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Fire Emblem Cipher: Difference between revisions

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==Rule set==
==Rule set==
: ''For more information, see the '''[http://serenesforest.net/wiki/index.php/Comprehensive_Rules_of_FE_Cipher Comprehensive Rules of FE Cipher]''' on Serenes Forest.''
: ''For more information, see the '''[http://serenesforest.net/wiki/index.php/Comprehensive_Rules_of_FE_Cipher Comprehensive Rules of FE Cipher]''' on Serenes Forest.''
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''0 (Cipher)'' is a two-player game which revolves around each player building an army to defend their designated "lord" character (which can be any card with a cost of 1) from their opponent's army. When setting up the game, each player sets aside five face-down cards to act as '''orbs''', which act as the [[hit point]]s for their lord.  Every time a player's lord is defeated, the player must take one of their orbs. Once a player takes their fifth and final orb, their lord is considered to be defeated and they lose the game.
''0 (Cipher)'' is a two-player game which revolves around each player building an army to defend their designated "lord" character (which can be any card with a cost of 1) from their opponent's army. When setting up the game, each player sets aside five face-down cards to act as '''orbs''', which act as the [[hit point]]s for their lord.  Every time a player's lord is defeated, the player must take one of their orbs. Once a player takes their fifth and final orb, their lord is considered to be defeated and they lose the game.

Revision as of 13:10, 19 January 2017

For the original TCG that ran from 2001 to 2004, see Fire Emblem Trading Card Game.

TCGCipher Logo 02.png

(Japanese: TCG ファイアーエムブレム 0(サイファ) TCG Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)) is a collectible card game based on the characters and settings of the Fire Emblem series. It is the second card game based on Fire Emblem, after the original Fire Emblem Trading Card Game. Unlike its predecessor, 0 (Cipher) is developed and published in-house by Intelligent Systems.[1] 0 (Cipher) began publication in 2015, as part of the release of Fire Emblem Fates, and currently has seven published series of cards with at least two more upcoming.

The game currently adapts characters from ten games (not counting remakes), with numerous other games in the series scheduled to join the line-up. The vast majority of cards depict actual characters from the games, but starting from series 2, Cipher has introduced several new characters designed as mascots for the card game itself, who have also received cards.

Unlike the original TCG, which relied primarily on a single artist to illustrate the majority of its cards, the cards of 0 (Cipher) feature illustrations from a very wide variety of artists, many of whom have no prior attachment to Fire Emblem. Art contributions for 0 (Cipher) are overseen by art director Daisuke Izuka, who also contributes some card illustrations himself.[2] Among these artists are several returning designers from earlier Fire Emblem games, including Sachiko Wada, Rika Suzuki and Senri Kita.

Rule set

For more information, see the Comprehensive Rules of FE Cipher on Serenes Forest.

0 (Cipher) is a two-player game which revolves around each player building an army to defend their designated "lord" character (which can be any card with a cost of 1) from their opponent's army. When setting up the game, each player sets aside five face-down cards to act as orbs, which act as the hit points for their lord. Every time a player's lord is defeated, the player must take one of their orbs. Once a player takes their fifth and final orb, their lord is considered to be defeated and they lose the game.

Players deploy cards onto the battlefield as active fighters in either the Vanguard Area (front line) or the Rearguard Area (back line), but the player must also play other cards as bonds to pay the costs for deployment, class changing, and execution of certain skills which are listed on each card. During the sequence of an attack, cards are played as supports in the Support Area, where they give a bonus to the attack power of the units involved in an attack. When a unit in the Vanguard or Rearguard (except a player's lord) is defeated, it is sent to the Retreat Area, the game's discard pile.

Cards and units

"Prince of Altea, Marth", an example of a typical 0 (Cipher) card.

Unlike the previous Fire Emblem Trading Card Game, all cards in 0 (Cipher) depict individual units. Each card is comprised of the following stats and elements:

  • Name: Players are only allowed to deploy one unit with a given name onto the field, and are not allowed to deploy units if their name matches the name of a unit who is already in play.
  • Title: All cards also have a title, which defines that card as a unique card compared to other cards of the same name.
  • Symbol: All cards are marked with a symbol which assigns them one game-of-origin continent affiliation (Archanea, Jugdral, Elibe, Tellius, Ylisse, Hoshido, or Nohr). The symbols of cards play a role in determining the ability of units to be deployed: at least one face-up bond with a given symbol must already be in play before a unit of that symbol can be deployed as a unit. Symbols also play a role in certain skills. The symbol is marked in along the left edge of the card.
  • Affinities: All cards are marked with a number of affinities, which define their gender, the weapon type they use, and the type of unit they are. Affinities are marked in along the left edge of the card, beneath the card's symbol.
  • Class: A unit's class from the original games generally influences their affinities and usable weapons in 0 (Cipher).
  • Deployment cost: The number of cards which must be played as bonds in order to deploy the unit onto your field. Found in the top-left corner of each card.
  • Class change cost: The number of cards which must be played as bonds in order to deploy this unit as a class change for an already-active unit of the same name. Class change costs are only found on cards in advanced classes, which have both a deployment cost and a class change cost; the class change cost is found in the top-left corner as well, directly below the deployment cost. The card may be played as a separate unit as well, but it costs fewer bonds to use it to change the class of a card that is already in action.
  • Attack power: The unit's basic strength when attacking or defending, before skills or support power come into play. Found in the bottom-left corner of the card.
  • Support power: When a unit is played in the Support Area, its support power value can be added to the attack power of an attacking or defending unit to increase their total attack power in that attack. Found in the bottom-right corner of the card.
  • Range: The range in which a unit can attack, similar to the original games. Found in the bottom-center of the card.
    • A unit with 1 range can only attack enemy units in the row directly in front of them (that is, units in their Vanguard can only attack enemy units in the enemy Vanguard, and cannot attack from the Rearguard).
    • A unit with 2 range can attack enemies situated two rows ahead of them (that is, if in their Vanguard they can attack enemy units in the enemy Rearguard, and if in their Rearguard they can only attack enemy units in the enemy's Vanguard).
    • A unit with 1-2 range can attack under both of the above conditions.
  • Skills: All units possess at least one skill which gives them a unique ability to use in gameplay. Skills tend to fall into one of six archetypes:
    • [Activate] skills can be activated at will by the player, but only during their Action Phase.
    • [Trigger] skills have effects which are automatically invoked when specific conditions defined by the card are met.
    • [Always] skills are always active as long as the unit with the skill remains in play.
    • [Bond] skills can only be used if the card is played as a bond in the Bond Area.
    • [Special] skills have effects which do not fit into the other five archetypes, often including effects which work outside how the game normally works.
    • [Support] skills are a separate category, which can only be used if the card is played as a support unit in the Support Area. They are divided into two further types of skills:
      • Is TCGCipher Attack.png Attack skills automatically activate when the player makes an attack during their Action Phase.
      • Is TCGCipher Defend.png Defense skills automatically activate when defending from an opponent's attack during the opponent's Action Phase.

Phases

A 0 (Cipher) game mat with a game in progress.

In a game of 0 (Cipher), much like the main Fire Emblem games, each player takes turns to perform actions. Each player's turn is broken down into five phases:

  • In the Beginning Phase, a player makes preparations for the actions they will undertake in their turn. They draw one card from their deck and add it to their hand, they untap any cards they had tapped in their last turn to allow them to perform actions again in this turn, and they invoke any skills whose requirements involve activating them at the start of the player's turn.
  • In the Bond Phase, a player may play one card from their hand as a bond, placing it in the Bond Area. This may be skipped if a player chooses.
  • In the Deployment Phase, a player may play cards from their hand as units in the Vanguard or Rearguard, or as class changes or level-ups for units who are already in play, as long as they have enough bonds in place to fulfil the cost requirements. This may be skipped if a player chooses.
  • In the Action Phase, a player may have each of their units in play perform one of four actions: attacking, activating skills, moving from the Vanguard to the Rearguard or vice versa, or doing nothing. If a unit performs an action, the player must tap its card (rotate it 90 degrees) to mark this, preventing it from being used again in this action phase.
    • To perform an attack, the player must follow several steps:
      • 1. Tap the attacking unit and declare which enemy unit (within a compatible range) they wish to attack.
      • 2. Compatible skills belonging to both the attacking and defending unit are activated. The attacking unit's skills take priority over the defending unit's skills (e.g. in the case of trigger skills).
      • 3. Both players draw the topmost card from their deck and play it face-up as a support in the Support Area. The support power of each player's support unit is added to their active unit's attack power, and any support skills the support unit possesses are activated. Units cannot support themselves, so if the drawn support card is a unit with the same name as the player's current attacking unit (e.g. the player is attacking with Ogma and they draw another Ogma card as their support), the support fails and the drawn support card is sent to the Retreat Area.
      • 4. If either player has another card with the same name as their attacking/defending unit, they have the option of playing and discarding it to influence the outcome of the battle. If this is done for an attacking unit, they perform a critical hit which doubles their attack power (including all bonuses from supports and skills), and if this is done for a defending unit, they perform an evade which nullifies an incoming attack and automatically ends the attacking sequence with no damage.
      • 5. If an evade was not performed, the outcome of the attacking sequence is determined by comparing the attack power (including all bonuses from supports, skills, and critical hits) of the attacker and defender. If the attacking unit has a higher attack power, the defending unit is defeated and sent to the opponent's Retreat Area (unless they are the player's orb, in which case they remain in play and their player must take one orb). If the defending unit has a higher attack power, nothing happens and both units remain in play on the field.
      • 6. Any skills possessed by either unit whose requirements involve defeating a unit or being defeated activate. The attacking unit's skills take priority.
      • 7. Both players send the support card used for this attacking sequence to their Retreat Areas. The player may now move on to performing another action, or may choose to end their Action Phase.
  • In the End Phase, the player invokes any skills whose requirements involve activating them at the end of the player's turn, and terminates any skills whose requirements involve deactivating at the end of their turn. The player's turn then ends, and the other player takes their turn and goes through these five phases from the beginning.

At the beginning of the game, the player who goes first must skip the Beginning Phase and is not allowed to initiate an attack during their Action Phase.

Series

style="Template:Roundtl; border:none" width="60%" colspan="11"|
style="Template:Roundtl; border:none; background-color:#222222;" width="20%"| Launch date Game(s) adapted Format(s) Total new cards
第1弾
Series 1
June 25th, 2015 Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon
Awakening
• Starter Decks:
暗黒戦争篇覚醒篇
War of Shadows Chapter / Awakening Chapter
(¥1,300 + tax each; 50 cards each)
• Booster Pack:
英雄たちの戦刃
The Heroes' Blade of War
(¥350 + tax each; 10 cards each)
110
第2弾
Series 2
September 17th, 2015 Fates (Birthright and Conquest) • Starter Decks:
白夜篇暗夜篇
Hoshido Chapter / Nohr Chapter
(¥1,300 + tax each; 50 cards each)
• Booster Pack:
光と闇の神焔
The Divine Flame of Light and Darkness
(¥350 + tax each; 10 cards each)
110
第3弾
Series 3
December 10th, 2015 Path of Radiance
Fates (Revelation)
• Starter Deck:
蒼炎の軌跡篇
Path of Radiance Chapter
(¥1,300 + tax; 50 cards)
• Booster Pack:
希望への雙剣
The Twin Swords to Hope
(¥350 + tax each; 10 cards each)
105
第4弾
Series 4
March 17th, 2016 Mystery of the Emblem
Awakening
Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE[3]
• Starter Deck:
幻影篇
Mirage Chapter
(¥1,300 + tax; 50 cards)
• Booster Pack:
煌めき幻奏
Shimmering Illusongs
(¥350 + tax each; 10 cards each)
105
第5弾
Series 5
June 23rd, 2016 The Binding Blade
Radiant Dawn[3]
• Starter Deck:
封印動乱篇
Binding Disturbance Chapter
(¥1,300 + tax; 50 cards)
• Booster Pack:
相剋を越えて
Beyond the Rivalry
(¥350 + tax each; 10 cards each)
105
第6弾
Series 6
September 29th, 2016 Genealogy of the Holy War (first generation)
Fates (Conquest and Revelation)
• Starter Deck:
聖戦の系譜篇
Genealogy of the Holy War Chapter
(¥1,300 + tax; 50 cards)
• Booster Pack:
閃駆ノ騎影
Storm of the Knights' Shadows
(¥350 + tax each; 10 cards each)
105
第7弾
Series 7
December 8th, 2016 Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
Fates (Birthright and Revelation)
• Booster Pack:
士道を征く
Conquest of Honor
(¥350 + tax each; 10 cards each)
100
第8弾
Series 8
March 16th, 2017 Genealogy of the Holy War (second generation)
Awakening
• Booster Pack:
生と死-運命の先へ
Life and Death: Beyond Destiny
(Price and contents TBA)
??
Series 9 TBA Gaiden/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Radiant Dawn
Hasha no Tsurugi
TBA ??
colspan="5" style="Template:Roundb; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="100%"|

Trivia

Gallery

References

  1. Sato, Fire Emblem Also Gets A New Card Game And Manga In Japan, Siliconera, Published: 2015-01-15, Retrieved: 2015-04-05
  2. pasu, [English Translation] Emma and Shade from the frontlines of Cipher!, Serenes Forest Forums, Published: 2015-08-10, Retrieved: 2015-08-10
  3. 3.0 3.1 Hardin, Series 3, 4, and 5 Card Preview, Serenes Forest Forums, Published: 2015-11-07

External links

Fire Emblem Cipher
Original characters AliceEmmaNiamhRandalPoeShadeValjeanYuzu
Booster series 1: The Heroes' Blade of War • 2: The Divine Flame of Light and Darkness • 3: The Twin Swords to Hope • 4: Shining Illusong • 5: Beyond the Rivalry • 6: Storm of the Knights' Shadows • 7: Conquest of Honor • 8: Life and Death: Beyond Fate • 9: Thunderous Earth • 10: Crossroads • 11: Glorious Twinstrike • 12: Raging Deluge • 13: Flame, Steel, Thought, and Grief • 14: Eyes Gazing at the Future • 15: Shining World • 16: O Courage, O Burning Soul • 17: All-Out March of the Heroes • 18: Oratorio of Departure • 19: Holy Flames of Sublime Heaven • 20: The Dawn's Guiding Hand • 21: Tempest of Apocalyptic Flame • 22: Victory Song of Heroes
Starter decks War of Shadows ChapterAwakening ChapterHoshido ChapterNohr ChapterPath of Radiance ChapterIllusory ChapterBinding Disturbance ChapterGenealogy of the Holy War ChapterLand of the Gods ChapterThe Blazing Blade ChapterWarriors of Bonds ChapterThree Houses Chapter
Related topics Artists of Fire Emblem CipherPromotional cardsFire Emblem Trading Card Game
Merchandise
Figurines Genealogy of the Holy War ExceedamiibofigmaNendoroidChara-forme1/7th Scale FigurePop Up Parade
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Card games Fire Emblem Trading Card GameCipherOne Hundred Songs of Heroes
Art books The CompleteTreasureThracia 776 Illustrated WorksFire Emblem Characters: The Binding Blade & The Blazing Blade20th Anniversary EncyclopediaMemorial Book Akaneia ChronicleThe Art of Fire Emblem AwakeningFates 4koma Comic & Character Guide Book25th Anniversary Staff BookThe Making of Fire EmblemTellius Recollection (Volume 1Volume 2) • if: Visual Works – Pellucid CrystalThree Houses - Fódlan Art Book‏‎Legacy of Archanea
Strategy guides Trekking on the World of Fire Emblem (The Binding BladeThe Blazing BladeThe Sacred Stones)
Adaptations Manga adaptations Fire Emblem (Sano and Watanabe)GaidenFire Emblem (Shimada)Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light (Hakoda)Mystery of the EmblemHeir of LightGenealogy of the Holy War (Fujimori)Wind MageGenealogy of the Holy War (Ōsawa)Thracia 776 (Hino)Thracia 776 (Takanagi)Hasha no TsurugiThe Sacred Stones ComicFates: Crown of NibelungHeroes - A Day in the LifeEngage
Anime adaptation Fire Emblem
Novelizations Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light (Yamaguchi)Kingdom of IllusionShadow Dragon & the Blade of Light (Shinosaki)GaidenMystery of the Emblem (Takayashiki)Mystery of the Emblem (Enix Original)Mystery of the Emblem (Shinosaki)Genealogy of the Holy War (Takeda)Genealogy of the Holy War (Suzuki)Genealogy of the Holy War (Enix Original)Thracia 776 (Umemura)Thracia 776 (Shinosaki)Elibe DisturbanceThe Sacred Stones
Drama CDs Birthright Series: Takumi’s Prequel (Corrin’s Homecoming TaleDecision Time Tale) • Conquest Series: Northern Fortress Tale (Leo and Xander’s ConflictTurbulent My Castle) • Echoes: Shadows of Valentia: Foreign Skies; Daybreak ForestThe Blazing Blade Extra Drama CD: Inheritors of RolandRadiant Dawn Extra Drama CD: Clash of Heroic IdealsAwakening: Waking Darkness; Undying HopeThree Houses: An Officer’s Academy Sleuthing Story
Other Fire Emblem ExpoFire Emblem Expo IILINE • Fódlan tea sets (Tea BreakTea Collection) • SuperGroupies