CanYouSayG(G): Hello everybody, this is CanYouSayG, and you are reading the CanYouSayBlog, the blog where YOU get to meet the people of vanguard from around the world!

G: Today, we will be talking to one of the top players from the UK and the recent winner of BCS Cologne: Mohammed Abumahlula!

MA: Hello, thank you all for your interest.

G: Thank you for being here. We will start off with some easy questions. How long have you been playing Vanguard?

MA: I have played since 2013, so about 4 and a half years.

G: What clans do you use, and what made you start those clan(s)?

MA: I play Oracle Think Tank and Genesis a lot of the time and have all variants. I also play Gold Paladin sometimes but I only have Liberators and Gurguit.

There are a lot of reasons, but in terms of play style I liked the defensive factor in Gurguit and Oracle Think Tank, even Fenrir has some of that.

Genesis with its soul budgeting and forcing me to play around costs somewhat seemed really fun.

G: Of all the different seasons and eras of Vanguard, which do you like the most?



MA: I like G more than the original. The first season of G and Stride Gate were my favourites. Antagonists like Kanzaki, Shouma and Ryuzu made it more interesting.

I liked following Chrono's story and seeing his growth, he started as someone dull with a small view of the world but broadens his horizons as the story goes on.

Starting the series with Kamui, Shin and Trinity Dragon was also a good way to hook my interest as there was already a cast I liked.

My least favourite seasons were Link Joker and Legion Mate, I didn't like the writing and couldn't take it seriously.

In terms of the card game, I am indifferent about my favourite era. While G fixed possibly everything I didn't like about previous eras, it would introduce its own set of my personal gripes that weren't present in the older eras. Both eras had something unique and enjoyable about them in different ways.

G: Mohammed, you have been playing Vanguard for many years. Vanguard has a reputation for having a very fast changing meta. How does the speed the meta changes nowadays compare with how fast it changed before?

MA: I can't say I have the best idea on how fast changing it is. I do feel that from early G it was pretty slow as Aqua Force and Sanctuary Guard defined a lot of it.

I think after G-BT05 and Fighters Collection Winter, we started to see a bit more diversity. After G guardians and Seebreeze were introduced, it encouraged other decks except various Oracle Think Tank builds to be used but it may have been short lived because G-set 7 put Angel Feathers far ahead.

When they announced G-guardians, I was concerned Nociel could become too powerful. G-BT07 was the decider because the rescue mechanic was a fast way to mill a deck and then set up a Refros loop. It was made easier due to the defense creep allowing the deck to last long enough.

It was worth noting I was trying to play against this deck using Susanoo which had been heavily damaged by G Guardians.

Once Angels got hit, the game was still stale as Gears became the next dominant deck down the list to take the top spot.

Gears and Angels were not normal in terms of being strong and balanced in line with other decks, it wasn't good that a while ago Ripples won worlds through breaking the game.

G-BT08 introduced a few competitors with Fenrir and Nightrose. Once we reached G NEXT, we started seeing diversity again which is great. A lot of decks are more competitive now.

Supporting new decks properly like in G-BT12, G-BT13 and the Link Joker clan booster is the reason I'd say the game is changing faster with its tops.

It isn't that the decks from before have been overtaken in terms of competitiveness, far from it, but that there are more options now and there is generally a tendency to always try new decks out anyway after a set release.

Take Oracle Think Tank for example, Germany and France had Oracle Think Tank and Gear Chronicle ranked as the highest in usage.

For a few years Oracle was written off as a dead clan by the player base, once they perceived it as playable, the hype burst out as it had been too long and Battle Sister happened to get the flashier cards so that helped with its popularity.

G: You have won BCS Cologne(Germany) with Susanoo, a deck that incredibly few players even consider a valid deck in the meta, instead opting for Tsukuyomi or Battle Sisters in the Oracle Think Tank clan. What made you pick Oracle Think Tank for the tournament?

MA: I chose Oracle Think Tank because I finally felt like I had enough to work my way around the matchups for the first time since G-guardians/G-BT07 was released.

My G-BT05 build was able to beat any meta deck with a high win rate, I had to practice more for Chaos and Nociel but managed to figure it out.

Nociel was the reason I initially put Susanoo to the side after G-BT07. I played with it for a bit in Trinity Dragon but while the deck improved in most areas such as consistency, defense and filter, the aggression didn't improve much to deal with the G-guardian problem and even Esras.

With Fighters Collection 2017, I was able to get the deck to a point where the only bad matchup was Luard but due to how heavily played it was, Luard had to be accounted for.

Bladewing and Zodiac Time Beasts emerged which would have been a terrible matchup for Oracle Think Tank before G-BT12. However, my rush consistency increased, stands became viable due to being able to hit big numbers and stack power and Ichikishima could shut off some guard power on turns where they have g0s in hand.

If you notice the player getting rid of g0s due to how useless they are, then you can conserve Ichikishima and switch up to other strides like Kamususanoo which I did against Bladewing in the finals and took the player by surprise.

Bladewing has Succubus of Avarice who can be recycled in a long game via Tibold, Zodiac has Arka, Luard has Esras, other decks like Nightrose are using recycle perfect guards too.

You want to try and win faster but also spread damage into multiple attacks sometimes through stands since a couple perfect guards can really set you back if you were placing criticals and limiting your number of attacks.

Nanase and Nazuna help to make big numbers, Oshiho makes a good combo with Nazuna before drive checking a stand while deck thinning with Oshiho.

There is an incredible amount of synergy and combos in the entire deck that I could probably only ever fully explain it if I wrote a book, the deck was designed with its weaknesses heavily taken into account along with the different matchups that could be a threat.

Due to the high volume of theorycrafting, anyone who doesn't share my long experiences with the deck will easily overlook many things that make the deck good. The whole thing has been thought out in every small detail.

It takes a ton of practice to figure out how to play the deck optimally. As an example, someone has imitated my build and doesn't know how to play around Battle Sisters, whereas I have an incredibly high win rate against Battle Sister and understand the deck enough to know how to exploit the deck's weaknesses.

There is a long learning curve with the build, I have improved a lot over the course of my play testing and with slight alterations to the deck.

G: Is there any reason you picked Susanoo for the tournament?

MA: While Susanoo has been a deck I wanted to play more than the other variants of Oracle Think Tank, I do believe the deck has way more potential than people think. People underestimated the support in G-BT05 too.

I think Susanoo is heavily under rated but I also expected Battle Sister to be the most played. The reasons are quite simple:

- the oracle stride could be splashed into Battle Sister

- Battle Sister had its own unique cards and a special stride in Stollen

- it had a grade 3 that people could look at and easily compare as a stronger Susanoo

- A first stride that scares people (probably more than they should be, it can easily be played around via counterblast stalling or being smarter with how you guard with certain decks like Susanoo)

- not forced into an on-hit stride, although Ichikishima can actually be an aggressive option at times due to filtering the deck for aggressive cards like the mikos and trying to go for the kill on first stride, the aggression in Susanoo is more in its rears now

- the deck has a low cost entry barrier

- it is a deck with nuns

- there are even incredibly weird reasons like blaming Susanoo for the downfall of the clan, hating Tsuneto as a character, or just not liking that the cards are male which I find very weird, heard the same thing about Fenrir.

- low skill level required, the clan was under played for two years so people haven't seen much of Susanoo's evolution outside his stagnant power level. Anyone can easily tell Battle Sister has a good early game, with Susanoo you apparently have to look further beyond to figure it out, they don't have a VG draw card but you can run the deck like Sanctuary Guard and focus on early game rear guard presence.

If you go first you can ride your stride assist to save Precious Ophidian, if you go second you can just ride Amatsu-Hikone to save Precious Ophidian. I put all my grade 3s back when I redraw to increase my chances of finding multiple grade 1 and 2s, then I attempt to draw into the grade 3s by turn 3 or g-assist.

Battle Sister has exploitable weaknesses. Firstly, the defense is outdated, Susanoo's defense is way stronger and reliable, therefore Susanoo can handle aggression better.

Battle Sister requires counterblast to make its plays, Florentine is CB1 to draw but the new Susanoo isn't CB1 to draw, it is SB2.

Susanoo doesn't pay a cost to put a card on top of the deck, and yes while you can't make use of the on-stride to draw and stack, you can build up so much defense a lot of the times in the turn before that you can get away with it.

Furthermore Florentine stacking a trigger is likelier to conflict with Ichikishima than in Susanoo because Susanoo is better at using Ichikishima’s GB3 without needing to first flip herself to draw 2 and interrupt the stack.

The power ups are also locked onto Florentine's counterblast to power up skill, this can hurt Battle Sister's ability to deal pressure at crucial times and force it into a longer game which is really bad for them against some of the strong decks out there.

Nanase and Nazuna power up for free, you don't need counterblast.

While Battle Sister Muffin can counter charge, most your counterblast costs are paid before battle phase, so it is too slow, also you temporarily drop your hand and you may not be able to survive into another turn with some of the current decks around now.

You can run Kipferi but that would mean losing a starter that helps with your early game and consistency, it is also easier to retire since it is GB, therefore meaning you can't be relying on it all the time.

You can also use Stollen and Miroir to power up on GB3 but that means not being able to use Ichikishima so your plays can conflict and this will definitely make Battle SIster easier to play around when Ichikishima has failed to keep g0s useless consistently throughout.

As for Tsukuyomi, the early game is decent but again not as good as this Susanoo build, it won't always help you, even Battle Sister seems to brick more with its early game than this Susanoo build.

Tsukuyomi is incredibly fun but it can be tiring to use because you have to be more focused, in a tournament environment where you play 10 games and then a top 8, it can be damaging to your performance if fatigue catches up.

You could even muddle your memory up more easily, perhaps overlap experiences from other games with the current one.

G: Your deck build would be considered extremely far out compared to what most people want from Oracle Think Tank, namely using as little as 6 criticals. Do you mind explaining some of your card choices and your trigger lineup?

MA: Stand triggers are really good now. When you consider the on-hit skills of Nanase, Yasaka or ability to reuse Ame-no-Oshiho while stacking the power ups from him and Nazuna, you can make strong attacks. With Ichikishima you have multiple guard restrict attacks. With Amaterasu you can make strong multi-attacks. I feel multi-attacks have done more for me in play testing than fewer higher damage attacks, especially in the current meta where you have recycle perfect guards. Heal triggers or even drawing a few perfect guards at a convenient time can set you back on getting 2 attacks sharing a critical through sometimes. With a stand you have 3 damage worth between a vanguard and a rear guard, they will struggle to guard all that. Being able to slip in an extra attack can either win you the game if they are already on 5 or advance the game state so that you make winning the following turn a lot easier. If they are still on 4 from only needing to guard 2 attacks, it becomes harder to get them to 6 damage, particularly if they play Succubus of Avarice, Esras or Arka and are able to keep adding them back to the hand. The progression of damage is crucial because if they can sit lower on damage you have a lot of work to do to win before decking out. Imagine if your opponent was still on 4 damage and they healed down to 3 in their drive check next turn, when you could have put them to 5 and then they heal down to 4. You have to account for the luck factor setting you back which is what I try to work around as much as possible to maintain stability.

As for the particular units themselves, Efficient Carp and Ouka have been useful due to the oracle keyword, you can discard them for Tankman Interrupt and Yasaka or boost with Nazuna or add to hand via Oshiho in extreme scenarios which I don't often do. Carp can rush from turn 1, build soul, help fix your hand, and hit and run so you do damage while maintain hand advantage. I can also conserve mid game/late game cards by hitting and running with Carp and then bring out my stronger grade 2s later, this would be down to my judgment call and whether I am convinced that the opponent will guard the same way regardless of what I call. I don't need every attack to be 10k to guard when they are likely to drop 10k or be encouraged to take damage and maybe get a trigger which would be counterproductive. You also limit their attack choices for the next turn. Nanase's on-hit pressure early game is good even with stands, if I determine I can't pay the cost, then there is less a point of me calling. I run Dizmel to protect my grade 2s that I need to call and have access to the following turn.

Carp can also play around some aspects of Link Joker, mainly Messiah because it removes a lock target from the field during the end phase. Nazuna is also removable after attacking and can help make numbers with Carp while using Ichikishima to prevent cards like Lacus Carina from locking down Nazuna to be a lock target for next turn.

I use Carp as well to early rush where I can and save cards that I don't need to call yet because I may be convinced that my field will still force the same amount of guard or damage. The consistency power Carp provides has done a lot for the deck.

Ouka is less useful, occaisonally you can use her skill with an oracle vanguard to make Silent Toms, it is more useful on an Amaterasu turn or if you have an idea that the opponent's hand won't be able to play too well around Ouka, but Ouka doesn't stop G guardians so you need to be aware of this and have an idea on how the opponent guards. Furthermore, you lose hand advantage so you need to have good judgment on whether to activate the skill. The oracle keyword is what mainly matters, it is especially useful for Tankman’s early game as a discard target because it gives my hand so much choice on cards to use for the following turns. If I was running Kusanagi, Nebula Witch NoNo or Battle Sister Muffin in its place I would be restricted on discard targets, particularly with a hand that may have too many triggers that aren't oracle. In rare situations having Ouka can really help my deck flow better. NoNo being GB1 locked and SB1 didn't encourage me to use the card, I don't usually find enough soul to find it worthwhile and even when I use it, I think it is too slow because I aim to win the game fast, the fact it is a 4k booster that has no oracle could hold down some of my attack synergy, the value is just so small that I might as well play Ouka in my view.

The criticals are too good in terms of skill, Psychic Bird is one of the best critical triggers, it fixes a bad hand and also builds soul for Susanoo, Ichikishima, Wakahirume, Nanase and Precious Ophidian, this can be useful for rush. On your first turn, you can ride the perfect guard, use Psychic Bird, then call Precious Ophidian, suddenly your hand is a lot better than it was a moment ago. Kusanagi also builds soul and can rush early game then convert to draw power, I especially really like it when I ride into Susanoo as the starting player because I can recover soul before I stride which makes Precious Ophidian, Susanoo and Ichikishima more usable together as they all need to activate before battle phase. If I stride first and use Ame-no-Sagume, I can make my vanguard harder to guard with G-guardians which helps to deal with players who are sneaky and try to get their grade 0s out the way with easy 2-trigger-to-pass attacks. Oshiho can also make numbers with Kusanagi and the stand triggers make the attack pattern less awkward. I try not to use my starter if I can help it because the booster is useful behind Sagume, unless I can replace it with Precious Ophidian after moving the starter to soul. I don't always place the forerunner behind my vanguard, I usually adapt based on what my hand is at the beginning of the game and what grade my opponent will be on or the kind of deck they are using. For example, if I lack boosters and happen to be the second player, then I may move the forerunner to the side to help Tankman hit for 12k on my turn 2, this doesn't often happen as I generally find other boosters like Precious Ophidian, Carp and many others, but it is a useful option to have.

G: You mentioned that you had a G-BT05 Susanoo deck which got X-1 in the France Team League 2016 in terms of its individual performance, tell us more.

MA: Many criticised Susanoo during G-BT05 but I think the cards from that set were able to keep up if the deck was built right. Most people played CoCo and LuLu with Susanoo instead, even ignored Kamususanoo and kept 8k grade 1s which was too slow. The oracle build had Tankman Interrupt as an option to rush and grade stall with, already forcing the opponent to drop more early game while having forerunner presence to help push.

The starting vanguard, Magical Calico, was more useful than people gave credit as it could compress the deck with mostly triggers after drawing non triggers and returning triggers to the bottom via cards like Akagi, Susanoo, Flip Croony, Kirin, Kamususanoo and Takemikazuchi.

I could still draw back if I happened to have at least 3 Akagi in the deck to search out with Calico so it wasn't really inferior to Hahiki, besides I normally filtered out Akagi because it was counterblast heavy; furthermore, counter blasting becomes an issue if you play a longer game, I didn't even use Rigid Crane. Sumiyoshi, Silent Tom, Kamususanoo and a deck filled with critical triggers was pretty strong.

I used to win by second stride latest since G guards weren't around and I could pressure hand during the early game with a forerunner and Tankman. We also had 8 critical triggers that could draw back cards after early rush, something Nightrose players started doing a lot later with G-BT08.

The deck performed really well, beating decks like Raging Abyss, Seven Seas, Gears, Thing Blaster, Sanctuary, Chaos, Nociel, Aqua Force and Overlord in various locals, playtesting and France. G guards ruined the deck, even Seebreeze was damaging. G-BT07 then put Nociel far ahead of Susanoo and most decks in the game with powerful defense+Rescue+Refros loop.

G: One of the issues you are quite vocal about is how too many people are close minded to the possibilities of decks and dismiss them too early, leading to underdeveloped deck builds and concepts. What do you think are the reasons behind this?

MA: I think a persisting problem is how hyped up early tops are once a new set comes out. There is a status quo mentality where people conform to the idea that those decks must always be the best when there are still under represented decks out there or others which haven't seen the top yet. I have seen players hop on to new decks just because they topped an event but they seem to not have a good clue on how those decks work and drop them in a week. I think it is important to approach it from an angle of looking at the decks, having an idea on what the strengths and weaknesses are, and them recognising its potential or usefulness after a thorough analysis. You should consider how the problems could be worked around if you want to play the deck.

It is possible that when you try a deck the first time, it may not go well. Vanguard is a skill-intensive game and I think a lot of the decks out there do distinguish the skill level of players even in the meta. I have seen players using decks such as Luard, Nightrose, Gears, Fenrir and Link Joker and normally see a difference between each one of them. I have even seen it with Seven Seas rush which a lot of people call a skill-less deck. Mohamed Duy (aka Kyo Togen) beat me in Cardiff top 8 earlier this year with Seven Seas and qualified for worlds, I actually found him to be better at using the deck than any other Seven Seas player I fought against. He was very aware of his deck's own flaws and tried to address them either through card choice or making better judgments.

Simply spending a lot of time with a deck and working on it like a project of yours can take you a long way. I won't pretend that every deck has a chance of being competitive, there are those that lack support, but there are decks out there that get shut off before players try to seriously realise its full potential. Zero damage Glendios was a deck idea that was likely under represented until it finally topped, then suddenly there was a surge in usage. However, the cards had existed for quite some time to make the deck playable. I am sure the Glendios player worked hard on making that deck resist the tides of time and examined the meta. It is possible the player may have seen Fenrir loop's playstyle of denying counterblast and was possibly inspired to implement it into their own alternative win condition deck.

I have seen Luard players stall counterblast because they realise there are games where they don't need to give damage earlier on to win due to their durability defensively and against deck-out. Luard can control the pace of the game better, the deck should also be able to exploit Battle Sister's weakness of being reliant on counterblast for its strong first stride turn with Stollen.

I think Battle Sister is over rated, the deck is good but can be easily exploited and played around due to their reliance on counterblast and the predictable turns they have. Muffin is a minus one which drops guard and cannot make use of the countercharge until the player's next turn, so it doesn't really solve the problem enough when there are more aggressive decks out there like Nightrose and those that increase in potency over the long game like Vanquisher. Battle Sister players shouldn't want Florentine, Stollen and Ichikishima to be blocked from using their skills to power up or help meet oracle.

The deck is not tier 0 or high tier 1 worthy if it is this beatable. This is a very good example of how one oracle deck getting an early top with 2nd-4th place under zodiac time beast could suddenly filter out other oracle think tank alternatives and set the status quo of Battle Sister being the absolute meta deck. This shuts down creativity to come up with potentially better decks due to the too much conformity, the lack of thinking for oneself and theory-crafting a new idea. I am sure people were hyped to play the deck, afterall the clan had been widely perceived as dead for a really long time. Battle Sister's high representation also helps it to get more tops and keep the momentum of more tops going with a snowball effect of conformity. I practiced with Susanoo since it came out in G-BT01 and built a lot of information over time on the deck's evolution and how it responds to other decks. G-BT05 was definitely an instant where it was underdeveloped by the players.

I think nowadays a lot of the decks defined as top decks are good decks that people should keep to mind when designing a deck but never disregard a deck just because it isn't recognised as a top deck. Every deck starts off as an idea some people came up with, shared or topped with, and then others followed and helped get more tops. Then suddenly everyone who previously paid no mind suddenly acknowledge it.

G: Do you believe that Vanguard has a lot of people exploring new possibilities and developing new decks for the meta?



MA: There are a good amount out there who always come up with new concepts and ideas. It seems to vary depending on the clan or sub-clan. I have seen people try to evolve pre-existing decks more often to adapt to the changing meta, for example Nightrose players using Seawall Banshee to have a better counter against Ichikishima. I have seen Messiah players try to play around the meta and stay relevant. Sanctuary Guard players have pushed the deck as hard as possible beyond the point where people were starting to think it was dead after G guardians came out. I have seen a lot of creative Aqua Force players, some really impressive Tachikaze and Spike Brother players.

These are very committed players who have kept their decks as competitive as possible and kept working hard on it, they've become specialists who can answer many questions and provide advice from their experiences. These are the people topping large events from time to time using non-meta decks.

As an Oracle Think Tank player who has followed the clan closely, my experiences indicate that I do not find the Oracle player base as creative as other underdog clans. Competitiveness doesn't always mean playing a meta deck like Gear Chronicle, I consider myself competitive in terms of always building the deck I want to play with the meta in mind, I don't need to follow the meta and play the same deck to be competitive if I can find a solution to countering the frequently topping decks. I always try to push the deck I use as my main deck to its limits and continuously improve while reflecting on where my strengths and weaknesses are.

G: Do you believe more deck development and innovation comes from the East or the West?

MA: This isn't a very easy question to answer fairly, I think many people would say the East in a heartbeat because of Japan. I'd be tempted to say the same but I feel I should give the West the benefit of the doubt. The West get the product later than the Japanese and run less events to help provide the decks they create with as much exposure. We usually see more deck lists coming out of Japan than from each individual Western country.

The Japanese get more opportunity to take credit for original breakthrough deck ideas than the West. However, the competitive scene in Japan does provide a greater opportunity to evolve than in the West where card shops or clubs are spread out and there is less mobility between different locals. I also hear that Japanese events can happen every day and the format is more typically best of 1, therefore the rapid amount of tournaments provide more opportunity for player growth while a best of 1 format would force players to be extra critical of their deck design and consistency to break out of the fear of bad luck and variance.

This can breed a different form of deck building and play style culture to the West where there are less events and people are complacent with the idea of falling back on some losses in a best of 3, therefore reducing the need to think too much about improving consistency or their playstyle. This doesn't mean trying will help them achieve a deck that is immune to variance and bad luck, but they will feel a desire to mitigate as much as possible because it becomes too much of a problem when they feel they luck out.

G: You have achieved a lot in Europe. Can you share some of your greatest goals in Vanguard that you wish to one day reach?

MA: To provide context for the readers, I placed second place in the UK Cardiff Team League twice in a row for 2015 and 2016, using Susanoo and a Gurguit deck I randomly built the night before with hardly any practice. Then placed 4th in the European continentals for 2016 Team League using an improved Gurguit, there was no continental event for 2015. I came top 8 this year in the UK national Spring Circuit using Fenrir, losing to Duy. I faught him again in the top 4 for the German Autumn circuit and won the event with Susanoo. I competed in France's Team League 2016 with Susanoo too, I scored X-1 up until the final round of swiss but didn't make top cut.

The UK Spring Fest was won by 3 Seven Seas decks placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd. This information was never published on Bushiroad's social media and they restricted Nightcrow a few days later. I did pester them about publishing the top 8, a congratulations to the top 3 players and a clan distribution like they did with every other event, but I was ignored. The Seven Seas deck recipes were published without any post indicating it like they usually do. This upsetted many of the players in top 8 and a lot of the UK players know about it.

I think at this point I am running dry on goals I want to accomplish that are new. Maybe I will try and win worlds with Susanoo as my main goal for now since there is nothing else going on currently. I am looking forward to it because G-BT13 will make the game more interesting. I can't wait to see what Thavas and Overlord will be like. I plan to get the Gurguit stuff.

G: What are some secrets behind your success?

MA: Keep practicing and thinking more about theories and what the state of the game is. Try and understand why your deck doesn't work and always learn solutions. A constant drive to get better and reflect on your games will take you a long way.

When you build a new main deck, be more serious and stick with it longer. Don't write the deck off so fast as bad when you had limited practice, there are many decks out there that are as good as the player. I mentioned earlier that I have seen a variety of skill levels with the same decks, the higher skill players I know have spent a long time on the decks they use. If you did choose to play something that was non-meta, then found after so much testing that it won't work out, then maybe the deck is under supported, but you never know until you exhaust your options and did sufficient play testing. Approach it as if you want to try and make the deck competitive not simply expect the early build to carry results for you or get dismantled. If you chose to run a meta deck, you should also spend a lot of time practicing. This can be done through trying out different opening hands, meeting players or even playing on your own and observing different scenarios. There are plenty of ways to practice.

G: Regarding playing, as a high level player, what is in your opinion, some of the mistakes you see a lot of players making? Both new players and veterans.

MA: I have seen a lot of people attempt triple drive on grade 3, people attempt grade stalling on grade 1 and consistently getting punished for it by a grade 2 turn of rush or a failed g-assist in the following turn, and possibly attacking the wrong targets quite often.

G: Mohammed, what is Vanguard in England like?

MA: Vanguard is larger in the UK than the rest of Europe apparently. However, the community does seem to be scattered, the average turnout I'd say I usually find is 10-12 players in stores. There is a club in London that exceeds a 20 player turnout usually. I think the Bushiroad shop challenges have been great at boosting attendance as it encourages people to travel from further afield. It encourages people to check out new stores, thus supporting the stores and rejuvenating their events. We had our UK store challenges last year too for 2016.

My favourite stores who have supported Vanguard well are Playnation Games, Daydream Nation, Leisure Games and Lost Ark Games. There is a new store called Sneak Attack Games which has opened up in London and has diversified their product range to include Vanguard, they are hoping to run Vanguard events. I have heard great things from my friends about Fanboy 3, a popular store in Manchester. I have a friend who manages Kerd & Cosplay in Scotland, he is an enthusiastic card game player who really pushes his Bushiroad events.

G: Are there a lot of fan-run tournaments?

MA: In the past, there have been clubs that ran Yugioh tournaments and helped to bring exposure to London for organised play rather than having a limited experience with your school friends who played Yugioh as as a short term fad. Now we have YCS events held in MCM Expo London. There is a large club called The Brotherhood in London that run Vanguard events, run by people who enjoy TCGs, anime, video games and board games. This club makes up a lot of the London Vanguard community, the UK’s capital.

G: In your opinion, does England look to other countries for ideas such as deck builds or playstyle?

MA: I would say in terms of your typical competitive player, yes. Most of these players look at what tops in Japan after release and let that affect their deck choices. As for the rest, they do use similar decks but that is mainly because people tend to run newly supported decks to have more fun with, so while Japan may have Vanquisher, Luard or Ahsha stuff first, the other countries will follow from behind and try the decks too because new stuff is just popular in general. So I wouldn't say that is a case of looking to other countries.

There is a tendency where a lot of the UK players do not run every card the Japanese decks do, for example while Japanese Luard players may run more 10k grade 2s, there are some players here who deny their usefulness. I personally happen to understand why 10k grade 2s are popular as they do slow down rush decks and were particularly useful while Nightrose was around with its very aggressive play style. I don't think too many people from the UK adopt the same playstyle as the Japanese, the different tournament environment makes the Japanese consider factors that players are less likely to consider here as I explained earlier with daily events and a best of 1 format to encourage a different direction. I'd personally say my mindset in terms of play style is comparable to the Japanese because I try to work around as much of the variance in the game as possible as well as the different situations that are likely to occur. Some of my friends also happen to be like that.

G: Who are some famous players from Europe?

MA: I recently met Kyo Togen, Liubo Chen, Maxine Solemn, Harth Hayawi and Jey Kobus.

G: And who are some famous players you have heard of from other countries?

MA: Nicholas Patrick Chapman, Josh McKenna, Ryan Kai and Mason Clark to name a few.

G: And now for a sillier question: Imagine you made it to the FINALS of the World Championship. Name three people you would like to fight for the final match.

MA: Robert Philips, the one who placed second for France’s Autumn circuit. Krzysztof Buczynski, the UK Autumn champion who also judged my game against Kyo Togen in Spring. Lastly Mohamed Duy (Kyo Togen).

G: Thank you very much for your time Mohammed Abumahula, and your very in depth answers! Im sure a great many other Oracle Think Tank players around the globe can benefit from your insight!

I have been your host, CanYouSayG. Keep on being awesome, and we will see you again next week, right here on the CanYouSayBlog.

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