Disclaimer

As for most of the decks I try to craft, the main goal is to have a comfy and fun deck that can reliably execute its planned combo while having decent sustain. It is by no means optimized to deal the most damage / one shot bosses.

Most equipments and refinements are suggestions. Some explanations and alternatives can be found in the "Details" section of this guide.

Abc -> Combattant

Abc -> Card

Abc -> Mechanic

Abc / Abc / Abc -> Equipment

[Abc] -> Memory fragment set

Order

Nine

Vanguard·FRONT

Justice

Beryl

Ranger·Middle

Instinct

Orlea

Controller·Rear

Introduction

Before anything, let me say that I do not like the usual Sporlea / Sporyl decks. I am not playing a deckbuilder game to only ever press "End turn" and watch Beryl shoot 40 times (not to mention it lacks any form of sustain). I also don't particularly enjoy having to spend 9 turns to setup a 2M+ nuke (also fun a couple of times but quickly gets boring).

However, I do find the Retain mechanic to be very appealing and wanted to try building a deck around mushroom farming Contaminated Spore creation and exhaustion without any of the other shenanigans. This was the perfect opportunity to make a 100% consistent Hew (Flash) deck and see how far it can go.

Deck guide

Setup / first turn

If both Beryl and Orlea have the "Draw 1 Exhaust card" Arena reinforcement, you will always start your turn with both Spore Harvester and Reorganize in hand in addition to Hew (Flash) and 4 other cards (3 or 2 if you are unlucky and the exhaust cards are part of the initial draw).

Your goal on the first turn is simply to play the upgrade cards while doing the normal turn combo.

1

Reorganize

Skill

[ Exhaust ]

Draw 3

Reorganize -> Will be part of the staring hand if you have the suggested Arena reinforcement. Use it immediately to get extra draw.

1

Counterblade

Upgrade

[ Unique ]

At the start of the turn, activate Hew in hand 1 time(s)

Counterblade -> Play it whenever you draw it

1

Opening Found

Attack

[ Retain ]

110% Damage

Retain: Add 2 Hit(s) for 1 turn

Opening Found -> Play it whenever you draw it. Because of the limited AP, you will probably have to ignore some Experienced Strikes on the first turn.

Other than that, you can follow the normal turn guide below.

Combo / normal turn

Your starting hand will usually consist of:

• Contaminated Spore x2
• Charged Shot
• Softie
• Hew (Flash)
• 5 other cards

Considering that only 4 of the remaing cards do not have draw, you are 100% guaranteed to have the full combo (unless you had to play Charged Shot to finish a previous wave, in which case you have a very small chance to brick your hand).

Start by playing some Experienced Strikes and a Contaminated Spore to free some hand space. Experienced Strike should usually be played whenever you draw them to make it easier to manage hand space (to maximize damage you want to start playing them after 3 spores have been exhausted and before the first Hew).

1

Experienced Strike

Attack

210% Defense-Based Damage

20% DMG-Based Shield

For 1 turn, when an Exhaust card is activated, 1 Counterattack

0

Contaminated Spore

Skill

[ Retain / Exhaust ]

1 Spore Propagation

Retain: Create 1 Contaminated Spore

Use Guilty Pleasure, Growth Acceleration and Will of Light to create more spores. Be careful with hand space to avoid wasting a draw:

• Guilty Pleasure will double the number of spores in hand. With a single spore you can have at most 9 cards when playing it and with 2 spores, 8 cards.
• Growth Acceleration will generate 2 extra spores. Including the draw you can have at most 8 cards when playing it.
• Will of Light will also double the spores but doesn't draw as well. As such you can always play it if you only have a single spore and with 9 cards for 2 spores.

0

Guilty Pleasure

Skill

[ Unique / Exhaust 2 ]

Draw 3

1

Growth Acceleration

Skill

Heal 150%

Select 1 card of this unit in hand, then activate the Retain effect 2 time(s)

When that card is a Sturdie

decrease Stress of allies by 5

1

Will of Light

Skill

[ Retain ]

Heal 200%

Activate the Retain effect of all cards in hand

While you keep playing and duplicating the spores, play the discounted Hew (Flash) whenever it goes to 0-cost. Even if all Retain effects are only triggered on a single spore, you should generate 11 spores which is enough to play all Hew levels (one of them needing 1 AP in this case).

3

Hew (Flash)

Attack

[ Unique / Initiation / Ignite / Exhaust / Retain ]

400% Defense-Based Damage

Incinerate: Create 1 Hew (Flash) Lv. 1

After discounting the last Hew (Flash) to 0-cost, use the remaining spores to boost the damage as much as possible. Any remaining Growth Acceleration can also target Charged Shot instead of a spore.

If you are in the last turn of a fight or need some extra damage at any point to defeat a wave, use Charged Shot to deal a bit more damage.

2

Charged Shot

Attack

[ Retain ]

140% Damage × 2

Retain: +80% base Damage Amount

Details

Nine

Nine

Equipment & refinements

You will usually want to farm Nine's deck in either Burning Life or Swamp of Judgement with the Season 2 modifiers.

There is no required weapon for this build to work.

Since Nine deals defense-based damage, the usual Senectus weapons are not useful for her. Sword Reflected in the Lake will usually be easy to activate. We also discount all Hews to 0-cost which limits the options even more. Dagger That Tricked the Shadow and RFS-17 are good options that are also quite easy to obtain.

There is no required armor for this build to work.

If using the suggested Vulnerable divine epiphanies, Mask of Flames is the best option you can get. The Senectus armors can be good alternatives if you can get one of them, and Fairy King's Crown is also a good generic option.

There is no required accessory for this build to work.

Since we create exactly 3 Hews with the combo, Summoned Lump of Light will always boost the one with the highest multipliers. Verdant Shackles or Verdant Day are also very good options if you can get them.

• When an Attack Card is activated on a target in a Vulnerable state, +15% Critical Chance -> Perfect synergy with the Vulnerable build.
• At the start of battle, if owning 18 or less cards, increase Damage Amount of Attack Cards by 30% -> Great option but will only work if you remove Reorganize or Unlimited Firepower to only keep 18 cards in the deck.
• Increase Damage Amount of Exhaust cards by 25% -> Applies to all Hews which is where most damage will come from.
• Increase Damage Amount of Attack Cards by 20% -> A more generic option with a slightly lower increase.

Cards & epiphanies

3

Hew (Flash)

Attack

[ Unique / Initiation / Ignite / Exhaust / Retain ]

400% Defense-Based Damage

Incinerate: Create 1 Hew (Flash) Lv. 1

The core of the deck. The whole point is to discount this card and play each level for 0 AP. The Vulnerable divine epiphany is the best option for damage but can be omitted (especially considering it only applies to the first level).

1

Experienced Strike

Attack

210% Defense-Based Damage

20% DMG-Based Shield

For 1 turn, when an Exhaust card is activated, 1 Counterattack

1

Experienced Strike

Attack

210% Defense-Based Damage

20% DMG-Based Shield

For 1 turn, when an Exhaust card is activated, 1 Counterattack

Unlike many other buffs in the game, playing multiple identical Experienced Strikes does stack the damage increase rather than the turn duration of the buff. You can therefore have 3 copies of the 30% increase version to maximize damage.

If you struggle with sustain or to make it easier to activate Harp of Conflict (especially if you removed Unlimited Firepower), you can consider switching one of the copies to a DMG Based Shield version, still with a Vulnerable divine epiphany to guarantee enough stacks for all Hews.

1

Counterblade

Upgrade

[ Unique ]

At the start of the turn, activate Hew in hand 1 time(s)

The only logical choice considering the deck as it should always be fully active when playing the Hews. The divine epiphany can be changed to whatever you want, with draw or AP simplifying the first turn.

Memory fragments

• [Beast's Yearning] 4 piece -> Unconditional boost to every Hew played (even with their cost reduced).
• [Executioner's Tool] 2 piece -> Generic Critical Damage boost.
• [Tetra's Authority] 2 piece -> Generic Defense boost.
• [Cursed Corpse] 2 piece -> Alternative if there is a source of Agony in the team.

Partners

Alcea

Nine's signature partner and the best choice for personal damage. Do note, though, that the 100% Fixed Shield effect will not activate since the Hews will be 0-cost.

Wilhelmina

Unfortunately, Vanguard damage dealers have terrible F2P options. Wilhelmina is barely decent, but still better than the alternatives.

Beryl

Beryl

Equipment & refinements

Because we need Spore Harvester, Burning Life is the only Chaos where we can farm Beryl's deck.

There is no required weapon for this build to work.

If you happen to find it in the Arena, Harp of Conflict is perfect for some extra multiplicative buffs for Nine and should be easily activated every turn. Pale Eternal Flame also works but makes you surrender a copy event.

While she won't deal as much damage as a spore retain deck, you can also go for the usual Criticism of Discord, Dagger That Tricked the Shadow or Second Method. Finally, if you want to boost Charged Shot to it's full potential, Sun-Setting Bow and Command: #108 are valid options.

There is no required armor for this build to work.

For a bit more personal damage, Fairy King's Crown is usually the best option. Any other support option (Star-Lit Cloak, Titan Combat Suit, ...) will also work.

There is no required accessory for this build to work.

Again in the Arena, you can find Combat Drum which Beryl will very easily activate. Other than that, you can pick Sphere of Randomness for support, Verdant Shackles or Verdant Night for damage, or whatever else you find.

• At the start of battle, draw 1 Exhaust card(s) of this unit -> Needed to guarantee having spores right from the start and makes the setup turn easier.
• Increase Damage Amount of Extra Attacks by 25% -> Simple option that will boost most of Beryl's damage.
• On card Retain or Exhaust, 100% Fixed Damage to a random enemy (2 time(s) per turn for each) -> A bit more damage easily activated with the spores.
• If Damage through a card was not dealt to an enemy for 1 turn, at the start of the next turn, increase Damage Amount by 50% for 1 turn -> I still need to test if the "no damage" condition only applies to the wearer or not, but if it works as written (no mention to 'allies') it should always be active for Beryl.

Cards & epiphanies

1

Opening Found

Attack

[ Retain ]

180% Damage

Retain: +80% base Damage Amount

We only keep two copies of Opening Found to prioritize mushroom cloning over Extra Attacks. You could even keep only a single one for one more Guilty Pleasure.

2

Charged Shot

Attack

[ Retain ]

360% Damage

Retain: +240% base Damage Amount (max 1 time)

A simple card that can serve as one final (small) nuke or a finisher for waves with multiple enemies.

0

Guilty Pleasure

Skill

[ Unique / Exhaust 2 ]

Draw 3

One of our spore farming tools. It is recommended to have at least 2 divine epiphanies to have enough AP to play all your cards. A single one can be enough if Unlimited Firepower is removed.

1

Unlimited Firepower

Upgrade

Increases Damage Amount of Attacks Cards of this unit by 30%

Another source of shield to activate Harp of Conflict, and will also give a stacking boost to Charged Shot until it is used. You can remove it to save on Faint Memory if needed (or simply use a neutral Draw 1 epiphany with the base version).

0

Spore Harvester

Skill

[ Retain / Exhaust ]

Incinerate: Create 2 Contaminated Spore

Retain: Create 1 Contaminated Spore

The one and only spore source of the deck. With the recommended Arena reinforcement, you should get this card right from the start and never run out of spores.

You can choose any neutral epiphany you like (Draw 1 and 1 AP being the easiest to work with).

Memory fragments

• [Glory's Reign] 4 piece -> Am easy pick as Beryl will almost instantly max the damage boost.
• [Executioner's Tool] 2 piece -> Generic Critical Damage boost.
• [Black Wing] 2 piece -> Generic Attack boost.
• [Line of Justice] 4 piece -> Don't.

Partners

Rosaria

Not much choice here and Rosaria can help draw the upgrade cards for the setup turn.

Orlea

Orlea

Equipment & refinements

You can get Orlea's deck in any Chaos with the Season 2 modifier activated.

There is no required weapon for this build to work.

Since Harp of Conflict doesn't have a stack limit (need to test this to make sure), you can also pick it for Orlea in addition to Beryl. Branch of Eternity, Branch of the Evil Tree and Branch of the Sacred Tree can be used for a tiny bit of extra damage. If you find / like none of these, pick Flashbang.

For the armor, you can go for general utility with Star-Lit Cloak, a Senectus armor or a simple Titan Combat Suit. If for some reason you are in City of Mist, you can also try getting Contaminated Helmet (which is only obtainable in a specific encounter).

There is no required accessory for this build to work.

Shining World Tree Stem or Lightless Stem can increase the healing output if needed. Sphere of Randomness can also help with the setup turn if you can get it from Senectus.

• At the start of battle, draw 1 Exhaust card(s) of this unit -> Needed to guarantee drawing Reorganize on the first turn to help with setup.
• Increase Shield Gain Amount by 15%, and increase Heal Amount by 15% -> Simple effect that increases survivability.
• If Damage is completely blocked, at the start of the next turn, increase Damage Amount of allies by 10% for 1 turn (1 time per turn) -> The team lacks enough shield generation to reliably activate this effect, but it can still work in some fights.

Cards & epiphanies

1

Growth Acceleration

Skill

Heal 150%

Select 1 card of this unit in hand, then activate the Retain effect 2 time(s)

When that card is a Sturdie

decrease Stress of allies by 5

Our other main mushroom cloning tool. Not much can be changed here without strongly impacting the consistency of the deck.

1

Growing Creature

Skill

[ Retain ]

Create 1 Creation★

Retain: Change this card to Sturdie ★★★, then 3 Weaken to all enemies

A tiny damage boost that can also add Vulnerability right from the start.

1

Will of Light

Skill

[ Retain ]

Heal 200%

Activate the Retain effect of all cards in hand

Final mushroom cloning tool. We only keep one copy because of its AP cost and to leave enough Faint Memory for a common draw card.

1

Reorganize

Skill

[ Exhaust ]

Draw 3

A simple draw tool that will always be in the starting hand with the recommended Arena reinforcement to make setup easier. You could also go for Gear Bag instead (although it is part of the banned cards for the upcoming Season 4 at the time of writing this guide).

Memory fragments

• [Tetra's Authority] 2 piece -> Generic Defense boost
• [Healer's Journey] 2 piece -> Generic Health boost

Orlea doesn't need specific Memory Fragments, so just give her any pieces with lots of Defense and Health (or even Ego Recovery).

Partners

Noel

Although Noel is Orlea's signature partner, she doesn't bring much with the way Orlea is used in this particular deck. You can use her if you already have her but the other options are prefered.

Nyx

Nyx is still the best general Controller partner.

Arwen

Alyssa

The F2P options can both be used here. Since the deck already has enough draw to guarantee the combo, we don't particularly need partners that have extra draw.

Showcase & thoughts

Full Scale Offensive: TODO

Spiral Tower of Screams: TODO

Deck obtention: 4 -> A very easy to obtain deck, with the only difficulty being Beryl's Spore Harvester and the "Draw an exhaust card" Arena reinforcements.

Ease of use: 4 -> Because there are only 4 cards without a draw effect, you are guaranteed to draw the whole deck every turn as long as you are careful with hand space. This deck can, however, be a bit tricky with multi-wave fights.

Power: 2 -> Nine's best decks are usually either nuke decks or Hew (Extreme) decks. Beryl is also underused here since she serves as a support rather than a main DPS.

Sustain: 4 -> Orlea's heals are quite substantial, and with the potential extra shield from Nine if needed, the team has no trouble with survivability.

Total: 14/20