On the tailend of a great Springfest season, a new exciting release approaches: Avatar: The Last Airbender Booster Pack and Trial Deck+ are coming to Weiß Schwarz on June 16th. In anticipation of the new English Edition Original title, as well as a highly beloved series making its debut on the stage of Weiß Schwarz, we’ll be looking at all of the Trial Deck+ cards today to get a taste of what’s in store!
can gain a marker on play, boosting its power up to 4,000 which is more than enough to combat all the currently popular Level 0 profiles with 3,500 power. The fact that it can add both characters and events as markers is a really welcome detail, because it means you won’t ever have to compromise between this card or any other events in the deck. Don’t forget that adding a marker isn’t mandatory, so you can also use this card just to gain information about what’s on top of your deck too! The card does not gain any additional level from obtaining a marker, meaning it remains vulnerable to some rather easy removal, but nonetheless - not all decks run those profiles. That means it is not at all unlikely for your 4,000 power Aang & Zuku: Unexpected Cooperation to survive your opponent’s attacks, which gives it additional value as a Level 0 as well.
which also boosts all of your other characters’ power by +500 during your turn. It flips over five cards at the cost of being a draw Brainstorm, thus not offering much selectivity. But you can make up for that with the Aang: The Boy Trapped In Ice
dropsearch, which also has a good base power of 3,000 if all of your characters have the World of Avatar trait - which they presumably always will!
Transitioning from Level 0 to Level 1, we have a Bond package with Zuko: Trapped in a Cave
and Aang: Trapped in a Cave
, which I personally really like. Paying one stock to gain a plus is undoubtedly good value while also being simple for new players to work with, so this fits perfectly into a Trial Deck+. We’ve often seen such profiles Bond to Level 1 vanillas with 5,500 power, but Aang: Trapped in a Cave actually has 4,500 power and gains +500 power for each of your other <World of Avatar> characters, making it a 6,500 power attacker and defender with a full stage of characters - before we even consider any other power boosts. With a climax and one copy of Sokka: Ship Steering in play, you can easily swing into attacks with 8,000 power as well.
And the Level 0 itself? It mills 3 cards on play for free! Sure, it doesn’t do anything in particular with that mill, but it’s optional, and if you choose to use it, it doesn’t cost you any resources. It helps you get the Bond target into the Waiting Room early, and for a Trial Deck+, I’d say this is also a great tool in terms of deck speed.
Transitioning from Level 0 to Level 1, we have a Bond package with Zuko: Trapped in a Cave and Aang: Trapped in a Cave, which I personally really like. Paying one stock to gain a plus is undoubtedly good value while also being simple for new players to work with, so this fits perfectly into a Trial Deck+. We’ve often seen such profiles Bond to Level 1 vanillas with 5,500 power, but Aang: Trapped in a Cave actually has 4,500 power and gains +500 power for each of your other <World of Avatar> characters, making it a 6,500 power attacker and defender with a full stage of characters - before we even consider any other power boosts. With a climax and one copy of Sokka: Ship Steering in play, you can easily swing into attacks with 8,000 power as well.
And the Level 0 itself? It mills 3 cards on play for free! Sure, it doesn’t do anything in particular with that mill, but it’s optional, and if you choose to use it, it doesn’t cost you any resources. It helps you get the Bond target into the Waiting Room early, and for a Trial Deck+, I’d say this is also a great tool in terms of deck speed.
We don’t have a Climax Combo at Level 1, but we do have selective on-reverse retrieval at the cost of putting a character from your Waiting Room to the bottom of your clock with Zuko: Agni Kai
. This ability also allows you to grab the Katara’s Necklace
event, which is - you guessed it - even more free mill, while also being a selective hand filter. Between these two cards and the Aang: The Boy Trapped In Ice
dropsearch, we now have reliable access to both the deck and Waiting Room, which can be very valuable.
We don’t have a Climax Combo at Level 1, but we do have selective on-reverse retrieval at the cost of putting a character from your Waiting Room to the bottom of your clock with Zuko: Agni Kai. This ability also allows you to grab the Katara’s Necklace event, which is - you guessed it - even more free mill, while also being a selective hand filter. Between these two cards and the Aang: The Boy Trapped In Ice dropsearch, we now have reliable access to both the deck and Waiting Room, which can be very valuable.
And yes, 5,500 power for an on-reverse ability is nothing to write home about. But there’s strength in numbers: the 5,500 power quickly becomes 6,000 with the Sokka: Ship Steering Brainstorm, 7,500 with the boost from Katara: New Necklace
or Yue: Moon Spirit
and 8,500 with a climax in play. Now that? That’s much more serviceable. And while we’re on the topic of these two +1,500 power pumps, they’re both really nice cards! Katara: New Necklace is a handfilter that lets you grab characters as well as events, so depending on what events the Booster Pack has in store for us, I can see this being a highly played card! And in the same vein, I’m sure everyone will want a playset of Yue: Moon Spirit for that classic power and soul pump utility, especially if there’s a good Standby combo coming our way. Which is something that Zuko: Agni Kai could potentially also help with, since you can use its ability to set up your triggers as well.
And yes, 5,500 power for an on-reverse ability is nothing to write home about. But there’s strength in numbers: the 5,500 power quickly becomes 6,000 with the Sokka: Ship Steering Brainstorm, 7,500 with the boost from Katara: New Necklace or Yue: Moon Spirit and 8,500 with a climax in play. Now that? That’s much more serviceable. And while we’re on the topic of these two +1,500 power pumps, they’re both really nice cards! Katara: New Necklace is a handfilter that lets you grab characters as well as events, so depending on what events the Booster Pack has in store for us, I can see this being a highly played card! And in the same vein, I’m sure everyone will want a playset of Yue: Moon Spirit for that classic power and soul pump utility, especially if there’s a good Standby combo coming our way. Which is something that Zuko: Agni Kai could potentially also help with, since you can use its ability to set up your triggers as well.
Rounding out our early game, we have Jet & Freedom Fighters
filling the role of the standard 5,500 Vanilla character, Iroh: Stern Warning
coming in clutch as a +2,000 power Backup, and Stuck in a Blizzard
as a Return Climax, so that your opponent’s characters can return back to being stuck in their hand.
Rounding out our early game, we have Jet & Freedom Fighters filling the role of the standard 5,500 Vanilla character, Iroh: Stern Warning coming in clutch as a +2,000 power Backup, and Stuck in a Blizzard as a Return Climax, so that your opponent’s characters can return back to being stuck in their hand.
At level 2, we have the traditional ‘big card that gets even bigger’ profile in two different flavors. Sokka: First Love
climbs up to 11,000 power with a full stage of characters during your turn, and if you have a climax in play, it can also bring you extra stock when it reverses an opponent. Admiral Zhao: Killing the Moon Spirit
is slightly weaker at 9,500 power if you have two characters in your back stage, but it does keep that power boost on defense as well, on top of having an Encore ability. And both of these can be nudged along to even greater heights with the Iroh: Fatherly Figure
Level Assist, which can also help you grab characters from your Waiting Room in a pinch.
At level 2, we have the traditional ‘big card that gets even bigger’ profile in two different flavors. Sokka: First Love climbs up to 11,000 power with a full stage of characters during your turn, and if you have a climax in play, it can also bring you extra stock when it reverses an opponent. Admiral Zhao: Killing the Moon Spirit is slightly weaker at 9,500 power if you have two characters in your back stage, but it does keep that power boost on defense as well, on top of having an Encore ability. And both of these can be nudged along to even greater heights with the Iroh: Fatherly Figure Level Assist, which can also help you grab characters from your Waiting Room in a pinch.
Rolling into Level 3, who doesn’t love a healer? I sure do. And while Katara: Protecting Aang
’s first ability doesn’t have an explicit synergy in the Trial Deck+, it does make me very curious to see if the Booster Pack will bring us some other card which benefits from this kind of field swap. Either way, I suppose there’s still an Aang to protect here as well, and it’s none other than our finisher.
Rolling into Level 3, who doesn’t love a healer? I sure do. And while Katara: Protecting Aang’s first ability doesn’t have an explicit synergy in the Trial Deck+, it does make me very curious to see if the Booster Pack will bring us some other card which benefits from this kind of field swap. Either way, I suppose there’s still an Aang to protect here as well, and it’s none other than our finisher.
While not overly explosive or powerful, Aang: Avatar State
is yet another card which I find to be very well designed for a Trial Deck+. Its first ability takes away most of the burden of assembling three copies of a finisher in your hand, because you only need one to then search for another copy, and so on. Especially for new players, this is a simple way of experiencing what a finishing turn in Weiß Schwarz is supposed to feel like without needing to focus too much on the setup yet. And before I forget, there’s still the option of bringing Aang: Avatar State out at Level 2 with the ability of Katara and Sokka: Siblings
. I don’t think this line of play will be the primary focus of this deck’s game plan, but perhaps it can be an extra challenge for those who have already mastered all its basic elements.
Thank you for checking out this review, and don’t forget to grab the Avatar: The Last Airbender Booster Pack and Trial Deck+, on sale June 16th!
While not overly explosive or powerful, Aang: Avatar State is yet another card which I find to be very well designed for a Trial Deck+. Its first ability takes away most of the burden of assembling three copies of a finisher in your hand, because you only need one to then search for another copy, and so on. Especially for new players, this is a simple way of experiencing what a finishing turn in Weiß Schwarz is supposed to feel like without needing to focus too much on the setup yet. And before I forget, there’s still the option of bringing Aang: Avatar State out at Level 2 with the ability of Katara and Sokka: Siblings. I don’t think this line of play will be the primary focus of this deck’s game plan, but perhaps it can be an extra challenge for those who have already mastered all its basic elements.
Thank you for checking out this review, and don’t forget to grab the Avatar: The Last Airbender Booster Pack and Trial Deck+, on sale June 16th!
Most of you will know Avis as the face behind Weiss Tea Time - a website with many useful community resources for Weiß Schwarz players. She has been playing and writing about Weiß Schwarz for over 7 years, and whenever she manages to take a short break from card games, you can find her sharing baking attempts and hamster pictures on Twitter.
