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Discuss decks you think will do well, tournaments you're attending, tourney reports, etc etc. I'll keep the OP updated with winning decklists and relevant links. Use ctrl+f with the four-letter codes in the index to find sections.
These are listed chronologically. North America is very spread out but mainly based out of California. The European championship is based out of Germany instead of the UK this year, but the UK is still a regional location. Singapore is the focus of the Asian-Oceanian branch.
So far all of the regionals with stated times last from 9:30AM (registration time) to 6:00PM (closing ceremony.)
Note: Some hotels have an age restriction on checking in, to prevent their rooms from getting trashed by partying teenagers. For example, last year at the Chicago regional some participants could not check into their rooms even though they were able to make reservations and had credit cards, because they were only 18/19 years old and the Mariott Schaumburg hotel required you to be 20 years or older to check in. Make sure to double check if your hotel has a similar restriction, if it does and you are too young you'll need to carpool with someone who can check in for you both, travel with friends/family that are of age, or get a room at a different hotel that's near enough to your tournament.
(NA) = North America
(EU) = Europe
(AO) = Asia-Oceania
The North American finals will be on October 27 in Pasadena, CA, and the European finals will be on November 3 in Germany. The finals are invitation only. An important change from last year is that (for North America) the top 4 finishers from each regional will receive invitations, and Bushiroad will be paying travel expenses for both first and second place, except at Hawaii and Mexico where only the top finalist will be paid for (during WCS2012 they only paid for first place and only the top two could advance.) Europe and Asia-Oceania are still stuck with the top 2 situation. Any regional location that is held in the same place as the corresponding nationals, and on the day before that national, does not have travel expenses paid regardless of country.
2. Promo Cards [PRCD]
Each regional will have a Free Fight side event from 2:00-4:00PM where you can earn two promo cards, PR/0070EN Shield Knight of the Clouds for participating in 2+ fights, and PR/00069EN Creeping Dark Goat for participating in 4+ fights. Furthermore, participating in the regional tournament will get you PR/0071 Graphite Cannon Dragon.
An important issue surrounding Creeping Dark Goat is that it is generally regarded as the best first vanguard available to Shadow Paladin, and the only real alternative to Fullbau. Because of the start and end time for regionals versus their corresponding free fight events, it would be impossible to use one as your FV at the same regional that you earned it in free fights from. The open question right now is whether or not you can get CDG at a previous regional and then use it at a subsequent one. As far as I am aware, Bushiroad has not issued any statements about this subject. Their current policy for WCS2013 is that cards can be used from the moment that they are released, as in the case of cards from EB04 and EB05, but this has only been applied to booster sets, not to promos.
3. Important Links [ILNK]
Worlds 2013 CF-Vanguard page: http://cf-vanguard.com/en/event/worlds2013/
Official Cardfight!! Vanguard Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CardfightVanguard
Official Cardfight!! Vanguard USA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CardfightVanguardUSA
Deck recipes: http://cf-vanguard.com/en/cardlist/deckrecipe/
International Bushiroad primarily communicates through Facebook these days, and in general they are more responsive to questions put up there than on Bushiblog (where they have to be approved before uploading and even then Doctor K won't necessarily answer you.)
4. Tournament Results [TRRS]
WCS2013 Toronto has ended with only two of the major decks described below in the top 4. The top decks of Toronto are (as of September 2) reported by those that attended as from first to fourth Illuminal Dragon, Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD," Tri-stinger Dragon and Majesty Lord Blaster. This top 4 is missing the biggest component of North American play right now, DOTE, and its failure may be attributed to the fact that following the Challenge Cup, most cardfighters are so well versed in how to fight it and how to build against it that competitive play is not in DOTE's favor. In the BT09-on format it is difficult to sit on 13k defense as the end-all god of the format, a lot of things do 18k+ lines now and Tri-Stinger has taken this in the opposite direction by instead just doing four to five 13k attacks per turn to completely drain 5ks from the opponent's hand. People know to never let DOTE hit and are actually changing how they play specifically to play against it, they spend their games bunkering down to stop DOTE on every turn, and employ the counterstrategies explained at the bottom. We actually don't have a lot of raw data on how a format of this type plays out because Japan only had team tournaments during its equivalent format, but so far it's shaping up to be fairly balanced. The current world champion Brandon Smith participated in this tournament, but only made it to the final elimination round and ended up losing two gradelock games.
Atlanta's qualifier will be on this coming Saturday, and Chicago on Sunday the week after that.
Fighters currently in the running:
5. General Notes for WCS2013 Tournaments [GENN]
6. Competitive Summary & Quick Overview [CSQO]
Below are the primary decks you can expect to see at the regionals. In general, the world format is very defense heavy, with an emphasis on tanking and people prefer 11k, 12k and 13k vanguards. On the flip side of things, the 10k decks have become ridiculously offensive with 18k/23k/28k vanguard and rearguard lines everywhere to counter this play style and we just had EB06 hit the scene, so we have a hyper aggro deck in the format that starts its offensive plays at T1 and T2 where many other decks will prefer to call almost nothing until T3.
Dragonic Overlord the End - The dominant deck in North America, and the matchup that no one wants to see. This is the deck that current NA national champion Kaden Kawakami used to get to first place, the popular opinion of it is that the deck is "broken" and while it is a pain to fight, it's not hopeless. The deck's specialties are that its vanguard lane can and will go for 21-23k each turn with a 13k defense after T4, that center lane is not allowed to hit after T3/T4 because it can persona blast to stand and get a +1, that center lane will also go after your weak rearguards (Nemain, Nemean Lion, Spirit cards etc.) and still stand, and it can destroy your backrow rearguards with Kimnara/Heat Nail Salamander to prevent you from forming 18k lines. The deck also has Burning Horn Dragon for 20k lines to make life hell for 10ks. Finally, if you've successfully defended the persona blast it will say screw everything and use a rearguard Dragonic Overlord's CB3 as a finishing move to do a partial wipe by killing your front row while still going 16k at your vanguard lane while you still have to defend that 21/23k center lane, trying to prevent you from coming back at all costs.
The main counter to this deck is to lure them into wasting counterblast by calling extremely tempting rearguards like Toypugal, Apocalypse Bat, Doreen, Augusto or another G1/G2 that will make them use the Kimnaras and Berserk Dragons to prevent them from having open CB, and doing things like passing crits to the rearguard when you check one while they have 2 damage so that they have to go to 5 or not be able to persona blast. Control the damage zone, control their CB, and you shut down their plays. Labrador (described below) is particularly forecasted to have a good time with this, she has no problems with this matchup because everything makes an 18k+ line and she's hitting DOTE early enough that T4 and even T3 is just too long to wait to begin hitting back, which forces him to skip his crossride sequence entirely and be left with a center line that will cap at 19k without Flame of Promise to help it.
Majesty Lord Blaster - The dominant deck in Japan when they had a similar format. DOTE had numbers, but Majesty placed higher and more consistently. However, Americans don't like the deck; the most common description I hear of it is "awkward," with many finding it too hard to play. The statistics from the Team League suggested that this was still the second most used deck in the BT05-BT08 format, and this may persist into BT09-EB06 on. Like DOTE, the center line can never hit, but this is because of an innate second critical instead of self-stand and it regularly caps out at 22k with Apocalypse Bat or 21k with Toypugal, with occasional bursts of power from taking a -2 to go 32k/31k. The deck has a lot of midgame pressure from Blaster Blade/Dark/Spirit with Wingal Brave and/or Toypugal and there's no good way to play around that unless they only go 14k and you can 20k guard them. Unlike DOTE, Majesty has consistent 22k rearguard lanes with Palamedes and Toypugal so that he self-counters as well as hitting 11k units just as hard as DOTE's rearguards can only hit 10ks, and with options like Alfred he can superior call almost anything to fix his field. He does not have the same grade 1/0 removal properties of DOTE, but if you're depending on frontrow rearguards like 12k attackers to form the 17k line needed against Majesty you may lose them to a Blaster Blade.
The main weakness of the deck is the -2 it feeds itself into to trigger Majesty's skill, so that if you have a lead in cards when he activates the skill you'll maintain it as you perfect guard. Getting the setup to actually trigger that -2 can be problematic for the opponent, since they can have a situation where they have one or two of the cards necessary but are missing the third and no searching units in hand. Secondarily, the deck doesn't have the same defense as DOTE because most decks can do 17k lines while 18k is much harder to pull off. The midgame can also be rough if they're forced to ride Blaster Dark, because they can miss out on trigger units or do things like try to use Pongal's skill without a Royal vanguard.
The amount of options that the deck has are staggering, most everything can be searched in some way and you can never really count them out because of the second crit, and even when they're in a bad position, if they have enough open damage and they get that Exculpate tech out you are looking at a full field wipe. You can counter Majesty in the advantage game by baiting him into defending his key rearguards, doing things like using a 20k line on a Palamedes/Bedivere--even if it doesn't work right away because he has another to call, keep hitting him like that and you'll eventually find a scenario where you have a move and the opponent can't counter it.
Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi - A deck like Majesty that everyone agrees is great and yet is not actually very common. Her raw draw power is CB4 (CB6 with one heal) to draw 4/6 and soulcharge 2/3 for combination hand advantage and hand filtering, but more than that Tsukuyomi is also good for deck control, a very rare and probably unintentional characteristic. Her units let her stack 4-5 cards on the bottom of the deck each turn, while Lozenge lets her reset the stack in exchange for a -1 at will, and in this respect she is a rare build that can benefit from gradelock in the process. The deck is unique because it comes back from gradelock better than any other because of her draw power and the chance to +1 through superior rides each turn, so Tsukuyomi cardfighters have stopped riding non-Tsukuyomi units altogether and simply stay locked if they don't get their next Tsuku in the top 5 or in their hand, waiting for it to come. The deck can take up to 3 turns of this and still make a complete comeback, this is assisted by Silent Tom whose 16k line almost always takes a -2 to guard but is countered by 12/13k defense.
More people play CoCo for the raw draw power and because Tsuku is one of those decks where your goal is the abstract "win" instead of "grab up hand/field advantage widen out damage difference follow so many gameplans" she's harder to play. Tsuku can accept a lot of unconventional playing, minussing and odd moves and still come out on top once her stack is set up and/or she's taken the lead at a very specific point in the endgame where you simply do not have the resources to eat her hand and she has the resources to eat yours. Tagitsuhime also gives her regular 18k lines and with Milk you've got at least a 21k line, so there's a lot going for Tsuku in terms of consistency and defense, which is all what this format is about. Just because she can eat the gradelock in the long term doesn't mean that she can live long enough to do so though, so any bad situation should be capitalized on. The deck really does not handle early aggression well, so this is another positive matchup for Labrador and anything with a Kay in it. The fact that she always has a 7k grade 1 and 9k grade 2 vanguard makes her very predictable, enough so that in my experience even Gururubau can spell a lot of trouble for her.
EB06 Bermuda Triangle - The wild card of the tournament that no one's really sure about. Bermuda Triangle is the only clan with a break ride currently, and the main unit to be worried about is Labrador, who gets to capitalize on PRISM rearguards that get to go 18-24k depending on their setup, and also gets a DCL every turn with her limit break for only CB2 at no retire cost so you're seeing Majesty-type power increases on a consistent basis. This only works if she's counterblasting, bouncing and calling PRISMs though, so your opponent cannot do things like use Ellie or Sedna at any part of this.
An important aspect of Labrador is that, because "when this unit attacks" autoskills resolve after the attack and boost are declared, and the power between boosting units and attacking units is applied continuously, if Labrador bounces her booster into her hand and then calls it, it will no longer be the boosting unit because it has been moved out of its original circle and Labrador cannot be boosted by the unit that she calls because the time to choose a unit to boost with has already passed.
Notable PRISM cards include grade 1 Clear and grade 2 Celtic, both of which have a soulblast 1 they can pay when returned to the hand to give +4000 power to a rearguard, nominally to bump a 19k line up to 23k while helping trigger Labrador's limit break by comboing with her CB1 return-to-hand skill. The deck sees a considerable amount of cards like OTT, but also gets big vanguard and rearguard columns with extra critical. Eternal Pacifica isn't as impressive even though crossrides are what this format feeds on, because even though she gets to draw all day like traditional Triangle her CB3 is expensive for the plusses that it gives and she doesn't have as good rearguard options compared to PRISM.
Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel - Basically follows through on what Ezel did in the previous tournament season, lots of power that needs to be perfect guarded if you let the opponent persuade you into going to 4/5 damage too soon. The deck has consistent anticrossride lines and Platilol's ultimate break also sets it up for lines that look like 30k-26k-30k, while having all of the topdecking action of old Ezel minus the consistency of Garmore, but the real advantage that it has lies in how it persuades you to not take it to 5 damage. Platina's an 11-13k vanilla before it hits 5, but 1.7x SSD afterwards.
If you're managing to tank him and stay at 3, push Platina as far as he'll go, because that field boost only means anything if you have to actually guard it. So consider if your opponent is really benefiting from your plays before you make them. You won't want to throw the damage at Platina if you're in a bad position or can't defend it next turn. Also adjust your trigger placements accordingly--if you get a crit while he's at 3 with Platina, consider putting it on the rearguard instead of the vanguard so that the opponent doesn't even have the option of going to 5. Because it wants to be on the brink of death, the build does have specifically negative matchups with Majesty's second crit and DOTE's cheap on-hit, so there aren't many expectations riding on it. On the other hand, what constitutes a Platilol isn't entirely clear since you can basically splash the card in anything playing Ezel, and Ezel is after all the generic Gold Paladin boss.
King of Knights, Alfred - The other Royal Paladin deck. Characterized by very stable 18k lines, the rearguards of which turn into 21-22k, and a good 20k vanguard line so that it deals with the 13k, 12k, 11k and 10k meta all at once. Blaster Blade's rearguard removal lets him deal with Burning Horn and friends to avoid the major pitfall of 10k decks, as well as other Palamedes. Like with Majesty, Alfred's characteristics and rearguards also counter himself in mirror matches. Although this was a big deal in Japan, he's not as popular here because Garmore effectively filled his role in previous tournament seasons. At the least, you don't have many reasons to not play him if you like Alfred and not Majesty.
Scarlet Witch, CoCo - Like Alfred, an aggressive and competitive 10k deck in a 13k format, but CoCo is also very good at playing defense because she gets an automatic +4 when she reaches grade 3 and can combine Psychic Bird, Luck Bird and another CoCo ride to get a total +2 later on. In that respect her emphasis is on controlling the hand, but she also has a very rare, specifically 23k vanguard line without actually having a 13k defense like the other top decks in the format. This is in addition to the 18k lines that Glace helps build. She also gets full advantage of Dark Cat, since it doesn't even matter to CoCo that you're plussing--she's plussing more. She's weakened by her lack of rearguard removal, and innate vulnerability to 20k lines where Alfred can just say "I don't want to see that" and BB your Bedivere.
Crimson Impact, Metatron - Another insanely aggressive deck like CoCo but with consistent 23k and 28k lines thanks to the Pegasus series comboing to LMG Nociel. She can also get a T2 twin drive, gets every card she wants every time as damage zone losses aren't a thing to her, and reuses & abuses Nociel where most other Angel Feather builds only get Nociel as a one-time thing. Stands in Metatron are also terrifying, since you're seeing a 20/22k instead of a 15/16k. The vanguard line actually does hit 23k consistently thanks to her superior ride pieces and draw triggers having a +3k VG counterblast. Metatron may not have true rearguard removal, but her crazy consistent lanes each turn let her fake it during the battle phase. Do you really want to protect that Burning Horn versus a 21k Nociel-Thousand Ray when Metatron with another Ray is going 23k next?
Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha - The only non-DOTE, non-Garmore build in the last American national's top 8. This is the deck that everybody knows of but usually people don't know how it actually plays. The basic breakdown is that Daiyusha will go for 20k+ and Crit 2 in the midgame, which makes his offense about as dangerous as Majesty at that point because this is solely dependent on using Dailander's CB1, and then from turn 4 onward you're staring down Great Daiyusha's crossride defense with a constant 15k Crit 2 after limit break--which goes up to 25k with Glory Maker. Great Daiyusha, because of how he's designed, can generally use his Dimensional Robo's soulblast skills two to three times per game for a consistent 28k Crit 2 line, and Daifighter gives him consistent 18k rearguards.
The weakness of the deck comes in at the advantage game, because it doesn't have a lot of plussing options, instead focusing on minussing the opponent, and when things go wrong it's reliant on Goyusha's superior ride which is a -2 from grade 2 and a -3 from grade 3 onward. People are split on how to run the deck. The first kind of Great Daiyusha that you see runs 8 Dimensional Robo grade 2s (the current maximum) with an expansive lineup of Dimensional Robo grade 1 units and Warrior of Destiny replacing Goyusha. The logic is that this drops the superior ride's -2/-3 option entirely in favor of a grade 3 search, only riding Dimensional Robos to trigger Great's LB, but this runs into problems if it doesn't draw the original Daiyusha first. The second kind of Great Daiyusha runs less Dimensional Robo grade 2s so that it can use Operator Girl Mika for pressure/draw power, to try and make up for the advantage troubles. What you should be aware of is that all of these efforts are trying to avoid the worst case scenario, riding Great without enough Dimensional Robos in the soul and consequently needing to spend two turns fixing your setup by riding Daiyusha and then re-riding Great. In a lot of fights this kind of awkwardness won't even come into play, and you're just staring down a big vanguard lane that needs to be perfect guarded for multiple turns. Daiyusha's big weakness is the advantage game, which is one reason why a rearguard control deck like DOTE can nail it so hard. Even so, Daiyusha does get to play counterblast control with you because of his midgame crit, so matchups with those rearguard decks that need the damage to do things are not entirely negative for him.
Arboros Dragon, Sephirot - A deck with a lot of theory and local results backing it but less actual accomplishments at the regional level. How it works is that Sephirot's limit break gives every Great Nature that has another copy of it on the field a static +3000 power during his user's turn. This turns every 7000/8000 power booster into a 10000/11000 booster, which means that everything can hit 18000 easily, or 23000+ with the right formation. This is further propagated by Arboros' evolution line, which when ridden in succession will clone two of the cards on the field over the course of two turns by calling copies from the deck, usually a grade 1 and grade 2. So you'll typically get a second Carolla Dragon, a second Sunlit Forest, a third Branch etc. for two boosters and then you'll have two other frontrow units that will be going for 12-13000. In all, that's two 22-24000 lines, but the odds of this happening are a coin flip so it's on or off. If it's off, Arboros has trouble because he has to set everything up manually. The really dangerous part of this deck is Maiden of Rainbow Wood and/or Glass Beads Dragon; these units will be going for 23000 each with the right boosters, basically guaranteeing that they'll hit while also giving Arboros a +1. If the opponent has forgone Iris Knight's potential 13000, then there's two different varieties of of MORW to worry about that they can clone, and crossrides won't save you. Sephirot's shortcomings manifest in failing the initial Timber ride, being dependent on drawing existing rearguards to bring out those new ones, and lacking counters to field control tactics. Once you've broken his formation hard enough, it's very difficult to maintain it, hence why DOTE still gets to play havoc with the deck--if he doesn't want to see that limit break, he pops Kimnara down, which snowballs the matchup's existing problems because Arboros has to be at 4 damage to use his major strategy while DOTE only needs to be at 2-3.
Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom - Has left an impact in the Team League, but in general is rarely played. With original Maelstrom what you're looking at is a 26k vanguard line each turn after limit break; unlike with other high-power vanguards, you're also forced to guard it even at 3 damage because not doing so will give the opponent a +1 and you a -1 thanks to Maelstrom's counterblast. This however, relies on Storm Riders to activate. The opponent's strategy is thus weakened because Basil and Diamantes cap out at 10k and 11k when using their skills, so against 11-12-13k defenses they have problems and the cards that you conserve by not having to guard them then go towards blocking Maelstrom. This is similar to the issues with PBO having a weak rearguard setup, but the problems are placed on the frontrow units instead of the backrow ones, and the attacks may not be able to hit in the fist place instead of just being a 5k guard.
Glory Maelstrom is an entirely different ballgame because it's an ultimate break and ditches the repeated attacks theme. Glory shares all of Platilol's characteristics with regards to Ultimate Break, except that his skill is arguably easier to deal with because it's a matter of saving your grade 0s for the vanguard line and using your perfect defense cards on the rearguards. His skill doesn't stop intercepts, which is important because with Dorothea you're looking at a 28k vanguard line so your guard is going to look like 25k in shield. This is why Glory has such a good endgame setup; he forces a -3 each turn instead of a -2, at a point when most decks are scrambling to get more cards, and your grade 0 resources are finite. However, draw decks like Tsuku, CoCo, etc. have a very positive matchup with Glory because they can power through that endgame.
Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD" - Underwhelming. Crossrides are crossrides, and like Platina, BLOOD has damage unflipping to assist it, but it's also an ultimate break and it's really just Vermillion with 3k more power over a 13k base and one more crit. The difference between 23k and 28k crit 2 is to the whole front row is a big deal since it's a guaranteed -4 and a potential -8 but you can do similar things with Majesty and Palamedes for more than one turn and it's not dependent on an unflipper hitting. Deathscythe gives him some of the removal options of DOTE, but there's not much need for it when limit/ultimate break does basically the same stuff and Scythe mainly exists as a backup or to kill one good booster per game. With no Kimnara, BLOOD isn't as competitively compelling compared to his bigger brother Ji Endo. Like PBO but more playable, no Painter and with a real skill, this is mainly here because DKV made a visible splash at Worlds 2012 while BLOOD made a bigger one in Japan. BLOOD does have the advantage of Rising Phoenix, but it's not as potent yet because there's only Djinn for soul-fueling cards. The deck isn't bad but when Spark Kid Dragoon shows up as the first vanguard, people tend to think things like "Oh good, it's only BLOOD! I can do this!"
if I missed any of the other key decksthey probably aren't important just tell me and I'll put them up.
1. Tournament dates, locations and pre-registration deadlines [TDDL]The Index wrote:1. Tournament dates, locations and pre-registration deadlines [TDDL]
2. Promo Cards [PRCD]
3. Important Links [ILNK]
4. Tournament Results [TRRS]
5. General Notes for WCS2013 Tournaments [GENN]
6. Competitive Summary & Quick Overview [CSQO]
These are listed chronologically. North America is very spread out but mainly based out of California. The European championship is based out of Germany instead of the UK this year, but the UK is still a regional location. Singapore is the focus of the Asian-Oceanian branch.
So far all of the regionals with stated times last from 9:30AM (registration time) to 6:00PM (closing ceremony.)
Note: Some hotels have an age restriction on checking in, to prevent their rooms from getting trashed by partying teenagers. For example, last year at the Chicago regional some participants could not check into their rooms even though they were able to make reservations and had credit cards, because they were only 18/19 years old and the Mariott Schaumburg hotel required you to be 20 years or older to check in. Make sure to double check if your hotel has a similar restriction, if it does and you are too young you'll need to carpool with someone who can check in for you both, travel with friends/family that are of age, or get a room at a different hotel that's near enough to your tournament.
(NA) = North America
(EU) = Europe
(AO) = Asia-Oceania
August 31 - Toronto, Canada (NA)
Park Hyatt Toronto
4 Avenue Rd Toronto, ON M5R 2E8, Canada
Pre-registration link (closes August 26 11:59PM Pacific Daylight Time): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KgwGhmW8pk4gC2lFbSBkqPLwzL4qerdvuomp9WFXEpU/viewform
September 7 - Atlanta, Georgia (NA)
Sheraton Gateway Atlanta Airport
1900 Sullivan Rd Atlanta, GA 30337
Pre-registration link (closes September 2 11:59PM PDT): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1RNpPI68HIRwkBilTCFKrlnAuPHxvJW7LsgD6QAN-Seg/viewform
September 14 - Brussels, Belgium (EU)
Outpost Brussel
Rue de la Tribune 8, 1000 Brussel
Pre-registration link: None
September 15 - Athens, Greece (EU)
Stratos Vassilikos Hotel
Michalakopoulou 114, Athens 115 27, Greece
Pre-registration link: None
September 15 - Chicago, Illinois (NA)
Chicago Marriott Oak Brook
1401 W 22nd St Oak Brook, IL 60523
Pre-registration link (closes September 9 11:59PM PDT): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dNU3aZN8lTZ6CrDvC-iXZiHz-UUBIrnJjEYH8d6XO2g/viewform
September 21 - Mexico City, Mexico (NA)
Hotel Radisson Flamingos, Revolución 333 Tacubaya, Miguel Hidalgo, 11870 Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico
Pre-registration link: None
September 21 - Honolulu, Hawaii (NA)
Toylynx, 650 Iwilei Rd. #120, Honolulu, HI 96817
Pre-registration link: None
September 22 - Redmond, Washington (EU)
Redmond Marriott Town Center
7401 164th Ave NE Redmond, WA 98052
Pre-registration link (closes September 16 11:59PM PDT): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-Eiqo1n87kaWunpuk9KkbBsgfBWGDZ4Mb5EDgXwCcOM/viewform
September 22 - Metro Manila, Philippines (AO)
Glorietta Mall
East Drive Ayala Center, Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines
Pre-registration link: None
September 28 - Sheffield, United Kingdom (EU)
Location TBA
Pre-registration link: None
September 29 - Arlington, Texas (NA)
Hilton Arlington
2401 E Lamar Blvd Arlington, TX 76006
Pre-registration link (closes September 23 11:59PM PDT): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/196i_oRpsfP8KMTSJ2N_uQo-bdxz5sNv6DBsGaB0tiBw/viewform
September 29 - Auckland, New Zealand (AO)
Vagabond Takapuna
Shop 5, 529 Lake Road, Takapuna, Auckland.
Pre-registration link: None
October 5 - Malaysia (AO)
Location TBA
Pre-registration link: None
October 5 - Sydney, Australia (AO)
Bankstown Sports Club, 8 Greenfield Parade Bankstown NSW 2200
Pre-registration link: None
October 12 - Jakarta, Indonesia (AO)
Ice Palace
Lotte Shopping Avenue, CIPUTRA WORLD, Kln Prof Dr Satrio Kav 3-5 Lantai, Jakata – Selatan
Pre-registration link: None
October 13 - Hauppage, New York (NA)
Hyatt Regency Long Island
1717 Motor Pkwy Hauppauge, NY 11788
Pre-registration link: (closes September 30 11:59PM PDT) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1XaIrwSmTtvqEV6S8q14xphIRvwrts6mWMG9iK7522gA/viewform?edit_requested=true
October 26 - Pasadena, California (NA)
Pasadena Convention Center
300 E Green St Pasadena, CA 91101
Pre-registration link: (closes October 7 2013 11:59 PM PDT) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YOdFrSVyUeZ9kUMR7hKgXW3Yc01bNdjIUYu02-Hp5tQ/viewform
October 26 - Singapore (AO)
Singapore Expo Hall 7
1 Expo Dr, Singapore 486150
Pre-registration link: None
November 2 - Germany (EU)
Location TBA
Pre-registration link: None
The North American finals will be on October 27 in Pasadena, CA, and the European finals will be on November 3 in Germany. The finals are invitation only. An important change from last year is that (for North America) the top 4 finishers from each regional will receive invitations, and Bushiroad will be paying travel expenses for both first and second place, except at Hawaii and Mexico where only the top finalist will be paid for (during WCS2012 they only paid for first place and only the top two could advance.) Europe and Asia-Oceania are still stuck with the top 2 situation. Any regional location that is held in the same place as the corresponding nationals, and on the day before that national, does not have travel expenses paid regardless of country.
2. Promo Cards [PRCD]
Each regional will have a Free Fight side event from 2:00-4:00PM where you can earn two promo cards, PR/0070EN Shield Knight of the Clouds for participating in 2+ fights, and PR/00069EN Creeping Dark Goat for participating in 4+ fights. Furthermore, participating in the regional tournament will get you PR/0071 Graphite Cannon Dragon.
An important issue surrounding Creeping Dark Goat is that it is generally regarded as the best first vanguard available to Shadow Paladin, and the only real alternative to Fullbau. Because of the start and end time for regionals versus their corresponding free fight events, it would be impossible to use one as your FV at the same regional that you earned it in free fights from. The open question right now is whether or not you can get CDG at a previous regional and then use it at a subsequent one. As far as I am aware, Bushiroad has not issued any statements about this subject. Their current policy for WCS2013 is that cards can be used from the moment that they are released, as in the case of cards from EB04 and EB05, but this has only been applied to booster sets, not to promos.
3. Important Links [ILNK]
Worlds 2013 CF-Vanguard page: http://cf-vanguard.com/en/event/worlds2013/
Official Cardfight!! Vanguard Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CardfightVanguard
Official Cardfight!! Vanguard USA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CardfightVanguardUSA
Deck recipes: http://cf-vanguard.com/en/cardlist/deckrecipe/
International Bushiroad primarily communicates through Facebook these days, and in general they are more responsive to questions put up there than on Bushiblog (where they have to be approved before uploading and even then Doctor K won't necessarily answer you.)
4. Tournament Results [TRRS]
WCS2013 Toronto has ended with only two of the major decks described below in the top 4. The top decks of Toronto are (as of September 2) reported by those that attended as from first to fourth Illuminal Dragon, Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD," Tri-stinger Dragon and Majesty Lord Blaster. This top 4 is missing the biggest component of North American play right now, DOTE, and its failure may be attributed to the fact that following the Challenge Cup, most cardfighters are so well versed in how to fight it and how to build against it that competitive play is not in DOTE's favor. In the BT09-on format it is difficult to sit on 13k defense as the end-all god of the format, a lot of things do 18k+ lines now and Tri-Stinger has taken this in the opposite direction by instead just doing four to five 13k attacks per turn to completely drain 5ks from the opponent's hand. People know to never let DOTE hit and are actually changing how they play specifically to play against it, they spend their games bunkering down to stop DOTE on every turn, and employ the counterstrategies explained at the bottom. We actually don't have a lot of raw data on how a format of this type plays out because Japan only had team tournaments during its equivalent format, but so far it's shaping up to be fairly balanced. The current world champion Brandon Smith participated in this tournament, but only made it to the final elimination round and ended up losing two gradelock games.
Atlanta's qualifier will be on this coming Saturday, and Chicago on Sunday the week after that.
Fighters currently in the running:
- North America
Sebastien LeBon - Illuminal Dragon
Kevin Perron - Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD"
Robert Ewell - Tri-stinger Dracokid
Kevin Luu - Majesty Lord Blaster
5. General Notes for WCS2013 Tournaments [GENN]
1. Bushiroad has always had on-site vendors to serve your card game needs, but tournament vendor prices can sometimes be inflated compared to buying things in preparation for. This isn't always true, but assuming that they also have tables set up to sell cards and merchandise, keep it in mind. You'll see some harder to find merchandise at the regionals, the tourney vendors pull out all the stops at world championship time and you'll be able to get things like the character and unit deckboxes much more easily here than you can buying online.
2. Wake up early and get in line early; last year my regional's line started about thirty minutes before the doors opened. Don't be caught unprepared.
3. Tournament format for regionals is still single game rounds, double elimination, 20 minutes per round. It's fine to discuss and debate these rules, but don't let it completely take over the topic. This is mainly a help thread for people that have already decided to participate or are considering participation in Worlds 2013, as well as a discussion thread about the tournament results. Last year the regionals in the USA attracted around 250~300 persons and most went for seven rounds, so you had to go 7-0 or 6-1 to make it to the top 8, but each tournament is going to be adjusted based on the number of participants. Top 8 will be single elimination.
4. Some important names to know in Worlds are JD, Bushiroad's head judge who will probably be organizing and leading the proceedings of your regional, Dietrich who does work promoting Bushiroad's products and does opening/closing ceremony business, and Doctor K the writer for Bushiblog and a mascot character of sorts. (Don't call him Doctor O.) These are all pretty cool people, they're working hard with limited resources to organize the events and train judges in a fairly short time span to keep the event running smoothly, and they're much more in tune with the player base than you'd expect. Try not to be too hard on them.
6. Competitive Summary & Quick Overview [CSQO]
Below are the primary decks you can expect to see at the regionals. In general, the world format is very defense heavy, with an emphasis on tanking and people prefer 11k, 12k and 13k vanguards. On the flip side of things, the 10k decks have become ridiculously offensive with 18k/23k/28k vanguard and rearguard lines everywhere to counter this play style and we just had EB06 hit the scene, so we have a hyper aggro deck in the format that starts its offensive plays at T1 and T2 where many other decks will prefer to call almost nothing until T3.
Dragonic Overlord the End - The dominant deck in North America, and the matchup that no one wants to see. This is the deck that current NA national champion Kaden Kawakami used to get to first place, the popular opinion of it is that the deck is "broken" and while it is a pain to fight, it's not hopeless. The deck's specialties are that its vanguard lane can and will go for 21-23k each turn with a 13k defense after T4, that center lane is not allowed to hit after T3/T4 because it can persona blast to stand and get a +1, that center lane will also go after your weak rearguards (Nemain, Nemean Lion, Spirit cards etc.) and still stand, and it can destroy your backrow rearguards with Kimnara/Heat Nail Salamander to prevent you from forming 18k lines. The deck also has Burning Horn Dragon for 20k lines to make life hell for 10ks. Finally, if you've successfully defended the persona blast it will say screw everything and use a rearguard Dragonic Overlord's CB3 as a finishing move to do a partial wipe by killing your front row while still going 16k at your vanguard lane while you still have to defend that 21/23k center lane, trying to prevent you from coming back at all costs.
The main counter to this deck is to lure them into wasting counterblast by calling extremely tempting rearguards like Toypugal, Apocalypse Bat, Doreen, Augusto or another G1/G2 that will make them use the Kimnaras and Berserk Dragons to prevent them from having open CB, and doing things like passing crits to the rearguard when you check one while they have 2 damage so that they have to go to 5 or not be able to persona blast. Control the damage zone, control their CB, and you shut down their plays. Labrador (described below) is particularly forecasted to have a good time with this, she has no problems with this matchup because everything makes an 18k+ line and she's hitting DOTE early enough that T4 and even T3 is just too long to wait to begin hitting back, which forces him to skip his crossride sequence entirely and be left with a center line that will cap at 19k without Flame of Promise to help it.
Majesty Lord Blaster - The dominant deck in Japan when they had a similar format. DOTE had numbers, but Majesty placed higher and more consistently. However, Americans don't like the deck; the most common description I hear of it is "awkward," with many finding it too hard to play. The statistics from the Team League suggested that this was still the second most used deck in the BT05-BT08 format, and this may persist into BT09-EB06 on. Like DOTE, the center line can never hit, but this is because of an innate second critical instead of self-stand and it regularly caps out at 22k with Apocalypse Bat or 21k with Toypugal, with occasional bursts of power from taking a -2 to go 32k/31k. The deck has a lot of midgame pressure from Blaster Blade/Dark/Spirit with Wingal Brave and/or Toypugal and there's no good way to play around that unless they only go 14k and you can 20k guard them. Unlike DOTE, Majesty has consistent 22k rearguard lanes with Palamedes and Toypugal so that he self-counters as well as hitting 11k units just as hard as DOTE's rearguards can only hit 10ks, and with options like Alfred he can superior call almost anything to fix his field. He does not have the same grade 1/0 removal properties of DOTE, but if you're depending on frontrow rearguards like 12k attackers to form the 17k line needed against Majesty you may lose them to a Blaster Blade.
The main weakness of the deck is the -2 it feeds itself into to trigger Majesty's skill, so that if you have a lead in cards when he activates the skill you'll maintain it as you perfect guard. Getting the setup to actually trigger that -2 can be problematic for the opponent, since they can have a situation where they have one or two of the cards necessary but are missing the third and no searching units in hand. Secondarily, the deck doesn't have the same defense as DOTE because most decks can do 17k lines while 18k is much harder to pull off. The midgame can also be rough if they're forced to ride Blaster Dark, because they can miss out on trigger units or do things like try to use Pongal's skill without a Royal vanguard.
The amount of options that the deck has are staggering, most everything can be searched in some way and you can never really count them out because of the second crit, and even when they're in a bad position, if they have enough open damage and they get that Exculpate tech out you are looking at a full field wipe. You can counter Majesty in the advantage game by baiting him into defending his key rearguards, doing things like using a 20k line on a Palamedes/Bedivere--even if it doesn't work right away because he has another to call, keep hitting him like that and you'll eventually find a scenario where you have a move and the opponent can't counter it.
Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi - A deck like Majesty that everyone agrees is great and yet is not actually very common. Her raw draw power is CB4 (CB6 with one heal) to draw 4/6 and soulcharge 2/3 for combination hand advantage and hand filtering, but more than that Tsukuyomi is also good for deck control, a very rare and probably unintentional characteristic. Her units let her stack 4-5 cards on the bottom of the deck each turn, while Lozenge lets her reset the stack in exchange for a -1 at will, and in this respect she is a rare build that can benefit from gradelock in the process. The deck is unique because it comes back from gradelock better than any other because of her draw power and the chance to +1 through superior rides each turn, so Tsukuyomi cardfighters have stopped riding non-Tsukuyomi units altogether and simply stay locked if they don't get their next Tsuku in the top 5 or in their hand, waiting for it to come. The deck can take up to 3 turns of this and still make a complete comeback, this is assisted by Silent Tom whose 16k line almost always takes a -2 to guard but is countered by 12/13k defense.
More people play CoCo for the raw draw power and because Tsuku is one of those decks where your goal is the abstract "win" instead of "grab up hand/field advantage widen out damage difference follow so many gameplans" she's harder to play. Tsuku can accept a lot of unconventional playing, minussing and odd moves and still come out on top once her stack is set up and/or she's taken the lead at a very specific point in the endgame where you simply do not have the resources to eat her hand and she has the resources to eat yours. Tagitsuhime also gives her regular 18k lines and with Milk you've got at least a 21k line, so there's a lot going for Tsuku in terms of consistency and defense, which is all what this format is about. Just because she can eat the gradelock in the long term doesn't mean that she can live long enough to do so though, so any bad situation should be capitalized on. The deck really does not handle early aggression well, so this is another positive matchup for Labrador and anything with a Kay in it. The fact that she always has a 7k grade 1 and 9k grade 2 vanguard makes her very predictable, enough so that in my experience even Gururubau can spell a lot of trouble for her.
EB06 Bermuda Triangle - The wild card of the tournament that no one's really sure about. Bermuda Triangle is the only clan with a break ride currently, and the main unit to be worried about is Labrador, who gets to capitalize on PRISM rearguards that get to go 18-24k depending on their setup, and also gets a DCL every turn with her limit break for only CB2 at no retire cost so you're seeing Majesty-type power increases on a consistent basis. This only works if she's counterblasting, bouncing and calling PRISMs though, so your opponent cannot do things like use Ellie or Sedna at any part of this.
An important aspect of Labrador is that, because "when this unit attacks" autoskills resolve after the attack and boost are declared, and the power between boosting units and attacking units is applied continuously, if Labrador bounces her booster into her hand and then calls it, it will no longer be the boosting unit because it has been moved out of its original circle and Labrador cannot be boosted by the unit that she calls because the time to choose a unit to boost with has already passed.
Notable PRISM cards include grade 1 Clear and grade 2 Celtic, both of which have a soulblast 1 they can pay when returned to the hand to give +4000 power to a rearguard, nominally to bump a 19k line up to 23k while helping trigger Labrador's limit break by comboing with her CB1 return-to-hand skill. The deck sees a considerable amount of cards like OTT, but also gets big vanguard and rearguard columns with extra critical. Eternal Pacifica isn't as impressive even though crossrides are what this format feeds on, because even though she gets to draw all day like traditional Triangle her CB3 is expensive for the plusses that it gives and she doesn't have as good rearguard options compared to PRISM.
Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel - Basically follows through on what Ezel did in the previous tournament season, lots of power that needs to be perfect guarded if you let the opponent persuade you into going to 4/5 damage too soon. The deck has consistent anticrossride lines and Platilol's ultimate break also sets it up for lines that look like 30k-26k-30k, while having all of the topdecking action of old Ezel minus the consistency of Garmore, but the real advantage that it has lies in how it persuades you to not take it to 5 damage. Platina's an 11-13k vanilla before it hits 5, but 1.7x SSD afterwards.
If you're managing to tank him and stay at 3, push Platina as far as he'll go, because that field boost only means anything if you have to actually guard it. So consider if your opponent is really benefiting from your plays before you make them. You won't want to throw the damage at Platina if you're in a bad position or can't defend it next turn. Also adjust your trigger placements accordingly--if you get a crit while he's at 3 with Platina, consider putting it on the rearguard instead of the vanguard so that the opponent doesn't even have the option of going to 5. Because it wants to be on the brink of death, the build does have specifically negative matchups with Majesty's second crit and DOTE's cheap on-hit, so there aren't many expectations riding on it. On the other hand, what constitutes a Platilol isn't entirely clear since you can basically splash the card in anything playing Ezel, and Ezel is after all the generic Gold Paladin boss.
King of Knights, Alfred - The other Royal Paladin deck. Characterized by very stable 18k lines, the rearguards of which turn into 21-22k, and a good 20k vanguard line so that it deals with the 13k, 12k, 11k and 10k meta all at once. Blaster Blade's rearguard removal lets him deal with Burning Horn and friends to avoid the major pitfall of 10k decks, as well as other Palamedes. Like with Majesty, Alfred's characteristics and rearguards also counter himself in mirror matches. Although this was a big deal in Japan, he's not as popular here because Garmore effectively filled his role in previous tournament seasons. At the least, you don't have many reasons to not play him if you like Alfred and not Majesty.
Scarlet Witch, CoCo - Like Alfred, an aggressive and competitive 10k deck in a 13k format, but CoCo is also very good at playing defense because she gets an automatic +4 when she reaches grade 3 and can combine Psychic Bird, Luck Bird and another CoCo ride to get a total +2 later on. In that respect her emphasis is on controlling the hand, but she also has a very rare, specifically 23k vanguard line without actually having a 13k defense like the other top decks in the format. This is in addition to the 18k lines that Glace helps build. She also gets full advantage of Dark Cat, since it doesn't even matter to CoCo that you're plussing--she's plussing more. She's weakened by her lack of rearguard removal, and innate vulnerability to 20k lines where Alfred can just say "I don't want to see that" and BB your Bedivere.
Crimson Impact, Metatron - Another insanely aggressive deck like CoCo but with consistent 23k and 28k lines thanks to the Pegasus series comboing to LMG Nociel. She can also get a T2 twin drive, gets every card she wants every time as damage zone losses aren't a thing to her, and reuses & abuses Nociel where most other Angel Feather builds only get Nociel as a one-time thing. Stands in Metatron are also terrifying, since you're seeing a 20/22k instead of a 15/16k. The vanguard line actually does hit 23k consistently thanks to her superior ride pieces and draw triggers having a +3k VG counterblast. Metatron may not have true rearguard removal, but her crazy consistent lanes each turn let her fake it during the battle phase. Do you really want to protect that Burning Horn versus a 21k Nociel-Thousand Ray when Metatron with another Ray is going 23k next?
Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha - The only non-DOTE, non-Garmore build in the last American national's top 8. This is the deck that everybody knows of but usually people don't know how it actually plays. The basic breakdown is that Daiyusha will go for 20k+ and Crit 2 in the midgame, which makes his offense about as dangerous as Majesty at that point because this is solely dependent on using Dailander's CB1, and then from turn 4 onward you're staring down Great Daiyusha's crossride defense with a constant 15k Crit 2 after limit break--which goes up to 25k with Glory Maker. Great Daiyusha, because of how he's designed, can generally use his Dimensional Robo's soulblast skills two to three times per game for a consistent 28k Crit 2 line, and Daifighter gives him consistent 18k rearguards.
The weakness of the deck comes in at the advantage game, because it doesn't have a lot of plussing options, instead focusing on minussing the opponent, and when things go wrong it's reliant on Goyusha's superior ride which is a -2 from grade 2 and a -3 from grade 3 onward. People are split on how to run the deck. The first kind of Great Daiyusha that you see runs 8 Dimensional Robo grade 2s (the current maximum) with an expansive lineup of Dimensional Robo grade 1 units and Warrior of Destiny replacing Goyusha. The logic is that this drops the superior ride's -2/-3 option entirely in favor of a grade 3 search, only riding Dimensional Robos to trigger Great's LB, but this runs into problems if it doesn't draw the original Daiyusha first. The second kind of Great Daiyusha runs less Dimensional Robo grade 2s so that it can use Operator Girl Mika for pressure/draw power, to try and make up for the advantage troubles. What you should be aware of is that all of these efforts are trying to avoid the worst case scenario, riding Great without enough Dimensional Robos in the soul and consequently needing to spend two turns fixing your setup by riding Daiyusha and then re-riding Great. In a lot of fights this kind of awkwardness won't even come into play, and you're just staring down a big vanguard lane that needs to be perfect guarded for multiple turns. Daiyusha's big weakness is the advantage game, which is one reason why a rearguard control deck like DOTE can nail it so hard. Even so, Daiyusha does get to play counterblast control with you because of his midgame crit, so matchups with those rearguard decks that need the damage to do things are not entirely negative for him.
Arboros Dragon, Sephirot - A deck with a lot of theory and local results backing it but less actual accomplishments at the regional level. How it works is that Sephirot's limit break gives every Great Nature that has another copy of it on the field a static +3000 power during his user's turn. This turns every 7000/8000 power booster into a 10000/11000 booster, which means that everything can hit 18000 easily, or 23000+ with the right formation. This is further propagated by Arboros' evolution line, which when ridden in succession will clone two of the cards on the field over the course of two turns by calling copies from the deck, usually a grade 1 and grade 2. So you'll typically get a second Carolla Dragon, a second Sunlit Forest, a third Branch etc. for two boosters and then you'll have two other frontrow units that will be going for 12-13000. In all, that's two 22-24000 lines, but the odds of this happening are a coin flip so it's on or off. If it's off, Arboros has trouble because he has to set everything up manually. The really dangerous part of this deck is Maiden of Rainbow Wood and/or Glass Beads Dragon; these units will be going for 23000 each with the right boosters, basically guaranteeing that they'll hit while also giving Arboros a +1. If the opponent has forgone Iris Knight's potential 13000, then there's two different varieties of of MORW to worry about that they can clone, and crossrides won't save you. Sephirot's shortcomings manifest in failing the initial Timber ride, being dependent on drawing existing rearguards to bring out those new ones, and lacking counters to field control tactics. Once you've broken his formation hard enough, it's very difficult to maintain it, hence why DOTE still gets to play havoc with the deck--if he doesn't want to see that limit break, he pops Kimnara down, which snowballs the matchup's existing problems because Arboros has to be at 4 damage to use his major strategy while DOTE only needs to be at 2-3.
Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom - Has left an impact in the Team League, but in general is rarely played. With original Maelstrom what you're looking at is a 26k vanguard line each turn after limit break; unlike with other high-power vanguards, you're also forced to guard it even at 3 damage because not doing so will give the opponent a +1 and you a -1 thanks to Maelstrom's counterblast. This however, relies on Storm Riders to activate. The opponent's strategy is thus weakened because Basil and Diamantes cap out at 10k and 11k when using their skills, so against 11-12-13k defenses they have problems and the cards that you conserve by not having to guard them then go towards blocking Maelstrom. This is similar to the issues with PBO having a weak rearguard setup, but the problems are placed on the frontrow units instead of the backrow ones, and the attacks may not be able to hit in the fist place instead of just being a 5k guard.
Glory Maelstrom is an entirely different ballgame because it's an ultimate break and ditches the repeated attacks theme. Glory shares all of Platilol's characteristics with regards to Ultimate Break, except that his skill is arguably easier to deal with because it's a matter of saving your grade 0s for the vanguard line and using your perfect defense cards on the rearguards. His skill doesn't stop intercepts, which is important because with Dorothea you're looking at a 28k vanguard line so your guard is going to look like 25k in shield. This is why Glory has such a good endgame setup; he forces a -3 each turn instead of a -2, at a point when most decks are scrambling to get more cards, and your grade 0 resources are finite. However, draw decks like Tsuku, CoCo, etc. have a very positive matchup with Glory because they can power through that endgame.
Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD" - Underwhelming. Crossrides are crossrides, and like Platina, BLOOD has damage unflipping to assist it, but it's also an ultimate break and it's really just Vermillion with 3k more power over a 13k base and one more crit. The difference between 23k and 28k crit 2 is to the whole front row is a big deal since it's a guaranteed -4 and a potential -8 but you can do similar things with Majesty and Palamedes for more than one turn and it's not dependent on an unflipper hitting. Deathscythe gives him some of the removal options of DOTE, but there's not much need for it when limit/ultimate break does basically the same stuff and Scythe mainly exists as a backup or to kill one good booster per game. With no Kimnara, BLOOD isn't as competitively compelling compared to his bigger brother Ji Endo. Like PBO but more playable, no Painter and with a real skill, this is mainly here because DKV made a visible splash at Worlds 2012 while BLOOD made a bigger one in Japan. BLOOD does have the advantage of Rising Phoenix, but it's not as potent yet because there's only Djinn for soul-fueling cards. The deck isn't bad but when Spark Kid Dragoon shows up as the first vanguard, people tend to think things like "Oh good, it's only BLOOD! I can do this!"
if I missed any of the other key decks
