Azuki opens Special Collection Vol. 1 presale at $46.99, capped at four per buyer

In Brief:

• Azuki opened presale orders for Special Collection Volume 1, a limited folder of 10 alternate-art cards priced at $46.99 with a cap of four per customer, at tcg.azuki.com/presale.
• Tournament players holding at least one participation point in the Azuki TCG app bought from 6 a.m. to noon PT on July 29, six hours before the public sale opened at 1 p.m. PT.
• It’s the first standalone product since Gates Awakened, the debut set that cleared $1 million in direct presales and shipped 800,000 packs to retail in June.

Azuki put Special Collection Volume 1 on sale, a limited-run folder holding 10 alternate-art cards at $46.99, with buyers capped at four copies each.

The collection is listed at tcg.azuki.com/presale. Quantities are limited, all purchases are final and product ships within 10 days, according to the store page. Buyers outside the United States are charged applicable duties and fees automatically, which Azuki said helps streamline customs processing.

Players got first access. Anyone with one or more participation points in the Azuki TCG app could order during a private window from 6 a.m. to noon PT on July 29. Everyone else waited until 1 p.m. PT.

Points come from showing up

Participation points accrue for playing in tournaments regardless of result. Check in, play, get credit. Bigger events pay more points. A separate winner leaderboard tracks final placement, with larger tournaments awarding more at every placement tier.

Both leaderboards refresh once a day at midnight PST. Tournament size counts the players who actually check in and play, not the ones who registered. Special events such as nationals and invitationals, which require qualification, award points on a different scale.

Season 1 ends in mid-2027, on a date Azuki has said it will announce later. The company then takes a snapshot of both leaderboards and ships rewards to the physical address on the player’s app account. Cash rewards come as a check made out to the registered player’s name, so a mismatch between app name and legal name can leave a winner unable to deposit it. Azuki said players can be disqualified for cheating, running multiple accounts or working around the system to farm points, and that stores can lose access to the tournament organizer tool for collusion.

A second act after $1 million in presales

Volume 1 follows Gates Awakened (AZK-01), which went up for presale on March 19. Azuki Labs said on April 13 that the set had crossed $1 million in direct presale revenue through its own storefront.

“The success of the presale is proof that players believe in what we’re building,” said Alex Xu, co-founder and CEO of Azuki, who goes by Zagabond. “This is just the beginning of what we are planning for the Azuki TCG.”

Gates Awakened hit U.S. retail on June 26 with 800,000 packs shipped, distributed through GTS and PHD Games, with XYAB added later. The set runs 148 cards. A booster display carries a $119.99 MSRP for 24 packs of 12 cards, and cases hold six boxes.

The rarity breakdown is four Leaders, four Gates, one IKZ resource, one IKZ token, 54 commons, 33 uncommons, 22 rares, 12 super rares, 15 regular alternate arts and two chase Portrait Rare alternate arts. Four starter decks at $12.99 each carry 63 cards including eight foils, built around the leaders Raizan, Shao, Zero and Bobu.

Matches run about 20 minutes. Each player fields a 50-card deck plus a Leader, a Gate and 10 IKZ cards, spending IKZ to deploy Entities, Spells and Weapons across a two-row board called the Alley and the Garden. The win condition is dropping the opposing Leader’s health to zero.

Organized play carries the weight

Azuki committed $100,000 to prizing for the inaugural tournament season on March 10 and named CoreTCG, an organizer whose past work includes Yu-Gi-Oh! YCS events and Bandai Nationals, as the game’s first official tournament organizer.

“We’re building a game worth competing in, and that means putting real stakes behind it from day one,” Xu said at the time. “A $100,000 prize pool in our first season is our commitment to a great competitive scene.”

Before that, Azuki ran a 64-player invitational in January with a $10,000 prize pool, plus regular local tournaments in Los Angeles and New York. Azuki Labs has said it plans four more sets over the next 18 months, with regionals in the fall, set two later this year and an invitational in early 2027.

Graders and resellers move in

CGC expanded its authentication, grading and encapsulation services to cover the Azuki TCG in March. Matt Quinn, vice president of CGC Cards, called the game “unique in its premise and history” and said the company is offering current and future Azuki community members the chance to have cards certified and protected.

Listings for “Azuki TCG Promo Special Collection: Volume 1” surfaced on eBay within two days of the sale.

Azuki launched in 2022 as a collection of more than 10,000 anime-inspired characters drawn by Arnold Tsang, the former character art director on Blizzard’s Overwatch and now Azuki’s chief creative officer. The card game credits Tim Guo as creative director and Jon Chao, whose work includes Far Cry and Wild Rift, as game design lead. Head of print production Corey Lewis ran global print production for the Pokemon TCG.