Guide to a Deck: Hanare

During her first release, Iona was given the German Poison Fangs and Labyrinth as her "unique" SIGNI class for her to work with. The idea seemed to revolve around using Labyrinths for defense and utility while using Poison Fangs for the offense, namely using Violence Splash and Vier=Rikabuto. Well, they also gave Iona Vimana and Rikabuto was proven to be unreliable preety quickly while Ultima became a thing, so Rikabuto died out preety easily, and Poison Fangs, without a place to go to, lost their place (a friend of mine did use the Hanare formula to make Poison Fang Iona mildly decent again, but that's another story since no one else did that) and, with the exception of a few of them, was never seen in the metagame again. Ever.

Or so TakaraTomy made you think and gave you Hanare.

Hanare, for the most part, was made to pick up Iona's leftovers in the form of Poison Fangs, and when she was first announced a lot, and I mean a lot of people got hyped. This included me, since I always liked the concept of Venom. And to live up to that hype, TakaraTomy gave Hanare a ton of support. A ton. If this amount of support went to... Tama, I would have probably raided TakaraTomy for it. In this case though, it went to a new LRIG type that didn't have much and that everyone was hyped for, so no one complained nor could complain.

Anyways, on top of getting quantity support, Hanare's support was also very quality. Using effects to pick Poison Fangs back up from the trash while using those Poison Fangs to reduce your opponent's card's power till they got banished, three times a turn without breaking a sweat was preety impressive, so despite having no finisher available for her, Hanare's offensive capabilities of rushing your opponent to death and making them use 2+ ARTS to protect themselves from 3 SIGNI attacks was quite deadly.

Hanare, of course, still has flaws. Mainly, those flaws consists of not having a reliable finisher, which can lead to preety tricky situations, although Hanare can win with Fracturing Lust preety easil so this isn't as big of a problem. The biggest problem for Hanare is the fact that she gets completely, utterlessly fucked over Midoriko and Souryuu. Midoriko is extremely meta, so this poses quite a bit of trouble. That being said, there are counters to Souryuu, which I'll be getting to later.

Overall: Hanare gets fucked over by Midoriko, but is very aggressive, can support her own resource gaining, and has extreme offense that kills most slow-paced decks (most notably APEX, although if your opponent grows into APEX you're completely fucked) easily, but still has trouble breaking through a few things. However, she is overall a very solid deck.

Hanare, Dark one of Cancer

... This is literally that one
girl from "The World God
Only Knows".

Before I say anything, I should probably clear away what Hanare's playstyle revolves around at. Back in the days, way back in the days when Pider wasn't  a thing, Myuu at one point picked up Poison Fang and used them to fuel her banishing engine.

She did this by running the generic Vier=Dio Princess and Vier=VX. You would rest Dio Princess to give -3k to something, call a Poison Fang SIGNI, use Vier=VX's skill to trash that random Poison Fang SIGNI and minus your opponent's SIGNI's power depending on what you trashed, while standing Dio Princess to be able to give something -3k again, or call another Poison Fang to rinse and repeat until you trash Dio Princess with Vier=VX. This becomes what I like to call the "Hanare formula" later on.

Anyways, TakaraTomy saw this formula and introduced a bunch of support revolving around that formula, but better and much more consistent. They revived DIO Princess with Dio Daughter, which is a great card, introduced a LRIG with 12 limit and overall made a bunch of other things.

Now with that out of the way, let's get to Hanare in general.

You expected a waifu
BUT IT WAS ME, DIO!

Hanare, Dark one of Salvation is an amazing card. Not only does that first skill help in reviving your self-trashing fodders for the Hanare formula, her Exceed 1 can help a lot in various things, such as restanding Dio Princess and Vier=Villers for more minusing. That Exceed 3 is good for the same reason as Lambda. While unlike Lambda, this is random, you will definitely get at least one Poison Fang from the top 3, unless you're running some kind of wierd deck that mixes a large number of Ancient Weapons/Spells into the thing. Overall, Hanare, Dark one of Salvation supports the Hanare formula quite nicely while giving you a very reliable defense option.

Salvation would be perfect if it weren't for that 4 cost, but you can build your deck around that, running Attack Baits such as Zwei=Entorca, Kayappa, and most importantly, Ein=Dagger. Hell, on top of that, even Hanare's ideal level 3 is an attack baiter. On the topic of Puppets, let me take a moment to explain why she's a great card. She can, first of all, bait in attacks, which is important in Hanare as I've already established in the blog. If they decide to not attack your SIGNI, what you can do is banishing one of your opponent's SIGNI early on for that juicy rushing, which helps a lot in achieving Hanare's winning condition of getting your opponent really low. The other level 3 LRIG option for Hanare is Dark One of Causing Trouble (actual translation here. Yes I know), who is good, but loses out to Puppet.

Now to get into individual SIGNIs.

Let's start with the level 4s, since Hanare's 12 limit lets you use a couple more level 4s than your avarage deck (about 10-12, which is good since Hanare has some quality level 4s). First of all, Vier=VX is a great card. That Life Burst is great, she fucks up with certain specific decks, namely Hanayo 2-stop, and helps in a bunch of places. You would run max, but you can't because with you needing to run 3-4 Dio Princess for Dio Daughter, space can be tight. While Vier=VX looks better as a card to me, Dio Daughter is way too good of a card to not run. Now, Vier=Villers can replace Vier=VX's job since sometimes Vier=VX's Action is redundant, making you move to the point of overkilling many, many SIGNIs. She's still nice to have, so I'd use at minimum 2.

That being said, in my opinion, the MVP of the deck is... well, Dio Daughter, but the MVP among the level 4s in the deck would be Vier=Patra. Not only can Patra help in gaining a lot of power and becoming a good beatstick against Souryuu and the likes, Patra's Action is extremely, extremely efficient, letting you trash a SIGNI (or even two if you have 2 Patras in the field). Trashing is something extraordinary in the game, letting you kill off SIGNIs without giving your opponent ener, blocking their ARTS out. Not only that, that On-Play skill is beautiful, letting you fetch out a free Ein=Dagger.

I read you as Nekorazan.
I've been playing
too much NekoPara.

Something other than Vier=Patra that helps deny your opponent's ARTS is Vier=Cali, but Cali isn't as effective as Patra is. Patra's On-Play gives her a niche over Vier=Cali, and Vier doesn't need to wholly banish a SIGNI to gain her power boost (Dio Daughter reducing the whole field's power triggers Patra off a lot of times, unlike Cali). I might use Cali since Cali doesn't have a Life Burst, but even then it'll be at one at most. Not that Cali's bad, just that Parta is better.

Vier=Nerozaran is... tech-worthy. Otherwise, she isn't exactly reliable enough to be considered good. I wouldn't use any, but she isn't a bad card.

... Alright, that long wall of text was the level 4 section. Next up is the level 3 section which is... just as filled with options.

Did I not sing enough praise for Dio Daughter yet? Dio Daughter is a great card, and is an immediate staple. That being said, if you find that you really, really hate Dio Princess (hating Dio Daughter shouldn't be a thing kappa), there is a replacement in the form of Drei=Agrippina. She does the exact same thing as Dio Daughter, minus the doubling for the whole turn and being less... "conditional", if you'd even call Dio Daughter conditional in the first place.

... Rodbar?
Why does that sound ecchi?

Drei=Lacquer is another good SIGNI. That ener gaining can be fantastic, especially during turn 3 of which you'd need 4 ener to grow into Hanare Salvation, and overall, she's just a big help. Drei=Rodbar is yet another good card that can help your rushing by aiding in that quest for Ein=Dagger, but I feel like Hanare has enough plussing and likes offense more. Plus, that resting can be fatal for you in the middle of a field wipe. Drei=Chlofo acts as a beaterstick against Souryuu... because vanillas and Code Anti Mage/Cerberun can't do that for you better kappa.

For some god-knows-why reason... Drei=Somana is used as a tech in almost all the Hanare decklists I find online for some reason. Somana isn't a bad card, but that 1 ener can be fatal, plus there are more effective ways in reducing your opponent's power level. Somana's skill being On-Play and having some synergy with Miasma and Salvation's Exceed 3 might be why she's seen, but I've yet to test with this idea.

Such cuteness
Such name

Getting into the level 2 options, I need to sing praise for a one certain card. Zwei=Cebor is the only Hanare-limited Poison Fang level 2 SIGNI there is while I'm writing this blog, and oh boy is she good. One of Hanare's biggest reasons on why her rushing wasn't God-level is because it isn't an easy feat managing a hand early game when you're using Ein=Daggers here and there. Zwei=Cebor solves this problem quite nicely, featuring that amazing On-Play skill. Not only that, something you'd have to note is that Ein=Dagger makes way too good of an attack bait at times and you end up losing a level 1 meatshield SIGNI when you really needed it to help Hanare's early game, but Zwei=Cebor really efficiently solves this problem. Point: Zwei=Cebor is a great card.

After Cebor, the most notable thing is Zwei=Entora I guess. Entora serves as an effective attacking bait and if they decide to not attack, she can act as a reliable attack forcer, which is good. I'd use Cebor at 2. Zwei=Sarina is trash, whether it be in Iona or Hanare. Please don't even look at her. Zwei=Zohi is... Souryuu beaterstick... fuck it.

RIDER KIIIIIIICK

Zwei=Tabune... and while I'm at it her level 1 counterpart Ein=Hosugu, are not worth the time. In theory, she might work well with all the advantage Hanare can gain, but you have to remember that both of these things are level 1s and 2s, so you'd be wanting to use them preety early on. And early on, you don't have that much forms of SIGNI salvaging, which makes these two become lethal later on for Hanare's rushing potential. I might tech in one Tabune, but that'd be about it.

Ein=Dagger is a great card. There's a reason on why a lot of decks that doesn't receive interference from Poison Fangs in their decks runs her, namely Tama. Helps greatly in rushing and damage pushing in general. Hanare gets a nerfed down, but more... utilizable (?) version of Ein=Dagger, in the form of Ein=Lucbor. While Lucbor is outclassed by Dagger, Lucbor can be used if you want 8 copies of Dagger in your deck (which is a completely valid strategy, since that helps in rushing a lot). Ein=Ninetokiri is... not even Souryuu beaterstick. Can't find a place for her in Hanare.

Something unique that some Hanare decks tends to do is to run Aquamarine for that ener gaining effect. It is a good idea, since Hanare appreciates as much ener as she can get (as per other decks do). Aquamarine synergizes well with all of Hanare's self trashing. If you manage to get her out during your early rush and combine her with Lacquer, you'll get a decent amount of ener available for you. Also, red is a good fodder for a certain ARTS in Hanare, which I'll get to in a sec.

Hanare has two, exactly two spells limited to her. Those two are Toxic Spikes and Strange Kind. Both of these are preety good cards, for spells at least. Strange Kind is a one-in-two spell that can either function as a nerfed down version of a Black THREE OUT while also turning into a potential -12k to one of your opponent's SIGNI during level 4 (so stronk, especially moreso against Contempora) which can be niche at times. That being said, what's even better is Toxic Spikes.

Toxic Spikes is an extremely reliable reviver that also gives you ener easily. Not only that, just like Strange Kind, it can also deal with Contempora, which is nice. Combined with Vier=VX, this makes Hanare one of the few offense oriented decks that don't have as much trouble against Anne.

That being said, both are spells that get in the ways of certain things... like Salvation's Exceed 3, so I wouldn't run that many. I personally run 2 Toxic Spikes, and am considering a third, but I found that it can be a little redundant.

Oh, I should probably remind you guys that Fracturing Lust exists.

Anyways... I'm finally done with all the main deck options. Jesus that took long. Now to write about ARTS and I'll be done.

Now now, first of all is the typical meta card named Bloody Slash, which is overall a great card that answers and counters a lot of stuff. Then Miasma, which is again, another typical meta card that a lot of decks run.

Then comes the interesting part, because Hanare, upon release, got a ton of shit that's really good to support her life. One of such cards is Saturate Gut, which is basically Grave Gut, but with Poison Fangs and more fabulous art. It acts as a defensive ARTS when it comes down to it, but you mainly run it due to the cheap-as-hell Oversalvage effect.

Then, another thing is Forbidden Game. Forbidden Game is just a Gun-free in All Directions with Poison fangs, and an extra reviving effect which is niche. Gun-free in All Directions in the first place was an extremely good card, just never seen because there was no existing Weapon deck until Flathro became a thing, and Flathro has better stuff to run. But anyways, Forbidden Game is a solid card, although I don't use it in my deck, things may change once I get off my lazy ass and actually decide to test it.

Next Punish and Halo Effect are decent cards. I prefer the latter for being able to deal with Souryuu and Lock You when it comes down to it, but in the end it's up to preference.

Something very, very noteworthy in Hanare is that you run Aquamarine, which means you run Red cards in about 14 including Servants and Fracturing Lust. This can let you use a certain card, named Flaming Dragon, Poisonous Snake.

... God that name sounds amazing.

FDPS is the perfect counter to Souryuu + Seiryuu in Hanare, which is something Hanare has a lot of trouble with. This is a very, very good thing. If your opponent wasn't Midoriko, then just imagine it. Imagine using this against a 2-stop deck. Or hell, a Servant deck with Gathering Protection. FDPS serves as the perfect counter to a lot of long and hard deadly things you'll see during you life, and Hanare coincidentally is the best deck that can use it.

So, going through the blog, we've discussed how amazing Hanare's banishing potential is, how great Patra's trashing finisher is, how to counter a lot of shit including Anne and 2-stops and arrived here. Hanare is a good deck and waifu. That's all I wanted to say.