BRO happened today … or yesterday, I guess. The majority of it was yesterday for me, and I’m writing this introduction just short of 2 am after concluding the NA/LA part of BRO in the evening and EU in the morning. It was my first time participating in two regions, and while I’m not opposed to the idea, I think next year I should try the nap > AO > nap > NA/LA combo instead.
I was running the Kanon/Kasumi list below. My main goal for today was to mentally rip my deck apart and see what needs to be changed in order for it to work the way it should. I think I’ve succeeded in doing that, but I guess we’ll see next weekend when I’ll report back from Milan Springfest in Italy.
This post is mostly an expansion of my brief Twitter thread recaps, because not everything fits into a bird chirp, and there really is no reason for me to wrestle with their character limit when I literally have a place that’ll take as many words as I want.
And it’s a lot of words, so strap in and let’s relive my gradual descent into maddness, written live as it unfolded from 9 am through 2 am the next day.
Europe Swiss Rounds
Round 1: ✔️ vs Nanami/Kasumi BD [8RE9]
Went first. Opened with Kokoro, stuck 4 damage turn 1. Played second Kokoro on turn 2, searched Kanon. Played third and fourth Kokoro turn 3, searched two more Kanon to do triple combo. Thus we conclude that playing four dropsearches was an auto win 🙂 I had two Choice CX in hand already, so I looped triple Kanon next turn as well, where one of them got reversed via counter. Was left with two more Kanons the turn after that, and I topdecked a third Choice for another go at the combo. Opponent was rather unluckily eating quite a bit of damage, only managed to put out (I think) one Chu2 at level 2, and couldn’t do Kasumi combo at all during level 3, instead just playing more Chu2s to heal.
Overall a great game for me, felt very secure past L1 and I was able to capitalize on that well with opting not to clock as much.
Round 2: ✔️ vs Alice/Silica SAO [QN47]
First again and the sackfest begins, I guess. I’m technically sitting on all the tools needed to do this matchup well, but I’ve got limited practice with it and I think it shows. There were a few instances in late game when I thought about doing the right thing, but them misplayed out of habit anyway. Opponent’s first L1 turn consisted of slamming three level 0s and calling it a day, partially due to one Alice being in clock and one in their hand, but partially also because they didn’t want them answered with my memory bombs. Technically the Kokoros let me play a very flexible level 0 game, but I didn’t have any in hand this time – just two Choice CX, one Kanon and one penguin brainstorm (yes that’s what I’m calling it, gotta make do with something when half the deck is Kanon). So naturally, I slam penguin and pray my way into hitting 2 on a first deck brainstorm 🙂 And would you look at that, there’s 2 Kanon in waiting room, triple combo goes brrr again.
For level 3, I specifically knew I needed the Saya assist to dodge memory kick, which stops Kasumi from burning, or being on stage to prevent burns during their turn for that matter. And I grabbed the Saya assist off a Choice trigger earlier. And I had stock alloted for it. And then guess what I ditched while grabbing cards with Kasumi. In my defense at least, I also had stockswap in hand at the same time that I could have ditched, and I think since I’m more used to seeing that card than the assist, some braincell in my head just went “2/1, red, Saya, yup, we ditch … wait, fuck.”
So the opponent lived that turn, I lived through their Asuna EPs next turn, and then I scrambled for a single copy of the KasuTae burn 3, which won me the game alongside vanilla swings. I think they went from 2-5 to 3-8 without cancelling? Something like that.
All things considered, could have played this one better. I gotta stop freaking out when it comes to ditching stuff with Kasumi – might put important cards aside in a separate pile in the future.
Round 3: ✔️ vs 8 Standby 5HY [CX8R]
First for the third time in a row. Didn’t manage to get together triple Kanon, but I did have Yukina riki bounce back on cancel two times, so I think that’s a fair tradeoff in terms of deck performance. Most of the midgame was us just trading swings into stuff that couldn’t be reversed between my Kanons and their Blue Nino. Ultimately I started crashing into the 2/2 Ninos, still put together triple Kasumi at level 3 but I didn’t have the assist again, so I could only burn twice since one Kasumi died to memory kick. I believe I was at 3-1, and then went to 3-6 with one neg soul counter before taking 3 and 2. One trigger away from dying, mind you!
I encored one Kasumi, didn’t luck into topdecking a door, slammed Kokoro to middle, Kanon on the side, hit for 2 + 3 + 1 for exact lethal, gg.
Round 4: ❌ vs Pants/Door KGL [CPF5]
I continue being impressed by how realiably I can assemble triple Kanon in most games. I also stuck 11 damage early on, however, both of those combined still couldn’t make up for me bleeding climaxes all over the place. Mulliganned a Door, drew another Door, clocked into a Choice, clocked into another Door next turn, I think I triggered one as well? Idk at this point, but after I did triple combo, I was left with 3 cards in hand: random chara + Choice + Door. Which is a little bit of a yikes.
The yikes then compounded at level 3, when all these Doors were suddenly nowhere to be found. I managed to get myself out of being level locked at 2-6, but my CX swap was in stock with 4 Doors in waiting toom, so despite having 2 Kasumi already in hand, my best bet was Kokoro + KasuTae burn + random attacker. At least I had a choice to slam, but it didn’t matter in the end because the opponent cancelled almost(?) everything anyway.
And then I was 1 in 8+ and I died 🙂 Also went second this time, so both of my streaks were broken. But I’m sure it was great entertainment value for stream!
Round 5: ❌ vs Silica/Alice SAO [7X3R]
Went first, which is great because I mean I can draw all of my climaxes faster 🙂 Seriously, very unhappy with this game. Part of it’s on me, part of it was deck just saying no. I was all out with 8 clean after level 1 combo turn, and you can figure out how that went. Also didn’t help that I was without the Saya assist when it would have really made a difference again. I need to up that card to two for sure, one is clearly not enough.
The rest of the deck I’m pretty fine with though. Might change the Rimi brainstorm for another CX swap, we’ll see. The goal today is playing as many games as possible to fix as many things with the deck (and mysef) as possible before our next Springfest in Italy 🙂
Round 6: ❌ vs 8 Standby 5HY [D6PX]
First again. Game went super great, everything worked until the very end, when I could only bring out 2 Kasumis and didn’t manage to kill. Then I ate 3 two times and died. Fun times! This one was on me though, since I could have searched for a third Kasumi earlier but opted not to – instead grabbing the Saya assist to avoid memory kick, which didn’t even end up being relevant due to my opponent’s board being just level 1s at that point. There were two 3/2 Ninos out at some point, but I Adachi’d one to memory and stunned the other in back row. I feel like Quints is one of the decks where that card’s really good to be honest.
We had one more round, but I was feeling really tired so I opted to drop, rest, get some food and return for NA/LA.
North & Latin America Swiss Rounds
Round 1: ✔️ vs Alice/Kirisuna/Spirit SAO [B1ED]
“I have never bricked this hard in my entire life.” – my opponent after the game.
Went first, got to level 1 first, Riki’d for a Kanon to do double combo. Their level 1 turn, no Alice. I hit 2 on brainstrom next turn, grab a 3rd Kanon and a CX searcher, go into triple combo. Still no Alice until they were mid-level 2, and that’s when the CX shenanigans started. Twice in this game, they whiffed brainstorm only to then play a topcheck and reveal CX. The second time it happened, they already had 2 CX in clock and were just trying to mill, even though I still had 5 clean left to swing into on my turn (Kokoro direct with soul trigger goes brrr). I think only one Alice combo resolved all game. Their level 3 combos didn’t happen at all.
T’was a massacre if I ever saw one.
Round 2: ❌ vs 8 Bar KMD [P6UB]
Went second this time. Can’t remember the last time I got level locked at 0 and it mattered, but boy, did it matter. Could have had triple Kanon that turn but nah. Instead I went straight from level 0 to 2, did two turns of level 1 combo, called the game unsalvageable and then kinda … salvaged it? Like, it was close. I was level 3 first (obviously), set up triple Kasumi, did combo on two because I didn’t have enough stock, one neg soul counter in hand, 3 CX in 9 cards at the end of turn at 3-0.
One Kasumi gets blinked, Icy Tail + two three-soul combo pieces hit the board, Icy Tail gets the free side attack ability, mills 2 CX, I think I canceled that attack. First combo swings into anti-burn for 4, I neg soul it to one. Second combo doesn’t get the ping one, sides for 2, I cancel, burn 2, I cancel again. Even though I cold have taken one of those and it would be fine, I was at 3-4.
Sadly only had one stock left and without CX didn’t have enough reach to kill from (I believe) 3-3 after another cancel on opponent’s part. Overall really swingy game, I’m impressed with the recovery I made and even more impressed with the Kasumi-outplaying shenanigans. It was one of those games that felt nice to lose!
Round 3: ❌ vs Alice/Silica SAO [325F]
Going second again. I am starting to see a pattern here … as in, I end my level 1 turn and look at my deck and it’s like 25 cards and 1 climax. Fun times. Double fun times for not having anything good at level 1. Bunch of level 3s and no combo, no way to grab it either. Wiffed brainstorm and then my only option for playables was Adachi, Adachi, slam Door and go.
I kinda stabilized towards the end I guess, the game could have felt a lot worse, and I could tell it wasn’t the inherent structure of the deck to blame, just whatever the fuck happened early on with me having no stock and little if any damage output. I feel like this deck could benefit from more level 0s, but then I’m also running the choice package, and 6 events without triggers already, so … hmm. I am definitely starting to see the advantages of playing 8 Door instead. And I’m one of the lucky idiots who actually has that combo sitting in a spare deckbox, so maybe I should use it? Will consider for London BSF, maybe. But on the other hand, I am having so much fun with the unreversable Kanons! I love this kind of effect, I really do. I’m the kind of person who took Steins;Gate to locals during the Eren era just to dunk on them with 4 unreversable Trial Deck Mayuris, so you know … this is kinda my thing 😀
I’d try a different top end but … I don’t like Mashiro, I’m seeing memory counters more often than I see my loved ones at this point so nope nope nope, not happening. And the new Kokoro finisher is in the same bucket, needs full board for combo. Doesn’t really make sense why that combo on a RR healer would have such strict conditions but ok, fine, sure, whatever (I’m not salty what are you talking about?) There’s technically also the Kokoro & Michele combo, and I’ve seen people run that, but … well, Kasumi is nice. I definitely think she’s the right meta call, so I want to keep playing that.
*sigh* I sometimes wonder where I’d be in Weiss if I didn’t have attachment issues with suboptimal deck choices.
Round 4: ✔️ vs Kanata/Marine HOL [34PK]
First this time, I think? Anyway – RNG giveth, RNG taketh, it’s the circle of Weiss. I suppose it’s nice to know how my opponents felt watching all my climaxes leave the deck before level 1 earlier today, but at the same time it also hurts to watch. There wasn’t much of anything going on for my opponent, not anything good at least. I went from double Kanon to triple Kanon to anti-changing their one lone copy of Kanata before it even attacked. I didn’t actually think I’d get to use that counter but they walked right into it, so I did. Still not sure if it was the right play over a free-fresh though, since I had 4 clean left in deck, and took 7 damage that turn.
They were so poorly compressed though, it didn’t even matter by the time triple Kasumi came out.
Round 5: ❌ vs Alice/Silica SAO [QN47]
Back to going second. Rematch from round 2 in EU by the way! Opponent got their revenge twice over this time, me thinks. I’ve had a bad game with being stuck at 0-6 before, but this time I just brainstormed and then passed turn. I had nothing. Some general nonsense later, I was level three and managed to even get one Kasumi off before almost living through double Silica with neg soul on the vanilla Asuna EP swing. But in the end I took 5 and died 🙂 Probably for the best through, since all I had in hand was a Choice and another neg soul counter.
Speaking of which, the heck is up with my neg soul counters today? I put four in the deck so that I could use them a ridiculous amount of times, but in all my games, I feel like I barely saw one in hand at level 3! They all went to stock or were stuck in clock. Is that why every other reasonable person only plays three copies in their list? Is it cursed? Does everyone know and I just missed the memo? It sure feels like it 😀
Anyway, about the ‘passing turn at 0-6’ thing: I think it’s kinda funny how my initial response was to think I need more Rikis. That’s just where my brain went, first thing. See? It’s not my fault I can’t build normal decks – I didn’t choose this life, it chose me!
I’ll adjust the deck tomorrow while watching Top 8 streams.
Round 6: ✔️ vs Miko/Sora HOL [2XWD]
Went first this time, and also went into overtime for the first time. It’s kinda funny because I’ve been grinding this deck against Steve for weeks, and he’s probably got sleeves full of Watame and Ayame to pull out and remove my Kasumis. But it turns out Hololive is actually a really sweet matchup when it’s not piloted by someone who gets a kick out of personally destroying all my hopes and dreams (it’s ok Steve, we’re still friends … for now). Anyway, where was I … right, the matchup 🙂
For this build specifically, Miko can’t reverse Kanon, and memory Adachi or bottom-deck anti change feels great into Sora. This time though, I already had triple Kanon out, so I just went for the combo, and -2 soul is actually not too bad when you’ve got all double triggers on board. For other builds, Kanon is a check against Korone as well, the anti change tools are super nice into Kanata too. And Marine is only scary if they can play around Kasumi, which is not guaranteed.
The endless swaths of Aqua and La+ have me thirsting for some level 0 bombs though …
Round 7: ❌ vs Explosions KS [LE0K]
With all the coherency of my 1 am brain (which would be none), I don’t really know what to say about this game. 0-6 to 2-0 again. Wishing Kasumi were look at top 3 take one instead, so I wouldn’t have to draw-ditch all my climaxes in the process. But playing into OG Megumin, it doesn’t even matter to be honest. You just take four and five and die 🙂
It was kinda nostalgic. I appreciate dying to this deck at the very end, because it brings back some very nice memories.
Deck and Matchup Reflections
The Kanon/Kasumi deck, as a concept, is good. My Kanon/Kasumi deck, as a specific example, is not.
The lunacy of triple neg souling people was a bad idea to chase, because it’s the exact kinda bullshit that would maybe happen in one game out of 50, and it’s just not worth it. As a Madoka player, I of course love suffering, but not that much. And these events do nothing at four copies, I swear, nothing. I open with two and trigger two and then they cease to exist. It’s like I gave them one friend too many and now they don’t wanna talk to me anymore.
Deck needs more level 0s. More little things to slam and go brrrr. Screw missing Choice triggers, it’s not like I’m hitting any when I’m stuck passing turn at 0-6 anyway. Also, the Rimi brainstorm is nice when I have it (+500 boost for the win), but probably not worth the 1-of slot. The idea I had with it was to max out on the time all four penguin brainstorms spend in deck for me to trigger them and get free Choice benefits instead of having one of them perma-placed in back row. Turns out it wasn’t that good of an idea (like most of my deck building ideas aren’t)
I am not sure what level 0s I wanna put in here though. Kinda torn between the Rimi or Futaba or Arisa chaser or Nanami runner or Hagumi stock suiciders. Grabbing level 1 or higher is nice when it doesn’t miss, and milling deck is nice when it doesn’t yeet all the climaxes out. Plusing is nice but to be fair, between SAO and HOL and who knows what else, there’s an army of 3.5k – 4k bodies out there, and I don’t wanna send my idols into that bloodbath with false hopes of surviving a turn. So I feel like Hagumi is probably the play. But I’m heavily biased towards the card, so maybe that’s just my wishful thinking speaking. I could definitely do with a second climax swap though!
And a second copy of the 2/1 Saya assist. And my instinct say to add a memory kick as well, because everyone is having memory kicks and I want in on the party, but realistically: what exactly in my forsaken-4k-power-on-defense deck would I be playing counters over? Not much, so let’s not do that.
I don’t feel comfortable with the Alice matchup, and I think the lack of power that the 2/1 Saya would fix is a big part of that. Need to play more games with it so Alice players, please hit me up!
And I think that’s all? All I can remember at this hour at least.
Closing Thoughts and Big Thank Yous ♥
I had fun today. All I did was wake up too early for my liking, bitch about being sleepy, play Weiss, eat food and play more Weiss. That’s about as peak Avis behavior as it gets 😀
I wanna thank those who organized and supported the tournaments – I can’t imagine the amount of work that goes into it, and I know how easily stuff can go wrong. This must be very stressful on so many levels, so a really big thank you goes out to everyone. Special shoutout to EU, where Ian spoils us with his bot even in his absence. Marvelous little bundle of code, I love Tournament Bot 🙂
And thank you to everyone who bricked against me, or watched me bring against them. You all gave me a better feel for where I should be going with this deck if I want to make it work, and that kind of insight sometimes can’t be gained by just playing against the same few people all the time. I’m happy I got to play so many different people (and person twice).
As for those who took time before or after our games to thank me for the work I do on Weiss Tea Time … thank you, and you’re welcome. It means the world to me, because it still feels crazy that someone on the other side of the world gets good use out of something I just started working on as a tiny little passion project. And it’s even crazier that I actually get to meet and talk to you guys.
Again, thank you – to everyone.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to take some notes for top 8 lists and google remedies for the hand cramps I’ll inevitably wake up with tomorrow after shuffling gloss oversleeves for the whole day 🙂