Future Card Buddyfight in the Philippines

At a time when Bushiroad's original cash cow Cardfight Vanguard was getting stale with its redundant mechanics, Futurecard Buddyfight quietly swooped down on the unsuspecting player base with its solid mechanics and emphasis on deckbuilding to minimize the element of chance. No random triggers that increase damage or heal it. Buddyfight brought people back to the good old days of Magic: the Gathering where resources were curved and player interaction happened at every turn and phase of the game, and topdecking was the only hax you could rely on.

Image owned by XEBEC

Buddyfight took everything good about trading card games and added Bushiroad's signature flair for over-the-top action and eye-popping monster artwork. Players typically have access to two or more races/archetypes in every World, offering vastly different ways to experience the game and multiple paths to victory.

January 24-26, 2014 was the weekend that would mark the start of a new era: the Trial Deck tournament! We all had the choice between Dominant Dragons and Savage Steel. The first was a mid-range deck with an assortment of counter spells, while the second was a monster rush deck that rewarded the use of weapons. It was particularly jarring for those who knew only Vanguard and found it hard to grasp timing rules, chaining cards to each other, and the "last in, first out" concept introduced by Magic.

Image owned by Bushiroad, taken from fc-buddyfight.com

The legacy of that weekend was a handful of converts who would carry the banner of Buddyfight in the next few months. The hype would hit a fever pitch during the first Buddy Challenge, 27 April 2014, with 30+ players in attendance. When everyone shouted "raise the flag" at the same time, there was no turning back. Magic World reigned supreme as it took the top 3 spots amidst a vast sea of Dragon World players and their seemingly endless supply of shields.

Fast forward to 2015, and Buddyfight is now one of the fastest-growing trading card games in the Philippines. Weekly minor tournaments happen every Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday in the five different venues all over the National Capital Region, attended regularly by 16 or more players, and monthly major tournaments seeing upwards 50 participants. Organized play support is strong, with promo cards becoming widely accessible as a result.

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People have been flocking to the game from Pokemon and Vanguard due to a variety of reasons, chief of which is the greatly reduced reliance on luck and the high level of competition necessitated by the deck-building aspect of Buddyfight. It wasn't about the number of time you got heads, nor the number of triggers you can check, but how well you've chosen your cards and the skill by which you play them. Magic: the Gathering, the progenitor game, was proving too expensive, and Buddyfight provided a significantly cheaper, but no less fun, alternative.

A lot has changed since, and if the most recent Buddy Challenge, 7 July 2015, is any indication, the game has seen a lot of growth both in the player base and depth of strategy. While Dragon World and Dragon Ein are still the dominant flags, a variety of decks have risen to the occasion, siring counter-strategies and anti-meta options that are slowly shifting the environment towards attrition and control. Thunder Knights fall to heavy defense; Ein is hard countered by attack redirection and double attack.

Image owned by Bushiroad, taken from fc-buddyfight.com

At the time of this writing, the 100 Era is already changing the landscape of the game; Danger, one of the original three worlds, is back with a vengeance with the "A" squad, as well as the deadly combination of Dangerous Cradle and Iblis; Raging Spirits from Ancient World are poised to become the next dominant archetype; the unstable Katana World has untested additions that might open the doors for a comeback.

Finally, the Hundred Demons have entered the arena. The TV show hyped up the Parade of the Hundred Demons flag with a complete sweep of Magic, Star Dragon, and Dragon World in a span of two episodes. While testing has shown that Thunder Mine can be played around and Yamigedo susceptible to repeated destruction and double attack, only time will tell, as well as the impending September 2015 Hundred Extra Booster release, if they will be a viable multi-World archetype on the same level as Dragon Ein.

Image owned by XEBEC

And that's a wrap for the Futurecard Buddyfight card game in the Philippines.