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.

News: Grade 4 Dragonic Nouvelle Vague Revealed in Monthly Bushiroad, New Beginning Sets for Link Joker and Dimension Police Announced

The second issue of Monthly Bushiroad has brought with it an early view of Cardfight!! Vanguard's first grade 4 unit, Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague. As a grade 4 Nouvelle Vague is the face of a new mechanic entirely, bringing with it immense consistency issues by giving another opportunity for gradelock to influence a match, and needing to rework entire deck ratios to compensate for that, but as a reward Nouvelle comes with immense power and supporting units that help mitigate its weaknesses.

Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague
Grade 4/13000 Power/No Shield/Kagerou - Flame Dragon
ACT (V): [Limit Break 4]: [Counterblast 3 and Soulblast 3 and choose a card named "Transcendence Dragon, Dragonic Nouvelle Vague" from your hand, and discard it] Retire all of your opponent's rearguards.
CONT (V): During your turn, the effects of your opponent's Triggers do not activate.
CONT (V): When this unit attacks a vanguard, your opponent cannot call grade 0 units to the guardian circle until the end of that battle.
CONT (R): This unit gets Power -1000.
CONT (V/R): Lord. (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

Originally conceived by franchise creator Itou Akira for Aichi and Kai's climactic fight at the end of the manga's first story arc, Nouvelle Vague (French; "New Wave") as Itou originally envisioned it did not have "Twin Drive!!" but negated all trigger effects during both player's turns. The final version of the card instead retains the ability to check two triggers per turn, and only negates the opponents' triggers, but also only during its own turn and its main advantage is its high defensive base power coupled with preventing the opponent from using most 10000-power shields against it. As Kai used it, Nouvelle Vague did not have a retire skill, but the persona blast on this card is meant to encourage playing it at more than 2 copies as the experimental grade 4 Silvest was commonly played during his time, and EB09: Divine Dragon Progression will also introduce supporting rearguards that reveal copies of Nouvelle Vague already in hand to activate their skills, or return the card to the deck to search for grade 3 or higher units to help prevent the various gradelock issues surrounding it.

Meanwhile, two new Beginning Sets (はじめようセット Hajimeyou Setto) have been announced for Japanese release, VG-HS07: Beginning Set Star-vader Invasion and VG-HS08: Beginning Set Dimensional Brave Kaiser. Based on past trial decks but with additional supplies and promo cards, these are part of regular annual releases made by Bushiroad of Japan to capitalize on the holiday season by providing a gateway for kids and new players to become cardfighters.

Each Beginning Set will come with a 50-card trial deck, 53 card sleeves, a deckholder, fighter's counters to place under cards to show power increases, and RRR prints of three promo cards. VG-HS07 is Link Joker themed, with its sleeves, deckholder and counters based on Яeverse Kai, and Star-vaders Dusttail Unicorn and Lanthanum as promo cards, in addition to a new Link Joker promo that has yet to be revealed. The accompanying trial deck is TD10: Star-vader Invasion, which brings along many essentials for Link Joker cardfighters including the Infinite Zero break ride and Mobius Breath Dragon, units that have become staples of recent competitive decks.

Meanwhile VG-HS08 is based around the Dimension Police clan, with sleeves, a deckholder and fighter's counters derived from Mitsusada "Koutei" Kenji, and Dimensional Robos Dailander and Daiheart promo cards, as well as alternate artwork prints of Super Dimensional Robos Daiyusha and Daikaiser.

The illustrator of these new artworks is Oobari Masami, a celebrated artist who originally designed Daikaiser and performed guest animation for ride 135 of Cardfight!! Vanguard Link Joker. The alternate artworks are full color pieces derived from the episode's ending illustration, showing Daiyusha and Daikaiser shaking hands in front of Mt. Fuji. Both of the new Beginning Sets will be released on December 27th in Japan.

Previously, Beginning Sets HS-05 and HS-06 for Gold Paladin and Shadow Paladin had been announced for a December 12th release, featuring TD08 and TD10 trial decks along with accompanying sleeves and deckholders based on Sendou Aichi and Suzugamori Ren. This is the first year that four Beginning Sets have been released at once. The decision to release HS-05 and HS-06 on the 12th with 07 and 08 on the 27th is likely intended to take advantage of the dual importance of Christmas and New Year's in Japan, as Christmas is the day when children receive presents but New Year's is when they are given spending money to celebrate. Although these sets could have similar impacts on the holiday season abroad, no English-language release dates for any Beginning Set have ever been announced.

News: Platina Ezel Places First in Dallas Qualifier, Chaos Breaker Dragon Dominates Tsurumai Vanguard Championship

Over the weekend the World Championship 2013 Dallas qualifier concluded with first place cardfighter Hank Hwang bringing a Platina Ezel deck to the top 4. While most Platina decks right now opt to run 4-4 on both forms of Ezel to maximize their crossride potential, Hwang instead chose to run four copies of Great Silver Wolf Garmore and just one Incandescent Lion, making use of Kyrph's superior ride to access his Ezel tech when possible but otherwise allowing for a much more direct access to the deck while still carrying heavy endgame potential. 230 cardfighters participated in the Dallas qualifier, less than the 300+ numbers typical of other North American regionals but still ten more than in the preceding World Championship. Hwang is a veteran pro cardfighter who had previously placed twelfth in the Stand Up Challenge Cup national tournament earlier this year.

While Gold Paladin has had a strong presence in the top 4s of the ongoing WCS2013, Royal Paladin had a much stronger impact at Dallas than in previous regionals, taking half of the top 4 with Majesty Lord Blaster and a King of Knights build similar to what made such big waves in Japan's equivalent format in 2012. The Platina Ezel deck was forecasted to do well in the European championship because of Gold Paladin's established success in the previous year, particularly in the upcoming German qualifier, and in the developing French scene where the deck is humorously known as "Platilol." But in the European qualifiers that have taken place so far, alternative Gold Paladin builds have been more effective along with the usual suspects of The End and "THE BLOOD."

Hwang is on the far right. Original photo by Cardfight!! Vanguard USA.

The North American national championship has turned out with heavy favor to Gold Paladin, with Ezel decks appearing in the top 4 of every regional so far, while on a global scale Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD" has been comparatively successful in numbers. Where in Japan every national championship came out with Royal Paladin as the senior class national deck up until Pale Moon suddenly swept through the title match earlier this year, Gold Paladin and Narukami are instead the familiar tyrants to English-language play, and their success has the previous World Championship backing it. Dragonic Overlord the End remains the deck to beat when building for professional play, but it has many rivals and "THE BLOOD" is seeing heavy adoption as the new face of international competition. Part of this comes from "THE BLOOD"'s improved consistency by having effectively two copies of the same grade 3 with the benefits of crossride defense on one of them, being able to take out the opponent's field and hand simultaneously in one or two quick bursts, as well as the relative cheapness of the deck which makes it more accessible by comparison. Currently Narukami's Guld is priced at a fourth of Kagerou's Barri, $6 versus $18 because of Guld's BT09 reprint devaluing it significantly, with "THE BLOOD" at approximately half of DOTE's $30 pricetag. Narukami did not have many expectations riding on it prior to WCS2013, but its dual boss cards may together prove to be one of the most practical decks of the season.

In Japanese waters, Chaos Breaker Dragon has been drawing attention after attaining heavy proliferation at the Tsurumai VGCS. The tournament took place on September 15th and the results were published on the 16th, but flew under the radar in the English scene due to the close attention being paid to the ongoing World Championship qualifiers.

The tournament had 54 participants, an unusual low for a VGCS but nonetheless a much higher turnout than in local tournaments. The tournament format was four 20 minute rounds of Swiss draw followed by top 16 50 minute rounds, all in best of 3.

First place cardfighter Gungnir used a Raging Form Dragon deck, while second place fighter Houki used Chaos Breaker Dragon. Third place also went to a Raging Form cardfighter, and fourth to Chaos Breaker, while the remaining best 8 were all Chaos Breaker Dragon decks. This is a much higher level of adoption than was expected by the global community even accounting for the hype surrounding Chaos Beaker, with the card having gone for as high as 3000~4000 yen when entire booster boxes typically sell for 4700 yen. These prices were lampooned within Tsurumai's top 8, where Link Joker cardfighter white21 titled his deck "3500 yen." What should be kept in mind when considering these results is the much lower attendance, as Tsurumai saw only half of the regular turnout of most other Vanguard Championships. Following the Tsurumai VGCS results, Chaos Breaker's RRR single price has since stabilized at around 3000~3500 yen.

Another, less obvious factor in Chaos Breaker's success is the plurality of Japanese social circles. A standard practice within VGCS tournaments is to preregister those that will be participating, but prior to the tournament one of the preregistered participants, handle name "Haww" had to cancel because of his hospitalization. In a show of solidarity, his friends brought Link Joker decks to the tournament and named their decks in his honor. Second place fighter Houki dedicated his deck "For the Sake of Scattered haww", fifth place fighter Lot implored Haww to "lend me power!!" and sixth place fighter Akaishika ("Red Shika") wished that he would "Get well soon, Haww-san." Playing one deck because of another fighter is the norm in Japan, where clans unite cardfighters as part of a larger group. It's not uncommon to see one fighter explaining that he played a particular deck because of a Takeshi or Yamato that introduced them to it. Even so, not all of the Link Joker fighters were there on another's behalf. Fourth place finalist Shachihoko humorously named their deck "Forgive me, Amon" (「許してくれアモン」)  out of regret for dropping the Dark Irregulars clan in favor of Link Joker. Eighth place finalist Oosaki injected some comedy of his own into the tournament, calling his Chaos Breaker deck "Book of Moon."

Also of note is that one Dimension Police deck did make it into the top 16, using the newly released Dark Dimensional Robo, "Я" Daiyusha. This build played 3 copies of both Super Dimensional Robo and Dark Dimensional Robo, with 2 copies of the Daikaiser break ride rounding it out and Daimagnum as its first vanguard instead of Gouyusha; although it did make use of many new cards, Daiheart was not one of them, contrary to what one might expect of the varied grade 3 lineup.

While Raging Form Dragon has risen to being one of the dominant decks of the Japanese format alongside Dragonic Descendant and Luquier “Я,” Chaos Breaker Dragon is instead a highly anticipated card that many were expecting to do well but which still remained something of an enigma until now. Prior to his introduction, Link Joker struggled in professional play, placing highly but never quite high enough compared to its contemporaries, with Nebula Lord's recent victory at the Pitarui VGCS prior to Catastrophic Outbreak's release being their first instance of actually topping a large-scale tournament. Chaos Breaker has stirred a response by providing a hard counter to every Reverse deck in the format through his limit break, which retires rearguards when they Unlock, and his consistent ability to Lock one rearguard per turn with a single discard. The tournament finals were recorded and uploaded to YouTube, and can be viewed below.



By running him alongside Infinite Zero Dragon, Japanese Link Joker cardfighters have opened up the opportunity to start an ideal spread of 3 Locked rearguards and then maintain 2 Locks for two turns after their initial break ride, Locking units with Infinite Zero, Dusttail Unicorn and Chaos Breaker, keeping them Locked with Palladium, and retiring them when they Unlock with Chaos Breaker's soulblast while also drawing cards. Even if this golden setup is missed, Chaos Breaker alone opens up possibilities for consistent Lock options outside of break ride, where Nebula Lord Dragon was heavily reliant on Infinite Zero such that it could only maintain its massive field power bonus for a single turn. An interesting innovation of these new Chaos Breaker decks compared to Nebula Lord is that five of the six Link Joker deck from Tsurumai VGCS' top 8 ran three copies of Star-vader Mobius Breath Dragon, whose midgame on-hit Lock skill has been highly valued for both slowing down the opponent's plays and pressuring them to defend it. As a result the card has quickly become entrenched as one of Chaos Breaker's staples, despite having no real use in the rearguard. Tsurumai VGCS decklists are provided at the bottom of the article.

The VGCS tournaments are a series of unofficial tournaments organized by fans and cardshops. Unlike Bushiroad's larger official tournaments, most VGCS events are done using a best of 3, Swiss tournament model, with entry fees in the vicinity of 1000 yen per person that go toward grand prizes like booster boxes, Nintendo 3DS handhelds and other merchandise. Turnout is typically 70-80 persons, but some events see 100 or more participants, all of whom compete using pseudonyms and internet handles rather than their real names as in official events.

First Place
Deck Name: Revenger/「撃退者」
Handle Name: Gungnir/ぐんぐにーる
Grade 0
x1 Creeping Dark Goat (FV)
x1 Frontline Revenger, Claudas
x4 Grim Revenger CT
x4 Revenger, Air Raid Dragon CT
x1 Death Feather Eagle CT
x4 Healing Revenger HT
x3 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
x3 Nullity Revenger, Masquerade
Grade 3
x4 Revenger, Raging Form Dragon
x4 Illusion Revenger, Mordred Phantom

Second Place
Deck Name: For the Sake of Scattered haww/散っていったhawwのために
Handle Name: Houki/ほうき
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, Dusttail Unicorn (FVG)
x4 Star-vader, Meteoliger CT
x3 Star-vader, Weiss Soldat CT
x4 Star-vader, Nebula Captor DT
x1 Star-vader, Scouting Felis DT
x4 Star-vader, Stellar Garage HT
Grade 1
x4 Prison Gate Star-vader, Palladium
x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
x3 Demonic Bullet Star-vader, Neon
x3 Opener of the Black Door
Grade 2
x4 Unrivaled Star-vader, Radon
x4 Star-vader, Colony Maker
x3 Star-vader, Mobius Breath Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Star-vader, Infinite Zero Dragon
x4 Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon

News: Ezel and Gancelot to Return in VG-BT14: Brilliant Strike

Early posters and web previews from Doctor O's twitter shocked the global Cardfight community today with the first look at the contents of the fourteenth main booster set, VG-BT14: Brilliant Strike (光輝迅雷 lit. Blazing Thunderclap.) The set's slogan is 「黒き呪縛を截ち切れ！金色の騎士たち！！」 "Cut through the black Lock! Golden knights!!" and its cover card is a currently-unknown new form of Ezel, Aichi's key grade 3 from the Asia Circuit arc. According to Doctor O, the set will provide strong support for the Gold Paladin, Royal Paladin, Genesis, Kagerou, Murakumo, Neo Nectar and Narukami clans. BT14 will be released in Japan on December 12th, 2013. The special conference for BT13 to be held live on September 26th through NicoNico Douga will reveal additional information regarding this latest booster set in addition to showing off cards from the recently released Catastrophic Outbreak.

The new incarnation of Ezel mixes his Red Lion and Platina armors, and is shown prominently cutting through the black rings used by the Link Joker clan to create their Lock spell. Popular speculation is that this Ezel will either be a new Gold Paladin grade 3 for Aichi, or that Ezel will return to his in-universe home army as a Royal Paladin for the Jewel Knights. This is fueled by Ezel's unique relationship to Kourin, who uses the card as the basis of her Gold Paladin deck in the manga, and who originally owned the card in the anime.

Alongside Ezel has been featured a crossbreak ride for Solitary Liberator Gancelot, and a crossbreak ride for "Sacred Regalia of Wisdom, Angelica," the cover card of VG-TD13: Successor of the Sacred Regalia, Misaki's Genesis trial deck. The crossbreak will be "Fair Goddess, Minerva" and will be illustrated by celebrated artist Tanaka Takayuki alias "Tony Taka," who has previously done work for Sega's fantasy RPG Shining franchise.

Reactions to the set's unveiling are mixed. Internationally many cardfighters were left with the impression that Ezel's storyline within the card lore was finished, and that Alfred, Garmore and now Gancelot would have taken the reigns for Aichi's key grade 3s. There have also been expectations within the community that Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark would be the key units to repel the invading force of Link Joker due to their ongoing storyline in the card lore, and Ezel's sudden appearance seems jarring to some in light of that. In Japan however, Ezel's appearance has not been as surprising, in part because of some wordplay that has been lost in the translation of BT14. Both Brilliant Strike and Ezel's previous form Blazing Lion Platina Ezel are written with the kanji 光輝 , so that in Japanese their names are Kouki Jinrai and Kouki no Shishi Platina Ezel. Ezel's appearance was thus foreshadowed by this allusion, and he is the title card of the set as Alfred was in BT10, and as Blockade Inferno was for BT11. The decision to translate 光輝 as "Brilliant" instead of "Blazing" caused this to be lost in translation.

It has been noted that despite some indications to the contrary, this does not appear to be the final set of the third season Link Joker, as the season's titular clan is not listed for BT14. It would be very uncharacteristic for a final set to not include the current antagonists, which implies that BT15 or later will be the last set of the current storyline, in keeping with Bushiroad CEO Kidani Takaaki's previous statement that Link Joker is planned to air for over a year. Finally, Doctor O stated on Twitter this evening that Megacolony would be supported in BT15, bringing with them the winning entry of the original unit card design contest "Unbeatable Mutant Abectrozeus" from last May.

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.

News: Dragonic Overlord the End and "THE BLOOD" Storm Atlanta World Championship Qualifier

The second regional qualifier in the World Championship 2013 tournament series has concluded, with first place going to Johnathan Luu and his Dragonic Overlord the End deck. Second place was taken by Daniel Sirois using Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD," with third also going to a "THE BLOOD" cardfighter Christopher Hairston, and fourth to Christian Okezie with Blazing Lion Platina Ezel. In stark contrast to the Toronto results from the previous weekend, Atlanta's top 4 is more in line with what was expected from the 2013 tournament season. Outside of the top 4, Oracle Think Tank was reportedly a popular choice, with different cardfighters bringing Tsukuyomi, CoCo and Goddess Amaterasu through the elimination rounds.

Johnathan Luu's decklist has been leaked onto the internet through an interview conducted by YouTube channel Team Limit Break. The full decklist has been reproduced in text below.

Johnathan Luu
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FV)
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x3 Gatling Claw Dragon DT
x3 Dragon Dancer, Monica DT
x2 Embodiment of Armor, Tahr CT
x4 Blu-ray Dracokid CT
Grade 1
x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x2 Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara
x3 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x1 Flame of Hope, Aermo
Grade 2
x4 Burning Horn Dragon
x1 Bellicosity Dragon
x2 Berserk Dragon
x1 Cross Shot, Garp
x4 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End
x3 Dragonic Overlord

Although running stand triggers in DOTE decks has proven popular since the rise of Kaden Kawakami as the presiding North American national champion, Luu preferred critical triggers for a stronger early game to throw the opponent to higher damage faster, and to avoid having dead drive checks when fighting with just his center lane. Luu was mindful of the current state of competitive play, building his deck with Majesty Lord Blaster matchups in mind and preferring base 10000 grade 2 rides to deny the majority of Wingal Brave combos.

It should be noted when considering these results is that runner up Daniel Sirois was pressed for time. Conflicting reports from eyewitnesses at Atlanta state that Sirois was either disqualified during the finals for incurring too many penalties or deliberately incurred enough penalties to get disqualified so that he could leave the tournament in a timely manner.

The next tournament in the World Championship will be the first European qualifier in Brussels on September 14, followed by the third North American qualifier in Chicago on the 15th.