Otherwise known as デュエマ to its fanbase, the Duel Masters Trading Card Game is celebrating its 20th Anniversary, and it’s doing so by releasing Collaboration Cards of famous Magic: the Gathering cards, such as the Black Lotus… yes, you read that right.
🎴 If you think Magic’s card frame changes have become excessive, you’ve yet to venture into the realm of Japanese Trading Card Games (JTCG)…
🇯🇵 Japan’s pop culture needs no introduction, and its global impact is undeniable, but that’s barely scratching the surface of the iceberg: many アニメ (Anime) and 漫画 (Manga) don’t get official translations, hence don’t ever leave Japan…
- Unofficially, the valiant efforts of the global fanbase have produced scanlations and subtitles
albeit as pirated media. - Officially: Netflix, Crunchyroll, etc. have given the world a taste of anime; while Comixology has a section dedicated to Manga.
Aside from the story surrounding the rivalry between Pokémon & Digimon, there’s another franchise that has had a confusing history between the East and the West…
デュエル・マスターズ
Since JTCGs had their start in the Japanese language for their local market, they’ve been dubbed the Original Card Game (OCG), and TCG for the parallel English language product lines for the global market.
Hence, the Western audience perception that the Duel Masters franchise has died out in their markets, but continue to thrive in Japan: the franchise is very much alive in Japan, with an umpteenth season of its anime.
デュエルの神殿
by 松本しげのぶ (著)
by 松本しげのぶ (著)
by 松本しげのぶ (著)
by 松本しげのぶ (著)
デュエル・マスターズ（５） (てんとう虫コミックス)
by 松本しげのぶ (著)
by 松本しげのぶ (著)
The protagonist was shown to play Magic in only the first 6 volumes of the manga.
With the 7th Volume of the manga being published in 2002, so began デュエルの神殿編 in the storyline and the launch of the OCG, in the form of the first Duel Masters product: DM-01 Base Set. It quickly became the #1 selling TCG in Japan for over a year.
The game was a collaboration between TakaraTomy and Wizards of the Coast, and their business partnership runs deep: Hasbro distributes many of TakaraTomy’s toys outside of Japan.
It would be 14 years before the fates of Magic and Duel Masters would cross paths again; in that time… Wizards attempted to bring Duel Masters to the West in the form of the TCG, and reboot that attempt with a franchise called Kaijudo.
もしもデュエマにあんなカードがあったら?
In fact, they’ve had crossovers with many other franchises in the form of other Collaboration cards. (Something which clearly inspired Magic’s Universes Beyond initiative.)
Published by 小学館 (Shogakukan)
Published by 小学館 (Shogakukan)
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