Tuesday, June 12, 2012

After the Storm: Fighter's Road 2012 Japan Analysis

Hello there. Sorry for the long absence in here because I was occupied with a lot of work, as well as Anime Festival Asia Malaysia 2012 throughout the weekend. From now onward, the gap between posts might take slightly longer as I'm really starting to get very busy (no joke, I'm not slacking, but BUSY). Hopefully you guys will understand.

Okay, today I'll be reviewing the results of the first three 'Fighter's Road 2012' Japan Regionals' results, as well as giving my opinions on the metagame shaping in Japan currently. Without further ado, let me start with the results for both Single and Team tournaments for each region. (Warning: Very long post ahead)

Nagoya
Seniors Division
1st: Gold Paladins (Blonde Ezel)
2nd: Kagero (DOTE)
3rd: Kagero (DOTE)
4th: Kagero (DOTE)

Juniors Division
1st :Spike Brothers (Dudley Emperor)
2nd: Kagero (DOTE)
3rd: Narukami (Vermilion Kaiser)

Team Tournament
1st: Spike Brothers (Dudley Emperor) / Shadow Paladins (PBO) / Gold Paladins (Spectral Duke Dragon)
2nd: Kagero (DOTE) / Shadow Paladins (PBO) / Royal Paladins (Majesty Blasters)

Hiroshima
Seniors Division
1st: Gold Paladins (Blonde Ezel)
2nd: Royal Paladins (Majesty Blasters)
3rd: Kagero (DOTE)
4th Royal Paladins (Alfred/Baromedes)

Juniors Division
1st: Kagero (DOTE)
2nd: Neo Nectar (Gene/Laurel)
3rd: Kagero (DOTE)
4th: Royal Paladins (Majesty Blasters)

Team Tournament
1st: Royal Paladins (Majesty Blasters) / Shadow Paladins (PBO) / Kagero (DOTE)
2nd: Royal Paladins (Majesty Blasters) / Oracle Think Thank (Tsukuyomi) / Kagero (DOTE)

Kanazawa
Seniors Division
1st: Royal Paladins (Majesty Blasters)
2nd: Kagero (DOTE)
3rd: Kagero (DOTE)
4th: Kagero (DOTE)

Juniors Division
1st: Kagero (DOTE)
2nd: Gold Paladins (Blonde Ezel)
3rd: Royal Paladins (Majesty Blasters)
4th: Kagero (DOTE)

Team Tournament
1st: Kagero (DOTE) / Royal Paladins (Majesty Blasters) / Oracle Think Tank (Tsukuyomi)
2nd: Nova Grappler (Dragon Kaiser) / Gold Paladins (Blonde Ezel) / Royal Paladins (Majesty Blasters)


And here's the clan breakdown for all 3 regions:
Gold Paladins : 5
Royal Paladins: 10
Shadow Paladins: 3
Kagero: 16
Oracle Think Tank: 2
Nova Grappler: 1
Neo Nectar: 1
Spike Brothers: 2
Narukami: 1

Notice a pattern here? Yes, the dominating decks for the current metagame, despite the release of Limit Breakers, is still Royal Paladins and Kagero, with 10 and 16 appearances each out of a total of 41 decks.

Gold Paladins netted 5 top-four appearances, winning 3 of them.

   

1 appearance against 4. Which you will you choose?

From the deck types used by the GP players, it seems like Blonde Ezel is way more efficient than Spectral Duke, possibly because of his LB skill that can hit super hard and his speed (Superior Ride) to pressure their opponents early.

On the other hand, although GP seems to be slowly stealing the spotlight, Kagero still defends its throne as the most stable deck out there in the current metagame, with 16 top-four appearances.


I'm still one of the best!

Basically in every category, you'll be able to find a Kagero deck there. Though they might not win as much as previously, they sure can maintain their places in the top spots. Dragonic Overlord The End is a card that should never be looked down at.

Royal Paladins using the Majesty Blasters build comes in as the 2nd most preferred deck after Kagero, occupying a quarter of the total decks in all three regionals.


12k and Double-Critical is still better than a 10k in defense

With the advantage of a permanent 12k power and double-Critical, MLB seems to be a more viable choice compared to their successors, Gold Paladins, mostly because of their offensive and defensive capabilities.

Shadow Paladins doesn't seem to appear much, with only 3 top-fours. This might be caused of the emergence of GP, and people opting for more stable decks like Kagero or RP.

Older decks made their appearances back in the spotlight, such as Spike Brothers, Oracles and Nova Grapplers. Thanks to the Limit Breaker Demonic Lord, Dudley Emperor, Spike Brothers might net themselves a space in the competitive environment again.


Prepare for Gallows Ball again cos' we're back, better that before!

Here you go, a short analysis of the Japanese metagame for the Fighter's Road 2012 Japanese Regionals. I guess we might be able to see similar results in the upcoming regionals from other places. As for our Malaysian metagame? It's still quite diversed, but the mainstream decks still proves to be a formidable force yet to be taken down by newcomers. Limit Breakers here still doesn't perform that well (player skill problem?) and Kagero/RP is still the biggest winner in tournaments.

That's all for the moment. Until next time, this is Homura signing out.

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