User blog:Romanoff Blitzer/You're a Towel. (Tawil Deck Primer)

So the full WX-06 Fortune Selector list came up in the JP WIXOSS wiki, and I have to say, it's pretty bland. Literally all the commons are class-based power boosters, and while those aren't strictly bad, they are very boring. They share the same niche as plain old vanillas, so these commons don't really do anything new at all. In contrast, WX-03 Spread Selector had plenty of good commons. KEY, Komaris, the ever-omnipresent Aztec, and so on. I'd like to slap the people who thought that giving the main classes their own versions was necessary.

On the bright side, the cards from the other rarities are pretty good.

Anyways, this isn't about WX-06 commons, it is about Tawil.

Tawil rant
Please skip this section if you just want to know how to build a Tawil deck.

Tawil is much unluckier than Umuru.

While Tawil got the same amount of LRIG-restricted cards as WX-03 Umuru (one level 4 SIGNI, one level 3 SIGNI, one ARTS, one spell, and a full set of level 1-4 LRIGs), Umuru was more supported. The Ancient Weapon support in WX-02 (Palbek, Kythera, Texahammer) and WX-03 (Aztec, Cryskull, Partheno, Costaric, Lost Technology) were amazing, and Ancient Surprise existed, so an Umuru deck was filled with good, solid synergistic cards.

And she didn't even see any tournament play.

Not then, and certainly not now (although WXD-08 Black Will might save her).

Tawil has it worse.

As a class, Angels are only okay-ish. While there are a few good cards here and there (like Rabiel and Aphrodite, they are overall less synergistic than the Ancient Weapons. The rest are boring clone cards, like Archold, Kiuael, and Sarie. Boring clone cards, while plenty useful, do not make a deck good by themselves.

Secondly, like Umuru, Tawil got a promo ARTS depicting her... except Rainbow Art has absolutely no synergy with Tawil at all. Please do not run this card in a Tawil deck. (It's still a great card, though... in something else, like Yuzuki, Eldora, Remember, or Hanayo.)

Overall, in terms of playability, Tawil has problems.

It's actually unusual for me to be the complainer. When people whine about League of Legends or Magic: the Gathering, my opinion tends to be on the side of the company rather than the complaining fans. I am always satisfied whenever I watch an anime, so whenever someone whines about something I like, I get offended and think "well, I liked it." (Especially when it comes to selector infected/spread WIXOSS.) Unlike Nihil, I have a casual, optimistic personality that doesn't like to criticize or get angry over things. If you're like me and hate complaining, then I am genuinely sorry for spilling this rant on you.

But I didn't write this article to complain (even though I ended up complaining anyways). I wrote this article to help you build a Tawil deck, because I am slightly optimistic that her tools just might be enough to make her good.

How to Tawil


Tawil is somewhere over the rainbow. Err, somewhere between Mirurun and Anne. She's more defensive than Mirurun, but more offensive than Anne (and by that I don't mean her choice of clothing).

Tawil's high points are when she gets rid of a SIGNI, either through Tawil=Fyra, Rabiel, or Soap Sudden. If you wait long enough, you can get rid of two SIGNI at once by using both of Tawil=Fyra's abilities in quick succession (requiring a whopping 14 Angels in your trash), but that's unlikely.

Either way, Tawil is not set up for devastating final turns, like Mayu, Remember Dead Night or Black Desire. Most of her removal is spot removal, and Soap Sudden requires downing your own SIGNI, so Tawil is more oriented to holding the line while poking out at least one SIGNI every turn. It's not impossible for Tawil to break through two SIGNI, though.

LRIG

 * Tawil=Fyra, Prolonged of Life
 * Tawil=Tre, Prolonged of Life
 * Tawil=Två, Prolonged of Life
 * Tawil=Ett, Prolonged of Life
 * Tawil=Noll, Prolonged of Life

Tawil's level 1-3 are pretty boring, but at least they gave her a level 1 limit 2 LRIG. That's more than WX-03 Umuru could have said. Vanilla LRIGs are perfectly solid cards, but I would have liked to see a level 3 effect LRIG.

ARTS
Classic defense card. Not much to say here. Tricky to use. Can't always count on your opponent fulfilling the conditions, but it's used pretty often (especially in Midoriko decks, who can easily achieve the Ener needed). New card from WX-06. Untested. I'm inclined to say it isn't that great, as LRIG attacks tend to be easy to defend against (due to guards). It can definitely save you from lethal, though. A second copy of whatever ARTS you need at the moment, except you need to pay an extra for flexibility. Sees plenty of use. Would use it. Flexible and cheap, if a bit hand-dependent (but this is White, who can search for SIGNI eaily). It can defend against at least one attack. Very strong when combined with Rabiel. With Nakirun, Tawil can already search for SIGNI pretty easily. She can even retrieve Angels from trash with her abilities, to be searched by Nakirun again. Then again, these ARTS are great insurance should you not draw Nakirun (or simply need more SIGNI). Since all of your other ARTS are already defensive in nature, a utility ARTS isn't bad. Also a classic. However, the two blue ener can be problematic. I have played many games with a Remember deck running this card, and often I need to save my Servants for guarding instead of putting them into ener for this card. Xeno Multiple can be a dead card, since it has a heavy ener cost. Can't deny how strong it is, though. If you run THREE OUT, it can help pay for the cost.
 * Baroque Defense
 * Idol Defense
 * Pinch Defense
 * Spirit Salvage
 * Soap Summon
 * Salvage / Oversalvage
 * Xeno Multiple

All of the cards mentioned are usable, because I avoided mentioning crappy ARTS (like Aegis Shield). If you're really not sure what ARTS to pick though, then I would use Xeno Multiple, Soap Summon, Baroque Defense, Spirit Salvage, and Oversalvage as the ARTS lineup.

SIGNI
Run four. Instant staple. Generates card advantage and consistency. Does more for Tawil than Valkyrie does for Tama. While Valkyrie can search for Servants, Tawil can search for level 4 SIGNI. Munkarun is similar to Paimon in that it takes two hits to remove her from the board. Two hits is a large-enough barrier than your opponent has to ram Munkarun directly... which is difficult because of her high power. A good 4-of. Haniel and Michael are early curve-fillers that practically guarantee that you will hit Nakirun at level 3. Run four Haniels. Michael can be searched by Haniel, so you only need to run two or maybe three, but if you're low on space you can run only one. Cheap ener cost for unconditional removal. Mostly used for a final push, but can also be used to poke the opponent down or defend with Soap Summon. Due to the ARTS cost, one should run only one or two, unless you're winning hard and don't need the defensive ARTS in your LRIG deck (which is unlikely). Potentially potent. However, there is a problem. The only possibly good way for Tawil to directly play SIGNI is Wish Crisis, which is a questionable card. Soap Summon, sadly, plays SIGNI from the hand, which Aphrodite cannot trigger off of. Kiuael stands out from the rest of the clones because she's a level 3 SIGNI with 12000 power. She can be searched by Michael or Nakirun for offensive purposes, or searched by Munkarun to maintain 12000 power in a SIGNI column.
 * Nakirun, Younger Sister Deity of the Holy Tomb
 * Munkarun, Elder Sister Deity of the Holy Tomb
 * Haniel, Thoughts of Seeking / Michael, Voice of Reconciliation
 * Rabiel, Protector of Holy Arts
 * Aphrodite, Flower Bloom of Late Beginnings
 * Kiuael, Faint Smile of Sacrifice

Spells
...Maybe? Relatively untested. Tama decks don't use this card, but is that because it's bad or because they don't need it? Either way, it's a two-for-one. Would not recommend. Only Soap Sudden and Nakirun benefit. Even then, not by much. A decent card. You'd run it primarily for the card draw and ener charge effect. However, it's not very good if you put it into ener. I'm not convinced that running four Soap Suddens is the best idea, although I haven't done any playtesting yet to prove that. I'd run two initially and adjust based on results.
 * Get Almandal
 * Get Ready
 * Next Ready
 * Soap Sudden

Soap Sudden limits your offense during the turn that you use it. It's possible to trash the SIGNI that you downed, but that gives you a bit of card disadvantage.

Maybe it's worth running more than two for its Life Burst. The Life Burst is pretty dead if they killed all your Angel SIGNI or made their last SIGNI attack, though. Tama has Valkyrie, Mikagami, Izayoi Tama, and Guren Tama to generate card advantage. Tawil only has Nakirun. THREE OUT helps, especially before level 4 where Get Almandal doesn't help. The most attention Wish Crisis has ever gotten was Ruuko shouting out its name in infected Episode 7. Wish Crisis was not a good card, because Tama had absolutely no need for it. Wish Crisis has a restrictive condition, a restrictive effect, and only searches out one extra SIGNI, putting it on the same level as Get Bible (and far below Get Index).
 * THREE OUT
 * Wish Crisis

However, Tawil can possibly use Wish Crisis in ways Tama cannot.

Wish Crisis trashes your own SIGNI, letting you clear away your downed SIGNI (Nakirun, Soap Sudden) for more offense. It also triggers Aphrodite's second. Funnily enough, while Wish Crisis's Life Burst prevents the use of effects, it says nothing about the use of  effects like Aphrodite's. With Aphrodite and, Wish Crisis's Life Burst suddenly becomes good.

Time will tell if Tawil makes Wish Crisis good.

Decklist
A preliminary decklist is as follows: LRIG: Tawil=Fyra, Prolonged of Life Tawil=Tre, Prolonged of Life Tawil=Två, Prolonged of Life Tawil=Ett, Prolonged of Life Tawil=Noll, Prolonged of Life ARTS: Baroque Defense Salvage Soap Summon Spirit Salvage Xeno Multiple SIGNI: (34) W 4x Haniel, Thoughts of Seeking C 4x Servant O (LB) W 2x Saniel, Focus of Philanthropy W 1x Sarie, Improvement of Historical Fact C 4x Servant D (LB) W 2x Rabiel, Protector of Holy Arts W 1x Michael, Voice of Reconciliation W 4x Nakirun, Younger Sister Deity of the Holy Tomb W 2x Kiuael, Faint Smile of Sacrifice W 1x Archold, Gospel of the Future (LB) C 1x Servant T (LB) W 4x Munkarun, Elder Sister Deity of the Holy Tomb (LB) W 2x Gabrie, Future of the Archangel W 1x Aphrodite, Flower Bloom of Late Beginnings C 1x Servant Q (LB) Spells: (6) W 3x Wish Crisis (LB) U 2x THREE OUT W 1x Soap Sudden (LB) W: 31 U: 2 C: 10 Angels: 24 LB: 20

While making this deck, I had to make many, many concessions.

First of all, there are very little good Life Burst cards you can run in a Tawil deck. The only two Life Burst SIGNI Tawil has access to are Munkarun and Archold, and the latter isn't that good (although I have opted to include one). There aren't very many good Life Burst spells, either; THREE OUT and Get Almandal would be better than running so many Wish Crises, but they would leave me without enough Life Bursts, so I ended up with three. In most other decks, Servant Q would be an unnecessary card, but Tawil's level 4 options aren't exactly top-notch. Munkarun is great, Gabrie is okay, and Aphrodite is conditional. Mostly, the problem was that only Munkarun has Life Burst, necessitating for Burst filler. (Hanayo Ni Kai has it worse. I've seen Ni Kai decks that run Servant T and Q.)

Secondly, there are very few outstanding Angel SIGNI in general, as detailed in the Tawil rant above.

Overall, Tawil isn't as good as she could have been, but we have to work within constraints.

Early game you will want to use Haniel to ensure SIGNI consistency: Haniel → Michael → Nakirun → Munkarun. Using Wish Crisis on turn 3 to play double Nakiruns often gives a ton of card advantage and consistency.

One of the weaknesses of Tama is that, as the game goes on, your search effects get weaker and weaker as your deck empties and your trash fills up. Tawil does not have that problem, due to Tawil=Fyra's two effects. Because she can restock your deck, your Angels never stay in the trash for long, and Tawil doesn't easily run out of gas.

When you hit level 4, you will want to look for ways to ping your opponent's Life Cloth down while making sure that you can take your opponent's next few attacks. The main ways for you to push attacks through are Tawil=Fyra's effects, which you can use at any time. Rabiel, Soap Sudden, and Xeno Multiple can also remove SIGNI. Tawil is unlikely to remove two or more SIGNI in one turn, however, so you'd better make sure that the SIGNI you have in the meantime can stand their ground,

Between Tawil=Fyra's, Munkarun's , and Gabrie's high power, your level 4 SIGNI are hard to take down directly, forcing your opponent to find alternate ways to deal with them. When they do deal with them, use defensive ARTS to fend off the resulting attacks.

Tips and Tricks

 * General tip: when you search your deck, take note of the contents of the deck. If you can't find certain cards, they're stuck in your Life Cloth, and you can use the foreknowledge to predict when something will occur. For example, if you find only two Wish Crises in your deck, you might want to hold two ener up during your opponent's turn so you can surprise them with an Aphrodite off Life Burst. If you can't find the one-of Aphrodite in your deck, you might want to take a few more attacks than usual so you can get Aphrodite out of your Life Cloth, and into trash where you can retrieve it.
 * If you wait until your deck has one or two cards left, you can use Tawil=Fyra's effect to fill your deck with the SIGNI you need, ensuring that you'll be drawing "live" cards.

P.S.
It's pronounced "ta-wheel". Not "ta-will" or "ta-will".