Weiss Schwarz Trading Cards

Yesterday I got a package in the mail, it was a trial deck for some Symphogear cards. In Japan, Bushiroad makes a series of collectible card games based off of different anime and runs them under the label of "Weiss Schwarz." I have no idea how to play the game, but I wanted them for the collector's value.




The trial deck cost me about $15 and I bought it from Otacute (shipping is pricey though since it's coming from Japan). It's also available on sites like AmiAmi and CDJapan if you buy from there regularly. Anyway, the trial deck comes with 50 cards and is mainly comprised of Hibiki and Tsubasa cards (there's one Zwei Wing card with Kanade on it, too). Most of the cards are pictures from official art or caps straight from the anime. Some are close-ups of their face and others are action shots, you can see a bunch of Hibiki's cards in the picture below.

The deck comes with a lot of duplicates, which is no surprise seeing as how it's mainly designed to be used for play in the game itself. If you're curious about it you can read more on Bushiroad's official English website, or on the English Weiss Schwarz wiki page. Anyway, the cards are pretty cool! I liked all the images they used, the Hibiki ones are especially cute while most of the Tsubasa ones are cool and intense. The cards themselves have quotes from the character on them as well as text explaining their usage in the game, but it's all Japanese. However, recently Bushiroad released the Fate/Zero and Madoka trial decks in English so maybe a Symphogear release is possible down the road? 

This card is special, if you can't tell! I was very lucky to get my hands on it, and really excited when I saw it in the deck. Each trial deck comes with a 1/6 chance (about %16.7) of getting a special "Gold Signature" card from the voice actor! The Symphogear deck had a chance of being either from Aoi Yuuki (Hibiki) or Mizuki Nana (Tsubasa). I was really worried since I could only afford one deck and I really wanted the Hibiki card. To my surprise fate was on my side as I found this card in the back while looking through the deck. I also found a picture of the Tsubasa card online, which you can see below.

But this is only the beginning of the Symphogear Weiss Schwarz line, the trial deck will be supplemented with booster packs that are due for release in June. Unfortunately no online retailers offer them in singles, meaning that you have to buy a whole box of booster packs for upwards of $60 before shipping. The saddest part is that the booster pack cards will not only contain more characters (so far I've seen pictures of cards with Miku, Kanade and Chris on them), but the booster cards will also have unique art drawn by the anime staff specifically for the Weiss Schwarz line. I don't have any idea how many cards there will be total, but I'd assume there will be a good amount. I plan on picking up a box of boosters when they get released in June so I will do a follow up then. For now, I really like the trial deck and I'd recommend it to any Symphogear fan that has an affinity for collectible cards. 

Finally, if anyone is interested in having scans of the cards, I'd be willing to do them. Just leave me a comment here or hit me up on Twitter. I will definitely be doing scans of the booster cards when they are released so that people can see the new art they made for them!