FAIRY TAIL All Fired Up! Game Design Teaser

By Matt Smith

In anticipation of spoiler season for Fairy Tail, we wanted to take a moment to set the stage with some details about the set.

The set contains 186 mechanically unique cards, including 15 characters.

Releasing alongside the booster set are two starter decks. These decks are built entirely from cards within the booster set, except that each deck features unique art for its character card. The Fairy Tail starter decks are a great way for players to get a Fairy Tail deck together right away.

The cards within this set are entirely Infinity and single-symbol Attune. The symbols present in this set are Earth, Evil, Fire, Good, Void, and Water.

A brief word on the symbol makeup: we are very excited for the release of Fairy Tail, but it was originally designed for a different point in the format. As a result, this configuration may look a little strange following the other releases this year. While I am not going to get into the details at this time, this is not what sets will look like in 2027.

There is one new mechanic in this set. It is a keyword ability titled “Quest,” and it will have a numerical rating like many other keywords in UniVersus.

Quest states:

“Response: After this attack is blocked, add X Quest counters to your character.”

Play attacks with the Quest keyword, and whenever your rival blocks them, you will gain Quest counters. Quest counters do not do anything inherently, but they will be used as an additional cost for abilities throughout the set.

Thematically, this mechanic represents the various jobs and rewards that different individuals and guilds take on in the Fairy Tail universe.

Mechanically, we wanted an ability that helped push the game forward in a light way. We wanted to reward players for playing attacks, but not in a way that would push games toward an early conclusion. On its own, Quest is an ability that is only relevant in an interactive game where players are playing attacks and blocks.

Quest is a lot like momentum, a sort of super meter or additional resource that you can spend on abilities. Momentum is a great mechanic. It coaxes a player into extending a bit more to earn a reward, and it punishes players for simply tanking attacks and not interacting during the combat phase.

The challenge with momentum is that it only comes up when the game is actively progressing toward an end, after players are dealt damage by an attack. In game states where every attack is blocked and the game starts to extend into stasis, momentum often does not help at all.

You will find the Quest keyword on 39 different attacks within the Fairy Tail set!

While the Quest keyword is the main way to gain Quest counters, you will be able to get some through foundation abilities as well.

These are the easy ones. You will find one of these in each of the six symbols. I will leave the more complicated ones for the rest of spoiler season!

Before we sign off, I’ll drop some more hints about Fairy Tail:

• There is a card in the set that, under the right conditions, could force your rival to make a check against a 38!
• There are five assets in the set, all of which have the Infinity symbol.
• There are zero backups in the set.
• There are 53 cards with the Spell keyword.
• Every character in the set has the Mage keyword! Fairy Tail is a magical land!
• There are 13 cards with the Armor keyword. Fans of this new keyword trait will find some more support.
• There is an attack that can become unblockable.
• There is a throw with the Fury keyword.

Okay, I think that should get your gears turning for what’s to come. As a reminder, Fairy Tail will be legal at the UCS in November, so make sure you follow spoiler season. You don’t want to be unprepared!