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Wizbits Elemenstor Battle (CCG)
To view the rules for the game, see Rules.
To view strategy and terminology for Wizbits Elemenstor Battle, see Strategy.
To view the card scanning/collection project, see CCG Reproductions.
For a little bit of history on the (infamous) Elemenstor newsgroups see recDOTgamesDOTcardDOTelemenstor.
List of Card Names
Wizbits: Elemenstor Battle is the name of the Collectible Card Game that spawned the entirety of Epic Legends of the Hierarchs: The Elemenstor Saga. Players take on the roles of their favorite Elemenstors in a duel to the finish!
Original Early Sets
Originally released in January 1989, the first boxed of set Elemenstor Battles (the original name) contained 226 cards and various character creation tools. Although 3 pre-release promo cards pre-date the first boxed set, they were not widely circulated and are (for various reasons unique to each card) usually banned from play.
This original release of the game was a moderate success for its creators M. Holhik and J. Krakins, who hadn’t even intended to create it until Holhik won the card printing plant in a contest. Several expansions were released over the next five years, beginning with Quest: The Chasm in late November 1989. The initial releases of the expansions were only a moderate success and brought a few minor rule revisions each time.
It should be noted that Elemenstor Battles was not originally a CCG. The original 1989 release included a complicated grimoire and character design system. That system was eliminated in the 1996 re-release. Because the original cards are roughly compatible with the new system, most original box sets have been broken up and traded as CCG cards for the new game. As a result, it is extremely difficult to put together a complete box set to play with the traditional rules.
With the arrest of Holhik and Krakins in January 1994, the CEO of Realmworlds Publishing, Mich Fehkoo, was left in charge of the continued production of the game. The original version of the expansion Seven Staves was released in May, extrapolated from the notes of Holhik and Krakins.
It is important to note that Wizbits Elemenstor Battle has hardly anything at all in common with the original Japanese TCG, and origin of the entire franchise, Elemental Monster Duel. Aside from some shared artwork, the two games are entirely different from eachother.
Original Expansion Releases:
After May 1994, little more was heard from Realmworlds about the game; the cards themselves were removed from sale without apology in August 1994, the official tournaments ended - Realmworlds themselves refused to acknowledge their existance. The Original Set cards are considered by most to be compatible with the later cards, though a tournament in 1998 disqualified two players for using "banned" cards from the pre-1996 era. This was later overturned with little explanation.
The Wizbit Anime Re-Release
Then, in 1996, the initial set was re-released under the new name Wizbits: Elemenstor Battles, to be distributed alongside The Wizbits anime.
The first set of the new incarnation of the game was released in January 1996. It contained many new, rarer cards, and changed the text of several others, giving it 315 in total. The stats of the original cards did not change, and most of the art remained true to the originals. However, many cards had various Flavor Text changed to be more suitable for a younger audience.
Set Name | Set Code | Cards | Actual Cards | Release Date | Features |
Wizbits: Elemenstor Battles | CCG00-WEB | 300 | (315) | January 1996 | Re-Release of the original game's initial set. |
The re-released initial set had a variety of rarities ranging from Super-DoubleCommon to the Super-Mega-DoubleUltra Rare Gangster Octopus (Card). The re-release of the game received a very respectable following right out the gate, with the initial run sold out in a respectable three weeks. This initial burst of popularity caused the makers to quickly set up a robust tournament scene, which had the added side effect of increasing the rarer cards' value very quickly.
Due to this popularity, the first expansion, Quest: The Chasm was rushed out for Christmas of 1996. It contained 247 cards with a wider but similar rarity range to the original set, with the surprisingly useless but still very rare Moon Shimmer (Card) taking up the Super-Mega-DoubleUltra Rare slot. Due to riots over the Gangster Octopus card's abilities, the public was slow to accept the expansion. As support for the game dwindled, however, a resurgence appeared in October with the burning of the last known copy of Gangster Octopus in a Las Vegas suburb. Once the existence of the card was purged, the once-loyal fanbase of the game slowly returned, and realizing the opportunity that had arisen, a rush of new product was released in the States. Following this, a rough block system was put into place (one large expansion and two small expansions per year).
This remained stable until 1999, when it appeared the publisher of the game was about to lose the license; in response to this, three large sets (the largest in the game) were rushed to production. These sets contained a great number of overpowered cards and generally poor quality. During this time, Elemenstor CCG Plushies also began to be produced. The license then transferred to a new company, who continued publishing the game (after a long legal battle ending in late 2002). They returned to the block format and the game has remained stable since.
Currently, 22 expansions have been released for the re-released game; the first seven are re-releases of earlier sets with several cards added (with the single noteworthy exception of Reflections: The Palace) to increase the number of cards in the Rare and above slots:
Set Name | Set Code | Cards | Actual Cards | Release Date | New Features |
Quest: The Chasm | CCG01-QTC | 240 | (252) | December 1996 | Addition of Quest Non-Elements and Half Non-Elements. |
Collide: The Vision | CCG02-CTV | 180 | (188) | June 1997 | Addition of Sight Elements and Dream Elements. |
Vanish: The Power | CCG03-VTP | 180 | (188) | December 1997 | Addition of Follow Elements and Follow Non-Elements. |
Relay: The Wanderer | CCG04-RTW | 240 | (252) | February 1998 | Addition of Torn Artifact Non-Elements. |
Sound: Be Gone | CCG05-SBG | 180 | (188) | June 1998 | Addition of Torn Support Non-Elements and Torn Equip Non-Elements. |
Reflections: The Palace | CCG06-RTP | 180 | (188) | October 1998 | Addition of Sub-Torn Elements. |
Seven Staves | CCG07-SS | 360 | (388) | February 1999 | Revisions I Rules Update cleared up many rules grey areas, simplified rules by adding Superpillar Resolution rules and linearizing the Damage Phase by adding a special Damage Pillar. |
Tales of the Wang Mountains | CCG08-TWM | 163 | (163) | April 1999 | Added Focus Elements, Focus Modifier Elements, introduced a new Focus Pillar. |
Sorrow Knife | CCG09-SK | 130 | (133) | June 1999 | Added Emotion Elements and Emotion Addition Elements. |
Heavens Carried | CCG10-HC | 130 | (134) | October 1999 | Added Emotion Modifier Elements. |
Origins Genesis | CCG11-OG | 88 | (97) | December 1999 | Further cleared up rules confusion by making Superpillar Resolution rules more precise and allowing Subpillar Resolution to bypass Superpillar Resolution in certain cases. |
Carrion: The Marksman | CCG12-CTM | 529 | (529) | January 2000 | Added Armor Non-Equip Non-Elements, Torn Equip Non-Elements, Supertorn Double Non-Elements, Supertorn Double Elements, Triple Elements, Triple Non-Elements, Time Elements, Pathways Elements, Pathways Equip Non-Elements, Design Non-Equip Non-Elements, and Design Equip Non-Elements. |
Quest: The Pyre | CCG13-QTP | 409 | (409) | January 2000 | Added Racing Sub-Quest Non-Elements and Duel Sub-Quest Non-Elements, removed Superpillar Resolution rules complexity from the game with the Superpillar Streamlining Rules Addendum, an optional reference on a new way to play that eliminated multiple pillars altogether. |
Repent: The Exotic | CCG14-RTE | 411 | (411) | January 2000 | Major errata to all previous sets came as in-pack foldout sheets. A subset of 32 cards in the set combined to redefine almost 200 cards from the past four years; Added Non-Historic Elements. |
Melodies and Rhapsody | CCG15-MaR | 100 | (102) | February 2003 | First set under simplification of rules to do away with Pillar Resolution entirely in favor of Pod Resolution; removed almost all new Element and Non-Element variants. |
Adventure and Mysterious | CCG16-AaM | 100 | (105) | June 2003 | Further removed all Element and Non-Element Variants, replaced Pod Resolution with the simpler Turn Resolution system. |
Beasts and Burials | CCG17-BaB | 100 | (103) | October 2003 | Removed all unessential variants from the game, replaced Turn Resolution system with simpler Non-Resolution system; also made the cauldron of smoldering embers required game material. |
Fly: Step Forward | CCG18-FSF | 230 | (239) | February 2004 | Returned to previous system of Pillar Resolution due to mass confusion on the Non-Resolution system, including the multiple pillars subsystem removed at the end of the previous publisher's reign. Added thirteen different Sub-Armor Non-Element classes for each body part protection, a complex web of Protection Elements, and Sub-Protection Elements. |
Swing: Banner Barrier | CCG19-SBB | 200 | (200) | February 2005 | No new additions. |
Joy: Carry Light | CCG20-JCL | 200 | (201) | June 2005 | No new additions. |
Tides of Epic Conflict | CCG21-TEC | 100 | (100) | June 2005 | No new additions. |
Buy our Stuff - Special Edition | CCG22-BoS | 250 | (250) | October 2005 | Inclusion of Proof of Purchase modifiers. |
Legendary: Knowledge Deluge | CCG23-LKD | 500 | (525) | February 2006 | Minor changes based on the anime series’s interpretation of the rules to accommodate players who tried to learn from watching it. |
Unreleased expansions
Planned expansions that were unreleased for one reason or another. Such occurrences are rare because of the inherent expense involved in the designing of cards for such a complicated game.
Card Rarity
The Wizbits Elemenstor Battle CCG is printed on print sheets of 36 cards tall by 43 cards wide, for a total of 1,548 cards on each print sheet. Listed below are the possible rarities in the game, and the number of copies of each rarity on a print sheet:
Super-DoubleCommon: 500
Double Common: 400
Common: 200
Alpha Uncommon: 150
Omega Uncommon: 100
Rare: 75
UnRare: 75
Super-Rare: 18
Super UnRare: 18
Triple-Hyper-Rare: 12
Super-Mega-DoubleUltra Rare: Printed Individually.
Giga-Blaster-Rare: Unknown. Well, really rare.
Nonexistent: Unknown.
This data has been collected from bootleg copies of print sheets. All copies of print sheets that have been stolen from factories, distributors, vaults, etc. have had this distribution. Super-Mega-DoubleUltra Rares are printed one at a time using features on the machinery that allow for single cards to be printed. Due to the fact that the Nonexistent rarity type has been proven to exist, it is uncertain how they are printed. The Giga-Blaster-Rares were thrown into a furnace after they were deemed- "too powerful (and rare) for mankind to collect."
Determining the rarity of a card is difficult, and requires expertise in Image Tone Interpretation. A beginner's introduction can be found in "Tone and Affiliation", and precise details are located in "Tone and Affiliation II".
I think the following should probably be separated into its own article allowing the discussion of how the varying rulesets changed and interacted without muddying the explanation of the history of the cards release. - Xaphod |
I was thinking that maybe we should merge the orphan page CCG Print Sheet into this part of the article. -saintb |
Agreed and done. ~kertrats |
Discussion
I have developed a rare and unbeatable strategy which focuses on the non-elemental phase which I'm not going to share with any of you noobflops! I'll see you at the next tourney and after I beat you I'm going to date your sister!--hardflopz108@cnn.org |
Comments (9)
Anonymous said
at 9:02 pm on Jan 5, 2006
What is everyone's favorite card? Mine is Mt. Wang, but only because of its abilities. Unspeakable cards are good too.
Anonymous said
at 8:31 pm on Jan 17, 2006
It'd be awesome to retool this game to work with the Universal Fighting System so that you could do a gabe versus lord hopebane showdown.
http://www.sabertoothgames.com/ufs/index.asp
Anonymous said
at 12:58 am on Jan 18, 2006
That might actually work. I know Magic: The Gathering (which is a large part of what's being lampooned here) recently went and redid so much of the system. You could say that an WEB CCG 2.0 initiative was started in 2005, with the first expansion slated for Spring of 2006, or something. A card list for that would be much smaller, given the timeframe, but you could at least re-release a lot of the grooviest cards.
XD If we actually did that, though, would we actually be putting forth efforts to get WEB CCG 2.0 it MADE? Getting artwork would be a bit of a chore....but I'd certainly be willing to give it a go.
Anonymous said
at 1:02 am on Jan 18, 2006
...of course, an issue there would be that we would probably lose the biggest joke--that the game was so complex that it would be nearly impossible to play it.
Anonymous said
at 1:08 am on Jan 18, 2006
yeah.. certainly this would create a very playable game... of course reactions within the fan community that HATE the striping of all of the really "innovative" mechanics can keep the tournaments of the "old" system alive and kicking..
Anonymous said
at 7:47 pm on Jul 31, 2006
So question, I thought that EotP still published the CCG not Blizzards of the Coast. Anyone know?
Tim said
at 8:35 pm on Jul 31, 2006
pretty sure its still EotP.. why? what have you heard?
Anonymous said
at 6:49 pm on Aug 1, 2006
Okay, because somebody wrote that Blizzards had it. I was just checking, I will update the page with the correct info.
Tim said
at 9:29 pm on Aug 4, 2006
I think that cards aren't really being filled in because there isn't enough information on the wiki how to fill in cards.. I think that character cards as described in the text, in particular, can't yet be created
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