Today, the Fire Emblem Cipher team held the third seasonal livestream of 2016, with the aim to deliver information about upcoming Cipher releases and events.
Image: Intelligent Systems
The hosts today were Ryoto Kawade and Young from Intelligent Systems, Juri Kimura (Mozu and Nyx’s Japanese VA), plus special guests Kotaro Yamada (artist of the Hasha no Tsurugi manga) and Kaori Nazuka (Hinoka’s Japanese VA).
The first topic of discussion was Series 7 “Rise to Honour”, which launches on 8th December 2016 and includes cards from Blazing Sword and Fire Emblem Fates Revelation (Hoshidan side).
Above are previews of the Series 7 booster pack and booster box, the former of which already popped up on the official website earlier this week.
Those who buy 8 (or more) booster packs from participating stores can receive one of three clear files (a type of plastic file that can hold a few sheets of paper; a very popular type of collectible in Japan).
Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for… a sneak look at some cards from Series 7!
The Eliwood, Hector and Lyn cards were revealed during this week’s previews. Meanwhile, the Matthew artwork was teased during a previous event, although this is the first time we’ve seen the full card.
The Guy card is new to us, depicting the Sacaean youth as a deadly Swordmaster.
Moving on from the heroes, we have some nemeses, starting with the fearsome Reed brothers. Although no rarities are displayed, judging from the card designs, Lloyd is a SR, while Linus is a HN.
The Limstella card is interesting because it’s neither a male card nor female card, keeping with the game lore.
Returning to the heroes for a moment, we have unpromoted cards of Kent, Sain, Florina and Oswin. That’s all for Blazing Sword this time!
Representing Hoshido, we have Hoshidan King Ryoma and new unpromoted versions of Hinoka and Sakura.
Aiding the royals are promoted versions of Saizo and Kagero, recently revealed on Twitter. What’s new is that both characters feature a R+ version that can be stacked… vertically!
More new cards include a new unpromoted Orochi, Mitama as an Onmyoji, Rinkah as a Blacksmith and the debut of Yukimura.
Plus a new unpromoted Shiro and another card of Dwyer as a Butler.
Although not shown to us formally, during a game of “Concentration” between the hosts, we got to see a new SR+ card of Hinoka, as well as a new swimsuit promo card that will be available during Comiket 91.
The same SR+ card was also displayed as an oversized card behind the hosts.
With Series 7 covered, the spotlight moved onto Series 8, which includes characters from Awakening and the 2nd generation of Genealogy of the Holy War.
Confirmed for the Awakening side include Virion (Bow Knight), Cherche, Gangrel and Aversa. Man, that Gangrel artwork…
Meanwhile, currently spotted on the Holy War side are Aless, Lana, Arthur, Fee and Julius.
Kawade also showed off a blank card at the end for some weird reason. Hmm, did he make a mistake or something?
Sorry for the inevitable Kellam joke.
Continuing the trend of hyping 3 expansions into the future, we’re given a tiny–but juicy–morsel of information regarding Series 9: it will feature 3 titles, one of which is Hasha no Tsurugi, the Binding Blade spin-off manga.
No cards or artwork from Series 9 were shown, but Yamada–the author of Hasha no Tsurugi–has previously provided artwork of Roy from Series 5, as well as promoted versions of Eliwood and Hector, presumably from Series 7.
As for non-card news, as hinted earlier, Fire Emblem Cipher will be heading to Comiket 91 from 29th to 31st December 2016. In addition, Fire Emblem Sai (Festival) will be returning in February 2017.
Details about these events will come at a later date.
Besides the serious stuff, there were many fun moments during the livestream. Below are some of our highlights.
While chatting with Nazuka (Hinoka’s voice actress), the hosts polled the viewers about the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Hinoka.
1. Her fondness of Corrin
2. Her short hair
3. Her muffler
4. Her caring side
5. Encouragement (as in her skill)
6. The helicopter (you know what this means)
It’s pretty obvious which one won…
Later, Kawade, Kimura and Nazuka played a quick game of “Concentration” using cards of Hinoka. I think Nazuka won–that or Kawade. Either way, above is a happy Nazuka who matched two SR+ cards.
During Young’s visit to the Dragon Star card shop, Kitanishi the “Outrealm Businessman” made a brief cameo appearance with the classic Falchion and Fire Emblem, before casually strolling off.
Not to be outdone, here’s Young doing his best impression of Anankos.
Finally, enjoy some Hasha no Tsurugi sketches by Yamada: the cover art from the final volume, Zephiel’s Eckesachs and three side characters (Jemmie, Kilmar and Zeed).
With that, our report comes to a close. The next livestream–the pre-release livestream for Series 7–will be held on 3rd December 2016.
