News: Marth Tops Cardbox, Masters Square, Card Brunch Motomiya Tournaments

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July 2nd, 2015. Cardbox Japan in Osaka held a 16-person Cipher tournament, with first place going to a multicolor Marth deck. Calling their deck "Top System," the tournament winner used one of the earliest tricks developed in Cipher theory; running "Swordsman Known as Marth, Lucina" as their main character card to take advantage of her special skill, which treats her as a Marth unit at all times. This allows Lucina to promote into the cost 4 and 5 Marths, while also making room in the deck for a greater number of targets for evasion and critical hits. A full transcription of the decklist is provided at the bottom of this article.

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On the same day, card shop Masters Square (sic) in Hachioji held a 16-person Swiss Draw tournament, with first place going to Nagare playing a Sword of Light deck deck, running the Ogma and Linde lines. Linde is presently seen as an important support engine in Japanese play because her cost 3 print "Aura's Heiress" can reinforce the hand by drawing a card once each turn that a cost 2 or less ally is deployed.

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It's also recently come to light that the first ever reported Cipher tournament was not held at Card Kingdom as was previously thought, but in fact Cardbox's June 25th shop tournament beat Card Kingdom by a day.

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Card Brunch Motomiya in Nagoya held an 8-person Swiss Draw tournament on the same day as Cardbox's and Masters Square's tournaments, with tournament winner Tomifumo making use of the rarely-played Sable Knight Camus. According to the tournament host, the finals had a dramatic conclusion: Tomifumo's opponent was able to field all of the Pegasus Knights necessary for a Triangle Formation combo, but Tomifumo countered this by playing Camus and wiping out all of them with his Gradivus ability. Tomifumo's was a complete beginner at trading card games, and their victory came as a surprise to all attending.

Cardbox shop tournament (7/2/2015)
Deck name: Top System/ウエシステム Ueshisutemu
Cost 5: 5
x1 Hero to His Country, Marth
x4 Manakete Princess, Tiki
Cost 4: 10
x4 Lodestar, Marth
x1 Protector of Ylisse, Chrom
x1 Sweetest Assassin Gaius
x4 Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda
Cost 3: 6
x4 Innocent Priestess, Maria
x2 Princess of Ylisse, Lissa
Cost 2: 10
x4 Fearless Mercenary, Gregor
x4 Wellspring of Youth, Nowi
x2 Bewitching Plegian Shaman, Tharja
Cost 1: 19
x1 Swordsman Known as Marth, Lucina (Main Character)
x2 Crown-prince of Altea, Marth
x2 Sharp-tongued Nobelwoman, Maribelle
x2 Sprightly Cleric, Lissa
x2 Young Prodigy, Cordelia
x2 Wyvern Loving Knight, Cherche
x2 Flower Fortune Maiden, Sumia
x2 Young Princess of Macedon, Maria
x4 Aristocratic Archer, Virion

Masters Square shop tournament
First place: Nagare/ナガレ
Cost 4: 15
x4 Lodestar, Marth
x3 Steel Swordsman, Ogma
x3 Aura's Heiress, Linde
x2 Archanean League Bowman, Gordin
x2 Sage of Gales, Merric
x1 Loyal Retainer, Jagen
Cost 3: 6
x2 Archanean League Bowman, Gordin
x2 Affectionate Saint, Lena
x1 Wings of Restoration, Caeda
x1 Innocent Priestess, Maria
Cost 2: 2
x2 Princess of Altea, Elice
Cost 1: 29
x2 Crown Prince of Altea, Marth (Main Character)
x3 Talysian Mercenary, Ogma
x2 Talysian Fighter, Cord
x3 Talysian Fighter, Bord
x1 Scarlet Knight, Cain
x1 Verdant Knight, Abel
x3 Crown Princess of Talys, Caeda
x3 Daughter of Pontifex Miloah, Linde
x3 Liberator Army Archer, Gordin
x3 Mage of Winds, Merric
x3 Ascetic Saint, Lena
x2 Young Princess of Macedon, Maria

Cardbox shop tournament (6/25)
First place: Kurita/クリタ
Cost 5: 3
x3 Hero to His Country, Marth
Cost 4: 8
x4 Crismon Reaper, Navarre
x4 Lodestar, Marth
Cost 3: 10
x4 Loyal Retainer, Jagen
x4 Affectionate Saint, Lena
x2 Aerial Battle Princess, Caeda
Cost 2: 4
x2 Myrmidon from Parts Unknown, Atehna
x2 Princess of Altea, Elice
Cost 1: 25
x1 Swordsman Known as Marth, Lucina (Main character)
x4 Crimson Fencer, Navarre
x4 Liberation Army Archer, Gordin
x4 Affectionate Saint, Lena
x4 Healing Priest, Wrys
x4 Crown-Princess of Talys, Caeda
x4 Crown-prince of Altea, Marth

Card Brunch Motomiya shop tournament
First place: Tomifumo/とみふも
Deck name: ST Custom/ST改
Cost 5: 2
x2 Sable Knight, Camus
Cost 4: 9
x2 War-god of Talys, Ogma
x1 Sage of Gales, Merric
x2 Princess, Minerva
x4 Lodestar, Marth
Cost 3: 10
x2 Loyal Retainer, Jagen
x3 Steel Swordsman, Ogma
x1 Infamous Knight "Prowling Panther," Abel
x1 Infamous Knight "Raging Bull" Cain
x1 Archanean League Bowman, Gordin
x2 Aerial Battle Princess, Caeda
Cost 1: 34
x2 Prince of Altea, Marth (Main character)
x2 Daughter of Pontifex Miloah, Linde
x2 Crimson Fencer, Navarre
x2 Talysian Fighter, Bord
x2 Talysian Fighter, Cord
x2 Talysian Mercenary, Ogma
x3 Verdant Knight, Abel
x3 Crimson Knight, Cain
x3 Mage of Winds, Merric
x3 Young Princess of Macedon, Maria
x2 Liberation Army Archer, Gordin
x2 Protective Knight, Draug
x4 Princess of Macedon, Minerva
x2 Crown-Princess of Talys, Caeda