Press Release: 3 Major English Edition Cardfight!! Vanguard Expansions in June 2015

The following is a press release distributed by Bushiroad USA and may not reflect the views or opinions of Cardfight Pro or its editors.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3 Major English Edition Cardfight!! Vanguard Expansions in June 2015

Singapore (March 12, 2015) – Bushiroad announced the simultaneous release of 3 Cardfight!! Vanguard G English Edition products which will be on sale on June 19, 2015. These expansions include one new Trial Deck, the 2015 edition of the Fighters Collection and an all-new product, the Legend Deck.

 

Cardfight!! Vanguard G Trial Deck Vol. 5 ‘Fateful Star Messiah’, Fighters Collection 2015 and Legend Deck Vol. 1 ‘The Dark “Ren Suzugamori”’ feature the latest in the Cardfight!! Vanguard G series and contain new cards that will feature units with the Stride and Generation Break abilities.

G Trial Deck Vol. 5 ‘Fateful Star Messiah’ features the <<Link Joker>> clan, while the Fighters Collection 2015 will contain new G-units for all clans that have been released thus far, excluding the <<Etranger>> clan.

The Legend Deck series is a new product that shines the spotlight on “Legendary Fighters” from the Cardfight!! Vanguard animation. Legend Deck Vol. 1 will feature the fan-favorite Ren Suzugamori and his popular <<Shadow Paladin>> deck. It is the first of its kind, and will contain premium items such as an exclusive deck holder, fighter’s counter as well as a special foiled promotional card.

G Trial Deck Vol. 5 ‘Fateful Star Messiah’ and Legend Deck Vol.1 ‘The Dark “Ren Suzugamori”’ will also include one hot-stamped card randomly inserted into decks.

News: International Game to See LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori” in June, VGE-TD05: Fateful Star Messiah and Fighter's Collection 2015

Today the English Cardfight portal updated with release information for the international distribution of G-LD01: The Dark “Ren Suzugamori,” G-TD05: Fateful Star Messiah and G-FC01: Fighter's Collection 2015. All three sets will hit western shores simultaneously on June 19th 2015. The legend deck will notably contain all of the accoutrements of its Japanese counterpart sans sleeves, including the triple rare promotional card Grim Recruiter.

The Dark “Ren Suzugamori,” first announced in late January, will introduce the new Shadow Paladin cards used by legacy character Suzugamori Ren in the Cardfight!! Vanguard G anime series. Careful scrutinizing of a promotional poster distributed in early February reveals that the cards teased so far each have partial grade information in their grade circles. The number of bars inside their grade circles indicate that the new Nemain and Charon units are grade 1s, Macha and Mac Lir grade 2s, and Blaster Dark “Diablo” is a grade 3. Furthermore, Nemain's gold shield icon points to her being a card with the Sentinel skill, and Phantom Blaster “Diablo's” card color corresponds to a G Unit.

The legend deck will come out on April 24th in Japan.

Fateful Star Messiah was announced in Japan only last week, alongside the upcoming booster set G-TD05: Dragonic Star of the Supreme Way. The set will feature Ibuki Kouji's Messiah units, a new series of Link Joker-turned variations on the original stride Harmonics Messiah. Japan will receive Fateful Star Messiah on May 29th.

Fighter's Collection 2015 is a special form of extra booster that will provide G Units for every clan sans Etranger. The set will reach Japanese waters on May 5th.

Press Release: Cardfight!! Vanguard G Trial Decks Sold Out Within One Week

The following is a press release distributed by Bushiroad USA and may not reflect the views or opinions of Cardfight Pro or its editors.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cardfight!! Vanguard G Trial Decks Sold Out Within One Week

Singapore (March 5, 2015) – More than 80,000 trial decks were sold within the first week of release of the Cardfight!! Vanguard G Trial Deck Vol. 1 ‘Awakening of the Interdimensional Dragon’, G Trial Deck Vol. 2 ‘Divine Swordsman of the Shiny Star’ and G Trial Deck Vol. 3 ‘Flower Maiden of Purity’. These trial decks were released on February 27, 2015.

These Cardfight!! Vanguard G Trial Decks join the ranks of other Cardfight!! Vanguard expansions that sold out within weeks of release; including Booster Pack Vol. 16 ‘Legion of Dragons & Blades’ ver.E, Extra Booster Pack Vol. 11 ‘Requiem at Dusk’ and Extra Booster Pack Vol. 12 ‘Waltz of the Goddess’. More than 950,000 packs of Booster Pack Vol. 16 ‘Legion of Dragons & Blades’ ver.E were sold within a month of release. Extra Booster Pack Vol. 11 ‘Requiem at Dusk’ and Extra Booster Pack Vol. 12 ‘Waltz of the Goddess’ sold a combined 600,000 packs over the release weekend.

The next expansion for Cardfight!! Vanguard G, G Booster Pack Vol.1 Generation Stride, will be released on March 13, 2015.

Cardfight!! Vanguard G marks a new beginning for Cardfight!! Vanguard and is the latest expansion of Bushiroad’s most popular trading card game. It features new cards, abilities and a new clan, Gear Chronicle. The new expansion introduces new abilities such as Stride, Generation Break and G-Assist into the game.

Cardfight!! Vanguard G Trial Deck Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 feature cards that are used by the new protagonists of the Cardfight!! Vanguard G anime. Each display contains a card signed by the artist of the unit, randomly inserted into one of the trial decks. Additionally, exclusive promotional cards were given out with every purchase of one of the three trial decks.

News: G-TD05: Messiah of the Fateful Star and G-BT03: Dragonic Star of the Supreme Way Revealed, Dragonic Overlord “The X” Sleeves

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.

News: Clan Fight Rules Standardized in Professional Play

Originally uploaded by Bushiroad inc.

This evening Bushiroad's international branches announced their adoption of Clan Fight regulations, a system of rules that has been implemented in Japan since the release of VG-BT16: Legion of Dragons & Blades. Under these regulations it is against the rules of the game for cardfighters to mix cards of different clans in one deck, with a small pool of exceptions. The rules were originally implemented in Japan because all units printed after TD14: Seeker of Hope do not require same-clan vanguards for their skills to activate, and no grade 3 units from that point onwards have the Lord skill that prevents them from attacking if a unit on the field does not share their clan. The game designers are thus designing cards around the presumption that cardfighters may only use a single clan.

Bushiroad's decision was preempted by that of Alter Reality Games, organizers of the 2015 US national championships. ARG had already adopted Clan Fight a week earlier as a result of strong demand from the community. The decision was made following massive player outcry against the results of the Louisville regional qualifier, where half of the top 8 decklists ran the Spike Brothers unit Frozen Ogle while using no other Spike Brothers cards in the decks. Frozen was primarily used in Cat Butler Raizer decks to search for the eponymous grade 0, but also saw play in a mixed Dimension Police deck to bring out Commander Laurel and Mist Ghost. After considering the players' reactions, ARG elected to implement Clan Fight at all of its tournaments beginning on March 8th with the Fort Lauderdale regional qualifier. Extreme Fight, in which clan mixing is permitted, will only be implemented at ARG tournaments as a side event.

Bushiroad's move to imitate ARG may be in an effort to salvage the company's official tournament system, which has progressively fallen out of favor with fans as the company as repeatedly failed to introduce best-of-three competition. Some went so far as to doubt that Bushiroad USA and its associated branches would ever implement Clan Fight regulations in light of its slow response to the release of BT16. By contrast, the Japanese branch had implemented Clan Fight from the moment that TD14 was released. While ARG will be officially implementing Clan Fight on March 8th, Bushiroad will not do so until March 30th.

One noted difference from the Japanese ruleset is that the English Clan Fight rules permit Link Joker fighters to play units with “Яeverse” in their card name. The Japanese Clan Fight rules instead permit Link Joker fighters to play units with the Я character in their card name, hence permitting Dragonic Overlord “The Яe-birth” to be used. Like with the exception given to Royal Paladin cardfighters being able to use four copies of Blaster Dark for Majesty Lord Blaster, this rule exists to allow a specific deck to function, Star-vader “Ω” Glendios. The English edition rules otherwise closely match the September 29th 2014 Fighter's Rules implemented in Japan, sans the restriction of Cat Butler implemented on August 18th of that year.

March 5th, 2015 Update: Bushiroad international has since released additional material identifying “The Яe-birth” as eligible for Link Joker decks.