After the release of the Magia Record anime set this summer, I’ve spent a really long time trying to craft a new Madoka list which would pay homage to the deck I started playing Weiss with more than 5 years ago. So this definitely isn’t the most competitive Madoka deck out there – but it’s the Madoka deck that lets me play the kind of Weiss I love the most. I hope at least some of you will find it fun as well!

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Quick stats:

• Colors: 23 yellow / 18 green / 8 blue / 1 red
• Level 0 = 15 characters
• Level 1 = 10 characters
• Level 2 = 3 characters
• Level 3 = 10 characters + 4 events
• Soul triggers: 13 (0 on climaxes)

Level 0

3x Tsuruno, Ally of Mikazuki Household
CONT – If you have 2 or less Stock, this gets +1500 power.
AUTO – [(1) Discard 1 card] When this is placed on stage from hand, you may pay cost. If you do, search your deck for up to 1 <Magic> character, show it to your opponent, add it to hand, and shuffle your deck afterwards.

3x Sana, Something to Protect
AUTO – At the start of your climax phase, choose 1 of your level 2 or lower characters, it gets -1 level until end of turn.
ACT – BRAINSTORM [(1) Rest this] Flip over the top 4 cards of your deck and put them in the waiting room. For each climax revealed, choose up to 1 character in your waiting room and return it to your hand.

3x Yachiyo, Invitation to Food
AUTO – [(1) Discard 1 card] When this is placed on stage from hand, you may pay cost. If you do, choose 1 character from your Waiting Room, and add it to hand.
AUTO – When this is Reversed, if you have 2 or less Memory, you may send this to Memory.

2x Homura, Together We Can
AUTO – [(1) Put the top card of your deck in your clock] When this is placed on stage from hand, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to 1 level 1 or lower character, show it to your opponent, put it in your hand, and shuffle your deck.
AUTO – At the start of your climax phase, if this is in the front row, choose 1 of your characters, it gets either +1 level or -1 level until end of turn.

2x Yachiyo, Veteran Magical Girl
AUTO – When this card’s battle opponent is Reversed, choose 1 of your other <Magic> characters, Rest it, and move it to an empty Back Row slot.

1x Kaede, Rookie Magical Girl
CONT – Your other <Magic> character in the front row center slot gets +500 power.
ACT – BRAINSTORM [(1) Rest this] Flip over the top 4 cards of your deck and put them in the waiting room. For each climax revealed, draw up to 2 cards and discard a card from your hand to your waiting room.

1x “Light That Continues to Shine” Madoka
AUTO – [Discard a climax card from your hand to the waiting room] When this is placed on stage from hand, you may pay cost. If you do, choose a <Magic> character in your waiting room and return it to your hand. 

Level 1

4x “Memory of Hatred” Felicia
AUTO – At the start of your attack phase, choose a character in your front row, and if all characters in your front row have the same level as the chosen character, this gains +3000 power until end of turn.
AUTO – When this becomes reversed in battle, reveal the top card of your deck. If it’s level 2 or higher, you may return this to your hand.

2x Iroha, Each One’s Thoughts
ACT – [(1) Send this to Waiting Room] Look at up to 4 cards from the top of your deck, choose up to 1 <Magic> character from among them, show it to your opponent, add it to hand, and send the rest to Waiting Room.
ACT – [Rest this] Choose 1 of your <Magic> characters, this turn, it gets +1500 power.

4x Felicia, Ally of Mikazuki Household
CONT – During your turn, if you have another <Magic> character, this gets +3000 power.
AUTO – {CX COMBO} (1) When this card’s battle opponent is Reversed, if you have “Reason Why I Became a Magical Girl” in the Climax Area, choose up to 1 <Magic> character from your Waiting Room, add it to hand, then you may pay cost. If you do, look at the top card of your deck, choose up to 1 <Magic> character from among them, show it to your opponent, add it to hand, and send the rest to Waiting Room.

4x Reason Why I Became a Magical Girl

Level 2

1x “Maiden’s Determination” Tart
CONT – ASSIST +2000 power to level 3 or higher characters.
ACT – [(1) Send this to memory] Put the top card of your clock in your waiting room.

1x Iroha, Concrete Memory
AUTO – When this is placed on stage from hand, if you have 5 or less cards in deck, resolve the following effects once each, in the order written:
– If you have 2 or less Memory, choose up to 1 <Magic> character from your Waiting Room, send it to Memory, and this turn, this gets +4000 power.
– Return all cards from your Waiting Room into your deck, and shuffle your deck afterwards.

1x Yachiyo, Importance of the Point
AUTO – [(2) Send 1 of your characters from stage to Waiting Room] When you use this card’s BACKUP, you may pay cost. If you do, choose 1 of your opponent’s characters whose Level is higher than your opponent’s Level, and send it to Waiting Room.
ACT – BACKUP +2500

Level 3

2x Felicia, How a Mercenary Fights
CONT – If there the number of climaxes in your waiting room is 2 or less, this gets -1 level while in your hand.
CONT – This gains +1000 power for each <Magic> character in your back row.
AUTO – When this is placed on stage from hand, you may put the top card of your clock in the waiting room.

2x Sana, Ally of Mikazuki Household
CONT – If you have 4 or more <Magic> characters, this gets -1 Level while in your hand.
AUTO – When this is placed on stage from hand, if you have another <Magic> character, until the end of your opponent’s next turn, this gets +1500 power and gains the following ability: “CONT – This cannot be targeted by your opponent’s effects.”
AUTO – When this is placed on stage from hand, you may put the top card of your clock in the waiting room.

2x Yachiyo, Rich Combat Experience
AUTO – When this is placed on stage from hand, look at up to X cards from the top of your deck, choose up to 1 card from among them, add it to hand, and send the rest to Waiting Room. X equals the number of your <Magic> characters.
AUTO – When this is placed on stage from hand, choose 1 “Yachiyo, Invitation to Food” from your Memory, you may send it to Stock.
AUTO – When your card is sent to Memory, if you have another <Magic> character, this turn, this gets +4000 power.

1x Felicia, Each One’s Thoughts
CONT – If this is in your Front Row, all of your <Magic> characters get +1500 power.
AUTO – [(2) Discard 1 card] When this attacks, if you have 2 or more other <Magic> characters, you may pay cost. If you do, draw 1 card, discard 1 card, then look at up to 2 cards from the top of your opponent’s deck, choose up to 2 cards from among them, put them back on top of your opponent’s deck in any order, and send the rest to Waiting Room.
AUTO – When your card is sent to Memory, if you have another <Magic> character, this turn, this gets +2000 power.

4x I Want to Become One to Protect Her
COUNTER – Put the top 2 cards of your deck in the waiting room. If there are no climaxes among those cards, deal 4 damage to your opponent, choose a character in battle, and that character gains the following ability for the turn: “CONT – This can not deal damage to players.”

3x Alina Gray
AUTO – {CX COMBO} When “You’re Going to Compensate Me for This Right!?” is placed on your Climax Area, if this is in the Front Row, this turn, this gets +3000 power, and all of your characters gain the following ability, until the end of the turn: “AUTO – When this card’s battle opponent is Reversed, choose 1 <Magic> character from your Waiting Room, you may put it into Stock.”
AUTO – [(1) Discard 1 card] This ability activates up to once per turn. When another character is sent from stage to Waiting Room, if this is in the Front Row, you may pay cost. If you do, deal 1 damage to your opponent.
(Note that she has 3 soul)

4x You’re Going to Compensate Me for This Right!?

Introduction & Overview

If you’re this far down, it’s probably clear that calling this deck unconventional is an understatement. I’ve searched all over the place for people using the Alina level 3 in new MagiReco decks, and was actually able to find one other deck built around the same idea – I’ll take that as confirmation that I’m not completely crazy, thank you very much 😀

Like many other great things in life, this too started out as a meme. I wasn’t really happy with what the last Madoka set gave us, so my motivation to test builds was more or less in the gutter – but on the other hand, it also made it easier for me to just take a break and make something fun. So I looked back on the good old days of English Madoka, when climax combos were an afterthought, Sayaka’s Wish was the best thing ever and finishers were merely a figment of one’s imagination. It sounds so weird now, but I swear, that deck got great mileage out of simply healing at the weirdest times and waiting for the opponent to die first 😛

So how does one replicate that kind of deck in 2020? Well, upon seeing that we can now hoard stock at level 3, I immediately thought about the 3/4 anti-damage event from the 1st MagiReco set. And I laughed at my own idea, because … have you read the event? It’s terrible. The number of times it will kill you instead of your opponent is too damn high. But still, there is something immensely enjoyable to me about being able to present even just the threat of sticking 4 damage during their own turn. Yet whenever I tried running this event in Madoka before, it just didn’t work out – mostly due to stock issues. But now, stock issues are no more!

Against my better judgement, I stopped laughing, made the deck, and forced people to play against me as I milled climaxes and then ate 8 damage straight over and over again. It took some really shitty games (special thanks to Denis for putting up with that) until I got the finesse of the build and its intended play-style down, but after that, it became kinda … really fun? It can heal really effectively, but more than that, it can dictate how your opponent plays their own game towards the end, and I like that. Specifically, I like watching people plan out their finishing turn knowing that 4 damage or a few burn 1s can be sent their way any time.

So if you’re also interested in making people not wanna play against you anymore, let me show you how this deck is supposed to work in its current form, as well as some changes you can make to the build!

Main Game Plan

Level 0

This is mostly just a nicely organized pile of tech cards. I’ve chosen to run the Sana brainstorm instead of the new Momoko brainstorm mainly because the latter is off-color for this deck, and Sana also kinda supports our level 1 lineup with her 1st ability. I do still run one copy of the Kaede draw-2-ditch-1 brainstorm to have easier access to events. She’s not super vital early in the game, but seeing her in your opening hand alongside the new Tsuruno drop search does allow you to set up a 4k wall on your first turn, which is something at least. The Tsuruno does most of the heavy lifting as far as plussing level 0s in this deck go, because I have both the Homura Riki and the Yachiyo Cleancut at only 2 copies. I do occasionally end up playing Riki to search the Cleancut though, if the game starts off super slow. But in most games, the Riki is used to grab the level 1 Felicia combo as intended, and I only bother with the Cleancut if I happen to draw into it – it’s usually just clock fodder for blue later on.

Speaking of blue, we also have the Yachiyo drop salvage and yes, I am aware that’s a bit much together with the 3 copies of the drop search, but that’s not why she’s in the deck. More or less, her purpose is to get max value out of playing the 3/2 Yachiyo which sends the level 0 from memory to stock when she’s played. But would the deck be better off scrapping this level 0 and playing something like the marker Kirika instead? Possibly, I haven’t tested that yet, but for the time being, I like being able to play the 3/2 Yachiyo for one stock – it makes the shittier games less shitty, and this deck desperately needs that.

A similar argument could also be made for playing the new blue Iroha Riki instead of the Homura one, but I would really rather not cut the green level 0s because that would mean having to level some of the level 3s for green, and I don’t wanna do that 😀 Heck, even putting the Madoka climax ditcher into the level zone feels bad sometimes, because I often get stuck with a bunch of bars in my hand during the late game. Maybe this list would need to play 2 of her instead?

That aside, I think it’s clear by now that the “game plan” for level 0 is getting to level 1, and not much else. If something survives a turn, great, if you’re just dealing damage and getting two or three stock, also great. We can work with that.

Level 1

In case it isn’t obvious by now, you’re playing Madoka, so if you don’t get reverse targets, you will be suffering. Or maybe not …

I wish we got a good non-interactive combo, I really do. But at this point, I’ll take our 7k attacker on a good trigger and shut up. And honestly, we also have the 1/0 Iroha that pumps 1500 power, so we can make one lane 9.5k with the climax. That’s gonna work fine in most cases, unless your opponent is specifically playing reverse denial, or had a good start with a standby deck. With that in mind, this is definitely one of those decks which often benefits from being level 1 first, not only because of the on-reverse combo but also because of the level 0 lineup not being all that great.

As for the combo itself, I obviously wish it was a searcher, but salvaging isn’t bad either. The 4 events we’re running kinda go against its second part though, where you can pay 1 to look at the top card of your deck and add a character from there – but having to mill away an event doesn’t hurt nearly as much as paying 1 only to see a climax on top of your deck. So yeah, keep track of your CXs and your events, and don’t use the pay 1 part of the combo unless you really need it, or it would benefit you in some other way (like paying out a CX you just triggered). Because in a deck with 8 plussing triggers, paying 1 to mill a climax during attack phase usually feels bad.

But how about the games where we can’t get reverses? Well, we play the other Felicia – the slightly more purple, slightly angrier one 😀 Given that we’re running a pretty top-heavy list, there are a total of 17 level 2 or higher cards in the deck, which results in decent enough coinflip chances for her to return back to hand when she’s reversed. And this deck will happily take the plus!

Speaking of pluses though, I’m sure many of you saw this list and had the gut reaction of why the hell is she in green without the Homura JC???? And I hear you – in fact, I still ask myself the same thing because it just feels wrong somehow. That card is good, easily among the best Madoka has. It’s usually 6.5k cross-turn, it’s useful in the late game as a back row, and it would give us at least some semblance of defensive board. So why is she not in the deck? Mainly because I personally like my “backup plans” to deviate as little from the original plans as possible – and especially with a tri color deck, I don’t wanna be color locked between playing one lane of the combo or two lanes of the Homura + a random level 0 – that would make an already unfavorable game even worse. Having all level 1 attackers be yellow prevents that issue.

But more than that, Homura just doesn’t help this deck in general as much as Felicia does. 6.5k on defense is okay, but she would want level 1 counters to back her up, which I don’t wanna put in a deck where the main level 1 play is gonna be 4k on defense either way. Homura also wouldn’t really be doing much in the back row at level 3 since I generally don’t want to deny reverses – if anything, I want to reverse or be reversed so I can use Alina’s burn ability! And honestly, Homura is only really a plus if all your characters would be getting reversed either way – in which case I much prefer taking my chances with Felicia which doesn’t cost anything, and also doesn’t open up a slot for them to direct attack into while I’m still on my 1st deck and therefore relatively uncompressed.

Plus, speaking of Alina’s pay 1 ditch 1 burn 1 ability which activates when another character is sent from stage to waiting room: if you’re trying to go for multiple small instances of damage, you can crash this Felicia and confirm your next trigger when she’s reversed – and if she’s not the only character about to leave the board that turn, you can possibly also return her to your hand to then use as discard fodder for the ability’s cost. So yeah, Felicia definitely isn’t the most obvious choice in these colors, but she helps the deck in many subtle ways, which makes her a better pick for a secondary level 1 attacker as far as I’m concerned. Not to mention that we already have the yellow Sana brainstorm as well as the Homura Riki that can both manipulate levels, which also kinda plays into Felicia, since she does need all your front row to be the same level if you want her to attack with 7k power – but in all the games I’ve played, I don’t think that came up as an issue more than a few times.

Lastly, the 1/0 Iroha support is also pretty great: she wasn’t in the initial version of the build, but the games have gotten noticeably better since I’ve added her. If nothing else, it’s really nice to have something in the back row that can be used to mill an empty deck while still getting you a card back to your hand, as opposed to just brainstorming knowing you won’t hit anything. But also, it’s very convenient that we have something which can send itself from our stage to the waiting room …

Level 2

Step 1: Felicia EP
Step 2: Heal
Step 3: Sana EP
Step 4: Heal

… or at least that’s how I first envisioned it. But of course, it’s not that simple. Sure, there are some games where your best play here will be the double healers, and that board is especially great with the 2/1 Tart assist in the back and the Yachiyo counter in hand – but it’s not always the right board to set up.

If you’re up against decks that do more or less usual things for their finishing turn and if your compression is looking good, you’ll probably be fine if you stall at level 2 for a bit. But if your opponent is playing something which has an easier time killing you from 2-6 (looking at you, Shiki), you really should try to be level 3 first. You want to have some stock saved up already, and most importantly – you want reverse targets for Alina’s combo so that you can hamster up and sit on two money counters like a normal person. Because remember, kids – your opponent can’t kill you if you make them take damage instead!

Now, where was I? Right, the level 2 game plan for this scenario! Honestly, it almost doesn’t matter what you play, but your best bet is something that will survive your turn so that you’re not giving your opponent free directs. And you probably also wanna push them to around 2-4 or 2-5, so – slam down triple 1/0 Coinflip Felicia and a random climax is what I’m saying.

Depending on the state your deck is in, the free-fresh also comes into play here. If you want to make things extra easy on yourself, you can also run the old green Homura free-fresh so that your blue playables are limited to that one blue 3/2 Felicia and you can’t get stuck between having to level green or blue for level 2 – but I tried that and it honestly didn’t make much difference. So I went with the blue Iroha free-fresh, because the extra bits from her effect just work better with this deck – Homura’s global 2k boost just doesn’t bring as much value as being able to send a card to memory to set up for 3/2 Yachiyo next turn.

Speaking of which, both the 3/2 Yachiyo and the blue 3/2 Felicia gain power from cards being sent to memory, so this free-fresh also works with them at level 3. Same for the Tart assist! Damn, this whole memory thing makes me wanna build a G/B Sayaka’s Wish deck again …

Level 3

In the vast majority of your games, the 3/4 event will be absolutely crucial here. Ending your level 3 turn without at least one in your hand feels bad, in fact, it feels like death. And dying is bad in Weiss, that’s why I run a full four copies of this event: because I don’t wanna struggle too much to get it in my hand, and also because in all seriousness, my usual goal with this deck is being able to play double events the turn after resolving Alina combo.

So to make sure I can reliably get both the CX and the event in hand, I’ve added the 3/2 Yachiyo check X to the build – before that, I focused on defense even more by splashing red instead of blue for the 3/2 Tsuruno that gives minus soul by sending the 0/0 Tsuruno out of memory. And that package worked well, in fact I strongly prefer it over the Yachiyo package in a vacuum – but in this deck, the consistency improved a lot when I started playing Yachiyo instead. And as I’ve said before, cost 1 level 3s are cool.

The version where I removed the red splash was also the version where I added the Felicia Moca clone (using that word very loosely here): it’s nice for the power boost and technically you’ll also have stock to spare for her effect. Except that in all my games, I haven’t managed to snipe a CX with her once yet! That only means more games are needed though 😀

And finally, I get to talk about Alina: I just love this card! From the art, to her having 3 soul, to the power, the stock hoarding, the burn 1s – sign me up for all of it! And yes, this opinion is heavily swayed by the fact that she enabled me to productively play that horrible 3/4 event. But there’s honestly more to her! I really underestimated the burn 1s until a pivotal moment in one of the games when I ended up with an empty deck and no anti-damage counters in my hand. But my opponent was at 3-6, and I had the Yachiyo sac-counter in my hand, as well as 4 stock and another card to discard so … away went one of my characters, Alina’s ability activated, 1 damage was dealt, victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat. Or perhaps despair would be a better word, given the franchise?

I started paying way more attention to burn 1s from then on, on offense too. Admittedly, the sac-counter play won’t always be feasible, that’s more of a last resort than anything else. However, force-sending something to waiting room on your own turn is a lot more feasible! Either by using the 1/0 Iroha, or by crashing an attacker (if you can’t reverse their characters), or simply by overplaying one of your characters if you have the resources! As long as you have any climax, you can play two Alinas, sac something, burn 1 twice, then do 2 side attacks with Alina against level 3s for 1 or 2 depending on the trigger, then another attack for 2 or 3 with your random 3rd attacker. That’s 5 small instances of damage, so if they’re already level 3, you have good chances of closing the game right then and there.

I usually combine a turn like that with a turn of hoarding stock and then using the 3/4 event on defense – it turns out that if you get to level 3 first, get reverses and stock, then spread your damage output through both turns, it’s almost like playing an actual finisher! Or, to quote one of my unfortunate test subjects who have been beaten by this deck repeatedly: “This is so dumb, but I hate it when it works.” 

Big emphasis on when there: because as I’ve already mentioned, the event really is dumb. You haven’t felt pain in Weiss until you’ve played this and milled not one but two climaxes from the top of your deck 🙁 So yeah, a tinge of masochism and a slight affinity for chaos are required for playing this deck, otherwise I don’t think you’ll have a good time.

But if you’re willing to learn how to randomly sabotage yourself like a champ, I really do think that this deck can be much greater than just the meme it started with. Would I take it to a serious tournament? Hell yeah I would! I obviously like winning, but I also like having fun – and this is one of those decks that I’m confident will provide both achievement and entertainment for me 🙂

Alternatives

If you wanted to, I’m sure you could try going for a red splash version of this with the Tsuruno package, removing the level 0 Yachiyo drop salvage but maybe keeping in the 3/2 Yachiyo for the check X effect? At least that’s what I would do if I went back to that version – and I might give it a try, since the +1500 on-play boost from the 0/0 Tsuruno felt really nice, especially when paired together with the cleancut. And that build then also has space for the red Momoko brainstorm, or the Touka brainstorm if you wanna capitalize on your bar triggers more. And while we’re at it, this rather absurd 3/2 Kyoko might also have a place in that version of the deck!

But keeping with the current colors, I’ve already mentioned some level 0 alternatives like the marker Kirika and the Iroha Riki, but there are also other notable cards like the matchup-dependent Nanaka blinker, or the Felicia hand filter which also goes to memory and interacts with another 1/0 Felicia, though I honestly wouldn’t put that one in the deck. But if you want a different hand-filter, perhaps in blue, the OG set from ages past is there for you with Sayaka & Mami 😀

We have the green middle runner/suicider (which exists in red too, because why not), and speaking of color pairs, the climax ditcher exists in blue as well. And if you want a suicider, but in yellow – got you covered. But by that same logic, you also don’t need to bother adding blue for Kirika since you can trade staying in yellow for a worse oversize if that’s what you’re after.

For level 1, I don’t think I’ve had any other considerations apart from the already covered Homura JC, and maybe the Yachiyo twin-drive suicider. You can try to pull some weird Alina encore shenanigans with this Tsuruno support though, which I think I saw some people talking about trying when the spoilers for the set were coming out, but I haven’t heard anything about it since.

Level 2 is pretty much all over the place color-wise. I already mentioned the green free-fresh, but there’s also a red version of the sac-counter! And initially, I wasn’t running the yellow assist but instead this green Yachiyo 1k global which also gives out +2000 power when you play a climax. I figured this one would work better with helping Alina get reverses, but it turns out that in the matchups where early play healers are the right way to go, them having 1k more power on defense really pays off, so that’s why I went with Tart in the final build.

And while we’re on the topic of early plays, my one big regret about this deck is lack of hard removal for them. I’d love to find the space for one copy of the Yachiyo bottom deck bomb, or the Ui stock bomb, or the Sana clock bomb, but I know the easiest way to do so would be to cut the number of anti-damage events, and I personally don’t wanna do that. But you’re free to try it out! Oh and before I finish this part, I know she’s not exactly hard removal, but I think this 2/1 Mami is worth mentioning anyway – if nothing else, she works nicely with the 1/0 Coinflip Felicia by being able to make herself level 1 if needed.

And for level 3, the only other character I can think of that wouldn’t drastically change the shell would be the Iroha EP level assist which also heals and can send things to memory. That synergy with some of the other level 3s alone is pretty worth it in my opinion, so eventually, I’ll try to carve out a space for her in this build – probably at the cost of one of the other healers.

And that’s it, I think? Though I’m sure I’ll eventually I realize I forgot to mention some super relevant tech card or something like that. I should probably start making outlines for these articles instead of just having mental post-it notes 😀