An Introduction to Katana World

An Introduction to Katana World

He's studying for a Katana World test

I am going to start my posts very similarly to how colleges and universities tend to teach new students.  Freshman and sophomores take courses that explain a more general idea of concepts in subjects.  As they progress through their years, their studies become more and more in depth and specific to their major.

I will start with general posts talking about the concept and purpose of Katana World and get more in depth as I go along.  Because of this, many people who read these posts might not find a lot of my information new or surprising.  That is fine though.  I want this blog to be easily accessible for people of every skill level for this game even for the veterans of this game.  I hope these more general posts might open your eyes to something new.

Currently, there are 10 Worlds and 12 Flags.  With Four Dimensions coming out around the corner which will release 2 new flags, Buddyfight is a game with a lot of diversity and play styles.

Katana World has 4 archetypes.  In order of most supported to least supported are: Ninjas, Skull Warriors, Japanese Blades and Water.

Katana World has monsters with lower base stats than almost any other worlds.  The base stats (BST) for each size is the following:

Size 0:  8,000

Size 1: 11,000

Size 2: 16,000

Size 3: 21,000

(Found this information here.  Thanks for the info Blaise <3)

I'll explain these numbers in a future post and how they're figured out.  If you want to read up more on it in the mean time though, click on that link above.  The world closest to Katana World in base stats is Magic World but they're not exactly the same base stats. Magic World's stats are justified because they have powerful spells.

Katana World also has powerful spells but they're a little different.  Katana World has some of the most unique spells out of any world (love you Half-kill <3).  The spells cover virtually any situation when your opponent casts crucial spells, declare attacks and use effects that would give you a disadvantage but instead, they stop your opponent in their tracks.

The spells are generally split into four subgroups.  All archetype can easily (and tend to) use other archetypes spells.  The spells are:  Ninja Arts, Demon Way, Japanese Blades and Water.  Ninjas tend to use Ninja Art spells and Skull Warriors tend to use Demon Ways.  Blade Beasts currently don't have a lot of Japanese Blade spells so they tend to borrow spells from the other subgroups. Water uses Water spells (duh) but they also borrow from other subgroups because of how under supported they are.

Katana World is more of a control world.  There are different ways to control your opponent.  Each archetype in Katana World likes to control the opponent in different ways with their spells differently.

Ninjas

Nin!

First up are the main guys of Katana World. Ninjas!  They do exactly what I was mentioning earlier.  Ninjas work by having good draw power and creating counter plays to stop your opponent which, in turn, creates advantage for yourself.

The main guy that is used to do this is Electron Ninja Shiden.  He is essentially a Nice One! as a monster which if kept on the field can let you draw more.

Another unsung hero of Katana World is Shinobi Scrolls.  This card might seem a little confusing to new people.  Especially since there is no card like it in any other world.  It acts as a secondary hand.  If the card you put under Shinobi Scrolls is a Ninja Arts, you can cast it from Shinobi Scrolls as if it's in your hand.  It's nice to put a gauge ramp card (like Clear Serenity) underneath Shinobi Scrolls and draw a "real" card but still keep the gauge ramp card.

Even if you draw into a spell that doesn't fit the situation, there are cards like Nanomachine Ninja, Tsukikage and Nanomachine Ninja, Byakuya which allows you to use the useless spells for something else instead of them being dead cards in hand.

Since season 2, many Ninjas have been blessed with Shadow Dive.  This ability allows them to attack the opponent even if there is a monster in the opponent's center.  They also have been giving a fusion card of sorts (look at me using Yu-Gi-Oh terms).  Ghoul Deity, Gojinmaru has both of the above mentioned benefits.  He is a giant wall that can attack your opponent directly while defending yourself.

There is a plethora of other concepts and strategies with Ninjas (like burn Ninjas) but listed above are the "main" archetype.

Skull Warriors

So cute yet so creepy

Next up is Skull Warriors.  They're my personal favorite archetype of not only Katana World, but the whole game.  I don't know why they are.  They're definitely not top tier.  They were the first deck I ever played of this game. Not only did I get addicted to them from game one, but I instantly knew how they worked just by reading the cards.

Skull Warriors tend to have stronger stats but in exchange, a lot of them die at the end of the turn.  The death at the end of turn is mitigated in two ways.  Cards that give you resources when they deal damage to the opponent and Demon Way Set spells that allow the Skull Warriors to be ressurected.

Evil in Heart, Yamigitsune and Boy Transformation, Yamigitsune allows you to regain resources.  The former allows you to draw off of their deaths.  The later allows you to get some extra damage on your opponent.  There is another card called Undefeatable, Setsujishi which also mitigates loss but he isn't as popular (although I do have a fun deck that revolves around his ability).

The Demon Way set spells I am referring to are Return to the Underworld and Odd Ritual, Skull Festival.  These spells stay on the field (which is what the "Set" means.) and once per turn, you can call back monsters without paying their call cost.  The once per turn is per set spell on your field.  So if you have 2 Odd Rituals on the field and 1 Return, you can use each once to call back monsters from the drop. This makes it totally fine to throw your monsters into the drop zone because they will always be accessible.  Just resurrect them and you don't have to pay their call cost. Technically, Odd Ritual, Skull Festival is better than Return to the Underworld but that's a whole other post I'll get to.

What is even better is there is a tutor for the Set spells.  Cat Shadow, Aoihime lets you grab a Demon Way spell with Set from your deck as long as you discard a card from your hand and pay her 1 life call cost.  Just discard a monster when you play her and call it back with the set spell.  You should always grab an Odd Ritual, Skull Festival first because you can keep resurrecting her to grab more set spells and you don't even have to pay her call cost to revive her!  It helps set you up and help filter out your deck.

Because of these cards, Skull Warriors usually outlast a lot of decks that don't have a lot of draw power because they can control the board pretty easily.  Wipe out your opponent's monsters and they will have to recall more cards.  In the mean time, your cards will die but they can be resurrected next turn.  Only to wipe your opponent's board again.  Your opponent will lose steam while you can keep going.  Demon Ways help with survival with cards such as Geppakugiri, Oborogenbu and Kasumienran.  They even get Demon Way, Sakurafubuki. One of the best spell nullifiers in the game. The only down side to it is that Skull Warriors don't have a lot of life and it's already decently used with Odd Ritual.

Japanese Blades

I WANT TO HUG HIM

Next up are ever adorable Japanese Blades. God I could just hug them all day.  Anyways, these guys are Bushi's answer for the infamous question "Why does no one run weapons in Katana World?".  They do a great job at answering that question.

Japanese Blades (along with the Blade Beast attribute) revolves around getting cards with the Japanese Blade attribute into your drop zone.  Then, depending on how many there are in the drop, the monsters get bonus stats and abilities.

The Japanese Blade monsters frequently have Move as one of their skills so you can play both offensively and defensively.  This also helps your cause by forcing your opponent to attack your Japaneses Blade monsters to boost up new monster you play on your next turn.

The maximum requirement for any Japanese Blade monster to get all its abilities is 5 Japanese Blades.  With most Japanese Blade cards costing 1 or 2 gauge and the Onimaru sword and monster, it's not unreasonable to get 5 cards by the middle of your second turn.  From what I can tell, Japanese Blades have a fairly average early game, explode out mid game and can pitter out by the end of the game because you will just lose hand advantage.  They don't have a lot of support at the moment but they have enough cards to be a solid deck.

As a side note, Elite Sword, Dojigiri finally got its errata of being a Japanese Blade.  I wish it didn't need a card with Elite Sword or Five Heavenly Sword in its card name to get its ability and instead just need a Japanese Blade but beggars can't be choosers.

Their impact is quite insane too.  With cards like Clear Serenity and Raiton, Art of Stored Electricity existing in Katana World, it's not hard to get the impact off.  Currently, they don't have an impact monster but their impact is already insane and I wouldn't doubt that they will get one in the future.

Water

This cat knows how to kill two birds
with one stone

So last up is the Water archetype.  It's now one of the most under supported archetypes in the game. Wild Dragons were more under supported than Water but Wild Dragons actually got some decent support in Roar! Invincible Dragons.  R.I.P Water.

Anyways, Water can have pretty high stats because of one set spell: Water Technique, Shinotsukuame. This card reaches out into a lot of spell types.  It's a Ninja Arts/Demon Way/Water. It gives all Water monsters on your field +2000 attack and defense.  This lets Water have some nice sized walls and can make it hard for your opponent to hit you.  

Wait, this card is a Demon Way with Set.  Isn't there a card that searches out Demon Way Set spells?  Oh yeah. Cat Shadow, Aoihime can search out this card. To put the icing on the cake, Cat Shadow, Aoihime is also a Water attribute monster so she can get the benefits from this set spell! A 7/2/6 size 2 is not bad.

I have only dabbled with Water decks. The Water deck I made had a mixture of Skull Warriors and Water. Cat Shadow can always search out Odd Ritual as a turn 1 move.  Then, on your next turn, call her back with Odd Ritual and grab Water Technique, Shinotsukuame.

Another good Water card is White Dragon Hermit, Nanase.  For only a gauge, he can have up to two souls as long as the cards have the Water attribute.  His second ability is ok.  I wouldn't freely use his second ability. Unless you know they can stop your plans somehow with the 1 or 2 gauge they have remaining (i.e. remove the only gauge a Dungeon World player has so they can't Shalsana your attack). The ability can be a double edge sword and can badly exacerbate your situation. Your opponent can use a counter (like Death Grip) and use the gauge you chose to destroy to make Nanase lose his other soul.  Effectively making Nanase lose two souls for nothing. 

Two cards that might go over people's heads building a Water deck are Miseria and Inverse Miseria. They are both Water and already have great attack and defense alone. The Water set spell can make them even tankier.  I would run both.  There isn't enough support to make it a tough decision.  They're perfect for the deck.

Water Ploy, Kyokusuinoen is an interesting card.  From what I've tested, it's sort of just ok.  It's best for Water decks since you can re-grab Nanase or one of the Water Omni Lords.

Water did at least get an impact monster. Skull Warrior Bones of the Four Birds, "Akuten Haba" is better suited in a normal Skull Warrior build but it is Water and can become a scary 11000/2/6000. The burn effect doesn't hurt either. It can help you clutch a game.  Don't forget it has move. Bushi crammed it in the corner of that card.  This impact is another reason why I think Water tends to air on the side of Skull Warriors more than Ninjas.

Other honorable mentions are Moss Wall, Fudogame, Fang Style Ninja, Kabishachi, Sea-Splitting, Irukamaru, Perfect Beauty, Hyoshi Shirasagi and Runaway Female Ninja, Yukishiro.  All of these are solid cards with good effects and can be decent walls against your opponent.

Also, I will be at the Toronto Regionals on September 11th.  If you play someone that's using Katana World and has a secret flag during the tournament, more than likely, it's me.  Hope to say hi to a couple readers ^_^

Introductions

Introductions

So this is what a new blog looks like.  It sure has a lot of room and it's quite comfy.  I think I can get used to this.  Especially with the mint scented air fresheners blogspot gives new blogs.

Hello!  My name is Billy (but I always spell it as Billeh.  It's an inside joke.) and welcome to my blog.  As the name suggests, this blog will be based around the card game Future Card Buddyfight and its world Katana World.  I do enjoy animes, cartoons, video games and computers.  My next favorite card game is Dominion but that's a living card game and not a trading card game.  I used to play Yu-Gi-Oh when I was much younger but I have no idea about anything in that game anymore.

"But Billeh", you may ask, "why Katana World?".  That's a good question random stranger I made up in my head and there's several reasons.  First (and probably most important) it's my most favorite world.  No point in making a blog about a world if it isn't your favorite right?

Second, it's the least popular world (from what I've seen and heard).  So I figured the people who want to get into playing this world don't have a lot of options for researching different play styles and cards in Katana World.  Also, I like to help people and theory crafting is with people about Katana World is fun.  It's not a world where everything is pretty obvious.  Somethings have to be thought through and even then, I only noticed how good some cards are once I play tested them.

Third, I will use this blog for my own "database" of thoughts on cards.  I think about cards from the different archetypes of Katana World all the time and putting my thoughts all in one place for me (and others) to digest and think about would be awesome.

My goal is to eventually get everything organized in this blog to the point where I have a list of all the Katana World cards that are out and give thoughts/opinions/rulings on the cards.  I'll start with general posts about the world and it's different archetypes.  Then go deeper into talking about specific cards of each archetype.

Keep in mind, this will not happen over night.  The cards I'll start with are the more core and obviously "good" cards of the archetypes but I'll branch out to the less popular cards.  I am one man so these things do take time.  I also do the editing for my own post so you might find typos.  I'll try to fix them as soon as possible.  I do have a 40 hour a week job so I do have some obligations and I don't have all the free time in the world.

So now we have that behind us, I want to post mention a few things about the blog.

First, what I post is my personal thoughts/opinions.  They may not be perfect but that's why I get the thoughts out there for people to think about it and I always enjoy critiques and edit posts.  No point in learning if you can't change your viewpoint.  I feel like I'm a pretty open individual to thinking about this game and I'll never bash any thoughts/ideas.

Second,  you have to start somewhere when theorycrafting and I do take come basic core concepts of the game from another personal favorite blog of mine, Buddyfight Theory by Bliase.  You can look at their blog over here!  Of course keep in mind, Blaise isn't writing on the blog anymore (come back baby <3) and this game does keep evolving so some information may be outdated.  I will try to give credit where credit is due by posting where on his blog I found information.

Third, I always try to make sure what I post are legitimate to the rules of the game but I am not perfect (shocking I know) and some rulings and errata my skip my mind.  So I'm always open to people telling me if I messed up on a ruling somewhere.

Fourth, I am still trying to find the right design and figure out how all the controls in blogspot work so the design may radically change quickly and without notice.  I will always try to make the website simple and intuitive.  Afterall, no point in having a tool that isn't easy to use and understandable!

I will be working on the next post being a general overview of Katana World so we're all on the same page.  I'm not sure how long it will take but it will come out when it comes out.  I hope to shoot for a 1 to 2 week time frame.  Have a great day Buddyfighters! ^_^

NUMBAH ONE!  NUMBAH ONE!