I grew up during both the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh boom when I was younger and got into both the anime and card games for those franchises. As I got older my interest in Pokémon mostly faded and I really only cared for the videogames but I found myself still in love with the Yu-Gi-Oh card game. My middle school days were spent dueling lots of friends. I eventually grew past that card game as well though and even gave away all my Yu-Gi-Oh cards.
But even though I stopped playing I still always had a soft spot in my heart for those card games. To me seeing that the Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon card games are still alive always makes me smile a little. I remember how people thought they would be a fad and fade out and yet kids still play the games, watching my young relatives get real into Pokémon has been a blast. Looking back on those times has been fun and I even found my interest in Yu-Gi-Oh growing again near the time I finished high school. But lately the card game series I really have taken a shining to has nothing to do with my childhood and is a brand new game.
It was about two years ago when I was talking about Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's to someone on an online board, the person with whom I was talking to was also a fan of 5D's but what's more they told me about this new show called 'Cardfight!! Vanguard' by
Bushiroad. I had no idea who the heck Bushiroad was at the time nor was I all that interested in the show. I heard pretty dire reviews of the first couple episodes. But he insisted I watch it and I had free time, the
Opening was an awesome JAM Project song, and I had
Crunchyroll on my side so I eventually gave it a go and yeah I really liked it.
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| Aichi, the main character of Cardfight!! Vanguard from season two |
I won't go into why I liked the show here, no I will leave that for my review of season one (COMING SOON!) but I will say after watching the show I really did get interested in the card game. The show itself was a great showpiece of the card game unlike many other tie-in shows 'Cardfight!! Vanguard' really spent a long time both explaining the rules and showing the rules in action. All the 'card fights' in the series didn't break the rules just to do something flashy but instead stayed true to the game. Liking the show got me really into the card game, so I suppose mission accomplished for Bushiroad there!
So if I'm not gonna review the show yet I will review the game then? Well no, that's not my intent ether. To talk about the game would take a long time and Bushiroad USA has done a
good job explaining it themselves. If you want my opinion on the game all I will say is that it is well balanced and there aren't too many over powered cards that are game breaking. The game revolves around lots of luck yes, but also it revolves around making a good deck. As this game is not about bringing out just one or two strong cards but instead is about using your deck as a whole and not wasting a single card.
As for why I write this post today, it is mostly as a way to say thank you to Bushiroad USA and to show off some swag! As I have recently won a
contest and got some, among other things, Vanguard cards from Bushirod USA themselves. At the bottom I will leave photos of what I won from the contest. Thanks for reading my little ramble and look forward to a review of season one which will be coming out in a few weeks. And for Bushiroad USA thanks for the contest and thanks for the sweet prizes!
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| There it is, the package itself. All the way from Bushiroad USA's headquarters in Cali |
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| Next, a letter from Bushiroad USA themselves congratulating me |
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| What we all wanna see, the two flash decks (25 cards each) |
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| An FAQ for the card game |
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| Two LONG flyers explaining the general rules and explaining how Flash Fights work |
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| Then there's two game mats to play on |
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| And finally a surprise poster as an added bonus |
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| Thanks again Bushiroad USA! (figure I already owned, was not from them) |
