News: Fighter's Climax 2013 Fukuoka Decklists, Amon “Я” and Chaos Breaker Dragon Take the Spotlight

Just in time for Halloween, a very spooky deck has opened Japan's 2013 winter national tournament. To great fanfare the results of the first FC2013 regional qualifier have been posted on the official portal, with first place cardfighter Sakamoto Issei bringing Demon God Marquis, Amon “Я” to the height of the open class tournament. The surprise both domestically and internationally cannot be overstated, as the Irregulars were far from one of the clans projected to do well in the immediate buildup to the tournament. The Fukuoka regional was expected to be taken by Link Joker decks in droves. In the eyes of many the Irregulars have still not surmounted their primary problems of gaining and maintaining card advantage, but Sakamoto chose to instead take the clan in a completely different direction to even the playing field for his clan. Decklists are at the bottom.

Amon “Я”'s overall strategy is to rapidly soulcharge 2 cards at a time with Hell's Deal and Hell's Draw, using the generally-open counterblast for Gwynn the Ripper's cost to retire the opponent's rearguards, turning the large soul into a strong midgame with Demon World Marquis Amon's consistent 21000+ line and then going in with Demon God Marquis Amon “Я”'s limit break for similar power with an additional critical that allows it to make vengeance plays when the opponent is only at 3 damage. The deck's soul-oriented build also allows it to set up a crossride fast and early, but not as accurately as Luquier “Я.” Sakamoto Issei's Amon is notable for its more extensive use of the damage zone, decreasing grade 3 space in favor of running four copies of Gwynn and the very unusual choice of Bloody Calf over Doreen the Thruster or Poet Amon. Typically Doreen and/or Poet are chosen for their soul synergy and overwhelming field power boosts, and these strengths have been stressed even more in an era where the Irregulars have Lon Shinrin for a 12000 power rearguard attacker, but Sakamoto chose Calf for her unique ability to control the opponent's boosters, playing a similar role to Gwynn in a deckbuild that is innately low on counterblast costs.

When taking into account the base Amon's soulcharge-to-retire skill, the overall theme of Sakamoto's deck can be argued to be field control, using Devil in Shadow as a sacrifice to Amon to take out the opponent's rearguards, and Calf and Gwynn to do so in a way that actually gives the Irregulars the upper hand. Sakamoto's other innovation is the use of Yellow Bolt, using him to steadily soulcharge 1 card every turn after limit break, then Lock Bolt for the cost of his Reverse card's skill so that Amon “Я”'s power will steadily built each turn for a small extra bonus compared to contemporary Amon “Я” decks. Bloody Calf may yet become a staple of Amon “Я” play after this overwhelming success, while it remains to be seen if Yellow Bolt will be similarly adopted. Considering Luquier “Я”'s success in the previous national championship, this may be Irregulars' time to shine.

While runner-up Kajima Kiyoto played a fairly standard Raging Form Dragon deck with the extra grade 0 and Darkbond Trumpeter that have now become staples of the Revengers, Kajima's build is still illustrating some very gradual development for the Shadow Paladins. Up to this point Mordred Phantom has very consistently been a four card staple, but Kajima chose to run him at three in order to make room for the 12 grade 2s that are also endemic to Revenger play, maximizing his build's options. Currently Kajima's deck seems to reflect the Revengers as a whole, using Dark Bond Trumpeter to fetch Claudas early on in the match for a quiet buildup, break riding with Mordred Phantom to fill out the field and power up Raging Form Dragon, using Tartu to fetch Dorin, unflipping and retiring with Blaster Dark Revenger, then finishing out the game with Raging Form Dragon's persona ride.

Within the top 8, fourth place cardfighter Kamiya Ayaka has been getting a lot of attention for bringing a previously-unproven Great Nature deck to the top brackets of professional play, with her School Punisher Leo-pald “Я” deck winning the Doctor O Prize for innovation. Kamiya's strategy was to open turn 3 with the Chatnoir break ride, break riding Chatnoir over Chatnoir on turn 4. By comboing Chatnoir's break ride skill and Binoculus Tiger's retire skill, she could stack between 8000 and 16000 power on a single Stamp Sea Otter, for a rearguard lane of 23~31000 power, a vanguard lane of 28000~ power, and another lane that could vary between 15~23000 power, then at the end of the turn draw two cards for Chatnoir's skill but not be able to retire Otter because of its own continuous ability, netting a total advantage of +1 overall. To further take advantage of this however, Kamiya ran eight stand triggers in her deck, so that each additional attack would allow her to draw another card at the end of the turn for a +2 or +3 overall while continuously wailing on the opponent with high power attacks. This transformed her stands into a combination of stand and draw instead of just stands alone, without the major weaknesses of draw triggers to interfere. Like Amon, the deck has very few uses of counterblast, so in this case it also made use of Lamp Camel's on-hit CB2 to draw to further combo with Chatnoir's power increasing break ride. For her final strategy, Kamiya would break ride with Leo-pald “Я” and use his limit break to Lock a rearguard and power up two rearguards by +4000, retiring them in the end phase, then calling them back. This would further build on the break ride's power boosts, with rearguards occasionally stronger than a post-limit break Liberator of the Round Table Alfred, and was further supported by her deck's personal staple Tank Mouse. Tank Mouse has until now been a relatively lackluster card, a base 6000 power grade 1 that can be rested to power up another unit by +4000; usually just boosting with it is better, but as in the case of Yellow Bolt, Tank Mouse is a very viable Lock target with high synergy toward being sacrificed.

Meanwhile Chaos Breaker Dragon has been picked up immediately by the junior's division, taking both first and second place at Fukuoka. An unusual trend shared between both the junior class and team tournaments is the teching of Nebula Lord Dragon as an alternative ride to Chaos Breaker, likely out of appreciation of the deck's overwhelming strength when the break ride is brought about. While Chaos Breaker is notorious as a hard counter to Reverse cards and still strong as one of the most consistent control decks in other matchups, having the occasional option of Nebula Lord as a transition between Infinite Zero and Chaos Breaker can be a useful battleplan to Link Joker cardfighters, as going through all three grade 3s both capitalizes on Nebula's strengths and his crucial weaknesses of only bringing his massive field power bonus for one turn in the game while also being wholly dependent on Infinite. With Chaos Breaker still providing a good fallback if Zero falls apart, the game strategy is solid enough that this development may be expected to progress among other Link Joker cardfighters in the future.

This year's Fighter's Climax is part of the larger Bushiroad World Grand Prix for the company's Japanese TCGs. It is the first year that Cardfight!! Vanguard is a part of the WGP. Note that while the tournament was originally referred to on Twitter as the Fukuoka regional, it is being officially designated as the Hakata regional on the official website; much like in the case of the "Dallas" versus "Texas" qualifiers abroad, both names are technically correct with regards to where the tournament took place.

Accompanying the open and junior class tournaments this year is the return of VF Koushien, a special triples division of team tournaments for student cardfighters. VF Koushien is based on the summer & winter Koushiens, two high-profile national baseball tournaments held in August and March in Japan. Like the baseball tournaments, participation in VF Koushien is restricted to school teams, and all members on the team must be from the same school. Unlike in the baseball Koushien, VF Koushien is open to any elementary, junior or high school cardfighters. If for any reason one fighter cannot participate on their team after it has registered, up to one participant may be changed out for another under the conditions that the new fighter is from the same school as the other team members.

Fukuoka's team greatly reflects the state of competitive play, with the three major decks of the format each onboard; Kuroki Yuki's Dragonic Descendant, Yoshida Hiroshige's Chaos Breaker Dragon and Tomita Hiromi's Raging Form Dragon. Although greatly scaled back compared to its glory days, Descendant is still a definitive part of the format, and the combination of three different decks each capable of varying levels of opposing field control, draw power and deck searching made for a plethora of positive matchups for Fukuoka's team.

Hakata Open Class Regional Tournament
First place: Sakamoto Issei/坂下一生

Grade 0

x1 Devil in Shadow (FV)

x4 Dark Knight of Nightmareland CT

x2 Amon's Follower, Cruel Hand CT

x2 Blitz Ritter CT

x4 Hysteric Shirley DT

x4 Amon's Follower, Hell's Trick HT

Grade 1

x4 Amon's Follower, Vlad Specula

x4 Amon's Follower, Hell's Deal

x4 Bloody Calf

x2 Yellow Bolt

Grade 2

x4 Amon's Follower, Lon Shinrin

x4 Amon's Follower, Hell's Draw

x4 Gwynn the Ripper

Grade 3

x4 Demon God Marquis, Amon “Я”

x3 Demon World Marquis, Amon

Runner-up: Karajima Kiyoto/辛島聖人
Grade 0
x1 Creeping Dark Goat (FV)
x1 Frontline Revenger, Claudas
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
x2 Death Feather Eagle CT
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x2 Freezing Revenger DT
Grade 1
x4 Morale Revenger, Dorin
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x3 Transience Revenger, Masquerade
x2 Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x4 Dark Cloak Revenger, Tartu
x4 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x3 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Doctor O Prize: Kamiya Ayaka/神谷綾香
Grade 0

x1 Acorn Master (FV)

x4 Dictionary Goat HT

x4 Eraser Alpaca ST

x4 Alarm Chicken ST

x1 Triangle Cobra CT

x3 Holder Hedgehog CT

Grade 1

x3 Coiling Duckbill

x3 Stamp Sea Otter

x4 Tank Mouse

x4 Cable Sheep

Grade 2

x3 Compass Lion

x4 Lamp Camel

x4 Binoculus Tiger

Grade 3

x4 School Punisher, Leo-pald “Я”

x4 Honorary Doctor, Chatnoir

Hakata Junior Class Regional Tournament
First place: Kenta Tatsuhiko/権田達彦
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, Dusttail Unicorn (FVG)
x3 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT
x3 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
x2 Star-vader, Moon Commander ST
x2 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x2 Star-vader, Scouting Felis DT
x4 Star-vader, Stellar Garage HT
Grade 1
x2 Star-vader, Chaos Beat Dragon
x4 Prison Gate Star-vader, Palladium
x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
x4 Demonic Bullet Star-vader, Neon
Grade 2
x4 Furious Claw Star-vader, Niobium
x3 Star-vader, Colony Maker
x4 Unrivaled Star-vader, Radon
Grade 3
x4 Star-vader, Infinite Zero Dragon
x4 Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon

Runner-up: Sougawa Yoshiki/早川嘉輝

Grade 0

x1 Star-vader, Dusttail Unicorn (FVG)

x4 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT

x4 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT

x4 Keyboard Star-vader, Bismuth ST

x4 Star-vader, Stellar Garage HT

Grade 1

x1 Opener of the Black Door

x1 Star-vader, Aurora Eagle

x3 Star-vader, Chaos Beat Dragon

x3 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium

x3 Demonic Bullet Star-vader, Neon

x4 The Hollow Twin Blades, Binary Star

Grade 2

x2 Soaring Star-vader, Krypton

x2 Unrivaled Star-vader, Radon

x2 Singularity Shooter

x4 Star-vader, Moebius Breath Dragon

Grade 3

x4 Star-vader, Infinite Zero Dragon

x3 Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon

x1 Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon

Doctor O Prize: Hagio Kazuya/萩尾和哉

Grade 0

x1 Wingal Liberator (FV)

x4 Fortune Liberator ST

x3 Armed Liberator, Gwydion DT

x1 Liberator of Hope, Epona CT

x4 Strike Liberator CT

x4 Elixir Liberator HT

Grade 1

x1 Barkgal Liberator

x1 Silver Fang Witch

x4 Bomergal Liberator

x4 Little Liberator, Marron

x3 Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth

x2 Future Liberator, Llew

Grade 2

x1 Blaster Blade Liberator

x1 Liberator of Royalty, Phallon

x1 Zoomdown Eagle

x3 Zoigal Liberator

x4 Liberator of Silence, Gallatin

Grade 3

x1 Wolf Fang Liberator, Garmore

x1 Onslaught Liberator, Mailzion

x1 Liberator of the Round Table, Alfred

x1 Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel

x2 Dignified Gold Dragon

x1 Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel

x1 Solitary Liberator, Gancelot

Vanguard Fight Koushien 2013 (Student only) Hakata Regional Tournament Championship Team

Tomita Hiromi/富田大珠

Grade 0
x1 Creeping Dark Goat (FV)
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x4 Freezing Revenger DT
Grade 1
x4 Morale Revenger, Dorin
x4 Dark Revenger, Mac Lir
x4 Transience Revenger, Masquerade
x2 Revenger, Dark Bond Trumpeter
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger
x4 Dark Cloak Revenger, Tartu
x3 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x4 Illusionary Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Yoshida Hiroshige/吉田大成

Grade 0

x1 Extending Black Ring, Pleiades (FVG)

x4 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT

x2 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT

x2 Star-vader, Scouting Felis DT

x4 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT

x4 Star-vader, Stellar Garage HT

Grade 1

x1 Star-vader, Aurora Eagle

x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium

x4 Prison Gate Star-vader, Palladium

x3 Demonic Bullet Star-vader, Neon

x2 Demonic Claw Star-vader, Lanthanum

Grade 2

x4 Soaring Star-vader, Krypton

x4 Unrivaled Star-vader, Radon

x3 Star-vader, Colony Maker

Grade 3

x4 Star-vader, Infinite Zero Dragon

x3 Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon

x1 Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon

Kuroki Yuki/黒木優希

Grade 0
x1 Eradicator, Spark Kid Dragoon (FV)
x1 Eradicator, Blue Gem Carbuncle DT
x3 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT
x4 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
x4 Eradicator of the Divine Spear, Pollux CT
x4 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seiobo HT
Grade 1
x2 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
x4 Eradicator, Wyvern Guard Guld
x3 Eradicator of the Ceremonial Bonfire, Castor
x1 Iron Blood Eradicator, Shuki
x4 Rising Phoenix
Grade 2
x4 Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Chou-Ou
x3 Supreme Army Eradicator, Zuitan
x4 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
Grade 3
x3 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon
x2 Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
x2 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Я”

News: Dark Irregulars Soar to First in World Grand Prix 2013 Fukuoka

Demon God Marquis, Amon “Я”

The final official competition of the Japanese tournament season began Sunday, with the Bushiroad World Grand Prix 2013 Fukuoka Stage ending with a surprising champion standing at the top of its open class competition; a Dark Irregulars cardfighter wielding the clan's latest boss card, Demon God Marquis, Amon  “Я.” This is the first time that Dark Irregulars have made first place in a major tournament since their initial release in Japan almost three years ago, and the introduction of a Reverse card has provided them a long-sought after combination of strong defense and overwhelming power bonuses not just to the center lane, but to the entire field. However, Amon “Я” has up to now been panned as the least effective of the Reverse units, lacking their field consistency and ability to pull out other cards from various zones or destroy the opponents', and his subgroup has done little to remedy the Irregulars' consistency problems with actually drawing and searching cards, a setback that has been pervasive since BT03. His sudden debut in the 2013 Grand Prix is a shock not just in Japan, but in the greater global community as well.

The remaining spots in the top 4 were taken by Shadow Paladin, Narukami and Great Nature cardfighters. Meanwhile first place in the junior tournament went to a Link Joker fighter. There is some confusion among Japanese players, mainly over Great Nature which is perceived to ultimately lose the damage race against Chaos Breaker. The prevailing theory at the present time is that the deck's strategy hinges on combining Chatnoir with Leo-pald “Я” and a base of supporting grade 1s, with Tank Mouse as a designated target for Lock to capitalize on Great Nature's Reverse card's limit break, using the consistent filtering combo of Coiling Duckbill with Binoculus Tiger to build up a midgame strategy in the form of consecutive break rides, Chatnoir into Chatnoir and then into Leo-pald “Я” for the endgame.

The World Grand Prix 2013 is unique as the first international Japanese language CFV competition. Previously, Bushiroad's WGP tournaments only encompassed other properties like Weiss Schwarz. Cardfight!! Vanguard first debuted as a TCG in Japan in February of 2011, and many overseas fans from different countries across the globe began importing the game from the release of trial decks and the earliest booster sets, but the English-language TCG has received much greater attention worldwide and through Bushiroad's intensive marketing has come to eclipse it in importance. Nevertheless, many longtime cardfighters have been campaigning to be able to use their Japanese cards in their own international tournaments ever since the division of English and Japanese formats was established. The inclusion of Japanese Cardfight!! Vanguard in the World Grand Prix will bring this three year history full circle, with locations currently announced for China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. While Hammergirl Anime is scheduled as a location for the Weiss Schwarz regional, there are no American qualifiers listed for the Japanese edition of Cardfight!! Vanguard. This may be to avoid the possible confusion of having WCS2013 and WGP2013 running concurrently. Furthermore, the majority of American cardfighters that play in the Japanese format cannot actually read Japanese. These cardfighters have instead depended on unofficial fantranslations of the cards since early 2011, and their illiteracy would be problematic when making rulings and filling out forms.

Several of the events in the World Grand Prix last two days, with day one being a WS tournament and day two being for Vanguard. Within Japan the remaining qualifiers are scheduled for Sapporo on the 20th, Kanazawa on the 27th, Sendai on November 4th, Nagoya on November 24th, Okayama on December 1st, Osaka on December 15th, and Tokyo on December 21st. The national finals will be held in Tokyo. These tournaments will consist of both Fighter's Climax 2013 singles tournaments for open and junior class cardfighters, and VF High School/VF Koushien triples tournaments for high school students participating as a group. Those participating in open class tournaments will have to win at a shop qualifier first to receive an invitation, then register online for their regional, while junior class cardfighters can register for their division without prior invitation. Only cardfighters born on or after April 2, 2001 can participate in the juniors' division, limiting participation to those 12 and under.