Design Article: Who is Spike & Vash?

Greetings players, and welcome to the design article detailing the Cowboy Bebop and Trigun Stampede Challenger Series products! Today we have Shane Duckworth, the lead on the Cowboy Bebop product, and Clint Badger, the lead on the Trigun Stampede product, to discuss the design intent behind the cards and talk a little bit about how we got to the cards that we see today in the Enhanced Video. If you missed that, here is a summary article of it as well as you can find the video here.

The design goal for the Trigun Stampede Challenger Series deck was to incorporate the feeling of pulling the trigger on a revolver to try to hit your abilities, and so the All symbol was chosen as the primary symbol for the deck. Designing cards with the All symbol allows the cards to have abilities that manipulate the top card of your deck in various ways. Both Vash and Wolfwood have the ability to change the top card of their discard pile once per attack to increase the stats of their attacks in their own ways, and they each also have unique ways to add cards to their hand.

Vash The Stampede is known for his pacifism, to the point where his friends get aggravated at him for trying to solve every fight with words! This can be felt in gameplay where Vash can discard an attack to fill up his hand. Vash can move more freely when that clunky gun isn’t taking up so much room!

Nicholas D. Wolfwood is a touch more aggressive than Vash, and they tend to clash because of their differing ideologies. Known by the moniker Nicholas The Punisher, he can be nearly unstoppable in a fight by consuming vials that quickly cure his wounds and give him the energy to keep the battle raging.

Vash’s action, Avoiding Conflict, helps fuel the deck in different ways. If you happen to hit Avoiding Conflict with a mill effect, then you can respond with it to affect the current attack in different ways. While playing defensively, Vash can trigger his Mill 1 effect in an effort to mill this off the top of his deck, allowing him that extra edge in being able to escape the situation unharmed! This action can also be played from your hand in an additional effort to get a card you would like on top of your discard pile, while replacing itself in your hand. It sure is exciting to check an Avoiding Conflict while playing Avoiding Conflict!

Did you know that when multiple cards enter your discard pile simultaneously, you are allowed to place them in any order you want? Using this knowledge, when you activate Fan the Hammer and mill 4 you are allowed to place any card in those 4 on top of your discard pile. Just be sure to make “pew pew pew pew” sound effects as you mill those 4 cards!

Spike's character card represents cashing in bounties and getting stronger as more bounties are attempted and/or completed. Keep in mind that Spike can also draw cards off of his rival's attacks dealing damage, representing his resourcefulness and adaptability as he gets his butt kicked in some of his fights.

Faye operates in a similar manner with face down foundations, and is mainly a spiritual callback to her initial character released in 2018. You can expect a handful of cards in this challenger deck to work and synergize with lots of face down foundations. 

Fallen Angel's Revenge is one of the premiere attacks this deck offers. It gets faster every time you flip a foundation, working very well with both characters. The First Enhance allows Spike and Faye to stretch every resource as far as they can, effectively "rebuying" fuel for their character abilities. You can also reuse some powerful foundation abilities with "flip" costs! Did you know that you are allowed to look at face down foundations in your stage? Keep this in mind while playing Fallen Angel’s Revenge, as you will want to find the ideal targets to unflip!

Ein plays a role as an incredibly helpful companion, granting you an additional card every turn as long as you have some bounties (face down foundations) under your belt. Once you have amassed a high amount of bounties, Ein can shift aggressively and start taking away cards from your rival's hand! This gets rid of their blocks and makes it easier to close out the fight!

We hope that you enjoy the upcoming Challenger Series release, and wish for you to look forward to a great 2024 featuring multiple Challenger Series products!