The Fire Emblem series card game, Fire Emblem Cipher, will conclude with the Series 22 Booster Pack in October 2020, five years after the TCG launched in Japan back in 2015 alongside the release of Fire Emblem Fates. The news was first announced via Twitter and was followed up with a livestream where Producer Ryota Kawade discussed some general reasons why this was happening and explained upcoming continued support.
According to producer Kawade, there are too many reasons for this sudden announcement to list out in detail, but one part of it is that Fire Emblem Cipher‘s role in the franchise has been successfully completed. Cipher was designed and created to fill in the gaps between releases (most prominently between Fates and Echoes, and then Echoes and Three Houses), and let players experience and celebrate characters from all across the series. In this sense, Fire Emblem Heroes also largely fills in this role, as do the increased number of events like the concerts and Expos and released goods.
Another reason is that the game was made so that fans had chances to meet each other and form communities via the game and official events for the TCG. As the series’ popularity has increased, essentially with a second FE boom, things have changed and it’s much easier to get to know other fans via other related events. There are also other reasons, but producer Kawade did not specify any further.
As a result of the decision to conclude Fire Emblem Cipher with Series 22, which is named The Heroes’ Paeon, this final series will celebrate the entire series and have many artists coming back for a big sendoff. The booster pack will feature all the protagonists of the series in one big picture and will add characters from all games, as well as the FE: Binding Blade manga Hasha no Tsurugi.
While official events will continue on throughout 2020, albeit delayed due to COVID-19, support for shop or user-sponsored events for Cipher will end in March 2021. The game’s final National Championship Finals will be held in December 2020 and will be the final official tournament for the game.
Here’s hoping that another card game for the Fire Emblem series will one day resurface. Personally, I hope that an artbook containing all art pieces drawn of the characters will be released as well. Hopefully, Cipher‘s original characters will make their way into Fire Emblem Heroes and other games, just like how some of them were added as DLC to Fire Emblem Echoes.
Fire Emblem Cipher‘s Series 22 Booster Pack will release on October 1, 2020.
