Canas (B13)

## Overview

Written by: Basil

At first glance, Canas may not seem amazing. Hitting for 80 is nice, but they need to be at fairly low cards in hand, and stacking from retreat is nice, but they can only be tomes. However, when you look at the tomes that can be stacked, suddenly you see why he is such a common splash card, as well as a solid stacker MC. Every turn you get to stack 2 darkness emblems or Lilinas on top of your deck, depending on your opponent's hand size. Darkness emblems reduce your opponent's hand to exactly 4, which is what is needed for his skill 1 to come into effect, and is also very easy to get since you run Canas's 1 costs as dodges and raigh. Overall, he is a great stacker MC that can really punish slower decks by constantly forcing them to discard.

## Gameplan

Your overall gameplan is pretty straightforward- after you promote, if your opponent has more than 4 cards in hand, stack 1-2 darkness emblems to get them there. If they have 4 or fewer cards in hand, stack Lilina to get draws. This will mean you may have to get lucky with some mills, but you can dodge with Canas 1 to put some darkness emblems in retreat, though they won't work for Canas himself.

Early on is the hard part of the game since you are a mage MC with few early deploys. You may run some ketes and of course Raigh, which are definitely worth deploying and swinging with for the chance to hit a good support skill and also mill your deck, but its unlikely much else will happen. After you promote, you're in darkness spam mode as specified above.

You'll want to run some good turn 4 plays that don't use many bonds, since Canas needs 1 bond a turn to be able to stack, so Nino and HR Roy are solid choices. HR Roy is also nice since you can use him as dodges for B22 Roy, who stacks from hand and can sit in the back line at 80 base, very annoying to clear.

Other than Zephiel who can win the game for you, you are mostly looking to win through outvaluing your opponent as they are constantly limited on the number of cards they can have in their hand and you getting free advantage off of Lilina.

## Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths:

* Swings for 80 with 1-2 range
* Very efficient stacking, 2 for 1 bond flip
* Dodges are also very good support skills that he can stack

Weaknesses:

* Shaky early game due to being a mage
* Bond hungry MC- wants to flip 1 every turn so he can only use other skills a few times
* Somewhat bothered by anti-discard tech like Mira

## Key Cards

### Raigh

Raigh is your main darkness emblem you want to mill since, while Canas has 2 1 costs with darkness emblem, they cannot support Canas, only Raigh can. He is also good early to swing and mill cards, and then when he is cleared he is in your retreat to be stacked with Canas. Darkness emblems are the core of the deck and this one is the most important to have milled so your MC can discard your opponent.

### Lilina

Once your opponent is low on cards, they likely won't have many dodges for their units on board, which is perfect timing to stack Lilina with Canas. She is just free draws on hit, and you can get 2 of her on deck at once in case they dodge or one whiffs.

### Roys

B22 Roy is one of the best deploys in the deck, he just works so well with Canas (hence why Canas is run in Roy MC). Roy has great stats, swinging for 80 with range and having a very good X support, as well as stacking from hand, which is something Canas wants since he only stacks from retreat and needs something to do with the support cards he draws. Sticking an 80 base with range in the back line is also really annoying for the opponent to clear, and if you run extra Roys like HR Roy or even a Roy 1 as dodges / extra deploys, he can stick around and become a real problem for your opponent.

### Nino 4(3)

Like Roy, Nino is great with Canas because she stacks from hand, while also getting a dodge back from retreat for free. This is great for Canas since he is more squishy than Roy and some other purple mage MCs like Lilina and Nino. She also has the potential to draw cards with her second skill, though this is limited since Canas will be using most of his own bonds.

## Sample Decks

Canas No Fun Allowed
2 Constance, Lady of House Nuvelle
4 Canas, Benighted Smile
4 Canas, Scholar of Ancient Magics
4 Canas, Seeker of Wisdom
4 Roy, Evil Star-Scorching Binding Flame
4 Lilina, Wielder of Infernal and Shining Flames+
4 Raigh, Darkness-Pursuing Youth
4 Nino, Pious Mage
3 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
2 Plumeria, Desire-Gratifying Nightmare
4 Myrrh, Girl of the Dragonkin
2 Zephiel, Liberator of the World
3 Alfonse, Hero-Commanding Prince+
2 Canas, Heir to the Hermit
4 Roy, Darkness-Defying Fire
MC:
1 Canas, Scholar of Ancient Magics