This past week Bushiroad has released a steady stream of information regarding the upcoming trial deck and booster set G-TD05:
Messiah of the Fateful Star (宿星の救世竜
Shukusei no Kyuuseiryuu lit. "Savior Dragon of the Fateful Star" but with the forced reading of "Messiah") and G-BT03:
Dragonic Star of the Supreme Way (覇道竜星
Hadouryuusei, written with the kanji "supremacy, way, dragon, star.") The most recent of these reveals has given us the set details through the Japanese
products page, placing both TD05 and BT03 for a
May 29th release.
Messiah of the Fateful Star will feature Ibuki Kouji's Link Joker cards from the currently airing
Cardfight!! Vanguard G anime series, while
Dragonic Star of the Supreme Way will include support for the Shadow Paladin, Link Joker, Gold Paladin, Dark Irregulars, Murakumo, Kagerou and Cray Elemental clans.
Both the trial deck and booster set feature units that appear to be visual variations on
Harmonics Messiah, the first stride unit that served as a focal character in last year's
Cardfight!! Vanguard theatrical film,
Neon Messiah. In the film Ibuki
sought to take Harmonics for himself in order to erase the card game entirely, but only achieved his goal after he had already given up on destroying Vanguard. Harmonics then transformed into the grade 0 Neon Messiah. Neon Messiah will debut in the card game as the first vanguard for
Messiah of the Fateful Star, and while Harmonics is the only card to have no original clan, Neon is a pure Link Joker. In the card lore Harmonics was summoned to purify the Deletors' home planet Brandt of Link Joker's influence, and its artwork depicted it holding Cray and Brandt on its shoulders. The trial deck's Messiah unit carries a similar theme, while the booster set's Messiah appears empty.
Supreme Way's cover card was also briefly teased in the thirteenth episode of
Cardfight!! Vanguard G, where series protagonist Shindou Chrono envisioned himself fighting against a Messiah unit shrouded in darkness.
G-TD05 makes use of a complex visual pun; the name is written with the kanji
宿星 Shukusei "star of fate" but with the radical for "sun" 日 substituted
by an illustration of a partial eclipse. A popular but grammatically
incorrect alternative translation is "Messiah of Zodiac." Shukusei can refer to a singular zodiac (Pisces, Aquarius, Leo et al.) but not the entire twelve signs at once; for this 獣帯 Shuudai is used. Shukusei
is also used in relation to the Chinese system of constellations. The
trial deck is referring to a singular star with governance over fate,
not a Zodiac sign that embodies a series of interconnected stars. G-BT03's ryuusei is a homophone for "shooting star," while
hadou is a form of martial law that is also written with the characters for "Way of Supremacy," just as the samurai code
Bushidou is written "Way of the Warrior" and the Japanese religion
Shintou is written "Way of the Gods." Of note is that the kanji for
Supreme Way has a black X crossed through it, which resembles another symbol found on the
Malefic Deletor logo.
In other news, the Japanese Treasure Campaign has updated to reflect an upcoming promotional sleeve for the revival legion Dragonic Overlord “The X.” These sleeves are to be obtained by turning in trigger points distributed in Japanese booster packs, but as with past campaigns, overseas fans can expect to import them through secondary sellers. “The X” has been a popular figure in Japan since his
rise to power in professional play, to the point of being
considered for restriction. While post-BT02 tournament results have seen “The X” all but disappear from the top spots, that has not inhibited strong turnouts from Overlord cardfighters, who regularly account for the second or third greatest deck representation.
