As usual, before an upcoming release, the Fire Emblem Cipher team held another Nicovideo livestream event–their fifth one–on 7th November.
Earlier, Hardin kindly posted all the key information and card previews on our forums; in this article, I’ll be providing a full recap of the event for reference purposes.
The first piece of news is a reminder that Series 3 “Twin Blades Towards Hope” releases on 10th December, a mere month away. This series features cards from Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem Fates Invisible Kingdom (the third campaign).
Those who purchase a Series 3 booster box (containing 16 booster packs) will receive a Series 4 promotional card (2 types) and 5 limited edition sleeves (2 types).
One sleeve depicts the main illustration of Path of Radiance, while the other is a delightful sprite rendition of the main illustration of Fire Emblem Fates.
In addition, the Series 3 starter deck (of which there is only one this time) includes a download code for an exclusive Nintendo 3DS Home theme based off the very first Fire Emblem TV commercial.
The hosts continue by teasing numerous Path of Radiance cards, including Ike, Elincia in her princess outfit, Nephenee, Soren, the two bird kings and an impressive double card of Ike and the Black Knight battling it out in Nados Castle.
On the Fire Emblem Fates side, we see a new signed card of Azura, as well as characters that join in both the Hoshido and Nohr routes (Silas and Kaze) or sidequests (Shinonome, Siegbert and Eponine).
The second big news is that Series 4 will be releasing on 17th March 2016 and will include characters from the upcoming Genei Ibun Roku #FE in addition to Mystery of the Emblem and Awakening.
For Mystery of the Emblem we’re allowed a glimpse at artworks of Hardin the Coyote and Malicia the cleric.
Awakening-wise, it seems we’ll be getting cards of characters recruited from sidequests such as Donnel and Cynthia.
Meanwhile, the Genei Ibun Roku #FE cards will feature the protagonists and their Mirages and include amazing double cards featuring both.
As an added bonus, those who buy the first-print or limited edition versions of Genei Ibun Roku #FE can look forward to a Tsubasa promotional card.
Intent on keeping the hype machine rolling, our eager hosts announce Series 5 and dramatically reveal the two games that will feature: Radiant Dawn and Binding Blade.
Right now, it seems development on Series 5 is still in its early days as we’re shown unfinished–but still very impressive–artworks of main characters Micaiah and Roy.
After this are some details on local Cipher events in Japan, including Cipher presence at Comiket 89 at the end of this year.
To finish off, we’re told the date of the Series 3 Pre-release Livestream: 5th December.
Actually, one more thing: lucky Japanese fans can look forward to a neat campaign starting from 10th December, the day Series 3 hits shelves.
At designated stores (which will be announced later), if you buy at least 1 Starter Deck or at least 5 booster packs, you can redeem a special “album pack“.
Each album pack includes an original story and spaces in each page to place cards, presumably to tell the story. Every month for 3 months, there will be a different album pack to collect.
- From 10th December 2015: Path of Radiance side story “Mercenary Group, Nothing Strange”
- From 1st January 2016: Hoshido side story “Successor of the Thunder God”
- From 1st February 2016: Nohr side story “Flowers that Bloom in the Dark Night [aka Nohr]”
(Additional pictures and details can be found on the Japanese official site.)
As if they needed more reasons to make overseas fans jealous!