Tenku Ike (B22)

## Overview

Written by: Basil

Tenku Ike is a deck the opponent always has to respect, hitting for large numbers regularly and having the potential to destroy your opponent’s MC without them being able to dodge. There are plenty of ways to get Ike to 100 attack- green has some solid tempo options and buffers, or even just a regular green deploy + Peony will do the trick. His almost guaranteed hits, plus his skill that is free board clear that also threatens to instantly kill the opponent’s MC means Ike can sometimes pull out a win when he really shouldn’t have.

## Gameplan

Ike plays a pretty typical aggressive gameplan, early on you deploy low costs and try to hit the opponent’s MC as much as possible. It's especially critical for him to get the opponent to low orbs as soon as he can so the opponent has to do awkward stuff to try to not die to his skill 2 + skill 3.

On his promotion turn, it's actually possible for him to be able to trigger his skill 2 if you have Reyson in hand and one of your 1 costs stick like Soren 1, but that can be tricky since your opponent will be doing whatever they can to prevent this. If not, then it isn’t that bad, but you want to be triggering it every turn for the rest of the game.

Depending on what other green cards you run, your mid-game deploys will vary (Sigrun, Jill/Kurth, Micaiah, Soren), but as long as you have a dedicated Ike buffer or 2 on the board you won’t have any issues triggering Ike’s skill 2, so you can just play whatever makes sense. If you can’t use it to break the opponent’s orbs, it's still good value to destroy an annoying non-MC unit for free as well and control the board while putting pressure on.

Eventually, your opponent might be low or even out of orbs. When that happens, that’s a great time to use Ilyana to wipe whatever remains of their board and either kill them instantly or get them to 0 orbs and no board, which means they’ll always be at risk of dying. The nice thing is, Ike will pretty much hit guaranteed every turn plus his free destruction, so if the opponent can’t keep up then they’ll get run over.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

**Strengths:**

* Hits big numbers extremely easily thanks to skill 1
* His skill 2 clears the opponents board for free
* His skill 3 is a lot of pressure since it can instantly win the game at 0 orbs

**Weaknesses:**

* Needs other allies to do anything, if he runs out of stuff he’s dead in the water
* If the opponent hides their MC behind a board and you can’t pull, his skill 2 won’t trigger
* Anti-destruction cards aren’t common, but if the opponent has them he is vanilla

## Key Cards

### Peony

Peony is a great card in many decks, but with Ike she is especially nice since she basically covers his attack requirement by herself as long as you have any green card on the board. All the other usual Peony things are still great- free past turn 5, replaces herself in hand, and if you have enough green allies to cover Ike’s buff you can use her buff to help one of those other allies hit something.

### Ilyana 5(3)

Ilyana can be an awkward card to fit into decks, but she has a home in Tenku Ike, and for good reason. If the opponent has a decent board, you can plop Ilyana down, wipe their board with her skill 1, then replenish the cards you lost with skill 2. This lets Ike do his thing and destroy the opponent’s MC, so if they’re at no orbs, instant win, if not, they’re that much closer since they lose an Orb and have to dodge his 100 attack swing.

### Reyson 2 B20

Reyson is great for Ike since he is effectively a harder to clear Peony for Ike. You can play him for free when you class change Ike into main promo, and then tap to buff him for +10. Ike counts him as a green ally for Ike’s skill 1, so him being on board is +20 on Ike and +10 for any other allies you may have leveled up. Reyson is also hard to remove since in the late game the opponent might not have the opportunity to play low cost ranged units just to clear him, if they have some at all.

### Soren 4(3)

Soren 1 is another cheap way to get Ike to 100 easily, just a 1 cost green that buffs him for +10 so you only need 1 other green ally to hit 100. What’s also nice is you usually want to run Soren 4 since he’s just a great card in general for denying card advantage, and Soren 1 can be extra dodge for your Soren 4 or used for Soren 4’s skill 1 to remove an enemy, which can allow Ike to break the opponent’s MC.

## Sample Decks

Tenku Ike (Fliers)

4 Ike, Hero of Radiance and the Sacred Blade
4 Ike, Knight of Crimea
2 Ike, Valorous General (RP)
2 Elincia, The Heart of Crimea
4 Elincia, Princess Descended from a Sky Knight
3 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
4 Reyson, Bravehearted Whitewinged Prince
4 Soren, Silent Windstorm
4 Soren, Savant of the Mercenaries
4 Sigrun, Empire-Guarding Holy Wings
4 Sigrun, Kind White Pegasus
4 Tanith, Strict Black Pegasus
3 Plumeria, Desire-Gratifying Nightmare
3 Ilyana, Famished Arch Sage+
MC:
1 Ike, Young Successor to Peerless Swordsmanship