On Saturday 17 February, the Fire Emblem Cipher team held the Cipher Winter 2018 Livesteam over NicoNico! Ryota Kawade and Young hosted as usual, this time alongside Yuuki Kuwahara (VA for Effie and Ophelia from Fates).
The spotlight of the livestream was centered on cards from the latest upcoming expansion: Series 12, Raging Deluge. S12 releases in late March and features cards from Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn, Awakening, and Genealogy of the Holy War.
The stream isn’t just about new cards, however. We also got our first artwork for the next set, S13, an in-person look at some upcoming merchandise, and also a teaser for S14. Read down below for more details!
Series 12 Card Reveals
The most anticipated part of any livestream is the card reveals, and this weekend’s stream didn’t disappoint. Most of them were Tellius cards, as expected since green cards make up the whole first half of the set. After showing off some previous twitter reveals, we got a look at our first new card and second SR of the set: another SR for Ike!
Like Chrom from S8, Ike gets two SRs this set, both of them referencing different potential paths for his character. The Berserk Ike SR from last week shows an alternate Ike possessed by Lehran’s medallion, but this new SR shows Ike at his best, fully promoted into the Vanguard class.
A few new Tellius characters are also getting cards for the first time. The stream revealed new cards for Tauroneo, Fiona, Sephiran, and Zelgius. We also got to see some new cards for repeat characters Micaiah and Elincia.
The Awakening portion of the card reveals showed off our first alternate art cards, a gorgeous joined-art panorama of Chrom and Naga R+ cards.
Two cards for Yen’fay were also revealed, giving him his Cipher debut. We also got new cards for Basilio, Flavia, Nowi, and Lon’qu. Lon’qu’s new card is noteworthy as he’s been reclassed into a Wyvern Lord. Reclasses are somewhat rare in Cipher, but with Awakening getting so many cards, we may see more in this set still.
The final portion of reveals was dedicated to Genealogy, including our third SR reveal, this time for Eldigan. The Lionheart’s SR was also revealed on twitter later, giving us a clear digital version of it.
More new Genealogy characters are also getting cards, including the substitutes Amid, Linda, and Hermina. We also get some new cards for Lachesis, Ares, and Sigurd.
New Cipher Original Character: Neve
A new Cipher original character is joining the cast! Her name is Neve (Romanized name pending) and she was first shown off in the Cipher art booklet available at Comiket. She’ll get her first cards printed in the upcoming set, and Kawade took the opportunity to show them off live, as well as a large version of her artwork.
Neve is now the seventh mascot character to join the Cipher cast, but we still don’t know too much else about her yet. Likely we’ll get to learn some more when she makes her first appearance in a Cipher Frontier column.
Series 12 Release Promotion
Once again, Cipher will be having a release promotion for S12. This time around, the promotion features postcard sets once again. There are three different sets, each one with one of the main S12 Lords as a focus.
Our hosts were able to show off some of these cards in person. The Lord cards have special holographic foiling in the Cipher logo in the background!
We don’t yet have firm details about acquiring these, but we will certainly share details once we have them. Although not confirmed, it is likely that AmiAmi will be able offer these goodies to their international customers as well.
Series 13 Details & Artwork
Kawade also shared with us some new details and artwork for Cipher’s summer set, S13. The set’s title roughly translates to “Flames and Steel, Desires and Sorrow”, and it will be released on 28 June of this year.
S13 will be the second set to focus on both Blazing Sword and Heroes. The third featured titled is Shadow Dragon, which will be our first return to Archanea since S4 two years ago! This set will also be the first since S9 last summer to have an associated ST Deck, which will feature characters from Blazing Sword.
We also got our first look at some S13 artwork! First up is the three Lords of FE7, Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector. We also get our first look at some new Cipher characters, Karla and Sonia.
Three pieces of art were also revealed for Shadow Dragon, main characters Marth and Caeda, as well as the first Cipher art for Horace. Due to its large cast, there are still many Archanean characters missing in Cipher, but it’s a fair bet that at least a few more will be showing up in S13.
On the Heroes side, we get some new art for Sharena as well as for Fjorm and Laevatein, two new Heroes characters introduced with the Book II storyline. As many people expected, it’s looking like Heroes in S13 will be based on the plot and characters of Book II.
That’s all we have for S13 for now, but we’ll likely get some more art during the pre-release livestream next month.
S14 Teaser
Many Cipher fans were expecting a formal reveal for S14 during this stream. After that, that would be pretty typical of the pattern Cipher’s had for the past year. However, we didn’t quite get what we were hoping for.
Instead of a formal announcement and titles for S14, we instead get a single word: 無限, the Japanese word for infinity. This is the “key word” for S14, the same way the Medallion art was a “key visual” for S13.
So, what does this imply? Sadly, we can’t really tell a whole lot just from the “Infinity” concept. However, we can assume that giving out a keyword instead of a title listing means that Cipher will be doing something different for S14.
The first thing that comes to mind is that S14 could focus on the upcoming FE Switch. The set will likely come out in September, and it’s feasible for FE Switch to release around then. Some other supporting evidence is that the only other time that Cipher was coy about an upcoming set’s titles was for S9 before Fire Emblem Echoes was announced.
Alternatively, S14 may just have a different type of theme than simply including cards from a small handful of games. It could perhaps include cards based on a different theme (such as, for example, villains), or it could be a reprint set featuring many cards from previous sets. There are a number of ways that Cipher could switch up their series themes for S14.
Although it’s not very exciting, another option is simply that Cipher is choosing to be mysterious with nothing really complicated or different to hide.
Fire Emblem Merchandise
In addition to showing off the latest in Cipher news, the livestream also took the time to discuss and show off some upcoming merchandise. First up was the latest Fire Emblem Musical Collection. Two concerts featuring the collection’s music will be held in late-February before the CD releases on 24 March. Check out our article for more details.
Next up were the Heroes mini figures that will be coming out later this month. They showed off the promo images again as well as a line of the figures in person along the back wall of the studio. The secret figures were sadly missing.
Most of the merchandise revealed, though, is that which will be available at the upcoming Cipher Sai events in March. Kawade showed off copies of the sleeves, playmats, keychains, and card holders that will be available at Sai. Yuuki and Young also held up some of the prints that will be available at the artist signings.
Guests & Fun
In addition to Yuuki Kuwahara, the livestream also had another VA guest join in the middle, Kana Asumi (VA for Lissa). As both guests were Cipher livestream newcomers, they were each gifted with some characters featuring their respective characters.
Kawade also used Kana’s appearance to show off two new S12 cards off, both featuring Lissa! The first is an N card and the second is an SR, which also has a special signed SR+ version!
Later in the stream, all four hosts got together to play a game that Young invented, “Ton Ton Card Game”. Players place cards in special holders on a board, then furiously tap the board to try and make their opponent’s card fall over. After a few rounds, Yuuki emerged as the final winner!
Close & Pre-Release Livestream Announcement
With a resounding cry of “Ichi! Ni! Cipher!”, the livestream came to a close after about two hours. I hope everyone had a lot of fun!
Shortly after, the official site formally announce the next livestream for 17 March. This livestream will be a special pre-release edition for S12, and will feature lots of pack opening! We’ll also likely get more S13 art and maybe some more concrete news for S14. See you then!
