Julia

## Overview

Written by: Basil

Though Julia is generally considered outclassed by her mother Deirdre, she has some unique quirks that give her the potential to be a more powerful ramp deck- provided you can land some attacks. Her best build is the usual big yellow gameplan, where you ramp with your MC, clear the opponent’s board, and generate as much value as possible, then use Leif 5(4) to deploy a bunch of yellow units including Seliph 5(4), and then pick up a bunch of the bonds you’ve been ramping. The nice thing about Julia is you can choose what you ramp when you hit with her, meaning you can run a lot of 1-off bond skills, as well as more colorless cards since you don’t have to worry about pulse whiffing. Of course, the downside is you have to hit with her to get your ramp, and she also doesn’t have any bridges which makes her much squishier than other big yellow decks.

## Gameplan

Early game is very straightforward, but by no means easy. You mostly just are trying not to die, cycling bonds with your 1 cost if you want, maybe getting Xfonse out if you’re getting pressured enough. Realistically, you’re not doing much of anything until you promote other than trying to clear the opponent’s low costs.

Once you do get to promote, ideally your opponent has a low cost you can clear and then ramp, but if you have to swing at their face, you should still do so even if they get a card. You ramping is more important, and if you whiff or they dodge, it doesn’t matter either way. Depending on what you may need you could pick up a bond with Nanna, unflip with Seliph, draw with Tine, really depends on your board and hand and what you need.

Turn 4, whether you ramp or not, ideally you’re class changing sigurd to ramp and tank up. If you can get here, you’re in a much better spot since you’re much safer at 90 than 60, and much more likely to hit stuff to continue ramping. If you can’t do Sigurd then a backup ramper like Deirdre isn’t a bad choice, especially if you can also play her alongside Alfonse.

From there you are mostly just trying to continue ramping, using Julia’s skill to put whatever you may need in bonds and getting ready for the big Unifier + Holy War turn. Once you have Leif 5 out, a Seliph 5 in hand and retreat, you’re good to go. One downside of Julia is that you can’t deploy Julia 5 in your Unify turn, but you can always CC into it once you have established a solid board.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

**Strengths:**

* Potential to be the best form of ramp in the game
* Strong late game value with big yellow package
* Can run lots of 1-off bond skills, making her pretty versatile

**Weaknesses:**

* Much more fragile than other big yellow decks
* Ramp can be inconsistent if you whiff your swing or they dodge

## Key Cards

### Sigurd 5(4)

A key card for all big yellow decks, allowing you to ramp when he class changes on his 0 cost (letting you do it on curve after you promote). He can put a Seliph 5(4) from retreat into your bonds so you can unflip bonds, and then use that Seliph for his Tyrfing skill to protect Julia / make her more likely to hit. A great card that both sets up late game value with ramp and can immediately help you stabilize with the buff.

### Seliph 5(4)

Seliph is a must for nearly every yellow deck in general. His bond skill lets you unflip a bond for free, letting you get lots of value from your bonds throughout the game. His other skills meanwhile are great for setting up for your big Unifier turn with Leif 5(4)- he can rally the field with skill 1 to help your big board hit, then use his holy war skill to pick up all the bonds you’ve been ramping and flipping down, giving you a huge board and hand size advantage that will win you the game.

### Leif 5(4)

Leif is part of the gel that makes yellow decks run smoothly- being able to swap him out of your bonds for any card in your hand can be more useful than it seems. It can let you unflip with Seliph, grab a bond that was recently added to your bonds with Nanna, or set you up to use his Unifier of Thracia skill, which is also the typical yellow “finisher”. Being able to deploy 2-3 strong yellow units is good, on top of your MC and Leif, but usually it’s a finisher because those units also generate value that the opponent can’t match, as well as pressure.

### Alfonse X

A must-have if you want any chance of not getting run over by aggro, especially going second. Alfonse can stop all low costs from hitting your MC, and if you get hit a lot you can potentially play him on turn 2 to make up for your lack of bridge. It isn’t quite the same, but it's a lot better than nothing.

## Sample Decks

Julia
4 Julia, The God of Light's Descendant
4 Julia, Shining Maiden of Saintly Lineage
4 Sigurd, Holy Honor-Imparting Knight
4 Seliph, Savior of Light+
3 Leif, The Future Sage-Lord+
3 Nanna, Brave Princess+
3 Leif, Brave Realm-Saving, Woe-Allaying Prince
3 Deirdre, Vessel of Divine Blood
2 Tine, Maiden of Purifying Lightning
4 Sigurd, A Soul Who Lived for Love
1 Emma, Starting Over as a Pegasus
2 Jamke, Patriotic Marksman
1 Julius, Shadow-Bearing Imperial Prince
3 Julia, Heiress of the Will of Light
3 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
3 Alfonse, Hero-Commanding Prince+
2 Deirdre, Maiden of the Spirit Forest
MC:
1 Julia, Heiress of the Will of Light