Aries Cup
Aries Cup, or the 12th Champions Meeting (CM12), takes place on the Nakayama 2000m Track (Right, Firm, Sunny, Spring).
CM12 Aries Cup Infographic
INFO
For players attempting to complete the Classic Triple Crown, this will be the last opportunity to run the Satsuki Sho until CM23, which is the first CM of Grandmasters.
Acceleration
After three back-to-back CMs where the best inherited Acceleration Skills were 0.1, CM12 offers a change of pace by starting the late-race on Corner 3. This means that all Skills that activate on late-race Corners, such as 
Angling and Scheming, Moving Past, and Beyond, and Let's Pump Some Iron! are viable.
WARNING
Depending on lobby composition, Moving Past, and Beyond and Let's Pump Some Iron! may be difficult to activate. These Skills have a positional requirement for 5-6th and 6th, respectively: If there are many Debuffers or Backliners, Umas can get easily shoved out of position for these Uniques.
CM12 Track
As both the final Corner and Straight are heavily delayed, Skills that activate on these Track Features such as Red Shift/LP1211-M and Straightaway Spurt are not recommended.
Outside of inherited Accels, the most universal Acceleration Skill available is Nimble Navigator / 
No Stopping Me!. Similar to last CM, the Accel Zone begins before the final Corner, making it easier for these two Skills to activate.
WARNING
Outside of Umas such as Mayano Top Gun who have the Skill through Potentials, No Stopping Me! can only be acquired through the use of Yukino Bijin, a weak Wit SSR. If the rest of the Deck is not strong enough to make up for using this Card, borrowing a stronger Card and acquiring Nimble Navigator through other means is recommended.
Christmas Oguri
An Uma that will be extremely prevalent during CM12 is Oguri Cap. Christmas Oguri’s Unique, 
Festive Miracle, provides .25 Velocity, .3 Acceleration, and 3.5% Recovery when three Recovery Skills are used. In Tracks ranging from 1800m to 2200m, Christmas Oguri can both get a guaranteed Speed Carryover and Acceleration from her Unique in the late-race through the use of 
Triple 7s.
Festive Miracle with Triple 7s
Another Skill that can be used to activate Christmas Oguri’s Unique in CM12 is U=ma2, or Agnes Tachyon’s inherited Unique. U=ma2 activates on the first Corner past the halfway point if the Uma is either 3rd or 4th: In CM12, this Skill will activate at the 1200m mark, only 23 meters before Triple 7s.
Festive Miracle with U=ma2
Utilizing both of these Uniques in a 4 Recovery Skill build will significantly decrease the chances of failing to activate Christmas Oguri’s Unique due to wit checks.
WARNING
While it should not be taken regardless, 
Radiant Star should especially not be taken on Christmas Oguri. Not only is it a bad Skill for the SP Cost, it can also cause Festive Miracle to activate early and miss the Accel Zone.
DANGER
Festive Miracle should NOT be inherited.Recommended Stats
Recommended Stats for CM12
Compared to the previous CM, the Stamina requirement is very low, only requiring around 700 Stamina and 500 Guts. With more Guts, the Stamina requirement can also be slightly lowered. In addition, due to the lower Stamina requirement, acquiring additional Power and Wit is much easier. Many players will be able to cap these Stats, but some Stats can alternatively be forgone for more Races.
While Guts is not absolutely critical, having higher Guts is recommended due to the ease of hitting the cap on other Stats. As many people will be running triple-capped Umas, having higher Guts can help decide Races through Dueling.
Recommended Decks and Support Cards
Refer to our Trackblazer Guide for general Deck Advice!
The recommended Deck for CM12 is the standard 2 SPD 2 WIT 2 Flex Deck. As Stamina Cards are not necessary, the flex slots can be filled with several different options.
One option is bringing additional Cards for meeting Stat goals. For players with weaker Decks, filling these slots with more Speed and Wit Cards or Cards such as the new Special Week will make it easier to hit Statlines.
If meeting Stat goals isn’t a problem, an alternative is using SSR Cards for their Gold Skills. A few examples are El Condor Pasa for 
Killer Tunes, Yaeno Muteki for It's On! and various useful Skill Hints, Yukino Bijin for No Stopping Me!, Marvelous Sunday for Fast & Furious, and Daitaku Helios for Escape Artist.
WARNING
Many of these Skills are Style-dependent, even if not specifically specified. For example, Killer Tunes has a requirement of being in the first 50% of the Race, making it difficult to use on Late Surgers and End Closers.
Examples of a potential CM12 Ace Deck
Recommended Uma
Tier List
CM12 Uma Tierlist.
TIP
Late Surgers with decent End Aptitude can also be played as an End Closer!
Umas with Innate Accels
Like most CMs, Umas with innate Accels are very viable. In CM12, these Umas have the easiest time contesting Christmas Oguri if their Unique Conditions are met, making them even more valuable.
Front Runners
As always, generically good Front Runners remain good in CM12. Not only can a well-built Front Runner win lobbies, they also help keep lobby composition consistent.
Christmas Oguri Cap
As previously mentioned, Christmas Oguri is a powerful Uma that can get a guaranteed Speed Carryover and Accel in late-race with Triple 7s and/or U=ma2 if running her Pace Chaser.
Due to the ease of access and the consistency of Recoveries as a Pace Chaser, running Christmas Oguri as a Pace Chaser is highly recommended. However, as Triple 7s is Style-agnostic, any Style of Christmas Oguri can be run.
Debuffers (Dominator)
As CM12 is a Medium Race, Umas with the Debuff Skill Dominator can be utilized alongside strong Aces. 
Dominator will provide a .2 reduction to Current Speed in the late-race, resulting in around 0.6L lost per Activation.
TIP
Oguri Cap (Christmas) paired with 2 Dominators is the team composition that cannot be ignored in this Champions Meeting.
Other Notable Umas
Umas with relevant Gold Skills for their Style and Distance along with a decent Unique will perform well in CM12.