Hug Marth (B13)

## Overview

Written By: Basil

Marth is one of the most flexible MCs in the game, having a very simple condition to get a free draw every turn- have more allies than enemies at the end of your turn. This is usually pretty easy since you get your whole turn to deploy units, destroy enemy units, and control the board, which makes him a solid midrange MC. The potential builds are pretty much up to your imagination- he works with pretty much any color, packages like overclass, fliers, and mages, he can even play the long game and go for a yellow build that ramps in addition to his card draw every turn. He is pretty much the ultimate blank canvas MC, which is great for flexibility, but also means his synergy is pretty low, making him not the most impactful MC to play.

## Gameplan

There are a lot of potential builds that all have slightly different gameplans (and a few with vastly different ones), but in general Marth is the poster child of midrange. He wants to deploy units, use his units and himself to clear whatever threats the opponent may have, and then use remaining swings to attack their MC. This not only is good for controlling the board, but it also is what he needs to do to enable his card draw, so its a win-win.

You may be able to win using his skill 2, but its not really advised to plan for it. Your opponent will likely play around it by staying at 1 orb, so by the time they're at 0 they will likely already be close to dead, though if the game doesn't end you could save up a few cards to dump them all at once for Conquest (this is where Hug comes from by the way- since you need a bunch of units to tap and you don't destroy the opponent's MC by doing this, its like a big group hug).

## Strengths & Weaknesses

**Strengths:**

* Extremely flexible in terms of build
* Easy condition to get a free draw

**Weaknesses:**

* Pretty vanilla, doesn't do much on his own
* Doesn't hit 80 on his own, needs flier supports or buffs

## Common Cards

Although there are many variations, there are a few cards that are very common in Marth since they are useful for getting the number of allies over the number of enemies.

### Mirabilis

Mira is probably the most common splash card in Marth. She is a cheap deploy that counts towards the ally total, is annoying to remove since she burns a swing, is anti-discard which can help in control matchups, and can even cycle if you draw too many of her / other colorless cards. Oh, and she's a 30 support, which is always good to have in a deck.

### Elice 2

Elice is great because not only is she a cheap deploy that buffs Marth, helping him hit 80, but she also has a tempo skill that can help establish your board. It is only one use per game, but it is a very good deploy for a 2 cost that can start your snowball of totally controlling the board.

### Other Fairies (Peony, Plumeria, Freyr)

Not all of these will be in every version (except Peony probably), but they're all very common in Marth. They're cheap, they count as bodies on the board for his draw condition, they're 30 supports, and all have some utility depending on the matchup.

## Common Variants

### Fliers Marth (Green)

Sigrun is likely the only green card splashed, but she makes up for it by being an amazing compliment to Marth. She is great tempo, deploying 2 low cost fliers from retreat, has the ability to pull the enemy's back line to make up for his lack of range, and also can swing for 80+ depending on how much fodder you have. Her in combination with the solid red flier package of Caeda 4(3), Maria 4(3), Palla 2 and Est 1 and whatever fairies you decide to run give Marth a substantial flier base that can let him reliably swing and defend for 70+30, and generates decent value and tempo.

### Marcina (Blue ketes)

Marcina (Marth/Lucina) is an interesting build that takes advantage of the fact that a few 1 cost Lucina cards have a skill that makes them also Marth, meaning you can start as a blue MC then promote into the usual Marth main promo. Why would you want to do this? So you have better odds hitting the blue ketes you put in your deck to ramp. The package can be as simple as running the blue ketes and then usual Marth cards, or you can lean more into with the higher cost dragonstone cards like Nah 3 or Robin M 4(3).

### Yarth (Yellow)

Yellow Marth is a bit slower than the other Marth decks, typically wanting to control the board a bit harder and stalling the opponent a bit more. The ideal curve is turn 4 Sigurd class change to ramp and then turn 5 class change Delthea for random discard. What other yellow / red cards you run to spend those bonds will vary, but for the most part you'll be looking for more ways to generate value and control the board to support Marth's free draw every turn.

### Mages Marth (Purple)

Mages Marth is a build that can bridge the gap between Hug Marth and Ragtag Marth, since you can reasonably go with either in this build. The number of low cost deploys and stackers like Canas and Nino mean you have a better chance or even a guaranteed +1 if you go into Ragtag, though Hug is still more consistent, it is a solid alternate promotion in case you miss the B13 one. A nice thing about mages is you can stick them in the back line early in the game, making them harder to clear, and they also have range which can make up for Marth's lack of it. This package also usually looks to run Mae OC, which if done enough times in a row can totally shut out your opponent and win you the game.

## Sample Decks

Marth (Sigrun)
4 Marth, Hero Chosen by the Exalted Blade+
2 Marth, Lightbringing Hero-King
4 Caeda, The Hero-King's Wings+
4 Mirabilis, Elf of Daydreams
4 Maria, Wyvern-Riding Mage Princess
4 Est, Little Macedonian Pegasus
4 Palla, Elder Foreign Pegasus
4 Sigrun, Empire-Guarding Holy Wings
4 Sigrun, Pure White Pegasus Knight
4 Sigrun, Kind White Pegasus
3 Plumeria, Desire-Gratifying Nightmare
1 Veronica, Spring Princess
4 Marth, Prince in Hiding
3 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
MC:
1 Marth, Heir to the Fire Emblem

Basil's Marcina
4 Marth, Hero Chosen by the Exalted Blade+
2 Marth, Lightbringing Hero-King
4 Mirabilis, Elf of Daydreams
4 Marth, Prince in Hiding
3 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
4 Mae, I'll Do It For Lady Celica!
4 Mae, Sweet Sovereign of the Dark
4 Nowi, Long-Lived Little Dragon
4 Nah, Serious Manakete
3 Nah, Little Perseverant
4 Tiki, Sleeping Princess of Ancient Times
3 Elice, Altean Princess
2 Mae, Foolhardy Magical Girl
2 Freyr, Dream-Governing God
2 Robin (Male), Tactician of Exalted Strategies
MC:
1 Lucina, Princess from a Desperate Future