By nestlekwik
Thanks to Konami, we were able to get an early hands-on look at a work in progress as the company continues to ready its first collectible role playing card game - Blue Dragon. Of course, Blue Dragon is based off the Mystwalker video game title for the Xbox 360, bringing RPG shadow madness to card tables everywhere when it releases. As seen in the game and anime, each and every card maintains Akira Toriyama's glorious signature art style and from the cards we played with, the art is large and in charge so players will be able to not only toss them down onto the table, but admire them as well.
The game's main hook lies in the fact that it isn't simply a trading card game, but a ROLE PLAYING trading card game. As such, players will have to amass experience points during a battle and accumulated experience points even level up the player in prime RPG fashion. At the beginning of a match, players select a shadow to act as their main representative to launch attacks and place its level one version into the playfield. Through gaining experience points, however, players can substitute the card for a level two or three card once he or she reaches the point requirements printed on the card.
Your shadow will have to rest after your turn is finished, so, thankfully, players have access to cards which currently included helpers, skills and commands. Up to three helpers can be placed onto the field at one time and while a few of the helpers in the demonstration decks do have small amounts of attack power, their primary purpose is to absorb the damage thrown out by the opponent and assist the player with special abilities. Skills and commands allow players to buffer characters, draw cards, negate damage, raise experience, mess with the other player's play field.
The game's ultimate goal through game play is to reduce the opponent's life points to zero and, thankfully, the game forces players to use quite a bit of strategy to do so. It's quite easy to set up a defensive wall of helpers so players will have to utilize all of the tools available to them in order to build experience points in order to play cards that will get around or wipe out an opponent's defense and players will need to do so before the opponent can.
While the demo decks are currently all the same and players should hardly be surprised by the cards at the moment, we can't wait to see the final product so we can check out what other shadows and nasty effects the cards can dish out Konami has in store for us. As it stands now, though, Blue Dragon is definitely an intriguing game with lots of promise and it's obvious Konami knows how great the game is by looking at the amount of support and advertising it is doing for the game. Even at this stage, the game is a blast to play and the experience mechanic brings in a refreshing spin on the overdone "mana" buildups found in a majority of card games. Let's take a look at the demonstration cards released thus far:
Card Listings
Level Up = Amount of experience points needed to advance the shadow one level.
Required Exp = Amount of experience points needed to play the card.
Used Exp = Amount of experience points players need to discard to play the card.
Change Exp = Amount of experience points players need to discard to change the elemental type of the shadow.
Level = The level (currently 1-3) of the shadow.
Attack = The amount of damage points the shadow or helper generates per attack.
Defense = The amount of damage points the shadow or helper can absorb per attack.
EXP = The amount of experience amassed when the card leaves the playfield (unless otherwise noted as part of an effect).
The four phases of a turn include: Draw, Command, Battle, Command
"Shielding" - If a player is going to take damage to his or her life points, a partner may be "used as a shield" to reduce that damage by one point. Partners used as a shield are removed from the play field.
"Group" - Normally only partner can be set into play during a turn, but partners that have a "group" attribute can be played in sets of up to three of the same card in one turn.
"Set" - A card marked with "Set" must be prepared and placed face-down on the play field until it is played.
BDH1-EN001: Phoenix - Shadow - Light Type - Level: 1; Level Up: 0 - Change Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Attack: 4 - Defense: 1; During your command phase, you can send this shadow from the field to the trash to add one level 2 shadow from your deck to your hand.
BDH1-EN002: Minotaur - Shadow - Light Type - Level: 2; Level Up: 4 - Change Exp: 2 - Exp: 1; Attack: 5 - Defense: 2; During your command phase, you can send this shadow from the field to the trash to add one level 3 shadow from your deck to your hand.
BDH1-EN003: Blue Dragon - Shadow - Light Type - Level: 3; Level Up: 8 - Change Exp: 3 - Exp: 1; Attack: 7 - Defense: 4; Once per turn, during your command phase, you can pay two EXPs to draw one card from your deck.
BDH1-EN004: Shu - Partner - Human - Light Type - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Attack: 2 - Defense: 1; During your command phase, you can send this partner from the field to the Exp pool to add one shadow card from your deck to your hand.
BDH1-EN005: Kluke - Partner - Human - Fire Type - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Attack: 0 - Defense: 2; During your command phase, you can send this partner from the field to the trash to add one partner card from your deck to your hand.
BDH1-EN006: Jiro - Partner - Human - Earth Type - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Attack: 1 - Defense: 1; During your command phase, you can send this partner from the field to the trash to add one skill card from your deck to your hand.
BDH1-007: Blue Dragon & Shu - Shadow & Human - Light Type - Required Exp: 3 - Used Exp: 1 - Exp: 1; Attack: 4 - Defense: 0; When this partner attacks, you must pay one Exp.
BDH1-EN008: Cockatrice - Partner - Animal - No Type - Required Exp: 1 - Used Exp: 1 - Exp: 1; Attack: 0 - Defense: 2; Description: This eater of Rolling Rippers has a vicious beak attack. Its mighty feet end in even more damaging claws. But worst of all, even its breath is a weapon, turning its prey into stone!
BDH1-EN009: Poo Snake - Partner - Animal - No Type - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Attack: 0 - Defense: 1; When this partner is sent from the field to the Exp pool, you can add one Poo Snake from your deck to your hand.
BDH1-EN010: Fat Rat - Partner - Animal - Earth Type - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Attack: 0 - Defense: 1; This partner must be used as a shield when damage would be inflicted to your life points. You lose one fat rat per point of damage.
BDH1-EN011: Green Grunt - Partner - Animal - Wind Type - Required Exp: 1 - Used Exp: 1 - Exp: 1; Attack: 1 - Defense: 2; This partner cannot be called while there are any Earth (type) partners on your field.
BDH1-EN012: Midnight Ghost - Partner - Ghost - Dark Type - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Attack: 0 - Defense: 0; When this partner is used as a shield, all damage is reduced to zero.
BDH1-EN013: Magic Sword - Skill - Sword - Required Exp: 2 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Your shadow or one partner gains two Attack.
BDH1-EN014: Endure - Skill - Armor - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 0; When damage would be inflicted to a player's life points, send all card from your hand to the Exp pool to reduce the damage to zero. Then draw the number of cards you sent (to the trash).
BDH1-EN015: Critical - Skill - Monk - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Your shadow or one partner gains one Attack.
BDH1-EN016: Guard - Skill - Armor - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Your shadow or one partner gains one Defense.
BDH1-EN017: Surprise - Skill - Destroyer - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Send one command or skill card from your opponent's field to their Exp pool.
BDH1-EN018: Field Barrier - Command - Barrier - Required Exp: 4 - Used Exp: 2 - Exp: 1; Select one partner on your opponent's field and send it to their Exp pool.
BDH1-EN019: Mechat - Command - Combination - Required Exp: 0 - Used Exp: 0 - Exp: 1; Send any number of cards from your hand to the trash to draw the same number of cards.
BDH1-EN020: Copper Necklace - Command - Armor - Required Exp: 1 - Used Exp: 1 - Exp: 1; The equipped partner gains two Defense. When the equipped partner is removed from the field, this card is sent to the Exp pool.
Demo decks include two each of the cards "Minotaur," "Blue Dragon" and "Poo Snake" and one card each of the remainder of the cards. The demo decks are considered half decks (normal decks need to be 40 cards with no more than three of one card and no more than 15 shadow cards) and, as a result, players use a life total of 10 instead of the standard 20.
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