News: Japanese National Championship Won with Thing Saver-“Abyss,” Hayashi Hiroki Crowned National Champion

Right to left; National Champion Hayashi Hiroki, CEO Takaaki Kidani and National Runner-up Hayashida Kenjun.

The results of the most recent Japanese national championships were made public this past week, with Kanazawa cardfighter Hayashi Hiroki being crowned as Japan's summer 2014 National Champion, succeeding Lee Innyeng. The finals took place in Tokyo over August 31st, and were livestreamed onto the Japanese video hosting service NicoNico Douga. NND user Kururun (クルルん) recorded the live broadcast and reuploaded it afterwards, forever preserving the fight. The full ceremony can be viewed in five parts by those with NND accounts here, but the fight by itself has been hosted below for those without accounts. Commentary was handled by TV personality Doctor O, actress Kitta Izumi (voice of Tokura Misaki) and actor Morishima Shuuta (voice of Nitta Shin) while awards were handed out by Bushiroad CEO Takaaki Kidani.

Note that while no disrespect is intended, due to their similar surnames, for the sake of clarity Hayashi and Hayashida will hereon be referred to by their given names Hiroki and Kenjun.

Hiroki played the familiar Royal Paladin-Shadow Paladin hybrid deck that has come to dominate professional play, Thing Saver-“Abyss.” His opponent was fourteen-year-old Hayashida Kenjun playing Star-vader “Ω” Glendios. Glendios has remained an everpresent element of the format since its introduction in VG-BT15: Infinite Rebirth, and the finals are of particular interest to international cardfighters because the card is just on the verge of being released in thirteen days' time. The video of their fight also has relevance beyond this tournament, as it is one of the few recordings of how Thing Saver-“Abyss” is used in Japanese play.

(Hiroki is on the left, Kenjun on right.) Having won the janken during their pile shuffling and redraw, Kenjun opened the first turn of the game. Each turn up to reaching grade 3, Kenjun used World Line Dragon's skill prior to his ride phase, discarding “Я” units to search for Link Joker cards to ride. This meant that by the time he rode Glendios, Kenjun could already build advantage out of this drop zone with Ruin Magician, which helped compensate for the amount of early guarding he had to do versus Hiroki's Blaster deck. Hiroki had a considerably stronger early game, able to make extra attacks each turn, capitalize on strong trigger checks and search out his copy of Phantom Blaster “Abyss” while Kenjun was restricted by his deck's reliance on running 14 grade 3s and only being able to bring them out one turn at a time. Hiroki's earlier aggression translated to a stronger endgame with Thing Saver, such that instead of being able to grind the game to a halt Kenjun was instead overwhelmed by trying to keep Hiroki's field in check. An important point is that Kenjun was forced to ride one of his two copies of Companion Star-vader Photon early on, and if he had access to a copy of it later then locking both of Hiroki's frontrow rearguards would have made defending through his double restand easier.

The turn that Kenjun rode Glendios, he opened the turn at -2 to +1 card advantage; by locking Blaster Dark with Vowing Saber “Я,” then using Colony Maker to play off of that lock and call out Ruin Magician from the deck, and then adding Hyakki Vogue “Я” back to hand with Magician's skill, Kenjun was able to immediately close the gap and tie the advantage +0 to +0. But while this enabled him to keep a stable circulation of “Яeverse” cards in play to maintain locks with, it did not make up for the existing gap in damage.

Hiroki was careful to keep Kenjun out of being able to start a chain of omega locks before he could prep his legion properly, attacking Vowing Saber rather than the vanguard at 07:26 to avoid giving Kenjun limit break too early. Moreover, getting Vowing Saber into the drop zone prevented a potential Ruin Magician play to recover both Cocytus “Я” and a theoretical discard for omega lock, which limited Kenjun's midgame advantage plays. Kenjun's decision to lock Mackart rather than Blaster Dark in turn kept Hiroki from superior calling off of his legion, and from abusing Mackart to call and deck thin during Thing Saver's on-stand Legions.

Hiroki's decision to go ahead with his Legion was made with the full knowledge that he would be taking advantage of “Abyss” exclusively for restanding Thing Saver; at 12:40 when he finally rides Thing Saver Dragon he has exactly 5 soul, which is just enough to use Thing Saver's skill twice. The soulblast 3 requirement, along with the previous Thing Saver remaining in the soul, ensured this. Many decks could not come back from the position Hiroki was in at the time, -9 to -4, but the neutral exchange off of his restand and access to a remaining rearguard column to receive trigger checks while being able to make three sequential attacks with his vanguard helped to overwhelm Kenjun's defenses and destroy his remaining resources in the long term, even though the game was not won on that turn. Note that around the 15 minute mark Hiroki could have theoretically won early; Kenjun did not have the resources to guard both Blaster Blade Spirit and all of Thing Saver's attacks, and declared no-guard while at four damage. This turn ended at -7 to -8 after Hiroki's draw trigger and Mackart unlocking, a complete recovery into a positive position.

There are several points which could have evened out the fight. One of Glendios' primary advantages versus TSD-“Abyss” in this format is its access to Taboo Star-vader Rubidium, whose on-guard skill would have allowed Kenjun to change the target of Thing Saver's attack to a “Яeverse” unit on the field. Because Thing Saver can only restand after attacking a vanguard, this could have completely shut down Hiroki's decisive turn. However, the play is dependent on having Rubidium in hand, and the only copy Kenjun drew in the game was the one that he rode on the first turn. More to the point, Hiroki's game would have been slowed considerably if Kenjun had allocated the 15000 shield he dropped on Hiroki's grade 2 turn to the vanguard instead of the rearguard. This would have prevented Hiroki from searching out “Abyss,” forcing him to ride Thing Saver on his grade 3 turn, and slowed the buildup of soul by another turn--potentially preventing him from initiating the double restand maneuver entirely, although the full outcome of the fight cannot be predicted because preventing the search and shuffle off of Wingal Brave would completely change how it flowed.

While Thing Saver-“Abyss” and Glendios have been cemented as the key offensive and defensive decks of this era, fourth place in the national finals went to the format's unsung hero, Big Bang Knuckle Buster. A crossride of Big Bang Knuckle Dragon, Knuckle Buster has been championed as one of the most effective field control decks; his on-attack skill sends a Big Bang card from the hand to the soul while in Legion to battle four separate units. Accounting for the late game defense necessary to protect the vanguard, this typically translates to a -6 overall, but also falls afoul of Glendios' defensive capabilities because the aforementioned Rubidium can change all of Knuckle Buster's targets to a single “Я” unit. The increased prevalence of Quintet Walls and fighters' increasing awareness of being able to guard units separately with what a Quintet Wall calls has also diminished Knuckle Buster's impact. So while highly effective at devastating the opponent's field in most scenarios, the deck's progress has been stymied by the format's defensive options.

The contestants notably did not display the kind of strict fight manners Bushiroad has become infamous for in the west. While there are countless horror stories told over American judges handing out game losses for not placing drive checked cards in the trigger zone, Hiroki and Kenjun both fell back on the commonplace habit of drive checking onto the fight table.

Fighter's Road 2014 National Championship, Open Division
National Champion: Hayashi Hiroki/林大貴
Grade 0
x2 Wingal Brave (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer  HT
x4 Margal DT
x4 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
x4 Knight of the Future, Llew CT
Grade 1
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x4 Knight of Friendship, Kay
x4 Guardian Law Seeker, Shiron
x1 Glynngal Seeker
x2 Transient Revenger, Masquerade
Grade 2
x2 Blaster Blade Spirit
x3 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x3 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x4 Battle Spirit Revenger, Mackrt
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x1 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”

Runner-up: Hayashida Kenjun/林田健順
Grade 0
x1 Star-vader, World Line Dragon (FV)
x4 Star-vader, Pixie Powder HT
x3 Star-vader, Jailer Tail DT
x4 Vortex Star-vader, Molybdenum DT
x4 Star-vader, Apollo Nail Dragon CT
x1 Star-vader, Spark Doll CT
Grade 1
x4 Barrier Star-vader, Promethium
x4 Taboo Star-vader, Rubidium
x4 Star-vader, Ruin Magician
Grade 2
x2 Companion Star-vader, Photon
x3 Star-vader, Colony Maker
x2 Star-vader, Magnet Hollow
Grade 3
x3 Star-vader, “Ω” Glendios
x4 Star-vader, “Я” Cradle
x1 Blue Storm Karma Dragon, Maelstrom “Я”
x1 Covert Demonic Dragon, Hyakki Vogue “Я”
x1 Cleanup Celestial, Ramiel “Я”
x1 Ice Prison Hades Emperor, Cocytus “Я”
x1 Dauntless Dominate Dragon “Я”
x1 Demon God Marquis, Amon “Я”
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon “Я”

Third place: Itou Tatsuya/伊藤竜也
Grade 0
x1 Spark Kid Dragoon (FV)
x4 Brawler, Green Gem Carbuncle HT
x1 Brawler, Heavy Trailer Dragon DT
x4 Brawler, Dokouson DT
x1 Brawler of Heavens, Youzen CT
x2 Brawler, Plasma Kid Dragon CT
x4 Malevolent Djinn CT
Grade 1
x3 Wyvern Guard, Guld
x1 Hardship Brawler, Toshu
x4 Tonfa Wielding Brawler, Aak
x2 Threatening Brawler, Koumei
x4 Rising Phoenix
Grade 2
x4 Brawler, Big Bang Slash Buster
x2 Brawler, Big Bang Slash Dragon
x3 Brawler, Wild Fist Dragon
x2 Dragonic Deathscythe
Grade 3
x4 Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Buster
x4 Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Dragon

Fourth place: Hirano Masayoshi/平野誠祥
Grade 0
x3 Wingal Brave (FV)
x4 Seeker, Loving Healer  HT
x4 Margal DT
x4 Seeker, Herald Breath Dragon CT
x4 Certain Kill Seeker, Modron CT
Grade 1
x4 Lake Maiden, Lien
x4 Knight of Friendship, Kay
x4 Guardian Law Seeker, Shiron
x2 Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod
Grade 2
x1 Blaster Blade Spirit
x4 Blaster Blade, Seeker
x4 Blaster Dark Revenger “Abyss”
x3 Blaster Dark Revenger
Grade 3
x4 Seeker, Thing Saver Dragon
x1 Revenger, Phantom Blaster “Abyss”