Weiß Schwarz
Weiß Schwarz (ヴァイスシュヴァルツ Vaisu Shuvarutsu) is a Japanese collectible card game created by Bushiroad. The game is separated into Weiß-side and Schwarz-side. Weiß and Schwarz are German for white and black, respectively. As a general rule, series under Weiß usually have better card effects when compared to those series under Schwarz. However, with the newer series entering the respective sides, there is not much difference between the two.
Gameplay
The game focuses on 2 main aspects, character battle and clock/level which regulate what cards can be played as well as acting as a player's life point.
Victory conditions
- The player that forces his or her opponent to Level 4 wins the game immediately.
- Opposing player has no cards left in Library and Waiting Room.
Phases
Gameplay of Weiß Schwarz is broken into several phases during a players turn:
Stand phase
All characters on the active player's Stage in [Rest] are returned to [Stand].
Draw phase
The active player draws a card from the top of his deck. Unlike some card games, this occurs on the first turn of each player, even if the player is going first.
Clock phase
The active player may choose to discard one card from his hand into his/her Clock Area to draw 2 additional cards from his/her deck.
Main phase
The phase where you play and move characters or event cards and activate start up abilities/effects.
When you play a card, you have to match the three conditions (level, cost, and color) in order to play the card.
Climax phase
Climax cards are played during this phase.
Battling phase
The player declares an attack of choice with his/her characters one at a time to damage the opponent's life points (called "Clock" in Weiß Schwarz) and also their characters (if present) at the same time.
During the first turn of the game, the player who goes first may only declare attack with one character.
Only Characters that are in [Stand] Position and in the Center Stage can declare attacks.
Characters declaring attack will be put to [Rest] position from [Stand] position.
The 3 different types of Attack:
- Direct Attack
This attack is the default attack when a character is attacking an empty slot.
The attacking character will gain an additional Soul Damage to the Soul Damage total.
- Front Attack
The player may choose this attack when a character is attacking and there is a character opposing it. Battle between the characters will occur and the character with the lower Power will be put to [Reverse]. Characters that are put to [Reverse] will be sent to the Waiting Room during the Encore Phase unless otherwise stated.
- Side Attack
The player may choose this attack when a character is attacking and there is a character opposing it. Battle between the characters will NOT occur. The attacking character will suffer a Soul Damage penalty that is equivalent to the Level of the opposing character.
Trigger phase
Upon declaring an attack from front attack, side attack or direct attack, a card is flipped over from your deck as trigger to check for trigger (effect varies upon trigger) and the card goes into stock.
Counter phase
If you declared a front attack, your opponent may play a character/event counter card, if they have one.
Damage phase
Your opponent takes damage equivalent to your soul output + soul trigger upon trigger step (if any) onto their clock. 7 cards on the clock raises your level by 1, and any additional damage are retained onto your next level. However, should you flip over a climax card, all the damage sustained for that damage step is canceled, and they are moved into the waiting room (discard pile) instead.
Character battling phase
This Phase occurs only when a Front Attack is declared.
A Power comparison between the characters is done and the character with the lower Power is put to [Reverse].
If the power of both battling characters are the same, both of them are put to [Reverse].
Encore phase
This Phase occurs when the Main Player has decided to stop attacking.
All Characters that are in the [Reverse] state are sent to the Waiting Room.
Both Players are allowed to "Revive" their characters by paying the characters' respective Encore cost.
Even when not stated, all character cards comes with a built-in ability [Auto] Encore (3), which means that a player may pay 3 cost from his/her stock to "Revive" a character which has been put to [Reverse].
The Encored characters will be put back from the Waiting Room in [Rest] position to their original position on the Center Stage.
End phase
You pass on your turn to the opponent.
Card type
There are 3 main type of cards in Weiß Schwarz, namely character cards, event cards and climax cards. They are further broken down into colors and level subcategory. A deck can contain any four copies of cards with the same name, and no more than 8 climax cards per deck. The number of cards in a deck build is exactly 50.
Character cards
Character cards form the base of the gameplay, serving as your means of damaging the opponent and subsequently defeating them. Character cards have several features which include the level and cost on the top left, soul trigger on the top right, effects, color, power, soul output and traits on the bottom of the card. To play a character, you have to meet the color requirement (applies only to card level 1 and above), the cost requirement and the level requirement.
Event cards
Event cards act as an instant play card during your main phase which may give functions like retrievals or healing effects. Event cards have to meet color and level requirements to be played.
Climax cards
Climax cards act as a means to boost your soul and power damage output during your climax phase upon play, as means to increase soul output or resources advantage upon triggering on trigger phase and also serves as damage canceler during damage phase. Because of the usefulness of climax cards, a deck is capped at 8 climaxes. Climax card have to meet the color requirement to be played during climax phase.
Participating Titles
Main Titles
Weiß Side
- Angel Beats! & Kud Wafter
- D.C. & D.C. II
- D.C. & D.C. II Plus Communication
- D.C. III
- D.C. 10th Anniversary Mix
- Day Break Illusion - il sole penetra le illusioni
- Index & Railgun
- Index II & Railgun
- Little Busters!
- Little Busters! Anime
- Little Busters! Ecstasy
- Love Live!
- Love Live! School Idol Festival
- Lucky Star
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 2nd A's
- Nanoha StrikerS
- Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica
- Rewrite
- Rewrite Harvest festa!
- Robotics;Notes
- Senki Zesshō Symphogear
- Senki Zesshō Symphogear G
- Shakugan no Shana
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S
- Vividred Operation
- Zero no Tsukaima
Schwarz Side
- Accel World
- Bakemonogatari
- Disgaea
- Fairy Tail
- Fate/stay night
- Fate/Zero
- Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet
- Guilty Crown
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F
- Macross Frontier
- Melty Blood
- Nisemonogatari
- Persona 3
- Persona 4
- Rebuild of Evangelion
- Sengoku Basara
- Shining Force EXA
- Sword Art Online
- Tantei Opera Milky Holmes
- Tantei Opera Milky Holmes: Change of dress
- The Idolmaster
- The Idolmaster 2
- The Idolmaster Anime
- The King of Fighters
Extra Pack/Extra Booster
Weiß Side
- Angel Beats!
- Angel Beats! Volume 2
- CLANNAD Volume 1
- CLANNAD Volume 2
- CLANNAD Volume 3
- D.C. & D.C. II
- D.C. & D.C. II Plus Communication
- D.C. II Plus Communication
- Da Capo III Anime
- Dog Days
- Dog Days'
- Little Busters! Ecstasy
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st
- Nichijou
- Shakugan no Shana III -FINAL-
- Sora Kake Girl/My-HiME & My-Otome
- Sora Kake Girl/My-HiME & My-Otome Volume 2
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Zero no Tsukaima F
Schwarz Side
- Black Rock Shooter
- CANAAN
- Devil Survivor 2: The Animation
- Disgaea 4
- Disgaea D2
- Fairy Tail
- Fate/hollow ataraxia
- Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya
- Fate/Zero
- Katanagatari
- Psycho-Pass
- Milky Holmes: Genius 4 Counterattack
- Milky Holmes: The Empire Strikes Back
- Persona 4
- Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena
- Persona 4: The Animation
- Sengoku Basara II
- The Idolmaster Dearly Stars
- Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life
Upcoming titles
External links
- Official website
- Weiβ Schwarz Card Translation Fanpage
- American distributor / translator
- Bushiroad English Blog
- Bushi Navi English (Radio)