Moka Explains: Attack on Titan!

Welcome Readers!

To kick start this Weiss blog, we shall be talking about the anticipated booster release:

 Attack on Titan!

 Attack on Titan is the first edition of Weiss Schwarz to be released in English before the Japanese edition. The final artwork illustrations for this set has proven to fully express the intensity that of the actual anime and what emotion the anime portrays in every episode. 

  Trial deck
 As well as the booster box, AOT had an English Trial deck released a few weeks before; meaning it was easier for players to get used to what the booster brings. This trial deck was made available in English on the 2nd July 2015; within this pre-constructed deck, there is 50 cards that any player can pick off the shelves and get playing. Like every trial deck, it comes with a rule sheet, a playbook, a paper playmat and a deck manual that shows you the rules of the game and the playmat introduces the zones of the playing space.

 The trial deck comprises of Yellow and Red cards and there are a couple of cards worth keeping/collecting, especially when the booster set was released, and to me, they are the following:
   - [Character]  Armin Arlert  ~ Level 0, 500 power, 0 cost; although come the booster set there was bound to be another/better assist character for Yellow, but for decks that wish to play as either mono Yellow or a mixture of Yellow and Red, his secondary skill is the best assister, simply because you can rest him to give either an "Eren" or "Mikasa" character and it will gain an additional 500 power until the end of turn, so pretty decent seeing as some Eren cards need Armin or Mikasa on the field :)
   - [Character]  Mikasa Ackermann  ~ Level 2, 7000 power, 1 cost; As always, Mikasa is a good supporting character. This version of Mikasa is a highly anticipated card in the trial deck, and arguably the most wanted character. At first glance, her power isn't that impressive but if you have two or more other <Corps> characters on your stage, she gains +1000 power and "Encore" (put a character from your hand into your waiting room); so that's a pretty useful duel skill. Her secondary skill gives her +1000 power each time another of your <Corps> characters attacks, easily making her 10000 power before "assist", so long as you have a full front stage that attacked first :D
   - [Character]  "Hope in the Darkness of Despair" Eren Titan  ~ Level 1, 6000 power, 0 cost; This is a nice character card that will end up being a staple in a Yellow supporting deck; as he continuously gains +1500 power if you have another Mikasa or Armin on your stage; through experience a very troublesome character for your opponent, at least until late game :)
   - [Event]  The Emblem on Their Backs  ~ Level 2, 0 cost; This ridiculous event card allows you to give any one of your <Corps> characters +8000 power until the end of turn; easily turning a Level 1 stronger than an opposing Level 3 character!
   - [Character]  Eren Jaeger  ~ Level 3, 10000 power, 2 cost; Now this card is debatable in being a "key" character, but if you want to play an Eren focused deck, he really isn't a bad shout: Gaining +1000 power if you have two or more other <Corps> characters, the character in front of him gets -1 soul - making side-attacks not a good option for your opponent, including being able to weaken down soul power ups before triggers - and during this card's battle, your opponent cannot use "backup" cards from hand - meaning their just weaker character is going byebye regardless; without the help from backup cards to help them power over Eren's (usually) 11000 power.

  Booster Set
 This particular booster set received a great deal of hype considering it featured the much adored characters of "Attack on Titan" anime and manga series.
 Being the first ever Weiss Schwarz set to be released in English before Japanese, many lovers of this franchise were excited to get their hands on it before usual schedule.
 There are 100 cards along with 18 Parallels, you can pull SP Versions of "Resisting Fate, Levi", "Resisting Fate, Mikasa" and "Resisting Fate, Eren". As a regular booster set, you receive 8 cards per pack, 20 packs per display box and 16 displays per carton, along with 4 rubber playmats that are included per carton.

 This set features all 4 Weiss colours meaning there are numerous deck possibilities and combinations to be had; Eren and Armin appear to be the main characters of Yellow, Mikasa and other rookie cadet characters like Jean appear to be the main build with Red, Levi and his elite scouts for Green and a pure Titan - featuring the "Female Titan" and the "Colossal Titan" - build can be created with Blue.

  Chibi Box Toppers!
 One of my favourite things about the Attack On Titan booster boxes is getting 3 of the following chibi designs of these special characters randomly selected in a separate clear pack in the box: Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Levi, Henge, Conny, Jean, Annie, Christa, Sasha, Reiner and the Colossal Titan!!

  Favourite Cards??
 Now that we have identified what characters belong to roughly which colour, let's take a deeper look into what I consider "key" cards of each colour, that ultimately make them my favourites of that colour's support in the booster set. You will see a trend within my choices over the course of each colour :P
   Red

 - [Character]  "Resisting Fate" Mikasa  ~ Level 3, 9000 power, 2 cost;  This mighty version of Mikasa has 3 rather interesting card effects that will make her for definite a key card in a mono Red or even a Red/Yellow build. If the number of other <Corps> characters is two or more, she gains +2000 power making her 11000 base. Her second skill states that if she was placed on stage by hand or by "change" - through "104th Cadet Corps Class" Mikasa - you may put the top card of your clock into your waiting room, so a nice healing ability there. Her third ability is active at the beginning of your opponent's attack phase. You may choose to pay 1 stock and if you do, you may choose one of your <Corps> characters and
exchange it with this card on stage as the <Stand> position; allowing you to protect a combo card on your field a while longer as she can save that characters bacon and allow you to mess up your opponent's possible battle plan.
 - [Character]  "Beyond the Walls" Mikasa  ~ Level 2, 8000 power, 2 cost;  Beyond the Walls Mikasa is a very nice addition to the much loved Mikasa cards. Although she isn't allowed to side attack, you really won't care that much as she gains +500 power for each of your other <Corps> characters on the stage. Her third skill is climax based as you may deal you may deal your opponent one point of damage if "The World the Girl Saw" is in your climax area, and her battle opponent becomes <reversed>.

 Now this must be noted that she in a way has a way of being called to the stage through something similiar to change - though "Battle Stance" Mikasa - as "Battle Stance" can allow you to call her to the stage as a defending character from hand if your opponent chooses to frontal attack her; a very decent skill to <reverse> your opponent's character instead and call "Beyond the Wall" to stage possibly a Level early.
 - [Event]  Hand of Salvation  ~ Level 1, 0 cost;  This particular Red event I prefer over the  others as this salvages any one <Corps> character from your Waiting Room, then choose a card from your hand and put it in the Waiting Room. Then choose one of your characters and it gains +3000 power until the end of turn.
 - [Character]  "Awkward Affection" Mikasa  ~ Level 2, 4500 power, 2 cost;  This is one of few Mikasa cards that actually require you to run Eren with or have him on stage as she is unable to <stand> in your next Stand Phase if you do not an "Eren". However, if you have another "Eren" on your field, she gains +1500 power continuously. Her third card effect is Climax-based, when "I Can Hear His Heartbeat" you may pay 1 stock, then if you do, choose an "Eren" character from your Waiting Room and add it to your hand, and this cards gets +1000 power until the end of turn; so a very nice salvage and another power up there.

   Green
 - [Character]  "Resisting Fate" Levi  ~  Level 3, 10000 power, 2 cost;  This is our main/only Level 3 that a mono Green AOT build can run. In usual Levi fashion, he is the star of the elite scouts and of Green in this set. His ability allows you to half heal/half superior call another character as when "The Wings of Freedom" is placed in the Climax area, you may discard a card from your hand and choose a character from your Clock and place in on any position on your stage. His second ability effectively makes him a restanding Level 3 character as during the turn is placed on stage from hand, when his battle opponent becomes <reversed> you may pay 3 stock, put a character from your stage into your Waiting, and put a card from hand into the Waiting Room, and that allows his to <stand> and more to another open position on stage; so if you can pay for the skill, you can take our your opponent's whole front stage.
 - [Character]  "Humanity's Strongest Solider" Levi  ~ Level 1, 5500 power, 1 cost;  This is one of the main combo cards in this entire booster set, let alone Green as it requires 7 cards including a climax card for his ability to be used perfectly. This Levi gains +2000 power continuously is it is in the middle position on your centre stage. His second ability is the main one where you put a card from your hand into your waiting room and put a character from your stage into your waiting room, if you do, you may call up to 1 copy of each stated card - Member of Levi Squad Oruo, Petra, Eld and Gunther - to separate positions on your stage, giving you a fantastic way of filling out your field during your Climax Phase if "Special Operations Squad" is placed in your Climax Area. Now as well as filling out your field, each of those cards focus entirely around Levi and each other:

    Member of Levi Squad, Petra ~ Level 1, 4000 power, 0 cost;  If you have "Humanity's Strongest Solider, Levi" on your stage, she gains +2000 power continuously. Then if you have "Member of Levi Squad, Oruo" on your stage, the middle position character gains "Encore" (put a character from your hand into your waiting room).
    Member of Levi Squad, Ouro ~ Level 1, 4000 power, 0 cost;  same as Petra, gains +2000 power with that particular Levi on the field. His second skill gives the middle position on centre stage +1500 power if "Member of Levi Squad, Petra" is on the stage.
    Member of Levi Squad, Eld ~ Level 0, 2000 power, 0 cost; giving "Humanity's Strongest Solider, Levi" +1000 power, and if you have "Member of Levi Squad, Gunther" on the stage, all your other <corps> characters get +500 power.
    Member of Levi Squad, Gunther ~ Level 0, 2000 power, 0 cost; like Eld, giving "Humanity's Strongest Solider, Levi" +1000 power, and if you have "Member of Levi Squad, Eld" on the stage, all your other <corps> characters get +1 level.
 - [Character]  "Beyond the Walls" Levi  ~ Level 2, 7000 power, 1 cost;  If you have 4 or more <Corps> character on your stage, this Levi gets -1 level in your hand, allowing you to call him a Level early. Then if all your characters are <Corps>, he gains +1000 power at all times. Finally if during the battle with this card, all players cannot play "Backup" cards from hand; meaning he may prove troublesome if called to stage early enough for your opponent.
 - [Character]  "Violent Ripples" Levi  ~ Level 0, 500 power, 0 cost;  This is the <Corps> generic support character so you'll see in him most builds regardless of colour as all <Corps> characters get +500 power continuously. Also, during the turn that he is placed on stage from hand, you may choose one of your opponent's characters on their centre stage and it gets -1000 power until the end of turn making it easier for your characters to successfully <reverse> your opponent's front stage characters.

   Yellow

 - [Character]  "Resisting Fate" Eren  ~ Level 3, 9500 power, 2 cost;  Tributing his determination into the game, if your opponent has a Level 3 or higher character, he gets -1 level while in your hand, so you can call him to stage a Level early potentially. He also gets 500 power for each of your other <Corps> characters as he is very driven by his fellow recruits. Finally, during the turn that he is placed on stage from your hand, once per turn, when damage by this card is cancelled, you may deal your opponent one damage. This may be cancelled but it might be just enough to finish the game!
 - [Character]  "Humanity's Rage" Eren Titan  ~ Level 1, 6000 power, 1 cost;  Like the TD Level 2 Mikasa, this Level 1 Titan gains +1000 each time another of your <Corps> character attacks until the end of turn. His second skill is climax based where you may pay 1 stock and put the top card of your deck into the Clock, when he attacks with "Crushing Blow" is in your Climax area, he gains +3500 power until the end of your opponent's next turn and your opponent cannot use "Encore" card effects or the "Encore" rule either until the end of your turn. A definite 3 of in any Yellow or mixed colour AOT build in my opinion.
 - [Character]  "Firm Will" Eren Titan  ~ Level 3, 12000 power, 3 cost;  This mighty Titan version of Eren means business when it comes to pure brute force. If a card named "Key to Humanity's Counterattack, Eren" is in your memory, he gains +1500 power at all times, and the following ability: [Auto] When this card's battle opponent becomes <reversed>, put that character into your opponent's memory. His second skill is when placed on stage from hand, you get to search for up to one <Corps> character from deck, reveal it and add it to your hand. His third ability occurs during your Encore Phase, where you will have to pay 1 stock, otherwise he gets forced into Memory and a card named "Key to Humanity's Counterattack, Eren" from your Memory is placed on any position of your stage. It's an easy cost to pay to keep a 12000 power Titan on your side ;)

 - [Event]  "Titan's Power"  ~ Level 2, 1 cost;  [Backup]  Choose one of your <Corps> characters until the end of turn, that character gets +4000 power and the following ability "[Auto] When this card's battle opponent becomes <reversed>, you may put that character into your opponent's memory". A nice event card to get make one of your opponent's characters away from their reach (depending on their deck).
 - [Character]  "Resisting Fate" Armin  ~ Level 3, 6500 power, 2 cost;  Although he doesn't have a great base power, like in the anime, he is purely a supportive Level 3 in this booster set. Not being able to be targeted by your opponent's effects, his gives all <Corps> characters in front of him +2000 power and the following ability: "[Cont] This card cannot be chosen by your opponent's effects"; so stopping your opponent from severely messing with him or the two <Corps> characters in front of him with card effects. Furthermore, when he is placed on stage from hand, look at the top X cards (X is equal to the amount of <Corps> characters you have) and choose up to one card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest into your Waiting Room. A nice ability to gain you another card you may need whether a character, event or Climax card.

   Blue
 - [Character]  "Plan of Capture" Female Titan  ~ Level 3, 10000 power, 2 cost;  this mighty Female Titan has three effects. One gives her opposing character -1 soul so a nice way to stop side-attacks from your opponent. The next is a climax based; when "Subjugation" is in your climax area and all of your <Titan> characters, draw a card and she gains "[Cont] The character facing this card gets -1 soul" until the end of your opponent's next turn. Finally, when this card is frontal attacked, if you pay the cost (put a titan character from your hand into your waiting room) this card gets +2500 power until the end of turn. Overall this card is very defensive compared to the other Titans.
 - [Character]  "High Intellect" Female Titan  ~ Level 2, 5000 power, 1 cost;  She has three nice supporting effects. [Cont] All of your other <Titan> character get +1000 power and [Auto][(3) Put 2 cards from your hand into your Waiting Room] When a climax is placed in your Climax area, if you pay the cost, you deal 5 damage to your opponent. Although this damage may be cancelled, if it's successful you may deal enough to level your opponent up, and if it's cancelled, it wastes cards from their deck and gets rid of another climax from their deck before attacks happen. You may also <rest> her and choose one of your <Titan> characters and give it +1000 power until the end of turn so overall a very useful <Titan> character to utilise.
 - [Character]  "Enormous Stature" Colossal Titan (his head) ~ Level 3, 10000 power, 2 cost;  Now this Level 3 is the beast of all the <Titan> characters as he need his "arm" and "body" to be a very huge threat to your opponent as each part of him supports each other to stop your opponent from easily taking him down. Let me explain:
  If you have "Threat to Humanity, Colossal Titan" (his arm) and "Broken Wall, Colossal Titan" (his body) on the field, this card gets -1 level while in your hand. The next skill aids his arm and body as during your opponent's turn, if this card is in your centre stage and is not <reversed>, his arm and body cannot become <reversed>; meaning a front row that is very difficult to get rid of. However, this will make him a target when your opponent wises up to a combo to get rid of the head. His final ability is climax based; when "And, in 850..." is put into your Waiting Room from your Climax Area, at the beginning of your encore step, if you pay the cost, return the top card of your clock to your hand and this card gets +3000 power until the end of your opponent's next turn.
 - [Character]  "Threat to Humanity" Colossal Titan ~ Level 2, 9500 power, 1 cost;  Seeing as this card is just an arm, it cannot attack if you do not have "Enormous Stature, Colossal Titan". Then if this is on the left position of your center stage, your other "Enormous Stature, Colossal Titan" and "Broken Wall, Colossal Titan" get +1000 power continuously. When this attacks, if you have "And, in 850..." in your climax area and if you pay the cost (put a card from your hand into the Waiting Room), all of your <Titan> characters get +3500 power until the end of turn. His final ability forces him to retire from the field, if your "Enormous Stature, Colossal Titan" is put into the Waiting Room, so does he.
- [Character]  "Broken Wall" Colossal Titan ~ Level 2, 9500 power, 1 cost; Again, not being able to attack with his head on the field. If this is on the right position of your centre stage, all of your other "Enormous Stature, Colossal Titan" and "Threat to Humanity, Colossal Titan" get +1000 power. When he attacks, if "And, in 850..." is in the climax area, you may draw a card. And finally, being forced to retire if "Enormous Stature" goes to the Waiting Room.

 So yeah, in conclusion that is all the cards I particularly wanted to mention in the trial deck and booster set. As you can tell, Bushiroad tried to keep each colour to remain true to the anime as Green is the elite in early combos and a restanding attacker, Yellow features nice power boosts with good assisting units, Red can either combo with another colour, or fight alone with other recruits, and finally Blue contains the mighty Titans that everyone can struggle to strike down.

 I hope you enjoyed looking into this set with me, although it has been out for a while now so sorry for publishing this late; the closer is gets to university starting, I will be falling behind with releases, but I'll do my best to keep these posts entertaining and interesting to read!
 I shall also shortly be publishing my own decklists for Attack on Titan.

   That's all for now Readers, so see you next time and take care!
         Moka  x x

Moka Explains: How to Play Weiss Schwarz!

Welcome Readers!

On our brand new blog, we shall be kicking things off by talking about the most fundamental part of the whole game: How to Play!
Prepare for a very detailed post guys!

Disclaimer: Any mistakes you may find will probably be down to human error so for that I apologise, but in regards to timing, rules etc, I did use the latest released play rules from trial decks and the Bushiroad Weiss website as reference for this blog post :) Either way, be sure to check up on the exact gameplay and rules from Bushiroad directly if you are thinking of getting into the game; this post was just a bit of fun, to try and simplify and explain things more easily.
I'm not an expert so please don't quote me haha, but I do enjoy the game greatly :D
I hope you enjoy anyway and find it useful to get yourself going!

  Introduction

 Weiss Schwarz is a two-player turn-based duelling card game manufactured by Bushiroad that also created Cardfight!! Vanguard and Futurecard Buddyfight. Weiss is different to its counterparts as its units are from featured Anime, Manga and Videogames; the idea is for you to choose your favourite series and try to outperform your opponents characters on stage.

  Playing Field

 I personally believe that in order for someone to understand the game, a good place to start is to understand your playing field/game mat. In every trial deck and most booster boxes, you are given a copy of said game mat that illustrates the zones/areas in the game.
 Here are the following areas in detail:

    1. Deck Area ~ This is where your Weiss deck is placed, face-down throughout the duration of the game. This is a private zone that neither player can look through, unless a card effect stated otherwise; the same goes with changing the order of the deck.
 If your deck should run out (bound to happen 1/2 times per game) at any time in the game, the player does not lose the game; when this happens you simply "refresh" and shuffle your Waiting Room to form a new deck: more on this soon.

    2. Level Area ~ This is where cards indicating the player's Level are placed face-up. Each card represents one Level; when a fourth is placed here, you lose the game.

    3. Clock Area ~ This is where cards indicating the player's Clock - otherwise known as damage - is played face-up; the order of these cards cannot be altered.
 The maximum number you can have in this zone is 6; when you hit 7 or more, you Level up by choosing one to go in your Level, then once you've done this, the other 6 cards go into your Waiting Room.
 If there are more than 7 cards in your Clock, you choose one of the first 7 cards to be put into your Level; the rest of your cards stay in the Clock in order.
   Refresh  ~ When you run out of cards in your deck, you "refresh" and shuffle your Waiting Room back into your Deck Zone to become your deck again. If you do have to refresh your deck, you must deal yourself a compulsory point of "damage" (it's the rules, can't really shed anymore light on that) as you put the top card of your deck into the Clock, and regardless of if your trigger a climax at this time, this "damage" cannot be negated/cancelled for the reason that it isn't exactly damage. When you refresh, this is an interrupt action where it happens before anything else.
 However, on the off chance you Level-up at the "same time" (not literally in a timing sense, but can appear this way) as you need to Refresh, you get to choose which order you choose to proceed so you can Level-up then Refresh or Refresh then Level-up.
 Here is a common example beginners may find:  a) I am Level 2 and there are six cards in my Clock Area and one card in my Deck during my Clock Phase. How do I resolve things when another card is placed in my Clock Area?
   You can resolve this by the following steps:
1. Select one of the cards in your hand and place it in the Clock Area.
2. Choose one of the cards in your Clock Area and place it in the Level Area. This will increase your level. Next, send the remaining six cards in the Clock Area to the Waiting Room.
3. Draw one card from your Deck.
4. Shuffle all of the cards in your Waiting Room to make a new Deck.
5. Draw one card from your Deck.
6. Pick up one card from the top of your Deck and place it in the Clock Area.

    4. Stock Area ~ This is where cards showing your Stock are placed face-down; neither player is allowed to see what cards are placed here. Each time your character attacks, when you reveal the top card of your deck, then it is placed here as Stock. These cards are used to pay for card's "cost" - located just under the cards Level - and you use the last card that entered this zone first; so think of last in, first out.

    5. Climax Area ~ Up to one Climax card can be placed here face-up during your Climax Phase. The Climax card is then sent to the Waiting Room during the End Phase of the player's turn.

    6. Stage ~ Divided into Centre and Back: This is where your characters are placed face-up while they perform on stage for you. The Centre Stage consists of 3 slots and cards placed here can inflict damage as well as battle with the opponent cards directly in front of them; while cards in the Back Stage are usually where cards with the "Assist" ability is placed face-up. These cards do not attack nor can be battled with, unless abilities state otherwise.

    7. Waiting Room ~ This is where cards go when they have fulfilled their purpose or have been "retired" from the field; otherwise known as Drop Zone, Graveyard etc. Imagine it as a place where your characters go while waiting to perform again.

    8. Memory ~ This special zone is not utilized by every deck. This is where cards go when they have been "removed" from the game; the reason I say "removed" is because certain cards need particular cards within this zone to gain special advantages, but they usually cannot return back to field or deck once forced into memory.

  Types of Cards

 There are three types of card in Weiss: Character, Event and Climax. Characters are the cards you use to perform/battle on your behalf: denoted to "CH" found above the card's name. Events are special cards that allow you to gain temporary bonuses; similar to characters as they have requirements in order to be played: denoted to "EV" found above the card's name. Climax cards are horizontal cards that have particular abilities like "triggers" in Cardfight!! Vanguard. They are considered to be Level 0 cards, but are not immune to colour-requirements unlike Level 0 character or event cards. 

An example of a Climax Card from AOT Booster

 Let's have a closer look at the Illustration of Card Components:
    1. Name (1a), Type (1b) and Card Number (1b) ~ This is where the Name of your card shall be, as well as it's Card Type as explained above and the Card's Number allowing you to find it within your cards set.
    2. Level ~ Only Character and Event cards have levels - Climax cards are treated as Level 0 cards - and they cannot be played if the player is not at the required same Level or higher.
    3. Cost ~ Only Character and Event cards have a cost, and they cannot be played if the player is unable to pay the correct cost.
    4. Counterattack Icon ~ This icon is present on some Character and Event cards, and it looks like a fist; this indicates that the card or its Startup ability may be used during the Counter Step of the Attack Phase of the active player's turn.
    5. Trigger Icon ~ Not all cards have a Trigger icon, but those that do (when revealed during the Damage Trigger check) shall deal extra Soul Damage to your opponent.
    6. Card Ability Text ~ This is where your card's abilities are stated, along with costs it may have if you wish to activate or use its skill.
    7. Power ~ Only Character have this attribute, and it is used to determine the outcome of battles the characters in the Battle Step of the Attack Phase may have. More on attacks soon...
    8. Soul ~ Soul points are used to calculate the amount of damage you may deal to the opposing player when you attack.

An example of a Character card from Hatsune
Miku Project Diva series

    9. Characteristic ~ Each Character card will have up to 2 characteristics and this is determined by the series the card belongs to; however certain cards can gain a third characteristic through card effects. Certain deck strategies heavily rely on what characteristics you may have throughout your deck - such as "Music" from Hatsune Miku Project Diva, "Student Council" from Angel Beats and "Fleet Girl" from Kancolle - to function efficiently. 
    10. Colour and Pack ~ All cards from Weiss Schwarz belong to one of four colours and each of these colours have their own trait/specialise in certain areas of gameplay. The colour of cards play an important role in your deck as you may only play cards depending on what colours are in your Level or Clock area (Level 0 cards are colourless so you can play them regardless of base colour).
 The following description of the colours only outline what each colour highlights in.
    - Yellow ~ "Speed": automatic power up abilities; "bouncing" opponent's characters back to hand when triggered, invulnerability (stopping your opponent from using "Encore" etc), (used along with Red/Green) these cards contain enough power up skills to quickly defeat your opponent. Yellow appears to utilize "Memory" skills the most out of the colours.
    - Red ~ "Technique": mainly revolving around burn, salvage and removal, Red messes with your opponent's field, deck and Waiting Room. Red offer stable vanilla units and powerful Level 3s and contain cards that force the opposing character to reverse if itself is reversed in battle. 
    - Blue ~ "Advantage": this colour greatly focuses on defense and contain great cards that are usually candidates for secondary colour support. Blue characters have the tendency to power themselves up during your opponent's turn and can also stop your opponent from standing characters during their next Stand Phase which greatly increases their chances of survival in a matchup. They also have the ability to heal, and contain more draw power than the other colours.
    - Green ~ "Power": these are greatly focused around powering up their other units and can contain a variety of the other colours highlighted attributes but due to their usual power-up ability, their costs can be more expensive. Green focus on power so much that in the latest English releases of Weiss, it's not uncommon to see Level 1 characters overpower Level 3s which is amazing but this usually requires a great deal of controlling the perfect set up and managing your Stock to pay for costs.

  Turn Phases
 Now that we understand our playing field and what our cards look like and do, let's look into the phases you have throughout your turn. The easiest way to remember all of these is to imagine them in a timeline sense: 

  Stand  >  Draw  >  Clock  >  Main  >  Climax  >  Attack  >  Encore  >  End

  You start the game by drawing 5 cards from the top of your deck. Any you don't wish to be in your hand, you may place into the Waiting Room. If you do this, you get to redraw however many you discarded, making sure you have 5 cards again; this is your opening hand.
 Let's look at the rest of the phases in the game; each one in detail:

    1.  Stand Phase  ~
 At the beginning of your turn, you get to refresh/restand all the characters on your field from the rested position [>] to the stand position [^]. If you proceed to the Draw phase without standing any number of units, you will not be able to stand them until your next turn.

    2. Draw Phase  ~ 

Clock to Draw 2

 You draw one card for your turn. At the end of your turn, you may only have a maximum of 7 cards in your hand. If you have more than 7, you must discard down until you have 7 in your hand (place the excess into your Waiting Room).

    3. Clock Phase  ~
 You may choose to place any one card from your hand into your Clock; dealing yourself a point of damage. But if you do, you get to draw 2 cards.

    4. Main Phase  ~
 You may perform any number of the following abilities during this phase:
     a) play an Event card - Played from hand, once cost has been paid you perform the event and once resolved, it is placed into the Waiting Room.

Playing a character to the field

     b) play a Character card - You may play any number of characters to your Centre or Back stage, so long as you have the stock to pay for them. You may retire previous characters to the Waiting Room from stage, but you must be able to replace them from cards in your hand.    c) Move a Character card - During your Main Phase, you may move around your characters on your stage to wherever you like until you're happy with your formation before proceeding to your Attack Phase.

     d) Use the Startup ability of a Character card - During this phase, you may also use any "startup" abilities your cards may have on the stage. They are usually stated on the card such as "at the beginning of your Main Phase" etc.
   5. Climax Phase ~
 Once you are done with playing characters, using [ACT] abilities and moving around your formation, you have your Climax Phase before you proceed to attacking your opponent. During this phase you may place a climax card from your hand into your Climax Zone and utilising what the ability that your Climax gives you throughout the turn such as give your attacking characters +1000 power & +1 soul, for example.
   6. Attack Phase ~
 Now to me, this phase can be rather confusing to a beginner player, as technically you have two attack phases: the first is where you attack your opponent directly, and the second is when characters battle on stage. 
   You have 3 kinds of attack to chose from:
        a) Direct Attack - When your character has no opposing character directly in front of it: When you direct attack you opponent, you deal your

opponent an addition soul damage as they have no character defending their health essentially.
        b) Frontal Attack - When your character has an opposing character directly in front of it: when you frontal attack your opponent, you only deal whatever soul damage your character has at the time, and this may be higher than 1 depending on skills, after trigger check etc.
        c) Side Attack - When your character has an opposing character, but you do not wish for them to battle and choose to "go around" the character in front: when you side attack your opponent, your side-attacking character gets minus a certain amount of soul and this depends on the characters in front Level. For example, if you character is 2 soul, you choose to do a side attack, and the character in front is Level 2, you will deal 0 soul damage before trigger checks.

Drive Trigger Check

    Trigger Checks and Battle!
In brief, here's how each attack goes:
Attack Declaration > Trigger Check > Counter > Damage > Character Battle.

  When you have declared what kind of attack to do per battle, you reveal the top card of your deck. If it has a "soul" icon in the top right hand corner of the card, you deal your opponent and extra damage. When revealed and seen if there is or not a soul icon, you put the card face down into your Stock Area. As mentioned before, you can not change the order of these cards and you may not look at them once placed face down.  After trigger checks, you deal your opponent a varied amount of damage, depending on characters soul count, triggers, skills, climaxes used etc.
 Then once that occurs, your characters on stage then do battle depending on your choice; If you chose to frontal attack, here are the 3 possible outcomes of the characters battles:
   1. If you character has a higher power than the one directly in front, you will force you opponent's character to become <reversed>. 

Becoming <reversed> in a Frontal Attack

   2. If your and your opponent's character is of equal power, they will both become <reversed>.   3. If your character is a less power than your opponent's character, you will become <reversed>
 Becoming <reversed> in battle will mean the character is being driven off stage during the Encore Phase. 

 Counter & Backup ~ As mentioned before, Counter occurs once Triggers are checked. Now backup is an action where players may play cards with the "backup" (a clenched fist) icon from hand to generally give characters extra power to help them before frontal combat occurs. Backup cards usually assist the character to help it not become reversed when targeted for a frontal attack. It is important to allow you opponent to trigger check before you decide to play a backup card as some decks have cards (climax cards usually) have the ability to "bounce" / return an opposing character from stage back to the owner's hand; meaning no battle will occur (thus not being able to play backup cards) but damage will still occur.

    7. Encore Phase ~
 During this phase, any <reversed> characters may become <rested> instead of going to the Waiting Room permanently. In order to return your <reversed> character to stage, you must pay for Encore.

Paying 3 stock to "encore" your <reversed> character

 Encore is either a card ability written on the card (such as put a card from your hand into the Waiting Room, or put the top card of your deck into your Clock) or you may pay 3 stock to return your character to the <Rest> position, otherwise it gets retired permanently from the stage and goes to the Waiting Room: any <reversed> characters go to the Waiting Room, then are brought back to the stage if Encore is paid.
 Any markers underneath your <reversed> character is lost and retired to the Waiting Room along with the character. However paying Encore does not return the markers.
 It must be noted that the "pay 3 stock" encore rule doesn't just occur during your Encore Phase. If you opponent retires your character, you may pay for encore then to bring it back to the stage.

    8. End Phase ~

An encored character returning to the <rest> position

 Now as well as this signifying the End of your Turn, certain card abilities may be used here. If you used a Climax in that turn, you place the Climax from the Climax Area into the Waiting Room. You then discard down to 7 cards if you have have more than 7 in your hand and place the discarded ones into your Waiting Room as explained earlier. After all that, it is your opponent's turn and they repeat the same stages.

 Now that we have understood the gameplay of Weiss, let's have a look at building a deck!
     Preparing a Deck
 When preparing a deck, you must make sure that you do not have any more than 8 Climax cards in your deck; you may choose to use less (however this isn't recommended) but you may not use more. You may also not use any more than 4 copies of a named card; so even if you have different artwork, it's still classed as the same card as it does keep the same name; keep this in mind!
 As well as making sure there is exact 50 cards in your deck, that's basically it in terms of deck-building rules.

  Tricks and Tips
 It's personally up to you how you choose to prepare and build you own deck but through my own experience of developing my understanding of the game from a novice to an experienced player, here are a few tips that may help you in your quest to your ultimate deck:
   1.  Mono colours  ~  A useful thing I found was, even though most/all trial decks are two colours, it was easier to get to grips with the basic rules of gameplay if I played a deck built from one colour support cards, so a deck comprised of just Green, or just Yellow cards for example. I understand that not all colours process enough support in a particular set to make a decent deck from particular colours (Blue comes to mind here; at least in the 3 sets I have been involved with).

   2.  Filing  ~  Each time I bought into a new booster set/release, I found it easier to begin building a new deck but sorting cards into colour, then Level, then narrowing down to the ones I like (putting the ones I least like back into a spare box to keep them safe). Through this process of elimination, I found it significantly easier to control the mess - that usually happens after a new release/box opening - and focus on a build.
 This method may not work for everyone, but so far I have created 11 Weiss decks of my own and created 5 for other people with very positive results (the builds winning me local tournaments, 85-90% win overall in general) in regards to synergy and strength. Some may disagree with my builds/choices, but that's the joys of it being a card game and how every player can see and utilize combos that others may not. 

  3.  Keep it Simple!  ~  When building your deck, be sure to not try and fill your build with too many combos. I found the more combos you try and force into your deck, believe it or not, the less consistent the overall power and strength it shall have. By all means put in 2-3 main combos, involving certain Climax cards perhaps, into your deck because without them you deck won't have much flare, but adding too many will disrupt it as well. Be sure to find a good balance within your deck!

  4.  Use the Internet  ~  I haven't yet done this, but a good obvious way to get going is to research online for particular decklist from your chosen set. By doing this, it will give you an idea of what a deck's synergy should look like, and as your research continues, you will begin to notice how players will use the same few cards in their decks; with obvious reasons those cards are their "key" cards so maybe you should look into using them too :)
  5. Think Outside of the Box  ~  Literally what it says: think outside of the box and don't feel afraid to try something new and away from the usual candidates in your deck. Be sure you feel confident in yourself and look at other combos that could be a secret that others may not have thought of yet and even end up being a potential game winning trick!
  6.  Widen your Knowledge  ~  Once you feel that you are getting into the swing of things, it's a good time to start researching into other sets, even if you don't plan on buying/trading into that set. The simple reason for that is if you come against a build from that set, with enough research, you should be able to understand your opponent's cards/combos before they use them and give you a head start in thinking of a strategy to get around/combat your opponent. It's something worth looking into anyway ;)
  7.  Don't Give Up!  Have Fun!  ~  Practice really does make perfect and without determination, you will slowly go off this game, like any other. Throughout your quest to master this epic card game, be sure to have a good time and have fun while to find the deck perfect for you and your playstyle.

  That's all I can personally think of, but I found as I developed my understanding of the game, these things really helped me get into and enjoy Weiss Schwarz more and more, without having to get frustrated with loss after loss that you usually have when you get into a new game :) I hope these tips help you!

  I think for now this is all I can share on the basics of how to play Weiss Schwarz. I've probably left something out somewhere but that's the joys of research :D Please make sure you don't get disheartened if your chosen deck doesn't work straight away as it's not common to hear someone say they became a "master" through the first deck they chose to build/try out, so keep at it ;)

 I hope you enjoyed this blog post on how to play this brilliant card game, and maybe see you next time!

          Moka x x

Moka Explains: Madoka Magica Rebellion

Welcome Readers!

Covering the latest in Weiss Schwarz support:
Madoka Magica Rebellion!

 This highly anticipated Weiss booster release is the second installment for Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Focused around the full-length feature film, "Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion" can be seen as stand-alone support - so you won't be needing the trial deck or the previous booster support to mess with this set - or you can mix it with previous cards.

  Product Specifications

 Released in English on 4th Sept 2015, this set has given us 100 new types of cards with 22 of them coming in a parallel/alternate rarity. With 8 cards in a booster pack, 20 boosters in a display box and 16 displays per carton, you have a good chance of pulling these parallel rarities. In this set, you also get 4 rubber limited edition playmats per carton you buy :D

  Colour Breakdown

 In this set, Green takes the majority of the card ratio, with Yellow, Red then Blue in joint last place: Green has 35 cards, Yellow has 25 cards, and both Red and Blue have 20 cards. The usual Madoka and Homura cards are found in Green, Mami and Nagisa are showing their talents in Yellow, Kyoto is being fiery in Red and Nagisa is shining in Blue. Along with special chibi versions of each of them found as box topper promos!

  SP Gold Foil/Hot Stamp Cards

 There are 6 exclusive SP cards that have a Japanese voice actresses autograph hot stamped on cards in gold foiling inserted randomly in packs:

   - Madoka Kaname:  Aoi Yuki

   - Homura Akemi:  Chiwa Saito

   - Sayaka Miki:  Eri Kitamura

   - Kyoko Sakura:   Ai Nonaka

   - Mami Tomoe:  Kaori Mizuhashi

   - Nagisa Momoe:  Kana Asumi

 These beautiful cards are rumoured to be 3 pulled per carton, but I was lucky enough to pull my SP Sayaka in the 2 boxes I got upon release :D

 Now, let's have a look at my favourite cards per colour throughout the set! I have done my best to think of 3-5 cards per colour and briefly explain my reasons for choosing these beauties that I believe to be staples in your deck :)

    Yellow

 - [Character]  One Guided By The Law of the Cycle, Nagisa ~ 10000 power, 2 cost; This is my favourite Yellow card in this set for a number of obvious reasons, the first being the fact that she's a Level 3 healer: [Auto] When this card is placed on the stage by hand, you may put the top card of your clock into your waiting room. You can easily run this with alone, with Mami Tomoe from the first Madoka set or with "I'm Happy Now, Mami". Her second skill is a climax triggered effect when "Bearer of Memories" is placed in the Climax area, you may pay 1 stock, choose one of your opponent's Level 3 or less characters and it goes into their memory. Your opponent then chooses a Level 0 or less character from their waiting room and puts it on the stage position that the character was on. This brilliant skill can easily mess up your opponents beasty or combo driving cards! 

 - [Character]  Junior and Senior, Mami & Madoka ~ 7500 power, 1 cost; This nice Level 2 character gains +500 power for each of your other Magic characters during your turn, so ideal for hitting those pesky Level 3s or Level 2s with "change" or some other annoying skill, haha.

 Her second skill is climax based where when she attacks, if "Tiro Duet" is in your Climax Area, you may choose one of your opponent's characters and return it back to your opponent's hand; forcing them to repay stock to recall it back to the field :P

 - [Character]  "I'm Happy Now" Mami ~ 10000 power, 2 cost; Another Level 3 character with 2 awesome skills. First is power based as she gains +500 power for each of your other Magic characters. Ideal for some powerful front stage presence. The second activates once per turn: [Auto] During the turn that this card is placed on stage from your hand or by the "Change" effect, when damage dealt by this card is cancelled, you may deal one damage to your opponent (this damage may be stopped). The best part of this character is the Level 2 that changes into her: "Magical Girls Tea Party" Mami - 4000 power, 1 cost; [Cont] All of your other Magic characters get +1000 power, and [Auto][Change][(1) Put this card into your waiting room] At the beginning of your draw phase, if you pay the cost, choose a card named "I'm Happy Now, Mami" from your Waiting Room, and put it on the stage position that this card was on.

 - [Event]  A New Encounter ~ Level 3, 5 cost; This one I can see being a 1/2 of in a decklist as it has the potential to be a game finisher - If the number of characters you have with "Mami" or "Nagisa" in its name is five or more, until end of turn, all of your characters get +3000 power and gain the following ability: [Auto] Activates once per turn: When damage dealt by this card is cancelled, you may deal one damage to your opponent (this damage may be cancelled)". 

    Green

 - [Character]  "For Madoka's Sake" Homura ~ 10000 power, 2 cost; This Level 3 character has 3 abilities, as well as being able to be called to the stage from a "Change" ability. The first ability activates when placed on stage by hand or by "Change" where you can draw up to 2 cards, and choose a card from your hand and put it into your waiting room, so a nice draw-and-ditch there to cycle through cards in deck and in hand. The second ability is forcing one of your standing Magic character and rest it when she is placed by hand. Not too great there, but it's ok as it makes to think about utilising the "Change" ability.

The third ability is climax based - "Truth Behind the Barrier" - and when she attacks while that specific climax is in the climax area, until the end of turn, Homura gains +2000 power and gains the following ability: "[Auto] When this card's battle opponent becomes reversed, you may put that character into your opponent's clock". So a really nice way to get rid of troublesome characters of the field and forces them a damage which can finish the game even it that damage after triggers was nullified.

 - [Character]  "A Painful Thing" Madoka ~ 10000 power, 2 cost; This Level 3 character has 2 small but effective skills: the first being able to be called to field on Level 2 from hand if you have 6 or more climaxes in the Waiting Room; so a nice little trick to get back into the game if you feel you're possibly falling behind. The second being when placed from hand, you may choose a Magic character from your clock equal to or less than your level and put it on any position of your stage. If you do, put the top card of your deck into the clock. Although, this isn't like "Resisting Fate, Levi", at least you can call a possibly decent character to the field without losing any more stock to pay for it :)

 - [Character]  Madoka Thinking of Homura ~ 5000 power, 0 cost; Although this Level 1 cannot side attack, her main ability is climax based when she attacks - with "Guide to Salvation" in the climax area - until the end of turn, she gains +3500 power and the ability to put the top card of your deck into your stock when she reversed her battle opponent. So as well as costing zero stock, despite needing a specific climax card in the climax area, she gains a significant amount of power and can easily knock down a Level 2 or low powered Level 3 (especially with an assist), and to top it off, she can gain you a nice extra stock on top of the one you gain from her attacking :D - [Character]  Unchanging Smile, Madoka ~ 8000 power, 1 cost; Now this card ties closely with the character above, but for the fact that when she attacks (again when a specific climax "Mild Days" in the Climax Area) you can put a Magic character from your hand and discard it into the waiting room + Rest one of your Stood Magic Characters. If you do, you can search your deck for up to 2 Magic characters, reveal them to your opponent and put them into your hand, shuffle your deck afterwards. I adore this character as it's a decent way to quickly find units you may need for your next combo-filled turn :D

 - [Character]  Homura Became a Demon ~ 10000 power, 2 cost; Now this effect-filled Level 3 unit combos with another Level 3 (Ultimate Madoka) and a Level 0 (Madoka from the New World). [Cont] If there is a marker underneath this card, this card gets +8500 power - turning this character to 18500 power makes this card a very troublesome unit that little can overpower or get rid of by pure brute force. [Auto] When this card is placed on stage by hand, choose one of your cards named "Ultimate Madoka" and place it underneath this card as a marker - setting herself up nicely for that massive power increase - and then if you do, choose a card named "Madoka from the New World" in your waiting room, and put it on any position on your stage. So as well as the power gain, you also gain another unit to your stage without using resources from hand which is a nice touch. Her third ability is [Auto](2) and put a card from hand into your waiting room; when this card's battle opponent becomes reversed, you may pay the cost to put that character into your opponent's clock: dealing them more damage and getting rid of their field at the same time. Overall a powerful unit and a decent Level 3 to run if you can't get hold of others you may like :)

     Red

 - [Character]  Intuitive Type, Kyoko ~ 10000 power, 2 cost; Mighty Kyoko is back in a new light as the Red healing Level 3 and with 2 stock and putting a card from your hand into your waiting room, when she attacks, before triggers, you may deal one damage to your opponent; so as well as healing a point of damage, you can deal you opponent essentially the one you healed ;P A nice flavour character for any mono Red or infamous Red/Blue deck! - [Character]  Unyielding Girl, Kyoko ~ 9500 power, 2 cost; This Level 2 Kyoko has one particular ability of interest; a climax focused skill allowing you to choose a card from your waiting room and return it back to your hand, and this card gets +1500 power until the end of your opponent's next turn, by paying 1 stock when she attacks when "Reunion and Alliance" is in your climax area. This character can also be changed into through "Puella Magic Holy Quintet" Kyoko: A Level 1, 2500 power, 1 cost character that has assist of +500 and +1 level and the change occurs before your Draw Phase :)

 - [Character]  Doubt Towards the World, Kyoko ~ 2500 power, 0 cost; A nice Level 1 "suicide" character where despite her power, she has the ability to reverse her battle opponent if it is Level 1 or less when she becomes reversed; basically take out her opponent before she goes to the waiting room: easily sorting out those overpowered Level 1s - Humanity's Strongest Solider, Levi for example. She also has a second ability to give another of your Magic characters +1500 power when she becomes reversed: so including her dealing with pesky Level 1 characters, being able to give another of your characters +1500 power could be enough to stop it from being taken out through power during your opponent's turn; having this on the field with the similar Level 0 version can disrupt your opponent's plan a considerable amount.

 - [Event]  A World Tampered With ~ 0 cost; Both you and your opponent returns all cards in his/her waiting room back into his/her deck and shuffles them afterwards. A Level 1, 0 costing event card that gives you a free refresh; the ideal play to make once your opponent already manually refreshes and takes damage ;P This card may not be a staple, but to me a 2 of this card could save you from those extra refresh damage you have to take in the game.

     Blue

 - [Character]  One Guided By The Law of the Cycle, Sayaka ~ 9500 power, 2 cost; This Level 3 character will definitely make you want to run Blue or at very least, splash some Blue in your deck. She has 3 abilities, one of which is Climax based: the first is [Cont] if the number of Climaxes in your waiting room is 6 or less, she gets -1 level while in your hand. Another nice character to call earlier in the game that expected. Comboed along with the Blue Brainstorm character - Memories of a Witch, Sayaka - you can speed up this process and/or make use of seeing so many climaxes early in your game. The second skill activates before your opponent's Draw Phase; if she is in your centre stage, her ability gives any one of your Magic characters +4000 power until the end of turn. One sure way to make herself more difficult to dispose of or one of your other key units. Her climax needing third ability allows you to pay 1 stock when she attacks, and if you do, you may search your deck for up to two Magic characters, reveal them to your opponent and add them to your hand. Another fantastic skill that allows you to directly obtain the characters you may need to set up an awesome combo in your next turn :D

 - [Character]  "Magical Girls' Tea Party" Sayaka ~ 6000 power, 1 cost; I quite like this little Level 1 and to me, it's worth 2-3 spaces in your deck. First reason is the fact that she has Encore (the "from top deck to your clock" kind) and the second working to help set up the above Sayaka as you can ditch a climax card during your Main Phase to give her +1000 power and the following skill: "[Auto] When this card's battle opponent becomes reversed, you may draw a card". A nice indirect ditch-and-draw there but although you have to discard a climax card, it does help speed up the Level 3s Sayaka's set up :) - [Character]  "Exterminating Nightmares" Sayaka ~ 8000 power, 2 cost; This cute Level 2 Sayaka has two nice abilities: the first being when it is placed on stage by hand, if you have 4 or more other Magic characters, you may put the top card of your deck into your stock; essentially getting 1 stock back after paying for her which isn't bad as you can get a much needed card out of the stock and a more useless one from the deck to replace it. The second skill is each time another of your Magic characters attacks, she gains +1000 power, so an ideal character to attack last in your front stage formation to gain the most power from your turn.

   Final Thoughts?

 So far, I am really adoring this set as a whole and enjoying playtesting my deck builds against other Madoka builds. I am currently playtesting a mono Green build focusing around Homura/Madoka, and a mono Yellow build with Mami/Nagisa. At some point I shall be splashing some Blue support in my Green deck, but enjoying mono colours until I feel that I have found a decent and consistent enough mono Green build for my playstyle :D

 My friend - as well as a few locals - is focusing around a Red/Blue deck which appears to be a popular choice amongst Weiss players in general, however I may stand corrected :3

 This set is definitely one to consider for people who either have the older support, like the anime or fancy something different to play. throughout each of the colours, they all have similar skills such as the use of "shift" and "change" so you can utilise general skills as well as the focused traits of each colour. Get creative and enjoy this amazingly balanced (in my opinion ;P) set!!

  That's all for now Readers, so I hope you enjoyed this first ever Weiss blog post and maybe see you again soon when I post up my decklists separately :D

       Moka x x