Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls – Koikaze (B/R) [02/15/2022]

Listen, don’t listen to anyone who writes about other CG (Cinderella Girls) articles besides this one. I assure you, this is indefinitely the strongest CG deck out there. Whomever posts about other CG decks probably has no idea what they’re doing. Welcome to the greatest deck of CG all time, Koikaze!

As the name suggests, the deck is focused around the Koikaze combo centered around Kaede Takagaki. Voiced by Sayori Hayami, Kaede is a 25-year old idol with heterochromia and a power sense of smell capable of differentiating between even the most similar of shampoo smells. She loves nothing more than visiting and relaxing in an onsen. Despite her normally calm and gentle demeanor, whenever she gets a couple drinks down her belt, she’ll switch to a completely devilish side normally hidden underneath her soft guise. She has a beauty mark below her left eye, and her three sizes are… (taken from Project-Im@s Wiki).

Spawning Kaede as early as possible is the key goal of the deck. Thanks to the center Kaede introduced in the second set, the level three Kaede can now be spawned as early as level one. If you can manage to summon Kaede early, you’ll have a beautiful goddess in the center of the stage sitting at around 14000 power at full board without considering any assists. In addition to her huge power, she has a damage surveil effect which will make it potentially difficult for your opponent to sink large bursts of damage into your clock.

Truth be told, any combo that can be used to grab the Kaede level three is fine. Minami potentially helps you net the 3/2 Kaede into hand, but more importantly, she combos with an arc trigger to grab the much needed climax to spawn in the 3/2 Kaede.

These two cards are important options to help garner extra stock to set-up for the combo early. Momoka is a level zero reverser that can run to stock whenever your opponent plays a climax. Miku is especially good for helping to make sure that you can get either Kaede in your hand from the waiting room. Given that the deck is running arc triggers, she can turn any extra climax into a combo piece. Miku can also fly to stock whenever her damage is cancelled. Both cards are key since they can help charge up the extra stock needed to spawn Kaede in the early game.

Given the importance of the need to grab the combo’s rather intense costs, having cards early for fetching the specific pieces is highly recommended. Remember, the earlier you get Kaede out, the better it is for you and worse off for your opponent. Koume and Producer (any colour is fine) fetches the climax you need potentially. Miria can straight up grab the 1/1 Kaede for the combo while also pushing you to level one faster.

An important card that sees relevancy in this deck is shown above. Mizuki’s global support power to blue characters is quite beneficial; however, her second ability truly shines here. Normally, lowering your level isn’t a good thing since it makes it easier for your opponent to side your characters. However, given that level two is the common time where anti-early play effects are present, Mizuki’s second effect can both pump and protect your Kanade from these effects during your opponent’s turn.

Realistically, given how powerful Kaede gets, it’s very unlikely that anything will really challenge her. The backups shown above are just some options to consider if any backups are chosen at all. Sae is a free costless backup. Mayu helps deal with cheated or early play targets (sacking a field member is hardly a concern for Kaede). Hanako is an interesting counter which is mostly useful for its first effect. Kaede doesn’t have a built-in heal so having external sources to provide healing is a nice addition.

Keep in mind that Kaede’s secondary effect is stackable, so with two 3/2 Kaedes on the field, you’ll have access to two individual surveilling instances when damage is taken. Her power bonus effect only works if she is in the center slot, fitting for such a grand idol. Bring out your Kaede early and watch your opponent struggle and squirm while trying to figure out an answer to your overpowered large lady. Unfortunately, Kaede has no finishing power on her own aside from her own soul damage. As such, other finishers that do not require climaxes are suggested.

Knock down your opponent with the winds of love!