Yes this piece has been so long overdue that most of the points I feel like that I could’ve talked for hours are so long outdated due to the meta shifting and new sets etc. But its 5 am now as of writing, I am awake for no good reason, so why not turn that into something less depressing and perhaps productive, and hey its the game’s 2nd Anni stream today. _(:3 」∠ )_
I’ll be going into each individual card choices that are used in the deck (Yes including the CXs).
Card Breakdown
0/0 3.5k Center runner
Red fix, lvl 0 attacker than can actually beat stuff. Being a runner also means you can slightly control the amount of damage you take at 0. There’s not much to say other than its your main plussing 0 alongside the JC. I’d recommend to run this over the coinflip/runner version as without this, you’ll find yourself being unable to reverse anything at 0.
0/0 Console JC
This is our main way of sustaining attackers at 0 while prepping for lvl 1, its just really good. This also turns your brainstorms into 5-card brainstorms, which is even more deck speed for the top 3 to find your Choice for a near guaranteed lvl 1 refresh. Do note the add to hand is mandatory if it succeeds, so you can’t use it as a top check option, use Rikos or your brainstorm for that. As a result, it would be best not to play this early on turn 1-2 unless you have multiple dead cards to filter as pushing more cards into triggering a CX at 0 does not provide much value when our WR is not prepped yet, but is still fine to slam down with other utility 0s like your drop search 2.
This alongside the Riko is one of the other reasons you don’t need to run the 0 Green Riki, you are almost guaranteed 2 playables at 0 every single turn unless your opp somehow manages to hard remove both of them. But doing so usually involves zone bombs which gives you free directs that you can still take advantage of to close the damage gap even with only 1-2 attacks per turn. The option to bouncing the Bodyguard is also something to keep in mind. Usually matchups that would involve the need for that are against decks that have a solid wall-based midgame (eg. Slime Mjurran, AGS Standby). These decks usually carry some form of techs that allow them to breakthrough insane power lines against defensive stuff like the Bodyguard (eg. no backup 4.5k cross turn EPs, 4k pump on CX placement), but its also balanced by the fact that its usually a one-time/turn deal. Just casually plopping the Bodyguard down again the next turn can be intensely frustrating for the opp to consider whether its even worth trying to contest it.
0/0 Riko (Dokitema)
Use this mainly to salvage non-soul targets and as your top check info. As mentioned in the JC section, this keeps your 0 attackers sustained smoothly. Since this handy handfix is so versatile, you usually would prefer to keep around 1 at all times if you can afford it in hand. This leads into this being your main clock target to satisfy Yellow for 1, as ideally you want to naturally put Red for lvl 1 for the Accelerate Riki (which fixes Yellow for you anyway) and to enable playing Standby if it comes down to it. You don’t feel too bad about losing this as Tama takes her place most of the time past lvl 1, but stockless handfix is still good. Treat this as your additional copies of utility like the CX swapper and 0 killer, this allows us to get away with running the bare minimum 1 to have access to those profiles while having the most flexibility, which is key in ensuring that whatever route your opp decides to approach the midgame, you can always throw back another hurdle for them to answer that forces them to expand more resources each consecutive turn.
0/0 Juiced drop search 2
1 of the main consistency enablers of, well, basically everything. Its your main glue that holds the jank together here. Searching 2 lvl 1 CXCs basically guarantees a lvl 1 refresh, and its also used to remove non-soul triggers starting from the midgame for our lvl 2 CXC and to just get better compression in general.
You might be wondering why this is a 2-of instead of 3 or more if its so good. We only have 4 choice CXs and no other ways of gaining additional stock here, thus every stock use should be pre-planned with caution. Mindlessly spamming this isn’t the worst thing in the world, but the value drops off fast once you’ve got most of what you need and further compression isn’t worth the 1 stock for that time.
0/0 lvl 0 Killer
A personal tech favourite. This card enables us to shut down the previously mentioned play that your opp can do to prevent the Wind combo, that is to pass turn with active lanes. However now we don’t need to use up a CX and a back row slot for it. This was really funny in killing HOL’s Luna back when 8 Standby HOL was a thing. Its also a very scuffed way of paying out stock if you desperately need to fill the WR with something. You could swap this for the anti encore, but keep in mind that that effect is only useful when you actually win board, and at that point you’d want to try to extend your range as much as possible to increase the damage gap as much as humanly possible. Its also even more filter for the early game, and if you already have what you need, the soul pump mode is also pretty sweet.
0/0 CX Swap
Just a CX swap, that’s it. Usually with 3 CX splits decks you generally want at least 2, but since outside of our lvl 1 plussing CXC all our other CXs are only played situationally, the value of keeping a CX and making sure it does something next turn isn’t as high as those decks. Keep this in the WR if possible and grab it with Riko/Tama when you need it, since you usually go for the top 3 brainstorm route to fetch a CX or dump the CX you need into WR.
0/0 Salvage Brainstorm
Standard salvage brainstorm. We are only playing 1 as we are running the other top 3 brainstorm as our main brainstorm of choice. Because of how strong our Tama EP is, you usually aren’t stressed for salvage options anyway in this deck. The Choice combo giving us insane deckspeed is also a contributing factor that can allow us to pretty much reliably keep the cards we want to be in WR upon lvl 2 safely tucked in clock and not risk leveling up before that, so grabbing selective techs is also not a major issue.
The first effect is a mandatory effect, which you usually just dump it in on itself if you didn’t need it as it puts you at risk of ACC shenanigans, which is also why its rated much less than the top 3 brainstorm. Would be slightly better in a build that run lvl assists, but that’s about it.
0/0 Top 3 Add 1 Brainstorm
Your main way of finding CXs and confirming soul/burns for the 2/1 Wind CXC or Miki burn. Its also the main contributing factor to our deck speed to dump WR targets for Choice/Standby uses.
1/0 Choice CXC
Casually plucking 2 of these at 0 and fetching a Choice from the top 3 brainstorm just automatically performs Operation delete-a-deck for you. Because of this speed and that almost all of our discard outlets are able to discard any card, its actually feasible to hold on to multiple CXs depending on the matchup.
Why this instead of the effective +2 Wind combo? First is because the excess Wind trigger is a liabity unless you warp your deck to effectively dig for that Wind trigger, which at that point you might as well do 8 Wind for the Wind brainstorm. The second thing is that its makes it so much harder to control when you refresh, as merely doing a top 4 as opposed to effectively top 6 for multiple lanes makes a significant difference.
1/0 Accelerate Search Riki
Yes our “Riki” is a lvl 1. The consolation here is that its the best clock version for colour fixing, and it grabs anything without lvl restriction. You rarely play this down as most of your stock has went to plucking the lvl 1 CXCs, JC and brainstorms early on, its mostly here as an available option to access stuff in deck as most of the toolboxing done is with the WR.
This is also chosen over the stock charger due to the fact the stock charger needs a CX in play. We are not running Pants, and we have no real way to grab CXs outside of top 3 Brainstorm. The value of CXs played midgame for HBR are dependant on whether are we actually performing a CXC as the soul damage can be compensated for every successful Bodyguard turn, and besides if that succeeds you have nothing to reverse anyway.
うふっ ♡◕‿↼)
2/1 Bodyguard
Ah Chie Bodyguard my beloved. It was the pioneer of the 15.5k “isekai truck” combo, which is where you pair it with the 3k memory backup to just yeet everything to the Memory, since power boosts from backups and the memory kick effect lasts the entire turn. Its the main playmaker for the 2/1 Wind CXC by forcing your opp to have an answer to its presence. Even in the cases where you have literally nothing prepared for the combo next turn, it effectively gave you a free CX damage output by generating 3 direct lanes.
In games where your opp manages to topple it, do note that its still sorta forces the opp to have the power immediately on the first attack as opposed to being able to stack boosts on the 2nd or 3rd swing by utilizing a shit ton of power pumps, as its still opens up that lane. Do note that you can stack more than 1 backup on this if your opp attempts that route though. Its usually not worth the 2 hand 2 stock but its worth keeping in mind.
Basically, do not play this with the intention of going to capitalize on it with the Wind combo next turn, assuming it succeeds. This is meant to be as the sweetest bait for your opp to trade unnecesary resources with you to force them to be on a even-playing field with you. If they don’t, they you just forcefully accelerate the game state anyway to prevent them from getting to the ideal full setup.
2/1 Wind Ping 1 CXC
Main star (?) of the midgame and is the hidden component that makes Bodyguard actually require attention from your opp. The nature of the Wind 2/1 being basically free means you shouldn’t be like holding more than 2 of it at any point unless you’re dead sure your opp is unable to respond. Think of it as a 2/0 where you just put in the deck because you can for soul triggers. Its kinda funny how much my opp respects the 2/1 more than myself as the player, as its the threat rather than the actual execution that gives it the strength to be played in this manner. In other words, its the most overhyped paper tiger that works because it can be a tiger
2/1 Accelerate Antichange backup
If not for the Bodyguard this card would’ve likely been cut due to the self-damage, but the option to have a chance at guarantee removal of multiple EPs is still a very good play. Its also technically a slightly stronger power boost than the memory kick backup. Just be careful you don’t crash too much on your turn, as the sack cost might turn off your Bodyguard’s 8k boost due to losing field condition making the Bodyguard into a teddy bear.
2/1 Memory kick backup
The “isekai truck” combo’s truck driver. Run 2 as you want access to it at all times, and you don’t always want to spend extra resources to recur it as those resources are used for the EP heal loop or getting the Bodyguard/CX back online again. Besides, with the EP spam and the occasional Standby-ed lvl 3s, you have quite a few bodies to work with to clear a lane anyway.
3/2 EP Heal + Salvage
Another card that “salvages” this build. This is what allows us to treat the lvl 1 clock as a phantom “second hand” for the lvl 2 midgame plan. Since the 2/1 Wind CXC is basically free, your stock costs are usually valued in even numbers to loop this EP or to play down the lvl 3s later. Its also the main discard outlets for setting up the WR for lvl 2, as you would prefer to keep the Riko in hand to go for stuff like the CX swap only when the opportunity presents itself.
3/2 Antibackup Miki
One of the major key points of why I think this build is the best one. Its an odd addition for sure, you don’t see much people, if any, running this in any non-Standby builds except maybe Door top end just cause how expensive it is. The reason for playing this is simple –
You’re usually not having all 3 lanes empty when you go into Wind combo, or more likely is that you haven’t sculpted triple combo anyway.
Looking into any other CX split versions, there is a glaring problem that is often swept under the rug and ignored. Its the fact that there is no other way to extend your range outside of Fumio or maybe the backrow 2/2 when you only satisfy condition for the Wind combo in 2 or less lanes. Doing triple CXCs requires you to constantly trade away your entire hand, which is unreasonable. That would require you to hold multiple CX swaps, or the CX themselves as well, both of which hinder your ability to respond to gamestates by forcing you to play on a effective 5-card hand starting from as early as late lvl 1. By having your auxilary finisher be able to co-exist with the Wind package, you can always focus on the game plan to loop Bodyguard for draining resources and accelerate the game.
It is also the main answer in terms of resource trade to whatever answered the Bodyguard. Standby this in the back on the turn you played the Bodyguard, it forces your opp into a Catch-22 where they have to decide whether to commit additional resources to taking out the Bodyguard, which would be swiftly dealt with next turn with this 3/2, or ignore it and take the brunt of the Wind combo. It also turns off the option to try to intentionally leave a few lanes alive by not attacking, as it just shuts down any possible form of counter step shenanigans. This card alongside the 3/2 that combos with the Wind is the reason I settled on Standby for the 2 blank CXs.
3/2 Board Nuke Wind CXC
You only go into this if the opp board is a massive resource dump where they hope to slowly roll that advantage. (eg. Shana 4.5k encore Yuuji strats, DC Perfect Affection Otome). Since your opp is able to encore the targets after the nuke resolves, you almost never go and try to resolve this alongside the 2/1, only play this out when you desperately need the nuke as the effect automatically goes off if you have the Wind in play and she’s in front.
Do note due to the nature of how the sequence of resolving AUTO abilities work, if you ever catch your opp at a deck state lower than 3 cards, this combo effectively shuts down encore on itself too, since the targets are refreshed into the new deck before they even get to resolve the pending encore.
3/2 Fumio
You play this just because its your only decompression tool, and you put it in as an option. Or AKA, Ask yourself how much do you hate the top 5 cards of your opp’s deck?
Lvl 1 Choice CX
Max out at 4. Getting the deck dry into the second deck is your No.1 priority, and the trigger is arguable the best out of all the 3 types we run in most situarions.
Lvl 2/3 Wind CX
The Wind CX for the lvl 2 and lvl 3 CXC.
2 is the sweet spot to be able to try and get it when needed and not need to fear that it will disappear into the abyss once 1 is out in an inaccesible location. You also don’t need more than 2 as you don’t have good ways to enable or capitalize on triggering the Wind when needed, so having more just decreases your overall effectiveness.
Blank Standby CX
So we are running only 2 Wind, what are the other 2 CXs we want to put in then? There’s 3 CXs that are able to benefit this deck and is on colour, that being Door, Choice and Standby. Comparing these options, I settled on Standby for the following reasons:
-We won’t be running the lvl 3 CXC characters anyway (see Miki section).
-Little reason to have more WR access when you have Tama.
-Enables the lvl 3 early to make answering the Bodyguard an actual thing your opp has to consider
-Its the only one that has a soul trigger on it.
For the cases where the opp has access to effect removal to get rid of Bodyguard, you should aim to keep your Standby for accessing the lvl 3 Miki or the field nuke CXC. Most sets do not have the ability to keep on recycling those removal cards every consecutive turn, so your objective should be to keep trying to recycle the Bodyguard every turn to force a resource trade. The Standby-ed lvl 3s are the incentive for doing so, go for Miki if they cannot loop the answer well, as it still somewhat forces them to need to answer the Bodyguard to answer the Miki.
Note: (For competitive uses you’d likely be better running the ones that have a CXC in the main set (Best option is probably the 31F CX, due to it being at low counts makes sense for a splash). This is to make your opp guess whether you actually run the combos. I instead just used the box PRs cause Karen cute ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
Closing Thoughts
This is the first deck ever that I’d be confident in calling “solved”, and it turning out into this, um, “beautiful” piece of jank greatly please me. Would’ve liked to delve into the cards that didn’t make the cut too, but I’m starting to actually run out of productive stuff to write about and I’d likely ramble into too niche territories.
Someone once said: “If you throw shit at the wall enough times, it eventually sticks”.
I’d like to suggest a follow up on that that pretty much sums out how I feel about the deck.
“If you throw it fast enough sometimes your opp mistakes it for cake and eats it.”
That’s it for this shitpost, see ya (maybe) next time.
Currykaesu - Fair Curry Gamers 