Moka Explains: Attack on Titan - Red & Blue!

Welcome Readers!

To some AOT Red and Blue deck list ideas!

 In part II of my coverage of Attack on Titan deck lists, we shall be focusing on looking at mono Red and mono Blue. As mentioned before, you can easily mix colours in Attack on Titan support but if you're new to the game or just starting at deck build, I would highly recommend trying a mono coloured deck then once you get accustomed to the game play and gain a good feel for what you want your deck to do, then proceed to mix colours; doing this, to me, makes it so much easier to keep your deck balanced and consistent.
 Also, these are only sample decks that I feel I would start off with, then slowly alter the cards and/or amounts depending on how I feel the deck runs personally for me, so please take that into account before reading onwards :D Thank you!
 If you missed Part I, just click here: Part I

    Red - Cadet Support: Mikasa and the Recruits!
 Now this deck list is what I have in mind at the moment so it may obviously change when I get round to a good time to play test it out. Although, the general concept of this Cadet deck list is to make sure there is consistent power throughout your attacks, with the odd defencive and aggressive flare with climax combos. Some red units, like yellow, have the ability to move during your opponent's turn to avoid them from being attacked; I really like this ability addition to the general effects as it shows how the cadets would use their gear to get away from oncoming trouble.
  Climax cards:   8
      - The Girl the World Saw   x4
      - I Can Hear His Heartbeat    x4
 I chose these specific climaxes due to the characters I chose to run in this build. You can easily swap these around if you wish to run other climax-based combos in your deck, so this part is always personal preference and down to what you want your climaxes to do; support a combo or act as a general climax card.
    Alternatives:
          - Same Class  ~  Double Soul Trigger;  [Cont] All of your characters gains +2 soul - works with "Bold Crime" Sasha.
          - Day of Resolution  ~  Door Trigger;  [Cont] All of your characters get +1000 power and +1 soul.
          - I Can Hear His Heartbeat  ~  Double Soul Trigger;  [Auto] When placed in Climax Area from hand, choose up to one Red card from your waiting room and put it into your stock, and all of your character get +1 soul until the end of turn.
  Level 0s:    12
      - "Strong Spirit" Reiner    x4
      - "104th Cadet Corps Class" Bertholdt   x2/3
      - "104th Cadet Corps Class" Marco  x3
      - "Battle Stance" Jean   x3/2
 Reiner is the Red assist card that gives all characters in front of him +500 power at all times. He also allows you to give one of your characters another +500 power each time another of your <Corps> characters becomes <reversed> which can easily damage your opponent's plans of clearing your Front stage. Marco is a quirky little character as when he is placed on stage from hand, you reveal the top card of your deck and if it is a <Corps> character, you add it to your hand, then you choose a card from your hand and discard it to the waiting room. He also [bond] with "104th Cadet Corps Class, Jean". Bertholdt is 3500 power for 0 cost so he cannot effectively be played if you do not have another <Corps> character on stage, otherwise he must be put into the waiting room. Battle Stance Jean is a typical Level 0 "suicider" that forces its Level 0 or lower battle opponent to <reverse> if he gets <reversed>, and has the ability to give one of your <Corps> character +1500 power until end of turn by paying the cost.
    Alternatives:
          - "104th Cadet Corps Class" Christa  ~  2500 power, 0 cost;  [Auto][(1) Put the top card of your deck into your clock] When placed on stage from hand, if you pay the cost, choose a Level 1 or lower character from your waiting room, and return it to your hand.
          - "Paving a Way for the Future" Mikasa  ~  2500 power, 0 cost;  [Auto] At the beginning of your opponent's attack phase, you may put the top card of your deck into your waiting room and if that card was a <Corps> character, you may move her to an open position on your centre stage.
  Level 1s:     14
      - "Battle Stance" Mikasa   x4
      - "Sore Loser Personality" Jean   x3
      - Hand of Salvation   x2    {event}
      - "Healing Goddess" Christa   x3
      - "104th Cadet Corps Class" Sasha   x2
 Now my Level 1 lineup consists of a nice defencive changer and powered cadets. Battle Mikasa gets +1000 power and +1 level when placed on stage by hand, and has the ability to [change] effectively when she is frontal attacked. If you choose to pay the cost, you may call up to one card names "Beyond the Walls, Mikasa" in your hand to the stage as a defending character. Hand of Salvation is the only event card I chose to run in this build where you may return a <Corps> character from your waiting room back to hand, choose a card from your hand and discard it, then choose one of your characters and give it +3000 power until the end of turn; a very nice salvage event with the ability to also power up a character as well. Sore Jean is simply a free stock-costing 5000 powered character that gains +1000 power continuously if all of your other characters are <Corps>. Sasha can gain +1500 power if you have two or more other <Corps> characters and also [Encore]. Finally, Healing Christa has the ability to give one of your characters in battle +2500 power until the end of turn if you pay the cost when another of your <Corps> characters is frontal attacked.
    Alternatives:
        - "Awkward Affection" Mikasa  ~  4500 power, 0 cost;  Now this card can ideally only be played if you plan on mixing Red with Yellow or vise versa as she is heavily reliant on "Eren" being on your stage: [Cont] If you do not have another character with "Eren" in its card name, this card cannot <stand> during your stage phase.  &  [Cont] If you have another character with "Eren" in its card name, this card gets +1500 power.  &  [Auto](1) When this card attacks, if "I Can Hear His Heartbeat" is in your climax area, if you pay the cost and if you do, choose an "Eren" character from your waiting room and return it to hand, and this card gets +1500 power until the end of turn.
  Level 2s:    13
      - "Beyond the Walls" Mikasa   x4
      - "104th Cadet Corps Class" Mikasa    x3
      - Mikasa Ackermann    x3
      - "104th Cadet Corps Class" Jean   x3
 Again, more Mikasa character cards to play with! Corps Class Mikasa is our [change] character that gains +1000 power - up to twice per turn - when another <Corps> character is placed on stage. At the beginning of your encore step if she is <rested>, you may pay the cost and if you do, she goes to your waiting room. Then you choose a card named "Resisting Fate, Mikasa" from your waiting room and place it on stage in the position that this card was on. Beyond the Walls Mikasa is unable to side attack, but at 8000 power base, she gains an additional +500 power for each of your other <Corps> characters. Then if you have "The World the Girl Saw" in your climax area and her battle opponent becomes <reversed>, you may deal your opponent one point of damage (this can be cancelled). Mikasa Ackermann is a trial deck exclusive card and was explained in the main Attack on Titan blog post: AOT. Jean gains +2000 power when another of your characters becomes <reversed> and has the following [Act] ability: Pay 1 stock and until the end of turn, he gains +1000 power and [Auto] When this card's battle opponent becomes <reversed> you may put that card on the top of your opponent's deck.
    Alternatives:
        - "Bold Crime" Sasha  ~  7500 power, 1 cost;  [Cont] Gains +1000 power if you have 5 or more in your stock. &  [Cont] Gains <Potato> on stage.  &  [Auto] When this card attacks, if you have "Same Class" in your climax area, choose up to one cards in your opponent's waiting room and put it on top of your opponent's deck, and this card gets +3000 power until the end of turn.
        - "104th Cadet Corps Class" Reiner  ~  7500 power, 2 cost;  [Cont] If the number of other <Corps> characters is two or more, this card gains +1000 power and [Encore][Put a character from your hand into your waiting room].  &  [Act][Rest] one of your <Corps> characters and this card gains +1000 power until the end of turn.
  Level 3s:    4
      - "Resisting Fate" Mikasa   x4
 Like a mono Green deck, this is your only Red Level 3 option I'm afraid. However, this version of Mikasa is pretty awesome with 3 abilities; her first ability is a powerup where she gains +2000 power continuously if you have two or more other <Corps> characters on stage taking her to 11000 power before assist or other power-ups. Her second ability states that when she is placed on stage by hand or by [change], you may put the top card of your clock into your waiting room so a nice healing ability to play with. Her final ability is occurs at the beginning of your opponent's attack phase where you may pay 1 stock and if you do, you may choose one of your <Corps> characters and this card and exchange them as <stand>, allowing Mikasa to step up the mark and protect one of her more fragile comrades: as also portrayed strongly in the anime.

 Obviously when it comes to decks where there are many cards to choose from, I can't recommend/state all of the possible and best alternatives for the colour/set so I encourage you to personally dig a little deeper into the set if you don't find what you are looking for here :) Best of luck!

    Blue - The Mighty Titans!

 Now this decklist is what I recommended to a friend (include the Green Hange card) and he won a very considerable amount of games with it; so hopefully it will also have the same luck to you! In summary, the idea of this Titan deck is to early game beat down your opponent, then while they gain some higher Level cards, you bind your time until you can unleash the ultimate Titan: the Colossal Titan!! Along with the assisting havoc that the Female Titan brings, she has a few tricks of her own to mess around with your opponent.

  Climax cards:   8

      - Subjugation     x4

      - And, in 850...    x4
 Seeing as there is only 2 Blue Climaxes for AOT out to date, these are the only choices you have sadly. However, they make up for it by being part of some amazingly powerful combos throughout the Blue Titans. Subjugation is a Draw/Book Trigger Climax, but does have the ability to give all of your characters +1000 power and +1 soul until the end of turn. 850 is a both a Soul and Treasure Trigger climax, and has the same ability as Subjugation. The treasure ability allows that climax to go to your hand instead of to Stock when triggered meaning you can slowly build your hand for the mega combo of the deck.

  Level 0s:   11

      - "Towering Threat" Titan   x4

      - "Predation" Titan    x7
  Now one of the best things I found about the Blue Titan build is how the deck portrays the real Titans in the anime as they keep on coming regardless of how many is slain by the Corps. What I mean by this is that you may run as many as Predation and Invasion Titans as you possibly want in the deck. Towering is a nice early game support card as it gives your other character in the middle position of the centre stage +1000 power and also has the [Act] ability to search your deck for up to one <Titan> character, reveal and add it to your hand if you pay the cost of 2 stock and <resting> Towering; also shuffle your deck afterwards.

    Alternatives:

          - "No. 1 Oddball" Hange  ~  2000 power, 0 cost;  [Auto][(1) Put a card from your hand into your waiting room] When placed on stage from your hand, if you pay the cost, search your deck for up to one <Corps> or <Titan> character, reveal and add it to your hand, and shuffle your deck afterwards.
          - "Captured Titan" Sawney  ~  1500 power, 0 cost;  [Auto] When placed on the stage by hand, you may put X cards from the top of your deck into your Waiting Room. X is equal to the amount of <Titan> characters you have.  &  [Auto][Put a card from your hand into your Waiting Room] When placed on stage from your hand, if you pay the cost, choose one of your characters and that characters gets +1500 power until the end of your opponent's next turn.

  Level 1s:    13

      - "Invasion" Titan  x7

      - "Cruel Smile" Titan   x3

      - Forest of Giant Trees   x3    {event}
 Now Cruel cannot side attack, but at 7000 power, he's pretty nice to have out as soon as possible once your lower Titans are destroyed; especially as he also has [Encore]. As for Forest, it allows you to search for up to two <Titan> character from your deck and add them to your hand, and the only cost it has is to discard a card and put it into the waiting room. A very nice event card to allow you to find the missing pieces to your puzzle! 

    Alternatives:

        - "Overwhelming Power" Female Titan  ~  2000 power, 1 cost;  [Backup] +1500 power  &  [Auto] When this card is used as [Backup], if the number of <Titan> characters you have is three or more, choose one of your characters in battle and that character gets +1500 power until the end of turn.

  Level 2s:    12

      - "Broken Wall" Colossal Titan   x4

      - "Threat to Humanity" Colossal Titan   x4

      - "High Intellect" Female Titan   x4
 For this Level 2 line up, there isn't much going on in terms of physical attack brutality as Threat and Broken cannot attack without Stature on the stage; Threat has abilities that focus around the other pieces of the Colossal Titan where if it is on the Left position on stage, it gives the other two piece +1000 power at all times. Also, if you pay the cost when this card attacks and the climax "And, in 850..." is in the climax area, all of your <Titan> characters get +3500 power until the end of turn. Broken has similar skills where he gives Threat and Stature Titan +1000 power each if he is on the Right position of your centre stage. Again focusing around "850..." when he attacks you may draw a card.
 Please find other important details on Threat and Broken with Statures description.
 However, the Female Titan can be a game winner. She gives all of your other <Titan> characters +1000 power at all times, also when you place a climax card in your climax area, you may pay the cost and if you do, you deal your opponent a huge five damage. Although that damage can be cancelled (if it is you just thin out their deck which can be a good thing), it may also not be cancelled and can finish the game! You may also <rest> her as an [Act] and if you do, she gives one of your <Titan> characters +1000 power until the end of turn.

    Alternatives:

        - "Hard Exterior" Armored Titan   ~  7000 power, 1 cost;  [Cont] If all of your characters are <Titan>, this gains +2000 power.  &  [Auto][Put the top card of your deck into your clock] When this card's battle opponent becomes <reversed>, if you pay the cost, draw a card.
       - Spreading War, Colossal Titan  ~  10000 power, 2 cost;  [Auto][Put a Level 0 or lower character from your stage into your waiting room] When this card is placed on stage from hand, you may pay the cost to keep him. If you do not, he gets sent to your waiting room. Also, he is a +2 soul character with a soul trigger.

  Level 3s:    6

      - "Enormous Stature" Colossal Titan   x4
      - "Plan of Capture" Female Titan   x2
 Now you don't have to run the Female Titan supporting Level 3 in this build, but as an iconic character in the anime, I really wanted to run at least 2 of her in this deck as it gain me another option to play with if the Colossal Titan focus doesn't go to plan. Colossal Titan has 3 wordy abilities: the first states that if "Threat" and "Broken" (the Level 2 pieces) are on your stage, Stature gets -1 level while in your hand; enabling the other pieces of the puzzle to get going! The second ability states that continuously during your opponent's turn, if Stature is in your centre stage and not <reversed>, "Threat" and "Broken" cannot become <reversed>; making them highly problematic for your opponent. The third and final ability of Stature is climax based - And, in 850... - and at the beginning of your encore step, you may pay the cost of putting that climax into your waiting room and if you do, return the top card of your clock into your hand and this card gets +3000 power until the end of your opponent's next turn; making the Colossal Titan 16000+ power easy during your opponent's turn if you have the right set up. 

 However, you must take into account that if the Colossal Titan head is gets <reversed> and slain to the waiting room, "Threat" and "Broken" automatically will lose its indestructibility and will also follow suit to the waiting room.
 The Female Titan also has 3 abilities: the first forces the character in front of her to have -1 soul continuously. Her second ability is climax based - Subjugation - because when she attacks with that particular climax in the Climax area, if all of your characters are <Titans>, draw a card, and until your opponent's next turn, the character facing her gets -1 soul. Her final ability revolves around being frontal attacked where you may discard a <Titan> character from your hand into the waiting room and if you do, she gains +2500 power until end of turn; so a very nice defencive ability there, especially when combined with that Blue [Backup] card!

 The Titans are forever ruthless and ready to cause problems for their Corps counterparts, and the Cadets have a long way to go before they can truly take down the Colossal Titan... right? Or perhaps they are ready to take him down to size or two! 
 Show your opponent that you have confidence in your build, and let them Cadets sore to victory, or those Titans smash through their defences! 
 Now I hope these deck lists have helped you with something you might have been stuck on before and that the details of each as aided you with learning how to use those cards to bet of their ability and potential.

   Anyway, that's all from me readers!   Take care and see you next time!
      Moka x x

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