With the surge of recognition amongst anime card video games like One Piece and Digimon, it was solely a matter of time till we noticed one other one get launched into the TCG panorama. Enter the Gundam Card Game, which is one more well-known anime franchise that joins the ranks of Dragon Ball and Bleach underneath the Bandai Card Games umbrella. This shouldn’t be the primary time Gundam had a card recreation, although. In 1999, Gundam War was launched in Japan. Now, 25 years later, curiosity appears to be rising once more. From what I’ve seen to this point, the Gundam Card Game has very related mechanics to different Bandai Card Games, however the couple of twists alongside a worldwide launch plan make this upcoming launch a bit extra thrilling for each followers and aggressive gamers.
The preview occasion came about on the NASA Space Center in Houston which was becoming for the house setting that Mobile Suit Gundam is understood for. After a short presentation of the cardboard recreation and a few phrases from the particular visitor astronaut Anthony Antonelli, it was time to take a look at the sport. It’s right here that we acquired entry to the playing cards with the chance to construct our personal decks utilizing a mixture of supplied playing cards and packs from the Beta Edition. Being aware of Bandai’s One Piece Card Game amongst many different TCGs, it was fairly straightforward to select up Gundam from the get-go. If the unfamiliar key phrases are a little bit intimidating, the playing cards normally describe what the mechanics do. With that stated, it’s just the start of the Gundam Card Game, so mechanics aren’t too sophisticated at this level in case you have any TCG expertise.
As far as TCGs go, the Gundam Card Game is fairly customary regarding the kinds of playing cards and skills you may play. There are 4 kinds of playing cards in the intervening time together with Units, Pilots, Commands, and Bases. Units are after all the mech fits that followers all know and love. The Pilots are for probably the most half upgrades which you could connect to stated Units to buff and infrequently add talents. Commands are one-time use playing cards like spells in different video games, with results like drawing playing cards or eradicating models from the sphere. Finally, Bases are used as an additional defensive layer to guard the participant’s life rely. The objective of the sport is to whittle down your opponent’s shields right down to zero earlier than dealing the successful blow. So a lot of the gameplay is balancing between attacking your opponent’s models and shields and defending your self with bases or models that may block with the assistance of command playing cards on each fronts.
The useful resource system could be very fascinating on this recreation, as a result of not solely does it assist the gamers pay for issues, nevertheless it additionally determines whether or not they can play robust or weak playing cards. Similar to One Piece and even Hearthstone for those who’re not aware of Bandai Card Games, the participant beneficial properties sources or mana each flip up till the max of ten on the sphere. It is feasible to get extra sources with the assistance of EX useful resource playing cards, that are one-time use variations. Here’s the kicker: playing cards have each a price and a degree printed on the cardboard. A participant’s degree is set by what number of useful resource playing cards they’ve in play. So if a participant has 5 useful resource playing cards and one EX useful resource card, they’ll play a degree 6 card – just like the uncommon Wing Gundam unit – so long as they’ve the accessible energetic sources to take action. Even although Wing Gundam prices 4 sources to play, the participant shouldn’t be allowed to play it till they attain six sources. It sounds daunting to consider with reference to creating and balancing playing cards on the developer aspect, nevertheless it’s a pleasant strategy to progress the gameplay with out coping with tremendous robust playing cards very early. At least that’s what it seems to do from my perspective.
Another cool mechanic of the sport revolves across the Pilots. Of course with Gundam comes the assorted pilots from the numerous collection, from the OG man himself Amuro Ray to the brooding Heero Yuy. In addition to bettering the capabilities of any given Unit, some Pilots have their major mech fits, which permit for a particular standing referred to as Link Unit. When Amuro Ray is hooked up to an RX-78-2 Gundam, as an example, they acquire the Link Unit standing permitting the Gundam to assault instantly on the flip it was performed. That’s the most important plus when making a Link Unit. Otherwise, some playing cards get added results as properly, just like the Pilot Banagher Links, who attracts one card when he and Unicorn Gundam acquire Link Unit standing when pairing. So in the case of constructing a stable deck, these synergies appear to play an enormous half in getting probably the most worth from the playing cards you’ll be able to play.
With the playing cards I had, I used to be capable of create three mono-color decks in inexperienced, blue, and white. Green appears to be the extra aggressive of the trio, with mechanics like Breach that do extra injury to the opponent’s protect when destroying models. Blue appears extra like management, which the colour is notoriously recognized for in card video games. This contains pinging models for injury, therapeutic, and even resting or dulling enemy models which permits for assaults on them. And white was filled with models that may block, so it’s a really defensive play fashion. Players can construct decks with a max of two colours, which was advisable per the inserts within the package, however making your individual decks is extra enjoyable! Not to say the attractive artwork on a few of these playing cards on this recreation. Like different Bandai Card Games, we will count on completely new alternate artwork on many of those playing cards and that’s sufficient to get any Gundam fan on this.
Another fascinating announcement for this recreation was the worldwide launch schedule. Having performed the One Piece Card Game competitively for a while, there was quite a lot of dialogue in regards to the Japan meta, as a result of the playing cards have been launched there first versus different territories. For occasion, a card might be actually robust in Japan’s aggressive scene, so that they nerf or ban it by the point it will get to different territories just like the States. This didn’t make of us pleased and in any other case made a powerful and uncommon card ineffective. With the worldwide launch, this could alleviate all of these considerations and provides everybody the identical time with new playing cards earlier than any type of restriction is warranted.
When the Gundam Card Game was first revealed, I used to be excited to see something Gundam, however to additionally crossover with a gaming medium that I like was the cherry on prime. Having performed with different TCGs and experiencing their communities, I can see one thing related taking place the place followers of the collection who don’t essentially play card video games wish to bounce into this recreation to test it out, which is at all times nice to see. In the tip, these sorts of video games profit from the prevailing fandom and the gameplay is fascinating sufficient to make for some cool deck-building and matches. It’s simply getting began, so I’m trying ahead to testing what else they’ll prepare dinner up as extra units come out.
