Gold Series Infinite Gold - Moneycards reprints and Premium Pack imports

Last year TCG-Konami had decided that every booster pack from 2016 onward will include a foil card. This was done in an attempt to stop card prices from skyrocketing to new hights.

And it was necessary. Cards like Kozmo Dark Destroyer at its peak were being sold around €100. Ghost Ogre was between 50-70 and so on and so on.

And if you look at the single price cards of BOSH, it makes you wonder what cards like Pendulum Sorcerer, Solemn Strike or Cyber Dragon Infinity would be worth if booster boxes had the old rarity (*shudders*)

But how can Konami now stop the old cards from remaining overpriced? Reprint them, obviously!

Reprint season continues - Gold Series 2016: Infinite Gold

After cards like Ghostrick Alucard, Diamond Crab King, Harpie Harpist and many more were reprinted in Wing Raiders, the next set that includes reprints is the new Gold Series pack - Infinite Gold.

Earlier, it was already announced that the Gold Pack would include the former YCS Promo cards Giant Hand and Digvhorzak; and also the ever-popular Emergency Teleport.

And last weekend, some Konami officials were happy enough to bring a few other Gold Cards to a UDS sanctioned tournament. People obviously were curious and were massively taking pictures. Result is a leaked list of cards which are receiving a Gold treatment:

• Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit
• Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss
• Kozmo Dark Destroyer
• Kozmo Farmgirl
• Kozmo Goodwitch
• Kozmo Sliprider
• Kozmo Forerunner
• Kozmo Dogfighter
• Kozmotown
• Mask Change
• Mask Change II
• Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

Wow. If you want to start making a Kozmo deck, you're almost better off buying a few Gold Packs rather than paying several hundreds of dollars on a full deck...

Note: Only half of these have been actually confirmed by photographs. The rest is from a message/post by Jeff Jones. Due to this, the leaked list might not be 100% accurate.

What new cards are going to be in this Gold Series?

Yes, the reprinted gold cards are always fun to have (Personally I love gold foil cards; but that's just me). But more often than not, people are curious about the NEW cards that will be in there.

While none of the new cards have been officially confirmed, I can take a well-calculated guess on what cards will be included.

I can say with 90% certainty that most (if not all) of the new cards included are those from OCG's Premium Pack 18. It's a set of 20 cards that are mostly taken from the Yu-Gi-Oh manga's (5D's, Zexal and Arc-V manga).

For those who care, this is the full list of that pack: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Premium_Pack_18

As usual with Premium Pack cards, most of these cards are for collection purposes rather than actually being useful. But there's always a few exceptions in there that prove their worth. In this case, at least two of these cards see play in OCG decks.

Those two areFreezing Air of the Monarchs and Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon - Titanic Galaxy

note: These are fan-translated names; the actual TCG names may vary upon release

What do these cards do?

Freezing air of the monarchs

"If you control a monster with 2400 or more ATK and 1000 DEF: Target 1 Set card on the field; destroy it. You can banish this card and 1 other "Monarch" Spell/Trap Card from your Graveyard, then target 1 Set card on the field; destroy it."

So basically backrow control. It's a good one-of card to have in a monarch deck.

Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon - Titanic Galaxy

2 Level 8 monsters

"Once per turn, during either player's turn, when a Spell effect on the field is activated: You can negate that effect, and if you do, attach that card on the field to this card as an Xyz Material. When an opponent's monster declares an attack: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; change the attack target to this card and perform damage calculation. If a face-up Xyz Monster(s) you control is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can target 1 Xyz Monster you control; that target gains ATK equal to 1 of those destroyed monsters' original ATK."

This Xyz is interesting. Especially considering the fact that cards in the Pendulum Zone are Spell cards. Also, turning those spells into Xyz Materials is hilarious and deadly when facing decks that focus on certain spells or pendulum effects (Prophecy, Monarchs, PePe, etc).

Any other guesses?

Well, with the set being 100(!) cards and the few cards that have already leaked, I can make a few more calculated guesses. With the number of Kozmo cards included, I can only presume that every Kozmo card (those from BOSH not included) will be in the set, along with a lot of Masked HEROES and Burning Abyss cards. The last one would make sense, since they weren't reprinted in the Premium Tin last year.

With Chimeratech Fortress Dragon in here, there's a decent chance there will be a reprint of other Cyber Dragon-related Fusions/Xyz, like Cyber Dragon Nova. But no, don't hope for Cyber Dragon Infinity to be reprinted already (too soon).

Most other cards will be fan-favorite cards from the past years and frequently returning cards in tournaments (like Horn of Heaven, just sayin'). I'm sure everybody has a wishlist... So do I (like Lumina, Honest, Maxx C, High Priestess, Denko Sekka, etc).

Anyhow, we'll get to see more of the set, the closer we get to the March 17/18 release day. In the meantime, don't spend too much on single cards that might be reprinted soon!

Until next time, V out.

Things you need to remember from Wing Raiders

Last week was the release of Wing Raiders. And it has mostly passed by without causing a storm (yet). But should you be interested? Maybe.

Let me compile why you could be interested.

Monarchs get help from the Power Rangers

Well, the Super Quantum monsters might be right up your alley. Super Quantum Mecha Pilot Blue Layer and Super Quantum Mecha Pilot Red Layer (from now referred to as Blue Ranger and Red Ranger) are a nice combination team where Blue Ranger searches Red Ranger when summoned (including when summoned using Emergency Teleport) and Red Ranger recycles Blue Ranger (and more importantly, itself) for tribute fodder. Also, Red Ranger has the typical Cyber Dragon mechanic.

And yes, in case you were wondering: Konami forgot to add that Red Ranger cannot recycle itself. Thus from the moment you have 2 Red Rangers, you can summon A, recycle B and vice versa, turning Red Ranger into a new version of Sinister Serpent.

Those few mechanics turn these two Power Rangers into a Tribute Fodder Engine.

"It's Morphing time!"

Oh, if you want to play the Power Ranger engine (in Monarchs or any other fun deck), also pick up the Red Zord:

MagnaLiger, the kid of a fiery relation between a lion and a tiger

Magnaliger is a rank 5 Xyz that allows you to destroy one monster on the field. but if Red Ranger rides his Zord (read: is Xyz Material)... you can also do this in your opponent's turn. Nifty!

Burning Abyss has some nifty new Xyz

Since Burning Abyss players has an extra deck of mostly Rank 3 Xyz, it's always interesting to see some new ones enter the field. Because if you still play Leviathan Dragon, you need something new.

Well, look no further than Super Quantum Mecha Beast Granpulse. It's a rank 3 Xyz that can only attack while it has Xyz Materials, but can (once per turn) destroy a spell/trap on the field by detaching 1 material. Backrow control!

"It's like Aero Shark, but as a robot... and with a better effect!"

The other new rank 3 Xyz is Phantom Knights of Break Sword. This monster targets one card (not monster) you control and one your opponent controls and destroys them (Scrap Dragon anyone?). It also has the ability to revive 2 Phantom Knights of the same name. But for that, you actually have to play Phantom Knights. Thought on that end...

"Fear the Headless Horseman!"

Burning Abyss Phantom Knights

A deck that has surfaced in the OCG after Wing raiders is the combination of B.A. with Phantom Knights. Due to the effect of Break Sword, the BA Phantom Knight variant can also play Rank 4 Xyz. And since B.A. is a control deck, the cards added are control Xyz, like Evilswarm Nightmare or Master Key Beetle.

The Phantom Knights themselves (Silent Boots, Dusty Robe and Rugged Glove) are not really great while on the field. But all of them can be banished from the grave to either search a Phantom Knight spell/trap (Boots), search a Phantom Knights card (robe) or send another Phantom Knights monster to the grave (Glove).

And is there any Phantom Knights spell or trap that's useful with Boots' effect? Yes, there is. It is named Phantom Knights Fog blade. Its effect somewhat mimics Fiendish Chain (always handy), and when destroyed, you can special summon a Phantom Knights monster.

"I can't be the only one who thought of this youtube channel when reading the names out loud"

Blackwing gets Force Strix

If you're a Blackwing player, it's time to search for the prize card of the set, Raidraptor Force Strix. It's a Rank 4 Xyz who can search a L4 Dark Winged Beast from your deck.

"Hey Shura! GET OVER HERE!"

Reprint Season 2016 has begun

Yes, this booster includes a bunch of reprints too. The most interesting ones are: Diamond Crab King (manga promo becomes legal worldwide), Silent Honor Ark , Crane Crane, Harpie Harpist Master Key Beetle, Gagaga Cowboy and Ghostrick Alucard.

Though if you don't play any of the mentioned deck types and if you already have the reprinted cards; then you can easily skip this set.

Until next time, V out.

Afterthoughts on YCS Atlanta and the Emergency Ban

Last weekend was YCS Atlanta and it was also the last weekend PePe was a thing. And who would've guessed... PePe won (piloted by Jose Lagunes) in an obvious PePe mirror match (Here's the link). Commenting any more on the victorious deck isn't really worth it, since unless any other deck would've won, PePe was pre-determined to be the winner. And honestly, with the emergency ban being a thing, most people don't really cares about PePe anymore (no, not even the decks of Billy Brake nor Frazier Smith).

And the player base kind of proved the reason why the deck needed a hit. 29/32 top decks were PePe, with the other three being Kozmo and Monarch. And I think it was a small miracle that one Kozmo Player (Jose Uriel Diaz) actually made top 4 (going against a broken deck and making top 4 is a more amazing feat than piloting said broken deck and having the better draw). Too bad he bricked in his feature match (Here's the link to the Semi-Finals).

A wild Allen C. Pennington appears

Biggest surprise of the YCS was the sudden appearance of Allen C. Pennington. Allen is often considered one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh players of the past decade. But he is also considered one of the biggest Yu-Gi-Oh Bashers (he IS the author of "100 reasons why this game is awful (compared to MTG)"). So seeing him return to Yu-Gi-Oh, let alone see him top a YCS, is quite surprising to say the least.

Allen is one of the 3 non-PePe players who made top 32. And since Monarchs is considered to be (one of) the best decks post PePeBan (and the cheapest tier1 deck ever!), his decklist and explanation is probably the most interesting thing to come out of YCS Atlanta. Go watch it on his youtube channel, you might actually learn something! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYzfK3f29Y8).

Post Emergency Ban: Keep Calm and keep playing Yu-Gi-Oh

Over the past week, many (PePe) players showed their obvious frustrations on the emergency ban. Most of their arguments are just teenage boys raging that their toys just broke.

Though I can understand the frustration of some players when they said: "Where was this kind of emergency list when Dragon Rulers were tier 0? (the period with 3 Super Rejuvenations and baby dragons)", and "What chance do we have when Konami decides to hit the next good deck after a few weeks? Is Monarchs going to get hit next?"

Let me give you my opinion on it:

• A: Not every top deck is a tier0 deck, remember that. It's not because deck X wins the World Championship, that it's automatically tier 0. And Full Power Dragon Rulers being tier 0 or not is something that die-hard fans are still discussing to this day. The die-hards keep saying that "it was close to tier0, but not quite, due to Judgment Prophecy". The only confirmed tier0 decks are and remain Tele-DAD, Airblade turbo and Cookie Cutter Chaos. Most other decks are "close to Tier0, but not entirely due to oter good decks at the same time".
• B: You know that all full-power top decks are mostly handled/finished in the first upcoming F&L list, but until now, that handling could usually vary between a few weeks to a few months, depending on what time the next F&L list comes. TCG Konami has been experimenting on making that list more flexible to better suit the needs of the players, but the timing of the list will never be 100% good for everybody.
• C: Seriously, the fear of decks being hit shortly after its release is unwarranted. While it probably is true that Konami will take a closer look to see if any deck is unhealthily powerful and might hit that before it chokes up the metagame (like now with PePe), those kind of decks only occur once every 2 years or so. Most formats consist of 2-3 major decks (or more), which is more healthier for the game.

And guess what's going to happen now? The meta is going to be devided in Monarchs, Kozmo, Burning Abyss and Mermail (maybe). And the PePe remnants who either will adapt to keep it alive (and fail, unless new support comes out), or go back to Odd-Eyes Magician or Majespecter builds. So three decks or more that are relevant.

Or in short:

Damn' you Konami?

Is it right to blame Konami?

Yes, sure, I won't stop you from doing so. But only aim your spite at the Japanese mother company.

This has been going on for years now. OCG Konami makes the cards, and determines which cards end up in our boosters (yeah, TCG Konami doesn't have much say in it); but they don't playtest the cards enough to prevent the existence of overpowering decks or OTK/FTK decks.

Also, since Yu-Gi-Oh doesn't have set rotation like Magic or the Pokémon card game, it is more likely an old card will suddenly turn a new deck broken (for example: Super Rejuvenation in DRulers), or prove to be a deadly anti-meta card (f.e. Horn of Heaven or Anti-Spell Fragrance).

This power creep and lack of set rotation has frustrated a lot of players and caused many people to quit YGO and do something else; but this is part of our game, which you just have to accept if you want to keep on playing. TCG Konami tries to be a little better about it (with the split F&L list and now this pre-emptive hit), but they're tied to the Japanese mother company. And if you've followed the video game news of the past year, you know how good of a company the Japanese seat of Konami is.

What about the next full F&L list?

The next full F&L list will probably solidify most hits from this emergency ban and if necessary, it will probably bury Burning Abyss completely (don't forget: Konami likes to promote new decks and likes you to forget the oldest viable ones).

Also, the one card i'd love to see get a hit (or become forbidden) is Wavering Eyes. "slightly overpowered" is an understatement for this card. If gentleman agreements need to be made for playing without one specific card, you know something is wrong.

For the rest, maybe finally get rid of Magical Explosion? I hear Monarch have a way to (once again) abuse that old friggin' card...

Until next time, V out.

Emergency ban on PePe

Wow, I didn't think I would update the blog THIS fast after the last post, but 1 night can sometimes be enough to shake the foundation of Yu-Gi-Oh!

It's been since Tele-DAD since this happened, but there has been another Emergency ban on a tier 0 deck. Though just like before, Konami won't officially call it an emergency ban (watch how they carefully measure their words to make sure they don't call this an emergency ban). This is an "Adjusted List".

https://yugiohblog.konami.com/articles/?p=7596

The Changes:

• Performage Plushfire – Forbidden
• Performage Damage Juggler – Forbidden
• Tellarknight Ptolemaeus – Forbidden
• Performapal Skullcrobat Joker – Limited
• Performapal Monkeyboard – Limited
• Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer – Limited

Changes are effective from next Monday, February 8th 2016

The Adjusted List, an emergency ban

Yes, PePe was already a very powerful deck last year. And with every release, it got stronger. Heck, even the Pendulum Structure Deck last december made it much stronger (Skullcrobat Joker). And with the release of BOSH (with Sorcerer, Monkeyboard, Draco face-off, CD Infinity and Raflessia), the deck truly became a tier 0 deck. So it was "Play it, or GTFO".

But this has been the first time since 2009 that Konami took such a drastic action. And in fact, it's the first time it's really in between F&L lists. The Tele-DAD emergency ban was just at the moment the F&L list needed to be updated, so they could mask it as a justified update. But in this case, the next list is still a few months away (probably starting around April 1st or so).

Quick analysis of the hits

Okay, I can understand hits like Damage Juggler and Scrullcrobat Joker. Those cards are just too good. But Plushfire forbidden? And Monkeyboard limited? Seems like overkill to me. Though it shouldn't be surprising that Konami chose Monkeyboard over Sorcerer (BOSH still needs to sell, you know).

But on the other end no hit for Wavering Eyes? Yeah, that card ain't broken for sure... (rolls eyes)

The only negative about this article is the hesitation of where it will be applied: These emergency hits are in effect on YCS's, qualifiers and other top-level events, but not necessarily for locals (only if the judge says so). What's the use in that? Most players use locals to test for high-level events anyway (so they will no longer ignore these hits), and have some assholes ruin locals with an overpowered deck isn't fun either.

So I think most judges will agree with this update and count these extra hits for their local events (it's better to just accept it).

Are these hits a good thing?

Konami mentions in the article that they will be more on the lookout for overpowered decks and won't be hesitant to kill when it notices tier 0 decks.

Personally, I think that this is a good thing. Nobody likes formats where 1 decks rules everything, even if that would be the deck I love most at that moment.

Though, let's be honest here. It would be just better if Konami would actually playtest the damn' cards and edit them before releasing them... *sigh*

Card Errata

Oh, on another note: Konami also admitted they made a mistake on the card text of Pendulum Sorcerer.

Revised version:

If this card is Special Summoned: You can target up to 2 cards you control; destroy them, and if you do, add “Performapal” monsters with different names from your Deck to your hand, except “Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer”, equal to the number of cards destroyed. You can only use this effect of “Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer” once per turn.

Yes, it IS cards; NOT monsters. He's that good. No need to rage. It was supposed to be this way. Konami admitted they were wrong, so get over it.

Curious to see how people will react to this emergency ban.

V out.

Back in the game: thoughts on Breakers of Shadows BOSH and Booster mapping warning!

Since the end of december my house is finished, hurrah! Finally some free time to catch up on tons of anime I've missed and to catch up on my favorite waste of time: Yu-Gi-Oh!

So obviously, there's a bunch of content I've missed out on in the past year-and-a-half and I'll try to give my thoughts on all (read as: some) of it. First up: BOSH!

The latest booster: Breakers of Shadows

This OCG set was originally kind of weak, with only a handful of interesting cards, and hardly any of them in foil. Twin twisters and Solemn Strike being just about the only really interesting ones. Yes, I know. There's the Dracoslayer cards and Quaking Mirror Force, but those are less wanted at this moment.

And by all means, the TCG exclusives aren't really "WOW" either. Yes, Kozmo and Kaiju get more support. But they're no game-breaking cards either.

So what could Konami do to make this set interesting? Put some of the most crazy OCG promo/exclusive cards ever in there!

Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer (PePe decks), Fiendish rhino Warrior (Burning Abyss), Neptabyss the Atlantean Prince (Mermail), Chimeratech Dragon Infinity (OP extra deck card) and Traptrix rafflesia (another OP extra deck card).

Also, this is the first set where every booster pack is guaranteed 1 foil card.

Combine those two ideas and whoop-ti-doop: the set is an instant hype.

A card you will love to hate

Is the set actually worth buying?

I bought a box, if that is what you were asking. But my point of view was: get lots of new high-foil cards, then trade for cards of the past year-and-half I actually want to play.

For you however, it's as follows.

• If you're playing PePe: yes, you will probably not regret buying a box (unless lady luck hates you).

• Any other single deck fanatic can better buy singles now. With the 1-foil per pack ratio; the average price of single foil cards has crashed.
• Though if you are in doubt and you're seeking for lots of high-foil cards, the foil ratio IS way better than any previosu set (lol). All boxes now have guaranteed 2 secret rares, which are usually devided as 1 good and 1 crappy card. And that is honestly better than an average of 1 secret rare (0 if you have bad luck, 2 if you're very lucky).

Warning: Do NOT buy BOSH single boosters!

Many people have confirmed it. This set has card rarity MAPPING!

This means that in a case with 12 boxes the boosters with secret rares will be in the same location in every box! If your first box has the Secret as second booster on the left and eight booster on the right, every box following that one will have the secrets on those exact positions.

This makes it extremely easy for resellers to strip all boxes of its secret rares and re-sell the rest as single boosters.

So if you find any sale of "random" BOSH boosters, DO NOT buy them! You will be tricked! Do not trust unsealed booster boxes either! Only sealed boxes can be trusted!

Personally, I have no idea what went wrong with the companies making the cards, but it's a safe guess the new foil card ratio is the prime cause of it. I hope they can fix it with the next booster set, because this is going to hurt the market.

That's it for now.

This time it probably won't take months until my next post (lol).

V out.

First European Yu-Gi-Oh! Extravaganza in Ghent, Belgium

Oh, hey. Didn't see you there. Is it another blue moon?

Just wanted to drop it to you that the first European Yu-Gi-Oh! Extravaganza is happening this upcoming weekend... here in Ghent, Belgium (my home region, lol).

And it is happening during F.A.C.T.S., the biggest convention of the BeNeLux area (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, FYI).

So obviously, I will be joining to see what it's going to be like... and so should you!

What is the Yu-Gi-Oh! Extravaganza?

I have no idea!

Lol, just kidding. Until a few days ago, it was still kind of vague for us Europeans, because it only has occurred in the states.

But this is the definition found on the yugioh website:

A Yu-Gi-Oh! Extravaganza is a fun-filled weekend for Dueling fans of all ages. The entire weekend is comprised of Public Events and activities, such as Win-A-Mat tournaments, WCQ: Regional Qualifiers and Sealed Pack Play tournaments. Duelists can also take part in fun Yu-Gi-Oh!-themed activities and compete for a chance to win a Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series prize card.

No seriously, WHAT can you do?

In reality, this means a big 2-day event (which is part of the FACTS convention), where you can do participate in all sorts of public events, you would otherwise see at a YCS.

Giant Card, Structure Deck tournament, Regionals, Win-a-mats, Dragon duel and Sealed Pack events are organized all weekend long.

And during the event you can gather points in order to participate in the final play-off to obtain Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn

And the convention?

Seriously, just check the website of facts: http://www.facts.be/.

Several guests and artists will be coming, including John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lloyd, Alfie Allen, Peter Mayhew, Ernie Hudson and more.

Also, lots of boots, games, cosplay events, and other regular convention stuff.

What else can we do in Ghent?

So the convention closes and you still want to do something? No problem.

Starting Point: Korenmarkt

There's lots of places to go to in Ghent, but for most of them, the starting point, or the point of orientation is de city Center, the "Korenmarkt".

Getting there isn't difficult. Take the tram from the convention area and it'll stop automatically there (about half an hour ride).

From there on out, there's tons of restaurants and pubs within walking distance.

Within ten minutes of walking, you can go to:

• the "Dreupelkot", thé place to experience the Flemish Jenever (liquor in many flavors);
• the "Dulle Griet", thé place to experience over a hundred different Belgian (and foreign) beers (try the Kwak);
• the "Kastart", a famous student restaurant serving Pasta with a special home-made sauce;

... and many other places.

Playing cards or games after the convention

So you still want to play (card)games after the convention ends? No problem. The gathering point for Yugioh players (and other cardgame/boardgame/videogame people) in Ghent is the Outpost Ghent.

To get there, take the tram from the convention to the train station and take a walk to the Ottergemsesteenweg 13 (just google-maps it!).

The place is open until after midnight. You can also get drinks and snacks here (or nearby), so you won't starve.

Picking up a movie

Sure, why not, though it's quite some distance. By car, it's best to parc at the "Sint-Pietersplein" parking and go the last few hundred meters by foot.
Yes, you CAN park your car at the movie theater, but it's usually crowded and there's a chance the parking area is full.

If you're not by car, your best options are to take the tram to the station and then take bus lines 34, 35, 36, 58 or 70.

If you're more into alternative movies, there's also 2 alternative movie theaters with "limited release" movies.

The first one is the "Sphinx" theater, at the korenmarkt (just take the Tram to the Korenmarkt).

The other is "Studio Skoop". Easy to reach by car, quite a long distance by public transportation (take any bus or tram that goes to the "Zuid" area).

I'll be there... and you?

Yeah, as the title says. Since I've been going to FACTS every year (safe the year it almost coincided with London MCM comic-con and I went there instead), I'll be going this year as well. But this time I'll take my deck boxes along with me (lol).

So, see you there?

Otherwise, until the next time.
V out.

V Reviews: Fate Stay Night Unlimited Cash Cow Milking

The first time I saw Fate / Stay Night, back in 2006, I thought it was amazing. But nearly 10 years of experience with other animes have made me backtrack that initial opinion.

After watching Fate / Zero, I gave that masterpiece a 10/10, but I also started realizing that the original Fate series was not as good as I initially thought.

So after Fate Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works was announced, I was curious as to how the studio behind Fate / Zero would handle an alternate storytelling of the original series? Would it be just as bad, or could they make it better?

Let's find out and get this review on the road!

V Reviews: Fate / Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works TV

A: Backstory

The Visual Novel Fate / Stay Night is by far one of the most successful Visual Novels in existence. With an adapted anime, movie, manga and even the (way better) spin-off Fate/Zero behind our backs, it's no secret that the Fate Franchise is immensely popular.
And Studio Ufotable realizes that.

Meanwhile at Studio Ufotable...

In October of last year, the studio behind both Fate / Zero and the re-release of the Visual Novel have released their latest attempt to milk the Fate Cash cow with: Fate / Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works.

This TV-series (in 2 seasons) is an adaption of the Unlimited Blade Works Route of the Visual Novel and is presented to serve as an extension of both the movie from 2010 and the TV-series of 2006.

Certain moments tend to fill in more blanks than the original TV-series did. This is done in such a way, that this feels more like a sequel of Fate Zero, rather than a sequel to the original series itself. So, in short, UBW is the sequel of the prequel of Fate / Stay Night! Are you still with me? No? Good!

This however brings up the biggest shortcoming that this anime has from the get-go. It was and will remain the "retarded half-brother" of Fate / Zero, as Gigguk once called it. But to the credit of Studio Ufotable, it got a little less retarted this time around. People no longer die when they are killed.

Ufotable realized the serious task they took and did a decent job of adapting the game in a way people wanted to see it. In comparison to the 2006 anime, this story meanders a lot less on "school romance" and focuses more on the action. But there's only so much the anime can improve on a core story that comes from a visual novel.

B: Story

For those who are unfamiliar with the typical Fate set-up, I'll give a brief summary of it.

7 mages fight in a battle royale for the holy grail, which can grant the winner 1 wish. Each of the mages summons a Servant, based on a mythical hero and in 1 of 7 classes (Saber, Lancer, Archer, Caster, Rider, Berserker and Assassin). Both mages and servants duke it out in Mortal Kombat until only one duo remains.

But due to past corruptions of the grail, things have gone a little out of whack and the rule book has been edited behind the scenes as if it was handled by that annoying friend you had as a kid who didn't like the rules of the game.

Our main hero, Emiya Shirou, is an orphaned teenage boy whose home living situation would be described on Facebook as: "It's complicated". His family has gone up in flames 10 years ago, during the events of Fate Zero. His adopted father (Kiritsugu) recently passed away and he's living alone in his house, while being supervised by both the daughter of his landlord (Taiga) and a childhood female friend (Sakura).

And THAT is only the beginning!

At school he uses the little bit of magic he's able to handle, to repair faulty electric devices and electronics. But one evening, after he spend some late hours at school, he comes across a battle of two servants (Lancer and Archer), which is something he wasn't allowed to see according to the rules. The servants spot him and Lancer kills him on the spot. He ends up being revived by Tohsaka Rin, a schoolmate and one of the mages in this Battle Royale.

On Rin's side of the story (yeah, the first 2 episodes focus on both Rin and Shirou respectively), Rin has summoned a servant herself, hoping it would be one of the "saber class". But due to not having a heroic relic to summon a specific hero (or at least, that's what she thinks), she ends up with an amnesiac hero of the Archer class. Both Rin and Archer blame each other for their shortcomings but eventually agree to work together.

While getting used to her new servant, Rin discovers a magical barrier at school. She realizes there might be more than 1 mage at school. After getting rid of the barrier, she ends up being attacked by the Lancer servant. A fight ensues until a baffled Shirou unknowingly enters the battlefield, which enforces Lancer to kill him. This because the rules of the Holy Grail Battle order any outsiders that know of the Holy Grail War should be killed. Rin finds the body of Emiya, who died because he was killed. She uses a unique jewel to revive him.

Shirou wakes up, not realizing Rin saved her and goes home, only to be attacked by Lancer once more (because Lancer noticed he didn't finish the job). Emiya flees into one of the back buildings and incidentally touches a magic circle, left behind by his father and Irisviel back during the events of Fate Zero. Due to plot convenience, the magic circle activates and Emiya ends up summoning servant Saber, who defends him and she fences Lancer off.

Lancer retreats, but before Saber can explain the situation, she notices another servant nearby and goes to attack. That other servant is Archer, together with Rin, who were rushing to Emiya's place because Rin realized that Lancer would "finish the job". A short confrontation ensues, until Emiya stops Saber and both Rin and Shirou spot each other.

Shirou and Rin agree to a temporary ceasefire and Shirou gets an explanation of the Holy Grail War, from both her and the supervisor of the Holy Grail War, the priest Kotomine Kirei. After that, our heroes slowly get into fights with other mages and the plot ensues.

Revealing more would be spoiling the story too much, so I'll leave it at that.

C: Characters

Emiya Shirou	Main hero of the series. He's shown to be righteous and noble, but due to the way he uses those character traits, he actually ends up being a selfish prick at times. This in such a way, he's often cock-blocking Saber's action scenes, rendering her useless.
Tohsaka Rin	The female protagonist and master of Archer. The very definition of a tsundere character. She tries to act tough and stuck-up, but in the end, she's one of the few characters I was actually rooting for.
Saber	Shirou's servant. Noble lady who doesn't reveal her past because her identity would give an additional weakness, next to her team-up with Shirou. Due to the low amount of mana Shirou can supply her with, she can never fight at full strength. And Shirou's stubborn self-sacrificing behavior only makes it worse. She can only start to shine due to the events that happen in the second season.
Archer	Rin's servant. He's an amnesiac and only slowly starts to recover his memories. He is kind of a selfish prick. In season 2 it's revealed why he's such an asshole (once again, no spoilers).
Kotomine Kirei	The supervisor of the 5th Holy Grail battle. He's a total creep, but he has experienced the previous war firsthand and he's able to get Emiya started as an actual mage in this war.
Shinji Matou	Brother of Sakura Matou and contender of the Biggest Douche in the Universe award. From early on, he's suspected of being one of the "masters" of one of the servants. And while claiming to be a "friend" to Shirou and Rin, he might actually be one of their biggest enemies.

There are more characters in this show, but giving an explanation of them would also spoil the story. That's because one of the few strong points of both the original Fate/Stay Night series as this sequel is the mystery about who the masters and who the servants TRULY are.

D: Adaptation of the source material and comparison to 2006's Fate Stay Night

I have never played the Fate / Stay Night visual novels (not really into visual novels). But from what I caught from the Fate wiki, it seems like a fairly good adaption, with only a few minor scenes added. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

But there are a few notable things that did change when compared to the original Fate Stay Night anime/route:

• While Archer only showed who he really was at the end of his story in FSN, here he remembers it pretty quick. This turns into a motivation to seriously kill Emiya.
• The roles of Sakura and Taiga have been reduced a lot. So much that they hardly appear in the second season at all!
• While in Fate, the reason was made clear as to why Emiya was able to summon this specific servant, the reasoning is left vague in this route (it's the friggin scabbard).
• Rider was a major enemy in the original series, with Caster being less of a threat (but a threat none the less). In this series, it's the opposite way around. Caster is the bigger villain here. Also, while Rider's goal is still to win, the means of how to get to the victory vastly differs.
• Illya's role has been severely cut as well. Though Berserker still has his own epic moment in both series.
• While Lancer was often ridiculed in Carnival Phantasm for having little to no impact on the story, he's got a more prominent role here. He finally gets his time to shine!
• Due to the drastically different endings, this series' epilogue is totally different from the original (it's also a full episode). Also, Waver Velvet cameo!

Waver Velvet, the pussy has become a man!

Don't misunderstand me. These are not necessarily things I dislike. These are just some of the major differences between the two different story-lines.

E: Animation & Sound

The animation is almost on par with the stuff Ufotable did with Fate Zero. So, great stuff! Too bad the story setup causes the scenes to be less epic when compared to Fate/Zero, so it's less jaw-dropping to look at.

The sound is of similar quality as Fate/Zero. Which means it's (close to) epic. Considering all fate series have good music, anything less than epic would be a disappointment, though!

F: My problems with this anime

This anime tears me in half. On the one end, I want to like it a lot. The general storytelling and animation are truly great! And the buildup to the climaxes has been done in such a way that this anime is way more exciting than the original anime.

But there are a few major problems with UBW, which causes me to seriously dislike it as well.

• Both Archer and Shirou are douches. Even more so than in the original series. Archer acts like an asshole during the entire series and Shirou cock-blocks Saber so much, it makes it hard for me to root for him. And the moment when Archer and Shirou finally duke it out, I seriously wished for Gilgamesh to barge in and just destroy the both of them with his Vimana ship from Fate Zero. That's how much I cared about them.

• It's painfully obvious that this anime has some serious plot holes. Some of them may have been created due to the Ufotable adaptation, but most of the story problems stem from the original source material. The climax of this story has so many holes, it's a frigging Swiss Cheese.
  
  
• I hate deus ex machina endings. Thus I hate the ending of this anime. The end came totally out of left-field, was stupid and made me want to flip a table. Again, this is not Ufotable's fault. This IS the ending as depicted in the UBW storyline. But still, that's some serious BS!

Conclusion and recommendation

The overall feeling I get of this anime is "meh". While I'm a fan of the Fate franchise overall, I wasn't impressed with the end result.

This anime has great visuals, great sound and a better focus on action, rather than school-romance, but it has a protagonist that gets more annoying the more you get into the series, and the story has too many plotholes and a bad ending.

And while certain characters get their moment to shine (Lancer, Berserker and Archer), the screentime of other characters is cut so drastically, you'd almost forget they existed.

Overall, I give this anime a 7.2/10. Why adding a 0.2 to the 7/10 score? Well, because this moment deserve something extra!

Sooo satisfying.

Now, onto the next problem. Which variant of the show would I recommend to watch? UBW has the better buildup of the show and an overall better quality of storytelling and animation. But FSN has a more satisfying ending and less plot holes. And considering it's the end of the show that makes or breaks an anime (*cough*Evangelion*cough*), I would recommend watching the Original series rather than this one.

And if you should watch only 1 Fate series, just skip both Fate / Stay Night series and Watch Fate / Zero instead. Fate Zero remains by far the best Fate Series to date.

Agree with me, or not? Let me know in the comments.

Until next time, V out.

PS: I wonder how the movie of the third route (Heaven's feel) is going to be.

On a sidenote: I know, this should've been uploaded last week. Busy schedule = busy schedule. Next post won't take that long.