Bankai is a new expansion for the
Bleach TCG that features, appropriately enough, special skills called Bankai. However, as much as these new Bankai cards add something to the depth in the game, the greatest draw of Bankai actually lies in Bleach's pre-existing card types.
Bankai, being the third expansion in the
Bleach TCG marks the flag point that most TCG's “get it right” and while Bleach has been doing quite well as it is,
Bankai most certainly smooth's over Bleach's mechanics. This makes
Bankai much more than the next step in covering the events of the anime, and instead makes it an absolute must have set for any Bleach Trading Card Game player.
However, since I feel I should play into the overall theme of the expansion a bit, first let's talk about Bankai cards themselves. Bankai cards are technically events but they work a bit differently than standard events do. Each Bankai has a guardian requirement and you have to be playing as a Bankai's guardian to be able to play a Bankai card. Once the Bankai event is played, it attaches itself to your guardian and changes the rules of the game so to speak. For example, Ichigo's bankai allows him to return a body energy to his side deck (which he can get back later by the way) to search for a card ANY card with an energy cost 2 or greater from his discard pile and put it in his hand. This basically allows you to play any medium to high energy card twice! The only downside is that after the Bankai is played, cards no longer hit your discard pile. Instead, if they would go to the discard pile they are removed from the game. All Bankai have different effects and since I showed you Ichigo's in previews, here is another one. Byakuya Kuchiki's Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi allows him to return spirit energy to his side deck to allow your characters to get Aggressive. However, the character that gets Aggressive is discarded at the end of turn so choose wisely.
Speaking of Aggressive, Aggressive is one of the new keywords introduced in
Bankai. It was one that was sorely needed as well. Aggressive is the standard TCG ability that allows your forces to attack the turn that they come into play, rather than waiting a turn. EVERY TCG needs this ability, I cannot stress this enough. It is simple, it adds tons of depth to the game, and it is not hard to balance. Bleach was a little late in the game in getting this ability but now that it has been printed the game definitely feels like it has expanded, especially for aggressive players out there.
This brings me to a discussion of how
Bankai's overall mechanics help the
Bleach Trading Card Game evolve. If there was one thing Bleach suffered from it was from cards that were far too specific. Certain abilities only effected members of a certain squad or cards of a certain type, most abilities had to be coupled with very specific cards to be of any use. It was almost as if the deck was built for you rather than you having built the deck.
Bankai changes all that through the addition of some needed generic abilities. Things such as “destroy one character” or “put another energy into play from your side deck” or “only one character can attack per turn” are a welcome relief from effects such as “increases all of Ichigo's stats by three.”
By far the card type that has benefitted from this change toward the general from the specific are Battlegrounds. Compare these two cards. West Rukon district was a Battleground from a previous expansion, Soul Society. It gives you a pretty good effect, but only effects your “Spirit” cards making the card useless in any other deck other than a Spirit deck. This was very much the flavor of the day for Battlegrounds as far as I have seen in the previous Bleach expansions. Now look at the new Bankai battleground Dining Room. Its effect simply prevents anyone from boosting characters, making it useful in any control deck regardless of what type of cards you play in it.
One thing you have to consider though is whether or not
Bankai is a good expansion to start playing Bleach with and that's a bit of a toss up. The cards themselves do somewhat presuppose synergy with previous expansions, but the ones that don't are just too good to pass up. Bankai cards are a bit hard to understand if you are a new player, but then again it may just be better to learn it all at once than to see one played on you and start scratching your head going “huh what is that?” The game still suffers from the need for cheat sheets, but
Bankai gets around that by simply printing less cards that the cheat sheets are required for. Overall, I would say it's pretty solid. I'm not sure an all
Bankai deck would work very well without at least a few cards from previous sets, but I can definitely tell you that
Bankai makes the game easier to learn. A good strategy might be to go to the store, pick up one box of
Bankai and a couple expansions of an earlier set, or better yet a starter deck. The starter deck will get you introduced to the rules of Bleach while the
Bankai expansions will get you introduced to the strategy.
As far as how
Bankai is presented, I think it actually goes
Soul Society and
Serietei, two previous expansions one better. The cards are easy to read, and the design hasn't changed too drastically. My favorite part about the new design is that some characters seem to pop right off the page. Some new guardians seem almost 3d the way they are drawn, and some
Bankai pictures extend outside their frame to add to the effect of the TCG coming alive. Perhaps most satisfyingly from a rules perspective is the fact that card types and text are now very clearly split apart, avoiding any confusion that may have gone along with text running together. The stat and energy areas of the cards do appear to be a bit more awkwardly placed, but that's just because the frame is a bit off center. It's worth it for the overall card effect.
Overall, I think that
Bankai is a good set to represent the rest of
Bleach as a whole. Its effects are basic but powerful, its cards are flashy but efficient, and it plays very well with the other sets. If you already are a fan of the Bleach Trading Card Game, expanding your collection with Bankai is frankly a no-brainer. IF you are thinking about just starting out in Bleach, picking up some Bankai boosters and a starter deck will be sure to give you a nice collection to start your Bleach career.
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Presentation Rating = 8.0
I like how Bankai cards are presented. They finally do something different than simply listing card types and effects right down the middle. I think dynamic text boxes like this are something to look into as far as the future of all TCGs go.
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Gameplay Rating = 8.0
The expansion plays well by itself but to get the full effect you definitely want some earlier sets.
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Synergy Rating = 9.0
Bankai does just enough without doing too much. Bankai cards are events, so they didn't have to prints rules for a whole new card type and Battlegrounds are now much more efficient than before.
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Innovation Rating = 8.5
Bankai cards are somewhat innovative, but really the innovation of this set comes from the new revamping of card effects. In doing so, Score has made Bleach feel like a much more solid game.
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