DigiGuard United

[Bandai Card Games Fest 25-26 in Dusseldorf] The various Finals taking place here this coming weekend will be streamed between 2 channels! There will even be special guests like the game's producers with new information for each title! Don’t miss it! Stream Details: bandaicardgames-fest.com/25-26/en/dusse…

My impressions of Grand Archive & Ascent Akihabara as a JP TCG-only player who learned the rules less than a week ago This’ll get a little long, but hope you enjoy the read! Some quick things about me so I don’t seem like a random Andy: - Play competitive TCGs for 13 years+ - Make videos and stream about TCGs for 10+ years, mainly Cardfight!! Vanguard - Commentated for 8+ years for various TCGs - Born and raised in Europe but been living in Japan for 3 years+ now I got invited to check out Ascent Akihabara by a couple of my friends that work at WotS since it’s in my neighborhood, and while I wasn’t really interested in the game I took them up on the offer since it’d be interesting to compare how the event is run compared to JP companies here. At that time, my impressions of GA were: - It’s a western game with JP game aesthetics - It’s insanely expensive - It’s very community driven and involved, but the JP community is fairly small in comparison so I didn’t feel enticed to try it 4 days prior to the Ascent, my friend @oceanbolt244 taught me the game and the rules seemed really intricate and unique, especially compared to a lot of the recent games popping up in (and out of) Japan - but looking at the prices of cards I couldn’t see myself investing, so I thought I’d vibe check the Ascent and see how I feel after. And I’m sure just by looking at my tweets from the last few days, you can see that vibe was immaculate. The biggest takeaway was that this company cares and invests in its players, and the pathways into the game are far more diverse than I expected. Prior to the event I heard about their competitive prizing and assumed it’s another game where that’s the main appeal, but there were so many other forms of competition with their own prizing I was shook: - Cosplay contents where attendants vote - Collection contests, where a theme is decided and players compete with their collections of that theme - Side events with major prizing - Other cute side events like card grading I didn’t join any of these and just played with the Re:Collection Merlin deck all day with friends, but just seeing the variety of events was something so novel. On top of that there were plushies, figures and art panels of the game’s characters, signing sessions by prominent illustrators, a whole fan artist alley where designing custom tokens is embraced, and I quickly realized how much the players love this game. If I had to compare it to a Japanese game, the closest is how Takara Tomy/Wizards handles Duel Masters here, where it feels very player-first and they offer events for people that don’t even play competitively, or just show up to have fun with their family or friends that might not play. This all happened at a time where I’ve been feeling disappointed in the direction and handling of my main game throughout this year, and seeing how WotS treats not only its players but artists, content creators, etc. was really inspirational. I got to speak to many Japanese and overseas players and I could tell that even for the local players that don’t speak English, this game is a communication tool that bridges those differences, which is something I care deeply about. This is the kind of game I’d love to contribute to as well, especially if I can help grow the Japanese scene. I vlogged a bunch throughout the weekend so that’ll come out soon, and Merlin’s aesthetic is everything I like so I’m afraid they got me LOL Thank you once again to the staff at WotS for inviting me, and to all the current and ex-Vanguard players that said hi! It was a very warm experience ☺️

The cutest CSR ever has been revealed via @mainphasetcg’s spoiler video! Watch the full video here: youtu.be/inI11ldRhqo

Introducing cards from the Merlin Re:Collection: Brilliant Vestige! Once merely called the Memory Thief, she now bears the sinister side of her title in full as an assassin, her descent into twisted magic fueled by a fragile hope. Tune in to our Developer Stream to see the full mechanics and further information! youtube.com/live/FwyvGLOxX…