PPT Invitational January 2020 Top 16 - Royal Paladin

Hello, this article will cover my experience of the first Pro Play Invitational which took place in late January 2020.  I entered with Royal Paladin (surprise surprise) and was the only player to do so.

We drove up Thursday night this time for extra rest/vacation.  I played some Dragon Ball Friday and Saturday and didn't get much practice for Vanguard besides against Aqua Force.  We had 5 of our Team All Effects members participating in the Invitational, as opposed to the ARG 2016 one where it was just me.  It is much more fun to have friends with you participating.

We had just under the 75 player requisite for the full prizing, which comes back to bite us in the ass later. On to the deck list!

It is eerily similar to what I ran for the last major event I attended (just upgraded some rarities XD).  I ended up cutting Marron for another Gmoris and Tristan because I HAD to see Blaster Blade as much as possible, either for Gancelot or Exculpate.  I also cut a Mithril and the other Marron which made space for 2x Loading Angel.  That Loading Angel is too good, it gives me a draw 2 and clears the front space so against Narukami they have to waste resources on killing only 1 rear guard.

Round 1: Pale Moon (2-0) W
We end up getting repaired immediately but I stay in the same seat.  Going Force 2 and denying that 2 Counter Blast for Luquier makes it one of the easier matchups for me.  Both games took less than 10 minutes.

Round 2: Angel Feather (2-0) W
Around me was all Narukami and Murakumo, so seeing the one Royals player play against one of the only Angel players was pretty funny.  It turned into a grind match because of how Angels can keep healing every turn.  I went Force 2 because I figure they are just going to PG anyways.  Game 2 he had some awful luck and missed his G1 G Assist, but to his credit he came back and extended the game almost into time.

Round 3: Murakumo (1-2) L
My buddy Leo was playing Murakumo and we both queued into each other even after another repair.  Game 1 he went first and I lost, Game 2 I went first and won, Game 3 he went first and I lost.  Murakumo is definitely my worst matchup which is a damn shame in this meta.  Shirayuki is just so powerful.  I can handle the board clear and the board pumps, but being able to guard with it too is too much given how easy it is to recycle it every turn.

Round 4: Narukami (2-0) W
I don't remember too much about this one, but that it ended quickly.  I went Force 2 and hit a one to pass with a Crit one game, but I don't remember the second game.  I think I went Exculpate but I am not sure.

At this point I am 3-1, and am trying to win the next one to get top 16, or the next 2 to get top 8.

Round 5: Narukami (0-2) L
I queue into Narukami again, and given how well the last round went for me, I'm pretty happy about it.  Unfortunately for me, this deck build was completely different.  There was a Grade 1 that didn't let me call sentinels for attacks, and that was what I had in hand for the first game.  Game 2 went better, but turned into a slugfest with both of us hitting heals and draws to stay in the game.  He got the win in the end.  This was my favorite round even though I lost fairly badly, because my opponent was a very high energy and friendly person. Part of the reason I keep playing this game is because of meeting people like that.

Round 6: Murakumo (2-1) W
Going in and seeing Murakumo, I did not expect to win.  I was really wanting to play against anything but Murakumo.  Everything I said about my previous round's opponent was the exact opposite for this round.  Unfortunately, while you meet some really nice people, you also meet some idiots.  Game 1 he gets the game with Shirayuki and Hyuga sending my board back every turn. Game 2 I go first and am able to out pressure with Gancelot and Blaster Blade.  It gets silly with how many Crits these guys have.  He also didn't hit his proper ride if I remember right.
Game 3 is where the action is at.  He goes first, rides properly, Shirayuki's me just like in Game 1.  The damage, cards in hand, and board presence is in his favor and I think, "I literally need to hit on every trigger check to win this game".  I then proceed to hit every trigger check.  When I swing its a draw and a heal, or a crit and a heal.  On damage checks I hit 2 triggers defensively.  He also did not hit any triggers besides a draw.  We are almost going into time so we have a small crowd around us.
He ends up taking my 31k Gancelot Vanguard at 5 damage.  I drive check a heal and a draw.  He then slams his hand on the table and yells "Judge! My opponent has hit 10 triggers against me! This man is stacking and cheating!!"  The judge was just having a conversation with the TO how vanguard can produce some salty players, but today has been really good.  Thanks for the jinx. 
Judge comes over and says to him "Take your final damage, and I'll do a deck check".  So he takes the 6th damage, no heal, meaning I win the game.  I hand over my deck to the judge; I don't care about checking sleeves or whatever I had nothing to hide.  Judge does a deck count and says that everything checks out.  My opponent says to me after "Hey man, I had to do it after seeing that many triggers, it wasn't right".  Dude was a total creep and loser.
At this point I don't care because I think I am getting Top 16, finishing 4-2

They announce the final standings and I got... exactly 16th.

Paul, my teammate, got 12th with Aqua Force, Leo my round 3 opponent got 8th, and Seth my round 5 opponent got 10th.  Top 16 was to get payout, while Top 8 was to play for first place.  After a $40 entry, and having to get the invite from the last event which was $25, my prize was... $25.  Top 8 split and each got ... $250.  I wanted to at least get my $40 back, and we got a mat that I ended up selling so I technically did.  It was store credit prizing too but they had no Vanguard product lol.  I ended up spending it on 2 Mutaitos for DBS.

Overall, I am OK with how I performed.  I know I could have done better specifically in Round 5, but that Round 6 was the highlight for sure.  Happy that the only Royals player was able to top, the deck is still good just not against Murakumo.  Since I play DBS (more so than vanguard at this point), I will continue to go to these events anyways. 

PPT Orlando Vanguard Standard Top 8 - Royal Paladin

Hello, this article will cover PPT Orlando (9/8/19) and my overall tournament experience.

We drove up Friday so I had plenty of rest for the event. I didn't end up playing DBS Saturday so I got some more practice in for Vanguard.

There were 44 players (Best of 3) for standard (no premium), and the entry was $25.  I had written my deck list the night before, but my friend, James, talked me into making a change right before the event.  I took two King of Knights, Alfred out for two Monarch Sanctuary Alfred.

This was the list I ended up using for tournament.  I originally had King in the deck because it grabbed Blaster Blade for the next turn with Gancelot, but Monarch helps me get them back from drop and soul if I ended up riding them.

I only had one of the promo, Cloud Lancer, Gmoris, so that's why there isn't more.  I would have cut Pluck Enchanter for 2 more of him if I had them, but they just came out that week and weren't even on TCGPlayer or eBay at the time.  I got lucky at locals and pulled one off the tournament promo packs for my only one.

Everything else in here is pretty typical; there's lots of different ways to grab Blaster Blade so you'll always get Exculpate or Gancelot off.  There's a lot of funny plays you can do with the Pluck Enchanter early game which is why I decided to go with that instead of Allen or using 4x of the other grade 1's.  Also note that I used Force 2 for the entire tournament.

Round 1: Bermuda W 2-1

I expected to see Bermudas because the deck restriction doesn't hit until mid September for us.  The deck is scary with Force 2.  I don't remember how I won these first two rounds exactly, but I remember Exculpating in the round.


Round 2: Bermuda W 2-1

Another Bermuda deck.  The lists between these don't change, only the rarities lol.  I Exculpated round 1 which I won, then lost round 2, then won round 3 off Gancelot and BB.


Round 3: OTT W 2-0

I Exculpated Game 1 and just was able to win through that.  It is hard to recover when you have to guard 4 attacks (2 Vanguard ones) and lose your board in the process.  Game 2 was bullshit because she missed her grade 1 and the G Assist.  She ended up riding a trigger which meant my triggers in hand could hit, so I called them down.  Despite this god awful luck, she topped so that's something positive.


Round 4: Granblue L 1-2

This was my favorite round of the day.  Game 1 he kept his hand and was able to kill me relatively easily.  Game 2 I only threw one back during mulligan and got the win.  Game 3 I had the luck of my previous opponent opening with 5 triggers and a Bedivere after my draw for turn.  I G assist into a Kay, and draw a Kay /)_-.  My opponent was able to one to pass or no guard me because he saw how many triggers I burned through but I tried to put up as much of a fight as possible even with that.  We almost went into time, but he got it with a couple minutes before time expired.


Round 5: Narukami W 2-0

I had plenty of practice against Narukami (thank you Frankie), so I knew some of the things I could do to tip the match in my favor. 
For any Royal Paladin players struggling, here are the things to note:
1) Do not over extend, Gauntlet Buster will nuke your board anyways.
2) Guard early so you can take the Gauntlet Buster if you don't draw a PG
3) PG the Gauntlet Buster.
4) Try to keep a Conjurer or Tristan in hand so when your Blaster Blade gets nuked you have another.
Force 2 played a big part in this game since you can pretty much make them risk taking either the Gancelot Vanguard or the Blaster Blade Vanguard.


Round 6: Bermuda L 0-2

At this point, I was 4-1 so no matter what happened this game both of us were topping.
We had an amazing Game 1 with both of us healing at 6 on back to back turns.  It was the most entertaining game of the day for sure.  Game 2 I couldn't keep up with Bermuda's pressure and lost pretty easily.


Top 8: Split

We talked about it and everyone who topped was cool enough to split the prizing.  I finished 6th overall which was the highest seeded 4-2 and Royals player.  I won $100, an invite, and a top 8 mat that I sold for $15. 
I love proving to people that Royals are good and this tournament gave me an excuse to write again.

Shoutouts to
PPG for hosting the smoothly ran event, definitely going to more
Derek Guijt our GREAT head judge
Francisco Garate (he makes my beautiful custom markers - hit him up!!)
Golden Phoenix Games for sponsoring me
James Munoz and his group from Cool Stuff Hollywood for being great people
and of course my team, Team All Effects, because without them I wouldn't be playing this game.

CFV - Atlanta Regional 10-6-2018 Standard *Royal Paladin*

   Hello, over this post I am going to describe my tournament experience as well as describe my deck and the choices I decided to make in regards to the Atlanta Regionals that took place over the weekend of October 2018. 

  I am known as a Royal Paladin player, specifically Blasters.  I have been playing them since I started the game back in 2013, and have not ever used another deck for competitive tournament play.  I have had lots of practice with the clan and build, testing out which pieces work the best for certain scenarios, and created the list based off those results.  However, as is the case with every aspect of life, there is always room for improvement.  On to the deck list!

Used for Atlanta Standard Regionals:

1x Glyme (Starter)
4x Flogal (Crit)
4x Bringer of Good Luck, Epona (Crit)
4x Yggdrassil Maiden, Elaine (Heal)
4x Flash Shield, Iseult (Draw/Sentinel)

4x Knight Squire, Allen
4x Little Sage, Marron
4x Pongal
1x Wingal

4x Blaster Blade
4x High Dog Breeder, Akane
4x Sage of the Arts, Jauron

4x King of Knights, Alfred
4x Soul Saver Dragon

(And of course, lots of force tokens)


Explaining the deck choices:
    So I will start off explaining the easy parts.

     For Grade 0's, it is a very typical lineup.  My only other choice would be to add Margal draw trigger, but I drew enough cards in this deck that I did not want to sacrifice the offensive power of a Crit nor the 15k shield.  Draws are only beneficial to Crits on damage checks, but it is not worth it in my opinion.

   For Grade 3's, the only other 2 realistic choices are Alfred Early and Gigantec Charger.  Charger does not have a gift, so I did not want to put myself in a situation where I had to ride him and not receive a Force.  It is a win more type of card.  Alfred Early is also inconsistent if I do not have a Blaster Blade, so that steered me off him as well.  King of Knights goes off in all the games I've tested, and Soul saver is necessary as a finisher.  I wanted to max out my chances of drawing both of them (First KoKs, then finishing with Soul Saver), so I run 4 each.  This was not an issue throughout the entire event and I never wished I ran any other combinations of Grade 3's.  Riding Soul Saver first is worse, but not unwinnable at all, nor is finishing with King of Knights.

   For Grade 2's, the other 2 choices I had in mind were Knight of Silence, Gallatin and Conjurer of Mithril.  Mithril is a 9k so due to ride consistency I decided not to run him at all (even though his skill is good for certain matchups).  Gallatin is a card I am going to test further and may replace Jauron for.  Calling him can essentially force an opponent to waste an attack or retire skill on him, or you get a very nice intercept.  However, Blaster Blade and Akane are must run 4 of's.  I was sold on Jauron until I wanted to swing at the Rear Guard, but didn't get the +5k due to him needing to attack a Vanguard.  Because of this, I am going to try Gallatin out more and will let you guys know what I find.

  Grade 1's required the most thought.  I wanted to be able to consistently draw an extra card on my turn (not as good, but similar to OTT with Amaterasu or Protect markers), so I opted for 4x Allen and 4x Marron.  Pongal at 4 is a must because of Soul Saver and Blaster Blades Soul Blast skills, as well as making sure there are enough for Akane to fetch.  I decided on Wingal because the alternatives were not worth it.  Morgana wastes a Soul Blast that I can use elsewhere, and the others are either 7k (which I will not run due to ride inconsistencies) or just worse than Wingal.  I will probably bump up Wingals count when Exculpate releases as having him behind a "ReRiding" Blaster Blade is ideal.  I will publish another post regarding that later.

Things to keep in mind:

• The deck consistently builds a board for very little.  
• Having Marron and then intercepting with whatever is in front of him is a good way to draw more every turn.  
• Always put force markers on Rear Guards until Marker number 3 or 4 (Depending on the match up).  This is critical against OTT where they will be PG'ing your Vanguard every turn.
• Be timely with Blaster Blade's retire and Crit skill.  This means do not do it every time, but when it is convenient or when there is a problem rear guard.  Accel clans hate this card.  
• During Mulligan, prioritize Grade 1
• Do not forget any subtle power bonuses (Akane, Pongal, Marron/Allen, KoK buffs)
• Only use Soul Saver's soul charge skill when you have to.  I've found it wastes deck and usually I hit a trigger to the soul :...(
• Try not to use Soul Saver's Soul Blast until your opponent is at least at 4 damage.  Often times in tournament, I used it to bait OTT's PGs, and then won the following turn with KoK.

Individual Match-ups/ Tournament Report:

   Now that you understand the deck, I will proceed to the report.

   My company and I, Golden Phoenix Games, traveled from Miami to Atlanta by car drive to participate and make quality trades.  I have topped previous large scale events with Royals (ARG Orlando 2016 and ARG Invitationals 2016), so I was not walking into unfamiliar territory.  We arrived at the hotel late Friday night, and went to sleep to get ready for the big day.  We arrived at the venue at 9am Saturday, and after making a few trades and greeting familiar faces we were ready for Round 1.  Due to the large turnout, over 450 players, the tournament was split into two brackets a gentleman near us dubbed "Prison Block A" and "Prison Block B".  I was Number 310 in Prison Block A.

Round 1: OTT
   I go up against the best deck in the game right away, which I was kind of expecting.  I had practiced against OTT many times and do not feel outclassed by them at all with my deck.
  He goes first and is able to lay damage on me within the first few turns, but he spends his only 2 Counter Blasts doing so (CEO and Circle Magus).  I then decide to not give him anymore for several turns as my hand was full of Grade 3's.  I continuously Ride, then Attack his Rear Guards preventing him from freeing up Counter Blasts.  It also locks his heal triggers out of the game because I am at more damage.  He continuously rides Imperial Daughter and CEO for the gifts, but has extremely weak attacks.  I end up being forced to attack his Vanguard due to him not having any more front row Rear Guards, which finally gave him damage.  I had 6 Force tokens across my board at this point and was feeling very good because his deck count  was also getting pretty low.  He then rides his 4th Imperial Daughter and Deer's me.  I live and swing back with Soul Saver.  He lives easily due to protects and I am Deer'd again where I die.  Looking back, I should have tried to go for Deckout, but it is a learning experience.

0-1


Round 2: OTT
  I cue into OTT again, but this time I am able to tempo my opponent.  She also forgets to grab her Gift, so due to that misplay it wasn't difficult to take the game.

1-1

Round 3: Nova Grapplers
  Post Mulligan I end up with 4 Grade 3's and a Grade 1.  Draw for turn, I draw my 4th KoK. /)_- that's Vanguard for you.  I hit no defensive triggers, but a 6 damage heal LOL.  I then swing with my Vanguard and drive check 2 more heals.  Damage is tied at 3 a piece, but I still had a lot of  these useless Grade 3's in hand.  I die a turn after. 
  Typically against Novas, I use Blaster Blade's ability to hit the RG in the Accel circle, but I did not draw well enough to be able to stay alive against them.

1-2


Round 4: OTT
  My third OTT out of four.  This game was a boxing match.  We were hitting each other and barely staying alive for about 5 turns consecutively.  I hit a 6 damage heal, and win on the swing back.
  Honestly, should have lost this game, but that's Vanguard for you.

2-2


Round 5: Shadow Paladin
   This dude brought a Shadow TD with Promo Rapiers into a Regionals.  He has 100% of my respect.  However, there's a reason you don't see people do that often.  The game was over the turn after he rode Grade 3.  Royals have a very good matchup against Shadows (even post AL4), due to them calling a board back for little cost.  It makes their retire skills not as detrimental. 

3-2


Round 6: OTT
   OTT again, but this time I go first and am able to Tempo and control the pace of the game similar to Round 2.  I was able to put enough pressure to force him to pitch Grade 3's he needed for protect markers. 

4-2


Round 7: Granblue
  At this point, I am sitting at table 28 or so, so I am looking at my chances of topping fading away even if I finish winning every game.  My teammates brought me food so I was ready to go.
  She has to G Assist for Grade 2 I believe, so I am able to go off and swing with big columns for the rest of the game.  She also had to pitch Grade 3's she needed for protect markers just to stay alive.  I won with Soul Saver's Soul Blast.

5-2


Round 8: Spike Brothers
   Sitting at Table 10 (the first long table), I look around and do not see any other Royals Players and am happy to see I have placed the farthest of everyone with the deck.  After a delay due to computer round pairings being off, we start the game.  I go first.  Post mulligan, I have 3 G0's, a G2, and a G3.  I G assist, and whiff.  His turn, he G assists but gets the G1, pitching a Maximum in the process.  I eat a damage, get a draw trigger and draw into Allen (Thank god).  The game continues and we are both at low damage, low cards in hand, and a full board.  He rides Seifried, places the force under him (making him a 23k) and attacks my RG hoping to get the skill off.  For about three or so turns, he swings Seifried at my weakest RG, and I guard it successfully.  He also tried damage locking me out of the game (similar to what I did in Round 1), but I take damage eventually setting up my skills.  We are so focused in on this match, that I did not hear time being called and was surprised that we were the only ones still playing at our table (Table 10).  It was his turn so it I was able to do the last turn.  He attacks me, I trigger a defensive trigger and am able to live.  I ride into KoK after a Soul Saver Soul blast turn and am able to get the win.
Spike Brothers go through a lot of units quickly (see wonderboy, brakki, maximum), so the longer the game goes, the better it typically is for me.  He also pitched a Maximum for G assist so I had that in the back of my head.

6-2

At this point, I know my chances of topping 8 are very slim due to the people I lost to having worse records than me, but I still had hope because I was trying to be positive.  In the end, after both blocks were combined, I got 29th Place out of the 450.  I know I was the highest seeded Royals Players in Prison Block A, but I have no clue about B.

I had a spicy build for premium, but felt exhausted from Day 1, so we decided to sleep in and focus on trades and sight seeing for Day 2.

I had a very good experience in Atlanta and cannot wait for the next one.

Check out my team website at teamalleffects.com (It is a work in progress) and my website for singles and product at goldenphoenixgames.com

Message me if you have any questions about literally anything (sales, deck talk, whatever)

 - Richard Garcia

ARG Orlando Invitational Top 8 Deck Profile - Majesty Lord Blaster

     Ever since I started playing the wonderful game of Cardfight Vanguard I was drawn to one clan.  Royal Paladin.  I started playing back in November 2013, and Limit Break had already been well distributed into the game.  This was a blessing in disguise, as I was able to get one of the most interesting and unique units to ever come out for the game at a very cheap price (I played on a terrible budget back then).

Majesty Lord Blaster

   This one card has been so much fun to use.  In the Limit Break era, he was perfect to deny LB abilities by swinging with a Critical while they're at 3 damage.  If I get one Critical off a no guard, its over (unless lucky heals).  If they do guard, then they don't have their abilities.  This ties into my favorite part about this card.  

You can activate his skill whenever you can.  

There are no GB or LB restrictions.

All you need is these 2 cards on Rear Guard

   Since there are many cards that in this meta that are so reliant on what your opponent does, I am fortunate enough to have my avatar not care what they do.  If they stay on grade 2, its their funeral.  This card is devastating while going first, which is what I wanted to do this tournament.

Since most G decks prefer going 2nd, I wanted to take advantage of that

    Since I have been using good ol Majesty Lord here for every tournament I partake in, I wanted my deck to counter the current meta, which is Gear Chronicle.

  I played against 6 Gear Chronicle decks in a row at the Invitational

    Him being a 12k on defense hurts Gear Chronicle a lot.  Melem becomes unhittable and 16k collumns are a lousy 5k guard.  One damage trigger and he becomes a 17k!  This was my strategy while fighting Gear Chronicle, and it worked out most of the time.

    While Majesty Lord alone does punish your opponent for going 2nd, he has a bunch of other, non GB restricted cards that made a lot of my games end before the first stride.

   None of these cards are GB, and this deck takes full advantage of that. Calling Llew with Flogal on grade 2 is such a strong push that most opponents can't recover.  Stacking triggers on Blaster Blade, then restanding him with Flogal is so dumb.  Barcgal is there for his Blaster name and counter blast management.  But what makes this deck so consistent?

By boosting a Blaster, and successfully hitting 

You add ANY Blaster to hand regardless of Grade

  Wingal Brave here is what makes the deck happen game after game.  He gets the missing piece.  He solves a lot of gradelocking.  So many people are unafraid and let this hit, only to suffer in later turns.  It's a one for one trade that only benefits you.

But what happens if they survive Majesty Lord and the Early Game?

 I wanted to use both Thing Saver AND Sanctuary Guard 

for more versatility depending on the deck I am facing.

   Thing Saver Dragon is one of the deck's finishers.  I have used him along with Majesty Lord since he was released to us back in 2014.  Triple swinging with Vanguard and stacking triggers on the Rear Guards is so much to handle on one turn.  He is also very good for playing against Kagero and Link Joker as he is entirely Non Rear Guard reliant.

  These two go hand in hand.  Sanctuary Guard Dragon gets you the Flogals you need from deck, while Regalie pumps up Blaster Blade to stupid numbers.  It is a strategy I like to use against decks that do not retire or lock your rear guards.  Otherwise I use Thing Saver or this guy:

    This guy is a great first turn stride that pumps up your board, but more importantly gets an added Critical.  He is so great against people that guard Majesty, only to deal with another huge added Critical attack.  Another amazing card to counter Kagero and Link joker, just by swinging with a Crit.

    Altmile here is a free stride that gets Blaster Blade power, or Llew for multiple swings.  It is another way to do the Flogal Blaster Blade multiple attack strategy while spending no Counter Blasts or having to ride Sanctuary Guard.

So you get the gist, 

Swing Early and Swing Hard

Here was my list: 

Thank you to everyone who supported me throughout this super competitive tournament!

- Richard