Press Release: Bushiroad Announces Initial Future Card Buddyfight Products and Release Dates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Los Angeles, CA (October 22, 2013) – Bushiroad announced the initial product release dates and additional information for their newest trading card game, Future Card Buddyfight, at several conferences around the United States, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas. Numerous players and store owners attended the conferences which were conducted by Bushiroad President Takaaki Kidani along with special guests: Future Card Buddyfight co-creators Shunichi Taira and Yoshimasa Ikeda, and Bushiroad USA General Manager Junghun Kim.

Bushiroad revealed the initial product release information in addition to the accompanying animated series and comic serialization schedules. President Kidani described Future Card Buddyfight as “easy yet complex.” Future Card Buddyfight will launch with three initial products—Trial Deck Vol. 1 : Dominant Dragons and Trial Deck Vol. 2: Savage Steel will both release on January 24, 2014, and Booster Pack Vol. 1: Dragon Chief will release a week later on January 31, 2014. The English and Japanese versions of the game will release simultaneously worldwide.

OLM Inc., the animation studio responsible for the Pokémon movie series, will be producing the Future Card Buddyfight animation series, scheduled to air in Japan from January 2014. An English-dubbed version will air shortly thereafter in Singapore and on YouTube worldwide.

A comic serialization will also appear in Shogakukan’s “Coro Coro Comic” in November in Japan.

Yoshimasa Ikeda, co-creator of Future Card Buddyfight and former CEO of the successful Japanese trading card game store franchise Card Kingdom, described the game as a “culmination of all the feedback that we’ve taken directly from store owners and players.” While the primary target audience in Japan is children ages 9-11, both President Kidani and Yoshimasa Ikeda feel that the game will also have a wider appeal in the United States. Gameplay demonstrations followed each presentation with many of the attendees taking the opportunity to sample the game.

In closing, Bushiroad vowed to fully support Future Card Buddyfight with a worldwide organized play program, and mentioned that in addition to their initial product offerings, they are planning for a full release schedule for 2014. Further information about Future Card Buddyfight will be presented by Bushiroad at Anime Festival Asia taking place in Singapore November 8-10, 2013.

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Bushiroad Inc. consists of 6 sub-entities: Bushiroad Group Publishing, Bushiroad South East Asia Pte Ltd, Bushiroad USA Inc., Bushiroad Media, Hibiki Music, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling Co., Ltd.

Bushiroad South East Asia Pte Ltd was established in Singapore on November 12, 2011 in order to expand the overseas market for Bushiroad card games such as Cardfight!! Vanguard, Weiβ Schwarz, Chaos TCG and Victory Spark.

Bushiroad USA Inc. was established in Los Angeles, California on May 18, 2012, to better cater to the growing demand and interest in Cardfight!! Vanguard from both players and retailers in the USA.

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Future Card Buddyfight (Japanese) - http://fc-buddyfight.com/

Future Card Buddyfight (English) - http://fc-buddyfight.com/en/

Bushiroad (Japanese) - http://bushiroad.com/

Bushiroad (English) - http://bushiroad.fm/

Cardfight!! Vanguard Website (Japanese) - http://cf-vanguard.com/

Cardfight!! Vanguard Website (English) - http://cf-vanguard.com/en/

Weiβ Schwarz (Japanese) - http://ws-tcg.com/

Weiβ Schwarz (English) - http://ws-tcg.com/en/

ChaosTCG (Japanese) - http://chaos-tcg.com/

Victory Spark - http://vs-tcg.com/

Monster Collection - http://moncolle-tcg.com/

News: First Look at Ride to Victory's Cast, Original Characters

New information about the upcoming Cardfight 3DS game, Cardfight!! Vanguard: Ride to Victory is finally surfacing with the newest release of KeroKero Ace magazine. Set to feature six original characters for players to choose from, the game has also already been confirmed to contain at least thirty other characters from the anime in addition to those present here. Debuting alongside a slogan of "Stand up! Your avatar!" (立ち上がれ！キミの分身！！) the original characters have already gotten much attention in fan circles, currently nicknamed based on the official description of what "type" of protagonist they are.

From top to bottom; Hotblooded (熱血系 Nekketsu) type, Cool (クール Kuuru) type and Dark (ダークDaaku) type. Each protagonist is available as either male or female to suit the player's preferences, with their own cut-ins and voiced quotations. Ride to Victory has also been confirmed to feature in-game tutorials on how to play Cardfight, so that foreknowledge of the TCG is unnecessary to play, and will also include wireless capabilities for online cardfighting. The game will feature all cards released up through VG-BT09: Clash of the Knights and Dragons, and players will be able to start the game using one of seven trial decks, VG-TD01: Shining Swordsman of the Sanctuary up through VG-TD07: Descendents of the Marine Emperor.

The original cast has received a positive reception thus far, with design comparisons being drawn between the Hotblooded characters and the cast of Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter, as well as Pokemon. Interestingly, there are design similarities to Pokemon's Shirona and Ride to Victory's Dark-kun. Speculation is currently exploding as to which seiyuus will provide the lines for the cast, as no actors have been identified as of yet. The protagonist system itself is similar to that of Super Robot Wars, which classically allows the selection of a male or female Hotblooded type, Cool type, Logical type and Weird type.
(via matibari and ameblo)

Spotlight: Horikawa Eiki/堀川詠生

Fighter's Spotlight is an ongoing project concerned with tracking real-world professional cardfighters across the globe.

Horikawa Eiki/堀川詠生

Age: Juniors Division; Exact age unknown, 9 years old in August 2010
Titles Won: Kanazawa Trio Battle Runner-up (Fighter's Road 2012 National Championship), Osaka Regional Finalist Third Place (Junior Class)
Current Status: Osaka Regional Finalist Third Place (Junior Class, Summer 2012)
Deck Type: Royal Paladin (Majesty Lord Blaster), Oracle Think Tank (Scarlet Witch, CoCo)
Horikawa Eiki is the third place fighter for the Fighter's Road 2012 Junior Osaka tournament, who was unable to qualify for the national championship over Ushinohama Tetsuya and Yokoyama Yoshiya. Interestingly, this was by all appearances not Horikawa's debut in the pro scene; he was previously a participant from the Kanazawa Regional Trio Battle's runner-up team. Before this, Horikawa had an established background in card games, being the 2010 junior national champion in the Pokémon Trading Card game, and he had appeared on the Pokémon Sunday TV program along with several other members of the 2010 Japanese junior team before then.

Horikawa's brief TV appearance.

Decks and Play Style
Horikawa used a Majesty Lord Blaster deck at his debut, working alongside Nova Grappler and Gold Paladin teammates. His particular build was notable for featuring two copies of Wingal Brave, likely as a counter to the dominant Dragonic Overlord The End decks of the time, which could retire the card freely with Gatling Claw Dragon. The second copy was mainly accessible with either Alfred or Akane, and room was made for it by cutting the grade 3 count down from the more standard 8 to 7. Since Majesty was searchable through Brave in the first place, this made sense as a means of pressuring the opponent to stop even weak attacks while also aiding his strategy's longevity over the course of a game.

Summer 2012 Regional Tournament, Kanazawa Trio Battle
Card Pool: Card Pool: TD01-EB03, PR 0001-0066
Grade 0
x1 Future Knight, Llew CT
x4 Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine HT
x4 Margal DT
x3 Alabaster Owl CT
x2 Wingal Brave (FVG)
x4 Bringer of Good Luck, Epona CT
Grade 1
x4 Flash Shield, Iseult
x4 Little Sage, Marron
x1 Lake Maiden, Lien
x4 Toypugal
x1 Knight of Friendship, Kay
Grade 2
x4 Blaster Blade
x1 High Dog Breeder, Akane
x4 Blaster Dark
x2 Starcall Trumpeter
Grade 3
x2 King of Knights, Alfred
x2 Swordsman of the Explosive Flames, Palamedes
x3 Majesty Lord Blaster

Horikawa was an early adopter of the witch deck, using the then-new Oracle Think Tank build as his Osaka deck. Osaka was in fact the witches' professional debut and it performed above expectations, with one deck placing in each age division, possibly serving as an eventual inspiration to Rikino. Horikawa chose to focus on the deck's battle potential, using the four-card increase in advantage from LuLu and CoCo to allow for an unprecedented twelve critical triggers, while Mocha, Silent Tom and Promise Daughter each functioned as additional pressure on any guards the opponent chose to make. Miss Mist and Apollon are taken as alternative single-card techniques to occasionally force the opponent into an unusual situation by stopping early damage altogether, or making them choose whether or not to give Horikawa one more card on top of his existing advantage by letting a lesser rearguard attack through.

The greatest flaw of Horikawa's deck that Rikino seemed to recognize over him was LaLa, whose on-call card change skill never did live up to the expectations that marketing hype put on her.

Summer 2012 Regional Tournament, Osaka Juniors Division
Card Pool: Card Pool: TD01-EB03, PR 0001-0066
Grade 0
x1 Little Witch, LuLu (FVG)
x4 Lozenge Magus HT
x4 Oracle Guardian, Nike CT
x4 Psychic Bird CT
x4 Battle Sister, Ginger CT
Grade 1
x4 Battle Sister, Chocolat
x4 Oracle Guardian, Gemini
x2 One Who Gazes at the Truth
x3 Emerald Witch, LaLa
x1 Weather Forecast, Miss Mist
Grade 2
x2 Battle Sister, Mocha
x3 Oracle Guardian, Wiseman
x4 Silent Tom
x2 Promise Daughter
Grade 3
x1 Oracle Guardian, Apollon
x4 Scarlet Witch, CoCo
x3 Goddess of Flower Divination, Sakuya