Today we have a Cardfighter Spotlight! I’ll be having the opportunity to interview the Granblue player that recently accomplished 1st overall in Vision’s Online Standard Tournament! His name is CardFVExtreme (CardFVExtreme#2705) and is from the United States! Let’s get right into the interview!
Interview
Jaime: First off, congratulations to CardFVExtreme for getting 1st place in Vision’s online Standard team tournament! When I saw the results and you were playing our beloved Granblue, I was happy to see Granblue being represented. Today I wanted to do an interview with you about your overall experience and even get to know you a little bit for the readers. Sounds good amigo?
CardFVExtreme: Thank you for having me, Jaime! First all I would like to represent my channel CardFVExtreme where I post Vanguard content including Granblue.
Jaime: Of course! Definitely go check out his channel for more content! Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? Are you from any specific Vanguard teams/communities? Any other events that you and/or team have done well? Etc.
CardFVExtreme: My real name is Khiari. I’m from Chicago, Illinois. I’m not committed to any specific teams. I have represented myself in Vision a couple of times with my Blademaster deck in both Premium and V Premium.
Jaime: Oh wow, small world! I’m also from the Chicagoland area! How did you start playing Cardfight Vanguard?
CardFVExtreme: I started watching the anime while I was looking at Yu-Gi-Oh content. Then started playing the card game when my friend bought me the Trial Deck 02: Dragonic Overlord.
Jaime: Wow, so you’ve been a Kagero player for a long time! During your preparation, what are some things that you mainly focused on? Certain matchups, deck builds, strategies, etc.
CardFVExtreme: Really I focused on the main strategies of Granblue to create a big enough drop zone for 4 attacks with Skull Dragon. Also, do plays with Ghost Ship to plus hand advantage to survive against aggressive decks.
Jaime: That’s great that you’ve really focused on those two aspects of the deck. Focusing on the Winning Image and plays that help you survive till then is really a solid strategy. What made you decide on Granblue to play with? Why Nightrose Beatrice?
CardFVExtreme: I been having fun playing Granblue and wanted to play with it. Nightrose Beatrice just seemed like the best build for Granblue.
Jaime: I totally agree with you that Granblue is really a fun deck to play with! I’m glad that you were playing a clan that you really enjoy and do really well too. Let’s dive into your deck list. I see that you’re playing different ratios of the new Ghostie support. How did you come up with those ratios? Has your playstyle changed compared to prior Clan Selection Plus support?
CardFVExtreme: I was just testing ratios out till I could go 10-20 mulligans with seeing a hand that I could work with while still maintaining the effectiveness of the deck. Since I ran different ratio of Grades, I wanted to make sure I didn’t brick.
Jaime: That makes sense and a great way to test mulligans. I also see you’re playing 4 Tommy the Ghostie and 2 Skeleton Seas Navigator. How come play max copies of Tommy? Was the ratio of Navigator more of a nice to have?
CardFVExtreme: I realized that I would draw into the wrong G3’s so instead of relying on just Greed Shade to get me my G3’s, I also relied on Tommy too. It also helped that it was a 15k shield if I had to ride Beatrice.
I didn’t want too many Navigator in my deck because of how frequently I was milling triggers and how it became the only reason I had to worry about drawing too much.
Jaime: I see that you also depended more on Tommy for G3 ride consistency. Yes, Navigator is a blind mill and there’s stopping points to learn in order not to deck out. Which also brings up my next question about Greed Shade. I noticed you have Greed Shade at 2 copies. How did you feel going down to 2 copies? Did you lose any consistency?
CardFVExtreme: Part of me wanted to change it cause it didn’t feel right but most of the time I didn’t necessarily need it.
Jaime: Awesome thanks for explaining those card choices. With this build, what was your winning image for most of your games? Like did you have a setup, game state, or strategy that you focused on?
CardFVExtreme: With certain top decks, I planned on keep recycling with Ghost Ship till I felt I could win the game on 4 Skull Dragon attacks. Other decks I would just go into Skull
Dragon knowing they didn’t have much too guard with.
Jaime: I definitely agree with your winning image! Very well thought out too on having your setup work towards that. During your games, which decks/clans did you face?
CardFVExtreme: Prisms, Luard, Melody, at least those decks made the biggest impact.
Jaime: Haha, it’s crazy how much Bermuda Triangle is so strong! Was there a game you would like to highlight? Like your toughest matchup, best game, break or deal moments, etc.
CardFVExtreme: Times when I faced the Luard deck and I had to ride Beatrice. Usually anytime I rode Beatrice, it was a bad time.
Jaime: I can see that Beatrice sometimes would NOT be a great ride target for certain matchups. During your games, what is something that you appreciated about your deck from the preparation you’ve done? The strategy of it, consistency, power, plays, etc.
CardFVExtreme: Well too be honest I just liked how fun it was. The Ghosties helped so much when my opponent thought that damage denying would be the best decision.
Jaime: I really like that you really enjoyed playing the deck. It’s a factor on how you perform with the deck. How many rounds were in the tournament? How was your record throughout? Was there a Top 8?
CardFVExtreme: There were 5 rounds. My record was 3-2 with the last 2 games being losses. There was a Top 8.
Jaime: Wow you had a 3-2 record and squeezed into Top 8! And then win 1st in Top 8, that’s awesome! That’s very impressive! How were your final’s games?
CardFVExtreme: It was actually kind of surprising. Going into the final games I faced Prisms. The first game my opponent tried to damage deny me but I had the Grade 2 Ghostie in the drop zone.
Our game 2 was even more surprising because my opponent didn’t pull any Prisms.
Jaime: Ouch! That hurts Prisms when they don’t see their pieces! After the tournament, did you take some time to reflect? Anything that you learned from your experience?
CardFVExtreme: I learned that I wanna mess with the ratios even more so the deck has no problems with resources.
Jaime: Awesome, glad you recognized there is more to improve and tweak. Would you like to do any shout outs to people that you know and/or have helped you along your journey?
CardFVExtreme: I would like to shout out to my viewers from CardFVExtreme always correcting any misplays I did on the channel. And my friend Terry for the many games against Prisms
so I knew to fear them and showing me his Granblue deck.
Jaime: That’s great stuff! I’m sure your friends are happy and excited for your accomplishment! Just one more question and we’ll be done amigo. While preparing with Granblue, did you use/see any social media to help you solidify your build? Such as blogs, YouTube videos/channels, Facebook, Reddit, etc.
CardFVExtreme: No, I like to do trial and error when it comes to building a deck unless someone shows off a loop. If you don’t use your own ideas, then your deck won’t respond to you how you want it too. Extrrreeeeemmmmeeee!!!
Jaime: Awesome! I like your style and your attitude towards creativity. Thanks again for joining me in this interview!
CardFVExtreme: Thank you for the interview invitation. It was a pleasure to chat with you as well.
Jaime: I wish you the best and hope to see more from you in the metagame! Till next time amigos!
Takeaways
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this interview! I just wanted to highlight some takeaways that can help Granblue players out!
Enjoyment of the Deck Affects Performance
CardFVExtreme mentioned, “Well too be honest I just liked how fun it was.”
This is sometimes overlooked when preparing for an event. Yes, it’s important to play a solid deck that will help increase your chances of making it to Top 8. However, from my own experience, I learned that if I didn’t really enjoy the deck, then I would want to NOT play anymore games and would like it to end soon.
Your attitude is affected and thus affect your performance. I encourage players to realize this before they enter any events. You should be confident and excited to play in the event with the deck you’re planning to use.
Never Give Up Too Soon
CardFVExtreme also mentioned, “There were 5 rounds. My record was 3-2 with the last 2 games being losses. There was a Top 8.”
When he mentioned his record, it instantly made me realize that he just barely made it to Top 8. There’s nothing wrong with that, sometimes you have games that don’t go well due to other factors. Top 8 games will thus test to see if you made it to Top 8 by luck or you actually prepared enough for it.
Many, many, many times I’ve seen players drop out of tournaments as soon as they get 2 losses. Remember tiebreakers are a thing and can aid you still in making it to Top 8. Furthermore, other players may drop and change up the record needed to still make it to Top 8.
I encourage players to do your best to finish the whole event. You prepared and expected to get something out of the event. You can still learn valuable lessons from those experiences to help you make it to Top 8 for the next event. So it’s not a total waste of time with having the right attitude and open minded mindset on learning from your mistakes.
I learned not to give up so soon and have learned so many valuable lessons that have aided me in my successes. For CardFVExtreme, he actually won 1st overall, which is amazing!
Use Your Own Deck Building Skills
CardFVExtreme mentioned, “No, I like to do trial and error when it comes to building a deck unless someone shows off a loop. If you don’t use your own ideas, then your deck won’t respond to you how you want it too. Extrrreeeeemmmmeeee!!! “
There is a time and place to net deck or have references of good starting deck templates. Make sure that you’re using your own deck building skills in solidifying your deck build. Ultimately, you’re the one playing with the deck for the event.
Learn how and why other successful players deck build! You’ll start developing your deck building skills. When you share and compare lists, you start to often find commonalities with other successful players. Which means more affirmation of your own deck building skills, which is great. Always have a growth and open minded mindset still.
Final Thoughts
Thanks again for reading this Cardfighter Spotlight article! It’s great to see Granblue take 1st in an event! Thanks again to CardFVExtreme for joining us today as well! Till next time amigos!