Hi all, this is Chitosev. This week, the much awaited Da Capo III Trial Deck would be on sale, and before that, I will give you a quick rundown on the contents of this initial 50 cards. Read more after the Jump!

Deck Specials

DC3/W18-101 TD クリパへようこそ！ シャルル / Welcome to the Christmas Party! Sharuru

Text:

【A】When the damage dealt by this card is cancelled, you may put this card into your Stock.

A card with a rather weird effect. This effect, however, can be useful in certain situations. When you’re low in stock and needs some form of boost for a smoother next turn, when you absolutely know your opponent will cancel but don’t want to waste an attack, when you are about to refresh and wants to aim for a better deck compression, when your power is smaller but you don’t want to reduce your damage output… the list goes on.

Within the deck itself, it is generally a good combo with First Uniform Himeno, seeing as how it can add stock instantaneously for you to pay the hefty cost. It is also good for achieve any of the above said purpose, as the deck comes with a +2 Soul Climax, which can easily allow your opponent to cancel.

DC3/W18-102 TD 花より団子 葵 / Hana Yori Dango Aoi

Text:

【A】 ENCORE [Put 1 Character card from your Hand into the Waiting Room]

【S】[Put 2 of your Characters Card with the trait <<Newspaper>> to 【Rest】 Mode] Select 1 of your Character cards, during this turn, it gains Power +1500.

An attacker with a supporting ability. While its power level is rather low, it spots the popular Drop-Character Encore ability, which can allow it to stay in the stage for a while longer.

Its other ability requires you to put 2 Newspaper character to Rest, to give a boost of 1500 power to any character. This is not an issue in this trial deck, seeing how all character cards in this deck has the Newspaper trait. 1500 is a pretty decent amount, allowing you to easily go over the counter limit of a vanilla Level 1 Cost 0 Backup. And since the backstage in this deck is pretty much untouched, using this ability is not an issue at all.

DC3/W18-103　TD　恋する乙女 立夏 /Girl in Love Rikka

Text:

【A】 When you put this card onto the Stage from your Hand, you may put the top card of your Clock into your Waiting Room.

【A】 When this card attacks, reveal the top card of the deck. Should it be a Character Card with the trait <<Newspaper>>, during this turn, this card gains Power +2000.  (Return the revealed card to its original position)

Probably the best card of this deck. A regular Come-Into-Play Heal ability for a level 3, accompanied with a possible power boost and the standard base power of 10000. And seeing how 100% of the character cards given in this deck spots the trait, you will only pray to avoid Event or Climaxes when attacking. That said, you can be confident that MOST of the time, this card would be a base 12000 attacker. Not small, not that big either, but still something worth mentioning.

On a side note, it is possible to raise this card’s power level to 19500 (without using additional Stock) in just the deck alone. There could be other ways to make it higher though (in the deck itself, of course). Players looking for fun could try to reach this figure =3.

DC3/W18-104 TD スキーウェアのさら / Ski Wear Sara

Text:

【C】 ASSIST: All Character cards in front of this card gains Power +500.

Nothing special here. Just your typical Assist +500 character card, with the Newspaper and Sports trait.

But it is worth mentioning that this deck only gives 2 copies of this, as opposed to other trial decks.

And… it is a Sara card.

DC3/W18-105 TD 浴衣の姫乃 /Yukata Himeno

Text: None

Ok… just because there are many cards with abilities in the deck itself, doesn’t mean that they can make 2 deck special blank cards (I consider the Assist 500 support a blank card because its soooo common). Still, it would be useful in many situations (usefulness of 1/0 5500 characters covered in another older post here). It also spots the trait of Newspaper and even the rare trait of Wafuku, which can be used in certain decks in Standard as well.

Notable Mentions

Not many Trial Decks have the privilege of enjoying Climax Synergy abilities. The D.C.III trial deck, however, has not one, but 2 Climax Synergy abilities. And they aren’t your ordinary abilities also…

DC3/W18-T02 TD 意外とお子様 立夏 /Surprisingly Childish Rikka

Text:

【A】 When this card attacks, and the Climax card 「The Usual Newspaper Club」 is in play, send the top 3 cards of your deck into the Waiting Room. If all of those cards are Character cards with the trait <<Newspaper>>, select 1 Character card in your Waiting Room, and put it into your hand.

Surprisingly decent. Firstly, it allows D.C. decks, who were void of Brainstorm abilities (until D.C. III) to run through cards in the deck. It has a hefty requirement of all being character cards with the newspaper trait to succeed, so one should not expect the character retrieval most of the times. In the case that you do succeed, congratulations, you just reduce 3 possible damage, and also retrieved any character cards from your Waiting Room as a supplement. When you are about to refresh, you may also use this ability to send any climax cards that you think still exist in the deck into your Waiting Room, as this ability puts the cards directly into the Waiting Room, unlike Brainstorm abilities.

Well, since 100% of the character cards in this deck has the Newspaper trait, the chances for success has been raised. But still, sending all 3 characters for the ability is a feat. Players aiming to retrieve characters would have to pay attention to what is left in their own deck.

DC3/W18-T06 TD 初めての制服 姫乃 / First Uniform Himeno

Text:

【A】［④］　When this card attacks, and the Climax card 「Talking by the Beach」 is in play, you may pay the cost to activate this ability. Should you do so, deal 5 damage to your opponent. (This Damage can be cancelled.)

A devastating ability, similar to that of “Ace of Ace” Nanoha in the Nanoha StrikerS set. For a rather heavy cost of 4 stock, the player may choose to deliver 5 damage to your opponent when First Uniform Himeno attacks with the specific climax. Seeing as how this deck is generally uses less stock in playing character cards, one can easily achieve 1-2 times usage of this ability. In addition, the specific climax Talking by the Beach is a 1-stock-1-soul-all type of climax, which further enables you to earn the necessary stock to fire this cannon.

What deters this from the RR level card is the fixed damage of 5. Well it is good that the 4 cost will definitely do something, 5 damage is a rather big number, and even players with regular luck and regular deck compression has a high chance to cancel it. One can simply use the 5 damage as a diversion, simply firing it for the opponent to cancel, and hope to deal in the smaller damage that follows. Whether hit or miss, it is a decent ability that allows players to end the game faster.

Other Useful Cards

DC3/W18-T01 TD ツンツン 姫乃 / Tsun Tsun Himeno – Basic attacker earlier in the game, and may acts as a global 500 boost to Newspaper characters if you control your hand cards to be 4 or less.

DC3/W18-T03 TD ふんわりいたずら シャルル / Fluffy Mischief Sharuru – Decent attacker that can reach base power of 3500 when you have 2 other Newspaper characters.

DC3/W18-T07 TD 体操着のシャルル / Gym Clothes Sharuru – Decent synergy with First Uniform Himeno. A rare 2 soul attacker in this deck.

DC3/W18-T08 TD はじめまして、るる姉。 / Nice to Meet You, Ruru-nee. – A decent retrieval event that allows you to gain access to your higher end beaters. Also supports the existing Recollection effects in the older D.C. sets.

DC3/W18-T11 TD おひさま少女 葵 / Sunny Girl Aoi – First ever D.C. Brainstorm… that mils only 1 card. Since all character cards in the deck has the Newspaper trait, it is easy to achieve this 1000 boost.

DC3/W18-T12 TD 神出鬼没な問題児 杉並 / Elusive Trickster Suginami – …And so he appears again, more useful than ever. A viable power booster from early game all the way to late-game, except that from mid-game onwards, you would have to sacrifice some damage power. And unlike the other Suginamis in history, this one spots a main trait of Newspaper, making him usable even in a trait-based deck.

DC3/W18-T15 TD 年下のクラスメイト さら / Younger Classmate Sara – A good card on defense, punishing your opponent for playing many characters. Spots the Drop-Character Encore also.

Overall Review:

Wow… many cards with many abilities. This trial deck allows players to get exposed to many types of abilities, some even unique from the other series. The general power level of this deck is of acceptable level, but seems rather weak during the Level 2 period. And after playing with the deck, many would soon find the many problems as well… but well, it IS a trial deck.

Overall, a fun and enjoyable deck that may still hold some grounds while challenging even the stronger decks. Players, new or old, should learn to enjoy this deck while looking forward to the full booster’s release. Cheers to Da Capo!