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/>.

Study Guide: Gold Paladin

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

Since their April release, the most trying part of playing a Gold Paladin deck has been figuring out what their specialties are. Most clans are highly talented in two areas and fairly good in one other (i.e., Royal Paladin has strong superior call, good superior ride and amazing power gain abilities.) Gold Paladin has been called a successor to RoPala, with similar superior ride and power gain, but weakened call skills. This is a misconception; the Royals had some send-to-hand and retire skills, but those were not their main strengths. Garmore is not the definition of GoPala, just as Soul Saver Dragon was not the definition of RoPala. Gold Paladin's real strengths lie in their superior rides and vanguard-stand skills. The superior call is a supporting element of this, but it is not the goal of the clan as with RoPala. Rather, it's a tool toward the goal.

The "mainstream" Gold build has three options for first vanguards. Cron is one of two 4000-power FVGs and has the least place here--long-time readers will already be familiar with him as a mass-produced FVG shared among many clans. His main flaw is that his 4000 power cannot form a line that pushes for 15000 power without an 11000-power attacking unit to correspond to it, which do not exist in mainstream GoPala. Even when he can, he can't push 16000, and versus 11000-power vanguards, that 1000 difference between 15 and 16 is the dividing line between an intercept and a trigger unit being used for your opponent's defense. The more shield you force from the opponent, the more valuable cards they have to sacrifice to stop the attack. If he boosts Holy Sage, Manawydan or Gigantech Charger, then you're going to break those numbers, but in this case we're compensating for a poor card with a better one when we could be using a different FVG in the first place.

Secondary to this weakness is his counterblast 1 skill, which can actually cost you the advantage if it misfires--Cron goes to the soul, and you get to peek at the top five cards of your deck and add one grade 3 Gold Paladin to your hand from it. The trouble with this skill is that it's unreliable and most likely to go off at a point in the game when many other cards have been removed from the deck, at which point you would already be at grade 3 and wouldn't need to use him to set up your ride. In addition to this, the majority of Gold Paladin search-and-thin skills are not controllable, so you may have already removed a significant number of grade 3s through superior call skills up until the turn you activate Cron.

The second FVG is Crimson Lion Cub, Kyrph. At 5000 power, Kyrph is much more natural support since he can at least go for 15000 with Beaumains or most grade 3s, and 17000 with Manawydan or Gigantech. And on top of this immediate leg up over Cron, Kyrph's skill confers a more useful advantage for no counterblast cost. When your vanguard is the grade 2 Knight of Superior Skills, Beaumains, and you have Kyrph and the grade 1 Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth in your rearguard, you can soulcharge Gareth and Kyrph to search your deck for the grade 3 Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel and superior ride it. While this skill was heavily overhyped at release for being "costless card advantage" (it's not), it is genuinely good for taking the first-turn ride advantage out from under your opponent, or building on that same advantage from going first. The skill is flexible, since it can also help in catching up with the opponent if you were locked at grade 1 or 2 at some point in the game. To dispel some myths regarding Kyrph, this is how the skill works;

• Since Kyrph moved out from under the vanguard with his Pioneer skill on the previous turn, the Gold cardfighter's advantage starts at +1.
• After riding Beaumains, Kyrph and Gareth go to the soul; two cards are lost, putting the Gold cardfighter at -1.
• Ezel is ridden from the deck, meaning that the Gold cardfighter will not need to ride a grade 3 next turn and so gained a card, putting their advantage up to 0.
• One extra card is driven than normal with Ezel's twin drive, making the advantage +1 again.

As is plainly visible, Gold Paladin fighters start and end with a one card advantage. The particular odds of getting even one of these cards in hand by the time riding Beaumains would be appropriate vary--approximately 52% of all fights fought with four Beaumains and four Gareth in the deck will see one of the two cards in hand at the key moment, when first turn is taken, and 57% when the second is taken. So mainstream Gold Paladin favors the first turn slightly, though given how much actual control they have over the turn order this may as well be trivia.

The third and final FVG for the main deck is Spring Breeze Messenger. While previous first vanguards arrived in BT06: Breaker of Limits, Spring Breeze comes from BT07: Rampage of the Beast King and works into a similar superior ride mechanic. Like Kyrph, he comes with 5000 power, but instead of a direct ride, when the attack of a unit that Spring Breeze boosts hits, he can counterblast 1 and soulcharge himself to look at the top three cards of the deck and superior call one Gold Paladin from among those cards to rest position. On the surface it's an interesting but not particularly overwhelming skill, since fighters are trading one card for another and aren't able to make use of that card on this turn. The tables turn heavily in Spring Breeze's favor once other cards from his set are taken into account--grade 2 Lop Ear Shooter is probably the most discussed, who when superior called from the deck, can discard 1 card to look at three new cards in the style of Spring Breeze and call one of those. Again, Lop Ear isn't a direct increase in advantage, but the reason that she and Spring Breeze are so well-regarded is because of their two primary search targets, Dindrane and Pellinore.

Listener of Truth, Dindrane is a grade 1 unit with 6000 power that when called from the deck, can soulblast 1 to draw one card. This is an improved release of Silver Fang Witch from the Gold trial deck, who only sported 5000 power and cost soulblast 2 as a trade off to working with normal calls. Dindrane is the first real increase in advantage that Spring Breeze and Lop Ear can provide, being a free 6000-power booster for lining up with Beaumains and the like to challenge 11000-power vanguards, or with Manawydan/Gigantech for fighting crossridden units. Meanwhile White Hare in the Moon's Shadow, Pellinore is a grade 3 unit that when called from the deck, can discard 1 Gold Paladin to superior ride, at least so long as the opponent's vanguard is grade 2 or greater. In contrast to Ezel, that last clause prevents Pellinore's ride skill from being used by the first turn fighter unless the second turn fighter performs a superior ride of their own first, and the ride itself still costs one card from the hand while also pulling Pellinore from the field to the vanguard circle. So riding Pellinore from grade 2 puts the turn fighter back to the 0 advantage they started with Spring Breeze's Pioneer, but comes at one new advantage; riding Pellinore stands the vanguard. Which means that twin drive can be performed for the turn in addition to the previous drive check, moving the Gold fighter up to +2 if Spring Breeze was the catalyst for Pellinore. Like Dindrane, Pellinore is an increase to advantage, and actually gives more than Ezel does using a more consistent ride skill. For a breakdown;

• Spring Breeze boosts and the attack hits. The Gold fighter is currently at +1 from Spring Breeze's Pioneer, then activates Breeze's counterblast 1, sending them to the soul (changing the advantage from +1 to 0) then calls Pellinore from the top of the deck, resolving the skill at +1 total advantage.
• Pellinore's skill activates. The Gold fighter discards 1 (advantage 0) then removes Pellinore from the field (advantage -1) then rides Pellinore over their grade 2 (advantage 0; if this were over a grade 3, it would still be advantage -1) and twin drives for +2 new cards, ending the turn at +2.

Of these first vanguards, Kyrph and Spring Breeze are both preferable to Cron, with Spring being easily the most consistent. Spring Breeze Messenger pushes the opponent to guard vanguard attacks for fear of the ride skill going off, and because of the possibility of a trigger coming up, many opponents rationalize into accounting for one when defending. That harms the opponent's advantage, and if they choose not to guard it then you can gamble on a superior ride while otherwise selecting something more appropriate from the pool of three cards if none of the key ride cards come up. Kyrph will still come into play later on, but for now he remains the domain of dedicated Ezel decks and one spin-off build.

For triggers, these Paladins have access to three types of draw, two critical and two stand triggers. The typical set for the mainstream build is to include four draw triggers with eight critical, while another option is six draw and six critical. Falcon Knight of the Azure should be avoided, because has only 4000 power, and while his skill does give +2000 power to another unit on the turn that he's called from the deck, this is a relatively inconsistent skill that only lasts for a single turn, after which you're left in the same situation as having Cron for a booster. Using Falcon Knight avoids one of the principle advantages of draw triggers--with half the shield of a normal trigger on a 5000-power base, they can effectively be used as four extra grade 1s in a deck for boosting purposes, meeting the minimum requirement with either 10000-power rearguards for tackling 10000-bases, or working with Gigantech/Manawydan as was briefly mentioned with Cron to assail 11000 bases. Base 5000 draw triggers not only add to your hand when checked, they also free your hand up by allowing you to make earlier, more stable attacks in situations where you may not have a grade 1. You would never want to call a critical or heal trigger under most circumstances, because that's losing 5000 shield more than with most boosting units. Because of this, Weapons Dealer, Gwydion and Speeder Hound are the preferred draw triggers. (There are reasons to use stand triggers in this clan, but it will take a little while to get to them.)

Moving into grade 1 discussion, the Little Battler, Tron is the resident 10000-power booster that Gold Paladin vanguards rely on, kicking in when you have more rearguards than the opponent. These are easy conditions to meet, since you only need to fill the field and take out one of the opponent's rearguards at a minimum, and any defense they try to make is one that leaves them less prepared to defend against the vanguard. Tron is generally seen as a card that's run 1-2 and no more than 3 of.

Sleygal Dagger is another common choice for boosting. Her 7000 power is the most we can demand of a skilled grade 1, and for a counterblast 1 when you have 4 or more GoPala rearguards, her power increases by +2000. That already makes her the clan's 9000-power booster in the vein of RoPala's Toypugal, but this skill can also be repeated, turning her into a consistent 11000-power booster for CB2, useful for facing down tough 11000-power-and-higher opponents with Ezel or Beaumains. Dagger is also one reason that you would use stand triggers in Gold Paladin; if for example, you were to counterblast 2 for an 11000 boost to Ezel, then attack with an on-hit call unit after the vanguard and activate their counterblast to call Pellinore or Lop Ear Shooter into Pellinore, and activate Pellinore's superior ride, then when drive checking a stand trigger with Ezel previously you could give the stand and power to Dagger for a 16000-power boost to Pellinore after the superior ride kicks in. This does require quite a bit of forethought to put together in a turn, but seeing as Pellinore is frequently wanting for a good boost on the turn his ride goes off, this model can also be applied to Tron for similar results.

I went into the mechanics behind Silver Fang Witch a short while before. She and Dindrane behave similarly, but Fang Witch has a higher soulblast cost and less restrictive conditions. She's a free 5000-power boost, making her about as versatile as a draw trigger or Pioneer FVGs, and like Dindrane she's best fueled by Ezel's superior ride sequence, which allows you to get off two Fang Witches in a game. The most optimal way to get her out is through superior call skills, since that allows the advantage to quickly snowball from +1 to +2 with a relatively small counterblast cost to offset it, so she's just as compatible with Spring Breeze as the Listener of Truth while not requiring that you get her out through a superior call.

Going into the key grade 2s, Player of the Holy Bow, Viviane is one of the more commonly recommended cards. At 9000 power it's easy to get her up to the 16000 line, but inversely hard to form a 19000 line to forcibly retire her with, and on-hit she can counterblast 1 to superior call a Gold Paladin to an open rearguard circle. This is one of the most pointed features of the Gold Paladins. Unlike the Royals, they usually cannot call to occupied rearguard circles, so the field must have at least one open circle to make use of these skills with. Viviane's skill is useful when you're strained for boosting units and can't get a third booster out for your other rearguard, and she's likewise good for triggering Lop Ear Shooter, Pellinore or Dindrane. There's really only one variant of Gold Paladin that doesn't use Viviane in some form, but that's still a ways down the line.

Sacred Guardian Beast, Elephas is an interesting if lacking unit. 8000 power is much harder to defend than 9000, but on-call he can counterblast 2 to superior call a grade 0, non-trigger Gold Paladin. From his introduction, Elephas really only had one use--superior calling a second Kyrph in case of the first one getting retired to bring out the superior ride. It's an interesting one-off skill for rare situations, but it's not very highly used since Kyrph going off in the first place is up to a coin flip. I wouldn't really recommend Elephas as more than a one-of in decks that use Kyrph, unless the Gold Paladins received something like Caravel to replace Fang Witch. Even as single card, Elephas requires that you include a second Kyrph, potentially upsetting your grade ratios. As of now, Akane and Macha had much more going for them than Elephas does.

Sleygal Sword is the grade 2 equivalent to Dagger, able to reach 13000 with a counterblast 2. This isn't as useful as Dagger, because it's harder to get out an 8000 power booster for a 13000 attacker than it is to get out a 10000 power attacker for an 11000 booster. There are simply more units in a deck with base 10000 power than there are with 8000--most grade 3s meet the criteria for Dagger, while Gareth is the only Gold Paladin capable of supporting Sword into a 21000-power line. Lop Ear Shooter I've discussed already, so moving forward a bit by now it should be apparent that these Paladins are rather heavy on counterblast skills. The remedy to this is Mage of Calamity, Tripp. She's a 9000 base like Viviane, who unflips one counterblasted damage when her attack hits. While that makes her a big target for drawing attacks away from your vanguard, Viviane and Tripp share another characteristic in forcing out guards from the opponent on attacks that they would otherwise let through, putting you in a situation where either the opponent will decrease their own advantage by defending or let you increase your own with the attack. This is where Tripp breaks away a bit, since unflipping counterblast doesn't directly increase your advantage, but the win-win principle is similar since the counterblast can then be expended on other skills to take the lead.

For the grade 3s, we went over Kyrph's 52/57 superior ride at the beginning. Blond Ezel himself is not limited to the early game, however. At four damage his limit break 4 kicks in, letting him counterblast 2 to superior call the top card of the deck and gain power equal to that card's own. Though frequently criticized for being "random" by inexperienced fighters, this puts him at a minimum of +5000 power. There are no cards that he can call which will give him less than this. Even Falcon Knight of the Azure, who has 4000 power, has an on-call skill that can give Ezel an additional +2000. This increase in field advantage combined with power gain, and Ezel's autoskill--+1000 power for each GoPala rearguard present, a move taken right out of Alfred's playbook--ensure that Ezel will usually be at 20000 power before boosting and around 25000+ after, hitting for the same numbers as Phantom Blaster Dragon minus the retire cost. Factoring in this minimum with Tron, we're looking at 30000+ baseline power from Ezel. So it's easy to see how Kyrph and one or two Ezel became the definitive base for Gold Paladin decks up until BT07. As this setup starts at a 30000 baseline and can climb as high as 40000 or 50000 with repeating his break over the limit, all before trigger units, Ezel has the highest potential power of the entire game, and even when it falters the skill still has its high base to fall back on. This is one reason why the game in general has shifted more toward four perfect defense cards rather than three, but despite the hype, keep in mind that those perfect defense cards--or even careful damage management on the opponent's side--can cause the limit break to be entirely wasted. This is the type of skill that you use to close the game when the opponent is at five damage, and to all of your current knowledge, your opponent has no perfect defense cards in hand. You do not want to be in a situation where you just used a counterblast 4 with Tron as a booster and drive checked two trigger units, only to remember that the opponent is taking your attack while at two damage.

The Great Silver Wolf, Garmore is a trial deck exclusive and the grade 3 that for a while became the dominant deck for Gold Paladin. On-ride he can counterblast 2 to superior call any unit in the deck, regardless of if you have open rearguard circles or not, bypassing the main restrictions on the Gold Paladins while also allowing for the skills of cards like Lop Ear Shooter, Fang Witch and Dindrane to be used with impunity. Garmore is also the first limit break unit with proper limit break text to be introduced; at limit break 4 he gains +5000 power, easily pushing him over the 21000+ border, just like Ezel's continuous skill. This skill would not normally be considered so special, since this skill is a mass-produced limit break that almost every clan that receives, but there are other reasons surrounding Garmore's longevity. Accompanying him is Charjgal, another powerful boosting unit in the vein of Tron, this one reaching even up to 11000 power for more defensive opponents. Charjgal comes attached to a soulblast 1 cost though, and his boost only works on this version of Garmore, though it can work on both rearguard and vanguard Garmores. Vanguard Garmore's counterblast can search for Charjgal just as well as it can Tron though, while Charjgal's 6000 base complements a wider range of alternative attackers vs Tron's less-useful 4000 base. So normally, in terms of field versatility and power Charjgal wins out, while Tron has more targets for his skill and less demanding conditions in exchange for being slightly weaker. In a deck that uses Garmore as one of its key vanguard units though, Charjgal is far more likely to see play over Tron because with the limit break in action the total power of the Great Silver Wolf is 26000, forcing a minimum of two cards out for perfect defense or three cards out if one is not available, from every non-crossride opponent. That assumes that the opponent has two 10000-shield cards in hand--if not, then they have to start using more 5000-shield units than strictly necessary to totally protect against the attack. While this power gain is obviously not as large as Ezel's, it's consistent, costs only a soulblast 1 per attack, and Garmore is the only +5000 power limit breaker who can search the deck for his own custom booster. Add that to Garmore-Charjgal forming a 21000-power line in the rearguard, and you have a recipe for one of the strongest decks the Gold Paladins offered at their introduction.

Like many clans in the wake of booster set 7: Rampage of the Beast King, the Gold Paladins have two limit break support cards that work to assist their vanguards. Disciple of Pain is a 6000-power grade 1 that when called, can counterblast 1 to send one card from the top of the deck to the damage zone, and in the end phase cycle one card from the damage zone back into the deck. This lets the Disciple use her counterblast at no cost, while also allowing for an early limit break. Master of Pain is the 8000-power, grade 2 equivalent, who is slightly less usable since he requires Gareth to reach the minimum for fighting 11000-power vanguards, where Disciple works with an abundance of grade 2 and 3 units. In addition to their limit break support, you can also call them to prevent the opponent from healing damage, by voluntarily putting yourself at five and so ensuring that they can only heal on a sixth-damage check.

There are two main supporting grade 3s other than a rearguard Garmore. Which one you use depends on whether you're more focused toward the opponent's rearguard or vanguard units. Holy Mage, Manawydan gains +2000 power when boosted by a Gold Paladin, so if with Gareth he can at least go for 20000 power versus any unit, even rearguards. Gigantech Charger on the other hand gets the same bonus for attacking a vanguard. While Manawydan is on the surface superior, there is one reason to use Gigantech; stand triggers. Gigantech can go for 16000+ independently when a stand trigger is applied to him, allowing for up to four or even five full-power attacks in one turn. And while stand triggers don't have a whole lot of incentive for Ezel, there is a clear reason to include them.

The third limit break in the grade 3 equation comes from the other part of the GoPala superior ride family, Pellinore. Like Ezel, Pellinore's usefulness jumps up at limit break 4, where when he attacks, Pellinore can send two Gold Paladins from the field to the bottom of the deck to give +5000 power to up to two Gold Paladins. That's including himself, so we have yet another consistent 15000-power vanguard, though this one can also give +5000 to his booster for what is minimum 29000 and more likely to be 30000+ (according to the manual, units attack before they are boosted despite how the anime depicts it, so empowering the booster will in fact put the power onto Pellinore.) The cost of this skill is in this case card advantage, since you lose two cards by using it, but you can use this to your advantage by sending back a poorly-arranged field. Another way to use the skill and potentially get some use from stand triggers is to only give the +5000 to Pellinore's booster, giving the other power to Viviane or a unit boosted by Spring Breeze, then attack with Pellinore first and give any stand triggers to his booster, followed by an attack with your superior-calling rearguard to try for a Pellinore or Lop Ear-Pellinore call to superior ride Pellinore from Pellinore. The result is a minimum 14/15000-power boost to the new Pellinore if you checked triggers, and even if the check doesn't work out how you want it to, since you're still at four damage, you can use the new Pellinore's limit break to send back the rearguard you just attacked with and have another 15000-power Pellinore. If your stand came out, then you're looking at potentially a 35000-power vanguard attack right after a 23000-power one. This is much more useful than just getting a critical trigger with Pellinore, since that trigger would either cause the opponent to not let your rearguard's attack through, or simply fizzle when you superior ride your new Pellinore since power and triggers applied to the previous one don't carry over into your next ride. As is apparent by now, Gold Paladin decks actually have good reason to use stand triggers, as they provide versatile strategy that the brute force of criticals can't really muster.

After watching the clan develop for seven months, it's clear that we were mistaken about Gold Paladin strategy. Superior call, superior ride and power gain do factor into it, but they are for the most part tools to support vanguard-stand skills. The Gold Paladins have more ways to stand their vanguard than any other clan; Viviane, Spring Breeze, Lop Ear Shooter and still-upcoming like Kahedin all play into Pellinore for the mainstream build, and we've yet to cover the cards from Extra Booster 3. Next time I'm going to explore this concept further, diving into the Spectral Duke Dragon build and his support cards, and how these support cards interact with both the mainstream and Duke Dragon decks.