Hi guys, Zen here bringing you the review for the latest series in Weiss Schwarz, Senki Zesshō Symphogear.

Fresh from the release last week, Symphogear has been pretty much the hot topic over the weekend and here at WS@NK-DS, we will be highlighting the hacks and slashes of what this musical relic weapon can do. Read more after the jump.

Verse – Yellow

SG/W19-001 RR 全力の拳 響 / Fist of Full Force Hibiki
[A] At the beginning of your opponent’s attack phase, you may send the top card of your deck into your waiting room. If the card is a <<Music>> trait character, this card may move to any empty border on the Front stage.

A powerful card indeed, this card not just can run around your stage, it also offers the ability to shave off potential damage as well as generate a decent waiting room for more retrieval options.
With a base power of 2500, its 500 more than your standard Kuroko runner from Railgun, guarantee to survive for at least 2 turns unless opponent floods the stage at the cost of his/her resources.
However one must grasp the timing right as there could be a possibility of sending a climax into the waiting room, wasting one chance to cancel opponent’s soul damage.

SG/W19-002 RR 立花 響 / Tachibana Hibiki
[A] When this card enters the stage either by playing from hand or by the effects of “ガングニール”, choose the top card of your clock and put it into your waiting room.
[A] When this card attacks and you have the climax “守りたいものがあるんです！” in your climax slot, you may search your deck for one <<Music>> trait character, reveal it and add it into your hand. After that, shuffle your deck and until the end of your opponent’s turn, this card gains +1500 power.

What’s sweet about this card is that the climax combo not just allow you to perform a deck search, it also adds an extra boost in power over the course of two turns. Moreover, you can search your deck for 小日向 未来, to prepare for your level 3 game or a simple counter to maintain field presence. Other viable options would be パワーの根源 響 to recycle your ガングニール event or 凛とした佇まい 翼 for a stable +X support.

Pre-chorus – Green

SG/W19-026 RR みなぎる力 クリス / Overflowing Power Chris
[A] (1) When this card attacks and you have the climax “Mega Deth Quartet ” in your climax slot, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your characters, it gains +4500 power this turn.

I’d love to see this card in action together with the “Sisters” of this series, Noises. Given that “Mega Deth Quartet” is your standard +2 soul climax, this ability could be very devastating in early game. The power boost can play a crucial part in the effort of trampling over big walls with your Noises. Similarly, in a Chris deck, this combo can help in concentrating the power to one character and letting it deliver the smashing punch to opponent’s character.

SG/W19-027 RR 雪音 クリス / Yukine Chris
[C] When there are 3 or more other <<Music>> trait characters on stage, this card gains +1000 power
[A] When this card enters the stage either by playing from hand or by the effects of イチイバル, all your characters gain +2000 power this turn.
[A] (1) When you play the climax “クリスの夢” in your climax slot and this card is in your Front stage, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent’s characters, it gains -4000 power this turn.

Looking at both Chris’s RR, she’s all about dominating the stage with her dazzling display of power. This card can reach an easy target of 11000 base power with just the first effect alone. Chris’s ability to perform crowd control is evident in her second effect as イチイバル can be used as a counter, surprising opponent with the sudden rise in power and “flash-change” one of your level 2 Chris into this card. Lastly, her long range ballistic capability is shown in the form of the climax combo. With that ability, Chris can nonchalantly remove all those important Back stage support characters by reducing their power to 0 if possible or simply reduce a potential mountain into a molehill. Furthermore, “クリスの夢” is your everyday favorite draw one card, +2000 power and +1soul climax, making it a very practical choice for Chris themed decks. This pretty much sums up Chris’s dominating presence, but hey everyone loves tsunderes don’t they =)

Middle 8 – Red

SG/W19-051 RR 翼の相棒　奏 /Tsubasa’s Partner Kanade
[A] When this card is put to reverse by a level 0, you may put that character to reverse.
[A] (2) When this card is put into the waiting room from stage, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one character card with “翼” (Tsubasa) in name in your waiting room and add it into your hand.

Standard level 0 bomb but the second ability simply screams “abuse me”. This card allows you to retrieve your important Tsubasa cards, you can also target itself. Conduct a search with the word “翼” on the official Weiss Schwarz website and be amazed by the wide variety of choices you can have.  =)

SG/W19-052 RR 勝ち取った力　奏 / The Power that was Won Over Kanade
[A] (1, put the top card of your deck into your clock) When this card attacks and you have the climax “STARDUST∞FOTON” in your climax slot, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of level 2 and below event card in your waiting room and add it into your hand. This card gains +1000 power this turn.

Now that’s something out of the blue moon. Usually we have character retrieving combos but taking back events?! I have yet to see one since King of Fighters. The predecessor was restricted to a specific event, rendering it hard to use. This beefed-up version allows a certain degree of freedom in event selection. Some of the events that are worth taking back are the aforementioned ガングニール and イチイバル, counters like デュランダル覚醒. Personally, I find 絶唱 being the best event for this climax combo.

Bridge – Blue

SG/W19-076 RR 喪失の悲しみ　翼 / Grief of Loss Tsubasa
[C] During your opponent’s turn, all your other <<Music>> trait characters gain +500 power.
[S] Brainstorm (1) Put the top four cards of your deck into your waiting room. For every climax card put into waiting room this way, search your deck for one <<Weapon>> trait character, reveal it to opponent, add it into your hand and discard one card. Shuffle your deck.

Defensive boost is something blue excels and being a level 0 card does helps in setting up your defenses fast. The brainstorm aids in the removal of unwanted climaxes in your hand should the ability succeed. It also serves to speed up your deck running for a faster refresh as well as a cleaner stock.

SG/W19-077 RR 決意の時　翼 / Time of Resolution Tsubasa
[A] When this card enters the stage from hand and there are four or more other <<Music>> trait characters on stage, you may add the top card of your deck into your stock.

Free summon, I suppose. However upon deeper thoughts this card actually helps in easing your financial burden when playing the 天羽々斬 and 風鳴　翼 combo or other stock heavy combos. Once the effect has been activated, it would be nothing more than a vallina and it will be wise to offer her as a vessel for the event to bring out the level 3 Tsubasa.

Collision – Other notable cards

SG/W19-003 R 胸の痛み　響 /The Pain in the Heart Hibiki – Searches for a <<Music>> trait character and trading it in with an unwanted card in hand.

SG/W19-028 R 天涯孤独　クリス/ Alone Chris – Should you want to spam イチイバル, this is the card to use. However do take caution as part of the cost is to put one card from your hand into clock.

SG/W19-029 R 安らげる場所　クリス / Place of Comfort Chris – Faced with problem of getting ソロモンの杖 when it is in your clock when playing a Noise deck, here’s your answer. You can also put your level 2 Noise back into the clock for the alarm effect.

SG/W19-054 R 強い意志　未来 / Strong Will Miku – Another card that plays with card names, this time its “響”. The second ability allows you to force a colour into your clock should you not have it yet and allows you retain your hand size.

SG/W19-057 R 小日向 未来 / Kohinata Miku – Le ruby of the series. She is the only other level 3 that offers healing ability. The second effect offers an ability to send opponent’s character to the top of his/her deck and a +1000 power. This prevents them from encoring that character and can be a potential threat for opponent.

SG/W19-078 R 着替え中の翼 / In the Middle of Changing  Tsubasa – Le sapphire of the series. Personally I love how useful this card can be. Without even paying any cost, you are able to draw one card when she attacks with the climax in play. Having a field full of Tsubasa isn’t that hard, your basic support cards already have Tsubasa in name. Flood your field with these cards, lay the smackdown and this combo will help you gain the much needed tempo for the rest of the game.

SG/W19-080 R 凛とした佇まい　翼 / Dignified Atmosphere Tsubasa – The only +X support for the series. The first and third ability serves as a stock bank for event use or as a lasting seal of a card which can lead to improved deck compression.

SG/W19-033 U 幼い頃のクリス /Young Chris – Potential 4000 power level 1 attacker at level 0 games, pretty decent and she is here to stay.

SG/W19-058 U 保護者がわり　未来 / On Behalf of a Guardian Miku – Awesome brainstorm retrieval ability.

SG/W19-070 U 私立リディアン音楽院 / Private Lydian Music Academy– Retrieval event, works hand in hand with 小日向 未来 for a potential 15000 top-decker.

SG/W19-083 U 仲間への信頼　翼 / Trust in Comrades Tsubasa – Standard support but the second ability allows one to take on bigger characters or level-based bombs with much ease.

SG/W19-085 U はじめてのデート　翼 / First Date Tsubasa – Easily 3500 power with an ability to be immune to level bombs, this card has the strength to gain tempo until mid-level 1 game.

Chorus
Symphogear is a pretty interesting series to play. The event based “change” does bring about a whole new way of deck construction and deck ratio. The generalized effect based cards can open more quirky and fun combos in standard format. I do hope to see more variety of decks out there with the emergence of this series.

This article will not be made possible without the support of Genesis Frontier and everyone whom contributed to the time spent for field testing and theory-craft. With that, I wish everyone a fun filled gaming experience.

Zen, signing off.