Note: The opinions expressed in this post are those of IgorSquatslav and his alone. They do not represent those of the other authors of this blog.
Weiss Schwarz has two editions of the game, English and Japanese. Unlike Magic the Gathering or Pokémon, cards vary significantly between the English and Japanese[1] editions. A perennial question among players becomes: “Do I buy my cards in English and play the English metagame, or do I buy Japanese cards and play their metagame?”
For a long while, the Japanese format had distinct advantages over the English format. First, the English Edition of Weiss Schwarz began several years after the Japanese Edition. In addition, the English edition of Weiss initially had a slow print schedule, meaning it could not keep up with Japanese releases and missed many back catalogue Japanese releases. All together, the English meta game was less varied than its Japanese counterpart. Less variation led to less English product being opened, resulting in Japanese Edition Aftermarket prices being lower than their English counterpart.
In the past few years, the tables have turned. In 2019 Bushiroad Southeast Asia (SEA) released 11 sets for the English Edition, almost one a month, and looked set to do the same in 2020 before COVID hit. Faster print schedules reduced some of the gap in sets between English and Japanese. A “Best Set in Format” took over the Japanese metagame, rendering the English metagame the healthier of the two. Add in exciting English Exclusive sets like Adventure Time and Mob Psycho 100, and suddenly the proposition that the Japanese Edition has a set variety advantage becomes tenuous.
Once the Japanese edition loses the definitive set advantages, other issues with Japanese or mixed format local tournaments tilt the format decision towards playing the English Edition. Differences between Japanese cards and English cards service as a barrier to entry for many players uncomfortable playing cards that are different than those in their native language. Japanese product can be difficult to acquire, almost impossible in Canada, if you are not familiar with proxy shipping serves. Finally, it is hard for stores to support communities that do not buy their product. In sum, the following points led me to transition from playing the Japanese edition to the English edition at local tournaments, and I believe more players should make the switch.
The English Meta Game has become healthier in the last two years
Back in the early days of English Weiss, sets were few in far between. In the first two years of English Weiss, only eleven sets came out. It was likely that if you wanted to play your favourite set, you had to play it in Japanese. Further, the lack of variety in cards led to the same few decks winning in English play. On top of a limited print schedule, Bushiroad SEA attempted to release sets from the Japanese back catalogue, like Haruhi getting an English release more than five years after its initial Japanese release[2]. Those Backlog sets were older and less powerful than sets that already existed in English at the time. This meant few new sets came to English Weiss in the early years of the game to challenge the dominant decks. A recipe for a stale metagame where the same few decks reign supreme for many years.
Lately, the English release cycle became more active. We received 11 new sets in 2019 and are on track to get 11 more sets in 2020. Further, none of these sets are years old catch up sets. Most of them are sets that are both currently popular with Western anime fans and will be relevant to the English game upon their release. This increases the number of viable decks available to English players. A state of the English metagame poll of top players by Keeluah here at WildWildWeiss evaluated twenty decks that were either in the English meta game in early 2020 or about to come out. They found at least ten decks with a rating of 70 or more out of 100[3], and a few contenders for best overall deck at the time of review. English players have a lot of potential decks and play styles at their disposal.
Surprisingly, the Japanese meta game which has more frequent releases scored poorly on the metagame diversity measure. Using a similar polling methodology, as of August 11th, the Japanese had 11 decks with a score of 70 or above out of 40 reviewed decks, a lower overall proportion. An important difference between these results between English and Japanese: In the Japanese metagame, there is a large power gap between the consensus best deck in the format, Data-A-Live, and the next tier. Formats with a consensus Best Deck in Format[4] are frankly boring to play.
The English meta game looks healthier than the Japanese metagame, with a similar absolute variety and a higher relative variety of viable decks. In the last year, the gap between Japanese and English release announcement for the same set decreased. Bushiroad SEA announced they would bring over Magia Record before the set was completely spoiled in Japanese. The delay between announcement and spoiling of Mob Psycho 100 was only a month. This bodes well for Bushiroad SEA releasing new sets that are metagame relevant and innovative.
English Original sets are well tailored for the English game
Speaking about English Original sets, the latest that we have seen spoiled is shaping up to be a great set. Not only that, it is using modern tools. Adventure Time has shown us climaxes with the newest trigger, Choice. Additionally, it is the first English only set to use Standby triggers which have been around since 2017. These two tools are being used to good effect by players when those tools are made available.
Of course, this always could be a fluke and the Bushiroad SEA’s card making ability is closer in output to Batman Ninja. However, the communication around Adventure Time spoilers leads me to think that Bushiroad SEA understands how players play the English Meta. The reveal for Princess Bubblegum talks about the mechanics of the card’s effects in a way deeper than the text of the card itself. It considers the trigger/effect synergy, cleanness of stock, and the chance of hitting into more triggers to maximize the effect. The article on Jake and Finn discusses the value of multiple damage instances and cautions the reader about bounce effects. Overall, I believe that the set is being deliberately designed by someone who understands the game to be a set that people will enjoy playing. Some of the early reveals from Mob Psycho 100 are looking good as well, reinforcing that belief. I am optimistic that the English meta will get fun sets that English speaking anime fans will genuinely enjoy. I believe this will help break down a barrier of entry to Weiss.
Japanese cards bring more barriers of entry to new players than necessary
Weiss as a game has several barriers to entry. A major barrier for organized mixed language Weiss play, that other Trading Card Games (TCGs) lack, is that many cards exist only in Japanese. In games that allow multiple languages in official play, like Magic the Gathering or Pokémon, all the cards that are play legal in other languages also exist in English. This is not the case in Weiss, as many older or cutting-edge sets have not made it to English, thus players either must be able to read Japanese or ask other players for their translations. For many players, this a turn off for the game. For the introverted, a character trait of many anime and TCG fans, asking for translations to verify a card effect feels like they are unduly burdening or “bothering” the other player[5]. This is compounded by the existence of translation errors[6]. Players who do not want to deal with taking their opponent’s word that a card in fact does what it does avoid the game. Translations themselves are a pain for new players trying to learn a new deck, as you need to fumble through your translations if you forget a card effect. This slows the rate of play and can draw ire to the new player from less patient players. All together this creates an unfriendly environment for new players. The English version does not have these costs, making it easier for new players to pick up the game.
Next, ordering things from Japan is difficult for most people. Getting the obvious out of the way, even with an in-browser translation service you need to be able to read some Japanese to efficiently navigate card ordering websites as North American sites selling Japanese singles are becoming a rare breed. Second, outside of giants like Amazon.jp or AmiAmi, few Japanese companies ship outside of Japan. The largest site that retails Japanese Weiss singles, Yu-Yu-Tei, does not ship outside of Japan. Thus, you either must be familiar with a proxy shipping service, live in Japan, or have a friend that is either of those things to buy from the site. Many players newly interested in Weiss would rightfully say “screw that, I’m just going to play English.” This becomes an alienating barrier to entry for the game itself when common advice to new players includes “buy the Japanese versions over the English versions because they are cheaper,” or “you need to play Japanese cards to be competitive/a good player.” It is patently ridiculous to expect new players jump through that many hoops to play in a game that has a good English metagame available.
It is hard for stores to support communities that play product that is difficult to acquire
Further, it is also unreasonable to expect stores that cannot sell Japanese product to happily provide space to players that will not buy their product. Sealed Japanese product is hard for North American suppliers to procure. In Canada, it is almost impossible; only one store that I am aware of bothers to do so. For many stores, selling Japanese product is a losing proposition. Unlike other TCGs where each new set will have something for all players, Weiss releases are siloed into specific sets that are not structured with this incentive[7][8]. Thus, Weiss becomes dead product after the initial release as all the players who wanted the set already bought all the boosters they will ever need. This is a bigger problem for Japanese product, as players who were not around for the first release are also unlikely to be able to read the product making an impulse buy nearly impossible. This guarantees that unbought product collects cobwebs, and every day it sits represents money the store could not use for another purpose. At least English sets based on popular series might attract a new player to buy some boosters or a trial deck from a show they like on impulse, and then learn the game[9].
This puts stores that want to support a Weiss community into a difficult spot when supporting mixed formats. When the store reserves a spot for a Weiss tournament, it is allocating space away from other card games. Even casual Magic players that are not playing in a tournament will open a pack every so often while playing in store. If the store is allocating spaces to people who cannot be their customers, they get no benefit, can provide only limited support to the players, and are actively taking away spots to play from other groups that the store can serve. This makes no sense to the store. On the other hand, players can become customers of the English edition of the game. It makes a lot more sense, both in terms of community building and financial interest, for the store to build a community around product it can sell. It also makes sense for stores to cut off communities that insist on playing a game they cannot provide and alienates new members.
Game stores are a fundamental part of a local TCG community. They both provide a regular meeting space for players and an opportunity to showcase the game. One way to grow the community is to convert players of other TCGs. Local game stores facilitate this by bringing players of many games together, which facilitates cross pollination. A large chunk of Weiss players, myself included, played another TCG before discovering Weiss. They also make it easy for converted players to hop into the play immediately with readily available trial decks and booster packs. Losing access to both functions would greatly damage a Weiss community. To sustain itself, communities need new members to keep things fresh and a regular place to meet. Communities that lack these things die.
Conclusion
Previously, there were reasons to play the Japanese or mixed metagame over the English only metagame, mainly around set availability and metagame diversity. However, those reasons have evaporated in the last two years. The drawbacks of using Japanese cards remain. Foreign language cards that require translations and difficult acquisition methods are steep barriers of entry to new players. A game with barriers to entry and hard to acquire product make little sense for stores to support. I believe that the benefits of the mixed format no longer outweigh the costs. For that reason, I have embraced the English only meta game, and believe Weiss communities would benefit from doing the same. I believe that embracing the English meta and hosting more English only tournaments would benefit the Weiss community by lowering barriers to entry for new players and helping stores help us grow the game.
[1] An instance of this difference did occur in the early history of the Pokémon TCG, which ruined the standard format at the time. A significant translation error was deemed the correct effect, despite the Japanese card predating the English card by over a year. Once the Pokémon Company took over in 2003, such an instance never again occurred.
[2] The original Japanese Haruhi set was older than sets that were released in the first year of the English edition like Sword Art Online.
[3] Even decks that had a rating below 70, such as the English Version of Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card saw success in competitive play, reaching top eight in the 2019 BCS World Championships.
[4] Lovingly known in the Pokémon TCG as BDIF due to how frequently it occurs.
[5] This effect is reinforced when some players are unduly cagey with their translations.
[6] Of course, Bushiroad SEA is notorious for their own print and translation errors.
[7] This is mainly a side effect of the complete embrace of the “Neo-Standard” format. Perhaps a broader format like Weiss v. Schwarz would allow for broader pack buying incentives in Weiss Schwarz.
[8] This also makes selling Weiss singles more difficult than Magic Yu-Gi-Oh! or Pokémon Singles. The number of dead cards that the store is stuck with is much higher in Weiss due to the nature of self-contained sets. Weiss also lacks a format where common/uncommon cards are exclusively played like Magic’s Pauper.
[9] Several of my friends did this. Funnily enough, I know two people who picked up Nisekoi Trial Decks at an anime convention.
Wild Wild Weiss 