WP Notes, 28th September: Cat between the devil and the deep blue

Learning from my previous mistakes, I spent 2 weeks building my deck to counter Mel. With this build, I was prepared to endure and overcome any sort of assault that Mel would have using non-banish options. For those interested, the following is the source of my inspiration.

Myu 1 Key — I took inspiration from this particular 1 Key Myu Build that had topped in Japan.

The Japanese build used the classic Don’t Leave Me as a cheap and stable stop-2 option, and Ancient Groove to make up for the missing 2-card advantage from opening a 1-coin advantage key. The fact that downing is emphasised is definitely due to Myu’s ease of removing enemy signi on her turn. Keeping the pointers in mind, I put a more offensive spin on things.

20190929_00235611 — A build with a more defensive Main Deck and a more offensive LRIG deck

I was ready to deal with any threat. In order to take less damage from LRIG attacks, I added in 9 Guards. Furthermore, a high number of vanilla or power increment signi were used in order to ensure that I could withstand constant lancer assaults and threats from Red, Blue and Black. The availability of Black Tama Key gave me the option of running Memorial Five, a more versatile Don’t Move for use against White LRIGs with the added flex option of paying 1 more Blue Ener to draw a card in the case of a match against Blue LRIGs.

…not that it mattered anyways in the ensuing battles.

Today’s Matchups

Myu v. Allos Piruluk (Loss)
Myu v. Tawil (Friendly) (Loss)

Match Analysis: Myu v. Allos Piruluk

One of the demons that I have yet to overcome. I’ve fought Allos Piruluk multiple times in the past using Tama, and have been soundly defeated each time. Through the matches I’ve gotten slightly wiser with managing hand and staying above the threshold where Allos Piruluk can comfortably defeat me. Ironically, not maintaining that very threshold turned out to be my undoing, following a devastating misplay.

The fatal mistake was forgetting that Allos Piruluk holds the opponent in a stranglehold the moment they enter the lategame with less than 3 cards in hand. I committed to that amount of cards in hand by overextending, and paid the price for that selection.

Track Record of Opponent — Felix

Longtime player of WIXOSS
Has been a veteran player of Allos Piruluk
Deck is updated until the Rhetoric era

Pointers from the Match

Allos Piruluk plays a control strategy. That is to say, there are no huge combos from turn to turn. She delivers a constant stream of pressure that explodes at L4 and continues to be oppressive as she goes to L5. The important turns to note are when Allos Piruluk grows to L4 and above, when she gains access to the powerful Shahraza and Anastasia.

Turn 1: Allos Piruluk played no signi and ended the turn after growing.

Illumis’s Notes

Fortunately for me and my 1-key build, Allos Piruluk started first. Due to the fact that Allos Piruluk’s discard effects affect herself, I would stand to be at an advantage should my opponent have chosen to play Manomin at this stage of the game. Starting with 6 cards rather than 5 gave me a head start over my opponent. Perhaps it is because of this concern that my opponent chose to play nothing from hand, waiting for me to provide him 3 Ener and put myself at an uncomfortable 2~3 cards in hand before discarding my hand.

Or it could simply be a case of not having cards in hand to play. Whichever case it is, it worked out in my favour as I pushed 2 damage through with a vanilla and a servant.

wdk-f01-17 — Manomin, with the ability to make both players discard a card from their hand.

Turn 2: Piruluk Key was played in order to set the discard strategy into motion. The opponent started playing Manomin, but the damage to hand was negligible at this point.

Illumis’s Notes

Using vanillas and signi that boost their own power was the correct choice. It seems that vanillas are significantly more stable and capable of preserving their presence on the field, and would demand more responses from the opponent in order to have them removed. It was critical in a matchup where -power mattered.

Turn 3: The main threat during this turn would be on-attack effects from Rackham, or perhaps some sort of discard-and-reduce-power threat such as Rahab. Given that I do not recall facing any sort of problem during this turn, perhaps my opponent had either chosen not to include the Rahab-Crocell-Crocell/Rahab combo due to the risk of running out of hand before L4, or simply wasn’t able to draw into it.

Turn 4: An Allos Piruluk intent on growing to L5 will begin to push powerful threats through the Catharsis + Shahraza/Shahraza/X combo, possibly even making use of the 12 limit in order to field a full field of 13k/13k/12k power signi. This is a powerful one-turn nuke that allows Allos Piruluk to execute the double Shahraza combo with no regard for her hand, for she will draw 4 cards during the next draw phase.

wxk01-002 — For a single coin, TETRA acts as Allos Piruluk’s nuke enabler

Illumis’s Notes

This is when I realised Allos Piruluk’s immense staying power. This is a highly threatening board that can reduce the power of the opponent’s signi by 12k twice, possibly even more depending on the add-on that Allos Piruluk chooses to field. Threatening adds include Rackam, who can possibly banish on-attack when going first, such as during this match. To add insult to injury, Allos Piruluk cannot be damaged by your LRIG at all, so she could keep non-servant signi in hand after fielding her combo.

Fortunately, the solution to this board was available in the form of a band of high-powered signi that could withstand the subtractions. In my case, I simply used Memorial Five to recover my hand while downing two of the attacking signi. The excellent synergy with Silent simply means that my opponent loses three Ener for their troubles.

Turn 5 onwards: Allos Piruluk stabilises by this point, no longer taking any form of LRIG attack damage unless she chooses to. Should you be caught with 3 or less cards in hand, there would be no turning back from the jaws of defeat unless you still have an ARTS or a Spell capable of generating advantage, for Piruluk will discard 1 card from your hand every turn (your guard) for free, while you desperately field signi in order to stop her attacks. In order to break the stranglehold, a decisive signi attack is needed using whatever resources available.

Interestingly, The Law was used in this build as well, in order to cycle Shutendo or Shahaza back to hand as needed. However, the load of providing rise materials for The Law eventually took its toll on the Allos Piruluk’s hand.

Illumis’s Notes

This is when both Allos Piruluk and my LRIG run dry on resources. After the explosive L5 turn, Allos Piruluk will be scraping the bottom of the figurative barrel in search of options to field. At this point, Allos Piruluk was looking for options within the 2 cards drawn per turn, any available Anastasia in trash, any topdecked Shutendo as well as the 1/turn recovery of the MIRACLE Spell.

To challenge Allos Piruluk, field high-power signi in order to disrupt Shahraza plays. Allos Piruluk herself is unable to recover signi from trash, and almost no hand to afford Shahraza’s attack phase AUTO ability. This way, one can continue to contend with Allos Piruluk’s strategy while providing one with enough Ener to fuel abilities that draw cards.

The recovery of the MIRACLE spell will enable Piruluk to obliterate any hand with hand size 2 or below using both MIRACLE and Peeping, hence it is advised to only field 2 signi per turn if hand conservation is a priority. For LRIGs like Myu where options to reload the hand are plentiful, spartan use of Ener in order to afford Eskimo or Nebula Connect plays will create difficulty for Allos Piruluk to put into motion her hand-death strategy.

It is advisable to move into the final phase of this battle with 2 or more life cloth remaining if one expects a protracted battle. That way, one can continue to receive resource resupplies in terms of Ener from Life Cloth crushed by the opposing Allos Piruluk’s attacks. (No, guarding is impossible at this stage of the game when you need at least 2 guards in hand to avoid guaranteed damage.)

wxk01-041 — It is by MIRACLE that Piruluk can play the attrition game

A TELOS Piruluk build may exert constant pressure over the course of the game with her discard options, but this particular conservative build will not pose much of a threat to modern, post-Alternative LRIGs. Having access to spells and signi that draw makes fighting against Allos Piruluk much more manageable, to the point where it is possible to outlast Allos Piruluk and watch her destroy herself through her self-destructive playstyle.

For reference, this TELOS build ran Piruluk Key, Don’t Leave Me, Don’t Move and Select Happy 5.

The important rule of thumb here is to apply pressure early and guard early. The value of servants decreases drastically towards lategame, either being discard bait or field filler. This is especially true for post-Alternative LRIGs that can recover hand size easily on the L4 turn and mount a counteroffensive from there.

Match Analysis: Myu v. Tawil

Unlike the match against Allos Piruluk, I had no experience battling against Tawil. Armed with only knowledge from hearsay, this was pretty much a blind matchup where I didn’t know what to stop.

Within the SG community, Tawil is known for single-handedly reviving the use of on-attack banish signi due to Primal. Reviving three signi while maintaining access to their On-Play effects is as ridiculous as it sounds.

Track Record of Opponent — ??? (Name to be added)

Regular player of WIXOSS
Liwat player
Has finished 2nd as Remember during the August WPs
Personally, I know this player for his aggressive rushdown decks

Pointers from the Match

Turn 1~2: As Tawil, hand remains plentiful while creating many situations to crush the opponent’s Life Cloth. The use of Kaishin Tenka every turn early on enables the ever-popular Doarf engine, to Ener Charge, Draw and open lanes at the same time. This eventually leads to the use of HanaMido Key, which continues to fuel Tawil’s Ener.

WXアーツver2 — Level-based banish AND accumulation of resource WHILE being reusable? Yes please.

Illumis’s Notes

Primal costing only 1 coin ensures that Tawil can reuse Kaishin Tenka at least 3 times (given this player runs the 2 coin HanaMido Key) to obtain 1 beat, banish an opponent’s signi, and then activate the signi’s beat effects to banish. It’s Ridiculous.

The moment the opposing Tawil fielded a Doarf-Doarf board on Turn 2, I knew it was too dangerous to allow that to go through. However, I had no response to that: I couldn’t exceed, I didn’t have ener to use any ARTS either. The downfall of the single-key build is thus: there is no way to accumulate the resources needed to answer dangerous, early boards on Turn 2 without an advantage key.

Unlike other Red LRIGs that require playing spells such as Blessing of Five Lights to reload their hand for hand-intensive plays, Tawil’s advantage engine operates highly independent of the opponent’s choices.

Perhaps an elegant solution to this problem would be to take damage early in this matchup such that it is possible to put a stop to this engine using the Ener feedback from being attacked?

Turn 3~4: Tawil maintains superb banishing abilities through the use of the Kaishin Tenka-Hellhound combo, banishing 2 signi for 2 Red Ener and a coin. It is not uncommon to see all three lanes open for Tawil’s attack, given that she has seemingly infinite resources to pay effects with. By stacking enough effects, it is possible to field the Nakiru–Caim–Shub Niggura board, which can deal upwards of 5 damage a turn.

wxk08-070 — This is definitely the hound from hell, alright. Cancer incarnate.

Illumis’s Notes

Very frankly, I have no idea how to stop these combos. It seems that Tawil has infinite capacity to rush down the opponent while packing superb defense. HanaMido Key is a superb key, granting both hand from on-play and Ener from exceeds. Shub-Niggura is ready to deal 2 damage the moment she gets to so much as attack. Primal can combo with a Munkaru/Nakiru and Hellhounds to banish the entirety of the opponent’s field on their turn for 1 coin and 3 Red Ener if need be. It’s very oppressive.

Perhaps a more aggressive policy regarding the use of ARTS is required in order to contend with Tawil towards the lategame. Ener is in high supply thanks to the constant banishing, and exclusions should be used to create difficulty for the opponent in recalling cards in trash as Beats.

Pressure from Tawil is very consistent and very oppressive. This is the hallmark of an aggro deck, and perhaps should warrant it being fought like any other aggro deck: using early responses and high-power signi walls.

The main threat that Tawil poses to the opponent is Shub-Niggura, which can crush 2 life cloth in a single attack. Responses must be saved for this particular signi. Other than that, responses should be used liberally to reduce incoming damage from the opponent, perhaps with expectations that Life Bursts are to work in tandem with early responses to stop Tawil’s signi attacks.

Maintaining a high life cloth count is also critical for preventing Tawil from using Kabu Nekkyou to close the game on an unsuspecting opponent off using 3 LRIG attacks. Perhaps keeping 2 guards in hand would be ideal, otherwise one should be able to pressure Tawil to the point where she has to use Kabu Nekkyou defensively.

For reference, this Tawil used HanaMido Key, Kabu Nekkyou, Kaishin Tenka, Caught in Your Own Trap and Storm Warning. This is a total of 5 signi responses within the ARTS slots itself, with Caught in Your Own Trap possibly stopping both a signi attack and banishing an additional signi through Beat effects. It is a highly fragile aggro deck, and, in hindsight, its frailty should be taken advantage of.

From here on out

In the end, my lack of skill in piloting the deck continues to hamper my ability to win with the deck. Myu is definitely in a good spot right now — what with easy access to cards and removal — but needs an adequate selection of ARTS cards in order to support her earlygame against aggressive opponents. At the very least, it seems that Myu is able to deal with TELOS comfortably if she does not overextend.

…or place signi in the wrong lanes, resulting in losing the critical 1 damage she needed to win the game with. Sigh.

The Tragedy of Ener: WIXOSS as told by the cards

The Story So Far…

When we speak of story in WIXOSS, people would be quick to think of the selector and lostorage sagas. Most fans would know of the exploits of the selector that has reached the zenith of battle and emerged with the title of Legendary Selector, Ruuko. Perhaps some more invested in WIXOSS for the story than the game may have heard of lesser-known heroines such as Yuragi and Kiyoi. The tales of the human partners of the LRIGs is definitely common knowledge among players.

What we often overlook, and forget to wonder about, is the lore behind the game itself. Clearly, the WIXOSS we play — the one with selector battles — is magic. We know that the administrator of the White Room constructs and runs this game, be it Mayu or Mugen. It seems that this is about the limits of which WIXOSS is willing to explain itself, especially for fans who have watched the anime. However, those who do find the time to read the flavour texts on WIXOSS cards would find that Takara Tomy has put in more thought into the setting than the anime might lead us to think.

Credits to @wixoss2 for having curated sets of quoted flavour text in a long series of tweets that attempt to explain the game’s lore. His/Her tweets formed the basis for this article.

Just a bit of context

WIXOSS itself is perhaps most famous for its opening gambit in marketing itself. On 3rd April 2014, the first episode of selector infected WIXOSS aired in Japan. What was peculiar about this was the fact that WX-01 Served Selector, the first booster set in the series, was released alongside the first three WIXOSS trial decks on 26th April 2014, a whole 2 days after the 4th episode of selector infected WIXOSS had aired. By this time, the anime had probably made its impression among the audience as a drama with an inclination towards mystery. Perhaps this is the reason the first few sets had cards chock-full with lore in their flavour texts, explaining how the magical game of WIXOSS came to be.

wx-01 — That which started it all. If the Developer Manga is to be believed, this set sold out so quickly after release that Yamajiro (the producer of the game) made the decision to have the Trial Decks made available and free-to-print online to have fans of the anime be able to experience WIXOSS.

The Tale of Ener

The world of WIXOSS as described from the flavour texts appear to revolve around a system of magic that calls upon the energy of a girl’s wishes and materialising them. The progenitor of this system, her exploits, and her fate is documented in this Prologue included within a real-world mystery-solving game called WIXOSS Mystery Solving <The whereabouts of Tawil and her memories> held at WIXOSS EXPO 2017.

nazotoki_panf_ura

In a world of perpetual conflict, a single girl wished for peace. That wish was given material form (implied to be Energe, Original Spear), piercing through all armies and ending the conflict.

However, the world came to restrain, analyze, and break the girl. The exhausted girl had one final wish.

“Please, help me… Erase… me…”

The researchers had called the materialisation of wishes the LRIG. In response to the girl’s plea, the LRIG appeared to grant her wish. A spear pierced through her chest, and the girl dissipated into mist.

Ever since then, girls who could bring forth LRIGs from their wishes appeared everywhere.

Research after that point brought the understanding that LRIGs were composite entities formed by the energy of the girls’ wishes and WIXOSS factors.

This energy was named after the girl who had dissipated into mist.

This girl’s name was Ener.

— This is where everything begun.

Explaining LRIGs

From this summary that was given, we know that Ener was the progenitor of this system of magic, and the first to call upon the ability to have her wish energy manifest into powerful tools called LRIGs that can realise her wish. This is verified by quite a few quotes from the card game itself.

“A LRIG is the form of a girl’s wish.” — Jetting Knowledge, WXD01

“The First LRIG was that of a girl’s sorrowful wish. Humanity judged the LRIG as dangerous.” — Encompassing Knowledge, WX01

“A LRIG uses Ener to unleash the power within herself. This is called ‘ARTS’.” — Jetting Knowledge, WXD03

However, the details of this story run into a few inconsistencies with the presentation in the game itself:

Energe, or Arc Energe, or whoever matches the description of Energe, appears to be a LRIG in this story, but isn’t presented as one within the game.
SIGNI are said to be a personification of a LRIG’s mass of experiences. Clearly, the LRIG being referenced here is apparently Energe/Arc Energe

If we were to interpret the idea of SIGNI being a personification of a LRIG’s experiences, perhaps Energe/Arc Energe is indeed the experiences of Ener’s LRIG of the same name. Perhaps the game of WIXOSS is based on Ener’s legend, adapted into card game form. The idea that Energe/Arc Energe existed as a LRIG is supported in the following quotes.

“That spear is the original spear. It bears the girl’s name.” — Energe, Original Spear, WX01

“‘Erase me.’ ~The Girl of the Beginning~” — Energe, Original Spear (SEC) WX01

That which remains of a girl who was stripped of all

So what became of Ener after she dissipated into mist? Her LRIG clues us in on Ener’s thoughts before her death.

wx05-018 — *“The true wish of The Girl of the Beginning. Unfulfilled.”* — Arc Energe, Original Spear WX05

Obviously, wanting to be erased wasn’t Ener’s wish. We know from the prologue that she wished for peace, but ultimately had her hopes dashed as she was detained and experimented upon during peacetime, possibly to uncover the source of her overwhelming combat power. This was when we find that Ener had begun to lose faith in her wish. Perhaps this is why she disappeared into mist, as possibly explained in Growing Future.

A girl that loses her wish is reduced into WIXOSS factors.” — Growing Future, WX04

However, this wasn’t the end of Ener’s existence.

Tawil and her sealed memories

Tawil, as we know her, is one of those peculiar LRIGs with no human identity. She is friends with Umr, another highly cryptic LRIG who, in the spin-off work WIXOSS ~Twin Memories~ is said to be the key to her memories. Tawil also talks exclusively in hiragana, which is a characteristic often made fun of in the Umr & Tawil comics by Oyster.

In the mystery game held during WIXOSS EXPO 2017 though, Oyster shed some light on Tawil’s true identity.

Basically the storyline was that Tawil left a note saying “I’ve remembered” and disappeared.

Umr, having been alongside Tawil all along, wanted to know what secrets Tawil was hiding, so Umr went on a quest to find Tawil.

At the end of said quest, Umr arrives before a coffin. In Twin Memories, we know that Tawil is the sealed form of something, and that Umr had the key to unlocking that seal. Being “the wielder of the key”, Umr figures that the coin created from her memories contains a fragment of the memories of the beginning within it. Within it, she searches for the answer to what Tawil has remembered.

There are two endings to this. Should Umr answer Open!!, Tawil appears from the coffin and they return together to where they belong. However, Umr can answer the true name of the owner of the memories, Ener, to which this happens:

Having retrieved her memories, Tawil emerges as Liwat, who is actually Ener.

The result of a dejected Ener was her continued existence as Liwat.

“‘Why? …Why is that? Don’t humans wish for conflict?’ ~Ener~” — Liwat-Ener, Messenger Prolonged of Life, WX22

In any case, Umr implies that it is not the first time Tawil has recovered her memories (“Tawil… no, that form… she’s returned to that form again.”), and probably seals Ener back into Tawil again. ~~That’s probably the only conclusion, or we wouldn’t have Umr & Tawil comics anymore.~~

The Nature of the Game of WIXOSS

What this does tell us is that Tawil=Liwat=Ener, and that the human who caused WIXOSS’s wish energy system to be created now exists as a LRIG after her apparent death. However, it is clear that none of Ener’s backstory fits the idea of the modern-day urban fantasy Japan that we see in the anime. So with that comes my theory to reconcile the two settings that we have been given, one from the cards and the other from the anime.

WIXOSS as we know it in the anime, with its selector battles, is probably a product of gamifying the elements of wish-granting magic, since we now know that Ener isn’t a fictitious character in the WIXOSS universe. Perhaps the world Ener lived in was far more ancient, a time when a magical spearman could bring peace to an age of perpetual war. That would explain her story without changing the setting of modern Japan.

Furthermore, it is possible that the WIXOSS system requires a single sacrifice, a Girl of the Beginning. When viewed from this angle, we can draw parallels between Mayu and Ener: both were abandoned by society, both had a wish so strong it created LRIGs, and both eventually died for their wishes. This could be what is needed to start the phenomenon of girls summoning forth LRIGs from their strong wishes.

Of course, this is all but speculation, and WIXOSS itself has not given us enough material within the cards to fill in anything but broad strokes regarding the lore. However, it is still interesting to see that Takara Tomy’s scenario writing team has put in effort in creating some sort of backstory for WIXOSS, the game, itself.

chrome_2019-09-06_17-14-59 — “Umr!” “Mhm, let’s go home. Back to where we belong.”

An Aside

There are still tons of information regarding various gameplay elements that I have not organised. I do have them translated and categorised, but due to limited time, I prioritised the story between Ener, Tawil and Umr as I felt that that was the most exciting takeaway from the lore stash. Nevertheless, here are the translated quotes for the cards mentioned in @wixoss2’s tweets.

The LRIG

“When a LRIG combines Ener with WIXOSS Factors, she can grow herself.”— Jetting Knowledge, WXD02

“Without an answer to the wishes, the resolution to the conflict between pure desires cannot be found.” — Servant Q2, WX08

“Although the wishes of most of the girls were naive, there were mature ones, with sights set on something.” — Servant O3, WX10

“Is the LRIG an existence that should return to being human? The debate continues.” — Servant Z, WX11

“Just as there are girls that have their wishes granted, there will be girls who will never have their wishes realised for all eternity.” — Servant O2, WX13

“Where have the wishes that will never be realised for all eternity gone to? The power birthed by a girl’s wish, that is.” — Servant D2, WX13

“A “composite entity” of Ener and WIXOSS factors was found after what was thought to be the end.” — Colourless Servants, WX13

“The memories of the owner of the wish is poured into the composite entity. Sparkling, glowing memories.” — Servant D3, WD20

“Even as the girls were erased, the memories and records that were stored within them were left behind.” — Servant O3, WD20

The Girl of the Beginning

“The Girl of the Beginning was feared by humans, and was the subject of their research. And so, the wish entrusted to the LRIG was of the Girl’s own demise.” — Jetting Knowledge, WX01

“The power of wishes eventually came to be called ‘Ener’, named after the Girl of the Beginning.” — Germinate, WX01

“The girls who could create Ener begun their to appear everywhere following the demise of the Girl of the Beginning.” — Servant T, WX07

“Ut’ulls ultimately refused to become a single entity. The reason being that Tawil had remembered the memories of the Girl of the Beginning.” — Servant ∞, WX14

Kuro and Shiro (Iona and Tama) (?)

“That which is lost converges into the Girl of Black.” — Servant O, SP03

“The battle of the beginning has been brought to its conclusion by a pair of LRIGs. The WIXOSS factors have also vanished along with the end of the battle.” — Servant T2, WX13

WIXOSS Factors

“In this world, there’s a factor called WIXOSS, where wishes are not something to come true but to be materialized. ~ Midoriko ~” — Charging, WX01

“When the core is crushed, countless WIXOSS factors flutter about.” — Recalled Blessings, WXD05

“They fight over the countless, fluttering WIXOSS factors.” — Recalled Blessings, WX02

“The transient WIXOSS factor dances. Where is it headed to?“– Overflowing Knowledge, WX03

“As Ener and WIXOSS factors were combined, little by little, the world begun to change.” — Servant O, WX07

“The stronger a girl’s wish, the more the amount of WIXOSS factors needed to grant it.” — Servant D, WX07

“The WIXOSS factors grant power even for that which is lost.” — Recalled Blessings, SP03

“However, the girls continue wishing, and Ener continues to be brought forth. The continued finding of WIXOSS factors.” — Servant Q2, WX13

SIGNI

“The purpose a SIGNI has is derived from someone’s delusions.” — Doping, WX04

“The annihilated SIGNI returns to Ener.” — Banishing, WX04

“SIGNI cannot venture outside the realm of a girl’s imagination. It’s simply that the imagination of a girl is unfathomably deep.” — Gathering Protection, WX10

Eternal Girl (Mugen Shoujo)/The End of Dreams (Lit. Dream’s End)

“Eternity, in its entirety, is about to arrive.” — Servant X, WX04

“Everyone expects a future unknowable at Dream’s End, maybe.” — Oversalvage, WX04

Ener (The energy produced by wishes)

“Ener takes on colour. A colour matching the wishes of the young girl.” — Servant Q, WX07

“Girls that wish for ambitious success are bequeathed Red Ener. Girls that wish for the elevation of their wisdom are accorded Blue Ener.” — Servant O2, WX08

“Girls that wish for personal growth are endowed Green Ener. Wishes of destructive impulses are assigned to Black Ener.” — Servant D2, WX08

“The wishes for peace brings forth White Ener.” — Servant T2, WX08

“Primarily, wishes sorted into Red largely concerned the support of military affairs. A majority of the wishes classified as Blue concerned the support of political matters.” — Servant D3

“The owner of Green wishes were made targets of, due to not liking conflict.” — Servant T3, WX10

“The characteristics of Black and White wishes made conflict between them inevitable.” — Servant Q3, WX10

“Colourless, the vertex and origin of all colours.” — Next Ready, WX12

“Colourless, the colour where everything begins from.” — Next Ready, PR055

“Nothingness goes well with any sort of darkness.” — Servant D, SP03

Unsorted

“The curtain lifts on a new story. The next one would, certainly, also be unforgettable.” — Servant Alive, WX13

“What is left behind of that which had everything taken from her?” — Crisis Chance, WX14

“The girls who protect their partners knew, that spun threads had opened a new window.” — Servant O2, WX15

“The battle between those who select has been seen to its end. The girls who protect their partners move on to new ground.”— Servant D2, WX15

“They hold a mission to protect. They care not for anyone’s thoughts.” — Servant T2, WX15

WP Notes, 24th August: Bringing a Cat to the Doctor’s

Went into today’s party at Sanctuary Gaming with Myu. Influenced by the Japanese build, my Myu build was focused more on power-increase signi in order to stablise earlygame.

This was probably a mistake.

WDK12-001 — The opponent for today: Doctor with Immunities

Today’s matchup was as follows:

Myu v. Mel — Loss
Tama (Japanese Build) v. Mel — Win

Match Analysis: Myu v. Mel

This was my first time fighting Mel since the release of EXPLODE. Having decided that Myu was the stronger LRIG of the two, I chose to build Myu, thinking that Chaos Outbreak was the solution to Mel’s Charm-based tactics. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Track Record of Opponent — WH

Topped the WP before this one (17/08/2019, at TTZ)
Mel player since EXPLODE
Midoriko player before (?)

Pointers from the match:

Mel has a sleepy turn 1 that does not threaten much. This should be used to push as much damage through as possible if going second.

Starting from turn 2, Mel can use the massive number of coins she starts with to play True Yuzuki Key. A massive combo involving Carbo–Vitamin B2–Fibre was set up this turn, not only threatening 5 damage, but also being capable of defending against attacks next turn using Vitamin B2’s Attack Phase ability.

WDK12-015 — Perhaps giving the ability to Up to a Level 2 signi was a mistake.

Illumis’s Notes

At this point in the game, Myu is likely L1 or L2, with access to perhaps 3 Ener after True Yuzuki Key banishes.

The most elegant solution to this board is likely Black Tama Key + Number Bind. Unsure if true.

The presence of Mel begs the change in deckbuilding philosophy: playing a Key that gives card advantage on T1 seems to be not ideal in this situation.

Against Mel, it is ideal to keep non-Banish responses in handy for the lategame, where threats will sport Banish and Bounce resistance.

On turn 3, Mel is likely to board Copper, Vitamin B2 and Fibre. After the initial power spike from betting 3 coins on True Yuzuki Key, Mel’s offense slows down. However, using the Lancer effect of Copper to push damage against an opponent’s signi while maintaing a stable, powerful field secures safe passage to L4.

Illumis’s Notes

The fact that Mel’s signi threaten damage while remaining sturdy makes mounting an offense difficult. Hence it is advisable to drop a response at this juncture to remove Copper and possibly Vitamin B2.

From Myu’s perspective, this is probably the final window to play Chaos Outbreak without its effectiveness being completely neutered.

Moving on into Mel’s final phase with as much LC as possible is advised.

Once Mel hits L4, expect immunity effects abound. Common board setups include Wedding-Wedding-Biotin, which enables easy access to Wedding’s 3-Charm effects, neutering responses that Banish while opening up lanes. This may be supported by the use of HanaMido Key in order to maximise the damage this board threatens. A variant to this board is the use of Wedding-Protein-Biotin/Copper, where the L3 signi is protected by Protein while Wedding gains banish immunity.

Illumis’s Notes

Double Wedding boards are difficult to deal with. In Myu’s case, an observant Mel player would use the power increments of Wedding and Biotin to circumvent the use of “power-to-0” effects, which is exactly the type of effect Chaos Outbreak uses. Myu is further jeopardised by the use of banish immunity, which punishes Myu’s removal effect of choice. However, this strategy has one glaring weakness: the lack of burst damage.

The majority of Mel’s burst damage exists in the earlygame in this particular build, on Turn 2. Banish-oriented responses should be used then to stymie the damage taken early on. This provides breathing room for Myu when Double Wedding boards are played, for the setup can only deal a maximum of 3 damage a turn. Given prudent use of Hanayo Key and Guards, it is possible to take only 2 damage per turn from here on out. Mounting a counterattack using Myu’s more durable signi (Helix, for example) is recommended, especially when Mel, crippled by the lack of S Lancer, is incapable of outright banishing signi outside of ARTS usage in a post-Wedding lategame, and thus lacks the ability to close a game.

It is possible that this match was lost through sheer inexperience with combating Mel. However, this deck has inspired a review of my current Banish-centric ARTS deck. Perhaps the reason Ancient Groove and Don’t Leave Me are played in a Japanese winning list would be to combat Banish immunity while maximising Silent’s value.

This was probably the first time I was so soundly beaten in a WIXOSS Party since a year ago, when I first begun playing the game. Once again matchup knowledge and experience is highlighted and underscored: there is no game when one doesn’t even know what an opponent’s deck is capable of. Skill remains the factor that decides whether a player wins in this game.

Extra: Tama v. Mel

This match uses the Japanese variant of Tama that includes Flaming Innocence. Played during a friendly against the same Mel player.

As it turns out, Flaming Innocence makes it really difficult for Mel to play Requiem. By combining Yukime Key for variable search/removal with Tama’s Innocence, it is possible to leave Mel unable to play any meaningful response against Tama’s board. (For reference, I had a Sanpoke-Pakkuncho-Arcgain board and the only meaningful response Mel had was Select Happy 5 due to the particular build used.)

Tama’s degeneracy knows no bounds.

That LRIG is… a catgirl?

Hello, Selector.

Perhaps you may know of me as that one Singaporean Tama player who’s so obsessed with Tama that even the coins are Ruuko coins. Coming back from a 3-month hiatus, I decided to start afresh at the game. In line with that, I’m going for a fresh start into the world of WIXOSS.

Nice to meet you! I will be in your care.

Wondering which LRIG I will start in WIXOSS with in April, I settled upon Myu. I preordered 4 boxes of EXPLODE afterwards, and, as luck would have it, I managed to get a Secret Myu, her Arts, and what is almost a playset of her SR signis.

Despite being in the swim club, Myu is never featured while in water.

Okay…

So why did I pick Myu? The reason is simple: her SIGNI are really, really strong.

Access to numerous Main Phase banish options (Black Hole, Eagle, Ragul) to demand responses from the opponent
Even more on-attack banish options, enough to make Red become green with envy
Sound plan for resource usage – milling the deck for early-game, discarding hand for endgame
Ample resources in lategame in the form of 1-for-2 options (Eskimo, Nebula Connect)
Unique ability to remove an entire signi zone for an opponent until the end of turn, threatening enemy LRIGs that place tokens on their side of the field (i.e. Yuki and her seeds)

From SIGNI alone, it is obvious that Myu has a highly aggressive playstyle. Multiple banishes on every turn provides an unrelenting offense, forcing the opponent to commit to burning resources to defend themselves. Potent banish abilities in Ragul and Blackhole give many avenues Myu can use to transform Ener into opportunities for attack. The only problem here seems to be whether Myu can muster the ener to utilise these abilities throughout the whole game.

Complementing those top-class SIGNI, Myu herself, just like many of the LRIGs post-Alternative, is of another plane of power compared to their forerunners:

Rewards Selectors with a +2 just for being played
Is a catgirl wearing a swimsuit
Has absurd value in her 1/Game Coin Skill that effectively trashes 3 lanes for 2 coins, opening up Myu’s lethal lategame offense
Is a catgirl wearing a competitive swimsuit
Potent 1/turn Act that punishes opponents for playing low-level signi and/or interrupts their game plan through excluding combo pieces in trash
Is a catgirl wearing a competitive, high-cut swimsuit with leggings and ribbons
I lied about the catgirl. Myu’s got moth ears…

Probably still the hottest object in the cold of space

We get that, let’s talk about gameplay

It is clear that Myu is well-equipped to burn through the opponent’s resources, and actively does so by forcing responses through her ability to open all lanes every turn. While this trait is shared by many Black and Red LRIGs, Myu’s versatility allows her to execute the gameplan against any opponent.

Against Banish-heavy matchups, Myu has no issues with Ener usage. In this case, Myu will be able to banish just as easily, if not with greater ease, than the enemy LRIG. Given how little setup Myu needs for her banishes, Myu will often outvalue her opponents in short order, and her gameplan will proceed swimmingly.

When playing against Green or White, Myu is able to put up resistance through Arachne. As Arachne protects Myu’s Space signis with invulnerability to all removal effects but Banish, traditional methods of removal that Green and White uses will be ineffective. By adjusting the focus of her gameplan onto Arachne, Eskimo and her LRIG Act ability, Myu will still be able to mount an offensive.

Myu’s LRIG reinforces the strategy established by her SIGNI lineup through offensive abilities that consume resources other than Ener. Her coin ability, Silent, uses 2 coins for a one-time nuke that trashes all of your opponent’s SIGNI in play. A purely offensive ability, the aim here is to take the dive on a turn where you choose to not respond with removal against your opponent’s board, in order to obtain maximum value from removing your opponent’s signi and denying them Ener gain.

So you’re laming it out with the strongest LRIG of the set?

Myu is definitely more straightforward than Tama. Myu is also able to take advantage of her SIGNI’s effects with relatively simpler setups. Having a tempo-based game plan rather than a combo-based one makes the flow of the match more visible to newer players of Myu as well.

However, Myu’s most glaring weakness is the overall low printed power on her SIGNI. Most of her signi that are capable of banishing in the Main Phase or on-attack take a penalty to power. This makes them prime targets for decks focusing on Lancer strategies. Even Red decks that punish low power decks can take advantage of Myu’s weak defense. Even at L4, Myu’s three SR signi sit at a middling 12000 power, offering no defense against Lancer builds.

Myu’s reliance on her hand size towards late game likewise taxes her in matchups against decks that discard. Given that Myu’s hand serves as ammunition for her powerful Act abilities, losing hand can neuter Myu’s ability to close out the game. To that end, it is necessary for Myu to form countermeasures in order to win.

To alleviate this, Myu’s choice of Arts will have to plug her weaknesses. One such choice is Select Happy 5, which is, thankfully, a staple in Key Selection, and will be able to nullify Lancer/Assassin/Double Crush effects applied through effects. When playing against Blue, Sashe, Holy Support Messenger can replenish Myu’s hand should the opponent play a strategy that revolves around discarding her hand. If the Myu player is playing a mill-centric strategy, Tawil, Who Reaches Out can be a powerful addition that can rig Myu’s deck with L4 SIGNI.

You can choose not to play Tama, but Tama will never leave your LRIG deck.

A coin for your thoughts

Takara continues to release more powerful LRIGs with every set. Though I am satisfied that activating effects have become much less convoluted and the effects themselves have become much more powerful, this does create difficulty for older LRIGs to compete with the ones in the newer releases. I do hope that Takara releases more support for older LRIGs soon, so that switching to new LRIGs isn’t a matter of sink or swim.