Fire Emblem Cipher - Rules and Q&A

[TheVinceKnight]

8 hours ago, AllStarKnight said:

I actually just remembered an old question that I had about Shigure, End of the Ideal Path (B10-059R). His first skill, Lost in the Waves, states "Reveal the topmost card of your Deck. Choose any number of allies with the same Symbol as that card as you wish, and move them."

Let's say the topmost card of my deck is a WhiteBlack card. Am I only able to move allies that are also WhiteBlack, or can I move any ally that's either White or Black since they still share a symbol (like how WhiteBlack can be used for either in the bond area)?

You can move any White or Black allies or a unit that has both White and Black symbols.

[AllStarKnight]

Thank you very much! It's great to have confirmation.

[FireFenrir]

Hello, I have few questions about grey cards and about some skills:

-They do not provide any Symbols,but it's possible to deploy units with them, if I have, as an example, 4 grey cards in my Bond area and 1 red, I would be abble to deploy a 5 deployment cost red card?

- Also, as the same example, I can class change a red card with grey cards if I have at least one red card in my Bond area?

- Is that possible to deploy a grey card with a symboled card (can I deploy a 1 deployment cost Alfonse with a red bond?)

- Are those cards are counted as face down bonds? Is that possible to use them for skills?

--For Ryoma: Master Swordsman of Hoshido, skill "White Light Army  [  ] Each time this unit or an other ally is deployed, if you pay the cost and if you do: Until the end of the turn, all allies gain +10 attack." is this skill is usable just one time? Or as long as I deploy another unit, all allies gain +x for each allies I deployed if I flip needed number of bond (for example, if I deployed 2 allies, if I face down 4 bond cards, do all allies will gain +20)?-Then for Ryoma: Prince Born of White Dragon Blood second skill: Resonance of Dragon’s Blood  This unit acquires all  possessed by other allies. However, he may only have 1 skill among those with shared skill names. Does that mean, he can only have one more DB skill, (for example Takumi's one who does non MC characters can't evade his attack) and no other DB skills?

Thank you by advance.

Edited January 29, 2020 by FireFenrir

[TheVinceKnight]

5 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

They do not provide any Symbols,but it's possible to deploy units with them, if I have, as an example, 4 grey cards in my Bond area and 1 red, I would be abble to deploy a 5 deployment cost red card?

As long as you have the one red card in your bonds, you're allowed to deploy a 5 cost red. It's not needed to have 5 red cards in your bond area in order to deploy a 5 cost Red ally (that would be absurd).

5 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

Also, as the same example, I can class change a red card with grey cards if I have at least one red card in my Bond area?

Yes. All you need to do is have the one symbol of the card you intend to class change into, and at least the same number of bonds as the class change cost of the card you wanna class change into. 

5 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

Is that possible to deploy a grey card with a symboled card (can I deploy a 1 deployment cost Alfonse with a red bond?)

The 'grey' cards are just simply cards without a symbol, they can be deployed no matter what face-up bond you have as they have no affiliation. This means you can deploy them even if you don't have any face-up bonds at the time.

6 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

Are those cards are counted as face down bonds? Is that possible to use them for skills?

They are still considered face-up bonds. You can use these cards to pay for a skill's cost if you want to.
 

 

6 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

For Ryoma: Master Swordsman of Hoshido, skill "White Light Army  [  ] Each time this unit or an other ally is deployed, if you pay the cost and if you do: Until the end of the turn, all allies gain +10 attack." is this skill is usable just one time? Or as long as I deploy another unit, all allies gain +x for each allies I deployed if I flip needed number of bond (for example, if I deployed 2 allies, if I face down 4 bond cards, do all allies will gain +20)?-Then for Ryoma: Prince Born of White Dragon Blood second skill: Resonance of Dragon’s Blood  This unit acquires all  possessed by other allies. However, he may only have 1 skill among those with shared skill names. Does that mean, he can only have one more DB skill, (for example Takumi's one who does non MC characters can't evade his attack) and no other DB skills?

If you pay the cost each time you deploy Ryoma or another ally (2 bonds each time), the attack gain will stack up. So yes, if you deploy 2 allies (and therefore pay 4 bonds), all allies on your field at the time of each ally deploy gain +10 attack. 

Resonance of Dragon's Blood refers to a case if you somehow manage to copy an ally's Dragon Blood skill (like through the use of Xane), you can only gain one instance of the skill. So you can't gain Takumi's "Brighthand Bound to Fujin" twice. Each ally with Resonance of Dragon's Blood can still have as many Dragon Blood skills as they want as long as they are available on the field (but only one of each skill).

[FireFenrir]

Thank you! I now understand well better those skills and grey cards system.

[FireFenrir]

Hello, I have a question about Gray: Reliable Childhood Friend's second skill : Abundant Experience  When you Level Up this unit from Composed Prodigy, Gray, until he is removed from the Battlefield, this unit gains +50 attack. 

For Level up Gray, I only have to pay 5 bonds instead of 3 which would be counted as a Class Change ? And so, because of the skill, that would do that Gray: Composed Prodigy would be from 70 to 120 attack until an ennemy destroy him?

Sorry, I don't really understand Level Up system so, it might be a basic question.

Thanbk you by advance.

Edited January 30, 2020 by FireFenrir

[AllStarKnight]

9 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

Hello, I have a question about Gray: Reliable Childhood Friend's second skill : Abundant Experience  When you Level Up this unit from Composed Prodigy, Gray, until he is removed from the Battlefield, this unit gains +50 attack. 

For Level up Gray, I only have to pay 5 bonds instead of 3 which would be counted as a Class Change ? And so, because of the skill, that would do that Gray: Composed Prodigy would be from 70 to 120 attack until an ennemy destroy him?

Sorry, I don't really understand Level Up system so, it might be a basic question.

Thanbk you by advance.

Hi! With both Class Change and Level Up, you are placing a card on top of a unit of the same name that you already control. However, with Level Up, the card that you place on top must not have a Class Change cost. It isn't considered deployment, since the unit is already deployed, but you also don't draw a card like you would with Class Change. The benefit to Level Up is whatever skill effects depend on it.

In this case with Gray, you must already control a specific Gray (Composed Prodigy). So you already would have paid the 3 or 5 bonds. Then, if you want, you can level him up into Gray: Reliable Childhood Friend, who would then become 80 Atk (90 Atk on your turn) until he leaves the battlefield, due to that effect.

[FireFenrir]

1 hour ago, AllStarKnight said:

Hi! With both Class Change and Level Up, you are placing a card on top of a unit of the same name that you already control. However, with Level Up, the card that you place on top must not have a Class Change cost. It isn't considered deployment, since the unit is already deployed, but you also don't draw a card like you would with Class Change. The benefit to Level Up is whatever skill effects depend on it.

In this case with Gray, you must already control a specific Gray (Composed Prodigy). So you already would have paid the 3 or 5 bonds. Then, if you want, you can level him up into Gray: Reliable Childhood Friend, who would then become 80 Atk (90 Atk on your turn) until he leaves the battlefield, due to that effect.

Thank you, so as I understand it is possible to level up a unit with a card of a lower cost? (I can level up Gray : Compoosed Prodigy into Gray: Reliable Childhood Friend?) 

Also is puting an amount of same cards on the battlefield is considered as Level Up? (example for LvS2 skills, what is needed for those kind of skills is putting an amount of 2 same cards-or just cards that share the same name?- and then the skill would function?) How does LvS2 skills function?

Thank you by advance.

[AllStarKnight]

3 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

Thank you, so as I understand it is possible to level up a unit with a card of a lower cost? (I can level up Gray : Compoosed Prodigy into Gray: Reliable Childhood Friend?) 

Also is puting an amount of same cards on the battlefield is considered as Level Up? (example for LvS2 skills, what is needed for those kind of skills is putting an amount of 2 same cards-or just cards that share the same name?- and then the skill would function?) How does LvS2 skills function?

Thank you by advance.

No problem, and yes! As long as a card has only a Deployment cost, not a Class Change one, you can use it to Level Up a unit of the same name.

 

Now, with LvS skills, I'll need to explain something new about the term "Leveled Up." I gave the rules of how to Level Up a unit normally, but in Cipher, units that Class Change or perform a Growth are also considered "Leveled Up." This means that all three methods can be used to access LvS skills.

 

Let me walk you through obtaining LvS skills using 1) Leveling Up, 2) Class Changing, and 3) Growth. Any of these methods can be combined, as I'll cover below, but I separated them into numbers for clarity. I'll use Ike as an example, since LvS and Growth are important features of many green cards:

1). Ike, Young Mercenary (B03-003HN) has the LvS2 skill Young Leader, where he gains +10 Atk. The number after S is how many cards need to be stacked total. So, in this case, you will need 2 cards in the stack, including the original Ike you deployed. This means that you only need to Level Up once.

To obtain Young Leader, you can either use the same exact card twice (Leveling Up Ike, Young Mercenary with Ike, Young Mercenary), or you can deploy a different Ike first (Leveling up Ike, New Mercenary Commander (B17-062HN) into Ike, Young Mercenary). The only way you can't obtain the skill is to Level Up Ike, Young Mercenary into a different Ike, because then the different Ike would be stacked on top and you'd have to go by his skills.

2). Ike, Brave Crimean General (S05-001ST) has the LvS3 skill Ragnell, the Sacred Blade. In this case, you will need 3 cards in the stack total. If you have no other options, you can reach this number and obtain the skill entirely through Class Changing (deploying one Ike, Class Changing once, and then Class Changing a final time into Ike, Brave Crimean General). However, it may not be the best use of your bonds. It is probably best to only Class Change once at most and use other methods to reach the required number.

3). Ike, Commander of the Greil Mercenaries (B09-091R) has the skill Tempering Swordsmanship. Either of the other Ikes can undergo Growth due to various methods, but I picked this Ike because he performs a Growth on himself. The skill activates when Ike's attack destroys an enemy, and you must choose 1 Ike from your deck to stack underneath him and Growth him. So if this Ike were your original deployment at cost 4, this would bring the stack to 2. You could then Class Change him into Ike, Brave Crimean General and immediately obtain the LvS3 skill Ragnell, the Sacred Blade as the stack would be brought to 3.

To cover another method of Growth, let me give the simple example of Soren, Genius of the Mercenaries (B14-095N), who has the skill Keen Counsel. You can pay the cost to choose another ally (in this case, Ike), then choose a card with the same unit name as that ally from your Retreat Area, and stack it under him to Growth him. So even if you only run copies of Ike, Young Mercenary, and Ike, Brave Crimean General in your deck, you can still use Growth to help him obtain his LvS skills thanks to Soren (or other Green allies with this kind of skill).

 

A final important detail is that there are also different skill effects that can make LvS skills temporarily usable without any of those methods. One example to look into is Mist, Reminiscent Singing Voice (B14-080N) whose skill #2 Song of Waking makes all allies' [LvS2] usable as a continuous effect, so long as she remains on the field. Another one is Titania, Golden Savior (B14-081SR) who can use her first skill to flip 1 bond to make all allies' [LvS2,], [LvS3], [LvS4], and [LvS5] skills usable until the end of your opponent's next turn, including her own [LvS3] skill.

Edited January 31, 2020 by AllStarKnight
left out a card #

[FireFenrir]

Hello, thank you very much, I think I understand well better those type of skills :D! But is that mean that, in the case of Gray: Composed Prodigy, if I'm Leveling up him into Gray: Reliable Childhood Friend, that one Gray will gain +50 (so would be at 80 attack), and then if I'm class changing this Gray into Gray: Composed Prodigy, is the +50 will still be counted? 

Also have another question about Berkut: Delusions of Suppremacy 2nd skill:The Price of Power  If this unit evades, you may send your entire hand to the Retreat Area instead of sending a "Berkut" from your hand to the Retreat Area. Do I need a Berkut card in my hand for this skill to function?

 I  still have a lot to learn about Cipher, so I'll be sure to ask if it's still hard to understand.

Thank you!

Edited January 31, 2020 by FireFenrir

[TheVinceKnight]

On 1/31/2020 at 8:17 PM, FireFenrir said:

But is that mean that, in the case of Gray: Composed Prodigy, if I'm Leveling up him into Gray: Reliable Childhood Friend, that one Gray will gain +50 (so would be at 80 attack), and then if I'm class changing this Gray into Gray: Composed Prodigy, is the +50 will still be counted? 

Attack gains / buffs / do not carry through onto the next card over when you level up / class change on top of a card. 

 

 

On 1/31/2020 at 8:17 PM, FireFenrir said:

Also have another question about Berkut: Delusions of Suppremacy 2nd skill:The Price of Power  If this unit evades, you may send your entire hand to the Retreat Area instead of sending a "Berkut" from your hand to the Retreat Area. Do I need a Berkut card in my hand for this skill to function?

No. The skill just means that instead of needing to discard another copy of Berkut to evade (the cost to evade), you can throw your entire hand instead.

[FireFenrir]

Thank you, I was a bit hesitant about this skill because they said "if this unit evades" so that's why I thought I'll need a Berkut for this skill.

Thank's again!

[FireFenrir]

Hello I have a question regarding Roy: Forger of a Future for Humans and Dragons second skill:  The Blade that Binds the Demon Dragon   Reveal the topmost card of your opponent's Deck. If that card is a , destroy all enemies. This skill may only be used if this unit has used Supreme Binding Blade 2 or more times in this turn.

Is "all enemies" includes the MC or only ennemies?  (Or only dragons, because the skill is activated if the topmost card is a  card.)

Also, I guess (but i prefer ask) that it's possible to activate twice per turn a skill? As for example: Supreme Binding Blade  [Tap 1 other  ally] Until the end of the turn, this unit gains +10 attack.

If I tap two purple allies instead of one, Roy will gain +20 attack?

Thank you by advance.

[AllStarKnight]

1 hour ago, FireFenrir said:

Hello I have a question regarding Roy: Forger of a Future for Humans and Dragons second skill:  The Blade that Binds the Demon Dragon   Reveal the topmost card of your opponent's Deck. If that card is a , destroy all enemies. This skill may only be used if this unit has used Supreme Binding Blade 2 or more times in this turn.

Is "all enemies" includes the MC or only ennemies?  (Or only dragons, because the skill is activated if the topmost card is a  card.)

Also, I guess (but i prefer ask) that it's possible to activate twice per turn a skill? As for example: Supreme Binding Blade  [Tap 1 other  ally] Until the end of the turn, this unit gains +10 attack.

If I tap two purple allies instead of one, Roy will gain +20 attack?

Thank you by advance.

"All enemies" includes the MC. If it were only either non-MC enemies, or dragon enemies, the skill would have to specify.

Skills can be activated multiple times unless they specify that they're [Once Per Turn]. Roy's second skill is a [Once Per Turn] skill, but Supreme Binding Blade doesn't specify, so you can use it as many times as you can pay the cost and Roy will gain +10 attack each time. So yes, tapping two would mean Roy will gain +20 attack.

No problem!

[FireFenrir]

Thank you very much! So that's mean if my opponent has all his Orbs destroyed, I could use this skill to destroy my opponent's MC and then battle would be finished?

Thank you again :D!

[AllStarKnight]

Yep, that's how it would work, and np, happy to help :)!

[FireFenrir]

Thank you for always help me! I still have a lot to learn about Cipher 😄

[AllStarKnight]

Hi, does anyone know what the reasoning is behind Zelgius B12-038HN's 2nd skill, Empire's Finest General? After paying the cost for a 5(3) unit, I don't understand why a player would want to perform a Level Up. Is the skill actually preventing Class Change as well as Level Up? I know Class Changed units are considered Leveled Up, but so are units who have been Growthed, and Zelgius is clearly not prevented from being Growthed based on his first skill.

I've been assuming they just meant Level Up normally, but that never made sense as a skill, and I didn't want to misuse the card. Thanks in advance!

[TheVinceKnight]

5 hours ago, AllStarKnight said:

Hi, does anyone know what the reasoning is behind Zelgius B12-038HN's 2nd skill, Empire's Finest General? After paying the cost for a 5(3) unit, I don't understand why a player would want to perform a Level Up. Is the skill actually preventing Class Change as well as Level Up? I know Class Changed units are considered Leveled Up, but so are units who have been Growthed, and Zelgius is clearly not prevented from being Growthed based on his first skill.

I've been assuming they just meant Level Up normally, but that never made sense as a skill, and I didn't want to misuse the card. Thanks in advance!

Class Changing is the same as Leveling up, just instead it uses a promo cost to do it.
Zelgius will be considered a Levelled Up unit if he does growth, but the whole point behind Empire's Finest General is because of the last skill, it acts as a limitation so that you cannot promote into another Zelgius or Black Knight until the current Zelgius has a stack of 5 or more.

[AllStarKnight]

23 minutes ago, TheVinceKnight said:

Class Changing is the same as Leveling up, just instead it uses a promo cost to do it.
Zelgius will be considered a Levelled Up unit if he does growth, but the whole point behind Empire's Finest General is because of the last skill, it acts as a limitation so that you cannot promote into another Zelgius or Black Knight until the current Zelgius has a stack of 5 or more.

Thank you for clearing that up! I had previously understood Class Change, Level Up, and Growth as all very similar in effect, yet distinct processes. But it makes sense to group together the ones that involve stacking on top.

So, any reference to the process of "Leveling Up" also includes Class Changing, not Growth. But references to "Leveled Up" units will include all three - Units who have Leveled Up, Class Changed, and/or been Growthed. Is that right?

[TheVinceKnight]

5 hours ago, AllStarKnight said:

Thank you for clearing that up! I had previously understood Class Change, Level Up, and Growth as all very similar in effect, yet distinct processes. But it makes sense to group together the ones that involve stacking on top.

So, any reference to the process of "Leveling Up" also includes Class Changing, not Growth. But references to "Leveled Up" units will include all three - Units who have Leveled Up, Class Changed, and/or been Growthed. Is that right?

Yeah that's basically it.

[FireFenrir]

Hello, I have a question regarding Shiro: Prince Polishing his Spearmanship skill: Divine Blade of Protection  [  ] Until the end of the turn, this unit acquires range 1-2. This skill is only usable if you have 1 or more  Bond cards. If I have a   symboled card in my Bond Area (as Shigure: Canyon-Wondering soul for example), does this skill can be activated? Or can it be activated if the card is only  symboled?

Thank you by advance.

 

[AllStarKnight]

6 hours ago, TheVinceKnight said:

Yeah that's basically it.

Great, thank you so much for all your help!

3 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

Hello, I have a question regarding Shiro: Prince Polishing his Spearmanship skill: Divine Blade of Protection  [  ] Until the end of the turn, this unit acquires range 1-2. This skill is only usable if you have 1 or more  Bond cards. If I have a   symboled card in my Bond Area (as Shigure: Canyon-Wondering soul for example), does this skill can be activated? Or can it be activated if the card is only  symboled?

Thank you by advance.

 

This skill can be activated, yes! A WhiteBlack card is very useful in the bond area, because it counts as both. You can deploy both Black-only and White-only units with only 1 WhiteBlack bond face-up.

But it is also can be harder to bring out WhiteBlack units onto the field, because if you don't have another WhiteBlack card to keep face-up in bonds, then you will need 1 White + 1 Black bond face-up instead. When I played a WhiteBlack deck on Lackey, I know that got tricky sometimes and I had to be careful with my bond-flipping.

[FireFenrir]

Thank you! Sorry for asking again,, I tried to edit my post, but it was impossible for a reason I don't know, so I have other questions:

For Kana: Girl of the White Path skill:In the White Light  During your turn, If this unit is being supported by , this unit gains +10 attack.. Does the skill function if she is supported by a   card? Or even for Kana: B10-051SR skill : Our Yato  [  ] If you have 2 or more other allies, reveal the topmost card of your Deck. If the revealed card is  or , add that card to your hand. If the revealed card is  can I had it to my hand?

Also for Ares: Lionheart in the making skill: The Demon Sword of Nordion  If you have 3 or more <Yellow> bond cards, the number of orbs that this unit's attack will destroy is increased to 2. . If this card is supported by a unit with Hero Emblem, will this unit will destroy 4 Orbs (if I'm not wrong), or will the "Hero Emblem" will not count?

-Is a skill who has an effect with the MC (as example: Prince's Mystletainn  During your turn, if you have 1 or more Bond cards with the same Unit Name as your Main Character, this unit gains +20 attack, from Ares: Nostalgic Black Prince), fuction if Ares, in that case, is the MC?

 

For Sigurd: A soul who Lived for Love, skill: "You must know the sorrows of the people."  [  ] Choose 1 other ally. Until the end of your opponent's next turn, that ally gains +10 attack. Does that mean if the ally I choosed will also gain +10 defense if he is attacked?

Thank you by advance.

Edited February 11, 2020 by FireFenrir

[AllStarKnight]

Oh, never any need to apologize for asking! Again, I'm happy to help. 😄 The images for the Kana questions aren't loading for me right now, but I think I can figure out what you mean. Also, I'll try breaking up the quote this time so that I can reply to each individually.

5 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

For Kana: Girl of the White Path skill:In the White Light  During your turn, If this unit is being supported by , this unit gains +10 attack.. Does the skill function if she is supported by a   card?

Yes, any skill that calls for either White or Black will function with a WhiteBlack card. So if she's supported by a WhiteBlack card, her first skill will activate, and if she is the one supporting a WhiteBlack card, her second skill will activate.

6 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

Or even for Kana: B10-051SR skill : Our Yato  [  ] If you have 2 or more other allies, reveal the topmost card of your Deck. If the revealed card is  or , add that card to your hand. If the revealed card is  can I had it to my hand?

Yes, if the revealed card is WhiteBlack,  you can add it to your hand.

6 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

Also for Ares: Lionheart in the making skill: The Demon Sword of Nordion  If you have 3 or more <Yellow> bond cards, the number of orbs that this unit's attack will destroy is increased to 2. . If this card is supported by a unit with Hero Emblem, will this unit will destroy 4 Orbs (if I'm not wrong), or will the "Hero Emblem" will not count?

Even if Ares is supported by a unit with Hero Emblem, he will still only destroy 2 orbs. Hero Emblem does technically still occur, but it's redundant. Both state that the number of orbs destroyed "becomes 2" not "is increased by 2." If both were "increased by 2", then it might stack, but instead, they both just set the number of orbs to 2.

6 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

Is a skill who has an effect with the MC (as example: Prince's Mystletainn  During your turn, if you have 1 or more Bond cards with the same Unit Name as your Main Character, this unit gains +20 attack, from Ares: Nostalgic Black Prince), fuction if Ares, in that case, is the MC?

Yes, the skill will function! Any MC-related skill will still apply even if the unit is MC, unless the card states otherwise.

6 hours ago, FireFenrir said:

For Sigurd: A soul who Lived for Love, skill: "You must know the sorrows of the people."  [  ] Choose 1 other ally. Until the end of your opponent's next turn, that ally gains +10 attack. Does that mean if the ally I choosed will also gain +10 defense if he is attacked?

Essentially, yes! Skills that boost attack  "until the end of your opponent's next turn" are very useful for being both offensive and defensive. It technically still counts as "+10 attack" rather than "+10 defense," but since Attack is how defense is calculated, you have it correct!

Keep letting me know as questions come up, and I'll be happy to do my best to help 🙂 I'm still learning myself, so I'll let you know if there's ever something I'm unsure about, but so far so good!