The hololive Official Card Game Is About to Debut—Here’s An Introduction

19th September 2024 EDT FEATURES

The hololive Official Card Game Is About to Debut—Here’s An Introduction

In the immortal words of Street Fighter II: "here comes a new challenger".

As of right now, there’s a clear hierarchy in the TCG world. At the lowest level, there are the newcomers which haven’t yet had enough time to build a notable fan following as well as those which only have niche followings. A step above that, there are the “rising stars” of the TCG universe—those which are relatively new but have begun to develop devoted followings such as Lorcana, Flesh and Blood, and the ONE PIECE Card Game (though in Asia-Pacific, the latter is already on the next rung of the ladder).

A step above that, there are Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic: the Gathering. Both have been around since the 1990s and have established themselves beyond the level of “just another TCG franchise”—they’ve become pop culture icons and global phenomena generating billions of dollars every year. Of course, at the summit of TCG today—a spot it has occupied for more than two decades—is the Pokémon TCG. An absolute behemoth in its own right that dwarfs even its closest TCG challenger, it’s mind-boggling to think that the TCG isn’t even the primary Pokémon product—as most know, it’s actually their video games that take center stage.

It’s into this TCG environment that a new TCG franchise is about to make its debut: the hololive Official Card Game. The first products—the Starter Cheer Set, the Tokino Sora & AZKi Start Deck, and Blooming Radiance booster packs—all release on 20 September 2024.

“Hang on,” some of you may say, “how will this even work? What sets this apart from the other TCG franchises out there right now?”

That question—and others like it—will be answered in the paragraphs to come.

Hololive and Hololive Production

First off, though, a quick primer on what Hololive is in the first place.

Hololive Production is a virtual YouTuber (VTuber) agency owned by Cover Corporation, a Tokyo-based tech entertainment company. Like all VTubers, everyone who’s part of Hololive Production appears on-screen as a stylized manga avatar; however, they are all indeed real people. Today, Hololive Production manages 90 VTubers in three languages (Japanese, Indonesian, and English); cumulatively, over 80 million people around the world subscribe to the channels of Hololive VTubers as of the latest figures.

Using its own avatar capture software, Cover Corporation launched the first Hololive stream in September 2017, though the name “Hololive” wasn’t yet in use at this time. Subsequently, Cover’s 3D stream distribution app was given that name; it was later applied to its female VTuber agency which was subsequently merged with Holostars, its male counterpart, as well as music label INoNaKa. The merged agency then took on the Hololive Production name which remains to this day.

The hololive Official Card Game

In a move that took many in both the broader TCG community as well as the Hololive fanbase by surprise, it was confirmed earlier this year that Bushiroad, in collaboration with Cover, would be releasing the hololive Official Card Game—a TCG based on Hololive—in September 2024.

Bushiroad and Cover had already collaborated on a TCG product back in 2022 when the two companies collaborated on Hololive Production booster packs for the Weiß Schwarz TCG. Featured back then on those cards were the 53 VTubers spanning the three branches who were active at the time.

This, however, would take it a step further. Now, Hololive fans would have a TCG to call their very own—and notably, it would not only be the very first TCG built around VTubers; it would also be an anomaly among TCGs by spotlighting real people (albeit depicted as their on-screen avatars).

Card Types

There are four different card types in the hololive Official Card Game. They are as follows:

Oshi holomem cards: Each deck has just one such card; it is to remain on the playing field all game long. Every Oshi holomem card has a different Oshi Skill and SP Oshi Skill; both can only be used once per game.

holomem cards: These cards are used for attacking purposes; in the hololive Official Card Game, attacks are referred to as “Arts”. Each holomem card has its own Arts as well as other statistics; as with other TCGs, it’s all about selecting the ones that create the best synergy within the deck.

There are three types of holomem cards: Debut, 1st, and 2nd. It’s possible for the player to Bloom a Debut holomem into a corresponding 1st or a 1st into a corresponding 2nd.

Cheer cards: These are used to power up holomem cards to use their Arts. At the beginning of each turn, the player draws a Cheer card from the 20-card Cheer Deck; that Cheer card can be used on any of the player’s holomem cards in play—known as the “Stage”.

Support cards: These typically single-use cards have effects that help to swing the balance of the game in the player’s favor. The most powerful of these often have additional restrictions placed upon them.

Decks

A hololive Official Card Game deck consists of 50 cards including holomem and Support cards as well as one Oshi holomem card. Up to four copies of the same card can be placed in the deck. Oshi holomem and holomem card colors don’t have to match.

Players also have a 20-card Cheer Deck consisting entirely of Cheer cards. Cheer cards of any color can be included in the Cheer Deck; the player may include as many copies of a particular Cheer card as desired as long as the 20-card limit isn’t exceeded.

How to Play

To begin the game, shuffle the deck and draw seven cards. Each player has one chance for a mulligan before proceeding. Select a Debut holomem card and place it face down in the Center Position. Next, place a Debut holomem or SPOT holomem card face down in the Back Position. Once done, place all Oshi holomem and holomem cards face-up; finally, place the number of cards corresponding to the holomems’ LIFE points face-down from the top of the Cheer Deck.

Here are the steps of each subsequent turn.

1. Reset Step—Activate any Resting Collab holomems or Rest any Active Collab holomems. Resting cards are rotated horizontally; Activated cards are placed vertically.

2. Draw Step—Draw a card from the top of the deck.

3. Cheer Step—Take one card from the top of the Cheer Deck, turn it face-up, and attach it to any holomem card.

4. Main Step—Place up to 5 holomems from your hand onto the Collab and Back Positions (6 including the Center Position), use Support Cards, Collab or Bloom holomems, pass the Baton, or use an Oshi or an SP Oshi skill.

5. Performance Step—Use the Arts of Center and Collab holomems.

The object of the game is to either deplete all of the opponent’s LIFE points by defeating all opposing holomems, leave the opponent with no holomems remaining on the Stage, or cause the opponent to deck out.

Most In-Demand Cards

As is the case with every other TCG, cards which have high rarity levels or unique parallel art will elevate the demand of the cards. However, in the case of the hololive Official Card Game, other factors come into the picture.

It’s easy to assume that the cards depicting female VTubers will be far and away the most coveted—and subsequently carry the largest price tags. While this will likely be true for the most part, it must also be kept in mind that Hololive now includes the male VTubers originally from Holostars who already had their own fanbase even before Holostars became part of Hololive Production.

Often, the men’s on-screen avatars are just as much of the stereotypical “eye candy” as the women’s are. As such, the demographic split might not be as sharp as that of other TCGs, causing the usual effect that female characters have on a card’s demand and value to perhaps not be as pronounced as it is in other TCG franchises.

In addition, it’s worth noting that Hololive VTubers’ streams are in three different languages; Hololive VTubers do not stream in more than one language. Therefore, once the hololive Official Card Game is released outside Japan, there could very well end up being a disparity between which cards are most popular in Japan and which are the biggest hits elsewhere.

While it’s true that the hololive Official Card Game has quite some way to go to even come close to challenging the TCG titans ahead of it, one can never tell if the seeds of the next TCG phenomenon have already been sown. So put a deck together, strap in, and enjoy the ride—who knows how far it’ll go when all is said and done.

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