News: Interview with French Regional Runner-up Helene Bourree, Bushiroad to Open European Offices

Special thanks to Kyo of France, who conducted and submitted the interview below.

Over September 27th the Paris regional qualifier took place, with Pale Moon and Kagerou cardfighters Jeremie Raso and Helene Bourree taking first and second place. The tournament was the first time a French national has placed first in France's annual regional qualifiers, and a major victory for advocates of both Venus Luquier and non-Nouvelle Kagerou. 164 cardfighters participated this year, up from Brussels' 81 person attendance in 2013 and Paris' 60 person attendance in 2012.

French contributor Kyo was able to secure an interview with Helene Bourree, one of the few professional female cardfighters in the world. As the runner-up Bourree is officially permitted to take part in the European continental championship, and potentially the world finals in Japan, but under the current WCS2014 regulations all fighters from France cannot have their travel expenses paid by Bushiroad due to the tournament finals being in Paris. Topics of the interview included the beginnings of her career, her deck and the controversial organization of the Paris qualifier, in which several cardfighters who had not been eliminated were arbitrarily cut from the tournament by proceeding directly to the top 8. A video of French regional finals can be viewed here.

In other news, Bushiroad Global tweeted today that the company is in the process of expanding its international offices, with a Bushiroad Europe branch opening in Germany this year. The development of a European office reflects the growth of Cardfight!! Vanguard's popularity in the region, Bushiroad had previously created the body of Bushiroad EU Inc. to officiate its European tournaments, and as with Bushiroad USA control of the company resides in Singapore with Bushiroad South East Asia Pte. Ltd. All of these subsidiaries ultimately answer to Bushiroad Inc. back in Japan.

The following interview is the result of contributor submission and may not reflect the views of Cardfight Pro or its editors. Spelling and grammar corrections have been made by the editor.

Interview with Helene "Reyson" Bourree
Q: Describe your career.
A: I started playing when the game was released in English. For a while, it'd been just a fun game to play with a bunch of friends during the weekend. But my vision of CFV changed after my first national championship in Manchester (2012). I went with Golds and went further as I could have ever hoped, as Garmore led me to top 16. It was a revelation, and I've been playing for competition since then, trying to attend all the main events in France and England. Unfortunately I couldn't enter the Team League French qualifiers in Paris last April, as I was asked to be the head judge. Another great experience!

Q: Describe your Deck.
A: The deck I used was inspired from a very close friend's build. I was ready to go with a Nouvelle Vague deck, but deep inside me I hated my own deck for offering nothing else but a win by sacking and going against the mechanics of the game. Taking a damage and hoping for a trigger to be able to guard the remaining attacks is part of the game and a valid strategy that we've all used, or relying on a 6th damage heal! But in my eyes, Nouvelle Vague and its skill broke the game.
This is why when Kyo showed me his Kagero deck, I got inspired again, and chose to go with a hybrid Overlord BR, Rebirth, Dauntless Reverse, and...Georgette deck! The focus was obviously on the Break Ride, as the push it allows is immense. With Dauntless, you can retire up to 4 G1/0 with 2 attacks! An amazing card that kills decks relying on their field, such as Kagero (Rebirth), Aqua Force, etc. Then of course Rebirth was my main focus, as you can stack the triggers on it, and attack 3 times. And Georgette...Well Georgette was supposed to used against Glendios...Which I didn't get the opportunity to face!

Q: What do you think about the fact you're one of the few women in the professional world [of Vanguard]?
A: It is a fact about card games in general. There are very few women, but I've been playing card games for 10 years, and got used to that.
Surprisingly enough, there were much more women in Paris that I would have expected! Usually we are 5 regular players (and not bad ones!), but I think remembering up to 15 women for the BWC this week end. Two of them went 4-2 (Genesis and Pale Moon), and another one went 5-1 (Genesis) but didn't make it to the final cut (her only loss was against me!)
Men tend to see women as fragile and shy players, but it is our duty to show them wrong.
I guess we can say that there are clans women are naturally more attracted to than others... But I personally prefer knights and dragons in general. I guess this is why my fellow men players and friends have been calling me for a while now "one of the guys"!

Q: What do you think about the tournament's organization? I have heard that there was a cut for top 8 while 16 players were remaining.
A: There were 15 remaining players after round 5, and the judges decided to go for a 6th one. After this round, 4 players were on 6-0, and 4 5-1 among the 8 (I guess?) still remaining. At this point I was on 5-1 too, as I lost during last round to the player who was about to become the French champion. My goal average was strong (among the players I beat, 2 of them were on 5-1).
It was the right decision to make.
The overall organization was a good one. Those big events are always complicated to organize, but we had space. 3 rooms (we were playing in a school) were dedicated to the tournaments (161 players), and 2 others were then opened for the ones who wanted to go for the freeplay.
4 judges were here, and decisions had to be made (a player was accused of cheating as there were huge fingerprints on his trigger sleeves.) A few problems with the pairings as well, but nothing as important as the top 8 cut, where a player on 6-0 was forgotten, and a player on 5-1 had to go...But it wasn't me!

Press Release: Bushiroad 2014 World Championship to Include All English Titles

The following is a press release distributed by Bushiroad USA and may not reflect the views or opinions of Cardfight Pro or its editors.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bushiroad World Championship 2014 to Include All English Titles

Los Angeles, CA (August 6, 2014) – Bushiroad announced the English-centric Bushiroad 2014 World Championship which will take place between September to December. This year, the World Championship will feature all 3 existing English titles; Cardfight!! Vanguard, Future Card Buddyfight and Weiss Schwarz.
This is the first year that the English Edition Future Card Buddyfight and Weiss Schwarz are included in the Bushiroad World Championship series.
Bushiroad unveiled that players participating in the Regional Qualifiers will receive a World Championship 2014 exclusive rubber playmat, a World Championship 2014 lanyard and a promotional card. There are no entry fees to the Regional Qualifiers.


Bushiroad will also be hosting a special event, Thank You Festival, as a prelude to the World Championship 2014 and to celebrate the success of Cardfight!! Vanguard and its other games. The Thank You Festival is held at the Pasadena Convention Center in California between August 30 and 31, 2014. Players are welcomed to join the tournaments and side activities at no entry free.
The Bushiroad World Championship 2014 features 9 Regional Qualifier locations in North America, 2 in Latin America, 4 in Europe and 5 in Asia-Oceania regions.
Regional Qualifier finalists will represent their region to participate in the respective Continental Championships.
The finalists from the Cardfight!! Vanguard Continental Championships will be invited to participate in the Cardfight!! Vanguard World Championship 2014 Finals in Tokyo, Japan in late December 2014.


Finalists from the Future Card Buddyfight and Weiss Schwarz Continental Championships will be invited to participate in the World Championship 2014 Finals in USA.
Side activities such as free fight tournament are also available to all attendees at every Regional Qualifier.
For further information, please visit the respective websites:
Cardfight!! Vanguard – http://cf-vanguard.com/en/event/worlds2014/
Weiss Schwarz – http://ws-tcg.com/en/events/worlds2014/
Future Card Buddyfight – http://fc-buddyfight.com/en/events/worlds2014/
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Bushiroad Inc. consists of 6 sub-entities: Bushiroad Inc., Bushiroad South East Asia Pte Ltd, Bushiroad USA Inc., Bushiroad Media, Bushiroad Music, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling Co., Ltd.
Bushiroad South East Asia Pte Ltd was established in Singapore on November 12, 2011 in order to expand the overseas market for Bushiroad card games such as Cardfight!! Vanguard, Weiβ Schwarz, Chaos TCG and Victory Spark.
Bushiroad USA Inc. was established in Los Angeles, California on May 18, 2012, to better cater to the growing demand and interest in Cardfight!! Vanguard from both players and retailers in the USA.

News: World Championship 2014 Regional Qualifier Locations & Dates

Early this morning the events page for World Championship 2014 went up on the official English Vanguard portal, heralding the dates for the upcoming tournament's regional qualifiers. As in past years, cardfighters will have to qualify at one of the regional events around the world to attend their country's invitation-only continental championship, the top 4 of which will be able to then qualify for the international grand finals in Tokyo. This year's tournament will feature an exclusive commemorative playmat for all participants, as well as the Shadow Paladin and Link Joker promo cards "Revenger, Deathmaster Dragon" and "Setting Sun Star-vader, Darmstadtium." Designed as an alternative boss card for the former clan and a new break ride for the latter, both of these cards have popular fan followings outside of the mainstream Raging Form Dragon and Chaos Breaker/Glendios decks.

The preceding WCS2013 ended with Luxembourg cardfighter Almeida Stewart being titled second world champion; however, in light of the cheating accusations and controversy surrounding his confessed robbery of the card shop La Caverne du Gobelin, many cardfighters have doubted the legitimacy of his title.

Beginning on August 30 and ending in late December, World Championship 2014 will feature nineteen regional qualifiers around the world in all, with a special qualifier held in Tokyo. Similar to the tournament held for Japan in WCS2013, this is suspected to be a qualifier which would allow its top fighters to participate directly in the international finals without previously qualifying at a continental tournament. A partial list of locations is available through the official website, but some are not yet finalized.

With many tournaments taking place around or after the release of VGE-BT15: Infinite Rebirth, alongside the existing grade 4 Dragonic Nouvelle Vague from Divine Dragon Progression, one of the major contenders in the new format is anticipated to be Star-vader “Ω” Glendios. Famous for its ability to prevent cards from unlocking through its limit break, the deck has gained some popularity in Japanese tournaments for how heavily it slows down the game in the hands of a skilled cardfighter. Even into the Legion format it has continued to hold up well under the pressures of the new professional play.