Tuesday, November 6, 2012

News: TD08 & 09 Announced

Through Doctor O's twitter feed, two new trial decks were revealed early this morning. TD08: Liberator of the Holy Land (聖域の解放者 Seiki no Riberata, the last kanji would probably be read かいほうしゃ kaihousha "Person who Sets Free" but in katakana is given as リベレイター) and TD09: The Empire's Eraser (帝国の抹消者 Teikouku no Ireizaa normally read as まっしょうしゃmasshousha "Person who Erases" but here presented in romaji イレイザー) are geared for a January release in Japan. More information is coming on December 5th.

Allegedly featuring cards from the third season, the new decks are currently known to be for the Gold Paladin and Narukami clans, with a noted resemblance between the title units to Gancelot of the Royal Paladins and Thunder Break Dragon of Narukai. Notably, TD08's title suggests that this Gancelot figure will be setting the Royal Paladins free (in Japan, the name of TD01 was 聖域の光剣士 Seiki no Hikari Kenshi Shining Swordsman of the Holy Land, with that Holy Land being the United Sanctuary.) The fact that the Royals are going to be freed also suggests that Kagerou will be freed as well, an idea that would normally be thought of as being at odds to the notion of the Gold Paladins and Narukami continuing to be featured as the clans of these new decks.

Update: It is being speculated that the "liberation" may not refer to the liberating of the Royal Paladins from the seal, but instead refer to the Gold Paladins liberating the United Sanctuary from Shadow Paladin occupiers. This goes with the idea of the Shadow Paladins making a return to the game, read further down for details.

The new Gancelot unit prominently wears his original Royal armor, repainted to a golden color. Though more jaded fighters have jokingly attributed the new look to a palette swap, the new Gancelot does appear noticeably more aged and with one eye seemingly gouged out. Bizarrely, Thunder Break Dragon appears unchanged save for his pose--the sword in hand, his armor, horns and wings are identical to the ones from his debut artwork. These decks will be the first trial decks to ever feature the same clans as past ones.

Each deck will retail for 1050 yen, about 13 USD, and will feature 3 special foil cards in each, with one printed as an RRR-rarity card would be.

While Doctor O stated that he could not say much to the readers that he replied to, he did confirm that the Shadow Paladin clan will be receiving a new first vanguard. This further supports the idea that the seal is about to be undone.