Let's play a new TCG with the music unit "C;ON"! Shadowverse EVOLVE" (New Series: "TCG for Beginners!")

It has been about 30 years since the world's first trading card game (TCG), "Magic: The Gathering," was introduced to the world. Many TCG titles have appeared on the market, and new titles are still being released and played all over the world, but there are probably many people who only played a little bit when they were children or have never actually touched a TCG.

In this series of articles, we will report on the appeal of games that can be enjoyed by TCG beginners even if they start playing now, as well as the TCG industry as told by the development team and staff.

In this first installment, we pick up "Shadowverse EVOLVE," a new title released on April 28 this year by Cygames, a developer and operator of various app games, and Bushiroad, a TCG company.

We had a chance to experience the differences in enjoyment from the app game version of "Shadowverse" in the form of an actual training session with the female music unit "C;ON," who will be assisting us in this section.

In the latter half of the interview, Hiroshi Kawazu of Bushiroad (producer of Shadowverse EVOLVE products and events) shares his ideas for boosting the TCG industry and gives a message to those who want to start playing TCGs!

⇒Please check out the following page!

Interviewed by

<Listener>
Rabika

A deck case fairy who came from the TCG world with a mission to increase the number of new TCG players. She helps spread the charm of TCGs to the world today, because it would be a terrible thing if the number of new players did not increase.

<Assistant

C;ON

A "cool and cute" music unit that weaves pop melodies and sophisticated sounds with a fusion of instrumentalists and vocals.

The members are Shiorine (VOCAL), Aika Kinui (VOCAL), Yoshiko Ishibashi (ALTO SAXOPHONE), Seina (EUPHONIUM & BASS TRUMPET), and Anzu (PIANO).

All of them are newcomers to TCG, but they will be assisting Ravika in this series to bring the charm of TCG to you!

Excited about the training session at Bushiroad's office!

Bushiroadstaff member Mr. Hanaoka( Mr. Hanaoka) I am Bushiroad's Mr. Hanaoka, and I will be facilitating today's workshop.

I am Bushiroad's Mr. Hanaoka, and I will be facilitating today's workshop!

Hanaoka What we will be playing this time is a TCG called "Shadowverse EVOLVE".

What is "Shadowverse EVOLVE"?

A real card game of "Shadowverse" presented by Cygames and Bushiroad, which will be released in April 2022. The basic rules and the fun of the game, in which players battle their opponents using followers, spells, and amulets and win by reducing the opponent leader's health to zero, are the same as those in the app game version. The app game version of "Shadowverse" is a new version of "Shadowverse" that is being developed for the app game. This is a title with high expectations for the future, and we hope that players who were introduced to "Shadowverse" through the app game version will enjoy playing it as much as we do.

Hanaoka: Since we heard that all of you are new to TCGs, we have prepared a starter deck. This is a set of cards called a "deck" that can be opened and played as is. So it is perfect for first-time players.

Hanaoka That's right. Alisa and Erika are called "leaders," and they represent the characteristics of the deck and fight alongside you. There are various other leaders, and in "Shadowverse EVOLVE" you can play with 6 different class decks.

Kako I see.

HanaokaThen, players attack with "Followers" (cards that appear on the field when played and can attack on their next turn) or use "Spells" (expired cards that work when played and are immediately placed in the graveyard) to reduce the health of leaders with an initial health of 20, and the first player to reduce their opponent's health to 0 or less wins the game. The winner is the first player to reduce the leader's health to 0 or less. Also, if the opponent tries to draw a card when his/her deck is 0 cards, he/she will win the battle as there are no more cards to draw.

Hanaoka That's right. And when a player uses a card, he or she must pay a different cost for each card as compensation. At this time, what you pay as a cost is a point called PP (play point), which is capped at an increasing amount each turn. the trick to winning is to use the cards while making good use of the PP.

Now, I will explain the details in the flow of the game, so let's play against each other first, shall we?

C;ON Yes!

So, let's start playing against each other right away!

Hanaoka First, let's decide who goes first and who goes second by rock-paper-scissors-scissors. After deciding, draw 4 cards from the top of the deck as your hand. At this time, you can redraw those four cards only once.

Shiorion: Can't I redraw only one or two cards out of the four?

Hanaoka: It was possible in the app version of "Shadowverse," but in "Shadowverse EVOLVE" you can only redraw all 4 cards or not redraw them. So if a low-cost card that is easy to use in the early stages or an important card that is the key to your deck does not come, you can boldly redraw it.

As for how to proceed in a turn, there are three main phases: the "Start Phase," in which you increase and recover your PP limit and draw cards, the "Main Phase," in which you use cards and attack your opponent, and the "End Phase," in which you make final adjustments. And in the first turn, only the second player can draw a card from the deck in the Start Phase. Now let's draw a card.

Aika Drawoooooooo ！！！！！ (The drawn card is suddenly put on the field)

Aika I see!

Hanaoka You are so energetic! By the way, from the second turn, you can draw a card in the starting phase for both the first and second attackers.

Kyomi The card picture is quite cute.

Hanaoka Yes, it is. The good thing about TCGs is that you can enjoy not only the performance of the cards, but also the cool dragons and cute fairies.

HanaokaNow, let's play a follower. To play, you need to pay the cost written in the upper left corner of the card from PP, but PP is recovered to the maximum at the beginning of your turn, so let's use it boldly.

Anzu: What do the "F" and "L" in the card descriptions mean?

Hanaoka" F" stands for Fanfare, which is an ability that activates at the same time when a card is played. Conversely, "L" stands for "Last Word," which is an ability that is activated when a card is placed in the graveyard.

Hanaoka Now, you may have played a Follower from your hand, but usually you cannot attack immediately after playing it. You can attack from the next turn.

Seina Okay, now that we both have a follower out and it is our next turn, I will attack with my follower!

Hanaoka The number written in the blue icon on the card is the Attack Power. The amount of attack power reduces your opponent's strength. The attacked Follower becomes "Act" (sideways) and cannot attack again that turn. The follower's "Act" status will be changed back to "Stand" status (facing vertically) in the Start Phase of the next turn.

Seina When attacking, can't I attack a Follower instead of the opponent's leader?

Hanaoka: Yes, you can, but you can only attack followers in the opponent's ACT state. So, one of your strategy is to end the turn without attacking important followers that you do not want to be attacked by your opponent, and keep them in Stand state.

Also, while a follower with the ability of "Protection" is in the Act state, only that follower can attack the opponent's follower. It means that you cannot attack the leader directly if there is a follower with "守護" on the opponent's field.

Kako, what kind of ability does this "E1: This evolves." is what kind of ability is it?

Hanaoka The " E" stands for Evolve, which is also the title of the game, or evolution. Followers with "E" can evolve into Evolve Followers, which are powerful cards, by paying the cost of the number listed on the card. Try stacking cards with the same name from the Evolve deck.

Kako Oh, the picture changes after evolution. It has more abilities, too!

HanaokaThat's right. Evolve followers are very powerful, just for the additional cost. Furthermore, when it evolves, it can attack even on the turn it is put on the field. However, it can only attack the opponent's Follower in Act state.

Aika: Okay, I will attack with the evolved "Rose Garden Keeper"!

Shiorine Ehh, I don't want to be attacked. ......

Hanaoka In that case, let's use a card marked "Quick". Cards with "≪Quick≫" can be used not only during your turn, but also interrupted during your opponent's attack and in the End Phase.

Aika My attack was jammed!

Hanaoka≪Quick≫ is an element that was not in the app version of Shadowverse. Of course, it requires a cost to use it, so you need to have PP left on your turn, but if you can defeat your opponent's followers with the card's effect, you can pretend the attack didn't happen, so you can turn the tables on them.

There are also other abilities that I haven't been able to introduce this time, such as Amulets, which are used on the field just like followers, and tokens created by abilities, but this concludes the basic rules for "Shadowverse EVOLVE. I know there are a lot of things to remember, but if you don't understand something, I will explain it to you, so let's actually play against each other from here on!

C;ON Yes!

So, with Mr. Hanaoka's lecture, all of us at C;ON were enthusiastic about playing TCG for the first time.

For detailed rule explanations and deck introductions, check out the official website!

After the "Shadowverse EVOLVE" training session: ......

Anzu: It was my very first time to play TCG, so it was very fresh. But even beginners like us were able to understand the rules and have fun, and the visuals of the cards were beautiful. I felt that not only children but also adults could enjoy the game.

Shiorine: I imagined the visuals would be more pop-like, but there were many strong-looking cards, and at first I was worried if I could understand the rules, but it was very easy to understand because the rules were explained from the beginning. Also, it was interesting to read the abilities of the cards and the flavor text underneath. I heard that this was only the first year of release, so I hope to become a strong player someday!

Seina: Each card has a different touch, so it was fun just to look at the visuals. It was the first time for me to play a card game after taking a class like today's, but it was very easy to understand. I thought it would be good for beginners to start with the workshop.

Aika: I wasn't sure if I would be able to play as a beginner after listening to the explanations at the workshop, but I actually had a lot of fun playing the game and felt that it was worth playing because the rules are not simple. The game is very deep, so I think it can be enjoyed by all levels of players. However, it was very frustrating when I lost. (Laughs)

Kako: I was also a TCG newbie, so I was a bit confused at first, but as I played, I came to understand the strength of each card and became more attached to it, I no longer had such preconceived notions. I honestly wanted to play more.

On the next page, I asked Hiroshi Kawazu of Bushiroad about the TCG industry!