Randal (B05)

## Overview

Written by: Basil

Randal is usually built as another flavor of the purple stacker MC, with a few key differences- He can’t stack so loses consistency, but in return gets a turn 2 promotion into basically a 70 base with how many support skills you run. He also has incredible potential to pop off if you get lucky with early supports- double darkness or double Lilina draw can set you up for the rest of the game. He does have some other shortcomings compared to other stacker MCs, like lacking range and his other cards being 10 supports, but if you’re interested in another take on the typical purple deck with a bit of RNG, Randal is worth giving a shot.

## Gameplan

Since Randal is a turn 2 promo, his early game can vary quite a bit. You’re looking to play low costs, typically dark mages & ketes, to attack to hopefully hit some support skills as usual, but if you’re going first things might be different for your turn 2.

Normally, you should promote as soon as possible, for a number of reasons- you can start using your MC’s skills sooner, the cards you play after promotion usually synergize with the main promo so you want to keep your curve consistent, it’ll protect you from aggro, etc. However, if you are going first, and your opponent is a bit slower than you, you might want to consider playing 2 1 costs on turn 2 instead of promoting into your main promo. This is for a few reasons- 1, your curve is already faster than normal promoting on 2, which can leave you with not much to do on turn 3, by which point your opponent may have bridged and your low costs don’t hit anymore. 2, It allows you to put pressure on, since it can be hard in the early game for slower decks to clear 2 things and they have to deal with the first swings and any more on following turns. And 3, your main promo doesn’t do much on its own- sure it can randomly do something if you hit a good support skill, but getting 2 more shots at supporting something useful is more consistent. Of course, if you don’t have 2 low costs or your opponent is very aggressive, you’ll likely want to promote for safety or because you have nothing else to do that turn.

After promoting, you’ll be looking to have Randal support useful skills depending on the situation, ideally using a stacker to guarantee it. Lilina is always a solid pick, you simply get to draw 2 cards if he kills whatever he hits. If your opponent has 6 cards in hand, you can stack a darkness emblem and they’ll discard 2 cards, which is pretty brutal. Even something like Lute is pretty solid as a guaranteed flip 2 draw 2. Either way, your goal is to build up card advantage using his ability to double up support skills and use those cards to apply pressure.

In the late game, you have the classic purple finisher with Zephiel + a kete to randomly discard them and hit them twice. Even if it doesn’t kill them, they’ll be pretty much dead and you should have more cards than them to survive if they try to retaliate.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

**Strengths:**

* Turn 2 promo that’s basically a 70 base
* Can get amazing advantage if he hits good support skills

**Weaknesses:**

* Inconsistent without other stackers
* Can’t hit 80 and can have trouble with range
* Doesn’t do anything on his own, needs a support skill

## Key Cards

### Support Skills (Dark Mages, Lilina, Lute)

Since Randal doubles support skills, the support skills you run are very important. The go-to ones are ones that put you ahead in card advantage, either by drawing you cards like Lilina and Lute, or making your opponent discard like the dark mages. Canas and Raigh also double as good early game deploys, which is great for milling, applying early pressure, and hitting support skills early.

### Stackers (Canas, Nino, Guinivere, Roy)

As Randal can’t stack himself but really wants to hit support skills, he needs other allies that can stack the deck for him. Nino and Roy are net even in terms of hand value and don’t flip a bond to stack, but they have to stack from hand, which is good for getting otherwise less ideal cards like Lilina out of your hand and on top of deck, but are limited to what are in your hand.

Canas is great since he can stack 2 cards from retreat for 1 bond, which is very efficient, but is restricted to tomes only (luckily some of the best support skills are tomes).

Lastly Guinivere is a bit of an odd pick, but she has the advantage of getting you a card, stacking 2 cards kind of, and being able to swing for 100 with range, downside being she is limited to what is already on top of your deck and costing 2 bonds to do all of that.

### Zephiel

Zeph is the classic purple finisher, and for good reason. His LIS skill, though a bit random, can potentially instantly destroy the opponent’s MC if you discard a dodge, netting 2 hits in addition to himself and whoever he buffs hitting. Even if you don’t get their MC, you could destroy one of their units or discard a key card for their next turn. He is also a huge threat that the opponent has to deal with immediately.

## Sample Decks

Basil's Randal
4 Randal, Smiling Tornado
5 Randal, Twin Blade Cavalier of Winds
4 Lilina, Wielder of Infernal and Shining Flames+
4 Myrrh, Girl of the Dragonkin
4 Fae, Innocent Dragon Girl
2 Eliwood, Blazing Knight of Valor
4 Canas, Benighted Smile
4 Canas, Scholar of Ancient Magics
4 Raigh, Darkness-Pursuing Youth
3 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
3 Roy, Evil Star-Scorching Binding Flame
2 Randal, Wicked Knight
3 Zephiel, Liberator of the World
3 Lute, Matchless Prodigal Mage+
2 Nino, Pious Mage
MC:
1 Randal, Twin Blade Cavalier of Winds