WS@NK-DS

FS/S03-002/R King of Knights Saber (騎士王セイバー) [kishi ou  seiba]

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FS/S03-002/R King of Knights Saber (騎士王セイバー) ["kishi ou " seiba]
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Level: 2    Cost: 2   Trigger: 1 Soul   Colour: Yellow
Soul: 2    Power: 7500
Card Type: Character   Rarity: RR/RRR
Traits: Servant, Weapon
Phrase RR:  What appears when the eyes are closed is not a different dream, but the same thing…?
Phrase RRR: Well then, shall we go then, Shiro-
Illustrator RR: Nishiwaki Datto
Illustrator RRR: Fujima Takuya

Text:
【Passive】 For every Character with trait <<Master>> you control, this card gains +500 Power

【Auto】  When you have 「Emiya Shirou (衛宮 士郎)」 in play, this card gains the following ability 『【Auto】 Encore ［Send 1 Character card from your hand to Waiting Room］』

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COMMENTS
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For our 2nd card review  on WS@NK-DS.org, we look into one of the cards from Fate/Stay Night. The second most expensive Single card of the game and possibly one of the strongest RRR, we take a look at this popular card from the F/sn expansion.

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ART
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Saber, standing in front of the full glowing moon with gale winds flutter as she looks down, posed with pride and vigour. That’s the initial impression i got from Datto’s version of this card. Utterly splendid effects as well as mood from the F/sn Mangaka.

As for the RRR, it’s the same pose as the RR, however with a much cuter and lolier art style, it gives a different and refreshing feel that is not often seen for Saber. The plain background is only complimented by a simple feather at the bottom of the artwork.  Simple, effective, and most of all, Moe. Great job by Takuya (Negima Neo).

RATING: 9/10

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STATS AND ABILITIES
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A yellow Level 2 with 2 cost, which isn’t very surprising considering that nice abilities that comes along with it. The Power is slightly lower than your average Level 2 cards. However its compensated with it at 2 Soul and Trigger Check at 1 Soul alongside with its abilities. Being a Level 2 of couse makes it vulnerable to higher power abilities.

One of the disadvantage for this card is that its ability has to be with in synergy with Master Traits cards or rather in particular, FS/S03-001 衛宮士郎　【RR】 (Emiya Shirou) for better efficiency. But with most Masters being support cards in F/sn, there are not much lack of those support anyways. This however, limits this card’s potential to Fate decks as Master traits are currently a Unique trait for this series.

So why is it so saught after?

Looking at the first ability, this card gains 500 Power for each Master Traits cards you control which isnt too bad considering. Look at it this way, with FS/S03-001 衛宮士郎　【RR】 (Emiya Shirou) in play, you can add 500 Power not only to this card by paying 1, but  Shiro will also allow KoK Saber to gain 500 Power due to it’s trait of Master. Even if you have FS/S03-055 魔弾の射手　凛【R/RRR】 (Magic Bullet Shooter Rin)  as your only supporter, you can jolly well be ensured that you’ll have this card at 9000 Power since she’s a Master as well. Not too bad for a defence eh? And you can encore it by discarding 1 Character card which makes it very persistant.

The 2nd lethal ability of this card is simply survivability. With FS/S03-001 衛宮士郎　【RR】, this card gains the ability to encore back with a relatively low cost of discarding a Character card.

Guess what, it gets better. First off, it’s tutorable due to both the card name Saber as well as the trait Weapon, thus making it extremely flexible. She can also be discarded in early game and picked back up by Emiya Shiro by Emiya Shiro’s ability anytime the player wants at a cost of 1. This card also enjoys all Saber, Weapons and Royalty support, including an event card which can summon this card at Level 1, how good is that?

So what now? Decent Soul damage, persistant returns, disposable and being able to power up quite easily and most importantly to hang in there for as long as it can, taking out opponent’s characters and defending yourself, what more can you ask for?

RATING: 8/10

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OVERALL (NOT AN AVERAGE): 8.4/10
Definitely a staple card for Saber decks alongside with 衛宮士郎　【RR】 (Emiya Shirou) to support each other. This card is potentially a very persistant character due to it’s added evasion, recovery and power boosts. At level 2, its even capable of taking down Level 3 cards and defending against them. With abundant support for this card, it’s synergy with a themed deck greatly outweighs her original stats/ability flaws and truely makes this card, the King of Knights.

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