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inkblackorchid · 1 year

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Characters and cards

Having scripted duels that feature Aki, Yusei, and most recently, Crow in them now, I've got some thoughts about their decks that I've been meaning to get out. This is gonna be a long post. And bear in mind that this is written from the perspective of someone who is not a habitual yugioh player, but has simply had a fair amount of exposure to these characters' cards due to writing about them. I guess it's something of a thinkpiece about characters and their cards. Or advice for people hoping to script 5Ds-era duels with these characters, I guess.

So, first of all, I think we all agree that duel monsters cards in the show, aside from obvious marketing for irl yugioh cards, are also a storytelling device and a tool for characterisation. As in, duels are never just duels, they're also something else. The story is woven into the card plays, and the cards that are being played say something about the person using them. Yeah? Yeah.

With that in mind, the decks of the main cast in 5Ds become very interesting. I'll start with Aki here, since most of the duels I've scripted have included her. (And I'm only talking about cards the characters canonically own, not whatever cards were added to their favourite archetypes after the show or something. For actual TCG players, please keep one more thing in mind: Several of these characters' cards were either never printed irl or had different effects in the anime, which may be reflected in how I talk about them.)

So. Aki. Character-wise, she's got an intriguing deck, actually. Obviously, as the Black Rose Witch she's introduced to us to, her deck primarily features two things: A plant focus (primarily on roses because of course) and shrewd, witch-like tactics that would be considered dishonorable by some other characters in the show. (Think card combinations like Mark of the Rose, which lets her take control of an opponent's monster during her turns, and Vengeful Servant, which lets this constant back-and-forth between who controls the monster result in damage to her opponent. It reads much like a witch magically bringing someone in her thrall.) What's interesting is that the deck also has a fire focus to some degree, though. Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis (which burns itself to deal damage to the opponent), Rose Flame (a trap that burns the opponent every time a plant is summoned to their field) and even Black Rose Dragon (who is a fire attribute, despite her main association being plants). This fire theme doesn't consistently run through the entire deck, but it pops up often enough to suggest it was intentional—this, in turn, says some interesting things about Aki as a character. She plays a plant deck and is primarily represented by roses, yet plays cards associated with fire, which, in a real-world context, could very easily eradicate those plants. Combine that with Black Rose Dragon and her infamous board-wiping effect (which notably also destroys BRD herself) and you realise that at the start, Aki doesn't just represent the forest, she's also the fire consuming it. She tends a beautiful, if very dark garden, but she's also the one burning it to the ground, reflecting how she's tearing herself apart from the inside trying to stick to her Black Rose Witch persona even though it's actually hurting her. It's a shame they didn't let her duel much in the second half of the series, meaning that they got barely any chance to represent her character growth through her deck, either. There's more, though. Because the character decks are also interesting from a tactical standpoint to a degree. Now, Aki flip-flops around a fair bit in terms of tactics—she never really establishes herself to have a particular gimmick she sticks to in her duels, aside from maybe summoning Black Rose Dragon to wipe the field. But this is more about general stuff I noticed while working with the characters' cards, anyway. Aki has several monsters with unique effects and plenty to ways to deal effect damage (Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis, Blossom Bombardment, Rose Flame and Evil Thorn to name a few). She has a few means of adding cards to her hand if she needs them (Magic Planter, Ground Capture, Offensive Guard and the speed spell Angel Baton), but her deck isn't exactly geared towards hand card advantage (especially in comparison to some other characters), which is something I often need to work around, especially when she’s duelling someone who can easily draw more cards. Of course, she also collects several ways to bring Black Rose Dragon back over the course of the series, both to use her first effect and because she's her ace monster (Wicked Rebirth, Blue Rose Dragon, Shining Rebirth and the combo between Synchro Back and Dimension Reversion), and while she's definitely not the most focussed on synchro summoning, she does have some interesting ways to interact with synchro monsters or get them on the field quickly (Urgent Tuning, Synchro Stream, Star Siphon, and Synchro Spirits). She also has some interesting traps to either outmanoeuvre her opponent, get back at them for attacking her, or protect herself from battle damage (Rose Curse, Nature's Reflection, Doppelganger, Rose Blizzard, Ground Capture, and Offensive Guard). And I really want to draw attention to the traps here, because in scripting duels, I've found that they act as extenders, especially those that end the battle phase or negate damage somehow. Inserting traps like that can be a breather to allow for some character interaction, and more often than not, that's reflected in the show, as well. Defensive traps come into play when the duel needs to be more drawn-out than it might be under real-life circumstances. (Considering the average yugioh game, from what I've heard, barely lasts more than three turns these days.) This goes double for turbo duels, by the way. Adding the character aspect and the tactical details of the deck together, it makes Aki out to be a capable duellist who doesn't tie herself down to one type of play. She's got a myriad of ways of dealing damage, she's got spells and continuous traps to make the field harder to navigate for her opponent (she's also one of the few non-dark signer characters who has a field spell of her own; Black Garden), but she also knows how to defend herself, her deck isn’t all-out aggression. Between the varying tactics and the plant theme, the deck gives the impression of being something like a living thing. It's a wild garden, at the end of the day, and accordingly, it's varied and plentiful.

Then there's Yusei. I could probably make a whole, exhaustingly long post of its own just about Yusei's cards, mostly because he gets so many during the series. The number of cards Yusei uses over the course of the show is enough to make up several other characters' entire decks. But this is about characters, themes and little strategic tidbits, so I'll try to rein myself in. Yusei's deck couldn't be a more accurate representation of his character if it tried. At the start of the show, it's all scraps and recycled things, encapsulating both Satellite, where he came from, his personal ethic that nothing's worthless, and his occupation; a mechanic, someone who fixes things. Many of his monsters, especially the synchro monsters, have a heroic aura to them, reflecting his courage and how he (mostly) stays cool under pressure (Junk Warrior, Shield Warrior, Stardust Dragon, Road Warrior). At the same time, he plays plenty of cutesy, low-level, critter-like monsters that go a long way towards showing he's still soft at heart (Sonic Chick, Quillbolt Hedgehog, Tuningware, Junk Synchron). Yusei's the guy who sticks up for others, he's the guy who will throw himself in harm's way to make sure nobody else has to. (This is also reflected in his cards; Stardust's self-sacrificing effect is well-known, of course, but it also shows in the many defensive traps he owns.) In comparison to some other characters, I would argue his deck at least outwardly appears less coherent, though; he doesn't stick to one archetype (though he has a lot of junk archetype monsters and a lot of warrior type monsters), some of his monsters don't share any design similarities at all and his spell- and trap arsenal is an interesting mixture between cards that are old and were well-established before 5Ds already and newer ones made up for the show. Plus, he always shows he's not afraid to use cards that seem like they "wouldn't fit him" (think Effect Veiler, Level Eater, Sonic Chick)—I take this to be intentional, too. After all, his deck is essentially a lovingly collected and tended box of scraps, something built under the motto "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts". Tactics-wise, Yusei's character is again reflected mostly in two things: 1. His inventiveness is reflected in how all the cards in his deck often quickly slot together into a larger whole and how he plays extensive combinations of cards to reach a greater strategic goal. 2. His natural tendency to defend others and face up to threats for their sake is reflected in his wide arsenal of defensive cards. (He has the largest array of defensive traps in the show by far, and given his character, I doubt that's just because he's the protagonist. Think Defense Draw, Card Defense, Ghost Gardna, Damage Eater, Zero Gardna, and, of course, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow.) He's quick on his feet with synchro summoning (and has by far the largest number of synchro monsters of all the characters), he's got a tuner for every synchro combo (Nitro Synchron, Junk Synchron, Turbo Synchron, Road Synchron, Quickdraw Synchron, you name it) and he's got several means to stock back up on hand cards when he needs it (Defense Draw and Spirit Force among them) and even more means to get an extra monster on the field when required (Junk Synchron, One for One, Debris Dragon, Give and Take, to name a few). And, of course, he's got many ways to get a monster back from the graveyard (Junk Synchron again, Graceful Revival, Limiter Break and Revival Ticket smong others). There's no play Yusei doesn't have a clever answer to and no corner he can't manoeuvre himself out of. At the end of the day, his deck reads like a toolbox, and that's what it is! Many parts, not all of which look like they belong to the same set, which he can slot together into the wildest of combinations because that's who Yusei is. He's someone who collects things others believe to be worthless, who uses any means available to him and considers aesthetics secondary, he's a guy who's inventive, who fixes things and who, though he plays defensively, never does so because he's on the back foot. If anything, you should be watching your back when Yusei's on the defence, because he's doubtlessly going to turn that into an advantage and pull off a combo you weren't expecting.

Finally, we get to Crow, whose deck was actually the inspiration for this post, because, to my slight surprise, I have found that Crow plays an absolute balls-to-the-wall deck. I will get back to what I mean by that further down, but first, character details. Crow is the only character we know of who essentially plays a deck he inherited from someone else; namely, Pearson. Though it was hinted in the show that he already liked Blackwings before ever knowing Pearson (seeing as he can be seen learning to read with a Blackwing card, I believe), I think we can agree that the reason Crow plays such an archetype-focussed deck, especially for someone born in Satellite, where this would have naturally been even more difficult, is that he dutifully hung onto the deck Pearson left him. And of course he did! Crow is a family-oriented character and Pearson was his family. Of course he'd treat that Blackwing deck (as well as the Blackbird) like his greatest treasures. (Also, crows and ravens irl are known to be fairly communal birds. Ravens are often even cited as being some of the most doting parents in the avian world, so that checks out, too.) Now, where the Blackwing monsters themselves are concerned, they also do a pretty good job of communicating who Crow is; they're full of tricks and slippery, they have lots of effects that help him outmanoeuvre and puzzle his opponent (Sirocco the Dawn, who can massively boost his fellow Blackwings' attack points, or Blackwing Armor Master, who can reduce the attack and defence points of any monster to zero for a turn, can't be destroyed by battle and from whose battles Crow takes no battle damage, or Aurora the Northern Lights, who can act like a synchro monster despite not being one). With Crow being a character who is first introduced to us while giving sector security the slip, it's no surprise whatsoever that his deck is the embodiment of corvid shrewdness. Where this gets doubly interesting is in the tactical bits. Crow notoriously has a whole armada of Blackwing effect monsters, all of which can already pose a not insignificant headache on their own (between Gale the Whirlwind halving a monster's attack and defence points, Fane the Steel Chain being able to attack directly and switch the battle position of your monster when he does, Bora the Spear being able to deal piercing damage over defence mode monsters... you catch my drift). And that's without going into his synchro monsters, of which he, interestingly enough, has the second-most among the main cast! (And which he can summon blindingly fast, considering his Blackwing monsters like to swarm the field and that he has no shortage of tuners.) What was interesting for me while rooting around in his canon cards, though, is that Crow has several cards boasting "revenge effects" (for lack of a better term; among them: Black Thunder, Blackwing - Boobytrap, Blackwing - Backlash, Black Wing Revenge and Guard Mines) and—and this is where we get back to my balls-to-the-wall point—little to no defensive traps. Crow is good at disrupting his opponents' plays (with cards like Chaos Life, Gravity Collapse, Urgent Tuning and Trap Stun, among others) and he's good at making them regret attacking him or destroying his monsters (see the "revenge" cards above), but as far as his defenses are concerned, the only "classical" defensive trap Crow plays in his entire deck is Mirror Force, and the only other card he uses to defend himself is Mistral the Silver Shield, who can nullify battle damage. Now, fair enough, this could have just been the way the character's deck developed in the show, but allow me to take this as an intentional choice for a moment. In which case, I have to say, his nickname "the bullet" suddenly makes a whole lot of sense! Crow plays a deck that likes to win fast. It affords him little to no defensive options (no cover) and also fairly little options to draw more cards (no ammo), meaning he either wins fast, or risks the chance of not winning at all. Combine this with what we know about his past and his character, and it makes perfect sense. He's a trickster, he’s cheeky, he's reckless and not one to be afraid; not with what the world has already thrown at him. (And don't even get me started on Black-Winged Dragon, who absorbs effect damage, but returns that damage along with an attack point loss of an opponent's monster, reflecting how Crow's used to occasionally taking the beating, both from Satellite gangs and sector security, but always gives back as good as he receives.) So he duels all-out, hard and fast, because he's got (almost) nothing to loose and everything to gain.

I might add onto this post if I ever find an opportunity to script duels for Jack, Rua, and Ruka, but for now, this is all I've got. Just some thoughts.

#yugioh 5ds #yusei fudo #aki izayoi #akiza izinski #crow hogan #ygo 5ds #5ds #headcanons #character deck meta #I guess??#this post is a bit of an experiment tbh #listen cards can be a very effective storytelling medium okay #and I just had a lot of Thoughts about this #orchid rambles

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borreloadsavagedragon · 1 year

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Give Kaito essay (for the character meme)

Oh god, I’ll read more this because it’s gonna be a journey and that's also why it took so long gjdaslgk-

And the standard zexal and arc v spoilers warning message-

1. how long have i known about them A LONG time though it didn’t get to like he’s my whole world status until pandemic era-- MalindaChan did her cosplay for him back when I was still a certified Yugiboomer who entertained GX and 5DS because "lol abridged series jokes" and that’s when I first remember seeing his design? I tried watching Zexal briefly when it was actively airing but just couldn’t get far bc Boomer Brain ™, but I remember him being cool but the "Kaiba-likeness but not being Kaiba" Yugiboomer wall couldn't be overcome right away, I had to train my skills Then 2020 happened, I watched Vrains to understand Link Summoning, got SUCKED into it, and was like wow past me was dumb, ALL of the spinoffs are GREAT Zexal reached a hand back out to me when I was kinda struggling with the Vrains community and I'd decided to start writing more spinoff muses with some mutual friends and that's also when I realized I’d be subconsciously collecting Galaxy and Photon monsters since they’re pretty + space themed but also because they were inside of ALL of the Kaiba support sets(because DUH) so it was like,,, well, let’s try that again

Now I’m In Hell And It’s All His Fault Do you think I ENJOY playing Photon competitively? Well yes, but also NO. It means learning new decks is HARD because I can't look at dragons and knights in SPACE.

2. whether or not they’ve ever made me cry Moon duel? W,, what Moon duel,,, I don’t,,, remember any space dueling, ahaha, isn’t that another yugioh, the rush of the go,,,,,,, In all serious though, yes lmao The duel against Zexal when he tells you his reasoning for why he’s the Number Hunter and he looks so broken, that got a solid few tears The flashback of him trying to break Haruto out of the city got some tears The duel with Chris is also really good show of his character at the root, the thing that gets him back to his feet is the moment Chris even considers Haruto as part of his suffering, g o d The moon duel of course. That’s. That one was brutal. Yeah.

3. whether or not i have any merchandise/objects with them uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

There’s a wall scroll behind my work desk that sneaks into my Zoom calls, there’s a canvas print he’s on that sits at my work desk, my ita bag has a handful of charms, pins, and buttons for him(still hunting for artists who draw him with merch wink wink)

I guess my Photon tcg deck counts? The tcg is just one big merch machine if you squint enough-

My Book of Moon themed binder is literally just all of my collector Photon and Galaxy/references to Kaito cards + a small page for Miza since Tachyon is a Galaxy Eyes

Do cosplays count? Because I’ve got all but his space suit basically done + his duel disk

4. what about their personality i like How seriously he takes himself despite literally everything else about his character

He’s often off to the side with his arms crossed, pouting or frowning, having the cool guy edge lord behavior But also he’s screaming in the rain, jumping through a window on a kite glider he made himself that also doubles as his robo-butler, flying to the whole ass moon because a rock told him to, and beefing 14 yr olds, he’s just a legend

I also love that he's like... very clear about himself and on how you should treat him. He straight up says he's going to hell for what he's done and just continues to be there because that's how he'll atone because atonement isn't forgiveness, like he's not ours to forgive. Love him so much.

5. what about their backstory makes me emotional Honestly, most of it

Watching Kaito slowly lose his autonomy (his brother whose been his responsibility for what could be read as since birth, his father just becoming a figure head in his life versus an actual parent, Chris walking out on him with no closure until they duel, being watched by and trained under brutal conditions by the government, failed escape attempts, getting lied to and used, etc) and then knowing one of the people who he attributes half of that loss and suffering to is someone he never gets closure against is very hard to watch

Even in Arc V, he loses his entire family in a way that makes him cut ties with every single person left in a desolate city and hunt his enemies down one by one to pay them back for his suffering, and it happened before we finally actually get to see him or hear of him for the first time so god knows the details

He really just gets put through it time and time again, yugioh be nice to that onion challenge

6. the moment of theirs that made me the saddest there was no duel on the moon in yugioh zexal

But actually, Kaito dying is tragic for a few reasons

THEY JUST LET HIS BROTHER WATCH IT HAPPEN? FAKER??? HELLO?

He was... ok with it happening-

He was killed off before the final duel and before he could reunite with Yuma and Ryouga again, and even though he came back as a spirit, it felt like a such a cop out

7. the moment of theirs that made me the happiest The pure look of joy on his face reuniting with his brother after they defeat Vector the first time, it’s so good The first time Prime Photon is summoned, goated, perfect, all boss monsters should be willed into existence like that But also Arc V, Kaito watching Dennis duel Yuya after everything with Zarc and clapping for him is so sweet omg

8. something about them that made me laugh HIS ONE LINERS, yugioh really gives the rivals the best solo lines I swear to god

Ok listen, dub and sun debate aside, I watched both because I’m a mess and need as much Kaito as I can get, but the dub has some heaters and Kaito’s got a few good ones, ESPECIALLY when he's talking to Mizael

The one to Shark, “You’re quite the romanticist”, who the fuck says that out loud to another person Kaito talking to Dennis is also a fever dream, the dub especially is so jarring, I love them

9. my favorite canon outfit of theirs White coat with the gazer tattoo, you can never go wrong with the Photon coat Numeral Hunter is also based, I know that's not like HIS look in any show, but... I HC that would be his Vrains Avatar, he could go to Vrains very easily, Solflare is an exploitable card in his deck

10. my favorite moment with them in canon UUUUGGHHHH CHOOSING ONE IS HARD

Uhhh, episode wise Shark Hunter is prooobably my favorite(for obvious reason but besides those LOL) because it’s such a tone setter for who Kaito is and also I could listen to these two bicker all day long, we really didn’t get nearly enough of their side rivalry as opposed to like Kaiba and Joey or Takeru and Ryoken

And then the Moon Duel is like my second favorite duel in the whole franchise, only outclassed by Soba and Revo in Vrains, you really get to see just how strong he is because he's half blind, still actively dying by dueling, and gets his helmet cracked in the vacuum of space, and he's still able to win

Character moment, the duel against Chris comes to mind again because it shows a lot of Kaito to his core, but also Kaito hauling ASS to get Yuma to Astral world to reunite with Astral is iconic, Kaito's always ready to take the plunge when everyone else says not to because he just KNOWS he's right

11. my favorite relationship they have with another character sweats profusely, I said it above somewhere I think- removing shipping from the equation entirely, I REALLY like all of the bff / rival dynamics across all of the shows, I love how well done they are and I fully find them more interesting than the standard protag/rival ones, even with KaiRyo having like the least amount of time dedicated to theirs comparatively. Ryouga and Kaito being treated so similarly by the hands dealt to them to where they'd understand the other one like looking in a mirror and yet they cannot stand each other, I eat that shit up. But also knowing the other person so well that they don't even have to talk and also realizing that person is their one of their only option to success? Give me MORE of that I also really love the foil between Mizael and Kaito a lot, I REALLY wish it got the time it was rumored to get, guess I gotta do everything myself In Arc V, Kaito and Shun's dynamic is really good for the little bit we're allowed the time to see it, Shun being one of the only characters who actually goes back for him after leaving so abruptly between Arc V and Zexal... tugs on the heart strings I also love that Kaito took ONE look at Edo in the safe house and decided to speed run the enemies part of the enemies to lovers arc they were going to have, I wish they could have spoken in canon more, hell GX Edo and Zexal Kaito would also be such an interesting dymamic

12. what i like about the way the fandom portrays them Everyone drawing him like >:D all of the time, keep doing that The white lab coat look too? Like not the Photon one, like a standard white lab coat? Perfect, DO NOT change that

nsfw next but also just how everyone knows he's a bottom no matter which ship it is lmao

13. what i dont like about the way the fandom portrays them that no one talks about him except in “WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE RIVAL” polls fndhxjshxbs

I’m going insane in my thoughts alone over here, I need to convert everyone to watch Zexal

14. what i liked about the way canon portrayed them Ok here we can get heated for a bit because I’ve seen an argument somewhere that Kaito didn’t develop at all from season 1 to 2 of Zexal but he 100000% did and I honestly like how it's done

Season 1 Kaito was purposefully talking to the air Astral could be in to avoid even looking at Yuma because he thought so little of him despite how much clawing to get on the same level as him Yuma did

Season 2 Kaito is jumping in to keep Mizael from killing Yuma without a second thought, he's going to the arctic despite ALL of the protests to build the bridge to Astral

His development is subtle, but it's very there, not to mention he can now stomach being in the same room as Faker, gave Chris a second chance, his dying words to Yuma are all the more apparent how important Yuma became to him Like the ONLY person we should have seen an actual conversation touching on Kaito's actions with WAS Ryouga but... be honest, Ryouga's not accepting that from Kaito, they're both very much people of action and they established their bond through the snark and bickering, that's how they communicate Plus Kaito's also outward about not being a good person, telling Yuma he sold his soul to the devil, telling the gang in the first episodes of Zexal II he's already going to hell because that's what his guilty soul deserves Ryoken and Kaito would be SUCH an interesting duo, I'm just saying

15. what i dont like about the way canon portrayed them Oh boy now here we go LOL

The duel against Mr Heartland. - This one's unbelievably bad for so many reasons, mostly because there’s no universe where Kaito struggles against Heartland of all people in a duel, but also this is the person who’s been THE symbol for most of his trauma and trials up until that point. There is no chance in hell he struggles, gets crippled by him, and has to have Yuma take over. That was and always should have been his duel to win, but Yugioh has the unfortunate "this is a story through the protag's eyes" shonen protag bug at its core (Yuma sweetie you’re lovely and wonderful, it’s literally not your fault)

Arc V giving him literally no time for their version of Kaito to have a more satisfactory character arc because of how long and bad the Synchro Dimension/Friendship Cup arc was. Just another victim of the Synchro Arc, sighs. The dub also puts this weird and bad attempted joking line about how Kaito doesn't do family and like have you literally watched any of Zexal, you're the whole ass studio Kaito just doesn't feel very Kaito the same way in Arc V, it's very sad, lots of shit you know og Kaito wouldn't let fly that just goes by in Arc V, but different versions, dimensions, stories, etc etc, it's just such a whiplash coming from Zexal where he's just so much more

OCG Structures was a coward and didn’t want to play with dimensional physics because Kaito 110% could find a way into that timeline I haven't read the Zexal manga in full just yet because I wanna collect them all physically so that'll be later- And a little bit for the games since Konami wanted at least one of those to be canon thanks to Vrains world-

Cross Duel literally had you consider killing kids for him but honestly this one is more funny than infuriating, everyone's a worst version of themselves in Cross Duel agjdaslkgj Duel Links is usually pretty good, but since Kaito’s first launch event where he's hunting you down, he’s been very much more like an NPC for the Zexal world events, just seems weird to me, I'm sure that'll get thrown out once Chris' unlock event actually happens coming up here and when Miza gets added... then that digital world won't know WHAT to do

#THIS WAS FUN THOUGH #kaito really is the character of all time in this house #kaito and takeru fight for favorite spot in my head all the time #asks #answered #kaito #kaito tenjo

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eri-blogs-life · 2 years

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Ooo first find in our journey to Goldenrod city is a lapras in Ilex forest!

Damn, that was a hard catch. It was only level 5, so I had to be really careful that I wouldn’t just knock it out if I attacked at all, since my whole team is now about 10 levels above that. But, between Lena’s hypnosis and Moiderer’s sandstorm, I’ve got my way of catching weaker pokemon more or less sorted out!

So, welcome to the team! I’m gonna call you... Yuzuki, after Yuzuki Seo from Nozaki-kun.

Alright, moment of truth here. Just got the Cut HM, let’s see if anyone in the team can use the HM... Alright, phew, Moiderer can use Cut

And in Route 34, we encounter...

Oooo a Kangaskhan! A classic ‘mon. Kangaskhan was a core part of my main deck when I played the pokemon TCG video game last year.

NOOOOOO I didn’t realize it would have a fighting type move D:

RIP Yuzuki, you were such a sweet team member for your short time with us, you had so much potential, you will be missed.

She’s been caught, and because it was the first thing to come to mind, I’m gonna call her Charlotte, after Big Mom, because I’ve been reading One Piece lately and just recently got through the arc featuring Big Mom. And kangaskhan is basically a big mom, right?

So, I guess that leaves our team being Lena the poliwag, Maggie the ratata, Charlotte the kangaskhan, Dudette the geodude, and Moiderer the tyranitar, as we move our way into goldenrod city, whose gym leader is infamous for being a pain in the butt and ending many a gen 2 nuzlocke run. (However, with the randomizer, Whitney’s not gonna have her iconic miltank, so who knows what we’ll see this time around.)

#eri blogs games

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aeondeug · 3 years

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list 10 different female faves from 10 different fandoms, then tag 10 people

@wolffyluna left it open to whoever felt like it and I need a break between class and studying so...let’s go in no particular order... 1. Jame from The Chronicles of the Kencyrath. For a lot of reasons, really. Jame is just kind of...A mood? And one I personally really have needed. She’s like very much not a girly girl, but she’s still got like girly concerns and also she rides a death metal unicorn and she has a cat she is magically bonded to. Jame is very much a little girl power fantasy kind of character, but she’s also like deeply fucked up due to her very fucked up upbringing. And the handling of said mental issues and trauma is handled really well and in a Very Real sort of way. Jame’s also just fun and cute and hot and she falls off of something once a book at least. Also a character, a woman at that, whose method of helping things is breaking stuff? While also challenging the fact that choices are hard and your best intentions might still fuck shit up? Hell yeah. Go Jame. 2. Harrowhark Nonagesimus from The Locked Tomb Trilogy. THE NEWEST FAV OF THE BUNCH. She’s goth. She’s a nun. She’s gay. She’s a necromancer. This is all very good shit alone. But then there is like the sort of person Harrow is. And Harrow is the sort of girl who will go days without sleep and break a bone and be like “Well I got a test today...” before downing 15 Red Bulls and taking some pain killers before going to class. Then she will get an A on the test and be a fuck about that. She’s mean, she’s got an ego, she’s weird and standoffish. But like she hates herself and she’s like weirdly repressed in certain ways and she’s neglected as shit. I love this awful bone witch 10/10 would watch her kick Griddle in the face again. 3. Soifon from Bleach. She’s angry. She’s short. She’s wasp themed. Also like the entirety of her story in the Soul Society arc is this like...It’s the aftermath of your typical S narrative, except the little sister and big sister were highly trained murder ninjas from the afterlife. Also one turns into a cat. Soifon’s just kind of a mood and she’s fun and she’s got a lot of potential for fans to play around with, both seriously and jokingly. Also like Soifon’s bookending is just...It works really well I feel like. Honestly, Soifon’s arcs in general are fun things and they’re good shows of what the narrative strengths of Bleach are and where they are. 4. Edelgard von Hresvelg from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I have written over 80 poems involving this woman. I have written essays about her. El and her deal with trauma just...Hits right in a lot of ways. Also I appreciate having like an abuse survivor who is a woman who like...Doesn’t just lie down and take shit? And I appreciate that we can see what an Edelgard who doesn’t start recovering becomes versus what an Edelgard who does start recovering is like. We get to see both sides of this in one character. She can be both a hero and a monster. And that’s just really important to see when you’re an abuse survivor with BPD. I also really appreciate that she’s just such a cute goober about romance? Like El’s a romantic. She wants a fairy tale romance and a happily ever after. That’s cute as fuck. 5. Zero from Force of Will. Is Force of Will’s story awkward trash? Yeah. It is. But I love this grumpy gay vampire bitch so much. She is a gay vampire wizard who is married to a gay elf and her magic is at its most potent when she is pissed the fuck off. Good shit. She’s also the ruler behind my absolute favorite deck in the entire game and like in a tcg in general? She’s scrappy and annoying and hard to get rid off and she’ll tell you “No” a lot while also hitting you very hard in the face. I like that. It’s fun and can make people feel helpless against it. Which I think works well with her character? Her rulers also never work well with her wife’s, which I find a funny way of representing that they argue a lot via gameplay mechanics. 6. Houjou Satoko from Higurashi. A lot of people say she’s irritating and the worst character and you know what? That’s fair. Satoko is annoying. She’s a huge fucking brat. But like. I dunno. I get why she is. And she’s the first time I can think of where I saw like the way kids can and will sabotage attempts to get CPS involved in their situation portrayed. Like she knows she’s being abused and she knows that shit sucks and would like it to not suck, but she still sabotages her friends’ attempts to get the authorities involved because she knows what happens when the authorities can’t get you out. I’ve got a complicated relationship with CPS, due to my experiences with it as a kid. The arc where they come this close to saving her and fail is the most soul crushing fucking thing. 7. Tsukino Usagi from Sailor Moon. So like with Jame this is partly a case of like a girl who is very authentically girl. She cries a lot and easily. She’s kind of lazy as hell. She wants to just laze about and eat shit food and read comics and play games. But she also like wants to have a fairy tale romance and like. Fuck that’s a mood. Like that’s it. That’s what being a girl is like! Authentically a girl! Also there’s just something very satisfying about Usagi getting so fucking sad that the universe just outright apologizes to her basically and brings a dead girl back to life. Is it realistic? No. But I don’t care. Sometimes you just want reality to listen to you and your feelings. 8. ENA from...ENA. ENA’s rapid and extreme mood swings are like. They’re cool. I mean not cool cool but like. I’ve got BPD so like seeing extreme mood shifts like that is cool. Also she’s fucking rad as hell looking and in a really weird ass series of shorts? With hourglass dogs and turrónes and what not. I find ENA hard to describe. Just go watch Auction Day. 9. Fate Testarossa from Nanoha. Starts out a highly abused child and then ends up a gay mom. Fate’s just a really sweet person and she cares a lot. And I really like that she like has a weird complicated relationship with her mom. Like she knows the woman hated her and she knows that they way she was abused was shit but like...She does still love her mom. A lot. And what happened to her affects the entire trajectory of her life from that point on. Hell, she fucking chooses her career path as like a space cop for the express purpose of making sure that there aren’t any other Fate Testarossas made. Fate’s a character who is affected heavily by her trauma, but she’s not stuck in her trauma. She’s not destroyed by it. But it still very much impacts her life and it’s never going away. 10. Remilia Scarlet from Touhou. She’s a fucking vampire what the fuck else do I need? She’s like one of those eternal child vampires too so she’s a fucking brat who tries to act cool and refined. But really she’s like a dumb kid in a lot of ways. She still tries to be an adult though. There’s a lot of fun ways you can handle Remilia. A lot of fun ways that people have written her. That’s part of the fun of Touhou in general, really. Remi’s just my favorite of the Touhous because she’s a bratty vampire with a Dio reference maid. Also have you seen her blocking animation from Hisoutensoku? Because if not you fucking should. It’s great. anyway. whoever else wants to do this go for it i guess.

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vrainsrewatch · 5 years

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episode 7 thoughts

this episode starts off with aoi comboing pretty well, and showing off her prowess as a duelist. honestly, though while speed dueling playmaker obvs wants to be at under 1000 LP, aoi plays this really well, and i’ll talk more about that later.

first off, though:

aoi views this as a way to prove herself to her brother - and help him out. she knows he wants the AI playmaker has. she’s not only doing this to show him that she can take care of herself, but that she can be of use to him. she’s been protected her entire life by her brother, but now she’s 16. she’s the number 2 charisma duelist in LV, and she got there by herself.

akira views this as aoi not understanding him or what he wants for her. what akira needs to learn, and does to some extent throughout the series, is that he doesn’t get to dictate how she finds her happiness. she’s her own person. i really like how this episode sets this up, especially because aoi loses here, prompting akira to go nuts.

before i get to that, though:

firewall had to live in the TCG for so long bc y’all couldn’t get this through your heads LOL.

honestly, though, aoi is a fantastic duelist. she has to lose a lot bc it’s yugioh and everyone knows the girls aren’t there to actually play, but honestly? though she doesn’t win most of her duels, she plays them fantastically. from watching two duels, she’s already aware of what can counter playmaker well and how to get around decode talker. people don’t give this girl enough credit, but she’s awesome.

and also, i missed her trickstar deck lol. i really love marincess, i’m currently building them (curse you kmoney for making them secrets/ultras for the most part. my wallet is screaming), but trickstars are really cute and i like how aoi uses them a lot. she is great at entertaining the crowd, and the whole love! blue! angel! thing just really gets me lol.

it also says a lot about her, too. how much she wants people to like her for her. how attention starved she’s become. looking at her current situation, though, it makes perfect sense, as i talked about last episode. poor kid just wants friends and her brother back.

link sense at it again! this is one of those things i desperately wishes they’d explored more, and i know i’m not alone in that, based on the “exploration of link sense” tag on ao3 LOL, but seriously. how can yusaku specifically sense hanoi in this case? it’s one thing to have an odd connection to LV (maybe that was why he specifically was targeted as the final child for the LI? who knows), but it’s another to be able to pinpoint hanoi separately from other things. does he do this with anything else??? can’t remember. guess i’ll find out.

I HAD TOTALLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT THIS. blue angel’s whip continues to be a mystery, but what is this?? why is it coming out of his knuckle??? reminds me of the captain planet rings LOL. does he ever do this again??

and then finally, blue angel gets corrupted by the KOH. the animation for this whole section is still really pretty honestly, and aoi’s VA does a great job here too. this scene was uncomfortable to watch first time around for me, but this time it felt even worse bc of how much i love her :(

and akira, going absolutely nuts over her... well dude, hate to say it, but if you acknowledged your sister before spectre got to her, she probably wouldn’t have felt the need to go after playmaker without talking to you first. just sayin

i forgot how much i enjoyed seeing the crowd’s reaction to these speed duels though. i think it can be really cool, such as to show just how out of nowhere and uncomfortable blue angel’s corruption was.

next duel is the first revolver vs playmaker one, right? that’ll be a fun one.

#episode 7 #vrains

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tercylgvosam1986-blog · 5 years

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"It's sort like cigarettes used to not be a big deal, " said Hopfer. "People would come in for treatment for alcoholism, but then keep smoking. It's very common to hear people say they intend to quit using heroin or cocaine or alcohol, but they're gonna keep smoking marijuana. The potential issue with excluding biome dependant pokemon is that most pokemon have a biome in which they are more prevalent. In taking this to the logical end, if one excludes all of these pokemon, then one would be excluding not only high interest pokemons but also after exclusion, would not be left with much left to analyze. For example, Dragonite and Aerodactyl are more common in the Mt. I do like her emphasis on empathizing with others, and on how it up to wrongdoers to apologize until the 양구출장샵 victim herself accepts the apology.The thing about Obamacare is a little iffy to me also, because I realize that it really inconvenient and annoying and ridiculous that your payments went up that dramatically, but as viewers we have no way to know if this change was proportionate or what. (Not to imply that healthcare shouldn be free to begin with.) To say because of this (I going off what she seemed to say in the video, not the original post, which may be different) that the whole thing needs reform undermines the fact that it was extremely difficult to even get it in place intact due to Republican obstructionism, and that many of the irritating changes to it were due to that same element. Republicans also limited what alterations could be made to the ACA, including reform, because only repeal would appease them. Black owned aren the only one catering to us. Yes support them but not at the exclusion of all others. It just not feasible. In fact many posts on other Pokemon TCG subreddits with questions on how to get started with new players and/or their kids get information about building competitive decks vs. Decks for casual play. That is my best guess 양구출장샵 anyway.. I quite surprised so many people continued to play Diablo 3 past the first 3 months or so. I thought it was an average arpg game but expectations for an AAA title from Blizzard were obviously higher. There wasn much to do either once you completed inferno and when they nerfed inferno there wasn really any difficulty. My biggest issue has always been the enormous difficulty level when starting out. In my first playthrough, I ran out of ammo before even getting to DC, couldn find any anywhere, and couldn progress. My second playthrough, I made it to DC at a low level and got stuck trying to fight through the metro or the national mall. Getting fat may not have been what I wanted to do. But it what happened. Getting skinny again is my choice. If you can only get one pair right now and. But knowing that you probably like to get a dedicated hard wheel in the future for indoor/park usage. But knowing that you probably like to get a dedicated gummy wheel in the future for outdoor usage to replace the bunny wheels. What you and others are suggesting sounds more like just a ship carrying an admiral on missions and even if that may be possible, there no way Picard would accept that kind of role since he wants to be a captain. And besides, Riker always ran the day to day of the Enterprise. He was the guy who made the schedule and dealt with crew grievances and things like that, with Picard dealing with more higher level stuff.

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darkzorua100 · 6 years

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Geez, I’m starting to think I might be psychic. Second time now I’ve hit the nail on the head when it came to the summaries. At least for 56 anyway. 57 I didn’t see coming at all since we already had this duel and I didn’t think we were going to get a rematch for Playmaker vs Bohman at all unless it was going to be a tag duel with Playmaker and Soulburner vs Bohman and Haru. I mean, it makes sense in a way since Playmaker thinks that Bohman still has Jin’s consciousness, which he doesn’t, but it still seems way to soon for a rematch. Playmaker has only had two duels this season: Bohman, then Blood Shepherd, and now Bohman again. Really don’t know how to feel about this in terms of dueling action but I think we could be learning more about Bohman during this episode and 58 if this duel continues into that episode which is going to be interesting just to figure out how screwed up his mind truly is because of all the memories rewrites. Plus, if he is one of the Lost Children, I can see it being confirmed during this duel.

Now onto the big topic: Soulburner vs Blue Girl confirmed for 56 with my guess it is going to start at the end of 55. Yep knew this was coming a mile away with how Soulburner has been following Playmaker’s season 1 pattern. If the pattern continues to hold true, he should be dueling Revolver next or one of the big bads of the season. Maybe Haru or the shadow guy maybe?

However the thing I wasn’t expecting is that Aoi, as Blue Girl, is still using Trickstars. Okay, I knew it was a long shot on her using a Water archetype but I was convinced she was going to be using a new archetype because of the whole new Blue Girl identity. In my opinion, this is just really stupid. I get it from the card game perspective. Trickstars are the top deck at the moment in the TCG when they are combined with the Sky Striker archetype and I believe they are still doing well in the OCG as well regardless of the fact that Trickstar Reincarnation is at 1 for them. There was no way in hell Konami was going to allow the writers to have Aoi switch archetypes considering she is their cash cow at the moment but when you are looking at it from a writing standpoint, what was the actual point of her assuming the Blue Girl identity in the first place? Blue Girl was made for her to go under cover but she isn’t actually hiding the fact that she is Blue Angel when you allow her to keep using the same archetype!

I swear to god, if Soulburner figures out that Blue Girl is Blue Angel just because of the fact that she is still using Trickstars, I’m going to face palm so hard because Aoi, you walked right into that one.

Other then that stupid complained of mime, I have been looking forward to this duel for a while now and I can’t wait to see how it plays out. Of course, we all know Soulburner is going to win because as long as he has Flame, he can’t lose unless the plot is heading in the direction where the Ignises are starting to get captured for something, but I am very interested to see how he is going to bullsh*t his way out of this. We have a Fire deck vs the literal burning you to death deck and when you really think about it, Soulburner shouldn’t be able to use his Skill. Burning Draw drops his life points to 100 and if Blue Girl has Lycoris on the field for example, he literally is going to lose just by using his Skill. Just anything he is going to do is going to burn him so unless he pulls out a monster that negates Burn Damage or instead makes him gain Life Points instead, in RL, Takeru should honestly lose this duel.

Well calling it now, Soulburner is going to summon a Fusion Monster that does one of those two effects because there is no way in hell he can use Burning Draw without it killing himself.

As for Blue Girl’s side of things, I can’t wait to see how the writers are going to make Trickstars lose again. Again best deck for a reason and all the writers are doing is showing that Aoi is a terrible Trickstar player for anyone that plays the game competitively. Geez, if they are just making Aoi continue to play Trickstars as Blue Girl just for the card sells, they aren’t doing a very good job of convincing people to play them if she continues to lose with them. The summary did however say that Blue Girl is going to be using some new tactics so maybe she is going to using a different Extra Deck summoning as well. I can see Trickstars getting any of them besides Xyz since they don’t have many monsters that share the same levels.

Or, you know, Aoi finally got herself a play set of Droll & Lock Bird during the three month time skip and is now putting them to use. Very doubtful but I would laugh my ass off if she actually did pull off the Reincarnation lock. Soulburner’s reaction to that would be gold XD

The interactions between these two is what I’m really working forward to. If Akira told Aoi that Soulburner is one of the Lost Children, I wonder how she is going to react to him considering her reaction when she found out about Playmaker’s backstory. Then there’s Soulburner and once he finds out about Blue Girl being Blue Angel, this guy is just going to be fanboying like crazy. I feel like this duel is going to be something similar to Selena vs Yugo and that’s just going to be amazing.

There’s also the fact that they could be Speed Dueling in a windstorm still because of Windy and considering from the preview of 55 showed that Blue Girl looked to have fallen off her board already because of the wind, I can honestly see if happening again dueling this duel with Soulburner saving her. Does that look good on Aoi’s character? Nope but that would still be adorable regardless. However that might just me being biased because I’m really liking the idea of Aoi/Blue Angel/Blue Girl x Takeru/Soulburner.

And speaking of the whole Aoi situation, I seen some people not happy about this duel since Aoi is definitely going to lose and that just goes back to the whole females getting terrible treatment in Yu-Gi-Oh. However, I look at it this way. After this duel, Aoi has officially dueled three of the Lost Children: Yusaku/Playmaker, Spectre, and Takeru/Soulburner. No one else at this point has dueled all of the confirmed Lost Children (Jin doesn’t count until he duels). I feel like that’s an accomplishment on its own and she did put up some memorable fights against them, regardless of the fact that she did lose to Playmaker and Spectre. Plus, look at it like this, if something should happen to the boys, like they go hivemind for example because of their Ignises, Aoi has the connections to them to at least free one of them from their control, giving her the big win she truly deserves. Of course, that’s just speculation at this point, who knows if that plot line will actually happen, but she does have the connections to do something. But no seriously, if she doesn’t get her rematch with Spectre, I will be very disappointed and I will so be fixing that in my Dark Signer AU for sure.

So yeah, I’ve got a lot of expectations for this duel and I can’t wait to see it play out next week. Same for what is going to lead into this duel during episode 55 which I’m very much looking forward to that as well.

#vrains #vrains spoilers #Thoughts #theroies

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waynekelton · 4 years

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The Best Card Games on Android & iOS

Modern digital card games combine the cerebral appeal of tactical play with the adrenaline rush of random loot and top-decking. It might seem like they’re dime-a-dozen, but the games detailed below are all absolutely worthwhile, judged on their own terms.

Some are cutthroat tests of supremacy, others bucolic come-as-you-may types, but all are thoughtful and ingenious in sundry ways. There's two flavours of card games that currently dominate the niche - highly competitive TCG/CCG multiplayer battlers derived from Hearthstone, and more cerebral or casual affairs, often translated from physical card games that already exist. We've woven the two types together into one supreme list.

What are the best iOS & Android Card Games?

Gwent

Age of Rivals

Shards of Infinity

Miracle Merchant

Meteorfall: Journey

Reigns: Game of Thrones

Hearthstone

Exploding Kittens

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Frost

Card City Nights

Star Realms

GWENT

Developer: CD Projekt S.A. Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free-to-Play (IAPs)

It took its sweet time, but the official spin-off of the The Witcher 3 card game has finally made the jump from PC to mobile. It's quite different from what it was like at launch and it's gone through several updates and revisions, meaning that us mobile jockeys get a game that's tight and quite unique compared to some of its contemporaries. It's a power-struggle between two people, but it's less about pounding each other's cards into dust or attacking life-points - it's simply a best-out-of-three bout to have a bigger number than your opponent at the end of the round.

This simple concept can inspire a surprising about of cunning and card combos, with card advantage being a very important concept. As a free-to-play game there are IAPS and micro-transactions, but it's pretty tame for the most part and you can still get access to a lot of cards through gameplay. One potential draw-back is that the meta can shift quite a lot, so knowing which cards to purchase out-right may be problematic. Still, this is a pretty great card game and a wonderful breath of fresh air for the mobile CCG market. Check out our GWENT tips guide if you want to help with getting started.

Age of Rivals

Developer: Roboto Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99

How we forgot about this one for so long is anybody's guess, but we've fixed it now. Released in 2017, this strategy card game takes a lot of inspiration from physical design but is very much a digital game. It's more drafting than deck-building, with five phases repeated across four rounds and a game can last as little as ten minutes.

It's minimalist, but with a touch of flair as you try and draft along specific themes and build your board up as the game progresses. While it was in a bit a state when it first launched, the years since release has seen this one mature into an excellent game worth checking out if you want a break from deck-building, but still like that creativity that comes from making the best of what you draw. Check out our Age of Rivals review for more.

Shards of Infinity

Developer: Temple Gates Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $7.99

Ascension is a house name in deck-building card games, especially on mobile. While Playdek were responsible to bring that light into our world, Temple Gates Games have the honour of bringing the spiritual successor to Ascension to mobile - and it's one of the best card games we've played to date. The game itself is slick, well designed, and has some very interesting twists on the deck-building formula. This isn't Ascension with a new skin, but a new game in its own right.

As for the app, Temple Gates have done a brilliant job. The game is colourful and brought to life with very few technically concerns. Everything is cross-platform and multiplayer is competently designed. If you're looking for a new card game to occupy you in 2019, look no further, and our Shards of Infinity review can tell you why.

You might also like....

Mystic Vale (iOS | Android) - A very similar game to Shards, Mystic Vale is another deckbuilding game that uses the same base premise, just with a different theme and a different twist on the usual proceedings. This one was developed by Nomad Games, and while entertaining in its own way it doesn't really shake up the genre as much as it needs to really stand out.

Miracle Merchant

Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99 / Free with IAP

Tinytouchtales' Card Thief has been a staple on this list since its inception, but there are other great card games the developer has made. Their most recent release was Miracle Merchant, a game about trying to craft potions for customers in need of a remedy or other liquid solution. You must juggle the competing but equally important needs of satisfying customers (by brewing exactly what they asked for) and maximising profits (because making potions is expensive and that Porsche won't pay for itself).

Miracle Merchant is solitaire card-gaming at its finest. The art style is impeccable, and the tactical decision making is incredibly deep. Assembling a potion of four cards sounds easy, but actually with negative cards to consider, and the fact that if you fail to make a potion you will lose the game, you have pick and choose your battles in terms of how 'good' to make the potions for customers, especially considering you need to maximise profit as well. Read our Miracle Merchant review for more.

You might also like...

TinyTouchTales have done plenty of great card games, from Card Thief and Card Crawl, to Potion Explosion.

Meteorfall: Journey

Developer: Slothwerks Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $2.99

Challenging and Stimulating: In the happier sessions, Meteorfall ends with a successful final showdown against the aptly-named Uberlich. Working backwards from that ultimate battle to the four starting characters is much more challenging than the squidy art and breezy interface might suggest.

This is a game that's been wonderfully supported post-release, with several major content expansions at the time of writing. What's better, it's all been given away for free! There's a reason this won our Reader's Choice Game of the Year 2018 award, and our Meteorfall review can tell you why.

Reigns: Game of Thrones

Developer: Devolver Digital Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99

The Pinnacle: The meme/phrase "living your best life" is not often one you hear applied to a videogame, but we can think of no title that's more applicable than Nerial's licensed Game of Thrones version of their hit card/monarch simulator Reigns. As Brittany mentions in her review, this is hands-down the best version of the Reigns formula, and it helps that it involves and engaging and popular IP.

The typical Tinder-style swiping mechanics coupled with the usual medieval hilarity and tough choices is coupled with some subtle new twists, where players get to try and rule the Seven Kingdoms as one of nine iconic characters from the show (which are unlocked over time). All this is enabled through the guise of Melisandre - you're essentially playing out her visions of how these characters might get on sitting atop the Iron Throne. Licensed games often get a bad rap, but they can now look to this game to wash away all their sins. This is how you do it, folks. Read our Reigns: Game of Thrones review for more.

Hearthstone

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)

The Gold Standard: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a rogue, a priest and a warrior walk into the bar. Players struggle to reduce the opponent life to zero as players get more mana (read: energy) to fuel stronger minions and more devastating spells. The power curve and rarity drop rate are a little punishing, but later expansions and patches have remedied this somewhat. Hearthstone’s card battles unfold on a tavern table, in the middle of the hub-bub and merriment of a chaotic Warcraft scene, usually narrated in a dwarven brogue.

Yes, the card game itself is solid and as stripped-down as it can be without being simplistic, but Hearthstone flashes of creative genius and setting go well beyond the card base. The animations and sound design have been polished to a mirror sheen, and the gameplay, love it or hate it, is the standard because of its sterling quality and undeniable fun factor. Just don’t sweat the meta or top-tier competition, because then the grind will eat up your life.

Exploding Kittens

Developer: Exploding Kittens Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $1.99

Outrageous fun: A game of hot potato with a nitroglycerine-infused feline escalates until every player save one has met their maker. Fiery kitty death and simple humor belie a take-that game which puts everyone immediately at each other’s throats. Hostility and sabotage are the name of the game, because each player has only one life to live, and one defuse card to keep that hairball from becoming a fireball.

The game is a childish, cartoonish pastiche of obvious joke made too hard too often, but despite the unapologetic unrefined everything, it remains one of the best guilty mindless pleasures around. If you ever need a reason to froth at the mouth and fling spittle at your fellow humans over fictionally threatening cats, look no further: Exploding Kittens is simply an excuse to have a good time, a cheeky pretext. Irksome, shameless and perfect it its base way.

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Developer: Electronic Arts Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)

Food for thought: This franchise has reinvented itself several times since the original’s premier success. The sequel to the tower defense titan dallied with free-to-play energy timers and premium unlocks, then the series experimented with the FPS arena shooter, releasing Garden Warfare. Along the way, some of the magic and charm was lost. Plants vs. Zombies Heroes is an inspired and refreshing late entry into the game series, translating the original tower defense themes to a CCG with some nifty changes. Perhaps the coolest single defining feature of PvZ: Heroes is the asymmetry: one player represents the zombies shuffling forward for a quick bite while the other coordinated the plants fighting to repel the undead.

The power dynamic between the two sides is unusual and distinct, recalling Netrunner more than Magic or Hearthstone. The flow of new cards into eager players hot little hands, the balance between card strengths and their relative availability as well as the overall strategic robustness of the game are all top-notch. This core gameplay shines along with the visual polish and jazzy flair the series has come to be known for. Plants vs. Zombies Heroes is a fun late entry that deserves more love.

Frost

Developer: Jerome Bodin Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99, $4.49

In other words, the game won’t see you chasing exhilarating high score or excitement, but rather staving off the undesirable. Loss aversion, the fear of breaking a fragile equilibrium, the game daring you to take only appropriate risks when the phrase is a hollow oxymoron. The game rewards you with the chance to keep playing, keep exploring its stark dangers and bag of tricks. Read our Frost review for more.

Card City Nights

Developer: Ludosity Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $0.99

Solo-play stalwart: The characters are idiosyncratic, the game-within-a-game conceit a little cheeky but still refreshing, the consistent tone humor-ish, deadpan. Beating certain keystone characters unlocks their signature, ultra-powerful cards whose effects even jive with that character’s personality. In other words, there is a correspondence between writing, characterization and deck archetypes between. Never quite a rollicking good time or agonizing head-scratcher, the deckbuilding and collecting (yes, there are boosters, no nothing is truly ultra-rare) of Card City Nights makes for an easily enjoyed and easily binged experience.

Star Realms

Developer: White Wizard Games Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free, with content parcelled out as IAP ($4.99 for the full set)

Interstellar Deck-Building: This game marries the level of expansion and customization of a TCG with the bite-sized crunchy decision-making of a deckbuilder. Its combat elements and faction-specific combos make for a serious nostalgia trip for those looking to revisit memory lane without first collecting, collating and crafting a custom deck just for the occasion. Star Realms’ many expansions, rapid-fire gameplay and clear iconography make it a compelling addition to the game enthusiast’s roster and an easy must-have.

We have a Star Realms review if you want to know more.

Other iOS & Android Card Game Recommendations

We're keeping the list pretty tight at the moment, but there's way more than twelve card games to celebrate, with more on the way all the time. Every now and then we'll rotate games out for other games, but we don't want those past greats to be forgotten:

Knights of the Card Table

Race for the Galaxy

Calculords

Card Thief

Ascension

Lost Portal CCG

Pathfinder Adventures

Solitairica

Flipflop Solitaire

Guild of Dungeoneering

Lost Cities

Eternal Card Game

Pokemon TCG

Reigns: Her Majesty

Shadowverse CCG

What would your list of the best card games look like? Let us know in the comments!

The Best Card Games on Android & iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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waynekelton · 4 years

Text

The Best Card Games on Android & iOS

New Mobile Card Games

We get told of new games to consider quite regularly, so until we evaluate them properly we'll keep track of new releases here as an 'FYI':

Mythgard (Beta)

Maze Machina

What are the best iOS & Android Card Games?

Gwent

Age of Rivals

Shards of Infinity

Miracle Merchant

Meteorfall: Journey

Reigns: Game of Thrones

Hearthstone

Exploding Kittens

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Frost

Card City Nights

Star Realms

GWENT

Developer: CD Projekt S.A. Platforms: iOS Price: Free-to-Play (IAPs)

It took its sweet time, but the official spin-off of the The Witcher 3 card game has finally made the jump from PC to iOS. It's quite different from what it was like at launch and it's gone through several updates and revisions, meaning that us mobile jockeys get a game that's tight and quite unique compared to some of its contemporaries. It's a power-struggle between two people, but it's less about pounding each other's cards into dust or attacking life-points - it's simply a best-out-of-three bout to have a bigger number than your opponent at the end of the round.

Age of Rivals

Developer: Roboto Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99

Shards of Infinity

Developer: Temple Gates Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $7.99

You might also like....

Mystic Vale (iOS | Android) (Review) - A very similar game to Shards, Mystic Vale is another deckbuilding game that uses the same base premise, just with a different theme and a different twist on the usual proceedings. This one was developed by Nomad Games, and while entertaining in its own way it doesn't really shake up the genre as much as it needs to really stand out.

Miracle Merchant

Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99 / Free with IAP

You might also like...

TinyTouchTales have done plenty of great card games, from Card Thief and Card Crawl, to Potion Explosion.

Meteorfall: Journey

Developer: Slothwerks Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $2.99

Reigns: Game of Thrones

Developer: Devolver Digital Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99

Hearthstone

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)

Exploding Kittens

Developer: Exploding Kittens Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $1.99

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Developer: Electronic Arts Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)

Frost

Developer: Jerome Bodin Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99, $4.49

Card City Nights

Developer: Ludosity Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $0.99

Star Realms

Developer: White Wizard Games Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free, with content parcelled out as IAP ($4.99 for the full set)

We have a Star Realms review if you want to know more.

Other iOS & Android Card Game Recommendations

Knights of the Card Table

Race for the Galaxy

Calculords

Card Thief

Ascension

Lost Portal CCG

Pathfinder Adventures

Solitairica

Flipflop Solitaire

Guild of Dungeoneering

Lost Cities

Eternal Card Game

Pokemon TCG

Reigns: Her Majesty

Shadowverse CCG

What would your list of the best card games look like? Let us know in the comments!

The Best Card Games on Android & iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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waynekelton · 4 years

Text

The Best Card Games on Android & iOS

Recently Released Card Games

Not everything release gets to claim a top spot, either because there's no room for it or we weren't fans of it at review - maybe we haven't reviewed it at all yet. Still, it's worth letting you make up your own minds so here's a summary of card games released recently:

Fluxx Digital

Mythgard (Beta)

What are the best Card Games on Android & iOS?

Gwent

Age of Rivals

Shards of Infinity

Miracle Merchant

Meteorfall: Journey

Reigns: Game of Thrones

Hearthstone

Exploding Kittens

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Frost

The Elder Scrolls: Legends

Card City Nights

Star Realms

GWENT

Developer: CD Projekt S.A. Platforms: iOS Price: Free-to-Play (IAPs)

Age of Rivals

Developer: Roboto Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99

Shards of Infinity

Developer: Temple Gates Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $7.99

You might also like....

Miracle Merchant

Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99 / Free with IAP

You might also like...

TinyTouchTales have done plenty of great card games, from Card Thief and Card Crawl, to Potion Explosion.

Meteorfall: Journey

Developer: Slothwerks Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $2.99

Reigns: Game of Thrones

Developer: Devolver Digital Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99

Hearthstone

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)

Exploding Kittens

Developer: Exploding Kittens Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $1.99

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Developer: Electronic Arts Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)

Frost

Developer: Jerome Bodin Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99, $4.49

The Elder Scrolls: Legends

Developer: Bethesda Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free

Devastating combos: Bethesda’s entry into online card battling has the normal variety of twists on the race-to-zero archetype that most card battlers end up parroting to some extend or another. It has two lanes, one of which is a ‘shadow’ lane granting cover to units slotted there. The other change is truly radical though, and alters the core idea of card advantage. Players who lose a large chunk of life in a single turn get extra draws as compensation the next turn.

This acts as a huge counterbalance and means that showy and impressive turns in some cases actually become victims of their own success. Getting the most bang from your buck from each and every card still matters, of course, but the card-draw granted from life loss is a devious catch-up mechanism, especially when combined with the ‘Prophecy’ keyword.. Standard, with not much else to distinguish it from the crowd aside from the setting and its tweaks to the formula, but a worthwhile entry with intelligent design and classic appeal for Skyrim fans. Read our Elder Scrolls Legends review for more.

Card City Nights

Developer: Ludosity Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $0.99

Star Realms

Developer: White Wizard Games Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free, with content parcelled out as IAP ($4.99 for the full set)

We have a Star Realms review if you want to know more.

Other iOS & Android Card Game Recommendations

We're keeping the list pretty tight at the moment, but there's way more than ten excellent card games to celebrate, with more on the way all the time. Every now and then we'll rotate games out for other games, but we don't want those past greats to be forgotten. Below is a list of previous members of this list, lest we forget:

Knights of the Card Table

Race for the Galaxy

Calculords

Card Thief

Ascension

Lost Portal CCG

Pathfinder Adventures

Solitairica

Flipflop Solitaire

Guild of Dungeoneering

Lost Cities

Eternal Card Game

Pokemon TCG

Reigns: Her Majesty

Shadowverse CCG

What would your list of the best card games look like? Let us know in the comments!

The Best Card Games on Android & iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

0 notes

waynekelton · 5 years

Text

The Best Card Games on Android & iOS

No luck of the draw? Perhaps some quality strategy games you can play without internet instead!

Recent Releases

Fluxx Digital

Age of Rivals (Review)

Developer: Roboto Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99

Shards of Infinity (Review)

Developer: Temple Gates Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $7.99

You might also like....

Miracle Merchant (Review)

Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99 / Free with IAP

You might also like...

TinyTouchTales have done plenty of great card games, from Card Thief and Card Crawl, to Potion Explosion.

Meteorfall: Journey (Review) (GOTY 2018)

Developer: Slothwerks Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $2.99

Reigns: Game of Thrones (Review)

Developer: Devolver Digital Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99

Hearthstone

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)

Exploding Kittens

Developer: Exploding Kittens Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $1.99

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Developer: Electronic Arts Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)

Frost (Review)

Developer: Jerome Bodin Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99, $4.49

An evergreen choice: This one stands out from the other members of this list on two fronts. Firstly, for its palette, which is as frigid as monochrome as you’d expect. Secondly, because its gameplay is survival-based, not just thematically but actually. Gathering supplies, fending off nasties and keeping the elements at bay take every possible trick the cards will give you. Better performance will net you better tools, but unlike other games, Frost’s best rewards are a sense of security and temporary respite. In other words, the game won’t see you chasing exhilarating high score or excitement, but rather staving off the undesirable. Loss aversion, the fear of breaking a fragile equilibrium, the game daring you to take only appropriate risks when the phrase is a hollow oxymoron. The game rewards you with the chance to keep playing, keep exploring its stark dangers and bag of tricks.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends (Review)

Developer: Bethesda Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free

Card City Nights

Developer: Ludosity Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $0.99

Star Realms (Review)

Developer: White Wizard Games Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free, with content parcelled out as IAP ($4.99 for the full set)

Hall of Fame

Knights of the Card Table

Race for the Galaxy

Calculords

Card Thief

Ascension

Lost Portal CCG

Pathfinder Adventures

Solitairica

Flipflop Solitaire

Guild of Dungeoneering

Lost Cities

Eternal Card Game

Pokemon TCG

Reigns: Her Majesty

Shadowverse CCG

What would your list of the best card games look like? Let us know in the comments!

The Best Card Games on Android & iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

0 notes

waynekelton · 5 years

Text

The Best Card Games on Android & iOS

No luck of the draw? Perhaps some quality strategy games you can play without internet instead!

Age of Rivals (Review)

Developer: Roboto Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99

Cultist Simulator (Review)

Developer: Weather Factory Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $6.99

We were excited when we head that the indie hit card game Cultist Simulator was heading to mobile. While it's a niche proposition on PC, as a mobile game it's excellently suited to fit in with the on-the-go drop-in/drop-out playstyle of mobile gamers. Even in a market as arguable crowded as mobile card games, Cultist Simulator manages to slide right in and carve out its own little spot, offering a great combination of roguelike and narrative design elements, similar to what Reigns does but with more moving parts.

The mobile app is an excellent translation of the PC game, and works like a dream. Very replayable, you won't regret embarking on this particular quest to unlock the mysteries of the occult.

Shards of Infinity (Review)

Developer: Temple Gates Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $7.99

You might also like....

Miracle Merchant (Review)

Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99 / Free with IAP

You might also like...

TinyTouchTales have done plenty of great card games, from Card Thief and Card Crawl, to Potion Explosion.

Meteorfall: Journey (Review) (GOTY 2018)

Developer: Slothwerks Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $2.99

Reigns: Game of Thrones (Review)

Developer: Devolver Digital Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99

Hearthstone

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)

Exploding Kittens

Developer: Exploding Kittens Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $1.99

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Developer: Electronic Arts Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)

Frost (Review)

Developer: Jerome Bodin Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99, $4.49

The Elder Scrolls: Legends (Review)

Developer: Bethesda Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free

Card City Nights

Developer: Ludosity Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $0.99

Star Realms (Review)

Developer: White Wizard Games Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free, with content parcelled out as IAP ($4.99 for the full set)

Hall of Fame

Knights of the Card Table

Race for the Galaxy

Calculords

Card Thief

Ascension

Lost Portal CCG

Pathfinder Adventures

Solitairica

Flipflop Solitaire

Guild of Dungeoneering

Lost Cities

Eternal Card Game

Pokemon TCG

Reigns: Her Majesty

Shadowverse CCG

What would your list of the best card games look like? Let us know in the comments!

The Best Card Games on Android & iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

0 notes