Fire Emblem Cipher - Rules and Q&A

[alyss]

Hello, I have a few questions regarding Shade's skill:

When another allied unit is destroyed, this unit gains this skill until the end of this turn: " [ ] You may pay the cost at the end of your turn, if you do: You may choose any card in your Retreat Area except "Shade", and add that card to your hand."

1. When destroyed with another end of turn effect, like Camilla or Midori, can it still trigger?

"Obsidian Mist" During the End Phase of either player's turn, If you have at least 1 face-up card in your Orb Area: Destroy all Cost 1 non-MC units.

“Energizing Medicine” [ ] Select 1 allied unit you control besides your Main Character, that unit gains 10 attack and gains this skill: " At the end of this turn, destroy this unit."

2. Can it trigger during opponent's turn? (Say your MC was destroyed by battle, end turn can you activate Shade's effect to return a card from retreat?)

3. Is defeated also considered destroyed? (Would Shade activate upon Selkie's effect, for example, where it does not state destroyed but defeated?)

There is a difference between 'destroyed' and 'destroyed by battle', but what about 'defeated' and 'defeated by battle'? (e.g. Flora vs Selkie, and Henry vs Wrys)

"Masquerade" At the beginning of your turn, send the top card of your deck to the Retreat Area. You may . If you do, deploy the unit sent to the Retreat Area this turn. The deployed unit cannot use any skills, cannot Level Up, and it is defeated at the end of the turn.

"Frostbite" When this unit is defeated in battle, select 1 Cost 2 or lower enemy unit except the Main Character, destroy that unit.

“Death Wish” [ , ] This unit is defeated as a result of battle. Your opponent must then choose 2 cards from their hand and discard them. (: If this unit was placed without the promotion unit cost, this skill is inactive)

“Vulnerary” [ , Destroy this unit as a result of battle] If you pay the cost once an ally unit has been attacked, that ally unit’s attack increases by 20 until the end of the battle.

Another 2 questions:

1. When breaking an orb, which player decides which orb to take?

2. When turning orbs face-up, the turn player chooses which orb to turn face up, or has to turn face-up based on order of the orbs?

Thank you very much :D

Edited October 9, 2016 by alyss

[TheVinceKnight]

Hello, I have a few questions regarding Shade's skill:

When another allied unit is destroyed, this unit gains this skill until the end of this turn: " [ ] You may pay the cost at the end of your turn, if you do: You may choose any card in your Retreat Area except "Shade", and add that card to your hand."

1. When destroyed with another end of turn effect, like Camilla or Midori, can it still trigger?

"Obsidian Mist" During the End Phase of either player's turn, If you have at least 1 face-up card in your Orb Area: Destroy all Cost 1 non-MC units.

“Energizing Medicine” [ ] Select 1 allied unit you control besides your Main Character, that unit gains 10 attack and gains this skill: " At the end of this turn, destroy this unit."

During the end of a turn, if multiple skills can activate at the same time, you decide what order to activate them in. So if you trigger Midori or Camilla that turn, and your unit dies, Shade automatically gains that skill, so you can pay the cost to add a card to your hand.

2. Can it trigger during opponent's turn? (Say your MC was destroyed by battle, end turn can you activate Shade's effect to return a card from retreat?)

No. Shade's skill says "You may pay the cost at the end of your turn." This specific wording only allows Shade to activate her effect during your turn, as by the time their turn is over, the skill gained is lost.

3. Is defeated also considered destroyed? (Would Shade activate upon Selkie's effect, for example, where it does not state destroyed but defeated?)

There is a difference between 'destroyed' and 'destroyed by battle', but what about 'defeated' and 'defeated by battle'? (e.g. Flora vs Selkie, and Henry vs Wrys)

"Masquerade" At the beginning of your turn, send the top card of your deck to the Retreat Area. You may . If you do, deploy the unit sent to the Retreat Area this turn. The deployed unit cannot use any skills, cannot Level Up, and it is defeated at the end of the turn.

"Frostbite" When this unit is defeated in battle, select 1 Cost 2 or lower enemy unit except the Main Character, destroy that unit.

“Death Wish” [ , ] This unit is defeated as a result of battle. Your opponent must then choose 2 cards from their hand and discard them. (: If this unit was placed without the promotion unit cost, this skill is inactive)

“Vulnerary” [ , Destroy this unit as a result of battle] If you pay the cost once an ally unit has been attacked, that ally unit’s attack increases by 20 until the end of the battle.

I made defeated as a term to differentiate from being destroyed, but in the end, when we're talking about destroyed, it comes down to the same result. If a unit is defeated as the result of an attack, or destroyed by a card effect, it is considered destroyed.

aka - Destroyed - By card effect or by the result of an attack, Defeated - By the result of an attack.

The scenarios you listed above are all destruction by card effects, except with Flora, who has to be defeated by an attack (this is still destroyed anyway).

EDIT: I fixed a few of these up on the Wiki. Shade will work as long as Selkie's skill was used that turn.

Another 2 questions:

1. When breaking an orb, which player decides which orb to take?

2. When turning orbs face-up, the turn player chooses which orb to turn face up, or has to turn face-up based on order of the orbs?

1. The player who owns the orb (and took damage) decides to take whatever orb he wants. The order doesn't matter.

2. You can choose any orb and flip it face-up.

It never really mattered what order you took an orb unless you know what it is (while it's face-up), which is why usually people take it in the reverse order they're placed down (top to bottom etc).

No worries :p. Keep asking questions if you've got any.

Edited October 13, 2016 by TheVinceKnight

[geozeldadude]

can you promote directly from an unpromoted unit to the master class unit, without going through the first promoted unit? or do you have to do them in sequence like in the games? thanks in advance.

[TheVinceKnight]

can you promote directly from an unpromoted unit to the master class unit, without going through the first promoted unit? or do you have to do them in sequence like in the games? thanks in advance.

You can go into any promoted card, master class or just flat out promord as long as you can pass the requirement to do so.

[Byuusan]

Thinking about buying the 7th Booster box but what should i expect inside the box?

It say 16 packs a box but how many cards a pack? How many SR/R should i expect in a box?

[TheVinceKnight]

Thinking about buying the 7th Booster box but what should i expect inside the box?

It say 16 packs a box but how many cards a pack? How many SR/R should i expect in a box?

Has nothing to do with rules I guess but ->

Probably going to be the same as other booster boxes, 4 SRs, 1 SR+ or R+ and 11 Rs.

Each pack has 10 cards, the R/SR/SR+/R+, 3 High Normals and 6 Normals.

[Emeraldfox]

Not sure if this is the place to ask, but do black and green cards have good synergy? Or do they not work well?

I swear English is my first language

Edited November 3, 2016 by Emeraldfox

[Draxal]

It really isn't but we don't have a general q and a thread or strategy thread.

[Kirie]

Actually, this is indeed a "Q&A" thread; it's even in the title! :P

There's also this, but I guess it's kind of old now.

I'd be happy to either stick that thread or a new one if we want a specifically strategy-oriented thread, though.

[Draxal]

My confusion in that q and a seems to be with rules questions only. But then looking at previous questions in this thread it looks like i was mistaken.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Draxal

[Flamy]

Not sure if this is the place to ask, but do black and green cards have good synergy? Or do they not work well?

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Medallion, much like most of its fans, tend to circlejerk about itself, so it generally doesn't synergize well with other Insignia. What kind of deck or Main Character are you attempting to build? That tends to make or break certain combinations.

[Originalprof]

Hey, just a quick question about class changes. Is it considered a class change and do you still get the draw if you place a card on top of a copy of its self? Like placing a cost 4 Mist on top of a cost 4 Mist would you still get the draw and the heal effect?

[TheVinceKnight]

Hey, just a quick question about class changes. Is it considered a class change and do you still get the draw if you place a card on top of a copy of its self? Like placing a cost 4 Mist on top of a cost 4 Mist would you still get the draw and the heal effect?

Whenever you pay a promotion cost for something, it's considered a class change. You get both since it's a level up (class change) same thing.

[Originalprof]

Whenever you pay a promotion cost for something, it's considered a class change. You get both since it's a level up (class change) same thing.

Thank you. I lost a game at a tournament today because my opponent called me out when I drew off of an Ike class change, and it was all down hill from there, running a deck that keeps its hand up through class changes. I was completely sure that this was how the mechanic worked, but these were new people at a new tournament scene, so i didn't want to start a thing. Just wanted to have a leg to stand on when I play properly next time.

[dynstykrnboi]

So, flipping an orb face-up is a fairly recent thing, so how exactly does this mechanic work? Does this mean that when the MC takes a hit, I can choose whether to take the face-up orb or the next orb in line? Also, when Dragonvein skills say to flip an orb face-up, does it have to be the next orb in line or can I choose any that I want?

[TheVinceKnight]

So, flipping an orb face-up is a fairly recent thing, so how exactly does this mechanic work? Does this mean that when the MC takes a hit, I can choose whether to take the face-up orb or the next orb in line? Also, when Dragonvein skills say to flip an orb face-up, does it have to be the next orb in line or can I choose any that I want?

It's not stated in the rules that you must take an orb in the certain order you lay it out - You can choose to not take said face-up orb or you can choose to take it.

It doesn't specify what orb to flip face-up so you can pick any of those cards as long as you actually have an orb left.

[dynstykrnboi]

I have a question about Lucina who is also named Marth. Are you allowed to have this Lucina deployed at the same time as a Marth? Also, can this Lucina evade by using a Marth?

[Flamy]

1 hour ago, dynstykrnboi said:

I have a question about Lucina who is also named Marth. Are you allowed to have this Lucina deployed at the same time as a Marth? Also, can this Lucina evade by using a Marth?

Is the card the same name as another card you control? Then you can't deploy it.

Is the card the same name as the supported card? Then it's a fail.

Is the card the same name as the battling card? Then you can use it to Critical Hit or Godspeed Evasion!

Basically, treat the Cost 1 Lucina(s) as if they were Marths, except they're also named Lucina. (This is how you can get a theoretical stack of 56 for Marth, which means Modest Flower, Rebecca's Support is 560.

[Dylan Corona]

Ok, not sure if I should post this here or a new thread, but I really want to get into this game and I want to make or buy a deck with Lyn as the main lord. I'm still learning about it..but is there a starter deck with Lyn? Or should I buy the cards in singles and make my own deck?

 

If the latter, does anyone have a good Lyn based deck list? 

 

Thanks!

[geozeldadude]

3 hours ago, Dylan Corona said:

Ok, not sure if I should post this here or a new thread, but I really want to get into this game and I want to make or buy a deck with Lyn as the main lord. I'm still learning about it..but is there a starter deck with Lyn? Or should I buy the cards in singles and make my own deck?

If the latter, does anyone have a good Lyn based deck list? 

SF has a great section on cipher. from the main page you would click on the purple cards (https://serenesforest.net/wiki/index.php/Category:PurpleCard) b/c those are the FE6 and FE7 cards. then you would click to see all the lyn cards (https://serenesforest.net/wiki/index.php/Lyn_(Cipher)). apparently there's only a starter deck for roy, et al. (i.e. FE6) and not FE7, so no lyn in a starter deck. starter decks in general have pretty mediocre cards, so they're good for n00bs so you have enough cards to actually start playing a game, but otherwise not really worth it. (the starter deck exclusives aren't that great either.) hope that helps get you started.

edit: also, if you're buying physical cards to actually play games as opposed to just collect your favs, i would recommend playing the digital versions and building your deck that way before buying cards. i'd be up for playing some matches sometime if you wanted.

Edited February 18, 2017 by geozeldadude

[Foodies]

 

3 hours ago, Dylan Corona said:

If the latter, does anyone have a good Lyn based deck list? 

Thanks!

What is your budget and how competitive do you want to be?

A cheap and low effort option would be buying a purple starter and just putting copies of Lyn in it, but it wouldn't be very good. A good Lyn deck will be expensive because you will want to run 4 SR Deidre. Given a budget I could make you a decklist if you are interested. It's usually more fun for people to build their own decks though :v

[Dylan Corona]

44 minutes ago, geozeldadude said:

SF has a great section on cipher. from the main page you would click on the purple cards (https://serenesforest.net/wiki/index.php/Category:PurpleCard) b/c those are the FE6 and FE7 cards. then you would click to see all the lyn cards (https://serenesforest.net/wiki/index.php/Lyn_(Cipher)). apparently there's only a starter deck for roy, et al. (i.e. FE6) and not FE7, so no lyn in a starter deck. starter decks in general have pretty mediocre cards, so they're good for n00bs so you have enough cards to actually start playing a game, but otherwise not really worth it. (the starter deck exclusives aren't that great either.) hope that helps get you started.

edit: also, if you're buying physical cards to actually play games as opposed to just collect your favs, i would recommend playing the digital versions and building your deck that way before buying cards. i'd be up for playing some matches sometime if you wanted.

There is an online one? How and where do I play it haha? 

 

30 minutes ago, Foodies said:

 

What is your budget and how competitive do you want to be?

A cheap and low effort option would be buying a purple starter and just putting copies of Lyn in it, but it wouldn't be very good. A good Lyn deck will be expensive because you will want to run 4 SR Deidre. Given a budget I could make you a decklist if you are interested. It's usually more fun for people to build their own decks though :v

Hmm, I'm not sure. Is 50 dollars too cheap? I wouldn't mind trying to build my own deck, but I'm normally bad at it and since this is a new game, I wouldn't mind the help, thanks haha. 

[TheVinceKnight]

40 minutes ago, Dylan Corona said:

There is an online one? How and where do I play it haha? 

Hmm, I'm not sure. Is 50 dollars too cheap? I wouldn't mind trying to build my own deck, but I'm normally bad at it and since this is a new game, I wouldn't mind the help, thanks haha. 

https://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?/topic/55508-playing-cipher-online-using-lackeyccg/

Using Lackey is one of the few ways to play online, can be complicated to use to begin with, but once you get used to it, it's simple.

50 dollars will net you a Starter Deck and like... 3-4 Lyns, depending on where you get them from.

[Foodies]

5 minutes ago, Dylan Corona said:

There is an online one? How and where do I play it haha? 

 

Hmm, I'm not sure. Is 50 dollars too cheap? I wouldn't mind trying to build my own deck, but I'm normally bad at it and since this is a new game, I wouldn't mind the help, thanks haha. 

$50 is on the lower end since Lyn costs 780 yen on Amenity Dream, and you'll need 4 copies of her which comes up to 3120 yen not including shipping. Buying from there is slightly complicated because you'll need proxies but that just gives you an idea on prices. The deck will pretty much be Lyn + Normals, High Normals, and cheap Rares. It's manageable but it won't be spectacular.

Here's something I put together: http://i.imgur.com/0dnuMdX.jpg

I kept it monopurple because it sounds like you're just getting started. But if you want to expand to 2 colors it will greatly increase your options.

[Dylan Corona]

20 minutes ago, TheVinceKnight said:

https://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?/topic/55508-playing-cipher-online-using-lackeyccg/

Using Lackey is one of the few ways to play online, can be complicated to use to begin with, but once you get used to it, it's simple.

50 dollars will net you a Starter Deck and like... 3-4 Lyns, depending on where you get them from.

Thanks! I'm so gonna learn how to use that, tomorrow most likely.

5 minutes ago, Foodies said:

$50 is on the lower end since Lyn costs 780 yen on Amenity Dream, and you'll need 4 copies of her which comes up to 3120 yen not including shipping. Buying from there is slightly complicated because you'll need proxies but that just gives you an idea on prices. The deck will pretty much be Lyn + Normals, High Normals, and cheap Rares. It's manageable but it won't be spectacular.

Here's something I put together: http://i.imgur.com/0dnuMdX.jpg

I kept it monopurple because it sounds like you're just getting started. But if you want to expand to 2 colors it will greatly increase your options.

Thank you so much! I may be willing to spend more, but you've given me a good start, I can grow it and make it better over time lol. I will look up those cards and see how much it will cost me. Thanks again!