Living When Killed – 2 -Surviving Bang Dream’s Birdcage

Bang Dream’s Birdcage combo is an incredibly scary combo, that threatens your ability to survive in Weiß Schwarz, but there are some ways to fight against it.

What is it?

Birdcage is one of the scariest combos available in EN Weiß Schwarz’s admittedly limited pool. While they look pretty if the opponent has the resources to get off multiple Birdcages you are in a really bad spot. Birdcage is a CX combo that at the cost of three stock and two cards from your hand will after downing a character burn for two points of damage twice.

How much should I be expecting to take?

When considering Birdcage without triggers does three damage for the attack, then if there was a character to down/reverse, burns for four damage. This  ends up being seven damage or a level if it all goes through, and it attempts to go through three times, improving the odds of at least a small amount of the damage going through, especially since it goes with one large hit into two small hits. The one Larger attack is more likely to get blocked leaving the two smaller burns to go through, with more damage then the first.

You can also field a full board of birdcages as well. If you maintained hand and stock enough, triple birdcage is one of the scariest things you can do to a person especially as it inflicts damage nine times making it so even if the opponent had eight climaxes in deck it is impossible to stop at least one instance of damage from going through. If you somehow manage to not block a single instance of damage without triggers it will inflict three levels worth of damage killing from anywhere higher than Level 1.

When should you be scared?

Be scared as soon as the opponent hits Level 3. The Bang Dream Roselia deck uses a lot of Resonate effects which require them to have a Birdcage in hand, so they will be holding onto at least one Birdcage from the earliest points of the game. It is important to note that Birdcage also has a heal which is not the scariest thing in the world, but combined with some good blocks, will allow the opponent another turn to attempt to kill you. One of the best things you can hope for is that they have the character and not the Climax, but considering on trigger applies the “pants” (get a climax from the waiting room and put it into your hand) effect, they have high odds of having it even if they didn’t draw it. In general the only real response when fighting Birdcage is absolute terror, at many things including how much money your opponent has, especially if they are SSP, which is worth $1500 each.

Tips and Tricks to Live Another Turn

1. Compression will help you live. If your deck is capable of compression in any way shape or form, it could be the difference between taking 21 damage, and taking 8. Every little bit helps at trying to stay alive.
2. Money Counters, though extremely expensive to the point of making it difficult to kill the opponent the next turn are extremely valuable. Money Counters give the effect, “This character cannot do damage” and will stop a Birdcage from doing anything.
3. Leave your board open. While this may sound like a terrible idea as you are leaving yourself open to take more damage, there is actually logic to this. By making the opponent inflict one more damage, they are more likely to hit a climax in a single attack, reducing the damage you take. Birdcage is a combo that also requires the opponent to be able to down/reverse your characters, so they won’t be able to inflict the burns if you don’t have any characters to down!

What to play against Birdcage?

• Log Horizon is carried by a single card, which luckily completely walls out Birdcage. Log Horizon’s Representative, Shiroe, is a card loaded with so many good effects it would be broken in any other set. The ability to negate burn, and Soul Wall while being a 1000 level assist, when paired  with another card such as Guardian, Naotsugu can completely wall Birdcage.
• Kancolle is one of the scariest decks for Birdcage to fight. Compass being a brainstorm Money Counter can completely disable all of a Birdcage’s damage. The deck also searches on attacks providing a natural compression. One extremely unlucky friend of mine got Two Turns of Triple Birdcage blocked due to a combination of compass, and the enemy’s godly blocks.

While incredibly strong there are numerous ways to fight against Birdcage and if a player applies there knowledge and prays to the mighty RNGsus they will be able to win any match!