Tournament Report: Top 16 DarkFuzz JP NA WGP 25/26

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DarkFuzz has been playing Weiss Schwarz for about 4 years now, and much to the chagrin of certain people, he is an Idolm@ster one trick. The Idolm@ster is his favorite franchise of all time, and he spends a massive amount of time playing Idolm@ster Weiss decks (unless he’s literally forced to play something else like in EN). DarkFuzz doesn't have any official tournament tops to his name yet. Probably the most prestigious event that DarkFuzz has topped was the Ohio Weiss Schwarz's Summer Soulstice this year, where he placed Top 4 in the singles event and Top 2 in the trios event. This year's WGP is what he is going to consider his first "official" top.

Fun story about how DarkFuzz got into Weiss (short version): “I was the person responsible for getting Aaron (from Ohio Weiss) into the Idolm@ster franchise, and through that, he found Weiss because of the Idolm@ster Million Live set. Then, after watching him play a few Weiss games with others in the Million Live Discord, I became interested in the game and have been playing ever since. So I like to joke that I am indirectly the reason why Ohio Weiss Schwarz is the way it is today, haha.”

Now onto the interview!

Melanie Lynette (ML): How did the event go for you? Was there anything specific that you'd like to share from the start?

DarkFuzz (DF): I feel blessed to have made it this far.  Those who have been scrimming with me or are in my close circles know that the past few weeks I've been grinding like mad, and honestly showing minimal results for it.  It felt like I've been in a slump for the past few weeks.

Winning Decklist:

BushiNavi Code: 3WEAV

https://decklog-en.bushiroad.com/ja/view/3WEAV

ML: What was your match up and how did Round 1 go for you?

DF: I won against Gakuen Idolm@ster: Comeback (Door)/ Gate (Pants). The mirror matchup, and one that I'm well-versed in.

I felt in control the entire game. My first turn at Level 1, I was able to get off triple Saki combo because my opponent left up reverse targets. And I believe I performed Saki combo an additional 4 times throughout that game, and I was uber-stock compressed. My opponent tried to stock shuffle me, but only hit one climax into my stock.

This was probably my cleanest victory of the day. And I felt really good after getting this first win.

ML: What was your match up and how did Round 2 go for you?

DF: I won against Fairy Tail: 8 Goldbar. The one deck I had no experience or knowledge against. I've only played against the Natsu Door finisher once. I was extremely lucky that my opponent mulligan'd his events and counters, which gave me knowledge that this set DOES INDEED HAVE A TAP COUNTER.

The game played out pretty normally until I hit Level 2. My deck was clean with maybe like 7 cards in it. I had the ability to field triple Saki combo again, and doing triple Saki combo processes my deck enough to leave 1 card in deck and have all 8 going back in. Unfortunately, as I slammed down the Door climax, my opponent politely said to me, "Hey, you don't have Red in your clock or Level." My opponent was kind enough to let me rewind to Main phase, but I kind of froze in place. All the resources I spent trying to sculpt triple Saki this turn were actually for nothing. I'm about to give him a deck of 4 clean cards to go ham on. The next best thing I could do was brainstorm clean, attack three times, refresh with a climax out, and a whole lot of nothing in my hand.

My final turn, I was staring down the 3/2 Lucy minus soul on board and what I assumed was tap counter in hand. Because of my previous blunder, I was unable to find ways to get my finisher climax in hand. What I had was at least a Hiro double bounce, so I was able to bounce the minus soul and another lane. I fielded two Temaris to heal down. I used my 1/0 backrow Saki to look at my triggers: a clean trigger and a Pants CX. I can't front attack because I'll get tap countered. I have no climax in hand. I basically have to direct attack in two lanes for a total of 7 clean damage off the top, and if either of these direct attacks cancel, I just lose because my front attack lane can't deal enough damage.

And wouldn't you know it, there were 7 clean cards off the top of his deck. I should not have won that.

ML: What was your match up and how did Round 3 go for you?

DF: I lost against Love Live! Hasunosora: 8 Standby. The brick of bricks. I did not cancel once that game, and I kept drawing all my climaxes. All my brainstorms whiffed. All my Saki combos revealed climaxes. The list of fail cases go on and on. The only thing that was keeping me even slightly hopeful was that he somehow wasn't able to field his 1/1 backrow Rurino until he was like Level 2, a very strange occurrence, for sure. But at that point, I somehow presented him with a deck of 15 clean while I was 2-6, and he just rushed me down.

ML: What was your match up and how did Round 4 go for you?

DF: I won against Oshi no Ko: 4 Comeback (Door)/ 4 Gate (Pants). The matchup I'd been dreading the entire day. OSK is the one of the few decks that can full deny on-reverses on their opponent's turn. It's not a deal breaker for GIM, but the game does become significantly harder.

I was lucky enough to have several scrim partners coach me through this matchup. Otherwise, I would have been freaking out. It surprisingly played out evenly until my opponent hit Level 3 first and was able to pull out triple Akane finisher on me. HOWEVER, the finisher was only able to mill out ONE Level 0 out of my deck. ONE hit out of nine cards milled. So he was basically just swinging with vanillas. GIM might not be good at blocking 1's, but it can definitely block 3's and 4's.

ML: What was your match up and how did Round 5 go for you?

DF: I won against Gakuen Idolm@ster: Comeback (Door)/ Choice / Comeback (Door) (Saki/Sena/Ume). A friend I met recently through the few WGP qualifiers we attended. Door/Choice/Door is a deck I've played in the past, and if the current Door/Pants deck gets restricted, this would be my fallback deck. The 2/1 Sena combo compresses your deck so well, and the Ume finisher only needs 4 stock to triple. It is also modular and not needing a memory requirement, and the interactions with the 0/0 Sena means that you will always have access to what you need during the mid-game. You can survive multiple turns at Level 3 and feel really good while doing so.

My opponent saw none of that. He failed to find Saki CX combo, he failed to field triple 2/1 Sena combo, he only had enough stock for two Ume. He surprisingly survived my triple Temari finisher turn on the following turn, but yet was unable to find lethal AGAIN the next turn because GIM just compresses that hard. For how hard he bricked, he put up a good game. Unfortunately, that just wasn't his game that day.

ML: As a guilty party here, I unfortunately have to ask about and relive our Top 16 matchup. How did the game go from your perspective?

DF: I lost against Oshi no Ko: 4 Comeback (Door)/ 4 Gate (Pants). I knew that my Top 16 opponent was one that I needed to respect and play my best against, through the few interactions we've had in online tournaments before. She was the one responsible for making me fear the OSK matchup. It's not like I've lost every single one of those matchups, but it definitely felt like an uphill battle each time.

ML: I can 100% confirm I have lost several of those online matchups before this. You were one of a few players who helped prepped me over the past few months for this specific match up. I appreciated all of those practice games!

DF: And the practice against you was invaluable for me as well, which, by the way, thank you for all of those games. I only wish I could have given you a better game this time when it mattered the most!

This is when things started to go wrong. My Turn 2, start of Draw Step, my opponent activates the Kana brainstorm skill to reveal the top of her deck and bounce if it was a Level 2 or higher. She reveals...not a Level 2.

ML: I don't exactly remember here, but I'm fairly certain I was still at 0 and hadn't done the 1/0 Kana combo yet to attempt to control set up a bounce. So I definitely left you several on reverse targets for Saki due to my build changes for the weekend.

DF: I clock and draw, go to Level 1, and look at my opponent's tri-field. This was the only thought going on in my head: "If I can triple Saki combo, I win the game." It is very rare that OSK leaves a tri-field out without any way to bounce or remove their board on opponent's turn to deny reverses. So this was a golden opportunity to take a huge lead that might not come up again later into the game.

I have two Sakis in hand and several ways to get another one if another one happens to fall into my waiting room. All I need is to get a third Saki in waiting room through milling it and I'm golden. I fire a brainstorm, whiffs. I fire a Kotone top check 4, whiffs, no Sakis. I fire another brainstorm, whiffs. No Sakis in waiting room. It's...fine. Two Sakis are fine. And then I look at my hand. 

"Hey, why do I only have two attackers right now?"

ML: After everything you went through in the turn, I didn't question it because I figured triple Saki, or a Ramiris into a Saki was in my future after not doing much to deny it. I didn't even question the speed you were activating various on play effects because I've seen you do this before to pull off ideal board state. I was completely stunned when you paused, looked at your hand, then put down the climax with just the two attacking Sakis out.

DF: Yeah, it was one of those instances where you have a certain play locked into your head and don’t even consider the consequences of failure only up until after you’ve already failed. I also just don’t have a good poker face, either, so when I looked back up at you, it felt like you already knew that I had messed up. I was like, “Oh no, she knows…”

I only attack with two Sakis that turn, and that's it. One of the Sakis even misses the stock charge, so I go into a massive deficit for overplaying into a play that, now that I look back on it, really would have only marginally tilted things in my favor. Akane is still a disgusting finisher, even if nothing goes right for the deck, especially against GIM, which naturally wants to play more 0's in the deck.

The blunder here was game-losing, and it didn't help that my opponent just had all the cancels she could have possibly wanted. Every time the Kana brainstorm revealed a climax on my turn, I just sighed because I knew I could just not deal damage to my opponent at all. This lasted for like 4 turns straight. I slowly climbed to Level 3, and my opponent stayed at Level 1 for what seemed like forever.

ML: From my point of view, my Kana Level 1 combos that I was able to cycle kept giving me either double climax left over on top check rearrange, or 0/0/climax. So I know there were several turns where my thought was that I wouldn't be able to deny Saki in a lane, but at least I was going to cancel an attack or two.

DF: It was astounding how many times you canceled during the midgame and how many times I had to concede damage because of the known climax on top of your deck.  I think I remember you spending at least two turns at 1-4 or 1-5, even though I was effectively playing Door climax every single turn.

Once I hit Level 3, my thought process was that I had to buy a turn since even triple probably wouldn't be able to finish my opponent at 2-0 with that compression  (and I was also only playing with around 3 stock for the entire game). So I healed down, put down a climax, thinking there's no way my opponent will just eat 7 damage, go to Level 3 and kill me with Akane.

ML: I honestly wasn't expecting to go straight to Level 3 there either, so I didn't question until post match reflection that you didn't go for finisher that turn, especially since you were short resources. I was actually debating on your first attack how I was going to fish for Aqua's or a ways to push myself to Level 3 so I could at least get a finisher turn since I know from experience how powerful Temari can be.

DF:  I remember even confirming during the turn, “Okay, so you are 3 climaxes out, 16 cards in deck.” So that’s roughly 5 in 16, plus or minus one possible CX in your hand.  If I slam a 1k1soul climax, surely she cancels two of these swings, because she has been canceling like a god this entire game. I would generate enough stock to triple Temari, since the combo is incredibly cheap and I already fielded one to heal down this turn.

And then when I saw all 7 damage stick, I just rolled my eyes and knew the game was over. My internal screaming: “Where was this damage the entire game? And only now do I stick damage when I don’t want to at all?” So my opponent just eats 7 damage, goes straight to Level 3, and kills me with Akane.

ML: Even though that was a rough match, congratulations on your accomplishments, including making Top 16! Are there any final reflections you would like to share?

DF: Have you ever been so tunneled in on a play that once you finally reach the end, you look at your end board and say to yourself, "Wait, that was stupid!"? That's me, all the time, and that was definitely me in the Top 16.

ML: I feel I have done that multiple times as a player over the past several years I've played this game, especially as tournaments go longer. It definitely is something I still have to work on too.

DF: I really felt like I lost to myself in the Top 16. Not to say that my opponent wasn't playing a good and consistent game; the better player won, clearly. But I'm going to think about the "what if" scenario for a while now, and I'm definitely carrying that energy with me through the BCS season and into next year. I don't know how to "train" myself to stop overplaying. You kind of just fall into it and shame yourself after the fact. That being said, I felt like I did the best I could. I don't think I'm at that level yet where I can just play perfectly and confidently for 7-8 games straight. Maybe that'll come in another year or so, idk (I don’t know).

ML: I think you're very close. I know with this and Houston back to back you've had some very close Tops that you should be proud of. Keep pushing this year and I think you'll get there.

DF: I didn't win a single game the day before the tournament. Out of the dozens of games I played, didn't win a single one. And that really had me worried. And playing a warm up game at the venue on the day of, I got killed by a SINGLE Akane and two random attackers from 2-2. I started the tournament off in a very bad state of mind. But once I got my first win in Round 1, that was all the relief I needed.

Did you know that in 2023, because of how invites worked, I did not win a single game for the entirety of my WGP run? I attended two different WGP qualifiers, didn't win a single game in either of them, invite eventually passed to me because no one really wanted to travel, then I attend Nats 2023 and go 0-2 and wash out. That hurt really bad. And then combine that with my 2024 run, where I actually did legitimately qualify with wins under my belt, but work forbade me from attending...

I just really did not want my WGP 2025 year to be a dud with nothing to show for it, no growth to showcase, two years wasted. That's why I still consider this WGP 2025 a success, even though I crashed out in disastrous glory in Top 16. I can at least say I'm getting better, and I'll continue to grind into this next year.

I'm glad that I could put forward a result that shows my hard work not just over the past few weeks, but also my cumulative Weiss career over the past 3-4 years.

My Top 16 match will haunt me for a while. The over push in that game probably single-handedly lost me the match, and I had to play catch up for the entire game to even stay remotely close.

I have a lot to learn apparently, as many people constantly tell me.  I'll be back stronger next year.

ML: That's the spirit! And stronger as you continue the EN BCS season too! Are there any shouts you'd like to share?

DF: Shoutout to Ohio Weiss Schwarz, but it really has gotten much bigger than that, hasn't it?  Shoutout to all the adjacent playgroups I've gotten to know over the years like Virginia, Dallas, Cali, Pittsburgh, now even Japan and Australia.

And to my closest IRL Houston players, who have listened to me yap and whine and complain while watching me misplay, you know who you are, and thank you.

ML: And that concludes our interview with JP NA WGP 25/26 Top 16 Player DarkFuzz! A special thanks to DarkFuzz for sharing with us! Congratulations again on your achievements and good luck as you continue to compete is EN WS BCS the remainder of this season!

Interested in more Tournament Reports or you would like to submit your own Top 16 interview from the JP NA WGP 2025? Check out more reports or submit a form at https://level4weissschwarz.wixsite.com/lvl4ws/tournament-reports !