Bocchi – A Rocking Closet (R/Y) [10/17/2023]

To rise above the ranks in the world of rock and roll, you have to speak to the crowd through social interactions and with your music. Thankfully, the latter half is easy for Bocchi with the former, verbal communication, being the larger problem. Whether she wanted to or not, she now finds herself pinned on center stage, and now with all eyes on her, it’s time to get her show on the road.

Bocchi is cultured in the world of rock, but her multiple attempts to spread the beauty of rock have gone up in flames and continue to haunt her to this very day. Bocchi’s event has two variants, and when they are played, they are sent to memory. The one on the left allows you to search for a character, and the one on the right provides immense burst power and performs a stock shuffle effect where your opponent’s stock is shuffled into their deck and redistributed.

In the daily life of Bocchi, social blunders are commonplace for her; these blunders are so common it wouldn’t be a stretch to say she has mastered them like a form of art. Bocchi’s drop salvage on the left has an on-play effect that sends her event from waiting room to memory. Bocchi on the stake allows you to ditch a card to salvage her event from memory. Lastly, Bocchi on the right can send her event from memory to stock. Be sure to utilize these effects to manipulate the location of Bocchi’s events.

We have talked about Bocchi for a fair bit, but if you want to have a face-to-face encounter with the guitarist in question, you can find her secluded in a dark hidden corner. Thriving in the darkness, Bocchi works her magic and begins to develop material for her big performance. Upon fulfilling her EXPERIENCE condition of having a combined value of two or higher, when Bocchi’s combo attacks, you can discard a card to look up to three cards and add any characters or History of Blunders (失態の歴史) events.

When our reclusive guitarist decides to venture out of her closet, she tends to add another social blunder to her legacy of failures, yet these failed attempts can provide some unseen benefits. Bocchi on the left is an on-play Rize profile that targets events that also sends an opposing costless character to the waiting room if they are the only character on the center stage. Bocchi in a euphoric state is an Aqua profile that targets both characters and her History of Blunders event. Bocchi on the right is a level zero stock bomb and a Rize profile that targets both characters and the History of Blunders event when she is reversed.

As the show begins, Bocchi’s mind starts racing at a million miles with all the struggles and experiences that she and her bandmates have gone through building towards this very performance. Bocchi with her guitar has an on-attack effect that sends a card in your opponent’s waiting room to the top or bottom of their deck. Bocchi in a maid outfit has a hand encore effect, and by fulfilling her EXPERIENCE condition, she becomes a global power pump that pumps power based on a character’s level.

As a quick side note, another addition to consider is Bocchi’s combo; as a level three card, she can help with meeting EXPERIENCE conditions while having the desirable effect of being early playable as well. If you can juggle running three different combos, Bocchi’s combo allows you to perform a Moca ability or lets you salvage a character and send a character from waiting room to stock.

The moment has arrived. As the performance reaches its pinnacle, Bocchi’s time to shine begins. With the spotlight put on her, Bocchi musters all of her courage and begins her solo performance. Upon achieving her EXPERIENCE condition of having a combined value of six or higher, Bocchi clears her mind by discarding her History of Blunders event from memory. Once the previous conditions are fulfilled, you can discard two cards from hand to empower Bocchi to perform her legendary solo. Surging with immense burst power, Bocchi’s combo drops riffs that mill the top card of your deck. If the milled card is a climax, Bocchi deals two damage; otherwise, she deals one damage. However, Bocchi strums up her guitar, striking her power chord and allowing her to performing her mill ability again, letting you perform two full damage instances.

The concept of an early performance baffles Bocchi, and as such, her backup can remove opposing early play cards. When using her backup you may discard two cards from hand to kick an opposing early played character to memory.

While she tends to lead a more solitary lifestyle, a couple of colourful characters tend to pop in now and then. Shouting Kita is an excellent option to preserve hand as she’s a J.C. profile that only targets characters with “Hitori” (ひとり) in their name. To help preserve hand in the early game, panicked Bocchi is a clean-cut profile. Bocchi’s younger sister has a Riko esque effect where the level of salvaged character is based on the total amount of “Bocchi-chan” Hitori Goto (“ぼっちちゃん” 後藤ひとり) in your waiting room. Tired Bocchi is a level swapper, and you can pay her cost to perform a Chiyuri effect. Sobbing Bocchi is a salvage brainstormer who checks five cards and only salvages characters with “Hitori” in their name; her brainstorming effect rests two characters she pumps continuous power to the middle slot on center stage. Bocchi exclaiming is a Fumio profile helping to make Bocchi’s finishing effect more lethal. Bocchi with Kessoku band has two on-play effects that perform a force-draw effect.

With Bocchi’s solo closing out the performance, the crowd goes wild; thus, concluding Kessoku band’s grand debut. With new and bigger stages being set on the horizon, it’s time for Bocchi to steel herself as bigger crowds await with more eyes focusing on this fledgling band.