After a prolonged break, we’ve returned to provide our humble services yet again. Look forward to regular columns discussing everything from standard decks to our speculations about the upcoming series.

We have also implemented a host of new features to keep the overseas Weiss Schwarz community in the loop. More after the jump!

New features:

Release Schedule : A regularly updated timetable of series’ release dates and promotional cards. Now there’s no excuse for missing another issue of that certain magazine!

Gallery : A showcase of the cards from recent series. Expect us to have the scans for upcoming series a few days before the actual release date (maybe)!

A sample of what you can do or expect =D

Immersive community : This is a huge one.

Everyone who signs up is entitled to their own profile page. Nudge people with their @nametags, make friends, message your new-found friends, form a group with them – everything is now possible (doesn’t make sandwiches though).

Also, you can only comment on posts if you’re a member. This is just to avoid random spammers from pestering the site!

With the ‘Groups’ feature, it is possible to receive updates only from the people you care about. Cater your WTB/WTS threads to those who can appreciate it the most. Organize local events or online competitions here to gain more attention. Where else to start than from a site dedicated to Weiss Schwarz?

Forums: Our forums are not just a place for self-introductions. Using our additional  [ card] [ /card] and [ deck] [ /deck] BBCodes, you can now post complete deck recipes using our in-house deck builder! However, please do note that cards you can create tooltips for are limited to what we have in our gallery.

Be nice people, be nice =)

Use [ card ]XX/WXX-XXX[ /card] to display a single card. Please insert the collection ID of the card in full i.e. (series abbreviation) / (series number) – (card index)  (rarity).

Card images must be in Gallery though, so upload with the correct series Abbrevation/Number to post!!

The deck building feature works similarly :

[ deck ]

Characters [any line that starts without a number in front will be treated as a new category]

4 XX/W00-00X; if you place a semi-colon after the collection ID, the text after it will be treated as normal text on the same line.

Events

Climaxes

[ /deck ]

Do use this feature to share deck recipes and ask for advice.

The ‘Activity’ feature makes it possible for you to be informed whenever we commit to an update. Keep us on your RSS feed!

With the introduction of a social element, the staff at WS@NK-DS would like to remind all users to be nice, stay safe and have fun. Any abuse of the site or any material will obviously not be tolerated.

Enjoy your stay here!

First off i would like to wish everyone a happy new year 2012! Starting this coming February, WS@NK-DS will be restarting it’s posts!

Totally unrelated pic but it’s a Happy New Year pic! And it’s Kantoku.

Read more to find out what new exciting content we will be bringing you!

First of all, to bring forth good news, i would prefer to announce the opposite first. =(

In light of the birth of many awesome WS translation sites out there like Heart of the Cards, Little Akiba and WS Wikia, we would be halting our translation projects till further notice. This does not mean we won’t ever get to do them, but i would recommend anyone who want to be really current to hit on those above websites to check the translation sites. The decision to do so is also due to…

our transition from a translation/content site to a PURELY WS CONTENT BASED website!

This would simply mean our articles will be purely based on WS as a game, the cards itself, game strategy, and the sorts!

We will be covering the following, to say the least-

- Booster Title set reviews
- Trial Deck reviews
- Extra Booster set reviews
- Championship Decks explanation
- Vintage set reviews (Old sets)
- Big scale event coverages (WGP, BCF, if applicable)
- Deck Strategies and playing technique discussions
- Floor Ruling and Comprehensive rule discussions
- Restrict list discussions
- PR cards/Tournament PR/Item release Schedules

And more!

This is obviously a lot of work, so i am glad to say i have a team of fresh new writers for the blog! They are~

- Myself (webmaster and chief editor/author)
- bj0rn (Graphics/design and author)
- EkuseruHKC (coder/programmer and author)
- Victor/Chitosev (Rules expert [trolling] and author)
- Zen (author)

As we would like to start off with a bang, we are now preparing a new visual experience as well for readers out there! The above list is but a short sampling of what we will be writing on this blog so do look forward to these fresh new content!

WS@NK-DS Relaunch date is tentatively set around the early February period so do look out for it!

See you then!

Amongst the most prominent decks, Little Busters! and The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi has always been a hot favourite amongst players due to their versitility and consistancy. Both titles have been dominantly outclassing other titles in the preliminaries and have a high percentile in the finalists list. Amongst the top 6 of WGP are 1 of Little Busters! as well as The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. It was viewed by some as the Golden Age of Neo-Standard

Last night however, Neo-standard powerhouses Little Busters! and The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi have both received banned cards in their listings, effectively reducing their power maybe by 50%.

This restriction has sent shockwaves to the people affected and has probably ended the Golden Age of Neo-standard in just a few short minutes. Read more to find out.

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First up on the banlist was not a surprise. Rest!, or 休憩！is now totally restricted from all deck builds including Neo-standard.

Loosely translated by myself

Seeing this card run in 4s in every Meta Standard deck and every Neo-Standard Little Busters! deck, this card has seen tremendous amount of play over the past year.

The reason for this ban is pretty simple. It’s pretty much a god draw, maybe equivalent to YuGiOh’s Raigeki at times of need. The ability to heal not one, but two cards from your Clock, at your choice, is pretty much broken, especially for it’s 1 Cost. To top it off, it puts itself to Memory to avoid players from using it again. It was meant to be a set-back, but in the current meta where Memory plays an important role, it is not much of a draw back anymore.

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Next is The World Has Lost it’s Colour, or 色褪せた世界. This card is now restricted from inclusion into Neo-standard and Title decks only.

Again, loosely translated by me

As one of the best cards in the set, it gives the player tremendous amount of advantage for the cost of 1 Level 1 or above card. The card allows players to re-summon a Level 0 Brigade Leader character card onto the stage and on top of that, retrieve 2 character cards from his Waiting Room. That’s practically a 2 for 3 event card at 1 cost.

Frankly, whenever the player needs to use this, it is at 0 lost. Firstly, when the player is required to use the card, he can either prepare for his next level, or try to get a better field immediately. Not being able to kill the opponent is not the matter here anymore as, whatever the level 1 can’t beat, the level 0 won’t be able to as well. Near the end game, players can not only tribute away their high level level 3 cards to loop heals, it is also able to bring back another card to recycle (level 0). Pretty much the gelling card of the deck.

The reason for not totally restricting it would be due to the overwhelming (dis)advantage of the requirement to resummon a level 0 Brigade Leader on the stage. In the case of a Standard deck, the deck would be required to either run more Brigade Leader level 0s or to simply play all of them to meet the requirement of the Event card.

Corrected, the player does not need to play a level 0 Brigade Leader on the stage as a cost. However, the event card’s potential will need to be realized by inserting more level 0 Brigade Leader, thus discouraging stronger deck builds.

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Being a player who started out with LB, and also a heavy LB player, this blow is pretty significant to me personally. However, a personal thought would be that this will allow players to use new decks instead and not returning to the old titles, simply because of it’s raw power.

And besides to be fair, yes these cards are pretty imbalanced!

Good job Bushiroad!

Be back probably after the 2nd week of December with Evangelion booster booster translations too!

In years to come they would say this had the same, or perhaps greater impact then Konami’s ban-hammer of Chaos Soldier ~ Emissary of the Light in Yu-Gi-Oh.

「小川で遊ぼう!」, or the infamous 「Kogawa de Asobou」 has finally been banned from all Standard and Side deck tournaments. Gone will be the days where Standard decks abuse the advantages of this massively powerful card.

Read more for more information.

Deceitly simple, the ability of this card not only allow you to change away a hand that could not benefit you, it can also alter the game’s destiny. Controlling the top 2 cards of a player’s deck, it allows him to abuse the most powerful Brainstorm cards in WS with ease and maximum advantage. To top it off, Henrietta Lv 3 would also enjoy the results of this sort of alteration as well.

Also banned along with this powerful card is the new-age hand destruction card 「神木　秋成」 from PERSONA 3.

Many people doubt it’s strength but indeed it is the worse possible combo that can ever be abused so far in WS. The ability to destroy your opponent’s hand in one turn, and obliverate any form of resistance is not just powerful. It’s at the level of despicable.

Also, freed from the chains of unfair judgements, Sailor Uniform Siesta, or 「セーラー服のシエスタ」 has finally been unbanned from Standard and Side tournaments.

Thank you Bushiroad for ending this age of Cookie Cutter standard decks.

Until the next broken combo comes out, it’ll just be a matter of time before other combos get abused again…

As most people have watched it on Nico Nico Douga, it might not be that much of the news, but read more after the jump. All news posted here are regarding the card games.

Hibiki Radio News:

• English version Bushiroad Channel programme hosted by Miss Hazuki Kuroda

• Mandarin version Bushiroad Channel programme hosted by Mr Terence Lim (daimaou >=))

• Spanish version Bushiroad Channel programme hosted by Mr Masayuki Goto (Edited, thanks Daimaou!!!)

Victory Spark News:

• 「Mayoi Neko Overun!, 迷い猫オーバーラン！」associated product schedule
  ・7/3（Saturday）on sale …… Trial Deck  「Mayoi Neko Overun!」
  ・7/3（Saturday）on sale …… Jump SQ. August inclusive of PR card
  ・Comic Market 78 on sale …… Supply set  「Mayoi Neko Overun!」
  ・8/21（Saturday）on sale …… Booster Pack 「Mayoi Neko Overun!」

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• 「Y’s VS. Sora no Kiseki イースVS.空の軌跡」associated product schedule
  ・7/29（Saturday）on sale …… PSP game「Iisu VS. Sora no Kiseki ～ Alternative・Saga～」
  （日本ファルコム）inclusive of PR card
  ・9/11（Saturday）simultaneous release …… Trial Deck 「Iisu VS. Sora no Kiseki」
  Booster Pack 「Iisu VS. Sora no Kiseki」

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• TV Anime 「Mitsudomoe みつどもえ」decided for VS

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Chaos TCG and Chaos Online News

• 「Zettai★Maou ～Boku no Kokoro Kyun Gakkou Saga～ 絶対★魔王～ボクの胸キュン学園サーガ～」decided for Chaos Online
  ・2010 July Estimated for sale – 50 variant cards planned

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• TV Anime  「Seitokai no Ichizon 生徒会の一存」 decided for Chaos TCG
  ・OS：Seitokai no Ichizon 1.00 – 2010 September 25th （Saturday）Estimated for sale

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• TV Anime  「Baka to Test to Shoukanjyuu バカとテストと召喚獣」 decided for Chaos Online and Chaos TCG
  ・8/4（Wednesday）Estimated for sale … Chaos Online – Start pack and Booster Vol.1
  ・8/21（Saturday）Estimated for sale … ChaosTCG – Trial Deck 「OS：Baka to Testo to Shoukanjyuu バカとテストと召喚獣1.00」
  Supply set 「Baka to Testo to Shoukanjyuu バカとテストと召喚獣」
  ・8/28（Saturday）Estimated for sale … ChaosTCG – Booster Pack 「OS：Baka to Testo to Shoukanjyuu バカとテストと召喚獣1.00」
  ・9/1（Wednesday）Estimated for sale … Chaos Online Booster Pack Vol.2

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• 「CLANNAD」「AIR」and so on romance adventure game  publisher 「VisualArts ビジュアルアーツ」decided for Chaos Online and Chaos TCG
  ・2010 Winter estimated on sale … Chaos Online、ChaosTCG （Titles included not confirmed as of date）

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• 「Muv Luv マブラブ」 game series creator 「Age アージュ」decided for Chaos Online and Chaos TCG
  ・2010 Winter estimated on sale … Chaos Online、ChaosTCG （Titles included not confirmed as of date）

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• Chaos TCG ＆ Chaos Online CM theme song will be performed by 「Kurubayashi Minami」
  ・Used for Chaos TCG & Chaos Online CM from 2010 Winter onwards

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Weiβ Schwarz TCG News

• Card Gakuen カード学園 Summer Special（Temp）Special Report on August 1st WS National Finals
  ・8/24（Tuesday） 25:55～ TBS planned broadcast

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• Japan Railway Yamate line、will be broadcasting CM of Bushiroad
  ・6/28（Monday）～7/4（Sunday）…During this period, 3 TV Commercials of the new trial decks ※will be concentrated on the following sources
  ・Japan Railway train cards and within station
  Train Channel（Yamate line, Central Line, Premium North-East Line train cars）
  Station Channel （Shinjuku Station, Shibutani Station）
  ※Fairy Tale フェアリーテイル、Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s 魔法少女リリカルなのはA’s、Angel Beats!＆ Kud Wafter クドわふたー

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• 「Evangelion Theatrical Version ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版」decided for WS （Schwarz Side）
  ・2010 Winter estimated on sale … Trial Deck, Booster Pack
  ・May 10th on sale Newtype Magazine June Issue inclusive of PR card 【On Sortie Rei 出撃する綾波】
  ・Planning for Newtype 25th Year Anniversary 3rd Issue serialisation PR card underway （More details later）

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• 「Detective Opera Milky Holmes 探偵オペラ　ミルキィホームズ」decided for WS （Schwarz Side）
  ・2010 Autumn estimated on sale … Trial Deck, Booster Pack
  ・6/23（Wednesday）on sale … OP Theme CD 「Ameagari no Mirai 雨上がりのミライ」includes 4 PR card set of 【Detective Team Milky Holmes 探偵チーム ミルキィホームズ】
  （4 inprinted version of cards by the seiyuus of the characters planned）

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• Extra Pack 「D.C. D.C.II Plus Communication プラスコミュニケーション」decided for WS (Weiβ Side)
  ・2010 Autumn estimated on sale … Extra Booster (New variant?)
  ・New cards and reprint of Extra pack cards of 「D.C. D.C.II」 and 「D.C.II P.C.」 included, and a portion of PR cards reprinted.

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Surprise News

• Anime 「Black★Rock Shooter ブラック★ロックシューター」decided for WS and Chaos Online
  ・2010 Winter estimated on sale … WS Extra Pack (Schwarz side, from image shown)
  ・2010 Autmn estimated on sale … Chaos Online Starter pack

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More news on Milky Holmes and other stuff on Bushiroad’s official press release, here: link

Hi guys, it’s my pleasure to announce that WS@NK-DS will soon become LY@NK-DS as we will be translating Lycee soon! Lycee is a well known card game that has existed since… i don’t remember. In fact, so much ferver was taken to make the decision(i only have a promo Primula card), i would have called this decision insane and only fit for a joke.

So look out folks, Change is coming!

Takashimaya Sunday Friendly Tournament
- 16 Players Maximum (Standard, following Bushiroad’s official rules)
- 1.30pm start
- Goodie bags provided by Takashimaya to every participant
- Modified Swiss + Top 4 playoffs

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Hi guys, here’s a slight headsup from the folks of TCG:

March Monthly Shop Tournament will be shifted to Takashimaya B1 Anime Showdown location. Timing of the tournament will be the same. TCG will be closed over this weekend as well. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Black Technology will be holding March Monthly Shop tournament this weekend as well. For those who want to sign up, please register by your usual means.

On the 14th of March, there will be another tournament held at Takashimaya. More details on that later…