Half Butterfly: Victory Blueprint by Adam Wardzinski Review

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The Core Idea: One Hook, Plus the Trapped Leg

Most people end up in half butterfly by accident. You shoot for a butterfly hook, your opponent flattens one side out, and now you have one hook in and one leg trapped underneath. Wardzinski’s argument is that this in-between position is not a failure state. It is its own guard, and a very good one.

The half butterfly sits between full butterfly guard and half guard. Full butterfly needs both hooks active to off-balance. Half guard usually means you are underneath, working to recover. Half butterfly keeps one active butterfly hook for elevation while the connection to the trapped leg stops your opponent from creating the space they need to pass.

That combination is what makes it useful against pressure. When an aggressive passer drives forward, the active hook gives you a sweep. When they pull back to reset, the trapped-leg connection lets you follow and stay attached. As BJJ World put it in their review, the position lets you “control distance and posture simultaneously,” which forces the passer into reacting to you instead of dictating pace.

The whole instructional is built on that single structural idea, then expanded into sweeps, submissions, pass counters and entries.

Who Is Adam Wardzinski?

Adam Wardzinski is a Polish black belt who built one of the most respected butterfly games in competition. He is an IBJJF Black Belt World Champion and Grand Slam winner, and he qualified for ADCC by winning a trials bracket of more than 50 black belts in what was, at the time, his first no-gi competition at black belt level.

What matters for an instructional is that his game is built on precision, timing and leverage rather than athleticism. That makes his material useful for people who cannot rely on being the bigger, faster grappler. BJJ World, reviewing his earlier no-gi set, went as far as saying he “is an even better teacher than he is a competitor, if that is at all possible,” and praised how he “balances technical advice with conceptual teaching better than anyone I’ve seen.” That reputation carries straight into this release.

If you have trained against a good butterfly player, you know the problem. BJJ World recounted a black belt who faced Wardzinski in competition, had studied his game, and had counters ready: “but nothing worked. Adam’s butterfly guard is just that good.” This instructional is that game, narrowed down to the half butterfly variant.

Volume-by-Volume Breakdown

Volume 1 (~40 min) Position & Set Up

The opening volume builds the position itself. Wardzinski covers the intro to position and set up, then a strategies section that lays out the conceptual map: where the active hook goes, how to keep the trapped-leg connection, and how to read your opponent’s balance. The technical payload here is the hook sweep options and the sticky foot hook sweep, which is the cornerstone of the whole system. The sticky foot detail (how subtle changes in foot placement raise the sweep percentage) is the kind of thing that separates a working sweep from one people just ride out.

Volume 2 (~36 min) The Sweeping System

This is the sweep volume. The headline entry is the John Wayne sweep, Wardzinski’s signature lifting sweep, and crucially he shows how to connect the hook sweep and the John Wayne so a failed attempt on one feeds directly into the other. He then layers in the overhead sweep, the backwards sweep, and adds foot sweeps to the equation. The theme is reaction-based: your opponent’s weight distribution tells you which sweep is live, instead of forcing one technique.

Volume 3 (~36 min) Pass Counters

Volume 3 is problem-solving against grip and posture fights. Wardzinski covers countering a knee cut (one of the most common passes you will face from here), wide base counters, the over the back grip, and the belt grip forward drag to hook sweep, plus a hook sweep variation. This is where the gi dependency shows up most: belt and sleeve grips do a lot of the work, which is part of why this set is built for gi rather than no-gi.

Volume 4 (~30 min) Clamp Guard & Pass Defense

This volume opens up submissions and harder pass defense. The clamp guard options extend the half butterfly into a related controlling position, and the loop choke gives you an attack when the sweep dries up. The back half of the volume is pure defense against modern pressure passing: the crazy dog pass, the smash pass, and the over-under. If you have ever been stapled in half butterfly by a heavy over-under passer, this is the section you will rewatch.

Volume 5 (~21 min) Advanced Counters

The shortest volume, focused on bad spots. Wardzinski covers countering bottom leg control two ways, with a choi bar and an overhead sweep, and then counters against forced half guard, for when an opponent flattens you out and tries to put you fully underneath. Rather than just escaping, he shows how to keep half butterfly principles alive even when the position degrades. This is the most competition-specific volume.

Volume 6 (~21 min) Entries & Guard Pull System

The final volume answers the obvious question: how do you get to half butterfly on purpose? Wardzinski shows sleeve grip entries, another look at countering the knee cut as an entry point, the shin-to-shin guard pull for initiating from standing, and using foot sweeps to off-balance before pulling the opponent down into the position. This is what turns the half butterfly from a reactive accident into a guard you can start the match in.

What Makes Victory Blueprint Stand Out

It treats half butterfly as a complete system, not a chapter. Most half guard and butterfly sets give the half butterfly a few minutes. Even Wardzinski’s own Butterfly Guard Rediscovered 3.0 lists half butterfly as one bullet point among side butterfly, lazy butterfly and more. This is three hours dedicated entirely to one position, with entries, sweeps, submissions and counters all built around the same structure.

The connection logic is the real value. The hook sweep into John Wayne link, and the way each pass counter feeds back into an attack, is what BJJ World meant when it credited the “systematic approach.” You are not memorizing 20 separate moves. You are learning one position deeply enough that the techniques chain on their own.

It is efficient. At roughly three hours, this is compact for a modern six-volume release. Compare it to a 10-plus hour Danaher set or a 9-hour Gordon Ryan series. Volumes 5 and 6 are barely 20 minutes each, which keeps the set from padding out a narrow topic.

It is built for technical players. Because the game runs on timing and grips rather than strength, it suits smaller and older grapplers who get bullied in straight butterfly. That is consistent with how Wardzinski himself competes.

The Verdict

If you already play half guard or butterfly and keep landing in that one-hook, one-leg-trapped spot, this is the instructional that finally gives that position a plan. It is the most complete dedicated half butterfly resource on the market, and BJJ World’s 8.5/10 feels right: very good, clearly taught, but narrow and gi-specific enough that it is not for everyone.

Get it if you are a blue belt or above with a working guard who wants a high-percentage gi sweeping game. Skip it if you train mostly no-gi or if your guard gets passed before you can establish grips. More on both below.

What Reviewers and Buyers Say

Note: this is a recent release, so verified buyer feedback is still limited (BJJ Fanatics listed a single 5-star review at the time of writing). We will add more named community quotes as they appear rather than pad this section with unattributed praise.

Honest Weaknesses

It is a gi instructional, full stop. BJJ World flagged the “heavy focus on Gi applications with limited No-Gi translation for certain grip-dependent techniques,” and the chapter list backs that up. The belt grip forward drag, the sleeve grip entries and several pass counters lean on cloth. If you train primarily no-gi, Wardzinski’s own No-Gi Butterfly Guard Rediscovered is the better fit, even though it covers full butterfly rather than half.

You need a guard before you need this. BJJ World’s bluntest criticism is that it “may be too advanced for practitioners without solid guard retention fundamentals already established.” That is fair. If your guard gets passed before you can set grips, you will not reach the positions Wardzinski teaches. A guard retention set, such as Lachlan Giles and Ariel Tabak’s Guard Retention Anthology, is a better first purchase for newer grapplers.

It is narrow by design. Three hours on one position is a strength if you want depth and a weakness if you want a complete bottom game. Lachlan Giles’ Half Guard Anthology covers far more half guard territory for $79, and works in both gi and no-gi. Victory Blueprint is the specialist option, not the generalist one.

The other dedicated half butterfly set exists. Brian Glick’s Under Pressure: Half Butterfly Mastery ($197) is the main alternative aimed at exactly this position, from a John Danaher black belt. Glick’s approach is more conceptual and Danaher-flavored; Wardzinski’s is more competition-sweep oriented. If you want the most decorated competitor’s version, Wardzinski wins on pedigree.

Who Should Buy Victory Blueprint

• Blue belts and above with a guard that already survives the first passing attempt
• Gi players who want a high-percentage sweeping game from the bottom
• Grapplers who keep ending up in half butterfly and have no plan once they get there
• Smaller, older or less explosive players who get smashed in straight butterfly
• Existing butterfly or half guard players who want to add a connected system, not 20 random sweeps

Who Should Skip It

• Fresh white belts without guard retention. Build a guard that holds up first
• Primarily no-gi grapplers. Too many grip-dependent techniques. Look at Wardzinski’s no-gi butterfly set instead
• Anyone wanting a complete bottom game. This is one position, deep, not a survey
• Bargain hunters comparing on price alone. Lachlan Giles’ Half Guard Anthology gives more breadth for less

Watch Wardzinski’s Butterfly Sweep in Action

Before you buy, it is worth seeing why Wardzinski’s butterfly game has the reputation it does. The clip below breaks down the sweep mechanics that the half butterfly system is built on.

Related Instructionals to Compare

If you are weighing Victory Blueprint against the obvious alternatives, here is how they stack up:

More guard options: Best Butterfly Guard Instructionals