Cardfight!! Vanguard, a popular card game by Japanese company Bushiroad, is something that I used to play when it first appeared in 2011. Of course I was at a disadvantage because at the time I was restricted to using the Japanese cards as the English release was almost a year off. The good old days of using fan translated inserts over the cards so I knew what the effects were brings back such good memories. But I digress. The one thing I thought from the very beginning was that this card game would be perfect for the then infant-stage online card game scene. The game is like poker: Easy to learn, difficult to master… Especially since Bushiroad has this insane idea about adding new and more complex mechanics to the game with each season of the anime that accompanies it.
A few years later, after a few seasons of the anime and a rising popularity of the card game itself not only in Japan, but also Internationally, Bushiroad decided to create a few video games based on the card game: Cray Wars & Cardfight!! Vanguard: Ride to Victory (Yes, “Cardfight!!” is the official way of labeling the game); both are in Japanese with Cray Wars available only via Mobile Phones, and Ride to Victory available only on Japanese Nintendo 3DS units. This was upsetting to the English speaking fan base, whom all wanted something anything, that wanted to play Cardfight!! Vanguard in more than just the standard cardboard format.
With the reluctance to release any Cardfight!! Vanguard video game in English the fans were forced to go with fan made online games such as Cardfight Capital, which was shut down by Bushiroad in 2013 due to copyright violations as well as play testing issues (Surprisingly, Bushiroad were a tiny bit upset with people using Cardfight Capital to play test new decks before the physical players got their hands on the product, giving them an advantage), as their only source of playing not only digitally, but online against their fellow players.
Well those days will soon be over.
Through a personal idea of tracking down Cardfight Capital once again, I stumbled into a new website called Cardfight Online, a new entry to the now very profitable Online Card Game marketplace. The game has a Steam Greenlight page stating that this entry into the market will be Free-To-Play, based around the more current Cardfight!! Vanguard-G anime series (Which is available in English via the Cardfight!! Vanguard Official Youtube channel, or in Japanese via Crunchyroll), and best of all… It’ll be in English!
Now the game itself has sneaked its way into a closed beta from January 13th till January 19th, which you can still register for by clicking here. Now while there isn’t much time left to give the game a try in the Beta stage, it looks like their official release date of “early 2016” could mean a February-April release… Though their FAQ page stats that the game will be ready “when it’s ready” which is something you expect from Blizzard.
As a former Cardfight!! Vanguard player and teacher for the game, I’m looking to get into the Beta ASAP to bring you a preview of this Online Card Game. In the mean time, feel free to check out the screenshots of the game client in the gallery below.
