This past Saturday, the Fire Emblem Cipher team held the Cipher Spring 2018 Livesteam live over NicoNico! Before the stream started, @fecipher shared this artwork of Marth and Caeda as a teaser:
Ryota Kawade and Young hosted the presentation, joined by frequent guest Eri Suzuki (voice actress for Soleil, Delthea, and Emma). The main focus of the stream was to cover new cards for the upcoming Cipher Series 13, “Flame, Steel, Thought, and Grief“. S13 will release in Japan on 28 June, and daily card reveals just started the week before.
Before the stream ended, a few guests also joined into the stream, and we also got title announcements for S14 & S15! Click on the “Read More” link for a look at all of the news and art coming soon for Cipher.
S13 – Blazing Sword ST Deck Details
Blazing Sword, the game originally known as just “Fire Emblem” outside of Japan, is the main focus of S13. It stole the spotlight for the first week of reveals, and featured the first cards shown off during the stream.
Kawade started off the card reveals by discussing the set’s associated Structured Deck. The ST Deck this time around features a number of changes compared to previous decks, including the inclusion of a special, signed ST+ card for Lyn. We’ve already seen what the card generally looked like in the ST Deck preview image, but here it is in full.
Additionally, cards included in the ST deck will featured expanded art that covers the top and sides, similar to how art looks on an R card. Kawade shows off a couple samples of how this looks using both real cards of Eliwood and digital samples of Matthew. In both cases, the booster set card is on the left and the ST variant is on the right.
Some ST cards will also have exclusive card compared to their booster set variants! Kawade uses Hector as a sample for this comparison, showing both real and digital versions of the cost 1 Hector card. You can confirm in the digital version that the text for both cards is the same.
S13 – Blazing Sword Booster Card Reveals
Shortly after, the hosts revealed many other new Blazing Sword cards. Although not specifically stated, it is likely that these will appear in the booster series rather than the ST Deck. However, it is possible that a few cards (especially those with open borders) may be ST cards, and a number of cards will probably be in both. We’ll not find out for sure until release.
Starting off, Eliwood, was revealed to get two more cards in addition to host Cost 1 card (left) which was already revealed via Twitter last week.
The right-most card is definitely an SR, which joins with the previously-revealed Lyn SR to create a joined-art piece. @fecipher revealed a higher quality version of the Eliwood SR on Sunday, so you can see how how cards look joined together.
Many new FE7 characters will also be receiving cards in this set. Wil, Erk, Lowen, Hawkeye, Nergal, Sonya, and Ephidel are all finally getting their first Cipher cards! Marcus is also getting his first card based on his younger, FE7 version; he previously received a card based on his Binding Blade version in an earlier ST Deck.
We also see a few more returning faces in the card reveals, with both Florina and Guy confirmed to return in the set.
S13 – Heroes Card Reveals
The second featured title of S13 is Fire Emblem Heroes, the mobile spin-off game. This time around, the Heroes cards in the set will be based on original characters that star in Book II, the latest story section of the game.
Fjorm, Laevatein, and Loki are three new OCs who had new cards shown off during the stream. Kiran, the official name of the player avatar responsible for summoning new heroes in Heroes, also gets a card this set!
None of the Heroes cards have promotion options as characters do not “promote” in Heroes. Instead, more powerful cards simply have a higher deployment cost.
Kawade also showed off some of Loki’s art during the presentation! She seems to be a very popular character, at least in Japan.
S13 – Shadow Dragon Card Reveals
The final game featured in S13 is Shadow Dragon. Due to its large cast, SD still has a fair amount of characters who have yet to see inclusion in Cipher. Some of those are finally getting prints now, such as Frey, Etzel, Darros, and Jake.
The hosts also showed off a few returning characters, such as Caeda, Jagen, Cain, and Abel. We also got a glimpse of Marth’s SR card for this set!
Promo Goodies, Cards, & Events
Like recent sets, S13 will have a release campaign for those who buy cards at release. This set’s campaign features clear files, three designs in two separate sets, each one featuring one of the main lords of the set. It is likely that AmiAmi will be providing these release goodies once again, like previous promotions, good news for international buyers.
Kawade also revealed the Tournament Promo cards that will be released with S13. Cipher players can win packs containing copies of these special cards by participating in Cipher tournaments in Japan.
The first two cards, Lyn and Tiki, are brand new cards that will only be available in these tournament packs. Both cards appear to be based on their Heroes incarnations, with Lyn wielding a bow and Tiki in her summer attire. Marth, Robin, Xander, and Mia are reprinted cards from previous sets that feature exclusive artwork.
The final promo card revealed during the stream is a special colorless version of Celica. Kawade didn’t reveal exactly how she would be distributed, but it’s likely she’ll be available at some upcoming events in Japan.
And speaking of events… Fire Emblem Cipher Summer Party will be arriving in Japan this summer!
There will be four events held throughout Japan starting on 29 July. Presumably, the events will come with tournaments and exclusive merchandise, but we don’t have any other info yet. Stay tuned for more details! We’ll hopefully learn more in the coming weeks.
Series 14 & 15 Titles & Art
After a very long wait, our hosts have finally announced the titles that will be included in Series 14 this autumn! They are…
… Awakening, Fates with a focus on Hoshido, and Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn! They also revealed that the set will release on 27 September, about as expected.
Kawade also showed off some art from the upcoming set. For Awakening, we get our first glimpse at new art for Lucina, Chrom, Male Robin, Female Morgan, and Cynthia.
On the Hoshido side, we get new art of Male Corrin and also a joined-art piece for Hinata and Oboro. Furthermore, Ike, Shinon, and Rolf represent Tellius.
If the art distribution is any indication, the lion’s share of the set will focus on Awakening, with Hoshido and Tellius getting smaller portions.
Kawade also revealed the titles for S15 as well! The winter set will be the first set to specifically focus on New Mystery of the Emblem, and will also include more cards from Fates with a focus on Nohr this time, and also Genealogy of the Holy War / Thracia 776. As a sample for this set, we get an unfinished sketch of Master Knight Leif.
Shortly after these final reveals, the stream came to a close. What an exciting day of reveals! Kawade and Young will be back again on 23 June for the S13 pre-release livestream. In the meantime, we’ll continue to get daily twitter reveals every weekday from now until set release. Ichi Ni Cipher!
