TPJ-032:"Yakumo Ran/Familiar"「八雲 藍／式神」
| Card type | Character |
| Card name | Yakumo Ran/Familiar |
| Cost | ４ |
| Team | Gensokyo |
| Visible / Hidden | Visible only |
| Flight, Ranged | |
| ATK | ７ |
| DEF | ６ |
| Card text | Reservist |
| When Yakumo Ran enters play, Search a card with name Yakumo Yukari from your deck and put it into your hand. | |
| At the start of combat phase, reveal the top card of your deck. if it is a plottwist card, put it into your hand. | |
| Card number | TPJ-032 |
TPJ-021:"Lunasa Prismriver/Prismriver Three Sisters"「ルナサ・プリズムリバー／プリズムリバー三姉妹」
| Card type | Character | |
| Card name | Lunasa Prismriver/Prismriver Three Sisters | |
| Cost | ４ | |
| Team | Gensokyo | |
| Visible / Hidden | Visible only | |
| Flight, Ranged | ||
| ATK | ６ | |
| DEF | ９ | |
| Card text | Reservist | |
| Lunasa Prismriver can attack only characters with odd cost. | ||
| Flavor text | The lead sis is kinda spooky an' no my style. | |
| Card number | TPJ-021 |
The universe of Battle Spirits TCG
For some reasons told in previous story summery, the universe of Battle Spirits TCG is mutually constructed and linked between its game design, character backgrounds, and fantasy game worlds. There are currently six colors existed in the universe and game of Battle Sprits, which each represents different home worlds of spirits in extra dimensional planes. And main characters or players in the show/comics excel in their personal color cards and decks.
Red is the personal color of the main character boy Bashin, and contains powerful forces of spirits like tough wild beasts, huge reptiles or dinosaurs, furious scaled humanoid races with intelligence called "Dragnos", and ancient dragon lords.
The main strategy of red might seem very aggressive and offence-oriented at first look, for many spirit powers or nexus effects of are activated through attack actions. But considering that Battle Spirits TCG is an active game in its origin design, Red represents the most basic and initial card groups in the game.
Not only some steroid creatures or burn magics, there are also convenient draw source or resource/core manipulation "Awakening" spirits power. It is very important to remember that there are very few (and mostly ineffective) nexus removal options other than red cards.
Bashin mainly plays red decks, and is now the master of two red X rare spirits, The DragonEmperor Siegfried and The TwinRowdy Diranos! Deep within the warlike and primordially balanced world of red, vast elder wisdoms and knowledge are hidden. And the mastery of Red strategies would tame even the most brute forces of all, and command them with cool cunningness.
White is the personal color of the other main cast, "J" (Juli Sawaragi, the unfamiliar first name came from his half Finn birth) the young champion player of Battle Spirits TCG. As Bashin plays the game with passion, J plays his deck with the power of reason and logic. Although white cards and J's playing style look defensive and steady, white contains one of the fastest beat decks or tactics. The mystery of ambivalence lies in tempo control, which is the point of white strategies.
White can access to various opposing cards with bounce effects, in which white specializes at. This remarks that white lacks in ways to gain card advantages, with short draw source and less card removal/disposal. But tempo manipulation tactics make this weakness to a challenging feat, or even greater advantages!
With accesses to tempo of both sides, white card can make opposing players ineffective and distracted before they accomplish full board development. And cost reduction rule helps white side to build forces in superior efficiency. This enables white strategies adaptable to any spans throughout the game, from fast-paced beat to heavy-cost total control.
Symbolizing deck themes of the color, white spirits are originated from armored creatures like shelled crustaceans or scale-plated flying fishes, artificial drones, robots, gigantic machine-monsters, and glamour-wielding metallic fairies. With their unity and systematically combined might, as J's favorite white X rare spirit The Gigantic Thor often charges to enemies armed with the weapon his fellow reinforcement robotic spirits transformed, players can establish fine defense line to create more greater counterstrike chances!
Green world is said that it was originally a harmonized plane of woods and grasslands, flourished with life force and nature gifts. But powerful beastlords having started battles for their hegemony there recently, once peaceful sanctuary became uneasy battleground and those innocent little or fragile are now threatened by former protectors. To solve the situation, concerned treefolk elders newly summoned other beastlords for guardians and arbitrators. As war of predators, beastmen, raptors, and insectoids goes on, will there be any chances to stop the battle?
Green enlists the mightiest spirits of all colors in its forces, and thanks to core generating/accelerating capabilities players can pump their levels and BPs up to the best easily and rapidly. Although suffered by short active draw source (due to counter-balance its broad/tempo merit, just same as white does), green decks can manage to overcome by unique spirit powers such as recovering to refresh status or entering play in flash timing. Supported by good combat tricks and resource management cards, green is the most battle oriented color of all.
The master player of green is a boy nicknamed as "Striker"「ストライカー」(his real name was later revealed as Kakeru Nohara), who is Bashin's best friend and a former ace player of their school soccer team. When Striker suffered unfortunate leg injuries by accidents, he chose to become a player of another game in all new fields, to protect others from bully players from the League. His trained and strengthened will makes powerful decision for a beginner player, even awe-inspiring to experienced friend players sometime! In daily school times he is little a mischievous boy and being just another fine buddy kid though.
Purple contains a realm of dark, shadowy kingdoms of curses and death-magics. The inhabitants there were mostly frightening monsters, such as winged night creatures, miner demonic being like imps, or lesser formless spawns. Those are led by legendary monsters like vampires, mummies, or even greater demonic figures. This might sound chilling or haunting, although worldviews shown by illustrations or favor texts are somewhat less grim and more lawful than you imagine. The netherworld of purple is ruled by Seven Generals of the Pandemonium, each representing a race co-existing in this realm.
Purple cards in TCG provides good draw sources, as well as various spirit removal effects which can deal opposing spirits not only destroying them but also neutralizing powers by manipulating their cores. Purple was favorite color for control deck players at first, with powerful magic/nexus effects and high cost spirits.
But additional sets supplied the color a lot of low/middle cost spirits that can match forces of other colors with attack-triggering powers. Current purple strategies shows many varieties of decks, beat decks supported by spirit removal magics, hand/resource manipulating middle speeded decks, and total control decks with a famous mass destructive X rare spirit The SevenShogun Desperado!
The main player of purple deck in the Battle Sprits story is a mysterious girl "Suiren" (「スイレン」, meaning "Lotus"), whose secret identity is a young popular singer "My Sunshine". She is playing the card game with her alter ego as a renowned expert player in spare times, hiding from her agency and managers. As she enters junior high school, she is now permitted to play the TCG as her own self, and eager to join circles of young classmate players.
Yellow is the first addition to previous four basic colors, joined from 2nd set "Geki-syou" (「激翔」, vaguely meaning "Ascendant Flights") and now consisting some major strategies in the metagame. Yellow deck player in the show is a girl "Megane-ko" (「メガネコ」, meaning "glassie-girl" as an nickname spoken by people around her with friendship), who is a childhood friend to Bashin and started to play Battle Spirits TCG following to footsteps of him. She have won many matches in the tournament and now proven herself to be a talented player, just like her favorite deck color did in the game scenes.
Yellow is a color heavily specialized in resource management. With various supporting magic effect options and spirits with relatively less BPs, its strategies are based on multi-color decks that can boost merits of other colors. Yellow also enlists bunch of small but fine utility spirits, and surprisingly powerful heavy cost spirits that can act as main deck themes. One of such cards is a X rare spirit The ArcAngelia Mikafar, whose vast magic cost reduction power enabled a combo deck that can draw up all your deck to form mass weenie attacks.
Some players in Japan said that Mikafar combo was invincible, but I doubt it from my experiences as I had beaten many Mikafar decks in past. Right now Mikafar is temporary restricted in official, but I think newcomer players in U.S. can deal with the deck even better with our past playing records in Japan.
Blue is a new addition to card colors of Battle Spirits, introduced in the latest 3rd set "Ha-tou" (「覇闘」, "Battles for the Championship"). As the set subtitle says, the whole blue world is a coliseum of fighters and challengers itself. Warlike residents of the realm had arranged an agreement to stop consuming wars by choosing their rulers with ceremonial tournaments in the past, and the legacy lingers as right now they have started the anniversary competition for the rule of their Five Kingdoms.
Blue gathers fine spirit strength in each cost areas. But they are not just mindless brawns, but are trained cunning competitors in battlegrounds. Such backgrounds are portrayed with other main strategies of blue cards; nexus manipulation and magic restriction that can support your fighters with protection from dirty tricks, and blue deck distraction tactics will cause serious nightmares to control or combo decks.
The ceremonial tournaments have started with great passion and excitement of the crowd, with entrances of the heroes of fame. The Dogman Murdoch, renowned coach of many past champion teams. The GlantKing Randolf, fighting monorch of the Middle Kingdom. And The GlantHero Titus, legendary winner of all seven competitions! But behind in the scene, intruders are sighted repeatedly, and they are not some known foul players or cheaters, but are totally unknown interrupters! Things are seems to be getting much hotter even outside of the game...
Now this is all I can offer you for now. I hope these little articles would be your help to enjoy playing Battle Spirits TCG, and to empower playing communities of the game in global (of course this means Japan is included too!) for near future. I noticed that Bandai America has started coverage on official site (http://www.bandaicg.com/) recently, along with the designer’s blog by Mechael Elliott himself. I'm waiting for you all oversea fans to catch up, and enjoy playing this great game with us and being great help to enrich its fun for you and us of all.
As an appriciation for international visiters, I have a little tip for you. In the right side of this blog, Below the link area, there is a button for web clap services labeled 「ウェブ拍手」. I have written series of tip articles for Battle Spirits TCG in times of new blog entries. I'm going to write new one from now and this time it would be a deck list that I had used in Tokyo preliminary tournament. Some cards are from expansion sets (and I'm not sure all english edition cards have identical english card names written in cards in Japan) so you might not comprehend them now. But I hope they would be your help for a little someday.
The background stories of Battle Spirits TCG
Not only a TCG, Battle Spirits has developed several contents simultaneously in Japan.
As the Battle Spirits project started as an anniversary products line, its media contents were supported by partnership between Bandai and SUNRISE Inc.「サンライズ」 (it is told that the early product codename "BS" came from initials of each companies), one of leading anime companies in Japan. Currently animated TV series "Battle Spirits: Bashin, the breakthrough boy"「バトルスピリッツ 少年突破バシン」 has been on air for a half year. And its monthly serial comics is running on Kerokero Ace Magazine「ケロケロエース」, a kids comic magazine.
Animated series is directed by Mitsuru Hongou 「本郷みつる」, an experienced kids anime director from 90's who have also showed unique talent for robot animes in recent works like "IGPX" or "REIDEEN". United with animators from SUNRISE Inc, Battle Spirits animated series pays attention relatively heavily on daily school life of kid characters/players in the story. Though they play the card game, attend to tournaments or conventions, or fight villain players some times, their dramas in the show are merged with everyday episodes of youth and friendship.
As for a summery of the show, the story follows on a 6th grade elementary school boy named Bashin Toppa 「馬神トッパ」. Although started playing Battle Spirits TCG as an inexperienced beginner player, he occasionally awakens the gift within himself to summon spirits and nexuses in his command during the game. From then Bashin achieves cards, skills, and knowledge of the card game rapidly, not only for his talent but with many helps and experiences from friends, other awakened players, and powerful rivals.
As these kids aware of their powers and natures behind the card game, a mysterious society of game players starts challenging them. "The League of Thousands Spirits", and its member players or minions each called by distinct numbers. Bashin and kids learn that spirits in the Battle Sprits card game were originally inhabited in other dimensional plane, but separated and commanded by the cards somehow according to the League's secret scheme.
Bashin and friends vowed finding the way to liberate spirits and their planes in last winter episodes, and they enters junior high school in this spring (we start new school years form April in Japan.) Divided in separate schools and classes, there will be new characters and encounters among them, awaited by new foes and players from the League.
On the other hand, the comics adaptation series on Kerokero Ace Magazine features more on fights between spirits and players. Both sharing same stories and backgrounds in general, those two Battle Spirits storylines are making an interesting contrast.
The Battle Spirits comics are written and illustrated by Hideaki Fujii 「藤異秀明」, the comic book artist renowned with energizing and acrobatic battle scenes and monster portrayals. like his run on several kids magazine comics (such as "D-Children" 「真・女神転生デビルチルドレン」 adaptation comics from a computer game/TCG product) in the past did, Fujii shows dynamic and thrilling battles of players and spirit forces in otherworldly planes.
About a half of past Kerokero Ace Magazine issues have contained an exclusive promo card in a volume so far, and so is an each volumes of comic trade paperbacks (whose promos features a card illustration by Hideaki Fujii). Roughly once in a year the Magazine has appended a beginner’s starter deck as a supplement each copy, advertising to and assisting newcomer players. I'm not sure if things will work like this in U.S. just same as in Japan here, considering there are no information about the Battle Spirits media business in overseas right now. But I think Bandai will find chances to provide you anime shows or comics somehow, or promo cards supplement for believers around the world at least.
The game of Battle Spirits TCG
There are not enough time to explain all of the game, so I'm going to tell you less of the game rules (I know you can find out somewhere from the web, most likely from the Bandai America's official site http://www.bandaicg.com/ in near future), just an outline of the game so that you can find out on your own, and try to inform more of the predictable future, the past, then and now of the Battle Sprits TCG game environment and products.
Battle Spirits TCG started as a 20th anniversary project of Bandai's trading card brand "Carddass" series「カードダス」. "Carddass" is also known as a bending machine of the cards, and originally sold many character cards such as Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, or Robot Anime Mechas like SD Gundam merchandises 「ＳＤガンダム」.
Though most of them was collectable character cards with game-like gimmicks, after the first TCG Magic the Gathering entered to Japan, Bandai have started to selling some of their TCG products through the Carddass bending machines located everywhere in Japan. Bandai wasn't doing well (or should I say "miserable", to be honest!) in 1990's to beginning of 2000's overall (Few were surprisingly good, "Neon Genesis Evangelion TCG" for example. A rare TCG with multiplayer oriented game system similar to VTES of White Wolf/WotC), due to the lack of urban card/board games design experiences back then. But they have continued making TCGs and its designing level had improved little by little.
From the middle of 2000's, Bandai made several adequate hit TCGs like "Bleach TCG" 「Bleach ソウルカードバトル」, "Rangers Strike", "Digital Monster Card Game: All-New Alpha Edition" 「デジモンカードゲームα」, or Dragon Ball digital coded arcade card games. But that was not enough to acquire respects from markets as one of the leading TCG game companies in Japan. They needed a more bigger hit title, and they made it as Battle Spirits TCG ("Current #3 trading-card game in Japan, behind only Duel Masters and Yu-Gi-Oh!" according to ICv2 in http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/14472.html), with the accumulated experiences form a hundred of past product titles and help of a former MTG player and WotC R&D designer Michael Elliott.
You can read biweekly columns from chief designer Michael Elliott in "Michael Elliott's designers room" 「マイケル・エリオットのデザイナーズルーム」 (http://www.battlespirits.com/feature/column/michael.html), which is the sole official english articles currently available. I think you can learn much more about the game from the columns, and obviously with his lead design and influence Battle Spirits TCG became considerably both strategic and active game compared to other Japanese TCGs in general.
You may wonder about what I just said, regarding Pokemon Card or Yu-Gi-Oh! Compared to MTG, Star Trek CCG or VS system. Well, Pokemon Card and Yu-Gi-Oh! were exceptional cases that appeared as hit games from early years of Japanese TCG history and that made them to be easily accepted by many foreign players and markets. Most TCGs in Japan are relatively TCG maniac players oriented, complicated and exhausting games for beginner/casual players and that's why they couldn't sell for overseas or mass markets unlike their predecessors. Remember that Japanese MTG pro players first made their successes on blue decks, and made many jokes about "of course Japan is a island country from the beginning" among Japanese players.
Unlike other Japanese TCGs, Battle Spirits TCG offers players fast-paced gaming from early turns of a match, also with versatile tactic options during each battle step. This aspect of the game came from its unique resource system, "the cores."
Each player starts the game with five life counters and four reserve cores, both represented by same plastic core tokens. (Though some official core tokens are included in starter set, players were not forced to use it. I prefer using a handful of glass tiles in daily games, bought from "a hundred yen shop" in Japan, like 99 cent shops in U.S.) You can use your reserve cores to pay the cost of cards in your hand, by moving numbers of cores specified as the cost from your reserve to trash area. Cores in your trash area will come back at the beginning of your next turn, and you will also gain a new core from void (core pool on outside of the game) so that resources will grow as a game goes on. This would sound very simple, clear, or boringly stereotyped perhaps. But the magic of the core gimmick is not over yet.
There are two main ways to use your cores efficiently. The one way is to use them as re-usable resources to pay costs of cards. The other way is to put them on cards you have in play (currently, Spirits or Nexuses) to make their levels up. Each card in play will have their "levels" as stated left side of card text area, according to how many cores they have. As its level changes some cards will be gifted with new abilities, or might be transformed totally in its mechanic. Also, the Battle Point (BP) of spirits will be listed on card for each levels and their basic strength will depends on how many cores they keep. You can move your cores freely between reserve and each independent card you have in play during your main step. It could be said that as Battle Spirits TCG is a card game to play cards in your hands wisely, it is also as a board game that you will plan and manage the placement of your cores each turn strategically.
As for uses of your cores, there are more exciting parts, the cost reduction. Each card will have some cost reduction symbols, so that you can see what how much of its costs will be lowered by cards you have in play sharing colors with it. Since you can gain big advantage by playing and keeping many cards in play, you would like to have a hordes of cheap spirits, not just an army but to be a resource engine by utilizing cost reduction. But you have to place at least a core on a spirit to keep them level 1, or your spirits will die if there are no cores on it and without any BPs. So as your forces of spirits will be slightly limited and balanced by total amount of cores, you have to select them from both availabilities and qualities in your deck.
This unique core management system in Battle Spirits TCG will enables you to perform more dynamic playing in middle of the game. The fast-paced weenie deck will lose its offensive power after first few turns in TCGs general. But players in Battle Spirits TCG will accumulate cores on a few selected spirits to make them reliable forces in later turns, and there will be good chances to outsmart control decks! You can also use cores to pay your Flash Timing Effect costs, regardless of in your reserve or on your cards in play. (In fact, cores on your cards in play are basically treated as they were in your reserve. If cards were to leave play, cores on it will be back to owners reserve area. Cores are designed as such a solid resources and you don't have to fear of losing them.) As your pumped spirits have done their works and exhausted for this turn (or died in battle), you are free to use remaining cores from them to gain additional advantage.
If you use cores wisely in the game, it will work for you in many ways, not just once but twice or thrice in every your turns. And this will give you total new experiences if you are playing control decks, such as playing defensive magic in critical moment dramatically, spending cores and sacrificing cards in play to save your last breath. Obviously flexibilities in core mechanics shift the game sequence to active and dynamic parts. But not just empowering beat decks, there are also counter-beat, burn, or control decks in Battle Spirits ways, even combo decks that can draw up all your deck! As those varied decks works in separate ways, they are all moving toward to win, and sharing eagerness for the victory and waiting for you!!
about me and this humble blog site
As a Japanese player of the game, I am glad to introduce this great Trading Card Game (aka Collectable Card Game, CCG for more common among the game industries in global) for TCG players (or many yet-to-see newcomers who start playing TCGs with Battle Spirits TCG) of oversea countries.
I have heard that Bandai will have first Battle Spirits TCG 「バトルスピリッツ」 demo event at GAMA Trade Show in April 14 to 17. So some of you may already played the game. It's not hard to imagine that there will be a lot chances to experience the game everywhere in U.S., and I can assure you that excitement will not just end till following North American release of this summer. Considering the current big hits and movements of Battle Spirits TCG in Japan (We had first National Championship in April 19th of 2009, just last week and not a year have passed since the game have first came out last autumn!), there is nothing to feel strange if the game would make a success in North American markets, or I can say there are chances that this TCG will make even greater success considering the affinities in game taste between Battle Spirits TCG and other TCGs originated from U.S.
Some of you might noticed that this blog entitled "VS system" 「VSシステム」(of UDE TCG products) in its name. I am a VS system player in Japan, and this blog "The VS system information outpost, in Tsukuba and Tsuchiura region" 「つくば・土浦VSシステム広報局」 was originally started to empower VS system TCG launch in Japan 2005 to 2007, which had so much difficulties and hard times.
Unfortunately we could not spread the fun of VS system TCG well in Japan, and the VS system development (in global, by UDE) officially ended at the end of January 2009. It is sad to see that there is no more new product of a game you love, as always. I liked VS system so much, not just as a TCG player but a long time American comics fan. But there are times to move on, and we had many great new TCGs from 2007 to 2008 in Japan.
I can name many recent Bandai TCGs that I have played with, such as "Rangers Strike"「レンジャーズストライク」 (a TCG which features original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers series in Japan by Touei Corp, and other TV hero programs such as "Masked Rider" series or "Big Blue Beetleborg", etc), "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Battle Card" 「ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 ＡＢＣ」(Featuring a popular Japanese Manga comic series by Hirohiko Araki), "Kekkai-shi" 「結界師カードバトル」, "Deltora Quest" 「デルトラクエスト カードゲーム」, or "SD Gundam Battle Rave" 「ガンダムバトレイヴ」which uses sorted cards in a file instead of a card deck like "Zatch Bell", not to mention other titles translated and sold in oversea such as "Naruto", "Bleach" and "Full Metal Alchemist", and so on.
I re-started this blog as an information/strategy tip site for multiple TCGs which I am/was playing, and Battle Spirits TCG is the latest and biggest addition of the list. I am glad to share the fun of Battle Spirits TCG with you, and hoping that this little (or maybe too long for a blog diary, as my friends repeatedly buzzes at me) introduction article would be your help to enjoy the game and its entertaining and enchanting worlds.
As there are more and more difficulties in purchasing the latest sets of VS system, I started personally creating and printing some all new fan-made sets "VS system the Transformers motion picture starter set" 「VSシステム劇場版トランスフォーマーセット」 and two expansions of "VS system Touhou starter set" 「VSシステム東方セット」(you can find out what the "Touhou project" STG series is, in Touhou Wiki at http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Touhou_Wiki). With all my knowledge as a former judge and help and effort of my friends, we sold some copies each contained 60 cards, as a pair of 30 card decks which you can play the game immediately, at several fan-cons of Transformers or Touhou Project in Japan. You can see some of them listed in english at "VS Touhou Spoiler (English) " categories, but sorry that the list is not complete and archived just only half cards of the first set. We are still working on of what we can everyday!
This blog service "Hatena diaries" 「はてなダイアリー」 was originated from "Hatena search", a semi-wikipedia experimental web service. Hatena diary auto link-up system will check this article and automatically link certain underlined japanese word objects to relating other hatena site entries (probably to a site with japanese explanations). I hope you can manage to see some visual images, as an annotation for my introductory texts.
