Wixoss Starter Deck: WXK-D16 Nijisanji WIXOSS Battle Set

The Nijisanji WIXOSS Battle Set is the Wixoss TCG’s 39th preconstructed deck, and 16th released for the “Key” format, and focuses on Machine Spirit: Electric Machine SIGNI. Unlike most other starter decks, it has 3 different LRIGs you can use, based on virtual youtubers from the Nijisanji group (your LRIGs, Key, and one of your level 4 SIGNI are the cards that change - these aren't fully individual decks like Dual decks). As part of the third wave of starter deck releases for the Key format (after the decks with Phantom Garden and the “Dual” decks), this deck has no included foils.

Mito Tsukino (white), Kaede Higuchi (red), and Rin Shizuka (blue) each have their own level 1-4 LRIG, level 4 SIGNI, and a unique key. Since only 4 SIGNI change in the main deck, and the level 1-3 LRIGs all have the same abilities, the deck only has a meaningful difference between their configurations at level 4. Even as Kaede or Rin, the deck is still primarily white.

(For a full list of contents, visit https://wixoss.fandom.com/wiki/WXK-D16_Nijisanji_WIXOSS_Battle_Set)

The LRIG deck:

The main deck:

Level 1 LRIG - Mito, Kaede, or Rin
No matter which LRIG you choose, they all have the same effect. This deck doesn’t use Coins, so you get an immediate discard / draw effect, which makes it a lot easier to judge if you want to discard for it. As usual, if you have a spell to discard, it’s usually worth it, as the starter deck spells are all quite weak.

Level 1 SIGNI
This deck contains the obligatory level 1 Servants (O and O2) and 3000 power / no effect SIGNI (in this deck, Code VL Tamaki Fumino), as well as Code VL Black Shiba. Deploy Black Shiba first if you have it, as you might get lucky, but with only 8 level 1 Electric Machine SIGNI in the deck, your chances are only around 20% to hit off the top, so expect the ability to do nothing most of the time.

Level 1 Arts
Fight Ghost does several things for this deck. It gives you a subscriber boost, which is really important as a lot of the deck’s abilities don’t work unless you have a certain amount of subscribers, and hitting those numbers off just your LRIG bonuses takes way too long. It also cancels out any bad starting hands with 1 or fewer level 1 SIGNI. Since it’s 0-cost, you want those subscribers either way, and this deck has plenty of late-game card draw, there’s not much value in holding this Art for later.


Level 2 LRIG - Mito, Kaede, or Rin
No choices to be made here, just collect your subscribers and move on. Do note that your level 2 LRIGs have a limit of 5, opposed to the usual starter deck level 2 limit of 4, so you can play out 2 level 2 SIGNI if you have them and still have limit left to play a level 1 for a full field.

Level 2 SIGNI
Wow, it’s nothing! You have your obligatory level 2 servants (D2 and D4), and Code VL Azuma Takao, who has no abilities. This deck doesn’t do much until level 4, so hold back on defense, unless you have your spell, Child Cookie, and some spare SIGNI to feed into it. Like most starter deck spells, it’s pretty weak, though, as not only does it cost 2 cards (the spell and the SIGNI you trash), letting your opponent choose what to return is usually not great, as they’ll often have a Servant or useful on-play effect SIGNI to return.

Level 2 Arts
Remember that Fight Ghost is an option if you haven’t used it yet and need some help filling in your SIGNI zones.


Level 3 LRIG - Mito, Kaede, or Rin
No choices to be made here, just collect your subscribers and move on.

Level 3 SIGNI
Level 3 continues to be quite boring. Code VL Ririmu Makaino only enercharges 1 on play, which is nice but has no effect on the board, and this deck generally doesn’t have much trouble getting the ener it needs without it. Code VL Kasumi Izumo is a little better with its pseudo-card draw, although it’s more impactful once you hit its subscriber threshold and it becomes a lot more reliable. You’re still playing a pretty simple defensive game at this point.

Level 3 Arts
Rays of Edge is a solid defensive option if your opponent is pressing an early offense. Most of your defenses only really come online past level 4, though.


Level 4 LRIGs
All the level 4 LRIGs you can choose from are quite strong, and come with an on-play, a constant that builds your subscriber count, and a powerful once per game ability that you can only use once you hit a certain subscriber threshold.

Kaede Higuchi (red) is the most offensive focused LRIG option. She banishes one SIGNI on-play, and banishes all opposing SIGNI at 800 000 subscribers with her once-per-game. She gains 100 000 subscribers at the end of your turn as long as you banished at least one SIGNI (attacking an opposing SIGNI counts), and so is trivially easy to build your subscriber count.

Mito Tsukino (white) is the most defensive option. She also gains subscribers the easiest, only requiring a LRIG attack to gain 100 000 a turn. Her on-play searches for a SIGNI, and her once-per-game searches for two SIGNI at 1 million subscribers, in addition to trashing an opposing SIGNI (the trashing a SIGNI part happens regardless of sub count, so sometimes it can be worth it to fire it off without the subscriber threshold, but usually you’ll gain subscribers quickly enough you’ll get the bonus search whether you need it or not). Both search abilities can get servants, so you can search for defense (servants) or offense (her unique level 4), depending on what you’re lacking.

Rin Shizuka (blue) is an interesting balance between offense and defense, in the vein of the original Piruluk decks - she draws cards to shore up her own defense (although not as effectively as Mito), and discards the opposing hand to force through LRIG attacks and weaken the opponent’s ability to assemble a counterattack. She draws 2 cards on-play, and discards 2 cards from your opponent as her once-per-game at 700 000 subscribers. Her +subscriber ability is the hardest to trigger, requiring you to end your turn with 4 or more cards in your hand, but between her on-play and the deck’s plentiful draw and search, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

Since the deck already has a good amount of raw search and card draw, I prefer the offensive focus of Kaede, but the power levels of these LRIGs are close enough that you might as well pick whichever one best matches your style, or whose visual design you like the most.

Level 4 Signi
The level 4 SIGNI shared by all 3 decks is Code VL Moira, which draws a card on-play if you have 800 000 or more subscribers. It’s nothing exciting, but it is quite powerful, and helps keep the deck running smoothly well into the late game. Of the unique level 4s, two of them, Code VL Himawari Honma (red) and Code VL Yuika Siina (white), have a ‘remove on attack’ ability, banishing or returning to hand, respectively. These abilities start slightly restricted, then become an unconditional banish or bounce once you hit a million subs. Much like the rest of the deck, these cards are simple, but effective, and give the main deck a solid offensive core. Code VL Saku Sasaki (blue) is a bit different, as she forces a discard on-play, upgrading to a random discard at 1 million subs. Rin is the most difficult to get to 1 million, but fortunately the main use of Saku Sasaki is emptying the opponent’s hand, making the upgrade at 1 million much less important. Since these level 4 SIGNI are the only real offensive engine in the main deck, and there’s no way of reusing them short of a refresh, it’s important to ration them. There are many other effects that can open SIGNI zones from the LRIGs, Arts, and Keys, and it’s possible to overextend your offense one turn and find yourself with no offensive options later in the game.

Level 4 Arts
Harvest Force, like Rays of Edge, has become a standard Arts inclusion in starter decks - a 6-cost remove 2 attack phase Art. It’s a powerful effect, but only useful later on in the game when you have the ener to spare. Unlike some decks, however, this deck never really struggles to get enough ener to reliably deploy it, as the deck plays a longer, more defensive game, and also has Ririmu Makaino’s enercharge on-play. Rounding out the Arts is Must Hide, which is pretty weak early on, but once you hit 1 million subs, it stops 2 SIGNI and a LRIG from attacking, effectively locking your opponent out of an entire turn of combat.

Keys
I separated the section for Keys from Arts as they are just that important. These are the cards that set this deck apart from the every other starter in the game, as despite only being useable at level 4, they are insanely powerful. They each have a powerful on-play that often opens up multiple lanes for attack, on top of building resources and subscribers. Then they have a powerful attack phase ability that trashes them, which will often blank an entire turn of combat. This double wammy of powerful effects is often enough to completely leave behind any other starter decks trying to compete. Note that these Keys do not have a coin cost, but do cost ener.

Rin and Kaede, Mito's Supporters (white)
Don’t be thrown off by the odd cost, as Mito’s constant allows you to use white ener to pay red and blue costs. Ability-wise, the on-play is super straightforward - it banishes 2, draws a card, and gives you +200 000 subs. Because of the subscriber bonus, it’s usually best to deploy this earlier, and to hold other offensive options for later turns (such as your level 4 Yuika Siina or your once-per-game LRIG effect). The attack phase action is quite costly, but because Mito is the most defensively oriented LRIG option, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to get the ener together to use it. Banishing all opposing SIGNI and drawing 3 new cards is one of the craziest effects I’ve seen on an attack phase anything, as not only does it blank an attack, but it also clears the way for a counterattack next turn.

Rin and Mito, Kaede's Supporters (red)
The only Key here that doesn’t banish on-play, but given Kaede’s LRIG abilities, she’s not feeling that left out. Choosing a card in your opponent’s hand to discard, then searching out two Electric Machines isn’t crazy, but it’s a solid bit of advantage - as before, use it early to gain the subscribers. The action effect is the only one you can fire off without ener, and downs all opposing SIGNI and LRIGs, completely shutting down an attack phase. Once again, it doesn’t banish, so you’re relying on Himawari Honma and your LRIG effects to push in damage.

Mito and Kaede, Rin's Supporters (blue)
The on-play clears two SIGNI zones (1 bounce, 1 banish), and as usual, it’s better to use it early to get the subscriber bonus online. The attack-phase effect is somehow even stronger than the first two, as it only costs 1 ener, and banishes two SIGNI and blocks the LRIG attack. Rin doesn’t have a ton of ways to poke through damage, and this Key compensates for this with a ton of field-clearing ability.

Wrap-up
Although this deck has 3 different options, it’s not super relevant which one you choose, as the Keys help offset any weaknesses the LRIGs may have (they give offensive power to Mito, extra cards to Kaede, and field removal to Rin). I’ve not noticed much difference in power between the three, but there is absolutely a huge difference in power between any of them and the rest of the starter decks this game has to offer. Your main deck is acceptable but uninteresting, and your LRIGs and Arts are solid, leaving an overall solid deck pushed well over the top by its powerful Key effects. It doesn’t really do much of anything before level 4, but once at level 4, it has so many ways of stopping damage that even a strong early lead isn’t enough to beat this deck. Rays of Edge and Harvest force are solid defensive options that also open SIGNI zones for counterattacks, you have a decent amount of extra card draw and search to help dig up Servants, and Must Hide and the Key actions will blank entire combat steps on their own. If you like Nijisanji vtubers, or just like the idea of a deck that has 3 different configurations, this is a solid deck to pick up, but be aware it’s so solid your friends might get tired of getting stomped by it rather quickly.

Wixoss Starter Deck: WXK-D17 Black Alfou

 
Black Alfou is the Wixoss TCG’s 40th preconstructed deck, and 17th released for the “Key” format, and focuses on Image Spirit: Beautiful Technique SIGNI and the Puppeteer mechanic - which lets you use your opponent’s SIGNI on your field. As part of the third wave of starter deck releases for the Key format (after the decks with Phantom Garden and the “Dual” decks), this deck has no included foils.

(For a full list of contents, visit  https://wixoss.fandom.com/wiki/WXK-D17_Black_Alfou)



Level 1 LRIG: Alfou, Danseuse of Curtain's Rise
Your level 1 is identical to the level 1s found in most other Key-format decks. In most decks this effect sets you up to use your level 2 LRIG’s ‘draw a card’ effect, but in this deck, you want to use the coin to play your Key card. Because of this, even if you have a great hand, make sure to discard to get the coin.

Level 1 SIGNI
This deck contains the obligatory level 1 Servants (O2 & O4) and 3000 power / no effect SIGNI (in this deck Aschenputtel, Dance of Fairy Tales), as well as Taubez, Dance of Fairy Tales. There will almost never be any level 1 SIGNI to puppeteer in the first few turns of the game, so don’t feel bad if you can’t make use of the effect. It’s more a bonus that keeps your level 1 useful into the late game.

Level 1 Arts, etc.
As mentioned above, you really want to deploy Haity Key, At the Ends of Love and Hate at level 1. Most LRIGs want to save the coin they get off their level 1 effect to draw a card with their level 2 LRIG effect, but this Key draws a card when you take damage, and since you almost always take damage at level 1, you don’t need to worry about missing the draw at level 2. However, you don’t get any coins at level 2, which means that if you don’t play your Key at level 1, you have to wait until level 3. Since the Key triggers off of damage, you want to play it when your life cloth is as high as possible, and waiting until level 3 will drastically cut down the effect it has on the game.



Level 2 LRIG: Alfou, Danseuse of Theatrical Blackout
Since you used your coin at level 1, this LRIG basically has no text.

Level 2 SIGNI
In addition to your level 2 Servants (D & D2), your level 2 SIGNI is Glasshoe, Dance of Fairy Tales. This is another SIGNI, like Taubez at level 1, that has an effect that’s not often relevant early on, but does help the deck’s late-game power and reliability. Glasshoe’s protection ability isn’t worth going down a card early in the game, but as the power of opposing SIGNI effects starts to scale up in level 3 and 4, it becomes quite useful. Also note that at level 4, Cinderella can bring it back from the trash for free with her on-play, so if/when Glasshoe gets banished or enercharged, it should be the first ener you use when paying a cost.

Level 2 Arts, etc.
Not much to do here.



Level 3 LRIG: Alfou, Danseuse of Intermission
You finally get some more coins. Imagine having to wait this long to play your Key!

Level 3 SIGNI
By this point, by paying ener costs, your opponent is likely to start having SIGNI you’re actually interested in puppeteering, and Rinz, Dance of Fairy Tales will let you start pulling them out of the opponent’s trash to your field. Puppeteered SIGNI is a bit weird in Wixoss; getting two SIGNI off one card is always great (ie. Rinz and the SIGNI she puppeteers), but given how synergistic and focused decks tend to be, you’ll often find you can’t use the SIGNI’s effect because your deck doesn’t have ways to make charms, or beats, or whatever. Fortunately, this deck gives you things to do with extra SIGNI, such as Curbius, Dance of Fairy Tales, which lets you trash one of your SIGNI to banish an opponent’s, and even gives you a bonus if you trashed a puppeteered SIGNI. Between Curbius and the banish effect of your Key, you should be able to keep pressuring your opponent with damage, even with the deck’s otherwise soft early game.
You also have the Spell Actor Wardrobe, which has a very familiar effect, and has all the usual side uses - not only does it let you swap out a low-level SIGNI for a more powerful one late in the game, but it can reuse an on-play effect or a once-per-turn/down action by trashing a SIGNI and bringing the same SIGNI back to your hand. Like most starter deck spells, this is one of the weakest points of the deck, but it does have its uses. Sometimes you’ll even use the enercharge mode to set up your defensive Arts in the later stages of the game, although apart from Bloody Strike this deck doesn’t use much ener, so the enercharge mode isn’t relevant all that often.

Level 3 Arts, etc.
Many of the level 1 SIGNI found in starter decks have no LRIG-type limits, but at higher levels, those limits can stop you from using the more powerful high-level SIGNI in your opponent’s trash. Pumpkin Carriage can let you get around these limits, but your level 4 LRIG’s 1/game effect gives you the opponent’s LRIG type permanently, so most games you’ll only be using Pumpkin Carriage to open up 2 opposing SIGNI zones to attack through. Also around this level, you’ll have enough spare ener to use Rays of Edge, which is a versatile Arts that can save you a point of damage by trashing an attacker in an open lane, and leaves that lane open for you to counterattack through on your next turn.



Level 4 LRIG: Alfou, Danseuse of String-Pulling
Jealousy, this LRIG’s 1/game effect, gives you the opponent’s LRIG type permanently, giving you full access to their trash when you puppeteer. You should use this ability on your first turn at level 4, even if your hand has plenty of passable plays otherwise. The auto effect that triggers once per turn when you puppeteer is useful on offense (-7000 power), defense (draw a card, hope for  a Servant), and niche cases (sometimes forcing an early refresh can be the difference between winning and losing, but 3rd effect will generally be used much less than the first 2). Because it only activates once per turn, you may want to space out your puppeteering effects to once per turn as well, as this will also help you avoid over-extending.

Level 4 SIGNI
Cinderella, Dance of Fairy Tales is a bit like Curbius, although unlike Curbius she can’t trash your own SIGNI, only puppeteered SIGNI. She also (appropriately) comes with a Glasshoe, which makes her a powerful wall against opposing counterattacks. Dingon, Dance of Fairy Tales is useful in a few ways. She can puppeteer anything, and is also a card your opponent has to prioritize removing, hopefully before combat so her auto ability doesn’t activate. Your opponent playing out SIGNI to ensure you don’t get multiple turns with Dingon in play can mess up their SIGNI placement and disrupt their plans to actually force damage through to your life cloth. Also note that Taubez and Rinz will trigger your LRIG auto effect, and give you fuel for Cinderella and Curbius, so they’re quite useful to play even if you don’t really need the puppeteered SIGNI they give you.

Level 4 Arts, etc.
O’Clock Bell is a powerful Art that can fill in 2 SIGNI zones on defense, and depending on the SIGNI your opponent has in their trash, you may even be able to use their effects to stop a third attack (by banishing, etc). However, it is near useless if your opponent’s deck is heavily slanted towards attack-phase banish effects, or their SIGNI have the Lancer or Assassin abilities. Bloody Strike is more versatile, but 6 is a lot of ener, which means that it can take some work to get your board in a situation where you can use it. Also note that you’re able to cash in Pumpkin Carriage for 2 banishes at this level (although only on your turn), and that the action of the Haity Key is a powerful last hurrah once you’re out of life cloth to fuel its other abilities. Overall this deck is more slanted to offense than defense, but your Arts should keep your opponent off-balance long enough for you to get the last blow in before they can.

Wrap-up:
    This deck has some interesting things going on with it, but it does feel like we’ve been getting a lot of black starter decks recently (Ulith, Myu, Nanashi, and now Alfou), which makes this one feel a little less interesting as a result - there’s only so many times you can look at trash recursion and Bloody Strike before it starts to feel a little too familiar. That being said, this deck does have an interesting blend of effects to help set it apart, with puppeteering giving this deck more raw card advantage than most other black decks, while still having a good number of effects that force through damage, especially the Key, which is powerful, versatile, and a nightmare for the opponent to play against. On the minus side, its defenses are a little lackluster, especially against decks where O’Clock Bell doesn’t do much. Still, all the starter decks featuring booster-version level 4 LRIGs (and the ‘Rays of Edge’ Art) are some of the strongest starter products Wixoss has put out, so if you’re looking to get into the game, or you’ve always had a soft spot for Alfou and are super excited to see her finally get level 3 and 4 cards after being stuck as a 2-stop deck for years, this is a worthwhile deck to pick up.

How to read Japanese-language cards - Wixoss

(These are some of the simple effects you should be able to figure out after reading this guide.)

It can be daunting to look at an interesting Japanese tcg and see a sea of foreign language characters, and it can be inconvenient to print out a sheet of translations that you need to constantly reference. Fortunately, tcgs tend to be very structured both in how the cards are worded, and the terms used. Even with only a very moderate understanding of Japanese, you can save a ton of time looking up effects in reference sheets and wikis by learning just a few simple words and phrases. Most of these will be broadly applicable to other tcgs, but tcgs sometimes use slightly different wording for common concepts (ie. for “opponent”, some tcgs just use 相手, while Wixoss uses 対戦相手 - battle opponent).

If you have no knowledge of the Japanese language at all, there is a bit of homework you’ll need to do from the start: it will be next to impossible to understand anything without being able to read the Japanese phonetic alphabets (katakana and hiragana). They’ll be used for everything from basic grammar (の, を), to Wixoss specific terms (ルリグ - LRIG, シグニ - Signi, バニッシュ - banish), to more general tcg terms (デッキ - deck, レベル - level, カード - card). Being able to look at ルリグ, read it as ru-ri-gu, and understand it as referring to LRIG is the baseline of competency you’ll need to be able to start using this guide (or really any guide, this is really important, foundational stuff). Fortunately, you should be able to get a solid grasp on this within a month of easy study - you can probably get away with less than a half-hour a day. If you’re more ambitious, you should be able to manage it in half that time.

Once you’ve learned katakana and hiragana, and know the basic game terms of Wixoss (or the game you’re looking to read), you’ll be able to recognize close to half the text on the average card. The other half will be kanji, which is the tricky bit, and where this guide aims to give you a helping hand. (This list is in no real order, but it generally goes from more common to less common, so the most important kanji should be near the top of the list.)

枚  (まい - mai)
A numerical classifier for flat things such as paper, plates, coins. As a classifier, it doesn’t have any meaning on its own, you’ll just see it after a number like １枚.

引く  (ひく - hiku)
To pull, to draw. In tcgs, it’s used when you draw a card, like in カードを１枚引く (Caado o ichimai hiku - Draw 1 card). Since this is a common life burst effect (along with エナチャージ # - or ener charge #), these first two kanji alone will let you quickly read a majority of your life burst effects without reference.

対戦相手  (たいせん あいて - taisen aite)
Opponent. (対戦 is taisen - or battle, and 相手 is aite - opponent, or companion.) Knowing 対戦相手 and あなた (anata - you) lets you know who is performing an effect.

終了時  (しゅうりょう じ - shuuryou ji)
When finished. Usually found with ‘end of turn’ effects (あなたのターン終了時 - at the end of your turn). ターン終了時まで is “until end of turn.”

以下  (いか - ika)
Less than, or ‘not more than’. Used after a number, it means ‘that number, or less’, for example: パワー10000以下 is power 10000 or less. Knowing this, you should be able to fully read 対戦相手のパワー10000以下のシグニ１体をバニッシュする。This is a common type of effect on red cards, especially their life bursts. This kanji can also mean “the following; the [something] below," ie. “choose 1 of the following:”.

得る  (える - eru)
To get, to gain, to obtain. Used when a card gains an effect, such as 「アタックできない。」(can’t attack), or 「バニッシュされない。」(can’t be banished).

色  (いろ - iro)
Colour. と同じ色 (onaji iro) is “same colour.”

手札  (てふだ - tefuda)
Hand (of cards).

捨て  (すて - sute)
Discard, throw away. Used when a player discards cards from their hand. 捨てさせる is used when a player is forced to discard (ie. must discard).

公開  (こうかい - koukai)
Open to the public, to exhibit. In tcgs, it means to reveal to all players.

見  (み - mi)
To see, to look at. A general-use kanji that pops up in effects like あなたのデッキの上からカードを３枚見る (look at the top 3 cards of your deck - 上 is top, 下 is bottom, 一番上 - ichiban jou - is the topmost, the one right on top), and effects like １枚見ないで選び (ichi-mai minaide erabi - choose a card without looking - used when discarding random cards from an opponent’s hand).

場  (ば - ba)
Place, or field. Your in-play zone.

加える  (くわえる - kuwaeru)
To add (ie. 手札に加える - add to your hand).

置く  (おく - oku)
Put (ie. トラッシュに置く - put into the trash).

戻す  (もどす - modosu)
Return. 手札に戻す - return to hand.


This is far from a complete list of kanji you’ll find on Wixoss cards, or japanese tcg cards in general, but this should be enough to cover most general effects and save you some time checking wikis or reference sheets. Many decks will also have archetype specific terms you should familiarize yourself with (such as 乗 - jou - drive / ドライブ状態 - doraibu joutai - drive state for Layra, or learning 偶数 - guusuu - even / 奇数 - kisuu - odd for Guzuko). Generally, you can find these easily on the wiki.
Hopefully you’ve found this useful, and if there’s any kanji I’ve missed that would be useful to include, just let me know and I’ll add them to the list.