Last updated: 4 Oct 00
Contents last updated: added comments for Ranka Chank;
minor changes in comments for Tarla and Krlov
Shadows of the Tusk is a game with rather simple rules but much strategic depth. A deeper understanding of the intricate game mechanisms would improve the appreciation of the game. Since I have not found in-depth strategy articles on this game anywhere, in any language, I am providing this article to players of all levels.
I have found the following to be effective deck concepts. I hope that you like the names I gave.
A good deck is usually based on one or more of these concepts. A deck is not restricted to one concept: some decks try to be all-round by integrating two or all concepts. There are also variations within a concept: for example, orthodox decks may have fewer or more cheap characters.
[Jolly Roger], Rebecca x4; Rachel,
Albrecht, Guardian
[Celeste], Hsu-Wang, Cavalry;
Harry Webb, Hsu-Wang, Cloud, Zadok, Lagon
[Zigue], Pamera, Cloud;
Zigue, Richard, Rebecca, Tsu-Lung, Savage
Going first (by having a "lighter" set-up than your opponent) is usually a significant advantage. It is often important to hero decks, and rush decks are usually dependent on it. Orthodox decks with strong first-strike set-up are less dependent on going first. Part of the advantage of a hero deck or an orthodox deck with an expensive character summoned on the first turn is that it is lighter, yet you have good offensive power after your first turn.
There is a point that I am trying to make by breaking up deck concepts into these three categories. Mindlessly putting out an expensive character too early, without some appropriate supporting characters (in accordance with the hero deck concept) would not work well. Expensive characters are not as cost-effective as cheap characters when we look at their Hp and Ap values. They also often come with handicaps such as slow speed and penalties. When an expensive character is deployed too early, the player many not have enough characters to 'hold' the field and to cover the flanks of the expensive character. The result is that the (slow) expensive character sustains first strike, and, outnumbered and surrounded, dies quickly without doing much.
On the other hand, it is sometimes useful to put an expensive character in the summoning stock to be summoned as a reinforcement later in the game, even if the rest of the deck does not seem to be supporting him directly. Sometimes you will have accumulated a fair amount of Mana because your leader was attacking on the turn(s) before. Unlike in the set-up, you cannot conveniently summon several cheap characters instead of an expensive one, so having the expensive character in the summoning stock is helpful. Also, once the two sides are engaged, the opponent may often need to continue attacking, and he cannot benefit from keeping everyone out of range of your strong character; the expensive character does not become a cause for your sustaining of first strike, in the way it would if you had set him up.
The player can win over 95% against the computer with any reasonable deck knowing just one tactic: the first strike. By "first strike", I am referring to something different from going first. The players set up 4 spaces apart. When one player advances his characters forward, he cannot reach the enemy characters to strike at them, but his opponent can get to strike at his characters on the following turn. I refer to this initial turn of the opponent's striking as first strike.
First strike is often a significant advantage, a decisive one if one or more characters are slain during first strike. The computer player always marches forward mindlessly, so the player can easily inflict first strike on him. When playing against a human opponent, if he has set up speed 2 characters while your set-up characters are speed 1, you will most likely sustain first strike. This is one of the reasons why one would prefer multiple cheap, fast characters to a single expensive, slow one among the set-up of an orthodox deck.
When two orthodox decks meet, the players may often want to deny first strike to the opponent by staying back. This creates a stalemate situation. The players stay back, but may shuffle their characters around a bit, sometimes to make room for newly summoned characters.
Sooner or later, one player decides to charge forward, and a full-scale melee ensues. Some characters benefit from stalemate, such as characters with skills like Mana Pool or Self Heal, while others such as those with penalties suffer. Some characters (e.g. Lagon) can attack at long range, and some characters can benefit from accumulated surplus mana (e.g. Garyu, Hellhound). Because a deck is limited to 8 characters, decks with more expensive characters tend to benefit from stalemate as well. These factors, and also the rule that the second-moving player wins automatically at the end of turn 30, affects when and how the stalemate ends, and eventually the winner of the game.
In my opinion, among the many poor moves which the computer player makes, the thoughtless yielding of first strike is the most serious one that often leads to quick and total annihilation of his forces. First strike and stalemate is the finest point of the on-board play strategy of Shadows of the Tusk, and it separates good players from poor ones.
The key to constructing a good deck lies in understanding the characters. I am not satisfied with the shallow articles found in Japanese magazines, so here I am writing one. Besides the explicit combos such as "Rebecca + Rachel" and "Wild + Beast", there are also many other ways to put together a deck in which the characters work tightly together and complement each other's abilities in intricate ways. Despite the simple game system, there is some fine interaction that may not be apparent to every player, and I will try to explain those here.
I will also discuss the potential of each character as the leader. In a deck, the leader is distinguished from other characters by four factors. First, the player loses the game when his leader is slain. Thus high Hp, regeneration, and other defensive skills are important. On the other hand, self-destructive skills such as Self Blow and Sacrifice become useless. Second, the leader is the only character who can summon. In other words, when you are summoning, your leader can't attack or use any command-type skills. Thus high Ap has less meaning on the leader, but expensive Mana-costing skills usually do not create a conflict, since you often don't have enough Mana to use those anyway when you are summoning, regardless of who has the skills. Third, the leader is set up in the home square, which is the square closest to the enemy leader in your set-up row. If you want to use Zigue or Albrecht in a rush attack, you have to put him in that square. Fourth and finally, some skills, namely Leadership, Mana Leader, and Super Healing, specifically work only when the character is the leader. One result implied by the first two factors is that, the leader is usually the character who sits on the home square to maintain the Mana income: the square is in the rear and is usually protected, and while the leader can summon without any problems while sitting on it, many characters will otherwise go idle when sitting on such a place.
Following is a list of all 40 characters. The effects of the skills are provided, as a translation file for players who cannot read Japanese. I am in the process of filling in comments for every character; this article is under construction.
The characters are listed by rarity class. The two rarity S characters are listed at the end; if you want to avoid spoilers, don't read those.
| Cyclops | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 13 |
| Hp | 24 |
| Ap | 4 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
Cyclops has high Hp, which he may either use to pay for his Earthquake skill or simply to sustain a lot of damage. Earthquake damage to friendly characters can be prevented by flying, or Kendra or Sienna can simply take it, in exchange for an Ap or two.
This is a rather balanced game, and there are no "sure-win" combos as in many other collectable card games. Earthquake + Flight is effective, but often not overwhelmingly so for its cost. It is best to plan one's strategy so that Cyclops can readily make use of either Earthquake or his normal attack (and high Hp) according to different tactical situations.
Cyclops has all the Hp one ever needs for the leader, but he is expensive and slow. The main argument for choosing Cyclops rather than Rumble as the leader is that Cyclops has the flexibility of being able to use Earthquake. If you're not using Earthquake, Cyclops is too extravagant for the mere purpose of defense against rush.
| Creeper | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 11 |
| Hp | 10 |
| Ap | 5 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Despite Creeper's high Ap, his Hp is too low. He is likely to be killed quickly unless you protect his flanks well. In general cases, Zigue or Carcass would give you better cost performance. Despite this, if you want a character with 5 or more Ap and inherent Move 2, it has to be either Creeper or Maximillian.
Since in general characters don't last long once they start clashing, Poison is not used very often, the normal attack being preferred. It is mainly used against an enemy hero (except Kendra) or leader who the opponent intends to keep alive for a longer while, a character with more Hp than anything (such as Rumble), or Hsu-Wang (so as to avoid losing Ap).
Being an offensive character with low Hp, there is little reason to have Creeper as the leader. Unless there is an obvious target for his Poison, he is best used as a reinforcement summoned in the middle or late game: if he gets struck at only once every turn (with adequate friendly cover, and always either killing the target or retreating after striking), his low Hp might not be too much of a handicap ...
| Wizard Zadok | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 8 |
| Hp | 6 |
| Ap | - |
| Move | Flying 2 |
Zadok is feeble and has no physical attack capability. Instead, he has got 3 good magic spells.
Zadok's best spell is Fire Wall, but the opportunities for using it are quite limited, despite his excellent movement. Generally, if you manage to involve 3 enemy characters (and no friendly characters) in a Fire Wall, you have an excellent chance of winning the battle. One way to make Fire Wall easier to use is to include a few characters with Anti Magic, such as Infantroyd.
Fire Ball is handy, and Strengthen is useful in the combo with Graveyard Knight. Strengthen is also nice when you need just one extra Ap to kill an enemy, or when you want to make a point with a high Hp character such as Rumble or Cyclops.
Zadok's Hp is poor for his summoning cost. It is important to keep him out of harm's way unless he is using Fire Wall. He is too weak to be a good leader: in order to use Fire Wall, you often have to put him in a vulnerable position, while without the threat of the Fire Wall, Zadok is poor value for his summoning cost, except perhaps in a Graveyard Knight hero deck. With no physical fighting ability and costly spells, Zadok is better deployed as a reinforcement later in the game; if you just want some support fire from the rear, Albrecht or Pamera seems a better choice.
The effect of Strengthen (as well as Hsu-Wang's Kunfu) is removed when the target character regenerates.
| Zigue | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 9 |
| Hp | 12 |
| Ap | 4 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Zigue is the rush character. By making him the leader in a first-moving light deck, he can charge and inflict 4 damage to the enemy leader in turn 1. (That is instant death to Cuspid.) Alternatively, by moving forward and summoning, he can apply considerable pressure to the enemy leader. Moreover, Anti Magic and Magic Shield offer no protection against him.
Rush capabilities aside, his well-balanced attributes are quite decent for his summoning cost. Plus, his Fire Breath is both a powerful attack with superb cost-efficiency at two targets, and a handy way of killing an enemy unit (from two squares away) despite well-protected flanks. Zigue is a powerful addition to an orthodox deck.
| Ranka Chank | Machine |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 13 |
| Hp | 16 |
| Ap | 5 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
Ranka Chank is a typical expensive character with high Hp and Ap. He is slow, but unlike many expensive characters, he does not carry a penalty.
Ranka's primary strength lies in his Ap and Hp. Poison Gas is useful only occasionally, and Anti Magic is as often a weakness as it is a strength, for you can't cast enchantments or healing spells on him. Because of this, you can't really use him as the hero of the deck. Ranka is usually used as a mid-game reinforcement.
As a Machine, Ranka is weak against Cloud's DENJI Balde. Also, if he is affected by Galvados's Acid, he cannot be cured because of Anti Magic.
Although Ranka has high Hp with Anti Magic, and is thus immune to Magic rush, he is in general not a good leader, because he is too expensive and has no useful skills to make up for that. As a high Ap character, he should be fighting in the front line, but with the Machine's weaknesses and the shortcomings of Anti Magic, it is not always easy to keep him alive. For 13 Mana, you could instead be using Cyclops, who is a lot tougher against rush, and has a useful skill (Earthquake) too.
| Guardian | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 11 |
| Hp | 15 |
| Ap | 5 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
Guardian is a formidable fighter, albeit slow. However, he can be killed outright with Dark Seal.
As his name suggests, his two (command-type) skills are ones which help his friends. Neither can be cast on himself. Around Heal is good when you have lots of characters, especially characters who 'grow' (Rebecca, Sienna, Kendra). Protection protects against all damage, including even 'damage to self' caused by the character's own attacks (Earthquake, 18-mon Kick and Dark Tusk, but not Sacrifice or Self Blow), but excluding Bite, which will both do damage and dispell the enchantment. However, the high cost is not any more economical than healing or regeneration. The enchantment also expires before penalties are applied on your next turn. Rather than as part of a planned combo, it is more of a skill which you use incidentally, when the tactical situation calls for it. Around Heal would be Guardian's main skill, besides his good Ap and Hp. Having a Guardian in the summoning stock may make a significant difference in a stalemate situation.
Characters who carry penalties are better summoned than set up. This holds true for Guardian, who also has a fatal weakness. If the opponent sets up with Tsu-Lung or Tusker, summon somebody else. Guardian as the leader is too costly and too risky. Because Dark Seal is an expensive spell, Guardian being killed by it is not necessarily decisive - unless he is the leader.
| Celeste | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 8 |
| Hp | 12 |
| Ap | 2 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Celeste has low Ap for her summoning cost, so her main strength is in her skills. Since skills which cause bad status are incidental skills used only occasionally, so is Cure. Celeste's main skill would be Holy Heal, and the obvious target would be the hero, the leader, or simply a character with high Ap. Beware that summoning Celeste to heal cheap, non-growing characters would be inefficient use of Mana which puts you behind.
Her Holy Rod makes a very powerful weapon against Undead. If you have an extra space left after filling your deck with characters pertaining to your main deck concept, Celeste would be one of the choices for the filler.
Celeste makes a fine leader, especially in a hero deck, at a reasonable summoning cost with good Hp and skills. She is one of the stronger leaders against rush decks.
| Sienna | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 8 |
| Hp | 10 |
| Ap | 2 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Despite low Hp and Ap values for Sienna's summoning cost, she is an excellent character whose skills complement each other well.
For a character with Mana Pool, you naturally want her to survive longer. Her Support skill allows her to assist in the slaying of enemy characters from safe positions, and her Revenger skill with her good Hp discourage stray contributions to cutting her down. As long as you have an abundance of front-line characters, Sienna will be supporting you with extra Ap, extra Mana, and sometimes a direct attack too, when it's needed.
Sienna is a reasonable leader. She is quite cheap. Though somewhat vulnerable to rush, her Hp is not too bad for a rear-rank character. Her skills work well from the rear: both Support and Mana Pool works perfectly while she is summoning, and Revenger discourages stray strikes which attempt to wear her down.
| Rumble | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 9 |
| Hp | 19 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
Hp is everything for Rumble. He is slow, and his Ap is low for his cost. But he has the Hp.
There are several uses for Pushing, such as to take over a mana area, and to disrupt a defensive line for the kill. Having a flying character to enter the vacated square is sometimes handy. The skill may be used on a friendly character, but there is the 2 damage.
Rumble as the leader basically means no to leader rush. Defeating a deck with Rumble as the leader usually has to be preceded by first slaying most or all of the other characters. Rumble also has the flexibility of moving forward to summon or to attack without much worry.
| Lagon | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 8 |
| Hp | 14 |
| Ap | 4 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
Lagon has got good Hp and Ap values for his summoning cost. However, he is a slow character, and his sole skill is only average. Although it is stated than Aqua Edge does double damage to Machine, some of the Machine characters have Anti Magic (or Magic Shield) which renders Adqa Edge ineffective.
Lagon makes a good leader, with good Hp value for his cost, and a skill which he can use from the home square. Though Aqua Edge is ineffective against Beast (which unfortunately includes Cuspid, the powerful yet fragile leader), it is quite disruptive to a Human leader such as Richard.
| Albrecht | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 8 |
| Hp | 12 |
| Ap | 2 |
| Move | Flying 2 |
(Note: Mixing up "saver" and "saber" is a typical mistake in English by Japanese people because of the peculiarities of the Japanese language.)
Albrecht's Ap is a low "2" for a summoning cost of "8". But he is a fast flying character with an excellent skill, Light Saber.
Light Saber is one of the most useful skills in the game. It does good damage for its Mana cost, and it has a good range with which there is no need to get friendly characters out of the way. Unlike Zadok or Pamera, Albrecht also has reasonable physical attack (Ap and Move), which can be used so as to save Mana, when neither the range nor the extra damage point is needed.
Flight protects against friendly and enemy Earthquakes. The targets also gain Flying movement, but Flight is seldom used for that purpose alone because of its cost.
With average Hp and guerilla attack abilities, Albrecht makes a good leader. The ability to add a blow from the rear with Light Saber may sometimes be important. Albrecht also has some rush capability as the leader of a rush deck.
| Infantroyd | Machine |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 8 |
| Hp | 12 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Infantroyd has the same Hp, Ap, and Move as Carcass, but he costs 1 more Mana to summon. Unlike Carcass's general-purpose Wind Lance, Infantroyd's skills are specialized counters.
Anti Magic protects against magic attacks such as Light Saber and Thunder Bolt. It also makes it slightly easier for you to use certain magic attacks such as Fire Wall without damaging friendly characters.
Air Lance is powerful against flying characters. The combo with Albrecht's Flight is probably too costly, though.
Infantroyd is an okay leader. He is immune to magic rush (Pamera and Albrecht), but Zigue and Cloud can still threaten him.
| Chrissy | Machine |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 7 |
| Hp | 8 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Chrissy has got low Hp for her cost. In return, she has the useful skill of support, and she is the only character who can bestow magic resistance on another character.
Magic Shield cleanly shuts out magic attacks. The skill is rather expensive, so it is usually used only on important characters, such as the leader or the hero.
Magic Shield aside, as merely a character with the Support skill, Chrissy is probably not as good as Sienna in general, though she is nevertheless decent.
| Carcass | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 7 |
| Hp | 12 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Carcass is a balanced medium-small character. He has sound Hp and Ap for his summoning cost, and he is as fast as the cheap characters. He makes a reassuring addition to your front line.
Wind Lance is often hard to use because of the presence of allies, but the problem is partially alleviated if the allies happen to be Kendra or Sienna. Wild is expensive, and is more a handy option in certain tactical situations rather than as an indispensable element of the deck strategy, for which Richard would be more effective.
Carcass makes an okay leader. He has good Hp for a low summoning cost, and Wild is handy in a Beast deck.
| Krlov | Undead |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 10 |
| Hp | 15 |
| Ap | 2 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
Krlov has good but not exceptional Hp, and poor Ap and movement. But the low Ap is not a problem, because it is the 18-mon Kick that will be used when it matters.
Although 18-mon kick is an 'exchange' which usually doesn't net for you a material advantage, in some tactical situations it is valuable in restraining or disabling the enemy's main attacking force or making way for one's own.
Regeneration is more effective in a deck where the leader is too busy to summon, such as a Richard or Hidden deck. It is also an excellent way to make use of excess Mana should the game last long enough till the exhaustion of one's summoning stock. Note that, if a character regenerates during your own turn, it cannot move or act after that. More specifically, if Krlov kicks and regenerates, he cannot move after that.
Though Krlov has high HP plus Regenerate, Rumble is probably a sounder choice as the leader. Krlov can be utilized for his powerful offensive as well as defensive strength, but his use is tricky.
| Cavalry | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 7 |
| Hp | 9 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Cavalry has 3 less Hp than Carcass, at the same cost. But she is the only character who can cast Rapid.
In the game, among the characters with Ap of 5 or higher, only two (Maximillian and Creeper) have Move 2, and both are somewhat troublesome to use. When faced with a character with high Ap, your opponent has three options: disable the character, take the attack, or pull everybody out of range. Against a Move 1 character, the third option is often the easiest. The presence of Cavalry greatly hinders that option. Cavalry is often an important supporting character in a hero deck where the hero is slow, especially when he carries a penalty too.
The point of Sacrifice is not to gain 2 extra Mana: that is slow, and puts you behind. Rather, it is the flexibility of having a character on the board who can readily be converted back to Mana. When you have Cavalry with a character who has an attack that consumes lots of Mana (such as Magic Sword and Stone), you don't have to leave unspent Mana every turn. Cavalry can be sacrificed to enable the attack, or she can strike with her AP instead if there is no opening for the attack. Both Garyu and Black Bison have Move 1, so Cavalry combos with them well.
Cavalry is a mediocre leader, with low Hp, vulnerable to rush. As the leader, she also cannot use Sacrifice. If not rushed to death, Rapid may prove to be useful in some decks. The reasoning for making Cavalry the leader is that she is not really an expendable front-line soldier, so one may prefer to let her be the character who sits on the home square.
| Pamera | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 7 |
| Hp | 8 |
| Ap | 1 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
Pamera is a magic-user in the rear. Unlike Zadok, she does not have a devastating spell that she has to charge forward to use.
Thunder Bolt is expensive, but versatile and effective. Heal is both inefficient and weak, but it helps when it does. Rotting Mist is quite powerful against a Beast deck.
As the leader, Pamera is fragile and vulnerable to rush. However, her skills can be used from the rear, and they cost Mana too. Often, in a turn, you have to decide whether to use your Mana for summoning or for skills. If the leader summons, he does not attack, and Pamera has nothing to do. This waste of character actions is eliminated by making Pamera the leader. It also eliminates the risk of putting your leader in the front to attack when Pamera is using up your Mana for her spells. In general, if you need a character who mainly uses Mana-costing skills from the rear, there would be some increase in deck efficiency if you make her the leader.
| Tsu-Lung | Undead |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 5 |
| Hp | 8 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Tsu-Lung is a cheap character with good attributes. His skills are mainly counters against the opponent's strategy; they may become useful occasionally. However, he is Undead, and is weak against Celeste's Holy Rod.
Among his three skills, Dark Seal would be the main one. When it comes to dealing with enchantments, Cuspid's Bite is more efficient than Dispell in every way.
The 5-Mana characters work best as expendable front-line soldiers. They make mediocre leaders: cheap, but very vulnerable to rush.
| Galvados | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 5 |
| Hp | 7 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Galvados has one less Hp than Tsu-Lung, but she is a Beast rather than Undead. Beast Killer is generally not as much a concern as Holy Rod or DENJI Blade, but Pamera's Rotting Mist can be quite bad for a deck with many Beasts.
Costing 1 less Mana to use, Acid is a better skill than Poison, and there is the double effect on Machine too. The combo with Tusker is powerful, though Tusker is expensive.
With one less Hp, vulnerability to Rotting Mist (though immune to Aqua Edge), and no Dark Seal, Galvados is probably a worse leader than Tsu-Lung. Use Tsu-Lung instead, or better yet, use some other more meaningful leader altogether.
| Hsu-Wang | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 5 |
| Hp | 7 |
| Ap | 2 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Hsu-Wang has lower attributes than the other 5-Mana characters, but her skills are good. If used purely as a healer, because of her low summoning cost relative to Celeste, the lower efficiency of Kikoh does not show until the 4th casting.
Kunfu is annoying, especially to characters who gain secondary benefits from their Ap (Graveyard Knight, Kendra). However, it is not effective against characters who can attack with good (command-type) skills, such as Richard, Cloud, Albrecht, Krlov, and Cuspid. Kunfu is triggered only when the final attack strength is positive. A character that somehow attacks with negative Ap will heal his target, but I don't see any way of employing this rule to one's advantage in practice.
Hsu-Wang's skills make her the ideal supporting character in hero decks. She can heal the hero, and she can move up front to attack and provide cover that is often annoying to dispatch.
| Jolly Roger | Undead |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 4 |
| Hp | 6 |
| Ap | 1 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
There are two very distinct ways of using Jolly Roger. The easier way is to ignore his Band skill, and just sit him on the home square. Cheap and with regeneration, no one is more suited to this job than him.
Because the printed Ap for Roger is so miserable, Roger can't become a good attacking unit even if one takes the trouble to try to make use of his Band skill. For example, with Band twice, Roger has 3 Ap and 6 Hp, and he takes 6 Mana to regenerate. Whereas for 5 Mana, you can summon Tsu-Lung for 3 Ap and 8 Hp. Thus, it is not easy to build a Roger horde deck which works. More so when the deck may easily be torn apart by Celeste. Though Roger is the cheapest character with regeneration, it is a feeble character that is being regenerated, and the regeneration cost isn't really that cheap either.
If you want a leader to sit at home and do nothing but summoning, such as for a horde deck, Roger is the ideal choice. He is cheap, and as long as you have enough Mana to regenerate, he is rush-proof, except that you must watch out for the combo of Dark Seal with a non-Mana-costing attack such as Earthquake.
| Cuspid | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 3 |
| Hp | 4 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
There are two uses of Cuspid, with entirely different purposes.
As a member other than the leader, Cuspid is merely a cheaper and weaker version of the 5-mana characters. Though it often doesn't get to strike a second time, 3 Mana for 3 damage is cheaper than throwing a Thunder Bolt, and Cuspid soaks up a strike or two too, but it takes up a character space in your deck, takes up a 'square of adjacency' to attack, and increases the weight of your set-up. Cuspid is also a cheap way to hold the home square when your leader needs to advance and strike. Bite effectively prevents any effective use of enchantments by the opponent - until Cuspid is slain, that is.
The sole and strong reason for using Cuspid as the leader is Super Healing. However, such use is a real gamble, for a rush deck can easily give you big trouble, including even instant death on turn 1. Cuspid is a leader for horde decks basically, so that more Hp is gained per turn, and that there are enough characters to cover Cuspid. Your set-up needs to be strong enough to maintain a front line against an orthodox deck, yet it needs also to be light enough to survive the rush decks. (Or, you can just make a heavy set-up and hope that your opponent is not playing a rush deck.) You also need some way of dealing with enemy magic-users and ranged attackers, so that you don't have to resign as soon as your opponent summons Pamera. Chrissy, Celeste, and Hsu-Wang are good inclusions for this purpose. If Cuspid survives, the superb power of Super Healing combined with Cuspid's cheap cost will very likely win the game for you.
Whether used as the leader or not, if included Cuspid should be set up. You don't want your leader to spend a turn summoning it: you might as well have the leader himself be striking instead.
| Kendra | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 7 |
| Hp | 7 |
| Ap | 2 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Kendra has got poor Hp and Ap for her summoning cost, but her skills are very powerful if used properly.
You can't just put Kendra out and rely on the opponent to increase her Ap for you. The opponent will kill her outright, or he will simply ignore her. To prevent her from being easily killed, you need to increase her Hp. To discourage the opponent from ignoring her, you may have to damage her once or twice yourself. The ideal way of doing this is with Acid. You may also deliberately put her in the way of your own large-area attacks.
When fully beefed up, Kendra becomes a (fast) unit which does enormous damage, and which generates lots of Mana for you every turn. However, if the opponent has Tarla on his side, that would probably put a stop to Kendra's activities.
With low Hp, Kendra makes a poor leader unless she is the hero of the deck. Even then, she is very vulnerable to rush and is too busy to summon.
| Graveyard Knight | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 13 |
| Hp | 12 |
| Ap | 4 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
| Savage | Machine |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 12 |
| Hp | 21 |
| Ap | 5 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
| Harry Webb | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 14 |
| Hp | 16 |
| Ap | 8 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
Besides preventing flying movement, Fall also affects Earthquake and Air Lance attacks.
| Black Bison | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 12 |
| Hp | 13 |
| Ap | 6 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
Black Bison is a rather expensive character with high Ap. He is slow and his Hp is somewhat low, but he does not otherwise carry an explicit penalty. He is a good choice as either the first-turn summoned character or a reinforcement in a hero deck or an orthodox deck.
Because of the high Mana cost, Stone is generally not used much. Leaving unspent Mana to maintain the threat of its use is too uneconomical and leaves you behind, though this matter can be resolved with Cavalry's Sacrifice. Generally, the only character who is worth petrifying early on is the enemy leader. You can force your opponent to cover his leader, but this is something he would normally do against any high Ap character, and is usually not a difficult task. If Bison is used as a late game reinforcement, Stone can sometimes be very powerful when you have excess Mana.
Being an expensive offensive character with neither outstanding Hp nor skills which can do anything in the rear, there is little reason to make Bison the leader. Bison belongs to the summoning stock.
| Richard | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 12 |
| Hp | 12 |
| Ap | 4 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Every player is familiar with Richard and his Leadership, because of his role in the story mode. Leadership is undoubtedly a very good skill. However, many players overlook the drawback of using Richard as the leader. Richard is expensive, yet his Hp is not that high. In fact, if not for the explicit Leadership skill, Richard is exactly the kind of character that should not be made leader, just like Creeper.
Explicit leadership skills aside, generally, the leader should be chosen based on low summoning cost (to leave more Mana for the front line while the leader sits at home), high Hp or regeneration (defense against rush), and good Mana-costing skills that can be used from the rear (refer to my comments on Pamera). But Richard is an expensive front-line fighter with only average Hp. The powerful Leadership skill would do little more than compensating for his high cost unless he joins the front line, yet his Hp is somewhat worrying for front-line action. When he attacks, he cannot summon, and that leaves unspent Mana, which means reduced deck efficiency; if you deploy other characters who use Mana-costing skills, they are not utilizing the benefit of Richard's Leadership. And, even Richard himself is not benefitting from Leadership when he uses his Cut Off attack. Due to these conflicts, Richard's Leadership skill, powerful though it is, should not be overrated.
The deck should be constructed so as to get the most out of the Leadership skill and to reduce the inefficiency. You do an extra point of damage each time you attack, so you should use mostly cheap characters (more characters, thus more attacks) and characters with high Hp (more attacks per character). It is best to set up the cheap characters as starting members, and put the more expensive characters (with high Hp) in the summoning stock, so that Richard can be attacking instead of having to be summoning all the time. Also remember that often someone has to occupy the home square while Richard is out.
Besides being the leader, Richard can also be employed as a powerful fighter against orthodox decks with numerous cheap characters.
When the opponent has Richard as the leader, it is often a good strategy to target him. Even if you're not slaying him outright, by inflicting damage on him, you discourage him from taking part actively in front-line action.
| Maximillian | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 19 |
| Hp | 20 |
| Ap | 10 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
| Hellhound | Undead |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 13 |
| Hp | 12 |
| Ap | 4 |
| Move | Flying 2 |
Hellhound has the same Hp and Ap values as Zigue, but at a much higher summoning cost. In return, he has flying and three skills which are functionally different from Zigue's Fire Breath.
In average early game situations, when one can't really afford to leave aside so much Mana for Hellhound to regenerate, this does not balance out well. Fire Breath is a very powerful and versatile range-attack skill, but Bite and Beast Killer are useful only against specific enemy decks, and flying makes a difference only occasionally. Against the wrong deck, Hellhound will be functioning like a Zigue who can't do Fire Breath, and at a higher summoning cost too. For this reason, he belongs to the summoning stock rather than the initial set-up. Even when the opponent is playing a Beast deck, Hellhound enhanced by Beast Killer is not exceptionally better than multiple cheaper units totaling the same Mana cost, so there is no compelling urge to commit him too early.
Regenerate is useful when one has surplus Mana to enable it, either in a deck with a leader who is too busy to summon, or in the late game when the summoning stock has been exhausted. Beasts are common, so Beast Killer will find use often, but the Ap modifier isn't especially large: you're paying 13 Mana for a unit with 6 Ap, and that's only average, unlike Cloud and Celeste who cost much less Mana. Thus while Beast Killer is a nice skill to have, Hellhound cannot really be said to be a counter against Beast decks. On the contrary, he himself is Undead and is vulnerable to Celeste's Holy Rod. He also has Bite, but he is too big a character to be summoned for that purpose, so the use of that skill is only incidental.
Hellhound is an expensive front-line assault unit; in general, such a character should not be made the leader (barring explicit leadership skills such as Richard's Leadership or Hidden's Mana Leader), because he can't attack when you're summoning. Hellhound tries to be an exception by having Regenerate for better survival and maximum movement for better mobility. However, for the leader's survival alone Cyclops has as much Hp as Hellhound regenerating once, at the same summoning cost but no additional regeneration cost; on the other hand, if you merely want Hellhound in your attacking force, making him the leader brings some inconvenience. Thus using Hellhound as the leader is taking the middle of two options instead of committing to either one for more focused effect. Also, a deck relying on Hellhound as the leader would be very vulnerable to Holy Rod and Dark Seal.
| Badelos | Machine |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 12 |
| Hp | 15 |
| Ap | 6 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
| Hangman | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 9 |
| Hp | 10 |
| Ap | 4 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
Hangman has the same summoning cost and Ap value as Zigue, Self Healing in exchange for 2 less Hp, and Berserk instead of Fire Breath. Also, he is slow.
While Zigue is a general purpose medium attacker, Hangman tends to be a special purpose character. He starts with fewer Hp than Zigue and is slower too, so he isn't a good, instant front-line fighter like Zigue. Berserk is best used on characters with excessive Hp (Rumble, Cyclops, Savage), or characters who gain extra benefit from higher Ap (Graveyard Knight), damage (Sienna), or both (Kendra). (However, using Berserk on low Hp characters such as Sienna and Kendra is tricky.) In certain tactical situations one may have to use it on an arbitrary character in order to do 3 more damage to kill a threatening enemy, but this is too inefficient as a strategically planned use, for Albrecht or Pamera is much better for this purpose. Since the range of Berserk is no better than Hangman's 4 Ap physical attack, it is rarely cast on an enemy character. Self Healing benefits from stalemate situations and long fights. Neither of Hangman's two skills nor his attributes by itself is good enough to justify his cost, but he can be pretty good in a deck which can make use of each of the three to some degree.
Hangman starts with only 10 Hp and is only average in terms of defense against rush. Other than that, Self Healing gives him quite good survival ability in longer battles between orthodox and hero decks (but don't forget that Rumble is usually better if Hp is the only concern). Berserk is a good skill for the leader to have in certain decks. Except in such combo decks, Hangman should be attacking with his Ap, so making him the leader would reduce the efficiency of your deck. It would be better instead to decide what you want and choose the leader which specializes in that area: Rumble for Hp, Albrecht or Pamera for support fire, or Zigue for mobile Ap.
| Cloud | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 6 |
| Hp | 9 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Cloud has one more Hp than Tsu-Lung, at the cost of an extra Mana. This is not a very good deal. However, Cloud's two excellent skills more than make up for his slightly higher cost.
Hand Grenade has an excellent attack area: it can easily hit multiple enemies without hurting friends. It is useful both in doing general damage against multiple enemies, and when concentrating on an important enemy character for the kill. Cloud is also deployed often in rush decks: he is good both towards the rush, and as an orthodox fighter when the rush won't work. However, since Hand Grenade costs Mana, using too many copies of Cloud in the deck might become wasteful.
DENJI Blade is devastating against Machines. Because Cloud is a frequently used character, Machines are in fact somewhat handicapped.
Cloud is an excellent front-line fighter of the cheap and expendable kind. He is better off trading hits with enemies in the front line than hiding in the rear as the leader.
| Rebecca | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 5 |
| Hp | 8 |
| Ap | 2 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Rebecca is a 5-Mana fighter who has got one less Ap than the others. However, her Excalibur and RACHEL skills more than make up for it. There is some reason that Rebecca is rank B while the other 5-Mana characters are rank C.
The 'Rebecca horde' deck, with several Rebecca's and a Rachel or two, is one of the strongest combo decks in the game. When you have multiple Rebecca's, the opponent can't slay them all in time, and after a few turns you are bound to end up with some high Ap Rebecca's wreaking havoc.
The main weakness of the combo deck is that it is quite lacking of ranged attack capabilities. Against a good hero deck which can avoid a full-front conflict and effectively take out your Rachel, the strengths of the combo deck cannot be utilized.
If deployed alone without the RACHEL combo, Rebecca is generally a bit weaker on offense than the other 5-Mana characters, because she does 1 less damage on that very important first blow. However, she has the advantage of being Human, which is a race with no particular weakness.
Bless is almost a must for Maximillian, and is also a nice option for Harry Webb. It may also be useful for the other characters with penalties on rare occasions.
Rebecca is vulnerable to too many things to be a good leader in general. Making her the leader would render her Excalibur skill useless (except when the player manages to put together a Rebecca hero deck, if there is such a thing).
Excalibur is triggered even if the attack is nullified by Protection or Stone.
| Tusker | Undead |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 15 |
| Hp | 16 |
| Ap | 5 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
| Garyu | Beast |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 9 |
| Hp | 11 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Flying 1 |
With below-average Hp and Ap values for his summoning cost, but a skill which can consume any amount of Mana, Garyu is a typical character designed to be summoned as the 8th and last character in the deck. He is slow and has no range attack capability either, so he is very unsuitable for early game melee. But in the right endgame situation, Garyu can be very powerful.
Flying 1 movement can't fly over anything, so it isn't much useful. But if you manage to cast Rapid (using Cavalry) on him, he becomes a very fast and ferocious attacker. However, this combo is of limited usefulness in the early game, when most decks will have little problem protecting important characters or even slaying Garyu outright. Try to deploy it in the late game.
Garyu is primarily a late game unit, and he is an offensive unit with mediocre Hp. His slow speed and lack of range attack capability prevents him from coming to aid to the front line promptly, or to retreat swiftly when he is wounded. Instead of making him the leader, he is better held in reserve in the summoning stock. The leader position should be left for other more suitable characters, such as Rumble, Lagon, Zigue, Albrecht or Carcass.
| Tarla | Undead |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 11 |
| Hp | 11 |
| Ap | 2 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Tarla's strength is mostly in her Curse skill. She is an effective counter to most hero decks: two or three strikes plus a Curse would often put a quick end to the enemy hero. She is also powerful against the obvious leaders, Richard and Cuspid. Tarla is very specialized, a powerful character when in and against the right decks, but pretty useless otherwise. Tarla can be viewed as a more powerful, more mobile, and tougher, but much more expensive version of Pamera.
Nightmare is even harder to use effectively than Wild. A deck with more than 2 or 3 Undead characters is very prone to Celeste's Holy Rod. Many of the Undead characters are centered on skills rather than Ap. Nightmare is better viewed as another way to burn excess Mana in a stalemate or in the endgame, than be counted on as any useful boost to your fighting power during a ferocious fight. After all, if all you want is just a +1 Ap to all your Undead characters, using Richard is a lot cheaper than using Tarla's Nightmare (and the effect is better too).
If you have to set up Tarla, there would be an increase in deck efficiency by choosing her as the leader. If your deck is light enough for her to regenerate on turn 3 (i.e. 25 Mana or less), she is basically rush-proof, too. However, with a high summoning cost and skills which cost yet more Mana, setting Tarla up at the start would deplete your front line too much, and cause you to be overwhelmed in the early game. If the oppponent is playing an orthodox deck with a defensive leader (Roger, Celeste, or Rumble, for example), she would turn out to be merely a large waste of Mana. Tarla is best deployed as a late game reinforcement: she can be quite powerful when summoned as the 8th and last character, when you have surplus Mana to fully utilize her skills. Also, as a reinforcement summoned in a stalemate situation, Tarla would bring a large advantage if the opponent does not have some effective means of countering Curse on his leader. For these reasons, Tarla is best reserved as a reinforcement rather than set up.
| Rachel | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 9 |
| Hp | 11 |
| Ap | 2 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
While the other rarity A characters are all very specialized, Rachel is an impressive general-purpose fighter.
Rachel is most powerful in the combo with Rebecca, with an Ap boost to both sisters. Her attributes (taking into account her Ap-boosting skills) are close to those of Zigue, at a slightly better cost (because of Mana Pool).
Being a front-line fighter with slightly below average Hp, Rachel should not be made the leader except perhaps in a Rebecca horde deck.
Note that the REBECCA and RACHEL skills work with enemy characters as well as friendly ones.
| Mask of Hidden | Human |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 18 |
| Hp | 14 |
| Ap | 7 |
| Move | Walk 1 |
"Wow, what an impressive character," one may think when he first sees Hidden. Indeed, impressive Hidden is. But not an overly powerful character for his cost, as he might seem at first glance.
For such an expensive character, Anti Magic is as much a liability as a benefit: he cannot benefit from any enchantments or healing spells. As a reinforcement, Hidden is powerful enough to justify his cost, except that the high cost may put you behind during the several turns while you are trying to accumulate enough Mana to summon him. He is probably more useful in decks where you expect the leader to be busy fighting (without using skills which cost a lot of mana).
Hidden is another character who has got an explicit leadership skill to make up for his inherent unsuitability as leader. Unlike Richard, he is mostly immune to rush. However, his high cost would deplete your front line even more, unless he joins the front line himself. If you just sit Hidden at home and summon, relying on his Mana Leader skill to make up for his high cost, it is most likely that your opponent will tear through your front line and surround and overwhelm your leader. The deck should contain characters who can make good use of Mana-costing skills (including Regenerate) while Hidden is neglecting summoning in order to attack. Both Self Healing and Mana Leader are skills which benefit from longer battles, so defensive deck constructions are favored.
| Kylie | Machine |
|---|---|
| Summon Cost | 12 |
| Hp | 16 |
| Ap | 3 |
| Move | Walk 2 |
Though Kylie's Hp and Ap values are somewhat low for her summoning cost, her excellent skills make her a very versatile attacker.
Self Blow is powerful against horde decks, and can also be threatening to a deck with a weak leader and few characters. Thunder Wall is strong against horde decks too, or it can be used to damage the enemy leader. Poison Gas is good against the enemy hero. And besides her skills, Kylie also has some physical fighting ability. Thus Kylie is well-equipped against most enemy deck types.
Self Blow and Thunder Wall have effects similar to, or may we say superior to, those of Zadok's Fire Wall and Fire Ball, and her general abilities are better too, so in some cases Kylie makes a superior substitute for Zadok. However, you do have to pay her full summoning cost at the outset, unlike Zadok for whom you don't have to pay for the expensive Fire Wall spell until you actually use it.
Self Blow is Kylie's main threat. Therefore, she should not be made the leader. If you just want a leader with good Hp, Rumble or Lagon is better value.
Copyright 12 Aug 1998 Alan Shiu Ho Kwan
Alan Kwan / tarot@netvigator.com / created 12 Aug 98