Want to keep your characters alive despite their low stats? Look no further than encores!
What is an Encore?
When playing Weiß Schwarz it is important to maintain a proper board of characters. This can be difficult however when you are being constantly assaulted by wave after wave of enemy forces. One way a player can keep their forces alive and protect from direct attacks is by encoring their characters. Encore allows a player to pay some cost to keep their characters on board instead of having them go to the waiting room. While all characters can be encored for the steep price of three stock, an alternative on some characters is to use AUTO(Encore) effects to keep them going. Through proper use of encore a player can win games that they really shouldn’t, but hey that’s luck!
Standard Three Stock Encore
All characters can be encored using three stock to keep them alive. The problem with using this encore is it is incredibly expensive, three stock being gained from a whole turn of attacks. Using this encore is also more expensive than playing most characters, only meeting the cost of some of the more expensive Level 3s. It is incredibly risky to pay out all your stock and only really pays off when you need to pay out some climaxes that got stuck inside of the stock.
Hand Encores
Hand Encores are when a character has the ability to encore by discarding a character from your hand if they are reversed during the encore step. This can be useful if the player constantly searches and draws, but without a continuous source of cards, it could become fatal due to lack of resources to use. You very rarely wanna risk your hand for a character on board, especially when you could instead be playing new stronger characters.
Clock Encores
Clock Encores are when a character has the ability to put the top card of your deck into your clock if they were reversed during the encore phase to keep themselves alive. This provides a few benefits, such as allowing the player to not lose hand or stock making the overall effect on the players resources zero. Clock Encore also allows you to level up in a pinch and start unleashing combos your foe’s characters are not yet strong enough to fight. These positives all come with the downside of taking guaranteed damage that could remove one of your eight essential climaxes. This downside makes it extremely risky to use clock encores. They also have a limit for usage as if you are at Level 3, 6 Damage, using a clock encore will cause you CLOCK FOR GAME! Like with clocking know when to stop your clock encores.
Mandatory Encores
Some characters, often ones who are too strong for their level force you to revive them which is indicated in how their effects are simply an AUTO rather than an AUTO(Encore). These effects happen immediately after they are reversed rather than during the encore phase, where characters are usually encored. The mandatory clock encore is one of the most dangerous things a player can have on their side of the board as each time it gets downed the player takes a guaranteed damage. This can be especially dangerous when combined with the guaranteed chip damage from a refresh. It is usually better to get rid of your mandatory encores once they are getting outclassed by overwriting so that you do not have to keep up their maintenance.
While it is important to be aware of the negatives to using Encores, they are an incredibly powerful tool when used well. It is important to understand what types of encores work best in your deck, how to make use of them, and when to stop using them.
If you pay attention to your resources and apply your knowledge of the different types of encores carefully you can pull major shenanigans. Continuously reviving your characters, to end the game using your weakest characters is guaranteed to tilt your opponent, and there is no force stronger in games than tilt.
Clock For Game 