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Fire Emblem Cipher: Series 14


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https://fecipher.jp/

 

The Fire Emblem Cipher Trading Card Game (TCG) is a collectible card game based on the Fire Emblem series by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. Though it has only been available in Japan and there's no word on an official English release, it is regularly updated with new sets and rules which keep it interesting for fans to talk about.

 

Series 14 is the upcoming expansion releasing on September 27, and will include one new booster pack featuring characters from the titles Awakening, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Birthright, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions. The focus of this topic is on this particular set, but is also open to having any other discussion pertaining to the TCG in general.

 

Getting Started

 

Despite the TCG only being available in Japanese, there are a number of resources made available by fans in English which provide information on what you need to know in order to collect the cards or even how to play the game. The best source, in my opinion, is the wiki guide written here, though you can also refer to the information on the official site linked above, albeit in Japanese.

 

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Basically:

  • New collectors who want to own specific cards of their favorite characters should get an idea of how much they individually go for at the local retailers and try to buy/trade for them within the second hand market (fellow fans in various communities). This is generally more cost friendly than the easy route of buying them off online retailers like eBay, Amazon, or TCG Republic, so you can get a lot of mileage from doing research and knowing what's out there and at what prices. If you want to import sealed starter decks, boosters, or sleeves, I recommend buying through AmiAmi.
  • New players can try owning any of the available starter decks to help them with learning, which are ready to play and are all suitable for introducing the game. Online simulators with English translations of all the cards are out there too! The one shared on the wiki is pretty popular, although I personally prefer playing with FECipherVit.
  • New sets are released every few months and new promo cards are regularly distributed during the interims through various means (events, magazines, etc.), so there's constantly new stuff to glean over.
  • If you really like the art, know that many illustrators of the card artwork tend to publicly upload the full illustrations via Twitter or Pixiv, usually after the release of a new set. Some might not be available though.

Card Sets

 

Series 14 will be out on September 27, but there have already been hundreds of different cards released since the TCG started in 2015, with each set focusing on specific groups of Fire Emblem titles.

 

For a full list of cards, you can check them out here, or search the wiki.

 

Series 15, which will feature New Mystery of the Emblem, Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776, and Conquest, will release later this year!

 

Basic Rules

 

In Fire Emblem Cipher, two players wage battle against each other using their army of characters, with the ultimate goal of claiming victory by defeating the opposing army's leader in combat until they can no longer be sustained by their five orbs.

 

Each army's deck needs at least 50 cards to engage in battle, and unlike some other card games, running out of cards to draw from your deck just means you have to replenish your deck with all the cards left in your retreat to continue the battle, meaning the victory condition is all you have to focus on.

 

Game Flow

 

Each turn consists of these actions in the following order, which are divided into their own phases:

  1. Drawing a card from your deck
  2. Adding a card from your hand to the bond row
  3. Deploying units from your hand to the battlefield
  4. Attacking enemies, activating skills, or repositioning your units

This goes back and forth between both players until one emerges as the battle's victor!

 

Card Details

 

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Here's a quick rundown on what everything means on any card:

  • Unit name - The name of the character depicted on the card. With the epithet, constitutes the card name.
  • Epithet - A title distinguishing the unit from other different cards they may have. With the unit name, constitutes the card name.
  • Power - A measure of the unit's strength when engaged in combat.
  • Aid - A measure of the unit's strength when assisting an ally in combat.
  • Range - Indicates how far the unit can attack in relation to their position on the battlefield.
  • Class - Represents the unit's class and how seasoned they are.
  • Skills - Normal skills the unit possesses, which grant various abilities.
  • Assist skills - A type of skill which may only be activated when the unit is assisting an ally in combat.
  • Field cost - The number of bonds needed to deploy the unit from your hand to the battlefield.
  • Class change cost - The number of bonds needed to promote the already deployed unit to this card.
  • Symbol - Denotes the unit's associated faction and color.
  • Gender - The gender the unit is identified as.
  • Weapon - The type of weapon the unit uses in combat.
  • Types - Additional attributes of the unit if any, such as if they are a flier or armored.

Further details on how the game plays can be found on the wiki.

 

If there's anything you want clarification on, whether about the rules of the game or anything else regarding the cards, you're welcome to ask here!

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Just a quick summary of what to look forward to.

 

Intelligent Systems has just finished hosting their yearly anniversary event, the FE Cipher Summer Party tour, in the interim between the last set and this upcoming one. Now they'll be providing updates via Twitter to help promote the upcoming booster next month and keep fans' interests in check. They'll also be broadcasting a livestream event via Niconico this coming weekend and another shortly before release to provide more news that way.

 

This will be the second of the four sets of Season 4 of FE Cipher. There will be cards of characters from Awakening, the Tellius games, and Birthright, so those particular colors in the card game (blue/green/white) will be seeing support. There will also be new Tokyo Mirage Sessions cards, specifically as blue ones.

 

At the Summer Party, we learned that they will be releasing promo cards of Bunny Lucina from FE Heroes and female Corrin as she appears in the Crown of Nibelung manga starting in October. This will also be the set where the special tournament Celica promo will finally see distribution (because we already know its card number starts with P14).

 

There will be a new mechanic implemented in the TCG this set involving a completely new place to set your cards on the field called the "Mugen Area". It's not yet known what it's used for but we already know the upcoming cards will make use of it in some capacity. I'm personally looking forward to learning how it works and seeing the TCG continue to develop as a game.

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The official Twitter has shared the first three cards of the new set: those of Chrom, male Robin, and female Robin.

 

I'd like to preface this by saying I immediately noticed that the cards do not have their card numbers as they used to on their sample images. This started happening last set and I guessed it was because they wanted to keep things secret and more of a surprise with their reveals. Then later on I wondered if it had anything to do with the season icon that also started showing up, but I'm thinking that if it's still happening now, that can't be why. Mildly disappointed personally as I preferred seeing the card numbers, but I can understand why they're temporarily omitted.

 

Chrom's new card doesn't provide him with any options to boost his own attack, instead it doubles as a healer card, with the only drawback being that the card has to be a cost 1 (healers typically don't have this specific restriction, or if they do it's something else). I think it's perfectly fine with what they're trying to do with it, it's supposed to support other cards while being viable enough in its own right.

 

Male and female Robin work similarly. They're not as strong as Chrom but they have magic granting them extra range. If they support in battle, they can move a different enemy unit to a more favorable position. What sets them apart is that male Robin is more aggressive, he can get more copies of himself as he defeats enemies, while female Robin is further suited for moving enemies and is able to move anyone else at will.

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For today, they showed off two cards for male Corrin, the main character of this story of FE Fates Birthright.

 

His new cost 1 has been out for a while already as a promo, but to touch on it briefly, I think it's a decent upgrade on his old one from the second set. Just play a Hoshidan sibling and he'll be rallied to be a bit stronger

 

His cost 2 nicely translates the moment in the original game in which he inadvertently becomes a Feral Dragon. By playing the card (either fielding it or leveling it up from a cost 1 Corrin), you're offered great value since cost 2 cards aren't normally as strong as having base 70 attack. But the catch is that Corrin is super susceptible to taking damage: he automatically self-destructs at the end of each turn with an Azura fielded and he isn't able to evade attacks. In other words, the Feral Dragon Corrin is powerful, but very reckless.

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For the lead character of the green cards in this set, it's Ike. The main focus of the cards is supposed to be on the Greil Mercenaries, so naturally Ike will be here.

 

Both cards of his tailor him for his typical role of a front line beater. His new cost 1 mostly outclasses his original one from the third set where can get extra power if he's stacked with at least one card underneath. His promoted Lord card has him wield Urvan, something which isn't possible in Path of Radiance. With the axe, his attacks deal more damage against the enemy leader, and defeating an enemy can forcibly pull all other enemies closer within ally range. Overall both are very solid cards mechanically. I really like how the art looks for the second card, I assume the signature is of his voice actor's.

 

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Also, the latest issue of Nintendo Dream this week revealed that next month's issue will have a new male Robin promo. He can be used to reveal the top card of both players' decks. Here's an Amazon link for it, it comes out September 21.

 

I checked around for anything on Dengeki Nintendo. Technically there is already known to be FE Cipher content within the issue, but it has to do with the Tetsu Kurosawa illustration thing from before. I think they're supposed to be announcing who want what he drew of Elise/Sakura/Tsubasa or something, but that's all I've seen.

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I was hoping to see Itsuki today, but I'm pleasantly surprised with this Ryoma reveal.

 

His cost 1 is kind of whatever, but it's faithful to him in that he can use his Raijinto to attack from a distance and with an extra punch. The cost 4 is much cooler though, as it's being used to announced a new type of skill called Dragon Blood. The purpose of this type is to allow the skill in question to be able to be shared with other allied units. In this case, Ryoma's got a DB skill which grants him 1-2 range for a bond flip; if anyone else has their card written the same, they can have access to that same skill too, and vice versa. These other characters are presumably the other royals (including the Nohrians in S15) and perhaps others like Corrin or Azura. I think it's a really cool idea to enhance the characters like they did with Dragon Vein skills in S6/7.

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Titania is the last daily of the week, who gets her first SR!

 

Her cost 1's not too special other than that it benefits a lot from being supported by Greil, I think the Gawain card is her best option to include.

 

Titania SR is really cool, since she can instantly unlock the ability to use LvS skills of other allies without the necessary stack of cards to use them for a short period of time. Because card stacking is a process which takes place over the course of many turns, being able to use LvS skills right away lets you achieve some strategies much sooner than otherwise. Titania is also able to reposition all of her allies around at will if she has at least three cards in her own stack (or if she uses the aforementioned skill to use any LvS skills immediately if she doesn't).

 

Tomorrow, there will be another livestream, and I'm looking forward to learning more. I really hope they talk about the Mugen Area in detail.

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2 hours ago, Chrom said:

I really hope they talk about the Mugen Area in detail.

If they do, I'd appreciate it if you could write up a bit about it that I could quote you on for my livestream article for SF. It would be good to include, but between my lack of knowledge in both Japanese and Cipher gameplay, I wouldn't be able to construct it myself.

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Wanted to talk about this briefly before the next time I get a chance to by the end of the day. That is almost certainly artwork of Exalt Lucina they're teasing in the tweet, going by the design of her crown which is very similar to Chrom's. I can't see this not being an SR. Binding Blade is mentioned in the tweet because Corrin's voice actor is apparently a fan of the game, so they plan to ask him about it. 

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I'm sorry, I lied. Maybe this will be my last post.

 

 

FE Cipher livestreams are being broadcast on YouTube now! I think this will be really great for accessibility in watching them, and giving their official YouTube channel some extra mileage.

 

They also teased artwork for Legion from New Mystery just now. I'm really curious how he'll play in the TCG because in the original game his gimmick involved having clones of himself. I suspect they might have it so that you're allowed to have multiple Legions fielded at the same time, similar to Anna or monster enemies like Risen.

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Okay, so I'm mildly disappointed that it's not more than what it actually is (I blame the long wait for it), but I'm still pretty pleased with what it turned out to be because I think it makes sense for the game and they can still potentially cool things with it.

 

Mugen is apparently just an out of play area, I've seen it most compared to the lost zone in the Pokémon TCG. They've showcased two cards so far (Gunter and Elise) which go to mugen instead of retreat (the discard pile) like they normally would if they were destroyed. There is a common thread of permanent loss with the theme of each card (Gunter's fall and Elise's death), so I'm not thinking there may necessarily be ways in the future to retrieve cards from mugen, but we don't know all the specifics as to how it works at this time. For now, due to the fact that there isn't a known way to retrieve cards back from mugen to the deck or hand, it can be understood that mugen cards become unusable for the rest of the game.

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The official Twitter's shared a handful of cards. I think they were actually backed up and meant to share some the other day, but oh well. I'd like to take the time to go over them in the meantime.

 

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For today, they shared the cards of Cordelia and Severa which go together. Not just art-wise, but mechanically as well. They both share a healing skill which lets them draw in a blue flier card of other characters into the player's hand (such as Sumia, Cynthia, Gerome, etc.), which is a nice way to improve a character's consistency in performance as well as help set up class changes.

 

Cordelia's meant to be a beater, but the +20 passive bonus she gets when she promotes into her card only applies during her turn. Severa's a good card to play in flier focused decks because she can get that same bonus as Cordelia without needing a promotion, she just needs other adjacent flier allies for it.

 

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Lucina's cards which were also posted. They chronicle her struggles in another timeline.

 

The cost 1 emphasizes class changing other allies to boost Lucina's attack. The cost 3 Paladin card relies on the same thing, but in order to have Lucina heal herself; it's a good bridge to promote into a future card. Like her last one here.

 

As a parallel to the Exalt Chrom card, Exalt Lucina is a powerful endgame card. She's one of the new cards that introduces the Awakening Skill, a type of ability triggered by class changing and its effect multiplies by the number of cards underneath the unit when they promoted, but it only lasts for that turn. In this case, Exalt Lucina instantly buffs all other allies by 10 for each card under her when she promotes into this card (the more she had already promoted, the bigger the bonus). She is also the first card with an X class change cost, meaning its value is a variable. For Lucina, the number of bonds needed to promote into Exalt is just the number of orbs the opponent currently has (so from zero to five). This is huge because it means she can be played with little to no resources near the end of the game. Lastly, she lets you draw cards whenever a class changed ally defeats an enemy, which is a nice bonus.

 

Overall, I think Exalt Lucina is a very solid card for her. I've already come up with a particular game plan on how to use her with Chrom's cards because his recent ones go really well with Lucina and feel like they were meant to be used with her.

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More new cards! Mayo gets to draw another triple set of the brothers Rolf, Boyd, and Oscar like in Series 3, and they work pretty similarly as they did back then. Set them all out for a stronger play in the form of a "Triangle Attack". Previously it was relegated to a single attack, but these new cards can all still fight while boosting each other. Boyd's able to wind up for an attack that breaks an extra orb on the enemy leader, Oscar can heal a card for Rolf or Boyd, and Rolf can make his attacks unavoidable against non-leaders. I think they're pretty much better than their old ones though they don't completely outclass them.

 

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They've also shown off the Gawain SR which debuted at this past weekend's livestream.

 

I have to be honest, this is actually my favorite card of the set so far. It's really cool. What's great about him is how easily he can chip away at the opponent's orbs, and at endgame he just blows up the field for free. The requirement for having a stack of five cards is very daunting, but they've already showcased cards which are designed to alleviate this issue, such as Titania SR and the new cost 2 Soren. I have a good feeling a lot of people will be playing Gawain after the set comes out; he's already got a lot of card support.

 

Also wanted to share earlier that the official product page for Series 14 was updated a while ago.

 

The new takeaways from this are:

 

- Takumi and Azura will be in the booster

- Itsuki has at least one other new card

- Preview promos of Marth or Leif are included, for Series 15

- Either one of the 3rd anniversary reprints of the Commander Anna or Alfonse promos are included as well

- Awakening or New Mystery card sleeves for early buyers

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New cards for Hinoka! They're illustrated by Fumi, who will be credited by their full name Fumi Hasumi moving forward, they confirmed on their Twitter earlier it's them.

 

First Hinoka is a traditional flier card used to move allies around. I like that she kills a Faceless in the art, I actually really want to see a proper card for it. Promoting to her new Falcon Knight card makes use of the new Dragon Blood gimmick, where she or other DB users can move to the rear for free whether before or after attacking. She's also got a cheap pull option to help pick off weak enemies, which might be helpful in disrupting anything the opponent may be trying to set up by the time you play this card.

 

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Then they also gave a proper look at the new male Corrin SR! I like how the illustration represents the unity between Corrin and the other Hoshidan royals. In gameplay it's like that too. Since each member has their own DB skill to pass off to others, they become more powerful as more members are played. Corrin's DB skill gives him +10 during his own turn (and characters like Ryoma and Hinoka would gain this effect too). Corrin's also got a way to help field white colored allies, which helps him doubly so if they're the royals because then that would help set up DB skills to play. I'm hoping Takumi and Sakura's will be worthwhile too, we haven't seen theirs yet.

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New cards for Owain! They gave him an Awakening Skill that suits the kind of existing playstyle he's had with his past cards, where he breaks extra orbs for according to how many cards he has underneath. By nature of AS skills only working on promotion, Owain will always break two when it works, but it can be more if he's been promoting to other cards before then. He can also basically "Galeforce" multiple times when he destroys anyone who isn't the enemy leader. It isn't really compatible with his Awakening Skill but it does give him some second purpose after the first turn (since AS skills no longer become active after the turn they promote).

 

Also like the fun detail with the card quote on the R+, I've never seen so much flavor text on a card before.

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The last card of the week is...Leo SR! Even though the set is focused on Birthright, this is based on him assuming the role of Nohr's ruler at the end of the campaign, you can even see he wields Xander's sword Siegfried. The card itself functions very heavily against enemy mages, as he can destroy them all at once and delay their deployment for a turn, which is really nasty in certain matchups. What's more is that he boosts his attack by +30 for a turn as a result of any enemy being destroyed (including by his aforementioned skill), so even without the mage advantage he has a decent way to hit really hard. Really neat card in my opinion.

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New store posters for the set, showing off new art and cards (close-ups of the cards in question in the replies)

 

 

That thread doesn't include it, but here's Itsuki as well. I like the detail that it actually has two quotes on it, since he and Chrom are talking to each other.

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