deck that he and Bastianelli had first co-built prior to the Toronto regionals, Suharto had made significant modifications to convert the deck he had used at the Asia-Oceanian championship to a Pellinore-based one, which until that point had relied on Spectral Duke Dragon.³

In match 1, Smith had the weaker opening due to completely missing the Vortimer line, but through careful damage control he was able to drive his opponent to 4-to-1 damage while they both were still at grade 2. The difference in card advantage seemed to have evened out by Suharto's third turn due to him not having a grade 3 to ride, putting them both at -1 while Smith had an immense lead in damage, but Suharto was able to turn this around by using Nimue to superior call Pellinore and superior ride into him, drive checking a critical trigger that evened out their damage zones and a draw trigger that again gave him the lead in cards. Suharto went from three cards in hand to six within a single turn, having double the hand size over Smith, who still had to ride Spectral Duke and cope with not having his typical base 11000 vanguard to rely on. This culminated in a difficult late game for Smith, as a late grade 3 drive check left him able to stop all but one attack from Suharto's field. While there were heal triggers left in his deck, Smith didn't pull one after judging himself unable to defend, and so the tide passed over in favor of Suharto.

In match 2, Smith pulled out his deck's strongest opening using Vortimer to fetch Vortimer, while Suharto had a comparatively weaker first ride with Halo Shield, Mark over Spring Breeze Messenger. Smith quickly multiplied this early game into a +3, superior calling with his grade 2 Vortimer into Viviane, then using her to superior call Elixir Sommelier to boost a Black Dragon Knight rearguard. A draw trigger that turn helped mitigate Suharto's loss in position, but the damage gap was already very wide along with the difference in control of the field. Smith played more extensive control here, blocking his opponent's Spring Breeze with intercepts and in the process, clearing two field spots for Spectral Duke Dragon's superior call in his third turn. In that turn, the North American champion chose to retire one of the new rearguards that he had called, effectively trading out the Sommelier of the previous turn for a rearguard Vortimer and Spectral Duke line. While this did maintain Suharto's at-the-time 1-card advantage, it allowed Smith to form three strong rearguard lines while Suharto was already going into the turn at 3-to-2 damage, and with Gigantech Destroyer and Sleygal Dagger forming a base 21000 line, he could then push for an immediate endgame while his opponent was still at grade 2. A critical trigger that turn sealed this move, forcing his opponent to defend both of his rearguard lines. Suharto at this stage had Viviane as his vanguard, so even damage checking a trigger did not do much to help his defense, due to the 14000 defense still needing to drop 10000 shield to stop Gigantech and Spectral Duke. Suharto went into his grade 3 turn at -2 to 0 and 5-to-2 damage. In contrast to Suharto's defensive problems, Smith was able to drop a single trigger on his opponent's vanguard for a base 21000 defense, making use of Duke's continuous skill to ensure that Pellinore would need two triggers to pass through. Smith won the match still at three damage, without ever making use of his limit break.

The Game
Turns 1-2
[V] Spring Breeze Messenger (5000) versus Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer (4000)
Smith's hand:  6. Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Little Battler Tron, Silent Punisher, Elixir Sommelier, Spectral Duke Dragon.
Damage: 0/6
Triggers left in deck: 13
Net advantage:  0
Suharto's hand: 5. Great Silver Wolf Garmore, Halo Shield Mark, Silent Punisher, Player of the Holy Bow Viviane, Flame of Victory.
Damage: 0/6
Triggers left in deck: 14
Net advantage: 0
Smith opens with his only copy of Tron (6000) moving Vortimer to the back of his vanguard line for +1. Suharto takes the stronger opening on turn 2, riding the Nimue (7000) that he draws and moving Spring Breeze behind his own vanguard line for his own +1, then drive checking Flame of Victory (Critical Trigger +5000 power / +1 critical.) Smith damage checks Beaumains and Mark.

Turns 3-4
[V] Spring Breeze Messenger (5000) boosting Player of the Holy Axe, Nimue (7000) versus Little Battle, Tron (6000) boosted by Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer (4000)
Smith's hand:  6. Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Silent Punisher, Elixir Sommelier, Spectral Duke Dragon, Spectral Duke Dragon.
Damage: 2/6 (Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Halo Shield Mark)
Triggers left in deck: 13
Net advantage:  +1
Suharto's hand: 6. Great Silver Wolf Garmore, Halo Shield Mark, Silent Punisher, Player of the Holy Bow Viviane, Flame of Victory, Flame of Victory.
Damage: 0/6
Triggers left in deck: 13
Net advantage: +1
Smith rides Beaumains (10000) and drive checks Sleygal Dagger. Suharto damage checks Mark.

On turn 4, Suharto rides Viviane (9000) but his vanguard line is guarded by Elixir Sommelier (S20000.) Because Viviane and Spring Breeze can only go for 14000 together, even with a trigger they will not be allowed to pass through; while Smith is no longer tied for card lead, his choice to protect on this turn causes the damage lead from Suharto's earlier critical to be nullified while also making any potential critical this turn wasted. Smith is taking advantage of an opening that Suharto's plays have created.

Suharto drive checks Listener of Truth, Dindrane.

Turn 5
[V] Spring Breeze Messenger (5000) boosting Player of the Holy Bow, Viviane (9000) versus Knight of Superior Skills, Beaumains (10000) boosted by Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer (4000)
Smith's hand:  6. Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Silent Punisher, Spectral Duke Dragon, Black Dragon Knight Vortimer, Spectral Duke Dragon, Sleygal Dagger.
Damage: 2/6 (Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Halo Shield Mark)
Triggers left in deck: 13
Net advantage:  0
Suharto's hand: 7. Great Silver Wolf Garmore, Halo Shield Mark, Silent Punisher, Flame of Victory, Flame of Victory, Great Silver Wolf Garmore, Listener of Truth Dindrane.
Damage: 1/6 (Halo Shield Mark)
Triggers left in deck: 13
Net advantage: +1
Smith rides Spectral Duke Dragon but because he drew his grade 2 Vortimer late, he only has a base 10000 Duke to rely on. Smith calls a rearguard Duke Dragon (10000) with Sleygal Dagger (7000) to his left line, and Vortimer (9000) to his right. Vortimer is guarded by Dindrane, while Smith's vanguard goes unguarded, drive checking Gareth and Flame of Victory (Critical Trigger +5000 power / +1 critical); the critical goes to the vanguard and the power goes to the rearguard Spectral Duke. Suharto damage checks Beaumains and Sacred Guardian Beast, Nemean Lion. Rearguard Spectral Duke (22000) is likewise unguarded. Suharto damage checks Speeder Hound (Draw Trigger +5000 power / draw 1.)

The triggers in play on this turn are interesting. Suharto's defense and Smith's critical mean that the game state would have returned to being essential neutral, with both fighters having dealt the same amount of damage and having lost the same amount of cards, but the supporting rearguards and Suharto's draw trigger means that Smith has a damage lead while Suharto still has his +1 over Smith's 0.

Turn 6
[R] No rearguards versus Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer (9000)
[V] Spring Breeze Messenger (5000) boosting Player of the Holy Bow, Viviane (9000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) boosted by Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer (4000)
[R] No rearguards versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) boosted by Sleygal Dagger (7000)
Smith's hand:  4. Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Silent Punisher, Knight of Elegant Skills Gareth, Flame of Victory.
Damage: 2/6 (Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Halo Shield Mark)
Triggers left in deck: 12
Net advantage:  0
Suharto's hand: 8. Great Silver Wolf Garmore, Halo Shield Mark, Silent Punisher, Flame of Victory, Flame of Victory, Great Silver Wolf Garmore, Knight of Elegant Skills Gareth, Speeder Hound.
Damage: 4/6 (Halo Shield Mark, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Sacred Guardian Beast Nemean Lion, Speeder Hound)
Triggers left in deck: 11
Net advantage: +1
Suharto rides Great Silver Wolf, Garmore (10000) activating his counterblast 2 to superior call one grade 2 or lower Gold Paladin; Sacred Guardian Beast, Nemean Lion (8000.) Suharto calling Lion is a trick to defensively gain "one and a half" cards instead of just one out of Garmore, due to Nemean's especial intercept allowing him to play with an additional +5000 shield. This is also one of the more sensible calls that he could make in this situation, since the Gareth that Speeder Hound just gave him forms a base 16000 line with Nemean, and his front row is currently incomplete with this hand while Smith has almost filled the field already. Suharto still has one Dindrane left in his deck at this point, so while he could have gone for a straight +2 and access more of his deck while having a full line with Garmore, the better offensive field was more valuable.

Suharto calls Garmore (10000) to his left line and Gareth (8000) to boost Lion. Rearguard Garmore retires Vortimer, while the vanguard Garmore activates his limit break 4 for +5000 power, targeting Smith's Dragon (20000 v. 10000.) Smith does not guard; Suharto drive checks Halo Shield, Mark and Elixir Sommelier (Heal Trigger +5000 power / heal 1) giving the power to Nemean and healing his counterblasted Lion from his damage zone. Smith damage checks Beaumains. Suharto activates Spring Breeze Messenger's skill, counterblasting 1 to move Spring Breeze to the soul and look at up to 3 cards from the top of his deck to superior call one Gold Paladin at rest. Suharto sees Lop Ear Shooter, Speeder Hound and Gareth. After comparing it to his hand, Suharto calls Lop Ear, activating Lop Ear's skill by discarding Speeder Hound from his hand to look at three more cards and superior call one at rest. This time he sees Flame of Victory, Nimue and White Hare in the Moon's Shadow, Pellinore. Suharto superior calls Pellinore (10000) then activates Pellinore's skill, discarding Flame of Victory to superior ride Pellinore, in the process standing his vanguard.

Pellinore (10000) attacks the vanguard Duke Dragon, but is defended by Flame of Victory (S20000.) Suharto drive checks Beaumains and Speeder Hound (Draw Trigger +5000 power / draw 1) giving the power to Nemean Lion. Nemean Lion (26000) goes unguarded, Smith damage checks Flame of Victory (Critical Trigger +5000 power / critical +1.)

This is one of the longer moves of the match, and somewhat complicated, but the end result is that Suharto starts his main phase with a sum +2 when Smith is at 0, then stretches this out into a three-card difference by giving Smith a -1 when his rearguard Garmore retires Vortimer. After that, Suharto heals one damage with his heal trigger, equalizing the difference in damage while firmly establishing himself in the lead through card advantage. This snowballs because at attack he was already at limit break and going for 20000 with Spring Breeze versus Smith's 10000 base, making the attack impossibie to stop if Smith wanted to survive the match. This put Smith in a dangerously compromised position where he could not control the flow of the game. Spring Breeze's skill initially makes no total changes to the advantage in play, but once Lop Ear's activates Suharto gets a +1; remember that Pellinore is only a +2 when superior riding from grade 2, although in this case his draw trigger check gives an additional +1. In this situation what we should consider is that Suharto added four and a half cards difference between him and Smith through multiple superior calls, and activated a second twin drive. The total advantage is now +4.5 to -2 when it started out as +1 to 0, giving the impression that this would go on to be a repeat of the first round.

Turn 7
[R] Lop Ear Shooter (9000) and Great Silver Wolf, Garmore (10000) versus No rearguards
[V] White Hare in the Moon's Shadow, Pellinore (10000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) boosted by Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer (4000)
[R] Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth (8000) boosting Nemean Lion (8000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) boosted by Sleygal Dagger (7000)
Smith's hand:  4. Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Silent Punisher, Knight of Elegant Skills Gareth, Elixir Sommelier.
Damage: 4/6 (Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Halo Shield Mark, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Flame of Victory)
Triggers left in deck: 10
Net advantage:  -2
Suharto's hand: 8. Halo Shield Mark, Silent Punisher, Flame of Victory, Halo Shield Mark, Elixir Sommelier, Speeder Hound, Silent Punisher, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains.
Damage: 3/6 (Halo Shield Mark, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Speeder Hound)
Triggers left in deck: 9
Net advantage: +4.5
Smith calls Elixir Sommelier (5000) and Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth (8000) to fill in for Vortimer. The use of these two is interesting. Together, they have 13000 power, just enough to force out 10000 shield needed for Nemean Lion's defense; at that point, the Lion is no longer worth defending due to its total shield equaling what was needed to protect it, effectively negating the plus-one-half even if Suharto had blocks the attack, bringing him down to 4 v. -1 no matter how he moves. Suharto chooses to let the Lion be retired.

The vanguard Spectral Duke Dragon (14000) goes after Pellinore, Suharto defends with Silent Punisher and Speeder Hound (S25000) guaranteeing that Duke cannot get through. Smith drive checks Elixir Sommelier (Heal Trigger +5000 power / heal 1) giving the power to his rearguard Duke and healing Flame of Victory from his damage zone, then checks Viviane. The heal trigger becomes something of a mixed bag because even though it helps to prolong Smith's game, it prevents him from limit breaking, and it could be presumed from his call of Elixir Sommelier that he was intending to sacrifice Sommelier, Gareth and Vortimer for the break. Considering Suharto's hand however, it's doubtful just how effective this would be.

Rearguard Spectral Duke Dragon (22000) targets Pellinore. Suharto damage checks Viviane.

Note that Suharto checks Duke Dragon's soul when he attacks, and sees that there is no Black Dragon Knight there. This becomes a point of contention in approximately fifty seconds.

Turn 8
[R] Lop Ear Shooter (9000) and Great Silver Wolf, Garmore (10000) versus Elixir Sommelier (5000) boosted by Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth (8000)
[V] White Hare in the Moon's Shadow, Pellinore (10000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) boosted by Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer (4000)
[R] Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth (8000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) boosted by Sleygal Dagger (7000)
Smith's hand: 4. Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Silent Punisher, Elixir Sommelier, Player of the Holy Bow Viviane.
Damage: 3/6 (Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Halo Shield Mark, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains)
Triggers left in deck: 9
Net advantage:  -2
Suharto's hand: 7. Halo Shield Mark, Flame of Victory, Halo Shield Mark, Elixir Sommelier, Silent Punisher, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Flame of Victory.
Damage: 4/6 (Halo Shield Mark, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Speeder Hound, Player of the Holy Bow Viviane)
Triggers left in deck: 8
Net advantage: +1
Suharto calls Beaumains (10000) to replace his lost Lion, then calls Flame of Victory (4000) behind Pellinore. This is the fatal move; Suharto eventually needs this 10000 shield to survive through turn 11, but he's instead calling Flame to boost Pellinore. His intentions aren't wholly clear; he could be intending to send Shooter and Victory to the deck for Pellinore's limit break to throw Beaumains up to 28000 or having a 15000 Pellinore and 23000 Beaumains while recycling a trigger with some other shuffle effect, so that when he inevitably loses the card advantage by having to replace a backrow grade 2, he can at least translate that to the opponent needing to expend more cards to defend, but this never actually materializes. It would seem as though Suharto has mistakenly assumed that Spectral Duke Dragon is at an 11000 base and that he needs the boost to hit, but he had already checked Duke Dragon's soul on the preceding turn and seen that Vortimer was not there. Whatever the case, calling Victory is an immediate mistake that costs him the game, and it's a rare example of a call actively decreasing advantage by -1 instead of influencing no change or increasing it.

Pellinore (14000) attacks the vanguard. Smith guards with Elixir Sommelier (S20000), repeating his play from turn 4. Suharto now needs two triggers to pass, but because he has to check them one at a time, he would have to be very desperate to put the first one on his vanguard and bank on the second also being a trigger unit. Suharto drive checks Elixir Sommelier (Heal Trigger +5000 power / heal 1) healing his counterblasted Beaumains from his damage zone and giving the power to Garmore. He then drive checks a second Elixir Sommelier (Heal Trigger +5000 power / heal 1) healing Speeder Hound from his zone and once again passing the power to Garmore.

Beaumains (18000) targets the vanguard. Smith defends with Silent Punisher (S20000.) Garmore (20000) follows up unboosted, and Smith damage checks Spectral Duke Dragon.

Turn 9
[R] Lop Ear Shooter (9000) and Great Silver Wolf, Garmore (10000) versus Elixir Sommelier (5000) boosted by Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth (8000)
[V] Flame of Victory (4000) boosting White Hare in the Moon's Shadow, Pellinore (10000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) boosted by Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer (4000)
[R] Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth (8000) boosting Knight of Superior Skills, Beaumains (10000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) boosted by Sleygal Dagger (7000)
Smith's hand: 3. Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Player of the Holy Bow Viviane, Black Dragon Knight Vortimer.
Damage: 4/6 (Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Halo Shield Mark, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Spectral Duke Dragon)
Triggers left in deck: 9
Net advantage:  -4
Suharto's hand: 7. Halo Shield Mark, Halo Shield Mark, Elixir Sommelier, Silent Punisher, Flame of Victory, Elixir Sommelier, Elixir Sommelier.
Damage: 2/6 (Halo Shield Mark, Player of the Holy Bow Viviane)
Triggers left in deck: 6
Net advantage: 0
Sommelier (13000) attacks Pellinore. Suharto stops it with Elixir Sommelier (S20000.) Smith's vanguard Spectral Duke Dragon (14000) follows up, Suharto defends with another Sommelier (S20000.) This is a debatable call; it's clear that Smith is setting up for the limit break that he missed last turn, so any triggers that he checks are naturally going to go onto Spectral Duke, but Suharto has no base 5000 shield units in hand and most likely does not want to waste 10000 on the attack. It would be arguably better to call "no guard" in this situation rather than place a weak defense.

Smith drive checks Weapons Dealer, Gwydion (Draw Trigger +5000 power / draw 1) giving the power to his vanguard, them checks Flame of Victory (Critical Trigger +5000 power / +1 critical) placing all of it on his vanguard (24000 critical 2.) Suharto damage checks Garmore and Lop Ear Shooter. Smith counterblasts 2 to activate Spectral Duke Dragon's limit break 4, retiring Elixir Sommelier, Gareth and Vortimer to stand his vanguard and lose twin drive; however, Duke Dragon retains the effects of his checked triggers. He attacks Pellinore once more (20000 critical 2), and Suharto defends with Silent Punisher and Elixir Sommelier (S30000.) Smith drive checks Silent Punisher (Critical Trigger +5000 power / critical +1) giving all effects to his rearguard Spectral Duke Dragon.

Rearguard Duke Dragon (22000 critical 2) attacks Pellinore. Suharto intercepts with Beaumains and guards with Flame of Victory (S25000.) To recap, Suharto has just lost six cards in one turn while Smith has changed out three for one, for a net comparison of -6 to -6. With equal damage, both fighters are now once again in a neutral game state. Despite that, the situation is clearly not the same for each of them--Suharto's cards are distributed through his field, in poor positions with Lop Ear in the back line where it can't intercept and Flame of Victory unable to defend, while Smith's are concentrated in his hand, giving him greater longevity than Suharto.

Turn 10
[R] Lop Ear Shooter (9000) and Great Silver Wolf, Garmore (10000) versus No rearguards
[V] Flame of Victory (4000) boosting White Hare in the Moon's Shadow, Pellinore (10000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000)
[R] Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth (8000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) boosted by Sleygal Dagger (7000)
Smith's hand: 7. Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Player of the Holy Bow Viviane, Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Flame of Victory, Silent Punisher, Flame of Victory, Weapons Dealer Gwydion.
Damage: 4/6 (Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Halo Shield Mark, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Spectral Duke Dragon)
Triggers left in deck: 6
Net advantage:  -6
Suharto's hand: 3. Halo Shield Mark, Halo Shield Mark, White Hare in the Moon's Shadow Pellinore.
Damage: 4/6 (Halo Shield Mark, Player of the Holy Bow Viviane, Great Silver Wolf Garmore, Lop Ear Shooter)
Triggers left in deck: 6
Net advantage: -6
Suharto calls Pellinore (10000) to fill in for Beaumains, then attacks with his vanguard (14000) at the vanguard. Smith defends with Silent Punisher and Gwydion (S25000) guaranteeing that the attack will not pass. Suharto drive checks Garmore and Elixir Sommelier (Heal Trigger +5000 power / heal 1) giving the power to Garmore and healing Lop Ear Shooter from his zone. Garmore (15000) targets Smith's vanguard, but is stopped by Flame of Victory (S20000.) Rearguard Pellinore (18000) attacks the vanguard, and is blocked by a second Flame of Victory (S20000.)

Turn 11
[R] Lop Ear Shooter (9000) and Great Silver Wolf, Garmore (10000) versus No rearguards
[V] Flame of Victory (4000) boosting White Hare in the Moon's Shadow, Pellinore (10000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000)
[R] Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth (8000) boosting White Hare in the Moon's Shadow, Pellinore (10000) versus Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) boosted by Sleygal Dagger (7000)
Smith's hand: 4. Player of the Holy Bow Viviane, Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Weapons Dealer Gwydion, Black Dragon Knight Vortimer.
Damage: 4/6 (Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Halo Shield Mark, Knight of Superior Skills Beaumains, Spectral Duke Dragon)
Triggers left in deck: 5
Net advantage:  -10
Suharto's hand: 4. Halo Shield Mark, Halo Shield Mark, Great Silver Wolf Garmore, Elixir Sommelier.
Damage: 3/6 (Halo Shield Mark, Player of the Holy Bow Viviane, Great Silver Wolf Garmore)
Triggers left in deck: 5
Net advantage: -6
Smith calls Gwydion (5000) to boost his vanguard, then Viviane (9000) and Gwydion (5000) to fill out his last line. Rearguard Duke Dragon (17000) attacks Pellinore, Suharto stops the attack with Elixir Sommelier (S20000.) Smith attacks with his vanguard (15000), Suharto chooses not to defend. Smith drive checks Gigantech Destroyer and Halo Shield, Mark. Suharto damage checks his second Spring Breeze Messenger. Smith activates Spectral Duke Dragon's limit break 4, counterblasting 2 and retiring his rearguard Duke Dragon, Sleygal Dagger and Gwydion to stand his vanguard and lose twin drive.

Spectral Duke Dragon (10000) attacks Pellinore, Suharto declares "no guard." At this point, Suharto's play is paralyzed because he has just three cards in hand. The only thing that he has to defend with is a single Mark; if he drops one, he will not be able to drop the other because of Mark's discard. Had he chosen not to guard the rearguard Spectral Duke Dragon, he could easily make it through the turn, but in this situation he has to hope that Smith does not get a trigger and then use up his remaining defense on Viviane. At this point, there are no heal triggers left in Suharto's deck, so a critical trigger will end the game.

Smith drive checks Silent Punisher (Critical Trigger +5000 power / critical +1) giving the critical to Spectral Duke Dragon and the power to Viviane. Suharto damage checks Dindrane and Beaumains; Brandon Smith becomes the 2012 world champion.

The Fatal Move
From the seventh turn onward, both fighters were forced to deal with poor fields and their respective gains rapidly evaporating. In this situation, the match became very tight, with the lead rapidly bouncing between finalists. Navigating these scenarios, particularly the endgame, is difficult and takes extensive experience. Turn 8 is where Suharto erred--calling Flame of Victory only deprived his hand of 10000 shield, because Smith did not have Vortimer in the soul and so Pellinore could already hit Spectral Duke Dragon, while either unboosted or not by this trigger unit, Smith would still drop one trigger to make the attack need two to hit. This effectively put Suharto at an immediate -1, as with that one 10000 shield he would have had enough cards in turn 11 to defend and potentially launch a counterattack on turn 12.

Smith's use of Spectral Duke Dragon's limit break in his final turn did more than launch a killing attack. It allowed Smith to trade out his front row Spectral Duke for a unit with higher shield. The move was necessary even if it had not been the finishing blow, because he would likely not have been able to defend through the next turn without it. Suharto's choice to not defend here was heavily criticized at the time of the finals, but by all reckoning he could not have defended. He had four cards in hand at the start of the turn, had already defended with Sommelier, would need to drop one more for Mark and still had to account for Smith's remaining Viviane line while only having one card in hand at that point. If he stopped Duke with Mark, any potential triggers would go to Viviane, which Suharto had no way of defending against. Effectively, it was impossible for him to make a good move that involved defending after blocking the rearguard Duke Dragon. His losing move was then calling Flame of Victory, who would have an extra 10000 shield to defend with, enough to stop Viviane and Gwydion after factoring in the trigger.

Citations and External Links
1. "Brandon Smith Wins Cardfight!! Vanguard World Championship 2012." Anime News Network. Bushiroad Inc., 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2013. <http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2012-12-12/brandon-smith-wins-cardfight-vanguard-world-championship-2012>.
2. Cavanaugh, Katherine. "Store clerk wins world title for card game." Daily Tribune 23 Dec. 2012 [Royal Oak, Michigan] : A1+. Print.
3. "DeckRecipe." CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD. Bushiroad Inc., 13 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2013. <http://cf-vanguard.com/en/cardlist/deckrecipe/WC2012_Finals>.
4. "Tournaments/Events." CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD. Bushiroad Inc., 18 June 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2013. <http://cf-vanguard.com/en/event/>.

How Long Can the Golden Goose Keep Laying?

Photo by rawritzrichii, seek consent before reposting.

In light of the December 9 results and the close of the 2012 World Championship, one thing has become clear; the Gold Paladins are strong. They have become the third most prolific clan in history, on the heels of Kagerou and their Royal predecessors. Being able to fill the field, draw new cards and break traditional defenses with powerful limit breaks are all key aspects of their success. Bandwagoning is also an element here--if 98 out of 100 decks at a tournament are Etranger, then at least 6 of the top 8 decks will be Etranger regardless of if those decks are any good. Even considering this however, the strengths of the clan are very real. At the very least, Smith, Bastianelli and Fernau did believe in the clan's power. In the world of pros, they are a real threat, but like any other threat they have weaknesses.

In particular, their dominant weakness has been evident since the first booster set. Garmore is the best card that the clan has ever printed; Ezel is only ever run for the opportunity to superior ride him, and occasionally his autoskill when stalling for Garmore. If the Gold Paladins had an exact copy of the King of Knights or of Soul Saver Dragon, that would be run instead. Spectral Duke Dragon is not the monster in Japan that he is on our side of the Pacific, because his sometimes-on sometimes-off +1000, intended to attack independently multiple times in a match, functions poorly in a format where stable 11000, 12000 and 13000 dominate. Even the Gold Paladins' coming crossride, Platina Ezel, is considered vastly inferior to previously-revealed crossrides that were not reliant on being at five damage. The End and even Goddess Amaterasu woul be run instead if they had Gold Paladin equivalents. Probably the most harrowing difficulty for the clan is that the general design theme is "Royal Paladin but weakened." There is no doubt that if sets 4 and 5 had been available during WCS2012, the clan would have been vastly undermined by Majesty Lord Blaster. This leaves a pressing question for the western community of Gold Paladin cardfighters who have grown endeared to their clan.

Come February, BT05 will be available, and by all estimates will be a serious factor in WCS2013. Where does that leave the Gold Paladin cardfighter? For how long can the golden goose keep laying? This is entirely dependent on BT10: Triumphant Return of the King of Knights. The recent team tournament results have shown that both primary variants of Gold Paladin can work well on the same team as Royal Paladin and Oracle Think Tank decks, much as Kagerou did in the 2011 Grand Prix team tournaments, but Platina/Spectral Duke is also competing for that space with Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD," who has seated himself as a new, ultimate break-impaired The End. We have yet to see how Platina holds up to its contemporaries in the seniors' and juniors' divisions, or to the new, Tsukuyomi-derived Blaster build.

Liberator Gancelot is an excellent replacement for Platina, hitting 23000 on-attack with Tron or Llew and throwing a second Gancelot up to 33000 with his break ride. Gancelot is not just an upgrade, but also a countercard that close to replaces the BT09 play style. However, one card cannot carry a clan. The Liberator subgroup is definitely one of the most powerful subgroups to ever be designed, but like all Gold Paladin decks, it is still reliant on first vanguards that depend on Ezel or Pellinore. Running Corron or Kyrph means running Ezel and/or Gareth with Beaumains, severely restricting a deck that would ideally be composed as close to as purely of Liberator units as possible. Running Spring Breeze means running Lop Ear Shooter and potentially Dindrane for an overall similar restriction, but even more than that, it means running Pellinore who has been ruled as not being a superior ride and as a result, canceling Gancelot's carefully-prepared break ride. Gold Paladin cardfighters are left holding out for the new Wingal Liberator and with him the new Alfred, leaving the future murky and uncertain for a clan that in Japan was repeatedly established as underdogs. Even beyond this, the Eradicator and Dudley subgroups are already receiving quite a bit of attention from pros as more likely to replace Spectral Duke and Garmore/Gancelot, respectively.

The English pro scene will soon be left to clash over the set that will finally induct us into the crossride format that has defined much of Japan's professional play for the past year. Despite that, it is already clear that The End will not be storming the format as some doomsayers have predicted. There are two reasons for this; first, the English scene is becoming updated with the more recent sets at a relatively fast pace, introducing new counter decks and reinforcing past decks. Second, the focus of Vanguard has shifted. We are at the end of an era--you could call it the end of the vanguard. Powerful vanguards are no longer a concern in the new format. No matter how much power you gain or extra critical you add on, this cannot circumvent a perfect defense card, cards which in the English format have been standardized at four copies by limit break. While some predictions say that Glory Maelstrom will respond to this by ending the perfect defense, the situation is not equal. While he does get over Duke's base power consistency issues, the new Maelstrom can only do this when he is on the brink of death, and it's clear from playtesting by now that fighting a Maelstrom deck is a matter of changing one's play style. Shields are placed earlier and more frequently, the rearguard becomes the focus of defense, and the vanguard is either not guarded against or grade 0s are conserved for fighting Glory and perfect defense goes to the rear. The situation plays out like jan-ken-pon; the Gold Paladins are undermined by Majesty, who is locked down by The End, who is shut out by Gold Paladin counterdecks that are defeated by Majesty. The most prominent major player living outside of these restrictions is Oracle Think Tank, whose CoCo and Battle Sister play styles neatly stops both the Blaster deck and crossride decks in their tracks, but even they then fall to the Gold Paladins. To who does the throne at the top of the world go to from here? This year's cup is open to everyone.

I am not in the business of naming kings. Blaster Blade Liberator will probably be revealed close to or over the weekend, being the final card from TD08 and TD09 to go unrevealed. This unit will be our last chance before February to gauge the new Gold Paladin, and with it how the Gold Paladin cardfighters of the previous year will plan for WCS2013. While my own investment is strictly centered on my personal clan, it will be interesting to see cardfighters both in the United States and abroad rethink their strategies. The natural position, even not knowing exactly what BT10 will bring, is to assume that Gancelot will be supported by Alfred, with extra copies of the Liberator himself replacing Gigantech Destroyer and Manawydan as a rearguard grade 3, but some fighters may still stick by Garmore or even find the "perfect" offensive grade 3 in Dignified Gold Dragon, who combines the Silver Wolf's and the Destroyer's roles into a single unit. How will traditional Gold Paladin fare once the Liberator subgroup hits the scene? Spectral Duke is largely forecasted to fall into the background in the February-on format, but is there some innovation remaining to rework the deck? Furthermore, there exists an interperiod between the release of trial decks 8 and 9, and the coming of BT10; while there are no official tournaments hosted in this period, there will be ample time for casual play and experimentation. Will we see them synthesized with Platina in an offshoot deck as Galahad and Soul Saver were once synthesized by Masuda?

The parallels are interesting; Gancelot and Alfred were once the first and perfect Royal deck, but were outmoded within three months by BT02's Soul Saver, and yet here we are, once again looking at Gancelot and Alfred, this time as the last Gold Paladin deck. Maligned and potentially unhealthy in large doses as they are, Cardfight does not end with the Gold Paladins. The scene has only evolved further.

My Time with the World Champion; Reworking the Shadow Paladin Deck

Going into this tournament, I had no illusions of placing first. I had heard of the event purely by coincidence--my main objective was always to meet and interview the world champion, but when we called to ask about their hours, my father came out of the phone call telling me about a commemorative tournament. I wasn't certain of the circumstances, but if Mr. Smith were participating, I wanted to show him my ability at a fighter.

I was determined to use my Shadow Paladin deck. Spectral Duke-based Gold Paladin was a temporary clan that I'd adapted for the purposes of the world championship because BT04 was not available at the time, they were not my deck and I was and remain eager to get rid of them. This was a difficult situation. Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows, the Shadow Paladins' proper debut set, was released internationally on the 14th, but the tournament was on the 16th. I had only two days and two boxes to get together a deck with. Making matters worse, my local shop tournament on the 15th had been called off because of low attendance--the Yu-Gi-Oh! regionals had apparently drawn most of the regulars away. Only two other fighters had arrived that day, so I was only able to trade for a third Blaster Dark and a third The Dark Dictator. Ideally, I wouldn't be running three of the latter, but I had to adapt my strategy because I didn't have a second Phantom Blaster Dragon, so I couldn't fall back on his defense when building up a strategy. It would be like trying to play Aqua Force without Maelstrom; doable, but much more difficult.

To resolve the issue, I studied decks from the 2011 Grand Prix. That was the last major Japanese tournament in which BT04 was the most recently released set, so it was my ideal starting point for finding new strategies. As it happens, there was only one Shadow Paladin pro at the time, Sakamoto Kiyomasa, an elementary school boy from the Hakata ward of Fukuoka. He'd placed fourth in the regional tournament, but fourth place out of several hundred fighters was still very good.

Although it's not entirely certain, the kanji on their award papers suggests that Sakamoto Kiyomasa is probably the boy wearing glasses, second from the right.

I had taken a look at his deck once before because we shared clans, but back then I had been absolutely baffled by it. Still, I tried to remain objective and see the deck for its real strengths rather than focus on weaknesses alone. Probably the most startling thing about it was that the deck ran twenty grade 0s, using three copies of Zapbau. Zapbau was effectively a Stardust Trumpeter for the Shadow Paladins, a grade 0 that you run if you're only buying packs instead of boxes and haven't pulled Fullbau yet. Modern booster sets don't even print them--after the sixth set, Breaker of Limits, Bushiroad had chosen to just throw a bone to those cardfighters and give them clan-specific copies of Bermuda Triangle Cadet Shizuku, who at least moved to the rearguard when ridden over. The fact that Sakamoto had been using three of them in addition to Fullbau, looked bizarre.

I worked out what he had been doing quickly enough. Zapbau has a unique combination of base 6000 power and 10000 shield, something that no grade 0 has normally. The majority of trigger units have either 5000 or 4000 power, to balance them for having 10000 shield, which gives a much more powerful defense than you can get from grade 1 and 2 units. Battleraizer and Lozenge Magus-type triggers are the only units to give a 6000 power boost, and they return to the deck after doing so, again to balance that they give equally good offense and defensive power. Zapbau is useful for forming lines that reach 15-16000 power, while also giving an extra 10000 shield than normal. In that way, he can compensate for a lack of perfect defense cards. This was another point of Sakamoto's deck, he had no copies of Dark Shield, Mac Lir. Without Mac Lir, he had no guaranteed way of stopping powerful vanguard attacks.

I had an advantage over Sakamoto, in that I had one copy of Mac Lir, and could use the remaining three Zapbau to compensate. It wouldn't be a perfect replacement, but it would be enough to let me defend against several current decks like Garmore-Ezel and in a mirror match, my very own Shadow Paladins. I also had Knight of Fighting Spirit Dordona, a second base 10000 grade 2 that also forms those 16000 lines with Zapbau. A Shadow Paladin deck that runs the Fullbau-Blaster Dark line can also run as few as eight grade 2s and reach that grade with the same reliability as a deck that's running ten, although just because you can do so doesn't mean you always should. This was a desperate retuning of my deck on my part; I wouldn't encourage anyone to follow my example.

A last-minute trade was able to secure for me my first copy of Skull Witch, Nemain, who proved instrumental later in the tournament. This trade let me work out the final problems with my deck, in particular riding Badhabh Caar. I cut my third Caar from the deck to run just seven grade 3s--my preferred number for riding from one grade to the next securely--then included another Dordona to help prevent riding Nemain. This was the final balancing point for my deck. The whole situation was very precarious, so even that one Caar made all the difference. Contrary to what I thought, there was no entry fee, but since I came prepared to pay one anyway I bought a BT04 pack, partly to thank the shop and partly to test my luck, hoping to get at least a fourth Blaster Dark. The pack's rare card was Water Gang--I've been getting a lot of Megacolony lately. My second box had the RRR Evil Armor General, Giraffa when I would have preferred a second Phantom, but there was no helping it.

As I recall, there were seventeen or more participants in all. By the time the opening matches began, I had dispelled all thoughts of whether I could or couldn't place highly in the tournament. I was focused entirely on winning the fight in front of me. There were fifty minutes to a round, each was best of three with who took the first turn decided by die roll, and the loser of each match would go first in the next one.

My first matchup was against a Dragonic Lawkeeper-Dragon Monk Goku fusion with Dragonic Overlord included for rearguard support. I've written about the original deck from 2011, but the Lawkeeper-Goku fusion is a modern innovation of the English pro scene that I'd already faced several times before, particularly at the Chicago regional championship. I knew the deck's specialties inside and out, although most modern takes don't seem to use Overlord in favor of leaving the counterblast to Berserk. My first game was lost when the opponent surprised me by riding Overlord, but in the second he rode Lawkeeper instead while I was on The Dark Dictator. He kept firing off Lawkeeper's limit break to bind my rearguards and retire one at the end of the turn, but Zapbau made defending very easy on me and at the end of every turn I would call Badhabh Caar before the others to use his skill to superior call the top card of the deck, ensuring that Lawkeeper did not give him any advantage. I actually gained 5000 shield by superior calling Dordona in this way, and was also able to consistently keep The Dark Dictator at 20000 power to pressure Lawkeeper. It was a very long match, more than a half hour in all I think, but I directed the fight to a situation where the opponent could no longer defend, then brought out a second ride of The Dark Dictator and used his soulblast to finish him at five damage.

For the third match, because of the length of the second we hit overtime quickly. I was actually going to be gradelocked, so knowing from experience where that would lead me in the late game, after riding Charon for my grade 1 turn I called a full line of Abyss Freezer and began to mount a complete attack. I admit, I completely forgot about the overtime rule--once the round runs out of time, the fighter with more damage loses, or if it's tied play continues until someone takes damage. (Heal triggers will prolong the match because they are not part of the damage zone when they activate, so after a heal trigger is resolved the damage is equal.) I brought out a critical trigger on the previous turn, so my opponent was at three and overtime was called in their battle phase, right after they had dealt two. Looking at my hand back then, I had plenty of trigger units and Zapbau to defend with, so even if we were tied there would be no way that I would take damage that turn.

In the second round I played a Great Nature cardfighter, running a Leo-pald deck with Magnet Crocodile for the rearguard. The first game was won with the opponent locked at grade 1 and myself having pulled out Dictator's soulblast, but you can probably imagine my surprise when in the second game the opponent pulled out the grade 4 Silvest. My play up until that point had been good, but I hadn't taken enough of an early lead to overcome Silvest's 13000 base and 31000+ power every turn. I knew that the match was likely over when he rode it, but I have a philosophy of continuing play until the very last damage is checked. That second match was lost, but the third was won easily with a strong rearguard setup for Dictator and my opponent already taking heavy damage while stand triggers meant that he was being pressured while I was at grade 2, but he ended up gradelocked again and resigned the match by the time I reached Dictator. In the previous match he'd ridden Crocodile before reaching Silvest, and I was looking forward to playing Leo-pald in the third match as Great Nature is one of my favorite clans--they require very smart play to fight well with--but that was how things broke down.

The third round was versus an Angel Feather deck running the Ergodiel line with Kiriel and Shamsiel both as alternatives. My opponent had very strong rearguard setup with the Pegasus line breaking 25000+ every turn, so to counter this I guarded their other attacks, dropping Zapbau versus his unboosted vanguard line, and then only took damage from the Pegasus setup. Since eventually he started running out of ways to set them up, and had to sacrifice card advantage by soulcharging Nociel, I was able to play damage control throughout our matches and drain his hand with Dictator's soulblast. The second match was won by planning from the first turn, until he had only 5000 shield left in hand and 5000 on the field, but he also had four heal triggers left in the deck due to boosting with Sunny Smile earlier. To deal with this as best I could I rode Phantom Blaster Dragon while he was at five damage, then used Phantom Blaster's counterblast to make a 29000 Critical 2 line versus Kiriel so that he would need two consecutive heal triggers to survive. It did not go well for him.

The fourth round was actually against Brandon Bastianelli. That was a surreal experience for me, cardfighting someone that I'd written articles about, but it was an amazing pair of matches. He was running a Dimension Police deck, using Super Dimensional Robo, Daiyusha and Enigman Storm, although it wasn't yet complete since he was still waiting on some of his Daiyushas to come in. In the first game he rode Daiyusha but couldn't get its skill set up, and I retaliated with The Dark Dictator to make a 20000 line again. Zapbau was instrumental in my defense here, and proved to be again after I won the match and our second game began, as in that fight he was able to bring out the evolving ride while I wasn't and I was dealing with an 11000 base opponent who with Cosmo Beak was getting an extra critical. Without Zapbau to make my defense that much stronger, I could not have made it through that onslaught. Essentially, it would have been a repeat of how I'd played in Chicago, with only two perfect defense cards--back then I had made it through six rounds and been eliminated in the seventh, but after four rounds here I was in the semifinals.

By this time I was exhausted and running purely on the adrenaline. I think it was around 10:30 PM when the semifinals cleared, because we didn't leave until around 12:00 AM on the 17th. I had arrived in Michigan at around 12:30 AM of the 16th, then woken up at 6:45 AM. I had to do this to be up for the earlier, contemporary church service rather than groan my way through the traditional service's hymns. My father is a reverend, so attending his sermons are naturally a condition of coming up to his house for the week. It's something you become accustomed to as a pastor's kid; put your smile on, shake hands, talk about how great school is going, listen to people. Keep the world turning from 9:00-10:00 AM, then sequester yourself in the senior pastor's office until everyone's cleared out for the day. Between this and trying to fit in going to my local store for the planned shop tournament on the day before, and leaving Cincinnati by 5:00 PM after arranging to get my luggage delivered to him while he was on his way to pick me up, the 15th and 16th were like one long, continuous day of travel and cardfights.

The semifinal round was a mirror matchup versus another Shadow Paladin deck, this one running Origin Mage Ildona with Badhabh Caar. An elf deck. That made my strategy clear before the fight even began--I would go for Dictator rather than retrieve Phantom Blaster with Javelin, to exploit Ildona's 10000 base. The Origin Mage can't actually generate card advantage by himself, only preserve existing advantage from Nemain and Caar, so by using Zapbau with trigger units I could easily stop his 21-24000 power vanguard attacks to put the role of damage dealing on his poor rearguard lineup, and use the same to keep him from unflipping damage if he brought out Cursed Lancer. Once that counterblast was exhausted, his field and hand would be paralyzed and I could go for the kill with a soulblast. In our first fight he rode Nemain as his grade 2, so immediately I laid down a full field, Rugos and Charon on one side, Blaster Dark in the center, and for the right I improvised with my one Mac Lir and a Grim Reaper to force him to defend with at least 10000 shield if he didn't want to hit five damage dangerously fast. From experience online I knew that Nemain was close to impossible to defend. Both matches went by much faster than I expected due to early triggers, with the second one actually ending in a double draw trigger placed on Blaster Dark with Arianrhod, after he had already exhausted perfect defense on Dictator. I do recall one other key move, a stand trigger put on a rearguard Dark Metal Dragon, who was at 15000 already from The Dark Dictator's soulblast, and so could go for 20000 again on Ildona, but I can't remember if this was the first or the second match.

The finals were probably my most daunting matchup. My opponent was a Spike Brothers cardfighter using Dudley Emperor, a deck that I had done poorly against both locally and at the Chicago regionals. However, all those matches had been using the Gold Paladin deck, and I reminded myself of this going in. The Shadow Paladins are different. In both games, several moves that I had wished I could pull out in Chicago came through. Since the opponent wanted to use Dudley Emperor's late game power as early as possible, he opened with three attacks on the first turn in both games. In the first match I blocked one, but this left me with three damage from a critical trigger, after which I was done taking damage for the game. I pulled out Blaster Dark's counterblast next to retire Mecha Trainer to limit what he could do with it, then used Nemain's counterblast to reinforce my hand and called an Arianrhod for her to attack a front-row Wonder Boy with, forcing him to defend. I had already brought out Blaster Javelin's evolution ride, so this created a three-card difference in the first turn that helped me continue to defend throughout, and Zapbau was again a critical card as thanks to him I could stop a critical 2 Juggernaut Maximum's soulblast later on and stay at three damage. Emperor's soulcharges and his cards leaving the field caused him to fall behind immensely on top of my own skills, then in the second game I called Nemain behind Dictator for the advantage boost as well as the +2000 from having her on the field. That game fell my way as well from the strong early lead, as I could hit Emperor for 20000 every turn in both games and resort to the same soulblast tactics as ever once he was exhausted.

Ultimately, I had six undefeated rounds with my incomplete Shadow Paladin deck. This was beyond my expectations--the Shadow Paladins are not a popular pro deck. I used them because Ito is my favorite artist, because I wanted to be seen with my personal clan, not with a competitive one. Going in, I didn't think that I would make it this far. When I reported the results of the finals to Mr. Smith, he was pulling something out of the back of the store. I told him that I had won my match and, standing up with a deckbox in hand, he said "All right. Let's fight."

"What?"

I had figured out after signing up that Mr. Smith was just hosting the event, not actually participating. It was understandable. He had only been world champion for a week, and international travel and competition are both strenuous. I didn't think I'd get to fight him unless I came back later on in the week.

Brandon Smith is on the left; Touya is on the right, in dire need of a haircut.

The exhibition round was conducted in a best of 3 format just like before, only this time who began each round was decided with another die roll rather than with a loser-takes-first rules. Naturally, there was a lot of shuffling. Brandon Smith was using his world championship deck, the same one he'd started with in Toronto and brought all the way to Tokyo. I did everything I could, but Mr. Smith dominated the matches with expert play.

Initially neither of us brought out our evolving rides and both were playing with base 10000 Dragons as a result, while after my initial loss, in the second match his Vortimer line came out in full. I did my best to negate the advantage of his on-ride skills, but Mr. Smith was playing perfectly and without drive checking triggers to turn the tide in my favor, I couldn't come up with a maneuver to defeat him. In the second match I believed that I would be gradelocked, as I had no grade 3 and only Nemain to ride--had I not drawn Rugos at the last moment, I would not have ridden her.

Thinking back on it, I can recall where the match fell entirely out of my hands. I called Nemain to form a left line but couldn't get rid of her cleanly, and should have instead called her behind my vanguard Badhabh Caar; there were three Dictators left in the deck, so it would be more unlikely for me to not draw one of them, and as I eventually did, this would have been the better setup. I could have used Caar to attack his rearguard rather than vanguard, then passed any potential critical triggers to my own rearguards to try to turn things around.

I also made a poor move in the semifinal turn of the second match, where I put a damage trigger on Rugos, thinking to defend my rearguards for a soulblast next turn with a Dictator that I had in hand. This was a mistake; I was at four damage at that point, he had healed one damage with his drive check so he was at three and my soulblast would be wasted if attempted, and I was too concerned over a critical trigger coming up in his third check when there were only three left in the deck, not four as I thought at the time.

Had I given the power to my vanguard, my mindset would have changed toward no-guarding his third check and I would also have to drop less shield to stop his Gigantech-Gareth combo, then potentially having enough on his final turn to get through. Whether or not that would have really turned the fight in my favor--I doubt it. Mr. Smith had made no mistakes. He's an intense cardfighter, I don't think he sees anything but the game when he plays. My moves were geared toward safety, but safety was not what was going to win that fight, if anything could. My inability to recognize that cost me deeply. But despite my crushing defeats, in my eyes the exhibition round was easily the best set of fights of the night.

My memory may be spotty on the match content--it's been almost 20 hours now. When the last match closed, Mr. Smith set down his cards and said "Let's see what we can do for you." For taking first in the tournament, I was awarded thirteen packs. Five of them were from Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows, and before the tournament I'd been asking Mr. Smith if he would trade me any of his Shadow Paladin cards, so I get the feeling that he was trying to help me out.

Ultimately I pulled several high-rarity cards from the assortment, although none of them were ones that I needed. Still, the cards will help with trading back home where several of them are in high demand, and the fact that I was able to take first with my brand of Shadow Paladins is more important to me. I'm looking forward to bringing them to the 2013 tournament season.

News: Brandon Smith has Won the World Championship, Eboshida takes Japanese National Title

North American National Champion Brandon Smith has won the last match for the world championship finals at the Tokyo Dome Hotel, and been crowned World Champion, making him the first international champion for Cardfight!! Vanguard and the first American to take the title. The final rounds between his Spectral Duke Dragon deck and Asian Champion Henry Suharto's Pellinore deck were conducted in a best of three format, with fifty minutes allotted for the total time of all three matches rather than the standard twenty. Smith lost the first round despite having a strong opening, as he lost advantage due to his early limit break, and from there Suharto was able to maintain a powerful lead despite Smith's attempts to narrow the difference in cards and damage. In the second round Smith maintained total control of the game throughout, bringing out the skills of the entire Vortimer series and making several spectacular guards early in the game that allowed him to stay at two damage while Suharto was struggling with four and five. This helped Smith to not need to guard later on, and his limit break ultimately sealed the match.

Runner-Up, Henry Suharto. To his right is the third-place finalist Christopher Fernau, and off-screen Christopher Sok in fourth.

In the third round Suharto was able to superior ride Pellinore from grade 2 and quickly snowball his advantage, taking control of the round, but despite this was forced to make a judgment call while navigating the late game that cost him the match. Having chosen to only guard with 5000 shield versus Spectral Duke Dragon, a single critical trigger decided the third and final of the matches. While the championship was a difficult and uphill battle, these three fights have now become some of the most important matches in the history of Cardfight.

Over 62,000 viewers tuned into the fight, with Bushiroad's staff encouraging overseas fans to post comments in English during the NicoNico Douga livestream of the finals.

Previously this morning, Eboshida Hiromi of Kanazawa took the FC2012 junior class championship title with his Dragonic Overlord The End deck. Despite the deck having been in use since before the preceding FR2012 event, this is the first time that it has ever taken a championship title. The identity of the senior class champion is currently unclear, but Tanaka Shouta's Tsukuyomi deck placed fourth in the senior lineup.

News: European, Asia-Oceania Championship Results, Japan Eliminated from WCS2012

Note: 11/21/12 - Due to an HTML error, part of this post was not displaying properly yesterday. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Today the official results of the European and Asian-Oceania events were made public, revealing the final opponents of Brandon Smith and his fellow Americans at the 2012 World Championship. Due to the differing tournament structure, Europe will field only its champion, while the top three of the Asian-Oceania championship will be competing along with in Tokyo.

Representing Asia is national champion Irwin Jansen Arogo from the Philippines, using a Spectral Duke Dragon-Garmore combination deck. The runners-up were Henry of Indonesia, Sham Chun Lok of Hong Kong and Frenky of Singapore. Chun Lok fought with a Tsukuyomi deck, and Frenky a Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion-based Narukami deck.

On the European side, champion Christopher Fernau of Germany will be representing with his Garmore deck. Second place finalist Anthony Francis of France also used Garmore, while Daniel Cottom of Great Britain came out as the first nationally competitive Pale Moon deck in Cardfight history, basing his build around Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier.

Due to all of the Japanese participants being eliminated or having otherwise not attended in the Asian-Oceania championship, the world championship's host country is no longer able to take the title in this year's event. This is the first such tournament in Vanguard's history in which Japan was both an eligible participant and was ultimately unable to take the title. Due to the similar elimination of France, Great Britain, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore, the final participating countries in the tournament are the United States, Mexico, Canada, Germany, the Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong. Barring sickness, injury or some other intervention by which a participant would be substituted, the finalists for the December 9 championship in Tokyo are:

1. Brandon Smith (Canada) - Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke Dragon)
2. Christopher Sok (United States, New York) - Gold Paladin (Garmore-Pellinore)
3. Gabriel Espinosa (Mexico) - Narukami (Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion)
4. Raymond Wong (United States, New York) - Gold Paladin (Garmore-Pellinore)
5. Christopher Fernau (Germany) - Gold Paladin (Garmore)
6. Irwin Jansen Arogo (Philippines) - Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke Dragon)
7. Henry (Indonesia) - Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke Dragon-Garmore)
8. Sham Chun Lok (Hong Kong) - Oracle Think Tank (Tsukuyomi)

As six of the eight participants are Gold Paladin cardfighters, the odds heavily favor this clan, and some fighters are already predicting that the clan's runaway success will steal all of the top spots in the tournament. However, the finalist Narukami and Oracle Think Tank decks remain wild cards for the tournament, as all of these decks have an equal chance at the championship title.

Gold Paladin Extra Study Material: Spectral Duke Dragon

Photo by rawritzrichii, not to be reposted without the original photographer's express permission.

Introduced in EB03: Cavalry of Black Steel, the Spectral Duke Dragon line is a formidable deck that's taken the English pro scene by storm, with many offshoots and variants emerging in a Gold Paladin race toward the perfect Duke deck. While many pros have had their eyes on these cards as a result of their strong turnout, it's important to carefully examine the strengths and weaknesses behind the deck, rather than assuming its strength based purely on tournament performance.

The typical choice of first vanguard for this deckbuild is Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer; while he shares Kyrph and Spring Breeze's outrider skill, unlike those grade 0s, Vortimer is a 4000-power unit and so can't normally form a 15-16000 line. He's dependent on an 11000-power vanguard for the 15000 baseline, and while the Duke Dragon build does have one for him to line up with, if your game is going well then you'll never see those two cards paired together.

The reason for that is that Vortimer comes from the Riviere form of evolving ride, here intended as a direct homage to Fullbau and the Shadow Paladins. His other skill is that when ridden over with the grade 1 Scout of Darkness, Vortimer, he can look at the top 7 cards of the deck for either the grade 2 Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer or the grade 3 Spectral Duke Dragon. There are two improvements here over Fullbau, most immediately that if you miss your opening ride with the Scout, he can still move to the rearguard and provide the one-card advantage that's been standardized across the game. The second is that Vortimer can target either the grade 2 or 3, which gives him a wider variety of targets that can help to ensure that having one or the other in hand already will let you concentrate on the missing card.

Vortimer's new evolution model does have several weaknesses. First, because the increase in advantage is not guaranteed when you ride the Scout of Darkness, it can create the awkward situation of riding the Scout but still missing out on the Knight or Duke Dragon. Like Fullbau, the Black Dragon Whelp increases its vanguard grade 1's form's power up to 8000 when when the grade 0 is in the soul, but that isn't really the kind of consolation prize that makes up for his on-ride skill misfiring. The third is that the lack of a guarantee means that four copies of Black Dragon Knight and Duke Dragon are required in every deck that utilizes the grade 0, taking up slots that could be better devoted to other cards. Part of this is also due to the general weakness of the grade 1 and 2 forms--the trade-off for having 7000 power and unique skills on the grade 1 of an evolving line is that this member in the series no longer has the ability to add the grade 3 of the line to the hand by discarding another grade 3 of the same clan. For the Shadow Paladins, drawing any grade 3 was drawing Phantom Blaster Dragon, because of Blaster Javelin's skill; but for their Gold Paladin equivalents, the grade 0 must be relied on for deck searching.

Also unlike with Riviere, the evolving line is not intended as the main line of Gold Paladin play, and their support cards are not geared for dealing with the grade 0 outriding from the soul. You can't bounce Vortimer in the hand for an extra 10000 shield like you can with Riviere. The FVG itself doesn't do very well on the field and leaves you very vulnerable to Stil Vampir, but as we'll eventually see, there is one way to make use of the extra card later in the game.

Because of these weaknesses, the grade 0 Vortimer is sometimes passed over in favor of Kyrph, who has 5000 power, is guaranteed to move to the rearguard and ties into Gareth and Beaumains, both of whom are already important to Gold Paladin decks as a whole. Since the grade 1 Vortimer's unique skill relies on his grade 0 form, but the grade 2's does not, using an alternate FVG provides more overall consistency since it gives 5000 extra power for support, a more reliable increase in card advantage and alternate means of maintaining that advantage through skills. If running Kyrph, a single or double copy of Ezel is generally recommended so that his superior ride can go off on occasion. Other fighters prefer Spring Breeze Messenger, but the reasons for this are somewhat more complicated and will be detailed further down.

The Scout of Darkness himself has his own skill to be concerned with. When you ride him with Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer, the Scout can retire one Gold Paladin rearguard to look at the top two cards of the deck and superior call up to two cards from among them. This is a little cumbersome to use, since it requires you to have called a rearguard on the previous turn and so kept a grade 0 or 1 in hand for the occasion, but if you're getting out the Scout's opening ride in the first place then it will generally go off. Because of how early in the game this takes place, the most likely cards you'll get out of this are trigger units. Since member in the Vortimer line gains power from having the previous one in the soul and there are several cards in Gold Paladin that can gain power when attacking, they're fairly okay for boosting purposes, but the key point here is that this builds on the existing advantage from the first two Vortimers, jumping up from +1 to +2. Keep that in mind as we move along.

The first grade 1 outside of the evolution line that really catches the eye is Blackmane Witch. While she's a promo card, Blackmane is one of the most subtly important grade 1s that the Duke Dragon build has. Her skill is to retire a Gold Paladin when she's called or ridden, to superior call the top card of the deck if it's also a Gold Paladin. That doesn't convey a direct increase in advantage, but consider that because of how skill resolution operates, as in the example of LuLu and CoCo, you can move the Black Dragon Whelp when you ride Blackmane Witch and then activate the Witch's skill immediately afterward, retiring that 4000-power unit for another. As with Ezel, the key here is to play with minimums; no non-FVG card in the entire clan has less than 5000 power save for Falcon Knight of the Azure, who gives +2000 power when called. So no matter what unit you call with this skill, you are gaining a minimum +1000 power in the process, and by playing with that minimum you can prepare a 16000-power vanguard line or in rare cases call very powerful units on the first turn. A Spectral Duke Dragon deck that uses Blackmane Witch, Gareth, Vortimer and Mark as its grade 1 setup has the advantage of having no bad opening ride. Mark is an unavoidable risk that every clan has, but Vortimer and Gareth both give 8000 power for dual offensive and defensive purposes, Vortimer has skills to be used when ridden and Blackmane can at the least increase the amount of power behind your backrow while having the potential for a frontline offense.

Moving into the grade 2s, the Black Dragon Knight that I've mentioned has two skills, like Blaster Dark before him. First, he gains +1000 power in the vanguard circle when Scout of Darkness is in the soul, for a 10000 total that demands boosting units out of the opponent. Second, when he's ridden over with the grade 3 Spectral Duke Dragon, the Knight can retire one Gold Paladin to superior call the top two Gold Paladins of the deck. Like the Scout, that skill is intended to build on an existing advantage, in this case turning Vortimer's +2 into a +3, and while the calls are randomized and could be anything from Garmore with Charjgal to Elixir Sommelier and Silent Punisher, the existence of an advantage is the main factor in play. The fact that you're retiring one unit each turn with these skills opens up the field considerably, giving you greater freedom of calls, but in the same breath it restricts you from filling too many spaces lest the increase in advantage that you were about to gain be nullified by having to call those units to inappropriate spaces or by having to retire other units to make room for them.

The card introduced with the chief purpose of supporting these two Vortimers is Flash Edge Valkyrie, a grade 2 who when superior called from the deck, can counterblast 1 to superior call the top card of the deck to an open rearguard circle. That skill is already very similar to the Vortimer line with its randomized +1, but even further restricted since any Flash Edge in hand becomes practically a dead card. To circumvent this is her grade 1 counterpart, Blade Feather Valkyrie, who when boosting the attack of a Flash Edge that hit, can counterblast 1 to superior call another card. These two skills would not be so bad for what they build toward, but the weakness in these cards is that Flash Edge has only 8000 power, not 9000 like Viviane, so the line that the two Valkyries can form is 15000, just 1000 short of opposing 11000-power units. The cumulative counterblast costs are also relatively expensive for what the cards do given their limited offensive potential and narrow constraints, making Viviane the preferred support card by far.

The reason that we've been building up all of these randomized extra cards with no regard to what cards are actually being called, is the card that brings all of these skills together. Readers familiar with the Shadow Paladins will already have some idea of where this lesson has been headed from the beginning, with each card in the evolution stockpiling an advantage for the grade 3. If Blond Ezel is our Alfred, then Spectral Duke Dragon is our Phantom Blaster Dragon, and the skills match. Spectral Duke's first skill is to gain +1000 power continuously for having Black Dragon Knight in the soul, creating the only base 11000 unit that Gold Paladin will have until BT09. To support that we have War-horse, Raging Storm, who is a Hare of Inaba-type card, meaning that he allows you to soulcharge a unit from your hand when called. This is important because it solidifies Duke Dragon as a consistent base 11000 at the cost of card advantage, but the loss of that one card can be turned into saving as many as two or three by only needing 5000 shield to guard certain attacks. Raging Storm may not be essential for the Duke Dragon build, but it will probably see wider play in the future as crossride units are introduced for the Gold Paladin clan, and should be kept in mind for those occasions.

Spectral Duke Dragon's second skill is perhaps one of the most devastating in the game. At limit break 4, counterblast 2, he can retire 3 Gold Paladin rearguards at the beginning of the close step of a battle in which he attacked a vanguard, to stand. This skill does not check for whether his attack has hit or not. Because of that, it disregards any and all shields the opposing cardfighter has put down and stops perfect defense cards dead in their tracks. Duke Dragon does lose twin drive in the process, and so only drive checks one extra card for a -2 overall, but can still check for one more trigger while retaining the effects of any previously put on him, and while the opponent could drop a second perfect defense to stop him, that's going to cost them a total -4 for the turn just to stop Duke Dragon while you're only at half of that for using the skill. That hit to advantage is a big deal however, as it can leave you totally unable to defend yourself or form any time of secondary attack on followup turns, hence why it does not matter what cards were superior called by Vortimer and the Valkyrie sisters or Viviane. This even provides a use for if you miss your Scout rid eand sitll have the grade 0 Vortimer lingering on the field. No matter what was called, it's nothing short of fuel to support the limit break once the opponent hits 4-5 damage.

There are several unconventional things about the build's star card. Little Battler, Tron is still a recommendable booster despite the loss in field advantage because making the first attack powerful enough to demand perfect defense cards is important. There can be no direct Nemain or Badhabh Catha equivalent for Spectral Duke because his retire takes place during the attack step, not the main phase. And Trigger bases for Duke are tricky because of that same phase issue. While many successful cardfighters like Brandon Smith have staunchly advocated for critical triggers in the deck, and draw triggers are a necessary element due to the losses incurred by the Dragon's skill, stand triggers are nonetheless very valuable in a deck that can reliably stand its vanguard. A stand trigger to Duke becomes a minimum +10000 extra power when applied to his rearguard booster, since the standing booster will now be able to give him both its own power and that of the trigger, easily forming a 21000-power line, or even 23000+ with a boosting unit that has 7000+ power. On the other hand, this same strategy hurts using Tron as a booster over Gareth, since with Gareth, Duke can go for 23-24000 instead of being stuck at just 19-20000 due to now having less rearguards than the opponent. Due to the opponent being continually worn down by the vanguard attacks, having a strong rearguard becomes important here for finishing them off, and it also makes Gigantech Destroyer more usable over Manawydan since he can go with those same stand triggers for 17000 unassisted.

But on the other hand, with a critical trigger Duke can deal as much as four to six damage in one turn. Duke retains the entire trigger effect between attacks, meaning both power and critical. The prospect of facing multiple critical-2 attacks and not being able to take a single hit even at four damage is very daunting for the opposing player. And the biggest hit that Spectral Duke Dragon will take in the future is versus crossride units. He lacks the serious power gain of Garmore and Ezel, which makes fighting on even footing with The End and Phantom Blaster Overlord difficult. Tron will most likely be no longer recommendable in that format, since 21000 to Duke versus a crossride is exactly the same as 18000 with less restrictive units like Scout or Sleygal Sword, and Gigantech Destroyer will probably vanish as well since he can only go for 12, not 18000 with a stand trigger. Stands as a whole are more useful to the build now than they ever will be in the days to come.

One way that was devised to circumvent the cost of his skill was through Providence Strategist. Credit for the innovation goes to the Dallas regional champion, Thomas Cassidy. While Strategist can't exceed 15000 power even with Gareth, the opponent feels pressured to block the card when they could have otherwise taken damage because of his draw skill, and the moment that they don't block it is the moment in which Duke starts accruing new cards to offset the retire cost. By the end of the turn Strategist is no longer on the field, forming a hit-and-run line that immediately creates replacements for the cards lost--in other words, Strategist becomes a free sacrifice.

I mentioned Spring Breeze toward the beginning, and now that we've covered Duke's skill it's time to get into what can be done with him as the FVG. Spring Breeze's own skill as you'll recall from our previous article, soulcharges himself to perform a slightly more complicated superior call than noraml, when the attack of the unit that he boosts hits a vanguard. The immediate use for this is to have Spring Breeze boosting Duke Dragon, so that if Duke's attack hits he can soulcharge himself to call a new boosting unit for the dragon, effectively gaining half the use of a stand trigger without having to actually run stand trigger. Even if the unit doesn't suit those purposes, it can still become a sacrifice, as the act of hitting the vanguard takes place before the beginning of the close step of the battle.

Another way to use Spectral Duke's skill is with Viviane or the Valkyrie sisters. Their use has been called the most advanced technique of the Duke Dragon build, and it's certainly earned the reputation, requiring five open counterblast to go off. These cards share a characteristic of superior calling a unit from the top of the deck on-hit, and how we exploit this is to have the opposite rearguard column attack first, followed by Duke Dragon, and then activate his limit break to retire that column plus his boosting unit. Following this, Viviane or the Valkyries attack. If their attack does not connect then the combo ends there, but if it hits you can then counterblast 1 to superior call a third unit--ideally a boosting unit, but also potentially an independent attacker like Gigantech--and then attack a second time with Spectral Duke Dragon. Following that attack, Duke activates his limit break for the second and final time, retiring Viviane or the Valkyries plus the unit they just called. The main advantage to this is being able to break past two perfect defense cards and get four chances to check triggers, maximizing the potential power and critical of Duke while straining the opponent's resources immensely. The cost is most towering for yourself however, costing a total counterblast 5, -4 cards, a price that is arguably more than that of the less-tangible costs paid through megablast. If the opponent is not absolutely ruined by the serial blitzkrieg, then it has failed and you will most likely have to resign the game soon. Viviane is preferred for this technique due to being able to reach 16000+, unlike a Valkyrie line.

The Duke Dragon cards are a very interesting and strategic use of the card types originally developed by the Shadow Paladins, but their play is fundamentally different and requires advanced understanding of the game to master. Careful trigger counting is definitely required to play them well, and with the upcoming announcements of BT09's Japanese release, we'll likely see many advancements to the clan's play style in the days to come. The greatest weakness of the build is also its greatest strength, as the success or failure of an initial Vortimer ride can spell doom for either yourself or the opposition. The strongest comparison these days is ShadowPala operating as a single coin flip versus Spectral Duke's multiple die rolls; the odds act in favor of the original style, not the new one, and the high-risk, high-reward nature of the Vortimer line and Valkyrie cards make it a very difficult to play a "luckless" Duke Dragon deck. Weigh the difficulty of playing the deck carefully with the guarantees brought to the table by other clans like Great Nature or the Dark Irregulars, before attempting to command this deck.

Nineteen pros use this deck.