Fire Emblem Cipher - Rules and Q&A

[Ayra]

That's one nice-looking Cordelia card!

Thank you for the translations as always. I think part of Navarre's skill description got cut off (Solo swordsman).

If it's just 114 different cards, then there's definitively a lot of characters without cards, especially when characters like Marth have at least 4 by themselves. I did expect some FE1/Shadow Dragon characters not to getting one, but...

I think there's going to be more cards than that. On the Awakening side, we've already seen some of the characters I would consider the least likely to get a card in the first batch (Like Kellam and some of the children), so I don't think any of more popular characters will be withheld.

[aubergine]

That's one nice-looking Cordelia card!

Thank you for the translations as always. I think part of Navarre's skill description got cut off (Solo swordsman).

If it's just 114 different cards, then there's definitively a lot of characters without cards, especially when characters like Marth have at least 4 by themselves. I did expect some FE1/Shadow Dragon characters not to getting one, but...

I think there's going to be more cards than that. On the Awakening side, we've already seen some of the characters I would consider the least likely to get a card in the first batch (Like Kellam and some of the children), so I don't think any of more popular characters will be withheld.

Whoops, thank you for the catch! I goofed when copy pasting somewhere it looks like. Both my previous post and the compendium have been updated.

Yeah, it definitely is a bit odd how many variant cards many characters are getting if there is such a small 100 card ceiling on the first set. It would definitely seem odd for them not to make at least two cards, one for the unpromoted and promoted classes of each unit, for each of the characters in Marth and Chrom's respective armies. One thing I'll say though, is that we have yet to see barely any of the Starter Deck cards, so maybe the characters that have yet to make an appearance are reserved for the starter decks?

[FutureKnightX]

I suppose I should say this right now (as I feel someone needs to), but that Tiki should make it incredibly obvious to all that not every unpromoted unit can be made a main character. Heck, she'd be OP as a main character if you could promote the cost one Tiki into her, seeing as she'll be constantly attacked (and thus get more bonds) and she'll eventually have incredible defense to the point where it would be hard to touch her, forcing criticals.

Also, I love how in each series you can build a Pegasus deck that is functionally different than the main strategy the series does. Shadow Dragon has Caeda searching out the parts for your Triangle Attacks whereas Awakening has you employ "hit and run" tactics building up to Cordelia's Galeforce and Javelin assault (a field full of range 1-2 units is no joke in this game).

[MaerynSen]

I believe I read that it was 10 cards are Starter Deck exclusives, the ones starting in S0#? Five for Shadow Dragon, five for Awakening. The only one I know of being in that set for FE11 is one of the Marth cards, but as for Awakening I at least know of one Chrom, Vaike, and Ricken. I wish I could remember where I read that it was only 10 Starter Deck cards between the two. I think it was the listings on Amazon Japan, as I remember updating the information for the starters on MyFigureCollection with that info. But the information has since changed on Amazon, so it could be different now.

I don't even want to update those MFC listings until I know for sure. I feel like things keep changing.

Edited May 28, 2015 by MaerynSen

[aubergine]

I suppose I should say this right now (as I feel someone needs to), but that Tiki should make it incredibly obvious to all that not every unpromoted unit can be made a main character. Heck, she'd be OP as a main character if you could promote the cost one Tiki into her, seeing as she'll be constantly attacked (and thus get more bonds) and she'll eventually have incredible defense to the point where it would be hard to touch her, forcing criticals.

Also, I love how in each series you can build a Pegasus deck that is functionally different than the main strategy the series does. Shadow Dragon has Caeda searching out the parts for your Triangle Attacks whereas Awakening has you employ "hit and run" tactics building up to Cordelia's Galeforce and Javelin assault (a field full of range 1-2 units is no joke in this game).

Just as a note, Tiki's "bond recycling" skill reads that it can be used only "on your own turn", thus when Tiki is the one attacking...not when she is being attacked.

[FutureKnightX]

Ah, I see, but still. The sheer power she can bring to the table would make her OP as a main character nevertheless.

[Rekt no Ken]

Virion card posted by the FE: Cipher twitter.

"【カード紹介】貴族的な弓使いヴィオールです。原作通り、弓は飛行ユニットに対して絶大な効果を誇り、攻撃時の戦闘力が大幅アップする特性を持っています。（Illust：煎茶） #FEcipher "

Source: https://twitter.com/FEcipher/status/603802078838939648

Again, I'm posting in both Cipher-related threads just in case. Hope that's ok.

[eclipse]

As if Galeforce wasn't disgusting enough in Awakening. . .

Thanks for the translations~! May I suggest making the changelog as its own Word document, and updating that, instead of updating your sig every week?

[tychokepler]

Two questions;

1) Do you have to tap bonds to attack with a unit? Can you only attack with one character per turn?

2) As far as which card you choose to be your main character, what are the limits? I'm guessing you can't choose promoted characters, but is there a bond limit to which character acts as your main? Some pre-promoted characters seem like they could be a bit overpowered but maybe I haven't thought that through well enough.

[aubergine]

I'm still in the middle of translating today's Virion card but I found something odd about it. It has a Card ID which disrupts my current theories on how to read the card's rarity. Of all of the previous cards, only starter deck cards with IDs beginning with S would have ST at the end (which I took to mean that the rarity was classified "ST" for starter deck). However, this Virion card's ID starts with B indicating it's a booster card, but ends in ST, which I thought meant it had "Starter Deck" rarity due to not being in a booster. I honestly don't know what this means in terms of classification, anybody else have any ideas?

Two questions;

1) Do you have to tap bonds to attack with a unit? Can you only attack with one character per turn?

2) As far as which card you choose to be your main character, what are the limits? I'm guessing you can't choose promoted characters, but is there a bond limit to which character acts as your main? Some pre-promoted characters seem like they could be a bit overpowered but maybe I haven't thought that through well enough.

As far as I understand, here's some information to help answer your questions.

1) By the term tapping I presume you are referring to the action of turning the card to the side? Bonds are not 'tapped', but rather flipped. Units in the Battlefield are what you tap. Tapping a unit in Cipher means that a unit has taken an action. Individual skills will tell you what they need in terms of the amount of Bonds to flip and whether or not you need to tap your unit. An attack is treated as an action and will need you to tap your unit. This means that if you previously used a skill that required your unit to be tapped, that unit cannot attack.

In terms of the amount of units that can attack in one turn, I believe you can attack with any amount of units that are not tapped. This includes units both in the vanguard (front lines) and rear guard (rear lines) provided their range allows them to attack, i.e. an archer in the rear guard can attack alongside range 1 units in the vanguard.

2) We still are not quite sure what determines which cards are eligible to be your Main Character unit. These are my thoughts on it: I am pretty sure that you cannot initially use promoted units for this role, but the unit that you choose as your Main Character can later be class changed into a promoted unit if you pay the promotion cost and have a promoted unit card for the Main Character you chose. I don't know if you are limited to choosing placement cost 1 cards or not. This topic will definitely remain open to interpretation until more official information is given.

[Ayra]

Actually, the latest Famitsu issue might have the answer regarding your initial lord.

All credit to Kirokan for the translation!

If that's correct, here's the gist of it:

1) You have to pick a character with a 1 casting cost as your starting lord.

2) You can replace a unit (including your lord) by a variant of the character that costs to play more if you have the bonds for it. For example, if you pick the 1 cost Tharja as your lord, you can upgrade her to the 2 cost Tharja. Or if your Marth lord is currently the 3/2 Marth, you could upgrade him to the 5/4 Marth if you have enough bonds. Or upgrade your 1 cost Tiki to your 5 cost Tiki.

Which would make a lot of sense in my opinion. That Tiki would not really be overpowered: You have to live until you can play the upgraded Tiki, and the upgraded Tiki is not really too impressive unless you get the upgrade condition. I'll wish good luck to another player to survive that long into the game as Tiki, especially with how common the +20 vs dragons cards are.

Regarding the card numbering, I admit I have absolutely no clue, sorry.

[tychokepler]

Very interesting!

More questions (that might have been answered but just scanning through the previous pages I couldn't find anything about it?)

Skills with a yellow symbol are activated upon support, red ones are skills that need a catalyst (such as flipping bonds or tapping cards) and green skills are passives.

Does anyone know what blue and purple skills represent?

Also, we've seen promoted cards with "CCS" but there have also been "FS" skills. From what I can tell they're "flying skills" since i've seen them on pegasus knights. Can someone confirm?

Edited May 29, 2015 by tychokepler

[aubergine]

The Virion card released today on the Cipher twitter is complete. Honestly, I could see this card being quite useful as an offensive unit due to how many different ways it can pump up its attack and the fact that it attacks from the relative safety of the Rear Guard (rear lines).

Aristocratic Archer Virion

Virion (Aristocratic Archer) – Rarity: ST / Series 1 Booster Card #063

Cost: 1 / Promotion Cost: N/A

Affinities: Awakening / Male / Bow

Quote: “I am a gentleman to the very end.”

Skill 1: “Steel Bow” / α / [Once per turn] / [Flip 1 Bond] Until the end of this turn, this unit’s attack is increased by 10.

Skill 2: “Clearing the Skies” / ∞ / When this unit attacks a Flying affinity unit, this unit’s attack is increased by 30.

Attack Support Skill: “Fighter’s Emblem” / ♥ / Until the end of the attack phase, your attacking unit’s attack is increased by 20.

Attack Power: 30

Support Attack Power: 20

Range: 2

Unpromoted

Class: Archer

Title: Aristocratic Archer

Card ID: B01-063ST

Illustrator: Sencha

Very interesting!

More questions (that might have been answered but just scanning through the previous pages I couldn't find anything about it?)

Skills with a yellow symbol are activated upon support, red ones are skills that need a catalyst (such as flipping bonds or tapping cards) and green skills are passives.

Does anyone know what blue and purple skills represent?

Also, we've seen promoted cards with "CCS" but there have also been "FS" skills. From what I can tell they're "flying skills" since i've seen them on pegasus knights. Can someone confirm?

Blue skills are always active skills. Purple skills are special characteristic skills (like Lucina's "treat this as 'Marth'" skill.

FS stands for Formation Skill, it depends on a certain arrangement of certain units. The Barst card that has a fairly low resolution picture also has a FS, but I don't know what it needs nor what it does as of yet. I don't remember what page of the thread, but it was somewhere back a bit. Doesn't hurt to go over it again though! Glad to see more interest building in Cipher

Edited May 29, 2015 by aubergine

[FutureKnightX]

If cost 5 Tiki gets her +30 power boost, then she will tie with any 70 power units that have that anti-dragon ability, since she'll get 90 power. And don't forget that cost 1 Tiki also does bond ramping (with her support skill) so you can play 5 cost Tiki earlier than you usually would be able to. Of course, this is assuming that you can put up a fairly decent card advantage engine. All I can think of is that SR Caeda right now, at least when it comes to Shadow Dragon cards. And I'm thinking that when you "upgrade" units, rather than promote them, you can't draw, in addition to the fact that you have to pay the full amount.

Also, it's been a while, but didn't Shadow Dragon have a shapeshifter guy? Maybe he can act as a dancer, so, you know, you can make Tiki even more derpy lol.

[eclipse]

If cost 5 Tiki gets her +30 power boost, then she will tie with any 70 power units that have that anti-dragon ability, since she'll get 90 power. And don't forget that cost 1 Tiki also does bond ramping (with her support skill) so you can play 5 cost Tiki earlier than you usually would be able to. Of course, this is assuming that you can put up a fairly decent card advantage engine. All I can think of is that SR Caeda right now, at least when it comes to Shadow Dragon cards. And I'm thinking that when you "upgrade" units, rather than promote them, you can't draw, in addition to the fact that you have to pay the full amount.

Also, it's been a while, but didn't Shadow Dragon have a shapeshifter guy? Maybe he can act as a dancer, so, you know, you can make Tiki even more derpy lol.

We already have a dancer, in the form of Olivia.

Assuming Archanea gets a dancer, it'll be Feena. If Xane appears, he'll probably have an effect like "choose another unit on your field, and this card inherits the name and attack of that unit until the end of turn".

If this game ever comes state-side, I'm going Archanea. I have a couple of terrible ideas, and Ylisse doesn't have the cards to pull them off.

[FutureKnightX]

Right now, I'm torn between Tiki and Lucina. I like to gain advantage and to dominate the opponent, which both do rather well, in their own ways. Though, if I do get my hands on an English version, I probably won't heavily invest in the game until I can build an Ike x Soren deck lol.

[Flamy]

Right now, I'm torn between Tiki and Lucina. I like to gain advantage and to dominate the opponent, which both do rather well, in their own ways. Though, if I do get my hands on an English version, I probably won't heavily invest in the game until I can build an Ike x Soren deck lol.

*viciously backhands FutureKnight*

But all things considered, what would Ike's skill be? "Fight for My Friends", where he acts as a unit's support for a turn, but can't use his support ability or attack?

[Xem]

I was thinking, if there will be 100 cards + 14; the 14 can possibly really be EXTRA cards, like pegasus knight Minerva, so some characters don't need to have 2 classes, like frederick, he start as a great knight he could change class only with the second seal, and if they were going to make all characters with different classes, there will be just too much Robins, at least 1 (male or female) for each class.

Btw there will be only female Robin? 'cause i love female Morgan.

[FutureKnightX]

There are fans of both Robins and both Morgans, so I don't see why not. Besides, the female Robin cards have her character listed as "Robin (Female)" (I think), so one would figure there will be a "Robin (Male)".

Side note: it's a shame only Lucina can gender change now (in theory). Would have liked Robin and Morgan to do it too.

[Kirokan]

I have an idea as to how to utilize those images you have made. When the wiki does finally get up and running, do you mind the idea of providing links to those images at Kantopia so people can easily get to them and use them to make proxies? Anyone have objections to that idea?

Hey! Sorry, the post got buried by the other ones. I don't mind that at all, once I get to regularly translating the cards. Thanks to aubergine's hard work, the process has become a lot faster since now instead of the translation and typesetting, I only have to do the second. : )

EDIT: Chrom card! On my blog, I link to your twitter page and compendium, aubergine. I have just your username on the card, but if you want me to get your specific twitter address on there, let me know : )

I also changed the quote as he's saying 守ってみせる, where as you had written something about changing fate. I also emphasized the "Halidom" part of Ylisse.

Hope to tackle whatever other higher resolution cards we have next! Will take a look at the list tomorrow. The above is also in JPEG format to save space, but of course I kept the higher quality PNG for anyone who wants them by request.

Edited May 30, 2015 by Kirokan

[CloudLink]

I'm still in the middle of translating today's Virion card but I found something odd about it. It has a Card ID which disrupts my current theories on how to read the card's rarity. Of all of the previous cards, only starter deck cards with IDs beginning with S would have ST at the end (which I took to mean that the rarity was classified "ST" for starter deck). However, this Virion card's ID starts with B indicating it's a booster card, but ends in ST, which I thought meant it had "Starter Deck" rarity due to not being in a booster. I honestly don't know what this means in terms of classification, anybody else have any ideas?

I thought I had an account on this site already (I lurk here a lot, especially in this thread), but whatever, I just made this account to reply to this, lol.

I forgot where, but we actually have seen other cards that start with B and end with ST. I'm not 100%, but I figure it's for cards that are available in the Booster Packs, but also come in the Starter Deck. Not sure why they'd need to label them differently, but that way you can tell if the card came out of a pack or if you got it in your Starter Deck.

As for the ones that start with an S instead of a B, those have to be the Starter Exclusives that only come in the Starter Deck.

Anyway, there's no way to be 100% sure until they come out, but I feel like it's a reasonable assumption.

Also, you guys are doing great work, keep it up! It's nice to see the dedication from fans, and it's great to have people who are able and willing to translate the cards and rules for us.

Edited June 10, 2015 by CloudLink

[Rekt no Ken]

New Minerva card courtesy of the FE: Cipher Twitter:

【カード紹介】ドラゴンナイトのミネルバです。飛行ユニットがいるほどアップする戦闘力と、弓の持つ「飛行特効」を無効にするスキルで、主人公としても活躍できるユニットとなっています。（Illust：島崎麻里） #FEcipher

source: https://twitter.com/FEcipher/status/605283719687995392

Edited June 1, 2015 by Rekt no Ken

[aubergine]

I suppose I should say this right now (as I feel someone needs to), but that Tiki should make it incredibly obvious to all that not every unpromoted unit can be made a main character. Heck, she'd be OP as a main character if you could promote the cost one Tiki into her, seeing as she'll be constantly attacked (and thus get more bonds) and she'll eventually have incredible defense to the point where it would be hard to touch her, forcing criticals.

I didn't see this before, but one thing to note here is that I am certain that the cost 1 Tiki card cannot become the other Tiki card. Tiki as a unit is non-promotable and the cost 5 card does not have a promotion cost. It's still a distinct possibility that the cost 1 Tiki card could be your main character. I should have read the famitsu scans! Well, then this definitely is an interesting development if Tiki can be leveled up into her other card and is able to be the main character.

Thanks for the translations~! May I suggest making the changelog as its own Word document, and updating that, instead of updating your sig every week?

I've been been meaning to say that I have seen this. I haven't yet had the chance to work on stuff until today, but that's a good idea. I'm hoping to make that separate changelog document the same time I update with translations of the two Minerva cards. Apologies if the sig thing was a bit annoying.

New Minerva card courtesy of the FE: Cipher Twitter:

And, I hope to get to this and the other Minerva card along with whatever new Twitter update happens tomorrow!

Edited June 2, 2015 by aubergine

[Dan]

Cool, she cancels out archer bonus against flyers. Minerva will be a good leader for pegasus teams.

[eclipse]

I've been been meaning to say that I have seen this. I haven't yet had the chance to work on stuff until today, but that's a good idea. I'm hoping to make that separate changelog document the same time I update with translations of the two Minerva cards. Apologies if the sig thing was a bit annoying.

It's not annoying! The biggest problem would be that you'd have to change your sig every time you add stuff to the catalog. With a separate Google doc, you'd be able to leave the forum features alone.

Anyway, thanks for all the hard work! Speaking of. . .Minerva makes Palla/Est/Catria happy. And this amuses me greatly.