Doing some Oshi no Ko deckbuilding, now that the full card list for Vol. 2 is available.
For this first part, I’m making a couple decks that are mostly new for set 2; in the next part, I’m planning to look at upgrades to the 8 choice and TD Ai decks that I’d made with set 1.
(Images of cards link to the deck list on the official site; for the new set, Weiss Tea Time has translations.)
Table of Contents
Yuki/Akane/Aqua Deck
Likely my favorite card (or set of cards) from the previous set is the 1/0 Yuki that goes with the 1/0 vanilla Akane. I made an 8-standby deck based around those, but wasn’t quite happy with it; in particular, it often felt like you couldn’t do much in the bad games, and it didn’t have much in the way of a finisher. The new set introduces a level 0 Aqua combo that I’d like to try to run alongside these cards, so this deck is a sort of spiritual successor to that one.
The main thing this combo does is provide some deckspeed, which was sorely lacking in my previous deck (I just sort of leaned on the freefresh as the way to deal with bad deckstates, which isn’t ideal). It can also potentially select into backups or additional copies of the 1/0s. (Sadly, there still isn’t a costless level 1 backup.) And if you use it at level 0, it can help you set up the 1/0s in the first place. It does take up a backrow slot, though, so I’m not entirely sure if it’s better to aim for a brainstorm or a Yuki as the other backrow. Probably a brainstorm is better, particularly if you’re already getting soul from the climax, but having two 9.5k lanes could be relevant. Perhaps the ideal case is to start with a Yuki and then push her up next turn and play down a brainstorm, though of course that means you’re not brainstorming at level 0 or your first turn at level 1 (but then, that’s also in first deck when you’re less compressed).
I’m not sure what finisher to use in this deck; it’s probably going to be blue and red at level 1 (red for the cigarettes event), so that means that a blue or red finisher would be the easiest (particularly since the yellow finishers also require 6 experience).
I’m thinking the level 3 Aqua finisher might be the best, just because it requires minimal selection. On the other hand, it does nothing if you don’t have the resources for it (unlike other finishers that can fall back to fewer copies), and it’s particularly vulnerable to counterplay. The set 1 Akane also doesn’t take much selection, but it’s not very powerful as a finisher, so you kind of need to go for defensive counters or add on the 3/0 event, which requires more effort/resources.
So I think it comes down to either the Ruby from set 1 or the Akane from set 2. Both seem likely to be comparable to a cocoachino in terms of finishing power (and neither like high levels of events in the opponent’s deck), but Akane takes less hand if you use her changer and doesn’t rely on memory (though I might end up running memory cards anyway, I’m not sure). The changer does take up more deckspace, but also means there are effectively more copies of the finisher, making it easier to select into. I’m not sure if I really want to have 8 pants triggers, but that goes fairly well with the level 0 combo, at least, and fits with the “soul rush” concept. I suppose another benefit of Akane is that she’s blue, which makes it easier to play the level 0 combo on turn 1, since you’re more likely to have a blue card that you want to clock.
Stage space is at a premium here, so I’m thinking the deck will want events, and characters that sac themselves or others. The pair of 1/0s alongside some number of level 1 events means that the deck will have a decent number of level 1s, which means it doesn’t work great with either of the coinflips (the one that wants to see level 2 or higher cards, or the one that wants to see level 0 cards). So the main plussing 0 might be the Ai riki; the Taiki that sacs something to summon a cost 0 can be used to benefit even if the opponent sides her, I suppose.
Putting together a concrete list of cards I’d like to include, it’d be something like:
- 4 each of the Yuki and the vanilla, of course.
- Probably 4 of the level 0 combo, to maximize the chance of seeing it turn 1.
- 4 of the level 3 combo, and probably 4 of the changer as well (though decent chance of cutting that to 3 for space).
- 4 of the cigarettes event, since that’s likely an efficient way to select into the 1/0s (and the riki setting color means that a 2-color level 1 game isn’t much of a problem).
- 3 of the riki, my standard number.
- 4 of the Ai riki, as the plussing 0.
- Maybe 3 of the fuka; with 12 good level 1 targets, this seems very likely to get you something useful. Probably not a 4-of because it doesn’t plus.
- Some combination of the Taiki, the search helmet, the salvage helmet, and the freefresh, as level 0s that can select into the 1/0s either efficiently or without taking up stage space… maybe start with 2 of each.
- 2 level 1 backups, probably 1 of the 2.5k and 1 of the leafa (like in my previous deck), to help keep the 1/0s alive.
- 1 antichange backup, since this is a deck that’s looking to have board presence.
- 1 climax swap… or maybe 1 of each, since in some cases the sac climax swap can just save you a stock since you’d be playing over something anyway, but in other cases you only have one open slot (or none, and want to replace even the card you played over with the climax swap).
- 2 of the salvage brainstorm, to provide repeatable selection; only 2 since the idea is that you’re not really going for it until the second turn of level 1.
- 1 freeplayer, since the level 3 combo doesn’t need much hand. Only 1 since it’s not needed until level 3; plus, it can be looped with the cigarettes event.
- 1 stockshuffle, to provide decompression at level 2.
- 1 level 2 bouncer, since it’s on-color and cheaper than the level 3.
That’s a total of 52 non-climaxes, so definitely need to cut some. (I had been thinking of putting in some 1/1 events as well, but no room for that I suppose.) Probably start by cutting the level 0 combo, the changer for the level 3 combo, and the Ai riki down to 3 each, and the climax swap down to 1 (probably the sac climax swap). Then maybe cut the search helmet, salvage helmet, and freefresh down to 1 each. Actually, maybe I could have the primary plussing 0 be the cleancut instead of the Ai riki, since the combo can potentially let it swing at 4k, and then cut the Taiki and the sac climax swap. At that point, I probably do want 4 of the level 0 combo, to serve as a cleancut target; I’ll cut another of the changer for the level 3. That does remove the possibility of having all 3 lanes of combo prevent events, but you can still prevent events in 2 lanes and bounce the 3rd lane, I suppose.
The name for this deck actually came to me pretty much immediately once I saw the level 0 combo and its climax: “Yuki Ships It”. That’s where her one card is from, even, the scene where she and MEMcho start shipping Aqua and Akane.
Deck Log: 20H9G
EncoreDecks: o-S_Eo0tv
Kana Door / Akane Pants
As far as completely new decks go, the obvious one is Kana door into Akane pants, to be able to use the 5-card brainstorm that can coinflip back the card in the middle position, which the level 1 combo can potentially set up to hit. (There’s also standby into Akane pants, with the goal of healing with Akane at level 2, but with neither a way to attack with Akane on the first turn at level 2 nor a good early game standby combo, that doesn’t seem especially promising to me.)
The question, I suppose, is what you do with all the hand from the combo + coinflip + brainstorm, given that the finisher doesn’t really need any of it.
I suppose you can try to convert it into stock, though there aren’t great ways to do that; probably you just play a level 0 and then play over it (or try to work in yellow and then hope to mill a higher level card than your opponent; I guess this deck is already looking to run a decent count of level 2 or higher characters, at least.)
Perhaps you can use it to heal, though the only EP stock healer is yellow and requires the opponent to have a level 3 (well, there’s also the TD Ai, I suppose, but that needs an event to be able to EP).
You can potentially use hand on the grappling hook, but this isn’t a deck that walls, so it’s not particularly likely that the opponent will have an empty slot.
Perhaps, along the lines of converting it to stock, you just aim to set up triple finisher + 3/0 event; if you have 2 of the level 0 Akane that freeplays a character, that’s 9 hand and 6 stock (and you can even save a hand by having the level 0 sitting in back, if you’d otherwise go over hand limit). It’s a bit awkward that you don’t really want to grab that level 0 off the combo, but I guess you can get it off the brainstorm.
With this level 1 combo, you want quite a lot of level 2 or higher characters in the deck; in particular, if you see a climax on the first rearrange of a triple combo, you ideally want to also see a level 2 or higher character as one of the other two cards, so you can take that off the next combo, keeping the climax in deck, then see a level 2 or higher character in the next two cards as well, so you can take that off the last combo, and once again keep the climax in deck for a cancel (ideally with yet another level 2 or higher card to hit the coinflip). To that end, I’m thinking the deck should be something like 16 level 0s, 4 of the level 1 combo, 8 climaxes, and then 22 level 2 or higher characters; this gives a 72.1% chance of seeing a level 2 or higher character in 2 cards in first deck (counting it as 45 cards, excluding 2 combos, the climax in play, the level 2+ selected off the combo, and the climax in the top 3 cards), and then a 70.8% chance of seeing another level 2 or higher character in 2 more cards after taking that one, for an overall 51.0% chance of keeping that climax in deck. Honestly, that’s worse than I expected, though I suppose if you see a 2 or higher on the first rearrange but not the second, you can just opt to look at 0 for the last combo, though that also means the brainstorm coinflip will reveal that climax and whiff, so whether or not that’s worth it depends on the situation.
Going for that ratio means that this deck can’t run any events, so that takes the 3/0 event off the table; EPs are probably the way to go, then.
Looking at level 0 characters that I want to include, it’s:
- Brainstorm. This is a big reason to play the deck, after all.
- Riki. A standard inclusion.
- Kana coinflip. In this deck, this will have a 70.2% chance of hitting in first deck. It’s a bit awkward that it’s mandatory, though, since that means that if you have one on stage on a combo turn, you can’t set up the top of your deck going into your opponent’s turn. (On the other hand, you can either know that you’ll hit both this and the coinflip from the brainstorm, or know that you’ll whiff this but then have a chance of hitting the coinflip from the brainstorm when it’d otherwise whiff.)
- Freeplayer. It definitely feels like the deck will have excess hand and not enough stock.
- Draw 2 drop 1 brainstorm. This is probably what you want to have as the second backrow, to help loop the door (though some amount of the time you’ll likely just choose to trigger pants).
- Riko. Could be important to get the 3-others condition for the combo, given how many level 2 or higher characters there are in the deck (and that ratio also means it has about a 50% chance of being able to get the level 1 combo if there’s one in waiting room).
- Freefresh, deck helmet, waiting room helmet. Can be grabbed off the riko to access other zones or higher level characters.
- Sac climax swap. Again, looking to use hand rather than stock (though could be awkward to actually have a costless character to sac, perhaps).
That’s 10 types, so I might need to cut some of them. Probably the draw-2-drop-1 brainstorm; between pants triggers and the level 2 koume, finding the climax shouldn’t be too much trouble. Could also cut the waiting room helmet, since the brainstorm is a salvage brainstorm. I’d like to have 4 of the coinflip, but will probably have to go with 3. I’d also like 3 of the brainstorm, since it can effectively be a plussing 0 as well, and then 3 of the riki. The freefresh, deck helmet, and climax swap can all be 1-ofs, which leaves 4 cards for the riko and the freeplayer; I suppose 2 of each is fine.
Then for level 2s and 3s:
- Level 3 combo and changer, of course.
- Koume, to help loop the climax.
- Level 2 bouncer, to deal with annoying boards.
- EP healer: this is the one deck where I might consider the one that needs 2 of itself in waiting room, but probably still just going for the 4 or more.
- Restander, for the case where you need to deal a lot of damage into an uncompressed deck (which the combo isn’t great at, given that it mills the opponent and its burns are for 1).
- Climax salvager, for guaranteed access to the level 3 climax.
- Antichange backup, because why not.
- Minus soul backup, since the finisher heals anyway (though having the 2 stock to use it might be questionable; I suppose there’s some potential to use it before the finisher turn if you have an EP on board).
- 2/1 Kana that can potentially refund stock, as the only effectively costless level 2 or higher character.
Obviously I want 4 of the level 3 combo and its changer; I also want 3-4 of the koume, bouncer, and EP healer, since those are cards that you potentially want to see multiple times (the bouncer is notably also an akatsuki, so can be a good way to filter out costed characters for costless ones if necessary). Going for 3 of each brings the count up to 17 cards; I suppose I could just go for 1 each of the others, though the 2/1 Kana doesn’t make a lot of sense as a 1-of, so I think I’ll go for 2 antichange backups (since that’s the card that’s most likely to be useful just by having it in hand, without actually playing it), and look to add the Kana if I feel like I have trouble fielding characters.
I guess I need to come up with a deck name… hmm, it’s basically a Kana/Akane deck; gameplay-wise, the idea is that you manipulate your top deck and get a lot of resources (or at least hand) to get compressed, both of which should help you cancel; there’s also the “level 2 or higher” aspect. I have a different deck that I called “High Level Gameplay” because of a similar focus on level 1 or higher cards; perhaps this could be “High-Level Acting”. (I’m not sure why I didn’t include a hyphen previously; I guess either way works.)
After a bit of testing, I don’t feel like the backups are super useful, with so many things that bounce back; the deck also, as expected, tends to be low on stock, so even the 2 stock for these backups seems fairly rough. So I ended up replacing them with the 2/1 Kana after all; though one sort of awkward thing is that she wants to attack last to maximize power, but if you do double level 1 combo, you often want the non-combo card to attack second, to allow a combo to attack last and give you a chance to set up the top 2 cards of your deck going into the opponent’s turn, ideally as a level 2 or higher card followed by a climax. Still, 10.5k or 11.5k is often big enough anyway.
Deck Log: 1P2JJ
EncoreDecks: yEo0Iu4EQ
Both of these decks have the potential to be quite powerful, but also the potential to fail pretty hard, I think (the Yuki/Akane/Aqua deck doesn’t generate a lot of resources unless the opponent can’t answer the board, and the Kana/Akane deck can brick on a hand full of level 2 or higher cards). They also both use the new Akane pants finisher, which isn’t the best at finishing from level 2, so they’re aiming to already be ahead in damage, by either dealing a lot of damage early or setting up cancels and compression. So overall I think they’re closer to fun locals decks than to competitive tournament decks, but still fairly consistent at doing what they’re trying to do.
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