Ayra (B06)

## Overview

Written by: Basil

Ayra is an interesting MC, having a strange speed where she repeatedly hits the opponent’s MC every turn and clear their board, but isn’t quite aggro. She can be built as aggro with Lewyn and the usual yellow swordboys, but such a build doesn’t take advantage of her unique qualities. By taking a more midrange-y approach, Ayra can steadily whittle the opponent down and deal with their board all on her own, while using yellow’s solid value and unflip engines to keep it rolling until the opponent is dead.

## Gameplan

A midrange build of Ayra won’t really play much until she promotes, so her early game will mostly just be attacking the opponent’s MC. The only thing to work on early is getting Ayra bonds for later, like Seliph 1 or using Deirdre 1 to put milled Ayra’s from your retreat to your bonds. Also, if you miss promo, Ayra’s colorless 4(3) has an easy way to grab it from retreat if it's milled, which is nice.

Once you’ve promoted, Ayra’s unique playstyle kicks in. Because she can untap any time she is evaded, she has pseudo-unavoidable attacks for as long as you have Ayra bonds. This means your opponent can either suck it up and just take the hit, allowing you to use Shredder, or try to outlast you by getting more dodges than you have bonds. If you’ve gone the aggro route, then the latter strategy is likely to work since you will run out of gas quicker, but a more midrange approach could lose to the first approach more easily if they can repeatedly deploy threats and don’t care if you clear their board.

Clearing the opponent’s board every turn will affect certain decks more than others. Aggro decks count on their boards not lasting, so they just gun for your face regardless- luckily your deck has lots of dodges built in. Midrange decks will hate it the most since they want to use their board to control yours and apply pressure, but Ayra gets to bypass it for free. Control can have a rough time as well since they want to set their board up and generate value with it, so Ayra constantly pressuring their MC and clearing their board will bother them quite a bit.

There’s also the issue of Ayra whiffing, since you DO run a lot of Ayras in deck to bond and hit with Shredder. Critting is a potential out if you self, but not ideal since if the opponent is buffed up or naturally 80 or higher, they will get more value out of their dodges than you get out of your crits since you are less likely to hit when you untap. That’s why buffers, usually Peony or B22 Sigurd are common, so you don’t have to worry about missing your attacks. She can also whiff on her Shredder, meaning you don’t actually get to destroy their board, so it's important you swing with Ayra before your other units in case either whiff happens and you need to use your other units to clear board.

The nice thing about Ayra is she is pretty much the finisher in herself- once they have no orbs, they have no choice but to try to dodge your attacks, so you can then flip to untap. Either they have enough dodges to live until you whiff or run out of Ayra bonds, or you win.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

**Strengths:**

* Unique playstyle that can allow you ignore the opponent’s board
* Has a built-in finisher that suits the color she is in

**Weaknesses:**

* Doesn’t hit 80 on her own and is prone to self-supports
* Somewhat caught between being weak on early pressure or burning out too fast
* Somewhat RNG-dependant, can lose to herself whiffing

## Key Cards

### Ayras

The general consensus of the number of Ayras in your deck is around 16 total. This is so you have enough to bond, and so you have enough to reliably get one or two off of Shredder. You want these ones since the 1 costs are attack emblems to make up for being 10 supports, and the other 4(3) lets you heal back your Main Promo if you miss it. Though she does have a bridge, it isn't really necessary since the 1 cost you want to be your MC gets to swing for 60 anyway.

### Seliph 1

Seliph is basically extra Ayras you can run just for your bonds that don’t count as self-supports, and even have hero emblem as an added bonus.

### Deirdre 1

Since you want to have specific cards in your bonds, it's hard to go wrong with having Deirdre in your deck. She can put Ayras you’ve milled into your deck so you can untap later, or depending on your build put Larcei, Lachesis, or Seliph 5 in for whatever you may need.

### Aggro Package (Lewyn, Shannan, Mareeta, Larcei)

The aggro package is played to give Ayra extra early pressure and to make the midgame more awkward for the opponent since they will need to dodge sooner, which Ayra can then untap on. You basically try to rush the opponent down and accelerate to the point where it comes down to if they have enough dodges to your Ayra bonds ASAP. Ayra clearing the opponent’s board is nice since it lets you focus their MC harder.

The swordboys package is generally the one used since Ayra is a sword and all the sword units work well together, along with Lewyn who can let you cheat for a turn. Some variants of Ayra even dip into the purple swordboys with Joshua, Guy, and Fir and run Zephiel as a backup finisher. Zeph works particularly well with Ayra since they are forced to go low on orbs and save their dodges, which are the prime Zeph conditions, though this will make you tight on space and bond flips.

### Midrange Package (Sigurd, Seliph 5, Julia)

The midrange package will leave you with less early game pressure, but allow you to sustain your attacks through the midgame and hopefully allow you to grind your opponent down as you continuously wipe their board and hit their MC. Sigurd and Seliph are used to ramp and unflip your bonds, usually Ayras you used to untap, and can also buff Ayra so she doesn’t have to worry about selfing. Julia meanwhile is a great bond refresh that can get you more Ayras in your bonds and cycle out whatever you don’t need. You’ll also likely want some other Big Yellow components like Leif and Nanna to smooth out your bond manipulation.

## Sample Decks

Midrange Ayra
4 Ayra, Astra's Wielder
4 Ayra, Almighty Astra
4 Ayra, Isaachian Princess of Swords
3 Ayra, Princess of Isaach
4 Seliph, Prince of Grannvale
3 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
2 Leif, The Future Sage-Lord+
4 Seliph, Savior of Light+
3 Deirdre, Maiden of the Spirit Forest
4 Sigurd, Holy Honor-Imparting Knight
4 Sigurd, A Soul Who Lived for Love
2 Leif, Brave Realm-Saving, Woe-Allaying Prince
3 Nanna, Brave Princess+
3 Julia, Shining Maiden of Saintly Lineage
2 Deirdre, Fated Saint
MC:
1 Ayra, Princess of Isaach (P)