A Word on Staples

Staples, for those who do not know the definition in terms of card games, are essentially core cards or types of cards that are usually used in a majority of decks, meta or not. Staples exist in most card games being a good set of cards that have beneficial all around effects to help decks function and work.

Staples in Weiss Schwarz are pretty standard from set to set. The only difference usually is that the staples may perform slightly different from one another in terms of activation cost. Staple profiles also vary constantly with sets having different profiles available. Staples also evolve overtime with more current-day staples being more efficient or having better secondary effects/power than older versions of said staples. Some sample types are referred below.

One of the most common form of staples is the brainstorm. It is a common way to try and RNG to gain extra hand or advantage without committing some sort of reverse or climax combo. Brainstorms come in all ways and forms with different effects such as popping opponent’s boards to letting you add cards to hand. They also have three different activating costs usually in the form of tap two characters (any two characters), tap self or spammable cost 1. Needless to say the most commonly desired brainstorm comes in the tap self as you don’t need to commit other field for the effect. Spammable brainstorms usually only have filter effects rather than letting you actually net a card off their effect. Newer sets usually have better secondary effects as well such as giving some sort of field advantage or having some on-play filter.

Another very much desired staple card effect is the Riki effect exemplified by the cards above. It is a common profile to run to ensure that you get your level 1 combo or other cards you need for your early game. At a cheap cost of a single stock and damaging yourself, you gain advantage without the need to discard hand. As with the case above, Riki effects have also changed throughout the years. Riki effects now can obtain hand with various conditions dependent on the Riki itself. Secondary effects have also improved somewhat, with some adding additional combat power and other utility effects.

The above profiles were commonly referred to drop search, however many variants to this kind of profile exist. It’s an odd name to consider since many of these cards don’t exactly do their effect on play nor do they exactly search. The idea of the card maintains the same goal. You play these cards and when their condition is fulfilled, you pay a cost and discard a card to retrieve another card. Initially, these cards were called drop search because a majority of the profile cards were commonly activating their effects on play and searching the deck. Times have changed and just like the other two discussed staple types, effects have improved.

Staples are a commonly seen bunch of cards found in many decks of that specific series. The reason they’re so used is because their effects are generic and reliable. Many work to net you some quick filter or cheap advantage. Keep in mind that not every staple is ran in every deck. Some decks may not even opt to carry a single Riki or drop search at all. It fully depends on your deck. Furthermore, not every set has availability for every type of staple. Mix and match and see what fits.