Thursday, September 18, 2014

News: Neo Nectar, Dimension Police and Nova Grappler Cut from BT16 ver. E, Alfred XIV and Knuckle Buster to Join Legion of Dragons & Blades

Following up on the previous announcement from late on the 18th that Harmonics Messiah will be reaching the English format, Bushiroad's international branch has made a continuing statement on the official Cardfight portal and via Facebook, listing the clans available in BT16 ver. E. The English edition set will include support for the Royal Paladin, Gold Paladin, Narukami, Link Joker, Aqua Force and Spike Brothers clans, integrating cards from three of the Japanese booster packs and two trial decks by removing the Neo Nectar, Dimension Police and Nova Grappler cards originally present in BT16: Legion of Dragons & Blades. These cards are presumed to have been moved to later sets.

The removal of these three clans was made to accommodate the introduction of BT17, MBT01 and MTD01's Gold Paladin, Link Joker, Aqua Force and Royal Paladin cards as well as additional Narukami units from TD16 and BT17. By removing these clans from the set, room was made for 56 cards in addition to the 42 added into the set size. This brings the total count of cards from other sets to at least 108, making room for almost the entire combined card pool of Malefic Deleter, Neon Messiah, as well as the Gold Paladin, Narukami and Aqua Force units of Blazing Perdition. However, it is unknown which cards from each set will be cut to make room for the accompanying Brawler of Friendship unit.

Additional reasons can be inferred from the clans targeted; Nova Grappler has been singled out in the professional community for its infamous Cat Butler Raizer deck, a once-dominant deck from Japanese play that uses the grade 0 Cat Butler to restand its Legioned vanguard. Within the past few months the build was subject to restriction in the Japanese Fighter's Rules. While fears regarding Cat Butler lack foundation compared to the raw unparalleled dominance of Thing Saver Dragon in Japanese play, delaying the hit of Raizers to the English-language format can be seen as a preemptive response to player outcry.

Neo Nectar and Dimension Police may have been switched out due to their lack of popularity overseas, as western competition has generally favored Aqua Force's extremely consistent aggressive play style and Link Joker's perceived ability to shut down the game, in comparison to Neo Nectar's demanding strategic buildup and Dimension Police's tendency towards all-or-nothing plays.