Saturday, July 6, 2013

Rumor: World Championship 2013 Locations, Restricted List Will Not be Modified for WCS2013, Ride to Victory to See International Release


Updated 7/10/2013: Bushiroad USA has confirmed much of the information below.
Cardfighters that attended day 2 of Bushiroad's Anime Expo 2013 event have leaked information on the upcoming WCS2013 international tournament, confirmed since February but now with concrete dates and locations provided. This information is being attributed to Bushiroad's general manager for the Cardfight!! Vanguard USA Facebook page "Doctor K" J-Kim, who was hosting a Q&A panel that day.

WCS2013 will be taking place in December 2013, with the North American national championship taking place earlier on, in November. Seven qualifier locations have been put out so far;
1. Dallas, Texas - September
2. Chicago, Illinois - September 15th
3. Hawaii (exact city to be announced) - September
4. Seattle, Washington - September
5. New York, New York - September
6. Atlanta, Georgia - October 13th
7. Los Angeles, California - November
Additionally, Los Angeles is speculated to be the location of the championship finals. The location list suggests that this will be in the same format of WCS2012, with cardfighters attending each qualifier independently and the top two of each tournament going on to the finals, rather than using the Challenge Cup format of qualifying at a shop before going to a qualifier. While this information has not been confirmed by Bushiroad, it is considered very likely to be accurate based on the source attributed and the timing of the AX2013 event.

While there was some discussion that the English format restricted list may be modified to be closer to Japan's January 2013 list following the Challenge Cup, as Dragonic Overlord The End accounted for five of the top eight decks used in the Challenge Cup finals, according to this AX leak the restricted list will not be modified prior to the WCS2013 regional qualifiers. Furthermore, the reason for the sudden flurry of releases in English from EB04 through BT11 is because Bushiroad is moving towards simultaneous English and Japanese releases for Cardfight!! Vanguard. Simultaneous release appears to be becoming Bushiroad's default policy following the announcement of the Future Card Buddyfight franchise, and this direction will support Bushiroad's overall goal of creating a competitive environment more similar to Weiss Schwarz so that even underrated and unpopular clans will be able to do well, making favorites more practical.

Doctor K also alluded that official tagfight tournaments and an English release of the Nintendo 3DS Cardfight!! Vanguard TCG simulator, Cardfight!! Vanguard Ride to Victory!! are both being considered by Bushiroad's Japanese and international branches. Fighters have been anxious for the game's international release ever since it was first announced, and Bushiroad has appeared responsive, replying to inquiries about the game through Facebook and uploading videos of the game for those that are eager for it to be distributed in other regions.

(via Trigger Capital)