Guide to a Deck: Tama

THIGHS

Tama is a great deck. Being the main character's deck, this might have been obvious though. At one point, Tama was the only deck that topped, and nothing else. This was thanks to Arcgain, who was, and still is, one of the best ARTS blocker to exist. Combining this with Tama's offensive potential, it doesn't take a lot of thinking to realize how Tama became the best deck. Over the years however, Arcgain got banned to two, and Piruluk Lambda came, providing Piruluk decks with an extremely reliable way to deal with Arcgain. That was followed by the likes of Storm Warming, Tawil-5, 4CM, APEX, and other sorts of cards that can bypass Arcgain's effect, hugely decreasing the effectiveness of Arcgain over the years. That being said, Tama is still a considerably potent deck even now, since Arcgain is still extremely effective, and a bunch of other cards restricted to Tama are decently good. Overall, Tama is, at minimum, above average compared to other decks, but below average when compared to the top of the meta, but still somewhat good. Tama also makes a mildly decent deck for giving to a beginner, since it holds all of the game's basic foundations while not being completely busted.

Tamayorihime, Mayu Miko

Overview

I've already said this, but I'll say it again. Arcgain is amazing. One of the best abilities a card can have in WIXOSS is the ability to deny your opponent's defense, which is extremely deadly. The very first card that initially did this was Arcgain, having the ability to make herself completely immune to any effect aside from LRIG ones; including ARTS, which is the only way of defense at the time, and even now, is the main form of defense. This made Arcgain the ideal form of a finisher.

How the Deck Works 

Together with Arcgain, you typically want to run about 8-10 Angels to make her consistent. Notable Angels consist of Athena and Rabiel, who aid in your offense by bouncing cards actively, Hestia, who helps sacky saves from offensive decks and helps in annoying the hell out of your opponent due to not being able to finish you off, and Clotho, who is extremely RNG but still decent. Finally, we have Valkyrie, which is an amazing card that can tutor off anything from Servants to Ein=Dagger. There are other mention-worthy cards such as Gabrielt and Michael, but these ones are the most mainly used ones.

Anyways, enough with Arcgain. She is the best card in the deck, but Tama has more cards up her thighs. Namely, Modern Boundary. Prepare to get your soul sold to the devil when meeting this card. Modern is ridiculous. Not only is it only 2 ener, which is extremely cheap and effective, it snipes off troublesome SIGNIs easily such as Ballshock, Urban, Gurehozame, Daihouika, etc etc. It even opens up a row for you to easily be able to direct attack with next turn. While it is RNG-based, if you just declare 1 all the time, which is the type of SIGNI you'll have the most of in most decks, you'll be fine.

Other than Modern; The main star of the deck: Tama has a ridiculous LRIG support in the name of Mayu. We have two types of Mayus, True and Genesis both of which have their own niche and effectiveness. Genesis, when combined with Arcgain, makes an amazing finisher that will make most of us flip the table. However, Genesis Mayu has a problem, which is that she's a risky card to use. If your opponent surprises you with Penalty Chance, or is Tawil, decided he/she doesn't like that bullshit and decides to Soap Summon + Spirit Salvage wall their ass off into living or just runs Tawil Fem, you're probably gonna have no ARTS to use next turn. 1 card in hand and 1 in ener. Genesis Mayu is sort of like putting all your eggs into one basket.

On the other hand, True Mayu is more balanced. She isn't a "One turn final push", so actually keeps the hand and ener to utilize the ARTS she recycled, helps opening up rows without giving your opponent Ener with her Exceed skill while ripping your opponent of a field he/she really wanted (such as a double Diabolos field), and possibly murdering your opponent horribly and horribly by making them check a spell or refreshing them. And when you combine her with Vier=Rikabuto, you will have access to an extremely reliable ener engine, which is nice. Finally, True Mayu synergizes amazingly with Revival Exceed.



Tl;dr: Genesis Mayu is more explosive, but True Mayu is much more balanced and is a "kill slowly and surely".

Then into the lower Level lineup, most decks tend to use stuff that helps in your offense, namely Ein=Dagger. Dagger's a ridiculous card that can be tutored by Valkyrie to help in your early offense and is consistent. Most decks run the thing at 3-4. Another thing to mention is Budo, which is like a more situational Dagger. People use 0-2 of this thing, but I'd personally recommend running 1 as a tech. Aside from these two, Doronjo is also there and acts as more offense supplier when combined with Get Index and also acts as an Aztec fodder in Miasma. Nowadays, no one runs these two as much though.

Now then, time to move onto the juicy mention of the Cross pair; Hitler and Koch. When factoring in the tutoring power that Vermilion Tama brings into the board along with Rokukei aiding in the matter, Tama is one of the most consistent user of Cross around. The two's effects aren't half-assed either. The On-Play Banish an 8k or lower helps a lot in offense, and the LC crushing skill is ridiculously good and helps in getting ARTS baited out along with dealing against Anne matchups. That being said, since Eternal Miko has been introduced, Vermilion Miko has been falling from the metagame by a considerable margin without their best tutor, making the two forgotten in dust.


Eternal's On-Play can search out any Arm SIGNI from the deck (usually gonna be Battoka, considering it's about the only Arm you run) and both the Exceed 2s are extremely useful, with the first one helping a lot in offense and the other one sniping Samsara/Arc Destruct down.

On the other hand, Vermilion's niche lies in her "Search for anything" Exceed 2 that can end games in scenerios where your Arcgain didn't come out, and back in the days, helped in making the Hitler Cross more consistent. That On-Play can be useful at times too, but most likely not. The Action skill? There is no Action skill other than the Exceed on Vermilion (kappa).

Eternal provides more offensive material and Samsara countering, while Vermilion can provide extra synergy and amazing tutoring. I personally prefer Vermilion, since I really appreciate the tutoring, but Eternal isn't necessarily bad either. Plus, both work just as well with Revival Exceed in case you work with True Mayu, so it's really up to preference.

Validity in the meta

Mayu's around Tier 1-. Arcgain and Valkyrie benefits are still there, and Mayu itself can function properly without any problems in the metagame. Plus, True Mayu's utility and Genesis Mayu's explosion are good benefits to have in a deck. That being said, Tama is losing her place in the meta, like I mentioned, being outclassed by Piruluk and Yuzuki. However, Tama is still good in the meta, and a definite good deck that can still top tourneys for players. Overall, Tama isn't a bad deck, but she isn't one of the best decks either. Not anymore at least.

Tamayorihime, Black Miko

Overview

Black Tama seems to be have increased in numbers a lot, and is now almost as common as normal Tama builds. Either the Black Angels are working extremely well, or people are curious. I guess Dyeing Miko did give Black Tama a massive boost, along with †Arcgain†'s Black ener splurging. There's also the fact that Sunspot's Exceed 5 is amazing, shutting out multiple decks in the metagame, namely Yuzuki. It is a tad slow, however. There's finally the Constant, which turns cards everywhere, including the trash, into Blacks, which lets Violence Jealousy retrieve anything, from Servants to Arcgain. This has been one of the only reasons on why Black Tama was anything close to moderately decent.

How the Deck Works

Black Tama used to be an interesting, niche, but still terrible deck. However, now with the new support, she... isn't as trash? †Michael† is a better (and cuter) Belphegor for the deck, and †Archold† is amazing in many aspects. Dyeing Miko not only costs only one White ener, she helps in tutoring out anything you might need, from an Energe to a †Arcgain†. Adding all of these into the milling power of †SC† and Metsumi, getting black cards into the trash became considerably easy.

However, Sunspot is still not without problems. Even though it is now easier to get black cards into the trash, it doesn't mean it's consistent. Hell, it's to the point you mill too many cards now, and entering 4CM territory. It's still better than before when it was impossible to grow into Sunspot, but it still isn't perfect. If you aren't careful, you might even deck yourself out. Overall though, Sunspot's growing consistency definitely increased greatly. What comes after growing into Sunspot though?

Sunspot's main niche lies in her ability to turn everything on the field, except the ener, into Black. While this seems insignificant at first, turning the whole trash Black does come in extremely useful, since it means that you can use retrieval cards, such as Ut'ulls Chain, or Oversalvage (which is arguably a worse version of Chain), or Violence Jealousy that was consistency-fied by Skanda, fetch anything from the trash, from Arcgain to Servants, as well as letting Mage return servants to the deck, and makes Suzubira tutor out Servants.

As a summary, Sunspot is a typical Tama deck with the typical Tama staples, just mixed with a lot of Black cards, which you have much freedom over how many you run due to Dyeing Miko only costing 1 White, having heavy restrictions on what she can do early on in exchange for an extremely steady late game.

Validity in the meta 

Even with all the new things Sunspot recently got, she's probably still about Tier 2-. This is mainly because Sunspot isn't rewarding enough for it's slow speed, at least not when comparing her to decks such as Piruluk and such. The Exceed 5 is extremely potent to be sure, but it is still only a one-time use, and being pure defense only serves to extend her lifeline for one more turn. The trashing is useful, but Normal Tama has better options. Nevertheless, Black Tama does have certain useful niches, and is overall an interesting deck. 

Tamayorihime, Red Miko

Overview

Red Tama is a variant of Beatdown Tama that utilizes the real Tama 5. There are multiple variants for Red Tama. Some use the Cross Tama, others use Dyeing Tama and rely on Tama 5 to do the job. Some even use Sky Miko for the cheap cost and limit, or even Olive. Mixing in Vermilion is also a thing. These all have different kinds of playstyles, concepts, and etc, but in general, you do whatever you must to shave down your opponent's health and use Arcgain to finish them off, the usual Tama formula.

There is one difference between normal Tama and Red Tama though, while it may be minor. Namely, Tama 5 can tutor out cards easily on level 5, using her Exceed, albeit restricted to Arms and Weapons. The exceed makes tutoring things out easy, if you didn't have them earlier on. Rokukei and Heckler/Gunstaft tutored out with Tama 5 can be the epitomy of Cross consistency, and is extremely deadly. Alternatively, if you already have a Mayu field, Tama 5 can clear 2 columns for you, which is a major plus. Clearing out one extra lane is an easy feat for Tama, leading to easy Arcgain kills.

How the Deck Works

The MVP of the deck probably goes to Rokukei, who is amazing in the matter of tutoring out good cards and helps your offense by quite a bit. Rokukei is great in tutoring out Cross SIGNIs, which is used in almost all Red Tama decks, being the best Red cards Tama has. Budo is also a good card that helps your offense, but I never liked Budo too much to be ran at more than 1 due to how conditional it is. Aside from these, there are the Cross sets, Arcgain Angel set, Get Index/Fracturing Lust and Ein=Dagger and so much else to run... basically everything normal Tama runs, but with Red Tama 5 and Rokukei utility with a bunch of red cross support.

Validity in the meta

Red Tama is a Tier 2- in my book. She definitely isn't weak, but definitely isn't strong either. She can make board clearing for Arcgain extremely easy, afterall.

Tamayorihime, Arc Aura Miko

 

Overview

Arc Aura Tama is broken. Without any question, Arc Aura Tama can guaranteedly kill a player by turn 3 consistently with the right setup. There are very few counters to it, and even if it does get countered, it's possible to use it 2 times a game at maximum. All you need is an Arc Aura and 3 SIGNI in hand, and you can get the combo off easily. There are flaws though. Notably, if the combo manages to fail, and your opponent attacks all of your SIGNI, you will have hand problems, which can be devastating, since Arc Aura Tama only has one winning condition. ARTS space is also a problem. Your ARTS are going to be full of cards that help set up your combo, and not have any form of defense whatsoever. This means that if your opponent somehow survives your onslaught, you're automatically dead. This rarely ever happens though.

How the Deck Works 

Like the name implies, the deck is focused around using Arc Aura to murder your opponent. Arc Aura would normally be a bad card, looking at it's ridiculous cost, but Fafnir migating the cost made spamming Arc Aura much more feasible. Arc Aura spamming itself wouldn't be too big of a problem though, since Guards are fairly easy to get, but that's when One Rule, Two Birds comes into the equation, blocking at minimum, 4 guards in every deck while rapidly shaving down your opponent's Life Cloth. Most decks would die to this easily, not being able to do anything.

Obviously, the whole deck is made to support this combo. Namely by using cards such as THREE OUT, SEARCHER, and such. The deck also has a Servant-Base, since Servants provide easy fodder for One Rule, Two Birds and the former mentioned blue spells. A Servant-Base obviously leads to Gathering Protection, which provides you with even more offense. The last noteworthy thing to mention is Spell Salvage, which can help Arc Aura become more consistent.

Validity in the meta 

Tama Arc Aura is one of the best 2-stop decks, which makes it easily score a high score of Tier 1+ on my book. She isn't very common though, probably because she is a very one-way horse that is instantly dead once she fails to do what she does. She is still definitely good, albeit boring.