The Duel Masters Trading Card Game is a two-player or 2 vs. 2 team collectible card game (CCG) jointly developed by Wizards of the Coast, Shogakukan, and Mitsui & Co., Ltd.. The card game is part of the Duel Masters franchise.
The game was released in Japan in May 2002, where it quickly became the number one selling trading card game for over a year. Due to this popularity, it was released in the United States on March 5, 2004. The game shares several similarities with Magic: The Gathering , the world's first collectible card game which was also published by Wizards of the coast. In fact, Duelmaster was originally intended as an alternative tradename for Magic: The Gathering and the earlier game play was abandoned in the Duel Masters manga plot to promote this latest experience.
As in Magic: The Gathering , Duel Masters players summon creatures and cast spells using mana. Key differences include the fact that all creatures and spells can act as mana producers, creatures cannot block attacking creatures without having the "blocker" ability, and that creatures only have one "power" statistic. Furthermore, duelists have shields in the form of cards that go to their hand when "broken" as opposed to Magic' s "life points". Due to the popularity of Duel Masters, four video games (three released for the Gameboy Advance and the other for the PS2) based around the game have been produced, titled Duel Masters: Kaijudo Showdown , Duel Masters: Sempai Legends , Duel Masters: Shadow of the Code for the GBA and Duel Masters: Cobalt for the PS2.
Fans of Duel Masters around the world support player-organized tournaments and also unofficial national championships. The community centers around 2 main forums internationally which contain translations for Japanese cards. Because DM is the most successful TCG in all asia, a new booster set is released every two months, and new theme decks every three months.
As of December 2006, the English sets of Duel Masters has been discontinued by Wizards of the Coast.
Game Play
In Duel Masters , two players play the role of duelists, using the 'art' of "kaijudo" (a marketing term created for the North American version which supposedly describes the "art of battling with giant monsters") to bring their creatures to life to do battle. Players battle each other by placing cards into their respective 'mana zones', then using that mana to summon creatures or cast spells. Each player has 5 shields that protect them from damage; once these are gone, it takes one successful attack to win the duel. Also, if a player has no more cards to draw from his/her deck, that player loses the duel.
Card types
- Creatures : During the turn creatures are summoned, they are unable to attack or use their 'tap abilites', or anything similar (see card keywords below). In the game, this is called 'summoning sickness'. Creatures are summoned mainly to attack the opponent's creatures, shields, or the opponent himself.
- Crossgears : These are like equipment. You put them into the battle zone by paying its mana cost, then pay that cost again to equip, or "cross" it, to a creature. Crossing a crossgear into a creature can grant the creature more abilities or improve the creature's power, although some crossgears have effects on the game if they have not been crossed into a creature.
- Evolution Crossgears : These are put on top of crossgears regardless of whether they are crossed or not. There are only 6 evolution crossgears and all of them are multi-civilization. All of these cards have very powerful effects.
- Spells : When cast, spells have an effect on either player's cards in their hand, graveyard (discard pile), mana zone or summoned creatures/crossgears. then go to the graveyard. Some spells have special effects like "Cyclone" and "Charger" which sends the spell back to the player's hand or mana zone respectively. Spells can do a variety of things, like give the player more shields, power up their creatures, etc.
- Evolution Creatures : These are put on top of the creatures, or 'evolved'. These cards generally have higher powers and better effects than normal creatures. Usually, evolution creatures have 'double-breaker' or 'triple-breaker' effects which allow them to break more shields than normal creatures. Evolution creatures made their debut in the "Evo-Crushinators of Doom" set. Evolution creatures also have a wide range of mana costs, ranging from costs like: 2 to 10 . Overall, Evolution Creatures are a good way to beat your opponent as an Evolution Creature can attack straight away after it is summoned.
- Fortress : Allows the player to "cross" the fortress to a shield in a similar fashion as a Crossgear, basically, it is a crossgear for shields. However, Fortresses do not need to be generated like Crossgears, rather, they are "equipped" onto the shields directly. This ability is introduced in DM-30. A Fortress is Silver Glory, Invincible Fortress.
Card Rarity
The symbol for a card's rarity is marked in the bottom right corner of the face-up side:
- Common: a plain circle
- Uncommon: a diamond shape
- Rare: a star
- Very Rare: a circle with a star in the middle
- Super Rare: four squares put together to shape a diamond
Card abilities
In addition to the two card types, there are also different keyword abilities that the cards can have that alter what they can and cannot do:
- Accelerator : Allows a creature to use its Accelerator ability whenever it is crossed with a cross gear. A creature with Accelerator is Metalchaos Dragon.
- Bio King : Allows the player to discard the card from his hand whenever a creature of a certain race the player controls attacks and is not blocked. If the player discards that card, the ability triggers. A creature with this ability is Sealed Devil Salvador.
- Bio Tackle : Allows the player to discard the card from his hand at the beginning of a battle whenever a creature of a certain race the player controls attacks a creature. If the player discards that card, the ability triggers. A creature with this ability is Aqua Switch.
- Blocker : Allows a creature to stop an attack from an opposing creature. For example, if a creature attacks one of your shields, you can use a creature with the Blocker ability to stop the attack. Sometimes this is specific to a given trait, e.g. a "fire blocker" can only block fire creatures. A creature with this ability is Gran Gure, Space Guardian.
- Charger : Allows a spell to be put it into your mana zone instead of your graveyard after it has been cast. A spell with this ability is Slash Charger
- Double/Triple/Quatro/World Breaker : Allows a creature to break 2, 3, 4, or all shields instead of the normal one. A creature with Double Breaker is Hanusa, Radiance Elemental, A creature with Triple Breaker is Soul Phoenix, Avatar of Unity and the only creature with Quatro Breaker is Green Divine Dragon Diruga Vijeda. Quatro Breaker is also known as Quad Breaker on some cards. There is no creature with a permanent World Breaker ability, although it can be achieved by effects. For example, Supernova Apollonus Dragerion's Meteorburn ability allows it to gain World Breaker for the turn.
- Double Evolution Burst : An ability that's only seen on spells. Activates when there's at least 1 Evoution Creature in the Battle Zone, it allows the card to use both it's abilities.
- Crew Breaker : Allows a creature to break more than one shield if you have 1 or more creatures in the Battle Zone that have the same race as the Crew Breaker.
- Gravity Zero : Also known as G Zero, this ability allows a player to summon a creature for no cost if the conditions are fulfilled.
- God Link : Allows a God to link with its counterpart(s), forming a stronger and more powerful creature with each God's abilities (Power and effect). When it leaves the Battle Zone, choose only one of the gods to leave. God Link also causes special God Link effects to occur.
- Knight Magic : Allows the player to use the card's ability once more if there is a Knight in the Battle Zone.
- Launcher E : When the Spell is cast, the player can tap any number of non-Evolution creatures you control of a certain race that are not already tapped in the Battle Zone, the spell's effect depends on how many creatures are tapped.
- (Great) Life Gate : When the creature is destroyed, the player may return all the races stated on the card from your Graveyard to your hand. If so, the player puts this creature on the bottom of your deck instead of the Graveyard. The normal Life Gate returns only one race while Great Life Gate returns multiple races. The only creature with Great Life Gate is Supernova Black Hole Sanatos.
- Lost Prism : When the creature is put into the Battle Zone, reveal the top card of the player's de
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