Bushiroad Spring Fest 2016 Malaysia Regionals was held on 29th May at Dewan Cempaka, Cempaka Apartment Hotel. As the first Spring Fest in SEA following the release of D-BT01, most expected to see new and improved decks as compared to those who had won previous Spring Fest events in the region. 

The Top 8 at this event consisted of
Rinaldo Giovanni Tan (Magic World - 72 Pillars)

Andrew Feng (Dungeon World - Dungeon Enemy)

Fabien Cheng (Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster)

They Yuan Qi (Dragon World - Fifth Omni Cavalry Dragon, "Cavalry Dragon Arts, Seven Divine Execute!")

Terry Tai (Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster)

Ziyin Loh (Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster)

Andrew Phua (Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster)

Paddy Ang Ting Yong (Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster)

From left to right: Paddy Ang, Fabien Cheng, They Yuan Qi,
Terry Tai, Andrew Feng, Ziyin Loh, Andrew Phua,
Rinaldo Giovanni Tan. Original photo by Secrekt Storm.

Surprisingly, despite strong showings in previous Spring Fest from other regions, Magic World - Shadow Shade was completely unrepresented in the top cut. Other notable absentees include Hero World varients and Parade of Hundred Demons - O-Yamigedo which have also seen high placings in overseas events.

Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster proved to be a solid choice for the event, taking more than half of the top cut positions up for grabs. Outliers such as Dungeon World - Dungeon Enemy and Dragon World - Fifth Omni Cavalry Dragon, "Cavalry Dragon Arts, Seven Divine Execute!" managed to squeak past the rest of the competition to secure their places in the playoffs, with the last slot going to one of the more popular decks in this format, Magic World - 72 Pillars.

Unfortunately, the quarter finals saw Rinaldo Giovanni Tan pitted against Andrew Feng, ensuring that one of the mono-represented worlds would be eliminated from the tournament and at least two Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster players would become semi-finalists.

Fabien Cheng then made it 3 out of a possible 3 for Star Dragon World, as he eliminated They Yuan Qi in a close series 2 games to 1.

The Top 4 was narrowed down to

Andrew Feng (Dungeon World - Dungeon Enemy)

Fabien Cheng (Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster)

Ziyin Loh (Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster)

Andrew Phua (Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster)

Aster's representation assured for the final, and it was up to Fabien Cheng to secure the title for Jackknife by defeating Andrew Feng, and he did so with gusto. With Fabien's victory, Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster was assured a minimum of 2 podium finishes, cementing its dominance in the event.

The Final was between

Fabien Cheng (Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster)

Andrew Phua (Star Dragon World - Jackknife Aster)

Andrew Phua came out on top in this mirror matchup, securing himself the title of Champion of Bushiroad Spring Fest 2016 (Malaysia). In the third place decider, Andrew Feng edged out Ziyin Loh, preventing an all- Aster podium and securing his own invite for the Asia-Oceania Continental Finals along with Fabien Cheng.

Aster's seemingly effortless run to the title may have been a result of under representation from its counters, such as Legend World - Asgard, or simply decks with access to Hundred Demons Sorcery, No Brainer such as the aforementioned Magic World - Shadow Shade and Parade of Hundred Demons - O-Yamigedo. These decks are normally at a disadvantage when facing off against decks like Magic World - 72 Pillars or Dragon World - Fifth Omni, and so may have been left to dry early on in the Swiss rounds.

With the conclusion of the event, the final Spring Fest event in the Asia-Oceania region is Spring Fest Singapore, followed by the Asia-Oceania Continental Finals the day after. Buddy Rave will be legal by then, and greater diversity can be expected for both events.

FinalPhase would like to congratulate the three podium finishers for their invites to the Asia-Oceania Continental Finals; and a special congratulations to our very own Fabien Cheng. If you are interested in Fabien's own account of the event, coupled with his decklist, click here.

The card images used on this site have been obtained and reposted from the Future Card Buddyfight Official Portal Site (http://fc-buddyfight.com/). (C)bushiroad All Rights Reserved.

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Shinjuku, Tokyo. The second Star Dragon Cup ended its run with “Draco” and “Sorter” (pseudonyms) crowned as first place team, piloting Star Dragon World and Hero World respectively. Second place went to “Taro” and “Cosket” (pseudonyms) playing Dragon World and Magic World. 

The Star Dragon Cup is an unofficial 2-man team tournament series that adopts the popular Swiss tournament model. The first place team received 6 boxes of D-EB01: Buddyfight Collection and 2 copies of PR Black Dragon Shield (WINNER ver.), which has gold foil adorning its borders and text box. 

A total of 28 teams attended the event. With the recent popularity surge of 72 Pillars variants in Japanese tournaments, Magic World became the most played flag of the tournament - accounting for 27% of the decks played. Star Dragon and Dragon World were the second most-played flags and both tied at 18%. It is notable that all flags made an appearance with the exception of Katana World. 

Original photo by @stardragonhai

Draco’s Jackknife Aster deck is a popular variant in this metagame, cutting shields in favor of support spells and Dragonarms. The deck focuses on building Jackknife Aster as much as possible with Star Jack Repair and Star Dragoner, Luminous Blue, locking the player at a high life count to consistently cast Star Jack Boost. To improve Jackknife Aster’s survivability, Dragonarms, Divisigator is played at maximum copies. The heightened defense forces most decks to land only one attack on Jackknife Aster per turn, and ideally, even that can be negated by Biggest Dragonarms, The Main Force. Eventually, the Jackknife Aster snowballs into an immovable beast and the opposing player can no longer clear it to deal damage to Draco.

Sorter’s Kaizerion deck employed the Dark Hero engine for gauge accel and card draw. The deck also boasts pseudo-Shadow Dive capabilities with Darkness Fist, Gwen and Long-range Cannon. These are likely specific anti-meta measures – Shadow Dive bypasses Jackknife Aster entirely, rendering the deck helpless to direct attacks. The Dark Hero engine also helped the deck to cope against the heavy-destruction metagame, as the Dark Heroes bounce back to hand and avoid getting targeted by destruction effects. In addition, Sorter also played Unmovable Steel Mech, Gunzellar as a reliable attacker, which is immune to destruction effects entirely. 

29/04/16 Star Dragon Cup 2-man Team Tournament
First Place: 'Draco' 
Flag: Star Dragon World 
Buddy Monster: V Gradation, Quantum Ruler 
Size 3: 2 
x2 Biggest Dragonarms, The Main Force 
Size 2: 11 
x4 Star Guardian, Jackknife 
x4 Radiant Guardian, Jackknife "Aster" 
x3 Jackknife, "Neo Aggressor" 
Size 1: 20 
x4 Star Dragoner, Luminous Blue 
x4 V Gradation, Quantum Ruler 
x4 Dragonarms, Divisigator 
x3 Star Guardian, Jackknife "SD" 
x2 Dragonarms, Transportal 
x2 Dragonarms, Charger 
x1 Dragonarms, Cavalier 
Size 0: 2 
x2 Dragonarms, Garbel Anchor 
Items: 4 
x4 Radient Saber, Providence 
Spells: 11 
x4 Star Jack Boost 
x2 Barracal Barret 
x2 Proto Barrier
x2 Star Jack Repair 
x1 Escape 

First Place: 'Sorter' 
Flag: Hero World 
Buddy Monster: Schwarz "SD" 
Size 3: 5 
x4 Great Sword Deity, Kaizerion 
x1 Fourth Omni Fire Lord, Burn Nova 
Size 2: 2 
x2 Unmovable Steel Mech, Ganzallar 
Size 1: 15 
x4 Beast Diety, Tigerthrust 
x4 Schwarz "SD" 
x4 Darkness Fist, Gwen 
x3 Rescue Dragon Mach Braver 
Size 0: 4 
x4 Beast Diety, Sabird 
Spells: 24 
x4 Hyper Energy 
x4 Call, Super Machine! 
x4 I've Seen Through Your Moves! 
x4 ...Or So the Dream I had Went 
x3 First Darkhero Hideout 
x2 Body of Steel 
x2 Long-range Cannon 
Impacts: 2 
x2 Brave Energy Full Drive!

(Source: Star Dragon Cup's Twitter)

The card images used on this site have been obtained and reposted from the Future Card Buddyfight Official Portal Site (http://fc-buddyfight.com/). (C)bushiroad All Rights Reserved.

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