Alfred's Place vs Crossride: The "Fifth Marron"

By rawritzrichii, seek consent before reposting.

One of the topics that has saturated discussion of late is why the King of Knights, Alfred, a card from Cardfight's very first booster set first released in March of last year, can best The End, an effective prototype of grade 4 released a year later in January of 2012. The simple answer is that he was designed to. The long answer;

The King of Knights owes his place to a literal army of support all geared toward forming anti-crossride lines. The first play style Royal Paladin adhered to, once known as the Royal Paladin deck back in the first set, has developed into an anti-crossride deck. First, it needs to be established that all crossride units are assumed to have 13000 power at all times, as they were designed to. Alfred counters this by his inability to be boosted and the skill that comes as a trade-off of that--passively gaining +2000 power may not seem like much when 20000 is no longer high enough to force out more than 10000 power in shield from the opponent, but 20000 is not the important number in this scenario. The important number is 18000, which is functionally the same but has an interesting loophole to it; Alfred will always have 18000 power on-attack so long as there are four Royal Paladin rearguards out. Unlike with other 10000-power grade 3s, Alfred does not need Marron's boost to reach this number, and even unlike 11000-power grade 3s, Alfred does not need a 7000 boost to reach this number. Stating the obvious reveals something powerful about the King of Knights; he does not need to call a unit to force one 10000 shield out of a crossride.

Not needing a circle is a crucial advantage. One of the primary management problems with Vanguard is keeping all of the rearguard circles filled for full-power attacks while also being able to defend on the opponent's turn with at least a five or six card hand. Let's consider all of the units with The End-type skills;

1. Dragonic Overlord. Counterblast 3, can only stand when his attack hits a rearguard, functions in both the vanguard and the rearguard, and he loses twin drive when he activates. Because he loses Twin Drive on the first attack, Overlord can only get a minimum of one extra card in hand before factoring in draw triggers. However, because he only stands when he hits a rearguard, at a maximum he can remove two of the opponent's cards from the field, giving his cardfighter an overall three card lead before the opponent guards their vanguard.
2. Stern Blaukruger. Counterblast 2, can only stand when his attack hits a vanguard, functions only in the vanguard but also stands the rest of the cards in his column, and he loses twin drive when he stands. Stern requires two cards to be dropped to use his skill, meaning that no extra cards whatsoever will be gained with him, and instead he forces his user to lose one card.. Because his skill only activates versus a vanguard, he also cannot give any lead unless the opponent guards and he drive checks a trigger.
3. Commander Laurel. Not a unit that does this himself, but when you have him in the rearguard you can rest four Dimension Police rearguards after your Dimension Police vanguard's attack hits, to stand your vanguard once more. This is an immediate two-card gain, so even though it weakens one turn, it gives an advantage that's just a little under Overlord after two rearguards have been retired.
4. Dragonic Overlord The End. Counterblast 2, can only stand when his attack hits, functions only in the vanguard, does not lose twin drive. The End does not feature the same power bonus as Overlord, but has the advantage of the Flame of Promise's 10000-power boost to get his initial attack through; because The End requires another copy of himself to be discarded with each attack, he has a similar net gain to the original Overlord (unless his skill goes off twice and removes both of the rearguards) for a total of two extra cards and a four card lead overall. His skill is harder to get through without triggers on the second attack and beyond because he can only strike for 13000 instead of 16000.
5. Spectral Duke Dragon. Counterblast 2, can stand regardless of whether or not his attack hits but the attack must have been on a vanguard, functions only in the vanguard, and he loses twin drive when he stands. Additionally, Duke Dragon must retire three rearguards to use the skill. Because of this, he is the only card in this skill family to take two cards away after his drive check is resolved. (This is supposed to be compensated for with the Vortimer line skills, which if fully successful still leaves the user with a one card advantage, and if only one skill in the chain fails the loss is at least nullified.) Like Overlord and Stern Blaukruger, Duke Dragon is an 11000-power unit, which makes his second attack just as difficult to bring through as The End's without a second twin drive to compensate, but has the advantage of not needing to hit.

So where does Alfred fit into this equation? At a maximum, these units can give their users' two extra cards. Except for Laurel and Stern, this is in normal circumstances cut down to just one. The End and Laurel get their advantage by doing a second twin drive. Overlord achieves it with his third drive check, which more typically gets guarded beforehand because without triggers he's now at 16000 instead of 21000 or above as in his first check. Alfred does not have a standing skill, but because one circle is supposed to be left empty with him, against crossride units he just gained a hidden advantage. Not needing to use a card means that it stays in hand for guarding, so Alfred can now operate as though he called that unit without actually doing so. His skill gives him an "invisible Marron" that for all intents and purposes, may as well exist on the field. It can even be targeted by retire skills--removing any other unit on the field will bump his boost down to 16000, which to a cross ride is a single 5000-shield guard. The King of Knights has just put a unit onto the field that does not exist anywhere in the hand or deck. (Keep in mind that this advantage exists versus both crossride and base 11000 units, the only situations where the conditions are correct for Alfred to need 18000 instead of 20000 power.) In this way, Alfred gives a fifth Marron to the deck, reaching a power level that's otherwise usually out of reach.

So having established that Alfred has an invisible Marron that gives him the same breathing room that card advantage confers, the math for the next part is easy. 18000 is the new number for crossrides, because trying to reach 23000 without triggers is getting ahead of how the current game works. Gotou Kiyomi used Wingal Brave as his first vanguard, seemingly because it's the only FVG other than the considerably weaker Brugal that RoyPala currently has to work with. The argument is open that, with only Blaster Blade to boost and search for in the deck, Kiyomi would eventually have to retire Brave to make way for other units anyway, or otherwise relegate him to the circle where Alfred's invisible Marron would sit regardless, giving no real impact on the fight. What should be paid attention to here is not Brave's search skill, however; it's his power.

Wingal Brave is the first RoyPala FVG to operate on 5000 power. This is why he would go into a rearguard circle other than one where Blaster Blade would fall. Another key card for both Gotou and countless other RoyPala cardfighters is the Swordsman of the Explosive Flames, Palamedes, a base 10000 grade 3 now infamously regarded as a mistake that receives +3000 power too easily. While this idea is much newer than most cardfighters seem to think, for now assume a scenario with Palamedes in the rearguard and Alfred in the vanguard circle. Palamedes' skill would activate automatically, and if lined up with Wingal Brave, would then hit the 18000 marker. Wingal Brave is free of course, and Alfred can counterblast 3 at any time during his turn to call a grade 2 or less Royal Paladin, meaning that Palamedes is one of just two cards that needs to be called to set up an anti-crossride formation. The other card that has to be called is either Marron, Gallatin, Lamorak or one more Palamedes depending on which of them is in the fighter's hand. With Alfred's skill, either of those initial three can then fill the remaining circle, creating three 18000 lines that will always be at 18000.

This type of 18000-line formation can be extremely difficult for other clans to manage consistently, but for Royal Paladin and Alfred in particular, it is one of the easiest attacks to mount. RoyPala is one of three clans with multiple 10000-power grade 2s, so between those, Palamedes and the remaining Alfreds, making this formation is child's play because Marron can be easily brought out by Alfred, and as said Wingal Brave fills the only other column in need of a booster. Between Wingal Brave, the invisible Marron and Alfred's superior call, that's a three-card advantage overall with only one counterblast activated. At this point it's just a matter of defending that formation or re-calling any part of it that falls victim to retire. Factoring in Toypugal's boost (which follows the same conditions as Palamedes) as a Marron substitute, and the numbers are being moved around in such a way that it's akin to having not just a fifth Marron in the deck, but one extra Marron for each Palamedes, Toypugal and Alfred included.

This is the final quality that makes Alfred ideal as the definitive anti-crossride deck; the King of Knights is tenacious. The deck is not about making any single big move, but about attacking again and again with the same just-powerful-enough tactics to last through many turns. Once the formation is put together, guarding is the only thing that needs to be done. The deck is more consistent than Soul Saver Dragon because its intended strategy will happen every turn rather than on just one, and it's a sign of planned balance between the cards. Unlike Nova Grappler and Oracle Think Tank, there is no need to release new cards to catch RoyPala up with the fresh crossrides like Great Daiyusha and the coming Cosmolord upgrade; Royal Paladin has had the majority of the tools that they need to combat these units since August of last year, when Demonic Lord Invasion was first released. And the established way to defeat an Alfred deck is with Goku, so in the future we may even see the return of Cardfight's first ever competitive deck. The post-crossride format is one where every existing deck type has its niche; it's a beautiful world we've come into.

Official Tournament Format

CF-Vanguard's English site has updated with the latest info on this year's international championship. Here's the rundown on how Bushiroad's operating these tournaments. Unless otherwise noted, this information is universally applicable.

Registration takes place from 10:00-10:30 AM (11:00-11:30 for Singapore) on the day of whichever qualifier you are attending. The events have no entry fee, and follow a double elimination format until the top 8 fighters can be decided from the players' performance. In a double elimination tournament, if you lose twice then you are out of the running. You will fight each opponent just once, and each match will last for 20 minutes. (If a fight proceeds past 20 minutes, then it enters into Bushiroad's typical sudden death rules--the player with less damage automatically wins, but if both players are tied then the fight continues until a player takes damage.) Once the top 8 is established, the tournament will then proceed into single elimination--as you can probably guess from the name, that means even one loss will put you out of the event.

Cards must be sleeved and the sleeves must have opaque backings that completely obscure the back of the card, which means transparent sleeves like those made by Ultra Pro are a no-go. (The best you can do here is official sleeves made by Bushiroad.) In certain events like the Chicago and Los Angeles qualifiers, certain sets will only be available in Singapore at the time of the event--cards from these sets may not be used under any circumstances. The same rules apply for sets released on the day of the qualifier.

In North America, the top two winners will receive an invitation to their 2012 national championship, with air fare paid by Bushiroad (except for Los Angeles.) If anyone has previously received an invitation, that invitation will be passed down to the next highest winner. The Philippines, Australia & Malaysia as well as Hong Kong & Taiwan will have only one winner. Singapore will have four winners.

There will be a free fight side event running from 2:00-4:00 PM, where people can freely enter and leave the play area and be matched against random opponents. Participating in two or more matches earns you one Dragonic Vanisher promo card, participating in four or more earns you a Sphere Magus.

Additionally, to give players an idea of what their deck registration forms may look like, this form was used on CF-Vanguard Oceania, which already had its first national tournament in 2011;

Crossride: The Grade 4 Prototype

One of the most talked-about cards in recent days is The Epitome of Knowledge, Silvest. Originally introducing a series of heart attacks and collective panic in the English-speaking world as the second grade 4 in all of Cardfight!!, and seemingly the first legitimate entry into the series, this all calmed down when it came out that Silvest was just a humorous play on the creators' part and wouldn't be permitted for use after September 21st. And yet, for a joke card there's a surprising amount of forethought put into Silvest's skills.

First, Silvest comes with base 13000 power and a continuous skill that as stated, prevents him from being in a deck after September 21st. And second, Silvest gains +10000 power when attack a vanguard if the number of Great Nature rearguards is three or more. This latter skill only works in the vanguard circle, and already it brings to mind several skills of the past.

Grade 4 bears many similarities to the ever-propagating crossride family of skills. Like crossride units, Silvest is intended to have 13000 power whenever possible. His autoskill is a direct modification of Blaster Overlord's, dropping the +1 critical gain and its included cost altogether in favor of simply meeting a requirement. While Silvest has no specific support cards in line with the Flame of Promise or Apocalypse Bat, his skill compensates for this by giving him the equivalent of a 10000-power support, allowing for 23000-31000 power attacks in the vein of Great Daiyusha or Blaster Overlordt. All these point to crossride--a type of unit directly designed  to be ridden over a grade 3--being a prototype of grade 4 mechanics, with Silvest being Bushiroad testing the waters for how it would be implemented.

However, crossride in general is the better mechanic. There are inherent flaws with Silvest which in general make him overhyped and underpowered.

First and foremost, grade 4 would harm grade ratios. Riding consistently from grades 1 to 3 across consecutive turns is an important element in cardfight. Not reaching grade 3 at the same speed as the opponent means losing card advantage and subsequently, control of the fight. Trying to incorporate grade 4 into the deck is nearly impossible to balance because a fourth grade was not designed as part of the system. The most optimistic grade ratios are 17/13/10/6/4 or 16/13/10/7/4 with both making room for missing grade 1 very easily, and the latter assumes the use of a cycling trigger unit that hurts advantage in the first place. Implementing grade 4 in the way that past grades are currently implemented would mean raising the deck size from 50 to 60, and mandating a new universal deck size would deeply wound past Tsukuyomi and Beast Deity builds, while giving artificial power to draw- and vanguard-stand based decks that once had to be careful not to deck out altogether. Changing the deck size would be introducing a fundamental rule change to Cardfight!! for the first time, such that we could not longer call it Vanguard.

Second, riding grade 4 is in the first place a bad idea. While Silvest is powerful in Great Nature, similar units would be disastrous to the other clans' existing strategies, and he's already difficult to use in a Great Nature deck. The primary reason for this is that outside of superior ride, you can only ride units of equal or higher grade than that of your vanguard; riding Silvest locks the player out of Leo-pald, Bison and the Guardian of Truth, all units which are intended to exist in the vanguard circle exclusively. Furthermore, Leo-pald and Guardian of Truth generate card advantage with Hammsuke and other rearguards at such a rate that each of them is preferable to the Epitome of Knowledge. Silvest's real use is as a nearly-invincible 13000-power rearguard, but he can't be called without riding him. This makes the Epitome of Knowledge into something the class clown might use, even moreso from a clan that has room for a crossride of its own for Lox. Grade 4 is not an impossible mechanic to implement, but seeing as its prototype already does the same job more effectively in the current climate, until this mechanic has a better proof of concept, it's probably best to leave it alone.

As some closing notes on Silvest, his skills could be further rebalanced by adding a -2000 clause if the player has any non-Great Nature rearguards, and an additional -2000 for being in the rearguard circle.

News: Extra Boosters 4 and 5 Announced

Today VG-EB04: Infinite Phantom Legion and VG-EB05: Celestial Valkyries were announced, revealing two sets introducing long anticipated support for Nova Grappler and Oracle Think Tank. Each of these sets, following the 35-card format of prior extra booster sets, will feature 29/28 key cards reprinted from the clan's past releases plus six new Death Army units and seven Battle Sister units, respectively. Set for a November 17 Japanese release, most prominently the sets feature an Ultimate Lifeform, Cosmolord crossride and a Battle Sister unit receiving promotion on par with Tsukuyomi of BT03. With an English release likely to follow in coming months, the current timing of these two sets could be no better for the international scene, where Trial Decks 02: Golden Mechanical Soldier and 03: Princess Maiden of the Cherry Blossoms are being postponed for later release. The timing of EB04 and EB05 could point to a similar release pattern between the English versions of TD02 and 03, creating a massive influx of support for Nova Grappler and Oracle Think Tank, and in turn strengthening them in the international metagame. This would be much akin to Granblue's current spread in North America.

Past Death Army cards have focused toward supporting Asura Kaiser, trading lower power for self-standing skills and being able to form a 16000 power line when lined up with one another. When used correctly in conjunction with Asura Kaiser, their strategy allows for a total up to five attacks in one turn capable of assailing 11000-power units without the use of triggers. Although this leaves a fairly narrow playing field for new entries in the series, one speculation is that the new Death Army cards will be able to mount more than full-power strikes upon standing, to level the playing field between them and 13000-power crossrides.

Most interesting of all is the Cosmolord crossride card. While not technically confirmed by official sources, the artwork for Infinite Phantom Legion is being universally lined up as a crossride to reinforce the 11000-saturated Nova Grapplers. Fittingly, Cosmolord is one of the Nova Grapplers' scarce units that can attain more than 20000 power consistently, particularly through an established combo with Meshrad Roid. Exactly how the crossride will behave is uncertain, but Nova cardfighters can expect to compete with their Kagerou and Dimension Police contemporaries this November.

In addition to the praise it's garnered, this announcement also completely dismisses past rumors of a Nubatama-based EB04.

Bushiroad Institutes New Penal Code

Following Kanamaru Makoto's exposure at the Fighter's Road 2012 championship, Bushiroad has instituted a new policy to punish cheaters in official games¹. Effective July 23rd, 2012 Kanamaru is disqualified from the championship and banned from participating in any official matches for the next eighteen months, until his punishment expires on January 22nd, 2014. This, combined with Kanamaru's prior banning from card shops in his home city of Osaka, will theoretically prevent Kanamaru from cardfighting at all for two years. Official twitter accounts also mention that repeat infringements could lead to harsher penalties being instituted over time, but Bushiroad has stressed the importance of prevention rather than punishment, as this incident of cheating now brings into question the validity of the results of any match in which Kanamaru participated.

Specifically, Kanamaru was found to have marked the sleeved backings of the trigger units in his deck, allowing him to tell when he would drive or damage check a trigger. This method of cheating was already quite popular before he was exposed at the championship, and was an ongoing problem shop judges in Japan had been dealing with over the past year. With the new penal code in place, Bushiroad has a stranglehold on these fraud fighters.



1. "Application History for Penal Regulations and Provisions (Last Updated: 2012/7/24)." Cardfight!! Vanguard JP. Bushiroad, 24 July 2012. Web. 24 July 2012. <cf-vanguard.com/howto/penalty/>.

News: Fighter's Road 2012 National Champions

Following last night's information leak, the official results of Fighter's Road 2012 have been announced. Exceeding many presumptions about what is competitive in today's format, Gotou Kiyomi has been made Japan's third senior class national champion and the first such champion of this tournament season. Rikino Sakura has been finally confirmed as the junior champion, making her the first person of any division or country to defend a title in consecutive years, and the first consecutive national champion in the world. Her deck this year shows a startling degree of innovation, completely abandoning the Kagerou decks she made her name with for an Oracle Think Tank deck using modern tactics.

While Royal Paladin, Gold Paladin and Kagerou are performing as expected, and this marks RoPala's third consecutive championship dominating the senior league, this was achieved using tactics now called ancient. Unlike past champions, Kiyomi took his place in history using a pure Alfred deck with absolutely no focus on Soul Saver Dragon or Majesty Lord Blaster, two deck builds popularly called "broken" since their introduction. In recent times the King of Knights had largely fallen by the wayside in favor of these units and their support cards, but Kiyomi has come out demonstrating that the power balance between sets one and seven is not so skewed that he can't take the national crown with old cards. In fact, Wingal Brave and Lamorak are the only cards in his deck to come from a set beyond 3.

Please note that Kanamaru Makoto, the famous Bermuda Triangle cardfighter from Osaka, has been exposed as an inveterate cheater, and was already banned from many card shops in his home region before FR2012 went underway. The matter is currently being investigated; if Kanamaru cheated during the Fighter's Road events, he may stand to lose his titles. As such, while his Bermuda deck is currently considered the second strongest deck in the country, it's unknown if he tampered with the match in any way.

Japanese National Championship 2012
Seniors Division
National Champion: Gotou Kiyomi/後藤聖弥
Grade 0
x1 Wingal Brave (FVG)
x4 Future Knight, Llew CT
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT
x4 Alabaster Owl CT
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT
Grade 1
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x3 Lake Maiden, Lien
x4 Toypugal
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade
x3 Knight of Silence, Gallatin
x2 High Dog Breeder, Akane
x2 Knight of Determination, Lamorak
Grade 3
x4 Knight of Knights, Alfred
x3 Swordsman of Explosive Flames, Palamedes

Runner-Up: Kanamaru Makoto/金丸眞人
Grade 0
x1 Bermuda Triangle Cadet, Riviere (FVG)
x4 Comical Rainy CT
x4 Cooking Caspian DT
x4 Drive Quartet, Flows HT
x4 Drive Quartet, Shuplu CT
Grade 1
x3 Mermaid Idol, Erie
x4 Mermaid Idol, Sedna
x2 Prism of the Water's Surface, Miltoa
x4 Mermaid Idol, Riviere
x2 Navy Dolphin, Ameer
Grade 2
x4 Top Idol, Aqua
x4 Super Idol, Riviere
x3 Mermaid Idol, Flute
Grade 3
x1 Top Idol, Pacifica
x2 Super Idol, Salem
x4 Top Idol, Riviere

Third Place: Nakamura Seishirou/中村誠士郎
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FVG)
x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x4 Gatling Claw Dragon DT
x2 Blue-Ray Dracokid CT
x2 Red Gem Carbuncle DT
Grade 1
x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x3 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x2 Heat Nail Salamander
x1 Flame of Promise, Aermo
Grade 2
x4 Burning Horn Dragon
x4 Bellicosity Dragon
x3 Berserk Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End

Fourth Place: Minami Takeshi/南武志
Grade 0
x1 Wingal Brave (FVG)
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT
x4 Margal DT
x4 Alabaster Owl CT
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT
Grade 1
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x2 Toypugal
x3 Knight of Friendship, Kay
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade
x1 High Dog Breeder, Akane
x3 Blaster Dark
x3 Starcall Trumpeter
x1 Knight of Loyalty, Bedivere
Grade 3
x3 King of Knights, Alfred
x1 Solitary Knight, Gancelot
x4 Majesty Lord Blaster 

Juniors Division
National Champion: Rikino Sakura/力野桜
Grade 0
x1 Little Witch, LuLu (FVG)
x4 Lozenge Magus HT
x3 Oracle Guardian, Nike CT
x4 Psychic Bird CT
x2 Victory Maker DT
x3 Battle Sister, Ginger CT
Grade 1
x4 Battle Sister, Chocolat
x4 Oracle Guardian, Gemini
x1 Weather Girl, Milk
x2 Luck Bird
x3 Dark Cat
Grade 2
x4 Battle Sister, Mocha
x4 Oracle Guardian, Wiseman
x3 Silent Tom 
Grade 3
x4 Scarlet Witch, CoCo
x4 Goddess of Flower Divination, Sakuya

Runner-Up: Murosaki Yuki/室崎祐希
Grade 0
x1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe (FVG)
x4 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT
x4 Dragon Monk, Genjo HT
x4 Gatling Claw Dragon DT
x3 Blue-Ray Dracokid CT
x1 Red Gem Carbuncle DT
Grade 1
x4 Wyvern Guard, Barri
x4 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr
x3 Dragon Monk, Gojo
x2 Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara
x1 Flame of Promise, Aermo
Grade 2
x2 Dragon Knight, Nehalem
x4 Burning Horn Dragon
x3 Cross Shot, Garp
x2 Berserk Dragon
Grade 3
x4 Dragonic Overlord
x4 Dragonic Overlord The End

Third Place: Nakamura Shunto/中村俊斗
Grade 0
x1 Wingal Brave (FVG)
x3 Future Knight, Llew CT
x3 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT
x2 Margal DT
x4 Alabaster Owl CT
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT
Grade 1
x3 Flash Shield, Iseult
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x3 Lake Maiden, Lien
x3 Knight of Friendship, Kay
x2 Apocalypse Bat
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade
x4 Blaster Dark
x2 Starcall Trumpeter
x1 Knight of Loyalty, Bedivere
Grade 3
x1 King of Knights, Alfred
x2 Swordsman of the Explosive Flames, Palamedes
x4 Majesty Lord Blaster

Fourth Place:  Takenaka Shun'ichi/竹中駿一
Grade 0
x1 Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer (FVG)
x4 Flame of Victory CT
x4 Speeder Hound CT
x2 Silent Punisher CT
x2 Weapons Dealer, Gwydion DT
x4 Elixir Sommelier HT
Grade 1
x4 Halo Shield, Mark
x4 Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth
x2 Little Battler, Tron
x1 Listener of Truth, Dindrane
x4 Scout of Darkness, Vortimer
Grade 2
x3 Player of the Holy Bow, Viviane
x2 Knight of Superior Skills, Beaumains
x1 Lop Ear Shooter
x4 Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer
Grade 3
x2 Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel
x3 Holy Mage, Manawydan
x2 Spectral Duke Dragon
x1 Great Silver Wolf, Garmore

News: Japan's 2012 National Champion Crowned

Information leaked through Japanese twitter accounts has prematurely revealed that Gotou Kiyomi of Sendai is the new senior class Fighter's Road 2012 champion and the overall national champion for Japan. His King of Knights, Alfred deck has surmounted the dominant crossride and limit break decks of this format, using an overall strategy previously criticized as a relic of BT01. For the second consecutive year, Royal Paladin has come in as the top deck of Japan's national tournament.

Furthermore, the junior national champion used a Sakuya and CoCo-based Oracle Think Tank deck, and is rumored to be Rikino Sakura. How she entered the competition is not currently known, however misreporting is a possibility; until today it was widely believed that only the first-place winners in the Fighter's Road participated in the national championship, as was the case with most 2011 events, but the rules may have been amended since then to include second-place winners as ruled in the current North American competitions. If this were the case, or if the Nagoya regional champion was somehow rendered ineligible for participation, then Rikino has indeed qualified for the championship and may be the junior champion. Additionally, she would be the first person in Cardfight's history to defend a national title in consecutive years. The switch to Oracle Think Tank would be extremely surprising however, given her consistent track record with Kagerou decks.