Starter Deck Packaging & More!

Q: Are Starter Decks in Gate Ruler strong?

A: As I did in Buddyfight, I wanted to make the Starter Deck, which is a player's introduction to the game, a deck where you can have enjoy the game's appeal without being held back! Of course, I applied this to Gate Ruler too.

It functions well as a deck, is decently strong, but there is still a gap to encourage the player to improve upon it. Such is the balance.

Above all, it includes some versatile staple cards, and if you buy booster packs, you can make various decks. The "Youkai & Giant Robo Deck" can excite both beginners and advanced players, and the "Demon Dragon Summoning Deck" allows you to enjoy the "Special Summon" mechanic that appeals to TCG veterans will be released at the same time as the 1st Booster Pack.

Currently, we are getting ready to send final product information out to distributors and stores. After that's been sent out, we will give you the details.

(Sources: 1 2 3)

Now let's go over the information on this packaging! Starting with GS02 "Demon Dragon Summoning". On the top right, right above the Gate Ruler logo, we have the product name "Gate Ruler Starter "Demon Dragon Summoning Deck"". Above the cover art, we have Gate Ruler's slogan "A new card game to begin with your friends like in those days!" Then, at the bottom, there's a blurb explaining the deck. "Experienced card game players may enjoy "Special Summon"! Bring out your ace monster using "Abyss Symphonia"!".

For the art featured, we have the already fully known Priest of Demonic Dragon, who you can read about on our Revealed Cards page. We also have "Black Knight, Geist", who was one of the very first pieces of art shown off for the game, now confirmed to appear in this Starter Deck. Lastly, we have a new piece of art, which is another Force of Will art that Ikeda has purchased for use in this game. It comes from the Force of Will Ruler card, Acolyte of the Abyss.

Next, let's talk about the packing for GS01 "Youkai & Giant Robo"! Big disclaimer that this may not be accurate to the final version, as this image of the GS01 packaging comes from a tweet that was deleted, and when Ikeda put the packaging back up, the blurb at the bottom was blurred and censored.

The slogan is of course the same as before, the top right is now "Gate Ruler Starter "Youkai & Giant Robo Deck"". The blurb at the bottom reads "No cards in hand from the very start?! Unbelievable simplicity, yet very effective! Play your most important card without paying its cost!". Assuming this is still accurate information, this is likely major information about how Set 1's luck-based Ruler, "Apprentice", functions. If, say, Apprentice gets Double Drive, and the Drives go into your hand, you'd be able to get 4 cards of natural card advantage, which is certainly a good enough pay off to starting with no hand. As for the play without paying cost, this is probably specifically talking about Grand Galac, since Ikeda has shown off an Event card for it that would likely play Grand Galac with its effect.

Lastly, the art featured on this packaging. We of course have Kamaitachi Joe who was previously confirmed for this Starter Deck. We also have "The First Dimensional Defense Battle" a Yomajin Front Event card, and "Space Dullahan", a character who has been featured in Gate Ruler since its earliest incarnation in Dominator.

The released image of the Starter Deck packaging is different from the final product version.

...Actually, it looks like a big difference.
The cover card for GS01 will be "Yobuko" instead of Kamaitachi Joe, and Johann of GS02 will instead be "Vastorus Rex".

I understand that Plato, who created the sample images, likes good-looking guys.

(Source)

Q: How many Gate Ruler Starter Decks do you need to buy?

A: These exist Starter Decks that expect you to buy 3 or 4 copies...Its painful.

I intended to make the Gate Ruler Starter Decks so only 1 copy works well, but since a deck cannot be constructed with only cards at maximum copies, there are a few cards at 2 or 3 copies (the per card limit is 4).

So some people will buy another copy to say "I have 4 of these!". However, neither Starter Deck has a card at only 1 copy, so if you buy at least 2 copies, you will have 4 or more copies of every card. If you can afford it buy 2. I don't think there is any issue with just 1.

(Sources: 1 2)

Let me tell you what I think about promo cards. To avoid misunderstanding, its simply, "You can make a strong and appealing promo card like Prisma, but if you do, you should reprint it without a normal booster pack!". I've been saying this for 20 years in videos and other places. The problem with the "strong and hard-to-find promo" is not that its strong. The problem is that its hard to find after players realize it is strong.

Not all players will realize its true strength immediately after a Promo card is released. The issue of V-Jump with Stratos sold in bookstores like normal, but it was rampant for more than a year after its release before it got limited to 1.

"Hmm, since Stratos was limited was it strong?"
There were more people who found out late. (I'm serious)

Therefore, I think what's important is to make it easier to obtain later. This is a win-win game, for example, at the time when Prisma was 10000 yen (Translator's note: about $100), you can announce "Prisma will be printed as a Super Rare in the next booster pack!". If you did that, the booster pack would be flooded with reservations. However, it was instead reprinted through Duel Terminal as a normal rare with no announcement.

The terminal is a limited production. Plus, the price didn't drop at all because it was a normal rare and was hard to pull. In this case it would've been better to use an appealing reprint frame in a normal booster pack. Everyone would've been happy and a lot of product would be sold...I think there was some situation with Konami that led to this choice, but this is what I thought about it from a user perspective.

Therefore, with Gate Ruler, we will make sure to reprint strong promo cards. Popular promo cards are necessary, since its not exciting if its only alternate artworks and foilings. The question is just how to solve the harmful effects strong promo cards cause. Reprints of this nature seem like the wise way to do that.

(Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6)

Distributor/Retailer Briefing Session

Thank you very much for gathering many people despite your busy schedule.

In the near future, we will be sending product information to distributors and retailers nationwide.

All the members of the management are excited by your positive response.

Thank you for cooperating with Gate Ruler.

(Source)

Stories from the Gate Ruler briefing session.

At the briefing session, it was very well received by people in the industry. The impression I recived is "The appeal and fun of the game goes without saying" and "The promotion method is new, but the product planning and target audience convinced us".

The only thing that many people were worried about is "I understand that there are many rare cards in the product, but since there are many types, won't it be annoying to collect the full set?"

Since so many people thought this, we have decided to increase the pullrate of the rare cards. We hope everyone who brought this up can rest assured.

(Sources: 1 2)

Without exaggeration, the most surprising thing I heard at the briefing session was the common sentiment of "I had no concerns about whether the game would be fun because its made by Ikeda, who was responsible for early Buddyfight".

I didn't realize for a long time that this was the evaluation people held.

(Source)

The impressions I heard from shops who played Gate Ruler with the free trial deck were "It feels like early Buddyfight. Its the kind of game I was looking for."

This is of course a "one-sided reality", and Gate Ruler has a lot of charm other than Buddyfight's. However, it will definitely be perfect for those expecting something like early Buddyfight.

(Source)

I'm looking at the overseas discords for Gate Ruler, but unlike Japan, there is no one saying "What does it mean to not publish the rules? Tell me them soon."

They're already enjoying Gate Ruler as a hobby where they "infer rules by inspecting the limited information". In Japan, there used to be many otaku like this who enjoyed the act of speculation like this...

One of the reasons I limited information was to encourage people to enjoy it in this way, but in Japan, is "enjoying through speculation" not popular anymore? I'll be lonely if that's the case.

(Sources: 1 2)