Weiß Schwarz is a trading card game (TCG) from Bushiroad that works with various Anime, Manga and Game companies to bring together different series all into one card game. Boasting around 40 different series and counting the game definitely has something for everyone including series such as Bakemonogatari, Fairy Tail, Persona 3/4 and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Weiß Schwarz has seen a big boost in the western world with the release of new English language trial decks and booster packs. Although small in number so far we have received some of the more popular series such as Fate/Zero, Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Sword Art Online. With Weiß Schwarz UK maintaining an ever growing presence in the UK convention scene we can remain hopeful that more series will make there where here. Because Japan has a lot of choices when it comes to the range of series available it’s becoming more popular to import Japanese trial decks and booster packs we have even seen an increase of online UK based stores stocking them too.
To help share the fun of Weiß Schwarz we are giving away one Kill la Kill trial deck! The trial deck contains 50 Japanese cards. To enter the competition all you have to do is like our Facebook page and share the post. The competition is open until 12am March 1st (UK Time).
The first thing you will notice when looking at this game is that there are White (Weiß) and Black (Schwarz) sides, you can tell which side your series in from by the colour of the wings at the bottom of a card. Originally having two sides did mean a differences in play styles with the white side using more card effects compared to the black side but with the increase in new series this has become less apparent.
(Image © Bushiroad)
As with any card game the idea is to damage your opponent until you win but what is unique with Weiß Schwarz is that you can only play higher level cards depending on the amount of damage you have recieved. So the game becomes strategic based on how you chose to receive damage and how you damage your opponent, you may very well believe your winning at the beginning only to be overwhelmed in late game.
Apart from the two sides White (Weiß) and Black (Schwarz) there are also four different colours that a card can come in Blue, Green, Red and Yellow each one having different style of play. Trials decks will come in only two colours and boosters packs with contain all four. Now it is not recommended to play with more than two colours in a deck until you are more experienced. As well as the different colours there are also three different types of cards:
Character – This is your main type of card, used for attacking your opponents character cards.
Event – Akin to magic/spell cards from other TCG’s but not as common mainly due to character cards having effects of there own and so event cards are quite few.
Climax – Only 8 of these cards allowed within a deck they work by negating damage received from your opponent but also have great boosting effects when played in the climax zone.
(Image © Bushiroad)
As with all card games the game play is broken down into phases:
Stand Phase – At the beginning of every turn you [Stand] all your [Rest] units. A [Rest] card means it has been turned side ways this happen when you have either attacked with it or used an ability/effect that requires the card to be put in the [Rest] position.
Draw Phase – Pretty self-explanatory this one. You draw 1 card from the top of your deck.
Clock Phase – You may choose to place a card in your Clock (damage zone) and then draw 2 cards. This is useful for gaining more cards but also gaining a level faster so to use higher level cards. When you have 7 cards in your clock you level up by 1.
Main Phase – This is where you can place your character/event cards and activate any abilities/effects, at level 0 there is no restriction on what cards you can play but as you level up this changes. To play a card of level 1 and above you must first be the same level and have a card with the same colour in either your level or clock zones, some cards may have a cost which is paid by using the cards in your stock.
Climax Phase – After you have placed all you character cards you can play a climax card.
Battle Phase – During the battle phase there are three different types of attack:
- Direct Attack – This is when the opponent doesn’t have a card placed opposite your own and so you can attack them directly, by doing this your character gets one extra soul (Soul= how much damage your character does).
- Frontal Attack – This is when your character cards attack the one in front of it, the character card with the lowest attack loses and then becomes [Reversed] and is then sent to the Waiting Room (Discard Pile) at the end of the Encore Phase.
- Side Attack – This is an attack you can do if your character card cannot compete with the character in front of it. What happen is you character soul is reduced by the level of the opposing card so you may still have a chance to do some damage and neither of the cards are [Reversed].
When attacking you turn your card side ways into the [Rest] position. Also interestingly the person who goes first can actually attack once.
Trigger Phase – When attacking you perform a trigger check by turning over the top deck of your deck and applying the effect it states which varies from card to card. The card is then place in the stock.
Counter Phase – When you have declared an frontal attack your opponent has the chance to counter this through an event card or a character with the back up ability.
Damage Phase – Damage is calculated by the soul that a card has plus any effect via climax or triggered cards. The damage is then applied by the opponent drawing the number of cards equal to that of the damage they receive from the top of there deck and then placed in the Clock. When 7 damage has been received you level up by 1. If your opponent draws a climax card while calculating the damage that damage is then negated.
Encore Phase – During this phase any cards that have been [Reversed] can be encored and placed back in the [Stand] position by paying the cost of 3 cards from the Stock.
End Phase – Self-explanatory.
For an in-depth tutorial on how to play please refer to the video below and the links that will be posted at the end of this article and also search out a card shop in your local area they are always happy to help new players learn the art of card games. Look out for Weiß Schwarz UK at all major conventions they will teach you how to play with their own decks so you can try the game out before you buy it.
Weiß Schwarz is a must try for any TCG and Anime fans alike, it’s a very unique game and offers something different to those used to playing Magic and Yu-gi-oh!. Remember to enter our competition on Facebook for your chance to win a Kill la Kill Japanese trial deck and look forward to our upcoming Cardfight! Vangaurd feature.
If you have any questions regarding Weiß Schwarz feel free to leave a comment here onFacebook/Twitter. We want to hear from you, any tips or strategies you want to share or maybe you’re a new player and don’t quite understand the rules and game play we’ll be happy to help you out.