Battle Spirits

Disambiguation: for the 1993 anime see Battle Spirits Ryuuko no Ken.
Battle Spirits Trading Card Game
Designer(s) Mike Elliott
Publisher(s) Bandai
Players 2 or 4
Setup time Approx 2 min
Playing time Approx 20 min
Random chance Some
Skill(s) required Card playing
Arithmetic
Basic Reading Ability
Strategy

Battle Spirits is a two-player collectible card game (CCG) jointly developed by Bandai and Sunrise, Inc. and a franchise which also includes several anime series, manga serializations, and other merchandise like toys and video games.

The game was released in Japan in September 2008 where it quickly became one of the top selling trading card games of the year.[1] Due to this popularity, it was released in the United States by Bandai of America on August 14, 2009. However, due to a lack of publicity, only five sets were released.

How to Play

The game is set up by placing five core on each player's life and three on each player's reserve, plus 1 soul core. Each player draws four cards from their deck. The steps in a turn are as follows:

Repeat until game ends. The game is won by reducing either the opponent's life or deck to 0. The game is won immediately when the life is at 0, but a deck must have 0 cards during the Start Step for the game to end.

Card Terminology

Card Types

Card Rarity

The card rarity in Battle Spirits is as follows:

Colors

The Battle Spirits world is set with six colors; Red (Ruby), Green (Emerald), Purple (Amethyst), White (Diamond), Blue (Sapphire), and Yellow (Topaz). Each color stems from a different variety of precious gem.

In addition, Ultimate cards have Gold symbols.

Card Mechanics

These are keywords that help identify a spirit's effect.

  • Ultra-Awaken: A variation of Awaken where the spirit is refreshed each time cores are placed on it.
  • True-Awaken: A variation of Awaken specific to Ultimates where the ultimate gains 3000 BP for every core placed on it.
  • Violent Swift: A variation of Swift where the Core Cost is paid from the trash if there are 5 or more in it.
  • Destructive Curse: A variation of Curse where if the spirit is destroyed by the opponent at any time, by sending one of the opponent's life to their trash, the spirit remains on the field, refreshed.
  • Invincibility: X: A variation of Immunity where the spirit is also unaffected by opposing Brave effects.
  • Ultra-Immunity: X: A variation of Immunity where the spirit is also unaffected by opposing Ultimate effects.
  • Evil Light: A variation of Brilliance where the spell's effect can be activated twice in the battle.
  • Great Demolish: A variation of Crush where 5 cards are moved to the trash for every level that the spirit has.
  • True-Clash: A variation of Clash where opposing spirits or ultimates must block if possible.
  • Divine Holy Life: A variation of Holy Life where one core is moved to the life when the spirit attacks, and it is refreshed if your life is three or less.
  • Red: Increase the BP limit of your destruction effects by 1000.
  • Purple: Increase the number of cores moved due to your removal effects by 1.
  • Green: Increase the number of opposing cards exhausted due to your effects by 1.
  • White: Increase the number of spirits refreshed by your effects by 1.
  • Yellow: Increase your BP- effects by -1000.
  • Blue: Increase the cards moved from your opponent's deck to their trash due to your effects by 1.
  • Critical Hit: If the card sent to the trash fulfills a certain condition, another effect may activate.
  • Double Ultimate Trigger: Two cards are sent to the trash instead of one. If both cards hit, another effect may activate.

English Set Releases

A player must have at least 40 cards in their deck, with no upper limit. Up to three cards of the same name are allowed in a deck. Players can purchase booster packs to increase the number of cards they have. Expansions are sets of cards that build upon the foundation laid out by the base set, the original set of cards released.

There are currently a total of 40+ expansion sets and more than 30 starter decks available in Japan, as well as numerous other special sets and promotional cards. Special crossover cards even exist, such as those from Toho's Godzilla franchise.

Media

Anime

There are 299 episodes in the first six completed series. Each anime also has a manga serialization.

  1. Battle Spirits: Shounen Toppa Bashin (2008-2009)
  2. Battle Spirits: Shounen Gekiha Dan (ja:バトルスピリッツ 少年激覇ダン) (2009-2010)
  3. Battle Spirits: Brave (ja:バトルスピリッツ ブレイヴ, Batorusupirittsu bureivu) (2010-2011)
  4. Battle Spirits: Heroes (ja:バトルスピリッツ 覇王, Batorusupirittsu haō) (2011-2012)
  5. Battle Spirits: Sword Eyes (2012-2013)
  6. Battle Spirits: Saikyou Ginga Ultimate Zero (2013-2014)
  7. Battle Spirits: Burning Soul (ja:バトルスピリッツ 烈火魂, Batorusupirittsu rekka tamashī < bāningusouru >) (2015-2016)[2]
  8. Battle Spirits Double Drive (ja:バトルスピリッツ ダブルドライブ) (2016-2017)

Video Games

There have been three video games released to date. None of them have been released outside of Japan.

  1. Battle Spirits: Pyroxene (2009) was made for the Sony PSP.
  2. Battle Spirits: Digital Starter (2010) was made for the Nintendo DS.
  3. Battle Spirits: Heroes Soul (2010) was made for the Sony PSP.

References

  1. "Bandai Brings ‘Battle Spirits TCG’ to U.S.". March 9, 2009.
  2. "約10,000人の動員数を記録した祭典「バトスピMAX2014」にて2015年の新展開を発表!「バトルスピリッツ」シリーズの新アニメプロジェクトも". September 1, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
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