Press Release: Cardfight!! Vanguard Summer/Winter 2013 Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cardfight!! Vanguard Summer/Winter 2013 Releases

Los Angeles, CA (June 7, 2013) – Bushiroad reveals their English edition Cardfight!! Vanguard releases in the latter half of 2013 with 6 new expansions.

“Extra Booster Pack Vol. 4: Infinite Phantom Legion” and “Extra Booster Pack Vol. 5: Celestial Valkyries” are paired together for release on September 6, 2013. A special combined Sneak Preview Kit will be available to commemorate the release.

“Trial Deck Vol. 8: Liberator of the Sanctuary” and “Trial Deck Vol. 9: Eradicator of the Empire” will be available from October 4, 2013. These new decks provide crucial new units, mechanics and deck-building options for fan favorite clans, Gold Paladin and Narukami.

The “Booster Pack Vol. 10: Triumphant Return of the King of Knights” introduces new Royal Paladin units and a new clan, Genesis, on October 25, 2013. This expansion promises to shake up the meta-game with powerful new mechanics for new players and veterans alike.

“Booster Pack Vol. 11: Seal Dragons Unleashed” brings the Kagero clan back into the scene with new deck-building options on December 13, 2013.

Bushiroad will continue to provide Sneak Preview Kits for Booster Pack and Extra Booster Pack releases with new and exciting promotional items for the international market.

All new expansions are legal for use 1 week after the respective release dates in the upcoming Cardfight!! Vanguard World Championship 2013.

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Cardfight!! Vanguard is a popular trading card game developed by Bushiroad Group Publishing Inc. It is currently available in three languages: Japanese, English and Korean.

In July 2012, the first ever English edition Cardfight!! Vanguard World Championship was announced. Between September and October, national qualifiers were held worldwide across different multiple regions and countries such as Australia, Germany, Japan, Singapore, USA, Mexico and more.

The finalists of each region were invited to the Cardfight!! Vanguard World Championship Grand Final held at Tokyo Dome Hotel on December 9, 2012. The winner of the final was crowned the first ever Cardfight!! Vanguard World Champion.

News: Death Army and Battle Sister Cards to Storm North America in September, TD08 & 09, BT10 for October Release

This morning Bushiroad took the world by surprise with the official announcement of western release dates for two extra boosters, two trial decks and two booster sets, laying out their schedule of releases for up through December 2013. VGE-EB04: Infinite Phantom Legion will reprint many Nova Grappler units from BT01-BT06, including the clan's perfect defense card Twin Blader, and an alternate artwork of EB01's Perfect Raizer from the same artists that designed and illustrated the original, Itou Akira and ToMo. EB04 will also introduce new Death Army series cards, including a remake of BT03's Ultimate Lifeform Cosmo Lord, Infinite Death Army Invader Cosmo Lord. EB04 is slated for a September 6th release.

VGE-EB05: Celestial Valkyries will give the same treatment to Oracle Think Tank, reprinting key units from BT01-BT05, with one of those being an alternate artwork of the clan's boss card CEO Amaterasu, illustrated by Hitowa, the same artist behind Water General of Wave-like Spirals Benedict, and Goddess of Good Luck Fortuna. Celestial Valkyries will also bring new Battle Sister units to OraThin's card pool, fleshing them out into a powerful subgroup. EB05 is slated for a September 6th release.

VGE-TD08: Liberator of the Sanctuary will be the second Gold Paladin trial deck to be released, restarting the clan from the ground up through the Liberator subgroup of cards, which focus on the use of the new Blaster Blade Liberator as the axis of one's deck and applying key power increases to the whole field through the new break ride mechanic. After their initially disappointing run from TD05 through BT09, these new Gold Paladins breath new life into the clan by reimagining old cards like Gancelot and Gallatin. TD08 is slated for an October 4th release.

VGE-TD09: Eradicator of the Empire will introduce the Eradicator subgroup for Narukami, allowing selective control of the opponent's front row through break ride. While TD08's support is generally designed to encourage the use of new Liberator units, and TD09 provides similar support, TD09 is also geared toward more generic support for non-Eradicator decks through its Vowing Sword Dragon key card. TD09 is slated for an October 4th release.

VGE-BT10: Triumphant Return of the King of Knights will reinforce the Liberators to allow for an additional focus on the center line in addition to the rearguards, through its key card Liberator of the Round Table Alfred. It will also revive the Royal Paladins as the critical-focused Jewel Knight subgroup designed to emulate the strengths of the previous Blaster cards, and bring in the new, soulblast-focused Genesis clan used by Tokura Misaki during the third season of Cardfight!! Vanguard. Unlike Oracle Think Tank, Genesis is built around rapidly filling up and then discharging the soul for simultaneous draw power and power boosts, giving both short-term power and long-term longevity so long as their fighter can pay the extraordinary costs. BT10 is slated for an October 25th release.

VGE-BT11: Seal Dragons Unleashed will bring the new Seal Dragon series to the fore, while bringing the Dragonic Overlord The End deck its own break ride in Dauntless Drive Dragon, allowing up to six and eight drive checks in a single turn. Just as BT10 is the third season's reimagining of BT01, BT11 is its equivalent to BT02, focusing on breaking the seals imprisoning powerful dragons. The Seal Dragon series will reinforce Kagerou by using Seal Dragon Blockade from BT02: Onslaught of Dragon Souls as its focal card, both reprinting the unit and introducing the Blockade Inferno crossride. Although crossrides are generally regarded as a thing of the past due to their low payout relative to the setup required in the extremely aggressive BT10-on format, Blockade Inferno has been given special attention from professional cardfighters for the devastating power of his limit break and the overall synergy between him, his sealed form and his supporting Seal Dragon rearguards. BT11 is slated for a December 13th release, making it the last English release of 2013, coming out just three days after the international anniversary of VGE-BT01: Descent of the King of Knights.

News: Extra Boosters 4 and 5 Announced

Today VG-EB04: Infinite Phantom Legion and VG-EB05: Celestial Valkyries were announced, revealing two sets introducing long anticipated support for Nova Grappler and Oracle Think Tank. Each of these sets, following the 35-card format of prior extra booster sets, will feature 29/28 key cards reprinted from the clan's past releases plus six new Death Army units and seven Battle Sister units, respectively. Set for a November 17 Japanese release, most prominently the sets feature an Ultimate Lifeform, Cosmolord crossride and a Battle Sister unit receiving promotion on par with Tsukuyomi of BT03. With an English release likely to follow in coming months, the current timing of these two sets could be no better for the international scene, where Trial Decks 02: Golden Mechanical Soldier and 03: Princess Maiden of the Cherry Blossoms are being postponed for later release. The timing of EB04 and EB05 could point to a similar release pattern between the English versions of TD02 and 03, creating a massive influx of support for Nova Grappler and Oracle Think Tank, and in turn strengthening them in the international metagame. This would be much akin to Granblue's current spread in North America.

Past Death Army cards have focused toward supporting Asura Kaiser, trading lower power for self-standing skills and being able to form a 16000 power line when lined up with one another. When used correctly in conjunction with Asura Kaiser, their strategy allows for a total up to five attacks in one turn capable of assailing 11000-power units without the use of triggers. Although this leaves a fairly narrow playing field for new entries in the series, one speculation is that the new Death Army cards will be able to mount more than full-power strikes upon standing, to level the playing field between them and 13000-power crossrides.

Most interesting of all is the Cosmolord crossride card. While not technically confirmed by official sources, the artwork for Infinite Phantom Legion is being universally lined up as a crossride to reinforce the 11000-saturated Nova Grapplers. Fittingly, Cosmolord is one of the Nova Grapplers' scarce units that can attain more than 20000 power consistently, particularly through an established combo with Meshrad Roid. Exactly how the crossride will behave is uncertain, but Nova cardfighters can expect to compete with their Kagerou and Dimension Police contemporaries this November.

In addition to the praise it's garnered, this announcement also completely dismisses past rumors of a Nubatama-based EB04.