Designing a deck

When designing a deck, remember that the 50 card deck requirement with 42 playable cards and 8 climaxes always applies. Also, no more of 4 cards with the same individual name can be played unless written otherwise.

There are many types of cards in Weiss Schwarz, some of which will help you regenerate hand, others that let you filter cards and others that help in niche scenarios. How and which cards you choose to use are ultimately define the strategy that you want to make. This article will try and explain certain types of cards that are prevalent in every deck and should be highly considered during deck making.

One of the first batch of cards to consider are finishers such as those above. Games cannot last forever, and a player needs some way to close out the game and force their opponents to level 4. Finishers usually accomplish that goal by dealing additional forms of damage outside of just attacking. Alternative finishing strategies can also attempt to stall out their opponent by healing off soul damage taken or by lowering the amount of soul damage that will be taken in their opponent’s following turn, eventually running them out of resources as they edge closer to level 4.

Another early consideration for a deck lies in the above cards, combo based plus effects which give the player further advantage in the form of hand, stock, etc., through a combination with a climax. These cards are the core of a deck as they act as the very means to refill the player’s resources or give them a slight edge compared to the opponent. As a game wages on and on, players usually find themselves losing advantage and wanting some sort of advantage gain over their opponent, and these cards do that exact job. Most advantage combos are around the level 1 mark. Usually level 0 advantage combos are weaker comparatively and later level advantage combos are far too late when the game is reaching near its end.

The combos you play to get advantage should also take in consideration the end-game finisher chosen. They should be primarily advancing your goals of the deck and fulfil the requirements needed by your end game finishers.

Although players generally don’t have much of a choice with the type of trigger that comes with the combo climax, this can be a factor to consider when building your deck. Each set generally has multiple different combos to use which all net the player advantage in one way or another. Some sets even possess different triggers for the same climax to let players decide which they would like to use.

Another necessary card type usually comes in the form of filter cards which help change resources like the cards in your hand or stock into other forms of advantage such as other cards in your deck or waiting room.

Then there are also comboless advantage gaining cards, usually at level 0 but some can be found in other levels as well. The point of these cards is to net you more advantage at a low cost, usually through a single stock and another action, but the point is, unlike filter cards, they don’t cost you additional cards to activate their effect. The two most common are the two examples above: the left is a commonly named by its keyword effect, concentration 集中 (brainstorm), which lets you net a potential advantage assuming you resolve its conditional clause and the card on the right which shares a common community name in the form of Riki named after the card shown. Riki nets the player advantage by paying a single stock and placing the top card of the deck into your clock as damage (can not be canceled) to gain hand in some way or another.

Then there are the “beat-sticks” or field stickers which are essentially cards with higher power or evasive effects whom just try to maintain a presence on the field. These cards are usually considered the large power cards on your field meant to climb over opponents cards while remaining on field at least until the end of your opponent’s next turn.

There are also “tech” cards, backrow assists, alternative finishers and healers that are used to disrupt your opponent’s field or grant you another effect, power or advantage. As for how many of these are ran in the typical deck, it fully depends on the set and your choice build. Sometimes these cards may not be needed during the match at all while in some matchups they can greatly swing the game in your favor.

The last branch of cards to be discussed are character backups and events (including event backups). These cards are quite situational as not every deck needs them. The backups are great in the fact that they help you maintain field. This can be especially helpful if your deck strategy relies on maintaining a certain card on the field or you just want to net field advantage. It highly depends on the deck to whether these cards are run at all and how many are run in total.

**Events usually require special cards to grab them efficiently, and without those at your dispersal, you simply have to “draw” them somehow otherwise. Take this into consideration when thinking about events.**

Note: Cards are not static. A single card can be multiple types such as a hand advantage card while being a powerful beat-stick.