News: TD08 and TD09 Release Dates, New Sleeves

Today the release dates for trial decks 08 and 09, Liberator of the Sanctuary and Eraser of the Empire, have been confirmed as January 26th, 2013. The decks will be available just thirteen days after the first episode of the third season, Link Joker, airs on January 13th. By that time it's expected that TD08's exclusive grade 3s will have their card skills revealed. Additionally, two sleeves based off of the new units, "Solitary Liberator, Gancelot" and "Eraser, Vowing Sword Dragon" have been announced, giving Gancelot fans a long-awaited new look for their decks.

The trial decks, already known to be for Gold Paladin and Narukami, are speculated to include multiclan skills like those of BT09: Clash of the Knights and Dragons' Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark Spirits. If so, this would make the decks compatible with not just existing Gold Paladin support, but also with Royal Paladin and Kagerou support, updating one clan that has not had new cards printed forit since May of 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.

Character: Ishida Naoki

"Break time!"

Ishida Naoki/石田ナオキ
Age: 15/16 (presumed)
Voice Actor: Nara Touru (Japanese)
Anime Biography: A first-year high school student at Miyaji Academy, at the start of the third season Naoki was dissatisfied with his everyday school life. Alienated by the serious, academic atmosphere of Miyaji, Naoki followed his new classmate Sendou Aichi to Card Capital after seeing an abrupt shift in the transfer student's personality. Convinced by the visiting Team SIT Genius members and Sendou himself to partake in a cardfight, Ishida picked up the game seriously after becoming fired up in an introductory game with Sendou, and bought a trial deck on the spot.

Manga Biography: At his original debut Naoki was a coarse and distant boy, hazing Aichi for his hobbies and refusing to look into Sendou's school club.

Spoiler warning: Manga details follow.
Although not yet confirmed, it's implied that Naoki was the one who tore down Aichi's club poster at Miyaji.
Spoilers end here.

Universal Notes: Due to becoming too fired up in gameplay, Naoki tends to call every card his "avatar" card, mimicking the phrase that he first learned from Aichi.

Fan Culture: Naoki has been compared to one of Nara Touru's other acting roles, as Nishida "Nikuman-kun" Yūsei of Chihayafuru. At Ishida's debut, Nara was very popular for his role as Nishida, and the similarities in portrayal between the two characters have been favorably compared. A common joke among fans is to see the two characters confused because of the similar voice that Nara gives them, despite their lack of visual similarities.

Naoki's Engrish catchphrase "Break Time!" has often been parodied by both Japanese and overseas fans in conjunction with Kit Kat products, in part because of the international slogan for Kit Kat, "Have a break... have a Kit Kat".

Decks and Play Style
Naoki's deck is based out of a Narukami trial deck that he bought from Card Capital, TD08: Eraser of the Empire. Based around controlling the opponent's front row in the early game and mowing them down with powerful limit breaks in the late, his deck has a stronger endgame than contemporary Narukami decks because of Vowing Sword Dragon's break ride skill. His take on the clan is based heavily around the Eradicator subgroup, which gain power bonuses from having a vanguard with "Eradicator" in its name, promoting field unity for overwhelming power.

One difficulty Naoki experiences while cardfighting is his wholehearted devotion to attack, calling units that most fighters would normally reserve for defense. Because of this and his lack of early guarding, even while holding an advantage over opponents in terms of total cards controlled, Ishida tends to be unable to last through the late game to see his limit break skills come out.

Rides 105-106 (21/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Stone Bullet Eradicator, Houki (FVG)
x2 Zephyr Eradicator, Hayate ST
x2 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT
x1 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
Grade 1
x2 Dust Storm Eradicator, Toko
x1 Red River Dragoon
x1 Eradicator of True Flames, Kougaiji
x1 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
Grade 2
x2 Eradicator, Thunder Boom Dragon
x1 Assassin Sword Eradicator, Susei
x1 Lightning Blade Eradicator, Jeem
x1 Dragon Dancer, Veronica
x1 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
Grade 3
x2 Discharging Dragon
x1 Chain-Attack Eradicator, Shion
x1 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon

Around ride 107, Naoki began to make serious modifications to the deck, having been inspired by Kourin's retreating first vanguard. Unlike Kai, Naoki's Narukami deck is built more around field control, using Gauntlet Buster Dragon along with Vowing Sword and Gauntlet support cards to quickly clear out the opponent's rearguards while also building up power and critical for a strong center line.

Rides 107-Current (18/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Ambush Dragon Eradicator, Linchu (FVG)
x1 Zephyr Kid, Hayate ST
x1 Eradicator, Dragon Mage DT
x1 Demonic Dragon Eradicator, Seiobo HT
x1 Eradicator, Yellow Gem Carbuncle CT
Grade 1
x1 Eradicator, Demolition Dragon
x4 Thunder Fist Eradicator, Dui
x1 Dust Storm Eradicator, Tokou
x2 Red River Dragoon

Grade 2
x1 Assassin Sword Eradicator, Susei
x1 Eradicator, Thunder Boom Dragon
x1 Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
Grade 3
x2 Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon
x1 Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon