It seems like card battle games have been popping up over the past decade or so. In the mid 90s Wizards of the Coast had a smash hit with their “Magic: The Gathering” franchise, but didn’t seem to catch on with the pre-teens. Since then, every anime-inspired series has had a card battle game with similar rules — from Yu-Gi-Oh to Bleach (and even Naruto).
One of my personal favorite anime series is FullMetal Alchemist, and even they have a card battle game. If you’re one of the two people in the world playing this card battle game, then you’ll be relieved to know that you no longer have to carry around a paper deck… you can duke it out on your Nintendo DS.
Even if you are familiar with the anime series, you will be completely lost unless you’ve played the card game. Although the game is a series of enemy encounters that you must battle, the game goes through the entire storyline. This game is meant for fans of the Trading Card Game, which is a very specific audience. Those who are a fan of the anime series will be better served with Destineer’s FullMetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy game, which is an arcade game (and serveral mini-puzzles) for the DS that goes through the entire series.
If you actually have played the card game, then you’ll be happy to know that all of the cards are in this virtual installment. The video game can be quite a deal if you’re interested in this game, because you pay one flat price instead of spending money on starter and booster packs. You don’t have access to all the cards at the beginning, however, as you have to play through several character battles to unlock different cards.
The Booster packs so far are called the Premier Edition, Blood & Water, Artificial Human, A Hero’s Passing, Alchemist’s Gate, Seven Deadly Sins and the recently released, Sacrifice. There are 11 cards per pack, on the average 1 Rare, 3 Uncommons, and 7 Commons. Rare Inserts are Transmutated (1:80 packs) Chase and Chase Exclusive, (1:24 packs) Player’s Choice cards, (1:1 Only in A Hero’s Passing 1:3 in Sacrifice) and Signature cards, (1:200) SIG cards are only in A Hero’s Passing, Alchemist’s Gate, Seven Deadly Sins and Sacrifice. Mispacks have been reported with Promotional cards.
Theme Decks for Hero’s Passing are Maes Hughes, Alphonse Elric, Scar, and Envy. Theme Decks for Artificial Human are Alex Louis Armstrong and Edward Elric. Theme Decks for Blood & Water are Scar and Roy Mustang. Theme Decks for Premier Edition are Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, Lust, Roy Mustang, and Father Cornello.
Rarity of the cards is as follows:
- Common: Just a regular card, has a C in the bottom right-hand corner. 7:1 pack.
- Uncommon’: Looks regular, but is a short-printed card. Has a U in the bottom right-hand corner. 3:1 pack.
- Rare: Looks regular, but is even shorter printed than uncommon. Has an R in the bottom right-hand corner. These cards are usually better for gameplay, but some are exceptions. 1:1 pack.
- Foil: Is holographic, And even rarer than rare. Can be any card in the base of the set. Has the card’s rarity in the bottom right-hand corner. Most people prefer the holographic because they are rarer than the normal cards, and are prettier than the usual card, although the foil still has the same picture. 1:3 packs. Foils where stopped from a Hero’s Passing onward.
- Fixed: These cards are found in all Starter and Theme decks. Premier Edition were normal cards, while all decks after fixed cards are foiled. Marked with the F in the bottom right corner. 1:1 Deck (Premier Edition) 3:1 Deck (All other sets)
- Chase: A chase card is an alternate template print of a card in the base of the set. These cards are always foiled. An X is found in the lower right corner. 1:30 packs for Premier edition, 1:24 from Blood and Water – A Hero’s Passing. 1:12 in Alchemist’s Gate, and 1:11 onwards.
- Chase Exclusive: Commonly referred to as “Xe” or “Filmstrip” cards, these cards are only available as Chases. They have a unique design compared to other chase cards. These are only found as Leaders and Locations. These cards are usually better than the normal cards in the base of the set, but there are also exceptions. These are the most sought after cards. These have Xe in the bottom right corner. The odds are determined by how many chases there are in a set.
- Transmuted: Is see-through, completely clear except the pictures and the card’s effects. Can only be Leader cards. Has a T in the bottom right-hand corner. 1:80 packs.
- Player’s Choice: Reprints of older cards (usually better ones). Only in A Hero’s Passing and Sacrifice. 1:1 They are marked with PC. This was changed in Sacrifice to be 1:3.
- Signature Cards: Cards with a signature from the Voice Actor. 1:200 packs. Only A Hero’s Passing, Alchemist’s Gate, Seven Deadly Sins, and Sacrifice. They are marked with SIG.
- Promo: Most promos are only obtained from special events. Some promos have been reprinted or are reprints. They are marked with a PR****. The **** is the year, 2005/2006/2007.
- Heavy Duty: These are cards only given out at conventions by Joyride. They are given if you spend more than $20 at once. They are marked with HD. There are only 8 as of now.
Types of Cards
There are seven known main types of cards:
- Leader cards: Your leading character. Has a green flag in the top left-hand corner, with his or her command (the number of points he/she has to recruit allies and equip things to themselves) inside of it. If this character is defeated in battle, you must bring him back, you do not have a choice.
- Ally cards: Characters you can recruit. Has a gold coin in the top left-hand corner, with the recruit cost inside of it. You can recruit as many allies as you want per turn, as long as your leader has the command to do it.
- Event cards: Cards that you can play during the phase written on the cards. Usually has a cost of Alchemy, Wits, or Strength (designated in the top right-hand corner of the card as the symbol of stone, alchemy, wits, or strength with a number inside of it).
- Attachment cards: Usually cards you can equip to Ally or leader cards, or cards that help you in some way. Has a silver coin in the top-left hand corner, with a cost inside of them.
- Location cards: Cards that have clue points on them. Has an incomplete Philosopher’s Stone with a number inside of them, indicating the number of clue point they have. Also, they usually have an effect on them which benefits or hurts you and your opponent. These are the main cards with which you win.
- Advantage: A blue card with the ally gold coin in the top left corner. These are played in the recruit phase, but don’t count towards your maximum ally limit. You use command to play these, similar to allies.
- Stones: You can play it to your home if you have at least a number of clue points in your victory pile equal to the cost in the upper-left corner. Once per turn, a character can use its activated ability.
Factions
There are four main factions. Factions designate who the recruit or leader is loyal to.
- Elric: Has the snake-over-cross (crucified serpent) symbol, also called Flamel’s Cadeuceus, in the upper right-hand corner. Cards like Edward Elric, Tim Marcoh and Alphonse Elric share this faction.
- Rebel: Has Psiren’s Transmutation Circle in the upper right hand corner. Cards like Scar, Greed,Father Cornello and Psiren share this faction.
- Military: Has a Military Crest in the upper right-hand corner. Cards like Roy Mustang, Alex Louis Armstrong, Basque Grand and Liza Hawkeye share this faction.
- Homunculi: Has an Ouroboros in the upper right-hand corner. Cards like Envy, Shou Tucker and Lust share this faction.
- Unaligned: Not really a faction. It has no faction symbol, and these leaders get the recruit penalty for any ally that has a faction. The only factionless leaders are Majhal and Dante (Dante gains the faction of your allies, but starts out unaligned). Also, note that unaligned allies do not have a recruit penalty, and can be played in your starting team.
- Unknown Faction: A 5th faction was to be released in the set following Sacrifice, its symbol being that of a rocket like object. It is only seen on the Edward Elric, Artificial Limbs XE card in Sacrifice. It is unknown what the faction represents. Theories include our world, on the other side of the Gate, due to the fact the newest and most important technology in our world, as seen by Ed, is that of space flight.
Once you get the hang of it, you can challenge other players online… so good luck with that. You can connect wireless with other players from around the world rather than trying to find someone within your same Zip Code that actually has this cartridge (although there is a local wireless mode). You can participate in ranked or unranked matches and set specific game rules.
If you’re actually geeky enough to know the rules of this game, then you’ll be interested in the Fantasy Mode. This mode allows the player to forgo all the rules and create their favorite deck, and manage all the cards they’ve accumulated however they want.
The major problem with FMA:TCG is that it is exactly like the original card game. The only enhancement of playing the DS version over using actual cards is hearing the voice actors. There is no card animation, visual effects, or anything really interesting to grab your attention. The voice samples are really overused, and the music is barely passable.
Unless you’ve played (and enjoyed) the actual card game then there’s no reason to pick up this version. If, however, the ability to have a virtual deck and play other fans from around the world online appeals to you, then this game is a worthwhile investment. Only fanboys of the card game need apply.
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