Blue Catharsis is the Wixoss TCG’s 25th preconstructed deck, and the 4th released for the “Key” format (all cards legal in the format are marked with a small key in the bottom right). It focuses on Allos Piruluk and blue Image Spirit: Devil Signi. It was also one of the decks selected to be reprinted as part of Wixoss’s 5th anniversary, at the lower price of 555 yen (and the delightful mouthful of a name of “WXK-DF01 Start WIXOSS with Piruluk and Win by Discard!” ) - the only difference is that the reprint does not include the two foils (Allos Piruluk TET and one copy of Screw Carmilla, Crimson Spear of Demonic Seas). These cards are instead included as regular, non-foils. The decklists are identical.
(For a full list of contents, check out https://wixoss.fandom.com/wiki/WXK-D02_Blue_Catharsis)
Gameplay and review:
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Allos Piruluk - LRIG - level 0 / limit 0
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Allos Piruluk MONO – LRIG - level 1 / limit 2
On-Play Discard 1 card from your hand: Gain
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DEVIL SEAL - spell - cost:
Choose 1 of the following 2.
① Put 1 of your <Devil> SIGNI from the field into the trash. If you do, your opponent discards 1 card from their hand.
② [Ener Charge 1] (Put the top card of your deck into the ener zone)
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Servant O4 - Signi - level 1 / 2000 power - Origin Spirit
[Guard] (By discarding this card from your hand, prevent damage from a LRIG's attack once)
Constant: [Multi Ener] (While paying an ener cost, this card can pay for any one color of your choice)
Life Burst: Add 1 <Origin Spirit> SIGNI from your trash to your hand.
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Slime, Sticky Figure of Hell - Signi - level 1 / 3000 power - Image Spirit: Devil
No effect
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Manomin, Hoodlum of Demonic Seas - Signi - level 1 / 1000 power - Image Spirit: Devil
On-Play: Each player discards a card from their hand.
Life Burst: Draw 1 card.
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Level 1 LRIG: Allos Piruluk MONO
Your level 1 is identical to the level 1s found in most other Key format starter decks. You can discard a card to gain a coin. In these starter decks, it basically makes for a slow “Discard 1 card, then draw a card”, since the starters all have “pay a coin, draw a card” as their level 2 effect. Even if you have a decent hand overall, it’s usually worth getting this first coin, as even if you don’t need the draw 1 effect at level 2, being able to deploy your Key at level 2 instead of level 3 can sometimes be really important.
Level 1 Signi
In addition to your standard level 1 Servant, your level 1s are Slime, Sticky Figure of Hell and Manomin, Hoodlum of Demonic Seas. At level 1 you don’t have a whole lot of choices to make, just play out your Signi to fill in lanes and get in damage where you can. That being said, Manomin is really important to this deck, and your good draws will often involve at least one of her. You really want to empty your opponent’s hand as quickly as possible, and Manomin is one of your best tools to do so. Your spell, DEVIL SEAL, also works towards this, although unless your hand is super-amazing, it’s better to wait until level 2 or 3 to fire it off. You don’t want to empty your opponent’s hand at the cost of leaving one of your Signi lanes open. Likewise, this deck is one of the few that really benefits from attacking early. Normally, it just gives your opponent ener, but the more you can stress their hand, the better, and if they use that ener on an Art, that’s terrific, as that’s one less card to worry about at level 4. At earlier levels as well, there are much less ways of turning ener into cards, so this can also help you conserve discard effects for later turns.
Level 1 Arts, etc.
Nope. Nothing to do here. Even if you do want to rush out your Key, it doesn’t have any effects until you’re at level 2, so just hold off for now.
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Allos Piruluk DI – LRIG - level 2 / limit 4
On-Play
: Draw 1 card.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Servant D - Signi - level 2 / 5000 power - Origin Spirit
[Guard] (By discarding this card from your hand, prevent damage from a LRIG's attack once)
Constant: [Multi Ener] (While paying an ener cost, this card can pay for any one color of your choice)
Life Burst: [Ener Charge 1]
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Shakko, Blue Spear of Demonic Seas - Signi - level 2 / 5000 power - Image Spirit: Devil
Constant: As long as there are 1 or less cards in your hand, this SIGNI gets +3000 power.
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Code Piruluk KEY - Key - cost:
Constant: Your level 2 or more LRIG gains the following abilities.
Action [1/Turn] Exceed 1: You draw 1 card. Your opponent discards 1 card from their hand.
Action [1/Turn] Attack Phase Exceed 2: Down and freeze 1 of your opponent's SIGNI.
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Level 2 LRIG: Allos Piruluk DI
Unlike most level 2s, where the correct play is to always draw, you have a real choice to make at level 2: do you draw off your LRIG, or do you play your Key and draw that way? In most games, drawing off your LRIG is better, as you can always draw off the Key later, but sometimes you’ll want to be able to pressure your opponent’s hand with the Key ASAP, especially if you got off to a strong start with Manomin, and maybe a DEVIL SEAL. Also watch your ener; in many games you’ll want 5 ener for level 3 (2 to grow, 1 to get a coin, and 2 for Three Dust), so ener charge accordingly. It might also be worth taking a bit of damage from your opponent’s LRIG, even if you have a Guard in your hand. Although be careful! If your opponent is more aggressive than you, you’ll want to conserve as much Life Cloth as you can (this deck requires a ton of adaptation to the current game state, well beyond what most other starter decks demand).
Level 2 Signi
Pure mediocrity. At this stage in the game Shakko, Blue Spear of Demonic Seas won’t be getting its power boost, and late game the boost is inconsequential. Your other level 2 is Servant D, so just pretend your level 2 Signi have no text.
Level 2 Arts, etc.
As mentioned above, there is some real consideration to be given to playing out your Key here. Note that you can also just run it out at level 3, so it’s not the end of the world if you decide to draw a card with your LRIG effect instead.
Allos Piruluk TRI – LRIG - level 3 / limit 7
On-Play
: Gain .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shark Spear, Black Spear of Demonic Seas - Signi - level 3 / 7000 power - Image Spirit: Devil
On-Play: If your hand has 2 or less cards in it, until end of turn, 1 of your opponent's SIGNI gets −1000 power. If your hand has 0 cards in it, instead it gets −5000 power. (A SIGNI with power 0 or less is banished by rule.)
Life Burst: Draw 1 card.
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Armored Slime, Sticky Figure of Hell - Signi - level 3 / 8000 power - Image Spirit: Devil
Constant: As long as there are 1 or less cards in your hand, this SIGNI gets +4000 power.
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Three Dust - Arts - [Main Phase] - cost:
This ARTS can only be used if your LRIG is level 3 or more.
Choose 3 cards from your opponent's hand without looking, and discard them.
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Worst Condition - Arts - [Main Phase][Attack Phase] - cost:
This ARTS can only be used if your opponent's hand has 0 cards in it.
Banish up to 2 of your opponent's SIGNI.
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Level 3 LRIG: Allos Piruluk TRI
You want the coin here, but be aware of your ener. Sometimes you’ll run into a game where you want to Three Dust so you can Worst Condition on your opponent’s next attack, and you won’t have even a single ener to spare. In that case, giving up the bet on Phantom Garden is a small price to pay. This won’t come up in most games, but watch the game state and think a turn ahead.
Level 3 Signi
More mediocrity. Shark Lance looks decent, until you realize you almost never get to 0 cards in hand to activate its -5000 power ability, and -1000 power is almost always pointless at this point in the game. Armored Slime, Sticky Figure of Hell can get a nice power boost, but doesn’t really offer any offensive ability, and doesn’t help you get cards out of your opponent’s hand, either.
Level 3 Arts, etc.
With not much going on in your main deck, your real decisions at level 3 come in here. What you do this turn mostly comes down to 2 factors: the number of cards in your opponent’s hand, and how much ener you have stockpiled. If your opponent has a ton of cards in hand, and you have the ener to spare, Three Dust is at its most punishing here. It, as well as your Key, should be plenty to empty even the most robust of opposing hands. That being said, you don’t want to empty your opponent’s hand here, only for them to rebuild, and then you can never use Worst Condition. A big part of what you play this turn comes down to how well you’ve limited your opponent’s hand in the previous turns. In your best games, you’ll be able to save Three Dust for later on, but don’t let that stop you from playing it when you need to on level 3.
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Allos Piruluk TET – LRIG - level 4 / limit 11
Auto: When this LRIG attacks, you may pay
. If you do, draw 1 card.On-Play: Choose 1 card from your opponent's hand without looking, and discard it.
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Screw Carmilla, Crimson Spear of Demonic Seas - Signi - level 4 / 12000 power - Image Spirit: Devil
Auto: When this SIGNI attacks, if you have 1 or less cards in your hand, your opponent discards 1 card from their hand.
Life Burst: If your opponent has 2 or less cards in their hand, banish 1 of your opponent's SIGNI.
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Slime Queen, Sticky Figure of Hell - Signi - level 4 / 10000 power - Image Spirit: Devil
On-Play: Discard 2 cards from your hand: Banish 1 of your opponent's SIGNI.
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Don't Leave Me - Arts - [Attack Phase] - cost:
Bet -
Down 1 of your opponent's SIGNI. If you bet, instead down 2 of your opponent's SIGNI.
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Phantom Garden - Arts - [Main Phase] - cost:
Bet -
Add up to 3 SIGNI with the same color as your LRIG and different levels from your trash to your hand. If you bet, add up to 4 cards to your hand instead of 3.
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Level 4 LRIG: Allos Piruluk TET
Not much to say about her, she’s pretty straightforward. One thing to look out for is if your opponent is super low on cards and you think you might have a chance to play Worst Condition on their next turn, don’t spend the ener on Piruluk’s attack effect if it’ll knock you below 3 ener. It comes up rarely, but it’s a mistake that can easily cost you the game.
Level 4 Signi
There’s some real effects here, but they’re still not as powerful as many of the competition in other starter decks. Screw Carmilla, Crimson Spear of Demonic Seas seems like it should be decent, but her effect feels like it belongs on a level 3 Signi, not the headlining level 4. is overly conditional and can be hard to enable. You often have to dump cards from your hand for no value to enable her effect, and your opponent can either banish her, or accept the discard and rebuild around it. And her life burst is beyond frustrating; often, it does nothing, and you have no real way of planning ahead to make sure it works, other than by, again, sabotaging your own hand, which is just not an option in the early levels when you tend to lose half or more of your life cloth. Slime Queen, Sticky Figure of Hell is a little better, as a straight-up banish is a good way to force through damage while enabling your low hand size effects, but as an on-play with a steep cost of two cards from your hand, the amount of times you can fire off her effect is very limited.
Level 4 Arts, etc.
Since both your level 4 Signi are highly conditional and often act like they don’t have text at all, your Arts deck needs to do some heavy lifting here. Fortunately, you have some strong defensive options in Don’t Leave Me, and hopefully the second Exceed effect on your Key (most games the Key draws 2 and forces two discards, then stops one attack, but don’t feel locked into this; some games you’ll need two defenses, and some games you’ll need all 4 draws and discards). This is also one of the few decks that makes Phantom Garden look good, as bringing back Manomin, Slime Queen, and some fodder to pitch to their effects can set up a very strong turn. But the real determining factor of how well this all plays out is Worst Condition. In some games, this will be the best card in your deck, and in some, it will literally be unplayable. Often Three Dust alongside an attack that clears your opponent’s field is the best way to set up Worst Condition, but some games you’ll need to fire off Three Dust before you have the ener to spare for Worst Condition, which means you’ll need to work much harder to create a situation where it pulls its weight. Complicating things, many of the opposing starter decks have cards like Phantom Garden, which can rebuild a hand in an instant, which makes it harder to keep up Worst Condition. Wixoss has a large number of card advantage engines, and rebuilding a hand is much easier than certain other famous tcgs, which means you often have to be able to empty an opponent’s hand multiple times over the course of a game, and sometimes they’ll just draw more cards than you can keep up with. This is why reading ahead, and planning your ener needs and optimal timing for your Arts and Key effects is so important to this deck.
Wrap-up:
Of the starter decks I’ve played, this one is by far the most demanding. Simple mistakes can be enough to end the game for you. I’ve had games where if I had one more ener, I’d have won, and the last time I didn’t enercharge at the start of my turn was turn 2. Or I fire off Three Dust too early and never get a chance to play Worst Condition. Or I try too hard to avoid using Three Dust, and end up using all my exceeds for the Key’s draw/discard option, only to discover that I really should have saved 2 exceeds for defense. You will lose a lot, but the games you lose will be close enough that you’ll constantly be thinking, “ah, but if only I made one different decision in the mid game, I’d have won!” If you’re just getting into the game, this is probably the worst of the 5th anniversary decks you could pick, but it can still be a lot of fun to play. Just know what you’re getting into.
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