Wixoss Starter Deck: Dual Blood - Carnival

Dual Blood is the Wixoss TCG’s 29th preconstructed deck, and 6th released for the “Key” format, and features 2 separate decks: a red Ril deck, and a black Carnival deck. The Carnival deck focuses on Image Spirit: Valor Signi. It was reprinted as part of Wixoss’s 5th anniversary, at the lower price of 555 yen (and the head scratcher of a name of “WXK-DF05 Start WIXOSS with Carnival and Win by Using the Graveyard!” - note Wixoss doesn't have a 'graveyard', just the trash) - the only difference is that the reprint does not include the two foils (Carnival †QA† and one copy of Xiahou Dun, One Eye of the Wei Army). These cards are instead included as regular, non-foils. The deck lists are identical.

(For a full list of contents, check out https://wixoss.fandom.com/wiki/WXK-D06_Dual_Blood) - note that the first 20 cards listed are the Carnival deck list - Ril’s cards are the second 20)

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Carnival †0† - LRIG - level 0 / limit 0
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Carnival †PA† - LRIG - level 1 / limit 2
On-Play Discard 1 card from your hand: Gain . -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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Cao Ren, Court Advisor of the Wei Army - Signi - level 1 / 3000 power - Image Spirit: Valor
No effect
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Zhang Liao, Two-Handed Axe of the Wei Army - Signi - level 1 / 1000 power - Image Spirit: Valor
On-Play: Until end of turn, 1 of your other <Valor> SIGNI gets +1000 power for every 2 <Valor> SIGNI in your trash. This effect only applies up to 20 cards.
Life Burst: Draw 1 card. 
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Nanashi, That Hook - Key - cost: 
On-Play: All players put the top 5 cards of their deck into the trash.
Action [1/Turn] : Add 1 SIGNI with the same color as your LRIG from your trash to your hand.
Action Attack Phase Put this key from the field into the LRIG trash: Until end of turn, all of your opponent's SIGNI get −2000 power for each 1 level of your opponent's LRIG. (SIGNI that entered the field after this ability was used are unaffected by this effect.)
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Bad End - Arts - [Main Phase] - cost:
Encore - (You may use this card by paying its additional encore cost. If you do, this additionally gets "Return this card to the LRIG Deck.")
Put the top 5 cards of your deck into the trash. Then, if 5 black cards were put into the trash this way, add 1 black SIGNI from your trash to your hand. 
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Tactical Punish - Arts - [Main Phase] [Attack Phase] -  cost:
Until end of turn, 1 of your opponent's SIGNI gets −3000 power. If there are 15 or more cards in your trash, instead it gets −8000 power. (A SIGNI with power 0 or less is banished by rule.)
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Level 1 LRIG: Carnival †PA†
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. You want plenty of Signi in your trash with this deck, so even if your hand is decent, it’s often still worth it to discard for a coin. The spells in these starter decks are all pretty bad, especially in multiples, so if you have one in your opening hand, it’s almost always correct to discard it for a coin.

Level 1 Signi
Oof. Not much going on here. You have your obligatory level 1 Servant, and your obligatory 3000 power/no effect Signi, in this case Cao Ren, Court Advisor of the Wei Army, who has some truly alarming spinal flexibility. Zhang Liao, Two-Handed Axe of the Wei Army is a pretty lackluster effect level 1, as it does stone nothing early in the game, and gives only a modest power boost later on. At this level, you’d rather either a card that helps you get in for damage early, or has an effect that helps set up your late-game strategies, and Zhang Liao does neither.

Level 1 Arts, etc.
Carnival does start with 3 coins, so you can play out your Key, Nanashi, That Hook, right away. It's usually better to save it for level 2, since sometimes you put a Servant into your opponent's trash with its effect and they can lifeburst it back with a lucky Servant *4 burst (which would otherwise do nothing in the early game), but if you're like me, you tend to forget to do that so you might as well get it out of the way at level 1. You can also play and encore Bad End. In this case, there's no reason to wait, since putting a Servant in your trash for Servant O4's lifeburst to hit gives you a small but noticeable advantage on the small chance it's flipped by your opponent's first attack. Keep in mind that you want 10 or more Valour Signi in your trash when Carnival grows to level 4 (Servants don’t count!). Rather unusually, this deck has a defensive Art that’s at its best at level 1 or 2 - Tactical Punish. It does get a power-up when you have 15 or more cards in your trash, but the best time to use it will be on your opponent’s first attack phase, when it will save you a life cloth and open up an opposing lane for you to attack through. Keep in mind that preventing early damage can mess up your ener resources, so ener charge accordingly.
*A brief aside about Bad End: Bad End is honestly kind of… bad. It fills your trash, but a single Servant being among the cards it sees stops it from having any effect past that. I haven’t calculated your exact odds of actually being able to use the second part of its effect, but they aren’t good. Wixoss has plenty of main deck self-mill cards (*milling is tcg lingo for putting cards from your deck into your trash), so devoting an Arts slot to this effect is unfortunate, when you'd rather have another defensive effect.



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Carnival †SA† - LRIG - level 2 / limit 4
On-Play : Draw 1 card.
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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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Parsifal, Thrown Spear of the Round Table - Signi - level 2 / 5000 power - Image Spirit: Valor
Constant: As long as there are 3 or more <Valor> SIGNI in your trash, this SIGNI gets +3000 power. 
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Phantom Garden - Arts - [Main Phase] - cost:
Bet - (You may pay when using this ARTS.)
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 2 LRIG: Carnival †SA†
Draw a card. Just do it. Also, her limit is 4, so play 2 level 1s and a level 2, same as all the other starter deck level 2s.

Level 2 Signi
In addition to your Servant, your level 2 is Parsifal, Thrown Spear of the Round Table. It’s a standard starter deck level 2 that gets a small power boost if you’re playing to the deck’s theme. In this case, between Bad End and your Key, this Signi should always have 8000 power, which is nice, I suppose.

Level 2 Arts, etc.
Not much going on here, although note that because of all your early self-mill, you should have enough cards in your trash to make use of Phantom Garden much earlier than other decks, which can be helpful if you’re short on Signi to fill in all your Signi zones.



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Carnival †TA† - LRIG - level 3 / limit 7
On-Play : Gain .
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Gaain, Hawk Catcher of the Round Table - Signi - level 3 / 8000 power - Image Spirit: Valor
Constant: As long as there are 5 or more <Valor> SIGNI in your trash, this SIGNI gets +4000 power.
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Xiahou Yuan, Red Bow of the Wei Army - Signi - level 3 / 7000 power - Image Spirit: Valor
On-Play Discard 1 card from your hand: If it is your turn, put 1 level 3 or less <Valor> SIGNI from your trash onto your field. 
Life Burst: Draw 1 card.
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Level 3 LRIG: Carnival †TA†
You don’t really need this coin, all it’ll be used for is encoring Bad End again, which isn’t all that necessary, even if you run out of cards in your deck and have to shuffle away your trash when you refresh. You can get it if you have the spare ener, but don’t worry if you have other things you’d rather spend your ener on (like your Key effect).

Level 3 Signi
Gaain, Hawk Catcher of the Round Table is the level 3 version of Parsifal, and like Parsifal, Gaain should easily always have her power boost, making her a 12000 power Signi. Xiahou Yuan, Red Bow of the Wei Army is a decent bit of utility, she can help trade down a high level card for a lower level card if you need to squeeze a Signi in under your LRIG’s limit, and she also activates the effect of Xiahou Dun, One Eye of the Wei Army at level 4. Unfortunately, you still don’t have any real offensive effect, so you’re stuck filling in lanes until level 4.

Level 3 Arts, etc.
Again, much the same as level 2, you don’t have a whole lot of action here. Phantom Garden remains an option, and remember this is your last turn to get the 10 Valour Signi into your trash for your level 4 LRIG effect. This is also the turn when you need to think about what you want to do with your Key. It can be a useful form of long-game card advantage, or you can trade it in to cripple an opposing board, weakening some and outright banishing others. Try to establish which direction the game is going, and use your Key accordingly.



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Carnival †QA† - LRIG - level 4 / limit 11
On-Play If there are 10 or more <Valor> SIGNI in your trash, put 1 of your opponent's SIGNI into the trash.
Action [1/Turn] Put the top 3 cards of your deck into the trash: Until end of turn, 1 of your opponent's SIGNI gets −5000 power.
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Xiahou Dun, One Eye of the Wei Army - Signi - level 4 / 12000 power - Image Spirit: Valor
Auto: Whenever 1 of your <Valor> SIGNI enters the field from the trash, until end of turn, 1 of your opponent's SIGNI gets −3000 power.Auto: When this SIGNI attacks, until end of turn, 1 of your opponent's SIGNI gets −5000 power. If there are 20 or more cards in your trash, instead it gets −8000 power. 
Life Burst: Until end of turn, 1 of your opponent's SIGNI gets −10000 power. 
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Lancelot, Immorality of the Round Table - Signi - level 4 / 10000 power - Image Spirit: Valor
Action : Put 1 black SIGNI from your trash onto the field. 
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Recycle Deads - Spell - cost:
Choose 1 of the following 2.
① Put 1 of your <Valor> SIGNI from the field into the trash. If you do, put the top 2 cards of your deck into the trash. Then, put 1 <Valor> SIGNI from your trash onto the field.
② [Ener Charge 1] (Put the top card of your deck into the ener zone)
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Fate Struggle - Arts - [Main Phase] [Attack Phase] - cost: x2 x2 
This ARTS can only be used if there are 20 or more cards in your trash.
Banish up to 2 of your opponent's SIGNI.
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Level 4 LRIG: Carnival †QA†
This deck is a bit on the weaker side, but that’s certainly not the fault of your level 4 LRIG! If you’ve properly filled your trash, Carnival trashes an opposing Signi on-play, and her action effect both keeps your trash well-stocked, even after a refresh, and weakens an opposing Signi. While you can often use it in combination with your other power reducing effects, even on its own it is surprisingly powerful. Often, even in the late game, players will have to use the occasional level 1 or 2 Signi to fill in a lane, just because that’s all that’s left in their hand, or they’re trying to keep a higher level Signi in reserve to play next turn, and Carnival’s effect eats these Signi for no cost. It can be awkward when you don’t want to put cards in your trash (when it would force a deck Refresh), which means you can’t get the -5000 power and your LRIG effectively has no text. It’s bad when it happens, but it’s more a case of having two options and weighing which is better, rather than being trapped in a situation where you don’t have options at all.

Level 4 Signi
Like most starter decks, this deck has one level 4 that’s the core of the deck’s offense, and one level 4 that plays backup. In this case, Xiahou Dun, One Eye of the Wei Army is lead vocals, lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, trumpet, and trombone, and Lancelot, Immorality of the Round Table is backup vocals and sometimes shakes a tambourine. This deck at level 4 feels kind of odd to play, and Xiahou Dun is a big reason why. On its own, you’re rarely going to banish anything with the auto effect, as your only way of bringing Signi from your trash to your field is with other Signi effects (Lancelot and Xiahou Yuan), and since you can only freely trash Signi from your field once per turn (Remove), you end up stuck with a field with no slots open to return cards to. Most turns, you’ll only activate the effect once, in a pinch you might activate it twice. And because of how you get Signi back, you can’t have multiples of Xiahou Dun and stack her effect, meaning you’re really only getting -6000 power at best, and more realistically only -3000. Furthermore, -5000 on attack is not that impressive, and even -8000 isn’t going to get much damage through. Generally, -8000 can snipe a stray level 3 on your opponent’s field, although especially with starter decks, sometimes even the level 3s will have 10000 or more power. So all these together don’t count for much, but combined along with the once-per-turn -5000 effect of your level 4 LRIG, you actually have quite a lot of power reduction, and a decent amount of freedom with how you can aim it. Often, you'll open one lane before combat, and threaten to open another lane if your opponent doesn’t stop Xiahou Dun (or two of them) from attacking. And, this being a black deck, you have plenty of ways of returning Xiahou Dun if your opponent ever gets rid of it: the Recycle Deads spell and Lancelot are your two main ways, as well as your Key if it hasn’t been cashed in for its power reducing effect yet (Lancelot and your Key can even bring it back from the ener zone, as you pay costs before choosing targets). Combined, the pieces of this deck do a good job establishing a strong offensive pressure that will hopefully wear down your opponent’s defenses quickly enough that the big weakness of this deck doesn’t drag you down.

Level 4 Arts, etc.
This deck’s Arts selection is its big weakness. Fate Struggle is quite strong, although its timing can be tricky, as 20 cards in your trash is a lot; at that point, you’re realistically a turn or two away from refreshing your trash into your deck, especially milling 3 cards every time you use Carnival’s level 4 action. That same action effect, along with Bad End, can restock your trash quickly for some effects, but it’s not going to put you back to 20 fast enough. That being said, generally you’ll have no trouble finding a good opportunity to fire it off before you refresh. Banishing 2 Signi with no questions asked is a terrific play on your opponent’s attack phase, as it stops even high power cards from Green (or Ril), and it opens up 2 lanes for you to counterattack through. Again, you still have the 2 modes available to your Key, but after that, your options dry up quickly. Bad End is badly underpowered for an Arts, and Phantom Garden is nearly useless in this deck, as you have a ton of other cards that bring back cards from your trash (Lancelot, Recover Deads, Nanashi Key, and, to a lesser extent, Xiahou Yuan). At the end of far too many games, you’ll find yourself looking murderously at your unused Phantom Garden and wishing it was something, anything you could have used defensively.

Wrap-up:
Carnival has some solid offense and card advantage engines to keep you going into the late game: her level 4 LRIG is quite strong, her Key is superb, and  Xiahou Dun is more than the sum of her parts. All this is combined with plenty of ways to put cards in your trash, and plenty of ways to use them once they’re there, either by returning them to your hand or field, or just counting them to enable effects. You also have a reasonably strong defensive Art in Fate Struggle, and a decent but not great one in Tactical Punish (they’re both pretty inflexible about when you can use them, which can hurt in some games). That’s balanced out by some less than optimal cards. Most decks have one Art that feels weak or unneeded, this deck has two. Bad End helps you fill your trash, but there’s tons of cards in Wixoss that let you do that without eating up a valuable Arts slot. And Phantom Garden, underwhelming in most decks it finds itself in, is at its absolute worst here. Coupled with the fact that this deck doesn’t really do anything until level 4, and you have a deck with some strong pluses, that are dragged down by weaknesses in other parts of the deck until the end result is below par. Of the five 5th anniversary decks, this one is in the lower tier. It’s also one of two black decks, for some reason (green didn’t get a deck), and Guzuko is a better deck overall - even if her offense is slightly weaker at level 4, she has a better game in the early levels, and her effects are better balanced between offense, defense, and card advantage. Carnival’s deck is still not bad enough that I’d avoid buying it if you like the looks of it, and if you're not just battling stock starter decks, Carnival also has some top tier cards in various booster sets. This is another deck, like Piruluk, that will be weaker and more difficult to win with out of the box, so know what you’re getting into if you do decide that this is the starter deck for you.