Missed my previous article on the new Index cards? You can visit my previous post here for more information.

We are going to take a look at my personal take on Index and Railgun, which performed very well in the recent BCF2015 Yokohama, WGP2015 Okayama Trio Survivals and the WGP2015 Hakata. All of these decks feature the latest Index Comeback Campaign cards released earlier this year.

Card names will be matched to the translations provided by Heart of the Cards. Images are courtesy from littleAKIBA.

Allow me to present you my deck list:

Level 0

At Level 0, I run a total of 18 characters.

Index, Beast Girl allows to bond with Hyouka & Index, to retrieve it from the waiting room to your hand for 1 cost.

Index in Cheerleading Outfit has a Support ability to give all characters in front of her +500 power. She also allows you to search for a Magic character for 2 cost and resting her.

Index, Good Night gives another character in the center slot in the front stage +1000 power. She has a Brainstorm ability that allows you to search for Magic characters.

One of the key cards at Level 0, Touma & Index, A Normal Scene has 2 abilities when he/she enters the Stage. These abilities can be played at any order of your choice.

Look at the top card of your deck, then place it to the top or to the bottom of your deck.

Place the top 2 cards of your deck to the waiting room, if there’s a climax card, rest this.

Usually powered at 5000 in the center slot, she is virtually unstoppable at Level 0, though vulnerable to reversers.

One of the most powerful cards available in Weiss Schwarz, “Railgun” Mikoto allows you to rid of cost 0 characters in the opponent’s front row when using her Brainstorm ability.

The runner for the deck, Kuroko, Admiration for Onee-Sama has increased survivability and serves to allow Mikoto & Kuroko, Under One Roof to be playable at Level 3 by clocking her as a level.

Level 1

At Level 1, we have 11 cards.

Hyouka & Index allows you to retrieve a character card that is placed from the Stage to the waiting room back to your hand for 1 cost. After which, she goes to memory. This card can also serve as a good compression tool.

Index, Childlike Body Type has 2 abilities when she enters the stage.

She has +1000 power multiplied by the number of Magic characters you have on stage till the end of your turn.

Reveal the top card of your deck. If it is a Magic character, put it in your hand, then discard a card from your hand.

She serves as a key card for Level 1 and will be rid away your opponent’s characters with 8500 power without support.

Index, Wants Many Things has an unique ability when she reverses an opponent. She may disappear then reappear back on your Draw Phase. She also has another repeatable ability that allows to increase her power by 1000 till the end of your turn by resting another of your Magic character.

The only counter in this deck, Saiji Tatemiya provides an additional 2000 power and places the top card of your deck into stock if all your characters on Stage has the Magic trait when used as a counter. This card has a restrictive activation, so if you need his stock generation ability, avoid having “Railgun” Mikoto, Kuroko, Admiration for Onee-Sama or Mikoto & Kuroko, Under One Roof on Stage.

Level 2

Running 3 copies of Vento of the Front, she has a freefresh ability that allows you to draw a card when successfully activated, and has increased +500 power for each Magic character you have on the Stage.

Level 3

At Level 3, we have 10 cards. This amount is unusual as most decks run no more than 8-9 copies of Level 3.

One of the key cards in Level 3, Healing Magic prolongs the game and prevents game loss by healing 2 damage from the clock.

Playable at Level 2 with at least 6 climaxes in the waiting room, Index, Lively Lunch serves as an early game character with a heal ability and increased survivability with +500 power for each Magic character or a character with Touma in its name on Stage.

Still restricted at 2 copies per deck, Mikoto & Kuroko, Under One Roof serves as an excellent finisher with a heal ability when she enters the Stage.

Climaxes

My deck utilizes 4 books, Sheol Fear and 4 gates, Railgun.



Playing the Perfect Memory

This deck runs solidly on Level 0. With card filtering abilities from Touma & Index, A Normal Scene and having a huge power, she kills off highly powered characters with 4500 power on the opposing center slot with little or no effort. Having Kuroko, Admiration for Onee-Sama also helps in stock generation during the first few turns of the game.

Index in Cheerleading Outfit allows you to search for a specific Magic character in the deck should you require it. She also serves to clear any climaxes you may have in stock very quickly due to her slightly heavy cost of 2.

The deck has access to 2 Brainstorm abilities, namely Index, Good Night and Railgun “Mikoto”. Index, Good Night allows you to generate hand size with Magic characters and Railgun “Mikoto” allows you to rid of cost 0 Level 0 or Level 1 characters that may prove to be a nuisance.

In Level 1, Index, Childlike Body Type will probably be your main attacker, along with Index, Wants Many Things.

The costless Level 1 approach allows you to build deck compression, while having Hyouka & Index to abuse Index, Childlike Body Type if she goes to the waiting room.

The Level 2 game is where it provides a real nuisance to the opponent. With Vento of the Front and Index, Lively Lunch on the Stage, you are unlikely to suffer from refresh damage and your clock will be kept on check. Using Index in Cheerleading Outfit, Index, Good Night and/or Index, Childlike Body Type allows you to reduce the number of cards in your deck to allow Vento of the Front‘s freefresh ability to activate more easily.

Level 3 provides an irritating heal game with Healing Magic and Mikoto & Kuroko, Under One Roof to finish the opponent.

Improving the Railgun

I have previously thought of running yellow for Touma, Confronting Threat and perhaps Accelerator, Strongest Esper to try to deal with anti-heal. It may be possible but this necessitates the removal of red cards such as Kuroko, Admiration for Onee-Sama and Mikoto & Kuroko, Under One Roof.

Another thing to note is Touma, Confronting Threat does not have any traits and stays on the stage as a Level 0. He is extremely prone to being side-attacked by Level 3s, dealing 2 soul damage in the late game. Being side-attacked also prevents you from using any Healing Magic you may have in your hand.

However, Touma, Confronting Threat do have its perks. He’s a 12000 monster on the field, taking out threats relatively easily with 3 soul damage to boot.

Also, mixing in three colours (B/r/y) seems too risky to play.

Thanks to folks at Reddit/Weiss Schwarz, I missed a card which deserves play. That card is Dragon Strike. By allowing characters to go to the waiting room, abusing Hyouka & Index‘s ability becomes easier and Dragon Strike gives a character +2 level and +2000 power.

Still not satisfied with running yellow? Finding Mikoto & Kuroko, Under One Roof having insufficient power? Running a level support may be an good idea. Allow me to introduce Itsuwa of Formerly Amakusa Catholics. Not only she has the <<Magic>> trait, but it also gives all characters in front of this card an additional +500 power per level of that character.

Dealing with anti-salvage is simple. Simply switch all of the Railgun climaxes with Index’s Specialty, making the deck run 8 books.

Conclusion

So what makes this deck shine? Looking at the recent JP WGP 2015 results, the only reason this deck shines is due to the lack of the anti-heal or heal tax mechanism in the tournament. Current top decks include To Love Ru (TL) and Girlfriend Beta (GF). Decks utilising the anti-heal or anti-salvage mechanism will cause this deck to be ineffective in its mid and late game.

The past week also saw a new release, Charlotte (CHA) and it brings the anti-burn mechanic into the game. I have yet to see how this deck performs against this and will post matchups in due time.

Do leave a comment or any questions! Thanks for reading!