A competitive deck is, as the name states, meant to be able to compete and perform well in tournaments. It is true that the different series are by no meaning equal in power and viability, so take these decks as the cream of the crop for the specific series in question, because even the best deck of one set may not be a match for a semi-good deck from another.

The Deck

Today, I’ll show you guys my first and still strongest competitive deck, the one that literary grew with me from a trial deck to the amazing form that it’s in now 🙂

Here’s the WS Deckbuilder link for your convenience: Wishes for a Demon.

Level 0



4x Kyoko Shares an Apple

BOND w/ “Second-year of Mitakihara Middle School, Sayaka”: when she CIP, you may pay 1 stock. If you do, choose that particualar Sayaka in your WR, and add it to you hand.

She also boosts the Sayaka in question for +1000, regardless of stage position.



3x Madoka from the New World

If you have 2 or less cards in stock, she has 4k power.



3x Sayaka Looks Up to Mami

When she CIP, check the top card of your deck and put it either back on top or on the bottom of the deck.

When she attacks, reveal the top card of the deck: if it is a character, put it into your hand & discard a card to WR (can be same card).



2x Supporting Role, Kyubey

If he’s on the center stage, your other character in the middle slot gets clock encore.



2x Homura Watches Over

Brainstorm: Pay 1 stock & rest 2 characters, flip 4 cards from deck to WR, search your deck for one character for each CX revealed – discard nothing.



1x Memories of a Witch, Sayaka

Brainstorm: Pay 1 stock, flip 4 cards from deck to WR, search your deck for one character for each CX revealed – discard same amount.

Level 1



4x Second-year of Mitakihara Middle School, Sayaka

1/0 vanilla.



2x Doubt Towards the World, Kyoko

Level 1 suicider.

When she gets REVERSED in battle, choose one of your characters that gains +1500 for the turn.



1x “Magical Girls’ Tea Party” Sayaka

Discard a CX from hand to WR: she gets +1000 power for the turn, and when she reverses a character, you may draw a card – STACKABLE EFFECT!

Also has clock encore.

Level 2



4x Sayaka’s Wish

Put a Sayaka from stage to WR, put the top card of your clock into your hand and send this card to memory – BYPASSES ANTI-HEAL.



3x Magical Girl Appears

Put 2 characters from your WR to hand and discard a card from hand to WR.



2x Madoka’s Swaying Feelings

Frontal level assist.

Change: at the beginning of your draw phase, you may pay 1 & send this to the WR from stage. If you do, choose an “Ultimate Madoka” in your WR and put it on the stage slot this was on.



1x Time Regressor, Homura

When she CIP, if you have 5 or less cards in your deck, refresh your deck (no penalty point), put up to 2 cards/markers from the top of your deck under “End of Karma for Madoka” (not in this build) & all of your characters gain +2k power for the turn.



1x Exterminating Nightmares, Kyoko

Backup Level 2, + 2500 power: pay 1 & discard this from hand to WR.

When you use her backup, you may pay 2 & put a character from your stage into to WR; if you do, choose one of your opponent’s character that is a higher level than they are, and put it into their WR.

Level 3



2x Ultimate Madoka – ORIGINAL

Heals on play.

CX Combo with Madoka’s Wish: when the CX is played, you may put her into memory, search your deck for “Homura “Fights On””, put it on the stage slot this was on and that card get +3k until the end of your opponent’s turn (not running this combo at all.)



2x Ultimate Madoka – REBELLION

When she CIP, draw a card and she gets +2000 power for the turn.

She also has +500 power for each of your other characters.



2x Homura Becomes a Demon

When she CIP, you may put an “Ultimate Madoka” under her as a marker; if you do, put a “Madoka from the New World” from your WR to any slot on stage.

If she has a marker under her, she has +8500 power.

When her battle opponent gets reversed, you may pay 2 stock & discard a card from hand to WR; if you do, put that character into your opponent’s clock.



2x Sayaka Miki

Heals on play

Has +500 power for each of your other characters.

When she becomes reversed, she goes to memory.



1x One Guided by the Law of the Cycle, Sayaka

If you have 6 or more CXs in WR, she gets -1 level in your hand.

CX combo with Sayaka’s True Identity: When she attacks, you may pay 1; if you do, search you deck for 2 characters and put them into your hand.

At the beginning of your opponent’s draw phase, if she’s on your center stage, choose one of your characters that gets +4k power until the end of their turn.

Climaxes



4x Sayaka’s True Identity

1k1soul, PANTS trigger.



4x Sayaka VS Kyoko

1k1soul, GATE trigger.

Analysis

A tri-color deck can get a bit harder to manage at times, but it doesn’t seem to happen often with this one. At level 0, your main powerhouse will be Madoka from the New World, boasting 4k if you have less than 3 cards in stock (a Rebellion upgrade to this Madoka from the original set.). She’s extremely nice if you’re going first, since she’ll be a wall for you opponent as well as still letting you take down a character next turn if you attack with her first. Even without the boost, she’s still not too shabby at her 2.5k base power. Your other level 0s are mainly utility cards: Kyubey keeps them alive, and clock encore can help you with colors in clock as well. Sayaka/Mami is a nice hand filter, and can also prevent a CX going to stock if you’re lucky enough – but keep in mind that a CX as the last card of your deck is not ideal either, since even if you cancel damage with it, it’s not gonna go immediately back into the deck with the refresh! We also have 2 brainstormers, the spammable Sayaka & the plussing Homura – the 1/2 split on them is my personal choice more than anything and can be turned around if wanted. Sayaka can be used very early on to filter your hand and help you mill through your deck faster if you’re in a bad situation with CXs and need to hit refresh ASAP. Homura requires backrow characters to spare, but she does increase your hand size, so there’s that.

And then we have the Apple Kyoko-Sayaka bond. This one is so beautiful… just epic, indeed. Ideally, you’ll want to hoard up 2 of the 0/0 Kyoko and one or two copies of the 1/0 Sayaka – you can still bond those from WR if you don’t manage to get them in hand on time. The desired level 1 setup is 2 Kyokos in the back and 3 Sayaka’s up front – all with 7.5k power. I’m not saying that they won’t ever get reversed, but to most decks, they will still be a bother: your opponent will either have to play characters with cost, pay stock for power boosts, use a CX or level 1 suiciders – all of which hurts them one way or the other. In my experience though, it’s highly unlikely that all 3 will get reversed in one turn. Even if you don’t manage to get the combo in proper numbers, it can still work. One Kyoko is a bit risky, but 2 Kyokos will give you an edge whether you have 1 Sayaka to play or 3. Some funny situations can also arise from these cards: imagine a single Sayaka, sourrounded by a fleet of 4 Kyokos; not the wisest thing to do, but in a different build that had 2k1soul CXs, I reversed a level 3 with such a formation once… imagine the salt.

Oh yeah, I’ve mentioned level 1 suiciders before, might as well cover the one we’re running: Doubt towards the World, Kyoko, which replaced the old standard suicider. The 7.5k Sayakas and her 1.5k boost when she gets reversed? Wrecking havoc, I tell you 😛 The remaining level 1 card, Tea Party Sayaka, is only included as a tech card, since she’s a lil’ bit situational. However, she too can lead you to victorious salt moments: she’s saved me from losing CXs multiple times, but this one time totally takes the cake: I got to discard 5 CXs right before deck refresh, reverse an SAO marker wall & then draw 5 cards from the newly refreshed deck. Prepare to get questioned if the draw effect is truly stackable… which it technically isn’t, it’s just the card gaining the same ability multiple times, so in the end… still kinda stacks.

Level 2’s got more events than a prom queen’s facebook, but we’ll get to it right away: Sayaka’s Wish. The ultimate reason to run blue in Madoka. Not only can you use it during your main phase, it’s a counter too – a really versatile one. As written before, it bypasses anti-heal, gets you a card to hand (which you can manipulate to an extent with clocking & choosing which one of your opponent’s 3 attacks to use the counter on wisely) and also screws with on-reverse effects like Shimakaze and the likes. It also doesn’t require for the Sayaka you’re removing from stage to be in battle or anything like that… heck, it can even be reversed or on your backrow for all this event cares. The other one we have is Magical Girl Appears, a simple salvage option. You’ll mostly be using this to prep for level 3 and to acquire your level 2 characters, which are scarce though: 2 copies of the Changer/Level assist Madoka and 2 tech cards, both rather situational again: Free-fresh Homura (nope, you don’t need to have End of Karma for Madoka to get +2k boost with her effect) and the anti-change backup Kyoko. These two are more of a “use if the opportunity rises” kind of thing, but key factors still.

Homura Became a Demon vs. “For Madoka’s Sake” Homura

Lastly, we have the somewhat controversial level 3 play – gonna explain that in a minute. Main star of your late game is gonna be Ultimate Madoka, which has 2 forms since the release of Rebellion. The 2/2 split is my personal preference again, since some people opt for just 4 of the Rebellion Madokami version to counter anti-heal, but as far as I’ve played it, running both versions just offers a bit more diversity when you need it the most.

Here comes the controversial part: Homura Becomes a Demon. If you’ve looked through some other meta Madoka builds, you’ve probably seen this Homura & her climax combo instead of the one I run. When I was building this deck, and looking around for feedback and opinions, almost everyone told me to scrap HomuDemon and run the “For Madoka” Homura clock-shoot instead, since “this one requires too much setup.”Hmm… well, it is true that it costs 4 stock all together to set up the HomuDemon wall (since you need to play Madokami as well first), but it’s not like that first 2 stock is just thrown into the wind, since it either gets you a heal or a replacement card in hand, depending on which Madokami version you use – and even if you’re desperately low with characters, you still get a “replacement” for the one you’ve sacrificed to be a marker: just a level 0, but hey, if you need to deal just that one extra damage to win, you still can. The “For Madoka” Homura has her own plus sides by letting you filter your hand with draw2-discard1, but her clock-shoot requires a CX in play aka you need 2 cards as well, so same amount of setup needed. One heavier on your stock than the other, but still. Don’t forget that if you don’t get her via change, she requires you to rest a standing character when you play her, which can make or break you when you’re running low on characters, since you’re getting one less attack off that turn.

But the game changer between these too for me? HomuDemon‘s clock shoot is not bound to anything. In reality, while she probably won’t be reversing level 3s at base 10k, you can still use her clock shoot without the Madokami marker, and it’s likely that your opponent will still have something on your stage that you CAN reverse with 10k power – so virtually zero setup if we get down to it. I’m not saying that you’ll get much off of her without the marker, but she at least can clock-shoot by herself, while “For Madoka” Homura can not. The clock shoot itself is extremely costly (pay 2 drop 1) compared to “For Madoka” Homura’s version of the effect, but I think the independence of it justifies it somehow. It’s not limited to the turn it’s played, and can be used during your opponent’s turn as well – you have no idea how many times people didn’t pay attention and rammed something weak into my HomuDemon at 3/6 just to get an attack off… and then I clock-shot them.

And finally, their power at peak form (either with marker or with CX, ignoring possible assists since that’s additional setup): HomuDemon has 18.5k… constantly. No doubt she’ll reverse level 3s on your turn, but she’ll also be a pain in the ass to deal with on the opponent’s turn – realizing she’ll live to your next turn suddenly makes her setup a lot more worth it, doesn’t it? “For Madoka” Homura, on the other hand, has only 13k (2kfrom her own boost + 1k from the climax) – incredibly risky if you’re looking to reverse a level 3, since as little as a 2k backup could turn the tables on you entirely.

I’m not looking to put down the more popular “For Madoka” Homura – it’s an extremely viable card regardless. What I’m trying to show you guys it’s that if you want to run HomuDemon, don’t let the majority’s opinion discourage you. It seems that a lot of people just looked at it and deemed it inferior, not taking all factors into account.

Moving on to the rest of level 3 play, you have Sayaka Miki, a healer that gets a power boost from other characters (quite nice if you have the level assists up) & the only CX combo, Law of the Cycle Sayaka: pay 1 to search deck for 2 characters on attack is amazingly useful, especially with her being early play. With this deck, it’s rather easy to manipulate the number of CXs in your waiting room, so it’s totally possible to often get her out at level 2 if wanted. I only run 1 copy of her currently because she still seems a bit too risky to run in greater numbers, but I guess switching the 2/1 split on the level 3 Sayakas can totally be done too. She also gives a 4k boost to one of you characters at the beginning of your opponent’s draw phase, so she’s really useful on defense, since she can boost herself too.

The climaxes are 4 PANTS and 4 GATES. As mentioned, I only run 1 cx combo here; I didn’t really intend to build it that way, but it somehow ended up as it is now, and while it may seem like it’s not using it’s potential to the fullest, it works remarkably well. You want to have 4 gates in here and that’s it… doesn’t matter which ones, I’ve just kept the older ones for nostalgia purposes 🙂

Important stuff to keep in mind when playing:

All your characters are

Get the Sayaka-Kyoko apple bond going as soon as possible

Don’t hold on to the situational cards too much.

This deck’s peak potential is reached by stalling at level 2 as much as possible.

Always plan in advance; your level 0 is stalling for level 1, your level 1 is Sayaka wall while you get ready for level 2 & your level 2 is trolling with Sayaka’s wish until you have the means to absolutely own level 3 game.

Don’t get stuck on these plans: they CAN and WILL go downhill sometimes. Your level zero won’t always be 4k Madokas, Kyubeys & Sayaka-Mami handfilters; some days you’ll have to attack with brainstormers and excessive Apple Kyokos. You might also not be able to get Apple Sayaka in hand at all and you’ll find yourself at level 1 with nothing but the Kyoko suiciders. And who knows, maybe you’ll even get to level 3 without being able to set up any level assists at all. Like all other decks, this one too can go to shit – it’s good because even when it does, it still manages to come out on top.

What can be changed or modified?

As mentioned before, the level 0 brainstorm numbers are switchable, with another option being the 1/0 Madoka brainstormer from the 1st set if you want to have more power-up chances – however, with the Sayaka wall, I don’t really find use for it at all… maybe run it as a 1-of? Another tech card option at level 0 is “In Order to Protect Everyone”Madoka, which actually used to be in my old build. You can also try removing one 2/1 salvage event and replacing it with another Free-fresh Homura, since both are very useful cards. At level 3, there is probably the highest amount of maneuverable space in this deck: you can try changing the Homura-clock shoot since adding an extra CX combo doesn’t cost you anything if that’s what you’re after, and if you want to remove healing completely, you can just run 4 of the Rebellion Madokami versions and replace the 2 Sayaka Mikis with another level 3, perhaps Kyoko Sakura.